Hello few strangers and friends out there who do drop by my blog, I have some beautiful news to share with you!

First up, my dear Spanish friend Bosques de mi Mente has finally released his latest album “inocencia”, an album inspired by the book “The Little Prince”. After speaking to him last night, I realized this album can be considered a “conceptual album”. Well, actually I treat all most of his albums as conceptual, because they really are. He is a natural musician who does beautiful magic with his music. The album is available for free download. Not to be missed! And if you are there, why not download the rest of his past releases, they are free too.

inocencia info | inocencia download page

Now another news. This time about amberhaze… amberhaze is doing an album launch gig at HOUSE at Dempsey for his latest album: Then we saw the Stars Again. He has extended a warm invitation to me to open his concert for him but I have rehearsals on that night so I’ll have to miss it. Check out this link for more information on the gig. You shouldn’t miss it! If you are into post-rock, shoegaze and electronica, this is the gig to turn up for. You can also visit his myspace: HERE. And if you are there, I strongly urge you to purchase his album. Support local musicians! Yea, he is Italian, but hey, he is rooted here so do support! We will be collaborating together on an installation performance next year during the Esplanade Huayi Festival 2010 entitled “The Boy Who Sees With Stones”.  Remember to keep your Feb free for us!

Finally I am in the midst of mastering my next online release:

silent audiographies <<静默的散文>>

Which will be available for free download soon. This album took about one and a half years, collecting sounds and quiet compositions, and now it’s finally done. Stay tuned.

Dear all,

I am happy to say that after many years of trying to put up a website of my own, it is finally done, up and running. Some information still in the midst of updating but the bulk is there. Do drop by and feel free to browse around

www.sonicbrat.com

This is one of the productions I’ve been working sleeplessly on. I am grateful for the experience working with Boi Sakti and T.H.E. Dance Company dancers. Always a joy… tonnes of field recordings, musique conrete, acousmatics, noise and acoustic instrumentations…

.

da:ns Festival Residency & Commission

“… mesmerising… with movements that were both strong and fluid at the same time” – The Jakarta Post, on Boi Sakti

“T.H.E’s work invigorated our senses; not least because they have the courage of convictions” – Dance Europe

If our souls were the windows of civilisation, what would they reveal? In VOID, choreographer Boi Sakti confronts the moral decay and hypocrisy engulfing society and calls into question the very meaning of ‘civilisation’. The soul is wounded. Conscience has fallen into a black hole. Principle and reason have given way to greed and falsities. There is a tragic loss of humanity despite claims of greater openness in a civilised world. This affecting and insightful work examines these distortions and seeks to contextualise them. The world premiere is performed by T.H.E Dance Company led by artistic director Kuik Swee Boon, and features award-winning sound designer Darren Ng. At once powerful and poetic, VOID throws the windows wide open and compels you to face what is really there.

Regarded as “one of Asia’s most interesting and important choreographers”, Sakti’s artistry draws from the traditions of Minangkabau dance and martial art forms, and the aesthetics of contemporary movement. His earthy yet fluid choreographic style has been described as one that combines “sensitivity and precise, gentle power”. He created Jendela Peradaban as a festival commission, with a two-month artist residency at da:ns 09 that took place at Esplanade and in Indonesia. T.H.E. Dance Company has come to be regarded as one of Singapore’s fastest-rising and most dynamic contemporary dance groups.

Schools may use the Tote Board Arts Grant to subsidise 60% (excluding GST) of the ticket price of this programme. For more details please contact us at 6828 8389 or email boxoffice@esplanade.com.

Read more details at these sites:

Official da:ns Festival Site

Esplanade Website

SISTIC

If you’ve been keeping to my blog, I’ve been busy with VOID: Window of Civilisation (click on link at listed on the right to visit the production page), a contemporary dance piece choreographed by Boi Sakti (Indonesia), commissioned by the Singapore da:ns Festival 2009. Here’s sharing with you two draft pieces during the exploration stage (click on link to listen):

VOID6

- Piano, musique conrete, object/found sounds

VOID8

- news reports, static noises, acoustic guitar, pots and spring drums, sound design

Not the kind of music you hear on my music site, perhaps not for the faint (eared) hearted… Hope you’ll enjoy the experience. Best over headphones.

And here’s a picture of my rehearsals at home for Zomerparkfeest 2009 last month.

Photo by Yuan Zhiying

Posted some new works on my music and sound art myspace accounts…

A couple for “hana” and a few “audiographies”…

myspace [music]

myspace [sound art]

Thank you Venlo, Zomerparkfeest 2009, Rolph, Dennis, Tom, Remco and gang. It was a special place to perform in. Here’s a photo taken by Laura Gommans at the Spiegeltent in Venlo. Click on image to visit her flickr…

photo by Laura Gommans

Back to reality, back to work…

see you soon…

THE CRAB FLOWER CLUB
(re-stage) by Toy Factory
Directed by Goh Boon Teck
Venue: Drama Centre
Dates: 20/08/09 – 29/08/09

In the original text, characters in the novel enjoy gathering in a pavilion garden to consume river crabs and compose poems of flowers. In this contemporary theatre piece, Goh Boon Teck borrows the sense of vulnerability and decadency in Cao’s context to create a contradictory space where his original characters communicate and confront.

The newly created set of protagonists are five related women in a respectable household in Qing Dynasty, all ready to embrace each other’s wholesomeness as well as bringing one another down to ashes. During their preparation of a complex crab feast and creating metaphorical poems about Chrysanthemums and Begonia, we are enlightened by their multi-faceted world of morality, conspiracy and philosophy.

The pillar of sound for The Crab Flower Club will be Franz Liszt’s Symphonic Poem Les Preludes. This symphonic poem is a pure display of emotion, and subtle on depiction of messages and meanings. Liszt felt that the language of music could be cross-pollinated by other arts, such as poetry and painting. This symphonic poem was composed during the era of this play, the fusion brings sensitivity of the west into an oriental story. The music will be reinterpreted and treated with contemporary sound design by multi award-winning sound artist Darren Ng.

click on image to find out more details of the gig…

featuring:

Spartak, Mux, Darren Moore + Tim O’Dwyer, Aya Sekine, sonicbrat