Holga

Katy bought me a Holga 120 GCFN medium-format camera for my birthday last year. Here it is:


If you want to know why it's gaffa-taped up then read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holga#Modifications_and_variants

I need to get on with some more customisation and give it a new paint job so at least people will stop asking me what's wrong with it. Something like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cherryvega/2301369924/

Anyway, I've had a bash with both normal medium format film and also slide film and I'm enjoying the results and the random elements involved. Mine has a glass lens which means it leaks a little less light than the plastic lens versions so I may reduce the amount of tape on the cracks to let a little more light in. Both films I've done so far have had one frame where I forgot to take the lens cap off. Seems I'm not the only one: http://www.flickr.com/groups/dontforgettotakethelenscapoff/

Here are some scans of prints so far:











I'm slowly building a set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sumlin/sets/72157614224224605/

New Artwork for Low Point Records

The long-suffering, oft-overheating, clogged-with-dust, crippled-by-the-weight-of-"art" on the hard drive PC that sits in the dining room of my shared house finally bit the dust last week. This has good points and bad points. The bad is that I have to use my graphics PC to access the internet and as it's running Windows 1927 or something, it means I can't view most websites. It also means I can't connect or transfer files from my digital camera which is a pain.
The old PC is in for diagnosis so hopefully it can be saved and the pile of record reviews I had done can be posted. If only for my own sanity.
The plus side is I've been getting on with some work. Shock horror. The first completed project is the sleeve for my housemate's latest release on his label Low Point. It's for an album of his own material remixed by the likes of Strategy and Machinefabriek among others and it's entitled "Aversions":





It's taken quite a while and as with the Strategy "Electric Soup" 12" on the label, both myself and Gareth wanted to move the artwork away from ambient cliches for want of a better term and into something simultaneously calm but also positive looking. We ended up at leaves. As usual, the artwork is firstly hand drawn in black ink and then split into individual layers of colour in Photoshop and effectively re-drawn using the hand drawing as a template. It's all done with a mouse too - this is a graphic tablet free zone... (and my arm hurts).

Kogumaza

With geography putting the brakes on Lords' gigging and music-making (we play 2 gigs next week: Fri Feb 20 in London and Sat Feb 21 in Nottingham which will most likely be our last for the foreseeable future at least, unless we shoot up from 91st place in the ATP Vs The Fans list), the itch to make new music has resulted in a new band called Kogumaza.

A desire to avoid rockist tendencies whilst still rocking means smaller amps, in fact smaller everything. There's a fine line between cosmic foliage and stoner rock and we'll be straddling it, intentionally or not.

We are playing live where you can watch us wrestle with a world of sonic conundrums and be defeated by them all:

March 3 Leeds Packhorse with Zomes and Bilge Pump

March 7 Nottingham Arts Org with Zomes and The Horse Loom

March 8 Liverpool Royal Standard Gallery with Zomes and Deep Sea Dumpling

April 17 Birmingham Hare & Hounds with Earth

We are planning a record (most likely a 7"), provisionally entitled Balance for the Low Point label where densely-packed song fragments are mixed twice in wildly different ways in mono and then split across the stereo hearing range giving the listener control of the mix themselves by simply adjusting their stereo's balance control. It's all getting a little Kevin Shields in the brain room I'm afraid. It's a big fuck you to listening to things on an iPod. Here's to audience participation in the recorded medium again.

Elvis vs Sheep

Elvis' Irish paradise under threat by trio of disobedient, trespassing, board-trampling sheep.

Roadrunner Once

No other song is guaranteed to bring about the instant destruction of someone's front room than this. Last night DJ Guts spun this, leading to a tissue paper lampshade globe suddenly turning into a beachball and as if by magic, it was no longer the middle of winter. Awesome Super 8 film too...