Richard Sanderson
 | Our guest for July, Richard Sanderson, is a musician, radio presenter and music promoter. Originally from Middlesborough, he began his music career in punk and post-punk bands before coming to London in 1985. |
He currently presents the conceptual chat show "Sanderson's Alcove" on London's radio art station Resonance 104.4fm, and has promoted live experimental music in London in the clubs "Baggage Reclaim", "Western Civilisation", "Reaction Time" and currently "Scaledown" (in collaboration with Mark Braby).
He has been one of the directors of the London Musician's Collective (the organisation behind Resonance FM and a major promoter of experimental music in the UK) for nine years. He has also spoken in public on sceptical and rationalist issues, and dances with Blackheath Morris Men.
He has been a member of the London improvised music community for some 15 years, playing electronics, amplified objects and squeezebox. He also sings minimalist pop songs accompanying himself on laptop. He has recorded in the groups Minnow and Ticklish, plays in the duo Thames Barrier with Scott Taylor and is soon to release a duo LP with Steve Beresford.
We caught up with Richard to find out what he's currently listening to:
John Butcher- "Invisible Ear"
London improvising musician John Butcher was been quietly and deliberately moving the saxophone as far away from its jazz roots as possible, culminating in this recent release on the Fringes label. For several tracks he doesn't even blow into it, instead he amplifies it from an internal microphone to create feedback which he then shapes by using the fingering. On other tracks he builds dense clouds of noise through multitracking. It's not an easy listen, but it is a fascinating and occasionally lyrical document by a genuine explorer.
http://www.johnbutcher.org.uk/
Limn- "Limn EP"
This 4 track EP by the young 5 piece instrumental band Limn included the single most exciting piece of music I've heard in the last 6 months- "In The Presence Of Autoflorescence"- a glorious mixture of choppy minimalist riffing which builds towards a teasing and ultimately irresistible tune played on guitar and vibraphone. Elsewhere the group adapts Steve Reich style phasing techniques to jangly guitar dynamics to equally joyous effect, or create a dubby fluent funk. Watch this band.
John Spiers and Jon Boden- "Bellow"
John Spiers (Melodeon) and Jon Boden (Vocals and Fiddle) play English folk songs and dance tunes with an almost punky energy and spark, without resorting to electricity or rock arrangements. Still in their twenties, these fellas could be the ones to wrestle English songs and Morris tunes free from the beards and beers clichés . It's not a novelty record though- it's firmly in the tradition and mixes energetic breakdowns with regret soaked ballads like "Courting Too Slow". Funky packaging too...
http://www.squeezy.fsnet.co.uk/spiers_boden/
Fennesz - "Venice"
Now that the wave of laptop music has receded somewhat, it's possibly time to appraise who really did interesting stuff with the medium. My vote goes to Christian Fennesz for a series of dense and arresting albums topped by this years "Venice". It's a world of hazy, hallucinogenic sounds that wind lazily into your brain and stay there, derived from misty orchestral samples and Fennesz's own heavily processed guitar. It's a highly experimental music that isn't afraid to be very, very beautiful.
Richard Sanderson's links-
Sanderson's Alcove- http://www.bagrec.com/
Resonance 104.4 fm- http://www.resonancefm.com
London Musicians' Collective- http://www.l-m-c.org.uk/