Last Days

The Last Days of Kurt Cobain, by Gus Van Sant.

Sounds in the movie:

1. Tree leaves rustling
2. Waterfall
3. A campfire crackling
4. Shotgun's shoulder rest hitting wood floors
5. Car speeding out of the driveway
6. Drums reverberating in a warehouse
7. Guitar played in a car on the highway

Of course, the music was nice too.

City Agents 001: Jack on the Corner

This is not Jack. Jack can be found, on these rare occasions, on the corner of Theobald's Road and Gray's Inn Road in Clerkenwell. It took me a while to talk to him, but that is mostly because he has no rhythm, no pattern for being where he is. Yet, you can still count on him being there, at that spot on Theobald's and Clerkenwell. You'll know right when you see him. He's the guy playing the six string acoustic with only 2 strings, 3 or 4 if you're lucky. Sometimes he comes with just a harmonica, but then you know you've been trying to find him too long ...


This is not Jack either, though, we are getting a bit closer. Jack is the white Jimmy Hendrix. Headband and all. When he is there, and I emphasize WHEN, you can't miss him. He is playing to a sold out stadium crowd of 50,000 people all out of their fucking heads crazy to hear Jack play his epics. All this on the corner of Theobald's and Gray's Inn ...


This is definitely NOT Jack. Jack never asks for tips. He gives tips. He gives advice to those lucky enough to catch his eye. A difficult thing to do really. Jack spits. He foams at the mouth, and because he is so excited, flinging "fucking" as if it were an integral word for the construction of every sentence in the english language, this spit will land on your face. Let it. You're lucky, you've caught Jack, Jack is giving you advice in front of 50,000 lunatic fans.


Jack, not even close. Any keen person would know thats in New York, and Jack is certainly not in New York, though, he might have played a sold out show there. Talk to Jack once, he'll remember you. How? I have no clue, but he'll wink as you pass by. Just once, talk to him and he'll tell you. He'll ask you, and he will tell. I told him I was studying architecture. He asked me why do we all stand there looking up at buildings as if we were looking at a pair of tits?

I said, "Maybe we are."

And to that he said, "well, you are a bunch of perverted fucks then!"

Eli, Eli Lema Sabachthani

A movie made by Shinji Aoyama in 2005. Starring Asano Tadanobu. Its a story about this band Steppin Fetchitt, a world famous noise band. The year is 2015 and millions of people are commiting suicide because of the lemming syndrome. A wealthy man's grandaughter, has got the virus and is trying to save her. A doctor informs him that Steppin Fetchitts music has saved some people. The best part of the movie is the bands experiments recording noises and making instruments

Sounds in the movie
1. a hand squishing a tomato

2. spilled milk

3. a laundry hanger with seashells

4. plastic tubes attached to an umbrellas frame attached to a fan.

5. a shot gun

A man reading to us a Comic book

We were waiting in front of Shimo Kitazwa station. I say hello to Rob and Aya. Then I hear a loud behind me screaming a loud noise. I take a look and see some young kids laughing. Then in front of us a woman was singing some pop music. Here dance movements were slightly out of sinc. Shes trying to get a rise out of the people around her but not so successful. We start walking toward the restaurant. Rob said we should pay this guy to read us a comic. The guy is quite tall with dreadlocks and glasses that are scotch taped together. He asks me to choose a book. Looking at about 60 different covers, I was trying to imagine which one would make him go the most crazy. I chose a book with a picture of a man whose face was bloody. He pulled out some plastic bowls for us to sit on. In a crouched position our guy read the story of two samurai fighting to the death. He read the words like a true actor. He was hardly shy as a sword entered the body of an oponent. When things got reallly crazy in the battle, our guy swung his crazy hair around intermittently shouting. It was fantastic. In the end we gave him some money, and he gave us doughnuts. Later when we were going home, he was standing there reading comics to people passing by.

12 Tone City: A Chromatic Scale

By observing our surroundings we can notice a number of consistencies in the spontaneous sounds of our environment. Train engines, motor bikes, birds, telephones, cats, tree leaves, thunder. Choosing from these sounds and ordering them in varying pitches, we are able to create a musical scale, hence changing the city into an instrument. The city becomes our piano. Of course, we can use this idea to create our own compositions. Steve Reich used a similar idea for his piece Different Trains, in which he took audio recordings of speeches and translated them into the nearest possible musical notation (12-pitch European), which was then played by traditional instruments (strings - played by the Kronos Quartet). However, if we assume a passive position, if we remain the observer, we can experience the city's transformation into the composer. Having limited the number of sound possibilities by creating a set scale, we create a more tangible listening experience for ourselves, the audience. A walk in the park, a train ride to work, waiting for the bus, etc. all become movements of a symphony.

An Audio Representation of a Train Ride in Tokyo (in words)

Old women's gossip - pressure released from neighboring train - announcement (female) - train melody chime - doors close - engine accelerates - announcement (male) - cell phone charms jingle - train passes over inconsistencies in the tracks below (a clicking noise) - train passes in the opposite direction - train's sound reverberates off buildings - engine slows - hiss from the brakes - passing through a station (reverberation changes) - vinyl bag crumpled - train slows - engine hums - train changes tracks - pressure release - another train departs - vinyl bag being swung - doors open - footsteps - doors between carts manually opened and closed - dragging footsteps - running footsteps - announcement (female) - train melody chime - doors close - engine accelerates - young men converse - train passes in the opposite direction - movement of a down jacket - train reverberation echoes over a river bridge - engine accelerates - engine slows - engine accelerates - doors shake - train reverberation echoes over a river bridge - announcement (male) - old women's gossip (continues) - man sneezes - engine slows - man snorts - engine slows further - old women coughs - young man coughs - my pen rattles - engines slow further - train passes over inconsistencies in the tracks below (a clicking noise rapidly growing louder) - passing through a station (reverberation changes) - train slows further and further - old woman coughs - people stand - doors open - footsteps

Music For Architecture No. 1 (Homeless)

Soundtrack:
Building Steam With a Grain of Salt
-Dj Shadow

Waiting for friends in Shibuya. i decide to kill the time by trying to get lost. Crowded crosswalks, train tracks, bridges, pedestrian shops, littered parks, noisy streets, alleyways. Along the journey i stumble upon a small homeless community bordering a walkway that passes underneath a train bridge. Dark skies. Orange street lights. Thundering of trains passing above. My breath. My footsteps. Cardboard boxes in a variety of combinations and positions form skyscrapers, castles, haunted mansions, cabins, and condominiums. A few business men pass by trying so hard to ignore the presence of the homeless community that their heads turn the opposite direction, leaving their heads and bodies on different paths. i think to myself, what makes a person homeless?