Russell Davies

slime mold

I've posted about this a bit before, but I came across this CD in a drawer so I thought I'd share the whole thing.

When I was at Wieden + Kennedy there was a very cool, sporadic thing called the Slime Mold prize (US spelling). Anyone could submit proposals for something creative they wanted to do and some of them would be picked and funded. Jeff Selis got his first book paid for this way. My proposal was a little less commercially savvy but they did it anyway. I've put it all up here as my little tribute to what a great place it was to work. Don't feel you have to listen to any of it.

I don't think it works entirely, just as a set of music, but, as an audio representation of a group culture, it was a pretty decent experiment.

I got funding to send everyone in the company a blank tape, with instructions to record anything they wanted on it - music, talking, sounds, dumbness. I got all the tapes back and tried to make some bits of music that represented what it felt like to be at w+k. Kinda. All the music was built with a sampler and keyboard from the stuff people sent in - with some of the ads mxed in there too. Then I sent everyone a CD of the finished product.

The masterful Todd Waterbury then designed a lovely package for it, with a little booklet of credits and the brilliant idea of putting the original bits of tape inside the CD case.

The final songs are all below. I'm still quite pleased with most of them but some are a little dated - I was going through a bit of a big beat phase.

Listening back I realise how influenced it is by Microsoft, I was the planner on it at the time. There are Windows sounds all over it.

1. welcome to wieden+kennedy 5.3MB

Including: John Shaw swearing and talking about Kay's Bar, Becca Van Dyke saying 'an exercise in sound', Trish Adams singing 'You Are My Sunshine' and the Windows Start-Up sound used as a keyboard.

2. the odor of decaying morale 1.1MB

Including: Knox Duncan talking about giggling at Charles De Gaulle airport just before getting on a red-eye

3. thats so funny 4.7MB

Including: 'the work comes first' - god, we used to talk about that a lot, kim lilly (now kim curry) swearing and being sarcastic, voicemail feedback from a microsoft client.

4. fresh 4.3MB

Including: lots of paging, some ESPN out-takes and demo sounds from a Coke 'audio logo' they never bought.

5. when the fans go crazy 4.2MB

Including: majestic guitar work submitted by Alex Dobson, and lots of bits of 'found' audio stuff that people used to send around as email, you'll probably recognise them

6. definitely 3.1MB

Including: just lots of stuff assembled from Cedric Gairard's record collection

7. lying on the beach playing in the water 6MB

Including: David Nottoli recorded on vacation, Italian avant-garde opera recorded by Whitney Lowe

8. an amazing number of jennifers 5.3MB

Including: Jed Alger looking at the phone list and Steve Skibba's guitar

9. walking down the halls 3.6MB

Including: Bill Davenport talking and leaving me bad guitar on my voicemail, Dutch TV

10. eat that egg fast 1.9MB

Including: Joe Shands telling me a disturbing story

11. hands in your pockets, pockets in your pants 6.8MB

Including: lots of banging sounds recorded by David Kennedy in his barn, and some excerpts of interviews with his aged relatives

12. boogers 4.7MB

Including: Bob and Susan Moore singing to their kid, the Kokes kids

13. significant acid 5.1MB

Including: Evelyn Monroe Neil recalling a highlight of Oregon musical culture

14. unconcerned but not indifferent 2.4MB

This is a little story recorded for me by Steve Sandoz, who made more effort for me than anyone else in the company, which was typical. Steve died a few years back which makes this track sound horribly maudlin, which isn't a fair reflection of what a joyous bloke he was, but I thought I should leave it in. I hope it reminds people what a splendid guy Steve was. He recorded most of the odd, random, interesting sounds scattered through this CD.

15. a little dutch song 3.7MB

Including: a bunch of stuff from the Amsterdam office and Jae Goodman singing in the shower

16. do i know you? 5.2MB

Including: Jim Riswold being charming, more Steve Skibba guitar made way more funky than he'd wish, more Windows sounds

17. il gatto blu 2.2MB

Including: Italian football fans recorded by Jon Matthews

18. you do not know me 3.6MB

Including: lots of stuff from Dan & Dave's Hall Of Fame video and a poem by Will Nash

19. organised, illegal surgery 7.9MB

Including: random stuff, Bing Crosby and guitar from Steve Sandoz

(This one is only this big because it's got loads of silence in it. I wouldn't feel the need to download the whole thing, it's not worth it.)

I still have some CDs knocking around, if there are any w+k folk out there who'd like another one, just let me know.

Batman - woodland creature

We took Arthur to a birthday party in the woods today. (Well Anne did really, I just skulked about). The theme was supposed to be 'woodland creatures', so wih admirable and boyish ingenuity he decided to go as Batman. He's been practising his arms folded, looking stern pose from the opening credits of Justice League Unlimited. He's getting quite good isn't he?

Roald Dahl

Arthur and I went to the Roald Dahl museum last weekend with Malcolm and Sam. Small but perfectly lovely.

Very nice interaactive things which the boys liked and atmospheric exhibits which me and Malcolm liked. Very English. Spitfires. Pencils. Sheds. Witches. Chocolate.

Schiphol roof

I'm spending more and more time and Schiphol airport and I'm liking it more and more.

This time I found my way up to the roof, which is marvelous. The viewing area at most airpots seems to have disappeared due to security concerns.

They've got these fantastic telescopes, one looking like a space rocket, one looking like a stop sign (Stop N Watch). I love this attention to detail - most of these telescopes look boring, why not make them look interesting?

This is great too. A bunch of stickers (I presume) from the various graduating classes of the KLM Flight Acadamy - a good way to create some team feeling that more businesses could think about. Everyone knows that the best thing about starting a band is designing the logo and stuff, that's the fun bit; maybe businesses could do more to transfer that sort of solidarity to work stuff.

Newsnight challenge

I've refered before to our domestic Newsnight challenge - the idle speculation we have at home about which of the people we know will be first to be on Newsnight. So far, Anne's been in the lead with an appearance on Go For It. But now she's been trumped by our friend Andy Ruddock who was on Thinking Allowed last week.

sark to dome

I was listening to Robert Elms the other day and heard about this Memoryscape thing. It's a walk, from The Cutty Sark to The Dome with accompanying MP3s based on a sound archive - dockers and local people talking about life on the river and in the docks. You can download the mp3s and the map from the site.

I went on Sunday morning and it was fantastic.

You get a very good sense of the overlapping industrial histories going on. From clippers to docks to light industry to wasteland to imminent flats.

The relatively unpeopled nature of the place makes for a lot of graffiti.

I wonder what that exclamation mark is trying to tell you. 'Look out! There's a river!' Isn't that relatively apparent?

You get great industrial shapes. I bet you get a lot of photographers around here, doing the juxtaposition thing they love so much. Nature and Industry. Industrial Wasteland and Yuppie Flats. Poverty and Wealth.

Do cranes get used a lot in sculpture or art? It seems like they should do. They look great and they're probably dense with all sorts of metaphor. But I don't remember seeing any big cranes in the turbine hall.

Near the dome (which I love) there's a real wasteland. An area waiting to be compulsarily purchased. And there's this great cafe/motel called the Millenium Motel where various migrant workers stay. Either inside or in the caravans and camper vans in the yard. While the spaceshippy spurs of the Dome lurk in the background.

The dritwood's not really delivering on the romantic John Masefield / Caribbean beach bum / Robinson Crusoe images the word conjures up. Lots of sports equipment in there though.

And there's lot of interesting little holes and things to peer through. A great walk. Try it. There's also a version on the posher bit of the river - West of the city. Probably more pleasant and less interesting.

spleen

i just want to get home in time for Teen Titans

the sound of artifical nostalgia

I think the autumnal sunshine has fired up some kind of nostalgia hormone in me, but I saw these two CDs in Borders and couldn't resist them. I've been listening to them all morning at work. Not exactly cutting edge youth marketing activity but never mind. All the tunes are exaclty what you'd expect, and they evoke a Britain I have no memory of whatsoever, but that I feel connected to via the shipping forecast, Lord Peter Whimsey tapes, Stephen Fry's suits and Anne Dudley's (apparently very rare) music for Jeeves and Wooster.

it's been a funny week...

...started on Saturday in Derbyshire with another trip to see Rocester.

Their non-wining streak is now up to about 53 games. (I think). But thre's a new spirit about them. New manager. Some new players. They went a goal down early and then battled back fro a draw, which felt like a victory. A very good way to spend a couple of hours.

Since then I've done two trips to Amsterdam, which has been a pain, but one of them included a chance to see Ajax v Arsenal which was splendid. Another good game. Great atmosphere.

One of the things I enjoyed at both games was my favourite crowd noise - the post-outrage murmur - that few seconds of grumbling mutter you get after the shouts of outrage about a refereeing decision or a potential handball. I love that sound.

I think I'll be seeing more of Rocester than Ajax in my life though. Better chips at Rocester.

Right down there on the touchline. That's Johan Cruyff. But you probably can't see him very well.