Himself

M is for Microbiome

by

Who does not love the notion that we exist primarily as an environment for bacteria and viruses to live? I know I do and I am.

As we are aliens on planet bacteria it is hardly surprising that our hosts live all over us in return for letting us live here. In fact we probably would not survive here without their help.

It is not known just how many billions of them live on and in our bodies. It is popularly thought that the bacteria outnumber human cells in the body by 10 to 1 but that figure is disputed and it may be that the numbers of bacteria and human cells are about equal. The numbers reduce briefly after a bowel movements but increase with just about everything we touch.

Not to mention the animals that live on us.

L is for Live Coding

by

Who does not love the confluence of coding and music? I know I do and live coding adds a performance element to the process.

Live coding involves writing code that is producing music from scratch and editing and changing the code as the music develops.

As can be seen here once values are changed the revised code is passed to the computer for processing (when it flashes pink) and the revised music is played…

There are an increasing number of languages available for live coding. The above example is Sonic Pi which is probably the easiest to start with as it comes as a ready to go app and does not require any faffing around in the Terminal etc. Others include ChucK, Alda, Extempore which grew out of impromptu (Mac only) etc. There is some debate as to whether graphical languages count as coding but I say they do so that is the end of that debate.

Here is an excellent demonstration of the process by Andrew Sorensen using Extempore…

So that this A to Z thing does not become a catalogue of old records L is definitely not for the greatest record ever made…

K is for Ko Ko

by

Who does not love a bit of Bebop? I know I do and one of the first Bebop records was Ko Ko by Charlie Parker.

Bebop grew out of a desire to break away from the swing and dance bands popular at the time. The young (early 20s) Charlie Parker’s experimentations allowed his to improvise over a melody with out being tied to its structure. From 1942 to 1944, the time that Bebop was taking off, there was a musician’s strike that stopped them working for record companies. In 1945 Parker and his band recorded Ko Ko. Miles Davis, then 19, was the band’s trumpet player but it is thought that Dizzy Gillespie played on the recording as Davis struggled with the piece although he is included on this broadcast version…

J is for Jammy Smears

by

Who does not love eccentricity? I know I do and Ivor Cutler was an acceptable role model.

Ivor Cutler

Jammy Smears was one of his mid 1970s albums. During that period he was frequently featured on John Peel‘s radio show. Although never being considered part of the mainstream he seemed to always have a record contract and an appreciative audience that spanned several generations.

Abandoning a teaching career, including a spell at Summerhill in the 1950s, his quirky poetry and songs could be found on the radio and by the 1960s on television. It was one such TV performance that attracted Lennon and McCartney to him giving him a part in their Magical Mystery Tour film.

If you are anywhere near Brighton in May you can see a show about his life and works…