Over the past couple of months I’ve been lucky enough to receive an awful lot of what I’m almost tempted to call ‘fan mail’ (but won’t for the sake of modesty); as well as quite a number of messages from people interested in reviewing or discussing the ‘Ghosts Of Bush’ album for their magazine, blog, radio show, knitting circle et cetera. This included an email from one Etienne Noiseau, a French journalist who writes for the Syntone blog as well as LE BLOG DE LA CRÉATION SONORE, part of the online section of the magazine Télérama. Both of these websites look so interesting that I’m almost certainly going to brush up on my language skills in order to explore them further!
Unfortunately the aforementioned correspondence co-incided with what I think we might as well refer to as ‘Herbertgate‘, and as a result got rather buried at the back of my inbox. Despite my failing to properly answer any questions (for which I must apologise), he’s written a really nice feature on the album which the french-speaking quotient of my readership will find here.
For the rest of us who find our language skills to be sadly lacking, I’ve taken the liberty of running the article through that perennially unreliable engine of confusion and unintentional hilarity that is Google Translate. I expect you’re already familiar with this intriguing piece of online software, which at the merest touch of a button can transform a writer’s reasoned and thoughtful prose into absolute gibberish in almost any language in the world. Isn’t modern technology wonderful? I think it’s fair to say have Etienne’s words have not survived the process wholly intact, though I did find it most amusing to be described as ‘wispy’. Here is the bleeding corpse:
Sound design: the ghosts of the BBC
RADIO | Do you know Robin the Fog? This sound artist working at the BBC, where he hunts sounds at night. He released an album, The Ghosts of Bush. A document.
Pulsation organic, singing haunting, dark atmosphere, threadbare and sweet at the same time. Staining sound difficult to date. The Ghosts of Bush, however, is an album produced in 2012 by an artist under the pseudonym wispy sound: Robin The Fog.
Night, Robin The Fog works as director antenna “Bush House”, the headquarters of BBC World Service. In the morning, it saves the atmosphere of the workplace, offices deserts, caulked studios, halls gigantic acoustic reverberation. Then invests the reserves, made his bed on his antique machines, handles bands in all directions … and heritage work done on 12 July, the international radio has definitely left Bush House to other premises in central London .
British collective memory, this move does not without nostalgia. The World Service was a historical relay dissent Third World, as well as a cultural platform of multi-ethnic London. George Orwell was employed there (it was inspired by Bush House for the Ministry of Truth in 1984), General De Gaulle spoke to the French there, Paul McCartney young Soviets. Bush House is a mythical place that has sometimes haunted said. Robin The Fog architecture resonates like an old abandoned body. Reconnecting with creativity house, it also pays tribute to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the legendary studio in the ’60s, a generation nourished and futuristic sounds fantastic.
September 13, information on the antenna launched the BBC had the effect of a small bomb: the rebirth of the Workshop is announced, with the amazing Matthew Herbert its controllers. Known for its concept albums musiquettes electro, Herbert made from samples of atmospheres nightclub or noises pigs. This exciting news is however tinged with a shadow: the first order is entitled to Herbert Bush House and is based on an approach similar to Robin The Fog: a tribute to the sound of the BBC building. Shameless plagiarism or unpleasant coincidence? Reassured by the sales of its fan vinyl and Matthew Herbert, Robin opted for fair play. As he looks forward to the next stirrings of New Radiophonic Workshop. For now, his Ghosts of Bush continues to haunt us.
The 26/10/2012 at 19:59
Etienne Noiseau
Many thanks to Etienne for writing such a complimentary article (and for predicting that my attempts to translate it using dodgy online software would ‘surely rock’!), I urge you to go and check out Syntone and Télérama if you haven’t already done so. Thanks also to Mr. Rob Allanson for taking the above instagram picture of the second, green edition of the album, which as mentioned before, sold out in about five days. There will almost certainly be a third pressing, but those of you who haven’t yet picked up a copy might have to be extra patient this time. Stick with me, though, I won’t let you down…
Robin The Fog 