new music objects

i have lots to add about this news. but, of course, i'm currently 7 minutes away from an all-day meeting with web designers and director peeps (geeking it out at the moment). thanks to charlie gower for the zOMG of it.

but i just wanted to post this little snippet so you can read about it. then, when i start my mutterings, it'll make a little more sense :)

not vinyl, tape, CD or even MP3 - a format-open box of goodness that is just a silver headphone jack. for me, the possibilities are endless and really do ask questions about the role of form/format in music and what that means for the commerce of listening.

anyway, read about it in creative review first. i pinched the image from their website too.

she sings a love song

so, i've been all sentimental and romantic lately, serenaded by some really beautiful and soppy songs of romance and love. 

in trying to find music that expresses my feelings of love and affection in return, i've discovered that i have distinct lack of songs that express how i feel at the moment.

one of the reasons is clearly because i've been a stonecold ice queen for far too long and my musical taste hasn't had to express my voice in that way. i've been focused on rhythm, fucking with musical discourse, dance music, social voices, angry voices or the fantasy voice of a boy's love song to me.

but not one that i imagine singing to another. until now.

so, in trying to rectify the problem (no, not stick it up my arse -  fix it), i've been trying to find some shit hot love songs by women. ones that will get stuck in your throat, that pierce the heart and make you cry; songs that express the feelings of the heart in such a poetic way that you don't even want to say them, you want that woman to sing them to him.

but when it comes to finding a soulful, heartfelt female voice singing for mine, i'm finding it extremely difficult.  it seems that the boys really know how to really woo us with songs about love, hope, endearment and promises for the future.

songs sung by women about loneliness, heartbreak and being wronged? i've got a stack of 'em! we know how to express hurt in song, that's for sure. 

don't get me wrong - there are a lot of the soppy love songs out there sung by women, but they're all terrible there are tacky, poppy crap sung either by little girls (taylor swift, ke$ha, katy perry,) or the matriarchs from yesteryear: (cher, babs, maddie, tiffany).

i don't mind chucking a bit of beyonce's crazy or love on top into a playlist, maybe adele if i'm stretching it, but i clearly need help filling out my love song dedications. i'm looking for one that expresses love without also expressing a desire to become a wet fish at the first corner.

here's my playlist as it stands.

Salt'n'Pepa - Whatta Man

Ladyhawke - Magic

PJ Harvey - Is This Desire

XX - Heart Skipped a Beat

The Simon Sound - Between the Wake and The Sleep

Ghostface Killah feat. Otherized Fam - Love Stories

Clairy Browne and the Rackettes - Love Letter

Billie Holiday - The Man I Love

Janis Martin - Love and Kisses

see? a few cool and heartfelt tracks, but it's pretty short.

please, dear readers with full hearts, romantic incline and street cred, i'd be very grateful for the suggestion of a lady's love song.

public institutions

Often my work about art in public space has more of an art leaning - sound, performance, space, etc.

Lately, it's been focused on the public bit. The bios politikos seen in hannah arendt's the human condition.  Gender and sexual identity are a massive part of what drives my high horse, especially when it comes to public insitutions and, unsurprisingly, i've been supporting recent pushes for marriage equality across sexual orientation.

As it stands, i think the institution of marriage is in a bit of a state - it needs to be reconnected to the reasons for having an area of law that governs relationships between people that combine emotion and posessions and effect how succession is legislated (ie: families).


This is a little something of what I wrote to the Senate for their inquiry into the issue:


I have family who have been afforded protection by the Marriage Act who have been violent, abusive, financially negligent and hold complete disregard for the rights of their spouses.

I have family and dear friends who are in loving, committed relationships - who uphold the human rights of their partners, who participate in their communities, who value love, support and financial stability, yet who are not afforded the same rights when it comes to participating in the institution of marriage.

In every other way they uphold the responsibilities of their entitlement to being protected by the Marriage Act. And yet their sexual orientation (something for which their employment, education and citizenship itself cannot be discriminated against) is the only quality which continues to exclude them.

This is not right.

What it says about Australia is that our Marriage Act, and the institution of marriage is only for the protection of a certain percentage of our population, many of whom we allow to continue abusing it and corrupting it without recourse.

I support marriage equality, as it will realign our institution of Marriage with the kind of values it needs to continue: love, committment, participation in the community and upholding the human rights of our loved ones.



I would like Australia's politikos to be as robust as possible.