Grain: Burning pianos and data loss

Annea Lockwood buried, drowned, and burned pianos, and built compositions out of environmental recordings: rivers, wind, bodily rhythms. She has been so inspiring to me over the years when I think about the possibilities of working with sound, and this profile of her is a good reminder that listening and nurturing your relationship to sound can be a radical act. via The Guardian

I’ve heard many horror stories from friends about extreme data loss (in some cases full unreleased albums or pieces of work) that I’m now fairly obsessive about archiving and backing up. This great article in the New Yorker visits recovery professionals at the top of their field bringing life back to dead servers, hard drives and phones. via the New Yorker

I enjoyed this deep dive from Gabrielle Bruney which examines the removal of seating from our cities, and how benches are being replaced with hostile architecture (or just removed entirely) to discourage loitering. The article talks about how we are losing more than just a place to sit but zones that encourage social interaction, visibility and the basic right to exist in public space without needing to spend money. via Places Journal

Bill Orcutt is one of my favourite guitarists working today: prolific and brilliant, always working on the edges but with real melodic skill. I really love his latest record Music in Continuous Motion which sits somewhere between jangly post-punk and hypnotic Steve Reich-ish repetition. via Bandcamp

I’ve also really been enjoying this beautiful recent release from archival label Canary which is made up of cuts from long-forgotten 78rpm discs from Turkey, made in the first half of the 20th century. via Bandcamp

My score for the BAFTA nominated film Wasteman is out this week, made up of all my cues taken from the movie - a violent prison drama that’s rolling out in the US this month. The release is pay-what-you-like on Bandcamp, or on streaming. Listen here

For the next week I’m running a spring archive sale with some warehouse finds and a handful of limited merch from my recent touring supporting Mogwai. Vinyl from £10 - via webstore.