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‘For Chelsea Manning’: New album release from Elizabeth Veldon & Sean Derrick Cooper Marquardt

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Musicians and Noise Artists, Elizabeth Veldon and Sean Derrick Cooper Marquardt have recorded and released For Chelsea Manning, a 40-minute experimental, Avant-Garde album, in support of the recently convicted soldier.

Chelsea Manning is a queer hero, she is a role model for socially and politically engaged queer people.

The album is the first release from Veldon‘s new, political label Queering the Black Circle:

A record label for and by queer artists. Sometimes the music may be about queer issues, sometimes it may not but the motto of the label stands: queer artists, queer music.

For Chelsea Manning is available for download here.
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds
An introduction to the world of Noise Artist: Elizabeth Veldon

The ‘Accidental Guitar Music’ of Sean Derrick Cooper Marquardt

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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08.24.2013
08:21 pm
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In Response to Transgate: Elizabeth Veldon makes record label for gender variant and trans artists

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Noise Artist, Elizabeth Veldon has announced that her record label Black Circle will only promote gender variant and trans artists, who will use the label as a place to air their views, for the foreseeable future. Veldon has told Dangerous Minds that her actions are in response to the recent transphobic articles in the British national press.

‘I am doing this in reaction against the surge in anti-trans articles published in the UK press. This began with Suzanne Moore refusing to apologize for a rather silly comment in the New Statesman, and instead throwing transphobic abuse at anyone who criticised her. She was then given a chance to make transphobic comments in the Guardian.

‘The Observer (the Sunday Guardian) then published an article by Julie Burchill, so full of hate speech that the public reaction against it forced the Observer to withdraw the article.

‘The apology the Observer put in place spoke of ‘causing offence’ but did not recognise that hate speech causes violence, causes hate.

‘This was followed by the Daily Telegraph republishing the article and the Independent publishing several articles defending Burchill and claiming that gender variant people complaining about her article where “a mob,” “bullies,” and “over sensitive.”

‘In addition Caitlin Moran, and the editors of the New Statesman, the Spectator and Vanity Fair have all came out to demand an oppressed minority to respect ‘bullies.’

‘In addition to this many cis gender (that is non trans) people commentating on the stories have sought to tell us what is and is not offensive to us.’

Black Circle is recognized as an important independent Noise and Avant Garde label, with a strong commitment to politics and activism. It also has ‘a policy of not giving a forum to people using hate speech, racist, sexist, homophobic, abelist or agist language.’

Veldon believes that by making Black Circle a focus for discussion on issues of gender, identity and sex, will help educate the public.

‘The intention is to allow those actually effected by this hate speech to have a voice which exists outside of the sound and fury of the comment boards of national newspapers, who would use our outrage to increase click rates and therefore to sell more advertising space.

‘I want to allow the voices of an oppressed minority to be heard, to allow us to contribute to this discussion in our own space and hopefully to educate some people.’

Black Circle have [square], Ars Sonor, Guillotine Munter and Pee-Tura and Elizabeth Veldon ready to release new work over the next few weeks.

The first release will be Elizabeth Veldon’s “A Prayer, A Benediction, A Curse”, which will be available as a digital download and limited edition tape. Veldon has also released “The Ever Present Fear Of Violence (For Julie Burchill)”.

Black Circle will also be releasing a zine, containing writing by all those involved with the releases.

More information from Black Circle here.
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

Transgate: Liberal paper’s hateful editorial opens up ‘free speech’ floodgate


 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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01.17.2013
11:07 am
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‘Four Landscapes’: Noise Artist Elizabeth Veldon releases new 4-track album
01.07.2013
07:28 pm
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Noise Artist Elizabeth Veldon has released her latest album Four Landscapes, which is now available for immediate download.

Track Listing:

01. “A Rural Schoolhouse” (45:23)
02. “And See The Flaming Sky” ( 45:24)
03. “Tower Block” (16:47)
04. “Anniesland Cross As Seen From The Train Station” (14:18)

Four Landscapes is also available as a Limited Edition Hand Painted 3 Cassette and CDR Box Set, together with landscape photographs and several printed inserts. Includes immediate download of 4-track album in your choice of MP3 320, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire. Full details can be found here.
 

 

 

 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

An introduction to the world of Noise Artist Elizabeth Veldon


 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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01.07.2013
07:28 pm
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An Introduction to the World of Noise Artist: Elizabeth Veldon

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Inspiration is hard work.

It’s early December and the first snow of winter is falling across the west coast of Scotland. Friends tweet their excitement, their child-like hopes for a white Christmas, posting images of blurry snow on lamp-lit streets. At her home in the north of Glasgow, Noise Artist Elizabeth Veldon stands in her garden, recording the sound of the snow falling.

Veldon is one of the most prolific and talented Noise Artists working today. Her work includes some of the most beautiful, brilliant, challenging and powerful soundscapes recorded. Her albums, such as A Blasted Victoriana, work on multiple levels offering up an intelligent critique of history, politics and sex. Others, including the beautifully mesmeric Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, a haunting celebration of the winter solstice.

When asked about her background, Veldon says there’s not much to tell. She was born in Scotland, into ‘a poor village with massive unemployment and a strict demarcation between Catholic and Protestant .’ This she says ‘probably led to my less than forgiving approach to religious belief.’ Veldon moved to Cambridge to study English Literature at college. It was as a student that her interests in the themes of gender, sexuality, feminist critical theory, poetry and politics, which would influence her musical work.

Returning to Scotland, Elizabeth met her partner 8 years ago. Her partner has been ‘a guiding force in my music.’ Over 6 years ago, Veldon started recorded her first CD. It sold out, and was collected by the Scottish National Library. From this Veldon started recording on a weekly then a daily basis. ‘I launched my bandcamp site around a year-and-a-half ago and since then have uploaded over 100 albums to it. I also formed my own label Black Circle records’ around 1 year ago, as a way to publish music based upon ideas of co-operation, collaboration and community.’

Paul Gallagher: When did you become interested in music and creating noise music/soundscapes? What were the key moments/influences?

Elizabeth Veldon: ‘I’ve always been interested in music, but I suppose this really took off when I met my present partner and two people obsessed with music got together.

‘I don’t know exactly when I became interested in making music but I remember why: I wanted to show that it was possible to make music without studios or finances, a kind of democratisation of the music making process. I began posting these on myspace (back in the days when everyone used myspace) and got positive feedback so I kept going. Originally I improvised tracks by playing multiple pieces by other artists over each other and recorded this to tape using a stereo with no speakers connected. This was then recorded back to my computer and then used as one of the tracks in a second layer and so on and so on until I had a completed piece.

‘As I began taking this process seriously, I started to think of it in terms of John Cage’s Fontana Mix, and began half-jokingly referring to it as Fontana Mix Without A Score, and John Cage has stayed my primary influence since then. I think it’s his belief that music is that which is produced by an artist or composer that most captures my imagination.

‘This led me to try to produce music that echoed the ideas of Pure Abstraction that is something which was not inspired by an external object or sensation. It was this that led me to experiment with feedback and wave forms.

‘More often than not the germ of a work comes from something read in a book or something I hear. For instance The English And Their Dogs came about from my partner saying ‘The Germans love children the way the English love their dogs’. While Satan Is A Very Poor Fellow was inspired by the cover of a book about German artists in exile during and after World War Two.

‘Other influences have included geometric abstractionism (in that it gave me a way to think about producing abstract music), 90’s feminist punk such as Bikini Kill, Derek Jarman (for his fearlessness) and early music.

‘That sounds like the most pretentious list of influences ever.

‘Lately I’ve found myself interested in landscape and finding inspiration from that and then, of course, there’s politics which is always present in everything I do.’

For more information about Elizabeth Veldon and Black Circle.
 
 

 
More from Elizabeth Veldon, plus an introduction to her music, after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Paul Gallagher
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12.29.2012
08:17 pm
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