A couple of weeks ago I bought this album, just as it came out. I have been a big fan of Sigur Ros since I first came across their music a few years ago in Wire magazine. I love Wire magazine – every issue introduces you to heaps of bands and musicians you will never have heard of. They push the musical boundaries (sometimes too far, but that is the point!) Anyway, after hearing a track by the band on a compilation CD given away with the magazine I set off to explore their music. This was around the time of their untitled album known as () which I bought and thought was the most original music I had heard in years. So why am I telling you all this? Well, having continued to follow their music and their ascent to wider fame I was very interested when this new album came out. Jonsi is the lead singer in Sigur Ros and Alex is his partner. It’s a deeply ambient album. On first listen I was struck by the subtlety of the music – there’s immense depth but it is masked within a deeper wash. There are tracks that are very reminiscent of the work of Brian Eno – but, whereas Eno uses repetition and mechanistic approaches, this music has a deeper layer of emotion.
After many listens now, I sat down last night to listen to the album again – but this time through headphones. It was a revelation. There is so much going on in each track which is simply lost to the room when listening with speakers. It opens up a whole different perspective to the music. Each track creates a stunning soundscape which depicts a combination of melody (just, as far as is possible in the domain of ambient), rhythm and a backdrop of found sounds which prompt visual imagery in the listener. The use of children’s choir on a couple of the tracks is breath-taking.
I know it is tempting to stop liking a band when they become so popular that they can be heard behind countless trailers on the BBC, but I am still in love with the music of Sigur Ros, and this album shows that the band members are still pushing the boundaries and prepared to explore new challenges.
Tags: Micro-reviews, Music
The key to great biography work as part of a process of self-development is to ask great questions. A few years ago I met Rennie Fritchie who shared with me the ideas she had about Biography Work. She published on this. I tried the exercise which focused on 9 key questions – and the results were really powerful. Looking back now at the paper I put together is really interesting. I will try the exercise again with the benefit of 10 years hindsight. Here is a useful format to work through, based on Rennie Fritchie’s work:
PART ONE – Plotting the Stars
1. What kind of human being do you want to be? Describe the kinds of skills, abilities, qualities, disposition, character and understanding you want to have.
2. What do you want to do with your life? Think in large as well as small ways of achievements, actions and important issues for you.
PART TWO – Mapping the Journey
3. Where are you? Describe fully your current stage, both personal and career.
4. How did you get there? Look back in your life and trace all the elements, happenings and people who have influenced your life path.
5. Where do you want to go? Using the material from 1 and 2 begin to describe your real intentions.
6. How will you get there? Refer to the information you have gained about your journey in life so far and consider new ways.
7. What will you do when you arrive? Begin to sketch in your intentions and actions.
8. Where to next? Life is a continuous process, so begin to look beyond your immediate horizons.
9. How do you begin?
PART THREE – Starting Out
10. Plan of action
Tags: Personal Development, Writing
ambientblog.
Follow the link above to find a blog which belongs to Peter van Cooten. From the website, the following:
“Starting in 2000, I have created quite a few ambient mixes that were presented on dutch radio. The earlier ones were created for uninterrupted four hour broadcasts (!!!). More mixes were to follow, but the radio shows that hosted them gradually became shorter and shorter. Four, Three, Two and finally One hour per show. Still a good length for an ambient mix, by the way. But is proved to be a sign: in october 2009, the radio show I was co-compiling was finally terminated.
That was the moment to find another platform to present this beautiful music. Not only for the older mixes (that will obviously prove to be worth listening to still), but also to create new ones and share them with ambient music lovers worldwide.
Locally, interest in drone/ambient may be sparse, it’s considered a ‘niche market’ that most record stores don’t even bother to stock. But on the internet this musical subculture is very much alive. So a weblog linked to a podcast presenting the mixes is the most obvious choice.
Starting in june, 2009, I will publish all previous mixes on this weblog/podcast. I will publish them in chronological order, starting from 2001, until now. And of course this will be the place to publish new mixes too!
What all of these mixes have in common, is that they are not restricted exclusively to the music defined as ‘ambient‘ or ‘electronic‘. Mixing this music with other music from different genres often enhances the ‘cinematographic feel’. Some of them may prove to be accessible (meaning ‘listenable’) even to people that are new to the ‘ambient’ genre. For those that consider themselves experienced listeners the combination of fragments may sound quite different than the separate parts in itself. To me, every mix seems to tell a story.”
It’s a fantastic resource. Go on, download a podcast or two, darken the lights and sit back. Each one lasts an hour or so and drifts through so many of my favourite artists. If you like what you hear, listen to the rest. What a treat!
Tags: Music
There are two principles which have helped me to increase my productivity recently. They occurred to me during a coaching session.
The inbox isn’t our work
For those of us who spend a lot of time working with email it is easy to become caught up in the illusion that the inbox is the workplace. It is true that a lot of our work may come to us through this medium, but that does not mean that work is equal to and captured by the email inbox. There are other places for us, other media which we should be adopting. When we become a slave to the inbox, we lose our sense of perspective and can often not see what is important (especially if it doesn’t show up in email!)
I’m more productive than I think I am
I now do a weekly and monthly review process. This gives me an opportunity to look back over a meaningful timeframe and see what I have done. I look through the diary, email, personal and work journals. I capture a summary of what I have done that week or month, and give myself a mini-report (it doesn’t have to be written). These reviews invariably dig up a volume of work beyond what I would expect. They are a pleasant surprise.
So – by taking myself out of the inbox, and ensuring that I don’t spend too much time each day on email, and regularly reviewing what I have achieved – it is possible to shift perspective and escape the ‘busy’ trap.
Tags: Productivity, Writing
young bird
picks his way through reeds in the shallows of the river
parent birds no longer haunt this stretch of water
except in dreams and spirit movements
finding his way through this special setting now
with no thoughts for his parents
in a glorious moment he catches
a silvered stickleback in his beak
before letting go of spring
he will ruffle feathers just one more time
and as you capture sight in the lens for just one second
he is gone, flashes of feathers as he disappears
like the time slip escape of a happen-stance
incredible in a state of disbelief
Tags: Poetry
Active Living Dispositions
Archetypes, as they manifest themselves in organisations, are not illusory qualities; they are not some apocryphal acts of the imagination. They have a reality and substance in the greater community of the people who comprise the organisation. They are active living dispositions which impact on our everyday life.
Let us stop for a moment to look at the organisation. What is an organisation? Does it have a meaning and context beyond that of the people who work within it? Often, we tend to take concepts like ‘organisation’ and build around them a sense of the object. The organisation becomes an object in its own right. This does not make sense. It is true to say, that when we talk about organisations, we may be referring to a number of attributes – the people, the buildings and their fabric, the role and purpose of the organisation. However, in all of this, there is the intrinsic role of the people as the key component parts. For, without people we have no organisation.
The objectification or personification of the organisation is a step that takes us further away from the productive scope of the organisation. It removes us from the true essence of the organisation – we move away from the soul of the organisation, away from the sense of the organisation as an active living disposition. In removing the focus from those people who work in the organisation, we diminish the soul within the organisation.
Tags: Personal Development, Psychology, Writing
… from the latest poetry sequence (still unfinished) called ‘Scrapes against the Soul’
The conversations the night sea has with the dawn
Leave an empty hissing through the sea weed, as if
Everything had left the world in solitude…
And my heartbeat can be heard beneath the lap of waves
Quickened by the memory of lost loves and lost lives
Out beyond the edges of my full recall
Enough now to have spoken with the elements
Everyone wonders where I stand, beyond reach
Remembering a glimpse of someone from 30 years ago
They not the same, me not the same
As the sea changes in each fragment of a second
And the sun filling the sky before it appears
And when the memories seem tired, the voices heard before
I remind myself that each sound is unique, nothing repeats
Where I see patterns, they are only my creation
Every conversation the dawn has, with the sea and the mountains
Is new, it will do, it will make, it will be clear
Some space outside solitude that is not made of loneliness.
…I wrote this poem some months ago, and before I started to make contact with friends from school who I had lost contact with some 30 years ago. The content and sentiment now seem prescient at the least.
Tags: Poetry, Writing
What do I mean by ‘Reflective Practise’? This is the regular habit of asking yourself questions about how you are going about your work, your daily habits of living. Finding the opportunity to step back, and take a critical (but positive) look at what is working, what is not working, and what the key learning points are from the day.
Doing this on a regular basis is key, writing it down is also a fundamental part of the learning process. The act of writing ensures that the points are captured for future reference, but it also ensures a level of objectivity through the writing act. Seeing the words on the page helps to detach me from the points that are being made so that I can reflect on them, look at what they mean and take action based on them.
Key questions for this reflective practise would be:
- What was good about today?
- What 3 things worked really well?
- What didn’t go so well?
- What have I learnt from this?
Not too many questions – this isn’t meant to be a major exercise. And the questions are just pointers to prompt thinking.
If we are to move habits and behaviours, embedding those which are productive and doing something about habits which don’t serve us, we need reflective practise to act as a prompt to move us forward.
What did you do today? What were you proud of? Can you point to something and appreciate it, so that tomorrow you begin the day from a positive place and continue to build?
Commit to this new practise for 30 days and see where it takes you. New habits take this long to become embedded. Work with this as a form of self appreciation, and see how it builds a sense of direction and esteem. Good luck.
Tags: Personal Development, Productivity, Writing
BUGS & BUZZES – an ice-breaker exercise for a group meeting.
Ice breaking - ice breakers at work
What it does
This is a great warm-up exercise for the beginning of a group meeting. It can also be used in a one-to-one situation.
In a group, it will change the atmosphere in the room and create a co-operative energy to prepare for the business of the meeting.
How to play it
The exercise is done in two rounds. For the first round, each person takes it in turns to describe something which is really annoying, something which ‘bugs’ them. It can be in any context, although it is helpful if it is in the relevant to the context. There is no judgement of that ‘bug’ – but the rest of the group has the opportunity to contribute with comments or suggestions for overcoming the ‘bug’.
In the second round of the exercise, each person describes something which gives them a real ‘buzz’. Again, others can contribute and add comments.
How it works
The first round gives each person an opportunity to describe something which is causing problems in the daily work. There is also an opportunity to create a shared approach to problem solving. It also gives air-space to issues which might otherwise be considered too trivial to raise.
In the second round, the focus on positive things which make each of us buzz, helps to create an environment of appreciative involvement.
Tags: Creativity, Personal Development, Writing
