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IAN BLAKE: Home


Ian Blake, as he was in 2005. Photo by Greg Stewart. Intriguingly, the little glitches that go with web-wrangling a photo through various sizes and formats have given the beard a sprinkling of (Dorian?) grey just like the present real-life version. I wonder how long this will go on? Will you be gazing (in your submarine home via your heads-up display implant) into empty orbits half a century hence? Will there still be an interweb? Distinguishable, I mean, from what we now think of as the real world? Will the seamless transition between global info-power gatekeepers Google-plex™ and consensus reality render such a distinction moot? Do you give a flying fish? Hello: I'm a composer, producer and bass player. Bass singer and bass clarinettist too: I seem to feel at home with those more relaxed frequencies. And home is where the studio is: you can listen to some of my productions here — from spooky lullabies and dance tunes to songs for kids, sound art, and era-bending electro-organic chamber music.

See below for news of the latest shows and recordings, and feel free to explore: hear some of my latest work, plus music from way back. Leave your mark on the guestbook; and acquire delicious Blake product secure in the knowledge that as well as being beautiful and worthwhile, most of this stuff is so obscure that it'll supercharge your collection with ineffable coolth. 

29 December 2011




Here's the video of that SANS show at St Ethelburga's. I'm relaxing there at the end of the stage, just listening to Sanna finishing the concert with a beautiful Finnish lullaby. Because sometimes it's best to just listen.

Taedet Animam Meam by ianblake

...and The Pocket Score Company recently recorded this: we're working up to a CD to be released in 2012. It's from the Matins of the Dead, set by Tomás Luis de Victoria.

Now, this is Francis Pilkington's lute song 'Rest Sweet Nymphs' in a version for four voices:

Rest Sweet Nymphs by ianblake

23 September 2011

Here's a new venture: SANS is a quartet which came together in Finland at this year's Kaustinen Festival. We liked the results! So we'll be doing some more shows, starting in London on October 23rd. The band includes Tigran Aleksanyan on the Armenian duduk, the voice of Sanna Kurki-Suonio, Andrew Cronshaw on electric zither and various interesting wind instruments, and myself on soprano sax and bass clarinet.
Andrew Cronshaw's new CD features the musicians of SANS and will be available then too.
The concert is at St Ethelburga's Centre. It's always great to play in a church: seems to be the natural habitat of The Pocket Score Company, and Lichfield Cathedral was a splendid setting for the concert with Andy and Tigran back in July at the Lichfield Festival.

On a recent trip to Paris I interviewed Kaija Saariaho and caught up with Richard Lewis, whose music you can listen to at Radio Delevine. Meanwhile, I'm back in Australia for a few weeks, working on forthcoming CDs. At the wisteria-clad Blue Bear Studio, Thai Lee is making an atmospheric keyboard and vocal-based album: if you like Enya's music, you'll enjoy this when it emerges. The Pocket Score Company will be recording a few rather old songs shortly plus something fresh from countertenor David Yardley.

And some new projects have been released: Fred Smith's 'Dust of Uruzgan' has been getting some great reviews; Peter Woodley's collection of Flute Tunes is out, as is Lynne Pilbrow's second volume of FunMusic for Little Kids which is all about Transport.

13 April 2011

I've just visited Music for Everyone where rehearsals are now under way for a new performance of my music theatre piece for young players: The Gathering of the Animals, directed by Dianna Nixon. Written in 1998, it'll be great to hear it up and running with a new generation of performers.

And The Pocket Score Company is getting to grips with the new material for the Homecoming concert on June 5th at St.Pauls Church in Manuka ACT.

Over at the Blue Bear studio complex, we're busy with projects from Freyja's Rain, Andrew Cronshaw, Peter Woodley, Fred Smith and FunMusic for Little Kids, and will be recording the Oriana Chorale's concert One Foot in Eden on April 16th.