Guest of the Month – Sep 2011

Imogen Heap

According to her Twitter written biography Imogen Heap is “…an innovative singer-songwriter with a quirky and inspirational character, a tech savvy musician with an eccentric sense of style and uniquely graceful music, Imogen Heap is a profoundly English artist whose songs transcend time and place to conjure captivating digital dreamscapes of love, loss and hopefulness.”

Here’s what Imogen Heap told us she has been listening to recently:

Cerulaean by Baths
One recent late night musical online discovery adventures have been Cerulean by Baths. Especially ‘Lovely Bloodflow’, ‘Aminals’ and ‘Plea’.

I Done A Album by Beardyman
Beardyman – I done A album is his debut album and is both brilliantly funny and dark at times. Live, Beardyman is a beatbox master!! Amazing. It has the energy of his live performances which is often lost by others from stage to studio. Faves are ‘Big Man’, ‘Blind Rabbits’ and ‘Mullet Boy’.

Seven Gulps of Air EP by Jon Hopkins
Jon Hopkins – Seven Gulps of Air EP adds to my reasons to be jealous of Jon’s musical output! I just adore his musical aesthetic. The geese remix of ‘The Low Places’ is truly beautiful.

Hookie by Back Ted N-TED
This is a wonderful album. So makes me want to jump about. Reminds me of touring the states and the fun we had. My favourite is probably ‘The Mirror’. Pop at its best! Sadly… this album never got out into the world as his label let him down just as release was imminent. A crying shame. I hope he doesn’t lose hope and comes storming back so we can all enjoy his music.

Walls by Apparat
An old (not very old) favourite is Apparat’s album – Walls. I adore so many songs on this album. Ones I keep going back to are ‘Hailing from the Edge’, ‘Holdon’ and ‘Limelight’.

Here are a few things I’ve experienced live over the last year. I don’t manage to find much time to go out so they are a few things I’ve come across when at an event I was performing at myself or one my mum and sister went to see recently!

Peter Gregson live at the opening of the new Covent Garden Apple store one afternoon. It’s difficult to carve out some calm with people wandering about, also for the audience to get immersed, but yet I found myself gazing up into the glass ceiling by the end of the gig completely relaxed.

My mum and sister went to see Shlomo’s Mouthtronica at the Edinburgh fringe festival and said his show was amazing. I have seen him in action myself and can recommend him live for sure.

I was part of the BEV Film Festival this year performing a commissioned live choral score with the Holst singers. I’d composed to arguably the first surrealist movie ever made called ‘The seashell and the Clergyman’ c.1927. In this I was introduced to Seaming To’s music through her own live score performance at that even. Her work really resonated with me.

Ben Folds played a fantastic improvised session for Live4Sendai.tv earlier this year in collaboration with myself and other artists toward our efforts to raise money and awareness for the reconstruction of Sendai post the earthquake and Tsunami. He is a force to be reckoned with live.

I heard Sarah Angliss perform along with some of her ‘robots’ she’s made at the ‘Future of Music’ wiredUK event. One of them being the gorgeous ‘Ealing Feeder’ a mechanical handbell rig. I want one! The other being a talking, moving rubber baby!