Bring your instrument, noise-maker or voice. Join in free improvisations with seasoned musicians and first time enthusiasts alike: all welcome, absolutely no experience required. Or just bring your ears and enjoy.

[Facebook event page]

Open Sound Group is a netlabel releasing sound art, improvisation, field recordings and sonic experiments. OSG is also a series of open workshop events bringing together musicians, artists, improvisers and enthusiasts to share ideas and play with sound together.

To celebrate the first year of the label we’re staging the first public Open Sound Group event. Throughout the evening, different ensembles will be put together at random to create music on the spot. There will be opportunities to play as a trio or a ten piece band. The level of participation is up to you: throw yourself into performance or sit back and listen to it all unfold. However you interact, you are part of the Open Sound Group.

Monday 5th March 2012
Power Lunches
446 Kingsland Road, E84AA London, United Kingdom
FREE entry
8pm – midnight

Guidelines and info
- Egos should be left at the door. Everyone has equal status as a participant.
- Edited recordings from the event will be released through OSG, credited to the players where possible.
- Feel free to bring anything you like to make sounds with, but be aware that space and amplification are limited.
- Scores, improv structures and other ideas are more than welcome.

WOMB – My Meat is Bigger Than Yours, Live in London (Power Lunches, Hackney, 15-12-11)

Click here to download.

Womb is an all-female Manchester based band conceived in January 2011. Womb began as an open collective but has quickly developed into a vital band within Manchester’s music scene. At their second gig, Dan Treacy from the Television Personalities described Womb as ‘like seeing the Velvet Underground for the first time.’

This recording is from Womb’s first London gig at Power Lunches, Hackney on 15th December 2011. Droning bass, pounding drums, staccato guitar and haunting, aggressive vocals, a part-improvised, expressive, organised chaos.

Louise Woodcock – vocals;
Genette Reynolds – Bass;
Jennifer McDonald – Guitar;
Fiona Ledgard – Drums.
Cover art by Helen Shanahan.

More info from Womb on posterous and womb.me.uk.

Full live performance from legendary vocalist Damo Suzuki backed by an ensemble of nine musicians. The set spans noise, drone, motorik rhythms, ambient soundscapes, rock and funk.

Click here to download.

Recorded live at Cafe Oto, Dalston, London on 8th July 2011.
Performed by Damo Suzuki with Graham Dunning, James S Finn, Alice French, Marcus Hamblett, Justin Paton, Craig Tamlin, Georgina Treloar & Koichi Yamanoha.
Organised by Anthony Chalmers, aka God Don’t Like It.

Full line-up:
Damo Suzuki – vocals;
Chris Cook – Sitar;
Graham Dunning – Turntables and objects;
James S Finn – Synthesizer;
Alice French – Flute;
Marcus Hamblett – electronics and cornet;
Justin Paton – bass guitar;
Craig Tamlin – drums and percussion;
Georgina Treloar – Xylophone and percussion;
Koichi Yamanoha – Guitar.

Open Sound Group - Warehouse One

Four improvised recordings from changing improvising ensemble, Open Sound Group. Rhythm, drone, spoken word, small sounds and noise.

The second OSG event, these tracks were recorded in a warehouse in Manor House, London, in late August 2011. The session was run as an open workshop with players invited to experiment with new ideas, new instruments and new ways of making sounds.

Participants at the event were: James Alaska, Tom Mudd, Andrea Night of Pan, Colin Webster, David Gadsdon, Jonas Golland, Sharen Sum, Justin Paton, Carlos Slazenger, Caveman Joe, Cathy Gerber and Graham Dunning.

Instruments used included prepared piano, gamelan, violin, saxophone, laptops, turntables, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, spoken word, drums, didley bow, synthesizers and voices.

Click here for the archive.org dowload page.
Click here to download direct [zip].

Participants at the event were: James Alaska, Tom Mudd, Andrea Night of Pan, Colin Webster, David Gadsdon, Jonas Golland, Sharen Sum, Justin Paton, Carlos Slazenger, Caveman Joe, Cathy Gerber and Graham Dunning. Links to each person’s websites are available in the bar on the right.

Asteroid – Koronis
1.  243 Ida (28’48”)
2. Dactyl (14’46”)

Asteroid is a changing group of improvising musicians formed in 2011.
This release is a live recording of a performance on 16th June 2011 at The Others, Stoke Newington, London. It features two tracks of drone, noise and sci-fi soundscapes.
Lineup:
JO THOMAS / laptop / electronics / effects
KEVIN QUIGLEY / synth / percussive guitar / effects
GRAHAM DUNNING / turntables / objects / electronics
NABIL AHMED / bass / effects

Click here to download free from Archive.org.

New release from artist, composer and inventor Mr.Underwood: field recordings from inside Birmingham’s Central Library. More info here.

Free download from Open Sound Group on Archive.org.

Improvised drone and ambient music from composer-musician James Alaska and sound artist Graham Dunning. The 23 minute track features record crackle, drawn out tones, FM static and minimally processed live environmental sound. The sessions were recorded in March 2010 in Manchester, on the ninth floor of a 1960s towerblock.
James Alaska used a Nord Rack synth, Kaos pad, FM radio, mixer and delay pedal. Graham Dunning used two turntables, two delay pedals, modified records, glass disk, cymbal, marbles and a microphone hung out of the window.
Edited and mastered by James Alaska.

Click here to download free from Open Sound Group on Archive.org

Following the two day event at The Rea Garden and The Lombard Method in August 2010, the recordings are now available for free download from the Open Sound Group netlabel: click here to visit the release page.

On Friday 20th August 2010, participants were invited to visit The Rea Garden artists’ project space to collect field recordings, sound objects or ideas; to explore and get a feel for the site; and to talk to Graham Dunning about his work as resident artist there. The site itself is a former industrial unit which was derelict for 20 years following a fire. As such it contains a wealth of interesting objects and scrap, including pieces of broken shellac from its former use as a record warehouse.

The workshop took place on Saturday 21st August in the project space at The Lombard Method (known as “The Fire Room”). The session was informal and exploratory with no specific deadlines or rigidly defined outcomes. Participants were invited to bring instruments, sound making equipment, field recordings, effects processors, objects, etc. The workshop was open to any artists working with sound and improvising experimental musicians based near (or with connections to) Birmingham.

The starting point for the workshop was a brief discussion about the Rea Garden and any ideas which had arisen from the site visit. The day then saw people sharing ideas and processes, talking about their work and demonstrating their equipment, leading to an exploration of how different sounds can work together or in contrast; how different processes can be connected; and ways of collaborating in a performance setting.

Participants were encouraged to take part in live recordings, improvisations and performances which are documented here. Different combinations of instruments were explored; small groups and large ensembles; artists remixing or otherwise manipulating others’ sounds; experiments with new or untested techniques.

The first two downloads available from the Open Sound Group netlabel are archived recordings from OSG founder Graham Dunning: The 2009 album, A Bubble of Dove’s Blood, a CD released on Canadian label Frequent Sea Recordings which is now out of print, and three tracks used in Three Artefacts, an installation in Solihull Gallery from 2010. Both sets are free to download.