The year began with the semi-opera of fallacies "Fulcanelli's Shoes", created in collaboration with Martha Moopette, which premiered at Soundart Radio, and released online by Headphonica, along with the instrumental album "Music From The Shoes of Fulcanelli".
"Fulcanelli's Shoes" by Ergo Phizmiz from Ergo Phizmiz on Vimeo.
This was rapidly followed by a residency at the Elterwater Merzbarn, resulting in a series of experimental works released on the limited edition cassette "Music For Accountants", and in the audio/video work in collaboration with Elvis Herod & Jared Brandle "Anna Boom", which was released by Bad Panda Records.
Ergo Phizmiz (feat. MC Erik Bumbledonk) - Anna Boom from Bad Panda Records on Vimeo.
Concurrent with this Ergo was (not terribly successfully) crowdfunding for his opera of Flann O'Brien's "The Third Policeman". Undaunted, he wrote, composed, designed, made video, staged and toured the opera across the UK and to Rotterdam, for a total of twelve performances, using the money from each show to fund the next performance. The opera, a hugely original combination of stagecraft, animation, and electronic music, was critically acclaimed and met with wild enthusiasm by audiences. Instrumental elements of the opera were broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC6 Music, and BBC Radio 4. He also created the exhibition Staticopera, which was presented for a month at Riverside Studios, London to coincide with the premiere of The Third Policeman.
It was also a good year for Ergo on radio, particularly in Germany. His autobiographical 60 minute work "Disappearing Boxes" was commissioned by WDR3 and won Horspiel Das Monats at the Deutsche Akademie der Darstellenden Kunste, followed by the 30 minute piece "The Carnival in the Mirror Marches Into The Sea" for dRadiokultur, who also ran a special feature on Ergo's "Music From the Shoes of Fulcanelli". BBC Radio 3 also repeated his award winning 2009 work "Paul Klee, a Balloon, The Moon, Music and Me".
Warsaw provided the setting for Ergo to create a collaborative work based on the operas of Robert Ashley, which is released on the Populista label in 2012. He also performed live improvisations with Hilary Jeffrey, Alessandro Bossetti, and DJ Lenar.
Ergo also co-curated with Martha Moopette the events "Howtosayto" and "Howtosaytwo" at Bridport Arts Centre, staging his operas "The Mourning Show" and "The Third Policeman", followed by a programme of performances and installations from Oblivian Substanshall, Pete Um, Angela Valid, Elvis Herod, Vulnavia Vanity, The Gale, Rob Lee, and a forest of children's art.
Over the course of a few months he released a series of experimental electronic music EPs called Disco Van, in which he fried up and sizzled ideas of dance music in the internet age.
This was followed by the first instalment of a new series entitled "Techno Service", which is music to soothe poorly machines.
In the midst of all this, Headphonica released the mini audio film "Lullaby For a Sinking Submarine".
Surrism-Phonoethics released a mammoth album of Ergo Phizmiz's Collected Sound Installations 2002-2010.
A very decadent evening resulted in the album in collaboration with Vulnavia Vanity, "Buffetinfantil".
He released an "Opera to take place inside a cabinet".
And produced a Posthuman Dadamix for Discrepant.
The Portuguese artist Carlos Noronha Feio asked Ergo to create a soundscape to accompany his exhibition 3-2-1-A-A-and-Away, which was exhibited at Bridport Arts Centre.
With Amie Willingale (The Gale), he wished Beyonce a very happy birthday.
The label Care in the Community Recordings (to whom Ergo is signed for his pop music creations), released two singles, of "The Music Man", and "Food & War" (including a B side cover version of Ergo's song by the legendary R. Stevie-Moore). This culminated in a live session on Marc Riley's show on BBC6 Music. And he gave Marc Riley a great big kiss.
As a producer of other people's music, Ergo produced albums for Oblivian Substanshall ("Oh What a Novelty", and Elvis Herod ("Keep It Regal"), both released on his netlabel Chinstrap, which this year has also released music by The Superfools, Nic Blu and the Travoltings, Vernon Lenoir, Pete Um, and DJ North by Northwest. The label has also been released Ergo curated compilations of music from public-domain science-fiction and horror films, and found 78 RPM obscurities.
So - a very busy year.... thanks for your support and please spread the word....
And what will you have to look forward to in 2012? A new radio commission for Bayerischer Rundfunk in English, German, and Bird language; a new opera called "Gargantua" (which will premiere in 2013 but be released in work-in-progress forms online); and a brand spanking new pop album on Care in the Community, plus some very exciting singles. And more, probably....
N.B. After a year like this, why haven't we got next month's rent?!
