Ergo Phizmiz was a busy, busy boy in 2011

2011 may be a year for Ergo Phizmiz to claim to have been the busiest artist on the planet.....

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?!

Four 12" single-press vinyl for sale ..... as limited as they come, grab 'em!

The first four installments of six, unique vinyl records. There is one copy of each up for grabs, so be quick. Each of the records comes in one-off, handmade artwork of wallpaper, wrapping paper, paint, craft paper, and marker pen, lovingly handcrafted by Ergo Phizmiz.

Due to the single-press nature of each vinyl, we are selling them for £30 a piece, plus £5 shipping. You want one? Yes..... so e-mail me on ergophizmiz at gmail dot com and Paypal details will be forwarded.....

1) "Before I Acquired My Tardis" - 12" single-press vinyl with handmade artwork - THIS RECORD HAS NOW FOUND A HAPPY HOME
Experiments in ambient and drone music, made using voice, instruments and computers, exploring relationships between space, time, and depth in composition, before I acquired my Tardis. Recorded in Lincoln, UK, 2002-2004.

2) "Why Not Sneeze, Achilles?" - 12" single-press vinyl with handmade artwork - THIS RECORD HAS NOW FOUND A HAPPY HOMECuttings and layer from 'The Faust Cycle', starring Marcel Duchamp and Helen of Troy. The Duchamp side is constructed of his speech 'The Creative Act' cut with easy-listening records, toy instruments, and electronics. The Helen of Troy side is constructed from Hungarian folksongs and musique-concrete. Recorded in Devon, 2006.

3) "Best Heard in a Ballroom" - 12" single-press vinyl with handmade artwork THIS RECORD HAS NOW FOUND A HAPPY HOMEElements and experiments from sample compositions, made principally using ballroom and British dance-band music. Recorded on the Isle of Wight and in Normandy, France, 2005-2007. Very fractured and deconstructed sample music, abrupt silences, jaggedy relationships, some of the seeds of the musical constructions I'd make much later in pieces like The Third Policeman.

4) "Balromulus Machinus" - 12" single-press vinyl with handmade artwork - THIS RECORD HAS NOW FOUND A HAPPY HOMESampling experiments recorded between 2005-2007, the innards of a ballroom machine. Similar in tone to record (3), but more jagged, sounds cut at right-angles to their partners.

"Treats and Dogs - Collages 2011" by Ergo Phizmiz

 

A PDF of recent collages in cards, books, wrapping paper, marker pen, glass, wood, secretions, spillages, sellotape, ribbon, by Ergo Phizmiz.

Download the book at the Internet Archive.

Vulnavia Vanity & Ergo Phizmiz "BUFFETINFANTIL" - the night Vulnavia & Ergo locked themselves away with a lot of Vodka....

Performed on voice, electric guitar, bass guitar, organ, harmonium, mandolin, wheel, turntable, drums, digital-delay, tape recorder, in an evening of extreme decadence and a sorry, slightly painful morning. 

We like to call this music Decadence'n'Roll (thanks Christopher Lee).









With deepest apologies to everyone Vulnavia phoned during the recording sessions. And to Benny Bjorn.

And big thanks to Lady SD.


Sponsored (unofficially) by Smirnoff Vodka.


Dedicated to Kerry Katona & Chuck Berry.


Recorded 27th-28th October 2011 at Grindia, Bridport.

"Honey honey, Lich Me Baby, aha!"

More Vulnavia here, and on Facebook here. 


More Ergo here.

Ergo Phizmiz Live at the Beach & Barnicott, Bridport

That's right, a live show round the corner from his living room, Mr Phizmiz will sing songs and tell tall tales in the Beach & Barnicott, Bridport....

Public Service Announcement! Techno Service (#1) and usage instructions

Are any of your machines in pain, infirm, dying?


Techno Service provides custom-made electronic compositions to soothe, ease, and comfort your machine.


Send details of your machine and its infirmity ergos.techno.service@gmail.com, and in time you will receive a piece of music made by the hairy gentleman below.


Ideally, the machine should be left alone with it’s music from the Techno Service, for a one-to-one experience.


 Thankyou for your time.

 

(Not for human consumption.)

POPSURGERY - New Ergo Phizmiz cover-versions project coming soon to a crowdfunding platform near you!

Coming soon, once we make our final decision which crowdfunding platform to work with...

As every sensible person quite readily accepts, the behemoth that we know as "THE MUSIC INDUSTRY" is now a weak-kneed beast, clawing for survival against the odds.

The odds? Of course - the most creative, imaginative and forward thinking pop music in the world is now created by outsiders, netlabels, dreamers, people with no ambition to attach to this dying giant.


Mainstream media speaks about the demise of the music industry as some kind of tragedy, but the tragedy only exists for those within it, most particularly the rich men in suits, or jeans and black T-shirts, that sit atop it receiving favours from nubile young women in exchange for a few months pretending to be talented in the eye of the world.


The loss of the ability for musicians to make money from the selling of millions of units of plastic discs is no tragedy. The existence of the music industry as we know it spans less than 100 years, a blip in the evolution of music.


This blip, however, has led to two things. One is the devaluing of music that has resulted in so much homogenised, empty, money-oriented nonsense being unleashed on the fertile minds of teenagers.


The other side of the blip, however, is the positive side of the coin. Pop music has thrown up so many remarkable things, so many delights, in both (so called) "high" and "low" pop. I am not interested in a definition of pop music that places The Beatles on an intellectual pedestal above The Spice Girls - lest we forget, The Beatles in many ways were The Spice Girls of their time.


Over the past ten years I have released in free mp3, Creative Commons licensing, a wide range of reinventions and interpretations of Pop Music. I have performed surgery on Beyonce, Aphex Twin, The Prodigy, The Velvet Underground, Radiohead, The Pet Shop Boys, Kelis, 90s club classics, Whigfield, Erasure, The Four Tops, Justin Timberlake and many more.


I have often been misunderstood as a "plunderphonics" artist, but actually my interest has never been satirical or political. Rather, I'm interested in how this music works, how it breathes, outside of its cultural baggage.


I believe "Oops I Did It Again" is as good as anything Brian Wilson ever wrote.


Which brings us to POPSURGERY.

I want to take a cross section of around 90 songs from the entire history of pop music, from the 1920s (when 78 RPM records began to take off), to the present day (when it is all falling to iPieces). The choice of the number of songs represents the approximate amount of years the music industry, in its current basic model, began to exist from.


With each of these songs I want to perform reconstructive surgery, using the basic structure and shape of each song to create new shapes in pop music, combining electronic, acoustic, digital, and improvisatory approaches supplanted onto the basic shapes of each song to imagine the future of POP. Using the past to imagine the future.


The definition of pop music can run from Rihanna to Captain Beefheart, from Kurt Weill to Steps, from Kylie Minogue to Cardiacs, The Savoy Orpheans to The Fall, Chuck Berry to Justin Bieber, Squarepusher to Eminem to Spike Jones to Portishead to R Stevie Moore to Michael Jackson to Sly Stone to The Platters to REM to Lord Kitchener to Glenn Miller to Kate Bush. My "taste" will play no part in the choice of material to go under the surgeon's knife. This would defeat the object of the project, which is to take the entire life of the music industry, and create possibilities and probabilities for the future using its forms as a point to leap off from, into the abyss.

As a sidenote, although POPSURGERY will be a cycle of around 90 songs, that does not mean that the subject matter will be limited to 90 pop songs. Each song in the project may well be constructed from elements of numerous pop songs, finding relationships between melodies, progressions, themes across the gamut of pop music history. POPSURGERY will be 90 songs that will soak in hundreds of songs.

This will not be an academic, dry attempt at reaching definitive theories about the history and motion of pop music. Rather, it will function, like all my work, with the logic of a dream. Chronology will be askew, the overall structure dictated by cross-references, peculiar connections and bleeding juxtapositions.

If I sound slightly pompous rattling on about "the future" and so on, please remember that I am nothing if not a frustrated Dr Who. If I cannot crowdfund this project I will have no option but to break into the BBC studios and demand access to the Tardis. And from within that Tardis, I will make this project.


The project will be released as free mp3s, with a vinyl record exclusively to contributors of a cross-section of the cross-section, and the entire 90 song cycle will be played live in marathon performances around the world. (Interested venues are encouraged to get in touch at this Crowdfunding stage, as a performance fee can also constitute a contribution to the development of this project).


Crowdfunding contributors will also, depending on their contribution, help shape the project. For £10 or more contributors will receive their name on all materials as a contributor to the project. For £30 or more contributors will choose a song to be included in the project, receive their name on all materials as a contributor, and a copy of the vinyl record. For £100 or more contributors will choose a song for the project, vote for which pieces are included in the vinyl version, a credit, and receive a copy of the vinyl. For £250 or more contributors will choose a song, choose a song for the vinyl, receive a credit, receive the record, and access to a private blog to access the songs as they are recorded in real-time. For £500 or more contributors will choose a song, choose a piece for the vinyl, receive the record, access the private blog, and an original, framed visual collage on the history of pop music made by yours truly for the artwork to accompany the project.
 
What can you do, in the meantime, to help? If you have downloaded and enjoyed my reinventions of pop music in the past, please send me a Tweet (@ergophizmiz) or a short message (to ergophizmiz at gmail dot com) about my cover versions, that will then be used in the crowdfunding video pitch.
 
Not convinced? Try these...