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This page provides over 150 links to other water related
websites. You can select a category below to jump to a set of
links. If you have a request for a link to be added, removed,
or changed please email firstname.lastname@example.com
with a detailed message.
Colorado Ag Water Alliance Conservation Brochure
Information and guidelines for your water well and septic system:Water Well Records -- Septic System Records
Fact Sheet: Graywater Reuse and Rainwater Harvesting
The Future of Colorado Agricultural Water: A Panel's Perspective
Considerations for Agriculture to Urban Water Transfers
Legal and Institutional Opportunities for Aquifer Recharge and Storage in Colorado -- An Interactive Forum
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2014 June Nexus Workshop - Colorado State University, in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM) and the U.S. Department of State conducted a practitioner workshop on June 23-24, 2014 to prepare a synthesis of discussions about U.S. perspectives and lessons learned on the water-food-energy nexus.
Colorado Water Institute
Colorado Water Sharing
Drinking Water Resources - Information and resources regarding well and septic systems maintenance, water quality, and support for offering a well testing program in your community.
Flood Safety Resources - Flash flood safety tips and additional flood resources
HB1278 South Platte Website - This website was created by the Colorado Water Institute to keep interested parties informed on the products, processes and actions taken as the study unfolded.
National Weather Service's Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service - Water-related info, including current conditions and forecasted flows for rivers, precip, and runoff
Nutrients and Water Quality Workshop - Agencies and universities in the six states of EPA Region 8 convened for a three-day workshop in February 2011 to explore the science and institutional context regarding nutrients and water quality.
Resources for Landowners in Areas with Oil and Gas Development - Information regarding hydraulic fracturing, water quality testing guidelines, and frequently asked questions.
USGS Groundwater Data - Variety of groundwater data, including information about current or real-time groundwater levels as well as daily, monthly, and annual data and stats
USGS National Water Information System - Information such as trends associated with river flows, water levels in reservoirs and groundwater conditions, water quality, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, and pH.
Water Conservation & The Possibliities - Learn About The Remarkable Opportunities Available Through Water Conservation
Water Quality Interpretation Tool - This tool assists water users in evaluating their drinking, livestock, and irrigation water quality test results.
Water Resources Archive @ CSU Libraries
Water Resources of Colorado (USGS)
Colorado Decision Support Systems
Colorado Department of Agriculture
Colorado Department of Natural Resources
Colorado Division of Water Quality Control
Colorado Division of Wildlife
Colorado Flood Information
Colorado Geological Survey - Groundwater Atlas of Colorado
Colorado State Judicial Branch Water Courts
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Colorado Water Quality Control Commission
Colorado Water Quality Forum
Division of Water Resources
River Watch
State of Colorado
Stream Flow Information
Texas Natural Resources Information System
Central Colorado Water Conservancy District - The primary services provided to constituents include the operation of the Substitute Supply Plan of augmentation for approximately 1,000 irrigation wells, operation of numerous groundwater recharge sites, surface and groundwater quality research, water education activities for students and adults, lobbying at the state and federal levels, and review of water rights applications in the Division One Water Court.
Colorado River Water Conservation District
Denver Water
Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District - The District encompasses almost 1.5 million acres in portions of Boulder, Larimer, Weld, Morgan, Logan, Washington and Sedgwick Counties. Total value of agricultural production within District boundaries in 1996 was $357 million with a population within the District of approximately 530,000.
Roaring Fork Conservancy - Founded in November of 1996 as an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the Roaring Fork River and its tributaries. The Conservancy addresses environmental concerns about the Roaring Fork River and its corridors that extend from Independence Pass to Glenwood Springs where it joins the Colorado River.
The City of Fort Collins Emergency Management Web Page - The flooding section has good info on the July 1997 flood as well as some of the historical floods in Fort Collins.
The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District - This site has reviews of recently published books on water resources. Links to the Journal of the AWRA and Conference Proceedings are also available.
The Southwest Water Conservation District - Information about the history of the Southwest Water Conservation District, an excellent list of water terms and definitions, and water information for the Four Corners area.
The Water Information Program - Public information program sponsored by the water districts, organizations and agencies in the San Juan and Dolores watersheds of Southwestern Colorado.
Citizens for San Luis Valley Water - Dedicated to ensure the prudent use of San Luis Valley water in conjunction with preservation of the agricultural, ecological, and recreational environment.
Clean Water Action - Colorado
Colorado Section of the American Water Resources Association - The objectives of the Colorado Section of AWRA include: The advancement of water resources research, planning, development, management, and education. Establishing a common meeting ground for scientists, engineers and other persons concerned with Colorado's water resources. The collection, organization and dissemination of ideas and information in the field of water resources science and technology.
Colorado Water Congress - The mission of the Colorado Water Congress is to promote the wise management and stewardship of the State's water resources for the benefit of Colorado's present and future generations.
Colorado Water Protection Project - The goal of the CWPP is to implement a comprehensive public relations campaign and supporting activities to increase public awareness in Colorado about the causes of and solutions to urban polluted runoff resulting from household activities
Colorado Watershed Assembly - Mission to support collaborative efforts to protect and improve the conservation of land and natural resources of Colorado Watersheds. Site includes a map of Colorado Watershed Groups
Powell Consortium - The Powell consortium is an alliance of seven Water Resources Research Institutes and Centers from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming formed to work on water resources problems of the Colorado River/Great Basin region. The Consortium is named in recognition of John Wesley Powell (1834-1902), geologist, teacher and philosopher, whose pioneering explorations of the Colorado River Basin became legendary
Water Education Colorado - Mission: "To promote better understanding of Colorado's water resources and issues by providing balanced and accurate information and education."
Western Drought Coordination Council
Western Governors Association - Available at this site is the Drought Response Action Plan, WGA. Scroll to "Lands and Waters" section and click on link for drought plan.
American Water Resources Association - This site has reviews of recently published books on water resources. Links to the Journal of the AWRA and Conference Proceedings are also available._
American Water Works Association - The American Water Works Association (AWWA) is an international nonprofit scientific and educational society dedicated to the improvement of drinking water quality and supply.
AWWA Research Foundation - The AWWA Research Foundation sponsors research for the drinking water community.
The AWWA Research Foundation sponsors research for the drinking water community.
Eco I.Q. - Provides internet publications, professional development resources, and consulting and client services designed to help communities and their local governments become more environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable.
Eco I.Q. Water - This anthology includes 26 articles, essays, and longer documents on water.
League of Women Voters - Tools for Drinking Water Protection -- This website offers information on the March 19, 1997 interactive satellite video workshop.
National Drinking Water Clearinghouse - The NDWC at West Virginia University is a public service organization that collects, develops, and distributes timely drinking water-related information.
National Drought Mitigation Center - This website includes information on climatology, drought-monitoring tools and web sites, and other information relating to drought.
National Environmental Directory - A directory of more than 13,000 organizations in the United States concerned with environmental issues and environmental education. Includes a search for organizations the Rocky Mountain Region.
National Institute for Water Resources (NIWR) - Contains information on the National Water Resources Research Institutes program and connections to various state water institutes around the country. Each state has a unique water research program, specializing in different fields.
National Small Flows Clearinghouse - This website has a variety of information on drinking water and wastewater for small communities.
National Water Resources Association - The National Water Resources Association is a nonprofit federation of state organizations concerned with the appropriate management, conservation, and use of water and land resources on a national scope.
The Platte Watershed Program - Pulls together more than 1,500 publications, reports and academic studies related to the Platte River Basin.
Universities Water Information Network (UWIN) - Maintained by the Universities Council on Water Resources, UWIN is a server containing USGS water research abstracts, conference announcements, job listings in the water resources field, a database of water resources experts, United States Groundwater Information, and a bulletin board service called Water Talk.
University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension - Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials.
WaterWiser - Find the latest resources, references and information on this website of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) for water conservation and efficiency practitioners and advocates.
Colorado School of Mines - Contains listings of departments at CSM with WWW and gopher services.
Colorado School of Mines - International Ground Water Modeling Center
Colorado State University - Listings of colleges and departments at CSU with WWW and gopher services.
CSU - Agricultural Sciences - Includes link to Departments
CSU - Engineering - Includes links to Departments of Atmospheric Science, Civil Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering
CSU - IDS Group - The Integrated Decision Support (IDS) Group at CSU combines advanced modeling with software engineering to create Decision Support Systems for water and natural resources management.
CSU - Liberal Arts - Includes links to Departments of Economics, Agricultural and Natural Resources Journalism, History, Political Science and Sociology
CSU - Natural Resources - Includes links to Departments of Earth Resources, Fishery & Wildlife Biology, Forest Sciences, Rangeland Ecosystems, Recreation and Tourism.and Natural Resources
CSU - Natural Sciences - Includes links to Departments of Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry and Computer Science
CSU - The Water Center - An umbrella organization for campus water-related programs. For more than a Century, Colorado State's engineers have designed infrastructure and water resources systems that sustain and advance our society and protect our ecological systems as well.
CSU - Water Quality Home Page - Department of Soil & Crop Sciences
New Mexico Tech - Contains listings of departments with WWW and gopher services.
New Mexico Tech - Earth & Environmental Science
North Carolina State - Water Resources Research Institute
North Dakota State University - Coping with Floods
Purdue University - Desdemona's SPLASH -- a CD-ROM game for elementary students that combines fun and education to teach students about protecting the water quality of their lakes. Desdemona the dragonfly shows students the lake and how their choices affected the lake's water quality. To order visit the web site. Also found at this site is Know Your Watershed -- Information Clearinghouse for Watershed Coordinators.
Texas A&M University
University of Arizona - Agriculture
University of Colorado at Boulder - Contains listings of departments with WWW and gopher services.
University of Colorado at Boulder - CADSWES - Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems an interdisciplinary research and development center of the College of Engineering and Applied Science located at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Established in 1988, CADSWES performs research under the sponsorship of a number of organizations.
University of Colorado at Boulder - Center of the American West - Project that seeks to establish a better understanding of how "westerners" see themselves and the region in which they live.
University of Colorado at Boulder - Geograpy
University of Minnesota - Soil, Water & Climate
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
University of Nebraska-Lincoln - Water Center
University of Nebraska-Lincoln - Water Sciences
University of New Mexico - Contains listings of departments at UNM with WWW and gopher services.
University of Utah
University of Utah - Energy & Geoscience Institute
Utah State University - Links to colleges and departments including agriculture and engineering
West Virginia University
West Virginia University - National Drinking Water Clearing House
Western State University
BLM - Bureau of Land Management
BLM - Directory - Directory of BLM offices and phone numbers
BLM - Organizational Chart
Bureau of Reclamation
ELIPS - The Electronic Library of Interior Policies: Provides instant access to Dept. of the Interior policies, replacing outdated paper distribution practices. This page also automatically tracks all changes, updates any references to those policies in existing material, updates the Table of Contents, and moves updated information to a retrievable archive.
EPA - Environmental Protection Agency
EPA - Office of Groundwater & Drinking Water
EPA - Publications - The Environmental Protection Agency now has over 6,000 EPA publications available on its Internet site. From the National Environmental Publication Internet Site (NEPIS) you can Search and view these full-image scanned publications from the EPA public access server. Questions may be directed to Shannon McFarland, Project Manager, at 513/569-7762; or to firstname.lastname@example.com
EPA - Safe Water - See this website for information about the Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program
EPA - Science Advisory Board - Browse SAB's 1995 &1996 reports
EPA - Surf Your Watershed - EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds is developing this web site
EPA - Top 10 Watershed Lessons Learned
EPA - Watershed Management Program
EPA - Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds
FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency; encourage the spread of emergency management related education
Food and Drug Administration - National Center for Toxicology Research
Library of Congress
National Academy of Sciences
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - This website presenting information on the global hydrologic cycle is named WetNet Data. This interdisciplinary NASA project uses data from polar-orbiting satellites
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences - An alphabetical/special topics index for NIEHS and other important web sites.
National Park Service
Office of Environmental Management
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - The homepage contains information on training and educational materials, electronic data interchange, electronic commerce, and others, and includes links
U.S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
USDA Forest Service - Information on land management, research, and state, private and international forestry activities
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service - (Formerly Soil Conservation Service) Contains information and data on air, water, soil, plant, human, and other resources
USDA TMDL Information - For information on Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), check out this web site developed by the Agricultural Research Service, USDA. Contains answers to most frequently-asked questions about TMDLs, background information, links to EPA sites, state-specific TMDL information, tools for developing TMDLs, and recent congressional hearings.
USGS - U.S. Geological Survey
USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA)
Colorado River Water Users Association
Western States Water Council
SAHRA - Sustainability of Semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas (A National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center)
Ground Water Protection Council - The purpose of the GWPC is to promote and ensure the use of best management practices and fair but effective laws regarding comprehensive ground water protection.
National Water Quality Monitoring Council - Provides national coordination to implement the Strategy to Improve Water-Quality Monitoring in the United States.
North American Lake Management Society
Pollution Online - From the makers of Water Online comes a site for professionals in the pollution equipment and pollution control industry.
Public Works Online
Save Our Streams Program - A national watershed educational and outreach program
Soil and Water Conservation Society
Solid Wastes Online
The Isaak Walton League of America - One of the oldest conservation organizations in the U.S. - Dedicated to protecting America's soil, air, woods, water, and wildlife.
Water Environment Web - An Internet guide to programs of the Water Environment Federation -- its activities, services and related water news.
Water Online - This page includes a combination of information and products. Summaries and updates on water regulations, a searchable library, product showcases, an online newsletter with a variety of topics, projects out for bid, and links to professionals and suppliers.
Water Quality Association
Wildife Habitat Council - Has developed a Corporate Lands for Learning program. Partnering with National Environmental Education led to publishing a guidebook that provides a blueprint for corporations and schools to follow in building their own environmental education project. Based on lessons learned from seven pilot sites.
International Association of Hydrological Sciences - Contains many useful links to other international sources.
International Erosion Control Association - Check the website for the publications catalog. Information is included on erosion and sediment control and stormwater and watershed management.
One World - For information about water, sanitation and the environment in Third World countries.
The Centre for Ecological Economics and Water Policy Research - (formerly, the Centre for Water Policy Research) at the University of New England, Australia - A national focus for research into Australia's water and water-related resources. The Centre is now one of the world's leading ecological economics research organizations.
Water Portal - The Water Portal of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization is intended to enhance access to information related to freshwater available on the World Wide Web.
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I remember watching Captain Eo back in my college days, using polarized eyeglasses. At the time I was blown away by the 3D experience, which also incorporated real life effects, like lasers and fog. Now, the 17-minute film is back.
After watching 3D movies like Up!, I have my doubts about Captain Eo passing the test of time. The movie story was crappy enough back then, and its special effects have long been surpassed. But if you are a long-time or recently-converted Michael Jackson fan—and that's precisely what the Disneyland executives are banking on—you would be able to see the short for yourself on February 2010, when it opens again in Disneyland's Tomorrow Land. [Disney Parks—Thanks BigDave]

subset: commoncrawl


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T DAN HOOKER - the legendary blues Modernist and last of the 'Thames Delta Brutalists' - has died at the age of 92 after a long battle with obscurity
He will be best remembered for his 1965 hit Proposed Mathematical New Town Near Greenwich.
He leaves behind several women to whom he done unspecified wrong, and countless brainchildren, including a mysterious unfinished sketch for a 'floating atheistic working-class city to be moored above Bath as both an idealised modern community and a lofted remonstrance'.
This theoretical project illustrated Hooker's status in the world of epic space as a doomed visionary.
As he himself admitted many years later, getting planning permission for any floating city would be hard enough, let alone one above Bath.
'The sanitary arrangements were sketchy, to say the least, man,' he is reported to have chuckled.
In 1958, much of Britain's new post-war architecture looked timid and provincial. With its snooks and tripery, its skiffled brickwork and New Elizabethan drapery-pokery, the built landscape seemed mired in nostalgia, a world away from exciting developments in Europe. There, architects were experimenting with Oxygenated Modernism: a new and shocking style, all backbeaten concrete and visceral walling.
Then came the Great British Brutes Explosion. Inspired by the global wave of raw petrified music, exciting new architectural combos appeared. The Kipling & Cavendish Modern Lookers. Sir Andrew de Montclerc & his Chartered Jelly Surveyors. The Fincher & Fincher Palladian Bluesdaddies. And in the vanguard, T Dan Hooker & the Draughtbusters.
Hooker and his fellow 'betonistas' ripped the scene apart with their flyovers and tower blocks and French cigarettes. Their plugged-in civic approach electrified a young generation of beatnik planners who'd seen nothing like it.
Hooker's credo - 'Fight Squares With Squares' - later encouraged rebellious '60s students to tear up the hippie rulebook and design everything to a 12-bar grid instead.
'Think of an inhabited structure as a blues song…' he memorably told the audience at the 1967 Architectural Association Folk Building Festival.
'Make your first pencil line rough and honest, from the heart, maybe a little self-pitying. Unique, personal. Yet within the parameters of the style, so it's generic…'
In the famous clip of his performance, Hooker's prowling intonation is brilliantly backgrounded by Marty 'Slim' Panatella on syncopated slideshow.
'So you want a unique, personal, generic first line. But also just the same as everyone else's first line. This is blues Modernism, not bloody abstract painting. Something that sits nice on a four-beat system build plan, you dig? Of course you dig, ha ha, a foundation is absolutely vital for all art forms and nobody wants to see a good plan come tumbling down…'
Here Hooker breaks off to wail on a harmonica for a couple of minutes, the audience riveted and laminated with his audible, heartfelt saliva.
'Then you make your second line - just repeat the first line. Exactly the same. Exactly the same. Then the third line, same length, make sure it rhymes, you're done.
'You be drawing the blues and no mistake, marvellous stuff and in the noblest of Vitruvian traditions. Say you're doing a council block, keep it simple.
'Repetition's the key. You can have your main riff on the ground floor, put in a lift and then you can keep the riff the same but move up to the fifth, back down again, up to the seventh and back.
Repetition, basic riffs, solid structure, boom. Nota bene, no portable gas cylinders allowed ANYWHERE inside…'
But as soon as it had blossomed, blues Modernism faded and died.
A fickle popular culture had moved on from amplified Brutalism to so-called 'prog architecture' in the '70s.
Now buildings were expected to walk, or squeak, and to be inhabited in drawings by men in flares and moustaches and severe women in weird costumes.
'I guess T saw the writing on the wall,' said former blues Modernist colleague Manny Boyes in a 1989 interview with Stomped Concrete Quarterly.
'His built gigs always attracted a lot of graffiti. Then when the Tories got in it was all about the environmental determinism, man.
'Cats saying our riffs leading young people astray and whatnot.
'T quit the life.
'Moved down to Hastings, became a driving instructor.
'We lost touch.
'Man, I guess we all lost touch…'
A memorial service for T Dan Hooker will be held next week at a South Bank undercroft.
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[Pomperipossa Records # PRLP2D]
Full length wav DL [42:45].
Your order comes complete with a wav of the whole album in one track. Please respect the artists' wishes and do not share the file...
Cover image: Maria von Hausswolff
Track listing
1. this strange life 42:45
Pomperipossa Records, curated by Anna von Hausswolff, is delighted to announce the forthcoming release of the first album by drøne. Field recordings, short wave radio, modular synth all combine to form an enticing, arresting, moving journey of electrically-charged dissonance, drones and electronic melodies… Anna calls it "a jewel".
"A very hot day in the hills above Los Angeles… only possible to work in the mornings because of the sweltering afternoon heat, so all a bit frantic, but with a kink in time. There is no wifi-controlled air conditioning; the car is electric-powered and charging up. It has barely rained for months, (if not years) and the hoses are working overtime. Its an analogue session; Mark's modular synth set up is working furiously and overheating. We are pushing sounds through and seeing what works… and things gradually take shape. The forms seem to determine themselves; how much control do we have? How much do we want? Some peculiar things start to happen and the haze bends. Some of the sounds seem alive and are quick to reform as we struggle to contain them, like trying to stuff snakes into a bag. The sounds moan and sing, forming their own phonemes."
For further information:
firstname.lastname@example.com | @dronefield
Aural Aggravation:
An act called drøne can surely only be about one thing, and yes, drøne (Mark Van Hoen, who's renowned as a solo artist as well as for his work under the Locust moniker, and – no, not the folk singer / comedian known as the 'Rochdale Cowboy') are indeed masters of drone. Reversing into the Future contains two tracks, 'This Strange Life' I and II, although the digital version masters them as a single continuous track with a running time of some 42:45. Really, how much drone – or drøne – do you need?
Drone-heavy as it may be, 'reversing into the future' manages to hold the interest by exploring a wealth of different textures, creating a is a collage consisting of field recordings, short wave radio, and modular synth, assembled seamlessly to forge a journey of electrically-charged dissonance, drones and electronic melodies.
It would be an absurd act of pomposity and pretention to devote 500 words to the transportative effects of the music, just as it would be an exercise in needless intellectual onanism to effuse over the nuances of the way the various textures and tones resonate with and against one another to achieve various effects.
Reversing into the Future is an intriguing album, and one which will resonate in different ways with every listener. It's dark, it's ominous, but it's also uplifting, graceful. For those who respond on a more technical or theoretical level, there are near infinite depths to explore.
Don't be deceived: Reversing into the Future offers so much more than mere drone. [James Wells]
Felt Hat:
Drone minimalism has taken its toll in many ways on ambient, noise and improv as well as the so-called synth music that is derived from the ambience of krautrockian voyages of Tangerine Dream or Ash Ra Tempel likes. So how about two dudes from LA doing it their own way. Well, atmospheric as it is sounds really cool and definitely not overproduced overdone, minimalistic and yet very rich. I guess it is the matter of Mark's elaborate approach towards composition and attention they give to each other. And at the same time it is not at all clichéd, it takes you all the way into subterranean underworld that this kind of music should do if it is really good, and it does, hell it does! [Hubert Heathertoes]
The Hum:
There's a lot of paradox in Experimental Music – not the least of which is the name itself. We rarely stop and ask after the implied experiment, or the risk (and adventure) inferred by such a name. Since its emergence during the first part of the twentieth century, the idiom has evolved, expanded, and sometimes drifted toward a dangerous equilibrium which satisfies expectation before ambition. In the case of the later, part of the responsibility should be held by its audience. We should ask more of ourselves as listeners, and use more specific terms. In its current use, "Experimental Music" blankets vast territories of sound and intervention falling outside of the standard of applied definitions – Rock, Jazz, Folk, etc. It's often semantically inaccurate, and does a disservice to many of its participants. The field is as diverse as it is hyper-nuanced. Because so many of us find its proximity and implied meaning as enticing as what we hear there, it becomes hard to initiate a critical discourse toward understanding what we experience; for example – what is it, if it pushes us, but not itself? Just because it sounds like something, does not mean it's that thing.
My interest in sound and music is largely centered around a need to learn and be challenged. I like to be be lost – literally and figuratively. I want to follow musicians into unfamiliar realms, be displaced by them, and grow through their efforts. The more I explore and understand, the harder this is to find. Inevitably you learn and develop as you go. Over the years the increasing rarity of adventure has been furthered by a series of converging factors. Recently "Experimental Music" has been garnering greater attention. Widely attended media outlets, in a bit to bolster questionable credibility and draw new audiences, have cherry-picked artists from the ranks to profile. There's an easy argument for placing more adventurous musicians in a context that normally covers Kanye, but it is also worth inquiring after why it's being done, who's benefiting, and what the implications are. The more attention anything gets, the less control we have, and the more risk for co-option and corruption. It's also worth noting that many of the artists gaining the greatest attention (in these cases) are the most palatable to a wider audience, and often the least adventurous. Predictability is a major functionary of popular culture. It skews understanding, suppresses criticality, and shifts the scales. After years struggling underground and suffering neglect, presented with new possibilities for success and attention, the music (and how it is contextualized) has begun to change – particularly in the field of Electroacoustics. This realm of Experimental Music developed during the Post-War period, as means to displace the normal expectations and behavior of sound and composition – using purely electronic or organic sounds, which were processed, filtered, or restructured through electronic intervention. For roughly half a century it remained one of the most challenging, ambitious, and underappreciated fields of sonic investigation. This has changed in the last ten to fifteen years. It began shift in the late 90's and early 2000's with exciting developments in computer technology. The emergence of powerful portable units, as well as refined programs for synthesis, processing, and recording, opened endless possibilities in the field, and democracy of access. They also introduced a Trojan Horse. Because everyone had the same tools, and those tools could yield pleasing results with relative ease (versus tape splicing, or modular synthesis) many musicians became easily satisfied, and began drifting together toward stasis. Though the last few years has returned many artists to analog technologies (particularly modular synthesizers), which has helped loosen the degree of control and anticipation an artist has, as well as opening the variables of structure and tonal pallet (all of which encourages the "experimental"), there's still a long way to go. Our critical standards have been lowered, and as we encounter it now, it seems like shoving a few notes or wave forms through Pro-Tools or Logic, drenching them in reverb and delay plugins, and adding a bit of arbitrary texture, is all it takes to prove an experiment. I take issue with this. Much of the field of contemporary Electroacoustics (and fuck there's a lot of it!) makes the cheesiest 80's New Age look ambitious – presenting few challenges to its listeners, and operating as little more than aural wallpaper for the pseudo-intellectuals who propel it into the spotlight.
Despite continuing to listen to Electroacoustic music from the 50's through the 90's, I've developed an unfortunate allergy to much of what has emerged in recent years. I expect more. It seems ridiculous that music made half a century ago stretches further into unfamiliar territory, and feels more revolutionary, than much of what was made yesterday.
A few weeks back Mark Van Hoen sent me his new record under the moniker drøne. I've held Touch close to my heart for decades, but had somehow missed that he made music. I was intrigued. I became aware of Van Hoen a few years ago when Editions Mego began issuing his efforts, but didn't know much beyond the fact that he works with modular synthesizers. Reversing Into the Future begins with what sounds like a filthy tape loop of distant timpani drum. My attention was immediately captured – particularly because they allow it to stand on its own for a full three minutes before it's slowly overtaken by a modulating sine tone. As the work began to build and take form, an uneasiness started to form in my ear. Despite the distorted dissonance of the sound, it appeared I was entering a well-trodden territory of electroacoustic ambience. It took another five minutes before my attention began to perk. A shrill pulsing tone (underlain by a low rumble) began to take center stage, pushing at the ambience, vying for attention. These are the kind of sounds that we try to ignore, and which Experimental Music helps us hear, contextualize, and appreciate – thus reshaping our relationship to sound and the world around us. They are precisely the sort that Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète and Groupe de Recherches Musicales drew our attention to. Their emergence in Reversing Into the Future foreshadows the evolution of the whole. After another five minutes, two confronting sequences of tones fall in unexpectedly – colliding and skidding off of each other in shifting time signatures – like the squeaks of shoes against a well polished floor. Each with its own internal clock, but together randomized. It's here, toward the end of the first side, that I began to understand the character of what I was hearing. The collisions of these sounds where out of the hands of their creators. When composing, there would be no way to fully predict or control the result. Rather than the paths wandered by so much of contemporary Electroacoustic Music, I was hearing the result of an adventure, and risk.
As my ears opened, rewards poured across the second side, which resists ambience and presents a stark skeletal composition built from (what seem to be) captured radio transitions, static, hums, distorted tones, and disjointed meandering synthesizer melodies. It's dislocating. Rather offering a pleasing acoustic bubble with which the listener might surround their daydreams, it forces a focus on its elements and their relationships – on structure, associations, and composition. Wonderfully, it avoids the need to build toward crescendo, presenting a slowly evolving landscape which we are challenged to explore and take for what it is before it disappears.
As the days and weeks began to pass, I found myself returning to Reversing Into the Future again and again. Not only did it present a challenging space for me to explore, but it posed questions about my relationship to contemporary electroacoustics, Experimental music, and their evolving interaction with culture as a whole. As I looked at the structure of the work, I began to see it as a metaphor. Its title snapped into focus. It does what it suggests – proposing a path into the future by reversing time. It begins in a sonic territory familiar to the contemporary field – enveloping processed washes of ambient sound, but as it progresses it sheds them, slowly moving through the propositions of generations past, ending with the discarded sounds of technology and industry that GRMC & GRM pointed us toward more than half a century ago – sounds which increasingly make up our reality, but we still try not to hear. Though the album is a fantastic listen, its ideas are equally rewarding. As I'm attempting to do with words, it lays a challenge to field, asking us to assess the nature of our sonic reality, of the possibilities of experiment, and where we might go when the past looks more like the future than the present day. The album is out on the 16th of April as a Record Store Day release by the wonderful Pomperipossa Records. Fortunately you don't have to wait in the lines, and can order it from them direct. I highly recommend picking it up, delving into its challenging world, and exploring all the questions it might pose. It does everything I hope a record might. Not only does if feel that the creators embarked on an unknown adventure, but they take us along – forcing us to grow, learn, be lost, and enter unfamiliar realms which hold the keys to what we already know. Have a listen and get it fast.
Boomkat (UK):
Reversing into the Future is an absorbing debut collaborative outing for experimenter Mark Van Hoen (Locust) as Drøne, rendering the results of hazy modular sessions recorded over hot days in the hills of L.A.
This stuff is right out there with the likes of John Duncan's Nazca Lines recordings or Kevin Drumm at his most stoic, parched, summoning a buzzing electrical field of layered tones embedded with fragmentary melodies and prone to melt and squeeze with an amorphous, tarmac-prickling quality that gives off noxious, hypnagogic gases. It could be used to soundtrack some sci-fi flick filmed in the valleys below them…
MCD (France):
Derrière ce projet dark-ambient / electro- nic-noise / field-recordings grand teint, deux vieilles connaissances : Mark Van Hoen (Locust, Scala, etc.) qui avait au- paravant déjà envoyé deux ballons d'essai sur Ash Int.
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