McFilter

Music for Mass (Bike Rides)

Russell has written about some of his recent ambient explorations and thoughts about performances of them.

Listening to some of the work reminds me of the music we had to one of the JoyRides a while back. The ethereal soundtrack to a night ride through the woods in Croxteth, adding to the other-worldly experience of cycling through the woods with just the lights from the bikes.

It's something that Danny (who organises the JoyRides) has experimented with more too. There was the time we added a projector to put crazy patterns onto the trees as we rode the Loop Line; and he and I have also talked about the overlapping soundscapes when, once or twice, we've had two soundsystems running at the same time at the front and back of a ride, and how they blend (or interfere) in the middle.

We're also always wondering about having lots of small speakers on many bikes, rather than one or two big soundsystems trying to cover the whole ride. What if we leant into that more, and gave each speaker something different to play? That would solve the perennial problem of trying to wirelessly sync so many speakers, and the "piece" would morph and adapt as riders moved around the pack.

So if you ever fancy coming for a ride Russell...