Elements is a mix by Jim Perkins, a musician and founder of Bigo & Twigetti, a London based record label mixing classical music, electronica, sound design and a more. Focusing on different elements of recording and composition, Jim weaves a rich tapestry of sound connecting classical and modern composition, emphasizing writing and recording for strings.
Stream/download at Soundcloud
MINI-INTERVIEW
Please introduce yourself.
Hi, I’m
Jim Perkins, composer, producer and founder/curator of
Bigo & Twigetti.
I write and record instrumental music focusing on piano, strings, and other orchestral instruments which I sometimes chop into little bits and re-arrange, I’ve been doing it with some consistency for the past 6 years or so. At the moment I like combining structured arrangements/form with experimental surface textures and timbres often involving subtle use of electronics.
B&T is a label/platform for releasing my own music and that of other artists working with some level of experimentation in instrumental music. We release collaborative compilations which involve artists from different countries and cities workings with each other on some concept or other that encourages them to engage with one another. We also release EPs and albums from individual artists.
What’s the scene like where your based?
I’ve recently moved out of London to Norwich, Norfolk so I can have some more space and build a recording studio with a reasonably sized live room. I’m splitting my time between London gigs and investigating the local scene in Norfolk. There have been a series of London gigs by
Listenpony which I checked out recently and I really like the approach they took of
mixing up contemporary classical performance with some other influences through ensemble performance, commissioned pieces and well curated/thoughtful set lists.
Tell us a bit about the mix.
Typically I like to have a thread that weaves together a loose theme in a mix and then use various devices to link the pieces such as related keys or chords, rhythmic elements that work together or abstract links like combined titles forming an odd sentence. This mix is basically an attempt to explore some elements of recording and composition that are interesting me at the moment. Broadly this includes: different approaches to writing for strings, capturing intimacy and detail in a recording, working with rough or experimental instrumental timbre and looking at harmonic progression vs static harmony. I’ve put the tracks together in a fairly instinctive order which somehow makes sense to me.
What’s coming up on the horizon for you?
We have a new release on B&T called The Exquisite Corpse, which is now confirmed for release on 01st May. This album takes an existing track ‘Little Phase’ by Leah Kardos (B&T artist) as its starting point. The piece is then passed as a set of stems to another artist who creates a new piece, transforming the stems and adding to them, creating a new piece for which they then create a set of stems and pass to the next artist and so on, kind of like the game consequences or the Surrealist concept of the same name (the Exquisite Corpse). You can listen to the album as it evolves here: https://bigoandtwigetti.bandcamp.com/album/the-exquisite-corpse.
We have a new album from Leah Kardos which is due out in the Summer and an Autumn compilation which will see a lot of new artists releasing on B&T for the first time. I’m also working on a new album alongside a new audiovisual piece with oil paint animator Em Cooper. This piece will be the follow up to Emergence which we performed a few years ago at the Turner Contemporary. The film was also featured in the
Darwin and Bristol film festivals in 2016. I’d like to have more of the music that is created on B&T performed live. That happens at the moment through individual artists performing/touring, but I’d like to put together a collective of performers that the artists on the label can write for and who can perform at B&T events/ album launch nights.
Thanks, Jim.
TRACKLIST
1. Ash Horacio – Vaggione
2. Atto secondo: Intermezzo II – from Luci Mie Traditrici – Salvator Sciarrino
3. I det Stille // Epilog – Agnes Ida Pettersen
4. Los Vestidos Desgarrados – Alberto Iglesias
5. String Quartet in F Major: II, Assez Vif – Maurice Ravel
6. The Bear and the Squirrel (Jeremy Turner) – Y Music
7. Share – Belinda Reynolds, Tara Helen O’Connor
8. Recuerdos de la Alhambra – Leonidas Kavakos
9. In a Landscape – John Cage, Amy Shulman
10. Valencia – Caroline Shaw, Jasper String quartet
11. The Things Left Unsaid – Caleb Burhans
12. Pound for Pound – The Bad Plus
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About Joseph Sannicandro
writer | traveler | sound organizer | contrarian | concerned citizen
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