i have had the pleasure of being involved in the iron filings and sellotape project since one psychedelic summers night in 2003. the project is an experiment of sorts, a view to creating music, film, still photography and literature with exclusively found elements, assembled with obsolete technologies. the name of the project itself might be clue enough. iron filings and sellotape recordings exist as if having been found buried in a ruined bunker, or collapsed building. broken fragments serving as some testament to an unwholesome truth which has pervaded human civilisation these past one hundred years, or more.
to that end, fragments of field recordings, tape experiments, grainy film and photographs have been amassed, with the intention of one day being revealed to the world as a fractured document to mirror our most troubled thoughts in the dark of the night or the bleakness of the light of day. for my part, i have contributed music, words, vocals and film to the furnace, all constructed by the lamplight of evening, scrabbled together with haste and an urgency; to compile the materials before they might disintegrate in ones hands. in good time decorative stamp will serve as the worthy vessel to unleash these salvaged reels, until then a few scraps of film, music and text exist to serve as an example of the ongoing experiment.
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'amidst the grease and chaos' was completed some years ago, shot on a faulty digital camera mobile telephone, capturing scenes of late night analogue television signal of bbc news 24 on an old portable television set dating from some decades ago. all the footage was shot in a darkned attic against a backdrop of the beams and rafters. the scenes depicted therein are of the ongoing conflict in afghanistan, the british armed forces hunt for the fictional al qaeda in the fictional tora bora mountain cave complexes. as well as the rapid increase in opium production since the allied forces first engaged the taliban in the wake of the attacks of 9/11.
'war report [salvaged reels]' was completed just recently, having been shot on a modest digital camera, capturing scenes from digital footage obtained from internet resources. scenes therein depict the soviet war in afghanistan in the 1980's, as the reagan administration moved to support the 'freedom fighters' in driving the russians back across their border, inevitably bringing funds and training to a large number of islamist thinkers whose intention was to use these tactics to wage their war on the jahiliyyah which was spreading throughout the middle east, filtering in from the sinful west. the footage is intercut with two seperate reels of free associated text being typed across a computer screen.
there will shortly be two songs available to obtain from the project. the first, 'kingdom of heaven', now available as a free download on decorative stamp volume one, and the second to be featured on an up and coming cooler than cucumbers release. there are also a number of compositions available for streaming on the long since abandoned iron filings and sellotape myspace page. a great deal of the musical output of the project is currently instrumental, but for where vocals exist, it is my intention to post the words contained therein.
being the voice of the project, it would certainly fall within my remit to give more detailed explanations as to the why's and wherefore's of the project, but i would prefer to keep the exposition to a minimum and let the atmospherics of the project be the most important force. there is something about this music, words and imagery that has a quality found only in certain places, perhaps at certain times. do be sure to investigate further, should any of the above have struck a chord.
keep safe, be well
jamesreindeer
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