Childrens’ toys are often seen as transitional objects that let the child gain mastery of the world around them. Paradoxically “Childhood Remixed” seeks to re-purpose the toys of Pixelh8’s childhood with the skills and understanding of the world he has as an adult. By rewiring, re-purposing and re-using them he will essentially be remixing his own childhood to form an orchestra of automated toys and interactive instruments.

Scouring the local car boot sales, charity shops and in some cases rubbish bins, Pixelh8 was able to reclaim some of the toys that informed him musically and creatively as a child, by re-working them with new acquired skills it will in turn create a learning curve that folds back on itself.

As part of the project Pixelh8 has re-created the very experiment / accident that brought him into the world of chip tune and circuit bending, a circuit bent a Nintendo Nes, this is one of several audio and visual pieces that the public are actively encouraged to interactive and create with.

Childhood Remixed was commissioned by Ipswich Borough Council & Turnstone Arts Grants sponsor Ip-art Award 2007- 2010 and will be on display in Town Hall Galleries from May 29th to July 12th as part of the Ip-art festival.

For more information on Pixelh8 or “Childhood Remixed” visit pixelh8.co.uk

I mentioned it in an interview with Dazed Digital and on the Nerdy Show the other day, that I working on a new double album “The Schematic” an album split between “Software” happy poppy classic chip tune and “Hardware” aggressive and ambient glitch chaos chip tune. Instead of releasing a very schizophrenic album I decided to split the two, as I am both of those things and so is my music.

Already demos are done for “Emotional Depth Charge”, “Spiral” , “FM” and of course “Hunter”. However a lot of work is required on them if they are to sound how they are in my head and I can’t imagine it will be out until the end of the year. Very pleased with “Spiral” though dreamy synth which I have had the first minute on a loop while writing this blog and for the past hour. I have only really been able to start work on it today, as I had just finished the “Observations” project but it seems to flooding out almost dangerously fast.

There will be chip tune both classic and very retro machines, circuit bending, robots, several robots actually, and maybe just maybe some actual humans too. I will try and blog more than I did for “And The Revolution” it was difficult to do so for that as I was also working on “Obsolete?” at the time.

All in all very excited.

“Observations” is an audio visual study of the people, machines and practices at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, which culminated in two performances on 12th &13th of March, 2010 at 7.30pm during the Cambridge Science Festival.

The piece poses the question of “What does it mean to be an Astronomer?” and how it has evolved; from observations with the unaided eye and the first telescopic studies 400 years ago, to modern telescopes and satellites collecting data across the full reach of the spectrum, and the importance of theoretical study of astronomical concepts such as cosmology.

Following on from the successful “Obsolete?” in 2009 at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park, Matthew C. Applegate aka Pixelh8 internationally renowned “chip tune” musician will be directing, composing and performing this entirely new piece.

All of the sounds in the music will be recorded from the machines, people and interpreted from the data they collect at the Institute. This includes electro-mechanical, mechanical, and ambiance as well as interviews with leading scientists and curious visitors to the Institute.

The work is supported by the researchers at The Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge and the outreach officer Dr. Carolin Crawford and was funded by the PRS for Music Foundation Live Connections award.

The music is now available from pixelh8.co.uk/music/ & Last FM and iTunes, Spotify et al shortly.

“Observations” is an audio visual study of the people, machines and practices at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University. Culminating in two performances on 12th &13th of March, 2010 at 7.30pm during the Cambridge Science Festival.

Don’t get me wrong I like doing interviews but sometimes it is nice to do one like this, which was very relaxed and I did it via Skype from my couch, I literally had just stopped working on Observations in the studio to talk about it on the Nerdy Show. You can hear my interview on the podcast my bit is about 42 minutes into the program, you can download the show from their website here or from iTunes here.

You can find out more about Observations here. Observations takes place on March 12th & 13th, 2010 at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University at 7:30pm and it’s free!!! It’s getting very exciting now.

Thanks for Kirsti Weir at Dazed Digital for coming and having a chat with me about  Observations, during which I had the epiphany of what the universe actually sounded like how bad might diet was especially when I read it all back, to find out what check out the full interview here.

You can also check null+void music blog here for other amazing music and reporting.

You can find out more about Observations here. Observations takes place on March 12th & 13th, 2010 at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University at 7:30pm and it’s free!!! It’s getting very exciting now.

Really pleased about being interviewed about “Observations” for the Guardian’s Science Podcast, about 20 Minutes in I take you on an audio tour around the Institute of Astronomy. You can listen to the podcast at the Guardians website here or listen to it through iTunes here. It has a few audio snippets from the piece itself at the very end of the podcast. Many thanks to producer Andy and the team.

You can find out more about Observations here. Observations takes place on March 12th & 13th, 2010 at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University at 7:30pm and it’s free!!!

Really enjoyed doing this interview, they were a great team and I love the way they introduced the pieces with loads of historical research and references to other music.

The interview explains how and why I made the leap from Obsolete? to Observations. You can listen and download through iTunes here or direct from their web-page here.

You can find out more about Observations here. Observations takes place on March 12th & 13th, 2010 at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University at 7:30pm and it’s free!!!