I'm an award-winning composer, engineer and historian of technology. I present talks, make radio shows and perform live with Spacedog - my band of humans, theremins and uncanny robots.
On a rainy day in Brighton, what better pick-me-up than a new video from Rathergood and my dear friend, the witty and imaginative Professor Elemental.
I’ve been lucky enough to know the Professor (aka Paul Alborough) for a couple of years now – we met when we were both performing at one of Brighton’s first Steampunk nights and neither of us were entirely sure what Steampunk was (I didn’t have the foggiest idea). Paul was appearing as Professor Elemental with his trusty badgermingo; I was playing a Spacedog set with my sister Jenny. Paul subsequently took to Steampunk like a badgermingo to water, unlike Spacedog (who do nevertheless enjoy the odd performance at a live Steampunk night).
Musicians play live with decrepit dolls, theremins and robots in this eerie entertainment, exploring our fears of the almost human – from golems to ventriloquists’ dummies.
Hot from their sell-out run on the Brighton Festival Fringe, dreamlike musical and mechanical inventors Spacedog join forces with gentleman rapper Professor Elemental, known for his YouTube sensation Cup of Brown Joy, a paean to the pleasures of drinking tea.
Death ballads, unsettling live robotics and tales of the professor’s extreme taxidermy experiments, in a night of music for the curious.
“One of the most inventive acts playing at the moment”, Melita Dennett
“Eerie, evocative and hilarious – tremendous fun”, Roger Highfield.
“A stand-out moment of psychedelic neo-Victorian rap genius”, Monkey Boxing magazine.
Spacedog are teaming up with Professor Elemental to bring you a delightfully unsettling evening, probing our very human fears of the almost human, from zombies to ventriloquists’ dummies. Accompanied by Sarah’s unusual musical robots, we’ll be singing songs of love, death and the uncanny as we explore the darkest reaches of your mind. With theremins, taxidermy and strange automata.
Click on the thumbnails on this page to see high-res images. High-res publicity shots of Hugo with the Professor here.
Wolfgang -- Spacedog’s robot drummer
Venue
8:00pm and 9:40pm (show lasts 75 minutes)
5 May 2010
Marlborough Theatre
Brighton
Tickets (£8/£7 -- on sale now from the Brighton Festival Fringe box office)
Professor Elemental
Sarah Angliss (Spacedog) on theremin
Spacedog with Clara 2.0 (photo Melita Dennet)
The badgermingo - the result of one of Prof. Elemental's taxidermy experiments
Click on the thumbnails on this page to see high-res images.
For more information about this Brighton Fringe show, please contact Sarah Angliss (Spacedog): sarah [dot] spacedog [at] gmail [dot] com. Read more about Spacedog shows, robots and reviews on this website. Hear more of Elemental’s work on his MySpace site.
Spacedog are teaming up with Professor Elemental to bring you a delightfully unsettling evening, probing our very human fears of the almost human, from zombies to ventriloquists’ dummies. Accompanied by our home-spun musical robots, we’ll be singing songs of love, death and the uncanny as we explore the darkest reaches of your mind. With theremins, taxidermy and strange automata.
Click on the thumbnails on this page to see high-res images.
Venue
8:00pm and 9:40pm (show lasts 75 minutes)
5 May 2010
Marlborough Theatre
Brighton
Tickets (£8/£7 -- on sale soon from Brighton Festival Fringe)
Professor Elemental
Sarah Angliss (Spacedog) on theremin
Spacedog with Clara 2.0 (photo Melita Dennet)
The badgermingo - the results of one of Prof. Elemental's taxidermy experiments
An early test with Hugo -- the 1930s singing vent doll.
Professor Elemental singing Cup of Brown Joy
Press
Click on the thumbnails on this page to see high-res images.
For more information about this Brighton Fringe show, please contact Sarah Angliss (Spacedog): sarah [dot] spacedog [at] gmail [dot] com. Read more about Spacedog shows, robots and reviews on this website. Hear more of Elemental’s work on his MySpace site.
My first test with Hugo, the 1930s vent doll who will be appearing in future Spacedog gigs. Here, you can hear him singing the Kurt Weill classic Alabama Song.
In this first study, I’ve tried to give Hugo a voice and move his mouth and eyes in synch. The mouth movements aren’t quite right yet. One problem is the mouth driver which is too slack in this lash-up. But I hope you find this an interesting first attempt. Stay posted for further developments -- and look out for Hugo in the Brighton Festival Fringe.
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This video also shows my Mk III robotic bell rig for the last time. I’ve now dismantled the rig as I’m attaching it to a new housing for the Kinetica Art Fair. If you go to the fair, you’ll see the new rig on the stand publicising Electricity and Ghosts, a live event that will be taking place in Battersea Power Station later on this year.
You can also hear me playing a little musical saw in the background of this video.
Juice for the Baby, Spacedog's debut album, is here! I'm ducking out of the Kinetica Art Faire this year but am huddled indoors, writing, sleuthing (investigating a recording in the archives) and devising a new biologically-inspired musical instrument - all will be revealed soon.
News: December 2011
Juice for the Baby, Spacedog's debut album, launches in mid-December. Join us for the launch gigs at the Marlborough, Brighton, on 9 December and the Horse Hospital, London, on 14 December.
News: November 2011
A busy month writing and editing the forthcoming Spacedog album - stay tuned for news.
News: October 2011
I'm focusing on my writing this month (so am quite the hermit) but I'm squeezing in the occasional live performance here and there.
I'm looking forward to working with Helen Keen in her Spacetacular on 20th. I'm writing a code-based work for the new label Chordpunch and some owlish music for that fine wordsmith Professor Elemental.
Spacedog are booked into the studio at the end of the month to complete work on our album.
News: September 2011
A busy month writing, preparing a get-together of maker musicians for the Brighton Maker Faire After-show party. I've also been electrifying a teapot for the Chi-Tek - an exhibition by MzTek of female tech artists at the V&A. And with my fellow Spacedog Stephen Hisock, I made an appearance on the 10th Anniversary edition of BBC Click.
News: August 2011
The Spacedog song For Laika is now available on iTunes (and the album is on its way). Meanwhile, we've been busy preparing our set for Green Man, including the first outing of our torch song for Tommy Cooper.
I'm procrastinating over a teapot which I'm going to electrify for a MzTek event at the Victoria and Albert Museum in September.
I took a short trip to a very rainy Edinburgh Fringe where I played at an event for Edinburgh Skeptics in the Royal Observatory and made some plans for a Spacedog show next summer.
Apart from that, I've been busy writing. More news on that shortly, I hope...
News: July 2011
I'm interviewed by Leila Johnston in this month's Wired UK magazine and will be appearing with my fellow Spacedogs at a Wired: The Future of Music on 20 July.
I've rounded up a bumper crop of links and soundclips for my BBC Radio 4 doc The Bird Fancyer's Delight, which is broadcast on 5 and 9 July and is also available on Listen Again. Thanks for all your cheery emails about the doc, to ProjectMoonbase for mentioning it in their podcast PMB038 and for the many national papers who gave the documentary such lovely reviews - I'm glad people enjoyed it! On Sunday 10 July, the doc was featured on Graham Seed's Pick of the Week (Radio 4). A good week!
My latest collaboration with Richard Wiseman is a free and fun magic trick for your iPhone. It's called Paranormality and it's been put together for the launch of his book by the same name in the US. Thanks to Phillis on Derrren Brown's blog for giving the app a mention - thousands of people have now downloaded it and are busy bamboozling their friends.
News: June 2011
Playing theremin for Louise Colborne's homage to Loie Fuller (pioneering cybernetic dancer c1900) and composing sounds for Sonus, an homage to the analogue age with Spacedog, ArtHertz, Rushes Soho Shorts Festival and Ridley Scott Associates. Discovering how easy (or difficult) it is to publicise events in 2011 without Twitter - will report back!
Getting ready for BEAM - a brand new festival of electronics and music at Brunel University (24-26 June). I'll be speaking, running a workshop on optical flow and performing live with my fellow Spacedogs. I'll also be playing a short theremin set at the Speaky Spokey, a new arts salon in Brighton (Wed 22 June).
Putting the finishing touches to a sonic-themed BBC Radio 4 documentary, with producer Neil McCarthy, due for transmission on 5 July 2011.
Presenting a workshop for Hack Circus at Interesting, in the Conway Hall, London, 18 June, and performing theremin at a family day at the Science Museum, 19 June.
