DEAD VOICES ON AIR
2oth Anniversary Series 7 Inch Singles
04. Robert Hampson and Mark Spybey
"The Blizzard Ring"
7" / 350 copies / tourette 031
This fourth release features Robert Hampson It is a collaboration, not a remix. Robert completed the A side and Mark the b. It is a shorter, different version of the track that appears on the full length 2012 release by Dead Voices on Air for the Russian Ewers Tonkunst label called, “Mawsons Will and Other Stories.”
After Loop disbanded, Hampson formed the more experimental Main with fellow Loop member Scott Dowson, releasing several albums and EPs on Beggars Banquet Records. Although a strong signature in the early material of Main, the guitar was slowly eroded from the stable sounds Hampson and Dowson produced, together with field recordings and other electro acoustic sounds. When Dowson left the line-up in 1996, Main became a solo project for Hampson, who then abandoned the guitar altogether, feeling he had taken the instrument to such extremes, there was no longer any scope to create with it.
He deactivated Main as a project in 2006 preferring to now explore other avenues of sound and its diffusion, especially multichannel systems for live performances. Hampson was invited by the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) in Paris to compose and perform on many occasions. He has also been associated with like-minded organisations and institutes around the world, exploring intricacies in sound composition.
In October 2010, Hampson announced that he would be reactivating Main, which along with his solo acousmatic work, he will start performing and recording as a more collaborative process with fellow sound artists.
Robert has collaborated with Paul Schutze, David Toop, Jim O'Rourke (as Indicate), Janek Schaefer (as Comae), Max Eastley, Eddie Prevost (AMM), AFM (Antenna Farm/Main), Scanner, Shady (David Baker from Mercury Rev), Water Maps (Toop, Eastley, Schutze, Hampson), David Shea, Henri Pousseur, Philip Jeck, Cindytalk and Stefan Mattieu amongst others.
Each of the singles are packaged in a sleeve designed by the design team of Paul Bilger (art) and David Babbitt (text and layout).