iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Thank you Tom! I'm biased, but I think the performances on the album are really brilliant.

Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Thanks so much to Sara Mohr-Pietsch & BBC Radio 3 Night Tracks team for playing Affix Stamp Here (written by me, performed by EXAUDI) on the show last night. "...these gathered fragments are surprisingly moving as they take us on journeys and ultimately return us to a sense of home and love..."

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I would be genuinely interested in seeing a good number of copies to compare how the tins have aged. Mine is a right mess.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

One more song from Affix Stamp Here by me (based on messages taken from picture postcards), sung by EXAUDI on their new album Pocket Universe.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Another song from Affix Stamp Here by me (based on messages taken from picture postcards), beautifully sung by EXAUDI on their new album Pocket Universe, released on @nmcrecordings.bsky.social

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I'm trying to avoid nostalgia, but I miss LiveJournal, which briefly, 25 years ago now, fostered an international community of musicians, who went on to collaborate and befriend each other in real life.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is the real shame of Bsky: it hasn't worked for music. Twitter was dreadful, but there was a decent period of lively discussion around new music, between musicians themselves of all kinds, fans, writers, students, broadcasters... posting about it here results in next-to-no engagement.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Out now! EXAUDI's new album... Listen here: found.ee/exaudivocale...

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Lovely review this morning of EXAUDI's new album 'Pocket Universe', featuring music by me alongside pieces I really love by Cassandra Miller, Geoff Hannan and Andrew Hamilton. I'm biased of course, but I genuinely think it's a fascinating collection of work: really rich with ideas...

theguardian.com

Exaudi: Pocket Universe album review – virtuoso vocals with a joyfully bonkers bent

Four substantial, eclectic works written for James Weeks’ ensemble are brought together here, encompassing swooping folk phrasing, delicate harmonising and exuberant stylistic skill

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

'Affix Stamp Here' by me: part of EXAUDI's wonderful new album, coming out this Friday.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I feel like not many people are looking at Bsky regularly, but If you'd like to join my infrequent mailing list, for details of new releases / events, subscribe here (or link on my website in bio): eepurl.com/iXufJY I've got a couple of things coming up in the next few months I'd love to share. X

Leo Chadburn, in chevron shirt, in black and white, 2026.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

It has only just come to my attention that in 2024 Uncut magazine put my album at #271 on their list of "Greatest Albums of the 2000s". They were, weirdly, faintly fucking rude about it. But they still rank it above John Cale and Paul McCartney, so I guess I'll take it. LOL.

Magazine cover. Text: "The Ultimate Record Collection: 500 Greatest Albums of The 2000s... ranked! From the Makers of Uncut". Bob Dylan's moody face peers out.

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SIMON BOOKISH, EVERYTHING/EVERYTHING
TOMLAB, 2008
Leo Chadburn threw everything at the chamber/electronic pop wall here for this debut album. A kind of less clever Neil Hannon, it’s not for everyone, but the songs often open out into genuinely delightful arrangements.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The building pictured is The Magazine in Leicester, which I used to pass all the time as a kid. A mediaeval gateway used as an armoury. Didn't once cross my mind to ask why it was called that.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

It just occurred to me to look up the etymology of the word 'magazine', with its distinct meanings of armoury / ammunition holder / paper publication. It comes from the Arabic makhzan ('storehouse'); the more recent use to describe a glossy periodical is metaphor ('storehouse of ideas').

1826 print of "The Magazine" in Leicester, the mediaeval gateway used as an armory, also known as the Newarke Gateway.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Otto has made an album of 8 of these pieces by Bassano, remixed by different producers. I think it's really good: www.ottohashmi.com/pre-order-ei...

ottohashmi.com

pre-order eight ricercate after giovanni bassano — OTTO HASHMI

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Otto Hashmi (Recorders) + Leo Chadburn (Production / Remix), 'SESTA', reimagining 16th century music by composer Giovanni Bassano. Watch Otto's video for this project here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDxw...

youtube.com

SESTA after giovanni bassano // otto hashmi + leo chadburn

YouTube video by Otto Hashmi

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

A little quote from me alongside other Bsky denizens, in the current issue of Mojo's "How to Buy... Steve Reich" piece.

Steve Reich/Alarm Will Sound: Tehillim/The Desert Music (Cantaloupe, 2002)
You say: "Alarm Will Sound's version of The Desert Music is much superior. They use an arrangement for a smaller ensemble: the result is tighter, more vivid, more urgent." —Dr Leo Chadburn, via Bluesky

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

I also don't understand the contemporary prevalence of pizza in pubs. Pizza doesn't pair well with beer. It needs vino rosso!

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

The previous incarnation of the Pembury's decision to have no music was key to it being nice. The introduction of amplified music to a venue with bare floors engenders shouting.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Yes. Astonishing to see her so close up.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Walking home across Walthamstow Marshes this evening. She landed about 6 feet away from me.

Female kestrel perched on a fence post on Walthamstow Marshes, early evening. A Red Poll cow is grazing in the background.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Coming up in September: a new album by your favourite intrepid vocal ensemble EXAUDI. Music by me, alongside astonishing works by Cassandra Miller, Andrew Hamilton and Geoff Hannan. Looking forward to this one.

Cover art for the album "Pocket Universe" by EXAUDI on NMC Records. Drawings of moons in neon colours.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Why are there always typos in anything I post? 🫠

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

John Smith's brilliant, witty short films = a big inspiration. Strong recommend for this programme at the Whitechapel Gallery running till September, including his unsettling masterpiece of ingenuity and resroucefulness, The Black Tower: www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/...

John Smith's The Black Tower: a mysterious building with a void-like black roof looms over a hospital gate.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

A wonderful, unique album, that I think is a bit overlooked: 'Endless' by Vainio Vaisanen Vega (the collaboration between Pan Sonic & Alan Vega). Frenzied vocals + glistening machines. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgKA...

youtube.com

Vainio Vaisanen Vega - No Home Kings

YouTube video by Jeam_True

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Pierre Boulez's Provence home. It's a miracle the man lived to the age of 90, having had the stairs of death installed in every room.

Stairs of death: bannister-less, with a drop on one side and a big hole in the wall on the other. Seemingly made of polished metal.

Stairs of death: bannister-less, extremely tightly spaced concrete stairs u the side of the building onto the roof, with a sheer drop at the top.

Stairs of death: open backed spiral staircase, with flimsy bannister on the inside and nothing on the outside, leading into the sonic basement.

Stairs of death: extremely shallow steps up from the garden. Handrail on one side, drop on the other.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Really interesting gig in Clapham this Sunday (12 July): music including my string quartet with the names of 70 species of moth, 'The Indistinguishables'. Ticket link: www.omnibus-clapham.org/whatson/to-y...

TO YOUR
EAR
MUSIC FOR STRINGS & PIANO
FEATURING MUSIC BY:
PATRICK ELLIS, CASSANDRA MILLER, LEO CHADBURN, SOPHIE STONE & MATTHEW GILLEY
SUNDAY 12TH JULY DOORS 19:00/MUSIC 19:30 OMNIBUS THEATRE, SW4 0QW £15 STANDARD, £10 CONCESSION
@TYE COLLECTIVE

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

It's stayed with me for 20 years, very vividly. It's interesting that there's now a widespread interest in unsettling "liminal spaces" (e.g. the whole "backrooms" thing), that strongly recalls, for me, work like Christoph Büchel's and Mike Nelson's.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Christoph Büchel’s vast, nightmarish 2006 installation “Simply Botiful” (with its hideous title). Rooms that were too cluttered, too hot, or too loud. Rooms that smelt wrong. There aren’t any photographs online that portray how truly bizarre and oppressive it was.

One room of Christoph Büchel’s sprawling installation “Simply Botiful”: a harshly lit white room, with a radiator, bricked-up window and office-type carpet. The room contains a motorbike on a plinth in a vitrine, a bare matress, some plastic bags full of rubbish and a old ghetto blaster. What the photo doesn't show is the incredibly loud, distorted metal music playing.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Agreed, having his big face there is silly and mispresents the music. I've never understood why the beautiful illustration on the reverse wasn't the cover.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Currently on show on a street in London, E10: "Cello" (2026, mixed media: granite, television screen and urine) by unknown artist, clearly influenced by Nam June Paik.

An abandoned flat screen television on a square bollard on a street in Leyton, London.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

...Halfway through the track, the lyrics reference two different sites of human industry and resourcefulness: the imposing, decommisioned Ratcliffe Power Station and Mount St. Bernard Abbey, where the monks brew the only Trappist beer in the UK, a true kind of magic.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

My current album, Sleep in the Shadow of the Alternator, is four tracks, corresponding to the seasons, of course. The 'Summer' track is "Magic Flora of the East Midlands", which opens with a list of plants, their folkloric powers, and heat-haze harmonies... leochadburn.bandcamp.com/track/magic-...

leochadburn.bandcamp.com

Magic Flora of the East Midlands, by Leo Chadburn

from the album Sleep in the Shadow of the Alternator

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

It's pretty good, too! A sort of febrile tension throughout, and a strong, weird ending. It's the first side of this LP, with another lesser-known Stockhausen track, "Ylem", on the B-side: www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4oD...

youtube.com

Karlheinz Stockhausen: Stop • Ylem

YouTube video by △ thoHk ▽

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

There's a 1965 orchestral piece by Stockhausen called 'Stop'. What's remarkable is that he wrote it at the blackboard, in a single, seven-hour composition seminar, after a student asked a question about his process for creating a new work. What an amazing, exhausting session that must have been.

The first page of the score of Stockhausen's 'Stop' for orchestra (1965).

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Reckless (this was the long-gone Islington branch, by the way) was the kind of shop where questions of musical taste were highly codified. So, once a record was on, it was considered extremely bad form to request it be taken off.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I worked at Reckless Records, early 2000s. Staff took it in turns choosing the music in the shop. One afternoon, I chose Anthony Braxton's Composition no. 247 (sax and bagpipes); all the customers left, then the manager went home early. Great music. anthonybraxtonleo.bandcamp.com/album/compos...

anthonybraxtonleo.bandcamp.com

Composition No. 247, by Anthony Braxton

1 track album

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

"...It’s clearly John Adams’ assignment. He played in an orchestra as a kid – it’s clearly his language, but it’s not mine." 2/2

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

"So in 1987 I decided I am not going to spend time writing music for the orchestra ever again. Even though I’ve had some very attractive offers since, I don’t want to waste your time and mine with something that’s not my assignment, as it were..." 1/2

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Yes, I like the hazy sound of "Variations..." too! I think his comments about bad orchestration really make sense for the late 1980s orchestra pieces (e.g. "Three Movements"), which are quite sludgy, and feel a bit uninspired.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

He said a similar thing when I interviewed him for The Quietus; I think he's right. His orchestration is "blocky" and sounds a bit leaden. It's the material: a line played in canon on four vibraphones (in Reich's ensemble) sparkles; canons spread across a cello section are going to be muddy.

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

(The couple of later recordings of Four Organs - with Michael Tilson Thomas and then Bang on a Can - are sonically better and musically tighter, but it's fun to hear Philip Glass and Reich getting on and playing together. Good cover on the former too) www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0yT...

youtube.com

Steve Reich - Four Organs - 1970

YouTube video by cerinto

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Personally, I'm much more into Reich's pre-1978 music; every piece invents a new paradigm. My favourite is Four Organs: so beautiful in its rigor & the way that one chord starts to glow. A few good recordings, but this archive one is interesting for the personnel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_UM...

youtube.com

Four Organs (feat. Jon Gibson & Philip Glass)

YouTube video by Steve Reich - Topic

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Dr Leo Chadburn @leochadburn.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Alarm Will Sound's version of The Desert Music is much superior. They use an arrangement for a smaller ensemble, and the result is tighter, more vivid, more urgent... www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7bG...

youtube.com

The Desert Music: I. Fast

YouTube video by Alarm Will Sound - Topic

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