Press Cuttings

 

Press cuttings and articles scanned from books.

Click on the thumbnails to download (some files may be big).

Good Woodworking, issue 219

 

"Post Pansonic uppercase electronica" The Wire magazine, Nov, 2008. 

 

Dazed and Confused

La Liberation

 

Troika book

 

Ukela magazine

 

 

.....Le Projet Hibou, littéralement, rassemble Simon Blackmore et Antony Hall, deux artistes de Manchester, branchés science et technologie, qui passent leur temps à inventer toutes sortes de machines. Un soir, alors qu'ils font du camping dans la forêt, ils allument un feu, dégainent leur sampleur et s'amusent à communiquer avec les oiseaux de nuit en mimant leurs ululements. Le Owl Project est né à la suite de cette cession nocturne de 1998. Les deux comparses retournent dans la forêt, tailladent un tronc à terre et ramènent des rondins avec l'idée d'en faire une sorte de laptop : «On s'est dit qu'on pourrait créer notre propre style en mimant les craquements et crépitements d'un feu de camp, on a voulu émuler le son d'un laptop dans une bûche.» De leurs multiples bidouilles naît une première version de l'instrument qu'ils baptisent «Log1k». Un rondin (log) fendu en deux avec un faux écran luminescent, un disque en bois activé par un moteur, des piles, des fils électriques, des interrupteurs... «On était tous deux versés dans la sculpture mais on n'avait jamais touché à l'électronique.» Ce qui explique peut-être que, lors de leur première performance, les haut-parleurs ont pris feu...... See full article -- http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=32754

“It is beautiful. I love the square corners and sleekness. Even without a screen, I think it is aesthetically pleasing.” -Bryan

"Another Player for the Birkenstock carriers among us: ILog, the current product of the Owl Projects, has a housing to the largest part from wood exists. The Player had a photograph function with which one Soundhaeppchen also at the same time mix can. Who wants to rumlaufen there already still with a plastics Player in the trouser pocket?" http://www.gizmodo.com/

iLog Sample Machine “The iLog is a second-generation electronic music device from Owl Project. With a series of touch-sensitive knobs and switches (aren’t they all?), the iLog lets you record samples and loop them from one easy, woodland device. It’s a personal project, though, not something mass-produced, so just look and love. It does make me wonder, though: how hard would it be to mill a super-thin wooden veneer for the back of an iPod? Wood would be so much better than smudgy metal” http://www.ofoghlu.net/log/

Caveman-style player: the iLog “We're not sure what this thing really is, but it appears to be some kind of DAP-like device stuffed into half of a log and that's pretty awesome by itself. The guys who made it call themselves "The Owl Project" and only supply us with these few details: • Touch-sensitive switches• Record samples and create electronic beats from your pocket• Just over 3 inches thick• Sync with Log1k, Mac and Windows at blazing speeds. So... it's a recorder, and synthesizer too? Right on, that's the best kind of log. There's no screen, so you'll have shuffle up your music, and who knows what kind of capacity it has, if any. Could be just an soundbox for all we know. The description is completely vague but that's to be expected - anyone who builds something like this has to be the mad-scientist type, and they can't be bothered with such details.” via Near Near Futurehttp://www.dapreview.net

iLog as the iPod killer? “The iLog device (from the Owl Project) is a working digital music player and recorder! Could it be the next iPod killer device. I'll leave it to you to decide.” http://www.gizmodo.com

iLog: the real iPod killer “So many have claimed to be the portable audio device that would bring about the downfall of the mighty white-budded player, but this — this is clearly it, folks. It's sustainable, it has a recording function, syncs with Mac and Windows — what could go wrong? True, it doesn't have a screen, but then again, those iPod lovers have been willing to put up with that so this shouldn't be a strike against the iLog. Well, okay, maybe three inches is a bit thick for a DAP… but it has a recording function, people. How could a rational mind go back to those featureless players after witnessing this? Oh, screw it. Some people just don't know a decent product when they see it.” Posted Apr 12th 2005 8:00AM by Barb Dybwad
 “Straight from the files of "Looks-like-an-April-Fool's-but-it's-real" The Log1k and iLog are instruments built from logs. ...The Log1k is a log with a gearbox motor that spins wooden disks to produce rhythmic noises, complete with "touch-sensitive switches" -- wait, as opposed to non touch-sensitive switches? Don't forget the flat panel display. (It's a blank opaque flat panel that lights up, in other words. But it is flat.) The iLog is a new portable version with the same wooden toggle switches. The iLog records samples, but much of the sounds have to do with "the bare sound of electricity." And how does it sound?Completely terrible. But you know, in a good way, if you're into woodland noise art. (Is that a baby crying in the second video? Nothing like log instruments for terrorizing children.) And, as if that weren't strange enough, the same team of Simon Blackmore and Antony Hall has created an instrument out of a lathe (scroll down to see it), with sensors to pick up the sounds of woodworking. Quote Hall and Blackmore: "From a practical point of view, the lathe can easily produce truly round objects.” Something that cannot be said of the latest USB keyboards.” ilog-the-real-ipod-killer www.engadget.com

iLog Sample Machine
“The next generation electronic music device from Owl Project. With a series of touch-sensitive knobs and switches (aren’t they all?), the iLog lets you record samples and loop them from one easy, woodland device. It’s a personal project, though, not something mass-produced, so just look and love. It does make me wonder, though: how hard would it be to mill a super-thin wooden veneer for the back of an iPod? Wood would be so much better than smudgy metal.” via We Make Money Not Art

iLog Vs. iPod "True, it doesn't’t have a screen, but then again, those iPod lovers have been willing to put up with that so this shouldn’t be a strike against the iLog. " More here.Does it come from sustainable forests? The iRiver iFP-995 looks like it is made of recycled beer cans, and the iPod Shuffle looks like it is made of old plastic bags.no mention of ogg support, either. Also note that it offers sync compatibility with the Log1k computer.”
“Brilliant, but if only I had a musical lathe to go with it -- wait, we're in luck!” Peter Kirn, Tuesday, 12 April 2005

The Owl Project / Dick Slessig Combo / Matmos / Leafcutter John / The Soft Pink Truth, Yaxu Paxo, Scala, 6 June 2004 "'The Owl Project are the first to take the stage on this humid Sunday evening. The duo’s black, woolen balaclavas betray an admirable degree of commitment to their art given the prevailing weather. You’d think that such headgear might liberate the duo from their inhibitions, allowing them to go wild in some unforeseen way, but instead they spend the entire duration of their short set crouched down at the front of the stage in a sort of, er, owl-like way. As well as balaclavas, logs appear integral to the Owl’s performance: their laptops are sandwiched inside them in blithe disregard of the all too real threat of woodworm infiltration. As to The Owl Project’s music, there’s lots of scurrying, whooping and scuffling – are these verbatim reports from the front line of forest life? Who knows, they’re gone too quickly to draw any firm conclusion....Published at: http://www.absorb.org

*Please note - there are no laptops sandwiched into the log1ks.

2000 Chapter Arts Center, Cardiff. International Festival of the owl. 
“The International Owl Project is about to descend on Cardiff for the first time, and reveal their latest eclectic work. Although IOP have remained deep underground for two years, the owl watching critics and public have engaged in non-stop debate about the hidden progress of their varied and sometimes shocking work. All eyes are on the bar area, which will be transformed into a temporary venue for a celebrity "Festival Of The Owl". Look out for Sipukha; The Russian film banned in the U.K in 1985 due to British government concerns about subliminal socialist propaganda and rumors of British/ Russian revolutionary collaboration. Also worth noting are the previously unseen strategic documents and "Sticky Shrew Traps". A vital and long awaited exhibition not to be missed.” The Guardian Guide August 2000