Jonnie Common – Positive Interactions

04: Tiny Golden Quacks

Listen out for these sounds in Tiny Golden Quacks:

Here’s a wee thing I made today in my head bubble. Hope it suits, can’t remember if you needed a certain length.
That was fun! So nice to have a play and make something with no parameters, must do that more often, I’d probably get quite a lot done that way.
Emily Scott

Sylvie playing the xylophone with her dad

This is the recording that sprang to mind when I first read your email. It’s my daughter playing my xylophone, this time last year. So she was 13 months old at the time. Funny to hear her not talking, with just the occasional grunt, as she rarely stops chatting at present 😀
Thought of this because
(a) it makes me feel happy
(b) it was recorded with a field recorder rather than a phone
(c) it’s rife with easily croppable notes / flourishes in the key of C.
Jonnie Common

The song of the Jilguero bird

Greetings from the shire where I have just returned after spending a few days with the folks. I managed to catch the Jilguero a few times in different locations. Hard to catch him by himself and you can hear the noise of the city and very annoying dogs. I have not deleted any files since I know you might want to hear them all and choose for yourself. There are other birds there too, including humming birds. They are the ones with a rhythmical and repetitive high pitch chirp.
Morgan Szymanski

Track named by Rory Common. Xylophone performed by Sylvie Common. Arranged and produced by Tommy Perman.

Email your happy message to: happy@positiveinteractions.space – you will then receive an auto-respond email with a link to download. If it doesn’t arrive please check your junk / spam folder. I will try to respond to your happy messages personally if I can. Thank you!

14: Dancing With Cows

Listen out for these sounds in Dancing With Cows:

5208 Hutchinson Drive

Recording sent by Sandy Carson, Austin, Texas

A kalimba

I recently received an unexpected and rather lovely gift of a kalimba. The little thing sits on my desk where I work and occasionally throughout the day, while I’m thinking, or taking a break, or procrastinating, I’ll have a little play on it. It has such a sweet sound that even my mistakes (of which there are many) are pretty and it’s really reminded me how joyful and immersive and meditative playing music can be. If everyone had a kalimba on their desk I think the world would be a happier place.

Rachel Simpson

A man singing in the streets of Bangalore

The cow is a holy animal for some Hindu communities in India (and also the cause for a lot of unrest and polarisation). This is a man singing as he brings around a richly decorated cow seeking alms (food and money often). He came around our studio often and this was a very familiar sound before the pandemic. It is a sound I miss hearing these days.

Babitha George

Glen Finglas stone bells

Stone “bells” on the Glen Finglas sculpture trail

Jonnie Common

Night drumming in the BR Hills

This is from a forest outside Bangalore in BR Hills. The Soliga tribe lives here and the drums you hear are them drumming at night to keep wild elephants away.

Babitha George

Some chimes

Here’s a wee thing I made today in my head bubble. Hope it suits, can’t remember if you needed a certain length.
That was fun! So nice to have a play and make something with no parameters, must do that more often, I’d probably get quite a lot done that way.

Emily Scott

Track named by Babitha George.
Written and produced by Tommy Perman.

Get the album

17: Trying To Squeeze Out The Wax From A Pile Of Shit

Listen out for these sounds in Trying To Squeeze Out The Wax From A Pile Of Shit:

Morning routine

I hope this is ok and workable. It’s essentially all about the mundane. I love rituals and I love to have them in the morning – it makes me happy. I really enjoy the start of the day, when the unexpected hasn’t happenned yet, when it’s a completely blank canvas, fresh start of something. I am lucky enough to have a job that I like and to be able to spend my days in my own studio. So here are the sounds of the first half an hour after leaving my flat – the walk, putting the kettle on, turning the radio on, making a cup of coffee and then a wee bit of printing. Right before the printer decides to do something silly and I have to fix it in panic hehe! Essentially, I think that during these strange times when nothing is certain, I fell out of love with chaos a bit and started to really appreciate these short glimpses of clarity and stability.

Gabrielė Gudaitytė

Sandy Carson’s guitar and bass playing

Sylvie playing the xylophone with her dad

This is the recording that sprang to mind when I first read your email. It’s my daughter playing my xylophone, this time last year. So she was 13 months old at the time. Funny to hear her not talking, with just the occasional grunt, as she rarely stops chatting at present 😀

Thought of this because
(a) it makes me feel happy
(b) it was recorded with a field recorder rather than a phone
(c) it’s rife with easily croppable notes / flourishes in the key of C.

Jonnie Common

Synth sounds from Chris Labrooy

I don’t really try to make music any more even though I do play about from time to time to escape from all of the visual stuff. Happiness isn’t necessarily in the sound but in the process of pressing keys and pushing buttons.

Chris Labrooy

Synths sounds by Johnny Lynch

Just searched through some old stems from the Pictish Trail album, and found some sounds I really enjoyed making with Rob Jones, mostly on his swanky OP-1 and MS10 synths.

Johnny Lynch (aka Pictish Trail)

Track named by Gabrielė Gudaitytė. Written by Tommy Perman, Chris Labrooy and Sandy Carson. Produced by Tommy Perman.