For the French commune, see Bouy.

A sea lion on navigational buoy #14 in San Diego Harbor.

Green can #11 near the mouth of the Saugatuck River.

NOAA Weather buoy

A buoy ( /ˈbɔɪ/, also /ˈbwɔɪ/ or US /ˈbuːiː/) is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift. The word, of Old French or Middle Dutch origin, is now most commonly /ˈbɔɪ/ (identical with boy, also as in buoyancy) in UK English, although some orthoepists have traditionally prescribed the pronunciation /ˈbwɔɪ/. The pronunciation /ˈbuːiː/, while chiefly American, more closely resembles the modern French bouée [bwe].^[1]

Types[link]

• Sea mark – aids pilotage by marking a maritime channel, hazard and administrative area to allow boats and ships to navigate safely.
• Lifebuoy – used as a life saving buoy designed to be thrown to a person in the water to provide buoyancy. Usually has a connecting line allowing the casualty to be pulled to the rescuer
• Submarine communication buoys – used for release in case of emergencies or for communication
• DAN buoy – has several meanings:
  • A large maritime navigational aid providing a platform for light and radio beacons
  • A lifebuoy with flags used on yachts and smaller pleasure craft
  • A temporary marker buoy used during Danish seine fishing to mark the anchor position of a net.
  • A temporary marker buoy set by danlayers during minesweeping operations to indicate the boundaries of swept paths, swept areas, known hazards, and other locations or reference points.
  • A temporary marker buoy set to mark a man overboard position.
• Sonobuoy – used by anti-submarine warfare aircraft to detect submarines by SONAR
• Surface Marker Buoy – taken on dives by scuba divers to mark their position underwater
• Decompression buoy – deployed by submerged scuba divers to mark their position underwater whilst doing decompression stops
• Shot buoy – used to mark dive sites for the boat safety cover of scuba divers so that the divers can descend to the dive site more easily in conditions of low visibility or tidal currents and more safely do decompression stops on their ascent
• Safe water mark or Fairway Buoy – a navigational buoy which marks the entrance to a channel or a nearby landfall
• lateral marker buoy
• Mooring buoys – used to keep one end of a mooring cable or chain on the water's surface so that ships or boats can tie on to it
• Tripping buoys – used to keep one end of a 'tripping line' on the water's surface so that a stuck anchor can more easily be freed
• Weather buoys – equipped to measure weather parameters such as air temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction and to report these data via satellite radio links such as the purpose-built Argos System or commercial satellite phone networks to meteorological centres for use in forecasting and climate study. May be anchored (moored buoys) or allowed to drift (drifting buoys) in the open ocean currents. Position is calculated by the satellite.
• Tsunami buoys – anchored buoys that can detect sudden changes in undersea water pressure are used as part of tsunami warning systems in the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and Indian Oceans.
• Spar buoy – a tall, thin buoy that floats upright in the water, e.g. R/P FLIP.
• Profiling buoy – specialized models which adjust buoyancy so that they will sink at a controlled rate to 2,000 metres below the surface while measuring sea temperatures and salinity. After at time, typically 10 days, the buoy returns to the surface, transmits its data via satellite, and then sinks again. See Argo (oceanography).
• Ice marking buoys – used for marking ice holes in frozen lakes and rivers, so that snowmobiles do not drive over the holes.
• Marker buoys – used in naval warfare, particularly anti-submarine warfare, is a light-emitting or smoke-emitting, or both, marker using some kind of pyrotechnic to provide the flare and smoke. It is commonly a 3-inch (76 mm) diameter device about 20 inches (500 mm) long that is set off by contact with seawater and floats on the surface. Some markers extinguish after a set period and others are made to sink.
• Lobster trap buoys – brightly colored buoys used for the marking of lobster trap locations so the person lobster fishing can find their lobster traps. Each lobster fisherman has his or her own color markings or registration numbers so they know which ones are theirs. They are only allowed to haul their own traps and must display their buoy color or license number on their boat so law enforcement officials know what they should be hauling. The buoys are brightly colored with highly visible numbers so they can be seen under conditions when there is poor visibility like rain, fog, sea smoke, etc.^[2][3]
• Waverider buoy – used to measure the movement of the water surface as a wave train. The wave train is analysed to determine statistics like the significant wave height and period, and wave direction.
• Target buoy – used to simulate target (like small boat) in live fire exercise by naval and coastal forces, usually targeted by weapons (medium size) like HMG's, rapid fire cannons (20 or so mm), autocannons (bigger ones up to 40 and 57mm) and also anti-tank rockets.
• Wreck buoy – a buoy to mark a wrecked ship to warn other ships to keep away because of unseen hazards.
• Self-locating datum marker buoy (SLDMB) – A 70% scale Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiment (CODE)/Davis-style oceanographic surface drifter with drogue vanes between 30 and 100 cm deep.^[4] This particular surface drifter is designed specifically for deployment from a U.S. Coast Guard vessel or airframe for search and rescue. Since the SLDMB has a very small surface area above the ocean surface and a high underwater surface area, there is very little leeway in response to the direct forcing of winds and waves.^[5]
• The space buoy is a common element in science fiction that refers to a stationary object in outer space that provides navigation data or warnings about that particular area.
• Buoy racing is the most prevalent form of yacht racing

Other uses[link]

• The word "buoyed" can also be used figuratively. For example, a person can buoy ('lift up') someone's spirits by providing help and empathy.
• George A. Stephen, founder of Weber-Stephen Products Co., invented the kettle grill by cutting a metal buoy in half and fashioning a dome shaped grill with a rounded lid.^[6]

Gallery[link]

• 

  Several different buoys at a storage depot.

• 

  A buoy used as turn marker for sailing races.

• 

  Old iron buoys, most likely for mooring.

• 

  Children playing on a buoy in the Volga

• 

  A buoy beached at Sebastian Inlet State Park.

• 

  Emergency buoy of the Swedish submarine Nordkaparen

• 

  Gas buoy stranded on land after 1915 Galveston Hurricane, near Texas City, Texas

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Buoys

Nautical portal

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Buoy.

• Buoyancy
• Buoyant force
• American Practical Navigator
• United States Coast Pilots
• Day beacon
• International Arctic Buoy Program
• Lateral mark
• Light List
• List of lights
• Lightvessel
• Lighthouse

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up buoy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Buoys in dry storage, Homer, Alaska

• Global Buoy Network Maps
• Lighthouses and Buoys
• North American Buoy Map
• iQuam – Quality monitoring for buoy measurements
• The Italian Data Buoy Network
• Thailand Tsunami Buoys

Mick Karn
Mick Karn, London, November 1982
Background information
Birth name	Andonis Michaelides (Greek: Αντώνης Μηχαηλίδης)
Born	(1958-07-24)24 July 1958 Nicosia, Cyprus
Origin	London, England
Died	4 January 2011(2011-01-04) (aged 52) Chelsea, London, England
Genres	Avant-garde, experimental rock, post-punk, punk rock
Instruments	Bass guitar, keyboards, sax, oboe
Years active	1977–2011
Labels	Virgin, CMP, Medium Productions
Associated acts	Japan, Dalis Car, JBK, NiNa, No-Man, the d.e.p.
Website	www.mickkarn.net

Andonis Michaelides (24 July 1958 – 4 January 2011),^[1][2] better known as Mick Karn, was an English multi-instrumentalist musician and songwriter, who came to fame as the bassist for the art rock band Japan, from 1974 to 1982.

In June 2010, he was diagnosed with advanced stage cancer, and died in January 2011.

Biography[link]

Karn was born into a Greek Cypriot family, in Nicosia, Cyprus, as Andonis Michaelides, which was later modified to Antony Michaelides. He had an older brother and sister. In late October 1961, the family emigrated to London, England, when Andonis was three years old.^[3] He was educated at Catford Boys' School, Catford, South East London where he failed academically. Karn remained based in London until 24 May 2004, when he moved back to Cyprus with his wife and son, remaining there for six years before moving back to London in late 2010.^{[citation needed]}

1970s – early 1980s: Japan[link]

The band Japan, whose other members included David Sylvian, keyboardist Richard Barbieri and Sylvian's brother Steve Jansen as drummer, began as a group of friends, who all studied at Catford Boys' School. As youngsters they played music as a means of escape, playing Sylvian's two-chord numbers – sometimes with Karn as the front man, sometimes with Sylvian at the fore, guitarist Rob Dean joined the band later.

Japan in Toronto, 24 November 1979

They christened themselves Japan in 1974, signed a recording contract with German disco label Hansa, with whom they recorded three studio albums and became an alternative glam rock outfit in the mould of David Bowie, T.Rex, and The New York Dolls. They switched to Virgin Records to record their subsequent albums Gentlemen Take Polaroids and Tin Drum.

As the band started to achieve commercial success with the release of Tin Drum, and "Ghosts", which reached the top five in 1982, tensions and personality conflicts between band members rose; Tin Drum was to be the band's final studio album. Long-simmering differences among the bandmembers came to a head when Karn's girlfriend, photographer Yuka Fujii, moved in with Sylvian and the individual members forged ahead with their own projects;^{[citation needed]} Karn cited in an interview that as tensions with their record company had abated following Japan's commercial success, band members began focussing on personal differences rather than on the common enemy.^[4]

Session work and solo projects[link]

Karn released his first solo album, Titles, in November 1982, just as Japan had announced their split. In 1983, he collaborated with Midge Ure on the UK top 40 single "After a Fashion", and in 1984, he formed Dalis Car with Peter Murphy of the gothic post-punk group Bauhaus. The duo released one album, The Waking Hour, in late 1984.^[1] In the 1990s he worked with artist David Torn and a number of Japanese musicians, and formed the multinational New Wave band, NiNa. Latterly, he worked as a solo artist and as a sculptor, photographer.

Karn contributed to recordings by other artists, playing bass guitar on Bill Nelson's Vistamix, bass guitar and saxophone on Gary Numan's 1981 album Dance, and also played with Kate Bush and Joan Armatrading.^[5]

In the 1990s he started the Medium Productions label along with Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri, two of his fellow former Japan-members.^[5] and Debi Zornes (label management and artist co-ordination). In 2006, the MK Music imprint was established, by Mick Karn and Debi Zornes —and beginning with 2006's Three Part Species, all releases, including the autobiography, have the MK Music logo on them.

Karn left London in 2004 to live in Cyprus with his wife and son, financially enabling himself to keep working as a musician/artist.

In 2009, Karn also released his autobiography, titled Japan & Self Existence, available through his website and Lulu, which details his music career, his interests in sculpture and painting, his childhood, relationships, and family.

At around the turn of the century, Karn worked with Gota Yashiki, Vivian Hsu, Masahide Sakuma and Masami Tsuchiya in the band The d.e.p., or doggy eels project.^[6] In 2001, he worked with Paul Wong on his "Yellow Paul Wong" release.

On 30 August 2010, Peter Murphy disclosed via video message (subsequently removed/hidden) on his personal Facebook profile that he would be reuniting with Mick Karn for a week in London, perhaps in November, to begin writing and recording for a second Dalis Car album. Murphy also added that this would be the first time the two had seen each other since 1983.^[7] According to the biography on Karn's website, the work they recorded will be released as an EP later in 2011.^[8]

Musical style[link]

Karn was essentially a self-taught musician. His first musical instrument was bassoon, with which he attended and passed an LSSO audition. After his bassoon was stolen from him, he purchased a bass guitar for ₤5. It was then he joined up with David Batt (Sylvian), who played acoustic guitar.^[10]

Karn was principally the bassist within Japan, but also played all the wind instruments, including the saxophone; on Tin Drum, he played the Chinese suona (credited as 'dida') for the authentic oriental sound. Karn's use of the fretless bass guitar, an unusual instrument in modern popular music, produces a distinctive sound and playing style, which makes his playing immediately recognisable.^[5]

Karn played an aluminium-neck Travis Bean bass on all Japan albums up to Gentlemen Take Polaroids. In 1981 he moved to Wal basses, purchasing two Mark I instruments, one with rare African tulipwood facings, the other a cherry solidbody. Karn recorded Japan's last studio album Tin Drum with the Wal and had continued to use these, along with a headless Klein 'K Bass'.^{[citation needed]}

Further education[link]

Mick Karn revealed that he earned two diplomas in psychotherapy from a West London college, entitling him to call himself 'Member of the Associated Stress Consultants, Psychotherapy, and Regression & Hypno-analysis'.^[11]

Illness and death[link]

In June 2010, Karn announced on his website that he had been diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer, though the specific type of cancer was not mentioned.^[12] According to David Torn, Karn's cancer had apparently already spread and he was undergoing chemotherapy.^[13] The website announcement stated that Karn had been struggling financially for some time, and appealed for donations to help pay for his medical care and provide financial assistance for his family. In addition, several people Karn has worked with, in particular Midge Ure,^[13] Porcupine Tree,^[12] and Masami Tsuchiya,^[6] announced concerts in support of the appeal. According to a website update dated 3 September 2010, the funds raised by the appeal enabled Karn and family to move back to London where Karn received treatment.^[12] However, the cancer had spread beyond the possibility of treatment, and Karn died at home in London on 4 January 2011.^[12][14]

Musical works[link]

Albums[link]

• Titles (Virgin, 1982) – UK #74^[1]
• The Waking Hour (as Dalis Car, with Peter Murphy, Beggars Banquet Records, 1984) – UK #84^[1]
• Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters (Virgin, 1987) – UK #89^[1]
• Bestial Cluster (CMP, 1993)
• Polytown (CMP, 1994) – David Torn, Mick Karn & Terry Bozzio)
• The Tooth Mother (CMP, 1995)
• Seed [EP] (Jansen-Barbieri-Karn, Medium UK, 1997)
• Beginning to Melt (Jansen-Barbieri-Karn, Medium UK, 1997)
• Liquid Glass (with Yoshihiro Hanno) (Medium, 1998)
• -ism (Jansen-Barbieri-Karn, Medium UK, 2000)
• Each Eye a Path (Medium, 2001)
• Each Path a Remix (Medium, 2003)
• More Better Different (Invisible Hands Music, 2004)
• Love's Glove EP (MK, 2005)
• Three Part Species (MK, 2006)
• Selected (MK, 2007)
• The Concrete Twin (MK, 2009)
• Endless (Fjieri, with Barbieri-Harrison-Bowness, Forward Music Italy, 2009)
• Timelines (Stefano Panunzi, with Gavin Harrison, RES, 2005)
• A Rose (Stefano Panunzi, with Tim Bowness, Theo Travis, Robby Aceto, Emerald, 2009)

Singles[link]

• "Sensitive" (Virgin, 1982) – UK #98^[15]
• "After a Fashion" (1983) – with Midge Ure, UK #39^[1]
• "Buoy" (Virgin, 1987) – Mick Karn featuring David Sylvian, UK #63^[1]
• "Of & About" (MK, 2006)

Dali's Car[link]

• "The Waking Hour" (Beggars Banquet, 1984) – UK #84 Dali's Car
• EP "The Judgement is the Mirror" (1984)
• EP 'InGladAloneness (2011)

Written works[link]

• Japan & Self Existence publisher: MK Music. Biography, covering his life from 1958 to 2006.

References[link]

• "Mick Karn: Honorable tension", Interview by Anil Prasad, Innerviews.org
• Rymer, Paul "History of Japan", Nightporter.co.uk

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

• Mick Karn.net

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2012)

David Sylvian
David Sylvian, November 1982
Background information
Birth name	David Alan Batt
Born	(1958-02-23) 23 February 1958 (age 54)
Origin	Beckenham, Kent, England
Genres	New Wave, art rock, ambient, electronic, avant-garde, jazz, alternative rock, classical
Years active	1974–present
Labels	Virgin Records Samadhisound
Associated acts	Japan Nine Horses Robert Fripp Rain Tree Crow
Website	David Sylvian.com

David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt, 23 February 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan. His subsequent solo work is described by critic Jason Ankeny^[1] as "a far-ranging and esoteric career that encompassed not only solo projects but also a series of fascinating collaborative efforts." Sylvian's solo work has been influenced by a variety of musical styles and genres, including jazz, avant-garde, ambient, electronic, and progressive rock.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Sylvian was born in Beckenham, Kent, the son of a plasterer and a housewife. He was educated at Catford Boys' School, Catford, South East London leaving at 16. As a youth, he listened to glam rock artists such as David Bowie and Roxy Music.^{[citation needed]}

1970s-Early 1980s: Japan[link]

Japan in Toronto, 24 November 1979

The band Japan, whose other members included bassist Mick Karn, guitarist Rob Dean, keyboardist Richard Barbieri and Sylvian's brother Steve Jansen as drummer, began as a group of friends. As youngsters they played music as a means of escape, playing Sylvian's two-chord numbers – sometimes with Karn as the front man, sometimes with Sylvian at the fore.

They christened themselves Japan in 1974, signed a recording contract with Hansa, and became an alternative glam rock outfit in the mould of David Bowie, T.Rex, and The New York Dolls. Over a period of a few years their music became more sophisticated, drawing initially on the art rock stylings of Roxy Music. Their visual image also evolved and the band was tagged with the New Romantic label. Indeed, it could be argued^{[by whom?]} that Japan was at the forefront of the entire New Romantic movement, even though the band never associated itself with it. Noting their distinction from the New Romantics, Sylvian stated: "I don't like to be associated with them. The attitudes are so very different." Of Japan's fashion sense, Sylvian said: "For them [New Romantics], fancy dress is a costume. But ours is a way of life. We look and dress this way every day."^[2]

Japan recorded five studio albums between March 1978 and November 1981. In 1980, the band signed with Virgin Records, where Sylvian remained as a recording artist for the next twenty years. The band suffered from personal and creative clashes, particularly between Sylvian and Karn, with tensions springing from Sylvian's relationship with Yuka Fujii, a photographer, artist and designer, and Karn's former girlfriend.^[3] Fujii quickly became an influential figure in Sylvian's life. She was the first person to introduce Sylvian seriously to jazz, which in turn inspired him to follow musical avenues not otherwise open to him.^{[citation needed]} She also encouraged Sylvian to incorporate spiritual discipline into his daily routine. Throughout his solo career, Fujii maintained a large role in the design of artwork for his albums.^{[citation needed]}

1980s–1990s: Solo career[link]

In 1982, Sylvian released his first solo collaborative effort with Ryuichi Sakamoto, entitled "Bamboo Houses/Bamboo Music". He also worked with Sakamoto on the UK Top 20 song "Forbidden Colours" for the 1983 Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Sakamoto's first contribution to Sylvian's work though was as co-writer of Taking Islands in Africa on the Japan-album 'Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980).

Sylvian's debut solo album, Brilliant Trees (1984), met with critical acclaim.^{[citation needed]} The album included contributions from Ryuichi Sakamoto, trumpeter Jon Hassell, and former Can bassist Holger Czukay. It featured the UK Top 20 single Red Guitar.

In 1985, Sylvian released an instrumental mini-album Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities, in collaboration with Jansen, Hassell and Czukay, a recording that, when re-released in 2003, included the addition of Sylvian's Steel Cathedrals, the soundtrack to his video release of the same name.

The next release was the two-record set Gone to Earth (1986), which featured one record of atmospheric vocal tracks and a second record consisting of ambient instrumentals. The album contained significant contributions from noted guitarists Bill Nelson of Be-Bop Deluxe and Robert Fripp of King Crimson.

Secrets of the Beehive (1987) made greater use of acoustic instruments and was musically oriented towards sombre, emotive ballads laced with shimmering string arrangements by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Brian Gascoigne. The album yielded one of Sylvian's most well-received songs, "Orpheus", and was later supported by his first solo tour, 1988's 'In Praise of Shamans.'

Never one to conform to commercial expectations, Sylvian then collaborated with Holger Czukay. Plight and Premonition, issued in 1988, and Flux and Mutability, recorded and released the following year, also included contributions from Can members Jaki Liebezeit and Michael Karoli.

Virgin decided to close out the 1980s with the release of Weatherbox, an elaborate boxed-set compilation consisting of Sylvian's four previous solo albums.

In 1990, Sylvian collaborated with artists Russell Mills and Ian Walton on the elaborate multi-media installation using sculpture, sound and light titled Ember Glance – The Permanence of Memory. The exhibition was staged at the temporary museum 'Space FGO-Soko' on Tokyo Bay, Shinagawa, Tokyo.^[4]

1990s: Rain Tree Crow[link]

Also in 1990, Sylvian reunited with the former members of Japan for a new project. Unlike their past work, Sylvian decided to use methods of improvisation like those he explored in his work with Holger Czukay.^{[citation needed]}

Ingrid Chavez, an artist signed to Prince's Paisley Park Records, sent Sylvian a copy of her first album. He liked what he heard and thought her voice would fit well with some material that both Ryuichi Sakamoto and he were working on for a new Sakamoto release. Chavez and Sylvian quickly developed a bond and decided to travel together throughout the UK and the US, where they eventually settled after marrying in 1992 (they divorced twelve years later).^{[citation needed]}

1993: With Robert Fripp[link]

In the early 1990s, guitarist Robert Fripp invited Sylvian to sing with progressive rock stalwarts King Crimson. Sylvian declined the invitation, but he and Fripp recorded the album The First Day released in July 1993. Something of a departure for Sylvian, the album melded Sylvian's philosophical lyrics to funk workouts and aggressive rock stylings very much in the mould of Fripp's King Crimson. To capitalise on the album's success, the musicians went back out on the road in the autumn of 1993. A live recording, called Damage and released in 1994, was culled from the final shows of the tour.

Sylvian and Fripp's final collaboration was the installation Redemption – Approaching Silence. The exhibition was held at the P3 Art and Environment centre in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and ran from 30 August to 18 September 1994. The accompanying music was composed by Sylvian, with text written and recited by Fripp.

In the late summer of 1995, Sylvian undertook a one-man solo tour which he called 'Slow Fire – A Personal Retrospective'.

A period of relative musical inactivity followed, during which Sylvian and Ingrid Chavez moved from Minnesota to the Napa Valley. Chavez had given birth to two daughters, Ameera-Daya (born 1993) and Isobel (born 1997), and pursued her interest in photography and music. Sylvian and Chavez are now divorced.

1999 to present[link]

In 1999, Sylvian released Dead Bees on a Cake, his first solo album proper since Secrets of the Beehive twelve years earlier. The disc gathered together the most eclectic influences of all his recordings, ranging from soul music to jazz fusion to blues to Eastern-inflected spiritual chants, and most of the songs' lyrics reflected the now 41-year-old Sylvian's inner peace resulting from his marriage, family, and beliefs. Guest musicians included long-time friend Ryuichi Sakamoto, classically-trained tabla player Talvin Singh, avant-garde guitarist Marc Ribot, jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, and contemporary jazz guitarist Bill Frisell. In 2010 Sylvian said, "Since the early ’80s I’ve been interested in deconstructing the familiar forms of popular song, in retaining the structure but removing the pillars of support. My work continually returns to this question: how much of the framework can you remove while still being able to identify what is, after all, a familiar form?"^[5]

Following Dead Bees, Sylvian released a pair of compilation albums through Virgin, a two-disc retrospective, Everything and Nothing, and an instrumental collection, Camphor. Both albums contained previously released material, some remixes, and several new or previously unreleased tracks which Sylvian finished especially for the projects.

Sylvian parted ways with Virgin and launched his own independent label, Samadhi Sound. He released the album Blemish. A fusion of styles, including jazz and electronica, the tour enabled Sylvian to perform music from the Nine Horses project, as well as various selections from his back catalogue. Blemish included contributions from Christian Fennesz and Derek Bailey. Sylvian used a different approach with this album. He has said about his process, "With Blemish I started each day in the studio with a very simple improvisation on guitar. Once recorded, I’d listen back and use cues from the improv—the dynamic and so on—to dictate the structure of the piece. I’d write lyrics and melody on the spot, and would follow that up with the recording of the vocal itself."^[5]

A new solo album entitled Manafon was released on 14 September 2009 in two editions – a regular CD/digipak edition and a twin boxset deluxe edition with two books that include the CD and a DVD featuring the film 'Amplified Gesture'. Manafon features contributions from leading figures in electroacoustic improvisation such as saxophonist Evan Parker, multi-instrumentalist Otomo Yoshihide, laptop + guitarist Christian Fennesz, Polwechsel's double bassist Werner Dafeldecker and cellist Michael Moser, sinewaves specialist Sachiko M and AMM alumni guitarist Keith Rowe, percussionist Eddie Prévost and pianist John Tilbury. In 2010 talked about Manafon, and said:

"What happened with Manafon was that the work abandoned me. As I was writing and developing the material, the spirit holding all these disparate elements together just left me. I sat stunned for a moment and then realised: It’s over; this is as far as it goes…In a sense, I’d been steadily working my way toward Manafon since I was a young man listening to Stockhausen and dabbling in deconstructing the pop song. Having said that, I don’t think we only develop as artists practising in our chosen fields. For me that meant an exploration of intuitive states via meditation and other related disciplines which, the more I witnessed free-improv players at work, appeared to be crucially important to enable a being there in the moment, a sustained alertness and receptivity."^[5]

In 2010 Sylvian released a compilation disc of his collaborative works with musicians over the last 10 years – Sleepwalkers includes songs with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tweaker, Nine Horses, Steve Jansen, Christian Fennesz and Arve Henriksen. Also included are a few new songs such as Sleepwalkers which is co-written with drummer Martin Brandlmayr of Radian and Polwechsel.

In 2011, the double disc Died in the Wool was released as variations on the 2009 release Manafon with the addition of six new pieces, including collaborations with composer Dai Fujikura, producers Jan Bang and Erik Honoré, and a roster of contemporary musicians and improvisers. For the first time, a stereo mix of the audio installation “when we return you won’t recognise us” is available on CD, pairing a group of improvisers—John Butcher, Arve Henriksen, Günter Müller, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Eddie Prévost—with a string sextet directed by Fujikura. Also in 2011, Sylvian acted as the artist in residence at the Punkt Festival. In addition to curating the events of the festival, Sylvian performed his compositions 'The Spiralling Of Winter Ghosts' and 'Giant Empty Iron Vessel' backed by John Tilbury, Jan Bang, Phillip Jeck, Eivind Aarset, Eric Honore, and Arve Henriksen. The positive reception led to the decision to tour throughout Europe in 2012. The Implausible Beauty tour was due to feature a lineup of musicians including Jan Bang, guitarist Eivind Aarset, pianist Sebastian Lexer, cellist Hildur Gudnadottir and trumpeter Gunnar Halle. The tour was cancelled in late January 2012 due to Sylvian's poor health.^[6]

Discography[link]

Japan[link]

• Adolescent Sex (1978)
• Obscure Alternatives (1978)
• Quiet Life (1979)
• Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980)
• Tin Drum (1981)
• Rain Tree Crow same line-up as Japan (1991)

Solo albums[link]

• Brilliant Trees (1984)
• Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities (1985)
• Gone to Earth (1986)
• Secrets of the Beehive (1987)
• Dead Bees on a Cake (1999)
• Blemish (2003)
• When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima (2007)
• Manafon (2009)

Collaborations[link]

• Plight & Premonition David Sylvian and Holger Czukay (1988)
• Flux and Mutability David Sylvian and Holger Czukay (1989)
• Ember Glance: The Permanence of Memory David Sylvian and Russell Mills (1991)
• The First Day David Sylvian and Robert Fripp (1993)
• Damage David Sylvian and Robert Fripp (1994)
• World Citizen (EP) David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto (2003)
• Snow Borne Sorrow Nine Horses David Sylvian, Steve Jansen and Burnt Friedman (2005)
• Money for All (EP) Nine Horses David Sylvian, Steve Jansen and Burnt Friedman (2007)

Compilations[link]

• Weatherbox (1989)
• Approaching Silence (1999)
• Everything and Nothing (2000)
• Camphor (2002)
• Sleepwalkers (2010)
• A Victim of Stars 1982–2012 (2012)

Remixes[link]

• The Good Son vs. The Only Daughter (2003)
• Died in the Wool–Manafon Variations (2011)

Contributions[link]

This is an incomplete list.

• "Good Night" on Ai Ga Nakucha Ne by Akiko Yano (1982)
• "Forbidden Colours" on Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto (1983)
• "Some Small Hope" on Hope In A Darkened Heart by Virginia Astley (1986)
• "Buoy" and "When Love Walks In" on Dreams Of Reason Produce Monsters by Mick Karn (1987)
• "Heartbeat (Returning To The Womb)" and "Cloud #9" on Heartbeat by Ryuichi Sakamoto (1991)
• "To a Reason" and "Victim Of Stars" on Sahara Blue by Hector Zazou (1992)
• "Come Morning", "The Golden Way" and "Maya" on Marco Polo by Nicola Alesini & Pier Luigi Andreoni (1995)
• "Ti Ho Aspettato (I Have Waited For You)" on L'Albero Pazzo by Andrea Chimenti (1995)
• "How Safe Is Deep?" on Undark:Strange Familiar by Russell Mills (1996)
• "Salvation" on Discord by Ryuichi Sakamoto (1998)
• "Rooms of Sixteen Shimmers" on Pearl And Umbra by Russell Mills (1999)
• "Forbidden Colours" on Cinemage by Ryuichi Sakamoto (2000)
• "Zero Landmine" on Zero Landmine by No More Landmine featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto and Various Artists (2001)
• "Sugarfuel" on Bold by Readymade FC (2001)
• "Linoleum" on The Attraction to All Things Uncertain by Tweaker (2001)
• "World Citizen (I Won't Be Disappointed)" on Chasm by Ryuichi Sakamoto (2004)
• "Transit" on Venice by Fennesz (2004)
• "Pure Genius" on 2 a.m. Wakeup Call by Tweaker (2004)
• "Late Night Shopping (remix)" by Fennesz (2004)
• "Exit/Delete" on Coieda by Takagi Masakatsu (2004)
• "Messenger" on Equus by Blonde Redhead (2004)
• "For the Love of Life (Ending Theme Full Version)" on "Monster – Original Soundtrack" (2004)
• "The Librarian" on Out In The Sticks and Secret Rhythms 2 by Burnt Friedman & Jaki Liebezeit (2005)
• "A Fire in the Forest" (Remix) on Babilonia by Readymade FC (2005)
• "Angels" on Crime Scenes by Punkt (2006)
• "Playground Martyrs" and "Ballad Of A Deadman" on Slope by Steve Jansen (2007)
• "Honor Wishes" and "No Question" (Japanese edition only) on To Survive by Joan As Police Woman (2008)
• "Before and Afterlife" and "Thermal" on Cartography by Arve Henriksen (2008)
• "Jacqueline" on The Believer -The 2009 Music Issue- (2009)
• "Modern Interior" at kizunaworld.org – David Sylvian & Jan Bang (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• David Sylvian discography at Discogs
• Manafon – micro website for album Manafon (2009)
• Died In The Wool – micro website of release Died In The Wool / Manafon Variations (2011)