Midnight Mushroom Music

Lately, we've been researching electrodes. Nano, micro, tiny, made of fine silver and gold. For this biodata recording, we used needle-fine silver electrodes. The electrodes, like hypodermic needles, were placed within the roots of our Crassula portulacea (Shrek plant!). As well as experimenting with various electrodes we have started to work with Phonemes. Soon: Fungi (non-human intelligence) and AI triggered speech.

A colleague is experimenting with Cordyceps, growing them on rice...

Several jars of fruiting bodies so I thought why not record some biodata! Here it is.. curious.

This was my last day in the Blue Mountains and I had to record biodata from a Mountain Blue Gum, Eucalyptus deanei as well as a Grey Gum, Eucalyptus cypellocarpa. Not too far from BigCi the soil changes to where these particular beauties thrive. What's more, is there is what looks to be a field of them within the Dharma Cloud Monastery an approximate 40-hour trek northeast.

Incredibly beautiful land. The residents of Dharma Cloud have cleared the land of all Understory, creating the appearance of a gum tree orchard. Giant stone buddha stand within this magical forest. I spent around 90 minutes outside of the monastery gates... I also stepped through the large red circle, into this peaceful land.

The biodata recordings were each taken separately, however, here I have decided to mix the Blue and Grey together. The two trees were fairly similar looking in size, but the Grey gum sent a rush of activity where the Blue was seemingly more subdued.

The separate recordings will be uploaded within the next week.

Hope you enjoy listening to the processed tree biodata, and thanks for listening! XO

Tuesday evening, Oct 8th I was generously invited to visit (& record biodata if possible) the Glowworms residing in a section of Rainforest looked after by Lionel Buckett, founder/builder of http://lovecabins.com.au/ (check out his amazing cabins & Tree House!!). So, Glowworms can now be marked off the bucket list! What I was not aware of, however, is Glowworms turn into Fungus Gnats!! Ha.

:)

We arrived a bit early so I was able to walk around the forest a bit as the sun slowly made its descent... GIANT Blue gums above us, incredible ferns and I spotted a bracket mushroom at least 9-10 meters up living on a Gum. Amazing. This bracket has to be at least 4 meters across! Massive.

Lyrebirds gave us a soundscape as we waited... slowly it grew dark, constellations began to appear in the caves. I carefully placed electrodes into an area where several larvae were glowing- their activity was wonderful. I recorded the raw MIDI data and later brought that into Ableton where I added Pads, a tiny bit of Decay and some Reverb. Though, their activity was off the charts and really doesn't need any intervention other than adding a Synth voice. A Github repository now exists for those interested in utilizing the raw data.

Thanks for listening! Next time I visit Australia I am definitely booking Lionel's Tree House or Cave House! Amazing.

Arachnocampa luminosa (Skuse, 1891), Three genera of fungus gnats are bioluminescent, and known as "glowworms" in their larval stage. They produce a blue-green light. The larvae spin sticky webs to catch food. They are found in caves, overhangs, rock cavities, and other sheltered, wet areas. They are usually classified under the family Keroplatidae, but this is not universally accepted and some authors place them under Mycetophilidae instead. Despite the similarities in function and appearance, the bioluminescent systems of the three genera are not homologous and are believed to have evolved separately.

Genus Arachnocampa - around five species found only in New Zealand and Australia. The most well-known member of the genus is the New Zealand glowworm, Arachnocampa luminosa. The larvae are predatory and use their lights to lure prey into their web.

The species was first formally described in 1891 with the species name Bolitiphila luminosa and was assigned to the family Mycetophilidae.[4] In 1924, it was placed within a new genus of its own, Arachnocampa, because the wing venation of the adults and the behaviour of the larvae differed significantly from other Bolitophila fly species. It was given the genus name (meaning "spider-worm") on the basis of its building a silk nest and using silk threads to capture prey.

Raw Midi biodata recorded from the Eucalyptus haemastoma. I brought it into Ableton for some lite-processing.

Added a 'voice' to hear the data. The notes formed what looked like cuneiform. Letters. Maybe, symbols?

Do you hear a pattern?

Eucalyptus haemastoma, commonly known as scribbly gum, is a species of tree that is endemic in the Sydney region. It has white or silvery grey bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between nine and fifteen, white flowers and conical or hemispherical fruit. It is one of three eucalypts with prominent insect scribbles in the bark.

Its been raining up in the Blue Mountains- which is a good thing! Out early morning Wednesday, Sept 18th and I found giant Cauliflower-like, slightly Lion's Mane-ish fungi under gum trees. Turns out these giant fungus clumps are Laetiporus portentosus. Here's what Wiki has to say: Laetiporus portentosus is a species of polypore fungus in the family Fomitopsidaceae. It is found in South America, Australia, and New Zealand. It has been used traditionally as a tinder and to carry fire by Australian Aboriginals, and by New Zealand Māori people. The Māori have also used it as a "wound protector, to soften and ease a difficult labor.

The white-throated treecreeper (Cormobates leucophaea) has been recorded feeding on this fungus in a heathy dry forest in Victoria.

Super happy to find this mushie, I set to recording its biodata and here ya go! Thank for listening!

Bio-data recording from a Wollemi clone.

Wollemia is a genus of coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae. Wollemia was only known through fossil records until the Australian species Wollemia nobilis was discovered in 1994 in a temperate rainforest wilderness area of the Wollemi National Park in New South Wales, in a remote series of narrow, steep-sided sandstone gorges 150 km north-west of Sydney. The genus is named for the National Park.

The Wollemi Pine is one of the world's oldest and rarest plants, with less than 100 adult trees known to exist in the wild, the Wollemi Pine is now the focus of extensive research to safeguard its survival. Wollemi pine, although it is not a true pine (genus Pinus) nor a member of the pine family (Pinaceae), but, rather, is related to Agathis and Araucaria in the family Araucariaceae. The oldest fossil of the Wollemi tree has been dated to 200 million years ago.

Out collecting biodata I wandered into Wollemi's Gardens of Stone.

The Scribbly Gum is a magnificent tree. Its bark is an iridescent blue, graphic as if someone painted it camouflage patterns in multiple shades of graphite. The particular Scribbly that called to me grew out of what appeared to be a giant root bulb, split in two at the top, identical twins. Walking around this 'bulb' I discovered the tree had quite literally been split open! The bulb appeared 3 dimensional from one side, however, the other side revealed the bulb to be a shell perhaps 15cm thick. All blackened, charred- but from what? The rest of the tree and bulb had no sign of fire, only this odd, cave-like interior. The tree(s) lived on, thrived.

I sat with the twins, watching the sunset over the mountains, bringing the rain.

Early morning biodata recordings of Banksia serrata aka Old Man Banksia/Saw-tooth Banksia

Artist residency 16, August 2019 to 16, October 2019. Blue Mountains World Heritage site Wollemi National Park.

2019 Bigci Environmental Award.

@MothAntler

This morning I headed out around 4:30/5am to explore the Zig Zag path in South Titirangi. The hike down was easy... I was in search of Kauri. WikiP says: Agathis australis, commonly known by its Māori name kauri, is a coniferous tree of Araucariaceae in the genus Agathis, found north of 38°S in the northern districts of New Zealand's North Island. Kauri forests are among the most ancient in the world.

Kauris are currently endangered, dieoff is taking place due to a fungal pathogen carried in on feet/shoes.

Kauri are naturally found throughout the upper North Island of New Zealand, in the Northland, Auckland and Waikato regions, and in parts of the Bay of Plenty. Kauri have existed as a species for around 20 million years.

I found a small Kauri (maybe a metre across!) and gently placed electrodes onto its skin. For the past couple of days here my friend and I have wondered if sick versus healthy Kauri could be heard, would there be a significant difference in their sound?

Later in the afternoon, I was taken to Arataki Visitor Centre where there are many Kauri growing on the land around the centre. The rangers were very friendly and listened to my friend and I describe what I was up to in Australia and New Zealand (recording biodata) and they were entirely open to my placing electrodes onto one of the Kauri on site! The thing is, most Kauri are inaccessible. Platforms and walkways have been built up as walking tracks, to keep people off the Kauri roots. A beautiful 100 or so year old was close enough to a platform (easily 9 metres from the forest floor), with this Kauri reaching a height of... at least 30 metres or so?

I have a habit of thanking fungus, plants, and trees as I go to place electrodes onto them and today was no different. Kauri are beautiful. Majestic very much like Redwood. It turns out they are very musical, too. As I recorded and listened to the kauri biodata the park rangers came over to listen and talk about what exactly was going on! As we chatted, Joc (pronounced, Joss) came up. Joc works at the visitor's centre and wondered what the heck was going on! I think one of the rangers was telling their colleagues the Kauri was making music! ;)

Joc placed the headphones on and looked instantly blown away- like we all were! Further important info= Joc is Maori.

Joc shared incredible information with me. Her family and Maori people often cleanse themselves with the wind. Joc's family come up to this particular area for wind cleansing. A word used for this medicine or feeling/sensation (if I recall correctly!) is Rangoaa or Rongoā. Joc told me that the sounds she was hearing from the Kauri were Rongoā. Healing/feeling/cleansing.

Then, something truly unexpected happened. Joc took my shoulders and pulled me close saying, I must Hongi with you. Our noses and foreheads touched, like a close hug. I felt connected, grounded to the earth and connected to Joc.

Joc, if you read this- thank YOU.

Image shown: two trees. At a certain point down the Zig Zag track I felt like something was watching.. looking at me. I quickly turned and saw this tree! These markings were a knot and what appeared to be naturally formed creases. The other tree is the Kauri listened to up at the Arataki centre. Thanks for tuning in!