Sonic Succulents

allied gardens cactus and succulentssmart water garden, a mult-media project by anders tomlinson and denver clay, film by anders tomlinson, garden by denver clay, mucis by sonicatomics, sonic succulents, allied gardens, sand diego, ca. photos by anders tomlinson. 2015

Allied Gardens

Water Smart Garden … None of this is rocket science. Allied Gardens is about one person wanting to do something with what he has and asking an old friend for help. Denver and Anders were in agreement that water is important, in great demand and we need to allocate water for the greatest good. A film by Anders Tomlinson and Denver Clay. Music by SonicAtomics. Adapting can be fun.

A Garden For All Reasons

The Allied Garden’s evolution, 36 species of relocated/transplanted cactus – succulents, and a geranium, are seen growing together a year later. This cactus-succulent village, refugees from three continents, overlooks an asphalt river and its flow of human primates inside their widely decorated four wheeled capsules. 2015 was a year of strange San Diego weather: minutes, hours, days and months. The one constant was heat. The garden grew on its own under the large podocarpus tree that supplied perennial ground cover through drought and monsoons.
The music , “Feelin’ Lucky Again” , is another Sonic Succulent by the Dig Bothers under the musical direction of Denver Clay. Photos and video editing by Anders Tomlinson. Produced by Anders Tomlinson and Denver Clay.

Elephants in the Garden

It Is late in the afternoon as rush hour begins on a beautiful January weekday. 24 succulents and cactus, from different tribes, coexist peacefully in their garden village on a gentle slope overlooking the asphalt river. One of the cactus, Yogi Yucca, remarked to a neighboring succulent, who requested to remain anonymous, “today there are some 1.2 billion cars on earth and 2 billion cars are expected by 2035!”

Music is “Bamboo Loves Monsoons”, in progress, by the Dig Brothers featuring Denver Clay and Anders Tomlinson.
Video and editing by Anders Tomlinson. Music Direction by Denver Clay.

These scenes from “Elephants in the Garden”, “Relaxed”, “Nightfall”, “Relocation”, “Convergence”, “Asphalt River”, “Coexistence”, are actually catalogs of scenes which last up to 60 seconds in length unedited. The intention is to use these character images for voice-overs. It is intended that each cactus and succulent represented will have its own voice and musical identification – audio logo.

Subterranean Shimmy

Here is another Dig Brothers’ Sonic Succulent in progress: “Dig – Subterranean Shimmy.”
At this point the rhythm section is in place. Denver Clay, Anders Tomlinson and Robert Ganey have contributed tracks – the whole needs to be greater than the parts.
Photos and video editing is by Anders Tomlinson. Additional photgraphy includes Gary Aro Ruble and Jeff Ritter. The video is a rough cut for the Dig Brothers, and others, including you, to enjoy as they contemplate the next “Dig – Subterranean Shimmy” tracks and mixes. This is first of six “Dig” sections.

Topsoil

The Dig Brothers and SonicAtomics are pleased to present “TopSoil”. This is another Sonic Succulent cultivated and harvested by Denver Clay and Anders Tomlinson, aka the Dig Brothers. The visuals represent a year, filmed between 2001 and 2008, in the life of the Tule Lake Basin, which includes Merrill and Malin, Oregon and Tulelake and Newell, California.
Topsoil is the extreme upper part of the Earth’s surface, extending downward only 2 – 12 inches ). It contains the necessary minerals and nutrients that living things — including the plants that directly or indirectly support thousands of species — require. The Tule Lake Basin is an exception to the rule: it is filled with organic material hundreds of feet deep thanks to waterfowl migrations and volcanic eruptions over the course of time.
We are all dancing on a thin crust of life.

Discing

This first pass, rough sketch, features rhythm section for Dig Brothers’ “Discing”, another Sonic Succulent from SonicAtomics. Coming soon will be an expanded music track with added animated sequences. This video asks five questions: Can we have both a growing economy and the climate we once knew? Do we need to look beyond our sun to understand who, what, when, where and why we are? What is the equal and opposite reaction to modern man consuming all? Is there no left or right or wrong but simply human nature chasing after shining objects? How many great fortunes are driven by addiction? Sex, oil, chemicals, possessions, weapons, gambling, seasonings, celebrity, mitigating insecurity, fermentation, power, wealth, eternal life, faster, newer, improved and ? …
Images, words and video editing by Anders Tomlinson. Music by Dig Brothers – Sonic Atomics under the direction of Denver Clay. Images are from Anders’ art series “Of Life and Dirt”, acylics on 18 x 24 inch watercolor paper.
©2015 Anders Tomlinson and Denver Clay, all rights reserved.
The formula cc/a = (p) x (a) x (t) means climate change / anthropocene = population x affluence x technology.
It is what it is and we are what we are. If not now, when? If not us, who?

Diggins

Diggins is the latest in a series of Dig Brothers’ Sonic Succulents featuring Denver Clay and Anders Tomlinson. This is a working video mix. Down the line a sonicphonic mix will be produced in Denver’s studio. The mix in this video was constructed in Anders’ studio. The imagery is taken from recent Sonic Succulent videos: A Modern River, Native Dancing, In-Dig-Enous Monsoon, Mystic Hoedown and Perpetual Hope. Imagery includes paintings by Anders along with his photos of Techno – Álamos, Sonora, Mexico – Mission Valley and the Civita project – as well as Allied Gardens’ water smart front yard.
Music performance and direction: Denver Clay. Video performance and direction: Anders Tomlinson. 
©2015 Anders Tomlinson and Denver Clay, all rights reserved.

In-Dig-Enous

“In-Dig-Enous”, also known as “Ten Bar Monsoon” and “In-Dig-Enous Monsoon” is in its middle stages. The music comes from this project’s first session, 6-27-15, with an initial focus on rhythm section parts. This clip, in progress, results from the second pass on both music and video, 6-30-15. At this point, the audio mix has elements from every recorded track. The next step will be refinement and deletion. One to two more music and video sessions are planned for In-Dig-Enous,” a celebration dance of hope. The visual bed experiments with 720 x 480 mdv source video along with jpgs averaging 2200 x 1500 used in a 1280 x 720 format. Imagery and video production by Anders Tomlinson. The imagery features Techo, a contemporary icon that doesn’t “run like a girl,” but she does thinks like a woman and survives like a modern upper primate. Several of the video manipulations, seen in the backgrounds, were used in earlier SonicAtomic videos. We are using “In-Dig-Enous” as a demonstration of how SonicAtomics plants, grows and harvests media concepts. To see and hear this project’s genesis visit vimeo.com/anderstomlinson/indigenous. Music by the Dig Brothers featuring music director Denver Clay and thumpist Anders Tomlinson. Audio mixing by SonicAtomics.
©2015 Anders Tomlinson, Denver Clay and SonicAtomics, all rights reserved.

A Day In the Life

A day in the life of Plaza de las Armas, Álamos, Sonora, Mexico. Photos were taken by Anders Tomlinson between 1993 and 1996. Music is “Mystic Hoedown,” a work in progress by the Dig Brothers / SonicAtomics under the direction of Denver Clay. Video editing by Anders Tomlinson. Produced by Anders Tomlinson, Denver Clay and Kit Nuzum. ©2015 Anders Tomlinson and Denver Clay, all rights reserved.

Relaxed

“Relaxed” is a specific look at the Allied Garden’s project through a poetic lens. “Observed” is a sonic succulent ambient bed from Sonic Atomics’ Dig Brothers under the musical direction of Denver Clay. Video and editing by Anders Tomlinson.

Nightfall

“Nightfall” is a specific look at the Allied Garden’s project through a poetic lens. This is a continuation of “Convergence, late afternoon, into night – “Relocation”. “Night Whispers” is a sonic succulent ambient bed from Sonic Atomics’ Dig Brothers under the musical direction of Denver Clay.

Relocation

“Relocation” is a specific look at the Allied Garden’s project through a poetic lens This is a continuation of “Convergence, late afternoon, into night – “Relocation”. “Sanctuary” is a sonic succulent ambient bed from Sonic Atomics’ Dig Brothers under the musical direction of Denver Clay. Video and editing by Anders Tomlinson.

Convergence

“Convergence” is a specific look at the Allied Garden’s project through a poetic lens. “Migration” is a sonic succulent ambient bed from Sonic Atomics’ Dig Brothers under the musical direction of Denver Clay. Video and editing by Anders Tomlinson.

Asphalt River

“Village on an Asphalt River” is another look at a winter afternoon turning to night using a ground level tripod. “Diggins” is a sonic succulent from Sonic Atomics’ Dig Brothers under Denver Clay’s musical direction. Video and editing by Anders Tomlinson. This video notes that China recently. in three years, poured 50% more concrete than the United had in the entire 20th Century.

Coexistence

“Coexistence” is a specific look at the Allied Garden’s project through a poetic lens. “Floating” is a sonic succulent ambient bed from Sonic Atomics’ Dig Brothers under the musical direction of Denver Clay. Video and editing by Anders Tomlinson. “Coexistence” asks a simple question, ” Can we give coexistence a chance. ” The video also notes that the estimated mid-2016 human population is 7,404,976,783.

Native Dancer

Work in progress. Paintings by Anders Tomlinson, all were finished in 2014.
“We are in attendance, from the basic ones we learn the wisdom and power of simplicity…”
Music by the Dig Brothers: Denver Clay and Anders Tomlinson. “Native Disco” is one of the Sonic Succulents tracks for the “Allied Gardens” project. Editing by Anders Tomlinson. Produced by SonicAtomics.
©2015 Anders Tomlinson and Denver Clay, all rights reserved.

so0nic sucullents workbeds, sonicatomics, denver clay, anders tomlinson

Audio MP3

Under One Groove – track in progress from “Sonic Succulents” – 1:13

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Perpetuality -track in progress from “Sonic Succulents” – 2:54

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Heavy Loads – track in progress from “Sonic Succulents” – 3:00

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Mentalization – track in progress from “Sonic Succulents” – 1:44

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Deep Thoughts – track in progress from “Sonic Succulents” – 2:15

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Motor Motioning – track in progress from “Sonic Succulents” – 2:29

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Play Skies – track in progress from “Sonic Succulents” – 1:42

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Respecting – track in progress from “Sonic Succulents” – 2:03

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Shadows In The Mirror – track in progress from “Sonic Succulents” – 2:44

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Blue Birding – track in progress from “Sonic Succulents” – 2:08

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Front Yard Road Sounds on a Saturday at Noon – 2:13

allied gardens smart water garden, a mult-media project by anders tomlinson and denver clay, film by anders tomlinson, garden by denver clay, music by sonicatomics, sonic succulents, allied gardens, san diego, ca. photos by anders tomlinson. 2015

01 – Welcome to Allied Gardens

02 – Smart Water Garden Goals

03 – Limiting Water Runoff

04 – Future Water Use

05 – After Water Headlines

©2015 Denver Clay, Anders Tomlinson and SonicAtomics, all rights reserved.

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