Third Space
Third Space is a new monthly residency on Resonance Extra. Each month, we invite two artists to take an unplanned journey with a microphone, capturing their cities' unique soundscapes. Each featured artist will then weave these field recordings into a carefully curated mix of music from their locality, producing an intimate window into the sound of a city and its culture from an artist's perspective.
Third Space with First Light Records is broadcast on Resonance Extra on the third Monday of every month at 2pm. Tune in on the Resonance Extra website, Radioplayer, or DAB digital radio (London, Bristol, Norwich, Brighton, and Cambridge only).
Dania (Barcelona) + Rosso Polare (Milan)
17th June 2024 | 14:00 - 16:00
In this episode, head of Paralaxe Editions, Dania, is joined by experimental duo Rosso Polare. For the first hour of the show, Dania takes us on a soundwalk around Barcelona. The sounds of the city's residents singing in the park, reciting poetry, and playing the Iranian tar are mixed with traditional Catalonian music and recordings of Barcelona's infamous pigeon population. In the second hour, Anna and Cesare (Rosso Polare) chart a journey from the Lombardy countryside into the urban bustle of Milan, accompanied by bursts of folk song and traditional chants from the region.
Artwork by Živilė Aleknavičiūtė.
Olli Aarni (Helsinki) + Hayley Suviste (Manchester)
15th April 2024 | 14:00 - 16:00
The first half of this episode is curated by sound and visual artist Olli Aarni, who brings together recordings of Helsinki's soundscape with a selection of music from other Finnish artists - including some previously unreleased tracks. Olli's mix is followed by an hour of field recordings and local music chosen and mixed by Manchester-based sound artist, Hayley Suviste.
Artwork by Hayley Suviste.
Marara (Melbourne) + Hyperdawn (Manchester)
18th December 2023 | 14:00 - 16:00
In the first half of this show, Melbourne-based producer Marara captures an impression of her city in her distinctive style of sonic collage; fragments of conversation, found sound, and a curated selection of music from the area come together to form a considered and tender portrait of life in Victoria's capital.
Hyperdawn take the reins for the second hour, with a mix of field recordings, music, and exclusive material that honours the full range of Manchester's vibrant character; flitting between the city's outer marshlands and its bustling centre, intimate home recordings and bass-driven productions.
Liis Ring (Räpina) + Ayami Suzuki (Tokyo)
16th October 2023 | 14:00 - 16:00
In the first half of the episode, Liis Ring sketches us a sonic portrait of Räpina - a small town in the South East of Estonia. In among field recordings collected on her walks around the town and original music recorded in her grandmother's shed, Ring shines a light on the musical heritage of the area via folk tunes (sung in the local dialect) and new adaptations of traditional pieces. The second half sees Ayami Suzuki explore the sounds of life in Tokyo; the hum of train station platforms, the buzz of cicadas in the forest, the summer tradition of the Awa Odori dance. Nestled among these sounds are selections from the city's contemporary experimental music scene.
Artwork by Ellie Schumann-Mraz.
unperson (Sheffield) + Elif Gülin Soğuksu (Istanbul)
15th May 2023 | 14:00 - 16:00
In the first half of this episode, unperson traces Sheffield's experimental music from the DIY post-punk scene of the 1980s, through the pirate radio days of the 1990s, to the city's contemporary boundary pushers. In his words: "lots of bleeps, lots of bass". In the second half, Elif Gülin Soğuksu weaves a path through the hum of Istanbul, a mix which she describes as "a glimpse into the sound world of stray dogs howling to the morning prayer in rural areas, street musicians playing traditional instruments, street vendors selling simit, fish, meat, and fruits in Beyoğlu ... Turkish classical music playing in the silversmith shop in Sultanahmet ... the micro sounds of rocks, dirt, and bushes near the historic Orthodox Orphanage in Princes' Island".
Artwork by Bink Bulthaweenan.
Jana Irmert (Berlin) + Mabe Fratti (Mexico City)
15th May 2023 | 14:00 - 16:00
In the first hour, Jana probes the intrigue of Berlin's streets and experimental music scene. Using cutting edge recording technologies, she offers us an unconventional angle on the city's soundscape, from the electronic signals surging through power boxes and neon signs to the subtle movements under the ice covering the Spree River. In the second hour, Guatemalan cellist and composer Mabe Fratti takes us across Mexico City. Her mix features a selection of tracks from artists living and working in the city, combined with recordings of the everyday music that floods its streets: parents and children singing together, musicians improvising in bars and on street corners, and taxi drivers cranking up the radio to share their favourite songs.
Artwork by Bink Bulthaweenan.
Nyokabi Kariũki (Nairobi) + Damsel Elysium (London)
17th April 2023 | 14:00 - 16:00
In the first half of this month's show, prolific sound artist and multi-instrumentalist Nyokabi Kariũki weaves a varied selection of music from Kenyan artists in with recordings she’s captured across the country. In the second, Damsel Elysium - whose singular creative practice has been turning heads in experimental music scenes and high fashion circles alike - takes us on a tour of London’s bustling streets and creative boundary-pushers.
Artwork by Anargyros Drolapas.
More Eaze (Austin, TX) + First Light Records (Manchester)
20th February 2023 | 14:00 - 16:00
On February's episode of Third Space, More Eaze is first to take the reins with an eclectic mix of music and found sound that captures the full spectrum of Austin, Texas’ vibrant creative scene. Then, in a variation on our usual theme, we take over for the second hour, with a selection of tunes from the First Light Records catalogue woven in among field recordings that document the ever-expanding city of Manchester.
Artwork by Nick Verhaeghe.
Suny (Manchester) + Ikea Customer Services (Oslo)
16th January 2023 | 14:00 - 16:00
This episode features Suny and Ikea Customer Service. The first half of the show sees Suny pay homage to the natural spaces and creatives that make them feel close to the city of Manchester. In the second portion of the show Ikea Customer Service explores what Oslo has meant to them since moving to the capital mid-pandemic. In their own words: "this is a very simple solipsistic mix in the end; a mix of field recordings from long pram walks, bus rides and lullabies, some songs I’ve written to stay sane, and some songs of others that have kept us afloat. And lots of our daughter being a massive beacon of light."
Artwork by Fiona Filipidis.
Adriaan de Roover (Brussels) + Hayley Suviste (Manchester)
21st November 2022 | 14:00 - 16:00
November's episode of Third Space features sonic explorations of Brussels and Manchester, with field recordings and local music curated and compiled by Adriaan de Roover and Hayley Suviste. In the first hour, Adriaan walks us through the Belgian capital via found sounds and music. In a novel take on the Third Space format, the musical elements of Adriaan's mix have been drawn from a single artist - Brussels hip hop collective, STIKSTOF - whose work he has sampled and stretched into beautiful ambient pieces. The second half of the show sees Hayley Suviste weave an assortment of standout tracks from Manchester's kinetic electronic music scene through a tapestry of sonic portraits documenting the city's ever-changing landscapes - from its near-wild edgelands to the heart of its inner-city development projects.
Artwork by Hayley Suviste.
Louis Giannamore (Basque Country) + Sean Kinnear (Salford)
17th October 2022 | 14:00 - 16:00
This episode of Third Space sees two First Light Records artists, Louis Giannamore (Barkum Deer/Kinn) and Sean Kinnear, explore themes of space, memory, and nostalgia over the course of two deeply personal mixes. In the first hour, Louis revisits his childhood holidays in the Basque Country of Southern France, trips that are soundtracked in his memory by the heavy metal music that defined his musical youth and the rich coastal soundscapes of the region. In the second hour, Sean narrates a history of his native Salford through music and found sound, as well as exclusive unreleased sonic experiments of his own. From the sounds of textile production to the dancefloor of the White Hotel, from New Order to Machine Woman, Sean’s mix charts a nostalgia-tinged path through Salford’s story and his own.
Chantal Michelle (New York) + Cucina Povera (Glasgow)
15th August 2022 | 14:00 - 16:00
In this episode, Chantal Michelle takes us on a journey around New York in the first portion of this month’s Third Space. Buskers, sirens and footsteps are caught between and across music that captures the frantic and conflicted relationship of the artist and the city. In the second half of the show, Cucina Povera engages with the broad palette of sounds found around her. This mix focuses largely on sounds rather than composed music, but the musical inspiration that Cucina Povera finds in the city’s droning bells, natural ambiance and repetitive bird song melodies is pronounced.
KMRU (Nairobi) + Beau Beaumont (Liverpool)
16th May 2022 | 14:00 - 16:00
This very special episode of Third Space pairs two forerunners of the contemporary ambient scene, Nairobi-born, Berlin-based KMRU and Liverpool's Beau Beaumont. In a Third Space first, all the music you hear throughout the show has been created by the artists themselves, offering an intimate window into their relationships with their cities. Prodigious and fast-rising star of the underground electronic community KMRU takes the reins for the first half of the show, exploring the sonic character of Nairobi through his vast library of field recordings and luscious synth meditations. Meine Nacht curator Beau Beaumont (fka Breakwave) takes over for the second hour, premiering a piece called L8 - a journey into the vibrant city of Liverpool through the lens of her fine-tuned creative practice.
Artwork by Michael Skeen.
Ekin Fil (Istanbul) + Yuting Wu (Beijing)
18th April 2022 | 14:00 - 16:00
This month’s Third Space was created by Ekin Fil (Istanbul) and Yuting Wu (Beijing). The first half of the show captures the sounds and music of a daytime in and around Istanbul. Including the areas Kadıköy, Acıbadem, Yenikapı, Eminönü, Sirkeci, Kabataş and Beyoğlu, as well as Darıca where Fil’s family lives on the border of the city. In the second half of Third Space, Yuting Wu takes us around Beijing from the perspective of an outsider in the city. The first part of the mix emphasises the typical impressions of Beijing: the public transportation, the crowds, the opera, along with a street musician playing saxophone in the park. Beneath these surface impressions, Wu explores the disappointment that accompanies living in such a city as an outsider where dreams and ambitions often go unfulfilled.
Artwork is by Max Howarth.
Sunna Margrét (Lausanne) + Anna Clegg (London)
21st March 2022 | 14:00 - 16:00
This show was created by Sunna Margrét (Lausanne) and multimedia artist, Anna Clegg (London).
Margrét’s half of the show, “Lullabies of Lac Léman”, brings together intimate sound recordings and music written by friends and musicians from her neighbourhood in Lausanne. The resulting mix is a captivating glimpse into a thriving art community that has been built on the banks of Lac Léman. In the second half of the show, Clegg weaves together a personal archive of material spanning from late 2017 to the present day recorded in galleries, cinemas, clubs, bedrooms and buses throughout London. In her own words:
“Seldom used to record directly, my recording device was held outside windows, behind doors or at the back of the room as a DJ played at the front. Caught somewhere between fantasy, impression and occasional embodied reality (there are multiple interferences in the form of my own nervous laugh), the recordings attempt to present a version of time that is malleable, elastic.”