Hello Spiral is the London-based project of Joseph Tony Baldwin. His releases for labels such as Chocolate Monk, Kirigirisu Recordings and Discreet Archive showcase work rooted in improvisation, assembled from a motley array of materials—an inventory that grows or contracts depending on the occasion—yet always guided by a singular sense of focus. His practice sits in clear lineage with other English practitioners such as the Bohman Brothers, whose irreverent methods echo through his own exploratory approach.
NOTES
I spent 20 years making electronic music, from 2004 to 2024.
This was strictly ‘in the box’ music made on a laptop. Slow and considered, placing tiny bits of sound in patterns for hours.
Very much not ‘realtime’ music
In my spare time I would do spontaneous stuff but it was strictly for my own amusement, I did not take it seriously, despite being very into the London improv scene from 2007 or so, attending 100s of shows etc. I was a Cafe Oto early attender.
An album I made of myself being completely ‘free’ on a £1 guitar, which I recorded in 2018 and only shared with close friends, was eventually released on Chocolate Monk in 2023.
It was a very big deal to me. I did not consider myself in any way ‘good enough’ to exist in this ecosystem.
The fact that Dylan Nyoukis then put the album out as a series of hand collaged releases (each one was different) was a huge confidence boost. (Nyoukis being a personal sound art hero).
Later that year, I planned to attend a show put on at The Bee’s Mouth in Brighton by my friend Tom Bench, also known as Hardworking Families.
An hour before I was intending to leave to catch the train to this show, he
messaged me saying ‘hey, someone’s dropped out, can you fill in maybe? You can do whatever you want.’
My first response, in my mind, was: absolutely not
The idea filled me with real fear, intense fear
I’d been asked to play live several times in the 20yrs I had been making laptop music but I always had an excuse for that. I never made music in realtime so it was pointless for me to just play something by pressing a spacebar.
In the hour I was supposed to leave for the show, I contemplated my beloved guitar resting on top of a chest of drawers.
I took it down and played around with it in the hour before leaving for the show. I was reawakening my muscle memory of the 20 years I had spent privately playing around with this specific guitar. I should point out I have never learned how to actually ‘play’ a guitar, and have in fact actively avoided it.
So I took the guitar on the train to the show. I also took with me a three-way contact mic device my mother had bought for me for Christmas.
So I got the train to this show where I was apparently playing, and we attached the contact mics to my guitar (assisted expertly by Ingrid Plum) 5 mins before I performed, for the very first time. I did not plan what I was going to do, with the exception of preparing an anecdote about burning my finger while frying fish, which was a device to ease me and the audience into a space of mutual trust.
The performance went down very well, and was the impetus for me to start working out stuff that would be interesting to play in real-time, in the room.
I started evolving things, playing and processing things, strategies, to make it more interesting.
The two tracks here are part of this process.
I did my first ‘in the room’ guitar thing in December of 2023
These tracks are from May of 2024, so at the beginning of this evolution
And they were recorded sequentially
I hope you enjoy them
LWS-012
credits
released November 21, 2025
Recorded in one take and unedited in Ashburton Triangle, London. May 15th & 22nd, 2024.
Joseph Tony Baldwin: organically tuned guitar, ukulele, violin, electric milk foamers, boom mic arms, string, fabric, oscillator, cassette, prayer box, tobacco, whisky, small ceramic cat, gratitude for not being val.
supported by 11 fans who also own “But at least I'm not Val”
Kevin Drumm does have a computer and he knows how to use it ! A great and lengthy addition to my KD collection and exactly the kind of abstract and provocative genius we've come to expect from the man. unruh2525
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