journal
5th
february 2008
After much titting about, Vacuum Road Songs will be available
from May, internationally. That's right, those of you not lucky
enough to catch the pre-release last year will be able to pick up
a copy properly from May. Thank God that's over. Hopefully
there'll be some nice reviews here and there soon.
I've taken another long break from the music recently, but am
very much back on track with it now. You'll probably notice a
little section on the new site called Dead Hymns, which is pretty
empty but should have some clues to what's going to happen in the
future. Not to jump too ahead of the game, of course, but it's
nice to have stuff to look forward to. Stephen and mine's band
collapsed some time ago and I'm not as interested in pursuing
that line of music just at the minute anyway. You can listen to
some of his solo music here, though, and you should
as it's excellent.
I hope everyone likes the new design on the website. It too has
been a long time coming. There's lots of new stuff to discover so
take a look around.
In six months time I may be living in London. This should open up
some new routes for me, personally and musically. On a similar
note, I'm now writing for Sandman Magazine in Leeds, my first
review should be in the March issue. I'll keep everyone informed
of that, anyway.
Music I've been enjoying lately that you should check out:
Murcof - Cosmos
Goldmund - Corduroy Road
Encomiast - Espera
Logreybeam - It's All Just Another Aspect Of Mannerism
Nurse With Wound - Thunder Perfect Mind
Simian Mobile Disco - Attack Decay Release Sustain
Erik Satie - Piano Works
The Divine Comedy - A Short Album About Love
xxx
13th
may 2007
Oooh it's been a while. The last few months have been absolutely
ridiculous, in the best and worst possible ways. Nightclubs and
sex and alcohol and other incredibly sleazy stuff. And that all
puttered out once university began scaring me with the prospect
of finishing. I've spent the last month or so doing research and
essays and generally catching up on all the shit I'd missed from
all the debauchery. Still, it's all over now - ish. Got a week of
presentations, shows and whatnot to design and... well, present
and show. But the writing's out of the way, so I'm taking a
moment to reflect on what's going on. I've put together a record
label with a couple of friends. Jerky Oats Records. And the first
release is a little album called Vacuum Road Songs,
which you may have noticed is on the front page as being released
sometime in the future. That's all fun, anyway, and there's going
to be a rather interesting promotional campaign which I'll inform
you all of at a later date. Meantime, that's available in the
Second Thought Shop for the bafflingly low sum of £5.00 (with an
extra £1.00 for international shipping). So get your pennies
out, kids, it's been a long time coming and will hopefully be
worth the wait.
What does the future hold? Well, the follow-up is on its way. I'm
maybe a third of the way through the recording process. It's
going to be very different from what I've done in the
past. You may not recognise it as Second Thought. I like to keep
people on their toes. I'd also like to mention an artist called Vincent Giard, who is currently going
to be helping with the cover art for the record. That's right, no
photos. That's a vague clue as to the theme of the album...
The band with Ste is sort of making progress. Pissed off at new
rave, electro indie and the rest of the utter toss that pollutes
the NME and indie clubs at the moment, we're making a stand and
starting no rave. Those familiar with Lydia Lunch and James
Chance will understand where Ste got the name from. It looks like
I could be playing bass on a lot of it, which is a change from my
initial role as 'lead guitarist' in mine and Ste's band. I'm
hoping to maybe start doing some DJing in Leeds at some point,
maybe have an idea or two about where to do so. I'll keep you
informed.
Nostalgia and anti-nostalgia: removed all the old cack from the
discography (let's be honest, everything before Purlieu was
fairly dire), and added a page with all my collaborative and
production work, as it's been nice looking back over the stuff
I've worked on with people. It's nice getting back to music in
all of its forms, as I've been through a fair few 'can't be
arsed' moments in the past year...
Recently been listening to: Wire, Manicured Noise, The Pop Group,
Ludus, Tears For Fears, Kraftwerk, Television, early Pulp, Pan
Sonic, Thursday, Million Dead, Nine Inch Nails, Magazine, Michael
Jackson, Every Time I Die, Brett Anderson, Merzbow, Ben Frost,
Gregg Jackson and Travis.
xxx
4th
december 2006
Remix a track provided, give reasons for the remix and why you
believe it's marketable. Luckily enough, the track I chose is
going to be the next single by the band. Unluckily, the deadline
to get it considered by the label was the end of November. That's
not going to stop me, though.
Anyway, I present you with my latest university coursework:
Seafood
- Little Pieces (Second Thought Remix)
It's a bit different to what you might be expecting.
And I'm really proud of it.
xxx
15th
october 2006
It's been a while, hasn't it? What's going on, then?
Haven't worked on anything with Claire since the last update
about her - funny how people change and move on, isn't it? Still,
I've been working on music nonetheless. A few sketches here and
there have been recorded, work on Vacuum Road Songs' follow-up
has definitely begun although that's so far away it's not worth
talking about, really. Elsewhere, I'm working on some stuff with
Ste again. No idea where it's going, who's leading the project,
what it'll sound like. Taking in our influences of late, it'll be
anything from britpop to post-punk to post-hardcore/emo to
shoegaze stuff. So like I say, no idea.
I suppose I should also mention that some of my stuff was played
on BBC Radio 6Music. That, in itself, I thought was pretty great,
but it was played by The Future Sound of London. I'm not going to
witter about it, simply because having your all-time favourite
band and number one influence play your material on national
radio isn't something that can really be explained in words. But
hey. They managed to fuck up the title of the song. ;)
Finally, Vacuum Road Songs is seeing a probable release in the
new year. For my university dissertation I'm working with Joe,
Nate and Andy on setting up a record label, which will include
recording bands, releasing CDs, promotion and live stuff. One of
the releases is planned to be Second Thought's new album, and
thank God!
University is, at last, being really good to me in this way. Also
this year I'm studying the origins of electronic music: musique
concrete and early synth-based stuff, so far, and recording from
a similar perspective; I'm also doing a songwriting module and
remixing a track by a not entirely unknown indie band in a more
electro style. So it could all turn out very interesting indeed.
xxx
13th
february 2006
Had a bit of an - well, ephiphany is probably the wrong word, but
you get my drift. For the first time, my foucse has directly
influenced the music I'm making, and I'm planning to get back to
work on Vacuum Road Songs. I suppose I've always been unhappy
with it, but now I actually want to get on with it and make
myself happy with the final thing. I've been doing some work in
Logic and Reaktor and now fancy doing something very synth based.
Inspired by this, I've been listening to Incunabula and Amber by
Autechre, and Underworld's moodier stuff - particularly Luetin
and the new LovelyBrokenThing EP. I haven't done anything as
'straight up' as these in ages, it's all been twisted ambient,
breakbeat or IDM stuff, so maybe doing something a little more
techno-based might be a nice change. I'm also wanting to trim a
couple of tracks off the album, as I'm not sure how happy I
genuinely am with them. This is going to be interesting.
xxx
27th
january 2006
Last night was the second rehearsal of the year. We were both
knackered, so admittedly little was done. However, between us we
now have a melodica (which I kept calling a harmonium) and a
ukulele, so the amount of textures available is rising. We began
to re-record the bass part of Yorkshire Bank with my new bass,
but that sort of cocked up a few times, so a bit of a waste
there, really. Claire's written a harmonium part for the song,
though, and we're replacing one of the synths on Postal Service
Song with the harmonium too.
Running through the songs, Claire's up for adding to a really old
2T track of mine, originally called Struxsture, which is a
particularly eerie organ and clicks type glitch thing. Completely
out of mood with the rest of our tracks, but the production
style's similar, and it'll end the EP nicely.
The tracklist is, currently:
001. Yorkshire Bank
002. Ross Song
003. Postal Service Song
004. Jazzy/Spanish Song
005. Claire Song
006. Weird/fucked up organ Song
We might be putting in Bob Dylan Song in there, but maybe not.
Still, it's only a minute long, so fingers crossed and all that.
xx
18th
january 2006
First rehearsal was fun, productive and odd. We're still going
down the drinking = good line of things, helping us
*cough*Claire*cough* get over certain confidence issues, but hey.
We wrote a song which came out rather nicely, starting off with a
particularly unusual jazzy guitar part from Claire, which I then
transformed into something that sounded more than a little
Spanish. Possibly be able to use Andy's classical guitar for
that. Weshallsee. We've been totting up the songs, and the
tracklist stands at a rather half-finished: Postal Service song,
Yorkshire Bank, Ross song, Claire song, jazzy track, experimental
track, Bob Dylan song, and one that Claire's not played yet
because she forgot it. That's eight tracks, though, which is
pretty good going. Now to actually get them recorded. Ha.
In other news, The Bassment is now closed, which puts a rather
large knife in our plans for putting on a night there, so back to
the drawing board.
Have been working on some music with my housemate, Andy, too.
There's a chord sequence he's been working on for ages, and I
worked a chorus round it, and we're recording that into some sort
of song or other. My new bass is on it and everything.
Anyway, more updates soon no doubt.
xxx
6th
january 2006
The holidays are over and it's time to reconvene. Claire and I
have discussed one or two things for the future. She's done some
writing over Christmas, so we have a few new ideas on the way. I
have a new bass guitar and have done some work trying to get
a reasonably decent mix of what's coming from the Postal Service
track so far, so we've both been busy. More excitingly, we're
planning on doing regular rehearsals, once a week sort of thing,
to run through songs, learn and write new ones (bearing in mind
everything so far has been written by one or the other of us, so
we decided it would be cool to properly write together), arrange
potential live ideas and probably get drunk. So that's all nice.
Oh, and look out for the word Tangelo.
xxx
11th
december 2005
Went to York with Claire today to see Merz. Fantastic guy,
fantastic music, fantastic performance. Nice to see the whole
guitar/electronics thing pulled off live. Gives us some hope. We
also discussed a lot of stuff, largely artwork concepts. Took
some photos for press shots, perhaps, and came up with a lot of
ideas. We're planning to have a few drunk guitar playing nights
soon to get into the performance aspect of things a bit more,
too, which should be good. Arsing around in the studio can have
its toll on one's patience.
"Tail"
xxx
6th
december 2005
Tonight's recording session was cancelled while Claire made
progress on writing. This is a good thing, probably, saves us
running out of ideas too soon. Busy schedules lead to little free
time, so I suppose it has to be shared this way.
That said, I could do with a bit of a break, really, so I'm
looking forward to recording again at the weekend. Meantime, the
new Sigur Rós album is acting as some pretty nice escapism.
x
3rd
december 2005
Another day of recording with Claire. After some initial
setbacks, we got going and, in usual fashion, sat around
listening to CDs instead of actually recording. But we worked on
a few ideas for songs, she's happy with how Yorkshire Bank is
coming along, so that's all good. We need to make that more
structured and do the final vocals still, so it's not
near-finished, but we're getting there.
We started another song, which is the Postal Service-sounding
one. Drums are sounding jaunty, we got a fucking lovely synth
recorded and then the guitars. Claire is looking forward to
dancing around stage to it. This makes me happy.
She's working on some stuff, lyrics and things, tomorrow. Next
session is probably Tuesday evening. Maybe get some more recorded
then. Weshallsee.
x
1st
december 2005
On Tuesday I picked up my camera and became band photographer for
a day. Andy, Dave, Andrew, Alex and Thom asked me to do some
shots for them, so we all bundled into two cars and headed over
to Kirkstall Abbey. One of my backup career ideas for the future
is music journalism, and you don't know how much I love to get
into photography mode. Lying on the floor in the dirt to get a
good shot, making sure people are doing just the right thing.
Sure, I'm no fucking professional, but boy was it fun. I might
upload some shots soon. That's something to do in the future.
Yesterday Joe and I spent hours producing and mixing Consent To
Content. It's finished. And I'm very happy to say, it's the most
controversial thing I've made yet. When I say I, I of course mean
my group, but still. The song is so 60s you can smell it,
although the lyrics aren't. Either way, we mixed it as much in
that way as possible, becoming minor Phil Spectors for an
afternoon. We also listened to a lot of Beatles and Dusty
Springfield for comparison points and did a lot of research.
Everything was bounced down to four tracks, panned to give
separation, with the dry track in one channel and the wet in the
other channel. This hard-panning, along with the over-reverbed
(not natural, of course. How I'd love to record in a studio with
a good natural reverb) slightly cluttered mix and the artificial
tape hiss we added to it pretty much shocked the entire group
when we played it. Everyone else did fucking dull, plain, clean,
00s sounding mixes with no character or identifying features, so
we played this muddy, hissy thing and everyone looked stunned
(Woody even suggested removing the hiss for some reason, even
though it's entirely intentional, which we made clear). Equally,
the reaction online has been similar. I hate to sound
patronising, but I don't think everyone "got" it.
Gregg's reaction was the best. He said the song was great, but
particularly enjoyed the hard-panned sound. And Alex asked if we
got Spector in to do it. These comments made me happy. These
people understood what was going on.
That said, it's really been far more interesting than if we'd
just made a standard production job on it. Everyone would've gone
"yeah, sounds professional" and that's it. I think the
fact that it's caused so much controversy is character in its own
right. When was the last time you heard someone lay into
Starsailor? I've made something that's made people listen and
think and react, and that alone makes me very happy.
That, and I know, catagorically, it's better than anything The
Killers will ever make.
You can download the song here. You can look at the
artwork I made here. I'll let you know what
mark it gets.
In
other news, Saturday is an "all-dayer" with Claire.
Fingers crossed we'll get some stuff finished. That's pretty darn
exciting.
x
26th
november 2005
Some exciting updates here. First up, the band is on hold, if not
over. Some stuff happening with Stephen and myself, which need
not be discussed here, have put it on the back burner. The lack
of drummer and long-term singer (Claire may well be leaving Leeds
in June), a year after we started searching, were signalling an
all together pessimistic tone for the project anyway, so maybe
it's for the best.
Talking of the amicable Ms. Taylor, our EP is coming along quite
well. No exact titles floating around yet, other than a working
title of "Yorkshire Bank" for one song. We've got a few
little tracks, though. One is sounding quite Postal
Service-esque, which normally I'd refuse to do, only I wrote it,
so heh. Jaunty beats, bubbling synths and a sickeningly jolly
guitar part. There's something vaguely trip-hoppish about another
track, which is pretty moody, and the aforementioned Yorkshire
Bank is all skittering clicks, folk guitars and organs. The
current plan is to get a six track EP together before the year's
out (probably a bit hasty, given our rather full schedules at the
moment), and then start gigging. The gigs should be a lark. We're
thinking costumes and instruments and stuff. I'm also fond of the
idea of her standing very still and shy - as she is - and me
leaping around with a guitar like a moron as I often do.
Which leaves Second Thought a bit redundant at the moment. The
Second Thought stuff is always an idea which I'm compelled to
create, something which needs doing, and at times it can be a bit
of a slog. And with all the shit that's happened this
year, the whole thing was getting me down a bit. The concepts I'm
working on in that department are pretty morbid, so I'm giving it
a break. The stuff I'm doing with Claire is so joyous and
celebratory and music for the love of it that I don't need much
else at the moment. So that's darn happy.
I'm playing bass for my mate Liam at an open mic night. Hopefully
be getting a bass for Christmas, as it's a darn sight more fun to
mess around with than a normal guitar (unless I have a hundred FX
pedals).
x
p.s. An Ending (Ascent) by Brian Eno is probably the greatest
piece of pure electronic music ever recorded.
5th
november 2005
Updates, updates. What's going on with me?
Well, I'm still looking for a record label to release Vacuum Road
Songs. May take a long time. I have lots of other little things
in the works too, though. First off is the band, which is still
going mostly nowhere, but Stephen and I have written a number of
songs, largely 60s inspired things. Somewhere between The Coral,
(early) Pink Floyd, Mansun and Oasis, I suppose. It's all rather
interesting, but we haven't even played anything with Liam and
Claire yet, so anything even remotely approaching completion is a
long way off. I have been doing some music with them both,
though. I'm going to be playing bass for a few acoustic songs
Liam's written to do at some open mic stuff at some point in the
near or far future, as long as I can convince him to get it all
on the road. Claire and I have been working on some "poppy
electro folk", as she calls it. Acoustic guitars, glitchy
beats, a few synths and so on. You know the score. Pitchfork'll
love it. For my course we're doing Consent To Content (see a
couple of entries below) in a very 60s style... hard panned
drums, tons of reverb, not enough microphones, tambourines and
hand claps. We've even convinced Joe to stop noodling and play
some Hank Marvin guitar for a while. Hopefully we'll have some
clips of that rather soon.
I've also been working in Reaktor as part of the course, and to
be frank, I fucking hate it. Too much control, way too sciency
and alltogether thoroughly annoying. I've never been that much of
a techie, but this just takes the piss. As soon as one of the
tutorials started talking about algorithms I realised I was
wasting my time.
Emotions have been all over the place lately, been rather insane.
Highs and lows and all sorts. I've taken to carrying a little pen
and book around with me and writing lyrics, poems, stories,
thoughts, whatever down in it. Most of it's pointless ranting,
but I've come up with a few nice ideas.
It's November 5th, and everyone's celebrating the death of my
great great great great (x a lot) uncle's death. Being related to
Guy Fawkes adds a rather odd shine to the day. I don't think I'll
be doing much tonight.
Anyway, with all this going on, I'm sure we'll have some audio
clips for you all very soon.
1st
october 2005
Last night marked my first ever live performance as Second
Thought, and needless to say I was extremely nervous. During
setting up, numerous errors occured (as should have been
expected, really), but all was resolved for the show itself.
Before I was on, Nick Robinson - a loop guitarist - played a
thoroughly interesting set, creating all manner of sounds with
his guitar. It didn't transfer so well into the live situation as
I can imagine a studio disc was, but I definitely enjoyed his
short set. This meant, however, that I was on soonafter. I sat
down behind the computer screen and began. Immediately after I
started came another error: my MIDI controller was not configured
to work in the software. I quickly stopped, and went to set this
right, to find my mind had gone blank. So the rest of the set was
suddenly very different to how it was intended, and was all now
improvised using the laptop only. Considering this, and the fact
I had to cut a short section out, I'm very happy with how the
show went, and have decided that if I can do well enough under
those circumstances, I can do well any time. The set began with
the opener to my next album, Vacuum Road Songs, and then went
through a number of tracks from that and Purlieu, as well as a
couple of rarer old tracks recently reworked for the show. I
ended with a short guitar section which was unfortunately ruined
due to the electronic buzz on the whole sound; I ended up cutting
it short as the sound was very tedious. After the 40 minute was
up, I stepped down a far more confident man than I was when I
stepped up and had the best pint I've ever drank. Fingers crossed
the next gig will go far smoother, although on the whole I was
very happy with how I played. I'd like to thank all my friends
for coming along to support me, and special thanks to Andy for
sorting out the technical problems and driving back and forth
with leads and adapters - the gig would've been impossible
without you.
Setlist:
Borderline
Vehicle
December
Rooftops Part 2
First Understanding
Em
Rooftops Part 3
Fences
27th
august 2005
"Consent to Content"
It's just another night on the town
Too many people just hanging around
I can't
See why
We're here at all
It's just another day in the park
Getting stoned and drunk and laughing 'til dark
I can't
See why
We're not here more
It's another afternoon in your house
But can you still really put up with their frowns?
I can't
See why
We're here at all
People may say
Some things should be said
But you and I know best
It's another life gone to our heads
Times like these will never come again
But I can't
See why
We don't make more
It's another song sung in metaphor
The real story is too much of a bore
I can't
Tell you
Anything at all
People may say
Some things should be said
But you and I know best
25th
august 2005
I spent this afternoon finishing up Gregg's latest record. Most
of it was written and recorded at his own house over the last
year or so, and we put the final touches to a couple of tracks,
recorded a new one and mastered the final thing this afternoon.
The full CD is really great, mostly lo-fi acoustic songs, with an
Elliott Smith feel (only much better, in my view), with some
pretty cool rock'n'roll/doo-wop bits. I really admire Gregg as a
producer, some of the ideas on the album are excellent - Iron
Sulphide is surprisingly effective at half the volume of the rest
of the record. It's fantastic to bounce ideas off other
musicians, especially if they're your friends. I really enjoyed
the work today. I'm going to add something in my discography
soon.
28th
may 2005
Vacuum Road Songs is finished. I completed the artwork this
afternoon and now it's all done. I'm just looking for a label to
release it! Which is maybe a little more difficult, to be honest.
Wish me luck.
22nd
december 2004
The end of the musical year, really... no new releases now. I
missed albums by Multi-Panel and Matthew Florianz, both friends
and artists I respect, which upsets me, really. Otherwise, an
excellent year in music, featuring thirty-six fantastic releases.
The top ten have been published as an article on
electronicmusicworld.com, thanks to the always supportful Stefan.
I've also added the list on my own Music website, which one day I
plan to turn into a review website. Although I probably won't.
On the Second Thought front, I've got a couple of interesting
collaborations coming up in the near (and, probably, distant)
future. I'm also doing a lot of promo comes the new year. 2005 is
the year where it all happens.
13th
december 2004
"Just Like In Songs"
The party was in full swing when Tim turned up at the door
He quietly let himself in and that was when he saw
Natalie was sat in the corner, nothing else to do
And when they started talking, morning came too soon
Another day and too much to drink caused Tim and Nat not to think
Lying down, their clothes came off, they didn't know when to stop
They saw each other every day and talked of Belle & Sebastian
Tim studied while Natalie worked and at night they'd meet again
They went to all the pubs, danced in all the good clubs, ate at
just one take-away
And every time Tim fucked up she'd say "don't worry, it's
okay"
And nothing was too big a deal, she said "happiness is a
steal"
Days turned to weeks as the sun went down, neither of them could
leave this town
Another day, nothing to drink, Natalie started to think
Lying down, she started off: "I love you but we've got to
stop"
He said "I understand even though I don't feel that way
And, in all consideration, friendship is okay"
Months later in this town, as the sun is going down
Tim sits next to her without a care; Natalie knows he's always
there.
So yeah. Tim is me and Natalie is Anna. The fifth and sixth
stanzas occured on Saturday evening.
6th
december 2004
I found a bunch of stuff on my computer from the long scrapped 2T
album 'Water Or Jazz' today. Gave me a few ideas... Struxsture
has to be brought back at some point... I also found a silly
little track called Eruropiann, which I uploaded to my AS page.
I'd forgotten how complex some parts of it were. I'm still fond
of the 2T version of Maching/Machine, too. Maybe something'll
happen with that. It was interesting to hear some of this stuff
which I haven't heard in so long. If only the bass wasn't mixed
so high in Kwel Leavels. Bah.
1st
december 2004
I had a few ideas about Vacuum Road Songs and a bunch of bits and
bobs I have lying around... I was thinking maybe a single or EP
to go with the album. I was listening to Rooftops earlier and I
still really like the record a lot. There's also the version of
First Understanding I made last year... maybe two EPs of those.
Rooftops and Understanding. Kind of re-releases, but I'd remake
them and theme them around the album a lot more. Or perhaps
Rooftops 1-3 and Understanding 1-3. It's an idea, anyway.
21st
november 2004
More music uploaded. This is good. I have to keep some sort of
name or face around. When I get some cash at Christmas, promo
restarts again. I send off fuckloads of copies of Purlieu to the
various places I've got lined up, and begin sending VRS demos to
some labels. I'm still interested in doing various releases on
small labels first, mind. Shame nothing came from the Awkward
Silence label. Ah well. Maybe I'll do something through Project
Aristole when it restarts. I've also got the compilation on
Dirty, if that gets off the ground, and of course 'The Disk'.
I've done some more photography, so once I get Photoshop back on
this computer, I'll be adding more pictures to the site. The ArtistServer page (formerly
ElectronicScene) got redesigned with some more artwork concepts
for the album.
I've also been working on some soundtrack stuff for one of my
flatmates who is directing a short film for his degree. He wants
me and Andy to do the soundtrack, so hopefully that'll be cool to
work on. Uni has provided a few cool things in that respect,
really. Furthermore, there's Anna, who I'm currently seeing, and
is not only the coolest person ever, but she also likes my music.
So that's just downright awesome. So the current me is a happy
me.
3rd
october 2004
So, here I am at University. Everything's been going rather well,
so far, apart from something involving somebody, which is all
rather typical of me, really. More of that when I make sense of
it myself. Done a bit more work on Vacuum Road Songs since I've
been here and it's coming along nicely; I have a few samples to
record for near the beginning of the album and then a final
mixdown to do, so all in all it's about done. My musical focus
now, however, is on my course, as I have to make an animated
video and the soundtrack for it, which should hopefully be fun,
although I'd rather focus more on the music than making the video
itself, to be quite honest. Ah well.
Was feeling a bit crap earlier so picked up my acoustic and ended
up playing Wreathed, which led me to listen to Autumn again.
Wreathed is still by far the best piece of music I've written,
even if the final version sounds a bit weak. But that doesn't
fuss me too much, it still sounds perfect to me. I wish I knew
where that final guitar solo came from. Here's hoping I get a
'net connection in my room fucking soon.
12th
september 2004
Well, I've finally uploaded the new site design. The picture it's
based around will be the cover for Vacuum Road Songs. I hope
everyone likes it! I've revealed the tracklist, too, as the
record's about done. I still need to add some finishing touches
to a couple of tracks, get some more field recordings and mix the
full thing down. After that, I'm continuing the hunt for a label.
If and when I get one, then I at least have a finished product to
give them. Still, even then it'll be a while before it comes out,
so don't expect to see it this side of Christmas. I'm really,
really fucking happy with how it's come along, and feel the
finished product will be vastly superior to Purlieu (which, to be
fair, I still love, but some parts are a couple of years old
now).
It's been over a year since Purlieu was finished now. Seems like
yesterday. Still, I've progressed a lot. The new album's similar
in places, but overall quite different. I began to get sick of
the slightly stale sound of Purlieu, with it being almost
entirely electronic, other than samples. The fact that Nsepan,
which is just live piano and viola, is the most popular track on
the album brings that right to the fore, so I really felt the
need to move things on a little. I've got real guitars on many
tracks, some drums and even an organ. It's an idea I'm thinking
of really expanding on future projects. Either way, Vacuum Road
Songs needs to be out of the way first. I have more to write
about the album, but that can wait for the moment.
29th
july 2004
I'm in THE WIRE! THE FUCKING WIRE! Which is probably the best
thing ever, except for maybe being XLR8R. Which I'm not. Not yet,
anyway. I stood in Virgin Megastore grinning for about five
minutes when I saw it. So happy. Here's hoping it's a sign of
things to come.
The album is coming along wonderfully. I've now got most of the
tracks laid down. Three titles to look out for: Street, Dald and
Night. These were all finished over the last week. Street and
Night are very ambient... probably the most ambient
things I've done so far, in fact, remixes aside. Dald is quite
different, and almost jazzy. I programmed the drums from various
samples of me playing drums, and there's a bit of jazzy
Rhodes-style electric piano and guitar improv ontop. A bit of new
ground for me, which is always good methinks. Anyway, that's
about all for now. Just pottering around being bored of town
before the big move in six weeks. Not long now!
5th
july 2004
Multi-Panel's album, Alone In The Field, is out now. Ludo's a
friend of mine, and the album features the original version of
The Old Times, that 'Time' was initially based on. The album was
recorded last year, and I really like it... it comes highly
recommended from me. You can buy it from Unschooled Records.
Second Thought Records is either taking a long holiday or dead. I
can't keep it up, money-wise, and since Greg left, I've not had
anything to promote in the future really... he took a bunch of
releases off, and three upcoming ones, so there wasn't really any
point carrying it on. I'm thinking if maybe I can find someone
willing to take the label on with me, it might work. Otherwise, I
can't see it working. Oh well, I'm looking for a new label for
Vacuum Road Songs anyway. I've got a long list of places to send
some demos to.
Got some fantastic press for me and Tim this morning, especially
the Splendid review of Tim's album. That's good. I still need
places to send promo copies of Purlieu to, however. Radio
stations, magazines, whatever. If anybody can recommend any, email me a link or some info - everything
gratefully appreciated. I wanna promote the fuck out of Purlieu
but can't at the mo.
I got an email from the guy who wrote this asking to include
Twenty-Four in the next edition. I might send him a copy of
Purlieu as well. It's exciting, and if it goes through, it's the
biggest punch of promotion I'll have had so far. Here's hoping!
Not much else to report. Have loads of ideas for music but
haven't really recorded much in a while. Soon. Soon.
23rd
May 2004
Long time no update. With ElectronicScene on the brink of death,
I've not been able to update the journal there, and have decided
to simply move it onto the full site.
Purlieu was released a few weeks ago, and has been selling pretty
well. I've also had some wonderful reviews, which have made me
exceedingly happy. John from AmbientLive loves it, and Jenn and
Dave, who I didn't think would like it at all, seem to really dig
it. In fact, I've not really had many negatives comments at all.
It's generally agreed that the second half is better than the
first, which I'd agree with. In fact, there are a couple of
tracks in the first half I'd really rather not have on the album
now. But whatcanyado, eh?
It also dawned on me that Purlieu is exceedingly late, so I
shouldn't be too worried about new music. I was forever holding
back on writing more, because I felt it was too soon, but I
realised that Purlieu was supposed to be out in October, and it's
been finished for eleven months now. Meaning, given the average
of an album a year, the new one should be almost done in time for
an autumn release. Which, of course, it's not, but it makes me
far more confident in working on it. I'm thinking it'll be done
by the end of the summer. I have ten tracks at varying stages of
completion, although probably only seven or eight of them will
make the final cut. I'm not big on leaving stuff off (if a track
isn't working, I give up before completion), but there are a
couple which maybe don't fit the mood.
I'm going to be playing at the AmbientLive2k4 show in Leeds this
summer, along with ambient masters 4m33s and HyperExMachina.
There's also been a slight update to the hosting... due to
ElectronicScene's end, I'm looking for new hosting space. In the
meantime, Steve of Hyperdriver is kindly lending me
some space. Many, many thanks there.
I think that's all I've been up to, musically. The real world's
been busy, with trips to America, gain and loss of love and
general busyness.
10th
April 2004
Today is a shit day for three personal reasons. However, I did
get the test CD for Purlieu in the mail today, and it's all fine.
Once the artwork has been approved, the album's going to be
manufactured and should be with me shortly after. The record will
(finally!) be released on May 10th. Just one month now.
I suppose I should be happier.
5th
April 2004
Purlieu, she is in the post and on her way to be
made. I am the excited man.
2nd
April 2004
Purlieu is going to be coming out on Second Thought Records only
now. Things are looking uncertain in the US, and both Joe and I
agree this is the right decision. Otherwise, it should be fine.
Release within the month, if all goes well.
Hah. If all goes well.
And of course thanks to Joe for the ride so far, without whom the
release wouldn't even be at this level.
26th
March 2004
A hundred and ten copies of Full-Source's The Nothing arrived
this morning. The album's out on Second Thought Records on April
5th. This is the first big step, with a batch of discs
manufactured. The journey starts here. I hope the rest of the
world loves this album as much as I do.
21st
March 2004
Purlieu is looking interesting now. Things in the US
are busy, I'm not sure what the situation with Joe is at the
moment, so the release may be just on Second Thought Records.
I'll know within the week, hopefully.
And, with that nearing its close (hopefully), I've started
rearranging my other projects. So Far So Good is now officially
dead. The artist has been removed from Second Thought Records
(what with Anticipated Lies and Autumn being deleted already, and
no forthcoming material planned, it seemed pointless), but the
plans I had for the next album are probably going to pop up
later, but that idea's still in the works.
Elsewhere, I've been touching up some other stuff on the new
Second Thought tracks. Expect to hear some acoustic guitar in
there.
I think music should act as a nice diversion to the number of
little problems mounting up elsewhere in my life.
18th
March 2004
I'm going to be taking part in a musical project
called Royal Olympic this summer. It started as an idea on the
AtEase message board where Mark decided he needed to make a
British band. The idea is just that... to make really British
music. Psychedelia, new wave, Britpop... it's all great stuff, so
I'm getting involved. And here are some shoddy lyrics I knocked
together last night:
"Please Note That Smoking Is Not Allowed On Any Part Of This
Station"
The 11.30's been cancelled again
The 11.45's moved to platform ten
We apologise for the delay to this service
We apologise if the station smells of piss
Please buy your ticket, tho' it won't be checked
Please note the timetable is never correct
Over-priced drinks are at the rear of the train
We're afraid to announce the toilets aren't working
Again
I've spent half my life rotting away
On Birmingham New Street, day after day
The amount of money I have to pay
To waste on this "service", it's not okay
The train is too full, you'll just have to stand
First class is empty, standard is crammed
Your reserved seat has not been reserved
If you're stupid enough to use us, this is what
You deserve
I've spent half my life rotting away
On Birmingham New Street, day after day
The amount of money I have to pay
To waste on this "service", it's not okay
18th
February 2004
Added some tracks by me and Greg to Artistserver... here. I'm really happy with
that EP, and whilst chances are we won't do much work together
again, it's great to listen to just for the fact that it shows
two musicians who can work together very well. Even if I do say
so myself.
9th
February 2004
I'm so desperate to be in a band. Thing is, I'd need
it to be a band who did something a bit... slightly unorthadox. A
bit messy and lo-fi, but a bit experimental and well produced...
main inspirations:
The Moody Blues
The Beatles
Pink Floyd
Syd Barrett
The Velvet Underground
Can
Captain Beefheart
John Frusciante
Blur
Do Make Say Think
Beck
The Future Sound of London
Autechre
Nine Inch Nails
Radiohead
The Coral
8th
February 2004
Lucy and I broke up, and now can't be bothered to be
inspired. I'm not when I'm happy and with a girl, I'm not in the
reverse situation. Bloody art.
31st
January 2004
I linked a few of the Purlieu videos to EBB today,
just for some comments, but also asking if people want to help
out. I'm doing a 5 minute promo video for the album, and have
tons of raw video footage, but have no way of actually making a
video for it... if anybody thinks they'd like to give it a go,
there's only a copy of Purlieu in it for you, but the thread's here. Thanks mucho.
Not been concentrating on music much for a few days... found
myself a girlfriend, Lucy, so I've not been travelling through
dark, destructive urban soundscapes of late. Mind you, I've
suddenly got back into FSOL and Orbital, so maybe inspiration
lies ahead.
18th
January 2004
Bit more work on some tracks. Just some mixing and
stuff. Structure-wise, two songs are pretty much complete,
although lots of content is still needed. I have two
half-structured tracks, too. I'm thinking of maybe including the
'This is what happens when I am sad' doodle I did over the
summer. It certainly gives that hopeless, trapped feel I'm going
for with the album. Chaos you have no control over, and the
feeling of helplessness that goes with it. One of these days,
I'll do a happy song.
Still done no photography. I really should.
16th
January 2004
It's at times like these I think I work too fast on
my music. Got this little droney thing going. What originally
started out as a Radiohead remix for their Loophole thing
eventually ended up as a track of my own. Long droneys and
squeaky sounds. No idea where it's going. It'll need a lot of
work, though, so maybe I'm not moving too fast. I should probably
do some more photography. I may do that tomorrow... no plans
otherwise.
15th
January 2004
2T came second in 'Most Improved Artist' at the ES
Awards 2003. Second Thought grabbed that spot last year. I have
no more artists to do that now, though. That's a shame, really. I
wonder if I'll get a prize.
14th
January 2004
Transferred some stuff onto the laptop today, messed around with
the levels a little... first time I've heard it on some decent
monitors. Had a huge load of ideas, probably abuot twenty, but
I'm only happy with a few at the moment. Got four down in
Fruityloops, and one in Logic. No idea if they'll all make it of
course, but those, along with one 'live' one I have planned,
stick together to give six very rough tracks. I'm going to spend
a while on them, and the rest need writing, of course, but it's
progress.
11th
January 2004
Was listening to the So Far So Good album, 'Autumn',
today. Well, I still am. I might reissue it at some point. It
just seems kind of... odd. The feelings in the songs are no
longer painful, but are past, and I'm not sure if I want them
listed as present. Maybe if I do another album, I'll put Autumn
back out then as 'back catalogue'. The problem with putting
written feelings and emotions into music is that, unlike moods
and atmospheres, they date. Whilst I can look back at my old
Second Thought material and cringe because of the production, the
content can still be good and remade. These old songs have
emotions and memories tied to them that I don't think they'll
ever be rid of, which makes it all so much harder to keep
listening...
My favourite tracks still are Lessons You'll End Up Learning
Despite the Best of Your Knowledge, England; Sydney 3PM and
Wreathed, which are probably the strongest in terms of
performance, production and songwriting. None hold too painful
memories, either. Ah, who knows. I'm sure I'll do something with
it in the future
My current mood has put me in a creative mood for once. I think
I'm going to sit on it for a while, but I felt like writing
something yesterday, for the first time in ages. I'm not sure
what I'd do, but it's an idea I might work on more. I'm trying to
pace myself with the music, though. I only want to finish Water
or Jazz and the next Second Thought album by the end of the year.
More time spent on perfecting these rather than fucking around
with loads of half-finished stuff will hopefully lead to
something good. I don't want a collection of sketches like
Twenty-four again.
I'm thinking of doing a bit more photography for the new album.
This time last year I was out and about all over the place taking
shots for Purlieu. I've already done a few; Greg's part of town
is a wonderful housing estate next to an industrial estate. Some
graffiti photos have been taken already. Not sure what else, but
there's a lot I can take, no doubt. It's something to keep me
occupied, and should hopefully lead to some inspiration.
10th
January 2004
What's going on with my music? Purlieu is ever
closing in. Hopefully looking at sometime within the next couple
of weeks to get it off for manufacture, now things are tidying
themselves up in the US, meaning a February/March release, but
don't hold me to that.
Work has begun on the next album, interestingly enough. I'm going
with a complete contrast to Purlieu, in theme. From a place that
doesn't exist, of trees, meadows and eerie desolation to a busy,
rough, noisy inhabited place - I'm thinking maybe a town or city,
perhaps. I've been collecting samples, and have a hell of a lot
of tracks begun. I think it's going to be a bit less ambient than
Purlieu, a bit harsher sounding, but I'm not going with a full on
IDM breakbeat onslaught... still some of the ambient and slightly
classical-esque ideas I used on Purlieu. Generally, the overall
tone will be different - instead of the eerily tranquil and
disturbing, it will be more... perhaps melancholy and a touch
distressed... very much like you're caught up in the complete
chaos of a city. It's an idea I've been playing with for a long
time now, I've always wanted to do an album with this sort of
theme. I'm thinking of restructuring a couple of ideas from some
unreleased remixes I did, and I've got a great track emerging
from the remains of 'Birmingham City Skyline on a Hazy September
Morning', from back in the day. [-second thought-] has produced a
hell of a lot of good tracks in the long run.
I'm also messing around with the idea of jazzy stuff. I wrote a
few ideas on the piano at college, and found two tracks that
worked together purely by accident. I'm really hoping that'll be
on the album, too. I think 2T will be at work on this album, too.
The way the 2T project is heading at the moment - Maching, for
example - is beginning to be more Second Thought than 2T. I think
I'm going to take the IDM bits and incorporate them into Second
Thought. Either way, that's what the distant future holds. I'm
not even considering finishing the record before the coming
winter, so don't hold your breath.
In the slightly more seeable future, there's the AmbientLive
show, which I can assure is going ahead, at some point. I've
still not actually finalised the setlist - I'm thinking of taking
the new breakbeat reworking of First Understanding out, as it is
an ambient show, after all. What to replace it with is the hard
thing - there's not much from 'Purlieu' in the set, but I've
exhausted all the easily reproducable tracks from that, so I'm
thinking maybe an unreleased track. I've not tried a final
mixdown of 'Borderline', which will hopefully be the opening
track on the next album, so I don't know how that would sound.
It's a possibility. Otherwise, there are a couple of other ideas
that aren't finished, but could be played as sketches. I'm not
sure how work arrangements will suit Greg for playing, but if he
can make it, there'll be live guitar from him on a couple of
tracks. I also have a sample for closing the show to get for
that, so it's certainly not complete. As soon as I get a date for
that, I'll spread the word.
Listening to some live FSOL stuff. Man, I'd love to create this
sort of soundscape. Even though I come from a similar standpoint
when it comes to creating albums, I've never been able to create
something as... alive as Dougans and Cobain ever managed. I am
constantly amazed by their music. To make an album with as much
atmosphere and presence as Lifeforms is a fantasy of mine, and
one I don't think I'll ever really fullfill.
Been picking up the guitar a lot of late. I don't know if this
will give more guitar on the Second Thought stuff, or lead me
back to being a singer/songwritertype again. I think the recent
happiness of mood might help me out in that department. I could
do with writing some songs, even be they cheesy love songs.
The future's bright, the future's storange.
©
ross baker 2004-2007