You are allowed to enjoy this…

Did some recording this afternoon. Found an interesting patch on the keyboard that created a random block arpeggio and so used this as the basis of the track. Not sure if anyone has been paying attention, but I am recording a kind-of sequal to “Textures” in so much as the songs interlink and of a relatively short length. The idea when doing something like this is to get mood over content, I feel. So I am looking for moods rather than creating some wild musical statement. Last week’s “Frog & Toad” is intended as a possible finale for the album. This next section comes after a tray called “Lay Back (and Think of England)” and hovers around the 15 minute mark. As usual, this just a rough mix and it is surely to change. The idea is that two synth guitars are having a duet with each other. Despite owning a guitar synth in some shape or form since late 1994, I’ve never actually recorded a guitar synth lead line, usually reserving the device as an atmosphere device. The tracking is usually far too random for that. But with my Epiphone being particularly stable and my internal pickup that I installed being the best installation I’ve ever seen, it worked out OK. And so I present the track for your humble ears:

It’s taken a while, but I’ve finally released the “I Am Not Your Enemy” album in electronic form. You can now purchase it from the Mindawn website and you can buy it in two flavours FLAC or OGG (both of these are lossless audio formats). I’ve just got to start uploading the rest of my back catalogue up there next.
Go on, treat yourself this weekend to some luvverly Lock Music! 😉

My song “Forever Autumn” is currently being used in a couple of food-related podcasts. The EatFeed podcast features recipes and food ideas and you can hear the episode featuring my song at the link below:
http://www.eatfeed.com/shows/27_culinary_passage_to_india.htm
Remember podcasters, if you want to use my tunes in your podcasts, you can. I really don’t mind, but would like to know where my stuff is being used so send me a link so I can include it here. All I ask in return is that you send people to this website and maybe mention that my stuff is available commercially via iTunes. I do need to earn a little bit of cash now and then, eh?

Whoopee! You can subscribe and download my podcast by using iTunes. My scheme to depress all iPod owners to the point of misery is complete:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=83241904
Also, if you search for me on All Music Guide, my name comes up. Apparently, I am a “New Age” artist. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers. It’s better than “Complete Tosspot”, I guess. Again, I’ve conned the authorities in believing that I am some kind of musician.
My campaign of mischief and misinformation continues. Mwaaahaahaahaaahhaaaa!

In the post: Anthony Phillips – Field Day. Now this should be an interesting album. Lots of twelve string guitar and interesting instruments such as the cittern and bazouki. It’s a double CD and I got it signed too. It says “Well Fielded!” A.P. I think that’s good cricket term, isn’t it?
Note to self: you use the word “interesting” an awful lot. You need to expand your vocabumalary.

Yesterday was my mother’s 60th birthday and so we had a day out mooching around shops, desperately trying to buy her something for her birthday. I think most mothers are born with the “Don’t Buy Me Anything” gene and so it was particularly difficult buying her a present. Luckily, beforehand we had bought a big bunch of expensive flowers and an engraved crystal glass to mark the occasion. While I was out, I realised that all my quirkiness, weird worldview and dark humour comes directly from my mother. It was like have a mini-me walking around with me. While in Marks and Spencer, my mother said something so “me” that I actually laughed so much I cried. Anyway, we ended the day at the pub for a pint and some grub. In terms of close famliy, there’s only myself and The Missus around for my mum, so it wasn’t worth putting on a party. I just hope she enjoyed herself. She grumbled and complained and moaned a lot, so that was a good indication she was having a good time. (I normally do the same thing).
While I was out I managed to buy “Robert Wyatt & Friends – Live at Drury Lane” CD. Going to be playing this today.
As things are looknig financially gloomy at Chez Lock, I have some DVDs for sale on eBay. Please bid generously:
http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZvrooomuk

I am feeling a bit strange at the moment. It’s been a weird week in Internet Land for little ol’ Darren. In a different life, I run a music discussion site and it turns out that one of my members, who had not posted for a while, had committed suicide. This guy, Malcolm Xerxes, was a fellow Brit relocated to Canada and we’d had numerous dealings via the site. He came across as a little eccentric but a decent, friendly guy. He got my humour. He always got my oblique references in the postings that I made and he was a supporter.

He even once sent me a cheque to help support the site. Unfortunately, it would have cost more to get the bank to cash the cheque than the actual value of it. So I kept the cheque for posterity. I am glad I did in a way.
The events surrounding his death are murky. A woman was found shot twice in the head and once in the stomach and it turns out that this was his girlfriend. Some say that this was his ex-girlfriend, some say it was his current girlfriend and the person he lived with. After making numerous failed calls to his friends, the next day he took his gun, went to the park and shot himself. He didn’t die instantly and medics failed to revive him on the scene.

Now I am not condoning what he did. I feel pity for all involved, but it is interesting to see how people behave. Some anonymous women accuse the guy of being a mysogynistic stalker, working his way through women and then treating them badly. Some say that the woman he shot was his girlfriend of two years, some say that they were only going out for a short while. His bandmates and work colleagues say he was a wonderful guy, he was “Uncle Malcolm”. During one of the private discussion to me, he revealed that one of the reasons he hadn’t been online for a while was because a woman fan was stalking him and he had to move from his apartment.

I really don’t know what to think at all.

All I know is that a guy I liked is dead and the woman he may or may not have shot was left blinded by his actions. It’s been like a cloud hanging over me, so I did what I thought was right. I organised some flowers on behalf of the music communities he frequented and wrote a message on their behalf. I would hope that some kind soul would do the same for me if I ended up that way. It’s all sad, really. No more grokking the totality, no more uppercase, 10-foot high, crimson lettering. No more fun at the Parliament of Pachyderms.

Be seeing ya, Ian Malcolm…whoever you really were…

The cheque Malcolm Xerxes sent to help with the upkeep of my music website