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Kind Words and Scary Mouse

Chris Leibrecht recently got in touch as a response to the mailshot I sent out the other to promote “God Pays Debts Without Money”:

I just finished listening to “sow” for the second time. I’d like to congratulate you on your stunning efforts. Your music has the hypnotic feel of NEU and the playfulness of ENO. You’ve created tracks that gently envelop the listener in sound sculptures that are both active and meditative. A truly magnificent accomplishment!

Meanwhile, via YouTube Pete Harris had this to say:

You’re doing some great stuff there and kudos to you for putting your music out on YouTube. It has loads of ambience and in my opinion some of it would be great for film or vid soundtrack. Keep the vids coming and enjoy yourself.

And Eino Keskitalo said of the 24-10-06 Improvisation, via the comment button on this site :

I really enjoyed this one! Thought it was good. It’s fascinating to see you do all that stuff.

It’s feedback like that which makes it all worthwhile. (Mind you, on Google Video some guy said that I couldn’t play bass and my song was out of tune, so you have to take the rough with the smooth).
Yesterday, smack bang in the middle of the path, just by the front gate, I came across the following unfortunate creature:

Maybe I should have saved this for Halloween?

A Good One

Yesterday was pretty busy as it was my mother’s birthday and we took her out to do some shopping. The mission was simple: to locate and purchase a new sofa. Luckily, things turned out better than I expected and the retail park provided an unlikely source of a sofa. The ILVA store at the Thurrock Retail Park was very expensive the first time myself and The Missus perused the labyrinthine structure filled with trendy Danish furniture and useless knick-knacks. I didn’t think we’d find a sofa for my mother, but lo and behold there was a three-seater that was the right size/depth/comfort for her. And it was half-price too! So a result…
The remains of the day was spent in the pub where we drank and generally chewed the fat. It was a good day and we all had a rollicking time. I returned home later and checked my email to find that I didn’t get the Assistant Editor job on Tunnelling News…despite them sending me a couple of copies of the magazine in the post and getting my hopes up. No problems, it would have been a boring job anyway. (That was a joke, geddit?)
With regards to “God Pays Debts WIthout Money…”, I have managed to flog a couple of copies already. If I manage to sell the remains of the stock, I would have covered the production/registration charges. I am feeling very pleased with myself. If you haven’t purchased a copy get, follow the likes of Yorkie (link to the right) and get one now. You’ll be doing me a big favour and swelling my ego at the same time!

God Pays Debts Without Money… (2006)

My latest release is a 4-CD compilation set and is available to buy at http://cdbaby.com/cd/darrenlock4. Here’s the blurb:
God Pays Debts Without Money…

This 4-CD set represents three year’s work.
The first CD is a collection of individual recordings made between 2003 and 2006.
The second CD is a series of linked instrumental tracks that should be considered as a whole.
The third CD is a collection of vocal songs – some of which were originally written in 1999 and given a fresh lick of paint, while some were written more recently. Can you tell which ones are which?
The fourth CD is deliberately experimental and showcases totally live performances by myself using multi-layered audio looping technology to create improvised sonic textures.
The fourth CD also contains a data track for your PC/MAC and contains several live video performances of myself.
All in all, for your money, you are getting over four hours of original music. It’s diverse, challenging and I am sure that you will enjoy the journey.
For more information, visit: www.darrenlock.com
To subscribe to my podcast, add this URL to your iTunes/Podcast reader: https://www.darrenlock.com/podcast.rss
Darren Lock plays guitar, bass, keyboards, electronic percussion and occasionally sings.
Front Cover Art: Taren McCallan-Moore
Website: www.taren.co.uk
Click here for a preview of the tracks on this set.

One Day At A Time…

This video is a piss-take of those films on YouTube where the guy or the girl takes a picture of themselves each day over a period of time. Usually, nothing much happens and you sit there scratching your nuts wondering why you wasted three minutes of your life watching someone not get particularly older. Anyhoo, this is a really great work of comedy and it makes me chuckle. Pass it on.
A Picture Every Day

Sunset, Evil Mushroom and Bad Music

On Tuesday, we had one of those magical sunsets and The Missus prompted me to take a photo of it:

Yesterday, I managed to photograph the most evil looking mushroom I’ve ever seen:

And late last night/early this morning, I sat down and recorded a really raggedy-assed improvisation. I shouldn’t have done it because I was really tired, but heck, you even get to see my guitar soloing face. Not a pretty sight!

Getting On My Soapbox

Not sure if my loyal reader is familiar with the workings of the web, but Microsoft have jumped on the bandwagon with its own video hosting site called Soapbox. Anyway, I managed to get on the site and test drive the service. The video quality is much better than YouTube & Google and the sound is stereo and sounds quite sweet. I really liked the user interface and the way Microsoft have thought this out. Anyway, here’s the last improv I viddied in beautiful Soapbox vision: