Track Listing
1. Bounder 1
2. Expectation
3. RFX
4. Voodoo Hoodoo
5. Procession
6. Bounder 2
7. Conclusion
Every so often, I treat myself to a new piece of equipment and in July 2000 I purchased a Line 6 DL4 digital delay unit. The great thing about these little green stomp boxes is that they can loop 24 seconds of delay, so you add sounds live and let it degrade. I was so inspired by this little box that I decided to record an ambient album like “Blue” straight away.
The tracks here are quite different from the “Blue” – they are more experimental and quite harsh in places but are atmospheric nonetheless. Top tracks here include “Expectation”, “Voodoo Hoodoo” and “Conclusion”.
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Track Listing
1. Chinese Whispers
2. The Silver Spring (Part One)
3. Barnacle Bill
4. Humdrummed (Droned)
5. Money for Old Rope MP3
6. The Silver Spring (Part Two)
7. Blue Jam
8. No Return…
featuring Tower of Guilt
9. Sloppy Joe MP3
10. Touched by the King
I had a little rest between recording and this was started in February 2000. I immediately started to put together some excellent drum loops and decided that I wanted a much harder record, something rockier and a bit darker.
At this time, I came across some drum loops on the website of King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto and decided to use them in my own work. The “Rhythm Buddies” project set up by PM and the drummer asked internet musicians to download the loops and use them in their own compositions. On this CD, two tracks use these “Rhythm Buddies” loops “Chinese Whispers” and “Money for Old Rope” – both of them got favourable responses from Pat Mastelotto himself. I was very proud that day indeed.
Anyway, the music is a lot darker on this CD and very loop based. Stand out tracks include “Money for Old Rope”, “No Return” and “Sloppy Joe”. The CD sleeve is a spoof of King Crimson’s “Construkction of Light” LP.
Track Listing
1. Falling Gold
2. Nebulous
3. The Path to Redemption
4. The First Sunrise
5. Shard of Indecision MP3
6. Return to Blue
After making all this multi-layered music, I decided to try and produce something really simple. The idea was that I was to record some ambient pieces using my guitar synth, live and has they happened. The resulting session are the “Blue” recordings.
I am amazed at the sound of these performances and how this music came to me from nowhere. One night I even managed to fool the missus into believing that this was a professionally recorded CD from another artist. In terms of technology, it really is just me playing with the Roland GR-1 guitar synth and nothing else…no delay pedals, no looping devices, just improvised washes of aural colour.
Anyway, if you are looking for some relaxing music to ease away the stresses of the day or perhaps (like myself) occasionally suffer from insomnia. Stand out performances include “Falling Gold”, “Shard of Indecision” and “Return to Blue”.
Track Listing
1. Start MP3
2. 6s and 7s
3. Sahara
4. A Cool Breeze MP3
5. At the Temple
6. Sort It Out!
7. Fireside Dreaming
8. Starshine Falling
9. An Awkward Phase
10. Acoustique
11. Reflections
This is an unofficial follow-up to “Ark” in that it is one long instrumental piece made up of lots of little bits glued together. The impetus for recording “Start” came when I purchased a Roland SPD20 electronic percussion pad (and add-on drum accessories) to create a little electronic drum kit.
So on tracks such as “6s and 7s”, “Sahara” and “Finish: Working Backwards” it is me playing the electronic drums live without any overdubs (and it notices). I am not much of a drummer but the pads have certainly opened up some rhythmic avenues for me.
There are some genuinely good moments in the form of “A Cool Breeze”, “Starshine Falling” and “Acoustique”. The last track contains my best drumming performance…ever. And that is really saying something.
Track Listing
1. Theme 3
2. Thumper
3. Airs and Graces
4. Nothing to Do
5. The Road
6. A Day in the Wood MP3
7. First Tango in Catford
8. Over the Edge
9. You Got My Horn
10. Let Your Fingers Do the Walking…by Numbers
11. Angel’s Tears
12. Bad Mojo
13. Smallhand Blues
14. Good Mojo
15. The Final Bar
16. Tales from the Crib
17. Mousetrap
18. V2
19. Pisces Rising
20. The Eye of Orion
As you can imagine, if you’ve been recording for a number of years, you tend to amass quite a bit of material, some of which is hidden away in dusty cupboards. While doing some cleaning, I found such a stack of old tapes and had the idea to preserve this stuff onto CD for posterity. And so, “The B Team” was born, all the ideas that didn’t make it would have their day on this CD.
I think it covers the period 1994-1998, so there’s quite a lot of ground to cover. It even includes tunes that were created during my first synthesiser period in 1994. One thing I found was that tapes degrade and some of the mixes needed to be cleaned up. Again, the trusty PC came to my rescue and I found a number of software tools online that could help me restore the tracks.
What else is there to say? It’s a pretty dire CD but again you have to have some editorial control over your material. Stand out tracks for me include “A Day in the Wood” which sounds like it was recorded using real instruments but it wasn’t, “Angel’s Tears” which is a really nice ambient track and “Smallhand Blues”.
Track Listing
1. Loops & Scales, Part I MP3
2. Which Way to Go?
3. Join the Chain
4. Loops & Scales, Part II
Birdsongs
5. Ducks & Drakes
6. Sparrowhawk
7. On the Wing MP3
8. Journey of the Snow Goose
9. In the Storm
10. Swallows’ Rest
This is another personal breakthrough for me. I had previously discovered the joys of using a PC to record music but now I took another creative leap by getting into loop manipulation software, which allows you to mix and match pre-recorded drum loops and create whole new sounds. For me this was a revelation, as I didn’t have to worry about my terrible drum programming again.
Also, I treated myself to a Roland VG-8, a virtual guitar modelling unit.
So with all this new kit and software I began to get into a more loopy, rhythmic brand of instrumental. “Loops and Scales” is quite dancey in comparison to some of the other things I have done and I like it it a lot but I really come into my own with the “Birdsong” suite.
Overall, this CD is one of my favourites.
Track Listing
1. Intro
2. When I Was Young MP3
3. Gone
4. That Is The Way It Is MP3
5. Sister
6. London Boy
7. 1999
8. Now
9. You’re Going Down
10. The Damage Done
11. Save Me
Just when I thought I was doing well, I go and decide to write some “proper” songs with words and singing again – big mistake.
OK – not all the songs are that bad, I happen to think one of my best guitar solos appears on “When I Was Young” and probably the best track of the set is the Bonzo Dog Band inspired “London Boy”, which comes complete with banjo sounds and coconut horse hooves just like the theme to “Steptoe and Son”.
Probably the best thing about this is the cover, which sees yours truly being run down in car by himself. It was January when we took the pictures for that I had to lie on a cold street for ages to get the pictures. Talk about suffering for your artwork!