I realised that Movable Type – the content management system I use for this blog thing – had been updated, so being a good drone I installed the update. Hurrah, I got new features and stuff. I also began messing around with the standard templates that came with MT and settled on this little number. OK – it’s not that visually exciting but it means I can do diddley squat and let the system update itself. No more HTML, hurrah!
For my regular visitor, you will be interested to know that you can now leave comments on this weblog. I never had it activated before (the dummy) but now you can use it, so feel free to hurl your abuse.
Yesterday, I managed to blow-up (not literally) The Missus’ computer. I think the heat got to it and it just stopped working. So today, I took it apart, cleared the CMOS and voila it works again. I was worried something had blown before because it wouldn’t boot at all. A night cooling down and clearing the system memory worked wonders. Gee, I am a real PC expert – shame I’m finding it harder to get magazines to commission me some more. The pond is getting smaller while the fish have nowhere to go. It’s a bit like one of those watering holes in the Serengheti – when the dry season comes the fish die because the water evaporates. That’s a bit like being a freelancer at the moment. Of course, it’s probably because I am a bad writer and no-one likes my work. It’s so hard to tell because you get zero feedback. What I do know is that getting work isn’t about what you know, but who you know…and this sucks big time because the people I know aren’t in a position to commission me. Oh well – mustn’t fucking grumble. 🙂
In the garden, Alex returned from under a bush with a little green gritter on his back. Yes – it was a baby grasshopper/cricket. Look –
In the post: Archer McClean’s Mercury – a puzzle game for my Sony PSP, which involves negotiating a blob of mercury around a course. Clever and addictive stuff.
Latest Entries »
The cottage industry that is Darren Lock Incorporated has been busy producing copies of “Sow’s Ears & Silk Purses” for CDBABY. As the title is soooo popular (well, more popular than the rest of my CDs) I’ve pulled out all the stops and sending off 20 copies. That should keep me in stock for six months or so. 😉
Look…loads of Darren boxsets:
Last week, when we were on a mission to buy door handles, a friendly grasshopper hitched a lift all the way from the Homebase in Harlow to our doorstep in Loughton. He remained on the windscreen for the entire journey and was quite a distraction. I grabbed a container and took this picture of him before letting him go. He was such an attractive specimen I had to get a picture of him. I’m going to add him to my amazing rotating random banners at the top of the screen!
It’s funny because I keep hearing cricket/grasshopper sounds when I stand in the front/back garden. Maybe it is my little green chum???
Yesterday, I received an email from the PR lady who is working for Leo Abrahams thanking me for the nice things I have been saying about his album “Honeytrap”. That was nice. I don’t usually get any thanks, nor acknowledgement. It was nothing really. I’ve been planning to write a proper review of the album because it is really something special and people need to hear about it. Then we’ll give them something to thank me for!
Track Listing
4-CD Retrospective (1998-2003)
Well I guess it had to happen eventually…
This is a 4-CD retrospective, which includes the albums “Fade In/Fade Out”, “Heavy on the Magick”, “Loops & Scales”, “Start”, “Touched by the King”, “It’s About Time” as well a whole CD comprising of ambient soundscapes taken from my soundscaper series.
This is over 4 hours of music, so pick up a copy and give it someone you really don’t like! 🙂
Track Listing
24 Instrumental Pieces MP3
Textures was recording in a couple of weeks during July and August 2003. This time the remit was a little different: to create a CD of music that was comprised of lots of little bits of music…
My main rule was that the instrumental pieces were to be no longer than 2 minutes in length and if possible they should all slot together.
I am really proud of Textures and I feel that it is my best body of work.
Track Listing
1. Contraction
2. Lead Pipe
3 Among the Stars
4. Nest of Vipers
5. Descent of the Fallen I
6. A Hope in the Dark
7. One Brain MP3
8. Descent of the Fallen II
9. Fields of HaSharon MP3
10. Ascension
With every CD I record, comes a companion CD of soundscapes. These ambient noodlings are rather fun to record and aren’t as easy as it looks. All the tracks here are recorded “as live” (i.e. in one take with no overdubs) and what you are hearing is Darren on his own with all his guitar equipment improvising on the spot. Real edge of the seat stuff!
This time around I wanted to go a bit spacey and so I decided to try and record some background music to a science-fiction movie.
It certainly sounds a bit different from the Soundscaper CDs in the series.
Track Listing
1. The Birds
2. Reality Lives on Pleasure
3. Falling Down (Without Words) MP3
4. Mando Marching Major
5. Numbersong
6. Apothesis
7. Shadowsong MP3
8. (intro)
9. Forever Autumn
10. Skysong
11. Back to the Ark
12. Spiralsong
13. Three Piece Suite
14. Make Your Mark
15. Endsong
With the LOAD partnership dissolved in early 2003, I found myself with a number of unfinished tracks that I had prepared for those sessions that were rejected by Andrew.
It were these tracks, “Falling Down”, “Mando” and “Reality Lives on Pleasure” that were the basis of the new CD.
The brief was simple. This was to be the definitive Darren Lock CD. We were going to throw in all the stylistic tricks that I use and see what comes out the other side.
Stand out tracks include, “Reality Lives on Pleasure”, “Numbersong”, “Shadowsong” and “Three Piece Suite”.
To view the videos I made to accompany this CD, click the videos tab to the right of the screen.
Track Listing
1 Broken Atmospheres
2 Reality Lives on Pleasure MP3
3. If We Lived Here, We’d Be Home Now
4. Red Blank, Red Blank
5 Water Finds Its Own Level
6. Distant Village Song
7. Compression Sickness MP3
During 2002, I decided to do something completely different and stop recording on my own. Using the Internet, I hooked up with another guitarist by the name of Andrew Osborne.
Under the name of LOAD (made up from our initials), we recorded an instrumental album using loops and our two very different guitar sounds. Andrew was more of a guitarists’ guitarist and played nylon acoustic and bass, while I was responsible for almost everything else.
The tracks here are rather good and include a Darren Lock composition “Reality Lives on Pleasure” which features an Andrew Osborne middle section and some deliciously rubber bass on “King Arthropod”.
Unfortunately, our partnership was short-lived, as Andrew decided to call it a day on music and to concentrate on having babies!