Miga RMX
Work is now underway on a remix for an exciting new collaborative project between Spanish netlabel giants miga and PublicSpaces Lab. I'm honoured to be working on an amazing track by Javier García (Animatek). More news will follow in due course.
idea
Using the voice of Marcus Hutton and the words of Edgard Varese, track six of FOUR is now uploaded as a first mix. Entitled "idea" it's the first track in a long time that feels as if it's composed itself.
The Burns We Earn (Kieron James Remix)
Friends or Whatever’s brand of indie-pop explores both the analog and the digital, the sound defies categorization. It pulls from the past and the future… it’s both melodic and noisy… it’s lo-fi and hi-fi. Here's my remix of their single, released today, The Burns We Earn.
Alcmene
Track 5 for my forthcoming album, Alcmene, inspired by a trip to the cinema on Wednesday to celebrate Elisa's birthday. I think this piece has taken the record (easily) for the fastest to come together of anything I've composed.
Four
OK, this one has turned out completely off whack with the first three tracks of the album, but there's something I really like about its quirkiness. There are lots of parts - both in terms of its many layers and the way it jumps from section to section.
Mass of Moments
DigitalDoyle's wonderful animation - inspired by the words of Shadi Angelina and the music of Mass of Moments. I feel very privileged to add a post to the blog featuring Doyle's fabulous interpretation.
Johnny
Say kid, what do they call you? You never should have picked a name like that. A name like that you gotta live up to.
Recap
The second track for Four is a reworking of my first composition from Jan 2009. The original piece, entitled Capitulation, has been substantially remixed with several new synths, a new tempo and hopefully a greatly improved feel.
Recent Posts
Running in Verona
Giardino Giusto, Verona Following my injury on 4th July, I’ve been resting up to ensure a full recovery. I did manage a couple of slow and easy runs with Elisa in Verona (posted below). It was wonderful to be running around the river there again – it’s years since I’ve run that route. Anyway, I’m back from holiday now and need to get back into the running if I’m... [Read more]
Miga RMX
Since the netaudio.es festival PublicSpaces Lab has been in discussions with Spanish netlabel MIGA about several projects. One of the first ideas was to have MIGA’s artists remix some Lab’s artists and vice-versa. MIGA’s artists are putting the finishing touches on the PSL remixes and ambienteer, Dustmotes, Swaying Smoke and I have just been sent the 4 MIGA artists’ tracks to remix. The... [Read more]
idea
FOUR, by Kieron James A little like Alcmene, this track came together pretty quickly and, as I mentioned on Twitter, it’s the first one I’ve composed for a long time which has been built on a completely linear timeline (i.e. no use of the Cubase arranger track). This doesn’t happen very often and when it does, it feels like the track has almost written itself. The idea kicked off... [Read more]
Quick music update
Thought it was about time I posted a little on music here. Seems to have been a running focus of late. That’s largely because I’ve got my hands full with Clear Notice and Enter Calico. Anyway, I have a couple of works in progress which I can share. Looking forward to getting stuck in again shortly and I’ve just exported a few bars from the iPad App iElectribe from Korg (first up below)... [Read more]
GNR 2010 Block 3 Week 1
I missed a couple of runs last week as Block 2 drew to a close and fell short of my overall planned mileage by 8% (achieving 279 of the 304 miles slated). I’m not desperately concerned about that. I feel like I have a solid base as I go into the next six weeks of higher impact training. This will be the first time I’ve done any interval sessions in quite a couple of years, so I’m... [Read more]
GNR 2010 Block 2 Week 6
This week is a step back week, so cutting the mileage back to 37 miles. That said, I was fifteen miles short of last week’s target, so I might try to drop some of those into this week. I was supposed to run easy yesterday (and just seven miles), but got caught up in the moment and a mile into the run I decided to step up to tempo pace (166-172bpm), which I sustained for five miles. I could have... [Read more]
GNR 2010 Block 2 Week 5
Missed last week’s target by a mile (in this case, literally, so that’s no great shakes). I’m starting to get well and truly into the running during this training block, but I have to say I was surprised at how much I still weigh – even after around ten weeks of solid running. (Heaven knows how much weight I’d piled on since Christmas! Too much Cubase. Not enough Saucony.) Making... [Read more]
GNR 2010 Block 2 Week 4
Step back week completed – back to the grind. First off this week is a fifteen mile run and since my watch is being replaced by Garmin, but hasn’t yet made it to Cheshire, I’m running “blind”. This may be no bad thing. I can listen to my heart and breathing, rather than scrutinising the 405 every mile or so. All in all, the training’s going well so far. 350 of the... [Read more]
GNR 2010 Block 2 Week 3
Having missed Sunday’s long run last week, I spent the week playing catch up again, but I managed to complete the 55 miles I had scheduled. What’s worrying me is the lack of progress over the last eight weeks. My average pace and heart rate don’t seem to be improving at all. I guess it’s early days and I’ve only been running easy, but I did expect the heart rate to be... [Read more]
GNR 2010 Block 2 Week 2
Last week’s mileage successfully completed, the start of Week 2 was briefly paused yesterday. With a touch of metatarsalgia, caused by worn out trainers (roll on pay day) and too many miles, I thought it prudent not to head out for a further fifteen miles yesterday. Instead, I’ll add 7 miles to today’s running and a 4 mile run to each of Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s schedules. Despite... [Read more]
Rough Mix – Possible track for FOUR
I’ve been away from Cubase for a week or so, but picked this one up again today and put together a rough mix of something which may make it to FOUR – but I’m still unsure (so any feedback gratefully received). I quite like some bits of it – certain bass parts, the drums and brass – but I think I may have ended up with two tracks here which I’m trying to mix into... [Read more]
GNR 2010 Block 2 Week 1
Block 1 is behind me, but I’ve missed more runs than I should have (184 miles out of 229 scheduled, or around 80%). I need to fix that in Block 2, but I’m not feeling too despondent since Block 1 was devised simply to get me running again – just a whole load of easy miles. That said, I am going to try to replace those 45 miles through Blocks 2, 3 and 4. I’ll distribute them... [Read more]
GNR 2010 Block 1 Week 5
Have to confess to slipping a little over the last couple of weeks and need to arrest that before it deteriorates. It’s largely been around scheduling, but that’s no real excuse – I should always be able to find time for a run. This week is officially a step-back week before I start Block 2 next week. At that point, I’ll be adding tempo runs into the mix and increasing the distance... [Read more]
The Burns We Earn (Kieron James Remix)
The Burns We EarnGreat fun – and a very helpful distraction from FOUR and all the work going on behind the scenes on Clear Notice debut release CNR001. Spent a few hours last week and a chunk of Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning remixing the indie pop tune The Burns We Earn from Friends or Whatever. I spotted the @blocsonic remix competition on Twitter on 1st May and was intrigued at how... [Read more]
GNR 2010 Block 1 Week 4
Missing the first run of the week last week played havoc with my schedule. I tried to juggle extra runs into the remaining days and probably bit off more than I could chew. By Thursday I was starting to feel a niggle in the knee, so I cut the week short with an easy four miler on Friday lunch time and rested up until Sunday – it gave me a good excuse to watch the snooker too No such omissions... [Read more]
Free Your Mind
Kicked this one off about a month ago, but kept it under wraps until I got the vocals back from BooSen. These came through last week and I spent a little time mixing them over the weekend. Not totally sure I’ve got the rap sitting exactly as I’d like in the mix, but it’s getting closer. The track was born with one of the (several) bass lines – which, as usual, was created using... [Read more]
GNR 2010 Block 1 Week 3
Third week of my training schedule for September’s Great North Run and a weird start to the week. Felt completely and utterly exhausted yesterday – as if somebody had sprinkled sleeping dust into the air. Genuinely, I could barely keep my eyes open in the afternoon so decided to miss my first run of the week. Not a great start but I’m aiming to replace the eleven miles missed with... [Read more]
GNR 2010 Block 1 Week 2
Second week of my training schedule for September’s Great North Run got underway yesterday with a long run. I really enjoyed my first week and yesterday’s run was the first to feel vaguely “fluid”. The weather was perfect as I headed out of the door around 6pm. Although this is the second “formal” week of training, I started to run regularly again towards the end... [Read more]
Alcmene
FOUR, by Kieron James Last Wednesday was Elisa’s birthday, so I took the day off work and we headed out to the cinema with the kids to watch “Clash of the Titans”. The film was pretty much as we’d expected – mediocre really, but we all kind of enjoyed it. I don’t remember the soundtrack being particularly captivating, but at some point during the movie, I started... [Read more]
Let’s see if this helps
I used to blog my running activity in the belief that setting targets and monitoring performance is the only way to ensure consistent progress towards a specific goal. Makes sense, no? And I do have a goal. It’s a long standing one. It’s very simple and a nice round, easy to remember, but difficult to achieve, number: 1 hour and 30 minutes That’s been my target time for a half marathon... [Read more]
