Composition, production, remixes
I’ve enjoyed making and listening to music for many years, but after a significant break to focus on keeping a roof over the heads of my wife and three children, returned to composition in earnest in January 2009. Having downloaded a copy of the splendid Beatmaker iPhone App on Christmas Day, Cubase was ordered mid January and I’ve never looked back!
I completed my first solo album at the end of 2010, Organised Sound, which was released on Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon and elsewher. I’ve also worked with some fantastic artists, on collaborations or remixes over the last couple of years, including: Fernando Fonseca (Half-BIT), Alka, Bootslam, Little Boots, Digitube, Shadi Angelina and Friends or Whatever.
Founder, Clear Notice Recordings
I also run an electronica label in my spare time. Clear Notice Recordings kicked things off in 2010 with a debut Various Artists release entitled Enter Calico, a collection of beautifully detailed tracks featuring ground-breaking electronic artists from around the world.
Argentina, England, Germany, Holland, Japan, Portugal and the United States are all represented and this cultural diversity is reflected in the music and techniques showcased on CNR’s stunning first release.
From the unusual rhythms of stretta’s Calculus, featuring a technique known as a Risset rhythm (named after Jean-Claude Risset and referencing his work at Bell Labs in the 60′s) to samples of car keys, swishing credit cards and other sounds from the daily grind, manipulated and allowed to “fall away” in Samarah’s eerie composition, Enter Calico will dazzle and delight.
The one sheet for the album (shown on the right and available as a PDF download) and the Clear Notice website tells you all you’d need to know, so I’m not going to repeat the detail here.
Suffice to say, if you’re a talented electronic artist or videographer, get in touch – and if you’re a freelance music / arts journalist looking for some amazing work to report on, do the same.
Old School
These days I’m working alone, but I have played drums in a number of bands, the most successful being The Emotionals in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Famous for its “raunchy banana pop”, the band’s guitarist really kicked off the sticker campaign craze on London’s underground (I’m sure to the despair of those responsible for the Tube’s maintenance).
We played the circuit in London (Sir George Robey, Borderline, The Marquee) and released two albums with Native Records, Personal Pleasure and In Response. The Emotionals were reviewed in NME, Sounds and Melody Maker, but one of my favourites is the article which appeared in the fanzine pictured on the left. The photo is of Emma Vine, the band’s singer, but if you look to the left you’ll notice the names of one or two familiar artists: Nine Inch Nails, Hole, Smashing Pumpkins, Therapy, Ian McNabb and Mercury Rev.
The artwork for both albums was produced by Sheffield’s The Designers Republic, the second (below), being my favourite of the two.
