Back in the year 2000, people were thinking big. The Mellenium Dome was to be the forefront of architectural and cultural achievement. MP3 players were going to consume the shelf-space for three-hundred albums on one device: Creative marketed their first consumer portable digital players as 'Jukeboxes'- the paradigm being that you'd put all your albums into one device and select the odd track from it, perhaps whilst eating a gigantic strawberry sundae. 

The myriad of practical benefits this innovative gadget provides still impresses me to this day. I indeed moved instantly away from CDs as a storage medium, opting instead for lower-quality, ...

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In preparation for an upcoming show, I'm putting together a MainStage 2 file to collect up my patches. With MainStage 2, its easy to add external MIDI instruments and control them centrally, but a new feature since the first incarnation is that MainStage can optionally send program changes when you change patch; so not only can I change the MainStage patch from an external controller, I can then get MainStage to automatically send custom program changes on different channels to other instruments. In effect, this means I can press 'Grand Piano' on my P90, and have MainStage, my MS2000 and Kaoss Pad all ...

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Recently, I've been working in my capacity as a web developer in London, using this fleeting moment of solvency to upgrade my rig and get some decent gear.

For ages, I've been using an EMU Midi to USB cable to attach my Yamaha P90 to my mac, using the synths and samples in Logic to create the sounds I need. For my live performances, I would use the sound direct from the piano along with samples from the computer to build a layered sound that might otherwise require two or more musicians.

In my version of Raindrop, I play seven keyboard instruments at some point ...

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I have been reassuringly busy over the last month, to the point that this journal has fallen to the feet of my list of concerns, now that I find myself in a position to re-establish an independent space for writing, music production and creativity. Its been a long and muddled journey that's seen a lot of change in my life, but its culminated with a place to myself where I can build on past experience.

The good news, for any casual observers who may dip-in to check on my progress from time-to-time, is that I have been too busy to actually write ...

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A busy week this week. I caught up with singer Sara J to work on an ambient track I'm working on called 'Sunlight'... already the vocal is giving it a Morcheeba vibe, as I'm moving my aspirations toward the Air/Moby kind of direction. I've posted an adlib over the chorus section to give you a flavour.

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As an obstinate dullard, I only tend to waste my spare time; so joining another band seems a good idea - And I could have done much worse than to lend my piano and synth riffs to local outfit The Ghostship Lanterns. Today I was hastily throwing-together synth parts for their track 'Kill the Lights', which previously was a solid if straightforward rock track, now accelerated to a fast-pased electro-rock anthem that wouldn't be amiss on a Killer's album. Amongst the other songs reheared in the living live room today was the sure-hit 'Hey Buzz', which follows Buzz Aldrin's fateful journey to the ...

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Today I worked on a new track, which I am tentatively going to name 'Glaring'. It has a sort of trip-hop Jurassic 5 feel mixed with a jazzy or classical piano sound... I've attached a taster here... Once the full-length version is ready, I'll need some vocals if anyone out there in the Ether is reading.

Rehersals all weekend with Hercules Rockafeller and Burning Desire.


 

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