May 2013

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I’m still posting tracks from the Memory Drift album, wishing I had more to report. Searching the internet I found that someone has made a video of a very old plug-in of mine. This is a plugin I won’t be reviving. What is in the pipeline  is a reworking of a plug- in that I still use from time to time. The original was mono and had room for improvement, so it has been completely rewritten and is all finished and ready to go save for a few presets and a manual, so should be out soon.  As I write this thinking about that plug-in and the latest tune I realise that I do use a fair amount of free stuff and how much of it is really very good. In keeping with the theme of Memory Drift most of what’s used on the latest track eludes me now, certainly I used Glitch on the drums and Physix as the glockenspiel sound. Thank you to the developers.

Talking of free stuff this month’s track like my others is hosted on SoundCloud and I’ve been discovering some great music there. My current favourites are Spiel:Feld from Berlin who are producing consistently wonderful podcasts.

Snow in April

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As Prince sang, sometimes it snows in April. Quite often in fact. The sound that starts the latest release from the Memory Drift album is the twanging of a barbed wire fence recorded a couple of years ago around this time of year at an old chalk and flint mine. Most of the hillside is missing, leaving cliffs and  chalky grass topped stalagmites. There are grassy meteor strike bowls formed from ancient flint mines and the place reminds me of the Max Ernst picture Europe After the Rain. So two years ago outside drumming and discovering twangy fences; this year biting winds and polystyrene snow.

Mad as a March Hare

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Take out a payday loan. Sell you wife, sell your life, sell your soul, sell out. Extend your penis. Improve your erectile disfunction and address grammar error computer function disgenerated. Finding article really moving, why not have a look at my pay, you might like offers appealing!

These are all things that visitors to this site would like you to do. I’d invite you to know your rights. The acquistion of personal data through hacking, malware and the like is unlawful, illegal and in the European Union a contravention of the Convention of Human Rights (Article 8, the right to privacy). Here is an interesting overview of human rights in different parts of the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_human_rights_law

The UK has a telephone preference service which allows you to opt out of recieving marketing calls, and similarly there is also a mail preference service.

A number of countries also have information commissioners, with varying powers to investigate or inforce infringements of data usage.

On a different note, a welcome visitor to the site contacted me about the apparance of my Catalyst VST in the Computer Music Special. The magazine is now out and describes Catalyst as a “strange instrument with an unusual synthesis technique.”

“Different is good and Catalyst is nothing but different! This odd synth creates its sound by half rectifying the output of a pair of wavetable oscillators and then recombining the results to make new waveforms. There are some familiar controls to help you along, but this is wierd and wonderful territory. At turns it sounds noisy, click and chaotic, but it is capable of gentle subtlety too.”

Editor’s note – Catalyst uses conventional waveforms rather than wavetables before the rectifying stage.

This month also sees the release of the latest number from the Memory Drift album. It conjours up images of cold sea fog, swells of noise, indistinct colours and shapes.

Silly Season

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This year I am releasing a track a month from the Memory Drift album. The album was put together over four years, and even so not every month got a tune, nevertheless all the seasons were covered. Wanting to avoid any Vivaldi related confusion a variety of season themed names were considered: In Season; Out of Season; Shooting Season; Low Season; High Season and more, all of which have already been used in various creative endeavours and some of which I didn’t even like. Which is a round about way of excusing the fact that here in Febraury 2013 I offer you January 2010. This is a drifting drone fest of swelling harmonies.

Memory Drift

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Over 2013 I will be releasing tracks that make up the Memory Drift album. The album is loosely based around the theme of time and place. Each piece is associated with the time it was produced, either because it reflects how I felt at that time, or because it includes references to the sounds around. In the course of making the pieces I acquired a mobile sound recorder, and some of the these sounds make their way into some of the pieces too. There are twelve pieces in all, so I will be releasing one piece each month, with each piece most closely related to the release month.

So the first piece up is called January 2008. At the time this was produced I was going for an all synthesised approach. The tune is an upbeat take on the start of a new year and is available to listen to on the right.

Get Stuffed!

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Ever thought about preserving the family pet? Ever considered taxidermy? Ever wondered what would happen if it all went wrong?

Well wonder no more, thanks to the good people at Imgur we bring you this thoughtful and sensitive exploration of the fine art of taxidermy.

While you are here, why not have a look at the Catalyst VST? It is currently in the KVR Developer Challenge, and I have high hopes for the wild card prize!

A burning issue?

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Pussy Riot“I would like you to think carefully about the following reflection by Montaigne from his Essays written in the 16th century. He wrote: “You are holding your opinions in too high a regard if you burn people alive for them.”” These are the words of Nadia Tolokonnikova who in August 2012 was jailed for two years alongside two fellow members of the group Pussy Riot. Her crime was performing a protest song in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. What does it say about the culture of a country when such people are put into jail? Read the closing statement made by Nadia at the conclusion of the trial and decide for yourself.
Update, October 2012 One of the members of Pussy Riot, Yekaterina Samutsevich was released this month with a suspended sentence following an appeal in which she claimed she didn’t fully take part in the performance. Her fellow band mates, Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova, both mothers to young children are likely to be sent to distant penal colonies.