Monday, July 16, 2012

The Holy Half Hour

A while back, I wrote some music for a short film by Scott Anthony Kelly.  It took us over ten years to finally actually do any work together after going to University together!  Here's the trailer.




Off Festival

Chrome Hoof will be playing OFF FESTIVAL on Aug 5th - it's an awesome lineup this year.  In addition to our set, we will be performing a live score to Andrzej Kondratiuk’s Hydrozagadka.


Off say: 

"Chrome Hoof - "Hydrozagadka" (GB)


We’ve finished this year’s new and improved edition of OFF Club (featuring Barn Owl, A Hawk And A Hacksaw, and Tim Hecker performing the music to films by Wilhelm Sasnal, Sergei Parajanov, and Werner Herzog), and we’re  transplanting the idea into the OFF Festival! This time we’ve got something truly powerful in store for you: Andrzej Kondratiuk’s Hydrozagadka — featuring Ace, Poland’s first superhero, on the trail of Doctor Spot and other evil villains — will be screened with a new soundtrack arranged and performed by the UK’s Chrome Hoof. So what should you be expecting? Everything, really! Founded by the bassist of Cathedral, this orchestra combines funk, disco, metal, and jazz into a unique and colorful variety of futuresque music."
Really looking forward to it - and I'm determined to make it to as much of Connan Mockasin, Kim Gordon, Battles and Swans as possible!  Shame about missing Iggy Pop & The Stooges who are playing the previous night.

Gig

Guapo Bassoon

Just recorded some bassoon for the new Guapo album- spectacular band and, from what I've heard of the album so far, it will be immense. Very chuffed to be asked to parp on it!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

The Occasional Table - work in progress

Silent Reflux consists of four main sections, all based on diagrams of recurring dreams.  These 'figures' are linked by short segues.  Although most of the album will be bassoon-led, The Occasional Table is for saxophones and percussion.  It's about to be re-arranged for full quartet but the working version is here.




Machines

A while back, I recorded the sounds of some heavy duty printing machines.  I love the clunking sound of the mechanism and the fact that the sounds are so repetitive but not always in an even rhythmical pattern.  I've been experimenting with chopping up the files and processing them. This is where I got to:



My friend, Colin Hill, came to Valve HQ a couple of weeks ago, armed with an impressive array of cordless drills. I'm not sure how his 'practising' went on the building site, but he had worked out what sounded interesting and how to control the pitch of the Makitas.

Today I am merging all these files to create the finished track which will appear on V A L V E's Silent Reflux album.

I've recently become obsessed with the sounds of various mechanisms and who made them and for what purpose.  Another field recording that's getting edited for Silent Reflux is one I made of a piano being tuned.  The piano tuner was very obligingly clumsy and kept dropping tools which, although he was actually trying to be quiet, just added to the recording!  I wanted the natural sounds that occur when he was doing his normal work.  Piano gizzards and tuning tools and man as instrument; man and situation as performer.  It's a shame that a building site in Brightlingsea isn't very practical for recording.



Circumstance - 'Of Sleeping Birds'

I recently played for Circumstance's new location based sound piece,' of Sleeping Birds'.  Super interesting project.  A sound track was pre recorded and then 'mapped' to the centre of Cambridge.  Sarah Anderson and Duncan Speakman (the brains behind the project) created 40 beautiful hand made speaker boxes which housed a speaker and a GPS enabled android phone. Four groups of ten members of the public then followed a guide on a specified route around cambridge.  The effect was really quite magical.  Sarah had done some very odd stuff to my tenor sax parts and her duvet solo and we got to experience the finished work in all it's glory.


Knifeworld Kingston gig

I'll be playing with Knifeworld on Saturday August 11th at the Peel in Kingston. Should be a good 'un - super long set so we'll be unleashing the beast from the 'Dear Lord, No Deal' EP for the first time.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Finally I have managed to collate all info about my work in one place.  From this blog, you'll be able to see info and news about all projects including V A L V E, Chrome Hoof and Knifeworld.