26th June 2008
"Joy" is sounding pretty nice, if I say so myself- piano, strings, bowed guitars, all wreathed in smoky noise & reverb. Lovely. Just need to record the drums now, and then we're away. When we've a finished mix, you'll be able to hear it online at The Monroe Transfer's MySpace page. In the meantime, I've finished a remix of Radiohead's "Nude" which, true to form, has been finished far too late to be on their little page of remixes. If you'd like to hear it, you can download it by clicking on the following phrase: "I'D LIKE TO HEAR IT! ME! ME!".
7th June 2008
Fireworks Night's mini-album is finished and mastered (although currently untitled, it seems). Her Name Is Calla's mini-album (for which I did a bit of string arrangement & recording) is coming out imminently, which is also pretty damned exciting. And, in Monroe Transfer news, we're currently mixing "i dreamt i was a hammer & everything was glass" (due to come out on Organ Grinder Records in October, ish) and "Joy", which is due to be a split 10" single on Stereo Test Kit records later at around the same time. Mmm. Lovely, lovely vinyl.
2nd may 2008
Fireworks Night have just returned from a, quite intensive, 5 days in a studio, recording material for a new EP. In seeming celebration of that, our Black Cab Session is now available for viewing on the entire electroweb. You can have a look at it by going to The Black Cab Sessions site; we're the most recent one, I think. And by gum, do I look a doofus.
9th April 2008
I've finally got round to writing all the music that's been drifting around my brain for months, and it looks like the new Monroe Transfer album (whenever and whatever it turns out to be) will have a good 100-120 minutes worth of music to pick from, when we come to record it. Maybe it would be nice to record a double album. And by "nice", I mean "totally unfeasible".
24th March 2008
Lots of stuff is happening, as follows.
The Monroe Transfer are going to release a CD & DVD double pack of "i dreamt i was a hammer & everything was glass" on Organ Grinder Records; it's a 17 (ish) minute piece of music for viola, violin, 'cello, double bass, electric guitars & drums that was recorded by us (mainly by Ed Howard) in our/his studio and at his parents' house in Sussex. On the DVD is going to be an accompanying animated film by Gemma Burditt which is, frankly, totally sweet. As per usual, we'll be printing the packaging ourselves, and quite possibly using my fancy new/old hot foil stamping machine. The record will be in shops in September, but we might well be selling some copies at live shows before then.
It also looks like we'll be releasing a split 10" single with Dear Euphoria on Stereo Test Kit Records around the same time (September/October). At the moment, we think we'll be recording a new 12-minute piece of music called "Joy", but all this could change, as you well know.
Her Name Is Calla are about to release their newest mini-album, The Heritage, which feature bowed guitar from me and strings by Rhiannon, Neil & Nicole of The Monroe Transfer.
Fireworks Night are going into the studio (an actual, proper studio) at the end of April to record an, as-yet-untitled, EP. We're probably going to be recording 4-5 songs, depending on how quickly things move. This one's only going to be available at live shows for the forseeable future, and should be available for our gig with Sunset Rubdown at the Luminaire.
If you happen to have seen Mike Bartlett's "Thrown" at the Royal Court recently, you'll have noticed that I wrote & performed the music that accompanied it (along with Dave, Nicole & Rhiannon from The Monroe Transfer); it looks like the Royal Court are keen to pursue that project in some way, so maybe the show will get a proper outing, rather than a 2-date reading. Here's hoping.
I'm also working on writing an album's worth of new material for The Monroe Transfer, as well as some video game music for a dyslexia teaching programme. I might try to knock off a Foals remix sometime, too. You never know.
And, if you're interested, you can have a look at my Music & Sound CV by clicking on it on the left.