Rumour Cubes Album Launch 18.2.12
17/01/12 21:14 Filed under: Gigs
This info was taken from the Rumour Cubes' Facebook event page:
"We've just finished our album! It's called The Narrow State, and we're quite chuffed with it! It's not getting released til the 27th February 2012 (you can pre-order from http://rumourcubes.bandcamp.com/) but we're far too impatient to wait til then to play some of it live!
We will be supported by the simply wonderful Leah Kardos with second support to be confirmed: with free entry and a lovely venue, this is pretty much guaranteed be a great night! Hope to see you there!"
Saturday 18th February @ The Horatia, 98-102 Holloway Rd, N7 8JE
Doors: 7.00pm
Entry: FREE
Click here to RSVP
These guys are one of my favourite new bands at the moment. You should do yourself a favour and grab their EP from bandcamp, it's a free download and it's excellent. Also, check out this track from the forthcoming release 'The Narrow State', I just love it:
The Gove Curve by Rumour Cubes
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0 Comments
Happy New Year
14/01/12 14:52 Filed under: Personal
Apologies for the slightly late "Happy New Year" message, I've been caught up in various states of marking, hustling, writing and being hungover. And now I finally find a day to myself to update this site (notice the new "shows" link up there? Seems I might be doing a few of them over the coming months, so do check back often for updates if you're interested in that sort of thing) and take a moment to pause and reflect on 2011, what was a pretty intense year.
Anyone who knows me personally, or follows me on twitter or Facebook, might have noticed that I worked my butt off last year (larger projects of note including the David Bowie tribute EP 'You Can't Hide Beat', the feature length soundtrack for 'Attack of the Herbals' and of course Feather Hammer), and those people also might be aware that towards the end of 2011 I had a bit of personal upheaval, breaking up with my partner of nearly 9 years and moving out of my home. It's been a very weird experience, going through all that emotional muck whilst at the same time Feather Hammer was taking off and so many good things were happening for me, music-wise. Now at the start of 2012, it feels like life has stabilised a little bit and more than anything I want to keep the productivity level up because there's so many things I want to do! A full length acapella vocal album! Finish the dang string quartet! More piano things! Looping saxophones! A polyphonic/polyrhythmic purely electronic math-rock monstrosity! More performances! And, it seems, I want to collaborate with every interesting person that I meet. I'm set for a busy time.
Speaking of busy, it's been suggested that I try and aim to have my PhD finished and submitted by early summer. I'm going to give it a shot, even though the mere thought of all that writing up, on top of everything else I want to be doing, gives me the fear. I know I've been stalling a bit, I always have this idea that my portfolio will be "complete" once my latest crazy musical ideas are done, but people are telling me I have enough music now to write the thing up and be finished with it. Part of me will really miss being a PhD student, in the sense that it's a very convenient excuse to indulge in some intellectual wankery now and then. That, and I'll sorely miss my mentors, and being able to run to them in my frequent moments of doubt.
So, in summary, 2011 was indeed the best of times and the worst of times; I got a lot of stuff done, at the expense of lost sleep and personal relationships, but I am excited and optimistic about what 2012 holds in store. I hope you are, too. x
******
P.S. - In the next few weeks I will be moving back in my Bedford house to prepare it for sale. Anyone out there looking to buy a quaint 3-bed end of terrace in the Castle Rd area of Bedford? (worth a shot)
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Anyone who knows me personally, or follows me on twitter or Facebook, might have noticed that I worked my butt off last year (larger projects of note including the David Bowie tribute EP 'You Can't Hide Beat', the feature length soundtrack for 'Attack of the Herbals' and of course Feather Hammer), and those people also might be aware that towards the end of 2011 I had a bit of personal upheaval, breaking up with my partner of nearly 9 years and moving out of my home. It's been a very weird experience, going through all that emotional muck whilst at the same time Feather Hammer was taking off and so many good things were happening for me, music-wise. Now at the start of 2012, it feels like life has stabilised a little bit and more than anything I want to keep the productivity level up because there's so many things I want to do! A full length acapella vocal album! Finish the dang string quartet! More piano things! Looping saxophones! A polyphonic/polyrhythmic purely electronic math-rock monstrosity! More performances! And, it seems, I want to collaborate with every interesting person that I meet. I'm set for a busy time.
Speaking of busy, it's been suggested that I try and aim to have my PhD finished and submitted by early summer. I'm going to give it a shot, even though the mere thought of all that writing up, on top of everything else I want to be doing, gives me the fear. I know I've been stalling a bit, I always have this idea that my portfolio will be "complete" once my latest crazy musical ideas are done, but people are telling me I have enough music now to write the thing up and be finished with it. Part of me will really miss being a PhD student, in the sense that it's a very convenient excuse to indulge in some intellectual wankery now and then. That, and I'll sorely miss my mentors, and being able to run to them in my frequent moments of doubt.
So, in summary, 2011 was indeed the best of times and the worst of times; I got a lot of stuff done, at the expense of lost sleep and personal relationships, but I am excited and optimistic about what 2012 holds in store. I hope you are, too. x
******
P.S. - In the next few weeks I will be moving back in my Bedford house to prepare it for sale. Anyone out there looking to buy a quaint 3-bed end of terrace in the Castle Rd area of Bedford? (worth a shot)
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The Local presents Shhh! - A celebration of quiet music, art and film
14/01/12 02:29 Filed under: Gigs
Shhh – A celebration of quiet music, art and film
Saturday, February 4 The Gallery Cafe – Bethnall Green, London E2
RSVP via Facebook | Buy Tickets
from The Line of Best Fit:
For the third year running The Local and The Line Of Best Fit are teaming up to present Shhh – an all day celebration of quiet music, art and film. Moving from our regular North London home of Cecil Sharp House to the more intimate surroundings of The Gallery Cafe in East London’s Bethnall Green, this year sees performances from Tiny Ruins, Tom Rogerson (Three Trapped Tigers), Mirel Wagner and the debut UK performance from Swedish troubadour The Tarantula Waltz.
Other acts include Felix, The Singing Adams, Anna Meredith, Rob St John, Leah Kardos, Hyperpotamus, Dog Ears, Fierce And The Dead, Alex Haynes, Stranded Horse and Our Feathered Embers.
In addition to this fabulous lineup, other attractions include a screening of a new film about David Thomas Broughton, plus various acts soundtracking silent movies by the artist Luke Drozd and an arts and music stall.
A limited number of early bird tickets are on sale now priced at £7.50. The event will take place on Saturday, February 4 at The Gallery Cafe which is located on 21 Old Ford Rd, London E2 9PL.
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I feel completely honoured to be sharing a bill with such an amazing line up! Like the premiere, I'll be working with video artist Matt Greasley again to present the music from Feather Hammer, and I think we might be performing our set from a little cinema space in the venue. Can't wait!
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Another review round-up
13/01/12 02:26 Filed under: News
And still Feather Hammer is out there doing it's thing, finding its way into people's earholes and hearts. Here's some snippets from some of my favourite new reviews and mentions:
Amazing, right!? I continue to be floored by the response I've received since releasing Feather Hammer - to know people are out there listening it on their ipods or in their homes and enjoying/engaging with the sounds I made in my little bedroom studio is the best feeling ever. I can't imagine what could top that, maybe sitting in RAH listening to a symphony orchestra blow your face off with your own chord, but I'm a long ways off that ever happening. In addition to those awesome reviews and mentions, I also had the extreme honour of being included in some best of 2011/year end lists, mixtapes and podcasts. Click on the links to check them out; I definitely recommend downloading the mixes, there's so much great music out there to discover.
Headphone Commute’s Best of 2011 : Music For The Frosty Night When I Miss Your Warm Light
New Weird Australia's Releases Of The Year 2011
I Care If You Listen - Winter 2011 Mixtape
Chris McGovern/The Glass - My Year-End Picks for 2011
DFACE (Practice This Video) - Beautiful Song Of The Week (19/12/2011)
Headphone Commute/Ambientblog.org - PvC "stillness" podcast
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- Echoes and Dust"If I had to pick only one word to describe this self-released debut album, it would have to be ‘captivating’. When I signed up for reviewing it, I was warned it’s going to be ‘a bit weird and tricky’. It turned out to be my own musical Rescue Remedy... "
- Devin Hurd / HurdAudio"And yet for all its post processing and carefully crafted grooves and textures there emerges this amazingly heavy lightness to the whole recording. The craft and the ideas in this music run deep without overwhelming the sound. It's a startling quality and it's one that invites multiple listening to an expression that explores new directions in studio composition."
- Peter van Cooten / Ambientblog.net"It's obvious that the piano is the center instrument on this album, but it's the use of recording techniques and special recording effects that really make the difference."... "If it sounds fragile or unstable, that only underlines the solid quality of these compositions. I guess that's what makes this album such a pleasant surprise to listen to."
- Dick Mac (alive!) 2011 - The Year In Review"Engagingly listenable and attention-worthy, the cuts also work as ambient sound that tickle the brain when you don't even know the sound is there. Hardly invisible, each track is intricate and dynamic, reminiscent of David Bowie's "Low" album."
Amazing, right!? I continue to be floored by the response I've received since releasing Feather Hammer - to know people are out there listening it on their ipods or in their homes and enjoying/engaging with the sounds I made in my little bedroom studio is the best feeling ever. I can't imagine what could top that, maybe sitting in RAH listening to a symphony orchestra blow your face off with your own chord, but I'm a long ways off that ever happening. In addition to those awesome reviews and mentions, I also had the extreme honour of being included in some best of 2011/year end lists, mixtapes and podcasts. Click on the links to check them out; I definitely recommend downloading the mixes, there's so much great music out there to discover.
Headphone Commute’s Best of 2011 : Music For The Frosty Night When I Miss Your Warm Light
New Weird Australia's Releases Of The Year 2011
I Care If You Listen - Winter 2011 Mixtape
Chris McGovern/The Glass - My Year-End Picks for 2011
DFACE (Practice This Video) - Beautiful Song Of The Week (19/12/2011)
Headphone Commute/Ambientblog.org - PvC "stillness" podcast
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Feather Hammer now available in hi def
16/12/11 23:28 Filed under: News
Click here to go to my artist page on Linn Records. Click here to check out some other great Bigo & Twigetti releases.
Obviously it's also available through Bigo & Twigetti's bandcamp, as well as on iTunes, eMusic and Amazon as a normal download. You can even stream and purchase it through spotify! Never let it be said that I didn't provide you with options.
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Photos from the premiere
30/11/11 23:09 Filed under: Gigs
The gig happened! We sold out of tickets! It was a wonderful night! Phew!
Here are some photos from the event, taken by Justin Hannaford.
www.justinhannaford.com (the whole photo set can be found on Justin's website, if you're feeling extra nosey)
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Here are some photos from the event, taken by Justin Hannaford.
www.justinhannaford.com (the whole photo set can be found on Justin's website, if you're feeling extra nosey)
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Signed with Bigo & Twigetti!
20/11/11 16:16 Filed under: News
It would be fair to say that November has been a crazy month for me - so much has happened and it's not over yet! There's the live premiere this Friday and tickets have been selling quickly, which means many people are going to come, which means it is really happening! Oh the nerves! Tickets can be bought in advance from here: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/135477
A few weeks ago I signed with one of my favourite new music labels, Bigo & Twigetti; they're releasing Feather Hammer properly for me and I couldn't be any more delighted! I've followed and admired their artists for a long time so to now be part of that group is a dream come true. From the 25th it will be available to buy from iTunes and eMusic and other online retailers, and there's a free download of DFACE available from their bandcamp site, where you can also pre-order the album before Friday.
The switch from selling the record DIY style to doing it properly through the label means that the 'music' link above takes you to their bandcamp site and not mine. I'm in the process of creating some new music related pages for the website dedicated to my film soundtracks and other stuff. Maybe I'll have a spare moment in December to sort that out.
There's been more radio play, this time in Ireland (Steve McCauley for the BBC - for a limited time you can listen again here and here) Outpost Radio and Lion.fm (Penn State University Radio) in the States. I still feel like pinching myself when I see the company I'm keeping in these playlists.
Finally, you have got to check out these amazing illustrations by super talented Bedford artist David Litchfield - I adore them! See you at the gig! x
A few weeks ago I signed with one of my favourite new music labels, Bigo & Twigetti; they're releasing Feather Hammer properly for me and I couldn't be any more delighted! I've followed and admired their artists for a long time so to now be part of that group is a dream come true. From the 25th it will be available to buy from iTunes and eMusic and other online retailers, and there's a free download of DFACE available from their bandcamp site, where you can also pre-order the album before Friday.
The switch from selling the record DIY style to doing it properly through the label means that the 'music' link above takes you to their bandcamp site and not mine. I'm in the process of creating some new music related pages for the website dedicated to my film soundtracks and other stuff. Maybe I'll have a spare moment in December to sort that out.
There's been more radio play, this time in Ireland (Steve McCauley for the BBC - for a limited time you can listen again here and here) Outpost Radio and Lion.fm (Penn State University Radio) in the States. I still feel like pinching myself when I see the company I'm keeping in these playlists.
Finally, you have got to check out these amazing illustrations by super talented Bedford artist David Litchfield - I adore them! See you at the gig! x
Radio Play, Interviews and Reviews
17/10/11 21:58 Filed under: New Music
Earlier today I was delighted to learn, via the magic that is twitter, that my music has been played on Fbi 94.5FM (Sydney, Australia) over the weekend. Chuffed! Firstly, on the New Weird Australia show on 13/10/2011, and then another 3 tracks on the Utility Fog show presented by Peter Hollo on 16/10/2011. Made my day to learn I was given airtime in a playlist sandwiched between Hauschka and Bjork (.... *sigh*).
A couple of weeks ago I had the honour of being interviewed by Chris McGovern for The Glass blog, and was asked some interesting and probing questions about my creative practice, how I approached certain specific pieces in the Feather Hammer project. If you're interested in that sort of thing, check it out here. On the same day this interview came out, I was also (bizarrely) featured alongside my best friend Liz in an Observer piece about Morrissey/Smiths fans, an article which has nothing to do with my music but features an embarrassing photo of myself kissing my Smiths lyric tattoo, which is under my arm. So yes, virtually kissing my own armpit. Classy girl.
A few more reviews & mentions have come out in the past few weeks, all of which have been lovely. Here's some of my favourite quotes, with links to the original articles/postings:
- Chris McGovern / Chamber Musician Today"The album is very much like a classical suite (sometimes sounding as if it could have been collaboratively recorded by Massive Attack and Arvo Part) on her first love, the piano, and its mini-movements read like pages of a diary that go from a good day filled with visions of hope to days less inspired and more stressful as a student" ... "the varied sounds of the piano (straight piano vs. the flatter prepared-piano) give sort of an artistic timeline between a classical and an experimental sensibility, as if to say that the constructed has now been deconstructed."
- Barcode"Feather Hammer is a quality release by Kardos, exploring a wide range of emotions through her instrument of choice, and complementing it very well with the addition of acoustics, percussion and sampling. But most of all, Kardos makes a wonderful job of bringing displaced thoughts back to life through her music - whether delicate or challenging, she does not shy away, but confronts, thus ensuring her music communicates with the listener on an emotive level. 81%"
- Kat Arney / You Do Too Much (blog)"A new album of gorgeous manipulated piano tracks – by turns minimalist, ambient and crunchy"
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Reviews and Mentions
29/09/11 21:39 Filed under: New Music
- Acid Ted"This is ambient coming at it not from the dub and dance sources of The Orb but the more austere, aescetic end of classical chinstrokers John Cage and John Tavener. There’s also something about the scale of this music. Like some of Tavener’s Orthodox chant pieces and especially The Protecting Veil they either need to be heard very small and personal or at an enormous and public scale like the Albert Hall. But there’s less the sense of being small in the face of a Deity, rather small in a pained and personal suffering way."
- Fictionfish"This blissful yet daunting at times piece of art will take you on a journey"
- telephant"Feather Hammer is truly DIY at its finest - full of warm tones and beautiful piano. It's one of those EPs that makes you want to put your headphones on and stand in the middle of a four way intersection at 3 am, watching the brief solitude of a once busy street, observing the traffic lights change for nobody but you."
- Chip Michael, Interchanging Idioms"Classical music is so much more than dead white composers. Leah Kardos is living proof of what it not only can be, it moves toward what it may be in the years ahead... The music is a mixture of styles and influences from Debussy to Tavener, Shostakovich to Bryars with pop elements from Bowie, Brian Eno and The Flaming Lips. From this rich tapestry we are given a sonic-scape that transports us into a distant world of colors, shapes and sounds like nothing I've heard before. At times the music is opaque and difficult to see clearly all that's happening, while at other times there is a clear lyric glide to the musical lines that float over the listener with utter beauty."
So it is out there, and it seems that people are enjoying listening to it. As a composer, I cannot imagine a better feeling. A big thank you has to go out to the people who tweeted, responded on facebook or emailed me their beautiful comments and reactions - my heart is full. Now I'm getting prepared to present the version of it at the premiere event on Nov 25th (tickets here!). Expect some divergences, I want to make room for lots of improv. There'll be none of this 'press play' business you see so often with the performance of electronic works! Slackers.
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Resonance104.4fm Clearspot 16/09
17/09/11 07:58 Filed under: New Music
If you're interested and you missed it, here's the Clearspot radio show from last night.
Resonance 104.4fm Clearspot 16/09/2011 - Leah Kardos presents Feather Hammer
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Resonance 104.4fm Clearspot 16/09/2011 - Leah Kardos presents Feather Hammer
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Feather Hammer premiere performance tickets are on sale
Tickets are on sale for £5, you can buy them here: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/135477
If you're on Facebook, you can RSVP to the event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=276449095715751
It's going to be kickarse, I promise!
Here's a write up about the event, stolen from the Chaos Theory website:
Time: Friday 25th November 7.30pm
Venue: The Wilmington Arms, 69 Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell, London EC1R 4RL
Chaos Theory are proud to present three fiercely inventive talents premièring their contemporary works during this one-off event. All of the musicians tonight combine various disciplines, technology and defy tradition. In the true spirit of what Chaos Theory wishes to promote, we invite all of you who wish to experience challenging new music and art.
LEAH KARDOS: FEATHER HAMMER
Leah is a multi-talented composer, producer and pianist whose latest work will be showcased tonight. Her breathtaking new album Feather Hammer (released on 19th September) combines tonal and ambient soundscapes which fuse contemporary classical and electronica styles.
The recorded version of Feather Hammer uses the sounds of acoustic pianos, making use of the hammer, strings and wood percussion of the piano as well as playing them conventionally.
Tonight, we will witness a special presentation of the album featuring digital piano, electronics and video art by Matthew Greasley.
LIGETI QUARTET
A brilliantly innovative quartet who we’ve had the pleasure of hosting at our monthly night Candied Nonsense. Continually looking to promote the music of established and emerging 20th and 21st Century composers, these graduates from the Royal Academy Of Music, Royal College Of Music and Oxford University never shy away from the new and the experimental. Over the past few months they have premièred ten new works.
Featuring Mandhira De Saram and Patrick Dawkins on violin, Valerie Welbanks on cello and Richard Jones on viola, tonight they will present short pieces by contrasting composers including John Cage, Anton Webern and Harry Partch.
SAM GRINSELL
Opening the evening will be this gifted soloist, who will be creating extraordinary music using his original music concept.
Gathering field-recordings within one mile of the Wilmington Arms over the course of one hour, Sam will be manipulating the sounds to forge a one-off soundscape purely for this evening, adding no new sounds whatsoever. He will accompany these recordings with his improvised slide guitar.
A unique start to a unique evening.
This is a rare opportunity to see such vast talent together in one evening and we invite you to come and see how limitless music can be.
Tickets
£5 advance
£8 on the door
________
If you're on Facebook, you can RSVP to the event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=276449095715751
It's going to be kickarse, I promise!
Here's a write up about the event, stolen from the Chaos Theory website:
Time: Friday 25th November 7.30pm
Venue: The Wilmington Arms, 69 Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell, London EC1R 4RL
Chaos Theory are proud to present three fiercely inventive talents premièring their contemporary works during this one-off event. All of the musicians tonight combine various disciplines, technology and defy tradition. In the true spirit of what Chaos Theory wishes to promote, we invite all of you who wish to experience challenging new music and art.
LEAH KARDOS: FEATHER HAMMER
Leah is a multi-talented composer, producer and pianist whose latest work will be showcased tonight. Her breathtaking new album Feather Hammer (released on 19th September) combines tonal and ambient soundscapes which fuse contemporary classical and electronica styles.
The recorded version of Feather Hammer uses the sounds of acoustic pianos, making use of the hammer, strings and wood percussion of the piano as well as playing them conventionally.
Tonight, we will witness a special presentation of the album featuring digital piano, electronics and video art by Matthew Greasley.
LIGETI QUARTET
A brilliantly innovative quartet who we’ve had the pleasure of hosting at our monthly night Candied Nonsense. Continually looking to promote the music of established and emerging 20th and 21st Century composers, these graduates from the Royal Academy Of Music, Royal College Of Music and Oxford University never shy away from the new and the experimental. Over the past few months they have premièred ten new works.
Featuring Mandhira De Saram and Patrick Dawkins on violin, Valerie Welbanks on cello and Richard Jones on viola, tonight they will present short pieces by contrasting composers including John Cage, Anton Webern and Harry Partch.
SAM GRINSELL
Opening the evening will be this gifted soloist, who will be creating extraordinary music using his original music concept.
Gathering field-recordings within one mile of the Wilmington Arms over the course of one hour, Sam will be manipulating the sounds to forge a one-off soundscape purely for this evening, adding no new sounds whatsoever. He will accompany these recordings with his improvised slide guitar.
A unique start to a unique evening.
This is a rare opportunity to see such vast talent together in one evening and we invite you to come and see how limitless music can be.
Tickets
£5 advance
£8 on the door
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Apology (the version with the subway and not the voices)
16/09/11 08:43 Filed under: New Music
Here's the version of Apology that didn't make the cut on to the Feather Hammer album. When I asked by Facebook and Twitter friends which version they preferred, the reaction was split 50/50 between this and the version with the voices that I ended up using.
If you're interested to hear how it might have been, knock yourself out!
[Feather Hammer] demo 1 Apology (with subway) by leahkardos
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If you're interested to hear how it might have been, knock yourself out!
[Feather Hammer] demo 1 Apology (with subway) by leahkardos
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Feather Hammer on the Clear Spot, 8- 9 pm 16/09 on Resonance104.4fm
01/09/11 16:12 Filed under: New Music
Where: in London tune in to 104.4fm, or online via iTunes radio or one of the links on this page: http://resonancefm.com/listen
In this radio show I will be previewing tracks from my new album "Feather Hammer" which will be available to buy from the 19th of September.
I will be talking about what inspires me, my creative processes and sharing the stories behind the pieces. I will be on my own, live on air for an HOUR. Please tune in and make all the stress and anguish I'm going through be worth my while!
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Feather Hammer is coming 19:09:11
30/08/11 20:13 Filed under: New Music
This might be welcome news for anyone out there who has been following the progress of various demos and Feather Hammer experiments on this blog over the last few months. The finished album will be available from 19th of September! Behold the beautiful album cover art by Kristian Purcell.
I've taken down the demos from my soundcloud account - big thank you to everyone who listened and commented and helped me. The finished album will be available from Monday the 19th of September from my bandcamp page, which you can access instantly by clicking the 'music' link on the site menu above. I'll be back soon to post details about the album launch/premier performance event happening on the 25th of November at The Wilmington in London. Exciting times!
I've taken down the demos from my soundcloud account - big thank you to everyone who listened and commented and helped me. The finished album will be available from Monday the 19th of September from my bandcamp page, which you can access instantly by clicking the 'music' link on the site menu above. I'll be back soon to post details about the album launch/premier performance event happening on the 25th of November at The Wilmington in London. Exciting times!
dface (Practice This Video)
16/08/11 07:54 Filed under: New Music
Another demo of a Feather Hammer piece [edit: the Feather Hammer demos have been taken down] "dface (Practice This Video)" uses the audio track from an instructional Youtube video (included at the bottom of this post) and a collection of patterns that mostly use the notes DFACEG, the spaces of the treble clef, though not necessarily in that specific range. I'm not sure how close to the finished product this piece is, there are about 3 very different versions that exist and one of those could very well make it on to the album. However, in making this particular version I tried out a new method of writing that I thought was worth a comment.
Approaching this piece the primary aim is creating interesting textures and playing with the proximity of those sounds. A secondary aim is to recall the feeling of early piano lessons and repetitive practice routines, pattern based technical exercises, the warmth of harmonies built from 3rds. After recording the various patterns using a variety of mic types and positions, I used Logic's space designer, delay designer, some FabFilters, in addition to scissors, stretch and flex-time to manipulate the material. Each "part" to the arrangement is a unique pattern that repeats, so my starting point was this thick texture of all of the looped up cycles working at the same time. The arrangement you hear in the demo below is the result of "carving" into that cyclic material, editing, erasing and eliminating certain bits to create some sense of form. This way of working reminds me of a method my artist friend Kristian Purcell often describes to me, of applying thick layers of media and then carefully stripping it away to reveal the piece.
Here's where I got the sample from:
Approaching this piece the primary aim is creating interesting textures and playing with the proximity of those sounds. A secondary aim is to recall the feeling of early piano lessons and repetitive practice routines, pattern based technical exercises, the warmth of harmonies built from 3rds. After recording the various patterns using a variety of mic types and positions, I used Logic's space designer, delay designer, some FabFilters, in addition to scissors, stretch and flex-time to manipulate the material. Each "part" to the arrangement is a unique pattern that repeats, so my starting point was this thick texture of all of the looped up cycles working at the same time. The arrangement you hear in the demo below is the result of "carving" into that cyclic material, editing, erasing and eliminating certain bits to create some sense of form. This way of working reminds me of a method my artist friend Kristian Purcell often describes to me, of applying thick layers of media and then carefully stripping it away to reveal the piece.
Here's where I got the sample from:
Big thanks to PianoforteMaestro for letting me use it.
________Updates
Firstly, here's a demo of "Katerina" [edit: these demos are long gone], which one of the tracks from the Feather Hammer album. All the sounds are generated from the one instrument, be it played, picked, strummed, thumped, tapped or sampled - which is one of the themes of Feather Hammer, a celebration of all those *other* sounds that live around the notes. I have 13 such pieces in various stages of formation at the moment and the album is set for release on 19th of Sept. I'm excited! There will be gigs to promote it. Actual gigs! Featuring myself! ... and other special guests, if I can get some funds together. I truly can't wait :)
In other news I have my next PhD milestone due around the end of August. Cue overly dramatic flailing about, anguish, gnashing of teeth, etc. This time it is the first few chapters of my exogesis, which mostly means lots of writing about myself. Can't be too hard, right? I'll keep telling myself that and hopefully one day I'll wake up one morning and have a PhD.
Something I'm a little more excited to mention is the "art/music" collaborative project I have started with my friend (and amazing visual artist) Kristian Purcell. For a while I have been preoccupied with exploring the connections between sound and vision, in particular looking at my own language and how I perceive things, the way ideas and inspiration cross over between the two senses. Everyone's perception is different, so I'm not about establishing knowledge for anyone but myself here. That said, there are certainly ideas and vocabulary that cross over easily - line, form, structure, repetition, chance, colour, shape, dissonance, juxtaposition etc etc etc. I've been keeping an art blog for a few months now (http://thisticklesleah.tumblr.com) where I have been posting/reblogging anything that has tickled my fancy and made me think of music, and tagging each posting up with the terms and musical ideas that speak to me in that moment. This process has been surprisingly useful to my creative practice and it led me to ask Kristian if he wanted to participate in a little creative back and forth, responding to each other's art with quick, intuitive working.
We're only a few weeks in, and already the material being generated is really interesting. Maybe when it's done we'll publish it online, and I am hoping that when it is viewed as a larger body of work the threads of inspiration that run throughout can be seen and heard. For now I'm just enjoying the freedom to explore musical thoughts without being tied to a brief/job/commission/context or any "this should be serious you're a PhD student" bullshit ideals.
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In other news I have my next PhD milestone due around the end of August. Cue overly dramatic flailing about, anguish, gnashing of teeth, etc. This time it is the first few chapters of my exogesis, which mostly means lots of writing about myself. Can't be too hard, right? I'll keep telling myself that and hopefully one day I'll wake up one morning and have a PhD.
We're only a few weeks in, and already the material being generated is really interesting. Maybe when it's done we'll publish it online, and I am hoping that when it is viewed as a larger body of work the threads of inspiration that run throughout can be seen and heard. For now I'm just enjoying the freedom to explore musical thoughts without being tied to a brief/job/commission/context or any "this should be serious you're a PhD student" bullshit ideals.
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A Music Related Bucket List
15/07/11 10:37 Filed under: Personal
- dance on stage dressed in a furry animal costume at a Flaming Lips gig
- compose a demo for Tonehammer
make a musical tribute for David Bowie and have him hear it- achieve my PhD
present a seminar at Cambridge University- compose for the Piano Circus
- stage invade at a Morrissey gig
- get a PRSF grant to do something very cool
- perform a live set of Tool covers with a string quartet
build my own studioearn enough from music to teach part-time- go to Cannes film festival to see a film that I composed the soundtrack to
- remix something released by Nonclassical
- finish a large scale orchestral/choral/multimedia work by the time I am 35
- be involved in the music or sound production on a AAA game (preferably Bioware, Rockstar or Bethesda, but I’m not fussy)
Feather Hammer sessions
27/06/11 19:17 Filed under: Work
Spent the morning at The Hat Factory music studio in Luton to get some more sounds for the Feather Hammer project. It's a really nice studio they've got there - huge thanks to Paul Jolly for letting me in to use (abuse) their piano. This record is burning a hole in my brain at the moment; as soon as summer holidays hit I can't wait to lock myself away and finish it off!
We mic'd up the strings and the pedal mechanics (underneath, though you can't see that)... we also set up a mic on the keyboard itself to capture the clacking of my currently unkempt fingernails. Matt was very helpful today, not only in being a roadie but also in holding down strange chord shapes for me while I prepared the strings. We had a little jam session on the lowest E string featuring me playing the 2pence coin and Matt's slap bass action-thumb. Nice!
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We mic'd up the strings and the pedal mechanics (underneath, though you can't see that)... we also set up a mic on the keyboard itself to capture the clacking of my currently unkempt fingernails. Matt was very helpful today, not only in being a roadie but also in holding down strange chord shapes for me while I prepared the strings. We had a little jam session on the lowest E string featuring me playing the 2pence coin and Matt's slap bass action-thumb. Nice!
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PhD Seminar at Cambridge
27/06/11 19:03 Filed under: Study
Big thanks to Pam Burnard from the Faculty of Education for inviting me to share at this thing.
Attack of the Herbals - Trailer
15/06/11 20:14 Filed under: Work
Camelot Entertainment in LA have released a trailer for the Herbals movie that features bits and pieces from my original score. It's funny hearing my tongue-in-cheek typical 80s end credits music being featured so prominently!
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Netaudio London 2011: The Picnoleptic Muse
I might be doing some gigs later on this year* to promote the Feather Hammer album, which is where this track comes from (or will come from, once the album is completed). I'm very excited about it all, and will definitely post news about it on this site as soon as I can. For now I just have to concentrate on finishing off the production, and adapting everything for live using Albleton and my lovely new APC40.
*this projection could get blown out by a few months, since film soundtrack work takes priority (i.e., we need to pay our bills, right?) and I just got news of some urgent film work that needs doing in July. Time will tell if I manage to get everything done. Now that I think about it, it's actually a good idea to take every projected date I publicise and add 2 months - I seem to have no concept of the limitations of time, space, distance and real life.
The Picnoleptic Muse by Ed Baxter by NetaudioLondon
Netaudio London 2011 festival broadcast, 15 May 2011
produced and presented by Ed Baxter ( 120’ )
*Tracklist*
introduction
Max Neuhaus - Public Supply
Christoph McGown - Grid Public Lock
Lance Dann - The Flickerman
Daniela de Paulis/CAMRAS - OPTICKS
mEtamina Free Net Radio - Don’t die wandering, the sound of impatient wandering
Monty Adkins - Remnant / Suspended Edges
Sol Rezza - Verdades Minúsculas (Tiny Truths)
Spider & I - Feather Hammer - The Waiting
Theme for capcicans - Bite the capcicans
Andrew Jacques - Fedbakontin
Ed Osborn - Stone North
Preslav Literary School - This Good Lesson Keep
Cheapmachines - Ellipse
Filipe Cruz - New Impulses to Old Elements
StSanders - Metallica Shred
Yan Tan Tethera - Full of Noises
RAF - Cage
RAF - KUA
Piet Stoaling - Pudding
Outro
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Attack of the Herbals OST
16/05/11 21:39 Filed under: New Music
Check it out, I updated the music page with some new soundcloud sets of my recent work. Including this set of tracks from my soundtrack to Attack Of The Herbals.
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CUBO: COPAL
02/05/11 14:27 Filed under: New Music
I'm so excited about this. You may remember back around new year I was posting a few improvisations with the curious title "Copal". It was for a collaborative project with Brazil based composer/producer CUBO, aka Nivaldo Godoy.
We met (in the virtual sense) on the Steve Reich remix contest in Indaba, and he invited me to take part. It started with a facebook group, initially with people posting videos and pictures of dream-like subject matter. I responded to the stimuli with some improvisations, and from there the music passed through many hands - singers, guitarists, composers, arrangers, sound designers - so many talented people have their fingerprints on this thing. I'm glad I got to be one of them.
We met (in the virtual sense) on the Steve Reich remix contest in Indaba, and he invited me to take part. It started with a facebook group, initially with people posting videos and pictures of dream-like subject matter. I responded to the stimuli with some improvisations, and from there the music passed through many hands - singers, guitarists, composers, arrangers, sound designers - so many talented people have their fingerprints on this thing. I'm glad I got to be one of them.
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Cloudburst & The Millipede Engine
01/05/11 01:44 Filed under: Work
For both projects I served as arranger/orchestrator and ad-hoc session musician/noisemaker (you see I don't just play piano and sing bvs, I also rattle shakers and I bang sticks together! I also pluck at an autoharp, screech into mic'd up rooms through open doorways, thump acoustic guitars and even dance on planks of hardwood with heels on).
Both projects happened in close succession while I was on summer holidays, and it was fun to forget about composing for a while and just focus on arrangement. Matt was with me, acting as an all purpose sound/mastering engineer so we got to hang out while we were "working" which was sweet... compared to now where he's in London working on infrastructure for the Olympics and I'm keeping vampire hours in the studio on my own. It even helped me with my studies, giving me a practical context to consider the producer/arranger's role in communicating other people's ideas: you're controlling timbre, you're choosing combinations, constructing texture - it's making creative decisions and it feels like composition but it's not.
In terms of approach, the Millipede Engine material seemed to want a bit of bombast and thickness and a 'more is more' type of approach filled with musical pop culture references... a bit of a Mike Garson flourish here, some screaming Dark Side of The Moon vocalise there, a glistening Soft Bulletin-esque orchestra popping up out of nowhere, and, in the case of my favourite track from the record (1001 Nacht) gothic drums of death straight from the 80s.
In stark contrast, Cloudburst needed to be warm and gently minimal so I found myself writing, performing and recording 3 note piano solos; just the bare minimum that was needed. It's funny to note that the simpler the instrumental part, the more difficult it is to record - a lavish arpeggio piano flourish could be improvised in one take to capture the energy of the performance, but a single piano note to support a harmony change could take 5 or 6 takes to get right, and longer to mix. Respect to the minimalists of this world.
Cloudburst has released a collection of songs on Soundcloud and is also giving them away as a free download through his website. Go, listen and enjoy.
http://cloudbursting.webs.com
http://www.millipedeengine.com
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More AV from Spider & I
12/03/11 14:38 Filed under: New Music
A couple more AV realisations have been created for the AV performance project. First up, a reworking of a Black Mouth of August movement III: Silent Movie. This loosely improvised track uses a MIDI foot switch to drive various digital effects - bit crushing, delays, static. These effects are also linked to the video mixing.
The next piece uses/recycles parts of the Feather Hammer sessions, working with infinite loops and sampling/retriggering. The warped piano sound is a beatmapped filter effect I just discovered by accident, which made the whole thing sound about 80% more evil than I originally intended! The strange video just adds to the "eraserhead" vibe.
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Attack of the Herbals
08/03/11 21:00 Filed under: Work
It's finally official: I'm composing the score for David Keith's new comedy horror feature "Attack of the Herbals". Whoop!
Core
07/03/11 20:07 Filed under: New Music
This video is a demo for a live audio visual project I have developed with Matthew Greasley - something about creating experimental textures and surreal imagery that we can manipulate and improvise through live performance. At the moment we're collecting a new live set - the stuff is mostly being drawn from the Feather Hammer project, but a few older pieces might also get a look-in (like the ill-fated Black Mouth of August project, for example).
This piece, Core, is an unusual one for me as it started life as a poem. I'm a terrible poet so there's no chance of me posting the thing here, I only mention it because it's a strange way for me to work - from words; taking a picture in my mind and abstracting it with imagery and language, then further abstracting it into music and sound. The best bit is passing the music over to Matt Greasley to see what he sees in it. The final beautiful abstraction that gives the whole thing a new context.
I am loving the imagery Matt is coming up with - the perfect soft/heavy subject matter to match the style of the music.
Experiment in Subtraction
23/02/11 17:26 Filed under: New Music
While playing around with piano textures - notes and ambient noises - I came upon this interesting thing. I took an improvised piano solo recorded in December (Copal 1, you may have heard it from a few blog posts down), and used other sounds from "around" the piano to support it in an arrangement - to create atmosphere, texture, mood, a pulse.
Then I took out the core element, the improvised piano solo, and just left the "around" sounds. It's an interesting result, the empty space left by the missing piano part is almost like a silhouette.
[edit: I've since taken these demos down, since they became The Waiting, both versions appear finished on the Feather Hammer album]
I'm reminded that I've done this kind thing before - back when Helzuki were writing in the studio, many of the arrangements started with piano parts that I had written. As band members added their layers to the arrangement, we all found the song worked better if we took the original part out, leaving all the stuff that had been constructed around it to hold the thing up.
Imma try out this method some more. It suits me, since my improvs sometimes come out sounding a bit basic and obvious. This could be a cool way to use that material in a backwards kinda way.
In other news, the My Lithium & Me project is being noticed and listened by the best people: sweetoblivion blogged about it, Boy George downloaded and listened to it, and it was featured on David Bowie's very own site as a news item. Fair to say I'm absolutely chuffed at the reaction it's getting. In little over a week since releasing it I've had over 5700 plays and nearly 2300 downloads via soundcloud, which is just awesome! Thanks everyone!
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Update - here's a video demo by Matthew Greasley to go with the non-piano version of the track:
Then I took out the core element, the improvised piano solo, and just left the "around" sounds. It's an interesting result, the empty space left by the missing piano part is almost like a silhouette.
[edit: I've since taken these demos down, since they became The Waiting, both versions appear finished on the Feather Hammer album]
I'm reminded that I've done this kind thing before - back when Helzuki were writing in the studio, many of the arrangements started with piano parts that I had written. As band members added their layers to the arrangement, we all found the song worked better if we took the original part out, leaving all the stuff that had been constructed around it to hold the thing up.
Imma try out this method some more. It suits me, since my improvs sometimes come out sounding a bit basic and obvious. This could be a cool way to use that material in a backwards kinda way.
In other news, the My Lithium & Me project is being noticed and listened by the best people: sweetoblivion blogged about it, Boy George downloaded and listened to it, and it was featured on David Bowie's very own site as a news item. Fair to say I'm absolutely chuffed at the reaction it's getting. In little over a week since releasing it I've had over 5700 plays and nearly 2300 downloads via soundcloud, which is just awesome! Thanks everyone!
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Update - here's a video demo by Matthew Greasley to go with the non-piano version of the track:
You Cant Hide Beat
You know I'm a massive David Bowie fan, right? I'm not ashamed to say I'm a little bit obsessed. Hidden away in private fangirl seclusion, I've often enjoyed bashing out the odd cover version to myself - mainly the piano-driven ones (Time, Changes, both Ladies, Grinning Soul and Stardust, that kind of thing). Almost like a ritual, it’s another way to experience and appreciate the music from the inside out. Generally speaking, I despise most cover versions of songs that I love - why mess with something that already exists and is pretty much perfect? For this reason, I've never done this sort of thing in public often, and when I have it's only ever been for an audience of friends and fellow fans.
The first of the three Bowie cover gigs I’ve performed was for Trevor's 49th birthday party. Trev is a lovely man and Bowie fan of legend who I had gotten to know through BowieNet (www.davidbowie.com). He had asked my band to come and play the gig - I was fronting for Helzuki at the time. The band couldn't make it but I decided to offer to play some covers instead. Lugging my red furry piano, I pitched up and played a set of slightly more obscure/unobvious numbers. I met a few quizzical looks, but on the whole it went down pretty well. He invited me back the following year for his 50th birthday party - again with my piano, again with a new set of slightly off-kilter interpretations. Standout surreal moment of that party: singing Under Pressure with a Bowie impersonator.
The third, and last, time I did this was for Phil's 40th birthday party in February 2010. For Phil (another lovely man and Bowie fan of legend whom I had gotten to know via BowieNet), I wanted to do something a little bit different. With the party being held in a venue in SE London, it was impossible to lug my heavy piano across the city on the Tube. I decided to perform with my keytar, doing a set of songs in an electro style. I thought it might be funny and give the fans a bit of a laugh (while solving my
transport issues, since the Roland AX-7 weighs about the same as a cricket bat). I created some backing tracks in the studio, going for a Lady Gaga meets Goldfrapp kinda vibe. I cut the drum loop from the beginning of Soul Love and used it to accompany my new version of Always Crashing In The Same Car. I took the piano riff from Aladdin Sane and used it to flesh out the backing for I'm Deranged. So cheeky, I thought, and only a fan would have the awareness to spot it. After the gig, I had mixed reviews - in the eyes of some I had desecrated the holy relics, others loved it and asked if they could buy recordings from me. This was the best reaction yet, I thought to myself. Mental-note: I should record these for a laugh.
Once the summer hols had started, and I had a bit of spare time, I decided to get Liz to come up to Bedford and help me get the vocals down. I'd chosen six tracks, some new and some from Phil's electro birthday set. We got drunk on Jack Daniel’s and I bellowed out the lyrics while she pressed record in the control room. It was FUNNY. The productions were crude, bashed out quickly in a DIY-bedroom style. We joked about getting gothed up and posing for a cover photo in the woods sitting in a tree, and about how horrified the fans would be when they heard what we had done.
But, as time passed, it started getting serious, with the suggestion of a possible news feature about it on BowieNet. Liz arranged for the artwork to be done by the infamous Rex Ray, whom she is friends with. I started to panic - I enlisted my friend Paul Ross to help me with the productions. I started all the arrangements again; for the first time I had to really think about what I wanted to do with these songs - how could I put a modern spin on this, without taking the piss?
Inspiration came from everywhere - starting with Bowie's own back catalogue, which I scoured for usable samples to embed in my arrangements. Anyone who reads my blog will know that I'm really into this idea of using recordings as resources to construct new things, so I figured why not try it out here? At best, it might suggest new shades of meaning through association and memory; at worst it would be a type of treasure hunt/guessing game for the fans. Other inspiration came from a general desire to make a modern sounding trip-hop record - something that I have wanted to do for ages now; mixing the deep downtempo sounds of 90's-style trip-hop with more modern timbres you might associate with current pop or dubstep.
I've worked hard on this, and I'm proud of the result. I'm honoured and humbled by the volunteered involvement of so many talented and creative people: Kristian Purcell painting my face to look like Screaming Lord Byron and taking the cover photo, Rex Ray volunteering to design the cover and make a fangirl's dream come true, Matt Greasley and Izzy Foster for making those beautiful videos, Paul Ross, who helped me raise the bar on this project and spent many long evenings after work making my voice sound good, my boyfriend Matt for putting up with my absenteeism and helping with the mastering... and not forgetting Liz Tray who was there, drunk and giggling with me in the beginning, who really championed this project and pushed it from being nothing more than a joke to something we can both be proud of.
Here it is:
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The first of the three Bowie cover gigs I’ve performed was for Trevor's 49th birthday party. Trev is a lovely man and Bowie fan of legend who I had gotten to know through BowieNet (www.davidbowie.com). He had asked my band to come and play the gig - I was fronting for Helzuki at the time. The band couldn't make it but I decided to offer to play some covers instead. Lugging my red furry piano, I pitched up and played a set of slightly more obscure/unobvious numbers. I met a few quizzical looks, but on the whole it went down pretty well. He invited me back the following year for his 50th birthday party - again with my piano, again with a new set of slightly off-kilter interpretations. Standout surreal moment of that party: singing Under Pressure with a Bowie impersonator.
The third, and last, time I did this was for Phil's 40th birthday party in February 2010. For Phil (another lovely man and Bowie fan of legend whom I had gotten to know via BowieNet), I wanted to do something a little bit different. With the party being held in a venue in SE London, it was impossible to lug my heavy piano across the city on the Tube. I decided to perform with my keytar, doing a set of songs in an electro style. I thought it might be funny and give the fans a bit of a laugh (while solving my
Once the summer hols had started, and I had a bit of spare time, I decided to get Liz to come up to Bedford and help me get the vocals down. I'd chosen six tracks, some new and some from Phil's electro birthday set. We got drunk on Jack Daniel’s and I bellowed out the lyrics while she pressed record in the control room. It was FUNNY. The productions were crude, bashed out quickly in a DIY-bedroom style. We joked about getting gothed up and posing for a cover photo in the woods sitting in a tree, and about how horrified the fans would be when they heard what we had done.
But, as time passed, it started getting serious, with the suggestion of a possible news feature about it on BowieNet. Liz arranged for the artwork to be done by the infamous Rex Ray, whom she is friends with. I started to panic - I enlisted my friend Paul Ross to help me with the productions. I started all the arrangements again; for the first time I had to really think about what I wanted to do with these songs - how could I put a modern spin on this, without taking the piss?
Inspiration came from everywhere - starting with Bowie's own back catalogue, which I scoured for usable samples to embed in my arrangements. Anyone who reads my blog will know that I'm really into this idea of using recordings as resources to construct new things, so I figured why not try it out here? At best, it might suggest new shades of meaning through association and memory; at worst it would be a type of treasure hunt/guessing game for the fans. Other inspiration came from a general desire to make a modern sounding trip-hop record - something that I have wanted to do for ages now; mixing the deep downtempo sounds of 90's-style trip-hop with more modern timbres you might associate with current pop or dubstep.
I've worked hard on this, and I'm proud of the result. I'm honoured and humbled by the volunteered involvement of so many talented and creative people: Kristian Purcell painting my face to look like Screaming Lord Byron and taking the cover photo, Rex Ray volunteering to design the cover and make a fangirl's dream come true, Matt Greasley and Izzy Foster for making those beautiful videos, Paul Ross, who helped me raise the bar on this project and spent many long evenings after work making my voice sound good, my boyfriend Matt for putting up with my absenteeism and helping with the mastering... and not forgetting Liz Tray who was there, drunk and giggling with me in the beginning, who really championed this project and pushed it from being nothing more than a joke to something we can both be proud of.
Here it is:
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Copal 2 & 3
28/12/10 15:19 Filed under: New Music
More improvisations. Copal 2 was captured while I was playing about with some velocity mapped sample layers (Zitherrette, Bambalong and Cider Pot from Tonehammer).
Copal 2 (improv) by leahkardos
Copal 3 is a sentimental little piano piece that I played shortly after learning that a childhood pet had finally died. Claudia was my little Burmese cat, such a delicate soft little thing. She would sit on top of my piano while I practiced as a youngster... so a little bit of simple child-like piano music seems appropriate in the moment. Aww rest in peace sweet kitty cat.
Copal 3 (improv/Claudia's Song) by leahkardos
Right. That's enough improv for now, I think. There's a lot of proper writing I need to be getting on with.
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Copal 2 (improv) by leahkardos
Copal 3 is a sentimental little piano piece that I played shortly after learning that a childhood pet had finally died. Claudia was my little Burmese cat, such a delicate soft little thing. She would sit on top of my piano while I practiced as a youngster... so a little bit of simple child-like piano music seems appropriate in the moment. Aww rest in peace sweet kitty cat.
Copal 3 (improv/Claudia's Song) by leahkardos
Right. That's enough improv for now, I think. There's a lot of proper writing I need to be getting on with.
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Copal 1 (improv)
26/12/10 01:19 Filed under: New Music
I was asked to take part in an online collaborative project, working with other composers and producers to create music based on the sounds of dreams, memories "trapped in amber".
This is an improvisation I came up with earlier this evening, based on a simple 5 note right hand oscillating figure in G minor, stretching out and making use of the warm ambient tones of the piano.
Copal 1 (improv) by leahkardos
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This is an improvisation I came up with earlier this evening, based on a simple 5 note right hand oscillating figure in G minor, stretching out and making use of the warm ambient tones of the piano.
Copal 1 (improv) by leahkardos
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Merry Christmas
25/12/10 16:25 Filed under: Personal
Because we're a bit poverty stricken since Matt been out of work, we couldn't afford to send presents for our loved ones this year. We did, however, manage to put together a crappy video message for everyone back home:
We love and miss you guys - hope you all had a great time down there. xxo!
Feather Hammer
08/12/10 20:56 Filed under: New Music
The Feather Hammer is an ambient piano record I have just finished writing and am about to commence production on. The artwork to the left will be the cover, a wonderful piece by Kristian Purcell called "Unelma 1".
The record will comprise of piano sounds - played music and ambient sounds recorded "around" the music (a longer more detailed blog on this aspect will probably come soon) - and location recordings taken from around Bedford, mostly the college campus where I work.
Strongly inspired by Bjork's Vespertine, with its percussion tracks utilising soft intimate non-musical sounds (shuffling cards, clinking cutlery, footsteps through snow), and Amon Tobin's Foley Room where textures of found sounds are built up to create heavy, thick ambiences. Other influences come from the Harold Budd/Eno collaborations and Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works. The focus will be on combining and manipulating recorded audio, avoiding synthesis and most digital effects.
At the centre of the production is a collection of 9 solo piano compositions that have been traditionally scored and performed by me. I am quite excited about this project as it is the first where I really get to try out all my fancy PhD process ideas and experiment with production concepts gleaned from psychoacoustic research. It's an extra treat that I get to perform on my favourite instrument. Due to me not being able to say no to anyone or anything, it's been on the back burner for a while... but this is where my heart is at the moment, it's all I want to work on. I don't want to say I'll have it done in early 2011, since I have a pile of commitments bearing down on me over the holiday season. As progress is made I will update the blog with news, ideas and demos but for now... isn't the cover just lovely?
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Feedback Loop
08/12/10 19:25 Filed under: Personal
I thrive on feedback. I'm sure many others are the same, it's a large part of what makes being a composer so rewarding. That thrilling feeling when you have finished a strenuous project for someone to have that person happy at the other end telling you that they love what you've done. Or even just hearing a confirmation that you're on the right track - it buoys your progress, a signpost pointing you in the right direction. Take away the feedback and I find my headspace changes dramatically - suddenly I'm not so sure about decisions I have made, my brain says stuff like "they've had the files for 3 days and they haven't replied, they hate it and they don't know how to tell you"... when the creation that I thought was beautiful and full of promise is met with silence my ego cracks and crumbles like eggshell. Feeling needy and a bit pathetic, I might then scrap around for any kind of small validation: dig out some old reviews, listen to some of my best older work, ask my boyfriend "do you think I'm good enough to do this?". Ugh. The grey muck of withering self-belief mixed with self-loathing.
It's not that I want people to tell me I'm great all the time, don't get me wrong. It's just that working in a vacuum can breed some serious insecurity. I was speaking to a colleague about this earlier today and he told me the story of his friend who was such a perfectionist that he would never show his creative work to anyone - so wary of people's judgements made on his unfinished work - and he never finished anything. I can relate to that logic a little bit, but in my context those ideas throw a slightly more existential curve: just like the tree falling in the forest when no-one's around, am I still a composer if no-one ever hears the stuff I write?
It's all a bit sad to admit, really. The romantic ideal composer version of me would not be bothered so much. She would be sure of the quality of her own ideas and sod the rest. Everything she wrote would be formed with a clarity of purpose; it would say exactly what she intended it to say and it wouldn't matter so much what people think because she would have prioritised her own artistic satisfaction above all else. If only I was that confident; if only I was so convinced what I was doing wasn't rubbish... but the subjectivity of my experience leads me to question myself all too often. A few times I have been caught up in a project that at the time I thought had potential to be great, but with a bit of hindsight could clearly see was flawed and weak. A horrible feeling.
But despite appearances, I am not writing this to moan or complain. I'm writing this to help myself get a grip and stop being such a wuss. Dealing with feedback and handling criticism is obviously a big part of the job description and I should use this opportunity to get my priorities straight. Am I writing music to make people like me? Is it just about the money and commercial projects? Am I doing it solely to please and impress a client or commissioner?... or do I actually want to say something that reflects my own feelings and perspectives on shit? Honestly, I want it to be the latter more than anything else.
It may not look like it, judging by the action on this blog/site, but for the last 4 to 5 months I have been working my little bum off: a feature length film score that, when delivered, felt like 40 lbs of my own flesh (I enjoyed it immensely don't get me wrong, but maaan that was a lot of music). In addition, and after almost a year of faffing about, I finished and delivered demos and scores of the string quartet to the players. I also drafted a suite of 3 lyric pieces for saxophone trio, scored and sent. So far I've not heard anything from anyone about any of it - for various understandable and good reasons (people moving house, people becoming seriously ill, assorted technical dramas, etc), but still... nothing.
And I'm doing ok, I think. Im learning to trust my own good taste. It's a work in progress.
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It's not that I want people to tell me I'm great all the time, don't get me wrong. It's just that working in a vacuum can breed some serious insecurity. I was speaking to a colleague about this earlier today and he told me the story of his friend who was such a perfectionist that he would never show his creative work to anyone - so wary of people's judgements made on his unfinished work - and he never finished anything. I can relate to that logic a little bit, but in my context those ideas throw a slightly more existential curve: just like the tree falling in the forest when no-one's around, am I still a composer if no-one ever hears the stuff I write?
It's all a bit sad to admit, really. The romantic ideal composer version of me would not be bothered so much. She would be sure of the quality of her own ideas and sod the rest. Everything she wrote would be formed with a clarity of purpose; it would say exactly what she intended it to say and it wouldn't matter so much what people think because she would have prioritised her own artistic satisfaction above all else. If only I was that confident; if only I was so convinced what I was doing wasn't rubbish... but the subjectivity of my experience leads me to question myself all too often. A few times I have been caught up in a project that at the time I thought had potential to be great, but with a bit of hindsight could clearly see was flawed and weak. A horrible feeling.
But despite appearances, I am not writing this to moan or complain. I'm writing this to help myself get a grip and stop being such a wuss. Dealing with feedback and handling criticism is obviously a big part of the job description and I should use this opportunity to get my priorities straight. Am I writing music to make people like me? Is it just about the money and commercial projects? Am I doing it solely to please and impress a client or commissioner?... or do I actually want to say something that reflects my own feelings and perspectives on shit? Honestly, I want it to be the latter more than anything else.
It may not look like it, judging by the action on this blog/site, but for the last 4 to 5 months I have been working my little bum off: a feature length film score that, when delivered, felt like 40 lbs of my own flesh (I enjoyed it immensely don't get me wrong, but maaan that was a lot of music). In addition, and after almost a year of faffing about, I finished and delivered demos and scores of the string quartet to the players. I also drafted a suite of 3 lyric pieces for saxophone trio, scored and sent. So far I've not heard anything from anyone about any of it - for various understandable and good reasons (people moving house, people becoming seriously ill, assorted technical dramas, etc), but still... nothing.
And I'm doing ok, I think. Im learning to trust my own good taste. It's a work in progress.
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Kristian Purcell
R34 at Mineola, NY, 1919, 2010 (Oil on canvas, 61x76cm)
click the images below to get info
Sometimes, when someone tells me they make art, I might expect the stuff they make will be "Ok...". Maybe it's just me and my pessimistic outlook on life, but I often have low expectations when it comes to these things (it's a good way to be, since most of the time I'm pleasantly surprised, which is a nice reaction, right?). These arty people show you their latest thing and you're all "Oh wow, that's great!" but in your head you're not really thinking it's truly great art, only that its great that they are pursuing creative endeavours in general. I've been in bands and struggling to have my music heard for years - some of it not very good at all - so I know what it feels like to be humoured by your mates. And of course you're grateful for it, that's what your mates are there for. We all need encouragement.
But then there are people that come into your life who are so good that they knock you on your arse, and you can't believe they are working day-jobs in Bedford and not being shown at the Tate. A person who forces you to recalibrate your scale of superlatives (that handmade coffee cup you liked on Facebook is suddenly not so literally "awesome", for example). Kristian Purcell is such a person. A proper artist. I also have the honour of calling him my friend.
I met Kristian rather unglamourously, as a result of trolling Myspace for potential musical collaborators. This was back in 2007 when Myspace was still sort of happening, but also sort of starting to shrivel and die. He lived in Bedford, he liked Bowie, he could sing and play guitar. That was enough for us (well, enough for me - I'm sure Matt would prefer the Bowie connection didn't exist, since he has had to endure both of us drunkenly screeching our way through "Teenage Wildlife" at least a dozen times to date. I don't think he finds it amusing, which is a shame since I'll probably be inclined to do this as often as I'm drunk on red wine for the rest of my life). He joined the band, we gigged a little bit, wrote some music together and made a record in the spare room of my house. He worked various day jobs, teaching contracts and working at the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery & Bedford Museum; he wasn't famous or critically lauded or making any money from his wonderful art and it didn't seem right.
I remember when he transformed the Wellington Street house he was living in at the time into a makeshift gallery and invited the town to see (and possibly buy) his work. It was a genius bit of initiative, and Matt and I both felt like arseholes for trying to haggle down the prices of the two small pieces we ended up buying that night. Mates rates? C'mon we're all struggling artists here... I also remember sitting with Kristian in the Gordon Arms a few days after Xmas 2008, having a deep discussion about music and art and what the hell we were doing with our lives. We're both the same age, and we share the same frustrations that stem from being unknown, from dealing with universal apathy on a daily basis, the fears that we might have missed our opportunity to be successful. During the course of that conversation we discussed studying our disciplines again and maybe I should take the plunge with the PhD. Within months that wishful drunken chatter had become a reality for me, a decision that (I feel) has put me on the right track with my career.
Kristian deserves success because his art is great. And it's getting better. If you're reading this and you're not familiar with his work, you need to check it out immediately. If you have the means to, invest in one of his pieces now - they're bound to be worth stupid amounts of money one day (chat to him, he might be able to do "mate's rates"). Comment on his blog, because god knows we all need a bit of encouragement.
And the musical collaboration continues, sort of. There are wishy-washy plans to record new material with the band in the new year, but a far more concrete prospect is a gig we'll be playing together at Bedford Esquires on the 20th of November (this Saturday night). It's more a Kristian Purcell solo gig with me accompanying on piano. I think we're even doing a couple of Helzuki songs from that record we made in my spare room in 2008. Should be fun to bust out the furry red stage piano once again, it's been too long.
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UPDATE: GIg has been and gone, and here's a review
Confirmed
12/10/10 18:51 Filed under: Study
Ok, so I completely underestimated the amount of work required for this confirmation of PhD candidature milestone (I was assuming that the presentation slides could suffice, boy was I wrong). Never mind, I'm not averse to a few all-nighters if that's what it takes. In the end it was a really useful, clarifying and enlightening process and now I can proudly say I am "confirmed". Feels good.
If you're interested in such things, my literature review is here, an updated research proposal is here. Props to my mate Liz for proofing the documents for me, and Rob (my supervisor) - without their help I would have surely sounded like a right bimbo.
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If you're interested in such things, my literature review is here, an updated research proposal is here. Props to my mate Liz for proofing the documents for me, and Rob (my supervisor) - without their help I would have surely sounded like a right bimbo.
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Update: Double Busy
22/09/10 21:53 Filed under: Stuff
Productivity is high! ... but you wouldn't guess that judging from the action on my website. Cobwebs are forming in the corners, stale air you can smell is coming from my music page which hasn't been updated in months and months. But I have been busy. Honest, gov! Double busy, you bet.
I've been basically holed up in my little studio room, sipping coffee - lots of coffee, wrapping up work on a film, finishing up an arranging/remix job for a band, working on another super secret project with a producer friend of mine (oh my GOD it's so exciting but I can't talk about it... yet. All I can say is that it is directly related to my obsession with David Bowie), starting a new production project with a singer songwriter, and now it's the start of the teaching year... it's all happening. It's a bit stressful, but I invited it all upon myself - I wanted it all, because I love it! Better to be busy with loads of fun projects than not.
Since Matt has been home, he's been helping me out in the studio with the technical/sound engineering side of things. We're like a busy little production team, its ace: I breeze in and do the creative stuff, flounce off and he gets down to making it sound pretty. The partnership came about after I was asked to help re-arrange/remix an album for The Millipede Engine. I thought this project would be a one-off, since I had never been asked to do such a thing before... but since then more opportunities have unexpectedly come our way and we're thinking this could become a regular thing. There's probably a market out there for our niche: not many budget studios can offer composition and arrangement on top of session playing, and everything else (remixing/production, recording, mixing and mastering). Might promote it and see what happens...
In other news, I love this because the beginning section reminds me of Gavin Bryars (Sinking of the Titanic) and the rest reminds me of Tavener:
I've been basically holed up in my little studio room, sipping coffee - lots of coffee, wrapping up work on a film, finishing up an arranging/remix job for a band, working on another super secret project with a producer friend of mine (oh my GOD it's so exciting but I can't talk about it... yet. All I can say is that it is directly related to my obsession with David Bowie), starting a new production project with a singer songwriter, and now it's the start of the teaching year... it's all happening. It's a bit stressful, but I invited it all upon myself - I wanted it all, because I love it! Better to be busy with loads of fun projects than not.
Since Matt has been home, he's been helping me out in the studio with the technical/sound engineering side of things. We're like a busy little production team, its ace: I breeze in and do the creative stuff, flounce off and he gets down to making it sound pretty. The partnership came about after I was asked to help re-arrange/remix an album for The Millipede Engine. I thought this project would be a one-off, since I had never been asked to do such a thing before... but since then more opportunities have unexpectedly come our way and we're thinking this could become a regular thing. There's probably a market out there for our niche: not many budget studios can offer composition and arrangement on top of session playing, and everything else (remixing/production, recording, mixing and mastering). Might promote it and see what happens...
In other news, I love this because the beginning section reminds me of Gavin Bryars (Sinking of the Titanic) and the rest reminds me of Tavener:
New music and updates soon, promise.
________Postmodern life
Ok, maybe that's a tad unfair - after all, we can't help but be influenced by the world around us, and we live a postmodern life - there is no escaping it. I grew up listening to a lot of The Beatles, around the same age I was playing a lot of Bach and becoming aware for the first time in my life of the power of film scores. Have these things imprinted on my music in any practically audible way? Probably not, but it's all in there... all bits floating around in the big soup in my head.
A good working definition of postmodernism that everyone can agree on is difficult to nail down - I'm not sure what I think of Kramer's itemised list of 'postmodern musical characteristics' ("multiple temporalities"?). Georgina Born puts it simply: a synthesis of modernist processes and mechanisms in popular-culture forms (where modernism is defined as music written to challenge and educate, popular music written to sell or promote). K. Robert Schwarz echoes this idea when, in discussing the creative approach of John Adams, he describes a blending of process-based creation and intuitive response as an "eclectic postmodern" ideology. Certainly all of my favourite composers and artists do this — from Fitkin to Eno, Warhol, Bjork, Bowie, Reich, Bryars, Duchamp and Roy Lichtenstein. Mixing up approaches, consciously blending styles, "pick & mix"ing influences, using impersonal processes but treating or developing the results in an artistically intuitive way.
This postmodern ideology favours a communicative approach. The goal is not to educate or challenge, nor is it to sell or promote. The goal is to connect with a listener; to tell a story or influence a feeling using whatever tools are available. Film composers do this all the time - crossing stylistic barriers, working within cliches, anything it takes to create this connection. If the moment calls for the use of jazz elements, and he or she is not a traditional jazz composer, does this diminish the value of the music? Is it unauthentic? Pretentious? Can composers create music in different styles and traditions and still be taken seriously? Can Jonny Greenwood be a writer of pop songs and at the same time make experimental music, atmospheric soundtracks and then be a credible contemporary classical composer?
Of course he can - because he's a bloody marvellous composer. Music is a language, we use it to say things... and we can say whatever we like. It helps if there is someone listening to what you are saying though, if it can connect with people — at that point where music meets life, in those things that relate to the human existence: patterns, rhythms, melody, the tone of a voice, consonances and dissonances, memory and emotion. All the sounds and ideas that have gone before are now part of the vocabulary.
There is no real incentive for me to compose music that is deliberately challenging and impenetrable - if I were to try, it would be sad and pretentious and I'd probably fail hideously. Admitting alignment with the postmodern ideal is not pretentious, it's the truth about my own context. It's that soup in my brain that's been brewing since I first perceived music as a child, it's my preference to prioritise communication through music, using whatever means. Like Stewie here:
Back from Aus, Busy as Hell (and a little bit about psychoacoustics)
28/07/10 00:59 Filed under: Work
I left Matt over there for an additional 2 weeks and I rushed back slightly more burnt out than when I left, back home to a massive pile of projects that have been scheduled for, or put off until, the summer. Which is now. I love it, already I've reverted to vampire hours; I sit in my studio all night long growing paler and in the daytime I sleep while the sane people go out and enjoy sunshine, cavort in parklands, eat BBQ or whatever it is that they do. Take away my 9 to 5 responsibilities and this is what happens every time.
One of these summer projects is a mix and master for a band... something that on the surface seems a bit technical and prescribed, a diversion from all the PhD stuff I should be doing. But I'm finding it very useful as an opportunity to really look closely at timbre and texture in the context of a multitrack stereo mix.
So far the process feels a lot more like traditional music 'arrangement' - choosing colours, combinations of colours, manipulating the dynamics between them. Obviously there are limitations, chief of which is the genre of music and the expected commercial standards that are implied there. Another big one is obviously whatever the client wants. But even within the most rigid brief, there are still opportunities for creativity, I think. There is such an art to the 'act of combining things', after all the depth of a stereo field is just an auditory illusion - the mix engineer/producer is the magician who is conjuring it for the listener.
Moreover, I suspect the mix engineer can affect the listener on a different level to that which the composer (who is working with notes, harmonies and rhythms) can. Once again, these ideas throw back to (what Andrew Brown calls) the "modes of compositional engagement" - the director, the observer, the performer, the selector - basically the composer adopting various roles to facilitate the creativity in various contexts. It's an interesting idea. I certainly don't want to claim that all producers ARE composers (if we define a composer as the writer or AUTHOR of music, then that can't be true). But producers have influence over sound, there are creative choices to be made... in some cases these choices can affect the listener's experience profoundly.
I know that not everyone's ears and brain is like mine. There's even a few good reviews out there for this record where people praise the production. Are there any records out there where the SOUND of the mix affects you? If anyone reading this has the time to test the above record out on their own ears, I would love to know if you have a similar experience. In either case email me!
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