FREE music downloads

Whilst i've not been blogging, I have been spending time writing and producing new pieces of music.

Over on Clueless Chimp there's 5 new tracks to download for FREE! (right click on the link, save target as. Then click on the file from explorer to launch into itunes)

My good friend David Nicholls and I have been jamming away, and Hey Now Sister is the product of that. To be honest, it needs a remastering, but you get the idea.

I was in a band called 'Amber Waves' with David at university. Or was it 'The Amber Waves'? We argued a lot over the definitive article. In fact we argued a lot about a lot back then. We're older and wiser now, safe in the knowledge that we'll never be on the front cover of Melody Maker or Select, and we won't be performing live on Top of the Pops.

We do have some vague plans for some live events in 2009 though.

The Dream Machine

Probably the silliest thing to do right now is to open a record shop. A shift to downloads and even the big boys are struggling.

But John and Elaine have gone and done just that in East Dulwich (which was missing some musical-like shopping opportunities). Hurrah!

They're running the shop as an open community collective - encouraging anyone and everyone to come on, get involved, help out and generally spark off a music community. I spent a good few hours today, pricing up records and trying to put together shelves for them (badly, I must add).

Who knows if they're mad or inspired. But if enough people get involved, there's a fighting chance that the Dream Machine (sister store in Texas) can survive and thrive.

I'm going to be helping them out, trying to think of new and cool ways to spark off some word of mouth, get people involved, and hopefully enable lots of local music-loving folk get their fix.

Launch part is tomorrow at the Constitutional Hall in East Dulwich. Here's the details on the East Dulwich Forum

Juis Suis Animal and Martin Carr (of Boo Radleys fame) are playing. Come on down - it's only £6.

And here's the party in the shop last night... probably be another one tomorrow night!

Odd hobbies?

Marketing Direct are running a piece about people in the industry with unusual hobbies - so our PR agency suggested I submitted a piece. It seems that writing some music at home is unusual in the direct marketing industry. I wonder what a normal hobby is for people who read Marketing Direct?

Appreciating new things...

I was putting together a nice film on the sorts of things that people take time out to appreciate in life. 'Personal Appreciation' being a comms platform that we're working towards for a client brief.

We filmed a bunch of people around the agency chatting away about their passions... including Mr. Hancock and his love of vox amps.....

I was kind of inspired after editing the film (& maybe hearing Mark go on about getting particular sounds), so thought I'd write a new piece to go with it. Bit of a change of direction - got loads of orchestral sounds... violin, cello, trombone, brass section, timpani. Had quite a lot of fun remembering my cadences and key signatures from studying music structure and composition.

I couldn't stay completely with the classical style. Notice that I sneaked in a classic dub bassline in there. Soundclash is sooo easy...

As usual, the finished piece is uploaded on the website here.

Ealing Comedy

I'm carefully packing up all the music equipment for the the big move. Obviously I couldn't do this quickly and efficiently. Instead I felt the need to write some more stuff...

So hop it over to the website and have a listen to two new tracks.

They should run in the browser. (Right click, save target as to bring into your lovely itunes!)

1. Last and Final Willow - named as the last and final song written in Willow Road.
2. Three Come Along - named after my perpetual waiting for the E3 bus. Never again, I hope!

Email me on gagey501@googlemail.com with any comments, thoughts and ideas.

I hope I can remember how to plug everything together in the new house!!!

Hopefully Helping Greenpeace

Greenpeace UK have asked today for music for their videos and films. (check it out here).

So I've donated a track: Somnambulism. (it's on my website on the jukebox on this page, it's track 7 and is spelt incorrectly!)

Not sure if they'll use it or not, but it's great that brands are opening up for UGC that isn't just videos! (and one in which I might actually provide something more than mediocre!)

Analogue Heaven

I bought a new set of toys just before Christmas.

Arturia's pack of soft-synths of some classics: Moog Modular, Minimoog, Prophet, CS-80, ARP 2600, and Jupiter 8.

Obviously, I'd love to have the originals of these wonderful instruments, but I don't have the money. Or more importantly, I don't have the space.

Anyway, I've been fairly productive, having written two new tracks, which you can download here. (Left click on it to hear it in your browser. Right click, save target as to download the mp3)

The first one, Switching You On is a more dancey number, and to be honest could do with a new mix and some better production. But you can hear lots of analogue burbles going on. Nice.

I've spent a bit more time on the production of the second one: Transmission Out. There's a bit of moog and some ARP in there. But I'm particularly happy to have found an amazing Fender Rhodes sound.

2008 promises to be full of music I hope!

Disaster Recovery

I thought I was being clever putting all the music that I write on a dedicated hard drive. Until it went bust and I lost a year's worth of work. Silly Paul.

Anyway, just under a grand spent later, those miracle workers in data recovery have reunited me with my precious....

Go over here to hear the (old) fruits of my labour. 8 tracks for you to download to your itunes.

All comments gratefully received. Especially nice ones!

End of an Era

Always good to achieve catharsis through artistic endeavour. Go to Latest Tunes on my other site to download some more new music. By me, my guitar and some fancy production with Cubase.

New computer coming this week, especially built for music production, so expect to hear more soon.

If I get knocked down, I get up again

I am trying to recover from a disaster. My external hard drive has packed up, losing about a year's worth of music I've written. Yes, I know - should have done a backup.

Anyway, best thing to do is to pick yourself up and just keep going.

So I've been messing around with some guitar and synth sounds. And you can download it here if you wish. You can click on it to play in quicktime or whatever is your browser media player of choice, or you can right click and 'save target as' to get the mp3. Would welcome any comments / ideas / thoughts.

The title was inspired by a man who walks up and down the South Ealing Road punching numbers into his calculator all day.