2009
Sage advice for every situation
24/11/09 21:25 Filed under: Work
I’m so pleased to finally have them for real in my sticky little mitts and not just via an online applet, I’ve been thumbing through each card in turn, grinning to myself and imagining the crazy situations I could apply the directions to. Let’s draw one right now... it simply says “water”. Yes.
I attended the LCO New “Inspired by Architecture” study day on Monday in London. We assembled on the 9th floor of City Hall, listening to talks from the likes of Diana Burrel, Simon Bainbridge, Richard Scott, Cany Ash, David Gordon, framed by a spectacular view of Tower Bridge, Thames and the City beyond. Then we hopped on a bus and had a look at some modern functional architecture in the East End/Hackney. The idea is to compose a piece for orchestral ensemble inspired by the buildings we saw, the best few to be performed, recorded and published by the LCO early next year.
I love these sorts of things - the light a fire under you to get writing, but without the stress that comes with a real commission. And you get to meet other young composers, get a feel for what they’re trying to say. The issue I have with this work is one of ‘obviousness’... i.e., architecture and music share many concepts and vocabulary (line, form, structure, texture, repetition/pattern, juxtaposition, brightness/darkness/lightness, space/ambience, perspective/depth... the list goes on! The challenge will be to have the music refer to the buildings in an unobvious way, to avoid the whole “that line is this line, that colour is this colour” correlation that always turns out so trite and contrived. The music should maybe latch on to one detail and lose sight of the whole, or tap into the sense of movement and atmosphere, or the air that is divided and trapped within a structure. Or not... we’ll see how it turns out.
I have had some great responses to my wanted ad, and as a result some exciting commissions and collaborations in the pipeline! It’s been a while since I’ve written new music for individual players to perform, and feels strange after doing so much media stuff - the creative freedom is such a welcome change and takes a little getting used to. All this thinking of new work has given me the mojo to finish up my String Quartet for Ariella (finally). Progress!
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My wanted ad: desperately seeking...
18/11/09 15:41 Filed under: Work
I am currently searching for any 'up-for-it' instrumentalists around the Bedford/Cambridge/MK/London area who might be keen to perform new works and engage in live performance experimentation using tech applications like Ableton Live, Logic Mainstage, Max MSP, and other digital applications.
At the moment I am composing a suite for solo cello + technology and am desperately looking for a player to be my guinea pig in the creation of this work. But beyond this project, I'd love to work with anyone who is somewhat local to London/Midlands/East Anglia and is excited by the prospect of playing and recording new music with me in this way.
Ultimately I would like to form a band/live ensemble that utilises technology in the performance of new music with the help of a laptop, effects pedals and other interesting interfaces. The idea of live looping, improvisation, recording on the fly and the use of 'oblique strategies' in performance really appeals to me, and I hope I'm not the only one. From John Adam's "Book of Alleged Dances" to Terry Riley's "Cusp of Magic", Steve Reich's Counterpoints to Graham Fitkin's laptop performances with Ruth Wall - the range of creative possibility that technology provides us in this moment in history is unsurpassed and now seems like the perfect time to continue, develop and evolve this fantastic tradition.
So if you're interested or even curious, please get in contact. If you know any players who might be interested then please pass this message on. thanks!!
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Winter blues, singing along with The Flaming Lips & remembering Rostropovich
2009 is rolling along inevitably towards a bleak winter and new year; mid-November already and I can barely remember October at all beyond a general dark cloud of bullshit college stress, being tired and fighting off a cold. Oh, I did go and see "This is it" with Matt on Halloween night - a great film no doubt, so tragic and bittersweet. Left me feeling slightly raw, though. I guess this is our generation's Lennon or Elvis "is gone" moment. Surreal. |
| Dudley gets bigger by the day, and he's totally integrated into our lives now, it's hard to imagine what we did without him. Such a sweet pup, Matt and I had a minor scare when he ate a pig's ear a few days ago.... one minute he was happily chewing on it, next thing we knew he had gulped it down and let out a big burp. We freaked out for a bit, not knowing what to do. We looked online - which is probably the one thing a slightly paranoid puppy owner should NEVER do - and scared ourselves silly reading stories of dogs that died because of intestinal blockages, etc. We made such a fuss, but he wasn't bothered. He's a little toughian. Who will never get to nom on a pig's ear again. |
| Finally, I recently dug out some old Rostropovich recordings to compile into a mix tape for a friend - Lady MacBeth of Mtesnk District, the Shosta Cello Concerto and his wonderful recording of Britten's Cello Suites. Too good for words, honestly... I can't even begin to blog about how special these recordings are. I encourage anyone who likes their soviet era music to be bleak, tragicomic, intelligent, powerful and bleeding with raw downcast emotion to seek them out. Particularly the Lady Macbeth double disc from 1979. Perfection. |
Another post about my dog... this time a video
07/11/09 11:52 Filed under: Personal
Last night Matt and I had a few drinks and decided to make a video tribute to our awesome little dog...
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David Keith's "Dead Funny" short wins loads of awards
04/11/09 11:05 Filed under: Work
David Keith's latest horror short just swept the awards at the '2 Days Later' short film festival in Kent! (Best Film, Best Director, Best Editor, Best Cinematography, Best Sound). He also tells me that one of the judges favourably mentioned my music... which warms my heart indeed. [a word of warning, the film is a bit gory in places and I wouldn't advise watching it if you have an unreasonable fear of clowns]
http://www.deadfunnymovie.co.uk/
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Using Ableton Live 8 Looper To Make My Own 'Alleged Dances'
31/10/09 11:47 Filed under: Work
Kinda like what John Adams tried to do with his "Book of Alleged Dances" in the mid nineties with the triggering of prerecorded loops during string quartet performance, with Ableton you could create such loops on the fly while a performance is in progress... you could even bank these loops as they are made and retrigger them in various combinations to create interesting textures and harmonic colours. Such exciting possibilties... and I imagine much more exciting and gratifying than watching a performance played along to pre-recorded material on CD (which, unfortunately, is what happened in the end to Adams' project).
I really love this idea of recording being temporal rather than definitive - to capture something quickly and manipulate it instantly. If only I could find a cellist who would be happy being my guineapig for a day or two...
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Peter Sant's Cadence
29/10/09 00:24 Filed under: New Music
I just posted a clip from Peter Sant's latest video art piece, "Cadence" on the media page of this site (for the full length version - check out http://www.petersant.com ). Despite my computer-related woes of late, I really enjoyed working on this project - camped out on the dining table with my MIDI keyboards and controllers strewn around the kitchen.
I originally got the job by responding to a post on Composition Today (truly one of the ugliest arts-related sites ever to exist on the interwebs) - the artist was looking for a keyboardist/composer, and I took the bait. He responded in kind with a list of musical limitations and rules by which I needed to adhere. Also, I was to only receive the foley track, and not the footage, to score to. Here were some of the rules:
- begin at precisely 2min 30 secs
- contain a 'light' and discretely 'anticipatory' motif
- never be 'dark' or 'suspenseful'
- contain the following, in order of their relative quantity:
- organ
- synthesiser
- piano
- plus an optional extra (but not percussive)
- not occupy more than 70% of the allocated time
- operate at a tempo slower than a clock
There was a lot of back and forth - a few changes, a few edits. It was refreshing to work in this way, separate and remote from the visual element yet very close to it at the same time. Here's an example from the final score - the first occurrence of the main theme, beginning at precisely 2min 30secs...
Cadence [excerpt] by leahkardos ________
Applecare Armageddon
26/10/09 17:15 Filed under: Personal
In the glory box downtime I managed to make some music for an A/V project with the artist Peter Sant using my college macbook pro to pull the mix together. I'll post a clip as soon as I get clearance.
If you haven't noticed, I've added another page to this website where people can download free scores - I figure it's good practice for me to publish my own music, and who knows - maybe there's a crazy person out there who might want to play it? Anyways. Baby steps in the right direction.
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Glitter Vein - suite for easy digital piano + delay
23/09/09 23:20 Filed under: New Music
Just for the hell of it, here's a small suite of pieces written for easy piano + delay/verb effects. Click on the titles to see the scores.
i. Butterfly Kites [SCORE]
Butterfly Kites - digital piano & delay by leahkardos
ii. Glitter Vein [SCORE]
Glitter Vein - for digital piano & delay by leahkardos
iii. Alone In The Empty House [SCORE]
iii. Alone in the empty house (from Glitter Vein Suite) by leahkardos
iv. Goodnight [SCORE]
iv. Goodnight (from Glitter Vein suite) by leahkardos
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Dudley comes home, and I rescue lots of data
16/09/09 16:42 Filed under: Personal
Dudley came home last Friday night, and was so well behaved on his 4 hour drive back from Cheshire. No oopsies at all! He’s settling in pretty well, except for the crying at night when we leave him alone in his pen. You’d think someone was sawing his little legs off with the way he’s carrying on! Hopefully he’ll get over it soon. Matt and I really need some sleep!!
Meet Dudley (updated!)
30/08/09 12:16 Filed under: Personal
Yesterday Matt and I drove up to Cheshire to visit the Frenchkisses French Bulldog kennel, to see a little dude that we have had our eye on, from a recent litter.
Originally we were interested in a little pied one (spotty cow-like markings), but this guy stole our hearts when we got there. The breeder, Rachel, was wonderful and and helpful, answering all my anxious first-time puppy questions. It was great to spend time with her, her family and her dogs.
I couldn’t feel more satisfied that Dudley has come from a great place; her daughters regularly handle the puppies, her dogs look really well looked after and happy, and the pups were all born naturally (the litter wasn’t artifically inseminated and birthed by C-section like so many frenchie pups are these days).
Isn’t he the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? Matt and I can’t wait until he comes home to us in 3 weeks.
Click on the ‘read more’ link below to see some more photos of Dudley :D
[update: Rachel sent us some pics of Duds hanging out with his siblings. Check em out]
Awwerrrr
Sleepy piggy.
Teeny!
Sleepy face. We kept waking him up to get a picture and all he wanted to do was pass out for a nap.
I know... cute overload, right? I love his little white fingers.
[UPDATE]
Here’s some pics Rachel sent us of Dudley chillin’ with his sister and brothers:
He’s on the far right... his little french manicure gives him away...
Chubby little front legs!
Dudley on the move...
Finally! It begins
28/08/09 22:51 Filed under: Study
I received word this morning that at long last I am to commence my PhD studies at UQ, working with the wonderfully talented Dr. Robert Davidson! So chuffed! So excited!!
AND it’s a long weekend. AND tomorrow Matt and I go up north to see our potential new puppy for the first time. Oh happy day.
:D :D :D
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Fitkin Fandom
25/08/09 18:21 Filed under: Fangirl
I have to write about my new obsession: the music of Graham Fitkin. For the first time in a long time a contemporary composer has grabbed my heart and given it a good squeeze - with music not written for film or any other context, but concert works involving technology, music in which I immediately recognise and know the vernacular language because it is the same as mine - tonal, rich with harmony and gentle repetition. Everything this guy writes I wish I had written.
I am convinced that classical music needs to embrace technology as a new voice and not just as a means to mock-up demos and scores. The language has changed, the modern ear is evolved. And there is sooooo much potential for beauty, just thinking about it makes my mouth water and my head spin.
Back to Graham. I bought a few scores from his website this morning, and ordered a few CDs. One is a collaboration with harpist Ruth Wall called “Still Warm” ... I’m loving the delays and electronica elements here.
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Forty Six & Two (for piano, string quartet and female vocal)
25/08/09 00:43 Filed under: New Music
This crazy idea came about because I wanted to properly learn how to make the VSL solo string patches sound good. And also because I have always loved the song and I just needed an excuse.
Forty Six & 2 - arr. for piano & string quartet by leahkardos
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Dmitri On The Step - Piano Solo (demo & score)
24/08/09 23:42 Filed under: New Music
This was written as a valentine to DSCH (Dmitri Shostakovich), and his name spells out that familiar theme once again. I'm ashamed at the crappiness of the score - I am clearly at odds with Logic's score editor. Never again, Sibelius all the way.
Dmitri On The Step (Piano solo) - [SCORE]
Dmitri On The Step - Piano Solo by leahkardos
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Currently in love with...
12/08/09 23:49 Filed under: Fangirl
I’ve always loved Isserlis’ playing, but after listening to this performance on repeat for a whole day at work I think Tavener is becoming a new hero.
Anyone who can take this horrid rainy English day of boring school admin and transform it into a life-affirming soul-soothing mouth-watering lush-and-slippery tender-and-tired glowing spiritual experience is a hero of mine.
Now I attempt my own orchestrations with fear and intrepidation. Also anxiously waiting for word from UQ. It’s been 2 months now, I need to be put out of my misery.
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Order being heaven's first law and all...
... I’ve decided to take myself through a series of lessons in the larger forms in music. I have this fantastic old book by Percy Goetschius (written 1915) that full of lovely composition exercises and I figured while I’m at it I might sharpen up my orchestration (and finally learn how to drive that VSL library properly). I’ve even busted out my old score-pads, something I haven’t used since I was at uni... and found some disturbingly rubbish music scrawled on a few of the pages (I recognized the desperation in the pencil markings, I must have had a portfolio due).
What brings this on? I’ve been writing a lot of miniatures of late - and by that I mean small instrumental works of about 3 - 5 mins in length (think little atmospheric pseudo-classical pop songs in binary form). I think I’ve been slightly frightened to write anything on a larger scale, some formal structures are a bit intimidating when you’re rusty on the rules... but by avoiding them I have been creating music that generally runs out of steam after themes A and B have run their course. In many ways it’s easier when you write for a film or other context, the music there supports a larger narrative or purpose and the composer is almost let off the hook. You just write some themes, agree on the instrumentation and then the rest kinda drives itself.
In the introduction there’s this fab quote from the book:
“The classic designs are not lightly to be overthrown, for they are the cumulative product of a gradually dawning recognition of nature’s musical laws, steadily progressing and crystallizing through the gathering and eliminating experiences of master-minds during many past centuries. It seems reasonable, therefore, to assume that true structural progress cannot be achieved by abandoning these, but rather by building upon them”.
Right on, Percy.
Otherwise I’ve been keeping busy lately working on an arrangement of “forty six & two” (by Tool) for piano solo and string quartet, and working on the soundtrack for a new horror short for David Keith. I’ve also been composing a new batch of examples for my showreel and others that I hope to sell on to music libraries (remember those miniatures I was talking about earlier?). I love Summer holidays, you can get so much done when you don’t have to drag your arse to pesky ‘work’ all the time!
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Our Part Time Pet
02/08/09 14:06 Filed under: Personal
Turns out the cheeky cat actually has a home, his real name is Moses, and he simply fancied moving in with us part-time cos he’s a greedy attention seeking cat-about-town. I got talking to his owner (a neighbour a few houses down the road), who assured me that he’s got a good place to live, he’s just a bit miffed that they have new kittens and he’s not getting attention.
So he still comes by, but we don’t feed him or let him in anymore. Every morning at about 8 he meows at the back door for some lovin. Sometimes he drops by in the afternoons, and might come over for a nap in our garden on weekends. The perfect pet: we don’t have to feed it or clean up after it or take it to the vet, but we get to pat it and give it cuddles. Nice!
And he’ll always be McNulty to us. :)
[cool photo by Matt]
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July Garden Update
23/07/09 15:21 Filed under: Personal
Mistakes, I’ve made a few... like planting all my veg in too close, not giving my mutant pumpkins enough room to “spread”, underestimating the power of a few small pansies which now threaten to take over. That flower to the left? Aubergine.
Last year I planted a Eucolyptus “shrubbery” and we all watched in amazement as it began reaching for the stars.... I somehow neglected to read the tag that says clearly if I do not prune often, it could become a tree, 20 odd foot high! Whoops. So this morning, a year and a half late, I gave it a good chop job. I also took the opportunity to get some progress photos. Click the “read more” link to see em...
Pansy-town can’t really afford many new residents.
a closer look...
a bit out of focus, but some baby tomatoes
Chilli flower
Clemantis corner is starting to scale the fence... maybe she’ll get there next year. :(
Our back yard view.
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You know I loves me some Philip Glass, but...
22/07/09 17:06 Filed under: Personal
It’s real basic composition tool-kit stuff..., but every time you use it people are inclined to go “oooh, you’re referencing Glass here”, or worse accuse you of plagiarism and then refer you to Glassworks or The Hours or his Metamorphosis suite for piano as proof. Rah!
Minor rant over. I forgive you, Phil. But only cos you’re so awesome.
The trip to Ireland with my mother was quite nice, if not a slight let down after the sheer beauty-blowout of the Swiss Alps experience. Maybe it was the constant rain than put a damper (or should I say dampness) on things. They call it “liquid sunshine” over there. Poor sods, I thought we had it bad in England. In summary: the Guiness was tasty, the grass was green, the wind was windy, the music was “diddly”. Some photos included on the ‘read more’ link below.
So now Mum has returned home to Australia and life for us goes back to normal. Alas her leaving means the end of our holidays for the summer. It was great to see her again, aside from jetting about Europe we enjoyed some fine meals, a great gig at the Jazz Cafe in London... and most impressively, she managed to watch all three seasons of Deadwood in almost as many days! I think she deserves some kind of trophy for that, a small statuette in the shape of Al Swearengen.
Now I’m back in the studio, cleaning the dust off the mixing desk, preparing it and myself for a new batch of projects. To begin the process in a calm way, I’ve been scrapbooking some of the ideas that have been clogging up my brainflow these past 2 months: colours, shapes, textures, words. It’s all very stimulating, and some of the finished collages ended up crazy surreal. I’ll post some examples once I get to writing and demo’ing these things out.
mmm... “tators”. Potatoes for every meal. I was blocked up for almost a week afterwards.
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Trailer for Psychosomatic'
08/07/09 03:15 Filed under: Work
Some of my music that was used in a scene has also been used for the trailer (embedded below). This film is now out available to purchase from Amazon.com and in addition to doing well on the festival circuit, is getting some positive reviews. Well done, Andrew!
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Glasto & Swiss Holiday Roundup
Glasto was fabulous. Warm and sunny most of the time, the highlight of my weekend was Neil Young (I’m in love with another old man, what is wrong with me!), probably the best gig I have ever seen in my life. I’m not a person prone to making lists of things (my mate Liz is quite “high fidelity” like that) , but after witnessing that performance I would have to say my top three gigs of my life so far would be:
1.) Neil Young @ Glasto 2009,
2.) Morrissey @ Livid Festival 2002,
3.) Meshell Ndegeocello @ Jazz Cafe 2008.
Oooh after writing that I suddenly feel so... nerdy. Other awesome bits included a spine tingling set from Bon Iver, the always beautiful Bat for Lashes, Spinal Tap, Metric and of course the Boss.
It was strange hearing of Michael Jackson’s death while on the site - lots of whispers and rumours floating around on the Thursday evening left us wondering if it was really true. You feel so cut off from the real world while inside the festival. Once confirmed, it took me a few days for the news to sink in - I kept thinking it was an elaborate set-up - that Michael would pop up on the Pyramid stage as the secret special guest, wearing his zombie getup doing the Thriller dance, mending all our broken hearts in the process. And it has left me feeling philosophical about my small role in the tragedy as a ticket holder to his now-cancelled shows. I am sure there are plenty of blogs out there poring over the subject, discussing and dissecting if not just remembering and mourning therefore I will not attempt to add to the number. I would only want to comment that I am finding the whole thing immensely sad.
On the way back from Glasto we picked my Mum up from Heathrow. After our 6 days of camping in the muggy heat it must have been a pretty funky car ride back to Bedford for her. We decided as a present we’d take her to the Swiss Alps, and that’s where we’ve been for the last 5 days. The scenery over there is to die for.... I had been told about it and had seen pictures but I wasn’t really prepared for so much beauty on such a large scale. Click the “leave a comment” link to see some photos if you’re interested.
All photos here taken by Matt Roles (whom I think is getting pretty nifty with the camera these days... though with scenery this good I think it would be rather difficult to manage a shite photo!)
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Off to Glasto!
23/06/09 21:31 Filed under: Gigs
Trailer for "The Wrong Choice"
10/06/09 20:29 Filed under: Work
This is a trailer for the documentary “The Wrong Choice”, which I ended up writing a fair bit of music for (including this bit that plays over the footage below). The documentary is about how the Aberdeen City Council cut funding for services in the city, including a centre for disabled people, and explores the repercussions of these decisions on the lives of vulnerable people.
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We have hogs in the night
08/06/09 18:01 Filed under: Personal
Yes - another boring garden blog, which is really just pics of my early June garden, the strange local cat that has moved in with us and a family of hedgehogs that have built a home under the forsythia.
Fat bums hanging out of feeding bowls.
They all look the same, but there’s definitely at least 2 of them. We call them all “Bunk”.
This is the back door to Bunk’s house. You can kinda see them sleeping inside (well I could at the time, didn’t come out too good in the photo)
First strawbs
Marigolds are out :)
This is our part-time cat, we call him/her “McNulty”
Pansy-town is looking better populated these days.
Pumpkin update: I now realise that I totally planted these guys too close to each-other. oops.
Front door to Bunk’s house. He’s the one who messes up my mulch every night, as you can see here...
Pansy-town and pumpkin village.
View from the house.
This is the wicked BBQ Matt got for free from Gumtree. FREE!! :-o Apparently someone didn’t want to bother restoring it. It’s HUGE! 4 gas burners. Took us one day to sort it out - some people are too damn lazy.
21st Century Composer as Producer
04/06/09 00:07 Filed under: Study
This is the title of my research proposal for admission on the PhD programme at the University of Queensland.
I am ever so excited to be finally starting this thing up! To finally begin seriously discussing and actively creating the music I’d love to hear. Music I’d love to produce. And I’m glad I’ve waited this long, everything about this feels just right - from the possibility of working with Dr Robert Davidson (who starts at UQ in July) to the fact that the college have let me scale back my hours a bit and that I’m finally set up with a great studio to work in after years of moving around and not being settled anywhere. It’s as if the stars have aligned and the universe is letting me know that it’s a good time for me to become a student once again.
Here ’tis:
“Composers working as freelancers in the world today are increasingly being called upon to understand current technology, to then realise, record and produce their own works in a studio environment. This extra work could be viewed as a chore or ‘necessary evil’, but I prefer to think of it as a wonderful creative opportunity to explore.
New distribution methods continue to proliferate and it is through recordings, rather than concert performances, that composers have a presence in these channels.
The rise and evolution of music technology over the last 50 years has dramatically changed the way music sounds and is experienced by its audience. Recording techniques and the synthesized, sampled, affected, manipulated sounds made possible by new and diverse means have altered the sonic palette - radio, film/TV, music download sites and interactive games have created new contexts for music to be experienced and consumed.
The vast arsenal of music technology tools available today allows experimentation and the exploitation of new sounds, textures and colours. These advancements facilitate the realisation and recording of original music with more ease and less expense, allowing the composer to manipulate recorded performances further by means of digital effects, spatial mixing, looping and sampling.
Hardware such as effects pedals, digital effect sends and MIDI triggers can be implemented into live performances through the close placement of microphones, live mixing and speaker positioning. Sophisticated sample libraries can now effectively imitate the sounds, textures and articulations of a symphony orchestra. New software applications are becoming increasingly abundant, allowing the composer-producer to manipulate sounds in ways previously thought impossible.
As well as being a composer, I am also a music technologist and have access to a project studio containing a collection of useful hardware and industry-standard software applications. I intend to explore the creative possibilities of Logic Pro 8 (sequencing software) for sound creation and 5.1 mixing, the KAOSS pad for live filter effects in recording and performance, Melodyne (pitch and rhythm manipulation) and Pro-Tools (digital audio workstation) for beat-detection, mixing and mastering.
An important question in my research is “what production strategies are effective in communicating new musical ideas to a wide audience”. In addition to compositional work, I will address this question through several modes of engagement with current knowledge in studio production. Firstly I will conduct a literature review of trade and scholarly journals dealing with compositional approaches to studio production. Secondly, I will conduct qualitative research in the form of interviews with practitioners including engineers, composer-producers, electro-acoustic performers and producers.
The expected outcomes of this work will be a folio of compositions comprising:
· String Quartet
· Collection of Experimental Etudes
· An instrumental “concept album” that can be scored for ensemble performance
· Feature length film score
· Symphonic work
In addition to the folio, I will complete an investigation into the challenges and unique opportunities for creativity that affect composers in the 21st century.”
I hope they like my ideas... I will keep you all posted on how I go.
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Stars
03/06/09 23:57 Filed under: New Music
A while back I promised to post some demos of the Ariella Strings sessions as soon as I had any... so here’s an instrumental demo of track called “Stars”. Not my composition, I just did the arrangement for string quartet. From what I understand, the track is going to undergo a major overhaul in terms of production - so the finished version may well sound completely different to this.
I’m particularly fond of the last section, after the timpani. :) The best thing about this project was that Monty and Paul gave me freedom to do whatever I pleased with the strings. Loads of fun from beginning to end, this one.
Stars instrumental
(click the link to hear it)
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The Mystery Deal
28/05/09 00:33 Filed under: Personal
Going through some old photos I found these little mysteries from 2007. This is me sealing some kind of deal with the legendary producer Tony Visconti (Bowie/Bolan), the particulars of which I can’t exactly recall since I was massively inebriated at the time. I think it was something to do with him coming to do a talk at my uni campus next time he was in the UK, though I’m sure he just thinks I’m some crazy drunk chick harassing him and didn’t take it seriously.
As I don’t happen to recall (but am told), the night concluded with me being kicked out of this establishment.
You see... in America everything is big, you order a shot of neat whiskey is receive a half-pint, more if you tip them nicely. This is the reason why I can never live in America.
Postmodernism?
25/05/09 14:56 Filed under: Study
What does the modern ear wish to listen to? Should that even matter or influence anything? Does the music have to be “smart” and “new” and “codified” to be worth anyone’s time? It’s kinda funny that I’m reading this collection of essays now, when next on my pile of books to read is Schoenberg’s own “Style & Idea” collection. For now I will remain as confused as ever over postmodernism, and what the hell that word actually means.
In the meantime, I love this quote by Roger Scruton:
“ ...the elements of musical order still retain their appeal. Even in the accelerated conditions of modern life-- and especially in those conditions-- people understand repetition, they understand the rhythmical figure; they respond to the pure intervals of fifth and fourth; their attention can be captured by strophic melodies and dance rhythms. To use these as your raw materials is not to cheapen music, but to begin from the point where music makes contact with life.”
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May Garden Update..
25/05/09 14:27 Filed under: Personal
All my little babies are growing up! Since the last update it has been a dramatic and traumatic few weeks.
Due to some catastrophic wind conditions over the past month (our backyard is like a wind-tunnel and I have no idea why), we lost 3 baby pumpkin plants, a tomato plant, a few pansies, a lilly bulb that eroded and fell over, and a gooseberry plant that drowned in it’s own cloche.
I even mysteriously lost one of the three rhubarbs, it just disappeared. But those that survived the trials are established now and going strong.
This long weekend past I have been out there mulching my heart out. Hopefully this will stop the roots eroding in the high winds, and put an end to the local cats using my garden beds as a toilet. The whole garden is starting to look ace, I’ll take some pics of the whole thing once the mulching is done. This afternoon I’m going to plant out some marigolds and dahlias... then that’s it! The planting of the babies will be officially over.
Pumpkin flowers. I can taste the soup already.
Hard to tell what these are... but in the middle is the eggplant, and slightly to the left is the romano tomatoes. Some are still in cloches, I’m not risking it anymore, I tried to fight the wind tunnel before and I didn’t win.
Right - this is weird - last year I planted a strawberry patch in a sunny corner of the garden and over the winter completely forgot about it. When I go in to clear out the weeds I come across this - I don’t know if you can see it but it looks like there’s about 50 fruits on that dang thing. And the strawberry plants decided to branch out and have babies of their own, which I didn’t know about. Now I have about 25 of these plants, all covered in fruit. Crazy!
Baby pansy corner.
Awwer. My fave flower in the whole world. They remind me of little happy smiling faces.
That blank spot is the site of the mysterious disappearing rhubarb plants.
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A portrait of the most obsessed Morrissey fans in the world...
16/05/09 13:11 Filed under: Fangirl
Later on tonight I will be going to the Cambs gig and I’m sure I’ll see people there WAAY freakier than me. I think it’s awesome that the one weekend of my life when I had silly purple hair is the one where I get photographed in front of the Salford Lads Club, the one that gets printed in national media. And I’m wearing rainbow fingerless bum-gloves.
Click on the ‘read more’ link at the bottom of this post to see the whole article (cheers for the scan, Liz).
I know it’s been a little while since I last blogged what I’m up to; I’ve been mostly working on finishing my band’s (long gestating) EP and writing incidental music for a documentary project. Also, the school year is wrapping up for 2008/9 so I’ve been working some extra hours trying to help the kids finish the year in style (or in some cases, just finish!). I would be stressed out, except that I know summer is just around the corner, starting with Glasto, which I am terribly excited about. Neil Young on the pyramid stage, nuff said. :D
Matt and I also have our families coming to stay with us over the next 2 months - his mother and father arrive in 2 weeks, they stay until we leave for Glasto, and then as we’re driving back from glasto we pick my mother up from the airport. And she’s staying for about 3 weeks after that. Will be nice to take a break from ordinary life for a little bit and go on lots of holidays, show them a bit of England and Europe while they’re here. Also... 2 months of mum-cooked meals FTW!
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Finally some Helzuki music..
19/04/09 23:42 Filed under: New Music
Check www.helzuki.co.uk to hear my band’s latest stuff.
We spent a few too many months laying these eggs! I think the next batch will happen a lot quicker and with more focus and enthusiasm. Still, we learned a lot through the process of making these. We’re thinking of adding another 3 songs to these and releasing an EP in a month or so.
Aside from being stricken with Matt’s pharyngitis not once but TWICE in the space of two weeks (WTF?), and playing my way through Mass Effect, I spent the rest of my holiday time mixing a few projects and marking student work. Term 3 commences tomorrow and I turn 30 the day after that. I discovered the Flaming Lips’ cover of Borderline, Ute Lemper’s Little Water Song, and the original Grey Gardens which have all enriched my life wonderfully. Another find: Kutiman’s Thru-You project which just blew me away. Finally, I now exist on IMDB as a composer. Another brick in the wall!
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We spent a few too many months laying these eggs! I think the next batch will happen a lot quicker and with more focus and enthusiasm. Still, we learned a lot through the process of making these. We’re thinking of adding another 3 songs to these and releasing an EP in a month or so.
Aside from being stricken with Matt’s pharyngitis not once but TWICE in the space of two weeks (WTF?), and playing my way through Mass Effect, I spent the rest of my holiday time mixing a few projects and marking student work. Term 3 commences tomorrow and I turn 30 the day after that. I discovered the Flaming Lips’ cover of Borderline, Ute Lemper’s Little Water Song, and the original Grey Gardens which have all enriched my life wonderfully. Another find: Kutiman’s Thru-You project which just blew me away. Finally, I now exist on IMDB as a composer. Another brick in the wall!
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The Spy Who Clubbed Me
10/04/09 12:12 Filed under: New Music
My first game oriented demo, and my first project using the new VSL samples I got for my birthday. I know it still needs mixing and tweaking - but I’ve uploaded it to the GANG website for a thorough criticism. I decided to go with a spy-genre theme but twist it in with some breakbeats and live bass (courtesy of Matt).
Spy Game Soundtrack [demo] by leahkardos
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oooh birthday pressies!
After the crazy string arranging overload of the last two weeks I promised myself my next project would be electronic, so I have been busying myself with creating a demo-reel centered on music appropriate for games this past week. The idea is to take it to IGDA meetings and game conventions, get out there networking and to shove the demo reel in people’s faces whilst at the same time begging for a job.
After a few false starts where I grappled with the issues of personal style, I think I have finally found something that works for me. I guess its valuable to try something different and fail enormously at it - at least then you know for sure that the particular style or format is not your forte and you should stay well away! You can’t walk through life thinking you’re awesome at everything, a master of every style.
.... And thus Leah discovered retro 8-bit style computer game/iPhone music is just not what she’s about. Best leave that shiz to the experts. After this I then gathered up my spirits and began work on a dark electronic track with loads of creepy sound design and a nasty fat chopped up DnB beat that breaks loose the twisted ambience like an aneurysm. It’s coming along so well it’s practically writing itself! I’ll post it here as soon as I have a decent enough demo of it.
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Ariella Strings Session
03/04/09 20:03 Filed under: Work
:)
In other news, Matt has managed to give himself Pharyngitis and I feel the same thing creeping up on me slowly. Just in time for Easter holidays, which is rather crappy indeed!
I’ve decided to spend these next two weeks coughing and moaning about my sore throat, sitting on the couch drinking tea watching my boyfriend finish playing Saints Row II. In the down time maybe I’ll work on a new game-soundtrack-oriented-demo reel. I just joined this wonderful online community called G.A.N.G (game audio network guild) in an effort to learn more about the medium and have found myself very inspired and surprised at the openness, friendliness and supportive nature of the group. I’m used to composers being bitchy, petty, jealous and snippy at each other. Seems these game audio people are just in it for the love. A nice change!
Suffering from...
29/03/09 19:58 Filed under: Work
... string arrangement overload at the moment. Not only am I doing arrangement for strings with my students at work at the moment, but I have had my own busy string arranging agenda going on at the same time. Spending far too much time pondering harmonics, alto clefs and double stops these days. Rah! I have already decided, next composition is going to be electronic.
I banged out three today and I think they’re going to turn out just lovely. :) One full song (and a bitty part of another) for Monty, two alternate arrangements for a Helzuki track and (finally!) a first draft of the slow movement for my “proper” quartet. Will post results once they’re recorded this wednesday.
Nothing more to add, just thought y’all should know I’m busy here.
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Garden update
22/03/09 11:13 Filed under: Personal
I’ve been protecting these damn seedlings like a mad mother hen -- with such a fuss I sometimes scare myself!
Pumkins, eggplants, tomatoes. All a week old.
Spring blooms
My laughing gnome
outside, courgettes and garlic getting some sun. In the back some thyme and sage
There’s Matt consulting his precious DIY book. One wonders what schemes he plots this morning...
The key to living...
19/03/09 17:15 Filed under: Work
My man Shostakovich allegedly once said
In the long run, all things in life can be separated into the important and the unimportant. You must be principled when it comes to the important things, and not when it comes to the unimportant. That may be the key to living.”“
I say ‘allegedly’ because his famous ‘Testimony” memoirs, which were published after his death have had their authenticity disputed for a long time. Regardless of who actually said it, I think they were right. There is a right time to stick to your principles and there are definitely times when it’s more appropriate to be flexible.
Whereas once I would believe in and insist on absolute mastery of techniques, now I can package that knowledge for a specific individual so that they can easily add a simple string arrangement to their grime tune -- and not feel dirty afterwards like I’ve just personally offended the muses, but actually feel happy in the knowledge that this student wouldn’t have otherwise bothered with the concept of harmony if I hadn’t been able to flex.
The key to living. I remember a time when I tried to be principled in every aspect of my life - I wanted to be the living breathing embodiment of everything I believed in. How boring. How exhausting! No, I can’t write music that is too commercial. No, I can’t be part of THAT project, since it’s not what I’m about as an artist ... No, I can’t like that composer’s music because it is too derivative. No, I can’t go to that gig because that band went big and ‘sold out’. No, I can’t be friends with that person because they don’t like the same art and music that I do. What a load of hogwash. Life is more fun when you say ‘Yes” to things, when you are prepared to bend your strict principles a little, when the situation calls for it.
Things that are important: my partner, my career, my creative output, my friends, my financial well being, my health, being charitable. Things that are unimportant: haircuts, websites, xbox games, what music my friends like, what people think of me and my work, being right all the time.
... No, I can’t like that composer’s music because it is too derivative. No, I can’t go to that gig because that band went big and ‘sold out’. No, I can’t be friends with that person because they don’t like the same art and music that I do. What a load of hogwash. Life is more fun when you say ‘Yes” to things, when you are prepared to bend your strict principles a little, when the situation calls for it.
Things that are important: my partner, my career, my creative output, my friends, my financial well being, my health, being charitable. Things that are unimportant: haircuts, websites, xbox games, what music my friends like, what people think of me and my work, being right all the time.
Here are some pictures taken of me in today’s music theory class. My *other* natural environment.
The posters for Demonic (updated)
19/03/09 17:06 Filed under: Work
And Dave just sent me the DVD cover art. Nice. I sure hope it wins in a few festivals - I think it deserves to. Seeing my name credited on DVD covers always makes me feel like Steve Martin’s character “the Jerk” when he sees his name printed in the phone book. .. “This is the kind of spontaneous publicity - your name in print - that makes people! I’m in print! Things are going to start happening to me now!” heh. Yeah I WISH... anyways, I find myself wishing he went for this design...
More quartet action coming up
Got another string arrangement to do for Monty (I worked for him previously on “Ballad of St Valentine”, there’s a clip on the audio page). The deal is if the recording session gets done early enough I may get some time with the players to record some new material for myself. My head is racing with ideas already, there wouldn’t be enough time in the world to record everything I’m thinking of right now. Got to narrow it down...
I see my name has been added to the Classical Composer’s Database. Definitely getting a kick out of seeing my name listed here alongside Sculthorpe and Brumby! Check it out, Ma! heh
On the weekend I got out into the garden and got my hands good n dirty. This summer I want it to be spectacular! And mostly edible. If the credit crunch kicks me down, at least I’ll have loads of courgettes and garlic to get us through for a few months. For the first time ever I am going to attempt growing pumpkins - the really big-arse kind. I might document my progress in this blog, why not, eh? Also starting from seed with rhubarb, gooseberries, black chilli, bell peppers, onion, romero tomatoes, more courgette and eggplant. Planted out a stack of garlic cloves too. When it’s all ready I’ll be able to make wicked antipasto. Mmmm.
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DEMONIC by David Keith
I did this score over three nights during a work week ... and I think it turned out alright considering that David saw fit to use the first draft I sent him of the score. I get a bit of a kick out of working quickly like this, efficiency is an underrated virtue these days - especially in music - so often having too many ingredients spoils the dish. I limited myself to 1 melodic motif and a sound palette of piano, celeste, strings and backwards reverbs. I created the creepy animal-like sounds by putting piano reverbs through Logic’s vocal transformer and messing with the formants. Fun!
You can check out some more of David’s short film work HERE.
In other news, I got my Michael Jackson tickets! 30th of July, me and Liz will be there ready to either be blown away by the best and biggest pop comeback of all time, or slightly disappointed but yet fascinated by a train-wreck of gigantic proportions. It’ll be music history either way. And I’ll be there! Whoop!
Eyelashes of Gina swept into my little studio for three days last weekend and left behind two shiny new song nuggets. We uploaded them to the band’s website (which is linked just to the right of this blog). If you actually go and listen to the music I want you to keep two things in mind: 1, remember that it’s only supposed to be a laff.... and 2, that all tracks were conceived, brainstormed, performed and recorded in a few hours. Keeping in mind those two points, I think things turned out ok!
I thank the gods for creating Melodyne! Man I love technology...
x
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Morgan's Theme and EOG are coming to visit...
Morgan’s theme: written for a character in David Keith’s new short film “Demonic”.
click here to hear it
Starting tomorrow night and for a few days, the Eyelashes of Gina will be moving into Glory Box Studios to work more on their upcoming album. This means I need to stock up on whisky and cover the furniture in plastic... My boyfriend has vacated the house, off on a ski holiday - everything is set in place and I can feel some genius music coming on. :)
In other news? .... not a lot! Just generally chipping away at the mountain of half-started projects I have here.
I find myself constantly fantasizing about two things these days:
one of these:
.... and being able to earn enough money making music so I can teach less and compose more. Teaching music full time is not where I want to be in 5 years time, despite how much I love it. I just need a couple of big jobs to come in, jobs that actually pay, then I might be able to scale my hours back. (snap out of it Leah!).
Then again the full time job might allow me to pay for an extortionately priced ticket to see this!
oooooh!!!!!!!!!! I’m not ashamed. I admit I am (like all Aussies) desperately uncultured, no matter how much I bang on about Shostakovich I can’t deny the King of Pop! Must. Get. A. Ticket.....
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click here to hear it
Starting tomorrow night and for a few days, the Eyelashes of Gina will be moving into Glory Box Studios to work more on their upcoming album. This means I need to stock up on whisky and cover the furniture in plastic... My boyfriend has vacated the house, off on a ski holiday - everything is set in place and I can feel some genius music coming on. :)
In other news? .... not a lot! Just generally chipping away at the mountain of half-started projects I have here.
I find myself constantly fantasizing about two things these days:
one of these:
.... and being able to earn enough money making music so I can teach less and compose more. Teaching music full time is not where I want to be in 5 years time, despite how much I love it. I just need a couple of big jobs to come in, jobs that actually pay, then I might be able to scale my hours back. (snap out of it Leah!).
Then again the full time job might allow me to pay for an extortionately priced ticket to see this!
oooooh!!!!!!!!!! I’m not ashamed. I admit I am (like all Aussies) desperately uncultured, no matter how much I bang on about Shostakovich I can’t deny the King of Pop! Must. Get. A. Ticket.....
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Don't Make Me Cut You
03/03/09 18:00 Filed under: Personal
Happy and busy with a handful of quite enjoyable projects right now. It is strange to be working on so many different things at once, and it’s weird how the same melodies and textures are coming out in all of these various projects, as if I’m really only writing one piece in many forms. As a break from the relentless music making, I’ve been busy sewing up some snarky crosstitch samplers to hang around my home (just finished the ‘irony’ one).
Here are a few that I still have lying around (I tend to give the best ones away to my friends)...
In other news, here’s a random list of things that are currently knocking about in my brain: excitement over the upcoming Morrissey tour; wishing the warmer weather would stay; wondering if I should finally go part-time at work; wanting a puppy for my 30th birthday; wondering if it is the right time to plant my vegetable patch; should I dye my hair red; should I continue resisting twitter; wouldn’t a nice hot bath right about now be so lovely. I wish the answer to all of these things is yes.
Spring has Sprung? (wtf)...
... and I am a busy bee. Got a violin and double bass duet due by the 15th of March, followed closely by a chamber work for woodwinds in early April. Love it when things get busy like this.
Despite all the classical stuff, I am still looking for that special media project to sink my contextually moody teeth into. A short film, perhaps? Sound design? If the perfect project is out there, I would consider doing the work gratis (but it would have to be *perfect*, yeah?)
My winter sun trip to Mallorca was very nice indeed, thanks for asking. Since returning I seem to crave paella constantly, and I have had some old freckles come out of hiding to remind me of the old days under the Aussie sun ... (all this despite the fact I still look like Casper the Friendly Ghost’s sister in the pic below). Did you know the ‘black’ in a ‘black paella’ is squid ink? Did you also know it was delicious? Morrissey would be most displeased.
It was extra nice to return to a Spring-like UK; that warm pollen smell in the air leads me to fantasise about June/July, potting about in the garden, sunsets at 10pm, no students for three glorious months. Then I remember its only Feb and it all feels like a cruel joke!
Right, here’s a photographic summary of our winter sun sojourn:
We looked at some water...
We did some hiking along coastal cliffs in inappropriate footwear... 
We drank a lot of booze...
Rented bikes
Laughed at funny looking dogs...
... and we angered Morrissey by eating some tasty animals which we later paid money to see alive at Palma Aquarium (which is excellent, by the way!). 
Sunny Times Ahead
12/02/09 23:11 Filed under: Personal
How happy am I about my impending week in Mallorca? About as happy as any Australian who has just endured 2 weeks of snow and the freezing Russian winds; who found a cheap getaway to a regular British-package-holiday-type-island with significantly warmer climes. Yes I’m chuffed. I clearly lack the genetic disposition for walking to work on the ice. Snow? I’m over it! Deliver me to a beach, please.
Work wise, things are looking up. When I made this site and plugged it on a few websites I had no idea I would get such a positive response so quickly. The problem is everyone’s project sounds like fun.
Another problem is I have just initiated earnest discussions about cool sounding projects with cool creative people and I’m going away on holiday tomorrow. I’m going to have to find a way to be selective - especially since this is not really about the money for me, but rather exercise and experience.
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Climbing the steps to Parnassus
08/02/09 01:12 Filed under: Study
3 days and five pages of dire note-against-note counterpoint for a cantus firmas in every mode later ... I feel like dying. I continually remind myself: Beethoven found this useful and referred to it constantly. Was this the reason he was such a cranky man?
I guess I will continue with it for a while, since the better I remember all the rules, the better I will be able to break them. I don’t want to begin writing The Quartet until I have a clear idea about theme and structure. At the moment my head is swimming with a million ideas with nothing really pinned down. On Thursday night I got into a cab and found myself overwhelmingly inspired by the Punjabi folk music playing on the car radio. Doesn’t help that the commission is supposed to be in neo-classic style.
*sigh* Hopefully the concept and design with hit me in the face sometime soon or else a Neoclassic/Punjabi mashup may happen, and surely only bring discomfort and misery to the world!
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Returning to the Gimp once again, to enhance and crop my world
04/02/09 19:18 Filed under: Stuff
Searching for a good image editor for Mac is not easy (when you’re a tightarse like me who demands that all downloadable apps be free). I must have searched the interwebs for 3 or 4 hours for a good free program and now have just realised that I must return to the Gimp. My old friend, that nasty floating-4-window mind-job of a crappy program. I suppose the Gimp is a fitting name - you love to despise it, the dirty little secret that you don’t tell your fancy ‘photoshop’ and ‘aperture’ friends about, but at the end of the day it fulfills your needs when you need it to.
And this means I can get another step closer to finishing this website once and for all! I bought this domain a year ago in a fit of optimism and forward thinking, and it took that long PLUS a boredom filled snow-week off work to finally get me moving on it.
And since beginning yesterday morning I feel like I’m on a roll with this thing. I got the camera out and took some pictures of the studio space, in all its shabby glory. Being generally terrible with a camera I was shocked and awed by the results - i.e., they’re not half bad as far as pictures of walls go. Decided to make the little paper bird my mascot and logo for the site, seems fitting since he hangs above every recording I make. If anyone can draw a better one for me, I would sure appreciate it!
And this means I can get another step closer to finishing this website once and for all! I bought this domain a year ago in a fit of optimism and forward thinking, and it took that long PLUS a boredom filled snow-week off work to finally get me moving on it.
And since beginning yesterday morning I feel like I’m on a roll with this thing. I got the camera out and took some pictures of the studio space, in all its shabby glory. Being generally terrible with a camera I was shocked and awed by the results - i.e., they’re not half bad as far as pictures of walls go. Decided to make the little paper bird my mascot and logo for the site, seems fitting since he hangs above every recording I make. If anyone can draw a better one for me, I would sure appreciate it!
