Work
Updates
27/07/11 11:55
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.
________
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.
________
0 Comments
Feather Hammer sessions
27/06/11 19:17
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!
________
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!
________
Attack of the Herbals - Trailer
15/06/11 20:14
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!
________
________
Cloudburst & The Millipede Engine
01/05/11 01:44
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
________
Attack of the Herbals
08/03/11 21:00
It's finally official: I'm composing the score for David Keith's new comedy horror feature "Attack of the Herbals". Whoop!
Back from Aus, Busy as Hell (and a little bit about psychoacoustics)
28/07/10 00:59
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!
________
'My Brother's Keeper' theme cues
10/04/10 00:01
Over the easter break I've been working on some theme ideas for the soundtrack to Lee Hutcheon's new fllm 'My Brother's Keeper'. Suffice to say, this John character is a bit of a messed up dude.
"My Brother's Keeper" - Home theme 1 by leahkardos
'My Brother's Keeper' - John Action cue by leahkardos
'My Brother's Keeper' - John's Theme cue 2 by leahkardos
"My Brother's Keeper" - short orchestra cue by leahkardos
"My Brother's Keeper" - Home [piano version] by leahkardos
________
Beat mapping is Such a Bitch [UPDATE: a Cure is Found! Sorry Logic, I didn't mean it]
02/04/10 15:45
Oh Logic Pro, you know I love you.
You make the task of composing and arranging so easy and pleasurable, using your many key commands is like instant gratification for me, making short work of things that would usually take a few seconds longer. I remember days not long ago I would write music by clicking in each single note into Sibelius, you really have changed my life! You’re so smart, its like you know what I’m thinking, understand what I’m composing! Could you be ’the one’? For a while I thought Abelton would steal away my heart, but I should have always known I could never leave you alone. However, we need to sort something out.
Your MIDI beat mapping function sucks so hard .... & my eyes, after 4 hours of this thankless task, they bleed. There has to be a better way!? Your previous version was a little easier - move from left to right, place a marker, marker stayed put. In version 9, it’s all whack. Have you tried to get all clever and contextual or something? Why is it when I place my next marker, all the preceding MIDI info shifts about?
If only there was a way I could tap in a new tempo against the old one to replace the old one (in the case of improvisations that were performed to no click). Work it out for Logic 10, & I’ll gladly keep giving you my money.
********************************
UPDATE 25-05-10
So I was bleating on about this in the office the other day and a colleague and all-round apple-logic--genius-man Mike Watkinson found me a great work around! My vexations are over! Here's how you do it:
- To stop the pesky MIDI notes from jumping about as you beatmap individual notes, you have to lock the SMPTE first. Makes sense.
- To create a new tempo against the old grid, create a new track and tap/play in the new tempo as new MIDI recording. SMPTE lock the original captured performance. Use the 'beats from regions' option in the beatmapping global track to analyse your new tempo track... and... voila! Easy peasy. Can't believe I used to spend whole evenings doing this the hard way. What a mug!
Update (did you know gardening is good for your soul?)
28/03/10 16:45
It’s been ages since I have written a blog about my music. I have recently had an epiphany and a bit of a breakthrough in my creative process... I almost don’t want to jinx it by talking about it, but I feel a big blog about it will happen soon. Anyway, feeling refreshed, I’ve starting writing music for saxophonist Lara James - some experimental tech-based things, along with some more traditional lyrical pieces. I’m really enjoying it so far.
Next week is Easter holidays and I have a feature length film I’ve been asked to do the music for. It’s called “My Brother’s Keeper” and it’s by filmmaker Lee Hutcheon. Years ago I contributed some music to his award winning feature “In a Man’s World”, and I’m excited to be working with him again. The film is about a soldier that comes back from Afghanistan a mental case, he ends up taking his brother hostage. Fun fun fun!
Other things I should have blogged about recently that I haven’t mentioned:
• Fitkin’s gig at Kings Place. Awesome gig, really inspiring in many ways. The gorgeous Ruth Wall on harp was absolutely mesmerising. Also, a highlight was hearing the composer perform all three parts of The Cone Gatherers for solo piano. Always a favourite of mine (I was so impressed I decided that I too wanted to play it live, so I ordered the score the next day). The only disappointment was the lack of technology, & the lack of real drum kit.... orchestra snares sound rubbish.
• Les Claypool at Koko. I went to this not knowing what to expect... maybe a bunch of Primus tunes? A nostalgic mosh to Tommy the Cat and My Name is Mud? I went along with Matt and we joked that since I dragged him along to see Fitkin’s show he could drag me out to see this.... In the end, the two shows were actually quite similar. Les is touring with a pair of classical percussionists and a cellist. It was intense... like a fusion of prog, jazz, hillbilly & classical music... heavily improvised around bass grooves, loads of technology on stage (loops, digital effects galore). Fantastic!
• Beach House/ Grizzly Bear at the Roundhouse. I had been looking forward to this gig for a long time, having recently gone crazy for Grizzly Bear’s “Veckatimest” (really, such an awesome record). Beach House I also loved dearly, I’m such a sucker for dreamy shoegaze music. A really magical night. I could write about it, but as always my mate Liz says it better here.
• I have tickets to Phil Glass’s premier of Violin Concerto No. 2 next month. *squeal*
Sage advice for every situation
24/11/09 21:25
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!
________
My wanted ad: desperately seeking...
18/11/09 15:41
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!!
________
David Keith's "Dead Funny" short wins loads of awards
04/11/09 11:05
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/
________
Using Ableton Live 8 Looper To Make My Own 'Alleged Dances'
31/10/09 11:47
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...
________
Order being heaven's first law and all...
11/08/09 19:02
... 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!
________
Trailer for Psychosomatic'
08/07/09 03:15
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!
________
Trailer for "The Wrong Choice"
10/06/09 20:29
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.
________
oooh birthday pressies!
08/04/09 14:02
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.
________
Ariella Strings Session
03/04/09 20:03
:)
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
... 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.
________
The key to living...
19/03/09 17:15
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
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
16/03/09 14:13
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.
________
DEMONIC by David Keith
13/03/09 19:45
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
________
Morgan's Theme and EOG are coming to visit...
05/03/09 19:01
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.....
________
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.....
________
Spring has Sprung? (wtf)...
23/02/09 22:20
... 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!). 