We're on the ball...

So, nearly 4 months after this site found out about Catwoman Copycat, SFX have printed a news article about it in the latest issue (Christmas 2005). Sheesh, get with the program, guys! ;)

SFX

Oversol - new site, new tour, new single!

"Speed", the debut single by Oversol is released on November 28th! To celebrate, the lads are going on tour, and have unleashed a smart new website: Oversol.co.uk. You can hear a snippet of the new single, plus bits from all their previous EPs.

The song sounds great, a little like their big brothers, Athlete, but with their own spiky edge. Buy it when it's out - you know it makes sense...!

Short Story: The Unexpected Drink

I wrote this a few years ago as part of a creative writing course, and I still like it. Fancy use of different voices and everything... Not sure what I'm trying to say, but there you go. I'm just writing it, you guys figure it out!

The Unexpected Drink

Seeking the Bubble

Yes, you poor unfortunate souls have stumbled on to the very rare and exclusive tracks that I made many many years ago. Armed only with an Amiga 1200, a Yamaha PSR-300 and a copy of Sequencer One, I created a number of tracks (two albums worth of original material, plus a further two of cover versions). Many of these tracks were sadly lost in the great Hard Drive Crash of 1993, so these files are all that is left. I had stuck them onto a crumbling C-60, and have recently been able to convert them into MP3s for future enjoyment. The quality of the recordings isn't great, but not too bad. If I'm brave, I'll venture up into the loft to get my old Amiga, and see if I can recover any other long forgotten gems. In the meantime I hope you enjoy them!

Seeking the Bubble was my debut album, recorded sometime in the early 1990s. Heavily influenced by Jean Michel Jarre, a lot of these tracks just seemed to appear from nowhere, usually with a bass line or a drum beat to start, and then a "melody" of sorts to follow.

The artwork on the left is brand-new. I had designed a cover for an album called "Seeking the Bubble" by Jane Galvani (?) for my A-level art, which I may dig out for your amusement at some time, but I felt I needed a new cover for this website, so there it is. If you click on it, you'll get a whopping 1000x1000 pixel image to stick into iTunes to look at while you enjoy the music.

Oh, and by the way, the title come from Shakespeare's As You Like It, in Jacques "Seven Ages of Man" speech: "Then a soldier,/...Seeking the bubble reputation/Even in the cannon's mouth". I just liked the phrase, I guess. Read into it what you will...

Seeking the Bubble (4'14") The first track I wrote, and I'm still pretty proud of, even after all these years. I can't remember if I started with the bassline, or the drum track. Amiga Format had a tutorial which showed you how to recreate the Funky Drummer sample, so that was that. Some have likened it to an ice-cream van jingle, so if you feel the need for a Mr Whippy, then that's the reason.

Abracadabra (13'30") The Magnum Opus of the album, "Abracadabra" is really three tracks in one. Once upon a time, they all had different names, but I'm buggered if I can remember them now. The tricky part was working out the bridges between sections. The sequencer I was using was quite basic and didn't allow you to fade things in or out or change tempo mid-song, so it all had to be on one level. In the third section I had a really deep bass bell sound, but it seemed to be too deep and was setting up resonant frequencies! I thought I'd taken them all out, but there are still some in there near the end of the section. You have been warned!

Tributizer (3'21") The title comes from the drums in the middle eight section (about 1'35" in). I suppose I thought they sounded a bit Motown-esque, so this is my tribute to that. No I'm not sure either. Anyway, the track follows the pattern of most of my early stuff, come up with a phrase, and repeat it in different voices and in different keys. Still, it's quite jaunty and not too embarrassing!

A Wasted Life (3'12") Hmm. A slow track, and in some ways a very painful one. I think this was my first stab at a live melody line, played over the rest of the arrangement. I think I'll let you be the judge of whether or not I succeeded. And yes, I know most of it is off key. I'm sorry.

MegaKick (3'51") It's brash, it's ballsy, it's got a cool (or annoying) hi-hat going all the way through it. It's got banjos. It's got slightly phased drums (achieved by duplicating the drum track and playing it back at exactly the same time). It's got swooshy bits. It's got a silly title.

Interlude (1'36") The perfect way to end the first side of the album. "Interlude" is a nice little bit of a looped melody which builds up through most of the preset organ sounds on the old Yamaha, chucks in a few drums, and then starts to take things away again. Nice.

Touch and Move (3'23") Ah, the old Orchestra Hit, where would I (or the Pet Shop Boys) be without it? The rest of the track is quite average, which is a pity, as it was due to open the second side of the album. I think the melody was live, but I'm not sure. The quieter bits are nicer than the shouty bits.

Stranger Place (2'51") A more interesting track than it first seems. If you listen closely there's quite a quiet bell noise before each section, which I quite like. I also like the random "rah" section, starting about 1'53" which then builds up. The drums might be a little harsh at times, but overall I think the effect is quite good.

Planet Three (3'30") Probably should have developed into something more interesting after the introduction and the start of the random bassline, but it doesn't. It just keeps looping.

Hide and Seek (4'47") Having got the hang of live melodies, I progressed to writing proper songs, with words and everything. Fortunately, I know I'm not a singer, and didn't own a microphone at the time, so my voice will not be heard. The words were excruciating as well. The echo effect on the chorus nearly killed everything, as my Amiga tried to process something like 28 notes at a time, when the keyboard only had something like a 16-note polyphony. Which is why it seems to slow down a bit at times!

Inside (Your Own Mind) (5'47") Aw, it's a love song. Again, there were words and everything. It sounded really good when I converted nearly everything into the piano voice, but you've only got the multi-instrument version here. And yes, the words were as cheesy as you can imagine. It's probably a better track if you don't know the words.

Multiverse (4'35") Inspired by the concept of a multiple universe, and the fact that there seems to be a few different verses and bridges and choruses floating around the same song. I also have to warn you of multiple key changes, 'cos they're cool. One of the better tracks on the album, this probably would have been a choice for a single!

Seeking the Bubble [New Version] (3'42") After learning more about making music, I decided to revisit "Seeking the Bubble" to see what I could do with it. Out went the Funky Drummer, and in came a new drum beat, a funked up bassline, a key change or two, and even, <gasp> samples. There was even room for a new verse. And so we finish the album the way we started it - not with a whimper... and I'll leave it to Private Hudson to have the last word...

The End of an Era...

Alas, as I write this, the last moments of Christian O'Connell's Breakfast Show on Xfm are playing out. It's almost as emotional as when Simon Mayo left Radio 1. Still, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Christian, Chris Smith, Roque and Brian the Idiotic Assistant for five years of making the trip to work bearable (and sometimes making me cry with laughter so much I could hardly see the road). You will be missed, my friends (even if I never did get a T-shirt...!)

The Lovely Lauren Laverne™ takes over in a week or so. I'm not saying it'll be the same, but I'll keep an open mind. At least it wasn't bloody Richard Bacon.