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News: Nearing the end of 2015…

October 24, 2015 — Leave a comment

This year has been amazing. I’ve gone through loads of stuff in previous blog posts about what I’ve been up to. Gigs, releasing an EP, more gigs… and more gigs. It’s been GREAT.

We’re about to head into the last 2 months of 2015, and I’m getting excited for what might be around the corner. I’m hoping to start moving outside of Cardiff with my live show. Becoming a part of the music scene in Cardiff has been a great experience. I’m eternally greatful to John Rostron for putting me on in the first place at Sŵn Festival earlier this year as it opened up so many doors, but I believe it’s time for me to try and introduce myself to some new faces.

I’m so happy to mention again that I will be playing at the longer packed weekend that is happening this 7th – 8th November. You can buy tickets and check out the rest of the line-up here

I’d also like to say a big thank you to Lloyd Griffiths, who’s seems to have been a firm believer in me, and has invited me to come back a good handful of times now, which has led to even more opportunities for me.

Last but certainly not least. Adam Walton… This man is actually who made it happen. In a sense. Having he not played my track ‘Changing Time’ on BBC Radio Wales at the start of this year, I think I may have given up by now. That first radio play is what led to John picking me up to play Sŵn, and every gig I’ve had after that. I’m actually writing this whilst listening to his show (Every Saturday night on BBC Radio Wales from 10pm). I also highly recommend his book ‘On Making Music’. You can buy it on Amazon (if you’re like me you like to own something physical), or offer a donation to download it from the website (it’s actually free but it’s such a great book he deserves some credit… Not for his phone!) I read it earlier this year, and it’s a great read from front to back, highly informative and a good laugh too. I imagined him reading it to me the whole time, much like I did with John Cleese’s Biography.

Anyway, moving on from mushy thank yous…

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to play in such an odd location. A back alley! Partridge Lane in Cardiff to be exact. This was the first time I had Matthew Creed from Jammy Custard Studios join me. We’d spoken a handful of times about working together, but a good man called Ziggy pushed us together, and what that did was beautiful.

Matt works in animation, and has been doing visuals for a well known local band called Albatross. These visuals were often pre-made to match the songs story, but I asked Matt whether he could get involved in a more interactive way. I had an old M-Audio trigger finger kicking around in a box, so gave that to him.

Matt now sits on the side of the stage next to me, and performs the visuals live in time with what I’m doing. No click track. He’s playing an instrument. It’s ace. I’m really pleased we’ve managed to get to work together, and can’t wait for what else he might pull out of his hat next time around.

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We’ve done two shows together so far. Both were a bit of an experiment, but we’re hoping to fine tune our current setup for Sŵn Festival so please do come along to check us out. Matt’s an artist in his own right.

Dragon Era

Around two years ago I was told by a friend I should attend this night called ‘Dragon Era’. If I’m honest, I hadn’t started gigging, I didn’t have anything up on soundcloud at the time worth mentioning, and I basically didn’t have anything better to do, so I thought. Why the hell not.

It was one of the best decisions I’ve made for a while. Attending that first night introduced me to wonderful group of fellow electronic music producers in and around Cardiff. Rhys Evans has worked his butt off pulling these compilations together. A brief introduction to both Ryhs Evans (Stereoripe) and Leone (Phantom Islands) has led to myself being a part of the last three compilations which are featured on Bandcamp (links in Listen & Watch Section)

Next Year…

As mentioned, I’m hoping to move outside of Cardiff with my live shows. I’ve really enjoyed playing to an audience again, and have so much fun doing this. However, I’m planning to do this with new material. So the plan is to put together a new album by January/February, so WATCH THIS SPACE.

Video: Alt M.V performance of ‘Changing Time’

September 17, 2015 — Leave a comment

I’ve been dying to get a live video up, and was lucky enough to be invited along by Joe Marvelly and Leone Vuetivavalagi to do a vid with their crew at Alt M.V

Big thanks to those guys and I hope you enjoy

News: What’s about to happen… New releases, Networking, Sŵn Festival and more!

July 9, 2015 — Leave a comment

I briefly spoke about what’s been going on this year, but didn’t mention what’s about to happen…

Workflow has been few and far between due to increased live shows and the day job. I spent quite a bit of time concentrating on how I was going to start performing my music live. Chose a drum kit, and created an Ableton Live template to have running beside me with my Livid Instruments CNTRL:R, a small Korg Volca Keys Synth, and sometimes a little Akai MPK Mini 2 Keyboard (mainly for playing the synth). Playing that synth live is a pain on the ribbon controller…

I’ve still got a lot of work to do on the live aspect of playing. I make a point of meeting members of the audience and talking to them about what they enjoyed, and try getting some honest critisism. Some love it, but some get bored of seeing someone ‘just play drums’ and want to see something more. I try to put as much into my live show as possible when I’m playing, but I think taking it one step further may be the key.

First of all what I’m playing. Live drums can’t be good enough if I’m just playing what’s already on the track, so my aim is to start experimenting more. Filling the holes a little, stripping back to the idea of live drums being texture to add to the production, something extra you don’t hear on the original to make my live shows unique. I discovered more recently that if I try recording my drums to place into my productions that it kills the need for them live, but I don’t want that to happen. For this reason I think the most I’ll ever record in is the odd cymbal or percussion. Adding a live sound on top of electronic drums is so much more powerful.

Imperfections V3

NEW EP RELEASE 10/07/14

With this in mind, on the 10th July I’ll be releasing a new EP for you all to enjoy, entitled ‘Imperfections’. This release for me is a middle ground. I’m wanting to release another album by the end of this year, but that’s quite far away, so I wanted to get something out there for you all to enjoy in the meantime.

This EP is made up of 4 tracks… ‘Running Crows’, ‘Dancing Dragons’, ‘New Dreams’, and ‘Underwater Coin Catcher’.

I wanted to keep a vibe going throughout the EP, so I spent an afternoon creating ideas for it a few weeks ago in one session (picture below high on caffeine after I’d finished the session in my living room). Those ideas I arranged a week later in my studio, and I’ve been mixing them whenever I’ve had the chance to since. Finally I’m at a point where I’ve just got a few small changes to make before mastering them to send to you, and I really hope you’ll enjoy it.

I’m planning to do a short performance of this EP along with a couple of older tracks on the 16th July at Fizzi’s networking event at Fourbars in Cardiff. This is a free networking event for musicians and creatives to get together and meet each other. Create contacts, make friends… It was a great evening last time, and I’m so pleased to have been invited back to play for them. Although it’s a little nerve wracking.

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Free Music Networking Event 16/07/15

I would also like to mention that after the previous meetup I got in contact with Ian Tully, one of the attendees who runs ‘Cardiff Electronic Producers Group’ on Facebook. These guys meet up once a month or so, and the next one will be held at Waterloo Gardens Teahouse in Penylan, Cardiff on the 30th July. I’ll be there so it would be awesome to meet some fellow producers.

Last but CERTAINLY NOT LEAST I would like to announce that I’ll be playing Sŵn Festival 2015 in November. Details about venue etc will be announced closer to the time, but I’m so very pleased to be featured at this event.

swn-festival-listings-poster-web“This year’s Sŵn will take place on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th November (a little later than usual due to the Rugby World Cup) across a bundle of venues in Cardiff. If you’re new to the festival, all you need to know is that one wristband gets you in to all the venues (subject to capacity), as you walk/run/meander around to discover as much new music as possible.” – http://swnfest.com/

It’s always nice to see how other people describe you too –> http://swnfest.com/artist/5th-spear-2/

News: What’s been going on… (With audio and video to enjoy)

July 7, 2015 — Leave a comment

So, previously I spoke about the beginnings of this year. Playing ‘Dim Sŵn’ in April, and the following gigs that playing such a great festival led to.

Well I have to say I’ve been kept busy. Since I’ve supported Bloodsport and Giant Swan at The Abacus, an art gallery that replaced the old bus station ticket office here in Cardiff. It was such a cool little venue to play, and the bands I was supporting were great to meet, making some awesome noises. Both bands were experimental and unique in their own way. I was massively impressed by Giant Swan’s crazy setup of of drum machines and guitar pedals. I felt silly asking them afterwards whether they had sidechain compression setup in there somewhere, the kicks were pumping so much. They didn’t even know what i was talking about. Pure, clean, analog noise. Awesome.

Shortly after I was given the honour of supporting ‘Slowly Rolling Camera‘. A band consisting of some AMAZING musicians, with jazzy electronic sounds often compared with ‘The Cinematic Orchestra’. I felt so lucky to support these guys, and to see some old friendly faces again. Their drummer being the amazing Elliot Bennett, and the tech head behind it all Deri Roberts, not forgetting their amazing bassist Aidan Thorne. All of which and worked with whilst studying at Uni. It was great to see what they’d moved on with and accomplished together.

This set saw me stripping back to just a laptop (no drums), controller and new Korg Volca Keys synth I’d picked up the week previous. It was an odd situation playing at the back of the venue next to the mixing desk, which I quite enjoyed as for once I could hear what the audience were hearing, yet led to people wondering when I was playing, thinking that I was DJing. However, it did lead to some wonderful comments such as ‘Is this Goldpanda‘ or, ‘This really sounds like Bonobo‘. I saw this as a good thing.

Anyway. My brother caught a few short clips and here was my fave.

Next saw me playing at Gwdihw. A small popular alternative bar tucked around a corner in Cardiff City Centre. They get quite a few bands playing in there, but this was a first collaboration between ‘All My friends‘ and ‘Electronic Music Wales‘, a night I hope they continue to do. All acts were electronic based. A duo called ‘Superhand‘ were headlining, with fellow support from a new group called ‘Ghostlawns’.

Superhand had elements of Clark in there, with vocals that reminded me of Emika. Some really nice chilled vibes, but crazy at times.

Electronic Music Wales were nice enough to invite me down to the venue for an interview earlier in the week, with a very passionate blog runner Harish. This was my first video interview, so I had no idea what to expect………..

I later got a last minute opportunity to play a short set at a new venue. Ten Feet Tall.. This was an odd mix of bands playing together. Fellow support were ‘How I Faked the Moon Landing‘, and indie band fueled by sounds akin to The Killers.

Tellison were great headliners, and again another great band to meet. Lovely guys, the lead having a day job working for Sega, which is freakin’ sweet. Their sound was a mish mash of bands such as Death Cab for Cutie and Reuben etc. One of the first bands in a while that I’ve walked up to afterwards and requested to buy a CD from, and I’m still listening to it. Some great tracks from these guys. Certainly my ‘cup of tea’ when I’m in the mood.

So that’s what’s been going on… Expect an update of what’s about to happen shortly…