Process music

I don’t know what it says about me as a musician that I have such affection for process music. I have written and performed a number of process pieces over the years but my lust to explore them further has been reawakened through reading Andrew Ford’s “Illegal Harmonies” whilst on holiday. This inspired me to write the following process piece. This is only really me putting a toe back in the water but I intend to research and build on this area during my sabbatical.

Natural Score

Take a stereo field recording of any length, of an urban or rural environment. Each prominent sound in the field recording is used to score a piece for multiple instruments / sounds. The range and rhythm of each sound is used to define what instrument / sound is used and how it is scored. Record the score as it is “performed”. Place the various instruments / sounds in this recording in the opposite position in the stereo field as the sounds in the original recording. The final piece is created by mixing both recordings, fading from the original field recording to the scored recording, crossing at exactly 50/50 amplitude at the midpoint of the piece.

Obviously, the key is to get on and record these pieces, which I will do…but as I said, this is about me putting a toe back in the water of writing such pieces, to get my mind thinking in the right way again.

I must thank my father for his part in forming this passion of mine. I was lucky enough be surrounded by such things in my childhood and I even remember a couple of trips to the library to investigate specific pieces more closely.

Lastly, I wanted to include the original hand-written score to Steve Reich’s Pendulum Music, which I have been known to perform for Optical Theremins and torches.

Glatze News

Just a quick update from the world of Glatze.

Despite keeping a low profile for a while, to allow my other selves to flourish, I have been asked to play a gig on the 20th of August in Cheltenham, which I was very happy to accept! Callie who saw me play at Supersonic last year has sorted out a night for me to play in place of the July Supersonic this year. The only problem is Cheltenham didn’t seem to have its act together for a July date, so she has lined me up an August date instead. As ever, it’ll be balls-out live fun from me…come along if you can!

Also, I have been putting the finishing touches to my new, self-titled “Glatze” EP. Never one to do things half-heartedly I am producing some lush demo CDs (mock-up below – I’m loving my black faced CDRs) and sending this out to some people I want to sign me. Mike Patton, if you are reading this, that means you! :) I hope the world is ready for my new Romany Surf Step genre. The mighty Centrifuge certainly are, and I am happy to announce that they plan to release it soon, thanks Wassim!

I have two “reviews” in already. I sent it to BJ Cole, who I’d like to work with if anyone gives me an album deal, and he said “I have had a listen to your tracks, and think they are great! You have a very original direction“. Also, the chap who mastered it said “It’s great stuff! I’ve never really heard anything like it. Sure, it’s music, and it sounds like a lot of stuff, but there is a unique voice, and it’s good!“.

As they are the only two people that have heard it entirely so far, I am pretty chuffed with the response. I’ll keep you posted on what the wider world makes of it…


Thanks to Ben Waddington for the main artwork.

Life after Theremin Day

After weeks of preparation and hard work, Theremin Day took place on the 24th April. It went rather well!

Many people, including myself have blogged about it :
Theremin Day site | fizzPOP | Genzaichi | Hellocatfood | Digbeth is Good

Phantom Circuit kindly covered the event in full : Phantom Circuit #36

All great stuff, but there is life after Theremin Day and I wanted to let you know a little about it! Firstly, building on the success of Theremin Day, I am talking with two festivals about workshops and musical performances. I have planned some really special boutique hardware for this. Secondly, I have my next Glatze gig coming up in July – details soon. Also, I am gearing up towards my workshop and debut midi-octopus performance at the British Science Festival. I am writing a score for an animated film. Lastly, my debut Glatze EP is almost good to go now, sounding groovy!

That is all, carry on…