I've decided to make my new EP titled "Exit Strategy" available for free download exclusively from Last FM once again. There's a few reasons for me doing these as free downloads right now, firstly I enjoy using the Last FM site and can appreciate how the set up there can be very beneficial for independent artists and labels. Secondly though, it's more than apparent that the traditional model of distribution is rapidly changing and will inevitably soon be gone forever. I will return to doing commercial (not free) releases in the future. But for the time being, I'm just enjoying doing music again without the worries that come with releasing albums through the traditional channels.
The "Exit Strategy" EP features Jash on Delusions Outermind and The Hidden Persuader on Destruct Science.
Tracklist 1. Delusions Outermind (Feat. Jash) 2. Destruct Science (Feat. The Hidden Persuader) 3. Exit Strategy 4. Freedom Run
here's some photos I've taken recently. These were created by manipulating film footage with contrast and various effects and then exporting the individual frames as JPGs. I then took photos of the print outs of the JPGs at very close range, in the dark with the flash on. Sadly, blogspot has changed the dimensions of the images and I can't be bothered fixing them!
Here's 2 new videos i've done recently. The first one is for a track by Mosca called Another Winter Spent In Hibernation and the second is for a Kingbastard track called Buildings.
Here's the new video I did for my Bastardism track that features Kingbastard. We're going to be working on some new material together in 2008, so I'll keep you posted on the developments.
Here's a couple of videos I done recently for Kingbastard.
[Luctisonousman]
[Inthemiddleofnowhereyouarestillsomewhere]
He never makes things easy for me with his titles but you need to live and let live! If you haven't heard Kingbastard's stuff before, go check it out on the link above, it's excellent.
The Organicism Special Edition EP is now available for free download exclusively from Last FM
Tracklist 1. Warm Breeze Video 2. Bastardism (Feat. Kingbastard) 3. Dew 4. Crabs 5. At The Beach 2007 Re-Master Video 6. Organicism Video 7. Flying 2007 Re-Master Video
This EP is still available at Beatport and other download sites in high quality .wav and 320kbps MP3 format. The free version is at 128kbps MP3.
I've posted a new video on youtube for the solipsism track, Warm Breeze. The Mandelbrot Set animation was provided by a generous youtuber called FlyByPC.
for those of you that know me, you'll be aware that I'm a massive fan of Frank Zappa's music and have been since I was a teenager. It's hard to desribe accurately the effect his music and overall philosophy has had and continues to have on my life to this day.
Quite a few people have said to me in the past, that they can't see where his influence is in my music. The same thing has been cited when I've said that Pink Floyd influenced me too. For me though, I would never try and sound like someone who influenced me, that's not being influenced by, that's copying in my book and there's no way I could ever copy Zappa!
I have been heavily influenced by his ideals, his belief in experimentation, his belief in fusing adverse styles and for the way he stuck two fingers up to the establishment and did things for himself. He was an extremely single-minded person with visionary, groundbreaking music and studio skills that were second to none in his day.
Anyway back to the point of the post. Tomorrow, December 4th ( he was 17 days short of his 53rd birthday) is the anniversary of his death. I felt cheated when he died so young, which is probably an incredibly selfish thing as I never knew him obviously but considering the fact he released 70+ albums before he died, it's easy to rationalise that there was plenty music left in him yet. He was the most complete composer of the 20th century in my opinion and his influence will reverberate for many, many years.
As well as being a brilliant musician and composer, he was also a great satirist and his quick wit in interviews always gave him the ability to outsmart his detractors and make them look incredibly stupid. Here's a clip of one of my favourite Zappa interviews, it's from the time of the PMRC hearings in America, when Tipper Gore campaigned to have parental control labels printed on the front of albums that had been deemed offensive. Amazingly, not one of Zappa's albums were listed by the PMRC despite the numerous "obscenities" and politically senstitive topics. Listen out in the video for Zappa's prediction that America was heading towards a "Fascist Theocracy", remember this was 1986 and ask yourself if you think he was right.
I listen to zappa every day of my life as my last FM stats will show. It's amazing how I've never grown tired of it, but that only speaks volumes for the content and weight these albums have.
My Top 5 Must Have Zappa Albums
It's really hard choosing a top 5 from 70+ albums as you can imagine and there will be times that other zappa albums get more spins. However, these 5 are always there or there abouts. Each of these albums are heavily inspired by jazz and that's the sort of Zappa material I've always loved the most.
Thanks for the great music Frank and I hope you're happy wherever you are!
here's some stats for my listening habits on last fm. Certainly won't be everyone's cup of tea, but that suits me perfectly :)
It took me a while to get into Last FM, I'd posted some music on it a few years back and I was disappointed with the playback quality, upload process and a few other things. So I decided to pull my music off. I was pleasantly surprised however when I went back a few months ago and decided to post some music again. They've addressed many of the issues that used to make it unstable and unattractive to serious musicians. The playback still isn't what it should be, but it is much better and the upload process has been simplified so that you can upload one track at a time, instead of the full album. There was nothing worse than when you uploaded a full album, only to find their system had rejected it because one track was tagged incorrectly.
It still has niggly issues like being unable to differentiate between artists/bands with the same track names and artist names, but they're definitely getting there. So even though solipsism is tagged as Metal From Puerto Rico on last FM, I can assure you it isn't :) I believe though there is some death metal band from puerto rico called "solipsismo", so it's probably down to them! I have nothing against Death Metal guys, but I do think you should change your name :)
I've changed a couple of the tracks on the weird fields Myspace page. The two tracks i've put up are, 2 from the Destruct Science EP that goes out soon on Magnanimous Records and Smash Light, a heavier ambient drone track.
Some people had suggested that I should set up a Facebook page for solipsism stuff. I never liked the name "facebook" and always resisted the temptation to join because of this. However, this morning I finally relented and decided to start one. After going through the extremely annoying sign up process and filling in all the band information etc., I uploaded my first track. After the track was uploaded I got a message saying that my profile would have to be validated before anyone could listen to the music. I found this quite odd as I'd already verified my information several times in the sign up process. When I clicked the button to find out the next verification step, I was pretty shocked to discover that they wanted no less than a scan of an I.D card or passport!!
I can understand their need to be diligent when approving new profiles, however this step borders on the insane as it's obvious that the potential for fraud/identity theft is huge. So, there will definitely be no Facebook page for solipsism or any of my other music projects I'm afraid.
Personally, I think myspace kicks the arse out of facebook anyway for benefits to bands and although myspace is a heartless, money-grabbing monster. It has a good side too :)
below you'll find some videos from my different music projects. Most of my videos are done by a Turkish video artist called Atil Altas, though I do some myself too...oh and there's one by a guy called Digital Blue. I'm sure you'd be able to pick out the home made ones, but just in case i'll let you know anyway ;)
solipsism - Organicism (Video - Atil Altas)
solipsism - Flying (Video - Atil Altas)
solipsism - At The Beach (Video - Digital Blue)
Weird Fields - Paradox (Video - Atil Altas)
shoosh - Overthrow Turn (Video - Home Made)
Weird Fields - Over The Horizon (Video - Home Made)
shoosh - Come In From The Cold (Video - Home Made)
I'm actively looking for some film makers to work with in a soundtrack capacity. If you're looking for dedicated music for any of your projects then please get in touch by emailing craig@herbrecordings.com
At this stage, i'm willing to work for free if the project is right.
just to let you know that there's some new solipsism tracks on the myspace page. These are from the new album i'm working on with a view to a late 2008 release.
For some free solipsism stuff please go to the dedicated Last FM download pages linked below
There's only 300 physical copies of the mini CD available, so if you really want one then buy it today :) It will also be available from Bleep as digital download very soon.
We're still looking for a label to release our "Orpheum Circuit" album, so if you're interested please get in touch.
solipsism is my main project and it's also my longest running. I normally work alone on solipsism material, though in the past i've worked exstensively with American multi-instrumentalist Ed Drury and i've done tracks with Kingbastard, Jash, The Hidden Persuader and a few others. My solipsism material is released mainly on the label i founded called Herb Recordings, based in Glasgow, Scotland.
Weird Fields is my dedicated ambient/film music project. This is a pretty recent project that's only been started in the past year. My first Weird Fields EP goes out on Magnanimous Records later in the year. I've already started work on the next Weird Fields project and once again, I'll be working with Ed Drury on some of the material.
shoosh is the band i'm in with Ed Drury and singer and lyricist Neil Carlill of Vedette. Neil was a founder member of 90s bands Delicatessen and Lodger who released on labels such as Rough Trade and Island. The shoosh project could loosely be described as post-folk or alternative-folk and surrealism plays a key role in the music. The first shoosh release just went out on the 26th of November 2007 on Awkward Silence Recordings. A most fitting label perhaps for a band called shoosh!
There's only 300 physical copies of the mini CD available, so if you really want one then buy it today :) It will also be available from Bleep as digital download very soon.
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