I’m in Italy now doing this tour too. Those links again…

http://nedrymakesmusic.blogspot.com
http://www.thelineofbestfit.com

http://nedrymakesmusic.blogspot.com
http://www.thelineofbestfit.com

We’ll be away until June. Check them out!

I have been trying to use my time this week to get back to making music. In truth I’ve been trying to use my time for years to get back to making music. I still make music all the time, that is what I do for a living in fact, nearly everyday, I sit at this computer in my studio with a piano sized keyboard in front of me and various electronics surrounding me and I put together sounds and make music. But I find it is sometimes hard to find the time to spend making music for my own purposes, I guess that’s the case with a million passions transformed into careers.

So I went to see a Chopin exhibition at the British Library last week, and it reminded me of the times I spent when I was younger learning to play the piano. My teacher, Lorna, instilled in me a passion for Chopin when I was at that age, but I was below the skill level necessary to play Chopin’s Etudes which I loved so much and that frustrated me. I would hate practicing them because I couldn’t play them and so I would stare at the piano like I was halfway climbing up a cliff face and it was the overhang that I just couldn’t get past.

Seeing the particular Chopin Etude lying open in front of me in the exhibition in a glass case, reminded me of that feeling. Now I look back on it with a bit more life experience I realise that the open page in front of me now, the soaring triplet melody with the gentle bass accompaniment, had crushed my passion all those years ago. I have always loved to play the piano, to press the keys and to explore the keyboard to try and see it without the bounds of technical ability, period, history, key, structure, all of these cliff faces that hold me back. I love to just press the keys and see what noise they make, good or bad.

With this in mind and with the trivialities of life weighing my mind down this week, I wanted to just play music like that, to lose myself and escape into a landscape that I could explore. A landscape with cliffs and vast oceans maybe, but one where I can fly and they don’t hold me back. So I pulled a dusty suitcase down from the loft, the one I used to carry the old mixer and pedals in when I play improvised music not so long ago. I strung up all the pedals and electrical goodies I could find with my guitar and Max/MSP and I just messed around sending audio where it wasn’t supposed to go and looping things backwards and forwards pushing different sounds into the mix. No rules, no wrong notes, just sounds and noises and all under my control. Before long the whole afternoon had passed I hadn’t noticed it go. I was relaxed and free.

I wanted to share it so I thought I’d put something up. Improvising is a very personal thing and I wouldn’t imagine anyone wanting to hear what I did all day, so I put together a quick little video. I aimed for about 3 minutes, when I finished, it was 15. So I edited it down to 5 minutes with some terrible editing to post up. Sorry about the stupid filter, I got carried away because I only have iMovie and I can’t be bothered to re-render it on this machine. But there it is…

I’m not giving you any clues about what the outcome is going to be yet but I used some experimental recording techniques with some binaural mics whilst Brendan played polo. Got some really good sounds so watch this space because hopefully it’s going to be a really interesting little film.

Condors is a beautiful changing landscape of gentle synths, glitchy atmospheres and powerful rhythms and bass sounds. They have been reviewed as somewhere between The XX and Burial, but I really enjoy the interspersions of guitar and drawn out half-time rhythms more reminiscent of post-rock than a pop/dubstep crossover. Either way, and if you prefer the electronic/dubstep side or the epic post-rock side, they sit on a fence that makes them accessible to anyone who likes good music.

Nedry have just got back from their tour in Japan and have recently signed with Monotreme Records. The album has been properly re-released now and is available from the label, from most good record shops and from Amazon too. They will be on tour in the UK in April/May (partially with 65daysofstatic) and I will be joining them. There are also as yet unconfirmed European dates coming up over the Summer. So check it out.

http://www.nedrymakesmusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/nedrymakesmusic

Until now that is. Music Club has risen like a phoenix from the digital ashes. The River of Steel EP is a re-mixed, re-ordered, seasoned, marinated and slow-roasted side-order of the band that could have been, giving the world a taste of the main course, ‘the album that never was’. Their time never came, their moment never arrived. But this small insight into the creative talent imprisoned by boose and laziness will open your eyes to… [Lewis interrupts] Oh just shut up and play the f**ing song!

Follow this link to listen…
http://musicclub.bandcamp.com

I begun the endeavour by laughing my way through websites such as beards.org which told of the necessary commitment and attention to detail required to grow, nurture and maintain successful facial growth. By the beginning of the second week, I was struggling not to shave of the pathetic fuzz congregating around my chin, my commitment was put hard to the test.

Now I sit proud on the 28th day of my conquest, proud that I have undertaken the task at hand and got through the four weeks, although not entirely so of my unkempt stubble which barely constitutes a ‘beard’ by most peoples standards (picture above). My plan has been for the last few days to successfully complete the task then immediately shave the mild abomination off, but I’ve started to feel a little bit attached to it now, like it is something I have worked hard at and do not want to lose.

So why do I feel like this? What is it that makes a man so proud of an accomplishment that does not seem to require skill or effort of any traditional form? Pictures in the beards.org gallery show happy smiling men with a great sense of pride in their eyes, a feeling I relate to, although do not completely share in. Is it a status symbol? A demonstration of testosterone that makes a man feel strong or powerful in a group of his peers? Pellegrini wrote in his 1973 study, “…the male beard communicates an heroic image of the independent, sturdy, and resourceful pioneer, ready, willing and able to do manly things.” Would people see me that way if I had a thick, full coat of hair on my face? All I know is that I would certainly feel that way, which I do not doubt would go some way to boosting my confidence in life.

It will be a very difficult decision for me tomorrow morning on the 29th day, to give in now at the probable extent of my growth, or to hang in a little longer on something that has brought me such ups and downs and disdain and pride. Whatever I choose, I implore every man (and woman, let’s be politically correct) to go on this journey, 28 days, no trimming, no shaving, no plucking, no waxing, no nothing. It is a voyage of discovery that will make you feel part of a wider community regardless of your successes and/or failures.

I found these links encouraging…
http://uk.movember.com/
http://www.beards.org/
http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/
http://www.beardcommunity.com/

I also thought it appropriate to attach this stop-frame of my friend Mark after he completed his Movember challenge…

]]> http://www.ontheshelfrecords.co.uk/si/deletethe.net/?feed=rss2&p=19 1 http://www.ontheshelfrecords.co.uk/si/deletethe.net/?p=17 http://www.ontheshelfrecords.co.uk/si/deletethe.net/?p=17#comments Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:13:37 +0000 supersim65 http://www.ontheshelfrecords.co.uk/si/deletethe.net/?p=17 Ignug are an distorted electronic fusion of dirty synths, and heavily processed guitars and vocals over four to the floor electro beats intertwined with broken rhythms and intricately sliced samples.

They played their first gig together at Yoyo last night in Notting Hill tonight and I missed it, which is a shame, because I am excited to see how these four guys produced such big sounds live with such a minimal line up. (Minh Le is on drums, Phong Le on keys, Thomas Hyllested will be DJing whilst Tarek Sidki provides vocals.)

You can check out a preview of the sounds they are working on at the moment on their myspace, http://www.myspace.com/ignug, and hear the latest press and news on their blog, http://www.press-ignug.blogspot.com. I gather they have whole lot of material in the pipeline so I look forward to hearing more.

You can also check out some of the other tracks from the game at http://www.sharpnine.co.uk.

There’s some photos of the keyboard here.

‘8 Bit Shit’