RADIOLAND: Album Release

As I began to write this post, I was en route to Luxembourg, and to the Philharmonie, where, together with Franck Vigroux and Antoine Schmitt, we performed another Radioland show. Hopefully this will be the beginning of another series of live performances abroad. And, as I now continue to write, several weeks later, the album versions of this project is now available via Bandcamp, where you can also preorder the 20-page hardback CD book, and deluxe gatefold vinyl editions. The release of Radioland on The Leaf Label, has highlighted just how far this project has come since Franck and I decided to embark on such an adventure back in August 2014. I have already written a little about the process of how we put this show together in a previous blog post, but I thought I might revisit this a little, and share a few reflections on the process of recording Radioland.

The entire process of recording this album followed that of our previous method, involving Franck sending me his audio files over the internet, which I then imported into Logic, tracked my synthesiser parts; sending these in return. This whole process was then repeated by Franck, vice versa, ad nauseam, ad infinitum, et cetera, et cetera; until we were satisfied with the results. Much of this will be nothing new to those who already collaborate with those living at a distance. Although, as much as I marvel at how technology has made international collaboration much easier, almost instant, in fact; the downsides of this are that one isn’t able to hang out with/be hosted by one’s collaborators. It’s funny to think that, only a few years ago, sharing files via the humble data stick was considered the height of convenience, whereas now, even leaving one’s seat to pass it across the room seems to have become a monumental effort…

As all of the music was already in place, and developed further as the live performances progressed, we decided that, rather than document the segued order we had devised for the live shows, we would instead work title by title, further personalising our interpretations, and favouring the running order of the original album (we had completely changed the running order of the tracks; added linking segued passages and our own original material, maximising the effect and spirit of the original titles for a live setting).

As one will hear from the recording, much of the original material remains intact: some key themes are referred to overtly, and others may only be referred to subliminally; the essence of the originals possessing more than enough inspiration for us to explore other directions…

I am very proud to have been a part of Radioland, not least as it has afforded me the chance to work with artists such as Franck and Antoine (whose awesome live generative video stills adorn the pages of the deluxe gatefold vinyl and twenty-page hardback book CD editions of the album). The quality of the music and the austerity of the album art will hopefully go some way to effectively reflect the elements of the live performances, and provide some consolation to those who haven’t yet experienced it as an immersive, audio/visual experience. Finally, our take on Kraftwerk’s Radio-Activity album, would not have been made available in any format, it were not for the efforts of all at The Leaf Label, and consultation with Kraftwerk themselves. Thank you, guys.

Now, “Listen to The Melody…”

Radioland is available for download on Bandcamp – where you can also preorder the 20-page CD Book and deluxe gatefold vinyl versions, just in time for Christmas…