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COLLIDER
September 4th, 2012The idea for COLLIDER came to Chris Sharkey in a dream he had – and wrote to all of us, explaining what he’d heard in the dream and that we (myself, Chris, Dave Kane and Chris Bussey) should all meet up and record/play regularly. So, we did – and still do. Yesterday, COLLIDER released READ MORE
1912011047 – for Amy Walker
July 16th, 2012Dedicated to an old and dear friend of mine, Amy Walker; the next instalment to the Private Archive is long overdue. On hearing 0504012030 – for John Zorn & Mike Osborne, Steve Shepherd, then programme editor of Jazz on 3 (now as the force behind True Stories Told Live – based in Cardiff), invited me to record a session at Gateway READ MORE
Working with Sam Hobbs: reinterpreting Amon Tobin…
June 15th, 2012My relationship with The Leaf Label began in earnest earlier last year and within the space of the last twelve months or so, a constant stream of potential projects and other creative ideas have been fed into my consciousness. So, when Leaf called with the proposition of remixing an Amon Tobin track for his new, eponymously-titled boxed set as READ MORE
#MySharona
May 23rd, 2012Last week I learnt that my music (the entire catalogue, by implication) is apparently reminiscent of mindless 80’s thrash metal. I like this idea. Bilbao Syndrome will cover The Knack’s My Sharona in the not-too-distant future, as this track is indicative of much of the ‘mindless’ music to come out of the aforementioned genre. In the meantime, READ MORE
Beware the Ides of May…
May 10th, 2012So, business as usual after returning from China – almost as if it were some kind of dream or surreal happening… Anyway, I have been doing much thinking about the upcoming shows this month – two solo, one duo, one loud with synthesizers, one quiet and one with tempo. I worry a lot about solo READ MORE
Resurrection and storytelling. Hawai guitar. Idiotic attitudes to piano teaching…
April 18th, 2012Last week we returned to visited Chuxin Zhen and her piano (who featured towards the end of an earlier post entitled Gulangyu – First Encounters) with the intention of trying to gently persuade this moth-eaten instrument to tell us its stories… First, though, tea was made – accompanied by an assortment of snacks whilst Yi Bai READ MORE
Demo Concert – 24/03/12
April 18th, 2012This blog is really a photo album of the curiously-titled ‘demo concert’, held on Saturday 24th March in the beautiful XMNYT theatre, just across the road from my accommodation. Much of the day was spent figuring out aspects of staging, lighting and performance presentation – although there was still time for some fun. The pictures below are READ MORE
Beauty and impermanence: The Guqin…
April 3rd, 2012As the final phase of this six-week residency unfolds, a state of half reflection and half in anticipation of events still to come is prevailing. In fact, that’s what’s been so rewarding about this experience so far; most days I have NO idea what’s going to happen, who I’m going to meet and what surprises READ MORE
Dave and 44 Crew
April 3rd, 2012DJ/producer/’44 Crew’ member and owner of Thank You Cafe, Dave, has been one of the many people responsible for making me feel so at home in Xiamen. Dave is a really fantastic guy and has saved the day on many occasions! I feel that we will be friends for a long time to come. I’ve been going READ MORE
CDs and other perils…
April 3rd, 2012As mentioned in a previous blog post, I have a weakness for boxed-sets. It appeals to the collector/completist in me. I’m a sucker for the detail of the packaging and for any alternate takes/bits and pieces that come with some of the best sets. It also makes me happy that I still have the urge READ MORE