January 25, 2006
aftermaths
New album, 'After Maths & Sciences', the one recorded in Australia, is finished - email me for a copy. I made a few breakthroughs, with the banjo, field recordings and techno elements, bigger & bolder packaging than before, new moniker - and also reasserting my own compositional/creative side after spending the last couple of years on collaborative projects. I've still got amnesia about how to write songs, but figured I'd shift the focus from my own angsty little self to the outside world.
It's even got elements of journalism - dictaphones are designed for journalists not musicians. It's got Aussie voices, sounds, wildlife etc, and Fran Mountfort plays cello on it. The last track is made by recording cicadas (different sound from the NZ ones, lower pitched, and the Aussies pronounce them cic-ah-das rather than cic-eh-das) and progressively slowing them down to reveal the multilayered rhythms etc and doing some stereo rotations. I did another piece where I'm scratching with a recording of a kookaburra, while Australian voices talk about climate change and how kangaroo meat tastes like crap. The music ranges from my skewed take on techno to a banjo quartet arrangement of 'Auld Lang Syne' to a piece with shakuhachi (Japanese woodwind) accompanying the Gosford dawn chorus.
North Island tour was good fun, with my new approach seeming to go down well. I even made $30 or so on the Wellington and New Plymouth gigs (nothing on the Auckland one). New Plymouth looks good these days, and seeing the mountain again draws up all kinds of emotions. I think if people ask me where I'm from I'm feeling more and more inclined to answer 'New Plymouth' rather than 'Wellington'.
I've got loads of possibilities for this year, with several instruments and computer resources to work with here in Nelson... I'm just reaquainting myself with my tenor saxophone, which I played a bit in 2002. It got damaged and has been sitting in its case for the past three or so years, but 60% of the notes still work. Hopefully I'll get it fixed soon...
Oh and The Stooges were great.
