I left a limited run of 10 CDs at a Live'N'Up show on Saturday.
The CDs were recordings of my set from a previous Live'N'Up show at The Brewhouse and I was giving them away for free.
The insert with the CDs pointed people towards this blog.
I wonder how many CDs were taken, listened to and enjoyed?
I wonder how many people have looked this blog up and read some of the posts.
I don't want to seem up myself or anything but it would be nice to think that some people listened to the recordings, enjoyed the music, and went exploring to find more of my music and more information on Bonde De Wolfe, rather than just turning to what they know best. Myspace and Facebook.
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Monday, 27 April 2009
Working With Martin: Blog One
Martin will be exhibiting at this years Appledore Arts Festival with a nice stereo film instillation. He has asked me to work on providing the sounds for this short visual piece.
An important theme running through the footage is fire. This is also the theme for the festival this year so Saturday was spent recording burning meths, sizzling paint, burning plastic and bursts of flame from a fire stick. (Not sure what the proper name is for the fire stick but it's one of those ones people juggle with)
It was also a really nice chance for me and Martin to hang out together and work on something exciting.
Despite my hangover, Sunday was spent at home editing the sounds and manipulating them to create interesting sound effects. This went well but I can't help feeling that I was running through the same old processes, applying the same old effects and getting the same old results.
I have another recording session planned for this evening where I will be recording some more experimental sounds, still with the end vision of fire. Perhaps I also need to re-think the way I manipulate the recordings. Does everything need to be done in the box? does everything need to be done using plug-ins? Perhaps I need to start pulling the audio waves apart in a new way.
Something from Sunday that's really getting me excited is a short piece of music I started composing using some of the sounds from Saturday. This has a really eerie drone and lots of sounds washing from left to right which will work excellently in Martins stereo installation. I also stretched and de-tuned one of the flame recordings to create a surging, bassy woosh which adds a dark sense of movement to the piece.
Despite my worries over the originality and creativity behind some of the sounds so far, I am confident that this project will showcase some of my best production and composition yet.
An important theme running through the footage is fire. This is also the theme for the festival this year so Saturday was spent recording burning meths, sizzling paint, burning plastic and bursts of flame from a fire stick. (Not sure what the proper name is for the fire stick but it's one of those ones people juggle with)
It was also a really nice chance for me and Martin to hang out together and work on something exciting.
Despite my hangover, Sunday was spent at home editing the sounds and manipulating them to create interesting sound effects. This went well but I can't help feeling that I was running through the same old processes, applying the same old effects and getting the same old results.
I have another recording session planned for this evening where I will be recording some more experimental sounds, still with the end vision of fire. Perhaps I also need to re-think the way I manipulate the recordings. Does everything need to be done in the box? does everything need to be done using plug-ins? Perhaps I need to start pulling the audio waves apart in a new way.
Something from Sunday that's really getting me excited is a short piece of music I started composing using some of the sounds from Saturday. This has a really eerie drone and lots of sounds washing from left to right which will work excellently in Martins stereo installation. I also stretched and de-tuned one of the flame recordings to create a surging, bassy woosh which adds a dark sense of movement to the piece.
Despite my worries over the originality and creativity behind some of the sounds so far, I am confident that this project will showcase some of my best production and composition yet.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Joseph Arthur
Recently I bought a copy of 'Our Shadows Will Remain' by an American singer/songwriter called Joseph Arthur. The album was released in 2003 and I found it in a sale for £2. I had never heard of him or any of his music before purchasing but was just feeling adventurous.
Every day I have one of his songs stuck in my head. I go home and listen to another, only to find that song then repeating in my head the following day. I actually walked through Tesco car park singing one of his songs out loud today (although very quietly).
It's been a while since I have listened to a piece of music that has captured my imagination this much. An album that I can't stop thinking about and that brings me actual feelings of pleasure when I listen to the songs.
On 'Our Shadows Will Remain', he combines the intimacy and honesty you would expect from a singer/songwriter, but with pounding electric guitars, synthesisers, and sometimes eerie, sometimes uplifting vocal harmonies. I am yet to really dissect his lyrics but some of the lines that really stand out create a whole range of vivid images in my head, sometimes dark, sometimes beautiful.
He has had a lengthy musical career with many releases - I will definitely be seeking out some more of his recordings.
Every day I have one of his songs stuck in my head. I go home and listen to another, only to find that song then repeating in my head the following day. I actually walked through Tesco car park singing one of his songs out loud today (although very quietly).
It's been a while since I have listened to a piece of music that has captured my imagination this much. An album that I can't stop thinking about and that brings me actual feelings of pleasure when I listen to the songs.
On 'Our Shadows Will Remain', he combines the intimacy and honesty you would expect from a singer/songwriter, but with pounding electric guitars, synthesisers, and sometimes eerie, sometimes uplifting vocal harmonies. I am yet to really dissect his lyrics but some of the lines that really stand out create a whole range of vivid images in my head, sometimes dark, sometimes beautiful.
He has had a lengthy musical career with many releases - I will definitely be seeking out some more of his recordings.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Updated Music
New music is now available on my musical sketch-pad.
I can happily say that all tracks have uploaded correctly and play under the correct titles.
I can happily say that all tracks have uploaded correctly and play under the correct titles.
Friday, 17 April 2009
Working In Albums And Writers Block
I think I have been programmed to write in quantities of albums. I wonder how many other artists are the same?
Over the last two years I have written about eleven songs which I am incredibly proud of. These are the songs that I play out at gigs and are featured on various EPs and recordings. I also think it would be fair to say that those eleven songs kinda gel together. They sound good next to one another and common themes and sounds run from one song into the next. These songs would be my first album.
So now comes the second album. Obviously I am not consciously working on an album or anything but the new material I have started working on is different. Still me on an acoustic and still writing about the same topics but the overall sounds are different. More developed perhaps, more commercial even, but they don't seem to fit alongside my older material.
This has been nagging me this week. Why do these songs feel so different? Is it that they aren't as good? Are they not as original? Is it, like Trish said, that I'm trying too hard to write new material and the result is something un-natural and not me?
When playing the songs I think they sound great. They occupy me in exactly the same way the older songs did when I first started writing them. Is that all that matters?
Tomorrow I will be updating my musical sketchpad with some new electronic music, and taking down the live tracks as downloads.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also, Bonde De Wolfe Live.
Over the last two years I have written about eleven songs which I am incredibly proud of. These are the songs that I play out at gigs and are featured on various EPs and recordings. I also think it would be fair to say that those eleven songs kinda gel together. They sound good next to one another and common themes and sounds run from one song into the next. These songs would be my first album.
So now comes the second album. Obviously I am not consciously working on an album or anything but the new material I have started working on is different. Still me on an acoustic and still writing about the same topics but the overall sounds are different. More developed perhaps, more commercial even, but they don't seem to fit alongside my older material.
This has been nagging me this week. Why do these songs feel so different? Is it that they aren't as good? Are they not as original? Is it, like Trish said, that I'm trying too hard to write new material and the result is something un-natural and not me?
When playing the songs I think they sound great. They occupy me in exactly the same way the older songs did when I first started writing them. Is that all that matters?
Tomorrow I will be updating my musical sketchpad with some new electronic music, and taking down the live tracks as downloads.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also, Bonde De Wolfe Live.
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Making A Name For Myself
What does that expression even mean?
I was flattered the other night when somebody in town recognised that I was producing solo work under the name of "Wolfe something..." - That's close enough for me at the moment.
In The Perfect 5th last Thursday to watch The Darlingtons, alot of people were discussing my old band The Rickys. Basically I felt that, musically, The Darlingtons are far greater then we ever were, and if they continue to develop their sound, performance and style, then there's no telling where their music will take them.
However, most people seemed to disagree and felt that The Rickys displayed something else - something that got people on their feet and had people humming the songs the next week at work.
Anyway the question is not which band excited Taunton the most, but why are people more interested in talking to me about a local band that split up nearly two years ago and not about my current solo work?
I wonder whether its the sonic physicality of a rock band that grabs peoples attention, sending them home with their ears ringing, where as the sensitive, delicate performance of a singer songwriter can easily be lost in a noisy bar.
Perhaps as an artist on my own I'm too meek. When there was the four of us we created a racket, lording it up wherever we went, demanding peoples attention both on and offstage. All that just seems unnecessary when your on your own and your happy to just sit with your acoustic and sing the songs you write in your bedroom.
Maybe people don't really care about another singer/songwriter on the scene. Could a solo artist like that ever become a phenomenon? Why not? Their songs are surely just as powerful as any bands. How much more can a funky bassline and battling guitars really add to a song which touches on basic human emotions?
Perhaps you can help answer these questions after watching me play at The Perfect 5th next month.
I was flattered the other night when somebody in town recognised that I was producing solo work under the name of "Wolfe something..." - That's close enough for me at the moment.
In The Perfect 5th last Thursday to watch The Darlingtons, alot of people were discussing my old band The Rickys. Basically I felt that, musically, The Darlingtons are far greater then we ever were, and if they continue to develop their sound, performance and style, then there's no telling where their music will take them.
However, most people seemed to disagree and felt that The Rickys displayed something else - something that got people on their feet and had people humming the songs the next week at work.
Anyway the question is not which band excited Taunton the most, but why are people more interested in talking to me about a local band that split up nearly two years ago and not about my current solo work?
I wonder whether its the sonic physicality of a rock band that grabs peoples attention, sending them home with their ears ringing, where as the sensitive, delicate performance of a singer songwriter can easily be lost in a noisy bar.
Perhaps as an artist on my own I'm too meek. When there was the four of us we created a racket, lording it up wherever we went, demanding peoples attention both on and offstage. All that just seems unnecessary when your on your own and your happy to just sit with your acoustic and sing the songs you write in your bedroom.
Maybe people don't really care about another singer/songwriter on the scene. Could a solo artist like that ever become a phenomenon? Why not? Their songs are surely just as powerful as any bands. How much more can a funky bassline and battling guitars really add to a song which touches on basic human emotions?
Perhaps you can help answer these questions after watching me play at The Perfect 5th next month.
Monday, 6 April 2009
Free Music By Bonde De Wolfe
Below is a link to my musical sketchpad where I have two songs recorded live at The Brewhouse Theatre from a recent Live'N'Up gig.
Bonde De Wolfe Live
The Tracks are free to download.
Also on the site you will find a track from my soon to be released EP.
Thankyou
Bonde De Wolfe Live
The Tracks are free to download.
Also on the site you will find a track from my soon to be released EP.
Thankyou
Friday, 3 April 2009
Capitolist Pig Night at The Perfect 5th
Just seen this on Martins Open Mic blog.
Whats wrong with the simple turn up and play ethos?
Martins 'over-the-top' enthusiasm for the night was probably what helped it to become such a local feature in the first place. He thrust the night into peoples faces and they weren't disappointed when they opened their ears and paid attention to the acts.
But the key word there is ACTS.
I would hope that people attend open mic night because of the great acts that regularly perform at the night. Not for the Butlins-esque compere or for flippant themes and gimmicks.
The very nature of an open mic night means that its popularity, with both performers and audience, will vary. You just have to roll with that. Please don't try and make it into anything that it isn't just to ensure bums on seats.
Whats wrong with the simple turn up and play ethos?
Martins 'over-the-top' enthusiasm for the night was probably what helped it to become such a local feature in the first place. He thrust the night into peoples faces and they weren't disappointed when they opened their ears and paid attention to the acts.
But the key word there is ACTS.
I would hope that people attend open mic night because of the great acts that regularly perform at the night. Not for the Butlins-esque compere or for flippant themes and gimmicks.
The very nature of an open mic night means that its popularity, with both performers and audience, will vary. You just have to roll with that. Please don't try and make it into anything that it isn't just to ensure bums on seats.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
International Politics
When questioned about the responsibility of his country regarding the current economic situation, president X admitted a degree of accountability, before turning the topic around and stating that it was now time to look to the future, going on to explain what changes now needed to take place.
To the same question, prime minister Y sidestepped the question, and then told an anecdote loosely related to the question.
Anyway...........
I thought I'd post a link to where you can find Bonde De Wolfe music online. Over the weekend I will be uploading three tracks recorded live at The Brewhouse, all of which will be available as FREE downloads.
I also spent most of last night working on a fusion of driving electronica and electric guitar which will also be uploaded in a week or so. The track has developed from an idea for another short film and the original guitar piece was envisioned as part of the score for that. It's very John Murphy.
Speaking of short film ideas, I have been writing lots recently and I think soon I will have to take some of my ideas to local artist Steve Mahn and bully him into producing graphic novels relating to the plots. If all goes to plan these will be ready in 100 years!
Actually me, Steve and Dan were discussing the idea of making a short film over the summer so perhaps some of the ideas I have will be coming to light sooner then later. As will the guitar/film score piece I mentioned earlier.
To the same question, prime minister Y sidestepped the question, and then told an anecdote loosely related to the question.
Anyway...........
I thought I'd post a link to where you can find Bonde De Wolfe music online. Over the weekend I will be uploading three tracks recorded live at The Brewhouse, all of which will be available as FREE downloads.
I also spent most of last night working on a fusion of driving electronica and electric guitar which will also be uploaded in a week or so. The track has developed from an idea for another short film and the original guitar piece was envisioned as part of the score for that. It's very John Murphy.
Speaking of short film ideas, I have been writing lots recently and I think soon I will have to take some of my ideas to local artist Steve Mahn and bully him into producing graphic novels relating to the plots. If all goes to plan these will be ready in 100 years!
Actually me, Steve and Dan were discussing the idea of making a short film over the summer so perhaps some of the ideas I have will be coming to light sooner then later. As will the guitar/film score piece I mentioned earlier.
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