RIP Prins Polo

So sad hearing about the news of Prins Polo's passing.

Back in the pre-satan days, we're talking maybe 2001-2005ish, I was fairly active on a few message boards and newsgroups online about Icelandic music - like a lot of people my age and with my music taste, when Sigur Rós blew up, they opened a lot of doors for other bands and artists from the country. Alongside the bigger stuff like múm, Björk, etc. there was a real burgeoning underground DIY scene too. I'd log on and find out about really weird punk stuff from the 80s, or some kid in his bedroom making pretty folk records, or a hip hop group from the countryside, and all sorts of mental stuff. It was great, although absolute hell trying to import some of these CDs, let alone vinyl or anything else. A lot of us had to either make do with what few mp3s record labels and shops would put online (12 Tónar and Bad Taste were amazing at that), or trade in *ahem* not so legal mp3s. In our defence, this was a looooong time before Bandcamp, Spotify, Youtube, Soundcloud, etc. but yes, not exactly proud of doing that... 

Anyway, Prins Polo was always part of that scene, along with stuff like Seabear, Kimono, Mugison, Siggi Ármann, 7oi, Gavin Portland, Ske, Skátar, Skytturnar and loads, loads more. I have a Siggi Ármann CD somewhere still - he was a PE teacher that made the most melancholic downbeat acoustic folk you can imagine. Sigur Rós even took him on tour for a little bit I seem to remember. Anyway, Prins Polo had a band called Skakkamanage, who were really great - on one of my first pilgrimages to Iceland, the only musical thing I could afford was a 7" of Hold Your Heart, a scrappy little indie EP they put out on their own label. I somehow managed to hold onto it for all this time, as I'm known for losing things like that fairly easily.

Truth be told, I should've kept up with Prins' solo work, and Skakkamanage a bit more, but it was just so hard to get that music over here, and by the time I'd gotten a bit older, I guess I just moved away from a lot of that stuff. The newsgroups and forums I'd frequented all started shutting down, and the industry sort of moved on, and so did I, which is a real shame as some of this music is absolutely wonderful, and I fear a lot of it has just been lost or forgotten about. I'll do a mix or something soon with some of my favourites.

It's not as if I'd ever met him, or religiously followed his musical output, but his passing really hit home. It's a stark reminder to check in with older groups and artists that you haven't thought about in a while. It's a proper 'that was a real moment in time' , remembering those early days of the internet and unearthing all this music you'd never have a chance of hearing otherwise. 

So yes, check in with those old boys and girls and see how they're doing - none of this lasts forever.

Gallops remix

I did a really cool flashy 80s synthwavey sort of remix for the boys in Gallops, and it's out today! Had a lot of fun with this one, made all the better by the amazing sounds they gave me to work with.

And if you need remixing btw, I'm always here! I really enjoy delving into other people's work and having a good old root around, so hit me up if you need owt doing.

Patterns

New satan!

Funny, thinking back to the gap between albums no.1 (Arrivals) and 2 (Even Temper) was like 6 years or so. 6 YEARS! Imagine that. These days there's a good chance 12+ albums would arrive in that time. Which brings me onto today's topic: release number six of the year - an 11+ minute monster called Patterns, and featuring the awesome Anchoress on some spoken word duties at the end:

I've had this in the tank for a while now, and whilst Bloodsport, Glass Infinites, 0207, and the few other bits and bobs around those releases, have all been and gone this year, I'd put Patterns back to the arse end of the year, trying to juggle two more prospective albums (one stuck in vinyl pressing hell for at least 3 years at this point), and at least one more single too. To hell with it! I thought, what could possibly happen that'll screw up this release? Let's just crack on and bang it out now!

Well, the queen died. That's a pretty big thing to get in the way, I suppose.

Anyway, if you've not heard it yet, Patterns is out now, and pay-what-you-want to boot. Good, eh?

Slumbertones #1

Released today, not specifically for Bandcamp Friday, but thought I might as well put it out on said day as it's a good time to do it, is this little ambient guitar EP I made recently called Slumbertones #1.

It's a little thing I made to help my mum get some sleep, as she's found it pretty hard recently, due to a pretty intense operation on her heart she had to have as she had an arrhythmia. the operation was all good, and she's fine now, but bless her - she kept me updated on her sleep schedule whenever I asked her how she was afterwards. Thinking I could maybe help, I dusted off my delay pedals and wanted to at least give it a shot, to see if I could make something that could help her drift off.

Me being me though, I sort of made some of them a bit busier than I probably should have, so not sure if there's too much going on in some of the tracks to really help someone drift off, but it's the thought that counts, right?! 

Anyway, hope you all enjoy it. It's pay what you like too, so if you can't chip in, don't feel pressured to. 

There'll be some new satan dropping very soon btw - I was thinking of doing this EP as a satan thing, but thought it actually suited my solo project a lot more, so popped it on there instead.

Enjoy!

13

It's 10 years since the whole Ghosting Season thing, which is very scary, as it definitely only feels like it was 30 minutes since that whole time.

Anyway, I was rifling around on my laptop the other day, looking for some interesting things to put up, or out, or just to have a listen to and get all nostalgic, and I came across the old demo for '13', which was the last track on the album, but (I think) one of the first I sat down and wrote. It came out of a nice little guitar riff I did, based on a very old tune of mine, but with the chords shifted down a step or two (or three). I digress, because the demo still sounded pretty good, if a little empty and a bit all over the place - the mixing was dreadful, because it was only intended as a demo to be worked on later, so there wasn't much effort put in.

I sat and thought 'could I clean this up?' - thinking the original session file would be long gone, I tried my best to add a bit of bass, or master it cleanly, but the wav was too far gone for any of that. I searched my computer, just on the off chance I had the session somewhere, and after some detective work (I'm utterly dreadful at naming things, so they're always a variation of 'idea' or 'thing' or something like that) I found it! There it was, in all its glory, a beautiful session that hadn't been loaded up since 2010! Incredible. So I fixed the mixing a little, and unmuted the bass channel (there was a bassline in there after all) and cleaned it up a bit.

It sounds a lot more hypnotic and trippy than the final version, and I suppose that's what I was aiming for with it - I think the whole Ghosting Season thing was supposed to be an extension of worriedaboutsatan, but just with a different name. In fact, the GS album was basically supposed to be the follow up to Arrivals, and there was artwork, videos and loads more with this album credited to satan instead. I even have the files somewhere with all the ID3 tags as a worriedaboutsatan album. The fact the GS album starts on a lot of digital distortion (it's called 'bitcrushing') and opens out into the first track is a nod to the way Arrivals ends, with the bitcrushing slowly engulfing the last track. Anyway...

I really love these little demo versions - they have a little something about them, which perhaps gets tuned down in the production process on their way to being on a record. The 'Far End Of The Graveyard (3am Version)' is actually just the demo, and there are a few more pinging around somewhere - I'll have to dig them all up. Anyhoo, here's the newly cleaned up '13' demo, with vocals from Birds of Passage:

Hope you enjoy.

Slur They Words track breakdown

If you've ever wondered how to meld a grime acapella with post-rock electronica, fear not! I've done another 'in the studio' type video thing on my youtube here:

0207

Well well well, what a week it's been eh?

At the start of it, I made any record I had any involvement in pay-what-you-want to try and raise some funds to go play a festival next month. But why do that? I hear you cry, well it's sort of complicated, and sort of not at the same time. Y'see, to play festivals (and gigs in general tbh) it costs quite a bit of money - petrol, food, hotels, etc. and normally I'd be ok with shouldering that cost, but this year's been fairly tough financially, and so I had to take a warm-up gig nearby the day before my slot to offset some of the costs involved.

And then you can guess what happend next.

The gig ended up getting pulled, and my fee for it evaporated. It wasn't a lot, but it would've covered a few bits, and I didn't mind singing for my supper. So then what do you do in that situation? For me, I had little option but to do the world's saddest flash sale, which brings us to today.

The bandcamp pages have been mostly free since Monday, and my god have you guys absolutely smashed it out of the park. I was only hoping to cover that small-ish fee, but I've somehow ended up with over 5 times that amount, as you all chipped in and were so generous with your donations. I absolutely, 100% cannot thank you all enough for that, and it's genuinely heartwarming to know that this little community based around my silly little tapes can do something as crazy and as awesome as that. So to show my gratitude, and to say a massive thank you again, today I put together an EP called 0207 and shoved it on my Bandcamp for you all:

It's pay-what-you-want, and will remain so after the flash sale ends on Monday, but please don't feel like you have to pay anything more if you've already chipped in! It's just a simple thank you, and I hope you enjoy it. 

Gavin