8-bit

Relycs EP – Songs for Abandoned Tube Stations

~ Clicky Steve ~ 1 Comment

Way back in April 2012, intrepid musical explorer Ash Cooke – aka Pulco – got in touch to ask if I’d be up for contributing to a collaboration inspired by some of the many desolate tube stations that lie under the City of London.

Having worked on a host of projects with Ash before, I knew how dedicated he was at coming up with really unique and experimental ideas, so agreed without much thought.

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Fast-forward to 2013, and the release is finally (almost) upon us – penned in for the 30th of September.

The format will be limited edition C30 magnetic cassette tapes, each with 3 full colour numbered postcards, a credit sheet, as well as the digital download (obviously). There will only be 30 copies available. Ever. Full stop.

Here’s what the official press release says:

‘Songs For Abandoned Tube Stations’ is an EP of 
songs by RELYCS (Ashley Cooke, Adam Leonard & 
Stephen McLeod Blythe) inspired by the sights, 
sounds and ghosts of the dozens of closed, 
unused, or only-travelled-through-at-speed 
Underground tube stations beneath the streets 
of London. The EP contains 3 tracks – ‘Aldwych 
Branch Line’, ‘Lord’s Station’ and ‘Down Street’, 
recorded by Ashley Cooke (AKA Pulco), Adam 
Leonard and Stephen McLeod Blythe (AKA 
Unexpected Bowtie) respectively. The music 
literally travels from Cooke’s complex and highly 
evocative subterranean soundscape, past 
Leonard’s dark, dripping platform of ominous 
organ music, terminating at Blythe’s wonderfully 
simple yet affective[sic] chip tune Nintendo Gameboy 
programming, like the music from some 
uncreated ‘Super Mario London Underground’ 
game. Mind the gap and enjoy your journey…

Aside from my burbling chiptune sounds, the other guys are great at what they do.

For more info on them, check out their respective sites:

Adam Leonard – www.themessagetapes.com
Ash Cooke – www.pulcomusic.com

The EP will be available from Monday 30th September at http://pethaugarw.tumblr.com/

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As weird as it seems to be announcing the release of one record whilst having worked on a totally different one for the past few weeks, that’s the way it goes in the life-cycle of things.

This is an awesome split EP of the 8-bit inspired chiptune electronic variety, with The Wet Dreams taking the first half of the record; myself the second. We took a basic melody for one of the tracks, and wrote our own versions (tracks 3 and 4) which made it all the more interesting.

Click through to the music page for the relevant links and all that.

For those of you not so enamoured with the chiptune side of things, watch this space – there’s other creations in the works.

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It’s done!

Since we’d already posted up the album cover for habeas corpus, here’s the back cover/inlay/whatever you call such things in a digital-only release.

Another fifteen tracks of music in handy downloadable/streamable format… although if you loved the first set, we can’t guarantee you’ll feel the same about this.

Click on through to get your hands on a copy. Or two. Or as many as your bandwidth can carry.

~ Clicky Steve ~ Leave a comment

The next unexpected bowtie release has got a name, and this is the artwork that has (literally) just been finished – credit to Kaylie for her initial drawing.

There’s still some loose ends to tie up, so the overall progress is sitting at about 90% – with the full thing expected to be online in the next couple of weeks for your downloadable pleasures.

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As you may probably have picked up from the previous posts, it’s been a bit of a tough slog getting into the whole electronics modification side of chiptune music.

It reminded me a bit of learning to drive. You keep thinking – how on earth can I find this so difficult when so many other people find it so easy?

After hours and hours and hours of accumulated research though, I’ve finally taken a big jump forward and managed to front-light the Gameboy Color so I can use it to compose stuff on whenever and wherever. I did also add an extra 3.5mm line-out, but discovered that Maplin had given me the wrong jack… mono instead of stereo… which put the kaibosh on that plan.

Either way, soldering mistakes and cut hands aside, things are starting to settle in. Here’s a couple of shots of the Gameboy in all its illuminated glory; nestled snugly beside the other electronic gear.

~ Clicky Steve ~ Leave a comment

Without being entirely sure of where this all may head, you can check out the finished mix of ‘let’s get explicit’, composed with Commodore 64 sounds, guitar parts and other samples over at the 8 bit collective. – and only from there at the moment.