My pal Lee has a new band, called Magnificent Bastard. They’ve just put our their first single – ‘Smile, You Fuck’ to stream on Bandcamp and the like.
I convinced him to let me have a bash at destroying his hard work, and he stupidly agreed. So here it is, remixed:
All of the sounds are taken from the original recording, with the exception of the Game Boy – which definitely was not.
Today I’m releasing my first album since 2012, and the first one that’s mainly chiptune based since 2011: ‘drouth’.
The album is entirely composed on LSDJ using a bunch of different modified Gameboys, which were then in turn to control different instruments like a Commodore 64, Volca Bass, etc that play additional parts to give a much deeper sound. Along with a smattering of guitar and vocals, it’s much more an experimental (sometimes ambient) electronic album than a chiptune focussed one.
Unlike previous occasions, I’ve spent a lot more time putting the pieces together for this, even re-mastering the entire thing a few days ago when I realised that the original left the Gameboy sounding a little bit too harsh.
You can download it in full, for whatever price you choose, over at bandcamp – or stream at the bottom of the page.
Tracklist is as follows:
Me, making music on my latest modified Gameboy, by my old pal Neil Slorance, thanks to my other half.
It’s been a long time since I did anything musical… about two years infact. Life had overtaken in many ways, leaving no room to fiddle about with Gameboys. In the interim I’ve moved house, got a new job, completed my Masters, and even got married. Yeesh.
Now that things have settled down, I’ve been dusting off the equipment sitting in boxes to get back into the swing of things. It’s not been that straightforward a task. I’ve gone through two new Macbooks since I last recorded anything, which has brought a myriad of issues.
Here’s some of the problems I’ve run into:
So that’s it so far. There are other small annoyances, like how I need to re-solder some bits and pieces in some of the Gameboys, but that’s something I can procrastinate about.
Now time for the good stuff:
Hmm, I thought there would be more to that list, but oh well!
Listening back to some of the older albums, I really love some of the stuff, and am really indifferent about others. Going forward I might try stripping things back a bit so they are less fuzzy and distorted, and concentrate on the chip structure instead. We’ll see how it goes.
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.
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/
Thanks to Nat Lyon for his take on sleeping solves nothing, from the first unexpected bowtie album… which even features the ring modulated snoring of Newfoundland dogs.
If you fancy ripping apart a track, give me a shout.
unexpected bowtie (and friends) is an album that started in 2011 as a means of collecting different sounds from some of the hardest working, most creative, and most pleasant people that I’d come to know in music.
Taking everything from ambient guitar noises to crazed loops of a Welshman throwing rocks into a wheelbarrow – I pieced them together to produce this jaunty beast.
Despite having been finished almost 2 years ago, and with most of the tracks previewed already, the whole thing has never been quite ready – partially because I still have some samples left over from one band that I’ve just not been able to work out what on earth to do with. (down to my musical incompetence, not theirs!). Hopefully these will make their way into something astounding sometime soon, but the time for this release to make its way into the world is well overdue.
Click on the accompanying artwork above to take you to the new shiny shiny unexpected bowtie bandcamp where you can download the whole thing for free for the first time.
FOE – The Black Lodge (cover)
So here we have it, a totally unnecessary chiprock cover of the Black Lodge by FOE.
I promise to keep my hands off of other band’s songs for a while.
An 8-bit only version of ‘vital signs’ from Pulco’s ‘Man of Lists’ album.
So bizarre to see your music on Amazon.
unexpectedbowtie 