January 28, 2002
Wild night
Just a quick entry on this wild wild night (there are serious winds blowing outside). No sign of a sproglet as yet - guess just have to wait. Bit more positive than I was in the middle of last week. I'll do a proper update over the next day or so - events permitting but in the meantime I have a new release music wise. These tracks are from a madonna remix project on the microsound mailing list:
Oh well its late so I'm off to bed.
January 23, 2002
Stasis
My life is currently in an "in between" state. Milo is due anyday now, the product release is at that state of nearly ready - just the boring stuff to do, other work things stand in the balance also, the cats are away. These things are not necessarily a problem but add a vague sense of things not being as they should be to the world. I guess its just a matter of waiting it out- all will be resolved vry soon now.
I am not spending as much time as I would like on my music but there is progress - PD patches are proliferating and I will have some releases to show for it in the near future. On the listening front I am listening to a lot of microsound type stuff -Cascone,Fennez,Mille Plateaux compilations - all very unsettled, fragmented works. Hmmm methinks I see a connection.
January 21, 2002
Warm rain of January??
No update for a little while 'cos I've been quite busy. A very relaxing weekend of primarily sleep and music. Storytellers should be finished up tomorrow - I made a title track over the weekend which should just make it before the deadline. Been doing a lot of work on microsound type music of late. Doing a lot of PD patching and improvising. The stuff I have been doing of late has been submitted to other projects but I am hoping to have some releases up here soon as well.
Apart from that theres little else to report - preparations on the baby front are pretty much done. The cats are away at the moment in Leeds with my mate Em so the house is quite quiet. Its odd getting a good nights sleep without a small cat (Roo) wanting to play the kitchen game.
January 11, 2002
Illness intrudes
A week hindered by a cold - feeling much better today though. I've ben pretty busy this week - theres a lot to do at work we are coming up to a release which I am hoping we will get out of the way before a certain sproglet arrives. Finally finished up the Storytellers stuff - ended up droping any of my music (due to me losing the cd of the last track) which I felt worked better in the end. Tedious work though removing all the noise and stuff from the tracks. Quite pleased with the end results.
On my own music front I've been playing with jMax and PD. I contributed a track to a project on the .microsound mailing list which should be getting a web release all things being well. The closing date for the project is next month so more details then. These Max like tools are very much suited to the way I work and are going to be my main focus musically for a while I think.
Because of my cold I haven't really been doing much in the way of reading. Music wise Kim Cascone is the man of the moment. I have been listening to a couple of excellent Jah Wobble records too - Shout at the Devil and Passage to Hades - both particularly good.
We went to see Lord of the Rings at the weekend. I was most impressed - it captured the mood and scope of the book well. Epic in all senses of the word - can't wait for the next two episodes.
January 03, 2002
A new year
click on picture for better view or if you have a fast connection: (Full size , jpg , 8,842KB )
As you can tell - didn't get round to updating over the holiday at all - instead had an excellent time and a good rest. A. and I spent the first week of the holidays at my parents near the lakes. It was great showing A. round some of my favourite haunts and the places I grew up in. The picture at the top was a favourite sunday morning walk when we where kids - Birk Rigg common. The picture was taken on christmas morning and is looking north towards the lakes and east across morecambe bay. Got to spend some good time with my brother and sister as well which was cool as well.
Since I got back haven't really been up to much at all - shopping for baby stuff has been one priority, lazing about has been another. Spent a bit of time getting jMax working. This tool is heavily used by the laptop brigade and has not really been available for windows until recently - I am hoping that this will fill some of the musical requirments I have.
Been reading the Lord of the Rings once more - a damn fine book and a great pleasure to read again. The other book I have been reading is The Sea Kingdoms. This is a fascinating look at the kingdoms of the Celts - and how their customs, language and culture has affected ours. It jumps about a bit but it is an excellent read.
Back at work now so life is accelerating once more - not to mention the iminent arrival of a small boy.....