Category: second thought

5th February 2008

After much titting about, Vacuum Road Songs will be available from May, internationally. That’s right, those of you not lucky enough to catch the pre-release last year will be able to pick up a copy properly from May. Thank God that’s over. Hopefully there’ll be some nice reviews here and there soon.

I’ve taken another long break from the music recently, but am very much back on track with it now. You’ll probably notice a little section on the new site called Dead Hymns, which is pretty empty but should have some clues to what’s going to happen in the future. Not to jump too ahead of the game, of course, but it’s nice to have stuff to look forward to. Stephen and mine’s band collapsed some time ago and I’m not as interested in pursuing that line of music just at the minute anyway. You can listen to some of his solo music here, though, and you should as it’s excellent.

I hope everyone likes the new design on the website. It too has been a long time coming. There’s lots of new stuff to discover so take a look around.

In six months time I may be living in London. This should open up some new routes for me, personally and musically. On a similar note, I’m now writing for Sandman Magazine in Leeds, my first review should be in the March issue. I’ll keep everyone informed of that, anyway.

Music I’ve been enjoying lately that you should check out:

Murcof – Cosmos
Goldmund – Corduroy Road
Encomiast – Espera
Logreybeam – It’s All Just Another Aspect Of Mannerism
Nurse With Wound – Thunder Perfect Mind
Simian Mobile Disco – Attack Decay Release Sustain
Erik Satie – Piano Works
The Divine Comedy – A Short Album About Love

xxx

13th May 2007

Oooh it’s been a while. The last few months have been absolutely ridiculous, in the best and worst possible ways. Nightclubs and sex and alcohol and other incredibly sleazy stuff. And that all puttered out once university began scaring me with the prospect of finishing. I’ve spent the last month or so doing research and essays and generally catching up on all the shit I’d missed from all the debauchery. Still, it’s all over now – ish. Got a week of presentations, shows and whatnot to design and… well, present and show. But the writing’s out of the way, so I’m taking a moment to reflect on what’s going on. I’ve put together a record label with a couple of friends. Jerky Oats Records. And the first release is a little album called Vacuum Road Songs, which you may have noticed is on the front page as being released sometime in the future. That’s all fun, anyway, and there’s goingto be a rather interesting promotional campaign which I’ll inform you all of at a later date. Meantime, that’s available in the Second Thought Shop for the bafflingly low sum of £5.00 (with an extra £1.00 for international shipping). So get your pennies out, kids, it’s been a long time coming and will hopefully be worth the wait.

What does the future hold? Well, the follow-up is on its way. I’m maybe a third of the way through the recording process. It’s going to be very different from what I’ve done in the past. You may not recognise it as Second Thought. I like to keep people on their toes. I’d also like to mention an artist called Vincent Giard, who is currently going to be helping with the cover art for the record. That’s right, no photos. That’s a vague clue as to the theme of the album…

The band with Ste is sort of making progress. Pissed off at new rave, electro indie and the rest of the utter toss that pollutes the NME and indie clubs at the moment, we’re making a stand and starting no rave. Those familiar with Lydia Lunch and James Chance will understand where Ste got the name from. It looks like I could be playing bass on a lot of it, which is a change from my initial role as ‘lead guitarist’ in mine and Ste’s band. I’m hoping to maybe start doing some DJing in Leeds at some point, maybe have an idea or two about where to do so. I’ll keep you informed.

Nostalgia and anti-nostalgia: removed all the old cack from the discography (let’s be honest, everything before Purlieu was fairly dire), and added a page with all my collaborative and production work, as it’s been nice looking back over the stuff I’ve worked on with people. It’s nice getting back to music in all of its forms, as I’ve been through a fair few ‘can’t be arsed’ moments in the past year…

Recently been listening to: Wire, Manicured Noise, The Pop Group, Ludus, Tears For Fears, Kraftwerk, Television, early Pulp, Pan Sonic, Thursday, Million Dead, Nine Inch Nails, Magazine, Michael Jackson, Every Time I Die, Brett Anderson, Merzbow, Ben Frost, Gregg Jackson and Travis.

xxx

4th December 2006

Remix a track provided, give reasons for the remix and why you believe it’s marketable. Luckily enough, the track I chose is going to be the next single by the band. Unluckily, the deadline to get it considered by the label was the end of November. That’s not going to stop me, though.

Anyway, I present you with my latest university coursework:

Seafood – Little Pieces (Second Thought Remix)

It’s a bit different to what you might be expecting.

And I’m really proud of it.

xxx

15th October 2006

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? What’s going on, then?

Haven’t worked on anything with Claire since the last update about her – funny how people change and move on, isn’t it? Still, I’ve been working on music nonetheless. A few sketches here and there have been recorded, work on Vacuum Road Songs’ follow-up has definitely begun although that’s so far away it’s not worth talking about, really. Elsewhere, I’m working on some stuff with Ste again. No idea where it’s going, who’s leading the project, what it’ll sound like. Taking in our influences of late, it’ll be anything from britpop to post-punk to post-hardcore/emo to shoegaze stuff. So like I say, no idea.

I suppose I should also mention that some of my stuff was played on BBC Radio 6Music. That, in itself, I thought was pretty great, but it was played by The Future Sound of London. I’m not going to witter about it, simply because having your all-time favourite band and number one influence play your material on national radio isn’t something that can really be explained in words. But hey. They managed to fuck up the title of the song. 😉

Finally, Vacuum Road Songs is seeing a probable release in the new year. For my university dissertation I’m working with Joe, Nate and Andy on setting up a record label, which will include recording bands, releasing CDs, promotion and live stuff. One ofthe releases is planned to be Second Thought’s new album, and thank God!

University is, at last, being really good to me in this way. Also this year I’m studying the origins of electronic music: musique concrete and early synth-based stuff, so far, and recording from a similar perspective; I’m also doing a songwriting module and remixing a track by a not entirely unknown indie band in a more electro style. So it could all turn out very interesting indeed.

xxx

13th February 2006

Had a bit of an – well, ephiphany is probably the wrong word, but you get my drift. For the first time, my course has directly influenced the music I’m making, and I’m planning to get back to work on Vacuum Road Songs. I suppose I’ve always been unhappy with it, but now I actually want to get on with it and make myself happy with the final thing. I’ve been doing some work in Logic and Reaktor and now fancy doing something very synth based. Inspired by this, I’ve been listening to Incunabula and Amber by Autechre, and Underworld’s moodier stuff – particularly Luetin and the new LovelyBrokenThing EP. I haven’t done anything as ‘straight up’ as these in ages, it’s all been twisted ambient, breakbeat or IDM stuff, so maybe doing something a little more techno-based might be a nice change. I’m also wanting to trim a couple of tracks off the album, as I’m not sure how happy I genuinely am with them. This is going to be interesting.

xxx

26th November 2005

Some exciting updates here. First up, the band is on hold, if not over. Some stuff happening with Stephen and myself, which need not be discussed here, have put it on the back burner. The lack of drummer and long-term singer (Claire may well be leaving Leeds in June), a year after we started searching, were signalling an all together pessimistic tone for the project anyway, so maybe it’s for the best.

Talking of the amicable Ms. Taylor, our EP is coming along quite well. No exact titles floating around yet, other than a working title of “Yorkshire Bank” for one song. We’ve got a few little tracks, though. One is sounding quite Postal Service-esque, which normally I’d refuse to do, only I wrote it, so heh. Jaunty beats, bubbling synths and a sickeningly jolly guitar part. There’s something vaguely trip-hoppish about another track, which is pretty moody, and the aforementioned Yorkshire Bank is all skittering clicks, folk guitars and organs. The current plan is to get a six track EP together before the year’s out (probably a bit hasty, given our rather full schedules at the moment), and then start gigging. The gigs should be a lark. We’re thinking costumes and instruments and stuff. I’m also fond of the idea of her standing very still and shy – as she is – and me leaping around with a guitar like a moron as I often do.

Which leaves Second Thought a bit redundant at the moment. The Second Thought stuff is always an idea which I’m compelled to create, something which needs doing, and at times it can be a bit of a slog. And with all the shit that’s happened this year, the whole thing was getting me down a bit. The concepts I’m working on in that department are pretty morbid, so I’m giving it a break. The stuff I’m doing with Claire is so joyous and celebratory and music for the love of it that I don’t need much else at the moment. So that’s darn happy.

I’m playing bass for my mate Liam at an open mic night. Hopefully be getting a bass for Christmas, as it’s a darn sight more fun to mess around with than a normal guitar (unless I have a hundred FX pedals).

x

p.s. An Ending (Ascent) by Brian Eno is probably the greatest piece of pure electronic music ever recorded.

5th November 2005

Updates, updates. What’s going on with me?

Well, I’m still looking for a record label to release Vacuum Road Songs. May take a long time. I have lots of other little things in the works too, though. First off is the band, which is still going mostly nowhere, but Stephen and I have written a number of songs, largely 60s inspired things. Somewhere between The Coral,(early) Pink Floyd, Mansun and Oasis, I suppose. It’s all rather interesting, but we haven’t even played anything with Liam and Claire yet, so anything even remotely approaching completion is along way off. I have been doing some music with them both, though. I’m going to be playing bass for a few acoustic songs Liam’s written to do at some open mic stuff at some point in the near or far future, as long as I can convince him to get it all on the road. Claire and I have been working on some “poppy electro folk”, as she calls it. Acoustic guitars, glitchy beats, a few synths and so on. You know the score. Pitchfork’ll love it. For my course we’re doing Consent To Content (see a couple of entries below) in a very 60s style… hard panned drums, tons of reverb, not enough microphones, tambourines and hand claps. We’ve even convinced Joe to stop noodling and play some Hank Marvin guitar for a while. Hopefully we’ll have some clips of that rather soon.

I’ve also been working in Reaktor as part of the course, and to be frank, I fucking hate it. Too much control, way too sciency and all together thoroughly annoying. I’ve never been that much of a techie, but this just takes the piss. As soon as one of the tutorials started talking about algorithms I realised I was wasting my time.

Emotions have been all over the place lately, been rather insane. Highs and lows and all sorts. I’ve taken to carrying a little pen and book around with me and writing lyrics, poems, stories, thoughts, whatever down in it. Most of it’s pointless ranting, but I’ve come up with a few nice ideas.

It’s November 5th, and everyone’s celebrating the death of my great great great great (x a lot) uncle’s death. Being related to Guy Fawkes adds a rather odd shine to the day. I don’t think I’ll be doing much tonight.

Anyway, with all this going on, I’m sure we’ll have some audio clips for you all very soon.

1st October 2005

Last night marked my first ever live performance as Second Thought, and needless to say I was extremely nervous. During setting up, numerous errors occured (as should have been expected, really), but all was resolved for the show itself.

Before I was on, Nick Robinson – a loop guitarist – played a thoroughly interesting set, creating all manner of sounds with his guitar. It didn’t transfer so well into the live situation as I can imagine a studio disc was, but I definitely enjoyed his short set. This meant, however, that I was on soon after. I sat down behind the computer screen and began. Immediately after I started came another error: my MIDI controller was not configured to work in the software. I quickly stopped, and went to set this right, to find my mind had gone blank. So the rest of the set was suddenly very different to how it was intended, and was all now improvised using the laptop only. Considering this, and the fact I had to cut a short section out, I’m very happy with how the show went, and have decided that if I can do well enough under those circumstances, I can do well any time. The set began with the opener to my next album, Vacuum Road Songs, and then went through a number of tracks from that and Purlieu, as well as a couple of rarer old tracks recently reworked for the show. I ended with a short guitar section which was unfortunately ruined due to the electronic buzz on the whole sound; I ended up cutting it short as the sound was very tedious. After the 40 minute was up, I stepped down a far more confident man than I was when I stepped up and had the best pint I’ve ever drank. Fingers crossed the next gig will go far smoother, although on the whole I was very happy with how I played. I’d like to thank all my friends for coming along to support me, and special thanks to Andy for sorting out the technical problems and driving back and forth with leads and adapters – the gig would’ve been impossible without you.

Setlist:
Borderline
Vehicle
December
Rooftops Part 2
First Understanding
Em
Rooftops Part 4
Fences

22nd December 2004

The end of the musical year, really… no new releases now. I missed albums by Multi-Panel and Matthew Florianz, both friends and artists I respect, which upsets me, really. Otherwise, an excellent year in music, featuring thirty-six fantastic releases. The top ten have been published as an article on electronicmusicworld.com, thanks to the always supportful Stefan. I’ve also added the list on my own Music website, which one day I plan to turn into a review website. Although I probably won’t.

On the Second Thought front, I’ve got a couple of interesting collaborations coming up in the near (and, probably, distant) future. I’m also doing a lot of promo comes the new year. 2005 is the year where it all happens.