4th November 2010

It is with a mixture of sadness and relief that I announce the scrapping of the forthcoming space ambient album Cataclysmic Variable Star. I could probably write many, many paragraphs detailing exactly why, although that would be a mostly futile attempt to define what the ‘Second Thought sound’ is, which is pretty much impossible. What I can say though, is the album no longer seems like a suitable release. Sadly, a musician gets defined by his releases, particularly full-length releases. With Safernoc due out around the same time as it, there would have been an immediate competition for attention, and that is not something I’d want. Truthfully, whatever the ‘Second Thought sound’ is, I try and make albums as honest and personal as possible. Purlieu and Vacuum Road Songs were very literal aural descriptions of places in my head, and Safernoc is a little more vague, but still has some very specific ideas there. There’s a distinct atmosphere. Future albums will, in some way, follow this trend. With this in mind, the concept of a space-themed record seems (ironically) very alien, and doesn’t express what I want to express through my releases which get the most focus. I want the ‘experimental series’ over with asap and this leaves the album sat between my ‘main’ releases and ‘experimental’ releases. When I began to think “well, maybe I could only promote it on this forum” and “I could simultaneously release it with Safernoc – one the past, one the future” I realised that it just wasn’t going to work. There’s also the fact that the second track is a bit shit at the moment. That needs a lot of reworking.

I’m putting forward the first track, Magnetospheric Eternally Collapsing Object, for the first Awakenings compilation of 2011, and will probably rework some of the material from PV Telescopii Variable for the future. In all honesty, I think the first track will be better for everyone on the compilation, as it will sit quite comfortably alongside similar music, more people will get to hear it and hopefully enjoy it, and it might even pick up some interest from people wanting to buy Cataclysmic Variable Star – it’ll almost certainly be sat alongside similar music that’s a lot better than PV Telescopii Variable!

To fit all of this, I have re-arranged the discography a little on my website. I have now made a distinction between the main albums (and associated EPs) and the ‘experimental series’ – 2010’s 13 releases.

2nd November 2010

Well, the first Absence.Insolution split’s out, although sales aren’t going as well as I’d hoped. Maybe we mis-judged the artwork concept – Lucy and I came up with 19 sleeves based around things we were planning on throwing away, thus recycling rubbish into art. A nice idea, and hopefully something to catch the eye of potential buyers! Or maybe not. Ah well. We’ll see how that goes in time, anyway. Either way, it just leaves two more releases – the Esion split, and the second Absence.Insolution split, which I received the artwork for earlier in the week and is looking nice.

It’s funny, I was excited about all this at one point, and then concerned, and then relieved, but now kind of bored. I suppose this is what such a ridiculous stream of releases does to you. I do still check my download totals regularly, so I pay attention, but still. This year’s nearly over, and the year of experimentation with it. And for all the trouble it’s caused, I have come away from it having learned something. The experiments this year will go towards future releases. Treatments’ and Dungeness’ drones, Canal Seven’s collage work, 60 Degrees South’s synth improvs, Oncoming Storm’s Ableton experiments, The Curse of Kevin Carter’s songform, Small Black Box’s sound experiments – all of these ideas will re-appear on future Second Thought albums. Some of these records have been more well formed than others. Some simply sound like experiments, others might seem like complete records, but each one was an exercise; a new approach to creating music for me. Just rather than taking the best bits and making an album, I decided to put it all out, to open up and let anybody hear who wishes to hear. I could probably have saved them up and made a more ‘traditional’ Second Thought album, but that wouldn’t have felt right at this time. Instead, I’ll be picking the best ideas and using them as inspiration in the future. Some of these will seem very obvious, in time. Others, less so. But it’s been a lot of fun. And a little bit of stress.

I did some synths for a track I’m working on with Loose Link this afternoon, some nice sounds going down there, but it did bring to mind that, one way or another, I’m not in such a compositional, creative mood at the moment. I’ve rediscovered the joy of listening to music again, after several months of simply making it and going over my own work. I’m going to focus on going through old tapes, CDs and field recordings in the next few months, to try and get myself prepared for working on a new lot of material in the future. Not that that’ll be anytime soon, I’m taking a well-earned break. Got a Noisesurfer remix to work on this week and that’s it. Just going to work on organising and arranging sounds for a while without any need to actually write music. Which feels like quite a relief!

26th October 2010

The Noisesurfer split came out yesterday and has picked up a fair few downloads already. I hope everyone’s enjoying it – it can be downloaded here, if anyone’s not heard it yet. I’d say it’s probably my favourite electronic work of this autumn’s experimental series, some very sinister drones and harsh ambience. Noisesurfer have provided a series of really excellent fuzzy tracks for it too! They’re improving at an incredible rate, from some sketches and demos earlier this year towards making this really interesting dark, atmospheric music already. Impressive stuff.

Spent the weekend in Hinckley, which was pleasant, and got me considering my future prospects once again. I suppose being back really reminds me of the previous productive period of Second Thought, 2002, which produced a lot of sketches earlier on, plus the whole of Twenty-Four and half of Purlieu. As much as the quality of a lot of that material is lacking, I’m still very fond of it as it felt entirely honest, with ne’er a genre exercise in sight. I want to head back that way, towards the days when it wasn’t so easy to categorise my music into “drone”, “Berlin school”, “noise” and so on. Give it a bit of time! A walk to Fosse Meadows yesterday morning did a lot on the inspiration front, but it always seems to. All of the initial plans for Dead Hymns were conceived on a walk around there during Christmas 2004 (which is a rather strange inspiration, bizarrely, but still), the place just seems right for imagination to me. Some of what was Habitats is based around the place. But you won’t be hearing that for a year or so yet. What a tease.

My split with Esion was awaiting my re-arrival in Folkestone. I haven’t listened to it yet, but the tracklist is now in the discography and I’m putting some photos up tomorrow, once my camera battery’s charged. Nice DIY sleeve, limited to 33 copies. I’m incredibly happy to have a cassette release! It just seems so right for noise. So hopefully that’ll do well once it’s released. Should be out at some point in November apparently, once the label is officially up and operational once more. The Absence.Insolution Recycled split is out a week today, just leaving our ‘stereo split’ release to come out at some point when Indestructible Object are ready to go with it. Might not be until next year, annoyingly. Still, what to do?

Things are coming together nicely, anyway.

18th October 2010

Well, that’s all my solo releases for 2010 out! Small Black Box and Dungeness were released yesterday, the former on my friend Michael’s rather excellent label Tavern Eightieth, which focuses on experimental sound art (very fitting for the release), and the latter on long-running and well established Japanese netlabel Bump Foot, both labels I am proud to be associated with. Small Black Box is by far the most experimental release I’ve worked on; Dungeness the bleakest. They’re not easy going but I’m very happy with them in their own ways, so check them out. 🙂

This still leaves a couple of splits to clear out in the next few weeks. The Esion one is on its way to me very soon and I’m waiting on Mike for news on the official availablity of that, while the Noisesurfer one should, based on past releases, come out on Sunday. The first of my Absence.Insolution splits is out on November 1st and the second shortly after (hopefully). The light at the end of the bleak, dark, droney, noisy tunnel I’ve been travelling through is almost upon me and I feel very happy. It’s been such a productive year, but also a depressing one in some ways, and the two have meshed to make an incredibly bleak but creative body of work. In some ways, January 2011 will continue somewhat directly on from my blog in September 2009 announcing the tracklist of Safernoc, amusingly. Anyway, enough of that, there’s still a couple of hours of drone and noise to come out first. Hold tight.

15th October 2010

In an attempt to slowly draw in the number of releases I have lined up once more, I’ve been revisiting old ideas and working out what to do with them. This is quite a fun practice, as in the past I’ve often finished a song or album, and left it at that, with the idea that each record is of its own moment – something that is regularly a fair point, but I’ve discovered it can be very enjoyable to rework stuff once I’ve given it some space.

To this end, the previously announced follow-up to Canal Seven will not be coming out in any recognisible form, and won’t be appearing in any form for quite some time now, to free up some space in the release schedule next year. After the two EPs and handful of splits that remain this year, its all go for Safernoc and, at the same time the free Syophonic EP from the same sessions, at the beginning of 2011. Then it’s time for a special release recorded for my performance at the Awakenings show in Burton-on-Trent, which has been confirmed as the first show of the year, on 5th February. I’ll be playing alongside Nick Robinson again, and the headliners are Endgame. Given that the events focus on the more traditional end of the EM spectrum, expect the show and its accompanying release to show considerable influence from space ambient and Berlin School electronica. More news on those soon!

Once Safernoc and the Awakenings album are out, I should have one release outstanding, which is an exciting collaborative effort I’ll explain about nearer the time. It’s something that’s been worked on for quite a while and should be excellent. And after that, it’s on to pastures new and a return to the standard album releases I’ve been talking about. As the very first entry to this blog said, the future’s bright, the future’s storange.

11th October 2010

I’ve spent the best part of today mixing down the next Noisesurfer album. Joachim – who released a solo album called Noisesurfer on Jerky Oats earlier in the year – has been joined by Rachel to form the duo. Given the task of working out a running order for their debut album, I suggested maybe having a go at stitching the tracks together Second Thought style, to make a flowing album, and it’s worked out fantastically. I’m very proud of the work I’ve done – the album actually flows better than some of my own records, particularly Vacuum Road Songs! – but credit goes to Noisesurfer for creating this series of dark, sinister ambient techno in the first place.

When looking at my website this morning, I looked at the cover for Purlieu and it sent a jolt of emotion through me, in a sort of ‘I want to be doing that again’ kind of way. I think working on this Noisesurfer record has been quite a good way to deal with my need to get back to old style Second Thought soundscape albums while I wait for Safernoc to come out.

The Curse of Kevin Carter came out this morning, and I’m happy to say it’s proving to be really rather popular. Lucy’s beautiful art is going down well and all comments have been really positive. I was nervous about the release, as not only is a deeply personal record, but the style is so different to my normal stuff – even with my noisier diversions – that I wasn’t sure if people would accept it or not. Seems I had nothing to worry about, though!

Lucy and I are finishing up the artwork for the Cementimental/Fist Taker/Second Thought split tomorrow – just in time for Wednesday’s release!

10th October 2010

Once in a long while, things go reasonably well for me. After that long rant a couple of days ago, I’ve been fortunate enough to have several things fall into place. News on the experimental series:

This afternoon saw the release of Thatcher With A Dick, my aural description of David Cameron.

Two tracks of harsh noise released on the brilliant Hum and Hiss Netlabel, who also helped with the hilarious artwork. Parts 1 and 2 of the track form 20 minutes of harsh, disgusting noise.

Silent Flow, who released Treatments earlier in the year, are lining up a release for my split with Noisesurfer, which contains three harsh/dark ambient pieces from myself – “LZT” Leads To Melt The Room, RECAB-A.Exception and Maelstrom – and six shoegaze-ambient works from Noisesurfer.

My third and final split for the moment will be a rhythmic noise/experimental release with Absence.Insolution, and we’re working out label info presently.

This now only really leaves me one release hanging at the moment, so I’m rather happy and feel the weight being lifted from my shoulders a bit at a time. In a few weeks, I’ll hopefully be clear of releases and be able to focus on the future.

This afternoon I have been working with Noisesurfer to get their next album up and running. I’m quite enjoying the run of releases happening on Jerky Oats at the minute. I was thinking, at one point, of opening the label up to anybody, but realised that would take the fun out of it. The label is by myself and Lucy, and will operate to release music by people we know. A little collective, helping to give friends a release or two and help them up the ladder in music. I’ve been listening to the next two Lemony Nougat contributions – Noisesurfer and Jack Anderton – and the series is coming along brilliantly.

So. Things are looking up at the moment!

8th October 2010

Long-time fans of Second Thought will remember the 2T project which recorded between 2001 and 2003, the name of which still occasionally appears credited as artwork designer. Upon revisiting some of my old music, I renewed my interest in the harsher and more experimental ends of my music – noise, industrial, drone, harsh noise wall, breakcore and all the other ridiculous stuff 2T used to come out with. In a recording spree of a few weeks I came up with a startling amount of this material and am now faced with the rather worrying prospect of a billion different releases. Only one has come out so far – last week’s Torn Vision 3″ CDr.

Fortunately, a fair amount of it will be appearing on compilations over the coming months (more news on them as and when they’re released). I’ve also come together with a few artists to release some splits. Next week will see a CDr release on Jerky Oats of a three-way split between myself, Cementimental and Fist Taker. It’ll be limited to 30 copies, digipacked with more artwork by Lucy Wade, my beautiful girlfriend and co-conspirator in the creative world of Jerky Oats Records and Merganser. The album is 75 minutes of harsh noise wall and should be approached with caution and curiosity by anyone not familiar with this end of my music. I have another split on its way, with Absence.Insolution (who is releasing one of the aforementioned compilations), we’re just looking for a label for that, and third split with Noisesurfer due out as a netlabel release before the end of the year. Which leaves me two 20 minute records which I’m currently submitting to a few cassette labels. If they ain’t interested I’m heading outwards to some CDr labels, although I like the noise cassette scene so it would be sad not to have at least one of them released on cassette. These, coupled with The Curse of Kevin Carter’s song form, Dungeness’s dronescapes and the unmelodic textures of Small Black Box, mark a very experimental final quarter of 2010 for Second Thought.

The reason for the push on getting these out is I want a clear run in the new year. I don’t think they’ll all be out by January, but I really want to be able to categorise this period as the experimental period, when a lot of unusual sounds and ideas were put out at once. It’s like a scrapbook, lots of ideas and genre exercises and experiments, put out for free, or as limited editions. And I’m tired of seeing all this stuff lined up and not actually releasing it. It’ll clear my mind and inspiration to get it out of the way, because I feel like this era is over in my head and I hate holding on to stuff. 2010 has been a year of experimentation, with all sorts of new releases and directions for me. It’s been the re-emergence of Second Thought with a bang, and I’d like things to calm down a bit now.

The new year will see Safernoc released, and an accompanying EP of outtakes, Syophonic. Safernoc is the big statement, the proper follow-up to Vacuum Road Songs, after all these years. There are a couple more things due – some remixes, and follow-ups to Canal Seven and 60 Degrees South, but overall I want to let everything breathe. And I want to work towards a more streamlined future. Once the follow-up to Safernoc is out (yes, I’m that far behind on actually releasing stuff), I’m calling an end to side-projects and experiments, and putting everything out as ‘proper’ releases. This might mean two albums a year rather than one album and six experimental EPs, I don’t know. But it will make Second Thought feel more like Second Thought again. I kind of miss the days when I’d record a bunch of tracks, and as they went along they’d begin to make sense and an overall sound would become evident, and after a while, 12 or 13 tracks would fit together nicely and become an album. It felt very honest and I’m looking forward to returning to that mindset again.

Anyway, that’s a lot of ranting for what is effectively “expect a lot of weird unlistenable shit before Christmas”.

21st September 2010

I wish I’d get off my arse and do stuff sometimes. It’s taken me several months to get around to sending out demos, and of course now I’m faced with a bunch of releases due out at the same time, a la Treatments/Canal Seven, rather than spreading them over the several months we’ve had since 60° South in May. Ah well. Here’s what’s happening:

Dungeness is one of a series of dark ambient/drone releases I’ve been working on since the success of Treatments. The pieces are in a different style. The eagle-eyed old fans from before Purlieu might recognise Qualia in some form. A very, very old track from 1999/2000 called Platinum appears in drastically remixed form, plus three recent compositions of synthesised electronic drones. Bump Foot, the long running Japanese netlabel, are releasing it very soon. I’ll hopefully have the release date sooner!

1. Carpetless Floor
2. Platinum
3. Hulme
4. Two Colours
5. Qualia

Small Black Box is a more experimental work from earlier in the year, mostly recorded in March and April. The focus here is on texture, and although some of the pieces contain what could be described as traditional melody and structure, they are not the focus of the record. Some pieces are 30 second snippets of sound, while others are positively epic. It’s a bit noisey and a bit disjointed, but I like that about it. That should be appearing on Tavern Eightieth very soon too (see what I mean about multiple releases?)

Last up (if you ignore the long-announced release of The Curse of Kevin Carter in October) is a record which may need a little more in the way of introduction. An idea long in the works and finally happening is a series of 3″ CDr releases on Jerky Oats Records called Lemony Nougat. The name is an anagram of La Monte Young, which should give you an idea of what the theme is. If all goes to plan, ten artists will each release a disc as part of the series, an contribute up to 20 minutes of ambient/drone music. The material on each release will be new and exclusive, and the releases are very strictly limited to 20 copies, each handmade in special minimalist artwork on black card. I’ve been incredibly lucky to get some amazing artists involved in this, some I’ve worked with before and some not. Already confirmed are Jack Anderton, Off Land, Cubus, Perfect Writing and Noisesurfer, plus my own project with my girlfriend, Merganser. I’m really excited about the whole project as it should be a lot of fun, and should get me to work with a range of great musicians.

And, of course, to get the ball rolling, is a release from Second Thought. Torn Vision is an experimental drone piece by music, seventeen minutes of a flute loop which is morphed and shaped into a drastically different form.

As previously mentioned, I’ve sent out some CD demos to labels recently, and part of me is hoping if they get picked up, there’s a backlog of releases so nothing else comes out before the end of the year. I don’t want the releases to get too overwhelming!

All in all, it’s a very exciting and productive time. Although I’ve now set up a list of things to do that don’t involve making more music, as I’m still about 15 releases behind… Anyway, you’ll read about them in the future, as and when they’re ready.

Safernoc is on its way at some point, I promise!

16th September 2010

Well, we’re only a month away from the next release, The Curse of Kevin Carter, and it’s time to reveal the beautiful artwork from Lucy Wade:

Well, that’s just a thumbnail, anyway. Full size front and back cover will come with the release. 🙂

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed the new website design for secondthought.co.uk, which I worked on for a couple of days, hand coding in notepad. First time I’ve done that. It brought up a few annoying errors, but I got there eventually. There are lots of banners for past, present and up-coming releases which you can see by clicking ‘new banner’. Amongst them you’ll find a cover for something called Small Black Box, which will tentatively be coming out on a netlabel called Tavern Eightieth before the end of the year. I’ll post more news on that soon.

The glut of releases continues to drop, hopefully, as I’ve begun sending off CDr demos for the first time since… er, pre-Vacuum Road Songs (nobody bothered picking me up for that one anyway). It’s a strangely liberating feeling, knowing that people around the world will be listening to my music very soon. So far I’ve been trying to get a few of the stranger, more avant garde and downright strange releases out. Some of the sounds hark back to my days as recording as 2T, and I’m hoping to get some releases out on some lovely DIY CD-r and cassette labels in the coming months.

In my head, I separate my ‘main’ releases from ‘everything else’ – in this case the ‘main’ releases are the series of themed albums: so far Purlieu, Vacuum Road Songs and the ever-forthcoming Safernoc, plus the album containing more classical-influenced material I’m working on. These I hope to continue to give wider releases for – CD, maybe some larger distribution. Everything else exists partially to take part in the DIY label scene, from the netlabels – both new to me and those of my friends – and the CDr and cassette label scenes. I’m looking forward to working with various people on promoting my music and their labels over the next couple of years.

Live rehearsals continue, as I’m confirmed for a slot at one of the Awakenings shows in Burton On Trent next year (more details to follow). That will probably be centred around more synth-based material, highlighting my traditional ambient and Berlin School influences, but I’m really interested in doing more gigs as I’m otherwise practising a lot of improvisational stuff which has taken me in both the avant garde and rhythmic directions. It’s a lot of fun and these rehearsals have provided some recordings of vastly altered tracks.

Anyway, that’s about all the ranting about my music anybody could possibly wish to read, so I bid you farewell for now. Watch out for live and release news on its way very soon. 🙂