Wednesday 30 November 2011

Tuesday 29 November 2011

29.11.11 - DAY 333 - Half A Beast / Any Other Way



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

Too many things to do right now
I'm finding that I don't have time
This is getting overwhelming
I am crashing without a helmet

Important forms I need to fill
Bills to pay and gigs to plan
Collaborations that need booked
My sanity is over cooked

Work to do, performance rights
Email lists and studio nights
Band practice 3 times this week
Interviews and DVDs

Give up smoking
Pay off a debt
Spend time with Mark
Try to forget

The end is nearing
Expectations
People asking
What are my next plans?

Websites, blogs and making contacts
Approaching meltdown, insanely fast

OK. Time out. I need to think
This is the right time to pour a drink

Oh wait 5 days have just disappeared.
Now I'm skint. Now I'm here
The list hasn't got any smaller
Clearly, I can't do this much longer.

Try to get it all done before the weekend
Then Friday, it's you and me.
Time to put it all into slow motion
Enjoy ourselves, be free.

Except the weekend will go even faster
Then back into the fray: Monday disaster
It's crazy, but I have to say

I wouldn't want it any other way…

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Monday 28 November 2011

28.11.11 - DAY 332 - Slacker

28.11.11 - DAY 332 - Slacker by SADFAY

Bandcamp issues tonight, so tonight's song has been uploaded to Soundcloud.

My everything hurts. Some buzzing and tape delay for ya.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Sunday 27 November 2011

27.11.11 - DAY 331 - The Importance of Apathy



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

Imagine you couldn't turn off all the information that your eyes and ears process. Everything that your brain processes, constantly: imagine you were subjected to it all in one mega-stream of sense and experience.

... It'd be pretty fucking full on, wouldn't it?

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Saturday 26 November 2011

26.11.11 - DAY 330 - Woken



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

So this is fairly melodramatic. I wrote it, then got some news that wasn't great. Then I opened a letter and got some other news that was super great! Then a few other things happened of varying degrees of greatness. It's been a bit of a manic day so far.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Thursday 24 November 2011

Wednesday 23 November 2011

27.11.11 - DAY 327 - Ether Drive Mounting (ft. 2ndMOUSE)



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

A collaboration with electronic guru 2ndMOUSE tonight. I've been a fan of his music for a few years now, so it's quite cool to have had the chance to work with him!

A bit about 2ndMOUSE:
2ndMOUSE is about trying to achieve a balance between experimentation and melody , and using sounds and ideas in a different context to what they were originally meant for. I'm perfectly at home building a spaghetti western "dulcimer" and laying it over some french vocals, a bit of rap and an electro beat. No two tracks are ever the same.

For more info , point your browser to http://www.2ndMOUSEofficial.com for news,
and http://www.soundcloud.com/2ndMOUSE for the latest tracks.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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22.11.11 - DAY 326 - Near Silence of Nature (VIDEO)


Took a wander around Musgrave Park, Belfast today. It was very quiet, relaxing and inspired some lyrics for SADFAY 326. This video collects some snaps I took and a wee bit of the song writing process, later when I got home.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

22.11.11 - DAY 326 - Near Silence of Nature



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

I had a nice walk in a park today, wrote down some lyrics. Came home, planning to make some sort of simple, 'heartfelt' track. It sounded awful and I couldn't bare it. So I changed the words a bit and made something else. It feels equally as over-the-top, but in a different, kinda abstract way.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Culture Northern Ireland Interview


The very pleasant gentleman, known as Peter (Hotrod) Mc Caughan interviewed me for the Culture Northern Ireland website t'other day. You can read all about it here.


Monday 21 November 2011

21.11.11 - DAY 325 - See The World (ft. Rory Nellis)



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

A collaboration with Rory Nellis tonight. We made a lovely big pop track, fit for mass consumption and ready to take on the world. All in, this took about 3.5 hours to write, record, arrange, edit and mix. Not too shabby.

A bit about Rory:
Rory Nellis is a singer and guitarist in Belfast-based alternative rock band 'Seven Summits'.

His interests include songwriting, football and Arnie films.


Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Sunday 20 November 2011

20.11.11 - DAY 324 - West Strand



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

The West Strand beach in Portrush, at night, is beautiful. Or maybe it was the mix of freedom, love, warmth, fresh air, a heart melting smile, the defiant bench drinking, the tireless energy of a sweet dog, the laughter, the hugs, the kisses and the sense that it will always be this good, with you.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Friday 18 November 2011

18.11.11 - DAY 322 - Hyrule Castle Garden (ft. Andy Harrison)



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

Today's track is a collaboration between myself and Andy Harrison. We recorded multiple samples of a fan striking guitar strings and made four separate 'ambient instruments' from these. Andy scored a very slow, minimal chord progression for these instruments. An improvised guitar performance was added which was then fragmented and scattered throughout the track.

Andy Harrison is a guitarist and sonic meddler living in Belfast. He is currently studying for an MA in Sonic Arts at Queens and plays in the QUBensemble there. http://soundcloud.com/notcham

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Thursday 17 November 2011

17.11.11 - DAY 321 - Things To Tell



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

A collaboration with my good buddy Christian tonight. A good ol' fashioned rockin' track with some tasty riffage from the man himself.

A bit about Christian:
Christian Winterman has lived and worked in Belfast since 05. He has performed in a wide range of roles including theatre, music and writing for stage and screen. He can be found gigging with his current outfit CLINT in which he plays guitar and is a regular player in Belfast's open mic circuit.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Wednesday 16 November 2011

16.11.11 - DAY 320 - Funny Time of Year



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

Well, what a day!

There was an article about SADFAY in the Belfast Telegraph today which motivated BBC Radio Ulster to phone and ask me to come into their studios to play them a song. Song 320 was written and then performed live on BBC Radio Ulster today, just before 6pm. I hadn't recorded it or played it to anyone else, before premiering it live on the national radio. A wee bit exciting! You can listen to it here:

(0:56:20 into the show)

This is the complete version of what I performed earlier, staying faithful to that version, but a good bit tidier around the edges.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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BBC RADIO ULSTER - Today!!


Hi folks.

Here's a first for the SADFAY Project!

I'm going to be premiering Song 320 on BBC Radio Ulster at 5:45pm. Tune in live here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radioulster/

I'll upload a recording of the track later this evening to the bandcamp page, as usual.

Cheers!!


Tuesday 15 November 2011

15.11.11 - DAY 319 - Superintendent (ft. Stevie Mac)



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

A collaboration with Stevie Mac today, the synth pop guru behind Uber Glitterati. This was a really fun, full-on creative session, we recorded tonnes of riffs and ideas and the song took shape of it's own accord. Stevie mentioned that he was keen to try something "Ghetto Pop" (with it's "Phat Beats" and over the top Auto-Tune vocals) so I think we succeeded!

Stevie: guitars, synths, keys, strings, piano, auto-tune lead & backing vocals.
Marty: spoken word, 'distressed woman'(!), keys, beats, mixing

This track is a DEADLY SERIOUS story of a maverick cop called Buzzsaw. They killed his partner, now the fools are gonna have to pay!

A bit about Stevie:
Stevie Mac is a guy who writes songs that are sometimes good enough to warrant the attention of others in the room. He has been writing them since forever, recording them in less time, and taking them seriously even less time than that. When he's not attempting to relive his '80s youth with his synthpop act Uber Glitterati, he plays mopey acoustic ballads.


Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Monday 14 November 2011

14.11.11 - DAY 318 - The Human Hemorrhoid (ft. Geoff Hatt)

Frank Formica enjoying a slice of toast post-interview (the canteen were out of sausage rolls)

Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

Today's track is a collaboration with the immensely talented and all-round-awesome dude, Geoff Hatt.

Our skit tells the story of Frank Formica, a Rock Legend from the 60s, who has recently embraced New Age thinking, resulting in him writing a far-out book called "Close Your Ears, Open Your Aura". Frank's currently doing some promotion and PR for the book, but he finds the whole process nerve-wracking, especially when interviewers ask him about his, somewhat ill-advised, foray into filmmaking.

A bit about Geoff:
Geoff Hatt is speaking in the third person, he is also a songwriter and entertainer from Belfast who wrote the original musical, "Hippos in the shower" which became a local cult hit and did well at Edinburgh Fringe. Geoff also released an album called, "Ten Year Road" under his unmarried name of Gatt. He is now working on exciting new musical theatre projects and plans a new album early next year. Geoff also runs the open mic night at La Boca restaurant, Belast, every Tuesday night. He has had far too much fun working on tonight's SADFAY track with the marvellous magic Marty!

www.myspace.com/geoffgatt

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Saturday 12 November 2011

Friday 11 November 2011

11.11.11 - DAY 315 - 11th Hour (ft. Ursula Burns)



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

Today's track is a collaboration with Ursula Burns.

Ursula is a harpist, singer songwriter and musician from Belfast. Ursula has released 4 albums to date and performed everywhere from burning fire escapes to the Royal Albert Hall, London. Ursula has toured in Scandinavia, Europe and America with a wealth of artists, including: Kieran Kennedy, Pat Dam Smith, Jimmy Nail, The Blue Nile, Duke Special, Richard Thompson, Beth Orton, Louden Wainwright III, Billy Bragg, Jackson Brown and Liam O'Maonlai. Ursula's spent five years as musical director for award winning children's theatre company Cahoots and is currently working on a new release.

Website:

Facebook:

Twitter:

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Thursday 10 November 2011

10.11.11 - DAY 314 - Whispering Occasion (ft. Edwyn Butler)



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

A collaboration with singer / songwriter and performer, Edwyn Butler today. We had a little less than two hours to lay down all of Ed's ideas, then he had to head off to college. I spent a further three or so hours, arranging, mixing, editing and the like.

A bit about Ed:
Edwyn Butler Recently moved to Belfast, already getting known locally for an interesting dynamic talent, God is On the TV, Edwyn is a Captivating one to watch.

www.soundcloud.com/edwynbutler

www.edwynbutler.bandcamp.com

www.edwynbutler.tumblr.com

Also like us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/edwynbutler,

Twitter: @Edwynbutler

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Wednesday 9 November 2011

09.11.11 - DAY 313 - Setting Traps



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

I had a lot of fun making this. Just not enough time. Hey ho. One to return to at the end of the SADFAY project, probably.

Piano, bass, guitar, drums, vocals. Pop-tastic!

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Tuesday 8 November 2011

08.11.11 - DAY 312 - The 'Lecktric (ft. Barry Cullen)



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

Tonight's SADFAY was a lot of fun. I got to work with Barry Cullen (aka BEW / Dodgy Stereo) a proper musical hero of mine and an all round legendary bloke!

A bit about Barry:
Experimental/electronic producer Barry Cullen releases audio and video work under the name BEW (Barry’s Electric Workshop). Part of the Dodgy Stereo collective, Barry blends noise and images from old junk with hi-fi sounds and graphics, trying to find a balance between creating something new and making it fit along with something recycled.


DOWNLOAD RELEASES FROM:


(imaginary film scores and provocative tones)

UPCOMING SHOWS:
Wednesday 30th Nov 2011 09:00 pm
Auntie Annies, Belfast
with Comply or DIe, Steering Fail, Fuckhammer

Sunday 27th Nov 2011 8.00 pm
Menagerie Bar, Belfast
with Saul Rayson, Marty Byrne (+TBC)

About today's track: "Bass, clarinet, drum samples, voice, harpsichord, synth, fuzz were all played, but not necessarily in that order."

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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Monday 7 November 2011

07.11.11 - DAY 311 - Ghetto Panorama



Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp

The creative trajectory this track took is something I need to remember when I'm all burned out and tired: Ideas lead to ideas. Just mess about and things will start sparking. The first step is the hardest. You almost have to trick yourself into it. Tiredness moans about it all being too much 'effort'. So tired and unmotivated, I found away to bypass 'effort' and entertain myself instead. The first half an hour spent on this track was utter nonsense: I was dicking about. But that was the first step. And things fed into other things then somewhere along the line I realised I was enjoying myself.

Now the song is done and I'm very pleased with the results.

I spent a couple of hours on this one. It's hard to believe that two hours ago I was almost in despair, "how am I going to do this?" But this happens so often. Hindsight gives me insight, but it never seems to stick: I only vaguely have a notion that it'll all work out, once I get going. Yet, I should really know better by now. Perhaps some part of the subconscious does, some part pulls me onward.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

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