29.12.11 - DAY 363 - Another Anniversary (ft. Stephen Caswell)

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Tonight's SADFAY is a collaboration between myself and Stephen Caswell from the mighty Lowly Knights. An end of the year reflection and not always a happy one.

A bit about Stephen:
What a treat to get in on this project at the final stages. I have to say, I hit panic as midnight got close and we threw the final mix together. I've never written and recorded a song in 4 hours until tonight, but Marty is a cool and collected wizard. www.lowlyknights.com

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

24.12.11 - DAY 358 - The Festive Spurt

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Eeek. Cheese Alert! Happy Festive Whatever Thang And Stuff....

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

Listen (and/or buy) now on Bandcamp/a>

Tonight involved a song writing session with Mark Mc Gregor, who wrote the majority of the lyrics to this song.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

16.12.11 - DAY 350 - Heroic

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Today's track was a bit rushed again. Which is a bit frustrating, but hey, life gets in the way sometimes, just have to deal with it.
This is a wee acoustic number about ... ummm... Stuff... hehe.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

12.12.11 - DAY 346 - Outside Of The Inside (ft. Kris Marsden)

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Another collaboration tonight, this time with singer / songwriter Kris (Kippy) Marsden. The bulk of this track was written earlier today and we laid down the basics of it fairly quickly, spending more time on the other instrumentation and tweaks.

Kris Marsden is a songwriter and adult literacy tutor who incorporates music and poetry into his teaching. Kris is a regular on the Belfast open mic circuit.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kippys-Muse/146868152087567

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

05.12.11 - DAY 339 - Where To Go (ft. Amy Best)

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A collaboration with Amy Best today, who lent her sultry vocal talents to some acoustic guitar riffing I did a little earlier this evening. I sent Amy the guitar recording via t'interwebs and she recorded her vocals at home, then sent them back to me, to arrange and mix. I added a few other sound effects and 'textures' towards the end. Job done. Very pleased with this one!

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

04.12.11 - DAY 338 - Strums

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Strummy stuff. Layers of acoustic guitar in 5/4 and 3/4.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

26.11.11 - DAY 330 - Woken

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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 ^_^

08.05.11 - DAY 128 - It Could Work

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Piano and vocal. A simple wee song, asking at what point does a bit of a crush become a bit dodgy / obsessive? Is it ridiculous when teenage girls get excited over Ronan Keating? Or is he the type of character that would welcome having queues of impressionable young girls wait outside his dressing room after a show?

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

28.04.11 - DAY 118 - Heaven Weight

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I had one of my nasty blocks on this song, in the form of not being able to play the guitar riffs I wrote, no matter how many times I practiced and practiced. I hate finger picking! I'm left handed (of course, all geniuses are...), but I learned to play guitar right-handed. That's my excuse for finding finger picking stuff so difficult anyway. Ended up playing this with a pick in the end and it's still a bit rough around the edges. Got there in the end and I think the lyrics and vocal layers ended being worth the hassle.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

24.04.11 - DAY 114 - Happy Birthday Linda!

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I've been a bit burned out all day, after the weekend's exploits and travelling three hours to Mullaghmore, I felt something soft and simple would be the best option today.

I love being here though, so I attempted to capture the sound of my parent's bungalow and the cheerful family activity going on. Tomorrow and Tuesday I might focus more on outside sounds, like the sea, the birds chirping, etc.

It's my sister's Birthday today too, so I'm dedicating this one to her!

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

15.04.11 - DAY 105 - Harassment Act

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This was just going to be a basic wee acoustic jam, but then I got a barrage of texts, phonecalls and voice mails and I thought, "hmm now I'm inspired to sing something..."

Feel somewhat petty for doing this, but I'm in a rush and I felt laying down a vocal was a good way to spice up the guitar stuff. Plus, venting is useful sometimes.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

01.04.11 - DAY 91 - Dressing Down

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This evening I decided to try something that was light and easy on the ears, but the main "quirk" or "gimmick" of the song, was to have nice intertwining vocal melodies and harmonies. It's inadvertently ended up sounding a bit like a Rufus Wainwright song, at least to my ears, which is nay bad thing I suppose. I also wanted the lyrics to be a more interesting than my usual meandering, waffly kinda stuff, so spent some time thinking of a theme and direction for it all. I definitely wouldn't consider lyric writing as my strong point, so I'm chuffed with what I've come up with for this song.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

20.03.11 - DAY 79 - All This Flawless Wisdom

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Have I managed to capture subtle sarcasm in this song? Hmmm not sure. Hopefully people will understand that guitar solo is definitely taking the piss.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

28​.​02​.​11 - Happy Days Are Here Again

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Happy Days Are Here Again was a wee rushed track that I recorded in my bedroom. I've had a fairly busy day. So I started this at 22:20 and took all of about an hour on it. Pretty rough vocals, rough guitar too. I don't even know if my acoustic is in tune, but sure, the strength of the song should shine through like so much heavenly light of the truly gifted. ... GAFFAW!!

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

20.02.11 - Idealism

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Track 51 is another collaboration with Adam McCausland, who also collaborated with me on "Motherhood" (30.01.11). We didn't want to repeat ourselves, so this one is a bit faster and has more acoustic / "real" instruments, but there is still some rather nice piano, guitar and fiddle from Adam.

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

12.02.11 - The Sweet Unknown

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The Story of Laika. Part Six.

Laika has been blasted into space. What now becomes of our brave heroine?

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

09.02.11 - Where Are You Taking Me?

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The Story of Laika. Part Three.

Minding her own business on the streets of Moscow. And then...

Today's track was a collaboration between myself and Ian Pearce. Ian played dulcimer, drones, bass guitar, organ and percussion.

He also plays bass for Comply Or Die: http://www.diecomply.com and produces his own brand of drones and noise under the name Devonian, which can be heard here: http://loscabras.bandcamp.com/album/cairns

Give Ian a shout at: strongreaction@hotmail.com

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^

05​.​02​.​11 - Money Pease!

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Today's track is one of those things that I probably think is just a bit of craic, but someone will point out something quite obvious about it that I've missed and make me realise it was actually very ill-judged and a little inappropriate. Ah well... Fuck it!

For the record, I have applied for a few jobs recently and a couple of things might pan out, but it would be massively awesome if I could make money from my music and I'm currently in the Graduate scheme, which is really helping support, guide and mentor me into turning my studio into a business. I'm also looking to teach people guitar and music production, so be a pal and spread the word if you can!

Enjoy

Cheers! ^_^

03.02.11 - Terms And Conditions

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Banged this one out fairly quickly this evening. Not much else to say really.

LYRICS:

Terms and Conditions

See my hope raise it's wings

As I walk towards the sea

People staring at the freak

Smiling to himself so free

Here is everything you need

But terms and conditions apply

I am sailing through the breeze

You can throw rocks when I pass by

Such a naked wonder shared

Without doubt I know you cared

Finally, I'm not concerned

I hand over all I've learned

Healing, truth without grace

The layers of angst peel away

Healing, truth without morality

A fact is a fact, regardless of what you want it to be

Here is everything you need

But terms and conditions apply

I am sailing through the breeze

You can throw rocks when I pass by

See my hope raise it's wings

As I take off towards the sea

People staring at the freak

Smiling to himself so free

Enjoy

Cheers ^_^