2ndMOUSE —– Decade ( 10 years of edm / idm — FREE )

 

artwork : metaForma ( http://www.behance.net/metaFORMA )

 

There’s no catch.

nada.
nil.
nothing.
zero.

just 27 ( TWENTY SEVEN !!! ) tracks that i’ve made over the space of 10 years that i’m giving away free.

yes……FR££ !!

Click one button and they’re on your machine.

To me , this album is a seed , and I just want to plant ” 2ndMOUSE ” in your mind , so you’re aware of me when i release more in the future…………such as my new NEO ep , which will be released imminently.

That is all.

Even if you’re already familiar with what I do , there are still a few new and unreleased tracks on here.

There’s even a nice shiny PDF booklet to accompany it

Click Here to Download 2ndMOUSE – “Decade”

2ndMOUSE — Decade

In just a few days time , ” DECADE “ will be released on BUBBLECTRO , to celebrate TEN years of producing music under the name 2ndMOUSE.

It will have ……..

**33 tracks……..some of which have never seen the light of day ( All will become clear , Pregensis etc……)

**some alternate mixes

**specially commissioned artwork by Teoo

**Detailed PDF booklet

E T A ———– Christmas day ( My gift to you all )

Followed very soon by the new EP ” NEO ” , in very early 2012

 

One In A Million

 

You may have read here lately about my plans to release new material with Bubblectro Records , and that is still very much the case , but instead of releasing just one track , I thought I’d go the whole hog and release an EP.

It’s been a few months since “Expert Tiger , Mediocre Troll” was released and , as I mentioned in an earlier post , my entire domestic and music production environment has changed as I relocated about 50 miles away.

It’s taken a while for my ears to adjust to the new accoustics , and feel settled and  rooted , and now i’m getting back into my stride………………..new home , new label , new EP , new year……………so , the name of the EP will be NEO , which is a greek prefix , meaning new. It seems very apt right now , and although I love ” the matrix ” , the name is nothing to do with that movie.

One track on the EP that I’m especially pleased with is ” One In A Million ” , and I’ll explain why……………

I’ve always been into my synths. It sounds ridiculous to me now , but before I could afford to buy one , and was still at school , I used to draw meticulous recreations of Sequential Circuits Prophet 5′s and Korg Poly 800′s etc …….and I knew all about VCFs , OSCs and LFOs long before I ever touched one. I only listened to music with Synths in it , because I equated my parents’ music as traditional , and a bit lame. Synths were so new then.

I’ve now come to realise , via resampling , the totality and universality of sound………….as a whole thing , and I try as much as I can , to work amongst any and every genre if it lends something to a track , and I embrace ALL  sound , and welcome every genre as they all have something to teach me.

I’ve reached the point where I want , as much as possible , to be able to take the credit for everything in my work.  Some things , like vocals , I can’t always do because my singing voice isn’t brilliant , but , every note you hear in a 2ndMOUSE track has been meticulously programmed , or played , and about 90 – 95% of the beats you hear have also been hand-built using oneshots and broken down multi-loops.

So , I bought my first electric guitar , and this is the very first track on which I’ve ever committed my guitar playing ” to tape ” as it were , and , regardless of the fact that I probably can’t play guitar for toffee ( my fingers haven’t bled like Bryan Adams said they would ) , I think i’ve done a very good job of disguising that fact.

( Next on the wishlist will be Tablas and ethnic hand percussion , which I can actually play , and have played live before , and you can pick up for a song these days…..literally. )

Along with the guitar on the track , is a ” virtual ” Soprano , singing a very ethereal lead vocal ( no words , as I like to leave the meaning up to the listener )  , along with the warm pads and jittery rhythmic convulsions and edgey , almost industrial beats I’m probably best known for.

I’m fairly certain this will be a four track EP. Two tracks are already finished ,  and the 3rd and 4th are almost done , and , It will be a FREE release on Bubblectro Records before Christmas.

Please feel free to subscribe to this Blog , so you don’t miss this , or any other future 2ndMOUSE releases.

Bubblectro Records

I’m very happy to announce I will once again be working with my old friend Sickmoth who has , with Brandon Dinsmore , set up Bubblectro Records.

Any of you guys who know me will remember Sickmoth from the old days at F.S.O.R. ( for those of you not acquainted with it , F.S.O.R. ( short for future state of rhythm ) was a forum I ran for a year or two , which I think was a catalyst for people who went onto do some really good stuff )

So yeah , I’m working on an EP which was just originally gonna be one single track. So far , there will be 3 tracks on it. ” Alphamega ” , a new version of  ” 1 year  on ” and a christmas track called  ” many sparrows ” . I use the term christmas track carefully , because I know just how cheesey that could end up if its done wrong , but this is a special little track that made itself with very little input from me. I was working on ” 1 year on ” and when I was searching for a new synth patch to use , I stumbled upon a ” virtual ” soprano singer. Normally , I’d avoid things like that because they have a tendency to sound artificial , but I treated it a little once I had the main melody down.

The main melody fell into my lap in 2 minutes , and then I built the chords under it. It could be the soundtrack to that old christams classic ” Its a wonderful life ” , with idm style , tasteful beats.

Watch this space for a release,  and more info about Bubblectro

Song a day for a year

Today I worked on a track called ” etherdrive ” , for a project called ” Song a day for a year ( SADFAY ) ” by a musician called Martin Byrne.

Basically , it involved laying down a very rough track from scratch , without any premeditated work done on it. I found it interesting , and kinda cathartic to work like this , but , I found it difficult letting go of it as I realised there wasn’t enough time to get everything sounding just the way I would’ve liked. It was a bit like working to a brief , as the time element was paramount and the emphasis was on speed.

No cowbell !!

Martin has collaborated with a whole host of people in the course of the year in question, and with such notables as Duke Special.

I have no idea what to expect from the track I sent as Maartin Byrne is a very experimental artist and likes to work cross-genre , as do I.

Martin has no plans to quit with a sigh of relief once the year is completed , and already has ideas about doing a song a week , next year.

I’ll be sure to link to the end result once I hear it , but if you’re interested in Martins’ song a day for a year project , you can read more here

A Shift in Focus

Just a quick update to let you know I haven’t run off and abandoned my Blog.

After the release of ” Expert Tiger , Mediocre Troll ” , I’ve found it a bit difficult to get started again. There were big domestic changes in my life such as relocating my studio and adapting to life in a completely new place , but besides those changes , there seems to be a need within , to break away from old music , and concentrate on completely new stuff.

The way i’ve worked in the past was a continual process of playing “catchup” with older creations , trying to drag them up-to-date with new knowledge and techniques , and i’ve just decided to , for the most part , ditch hundreds of old half-finished tracks and start completely from scratch , with new ideas and techniques. I think my style seems to be changing  , becoming more kinda dynamic and entertaining , rather than the internal meanderings  of old. I’m not saying i’m gonna become a dubstep artist , but the sounds within the dubstep genre , and the complextro genre have definitely made me look at sound in a whole new way. I mean , i’ve never been one to shy away from using unexpected combinations of sound in random ways , but the things i’ve heard recently have compelled me to try and raise my game a bit more. That , coupled with my new studio arrangement and new domestic environment , all combine in something fresh and new , so the emphasis is on NEW really. New sound , new methods , new inspiration.

I also just got myself a guitar. I’m not expecting to be playing it with my teeth and laying down licks anytime soon though , as i’m learning from scratch. Got the mic set up on a stand at last , so there may be more vocal stuff too , now that my voice seems to be returning to normal after ending 25 oblivious years of smoking.

In a nutshell , expect good things. I haven’t left the planet……………just regrouping and planning to release some new material in the next week or two.

Keep track by following me at www.soundcloud.com/2ndMOUSE

I want my MTV

Confirmation of new 2ndMOUSE gig

in association with Belfast MTV Music Awards weekDsnt.co.uk presentsBelfast Bleeps showcases the best in new electronic music from Belfast .Featuring Casion , 2ndMouse, Futurescope , Defcon , Kiani ( Katrina O Kane ) , Mark rogan , Space Dimension Controller and Kyle Hall ( Detroit )

six of the very best new electronic artists from Belfast will play live sets followed by an exclusive Detroit vs Belfast back to back dj set from Kyle Hall and Space Dimension Controller

http://soundcloud.com/kab-driver

http://soundcloud.com/casionmusic

http://soundcloud.com/2ndMOUSE

http://soundcloud.com/futurescope-1

http://soundcloud.com/beatsbydefcon

http://soundcloud.com/kiani

http://soundcloud.com/mark_rogan

Admission £3 after 11pm

Would be awesome to see you there !!

Base and Status

In about 3 weeks time , I’ll be moving from my current ” base ” to a new home in The Maldives , where I will lounge around in flip flops and Bermuda shorts as I soak up the rays , and will most likely get eaten by a Great White.

Obviously , I’m not moving to the Maldives. Nice to look at in pictures , but I would burn sooooo bad. Nope , I’m going to be moving somewhere much closer to home , to the North Coast of Ireland , which has the cleanest air , and sandy beaches that stretch for miles.  There is a much more important reason……the central reason , but I’ll say more about that at the time. Anyone who knows me personally already knows my good news.

The move will involve me relocating my studio , but the plus is that the space I’m moving to is much bigger , and more dedicated to the purposes of a studio , with much less clutter than it is right now.

I think the space we create , where we make music , is very important.  Everything from the shape of the room , to the accoustics , and the surrounding ambient noise , is vital to the end product being something great.  Being stuck beside a railway line , an old peoples home  , or a dog kennel wouldn’t be conducive to writing great music , so , I’m glad to have a big space , far from complaining neighbours , main roads and other distractions. I’m really looking forward to that moment when it’s all moved and set up , and I test it out in the new environment.

Naturally , in the interim , my output may be a trickle , rather than the usual torrent , but , once everything is moved it should return to something more normal. Also , I’ll have a bit more time over the next few weeks to dissect what I do , think about why and how I do it , and maybe , as I think about it , find some better methods , and think about what direction to go with it after the release of ” Expert Tiger Mediocre Troll ” about a month ago.

I have hundreds of half-finished tracks that I may just dump , or put into an archive. I’d rather work on new ideas rather than work on tracks I started  , some of which could be anywhere up to 8 years old.  All I know is that the move is going to be so cathartic and will really re-focus me. It gets to the point that you ” can’t see the wood for the trees ” sometimes , because of all the promo , the administrative stuff , the politics , the forums etc….. and it’s good to take a short break to recharge and see just where you’re at.

Back Soon………..

Eyeblink : Transform

Been a very busy few days. First I had to rustle up 2 tracks for the Bleep : Filtered competition , then I wanted to work on new material for another different compilation called ” Emergence “. I hadn’t been to bed any day this week before 8am , such is my slavish dedication to what I consider is my art.

So , there I was , on a forum or something , and I realised I’d been whistling a melody , thought to myself “there’s a track there…….” , ran into the studio and booted up the PC , and knew it was a piano melody…….so I opened up MDA piano and got the single notes out as quick as I could before it evaporated like a fading dream when you wake up. Once I had the single notes down , I started building the notes around it as the pattern looped over and over again. I then transferred the notes to a free piano sampleset i’d found online called the Maestro Concert Grand.

I input every note and every beat with a mouse , so this can take quite a while. I knew I wanted it to be quite sparse and subtle / sublime so I didn’t want to throw everything into it , and wanted the piano to be the dominant feature .

Found a good solid thumping beast of a kick , added some tiny swirling hi-hats and a few choice FX , then a few evolving  arped pads to thicken it up and give it some variation. I considered adding some snares , but in the end decided against turning it into a 4/4 track.

Anyway , Eyeblink : Transform is about that day when those who trust in Christ for their salvation will awaken and be transformed in the blink of an eye.  This is my hope , and maybe my track will make you think about the possibility of that hope too , about what that day would look like , if suddenly , and without warning , everything in this temporal world started to bleed out and melt into the background ……….all the stage props gone , with just the actors stood on stage , and the whole worlds’ attention focused on the one point of blinding white light in the sky , that gradually begins to fill the entire horizon , and then , consider the sights , the sounds , the experience of being transformed. This was my central thought in making this track.

Would love to hear your comments……..

Peace. Mouse out.

2nd submission for Bleep

Was a very difficult decision.

Which of the many tracks i’ve already uploaded to Soundcloud , and the hundreds of tracks that I have in my “work pool ” folder , could I submit to Bleep as my 2nd track ?

An opportunity like this doesn’t come around every day , so I narrowed it dow to two , and put the question to the public……Should I use ” Lost in Translation ” or ” The Almighty” ?

It turned out ” The Almighty ” was the favourite , and out of all my tracks , it’s been a clear favourite since dau 1.

So that’s it. Made my decision for both my submissions. I’ve done the best I could do at this time. I don’t envy the judges’ task of deciding which of the 1500 submitted tracks get a place on the compilation , but I’m happy I gave it my best shot , whatever the outcome.

The Almighty