new album ” Sparrow Island ” , taking flight Now.

Hi

Im back with a new album called ” Sparrow Island “.

 

 

Inspired mostly by a recent holiday on the beautiful island of Malta , especially the melodic reggae-glitch infused title track.

As well as Malta , the album became about the general timeframe before and after it , with some tracks inspired by other things such as my dog , getting older , moments of profound detachment and serenity……all told with the aim of having a 50 / 50 balance between experimentation and melody…….avant garde and the desire to make idm with definite hooks and catchy melodies.

Go here to buy Sparrow Island , or feel free to listen to all the tracks at your leisure.

If you have time to respond , it’d be great to know if the album is received positively

Many thanks

http://2ndmouse.bandcamp.com/

2M

Sparrow Island ( taking flight 22nd March )

The new Sparrow Island album will be released ( barring any unforeseen circumstances ) on 22nd March.
I would’ve liked it to have been ready 3 months ago , but I have a wife to entertain , a ravenous monster of a pup , an ever increasing amount of xbox games to beat , and I gotta job to hold down , so finding those times when inspiration is free-flowing and coinciding with copious amounts of leisure time is more of a juggling act than it once was. It also doesn’t help that I am “arch-procrastinator-extraordinairre”.

So , there you have it. 22nd March.
Just tying up the loose ends right now , due to getting a few days holiday.

At the time of writing , the tracks are as follows :

1.   Amoeba
2.   Horizon Upgrade
3.   Fractal Pterodactyl
4.   Arms Length
5.   Nalfie
6.   Meridian
7.   Idyll 5
8.   Salt Of The Earth
9.   True North
10. Vanity Blaze
11. Sparrow Island
12. Elephant In The Room
13. Eskimo Girl
14. View From An Aircraft Window

Artwork courtesy of my friend metaForma ( Teodor Tudorica ) , who I consider a graphic genius.
All being well , there will also be a video of ” Nalfie ” to promote the album , featuring the acting talents of my dog Dusty , who we will no doubt be in the running for nominations at the ” Chappie ” dog food awards for outstanding contributions in music anf film.

More , as it happens.

2M

Listen to 2ndMOUSE on Earbits.com

 

2ndMOUSE has been selected for inclusion on Earbits Radio.

“What is Earbits ? ” , I hear you say……

Well , Earbits…..is commercial-free online radio for top independent music.

Its high quality streaming of great music without any of the interruptions , with links to artist albums , bio , website etc…..

Its good.
I wouldn’t have approached it otherwise.

 

To hear 2ndMOUSE on Earbits , click HERE

Less is more…..

Every now and then , a phrase I’ll hear will be profound enough to stop me in my tracks , but its unusual for me that two of the wisest things i’ve heard ( or that can be applied to art anyway  ) were both from chefs ! I worked alongside one in my brief foray into the culinary universe some years back , and his words of wisdom have remained with me since then .
“The first bite is with the eye ” he told me , in a broad Glaswegian dialect. He forgot to qualify the statement by adding ” ye sassanach !! ” to the end , before making a stew from my entrails.

This laid the foundations for why I needed my online musical identity / persona , to be visually appealing , because , in the same way that you would be hesitant to eat a meal in a restaurant if it had been carelessly tossed onto a plate , with no thought given whatsoever to presentation , then , how could I expect people to sample my sonic menu , if it was presented really badly in visual terms ?
These days , music is as much visual as it is sonic. If your artwork is sloppy , who’s gonna take the time to taste ?

The 2nd wisest thing I heard only last night , and although her penchant for an almost , hedonistic decadance unnerves me , she said something that would’ve sent Yoda scrambling about looking for a pen and paper to take notes .

I’m talking about Nigella Lawson of “nigella bites ” fame , and this is what she said , in such an offhand way that got the point across to me exactly.

” Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication “

Sometimes more can be said , in music , when restraint is exercised , and a sense of space in a mix can be a secret weapon almost.
The longer I make music , the more appealing minimalism becomes , and I discover experientially that less is most definitely more.
Its not all about what you put in , but also about what you choose to leave out.

I’m reminded of another pearl of wisdom ……probably from king Solomon , and with this I close , to kinda make the point .

“A fool is known by his many words “

When telling an audio story , which is what music is , essentially , its vital to stay on point , or those listening will lose the plot.
Only say what needs to be said to get the point across.

As Solomon would say ,

Selah

38 Commute

Music by 2ndMOUSE

Video by Embrace the Race

Safe in the arms of Skynet ? ( + remix comp )

http://soundcloud.com/2ndmouse/safe-in-the-arms-of-skynet 

 

Originally appeared on my “AURORA” album . 

 

I’d like to open this up to other artists to remix. If there is enough interest in the track , I’ll find some way of uploading the stems to a password enabled cloud folder , and you can download the stems and see how you can reshape it , remodel it. Would be great to hear how others would interpret it. The aim would eventually be to put the best tracks on a compilation either on the cupboardlove records label that I release on , or through my bandcamp page. 

 

Anyone up for this ? 

 

Would aso welcome your ideas about how to host the stems ……im thinking dropbox or something similar , but im open to other suggestions and ideas

 

 

Jean-Michel Vangelzimmer

why do we rarely hear or see artists like vangelis , jarre , zimmer  , tomika , get namechecked when it comes to what has influenced electronic music over the years ?

Was bladerunner not doing it long before daft punks tron legacy soundtrack ?
What about the stunning ( even by todays standards )  equinox / oxygene by jean michel jarre ?
Have these artists become passe over time ? Are they seen as not cool anymore ?

Its funny but ive bought a few magazines lately that were exploring the roots of electronic music , as a nod to the old guard , inspiring a new renaissance , but there was more mention of people like fad gadget and DAF , who just  made weird eccentric nonsense , in a similar way to a baby doing science with a ” my first chemistry set “

When i was growing up , jarres’ “oxygene” was the theme to the gadget / technology show of its day ……”tomorrows world” and he was having huge shows at the eiffel tower playing a lazerharp , which was pure sci-fi to watch.

These guys are legends , true innovators and godfathers of electronica. They understood melody and employed it , rather than those who had to “explain” what their music was about , because they didnt have a single note in their head and resorted to ambiguity to cover up the fact.

So , maybe this is an appreciation thread or something. Kraftwerk  and the belleville three get praised all the time , and quite rightly so , but there are a few glaring ommissions  in the record , like the huge body of work these guys did , didnt matter. Has anyone heard the sheer amount of sampling on jarres’ “zoolook” for instance ?

Kraftwerk taught me form. Depeche mode taught me substance. Aphex twin taught me menace. Plaid taught me mystery , but above all……vangelis taught me melody.

Anyway , thats my troof…….now tell me yours.

Under the spotlight

This is the first post i’ll have written on my new tablet…….of which I would like to say ” many thanks samsung , and stuff you apple ” ( regarding the latest court ruling that basically said apple could have the monopoly on white rectangles with rounded edges , and stung samsung to the tune of $1 billion )

/rant-over

Anyway , now that I can blog from anywhere , i should be able to post more often.

My album “expert tiger , mediocre troll ” has been out for a while now , but seeing as most artists tend to make 8 or 10 track albums , and I made an EIGHTEEN track behemoth , i feel there is still mileage in it , and for those of you landing on this page for the very first time ( welcome , bien venu etc….) , or those of you may be a little more au fait with what I do as 2ndMOUSE , I felt like spotlighting a track that is a personal favourite , even a year or so after it was made.

Its called Short circuit , and its a pretty unusual track , even by my own standards. It would be the closest ive ever come to doing ” stadium electronica ” and maybe sounds a bit like Air , Orbital and Muse doing a mashup. Then , even stranger still , I’ve layered a psychedelic bell lead over the top that sounds like it could’ve been transplanted from some obscure , french , loungey , “seekers” type track , that has this cool kinda kitsch feel to it.

Have a listen to it here

Also , here is a new mix of an older track that appeared on an album I shelved. It was one of the few tracks that i felt warranted another look , so i tightened everythingup , and voila ! Here it is for you to download

Many thanks for listening. Gotta get to my day job now…………laters

2M

An Armful Of Opposite Lock ( revisited )

I released ” An Armful Of Opposite Lock “ a few years ago on the now defunct SampleOak Records Label . The album was then unavailable , and I shelved it . I’d also had a long time to live with the album and once the initial novelty of having a release online had faded , I realised there were a huge amount of improvements that I could do.

I could have revisited it a few years ago , but I was on a mission to get some genuinely representative material out , so it would’ve been the wrong time to get immersed in that project.

Now however , would seem to be the right time.

Started work on doing a remix of the whole album a few nights ago and it’s going really well. There was a track at the very end of the original release called ” The Earth Is An Atom “ which was only a reprise . When I released it originally , I instantly wanted to alter it but it was too late. It was only a minute and a half long , but i’ve now added some of the finest , subtlest , piano work i’ve ever done , and some beatwork I love. I’d go as far as saying it’s now one of my very best tracks and i’m so tempted to put it on soundcloud as i’m very excited about it. Maybe a short sample ??

I’ll post more updates as and when they happen…….

 

Fathom

New sampler track ” Fathom ” , taken from the new 2ndMOUSE album ” NEO “.

I’d describe it as reminiscent of the obscure Vangelis track ” la petite fille de la mer “ mixed with  swung , broken-beat rhythms similar to the work of Luke Vibert.

Fathom has one of those simple melodies that are so simple that it’s surprising it hasn’t been done before. Once heard , easily remembered………..this is what I try to do with electronic music , as the melody is the part that will be remembered , rather than how sync’d the LFO was  or any other ephemeral / pretentious  concerns.

Anyway , hope you enjoy the track

Feel free to have a listen. Comments welcome http://soundcloud.com/2ndmouse/fathom