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”

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

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.

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

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

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

Confirmation of new 2ndMOUSE gig

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………..

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.

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