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I post updates and new music every few days.
Four new songs on 'Giardino, June' out today
Four new songs are included on a new album out today through my Bandcamp and Patreon sites. ‘Giardino, June’ was recorded in this beautiful tiny wooden house up the hill and in the woods in the south of Germany one warm afternoon a few weeks ago and is available as a full quality 24bit download and a very limited, personalised CD-r edition. Links below.
Digger
Find Something Wonderful
Hound
Never The Less
Learning How To Breathe Underwater
While I Was Sleeping
Song For Fee
The Bedlam Boys Are Bonny
Fair And Fine
If There Could Ever Be Anything As Mean As A Man
Leave Well Alone
Free birthday download
Here’s a free / pay what you like download of my last album ‘Work With This’ because it was my birthday yesterday. No chance to post it then so it’s a little late. I’ll keep it like this for a couple of days so please go and grab it while you can.
Hope everyone else had an enjoyable start to the new year.
Stephen
'Bad Roads Ahead' from Hjørring
Here’s ‘Bad Roads Ahead’ from ‘Hjørring’ available this weekend to all subscribers to my Patreon or Bandcamp pages.
I recorded this back in 2015 at Martin’s house in the north of Denmark and put it out shortly afterwards through Bandcamp. Recently I went back to the folder and found 4 songs that were left off, including a new idea for something that would later appear in a completely different form on an album the following year. I also mixed the whole thing again, using speakers instead of the headphones I was travelling with before. A 40 minute, super slow collection of mostly electric songs.
Hjørring track list:
Matthew And Robert
Bad Roads Ahead
Blackface
Keep The Flames From The Horses
Polly The Widow
The Witch (idea for a song)
The Rain Is A Kind Kind Of Love
What I Know About The Sea I Can Say In A Song
So Long Song
Kitchen Song
Pre-order now live and a very limited vinyl available
My new album, ‘The Ghost Is The Only One That Beats My Drum’ is finished and now available to pre-order on my Bandcamp site to be released 04.12.20.
I’ve just finished making 100 copies of the physical edition - a CD-r with an A3 lyric sheet and a unique photo on each cover. 100 copies, 100 different self portraits. The full quality digital edition includes a pdf booklet of the lyrics and a handful of gifs.
Please note - all Bandcamp subscribers will automatically receive this album in a week. if you are a subscriber - thank you but please do not pre-order!
‘The Ghost Is The Only One That Beats My Drum’ was recorded in Stuttgart in September and October this year. Loops and percussion for the title track began to suggest structure right after ‘bottle the grief’ was released - I wanted to get stuck into something that I could get my teeth into. Something with meat on the bones.
Julia Laura kindly took some time and sent me backing vocals when the title song was in a skeletal state but otherwise I recorded everything alone in an empty room here. Max Braun helped with sound advice in his studio and finally Spatial Mastering in London communicated wonderfully and worked hard on it last week.
Here’s a simple video for the first song I made a few days ago:
And here’s many more moving images for the title track:
I’ll write and post more about this in a week or so.
Something else - in collaboration with Cosirecords in Oberhausen we’ve made a very limited, super expensive vinyl edition of my 2014 album ‘Kitchen’ available. These are 12 numbered test pressings with simple new artwork and insert.
These are the very last copies we have of this and, right now, the only way to listen to my stuff on vinyl. Nuts.
'cable' ep now available
‘cable’, a new ep of six songs (three new, one traditional and two from my last album) on electric guitar is now available as a digital download or limited physical edition to all subscribers over at my Bandcamp page here.
the ghost is the only one that beats my drum
polly vaughan
miller
fold culinary
the options here are limited
one bite at a time
Here’s a simple film I made for the new version of ‘fold culinary’:
'cable'
Six songs on electric guitar, including three new and unreleased tracks. Recorded a few weeks ago one rainy afternoon, headphones, lots of echo.
the ghost is the only one that beats my drum
polly vaughan
miller
fold culinary
the options here are limited
one bite at a time
The three new songs have also been recorded for my next album which I am mixing now and will be out in November. Not these versions, more instruments, more cables.
This EP available 01.09.20 exclusively to all Bandcamp subscribers. More behind the red button:
miller
One of six songs I recorded last weekend for subscribers at http://www.thegreatpark.co.uk/bandcamp-subscription
Bandcamp subscription now available
The subscription option over at my Bandcamp page is now live and the first release ‘Hole Of Fame Recording’ is available in both digital and physical editions.
Every few weeks and certainly once a month there will be new recordings for anyone subscribed. You can join to receive digital releases and there is also an option for a physical edition of everything that I will post out to you each month. Subscription also means you’ll receive every new album that I make in the future, six from my back catalogue and a 20% discount on all physical releases. I also like sending postcards so there’s that too.
It’s not for everyone, I appreciate that, but I like the idea of making particular things for the people that want them so here we are. As ever, I’m happy to hear your thoughts and welcome any suggestions or ideas about this - drop me an email or write in the comments and I’ll get back to you right away.
Have a lovely weekend
Stephen
Bandcamp subscriptions coming soon.
Hi all
Recently I’ve been looking at ways of managing all the releases I’m making, thinking of a home for them and the best way to share them with people. I’ve realised that, in some ways, the amount of albums, EPs, live releases and various recordings that I’ve released (and want to release) is a bit overwhelming for some people. Some albums have been given away as free downloads, other things come out in small physical editions and some are digital only things that I want to share but can’t decide how to ‘package’ or put out as a physical CD.
For the last ten years I’ve been putting most of the things I make out through Bandcamp and, whilst there are some niggles and little issues with their service, I do feel like it’s allowed me to make and share much more music that I would have done if it were not there. For a lot of people that listen to my music Bandcamp seems to be where the catalogue is and the place where most of you choose to buy my stuff. It’s not perfect but it’s been very good as an outlet for all the songs.
See the problem here?
Anyhow, a few years ago they made it possible for musicians to have a subscription program there and in much the same way as Patreon and other sites do provide some place for regular work to be made. I think it’s about time I start my own subscription service as a place for regular but special releases. I thought I’d give a heads-up to you and to ask if anyone has any thoughts of suggestions about how this could work best for us.
The main questions I have are:
Firstly, is this something anyone here would be at all interested in?
If I were to release stuff to subscribers on a monthly basis, what would you be comfortable paying? €5 a month? €10?
Would you prefer a yearly fee? One off €50 for everything that year?
As a subscriber you would automatically receive every major release I make plus at least once a month a subscription only thing. Could be a live album, EP, collection of alternative versions, covers, etc. I record almost every concert I play and make things in any room that sounds good so there is a lot to choose from.
I’d also include a bunch of things from my back catalogue for signing up. Perhaps 10 full albums or something like that.
I’d also like to release a few very special, limited edition physical releases from time to time. Ten copies of a single where each copy was a different, unique take of the song for example. I also like sending postcards.
I see no problem at all with making regular monthly releases and in fact am really looking forward to having a small pocket of people that I am making work specifically for. I don’t expect this to affect at all the full albums but would instead be a smaller channel that’ll hopefully feel worthwhile, fair and kind of exciting.
Anyone have any thoughts on this? Sound like a terrible idea? Do let me know here or via email. I haven’t fixed anything yet and welcome any feedback.
Thanks a lot, sorry for the wall of text.
Stephen
TLDR: Subscription service coming, thoughts?
St Arbogast
The new recording ‘St Arbogast’ is now out as a physical and digital album both here on my site and also on my Bandcamp page. A free 4 song EP exclusive to newsletter subscribers is also available now. Here’s all the links and some words about the heavy thing.
I was invited to participate in the Arbogast folk festival in Austria at the end of June 2019. A three day, two night event in and around the grounds of the St Arbogast church and the different, interesting spaces there.
The weather was incredibly warm, it was the first time the festival had taken place and some scheduling hiccups meant that somehow over the weekend I really didn't get to play to so many people. I think all in all I played four little sets when the plan was for eight or so. At one of the concerts I had one guest.
Anyway, late on Sunday evening, when mostly everyone had left I went into the church to try to make something, or rather, try to give something. If the invitation was to come down and make some work and perform there I was feeling that I hadn't really had the opportunity to fulfil my side of the deal.
I recorded for two hours into a Zoom H5 audio recorder. Very simple, stereo microphones, no headphones, standing in front of the altar. There are fourteen complete songs - these ten that seem to go together and the others anyone can hear online separately.
To begin with I thought I'd get two or three songs. Thought of doing everything in C, church band style. Concept.
I didn't want to put the lights on and make anyone feel that they could come in. I took pictures with my phone of the big dark room, neat rows of white chairs and the big glass doors. Two months later hard drives were stolen so I lost these and actually for a week feared that I had lost the audio too. But I found out it was still on the SD card in the recorder so we have that and one picture I had already uploaded to my blog the morning after recording.
More and more I'm interested not so much in making recordings but in recording performances. Recording rooms and trying to be open to how things come out and can sound. I had a strange couple of hours in this dark space and when I listen now I can hear that feeling somewhere. At first I was scared to make a noise, quickly loved that noise and then later was scared again when I thought I had lost it.
Anyway, just some thoughts about this thing I made.
Many thanks to Johannes for the invitation and to everyone that weekend who made me feel welcome down there.
Stephen
Here’s the Bandcamp release, with immediate download:
As I wrote above also available is the four song EP ‘St Arbogast +’ with songs from the same session that weren’t included on the regular album. This a free download to anyone subscribing to my newsletter, which you can do so here.
Here’s a video Selina and I made in a couple of hours a few weeks ago in the Fürth forest.
I think Spotify and everything like that will come in a week or so, no rush. The last week or so has been very busy and I’m ok with not trying to put new music in every corner of the galaxy right away.
Thanks to everyone who already picked this up - I’ll send the physical copies out in a couple of days. Have a lovely week!
Stephen