Back in August 2015, before setting off on my journey to Colombia, I equipped myself with some new, exciting music making equipment. The intention was to be able to make music as I went, responding to inspirations more immediately than on previous trips, where I generally gathered lots of inspiration and then returned home to fashion it into creative products. 

I forked out on an Apple Branded tablet device and bought an Apogee One interface, enabling me to record/listen in great quality and plug microphones and instruments in to it. I also splashed out on pretty much every music making ‘app’ I could buy. I only had about 2 weeks to learn how to use it before setting off and one of the road tests was this track here. 

This particular track was started as a Jam in our studio in Camberwell, London before I left. It features my wonderfully talented brothers Nathaniel (on Guitar) and Barnaby (on drums) with myself operating the machinery and tapping the occasional distant woodblock. It was recorded on much more sophisticated equipment than the iPad. The Drums, Guitar and synth drone all recorded multitrack live. Then, using my new Seagate Wifi hard-drive that I also bought, I was able to transfer all the files onto my new tablet and import them into an impressive and reasonably priced 'app’ called Auria, which seems to be the best and only proper multitrack recording software for iPad.

Stage 2 of the track happened in the flat of my new friend, the excellent musician and saxophonista Miguel ‘Pinxto’ Villar in Barcelona, where we were staying for a couple of nights on route to Bogota. I set up the Apogee interface for the first time and stuck a mic infront of Pinxto and his Soprano sax and listened happily as he freestyled over the recording I made with my brothers. It was without any preparation, completely spontaneous, first take stuff, all done and dusted in about ten minutes. Apart from sounding beautiful, for me it was a satisfying demonstration of making music quickly anywhere with a plug socket.

I feel I want to apologise at this stage to the three musicians in the story for being unknowingly caught up in my ‘works in progress’ personal development mission! I didnt consult them or concern myself with their own perfectionist thresholds when I posted it. So sorry guys, but to me you all sound wicked. Thanks!

So then I tweaked and twizzled the sounds over a period of three months, in various hostel rooms and on bus journeys. It was, in fact on a bus journey heading south overnight to a festival in Mocoa, Huila, Colombia, that I bounced down this mix. Music on the move, literally.

August Road Test Jam

Original score for feature documentary 'Gaucho: The Last Cowboys Of Patagonia', composed by Oliver Keen. Director Joshua Bullock.

11 Landscape Reprise

10 El Hijo De Rial

09 Corral Part 3

08 Corral Part 2

07 Corral Part 1

06 Journey Day 3 And Arrival

05 By The Firelight

04 Journey Day 2

03 Como Un Oso

02 Journey Day 1

01 Landscape Introducing Rial

A creative re-working of some session sounds taken whilst recording the album of my brother - Barnaby Keen

Crooks Chapel sounds

Soundspecies Album track, released on Burntprogress 2008

Something New (Brazilya 2) feat Emilia Martensson

Bantama drift

Producer/Engineer/Composer/Musician.
I produce music and film scores under my own name, also under the alias Soundspecies with my brother Henry and with Moroccan Gnawa fusion band Electric Jalaba. I perform with these projects and occasionally with others, mostly on bass and keys, electronics and very occasionally accordion and singing. Through these projects I have had the opportunity to play at numerous venues and festivals around the world including Glastonbury, Bestival, WOMAD, Latitude, Wilderness, Boomtown, Secret Garden Party, Mañana (Cuba), BOOM (Portugal), Sonar (ES), Mawazine (Morocco), Respect (CZ), ReReRiga (LV), RockIt (IT), Sunsplash (TK), Fengaros(CY).

oliverkeen

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