For anyone whose had the unscratchable itch in socially awkward situations and small children and adults who find bums amusing.

Itchy Bum

I am very happy to have this piece included on the latest ambientonline.org compilation, Volume 8, Part 3. Yet another superb collection of ambient electronica from Ambient Online.

Please consider buying the full compilation, which represents awesome value for a total of forty seven excellent ambient pieces and helps support the ambientonline.org community.

Please follow this link to learn more:

https://ambientonline.bandcamp.com/album/ambient-online-compilation-volume-8-part-three

Ataraxia (AmbientOnline.org compilation, Volume 8, Part 3)

There were lots of bands I really liked from the late 80s early 90s (Swerverdriver, The Wedding Present, Dinosaur Junior to name a few)and some that stayed with me from even before then, especially Joy Division.  I can hear the influences in this track, including the nod to Peter Hook's bass playing.

The thing I liked about those aforementioned late 80s bands was the blur between noise and melody and the low fi production.  You had to really listen to pick out what was going on.

This track also marks my first foray into using Addictive Drums; I can't drum well enough to play what's in my head.

Sometimes is a very simple song based on a riff I'd had knocking around forever and was a lot of fun to do.

Lyrics

I wish I never said
The things I said today
If I could take them back
Maybe we could start again?

My eyes are open
I can see it in your face
I guess there is no way
I’m coming back today

CHORUS
You are my danger
You make me scream
Sometimes stranger
Than anything I dream
Sometimes a mother
Take care of me
My only lover
You’re everything I need

My mind is broken 
I didn’t mean to cause you pain
Sometimes I wonder
What it is that makes you stay

I know I love you
We need to find a way
To fix the things we’ve broken
Before it gets too late

My Tunes

Sometimes

I find inspiration for music all around me.  For ‘Peace be Upon You” this started out as a search for a bass sound to use in my attempt at remixing John Topley’s tune “The Things I Could Say” (https://soundcloud.com/johntopley/the-things-i-could-say), a work that is still in progress. 
 
I was introduced to Indian classical music by a friend via Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan’s recording of the duet for sitar and sarod “Raga Mishra Piloo”.  I was deeply moved by its scale, harmonics, drones and complex rhythmic patterns, it gave me a deep sense of inner peace.  As I grew older I realised that inner peace, or to put it in a more western way, peace of mind, is the truest measure of happiness.  

A couple of years ago I discovered that Electroharmonix had created a sitar simulator guitar pedal, the Ravish Sitar.  It was this that I used to create the drone sound that runs throughout the track.

In my late 20s. I was fortunate enough to see Ravi Shankar in concert at the Barbican in London, a venue with gorgeous acoustics that befitted the music.  I also got to see Dave Brubeck play there years later, another musician and composer who searched beyond the boundaries of his own culture for musical inspiration (Check out his Time Out and Time Further Out albums), as did his contemporary, the Jazz composer, musician and educator, Yusef Lateef (his Eastern Sounds album should be heard by everyone before they die). 

I came across Yusef Lateef after hearing his composition “Syn-Anthesia” played by the Cannonball Adderley Sextet, of which he was then a member and on which he switched from tenor sax to oboe on the ‘Cannonball Adderley Sextet in New York’ album.  It is an intriguing piece and a testament to the generosity of Cannonball Adderley, who regularly featured compositions from the many musicians that passed through his band.

Sadly, Yusef is no longer with us, but his music lives on as and inspires today.  In recent years the UK has seen a huge renaissance in Jazz, one of my favourite artists is the Clarinettist, Arun Ghosh who infuses many of his compositions with influences from his Indian cultural heritage along with many other contemporary western musical styles, just listen to his “Lal Qil'ah (The Red Fort)”, or “Gypsies of Rajasthan” (on his “Primal Odyssey” and “A South Asian Suite” albums).  

It was thinking of the Moslem expression “peace be unto him” when reflecting on Yusef Lateef’s music that led to the name of this track.  “Peace be upon you” is a phrase that appears in Judaism, Christianity and Islam and has many associated forms, all of which emphasise a wish for the recipient of the greeting/prayer to experience peace.

For the middle section of the tune I wanted to create the kind of groove that when I hear it I want it to just go on for longer, for example, the middle section in Kraftwerk’s 1978 track “Neon Lights”, Chic’s break in their 1978 12-inch disco classic “Le Freak” and the bass line in War’s 1975 classic “Low Rider”.  I wanted something that you could really lose yourself in in a hypnotic way for a couple of minutes and reflect on what peace means to you, a bit like Can’s 1973 “Future Days” track off the album of the same name.

Aside from the drone sound the rest of the tune was composed in the elegantly realised Nano Studio app.  I have Fergus, from Manilla Filters (https://soundcloud.com/manillafilters), to thank for introducing Nano Studio to me, if you have not tried it I can’t recommend it enough.  

The drum sound used in this track was Nano Studio’s Chip Tune pre-set and is highly reminiscent of the sounds from those 1980s 8-bit video games.  I have Stuart Maconie and his Sunday night Freak Zone show on BBC 6 Music to thank for introducing me to a whole sub-genre of electronic music where people still compose using just 8-bit samples.

Like I said at the beginning, I find inspiration for music all around me, I hope you enjoy the track.

Peace,

Marc

Peace Be Upon You

I wrote this track whilst in bed with a fractured ankle.  It is a reflection on living in the moment, taking the time to experience your existence at the point in time and environment you are in now, hence the title; You Are Here, wherever here is for you at this moment; take the time to enjoy it.

I first went to Barcelona back in the 1990s with my girlfriend and fell in love with the city. Ten years later my girlfriend (same one) took me there again for a birthday surprise where we spent a weekend in a beautiful hotel overlooking Las Ramblas.  Fast forward another 15 years or so and my wife (still the same one) and I took our two children there to give them an opportunity to experience one of the most incredible cities in the world.  

Situated on the Mediterranean coast Barcelona has so much to offer: rich in history and constantly at the foreground of art and culture – just think Gaudi, Picasso, Dali and, my personal favourite, Miro (did you notice the correct grammatical use of the comma after ‘and’ Mr Rees-Mog).  Then there is the beach at Barceloneta, The Neu Camp (for those who love football), the beautiful old town, magnificent cathedral, fantastic markets, Gaudi’s park and buildings and even a children’s theme park that is open throughout the summer. Oh, and there are lots of little cafes and bars just to sit and idle away time in (note again another correct usage of a comma after ‘and’).  All of this just in the city of Barcelona itself, if you have the time explore the region as well. Figueres is a must see, especially Dali’s Museum. They still honour the siesta in Figueres, a truly wonderful tradition.  Even the weather is fantastic most of the time.  

The picture that accompanies this song is a section of my favourite Miro painting the English translation of the title is "The Harlequin's Carnival".  It was painted in 1924-25.

I started writing this Homage to Barcelona in nano Studio 1 on my iPad Mini 2 on the flight from England.  I worked on it whilst there in fits and starts in our rented apartment, on the train journey to and from Figueres, and on the flight home.  Then life got in the way of finishing it, as it so often does.  I needed something to lift the last half of the piece aside from the swirly keyboards.  Inspiration, as I’ve said before, is all around me and this time it was the death of my mum from Alzheimer’s earlier this week; she looked so peaceful at the end. This led me to try heavenly voices (which like the swirly keyboard sound came from my Roland XV5050).  The heavenly voices really lift the piece and move it to an almost dreamy, trance like state, thank you mum, I’m glad you are at peace now. 

I hope you like it, and if you haven't been to Barcelona yet make sure you go at least once in your life.

Peace and love.

Marc, 28 July 2019

Homage to Barcelona (V8)

Influenced by Radiohead's more glitchy stuff and recorded as much as possible "in the box" with Ableton Live. Version 2 has tweaked vocals and adjusted levels.

Lockstep (Version 2)

This tune started life as an attempt to create an Ibiza style rave rune which was going to have a Spanish Guitar melody courtesy of my old friend Jonathan.  However, life got in the way of this, though it may still happen someday.

I started working on it again the day after my birthday.  I was travelling back from London on the train after little sleep, having gone to see Fat White Family play with another friend, Harry, the night before.  It was while doing this that the “The clock is ticking” lyric popped into my head as it fit with part of the melody.  This gave me an idea of a theme.

The next thing that happened was the UK General Election, the result of which was not anywhere near what I wanted.  I am a committed Europhile and have a left of centre political and economic viewpoint.  I’ve yet to find any argument from an economic perspective that Brexit is a good idea which has stood up to critical analysis. I understand that critical analysis is not the approach that many people on either side of the Brexit divide used to make their decision.  

I do not believe the new Government will deliver the changes that so many Brexit voters want to see because the cause of their concerns (overstretched NHS, overstretched social care, lack of affordable housing, lack of employment opportunities that pay at least a living wage and addressing the funding shortfall in education, especially for those with additional needs to name a few) are not the fault of the European Union or EU internal migration.  

I anticipate another 5 years of worsening levels of poverty and an increasing divide between the wealthier elements of society and the poorer and between the young and the old.  Worst of all I foresee an emboldening of the racist minority that seek to capitalise on people’s dissatisfaction and their desire to return to the “good old days”, whenever they think they were.  

It is at times like these you need to critically assess why you believe what you do to see if those beliefs stand-up to scrutiny and can be demonstrated, in the Socratic sense, to be based on sound arguments.

As you can guess, I had enough of a subject to write about, hence the darker mood of the music and the lyrics. The lyrics just lent themselves to a spoken word delivery. I shy away from the word rap as I am not a rapper, that said I did try to aim somewhere between the Beastie Boys and Eminem at first, but ended up nearer Des Lynam (A BBC Sports TV presenter from years gone by who once did a rap for charity).  So, I just used my normal voice and some slight distortion / reverb.

As with many of my tunes this was composed entirely on Nano Studio 1 on an old Ipad Mini 1. The Lyrics are below. 

You wanna take things back
To the old school days
When your shit was better
Than today

You’ve dropped your shoulders
Your pace it’s slowing
Your looking backwards
Not where you’re going

Life wasn’t great then
Nostalgia’s illusion
A trick of the mind
A state of confusion

We shape the future
By our decisions
But fear of change
Is clouding your vision

All that’s born 
Is destined to die
The question to answer’s
How’d you spend your time

Like King Canute
Before the tide
If you don’t engage
You’ll be swept aside

Accept these truths
Life moves pretty fast
The only constant is change
Nothing ever lasts

Open your eyes
Time to decide
Evolution has one rule
Adapt or die

The clock is ticking
The clock is ticking
The clock is ticking
Counting down for you

The clock is ticking
The clock is ticking
The clock is ticking
It’s time to choose

It’s time to choose (x8)

Lockstep (Version 2)

Phil Snelling