Heliopolis

Penultimate track from my new album "Overcast". Created entirely during February 2009 for the RPM Challenge.

Get the full album for free from http://jinsai.blogspot.com

Guitar, bass, drum samples, voice. 

The Blue Sea

Captain Kirk - "Bass Etude"

It's real!
Faceshopping!
I'm real when I shop my face!

Delighted to share this song with you- created with my darling of inspiration CECILE BELIEVE!

Stream & download: http://futr.cl/faceshopping

Spotify: http://futr.cl/faceshoppingSP
Apple Music: http://futr.cl/faceshoppingAM
YouTube: http://futr.cl/faceshoppingYT
SoundCloud: http://futr.cl/faceshoppingSC

Follow SOPHIE:
Website: http://msmsmsm.com/
Facebook: http://smarturl.it/SOPHIE-FB
Instagram: http://smarturl.it/SOPHIE-IG
Spotify: http://smarturl.it/SOPHIE-SPOTIFY
Twitter: http://smarturl.it/SOPHIE-TW
Soundcloud: http://smarturl.it/SOPHIE-SC

Stream & download

SOPHIE — Faceshopping

Lead-off track from 2008 electronic rock record "Cyborg Love Songs". Created for the 2008 RPM Challenge.  Influenced by late-period Depeche Mode.

Daemons

Title track and album closer from 2007 release "Decayed, Decayed".  Created for the 2007 RPM Challenge.  My take on rap/hip-hop.  Features a continually slowing tempo, glitchy electronic beats, and minimal but emotive backing.

Decayed, Decayed

From 'Why Anything? Why This?' - Shriekback's 14th studio album

Seminal British alternative rock outfit Shriekback has announced they will release their new album ‘Why Anything? Why This?’ on May 25. As a teaser, they are previewingthe first single ‘And The Rain’, along with a darkly intriguing video filmed by Howard Davidson (a.k.a. Hodah).
 
Shriekback was formed in 1980 by ex-XTC keyboardist Barry Andrews and bassist Dave Allen on his departure from Gang Of Four, in collaboration with guitarist Carl Marsh from Out On Blue Six. Under the auspices of the visionary Y Records label (home to The Slits, The Pop Group and Pigbag), the group found their voice experimenting in EMI Music’s KPM demo studio in London, refining a uniquely recognizable sound in 1982 on their first full-length album ‘Care’ and eventually achieving wider recognition with the singles ‘Lined Up’ and ‘My Spine (Is The Bassline)’. In 1983, they were joined by drummer Martyn Barker (King Swamp, Billy Bragg).
 
A move to a major label, Arista, allowed the band to fully realize their sound on ‘Oil & Gold’(1985), a milestone album that remains the band’s best-known (helped by the success of the single ‘Nemesis’) and the foundation of their popularity on the US college circuit and elsewhere.
 
‘And The Rain’ is dark and infectious, conjuring up steamy, swampy, Southern Gothic blues.This 14th studio album, which boasts a wide, organic and detailed sound, is already being described by early listeners as their best since the landmark album ‘Oil & Gold’. The sound is dense, woody and fibrous. Here we find evolved Bo Diddley beats and African blues”. However you describe it, this is Shriekback refocused, reinvented and reinvigorated. 
 
Band members have also pushed themselves musically and sonically – Barry contributes a lot of guitar, Carl has essayed some slide guitar and keyboards and Martyn has brought in a whole arsenal of world percussion alongside his drumkit. Regular Shriekback listeners will hear more guitars and live drums and fewer loops and electronics. The sonic palette is very broad. 
 
Written, performed and produced almost exclusively by the core trio, this is very much a ‘band’ album, crafted over time with the three core members working in their own studios, as well as in group sessions at Yellow Fish and Echo Zoo studios to capture live drums. But the writing and production on this release has been much more collaborative, with Martyn, in particular, having more input than previously.  
 
New collaborator Scott Firth (of P.i.L) adds irrefutable bass to selected tracks, while Shriekback regulars Wendy and Sarah Partridge contribute their ever-invaluable backing vocals. Live drums were recorded by Ian Caple (who’s been with Shriekback since the beginning) at Yellow Fish in Lewes and Christoph Skirl at Echo Zoo in Eastbourne. The album was mixed and mastered by Stuart Rowe in The Lighterthief Bunker, Swindon – his fifth Shriekback album in this role, an indication of the value placed on his objective ear and technical skill.
   
‘Why Anything? Why This?’ will be released on May 25. While fans should keep an eye out for the album via digital stores and streaming platforms, the album is already available for pre-order from the band directly at https://shriekback.com/store

Why Anything? Why This?

And The Rain

Me&My (To Bury Your Parents)

[featuring jh0st on guitar and guitar synth solo and Darow Han on acoustic guitar]

We were raised in a school by the C.I.A. 
Made out, had house parties while the parents were away 
We learned to play together in those basement shows 
We dreamed we'd change the world with the songs we wrote 

In the malls we blew the wages of youth (like they told us to) 
We looked as good as we felt 
We were so in tune 
Suburban scenes and forest drives 
Not all of us would arrive alive 

We took it to the max 
In the script of the bridge 
With a perfect kiss 

We took it to the max 
In spooky rooms 
Under killing moons 

We took it to the max 
Standing on a beach 
With our New Gold Dreams 
We took it to the max 

Oh boy, I heard the news today 
I'd take it to the max 
But you've gone away 
Empty and dark, the malls stand silent 
The basements all flooded 
Old dreams have rusted 

It's so hard to believe it's true 
I want to sing our songs 
but I can't remember the tunes 
Endless crying skies 
and wondering whys 
You never were much for goodbyes 

You took it to the max 
The birth of truth 
Forever sonic youth 

You took it to the max 
The hungry wolves 
and banshee screams 

You took it to the max 
Clinging to the sun 
You were the only one 
You took it to the max

Pantemonium!

To The Max [featuring jh0st and Darow Han]

The end of what they say are the best years of your life
Adult in the ultimate summer, time glides right by
They gave you your paper while you stood there on the stage
You walked out the doors of the school but nothing’s changed…

Now you wake up every day, chase the bus, you’re running late
Sit at a desk, do your work, try to make the grade
Waiting for parties on the weekend with your friends
You think that you’re free, but it’s just high school again...

Life is all chopped up and locked to the clock
The idiot jocks are still on top
The pretty and popular kids
Decide what’s cool
Forever High School

So many years since you last set foot in class
So far away from your memories of the past
After all this time, you haven’t learned a thing
And you know the bell is about to ring...

Are you stuck in some bad dream?
An endless John Hughes movie scene 
Just one more rebel teen
Without a clue
Forever High School

You are always surveilled
Your freedom is curtailed
Your infractions detailed
Your life stuck on rails
There is no escape...

It’s all about the right clothes and hair
Think you’re smart? 
Nobody cares
Smoking with the burn-outs behind the stairs
Caught breaking the rules
Forever High School

You walk slightly nicer halls
Spend your whole life inside these walls
The lessons you can’t recall 
All lost on you
Forever High School

Better Than The Alternative

FHS [early single mix]

Neo-classical piece using actual music-school-type composition techniques. And such. Features sounds from my late Alesis NanoPiano and Absynth.

Originally released on Chill's "Resolutions" album under my "Captain Kirk" alias.

Captain Kirk - "Tunguska"

In 1984, people were talking about the “new wave” in rock music. Talking about those hairdressers. A bunch of guys named “Taylor.” That blonde woman. 

And of course, Sid Luscious. 

Sid Luscious and The Pants had the look and the sound the world didn’t know it craved. Teenage prodigies, they quickly rose to prominence in 1983 – barely able to drive themselves to rehearsal! 

Showcase performances around the world followed, as did a recording contract. Sid Luscious and The Pants were primed for great success. The press machine had geared up to prepare everyone for what the band called “Maximum New Wave”.

And then the bottom fell out of their world. Holed up in various studios for almost a year, they struggled with technology, the record business, and each other. For reasons unknown, their record company decided not to release the completed record and dropped the band from their contract. 

Sid disappeared shortly thereafter and the band went their separate ways.

And just as suddenly as they had been headliners, 1984’s “next big thing” became an all-but-forgotten footnote. 

We didn’t talk much for the next 20 years. One of the guys became an accountant. One became a lawyer. Our original keyboard player developed a mental illness and retired. And so on. Sort of like high school – everybody just…grew up. The usual things happen: marriages, kids, happy and unhappy lives, successes and failures, comedy, tragedy, triumph. You know how it is.

Now, 20 years later, the band has re-formed, minus a few original members and plus some new folks: a local musician once famous for performing with a dancing steak, a punk rock escapee, and a hot new keyboard player.