iTunes picks

Ryan and I (after seeing Snakes on a Plane on the weekend) swapped great finds on iTunes. He recommended a great band called Black Turtleneck, and I in turn recommended an EP by German group Camouflage which is damn good. Both are highly recommended if you're interested in getting some new tunes off iTunes. Also recommended - Cause and Effect is apparently close to releasing a new album, but in the meantime their Into the Light EP is one of my favourites. And oh yeah - you CAN buy Caffeine Sunday's Karmaland on iTunes too....

Got any recommendations for us?

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Black Turtleneck: click here
Camouflage: click here
Cause and Effect: click here

Ohama box set

My uncle, Tona Ohama, was a pioneer in synthesizer music back in the early 1980s (known simply as Ohama). Huge influence on me growing up - my second home was my grandparents' potato farm, and in the basement of the farmhouse was a spectacular home studio with analog synths, reel-to-reel tape recorders, racks of electronics, drum machines, a big mixing console, and a huge record collection of weird groups like Yello and Kraftwerk... Those were great times.

Anyway, most of my uncle's material has only been available on the original vinyl albums of that period, until now. Earlier this summer he put out an impressive (self-designed, produced, amassed, etc) box set of his work. Nine CDs and a DVD of his music, past radio interviews, rare lost recordings, live performances, and so on. They even come customized with something unique in every box - original photos, lyric sheets, even pieces of his old synthesizers. They're really impressive, and his music is fantastic too.

To find out more, click here

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P.S. Oh yeah! The Ohama box set has a track by me - I recorded a version of one of his songs (The Call) that's on Disc One of the set. And now the set has been sold to people in countries from Japan to France, and from L.A. to NYC...

In the studio - 19/08/06

Sat at a piano - and by piano I mean an old Kurzweil K2000 synth, because unfortunately I don't have a real piano - to come up with a verse line for "Cubicle". The old Martin Gore/Clarke-Bell trick: write the songs using a piano or acoustic guitar so the song isn't distracted by all the cool electronics. It helped (I think). Came up with something anyway. Now I just need to listen to the demo I recorded with scratch vocals over the next few days and come up with a verdict. Need to send it to Ryan, too.

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In the studio - 18/09/06

Scribble scribble scribble.

Writing some lyrics for "Cubicle" but I have no idea how the verses should go. I want a "Cause and Effect" - style vocal melody for it. We'll see... I at least have a scratch chorus in mind.

cn

In the studio - 16/09/06

Tools of the electronic music songwriter: a Mac, a MIDI keyboard, a good audio interface, a hard drive, Reason, an iPod and a good old fashioned pad of paper. And mood lights.

Came up with a possible new song idea tonight. Call it "Cubicle" for now, because I'm watching Office Space. A good old "thump thump thump thump" beat.

Also trying to think of possible verses for a new song Ryan has called "Lost and Found", because he hates the verses he's got.

Ja ne,
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