Prague Recording Sessions with Metallic Taste of Blood

2014 has got off to a great start with myself, Eraldo Bernocchi and Ted Parsons (who has previously drummed with, among others Prong, Jesu, Swans, Godflesh and Killing Joke ) getting together at Faust Studios in Prague to commence work on the second Metallic Taste of Blood album.

Prague is certainly one the world's most beautiful cities with some great looking buildings, churches, statues, bridges and a rich, impressive history and atmosphere to rival any major European city, not to mention a selection of beers that could have seriously undermined the album writing process...

In order to match the intensity of the first album I hope that perhaps we managed to tap into that undercurrent of mysterious energy, which in ages past, attracted the likes of Edward Kelly among other alchemists, scientists, mystics and seekers to the city. I certainly felt something, within ten minutes of arriving at the studio I was confronted with an unlikely co-incidence which caused me to reflect on the nature of life itself…..some other strange things too….

Anyway, for now, some footage of us at work:



Best,

Colin

Endless Tapes Live in Italy in February.

Alessandro Pedretti and myself will be performing our Endless Tapes material live at three dates in Italy next month.

Helping us to bring the music to life will be guitarist Nicola Panteghini (who also contributed guitar to the debut EP) and keyboard player Corrado Saija.

As well as playing material from the EP (available here) we're also "road testing" as yet unheard material from the full length Endless Tapes album which should see a release later this year.

Pedretti and I are thinking of these shows as "warm-up" dates which will enable us to test, evolve and refine the material for future live performances.

 Danilo DiPrizio will be adding some of his amazing visuals.

13th February
Bloom (Mezzago, Monza Brianza)
 (+ special guest "Dropshard")

14th February
Latteria Molloy (Brescia)

15th February

Alice nella città (Castelleone - CR)

Click here to read more info in Italian.

Best,

Colin

Dawn

I am usually not a morning person, but I was awake with my camera early enough to catch the sunrise today.

Somewhat late perhaps, and anyway it's been too wet to take any decent pictures for the last week or so, but it seems to me like an appropriate photo to mark a new year…so, Happy New Year…..


Cheers,


Colin

Twinscapes Preview and Cover Image

The Twinscapes album,  a joint effort between myself and Italian bassist and composer Lorenzo Feliciati is something I've been working on throughout this year, and I am pleased to say it's now finally mixed, mastered and at the manufacturing stage. The release date is set for mid February 2014 through Rarenoise on CD, Vinyl and various digital formats.

It's been a really inspiring, continually surprising and also enjoyable process working on the album, not least because the two bass format has certainly made me re-evaluate and re-think some aspects of my own approach to playing, and also enabled me to explore some of the sonic possibilities of processing the bass with various effects that I usually can't find a context for.

Additionally, Lorenzo and I have been able to expand the album's sound with input from some amazing guest musicians, who have each added their own very special performances.

 Nils Petter Molvaer, with some of his absolutely transcendent and instantly recognizable trumpet playing.

Drummer Roberto Gualdi, (also of PFM) has played two powerful and intense performances.

Once described as the "Van Gogh of the Saxophone", David Jackson  (of the legendary Van Der Graaf Generator) contributes some magnificently spirited saxophone.

Andi Pupato, is perhaps best known as a former member of the intense "Zen-funk" group Nik Bartch's Ronin, although I also knew his work with Slow Electric and guitarist Robert Jurjendal, plays an array of percussion and has also added some unique sonic elements.

The album has been mixed by bassist/producer Bill Laswell, of whose playing and musical approach I have been a longterm admirer.

The album cover image above uses a photo taken by yours truly, utilising Redscale film and my trusty Fisheye2 camera.

I am pretty sure I took this in Albuquerque, New Mexico, whilst on tour a few years ago. I took a few rolls of film whilst wandering around, and I found it to have plenty of interesting urban geometry.
There is of course some stunning scenery in New Mexico, but I'll save that for another blog...

Design is by Stefano Fratus.

In order to hear some of the sounds, there is now a Twinscapes album preview edit on the Rarenoise Jukebox:

…and not forgetting, a very short youtube trailer over on my channel:

I'll be posting up pre-order information, track listing, etc in the near future.

Best,

Colin

More from the Untrained Artist.

I've been keeping a lot of my son's drawings, paintings etc and was prompted to sit and look at them again after watching a really interesting documentary about Outsider Art.
The term refers to art made by children and the untrained and self taught, as well as that made by people who suffer from mental illness.

I like the definition, "Art made by those who do not know it's name", which implies a very pure intent.

Anyway, I particularly like this, drawn by my son, aged 6, apparently a "Firework Machine" and part of a whole series he calls his "Network Pictures".

A pretty good example of "outsider music" would be The Shaggs, recommended by Frank Zappa himself.

Best,

Colin

Bass Day Madrid - December 14th

See above, I'll be at the Madrid Bass Day next month, on the 14th December.
I'll be spending some time talking about effects and how I like to use them.

More info in Spanish and English can be found here:

Best,

Colin

Live photos Astarta/Edwin at Days of Ukraine

Thanks to Alistair Peck for these photos from last Saturday's Astarta/Edwin set at the Days of Ukraine Festival in London.

The full set can be found over on his Flickr page

Astarta - Inna and Yulia.

Eduard Prystupa, keys and guitar.

Dima, beatboxing, playing a selection of flutes and also a Duduk.

Inna

Yulia

            Jon Durant joined us again on guitar, he has made a really significant contribution to the work in progress recordings, so I'm very glad he made it.

Just visible at the back is drummer Bogdan Kerichok.

Anyway, I'll hopefully have more to say about the project before too long, for now, I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to play the music live a few times so far, and recording is still ongoing.....

Best,

Colin