well, i went adventuring this afternoon only to find the best record shop ive ever seen, the best vintage guitar shop ive ever seen and a specialist vintage jamaican music shop which as you could imagine, was the best thing ive ever seen. a whole rocksteady section, complete with original jamaican editions (vinyl, of course) from the 60s. man, i feel like such a faker. ive got a lot to learn. and buy….oh and the most mint contidition sky blue mosrite guitar with the most fucked up shape and buttons. this thing was nice. and graffiti dave rest assured, this record shop i found called king kong has the hip hop nicely divided into sections, one being 90-95. needless to say, Big L had a strong representation and BDP has like half a crate on offer. osaka, its just out of control. i may soon be broke. oh, and i forgot to buy a cheap guitar in all the excitement.

on the stereo is:
alton ellis - oldschool rocksteady crooner
pavement - loose…

think im gonna go buy a guitar today, cheap and nylon stringed. need something to put new stickers on.

well, a lots happenned lately. the ‘hearts blast graves’ album launch was a success, the place looked beautiful and the singing was sweet and in tune. then i got busy recording the debut album for my other band ‘red plum & snow’. most of the tracking is done, but ill be mixing/making more in japan.

yes, japan, im moving to osaka in a fortnight. should be fun. im also busy tweaking this new version of the blastcorp site.
and i got my monome. expect some beautiful music with beautiful flashing lights soon.

things are changing.
schools nearly over for the year…
got a new computer,
rediscovered my circuitbent tr707,
tweaking nitrotracker on my nintendo,
and ive got a monome256 on the way!

just to make sure im trying to do too many things at once,
ive also got the following projects on the go:

-red plum and snow record their debut album in december. we
are going to a real studio and everything! im gonna turn my
amp up real loud.

-making a soundtrack for a short film by my friend huni b.

-playing with gemma, getting ready for our cd launch on
december 1.

-making a lot of felt cd pouches for said cd launch.

well, went to brisbane for a jam packed, fun filled weekend.
apart from learning about the new australian quality training
framework (i really likes the new reporting on employability
skills, by the way) i managed to squeeze in a few shows.

so, on no sleep at all i played with kahibaloo at lock n load. was
a nice cosy darwin reunion. kahibaloo rocked it. minimal sample
heavy hiphop, nice. i played ok.

the next night i met up with chrissie of kissy trouble company
and found where we were playing. it was above a heavy metal
goth kinda club in brisbane city. i played fine, was a small
crowd. the band after was a heavy metal band. they had a guitar
stack bigger that me. im six foot five by the way…i nearly died
when the guy was just soundchecking the hi hats, when i band
started it was at least 120db, at least. got out of there and
braved it amongst the racist psychos out to get pissed in the
city. finally made it home via everywhere chrissies friend went!

had a few hours of record shopping at rocking horse (yay!), got
some woob woob woob gold. check out aaron spectre, warlock
and si begg.

saturdays gig was an under the house affair.
nice crowd, very attentive. six acts and not a word said during
any song the whole night. was ace. i played really well, was very
happy. discovered some other amazing bands. lets not(but say
we did) and yeow woew both were amazing. miss genevieve
graves was in form as always. ate some badly cooked brownies
with a hacksaw or something. made it home safely

got up, swapped samples and stuff with james from kahibaloo,
then got on the plane. an unannounced stopover in gove due to
one broken aeroplane meant i got to see my family and play
several hours of hacky sack to pass the time.

all in all, a nice adventure!

well, these are the latest things im caught up in.
should keep me busy till the end of the year…

-making a split acoustic album with gem and mel.
blastcorp + the bionic hearts + genevieve graves.
simple, sweet songs.
checkout myspace.com/gemmainthesky and
myspace.com/genevievegraves.
hopefully it will come out in a few months time. still mixing
mels tracks and having doubts about the mixes of the others.

-going to play in brisbane with genevieve graves august 11.

-making a record with gretchen. red plum and snow will record
their first album as soon as i get a chance. weve got lots of
songs, but im still not quite sure which way to go with them.
keep them small and sweet or beautify in the studio.

-doing a 7inch (i think its gonna be a 12) with juzzy. moke is
recording live in the next month, before we both then head into
our studios to cut up the results into tracks. expect a blastcorp
mix and a chuan mix on the flip. breakbeatish dancefloor weirdness guaranteed!

-feedback orchestra plays the festival of darwin star shell on
thursday 16th august. will be the loudest gig in darwin since
ac/dc. its me and a dozen friends bringing the art big time!

-just finished doing a blastcorp art track and accompanying
video. a nasty remix of the track will be on the sounds unusual
2007 comp CD due soon. the video isnt for anything except
looking nice. found some nice settings on a thing called
pixeltoy, visuals react to audio.

-if i ever get time, im keen to tweak my new modded 707, and
delve back into the world of reaktor.

-playing an art style blastcorp gig for sounds unusual festival in
darwin late september. better make up a new set then….

i think thats it.

had the longest and bestest musical weekend!
thursday, i get to see the bionic hearts, almost got to play too,
but too many stresses. gemma was ace as always, sings like an
angel. then saw darren hanlon. he is a really good songwriter
and a funny and cool guy. popular and for very good reason.
then friday night i got to rock out in my quiet band red plum
and snow to nearly no one, but it was fun. then same with horse
trank. then dashed back to happy yess to see the all ordinaries
rock it up just like it was 94 again. they played everything from
lullabies to punk rock, and all with total style. then saturday i
got up at 7am and got to press record while mel stringer aka
genevieve graves was in the next room. she is so amazing.
really. then later that night i got to see her play live, and it was
the best gig ive seen in years. then sunday night after braving
the fireworks on mindil beach went to see rob curgenven bust a
feedback set with a bass, a guitar and 2 amps. very impressive.
all in all, a fine weekend of rock and roll!

ive been busy. way too busy. gone from working one day a week
to 7 days a week this year. not good for the music output. not
good for the soul. but we need gigs and a venue and the youth
need education, so i guess ive gotta go with it.

music im digging at the moment:

lightning bolt - man, these guys are noisy. rock beyond rock!

new buffalo - the new albums out, and sally sounds sweeter
than ever. theres a song called youve gone my friend which
makes everything OK.

guitar wolf - niose rock outta japan. word is they have made a
zombie movie too or something…

the bionic hearts - gemma rules. im recording some of her
songs for her. and for me!

mclusky - yeah, theyve broken up, but i got mcluskyism cheap
and it rules. noisy pop rock vibes.

kool g rap - check out unkut.com for all the goodness. fine
rhyme skills and lisp to match. no fear!

sufjan stevens - seven swans is the most beautiful christian
banjo album you will ever hear. and the only one i bet.

iron and wine - check the song called fever dream. the next level
of sweet, high singing boy balladeering.

ben gibbard - this guy rules. dig though limewire to find
acoustic solo stuff. it all rules, especially his cover of joga by
bjork.

old pavement. rocks.