Category: General

General Posts

David Walsh – Seven Deadly Sins

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David Walsh – Seven deadly Sims

Ok, catching up with the backlog of books read this year,  and it’s David Walsh’s Seven Deadly Sins.  Again no new information here (if you’ve read as many cycling books as…), but did I enjoy it.  Well no as much as I’d hoped.  This book feels like a cash in, brought out to coincide with Armstrong’s Oprah appearance, and summarises David’s history to date.  The new information of interest being personal insight’s into how David reacted to the events that played out before him.  For me perhaps the most revealing was how he reacted to the death of one of his children who he openly describes as his favourite child.  A 6 out of 10.

We also went to see to see the recent film ‘based’ on this book (though how you can clam that the film is based on this book when it basically is just a potted history of LA’s career is beyond me).  James Richardson nail’s it in his recent review

4 out of 10 is pushing it…

In other news car has pulled up outside the house playing some metal.  Dude needs to deal with that scratchy throat pronto…

 

Michael Barry – Shadows on the Road

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A book cover
A book cover

For no reason other that I was having trouble remembering what books I’d read this year, here’s the first in an occasional review of the same.

Michael Barry – Shadows on the Road

Check out the cover.  Yes it’s a cycling book.  Enjoyed it.  No new information in here (if you’ve read as many cycling books as I have) apart from some nice insights into Michael’s early career and the emotion of injury and how it impacts on his livelihood, relationships and his family.  A nice easy, and uplifting, read.  Oh yeah he took drugs and lied about it yada yada etc.

Start the week – creativity

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I caught the start of radio 4’s start the week on Monday before work in which Andrew Marr discussed the role of creativity with several ‘creatives’.  The podcast is available now.

Start the week – creativity

This discussion rang true for a lot of my creative life and I think anyone who is remotely creative in any part of their lives could find something they could relate to from one or several of the professional ‘creatives’ who formed the discussion panel.  For some time I’ve tried to introduce a discipline to my work and happily there’s some discussion of the importance of persistence in any artistic endeavour but also of the less definite aspects of ‘creating’.

Aliens vs Apes

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Boom block busters.  This summer Alien ‘Prometheus’ is on the way and whilst the trailers don’t look 100% convincing it’s certainly attractive for several reasons, many of which are of course nostalgic.

One thing that has struck me is how the sound design is used in it’s trailers.  ‘Hits’ are used, for won’t of a better word, creating atmosphere.  I was thinking how the same kind of technique was used to create atmosphere in the trailers for the recent Rise of the Planet of the Apes trailer.  The Apes trailer I think created a moodier atmosphere and may have even been more appropriate for the upcoming Alien film.  Both sound pretty good to my ears.

At around 2.04 mins (though alot more ‘music’ in the Alien trailer)

A good read – niche markets and psyhcological shelf space

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I stumbled across this article from the little white earbuds website which attempts to explain why figureheads are created and sustained for popular music trends.  It’s an interesting read and there’s certainly a great deal of truth to the limited mental shelf space that he discusses in part one.

http://www.littlewhiteearbuds.com/feature/quality-is-overrated-the-mechanics-of-excellence-in-music-pt-1/

http://www.littlewhiteearbuds.com/feature/quality-is-overrated-the-mechanics-of-excellence-in-music-pt-2/

In other news I’ve nearly finished up the next ES Waves release which I hope will surface after Xmas.  Very happy with the progression in my music at the moment.

Hello website

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Believe it, I’m working on quite a lot of new material and am really liking the sound of a great deal of it.  Really taking some steps forward in sound design and mixing.  I’m working on getting the sounds to breathe a bit more in my mixes, getting a bit more space in there.

Some aimless googling brought me to this advert for this 80s tv advert for ‘Tango in the Night’ which is perhaps my favourite album.  It’s pretty nostaligic for a child of the 80s like me.  Look the cassette it comes on is…clear!  It’s an amazingly produced album.

Bit of a creative pause

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Last few weeks have seen a bit of a creative pause.  The third ES Waves Media release is being detailed at the moment.  I hope to have it finished in the next few weeks.  It is, of course, totally awesome but then I would say that.  Again I hope to have some time at the weekend to get the next podcast finished up.  It will be rocking.  The album is hopefully finally in its final shape.  I love it.  Not got a great deal more to say at the moment.

Why no blog posts?

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I’ve not posted any blog posts on here for a while .  I’ve no doubt that is because the time period between my last blog and this update is covered by the period I started using twitter.  As an update I’m continuing to put together more and more music, constantly refining and updating the music I’m planning to release.  I’m a ridiculous perfectionist and I hope this attention to detail is reflected in the enjoyment of the music that I’ll eventually release.

Really with today’s instant media I should have kicked out a few tracks by now but they are coming and are not too far away!  I had two single releases and the album finished and mastered but I pulled each as I wanted to refine them further.  I’m nearing the end of the refining process and hope to sail the ship in the next couple of months.