osymyso blog

Hoof Toof

2010-09-04T02:23:00.001-07:00

Hoof Toof is the third of three tracks extracted from a set I did for Do Or D.I.Y. Have a listen here and download a 320kbps mp3 if you feel like it.

Biscuit Legs

2010-08-11T10:30:00.001-07:00

Biscuit Legs is the second of three tracks extracted from a set I did for Do Or D.I.Y. (details in the previous post if you're interested). Have a listen here and download a 320kbps mp3 if you feel like it.

Trumpet Thumbs

2010-08-02T02:02:00.001-07:00

Trumpet Thumbs is the first of three slices taken from the session I did for Do Or D.I.Y in July 2010. You can have a listen to the track and then download it HERE. The session can be heard in full by going to the Do or D.I.Y. playlist and archive page, the osymyso set was on the show from July 21st. You can download shows dating back to 2003 and I highly recommend you listen to a load of shows and/or subscribe through iTunes. I'll upload another track from the set in about a week or so.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World-7 Evil Remixes

2010-07-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

You'll be able to watch Scott Pilgrim Vs The World at your local cinema in the not too distant future but before you do why not acquaint yourself with the characters by watching my 7 Evil remixes of the film.

These short clips include music from the soundtrack and score by Nigel Godrich, Beck, Metric. Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Jason Falkner.

Also, why not immerse yourself in the Scott Pilgrim universe. There's 6 volumes of the graphic novel by Bryan Lee O'Malley to read, the Edgar Wright directed film to watch, the video game to play, avatars to be created and so on.

New tracks on Do Or D.I.Y. session.

2010-07-23T06:41:00.001-07:00

I recently made a 10 minute session for the brilliant show, Do Or D.I.Y. presented by People Like Us. You can stream the show right now, go here and play the show from July 21st 2010. Or, better still you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can download previous episodes and have the new ones magically appear in your mp3 player of choice. Do Or D.I.Y. is fully endorsed by osymsyo and weekly listening is highly recommended.

The session is 10 minutes long and is comprised of all new osymyso goodness, I've never uploaded any of the bits contained in the mix before. So go and have a listen to the session now and I'll be making the tracks available for download at some point in the next few weeks.

Flight and Flinch

2010-04-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

A couple of new tunes for you to listen to and download. Flight and Flinch, they're both old tracks that I've never managed to finish to any degree of satisfaction but are finished enough to share with the world. I think they both date back to around 2006 and I've periodically tweaked them in some vain attempt to make them work but for some reason they never do.

I am the link to Flight and Flinch.

Follow the Legs/Faulty Choirs videos and mp3

2010-03-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

I've uploaded the mp3's and video's for "Follow the Legs" and "Faulty Choirs". Both collaborations with Rafianimates, I made the sounds he took care of the animating. Neither of these are new but it's the first time I've made the mp3 files available in a higher quality and put them on their own special page all to themselves. Actually, come to think of it, Follow The Legs never made it onto the site in the first place as it was finished during the months when there were no updates so I'm guessing it will be new to some of you. You know the drill, go to this page. Enjoy.

Uncalled-For Remixes

2010-03-19T02:48:00.001-07:00

I've uploaded a 5 track compilation of old remixes I've done over the years. There's nothing especially new here but you can download them all for the first time in higher quality mp3 should you choose to do so. All these remixes are unofficial hence the name "Uncalled-For Remixes" you will find them right HERE.

New New Order Mix-New Monday. It's new.

2010-03-12T15:23:00.000-08:00

Earlier today I uploaded a remix I've done of Blue Monday by New Order which I've called "New Monday (How Does It Feel)". I'm not sure the world needed another remix of this 80's classic but I went and did one anyway. You can download it here in the now standard 320kbps mp3 completely free of charge as per usual. I'll stop mentioning that now, you can assume from now on that all osymyso releases will be free and encoded at 320kbps. There may well be something I do in the future that you'll have to pay for but to be honest I can see it happening. Now go and listen to my mix, hope you like it.

And we're back.

2010-03-11T09:24:00.000-08:00

OK, where was I? Oh I dunno. The last few months I've been really busy doing exactly the kind of stuff you wouldn't want to know about, so I won't bore you with any of that. What's more important right now is what's about to happen next in the world of osymyso. First things first, lets sort out that dead website and this poor old abandoned blog. Well, I'm blogging right now so that's the blog sorted, as for the site I'm going to prune it right back and start from scratch. It's going to be a pretty minimal affair but don't let looks deceive you, there'll be lots of downloads and all the new stuff that will appear on there first.

So, if you go to www.osymyso.com right now you will notice that first thing I've changed is the archive page, there's loads more on there for you to download or you can just play the tracks from the embedded players. I've put up tracks that have never been available for download before, all in 320kbps mp3 and all completely free. Also, there's more to follow in the coming weeks.

The News page is pretty blank at the moment but it won't be staying that way for long. I'll be adding some new and not so new tracks in the next few days and weeks, so do check back and who knows I might have some big news coming soon...(but then I might not)...but I might, who knows?

Delete.

2009-09-02T14:11:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since my last blog and there is a reason for this. Osymyso has gone into hibernation for a while. Being osymyso makes you very poor and there's only so much poverty I can put up with. I won't be gone forever though, I have plans for the near future. I have some music I'd like to share with the world.

There isn't going to be an album, even though I've made enough stuff for a couple of albums I just don't think the tracks work well together. What I have so far would be a poor album. The whole painful experience has got me thinking that I'm not really into the idea of making albums any more anyway. I think small chunks of related ideas is much stronger than a patchy album that goes all over the place. So many albums these days are simply collections of the last 11 tracks someone made. A lot of people who make music like I do on a computer churn out album after album of similar sounding tracks and more often than not there's only 2 or 3 decent tracks in there. I'd rather make something short and special than be prolific and have 300 similar tracks for people to sift through on iTunes.

So, I'm going to be away for a short while earning some pennies and then I'll be back with some new tunes released as digital 'singles', one by one, free to download. Until then, don't have nightmares, do sleep well.

Warp 20 'Elemental' Mix.

2009-06-11T06:12:00.000-07:00

Warp Records have announced the release of their "Warp 20" boxset, a deluxe special-edition of music and art. As a long time fan of the label I'm incredibly excited by the prospect of a box set that includes so many goodies (check out Warp.net for all the details), but as this is the osymyso blog I'd like to draw your attention to the 'Elemental' album included in the box. This is a 66 minute mix created by yours truly that includes as much music from the label's two decades as I felt comfortable cramming in to an hour. I'm personally really happy with the mix, even more so now I've seen how Warp are releasing it. All the details you need to know can be found on the Warp site.

Week something

2009-06-04T01:13:00.000-07:00

So, to follow on from the last post where I revealed my crippling perfectionist tendencies I'd like to add another reason for delays in my album getting finished and that is the mysterious world of pointlessly self-imposed rules.

I have a set of unwritten rules that I've been following for as long as I can remember. It's a code of conduct that I've always adhered to and yet very rarely questioned properly. It's become clear to me recently that these rules I work to are not only very restrictive but also pretty stupid. So, I've tried to identify these rules and I've been wondering if they're actually the main reason progress has been so slow.

Let me give you some examples;

1-Don't use big samples of well known songs on you're album.

2-The majority of your album should be made up from melodies you wrote, beats you constructed using as many real instruments and vocals as possible.

3-Never use the same sound twice.

4-Aim to make music that has a good 'song structure' (whatever that means)

5-No rough edges, the production should always be perfect.

There are more but you should get the point from those examples.

Now when I think about the things I've done that have been successful it's seems pretty clear that they didn't follow any of the rules I follow when trying to write an album. When I freely sample anything I want to and ignore any traditional song structures I come up with some pretty good stuff and yet I still straight jacket myself with unhelpful rules.

One area I have a problem with is the idea of making a track that is mostly made up from one big sample, a technique taken to the extreme by Daft Punk (here's an example) and Girl Talk, not to forget it's the reason Norman Cook is a multi-millionaire. It's not that I don't like sample based music, when it's done well I absolutely love it, no it's more to do with my own desire to prove to people I can do more than just cut and paste bits of old records. I suppose all those opinionated muso types telling me I'm not a real musician got to me. It's ludicrous when you think about it because I've essentially turned my back on the one thing I'm really good at. So, I've decided it's now OK to make tracks that use big chunks of other tracks as the basis. Everyone else is shamelessly using other people music as the foundation for a new ideas and I'm not going to beat myself up about this anymore. It's still creative, it's still art and it's what I do best.

Another thing that slows me down is my insistence on creating so many of the elements myself. Spending hours to create a new hi-hat sound that most people just won't notice. I've come to realise that it's not worth the effort, yet again I can look back to my own music from the past that people liked as proof that when I don't stick to my own daft rules I can still come up with something people can enjoy. My best work was made quickly and without thinking too much so from now on it will be OK to use a hi-hat sound or a bass noise more than once if it speeds up the process. No one will notice or care.

I could go on but you probably get the point here. I'm over-complicating matters by inventing rules for myself that are proven to be unhelpful. I've needlessly ventured down many creative dead end because of my desire to prove my impressive musicianship only to realise people don't expect me to be a Jazz master, they just want some good and honest cut and paste nonsense. Now that the penny has finally dropped for me I feel free to create and the ideas are pouring out of me. So yes, the album is still in production and will be finished...erm...soon.

21 weeks of Groundhog Day

2009-05-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

My life is like Bill Murray's in Groundhog Day but without the ice-sculptures and Andie MacDowell. Every week that passes has a remarkable similarity to the one that preceded it. I feel like I'm stuck in some never ending tortuous loop and no matter how hard I try to break the cycle I end up here, 7 days later typing the same old rubbish into my blog that I've been typing for the past 20 weeks. I've put some thought into why this is the case and I've reached some pretty convincing conclusions which I find deeply interesting. Fortunately for you, I'm prepared to keep the tepid ocean of psycho-babble inside my own confused mind for now. I don't see any reason to add any more self-obsessed cod-psychology to the huge mountain of drivel that makes up 99% of blogs out there. I can condense months of muddle-headed thinking into one simple concept; I'm a perfectionist. I know people throw that notion around a lot and it's used to describe people who are simply very thorough but believe me, I'm tortured by my own perfectionism, it cripples me. It's the number one reason why I'm not prolific, most of my work ends up getting deleted. It's seriously doing my head in now and I refuse to be beaten by something so stupid. So, despite there being some delays brought on by this problem I haven't lost hope, OK so things haven't gone exactly to plan but as ever I'll cut my losses and carry on regardless. If there is anyone still out there reading this, just hold on, I'm getting there.

20th Week

2009-05-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

I'm very close to having an album now, I could probably put an album out next week but I've had some ideas this week regarding a couple of collaborative efforts that I'd like to use for this release. Not sure if I'll be able to do them yet but if I can get them recorded in the next couple of weeks it'll be worth the wait, well for me at least. I'm getting very frustrated at how slow things are happening and I'm going to have to learn how to churn music out like Guillermo Scott Herren or Johann Sebastian Bach. Once I've got an album out I'm planning to do a load of mindless cut and paste monstrosities and a couple of 'mix-tape' style mixes. That should speed things up a bit. OK, sorry for the repetitive and dull blog, I might just quit this weekly nonsense until my life becomes interesting on a

weekly basis.

Week 19-one week closer.

2009-05-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah, not much to report. I'm one week closer to finishing this album though. I think I'll meet the deadline I set myself unless something unexpected happens between now and the end of the month. I've got loads of other ideas I want to explore so as soon as I've finished Bunkerbusterwaldernuts I'll get cracking on them straight away. I see my 'work' as falling into two categories, the straight forward cut-up, mash-up, plunderphonic stuff and the original composition type music, the album is more of the latter and some of the ideas I have lined up are more of the former. I think people prefer it when I make the mash-ups, I'm probably better at that sort of thing but I'm also keen to make new music that's got little or no samples in so I guess people will have to pick through my releases for the bits they like or hopefully they'll like all of it which would be the desired result. Anyway, I'm sick of all this speculative drivel, I need to launch some new musics into the atmosphere for your ears to suck in. Almost there...

Week 18-Follow the Legs

2009-04-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

This week I have the honour to present to you a track from the forthcoming album Bunkerbusterwaldernuts and not only that, it's accompanied by a video that's been animated by the incredibly talented Rafianimates. I have nothing more to say right now, let the video do the talking, or should I say walking?

The 17 week.

2009-04-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

I love PRS statements, how else would I know that a little known track I'd written called Bebabee had been played on a Hungarian radio station? It's great to receive a royalty statement not only because some money appears in my bank account but also because it's physical evidence that my music is still being played on the radio now and then. Since I've stopped DJing it can feel like the outside world has forgotten about me. I never really interact with real people anymore so how else would I know if people still want osymyso or if they've just moved on to the next stupid thing? Anyway, the point is this, I sometimes feel like my career is dead in the water and this week I had a reminder that it's not the case. OK, things have been pretty slow round here the past couple of years but it isn't a sign that the end is near it's just a hiatus that's now coming to an end. I strongly believe that I still have my best work ahead of me and that I'm also about to be more prolific than I've ever been. I'm happy to say that I'm bursting with ideas and I'm dying to get them out of my head and into your ears.

Mind you, having said that, this blog is still just me saying I'm going to do things instead of me actually uploading mixes and tunes but just hold on there for a few more weeks cos I've got some new tunes and not just any old new tunes these are brand new old tunes that I've made completely new, just for you, prepare yourself for the Bunkerbusterwaldernuts!

Week what? 16?

2009-04-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

Pretty much more of the same for week 16. Apart from continued work on the album I was sectretly asked to help on a secret film project so for the next few days I'll be concentrating on that and not working on my own stuff. It's a really good thing to be working on so I'm happy to take a break from recording my own nonsense for a short time.

I've now written 6 different rants for this blog and I've come to the conclusion that some things are best left inside your own head.

More later,

osy

15 weeks in and there is light at the end of the tunnel.

2009-04-09T11:56:00.001-07:00

It's been a great week, got a couple of tunes done and I'm really into them. I set myself a deadline of May 31st for this album and it shouldn't be a problem now. I'm still not sure what to do with it, I'll take it to a couple of labels and see what kind of reaction I get and if they're not into it then I'll put it on the site as a free download. I'm not expecting the music world to notice or care about this release, I've made this music for the myself and the tiny percentage of the world that like my specific brand of daft music. It's great to get to the point where you don't care because you can just do what the hell you like and it'll be better for it. Besides, there is always the outside chance that the millions of people will wake up one morning in July with an inexplicable urge to listen to slow breakbeats layered with accordions and banjos with children singing over the top and cartoon sound fx pinging off every few seconds. Once the album is done I can sort out this blog and the website so they're a bit more interesting. It's not that easy working alone on a budget of £1.28 so just hang in there and I'll do as much as I can in the time I have.

14 weeks in to the year and a warning from Anvil.

2009-04-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

I had written another post for this week and then before I got to post it I saw the documentary film Anvil! The story of Anvil and it's now filling my head with thoughts. Firstly it's a great film, touching, amusing and inspiring and all of that. I'm not a great reviewer of films so I won't go into any great detail there, I'm sure you kind find plenty of reviews elsewhere on the net. No, what's sticking in my head is the danger of osymsyo doing an Anvil. I've been imagining someone making a film of me in 10 years as I continue to hold on to some hopeless dream of success and becoming a bit of a laughing stock in the process. The thought of being a 50 year old still clinging on to a tiny slither of hope is enough to motivate anyone into action. So, come to this blog next week and there will be a new album, the dates for my upcoming world tour, previews of my new DVD release and a first look at my brand new website that will contain a comprehensive archive of every single track I've ever done with accompanying videos and high quality downloads to boot.

Bit Boring

2009-03-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, I've been thinking about this blog today, perhaps it's a bit boring. I'm not sure what to do to make it exciting. I'm open to suggestions though. I'd love to put up loads of new music and videos but I'm just not that prolific I'm afraid. I'll keep blogging once a week throughout the year and hopefully once the album is out and I'm being invited to perform in every corner of the world with other high profile artists then it might get far more interesting. For now I have this picture to share with you, can you guess who it is and why I would share this with you all?

2009 is 13 weeks shorter.

2009-03-27T02:19:00.000-07:00

I think it's fair to say that week 13 was the best of the year so far in terms of production. I managed to finish a few tunes that had been festering on my hard drive for some time. I got to the point where I just wanted to either finish them or delete them for good and fortunately I managed to make them work somehow. I feel like I'm on a roll at the moment so I'll probably meet my own self imposed deadline to finish this album in 65 days time. By then I should have worked out what to do with it. I'm not sure how to release this album, it's not as clear cut as it used to be. If I just put it up on my site as a free download it could just become something people mindlessly download, something extra to be added to their vast stockpile of ulistened to and unloved mp3's. I'm facing the same problem so many other musicians and producers face, how do you get people to meaningfully engage with my music? I want to get people to really listen to my music but there's so much stuff out there competing for their attention that there's always the danger that all my hard work will do little more than provide background music for people doing the housework. Well for now my main concern is to complete this album and to make it as honest as possible, and by honest I mean stupid and by stupid I mean good stupid and not just plain stupid.

Jim Jarmusch on Originality.

2009-03-20T02:41:00.000-07:00

If I had such a pointless thing as a top ten favourite quotes list then this would be in it;

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."
— Jim Jarmusch

And so with that in mind I thought I would add a video clip to this blog. It's quite old, you've very possibly seen it but it's just so brilliant that I deemed it worthy of our attention once more.

7 days have happened 11 time thus far in 2009.

2009-03-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

I dunno, a bit more of the same really. I've had a mild illness this week that reduced my workeyness by about half. It was very frustrating. I spent a great deal of time editing and tweaking my old sound library so I can use it all up on this album. I've built up a vast collection of spoken word and noises over the years and I think it's time for a 'use it or lose it' approach with some of the older ones. I'll be making new tunes whilst simultaniously tidying up my hard drive, it's a win win situation. It's great when you poke around old folders and find long forgotten sounds in there, old bits of telly, friends talking, stupid loops I know I made but have completely forgotten making, the odd vocal session, a friend playing the guitar part where the track he played to no longer exists, that sort of thing. I'll probably delete a lot of it but there's so much in there I'll be happy to finally give a home to. Anyway, that just about sums up my week, nothing major to report for now.

10 weeks of this year are now in the past.

2009-03-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

The past week has been great, loads happening and alas I still have nothing tangible to show you. I had to make some ammendments to the mix I mentioned way back in the second week of 2009 and that's now finally finished and delivered. I'm sure Warp Records don't mind me mentioning that I've done it for them, it's going to be used as part of their 20th anniversary something or other later in the year.If, like me, you're a fan of the label then I'm guessing you'll love this mix. I worked super hard on this one to make sure as many of the labels artists and syles were covered in the one hour mix. If you want to get your hands on a copy then you'll have to wait a bit because I don't think it's released until after the summer and I've been informed it's going to be super limited and in some fancy box-set or something.

I embarked on my most ambitious project ever this week, something that will take months to complete and could end up being something I'll work on for years to come. I'm going to create a series of sound collages that will require every skill I posess to complete. Before I even make a single edit I'm going to have to spend many weeks and months researching the subject matter and gathering raw mateial. The series is to be called "In Search Of..." and each mix will cover a differnt subject matter, they will all be related to each other so that once they are all complete they can be brought together into one beast of a mix collecion, however they will all be released individually as each segment is finished.

But before I get carried away I still have the current album to finish and I've been working on that this week too. All's going to plan with that and I expect to have all the tracks finished by the end of May and then I'll release it once I've chopped it around a bit and mastered it properly. My plan with the release at the moment is to release it as a high quality download that's paid for followed a few weeks later by a free version on my site. I doubt there will be a physical release, I can't afford to do it and I don't want any more unsold goods lying around the house.

Sublime music.

2009-03-09T05:25:00.000-07:00

There is a Squarepusher track from his "Hello Everything" album that I just can't get out of my head, it's called "Welcome to Europe" and I've listened to it over and over and over for the past few months. I can't quite put my finger on the why of it but to me this track is just perfect in many ways. I'm not even going to attempt an intellectual dissection of the music even though I could write an essay about this sublime four and a half minutes, it would just sound pretentious and ridiculous. The music should speak for itself, should it not?

Week 9 of 09

2009-03-05T02:12:00.001-08:00

It's been a great week, I made great progress on all fronts. It's painfully slow at times but I've reached a point where the end is truly in sight. It's still going to be a while before I have anything major to present to the world but everything is falling into place now and I can confidently say that there will be a flurry of activity at some point during the summer of 09. Until then I can't imagine this blog is going to be especially exciting. I'll continue to write something once a week as it helps me stay on target, it pulls me back in line if I happen to have gone off on a tangent, which I am clearly prone to do.

So this week I can announce that "the album that probably won't ever get finished" has now become "the album that will get finished at some point in 2009". Not that I expect anyone in the entire universe gives a hoot other than myself, but I'm under the impression that I am the only person in the entire universe that reads this blog at the moment anyway, so in that case it's an announcement that is of interest to 100% of the readership.

I have nothing else to add at the moment.

8 Weeks of 2009 have been used up.

2009-02-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

I've been spending the 8th week of 2009 on a few different projects. I've made a few more baby steps in the world of video editing and ideas for my AV show are starting to form. I have themes and segments taking shape and I'm slowly starting to get a good idea how I can fill an hour or so with visuals and music. Well, I've done it before in the past so I know it's possible but I'm going to attempt something a little more audacious this time which will require a bit of a steep learning curve. I have a feeling it will take quite some time but it will be worth the effort. Also this week I did a bit more work on some tunes for the album that will never actually get finished. I'm actually enjoying writing music again and I'm being utterly self-indulgent, I care not for sample clearance and don't have any delusions about my music ever being cool or cutting edge, it's just what it is. And also this week I've had to make some changes to that mix I did back in January because there's some new tunes that the label want to add to it, haven't quite finished it so a bit of week 9 will be taken up with me doing that.

OK, once again I apologise. This blog is turning into a boring production diary which I don't really want it to be. It's good to keep doing it though because it brings to my attention that things aren't moving at the pace they should be. Trust me, new and interesting stuff is on the way...soonish.

Is this really the end of the 7th week of 2009?

2009-02-18T12:40:00.000-08:00

OK, I have to admit, I'm doubly shocked at how fast this week has flown by. I thought week 6 was bad. I can honestly say it feels like only a couple of days ago that I sat here and wrote the previous blog post. I've had an average week in terms of production, I haven't had the luxury of full days in the studio as I've had meetings and things. I've also been back in software school trying to learn how to create video collage so I can eventually put pictures to my tracks so I can project them in public places. Learning new software is a massive time-sucker, half day can fly by as you try and get your head round some new interface, coupled with the problem of getting an aging PC to work with ever more processor hungry applications. Needless to say I haven't got any wonderful video clips or tracks to put on this blog. I was certain last week that I would find the time to cobble something together but alas it just hasn't happened. Anyway, not to be downbeat, the work I'm putting in now in learning this stuff will enable me to realise a lot of the ideas that are floating around my head. It may be slow but it will be worth it in the end. I just apologise to anyone who's been following this blog with the hope something interesting might happen, all I can say is that it will but I have no idea how soon.

Having said that I was sent a link to a YouTube clip that syncs up Coonskin with part of an old radio mix I did back in the 40's. According to it's creator it's just an experiment and I think it kinda works in places, I'd like to see the whole 1 hour mix done like this (that would save me a tonne of work).

The 6th week of 2009

2009-02-11T14:29:00.000-08:00

I'm shocked. This week flew by so quickly I didn't get anything prepared for this blog. I was determined to have an mp3 or something but with 1 hour to go before week 7 commences there's little hope of me throwing something together. That's actually the story of my life, I always think I can do more than I actually do.

Anyway, I haven't been sitting on my thumbs for the past 7 days. I managed to finish a new tune for the mythical album that will never ever get released. Whilst I made this tune I was able to brush up on some old sampling techniques, things I haven't done for a long time. It was scary how much I had forgotten and quite liberating once I had managed to work the software once again. I'm keen to get back to the type of sampling that people were doing in the 80's, a time when the idea of sampling a milk bottle or a can opener was actually really exciting. Sampling these days quite often means looping a big chunk of an existing track and not really doing anything with it. I want to get back into the world of modulating, manipulating and twisting sound into new forms. I want to use the sampler as more than just a loop machine and to do so I'm re-learning all the deeper programming skills I've left to atrophy over the years.

So that's it really, I spent a great deal of time this week with my head in a manual. Not very exciting but well worth the time spent because I can now do things I wasn't able to 7 days ago. I think it's important to go the extra mile with these sorts of things or I'll just end up using the same software in the same way as everyone else and my music will more than likely sound the same too.

OK, enough of the boring talk. Next week I will have a new mp3 on this blog.

2009-Week 5

2009-02-04T13:34:00.000-08:00

Most of this week was spent working on new stuff that will probably end up being this mythical album I keep going on about. I've got an ever-growing archive of loops that I've been extracting from old vinyl and I've been playing around in an almost random fashion looking for combinations that appear to work. I'm not sure how it will all end up, it's impossible to tell at this stage, I have a rough idea of what I want and I'm using chance to guide me along. I know what I don't want and that's a sensible album with 10 well produced and perfectly arranged tracks. I want loads of short messy tracks, sudden changes, unexpected shifts in tone and the odd moment of melodic beauty when you least expect it.

This week I have a video to share with you. It's a 2003 remix of Fiver to Bigwig that was released in 2002. I re-edited the track and video because Matthew Lewis (AKA Matthew Butler) who I sampled in Fiver to Bigwig sent me a full length version of his rendition of Bright Eyes that he did on Tiswas and I was able to make the entire track using just his vocal. I used this version of the video a couple of times as part of a larger AV set in 2003 and then it dissapeared into my archive and I forgot all about it until a couple of days ago.

Palindromic Video.

2009-02-02T14:30:00.001-08:00

Now, you know I like my palindromes. I am a palindrome. Well, I've come across a palindromic video that's well worth having a look at. The song is by Cibo Matto and the video by Michel Gondry. Yeah, I know, it's been around a while but I've never blogged about it and there's always a chance it's still new to you. Besides, it's a great video, also there is a making of video where the word palindrome keeps popping up.

So, here is the video;

Cibo Matto- Sugar Water [PV]
Uploaded by skanel

and here is the making of;

2009, Four Weeks In...

2009-01-28T08:49:00.000-08:00

It's been an odd week here at the osymyso ranch. I had to go through the regulation self-doubt and confusion about my place in the world of music. It's something I do all to often and involves a great deal of misery and pain. Needless to say that after a few days of such nonsense I always come out the other side with exactly the same conclusion as the last time it happened. And so here I am again working on what must be the 800th attempt to get an album of daft music together. I just need to keep reminding myself to stick to my guns and do precisely what I want to do. My album will no doubt end up as a free download so I see no need to do anything other than a purely self-indulgent mess of sample collage and botched melodies. It's gonna be a fun.

On Thursday I started collaborating on some tunes with a brilliant songwriter who's name will be revealed once I know for sure it's going to work out. Working with other people on music is pretty much unknown territory for me so I've no idea how it will pan out yet. I'm very optimistic about it though. Early signs are that it will be a very curious batch of tunes that will emerge from this.

Ok, I should start putting up some downloads on this blog. The first one is a mix that I did last summer for The Quietus it's an 8 minute long mash-up with 50 tunes in that was used in a competition. The mix was never actually available as a download and I didn't get round to putting it up on my site so for the 3 of you out there who fancy having a 320kbps copy of it you're more than welcome to grap a copy right this minute.

The Third Week of 2009.

2009-01-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

I was hoping to have something to upload for this post but I haven't. I had this very strong desire to churn out some messy music but ended up sifting through old vinyl that I had converted into WAV files and reducing them to little loops. So now I have an expanding archive of melodic loops from all styles of music from the past 60 years or so and I'll be doing something very wrong with them very soon. I've got a massive collection still to be processed and enough material to keep me going for years but before I can have fun with it all I have to do the boring donkey work. I feel I have to put that extra bit of effort in these days in an attempt to keep one ahead of all the other millions of people on the web who are potentially doing similar things. So when it comes to source material I have to dig that little bit deeper and look for ever more unusual combinations and patterns.

As for the mix that I had almost finished this time last week, I did finish it and send it off. Initial reactions were very positive and I thought I'd cracked it. However some changes have been requested so I'll have to find some time in the coming weeks to pick it apart and make some space for even more tunes. At the moment I haven't a clue how I'll get it to work with the extra stuff they want in there but I'm sure I can work it out somehow. I like a good challenge. Having said that I don't want to hear it for a couple of weeks, I've heard it way too many times recently.

So, next week I really will have something on here for you to download, even if it's something old. I'll also be thinking about how to make this blog a little more exciting, feel free to make helpful suggestions.

The second week of 2009.

2009-01-14T13:21:00.000-08:00

OK, so what happened in the world of osymyso during the 2nd week of 2009? Well, pretty similar to the first week as it happens. I've been slowly chipping away at this mix which is now officially the hardest hour of audio editing I've ever embarked upon. It's my own fault, I tried to create something that had music from such a broad range of styles and tempo's and ended up with the audio equivalent of a Bedlam Cube. I've spent many many hours trying to get incompatible tracks to work together and ended up ditching numerous failed attempts. However, I did manage to finish the mix a few hours ago and will spend tomorrow tidying it up,adding some bells and whistles and getting all the levels right.

One other thing was brought to my attention this week, Intro-Inspection is listed in the Pitchfork 500 book. I'm not entirely sure what that means but it's sounds like a good thing I suppose. It is subtitled 'The Greatest Songs From Punk to the Present' which surely means Intro-Inspection is now recognised as an osymyso song and not just 101 intro's from other people's songs randomly mixed together.

New Year

2009-01-07T13:04:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be a good idea to blog once a week this year, see what happens. Hopefully 2009 will be much more fun-packed than 2008 was and this blog will require weekly updates. If not I'll have a rummage around for some old tunes or something, I'm just going to make it up as I go along, in the true spirit of blogging.

In the first week of 2009 I have been working on a mix for a well known label. Not a remix of a tune but a long DJ mix of the back catalogue. I started work on this last November and it's been a start stop affair as other work has come up. I'm determined to bag this mix whilst everything is quiet, well I'll have to because they want it next week. I'll blog more about it once it's been approved or rejected.

I've also been plotting my next move. I really want to get some new osymyso tunes out there, both my own compositions and some mash-up type nonsense. I was way too quiet in 2008. It's time for some action.

For now I have nothing more to add. Next week I'll try and find something more interesting to blog about. No promises though.

Delete.

2008-12-23T14:51:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd deleted this blog and yet here it is festering on the web. I'm tempted to start posting on it again what with the new year just around the corner, I could make a fresh start like all those people who give up smoking and fast-food for 2 weeks. I tell you what, I'll post 3 or 4 times a week in January and possibly the first week of Feruary and then forget about it for 7 months, how about that?

Robin Cooper

2008-07-25T03:02:00.001-07:00

Prank calls are usually purile and humourless, but then not all of them are made by Robert Popper who is one exception to the rule. His brilliant book The Timewaster Letters is coming out in the US and to promote it he's done a series of prank calls using the voice of Robin Cooper. If you don't find these funny then there really is something wrong with you.

Go Here.

The Quitus Mix

2008-07-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

I've done a new mix for a website called 'The Quietus', it's 50 tracks in about 8 minutes and you have the chance of winning in iPod Touch if you can guess what those 50 tracks are. Just head on over there and have a listen, even if you can't guess many of the tracks you might just enjoy the effect the mix has on your ears and brain. You might also find the website interesting as it's got chock loads of features and reviews which I know some of you muso types love to pore over. So, go to the site, have a listen, enter the comp and pass the link to everyone in your contacts list.

Banksy.

2008-07-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

As you may have read in the tabloid press over the weekend the true identity of Banksy has been exposed and I thought it would be a good time to show the world a photo of the mysterious man that I was sent by a friend of mine who used to work with him. To my knowledge there aren't that many photo's of the artist and I haven't seen another that is this clear. So there you have it, this is the face of Banksy...

What;s This About Then?

2008-07-10T02:03:00.000-07:00

I got sent a link this morning and it's quite strange. It looks to me like a computer generated text that attempts to write an article about yours truly whilst utterly failing the Turing Test. It doesn't make a great deal of sense but does contain elements of fact in amongst the garbled nonsense. I suppose it could be a round-trip translation on Babel Fish, that's one explanation. Anyone know what's going on here?

http://reginanils.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/collect-osymyso/

When I awoke this morning...

2008-06-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

I had this in my head,

In Xanax did Kubla Albuk
A stately palindrome decree:
Where Alpla, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

I have no idea what it means, it came to me in a dream.

New Spaced Episode

2008-06-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

Don't you just wish they would make another episode of Spaced? Well it aint gonna happen. There is however a little treat for obsessed fans (such as myself) up on Simon Pegg's blog. Worth going over there and having a peep as it's very funny, as is the rest of the blog for that matter.

Age of Conan

2008-06-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

I not an MMOG player and I know very little about them but I'm aware that the newest arrival in this genre is a game called Age Of Conan and a lot of the World Of Warcraft people are playing that instead, apparently. I'm mentioning it because it's the first time I've ever appeared in a game, well the first time I've 'voice acted' for a game. I play a demon or something and you have to play it for 900 hours before my character appears but it's in there all the same. If you watch the credits you might spot my name in there under “Additional voice acting”.

Biscuits

2008-05-30T01:59:00.000-07:00

There's an advert showing here in Blighty where a member of the Panda Mafia extols the virtues of Fox's biscuits, towards the end he suggests people go to their local supermarket and tell them Vinny sent them for the 'good stuff' and for some reason I found that utterly hilarious. Not so much the talking panda, which is moderately amusing but the idea that people take it literally and follow the orders from the little fluffy one. My local Somerfield went into meltdown recently when I presented a Scottish bank note, I'd love to see the reaction when I ask for the good stuff and go on to explain a panda sent me, yeah a mafia panda.

And also, the advert implies that pandas are capable of organised crime which for me conjures up images of cute fluffy bear like creatures wielding sub machine guns, not exactly something that makes me want to reach for the biscuits. Yeah, he's all very cute sat there in that leather chair but to have reached a position where he can 'enjoy the finer things in life' he must have caused pain and mystery to so many over the years and I'm just not comfortable with that. Besides the price of a packet of these biscuits isn't really that prohibitive, you could quite easily afford a packet without resorting to a life of crime.

Watch the mafia panda here and no, I aint getting any free biscuits for sending people over to their website but I'm happy to receive any should the good people of Fox's have a rise in sales due to my link.

The Odd Half Hour

2008-05-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

I was just checking the news on the BBC homepage as I usually do at this time in the evening and I spotted a big banner add for a new radio comedy called The Odd Half Hour which just happens to be a show that I provided a theme tune for. I also did a bunch of stings and some music for the outro so they had something to read the credits over. The show is on the BBC iPlayer if you fancy some comedy entertainment and a chance to hear what I do to earn a living these days.

Introvercy

2008-05-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

Actually I can't work out what this Soulwax mix is called. They're on Radio One now and Colin Murray has pointed out that someone did the idea before but apparently this one is "on another level".

Also he called me Ozomutli.

Introversions

2008-05-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

News just in. Soulwax have made a mix called Introversions which is 150 intros mixed up into one long track.

Sound familiar?

Has anyone seen April?

2008-05-17T03:02:00.000-07:00

One thing I've noticed when reading through the blogs I subscribe to is how many posts start with something along the lines of "I know I haven't posted for a while but..." It always seemed odd to me that some people who could sustain 2 or 3 posts a day for months at a time could suddenly stop posting without explanation. Some blogs I used to read were abandoned completely without warning and I'm left wondering what the reason is, boredom, paralysis, death? Perhaps the 3 people who read this very blog were thinking it had gone belly up already but I can tell you now there was never any danger of that. As I have now personally experienced some of the problems that could cause blog atrophy and I can empathise with my fellow bloggers who struggle to maintain a daily post and also admire those who are consistent with theirs. Anyway, this post could quite easily become really tedious as so many blogs about blogs are, I just wanted to let all 3 of you know that I'm not bored, paralysed or dead yet. Not to bore you with the details lets just say April was a bit of a struggle for me and blogging was low down on my priorities, you could say I've found out a few of the reasons why some of the blogs I read go offline every now and then.

South Park Episodes

2008-03-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know how long it's been possible to watch ANY episode from ANY season of South Park in FULL for FREE but it is and it's legit (yeah you have to sit through a Virgin Mobile but it doesn't hurt). I just found it today, it may have been the case for ages but I never noticed and I check out the South Park Studios site all the time. If you've fallen behind on the show then I strongly recommend you put some time aside and watch as many as you can. In my opinion they seem to get much better from around season 5 or 6 with a tendency to get better each year.

New from Cyriak

2008-03-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

More from the disturbed mind of Cyriak. Go and watch some of the most unusual video's you'll ever see. Brilliantly twisted and insanely imaginative. Twas Beastenders that introduced me to the world of Cyriak and perhaps a good place to start if you've never seen his stuff before. However it isn't all video's, there's so much more on the site including some impressive illustrations and comics, I could go on forever but it's probably best if you just go to the site and find out for yourself.

Bono, please stop.

2008-03-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

I know Bono means well and to the casual observer he might look like a really good bloke helping all those poor African's but let's be honest, he's a sanctimonious bufflehead. I'm all for celebrities using their position to bring awareness to a cause but he's out of his depth now and is talking about things he clearly doesn't fully understand. Bono, if you're reading this try and remember you're just a singer in a rock band.

And so we move onto a story of huge importance;

A Plea to U2 from Africa's Children
Stop Bono Before He Kills Again!
By CounterPunch News Service

Bono is at a U2 concert in Glasgow when he asks the audience for some quiet.
Then in the silence, he starts to slowly clap his hands.
Holding the audience in total silence, he says softly and seriously into the microphone ...
"Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies......"
A voice from near the front pierces the silence: "Well, fucken' stop doin' it then!"

Korg meets DS

2008-03-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

From what I can gather there are loads of cool uses for a DS that only seem to be available to people living in Japan and today I found out that there is a Korg DS-10 Synthesizer for the DS which will only be available over there. I'm hoping it will get released over here too as it's unlikely an import will work mine but I'm not an expert on these things so you never know.

Smoke On The Yangtze

2008-03-12T04:17:00.000-07:00

This is superb, it was covered by a band called "Deep Purple" and renamed "Smoke On The Water".

Jetlag and Tinnitus.

2008-03-08T03:51:00.001-08:00

If your still into your vinyl and fancy getting hold of one of my remixes on a physical format then you'll be pleased to know that my remix for Si Begg's "Non Stop Cut And Paste" is going to be released on March 17th alongside a buch of other strange tunes that make up a fine 12".

Ok, so here are all the details.

Si Begg-Jetlag and Tinnitus Reworks Part 4
Noodles Recordings-NOODJNR4 - 12” vinyl / digital

Vinyl-A Side
My Style (Si Begg Intro Dub)
Jetlag and Tinnitus Part 1 (Crystal Distortion Remix)
Non Stop Cut Paste (Osymyso Remix)

Vinyl B-Side
My Style (P'u and Stephane Vera Remix)
Non Stop Cut Paste (Si Begg vs Kid Carpet Remix)
Jetlag and Tinnitus Part 1 (Mauin Graintank Mix)

Digtal

Non Stop Cut Paste (Kid Carpet Remix)
Non Stop Cut Paste (Mix Mup Remix)
Jetlag and Tinnitus Part 1 (Totally Re-Kirked)

Kap10Kurt Video

2008-02-28T23:56:00.000-08:00

This video by The Holograms for the artist known as Kap10Kurt really shouldn't work because the subject matter, music and just about everything in it is so clichéd and yet it all comes together beautifully and just goes to show that the sum can well and truly be so much greater than the parts. It's hard to be cynical towards something that is such brilliant fun and surprisingly unpretentious given the checklist of cool references it ticks off. It proves that if you're good enough you can create brilliant entertainment out of ideas that have already been extensively explored (a sentiment that I personally aspire to).

kap10kurt - dangerseekers by The Holograms
by kap10kurt

Pamelia Kurstin

2008-02-27T14:36:00.000-08:00

Some sublime Theramin playing from Pamelia Kurstin who I first came across a couple of years ago as she appears in the doc film "Moog" (which is also well worth watching if you're into that sort of thing). This clip is 19 minutes long and is well worth watching, check out how she creates a walking bass out of thin air.

Pocket Band

2008-02-20T08:44:00.000-08:00

This is a bit interesting. I like the idea that people can jam using gadgets they are likely to have in their pockets. Getting stuck in a lift will never be the same again. It's got me thinkin'....

While I DJ.

2008-02-17T04:46:00.001-08:00

This is how it looked at my last gig. I accidentally uploaded this during my time behind the decks. I played a really disturbed set, a lot more dancey and twisted than I would usually do and for most of it the room contained just one sleeping man and a strange gentleman who insisted I play Polish music in a slightly threatening way. As the room started to fill it seemed a shame that most of the floor fillers had been played to just 1 and a half people so I cheekily played them all again and thankfully I got some people dancing and I left with a felling of mission almost accomplished.

I'm DJing tonight.

2008-02-16T08:58:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be DJing at a night called 'Voltage' which is taking place in a venue called 'Platinum' that can be found in London's Shoreditch not a million miles from Old Street. I shall be taking to the decks at around midnight for a couple of hours and I've planned a set that's dark and messy with plenty of these beats people are talking about as to encourage dancing.

You can get the important details relating to the event if you visit the MySpace page of the event organisers- www.myspace.com/voltage333

Come down, say hello, enjoy.

Paparazzi

2008-02-12T00:54:00.000-08:00

Celebrity culture in my opinion is an oxymoron and it would seem that public at large are now starting to feel bored by it all. But more than that I think people are feeling uncomfortable with lengths the paparazzi will go to get a picture, stalking mentally ill women 24/7 is generally considered bad form where I come from. Holy Moly, a website normally dedicated to celebrity tedium has also come to realise it's perhaps gone a bit too far and made some interesting guidelines for budding paps to follow.

GOOD!
Celebrities who attend premieres, launches, award ceremonies & press conferences are all fair game.
As are idiots who go to places like The Ivy, Nobu et al for a "quiet bite to eat".
Likewise Chinawhites, Mahiki blah blah blah.
Any blatant photo opportunity (I'm looking at you Victoria Beckham and you Kerry Katona) where tip offs are given by the celebrity to the paparazzi.

BAD!
Celebrities with their kids.
Pursuing people in cars and on bikes.
People in distress at being photographed.
Not "on duty".

And that just about sums it up for me. Those who relentlessly seek attention will be exposed as doing just that if they bleat on about privacy and the actually get it. If all photographs in gossip mags fall into the 'good' category above then they are essentially sanctioned by those in them and we all know where we're at. The confusion we have at the moment is weather or not a 'sensational' picture is a photo op or someone genuinely caught off guard. Where there isn't confusion is when it's gone too far and when it comes to Britney it's time to back off and let her sort herself out so she can get her head together, she'll be back in no time seeking out the attention of the paps again so no need to worry there.

So, in a nutshell, I think it's good that some people involved in the world of celebrity gossip have taken what looks like a sensible step in refusing to publish photo's of distressed celebs but on the other hand a total ban wouldn't impact in my life anyway because I find it so bleedin' dull in the first place.

Nothing is original.

2008-02-11T13:04:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure where I found this quote, I copied it to my PDA a couple of years ago and find it every now and then and it always fills me with inspiration.

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don't bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it."

In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: "It's not where you take things from - it's where you take them to."

Romeo and Juliet

2008-02-10T13:42:00.000-08:00

'Twas in a restaurant they met,
Romeo and Juliet.
He had no cash to pay the debt,
So Romeo'd what Juli'et.

Santari Ojala

2008-02-10T13:16:00.000-08:00

I'm pointing you towards some video clips here by someone who goes by the name of Santari Ojala. He takes clips of well knows guitarists and dubs over his own really badly played and hilarious versions of the tracks. What makes it funny to me is the attention to detail, his atrocious versions of the songs match the video perfectly, it looks very convincing. They were recently removed from You Tube and have turned up on the Wired site, so check em out.

Camden is on fire.

2008-02-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

You've probably seen the news, there's a massive fire in Camden and it's 3 minutes down the road from my house. My instinct in these situations is to gather information, take pictures, film video and record sounds. When I got there and witnessed the scale of the fire my intentions to capture the event for artistic purposes seemed trite and somewhat pathetic, I only took this measly image before I stopped myself and gawped like everone else. I'm now feeling mildly shocked and saddened, it's a horrible experience to witness part of your local area go up in flames and I hope no one was injured.

Crazy good video of the week.

2008-02-08T07:20:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first of my weekly posts that pick the most crazy good video off the whole internet and makes it available for you to enjoy right here. Unfortunately this is the last in the series so there won't be a crazy good videos next week. I hope you enjoyed my selection of crazy good videos.

02022008123

2008-02-02T09:03:00.001-08:00

Pat n' Peg Redux?

2008-01-29T02:57:00.000-08:00

Later this year it will be the 10th anniversary of the legenday Eastenders bitch fight that gifted me the samples for Pat n Peg. I had already considered doing a bit of a remix on this and then I was informed that there is to be another clash between the two old battle axes in an episode coming up in a few weeks. I'm hoping they will pull out all the stops and that we have a Family Guy style brawl that spans a couple of episodes. I want a jug load of high quality raw material at my disposal.

Thanks to DJ Hombre for the link.

The scariest place on the web.

2008-01-29T01:20:00.000-08:00

Click this link if you dare!

Rant challenge.

2008-01-28T00:56:00.000-08:00

If you can listen to this ranting fool to the end of the clip I'll send you a biscuit.

Usually when you hear religious zealots spewing delusional hatred the natural response is to try and point out the multitude of logical fallacies out to them with the hope they might begin to see another perspective. One thing I've learned is there are some people who are beyond reach, no amount of contrary evidence or rational discourse will alter their views. Unfortunately the percentage of people who hold unshakable beliefs be they religious, political or otherwise is greater then those who don't and it's for this reason I usually keep my opinions between myself and my close friends and out of my music. I'm aware that people who listen to my music might come to the conclusion that I'm a simpleton, I can live with that. It's preferable to wasting energy on people who just won't listen. So, you can expect more mindless sampling and childlike melodies for some time to come.

Life

2008-01-23T13:58:00.001-08:00

I would like to be able to post things to this blog whilst out and about, and finally after waiting many moons I am able to do this with my new Nokia N95 phone/supercomputer. Brace yourselves for many images of pavements and blurry faces.

Starbucks

2008-01-15T23:56:00.000-08:00

The Onion is usually funny and sometimes brilliant, on this occasion it's the latter or should I say latte?

2008

2008-01-10T13:09:00.000-08:00

I'm glad it's 2008 because 2007 didn't really happen for osymyso. I did a good job at reducing my fanbase to about 3 people. I think if peope are going to follow your music career then there needs to be some new music for them to download and listen to or some gigs to attend, something, anything. 2008 began with my studio in storage and all my plans up in the air, a seemingly desperate situation that I now see as a good excuse for a fresh start, I've drawn a big fat line under the disaster of the past 2 years and I'm ready to create some 100% osymyso nonsense. I'm not going to chase any fads of fashions, I'm going to do my thing and the world can take it or leave it.

So, let me get my bearings and I'll get back to churning out my musics.

The image above is of the flat that housed the osymyso studio from 2004-2007. I am now in my third Kentish Town based studio since moving here in 2000.

The first Disc Jockey

2007-12-12T21:34:00.000-08:00

I never really gave this much thought until today but there had to be a first DJ and incredibly people are in agreement as to who it is. The term was coined by Walter Winchell to describe a chap known as Martin Block. I'm almost certain he was the inspiration behind the hit record by The Chemical Brothers, "Block Rockin' Beats". I was amazed to discover that no mention was made in Walter Winchell's Wikipedia entry about the fact he coined the term Disc Jocky given that it's such a commonly used term to this day, his legacy will forever be the inventor of the gossip column.

Karlheinz Stockhausen, Composer, Is Dead at 79

2007-12-08T01:57:00.000-08:00

You read it here last,

Karlheinz Stockhausen 1928-2007

Ronnie Hazlehurst

2007-12-07T01:30:00.000-08:00

The great Ronnie Hazlehurst is one of those musicians who many people don't know they know. You'll be familiar with many of his compositions if you ever watched any television in the 70's or 80's or indeed any time since as so many of his theme tunes are on classic shows that are on heavy rotation to this day. He's one of those people I could wax lyrical about for hours, his life's work is an inspiration to me, however I don't need to because Matt Berry did just that on Screen Wipe earlier this year and someone has uploaded a clip to that You Tube thing. So here's one of my favourite comedians talking about one of my favourite composers on one of my favourite shows.

Sound Perception

2007-12-05T01:30:00.000-08:00

As someone who works in sound I'm more than aware of the numerous products that can improve sound quality, monitoring and duplication etc. I'm also aware how easily it is to be convinced that there is an improvement in sound quality when there is none, a fancy sounding new 'technology' and the power of suggestion can fool anyone who's willing to believe. It is with this in mind that I point you to a hilarious website that sells "Advanced Audio Concepts" that are so ridiculous I assumed them to be spoof products.

Teleportation Tweak is a long distance audio system upgrade that makes no sense whatsoever no matter how many times you read it.

Tru-Tone Duplex Cover (pictured) is a nasty looking piece of plastic that you can stick over plug sockets, it's recommended that you buy loads of them, obviously.

Brilliant Pebbles is a superb example of rambling pseudo-science that ultimately tries to convince you to buy a small bottle of pebbles that supposedly improves sound quality.

Perfectly named

2007-12-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of B3TA's 'Funny Name Corner' here's a link to the most aptly named lawyer on the planet.

I'm assuming the H stands for Hing.

Transmission

2007-10-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

The past month has been a blur, loads happening but nothing much to report. I've been to loads of meetings and spoken to plenty of bemused individuals. The world doesn't seem ready for me yet, either that or it just got bored of me already. I won't be beaten that easily though. It might not look like much is happening in the world of osymyso from the outside but rest assured that I have big plans for 2008, I'm as determined as ever right now.

Anyway, first things first. I am DJing on the 3rd of November at Transmission at 93 Feet East in London, come down if you can. The details are all in the attached flyer.

Chick Habit

2007-09-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

I've no idea why it's been a month since my last post on this blog, if this was a school project there would be 'must try harder' written in red ink in the margin. This month has been quite productive, I've got a few new tunes on on the hard drive that are either finished or almost done. I put one on the osymyso website and I'm considering what to do with the others. I could make an album or I could put them on the net one by one. I'm not entirely sure what the best way of 'releasing' them is. Is it still worth pressing vinyl and Cd's? I want to make sure that as many people get hold of my tunes as possible and just uploading them onto my site isn't necessarily the best way to do this. Whatever I decide to do I think it's fair to assume that the next few months will be interesting for those people who like what I do.

So, go to my site now and download the "Chick Habit" remix I've done or grab some of the old stuff from the archive if you haven't already got it. I'm going to upload some old bits every week or so until it's all up there.

Hot Fuzz at Somerset House

2007-08-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's been so long I can't remember the last time I DJed. I'm not just using a figure of speech either, I just don't remember. What I do remember is thinking that it's been ages since I last DJed the last time I DJed so it's been even longer since I was regularly out there playing music to rooms of people. Anyway, last night I got back behind the decks playing a pretty unusual set at Somerset House where there was an outdoor screening of Hot Fuzz and Point break. I decided to play appropriate music and as a result I played such gems as the Top Gun Anthem and Miami Vice Theme mixed with Lalo Schifrin, Yello, John Barry, Brian Eno and extracts from the Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead soundtracks along with some obscure gems to balance it all out. It was like no other set I've ever done. No clever mixing or special edits, just good clean fun. I'm really keen to get out there and flex my DJ muscle again. You have been warned.

It was great to see Hot Fuzz in such a brilliant setting, the crowd were in good spirits and cheered and laughed in all the right places making it my favourite screening of the film which I think I've seen 4 times all the way though (I've heard it loads of times and watched some scenes on DVD). I didn't hang around for Point Break because I've seen it recently and it wasn't due to finish until 2am or something.

Itchy

2007-08-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

I wish I had some big news to blog but I don't. I'm really looking forward to a time when there will be 2 or 3 posts a week on this blog because there will be so much to tell. It won't be long now, so long as I stay on target this blog will burst into life in the not too distant future. So for now it's back to the grindstone and all my hard work will be revealed soon.

Melody

2007-07-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

Hello, I haven't gone A.W.O.L. again. I'm working on some new music and continuing to battle with myself over which direction to go in only to do the same as I've always done. I might be some time here. The prospect of making a fast buck is tempting but any attempts to do so always reveals that it's always just not that simple. Just about everyone I know has given me the same advice which goes along the lines of "why don't you just make a hit record and live off the profits" like I've made a decision not to make loads of money because of my impeccable principles. Believe me, I'd make something as bad as that stupid frog record if it guaranteed me a comfortable life style but it just doesn't work like that. For every awful record that makes millions for some lucky sod there are many that fail to make a penny. I'd rather not waste my time trying to make a rubbish novelty record that I hate when I can make irritating novelty records that I like. Perhaps one day an idea will pop into my head for a daft track that could earn me a big pot of cash and I will have no shame in ruthlessly milking it, I'll even dress up in a hilarious animal costume if it earns me a few quid extra but so far I haven't had that idea.

Worry not, I haven't gone all sensible on you. My new tracks are as idiotic as ever but I don't think they'll be in any charts.

Olympic Logo

2007-06-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

You know the controvertial logo for the 2012 olympics that everyone hates? I quite like it.

Halt

2007-06-12T23:49:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to report this week because I've been in Ibiza and unable to work on new stuff. The 5 days away has given me time to think about where things are going with osymyso, I have to admit to some degree of concern about the viability of doing a full time job that pays less than minimum wage but then I always have this belief that it won't always be so bad. I love making stupid noises so much that it will take a monumental bout of poverty to force me to throw the towel in but I am reaching the point where something is likely to give. The shiny new idea I was working on sounds great but will have to go on hold as I enter into a period of emergency measures to prevent the demise of osymyso. I'm sure things will work out, I've been in this situation many times before and something always comes along. Perhaps it's time to go for the big cash in, the maga hit, international stardom and a sell out world tour. Yeah, I'll do that.

Momentum.

2007-06-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

I'm beavering away at a furious rate at the moment, there's plenty of stuff on the go but nothing I can report right here right now. I feel the need to say something just to assure all 3 of the people who visit this blog that I haven't gone underground again.

In the past two weeks since the last blog I've put some final touches to the Winterkids remix I was talking about and sent that to someone out there in the real world to be mastered so hopefully it will get used and you can all rush out and buy it. I've been through my folder of demo's and picked out the most promising with a view to getting an album together and then binned anything I didn't feel I could develop any further. I spent a few days working on these tracks, trying to gauge if they make sense together as an album. I have quite a nice chunk of it done now, what I really need now is a couple of killer tunes, irresistibly catchy radio friendly tracks. Easier said than done.

This week I did some more bits for the Radio 4 sitcom "Fabulous" which included a cheesy cover of the Dallas theme tune and a slightly odd version of the "Wedding March". I also spent a couple of days on a shiny new idea that may or may not materialise on my website next week. I'm going to test the idea out and if it works then there will be a pretty cool regular feature on the osymyso website. I'm past making empty promises so don't hold your breath.

I want to have a picture with every post on this blog and I couldn't think of anything relavent so here's a picture I took at Yo Sushi down Tottenham Court Road on my phone camera.

Website's Remixes and Radio Comedy

2007-05-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

On Monday I worked on a remix for a band called Winterkids who are releasing their debut single in July with my remix on it. By the end of the day I was in a semi-depressed state as I realised my mix was terrible and most probably unsalvageable and I pondered about my ability to perform simple remixing tasks. With the possibility of completing the mix now almost zero I turned my attention to episode 3 of the Radio 4 sitcom 'Fabulous' which required a few of my touches and thankfully I was able to deliver the goods by Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday afternoon is where the fun really begins as I decide to finally bite the bullet and build an osymyso website. You would think that a few rectangles with words inside them would be really easy to do but I felt like a contestant on the Krypton Factor as I wrestled with the layout for hours on end. Despite all my lofty ambitions I was eventually forced to accept the fact that a few rectangles with words in was about as good as it was going to get until I can afford to pay for a professional. By Wednesday evening the long painful task was over and I had the site online along with this brand new blog and the knowledge that I will have to tend to it like a garden now or it will wither away like the old osymsyo site.

On Thursday afternoon I found myself listening to the Winterkids remix to see if there was anything there to save it from permanent deletion. I think a combination of my mood at the time and the sun streaming into my studio saved this remix from the bin. I gave it one last shot, hacking into the old version with big machete not caring about the delicate edits I was destroying in my path. My day could now be summarised by one of those A-Team montages, I toiled away with a furrowed brow until the early hours and slept well that night knowing I had saved the mix and wouldn't be left feeling like a naughty shoolboy with homework issues.

On Friday it was business as usual, putting together a mix of African folk music with dub effects and chimp noises.

My beard experiment finished this week when I tried to trim it and ended up looking like I had mange. It took the best part of an hour to get the damn thing off, there was beard everywhere. I went from having food in my beard to having beard in my food.

Blogymyso

2007-05-16T03:55:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to my new blog. I've deleted all the old ones because they were rubbish and I'd like a fresh start. This one's going to be rubbish in a completely different way.

There is still the blog on My Space where I will post basic information about releases and downloads etc. Then there is my www.osymyso.com website (web 1.0 and proud) which is going to be hub of all osy-action, an archive where you will find downloads of new and old stuff that can't be found anywhere else along with news and links to anything else out there on the web. This blog will be the for information-overflow, a more in depth version look at the world of osymyso for those who are interested.

I would also like to kick start the forum which I have neglected for a long time now. I'm not sure if forums are that popular anymore but it's worth a shot. So if you want to drop by and have a word then by all means do, you're most welcome.

So if there is any music or cut-ups I've done that you can't find then let me know and I'll get it online or point you to where it is.