OK - So last week I wrote about the opening 6 tracks on my new album 'Get Amongst It' and now this week I continue with the B-Side of that album.
GET AMONGST IT - Track by track
(pt.2 - the B-side)
7. Spoilers
Being a sci-fi fan I am well into the concept of Spoilers - I have an addiction to finding out what is going to happen in a film or TV series. Even though in many ways I would rather watch and be surprised.
The idea for this track came about whilst watching the latest series of Doctor Who in which the word 'Spoilers' was uttered a number of times by River Song.
I got a few people I know to shout 'Spoilers' which are all layered in the middle of the track.
8. Empties
This track features the very lovely Chris T-T .
Chris and I had talked about doing a track together ever since my first album came out - this track was one I had done the backing for a while back and kept tweaking it - always with a view of Chris singing on it.
The title is inspired by the Empties series of photos Chris takes - if you have not seen the site yet, please do go and take a look as its brilliant.
Chris came over to my house one Sunday morning last year and we recorded the vocals in Beat Shed Studio. Chris had a basic idea of the empties in this song being related to pub glasses and the lyrics all came about very quickly.
9. Throwing Nightmares
The working title of this track was 'sci-fi theme tune #3'. The song is one of my favourite ATP tracks. Again the title came about from something someone else said and upon hearing it I knew it would suit this track.
This track went through a good 4-5 drafts before I was happy with it - Nearly all of ATPLP2 was finished over a year ago - I then spent the time constantly tweaking the tracks - re-recording them. Starting new ones.
The first ATP album all came about very quickly and I did not spend enough time reviewing it - on reflection I wish I had spent more time on it and made it more concise. That is what I did with the new one. My aim was to have an album in which every track could happily stand alone and the whole album worked from start to finish.
I was originally going to have vocals on Throwing Nightmares - but in the end I think the song works perfectly without them.
10. The Return Of The Red-Eyed Raver
Last summer (2011) I was kindly invited to play at The Secret Garden Party by Eddy TM from XFMs The Remix show. I sent a random tweet to Eddy saying 'do you fancy booking me' and he did. It was one of those right time / right place moments and made my summer.
He wrote back to me saying 'You will be perfect for the Sunday red-eyed ravers' and I stole that title.
This track is just a bit of fun really - its a dance tune that goes down a treat when I play it live. I sent out a demo version to Steve Lamacq last year and he played it on 6music saying 'I dont know how to describe that, but I like it'.
11. Send Out The Search Party
I wrote this song whilst staying at a cold damp gloomy B&B in Lincolnshire - Whilst there I was on twitter and one of my followers wrote back to me saying "do we need to send out the search party".
I think out of all the songs on the album this one took the longest to finish and went through over a dozen versions.
It also features vocals from the very excellent Barry - or as most people know him 'Oxygen Thief' - I know I keep saying that a lot of these songs are my favourite but this one in particular is one I really like. I hated it for such a long time - but towards of recording the album it all came together ... I also made this rather trippy video for the song using lots of little clips I recorded last Autumn. Most of the footage is from the Brighton 'White Night' event.
12. Within Frozen Time
So the last track on the album. This one takes its title from another TLB forum members post.
I was originally just going to have this as a hidden track on the album but did not like having 6 tracks on one side and only 5 on the other :)
The track was recorded on a number of train journeys. In my view the whole of ATPLP2 is the perfect album to listen to on a train or whilst driving - there is a lot of 'motion' in the tracks.
And there you have it - my track by track run through of my new album ... I am currently waiting for the reviews to come in and really hope people enjoy it
After reading this track by track run down I hope you are excited to hear the album - well now you can.
I have set up an exclusive Sound Cloud set where you can hear the album up until it is release and then you will be able to keep listening on my website. To hear it just click the link below.
Please listen and share this link - I am so proud of this album and really want as many people as possible to hear it.
http://soundcloud.com/amongst_the_pigeons/sets/atplp2-get-amongst-it
Thanks ....
Mar 6, 2012
GAI - Track by track (pt 1. - the A-Side)
When I released my first album I did a track by track run down which seemed to go down really well with you; the humble public.
As the new album is released next month I felt it was time to do the same thing for 'Get Amongst It'- So here we go ....
GET AMONGST IT - Track by track
(pt.1 - the A-side)
The first thing I wanted to say about this album is that all of the song titles and the album title itself are all things I borrowed from what other people have said.
The majority of these were phrases on twitter, facebook and forums. None of the song titles were made up by me - something I enjoyed at first but ended up missing.
1. FutureDeadRockStars
The opening 'noise' on FDRS is the same as the closing 'noise' on the first album.
I really liked the idea of having continuity between the albums in the way that you could listen to ATPLP1 and then ATLP2 straight after and hear the join. I may well do this on ATPLP3 too ;)
The title for FDRS was inspired by my friend Simon Clare who said that "we should all inspire to be Future Dead Rock Stars" - I loved the sentiment behind this so stole it as a title.
In my view the song only works as an album opener - the beats and noises build up to the middle of the track where it then breaks down and disperses into floating noises and melodies.
The original demo version had an additional minute in it - but was cut out as it just plodded too much and made the opening of the album less punchy.
2. The Man Who Smiles When Things Go Wrong
TMWSWTGW is the oldest of the tracks on ATPLP2 and was made shortly after ATPLP1 and even before the 'Repeat To Fade EP' but it did not fit well on there - so it became an album track.
The title was inspired by something a former work colleague said in response to a customer who seemed to take delight in everyone's failures. This was the first title I 'borrowed', before deciding to do the same for the other songs.
The track contains a sample which I made myself - in fact the whole of ATPLP2 is sample free - which is something I was really keen to do as there were a lot of samples on the first album and generally getting clearance is a real pain.
3. The Inherent Racism Of Doves
'Doves' is the first single taken from the album and features my friend Piers on vocals. Piers used to be in a rock band that I managed and is not the lead in folk outfit 'Stick in a Pot'.
One evening Piers sent me a text message saying "you should call a song the 'inherent racism of doves' " - so that evening I began working on it.
I was actually staying in Birmingham at the time so started recorded the backing of the track in a hotel room and on the train back to Brighton. By the time I got home the main part of the song was done.
I then sent the first draft of the track to Piers who wrote and recorded the vocals and added the lovely backwards guitar part in the middle of the song. Then there was a final bit of tweaking and hey presto.
Piers and I also had fun recording the video for this one lunchtime in Brighton ....
4. Campervan Sex
Campervan Sex was also recorded on a train and took less than 2 hours to complete from start to finish.
I had originally finished the 1st draft of ATPLP2 but after reviewing it I wanted to drop one of the songs which I was not happy with - I wanted to have something more upbeat and groovy and this song was born.
The working title was 'Cosmopolitan' as I was sat opposite a girl reading said magazine as I was recording the track.
I later talked to my friend Guy who was talking about getting songs noticed in Google and said "you might as well just call a track 'sex' " - The campervan part was later added as I am an owner of a 1973 VW Campervan and am a member on a forum called The Late Bay.
5. Jaffa Clown Dog
The title for JCD was inspired from one of the members on TLB so fits nicely in terms of telling the story.
On the forum it would do certain things if you typed the words 'orange' 'clown' or 'dog' - and putting the words together gives this song its title.
I think out of all the songs on the album this is one of my favourites and will be the second single released sometime in May / June. I have already recorded the video for this but you can't see it just yet.
The vocals are provided by Mr Mark Rogers - a true mind of hip hop knowledge!
6. Sanity? Check!
4/4 beats and a sample of people on a roller coaster.
I was not sure if this song was any good so one day asked Anna Madeleine to have a listen for me - she replied saying "I am probably not the best person to sanity check a song" - again another title in the bag.
I thought for a long time that this song was the weakest on the album - but subsequent listens have actually made it one of my favourites. It has a real punch that runs through it and I'm looking forward to playing this one live.
I really wanted to have a the concept of a proper A-side & B-side on this album - as if it were a vinyl release ... so when track 6 ends the vinyl would stop and you'd have to flip it to listen to the next part.
The sample at the end of this track says 'it is over' ....
So there is the track by track run for for the A-side - The 2nd half will follow next week with an exclusive first view of a new ATP video.
You can pre-order 'Get Amongst It' now by clicking this link.
If you use the code 'pre25' you will get a 25% discount on the price.
As the new album is released next month I felt it was time to do the same thing for 'Get Amongst It'- So here we go ....
GET AMONGST IT - Track by track
(pt.1 - the A-side)
The first thing I wanted to say about this album is that all of the song titles and the album title itself are all things I borrowed from what other people have said.
The majority of these were phrases on twitter, facebook and forums. None of the song titles were made up by me - something I enjoyed at first but ended up missing.
1. FutureDeadRockStars
The opening 'noise' on FDRS is the same as the closing 'noise' on the first album.
I really liked the idea of having continuity between the albums in the way that you could listen to ATPLP1 and then ATLP2 straight after and hear the join. I may well do this on ATPLP3 too ;)
The title for FDRS was inspired by my friend Simon Clare who said that "we should all inspire to be Future Dead Rock Stars" - I loved the sentiment behind this so stole it as a title.
In my view the song only works as an album opener - the beats and noises build up to the middle of the track where it then breaks down and disperses into floating noises and melodies.
The original demo version had an additional minute in it - but was cut out as it just plodded too much and made the opening of the album less punchy.
2. The Man Who Smiles When Things Go Wrong
TMWSWTGW is the oldest of the tracks on ATPLP2 and was made shortly after ATPLP1 and even before the 'Repeat To Fade EP' but it did not fit well on there - so it became an album track.
The title was inspired by something a former work colleague said in response to a customer who seemed to take delight in everyone's failures. This was the first title I 'borrowed', before deciding to do the same for the other songs.
The track contains a sample which I made myself - in fact the whole of ATPLP2 is sample free - which is something I was really keen to do as there were a lot of samples on the first album and generally getting clearance is a real pain.
3. The Inherent Racism Of Doves
'Doves' is the first single taken from the album and features my friend Piers on vocals. Piers used to be in a rock band that I managed and is not the lead in folk outfit 'Stick in a Pot'.
One evening Piers sent me a text message saying "you should call a song the 'inherent racism of doves' " - so that evening I began working on it.
I was actually staying in Birmingham at the time so started recorded the backing of the track in a hotel room and on the train back to Brighton. By the time I got home the main part of the song was done.
I then sent the first draft of the track to Piers who wrote and recorded the vocals and added the lovely backwards guitar part in the middle of the song. Then there was a final bit of tweaking and hey presto.
Piers and I also had fun recording the video for this one lunchtime in Brighton ....
4. Campervan Sex
Campervan Sex was also recorded on a train and took less than 2 hours to complete from start to finish.
I had originally finished the 1st draft of ATPLP2 but after reviewing it I wanted to drop one of the songs which I was not happy with - I wanted to have something more upbeat and groovy and this song was born.
The working title was 'Cosmopolitan' as I was sat opposite a girl reading said magazine as I was recording the track.
I later talked to my friend Guy who was talking about getting songs noticed in Google and said "you might as well just call a track 'sex' " - The campervan part was later added as I am an owner of a 1973 VW Campervan and am a member on a forum called The Late Bay.
5. Jaffa Clown Dog
The title for JCD was inspired from one of the members on TLB so fits nicely in terms of telling the story.
On the forum it would do certain things if you typed the words 'orange' 'clown' or 'dog' - and putting the words together gives this song its title.
I think out of all the songs on the album this is one of my favourites and will be the second single released sometime in May / June. I have already recorded the video for this but you can't see it just yet.
The vocals are provided by Mr Mark Rogers - a true mind of hip hop knowledge!
6. Sanity? Check!
4/4 beats and a sample of people on a roller coaster.
I was not sure if this song was any good so one day asked Anna Madeleine to have a listen for me - she replied saying "I am probably not the best person to sanity check a song" - again another title in the bag.
I thought for a long time that this song was the weakest on the album - but subsequent listens have actually made it one of my favourites. It has a real punch that runs through it and I'm looking forward to playing this one live.
I really wanted to have a the concept of a proper A-side & B-side on this album - as if it were a vinyl release ... so when track 6 ends the vinyl would stop and you'd have to flip it to listen to the next part.
The sample at the end of this track says 'it is over' ....
So there is the track by track run for for the A-side - The 2nd half will follow next week with an exclusive first view of a new ATP video.
You can pre-order 'Get Amongst It' now by clicking this link.
If you use the code 'pre25' you will get a 25% discount on the price.
Mar 5, 2012
Reminder - Single out today
My new single is out TODAY - you get 3 tracks for £1.50 and a discount off the album which is out next month.
The lead track was played on 6 Music by Tom Robinson over the weekend and you can listen again on the link below. (12 mins in).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01cz0wp
If you should desire to buy the single you can click the link below.
http://amongstthepigeons.bandcamp.com/album/atplp2-single-1
The lead track was played on 6 Music by Tom Robinson over the weekend and you can listen again on the link below. (12 mins in).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01cz0wp
If you should desire to buy the single you can click the link below.
http://amongstthepigeons.bandcamp.com/album/atplp2-single-1
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