I present for you: snoring cello, processed glitchy cello, multi-tracked slightly-klezmer cello, all of which has been put to service in accompanying some wonderful animations by 2nd year UTS Animation students, showing projected in hi-def on a warehouse facade at Pier 4, Walsh Bay (STC, Sydney Dance, Sydney Writers' Fest etc) as part of Vivid!
Listen here, and please go and check it out in person if you can!
Illustration by Craig Carry
Mike Carry has posted a long review and article on New resolution along with a long interview with me at his site Fracutre Air.
The debut Raven record is entitled ‘New Resolution’, which showcases a masterful artist at work. Many of the tracks are recorded live in one take; the magic sparks of spontaneity diffuse across the studio’s space and into the atmosphere of the listener’s world…
To celebrate the new year and my birthday on the 2nd of January, I decided to collect all my tracks from 2012 and release them as a new album: New resolution.
Most tracks have appeared on my SoundCloud or on compilations through the year, but appear in slightly different edits, remastered and sequenced for a 52 minute musical journey, with the help of Telafonica, who let me remix them, and Mannheim Rocket, who remixed me.
Stream the whole thing below, and cough up a few bucks if you think it's worth it. I do, but I'm biased.
The excellent Ears Have Ears on FBi (presenter Brooke Olsen and producer Scarlett Di Maio) recently asked me to contribute to their series of experimental soundtracks. My trio Haunts created one a month or so back (listen to Night Begins on SoundCloud), and they have a stack of other awesome Australian artists up on their SoundCloud.
I created a new 12 minute Raven track featuring piano recorded in our living room, with the sound leaking up from one of Sydney's busiest roads, plus cello, electronics and beats. Initially formed from unstructured piano improv, it took shape as additional layers of piano and piano processing, then melodic and noisy cello, and finally pulsing sub-bass and 808s were added in to the mix. The result is something I'm pretty proud of, and a direction I want to explore more in coming months.
Listen here:
Here's the track I wrote for the opening of the Sydney International Animation Festival at UTS a couple of weeks ago. I wrote this piece with the express intention that it could be performed live, and played it at the opening as a live soundtrack to a delightful animation of the SIAF logo by the 1st year UTS Animation students.
It's purely cello and loop pedal, all layers played & recorded live in one take.
Next major work to appear will be my "soundtrack" to a non-existent film, appearing this Thursday the 1st of November on FBi's Ears Have Ears, sometime between 9 & 11pm. It'll go up on SoundCloud a little after it's broadcast – very much contrasting with this work, it's dark and minimalist, with layers of piano and processed piano, cello, and electronics.
I'm writing new Raven music as we speak! (Well, almost)
I've written a new cello looping track as a soundtrack for an animation piece to launch the Sydney International Animation Festival at UTS this week. I should be able to air it soon.
And I'm creating a 10-15 minute work for FBi's lovely Ears Have Ears, who have regular new works, mostly performed live, on their Thursday 9-11pm timeslot. You can hear mine on Thursday the 1st of November.
Raven is playing live on Friday the 26th of October with Gilded (aka Perth's Adam Trainer & Matt Rösner), Seaworthy and Pimmon at new venue 107 Projects Redfern. Stellar lineup. Here's the Facebook event. Note it's an early start and finish for this one! I'm on just after 7pm.
And I shouldn't neglect my collaborations here. I'm very excited to be continuing my duo with Ollie Bown of Icarus. We'll be playing one of our improv sets (cello, loops, effects and laptop) at the legendary, shambolic Sando in Newtown on Thursday the 25th of October. Facebook event here – crazy eclectic lineup, should be fun!
And then there's my trio Haunts with Greg & Matt from Underlapper, who've been companions in music – both fandom and performance – for years. It's brilliant to be turning this into a real band, and we have some great songs with crunchy beats, glitchy sounds, vocals and cello loops coming soon. Meanwhile, here's a long track we recorded live on the aforementioned Ears Have Ears a month or so ago:
Haunts' gig has been delayed ‐ now we have Thursday the 29th of November at the Red Rattler in Marrickville as a fund-raiser for Dirty Shirlows, and then Saturday the 1st of December at, er, "secret venue", with ex-Underlapperer Cold House and electronic ambient-techno genius Gentleforce. Facebook event should eventually tell you more.
And finally, I played cello on Sophie Hutchings' amazing new album Night Sky, and we're launching that at Cafe Church (Colbourne Ave) in Glebe on Friday the 2nd of November. Facebook event? You betcha!
Oh yeah, and post-finally… On Sunday the 11th of November I'm playing cello in two of the works in the Radio With Pictures even at this year's Graphic Festival. Radio plays with comics and soundtracks. I have no idea what I'll be playing! Isn't that exciting!
SO MANY GIGS. SO MANY MES! (and yes, FourPlay will return next year…)
While sleeping dogs lie was ultimately chosen for SEQUENCE4, I actually wrote another new track for the compilation too. It's called "headache music #1" and I'm pretty damn proud of it.
You can stream it from SoundCloud:
I'm planning to collect it with a couple of other unreleased pieces and maybe a remix or two and release it on Bandcamp soon.
I'm extremely honoured and chuffed to announce that my track "sleeping dogs lie" has been included in SEQUENCE4, the 4th in Futuresequence’s incredible series of huge, free compilations.
Stream above (mine is track 32), but it's a free download, so please go over there and grab the whole thing now!
I recently uploaded two tracks to SoundCloud.
The new track is "sleeping dogs lie":
I had sat down to prepare for an upcoming gig, and this piece emerged as I set up all the gear. It sounded good, so I hit record and created the demo above.
I also added a track that was recorded a couple of years back, "cold afternoon":
It was originally intended for sound&fury's passeridae series of split 7"s, but tragically sound&fury's Adam D Mills took his own life before the series was completed. He was a beloved figure in the Australian experimental scene, and this track is dedicated to his memory.
Hit the SoundCloud logo to go to the song's page.
If you don't see anything, your browser might have a problem with the SoundCloud HTML5 widget. If so, clicking on the track names will also take you directly to the SoundCloud pages.
Now available is my remix of the lovely Sydney indietronic band Telafonica. I took all the parts except some vocals and replaced them with layers of cello and effects. Fun!
Download for free at their Bandcamp, stream here: