Bank Holiday (apparently)

And also our 28th wedding anniversary and my mum's 76th birthday. Perhaps I'll remember this weekend best for the Headshock session on Saturday in which we started late and without direction and accidentally stumbled onto 30 mins of ultra-cool music.

It turns out that to use the modular with our stuff isn't going to be too easy because of the time it takes to set anything up and break it down. I resorted to capturing sections in the looper, which worked very well. Also enjoyed giving the Microgranny 2 another good workout and of course the Synthi never disappoints. Freaky and avante garde were the results with Tim really enjoying the new Roland stuff.

Oh, last weekend's gig was OK actually. Considering it was totally off the cuff, it only started to feel limp towards the end when I started to wonder what time it was, how much I should still do.
Here's the raw link. Yes, everyone spells my name wrong...

What else? Well, I still have lots of work to do but am having a nice relaxed weekend in which I'll even do some gardening. Took some photos Saturday morning and Mr Picko introduced me to Luminance HDR...

Quite impressive results, probably wouldn't use it all the time but it sure makes an average photo look good.

The sun is still shining!

Concrete

Gig tomorrow in Preston, will set up to see what the minimum might be. Not taking sh-101 I think, just the blofeld and sampler to play, have A4 and drum machine too which is more than enough.

Part of an idea in its early stages
https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/bloink

So I know what I'm going to do, which is keep it simple - one long track, 30 mins long, can do another of 10 mins or so if need to fill 40 mins.
The MIcrogranny 2 is spectacular. For disturbing vocal loops and random voice nonsense it's gonna be brill, combining with the rc-505, its input adding a bit of reverb, sorry mental notes spilling out. Gig will be:
Blofeld through DD-20
Analog Four
Electribe Sampler
Microgranny 2
Roland RC-505 (on send so Blofeld and Microgranny 2 can be captured. Well, everything. Could do with mixer with alt sends but little Alesis is small and works...

UV it loves

I'm either a pioneer or a stubborn survivor ;)

Real Synthesizers

And by that I mean the kind of synthesizers you associate with making new sounds - sounds you've genuinely never heard before. Yes, that's what I think put eurorack where it is today. It's way more than the old 'patched out Minimoog' idea thanks to the diversity and sheer quality of its modules.
I've done tricks with just two modules recently that have actually got me excited.

So anyway, I bought some new modules including the special edition Wasp filter. I'll have to stop soon as I may be out of cash.

And they're really doing it, remaking the Minimoog Model D, as they always should have done. So much for my 'instrument as investment' idea. Still happy I've got one though.

Sonic Weekend

Yay, survived another. For me the best yet. Hadn't been looking forward to it - long drive, time away, work to do etc. etc. but in the end the atmosphere was brilliant, the place spacious and the music really turned me on this time. We were lucky in being able to set up a Dronespace which was presided over by the genial recording maester Scott. Basically we hardly left. Whatsmore, the drones we did were good - real good. I've droned by myself of course but this was different, better, much better. We all added our bits and the thing moved, evolved and just filled the time without any sense of urgency. Even a very stoned and shroomy string interlude from yours truly kinda worked, although the random chords slightly after showed just how far gone into Shroomland I was.
Great seeing everyone again, the main recordings were fab (I think I was on one) and actually more in focus than ever before. Lots of love to Marc and Ann for their awesomeness.

I could go on, but this ain't really a diary and there's not too much value in recording the weirdies of satnav driving in Wales, the case of the broken lamp, the reality shifts, the early Toyah, the halving of Darth Vader and the reed crosses. It wouldn't make sense to even try.

I agreed to do a gig this month. I bought a new module and spotted another I want.
Today I contacted lots of modular people, sampled some 70s porn on an 8-bit sampler, threw grapes at magpies. Then I hung some CDs on the line as that's meant to intimidate them. I'm told mothballs are good too as it a high-powered water pistol. So that's my life!

Oh and boys and girls, if you're reading this and prize your teeth, get an electric toothbrush.

And afterwards
https://paulnagle.bandcamp.com/track/ode-to-granny-o