mistrustmusic's posterous http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com Most recent posts at mistrustmusic's posterous posterous.com Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:34:52 -0700 mistrust music has moved http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/mistrust-music-has-moved http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/mistrust-music-has-moved
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I've now moved my "mistrust music" blog to www.mistrustmusic.co.uk/blog so please go over there to read my blog posts. If you don't want to go there yet, why not read my previous posts on here first.... Go to the new mistrust music blog>>>>

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Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:07:57 -0700 mistrust music http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/mistrust-music http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/mistrust-music In the last week  I’ve had my very first interview on the radio, and my kids made some “well done” messages for me….
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my kids did these pics for me when I was on the radio!

Those nice folk at Chorlton Arts Radio, part of the Chorlton Arts Festival in Manchester, UK, invited me onto one of their shows last Friday evening. My very first radio interview! I was quite relaxed about it all a few hours before I arrived at the studio, but then the nerves hit me! Needless to say, I was still nervous when I went on air! You can actually hear how nervous I sounded on this clip that Mrs B recorded. Should make a nice remix with all those ummms and errrs! read more

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Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:25:34 -0700 Vote Now http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/vote-now http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/vote-now Labour? Conservative? LibDems? Nah!!! Vote Ultravox Vienna for Number 1 this week! The campaign to get Ultravox's Vienna to Number 1 in the UK singles chart enters its final week. The song spent 4 weeks at Number 2 in 1981, beaten only by John Lennon's Imagine and Joe Dolce's Shaddup yer face! So why not get more information here on the official Ultravox website, or go ahead and download the song from Amazon UK or Nokia Music (register as UK-based) If Rage Against the Machine can do it, so can Ultravox. Vote Ultravox in 2010.

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Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:02:34 -0800 schizoid blog http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/schizoid-blog http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/schizoid-blog Well, I'm at it again - can't decide which one of the many WP themes to use for this blog. Again. How many times do I keep changing? I just can decide. Same with my website. Can never decide about the look of it and what to include. Anyway, trying to get the blog to look like the website or the website to look like the blog? Mr Elgey once told me to pay for some hosting and use Wordpress for my site.  Maybe one day. Well, the website has now got a bit of a new look until I can decide what to include. So much for advising my stepson's dad about how to market his painting and decorating business using the internet! So, what else have I been upto recently? I'm trying to avoid all the usual Facebook toys and apps, but I've now got a "band" page, so hop on over and become a fan, and spread the word! I've also been working on another remix. This time it's for International Observer. It's due in soon, so I'm not going to tempt fate by saying what it's called. I'll announce it properly if Tom Bailey of International Observer and his label like and decide to release it. I find it quite amusing that a lot of the hits on my blog come from people searching about kids using Facebook and how to put soundcloud tracks on wordpress blogs.

 

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Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:15:41 -0700 The golden age of infinite music http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/the-golden-age-of-infinite-music http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/the-golden-age-of-infinite-music Just read this article on the BBC News website about how the future of music is changing "We all know what the alleged future of music will look like. The record industry will be reduced to a smouldering ruin, the album replaced by endless individual songs and music rendered pretty much worthless by the fact that it's universally free." Read more here.... BBC NEWS | Entertainment | The golden age of infinite music. There are more and more musicians  - like myself - who are abandoning making a physical product and putting their music out for free. However, I hope that some people are still going to make a record or a CD and that I'll still be able to go into my local record store and handle a physical product instead of downloading some artwork on to my pc.

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Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:19:08 -0700 Stephen Fry, blogging and musicians http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/stephen-fry-blogging-and-musicians http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/stephen-fry-blogging-and-musicians Musicians and bands should take notice of Stephen Fry's comments on BBC's Analysis programme "Stephen Fry: The Internet and Me". Fry points out that Twitter and its ilk have made it easy for celebs to bypass the press offices and gossip columnists, and tell the world what they're doing as soon as it happens. Why though, are there not many bands and musicians on Twitter? Why aren't there many bands from Manchester (UK) not tweeting that they're doing a gig on Friday night? No DJs either, plugging their new set? Mr Musician, it's ok to have a Myspace page and add a new event, or go on Facebook and tell your followers when your CD is out, but do you use your Myspace blog to involve your fans (or potential fans) in your writing process, or post a comment on your FB wall to say you've finished another track? If you had a Twitter account, you could send update your fans on a regular basis: "someone from a record label was at the gig earlier tonight" - that sort of thing. Surely you're not waiting for manager to do it for you? If you've got a PR person, are they on Twitter, or Digg, or even blogging on your behalf? To me, a lot of bands - especially unsigned ones, are missing the boat. They're not looking for new ways of promoting themselves. Yeah, they're on Youtube, Bandcamp, Facebook, but everyone is. How many people read comments or blog posts on Myspace  these days? How do you know it's not the record company's PR department writing a post? Think about Stephen Fry's "Help, I'm stuck in a lift, but I've still got time to Twitter" tweet as an example of what I mean.  Stuff like Twitter just a great medium for keeping his fans and followers uptodate with what he's doing: when his next TV programme is on, when he's recording a podcast, and when he's going to have a cup of tea. So many people, many of them are celebrities, have switched on to the self-publicity machine that is Twitter, especially in the UK. Jimmy Carr, Philip Schofield, Chris Moyles, Alan Carr - they may not be really famous and massive celebs, but they've all realised that their fans and potential fans read their Twitter posts.  Mr Musician, Mr Band member, Mr DJ, Twitter et al let you build up your profile for your fans and let people know that you're a real person, with real thoughts, not just a noise on a CD. Get Tweeting when you've finished a recording session, or when you're getting a new guitar! My daytime job is in e-learning in a further education college, and I'm amazed by the number of applications, websites, and other stuff I come across that could be used by bands to promote what they're doing. Don't forget, this is just my opinion. If you want to know more about what I'm upto, why not follow me on Twitter!

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Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:43:11 -0800 Using Soundcloud in Wordpress http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/using-soundcloud-in-wordpress http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/using-soundcloud-in-wordpress If you're a Soundcloud user and want to play your tracks in your Wordpress.com blog, here's how to do it:  Just copy the link location from the "download" button on your soundcloud player and paste it into your Wordpress visual editor (not the code editor). You need to add the usual WP code to it so you get, eg: [a u d i o ] Obviously, you'll need no gaps in the word audio! So it should look like this: [audio http://soundcloud.com/mistrust/pitch-black-rude-mechanicals-mistrust-remix/do...] Publish your WP post and then view it. The standard WP flash player appears (the one with the speaker and the play icon). You'd think that you would need a .mp3 extension, but you don't! Also, you don't get a Soundcloud player in your blog. Have a look here to see it in action properly: It works! Thanks to Soundcloud.com for hosting my tracks. PLEASE NOTE: My blog has now moved to http://www.mistrustmusic.co.uk so please click the link to go there... The world of mistrust music

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Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:35:12 -0700 I'm on iTunes at last http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/im-on-itunes-at-last http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/im-on-itunes-at-last The remix I did for New Zealand dub/dance band Pitch Black is out today on iTunes and all the usual download sites (Amazon.com, Beatport etc). It's one of the tunes on the band's 6-track EP "Rude Mechanicals" and is my very first release on iTunes - in fact my very first "official" remix - so I'm feeling quite chuffed! The track has been on my music player for a while, so hopefully someone might like it on here! Rude Mechanicals (mistrust remix) on iTunes Rude Mechanicals (mistrust remix) on Amazon.com

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Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:18:57 -0700 Rude Mechanicals official release date http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/rude-mechanicals-official-release-date http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/rude-mechanicals-official-release-date My remix of Pitch Black's Rude Mechanicals gets its official release worldwide on 27th October 2008. The band's latest newsletter says: The second single from Rude Mechanicals - the title track itself - featuring Queenstown's KP, is due out digitally on October 27th with remixes from PZ, Sound Guise, Mistrust, and our very own Mike Hodgson in his nefarious Misled Convoy alter-ego. We'll be posting the tracks up here for your musical delectation. Don't forget, you can listen to the track on my myspace music player right now and (hopefully!) download it on iTunes etc when it's released. If you're a DJ and want to play the track in your set, let me know and I'll send you download link for a CD quality file. So, it's official - my first proper release!!! I know it's only a remix, but I'm very proud to be part of this project, and thanks go to Mike and Paddy, and of course Jasper at Crazy BaldHead.

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Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:14:04 -0700 Pitch Black Rude Mechanicals mistrust remix http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/pitch-black-rude-mechanicals-mistrust-remix http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/pitch-black-rude-mechanicals-mistrust-remix As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I'm now officially a "Remixer for Hire"! The official remix I did for New Zealand band Pitch Black is back from the mastering house and going to be released on all the major download sites at the end of October. I've done a couple of remixes before, just for fun, but never an official one with all the stuff that goes with that sort of thing (royalties, writing credit, legal stuff etc.). Doesn't seem like much compared to what a lot of bands and musicians have been upto,  but I'm 40-something and doing it as a hobby when my kids are in bed and it's my first "official" release, so I'm chuffed to bits! The track is now up on my Myspace music player, but if you like it, please buy the hi-res version when it comes out on iTunes, Beatport, etc. Rude Mechanicals (mistrust remix) on Myspace here... Pitch Black on Myspace here.... For the techies out there, here's the blurb about the gear I used: Acid Pro 6, Izotope iDrum, TAL-Dub 2, and LiveCut VST plugins, on Windows XP laptop, Behringer USB soundcard, using some of individual Wavs (24 tracks) from original version of Rude Mechanicals (supplied by the label). Mixed down using cheap headphones from Tesco!

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Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:23:49 -0700 A "proper" release at last http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/a-proper-release-at-last http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/a-proper-release-at-last It's taken me long enough (how long have I been making music?), but I'm finally getting an "official" release - as in, on a proper label, legit, and I'll getting a % of sales, licensing, etc. I've done a remix of a track called "Rude Mechanicals" by a New Zealand band called Pitch Black (dub/electronica/IDM stuff), which is being released on their label at the end of October on all the main music download sites round the world (iTunes, Beatport, Amazon.com, etc.) It's part of a remix singles release along with versions by some well-know remixers and DJs from Australia and NZ. I know people do remixes all the time, but this is an official one - I got all the parts from the band's management, they and the band approved it, and it's being properly mastered this week. Took me a long time to get it sorted into something that sounded ok and did loads of different takes on it, but finally finished it last week, 2 days before the deadline! I know it's not quite all my own work, but I'm chuffed to bits. Not really bothered about the money (what's 50% of 99p per sale?), but it means a lot of exposure and maybe some more work as a remixer! I've mentioned the Pitch Black remix earlier in my blog.....

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Wed, 14 May 2008 14:36:22 -0700 Mixtape, Muxtape http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/mixtape-muxtape http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/mixtape-muxtape Updated: 28th May 2008 It seems that my Mixtape/Muxtape isn't working because the Muxtape website has lost most of its data. I'm currently uploading a new playlist which should be available here shortly... Here's a word you don't come across much these days: Mixtape. Remember? The thing you made for your friends or for listening to in your car on a long trip, taping your favourite vinyl tracks or the week's Top 30 on Radio One. The thing you made for your mate's party. The mixtape is now only a mythical beast since the ubiquotous CD came along. Well, I came across a website that will let you recreate your favourite mixtapes online. It's a website called "Muxxtape", which lets you upload upto 12 tracks to create your very own mixtape. A lot of the people who've signed up seem to have have made mixtapes of their favourite albums (copyright problems anyone....?) and uploaded them to the site. Well, I thought I'd upload some of my own tracks from the last few years, seeing as though there may not be many new ones finished for a while. You can listen to my own "mistrust" mixtape by clicking the image below. There's also an RSS feed so you can add the playlist to iTunes etc and get notified of any updates.
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Add mistrust.muxtape.com to iTunes (RSS) Don't forget, you can listen to all my blog entries via Talkr at the Podcast Directory

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Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:26:19 -0700 Kids making electronic music 2 http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/kids-making-electronic-music-2 http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/kids-making-electronic-music-2 Following on from my previous post about how I started making music with various bits and pieces of old radios and things, I posted a comment on Createdigitalmusic's website about all it in an article about Kids making electronic music between the 60s and the 80s. I also I put in a link to "This is the Mood....", the track I made in the mid-80s using just a Jen SX1000, Casio MT31, and a Kay Drum Machine. I was really surprised to get a reply. I maybe expected maybe a "hmmm", or "well, it WAS the 80's". The reply came from the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher himself, Peter Kirn: "Excellent. Totally excellent". I'm convinced there's something in some of these old tracks of mine - maybe I have a plan.... Have a look at the original article on Createdigitalmusic, with all the comments: Kids making electronic music

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Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:10:11 -0700 Golden oldies - kids making electronic music http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/golden-oldies-kids-making-electronic-music http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/golden-oldies-kids-making-electronic-music I often get asked how long I've been making electronic music. The answer is - probably most of my life! My dad was a TV engineer in the 60s and 70s, so he had allsorts of circuit testers and oscilloscopes and other bits of junk that I could mess around round and make odd bleeps and sinewave wails! My dad also had an old valve stereo radio and I used to tune it in to all sorts of weird and wonderful Eastern European radio stations on Short-Wave, and made crazy frequency sweeps. I even hooked up a model train transformer to the radio's input socket and made wacky noises. I moved on to buying a cheap stereo reel-to-reel in a wooden box and recorded tunes I made on an old electronic organ that worked by blowing air from a fan. The first "proper" song I made was called "The Car Park", and then something called "Do you know Mister Wall?" (anyone spot where I got that title from?). I used to try making "musique concrete" tunes by cutting up my tapes, but I didn't have the right gear to join them up again, and made a horrible mess of the tape heads! I got my first synth in about 1980 - a Casio MT31, followed by a Kay Memory Rhythm, and then a Jen SX1000. Not much, I know, but it was all I could afford and it allowed me to make tunes for all the lyrics I'd been writing about teenage angst and life in general. I recorded everything onto a Phillips hi-fi system (with adjustable Left and Right mic inputs!) bounced down with a Phillips portable cassette player and a home-made 4-input mixer (in a small tin box!). Most of the parts were pretty much played live, then bounced down and things like the synth solos and vocals were played over the top. I made about 5 cassette tapes full on songs around that time, and they all survive to this day. The only one I've copied to CD so far is the first one, called "Ultraviolent Light". Listening to them now makes me think of the songs of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, who still use similar gear as I used. One of the tracks from this "album" is called "This is the Mood (I'm in) and is here for you to listen to in all it's glory. Bear in mind that it's from a cassette tape that's nearly 30 years old and I haven't used any noise removal equipment..... it sounds quite a quirky little song....see what you think! This is the Mood (I'm in) - 4'40" [audio http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/192871862/This%2Bis%2Bthe%2Bmood%2B%252...] Download: This is the Mood (I'm in)

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Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:14:02 -0800 I'm in Music Tech Magazine http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/im-in-music-tech-magazine http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/im-in-music-tech-magazine Just to let you know I'm finally in Music Tech Magazine for winning the Motif XS6 synthesizer! The article is in February's edition - but in case you don't want to buy it, the editor sent me a copy of the page, and I've attached it here as pdf (the whole page) and a jpeg (click to see the whole pic).
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Other news... the manager of a band from New Zealand called "Pitch Black" has said I can have a go at doing a remix of a track from their new CD, "Rude Mechanicals". If it's good enough, it'll appear on the band's remix CD and as a download on music sites like iTunes and Beatport. More on that soon when I decide which track I want to have a go at.... Non-music stuff: we took Paul to see a residential school in Shrewsbury today. Absolutely amazing place. Part of a 16th century hall and estate. Class sizes are usually 2 students and one teacher - it's for kids with autism. He sounds relatively keen on it, but we'll have a job on convincing the education authority to pay for him. It's around £30,000 per year! Page from MTM magazine reproduced by kind permission of Music Tech Magazine/Anthem Publishing/Yamaha UK (c)

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Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:42:02 -0700 Now form a band http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/now-form-a-band http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/now-form-a-band Just came across an interesting site which gives a really good breakdown on the things you need to do these days to get your music "out there". It's been set up by Last FM, the music networking site, who are calling the site "Now form a band", and has a manifesto of "The Campaign for Better Music". Aren't we all looking for better music? Well, hopefully this will explain.... The Campaign for Better Music is here to say: it doesn’t have to be like the old days. We’re going to show you how to produce, promote and distribute your music, without spending a load of money, and without lots of other people getting involved. Have look for more information over at Now form a Band.... 

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Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:32:55 -0700 Zen and art of selling music http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/zen-and-art-of-selling-music http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/zen-and-art-of-selling-music Some people have been asking where they can buy my music. Well, the simple answer is: you can't. It's all free to play/download over the internet. You can listen to it and download it, make your own compilation CDs from my tracks. As long as you don't sell it on or pass it on as youre own, I don't mind. I'm trying to get my music into film, tv, adverts, that sort of thing, so the more people who listen to it, maybe the more chance that some music supervisor somewhere will hear the tracks and want to use it. That's the idea.... "mistrust music" can be downloaded here: TV Tunes (10 tracks) at MusicFreedom (including: Dubcrazy, Paul the phone is ringing, All roads) Making Movies (8 tracks) on MusicFreedom (including: Never Alone, Happy Birthday) Making Movies EP on Nishi Netlabel Myspace If you prefer me to send you a physical CD, I can send one out to anywhere in the world for just a small price to cover printing, postage and packing, with either the list of tracks that are on MusicFreedom/Myspace or a "pick and mix" selection of your choice. Click here to contact me if you want a CD.... If anyone wants to use my music for film/tv/advert work etc., please click here to discuss your project with me. Have a look on Youtube for examples of my previous film work. I'm already signed to Candy Cover music library on a non-exclusive deal...

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Wed, 23 May 2007 15:09:57 -0700 Everything's gone green again http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/everythings-gone-green-again http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/everythings-gone-green-again I'm something of a perfectionist when it comes to something looking right, and usually I get this nagging feeling in the back of my head telling me that something doesn't look as good as it should. That explains why I've changed the look of this blog about 5 times in the last few weeks. I've reused the old "green" header and adopted a more plain-looking body. Hopefully I'll be satisfied now and not want to change it again. I've been trying to work out what to write here because there's just been so much going on at home, work, and with the music. When I've got everything straight in my head, I'll post more info here. Other things: I've been helping Paul with some more tunes. He's finally got back into music-making, so he's been asking for some help. Expect more of his stuff on myspace soon.  Also,  I came across a great Wordpress blog called Svartling.  It's a comprehensive list of loads of new VST plugins and music-making software. Highly recommended!

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Thu, 03 May 2007 11:11:55 -0700 All the world's an MP3 stage http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/all-the-worlds-an-mp3-stage http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/all-the-worlds-an-mp3-stage I've been thinking about the number of music hosting sites and MP3 directories that I have my music on. Most of them are free-to-download places where people can just have my tracks for nothing. I started off in late 2004 by choosing just one site - Electromancer.com, which is now no more, just because I lacked confidence about my music and it seemed like a good place to start when I'd never even considered putting my music out to the public. In fact, even though Electromancer closed down last year, a lot of the artists are still active on the forums of another site, Nervejam, and are still as friendly and supportive as ever. I got a bit more confident after getting some great reviews, thinking that more people might give me a listen, so I followed links and recommendations about other hosting sites, signed up to 2 or 3, and waited for the plays to roll in. Then I started chasing more sites and more plays, until I had tracks on about 1o or 15 sites. I've now lost track (and usernames/passwords) of most of those sites, and still get the occasional email from them, saying someone has posted a comment. A quick check on google as to which sites I'm on offers up 94 links for "mistrust music site" and 30 for "never alone mistrust" (my first track from 2004). I still see the same old faces on all these hosting sites, desperately looking for more plays, trading reviews, asking if the rolloff should be at 40Hz or 20, continually producing new tracks in the hope of what? Getting signed by an independent label? How many of them trawl the unsigned band pages looking for new talent?  I don't mean any disrespect to all these unsigned artists, if that's what they're happy doing. It's just that I have got the time any more to keep making tracks, posting reviews, etc. I've thought about uploading my music to loads of other MP3 hosts, especially the ones that have been recommended by music magazines, just to get a few more people interested, by right now, what's the point? I've got a blog, a myspace profile, and somewhere to host a few tracks. I've been featured on a local radio show and played by a few DJs. That's probably all I need. I've signed a non-exclusive deal with a music library, so it's not a bad life. Here's some homework you, dear reader: How many websites am I listed on for "mistrust mp3" at google? Answers in the comments box, please! Don't forget to listen to some of my tracks... 

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Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:48:05 -0700 Looking for music blogs http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/looking-for-music-blogs http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/looking-for-music-blogs I can't seem to find many musicians who are blogging. Maybe everyone's too busy making music or playing live to keep a diary or blog of what they're upto. What's the point in blogging anyway, you may say. If you're a musician, unsigned or not, please post a link to your blog and I'll have a read and see what you're upto. I'll even add you the my "recommended" list. I know that Moby blogs on his myspace page, that's about it as far as I know. I blog so that I can a) promote my own music to people who wouldn't normally listen to it; b) let my "fans" and other listeners know what I'm upto with my music; c) help other unsigned musicians get some extra exposure. If you're not blogging or using Web 2.0 tools and all the latest social networking sites, you're missing out on a lot of exposure. Even my stepson has a blog about his music. So, as I said, please let me know if you've got a blog, or if you know of any musical bloggers out there. In the meantime, here's one of my new tracks for you to download for free.... mistrust: Say your name (glitchmix)...... [audio http://moses.last.fm/download/100909046/Say%2Byour%2Bname%2528glitchmix%2529.mp3]

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