mistrustmusic's posterous http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com Most recent posts at mistrustmusic's posterous posterous.com 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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Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:51:27 -0800 Why Facebook and kids http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/why-facebook-and-kids http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/why-facebook-and-kids Well, I'm certainly getting a lot of hits on here about kids using Facebook. Why's that then? Dunno, really. Maybe a lot of kids go on it, and a lot of parents either want to monitor what they're doing on it or don't want them on it all. I like all this social networking thing. Don't get me wrong. Think it's great. Very useful, very now. Can't see the world going back to a Facebook-less era. However, why are parents still letting their kids as young as six or seven going on Facebook? Why? What reason? Have they forgotten how to talk? Fine - if your relatives are halfway round the world. What about Skype. What about setting up your own family social network on blog thing. Anyway. The debate still goes on and it rankles with me that I still see all my kids' friends on there. So what are the schools doing about it? Not a lot at the moment, but maybe it's finally getting through to the schools that something should be done about it. Take this for example.  Internet Safety for children.  Maybe things will start changing. So, why am I on Facebook if I'm not happy about young  kids being on it? Well, I've been in touch with a few people from school, and I'm using it to plug my music. That's it. That's all. If you're on Facebook and want to become a fan of my music, click here and "Become a Fan". I'm also on Twitter. The gratuitous plug. I did a remix for dub band International Observer a while ago. The track is called "Popcorn Slavery (mistrust remix)" and is out on the band's EP on Monday 22nd February. You can hear previews of it on my Soundcloud and Myspace pages, and it's available to download from Monday on all major music sites, and the band's own Bandcamp page. Spread the word. Here's the soundcloud player for it.... [soundcloud url=http://soundcloud.com/mistrust/international-observer-popcorn-slavery-mistrust-remix]

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Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:38:06 -0800 Reality check for a bedroom musician http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/reality-check-for-a-bedroom-musician http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/reality-check-for-a-bedroom-musician Well, I've certainly had it coming to me!At last someone in the music industry telling me how it really is. Giving me an honest opinion about my music and production skills. Or actually, limited production skills. Nice tune, shame about the production.  I finally got to meet someone from the record company that let me do a few remixes for their bands. The remixes massively raised my profile and gave me a big confidence booster, and really made me think about my own tunes and how I can improve them. However, the opinion is that I really need to get some feedback and a second opinion when I'm making some tracks. Someone to bounce ideas off in terms of mixing and production, either alongside me or on the web, before I send in a remix or put any more tracks on the web if I'm doing anything more than saying "I'm just doing this for fun. Get back on the forums and read up on "production". I could release stuff on the web, free of course, and say "Hope you like the tune, but don't mind the production." I guess if I'm honest with myself, it's ok putting out tracks on Myspace but when I'm making them for someone else to release or who has a reputation to keep, I really need to get the production-side of things sorted. Probably needed the advice and the objective comments, as I've probably been living in cloud cuckoo land or splendid isolation for a while.  After doing a couple of remixes I've done that had commercial releases, one of which made it onto a proper remix cd, I'd probably started to believe the hype. I guess that when a musician or a band starts to sell a few CDs or gets some radio airplay, they just carry on thinking that everything's coming up roses. So, the advice is that I should pick out a few of the many unfinished tracks I have sitting on the laptop, and really work hard of getting them to sound right. I'm not looking to get signed by a label. Just doing it as a hobby, for fun, but I have an incentive to get it right and to stop messing around, coming with millions of ideas and not finishing anything. An incentive. A very good incentive. I was a bit downhearted when I got the comments and feedback, but I did ask for an honest opinion! So, if there are any bands and musicians out there and you get some honest opinions about your tunes or production techniques that knock you back, take it on the chin, pick yourself up, getting working to improve what you're doing!

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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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Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:38:49 -0700 Ultravox covers competition http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/ultravox-covers-competition http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/ultravox-covers-competition I've recently submitted a remix for the Ultravox Covers Competition on the official Ultravox website. Here's a link to all of the tracks that were submitted, so have a listen to all of them - some good tunes from all the entrants. If you're an Ultravox fan or a fan of 80s music in general, you'll probably recognise most of them. "Vienna" is amongst the 80+ tracks. Have a listen and download some of the tracks - you'll be surprised at how good they are.... Here's the remix I did: Ultravox - I Remember (gimme the money mix) - TB/mistrust remix Here are all of the entries.... Ultravox.org.uk - Media Archive : 2009 - October 10th.

 

 

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Sun, 03 May 2009 21:39:54 -0700 Rhythm Sound and Movement finally out http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/rhythm-sound-and-movement-finally-out http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/rhythm-sound-and-movement-finally-out A while ago I mentioned the remix I did for New Zealand band, Pitch Black. I'm proud to announce that the remix, entitled "Rude Mechanicals (mistrust's ambiotik remix)"  is out now in New Zealand, and will be released worldwide over the next few weeks.... Here's part of the official press release from Pitch Black's label: "we're proud to announce the imminent release of Rhythm, Sound And Music, a collection of remixes of tracks from Rude Mechanicals. Some of our favourite from artists around the world have stepped up to the challenge of tweaking the originals: Bluetech, International Observer, Simon Flower, Patch, Kerretta, Friends Electric and many more (including England's mistrust!). The full track listing is below. You can check out the tunes in full at last.fm or most of them are also up on Pitch Black's myspace. (The mistrust remix is on my own myspace player here - myspace.com/mistrust) You can either buy the 14-track CD from one of the online stores below, or if you are one of those thoroughly modern interweb peeps who prefers a download, you can get the surgically-enhanced 20-track ultra augmented bumper edition!! To celebrate the new release, we are heading across to Australia in June for some shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and then swiftly over to the West Coast of the USA for a handful more. All these dates are below, we'd love to see ya! We will also be heading to the UK and Europe in October, so keep an eye out for us and we'll keep you updated closer to the time. Enjoy the tuneage, we look forward to seeing you on the dancefloor sometime soon!" Release Dates NZ - May 4th in stores, April 27th online AUS - May 30th in stores, May 12th online USA - May 16th in stores, May 12th online UK/EU - May 26th in stores, May 12th online Online Stores: NZ - available from Amplifier  AUS - available from Vitamin  USA - available from CD Baby  UK - available from Dubmission Records  EU - available from Dubmission Records  Special downloads: NZ - 20 track version available from Ampilfier  USA - 20 track version available from iTunes Track Listing:
1. 1000 Mile Drift - International Observer 2. Transient Transmissions - Deep Fried Dub 3. Rude Mechanicals - Mistrust 4. Bird Soul - Fold vs Horace 5. Bird Soul - Subtone 6. Sonic Colonic - Patch 7. South of the Line - Bluetech 8. Harmonia - Neon Stereo 9. Please Leave Quietly - Johnny Hooves 10. Bird Soul - Kerretta 11. 1000 Mile Drift - Simon Flower 12. Harmonia - Rob 13. Fragile Ladders - Groove Yantra 14. Please Leave Quietly - Friends Electric

Spread the word! This is the first time I've had a "proper" release on a CD!!!

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Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:14:13 -0700 Deep Space Lament remix news http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/deep-space-lament-remix-news http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/deep-space-lament-remix-news As well as the Rude Mechanicals remix I did for NZ band Pitch Black, I did one just after Christmas for a friend's band from Sheffield (UK) called Animat. The remix is of a song of their's called "Deep Space Lament", from their latest album, "Earplay". I'm really proud of this remix - I only had a week to get it done in and somehow it all came together really quickly. It's one of those tracks that you think to yourself "how did I do that?" Hopefully Animat's fans and followers will like it, and the people at the Big Chill label like it too.  A preview of Deep Space Lament (mistrust remix)  is now up exclusively on my myspace music player, so please listen and see what you think (and add it to your profile!). It's going to be released on Big Chill Records on 11th May 2009  There are actually two other  remixes up on my myspace music player. There's Deep Space Lament, and the two versions of the remix I did of Rude Mechanicals. The original version of this track is on "Rhythm Sound and Movement", Pitch Black's new remix CD, which is out on download at the end of April 2009, and in the shops early May!!!! Looks out for the change in title from the recently available EP versi0n. The track on the remix CD is called the "ambiotik" remix. Deep Space Lament (mistrust remix) by Animat is out 11th May on all good download stores! Rude Mechanicals (mistrust/ambiotik remix) is out end of April/early May 2009. Get more music on my Music page..... 

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Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:05:39 -0700 Barack Obama didn't review my Rude Mechanicals remix http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/barack-obama-didnt-review-my-rude-mechanicals http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/barack-obama-didnt-review-my-rude-mechanicals As you've probably seen, Barack Obama has been doing pretty much anything these days to get the word around and get himself elected. Good luck to him. However, he's obviously been too busy to have a listen to my remix of Pitch Black's Rude Mechanicals, which is out on October 27th. It's even on Amazon.com's and Dancerecord's download sites, so don't tell me he doesn't go on there? Well, Mr Obama, a few people have listened to it on Myspace and Last.Fm to name some of the places the previews can be found, and so far, the reaction has been good, to say the least. It's had over 1100 plays on my own myspace (myspace.com/mistrust) and over 200 on Pitch Black's.  The reviews and heads-up have started to come in - and so far, they're really positive. Here are some of them (with links to the original comments): Dubmaster PHD featured the track on his blog - he gave the track a massive plug, so a big thanks to him -  and there are some comments from his subscribers - "I love it, you have done Micheal and Paddy proud" (AOTEAROAnz) "awesome" (kyosuke316) "Electro-Techno goodie" (Panzerplatte) "Cool!!" (Babyjay99) Read more here on Dubmaster's site.... Some more: "really good, good quality, liked the beat" (Helix, on Di.FM forums) "Great Tracks, Especially the Rude Mechanicals remix!" (Mahabashi, on Myspace) If anyone comes across a review of the track anywhere, please let me know. If you listen to it yourself on myspace, last fm, or anywhere else and want to tell me what you think of it, then please leave a comment on here. ------------------------------------- This is my first post for a while - been laid up with an ear infection. Seems like very few people get ear infections these days. Typical isn't it. A musician almost deaf in one ear. I've had it for over 2 weeks, and antibiotics just won't shift it. Back to see the GP, I think!
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Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:37:50 -0700 Rude Mechanicals remix on Myspace http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/rude-mechanicals-remix-on-myspace http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/rude-mechanicals-remix-on-myspace Following on from my last post about my Rude Mechanicals remix being released on October 27th, I've just got a couple of updates about the track. It's now on the music player on Pitch Black's Myspace profile - in fact there are two different remixes up there: the first one is an instrumental version by Mike Hodgson (one member of Pitch Black), and the other one is the remix that I've done. So, you've got 2 Myspace profiles places you can hear the track before it's released - mine and Pitch Black's. I've had quite a bit of interest in the "mistrust remix" so far.  The Only Michael played it in his DJ set at the BFI 75th birthday Big Weekend celebrations last weekend, and it looks like a DJ in Lithuania will play it on his alternative music radio show. Also, the track is getting quite a few plays on Myspace and some great comments around and about on the web. I've also put the track on my Unsigned Band Web page, where you can get a widget for my music player, plus a load of links to add to social bookmarking sites. There's also a banner to promote the release of the Rude Mechanical remix. If you'd like to help out promoting the song, please copy the following code and paste it into your blog or website: http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/4140/20081002141951ff4.gif
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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, 28 May 2008 11:01:51 -0700 Croydon Library track on O'Neill TV http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/croydon-library-track-on-oneill-tv http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/croydon-library-track-on-oneill-tv I've just found out that my some of my tracks can still be heard on O'Neill TV - the place that all the promos for O'Neill surfing contest are shown. Three tracks (Croydon Library, Never Alone, and Hello) were used in Deep Blue Open 2005. The thing that sets this film apart from all the regular surfing events is that it focusses mainly on the effects of Tsunami on the Maldives. Watching it again recently reminded me of the devastation of the hurricane in Burma and the earthquake in China. Click the link here to watch the whole film (approx 25 minutes): O'Neill Deep Blue Open 2005 on O'Neill TV If you don't want to sit through the whole thing, here's a short clip: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPIDdLCTLUg] The film has been shown all round the world on TV (eg the Fox network in the USA, Channel 4 in the UK) and in all the O'Neill equipment stores. A couple of the clips from the film are on the Video Wall section of my blog - and have received a lot of plays since they were uploaded to Youtube. I remembered the other day that O'Neill Europe started up a TV channel on their website last year and that the whole of the DBO 2005 film was up there in its entirety. I thought that it might have been replaced by footage of more recent surfing events, but I checked yesterday and it's still there. It's a bit tricky to find if you're searching for it on the O'Neill site as it's fairly well-hidden behind some of the 2007 events, but it's there...... New music.... We recently got rid of our old desktop computer at home and replaced it will the Dell Inspiron 1300 laptop/notebook that I bought a couple of years ago. Before we binned it (actually - gave it to Adam - eldest stepson), I had to transfer hundreds of files including loads of half-finished tracks I'd made in Acid Pro over the last few years. I've just started listening to some of those tracks and rough arrangements and I really think I can do something with them. Maybe some of them will turn up as new tunes soon. One thing that should finally see the light of day soon is the remix I've been working on for the last few months. It's for a New Zealand band called Pitch Black and the song is "Rude Mechanicals", the title track of their latest album. Site changes.... My website schizophrenia has kicked in again and I've changed the site theme again (and will probably change it again). I wanted this blog to look fairly original and be able to tie it in with the main mistrustmusic.co.uk site (and my myspace page). Some work ahead to make everything tie up!

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Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:26:40 -0700 Everything's gone mobile http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/everythings-gone-mobile http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/everythings-gone-mobile I've just launched a new add-on to my blog/website. It's a mobile website, built on something called Winksite. I came across this through my elearning daytime job when I was looking into podcasting. Winksite lets you make webpages that can be viewed on mobile phone, and it's something I've wanted to do for a while, but never got around to it. I've only added a few things to it at the moment, some things are copied directly from this blog, but I'd like to have some mobile-only content. At the moment, it's in it's infancy and I haven't tried it out on many phones, so I'm hoping that a few of you who read this blog and who have mobile phones will browse the mobile pages and let me know if there are any problems with it, or if it works ok. The address for the mobile site is: http://winksite.mobi/mistrust/music or just click the Winksite logo...
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Other news: I'm still plodding along with my remix of Pitch Black's Rude Mechanicals. Should have it finished soon, but it feels like it's missing a melody or pad line, so it's that which is holding me up - plus I only get about 10 or 15 minutes a night to do something with the remix because I've started taking Paul for a drive a lot earlier than usual. I got a message posted on my blog the other day from the editor of an e-learning magazine in the USA, asking if he could use one of my posts in the forthcoming edition of his mag. It's something I wrote a few months ago on my e-learning blog about getting young children used to the language of the Web as soon as possible. I said yes to them using the article, so it should appear in ELearning! Magazine in a few weeks, in a section entitled "The Last Word". More fame!

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Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:16:15 -0800 Everything's gone (Pitch) Black http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/everythings-gone-pitch-black http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/everythings-gone-pitch-black I've been working on the Pitch Black remix for the last week and a half, but I'm getting quite bogged down with it. The problem is that I've been too reliant on sample CDs to find something that fits the existing tune ("Rude Mechanicals") and not really restricting myself to only a few sounds. I use Acid Pro pretty much all the time for getting ideas down quickly, but it's too easy to become lost in all the options that it gives you. My attempt at this remix is a bit "directionless" at the moment, and I'm probably doing the wrong thing by listening to remixes of other Pitch Black tracks in order to get some direction. A friend of mine - DJ and musician, The Only Michael - who did a Pitch Black remix a couple of years ago, advised me not to listen to other remixes, and to just do what inspires me from the original track.

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