mistrustmusic's posterous

Up Peel Monument

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[/caption] Hello, it's been a long time since I posted a new missive on this blog! All of you who subscribe via feed readers etc must be shocked to see me posting again. Well, what have I been doing over the last few months? It seems like not a lot! Actually, I've been trying to keep fairly fit and healthy, doing a lot of walking - mainly taking Paul up to Peel Monument (see the photo - it's near Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester). It's an old folly on top of a hill, 1100 feet above sea level, and a very steep climb. I've also been taking the dog for a walk, about 2.5 miles, three or four times a week in the evenings. It feels like I've lost some weight around my middle, so it's doing something! I've also been trying to get some new tunes written, but severely lacking some inspiration. I've got some ideas in my head, proper ideas, rather than just fiddling with loops from a cover disc. I've been using a vst host called Minihost, which loads a vst plugin and lets you use your computer keyboard to place the vst instrument. It's got a built in chord maker, arpeggiator, and sequencer, which is great for fiddling around with. My 5 y.o. also likes playing with it - saying he's playing Kraftwerk's Man Machine, and the Dr Who theme tune! Expect some new tunes soon...from him, not me! Only kidding.... The Rude Mechanicals remix I did for NZ band Pitch Black is still around on the web and on the band's remix CD, Rhythm, Sound and Movement. The remix is also going to be used to promote a big music and arts festival in New Zealand, called Splore. More news to follow soon. I'm also going to meet Paddy and Mike from Pitch Black at the end of October when they play their only UK gig in London. I'm also supposed to be getting the stems to remix a track by International Observer. Other stuff....been doing a lot of Moodle stuff at work - very busy these days. I've also made a website for Paul's dad and his painting and decorating business, D and S Decorators.  Oh, and I'm now on Facebook, and Twitter, so follow me on there if you're on there....

Filed under  //   audio   blogging   e-learning   facebook   family   moodle   music   myspace   news   pitch black   social networking   twitter   walking  

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!!!

Filed under  //   artists   audio   cd   ipod   itunes   mistrust   music   pitch black   random   remix   rude mechanicals  
Posted May 3, 2009

Catching up

First, a few changes/updates I've made to this blog: - I've reverted to the "everything's gone green" theme from last year (see why below). - Most of my old songs and tunes are now available as free direct downloads in my Music page. - I've reorganised my links on the blogroll-type list, and included some new friends. Still more changes to be made though... Too much time on Twitter recently has left me little time for my proper blog here on Wordpress, and even less time for changing the homepage at mistrustmusic.co.uk. I realised the other week that the link on the homepage still pointed to my blog entry about my Rude Mechanicals remix being released last October. I guess it was still relevant at the moment, but now it's coming out on the Pitch Black remix CD at the end of April, I need to update it. Cue redesign in Dreamweaver! I'm trying to tie in the design of the homepage to my photo of Talacre Beach that people have commented on, along with this wordpress blog. Vincesapplemac (Vince Elgey), one of my twitter friends, keeps telling me to go the self-hosting route and install a wordpress.org blog so I can change the theme to something more individual than the wordpress.com themes.  Maybe he's right, but I need to get organised first! In the meantime, I'll probably add a couple of pages to mistrustmusic, including links to all my music. Other recent news/updates Henry in New Zealand, who is definitely my number one fan, is still plugging my Rude Mechanicals remix! Can't thank him enough. I've made quite a few new friends on Twitter - as I mentioned earlier, so hello to everyone on there. I've also invented  a couple of new categories  on there: #fickletwittering and #unfollowed. If you're a twitterer, have a look for them to discover what they mean! If not, all will be explained in my next post on here.  I'm going to see Ultravox in concert next week, and getting very excited about it! For those who don't know them, they were big in the 1980s, and have just reformed for a one-off tour. I'll hopefully be twittering from there and post some photos up in twitpic. The last time I saw Ultravox (in 1984), they were using a lot of pre-MIDI equipment, things like the ARP Odyssey and Yamaha CS80, so it will be interesting to see  how they recreate the songs using things like the MacBook Pro... (Follow them on Twitter!) I've sent Animat some video clips I took of them performing the live score of Tuvalu in Leeds a few weeks ago. Some of the clips are very dark, but they may put some on Youtube.  My songs on MusicFreedom have disappeared, in fact MusicFreedom.com has disappeared! Paul, my 16 y.o. stepson with Autism, is still out of school, however he's visiting a special school for an hour or two twice a week, which is progress... Really need to publish more updates on here! By the way - the photo of the tree is one I took on my new Sony Ericsson phone.

Filed under  //   austic spectrum   autism   autism.asd   midi   music   photo   photographs   pitch black   social networking   twitter   ultravox   wordpress  
Posted April 9, 2009

Rude Mechanicals (mistrust remix) out now

My remix for Pitch Black's Rude Mechanicals track is out now!!! You can get it from the following download stores now, as part of the Rude Mechanicals EP: Pitch Black - Rude Mechanicals (mistrust remix) - buy on iTunes Pitch Black - Rude Mechanicals (mistrust remix) - buy on Beatport Pitch Black - Rude Mechanicals (mistrust remix) - buy at Amazon.com Pitch Black - Rude Mechanicals (mistrust remix) - buy at Dancerecords.com Pitch Black - Rude Mechanicals (mistrust remix) - listen now at Myspace Please note - some of these may only let you download from the USA/Canada. .....don't forget to read the rest of the blog!!!!

Filed under  //   beatport   download   itunes   mistrust   music   myspace   pitch black   rude mechanicals   soundcloud  

I'm 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

Filed under  //   amazon   beatport   ipod   itunes   mistrust   mp3   music   news   pitch black   release   rude mechanicals  

Barack Obama didn't review my Rude Mechanicals remix

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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Filed under  //   USA   barack obama   mistrust   music   obama   pitch black   politics   president   remix   rude mechanicals  

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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Filed under  //   mistrust   music   myspace   pitch black   remix   rude mechanicals  

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.

Filed under  //   beatport   cd   itunes   mistrust   mp3   music   october   pitch black   release   remix   rude mechanicals   single  

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!

Filed under  //   big chill   mp3   music   pitch black   remix   rude mechanicals  

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.....

Filed under  //   mp3   music   news   pitch black   remix   remixer   unsigned