Cwtch – “Silver” EP nothing to do with global sports shock!

Hello,

As you may well know, when I’m not recording as Dementio13, teaching as ‘Sir’, or moaning/ruminating as Paul The Miserable Bastard, I’m recording as Cwtch with my  talented antipodean collaborator Marie Craven. We’ve been really quite busy over the past few months, what with new solo releases and (in Marie’s case) preparing/rehearsing live projects. But we always find time to make some new stuff as Cwtch.

Well here is our latest offering, released to no particular fanfare, with no big promotional ‘build-up’. What can I say about it? Well, we’ve made music which we want to hear. We’ve made the music despite a distance of thousands of miles between us. We’ve taken the best bits of what we do as solo musicians and thrown them into the blender. 5 songs which call to mind music past and present, mainstream and niche.

I hope you can share in this music….and, of course, if you like what you hear, share it with others….. we kinda rely on that.

SILVER

Please enjoy.

*This* is Independent Music…

I don’t know what it is about Spring/Summer here in the UK (besides it’s utter crapness, that is! Rain, bloody rain….it’s like living in Blade Runner!), but people have been releasing quality independent music recently, particularly in June! I’m not referring to myself here, of course…..I just do what I do and hope people like it.

No, I’m referring to these little gems of sound (actually that’s misrepresenting them, ‘cos some of these sound MASSIVE!)

The Fierce & The Dead – ‘On VHS’ (‘kin awesome)

Pulco – ‘Man Of Lists’ (bloody lovely)

Jewellers – ‘Lakeswimmer’ (Gareth’s & Gareth’s new one)

Do you like my new, succinct, reviewing style?! Seriously though, it’s best to let the music to do the talking and these are very good releases indeed.

February Mailout – ‘Crash St’ Imminent

“Hello again. This is just a reminder to tell you that my new album ‘Crash St’ is available from Thursday 1st March (ie. next Thursday) at
http://dementio13.com
. I’m really pleased with it and hope you can share in the music.

It’s a pay-what-you-want download, with no minimum price, so you could have it for free. All I ask is that, if you decide to download it and like it, please share links on Twitter and/or Facebook; your recommendations help it reach a wider audience.

Bloggers/DJs have been very complimentary in their reviews:

“…electronic, programmed machine music, bursting at the seams with humanity and soul, imprinted with the traces of its creator…….Dementio13 has mastered the art of creating human music, organic music that breathes, while capitalising on the power and impact of the machine.” (Jan 26, 2012)
Oliver Arditi – oliverarditi.com

Full review at oliverarditi.com/2012/01/26/dementio-13-crash-st

“…his forthcoming Crash St album reveals him to be still moving forward in invigorating and never predictable directions, his exploratory electronica more varied in texture and mood than pretty much any of his contemporaries.” (Jan 31 2012)
Unwashed Territories – unwashedterritories.blogspot.com

Also, there’s a free album of my older stuff over at
http://cutmatrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/alt-delete
, so help yourself. You don’t even need to join a mailing list to download….no strings.

CRASH ST. PREVIEW:

Thanks,

Paul”

Preview: ‘Crash St’ Album Mix on Mixcloud

Here’s a preview of the new album as a single mix – ‘Crash St’ Album Mix Cloudcast on Mixcloud.

Preview: ‘Crash St’ Album Mix on Mixcloud, posted with vodpod

What’s Been Happening and What’s Coming Up

Yep….. time is marching on. I’ve been extra busy doing the dayjob, which I expected, it’s always a bit manic after Christmas. So I’m glad I got a bit obsessive, writing and recording new tracks between September and December. It seems like all the hard work is done on that front. The new album’s been uploaded to Bandcamp for quite a while. Preview links were sent to a few selected people; people who have supported and encouraged me over the past few years.

Over on Dementio13.com I’ve been experimenting with pre-orders, with mixed results. So, the experiment has paid-off in enabling me to realise that pre-orders are fairly pointless in my case. There’s no real benefit for listeners or for me. That’s not a universal truth though…… some bands/artists may find it works for them, particularly if they’re taking physical orders such as CDs or USB drives.

So, here’s where I repeat myself from previous posts. The album, ‘Crash St’ will be available on 1st March as a pay-what-you-want download (pre-orders are still available in the meantime for an ultra-low price). As way of celebration, I’ve got another live mix on Dandelion Radio, on Pete Jackson’s show throughout March from the 1st.

I’m also currently working (rather slowly) on a remix for Marie Craven’s project with Canadian DJ/producer Crimson Death.

In 9 days (20th Feb), Pinklogik releases her album of remixes of her track ‘Playing With Sticks’. My remix is track 12. Here’s a little preview of the whole album in bitesize chunks:

And here are four preview tracks from ‘Crash St’:

Musician/writer Oliver Arditi said this about the album:

“I listen to a lot of entirely electronic music, but most of it is either of a relatively superficial, energetic nature, or it deliberately exploits the coldness and impersonality of synthetic sound. Dementio 13 has mastered the art of creating human music, organic music that breathes, while capitalising on the power and impact of the machine. It’s not dance music, though it utilises a lot of dance music vocabulary, and it isn’t rock, although it likewise employs its language. It’s just what it is: music that challenges, stimulates and entertains, and while it’s like a lot of other things, there’s nothing else that’s quite like it.”

While Dandelion Radio DJ Mark Whitby writes:

“a sneak peak of his forthcoming Crash St album (due on 1 March) reveals him to be still moving forward in invigorating and never predictable directions, his exploratory electronica more varied in texture and mood than pretty much any of his contemporaries.”

So, there you are. Am excited, enthused and very happy about it all. That’s all that’s fit to print at the moment. Enjoy your weekend.

The Last Post – New News

Well, it’s the last post of this weekend, anyway. It’s been a productive two days, but my posting (somewhat fervent this weekend, I’ll admit) will go on hold as the trials and tribulations of the workplace take hold during the week.

Anyway, as I sip my wine in a most civilized way, I just want to tell you about a little pre-new-release present I have uploaded today. As you may know, I tend to delete older releases. But I deleted one album that is a personal favourite of mine, a favourite for sentimental reasons and because it sounds quite different to nearly all of my other releases. I also know that some regular listeners of mine really quite liked the album from their comments.

“Sub Urbian” was recorded in the Autumn of 2006 in my old house during a time when my old eMac was returned to Apple to fix a dodgy CRT screen. So, the album was recorded on an ancient Pentium PC with a Soundblaster Awe64 soundcard with home-made soundfonts, a Yamaha SU10 and a Bontempi reed organ using Cubase 3.5 to sequence everything. A minimal and lo-fi set-up, to say the least.

I’ve put it on Dementio13.com as a free download. It’s a straightforward album of sampladelic melodic instrumental stuff. Help yourself….go on, knock yerself out. Have a great week…..

“Crash St” – New Album Release Date, etc

Well, all work on the new album is now complete. I’m thinking, “why wait?” So, instead of holding out for the spring/summer; I’m going to make the album available on 1st March 2012. This gives me time to send out promo links, etc and to get my head together. The album’s entitled “Crash St” and was partly inspired by a fairly brutal night-out in the city one Saturday night when I stayed relatively sober and was able to witness the festivities through (mainly) clear eyes. The following day I got to thinking about the night and oddly somehow ended-up recalling the summer riots in the UK, the X-Factor,  Adam Curtis documentaries, social networking and various other bits & pieces which made me think, “Oh Dear”.

This was only a starting point and the tracks were originally intended to form a short story about a night out which goes horrifically wrong. But then I thought, nah, that’s too pretentious. Though it’s never stopped me before (!), I figured you’d conjure your own images anyway. So, there’s no ‘concept’ as such. Just music.

I think I’m going back to my roots with this collection: it’s a bit more electronic than my last release, also a bit darker and dissonant in parts. But you can make your own mind up.

It’s available from 1st March 2012 at Dementio13.com and is a pay-what-you-want download with no minimum price.

Here’s a little preview:

No Label, No Scene….

Hello again. Hope you all had a jolly nice Christmas and are gearing up for the New Year. So, here I sit with a glass of mulled wine in the hand and Prefuse73 on the ipod dreaming of aural spires. Whatever that means.

I’ve been ruminating heavily…..on the subject of what form my next release should take. As always, there’s a bit of a concept behind the new album, a clear vision. But there isn’t as clear a vision about what media it should take the form of.

I recently had a (very flattering and appreciated) suggestion that I should submit ‘The Hobbyist’ for serious consideration for release by a fairly hefty and cool netlabel. Now, I’ve been stung by this before, letting the flattery and ease of submitting the distribution of an album take over the my need to be totally independent. So, I’m eschewing this route. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate it……it’s just not right for me at the moment.

I should make it clear to all and sundry that I’m not concerned with making money from my releases. That’s why my music is free/pay what you want. Neither am I craving any form of fame or notoriety. Maybe I should be; but I’ve gotta admit that I have a total lack of ambition in these matters. Sure, if something came along, I’d possibly accept it (given the right circumstances), but seriously, it’s about getting the music out there and heard, even if only by 50 people. I really appreciate it when folks download my music, I’m ecstatic if they pay for it, as I tend to believe that the music isn’t really worth people’s hard-earned cash. But if people are voluntarily paying for it, I take this as the ultimate compliment. Every single download means so much.

I’m reading a lot of blog posts, etc from people stating that sharing is the way to build an audience and I’ve always agreed with that. However, the means of sharing is not fixed. As I’ve noted, Twitter and Facebook are now not an option for me as I’m depriving myself of these media as a little experiment (it’s not the people that are the problem, it’s that I am getting disillusioned with the corporate nature of these sites and how much time I was spending on them, plus I found I was tweeting absolute bollocks most of the time!). My main form of communication is now through this blog, email and the wonderful Soundcloud. Also, in the spirit of sharing, I’ve enabled all my albums to be downloadable for free on Last.fm. If you’re short of cash, or just want to listen before spending time downloading hi-res versions, 128kbps MP3s are available on Last.fm. This will probably be the case with the new album too. It may be ready to release earlier than I thought, also.

On a slightly different tack….Cardiff/South Wales has a burgeoning and lively independent scene championed by the likes of Huw Stephens, Adam Walton and John Rostron. Artists such as Alone, Sweet Baboo, The School, Pulco and Jewellers are making great inroads into independent territory and gaining a decent following on the back of some cool releases and live performances. All are worth checking out, by the way.

I, on the other hand, am not planning to play live….not in the flesh anyway (I’ve got two live sessions soon to be aired on Dandelion Radio in 2012). My promotional methods are constantly changing but are mainly limited (or ‘developing’, to look on it positively). I’m a hermit. I’m not at all fashionable. My music is sometimes quite conventional but not populist, even to left-field musos. So, I think I’m not part of any scene as such. This is a good thing, you understand; but it places me on the fringe of something which is already on the fringe. This is not a complaint….it’s almost a badge of honour actually! But it means my music will not be heard by a large mass. That’s something which occasionally I regret, but is purely of my making, so no problem.

Anyway, the new album might be ready for February (end of).

That is all.

Peace out, etc, etc.