Inevitably, if you start making music, you’re going to end up with an immense pile of
not-quite-finished pieces that don’t have a home. Most of those are going to be
throwaway ideas and embarrassing missteps you’d rather no one ever heard, but you
just can’t bring yourself to delete - just in case. There are some you’re going to be
enamoured with for a short while, then fall out with and never want to hear again as
long as you live, wondering what the hell drew you to make them in the first place.
Then there are others, which grow in your heart over time. You know they’re good - in
fact, you suspect they might be the best things you’ve ever done. Probably because
before you made these particular tracks, you didn’t even know music could be like
that. It seems to spring from nowhere, pulling you to make it, like a demon. You
become obsessed, for however long it takes, as the projects and the ambitions grow
and grow in your mind, until they reach a peak and eventually ebb away, to be
overtaken by some other thing that requires more urgent attention.
But every so often - once every couple of years or so - you remember: ‘I must finish
that amazing music I was making!’ And you listen to it and you know, even though it’s
not finished and it’s not what you expected them to be, it’s never going to be any
better than it already is. You try to improve it but it doesn’t work. The moment’s gone.
No one’s asking you to do it so there’s really no reason to go back there. These are the
finished items, whether you like it or not.
But what to do with them? Every time you play them to someone, they’re met with
puzzlement. It’s not really like that other stuff you do. There are no vocals for a start.
Some of it doesn’t even have a proper tune. And that one’s just silly, with that stupid
random sax solo. What were you thinking? I’ve got better things to do with my time.
But you know, deep down, this is why you make music in the first place. And you
know you want more people to hear it. So you make a website full of all the other
stuff you do - the stuff people asked you to do and the stuff people like - in the hope
that someone might actually hear some of this stuff and finally understand what
you’re on about. Yeah? Well, this page is full of that.
2006 - 2022
Orphans & Misfits
2006-2007
FREEWAYS ON THE SUN
October 11, 2006; March 22, 2007
SICILIANO
December 9, 2006
AGBAJA
January 15-16, 2007
THE FIREMAKER (Version 1)
January 26-29, 2007
FRIED RAIN (Version 1)
January 14-15, 2007
LIFE ON THE M62
May 6 - June 30, 2011
VESTA’S CLOCK
May 3 - July 11, 2011
PESCATONIC
May 18, 2010
PRISM
May 12 - July 19, 2010
LEVIATHAN (Version 3)
March 14, 2007
LEVIATHAN (Version 2)
January 6 - February 26, 2007
ROOF OF THE WORLD
January 6, 2007
COLONY OF SOUND
March 14, 2007
TRANSANTARCTIC
March 23, 2007
ELLIPTICAL ORBIT
May 31 - June 5, 2006
2010-2014
MUSIC FOR IDIOTS
December 3 & 4, 2019
SUNSET SMEAR (demo assembly)
May 1 - December 16, 2019
WANKY DISMUS
September 17 - November 2, 2019
ROCK MUSIC
May 9 & 10, 2019
FUNERAL PYRE (Take 29)
May 8, 2019
MIST ON THE INGS (Version 2)
March 7, 2022
2019-2022
RIP YOUR FLESH
July 29, 2013; September 15 & 25, 2014
MIST ON THE INGS (Version 5)
March 11, 2022
WALKING OFF THE CROSS
April 21 & May 19, 2010
PURSUIT (Version 1)
September 9, 2014
YET ANOTHER MORNING
September 29-30, 2014
A WALK IN OUR VILLAGE
May 2, 2019
DECEMBER
May 30, 2006 - March 13, 2007
NARCISSISION
October 1, 2014
D-HEADS
December 17, 2019
IT’S ALL GONE PETE TITS
September 11 & 19, 2019
THUNDERSCAPE 2
May 3, 2019
EXTRAPOLATION 1
April 23, 2019
TARMAC GENETICS
January 31, 2014
PURSUIT (Version 2)
October 16, 2014
This stuff grew out of the sessions for the third Gary Le Strange album. Something
happened to me - maybe because I’d been working with Cubase for a couple of years
but still found myself stuck in a rigid pattern of making songs with rock-based backing
tracks and lyrics, while simultaneously realising I had technological capabilities within
my grasp which surpassed any of my wildest dreams - and it occurred to me that, if I
didn’t start exploring music properly, I might be seriously missing out.
It was the road to ruin. The comedy career I already had (which, admittedly, had
already bankrupted me and didn’t show any signs of becoming any more lucrative)
was pretty much tanked by my discovery that, instead of spending a whole week
writing and making the backing track to a new comedy song that people would titter
at once and then forget, I could be exporting MIDI files of Bach’s Siciliano played on all
the wrong instruments, or trying in vain to blend the BBC Radiophonic Workshop with
DJ Shadow and Gorillaz to form some weird new hybrid. Or maybe playing
randomised sax solos over jazzy drum loops and adding sound effects of a fake
audience reacting to this weird computerised jazz-rock fusion band.
For two months in 2007, I had a dream that I would make an album called Monophonic
Empire, which included all these things and more. Clearly, I never finished it, and went
back to making those comedy songs. For a while. These are some of the more
listenable remnants.
ELLIPTICAL ORBIT started life as part of the epic Day of the Maggots on Gary Le
Strange’s third album, Beef Scarecrow, but got cut for time. There is a version with
backing vocals but I never managed to record the lead.
A re-recorded version of THE FIREMAKER (the title of which is taken from a Doctor
Who episode) became the theme tune for Toby Hadoke’s podcast, Doctor Who: Too
Much Information, in 2020. You can hear the upgrade here and here, and hear the
podcast here.
I repurposed the melody from AGBAJA for a song called Motor Love written for Simon
Messingham’s play Disco in 2011. You can hear that here but there’s also a video for it
here.
2006-2007
In 2010, I upgraded my gear, adding a MIDI keyboard and a hefty hike in processing
power. Hopefully you’ll be able to hear the transformation.
PRISM and WALKING OFF THE CROSS both grew out of improvisations.
PESCATONIC eventually got repurposed for Crackanory - see ‘In Space, No One Can
Hear You Clean’ for the result.
LIFE ON THE M62 and VESTA’S CLOCK were written for a competition I entered in 2011
while I was recuperating from a serious illness. Blew my head open when I actually
won a prize. Eternal thanks to Moog and Spectrasonics for that sudden blast of
confidence.
The remaining tracks here from 2014 were all written during sessions for The Ghoul.
RIP YOUR FLESH was a potential background track for the party scene, but I’ve always
wanted to flesh it out more. Early on, I thought TARMAC GENETICS would make a good
piece for the end titles, but in retrospect it’s completely inappropriate. The two mixes
of PURSUIT were an attempt to write something for the scene where Chris follows
Coulson, and the last two pieces - YET ANOTHER MORNING and NARCISSISION - were
early attempts at more folk-influenced stuff for the section after the party. But I don’t
think any of them were ever seriously in the running.
2010-2014
Everything here springs from three separate projects I started in 2019, none of which
got finished. Most of it’s either improvised or springs from improvisation in some way.
After several disastrous projects in a row - none of which are featured here - I realised
I’d start enjoying my work more if I loosened up my approach and embraced my
mistakes, perhaps even amplified them. I was right to a certain extent - this stuff is
definitely different to most things I’d done before, and I certainly enjoyed doing it. But
is that enough?
Sometimes I think IT’S ALL GONE PETE TITS is the best piece of music I’ve ever made.
But I don’t expect anyone else to agree with me. I think it’s something to do with what
you’re listening out for when you hear it. When I listen to my own stuff, I’m usually
more likely to hear the things I got wrong, the mistakes I didn’t intend to make, which
always ruin it for me. This was an attempt to embrace the opposite of that and make
the whole thing sound broken, like a series of mistakes had somehow resulted in
calamity. So when I hear it, I end up concentrating more on the things that accidentally
went right, and I still find that sense of discovery thrilling. But you won’t necessarily
hear any of that.
Most of the tracks here sprang from a similar philosophy. I didn’t plan or intend to do
much of what I did, so it’s always surprising, even if it’s a bit rough around the edges.
SUNSET SMEAR is only half-finished. WANKY DISMUS is a brooding mess which
devolves into an extended section where I’m just cycling through effects presets. Most
of the others were accompaniments for stories, until the stories never got told.
But you never know. I still harbour fantasies I might go back to this stuff and finish
what I started, or at least knock it into some kind of meaningful shape. The final two
tracks from 2022 were an attempt to do that, but again I got distracted. Then again,
now they actually exist in the real world (rather than just on my hard drive at home),
maybe this is as far as they go.
2019-2022
EXTRAPOLATION 3
April 23, 2019
Orphans
& Misfits
2006 - 2022
Inevitably, if you start making music, you’re going to
end up with an immense pile of not-quite-finished
pieces that don’t have a home. Most of those are
going to be throwaway ideas and embarrassing
missteps you’d rather no one ever heard, but you just
can’t bring yourself to delete - just in case. There are
some you’re going to be enamoured with for a short
while, then fall out with and never want to hear again
as long as you live, wondering what the hell drew you
to make them in the first place.
Then there are others, which grow in your heart over
time. You know they’re good - in fact, you suspect
they might be the best things you’ve ever done.
Probably because before you made these particular
tracks, you didn’t even know music could be like that.
It seems to spring from nowhere, pulling you to make
it, like a demon. You become obsessed, for however
long it takes, as the projects and the ambitions grow
and grow in your mind, until they reach a peak and
eventually ebb away, to be overtaken by some other
thing that requires more urgent attention.
But every so often - once every couple of years or so -
you remember: ‘I must finish that amazing music I
was making!’ And you listen to it and you know, even
though it’s not finished and it’s not what you
expected them to be, it’s never going to be any better
than it already is. You try to improve it but it doesn’t
work. The moment’s gone. No one’s asking you to do
it so there’s really no reason to go back there. These
are the finished items, whether you like it or not.
But what to do with them? Every time you play them
to someone, they’re met with puzzlement. It’s not
really like that other stuff you do. There are no vocals
for a start. Some of it doesn’t even have a proper
tune. And that one’s just silly, with that stupid
random sax solo. What were you thinking? I’ve got
better things to do with my time.
But you know, deep down, this is why you make
music in the first place. And you know you want more
people to hear it. So you make a website full of all the
other stuff you do - the stuff people asked you to do
and the stuff people like - in the hope that someone
might actually hear some of this stuff and finally
understand what you’re on about. Yeah? Well, this
page is full of that.
2006-2007
FREEWAYS ON THE SUN
October 11, 2006; March 22, 2007
SICILIANO
December 9, 2006
AGBAJA
January 15-16, 2007
THE FIREMAKER (Version 1)
January 26-29, 2007
FRIED RAIN (Version 1)
January 14-15, 2007
LEVIATHAN (Version 3)
March 14, 2007
LEVIATHAN (Version 2)
January 6 - February 26, 2007
ROOF OF THE WORLD
January 6, 2007
COLONY OF SOUND
March 14, 2007
TRANSANTARCTIC
March 23, 2007
ELLIPTICAL ORBIT
May 31 - June 5, 2006
DECEMBER
May 30, 2006 - March 13, 2007
ELLIPTICAL ORBIT started life as part of the epic Day
of the Maggots on Gary Le Strange’s third album, Beef
Scarecrow, but got cut for time. There is a version
with backing vocals but I never managed to record
the lead.
This stuff grew out of the sessions for the third Gary
Le Strange album. Something happened to me -
maybe because I’d been working with Cubase for a
couple of years but still found myself stuck in a rigid
pattern of making songs with rock-based backing
tracks and lyrics, while simultaneously realising I had
technological capabilities within my grasp which
surpassed any of my wildest dreams - and it occurred
to me that, if I didn’t start exploring music properly, I
might be seriously missing out.
It was the road to ruin. The comedy career I already
had (which, admittedly, had already bankrupted me
and didn’t show any signs of becoming any more
lucrative) was pretty much tanked by my discovery
that, instead of spending a whole week writing and
making the backing track to a new comedy song that
people would titter at once and then forget, I could be
exporting MIDI files of Bach’s Siciliano played on all
the wrong instruments, or trying in vain to blend the
BBC Radiophonic Workshop with DJ Shadow and
Gorillaz to form some weird new hybrid. Or maybe
playing randomised sax solos over jazzy drum loops
and adding sound effects of a fake audience reacting
to this weird computerised jazz-rock fusion band.
For two months in 2007, I had a dream that I would
make an album called Monophonic Empire, which
included all these things and more. Clearly, I never
finished it, and went back to making those comedy
songs. For a while. These are some of the more
listenable remnants.
A re-recorded version of THE FIREMAKER (the title of
which is taken from a Doctor Who episode) became
the theme tune for Toby Hadoke’s podcast, Doctor
Who: Too Much Information, in 2020. You can hear
the upgrade here and here, and hear the podcast
here.
I repurposed the melody from AGBAJA for a song
called Motor Love written for Simon Messingham’s
play Disco in 2011. You can hear that here but there’s
also a video for it here.
LIFE ON THE M62
May 6 - June 30, 2011
VESTA’S CLOCK
May 3 - July 11, 2011
PESCATONIC
May 18, 2010
PRISM
May 12 - July 19, 2010
2010-2014
RIP YOUR FLESH
July 29, 2013; September 15 & 25, 2014
WALKING OFF THE CROSS
April 21 & May 19, 2010
PURSUIT (Version 1)
September 9, 2014
YET ANOTHER MORNING
September 29-30, 2014
NARCISSISION
October 1, 2014
TARMAC GENETICS
January 31, 2014
PURSUIT (Version 2)
October 16, 2014
These last two pieces - YET ANOTHER MORNING and
NARCISSISION - were early attempts at more folk-
influenced stuff for the section after the party. Again, I
don’t think either of these were ever seriously in the
running.
In 2010, I upgraded my gear, adding a MIDI keyboard
and a hefty hike in processing power. Hopefully you’ll
be able to hear the transformation.
LIFE ON THE M62 and VESTA’S CLOCK were written for
a competition I entered in 2011 while I was
recuperating from a serious illness. Blew my head
open when I actually won a prize. Eternal thanks to
Moog and Spectrasonics for that sudden blast of
confidence.
PRISM and WALKING OFF THE CROSS both grew out of
improvisations.
PESCATONIC eventually got repurposed for
Crackanory - see ‘In Space, No One Can Hear You
Clean’ for the result.
The remaining tracks here from 2014 were all written
during sessions for The Ghoul. But I don’t think any of
them were seriously considered for the soundtrack.
RIP YOUR FLESH was a potential background track for
the party scene. I’ve always wanted to flesh it out
more.
Early on, I thought TARMAC GENETICS would make a
good piece for the end titles, but in retrospect it’s
completely inappropriate.
The two mixes of PURSUIT were an attempt to write
something for the scene where Chris follows Coulson
through the streets of London.
MUSIC FOR IDIOTS
December 3 & 4, 2019
SUNSET SMEAR (demo assembly)
May 1 - December 16, 2019
WANKY DISMUS
September 17 - November 2, 2019
ROCK MUSIC
May 9 & 10, 2019
FUNERAL PYRE (Take 29)
May 8, 2019
MIST ON THE INGS (Version 2)
March 7, 2022
2019-2022
MIST ON THE INGS (Version 5)
March 11, 2022
A WALK IN OUR VILLAGE
May 2, 2019
D-HEADS
December 17, 2019
IT’S ALL GONE PETE TITS
September 11 & 19, 2019
THUNDERSCAPE 2
May 3, 2019
EXTRAPOLATION 1
April 23, 2019
EXTRAPOLATION 3
April 23, 2019
Everything here springs from three separate projects I
started in 2019, none of which got finished. Most of
it’s either improvised or springs from improvisation in
some way. After several disastrous projects in a row -
none of which are featured here - I realised I’d start
enjoying my work more if I loosened up my approach
and embraced my mistakes, perhaps even amplified
them. I was right to a certain extent - this stuff is
definitely different to most things I’d done before, and
I certainly enjoyed doing it. But is that enough?
Sometimes I think IT’S ALL GONE PETE TITS is the
best piece of music I’ve ever made. But I don’t expect
anyone else to agree with me. I think it’s something
to do with what you’re listening out for when you
hear it. When I listen to my own stuff, I’m usually
more likely to hear the things I got wrong, the
mistakes I didn’t intend to make, which always ruin it
for me. This was an attempt to embrace the
opposite of that and make the whole thing sound
broken, like a series of mistakes had somehow
resulted in calamity. So when I hear it, I end up
concentrating more on the things that accidentally
went right, and I still find that sense of discovery
thrilling. But you won’t necessarily hear any of that.
I still harbour fantasies I might go back to this stuff
and finish what I started, or at least knock it into some
kind of meaningful shape. The final two tracks from
2022 were an attempt to do that, but again I got
distracted. Then again, now they actually exist in the
real world (rather than just on my hard drive at home),
maybe this is as far as they go.
THE GHOUL
(ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK)
Available for streaming and download
exclusively on Bandcamp
