It has been quite some time since I have been able to post any updates regarding my ‘Kill The Naked’ album project, but I do have some further information and some audio clips from a work in progress to share with you!

To be honest my schedule has become so busy in recent weeks that it has been virtually impossible to find not only the time but the drive to carry on with the project. That is not to say I haven’t done any work on tracks for the album (which I am fast reconsidering streamlining down to an EP, for now, due to schedule constraints).

I’ve laid down quite a few bits that just haven’t developed in to something further. I think production kind of got a bit muddled and I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to take tracks in. However a track I began work on as a techno track has actually evolved in to a drum and bass track. The decision to change genre was based purely on the sample used for the track.

This work in progress samples an 80’s classic (yes I know it’s the ‘in’ decade right now but that was not the reason for inclusion here). I initially used the sample within a 4/4 balls-out techno track but found it sounded a bit too generic and offered nothing new. It was only recently after scrapping the techno track and completely reworking the sample that I found it would fit in to a drum and bass style perfectly. Hence the decision to take the track forward as drum and bass.

The track has no title but you can listen to two separate clips at the end of this post. I’d love to get some critique to see what you think. The bass line and various effects and levels have yet to be added so what your hearing is essentially vanilla.

Lastly I think I am enjoying drum and bass production more than house/techno production. I think it offers me more room for creativity and experimentation with some bizarre ideas. The techno stuff just became formulaic and I wasn’t enjoying it so I think the final EP (or album) product may well not feature this genre but concentrate more on experimental breakbeat tracks. Of course with the way production is going right now I’ll probably have changed my mind again by the next update.

For now though, enjoy the audio clips and please do drop in a comment or two. All critique welcome!

Audio clip one:

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Audio clip two:

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Having taken a couple of weeks to get used to the knacks and quirks of buying a used car, I used the time between purchase and today to do lots of research on our new vehicle.

Since purchase I have actually undertaken a couple of small jobs already. A couple still remain which I will get around to sooner rather than later. I began by replacing the air filter, a simple enough job considering I have never actually attempted to do this before. Next up was stripping out the useless (and broken) radio the previous owner had left in it. This actually led me to uncover a whole host of issues regarding the stereo.

Wires were cut off in the wrong place, patched to the wrong wires causing one speaker (the rear left one) to blow at some point before I took ownership and mute all but one speaker. Whoever wired this stereo and speakers up had absolutely no idea what they were doing I’ll tell you that much.

I chose to buy and install a Kenwood KDC-MP142 head unit complete with remote control and front aux (perfect for plugging my iPod in to). I was tired post-working day and wanted the install out of the way quickly. Removing the radio panel and old head unit was simple enough. Even installing the head unit and the rest of the plugs was easy enough.

That is until I got to the last cable, the power ISO harness.

Behind that front panel was a complete dog’s breakfast of wires. To cap it off the harness that was wired up to the old head unit was so badly done (and the wrong size for my new Kenwood) that I didn’t want to risk it and thus had to wait until yesterday to get the entire car audio setup rewired by a professional. I’d like to take this opportunity to highly recommend Mr. Henry at Funky Tang’s in George Town, Grand Cayman. He was very quick, very professional and done an excellent job on the audio wiring.

During installation he actually discovered a whole host of problems with the wiring that I would have otherwise not discovered. Wires were cut off in the wrong place, patched to the wrong wires causing one speaker (the rear left one) to blow at some point before I took ownership and mute all but one speaker. Whoever wired this stereo and speakers up had absolutely no idea what they were doing I’ll tell you that much.

Delighted with the ability to listen to music on the daily commute, next up was something I have read so much about on the Internet. Seafoam.

Seafoam is the jewel in the DIY car maintenance crown it would seem. Every page I loaded online during my research on Seafoam raved and celebrated its brilliance. But what does it do and why use it?

Seafoam is a petroleum-based product that you add to your vehicle in order to clean dirt and sticky residue directly from your engine. The most recommended way to utilize Seafoam is by dividing the can in to thirds. One third you add directly to the engine oil. The second third you add directly to the gas tank. The final third you add either via the PCV valve or via the brake booster vacuum. I chose the latter which was a little daunting as on my first attempt the engine cut out and for a moment I thought I had wrecked my shiny new gas guzzler.

Thankfully this was not the case. Upon adding the entire can of Seafoam to the vehicle all that was left was to wait around 20 minutes or so while the Seafoam worked its magic and hope and pray the vehicle would start when I went back outside to inspect the results!

With 20 minutes gone I ventured outside with the good woman who helped me video what we hoped would be the infamous Seafoam spectacle of Chernobyl-grade plumes of white smoke emanating from the exhaust pipe of our All-American economy destroyer. Alas we did not receive the spectacle we were so hoping for, but that is actually a positive result. The less smoke you get from a Seafoam treatment, the cleaner your engine is deemed to be. Sure, we got the odd plume here and there, but thankfully we were not overcome with masses of fumes. A result really, it means our thirteen year old vehicle is in tip top shape (at least from a cleanliness point of view, let us not jinx anything here!).

I took the Explorer out for a quick, vigorous drive to help clear the remainder of the Seafoam out of the vehicle and I’ll be honest with you, this stuff really is as good as users across the Internet say it is. The effects really are immediate. I noticed the car idled differently, smoother even. The other big thing I noticed was the throttle response was far more immediate than before the treatment. A real bonus because I thought with the lack of masses of smoke I would not notice much of a difference in performance. I like to be proven wrong!

Have a look at the video on the Stuff I Wrote YouTube channel (below) which shows you first hand the results of my experimentation with Seafoam. The stuff really does work and I thoroughly recommend it!

I don’t even need to confess, the date stamp says it all, I’ve not updated this site in forever. I apologize.

However upon embarking upon such a monumental feat as to write a new blog entry, I decided to couple it with a site makeover. I felt the old design wasn’t working out so I went for a different theme (plus my ever-ongoing tweaks) that I feel is much better suited and easier to use.

So what has been going on for all this time? Well, offline it’s been a very busy 5 or so weeks. I haven’t even had time to put any effort in to the music project at all, that has ground to a complete halt. Although with the schedule looking rather lighter in the coming weeks I should have a bit more time to dedicate to it.

I recently moved in to the world of the netbook by purchasing an Acer Aspire One. Would you believe it runs Windows 7 Ultimate astonishingly well? Windows 7 aside, the netbook and a copy of Notepad++ should provide ample opportunities to scribe new entries whilst on the go (or while the good lady is using this notebook to look at photos on social-networking websites).

I’m a keen follower of human rights issues, especially when it involves freedom of speech and privacy issues. I am closely following an issue close to home where a local ISP is looking to implement Deep Packet Inspection technology. The general public have been asked to provide input on the matter and I intend to submit my comments soon on the matter.

All of this should pack my schedule up quite nicely for the foreseeable!

Another small update regarding the album project. I’ve spent some time working on drum programming to get some really crazy breaks going on. I thought I would put it a quick clip of some stuff I am working on right now, see what you make of it.

It’s rough stuff (literally!) but I like where it’s headed along with the unpredictability of the breaks. Right now it’s all just experimental to see what sounds I can make, maybe some of this stuff will make it in to the final project, we shall see.

Listen and (hopefully) enjoy this small clip. Comments are very much welcome!

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After much humming, fiddling and general brainstorming I have finally made a few decisions regarding my next album project. If you have not read the earlier post made announcing the new project read it now! Essentially this is a small project to keep me occupied, not (initially now anyway) a commercial project, just something put together casually for the joy of making electronic music. It has been some time since I have made anything new and with the extended break I feel it is also time to use a new artist name.

New artist name

Many moons ago I used the name ‘Delörean‘ (the ö was added to make it look extra German and therefor assumed to be extra ‘techno’, hey, everyone has been guilty of it in the electronic circles at some stage). The name was taken from my love of the best film ever made, Back To The Future. With a fresh start and a different outlook on the music I want to write I decided said fresh start requires a name change. I had a bit of a brainstorm and to be honest most of the monikers I was scribbling down sounded like something found on a badly photocopied flyer for a warehouse party circa August Bank Holiday UK 1992.

It was after several hours of listing useless artist names that I came up with the idea of using the internet in the hopes of finding a name generator specific to DJ culture; what luck, I found one! A quick bit of Google action brought me to this fantastic little random name generator by James Moss called the ‘Electro DJ Name Generator‘ (note: some results generated make use of rather colourful language, you have been warned).

This simple yet wonderful random name generator initially threw up a mix of comedic nonsense and coarse electro crudity results, none of which perked interest. The longer I clicked through random names the more I came across genuine results that I actually thought I could use. It was at this point I decided there was no point in trying too hard to come up with something ‘extra cool’ by myself and to actually let fate decide via the use of this random name generator and see if I could actually get something I genuinely liked and would use.

It is at this point I am going to have to come clean and tell you that as of right now I am not going to reveal what artist name I have chosen. The reason for this is because I have not yet secured the domain name (which at the time of typing this is still available) and do not want to end up with someone reading this (because my blog is so popular!) and squatting on the name. All in good time, keep reading the blog and all will be revealed!

Album name

It’s too early really to comment on the album name, I’ve only just started laying down beats for goodness sake! However I can divulge a little about what the album will be about and it’s style.

What I am planning is a mix of several styles to feature on the album ranging from minimal techno to hard, funk-encrusted techno, ambient journeys and breakcore (for want of not using the silly ‘IDM tag’). It’s not really a decision made for want of being a bandwagoner but rather techno (in it’s purest form), ambient soundscapes and fast, complex technical breakbeats are something I have enjoyed listening to and creating for years.

If you want a biographical lesson I would probably date my interest in these genres back to some of the first vinyl and cassette recordings I ever owned. While others were running to the high street stores snapping up copies of Now! 8 (ok, I admit I actually bought this too, it was one of the first compilations I ever bought) I was (also!) out hitting record shops scouring out early recordings on the R&S label from Belgium.

While the kids were enjoying the latest material by The Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran and Morris Minor And The Majors (as was I of course), I was also savouring incredible tracks such as the awe inspiring and brain twisting brilliance of Mentasm and Energy Flash by Joey Beltram. This snowballed in to the discovery of other artists such as Outlander, Dave Angel (the link points to one of my favourite tracks of all-time), Peter Lazonby, Dave Clarke and the incredible Jeff Mills. I could sit here all day typing name after name of those that captured and shaped my musical imagination but I think you get the point!

The essential idea and theme of this project is based on airports and the age of flight both past and future (by that I mean the imminent age of space tourism and therefor the advancement by mankind to the next, new age of flight).

Each track is going to be titled after an airport that I myself have passed through. The idea is to capture the feeling not only of flight, future and technology but also to add a vibe exclusive to that particular destination. For example, let’s use Miami airport. This could be composed mainly of a techno style but peppered with latin flavour to acknowledge the impact the Latin community has on this particular area of the USA.

FREE album sample download!

That is just a quick example to express my intentions for this project. To actually give you a sample at it’s most basic, have a look below at a small clip of a track I am working on right now. If you cannot see the player below you will need to install the Adobe Flash Player in order to play the audio sample.

Bare in mind this is a clip of some beats I threw together very quickly just to get started and to show you a little taste of what I am working on right now. I actually think I spent more time adding aircraft effects and panning than I did with anything else it is that early!

I will be posting more samples as I work on this project so do stay tuned to this blog for updates. Please do leave your comments I would love to read and respond to what you have to say.

If you are a musician I would love to check out your work too! Hopefully now you will have an idea on what shaped my musical interests and what this new project (I remind you it’s just for fun, a hobby if you will) is all about.

Stay tuned for future updates as well as a reveal on my new artist name and full breakdown on the album and track titles.

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A fair æon or two ago I would spend many an hour making music. A minor amount of success was attained as I was awarded Electronic Artist Of The Month by Yahoo! and Real for some pieces I wrote earlier on this decade. I also managed to get one of my pieces reviewed in (now defunct) MP3 Magazine which was a fantastic personal achievement considering I never really promoted any of my stuff on my old Besonic account! It’s been a couple of years now since I have written anything new but I’ve got a taste for it again and am starting toying with ‘beats and pieces’ (sigh!) in the aims of putting together some new material.

As I am living abroad right now and don’t have my full quota of equipment to hand I am looking in to some alternative packages to put simple music together, just to get the creative juices flowing again. One of my favourite packages is Fruity Loops although I also like to work with some of the great tools and the flexibility of Adobe Audition too (not really a fan of the multitrack feature so much though).

To whet your appetite I have included a link in this post to a track I wrote some time ago called ‘Love (How Do You Say?)‘ which I wrote under my artist moniker of ‘Delörean‘. Feel free to download it, redistribute it, remix it, cut it up, mash it up whatever your whim although if you do perform any of these actions please do pass the credit back. I’ve hosted the file with popular file storage guru’s MediaFire so as not to zap what little bandwidth allowance my hosting provider provides.

If you have any difficulty using the link please do leave a comment and I will fix it asap. Enjoy the free track, I would love to read your comments on it and keep a look out for future posts of new material!

CLICK HERE FOR DOWNLOAD LINK

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