Ochre

It’s well into 2011, and now that they have officially ceased trading, my album contracts with Benbecula Records have expired. As a result, I’ve kindly had the rights to ‘Lemodie’ and ‘Like Dust’ handed back to me, so I’ve made them both available for download directly from my Bandcamp page (alongside ‘Midsummer’).

All three albums are downloadable on a ‘name your price’ basis, currently with no minimum charge, so if you simply feel like swiping them without paying a penny or sharing your email address, you’re free to do so. Better yet, you can set a price you deem fair for my hard work, and sleep easy knowing you’re incentivising future Ochre output. Please spread the word; retweet, share, post etc.

Each full-album download contains a bonus track, with ‘Lemodie’ and ‘Midsummer’ having their respective CD ‘secret’ tracks appended to their tracklist, while ‘Like Dust’ features ‘Threnodie’, a track previously released as part of the ‘Death of an Aura’ EP (which I’ve now retired).

The expiry of my contracts with Benbecula also means that both albums will start to disappear from third-party download stores. Once all down, I’ll set about distributing them through my own digital aggregator (probably Emubands, as they currently handle ‘Midsummer’ distro).

This may be old news to anyone following me on SoundCloud or Twitter, but still, I thought I’d make it a bit more official by jotting it in the blog.

I’ve posted both of these as, to be frank, I’ve no idea when or even if I’ll get another album completed (for now I’m shooting for the summer!). Rather than just sit on a pile of tracks that may or may not see light of day, I’ve popped them up on SoundCloud. As you can see, they’re freely downloadable, so you can enjoy them on your portable players without being tethered to the cloud. I must say, it feels nice to be able to post tracks online for immediate feedback again.

Glassmaker by Ochre

Blue Hours by Ochre

Oleg Mokhov, co-founder of net radio station BlueRize, was kind enough to host a Skype interview with me recently for his Mix & Master show.

Over the course of the interview we discuss how my burgeoning mastering business, Melograf Mastering, got off the ground, as well as getting into the logistical nuts and bolts of its everyday operation. It’s quite an extensive interview, and as such is split into two parts. The first covers why and how I decided to set up Melograf, with the second part following next week, covering the actual audio processing minutia and associated geekery. You can stream the first part here.

If you’ve been following me on Twitter this will be old news, but the late Benbecula Records are having a Christmas sale, selling all physical releases for just 99p each. Lemodie and Like Dust are there for the taking, for a whopping grand total of £1.98.

The above video documents the production of a very unique set of musical artefacts, created initially as part of my PhD submission. The inaugural set of these ‘Auratic Artefacts’ comprises three transparent, single-sided vinyl dubplates, with a double-sided, laser-etched wooden veneer, bonded to the non-audio side of each dubplate. Further variations include sleek, laser-etched aluminium plates, contrasting nicely with the warm, almost rustic character of the wooden veneers. As you can see, each set comes with a hand-sprayed, custom sleeve, too!

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I realise I haven’t posted for quite a while, so rather than simply ignore my blog until my current undertaking is complete, I thought I’d quickly let you know what I’ve been doing all this time.

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Yesterday, The Setup kindly published a short interview with me, detailing the gear I use in my daily musical exploits. It’s a frank run-down of my minimal setup, what I love and loathe about the various software and equipment I use, plus some wish-list musings. Be sure to check out some of their other interviews, as there are quite a few big-hitters of the geek world on there too.

A prototype 12″ of 2003′s ill-fated EAT001 EP has been added to the shop. More test pressing and compilation items to follow.

Initial findings are promising, though we hope to carry out further research in order to fully ascertain the origin of the artefacts uncovered so far. These appear to be cultural goods, most likely primitive digital commodities as were commonly available during the late 20th century (i.e. just prior to the so-called ‘Blackout’ period of dematerialisation). Initial theories of these artefacts as being part of a votive deposit have now largely been ruled out.

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It seems Benbecula are having a bit of a clear out, and are currently selling all their physical releases for a quid or two; £1.99 for albums, and 99p for EPs. If you fancy picking up Lemodie and Like Dust for just four quid, then you’re in luck. Why not pick up some Christ. double vinyl for a couple of quid too? Talk about a sale. Wow.