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Monday 29 February 2016

Roy Or Bison? 'Barmecide' (bc010)


Today we put out our tenth release. It's a leap year EP from "Roy Or Bison?" containing four lo-fi electronic escapades.


Barmecide

Adjective
1.
illusory or imaginary and therefore disappointing.
Noun
1.
a person who offers benefits that are illusory or disappointing.

"Barmecide" is a swerve from "RoB?"s last outing on Bricolage. His "Night Vision" track was more on the eerie ambient and drone side of things. 'Barmecide' shows that he's capable of downing the darker and harsher tools in favour of creating more "accessible" sounds. This is "Roy Or Bison?" embracing the playful side of electronica. Intricate little loops, glitched out melodies and scattered drum beats all soaked in reverb and effect. It's a welcome addition to our discography. Some keen followers may recognise the closing track "The Breakfast Show" from our second various artists compilation last November, on which RoB? contributed. The other tracks are "Wanaetheywans" (one of those ones for non-Scottish people) , a funky minutes of an evolving glitchy bassline and prickly drums. "Eidetician" is a more slighly fleshed out affair, melodic layers building up and culminating in a whispy, almost electric sounding ending and "Stratagem", a full on tribute and experiment with electronic beats and time signatures.

You can stream and download a copy for free below or at our bandcamp.




Friday 26 February 2016

Past, Present, Future

A little over a week ago we had the privilege of getting the opportunity of a full hour to showcase our sounds on The Monday Graveyard podcast show. The show has been received warmly and it has gained Bricolage and the artists involved that little bit more exposure. Big thanks go again to Mark Shields, host of the MG for allowing us to advertise and air a selection, of just some, of our tracks on his show.

When the special Bricolage episode was arranged, Mark asked me if I could provide him with a little back story on the label, the idea behind it and how it came about. I wrote out, and emailed Mark, a paragraph containing the meat and bones of how it came to be and the original plan was for Mark to pick the main bits out and include that as an introduction in the Bricolage featured podcast. Unfortunately, due to personal commitments and time constraints, Mark couldn't find the time to edit in the introduction segment.

So, I feel it's only fair that I share that here on the blog with our members and followers.

It gives an insight into the beginnings, the present and the future plans for the collective.


Fragile X on Bricolage:

"The original concept for Bricolage came to me around 6 years ago. I've always wanted to curate a music hub of sorts where I could release music that I appreciated and enjoyed. Whilst also having the opportunity to give exposure to artists that I thought deserved a lot more recognition. Bricolage was actually my second attempt at doing that. I originally set up a small online collective known as "Are Friends Eclectic?" in 2010-2011. But I had no idea how to go about running it correctly or recruiting artists.
So the first, and only, release was a compilation that consisted of music by some close friends and music from myself under the masks of 5 or 6 different pseudonyms including the Fragile X guise. You can still find that release somewhere deep in the dusty corners of the internet! But it safe to say "Are Friends Eclectic?" didn't last long. After a couple of mixes and one compilation and I packed it in to concentrate more on sculpting sounds for Fragile X and doing audio/visual work. "Are Friends Eclectic?" fading away to nothing was actually a blessing. It refreshed my concentration for my own musical creativity and soon I was releasing music (as Fragile X) on small independent online labels like BFW Recordings and the sadly now defunct Bath Dub Sounds. Releasing on these labels, speaking to the people who run them and studying how other netlabels went about their ways gave me inspiration to once again try to start my own. So finally, in late 2014, I started taking down notes of a lot of artists on soundcloud that I really liked. I grouped around half a dozen or so together in a notepad and followed them quite closely. Since then, in between creating my own music and producing for others I found that the amount of artists I had noted down had grown to a dozen and then even more. I still wasn't sure how to go about contacting these people and asking them if they'd want to join a small online collective/netlabel but finally at the end of last summer (2015) I built up the courage (I know that sounds stupid but I was genuinely fearful of mailing people about it incase they scoffed at the idea!) to message 20 odd artists and ask them to contribute to a compilation. The response was overwhelmingly positive. There was the odd artist who didn't reply and one or two who politely declined for various reasons but, to be honest, the majority of the artists I wanted were more than up for contributing. And that was it, Bricolage had formally launched. From there it has grown into monthly podcasts, individual EP releases, music videos, unique art pieces, compilations, more musicians (we're at 26 members now) and a lot of varied and wonderful sounds. 
As for maintaining consistency and communication with the artists, it can be hard. I work 8am to 5pm (sometimes later) from Monday to Friday. So Bricolage has been like a second job to me. Albeit one that doesn't pay but also one that is ultimately fulfilling. The satisfaction and experience gained from doing this is better payment than any money. It's also extremely pleasing to be able to give people that little bit more confidence and recognition for their work.
I honestly can't thank the artists involved enough for helping the idea of Bricolage come to fruition. They've all been wonderful in their contributions and the time and music they've given me is truly appreciated. 2016 is hopefully going to be a big year. We've got lots more music coming, more visuals, more themed releases, more new artists on the way and a huge collaborative project I have planned for over the summer. There's also the very real possibility of taking Bricolage onto a live scale before the end of the year but first things first. I need to establish the label a bit more and create some more exposure for it before taking it up a level. I'm not full of false hope, I know it's never going to be a huge netlabel. But that was never my aim, the only thing I want is to be able to help, encourage and showcase artists, interact with them, motivate feelings towards collaborations and just all round give them room to express themselves in podcasts or releases. 2016 has the potential to be positive and creative for everybody involved and that for me is the key thing."

Here's the original cover art for the first and only "Are Friends Eclectic?" compilation. I'd like to think I've came a long way in the last 4 years and Bricolage can be a long term thing. Here's hoping anyway!

Wednesday 17 February 2016

Bricolage Showcase

Last week we posted about our friend and label supporter Mark Shields reaching 100 episodes of his Monday Graveyard radio show/podcast. A real milestone and a gem of a show to go with it. Episode 101 of the Monday Graveyard is also a very special episode as far as Bricolage is concerned. Mark very kindly gave us the opportunity to have a full hour to ourselves....




We're proud to be able to present a mix made up exclusively of music from our members. It's an hour that consists of just some of the unique music that we've released in our first 6 months. It manages to encapsulate what the label and collective is all about. A diverse selection spanning the electronic genres. The hour long show was curated and mixed by, label head, Fragile X and features some of his own music alongside Subsequent, Kure, Intl. Debris, Hiramatsu Toshiyuki, Slow Deep Breath, get-effect, The Next Commuter, Roy Or Bison?, Oscurito and H.ICH. There's ambient, vaporwave, some dub, shoegazed tinged electronics, glitch, drones, darkness, guitars and, of course, what better way to round it off then some techno. 
Thanks go to Mark for allowing us the chance to showcase some of our sounds on his show. Be sure to check out his blog and the shows Twitter account for more info on future shows and his general online escapades. Stream the mix in full below or at The Monday Graveyard mixcloud.



Tracklisting in full is as follows:
  1. Subsequent - Smallbatch 
  2. Kure - Moon Acid 
  3. Intl. Debris - Thursday Morning, Taylor Swift Part 1 
  4. Hiramatsu Toshiyuki - Mountain Call 
  5. Slow Deep Breath - The Crow Pheasant 
  6. get-effect - No One Leaves Here Empty Handed 
  7. Fragile X - Amygdala (Lo-Jacker remix) 
  8. The Next Commuter - A Dozen Paces 
  9. Roy Or Bison? - Night Vision 
  10. Oscurito - Octopus 
  11. H.ICH - Ladyland Part II (Mental Mix) 
  12. Alan Watts
  13. Fragile X - Theory Of Colour

    And don't forget, you can download the majority of the music featured in this mix from the Bricolage bandcamp site free of charge.

    Stay tuned next weekend for a special blog post that details the beginnings of Bricolage.

Saturday 13 February 2016

Thursday Morning, (Saturday Night) Taylor Swift



Earlier tonight we premiered the music video for Parts 1 and 2 of Intl. Debris' fantastic EP "Thursday Morning, Taylor Swift".

It's a visual interpretation structured around the earthly tones that are conjured up.

"Thursday Morning, Taylor Swift" is an amalgamation of experimental electronics, vaporwave, samples, field recordings and the curious and aberrant sounds that Intl. Debris is consistent with creating. At times the music leans towards the ambient side of things (albeit the experimental edge of the genre) but at no point does it become too chilled. There's way too much going on for you to get into that comfort zone. If you listen closely there's always something waiting to happen around the corner. It's a trip that's broken into six parts. Clocking in at under 25 minutes, it's a short, slightly surreal, but very enjoyable journey into the mind and music of the creator. This music video focuses on Part 1 and 2 from the EP and creates an audio/visual that will tell you a story if you let it.




The EP was released in the last week of December and you can stream it in full and pick up a free download at our bandcamp or below.

Tuesday 9 February 2016

Centurion


100 is a big number. 100 of anything is a lot. 100 pizzas. 100 pencils. 100 podcasts....

That's exactly how many episodes of The Monday Graveyard that our pal, Mark Shields, reached yesterday. Think about that....100 episodes. 100 hours plus of music. That's a lot of songs. That's a lot of good songs. Tonight we're going to take a quick look back through some of my favourite episodes and reveal a bit more about the beginnings of MG.

It's came a long way since Marks original Wednesday Graveyard series. Slowly morphing into a Monday slot and then advancing to becoming a live show on local radio station Pulse before reverting to an exclusive podcast only series again in recent times due to Mark moving to England. I could waffle on more about the story behind the show but Mark describes the history of it better over on his blog.

Instead, to start off I'll take you right to Episode 100. With a playlist containing many MG favourites and featuring the likes of Boc, Tycho, Errors and a lot more, it's a fitting episode for the big milestone. A Fragile X track from the newest Bricolage release, The Outer Circle, closes out the most recent show and there's more to come on the Bricolage front at the end of this post. But for now listen to 100 in all it's glory.



I, myself, only became aware of the Monday Graveyard show almost exactly two years ago at the beginning of February in 2014. I was informed by a Pulse radio presenter called Chris Nelms that Mark had intended to play my track "Ya'aburnee" and I was over the moon. Chris had already played a few of my tracks on his own weekly show "Echolalia Radio', a brilliant eclectic selection of music and spoken word pieces. But Mark's show was different, here was a show that specialized in playing the kind of music that I have the most joy both listening to and creating. Electronic, ambient, experimental and drone. I knew I'd be a fan and a regular listener right away. I was unaware at the time that my music would feature relatively regularly on the show or that I'd even eventually pop in and meet Mark for a chat and get to pick some songs on the show myself. Here's a run through a few featured landmark episodes for myself.

Episode 11 was the first time Fragile X material was played on the show. It's an all Scottish episode and will always be one I'll recall fondly. It aired on the 10th of February 2014.



Four and a bit months later on the 26th of May I was invited by Mark to be a guest on his show and come in to the studio for a live on air chat. We discussed (and aired some music from) my newly released "Haptics" album and talked about the inspiration behind some of my music, touched on my recording techniques and just had a general chat. I won't lie, before I went in I was pretty nervous about it all. Some people have a knack for doing live radio and some don't. I was convinced I would fall into the latter category and stumble and bumble my way through the show whenever I was asked a question. But upon arrival at the Pulse studios I was instantly made to feel more relaxed and comfortable. Mark gave me a tour around the place, made me feel at home and assured me I'd be fine when that On Air signal would appear. I'll forever be thankful for that. You can have a listen to that show and enjoy some conversation between myself and Mark and hear some choice music from the likes of Ben Frost, Phillp Jeck, Oren Ambarchi and more.



I have my own mix series called "Cult Zer0es". It's been running for almost 2 years now but is only at episode 17.....a long way from 100! Mark became a regular listener to the CZ mixes and in February 2015 he asked me to contribute a special edition of CZ for the first in his planned guest mixes for The Monday Graveyard show. A seamless hour of back to back music made up of whatever I wanted appearing on a local radio station? I jumped at the chance, I know it sounds cliched but I (like a lot of people) used to make my own favourite playlist mixtapes and be the host of my own made up radio station when I was a wee boy. So I was genuinely ecstatic to be asked to make that mix. I put a lot of time into the mix and produced a session that, I'm not too shy to say, I think is one of the best I've made. It just seemed to flow and melt together when deciding on tune choice and the music overlapping. Again, I'm forever grateful and thankful to Mark for asking to contribute to his show in such a manner. You can listen below.



As I mentioned earlier, I've been following the show for just over 2 years and in that time I've been introduced to a lot of new and good music. Every show I would find new artists to seek out and find more about. Here's a list of some of my personal stand out episodes through the years.

Episode 13 (24/02/2014)

This particular show was all about DIY labels, micro labels and cassette labels. A true underground feel to it and exposing music that a lot of people might not have otherwise been aware of.



Episode 16 (24/0/2014)

A show with a twist. A live police scanner form the LAPD was weaved into the show and created a beautiful concept as it played alongside the usual fantastic music selections.



Episode 36 (11/08/2014)

An episode that focused on modern classical composition and also featured some movie soundtracks.



Episode 45 (13/10/2014)

This episode was Marks return to presenting live on radio after understandably taking a break from doing live shows due to the birth of his daughter.



Episode 77 (08/06/2015)

Part 1 of a Bandcamp special featuring Scyye, Loscil and Owesy among many more.



Episode 91 (23/11/2015)

A show that consisted purely of computer game soundtracks, old and new. An excellently put together episode.



So now that Episode 100 is here, what's next? Well, Episode 101 of course. Which I'm very proud to say is an all Bricolage special. I've curated and recorded an hour long mix that consists purely of music from Bricolage artists for Marks show. There's sounds from Kure, Slow Deep Breath, get-effect and lots more. I'll keep the final tracklist a secret until it's aired but you can rest assured it's a nice mixture of ambience, experimentalism, electronica and techno. The episode will be out on February 15th (next Monday) and I'll be sure to link it here and beyond when it goes up on the Monday Graveyard online catalogue.

But for now, lets allow the idea of 100 episodes of The Monday Graveyard to sink in again. It's no mean feat to reach such a number and it takes a lot of dedication and effort to consistently produce a thoroughly enjoyable and, more importantly, relatable show. Whether it's been in podcast form or on live radio, knowing that I had/have the The Monday Graveyard to listen to has always made my Mondays that little bit better.

Congratulations, Mark, and here's to another 100.


Wednesday 3 February 2016

In The Loop : Episode 11

Our first "In The Loop" episode of 2016 is a bumper edition with lots to catch up on from the tail end of 2015 and the start of 2016.

First up is a fresh track from International Debris."Glass Tower" is a cut from the upcoming album 'Curtain Moon'. It's a mixture of hard vaporwave and modern garage style drums. You can grab a free download of it on Soundcloud.



A fortnight or so ago, there was also "A Song" uploaded by Ross. Literally, a song. It's a 20 year old mash up type effort (circa 1996) that has a strange and certain appeal to it. Listen below.


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Next up is Fragile X, to round off 2015, the Bricolage founder wrote and recorded a song inspired by synesthesia called "Theory of Colour". It's an experimental techno/electronic affair that was created in the space of one late December afternoon. Chunky rhythms, a huge melodic breakdown and Alan Watts samples are at the forefront.



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On the subject of Fragile X.....any followers of his mixcloud account may well be aware of his long running Cult Zer0es mix series. The last 3 or 4 sessions have saw guest mixes from some of his musical friends and Volume 17 is no different. He's recruited fellow Bricolage label mate Lo-Jacker to provide a follow up of sorts to his inaugural Bricolage podcast from September 2015. It's another hour full of choice electronic cuts put together in the fun style of Lo-Jackers mixing techniques.



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January saw Kure make a very important announcement or two....





"One Very Important Announcement" and "Dreamliner" are quality returns to SC for the Danish experimentalist. They offer a sneak preview into his vision of a "new Jet Age". Stay tuned for more.

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Towards the end of last year, Glass Mammoth uploaded a few new tracks. One of the stand outs from them was the tribal chillout of "Zen". With it's rolling percussion and blissed out melodies providing a melancholic meditative landscape to get lost in.


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As mentioned before on this blog, jazzdefector is a constant source of musical output and 2016 has started no differently for him. No less than 5 new instrumentals have made their way on to his Soundcloud this past month. My personal favourites are the the ambient canvas of "3 +hree" and the beautifully constructed "Einsteins Blackboard" which was inspired by a visit to the Museum of the History of Science.





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Merrimans Ghost is another artist who has some seriously regular musical output. One of his latest offerings was the intriguing "Delirium Tremens". Full of wistful arpeggios and soft delay. It's a late night track to drift off with.


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Last but not least, last months Headroom mix from "Roy Or Bison?" is now available for free download to take on the go with you. You may remember our blog post from last month where we outlined our new download host website for all our mixes, hearthis.at.  Our mixes are still exclusively uploaded to Mixcloud but will appear on there (hearthis.at) for free download. Our full catalogue is available on there now and Headroom 02 is the latest addition. It's a head melting, genre mashing 2 hour trip that's bound to stretch your skulls a little....


Monday 1 February 2016

Bricolage Podcast # 6 : Chairman Cow



Our February podcast is here and it's an old school mixtape style compilation from Chairman Cow. The kind of mix that proves you don't have to be a DJ or have DJ equipment to make a mix. Just music stitched together as close to the old fashioned way as you can get. It's an hour of classics spreading through the styles of post-punk, early electronic work, art pop, new wave and more. Pop sensibilities prevail on each track and there's touches of funk and some avant garde stuff littered throughout the mix. The choice of music spans over many different decades gone by but still manages to sound fresh. The Chairman has even thrown in a few of his own tracks and his unique covers of Pump Up The Jam and Blue Monday for good measure. All in all this particular podcast is a retro boogie for the brain.

It's available to stream below or from our mixcloud.