cafe de la danse

Fun concert last night at the cafe de la danse in Paris. It's one of the bigger concerts I've played, and it worked, though I had all of 5 minutes for sound check. The toy piano sounded nice.

I've made a new song. My friend Ellinor came to stay from Sweden and she sang with me and my girlfriend on the chorus of the song. I used some Optigan, Orchestron and Chamberlin Rhythm Mate (thanks to Pea Hicks). It felt good to write and record something so fast. It's something I haven't done in a long time, and I think doing things like this is often the best way. it's when you're aware of what you're doing that it can be bad. The best is to just do it without thinking too much.

Also with Ellinor we began recording 2 songs. I'm going to sing on one with her.

alice in wonderland

It's been a long day, but I've recorded the voices for the 3 songs I wrote for Alice In Wonderland and I've recorded most of the speaking - so tomorrow just the narration and a few retakes. It's hard when you don't understand everything (this is a French production) but I spoke French all day and that felt good.

I have recorded a new song and it's a real slice of pop.

I spent the weekend recording a friend, and it went well. It's been a very long few days, but it's nice to be busy.

I'm going to sleep now.

Last night I played in a small bar with Nitneroc. That guy can really press buttons, faster than me...

I played pump organ and sampler, and a lot of shaker. I've bruised my right thigh because I was hitting it with the shaker to get an accent, and in the excitement of the show I didn't realise it was too hard. But it's fine.

I'm going to try to use more pump organ for shows, because I really like playing it. The only problem is that it's 100 years old, fragile and heavy.

I'm playing at Scopitone on Tuesday. I think it will be a good concert.

compilations

Today I finished preparing my special Halloween show for Saturday. I feel quite well prepared. My only fear is that the pump organ will fall apart on the metro.

Alice In Wonderland

The music for Alice In Wonderland is going really well. I'm trying to treat it like film music by making themes and then making variations on those. So far I've used a lot of orchestral sounds for the instrumentation, and old samples of orchestral sounds for the really dreamy parts. I'm buying a theremin to use too. I can't wait to start the 10 week run.

Here's a list of things to avoid in life:

Tesco
Fashion designers

If you can think of anything else, don't hesitate to tell me.

Union Chapel

I got back to Paris last night, having been to England and played 2 shows.

The Union Chapel is really a great place. The reverb there is just amazing - it seems to come mostly from the right. I've never played in a room with such nice reverb.

In 5 days I will be performing on a catwalk at the new Junko Shimada fashion show. It's a very new experience for me - i know nothing about fashion, but they like my music and they've designed a special catwalk with a little stage in the middle. I hope I don't fall off or something.

Today a chimney sweep came to my house to do the chimney. Now we can fires. After, he was sitting at my table and I realised he had a large hole in his trousers and his penis was clear to see.

METRO

The Paris metro is something I both love and hate. It's dirty and it smells of oil, but these are traits often found in places I record too.

In the metro a few days ago I saw a Parrot, perching on a light fitting. I called it and it looked at me but didn't come. I left it there, and I'm sure it will die there.

Once in the metro I saw a huge spider - like tropical huge. It was eating from a paper bag someone had thrown on the tracks.

There are often great buskers in the metro too. My favorites are both men:

George Brassens man: he is blind, has a dog and a hifi which plays nothing but Brassens.

One Eye Man: he appears to be blind in one eye, plays a casio standing up (I think some kind of 90's casio, with missing keys) and he sings. I love his music so much.

There is a woman in the metro that I do not like. She is blind in both eyes, and they are both white, and she holds a cup with a coin in it and jangles it constantly - it's like something from an art film.

Anyway, enough for now.

GUN GALA

Today I finished my album. That involved tying a few loose ends with vocals and one solo, and also recording a song with the pump organ. It's taken a lot longer than expected, as usual, but it's now ready finished and I am very happy.

I don't have an order for the songs yet, but here are the songs:

SONGS ABOUT SNOW
SMILE LIKE YOU REMEMBER ME
FROG IN A SNAKE'S BELLY
BIG AND STRONG
I CAN'T GET OUT OF BED BUT I STAND BY WHAT I SAID
ALL HANDS BURY THE DAED
CAN I KEEP YOU
THE SEA
I WEAR THESE RINGS
PRESIDENT
JUST TO FIND YOU
HUMAN NOT A BEAST

Some of the songs have guests:

Minouche: clarinet, voice
Laura Jeanne Sauthier: voice
Thomas Wykes: voice
Shirley Phelps-Roper: voice
Sister Spinster: beats
Kevin M. Kirker: harp
Pierre Chandez: saw
Dona Davos: voice, glockenspiel

It will be available to buy just as soon as the artwork and things are finished, in around 2 months.

hi

last night i played a gig at the alimentation generale in paris. it's a big stone room.

they made dinner for me before i played but i couldn't eat it because it was almost raw. i like my steak crispy.

holidays

I'm in a Mcdonald's in the west of france, having not checked my internet things for 4 whole days. It's been a killer - I've become addicted to checking my mobile phone, which never bares any communicative fruit...

We're staying in a house near the sea. I'm very sunburned but apart from that it's nice to be here.

More later, in another Mcdonald's, in another part of France...

XX

I spent the last week in England, visiting family and recording a girl called Rosie. I played a show in Hertfordshire last night. Laura-Jeanne and I stayed in a room above the venue, which had just a large bed. For dinner we shared a steak and ale pie, which was delicious. I felt bad that they were being so nice to us so I washed up my own plate.

The bad news is that Cooper was hit by a car in Britanny last Saturday. He was our 2 month old puppy. He ran in to the road and was killed very quickly, so I think he didn't suffer. On Saturday I am going to Britanny with Laura-Jeanne and we will visit the place where he was burried. We've been very very sad for a couple of days but things are getting easier for everyone. We're not going to replace him. I'm trying not to think about Cooper, but it's quite hard - I really think he was going to grow up to be an amazing doggy. One comforting thing is that while he was alive he didn't do anything bad - he was too young to get in to any real mischief, so he just made everyone happy for 2 months and then left. That's the nicest way I can think to put it.

Moving on from sad items, here is my musical news:

1. I've secured a residency at a venue in Paris called La Bellevilloise. It will be one Sunday a month and sometimes I will have guests. The best thing about this venue is that they have a nice piano.

2. I'm playing a show at The Union Chapel in London in September. It's an excellent venue that I've dreamed of playing for a long time, so I will try hard to make an extra special show. In short, I'll use the pump organ.

That's it for now.

radio

I was played on the radio in england on Sunday night. A panel of "industry experts" listened to one of my songs and reviewed it on air. I was listening to it and it made me really nervous. They played I Can Show You Things but they cut it right in the middle of the middle 8, which I think is the nicest bit - that's where Matt overdubbed a load of what I can only assume is mellotron.

Anyway, they all agreed that it sounded like the beach boys, and one of them said elbow. I don't really know anything about Elbow, but I do love the Beach Boys, so it's a nice thing to here.

recordings

Currently I'm recording with 3 artists - one is chanson francais with mostly acoustic guitar and some electronica, one is retro synth pop and one is piano pop. They're all very different, so I'm really learning stuff, especially from the synth pop. The first backing track is finished and it kind of sounds like Erasure I think. It's strange because it sounds so regimented, but the chanson francais stuff is so free - it's like a polar opposite thing.

My album is still one song away from being finished. I still can't find a concise way of saying what I want to. Other than that one song, it's almost complete, so I guess it will be finished in September when I'm back from my holidays.

Having a dog has been a blessing in some ways. He's really learning how to melt my heart. Earlier today I packed my suitcase and he crawled in to it and fell asleep. As I write this he's laying on a pillow and looking at me.

Anyway, until next time.

finally

I've been motivated enough to update the website. We got a dog a few days ago and he is the cutest thing I have ever seen, so it's really hard to stay away from him long enough to do anything else.

The new album is one song away from being finished. It's a song which was originally going to be played on Wurlitzer theatre organ, but I've opted instead for the little field organ I have. It's another song about death and my dad. These are 2 subjects that fascinate me, but it's hard to know exactly what to say about 2 things that are such boring parts of life.

I am very happy with the remix of songs about snow. It was very fun to sing over someone else's arrangement of my song. It was hard at first because the tone of the music is not something that I am used to singing along to, but I worked on it and found in the end that my megaphone collection made the voice sound right.

When I've not been recording my album, I've been recording other people's music and writing for other people. I started recording a pop song for my friend Mr Fabulous, started recording the album of my friend Kevin and I've started writing a song for an English girl named Rosie. I really like recording other people sometimes. it's a good way to learn new things.

My first entry.

I've never had a blog before, but I think this is a way to be able to update my diary very easily, and also I would like to be more like Alan MX, my friend, my mentor and my guru.

I have been working on the new album since before the last one was finished, and it's all starting to fall in to place. I have a few slow headphone songs and some faster ones. I found a friend in Kevin M. Kirker - a harpist extraordinaire from Angel Island, California, and he has played harp on one of my songs. Another guest on the album is Sister Spinster - the mechanical drum machine invented and built by Thomas Truax. I wrote a song, and the beat that she gave just worked perfectly for it - kind of sounds like an old Wurlitzer merry-go-round organ style percussion section, which I like a lot.

It's weird that this is the first album where I don't have Peter Lyons and Stephanie Dade singing and playing. I miss their inputs, and I hope they will be available again in the future. It's hard when you live in a different country.

Yesterday in Paris I sat and watched a man play a ships piano by a fountain. I had never seen one before, but have often dreamed of owning one. He was really a great player - playing French standards in a kind of saloon style. I wish I could play piano like that. It looked like a big version of my old Schoenhut toy piano, and had a sustain lever which he used with his knee.

A man from Brighton has made a new version o one of my songs using old Gameboys. I will record the vocal and put it as a B side on the next EP, or perhaps give it away free with the first copies of the album sold. Not sure yet.

That's it for now.