KADE live at Artsmith Studios

The KADE project has been going from strength to strength in recent weeks. Since my last blog about the live show at Stuck On A Name Studios, we have released the live audio through the label.

Last night we performed at Artsmith Gallery in Derby, promoting my good friend Todd's exhibition opening. It was great to see two art forms come together in such a creative way. We played a nice long set and I was able to explore a lot more live manipulation techniques using both Ableton Live and the Maschine's capabilities. Shep laid down some fantastic grooves as well, providing the backbone for the improvisations. To add to the mix, my mate Jonesy put down some spoken word and MC'd over top of our tunes which sounded ace. Here is a video of him performing on his own before hand.

Performing alongside us was local psychedelic electronic outfit THE GALLIVESPIANS who set up next to our stuff to create a performance space that was in the round, allowing punters to stroll around the edge and immerse themselves in the artwork.

Shep & I really enjoyed ourselves and are looking into organising another live event at this venue with an audio-sensory theme...

Bitnormal Sampler

After a few months, the Bitnormal release page now stands at 16 seperate releases from 9 different artists. For a new-comer to the page, that's a lot of electronica to get your head around. LAst year I got to a stage with my Mender bandcamp page, where I had created and uploaded so much free music that people were simply put off by how much content was available. This is something I have come to consider when trying to promote our label. How many people arrive at the page with no knowledge of who our artists are and how they sound r indeed, what the over-all feel of the label is like, and are instantly daunted by the scale of our back catalog.

So I had this idea last night. Lets put out a sampler that gives you a taste of the sounds going on with our label. 6 tracks that capture the essence of the artists and offer the listner a bigger picture of Bitnormal.

Inspired by the epic branding elements designed by Pete Clark, I knocked together a cover and put together my own selection of Bitnormal artists and sent it to Chris. Earlier today the Sampler went up. Hopefully it is the first of many. It is totally free (as opposed to Name Your Own Price) and features some stunning remixes alongside some original independant material.

Secret Cheeses

Over the weekend I went touring with Hallouminati. I say tour but really it was two shows, one in Brighton on Friday night and a slot at the Crystal Palace Festival on Westow Park.

This project is really interesting as I get try and transfer my skills in electronic performance into a totally different context. These guys play Balkan Ska and infuse it with Greek flavours, Jazz, Swing, Reggea and Rock. It's great fun and never fails to get audiences dancing.

My approach to this has been to infuse some dubstep style effects into the more half-time reggae moments and to add traditional percussion and acoustic instruments into the mix, as well as some big fat sub synths which thicken the mix in the more dancey sections.

I love this band. Their new material is awesome and they deserve to be heard!