Like Monkeys and other musings

Well, as some of you know I have been continuously chipping away at my debut album, speculatively called ‘Iterum’, for some months now. Last year I released the song ‘Like Monkeys’ in the hope that having some music out there would raise expectations and motivate me. I have been recording and publishing li’l videos on my personal Facebook page and YouTube channel in order to satisfy that outlet and share my woes with the universe. And it has been fun. See, observe how happy I am:

Life, as is always the case, got in the way and the need to record every little idea diminished as other stresses appeared.

In 2017, several of these issues have been dealt with and every challenge has been bested! With a new burst of inspirado I have blown the dust from several of the tracks and will be focusing heavily on this big release in time for the summer.

What to expect? An eclectic mix of melancholia, dark-pop and dystopian rock. As with most of my music it will be layered, edgy and melodic. The struggle is seating such disparate sounds in one body of work without it sounding jagged and incoherent as I genuinely wish that it can be enjoyed holistically in one sitting… otherwise, what is the point of the fabled Long Play?

So, from next week on I will be re-mastering those tracks that are finished (five so far), mixing the songs that are recorded (another 3), and recording the ideas that are currently forming behind my eyes and between my ears in the darker recesses of my brain (a million or so)!

There have also been stirrings on the Suspire front as Clare and Paul Duffin awake from their baby hibernation and we are hoping to release some new music before we begin touring in the summer/fall. Our track ‘Listen’ (recorded in house at Axis Sounds HQ) has been doing great and sets the tone for the new music.

Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll keep an eye and an ear open for my many musical outings this year, be they in the box or in your face at a gig. In the meantime, why not give Like Monkeys a spin, share with friends and maybe check out my other EPs on Spotify, Bandcamp or whichever streaming service takes your fancy.

 

 

 

Advertisement

Amour Fou Review by WoNoBloG

Hey folks,

Another wee reminder that Thomas Miller has released his debut EP “Amour Fou” available from all the usual places. We’ve had a good first review by Dutch Blogger WoNoBloG who discusses the sounds and instrumentation.

Read HERE.

Buy Thomas’s EP HERE.

 

Just a reminder that I will be supporting Thomas at his EP launch event in the New Hellfire Club in the Hidden Lane on Saturday 28th January. More information can be found here.

Crazy Love with Thomas Miller

I am absolutely buzzin’ as my good friend, collaborator and all round good guy Thomas Miller has released his EP. I was honoured to work with him on these emotionally charged tracks and enjoyed every minute of it.

Thomas is the head impresario over at 319 Records and this is his debut release available on this label.

I will be supporting him on the 28th of January in an intimate launch show for his EP “Amour Fou”.

Multimedia:

Official Video for the single “Amour Fou”.

 

Stream his EP on Spotify:

 

Purchase his EP HERE.

Start by HEIST

What better way to spend my week away from the rigours of the classroom than working with Glasgow synth-pop/soul upstarts Heist on their debut track “Start”. There were polo necks, opinions and phat bottom end.

A productive couple of days. We look forward to seeing where you guys take the track.

• Brian

Dee – Love Massacre

In the fall of 2013 I was asked to collaborate with an artist on 319 Records called ‘Dee’. At first, it was my distinction to clean up the ideas, trim/cut/arrange the sections and do a mix down.

The collaboration has turned into an extremely productive and efficient songwriting partnership and has been a platform for my own development inside the box in terms of production. After many a stuffy night spent in Axis Sounds and the rehearsal space we had a collection of interesting ideas; some embryonic, some nearing completion. The extensive list of songs was whittled down to a handful of what we thought was the strongest and put into the pot to be developed and worked on.

It has been a very rewarding process utilising the technology at hand in both the writing and recording stages and I have been able to throw the full weight of my new studio at this collaboration. It has also provided a great canvas for Paul and I to develop our production skills.

The first single to appear from this initial phase is called Love Massacre and will be available to buy from the 27th April. In the meantime, check out the video:

Dee and the team are a hardworking bunch of DIY musicians/songwriters/entrepreneurs so why not give her some love over at Facebook?

– Brian

On the road (again)

With our album steadily selling away and the songs getting some decent airplay we – that is Suspire – are preparing for a raunchy year of big stages, huge melodies and happy faces. The biggest smile will be planted on my freckled face as I have moved back on to my beloved guitar and handed the bottom-ended reigns over to someone more capable. That someone is a very handsome chap who goes by the name Chris ‘Yaco’ Yacomine.

As we move forward this year expect the following:

• synth poppery
• stringed wonderfulness
• burning brass
• 4 part harmonies
• chicken groovy

The anti-pay to play gig in Walkabout is going to be the sounding board to our new (and settled) sound. It’s on the 6th of March and we hope to see y’all there!

– B x

New stuff…

Well my 18 months of grand investment is now done… over… finito… for now anyway.

Here’s a list of the studio goodies available at Axis Sounds.

Recording medium:

• Macbook Pro 2013
• Dell XPS800 2010

Software:

• Protools 11
• Ableton Live 9
• Native Instruments Komplete 9 + Session Horns + Replika
• Nexus 2.0 + XP Vintage Expansion Packs
• Eventide Ultra Channel
• Waves Diamond bundle

Hardware:

• Digidesign 002 (rack)
• 4 x Presonus BT Valve Preamp (upgraded to Mullard and Sovtek tubes)
• ART Pro VLA 2 Valve Compressor & Preamp
• Behringer Ultrapatch Pro PX3000
• Focusrite Liquid Mix 32

Microphones:

• AKG 414 XBLS
• AKG Precision 820
• Shure SM57 x 2

Peripherals:

• Digidesign Command-8
• M-Audio Axiom 61
• M-audio Oxygen 25
• Korg PadKontrol
• V-amp 3

Output:

• Yamaha HS50
• Tapco SW10 Sub
• Focusrite VRM Box
• 4 x Sennheiser HD201s
• 2 x Red5 Audio RVH90

… oh aye and a Marshall AVT275 with upgraded Mullard tubes. All this investment and the same old price for your overdubbing, mixing and mastering needs.

Developments

Well, it seems every time I post on here it is to explain why it has been so long since my last post. As I head back to work (teaching Sound Production at Glasgow Clyde College) I reflect on a very productive summer full of recording, refurbishing, upgrading and releases!

Studio

Axis Sounds got a facelift with massive investment in a whole new recording system the HQ was given a whole new look.

To test out the new system (MacBook Pro, Protools 11, Ableton 9) I decided to release a record of my own. It gave me the opportunity to try out the new software suites I had purchased (Komplete 9, ReFX Nexus 2.0, Waves and Chris Lord Alge collections) as well as rig up the Command-8 to get some out-the-box mixing on the go.

Plateau EP

The EP is available to purchase here: 

It is also available in iTunes here and is a little cheaper. However, the downloads on Bandcamp are high quality audio which is the best way to experience these tracks. Listen to one of the tracks ‘Islands’:

Suspire album

The debut album from Suspire has been mastered, pressed and primed for digital release on September 5th, 2 days after our launch night in Glasgow’s Hard Rock Cafe. It has been a monumental DIY effort from everyone involved with the band; Clare, Paul, Chris and myself as well as our manager and PR guru Liam Young look forward to releasing it to the world. It features 10 songs and here’s the latest single:

Buy it here.

Dee

As always, here at Axis Sounds we have been working hard with Dee “Dee” Miller and I am excited to vaguely tell you that there is going to be a big push with loads of songs, vids and online media coming your way very soon. That’s as much as I can tell you but since we have been collaborating her songs have really came to life. Watch this space folks.

Suspire Remix Competition: Winner Announced

Well, it’s a little later than previously advertised (let’s blame the Festive schedule for this) but a winner has been drawn from all the submissions sent in for the remix of Suspire single Moonshine. There was dubstep, disco, dance and deep-down dastardly dark stuff going on. It’s interesting to hear other peoples creative take on a track I was so heavily involved in.

The winner is a remix by up-and-coming Glasgow producer/remix-engineer Zaiphon (previously known as PKzPhatFusion). The track has taken on a pacey, funk-electronica vibe with a great reimagining of the structure and what each part means. It is an extremely enjoyable repackaging and I am sure the Suspire massif will all enjoy it. Interestingly,  I have followed this geezer on SoundCloud for a while and I can tell you his songs always deliver!

More info on Zaiphons work is available here. To listen to the remix you will have to wait for the single release on all digital stores later on this month.

Thanks once more for the effort and time taken by everyone who submitted a track.

– Brian

Suspire’s Website

Band of the Week: Kill the Waves

Kill the Waves are one of those bands that either defy a genre or define it… or both. I’m not sure. Their influences read like a list of strange eclectic bands and art that is beyond the grasp of simple pop-loving post-rockers like myself. However, if I was to attempt to define them I would say they sound like a packaged, less-speculative Sigur Ros. Interestingly enough, Sigur Ros is a band that I struggle to enjoy, mainly because of the previously mentioned “speculative” aspect.

Thankfully, this band takes their motivation from their wide-ranging and diverse influences, elegantly filtered through Tim Kwant’s vision and wonderfully represented by the ambitious and able musicians that populate this band.

They recently released 3 videos on YouTube in a series known as Kill The Waves (quietly) where their tracks were performed unplugged and accompanied by some mallets and strings. Each recording is very beautiful and patiently paints a very deliberate picture of their sound, albeit stripped back and naked.

.

They are one for the peasants and the pro’s alike.