the cacophony of light - bits (2005)

 

During the summer of 2003 we took our family vacation on the Penwith peninsula of Cornwall (UK) to find that the area was littered with neolithic monuments, so between days at the seaside and trips to the usual tourist attractions, we drove around the countryside searching out these stone landmarks and photographing them.

 

Unlike the more popular and famous neolithic sites like Stonehenge, Avebury and Carnac, these where surprisingly small - yet for all that they were equally as impressive - for they where on a human scale, which made them more personal and "real" - somehow, the fact that they were something that you could imagine farmers of 6000 years ago erecting them in a day or so and still have them standing in the landscape today bridged that distance, making a connection from those ancient times to the present day.

 

On returning from our holiday, I sat at the PC and composed some music that tried to capture what I felt there, not as some pseudo-spiritual new-age noodling, but as distinct tunes representative of the physical nature of the stones and the landscape they were placed in.

 

 

(more pictures here)

 

1. Mên-an-tol
2. Lanyon Quoit
3. Mên Scryfa
3. The Merry Maidens
4. The Pipers
5. Tregiffian (A Moment Ago part 2)
 

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EY9DQD7O

 

 

 

Oh oh oh - no.

 

(not laughing at you, just at the idea of me being added )

 

But it's a good question, that prompts a thousand answers...

 

I don't think my music is particularly "Prog" - whenever I've tried to write anything "Prog" I've always failed -everything is a little bit Prog because I use odd time signatures, strange key changes, exotic scales, funny chord progressions, layering and counter-point and non-standard song structures (I've never written an AABA song in my life) ... and because Progressive Rock is a big influence on me, but having some of the component parts don't make it Prog, lots of non-Prog music also uses these techniques (Jazz, New Age, Neo-Classical etc...). I think I am too close to the material to judge - perhaps someone else can hear it as Prog - one of the reasons artists don't like being pigeon-holed is because they think they are being original and non-generic.

 

My only aim when setting out to record all these albums was to make weird/avant garde/exotic/experimental music that sounded "normal" and accessible - I don't think that is Prog in itself. Certainly not all avant garde music is Progressive AG, not all Electronic music is Progressive Electronic and not all Psyche Rock is Progressive Psyche Rock.

 

Whether "worthy" or not I cannot judge - I think my music is naive, amateurish and simplistic, and while I don't think "quality" has anything to do with being added to the PA, I think we must draw a line somewhere .

 

(of course there is a modicum of fear involved - it's one thing having your friends saying nice things about your music (regardless of how bad it is) - it's something else when a total stranger rips it to pieces over the internet)

 

When we were discussing "unsigned" bands back in 2007 we noticed that with modern home-recording equipment and software it was possible to produce a "professional" product without the expense of a studio and record label and self-release over the internet as a download only album, in principle the status of "unsigned" does not exist once a band has recorded something. For a very modest sum of money it is even possible to produce a saleable CD complete with booklet and jewel-case -  I did this for my Moments album using mp3.com, and there are a number of vanity-press businesses out there who will do this for you for very low production runs. So we decided on a set of "rules" that determined whether an unsigned band who had self-released an album could be admitted to the PA and since then we have added a number of bands and artists who meet that criteria.

 

The problem as I see it is people like me - I have met all the rules for being a signed artist (all of my CDs are "for sale") - yet I do not consider my self a "serious" artist - I am still an amateur playing around with some recording gear at home making - whichever way you look at it I am unsigned, and I don't think we should be adding "artists" like me. (My personal opinion)