Halogen :: Baked

MMCD001 - Halogen :: Baked



Well here it is. My debut album is finally available to the public on CD. At the moment we are working on the availability of the Digital Download but rest assured it will be here soon.
To get your hands on the CD you can buy it from the Maternity Media website for £10 with no P&P. Also first 25 orders receive a free hand made card made with photographs i have taken, so get in quick!

IG88 - Mututal Mastication

Mutual Mastication marks the second full length solo release from the IDMf net label since the grandiose cyborg-tronica from Synaecide's Scientifica. Being a community of musicians brimming with talent, the label has yet to fully define its 'sound' beyond the extremely liberal constrictions of IDM. However there is one constant throughout their catalogue and that is sheer quality.
IG88's release is no exception. Moving through the brooding 80's darkwave aesthetic of album opener Poission D'avril to the rolling rhythms and luminous melodies of An Ice Cube's Sunrise, you can feel a overwhelming sense of majesty in the music and we're only half way through.
Overall the album feels very visual, possibly influenced from the psychedelic track titles, but images of hazy digital forests and purple smoke fill my mind, extremely dreamy yet never sedating. I also contribute a remix of the track Nebulous Eyes which acts as the album closer, so there's another reason to go and get this musical gem for FREE.

Download
IG88 on Myspace

Review...kinda...

Got my first response from the collection of people I sent to CD off to. Rather than reviewing the album, Tokafi reviewed the packaging of the press release...i guess it's better than nothing.

"The way you present yourself visually as an artist is becoming ever more important. As Steven Wilson of Bass Communion and Porcupine Tree put it in a recent interview with us: "When you're an artist, then your creativity does not stop at the point you've created the music. It continues through to the way you present your website, to the way you present your live shows and professional photographs." In this continuous series, we are taking a look at how labels and musicians around the world are accepting this challenge to come up with stimulating, provoking, endearing or simply stunningly beautiful designs. Part one: The envelope used to send us a copy of "Baked" by Halogen on UK-based label Maternity."

Read more...

Frequency Nine

Carl Sagans Ghost

Awesome ambient (duo?). Very mellow, very slow shifting washes of sound and ebbing melodies.
Lots of stuff to download for free, and they have stared a collaboration project that i'm interested in. Check it out on the site.
http://carlsagansghost.com/

Daniel Klag

Was looking for some experimental music stuff for Lydia Loop to check out when she went to New York. Stumbled upon this guy. More mega ambient experimental stuff in the vein of William Basinski but with more composition and harmonic development. He told me he's looking for a label to release on, from what i heard i would suggest Moteer or Raster Noton.
http://www.myspace.com/danielklag

Album Update 2

Sent off 12 press packs today to various publications and radio heads, still have more to make and send. Went all out on the design in an attempt to make it more interesting for the person receiving the package, now i just hope they listen to the CD and give it a good review!
Giant hi-5 to my sister, Anna, for helping me out with the whole process, no one else will ever know the many ridiculous draft messages that were written to David Stubbs and Derek Walmsley of The Wire magazine.
Each jiffy bag was spray painted matt black with the address written in silver.
On the back was a stencil of a halogen bulb (made by magic Jake) along with the return address.
As wells as a copy of the press release and the album, was a black card each with its own unique photo i had taken and a personal message. This was then bundled up with string and stuffed in the bag.

Unique Beat Podcast

My buddy IG88 informed of a new podcast that featured my track 'Not The Remix'. Alongside it are some other pretty interesting tunes as well as something special from the aforementioned IG88 who i recently completed a remix for. You can hear the podcast here.

Album Update

The Halogen - 'Baked' debut album is being printed and duplicated as we speak. Trying to locate some places to sell it, review it and play it. Release date set for 5th October - so get the word out.
Album track previews can be heard on the http://www.myspace.com/halogenbulbs

Retrospectre

'Retrospectre' will be dedicated to those dusty musical masterpieces that i have had the pleasure of rediscovering. Like 'Frequency' only with old stuff that's been around a while.
first up:

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
My goodness. This album hit me in the face with such intensity i nearly wept at its ferocious magnitude. One of the greatest rock records of all time, fill of sweeping melodies, bone crushing riffs and BIG BEATS. Ozzy is on top form, reminding us why he deserve the legend that follows him, and Iommi's guitar is heavier than any over produced metal record ive heard the last 20 years. Stand out tracks: 'Sabbra Cadabra' / 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' / 'A National Acrobat'

Coldplay - Parachutes
I've received a lot of stick for listening to the album, but it's fantastic.
Before Coldplay were a chart topping stadium rock band naming children after fruit baskets they were (still chart topping) post-uni boys making heart tugging tracks. The balance of instrumentation is impeccable (thanks to Ken Nelson production) and every member shows true skill with their instruments. The guitar have a post rock epicness to them, the bass is melodic and never stagnant, the drums are inventive and pronounced and Chris Martin's voice is angelic.
So so so so good.
Stand out tracks: 'Shiver' / 'Spies' / 'Sparks'

Junk Mail

SPAM and junk mail is a horrific defect of the cyber culture, clogging inboxes like matted hair in a sink. However, among the multitude of useless information lie some literary gems, albeit equally useless as the rest, they make selling Viagra far more cryptic and pseudo-philisophical than I had ever thought possible.
I used some edits of said junk mail for the artwork in my Recycled Broadcasts EP.
I fail to see the benefits of using these marketing techniques but would love to know how they are made. Here's a recent classic:

From: Stripling Arabajian
Subject: i yi ,h
M EXAMINATION PAPERS.* Ques. Give a rule for the use of the period? Ans. Every period must begin with a capital. Ans. A period is a dot written to the end of a sentence and is used to low the voice. Ans. A period is used for the topage of a sentence and to make our reading sound better than if we had no period. Ques. What is the chief occupation in the South Atlantic States? Ans. The ocoopations cold in the north part, but in the lower part rain seldom fails. FROM A SUNDAY-SCHOOL. The lesson was on The Ten Virgins, and the next Sunday the review question was asked, "What was the lesson about last Sunday?" and a bright boy gave the prompt answer, "About ten gals that went to a weddin." COMPOSITION LETTERS FROM YOUNG PUPILS. My dear teacher, God be with you witch I know he will, as the Song says God can see me every day when I work and when I play. again God is always near me when I pray. I shall nor for get Miss H. her name shall never die out Christ have mercy upon her If God calls her I will spect to meet her in heven at the last trumpet shall sound. I will be thair. Yours truly, Robert ---- Dear teacher, I wish I could write good. I have not done my duty. I will try the next time and do better. I am very sorry. I will try and do better. May God help me to obey my teacher. Miss F. is sick. I hope she will get better. I will try to be like Jesus. I have sign the pledge and have kept it. Now I will close my bad lines. I hope you will come back next year. Good by. Your aff Scholar, James ----

Frequency Eight

It's been a furiously intense few months; festivals, friends, graduation and 'real life' stuff that extends beyond the realms of cybersocial journal banter. However along the way, as usual, i have heard some awesome new music that must be shared. Enjoy.

The XX
Saw this band at Loop festival on recommendation of a friend. Apparently they use to be really bad but at present their songs hold a melancholy sweetness that remains upbeat without descending in to the 'slit your wrists' side of somber music. Very understated stage presence, all four members dressed in black looking very serious. They were awesome.
www.myspace.com/thexx

Sully
Another gem from my musical advisor Mr. Holderness. 2-step beautifulness with lush garage vocals. Tres Bo.
Listen to Phonebox EP: Last.FM
www.myspace.com/sullysg6

Junior Boys
Just the kind of 80s visionary pop magic that is in abundance at the moment; MGMT, La Roux, Ladyhawke, Empire of The Sun etc, except far more genuine sounding with less of that Hollywood gloss and ambitious hair.
www.myspace.com/juniorboys

University of Brighton Degree Show 2009

My time on the Digital Music and Sound Art course has come to its conclusion. For my final year university degree project i created an interactive installation using glass bowls and contact mics. The signal from the mics were sent to a mixer and then to a laptop where all the sound processing was done using the Plogue software Bidule. Each of the five mics used had a different chain of effects which created the strange sounds.
Included was:
*Music boxes
*Rubber tipped mallets
*Rulers
*A whisk
*Wooden spoons
*Bottle caps
Participants were invited to be creative and experiment and make their own compositions and soundscapes regardless of any previous musical experience or aptitude.
The installation was named Contact.
A huge thank you goes to Alain Guisan, without whom this would not have been possible.

see more photos here










Other amazing stuff included:

Hemisphere
Zak Norman

Another interacitve installation, Hemisphere used an EEG scanner (more commonly used in hospitals) which scans your brain frequencies and converts in to data that can automate parameters of a prefabricated musical composition as wells syncronize with visuals.
Different levels of thinking (concentration, logic, memory, emotion and facial expression) resonate at different frequencies which are picked up by the EEG consequently changing different aspects of the music and visuals.



The creator, Zak Norman, and his screens.



TEEJ
Tom Marshall

A live improvised performance with electric guitar, drums, keyboards and live looping using Ableton Live, all of it was played against a giant backdrop of audio responsive visuals. It was amazing, check his blog here.





Duffular
Dan Duff

A touch screen granular sampler. Users can select from a bank of samples and set loop points whilst effecting them with, filters, reverb, delay, pitchshifting and distortion. Generates beautiful soundscapes reminiscent of Tim Hecker.



The Listening Tree
Adam Ward

A walk-in environment consisting of a simulated tree surrounded by fake leaves, lights that look like fruits and real bark on the floor. There were eight speakers hung around the room that played a montage of field recording soundscapes, moving from a rainforest to the sea and into the busy urban sounds of Brighton's center. People could enter the space and sit on the bench provided to hear the 10 minute piece. This was one of my favourites.


Sadly, Dan was not part of the installation.

Lo-Fi Hi-Fi
Max Hart

Another notable piece was the work of Max Hart who studied Performance and Visual Art which was exhibited just down the hall from our room. Three perspex tubes were mounted on to three upward facing motor fans, each housed a steel rod that guided a vinyl up toward a tonearm needle, dismantled from an ordinary record player. The fans were automated by programme normally used for a lighting rig, they would push the vinyls to the top of tubes and cause them to spin against the needle which was played out through a loudspeaker. It looked and sounded genius-insane.

BANG

Been taking a lot of pictures with my Coloursplash Lomo camera which has coloured flashes, but i also but the coloured actetates over the lens to get a weird. Soon i will post a video and some pics of the installation i have been making for my final uni degree show. In the mean time here are some sketches that stained my moleskine.

Glade Festival 2009

Got booked to play the InSpiral stage on Sunday midday.
Sharing the line up with the awesome faces of Iambic, Fluid, Sick Rebel and Spoonbill to name a few.
Other acts im looking forward to seeing include Squarepusher / Moderat / Freeland / Underworld / Atomic Drop / Hudson Mohawke / Milanese / Ebola / Jazzsteppa / Nagual Sound Experiment and a load more

Website - http://www.gladefestival.com

Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/gladefestival

Length & Brecht /Remixed/

Three awesome remixes of my tune Length & Brecht which appeared on the second idmforums.com compilation - IDMf002 - Concord.
A very big thanks to Perm, Fid, Stu and AT for their time and effort into what is becoming and incredible net-label. Just sick music, all for free.
Beautiful artwork commissioned by the magical hands at www.Goreki.com

Tracklist:

01: Halogen - Length & Brecht (Original Mix)
02: Halogen - Length & Brecht (Synaecide Remix)
03: Halogen - Length & Brecht (Field Rotation Remix)
04: Halogen - Length & Brecht (Woodnote Remix)

Download here

The Future of Music

I was so musically deprived after doing my final year degree work for uni that i managed to squeeze out a mini album of material over the past four days.
It was intended to be a futuristic take on what music may become...
The name is pretty ridiculous but the music is even more so.
Includes: Horror Ambience / Wonky Classical / Underwater Pop

FREE DOWNLOAD LINK:
http://drop.io/therealgrin
http://rapidshare.com/files/226762436/TheGrin_Neo-Symphony.zip

Frequency Seven

There are many things i want to say, but, alas, i have no time.
I am in the middle of making my final year uni project (some kind of interactive installation involving glass bowls...)
thus, in haste...

Comfort Fit
Awesome abstract hip-hop, that i believe, nowdays, one calls 'wonky'.
You can grab his Forget And Remember LP for free on his website.
Definitely go an download it.
Comfortfit.de

Taylor
Very well thought and out and excellent composed glitchy techno.
Just got his track out on the first release from Wigflex. There website has awesome artwork and graphics.
Myspace.com/adamtaylor84

0.1
Haunting post-rock electronica with a signature eerie falsetto.
Really tight production and sound design.
Download his track The Dance of Mechanical Birds for free here
a very intense but awesome 17 minutes.
myspace.com/0point1

Fluid Mix - Vol.3

My latest mix was aired on Fluid Radio last night so i'm putting it here for free download.
Its a very mellow mix of non-electronica acoustic centered bliss and i'm very much in love with every track used, hope you do too.

Tracklisting:
Bombay Bicycle Club - You Already Know
Department Of Eagles - Phantom Other
Fleet Foxes - Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
Cortney Tidwell - Mama From The Mountain
Here We Go Magic - Fangela
Flanger - Crime In The Pale Moonlight
Jim Noir - Computer Song
Deerhunter - Activa
Origamibiro - Vitreous Detachment
Grizzly Bear - Foreground
Bon Iver - Flume
Taxi Taxe - Heart.
Richard Skeleton - Fold
Halogen - A Less Exciting Mutual Friend

Halogen Fluid Mix-003 by Halogen

My Moleskine Sketchbook

Frequency Six

Recent finds from myspace searches and magic humans...

Lou Breed
Really love this guys stuff, reminded me of Danimals (formerly Jonti Danimals). Very simple composition, rolling drums and just awesome vocals. 'I Stole This Hat' and 'Cardboard Hands' are my favourite but they all are awesome (all song on the myspace really quiet).
http://www.myspace.com/loubreed

Origami Biro
Shown to me by the very special Dan Fluid. Delicate and beautiful acoustic loops with micro-sounds woven inbetween, the track Vitreous Detachment is featuring in my April mix for Fluid Radio.
http://www.myspace.com/origamibiro

Woodnote
Hes done an awsome remix of my track Length & Brecth and the rest of his stuff is pretty promising. Kinda funky trip-hop with a slight cinematic glaze. My description are becoming less accurate and more food related. Check out 'Macavity' and 'Pretty Colours'.
http://www.myspace.com/woodnotesound

Dam Funk
This is Future Funk. I've listened to the song Gold on infinite repeat since my friend (a dope photographer) showed it to me. Patrick Holderness i love you, infact Dam Funk is just a catalyst for my undying affection.
http://www.stonesthrow.com/damfunk
http://www.myspace.com/damfunk

Drop-D Interview

Following up from a mention about my free EP, Drop-d's Adam Lacey very kindly offered me an interview about me and my music! Admitedly it's very strange to eloquently translate my music into a coherent piece of prose, but i think i managed to do it with out sounding too pretentious...i hope. A big thanks to Tenaka whose been spreading the word about my stuff to the Irish folk, without him this wouldn't have happened. Cheers bro!

Read the full interview here.

FAME

So as i was casually scouring the internet for mentions of my music, i came across a review of my EP on a Russian website! I asked googled to translate it for me:

"Maternity Media Svezhezapuschenny site celebrates its first creation in a series of free artist album release Halogen (Adam Janota-Bzowski).Music E to the core IDM and ambient in one bottle. can only pozhelate British comrades every development, success and a lot of releases, which would write that."
Link
How sweet of them.

I did find a new review (in English) that Minimax wrote, describing my music as deep and sexy downtempo electronica.....mmmmmm.
Click here to see the whole review

Halogen Motion Mix

Iambic asked me to make a mix for his Phuture Frequency drum and bass centered radio podcast site. The Motion Podcast section deals with mixes of various genres and has some really great stuff up there. My mix has some tracks of many of the people i have mentioned in the Frequency posts on this blog, also included are some previews from my debut album, an awesome track from a recent find: Friendly Foliage, and also a track from my mate Dirty Long Legs who is also one quarter of our 80s inspired music power team (all will be revealed).

Tracklisting:
Juri - Thought It Was Love
Saine - Live A Little
Friendly Foliage - The Way to The Western Sea
Jonti Danimals - Nightshift in Blue
Rumpistol - Rehux
Praveen - Float
Dirty Long Legs - Eugene and Ezra
Halogen - Millicent
Juri - Void
Bluermutt - Shaping My Vision of a Nice Day
Helios - Shoulder to Hand
Halogen - Etik
Fennesz - Perfume for Winter
Listen and download here

Free We Yes You No track

The Maternity website is growing! Although still in its prepubescent developing stages, i am happy to announce that the track 'I Live In NY' by We Yes You No is available for free to download off the maternity website.
Its a delicate and melancholy piece of music that commences the gradual release of their entire EP 'Somewhere on a Train' and it's awesome so go on and download it.
Maternitymedia.com

You Are Atlas

I finally uploaded the album to archive.org
i thought it was safest there, it's a magical place and people actually listen to your music, which is nice.
Continuing with the previous ethos employed by the past albums, all music is improvised and recorded on to cassette tape. This means there is a lot of muffled whispers and random clattering, which can be interpreted as added 'ambience' if you like...
I condensed about 3 hours of material into 8 separate tracks, its very strange, but i like that and hope you will too.
Download Link

Halogen Remix Competition

The mythical creatures of the www.idmforums.com suggested a separate remix EP of my track 'Length & Brecht' that appears on the epic and awesome IDMF002 - Concord compilation.
Amongst all the parts I also included the two complete raw audio takes of vocals that i recorded courtesy of the lovely Rose.
Deadline for entries is 30th March
Join the forum and download the stems here.
Download IDMF002-Concord.

Frequency Five

Over the past week i have been doing some intense Myspace rummaging, contacting a plethora of musicians to get them to listen to my music. Along the way i found some really incredible artists, who also have some beautiful free releases.

Juri
A nice dude from Finland, he directed me to his free 'Thought It Was Love EP', filled with slowly weaved and fragmented guitars, whistling synths and subtle rhythms. Annoyingly short, but nonetheless very stunning and beautfifully produced.
www.archive.org
www.myspace.com/jurimusic

Saine
Another inhabitant of Finland, what is it with these guys? His 'Clockwork EP' uses wonky and sterile beats surrounded by jazzy riffs and glowing melodic swells. The composition is really impressive, so simple that it requires many listens to appreciate the craft used.
www.sainemusic.com

www.myspace.com/sainemusic


Jonti Danimals
This music is very special. Its is also very difficult to describe. There is an aged and weathered texture to the overall sound, as though written and pressed to vinyl in the 1940's and then sampled by Animal Collective. Very jubiliant and playful, this Australian has some impressive times ahead. A must listen!
www.myspace.com/jontidanimals

Iambic
I first met Guy only recently through recommendation of a mutual friend, and i hope to soon be collaborating with him on some obscure music. He showed my a demo for his most recent album which conjured an image of Portico Quartet playing God Is an Astronaut. His free download EPs however show a far more ambient and subtle approach to its content, calm and serene and impeccably constructed
www.iambicmusic.com

www.myspace.com/iambic

A Pause During the Storm

So amidst the painful process of writing my final end of year dissertation for University, i decided to spend what little free time i had editing and mixing the culmination of three hours of jamming that the Atlas gang did.
I can happily say that i believe that period to be over, and now i must give it some artwork, a name and location for you to download it.
In the mean time here some sonic delights for you:

Tenaka has finally released his debut release: EPonymously Titled.
Its pretty engaging in its simplicity, but the majesty really lies in overall solemn texture to the EP that washes over you, wanting more. Download here.

Atlas Returns!

After a lengthy hiatus, my mass musical collective, Atlas, has finally rekindled some sonic documentations. Originally conceived for a singular one-off concept album, Atlas begun in the late summer of 2004 (i think), creating a five track improvised post-rock 'masterpiece'. Back then it consisted of only me (The Professor), Ben Aizenberg (Andromadus) and Kit Codling (Helix Zephyr Zee), with our second album, Elements, we expanded the troops to total of ten members and hope that number to grow.

A hazy and lethargic new years eve/new years day led to some muscial explorations and experimentations, armed with some laptops, mics, guitars, a thumb piano, a FM3 Buddah Machine and a whole bunch of effects we layed down about 3 hours of jamming all recorded on a Panasonic tape dictaphone (all previous Atlas recordings were captured on various tape decks and mixers). I am yet to cut, edit and compose the whole lot into a coherent and digestable EP, and eventually re-mix and master the entire back catalogue and make it all available for free download.

Here are some pics of our ramblings:







http://www.myspace.com/youareatlas