Hahahaha what a day of funny emotions... the album is finally out and live on iTunes!!! After all the randomness proceeding it, the concept, the first tune being made to the eventual completion and mission it was to get it done and up, it is finally there. I've literally had iTunes up for an hour just looking at it and laughing my arse off... who would have thought a random in joke would have gone this far!!! I'm so happy to see it there yet it's a strange feeling, but yeah I'm just sitting about having a few beers and giggling to myself lol. If you go on iTunes and search for Widen Cartel you will find it there, or failing that check this link to be taken directly to the store: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=304092963&s=143444
Times are good in the world of Gareth :)
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Valentines Record Selection Part 3 - Lauryn Hill - Ex Factor
Final record selection for the weekend... I think everyone who has been in a messy break up can identify with this record. This record still plays with me when I listen to it to this day, great great tune. Perfect Valentines comedown material... absolutely love this track, even if it still feels weird listening to it. Say what you want about her, Lauryn nails it with this :) Happy Valentines peeps! Gx
Valentines Record Selection Part 2 - Reks - Day 2
Reks - Day 2 from my favourite album of last year, Grey Hairs... two albums this year from Reks on ShowOff, More Grey Hairs which is extra bits that weren't used on the first album and then an as yet untitled album of brand new material. Highly underrated but one of my favourite, Reks we salute you!!!
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Valentines Record Selection Part 1 - Zero Tolerance feat Steo - Refusal (Calibre remix)
Soooo sooooo soooo sooooo good :) Calibre is a genius!
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Moooorning all!!!
Well, after another sleepless night (doh) I'm up bright and early for a wicked day of uni. Even though I am half dead and really really really could do with some form of sleep I'm really up for today!!! Got to learn about the circuits and theory behind the distortion pedal I'm building, then in the afternoon a nice easy lecture/practical of another project I've got to do which involves chopping up and rearranging a song in Peak (made by Bias, basically the Mac equivalent of Wavelab/Soundforge... not used it yet but got my hands on the manual and highlighted the bits I'll need to reference, just differences in the layout etc). Should be really easy considering I do that kind of thing for fun anyway at home but at a much more advanced level.
I've decided to have a chop about with Bad Company's often overlooked classic 'Colonies', from their 1999 debut album 'Inside The Machine' (incidentally one of my favourite drum & bass albums ever!). As I've been up pretty much all night I've planned out how I'm going to do it and written out a step by step guide to what I'm going to do with the chops and FX... just shorten it to 2 minutes, do some cheeky edits and filter automation and try and do a slowed down half tempo choppy bit as well rearranging the drums around. I was originally going to do something vocal and lively (Rick James - Mary Jane or Earth Wind & Fire - September were my original ideas) but I figured I'd take the edity option and go with electronic music as a) I can get more technical on the edits and b) the tempo will be locked instead of fighting with a human drummer to keep the transitions smooth. Add to that the fact that vocals come in and out all over the place and that restricts you to merely rearranging the song pattern and cutting stuff out, I think it makes for a much more interesting proposition :)
Coffee, cigarette, shower, grab my stuff and I'm out! Take care people :p
G
I've decided to have a chop about with Bad Company's often overlooked classic 'Colonies', from their 1999 debut album 'Inside The Machine' (incidentally one of my favourite drum & bass albums ever!). As I've been up pretty much all night I've planned out how I'm going to do it and written out a step by step guide to what I'm going to do with the chops and FX... just shorten it to 2 minutes, do some cheeky edits and filter automation and try and do a slowed down half tempo choppy bit as well rearranging the drums around. I was originally going to do something vocal and lively (Rick James - Mary Jane or Earth Wind & Fire - September were my original ideas) but I figured I'd take the edity option and go with electronic music as a) I can get more technical on the edits and b) the tempo will be locked instead of fighting with a human drummer to keep the transitions smooth. Add to that the fact that vocals come in and out all over the place and that restricts you to merely rearranging the song pattern and cutting stuff out, I think it makes for a much more interesting proposition :)
Coffee, cigarette, shower, grab my stuff and I'm out! Take care people :p
G
Monday, 9 February 2009
Sleep would be nice
Well... it's 2.45pm on Monday and like a complete twat I have managed to stay up all night for not all that much reason at all... got myself some new toys and drums to play and sat making drum loops but somehow I'm still up sat in bed watching Jerry Maguire (which incidentally I remember being funnier and less soppy... bollocks!!! lol). What have I been up to all weekend? Not too much, but I have been doing some preparation work for the latest uni assignment I've been set, which is to conceptualise, design the circuits for and build a distortion pedal. It will be a really good thing to both understand the concepts and build the thing. I have the greatest concept too, got an old broken SNES at home so going to take it apart and use the case... I've drawn the concepts out and it will be incredible (if not the geekiest thing ever hahaha). Shame my soldering skills are pretty wank lol... oh well at least they'll be hidden :)
What else is going on... hmmmm... I've got about 5 days to get my brother a birthday present... fuck knows what I'm going to do, why are relatives so hard to buy for? At least my mum isn't too hard at the moment, she's always got some new gadget I can get an accessory for at the moment but what do you get a 28 (eeeek nearly 30 Stuart hahahahahahaaaa) year old with his own apartment in a different country? I'm sure I'll find something but if anyone has any ideas then give me a shout!
One final note really... a guy I barely knew died last week from back home in Leighton... my thoughts are with his friends and family, I know it's hit a lot of people quite bad and it's been tough for them... it's fucked up how life can so quickly turn around and change in a flash. I've not had this situation happen to anyone close to me, yet every time these things happen arise I always seem to feel that bit more mortal. I guess it makes you thankful for everything you have right now, and in a weird way it's one of the only things that seems to unite people, when it's just too late :( Death is a part of life, something we will all have to face at some point, yet it never gets easier to deal with and so I just hope he is in a better place now. RIP Jack.
Might write some more after I've slept a bit, but until then take care of yourselves people :)
G
What else is going on... hmmmm... I've got about 5 days to get my brother a birthday present... fuck knows what I'm going to do, why are relatives so hard to buy for? At least my mum isn't too hard at the moment, she's always got some new gadget I can get an accessory for at the moment but what do you get a 28 (eeeek nearly 30 Stuart hahahahahahaaaa) year old with his own apartment in a different country? I'm sure I'll find something but if anyone has any ideas then give me a shout!
One final note really... a guy I barely knew died last week from back home in Leighton... my thoughts are with his friends and family, I know it's hit a lot of people quite bad and it's been tough for them... it's fucked up how life can so quickly turn around and change in a flash. I've not had this situation happen to anyone close to me, yet every time these things happen arise I always seem to feel that bit more mortal. I guess it makes you thankful for everything you have right now, and in a weird way it's one of the only things that seems to unite people, when it's just too late :( Death is a part of life, something we will all have to face at some point, yet it never gets easier to deal with and so I just hope he is in a better place now. RIP Jack.
Might write some more after I've slept a bit, but until then take care of yourselves people :)
G
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Back to uni!
Howdy all :) Finally back to uni today, managed to not sleep at all (literally awake all night) but still made it in... this semester should be really good (apart from those bastard morning trains... fuck London is shit before 10am and on Saturdays) as one of my big projects is to build a working distortion pedal!!! I'm spending the next week doing a bit of research and thinking of some concepts for the design that won't get me kicked off (unfortunately my first idea of the Dirty Dick pedal shaped as a penis isn't the best idea lol). Going to keep on the perverse lines as usual... might call it the Super Trashing Interface (STI for short lol) or Super Terrific Distortion (STD), or even Silly Levels Uber Trashed (SLUT). The other one that wouldn't be allowed would be the Bargain Bucket shaped as girl parts but once again, can't see me getting away with that (would be great though, could glues pubes on and everything hahaha).
So yeah, conceptualisation is the order of the day there, as well as a making a plan and working out what I need to do and by when. Really looking forward to this, should be both challenging and rewarding, and will hopefully inspire me to take on more DIY projects at home which is a really cool thought :)
In other news, work on the follow up to A Finger Too Far has started, been writing a part 2 to one of our favourite tracks off the first album via email with Tom... going to try and get the beat down as we go as the mood of the song changes but should be really good fun! I've also (Mark you'll love this) started smoking roll ups as I'd find myself getting through 20 decks too quickly, especially when playing with sounds on the computer etc so roll ups are a good counter to that problem.
Oooooh finally before I go, I had some good news today... over the xmas period I had this audio electronics project due in that took me countless sleepless nights to try and get my head around and actually do... now I would have been happy with getting just the 40% and scraping through it but somehow I managed to get an A grade hahahaha!!! That prick who sent me a shitty email when I asked for some advice from others on the course - FUCK YOU MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!
That's it for tonight, I'm out! G :)
So yeah, conceptualisation is the order of the day there, as well as a making a plan and working out what I need to do and by when. Really looking forward to this, should be both challenging and rewarding, and will hopefully inspire me to take on more DIY projects at home which is a really cool thought :)
In other news, work on the follow up to A Finger Too Far has started, been writing a part 2 to one of our favourite tracks off the first album via email with Tom... going to try and get the beat down as we go as the mood of the song changes but should be really good fun! I've also (Mark you'll love this) started smoking roll ups as I'd find myself getting through 20 decks too quickly, especially when playing with sounds on the computer etc so roll ups are a good counter to that problem.
Oooooh finally before I go, I had some good news today... over the xmas period I had this audio electronics project due in that took me countless sleepless nights to try and get my head around and actually do... now I would have been happy with getting just the 40% and scraping through it but somehow I managed to get an A grade hahahaha!!! That prick who sent me a shitty email when I asked for some advice from others on the course - FUCK YOU MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!
That's it for tonight, I'm out! G :)
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Good stuff happening is good. Yes, yes it is!!! 15 good things in the world of Gareth lol :p
This blog has seemed to have turned into a strange place for me to get random silly thoughts off my mind so I figured I'd do some nice positivity for a change. I'm a bit hungover still from Al's birthday house party so bare with me...
Good thing 1 - Holidays!!! Just need to get these flights booked this weekend and I'm off on my big fat adventure which will be wicked :)
Good thing 2 - Resident Evil 5 soon!!! I've been waiting for this game since I lived in Cambridge (must be 4 or 5 years now...) and if this is anything to go by I can't wait - http://www.rehorror.net/v20/first-real-resident-evil-5-review ... March 13th is a long way away though annoyingly but yeah, after a disappointing demo my excitement over computer games that seems to happen every couple of years has reappeared and I'm getting ready to shut down my life again when it comes out. Geeky I know, but as one of my friends kindly pointed out the other day, geeks make the world go round hahaha!
Good thing 3 - Widen Cartel Album going up on iTunes in the next 4 weeks or so!!! Submitted the album and the artwork now so just needs processing and putting up there :) Exciting times, will be hilarious seeing it up there, considering writing to the Leighton Buzzard Observer to let them know and get them to do a horrendous review lolol. Genius!!! Need to have a night out to celebrate back in the Beezy... wont be the same without Tom there but someone has to hold up the fort hahaha ;)
Good thing 4 - Being a Lord!!! I am legally now a Lord (well, Laird as it's Scottish land I own) so just going to work out which of my bank accounts and other random accounts with companies to get the name changed to... getting my post delivered as Laird G Bishop will be stupid, love it :) Makes me want to commit some crime and get caught too so I can go to court and make the judge call me Laird hahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa. I'm such a dick.
Good thing 5 - Tea. Nuff said.
Good thing 6 - Andrey Arshavin!!! I'm so glad that as a club we have signed him, it's not just to help salvage what has been a pretty tough season for fans, but also as a statement of intent to our other key players that we still mean business as a club. I expect us to sort out our defensive woes (which actually arent that bad... 10 games unbeaten is it now?) and get a holding midfielder to replace Flamini's departure in the summer, but for now I think we have what it takes to ensure Champions League football next season. Let's just smash those dirty scummy yids on Sunday!!!
Good thing 7 - Rafa Benitez - all I have to say is LOL, keep doing your thing and let it slip!!!
Good thing 8 - Chelsea looking bored, poor, playing without passion and just like a team of players that are no longer interested. Keep it up!!!
Good thing 9 - Listening to old rave tapes that you used to love at school!!! Mickey Finn @ Helter Skelter Energy 99... good lord what a tape!!! Hahaha had a good little rave-up on my own the other day, oh the memories of parks and bongs lol :p
Good thing 10 - Uni starting again tomorrow - been so bored but looking forward to getting stuck back in (even if it is some pretty horrific sounding maths etc... should get the brain sharp again though!)
Good thing 11 - The Big Bottom Box Set!!! Bottom Live kills me every time, and having them all together is awesome!!! So glad I saw the final one live, wish they'd do more though :(
Good thing 12 - Call Of Duty 5 with friends on XBL - hahaha so funny!!! Love the Bouncing Bettys, too much fun as well as those great bastard moments... I never thought I'd have so much fun on there wearing a silly little headset but it's wicked and also a nice way to keep in touch with people too :)
Good thing 13 - Ram Trilogy - Molten Beats... what an album and still doesn't sound dated somehow... I think this is up there with my favourite albums of all time :)
Good thing 14 - HIP HOP IS STILL ALIVE IN 2009!!! Honestly, anything Statik Selektah is involved with is turning out incredible and it just gets better and better. Got loads to look forward to this year, including Termanology and Statik's 1982 album, Reks - More Grey Hairs, Statik's 3rd artist album, another Reks album too, new Granite State (!!!) and finally the one that really excites me is the thought of the Lil Fame (from MOP) and Termanology collaboration album. ShowOff Records is sooooo good right now, isn't it great to find a label that is prolific yet consistent with their quality too?!! Ahhh love it!!!
Good thing 15 - Finally, the fact that so many of my friends are getting such good success from their music and are pushing forward. My mate Phil signing a track to Shy FX's Digital Soundboy label for a 12", another mate getting some nice Radio 1 play, a few other friends still at the top of their game and broadening their horizons dipping into other music, it serves as nothing but inspiring for me and a constant reminder that with hard work anything is possible!!! Too much self doubt is a killer (and I am terrible for it) but just believe in yourself and be intelligent enough to realise what parts of your life and your game (whatever it may be) can be improved and sharpen them up :) Positivity 1, Negativity 0
G :)
Good thing 1 - Holidays!!! Just need to get these flights booked this weekend and I'm off on my big fat adventure which will be wicked :)
Good thing 2 - Resident Evil 5 soon!!! I've been waiting for this game since I lived in Cambridge (must be 4 or 5 years now...) and if this is anything to go by I can't wait - http://www.rehorror.net/v20/first-real-resident-evil-5-review ... March 13th is a long way away though annoyingly but yeah, after a disappointing demo my excitement over computer games that seems to happen every couple of years has reappeared and I'm getting ready to shut down my life again when it comes out. Geeky I know, but as one of my friends kindly pointed out the other day, geeks make the world go round hahaha!
Good thing 3 - Widen Cartel Album going up on iTunes in the next 4 weeks or so!!! Submitted the album and the artwork now so just needs processing and putting up there :) Exciting times, will be hilarious seeing it up there, considering writing to the Leighton Buzzard Observer to let them know and get them to do a horrendous review lolol. Genius!!! Need to have a night out to celebrate back in the Beezy... wont be the same without Tom there but someone has to hold up the fort hahaha ;)
Good thing 4 - Being a Lord!!! I am legally now a Lord (well, Laird as it's Scottish land I own) so just going to work out which of my bank accounts and other random accounts with companies to get the name changed to... getting my post delivered as Laird G Bishop will be stupid, love it :) Makes me want to commit some crime and get caught too so I can go to court and make the judge call me Laird hahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa. I'm such a dick.
Good thing 5 - Tea. Nuff said.
Good thing 6 - Andrey Arshavin!!! I'm so glad that as a club we have signed him, it's not just to help salvage what has been a pretty tough season for fans, but also as a statement of intent to our other key players that we still mean business as a club. I expect us to sort out our defensive woes (which actually arent that bad... 10 games unbeaten is it now?) and get a holding midfielder to replace Flamini's departure in the summer, but for now I think we have what it takes to ensure Champions League football next season. Let's just smash those dirty scummy yids on Sunday!!!
Good thing 7 - Rafa Benitez - all I have to say is LOL, keep doing your thing and let it slip!!!
Good thing 8 - Chelsea looking bored, poor, playing without passion and just like a team of players that are no longer interested. Keep it up!!!
Good thing 9 - Listening to old rave tapes that you used to love at school!!! Mickey Finn @ Helter Skelter Energy 99... good lord what a tape!!! Hahaha had a good little rave-up on my own the other day, oh the memories of parks and bongs lol :p
Good thing 10 - Uni starting again tomorrow - been so bored but looking forward to getting stuck back in (even if it is some pretty horrific sounding maths etc... should get the brain sharp again though!)
Good thing 11 - The Big Bottom Box Set!!! Bottom Live kills me every time, and having them all together is awesome!!! So glad I saw the final one live, wish they'd do more though :(
Good thing 12 - Call Of Duty 5 with friends on XBL - hahaha so funny!!! Love the Bouncing Bettys, too much fun as well as those great bastard moments... I never thought I'd have so much fun on there wearing a silly little headset but it's wicked and also a nice way to keep in touch with people too :)
Good thing 13 - Ram Trilogy - Molten Beats... what an album and still doesn't sound dated somehow... I think this is up there with my favourite albums of all time :)
Good thing 14 - HIP HOP IS STILL ALIVE IN 2009!!! Honestly, anything Statik Selektah is involved with is turning out incredible and it just gets better and better. Got loads to look forward to this year, including Termanology and Statik's 1982 album, Reks - More Grey Hairs, Statik's 3rd artist album, another Reks album too, new Granite State (!!!) and finally the one that really excites me is the thought of the Lil Fame (from MOP) and Termanology collaboration album. ShowOff Records is sooooo good right now, isn't it great to find a label that is prolific yet consistent with their quality too?!! Ahhh love it!!!
Good thing 15 - Finally, the fact that so many of my friends are getting such good success from their music and are pushing forward. My mate Phil signing a track to Shy FX's Digital Soundboy label for a 12", another mate getting some nice Radio 1 play, a few other friends still at the top of their game and broadening their horizons dipping into other music, it serves as nothing but inspiring for me and a constant reminder that with hard work anything is possible!!! Too much self doubt is a killer (and I am terrible for it) but just believe in yourself and be intelligent enough to realise what parts of your life and your game (whatever it may be) can be improved and sharpen them up :) Positivity 1, Negativity 0
G :)
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Sunday night random thoughts and other shish kebab
Well... it's Sunday night (Monday morning if you're going to be a dick about it) and I've been a lot of deep thought recently... lots and lots on my mind and getting more and more lethargic as the time goes on that I'm not doing anything, how does that work? Surely by not doing anything you should have a shitload of energy and be bouncing off the walls... one of lifes real mysteries!
Anyway been thinking a lot about what I can do to get some random music out there... just got Photoshop out to get this bloody Widen Cartel album artwork done seen as though everyone I discussed it with is a complete let down. Fuck it, I managed to produce an entire album in the most ghetto way, may as well finish it off as I started lol :p Just got a really cool photo from when we were on BBC Radio Northampton talking about the Sanctuary Reunion flash mob we engineered at IKEA in Milton Keynes (I say we, I mean Jack lol). I'm probably the only dickhead who ever dressed up to go on the radio, but upon seeing the cover all 3 people who buy it might actually think I wear american football shirts and silly fubu hats all the time which would be fucking great hahaha :) Considering doing a Widen mixtapey type thing while we await Toms return from the wonderful wizard of oz, or even doing some solo stuff but I don't know about the latter... everything I write seems to come out a bit too personal and thus not really right for Widen. Add to that the fact I don't think I could ever take myself seriously as that kind of 'artist' (lol) then it's a bit of a weird one... might get the songs recorded though and see what people think. Nice to write these things anyway, gets a lot of stuff off your chest and gets the mind thinking again.
Not really too much else to report, finally going back to uni next Thursday thank god, these last two weeks have been pretty painful! Only left the house twice in the last two weeks or so, once to go shopping with Hannah up Westfield (which, by the way is a load of rubbish... if you've been to one big commercial shopping mall in this country you've been to them all) and then yesterday to get some beer and cigarettes lol. I really need to get out more but then I bought all my new toys to keep me in so it's a catch 22 situation (random thought... does anyone actually know what catch 22 actually is?).
Oooooooh I've just thought, lets end this post on a positive note instead of me just spouting rubbish! Got an AMAZING April lined up... going to Jakarta to see my Dad on the 3rd of April, fly back on the 17th, then I'm going to stay in London that night, fly back out to Copenhagen on the 18th for a few days and see him and Frederikke, then off to Stockholm for a couple of days to see a wicked old friend I haven't seen in ages (hi Julia!) then back on the 22nd or 23rd for my 25th (eek) birthday! Fun fun fun :D
Right, I'm going to check out the rest of the Superbowl and make tea :) Night all!!!
G :)
Anyway been thinking a lot about what I can do to get some random music out there... just got Photoshop out to get this bloody Widen Cartel album artwork done seen as though everyone I discussed it with is a complete let down. Fuck it, I managed to produce an entire album in the most ghetto way, may as well finish it off as I started lol :p Just got a really cool photo from when we were on BBC Radio Northampton talking about the Sanctuary Reunion flash mob we engineered at IKEA in Milton Keynes (I say we, I mean Jack lol). I'm probably the only dickhead who ever dressed up to go on the radio, but upon seeing the cover all 3 people who buy it might actually think I wear american football shirts and silly fubu hats all the time which would be fucking great hahaha :) Considering doing a Widen mixtapey type thing while we await Toms return from the wonderful wizard of oz, or even doing some solo stuff but I don't know about the latter... everything I write seems to come out a bit too personal and thus not really right for Widen. Add to that the fact I don't think I could ever take myself seriously as that kind of 'artist' (lol) then it's a bit of a weird one... might get the songs recorded though and see what people think. Nice to write these things anyway, gets a lot of stuff off your chest and gets the mind thinking again.
Not really too much else to report, finally going back to uni next Thursday thank god, these last two weeks have been pretty painful! Only left the house twice in the last two weeks or so, once to go shopping with Hannah up Westfield (which, by the way is a load of rubbish... if you've been to one big commercial shopping mall in this country you've been to them all) and then yesterday to get some beer and cigarettes lol. I really need to get out more but then I bought all my new toys to keep me in so it's a catch 22 situation (random thought... does anyone actually know what catch 22 actually is?).
Oooooooh I've just thought, lets end this post on a positive note instead of me just spouting rubbish! Got an AMAZING April lined up... going to Jakarta to see my Dad on the 3rd of April, fly back on the 17th, then I'm going to stay in London that night, fly back out to Copenhagen on the 18th for a few days and see him and Frederikke, then off to Stockholm for a couple of days to see a wicked old friend I haven't seen in ages (hi Julia!) then back on the 22nd or 23rd for my 25th (eek) birthday! Fun fun fun :D
Right, I'm going to check out the rest of the Superbowl and make tea :) Night all!!!
G :)
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