This song is a re-working of the ideas in ‘Coffee’. It’s a weirdly fascinating subject - I have endless American True Crime books lying around the house. I do not read them but I do get the weird urge to look at the photos that are always in this kind of book - men with big seventies mustaches who turned out to be serial killers. I can’t decide if they look like madmen, or just like my dad. Anyway, that was the basis for this song. I also liked the John Fowles book ‘The Collector’ and so this song is my attempt to use that as a subject for a song.

No Way Out (5.6MB Mp3)
No Way Out(streaming file)

It’s not perfect, but I’m quite happy with this one. I wanted to keep it sparse, especially to let the voice sound out on its own during the chorus. I don’t normally try backing vocals because I think it sounds very weird when one person’s voice is coming from three places at once. Why it works with other singers I don’t know. I tried to change the sound of the voice a bit so that it didn’t sound so strange.

I’m not totally happy with the words - especially the first verse but when I try to get words down I often know what I want to say but not how I’m going to do it. Occassionally, I look at the words for a song and think they all fit well. I’m really pleased with my words for ‘Get What I Want’, for example, but most of the time I have to work really hard to spit out something that gets close to the feeling I was after.

Should Have Seen it Coming (5.2MB Mp3)
Should Have Seen it Coming (streaming file)

I have been working on a few ideas for podcast music. Anything here is freely available for use on your podcast if you think it would be of use. If you are interested in my electronic/industrial/minimalist style I will also attempt to write music to your specification. My skills are fairly limited but I will give your brief my best effort and see what I come up with. Please get in touch with me at my Noise Project e-mail address if you want me to try something for your production.

podcast bed
podcast theme
bad noise

This song started as another mess about using a Rhodes piano sound. I called up the preset ‘Riders on the Storm’ and (as always) I liked the sound. It’s yet another depressing one but at least it’s honest. I’ve worked really hard on this one and it’s gone through various versions, even though I’ve never changed the instrumentation - electric piano, thick squishy synth, drums and not a lot else.

I was trying with this song to give it a bit of build up from the verse to the chorus. I like the song and I think it is an indication of the kind of direction I want to go with what I’m writing at the moment.

I Don’t Know (5.4MB Mp3)
I Don’t Know (streaming file)

I have offered to write some podcast themes on a couple of podcasting forums. If you have reached this page through the link there, hi. The music I tend to write is maybe a bit dark in tone, but I am willing to have a go at something more up if that’s what you would like. I am doing this to get a bit of experience in writing for other people so if you would like some music that fits your specification, or includes something relevant to your podcast I’m willing to have a go and you are free to use the music or bin it as you see fit.

If I have time this week I’ll try a few short samples of the kind of thing I had in mind to give a better idea of what I mean. To start with, here is a reminder of something I posted a while ago which was specifically intended as the theme for my own podcast:

A Terrible Noise (1.7MB Mp3)
A Terrible Noise (streaming file)

I have had this song lying around for a very long time, partially finished. I thought maybe some people might think it was offensive, but it’s not intended to be. It’s supposed to be a serious comment but I realise maybe it’s a heavy-handed attempt at saying something - which is part of the reason it has been unfinished all this time.

Weird (6MB Mp3)
Weird (streaming file)

This song was written a while ago when I was feeling particularly ticked off. Sometimes it is just impossible to get everything sounding just the way I want it and this song is a perfect example of that. I have laboured over the vocals and have recently resurrected the song to try working on them some more.

Burnt Up (4.46MB Mp3)
Burnt Up (streaming file)

This is the very early draft of another song I have been working on. This is just the song in the first stages of the idea. I am not yet sure how I am going to structure it, and what bits will get chopped out. The voice was recorded using a simple plug-in-and-go microphone. I was just feeling out some possible ideas for a tune here. I recorded myself playing an old toy glokenspeil for the main repeating sound which carries on through the whole song.

Get What I Want (5.2MB Mp3)
Get What I Want (streaming file)

I have been trying to finish this song, and although I think it is one of my better ideas, I just don’t seem to be able to be satisfied with a finished version. My favourite part is the squelchy synth in the middle. If I could just mess with it enough to feel it is complete I would be much happier. I think maybe a lot of my songs have the same sort of theme but I can’t struggle against the way they turn out, so until some different ideas come out I am stuck with what’s there in my head.

Try (5.2MB Mp3)
Try (streaming file)

This is a quick thing I did for my Podcast a while ago. It is just a scrap of an idea I messed about with for an hour or so. Strangely enough, I quite like it even though I spent so little time working on it, but I can spend days labouring over a song that seems to get nowhere.

A Terrible Noise (1.7MB Mp3)
A Terrible Noise (streaming file)