I think this one might just work:
Author Archives: TomSlatter
Spining the Compass – The Video
Here’s the video for Spinning the Compass, finally finished by the very talented Mr Power.
I’m really rather fond of it.
In other news, having recently moved I’m currently without internet connection. My postings here will therefore continue to be sporadic. However, soon you get to hear the last song in The Miser’s Will. That’ll be fun.
Podcast, Video, Random Waffle
Hello!
October has been a very busy month workwise, with several evening events and the organisation of a large-scale concert (audience of 300 – a very successful night) distracting me from my own music.
I haven’t been entirely inactive, however.
Podcast
I’ve put together a little podcast. It isn’t as elaborate and silly as the first 2 were (When I’ve more time these will be far more complicated and silly) but it does contain two acoustic songs of mine that you won’t have heard before.
Video
I’ve been playing around with the video app on my phone, and have put together a little slideshow of recent steampunk pictures from the video shoots we’ve done recently.
Random Waffle
I’ve started preliminary planning for solo album number two – With two exceptions the songs are written and I just need to make a start on the recording. I’m really looking forward to that as I’ve learned a lot about recording and mixing over the last year.
The next big thing to turn up will be the video for Spinning the Compass. Joe has been constructing this-
– Which is needed for a couple of shots in the video. We’ve also shot a fight scene and all sorts of silliness. There’s some pics and little videos from the shoot over at my posterous site, and if I’m feeling generous I’ll email a little video preview to my mailing list later today (which you can join by entering your email address in the box at the top right of your screen).
So, all sorts of things coming soon. I haven’t vanished, honest!
Podcast 5 – 2 songs from an Unrecorded album
Spinning the Compass – A video
This weekend, Joe and I shot some more footage for the video of Spinning the Compass.
I also had a go at creating a posterous blog of the day. You can see what I came up with here.
Podcast Episode 4
Last weekend I played an Online Charity gig. Here’s an extract in which I play 5 songs I wrote this summer, including 4 of the 5 songs from The Miser’s Will.
In between songs you can hear me talking to the chatroom audience, so the chat between songs is a little one-sided, but it should make sense.
Online Gig 2
Here’s the recording of my online gig for the MS Society.
You can donate here:
The Random Inspiration Blog
Lex Machina, a photographer, rans the Random Inspiration blog, a tumblr blog that has the simple little goal of sharing cool, inspiring artwork with the world.
The pictures on the site are from all over the place and by different people, and are often pretty good. They are also often of a steampunky variety.
The blog is labelled ‘Not Safe For Work’ mostly I suppose because of the occasional nude. Mostly, it’s pretty inspiring. As it aims to be.
Here is a link.
Gilded Age Records Reviews – The Peryls
Those Blackguards – The Peryls from Andy Pontin on Vimeo.
I thought it would be fun to review some of the acts that are part of Gilded Age Records (a collective of steampunk artists that I joined earlier this year).
First up, and chosen both on musical merit and geographical proximity (They appear to inhabit the same area of South London as me), are the Peryls. The Peryls have been described as ‘Alt Folk at its folking best’ – which is an amusing and mildly helpful description of their sound.
A small digression
(I say mildly merely because I’m not a huge fan of the term ‘folk’ when used to describe pop with acoustic instruments. Folk means something else… but this is a pointless digression that would be taken out by anyone capable of editing his or her own writing)
Back to the Peryls
The Peryls are all minor chords, Root-five basslines and fun narrative lyrics. Instrumentation is acoustic guitar, cello bass and minimal percussion. My favourite track is The Ember, from their new EP ‘I Have Not Slept One Wink’ – which has enough twists, turns and unexpected chords to keep my muso soul content.
Elsewhere there are hints of trad jazz and the pop music of yesteryear, all of it held together with a subtle but effective vocal and a great ear for instrumentation.
The Peryls can be found online here and at the egregious myspace (Their myspace page is quite good, but it’s still on myspace).
Over a few tracks I found myself wanting the vocal to be mixed a little louder, and more to be made of the dissonant notes that crop up here and there, but by and large the tracks they have up on myspace are very musical and imbued with a real steampunk personality. The visuals too are top notch, as you can see from the video above.
A massive digression
This leaves me wondering – Exactly what should steampunk music sound like?
It’s a question I’m happy to discuss but don’t honestly believe answerable. The absence of african influence and use of european instruments in the music of the Peryls certainly makes sense – but if they didn’t wear the victorian get-up would anyone think them steampunk?
Similarly my own music makes use of electronics that arguably are out of place. Which I excuse by saying that A. my music is more about steampunk than of a steampunk world and B. I don’t really care.
The very act of trying to define genre is of course silly, there aren’t boundaries merely different points on various specrums, but it’s interesting how different musical attitudes to steampunk can be.
Anyway