simonsound

As well as DJing at Mondo Mancunia I will also be performing in the Welcome to Mars All Stars group on the same night. Ken Hollings will be supplying the reading (from his freshly launched book) and Mark Pilkington, Bruce Woolley and myself will be supplying electronic tones and space sounds. Toolshed are headlining and I’m really looking forward to hearing them live. We are scheduled to play at 20.30 but that could easily drift. The venue is Shunt Vaults, it’s £5 to get in and right next door to London Bridge Tube Station.

Speaking of the Welcome to Mars book, I attended the launch last night at the Horse Hospital. There was a great turnout and Ken Hollings was in demand all night only pausing briefly between signing books to read a short passage from the book about the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. Those that purchsed Welcome to Mars last night also got the free CD with music I created for the radio series that forms part of Welcome to Mars‘ illustrious history.

I enjoyed providing the soundtrack to last nights event by way of tape loops, Minimoog and space echo.

Get your copy of the book here. The first 200 copies come with the CD. The music will also be available to buy separately on CD and digital download. Details to follow.

Listen to the Welcome to Mars radio series here.

The Simonsound will be DJing at the Graham Massey curated Mondo Mancunia event being held at the Shunt Vaults in London on the 19th/20th/21st/22nd of November. Mondo Mancunia is a celebration of Graham Massey’s many musical and art projects starting with Biting Tongues and being bought right up to date with Sisters of Transistors and not forgetting 808 State in between.

The Simonsound will be playing spaced out electronics, psychedelic sounds and a few sneak preview tracks from the forthcoming album on the opening night 19th 20th November. If all goes well we might also have some copies of the Simonsound mix CD Have you Heard…. The Simonsound which is a sonic introduction to the world of The Simonsound featuring music from groups and artists that have inspired us and original material.

Full line up

Check out the Simonsound myspace

I’ll be supplying electronic sounds for the launch next week of Ken Hollings‘ book Welcome to Mars. The event, being held at the Horse Hospital on the 18th will be a great opportunity to hear the author read excerpts from his book and maybe even pick up a CD containing music I created for the original radio series.

Welcome to Mars can be purchased online direct from the publisher Strange Attractor. The first 200 copies come with the limited edition CD of music from the radio series.

Part twelve in the ongoing series of radio shows looking at the history of electronic music is now available to podcast subscribers or to download as an MP3. In this latest installment Ian Helliwell explores the history of the massive RCA Synthesizer built in 1955. Featuring tracks composed by Otto Leuning, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Milton Babbitt and Charles Wuorinen.

Just wanted to alert you to a new Tone Generation programme. This new episode features music performed and created for Expo 58.

Adding to the original 10 part Tone Generation series, this special World`s Fair edition focusses exclusively on electronic music aired at Expo 58, and was first broadcast as part of the Oscillatomium programme live from the Atomium in Brussels in October 2008, organised by mobile-radio.net.

Subscribe to the podcast or download the MP3 here.

Go here to find out more about the man behind the series Ian Helliwell. I’m in the studio with him next week working on another Tone Generation special and I can’t wait to hear his music selection.

Great news. The full series of The Tone Generation is now available to download in MP3 format or as a podcast. The series has come to an end now and it was a real pleasure to work with Ian Helliwell putting each episode together. A mixture of fun and education as I discovered a huge amount of music I’d never had the opportunity to listen to before.

As we prepare for the broadcast of the final Tone Generation episode on Resonance FM tomorrow at 19.30 GMT I am still unable to upload show 9 and it looks like I am going to have problems getting the final show available for online listeners. Odeo are still having technical problems and not offering any kind of explanation as to why. If anyone does know whats going on please feel free to let me know.

The end of the series has been a bit bumpy on the scheduling side with Resonance broadcasting the wrong show and then celebrating their birthday and changing their Friday evening line up. This means that there has been a 2 week gap in new shows being available and the Odeo technical problem is only going to increase the wait for online listeners.

Please hang in there as the last two shows are well worth checking out. We will probably take a little break once the series is over and then come back with something in the Autumn. In the meantime shows 1 through 8 are available here.

UPDATE - I have now had a chance to speak with Eric at Odeo. He explained that they are currently migrating all of their shows to a new system and this has caused the problems that have stopped us getting the final shows online. I had expected it to be sorted by now but I’m sad to say I still can’t get shows 9 and 10 online. Also apologies to podcast subscribers who have had duplicate shows downloaded. I imagine this was caused by Odeo’s migration procedure. 

I’m pleased to announce that the Odeo technical problems that were holding us up are now fixed. Show 8 of The Tone Generation is now online and available as podcast or MP3 download.

This show is packed and to be honest we couldn’t even scratch the surface. I know Ian has enough material to do a whole series on American composers. Who knows? Maybe we might just do that!

Thanks for your patience in waiting on this latest episode and of course part 9 will go live tomorrow.

Show 4 was broadcast on Resonance on Friday and is now available as a podcast alongside the first 3 episodes or you can download an MP3 here. The show is proving really popular and thanks to everyone who has commented. Its a pleasure to explore the early days of electronic music and Ian Helliwell is introducing me to lots of composers I’d never heard before.

The Tone Generation show 3 was broadcast on Friday evening and is now available to download.  Ian visits Germany and plays music by Stockhausen, Kraftwerk, Walter Ruttmann and Gyorgy Ligeti. We are getting good feedback on the series and enjoying making it. With a number of pioneering composers passing away recently it seems like the right time to reflect on their work and consider how it has, mostly subconsciously, inspired current production techniques and music.

Next weeks show focusses on Italy and is broadcast on Resonance FM at 19.30 GMT. Podcast and download will be available shortly after.