simonsound

Just wanted to let you know about an event that I will be appearing at this Saturday at the BFI in London. Earlier in the year I (under my The Simonsound guise) was invited by Musicity to create a composition inspired by a London landmark. I chose the Skylon, a futuristic structure created for the Festival of Britain in 1951. Sadly the Skylon never got to see the future it aimed to represent; it was torn down shortly after the festival ended and its ultimate demise is a confusion of myth and mystery. Did it end up in the Thames or was it broken up and turned into ash trays??? Anyway, my piece ‘In the Shadow of the Skylon’ celebrates its short optimistic life. So that’s the background -  at this Musicity event I’ll be speaking on a panel alongside Paul Morley, Fiona Talkington, Maija Handover and Melodie Leung, and I’ll be playing a selection of records, including ‘In the Shadow of the Skylon’ too.

Musicity is an ongoing, city by city curated music program that explores the intersection of music and architecture created by DJ and broadcaster Nick Luscombe (BBC Radio 3/Flomotion) and Jump Studios co-founder Simon Jordan. Recording artists are commissioned to compose original music based on an aspect of the city that inspires them. Through a purpose built app, people can visit these locations to hear and download the music. The idea is to inspire people to explore and discover the city, musically, architecturally and experientially.

Full info and tickets here

I’ve been doing a number of live performances under my The Simonsound guise, but one of the highlights was playing in the Clore Ballroom at the Royal Festival Hall. In support of a screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey, with live soundtrack by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, we played in the cavernous ballroom to an appreciative crowd. See more pictures here.

Part one in a series of long over due updates. Our new single with Laura J Martin, with whom we have been doing loads of great live shows, is now available in stores and online. Download or get the limited 7″ vinyl while stocks last. Jumbo Records in Leeds is a good bet.

Here is the blurb from Battered Ornaments Records, the label behind the release.

Finders Keepers’ fitful pocket empire Battered Ornaments Records rears its head one again with another bespoke vinyl release featuring the unlikely but essential partnership of Liverpudlian chanteuse Laura J Martin and The Simonsound - a sonic partnership consisting of Simon James and Matt Ford (DJ Format).

Analogue synthesizers, tone generators, and reel to reel tape machines buzz and whirr amongst the roots of Laura J Martin’s homegrown supernatural siren song as folk traditions merge with The Simonsound’s science fiction fantasies for this hauntingly progressive/regressive experiment.

This strictly limited edition (500 only) vinyl release is the eighth release from Battered Ornaments Records, an independent label with a DIY asthetic producing lovingly made limited vinyl runs of off-kilter independent music housed in jaw dropping sleeves created by top artists and graphic designers.

Beautiful artwork by Luke Insect.

The debut album from the group I’m in (that just happens to have the same name as this website) is now available to buy on vinyl, CD and as a digital download.

<a href=”http://thesimonsound.bandcamp.com/album/reverse-engineering”>Tour De Mars by The Simonsound</a>We were lucky enough to be invited to record a session at the famous Maida Vale studio for Gilles Peterson’s BBC Radio 1 show. It was a real treat to visit the studio that used to be the home of the Radiophonic Workshop, especially since so much of the material on the album is inspired by the golden age of experimental electronic music. Maida Vale is full of history and I’d have happily paid an entry fee to wander around its strangely quiet corridors, daydreaming about Desmond Briscoe, Delia Derbyshire, Daphne Oram, John Baker and co. winding lengthy tape loops all over the place.It also made a nice change to be on the other side of the glass….

The session, which includes an exclusive medley of ‘It’s Just Begun’ and ‘Tour de Mars’, and an interview with The Simonsound was played on Tuesday 25th May and you can download the full show here.

We just took delivery of finished vinyl copies of ‘Reverse Engineering’, the first Simonsound album which is due for release in May on First Word Records. Emily at iamstanley has created the perfect visual representation for the space age, science fiction and strange sounds contained within. We are forever indebted! Look out for limited edition prints and t-shirts featuring the album artwork.

Gilles Peterson has been featuring tracks from the album on his BBC Radio 1 Worldwide show and even included a track on his ‘All Winners’ programme which features his pick of the year so far.

Head over to the official Simonsound website for more info and to listen to tracks. Its worth pointing out that ‘The Simonsound’ and this Simonsound website are two separate but slightly confusing things! This website is for my commercial music and production work and ‘The Simonsound’ is my music project with Matt Ford. Still confused? Me too……

My music project with Matt Ford is moving along very nicely towards our first album release in May on First Word Records. Our first two self released singles have been met with much praise and support in the form of DJ’s such as Cut Chemist, DJ Muro, Edan and Florian Keller, and our cover of ‘It’s Just Begun’ was even reportedly cut up by legendary Bronx DJ Rockin’ Rob at a B-Boy event in NYC last year prompting Grandmaster Caz to run to the turntables and excitedly demand to know the identity of the mystery version.

Most recently we’ve had support from Strictly Kev/DJ Food and DJ Spinna, the latter hooking up Gilles Peterson with a copy of our forthcoming album, ‘Reverse Engineering’. This has led to BBC Radio 1 play and an invitation to do a Maida Vale session which should hopefully be broadcast around the release of the album.

Other exciting things to look out for around the album release are a series of EMS Synthi VCS3 ringtones, a bank of 127 MiniMoog Voyager sounds, a Solid Steel radio mix and video and hopefully some prints and t-shirts featuring the amazing artwork created by Emily Macaulay for our album cover.

I’ll keep you posted!

Thanks to Emily @I am Stanley for a great label. Buy the single here.

DJ Food took my original video for Tour de Mars and has added some extra clips and given it an overhaul. The Single is out on 7″ vinyl/digital on Monday (Nov 2nd) and you can get it at lots of different retailers. Go here to find a list.

Very excited about this release and so far feedback has been really good. I won’t say any more as I prefer to let the music speak for itself. Here is a very simple video I made so I could put the track up on youtube. It is out on vinyl and digital download from the 2nd of November. More info here.