JAM (packed)

There is a nice little story that is quite moving in this video.

Here are two shots showing the horde of Cloud Kollektiv people at our gluvine jam recording. I still have to find a week to mix it all. We recorded three hours of 16 tracks  improvised music.

I'll write a big blog and review of my upcoming festival gigging weekend next week. it's going to be in a magazine too.

L8r,  T

Shots from the trenches

Visible Dance, She Selexx and the Cloud Kollektiv's sitting room session.

peace

This is a bit too cool, man. @>-;--

Down South, Up North, I'm everywhere.

My January is coming together nicely. Firstly I'm DJ'ing at Southbound from the 2nd till 4th, doing a groovy, dubby, souly set (settee). My DJ name is 'Trilby Of The Cloud'. I need a logo with a cloud wearing a Trilby hat. Might make a t-shirt, he heh.

Next I have a Cloud Kollektiv gig at Kulcha on the 1oth. I still have to get a crew together for that one. I have the core but I need a keys player and maybe some more vocals. Samanta Ray gets back from touring Europe, and it sounds like she is on fire and inspired.

After that I think I'm heading to the outback to teach aboriginal communities to write hip-hop with MC Joe Black. That should be an adventure. It's like Chuck D and Flava Flav on the road. I suppose it's the musician equivalent of working the mines up north.


Here are some shots from Sig's great Canon400D camera of the recent Redbull Air Race over the Swan River in Perth followed by the Northbridge Festival.


Before David Scharpf heads back to Austria we are doing a remix of this track by Jazzanova featuring Ben Westbeach. Our version is a more dubby jazz affair. More info soon.


I'm researching photo styles for a shoot She Selexx are doing. Some of this photography is insane. Click the pic for more...
Oh, no! Monty Python now have a YouTube channel. Well, there goes my afternoon.

t

Reaction Finale

Here is another piece David Scharpf and I wrote from the last Visible Dance piece 'Reaction'. It make me feel a bit proud, I have to say. The next work will be in early December, keep your eyes peeled for details in the next few days. Check HERE for details.

Also, HERE is the Visible Dance Facebook, page if you want to be informed of the latest news.

t

WAMI's for the Cloud, lets dance.

Well, WE WON!
Both Cafe and Dance/Electronic catagories of the WAMI Song Of The Year 2008. With Samanta Ray's tune 'Revien' and Cle's track 'Realising'. Sam is in Europe and Cle had a gig she couldn't get out of, so a gang of drunk Cloud boys picked up the awards. After the first award we drank pints in celebration and by the second we were a bit slurry (well, I was). It was a fun night for all. Paul, David and I went on to find a gig to party at, but Fremantle seems to close at 12pm. here is the evidence.
I was hoping to get a copy of the photos, but it's taking too long so here is a dodgy clip from the Xpress magazine from the 16 of October 2008.

I have just put some of the soundtrack work David Scharpf and I have been doing on the Cloud Kollektiv website

You can also listen to the WAMI award winning tracks on the music page.



Visible Dance have put up some video from the 'Reaction' show that David Scharpf and I wrote the soundtrack for. Here is a the wonderful Elyse being a glitchy robot.


The next big Visible Dance show will be 'GAME' It will be at the Onyx Bar, on: Wednesday the 3rd of December and Tuesday the 9th of December. The music will be a collaboration between my other band She Selexx and the Transients. Overall a more punky electronic affair. Should be fun.

Cool, that's me done for now, phew!

Get Spiritual and Win!

I love the parallel between mad club dancing and religious furver.


Thursday the 9th is the West Australian Music Awards. My group the Cloud Kollektiv are up for two categories 'Realising' featuring Cle in the dance/electronic category and Samanta Ray's song 'Revien' in the new cafe category. Have a listen.

..and wish us luck. More news next post.

Orchestral manouvers in the spring

Lately I have been mixing heaps of music. This doesn't make a very interesting blog so here are some photos of the things I did in between.

Australia does not have a long fascinating history or a rich complex culture. One thing Australia has ample amount of is beautiful natural surroundings. It's spring and the wild flowers are out. These shots were taken within a space of about 200 meters. Such variety and colour in a country with so much desert.

Click for an enlargement.


I recently got a new Nokia E71 mobile. I had been waiting for the iPhone to see if it was any good and frankly it's not. I was not impressed so I bought the new sexy messaging smart phone from Nokia. The iPhone's battery life is abysmal and I found the on screen keyboard to be terrible. There is also heaps missing from it and it doesn't let you just chuck files on it (no expandable memory). There were just too many problems in my book. I can bluetooth or USB my E71 to any computer and put video, PDF, word, iTunes audio files on it and it plays and read them. Simple.
Also the advanced messaging and push email is great. I get my Gmail to my phone as it comes in. It's also crazy thin.


Sig and I went to the Menage' concert a week ago. It was a stylish event. An orchestra played the score to an old B&W Hitchcock film. After mixing so much music it is always great to hear it acoustic, live in front of you. It gives you perspective.

Invisible Pants

Let the show begin.

Tomorrow we perform with the contemporary dance company Visible Dance. The show is called 'Reaction' and the music has been written by David Scharpf and myself. It was an intense writing/mixing session. I haven't had much sleep, but I'm happy with my work. This has also been in sync with the WAMI's Song Of The Year competition that I have been mixing heaps of bands for. It has been nearly too much, but I am really happy with the soundtracks and mixes I have done. Go to cloudkollektiv.com to hear some of the mixes (on the Music page).

Ok, back to work.

Big gigs for the Cloud

There hasn't been a lot of time to blog as I'm currently mixing eight tracks for the WAMi's and writing a collection of pieces for the Visible Dance company's first show on the 20th. Both these gig are pretty damn sweet. Thousands of asians/indian people going off to our tracks and a stunning group of dancers dancing to every pulse of my soundtrack. it's all good stuff.

HERE is a little MP3 taste of the kind of tracks the Cloud Kollektiv are recording at the moment.

Photos and craziness next post.

t

detuned

I love this shit. It's where my brains at with all these mixes I'm doing for the WAMi's and stuff. I just counted, I am doing 9 mixes including writing a 15 min soundtracks for Visible Dance. Taking it all on.


A great indulgent synth interview with Adrian Utley from Portishead.
The discussion about tuning (or more to the point, not tuning). Also the point about layering, I'm moving against it. Pure sounds that say what they mean. Spending more time on the source and the original idea and less time fucking around with it afterwards. Sounds funny me saying that, if you know my production.

part two

There are four episode all up. just select them at the end of the vid.

respect

New! baby Hunter and cloudkollektiv.com

The Cloud's new site is up and looking good, thanks to Jeremy Phillips of Visible Dance. I'm slowly getting content up there. We will have downloads for live gig recordings and the latest tracks streaming as well as photos and news. Check it out and tell me what you think:


Meanwhile, my brother and his gal Abeni had a little boy named Hunter. Very cute. Photos soon.

Cheers, TT

Moody shots & misses

The Cloud Sessions have been a very creative trip for the Cloud Kollektiv. It's more like a writing session. We jam a heap of grooves and jus follow them. So many great musicians.

HERE is an MP4/AAC (iTunes) file of one of the tracks with Cle, Joe Black and Jeremy Balius on vocals.

It was recorded on a little Zoom H2 handheld recorder that was sitting in front of the band. This was an improvised jam that creates enough hooks for several tracks.

There is also a new Cloud Kollektiv website that will be online soon. You can hear the live track and the new Simon Kelly Cloud remix on the Cloud MySpace

My gal Sig is off in Austria seeing her friends and family. Miss her heaps. It's a pity she is missing the Cloud Sesh. Oh, well I will have to organise some more later in the year. There will be a big night at Luxe with the Visible Dance company in August and the Cloud will be playing a Masala Mix dance party with heaps of crazy dancing Indians. Should be awesome.

OMG! I'm so busy

I have taken on a role as a soundtracks producer for a new dance company as well as starting a new club night for the Cloud Kollektiv. Of course people have detected my industriousness and are now asking for other things like CD covers, remixes, mastering and studio work.

She Selexx had a little gig that was quite stylish and will be having another with the dance company on Wednesday at their premier. My gal Sig is heading off to Vienna once again but has held off her flight and will be able to get some shots of the gig. All those great bodies, who could miss it. Click the poster top poster to check it out in fill. it printed really nicely. It's good when you have time to let a design idea evolve. The Cloud Kollektiv logo and colour scheme has evolved nicely.

Here is the first vid from Visible Dance with a rough track from She Selexx. The next ones are really exciting. It's great having your music so thoroughly expressed and being able to write to such rhythmic expression. The communication is very good.

Aciiieeed !

As an acid junkie and synthesis officianado this extremely geeky video of extreme TB303 tweakage does it for me. Yep that's it, I'm spent.

Portishead in Portishead in portis hea d i n po r t i s....

I have been hanging out for this album. Geoff Barrows has been living in Sydney. I remember seeing a photo of Geoff and Beth Gibbons in sunny Sydney and the line below the photo was 'this is really going to fuck with their music, how are they supposed to get moody'. Well, they found a way, because this stuff is dark. Here is the free webcast of them playing live in a studio:
My group the Cloud Kollekitv play the Velvet Lounge in Mt.Lawley, Western Australia on Thursday the 1st of May. It's also a bit of a birthday bash for Paul Hines and I. Cle is singing too, she's great.

Sing and Dance

The Kollektiv builds

The next Cloud Kollektiv gig is getting pretty exciting. We have some great musicians:

Samanta Ray singing along with
Simon Kelly also doing some dub guitar,
Paul Hines plays classical guitar,
Adam on electronic sax and of course
Jeremy Balius doing some beatnic poetry
Bal on percussion, sarangi and other ethnic instruments.
David Scharpf on keys and
I am doing beats, synths and DJing in a very musical way.

Each one of our gigs is very different and has a different lineup. I am trying to organize to record this gig somehow. I am sad that we didn't capture any of the gigs with Cle, hopefully we will get her on tape live.

Elephants are cool

Woah, things are getting crazy

As a samplist the implications of this kind of technology are massive. Click HERE for a cooler video from Sonicstate.

20 Biggest Record Company Screw-Ups of All Time
Anyone who has any links to the music industry should read the above article.

Inventor of the record, Edison hated jazz: “I always play jazz records backwards,” he sniffed. “They sound better that way". His label soon went out of business in 1929.

____________

Also, Frans Bisschops has an exhibition of his work in a month or so. He is one third of the band I'm in called She Selexx. To see some of his paintings click HERE

This is important

The world is changing for the better. There is an overall awareness that is being formed via the internet. This video shows how the US communication companies could once again destroy the freedom we are creating. In Australia we have seen similar behaviour from Telstra.
A new technology needs to be created that bypasses the telcos. This may seem nerdy and frivolous, but it's not. Third world countries are being empowered by the internet. Brilliant small bands are being recognised globally without any major label interference, via the web. Peoples voices are being heard. This is important.

Righteous Trilby!

perfect

I saw this when I was writing music in London ten years ago. It's a promo for the BBC. It got me all emotional and proud of the world. aww..

The soundtrack is my life

It's soundtracks week for me.

● I have been commissioned to mix an ambient piece with Mel Robinson (Cello) and Steve Richter.

● She Selexx has been asked to build a soundtracks for a dance company. MORE INFO

● She Selexx track 'We Go Out In The Summer' has had interest from US TV for soundtracks.

I also did an all-nighter to do this remix for the ABC classical opera remix competition. It was quite fun. You can download the MP3 and have a listen.

HERE is an MP3 of my 'Orpheus' remix. Click the pic for more info on the competition. I'm not sure who has won.




GIG NEWS
Cloud Kollektiv have a gig on Saturday the 5th of April at Kulcha in Fremantle.

I will also have a birthday gig on Thursday the 1st of May at the Velvet Lounge with Deuce records. I'm not sure which of my bands will play, maybe all of them.

NEWS JUST IN..

Cloud Kollektiv have got all three of our tracks into the national radio station Triple J's UnEarthed competition dance top 10. Our track 'Free Love' has regular rotation. 'Soaked' - ft. Cle' is 4th, 'Weight Of The World' ft.JonoMcNeil is 7th and 'Free Love' is 8th.
For more info and to have a listen click HERE

To hear us on the radio download THIS MP3 of the UnEarthed radio show. More info here

See the Cloud Kollektiv play on April the 5th at Kulcha in Fremantle.

Keyboard Technique

I just played the Good Vibrations Festival with She Selexx. It was pretty massive. We were videoed in HiDef and shown on some massive screens as well as getting on channel 9 News. We played the new tracks well, but had a bit of a hard time rocking out as the foldback was a bit quiet. People said we sounded great. A decent first gig for She Selexx, methinks.This video from the 80's cracked me up. Talk about keyboard technique. Sun Ra is the man ;)



HERE is an bloody great article about Australian culture (I use this term loosely). Anyway it's bloody funny. If your not from Oz you should give it a squiz, mate.

Breakdancing Nu School

Damn this is bad ass power breakin'

If you need more of more of this dance crack, watch THIS. It will blow your mind.

I'm playing two big gigs in the next week.

SheSelexx plays the outdoor festival 'Good Vibrations' with Kanye West, Cypress Hill, Thievery Corp, High Contrast, Pharoahe Monch, Katalyst...

Cloud Kollektiv play The WAMi festival spectacular the week after. It's a strategic jam session with guests: vocalist Cle, percussionist Arun and guitarist/singer Simon Kelly. It will be a deep dubbed out psychedelic jazz session. It's another outdoor gig we are on at 4pm in the Russel Sqr park in Nth Bridge, Perth on Saturday, Febuary the 23rd.

New Star Trek Previews Mashups

Here are some cult mashups. I loved Karate Kid as a kid. This is quite stylish. it used some of the latest live video scratching technology.


Karate Kid AV Remix from momo_the_monster on Vimeo.

Trek in da hood.. Dat's what I'm talkin' about
I better warn you these are seriously rude, in a very silly kind of way and also seriously funny. There is a new ultra real Star Trek movie coming out, but I doubt it will be keeping it this REAL! totally NSFW

Here is the actual teaser to the Trek movie if you haven't seen it yet. i like the sound references to the old ship sounds.

Soundtracks - Now with pictures!!

I have always been into old soundtracks from the 60's. Batman, John Barry, James Bond, Beatnik movies, Westerns... When I was in London with my band ARG I loved the late night TV and sampled heaps of it into my old ASR10 sampler. I would sit up late waiting for some Hammer horror or rare late 50's Sci-Fi. So this site is a complete gold mine for me. A true fetish satisfier.


LikeTelevision Embed Movies and TV Shows


If you haven't found the TV show 'Flight of the Conchords' then here is a taste of them live. Any musician will relate to their show, it's tragic gold.



Who would have guessed the future would be like this, all retro and stuff.