Composer / Producer / Guitarist
I have been playing bass with experimental/trip hop outfit Venusian for over 18 months now and last Friday we released out first album as our current set up (but the fourth under the Venusian name). 'Ancestor' dropped on Friday the 13th April - as seems befitting of an act so steeped in gloom and apocalyptic …
My new band Neverbody has just put our first EP on Bandcamp, it's 3 tracks of instrumental guitar music with leanings towards math rock, classic prog, and post-rock. Have a stream below and please consider downloading supporting us if you like what you hear! Recorded and mixed by yours truly, with much credit to Tom …
Hello again, it has been a while since I posted on the blog, hasn't it? I tend to just get on with things and the thought of posting updates on blogs and social media comes to me after the fact. One of my resolutions for this year was to get better at that...better late than …
I'm currently in the midst of one of those frustrating but exciting passages of time - one in which lots has been happening but it's not yet all ready for presentation - and my knack for taking on more projects than is wise reaches critical mass as summer arrives, and my music students go on …
I've been doing a fair bit of writing recently, but not much in the way of uploading. Unless it's for a commission or particular project, I tend to create a few pieces - either on the guitar, just on the computer, or mixing live and virtual instruments - and let them stew for some time to …
My good friend and diligent podcaster Tom Kwei has started a new show to analyse every track by the legendary Metallica in alphabetical order and he kindly invited me onto the 2nd episode where we discuss 'Ain't My Bitch' from their direction shifting album 'Load'. I have done a bit of podcasting before and despite …
Continue reading "I chat with Tom Kwei on his new podcast ‘Alphabetallica’"
Following on from the successful performances in Liverpool and London for the Being Human Festival 2016, the Liverpool Players have been invited to return to the capital and show their live storytelling of Hans Christian Andersen's classic once again. This time it will be courtesy of the esteemed and historic British Academy at their Literature Week 2017, …
Continue reading "The Little Mermaid at the British Academy Literature Week"
Last night I thought I'd try a short composition challenge that composer Eric Whitacre mentions in a video interview titled 'It's Not a Failure, It's An Invitation'. In it, he says that the requirements for this exercise are to write a piece that is: - Less than 60 seconds long - Contains only 4 tones …
Continue reading "Eric Whitacre’s short composition exercise"
Earlier this year I worked with The Liverpool Players and storyteller Madelaine Smart to create music for their live performance of The Little Mermaid - you can read a bit more about it in my 2016 roundup. We had several great performances at the Being Human Festival launch (for which the show was originally commissioned) …
After the initial release of logic puzzle game Patterna (now available on Steam, in case I haven't pointed that out enough times yet) developer Sebastian Schoener had me write a couple of extra pieces for the soundtrack, both of which were added in a recent December update. If you own the game they'll be added …
Alex Cottrell 