Stephen Hawking : Sticky Buns and Biscuits....

Stephen Hawking

So I was in the studio the last few weeks with Mr. Hawking doing the final track mixes for his highly anticipated Electronic album 'Summer Days and Gamma Rays'. The follow up to 2010's critically acclaimed 'Winding Roads and Binary Codes'. Now while working with Mr. Hawking is always a rewarding experience it is also unfortunately rather laborious due to the cumbersome speed with which he communicates. And having worked straight through till midnight this particular evening we therefore decided to take a little tea break. 

Stephen Hawking

Tea breaks with Mr. Hawking are most enjoyable. Tea and coffee is generally accompanied by his complimentary lifetime supply of sticky buns and biscuits which he receive's from The University of Cambridge in appreciation of his various academic endeavours. Endeavours which in no small part have led to the discovery of big mysterious words we've yet to fully understand like 'Quantum Gravity' and 'General Relativity'. And as Mr. Hawking tends to just sit and watch the tea time proceedings, there's always plenty to go round!!

On this particular evening, whilst we sat around chatting and eating our sticky buns and biscuits, Mr. Hawking enquired as to know, 'What the delightful song playing on the studio computer system was?'. We informed him it was a song called 'August Flowers' by Limerick songwriter Emma Lemon Langford.... 

At which point, obviously inspired by the charmingly happy go lucky nature of the song, he rolled straight out of the control room and back into the recording studio, proceeding to perform his own bizarre rendition.... 

Recorded in one take, without any rehearsal, 'August Flowers (and Asteroid Showers)' was subsequently mixed admits the ensuing chaos of sugar cubes, cups of tea and coffee, secondhand synthesizers, and sticky buns and biscuits. The track can be heard above, whilst Mr. Hawking's second full length album 'Summer Days and Gamma Rays' is set for release in early 2014. For more updates, check back in..... The Near Future!

'The Adventures of Dollypartasaurus' Theme Tune.....

So I've been quiet busy the last few weeks writing and arranging music for different projects. One of the piece's being a short 'Neo-classical Metal' styled instrumental, to be used as the theme tune for a new television show entitled 'The Adventures of Dollypartasaurus'. Which is described by the production company as follows....

"A fun filled, action packed and animated, educational television show for children (and possibly mentally challenged adults), which follows the adventures of a prehistoric 'Country and Western' singing dinosaur, through the deepest, darkest depths of Willie Nelson's dementia stricken mind....."

Dolly Parton

The show is to be aired sometime in 2016 on an all new community based television station in the 'Samarqand Provence' of Uzbekistan, as part of the governments new "comprehensive child eduction strategy on mental health issues". 

Above is a promotional photo courtesy of the production company and below is the finished audio track. T'is a nifty little number, the type of thing Yngwie Malmsteen might hum to himself whilst flicking through 'Cosmopolitan' or ironing his XXL Leather Pants in the morning. Check it out if yea like....



And finally, if you live in Uzbekistan watch out for 'The Adventures of Dollypartasaurus' on a television screen near you, in.....

The Near Future!

In search of 'The Cat In The Hat'....

So I took a trip to the local library the other day to borrow my favourite 'Cat in the Hat' book, which I've read like a billion times! But when I got there the lady said someone else had borrowed it the other week and not returned it yet!! How inconsiderate.... 

So at a loss as to what to do I begrudgingly left the safe and comforting confines of the children's section and ventured into the rest of the library and the scary world of Literature!!! Surprisingly I found a few books that looked interesting, with cool pictures and stories, so I borrowed them ones instead. They've turned out to be a bit more complicated than I thought they would, but I'd still highly recommend them, if for nothing else at least the cool pictures and stuff....  

This one's about Yoga.....

B.K.S. Iyengar

This books called a 'Thesis' and was written by a Nerd who says Baby Jesus never existed.....

Atheism

And this one's my favourite. I think it's written buy a guy who run's and airline just like 'Aer Lingus'..... I'm not really sure, either way it's got the best pictures..... 

Dalai Lama

Anyways, none of these books are as good as 'The Cat in the Hat', but their still pretty good! I'd recommend you check them out the next time your at your local library.....

Talk to yea, 
Mark.

'Sounds From Inside The Sun'....

New Trip-Hop track with an Electronic feel, inspired by the vast, expansive and fascinating subjects of  'Extraterrestrial Life, Close Encounters, UFO's and Abductions'. All of which I happen to not have the slightest fucking interest in whatsoever.....

So what's with Bodybuilding Magazines?

So, I was in my local Health Food Store buying some Fish Oil and Multivitamin 
supplements the other day and I started scanning through one of the bodybuilding magazine's in the book section. Now just being your average Joe that goes to the gym once or twice a week, the whole culture of bodybuilding isn't something I know a lot about. But having said that it seemed to me that some of the magazine's articles and product adverts were a bit odd? So much so that I bought the magazine just to scan some of the page's and put them up here....     

So what's all this about then?

Greg Plitt

Viagra bodybuilding

Greg Plitt

Australia Tourism Commercial

The following video presentation was commissioned by the National Tourism Board of Australia and subsequently rejected on the grounds that.... 'both culturally and geographically it fails miserably in portraying the people, landscape and wildlife of Australia in an accurate and realistic manner. As an organisation we have no intention whatsoever of using this video to attract tourism to our country.' 

Here it is anyway....



Video editing and jpeg animation made with 'Windows Movie Maker 6.0.6002' and 'Photoshop CS2'. 

'The Marsupials Strut'....

Here's a new Funky, Jazzy, Trip-Hopping Piano Instrumental inspired by the Outback and the Down Under. The accompanying video to which I'm editing at the moment.



In case your wondering the sounds in the intro, outro and in the background throughout the track are a combination of separately recorded Didgeridoo's, in various keys, cut and arranged together to make a sort of collage of noise on which the songs arrangement is then built.