Last week I was over in Northern Ireland recording with David Holmes. I love the guy – he has a fantastic energy, and working with him is always fun, challenging, inspiring, sideways. We were on the edge of something, making some good music which I believe will lead us both to interesting places. He uploaded a really great mix to Soundcloud – here it is, if you’ve got an hour to have your brain bent into a funny shape. Our original stuff is from 32:46.
I was lucky enough to be let loose on his collection of vintage gear for the Ramshackle Crow record. His studio is truly an Aladdin’s Cave of analogue gear, the shining jewel being the Yamaha CS-80. Unfortunately I discovered that the oscillators need some serious work and was unable to use it due to tuning issues… gutted. I turned my attention to some of the other quirky little beasts lying around – the Multivox, the Wersi Baß synth, some other old beasties. It was really good fun. David was at the controls, which even on my own stuff meant that I had one take before it was declared suitable and therefore not immediately “deleted due to a lack of vibe”.
There was a great moment when I played him the track with Brian Eno’s backing vocals (More is less) and he loved it – shouting across the room, “Let me get some samples on that…” Now, that would be kinda fun – the David Holmes remix. I think I need to get my act together and give him the materials he needs to have some fun.
I’m looking forward to going back there to finish what we started.