hanging out with audiophiles

Im going to read from the press release this time coz its a good’n

The simpatico sophomore album by the unstoppably prolific Alex Paterson and fellow Orb original Andy Falconer is an epic sail through the sky at night. Helmed by gentle spirits with warmth in their hearts, ‘SETI’ feels cold and dark, yet also glowing and welcoming. Aboard a cosy candlelit spacecraft, the duo experience the cosmos as somewhere overwhelmingly infinite, yet reassuring and friendly. A sort of ‘ambient unplugged’, it’s full of acoustic instruments and nostalgic samples, folding space between the old world, and places where no man has gone before.

Dr Paterson speaks

“The first LP had a great reception and sold so well I couldn’t even get a copy myself. Andy is brilliant at making ambient music, and working with him is always rewarding. We understand each other’s brains – it’s easy and organic - so doing another made total sense.” He adds, “SETI stands for Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence, but it’s also something you sit on, to chill out, which is why the album contains a Three Piece Suite. This record is musical ambience, which is what we like to make, rather than drone ambience, which there’s a lot of these days.”

That last point struck me as it describes the sensations I associate with the music of the Orb which is a sort of maximal ambient rush.

It’s a sound that whizzes me right back to my dreamy youth tbh when these guys were so responsible for making the soundtrack that accompanied me through my last years at school. It was a time when I needed music to blow my mind.

When I was told I could speak to an original member of the orb I was so curious to ask Andy how it was all made back in those days. We get into that right at the end of this chat as well as a walk down memory lane and up the present. 

It was great to catch up with Andy in Portugal. He’s had quite the life!

Let’s get into it

Bones....

Wind....

Caves....

A simpler time

When we apes first tooted.. the fluuuute

Yes it’s wild how far we’ve come and Matthew Herbert and I go back a bit too .. I mean not to the flute tooting era but we go back.

He speaks during this chat of his achievements as an evolved ape and many had me gasping ! 

He tells of multiple slippers that he can slide into to tap different sonic personas.

The making of 1000 pieces of music a year!

The upkeep of his musical organ filled with pigs blood.

Yes

The stories are wild in this one so

Strap in!

Did I mention we go way back?

Yes !

I was lucky enough to collaborate with him on a few notable pieces of music.

1) He played on the second super_collider LP raw digits on a track called gravity rearranging 

2) I was a singer on his album Goodbye Swingtime and joined him and the bigband at the Hollywood Bowl opening for Bjork in 2003 alongside Bonnie Prince Billy.

Hollywood bowl bigband? I mean come on!!

3) He joined me alongside Arto Lindsay, performing the most monumental show of my career at Sonar 2003.

That show was the real unveiling of all my efforts in the lab to make an impov looping performance with max/msp. Something I’d dreamt of for years and finally made real.

It was so fitting to have him and Arto come on for the final number and make a total racket with me.

We just all clattered it to the ground. A moment I’ll never forget and it was all down to Matthew really as it was watching him show using multiple boss echos in short looping mode that got me started on that road.

A brilliant and restless musical mind that has always moved in his own lane.

It’s a treat to welcome onto the show

Matthew Herbert

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It’s been a while but I’ve some music to play from an artist and pod listener 

This time it’s from an LP called TRIPLE TRANSIT 

The artist is Braile and he makes some really solid Modular YouTube pieces too 

His new record is out August 8th on Hotflush recordings. 

Link!

https://braillesounds.bandcamp.com/album/triple-transit

Superbooth 2024 here I come

Im in a rush but I promised a show so here it is :)

This is the second celebration of a wonderful maker in the eurorack world.

Meet Instruo. 

The company was founded by Jason Lim who is the guest on this episode and we discuss how a company like this can exist in the wild electric world.

The kind of knowledge it takes.

The team that has emerged.

The nature of the design. 

We answer the all important question 

"do you feel the music of the mushroom?"

yes!!!

check out the modules here!

https://www.instruomodular.com

Im joined by Matthew Allum (ALM/Busy Circuits) as we discuss the origins of one of the best loved and most popular eurorack modules of all time

Pam’s New Workout (and subsequent PRO form)

How does a person go from having a thought of an afternoon to running one of the worlds most beloved modular synth companies?

All shall be revealed!

For those sensitive to talk of whittling, I must warn you there is mention of carpentry but it’s short lived and most of the chips we linger on are of the silicon and not wooden variety.

This is part of a 2 episode pre super booth special and I’ll be popping a few bit up on the patreon using an ALM based system to rinse it a little 🙂

Who’s coming to the booth!?!?!

This episode is sponsored by the tremendous fabfilter

They are celebrating 20 years in the game with a HUGE SALE

yes you can get 30% off Fabfilter plugins until May 1st !!!

Act now as these are some of the very best plugins on the planet.

Here’s the link. Click on y’all

https://www.fabfilter.com/shop

were you the co-developer of ableton live?

ah no

but Mr Henke

very much was.

Think about that for a minute.

It’s easy to forget as he’ll never bring it up without being prompted.

He’s not big on the dwelling and far more interested in his current obsessions.

Special interests (SPINS) as they are called are the things driving the REAL artists of which Robert is most certainly one.

I had one “job” interviewing him at this time. We were supposed to talk about the re-release of a classic monolake (Robert’s musical moniker) LP “Hong Kong” on Field Records.

There was a hint of that here. It loomed in the fog over the hills as we, the ramblers, became fascinated by objects more close at hand.

His tremendous work with the commodore PET platform as a primitive yet potent synth and drum machine for example.

His encounters with the art world (which he is not fond of)

his dislike of the infernal machine reverb ! ha. (also not fond it seems)

His connection to the tonal land of the PPG wave and the Synclavier (yes, he’s fond)

ah yes

I loved reconnecting with him after all these years.

He was always a brilliantly bright mind and continues to probe his passions to deliver wildly unique sound and light shows that stand apart from his peers.

oh and dont forget he’s the co-developer of ableton live!

With 20 albums under his own name and his instrumental group Cosmo, the man knows how to make a record.

He is a wildly accomplished and successful songwriter. For example in 2003 Harris he received the Grammy Award for Song Of The Year for Norah Jones’ breakout hit “Don’t Know Why,” from her debut album, Come Away With Me, which has sold almost 30 million copies worldwide.

Versions of his songs have been sung by artists as diverse as

Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Cat Power, Feist, The Black Keys, M. Ward, Brad Mehldau, Bright Eyes, Smokey Robinson, George Benson, Pat Metheny, Kandace Springs, and Solomon Burke.

I mean WHAT a list that is!

Songwriting collaborations have included Maya Hawke, John Zorn, Madeleine Peyroux, Melody Gardot, Papooz, and Lana Del Rey.

If you didnt think you knew Jesse, I bet you’ve heard his writing out there in the known universe of sound and by gosh he’s a real potent force. Even after all this success, he is very mild mannered and thoughtful in this nice rambling interview. He’s generous with his knowledge and a very easy guy to get along with.

I must say I hang my pod head slightly when reflecting on how old this interview is. Like a fine wine, I hope it’s benefited from a little time in the digital cellar.

Drink in the wisdoms y’all !

I met Jim thanks to the wonderful master of mastering Heba Kadry who's based in New York (whi btw that just finished mastering my new LP!) 

She used him to assist in the making of her room and that set me on a journey to get my place into shape too. Him and his team at Sondhus did an excellent job and I've been loving my light and airy attic so much!

I've talked about my space a little on the show and I've shared a few pics and videos from the spot so there's evidence of it out there. 

I look forward to being in here every day. 

Jim's story is really interesting and it's an angle that's not been covered thus far on the pod. 

He has knowledge and passion on all manner of issues relating to studio spaces, from the flow to the sound and the minimal aesthetic that is a through line in his work. 

He's made rooms for Martin Gore, Laurie Anderson, Heba Kadry, Philip Weinrobe, the Juliard School in New York to name but  a few.

Wild !

In this show I demonstrate the sound of my rooms and why using a binaural head for interviews and voice over is a terrible idea :) ha

I have Patreon :)

https://www.patreon.com/HOWA

You can join now for as little as $1.50 a month. 

All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier and I want to thank everyone for their support! It really helps me keep the show going.

_____

Medasin aka Grant Nelson is a feeler.

I was initially drawn to his sample packs like a moth to the fire.

The fire it turns out has many a hue and the music goes deep.

It was excellent to speak to the man himself and uncover his philosophical side.

We battle for who’s more of a hippy. It was close but

as all hippies know there is no winner in this game.

so just jump in the rambling river with us 🙂

Here’s some useful links to Grants work

his website:

https://medasinmusic.com

his sample packs which are great!

also he is selling all the stems to his last LP (the one he is discussing in this interview )

all here:

https://medasindrumkits.sellfy.store

he’s a fan of

Theo Vaughn and the Kill tony YouTube

I thought I ought to mention that 🙂

Thanks to Baby Audio for their kind sponsorship of this pod!

I’ve LOVED using their new synth ATOMS as you can doubtless hear from the fun I had in the intro.

I literally spent hours just making sounds for fun. It’s such a yielding instrument. I can highly recommend it!

all the sounds I made go to the patreons on the soul science level of course.

GOOD NEWS

If you type AUDIOPHILES in the check out you get 15% off

here’s the link you need!

https://babyaud.io/atoms

YEP!!

If you want to directly help support me in the pod work please consider joining my

Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/HOWA

All sounds from this episode will go to those on the upper tier !

There’s over 4GB of audio from the experiments I did with the Oxi one using a custom tape machine, wild analog gear and generally odd stuff to yield those good samples.

ok, let's get on with the show!

Kid Koala is not like the others.

I mean who else gets the idea to do a scratch routine with moon river?

Who thinks (and pulls off) a show where everyone has their own turntable in the audience to interact with a performance?

He's the creator of wonderful graphic novels Nufonia Must Fall and Space Cadet

He’s opened for Radiohead

He’s worked on movies like The Great Gatsby, Baby Driver and Scott Pilgrim vs the world

Creativity to the max. Joy to the max.

It really is a treat to have him on the show.

I’ve always been a big fan and Eric really couldnt be any more humble and wonderful !

___

in the show the MUSIC is back !

Yes for this episode, the musical connections come from the rather brilliant mind of bossada

I got the cassette of this btw and it’s a thing of beauty.

This is great work. Let’s support the good art x

LINK LINK LINK

https://bossada.bandcamp.com/album/cantina-days

Kind show sponsorship comes from oxi instruments

makers of the excellent oxi one sequencer

Here’s a link to it

https://oxiinstruments.com/oxi-one/

if you want to buy one with a HOWA affiliate link together with perfect circuit go

here :)

there's a little video about the oxi as omnichord here 

Merriment abound ! It's that time again when sonic stockings are stuffed. This time with a fireside ramble twixt myself and the legend that is Dj Shadow as we celebrate his new LP "Action Adventure"

Welcome. 

I hope this finds you in good health and merry mood as the season sheds it's joy upon you. If joy is in short supply and the period feels claustrophobic and the family is doing your head in then I trust yule be able to duck out for a spell and use this as an escape pod.

Who am I rambling with on the sonic sleigh?

Dj Shadow really needs no Endroducing but in case you’re not hip to his MPC60 masterpiece from 1996 you MUST inhale that now.

What a record. I recall having both of my Christmas stockings blown off by this LP and it’s humbling to be sat on a zoom with the chap now. 

Such is the mystery of the digital time ghosts. 

Twas a mighty pleasure to chew the cud with such a master of the chops.

I hope this offers you some sonic solace this holiday 

______

I wish to alert you to a new way to give to this show, should you find it appealing :) 

https://www.patreon.com/howa/membership

It's the new $1.50 tier on Patreon, a wonderful idea that came from Hainbach. 

A way to chip in and directly support the show as a kind of digital high five :) I really do pour my heart Into the HOWA podcast. As you can imagine, it all takes loads of effort. From finding the guests and organizing the chats, to trying to find new areas of sonic joy to explore and share in the episodes. Then there's all the time editing, uploading, promoting and all that. If you enjoy the show and feel you can spare a little over a dollar a month to help me carry on, that would be rather ace! thanks!!

_____

Sponsorship comes from Distrokid

Did you know that there's a new iOS and android app that lets you

- Upload

- Find out when money hits your bank 

- Check streaming stats and loads more

Take advantage of the savings HOWA offers ya!

Use this 30% off code

http://distrokid.com/vip/lidell