D for Derivative?

I was born at a very early age in Chesterfield, home of wonky wonder the Crooked Spire, but raised mostly in books.

I am a carbon-based bipedal life form who supports Man Utd but generally prefers watching the England cricket team these days.

I write things (usually words),
I take pictures and I mess about with Ableton, all with varying degrees of lack of success.

These are the constants. Everything else is likely to change without notice and I'm afraid there's very little you and I can do about it.
boat_1914 on Flickr.Taken with a Canon EOS 60D, using a Lensbaby Edge 80 mounted in a Lensbaby Composer. Shot in B&W on-camera, using custom B&W settings. Apart from a minor contrast tweak, this is practically straight from the camera.
Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

boat_1914 on Flickr.

Taken with a Canon EOS 60D, using a Lensbaby Edge 80 mounted in a Lensbaby Composer. Shot in B&W on-camera, using custom B&W settings. Apart from a minor contrast tweak, this is practically straight from the camera.

Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

Mixtape: Shenanigans 02

In conventional fashion my second Ableton mixtape followed the first, adopting a similarly conventional numbering format. I remember nothing about doing this mixtape whatsoever. Sorry, this isn’t the best anecdote as far as these things go.

The idea is that you visit the link, download each part, then play them together in order with no gap between them. The longer mixes are all 60-65 mins long and meant to fit on one audio CD. There are no complete individual records, in fact just because a record is listed, doesn’t mean you’ll get more than 10 seconds of it in some case!  I make no claim as to the quality and I only generally make them for the fun of it and my own amusement. 

Tracklisting

  1. Lazyboy – Underwear Goes Inside The Pants
  2. Radiohead – High
  3. Marvin Gaye – Sexual Healing
  4. Sheryl Crow – What I Can Do For You
  5. Crowded House – Take The Weather With You
  6. Dr. Dre – Stil D.R.E.
  7. A Tribe Called Quest – Bonita Applebum
  8. Mark Ronson – Just
  9. Prince – Sign Of The Times
  10. DJ Yoda – Wheels
  11. Moby – Honey
  12. Sugababes – I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
  13. The Beastie Boys – Body Movin’
  14. The Soup Dragons – Free
  15. Diana Brown & Barrie K. Sharpe – Masterplan
  16. Amerie – Take Control
  17. Annie – Chewing Gum
  18. Prince – Bob George
  19. Foxy Brown – I’ll Be
  20. David Bowie – Let’s Dance
  21. Pink – Get The Party Started
  22. Playgroup – Number One
  23. Rose Royce – If It’s Love You’re After
  24. LL Cool J – Take Control
  25. Freeez – IOU
  26. Bodyrockers – I Like The Way You Move
  27. Kylie Minogue – Did It Again
  28. Double 99 – RIP Groove
  29. Madonna – Ray Of Light
  30. Praise Cats – We Got Love
  31. Deep Dish – Flashdance
  32. Syntax – Pray
  33. Dire Straits – Money For Nothing
  34. Noir – All About The House Music
  35. Avenue D – Do I Look Like A Slut?
  36. Planet Funk – Who Said?
  37. The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby
  38. Soulsearcher – I Can’t Get Enough

Download link

http://www.mediafire.com/?58wdj0dowjufm

This is the beach at Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, taken with a modified Canon EOS 400D.

This is the beach at Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, taken with a modified Canon EOS 400D.

Wedding Shenanigans

This is a 40-minute mix that I did for the one and only wedding that I have ever DJed. I steadfastly refused to do weddings for 18 years and then agreed to do this one on a whim for a friend - we shared similar musical tastes in a lot of ways. We agreed the style and type of music well in advance, I got a load of tracks ready beforehand and then at about 11am on the morning of the wedding he said, “I’ve been talking to my family and they prefer more Stevie Wonder, Jacksons etc.”

“So they don’t want this Herbaliser stuff?”

“No.”

“They don’t want any of this Lyrics Born stuff either?”

“Not really, no.”

“Not even the Beastie Boys stuff?”

“Umm…”

Cue rapid reappraisal of set in the 40 minutes before I was due to leave for the train. In the end it all went swimmingly and I really enjoyed it. It’s the most sober I’ve ever finished a gig, I think. 

So this is a short mix I put together to give me a chance to go raid the buffet and get a few drinks. It’s unashamedly quite populist. I don’t turn my nose up at pop music all that often.

Tracklisting

  1. MC Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock - “It Takes Two”
  2. The Herbaliser - “Gadget Funk”
  3. Beatsie Boys - “Body Movin’”
  4. Sugarhill Gang - “Rapper’s Delight”
  5. Justin Timberlink - “Rock Your Body”
  6. Air - “Kelly Watch The Stars”
  7. Barenaked Ladies - “One Week”
  8. Fatboy Slim - “Praise You”
  9. Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse - “Valerie”
  10. Run DMC - “Aerosmith”
  11. Happy Mondays - “Step On”
  12. Beyonce - “Crazy In Love”
  13. Ini Kamoze - “Hotstepper”
  14. EMF - “Unbelievable”
  15. All Seeing I - “Walk Like A Panther”
  16. Fatman Scoop - “Be Faithful”
  17. FLC - “The Fun Lovin’ Criminal”
  18. DJ Kool - “Let Me Clear My Throat”
  19. DJ Mark The 45 King - “The 900 Number”
  20. The Ting Tings - “Shut Up And Let Me Go”
  21. Gnarls Barkeley - “Crazy”
  22. Maria Carey - “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life”

Download link

http://www.mediafire.com/?dtivsyupao0j6dt

Mixtape: Shenanigans 01

My very first ‘proper’ mixtape in Ableton! I think I went a bit crazy with the power of being able to mix anything in 4/4 time. There are some very eclectic choices on here! This is before I realised I was better off just chopping up the bits of records that I like best.

The idea is that you visit the link, download each part, then play them together in order with no gap between them. The longer mixes are all 60-65 mins long and meant to fit on one audio CD. There are no complete individual records, in fact just because a record is listed, doesn’t mean you’ll get more than 10 seconds of it in some case!  I make no claim as to the quality and I only generally make them for the fun of it and my own amusement. 

Tracklisting

  1. Sugarhill Gang – Rapper’s Delight
  2. Ocean Colour Scene – The Day We Caught The Train
  3. Amerie – Man Up
  4. Fun Lovin’ Criminals – Love Unlimited
  5. M.I.A. – Galang
  6. Survivor – Eye Of The Tiger
  7. Usher – Yeah
  8. AC/DC – Back In Black
  9. Korn – Freak On A Leash
  10. LL Cool J – Phenomenon
  11. Embrace – Save Me
  12. Linkin Park – In The End
  13. Freestylers – B-Boy Stance
  14. Blondie – Rapture
  15. Daft Punk – Da Funk
  16. Syntax – Bliss
  17. Prince – Kiss
  18. Fatboy Slim – Praise You
  19. The Jackson 5 – I Want You Back
  20. Elvis Presley – A Little Less Conversation
  21. Barenaked Ladies – One Week
  22. Michael Grey – Weekend
  23. NERD – She Wants To Move
  24. James – Laid
  25. The Bucketheads – The Bomb!
  26. Lionrock – Fire Up The Shoesaw
  27. Britney Spears – Slave 4U
  28. Thunderbugs – It’s About Time That You Were Mine
  29. Holly Valance – Curious
  30. Gorillaz – Dare
  31. Felix Da Housecat – Silver Screen Shower Scene
  32. Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way?
  33. Audio Bullys – We Don’t Care
  34. Todd Terry – House Sermon
  35. Fanny Pack – Nu Nu Yeah Yeah
  36. Mighty Dub Katz – Magic Carpet Ride
  37. Paul Oakenfold – Faster Kill Pussycat
  38. Deep Dish – Sacramento
  39. Mint Royale – Sexiest Man In Jamaica
  40. The Clash – Rock The Kasbah
  41. David Bowie – Rebel Rebel
  42. Yer Man – Weird Therapy
  43. Miss Kittin – Professional Distortion
  44. Primal Scream – Rocks
  45. Candi Staton – You Got The Love
  46. Men Women & Children – Dance In My Blood
  47. Kush – Bittersweet
  48. Elvis Costello – Pump It Up
  49. ESG – Dance
  50. Nikka Costa – Funkier Than A Mosquito’s Tweeter
  51. The Knack – My Sharona
  52. Girls Aloud – No Good Advice

Download link

http://www.mediafire.com/?6kk587i5db2vd

Mixtape: House Rules 01

So as you who actually know me will know that, for a while, I did dabble with bits of vinyl and CDs in nightclubs and stuff. I’ve got some of the mixtapes still lying around as MP3s so I’m going to stick them up here in case anyone is interested in them. Some of them are quite straightforward - this one for example is a series of records mixed together one after the other in fairly straightforward DJ fashion - some of them are rather more experimental.

The idea is that you visit the link, download each part, then play them together in order with no gap between them. The longer mixes are all 60-65 mins long and meant to fit on one audio CD. There are no complete individual records, in fact towards the end of my career I played less and less complete records and more and more samples. Just because a record is listed, doesn’t mean you’ll get more than 10 seconds of it in some case!  I make no claim as to the quality and I only generally make them for the fun of it and my own amusement. 

So this mix is quite unusual in that I do just play records from start to finish, one after the other. No samples, no loops, no mash-ups, no acapellas, it’s just like when I used to DJ from vinyl. God that was boring!

Tracklisting

  • 1. Solu Music ft. Kimberlee – Fade (Grant Nelson Big Room Vocal – Wez Clarke Re-edit)
  • 2. The Saturdays – If This Is Love (Moto Blanco Club Mix)
  • 3. The Ting Tings – Great DJ (7th Heaven Remix)
  • 4. Jonestown – Sweet Thang
  • 5. Freemasons ft. Katherine Ellis – When You Touch Me (Original Mix)
  • 6. Faith Evans – Mesmerised (Freemasons Vocal Mix)
  • 7. Deepgroove – Fascinated (Original Club Mix)
  • 8. Martin Solveig – Rocking Music (Joey Negro Mix)
  • 9. Booty Luv – Some Kinda Rush (7th Heaven Pure Joy Remix)
  • 10. Masters At Work ft. India – Backfired (Joey Negro Mix)
  • 11. Blaze ft. Barbara Tucker -Most Precious Love (Ian Carey Mix)
  • 12. Asha – J. J. Tribute
Download link
church_0677 on Flickr.Taken with a modified EOS 400D. Shot from a moving 10.25” gauge train!
Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

church_0677 on Flickr.

Taken with a modified EOS 400D. Shot from a moving 10.25” gauge train!

Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

church_0684 on Flickr.Taken with a modified EOS 400D. Shot from a moving 10.25” gauge train!
Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

church_0684 on Flickr.

Taken with a modified EOS 400D. Shot from a moving 10.25” gauge train!

Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

boats_1967 on Flickr.Taken with a Canon EOS 60D, using a Lensbaby Edge 80 mounted in a Lensbaby Composer. Shot in B&W on-camera, using custom B&W settings. Apart from a minor contrast tweak, this is practically straight from the camera.
Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

boats_1967 on Flickr.

Taken with a Canon EOS 60D, using a Lensbaby Edge 80 mounted in a Lensbaby Composer. Shot in B&W on-camera, using custom B&W settings. Apart from a minor contrast tweak, this is practically straight from the camera.

Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

boats_P1010077 on Flickr.Taken with a Panasonic LX5, in 1:1 aspect ratio using custom in-camera B&W settings.
Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

boats_P1010077 on Flickr.

Taken with a Panasonic LX5, in 1:1 aspect ratio using custom in-camera B&W settings.

Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

hidden_pool_0627 on Flickr.
Taken with a modified EOS 400D.  I’m not wild about this one. I had the camera on ISO1600 and the noise is terrible. I have the RAW file though so I may just try running it through noise ninja or something. Taken at Holkham Nature Reseve, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

hidden_pool_0627 on Flickr.

Taken with a modified EOS 400D.

I’m not wild about this one. I had the camera on ISO1600 and the noise is terrible. I have the RAW file though so I may just try running it through noise ninja or something.

Taken at Holkham Nature Reseve, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

beach_1899 on Flickr.
Taken with a Canon EOS 60D, using a Lensbaby Edge 80 mounted in a Lensbaby Composer. Shot in B&W on-camera, using custom B&W settings. Apart from a minor contrast tweak, this is practically straight from the camera. Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

beach_1899 on Flickr.

Taken with a Canon EOS 60D, using a Lensbaby Edge 80 mounted in a Lensbaby Composer. Shot in B&W on-camera, using custom B&W settings. Apart from a minor contrast tweak, this is practically straight from the camera.

Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

buoy_1947 on Flickr.Taken with a Canon EOS 60D, using a Lensbaby Edge 80 mounted in a Lensbaby Composer. Shot in B&W on-camera, using custom B&W settings. Apart from a minor contrast tweak, this is practically straight from the camera.
Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

buoy_1947 on Flickr.

Taken with a Canon EOS 60D, using a Lensbaby Edge 80 mounted in a Lensbaby Composer. Shot in B&W on-camera, using custom B&W settings. Apart from a minor contrast tweak, this is practically straight from the camera.

Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

farm_0683 on Flickr.

farm_0683 on Flickr.

buoy_1932 on Flickr.
Taken with a Canon EOS 60D, using a Lensbaby Edge 80 mounted in a Lensbaby Composer. Shot in B&W on-camera, using custom B&W settings. Apart from a minor contrast tweak, this is practically straight from the camera. Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.

buoy_1932 on Flickr.

Taken with a Canon EOS 60D, using a Lensbaby Edge 80 mounted in a Lensbaby Composer. Shot in B&W on-camera, using custom B&W settings. Apart from a minor contrast tweak, this is practically straight from the camera.

Taken in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, in May 2012.