Templates was an invited release on the Chelicerate netlabel (thanks Neil!)

The EP concept took shape during my foray into live performance. If you’ve seen any of these performances on YouTube, or at EMOM events around the country, then Templates 1 and 2 will sound familiar.

The name and art of the EP is a nod to the fact that the many of the sounds were sampled from “The Transformation” EP, and imported into a Yamaha RS7000 for live sequencing and composition; a different workflow than my usual.

Using that workflow also meant that the “Template” tracks existed as live, free-form pieces long before being crystallised into the pieces presented here using Renoise and Reaper before being mastered by Neil LAR.

Tracks:

You can find the release on Archive.org, Bandcamp, and Spotify.

Enjoy!

After about a decade of struggling to sort a live setup that agreed with me, I took Felix Helix on the road and did a mini-tour with a live-set derived from samples of tracks from “The Transformation.“

I was able to get on billings at various EMOM nights and played the following:

• 27 Oct 2022, VEMOM, online only
• 10 Nov 2022, Stoke on Trent
• 29 Nov 2022, Huddersfield
• 08 Dec 2022, Stoke on Trent
• 15 Dec 2022, Derby
• 20 Dec 2022, Leicester

The captured performances are below and you can download them all in HD, here.

 

A Remix of “Depletion” by the wonderfully talented Gianni Barba, who did the mastering for “The Transformation.” I liked this track of his so much that I wanted to put my own spin on it.

You can download this track here.

Sadly, the original seems to be lost.

Felix Helix- The Transformation

The transformation is the second EP from Felix Helix, and was written between 2016 and 2020 (A much faster work rate than for my first work, Vibrations.1). Some workflow changes meant that things were easier, e.g. composing entirely in Renoise, and mixing down in Reaper.

I  think the sound quality is far better on this EP compared to Vibrations.1, in part because I started to learn how to mix, and also had excellent mastering from my man Gianni Barba, whose work you really ought to check out if you’re into things that are a bit more “upbeat.”

I’m also honoured that Suck Puck recordz wanted to release it, definitely put a spring in my step.

You can stream, and download the EP for free over on their page. You can get it on Spotify too, if that’s your thing.

The full liner notes are attached here.

Tracks and context:

1) The Missing Pieces

Inspired by a part from “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” and lines from the Blade Runner 2049 baseline test, this one was about getting older, and feeling less intensely as life goes on. Sometimes, the rush of life consumes us, and over time, it goes away.

So, “Do you feel there’s a part of you that’s missing?”

Music video here.

2) The Cycle

Everything repeats itself until it doesn’t.

3) She, the Tomb Goddess

This was a lament for someone, almost as though they’d disappeared into the forest. I guess this is what missing someone sounds like, to me at least.

Music video here.

4) Varuna and the Flood

This one’s in celebration of water. How it can make endless waves, conceal infinite depths underneath its stillness, and rain down destruction.

Here’s hoping you listen to, and enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This version of the Sevenths Song is a remake of a song I started (also called the Sevenths song) about 12 years ago.

You can download this track here, and the original here.

The track features on the Battle Beats Vol. Two compilation, a collection of fast, slow, hard and soft tracks on the mlempfree netlabel.

You can download a copy of the compilation here.

Mastering for this one was done  by Neil Lar, who I’d also like to thank for putting the compilation together.

Felix Helix- Vibrations.1

Vibrations.1 is the first (and at time of writing, only) EP from Felix Helix. It took form between 2008 and 2016. Much of why it took so long was just down to life (and laziness) getting in the way.

In some ways I want to think of it as a “starting point.”

The EP was released via the H-A-Z-E netlabel (R.I.P) and it received some press, most notably on the Yeah I Know it Sucks blog, who were really rather nice about it. You can read what they said about it here. I also gave an interview around the time the EP dropped to Noise Without Borders, here.

you can stream and download the EP for free here. It’s also on Spotify.

Tracks and context:

Well, it’s an intro.

2) La Izquerda

The title is the Spanish for “the left.” Don’t know why I called it this, just did. I’d been working on it on and off since 2010.

It’s a track about getting knocked down, spending some time at the bottom and then, getting back up again. At the time of writing, it was probably going to be the last hyper-intricate piece I did.

I dedicate it to Sheila Chandra.

3) 4:27 (also 4-27)

This one was the first track I can say I was happy with; it was remixed for the Digital Vomit compilation DVR019-Everybody Loops, which you can read more about and download here.

I am also incredibly proud to know it’s been featured on the Free Music Archive, and thank Miquel Parera for deeming it worth including.

4) Angelus

I made this one during a pretty intense time in my life, and it may be the most self-expressive thing I’ve ever written.

Here’s hoping you listen to, and enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

I made this as a first attempt at an ambient track for the CIVIC-TV x N.O.I.S.E. VHS compilation, a collaboration to make a “noisy ambient” work of visual art.

The accompanying video disappeared off the face of the internet, fortunately all of the audio tracks are still around.

This track was meant to evoke a more cavernous and dreamlike feeling than the  percussive stuff I usually hammer out.

I’m thinking of exploring this direction a little bit more in the coming years.

Shout out to the folks at the N.O.I.S.E subreddit and CIVIC-TV for his work in putting this together.

You can download the track itself from Archive.org here.

 “Rotten Fish Head,” was one of the last Digital Vomit releases to come out, and was themed around data corruption. It was also the first release from Dreak.

Here, I used a sample set comprised of the sounds of mechanical hard drives (thanks Ibn!) and some sounds generated from loading images into Audacity, as part of a flirtation with databending. Here’s hoping the “out of control/corrupted” aspect comes through nicely.

As always, a download is available (as well as the rest of the Album) over at archive.org

I also contributed album art (the back cover background) to this release. You can see it here.

Things fading further and further away, until they’re there no longer. Gone.

This was a contribution to the Digital Vomit compilation Ecfundo Postremus (available here, individual track here).

It had been quite some time between the last thing I did in this sort of style (i.e. Angelus, which was done between May 2008 and the summer of 2009) and during this time, a lot of stuff changed within myself.

It’s probably reflected within the music.

This is a remix of 4:27 on the Everybody Loops compilation (Digital Vomit 019).

We intended to write electronic music for kids for this album, and you can download it here.

Thanks to Keith Hicc for compiling the release, and the rest of the Digital Vomit people.