Unconvention Belfast: Live updates
I’ll be live blogging from Unconvention Belfast today. There’s plenty of interesting stuff happening up on the #UnConBelfast hashtag on twitter too.
Panel One: Success Through Failure
L to R: Brett LeBoff, Marty Neil, Steven Houston & Rich Dale at #unconbelfast
First panel of the day is discussing how failure can be useful in the journey to success. Moderated by Rich Dale of Planzai, with Marty Neil (AIRPoS), Brett LeBoff (Monumental Music Group) and Steve Houston.
“If something you’re doing is failing, don’t plod on with it for years. Fail quickly, and move on!”
(more…)
For Sale Part One
The time has come for me to part with a couple of the tools that have been part of my rig in years gone by that I no longer have use for. It’s with a tinge of sadness that I say good bye to some of this equipment. Some of it has been used to make records that I’ve been on, some of it was with us when Four Day Hombre played live on Radio 1, and one item in particular tugs at my musical heart-strings but, I have no practical use for these day to day any more, so it’s time to have a clearout.
To start, I’m going to be selling my Marshall 20/20 amp, Hughes and Kettner Tubeman pre-amp and an Ibanez RG “Prestige” and TC Electronic Triple C Compressor on my eBay account here (There seems to be a little issue with the “My eBay” link at the moment, but clicking the direct product links above will take you straight there). In the coming weeks I’ll also be parting with a Danelectro U3 and a Zoom 9050S amongst other things. Here’s some photos of the stuff via my flickr account:
The Marshall, the Tubeman and the TC-Electronics compressor were used extensively in the making of Four Day Hombre’s first Single “The First Word is The Hardest, which (in our dim and distant past) caused quite a stir for us. It was playlisted on Radio 1 (more on that here too), and they were all also used when we played live on Radio 1 with Chris Moyles.
If you want to hear the gear in action, here are the tracks:
The First Word Is The Hardest – Single by Four Day Hombre
First up, the heartbreaking sale of my…
Music Monday: Zoey Van Goey, Dan Lucas & Singing Adams
A record, on my record player.
Zoe Van Goey… Part band, part cultural exchange programme, Zoey Van Goey hail from Scotland… and Canada apparently. I saw them down at Gary Stewart‘s ace Monday night Gaslight Club at Oporto, Leeds. I bought the vinyl… I didn’t however have a record player.
After acquiring a long loan Technics from my friend Leon Ross (@qrtzcntrl), I popped this little beauty on and it’s become regular listening at the House of Huxley. It’s not so easily available or sharable so far as I can tell, you can goto the Zoe Van Goey website and click through to iTunes, but I found this little fella up on Souncloud via Zoey Van Goey’s label Chemikal Underground.
Zoey Van Goey – Mountain On Fire by Chemikal Underground
(more…)
Music Monday – Independents Day
It’s the 4th of July
… and what better way to celebrate than by championing a load of great, independent music?
Incidentally, this is my first blog on my new (and to be fair, still very much in development) blog at richhuxley.com. I’ve decided to move things over here from thehuxcapacitor.com for a number of reasons, as richhuxley.com has been a bit of a test-space for my wordpress.org installation. But enough of that… I have music to share!
She Makes War
You may recognise the ace Laura Kidd (aka @shemakeswar aka @warriorgrrl) from the recent Amplified meets New Music Strategies sessions from the week before last. (You can see our first discussion about the internet and music here). In addition to having a load of smart stuff to say about the music industries, Laura also does great stuff with cameras… and music. This weekend she’s been combining both for her track Slow Puncture. Treacle heavy, grinding and listing like a waterlogged ship, Slow Puncture is a favourite of mine. The video is technicolour London, playful, dreamy and features storm-troopers so you’ve gotta like it really. #nobrainwer
Better still, you can get a bit of context for the music, and a making of video (of the making of of the video) here. Best of all, you can get She Makes War music as a Pay What You Want download. You know what to do. ;)
(more…)
An open letter to the PCC and Closer Magazine
Closer Magazine – Repugnant and Irresponsible.
Yesterday, whilst fuelling up the car, I spotted this headline on the front of Closer Magazine.
Skinny and pregnant, or not... and fat.
I often find myself aghast at the filth pedalled by red top magazines in the vague guise of journalism and reportage, but this one I couldn’t just let lie, so here’s what I’ve sent to the PCC and here’s hoping that some action is taken.
Dear PCC,
I hope this finds you well. Spotted the headlines and pictures detailed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/huxhombre/5876720852/
It’s clearly highly irresponsible to a) portray the woman on the right as someone who is showing a “tum” and implying that she should lose weight, and also to encourage slimming/dieting when pregnant. It’s also sensationalist and clearly a dangerous thing to pedal to young impressionables. I’m reporting this to you if only on the basis that it flouts the following from your Code Of Conduct: (more…)
Hope and Social Albums
