After many decades, BusinessControlled is performing live at Bloc+, a bar/restaurant in the centre of Glasgow, UK. The event is a showcase for many acts playing electronic music under the title of “Noise Box”, a monthly night of techno and experimental music.
BusinessControlled is a solo project from the 1980s, it involves my own compositions, played live, before the songs/music was incorporated into a band, were it took on a different style.
In the 80s it was simply an acoustic guitar and vocals… a Billy Bragg before Billy Bragg !! But later it evolved into other styles and music. After a few decades of not playing electronic music live (I was involved with ethnomusicology) I am able to play again. This time using various synths and hardware electronic instrument (not a laptop or DAW).
There will be a few acts in one night, and it will be an interesting evening and I am very pleased to play and be amongst it all.
I have been going to the Glitch Club for a few weeks now, trying to spark into life my dead electrical gear. The organizer of the Glitch Club and I are putting on a musical event. It is all to do with relaxation and mindfulness. It will be a night of acoustic instruments… gongs, ney, Tibetan Bowls, Rain sticks etc.
The talk at the minute is FX boxes, too few … too many? How to use them and what to use. The Dream Machine has its own PA, with quadrophonic sound, so the sound will be special, it is about getting the balance right.
I hope this will be a start to something more frequent in the future, a nice change from the synths and electronic music. I could do with some relaxation myself !!
I composed this piece for a concert I will be giving on the 19th October, 2023. In Glasgow’s “Bloc+” a club/bar in the city centre. The event wanted a piece under 25 minutes in length, so instead of mixing and matching a few melodies into 1, I wrote this piece using one piece of midi.
“Opium Consumers”
The text is from “Confessions of an English Opium-Eater” by Thomas De Quincey. He lived in Cumbria in the 1840s (a county in the NE of England, where I am also from), his book is an insight into taking opium when it was legal commerce, a bit like buying a beer today.
I know of a few people who took opium, and know of a few people who takes hashish as a way of relieving pain, it seems these plants can help a lot of people who are struggling with day to day illnesses, illnesses that the medical profession can not relieve.
I am not an advocate for selling illegal or legal drugs… I am an advocate of pain relief. People should not be suffering where there is relief from that suffering, it is as simple as that. Only when the pain has subsided can a person logically talk about the pros and cons… of drug taking.
The music is a snapshot in time, I have already changed and adapted certain parameters since recording that video a few days ago, and I am sure it will change again before the 19th of Oct. That is the beauty of it, the structure stays the same but the sound is never the same, each time one plays it is it different, never constant. I like that, it is live and it is original. I learn about the instrument/s each time I play it.
The style of music is not very “gritty” it is a clean sounding piece, but if I am writing a type of counterpoint, then I let the melody/harmony do the talking… I do not need the gritty texture to make it interesting. I find this way of writing very interesting and surprising.
The music was recorded live using the Zoom H8 mic, then I added a plate reverb in post production using Reaper DAW. The instruments are: Crave, MPC One, Volca Sampler, Volca FM, Volca Bass.
New A4’s came from the printers for my revamped “Strangled Growth” CD, it is getting a project in itself, with new ideas and styles. This time I am making a double CD out of the cassette recording, which is longer and with added tracks. The single CD was reduced in length, some one asked me to have the original version on CD.
Ethnopiper & BusinessControlled 