Music

A New Kind Of Brightness (1, 2, 3)
A three-part lecture series from Dec 2023 in which I explain how I think of brightness in harmony, in theory and in practice.

30 Days Of VGM
Me trying technical commentary of video-game music in March–April 2022.

Transcriptions/Improvisations

Back when I saw a piano more than once a year, I liked to learn songs by ear, arrange and perform them. The best couple of these are from summer 2019. I’ll post notation to show how I understood the music.

Alfa Mist – Dreams (Nocturne, 2015)
video (recorded 2019/06/22) | detailed transcription

ERIMAJ – Social Life (Conflict of a Man, 2012)
video (recorded 2019/07/15) | ruff transcription

I also once recorded a sit-down-and-play improv that had a good basis for a song in it. It’s the only time in my life I can say I wrote a good song.

Lofi Gershwin
video (recorded 2019/07/15)

My scrap recorded transcriptions (not fit for public listing) are in this playlist

Finally, my m8 and I produced this electronic sound collage during Sixth Form, originating in me starting Audacity on his laptop during a 1h30 physics lesson dedicated to watching ice melt (to determine the specific heat capacity of water). Strictly for the lols.

Nostep Electrofried Grime
audio (released 2013/01/27)

Favourite Records

(I tracked my listening during 2022–23 via my last.fm profile, and also built a collection of files as a kid (2009–16) by selectively picking my favourite music, for which I had tracker files.)

The records listed here are the ones I currently love. 47 LPs and 7 EPs. For older ones I used to love, it may have passed or I may have simply forgotten them. Subject to change as feelings change…

The albums in bold are the three that I feel such a great connection to that I consider them part of my identity.

Multiple entries: Pink Floyd (4), Radiohead (3), Alfa Mist (2.5), The Who (2), David Bowie (2), The Clash (2), Wilco (2).

1960s
The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground And Nico (1967)
Pink Floyd – The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
The Who – The Who Sell Out (1967)

1970s
Can – Tago Mago (1971)
David Bowie – Hunky Dory (1971)
Nick Drake – Pink Moon (1972)
The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main St. (1972)
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
The Who – Quadrophenia (1973)
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)
David Bowie – Low (1977)
Pink Floyd – Animals (1977)
The Clash – London Calling (1979)

1980s
The Clash – Sandinista! (1980)
Sonic Youth – Sister (1987)
Pixies – Doolittle (1989)
The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses (1989)

1990s
Neutral Milk Hotel – On Avery Island (1996)
Wilco – Being There (1996)
Radiohead – OK Computer (1997)
Blur – 13 (1999)

2000s
Radiohead – Kid A (2000)
Björk – Vespertine (2001)
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2001)
The Cinematic Orchestra – Every Day (2002)
Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004)
Bonobo – Days To Come (2006)
Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007)
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid (2008)
David Holmes – The Holy Pictures (2008)
Portico Quartet – Isla (2009)

2010s (LPs)
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake (2011)
Parquet Courts – Light Up Gold (2012)
Hiatus Kaiyote – Tawk Tomahawk (2012)
GoGo Penguin – v2.0 (2014)
Ambient Jazz Ensemble – Suite Shop (2014)
Mono/Poly – Golden Skies (2014)
Flying Lotus – You’re Dead! (2014)
Bill Laurance – Swift (2015)
Alfa Mist – Nocturne (2015)
Hiatus Kaiyote – Choose Your Weapon (2015)
Jordan Rakei – Cloak (2016)
Strobes – Brokespeak (2016)
Yussef Kamaal – Black Focus (2016)
Alfa Mist – Antiphon (2017)
Otis Sandsjö – Y-Otis (2018)
Matt Calvert – Typewritten (2018)

2010s (EPs)
The Hics – Tangle (2013)
Alfa Mist + Emmavie – Epoch (2014)
Roco – Pidgin Tongue (2016)
Cesca – Ep2 (2016)
Vels Trio – Yellow Ochre (2017)
Obongjayar – Bassey (2017)
Joe Armon Jones + Maxwell Owin – Idiom (2017)

The Roco and Cesca EPs have to be highlighted because the bands have no following yet these records are better than most of the stuff I’ve listed here. They stand on the shoulders of giants with their influences and execution, being from 2016, but it’s staggering that they’re that good. Cop them on Bandcamp for me. :)

Special Mention
U2 – Boy (1980)
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique (1989)
Pixies – Bossanova (1990)
Stereolab – Mars Audiac Quintet (1994)
Red Hot Chili Peppers – One Hot Minute (1995)
Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (1998)
Radiohead – Amnesiac (2001)
Bonobo – Dial ‘M’ For Monkey (2003)
Sweet Trip – Velocity: Design: Comfort (2003)
J Dilla – Donuts (2006)
Portico Quartet – Knee-Deep In The North Sea (2007)
The xx – xx (2009)
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (2010)
Beach House – Bloom (2012)
Sudan Archives – Sudan Archives (2017)
Kit Downes – Obsidian (2018)
Bill Laurance – Cables (2019)
Mister Lies – Mister Lies (2019)
8485 – Plague Town (2021)

Here are my favourite album names

Favourite Songs
I do actually have a specific ordered top 4 (and then I have no idea).
4. Alfa Mist – Potential (Antiphon)
3. Matt Calvert – Ghost Ship (Typewritten)
2. Sonic Youth – Schizophrenia (Sister)
1. Elbow – Mirrorball (The Seldom Seen Kid)

I was looking for someone to complete me… not anymore

Concerts

A scrapbook of concerts I’ve attended.

The ones that have a special place in my heart are, from London underground pre-pandemic:

#4, one of the top 2, and the gig where I first truly felt at home,
#6, this live scoring of a silent film was a spiritual experience,
#10, not my favourite underground band’s best gig, but the first in a proper venue and the most I’ve ever been excited to see something in my life I think,
#11, where I felt I’d seen something I’d truly never seen before,
#15, seeing one of my most emotionally resonant artists in an intimate setting,
#21, which was just a riot with all the guests who passed thru and a great dance out in pecknam past midnight,
#24, the other of the top 2, a perfected set by my favourites, just me, obongjayar and his gf sitting out in the front (lmao, but also unfortunate), and the jam afterward was the one time I got up to play, felt part of the community just for a bit, and got a positive review from a non-drunk guy,
#31, the first time since #12 that I felt I’d seen something I’d never seen before – I was so enamoured with the experience that I carefully edited together a snippet video,

and post-pandemic:

#5, what felt like a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see an intricately arranged non-classical 10-piece acoustic band, in a small, unamplified room.

Big Gig Era

Let It Be: Beatles Tribute | 2013
Savoy Theatre, West End

Brit Floyd: Pink Floyd Tribute | (while at uni)
Corn Exchange, Cambridge

Blur | 2015/06/20
+ Metronomy, Jupiter Bokondji and Okwess International
British Summer Time 2015, Hyde Park
setlist

Marie and the Boys | 2016/06/28
Off the Cuff, Herne Hill

Pixies | 2016/11/29
+ FEWS
Academy, Brixton
setlist

Irmin Schmidt + Thurston Moore: Can Tribute | 2017/04/08
Barbican Centre, City of London
setlist

Did I really only start seeing live music at age 18? 🤔 This was a time when I didn’t go after gigs I wanted cos I had no relevant friends. My 3 biggest regrets from this time were not seeing:

The Stone Roses reunion gigs in Heaton Park, Manchester (2012) or Finsbury Park, London (2013),
Alt-J at Empire, Shepherd’s Bush (Jan 2013) while they still had ~5k Facebook followers and tickets were a tenner, and
Roger Waters: The Wall (2011 or 2013).

The Pixies and Can gigs were both quite loud and bad, and I’d acquired a good background in underground jazz music in 2016, so I decided to switch to smaller venues and learn to go alone and stand on my own two feet. I had few regrets after this point; all changed for the better

London Underground (pre-pandemic I)

I went to Mau Mau Bar for Jazz Re:freshed 9 times in all, and cycled up on a Boris bike pretty much each time, doing a run of Pokémon Go gyms. The one right by the bar was called Enjoy Yourself

My favourite concert video is from Jazz Re:freshed but before my time. It’s a beautifully-recorded black-tinted live drum-and-bass rave from 2015

Snippets (#1–17) | GDrive Facebook
I originally put these in a cute Facebook album, but Facebook deleted all the HD versions… GDrive has #1–#12 in HD at least

#1 | Cesca | 2017/04/28
+ James Vickery, Rodney Branigan
Sofar, Bianca Road Brewery, Peckham
official vid (99/6)

#2 | GoGo Penguin | 2017/06/08
Archspace, Haggerston
setlist

#3 | Portico Quartet | 2017/06/24
+ Taz Modi
Archspace, Haggerston
setlist

#4 | Richard Spaven + Jordan Rakei | 2017/06/29
Jazz Re:freshed, Mau Mau Bar, Notting Hill
The Self album launch
setlist
official vid (Law)
crowd vid
crowd vid

Wood Street Jazz Festival 2017 | 2017/07/15
Byron Wallen + Tony Kofi
Wood Street Village Green ~ Guildford

#5 | Jazz Re:Fest 2017 | 2017/08/06
Triforce, Trope, Alfa Mist, Nubya Garcia
Femi Temowo, Tawiah, Omar Lye-Fook, Sons Of Kemet
Jazz Re:freshed, Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre, Waterloo
official retrospective

#6 | GoGo Penguin #2: Koyaanisqatsi | 2017/10/11
Barbican Centre, City of London
same shit different venue

#7 | Idiom (Joe Armon-Jones + Maxwell Owin) | 2017/10/12
Jazz Re:freshed, Mau Mau Bar, Notting Hill
official vid (SE Discotheque)

#8 | Jordan Rakei | 2017/10/20
+ Puma Blue, Yussef Dayes Trio
Empire, Shepherd’s Bush
setlist

#9 | Dinosaur (Laura Jurd) | 2017/11/12
Duck and Rice, Soho
my vid (Living, Breathing)

#10 | Cesca #2 | 2018/01/11
Jazz Re:freshed, Mau Mau Bar, Notting Hill
setlist
official vid (Folioid)

#11 | Zeñel | 2018/01/25
Jazz Re:freshed, Mau Mau Bar, Notting Hill
setlist
official vid (Bi)
crowd vid (Zozo Is Zozo)

#12 | Richard Spaven #2 | 2018/02/08
Jazz Re:freshed, Mau Mau Bar, Notting Hill
setlist
official vid (Effergy)
crowd vid (hip-hop medley, the biggest popoff at a gig I’ve ever seen)

#13 | Blue Lab Beats | 2018/03/29
Jazz Re:freshed, Mau Mau Bar, Notting Hill
Xover album launch
same shit same venue (last year) (Blue Skies)

#14 | Triforce | 2018/04/23
Duck and Rice, Soho

#15 | Alfa Mist | 2018/04/26
+ Barney Artist
Ghost Notes, Peckham
setlist
review

#16 | Theo Croker | 2018/05/31
Jazz Re:freshed, Mau Mau Bar, Notting Hill

#17 | Cesca #3 + Waldo’s Gift | 2018/06/14
Ghost Notes, Peckham
my vid (Redshift)

London Underground (pre-pandemic II)

Snippet archive (#18–26)
Snippet archive (#27–33)

#18 | Daniel Casimir: Mingus Tribute | 2018/10/25
Jazz Re:freshed, Mau Mau Bar, Notting Hill

#19 | Moses Boyd Exodus | 2018/11/24
+ Obongjayar
Islington Assembly Hall, Islington
my vid (Obongjayar) (Creeping)
gordon wedderburn hyping up moses boyd exodus

#20 | Richard Spaven #3 | 2018/12/20
Jazz Re:freshed, Mau Mau Bar, Notting Hill

#21 | Jack Stephenson-Oliver + Rudi Creswick + Jake Long (Jam) | 2019/02/19
The Spaces In Between, Ghost Notes, Peckham
my vid

#22 | Zeñel #2 | 2019/02/22
Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer, Southbank Centre, Waterloo
my vid

#23 | Tom Barford et al. | 2019/03/21
Kansas Smitty’s, London Fields

#24 | Cesca #4 | 2019/04/03
Ronnie Scott’s, Soho
my vid (Bullion)
my vid (Cranston)
tweet (Jam)

#25 | Ezra Collective | 2019/04/24
Rough Trade East, Shoreditch
You Can’t Steal My Joy album launch

#26 | Axel Kaner-Lidstrom et al.: In a Silent Way Tribute | 2019/05/26
Jazz Cafe, Camden

#27 | Jordan Rakei #2 | 2019/06/19
Rough Trade East, Shoreditch
Origin album launch
Setlist

#28 | Mom Tudie | 2019/07/17
Tola, Peckham
my vid (Otherside)

#29 | Zeñel #3 | 2019/08/30
Foyles Bookshop, Soho
my vid

#30 | Hiatus Kaiyote | 2019/11/11
+ Myele Manzanza
Empire, Shepherd’s Bush
setlist

#31 | Dan Nicholls + Julian Sartorius + Y-Otis | 2019/11/18
Set, Dalston
my vid (Nicholls/Sartorius)
official clip (Y-Otis) (Abysmal)

#32 | Sudo | 2020/01/11
The Standard, King’s Cross
setlist
official vid (Knots)

#33 | Bojack | 2020/03/07
+ Sya Sanon, Kathleen Frances, Skinnyville
Set, Dalston

Post-Pandemic

#1 | Lunch Money Life | 2021/09/17
Trinity Centre, Dalston
Tarmac the Lake album launch
setlist
official vid (Human Sacrifice)
official vid (Jimmy J Sunset)
my vid (Lincoln)

#2 | Jordan Rakei #3 | 2021/09/20
Rough Trade East, Shoreditch
What We Call Life album launch
setlist
my vid (Unguarded)

#3 | Elbow | 2021/09/21
+ Jesca Hoop
Apollo, Hammersmith
setlist

#4 | Portico Quartet #2 | 2021/10/29
+ Hania
St John at Hackney Church, Hackney

#5 | Matt Calvert: Typewritten | 2021/11/21
Kings Place, King’s Cross
setlist
official vid (full set)

#6 | GoGo Penguin #3 | 2022/02/10
Barbican Centre, City of London
setlist

#7 | Zeñel #4 | 2022/02/22
Ronnie Scott’s, Soho
setlist
my vid

#8 | The Hics | 2023/01/27
The Courtyard Theatre, Hoxton
setlist
my vid (Tangle)
my vid (Cold Air)
my vid (Lines)

#9 | Lunch Money Life | 2023/08/01
Rough Trade East, Shoreditch
The God Phone album launch
my vid

Livestreams: Zeñel (2021/07/15)