Circle Theory: Catch up [Originally posted 21 Feb 2010]

Clearly it's odd for me to be suddenly writing blog entries at a shocking more-than-one-a-day rate, after so long of being away from writing anything at all... But there's good reason. I'll come to that in a minute, or possibly in a later post. Meantime, a few things have been going on that need writing about, or at least mentioning...

Dirty Fire Project's new EP "Breaking The Robot" was released in December to ... well, not a lot happened. I'm a bit concerned on a couple of levels. Firstly, that the Xynthetic Label website and Myspace didn't get updated for weeks after it was released, which was pretty tardy, all said. And not only that but Xynthetic then went on to announce that they were wrapping up, which leaves me a bit stuck. I guess they didn't find the success that they were hoping for. Secondly, that I don't think the Techno thing went down very well.
Now, to be honest, I'm down with that. Techno is, basically, pretty boring. I hate 4-4 with a passion. If invited out and one of my mate's wasn't playing then I'd rather gouge my own eyes out than go to another dingy, cheap, more-hardcore-than-thou, shitty, banging-bass night playing nothing but acid, nu-NRG or whatever rinsed-out, treble-heavy, badly-balanced crap they're churning out. Techno, certainly in the UK, has missed it. The fans are still there but the events are just awful.

So, I can see that when presented with a new EP from a musician who most recently did breaksy-industrial stuff then suddenly goes four to the floor, people might decide that they just can't be arsed. And I think that's what has happened (though to be honest, I really don't have that many fans anyway.)

The problem is that I really needed to get those tracks out. They've been bugging me for months every time I open Ableton or FruityLoops and see them sitting there, just waiting for someone to do something with them. Now, they have been exorcised. They're out there. But no-one's that fussed. Most people, when asked, seem to like the non-techno track on there called "Make Me", which is pretty telling. Oh well.

In the grand scheme of things, I'm writing this music for me, and I felt the need to make those tracks and also to package them up in a balanced collection. It's a shame that people didn't like what I did this time round, but that fact alone isn't going to make me stop. Although, if I feel the need for techno again, I'll maybe use a pseudonym :)

(For the record, I do like some minimal techno.)

The two remixes for The Unknownn seemed to go better with good feedback from the band. Here's the link: The Unknownn @ Reverb Nation (Hmm, now that I look at it, it looks like only one of the remixes is up)

I've been reading a hell of a lot lately, though mourning losing Cities In Flight on the way to HAR 2009.

Currently reading:

Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Really enjoying this.

Read recently:
Bit puzzled by these. They were recommended by a friend who knew that I liked the Night Angel, magical assassin trilogy. They play out, tragically, like a crazy Mills And Boon magic tech manual. Can only recommend for teenagers.