'Dieter Rams - Reconstructions' available now.

KAP004 - 'Dieter Rams - Reconstructions' is available now,  << Here >> 

Very pleased to announce this - and I hope you all enjoy it.

(For Cafe Kaput newcomers; while you're around, have a look at the accomanying KAP003 if you haven't done so already).

- Jb.

KAP004. Dieter Rams - Reconstructions.

The idea came to me last September, while travelling towards Wales on the M56. Music For Dieter Rams was on the car stereo. A thought entered my head; 'would any of these tracks work well as an Autobahn-length piece?'. I mulled the idea over and when I arrived at my destination, I scribbled a note - 'to investigate further'.

Listening through the tracks with this idea in mind, I chose Zukunft Als Konzept as a very likely candidate for reconstruction in this way. The motorik rhythms and melodic sequences would lend themselves willingly to this kind of treatment and the open-ended nature of the arrangement was ripe for expansion.

Beginning the reconstruction, I kept most of the original sounds and sequences, but processed them further. I created a palette of brand new sounds, too, from the original sound source - the Braun AB-30 alarm clock. In keeping with the spirit of the MFDR album, no other sound sources were used. I wanted to go further with the processing this time, bringing in analogue space echoes, distortions and a whole load of phasing.

The result is 21 minutes and 39 seconds of motorik, kosmische dub.

I then asked The Head Technician from Pye Corner Audio if he would like to reconstruct a track from MFDR. In his own inimitable style, he came up with a beautfully blistering new version of Aus - Ein; the perfect accompaniment to Zukunft Als Konzept.

Both tracks together form a wonderful companion EP to Music For Dieter Rams.

For further reading regarding the original Music For Dieter Rams release, please refer to:

<< Cafe Kaput - Music For Dieter Rams >>

'Dieter Rams - Reconstructions' will be available on Friday 10th February, priced £3.99.

- Jb.

Playing 'live' (or not, as the case may be).

Over the past few months, I've had quite a few emails asking me to play live. I thought that I'd address this briefly on the blog and maybe add it to some kind of FAQ in the future.

The short answer is: I don't actually play live. I don't DJ, either. Why not? Well, it's just not my thing - I don't enjoy it. Plus I'd rather spend my time creating something new for everyone to hear, rather than reproducing stuff I've already done.

So, if you have contacted me about doing a live gig, thanks for thinking of asking me, I'm genuinely flattered. Hopefully this will go some way to explaining the situation, though.

- Jb.

The Belbury Tales cometh.

The Belbury Tales is now available to pre-order.

Rev. Jim has created his finest Belbury Poly album yet. The Belbury Sound is all there, but in a newly expanded form, with guest musicians Jim Musgrave and Christopher Budd taking very good care of drums, bass and guitars on many of the tracks.

There are certain melodies, certain motifs, certain touches that only Rev. Jim could come up with. I'm sure you know what I mean, but I'm forever entertained by the playfulness and lightness of touch within his melodies and arrangements. The Belbury Tales refines and distills these elements and the result is an album with a very cohesive overall feel. It's an album to play from start to finish every time; to be enjoyed as a whole.

Julian's artwork is stunning and there's a lot of detail in the inner sleeve / CD booklet; one of the highlights being this mandolin / amp combo. I can almost smell the beer in The Bury Bell from here, as the band sets up for the evening.

There are clips available on SoundCloud - have a listen...

 Belbury Poly - The Belbury Tales by Ghost Box

A man and his parish - Rev. Jim.

You know the drill by now - go directly to the Ghost Box Shop to pre-order!

- Jb.

808 O'Clock.

Just a quick post to share this little electro / R&B / whatever thing that I did and uploaded to my SoundCloud recently. I have to say I really like having a SoundCloud there for putting random bits and pieces up.

- Jb.

 Cassie - Long Way To Go (Jon Brooks Remix) by cafekaput

Pye Corner Audio: All Pathways Open

2012 is already shaping up to be a great year for new music. Sometimes I feel absolutely spoiled because there's just so much creativity happening out there, tons of stray talent floating about and ideas that become interesting releases seemingly from nowhere.

Pye Corner Audio's previous album was my favourite release of 2011. I'm echoing << Rev. Jim >> here, but Black Mill Tapes Volume 3 is even better than Volume 2. I'll keep it at that.

For those interested in such things, there is an Advisory Circle remix of 'Electronic Rhythm Number Eighteen' on board this album - eloquently described by the Head Technician as a 're-transfer'. With my usual general abandon and idiotic glee, I will say that I had immense fun doing this remix.

Black Mill Tapes Volume 3: All Pathways Open is out on Monday 23rd January.

<< You won't want to miss out on this one. >>

- Jb.

F.C. Judd - Electronics Without Tears.

This is a great record to start the journey into 2012. Alex from Public Information kindly sent over a promo copy of Electronics Without Tears - a collection of experimental electronic recordings by Fred Judd. I have long been an admirer of Fred's work; the Studio G library album Electronic Age (to which Fred contributed many tracks) is in my top 10 library albums.

Electronics Without Tears collects some material from Electronic Age but goes much further into his private archive. The result is a lovingly compiled hour of some of the finest early electronic music you will hear anywhere. For more information, have a look at the F.C. Judd website:

http://www.fcjudd.co.uk/

The album is released on Monday 16th. Anyone interested in historical electronic music should check this one out. I'm especially pleased that a collection of his inspiring work is at last being released to the public.

- Jb.