I haven’t been blogging much recently – apologies – but I’ve been doing a lot of behind the scenes work with not much to show for it yet! Some of this has been working with Dee on the label, and we’ve got some nice plans for the rest of this year. It feels good putting some more energy into Luminous, and one thing that I *can* point to now is that we’re setting up a new mailing list for the label. This will be a dedicated email list for updates on releases and any other label-related activity. So if you’re interested in hearing about what we’re up to, you can subscribe now using the shiny new form I just made. There will be a first email relatively soon announcing some exciting stuff….
Category Archives: releases
January sale on BC
Until the end of January there’s a discount code running on the Sloth Racket Bandcamp site. 20% off everything when you enter ‘sloths_indoors’ at the checkout…take a dive into the merch box!
Out today! Exabout: Live in Ramsgate
A new Sloth Racket live album is released today on Luminous! Obviously 2020 hasn’t quite gone as we’d planned, and so instead of touring this year we are putting out this lovely recording from our 2019 tour.
It’s the full set from our gig at Arco Barco in Ramsgate, hosted by our friends Extra Normal Records. This was a really great night at a brilliant quirky seafront venue (accessed via a ladder!), where we shared the bill with Evan Parker playing a solo set. Anton Hunter was on recording duties and Alex Bonney has mixed it for this special live release.
The album is a digital-only release, our first one ever and mainly to keep costs down during these ‘times’. However, I had always planned to do new Sloth Racket shirts in 2020, and even with no tour I’ve gone ahead and got them made. There are three colours to choose from and a brand new scribbly logo design. The shirts are organic cotton, printed with eco-friendly inks by I Dress Myself in Frome. I’m really happy with how they came out – they are really soft and the print quality is excellent. The mockup image below shows the colours – head to the Bandcamp page for a size guide.
Hope you enjoy the music! I enjoyed listening through last year’s tour in the process of making it. Here’s to the slothtours of the future…
Out today: trio recording on oem
Martin Clarke’s label oem Records has released a set by Dee Byrne, Craig Scott and me today, recorded a BRåKFest in February this year. It was the first time the trio had played together – and so far, the only time, as that gig turned out to be one of the last ones before the coronavirus lockdown struck. It was an enjoyable combination though, and one we hope to repeat! Check out the album on the oem Bandcamp site:
Imaginary Junction available to pre-order from A New Wave Of Jazz
Imaginary Junction, the upcoming quartet album that I am a part of with Tom Ward, Martina Verhoeven and Dirk Serries, is now available to pre-order from Dirk’s label A New Wave Of Jazz. You can reserve your copy now either through the label’s own site, or on their Bandcamp site. There’s also a four CD pre-order offer on both sites for those who want to get stuck into even more new music from the label….
New duo album with Dee Byrne: DISEMBARK!
Disembark! is out today on Luminous. It’s the first duo release from Dee Byrne and me – I’m so happy to see it out there after the release (and a tour that was supposed to happen earlier this year) got derailed by the pandemic. It’s available now as a digital album, the thirteenth release on the label, with amazing cover artwork by Dee. I hope you enjoy the music! And keep an eye on Luminous over the course of this Autumn, as we have a few more things up our sleeves….
Preview of upcoming release on A New Wave Of Jazz
Dirk Serries has published an excerpt of an upcoming release that I’m a part of: a quartet recording with Dirk, Martina Verhoeven and Tom Ward. We recorded this in July from our homes, over the internet using JackTrip; Dirk and Martina near Antwerp in Belgium, Tom and I in London. Everyone was so happy with the results that Dirk suggested releasing it on his label! The album is out in October as part of a set of four new CDs on A New Wave Of Jazz. Have a listen…
It’s worth noting that Dirk’s label has left social media and launched a fresh news page on its website. So check back in with the site to keep up with new releases. You can also sign up to the label mailing list to get the lowdown sent straight to your inbox.
oem release with Alex Bonney
I’m very happy to announce that Martin Clarke will be releasing a duo recording of Alex Bonney and me on his label oem. Out on 8th July, the set was recorded by Martin at Hundred Years Gallery in February this year – not long before the suspension of live performances. Link coming soon…
New Dark Art sax quartet recording surfaces
Corey Mwamba has just released a recording I found in my archives, of his piece New Dark Art played by a special sax quartet forwed for the occasion. We did two performances of the piece in May 2015, one in London and one in Derby. This recording is of the London date, a LUME gig at Long White Cloud on 14th May.
The quartet was all Eb saxophones. I was on baritone along with Colin Webster; Tom Ward and Chris Williams were on altos. A really nice project!
If you head over to Corey’s Bandcamp site you can download the release, and subscribe to the site for access to tons more music.
Two more live recordings emerge
My work on the new live recordings Bandcamp site is continuing, and there are now two more sets up there.
First up, a trio set with Corey Mwamba and Olie Brice. This is from a LUME gig at The Vortex in April 2016, when we played opposite Dave Kane’s quartet. Who recorded it is a mystery, but I *think* it was me with my Zoom recorder. Going through these old files is reminding me of the importance of proper labelling…
Also up on the site is a duo set with Benedict Taylor. This is from the Horse Improv Club in 2018, recorded at IKLECTIK by Jeff at Saint Austral Sound. A short set with an abrupt ending!
Hope you enjoy these. Everything I publish on the site is a ‘name your price’ download, and the money will be split equally between me and the other musicians on the tracks. So if you’re in a position to support artists, please consider buying a copy.
More coming soon…follow on Bandcamp or keep an eye on this blog for info.