In studio news the Yamaha SY77 has gone and been replaced by a Korg DSS-1 sampler, old school, 12 bit and analog filters. In the quest to keep things minimal in the studio I’m hoping to chuck loads of stuff through this to give the sounds plenty of analog grit and fatness. It’s fairly sick at the moment but I’ve begun investigating the fault(s). Fingers crossed I can sort it out as it sounds like an amazing piece of kit. Also enjoying creating some fantastic dubby echo fx using Fabfilter Timeless 2, stunning piece of software!. Continuing to learn Absynth and build insane machines in KarmaFX modular and talking of insane machines I just picked up a copy of Native Instruments Reaktor 5 in their June sale, can’t wait to dive into it.

I’m working on some tunes and slowly beavering away getting stuff ready for the EP, moving in a fairly bass-heavy trip-step/chillstep direction more like Phaeleh, Kryptic Minds and Clubroot and liking how the stuff is sounding. Will try and get some previews up soon.

I’m also writing fortnightly blog posts on synths for the mighty Sonicstate, if you’re into your synths then check the first one here

Finally the single ‘Girl’ released under my Sleepwalker alias has been treated to an instrumental edit and featured in a documentary on the upcoming rock-climbing film Change about the incredible Czech climber Adam Ondra. As a keen climber myself and a big fan of Adam and the work of Petr Pavlicek who made the film I’m very proud to have provided some music as a backdrop to Adam’s climbing. Here’s the documentary:

Their compilation Liquid Motions 4 features tracks with “More soulful vibes and less bang this time. Includes tracks by staples of Liquid DnB genre as well as some up and coming ones. Old and new mixed into a delicious 60 minute mix”. The mix is free to download and there are some really great tracks in there, click on the picture to go to the Soundcloud page for the download and if you like it give a shout to IdealNoise on their Facebook page and tell them Sleepwalker sent you.

If you haven’t heard it already, here’s the track, if you like it grab the free download.

Thanks to drumnbass.net, Giant Angry Robot, Turnchannel, Rollingtuff.com, Future Astronauts and liquiddnbftw for featuring the track and the support, very much appreciated guys.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the reviews:

“I don’t often come across tunes that I can relate to in such a strong sense with my own personal life, but this would be the exception. Sleepwalker NZs magical drum & bass mixed with the vocals to Antiqcools‘ “Girl in a Room” is such a brilliant pairing. Coming from opposite ends of the genre spectrum, they fit so well together that it leaves me breathless. Be sure to grab your copy from Sleepwalkers SC for free and say thank you”

“‘Girl’ is a prime example of the production level to be expected from this guy. Expect incredibly clean mixes and exemplary compositional development within each piece. The journey that is ‘Girl’ is certainly worthy of a full listen.”

“Sometime you come across a song that mirrors your personal life and touches your soul. SleepwalkerNZ – Liquid DnB - Liquid DnB magical drum & bass mixed with the vocals to Antiqcool‘s “Girl in a Room” is just the tune!”

I’m working hard in the studio on some Octopus Empire tracks and also some more D&B for Sleepwalker so expect EP releases in the first quarter of 2013.

All the best to all fans of Octopus Empire and Sleepwalker, have a great christmas and New Year and thanks for the support in 2012. Stay safe, enjoy the mince pies and listen to plenty of good music!

Cheers!

Includes the Octopus Empire versions of Running up that hill by Placebo, Sooner or later & Broken by Trifonic, Butterfly Effect by Lamb, Steepless by Portico Quartet and Eye wide open by Dynasty Electric.

Enjoy!

TAL have updated the free chorus using the code from their first non-free (but very cheap) synth the U-NO LX.
I’ve grabbed a copy, you can also do so here. I’ve yet to play with it extensively but I tried running the Juno dry through it and switching between the software version and the chorus on the Juno and the similarities certainly are striking. I suspect if you didn’t have the hardware to compare you’d assume it was a Juno.

The only more obvious difference I could spot was the behaviour when both switches are pressed, on the software the effect is quite pleasing whereas on my hardware Juno the sound is confused and not very nice, perhaps that’s just my unit though. One nice point was running the Juno through it and turning down the dry/wet knob to give less chorus for a more subtle sound that I’d say would find use in more tracks. I often wish I could tone down the chorus on the Juno just a bit, now I can. If you try it out let me know what you think.

I’ve been planning an email newsletter for a while so if you want to receive that just flick me an email at theoctopusempire@gmail.com and I’ll add you to the list, updates won’t be too often, I don’t plan to start spamming your mailbox daily. Finally if you really do just want to use Facebook then my personal page is a good place to keep in touch, feel free to send a request to me.

Work is progressing slowly on the debut EP – Daydream Nation and I’m still optimistic for a release before Christmas. In the mean time I’ve finished off a remix I’ve had in the pipeline for a while. It’s a remake of the Kate Bush/Placebo classic “Running up that hill” using the Brian Molko vocal, all the vocal treatment, editing and all instrumentation and arrangement are Octopus Empire. I also completed another demo for the French synth company Xils-Lab of their superb new synth Oxium. If you’re into your synths and like them with character I recommend checking it out. Hope you enjoy and I look forward to sharing lots more news and interesting stuff soon.

I’ve formed a page/brand/company…..thing called SYNTHDemo which, as the name would suggest, exists to bring demos of synths to the eager ears of prospective buyers. There are lots of demos on the web, some decent, many not so good. My plan is to make fully-formed, musically enjoyable pieces of electronica which just happen to be constructed using only a single synth. I’m allowing the odd bit of vocal or drum part from elsewhere but that’s it and where the synth permits it the drums/perc will come from it too. Each piece should give you a decent idea of the general sound of the synth and the breadth of timbres it’s capable of.

It’s going to take a while to grow the….thing to a decent size but I’m hoping it’ll end up being a useful resource for buyers and ultimately a marketing tool for manufacturers.

And to the subject of the post: Xils Lab’s new VA – Oxium. You can check the SYNTHDemo Facebook page for my impressions of the synth but here is the demo. All parts except drums and vocal are from Oxium. I highly recommend it and if you’re quick you can still score it for 69 Euro.

I thought it was time for an update on activities in the studio so…..here is an update on activities in the studio.

I’m currently working on what started as an individual track but has ended up being a concept for an E.P., which will be my first full-length release. Current thoughts are for a digital release accompanied by some sort of physical media – almost certainly CD but possibly vinyl/cassette too. The concept revolves around my feelings on growing older, the state of the world as it was when I was young (or how I perceived that it was) and how it is now, the rabid need to acquire money and “things” at the expense of long-forgotten simple pleasures like reading a good book or walking on the beach. In the main, the idea that we seemed to have so much time to spare when we were young, to lie in a field and just daydream and listen to the Skylarks – my favourite birdsong both for its beauty and also what memories I associate with it. We just don’t seem to have the time for anything as adults, there’s always so much to do, things to read on the internet, chores to do, job to go to etc. Why don’t we have the time for daydreams any more?

The title track ( probably called Daydream Nation) is finished, I will upload a short preview of this soon but for the full track you will have to wait for the EP. The only other track currently done is “The boy who didn’t like stories”, a track I had previously completed as a single but have decided to include on the EP as the sentiment and sound of the track is definitely suited to the  concept. The music will be in the main uplifting, lush, melodic – if you like Ulrich Schnauss, Tycho and Apparat then this should be your kind of thing – but there may be the odd darker track on there depending on how the thought processes go and what stories there are to tell.

I’ll upload previews and work-in-progress snippets and I am hoping to get some progress videos done too, both as a way to give you an insight into what to expect from the EP and also to show some of the gear and techniques I use to make my music – something I’ve been wanting to do for a while.

So there it is, the idea is formed and I have probably 2 or 3 more tracks underway in various states and will have previews and videos up as soon as I can. In the mean time have another listen to The boy who didn’t like stories and remember, always take the time to daydream. As a wise man once said “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and take a look around once in a while, you could miss it”.

All the best.

Greg. Octopus Empire.

I have a couple of things to celebrate – the first of which was breaching 200 followers on Soundcloud – my music hosting and collaboration website of choice and the second is a month-long celebration of New Zealand music called NZ Music Month.

So to say thanks to Octopus Empire fans around the world I am giving away either/both of my newest tracks, both of which use vocals from Trifonic – I guess they’re remixes but as always only the vocal parts are used in my tracks. Bandcamp allows 200 free downloads a month so if you like what you hear go grab them quick!

Next, to celebrate NZ Music month – for I am indeed a musician from New Zealand – my bleary-eyed alter-ego Sleepwalker is giving away ALLLLL of his Drum & Bass tracks for free/zip/nada/zero-cents this month. 200 download limit applies again so grab em super quick bass freaks!

Finally if you’re into unashamedly retro 80s synthpop check out my latest remix, of Penguin Prison – Fair Warning. I recommend legwarmers, neon spandex and putting a jacket on over your t-shirt and rolling the sleeves up to the elbows Miami Vice styles.

That’s all for now and some might say more than enough to be going on with!
Big hugs from the Octopus Empire, and when an Octopus hugs you – you know about it!
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