Geometric Hiatus

Just a quick note if you were wondering where we'd gone - Geometric is taking a hiatus at the moment so I can concentrate on writing the upcoming PRDCTV EP and album...sadly there are only so many hours in the day! But we will be back, rest assured.

PRDCTV interview just been posted on the Dots and Dashes blog, have a read of it here.

This is a concert that my friend is putting on, there will be a broad range of works being performed. Including works from Nicholas Hooper, Helen Roe, John Stringer, and myself. Proceeds from the concert go towards the Joshua Orphan Care Trust of Malawi.

6 Music

Like many of you who will read this, I am really saddened and frankly baffled by the decision of the BBC to close down 6 Music. I can only assume this is a decision made solely on the basis of low listening figures; clearly, the vital role that 6 Music plays in finding and promoting new music has been ignored. The BBC have claimed that Radio 1 and 2 will adjust to fill the gap that 6 Music will leave. I for one am pretty skeptical that any of the bands who got their first break on Tom Robinson's Introducing would had even got their foot in the door at Radio 2.

The annual budget of 6 Music is £6m. That's a third of what they've been paying Jonathan Ross for the last 3 years, and I know which I'd rather lose. I think Radiohead's Ed O'Brien gave a perfect summary of why 6 Music is so important and culturally relevant; quite simply, "it keeps the spirit of John Peel alive."

Please take a second to sign this petition and fill in the BBC strategy review, and let's see if we can overturn this utterly short-sighted decision:

Petition

Strategy Review

This is my friend Johnny Ace's illustration website, it's definitely worth checking out. Some great illustration work. He also created the artwork for the envelope ep.


www.johnnyace.moonfruit.com

Alphabet Backwards save the polar bears

It's always a treat to find something local in Oxford that's kind to my battered ear drums. I saw Alphabet Backwards last week playing alongside the sublime Message To Bears at The Wheatsheaf. They're fantastic performers, the frontman James exudes a wonderfully genuine and infectious enthusiasm that not even a grumpy bugger like me can resist. I bought their self-titled mini album today, the track that most jumped out at me was 'Polar Bears.' Now I want to know why Alphabet Backwards weren't at Copenhagen.

Alphabet Backwards - Polar Bears

Another VJ mix by my mate Steve King, this time it's to Mike Slott's beautiful remix of the Flying Lotus Track 'RobertaFlack'

Heartbeat VJ mix of Flying Lotus - Robertaflack (Mike Slott mix) from Heartbeat on Vimeo.

Minotaur Shock

....is amazing live. Just went to see him in Brixton. very very special.

Wale - New Soul

I usually don't go in for hip-hop and this tune has been blogged to death, but I thought it was worth putting up as a great example of how to re-invent a sample and build a tune round it.

This is an excellent VJ Mix for Joy Orbison's remix of Love Cry by Four Tet.

It was performed by a friend of mine, Steve King.

Four Tet - Love Cry (Joy Orbison remix) - VJ MIX from Heartbeat on Vimeo.

You gotta love Kompakt

Another heinously massive track off the new Kompakt Total 10 compilation...the drop at 4:45 screams aural orgasm

The Antlers - Kettering

This song utterly blew me away. I had to lie down with the lights off the first time I heard it...Achingly raw, beautiful melancholy.

The Antlers - Kettering

Here's a great live performance too:

Ninja Tune

Happy New Year!

I'm delighted to be able to announce that I signed to Ninja Tune just before Christmas. Ninja are a fantastic label with a great history, and have been one of my favourite labels for a long time, so I'm over the moon that they saw something in the music I've been making. They have some mindblowingly good artists, including The Cinematic Orchestra, Bonobo, Mr. Scruff and Roots Manuva, it really is a huge priviledge to be able to join them.

There's the pesky matter of a degree to finish first, but I'm starting recording in earnest in the summer and hopefully the first album will be out early 2011. I'll keep you updated! In the meantime I'm going to be redesigning the PRDCTV website to be less crap when I get a minute, and carry on running Geometric of course...Jack's EP is out soon, it's sounding big!

Alex

DJ Koze - 40 Love

Bet you've never heard a game of tennis made into minimal techno eh...

Jack Cleverly - Wrapping Paper

Merry Christmas!

OK, we may have missed the boat by a couple of days...but the festivities haven't ended here at Geometric, so we thought we'd share some of our seasonal cheer with you all. Here's a beautiful christmas number by Jack Cleverly set to some really heartwarming old footage...this will definitely bring a smile to your face:

Jack Cleverly - Wrapping Paper from Geometric Records on Vimeo.