Morpheus is starting a new series of blog entries under the heading
INTRODUCING
INTRODUCING
Introducing Shelly Harland
Introducing Janet Robbins
Introducing Michael Briel
Introducing Robert Douglas
Introducing Indidginus
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INTRODUCING - SHELLY HARLAND
The idea that Harland had a future as an artist never occurred to her when she moved to New York from her hometown of London. With her musician boyfriend off on tour, in her Brooklyn apartment, she found herself alone with a four-track recorder, a beaten up acoustic guitar and cockroaches. So she began writing.
Upon hearing her sing, musicians and friends around her recognized a talent. With this encouragement, she saved up to fly herself to Australia for a month to collaborate with Andrew Wright, a burgeoning producer who was looking for a singer. Together, they created "Phoelar" and released a self-titled album. For Harland, the results were impressive as well as surprising for a first effort, showing an extraordinary voice & songwriter in the making.
Encouraged by the sessions in Australia, she bought herself a sampler & a keyboard and began experimenting back in New York. Never trained on an instrument, she taught herself composition by ear and the technical side of recording by studying manuals.
Her first solo attempts were a collection of haunting and original songs which were later to be released as "Sinking Shade." Shortly after these creations, Harland delivered the album "Salt Box Lane." Finding an enthusiastic audience through word of mouth.
Her career began gathering tempo as she was signed to a publishing deal, collaborated as a highly sought after guest vocalist with seminal electronic artists Delerium, Rio Klein, Josh Ryan, Ferry Corsten, Junkie Xl, Pole Folder, DJ Rap, J-punch, & Josh Abraham, has toured Canada and America as a lead vocalist for Delerium, and has played her first solo live shows in New York.
Harland enjoys collaborating with artists and working in all types of musical genres, be it acoustic, electronic, hip-hop, new age, pop, trip-hop, rock, world, or classical. She is currently in the studio working on her new album and producing for other artists.
A new album 'Red Leaf' is in the offing. Visit the Harland website for more information: http://www.harlandmusic.com/
INTRODUCING - JANET ROBBINS
Having written words and music on guitar, piano and keyboards, Janet Robbins’ songs have been influenced by Kate Bush, Tori Amos and compared to Jim Morrison. Always venturing beyond the traditional, her vocals and prose were described as “she is as poetic in her prose as she is with her music.”
A move out east from the warm climate of California to the stark wintertime Catskills, her house struck by lightning and burnt to the ground, and various other life changing events while settling in Woodstock, New York, you could say was the genesis of Janet Robbins’ new recordings, Carrying the Bag of Hearts, Interpreting the Birth of Stars. Regarding Vol. I. Janet says this 23-minute symphonic exploration could be described as "a sort of Brian Eno meets Eric Satie in a Siberian mine musing."
With no house to move into, staying with a friend who had a digital studio setup served as Janet’s introduction to a new way of recording and music expression. “I started writing this music in his studio with what seemed like an unlimited palette of sound and possibility. I wanted to explore without thinking about vocals or a specific direction while at the same time expressing and recording these very intense, tragic and beautiful moments in some cohesive way.”
Created during Janet’s first winter in Phoenicia, NY in the Catskills, a town of hunters, bikers, writers, artists and spiritual seekers, the music is at times intense, floating, haunting and intriguing. A volume series, the first outing is an all-instrumental three song recording: At the Heart of a Spiral Galaxy (M51’s Close Encounter), Voluntary Exile and In The Beginning, utilizing a myriad of equipment, assorted household noises, Fender guitars and Mom’s Lowry organ.
Regarding the music on Volume II, Janet explains that this "is a continuation of music I began to write after my move to Woodstock. There is something in that area for me (for a lot of people) of a deep timelessness, where all is not comfortable, but rich in experience all the same. I was frequently moved to write songs that made me feel as if I was on a train in the middle of the night not knowing where I was being taken, or days walking through deep forests where, what was in the forest was so alive and magical, one might not remember to keep looking for the way out.”
cdS avaialable through janetrobbins.net, Amazon.com, CDBaby.com, or for download through iTunes and similar sites.
Introducing: Michael Briel
Hey there - nice idea to get ppl to actually write a little about themselves to be added. :) So here we go:
I'm Michael Briel, 37, from Bonn Germany and I've been making music since I got my hands on music software for the c64 in the late 1980s. :)
Computers and synthesizers still were a pretty new phenomenon back then, and I was fascinated by all the new possibilities to create sounds with those new tools and instruments.
At some point in the early 90s I switched from purely "programmed" music over to keyboard-based sequencer software and started to build my own little homestudio from then on.
While I work in many different styles and directions - it's never wrong to try something new - I guess my main genres would be electro/ambient music, with a few trance, house, industrial and other elements in there.
Over the past five or six years I took a break from making new tunes, but at this point I'm about to give it another try and see where this might lead... :)
INTRODUCING - ROBERT DOUGLAS
Robert Douglas is new to the ambient scene. He is a self thaught musician living in Sweden.
He has worked in different musical genres during the years, starting out playing bass in rock bands. At the same time he always worked on his own, creating electronic music.
The last couple of years he has found great personal satisfaction in exploring the ambient genre and will continue to do so in the future.
The inspiration for his music and sounds comes from the beauty in everything that surrounds us. The scenery on the island where he lives, a movie or an image found on the internet can spark the imagination.
He also finds great inspiration, both musically and personally, from many of the talanted artists out there in the world.
To listen to the music of Robert Douglas visit his myspace page at:
http://www.myspace.com/robtch
He also has a very entertaining Blog called "A Blogtch by Robtch" at:
http://robtch.wordpress.com/
Introducing Indidginus
Michael Martin has been playing didgeridoo since 1996. His first real foray into dance music came in 1998 when he attended the Megadog Beach Festival in Cornwall after returning from a period of work and travel in Tanzania. Michael was so inspired by what he heard and experienced, that he decided to incorporate his didg playing into this style of music.
At first he started out by playing along with various techno and trance DJ's (originally under the name Deviant Didg) at squat parties and clubs in London like The Fridge, Club 414, The Pleasure Rooms, Tyssen Street, and the Drome. After a year or so he decided to involve himself in Koru (a drum and bass live PA based in Brixton).
Michael played with them for a few months, mostly around London, but also at festivals like the Lizard Eclipse in Cornwall. This introduced him to the production side of things and he was hooked. He didn't like being a passive member of the band who "just played didg". He wanted to actively create tracks from start to end. His stumbling block was money - studio equipment doesn't come cheap.... So with that (& one or two other things) in mind he took out a loan, trained as a software developer, earned some money, bought some gear, started writing his own compositions & Indidginus was born. Shortly after he joined up with another drum and bass live PA (Impact) and gigged with them. This was fun for a while, but he found himself becoming "the didg player" again, so decided to call it a day.
Following a Halloween party in Bristol in 2001, at which his psytrance live PA OOOD was playing, Michael got to know Colin Bennun. The two became friends & started writing tracks (mostly psytrance) together from time to time. He has had the good fortune to work with talented guitarist, Joe Weinstock, who features on several Indidginus tracks. He is also involved in 2 collaborations with Ishq (Matt Hillier) going under the Open System & Octophonic (also featuring the late Jake Stephenson) monikers.
Michael has played at various events in his home country (UK), adopted country (South Africa) & elsewhere in the world. In February 2004 he moved to South Africa, where he has written soundtracks for several TV commercials, a couple of TV series, a documentary & an independent film called Cognition Factor - featuring a collaboration with Colin Angus (The Shamen, Pablo Sandoz) & additional music by Alex Paterson of The Orb & Merv Pepler of Eat Static.
Michael makes extensive use of the slide didgeridoo in his unique & eminently danceable live performances with a set ranging from ambient up to progressive psytrance speeds.... His downbeat album is called Align & his newly released psytrance album is called Feast or Famine. Track samples can be heard on his website:
Indidginus website
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