It's been a really good few months since I last wrote here. The Utrophia space has hosted some wonderful exhibitions by the likes of Molly Palmer, Jon Moscow, Jenny Moore-Koslowsky, James Ferris, Charlotte Thomas and Gandt as well as a show of work by the students of the Goldsmiths Open Book project, which focuses on work from people from less advantaged backgrounds and situations, who'd often not generally follow an artistic bent.
We've all been finding new artists to show work at the space. One of my recent achievements has been meeting and discovering the beautiful work of Nom Kinnear King and Adam Oehlers, who will be doing shows at Utrophia in March and May, respectively. There's lots more exciting stuff to come at Utrophia in the New Year, so check often, and why not subscribe to the mailing list for updates and info on events and such like.
I've also been working on some new music and have five new pieces in the pipeline, all with an acoustic leaning, as in this little preview I made the other day..
I'll be sure to write when the work is all done and it sounds as it should. I've taken the decision to ask someone else to mix the music this time round as I find it so hard to hear my music with objectivity so close after finishing recording, and I think another (like-minded) perspective will really help bring about a beautiful sound to the record.
I've met some really great people of late, all of whom have enriched my life and inspired me. There are a few projects underway, and I can't wait for them to come to fruition and I can share some of the results from working together. Things are afoot.
Happy christmas all x.
2nd September 2008 - Two New Records Here To Download!
Yup, that's right, I've just uploaded two brand spanking new collections of my stuff onto the music page: 'What Are We Without Our Work?' and 'Striking Back At Buildings'. That's 22 two pieces of music for your aural pleasure, so what are you waiting for? - Get over there guy!
1st September 2008 - We're back!
...slightly wobbly gif and all! It's not just a new look, the site's also had a bit of a rearrange.
For starters I've put up my recent EPs and albums up on the
music page for you to download and enjoy. Each release is wrapped up neatly in a zip file, with all the tracks as 192kbps MP3s, as well as cover artwork
in case you want to burn your own CD at home.
If you like what you're hearing, feel free to donate a couple of pounds or a dollar or two, whatever your currency.
I've put my art page back up, largely due to interest from a nice bunch of French guys who are quite taken with my paintings. Most of the paintings are around ten years old now, but the interest is very welcome, it's always really nice to hear good stuff about yourself and/or your work.
The about page has been fleshed out, with an unabashed view of what I actually do, including what I offer other acts and artists, in terms of recording, session work, reprocessing, mixing and the like. There's a link to older news posts there too from my now defunct blog, which acts as an archive, and features a more in-depth history of the musical work I've been involved in.
The film page is looking as healthy as ever,
and features one or two new things since the site went down a couple of weeks ago.
Hope you're digging the new look, version 4 of this site, which was, as ever, Coded By Idiots.
August 14th 2008 - The Day The Hackers Came
Once upon a time there was a website called rigsbysmith.com. It was a happy and peaceful place, full of music and art and film and ponderings. Then one day in mid August, when nobody was looking, a bastardo or bastardos unknown did terrible things to rigsbysmith.com and left it bruised, battered and information-less. These were terrible times. Construction began anew, but these things take a while, especially when one's back-up files are 120 miles away, so in the meantime, one would suggest that interested parties who want to hear some delightful music pop along to Myspace, and those that would like to see some video delights should head over to Youtube. We'll be back, you bet your bottom dollar, your shiniest pound, your crinkled euro. Til then, much love x.
July 12th 2008
So, my Moving Paintings exhibition is going rather well down at the Utrophia Project Space in Deptford, London, and you can see a preview collage of some of the work below. The show runs until 26th July, so if you haven't seen it yet, there's still time. See the Utrophia site for more details.
June 13th 2008
An exciting time for me as I'm currently working towards my first solo art exhibition to be held at the Utrophia Project Space in Deptford. The show will run from Saturday July 12th until Sunday July 22nd, and focuses on films of ink falling through prepared water, garnished with stills and a sound installation based on the sound of projectors. It's going to be pretty awesome, even if I do say so myself, so why not join us for the private view on July 12th, where you'll be able to see and hear the work and hear some amazing live music from acts that I'm currently begging to come down and play. More on that soon, so keep checking back. Here's a still from the show..
In other news, I've been busy recording Sabor Legume's first record for them, which I'm currently mixing, recording James Dunn's incredible home-made synth, working on the Immortal Kittens record that Evan, Scott and I started in Boston late last year and gradually working on a few new EPs under my own name. Hang tight, they'll be forthcoming as and when.
I've also been putting up films on my youtube page, mostly consisting of drumming auditions, which has lead me to playing with the band Now, so I'll be heading out to play some gigs with them at some point too.
All of this has meant that my new live band idea has been placed on hold, too much to fit into one life, and a boy's got to earn a living too, y'know? Phew! Good times ahoy.
April 8th 2008
It's nice to have a bit of a change now and again, so I spent last night changing the colours and some of the style of this site. The myspace page has also had a bit of a facelift, so you might want to head there next.
March 10th 2008
Just a quick update. February 16th saw the grand opening of the new Utrophia Project Space, and to celebrate I showed three parts of my forthcoming Utrophia film, based around all the work Utrophia has created and hosted throughout the last few years. You can see one part of that film, with some awesome music from the band 'Now' on the film page.
January 10th 2008
Wow, what a busy few months. First off, I've been putting a new group together to learn material new and old and take it all out to play live again. We're still busy rehearsing, so it'll be a while before we're out there on the circuit, but I'll post dates as soon as we're good to go. I've also been playing with Tile, Steve Moleneux's (Naciente Quartet) side-project, you can check out a video of our first (slightly shambolic) live performance on the film page.
While you're there you can watch the three-part film of my trip to New York and Boston in December last year. I finally met up with some of the great New Yorkers and Bostoneers I've been chatting to for the last few years. I played an improv gig at Purchase University, Upstate New York, with five of them, and started making a record with Evan Sobel (Bass, La Otracina/ Tiger Vommit) and Scott Craggs (Drums) under the name Immortal Kittens. We recorded a bunch of improv stuff and a tune called 'Tidy Little Walk' which I wrote at Paul Rubenstein's house in Queens. If you've checked out the friends page, you'll know that Paul is also known as Ubertar, creator of many fantastic stringed instruments, his site is well worth a visit. Also featured in the film are members of Lance Romance, Heart Dotting, Blue Velvet, Donny Who Loved Bowling and many others, some of whom played the Purchase gig with me.
I've taken a few months off mixing and finishing off the 'Free Will' album, but recently returned to it. It's all mixed bar the closing piece, which needs a single cello overdub and mixing before I finally send the whole record off to be mastered.
I've also contributed a tune called 'Eat Your Heart Out' to a new compilation that's due out soon from the same folks that brought you the 'Out: 17 Modern Guitarists Salute Derek Bailey' CD last year. 'Eat Your Heart Out' features nylon-string acoustic guitars and bowed mandloin, and it's a pretty little thing, even if I do say so myself. All the artists on the compilation are approving masters right now, so it shouldn't be long before you and I can get our hands on that too.
Work on the next EP has been slow but sure. Most of it's been recorded and some of it's mixed, so I'm sure that's something else you'll get to hear later this year.
Happy new year!
July 28th 2007
Here we are then, the Hands Up Baby Hands Up EP release party. Grab yourself something from the bar, pass me a vol-au-vent and check out the sounds.
For £3.50 it's all yours, delivered right to your door..
Here's what some folks have said about it so far..
"I managed to weasel this out of Rigs a while back and I love it. Heavy rotation in the Inverse kitchen." - Inverseroom, writer/musician.
"'Where You End' is brilliant - This is classic Rigs! Live Shadow was always my fav but this is even better. Really, it can't get any better than this." - Savior Onasis, guitarist/composer.
"I'm really digging this. Neat contrasts. A nicely unified sounding work that I'll be spinning often!" - Alien Spore Bomb, guitarist/composer.
"Coming from someone who has listened to this a lot, It's really fucking good. I still get earworms from it. Take drugs and listen to it in the dark." - Jonathan El-Bizri, 'Hands Up' mastering engineer.
"A lot of depth, some beautiful timbres and the mood really comes across.
The production is top notch, I look forward to many more listens." - Marco Oppedisano, composer.
"
Wow, this stuff is great. Great sounds and arrangement. I like this a lot." - Paul Rubenstein, composer/musician.
May 24th 2007
So the 'Hands Up Baby Hands Up' EP is mastered and ready to go. I'm sending off the covers to be printed and when they're back it'll be all systems go. I will of course post here about how you can get your hands on it once it's all packaged and ready for sale.
Work on new material is going well too, spent last weekend recording drum parts in my wee studio and dug out my amp to lay down some guitar and bass parts (that's the last time I store anything that heavy at the back of a deep cupboard). Three songs in the works at the moment, definitely less electronic so far than 'Hands Up'. I seem to have a taste for clarinet at the moment so there's a fair bit of that too. It'll be interesting to see how it all turns out.
May 8th 2007
Still working on the site but the art page now has live pictures and paintings within, recording photos coming in the next few days. I've been really pleased with the response to the 'Sea Shapes' video and started making a video for the opener of the EP earlier this week. It's going to take a while though as it's a little more complex than the one for 'Shapes'.
We're on the home-run with the mastering for the 'Hands Up Baby Hands Up' EP, Jon is making the last few alterations and we're done. He's been awesome, I can't recommend him enough.
Played percussion at a wedding with one of my favourite drummers last weekend. I saw a little film of me playing timbales and realised I look nuts when I'm perc-ing it up. Hey ho, there are worse things than looking a little crazy.
Managed to break every single string on my cello bow while bowing a cymbal this week. Doh. Time to get a hardier bow. Oh, and yes, I finally did align the text, you were right and I was wrong.
The merch page is done too, so you can hop over to cafepress and buy a t-shirt or mug. From the pictures it looks as if the logo comes up standing proud but I'm assured that's not the case.
May 2nd 2007
So yeah, I'm quick to update so early on but it's just to let you know that the site is filling out with content. There are mp3s ready to download in the music section, the video for 'Sea Shapes' in the film section and soon enough they'll be images on the art page too, so do check back for updates. And no, I will not align the text on this here homepage, I like its scrapbook look, no matter how 1997 it may seem to you - you know who you are.
May 1st 2007
Lots of music-related stuff is finally getting finished right now.
My new EP, 'Hands Up Baby Hands Up' (see the releases page) is being mastered by Jonathan El-Bizri at Hearfeel Sound as we speak (I type and you read). I've also been making a video for 'Sea Shapes', the EP's closing track (you can hear the unmastered mix of that tune on my myspace ), the masthead at the top of the page is a still from that video. It should be ready to put on youtube any day now, I'll post a link in the films section here when it's up. The album I've spent two years on is three-quarters mixed and the last few parts are being laid down on the final couple of tracks so that should be ready soon enough too. In addition to all of that, I'm working hard on a new EP that should be ready by the end of the summer.
In other news, I found a yamaha portasound keyboard in a dumpster a couple of weeks ago. I've tried to find details about it on the net but to no avail. It's a Yamaha Portasound PSS-103 that comes with a card reader for its sounds. Well I think so anyway, the thing that makes me unsure is that while i can't access anything except a rather tasty fake piano sound, the demo button reveals a whole new world of drum, bass and keyboard noises. Anyway, great fake piano, so it's ended up being in a new tune along with lots of bowed and plucked mandlolin, drums and bass.
Lastly, I did another show for creot radio last week, some great new independent music from artists all across the planet. Check it out here
