bovaflux

JosephMorton - Atma1

2011-11-22T22:38:00.001+01:00

Just felt like listening to these old EPs I made today, so thought I'd stick the first one up here to share too..

JosephMorton - Atma1 by bovaflux

Step into Dubizm

2011-09-06T21:42:00.002+02:00

The site is back up after a short holiday... I've relocated it to a new server in the US, which gives me much more space and fancy toys to play with. Took a while to get round to shifting everything across as I'm super busy at work right now (the games industry never changes), but hopefully it's all back in order now.

While the site was away, I had a new track released on the new Lau&Auder compilation "Step into Dubizm". 20 something tracks of dubstep influenced electronics from the likes of Cursor Miner, Solar X and Myoptik, you can find it on the usual places (iTunes, emusic, etc) and also
here

Physic or Surgery Mixtape

2011-06-09T23:59:00.004+02:00

Here's a mixtape for the final Highpoint Lowlife release, with contributions from virtually all the artists (myself included) that had the pleasure of working with this great label!

Physic Or Surgery Mixtape by sideb0ard

Sad to see it go, but on the plus side, at least Thor gets to put more time into his new ventures! (The first being this - physic-or-surgery-issue-1)

The epic final HPLL release will be released sometime in July, and hopefully we'll get issue 2 of the comic by then too!

New track

2010-02-28T22:47:00.000+01:00

Hope Still Remains by bovaflux

End of year chart

2009-12-21T20:55:00.003+01:00

So, end of the year time, so I will post a list of my favourite releases of the year.

Dorian Concept - When Planets Explode
Moderat - Moderat
The Gasman - Superlife
DOOM - Born like this
10:32 - Vanitas EP
Luke Vibert - Rhythm
Christ. - Distance Leads Enchantment to the View
5 Years of Hyperdub
Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project
Zomby - One Foot Ahead Of The Other

Some comments on the above..

Dorian Concept - When Planets Explode
Dorian Concept is my favourite thing in 2009, listened to his stuff constantly all year! The new single Trilingual Dance Sexperience is also awesome, as it pretty much everything he does. New album in 2010 please!

Moderat - Moderat
I thought the last Modeselektor album was a bit of a let down really, so this was a nice surprise. Some of my favourite stuff from either Apparat or Modeselektor on here.

The Gasman - Superlife
I know it was released 2008. I don't care! I'd only heard a few Gasman tracks here and there, and finally got round to buying this album this year.

DOOM - Born like this
Not his greatest work ever, but solid enough to make the list.

10:32 - Vanitas EP
I love the first track on this EP so much, it makes the top ten. Really should listen to more stuff on Ghostly..

Luke Vibert - Rhythm
Well, everyone else was going on about his other album of 2009 (We Hear You), but this was the one I kept on repeat. Such an unusual sounding record, lots of weird samples, tied together with his trademark off kilter hip hop beats.

Christ. - Distance Leads Enchantment to the View
Two tracks really stand out on here for me - Dirty Sun, and Event Horizon They Waited. Great melodic electronic music.

5 years of hyperdub
I find Hyperdub a bit hit and miss, but still definitely one of the most interesting labels for dubstep and the like. This compilation does a good job of covering the spectrum of sound Kode 9 has been serving up for the last 5 years.

Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project
The concept of this album is that Charles went round recording conversations with his neighbours, and then used that as a basis for the music, following the patterns of their speech with a variety of instruments. It doesn't always work amazingly, but when it does, like on the 7 minutes of evolving ambience of Mr Gowrie, it can be endlessly fascinating.

Zomby - One Foot Ahead Of The Other
SNES-Step would probably be the best way to describe this album. Sounds a lot like a follow up to his self titled EP on Hyperdub a year or so ago, this is all 8 bit bleeps and skipping beats, and manages to sound somehow retro and futuristic at the same time.

So, that was 2009. Well almost, there's still a week or so left yet... I've been a bit slow at updating the blog lately though, so I'm guessing another update before the new year would be expecting a bit much. Was kind of a quiet year for my releases, with only a remix for Fibla making it out. I should finally get around to releasing some new stuff next year though, including a special project which I've been hard at work on for the last couple of months. It's not exactly a music release.. but kind of is.. I'll hopefully upload some stuff on it in the next few weeks, assuming I can get some video capturing stuff working.

Anyway, that's it, have a great xmas & new year!

Simple Circuit

2009-07-13T22:36:00.002+02:00

A forgotten track from a couple of months ago, which I found while digging around my hard drive...

Sketchbook2 by bovaflux

Short and sweet, not much else to say!

Connect with it

2009-07-12T17:16:00.003+02:00

Ok, so for ages I avoided joining facebook, since I was already on a few social networking sites, and didn't want yet another to worry about. But after basically everyone I know getting into it, I've kind of caved in, and now I've added a fan page too.

Bovaflux on Facebook

Should I go the whole way and join twitter too?

It lives!!

2009-06-23T21:53:00.002+02:00

Been a while since I posted... Things went crazy at work for a bit, but that's all done with now, so for the last couple of weeks I've just been recovering and relaxing. I'm finding it hard getting back into writing tracks after a three month break, so I've just been playing around with some other ideas.

Sketchbook by bovaflux

They are kind of a bit different sounding to my usual thing, but sometimes you just have to clear this stuff out the way so you can crack on with it.

RE Nothing

2009-03-29T15:31:00.002+02:00

A few months ago Jordi Cabestany got in touch with me asking to use a track of mine in a video he was producing.. I got sent a copy of it, but didn't hear much else about it, until I randomly found it uploaded on the net today.

re nothing from kbs on Vimeo.

From what I can work out, I think it was shown at Lekuz Leku 2008, but that's about all I know. But anyway, it's an interesting piece, with an almost kalaediscopic look. The track used is called Kleine, from my album Where There Was Nothing.

Album news and current happenings

2009-03-26T20:56:00.004+01:00

My current project is almost Beta now, so time to work on music projects is becoming more and more rare. In a couple of months it should all be over though, so I'll be able to concentrate on things properly again, and maybe that third album will finally be finished! I was having a spin through some of the shortlisted tracks for it over the last week, and I think there's some really nice tracks to go on there (although I would say that I guess).

While taking ages to get a new album out can feel a bit frustrating at times, I think it probably means a better end product. I've thought I was close to finishing this album about three times already, but then I get sidetracked with other stuff, make some new tracks, go off a few old ones, and the album takes a new shape again. I think I have around 30 something tracks to consider for the next album, and the longer I leave it, the stronger the whole thing sounds. At the minute it's looking like being about 12-14 tracks, and around 50mins, which leaves a lot of left over material, which I will probably add here for free as a left overs EP, and maybe keep a few tracks just for live shows (always nice to save some fresh tracks for that).

So what exactly is it that I've been spending so much time on? Well, I guess I can reveal it now, since it was announced this week at GDC. Since moving to Germany I've been working with Keen Games to create the PSP and DS versions of G-Force. Sadly, not based on the old anime (that would have been too awesome), but based on what is more than likely going to be every 9 year olds favourite blockbuster of the year. Here's the trailer..

and here's a first look at the game over at IGN. (The screens obviously aren't from the PSP or DS versions though!)

New Ambient/Dubstep/Electronic mix

2009-03-07T18:34:00.003+01:00

Here's a little DJ Mix I did last weekend.. been a while since I did any mixing, and it probably shows, with a few rough transitions here and there, but hopefully the quality of the tracks makes up for the dodgy mixing!

February09Mix by bovaflux

The mix covers everything from ambient to dubstep, and is basically just a slice of what I've been listening to recently, plus a couple of my unreleased tracks dropped in too.

Tracklisting

Helios - Paper Tiger
Bracken - Four Thousand Style
Miwon - Round and Round
Kristuit Salu - Leitmotif
Lukid - Forma
Mrs Jynx - Dusty
Bovaflux - Brm
Pridon - She bit me first
Joker - Digidesign
Xela - Ut Nod Vivicaret
Bovaflux - Music Box
Bovaflux - Wobble Brain
Helios - The Toy Garden
Wisp - Among The Pines

The mix is hosted at Soundcloud, which I might use for hosting other mixes and track previews, so if you are registered, be sure to start following me there.

Fibla remix

2009-02-25T22:37:00.002+01:00

Got the news that my remix of Fibla will be released on the NOW remixed compilation on the 3rd of April. More news about that to come later, or if you want to stay totally up to date then head over to the Underscan website and sign up to their mailing list.

The last few days I've been listening to some great albums that I missed from 2008. First is from Bracken, which is a project by one of the guys from Hood. More electronic and experimental than his stuff with Hood, but still excellent and detailed, and a feels really at home on the Anticon label. The other release is from Ezekial Honig. I first heard his music after I got a copy of the album he did with Morgen Packard from Thor at Highpoint Lowlife. There's something about these super minimal tones mixed with scratcy evolving soundscapes the just pushes all the right buttons for me. Beautiful stuff. I'm hoping to find time soon to throw together a liitle mixtape for the site, and you'll no doubt be hearing some stuff from these two on there.

Beats & bugs & brains & bullets

2009-02-19T23:12:00.004+01:00

Another super busy week at work this week, as my current game heads to Alpha. Not too upset by the extra workload though, as I had a good weekend making music, completing two new tracks. Things will hopefully get a bit quieter next week though, so I can continue working on new stuff in the studio, and also spend a bit of time with House of the Dead: Overkill, which I just ordered from amazon uk (It won't be released here in Germany)! Looks like a lot of fun from the trailer, I totally love the way they've pitched it, even if it is clearly very Grindhouse influenced. The engine for the game was licenced from my previous employer, so there are even going to be some (very) tiny fragments of my code in there somewhere! :)

The crazy increase in web traffic here seems to have died down to more typical levels now - still no idea what triggered that! Looks like it may have encouraged some renewed interest in my releases going by the latest iTunes reports, although I have to wait a while for proper numbers to come through. Thanks to everyone who has been supporting my music over the last couple of weeks though, every sale slowly gets me closer to buying some new studio gear! One cheaper little addition I'm really tempted by is the pro upgrade for Novation's automap software.. Being able to map controls to send keystrokes sounds like it would help integrating the controller with renoise, since renoise doesn't have the usual support for transport controls. Will hopefully get sometime to try it all out next week (inbetween sessions of blood soaked zombie filled violence, obviously... Oh, and that reminds me, new Walking Dead and Invincible books out in a couple of weeks!)

Studio2009

2009-02-05T22:55:00.003+01:00

Recently I finally got round to setting up a second monitor on my machine here at home, and thought I'd use that as an excuse to show you all where it is I do all my music currently. As you can see, a pretty modest looking set up.

Let's take a full tour of the image! Just left of centre you see my old monitor, set up with a 90 degree rotation so I can offload a few plug ins there from the main screen, and have it as a virtual rack. With any luck, in a couple of years I can replace this with a (multi?)touch screen version, and have an even more virtual rack kind of experience! Until then, there's still the SL25 underneath there, for midi control and keyboard duties. The main monitor is a 19" monster, a gift from Petra, which you can see is running the greatest tracker of all time, Renoise.

Above that and to the right, you can see the miserable excuse of a speaker set up.. I've had this crappy hifi for over ten years now, and everything on it is broken, except for the speakers and audio input, which thankfully is all I need from it these days. Maybe it would be better if it broke, would be the push I need to finally get me some proper audio monitors..

And finally, up top you can see the print picture my brother gave me for my 30th birthday, of the late great John Peel. Having him watching over me kind of makes me feel a little under pressure at times. The little quote on there is typical Peel.. "I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that sounded better when I played it the other night, at the wong speed". Awesome stuff.

One other thing for today, while wanting to upload the above photo (which btw I didn't have space for on my hosting account, so have just set up a flicker account), I noticed that there was a bit of a spike in traffic over the last couple of days.. Quite a large spike.. Like, 700Mb downloaded in the space of two days. And I don't have that many tracks on here to download, so that's way over the normal amount! Not quite sure what caused the rush of traffic, but if you have a clue, drop a comment here, I'm curious to know!

Busy

2009-02-04T22:35:00.003+01:00

The year has been pretty full on so far, so not much time for blog updates. We've had a busy few weeks at work as our game nears alpha, but it looks like things are starting to calm down again now. In between the late nights and pizza, I have actually managed to do some new music though, in the shape of a remix of Fibla for Underscan records. No word yet on the release date, but I'll add the info here when I have it.

The remix will probably be your first chance to here some of the new elements making their way into my music, namely my guitar. It took some time to get a good feeling for how I can blend it in with my normal song writing, but I think the last few tracks I made with it turned out pretty good. I'm actually thinking about trying out a side project of some sort, with a really limited set of equipment - just my guitar, my music box, and some kind of simple percussion. Might be a disaster, but I have a few ideas brewing, and in the worst case, I have some samples to reuse later. All I need now is a bit of a break from work!

Happy New Year

2009-01-09T22:39:00.004+01:00

Well, Christmas is over, and the new year has begun. Hope you all had a great break over the holiday. I had a couple of weeks off work, but didn't really get to spend much time on music, due to travelling around visiting family in England and Germany. It's going to be tough finding time over the next couple of weeks too, as the overtime is starting to increase at work now and starting to eat into my weekends.

Anyway, in typical first post of the new year style, it's about time for a top 10 of 2008..

TOP TEN THINGS IN 2008 (no particular order, and 3 or 4 of them aren't really from 2008)

British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?(Album)
Braid (Game)
dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip - Angles (Album)
Toshio Iwai / I am robot and proud (Gig)
Joy Division (Film / Music)
Shape of Broad Minds - Craft of the Lost Art (Album)
Portal: Still Alive (Game)
The Tuss - Rushup Edge(Album)
Venetian Snares - Detrimentalist (Album)
Kelpe - Sea inside body (Album)

British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
Maybe it was because I had just moved away from dear old Blighty just as this album was released, or maybe because this was such a great comeback after Open Season, but at the start of the year I just couldn't get enough of this. Proper indie rock with a distinctly british air to it, this album really managed to blend the raw energy of their debut with the more thoughtful song writing of the follow up to form their most solid album to date. Only sad thing was that they canceled their gig in Frankfurt, so I missed seeing them live (although I had only seen them 3 months earlier, just before leaving the UK!).

Braid
In the days of multi million dollar video game blockbusters, it's refreshing to see that the little guy can still come out and make something that leaves the rest standing. With Braid, Jonathon Blow has created a masterpiece of videogame design, combining incredibly well though out puzzles with an intriguing story. And I don't just mean, a typical game story, like hero saves the princess, or macho space marine saves the planet by killing thousands of aliens (although it does play with the first of these). Braid's story is multi layered, and is actually about something. The more you dig into it, the more you find, which is incredibly rare in games. It's very rare that a game blows my mind like Braid did, and I strongly encourage all of you to check it out. Yes, it's just an old skool platform game with a twist, but it's also so much more!

dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip - Angles
I have to admit, after hearing the single before most other people (it was dan that booked me for my last UK gig at the start of 2007), it took me ages to get around to buying the album. But I'm really glad I did. The album isn't all killer, but when these two get their mix of spoken word poetry and beaty electronica right, it's just incredible. Really look forward to more from these two.

Toshio Iwai / I am robot and proud
It's been a quiet year for gigs really, but this one really stands out for a few reasons. Basically, since it was tying in with the Musik Messe here in Frankfurt, rather than just a plain old gig, Toshio Iwai gave us a 45 min talk on how he developed the tenori-on, his musical background, etc, before then giving his performance. Really interesting stuff, and nicely hit the balance for me between games and music. After his performance, a little act from canada took to the stage called I am robot and proud. I was really looking forward to seeing him play, as he generally doesn't tour in europe, so it felt like a bit of a once in a lifetime opportunity. He played an awesome set, and is probably the only person I've seen that really looks like he can play a tenori-on! The other bands on the night kind of used them as gimmiks, but with I am robot and proud, it really just fit in so much better. And to top the night off, I also got my copy of Electroplankton signed by Toshio Iwai!

Joy Division
Joy Division has always been one of those bands that I'd heard about a lot, but never actually heard their music, or any of the detail about them. I ended up going to see Control at the cinema earlier in the year, which was a great movie, and really is a great introduction to the band and their music. Since then I've been digging into their two albums, and also just saw the new Joy Division documentary that came out recently. So yeah, awesome music, shame I'm about 30 years too late!

Shape of Broad Minds - Craft of the Lost Art
I think this might have technically been 2007, but fuck it, I was a few months late.. More boundary pushing stuff from the Lex Label, this is definitely the most interesting Hip-Hop release for me recently. Also worth checking out related projects, like Dr Who Dat?, Jneiro Jarel, and the excellent free release The Fantastic JJ Project.

Portal: Still Alive
I missed the original since I only really play games on consoles, but this years XBox Live Arcade release was still suitably awesome enough to hook me for a week. As with all the greatest games at the minute, it's kind of short, but with no padding, making this incredibly interesting to play from start to end. Some of the puzzles can really mess your head up, and you find yourself using the game's physics system in some incredible ways, it often had me just staring at the screen thinking "how the fuck did I just do that?" If you need your spatial awareness skill testing, are looking for one of the funniest games of the last few years, or you just like cake, then you have to play this game!

The Tuss - Rushup Edge
Was this 2007 or 2008? Whatever, I only got it this year I think.. Is it Aphex Twin? It kind of sounds like him, and all the internet rumours seem to point to it, but whoever made it, it's one of the most original electronic recording of the year (or last year).

Venetian Snares - Detrimentalist (Album)
Venetian Snares albums are always a bit hit and miss for me, but this is the first that I will play over and over since Chocolate Wheelchair. This is VSnares doing what I love him doing - going completely stupid, mashing up a thousand random ideas, and producing the hyper detailed over the top ultra rave music that makes all other music sound sleep inducing in comparison. When Aaron gets it right, he genuinely makes the most hardcore exciting music you could ever imagine, and on this album he's at his best. This album makes me long for the days when my brother and I would head of down for some all nighter breakcore action down in London town.. Great days.. Anyway, I would give this record 7 stars out of 7.

Kelpe - Sea inside body (Album)
I know, another that isn't actually from 2008.. I think this is actually 2004.. but who cares, I discoverd Kelpe this year, and that's what matters! Apparently we're both from pretty much the same part of England too, he's from Loughborough, while I grew up in a little town just down the road called Shepshed.. maybe it was homesickness that got me listening to him this year! But anyway, great electronic music with tight beats, warm synths, and a kind of nostalgic melancholy feel, just the thing for winter. He did actually release a new album in 2008, so I should probably have picked that up and had that in this list to be more up to date, but well.. I didn't..

Honourable mentions go to Lost Winds (Game), my new guitar, PicPic (Game), Mrs Jynx's The Standoffish Cat (album), Robert Kirkman (whose The Walking Dead and Invincible comics continues to be all kinds of awesome), Heat Sensor's Touch EP (more well known for some awesome production work with MF DOOM (as Viktor Vaughn), this 4 track EP is well worth hunting for) and DJ Rubbish - Armageddon Session Vol 2 (album).

I'd also like to thank everyone that bought my music this year, and also to those who donated via paypal (using the link on the menu on the left). Look forward to more releases this year!

Anything I missed?

New toy

2008-12-14T20:57:00.005+01:00

This weekend I've spent pretty much the whole time playing with my brand new iPod Touch. I've never really considered buying one, but my company decided to be completely awesome and buy one for everybody! I'm still not a fan of iTunes, but I have to say that I'm finding the iPod Touch experience pretty slick so far.

I think the most impressive thing is how integrated everything is.. The contacts list is a great example. You can tap on a contact in your list, tap on their address, and it switches to google maps and shows you their place on the map. Then you can tap to get directions from your current location (without gps). Then tap their name on the map again, tap their email address, and let them know you're on your way over!

I've already rushed over to the App Store to download a few bits and pieces - Last.fm so I can scrobble on the move, Guitar Toolkit, which is a handy chord guide for guitar newbies like me, and VNC, which let's you remotely control your PC.. very handy for kicking off some torrents on your home system ready for when you get back in the evening! :)

I'm still on the look out for some real music making apps for it.. I have a couple of weeks away from the main PC over xmas and new year, so I'm hoping to have some half decent portable options with me too. If you know any, then please add a comment below!

Oh, and in other recent news, the game I designed, PowerUp Forever, was released on Xbox360 Live Arcade. PS3 release should follow shortly. I've played the trial version a little bit, and I'm happy to say that it looks like it's turned out pretty good! I found a rather nice review here too!

What does your wlan sound like?

2008-12-06T23:59:00.003+01:00

Came across this really interesting DS Homebrew project today called sniff jazzbox. It basically converts the data being broadcast from all those wifi access points all around you, and converts them into music. It's a pretty cool concept, but I find the results a bit of a let down. Rather than creating any kind of sonic soundscape, i simply interprets the data into piano notes. I totally love the concept though, and would love someone to take it further. Imagine a cross between this and Korg's DS10, where the data would be interpreted to adjust parameters of the sounds being generated.. I'm sure that could produce some interesting results.

link here
and also check out this page of other DS Homebrew audio projects. Some excellent stuff there, especially GlitchDS.

New MP3 store

2008-12-06T15:39:00.007+01:00

I saw that Amazon UK has opened it's new MP3 store this week. There are a couple of my albums up there to buy if you feel that way inclined.

Also, I'm told that the release date for PowerUp Forever (the XBLA and PS3 game I created the concept for and contributed music to) will be released on the 18th December. Strange for an XBLA game to be released on a thursday, but there you go.

Audio experiment

2008-11-27T22:08:00.011+01:00

A couple of audio experiments.. First, I wanted to have a little look into an easy way to add some mp3 clips to the blog posts today, as it'd be nice to occasionally just drop in some bits and bobs that I'm working on. This is a track I made today, which mixes up a few thing from the past week or so.. The weather here has been quite wintery, with a fair bit of snow (by English standards anyway) over the weekend. I was also feeling a bit homesick after getting some nice cards and presents for my birthday last week, but also made to feel really welcome in Germany by a nice series of answer phone messages from pretty much all of my girlfriends relatives. This track is part of my effort to try and turn my music into more of a diary of what's happening for me. See what you think..

The track is a bit work in progress, not mastered properly, etc, but I thought it might be cool to make things a bit more immediate, so you hear lots of bits and pieces as I make them, and not have to wait years in between releases. The only thing that might get in the way is webspace, as I don't have that much at the minute! We'll see how it goes..

Some random other things from today..

I'm up to episode 10 of Gurren Lagann!! Although i was quite into this series from the first episode, episode 8 blew me away today, starting to develop a habit for it now.

I just finished Spider-Man: Web of Shadows DS. Twice. Best Spidey game since Spider-Man 2. Now back to Pic Pic....

First rumours of a PSP2 have started to appear.

GamesRadar had a great feature on non-game gamer gifts for xmas. Reminds me of all the awesome toys I want to waste money on, like this Chun-Li by Revoltech, and this mini Pac-Man arcade unit (sadly not playable!)

Gear

2008-11-25T22:19:00.005+01:00

I added a few new sections to the website today, including a bit of info on my current set up. While putting the list together, it reminded me how much free software I use in my set up. Some of my favourite VSTs are free, such as the awesome MDA plug pack, pluggo jnr and FreeAlpha. It's pretty incredible to think of the results you can get out of a music set up that literally costs nothing. I remember how hard it used to be when I was making tracks in Octamed, having to program in some faked delay effects by hand, as I just didn't have any effects plug ins or external fx units. Search on the net now and you'd find hundreds of them, along with countless other synths and effects, which can all be used in free sequencers/trackers.

Which reminds me, I came across another free bundle of plug in effects today..

Blue Cat Audio

Not had a chance to dig into them yet, but it looks like there could be some useful stuff in there, although nothing that sounds weird or revolutionary. If you are looking for something a bit weirder, you could try out Olga. I've only played about with that one a little bit, but it's pretty strange. For starters, the interface is all Russian (i think), making it a little hard to learn. Definitely has a sound of it's own though.

PowerUp Forever Review

2008-11-17T22:05:00.003+01:00

I don't often mention my videogames stuff here, but I just saw this video review of the game I did the original concept for, and am so excited I just have to post it! :)

It still counts as Bovaflux content too, as you can also (just about) hear the music I made for it in the last minute or two of the peice. Can't wait for this to finally get released!

Site work

2008-11-16T19:42:00.006+01:00

Just a quick one to say that things might look a bit strange here for a few days as I start changing things around to fit into the new site... The blog doesn't match up with the existing site anymore, but once the new site is uploaded, it'll all make sense again.

One of the things I'm adding is a way to expand posts, so you don't have to scroll through too much to see a quick overview of the blog. I don't post that often, but when I do, it tends to be quite a lot, and it makes the blog look a bit heavy.

Random November update

2008-11-03T22:55:00.006+01:00

Well, I just kind of realised that 2008 is on the way out.. is it really November already? Starting a new life in Germany has really made the time go fast, and at times I've really been wondering if I can still manage to keep up making music. But well, making music isn't really something you can just decide to stop doing, so I always find my way back to it. The harder thing is doing all the stuff that surrounds it, trying to promote it, updating the website, etc. I really think it's about time the site had a bit of a tidy up though, as it's getting pretty old looking in places.. about time some new tracks were uploaded too I think.

Anyway, I thought I'd also update you all on some of the little goings on from this year. Not a big year for releases, but still a few interesting bits and bobs.

First up there's a couple of remixes. First out was my remix for Fuck off Machete, which you can find here. The gang seem to have gone pretty quiet since that release, but I hope they return some day, the are an awesome bunch.

Next up was the remix for Emulsion, which I think has turned out as probably my favourite remix I've done. Check it out at the lens records site.

I also saw that "Bomb It!", the graffiti documentary by Jon Reiss was released on DVD this year. This excellent thought provoking film features the opening track from my 2005 album. I can't tell you how proud I was to see my name scroll up in the movie credits! :)

I also released the much delayed EP, Yesterday, Tomorrow, Now, on [d]-tached records. Many thanks to everyone who bought a copy, especially the growing number of bovaflux fans from Japan! One great thing about direct mp3 sales is that I really get to see where every copy gets sold, and it sometimes really surprises me.

There won't be any new releases from me now until next year, but I will start uploading a few new tracks to the website and myspace pages, leading up to the new album release next year. In the mean time, you might be interested to know that I have some music featured in a new XBox 360 Live Arcade game called Powerup Forever. The soundtrack is pretty interesting actually, as it tries to always present something new by randomly mixing together a set of ambient tracks with a set of beat tracks, to give a kind of endless mix of music. Also worth noting is that I created the original concept for the game, but had to leave development of it behind once I moved out here to Germany. I haven't had a look at the game since the early prototype stages, so it'll be interesting to see how it shapes up.

New Bovaflux download EP available now!

2008-03-10T21:57:00.002+01:00

Yes, it's been a long time coming, but now it's finally here! I completed this EP early 2006, but due to delays with the label, it's only just now getting released. You can find it right now on emusic.com at the following link, and it will be appearing on iTunes, napster and all the usual places over the next couple of weeks..

http://www.emusic.com/album/Bovaflux-Yesterday-Tomorrow-Now-MP3-Download/11155813.html

I would spend some time here writing some stuff about how it sounds, but, you know, it's the internet, so why not just listen for yourself? The entire EP is here ready to stream..

http://www.last.fm/music/Bovaflux/Yesterday%2C+Tomorrow%2C+Now

You can also stream and download lots of previous releases too, including my releases on Highpoint Lowlife and [d]-tached.

http://www.last.fm/music/Bovaflux/+albums

Enjoy!

Eddie

New release, and plans for 2008

2008-01-27T12:31:00.001+01:00

Hi Folks,

The more observant amonst you may have noticed that it's been a while since any Bovaflux material has appeared.. 2007 turned out to be a bit of an odd year all round really, with lots of projects that never quite materialised. One nice thing was that happened was getting a track used in the graffiti documentary "Bomb it!", which would have been even better if I'd actually got to see the film.. maybe the dvd release this year? But yeah, apart from that, it was just stuff that didn't happen. The remixes, the EP, etc. This is partly down to outside factors, but also down to the fact that I was changing a lot too.. I quit my job and moved to Germany for starters, which as you can probably imagine, can be quite a time consuming thing to do.

Anyway, I've resolved that 2008 is gonna be the year that stuff starts happening again. I'm taking control of releases again, bringing back [d]-tached records, and most importantly to you, dear music lover, getting music out there. It's all starting with the EP which I finished in 2006, and has had it's release delayed time and time again. Sadly, it won't be appearing on vinyl now, but it will at least be appearing! Release is set for 3/3/08, and it is available for streaming right now at last.fm.

http://www.last.fm/music/Bovaflux/Yesterday%2C+Tomorrow%2C+Now

I'm also reliably informed that my remix for Emulsion will be coming out spring 2008, so you have that to look forward to as well. I have a second EP completed, which will probably arrive summer-ish time, featuring material completed last year. I recently surreptitiously uploaded a side project of mine to a random internet location too.. it's not particularly hard to trace back to me, but you know, the internet's a big place, so it could take you a while to find it. :)(further clues may appear through out the year too..)

So anyway, hope you're all having a good start to the new year, and I'll post again soon!

Eddie

Time for a change...

2007-11-05T11:07:00.000+01:00

Hi Folks, No update for a while as I've been rather busy with non-Bovaflux things, namely preparing to move to Germany. That's right, I'll be leaving dear old Blighty for a new life in Frankfurt! Me and my girlfriend have been thinking about doing the move for around a year or so now, and we've decided to now make the leap. I'm still pretty nervous about the whole thing, but at the same time really excited and looking forward to all the new experiences. Expect a few hicups with the site as I make the transition, but hopefully it should all go smoothly. I'm guessing that I'll keep the .co.uk domain name for a while.. changing it to .de seems a bit weird, so if it does change at all, it'll probably go to bovaflux.com, since I'm like all international and that now.

So anyway, I've been so busy with getting a new job (will be working for keen Games) and planning the house move I've not been writing much new material, but I'm sure this will change once I've settled into the new place. The EP is still apparently just around the corner, so that may even appear before I've moved. We have the masters from Twerk, so it's just waiting to be
pressed really.

The other little bit of release news is that the remix I did for Emulsion should be getting a release early next year. Glad that's coming out, as it's a sweet little track. Still no word on the fomachete remix I did a while back.. that was supposed to come out as a download only release, but it may not be on the cards now.. I should chase it up really, if it's not going to get released I'll ask the band if they're cool with me just sticking it on the site for download.

And speaking of downloads.. I'm thinking of adding a new download only EP to the site. As you may have noticed from how long I've been waiting for the EP to appear, it can be a very slow process! I'm thinking I might try out side stepping all that stuff and put out an EP of about 5 tracks, free to download, with an option to donate via paypal for those of you who still feel music has some value! :) I'm guessing I won't get much chance to prepare everything this side of Christmas, what with the upcoming house move and everything, so expect to see it around January.

Ok, that's about it for now. I'll try and get back into making these posts a bit more frequent!

Eddie

2007-08-29T14:15:00.000+02:00

Hello again,

Couple of things to announce.. Firstly, the long awaited EP has now been mastered, so hopefully that won't be too far off now!

Secondly, we've now made my previous album, "Where there was nothing" available for free download at last.fm, so you can grab yourself a copy over there right now. If you want to show your support and encourage further releases, please consider a little donation using the link below! I still need to replace my broken old soundcard! :)

Oh, and if you would like a CD copy of the album, please get in touch, I still have a few knocking about here.

movement

2007-07-15T14:04:00.000+02:00

It's been a bit quiet lately, sorry about that.. Things should begin to pick up a bit soon though, as the EP on SRL is due to appear very soon. Really looking forward to that, my first release on vinyl!

I'm also still hard at work on my next album, which is probably about 70% complete. I'm still looking for a label to release this, so if you are record label and have space on your schedule, drop me a mail.

no live shows for a little while...

2007-04-29T17:57:00.000+02:00

After several years of use in shows across the UK, my trusty Hercules DJ console has finally died.. until I get that replaced I'm unable to play any shows. I'm ok for writing stuff, I'm making do with my PCs onboard soundcard, but the onboard soundcard on my laptop is really nasty and noisey, not really suitable for playing out. Plus, I used the DJ Console as a MIDI controller too, so without it, there's no show.

I'll hopefully find a worthy successor to it soon. If you want to help me out and donate towards it's replacement, feel free to add to the new gear fund by clicking the link below.

Twerk on the case

2007-04-12T21:39:00.000+02:00

The EP on SRL is making some progress... Twerk is now on board for mastering duties, which I'm very happy about. Twerk runs Audible Oddities mastering house, and was also responsible for mastering my last album, Where There Was Nothing.

New bleep stuff

2007-04-05T15:00:00.000+02:00

Hi Folks,

Just noticed that Disco_r.dance's lovely debut compilation is now available to download from bleep.com! It's a fantastic comp, with a wide range of styles covered on there. Highlight for me has to be the Tunng track "Little King", although obviously mine comes a close second. :)

Oh, you'll also probably notice that this track is called nunnying, and I previously released a track called nunnying2 on Suburb.TheRecordLabel. This track is the first version of that, have fun spotting the similarities. I also have a few other tracks in this series, including nunnying7, which I've been playing in live sets recently. Since the first two have been on comps rather than solo releases, I'll probably stick with tradition and save this for the next compilation I'm offered too. :)

New tracks to download!

2007-04-02T00:01:00.000+02:00

Hey all,

I just uploaded a bunch of previously unreleased tracks at indiestore.com. They are all in a breakcore/jungle kind of style, mashing up Amens and heavy bass with the usual nice melodies, and are the kind of thing I have been using to round of my live sets for the last couple of years. To people who have been following my stuff for a while, you'll know I can be a little all over the place, but if you've only heard my album, Where There Was Nothing, then this will definitely be a bit of a shock. But hopefully a good one! All 4 tracks are available to preview and buy here..

http://www.indiestore.com/bovaflux

Depending on how this goes, I might consider doing some more special releases in this way.

Bovaflux soundtrack news

2007-02-07T14:53:00.000+01:00

I'm very happy to announce that one of my tracks will be included in the soundtrack to upcoming documentary "Bomb It", along with a track by fellow Highpoint Lowlifers The Mandlebrot Set, and two tracks by Fisk Industries. The film explores graffiti and street art from 5 continents, and is directed by Jon Reiss best known for his video work for Nine Inch Nails, and documentaries including "Better Living Through Chemistry".

In other news, I shall be returning to Reading for another show next month, more details to follow. Don't forget, if you want to book me to play at your show, just get in touch via myspace, or email info@bovaflux.co.uk.

Spread the love

2007-01-25T21:58:00.000+01:00

Well, winter has most definitely arrived here! It's freezing cold outside, and we even had a little snow yesterday! Being a very thoughtful chap, I thought I should provide a little help keeping warm through these harsh winter months, so for a limited time only, you can now get yourself a chunky new Bovaflux hoodie! And what's more, for the next couple of weeks you can get free postage on any Bovaflux Merchandise by entering the code Valentine07 when you checkout. Head over to the shop to browse our wares.

website updates

2007-01-22T23:02:00.000+01:00

As you might have noticed, the website is going through a few little changes at the minute. Basically, I'm trying to get it all a bit more integrated, as for the last few months it's all been a bit splintered, with a blog on one site, merchandise on another, the main page a bit blank, etc.. You should find it's all a bit more together now, and acting a bit more like one site than a bunch of them. I'm still tidying up a few loose ends (and I noticed it doesn't always render correctly in firefox..) but give it a little time and it should all start to feel a bit more consistent. I'm also hoping to add a little audio visual page, with a few track downloads, plus the Midnight Fields video.

"Snoop dogg is a huge Benny Hill fan.."

2007-01-21T20:55:00.000+01:00

My mother told me, as many mothers must tell their sons, "don't talk to strangers". Clearly my my mum should have said, "don't talk to strangers, unless you go to an all night party in Reading called Fractals" as last Fridays gig had possibly the nicest bunch of strangers I've met in a while.

Top of the list has to be Dave and Paul who not only kept us so entertained with their banter that I ended up missing some of the sets I wanted to see, but also invited me and my brother for some breakfast afterwards. There must have been something in the air in Reading that night, as even when we wandered around Tesco at 5:30 in the morning, Dave even bonded with another random stranger at the checkout over their Diabetes. Then it was back to theirs, where we met Paul's wife and daughter (I kind of feel guilty now as I think the only reason they got up at a little before 6am was the noisey drunken people that had just been brought home). Again, both really nice people. And let's not forget the Cat. Called Mouse. Maybe I was imagining things by that point.. Anyway, very nice chaps, do go check out their websites and investigate their projects. Just what ever you do, don't get Dave to recommend DVDs to you, or you too will be ordering british tv classics like Beasts. I'll let you know what it's like.

I also met a nice beardyish (do huge sideys count as a beard?) chap called Dan, who also makes fine music with his associate Pip. You can check out their soon to be top ten record on their myspace page. He also invited us for some after party action, which left me in a dilema as to which offer to take up... I've been in this position a few times really, and with me being incredibly rock and roll, I usually end up with the most hardcore offering on the table. In the past I've turned down illegal warehouse partys and crazy drug filled adventures for tea and scones (no joke). So the offer of a nice greasy breakfast won. I'm not entirely sure why I end up turning down the more exciting sounding offers.. I think it's because I usually have to make the choice at about 5am, when I must instinctively just go for the one that sounds cosiest.

It was also good for catching up with folks I've met before, including Saff aka Semaphor, now a pround Wii owner like myself, and Mikerak, who is starting up a new digital distribution service called Splintered Digital. All that plus a bunch of the other Kraked crew, a guy into grindcore who plugged http://www.weirdsville.com to me so much that I can't remember his name or band (except that it sounds like wu-tang.. youtang, mutang.. er, must take pen and paper next time), one of the old northhampton massif, nice sound guy (Di?) and probably a bunch more that the beer has now wiped from my mind. It really was the best atmosphere at a gig that I've felt for a long time. Huge respect to the Fractals crew for an awesome night.

Oh, and on top of all that, we met Terry on the train down. After knowing Terry for the 40 minutes from Leamington to Oxford, I can predict a fine future for him as a judge. Basically, every crime gets life, or maybe 2 life sentences if he's feeling generous. Which I can't agree with really, as since Terry did a bit of time when he was younger, that would mean that he would still have been in prison now, and would never have told us his stories about all the celebreties he met when he used to be on The Word (a cult Channel 4 music show in the 90s). And if this hadn't happened, I would never know that Snoop Dee Oh Double Gee is a massive fan of Benny H-i-double-L. If only Benny was still alive, the cross over projects could have been amazing.

Fractals 3, with Luke Vibert, Shitmat and Me

2007-01-15T20:34:00.000+01:00

Just a reminder that I'll be headlining the ambient/chillout room at Fractals3 this Friday. It takes place at Plug'n'Play studios in Reading, and has an awesome lineup. I think tickets are pretty much sold out now, but I hear there'll still be a few extras available on the door, so if you didn't book in advance then just make sure you're at the front of the queue! Here's the flyer for the event. For further info, visit http://www.myspace.com/fractalsrave.

Novation Feature

2007-01-10T13:20:00.000+01:00

The great folks at Novation music have written a nice little feature / interview with me. Check it out here...

http://www.novationmusic.com/communityarticle.asp?id=178

Happy New Year!

2007-01-09T12:54:00.000+01:00

Well after going into hibernation over Christmas, it's time to face the world again!

The music industry looks set to go through a lot of changes this year, with a lot of labels facing some big challenges from decining CD sales not being replaced by mp3 sales. As ever, all I can do is encourage you all to support the music you love by either purchasing the original CDs (particularly from the friendly independant shops, such as Norman Records, Smallfish, Posteverything, etc, who really help out smaller labels and artists) or legal MP3s. If you find the protection on legal MP3s a pain, then do remember there are stores out there (such as Bleep.com) who don't have any protection on their MP3s, and don't treat their customers like potential criminals. Now it's more important than ever to support growing artists and labels you love, before they disappear!

merchandise special offer

2006-11-06T21:31:00.000+01:00

As a special introductory offer to the Bovaflux Merchandise store, you can now get £2 off if you order before 30th November! Just enter the voucher code XMAS06 when you checkout. This code will also work on the new Highpoint Lowlife store too, so if you're already maxed out on bovaflux goodies, then you can cover yourself in their wares instead! Here's the links to the stores..

Bovaflux Merchandise/

Highpoint Lowlife Merchandise/

New dates and tracks

2006-10-27T13:52:00.000+02:00

Another update to let you all know about the show down at The Foundry next Saturday (4th November), featuring myself alongside a host of others including Rothko (Lo Recordings/Trace), Mothboy (ad noiseam), Blaubac (moth records), Con Brio, DJ Spazmo and many more! Fun starts at 3pm, and goes till late.

I'm also doing a little show in Leamington Spa on the 8th of December at the Jug and Jester. As any fellow leamington residents will agree, there's not much in the way of electronica around these parts, so if you are in the area, do be sure to drop in show your support!

Also, if you pop over to the bovaflux myspace page (like over on the right there) you'll find a couple of new tracks uploaded. Enjoy!

New Merchandise

2006-10-27T12:37:00.000+02:00

New Bovaflux merchandise available now! Just got back the test items, and these are really high quality, you'll definitely not be dissapointed. To have a look at what's on offer, enter the shop here..

http://bovaflux.spreadshirt.co.uk/

Give us your feedback and let us know what you think!

Analog for Architecture (pt 2)

2006-10-10T14:33:00.000+02:00

Just remembered I can post direct links to the Bleep player, so you can listen to the compilation directly on this page!

Analog for Architecture

2006-10-10T14:26:00.000+02:00

Just a quick post to let say that the new Highpoint Lowlife compilation "Analog for Architecture" is out now! This is a digital only release, available from Bleep.com (and possibly others like iTunes, emusic, and so on later?), although for your physical item fans, there's also a very limited dvd version. Contact Highpoint Lowlife via their website for further info.

delays, cancellations, and other slightly depressing things

2006-10-02T17:17:00.000+02:00

Hello,

Has it really been that long since my last update?? It's been a slightly depressing summer as far as music stuff is concerned for me, what with the cancellation of the Foundation Festival and other gigs, and the delay to the EP, which has been sitting patiently in the Suburb offices since around January.. Still, there's some good stuff coming up soon, so don't give up hope just yet!

First, I have a track on a compilation from new label disco_r.dance, alongside such quality artists as the fantastic Tunng, dDamage, ardisson, DJ Spazmo, and the Doubtful Guest. I think it's due to drop sometime in october, and will no doubt be a beauty.

Following that in November, I should be playing a couple of shows, firstly at the foundry on nov 4th (full line up tbc), and then after that the replacement gig for all those disapointed by the foundation festival cancelation.

Hopefully the EP will be out before the end of the year too, but I'm guessing it'll be more like january or february now.. :(

Work continues on the next album, although it's still quite early.. Obviously, I want this one to be a step up from the last one, which is currently leading me to abandon loads of tracks halfway through writing them.. I guess I might throw together a bunch of these off cuts for an mp3 release or something, for anyone who's interested. I really need to update the tracks I have on myspace too! I'll start previewing stuff from the EP there soon, as well as putting up a few new demo tracks and stuff.

Oh, and there's still the video to look forward too as well! It's kind of got a bit lost due to the EP delays, but it's all completed and looking very nice, and hopefully we'll be able to release it on youtube and so on fairly soon (and also on a highly limited special dvd release of the EP... keep your eyes peeled for that one).

And finally, just wanted to say thanks to all the friendly people on myspace hitting me with messages of support and love. Stay tuned for more.

Album on Bleep.com

2006-07-20T21:58:00.000+02:00

Album is finally now available to buy from Bleep.com, along with the rest of the highpoint lowlife catalogue!!

2002 mini album

2006-05-28T20:33:00.000+02:00

As mentioned in the last post, I've moved the old 2002 release downloads to archive.org. I still quite like most of the tracks, but some of it sounds really clunky to me these days, and reminds me how tough it could be writing with just a plain old-school tracker, with no vsts or anything.. still has some nice moments though. Check it out for yourself here..

http://www.archive.org/details/Bovaflux2002

website update

2006-05-28T18:45:00.000+02:00

Incase you hadn't noticed, the bovaflux site has had a bit of a reworking.. basically i've just tried to make it a bit more minimal, now that most of the links and tunes are on myspace, and all the news bits are here. I've also now taken down the mp3s of my first [d]-tached release (the 2002 mini album/ep), but i am in the process of uploading this to archive.org, so if you really want to get hold of it, you still can. I'm still kind of happy with that release, i just think it belongs somewhere else now, rather than on what is possibly the first point of call for most people looking for info on me.

Remixes

2006-05-26T13:21:00.000+02:00

Oh, and I should also mention that I recently completed a remix for ace indie rock band Fuck Off Machete, of their latest single "what's the signal?". I'm not actually sure what's happening with the track at the minute, but hopefully it'll be available for purchase / download very soon!

I'm also doing a remix for Emulsion, who's latest album "Blue Sky Objective" is out now. Full of chunky detuned synth action, I'd put it somewhere between Plaid, Esem and maybe some of Aphex Twin's stuff, around the Richard D James album / Melodies from Mars kind of period. More news on the remix EP release when i get it.

Foundation Festival

2006-05-26T13:12:00.000+02:00

I'm very happy to announce that I will be playing at the Foundation Festival in Bristol this September! The event is taking place from 1st -3rd September, just outside Bristol, and looks like it'll be an outstanding event! Apart from festival regulars, which includes the likes Kosheen, Coldcut, and Goldie Lookin Chain, the electronica tent is looking awesome, with Isan, Biosphere, The Marcia Blaine School for Girls, Xela and loads more! There's still loads to be announced too, so keep an eye on their page for details.

http://www.foundationfestival.co.uk/

Oh, and some other news - There's gonna be an exclusive remix of the Bovaflux track 'Blind' on the cover disc of eclectic music zine Robots & Electronic Brains, so keep an eye out for that. The remix kind of brings out the darker side of that track, with some nasty bassline bizness. Not sure when it's out, so keep your eyes peeled.

Cover CD

2006-05-04T11:42:00.000+02:00

Rock de Lux magazine in Spain is to feature the track "Kleine" from my album Where There Was Nothing (Highpoint Lowlife) on the free Cover CD with their June issue! Great timing too, since that'll be Sonar month too (although sadly I'm not going this year). Also set to appear on the CD will be Isan, Christ, Helios and a whole lot more, so I'll be in good company there!

Birmingham Gig!

2006-04-04T12:00:00.000+02:00

I'll be playing in Birmingham at the custard factory, on Friday April 21st, alongside B12, Kosmik Kommando, Con Brio and Loz K! Should be an awesome night, don't miss it! more info at www.myspace.com/ghostexplorers

Where am I?

2006-03-17T18:47:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I randomly discovered that MoQ (from Seed Records) was gonna be playing in Leamington Spa. Leamington Spa! We don't get many electronic gigs round these parts (like one every two years i reckon) so it was a bit of a suprise.. Anyway, I went along to it, and it turns out that it's officially a drum'n'bass night, with a bit of electronica thrown in for good measure. Even the drum'n'bass was really good though, and i haven't really liked straight drum'n'bass stuff for a good few years. Also excellent was that everyone playing was just playing cdrs of their own material. Basically, it was a great night, had a bit of variety to it, and was a complete suprise to find something like that round here! A couple of times during the evening me and my brother just commented to each other that we couldn't beleive we were actually in leamington, as we're so used to having to trek out of town to london, birmingham, oxford or where ever for decent nights. Was a strange but great feeling to walk out from it and be home within ten minutes! :)

Oh, and props to The Impromptu MC...

new review

2006-03-09T16:02:00.000+01:00

It's a couple of months old, but i just got hold of this review from, er, fuck, can't remember.. An Irish music magazine.. (I'll update this post later..)

"Damn Eddie Symons. Damn him and his ways. Damn him and his damn fine music. This record will appeal to many that have so far resisted the worlds of IDM and indie-tronics. Elegant minimal phrases are accompanied by spiralling glitches. Floor filling breaks belie complex programming full of colourful sprays of noise. Where some electronic producers get lost in their plug ins, making obtuse and difficult music, Bovaflux has managed to create an album that satisfies both the modern cerebral need for new sounds and the eternal physical lust for groove. Good, earthy electronics."

random bits

2006-03-07T12:46:00.000+01:00

Just a few random things going on at the minute..

Suburb have just released their label sampler with two exclusive Bovaflux tracks, including what The Milk Factory call "the wonderful Nunnying2" which they reckon is one of my best works to date. Well, far be it from me to argue with them... :) Should be in shops as of yesterday (6th March) so be sure to hunt it down. Packaging is particularly lovely, nice soft plastic with the suburb logo embossed in it.. very nice.

Feeling all bleary eyed this morning after getting back late last night from the Fuck Off Machete gig in Birmingham.. Absolutely fantastic stuff, they are such an awesome live band. They're just in the middle of a UK tour, so be sure to go out and show your support when they stop by a town near you! I'm also pleased to say they've asked me to remix their latest single "What's the Signal?", which will be available in a couple of weeks.

Other big news at the minute is that it looks like I'm going to be playing live at a rather big festival this year.. Still waiting for it all to be 100% confirmed, but if it all goes ahead, it's going to be awesome!

Gig Alert

2006-02-28T16:30:00.000+01:00

I'm going to be playing down in Brighton on the 10th March at the Volks Tavern. It's a Wrong Music night, so expect all kinds of craziness.. probably best to bring your earplugs. I'll probably get carried away in the madness and ditch my usual set for a load of dirty grime and mashed up breakcore, so don't expect a gentle set!

Bleepfest 06

2006-01-24T18:20:00.000+01:00

Oh yeah, and on the subject of bleep, it looks like I'm going to be playing at Bleepfest in March. Line up is a bit vague at the minute, so keep checking their website for latest details...

http://mstation.org/bleepfest/

(oh, and it's not actually related to bleep.com though, just incase you were wondering..)

Bovaflux on WarpMart

2006-01-24T18:17:00.000+01:00

It's taken a while, but the album is now available at Warp Records very own music shop...

www.warpmart.com

Now all we need is for Bleep to add it, so you can finally get your hands on the exclusive bonus track!

New Suburb Site

2006-01-18T13:00:00.000+01:00

The new site for suburb the record label is now here! Along with all the news about new releases, gigs, etc, you can also preview all the tracks on the upcoming Sampler CD, including 2 new Bovaflux tracks!

http://www.suburbtherecordlabel.co.uk/

Like A Stuntman Remixes free mp3 download!

2006-01-08T16:42:00.000+01:00

The Bovaflux Remix of Like A Stuntman's I was shocked and you were shocked is now available from Highpoint Lowlife's website, along with remixes by Fisk Industries, Random Number and Tigrics! Head over to www.highpointlowlife.com now to download it now.

Back from Germany

2006-01-06T20:15:00.000+01:00

Got back from Germany yesterday, and have come back to some major email problems! over 25,000 emails waiting for me!! Sadly it wasn't from my hoards of adoring fans, but rather tons and tons of junk email.. I usually get a few, but this is a bit ridiculous... Will have to look into seeing if there's anything I can do to try and cut it down... I have filters to control most of it, but if I happen to be away from the pc for a few days (which is quite rare) then waiting to download a few thousand emails is a bit rubbish. : ( So, if you have happened to send me an email, and got no response, then please resend it incase I just went a bit to mental on the delete key..

Anyway, other than that I've had a great xmas with my family, and a good long stay with my girlfriends family in Germany too. My german is coming along well now, so i rewarded myself with another large pile of comics from Stuttgarts finest comic emporium, World of Comics. :) I recommend it if you happen to be in the area...

Will add the second part of my years highlights in the next day or so... see you later.

Year Highlights Part 1

2005-12-15T11:55:00.000+01:00

Ok, so it's almost the end of another year.. time to look back on the great stuff the last 12 months has given us! Let's start with a top 5 records of the year...

Tunng - Mothers Daughter and other songs. Been playing since it first arrived in January. Definitely one of the freshest records I've heard in a while, weaving beautiful folk songs with gentle electronics, can't recommend this one highly enough. Still haven't managed to see them live (although I did briefly meet them a couple of times) so I have that to look forward to still. Stand out tracks for me on the album have to be Beautiful Light, Suprise Me 44, and Tale from Black, which I've been in love with since I got the 7" from Geoff @ Static Caravan in 2004 (Cheers Geoff!). Absolutely fantastic stuff, can't wait to hear more from them!

Fuck-Off Machete - If Gold Was Silver and Silver Was Gold. Big and Loud, with the most seductive vocals you'll hear, Fuck-Off Machete are Fucking awesome. It makes me feel incredibly proud (and slightly inadequate) to say we are both on the same label too! Was lucky enough to see them at a gig in Birmingham a few months ago, and the impact they make live is equally incredible. The three outstanding tracks on this single have me eagerly anticipating next years album.. Have high hopes for that, and expect to see it on my top5 for 2006! (No pressure for them there then.. :)

13&God - Well, when you throw together this much talent how can it fail? The Notwist team up with Themselves, and the result is an organic electronic masterpeice. Doseones abstract raps, Consoles tight beats and programming, and Acher's tender vocals.. every aspect of this record is perfect and unique. Anticon once again proves that they are one of the most interesting labels in the world. Stand out tracks on this one has to be the opener Low Heaven (anyone know where that sample is from btw?) and Soft Atlas.

Exile - Pro Agonist. So drum'n'bass isn't dead then! Expertly programmed, this album has more ideas per track than most drum'n'bass artists manage in their lifetimes. Exile somehow manages to dive right inside every track and completely turn every component inside out... the most impressive thing about this is that at no point does this result in a great big mess of fancy effects. Throughout the whole album he still keeps the beats running, and delivers some proper braindance, music for heads and feet. Another fine Planet Mu release, who seem to be one of the few labels releasing genuinely fresh and interesting dancefloor music.

The Arcade Fire - Funeral. Ok, so I think this is technically 2004, but I only discovered in early this year.. The opening tracks just blew me away, full of raw energy and power, and that last track, In The Back Seat, just gets me everytime. The Arcade Fire have now earned their place on my 'bands I must see before I die' list. Only sad thing is that they blown up so much this year that the only chance I'll have to see them will be in some 10000 capacity stadium if I don't hurry up!

Oh, and an honourable mentions must also go to Ezekiel Honig and Morgan Packard, Virus Syndicate, Hood and Venetian Snares, who have also been spending a lot of time in my headphones.

My Space

2005-12-07T00:44:00.000+01:00

Just added myself to myspace... check it out at www.myspace.com/bovaflux Getting a couple of tracks uploaded right now, and will probably add a couple more tommorrow..

I'm still keeping the blog here for now, but you never know if I get bored of keeping both running then I might just move the lot to myspace... We'll see how it goes.

Russian Electrics?

2005-12-02T23:06:00.000+01:00

Well, I have no idea what they thought of it, but i noticed that the bbc's russian website has reviewed the London Electrics compilation, LE:01!

Take a look here!

Like A Stuntman

2005-11-30T15:34:00.000+01:00

Just delivered a remix of Like A Stuntman's "I was shocked and you were shocked" for Highpoint Lowlife! There's a whole bunch of other remixes of everyone's favourite frankfurt based indie-electronic band (including remixes by Random Number, Village Orchestra and Tigrics) which will shortly be available on the Highpoint Lowlife website. And while we're talking about Like A Stuntman, if you happen to be in London on Friday, you should go along to see their show...

Upstairs @ The Garage, 8pm - 3am, 2nd December 2005

Like A Stuntman
Rainer Maria
Blood Red Shoes
October All Over

SRL

2005-11-16T17:28:00.000+01:00

As you already know, there's gonna be two new Bovaflux tracks featured on the upcoming label sampler for Suburb the Record Label. The tracks DEA and Nunnying2 were written in the earlier parts of this year, and are a contrast to the super chilled stuff on the Album, but still keeping the usual melodic elements. The sampler has just arrived back from manufacturing, but the release is gonna be delayed over Christmas until February, so it doesn't get swamped in the usual deluge of other Christmas stuff. Following that, around april or may should see the release of the EP I'm currently working on..

Ten Favourite Labels

2005-11-16T10:16:00.000+01:00

Textura currently has a nice article about their ten favourite labels, which includes the mighty Highpoint Lowlife! Head over to the textura site and see what label boss Thorsten Sideb0ard has to say for himself..

Future Music review

2005-11-03T14:22:00.000+01:00

Just picked up the latest issue of Future Music, and was rather chuffed to see "where there was nothing" get a splendid 9/10 review! Go me! :)

Kleine preview

2005-11-01T17:58:00.000+01:00

Just thought I'd try out the Bleep webtools.. with any luck, this should allow you to preview my track on the London Electrics compilation...

LE:01 on Warp

2005-10-26T13:45:00.001+02:00

That London Electrics compilation I mentioned before is now on WarpMart too..

Warp Records

You can read a couple of reviews of the LE:01 compilation here and here.

With any luck my album should be appearing on WarpMart at some point in the future, and also on Bleep, where it will have an extra special bonus track. More on that when it finally goes up there.

Ok, so that worked then...

2005-10-25T23:43:00.000+02:00

Well, that all seemed fairly painless then.. so, we now have a Bovaflux blog, so I guess I'd better give a quick update on new happenings.

I've been talking to SRL about an EP for next year, which I'm quite excited about! The current plan is for a limited edition 12", but we'll see how it goes. The EP itself will feature around 7 new tracks, all recorded over the last few months, kind of along the same lines as the last album, but a bit less laid back in some places. If you've heard any of my live sets recently, you've probably heard have of it. The track "Make some plans" is getting particularly good feedback.. can't wait till it's out really so you can all hear it too! :) We're planning to have the whole thing finished around January, with a release around April, a few months after the Suburb label compilation (which will also have 2 new and exclusive Bovaflux tracks).

Another little bit of news, the London Electrics compilation is in shops now! It features one of the tracks from the album, so if you've not already bought that (why not!!??) then pick up a copy to get a taster of it, along with tracks from artists like Fisk Industries, Posthuman, Digitonal, Yellotone, etc... As Gridface said in their review - "Fans of melodic electronics need to track this down". MP3s available to buy and preview at www.bleep.com now.

A Nice Place To Begin

2005-10-25T23:14:00.000+02:00

Well, the website tends to get out of date so quickly these days, I thought I'd try adding a blog, see if it keeps things a bit more interesting.. So, here's the customary test post...