A Week of iPhone Vlogs
It was kind of accidental, but after having so much fun making a whole bunch of iPhone vlogs last week I just carried on during the first week back at work, and made one every day. Each one comes with a brand new soundtrack sketch too.
iPhone Vlogs: May Half Term
Recently I've been quite tough on myself creatively: only wanting to release more and more polished ideas. This lead to forgetting how much fun it is to simply capture moments as they fly by, imperfect though they may be, and ended up simply making less stuff. So this week, I've tried to shake that feeling off, and gone back to where this blog started: one minute videos and soundtracks — all created on my phone.
Bank Holiday Monday in Greenwich
Yesterday I spent the day in London with two good friends. Luke, Hannah and I spent the afternoon walking round Greenwich.
Play (Streaming on Spotify and Apple Music)
Freshly remastered, Play is now streaming on Spotify, Apple Music and a pretty much any platform you can name.
Video Blog: Westquay Science Day
A couple of weeks ago, my sister and I took our niece and nephew out for the day.
We headed over to the science day that Winchester Science Centre were running at Westquay. As the snow started to fall, we popped in to Byron Burger for lunch, followed by cookies for pudding. Finally, a trip to Mayflower Park ended with warming hot chocolates back home before saying goodbye.
Instagram Story
Video Blog: Festival of Lights 2018
Last year, Westquay hosted the first Festival of Lights, and looking back on the video blog and soundtrack from an evening trip, it's one of my favourites of the year. This year we took another trip, along with another dinner at Wahaca too.
Instagram Story Archive: Saturday 6 January 2018
An Instagram Story, with original soundtrack from Saturday's breakfast drink with my good friend Pip, followed by a walk through Mayflower Park.
Instagram Story Archive: Friday 5 January 2018
This is an archive of the Instagram Story I took walking around Ocean Village, after work on Friday, with an original soundtrack inspired by the fading light on a cold January evening.
Instagram Story Archive: Wednesday 3 January 2018
My Instagram story from Wednesday 3 January 2018, with a new soundtrack written during my walk along Southampton Waterfront.
Vlogmas 2017 (Week Four): Christmas Day with Family, Food and Presents
The final week of vlogmas includes the lead up to, and the big days its self.
In the lead up up the big day, there's lot of food to be prepared, and celebrations with friends. On Christmas Day, there's more food, plus time with family enjoying time together and some gifts.
Christmas Day Food:
This year's dinner was very similar to last years feast, with a few changes:
- Turkey
Local, organic, free-range bird from Uptons of Bassett, roasted with rapeseed oil, lemons, clementines, garlic, onions, carrots, celery, sage and thyme - Gravy
Made from roasting juices and organic chicken stock - Pork shoulder stuffing with red onion, chestnuts, sage and cranberries
A Jamie Oliver recipe with some modifications, including dried cranberries added and gf bread crumbs - Sausages in bacon
Use thinly slice pancetta for wrapping for extra flavour and crunch - Roast potatoes
Par-boiled, left to cool, then roast in rapeseed oil, with rosemary - Roast parsnips
Par-boiled, left to cool, then roasted with honey - Carrots with butter, sugar and star anis
Cooked in butter, sugar and star anise from a Tom Kerridge recipe - Cauliflower cheese
Gently roasted cauliflower covered in a basic béchamel sauce, with lots of cheese in, and cheesy breadcrumbs over the top - Brussels sprouts with bacon and chestnuts
A BBC Good Food recipe - Red cabbage with apple and balsamic vinegar
An amalgamation of a number of recipes, including spices, red onions, apples, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar - Cranberry and apple sauce
Another amalgamation of recipes from all over, following the basics of this Jamie Oliver recipe, but with my own spices added - Green beans with lemon
Lightly boiled and dressed in fresh lemon and rapeseed oil - Butternut squash mash with spiced roasted seeds
Roasted the squash whole, mashed the flesh and served with the seeds roasted in cumin and paprika - Steamed Spinach
Simply steamed and served
Christmas Gifts
I got some amazing gifts, including my favourite scent (Givenchy Pour Homme Blue Label) and a Hans Zimmer Masterclass.
I got my family all kinds of bits. Particularly successful gifts were books for my Dad (including Post-Capitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason — one of my favourite reads from 2017), and "Strong Girls Club" tops for my nieces from Muthahood.
Vlogmas 2017 (Week Three): Finishing Work For Christmas
Week three of vlogmas includes lots of songwriting, food, and finishing work for Christmas.
Vlogmas 2017 (Week Two): Integr8 Christmas Quiz, Creeper and Star Wars
Week Two of Vlogmas includes some time working on new music, hosting the Integr8 Christmas Quiz, seeing my pals in Creeper smash it at Southampton Guildhall, and catching the mighnight showing of Star Wars.
Vlogmas 2017 (Week One): A Christmas Wedding, Birthday and More
The first week of vlogmas 2017 includes Rosie's birthday, time with family and friends, Christmas concerts at work, time spent with friends, and Laura and Pete's wedding.
Weekly Vlog: First Week in a New Job
I started my new job this week, as an associate lecturer in Popular Music Production at Solent University. Back at my other job, it was a busy week of teaching, and getting the business plan finished and sent off. Somewhere in between all that, there was time to make music, preview the new Nuffield Southampton Theatre City venue, and start making my annual Christmas cake.
Knowing it would be a busy week, I decided to film a little bit of each day, and then sit down at the weekend to see what that footage would become. Together with some audio experiments and soundtrack clips from other projects, it turns out I had a weekly vlog to upload.
Through the Stars
Through the Stars is a multimedia art piece, made using astronomy photographic plates kindly donated University of Southampton.
Through the Stars is in three parts:
- Photographs: by aligning each plate with the location they map in the sky, the photographs overlay the stars on to the landscape behind
- Soundscape: having algorithmically generated melodies from each photograph, these are manipulated and arranged to create a musical soundscape of the images
- Documentation: a video blog and b-roll images that document the process of creating the piece
Pyra Vocal Session
One of many weekends spent with Emma Panas, recording vocals for her album.
‘Play’ on BBC Introducing
Last night, BBC Introducing Solent emailed to say that ‘Play’ would be featured on the BBC Introducing Solent show.
As well as playing the track — and saying some very kind words about it — the show shared some of what I have written about here: the way way music and mental health have walked hand-in-hand in starting this blog. It is a slightly terrifying moment, to hear your story shared so widely, but it has also been great to hear the positive response too.
Thank you BBC Introducing Solent for your kind words, and thank you for sharing my part in a much bigger, but important, conversation.
Family Birthday Party
I felt very spoilt this weekend, getting to spend time enjoying family, food and presents.
Birthday Games
My wonderful friend Ellie hosted a night of food, games, and a surprise birthday cake on Saturday night.