News & updates

Andy
Welcome to my little island in the online world. Relax, kick off your shoes & have a look around.



A casual remark from a friend led to an unexpected holiday - A week in Andalusia.


2023 turned into an unexpectedly dramatic year for me. As usual I have written my annual review of the year.


It's been six years since I began releasing electronic music so it felt like a good time to look back and reassess The Renmei project.

I've been quite prolific with my musical creativity over the summer and have produced another album of electronica, Beneath.

I've created a new album of synthesizer tunes, surprisingly without buying myself a new instrument! Check out the new collection - Crafted.

It's been a long, dry period for my musical creativity but encouraged by another new (secondhand) synthesizer I've come up with a fresh collection of new tunes - Corpus.


Another year has passed and it's time again to pen my personal review of the year.

As November came around again it was time to celebrate with the family for Vi's birthday tea 2022.

Once again a new instrument has spurred me into composition & recording as I explore its capabilities & quirks. This time I've added a new (albeit secondhand) ASM Hydrasynth to my setup. You can hear the first set of results on Eden.

Another new synthesizer has revived my flagging creative impulses and I've produced an album of tunes all played on the Waldorf Iridium - Play.


Buying a new synthesizer turned into something of a voyage of inner discovery, read about it in my Tribulations of a musical hobbyist.


With the turning of another year I have once again penned my personal review of the year.

More holiday memories, these are from Turkey in 2006.

Digitising my old slide collection brought back memories of my trip Driving to Macedonia in 1987.


More pictures from my old slides, these are from a trip Driving across America in 1991.


After a Covid-necessitated break in our family birthday celebrations we met up again for Vi's birthday tea 2021.


A local company set up a community trail / treasure hunt around Bradford on Avon in 2021 and I spent many happy days searching for their hidden doors.


As the dramatic events of 2020 come to an end I've written another review of my year.

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues I allowed myself the sanity-preserving indulgence of a new instrument - an Arturia Microfreak synthesizer. Over the ensuing six weeks I explored its (many) features and, as a creative stimulus, set myself the task of writing a series of pieces featuring its individual oscillator models. The results have been gathered together into an album, imaginatively titled Microfreak.

The weeks (going into months) of lockdown have given me time to delve deeper into the potential of my new synthesizer and to use it to craft another Renmei album - Lux.

As a spur to my musical creativity I bought myself a new synthesizer in February 2020. The results of my early exploration of its (and my own) capabilities can be found on my new album Intempate.

To see in my 64th year I went out with my immediate family for a birthday lunch 2020.


As 2019 passes I have once again written my personal review of my year.

After nearly a year without much musical inspiration I have returned to my synthesizer with a new album Witness.

A change in my working status prompted some contemplation on how I cope with life transitions while Careering forward.


After a short visit to southern Germany I have compiled a selection of Postcards from the Bodensee.


I have been travelling again, this time to Yunnan Province in southern China as part of a guided, small group tour. There are thoughts & pictures here.


As December slopes into 2019 it's time for the annual review of my year.

Some thoughts from the three years I've spent getting back into electronic music and creativity.

Every November my sisters & I take our mother out for a birthday meal. Vi's birthday tea 2018.

Another Renmei album is out, this is a bit shorter than usual - the result of a (semi-)enforced hiatus in my musical output.

Update - I've added three more tracks to bring this up to full length.

I've released Past lives, another collection of Renmei synthesizer tracks.

Another adventure holiday - in February 2018 I spent two weeks on a small group tour of Myanmar (Burma). See my pictures & recollections here.

There's another Renmei collection - cloven.

I've released another Renmei album - Tryst.

Another year gone - here is the review of my year for 2017.

Every year my sisters & I take our mother out for a birthday treat. See what we got up to for Vi's birthday tea 2017.

I've decided to issue my solo synthesizer recordings under the band name Renmei. Read about my resons here.

In a long-shot attempt to give up my day job I've published my album Tribe for general purchase.

I've added a few entries to my lists of worthwhile TV shows and films. Lots of good stuff there!

Now that I'm feeling a little more confident with my new Blofeld synthesizer I'm incorporating it into the Curly Flat Studios setup with the existing Korg Volcas. My recordings from September 2017 have been collected into an album - stonechildren.

After buying my new Waldorf Blofeld synthesizer I spent most of July 2017 exploring its programmability & presets. The results can be found on the album Stavro.

Having bought a new, non-Volca synthesizer I've decided to bring the Volca Tunes project to an end. It's been very rewarding to revive my electronic music skills and let my creativity flow, especially on such a (relatively) meagre budget. And lots of fun too! I've put a selection of the resulting tracks onto a Volca favourites page.

The band played a great gig at a charity event in Bath - there are videos on the Rhythm Coalition page.

I've now been playing with my Volca synthesizers for over a year, there are some ruminations about the process & results on A year with the Volcas.

For four weeks in November/December 2016 I joined a 'small group' tour of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Read all about it (and see lots of pictures) here.

In November 2016 I led My last dance workshop, a day-long event in Malvern, England. Here are some of my thoughts and memories of it.

The 1970's TV show UFO passed me by the first time around but I recently got hold of the DVD box set. It isn't something I can actually recommend but I had an interesting time Rewatching UFO.

I've finally completed the blog of my new home in Bradford on Avon, a process that began just about two years ago. You can read the whole thing here.

In January 2016 I returned to Taroudant in southern Morocco to teach a dance workshop there. And to have a winter holiday. You can read about my trip and see some pictures here.

Over the years my relationship with popular music (in the broadest sense) has been fairly intense and although we've been through some rough patches we're getting on much better now. Read about the evolution of My personal radio station.