MAY/JUNE - MA ALBUM, BYGONES EP

Been a studio-based couple of months. The above screenshot is the kind of thing I've been looking at all year. We mixed the MA album over a week in May. Can't wait to show it to everyone. Props to Alex Bonney [Leverton Fox] for keeping the mix in check, and to Ben Lamdin [Nostalgia 77] for his engineering skills.

The Bygones EP was originally recorded back in April 2007(!). Betts did the drums at home one afternoon. The next day I drove to my folks' place in Devon and spent a few days in the spare room finishing it. Ben Trigg played cello on one track. At the end of May 2010, I added and replaced a few things but mostly the original recording is intact. I then mixed it with help from Alex again in June. Look out for late 2010 release.

FEBRUARY - MA.

With no money [or internet for all of February] I had no option but to stay home and work for a few weeks on the new MA album. The live parts were recorded on Dec 16th @ Fish Market studios, with Ben Lamdin engineering.

For those who don't know: Ma is led by saxophonist Tom Challenger [or Cake, as we call him] of Outhouse/Red Snapper. Before I joined, Ma had existed for some time as a trio with Ross Stanley on organ and Dave Smith on drums. They recorded a great album Jyketie in 2008 that sadly very few people have heard or probably even know about. They began to change direction when I saw them with Steve Arguelles guesting on live sampling [also a drummer, check his duo Ambitronix / his label Plush]. Ma had never sounded like a regular organ/sax jazz group but now they sounded even more original.

After seeing this I basically invited myself to join them around May 2009. I used to do live sampling with [TTT's] Tom Rogerson, it's actually how we started off - in a group with Cake too. The two Toms also did a really interesting duo record last year Cable Street Shorts [recorded at Urchin Studios].

MA is the one band I'm in where I don't play guitar. I did some synth stuff on the record, but otherwise it’s just live sampling/processing of feeds from Cake, Ross and Dave mostly using Ableton Live.

On the 20th MA did a gig for the Loop Collective's Loop Festival at the Vortex [above photo from soundcheck: Alex Bonney, who was also on hand to assist with live sound]. A few weeks later it got aired on Jazz on 3.

'Noir' - MA. [Live @ Vortex 20.02.10] by mattcalvert