Trying to figure things out

 

Not sure where to go next with Soloman Tump sound output.  

Need some fresh inspiration.  

I recently gained some great inspiration from a collaborative project with Paradox Encounters Group - we have a forthcoming tape release of 8 tracks due soon via ToneBurst.  I love it when collaborative projects come together with great ease - we just passed sounds back and forth until we felt they were ready, and it quickly became apparent that we were happy with them after just a couple of passes.  Bouncing sounds and ideas off someone else's brain is a grand way of mixing things up. 

But as a solo artist, there are certain sounds and atmospheres that I want to create but I don't feel able to do it with the equipment I have, or maybe it's just I need to spend more time with what I have trying to figure out how to achieve it.

AI assisted Soloman Tump self portrait

I want more field recordings of interesting sounds (not just the obligatory birdsong or tidal ebb).  I need to ensure I have my recorder with me at all times to capture those rare spontaneous occurrences.  

I think, overall, I just need to dedicate more time to the craft and really work on what I want to do.  But as with most things in life, I tend to spread myself a little too thin and do loads of different things without ever becoming an "expert" at anything!  

Speaking of which, I'm slowly working on Intrusive Signals Issue 4, and Tump Clump #20 is pretty much almost ready.  #noiselife indeed. 

And lets not forget all the IRL stuff I do with work, family and other volunteering stuff.

I never let myself get bored!  But I do want to produce the best Soloman Tump releases that I can.  This is not to say I am not proud of my output so far, but I don't want to start chucking out releases that I am not 100% pleased with.  

So there may be a wait until the next release, we shall see where the inspiration comes from next.

Tump. 

safehouse demo(n)s

27th August 2019, Safehouse Studios, Oxford.  Where professional greats such as Foals and Glass Animals recorded some of their seminal works. But on this day, it was I, Soloman Tump, who plugged in a load of stuff and made a right old racket for a couple of hours.

I recently listened back to my studio recording, with all of its static, feedback (some of it which was intentional), the plugging in and out of stuff, the fiddling with cables and the general chaos of it all.  And I decided I actually liked some of it enough to stick it on bandcamp.  So, I present "safehouse demo(n)s", 4 tracks in all of their naturally entropic states.  Kind of noisy droney dismal electronic stuff.... exactly what you might not expect from me I guess.

All of these sounds were improvised.  There was barely any planning, I just turned up with a couple of boxes of kit and plugged it all in on the fly.  I probably should have spent a bit more time deciding what I wanted to do, but such is the nature of Soloman Tump that I am pretty proud of how this recording turned out.  If you take time out for a listen, I hope you enjoy it, warts n all. 

And thanks to Safehouse Studio for letting me make silly sounds for a few hours.  I wanted to go back again but then Covid happened, and I moved to Devon.  It's a great little studio, really compact, atmospheric, and given this was August, damn sweaty in there! It helped get me in the "mood" for jamming hard. 

Mixcloud

It looks like they are imposing a posting limit soon on Mixcloud - 10 shows only.  So... I shall start removing the old episodes as we move forward.  I cannot afford the premium thing right now (and there's no point doing it for 3 months only to then lose the privilege and have to delete everything anyway if I want to add a new show).  More info on it here.

I understand why they are doing it - server costs and loads must be through the roof.  This will definitely clear out some of the chaff for them, but may also lose them some customers.  I guess they have properly done a cost/benefit thing and it should earn them some money.  Hey ho, not from me unfortunately. 

This is a shame because I have enjoyed the Mixcloud platform to date.  The main thing that was a bit slow and awkward is the tagging of shows (because I do it all manually rather than using a tracklist app... yeah I know, i'm still fairly analogue.  Hence this blog I guess...)

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So what next for Soloman Tump?  Well, the Christmas / final episode of The Tump Clump in 2022 is up next on 2nd December. And I am slowly working on a new Ep of tracks.  Some potential collaborative stuff bubbling under but nothing concrete on that yet.

Also, the latest RENTAL YIELDS volume is imminent, featuring the Megaheadphoneboy rework of some Soloman Tump sounds.  These compilations are fantastic and well worth throwing a few pounds at as we head into winter.  Proceeds are supporting a homeless charity based in Manchester and those without a roof could really do with the help right now.  On this release you will also find Tump Clump friends and alumni Robin The Fog, Decommissioned Forests, Pulselovers, Polypores, Field Lines Cartographer, Pettaluck, Giant Head, The New Emphatic and Concrete/Field.  What a role call!

Amazing work by Front & Follow putting these compilations together, curating so many artists and being generally fab at organising a bunch of disconnected people who are probably all working together for the first time.  Very inspiring and I hope it has kick started some new projects around the place.  I enjoyed working with Megaheadphoneboy and Klaus Von Mork in our little round-robin trio, it felt fairly effortless and all of our creations are very different and inspiring.  More please :)

Small Sounds For Small Bugs

 It was quite a coincidence that Moon Musiq put a call out for bug theme tracks, right as I was working on a bug themed selection of tracks that may form a future Soloman Tump release.

I am constantly fascinated by the world of the small.... recently I have been lichen spottng with the Devon Biodiversity Records Centre, and also with a local charitable farm via the PlantLife scheme.  I bought one of those little loupe finger magnifying lenses and it is amazing what you can discover.  

Here is just a small selection of what I have snapped recently.  Some accurate bug descriptions... some unidentified as yet (I am learning, go easy)

Lichen up on Dartmoor

Snails enjoying the warmth of the tree guard

Bug!

Lethal looking fly!

Phyllopertha Horticola on Dartmoor (in their hundreds....)

Unknown little caterpillar

Drinker Moth caterpillar

Big slug!

Nice looking shield bug?

Camouflaged spider with not so camouflaged egg sac

Leech at Haytor quarry pond

Beautiful Demoiselle on the bunting in our garden

And so to the music.... Small Sounds For Small Bugs is a compilation of 30 tracks by 30 artists, each lasting 30 seconds exactly.  So it plays out as a sort of mixtape totalling exactly 15 minutes.  Plenty of samples, ideas, scuttling, rustling, noises and samples as you can imagine.  

My track was fun to work on, it started as a shuffling percussive loop idea I had for a longer track but I ended up just trimming it back to the requisite 30 seconds and adding some of my trademark noise layers to make it less accessible.

Small Sounds For Small Bugs

So tons of inspiration from the small creatures.  I named my track "Narrow Headed Ant" after the very rare type of ant which is found on one nature reserve in all of England... about 5 miles from my home.  It builds a sort of thatched hat for the nest, creating warmth and safety.  There is not much of the specific heathland habitat left for them and they never travel far to create new nests.  So their numbers are critically limited thanks to humans building every bloodywhere. 

As ever, Moon Musiq are raising funds for the GEMS-Girls charity in the USA so any donations you care to make towards the compilation will be greatly received.