A quiet start to 2024

 Well a quiet start for Soloman Tump in 2024.

SoundArt radio is moving to new studios (ready soon?), still at Dartington Hall, but the broadcasting equipment needed to move too which meant an OffCom licence change or something.  Anyway, nearly there, so the Tump Clump should return soon...

It's been silly season at work so i've not progressed as much with the new zine as much as I wanted to.  I really find that my creative brain is kinda dead by the time I finish work / do family stuff / continue to exist.

But I did find a bit of time to clear a corner of the spare room out and set up the nifty £15 charity shop Yahama keyboard that we picked up last year, and I recorded quite a lot of stuff.  Currently listening back to see if I like any of it or not....  regardless, I found the experience fun and cathartic, even if nobody else gets to hear it. 

Its a bit more dungeon synth noisy? I dunno.  Still clearly soloman tump dismal but the synth adds a bit more playfulness. 

More soon, maybe. Thanks for reading. 

2023 achievements unlocked

In many years it felt like a quiet year for my creative world....

Certainly no zines which was a sad thing, but they really do take up a lot of time and energy to put together and I guess I didn't really have the minerals to pull it all together in the end.  Real "work" and family life has kinda been priority to keep a roof over our heads.  The foundations are there, and I want to do my best... so Issue 4 of Intrusive Signals will be crafted in 2024. 

But... the things that I did do! And when I right them out, I guess I did achieve a fair bit.....

• 12 new radio shows. The Tump Clump has been my steady go-to rock for showcasing the sounds that I enjoy listening to but also making as Soloman Tump.  This year I recorded live from some woods in Dartmoor, did a show of just my own sounds, a clutch of original recordings submitted by friends of the show and also some live exclusives.  Always much fun and I hope for more in the new year.

• Released a split tape on the Tone Burst cassette label alongside Paradox Encounter Group - "Hatchet For Kindling" - was very proud of this one and the artwork is gorgeous.  All sold out now but you can hear the digital  - https://solomantump.bandcamp.com/album/hatchet-for-kindling

• Human Geography Recordings released my first ever solo tape that wasn't a DIY!  "Bun Rights", released on a wonderful C15 tape which gave a fun constraint of just over 7 mins per side and again I am very proud of this one.  Now sold out at the label, a pleasure to be asked to work on this series but you can check out the digital here with a bonus track too - https://human-geography-recordings.bandcamp.com/album/bun-rights 

• I self-released a 3" CDr "Solomon's Tump" - also now sold out but again the digital and bonus content is available. https://solomantump.bandcamp.com/album/solomons-tump

• I created some exclusive tracks that featured on compilations and radio shows - the World Drone Day compilation -  https://fallenlo-sounds.bandcamp.com/album/this-trembling-place features my track "Cyclopean Trawling" and there is a forthcoming Soloman Tump track on the Hard Return compilation - to be released very soon - so keep your eyes on https://hardreturn.bandcamp.com/  - very excited about this one and to find out who else may be involved!

• Back in March I also collaborated once again with Arachnopus on an audio/visual nightmare for Wonder Valley Experimental Festival which you can find immortalised forever on youtube at the link below....

So here's to 2024, another one chalked off.  Plenty more new things in the pipeline that have begun but are not yet ready to see the light of day or even mention... so watch this space.

Thank you!

The Tump Clump Episode 30

Whoooooooo! The big triple XXX.

Episode 30.  

And the last of 2023.

And this time around, its just an hour of original Soloman Tump sounds, and nothing else.  Because I can.  It's my show right!  This was all recorded in November 2023, from my shed studio (which needs a name, any ideas?)

Hardware jams, sketches, ideas, all of various / dubious sound quality and low levels of ability and clarity.  Apologies in advance, but I had fun recording it all.  

I then chopped it down to an hour.  Some bits I layered over each other.  Some bits I even did some basic mastering on to get the levels up a bit.  But time was my enemy (again) and so there came the point where I had to call it "finished".  So I present to you:

The Tump Clump, Episode 30.

First broadcast on SoundArt Radio, 30th November 2023.

Featuring the following, all seamlessly melded into an hour of dismal ichor. 

1. Soloman Tump -  Honeybag (dub)

2. Soloman Tump - Honeybag (desire path)

3. Soloman Tump - Trough Lane

4. Soloman Tump - Smothered slowly by the creeping death that is ivy

5. Soloman Tump - The sheldrake hypothesis

6. Soloman Tump - Secateur Bureaucracy (an ode to health and safety in my wildlife volunteer group)

7. Soloman Tump - Endless, Gnomeless

8. Soloman Tump - Garden rummage (live edition) 

9. Soloman Tump - s o u n ( d a r t )

But don't worry, all is not lost.... I got some great tracks already lined up for the first show of 2024 and I promise the quality will be upped for then.... Thanks for listening

An update on things......

Hello fine people who look at my blog......

I should probably update this more often.  But basically, my new job, I tend to spend about 90% of my work time now sat at a laptop.  So in the evenings I don't often want to do more of it. 

But anyway...

Slow movements on Intrusive Signals issue 4.  Got a big work project on the go at the moment, but when its done, I should have a bit more brain capacity to get back to zines.  But I have been making art towards it - here's a scan of leaves and lichen I did which will form background of one of the pages.  And I should probably get back in touch with some of the fine folk who wanted to contribute / interview....  if you read this and are interested in doing something for the zine, please get in touch!

For radio show fans, next week is Episode 30 of The Tump Clump, and the last of 2023! Can you believe that.  No / Yes delete as appropriate.  Anyway, in a self indulgent mess, its an hour of exclusive Soloman Tump sounds.  Mainly recent jams of varying audio quality and standards.  Dismal to the core.  Been recording quite a bit lately (with hardware of course, which is good evening non-laptop time).

From those recordings, a track (not featured in the radio show) will be released in a forthcoming digital compilation - more of that soon when I can reveal. 

While my blog gently weeps.... The Tump Clump Episode 29

Radio show 29 is here!  First broadcast on 02/11/2023 at 20:00 GMT from SoundArt Radio FM @ Dartington Hall, Devon, UK. And across the world via digital online then forever in archival space on Mixcloud.....

Tonight I offer you...

1. RAXIL4 - oidar (girageminim ) - self released 
2. Heavy Cloud - Cove of the howling valley (aerial) - self released
3. Plague Arish & Paradox Encounter Group - Paper Weight (Tarred & Feathered) - Cruel Intentions
4. Black Hair Rolled in Dried Blood - Exit Mask to say goodbye without regret (redialled) - Human Geography Recordings
5. Knifedoutofexistence - Everywhere at once (Heather & Gorse; Salt & Stone) - Outsider Art
6. Hannya White - Just Yours (I call you another name) - self released
7. Venetian Snares - Where You Stopped the Heaviest (Cubist Reggae) - Planet Mu
8. LampEyes - Inside The Hazel Brake (EP Ritual In Wychwood Forest) - self released
9. Kinlaw - While My Smart Speaker Gently Weeps ft Operation Egodeath (WELD) - Drowned By Locals
10. IEOGM - towednack (Dolphins in Cornwall) - MoltFluid
11. Photophobik - Arrhythmia (Dystonium ) - MoltFluid
12. Soloman Tump - Something I recorded in my shed the other night that I thought sounded ok (unreleased at present.....)

As always, thanks to everyone for making great music.  Support the artists and the labels involved, buy their stuff and keep them creating!

Eternal thanks to Soundart radio for hosting me, big up to BLACKCLOUDSUMMONER once again for the original Tump Clump art that I bastardize each and every month into a new iteration...

Next month is show number 30 and the last of 2023 already! I'm thinking I might do something a little different.  We shall see if time allows.

Thank you for listening.