Simon Scott

ER'De Cologne 10.01.2012

2012-01-24T01:26:00.001-08:00

Many thanks to everyone who came along to my show in Koln on 19th January at the Ambient Zivilization festival! http://www.e-de-cologne.de/001/

I play at La Route Du Rock in St. Malo, France next month. Also on the bill is Soap And Skin plus the festival will feature A Winged Victory For The Sullen, Caveman and Baxter Drury. http://laroutedurock.com/wordpress/

2012

2012-01-01T08:21:00.000-08:00

First blog of the year. A review of my latest LP called BUNNY by The Silent Ballet:

Are you tired of hearing that Simon Scott used to drum for Slowdive during that band's peak? Me too; it’s been ages since then, and in the ensuing years, he has forged an engaging path as a solo artist, capturing a new, tangible sense of magic and beauty. On last year’s excellent Traba EP it was clear that the promise of something special was brewing in the Simon Scott camp, and Bunny is that huge and exciting leap forward.

“Honeymoon” is a gateway into Bunny's topography. The track recalls the dreamy, wintry vibe of Scott's previous full-length Navigare with windblown symphonics, aqueous guitar and what sounds like a harp played inside ice. As I typed that description, “Honeymoon” changed identities several times as if to discount my words and protest, “You don’t know me!” That’s how each track behaves on Bunny, no matter its mood: each is a moving target. And much like I am acknowledging you, dear reader, Simon Scott's wry compositional tactics pluck the passive listener up and deliver him to an alternative realm of awareness.

As in common in Scott's solo work, each song can be extracted and enjoyed out of context. This seems to be uncommon in ambient music, but the effect here is that Scott’s experimental sound collages come across as songs instead of soundscapes. This gives the album a discernable direction and arc. Instead of being buried in the ether, the songs are the ether - crackling, growing crystals, gasping for air. The textures that form are dynamic and moody, their origins mostly stemming from real instruments like guitar and piano.

A bending telecaster meets sinking cello passages in “Gamma,” lending the track the vibe of a Western scored by Svarte Greiner. This shadowy passage contrasts greatly in approach to the ensuing “Drilla,” in which a grossly distorted guitar loses its mind and a dreamy shoegaze band glides in to carry it to a vertiginous ending. The segments on Bunny in which the drums appear are surprisingly in step with the rest of the “ambience” and in fact are one of the driving forces on the album. A big highlight arrives early in “Betty” (the alter-ego of “Bunny?”) as a simple and jazzy rhythm section sets a curious tone pool for processed guitars, field recordings and sonic weather to frolic in. At the heart of the song lies a detectable madness of gaseous guitar caterwauls and heavy splashing cymbals. This sets the stage for the rest of the album, blowing the roof off with a mighty, living energy.

Bunny does not lend itself easily to association. It’s nocturnal and theatrical, but permeated by elements of grit and humor. How many times can one say "Bunny" with a serious face? The album's experimental teeth excite the senses, while its rock moments provide grounding, demonstrating that Scott's sound is still evolving. It’s almost like shoegaze is alive and well again, but with the technology and maturity of of a new era to bring it to a higher level.

There is something wonderfully satisfying about music that at first appears “dark” or “weird” and ends up expressing a genuine wonder and happiness. Those familiar with Erik K. Skodvin’s Miasmah imprint expect its releases to feature the gloomy or the fringe - yet while that is where this record takes place, it succeeds not by wallowing in the darkness, but by opening doors to the embers of optimism, proving that within the chilly halls of our own horrors, a fire can still be stoked.
Score: 8/10

-Nayt Keane

End Of 2011

2011-12-18T03:22:00.000-08:00

My sophomore album “Bunny” was released in October so this is one of the most notable things to mention about 2011. I completed it by spring so it feels like an album of 2010 for me to be honest as I took 18 months to complete this record. The details of sound sources were never written into the press release/label information sheet so it feels pertinent and relevant to list them:

Vinyl and CD samples
Hardware hacked FM Buddha Machine
Sony Walkman cassette player
Field recordings (recorded on an Edirol R-09 and iPhone 3G) from Cambridge and including rabbits, family and one sound walk file from July 2010 that was led by Sawako Kato.
A MaxMSP looper patch that I’ve been developing since 2009. It basically allows you to record multiple loops for manipulation when playing back files. The patch supports various effects such as reverb, delay and pitch shifting alongside the ability to use pre-existing audio that you can granulate.
Acoustic, semi-acoustic and electric guitars (Fender Jaguar and Jagstang, Yamaha acoustic and Epiphone Riviera).
Various percussion such as thumb piano, wooden blocks, handmade instruments and contact micked drum shells.
SuperCollider programming (simple SinOsc layers)
Drum kit (Pearl MLX)
Marshall and Vox amplifiers
Hydrophones
Steinway grand piano
Harpsichord
Gamelan
Vocals (DPA, Neumann and Sure microphones).

My Best Of 2011:
Fourcolor- As Pleat, Narrow by Steinbruchel, In A Place Of Such Graceful Shapes by Taylor Deupree And Marcus Fischer, Proximities by Steve Roden, (I love Steve Roden and also Donald Judd so this release is a win-win combination), Intrusion- The Seduction of Silence (Echospace), Stephan Mathieu- A Static Place, Minamo- Document, Tasogare- Various 12k, Nils Frahm- Felt, Jim O'Rourke- Old News 5, Machinefabriek- Sol Sketches, Ryan Teague- Causeway, Illuha- Shizuku, James Blackshaw- Holly EP, Clams Casino- Rainforest EP, Andy Stott- Pass Me By and Byetone- Symeta.

2012 looks exciting..... an update soon!

Please get in touch for live booking offers for EU, US and Japan (autumn 2012): simonscott@simonscott.org

2011 hindsight

2011-12-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

3rd Dec '11

2011 is winding up as the nights get colder so I wanted to share some of my highlights and one was performing this summer at Decibel Festival in Seattle. I had the pleasure to play alongside Rafael Anton Irisarri and visual artist Lissom. I presented a set of field recordings, taken from Seattle during my stay in the city, accompanied with some digital signal processing taken from the three Vox AC30 amp's I had on stage and Rafael's bowed guitar.

Here is a review from this A/V performance: http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2011/10/01/decibel-fest-day-3-highlights-simon-scott-egyptrixx-ooooo

My summer US tour was amazing and it was great to visit the East and West coasts and I have many happy memories. Especially great was meeting and playing live with so many talented and sweet natured artists such as Marcus Fisher, Taylor Deupree, Mike Jedlicka and Mountains. I also brought home some nice field recordings and photographs that may see the light of day sometime in 2012.

Thanks to everyone who made an effort and came out to the live shows, did some driving and those who put me up and showed me their towns.

*For all live booikings in 2012 please contact: simonscott@simonscott.org

The "Bunny" LP, now available to buy from www.simonscott.org/shop.php has been picking up some flattering reviews too:

http://www.theliminal.co.uk/2011/10/simon-scott-bunny

www.autresdirections.net/spip.php?article2098

http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/st/2011/10/simon-scott-bunny-miasmah-recordings/#more-5978

OUT NOW: Bunny CD/LP/Downlaoad and Isan Remix

2011-11-22T11:14:00.000-08:00

Isan "Eastside" EP is now available from www.keshhhhhh.com and features a Simon Scott remix (+ Taylor Deupree and Steinbruchel on vinyl + The Sight Below and Autistici on Digital Download).

Simon Scott's second album "Bunny" is OUT NOW on CD/LP/Download from Berlin based record label www.miasmah.com!

*For all bookings for 2012 (Japan, US + EU) contact: simonscott@simonscott.org

Reviews!

www.boomkat.com: “Simon Scott returns with his second album for Erik Skodvin’s Miasmah imprint, and what a blinder it is. Album Of The Week!”.

www.theliminal.co.uk: “Bunny is not just one of the finest records of the year, but of Scott’s career to date”.

www.fluid-radio.co.uk: “The two years that separate the release of this and Navigare have apparently changed a lot in Scott’s approach to music, or to put it in different terms, have taken him to a new direction stepping further away from his days in Slowdive”.

www.headphonecommute.com: “Leaving his Slowdive history in the dust, Scott has launched his solo career onto the playlists of many discerning critics and followers. Scott demonstrates his musicianship and versatility with instruments, confirming once again his comfort level in the studio and on stage alike”.

www.normanrecords.com: “Very impressive. This ex-Slowdive man crafts smoky, semi-ambient soundscapes with dubby repetitive bass and jazzy and sparse drums and guitar. In places it’s very spacious and minimal, in others it’s dense and blurred, with what sounds like tape hiss and field recordings filling in the gaps”.

Exclusive new track for Japan recovery benefit.

2011-03-25T00:06:00.000-07:00

Spring 2011

"Of You (Before 2082" is a new track I wrote for the Recovery In Japan benefit album out NOW on Fina-Music/Thrill Jockey. Also featuring Tim Hecker, Fennesz, Oren Ambarchi, Ben Frost, Lawrence English, Tape, Giant Sand, Grouper and many more.

Please spend $15 (that is about £10.00/11 Euros) and you get over 4.5 hours worth of amazing music. I wrote this track for the people of japan who have suffered or been affected in a profound way by the devastation that occured there on March 11th. Peace. Simon- March 2011.

*"100% of the proceeds from the sale of this compilation will go directly towards the recovery and relief effort. The album features the contributions of sixty-four artists from around the world and clocks in at nearly five hours of music".

"As the crisis continues to unfold and the full scope of the disaster becomes even more apparent, our sisters and brothers in Japan face many challenges: both the immediate needs—provisions for food, water, shelter, and healthcare—as well as the long term recovery and rebuilding efforts in the impacted communities. The ripple effects of the earthquake and resulting tsunami will be felt for years to come. Benefit for the Recovery in Japan was created with the goal of providing immediate and tangible aid in the relief, recovery, and rebuilding that will take place over the coming days, months, and years".

"The people of Japan need your help now, and your purchase of this music is one way to connect with and provide assistance to the people in Japan working to recover from this disaster. 100% of the proceeds from your purchase of this release will go to the Japanese emergency response organization Civic Force—thereby helping support real work happening on the ground by Japanese-based relief workers".

Benefit for the Recovery in Japan is curated by Antiopic's David Daniell and James Elliott, with invaluable assistance from Regina Greene (Front Porch Productions), Greg Davis, and Bettina Richards (Thrill Jockey). Greg Davis mastered the compilation and Sadek Bazaraa designed the cover art. This release is made possible by the generosity of Thrill Jockey and all of the artists involved.

'Depart Repeat' 7" voted no.1 in poll....

2010-12-02T03:05:00.000-08:00

2010 has been a busy year working on my second album so in the meantime I had the 'Traba' EP and the limited 'Silenne' cd released (both available still). I also did a sweet little 3" called 'Nivalis' that is now sold out but the snow we had in the UK here last winter has returned so memories of recording whilst the snow built up outside are very real again.

So the time for end of year polls has descended and I am very flattered to be voted no.1 for the 'Depart Repeat' 7" in the www.textura.org 2010 polls for best single/12"/EP catagory.
The label Sonic Pieces have held the release back now to Feb 2nd as the artwork took a lot longer to finish than expected. Never mind...it will be out soon and I am very pleased to have made it to number one in the polls that features some incredible artists.

Here is a link to the web page: http://www.textura.org/reviews/2010top10s.htm

Here is a link to the review of 'Depart Repeat' (sonic pieces) + 'Silenne' (slaapwel): http://www.textura.org/reviews/scott_departrepeat_silenne.htm

Have a Merry Christmas, stay warm and in the meantime here is a sound postcard I made for the lovely folk over at Headphone Commute: http://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2010/11/18/sound-postcard-simon-scott-1010/ .

Silenne CD Out Now!

2010-11-05T00:51:00.000-07:00

NEW CD AVAILABLE!

Simon Scott
"Silenne"

"Good evening/morning/afternoon ladies & gentlemen,

I'm once again happy to announce a new release on Slaapwel. This time by Simon Scott with a piece called "Silenne". Simon has an excellent LP out on miasmah, a few tracks lying around on various releases and has a very interesting past indeed. Remember slowdive anyone? But, to get to the point..:

What could be possibly better to describe a slaapwel release than the artist himself? Especially if he is as friendly & modest as Simon Scott: "I fall asleep in the sunshine quite a lot listening to music and this was my initial inspiration for composing 'Silenne'. When I played the guitar loop to Dag Rosenqvist, aka Jasper TX, who was staying at my house in Cambridge he suggested I send it into Slaapwel. I was flattered and pleased he'd heard the narcoleptic qualities within this music which I further developed by adding complimentary sine waves from SuperCollider alongside MaxMSP processed vocals that ebb and flow together in the final mix that Taylor Deupree mastered. It generally takes me 33 minutes to drop off so I cut the loop at this mark hence the length of the track"

Have a lie down in the sun - or moon, these are wintery times - play this record and enjoy some bittersweet dreams, because there is absolute nothing for me to add except that this release is simply of a breathtaking beauty that is not to be missed indeed! There are 500 copies available, they should last (hopefully) a while, but I kindly recommend you to click your way to our online store.

http://slaapwel.bandcamp.com/album/silenne

*Due out December 2010...Simon Scott 'Depart/Repeat' 7" vinyl on Sonic Pieces. Recorded and mastered by Nils Frahm.

Interview, a new limited cd and 7"

2010-10-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

October 2010>_
An interview has just been published regarding my past, the future and my thoughts on topics such as downloads, producing, modal music and more. Read>: http://www.autresdirections.net/spip.php?article1763

Apologies to anyone who is going to/went to Plastic festival in Brussels on 23.10.10 as this event was cancelled at the 11th hour. Due to criminal damage the festival at Belle View brewery was unable to go ahead due to broken eqipment and theft. I am very shocked as the festival organisers worked very hard to put it together and I was also really looking forward to playing live on the bill with Lokai.

Any day now my new limited edition cd called 'Silenne' will be out on the wonderful Belgium label Slaapwel. The piece was designed to literally fall asleep to it so the 33 minute track is a calm and slowly evolving piece that takes a simple guitar loop and dissolves it using various DSP techniques in my homemade software.

Also due out very soon, probably mid November, will be an acoustic 7" called 'Depart/Repeat' I recorded with Nils Frahm in Berlin. It was cut at Dubplates by Lupo and it features Nils on Piano with me playing an acoustic and singing. Expect something a little different as I am pretty naked on this recording but I love the simple analogue instrumentation (the studio was analogu too) as it contrasts with previous digital releases. A special concert will be held in Cambridge on 29th November to celebrate this release and also playing is Erik Skodvin (Deaf Center, Svafter Greiner and Miasmah records labek boss) and Type Record's Ryan Teague who are both releasing records very soon on Sonic Pieces.

Last but not least I created 'electronics'/programmed textures on the new 'Sailors with wax wings' album (out now) that features a host of exceptional talent including Ted Parsons (Swans/Godflesh/Prong), Aidan Baker (Nadja), Simon Scott (Slowdive), Dominick Fernow (Prurient/Cold Cave), Vern Rumsey (Unwound), Hildur Gudnadottir (Múm/Throbbing Gristle/The Knife), James Blackshaw, [and artwork by] David Tibet (Current 93)> http://sailorswithwaxwings.bandcamp.com/album/sailors-with-wax-wings">

New album, KESH gigs, Interview and live dates

2010-09-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

Autumn is here and along with it come the completion of my new album for Miasmah due next spring. I won't spoil the surprise about the sound of the new record but I will say that I've been busy recording drums, percussion, double bass and vocals so expect a little more than just nautical drones.

I was kindly asked to answer some questions about my solo work, Slowdive, working with Brian Eno and new projects: http://www.viceland.com/blogs/en/2010/09/17/simon-scott-shoegazer/

Sadly Aidan Baker was denied entry into the UK so our tour together was cancelled. I will be performing live in Colchester at the arts center as support to the excellent Erik Cheavelle who is signed to Constellation. Apologies to those of you who bought tickets for the rest of the tour but I will try to organise some new dates here in the UK. In the meantime I will be out and about playing around the EU so check my myspace page for dates: www.myspace.com/o3o3o

KESH recordings will be putting on some very special live performances this fall too including my label boss Erik Knive Skodvin performing his debut solo album for the very first time at a 'Sonic Pieces' label night here in Cambridge! I will be playing songs from my forthcoming 7" and Ryan Teague, who also has a Sonic Pieces release due, will perform songs from his third album! Buy Tickets here: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/93734

Traba Reviews "Scott has his own sense of tenderness that makes these recordings so heartfelt and timelessly unique"

2010-07-09T03:29:00.000-07:00

"Traba" mini LP reviews***

www.normanrecords.com

5 out of 5* (08.07.10)

"This baby has been a long time coming... Pre-sold to us back in May if I recall, but it has very much been worth the wait. Basically this is a 4 track mini-album on virgin vinyl in lovely sleeve by Erik Skodvin. Apparently the tracks missed the deadline for completion of the brilliant 'Navigare' album and were completed at a later date. It's apparent as they do explore the same themes and feelings. It's super heady stuff and it doesn't take long to be absorbed. I imagine being stranded in a snow drift and at other times floating above decaying ruins of an ancient coliseum and lost cities. Even being stuck in a slowly sinking submarine. Sonically the sound pallete is also similar to 'Navigare' with layers of drone, hazey synths and treated strings. I played this at home last night and totally submerged myself and really didn't want to return to the surface. Highly recommended".

www.boomkat.com "Recommended release":

""Following the blurry shoegaze ambience of his revelatory 'Navigare' LP for Miasmah, former Slowdive drummer Simon Scott applies his melancholy treatments to four tracks of widescreen, textured ambience for Chicago's Immune label. 'Traba' is distinguished from his debut by a swirling aquatic theme embedded in the titles and the nautical nature of the recordings. The mass of 'She Came From The Sea' is flooded with slow moving currents of darkness while at the surface we can hear lighter, more translucent tones, like hearing a calm night sky from 20 feet under. 'The Water Loop' is more subdued, shored in a wider cave space where microscopic drips reverberate across the stereo field creating a lucid tension between enormous and filigree sound shapes. The textured drones of 'Lamina' follows with a raga-like meditative quality which subtly magnetises stray wispy tones from the ether to its shimmering surfaces before irradiating itself in the final throes. We conclude with 'An Avalanche', encased in coldly muted, muffled and distant waves of symphonic movement which lap over the surface in subtly incremental drifts. We're reminded of everyone from Gas to Fennesz and many in between, yet Scott has his own sense of tenderness that makes these recordings so heartfelt and timelessly unique. Limited copies only".

§

"Traba" is out!

2010-07-02T00:10:00.000-07:00

The new mini LP "Traba" by Simon Scott is finally available.

Here is what textura said about the record:

Simon Scott: Traba
Immune Recordings

Simon Scott follows up his superb full-length for Miasmah, Navigare, with four pieces that were written near the end of the album's sessions but weren't quite finished by the time of its deadline. So if Traba (issued in a run of 500 vinyl copies), which Scott completed at his o3o3o Studio in Cambridge during summer and fall of 2009, sounds like an extension to the album, it's only natural that it should. As before, Scott uses processing techniques to transform field recordings, instrument sounds, and vocals to such radical degrees that one is rarely able to identify the individual components after they've become part of the tracks'immense swells of ambient sound.

“She Came From the Sea” begins the mini-album like a floodgate bursting open. For five minutes, dense masses of processed materials sway, as if in imitation of immense ocean waves, in a powerful headrush whose contents remain largely camouflaged (keening melodies are faintly discernible amidst the crackle and vapours) until the track's closing half-minute when layers peel back to reveal the presence of orchestral elements in all their clarity. In its opening minutes, the slightly less turbulent “The Water Loop” breathes more peacefully as Scott manipulates a Max/MSP-manipulated loop into a lulling reverberant mass of choral design. However, a subtle mood shift occurs halfway through that sees a hint of menace and threat spread across that calm like a virus. The longest piece at eight minutes, “Lamina” (composed while Scott experienced a short bout of tinnitus that led to him having a brain scan) melds processed acoustic instruments with outdoors field recordings and vocal samples into a huge, slow-burning fireball. A ringing drone, suggestive of the tinnitus effect, persists throughout until a tolling bell and gloomy theme announce the arrival of a funeral procession. In Traba's closing track, “An Avalanche,” a droning motif is repeatedly overwhelmed by an immense noise mass yet the tortured drone manages to claw its way back to life over and over again—the musical materials rendering in aural form the tragic events that inspired the piece: having come ashore after months at sea, Scott's uncle, a submarine officer in the British Navy, drank himself to near-death but before doing so was taken to a hospital where he was brought back to life before finally succumbing.

Now that exceptional releases like Navigare and Traba are a part of Scott's discography, maybe the Cambridge-based artist will no longer find himself being identified as an ex-Slowdive drummer but rather as the forward-thinker responsible for such memorable productions, in addition to his role as overseer of the KESH recordings imprint, Seavault member (in partnership with ISAN's Anthony Ryan), and The Sight Below contributor (on stage and to the recent full-length It All Falls Apart).

July 2010

±±±

Simon is currently in the studio writing a second full length album due early 2011*

±± Look out for a 7" on Sonic Pieces.

± Also look out for a 33 minute sleep piece on cd called" Silenne" on Slappwel this summer.

§§

Summer Update

2010-06-08T13:24:00.001-07:00

I have just finished a few fun weeks of touring with some incredible artists and also road tested my set that includes live drums added to my growing set up. Many thanks to everyone who came along to the shows and also a special thanks to every artist that I shared the stage with including Machinefabriek, Tim Hecker, Nils Frahm, Greg Haines and Clem Leek.

I recently did a show on Resonance FM where I had the pleasure to meet Jonny Mugwump on the Exotic Pylon show and had a great improvised set with Konntinent and Isnaj Dui that you can hear here: http://exoticpylon.com/pages/2010/05-29-10.html

Available now is a remix I made for Papercutz: and a review of it is available here: http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4140128-articulate-silences-ambient-sounds-4

I must mention my gig last weekend at Node festival in Modena Italy which is a brilliant festival in a stunning location. I had the sheer delight to play on the same bill as a master of the audiovisual Ryoji Ikeda who performed his Test Pattern set and was an absorbing artist to chat to after his show. I return to Italy late July for Interferenze and Half Die festivals!

Late June is when my mini LP on vinyl "Traba" is released but you can hear the tracks here http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2010/05/simon-scott-traba-review/ and it is available to pre-order from Immune Recordings now! http://immunerecordings.net/catalog/traba/

Finally I am in the studio recording album number 2. Expect it 2011.

www.myspace.com/o3o3o

Tim Hecker, late reviews and "Traba" LP set for June Release.

2010-04-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

Staring May 15th in Cambridge be sure to check out Tim Hecker live as he is coming to the UK and I have been added to some of the shows as support. I will also be doing a new collaboration with Machinefabriek that focuses on improvisation around field recordings of areas of land that sit below sea level.

2 late reviews have just come in but I am really flattered by them so better late than never: http://indiebandwagon.blogspot.com:

"This album was missed by a lot of blogs including mine last year; but anyway, better late then never. Because this album is really stunning not only in it's detail but also in it's mammoth sounds. Simon Scott's work one can say in this album can be compared to Tim Hecker's albums (for the uninitiated listen to his album Harmony In Ultraviolet). Overall the album blows you way with it's cyclonic sound"!
My Rating : 8.5/10

(April 2010) Since upping (drum)sticks from Slowdive in the '90s, Simon Scott has founded a label (Kesh), been in two other bands (Seavault, Televise), and co-worked with Machinefabriek, Jasper TX, and Rafael Anton Irisarri. No slouch, then, but Navigare is something else again, heralding something of a rebirth as a fully formed musician/composer/producer - a noticeably composed work that has about it the air of the personal-conceptual, while remaining sufficiently semiotically indeterminate to offer itself as a carrier for other readings. Scott brings his shoegaze heritage (is it mere accident that Navigare comes adorned in the same smear s of crimson/vermilion as Loveless?) to an experimental ambient table laden with the recipes of Christian Fennesz and Tim Hecker.

Navigare is both in and out of line with Miasmah's in-house tenebrous post-classical sound, as seen through the mists of albums like Black Sleep and Kappe. Scott is certainly a fellow-traveller in haunted and shadowy atmosphere, but distinct both in the modulation of these elements, and the incorporation of other signifiers from the more out there end of "dream pop." Scott deploys various instruments, mainly guitar (apparently, Scott sees this as a "guitar album" in the Kevin Shields/Christian Fennesz tradition), but provenance matters little since mostly sounds are so ravaged by deliberate digital depredations as to efface their Ur-identity; if an identifiable voice does emerge from the swells and billows below, its sensory incision is all the more effective.

Scott's predilection for a soupy wooze of field recordings, degraded loops, and manufactured hiss is perhaps the modern-day hangover/development of the shoegaze legacy of guitar-wrung wooze. This latter appears as the album's keynote, as "Introduction of Cambridge" opens, coming in shuddering swoon-ripples; spectral melodies and choral undertones seem to spin out from a teeming mass of tonefloat, before a guitar-bass-drums presence lends further motion to the iridescent drone. "Under Crumbling Skies" slides out similarly succulent guitar tendrils, that twirl centre-field till a beauteous lower-throated serpentine figure unwinds itself across its contours: it's post-rock, Jim, but not as we know it! (more for the drone-addicted and rock-intolerant). "Flood Inn" is suggestively poised, on the cusp of a gradual slow fall inward: a steel-wool tangle-of-sound buffeted by digi-tides, engulfed in Voigt-ian plumes and crepitating spume, and likewise on the abyssal "Ashma," whose static-blasted surfaces flirt with but stay shy of the void, and on "Repulse," which sounds emitted from the bottom of a well. "The ACC" makes gestures towards Slowdive or Televise, but its 'rock' drum-thrum and stoner guitar-strum are mere spectres, drowned in an undertow attended by a pall of distant horn-blare and remote vox-spectre. More Miasmah-like is "The Old Jug and Drum," a sombre near-dirge with drawn out GYBE!-esque guitar figures and a riot of shaken things distending into reverb-spooked screech and eerie bone-rattle. The tension is resolved somewhat as the end approaches. The wholly gorgeous shimmering cadence of "Spring Stars" is almost transcendent - positively breezy, for all its elegiacs, after the preceding mood of doldrums, with welcome infusions from Rafael Anton Irisarri. The mood and connection is compounded as the album ends in something close to ascent with "The Night And The Artificial Light," aligning itself with the beatless end of Irisarri's The Sight Below, to which Scott has contributed his own guitar strokes (see It All Falls Apart review).

In sum, Navigare is Latin for 'set sail,' and this does make for a powerful polyvalent metaphor. For Scott, it serves to signal a genuine launching out - into deeper waters and more extensive musical voyages, as well as, perhaps, personal renewal. For others, it will likely gesture towards other kinds of inner voyage, with its tortuous vortices seeking to suck down melodic bodies, reverb-algorithms gaping to dissolve evanescent structures, tracts of smudged steel and bent keys resisting collapse, their fabric rent by programmed decay. But it resists metastasis through the whole body, as the miasmah (ha!) of detritus and FX-run-off never quite overcomes an enduring harmonic force. Throughout, the most notable aspect of Scott's growth is a developed sense of sound design, evidenced by each piece's layering - both vertical and horizontal, with differently emplaced and articulated sound acts. And while Miasmah has tended to wallow sulkily in an artfully designed doomed neo-gothicism, Navigare rejoices in a certain upward-questing luminous grace.

Navigare is out now on Miasmah.

Traba is now set for June 15th as the volcano held up the manufacturing process!

www.myspace.com/o3o3o

Spring Summer

2010-04-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

Firstly I want to say how disappointed I was to not be able to Fly to Milan on 16th April due to the volcanic ash plume that froze all flights in and out of the UK! Luckily I have been rescheduled to play the second part of NODE in Modena on 4th/5th June. Aplogies to anyone who went along without knowing I was cancelled!

My mini LP "Traba" is out on 18th May on vinyl only from Immune records who are Chicago based and run by Erik Keldsman who is the thrill jockey label manager. It features four tracks I recorded and finished directly after finishing work on my debut album "Navigare" so it follow a similar path of textured ambience with dark melodies and brushed drums. The artwork was created by Erik K. Skodvin from Miasmah and it was mastered by Andreas Tilliander too.

Portuguese artist Papercutz: releases "Lylac Ambient Reworks" a remix album that I have added a track to and it also features Taylor Deupree, Jasper TX and more. It is coming out on audiobulb in may:

LIVE IN MAY:
18th @ Cafe Oto in London with Tim Hecker + Machinefabriek
19th @ Hole In the Wall in Hebeden Bridge with Machinefabriek + clem leek
20th @ Sacred Trinity Church Salford in Manchester with Tim Hecker + Machinefabriek
21st @ Left Bank in Leeds with Tim Hecker + Machinefabriek + Fieldhead
22nd @ Union chapel in London with Nils frahm + Isnaj Dui (noon show- free entry)
25th @ South Street in Reading with Greg Haines

JUNE
4/5 @ NODE Festival in Modena

JULY
23 @ Interferenze Festival in Naples:
25 @ Half Die festival in Rome

NODE: MILAN APRIL 16TH + JASPER TX REMIX LP

2010-03-20T00:43:00.000-07:00

::: :: :
So spring is finally here and I am really looking forward to performing at NODE festival in Italy on Friday 16th April. Expect some surprises which will be revealed over the next couple of weeks about this show:
NODE Milano: Alva Noto + Blixa Bargeld /Jóhann Jóhannsson + Magnús Helgason / Simon Scott / Mount Kimbie / Tilman Ehrhorn + Suicase +++

Jasper TX, aka Dag Rosenqvist to his friends and family, who played on my debut lp "Navigare" has a sublime reissue of his out of print ep's collected on "Voices from a ded radio". The cd is double as it includes remixes by a superb collection of artists and i am extremelt flattered to be included here with the likes of Peter Broderick, Steinbruchel, Zelienople, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Xela and Pillowdriver. Get it from the usual retailers or Under the spire label direct!

*Dont forget that may see's me out on the road in UK with Tim Hecker and Machinefabriek so check the web for dates and tickets as these will sell out!

Nivalis "Single Of The Week"

2010-03-13T12:35:00.001-08:00

Recommended
Simon Scott
Nivalis

Our single of the week (5th March 2010)

Cover art for Nivalis by Simon Scott Description: 3" Cds edn of 200 on Secret Furry Hole, Well Limited and sexy!
Format: CD single
Label: Secret Furry Hole
Price: £5.49
Cat#: SFH007

Rating: ecstatic
This record left our Ant feeling ecstatic.

"One of my highlights from 2009 was clocking off at the towers to take my commute home and have Simon Scott's (Slowdive) sublime 'Navigare' album play as I closed my eyes and unwound on my journey home. I think that 'Nivalis' is a perfect extension/ counterpart to that work. It has the same post-shoegaze ambient vibe, with occasional very light percussion flourishes and slightly glitched and grainy loop feel that recalls William Basinski. Personally I find Simon's solo material works best on headphones as it really is a very solo experience that creates a dream-like state of consciousness. This CD just effortlessly sends me into that zone where I can forget about the mundane and just drift away. The ghostly, distant vocals towards the end are truly enchanting and I'm left wanting more. I'm really looking forward to the forthcoming live performance in Leeds along with Tim Hecker and Machinefabriek. I think the line-up will compliment each other perfectly… The packaging on this very limited edition is of amazing high quality > A fold out cover that takes some deciphering but once you get your head around the folds, a lush mountain-scape image is revealed and the text print is super gorgeous. It follows the high standards set by the Peter Broderick and Hauschka CD's and is stickered to look amazing.

***HUGE apologies for not being well enough to play at the Slaapwel evening 12th March in Amsterdam and 14th at Cafe Oto in London. I am on medication to recover from bronchitis and apologise if anyone bought tickets to see me play. More dates to follow once I shift this virus: www.myspace.com/o3o3o

±

Live summer dates wanted + "Nivalis" ltd edition review.

2010-02-28T03:09:00.000-08:00

www.headphonecommutecom review:

Simon Scott – Nivalis (Secret Furry Hole)

And that last sentence was a perfect segue into a new EP by Simon Scott – a 16-minute single-track piece, burned on a 3″ mini CDr by Secret Furry Hole. This is the second release by Scott after his critically acclaimed Navigare (Miasmah, 2009). As interesting as it is, the EP was also written during a heavy snowfall late last December in Cambridge. Nivalis is Scott’s “tribute to the winter, the snow and the beauty of how the seasons change here in England“. Swells of strings are drowned in low-fi field recordings of Scott removing ice and snow from his doorstep, repetitive hypnotic patterns of organic soundscapes, and the distant, barely audible, subtle vocals. I mean, if you have to go out and shovel some snow, you might as well have Nivalis on, as a soundtrack. If not, go out and stare at the reflection of the moon, and slowly drift between the spaces. This is all there is – between the now and always – the isness. The EP is available directly from the label, but hurry – it is limited to only 200 copies!
±±±±

I am actively looking for more live dates after my Tim Hecker supports (May 18th-22nd) in May/June/July so if you want to book me contact: sscochaa@ntlworld.com

Saturday sound installation....and it's free!

2010-02-24T09:12:00.001-08:00

Something Excellent...

2010-02-21T03:20:00.000-08:00

Manchester Tim Hecker support 20th May::: :: :

Another review just in.....by www.somethingexcellent.com

Simon Scott – Navigare (album review)

"Although his name may not be immediately familiar, Simon Scott was the drummer of the seminal band Slowdive. Since he left that band, he formed and played in one other (Televise) while collaborating with the likes of Machinefabriek, Jasper TX, and others. He also runs a small label called Kesh Recordings, which has put out titles by the likes of Sebastian Roux and Mark Templeton.

Despite all that work, Navigare is the debut solo full-length from Scott, and given his work both with Slowdive and his collaborations, it sounds somewhat like one would expect. It’s slow burning with lots and lots of reverb, with guitars that swirl and drums that sound like they’re being played at the far corner of a warehouse. It’s noisy at times, but never incredibly dissonant, with some songs that are so gauzy and thick that run into a gorgeous power ambience sort of realm.

“Introduction Of Cambridge” kicks off the release and is a stunning opener. Breathing with some pillowy exhalations during the first half, it slowly coalesces into a piece with a pulse, sliding multiple layers together in a beautiful way that peels every little bit of emotion out of the slowly-ascending bass and high frequency shiver.

The rest of the album follows suit in a similar way, with cuts that pull in little elements from loads of different places. There’s a little bit of the crackling ambience of Tim Hecker, some slow-grinding shoegaze warmth that reminds one a bit of a subdued Kevin Shields, and a couple touches of noisy aggression that may have been inspired by the fellows he’s worked with over the past couple of years.

As happens on many albums, one of the cuts that I gravitate towards most on the release is also the most pop-oriented. “The ACC” runs just under 4 minutes in length, and after a short clattering beginning, it builds into what is basically a trudging crescendo that only gains in strength as additional layers pile on.

Given his continued work over the years, it’s not a surprise that Navigare is a debut album that feels so assured. It’s melodic and textured and a bit noisy at times, but given the time of the season, this is perfect music for cold temperatures and snow storms".

"Navigare" review by The Silent Ballet

2010-02-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

This review is a little later as "Navigare" was released last autumn but The Silent Ballet have uncoved a few hidden truths about my album. I like what they have written and it shows that journalists like to dig around when absorbing an album!

±±±

"Although it is true that Simon Scott manned the drums for Slowdive in the 90s and thus helped to create one of the decade's essential albums, his musical endeavors since haven't been so successful. Sure, he's started a well-respected indie label, but many of his musical projects haven't gone the way of Slowdive's critical acclaim. His main post-Slowdive project was Televise, whose nostalgic sound received mixed reviews from critics and never warmed the hearts of the general-listening music public quite like Slowdive. But now Scott has released Navigare, his debut solo effort for the mightily impressive Miasmah label, and he's finally getting that second wind to his career that's been long overdue".

"What makes Navigare such a success is that Scott is able to let go of the 90s-dominant shoegaze sound that his career was built upon (and that subsequently followed him into Televise) and reboot his work in a much more modern scene. Thus, reviews that have focused on Scott's long resume with Slowdive are missing the point, as this project is more about a rebirth of Scott than a continuation of his glory days. This rekindling of interest was certainly signified by the opening of Kesh Recordings in 2008, which has plunged itself into the underground world of electronic music to deliver hits by Autistici, Hannu, and Saito Koji, and it also came shortly after Scott dragged himself out of a near decade of inactivity with Televise. This is the album of a man on a mission - to reclaim the influence he commanded nearly two decades ago".

"Anyone trying to connect Navigare with Slowdive's work will probably be astounded with Scott's musical transformation. Televise's material mostly sounded like a musician trying to find himself in a new field of music. Much of the Televise phase is filled with tracks that are more sketches of ideas that fully fledged works, and Navigare only highlights how much was missing from those sessions. Understandably, Scott has tapped into and is highly influenced by the modern ambient works from labels like Kranky, Touch, and Type, among others, so his newfound sound and label choice could not be more fitting. Now releasing music under his own name, Scott leaves little doubt that he has fully grasped modern song-smithing in ambient times, pulling from experimental electronic artists over the past two decades to create an album that is engaging, moving, and at times utterly beautiful".

"Some have noted that Navigare isn't dark or orchestral enough to be a Miasmah release, but this criticism is off base. First of all, someone claiming Miasmah is strictly a purveyor of dark music hasn't really listened to its back catalog. It's just not true. Sure, Elegi isn't the most peppy dude in the world, but I don't know what qualifies Rafael Anton Irisarri as being dark, unless the critic is a big fan of Lady Gaga and is especially frightened by instrumental music. So maybe Scott qualifies as different because he's a guitar dude. And that might make sense until one realizes that Dag Rosenqvist mostly plays guitar too. Secondly, Navigare is only Miashmah's eleventh release, which isn't a terribly large data set to be pigeonholing it into a very specific type of label. But, most importantly, such a comment completely 'misses' what the label is trying to accomplish, which isn't a unification of sound (the dark and orchestral) but rather one of aethestic".

"Navigare (Latin for "to set sail") seems to aim at being a conceptual album, though it's unclear exactly what that concept may be. While Tommy Jansen is rather explicit with his concepts for Miasmah, Scott is less so. He talks in great detail about the inspiration for and creation of the tracks on Textura's backtracking feature, which unearths many common motifs amongst them. Additionally, we see use of field recordings and a general nod towards experimentalism and minimalism, two things that may as well be Miasmah staples. A key bit of information found in Textura's article is that Scott's uncle was an officer in the Navy that died of alcohol abuse. There is a logical connection to be made between being submerged underwater on a vessel and submerging one's problems with constant intoxication. Is Navigare an album about an individual who spent most of his life submerged, in one fashion or another? It sure sounds like it - whether a conscious decision by Scott or something that was unconsciously lurking below the surface, the mood and music of the album definitely indicates a fascination with submergence and creates a concept that pays tribute to his passed relative".

"Scott's main trick is that of subtlety. He's a master with layers and his real interest in music is in the electronic world. Thus, his tracks contain a wealth of interesting interplay that bubbles just below the surface. On and above the surfaces he spreads thick ambient layers of drone, drums, field recordings, and other noises. Although befitting for a Miasmah release, it's probably more in line with Touch's aesthetic than anything else, even if it does come across as fairly accessible. Several tracks absolutely dazzle. "Spring Stars" is by far the album's most beautiful piece and stuns the audience with magnificent tones and uplifting ambience. Elsewhere, "Under Crumbling Skies" delivers another subtle drone piece while "Flood Inn" present an industrial edge that provides a nice variety from the more minimal tracks. For the most part, Scott's music avoids standard pitfalls of growing stagnant or not being dynamically exciting. He's certainly researched his experimental electronica and culled the best parts for a commendable effort".

"Although Scott's bread and butter is the presentation of straight ambient on top of submerged electronics, a side treat is that all the tracks are rather short. Tom Butcher recently praised Black to Comm's latest effort due to the restraint placed upon track lengths, and I have a similar feeling while listening to Navigare. Scott doesn't specialize in extended drone pieces or ambient pieces that slowly wear down the audience. Rather, it's more akin to "ambient music for the iPod generation" - short experimental snippets that are impressively self-contained and yet still flow with a remarkable ease. Several tracks can be extracted and enjoyed independently of the rest of the album, which is not something that can be said of most ambient albums. In fact, I commented on this very phenomenon only last month while blurbing about Panoptic Electrical's "Some Rooms Become Us" and now I've got to add Simon Scott to that list of artists as well".

"While Scott succeeds when he fully adapts his uncle's crisis into musical theory, he begins to stumble when the subtlety is lost and he wanders back into shoegaze territory. The album glides along smoothly at first, and even the drumming of "Flood Inn" doesn't disturb the album's pristine cohesion. "Derelict Days" dives down deeper into minimal territory until reaching "Repulse," which is just three minutes of bleak, rather uninteresting sonic bulges of sound. While conceptually invigorating (perhaps symbolizing the zenith of despair and destruction), it's musically uninteresting. The layers of magic built in tracks like "Flood Inn" and subtlety of tracks like "Under Crumbling Skies" is absent, and the album's cocksure confidence begins to waver. "The Old Jug and Drum" and "Ashma" pick up where "Derelict Days" left off, leading into the excellent "Spring Stars" and "The Night and the Artifice," which starts innocently and ends with a noisy, spectacular conclusion".

"In total, the album works. The concept functions convincingly across the board and most of the tracks employ the theme with great success. On occasion tracks step outside of the musical zone Scott has created and slide back into his shoegaze days. Some may not mind the shift in style, but the same thinking can be achieved while sticking to tone of the album. Navigare briefly changes course midway through the journey, only to right itself and follow its original itinerary, which ultimately questions why such a deviation was implemented at all. It's a small quibble to most, but it's enough to disrupt the flow of the album and prevents it from landing amongst the top tier of artists from 2009. Nonetheless, Navigare comes highly recommended".

"It's safe to say that Simon Scott has finally kicked the bug that's been following him around since his Slowdive days and can finally step out into the world as a new musician. Navigare is a strong debut, and Nivalis is a welcome experimental release. Scott's on his way to an exciting second career as a solo musician, and something tells me that his best work is ahead of him yet".

-Jordan Volz

Navigare review:

2010-02-08T05:08:00.000-08:00

Another flattering review in ...this time it is www.popmatters.com

"When you used to drum for the best shoegaze band around—that’d be Slowdive, by the way—you don’t really have anything to prove. Simon Scott proves plenty on his debut, Navigare, anyway. The man has a way with creating atmosphere that emotes. Embers of coiling sound drift through “Introduction to Cambridge” and “Derelict Days” and build up into impressive waves of gauzy melody. You’d call these moments ambient if they weren’t so weighed down with the heft of groaning guitars and thick white noise.

Other moments, like the industrial scuffle of “Flood Inn” and the broken-down, fuzzy groove of “The ACC” reveal the former drummer’s knack for simple-but-embedded percussion. These songs can drift away like smoke, but they can also form into living things, dig firmly into the turf, and charge ahead. Navigare is a dark shape-shifter, but it doesn’t forget to let the light shimmer in once in a while, letting you in instead of losing you in the darkness. Simon Scott strikes new ground on his own, and it may turn out to be just as rich as the ground he treaded 20 years ago".

Go to www.myspace.com/o3o3o for live dates and more info!

Nivalis

2010-01-30T23:13:00.000-08:00

Available now to pre-order::: http://secretfurryhole.blogspot.com/2010/01/sfh-007.html

Limited 3" 16 minute cdr:

"the whole time i was writing this piece the snow just never stopped falling so i had this amazing visual flow that inspired me to keep on throwing musical ideas into the track. i had no intention to venture outside so i just kept on recording for two days, mixing as i went along, until the snow stopped. i added recordings of me clearing snow and ice from my doorstep whilst my heater was working flat out to push the sub zero temperatures up a few degrees. i see 'nivalis' as a tribute to the winter, the snow and the beauty of how the seasons change here in england."

EARLabs album review::: :: : "lapgazer"! 9/10

2010-01-24T07:34:00.000-08:00

RATED: 9 / 10 reviewed by Sietse van Erve
1/24/2010
Old Slowdive drummer shows his modern day variation on the 90's shoegazer music. Eerie ambient with a mystic doomy mood and a classical twist

facts
LABEL
[ Miasmah ]

RELEASE
[ Navigare ] [ CD ]

How your history can keep on haunting you, even when it is one to look back at with pride. That must be something that has been going through the head of Simon Scott, former drummer of the band Slowdive, quite a lot lately. About every review, interview or what ever your read about him and his first solo release Navigare it gets mentioned (and now I am doing it also, even if it was only to prove my point). Besides it being an obvious starting point it is not even this strange a reference considering the music.

While Scott has moved on in to new territories by playing guitar and programming electronics (he is a fond user of max/msp from what I have read) he still has his feet in the tradition of eerie soundscapes. Though, it wold be to easy to classify the music just as eerie. With influences from (modern) classical music as well as modern electronic music he creates his own world of sound.
Each composition contains several layers from deep in the background to up-front sounds. Scott plays with these layers to create diverse dreamy pieces that drag you in sometimes soothing moments and other times haunting. The mysterious mood in this work reminds a bit of the films by David Lynch. Like dense layers of fog in the woods.
While some important ingredients are noise and hiss, Scott never loses the eye for harmony and melody. Combined with his drums we hear in some pieces we are reminded of his legacy. This doesn't mean the music sounds as if it was written in the early nineties, no rather you could call it a logical evolution. The term lapgazer fits in very well with the music.

Navigare is a good album which shows a logical progression from the early nineties shoegazer to modern day classical ambient. With ingredients from both eras a delicate sound is created which makes long for more. A logical choice to release this on Norwegian label Miasmah and a promising release for future work.

Album Review!

2010-01-22T04:49:00.000-08:00

www.smallfish.co.uk

"Simon Scott is an artist that I have a great deal of respect for. Having slowly built up a formidable arsenal of his own work whilst initially masterminding the Televise project (I won’t mention the Slowdive connection because no doubt everyone else will do that :) he’s now moved into working under his own name and, for me at least, it’s a totally natural move. Navigare comes complete with 11 lustrous tracks of deeply atmospheric music par excellence. Each work has a flowing and easy nature that guides you gently into the swirling textures and lovingly crafted arrangements which owe as much to organic, ambient electronica as they do the trademark washes of shoegaze sound (am I still allowed to say shoegaze? I’m not sure). Combining delicate and fragile melodic moments with some seriously robust passages of considerably more dense sound, this play of soft and hard, dark and light is what gives the tracks so much life. There are rhythmic elements but they tend to sit right at the back of the mix hinting at percussion rather than bombarding you with beats. There’s not a moment wasted here and by the time you get to the utterly incredible penultimate track, Spring Stars, you really feel like you’ve been on a sonic journey. Then it weaves a magical and abstract spell for the finale before drifting gently away. This is a tour de force for Simon and it gives me a great deal of pleasure to be able to bring it to you. A stunning album".

+ pre-order your copy of my new black 3" cdr "Nivalis" out 5th Feb. It is one 16 minute track and can be previewed here:

http://soundcloud.com/secretfurryhole/nivalis-edit

Live Radio Session Feb 2010

2010-01-20T03:00:00.000-08:00

Tune into Resonance FM 104.4 for a live session on Saturday 27th February. I will be performing my set and some improvised tracks with Konntinent and Isnaj Dui who both have great albums out on the Home Normal recording label.

Jasper TX remix album::: :: :

2010-01-09T00:59:00.000-08:00

Jasper TX-A Voice From Dead Radio: Remixes

01: Harrisburg Pt.1 remix by Pillowdiver
02: Harrisburg Pt.2 cover by Zelienople
03: D remix by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma
04: A remix by Xela
05: A Beacon To Lead Us There remix by Peter Broderick
06: The Glow Of Minerals remix by Simon Scott
07: Through Dusk...And Falling Leaves remix by Steinbruchel
08: Our Way Through The Field remix by Aaron Martin
09: A Quiet Gloom remix by Alex Cobb
10: A Voice From Dead Radio assembly by Seaworthy

Released by Under The Spire 2010!

Diary of making my 2nd album::: :: :

2010-01-05T02:43:00.000-08:00

diary of making album no.2 :

http://thesimonscott.wordpress.com/

If you want to know what I am doing now that my debut has been released here it is:::: The making of album number two. So far untitled but there is a theme in there which will become clear oncee the songs begin to take shape.

Interview::: :: :

2010-01-04T00:36:00.000-08:00

I recently did this interview for slowdive-blog that details how I composed my album Navigare, recording techniques, Miasmah and how the digital age has influences musicians:::http://slowdivemusic.blogspot.com/2010/01/simon-scott-answers-5-again.html

This is nice...hear the 1st track off Navigare...

2010-01-03T12:48:00.000-08:00

This is nice...hear the 1st track off Navigare...
http://blog.iso50.com/2009/10/13/simon-scottpogolauren-flaxneon-indian/

Navigare album in end of year textura feature!

2009-12-31T01:59:00.000-08:00

I am massively flattered to have got my album "Navigare" mentioned in this article a few times. Music taste is subjective so it is odd to be included in the picks of the year by other musicians but the piece by Leyland Kirby is subtle and understated so I feel obliged to share this with whoever is interested;http://www.textura.org/reviews/2009artistspicks.htm

Once again I would like to thank anyone who has either bought, stolen or begged a copy of my record, those who have come to a show or two, played with me or contributed to my album or have supported me in 2009. I have met so many astounding individuals this year in London, Manchester, Berlin, Oslo, Barcalona, Dordrecht, Torun and Paris. Happy new year and may 2010 be stupendous!

Live in January 2010

2009-12-30T04:42:00.000-08:00

The first gig of the new year will be held at the NoiseFloor electroacoustic festival held at Staffordshire University on Saturday 16th January.

I will be playing live on a bill that includes Autistici (KESH, 12k) and Michal Santos (Home Normal) and IT IS FREE:

www.noisefloor.co.uk

Top 10 of 2009!

2009-12-23T00:46:00.000-08:00

I have had my album included in the Headphone Commute Top 10 end of year album polls....I am delighted!

http://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2009/12/22/headphone-commute%E2%80%99s-best-of-2009-music-for-bending-light-and-stopping-time/

Also Leyland Kirby, aka The Caretaker, gave me the No.2 spot on www.boomkat.com and Jasper TX included me in his top 10 albums of the year too :)

Cheers!

Live on Resonanace FM: 27th Feb 2010 :-)

2009-12-22T23:22:00.000-08:00

>>>>>>
A date for your diary: 27th Feb 2010 I will be playing live on Resonanace FM 104.4FM in Jonny Mugwump's "Exotic Pylon" show!

http://resonancefm.com/

>>>>>>

If you missed this in October here is a track by track breakdown of what my album "Navigare"is about, how I put it together and the aesthetics of organic verses digital;

http://www.textura.org/reviews/backtracking_simonscott.htm

>>>>>

This year I met some great people who play, promote or just pontificate about music so thanks to everyone for support, kindness and sharing dreams!

One of these is lovely folk is .... "http://rtjm.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/thank-you-2/

>>>>>

±±±±±Don't forget that "Nivalis", a 3" cd I made during the snow fall here in Cambridge this December, gets released in January 2010 by the Italian Secret Furry Hole label (limited edition of 200)!

Happy New Year :)

New release, info and future details::: :: :

2009-12-21T23:53:00.000-08:00

Goodbye 2009 + Hello a new decade!

I talked to Headphone Commute about my favourites labels, artists and albums of the year: http://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2009/12/19/reflections-on-2009-simon-scott/

I have a russian interview just published by the Earzine people: http://earzine.org/interview/sajmon-govorit

My "88 Tapes" release on kesh was also on the top compilation albums of the year list : http://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2009/07/12/va-88-tapes-keshhhhhh/

Look out for my release in January on 3" cd called Nivalis from the 'secret furry hole' label (Peter Broderick, Hauschka and Library Tapes with Machinefabriek have previously been released). It is one 16 minute track I recorded and mixed during the snow storms on 18/19th December (last week in fact)! http://secretfurryhole.blogspot.com/ Also there are more new projects coming in 2010 including collaborations with some very special artists + new releases including a 12" called Traba in spring, three new songs written for the 2nd The sight below album (Ghostly International) and also a 7" vinyl I made with Nils Frahm in Berlin.

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*If you want to see me perform live without going outdoors click here:http://vimeo.com/8180731 **If you want to see me perform live in 2010 contact me at: sscochaa@ntlworld.com

***It has been a stunning year for me personally and also generally for music too. It was close to becoming a poor decade but has suddenly sprung into life at the 11th hour!
I released my debut album on Miasmah and met many awesome people playing in many awesome countries and hope I can continue to have more fantastic experiences next year.

Here is another two Navigare reviews just published December '09:
http://www.somethingexcellent.com/?p=305
http://www.soundohm.com/simon-scott/navigare/miasmah/

I start work on my second album just as soon as I finish my cup of tea :-)

Happy New Year!