• Writing,  Short Stories,  Featured

    Obscurities Revisited

    When I originally wrote ‘Obscurities’ it seemed logical to give it a cover that matched the album the story sprang from, but with a little hindsight, what worked for the album never really felt right as a book cover. The multiple images on the album are unrecognisable on most online ebook websites and something simpler and more meaningful would have a bigger impact. So today I have released the novella with a new cover, provided by Katharina, that takes a couple of items that form a central part of the story and presents them in a much more elegant and…

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  • Bunk Gardner: Sax solo
    Music,  Influences

    The Grandmothers at Porgy & Bess, Vienna

    This concert was billed as “The Music of Frank Zappa performed by Original Members of the Mothers of Invention”, which is a bit of a mouthful, but the band are basically the latest incarnation of ‘The Grandmothers of Invention’. Bunk…

  • Music,  Solo

    Patchwork Scriabin

    The wonderful Composer Quest podcast is celebrating the life of composer Alexander Scriabin (who died 100 years ago this week) by producing a version of his Prelude in A minor, Op. 11 No. 2 that features 68 different forms of…

  • Socksual
    Music,  Song Fu / SpinTunes

    Highly Socksual

    Our last SpinTunes song received a much better reception from the judges, though it still resulted in some widely different scores (which is a good thing, I think). This time around we came up with a piece that sounds like…

  • Kalimba & Blades
    Music,  Song Fu / SpinTunes

    Schnipp, Schnapp!

    Our new song, for SpinTunes round two, has now hit the net: [bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1931011232 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2188628] I was very pleased with the reviews we received for our first round song, both from the official…

  • Studio Drums
    Music,  Song Fu / SpinTunes

    Gag me with a spurtle

    The deadline for round 1 of SpinTunes 10 has finished and we have a new song! Despite having two weekends to complete the challenge, this one was submitted at the last moment as it took us a while to come…

  • Naviar Haiku Collection 3
    Solo,  Music

    The Ice Spire

    My latest piece of music is a long ambient piece that was inspired by a prompt at the Naviar Haiku project. They provide a weekly prompt of a haiku, set within a suitably atmospheric photograph, to which various musicians create…

  • Spintunes8
    Music,  Song Fu / SpinTunes

    The Unexpected Guest

    It’s SpinTunes time again and though I have not joined in as a competitor, I did offer up my services to the Boffo Yux Dudes, who have an ongoing tradition of carpet-bombing the last round of SpinTunes with ‘shadow’ songs…

  • Cookbooks
    Other Stuff

    A Tasty New Year

    Anyone who visits here with any sort of regularity will have noticed that I am partial to the odd challenge now and again. From the latest String Quartet to Every Photo Tells… or SpinTunes, challenges are a great way to…

  • Sid Smith String Quartet viii
    Music,  Solo

    Sid Smith’s String Quartets

    The new year brings a new musical challenge, this time in the form of a string quartet inspired by a series of rainy windows. Music writer Sid Smith has been taking photographs of the patterns rain makes on his office…