2011′s a distant memory now, along with that old ‘i’ll make a new track every month for a year’ resolution. I’d got off to a good start but other projects interrupted the flow.

The Last Man on Mars is set to return soon though, as a remix done for OrigamiBiro last summer is finally set for release on a compilation next April, alongside the likes of Umin, Calika, Melodium, Upwards Arrows, The Remote Viewer, Proem, Offthesky, Set In Sand, Low In The Sky, Ghost and Tape, Plaid, Phylum Sinter, Leafcutter John, Aus, and ISAN. Good company.

The Last Man on Mars will also have a track on an upcoming Abandon Building Records compilation. Watch this space.

The Curious Machine will be shifting up some gears soon too, further developing experiments in cellular automata, with a Sheffield-based experimental electronic music club night in the works providing a platform for some self-promotion and shared tastes in electronics.

And then there’s the Festival of the Mind in September this year. Crossed fingers on a successful proposal (should find out in March!) as i’m pretty excited about that potential collaborative project with VDU.

My first project was a step from the norm for The Cafeteria (who normally specialise in exquisite print work), which involved creating a short film about Victoria Delany, a Designer Maker who was working with us on some print for the Origin Contemporary Craft Fair in London.

I shot most of the footage and edited the film, with direction from Jon Cannon and Chris Woodhams, and also soundtracked it. Check the embed below for the fruits of my work, or head to The Cafeteria’s blog for a write up of the project.

And here’s the music on its lonesome.
Apples and silver by The Curious Machine

Think cushions on the floor and the hushness of a temple; great cables dangling from the ceiling to jack into; the room awash with headphones bobbing slowly to the beat of a silent musician.

I debuted the Cellular Automata project that has been bubbling under ever since I assumed this Curious handle, which i’ve been slowly working out  in between other musical experiments over the last couple of years.

I first discovered CA on the Nintendo DS, via the homebrew software Glitch, which uses Conway’s Game of Life to generate randomised sequences of sound. It was about the same time that I read Greg Egan’s Permutation City, a sci-fi novel that uses the mythical Eden State in Conway’s Game of Life to create an infinite, self sustaining virtual universe. Thus, I was inspired.

Glitch was ported to the Mac as a MIDI sequencer a couple of years ago, which I have tethered to Ableton Live after a brief experiment with Plogue’s Bidule. Although far less stable on my old Powerbook than the simpler DS iteration, it’s potential was apparent.

With two weeks notice, I had little time to stabilise the tech on my ageing laptop and build a fresh palette of sounds. Thankfully it all came together in time for the gig, and although I would have preferred a sound bank twice the size, it was ample enough to perform with.

A work long in progress, seeing some final progress.

I’m pretty happy with the results and learned a lot in the 20 minutes I had to play with – just need to finish building the sound bank, set Ableton up to have a more diverse suite of effects and prepare TouchOSC for some MIDI controlling of Live (on a diminutive phone screen). Then, i’ll really be ready.

Placard had a live video stream of the event, which was handily captured by my friend VDU and is posted below for all to hear. I’d not bother actually watching it (just listen), unless seeing a bearded man stare at a laptop for 20 minutes is your kinda thing.

For future gigs I hope to replace the beard/laptop combo with live visuals, either generative based or triggered by the very same MIDI data that is randomly spawning the music. How? I’m not sure yet…

Many thanks to Placard for the invite!

Curious Machine live @ Placard Sheffield from Visual Display Unit on Vimeo.

Firstly, I wrote a short piece of music for an animated video (that I also created) while working for The Cafeteria. Check it here – http://www.adventureworks.co.uk/aw/

I’ve also got a remix on at the moment for Origami Biro (deadline looming next week), as well as an attempt to get three new Nintendo based tracks ready for a street party (also looming).

Once they’re outa the way it’ll business as usual.

Last year saw us without a PA due to a complaint about noise from the previous party (thanks to the samba band no doubt – their inescapable volume could wake the dead). This caused the council to slap a requirement for a music license on us at the last minute, so we opted for a law abiding acoustic performance by the magnificent Mason-Dixon Line Power Grab, delighting with guitar, banjo and songs about evil babies.

This year however sees the street organised. Licence planned, BBQs arising from the winter slumber and beer on tap from an actual bar. There will be live, amplified music, street games and food aplenty. Hell yeah.

This year also sees me return with my GBA Micro, accompanied by a GameBoy and a Nintendo DS, assisted by a Korg Monotron and the Korg Kaos Mini KP.

I call it my Nintendo Orchestra, even if it is a misnomer – i’ll be performing music on these Japanese gaming gizmos one console at a time. Using all three at once would be an unsynchronised cacophany, or at least lead to some Steve Reich style phasing loops.

So, that’ll be a GBA Micro with Nanoloop 2; a 1st generation GameBoy with LSDJ; and a Nintendo DS with Korg’s DS10 (and possibly some randomised sequences from Glitch). All performing some freshly composed stuff written for the day.

With the Monotron and Kaos filtering and effecting, should be a lot of fun.

This one’s lighter in nature, eschewing guitar for synths and a hydrophone, cooked up in a cocodamol haze.

Late sun over Hellas by The last man on Mars

This is another rough cut of dead planet ambience by The last man on Mars, and the first piece of music i’ve used a guitar on.

EDIT: this is a new mix, the version uploaded on 31st Jan was accidentally exported with elements missing. Doh.

The Great Tessellation by The last man on Mars

Upon the realisation that I generate dozens and dozens of musical sketches anyway, it seems a little pointless increasing that amount as i’ll be exactly where I started at the end of the year – with a hard drive full of unfinished music.

So, twelve_tracks a year is my goal. That’s twelve complete tracks (bar the obvious final mastering etc). One a month. Maketh an album. There’s my deadline. Best get to it.

The idea is a simple one – compose a new piece of music every week, for a year.

Of course, these compositions aren’t going to be finished masters, more doodles with a rough structure and a fresh idea, designed to keep me moving and keep me focussed with an ever present deadline – something I seem to be weak without.

There’ll be a mixed bag for certain – electro experiments in sequencing, randomised and generative snippets, live processed guitar and noodles on the iPhone and Game Boy when i’m away from the computer.

The outcome should be fifty two tracks and hopefully enough content with a unified voice to fill an album. At least, that’s the plan.

I’ll be documenting the process here, and sharing many weeks worth of music when the experiment makes good.

Time to decide if I should commit.