Deep Crossing

So, my hiphop collaboration with rapper Patrick Emery, which was going to be an offshoot of Virtual Proximity, has taken on a life of its own and evolved into a separate project. The name we go by is Deep Crossing, and the name Pat goes by is Mad Scholar.

Since I last blogged about this stuff, we've acquired a brand new website: deepcrossing.com Check it out!

We're still writing and recording for our upcoming EP Streets Move Gently, which is earmarked for a July release. In fact, we're soon to embark on a three day artistic hiatus in the country, where we'll be able to get away from the usual hustle and bustle of life and focus solely on developing our songs.

We're also in the proces of putting together a live show, with our first gig coming up in a couple of weeks (see website). I'll be rocking beats through Ableton with a bit of saxophone on the side, while Mad Scholar gets deep and crazy on the mic.

Here's our current set of demo tracks

More Loop Experiments

(Following from previous post: 'The Loop Pedal')

So, I've continued experimenting with my new Electroharmonix 2880 looper, and still having a great time with it. It certainly opens up a lot of possibilities.

About the track below. I've created a piece using the following items:

- Flute
- Egg Shaker
- Boss Super Shifter
- Boss DD-3 Delay Pedal
- Ibanez SC10 Chorus Pedal
- Electrharmonix Nano Muff Overdrive Pedal
- Elctroharmonix 2880 Super Multi-track Looper
- This list is starting to look a bit like a staircase, who'd have thought?

I recorded all the parts straight into the looper, then afterwards I hit record on Logic and created the piece by fading different parts in and out.

I was actually pretty shocked at some of the sounds that came out!

Check it out:

Loop experiment #2 by JamesAnnesley

Virtual Proximity 2 - with Video by Zeal

A few months ago, I released an album called Virtual Proximity 2.

I would best describe it as dark, atmospheric jazztronica with field recordings, drum samples from household items, quirky beats and lots of saxophone/woodwind improvisations.

The beautifully freaky artwork (see right) was done by James Fosdike of visulante.

Rob Jarvis (aka Zeal) is the Veejay for the Virtual Proximity band, and also an extremely creative film clip maker, so it was only natural that he did the video for Suburbia, the lead track from Virtual Proximity 2.

I think the video totally captures the dark quirkiness  of the music, while adding a little story of its own.

Check it out (preferably in full screen)



Rob has used an innovative combination of stop motion animation and projection mapping to put this thing together. He explains it much better than I ever could here:



If you feel like hearing more of the album, or even downloading it (for free if you want) then here it is!

The Loop Pedal

So, I recently purchased an Electroharmonix 2880 Super Multi Track Looper, something which had been on my shopping list for a while.


I've always been pretty taken by the possibilities this thing could open up, and I'm certainly not disappointed now that I have it. It has four separate channels to record onto, all with volume faders, and you can record multiple layers onto each channel, so you can get some pretty dense textures going. It also has reverse and octave-shift buttons.


I'm thinking of incorporating this device into my Virtual Proximity project, so look out for that. 


The track below is an excerpt from my first loop-based recording. Its early days yet, I'm still learning to use the thing, but I'm having a great time with it. I'm playing flute, bass clarinet and egg shaker on this one.

Loop Experiment #1 by JamesAnnesley

The Necks are my Australian Heroes

The Necks have released about seventeen albums, and I only have three so far (Drive By, Townsville, Aether), and I've only seen them live one time, but that's enough for me to go on. I love their music

I'll have to admit that part of their appeal is the fact that they're Australian like me. I mean, Australia produces great musicians and great music, but our population is small, so our artistic output is small compared to the US or Europe.  I really appreciate when I hear something truly great from here and I'm proud of the fact that The Necks enjoy international success, something which I myself aspire to.

Also, the Necks' music has a certain Australian vibe which really appeals to me, a vibe that I can relate to in a way that I can't with music from other countries, though I'll tell you right now that most of the music I listen to is American.

When I say Australian vibe, I'm of course talking about a feeling - something which can't be explained intellectually. It has to do with a feeling of space - which Australia has in abundance. It also has to do with a certain earthiness and a feeling of not being in a hurry - which are common characteristics of Australian culture.

If you feel it necessary to define their genre (I usually don't), The Necks are basically a jazz group, but, being Australian, they carry none of the cultural baggage that many American jazz artists seem burdened with. They apparently don't feel a need to 'stay true to the tradition', they just do what the fuck they want, which IMHO is what jazz was always about anyway. So the Necks make genuinely original, innovative music, which I find pretty exhilarating to listen to.

Of the three albums I have, all are completely different when it comes to texture and rhythm, but use basically the same compositional formula. They all consist of an improvised performance of approximately one hour, which begins sparsely and gradually builds throughout, developing musical ideas slowly and organically, often giving a meditative or trance-like feeling.

Their live shows (as far as I know) are all completely acoustic, while their studio works tend to contain electric as well acoustic instruments, electronics and a lot of brilliant post production.

This is an excerpt from one of their earlier releases:



For me, its no good listening to a Necks album unless I have a full hour to give myself completely to the listening experience.

I have some ideas floating around in my head for future projects of my own which are very much inspired by The Necks.

The Necks are:
Chris Abrahams - piano, keyboards
Lloyd Swanton - acoustic and electric basses
Tony Buck - drums and guitar

visit thenecks.com

New hiphop project with rapper Patrick Emery

Update Here: http://jannesley.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/deep-crossing.html




Streets Move Gently feat. Patrick Emery (demo) by JamesAnnesley

For the past few months I've been working on a hiphop project with rapper Patrick Emery, whom I've known for over a decade and worked with in the past. He's doing the writing and rhyming, I'm doing the production.

It started off as an informal freestyle session to a pretty random set of beats that I'd whipped up, but it soon started to take a much more focused direction. Pat's lyrics and flow seem to work best with my earthier, more acoustic tracks, so we decided to take that vibe all the way. At this point all the tracks include double bass by Tristan Courtney, piano by me, and some programmed drums using sounds freshly sampled from the drumkit of Jeremy Kirk.


Most of the lyrics so far have a deep, reflective mood, so I'm allowing the production to follow suit. We've taken some field recordings from around Ballarat (where Pat lives) to add some mood and texture to the tracks, and I've put some nice, dark reverb on Pat's voice. I've even taken some photos of streets in Ballarat to get into the vibe of the place a bit more, and to explore some possible artwork concepts.


The project is gathering momentum, with vocal tracks already recorded on three songs, so we're looking forward to seeing how things unfold. Hope you enjoy the track (at the top)

Virtual Proximity 2 release - Video by Zeal

So I've recently released an album called Virtual Proximity 2 (there's also a virtual proximity 1)
Its basically your run-of-the-mill dark, earthy jazztronica, with lots of field recordings, cutlery-based drum samples and crazy saxophone.

Check it out: here

The exciting thing that's happening now is that Robert Jarvis (aka Zeal) is currently at work on a video clip for the lead track Suburbia. He's doing some really creative stuff to do with animations, projections, houses and power-lines. He explains it much better here: http://zealousy.com/2011/09/suburbia-01/