Originally written for (and performed in it's entirety at) a gig at The Marquee in November 2007 - which was the second ever Looptron gig, and the first of many with Cassette Electrik. The material was subsequently recorded and released in January of 2008, and it's recreated here to beta test the new release plan, and for the listening pleasure of any newbies...

Tracks:

1. Hello, My Name Is Looptron
2. Obsolete Before You Start
3. Whore
4. Play My Guitar
5. Smile / Obsolete [Slight Return]

A song about distance, longing and occasional nudity.

Collection: Obsolete Before You Start (5 of 5)
Download: http://www.futuresoundofdisco.com/mp3/Smile.mp3

A collection of things heard during a brief stint as guitar player for Cassette Electrik. (Hi guys!)

Collection: Obsolete Before You Start (4 of 5)
Download: http://www.futuresoundofdisco.com/mp3/Guitar.mp3

This song took approximately three minutes and nineteen seconds to write - it was a jam over a teeny electric piano loop that somehow became a song. Lyrics are a bit random too. So it goes.

Collection: Obsolete Before You Start (3 of 5)
Download: http://www.futuresoundofdisco.com/mp3/Whore.mp3

The second, titular track from Obsolete Before You Start that employs a call-and-response vocoder technique that's become a recurring motif in the Looptron catalogue (i.e. massively overused, but it's waaay cheaper than hiring backing vocalists.)

Collection: Obsolete Before You Start (2 of 5)
Download: http://www.futuresoundofdisco.com/mp3/Obsolete.mp3

The first ever proper Looptron track, like, ever... originally hacked together as a stupid proof of concept it has somehow become the traditional set opener. Probably on account of it saying "Hello, my name is Looptron" a lot.

Collection: Obsolete Before You Start (1 of 5)
Download: http://www.futuresoundofdisco.com/mp3/Hello.mp3

You may notice that things are a bit sparse around here. Positively fucking barren, in fact! The decks have been well and truly cleared to make way for some new and shiny content that'll be getting finished during the last couple of months of this year.

The "plan" (ha ha ha) is to release this stuff free to air on some sort of regular basis in the early part of next year. Rather than just upload everything in one chunk it'll probably be a track appearing every so often (one a week? every 10 days? dunno...) on the Sounds page. After all the tracks are up for a "collection"* you'll be able to download the zipped-up-with-artwork-and-other-goodies file from the Collections page. Regular listeners and impatient newbies - fear not! People on the mailing list will get emailed links to any and all material as it becomes available (or when they sign up) rather than having to wait. Incentive, see? :-)

So what new material exactly? Currently littering the hard drive of my Macbook are a new Looptron "EP" (which may or may not have the word "cosmodrome" in the title), a collection of songs written with Sarah-the-singer and a shedload of tracks that were gigged a lot but never got recorded. Plus there's some remixes and alt versions of stuff, too. Maybe, if you're really unlucky, I'll post some of the weird instrumental shit I've been working on. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Before that, however, I need to get Obsolete (the original record) back up on the site so I'm gonna use that to beta test the release mechanism over the weekend when no one is looking. Just pretend it's new content, ok? And let me know it you see anything borked, etc. I should probably do something about the awful old MySpace (which I looked at earlier and it's still bloody awful, ick) and the shiny new Facebook page (which is currently completely empty and has no friends). If anyone has any idea how to make those things useful the please drop me a line... also on twitter, for my sins.

And...... BEGIN.

As I alluded to before I've been working on a remix and it got finished (sort of) last night, attached to a carrier pigeon and sent to Yankland. And it's already escaped into the wild so with no advance warning and zero fanfare may I point you:

Take Me (Looptron Remix) by The Sleep

Hope you like it. And be sure and check out their fine album and other mixes that have been cropping up in recent weeks!

More later.

Cassette Electrik, the renowned producers of electro-flavoured music product, are trying to get to play the Big Chill festival and in order to do so they need to flog their track No Knowing more than anyone else flogs anything. Or something. I'm not sure and I don't care! We all know what crass self-promotion and capitalism do to your karma and I'm taking no part in it.

EXCEPT, because they're actually shiny lovely people (rather than anything I may have implied in the title to this piece) they're actually donating all that karma-denting profit from this little venture to charity, and specifically the fundraising I've been doing for the British Heart Foundation! See, I told you they were lovely. (Also shiny.)

So go and follow these instructions right now, pay a couple of quid, gain two fantastic tracks and make the world a better place at the same time. They're currently at number one (with a bullet!) and need to stay there til August 5th.

This way you can be shiny and lovely too.

Download the EP for FREE

...in DRM-free MP3 format and get all your other tightwad so-called friends to do the same? :-) And if it's your first time hearing it drop us a line and let me know what you think.

Back in January we had something of a tragedy at the place where I work. A guy on our team, Shri, suffered a massive heart attack, keeled over in the office and died. He was just forty years old and left behind a wife pregnant with twins (who are now born and healthy).

Now, Shri knew he wasn't living the healthiest of lifestyles, had already suffered some health problems and as a result he'd already resolved to get fit and sort himself out. He gave up the the booze and the fags and the fatty food. Somewhat ironically, to set himself a goal he'd signed up for for the British Heart Foundation's annual bike ride from London to Brighton.

So as a way of honouring our fallen comrade and doing some Good Work in his name a whole bunch of us from the office have signed up to do the ride in his stead. Since February I've bought (and practically ruined) a bike and have been spending large chunks of my weekends training for this. Not because I'm unfit though. Oh no. Well, maybe a bit. But mainly because in order to make it a bit more competitive we've been betting heavily against each other with all proceeds going to the BHF and this could get really expensive. :-)

We're also having a fundraiser night in the work bar on June 5th with proceeds from the booze going to the charity, live music (perhaps including the first Looptron outing in a while) and other exciting stuff ahead of the ride itself (which is on Sunday June 21st). The only goal we have is to raise as much cash as possible.

You can get more information on the British Heart Foundation's work here. If you'd like to donate / sponsor us you can do so here: http://www.justgiving.com/in_memory_of_shri

Thank you. Nx

...click here.

(There will be Looptron news soon. Promise. Now just click the bloody link, already.)