My column for For Folk’s Sake

So I’ve started doing a column for music website For Folk’s Sake. I’ve called it ‘How To Write A Good Song’ – though it’s not a ‘how to’ manual as such, nor is it in any way an attempt to claim that I have written any good songs. What it is is a general exploration of songwriting as a pursuit. General philosophical waffle of the kind that regular readers here will already be accustomed to.

It’s partly inspired by the mass interview blog on songwriting I did last year. Consider it my attempt to answer my own questions.

I’ve done two parts so far and I’ve plans for at least five more, though I could probably go on about it forever…

Here are links:

Part One: Introduction
Part Two: The Lyrics

New single out today

‘Banish Negative Thoughts’ is out today from digital places. The tracklist is thus:

1.Banish Negative Thoughts
2.Even The Cacti
3.A Girl Named Aeroplane (Dreamtrak remix)
4.Banish Negative Thoughts (Napoleon IIIrd remix)

‘Cacti’ is a cleaned up mix from the one you may already have on the free mp3 bundle. Here is what I said about the other two remixes in an interview for The Line of Best Fit:

“Napoleon basically took the omnichord/circuit bending parts and looped it into a drone for about seven minutes. It really reminds me of the Spiritualized ‘Electric Mainline’ stuff they did before ‘Ladies and Gentlemen…’ – also a bit Fuck Buttons maybe? I love it. It’s like a completely different thing. He stuck a bit of vocals in as well, possibly just to avoid offending me but really he could’ve just spun the drone out for twice as long with no vocals at all and it would still have been good.

“When Oli Dreamtrak said he wanted to do ‘A Girl Named Aeroplane’ I was intrigued. It wasn’t an obvious choice for his big dancefloor-style productions but I knew he’d come up with something good. He’s reworked it so one of the more peripheral parts of the track is now this huge synth riff. You can see a club full of people loving it, but then being bummed out by the words…”

UPDATE: It’s had a review on For Folk’s Sake

ALSO

I’m playing in London this Friday (16th) for Records Make Great Pets – details here.

European Monsoon reviews so far

Thought I’d whip up a list of what people have been saying about the new record:

“These songs should last forever” 9/10 – Drowned in Sound

“A release that by rights ought to see the Cardiff-based act attain national treasure status” 4/5 – MusicOMH

“Regan’s quest to force scattershot ambition into its own vaguely accessible shape of warped electronic song trickery continues on a fine course” – Sweeping the Nation

“A testament to one man’s over abundance of creativity” 7/10 –Bowlegs.co.uk

“It’s a cliché to say but it is genuinely unlike anything you’ve ever heard before” – Mewbox.com

“By blending the simple and the simply mental, he stretches the boundaries with music to captivate the imagination. Like a post graduate student wearing multi-coloured flares and a top hat, it is eccentric yet undeniably well educated.” – For The Record

There was also a review in Artrocker where the chap said some nice-sounding things which I found utterly incomprehensible. He also seemed to listen to the album in reverse order, but he gave it 4/5 so never mind. Here it is.

If you’ve seen any more let me know. But just remember fans, the only people who really matter are you… *blub*
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Also, as there’s a bit of confusion from the reviewers, wikipedia is no help, and no one can find my website, let me go on record as saying: ‘European Monsoon’ is my fourth album and I have done sixteen EPs.

Banish Negative Thoughts video

Usually I’d try and avoid posting two blogs in a day. Today you’re getting three if you count my first column for For Folk’s Sake.

But it’s worth it for this. My new video! Been working on it for weeks with David Madoc Roberts who previously did the ‘Tree of Knowledge’ video. It’s great!

Watch it on Vimeo.

The single is out digitally from 12th July. When it lands you’ll be able to get it from iTunes etc. Or you can of course buy it now as part of ‘European Monsoon’.