Navigator by Used Soyuz featuring John Murphy

I have wanted to cover Navigator, written by Phil Gaston for the Pogues, for years. Recently I added an intro verse, and some more at the end about my Grandad (John Murphy, who came over in 1938), and my Dad (Tom Martin, who came over in 1959). Then I heard John Francis Flynn's version of 'The Zoological Gardens' and realised that if he could doom-synth what I only knew as a bawdy Dubliners song, then I could take liberties with 'Navigator', and sing rather than speak it, moving some notes around to fit my old git's narrow register. I adapted the tune in LMMS using the OB-Xd VST by DiscoDSP, and tweaked three of its presets: BzPer_Bass Drum, Rockets Bass, All Thru The Night Arp. I used Audacity for the vocal recordings and mastering. The vocal samples are from a kitchen interview my Grandad did with my Mum in 2000, using a mini cassette dictaphone. Sadly, only 90 minutes of this survived their deaths, in a poor quality recording.

I have shared this track with family members, who seemed to appreciate it, and have included it in my latest Bandcamp release, The Seventh Voyage of Used Soyuz.

Staircase Radio Episode #02 - Why The Clash Matter

UPDATE - Mixcloud have blocked this from public access, as it includes more than five tracks by a single artists. I guess that I should have noticed the word 'mix' in their title...

Here is the second episode of my occasional radio show in Mixcloud. This one is three hours dedicated to The Clash:

And here is its track listing:

The Clash - Radio Clash

The Clash - White Man In Hammersmith Palais

Dillinger - Answer Mi Question

Vince Taylor and his Playboys - Brand New Cadillac

The Rulers -Wrong Em Boyo 

Leroy Smart - Ballistic Affair

Mott The Hoople - Saturday Gigs

Delroy Wilson - Better Must Come

Toots And The Maytals - Pressure Drop

Willie Williams - Armagideon Time

Bobby Fuller Four -  I fought the law

The 101ers - Keys To Your Heart

Ken Boothe - My Heart Is Gone

Police And Thieves - Junior Murvin

The Clash - Rudie Can't Fail

Misty In Roots - Poor And Needy

Steel Pulse - Handsworth Revolution

The Clash - London's Burning

Jimmy Cliff - Guns Of Brixton

The Clash - The Prisoner

The Pogues - The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn

The Clash - The Magnificent Seven

Public Enemy - Fight The Power

The Clash (feat. Tymon Dogg) - Lose This Skin

Mikey Dread - World War III

The Clash - Bankrobber

Big Audio Dynamite - E=mc2

The Clash -  Hitsville UK

The Mescaleros - From Willesden to Cricklewood

The Clash - Know Your Rights

The Mescaleros - Redemption Song

The Clash - Career Opportunities

Big Audio Dynamite - Sightsee MC

The Clash - Gates Of The West

Aztec Camera - Good Morning Britain

The Clash - Straight To Hell

Massive Attack - Angel

The Clash - Clampdown

Asian Dub Foundation - Fortress Europe

The Clash - Revolution Rock

Hang The DJ - Old Git Makes Podcast Shock

I thought I would have a go at making my own radio show, so here's 95-ish minutes of (other people's) great music and my mansplaining, over on Mixcloud. Episode #1 is called Paying Dues, and here's the track listing:

Lola - The Kinks
Lola - The Raincoats
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) - Sly & The Family Stone
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) - Magazine
Al Capone - Prince Buster
Gangsters - The Specials
No Escape - The Seeds
No Escape - Cabaret Voltaire
I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
I Heard It Through The Grapevine - The Slits
The Tears Of A Clown - Smokey & The Miracles
The Tears Of A Clown - The Beat
Helter Skelter - The Beatles
Helter Skelter - Siouxsie & The Banshees
Victoria - The Kinks
Victoria - The Fall
Mr Pharmacist - The Other Half
Mr Pharmacist - The Fall
Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt
Shipbuilding- June Tabor
(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 - The King Cole Trio
A12 (Trunk Road To The Sea) - Billy Bragg
Son Of A Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield
Son Of A Preacher Man - Aretha Franklin
James Bond Theme - John Barry Orchestra
007, A Fantasy Bond Theme - Barry Adamson
Legend Of Navarone - Dimitri Tiomkin

Guns Of Navarone - The Specials
Tyrell - Used Soyuz

This is Watford Calling

 I just just signed up for BBC Music Introducing, their open new music service . I can submit two tracks every 30 days, but apparently it can take six months before tracks get listened to. I couldn't find an 'experimental' genre, so I ticked the boxes next to 'Electronic' and 'Spoken Word'. I uploaded 'I Like Trains' and 'Number Stations', which are both on 'Least Worst First', because I thought they showed a good range. The BBC's algorithm has picked these shows to listen to my tracks: 

 'BBC Music Introducing in Beds, Herts & Bucks', 'BBC Radio 1 - Introducing Dance with Jaguar ', 'BBC Radio 3 - Unclassified (Classical/Ambient/Electronic)' and 'BBC Introducing on 1Xtra with Theo Johnson'

The opportunity to be ignored by a major broadcaster was just too good to miss. At least I should give some spotty intern a laugh.

I also registered for Music Brainz, and I think I managed to import my Bandcamp catalogue into their database using Tampermonkey, a Javascipt extension (oooh).

I'm off to listen to 'Unclassified' on Radio 3. I'd never heard of it before, and it sounds quite groovy.

New logo, same rubbish

Clearly the only thing standing between me and stardom is a well-designed brand identity. Luckily I am married to a Canva Ninja, who has knocked up these two splendid new logos, for a mere 50% of my worldwide royalties. I particularly like the washed-out mission patch - very Used Soyuz... 

Universal - music by Used Soyuz

I have gone back to LMMS for my latest bit of whimsy, mostly using Dexed presets. I thought the words were fun (if pretentious), but the home team says they're depressing. What do you think, imaginary viewer? The video is by Hans-Jorg Scheffler, and I found it on the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/vimeo-579

Hex EP - My sixth collection is on Bandcamp

All of these tracks were created with Hexen, the wonderful modular soft synth Android app by Silicon Droid. Most were then finished in Audacity.