Digital Album: Cybersonic: Music 'From A Fate Worse Than Death'

It's with great pleasure that I announce the release of my soundtrack to James Leeper's 'A Fate Worse Than Death.' This is a project that's been in the works since 2011. The soundtrack itself was finished early 2013, but the show didn't see a release until two weeks ago.

'A Fate Worse Than Death' is an original sci-fi thriller set in the Doctor Who universe, featuring ruthless cyborgs known as the Cybermen. I've been a fan of Doctor Who since I was old enough to know what TV was, and the sounds and music from the show are partly to blame for my love of sound and synthesis. So to write music in the style of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (who were responsible for those early soundtracks and soundscapes, and incidentally, have a new album coming out) was a dream come true.

You can hear/download the audio drama here:

Cybersonic adds up to 87 minutes of music. I've also prepared a much-shorter 'sampler' that includes some of my favourite pieces and is free to download. I could rattle on about the production techniques until the cows come home, but for once I'll keep it brief. The digital album on Bandcamp comes with 8 pages of liner notes in the form of a PDF, for those interested in the details.

Bandcamp player:

The music on Cybersonic is released under a Creative Commons by Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-ND 4.0). Need music for your sci-fi/horror production? As long as I'm credited, you can use it royalty free. Several cues weren't used in the final show, so you have a few originals to choose from.

Review: The Mechanicals

My e.p. 'The Mechanicals' has been reviewed by Mark Barton in Tales From The Attic Volume XI. His missive is a regular feature in the independent music and culture webzine God Is In The TV. Here's what he had to say about it:

Somewhere here after a casual rifling through cyberspace we happened across this little curio. A soundtrack no less for ‘the mechanicals’ story distributed by broken sea audio recorded and composed by the Manitou better known to kith and kin as British Columbia based musician Joshua M Blanc. Classic BBC Radiophonic Workshop fair is what you get for your time and due diligence albeit updated and eyed from a mid 90‘s Warp-esque minimalist craft, a perfect companion for those of you who managed to nab yourselves a copy of Ochre’s very excellent ’music from the tenth planet’ set from a few years back and I dare say that very excellent ’the séance at hobs lane’ outing from mount Vernon arts lab. Steeled in chilled atmospherics that creep with a tension seeped carnival-esque sense of the sinister, there’s a playful fondness for that old school hide behind the settee flavouring seeping out of these cosmic fairground sounds as though an Orbital c. ‘the box‘ and latter career Add N to X had been re-visioned by Raymond Scott whilst peeking through the eyes of the Barron‘s especially on the opening ‘the mechanicals – part 1‘. Etched in sparseness and couched in hymnal chorals ice chipped in detachment ’part 2’ is hollowed with the same analogue artistry as befitted the work of landscape whilst ’insufficient data’ is detailed with an ominously spectral wood folk chill factor that imagines Philippe Petit located in some servile mechanoid nightmare dosed up on a claustrophobic soundscape icily chimed to a meeting of Carpenter and Goldsmith minds. Creepily cool in short. http://themanitou.bandcamp.com/

Digital E.P.: The Mechanicals

The trilogy of experimental robot music tracks I wrote for Doctor Who: Centurion is available on my bandcamp page. The track listing is as follows:

1. The Mechanicals (Part 1)
2. The Mechanicals (Part 2)
3. Insufficient Data
4. The Mechanicals (Part 2) [End Of The World Mix]

Running time: 21:03

The remix was a last-minute addition that my good friend Jimmy 'Jamz' Aaron and I cooked up over the Mayan Apocalypse (hence the title). It really took the track to another level.

Stay tuned for some track-by-track commentary.

Doctor Who: Centurion

I have some new music featured in Brokensea Audio Productions' latest audio episode of Doctor Who. You can download the episode for free here.

Two pieces were specifically written for scenes in the show. A third grew out of those sessions and was ultimately used, quite effectively I might add, to heighten the impact of key points of the story.

I've prepared an e.p. of these songs. Stay tuned for the details in a separate post.

Doctor Who: 6 Billion Deaths of Soka Virashi

More music from the Let's Build Mecha! e.p. appears in the latest episode of Brokensea's Doctor Who: 6 Billion Deaths of Soka Virashi. You'll also hear excerpts of a new piece of music I wrote called The Return, which features at 7:00 (under a scene) and 33:51 as a scene transition. Featured on the track is my new Roland HS-60.

Doctor Who: Whisper in the Silence

Long time no see. I've been taking time out to deal with some personal issues, and to improve my photography skills. I've also made some progress with the sequel to The Crystal Goblin, and expect to have the first draft finished within the week.

Image courtesy of Brokensea Audio Productions.

Some music from my Let's Build Mecha e.p. from 2010 appears in Brokensea's latest episode of Doctor Who: Whisper in the Silence. The episode is dedicated to a good friend of mine who passed away a few weeks ago, Jay Ellington Lee. Jay was a true inspiration and a warm and humourous soul. I'm very proud to be a part of this episode and to pay tribute to Jay's memory in this manner.