Following the 2021 physical release of Paul Kendall’s “Boundary Macro” album on Downward Records, Cat Werk Imprint have now announced the release as a high-quality digital download via Bandcamp. “Boundary Macro” is the fifth solo album from producer, engineer and electronic musician Paul Kendall.

The vinyl edition is available here, while the download is available here.

The foundations for Boundary Macro came through a remix completed for Downwards, the label run by Karl O’Connor (aka Regis). O’Connor was familiar with Kendall’s work as an in-house producer, engineer and mixer for Mute Records in the 1980s and 1990s, and sought him out for the remix of Veronica Vasicka’s “From Here” in 2018.

“Boundary Macro” was recorded after the COVID-19 pandemic had first emerged.

Paul: “I experienced a sort of creative paralysis from the start of March until the end of April due to early lockdown and an endless concern about food supplies (…) around May I started to experiment sound processing apps on my iPad – apps like Borderlands Granular, Tardigrain and Enso. I was astonished at the relative affordability of these apps in comparison to studio multi-effects units or computer plug-ins.”

Kendall began experimenting with recordings of his own voice and the Leaf Audio Soundbox instrument, capturing hours of improvised performances which were then edited, superimposed and processed to form eight of the tracks on the album. The album was completed by the addition of two older pieces created using completely different methods (“Distor ADIO” and “Are You In?”).

Check out the full album below.

Here are two videos from the release.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange/press release penned by Mat Smith) Boundary Macro is the fifth solo album from producer, engineer and electronic musician Paul Kendall, released July 29th on clear vinyl, including digital downloads.

Beginning with his tenure in anarchic London post-punk unit Dry Rib and on through his respected studio work with Recoil, Wire, Barry Adamson, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb and many others, Kendall has always maintained an acute focus on the intricate properties of sound. Each of his solo albums has showcased an approach to complex sound design as well as the darker, emotive side of sonic processing.

The impetus for Boundary Macro came through a remix completed for Downwards, the label run by Karl O’Connor (aka Regis). O’Connor was familiar with Kendall’s tenure as an in-house producer, engineer and mixer for Mute Records in the 1980s and 1990s, and sought him out for the remix of Veronica Vasicka’s ‘From Here’ in 2018. “He liked the remix I did for him and I remember him saying to send him some of my stuff if I so wished,” recalls Kendall. “I sent him the ten tracks that make up Boundary Macro. He came flying back to me having fallen in love with a couple of pieces and offered to put the album out on Downwards. It really was a seductive enthusiasm and I readily agreed.”

The concept for Boundary Macro unifies an approach that Kendall takes to both images and sound. “I absolutely love macro photography,” he explains. “Macro photography is where you magnify the minutiae of an object. It’s a similar method that I’ve used a lot in sound design, where I take found sounds then exploit and zoom in on them.”

If ‘macro’ is the descriptor for Kendall’s process, then ‘boundary’ is about revealing another personal side of himself – his hearing difficulties, a condition caused by too many loud studio sessions. “A boundary can be thought of as being like binary, with its two states – on and off. With this album, the boundary in question is the one between my ability to hear and not hear. Because of that deafness, I sometimes have to rely on graphical representations of sound to ensure there’s not something happening sound-wise which I am unable to hear. It’s also about the supposed boundary between sound and noise, which, for me, does not exist. It’s also the idea of the boundary as a limit – but a limit to go beyond, not one that stops you. Suffering with loss of hearing could have easily acted as a limit for me. Boundary Macro is the sound of me going beyond that limit.”

We also had a short Q&A with Paul via e-mail.

Side-Line: New album – what led up this?  

Paul Kendall: I experienced a sort of creative paralysis from the start of March until the end of April due to early lockdown and an endless concern about food supplies. Around May 2020 I started to experiment sound processing apps on my iPad – apps like Borderlands Granular, Tardigrain and Enso. I was astonished at the relative affordability of these apps in comparison to studio multi-effects units or computer plug-ins.

Side-Line: What was your recording process?

PK: I began experimenting with recordings of my own voice and the Leaf Audio Soundbox instrument, capturing hours of improvised performances which were then microscopically edited, superimposed and processed to form eight of the tracks on the album. The album was completed by the addition of two  older pieces created using completely different methods (‘Distor ADIO’ and ‘Are You In?’), but were entirely kept in style with my recent experiments.

Side-Line: Tell us about the artwork and the decision for a clear vinyl.

PK: The original sleeve design was one of mine, riffing on the boundary idea, every line was a boundary. The clear vinyl was probably someone at Downwards.

Side-Line: Other plans or any events/performances planned?

PK: On this island the concept of overseas travel has been dealt a blow by Brexit and Covid. But who knows? When the geo-political world cools down I may happily grab a suitcase.

Get the album at Boomkat.

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

Out now is “Data Regina [Embodied]” by Olivia Louvel presenting a selection of live tracks taken from “Data Regina”. “Data Regina” was centered around a tale of 16th century British history with Mary Queen of Scots, her poetry and her battles and was released in early 2017.

This new EP – running over 38 minutes – was compiled from 3 recordings in Bexhill (Outland, 13 June 2019), in London (Iklectik, 22 May 2019) and in Leeds (Synth Remix tour, 10 November 2018). To date, this set was last performed at the Chapter Arts Center in Cardiff, 6 March 2020.

About “Data Regina”

On “Data Regina” Louvel assembles a digital narrative through 17 electronic compositions (including a series of instrumentals) capturing different palettes, tones, playing with identity within the ‘duality-duel’ relationship of the two women, two queens and cousins, who were never to meet.

As well as the publication of a CD, the interactive digital work www.dataregina.com provides a further platform to showcase the 3D animations produced by young animator Antoine Kendall as well as curated historical references.

Composed and mixed by Louvel, the album also features Fiona Brice (Bella Union, John Grant….) on violin.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Composer, producer and visual artist Paul Kendall has created a textural visual output for the minimal piece “Must Carve A Stone”. Generated from voice, scissors and other sharp tools, this is the second track featured on Olivia Louvel’s “SculptOr”, a suite of nine pieces inspired by Barbara Hepworth ‘s extensive body of writings.

Here’s the video.

The new release “SculptOr” album is available as a deluxe digipak CD from Bandcamp. You’ll get an immediate download of “The Weaver”. Pre-order your copy right here.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The first release from LeCabLe is a fact: the 8-track album “Multicore”. LeCabLe consists of the duo Paul Kendall (lapsteel, ‘springs and things’) and Daniel Dickel (mono synth, tapes and ‘things’) and offers landscape music mixing aleatoric harmony and noise. And knowing Kendall, you can expect some really cool sounds which the Recoil-collaborator has been creating.

“Multicore” by LeCable is available for the launch price of – listen well – 99p via the Bandcamp page of Catwalk Imprint. If you order the album in one go, you’ll get the bonus video included. Highly recommended to those who like some profound audio research.

Below is the first material that got released a while back: “Elevator to L’écho-faux”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Released in May, this release has somewhat gone under the radar, hence why we want to bring it back to your attention. The download release “Mechanical Generation of (Vol 1)“, featuring 4 long tracks, is a definite must for drone ambient fans and sees Paul Kendall returning to pure improvisation.

Here’s what Paul Kendall himself says about the material on the album: “Before working professionally as a sound engineer I would never think of myself as a musician, but this never prevented me blowing some freeform sax in a number of small ensembles. And it is to this improvising discipline that I have returned armed with a basic lapsteel guitar (The Slider) some pedals and not a computer in sight, back to a Mechanical Generation of sound. It is an attempt to bring the influence of Derek Bailey into a mildly Germanic trance state.”

For those wondering who the late Sheffield, England born Derek Bailey is, he was an English avant-garde guitarist and leading figure in the free improvisation movement. In 1968 he formed the Music Improvisation Company with Parker, percussionist Jamie Muir and Hugh Davies on homemade electronics, a project that continued until 1971. He was also a member of the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra and Iskra 1903, a trio with double-bass player Barry Guy and trombonist Paul Rutherford that was named after a newspaper published by the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin.

The album Kendall released (and which can be downloaded right here on Bandcamp) features 4 consecutive improvisations recorded in Kendall’s front room recorded directly onto DAT. And except for 1 or two small edits for brevity the tracks are exactly as performed. You can listen to the tracks below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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This morning IKEA Ghent (Belgium) was the place to be for bands wanting to know something more on the future of the music business and how to make the best of it. More precisely, the Belgian electronic music label Alfa Matrix was presenting a workshop at IKEA to the musicians behind the bands Llumen, ELM, Psy’Aviah and Mildreda (Diskonnekted), respectively Pieter Coussement, Peter Elm, Yves Schelpe and Jan Dewulf. For the label it’s the first time it has organised a joined workshop with other bands inside Belgium, but it surely won’t be the last.

Side-Line talked with Alfa Matrix’s promo manager Bernard Van Isacker who gave the workshop.

SL: First of all, you also work as an online marketeer during your daytime job?

B: Yes, I’m the online marketeer for a major seed company (number 5 in the world) for whom I develop the social media strategy, and in that role I have been giving several trainings regarding social media tricks in Belgium and in the Netherlands, but also regarding CRM since one doesn’t go without the other. For those who don’t know, CRM stands for customer relationship management and is an approach to managing a company’s interaction with current and potential future customers. We then analyse this data to improve business relationships with customers. But that’s another story.

SL: Why did Alfa Matrix decide to do this workshop?

B: This is not the first time we do this, in the past I have organised a couple of such workshops with Alfa Matrix bands but then more face to face, so one band at the time. I did several in Belgium, in Scandinavia and in Greece (where I had sessions with Siva Six and Virgins O.R. Pigeons).

But the idea to get a few bands together only started a year or 2 ago when I had a very interesting networking diner in Oslo (Norway) where several of the Alfa Matrix bands were joined by such people as John Fryer, Paul Kendall and the Electro Spectre duo. You immediately could sense there was an energy that you don’t often see.

I also know that there is a need for bands to discuss about the topics we talked about today such as marketing, communication and an insight on how the algorithms work for such companies as Spotify, Apple Music and so on.

Anyhow, when I was at an intimate event at the Club 52 here in Belgium a few weeks ago, I talked with the people behind Llumen, Psy’Aviah and Mildreda who were playing there and suggested them a joined workshop in the near future. They all agreed, so a few days later we decided upon a precise date, a location and I prepped the workshop itself. In the meantime I had invited a few other bands over too, so that’s how Peter (ELM) also joined us, the others will be joining me during a future workshop that fits their agenda.

I also plan a few of these workshops outside Belgium with the next one being in Oslo where Kant Kino, Essence Of Mind and a few other acts will be joining.

SL: What was the purpose of this meeting?

B: It’s always good to meet the artists from time to time, so that is already a good plus. But the main purpose of the workshop is to help the participating bands with their communication, their online presence, and explain them a few things which the general public and most bands are not aware of (because often their label doesn’t know either). Today for instance I presented them my future vision on the (online) press and club scene.

SL: And that is?

B: That’s classified, but it’s safe to say that my vision is quite radical. Back in the days (let’s say 10 years ago) people told me I was mad to start investing in digital distribution at such a fast pace. 10 years late I’m not so mad anymore so it seems, at least what that aspect is considered :). You have to know that I talk a lot with people from inside the business (digital distributors, major promo companies, …) to know the ins and outs of what happens and what is going to happen. I also have a few trusted people from within the scene (distributors, musicians such as Yves Schelpe, other label owners) with whom I discuss quite often about what directions the music industry might take. From that input and my own knowledge and intuition I distill a vision for Alfa Matrix which I then share with my 2 other colleagues in the label.

SL: How did you come up with the idea to do this workshop at IKEA?

B: I’m an IKEA addict basically… :). Ghent is in the centre of the Belgian cities where our bands come from, so it was kinda logical to choose this city as the central place. And since it isn’t the first time I do meetings at IKEA, it kinda was logical to keep it here. Plenty of coffee and plenty of space, I only asked the bands to be here at 10 AM so we were sure to have the space we wanted.

SL: What came out of this workshop?

B: Well, besides the content of my presentation which gave these bands a nice insight in how the business works these days, there were also a few new and exiting things that have come out of our interaction, which we hope to materialise soon. Add to this that a few really nice surprises appeared which opened opportunities. I personally strongly believe in the 1+1=3 setting if you have people sit together who are all very driven by the desire to learn. That was the case here.

SL: Do you plan to publish this guide on the net?

B: No, nice try though! This presentation and its explanation is strictly restricted to the bands signed to Alfa Matrix and is not for external distribution. In the past I have worked for labels on consultancy basis giving them ‘intel’ on a few things, but that’s only because they contracted me for this. Since I’m now only busy with Alfa Matrix, it will remain for the Alfa Matrix eyes only :).

SL: Can we expect some more of these workshops taking place in Belgium?

B: Sure, we plan one in Brussels as well in the near future, probably at IKEA Zaventem :). Next we also plan one in the Netherlands and in Mexico where we also have a few bands under contract.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

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On the first of October 2011, Paul Kendall released “Angleterror” as a digital release via the Cat Werk Imprint. The majority of the work on the album was created between 2002-7 during Kendall’s stay in Paris.

5 years later the release finally sees a full fledged physical release, again via the Cat Werk Imprint label and this in a very limited edition boxset of only 100 copies (in a A5 size Box Set) re-titled “From The Penman Press”. The whole remastered and as an extra post-produced by @poemproducer AGF.

For those who missed the original release, it’s an absolute must-have if you want to dive into the complex sound world Paul Kendall has been living in. You immediately recognise why Alan Wilder decided to work with this top engineer/producer as you literally get a firework of haunting sounds. Not a surprise that many bands and artists have been influenced by his meticulous approach. The whole audio experience works the best if you dim the light and take a good bottle of red wine. You’re sure to live an intense experience.

The re-release also features 10 original A5 artworks which have been drawn, scanned and printed by Paul Kendall. As such every element in the box will be covered in his DNA. His words, not ours, but we agree. The final 2 elements of the Box Set are A5 sheets again, one of which is a hand printed letterpress credit sheet and the other a composite scan of all 10 pieces of artwork called, “Suggested Orientation”.

You can order your box set right here from the Catwalk Imprint label run by Kendall’s wife Olivia Louvel.

Below is how we unpackaged the personalised parcel we got from Paul Kendall. Highly recommended!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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A few weeks ago Paul Kendall showed us his 10 favourite studio tools, today we can finally announce that there is a new release coming from the PK studio as well: the “From The Penman Press” boxset. Paul Kendall explained us in a chat how this new release came to birth.

PK: “I am more of an athesistic-marxist-feminist miserabalist than I was before, must be something to do with the ageing process. I have done no sound work for 3rd parties since last October and I feel good. poor, but good. I have been concentrating on the visual aspect of creation, graphic/geometricised pen and ink drawings of shapes and words/ letters. Then I decided I needed to scan these objects so I have gone through steep learning curves of scanning/ printing/photoshop/vector design, as I have tried to express moving from sound to visual in one phrase using a manipulated bowie lyric: “Attempting the translation of 4 decades of 2D Sound Architecture into 10 week crash course for the graphic engRaver, sinking in the not so quicksand of my thoughts”.”

The result of all this is that on July 13th Kendall will release a limited edition of 100 copies through Cat Werk Imprint an A5 size Box Set, titled “From The Penman Press”. The boxset will contain 10 original A5 artworks which have been drawn, scanned and printed by Paul Kendall, “and as such every element in the box will be covered in my DNA” Paul adds.

Also in the box is a re-imaging on CD of Kendall’s “Angleterror” album. Paul: “From its digital only release in 2011 I have adjusted some things which time has allowed me to improve, but the real source of happiness for me is having the album properly mastered and a further layer of aural excitement brought into focus by @poemproducer AGF.”

The final 2 elements of the Box Set are A5 sheets again, one of which is a hand printed letterpress credit sheet and the other a composite scan of all 10 pieces of artwork called, “Suggested Orientation”. Paul: “I am fully intending to refocus on the visual so the box set should be considered as a limited edition art object not a limited edition CD, this will be reflected in the retail price.”

You can order your box set right here from the Catwalk Imprint label run by Kendall’s wife Olivia Louvel.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Spiritual Friendship is a brand new project uniting the talents of Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Erasure, Indochine, Einstürzende Neubauten, …) and New York based electronic music musician Nick Hook. The duo got to know each other when Jones was hired to mix an album by Men Women & Children, a group that Hook was playing keyboards in at the time. While Men Women & Children disbanded, Jones and Hook stayed in touch.

A decade after their first meeting, the two finally decided to get in the studio together, and recorded an album in just 3 days in Jones’ East London studio, theartlab, in late 2014. Additional recording sessions were scheduled, both in London and in Hook’s Brooklyn studio, thespacepit. In the end the album brings a very accessible and enjoyable mix of field recordings and modular synth transmissions on their first album “Spiritual Friendship” under the Spiritual Friendship moniker. Not surprisingly we already added a track, “Chicago K-hole”, to our Spotify playlist.

The album has been released independently by the duo via Bandcamp, iTunes and so on.

You can listen to the album below.

Side-Line got in touch with the duo.

SL: What was your individual input in the songs?

G: It is a hugely collaborative piece of work – we see it as a 50-50 thing. Everything is built like an action painting, adding and subtracting from both of our spirits. My main instruments are listed on the website. As are Nick’s. But we felt very free about interfering with each other ?. And collaborating. So we constantly edit each other’s work, leaving ego aside.

So I can’t really remember “who did what” and it is a question that is not very interesting to us, or very important. In a spiritual friendship we are both channelling higher powers.

N: Like G said we just let it flow… i think some of those snares were done quick and we routed them out fast to a filter in the modular.. the fun part about making this record was that since we can both steer and operate the hardware and the computer we were operating as close to 1 at all times.. the closest i’ve ever been… especially since our relationship as friends without creating goes so far back.. i see it all clear now.. being comfortable is where great results happen ( thru our eyes at least).

SL: Gareth, I don’t see you directly as a sound wizard doing the beat side of things on this release… or am I wrong? I would think for instance that the individual extra sounds added in the opening track “White, Black, Red or Yellow” and the snare drums in “Spiritual Friendship Part 1” are also your doing? Plus I do also recognise your ornithology side field recordings in “Anima”.

G: I brought many field recordings to the table and my love of wild untamed energy from our modular setups. Nick is a wonderful beats programmer with extensive DJ experience and multi-instrumental skills.

SL: Did you use your private sample bank in the songs? The metal sounds in “Rhythm, Yeah” for instance sound very familiar…

G: We made everything new for this project. No old samples were used at all.

N: Thats my voice.. haha. Into the op1. I think.

SL: Did you prepare rough demos or ideas before entering the studio? Or was it basically just jamming around?

G: I prefer the action painting analogy – no demos were made. No plans were made either, other than the very important commitment to SHOW UP and to empower each other. We NEVER shut each other down. If I had an idea (however small or insignificant) Nick always gave it attention and explored where it might take us. And the same from my side of course.

Every step of the journey is worthwhile and important. We had no aim. Our journey IS our destination.

N: I think the rough demos were the trillions of hours both of us have been working our whole lives.. when we went into execution phase it just came naturally . and we let it keep coming.

SL: The record makes me wonder what challenges you still have musically since you don’t have to prove a single thing anymore? This sounds very much like something you always wanted to do, not just a job so to speak.

G: This is a meditation, a labour of love, an expression of who we truly are together right now.

N: I’m speaking on my behalf. but i think we all have something to prove.. everyday we need to grow. push our selves.. see what happens in challenging situations.. the live show was a great challenge.. FINISHING our record was a great challenge. walking away from it..

But to me I want to show that Spiritual Friendship 1 was the beginning of us evolving as 1.. and individuals.. the show and the record basically sent me back to the drawing board cuz i am starting to see how i can really be prepared to create more feeling than thinking.. It’s like when u go to yoga and when u are in really good shape you aren’t worried about the physical so you can get to the mind… so the more preparation i can bring to our second album i hope we can look back and say wow we never thought we could get there.. and that goes for recording techniques.. studio flow, health, our conversations..

For me it’s been really amazing to see how some sort of fantasy idea is now turning into something that will always be a part of my life. it’s really been that great.. and to have the opportunity to make records with no judgement lets you push it even further. and when u go back to “normal” projects to be able to incorporate that wild experimentation really can blow peoples minds.. especially when u contain it.

SL: Btw, those choir sounds in “The Tomb” also ring a bell… where did I hear those before in a different way or am I wrong again?

G: You have never heard those before. I recorded them especially for this project.

N: That’s Gareth personal satff.

SL: What kind of audience do you target at?

G: Spiritual Friends. The world. Anyone. Everyone. No one. Really.

N: I look for an audience that loves music.. that wants to be free like we do. that trusts us… that can see that 2 guys like us make complete sense and how our perspectives lend to each other.. i feel like if you cant always teach and learn things become 1 sided. and for us.. how can we run out.. we cant hang out everyday. we are from different countries.. have different influences everything down the line but thats what makes it so amazing. that we both spend every waking hour trying to better ourselves. and i think everytime we see each other its so amazing to be like wow man . great job youve fcuking grown so much in x amount of time.

SL: You both published the gear you have been using, since I’m not a synth geek myself I can only guess it’s a very complimentary set combining both? Can you enlighten me?

G: We use what we have. No rules no limits no boundaries. We never felt we needed something we didn’t have. We have sufficient resources to make art. Always.

N: It’s too nerdy to even worry about.

SL: I somewhat recognise the same sound approach which Paul Kendall has, also a sound addict I must say. Can you relate to that?

G: Paul is a great talent and a wonderful guy. Thanks for the compliment!

SL: Didn’t you bother shopping the material around, since you are self-releasing it?

G: We played the record to several of our contacts in “the business” and everyone seemed to love it, but no one said they wanted to release it. This became depressing because we really wanted to share it with the world. Then, almost at the same moment we both realised that we had to release it ourselves. And we are truly happy the we did it this way. Part of our wonderful journey that we have travelled together.

N: its all good we got the ball rolling. by spiritual friendship 4 maybe we will get into a million dollar bidding war.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Especially for the gear sluts out there, we have asked renown sound engineer, producer, mixer and composer Paul Kendall to give us a list of gear he has been working with over the years. Kendall (you can follow him right here on Twitter) is one of those people who have a thorough knowledge of music gear used over the years. He has worked with Daniel Miller, head of Mute Records, in his then newly established Worldwide International studio and worked with many of the Mute artists such as Renegade Soundwave, Barry Adamson, Nitzer Ebb, Wire, Depeche Mode and eventually Recoil.

In short, a man with a history! This is the first in 2 articles on Paul Kendall.

1) Track Tape Recorder + Revox A77 (with varispeed):

Paul: “The invention of the tape recorder allowed electronic music to exist in an editable medium and so has to be the fundamental numero uno. The often repeated story about Varese I like to believe is true; as an experimental composer Varese ceased to compose for a considerable amount of time claiming he was unable to achieve the sonorities he heard in his head by the conventional means, an orchestra which is all he had at his disposal. He therefore gave up composing until the tape recorder appeared which allowed him to realise the sounds he was hearing in his head. Anecdotal but I can somewhat understand.”

“I started using the Revox at university in ’73 and learnt recording and most importantly editing, recordings made from No.2 on the list the VCS3. I bought my first A77 in ’79 to set up a small demo studio with a couple of friends.

We would record on one machine then play that back whilst playing on top and recording on to another machine. Crude multitracking. But with the added fun of varispeed, drones could be made and further manipulations were possible.”

2) The Wah Wah pedal:

Paul: “At 12 when I first heard a wah wah played by Hendrix on a children’s scientific television program demonstrating the intro of Burning of the Midnight Lamp I knew the idea of guitar pedals greatly appealed to me, rien change! So No.2 on the list will go to the Wah Wah and to the other Overdrive and Distortion pedals of this world.”

3) VCS3 synthesiser:

Paul: “British made synth without a keyboard of course, there was no necessity for a keyboard. As mentioned above, I started using this at university and would normally use it to process sounds, I was never really into synthesisers as a sound source. Through working with this synth for only 6 months I learnt some of the fundamentals of electronic music. It was most definitely an iconic machine appearing as it does alongside Brian Eno in those early Roxy Music photos. In spring ‘74 I was advised to leave university after only 6 months owing to my complete non-attendance at the Maths lectures. Unemployed and with the sound of a VCS3 still ring modulating in my ears I wrote to Peter Zinovieff, EMS, the developer of the VCS3 and visited their office/ workshop on the Thames. My youthful enthusiasm was not sufficient to be offered a job. At this time they were intending to develop the computer side and in 1974 I had never even seen a computer!”

4) Akai S900:

Paul: “I spent a lot of the first year working for Daniel Miller (Mute Records) moving around and installing his Synclavier. An extraordinarily versatile and quality machine; able to synthesise sound and most significantly sample sound and then be able to correct or modify once the performance was recorded. It was pre- midi, it was extremely large, heavy, and fragile in places and was rather spectacularly replaced by the arrival of the Akai S900. I am being slightly tongue-in-cheek but with some reason. Sampling was all the rage in the mid-late 80’s the aforementioned Synclavier and the Fairlight were responsible for some of the most brilliant and horrendous acts of sampling: n.n.n.n.nineteen. So the S900, although mono, had MIDI and soon became the most significant presence in the studio. Producers and engineers would always be close to their sample libraries, 3.5” floppy discs containing the collection of mentalist drum sounds you’ve ever heard. But each 2Megabyte disc has faded into the terabyte in the palm of my hand. So, No.4 is the S900 although the stereo big brother S1000 became more relevant. Until…”

5) Sound Designer:

Paul: “Christmas 1990 my life changed as I spent the whole of the festive season in front of my Mac IICi running Sound Tools software. I believe I was one of the first in UK to have a system and it was everything I could have hoped for. Although it was only a stereo non-destructive audio editor you could layer 4 stereo tracks together with delays upto 32 seconds, and there were a number of transformations of pitch and duration possible, the most significant concept was that of playlist, where you could identify sections in your music, say 2 or 4 bar sections and repeat and reorder using a list function. The extended 12” mix was waiting to be a mouse click away from being even more within reach. Also, it allowed us to record loads of dub passes of a mix on to DAT then transfer into Sound Designer and edit a monster. This eventually developed into Pro-Tools which has arguably had the most significant affect on the recording industry since the invention of multitrack recording.”

6) Reaktor Softsynth Native Instruments:

Paul: “It wasn’t long before I had wholly adopted the digital domain and my first piece of essential software apart from the sequence/ recording was Reaktor by Native Instruments. They did a very smart thing by opening the software up to users who wished to develop their own “versions” of Reaktor building blocks/ devices. This ensured a healthy on-line community, predominantly men I’d wager, that has endured for a very long time. Reaktor then as now will do whatever you want; create sound, manipulate sound and sequence sound. No.6 is Native Instruments for still existing!”

7) Ableton Live:

Paul: “I was aware of Ableton Live quite early as a couple of the young engineers at Mute were also DJs and Live had developed the amazing warp facility which allowed “beat matching” in virtual realtime! Ableton made a slight shift of product focus from recording studio DAW manufacturers/ developers like Pro-Tools, Logic, Steinberg to emphasise more live performance possibilities. This reflected what had been happening in the music industry in general with the rise of the star DJ culture. Live has continued to progress and is significant by having a slightly different approach to composition and performance. Honestly I have never used one piece of software that does everything brilliantly but as long as they all work ok alongside each other then the world is just fine.”

8) The Modular Revolution:

Paul: “In some ways I wish I was starting over, riding this recent wave of excitement in boutique home-made modular frenzy but I accept I am not and it is one ride that sadly I wont be taking, I cannot hide my jealousy. My fundamental problem with synths as keyboards eviscerated by modular and I say jah. So nummer acht, eventhough I am just a peeping Tom, is the recent success of modular synthesis.”

9) Autotune:

Paul: “Is a software program that allows realtime tuning of an input source normally a vocal. How we perceive the world is different after the invention of Autotune we are no longer sure of the veracity of a performance. Whether this is actually a problem depends on your point of view. I can’t be too fussed with its use in a recording environment as it is a further effect available in the pallette. In fact I am not sure i care too much in a live context either if appropriate for. Why tarnish the spectacle?”

10) …

Paul: “And this a photo of me holding my UniPin pen my preferred instrument these days!”

For more on Depeche Mode, see Depeche Mode in the studio in Santa Barbara recording a new album -… on Side-Line.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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10 years ago, Gerhard Potuznik released the debut album by Olivia Louvel, “Luna Parc Hotel”, on his Vienna based label Angelika Koehlermann. “Luna Parc Hotel” was produced in Paris between 2003-2005. To mark this anniversary, the french born electronic chansonnière has made “Luna Parc Hotel” available as a digital download via her own Cat Werk label’s Bandcamp page.

The album has been remastered by electronic sound wizard Paul Kendall at the Tin Foil studio. Note that Paul Kendall also executed additional production on this album. He did the drum programming on “How Nice”, “I Dream”, “Tango”, “La Chute”; did the eventide cloud on “The Motel”, the cello sound on “I Dream” and the music box editing on “La Chute”.

Included in the release, as a bonus item, is a high quality digital version of her handmade arty scrapbook which combines various notes on the process of producing the album, splashes of paint and previously unseen photos. The new cover image is a self-portrait shot circa 2004 in Paris, initially discarded for the artwork release.

The album features a duet with Michael J Sheehy (guitar) on the David Bowie song “The Motel” (then from the “Outside” album), which was recorded live at Michael’s flat in Bloomsbury London in 2004.

Physical copies of the album are also available, right here.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com