Friday, 27 January 2012

January news (not that there's much to report!)

A belated happy new year to you all.

Thought it about time I gave you an update.  Sorry it's been so long.  I had lots of work on with my radio show on http://www.trentsound.com/ prior to Christmas and have had a couple of gigs playing theremin with The Amber Herd since Christmas.

The first thing to say is that you'll no longer be able to download my album "XTNDD PLY" from the link shown elsewhere on this website as Megaupload has closed.  It was never the best website to host the download if I'm perfectly honest and it has always been my intention to house my material elsewhere.  I am in the process of setting up a bandcamp site where "XTNDD PLY" and any future material will be available.

The next few months will be busy as I really want to finish the follow up to "XTNDD PLY" named "California" in time for the summer, as I feel it's a summer record.  I've also got some remix work lined up - hopefully remixes for Wwolves, Marc Reeves, The Austin Francis Connection and The Amber Herd will be with you sometime soon.

"California" will be the last album (for now) recorded using just my trusty laptop and samples.  Once it's out there, I want to forge ahead with my plan to create something I can perform live.  The laptop will still be involved, but will be augmented by other instrumentation.  I'd like to think I can put something together, play it live, record it and release it.

By for now

The Leccy One

Friday, 18 November 2011

November News

Due to another idea and other commitments that I want to develop over time, I've decided to shelve the idea to release a track each month of 2012.  I have one of the tracks intedned for this project completed and will post this at some point.

I still intend to release "California" in time for summer 2012, as i think the album will allow for blissfull sumertime relaxation, save one monster of a track.  The intended tracklisting is:

1.  Golden State Journey (Part 1)
2.  San Francisco: Saturday Night
3.  San Francisco: Sunday Morning
4.  Pacific Ocean Highway
5.  Golden State Journey (Part 2)

Regards

LCTRCN

Tuesday, 18 October 2011

New track and October news

First of all, thanks to all of you who have listened to, downloaded and shared my album "Xtndd Ply". It means a lot to hear your kind comments and I'm glad so many of you have enjoyed it.

To celebrate, here is a brand new track, called "EEIIA". It's mongst my most ambient of pieces. I hope you enjoy it.


LCTRCN - EEIIA by andyhaynes


I'd also like to tell you about my future plans. I hoipe to have album no 2 ready for early summer 2012. It's working title is "California" and takes it's inspiration from my visit there in 2006. I want it to have a very summery feel, hence my target date to unleash it on the world. I only have one track completed at the moment, so I need to get a move on. I shall keep you updated of progress on this very site.

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

XTNDD PLY

I am LCTRCN (The Electrician) from Nottingham, England. I make electronic music. I am named after a 1978 Walker Brothers song. I have recently removed the vowels from my name.

I present herewith my debut album "XTNDD PLY", lasting over an hour and featuring 7 tracks, recorded using my trusty laptop and collection of samples. I have drawn on many of my influences to make a album full of ideas and diversity. The tracks were recorded between September 2007 and April 2011. There are many more tracks I haven't used. These are the 7 I kept coming back to and the ones I wanted to share.

Special thanks go to Mark Lasbury for the terrific album cover, Neil Beards for all his encouragement and advice and, most of all, my wife Gloria and my son Zach for all their love and support.

You can download the album on the following link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XPQOOBDD


Whilst you can download the album for free, it would be great, in Radiohead tradition, if you could make a donation via pay pal. This will allow me to continue making music. My email address for pay pal is andyhaynes1971@hotmail.com - just enter "LCTRCN - XTNDD PLY" where paypal asks you to enter a title. If you do donate, many many thanks. Please donate what you can afford and what you think the music is worth.

Don't email me on andyhaynes1971@hotmail.com as your email is likely to be missed amidst all the spam!!! For all LCTRCN matters, email me on electrician.music@gmail.com



The tracks are as follows:

1. PsyFi

The album opens with the newest track. I was doing a dj set at a night called PsyFi, also featuring my good friends The Amber Herd, Howling Buddha and Marc Reeves. I was charged with providing a track for an EP to be given away free on the night, and decided to do something new and special. The name connjured up something psych and spacey. It didn't turn out quite as I'd originally conceived, but I liked it a lot anyway. The voices are from Yuri Gagarin and President Eisenhower.



LCTRCN - PsyFi by andyhaynes

2. Transatlantic

This album was orginally conceived as a musical journey from Europe to the west coast to America, as I'd found that the tracks were either very Germanic or blissed out and sunkissed. This track was designed to link the two parts, being the soundtrack to the long flight between the two continents. I dropped the journey concept as I felt the two parts were rather lopsided, but some of the best tracks remain. The guitar samples represent calm and turbulence of a long flight, over a backdrop of robotic beats that reflect the plane itself.



LCTRCN - Transatlantic by andyhaynes

3. 6 am Gebaude 9

This track reflects the start of the Europe to America journey concept, but actually pre-dates that idea. The vision song came to me when I was in Cologne, Germany, on a friends' 40th birthday weekend. We'd had a great night at a nightclub called Gebaude 9. It was one of those nights where you keep meaning to leave, but the dj plays a nother killer tune and you stay a bit longer. Before we knew it, it was 6am and the club was closing. As we waited for our taxi, amidst the early morning bird sounds, I heard someone practising piano lines from a nearby flat. The beauty of the moment stayed with me and when I got home I tried to reflect it in this tune.

For some reason, soundcloud doesn't appear to want to upload this tune, so apologies for no preview. Hey, it just gives you more incentive to download the album in its entirety, doesn't it?

4. Sitar Star

One of the earliest tracks I recorded, and the one that keeps coming back into my psyche the most. I've always loved the sound of the sitar ever since I first heard it as an 8 year old on Norwegian Wood. Watching Ravi Shankar's Monterey performance on youtube gave me much inspiration. When I first recorded the track, I felt something was missing. That very evening I watched Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence on TV, and loved the Sakamoto soundtrack. I struck me that a middle section of contrasting but complementing oriental music could fit the bill. I think it works -hope you do.



Sitar Star by andyhaynes

5. Slipstream

I wanted something that reflected a European motorway journey, and looked to Kraftwerk and Neu for inspiration. I'm proud of the way it builds up from a slow start to an adrenaline fuelled crescendo. Probalby the track on the album that most wears it's influences on its sleeves, but I'm not going to apoligise for that!



Slipstream by andyhaynes

6. Buzz Aldrin

Another early one - and one where I didn't have a title for ages. The concept was to do something that epitomised the space age, and in particular the comedown after the end of a space mission, especially when, as an astronaut, you are not the one who everyone will remember. With this in mind, the title was staring me in the face and I never knew it.



Buzz Aldrin by andyhaynes

7. Track # 7

The final track is a 22 minute monster, and is more of a sound collage that a regular tune. Using The Beatles' "Revolution 9" as a template - I wanted to make a modern, electronic update. It grew way out of control and I couldn't trim it anywhere - each section was equally as important to the overall result. The track actually used to frighten me - I couldn't listen to it for about 2 years. Encouraged by Neil Beard's of The Amber Herd, I gave it a dusting off, tweaked a few bits, and discovered I couldn't not include it. Preced with caution but I hope you enjoy it.



LCTRCN - Track #7 by andyhaynes

Hope you enjoy it. Please give me feedback - positive or negative. Any artist will tell you they just want to get better.

In case you missed the link above, you can download the entire album from the following link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XPQOOBDD