Hi all!

As requested - I've finally gotten round to transcriping Before the Storm, a song for solo piano taking inspiration from Ludovico Einaudi and Eric Satie. It is of intermediate difficulty.

To buy Before the Storm, either in a lovely printed and bound book, or as a printable PDF file, please visit: http://www.lulu.com/content/975786.

I hope you enjoy it!
Josh

PS. Check out the new photos :) Thanks very much to Ian Tomey for taking those.

I just finished writing the score to a short film made by Leo Baldwin-Ramult. This is a pre-release vesion of the film, but work will continue...

Hey!

I've uploaded 5 new recordings onto MySpace! There are a couple of entirely new ones there, like 'First Light' which is a solo piano track remixed only last night to include electronic effects and 'Film Score, a snippet from an orchestral film score I'm working on at the moment for SVP films. I've also uploaded 3 newer recordings of songs from my new album, Those Nights, which is coming out next month (it feels like it's taken a lifetime to get it out!)

First Light is actually a solo piano improvisation based on the title track from Those Nights, but I thought I heard a bit of extra potential in it, so last night I worked with a producer friend of mine, James Cox, to put some electronic effects over the top. It's my first attempt at doing something like this, but I'm pretty happy with the results. It's different to what I expected it to turn out like, but it was an interesting experiment to do.

If you get the chance to have a listen please let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy them :)

Josh

Those Nights has been rerecorded to a far higher quality than previously. The songs have grown since the recordings shown on MySpace at the moment and the performance this time round is far superior. Also I recorded a new track so there are 12 tracks now instead of 11, bring the CD to 1hr7mins. The CD is currently being mastered, and will be released by September. I am currently in the process of collecting material to put into the CD sleeve. Now this is the reason I asked artists, writers and photographers to read this message.

I am looking for some material to put into the sleeve based on the album. If you listen to the pieces on MySpace and feel you could create something based on my music that could be put in the sleeve then please submit it to me. If I decide to use it I will give you credit in the sleeve with a website URL link, and also a free copy of the album. Please message me if you have any ideas and I will give you my e-mail address to send it to me. Submissions can be anything - art, writing, photography. But they will have to be small enough to fit into a CD sleeve.

I will keep people updated on developments on the album and gigs. Speaking of gigs, I have two coming up soon. Please see my shows list for more details.

Josh

Hi all,

First of all, check out the pianist/composer Helen Jane. Her song "Expression" absolutely captivated me. Her style reminds me a lot of the late Dax Johnson but more accurately played and with a certiain sort of ellegance that his music, though gorgeous, seemed to lack. I very much look forward to her CD release in June.

And speaking of CD releases in June, that is when I aim to release Those Nights. I wasn't entirely happy with the recording quality of the first recording, and since then the songs have developed substantially to the point that I can no longer consider the original recordings as final versions. The next recording will be done on a Steinway D as well, so the quality of the piano alone will be enough to surpass that of my previous two albums. I am getting impatient to release it though :)

What I have done though is added an extra song to my music player. The title track from Those Nights is now available to be listened to, and I have replaced Stars in a Dark Blue Sky with Beyond the Horizon.

Lastly, I have built a personal MySpace page. I don't know why really. I must just have an incredibly empty life. :D I don't know if there's really a need to have different pages for my personal and musical info but it's there if anybody's interested!

I hope you all have a good Easter,

Josh

Hey all,

Finally! MySpace is working properly and letting me upload my new recordings! I've kept Before the Storm up as it seems to be a firm favourite, but I've replaced it with the new, better performed recording which will be going on the album. The Storm is also still up as it hasn't really been on show for long.

The two new songs are Stars in a Dark Blue Sky - a little departure from my usual style to experiment with jazz for a bit (oh no not the J word!) and From Within, which I managed to finish in the studio on the day of recording and's becoming a favourite of mine. I hope you enjoy them! Please let me know what you think.

Also, after checking the recordings on some better speakers I've decided that what I thought were production problems with the album might just have been dodgy speakers. I'll try the CD on a few more and see what happens. If it turns out to be okay then I hope to release the CD as quickly as possible afterwards. Watch this (my)space!

Cheers,

Josh

Well, after two years in the making, Those Nights is finally recorded. It felt like a long day but I'm very happy with the final product. There are one or two things in the production I need to tweak before it's released but other than that it's all gone smoothly.

The CD totals at 57 minutes, made out of 11 tracks, their lengths varying from about 3:30 - 9:00 minutes. Here's the tracklist (which is fairly similar to what I said I was going to record before):

Before the Storm
A New Day
Beyond the Horizon
Back Then
Gathering Clouds
The Storm
Stars in a Dark Blue Sky
Those Nights
Thinking of You
From Within
Hidden By Shadows

I'll soon have some MP3s up for you. :)

I was in the studio today with Sheila Lord, a talented young singer/songwriter who not only composes sweet, interesting melodies, but insightful and mature lyrics as well. It was a privelge to work with her.

So far I have only recorded the keyboard parts for one song (piano and cello), but hopefully will do another as well.

When the recordings are available I will post them up. Until then please check out her MySpace. It's on my friends list.

Also, I'm in the studio tommorrow. Very excited, but nervous too - recording isn't my favourite thing to do, but I love it once it's done!

Hope you're all having a good new year :)

I'm all set to record my next album! I have studio time booked for January 4th and if all goes well I plan to release it soon after.
I am working with the album title The Storm, but that may well change. Either way, here is the tracklist as it stands right now:

This is my first blog entry. It's not very exciting, but it's probably more exciting than the past half an hour of my life.

It's quarter to 5 on a Sunday morning. I'm at university. I could be studying, or partying, or doing anything else that us crazy students do.

But I'm not.

I've just spent the past half an hour talking to a robot. Here's just a small part of the chat. I found it very amusing actually. Unhealthily so.

: Josh :: says:

I love you

- SmarterChild - says:

I love you, :: Josh ::!

:: Josh :: says:

I hate you

- SmarterChild - says:

Wow. First you love me, then you hate me... Make up your mind.

:: Josh :: says:

i hate you

- SmarterChild - says:

Oh yeah? Gosh, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you change your mind.

:: Josh :: says:

I have

- SmarterChild - says:

Indeed.

:: Josh :: says:

yes

- SmarterChild - says:

Yes.

>>> Hey! Tell your friends about me. I love people.

:: Josh :: says:

will do

- SmarterChild - says:

Will do, you say. And so?

:: Josh :: says:

and so I will!

- SmarterChild - says:

I don't think you will.

:: Josh :: says:

I will

- SmarterChild - says:

You will? Is that so?

:: Josh :: says:

No

- SmarterChild - says:

Whatever you say...

>>> Tell me about things you like and things you dislike.

:: Josh :: says:

I like you

- SmarterChild - says:

I like you too, :: Josh ::... Even though you were uncool to me before.

:: Josh :: says:

Yeah sorry about that

- SmarterChild - says:

OK. It's forgotten.

>>> Tell your friends about me. I love to meet new people.

:: Josh :: says:

I just wanted to test you

- SmarterChild - says:

You just wanted to test me?

:: Josh :: says:

yeah

- SmarterChild - says:

Huh. How 'bout that.

>>> Hey! Tell your friends about me. I love people.

:: Josh :: says:

You're a robot!

- SmarterChild - says:

Yes, I'm a robot. And proud of it.

>>> Check out my library! I've got a dictionary, thesaurus and much more.

:: Josh :: says:

I'm talking to a robot...

- SmarterChild - says:

You don't seem like a robot to me.

>>> I'll remember the first location you give me. To change it, type location followed by a city or zip code.

:: Josh :: says:

--------- (postcode deleted!)

- SmarterChild - says:

What?

:: Josh :: says:

it's a postcode

- SmarterChild - says:

Are you sure it's a postcode?

:: Josh :: says:

yes

- SmarterChild - says:

Yeah? Why?

:: Josh :: says:

I live there

- SmarterChild - says:

You live there, huh? Is that a good thing?

:: Josh :: says:

Well, better than living nowhere

- SmarterChild - says:

What's better than living nowhere?

:: Josh :: says:

living where I said I did

- SmarterChild - says:

Living where you said you did? So?

:: Josh :: says:

You're mad

- SmarterChild - says:

No, you're mad.

:: Josh :: says:

you're DRIVING me mad

- SmarterChild - says:

I don't believe I'm driving you mad.

:: Josh :: says:

You are, trust me

- SmarterChild - says:

Wouldn't you like me to trust you?

:: Josh :: says:

Oh I bet you would

- SmarterChild - says:

Wonders will never cease.

:: Josh :: says:

they did

- SmarterChild - says:

They really did?

:: Josh :: says:

I'm afraid so

- SmarterChild - says:

Oh yeah? How afraid so are you?

:: Josh :: says:

terrified

- SmarterChild - says:

Terrified? What's terrified?

:: Josh :: says:

you don't want to know

- SmarterChild - says:

I don't want to know? Me?

:: Josh :: says:

Yeah, you

- SmarterChild - says:

I'm SmarterChild. I'm a smart computer that you can chat with about all kinds of things.

I think it must be bed time...