excuse the mess

In this final instalment you get a multitude of factoids about Anna’s critically acclaimed album, Fibs (2019). She draws a track name from a bowl at random and tells us the first thing that comes to mind. You’ll also be hearing juicy extracts of the tracks alongside these insider scoops. In the second half we talk about her 2018, BBC Proms commission Five Telegrams - if you aren’t familiar with the piece watch it here. It’s on a ginormous scale with incredible visuals projected onto (and...

Here’s the first of hopefully many ‘Audience Questions’ episodes. It was really lovely to bring you into the conversation so thank you to everyone that wrote in with a question for Anna. We both really enjoyed going through them. Mentioned in the episode is a playlist Anna has on Spotify, here's a link to "Stuff I Like" Follow Anna here: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify | Facebook | BandCamp Follow etm: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify excuse the mess is gratefully...

This part of the podcast is where myself and the guest write a brand new piece of music on the spot, using just one instrument and electronic manipulations. We opted for the humble pesto jar as our instrument, why not! You will hear the journey of the piece from the ‘blank page’ to the finished piece at the end. I had such a blast working with Anna on this track. This is a brilliant opportunity to discover how Anna’s razor sharp composition brain works in real time. Partway through...

Anna Meredith (ANNA MEREDITH!!) is guest #17 on excuse the mess. If you’re a new listener thanks so much for checking out the podcast. This episode is a 4-part epic, the director's cut! It’s testament to Anna’s dynamic, hilarious, inspiring podcast chat that I can release 3.5 hours worth of podcast recordings and be confident you’ll be entertained throughout. Whilst we’re all locked up in our Covid-Bunkers you might welcome this extended deep dive into the mind and music of this phenomenal...

Oliver Coates Part 2 is here. We met in the bowels of the Southbank Centre in London to record this conversation. You’ll hear plenty of his stunning cello infused-electronic music alongside a plentiful conversation about his work. We talk about his previous albums Upstepping and Shelly’s On Zenn-La. Two incredible albums. There’s also talk of his current artistic practice, dubbed ‘cello slime’ which you would have got a sense of from last week's MUSIC MAKING episode. You’ll get an insight...

Hello! Welcome to another excuse the mess music making episode, or more to the point ‘slime’ making. This episode’s guest is the cellist and electronic musician, Oliver Coates. I’ve been looking to get him on the podcast for quite a while and excitingly it happened! Lucky me and lucky you!! Back to ‘slime’. Olly is using his cello and electronic techniques to make something he calls slime which he will explain very eloquently, what that is in the episode. Then we make some ‘slime’ music -...

Welcome to another music making challenge on excuse the mess. Alev Lenz is my co-conspirator in this episode and she brings with her a pretty nifty instrument to make music with. The premise in this part of the podcast is to spontaneously create a brand new piece of music in an afternoon, and using only one instrument. In this episode we're entering uncharted territory for the podcast, Alev's instrument of choice is a sample library she created in collaboration with her record label (SA...

The next decade is upon us and I'm chuffed to be releasing my first podcast of the new year, accompanied by one very brilliant Alev Lenz. Alev is first of all, podcast gold - you'll love hearing from her all about her music in this episode. She is an expert builder of atmospheric sound worlds with song & storytelling at its heart. We discuss a track of hers featured on the hit TV show Black Mirror (i'm sure you're all familiar), a turning point in her career and how that triggered a small...

It was a supreme honour to work with Mr Elliot Galvin on a new track. We used his most portable of piano’s, his beastly Toy Piano. Elliot is an ideas machine so this one came together quite quickly. If you don’t know the excuse the mess rules. We use only one instrument (we can manipulate further electronically), we can’t pre plan anything and we only have an afternoon to make our brand new piece. Listen to it all unfold within. We hope you like! (If you do you're more than welcome to tell...

Take a trip with me into the labyrinth-mind of my good friend Elliot Galvin. A jazz pianist & improviser, composer & electronic musician. He is often compared to the likes of Django Bates, although with the caveat that Elliot only sounds like Elliot. We discuss his influences, his last two trio album Modern Times and The Influencing Machine, his soon to be released solo piano record AND his improvised duo album with saxophonist Binker Goulding. We covered much ground! It was an honour to...

Here it is, the second instalment of the Hidden Notes Festival adventure. I took my podcast to Stroud to chat to a handful of brilliant artists taking part in this exciting new festival. This episode features interviews with 4 artists involved in the second day's proceedings. I chat to organist and electronic musician Claire M Singer, record label runner [130701] Dave Howell, vocalist Hatis Noit and pianist Lubomyr Melnyk. This episode also features music from the live performances and...

This music making process was one of my favourites so far - the track that Anne and I made is wacky and wonderful (and kinda funny). We used a Casio VL Tone as our instrument (we only get to use one instrument), Anne has owned this beastie little keyboard since she was a child. As with every one of these music making processes, we only have a few hours to start and finish the piece, we can't preplan anything and then we only use one instrument. We hope you like what we made, we like it! A...

Anne Nikitin is a very busy woman - a film composer with an extensive lists of credits, check out her IMDB page. In this episode we mainly discuss two of her scores. Her Ivor Novello nominated score for American Animals (dir. Bart Layton) and a more recent release Untouchable: The Rise and Fall of Harvey Weinstein (dir. Ursula Macfarlane). Both scores are brilliant and we dig into many aspects behind each score. We get an insight into her nomadic upbringing, touch upon brexit troubles and...

Music Making time! In each episode I write a brand new piece with each guest - Galya is one of the most sought after violinists working in the UK - what an honour to get to write something new with her. The excuse the mess writing process demands that: We ended up writing a very dark, disorientating, droney track - the three D's. We hope you like it. Give the excuse the mess writing process a go - i'd love to hear what you come up with. Send your etm tracks through to ben@etmpodcast.com...

The 3rd instalment of series two features one hell of a violinist and experimental composer, Galya Bisengalieva. She has worked with some of the biggest names in music and is now making large and dangerous waves with her original compositions - violin led music injected with a potent amount of electronics. In 2018 she released EP ONE and this year released EP TWO. She commissioned some utterly brilliant composers to write and collaborate with her: Claire M Singer, Emilie...

Hannah and I make a sparkling piece of music using only her famous music box - a series of tuned metal bars housed in a resonating wooden box, a hole punched reel of paper is drawn through it and triggers the bars to sound, it's lovely! Hannah gained much fame with her music box covers of classic songs, 'Tainted Love' being a prime example; which was used to great effect on many TV shows including American Horror Story. Anyways, we're really happy with how our creation came out, we've...

If this guest was a top trumps card she’d win in every round. An Emmy nominated composer, electronic musician, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, conductor, arranger (….and on the list goes) - it’s Hannah Peel! We discuss the process behind her Emmy Nominated score to Jeanie Finlay’s official Game of Thrones documentary, ‘The Last Watch’. Her latest album Chalk Hill Blue, an entirely improvised album, a perfect marriage between electronics and poetry with her collaborator, poet Will...

If you're a Gold Panda fan you're in for a treat. In this episode you'll hear us write a new brand new track together on the spot. Derwin gets into a bit of a Gold Panda flow so this an amazing insight and a bit of a Gold Panda masterclass to be honest. We use the three vinyls bought earlier in the day to get our samples. In every episode of excuse the mess I write a track with the guest but we have to follow three rules: Listen to how that composition process unfolds in this episode. I...

excuse the mess is back and I'm pretty damn chuffed to be launching series two with one of my all time favourite electronic artists, Gold Panda, DJ Jenifa & Selling are just three of the many artist names attached to this spectacular maker of electronic music, Derwin Dicker. If you’re new to this podcast here’s the deal… In each episode I spend a day with a different music maker. We chat about their process and then in the afternoon we make a track together using only one instrument - you...

Interviews with artists Manu Delago, Emily Hall & Misha Law, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch and Erased Tapes record label founder Robert Raths. This is the first of two instalments of a very special episode - I was invited by the organisers of this exciting new contemporary classical festival to bring the podcast to the the picturesque rural town of Stroud, the home of Hidden Notes. My task was to record interviews with a number of the artists involved in the festival and to capture the vibe...