Integral – A music Track

“Integral” - An alien entity desperately seeks a safe haven in a hostile environment. 

Inspired by and dedicated to our NZ SAS ops in Bamiyan Province, Afghanistan. These are the guys that operate in the hills hunting down Taliban insurgents sneaking in from Pakistan. Also, they have recently been involved in a couple of prominent, and controversial, fire fights in Kabul.

The exposed face in photo above is Corporal Willie Apiata, recipient of the Victoria Cross in 2008.

There was no sense in hiding his face as he is the most widely exposed SAS soldier here due to the publicity of his bravery and honor.

 

Damned if You Don’t

This track and composition is my first project in collaboration with another artist. The song itself is a cyberpunk rant, generally about life, love art, politics and religion. I possibly could have just said “life”!

I can’t sing, well, not in the human pitch range, so I needed a vocalist. I had recently joined MySpace. That was back in the day when it was a happening thing. A couple of my first “friends” were The Dsider, an Italian singer, and Annawhity (Anna Bianco, an Italian film maker who helped me with the lyrics on La Mia Voce).

I approached The Dsider, otherwise known as Giuseppe Calandrini, and he agreed to have a look at the song. At that time Giuseppe was fronting a Depesche Mode tribute band but has currently teamed up with a digital audio producer and formed the project “Inter-Connection”.

Well, anyway, he obviously did the vocal for me because here it is …

 

Lyrics -

The more and more I try to learn

the less I understand.

I need a guiding angel

to take me by the hand.

I gave my heart to Lucy

then I found it on the floor

I don’t know why she did that

but she’s heading for the door.

She showed me how to do it

and I tried and tried all day

but I never seem to get it right

and now she’s gone away.

Damned if I do! …

I gave my soul to Jesus

then I found it on the floor.

I don’t know why he did that

but he’s heading for the door.

I’d try to catch him up

but he’s on a different level,

I guess I’ll just get it back

and give it to the devil.

The devil doesn’t want it

he says “it’s far to small -

why don’t you just take it out

and nail it to the wall?”

The people came and looked at it

and thought it was real funny,

they said “it looks like ‘nothing else’ -

and won’t make any money”.

Damned if I do! …

I never want to play again

just work and work all day,

make a heap of dollars

and then give them all away.

There’s destroyers off the starboard bow

I saw them coming in,

they’re here to keep us safe from harm

and scare off Fat Boy Slim.

They want us to be square and neat

and stand in little rows,

but I can feel the itching feet

starting from my toes.

Damned if I do! …

damned if you don’t

I’m damned if I do! …

damned if you don’t

© 2007 Denton Perry

ship

This, my third (March 2011) EP album of electro compositions, takes a look at the resonance and flow of the human environment. That is the “built” environment where man shapes the spaces and the places. Do these infernal machines serve us? Or, are we here to serve the machines. Place some oil here, tighten that nut there. Maybe we just need to throw the spanner into the works? Invoke a little “industrial disease”.

Whensome - An impression of the sound of habitation: celebrating the industrial soundtrack to modern life.

The acknowledgement of frustration at the human condition and the realization that if you do not accept it, it will drive you insane.

Just another odyssey of triumph and pain!

Ten Eleven - Galactic euphoniums herald the workers triumph of another day done! This work conveys the feelings of the Happy Worker celebrating the end of another day at the ‘grind’, going home with a pocket full of pennies for a pie and a beer.

Time to contemplate the pulsing phases of life forever on the verge of total chaos.

Understand This! - Sometimes I just despair at the lack of understanding between people. Is it not possible to just take a small look at the other person’s point of view? Are you in so much of a hurry that you can’t spare a few minutes to try to understand? Just where is it that you are going that demands such arrogance and ignorance? Jupiter?

eFactor - The industrial environment, rich with the beauty of struts, braces, columns and beams. The symmetry of structure and construction conspires to confound the mind and sooth the senses. Machines abound to punctuate your existence with pistons, cogs and hammers.

The Beacon - From a far galaxy a signal is detected. Is this a beacon to lead us to a new age of tolerance and understanding?

All free downloads are 128kps mp3.

Purchased tracks are 320kps mp3.

 

Labwerk

This is my second EP album of digital compositions, released in April 2010, representing my explorations of my Digital Audio software and getting to grips with the various synthesizers, sequencers, filters, loops and effects lurking within my computer.

As I have discovered sounds, effects or instruments that have caught my interest I have developed a composition around the “theme” suggested by them. So, these are the results of being hunkered down in the “lab” and basically just puttering around.

House of the Moon- A journey in time and a celebration of the similar Moorish influences and underlying backgrounds of both Venice and Andalucia.

Land of the Brave - An anthem for a new era of respect and gallantry. Suggested by recent visits to Spain, Italy and Malta plus the reading of several historic novels regarding the Templar and Norman knights during the crusades and also the Knights of St John during the siege of Malta.

Spies in the Night - Some retro synth hype found lurking in a dark corner. OK, so who doesn’t like a good spy? James Bond 007, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Avengers, Danger Man!

What You Gonna do With That Now? - Mucking about with the keys one day, checking out my new Logic Express software, and this sort of fell out.

Counting One - Computers do that – 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. . . .

 

The Black Beach

The Black Beach suite is an attempt to celebrate and convey the powerful beauty, mystery and solace of the Aotea Harbour environment, located on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island.

With it’s vast dunes and black ironsand beaches, wild and changeable weather plus the historic significance as the landing place of one of the first canoes from Hawaiki, the “Aotea”, this place has a moving spirit that can be felt on arrival. To fully appreciate the effect of this place on me and how it has influenced the music you need to understand the events of discovery, realisation and occupation.

My wife and I are both artists and designers, both working in demanding and exacting fields. The pressure and stresses of a week finding solutions and meeting deadlines can take it’s toll. Add in compounding family responsibilities of that time, plus the frantic city pace and traffic gridlocks and suddenly one needs a refuge.

Finding Aotea Harbour and village in 2003 provided just that refuge that we had been seeking for so many years. The purchase of a small bach gave us a place to escape to each weekend, and we did this for two and a half years, until finally figuring out that the respite of our ‘refuge’ could become a permanent situation. A change in lifestyle and some clever ideas saw us move permanently to Aotea Harbour and take up residence in the bach, well away from the falsehood and mayhem of the city life. It was a hard call at the time and took much courage but the rewards of our new lifestyle were beyond measure.

This is a suite of compositions that I wrote and recorded in 2007 while at Aotea and is also my first writing and digital audio project.

And So The Tide (intro)- Setting the mood. The background ambient soundtrack of distant surf competing with the insistent wind. The feeling builds as the eyes take in the majestic sand dunes and swirling tide.

The vibrations can be felt through the feet. There is a presence here. A stirring spirit can be felt as the slumbering Taniwha awakens.

BE AWARE – the Taniwha is coming to correct the errors and mis-deeds of the uncaring and ignorant miscreants sleeping in the sun. Here he comes … Phat Eddie …!

 

Refuge - This is theprincipal soundscape from the Black Beach, our ‘refuge’ away from the hustle of city life. ‘Refuge’ also is a sculpture by Janne Perry based on a spider´s nesting web, often seen on the tip of a gorse frond. This is the subject on the album cover and, for us, has come to symbolise the peace and sense of ‘place’ that we we found there at Aotea Harbour.

This piece also recognises the need for ‘refuge’ by all members of modern society, whether physical, psychological, emotional or spiritual. A place of peace. A place to dwell on finding self. A place to ponder the warped paths of life.

Moon in the Water- Sitting on our deck on a cool, crisp, winter night looking at the newly risen moon reflected in the calm water of the harbour.

The Daughter of the Night – She calls the mind to contemplate. It sings in through the eyes filling the head-space with tranquility and displacing the calamity and chaos of the working week.

Glimmer - This soundscape expresses the growing glimmer of hope for those emerging from the refuge.

The growing realisation of those emerging from their shelter from persecution that there is finally an opportunity for expression. They have reached the point where their efforts can make a difference. The poor starving artists finally see an opportunity to speak out, but only to realise that nobody want’s to listen. They have to make them listen. Fill the world with light and cast off the shadows.

Tales From Another Beach- A bit of an interlude here. This is in response to a holiday in Spain in September 2006 and a wild night of flamenco in the ‘old town’ part of Marbella. The ‘show’ started at 11:00pm and ended at 4:00am. Never to be forgotten!

 

We moved back to the city of Tauranga on the east coast in July 2009, but fortunately we brought the lessons and lifestyle changes back with us. However, this place will always be close to our souls as also with those who ever visited us there. You still feel the power and the “presence” whenever you arrive there and look upon those majestic dunes across the harbour inlet.

Notes – Taniwha (tan-ee-far) – Mythical Maori spirits or demons that inhabit special land features. Usually considered as guardians and not to be messed with unless you want to wake up one morning with an extra head.