The Fourth major release in my nebulae music series is here. The 8 tracks on Nebulae Music Vol. IV: What We See explore the more rhythmic elements of electronic music.
Visit Nebulae Music Radio to hear the new album and the back catalogue, all in one place!
I had a lot of fun returning to my original electronic style i began with, and adding a new twist to it. Digging up some of the older tracks to work on was a trip down memory lane.
You can either stream the album through all your favorite streaming services like spotify and… well spotify. Others are available i guess, or you can buy the album from the store which includes a bonus track.
Yes, Nebulae Music is returning by no demand! A new volume in the series is set for a release at the end of August, with a promotional EP releasing mid august. The EP will blend the previous very ambient style with new rhythmic electronica.
The preceding single for my upcoming album “Erika” is now available on bandcamp. The two songs “Black Coffee” and “Hollow Words” are both songs from the album, which is set for a release on 14th August.
Please stay tuned to our Facebook Page or to the website for more news and upcoming music – Joe
Reminder that now we are officially “Marionette’s Manifesto” and independent record label/net label. There will be some new releases coming out in the next few months including my next solo release “Erika” which is very stripped down, singer-songwriter type stuff. “Leaden” will be hitting the studios soon to begin recording their debut album and a phantom from the past may be getting resurrected…
There has been updated to the youtube channel and all current releases (albums/EPs) from the label will be available to listen to in full on the channel (see playlist above). If you haven’t already seen it i released a small live video (below) of me recording some of my upcoming album “Erika”.
I have been working on a new album in my downtime and this one is a lot simpler than my other works. “Erika”, named after my first guitar, will be a singer-songwriter acoustic folk project where the songs will be just my guitar and voice (though some songs i have done some overdubs on) the most simplest and stripped down being the songs recorded in conjunction with “Live From His Bedroom” (see above video). I will also be including 4 bonus tracks which are demos of pieces from an EP i scrapped a couple of years back.
The Store itself has had an upgrade now with everything on one page in order of newest to oldest release, newest being the debut single “Pushing Up Daisies” from “Leaden“.
As the day begins my latest EP is now live across all digital stores and streaming platforms. Cat Food EP is a compilation of songs, some new and some old, which i have put together and revamped a bit with some new recording and a complete remix/master from Jeffro Lachsheide, who’s website you can visit here.
The album is available from Spotify, iTunes, Amazon music and many more stores and services online, links can be found here.
I am also playing a gig at The REC Rooms in Horsham where i will be selling CD copies of the EP along with CD’s of my album “Nebulae Music Volume III“. This is also the first time in a while that i will be performing with a backing band, this time round it’s drummer James Bracey, guitarist vocalist Lubi Blacksmith (both the latter are from the awesome band Parallax ) and bassist Grant Laurenson.
We have a great set of songs including a couple featured on the EP and a load of new material. Hope to see anyone reading this down there tonight if you can make it 😉
Below is a video reel from a practice session last week and there maybe some recordings as well coming soon!
Changes are happening to the website in full. I have updated the domain to “marionettesmanifesto.co.uk” to coincide with the name change. I have changed to the name as there is a music festival in america called Hot Air Music, so it avoids copyright issues. The original domain of “hotairmusicgroup.com” will remain active as a sub domain until November/December 2019.
Marionette’s Manifesto logo – designed by Gus Best
I will also be updating and social media under this name in the coming months, so don’t get confused!
My new release “Cat Food EP” is coming! The EP is a compilation of songs which have been re visited, a couple of new songs are included as well. The songs have been mixed and mastered by Jeffro Lacksheide of http://www.jeffromixesyou.com/. They sound awesome and i am really happy to have worked with him on this project, i insist you check him out if you want some really high quality mix/masters.
Cat Food EP front cover artwork
The EP will be released through streaming and digital music services on 7th February, a CD copy will also be available to those he see me play live. Speaking of live music, on the 7th i will also be playing with my backing band at The REC Rooms in Horsham. I am really excited about this as i have not played live with a backing band in a while so come on down if you can, tickets are available here. You can also respond to the event on Facebook!
I look forward to seeing you all there!
Finally i have uploaded a new cover to youtube. This time it’s “Something in the Way” by Nirvana. I cheated a little with this one as i wanted to upload solo acoustic covers, however i decided to add a cheeky guitar solo at the end to spice it up a lil! You can check out the video on youtube and also download the MP3 from soundcloud.
Thanks for all the support so far, stay tuned for more awesomeness – Joe
Did a small press photo shoot today around my local area with Callum Connah. Got some nice shots. We plan to do a second along with an album cover photo shoot in Worthing in a few months.
Photography – Callum Connah, Editing – Joseph Bagwell
Press Photo Shoot October 2018, Photo Credit: Callum Connah
Photo credit: Callum Connah
Press Photo Shoot October 2018, Photo Credit: Callum Connah
Press Photo Shoot October 2018, Photo Credit: Callum Connah
Press Photo Shoot October 2018, Photo Credit: Callum Connah
After months of anticipation, one of my favorite bands has released a new album. Midas are a symphonic rock band based in Japan who started their career in 1992 with their debut album “Beyond the Clear Air” released in 1988. Their first album is something i have talked about in an embarrassing video review on the internet *wink wink* .
Their newest release was a surprise to me. They originally had a website i would visit frequently to try and see whats happening with them, even though the articles are in Japanese you do get a sense and understanding of what happened from accompanying photos. Unfortunately the website seems to have been down for the past few months. However a week or so ago i did a search on them to see if there was any news on them or a new website, and sure enough i found something great!
Artwork to “Eternal Voyage” – painted by Takatsugu Shirakawa
Their new album “Eternal voyage”
The albums opens with the intense instrumental “Air brewer”. an exciting, dramatic and all round musically talented piece that introduces a new style for Midas. Friends i have played the track to make reference to metal and rock bands for the playing style mixed with folk, the reasoning can be heard around 3 minutes in where the section is started by a driven bass guitar, really cool. The continues with a synth solo and ends with a classic Midas violin solo from Eigo Utoh.
After this we spring into “a Trip for Five Seasons” which opens with a chippy cheerful synth riff, this opening highly reminds me of two tracks from their second album “Midas II”. The pieces in question are “La Festa” and “The Night Sky Lies Without a Word”, the latter of which was re recorded and released on their previous album “Eternal Voyage”. The second section of this song contains English lyrics which is good, i unfortunately can’t speak or read Japanese haha. The lyrics seem to cover themes of just carrying on and not worrying about the past, continue on and follow the seasons. a good message there. For those of you who may be confused about why it is “Five seasons” and not for (which was totally not me haha), in Japan they have an extra season between Spring and Summer called the Rainy Season. I think you can guess what it’s like from the name…
“a View of Sierra De Cobre” opens with a cool 80’s sounding synth bass line and merges with another one of Eigo Utohs classic quite mysterious sounding Violin solos. Listening just now i was thinking. I’ve listened to Midas for a while and they are one band that made me go into making music myself, i never really realized how much of an influence they have been really. Meanwhile back to the review. The song is actually one i have heard from a you tube video which upon a search or two i cannot seem to find. although the introductory violin solo was not there, it was a live video of them playing a year or two back and it was this song, or at least an early version. When i watched the video i knew they’d be releasing a new album. This is probably actually my favorite track because of it, i dunno. But it this song specifically just does stand.
From this we lead to my second favorite track “Long Lonesome Road”, an epic instrumental piece that builds up from the ground, like a cowboy walking off into the sunset, something like that. It grows from a duel violin/synth leading and then trails into an organ solo by Eisho Lynn. Eigo Utoh and drummer Masaru Henmi get their own awesome solos. The Piece is finished up with another violin solo then re emerges to the duet with synth and Violin.
are Penultimate track is “Blood on the Sands” which is dedicated to composer Ennio Morricone who composed for films such as “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” and “a Fistful of Dollars”, Both Clint Eastwood westerns which runs with the cowboy analogy. Reading the lyrics in the CD booklet just now i noticed a typo i think. The lyrics read “Feelig High” which i imagine is supposed to be “Feeling High”. I can only imagine this song now to be like a showdown between three cowboys or something .
The album itself apparently has a concept, as on the credits of the CD it is listed on there. If it does then i’d imagine it to based around westerns and cowboys as that is certainly the vibe i’m getting.
Time Robber is a sad sounding piece, almost like it’s about a failed love. Although i feel i like “Destiny Warriors” from their previous album better, it’s still a nice closer, and has almost a sing along chorus because half the lyrics for the chorus are in English which is nice, the ones in question and i quote from the CD booklet “Time Robber she said, Time Loser He said”. You can probably get from these lyrics why i get the impression of a love song from this one. It also contains one last beautiful and dramatic violin solos before the song it’self concludes almost cinematically and bringing the “Eternal Voyage” to a close.
All in all my view may be biased but i have to give this album a 4/5. It’s got some really great instrumental work, interesting concepts and does a brilliant job at doing something i feel you should always do with your music and that is blend the old with the new. If you change your style completely you risk alienating older fans where as having the blend allows you to keep your old fans whilst still progressing and being fresh.
Really good album and i recommend visiting their new website here. You can also purchase “Eternal Voyage” on Amazon or iTunes.
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