Halcyon are musicians/producers Barry Reid, John Somerville and Adam Sutherland. The band launched their new sound to a packed audience at Beat Bothy, held at the Arches in Febuary 2012, alongside Niteworks, DJ Dolphinboy, Chapalier Fou and MYLO. Halcyon is a mix of Electro/Techno/Big beat sounds with live instrumentation, along with guest vocal samples and bundles of energy for dancing. The aim is to create our own version of electronic dance music – using acoustic instruments like accordian and fiddle but using them with less conventional methods. The use of vocal samples is important to the sound too – but rather than sampling random records, we’ve chosen to sample vocalist friends that we know and love.

We’ve only got a couple of dates comfirmed just now but there’s more to come soon!

UPCOMING GIGS:
12 May – Inverie Hall, Knoydart
14 July – Wacklestein, Austria

Chop Struy_State of Mind MIX by Barry Reid

Keep track of Halcyon via Facebook or wearehalcyon

The Treacherous Orchestra story is one of many strands, a tale told spanning the length and breadth of Scotland. An un-definable collective force fusing people, concepts, styles and influences, shaping a musical supergroup that defies description. From the North to the South, East to the West they came, converging in the musical melting-pot of Glasgow, trading ideas over beers and playing music with ferocity, verve and passion.

Sea of Okhotsk Radio Edit by Treacherous Orchestra

These roots and strands – the essence of the band – are the stories of the members themselves, all emerging from their own musical habitat and adding their own distinctive identity. The band is composed of seasoned musicians who are already treading notable paths and reaching international recognition with other bands as performers, arrangers and composers.

Superfly Radio Edit by Treacherous Orchestra

The debut album ‘Origins’ was finally launched at the Celtic Connections Festival 2012 after many hours of hard work and effort by the band. They recorded in as many as 5 studios – live recordings and strings we’re engineered by Iain Hutchison, with additional engineering and album production by Barry Reid, Duncan Lyall and Ali Hutton.

If you’d like to purchase ‘Origins’ then please click here to go to the Treacherous Orchestra Shop

Footage from the bands Album Launch @ Celtic Connections 2012 – 02 ABC – Glasgow.

‘Meall a’ Bhuiridh’ is a new music composition written by Musician and Producer Barry Reid (Treacherous Orchestra, Halcyon, The MacCollective), inspired by and in conjuction with ‘Meall a’ Bhuiridh’, a fine art photographic project of Glencoe Ski Hill and surrounding area by visual artist and photographer Jennifer Wilcox.

In late 2010, Jennifer approached me regarding her Photographic research project of the history of Glencoe Ski Hill. She asked if I’d do some audio recordings of the area. The idea inspired me and I jumped at the chance. The project soon grew arms and legs with the proposal of writing a piece of music – so with the help of funding from Creative Scotland, I was able to get started!

I spent the winter of 2010/2011 with a sound recorder up on Glencoe Mountain and the surrounding area… trying to capture as many sounds as I could… which is way more tricky than I’d expected! I’ll be honest there was a lot of recordings of the howling wind! But with a bit of persistence, I was able to find what I was looking for.

So by using some of the best recordings, I was able to put a framework together for the final piece. Time signature and Key we’re dictated by the sounds of the chair lift masts and the metal clunking of the ski tows. The melodies we’re developed from ideas that I’d come up with whilst being out on the mountain.
Meall a’ Bhuiridh Commission Preview by Barry Reid

The final piece comprises of Fiddle, Viola, Accordian and Guitar, mixed with organic sounds from Glencoe and also some electronic sounds thrown in there too. Adam Sutherland, Feargus Hetherington and John Somerville accompanied me in playing the piece at The Universal in Glasgow and Glencoe Ski Centre at the beginning of March 2012.

Accompanying the piece, we had Jennifer’s Meall a’ Bhuiridh fine art photography on display and on projection. For a closer look, please go to jenniferwilcox.co.uk

Meall a’ Bhuiridh Commission and Interview with Barry Reid on the Radio Scotland’s ‘Global Gathering show’ – April 2012

‘In the Shadow of Stromboli’ is the latest album from London based Celtic Folk band The Long Notes. Following on from their first album back in 2008, the band decided to record their second at La Chunky Studios in Glasgow, with producer Ali Hutton and Engineer Barry Reid. So over a few sessions in the summer of 2011 we created ‘In the Shadow of Stromboli’ – a mixture of Irish, Scottish, French-Canadian, Galician, Quebecois, old-time tunes, plus some great tunes from band members Colette O’Leary, Jamie Smith and Brian Kelly. Also in the mix are a couple of songs, sung by band guitarist Alex Percy and guest vocalist Adam Holmes. The official album release is at Celtic Connections in 2012 but you can buy the album if you see them play live before then!

For more information on the band and their upcoming gigs, go to www.thelongnotes.com

‘Health and Safety’ is the brand new album from Funk Folk (Fulk?) band Man’s Ruin. Recorded, mixed and produced by Spad at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow. These guys we’re great to work with in the studio – well rehearsed, bang tight from the offset and absolutely hilarious too! All of the tracks went down mainly as live takes, which really helped retain a live band feel. Great songs, nice grooves to dance to and general all round entertainment.
The album is out now and can be purchased from the Man’s Ruin website mansruinmusic.com
Listen to some snippets of the album below, plus check out the video of Franic Funk!

Silence of the Frogs (snippet) by MacCriminal

Days of the Weak (snippet) by MacCriminal

Wash that World Away (snippet) by MacCriminal

‘Health and Safety’ Sessions – Summer 2011

‘Frantic Funk’ video – filmed at La Chunky Studios, by Somhairle MacDonald

Music: ‘Heed in the Clood‘
Film: ‘Mountain Biking in Kilmorack‘

The film was shot in the hills above where i grew up in Kilmorack, Inverness Shire – a place where I spent lots of time learning how to ride Mountain Bikes. When visiting family now, I still like to head out for a bike ride up in the backwoods of my old stomping ground. I thought it was about time a bit of it was captured behind a lens since it’s had such a big influence on my life as musician and a person. The tune ‘Heed in the Clood’ is part of a wave of new music that I’ve been working on over the last few months. More to come soon.

For more films and adventures in Scotland, go to www.high8.com

The Distil Workshops took an electronic direction this year, hosted by the legendary Bhangra duo Pops and Raj AKA TigerStyle. The weekend included an insight into the fusion of punjabi folk music with modern electronic beats and was also a great chance to record and arrange our own piece using punjabi and electronic instruments. So this is my resulting Distil Mix –  musicians include Pops on Tabla and Angus Lyon on Harmonium.

www.tigerstyleonline.co.uk

distil.ning.com

Here is the brand new video of my latest remix! Filmed and directed by the amazing Simone Smith, top class VJ and film maker from Glasgow. The remix is of a track called ‘Lament for Mr Thomas Grant’ from the album ‘Strewn with Ribbons‘ by Scottish fiddler Lauren MacColl. Hope you enjoy it!

Filmed and directed by Simone Smith
Film concept and edit by Simone and Spad
‘Girl on Beach’ – Natalie Smith
‘Shadow of fiddler’ – Lauren MacColl

The original track ‘Lament for Mr Thomas Grant’ consists of just fiddle and acoustic guitar so when I sat down to put together the remix, there was plenty of space and inspiration for creating rhythm and bass ideas around the melody. Writing beats in 6/8 time is not really that common in electronic music, so it was a good challenge and a worthwhile one too.

A big thank you to Lauren for letting us film her fiddle playing shadow for the video and also to Natalie for hours of fantastic beach dancing on a cold spring day! And of course a really big thank you to Simone for all her talent, hard work and patience! Looking forward to working on the next one ; )

More on the way soon…

Here’s a couple of tracks I mixed from the latest recording of the Hamish Napier Quintet. Live recordings we’re done at Strathclyde university and overdubs and mixing we’re done in my trusty wee studio at home.

These guys have been playing music together for a while now and it really shows. Tight, great musicianship and inspiring music all round. I reckon they’re a band to look out for in the future. Check out www.hamishnapier.com for info and videos of the band along with musings from hamish himself.