Happy Christmas and thanks for your support

Here's wishing all of you a very happy Christmas, a great 2007.

Thanks for playing my tracks, especially for all those great comments and messages, and for being very supportive about the music I've made. It means a lot to me.

Also, a big "thank you" to those of you who've taken the time to play my music on your radio shows, in your DJ sets, in clubs and bars, and helping to spread the word. It's the first time anyone's taken this much interest and shown so much support for what I'm doing, so thanks for making it a great year! Hopefully I can get some live stuff organised for 2007!

***Get 4 free tracks at myspace, or my 9-track at musicfreedom, or make me rich in 2007 and buy some tracks at Indiestore!

Alternatively, if you'd like the tracks on CD for £5 (limited time only), please contact me here

Bye for now....
Tim B

rare mistrust track download

"Say your name (acoustic version)" free to download.....

This is a rare track of mine that I've uploaded to my new profile page at Betarecords. It's rare in the fact that it's got me singing on it. I don't really do "vocals" - most of my stuff is instrumental and coincides with me not being able to sing very well! I recorded it about 2 years ago and the guitar on it is a "vst" guitar. The track can be streamed or downloaded for free from the links below.

Click to play "Say your name" (mp3)

Click to download "Say your name" (mp3)

Have a listen and see what you think!

Paul Harrisons music

My stepson, Paul (aged 14), now has his track "Slo-mo" up on myspace. See my stepson made a tune" for more info about how he came to make the tune. He's getting quite a lot of plays at the moment. If you're myspacer, please add him!

m-audio sputnik for sale

If you've read the blog post I put up a while ago (My letter published in Future Music mag - 12th July 2006) about me winning an M-Audio Sputnik professional microphone from Future Music magazine in the UK. Well, after months of waiting, the mic has finally arrived...only for me to put it up for sale on Ebay! If you're interested in buying it (UK-only), it's a multi-patterned large diaphragm vacuum tube condenser microphone - more info here - on the M-Audio website.

M-Audio Sputnik microphone on ebay

Happy bidding!!!

My stepson made a tune

My stepson, Paul, decided he wanted to have a go at making up a tune when I was messing around on a new piece of software called Cantabile. He came up with a simple melody and we put it into Acid Pro. I helped him with the production/mastering but most of the stuff was his idea. Paul's only 14 this month and not really very musical, and he's not "into" bands or anything like that, so I was really surprised at what he came up with. It's the first thing he's done!

Please have a listen to Paul's tune, "Slo-mo" by playing or downloading it at the Unsigned Band Web. He's had 47 plays and 12 downloads so far. If you like it, please leave a comment in his guestbook on the site.

mistrust website revamped

Hello there
You'll probably have seen that both my website and this blog have been revamped! They're both a little bit minimal though. I wanted to get back to some clean lines until I relaunch them both properly when I release some new tracks. The main thing about the website is the new live blogfeed that's on there, so you read headlines from my latest blog posts. Happy reading!

Don't forget....mistrust you can listen to mistrust music here:

slashmusic
indiestore
myspace
popworld promotes


Go on - make me not so rich and download a track at indiestore........

Vote for me on Listen to Manchester

I'm now in the Top 10 of the Listen to Manchester Chart - please visit the site and play my tracks on there, especially "Croydon Library". You can rate the tracks too - which gets me further up the chart! There are a lot of other Manchester bands on there too - mainly indie and rock bands, so I'm extra-pleased that my downtempo tracks are doing so well!

Listen to Manchester

Me on "Listen to Manchester" website

"Listen to Manchester"...

Recently found a nice little website called "Listen to Manchester" - dedicated to all of Manchester's unsigned and indie music-makers. There are song and gig reviews, and band profiles. I'm on there with "Croydon Library" and "For all we've done". There are 65 artists and bands up there so far, so any music makers from Manchester UK (Bolton, Salford, etc are included), drop by and sign up, and if you're a Manc and just like good local music, have a listen and lend your support.

I'm number 17 in their chart at the moment (out of about 110) - it's all indie and rock bands on there, and I'm the only downtempo/chillout artist - so I'm doing quite well!!

mistrust on "Listen to Manchester"

Opera browser and blogging....

Someone recommended the Opera web browser to me the other day and I thought I'd give it a spin - seems ok, 
not bad at all.  Seems much faster to load pages than IE or Firefox. Must say I was keen on Firefox but it
still seems a bit buggy and takes up a lot of memory on my slow machine at home. 

Opera has some great little programs called "widgets" - allsorts of things from mini clocks to torrent downloaders. I've managed to create on of my own - it's a live blog-feed of this very blog, so you can now keep an eye out for what I get to everytime you go on the web....

Download the world of mistrust widget here

Thanks for reading!
 

Croydon Library rides again....

"Croydon Library (DDT Mix)" continues to be played around and about, despite it's being nearly 2 years old....

It's now on the O'Neill Europe website - featured in the surfing DVD/promo film "Deep Blue Open 2005" - which is available for download/stream from the site. "Never Alone (remix)" and "Hello" are also included. It's also in a biography video of the world famous surfer Trent Munro, along with "Never Alone (remix)".

In the last month:
- -CL was played by The Only Michael (DJ) at Sundowner 2 in Sheffield.
- On Mishkas Radio (in Lithuania)

More news:
My track "For All we've done" was chosen as "Downtempo Groove of the week" by DJ Uch in the USA. Uch broadcasts on Downshift.com.

"Not another online, unknown radio show?", I hear you ask. I'd normally say the same thing, but for 2 things: 1 - DJ Uch and the other DJs on the station play in a lot of the underground and lounge clubs in New York. 2 - Previous "..of the week" artists include Zero7, Everything but Girl and recent playlists have included Armin Van Buuren and New Order. Maybe some more exposure in the USA.....

Check out their Archive page next week for a streaming video of the show....

More soon...

Croydon Library on a Mishkas Radio....

One of my tracks on Myspace - "Croydon Library" - has been included in Mishkas 007, the latest podcast mix at Mishkas Radio. It's one of 16 tracks from up-and-coming indie artists, including fellow myspacers, Obedientbone. Have a listen here....

Download Mishkas 007 // Stream Mishkas 007 // Tracklist // Mishkas Podcast feed (Drag or copy this link into iTunes/podcaster)

Mishkas is run by 2 UK ex-patriots who live in Lithuania. They describe their podcasts as:

"We take an eclectic mix of the best music from independent labels and unsigned artists. Genres include hiphop, braindance, idm, electronic, electronica, house, techno, breaks, jungle, drum and bass, alternative, rock, eclectic, dance"

They're currently looking out for new music for upcoming podcasts, so why not check them out at Mishkas.com

Thanks -
Tim B

My letter published in Future Music mag....

I've just found out that the letter I sent to Future Music magazine last month about the imminent demise of Electromancer (read more here) was published in the latest edition. It's pretty much the same as I wrote here in this blog, saying how great everyone was on the 'mancer and that there aren't too many sites like that anymore.

Here's the letter in full:

Following on from the list of independent musicians websites that you
featured in the latest issue of Future Music, I'd like to sing the praises
of the site that came top of your list.....
Electromancer.com, the site where I first put my music on the internet, is
to close. It's run by one man, Marvey Mills, and has been going for quite a
few years now, giving unsigned artists the chance to promote their music in
a non-threatening, non-competitive environment. It's not about people
chasing record labels, it's a place where musicians can share their work
with like-minded people. Marv cites increasing running costs, increasing
"free" membership numbers, but fewer members who are prepared to pay for
"Platinum" membership (I hold my hand up to that!), and the fact that it
takes a helluva time to manage and maintain it all. Marv also makes music
under the name FBF (retro, 80s electronica - he's a fan of John Foxx, well
worth a listen). 
I first came across Electromancer in December 2003, when I'd started to
think about doing something with my music other than playing it to my
family. A few people had said that "Never Alone" and "I travel" were good
enough to go on the web, and I had a look around for some sites to help me
test the water, and where I could be anonymous enough if people thought my
stuff was rubbish. In fact, I got quite the opposite reaction! Everyone who
heard the tracks and wrote a review or comment was really positive. One
reviewer said that Never Alone was "worthy of a small record label
release". That hasn't happened yet, but the track has since been played by
a number of DJs in clubs up and down the UK. The same track got to Number 2
in the Electromancer download chart in its first full month. The site, its
owner, and members have had a massive influence on me and my music. They've
written some great reviews , and really inspired me to keep making music. I
wouldn't be where I am today with my music if it wasn't for Marv and the
Electromancer people. Things have taken off a bit for me recently, but it
still feels like "home", and I'll miss it. It's definitely the end of an
era, as there aren't any other music sites like this around anymore.
 
Electromancer will close on 3rd October 2006. In the meantime, please visit
the site and support some great musicians.

Have a look at my Electromancer page here. There are 3 free tracks on there too.

Website back up again....

It seems as though my website (this one you're on now!) has been down for a couple of weeks. I've been told that there were major problems at Portland.co.uk, the compnay hosting my site. All is back to normal now, it's just a pain that it's been down. Apologies to everyone who's been trying to access the site.

Channel 4's "My Music"

Don't know if I mentioned this before now, but I've got a profile page on Channel 4's "My Music" (aka "SlashMusic"). Had one for a while, but I've only just added a biography so anyone who's been on the site before now won't know too much about me. It's just another presence really, but you can vote for me if you like......

mistrust on slashmusic

Distinct lack of updates on my website at the moment, but I'm hoping to get some new stuff up there soon. In the meantime, please download my recent album on musicfreedom.....

"Making movies"

I'm thinking about doing some soundtrack competition on the BBC website, and I'm finishing a track based on a speech by George "Dubya" Bush, so I'm not really wasting my time!

Laptop heaven....?

It's probably no coincidence that my workhorse pc decided to go to sleep on me at virtually the same time my shiny new laptop arrived (see below). I need to copy loads of stuff over to my portable, so I can get to work arranging something for some possible gigs later in the year, but the desktop pc wouldn't hand over all its contents without a fight.

It would be useful to have a MIDI controller or keyboard for this forthcoming live stuff....
I made the mistake of selling my Evolution 49-note keyboard 6 weeks ago, as I thought I could get a smaller, more portable, USB-connecting, one cheap on ebay. What a fool I am - half of the UK's musicians are looking for the same thing, and the prices are soaring. I might have to end up using a cheap Casio or Yamaha kiddies keyboard as a MIDI controller.

If anyone is reading this, and has an ageing MIDI (preferably USB-connecting) MIDI controller/keyboard that they can let go of for less than £50 (or even free) to a caring home, please let me know.

It's all gone quiet over there...

It's gone a bit quiet at the moment - not a lot happening music-wise....

I spent most of the Easter holidays looking after my kids and doing family-type stuff. Moved all the furniture around in mine and Mrs B's bedroom (where the music pc is) and so the said computer is now in another part of the room, not yet connected up. I also suffered the curse of many Windows users - the BSOD (if people still call it that). Switched on the machine before the hols and it worked fine. The next day, I got the infamous "missing windows\system32" message. I came across this a few years ago, and resolved it by putting in some new RAM sticks. This time, I didn't have any new RAM, so I swapped the old ones around, and got a different error message. The wretched thing wouldn't even go into Safe Mode. Did a Windows Repair on it, which worked for about an hour, and kept getting re-activation messages, plus I lost a load of HD space as a result. Then did a complete reformat and new installation, and got the BSOD again!

This time, I reseated the existing RAM in a different order, and hey presto, it worked, and the machine was stable again. Then came the task of reinstalling all the software - or not. The machine is sitting idle at the moment, as a result of the move around with nothing connected up. Don't know when I'll get round to doing it, just too busy doing domestic things. Fortunately I have 2 hard drives, both massively partitioned, so all my files and programs are backed up and (hopefully) safe. First thing I need to do when I get going again, is to put all my music software on to CD or DVD so I don't have to trawl through 100s of CDs every time anything goes wrong.

Electromancer is no more....

Electromancer.com, the site where I first put my music on the internet, is to close. It's run by one man, Marvy Mills, and has been going for quite a few years now, giving unsigned artists the chance to promote their music in a non-threatening, non-competitive environment. It's not about people chasing record labels, it's a place where musicians can share their work with like-minded people. Marv cites increasing running costs, increasing "free" membership numbers, but fewer members who are prepared to pay for "Platinum" membership (I hold my hand up to that!), and the fact that it takes a helluva time to manage and maintain it all. Marv also makes music under the name FBF (retro, 80s electronica - he's a fan of John Foxx, well worth a listen).

I first came across Electromancer in December 2003, when I'd started to think about doing something with my music other than playing to my family. A few people had said that "Never Alone" and "I travel" were good enough to go on the web, and I had a look around for some sites to help me test the water, and where I could be anonymous enough if people thought my stuff was rubbish. In fact, I got quite the opposite reaction! Everyone who heard the tracks and wrote a review or comment was really positive. One reviewer said that Never Alone was "worthy of a small record label release". That hasn't happened yet, but the track has since been played by a number of DJs in clubs up and down the UK. The same track got to Number 2 in the Electromancer download chart in its first full month. It's since had nearly 300 plays, which is pretty good for a small independent website.

I've uploaded quite a few more tracks since then, and the plays and downloads keep coming in. There's also a really good forum on the site where members can make comments about the tracks and talk about whatever else they like. The site has also inspired a number of collaborations, most notably (for me, anyway), the Croydon Library remix project, set up by Fudgedubnofunk. My version has become my most popular track in terms of film/tv licensing. It's been used by O'Neill and Ripcurl in 4 promo films so far. Hopefully all the artists can find a new home for their music.

The site, its owner, and members have had a massive influence on me and my music. They've written some great reviews (I'm hopefully going to quote some of the best ones sometime soon), and really inspired me to keep making music. I wouldn't be where I am today with my music if it wasn't for Marv and the Electromancer people. Things have really taken off for me recently, with a new-found interest in what I'm doing, and I've felt I've been moving away from the Electromancer-type sites for a while, but it still feels like "home", and I'll miss it. It's definitely the end of an era, as there aren't any other music sites like this around anymore.

Electromancer will close on 3rd October 2006. In the meantime, please visit the site and support some great musicians. My Electromancer page can be found here until 3rd October 2006.

Thanks Marv, it's been a real pleasure.

My music and Myspace T&C....

I'm surprised anyone using Myspace hasn't picked up on this before now. It seems that this little piece of information is cropping up more and more:

Is your music actually your own property after you put it on myspace?

You need to read the T&C on Myspace ....section 6: Proprietary Rights in Content on MySpace.com.

By displaying or publishing ("posting") any Content, messages, text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, profiles, works of authorship, or any other materials (collectively, "Content") on or through the Services, you hereby grant to MySpace.com, a non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, modify, adapt, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, store, reproduce, transmit, and distribute such Content on and through the Services. This license will terminate at the time you remove such Content from the Services

And it also looks have the right to keep and use any backup copies they make of your tracks.

It says at the bottom of the T&C:
I HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT AND AGREE TO ALL OF THE PROVISIONS CONTAINED ABOVE.

There you are then. Can anyone explain that one?

My music on TV?

I've been told by the bloke who licensed my music to O'Neill and Ripcurl that the producers of a well-known UK tv drama series are looking for "my sort of music". Apparently he sorts out their music for them, so has some influence. I'm not holding my breath, but if they do use it, it will be a big move for me. It's also paid work, with royalties for repeats. He also wants to act as my "synch agent" - putting my music out to tv and film. The deal is that he'll take a small cut of what I earn from each project.

Been asked to do another gig by someone on Myspace and the Big Chill. My stepson has asked me if he can be my manager!

2500 hits last month!!!!

I got almost 2500 (two thousand five hundred) hits on my website during March. A record for me. I've been running the site for a couple of years, and never had so much traffic. A lot of it seems to be coming via this blog, so thanks for that. Hope you like the music.

Should have some new tracks finished soon. Not much time to do things at the moment, but I'm quite happy with most of the tunes so far. In the meantime, you can still download my latest album, Making Movies from musicfreedom. I'll have a sample up soon.

I've updated my website at last. It's still purple, but has a lot more info on it, including a section called all about mistrust. It gives a bit more info about me and my music. I've also got a podcast/iTunes feed for my "Making Movies EP" from the site. You can now iPod me!!!!

Playing live....
I've been asked to play live at the Module in Liverpool on 5th April. It's too soon to organise anything and I haven't even got a live setup organised yet, so I've said I'll do it later in the year. There are 2 more gigs in the pipeline with The Only Michael of Animat (they make similar music to me, but are a lot more professional, and use female vocalists). Looks like either Manchester or Liverpool, and Sheffield later in the year.

Yet more interest in my music......a listener on Digitally Imported radio's Chillout Channel emailed me to say that "Never Alone" is still on rotation on that station. It's been on there for nearly 9 months.

My new laptop arrived the other day. It's a Dell Inspiron (1.5GHz Celeron processor, 256MB RAM, 40GB HD). It's going to help me out writing new stuff, and for live work. It's faster than my desktop machine, so should prove a lot more useful. The desktop machine is going downstairs for eveyone to use on the web and other wonderful things. I'll still use it for backup, but it'll be strange working on a laptop instead of "old faithful".

BTW, please have look at Animat's website....They played at The Big Chill Festival last year, and have a new EP out. If you only buy one chillout CD this year, buy there's. It's called "Arctic" and you can get it via the link on their site.

Advice needed for playing live with my laptop

Bit of a vague question.....

Recently been asked to do a couple of gigs, and the last time I played live was with my trusty Jen SX1000 many years ago. Never actually played my "modern" stuff live before, and need bit of advice......

I'm thinking of using my new laptop (Dell Inspiron 1.5ghz, 256MB ram, internal sound), running Ableton Live and a midi keyboard triggering samples etc. Guess I'll need a USB soundcard to avoid latency problems? All of my tracks have been made on either Acid Pro or Cubasis, so Ableton hopefull won't prove too difficult. My music is of the downtempo, chillout variety, and I'm looking to do a fair but of improvisation.

Any suggestions? Anyone gigging with this sort of setup? Please leave comment if you can help!

It's all happening....

Well, things have started to happen in the last few weeks....

* I was "unsigned artist of the week" on a local radio show in the Manchester (UK) and on the web called "Cafe del M12" on 19th Feb. (they played "Never Alone" alongside Coldcut and Nightmares on Wax)
* "Never Alone" was played at The Big Chill Bar in London on 26th Feb.
* Some of my tracks are going to be played by DJs at "The Module" and "Glitchnight" electronic nights in the UK
* A Trance DJ called "Snafu" is going to play tracks from my new album, "Making Movies" at a couple of chillout sets he's doing in March/April.
* Got some interest from some FM radio stations in the USA about playing my stuff.
* Got some interest from a few music licensing companies (film, tv, ads, etc.)

Not much cash from all of this, though....

Great review!!!!

My music has really taken off on the last couple of weeks.....

First, someone did a review of the tracks I've got on Myspace.
He runs some sort of musicians' seminar and used to DJ. He said that my stuff would go down well in "posh lounges and dance clubs" and that I should think about getting DJs to play some of my tracks....Now, I haven't taken too much notice of reviews really. Although they've been very good, they tend to be quite techy and not really about how GOOD the music is. This one on Myspace was different.....

As we don't seem to have "posh lounges" in the UK, I decided to track down some DJs who might play chillout stuff and see if they give me a proper, unbiased opinion of my music. I thought that most of them would say it's not the sort of thing they'd play, but amazingly, they liked it....

Continued next time.....

Me on Local Radio, and the Big Chill Bar

One of my tracks is going to be played on ALL FM, a Local community Radio station in Manchester, this coming Sunday (19th Feb). The program's called "Cafe Del M12" (The show plays chillout and electronica and ALL FM is based in the M12 postcode, hence the title - geddit? ). It's a massive confidence-booster, especially as the show's host was one of the MCs and DJs at the Big Chill Festival last year (people like Coldcut and Francois Kervorkian play there).

The show is on between 11pm and 1am (GMT) and can be heard on FM radio in South Manchester (96.9fm) and streamed live on the web here:

http://www.allfm.org/public/listen_online.php

If anyone's free or can't sleep or whatever, please have a listen and give me a shout if you hear my tracks.

He's also asked if I'm interested in doing a live set on the show sometime in the near future..... Wow!!!!

Also........... a DJ called "The Only Michael" is going to play one of my tracks at the Big Chill Bar in London (part of the Big Chill Festival organisation) on Sunday 26th Feb....more details as soon as I get them...

This is a major move for me - I'm chuffed. It all started when a DJ in the USA heard my stuff and said it was good enough to be played in "posh lounges and dance clubs".....

Deepest Sender....

I'm testing out something called "Deepest Sender", a blogging tool on the Firefox browser to see if works.....If you can read this, it DOES work! Well, it might not!

More film news...and other stuff

I've just got a copy of the O'Neill Anglet Pro 2005 dvd that some of my music was used on. It's another of those surfing films - taken in August 2005 in Anglet, South of France. There are 4 tracks on the film, mainly as background for surfing stuff, but also one of the tracks is over the closing credits! Not bad eh? I'll put some clips online as soon as I can, but I'm also building up quite a good showreel. If anyone who's reading this and is looking for film music to license, leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

It's my baby's birthday next Monday. He'll be 2!

What am I upto?

Hello again, Dear Reader.

The latest news and gossip....

Music downloads.....

Lots of people are listening to the clips on my Music Freedom page, but not downloading and paying for tracks. It's on 99 cents to download a track, but in the modern world of MP3 downloads, I guess you need to convince people to download your tracks. If you're thinking about listening to some new music, download at least one of my tracks please.......

Mistrust on music freedom

Back to music making at home....

We've finally moved Thomas, our (almost) 2 year old out of our bedroom at home. We haven't moved him out before because of problems with my 13-year old stepson who has PDD-NOS (sort of Autism-related). Now the baby is in another room, I can spend more time recording my new tracks without disturbing him. I can relax!

Zen and the Art of Remixing.....

The ILS "Next Level" remix is finally coming together. It's for a "Future Music" mag competition. Thought I'd have a go at this track because it's so different from my usual stuff.

Record Labels

Need to get on one. Quick.

Happy New Year.....and Channel4 Music

First of all, I'd like to wish all my readers and casual visitors a very Happy New Year, and I hope that everyone had a very peaceful Christmas. I had 2 very bored and restless children at home, who couldn't wait for Christmas Day, and now can't wait for their birthdays later this year. Plus an almost 2-years old (baby?) who wonders what all the fuss is about. And who will probably be bored and restless this time next year. I'm back in work now, so time for a rest.

I'm now on Channel 4's music site. Channel 4 is one of the 5 main tv stations in the UK, and has a very extensive music website. I uploaded some tracks (Croydon Library remix and Never Alone) and put my biog up there too. The site is called Slash Music and features a lot of mainstream bands as well as unsigned artists like me. Please visit the site and vote for me! Hopefully, I'll get a lot of exposure from the site.

Click here to go to my mistrust Channel 4 profile

I'll try to get some new material up on the web soon. I've got about 5 or 6 tracks that need finishing off, so time to get working.

Thanks for reading my blog! Come back soon!