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Garden of Surreal Dreams

 
Garden of Surreal Dreams

Music and Sound project encompassing a multitude of inspiring and eclectic genres, so I'll call it Ambiavantelectroexperifolkgothjazprogpsychwave.

1 top 1
8 top 50
8 songs
141K plays
1
Picture for song 'Lost Children of Electroland' by artist 'Garden of Surreal Dreams'

Lost Children of Electroland

Uses only children's instruments plus vocals & effects. Included are kids Xylophones, old school Tambourines, electronic Percussion (from tiny cheap PortaSound), plastic toy Clarina, wooden Descant Recorder, Stylophone.
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Picture for song 'Escape To Your Dreams Until Morning' by artist 'Garden of Surreal Dreams'

Escape To Your Dreams Until Morning

Musical meditation with an edge, using some unusual all-acoustic instruments: Tibetan Tingsha's, Tibetan Singing Bowl, Copper Goatbell Tri-cluster, Layered Choral Voices, Hammered 12-string Box Zither, Spoken Voice, Magic Mushroom Woodflute, Cello.
3
Picture for song 'The Eternal Light of Will' by artist 'Garden of Surreal Dreams'

The Eternal Light of Will

A personal tribute to musician Bill Nelson. A journey using 12-string semi acoustic guitar, 6-string electric guitars, digital synthesizer, drum machine, vocals, limited hand percussion (home-made shaker & Circulon saucepan lids - nice tone!).
4
Picture for song 'From Nowhere To Here And Back Again' by artist 'Garden of Surreal Dreams'

From Nowhere To Here And Back Again

Sonic tapestry of cymbals, primal howls, saxophone, violin, bamboo flute, harmonica, otherworldly voices. All sounds recorded in a meadow and processed in the studio. No synths or samplers used in the origination, destruction & eventual re-creation.
5
Picture for song 'Moments Merge In Time' by artist 'Garden of Surreal Dreams'

Moments Merge In Time

Multi-layered electrickery guitar atmospherics over solid multi-overlaid purposely offset deep drum machine rhythms, with a couple of twists to keep you on your toes. You can dance or dream (or both).
An occasional musical sound project, encompassing a multitude of inspiring and eclectic genres, so I'll call it Ambiavantelectroexperifolkgothjazprogpsychwave, which will hopefully avoid being labeled and put into a little box. Eight tracks loaded so far for you to enjoy! More to come as and when time permits, so please return every now and then to check. All tracks on Soundclick are rough mixes which will be refined, added to and remastered for future release. Currently working toward starting my own label to release new and old music for numerous projects as CD, digital download and maybe cassette, starting with EPs. All music, lyrics and images are original creations, and therefore copyright of the artist.
Band/artist history
Fortune has favoured six of the currently loaded Soundclick tracks, making one of them popular enough to reach the no.1 position in a main Soundclick chart and five reaching no.1 in various sub-genre charts. 'Sail The Stars On A Ship Filled With Wonder' released as Garden of Surreal Dreams on the various artists, very limited edition, 2CD set 'Professional Secrets' (artists inspired by Bill Nelson), organised by Phil Graham. Released initially to contributors only, although a few spare CD sets plus T-shirt and poster (all of which were very kindly signed by Bill Nelson), were auctioned for charity at a Nelsonica event in 2012. 'The Eternal Light Of Will' released as Garden of Surreal Dreams on various artists limited edition 3CD set 'Confessions of Young moderns' (tribute to Bill Nelson), organised by the late Chuck Bird. Originated and played analogue Synthesizer part as guest musician on Purple Hearts 4th 7" vinyl single 'My Life's a Jigsaw' (Safari Records), which made it on to the BBC Radio One playlist and received regular airplay, making it to number 23 in the national UK independent charts. Original single now deleted and featured in the Record Collector 'Rare Record Price Guide' book, but can regularly be found on Ebay. The track has had several re-releases over the years, first on various artists vinyl albums and then in 2002 on the CD titled '25th Anniversary Commemorative Album Of Safari Records', with artists such as Toyah, Wayne County & The Electric Chairs, Gary Holton, The Boys, Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple). The single has been released again on the 2009 Purple Hearts CD 'Mod Singles Collection'. Both CDs available on Amazon and elsewhere. Looking backwards through the time machine, have played in a number of bands that are highly likely to be virtually unknown such as Orange Moon (4-piece indie rock-ish), Movements In Art (analogue synth duo, previously known as Plaza), One Hit Wonders (5-piece pop punk-ish), The Clique (4-piece punky new wave-ish), Coral Strands (5-piece alt prog-ish), Stars (5-piece alt rock-ish), Red (3-piece experimental prog-ish), La Lanterne (avant experimental psych prog-ish duo), plus ancient solo works (a variety of ish-genres). Basic recordings from many of these will be resurrected when and where possible, depending on sound quality and how embarrassing they may or may not sound!
Have you performed in front of an audience?
Have played the odd live concert here and there with various bands many years ago. Currently unlikely to play live in the future, but you never know! If so, it would likely be fairly experimental and improvisational.
Your musical influences
Dreams; Mother Nature; Mysterious Phenomena; Osmosis; Spiritual Possibilities; Life, the Universe & Everything. Too many musical influences to mention here perhaps but they all come broadly under my term Ambiavantelectroexperifolkgothjazprogpsychwave. Plus theme and incidental music from films, television fictional series and factual documentaries.
What equipment do you use?
Obviously not all at the same time, but calling out for my attention and waiting to be used at any given moment are: Electric 6 and 12 string guitars, fretted and fretless bass guitars, steel-strung and nylon-strung acoustic guitars, synthesizers and other electric keyboards, blankenstein antique piano, the human voice, a selection of various wind instruments, various other unusual stringed instruments, assorted real organic percussion, drum machines, sequencers, electronics, field recordings, found sounds, plus anything else of interest that I can get my hands on. Effects/Processing by Zoom, Boss, Electro Harmonix, Coloursound, Ebow, MXR, Wem, Behringer, plus all sorts of computer audio plugins from the subtle to the extreme. Recording on Apple Mac, Tascam digital portastudio and field recorder, Tandberg reel to reel.
Anything else?
A few snippets from the past that may be of interest to some: One of my early band Coral Strands' occasional drummers, Mark Laff, was meant to also play with me in The Clique, but instead auditioned for The Clash and ended up being offered the drum job in Vic Godard's Subway Sect. After playing with them supporting The Clash on the 'White Riot' tour, he landed the plum role of drummer in Billy Idol's first band Generation X and went on to international success with top 30 hit singles and albums (well done Mark!). From my early band The Clique, our second bass player Nick Welsh went on to much success in later years and initiated the reforming of ska band The Selecter, in which he became bassist, songwriter and producer. He also played with 3 Men & Black (that had occasional members such as Bruce Foxton of The Jam and Jean Jacques Burnell of The Stranglers) and collaborated with reggae legend Lee 'Scratch' Perry on the album 'Jamaican E.T.', which won them a grammy. He's also written music for television and film. The Clique recorded four studio tracks with Nick on bass which remain unreleased (including one of his own songs). During auditions for my band The Clique, a drummer called Jim Walker agreed to join us (after he'd already auditioned for The Damned) but unfortunately only a very short time later, and before we had the chance to actually rehearse with him, he changed his mind and became the first drummer with John Lydon's Public Image (and who can blame him?). International success and hit records soon followed after he played on the first Public Image album and singles, and toured with the band. My younger sister initiated and organised the very first Ultravox fan club through the time of the first 2 albums (John Foxx era). She then went on to initiate and organise the Purple Hearts fan club throughout it's existence. Some time after I played on their 4th single, the Purple Hearts went on to work with Paul Weller as producer of a few studio tracks intended as a demo for record label attraction (Paul also played piano on one track). These original recordings have since been released. The producer for the Purple Hearts single was Andy Arthurs, whose distinguished career includes producing for acts such as The Stranglers, Joe Jackson, Wilco Johnson, The Alarm, Advertising, 999 and Tom Robinson among others. He has also been a recording engineer for many top artists including Marc Bolan, Bryan Ferry, Paul McCartney, Todd Rundgren, Harry Nilsson, Cat Stevens, Waterboys etc. Andy trained at The Beatles producer George Martin's Air Studios in London (inc. six month's personal training from George himself) and as a freelance producer/engineer at EMI Abbey Road among many others. Andy also sang backing vocals on the 'My Life's a Jigsaw' single.
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