colleen

Dear everyone, a few words to close 2024 and express my gratitude, 22 years after the beginning of this adventure.
I have often said it but it bears repeating, I don’t take your time or support for granted, so I am very happy to tell you that this year has been without a doubt the most fulfilling I’ve ever lived, with long-term positive consequences for my ability to keep making music. At last I have found the right balance between my personal needs and my professional life, the two now blending in a mutually beneficial way.
I also feel I’m exactly “where I need to be”: I don’t want or need more, this is perfect. Thank you for coming to see me play Le jour et la nuit du réel live, buying or even just listening to my recordings both old and new, and getting on board with my new humanitarian fundraising with the Special versions – Live at ACCA, Brighton recording (honestly this literally LIT UP my December month, as did your support for the animal shelter fundraising earlier).
This year I did a lot of new things for the first time (one that has been life-changing and which will give its title to the next album), and professionally I also did some things “I don’t normally do”: gave a workshop at l’ @esmuccat for the synthesis and sonology students (🙏 Perfecto Herrera!), opened for another band (@interpol in Barcelona – 🙏 Daniel Kessler!) or played in a space which is not a regular venue (@l_automatica in Barcelona). In the past I was way more rigid about what I do and don’t do, and while I still believe in the power of giving oneself guidelines, it’s also been liberating and empowering to realize how much autonomy I do have and give myself permission to just live those experiences.
Now’s the time to truly concentrate on making LP9, which should be released later in 2025 🤞🤞🤞 
The show at L’Automatica encapsulated everything I love about playing live, I am super grateful to Ana @anabananadj and Renata @ninja.papel for making it happen, the togetherness felt really special and a symbol of the amazing people I have met over here.

If you would like a copy of the fanzine coedited by Ana and Renata, you can do so by getting in touch with Ana via the Amuletos Instagram. My section is in the 4th volume of the fanzine, and you can listen to my episode of the radio programme here.
🙏🙏🙏📷 1, 2 @rodrigo_notari 3-4, 7-10 @guiyerblues

Here is the message I posted to my Bandcamp followers, and which I would like to share with you too here.

Dear everyone

I hope this message finds all of you as well as possible. 

I actually don’t “do” Christmas, for a mixture of family reasons and personal beliefs on so-called “celebrations” and “special days”. What I did do today – and I guess that somehow it *is* connected to Christmas – is send the money that slowly accumulated over the months I put aside the animal shelter initiative to an organization I have long wanted to support, Las Almas de Tara, in Ubeda, Andalucia, Spain. 

Earlier this month, the amount of support you gave to the “Special versions – Live at ACCA, Brighton”‘s fundraising for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (for those new here: more than 1500$ collected in 24 hours!!!) helped me muster the willpower to look at the small donations I occasionally receive for the FOR ANIMAL SHELTERS songs here on the platform.

Again, if you’re new here, this is how I started fundraising, in July 2023: just deciding I would give 100% of what you pay to animal shelters for certain songs that belong to me fully. I did it non-stop every month for nearly a year, then kind of burnt out and put it to the side, even though this is in perpetuity, so at any point in time, what you give I give.

Long story short: there was a total of 81$, and – I am very happy to tell you – this means that in total, thanks to your generosity, we have together fundraised a grand total of 2067.28 $ which I have sent to 12 different animal shelters.

Last night I chanced upon a reel by Las Almas de Tara, of 6 newly-born pups that were born early in the morning from a dog that they had rescued 2 days earlier. Spain has one of the worst European records when it comes to animal abandonment and ill treatment, with Andalucia being a particular hotspot, and most of the work is done by very small private organizations. Temperatures go down to – 3º Celsius at night right now, so keeping those puppies alive is no small feat for organizations like these, so today I sent your money and added a little extra to round it to 100 €. Isa, the lady who runs the shelter, wrote back immediately to say thanks (and apparently she loved my music too!).

Here is a portrait of her hugging one of the dogs of the shelter, taken by the mindblowingly-talented photographer Andrés López, through whom I have discovered many shelters here in Spain.

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A post shared by Andrés López (@andreslopezphoto)

As she so eloquently says in the video (reel below): “Ayer os pedía sensibilidad y humanidad. Os decía que los 15 euros que podeis gastar en una caja de gambas, lo invirtiesen realmente en estos ángeles que necesitan ayuda. Ese realmente debería ser el espíritu navideño: compartir lo que todos tenemos con los más desprotegidos.”
Rough translation: “Yesterday, I asked for your sensitivity and humanity. I was telling you that the 15 euros you can spend on a packet of prawns, you could truly invest in those angels who need help. This is what the true spirit of Christmas should be: sharing what we all have with the most defenceless.”

I am an atheist, but I strongly suscribe to this thought and feeling.

So I will close this message by telling you that fundraising here has been a highlight of my year – as it was last year too, but even more so this year with the human aspect of this year’s fundraising. I am sincerely grateful to all of you who have contributed, not least because through your own giving here, you are helping me get better at giving more, and more often. The fact that this is happening through my music makes it even more special for me on both a professional and personal level.

I will also add that you are very welcome to keep giving to both the animal shelter songs *and* the Special versions recording (next round will go to Lebanon), since Bandcamp have not indicated if or when there will be a new Bandcamp Friday. I personally think it does make a great “Christmas present”.You can also donate money directly to any of those organizations we have helped here in the past – if you live in Spain, a super simple and fast way to donate to Las Almas de Tara is through Bizum, as they are a registered charity (código de donación 02968), and they also have various Teaming projects where you can give 1 € every month.

And that’s it from me

Cécile (hard at work on LP9 too!!!), Sol and Klee (who are both sleeping next to me as I write these lines)

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A post shared by ALMAS DE TARA (@lasalmasdetara)

A post in Spanish :-)))

SPECIAL VERSIONS LIVE IN L’AUTOMÀTICA, BARCELONA, 27 DE OCTUBRE 2024, O EL AMOR A LA CERCANÍA
Si fuera por mí, en cada concierto estaría rodeada de las personas del público, mirando encima de mis espaldas lo que estoy haciendo. Amo la sensación de cercanía, porque va junta de la mano con la sensación de confianza: confianza en los demás, confianza en ti misma, confianza de que esto – hacer musica en directo – es algo a la vez simple y profundo. 
En realidad son pocos los contextos que permiten una tal cercanía, pero este concierto, cocido a fuego lento, lo ha permitido de una manera que me ha dejado llena de paz y ilusión.

Ana @anabananadj del programa de radio @amuletosradio me había hablado desde principios del año de su intención de montar un evento para celebrar su programa, y le dije enseguida que podría contar con migo, ya que me había ayudado y apoyado en varias ocasiones, y me gustaba el carácter más personal de su programa, que pide a los invitados de elegir sus “músicas amuletos”. No se trata de brillar por originalidad o buen gusto, sino de pensar de manera más intima sobre que músicas han resonado o resuenan fuerte para ti.
Había oído hablar de @l_automatica , una imprenta tipográfica gestionada por un colectivo en Gracia, desde ya hace tiempo, pero no había ido a ningún evento alli, hasta que fue a ver a uno de mis músicos favoritos de Barcelona, Jordi Gegé @jordigege , en Septiembre.
Durante el concierto, rodeadas de las bellísimas máquinas y del olor a tinta, me giré hacia Ana y le dije “Estoy viendo el Space Echo aqui”. Cuando resultó que una de las personas del colectivo, Renata aka @ninja.papel , era fan de mi música, cualquier duda se fue volando.

🙏🙏🙏 📷 @rodrigo_notari @amuletosradio @ninja.papel @l_automatica y vosotr@s por la onda ❤❤❤

I had everything ready to roll for my own “Mellotron version” which I’ll play live in Barcelona, London and Brighton very soon (details below) when Sol decided – as  usual – to participate in my music-making, and I just hit record on both Reaper and my mobile phone.
I love that his random bum, body and paw notes are usually spot-on, then go into completely unpredictable territory, and in this case he must have landed on some interesting parameter of the @squarpinstruments Hapax at second 33′ and I seriously wish i knew what it was!
@moogsynthesizers Grandmother into @soundgasltd Roland RE-201 Space Echo.

27th October – Barcelona, L’Automatica @l_automatica  presented by Amuletos @amuletosradio –  1 pm midday show
1st November – London, Grand Junction @grandjunctionw2  presented by Baba Yaga’s Hut @babayagashutlondon
2nd November – Brighton, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts  @attenboroughctr

I am coming out of my “summer hibernation” with a short series of videos to give you a glimpse of the special versions of Le jour et la nuit du réel which spontaneously arose during my many hours of rehearsal for this album’s shows, and which I’ll play in Barcelona on 27th October, London 1st November and a tiny bit in Brighton too on 2nd November. DETAILS HERE OR HERE.

Rehearsing can often feel like dwelling on the past, but with synthesis it almost inevitably becomes an occasion to expand skills and ideas as happy parameter-and-patching accidents can and do happen, especially on the journey from one song to another if you keep the sound on all the time.
Le jour was already born from that process of intensive experimentation of “versions” over 14 months, so in the end, I have chosen to keep “special versions” for only the 3 movements of “Subterranean” and “Les parenthèses enchantées IV”, but I am super happy with how they all “reverse” the mood of the original: “Subterranean” goes from energetic and raw to dream-like and psychedelic, while “Parenthèses” goes from slowly meditative to bouncey and danceable (well, danceable for me anyway). 
The Echo is intentionally clipping HARD on this, as per the @soundgasltd rule and I love the pure drive you get when just turning down the Echo volume and feedback.
Beat on Grandmother appears with Mod set to Square, max PWM, mod wheel at max and Osc 2 on Narrow Pulse.

In other news, thanks to your purchases on Bandcamp Friday of 4th October, for which I pledged 100% of income to Beloved Asheville to help in the aftermath of hurricane Helene in the town of Asheville and surroundings, I was able to send 250$ to the friend of a friend of a friend (not kidding!) who works at a big company that has pledged to double match any donation going towards hurricane Helene relief, meaning a TOTAL OF 750$ were sent to the organization. Once again THANK YOU SO MUCH to anyone who joined me on this!