Adam Fielding

Distant Activity used in BMW i8 Concept Spyder video

By adfielding, on April 24th, 2012

Well now, this is pretty neat. BMW have used the title track from my album Distant Activity in a video for the i8 Concept Spyder. Looks like it’s been getting quite a few hits as well… whether the viewers are aware or not, it’s great to be reaching more ears!

On an unrelated note, my ambient album (which I haven’t been talking about for a while) may have found a home. Watch this space.

Heavy Production Album and a new remix

By adfielding, on April 17th, 2012

I’ve been talking a lot about a heavy production album that I’ve been working on since late last year. I finished working on the musical aspect of the album last last month and, handily, since then it has found a home thanks to the kind folks at Liftmusic. What this means is that it will be fulfilling its original purpose and should be available to music supervisors and producers for use in TV, film and advertising. Which is great!

However, since I started talking about it (and started posting snippets on-line) a few people had expressed an interest in listening to it. Alas, due to the nature of the release it will not be seeing a public release. However, I have put the whole thing on my Soundcloud page and, as such, you can listen to the whole album in full. Or… you could just check it out via this handy player. Neat!

I’m really excited to be sharing this publicly, and I’d love to know what you think of it – naturally it’s quite different to my usual output, but I’m really happy with how it’s turned out and it’s been a fantastic project to work on.

Also, I’ve just completed another remix for Solarswarm which I’ve just submitted and I’ve been getting some incredible feedback so far. I’ll be sharing more news once everything’s finalised but I’m really excited about this one as I genuinely think this is some of my best remix work to date. Stay tuned!

Production album and web-site update

By adfielding, on April 5th, 2012

So, last month I set myself a goal of completing 20 tracks for my heavy production album, and managed to surprise myself by getting it all done to a standard that I’m incredibly happy with. It’s currently in search of a home, but I’ve had some great feedback so far so hopefully it’ll be leaving the homestead soon enough and finding it’s own path. Aww.

On a totally related note, I finally got around to updating my production music portfolio on this very site. For those who had previously looked at the production music section, you are probably aware that it was a bit of a disappointment – a little bit of spiel and a couple of logos. It’s looking far more impressive these days and I think you’ll like what you see (and hear!). I’ve also uploaded a selection of production music to Soundcloud which you can check out at your leisure – in fact, here’s a handy music player if you fancy doing just that.

It’s a pretty eclectic selection of genres, ranging from some really chilled downtempo music right through to some incredibly raucous, ballsy rock. I’d love to know what you think of it if you get a chance!

Bit of a re-shuffling, I see…

By adfielding, on March 12th, 2012

Hello! If you’ve visited this site recently then you might have noticed that I’ve had a bit of a re-shuffle – I like to keep things mysterious and hidden like that.

Actually, the reasoning behind moving everything about is a bit more logical than that, but just to let you know where everything’s living these days and what’s changed…

The Bandcamp player widgets have been replaced by some sexier Soundcloud alternatives. Not that I had anything against the Bandcamp player, but the Soundcloud player just looks SO MUCH BETTER. Functionally they both operate in the same way, only now you can leave me timed comments/dirty messages on all of my uploaded music as you listen to it. Which is always fun.
My solo/artistic works (i.e. singles, albums, EPs) can now be found via the handy drop-down “solo works” menu at the top of the page. You’ll be able to check out previously released material (sometimes in full) via the included players on each respective page. There’s also a handy front-page if you simply click on the “solo works” button.
My production music/licensing information can now be found via the “production music” button at the top of the page. Production music is music that has been written for a specific purpose (film/TV/adverts and the like) and should not be confused with my solo/artistic work – not that I consider my production music to be lacking in artistry (far from it, in fact!), just that they are both written with very different audiences and uses in mind. As such, I figured that they could do with separating out so as to avoid future confusion. The production music page is still very much a work-in-progress, but will feature a more complete portfolio in the near future. In the mean time, if you’re interested in licensing any of my music for commercial purposes then this is the place to start.
All Civil Protection/band-related shenanigans can be found via the “Civil Protection” button at the top of the page. Again, my work with Civil Protection is targeted at a very different audience than my solo or production material, and decided to provide it with it’s own space. You can also find out more about Civil Protection at the band’s official page.

As I’ve stated, the reason for a lot of these changes is to prevent future confusion. I can’t be dealing with using a different musician name for each song I release (hence why I tend to just release everything under my real name), and this is my attempt to keep everything vaguely organised without having to resort to using fifty different musician names for different types of music.

Feel free to say hello over at Soundcloud as well!

Background Activity: A free selection of Distant Activity out-takes

By adfielding, on March 7th, 2012

Background Activity is a selection of songs written and produced during the creation of Distant Activity (2007 – 2008) that were not included on the album itself.

During the creation of Distant Activity, there were a number of songs written and produced that didn’t make the final cut. Some went on to be released as part of other projects (namely, The Dawn EP). Some tracks were a little too quirky. Some didn’t fit with the overall aesthetic of the album. Some just wouldn’t have fit on the album. As time passed, these tracks remained archived and untouched – a curious reminder of musical and emotional ideas that were never intended to see the light of day.

As such, Background Activity is a revisiting of the period during which Distant Activity was created. All unreleased tracks are presented in their original state – rough edges and all – as a musical time capsule for anyone interested in hearing some of the ideas that paved the way for the completion of the full album itself.

Happy birthday to me!

Rather than hog all of the birthday fun, I thought it’d be nice to share a little gift with all of you. As such, I’ve released a free selection of songs which, for one reason or another, never made it onto Distant Activity. This selection of out-takes (handily packaged together as an EP titled Background Activity) is a small selection of material which was written around the same time as Distant Activity but – for whatever reason (some songs didn’t fit the overall album’s aesthetic, some were a little too quirky and some simply wouldn’t have fit on the album at all) – were simply not included on the final album.

<a href="http://adamfielding.bandcamp.com/album/background-activity-outtakes">Background Activity [Outtakes] by Adam Fielding</a>

You can listen to and download this free EP over at Bandcamp.

Civil Protection – The Lines Are Drawn EP out now

By adfielding, on March 1st, 2012

Their hometowns spanning the length of the United Kingdom, the members of Civil Protection can claim to bring with them an equally diverse range of influences. From the pulsing industrial anthems of Nine Inch Nails to the ethereal soundscapes of The American Dollar, this Yorkshire-based band have set about fusing these electronic elements with the more organic characteristics of ‘Rock Action’ era Mogwai. Taking an experimental approach to writing akin to that of Tool, Civil Protection aim to create songs as accessible as they are rich, and as beautiful as they are haunting.

As some of you may or may not be aware, I’m the vocalist/songwriter/general producer-type guy in a band called Civil Protection. We’ve been together as a band in one form or another since 2010, and after much shedding of blood, sweat and tears (oh, the blood) we’ve finally put together a 4-track EP titled The Lines Are Drawn, which we have released for free via Bandcamp. Because we’re nice like that. The style is considerably heavier than my usual output, so I recommend playing this at an incredibly loud volume at a particularly anti-social time of day/night to enhance the experience for all concerned. Long-time listeners might recognise the EP opener (albeit in a considerably re-worked form).

<a href="http://civilprotection.bandcamp.com/album/the-lines-are-drawn">The Lines Are Drawn by Civil Protection</a>

Although the EP itself is completely free, if you choose to throw any moneys our way then we’ll send you a code which will allow you to download a selection of extra bonus tracks as our way of saying thanks.

It’s quite a departure from my usual electronic-heavy output, and I’m really happy to finally be sharing this with you all. Give it a whirl, I’d love to know what you think of it!

You can also find The Lines Are Drawn on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby and – soon – Spotify.

Civil Protection EP – coming soon!

By adfielding, on February 20th, 2012

As you may or may not be aware, as well as being a solo musician and generally writing an awful lot of music and all that fun stuff I am also the vocalist/producer for a band called Civil Protection. We’ve been working on getting an EP put together and released for a little while now, and I’m very pleased to say that the EP itself will be out (for free!) on the 29th February. In the meantime, I’ve uploaded the first track to Soundcloud if you fancy a listen.

If you’re a long-time listener or regular visitor to this site, you might notice something familiar about this song. It’s one of my rockier tracks, but since playing it with the band it’s sort of taken on a life of it’s own. I’d be interested to know what you think of it, and can’t wait to get the rest of the EP out there!

The Lines Are Drawn EP will be available to download via Bandcamp on the 29th February, and will also be available to stream and download via Spotify, Amazon, iTunes et al.

Hello 2012 (bit late, but I got there eventually)

By adfielding, on January 27th, 2012

Figured it was about time I updated this site to something a bit more relevant than a post about the approaching new year… although, I guess, I could have just left it for a year and it would have been vaguely relevant again, all mentions of 2012 aside. Hmm, I can’t help but feel I haven’t thought this one through particularly well.

To be honest, as far as starts-of-years go it hasn’t exactly been the best here. Definitely not going to dwell on it too much, though, and – all things aside – despite not being a particularly productive month in terms of original musical output, it has been a productive month in other regards – which should give me more time in the coming months to actually work on, you know, music. Which is always a good thing!

Speaking of music… although I haven’t been writing a massive amount of music this month (besides Monotribe-heavy acid…), I did take some time out to write this chilled out number. There’s something quite therapeutic about obsessive drum edits that I just can’t quite put my finger on.

At any rate, I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store for the rest of the year!

Out of the Studio

By adfielding, on December 22nd, 2011

Well, 2011 is starting to draw to a close and I’m going to be out of the studio until 2012. I’ve got plenty of stuff lined up for the new year and I’ve got a few things to take care of before then so it looks like I’ve got plenty of fun ahead!

Merry Christmas/holiday-of-choice/whatever to you all and a Happy New Year! Here’s to 2012, apocalypse notwithstanding.

Tom Pritchard presents “Vast”

By adfielding, on November 29th, 2011

I was going to spend ages writing my own little pseudo-press-release for this thing, but…. basically, if you own Reason, you owe it to yourself to check this out.

Now, I know my way around Reason, but Tom Pritchard takes Thor to a whole other level. I’m honestly struggling to describe this Refill – I’ve worked on three Thor-based Refills and, honestly, this puts me to shame (damn you!). This is a guy who knows how to make fantastic, usable sounds and who knows Thor inside-out. It’s like working with an extra instrument in Reason. Just… listen to it.

If you use Reason and you don’t find anything in there that suits you then you’re doing it wrong.