"It is only that which cannot be expressed otherwise that is worth expressing in music" - Frederick Delius

"I'm not interested in cultural things, in what, why and who. What I am interested in is the sound, and the fact that this sound is speaking human spirit." - Simon Jeffes

Here's a selection of music that I've made over the years, dating back to 1977. This has been privately released in various forms, ranging from vinyl LP to CD-R, and some have been available on MP3 sites as well.

You may use these tracks as soundtrack material, for 3D or other moving pictures. I'd like to see the result if you do.

Unlike the visual stuff which comprises the rest of the site, it's very hard to give a description of a piece of music. Thumbnails are not really an option. So, there's a little Flash jukebox player for each piece - if you like it, you can download the MP3 from the link. You'll need to have Flash set up in your browser. If you use the NoScript plug-in in FireFox, you'll need to give permission to .uk.vu, which you may feel is a little wide-ranging. Grant the permission temporarily if this worries you.

Still need textual references? If you like instrumental music from acts such as The Penguin Café Orchestra, Eno or Can, give this a try.

I once saw a T.V. programme, possibly Blue Peter or possibly not, in which a man had built all sorts of fascinating water operated apparatus in his garden. With one of these machines he was able to make rainbows almost at will, if the sun was shining. "This must be what heaven is like", I thought to myself.

One of my personal favourites.

The_Man_Who_Made_His_Own_Rainbows.mp3 (9.02MB, 192kbps, 6:34)

Another of my personal favourites - like The Man Who Made His Own Rainbows, this one seemed to fall together effortlessly, at least to begin with. Most of it was done in a week with borrowed equipment, then the overdubs followed eight years later.

This was going to be called Bite the Wax Tadpole, which is supposedly (but not quite) what "Co-ca Co-la" means in Chinese.

Hubbub_in_Babel_City.mp3 (3.45MB, 128kbps, 3:46)

Watching a TV talent show when I was very young, I saw an act called Johnny Echo, who was singing and making noises into a Watkins Copycat. He didn't win, but I gained a fascination with echo which led to my building my first tape recorder, and ultimately to the music that you find collected here.

As it happens, an echo unit was not used on this piece; the echo effects are all done using MIDI programming techniques. One of my son's more irritating toys provided the inspiration for the drum part.

The guitar is evil, and must be punished.

Johnny_Echo.mp3 (3.08MB, 128kbps, 3:21)

A string quartet with unusual instrumentation: two classical guitars, violin and 'cello. Guitars have six strings, whereas the violin family have only four; so to equalise this unfair situation, the guitarists play on only four strings each. Hence the original working title, Music for Four Strings.

Incidentally, for the benefit of the cat lovers out there, the guitars were nylon strung. So-called cat gut, originally used for making strings, never came from cats anyway.

We all know what chance a cat in hell has; but a cat in heaven?

Cat_In_Heaven.mp3 (3.14MB, 128kbps, 3:26)

A sad song with no words, dealing with nostalgia for a way of life that never was, as suggested by poppies in cornfields among other images.

Poppies.mp3 (3.02MB, 128kbps, 3:18)

Βελοúδο is the Greek word for velvet; a reference to my hero Erik Satie, who had a liking for unfashionable velvet suits, and wrote three pieces named Gymnopédies after some Greek dances. Just to labour the point beyond all reason, there's a bouzouki on this track.

I like to think this has the same timeless, stately quality that the real Gymnopédies do.

Beloudo.mp3 (2.31MB, 128kbps, 2:31)

Solo piano rambling, loosely inspired by Erik Satie's Gnossiennes.

Convolvulus.mp3 (2.06MB, 128kbps, 2:15)

After those Satie inspired pieces we find the Velvet Gentleman of Arcueil himself. A cover version, inspired by the arrangements of the Camarata Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, whose version of this piece first brought Satie to my attention.

"An artist must organize his life. Here is the exact timetable of my daily activities: Get up: 7.18am; be inspired: 10.23 to 11.47am. I take lunch at 12.11pm and leave the table at 12.14pm." - Erik Satie (from Memoirs of an Amnesiac)

"My brother does not seem to have been entirely normal" - Olga Satie

Troisieme_Gymnopedie.mp3 (3.74MB, 192kbps, 2:43)

It just goes to show that you should never throw anything away. The ocarina "chords" (made with a digital delay unit and a pitch transposer) were recorded ten years before I managed to figure out what should go with them.

Brambles.mp3 (2.32MB, 128kbps, 2:31)

Those who know their Shakespeare may recognise the play on words in the title - Pyramus and Thisbe, the play within a play from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The alternating blues and Arabic scales are backed by a chord sequence taken from a Folia, a Spanish dance dating back to the late fifteenth century and referred to as a "fool's dance", "mad" or "empty headed". Originally the piece had a Latin American rhythm and went by the working title of Spanish Reggae, but you can stretch a point too far.

"What were you on when you did this?" - quote from a friend, on first hearing the track.

Pyramid_and_Frisbee.mp3 (2.2MB, 128kbps, 2:24)

Literally, the voice of the devil. This is the person who attempts to represent all the negative factors when a new Pope is being chosen, and is nothing to do with the track itself; which, if it's about anything, is a vague tirade against the hurly-burly of modern life. You know the sort of hippy stuff.

This might make a good horror soundtrack - but I wouldn't advise using it for anything commercial. It's laden down with random samples, and obtaining clearance for them all would be a nightmare.

Vox_Diabolo.mp3 (5.87MB, 192kbps, 4:16)

String synthesiser, tape delay and a few sound effects: it began as an attempt to copy Tangerine Dream's Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares off their Phaedra album. My plagiarism became derailed, and I realised I'd made something original. Some of this was played on the radio, once, back in 1977. That's about as famous as I ever got.

The piece starts very quietly, so don't fidget with the volume knob. This is good music for lying on your back and gazing at the clouds to.

Distant_Skies.mp3 (11.7MB, 128kbps, 12:46)