end of year message 2013

As we reach the end of another year, just a brief message to thank you for your support during the year.  It’s been a quiet year by Y6 standards with only 2 3 releases, 2 digital and one physical.  The physical release: Y6XV (merry6mas2013) has been more successful in sales terms than the last two merry6mas releases and there are only a handful left (available from Bandcamp or email me).  This release was compiled from various recordings made during 2013 that were completed for this release, the remainder of the unfinished material being consigned to the recycle bin to start afresh in 2014.

Thanks to all who have bought this album and for the kind words people have said – it means a lot.

There are lots of plans for 2014, but who at the moment I can’t say what will become of the plans and if they will become reality…. watch this space.

I guess I should not let this pass without the expected ‘best-of’ list…but it’s not what many would see as the most exciting of lists I’m sure.  Not much cutting edge or obscurist music, and all-in-all a rather mainstream selection (not that that is a bad thing).

Not many gigs attended this year, but I saw each of two of my favourite bands almost twice  - Cowboy Junkies (missed half of first set as stuck in traffic but managed full gig next night) and Low (ridiculously early start to Nottingham gig and missed start of set by arriving at 8.30 pm).  Also saw A Winged Victory For The Sullen in Leicester.  A small but perfectly formed selection of live shows.

So, most listened to albums of the year in no particular order (and not all released in 2013)

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away

Low – The Invisible Way

Wire – Change Becomes Us

The National – Trouble Will Find Us

Nadine Shah – Love Your Dum and Mad

Bowie – The Next Day

Explosions in the Sky/David Wingo – Prince Avalanche

Wooden Shjips – West

Pan American – Cloud room, Glass Room

Chelsea Wolfe – Unknown Rooms

And because I’m too lazy to type full titles, others by Thought Forms, Adrian Utley Guitar Orchestra, Moon Duo, Songs:Ohia / Magnolia Electric Company, Anna Calvi, Rachel’s, Cowboy Junkies, New York Dolls and a lot of old punk favourites.

Of course I have also been listening a lot to the various recordings of Lou Reed (nothing unusual there, but I’ve strayed from the usual selection of faourites).  Along with John Peel, he is the one person to have the greatest influence on my own music, the music I love, and the musical world in general.  Whilst I would not claim to love every note he ever played, he was always challenging, ground breaking, innovative, wilful, awkward but inspired/inspirational and will be greatly missed.

Wishing a happy new year to you all and I will continue this musical journey in 2014.

Jon/Yellow6

www.yellow6.com

http://www.thesirenssound.com/2013/12/12/yellow6/

review of Y6XV on The Sunday Experience from Mark Barton:

http://marklosingtoday.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/yellow6-4/

For the last 15 Christmastimes our normally agitant moods brought on by the silly season and all its associated tat, commercialism and thoroughly miserable weather have been somewhat warmed and cooed by the expectant arrival of yellow6’s seasonal offering in the release of his ongoing Merry6mas CD‘s. Much cheer has been afforded and spent in that time transfixed to the sounds emanating from the turntable from said offering that its made the seasonal experience a tad more palatable. As traditional as turkey this limited release was originally given out free to friends, fans and admirers of Yellow6, demand and repute grew such that it became an official release in recent years. This year though word came that the 15th annual soiree nearly never happened. Keen observers will duly note that once responsible for a prolific release schedule there’s been something of an easing off the gas in respect to Yellow6 outings these days, where once these annual selections came adorned in detailed liner notes ‘XV’ arrives bereft of such information just simply stating ‘a collection of new recordings made during 2013’. has, we wonder, Mr Atwood lost interest. We certainly hope not, long admired here, Mr Atwood is one of this nations foremost sound alchemists whose expansive canvas to date has journeyed at turn into the drone, minimalist post rock, space rock, dream pop and ambient outposts, equally adept at crafting the grand and panoramic as he is the lulled and spectral, his craft is both intimate and porcelain in design. Available digitally and as an uber limited hand numbered 100 only CD edition – our copy for note takers is #96 – ’Y6XV’ features over an hours worth of material composed during 2013, included here the complete ’fives’ suite as recently commissioned by the esteemed Silber imprint which I think I’m right in saying includes an array of movements that where clipped from the final edit. On the whole the collection is the most inward looking to date in so much that the prevailing mood appears soured and steeped in loss, that said still steeled and equipped in classicism, poise and elegance, Atwood is a proven past master at the stately, the monolithic and the cinematic as opening salvo ’bright skies’ so ably provides testament. Frosted chime arpeggios softly serenade the undertow of bruised opines, there’s almost a hymnal reverence about its wares as though a bleakly beautiful epitaph suspended in a trictor like amid a late 60’s suspense styled noir drilling you could easily imagine underpinning a David Lynch chiller elsewhere there’s the slow arrest of the tearfully traced ‘sleep day’ hushed, hurt and hollowed in an introspection all primed upon a John Barry slow fuse. Somewhere else ‘two days previous’ mentioned in passing in previous despatches – notably Tales from the Attic Volume XX – incidentally the briefest cut here is subtly aglow in a shy eyed romance delicately bathed in 60’s inflections and turned in the kind of measured grandeur oft portrayed on Godspeed platters. ‘they look lost’ offers a rare moment of lightness; reflective and softly radiant, a dreamy lull exudes from the grooves to reveal something of a reclining cloud watching beauty. Best of the set ’summershine’ is adorned and shrouded in vapour trailed halos, the motifs brooding and bitter sweet pulsate and prowl to a navigatory path blended upon forlorn and pensive spy themed noir pierced with a quiet majestic stillness that nods to some colluding studio activity between Budd and Mancini. http://www.yellow6.bandcamp.com/releasesmoment. In sharp contrast the tension unfurling throughout ’calling once more’ coils cons

Merry6mas 2013

It nearly didn’t happen, and for a while was going to be the final merry6mas (but hopefully won’t be), but after lots of deliberation, confusion and helpful friendly advice Y6XV is here - the fifteenth in the ongoing merry6mas series.  This year’s instalment is a 60 minute CD, comprised entirely of new and unreleased recordings made over the course of 2013 and knocked into shape in the last month or so. 

A limited edition of 100 copies on pressed CD (not CDR), with insert and hand screen printed card sleeve, this will be available as a physical CD from yellow6.com, the Yellow6 Bandcamp page and selected retailers.  A download version will also be available from Bandcamp (from 2nd December).

As ever, perfection is not critical to the end result, but I aim to provide some music I think is good and hope you will too (and yes, i do think it's good).  It may be seen as lazy, or an excuse for sloppiness, but I have never pursued perfection as a goal, preferring the clicks, pops, hiss and unintentional notes and sounds to add rather than detract from the finished piece.  The screen printed sleeve follows the same theme with no two being the same, with the blemishes expected with hand screen printing, by someone who really has no training in this form of art.

Pictures of the sleeve and disc etc. arebelow or on the yellow6 fakebook page.  You can also preview one track at the yellow6 page on Soundcloud.

This will be on Bandcamp from 2nd December and on the Y6 website in a few days.  In the meantime you can get a copy by either sending payment via PayPal to jon@yellow6.com, emailing to reserve and pay by other means later.  Costs are a little higher than i'd like due to production costs and, for overseas people, the royal mail.  

Prices are £8 (UK), £10 (EU), £11 (ROW)

An alternate version of one of the track on this CD is available on a Consouling Sounds download compilation here: http://constates.bandcamp.com/album/constates-volume-i  In addition, the final track on the CD - 'all fives' is a 10 minute track using much of the material recorded for the recent Silber '5 in 5' EP all moulded intro one track (tho i would add that you should get the Silber download I have also uploaded to the SoundCloud page a piano version of Butterfly girl which you can download free.

In case you missed out, there are still a few copies remaining of merry6mas2012 and 2011, and some copies of CUT, close/r, Painted Sky, When The Leaves Fall Like Snow and Sounds An Moving Pictures - cut price if you order with Y6XV.

Thanks again in advance for your support and a merry6mas to you all

jon/Y6

Y6XV

(merry6mas2013)

coming very soon....

In these days of instant/constant communication, where the artist is encouraged to ‘engage’ with their fans on a daily, if not more frequent basis, lest they be forgotten and replaced by those who care enough to share, I stick resolutely to the old fashioned ethos of ‘if you have nothing to say, don’t say anything at all’.  And generally I have nothing much to say, hence the infrequency of my communication.  Also, I can’t imagine many people would really care what I had for breakfast (Rice Crispies for those who do) or what I think of the X-Factor finalists or the latest story line on Eastenders.

So, can you take it that any communication must then be extremely meaningful right?  That every word can be savoured and the next sentence anticipated, as much as the smell of your favourite meal causes you to salivate like Pavlov’s dog? (which Twitter tells me was a Labradoodle…really!?!)  Well, I’m not sure I can live up to that promise and, I also don’t really have that much to say in breaking the silence of the past few months…. But I do have some small news to share.

At times, your priorities in life change and this has been one of those times, where making music has taken a back seat.  Not to say it’s been forgotten in any way – the sounds still fill my head and occasionally make me drift away, but time to get these ideas into some sort of form for others to listen to has been short.  One thing for sure is that if those sounds make it to recorded media sounding anything like they do in my head, they are going to be good (in my opinion at least).

Some of those sounds will comprise Y6XV – merry6mas 2013.  As the title suggests, this is the 15^th merry6mas since I started in 1999 and is comprised of all new recordings made during 2013.  With so many ideas part finished it has ended up being hard to know where to start, and merry6mas is an exercise in cleansing.  Taking some of the ideas, making them into something and compiling into a tangible whole.  Still in progress this will be released as a limited cdr in time for your holiday celebrations.  A more low key affair than the last two years of pressed cds (many copies of which remain, he subtly hinted) this will be going back to the past with a cdr with on-body print in diy sleeve.

Also available now / coming soon….

"Terra Vicina"

A film comprising still and video images from a trip by Jeronimo Berg-Costa to the town of his birth in northern Italy, soundtracked with the  Yellow6 track ‘and-is’ from the album Music for Pleasure (released by Rocket Racer in 2002)

Please feel free to share this link.   https://vimeo.com/76088311

“5” download e.p. on Silber.  In the 5 in 5 series where artists do an ep with a total run time of 5 minutes. 

Here’s the press release:  “Jon Atwood started experimenting with the solo guitar experiments & drones that would become Yellow6 after cutting his teeth in the London punk scene & finding himself without a band.  Fifteen years later it's clear he's better off doing his own thing.  Yellow6 has been on Silber's radar since debuting back in 1998 & we've grown up together trying to carve niches in the drone & shoegaze & post rock & ambient & noise genres as the terms referring to the music we make have changed over the years.  To be honest, I'm kind of shocked we haven't worked together before.  For 5 Yellow6 uses piano alongside the ambient guitars the project is known for to make five minute long tracks into a single cohesive dreamscape.  Turn on, tune in, drone out.

Available to download for a dollar, here & now:  http://www.silbermedia.com/5in5/yellow6-5.shtml

There is a track called ‘Falcon Two’ for an upcoming compilation for Consouling Sounds – no idea when that will happen but you can hear my contribution on the SoundCloud page.  The theme was ‘drone’ which there are elements of here.  https://soundcloud.com/yellow6/falcon-two

I have an, as yet unwritten, LP planned on Dead Vox but I have a concept in mind that I would like to stick to….none of the works in progress meet my thoughts for this LP so it may happen in 2014…watch out for those daily tweets on progress (or maybe an email in 6 months)

Lastly but sure not leastly, The Retrieval, the movie for which the music featured on merry6mas 2013 was written, and also features music from CUT, has been gathering praise and awards from film festivals around the world.  It makes it’s UK debut at the Leeds Film Festival with showings on 11 and 12 November.  Director Chris Eska will be there and I will attend on 11 Nov for my red carpet debut (if they have red carpets in Leeds that is).

Lastly, there are still copies of some previous releases available from the website (including the last few Sleep of Reason 4LP sets, CUT, Sounds and Moving Pictures, Merry6mas2011 and 2012 and more).  If you don’t fancy paying those already low prices, make me an offer by email…as long as it doesn’t cost me more to post than you pay I’ll most likely be happy!

That’s it for the news to date.  More soon

Jon/yellow6

While you wait for merry6mas this year, maybe these kind words from Mark Barton will tempt you to one of the remaining copies of merry6mas2012 still available:

Safe to say its been way too long since we featured yellow6 in these pages, its not like we’ve gone off him or anything - we’ve meant to include him on many a occasion, in fact I do clearly remember last years Xmas freebie CD - something which Mr Atwood has sent out to fans, admirers and friends since the tail end of the 90’s by way of a thank you gift - had us suitable seduced to such an extent it took us till March / April time to stir ourselves away and actually put pen to paper (or keystroke to screen for those who can’t recall what a pen is). We say put pen to paper - alas the results / files are temporarily lost in one of two spectacular laptop crashes we’ve suffered this year - the yellow6 related incident henceforth summoned  along with a near 30000 word missive to oblivion. So to make amends we were much taken by the posting of a new cut entitled ‘falcon 2’ on his sound cloud page. Now for those of you previously unfamiliar with the work of yellow6 - where have you been - he is one of the foremost exponents of sonic sculpturing, pairing the deft detailed aural articulation of Vinni Reilly to the mood moving atmospherics of Roy Montgomery he has forged an extensive body of work aglow in panoramic classicism steeled in mosaics spirited upon a melancholic resolve that’s forlorn in measured majesty. Best experienced by way of headphones - that way you get to immerse yourself in the sonic subtext at play just beneath the surface line - sensitively primed and delicately despatched the gracefully glacial ‘falcon 2’ finds Mr Atwood shifting ever more into classically tutored realms. Opening to the ominous vestiges of feedback shards dissipating into the ether as though a passing storm cloud, from therein a calm ensues, the minimalist tonalities sketch out a beautifully serene mellowness of a moment caught in pause, a solitary riff chime hypnotically spirals atop an ice dripped clock working backdrop, the effect slow and purposeful, the mood cut finitely with a church like reverence to bathe throughout a stilled though florally exquisite atmospheric that snoozes with a refined disarming elegance. Nuff said - get it at www.soundcloud.com/yellow6

More soon (but not THAT soon)

Jon/yellow6