Ben Corrigan with Anna Meredith
EXCUSE THE MESS
ALBUMS + LTD EDITION BOOKS: VOLUME 1 AND VOLUME 2
RELEASEd: FRI 4tH FEBRUARY 2022
Creative collaborations born out of the award winning music podcast excuse the mess. Two compilation albums featuring 17 unique voices from contemporary music worlds and beyond…
How does a podcast = two albums worth of music?
excuse the mess is a music podcast with a twist - alongside your bread and butter artist interviews each guest takes on the challenge of writing a brand new piece of music on the fly, in the room and with excuse the mess host, Ben Corrigan.
They follow three rules (limitations are liberating!):
1. There can be no preplanning, it is spontaneous music making.
2. The track must be finished the same day.
3. Only one instrument can be used as a sound source but there can be electronic manipulations of it.
The release is the end result of each of those heart palpating writing sessions featuring Hannah Peel, Gold Panda, Anna Meredith, Galya Bisengalieva, Manu Delago, Robert Ames, Emily Hall, Oliver Coates, Mira Calix, Matt Calvert, Douglas Dare, Laura Jurd, Mark Lockheart, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Anne Nikitin, Alev Lenz and Elliot Galvin. Released as two albums, to mirror the two series of excuse the mess in which they were made.
All the music fizzes with an energy that only fast paced work can invoke and the compositional fingerprint of each guest artist is embedded into the core of each track, whilst intermingling with Ben's own artistic voice. For anyone interested in a further delve they can go back to the podcast episode and witness the composition unfolding bit-by-bit, from the blank page to the finished piece, you are invited on that compositional journey.
Vol 1 and 2 was released on the 4th February 2022 as digital downloads via bandcamp and limited edition books available from some of the UK’s leading Independent Record Stores ft interview extracts/quotes from podcast episodes,photos from the sessions, risograph prints, downloads and more…
TRACK LIST:
VOLUME ONE
1. Manu Delago - collider (Hang)
2. Laura Jurd - copper cult (Trumpet)
3. Emily Hall - petrichor (Electromagnetic Harp)
4. Robert Ames - 400 feet (Viola)
5. Mark Lockheart - infant earth (Saxophone)
6. Douglas Dare - ministry 101 (Voice)
7. Mira Calix - skating on thin ice (Ice Rink)
8. Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch - inside and out (Piano)
9. Matt Calvert - resonate (Guitar)
VOLUME TWO
1. Gold Panda - lanza (Vinyl)
2. Hannah Peel - unbox (Music Box)
3. Galya Bisengalieva - keme (Violin)
4. Anne Nikitin - 8bit paris[666] (Casio VL Tone)
5. Elliot Galvin - toy guns (Toy Piano)
6. Alev Lenz - passing ships (Sample Library)
7. Oliver Coates - slime uk (Cello)
8. Anna Meredith - oopsloops (Pesto Jar)
(No toy pianos, ice rinks, music boxes, electromagnetic harps, trumpets, saxophones, Casio VL Tones, violins, cellos, hangs, violas, vinyl or pesto jars were harmed during the making of these albums. Well maybe the pesto jar. It’s probably been recycled by now.)
Order now from Bandcamp, Rough Trade, Drift Record Shop, Resident, Banquet Records, Juno and more…
BANDCAMP: https://excusethemess.bandcamp.com/
“Thrilling two part compilation…This is quite extraordinary.” Mary Anne Hobbs, BBC6 Music
“From the photography in the books to the music on the albums, this package perfectly captures the finest composers the country has to offer effectively exposing themselves; stripping away any veneer and showing us who they really are. Yet, despite the rawness, or perhaps given that, the quality of the music is quite breathtaking.” Louder Than War
”The 17 tracks written and recorded as part of Excuse the Mess stand up as a fascinating and very enjoyable collection all in their own right. Proof, perhaps of how sometimes limitations can be freeing and focusing for artists when their abundance of creativity might otherwise leave them lost in the process for too long.” The Big Issue
”A stunning collection of music…” The Skinny
”The premise is simple – all guest artists are required to write a spontaneous piece of music with Corrigan, to be completed the same day, using only one instrument which can be ‘electronically manipulated’. The fruits of those impromptu sessions appear on this excellent two volume compilation, and as you might expect from such speedy collaborations, they’re nothing short of electrifying.” Electronic Sound
“The whole series is fun; one can hear the exuberance of the performers, freed from hours of molding music to fit label expectations, second-guessing their own instincts and revising until all spontaneity is lost.” A Closer Listen
”A brilliant double-bill selection, ‘excuse the mess’ can only describe the accumulative space in which these tracks were created, and not the sounds or music, which are anything but. A novel criteria has resulted in some mysterious, spellbinding and often traversing experiments. The Hidden Notes platform ushers in a new year with a quality release package.” Monolith Cocktail