http://www.marknorthfield.com en-gb marknorthfield.com 2012-2-3T00:00:00Z marknorthfield.com http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#111698 GOOD MONEYHaving banished the RobynElectronic cover on the EP I needed something else pronto to keep it as a fourtracker. Although I was toying with a newly written and rather gentle song I felt in the mood for something spikier. Lo and behold an old song called GOOD MONEY came to the rescue...Having done a lot of reading too much probably in recent years about the ongoing financial crisis debt and the insidious effect of tax havens I thought this might be a good time to revisit the track and rewrite the words pretty much from scratch. Musically its quite unlike my usual stuff being done and dusted in little over two minutes primarily electronic and rhythmically manic. It comes across like a lightly scary fairground ride the kind of thing Madness might have made were they politically motivated cybermen.The backing track was created entirely on a Korg synth workstation many years ago so it sounds decidedly retro and screwed up. Still being a classical bod I never try to create things of... 2012-2-3 11:05:34 http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#110759 You know how sometimes things happen in life that temporarily throw you completely and you cant think about anything else for a day or two Well that happened to me last week as I was forced to accept a rather bitter pill regarding a cover version I was very proud of. Then having stomped around as if it was the floor that had done something wrong and scowled at the merest sight of any tiny redbreasted garden birds I realised my temper would achieve precisely nothing and snapped out of it. However I do feel like sharing the story in case it helps anyone else considering going down the same route.To explain...Back when I recorded Alterations I thought itd be good idea to precede it with a few digital EPs containing counterpart tracks from the album along with some new tracks. The moment seemed ripe for a few appropriate cover versions amongst the new songs having never done any before outside of a live setting. Although I had a whole musical world to choose from I settled on tackling some... 2012-1-20 06:52:02 http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#108726 Well now another bit of news is that Ive hauled myself back into the field of gigging in order to promote Alterations. Id taken a good chunk of timeoff in this respect not least because most of Ascendant didnt really suit the acoustic venue vibe. However the new album has various tracks that make perfect sense in that environment so Im taking them out for a ride trainer wheels and all.Gathering together my various collaborators is still not the easiest of tasks busy lives and geography tend to get in the way but I should be able to rope some of them in to live dates in the new year. Meanwhile Ill be getting away with singing what I can alongside the talented Gareth Forster on acoustic guitar and BVs. Have done two gigs in the past week one in Ascot at Jagz Bar bit rough round the edges dusting off cobwebs etc and one at Powers Bar in Kilburn tiny stage but great venue much tighter performance. The latter also featured the splendid Charlie Brown on fiddle he plays on Alterations and my ... 2011-12-14 16:37:35 http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#108725 Greetings.Principles are great in moderation. They give you focus identity a reason to get out of bed on one side and not the other etc. OK I may have made one of those up... Sometimes though they just become an obstacle.Bearing this in mind everything Ive read about music promotion lately has said YOU MUST BE ON FACEBOOK OR NOONE WILL TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY some did actually say it in boomy capitals. Lo it has come to pass my resistance has crumbled I have become one of the hive. Assimilated. AghhhhBut of course its actually quite nice to exchange random chat with friends without having to phone them up and have a proper conversation as long as that doesnt actually replace the occasional proper conversation.Anyway Im relatively easy to find on there as a real person should you wish to look but if its my music youre interested in presumably so if youre reading this... the page you really need to go to iswww.facebook.commarknorthfieldmusicas that will have all the latest stuff about gigsnew... 2011-12-14 16:21:17 http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#107577 OK please excuse the upper case and three hyperventilating exclamation marks. We all have our momentary lapses.Its time for a bloggy catch up of goings on in the world of Northfield.Well firstly Ive created another DIY animation video this time for the lead track from the forthcoming EP Nothing Impossible. Being a real happysad poprock song I thought it deserved something suitably cute. Lo and behold the little pink fish was born and his purple friend with the gold fins too. But the purple fish disappears and the viewer sees the horrific truth of what happens. What will the little pink fish do to find his friend again Only one way to find out Its on the Sound And Vision page here on this website and also on my YouTube channel. Please share with any of your friends who might appreciate cute bits of coloured card battling against hostile household objects. Hey who wouldntSecondly the album Alterations is finally on its way after much delay. I was wanting to do the two EPs first so that ... 2011-11-26 21:11:01 http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#98146 So then I appear to have a single out. A digital one no less. And indeed no more.Its the first release of stuff from my forthcoming album Alterations and contains four tracks of precise loveliness in a variety of forms. Melodic piano and exquisitely arranged strings feature highly as always. In order we have1 The multilingual plagiaristic funkiness of The Death Of Copyright with additional Bach and whistling. Features me doing the English verses and the little Spanish bit with previous collaborator Ellen Jakubiel doing the French and Antony pinot noir Connor doing the German.2 A semiclassical and downright gloomy cover of ABBAs The Day Before You Came for piano cello violin and voice. At least as depressing as the original or your money back perhaps. Yes its me singing.3 An extended version of a Philip GlassUnderworld inspired album track from Alterations this version is entitled Headlonging stretched out and features yours truly intoning rapidfire in... 2011-7-11 16:11:40 http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#96273 So I finally succumbed to the inevitable and joined Twitter the other day. Not out of any great desire to tell the world about my breakfast though I wont rule it out if its particularly spectacular or to remind people with tedious regularity that I made a DIY pop video but just to ride the wave and see if it might turn out to be useful. And say hello to friends obviously. Unsurprisingly Im marknorthfield. I might even find a way of putting a little twitter button on this websites contact page like a proper grownup. Or a proper child even.httptwitter.commarknorthfield 2011-6-15 07:35:55 http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#95477 Well howdy one and all.Despite the blogging quietness Ive been making sure my hands havent been idle lately. Ive just put up the first fruits of my labours in the form of a stopanimation video for the first single from the new album. Its called The Death Of Copyright and features the lyrics of the song along with some additional random thoughts presented with letter tiles not unlike ones from the game Scrabble. The official words slide on and off the screen dance around make shapes and faces and generally have fun whilst other words loiter suspiciously on the margins being faintly ridiculous or casting dark glances. There are a few visual gags and a bit of verbal bullying. Most of it wasnt really planned the tiles made me do it... Being my first attempt at such a thing I spent a fair few increasingly late nights putting it all together 4000 frames were never going to happen in a hurry and the end result is suitably DIY. However I think it has a certain rough charm and Ive been bathing... 2011-6-4 18:27:06 http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#84403 So if you read the recent rambly update post youll know that I pretty much took a year off from online promotional activities in order to concentrate on arranging and recording the new stuff not to mention some pretty timeconsuming nonmusical commitments. In doing so I completely missed thishttpsputnikmusic.comblogp626which has left me scratching my head rather. Its clearly heartfelt but Adam if youre reading this youve nothing to apologise for Really. Really really. Of all the what I consider major music review sites I sent Ascendant to turns out Sputnik was the only one who gave it any mention. Sure it got PLENTY of blog interest of course and that was cool but the big guns Zilch. And then I belatedly found youd actually given me that foot in the door whats more you put it in your top 20 of the year and top 100 of the decade. Im not just quite pleased about that Im genuinely thrilled. That its grown on you since is well pretty humbling I guess. As an artist one always hopes to be abl... 2011-1-11 18:55:44 http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#83966 A quickish OK I dont do quick post to say hello and no I havent died. Thanks for asking though. I disappeared for a long while to concentrate on recording and other commitments. I know its the done thing these days to update everyone with every single tiny studio tweakette alongside a few photos which prove just how jolly exciting it all is but some of us arent quite that organised. Really. That said I may yet join the Twitterati just to see what it feels like.However the upshot of 2010 for me is that the next album is finally finished another ten tracks of baffling wonderment await the unwary... and it all merely needs to be professionally mastered before being unleashed on the outside world. Im focusing on creating videos atm as I actually want a few things out there on YouTube before the album gets released this time not a year afterwards. Did I mention how splendidly disorganised I was Anyway I will try to blog a little more frequently in light of things actually occurring perhaps... 2011-1-5 21:56:35 http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#48320 Well looks like another summer zipped by the sneaky little devil.Must confess to being torn of late between focusing hard on the music and doing my tiny part in the face of climate change and resource depletion. The latter issues are so critically urgent and societys inertia so entrenched that everything else just feels a little bit frivolous by comparison. I have consequently been actively involved with some political stuff this year of a Green hue and that has taken a fair amount of my time and energy. However the music is still coming along in its own sweet time and the new term schedule is deliberately more forgiving than any Ive had since moving to London ten years ago.The dance duet choreographed to Waiting For Green is finally up on TheUbiquitousYouTube. See it here. At some point I may work out how to embed it on this site properly but my technophobic side will no doubt put that off until a suitably rainy day and get distracted by some suitably rainy day vinyl even then. My g... 2009-9-7 14:49:44 http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#39000 Ah yes I nearly forgot.Ive rather belatedly decided to start a mailing list for any official info releases gigs films collaborations etc. If you wish to subscribe please get in touch with your email via the contact form and Ill add you.Dont get too excited though youre unlikely to be bombarded with information 2009-3-31 11:44:24 http://www.marknorthfield.com/page6.htm#38994 Well now its about time I started blogging on my own website not everyone loves MySpace after all. This blog will almost certainly be duplicating the MySpace one or vice versa if you prefer because there really are only so many hours in the day.So in view of that heres one I made earlier Yesterday to be precise.Update time with slight Northfieldian rant in the second half.Ill confess to being a tad irritable this year so far ill far beyond the call of duty with coldyfluey stuff and have belatedly realised Im working too many hours yeah its only playing the piano but Im a perfectionist OK seriously need to reorganise my timetable to have more time for the creative stuff.Despite the above Im currently getting on writing the new album its about two thirds of the way there and Im working within certain limitations Ive set myself just to make life that little bit more fun. Itll be bloody marvellous when all the arrangements are in place honest it will. Luckily bunny season is ... 2009-3-31 11:30:49