Corey Mwamba

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20th May 10

The advances in web technology are opening up the field for artists to generate and share work in fantastic ways. One of these advances is the audio element in HTML5.

I resisted changing things over for a while because I thought it'd be a slog re-coding the site: but as it happens I only had to remove one line to make the switch. So...

As long as you're not on Internet Explorer 7 or below, all the pages are now in XHTML5. For most purposes you won't notice any difference, except on the shop and podcast pages: if your browser doesn't understand SVG, you'll get an HTML5 audio player instead!

9th Jun 10

Just a quick note with happy news: I've had an article published for Dev.Opera. Obviously it's not about music, but still it's a nice moment for me and is a landmark for the progress I've made since I started to make my own web-site ten or eleven years ago. Huzzah!

5th Feb 11

A few days ago, I wrote a comment about libraries [it was on a personal page]. Today, if you didn't know, is Save Our Libraries Day. It's rare that I cross-comment: but I'm going to reproduce what I wrote. If there is any protest against the cuts to libraries and you feel even remotely concerned that the government is trying to develop a nation of uneducated people please speak out. Anyway, here's what I wrote:

The clamp-down on thinking: here we are. No one is safe. Even in Egypt where there are huge riots, they protected the library. But here we create silent book tombs with civilisation as a corpse.

We are being taken back to the 19th Century, when very few could borrow a book for free.

Subscription libraries are great resources - but in towns, cities and communities where there is no such thing then the public lending library is a living breathing entity and should be sacrosanct.

My sextet would not exist without the library, since that's where the first research into stories began. Many of the things I've done have started in that space. And when I worked there, I tried my damnedest to make it a place to go. Because having a library MEANS something.

And even though the building in Derby is not necessarily threatened, I know that some more staff have gone.

The Public Libraries Act of 1850 asserts the universal right to literature and information as a national institution, through legislation.

We're not mucking about here - we made it law because we thought it was important. Universally important. And now it is being chipped away. Some people will say it's about lefties whining. But the fact that the act represents us as a nation should have any patriot out of his or her seat and slapping on the war-paint as well.

This government is quite simply stabbing the country in the throat.

7th Apr 11

Josh was originally down to do the gig, but unfortunately he's super busy. But it's a great chance to try new things, and I haven't worked with a guitarist in ages either... as I'm not really a fan of the instrument, then it isn't my first choice when putting a band together; but there are some who really make the instrument sing. Otto is one of those people.

17th Jun 11

One final test of the sharer... thanks to the Opera extensions spec, I was able to make a sharing button for my browser! The rest of the coding was relatively simple after that.

Well, here's another influence on me, very obvious one I think!

2nd Sep 11

And he talks directly and succinctly about the soul in music.

The man's sound has had a profound effect on the way I make music - a wonderful find!

8th Dec 11

This is more a joke/response than anything else.

1) I was on a music discussion panel with a music journalist who stated that people didn't care about people who played instruments on records any more; that people couldn't really tell the difference between computer music and live music; that live music was irrelevant; And that owning 5000 tracks of classic soul on his iPod wasn't the ultimate irony.

2) Over the course of my "career" in music I have been told to make music that sounds more like the music other people make. I actually think I do this fairly often; but still...

And so, here is a bebop-influenced smooth jazz-fusion solo on MIDI vibes over synth strings and bass, with a fairly regular [yet quantised] beat. Not that anyone listening would know, of course. Will it make the charts?

The Lick is in there for reference just so you can clock the genre!

26th Jan 12

Just in case you missed what I was trying to do: I'm looking to make posting to different sites a bit smoother than it is. I currently use dlvr.it to post things to Facebook and Twitter: but it doesn't quite allow the control I want. So... here we are, wrestling with Facebook's OAuth procedures and SDK, which seems to be written in some eldritch language.

27th Jan 12

Sleep just isn't going to happen. Still, it's given me a chance to tinker with a few things on the site: and make sure my gig schedule's up-to-date. But must sleep soon...

16th Feb 12

Following on from my epic rant the other day and aside from a conversation with the master Orphy Robinson about the woeful soul category in the Grammy's; Kathryn Rose [who I'm connected to on Twitter] sent me a link to a very interesting essay by Stefan Goldmann about quality in music: here's part one and this is part two. After that I noticed they were linked to a previous article entitled Why Everything Popular Is Wrong which is also worth a read, but is not what I want to talk about.

What I want to share is the awe-inspiring comment Goldmann gave in the deviant end of the Internet, i.e. the comments. It luckily requires almost no need to explain context as well. Something for musicians to read, remember and share. All the emphasised bits are my doing.

Amazingly few comments dwell on a view like this (I always assumed that was a mass phenomenon):

this article is valuable to anyone who values making money in music - and anyone who does that probably makes run-of-the-mill music anyway.

Making music should not be a job. MUSIC IS NOT ABOUT MAKING MONEY, IT IS ABOUT MAKING MUSIC. (well, in any case some ISP stocks make wonderful returns here)

Still, it is worth dealing with this kind of view (interestingly, it never comes from anyone actually DOING music on an above-"first steps" level - if it was of any value, it should have at least a minority support from just some renowned musicians?). It is obvious nonsense to link "music done as a profession" with a major's/pop star wealth/commercial interest perspective. Pop stars have always been a tiny fraction of the musicians' community.

There are millions of "professional" musicians on the globe that do what they love (or are capable of) in the first place and don't even know what a major is. I'm talking about music being the only perspective (besides sports) for gifted individuals to escape obscene poverty in 3rd world countries or class poverty in 2nd and 1st world countries. It is more accessible and realistic than becoming a doctor or engineer. And we increasingly see electronic music offering such possibilities, too (well, until recently). Think of Brazil or South Africa. Or of Detroit back in the day.

I bet anyone who voiced the "music is a hobby and shouldn't generate any income" opinion:

  1. is middle class & male
  2. owns a Mac
  3. never had to rely solely on his own work (whatsoever) to make a living (i.e. having parents with sufficient funds to support them through college or on whatever other leisure things they do in their sufficient leisure time before they take on one of these nice paying jobs in their respective societies)

We should take it for what it is: it is an ideology for people who have no clue what they are talking about. They have never invested any effort in learning anything in music beyond selecting the presets from the menu of some software they downloaded from a Russian server (go ahead - I support that since I found a Native Instruments ad on a website that offered a free download of my music). Of course, at this level of experience, it seems nonsense to them to make money from that - and I agree 100%.

Still, this view is uninformed (mildly put) since it is only applicable to one very narrow way of creating music. Other (actually: most) music takes time. A classical violinist HAS to practise 5-9 hours a day. There is no day job option. Arguably even in electronic music, millions of people have benefited culturally from the music developed by gifted musicians. Some tracks might have been created on a lazy afternoon (and the house classics have earned a lot of money), others took weeks or months to produce.

Go out and listen to some music other than the generic stuff you filled your hard-drive with. If someone didn't spend years to develop what your Internet friends emulate with their presets, you wouldn't even know electronic music exists. Rest assured that people like Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin, Ricardo Villalobos, Jeff Mills, Larry Heard and even Deadmau5 have invested years of their lives to develop what their fans love them for. And not one of them is on a major (except Deadmau5). If it was their hobby you would have never heard of any of them though. And I couldn't care less if someone releases on a major or an indie. Miles Davis was on a major. Bach was on the majors of his baroque era (money from the church & some feudal ruler - without these, people wouldn't have listened to his stuff for the last 300 years).

I'm fine, thanks, but you never know the background of people. Assuming that music should be something only middle class kids can afford to do (as their "hobby"), while everyone else is happily invited to stay wherever the social ladder put them... well, judge for yourself what such world-view is worth.

9th Apr 12

I'm currently listening to some of the first mixes of the trio recording.

Although I'm very good at listening to music, I am not necessarily good at listening to production - but there is such amazing clarity in the sound. Chris Trent is a marvel!

What's striking me is the mood that's created from each piece - for the recording we talked more than we have done in three years of gigs, and though this did in fact make me quite jittery at the time [I felt we were worrying about things outside of the music we create more than the music itself] the music itself is full of emotion and life; which [of course] is the point.

There's still more to come - I think the next month's going to be full of tough decisions..!

27th Apr 12

Teensy bit of coding. There's now a new watch post by e-mail function as an alternative to RSS feeds; and small things. Prepping for my gig later today in Nottingham... hope to see you there if you can make it!

29th Apr 12

Quick questions about digital/physical format music releases and perception: it's mainly musician/journalist-related, but please feel free to chip in.

  1. Is it important to release music on CD to get press [print] coverage?
  2. Musicians: weighing all costs/profit in releasing a CD, do you think you'd make or lose money if you did a digital-only release?
  3. Journalists/bloggers: do you avoid reviewing/previewing digital-only releases?
  4. Musicians: do you think journalists avoid digital-only releases?
30th Apr 12

I haven't practised Shorinji Kempo for years, but it's always interesting how many of the principles feed back into my life. I "stopped" practising when I went to university - no dojo where I went - and chemistry [and music] took over.

Over time it's like the philosophy has been subsumed into my music practice: "live half for oneself and half for others". When I used to practise, I was able to channel my latent anger [I was a very angry person at the time] into the martial art.

But playing music does much more than that. Music gives me a path to express complex emotions clearly without being overcome by them. And listening to music explains life and beyond in clearer ways than talking ever did.

And that is why I make music.

15th May 12

Totally gutted. I can't make it to Liverpool #

26th Sep 12

Getting stuff together for the final rehearsal for Lydia\'s show on 1st October. If you can make it to Leicester it\'d be great to see you there!

29th Sep 12

Cannot sleep; although I\'ve had a restful day today. On Thursday @[Alexander Hawkins] and I met up to talk about Way In To The Way Out; expect some surprises and good things!

\"a Also, there\'s been a small change in design to the signing in process on the Rambles and Gigs pages: I\'ve grouped all the single-click sign-ons [Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, MSN/Hotmail/Live, Y!/Yahoo, Google and WebID] together, you can simply select the icon or word you want to sign in. AND new comments get an edit button - but it only lasts for thirty minutes. I might make it permanent but we\'ll see.

1st Oct 12

Up early - stuff to do! But this evening - Lydia\'s show, Reading The Body! If you can make it down, I think it will be a special night... this begins a whole sequence of gigs, of course since tomorrow I\'m in Manchester and the day after that I\'m recording for Martin Archer. Conserving my strength...

7th Oct 12

So - I decided to make a separate page for DOME. Info is currently scant - but as more people get involved [hint, hint]...

Please sign up to the mailing list, and let\'s talk!

23rd Apr 13

As far as I\'m aware, I tend not to make music for catharsis or personal emotional cleansing. But there was something healing about the gig on Sunday. I may write about this in a longer sense, but in the meantime here\'s a video play-list of clips from the gig. Hope you like them.

20th May 13

So - you know how I decide I have too much money and occasionally programme things? I'm doing that again, but this time with some help.

Last year I was approached by Derby Jazz and asked if I'd like to select some gigs, and arrange them into a series to run alongside their usual programme. Second Line is the result; a reference to the drumming style as well as the parallel nature of the series. They're quite spread out; but I think they represent some really exciting new music!

The first gig in the series is Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri. Lucian and Mat have been to Derby before - I know this because I brought them here last time, and they've asked me to join them again which is a fantastic honour. Their new album received a four-star review in the Guardian and the upcoming concert is a Guardian gig of the week, which is great. I really hope you can make it down - 7pm on a Wednesday means most people can make it back home at a late but not unreasonable hour, but with luck still allows time to eat some dinner beforehand. Hope the series inspires you to come out and hear some great music!

16th Sep 13

I admit that I'm possibly laying waste to the front page of my site right now, but this could be really useful. I'll write up the technique soon too - and try to make it more complete than the sources I had to use to eventually make this.

17th Sep 13

But there are two huge bonuses to this:

  1. I don't have to use social silos to "think aloud" - I can just do it here, control what to keep. If I wanted, I could hook up an RSS feed and have dlvr.it send the feed to Twitter or Facebook, if I want that interaction; and
  2. I own it. I can make this look how I want; and can place it anywhere on my site.

These are massive gains.

21st Sep 13

So - Derby Telegraph reports a story about claims that a school is forcing teachers to wear head scarves, and make girls sit at the back.

Yes, this is very bad if the claims are true: but then the Derby Telegraph decides to push the article from the slant of "Muslim school using public money", knowing that some elements out there will go a bit... well... Griffin. Bloom [allegedly]. Here, have a look at the comments.

Anyway, at least four times on Twitter they push the reaction to the story. In the reactions, there is no mention of the wider issue of free schools and how they spend money; just the usual ranting about people "taking over the country" from people who will never know any better.

Are we supposed to believe that the paper didn't see that coming? When a paper starts promoting the reaction rather than the story itself, I think we should be worried about the quality of the paper. If there's any case of wrong-doing at the school, then of course it should be reported. But it's not because they're Muslim: and the Derby Telegraph is wrong to push the story in a way that can only incite xenophobia.

28th Oct 13

Saying the right words in the right way to make a listener feel a certain way is always great acting; but not always the truth.

28th Oct 13

The lack of closeness is why people can make terrible decisions that directly affects those in need; or say what they like on TV.

12th Feb 14

Why it's important to make programmes like that is very simple: sometimes we need to see people like ourselves to aspire.

19th Feb 14

Other than that, today is supervisor meeting day. Will I be able to corral the mess of ideas and make them look intelligent??

5th Apr 14

Sadly I didn't make it to Lancaster, owing to illness. Apologies. But much better now after rest!

16th Apr 14

Will be resting up today, to make sure I get myself to LUME tomorrow!

4th May 14

The power to make a performance to thousands feel like entirely personal. Vandross was a legend.

24th May 14

Well, Bristol was my last one: but make sure you catch @[Nick Malcolm]'s quartet tour in the next week or so... Seriously good

26th May 14

Didn't think I'd make it to the station on time: but it looks like the exercise is paying off! See you soon, London.

4th Jun 14

New Ramble: Corey Wrote Two Funding Applications Last Week. But The Reasons Why Will Make You Smile.

8th Jul 14

Times like this always make me think of Barenboim's Reith lecture...

30th Nov 14

Thoroughly inspiring couple of days with @[GIO], @[Maggie Nicols] and Steve Beresford. Honoured to make music with them!

10th Apr 15

If you're an artist and make headlines using politics, don't be surprised when people react to your politics at a time of their choosing.

15th Nov 15

And although it was a short set, great to make such deep music in the duo with @[Rachel Musson]. Resolved to get more people to hear us!

29th Feb 16

The gig yesterday was storming! Make sure you catch Bad Ash on their tour... and always nice to play in Derby!

13th Jun 16

Popular Delusions is four years old. Not a big milestone, but an album that meant something to make.

22nd Jun 16

When we work in groups, we balance our selves with the aim of a whole (to make music together).

22nd Jun 16

Within that music, four voices aim, struggle; and they make music. But you know there are independent voices within.

2nd May 17

A small amount of tidying to make the RSS feeds functional again!

26th Aug 17

It is so hard to mention absolutely everyone who has moved you to do, to make. Every time I try this the list is always woefully short.

26th Aug 17

It is not enough to be ABLE. You must want to do; want to make. For me, that is the difference between an instrumentalist and a musican.

20th Oct 17

Today is a day of very new things. @[yana] -- which in my mind will always be "Corey Mwamba | Dave Kane | Joshua Blackmore" -- has music on a record label, mainly because Alya from @[Two Rivers Records] believed we should have one, and cared enough to make it happen in the best possible way. We have physical copies of our music, which is not new for us; but instead of them being made by my two hands, the CDs have had a team behind them in terms of design and production. The support and listening we have had from Two Rivers has been wonderful.

As most people who know me know, this group is special to me for a number of reasons. First, it showed me what I could do if I applied my will and stuck with it. I wanted to hear Dave and Joshua together (they had not met previously), and it happened and kept happening because we kept believing it should happen, even when (in the earlier days) people's understanding of what we were doing was limited.

Second, this group allowed me to make the music I wanted to without worrying about... well, lots of things that working in music makes you think you have to worry about. It has always been difficult to get us in the same room as we're all very busy; but when we do get in the same room, things are unbelievably simple.

Third, the musical mind we form is unlike any I have experienced in any other group. It would take me a very long time to talk about what happens inside, but in short there is a love, a language and a groove that I feel palpably, every time we play. And it is amazing to be inside that, and to learn from it. When I listen back to our first recordings, I understand how much we have moved; not away from anything, but deeper into how we communicate. And the time we spend not playing together is immaterial. Today will be the first time we've played together for a year and that is by no means unusual.

I think we have had more support from fellow musicians who have heard/seen us over the years, but also powerful encouragement from audiences over the years. You might wonder why we're doing Cambridge first, but it's for a very good reason (other than Joshua living there). Graham Lee and Carol Garrison are two of the most devoted music fans I know. For us to play for their night is a pure honour; they've travelled with this group from the beginning. There is nowhere else we would want to be.

If you can make it down tonight, it'd be lovely to see you: but if not, then please buy a copy of the album, and I hope you like it.

Open, living music.

17th Feb 18

Stress getting to Manchester today! Case broke; then the wettest of rains! Still, should make it in time for the gig...

8th Mar 18

As a consequence, "the rhizome" should be harder to break now (except if I break it through poor, tired typing as I did a few minutes ago). I think it is also a bit quicker, and now I can make an effort into filtering and searches. But not today.

10th Mar 18

I'm locking the rhizome database until Friday, to do some error-checking and make some improvements. You can still view and search; but you won't be able to add new groups or musicians. I'd apologise, but it's entirely intentional.

20th Apr 18

Today I will actually make it into my space to record. Feels like ages...

26th Apr 18

But the main thing was - I was really enjoying the way of working, melding the technology with what I knew from my jazz-rooted practice, to make new music. And (I think) it was new music at the time, in all senses.

7th Aug 18

This month marks two-thirds of the way through (s)kin. I'd like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who is supporting the collection, and also inspiring me to make more music.

21st Aug 18

Currently LOVING the PPL bulk registration upload. Really quick. Make sure if you're going to use it that you spend a bit of time with the manual, and set up defaults beforehand.

22nd Aug 18

@bandcamp wishes

4) Album export to CSV, with track/artist/barcode/duration/ISRC fields. I only thought about this yesterday when I was doing my @PPLUK spreadsheet. This would make digital release to PPL a seamless process.

17th Sep 18

"I was never a rudimental drummer. At least as I call it. If I was, I probably could have played things easier. But I had to make up my own form."

29th Oct 18

(s)kin: eleven is out now for subscribers! £15 per year delivers an exclusive series of albums AND everything I make going forward. Thanks to those who support my work!

12th Nov 18

(s)kin: twelve is VERY early for subscribers today! If you'd like to get it, the other albums from the collection, and everything else I'm going to make, simply subscribe from £15 per 12 months!

6th Dec 18

All thirteen parts of the (s)kin collection are available! If you subscribe, you'll receive all parts, some older albums, and everything I make in the future (and there will be more)!

29th Mar 19

For those of you who couldn't make it, here's a video of the jam from Saturday (thanks Barney Stevenson)

30th Mar 19

For those of you who couldn't make it, here's a video of NTH quartet (with @[Laura Cole], @[Andy Champion], @[Johnny Hunter]) from Saturday (thanks Makif)

16th Jul 19

I ran a short poll over the weekend: "if Bandcamp vanished tomorrow, how would you sell your music online?" It was split across Twitter and a "make your own poll" site, so I had to combine the results.

Number of votes
42
Host music on own site
19
That would be a problem
15
Physical only
5
Amazon, Google, iTunes, Tidal et al.
3

The other options (Spotify et al.; Resonate; leaving responsibility to a label) didn't score.

Interpretation will have to wait for another day -- although I will briefly say that (even with the small sample size) I am not incredibly surprised at the results...

31st Jul 19

Currently writing a basic CUE sheet to PPL CSV file converter -- could be useful for those who use Ardour (or another DAW) and make CUE sheets from inside the application...