Almost There Blog » Music

June 6th Concert

joesimpson — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:00:57 +0000

Things are more than a little frantic at the moment, with moving house, learning to drive, trying to paint paintings three times the size of the ‘Almost There’ canvases in half the time etc. So the blog is less of a blog, but more of a news bulletin board for the time being. With that in mind, here are a few news things:

A few of my older paintings are on show at Cornerhouse in Manchester. It’s a wonderful place, with exhibitions , a cinema and a swanky café. Details here:

http://www.cornerhouse.org/

Also, a big concert is scheduled for the ‘Almost There’ exhibition. The last big event for the project, and a sort of closing party.

The concert is a chance to hear live performances from four of the contributing music acts from the ‘Almost There’ project. The evening will start in the gallery to view the paintings and move into the seated theatre to hear sets from:

NEW CASSETTES, RIC NEALE, THE LAYLANAS AND MATT TRINDER.

Tickets are on sale now, priced just £5 each.

Please purchase tickets in advance to avoid disappointment, they are available to buy:

In person at the Waterside Arts Centre box office

By phone from the box office: 0161 912 5616

Online: http://www.quaytickets.com/WhatsOn/EventDetail.aspx?EventId=3080

the launch night

joesimpson — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:35:09 +0000

The launch night took place on Friday night (20th February) - and it was a huge success. I would like to thank everyone who came along, all musicians who played - Ric Neale, Jose Vanders and Matt Trinder and everyone involved in making it a really special night. A serious amount of wine was consumed and a few bad heads in the morning, but the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. I’ve posted a few photos from the evening, more to come in later days. If you came and enjoyed the show, please tell friends, family and colleagues about the show and to come down in the week. It’s on at the Candid Arts Trust, Islington until March 1st - Open Daily 11am - 8pm Admission Free. Come on down…

post on posters

joesimpson — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:07:36 +0000

It’s promotion mania in the ‘Almost There’ camp (that’s me in my bedroom by the way). I think I’ve settled on a design for the posters, check it out:

Also, a few nice people have mentioned the project on their blogs - check out lovely words and download a free track from the soundtrack, Matt Cameron - ‘River Cafe’. Have a look at:

Captain Obvious

The Devil Has the Best Tuna

Mainstream Isn’t So Bad…Is It?

I had a trip down to London at the weekend to visit the Candid Arts Trust where the exhibition will be held. It looks awesome. It got me very excited for the show.

almost there

joesimpson — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:53:51 +0000

Last night I went along to Poynton Church, where Matt Trinder and friends built a mini-studio to record his song for the Almost There project. It was an eventful evening, with apparent major technical difficulties (the only help I could offer was ordering pizza), trying to fit everything into a car along with two passengers, a drug sniffer dog taking a fancy to our producer at a train station (he had nothing on him I should point out!) and Baltic temperatures. Despite all of that, it sounded great. Matt stuck images of the painting on the walls and the band kept on discussing the best direction to take the song to make sure it worked with the image. A big shout out to everyone that was there and helped. I tried my hand at being a rock photographer, check out some photographs of the evening…

same old lines

joesimpson — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:08:03 +0000

I’ve not been blogging much as late. I’m on my computer most of the day, doing press releases, myspace things etc. - so I’m not really in the mood. But, here’s an awesome song by Rod Thomas that I came across on Myspace - I’ve listened to this song a stupid amount of times. There is also a great remix by James Yuill that I highly recommend.

http://www.myspace.com/rodthomasmusic

I promise some good updates very soon, with a new trailer, new paintings, and exciting stories, (including fearing for my life when confronted by three russians with bottles and a lot of aggression on the tube) stay tuned!

smoke in the air and coffee in the cup

joesimpson — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:29:35 +0000

I stumbled across a new musician on Myspace that I really enjoy - Dublin singer Michael John. His sound reminds me of Iron and Wine, but don’t take my word for it - download a free MP3:

Michael John - One In Five

And then add him on Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/musicbymichaeljohn

to be alone with you

joesimpson — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:57:22 +0000

Ok, so Sufjan Stevens has been mentioned quite a bit already on this blog - but I’ve finally got hold of a remix of ‘To Be Alone With You’ by Pocketknife that I’m nuts about. Put this on your Ipod and walk through a busy city in the rain, you’ll feel cool, I promise.

Download : Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You (Pocketknife’s Considerate Eagle Scout Remix)

looking for answers

joesimpson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:23:28 +0000

Here is the first in a series of trailers to be released in the lead up to my exhibition. I’m really pleased with it, the song featured is ‘Answers’ by Nizlopi. If you like it, please feel free to post it to your blog/website/facebook etc.

Almost There - Trailer #1 ‘Answers’ from Joe Simpson on Vimeo.

la blogotheque

joesimpson — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:02:59 +0000

One of my favourite websites is La Blogotheque, the takeaway shows.
They do lots of guerilla style live music performances around Paris. They are so great. My favourite is Guillemots singing ‘Made Up Love Song #43′ - but I can’t watch that right now. Check it out the Bon Iver one below, probably helps if you know the actual song - I love the bit in this video when the camera spins round to show the doorway behind them.

I might have some news on the headphones…

with all your lies, you’re still very loveable

joesimpson — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:00:45 +0000

Breaking news! So, the dates and venues of the ‘Almost There’ exhibition are:

20^th February – 1^st March 2009

Candid Arts Trust,

Angel Islington, London

4^th April – 13^th June 2009

Waterside Art Centre,

Sale

I’m planning on getting my funding application sent off asap now. Still no word on headphones though…

To celebrate this news, I’ve compiled a few MP3s of songs that I like for you to download. All of these songs have been given away by the musicians on their own websites and myspace pages at some point, so if you like them check out the rest of their stuff:

Nizlopi - Helen

Bon Iver - For Emma (Live)

Klaus Says Buy The Record - Linen Cloth

The Kambourines - Houses Fall Down