Sunday 23 August 2015

'Songs EP 1' - OUT NOW!!!!!!


'Songs EP 1′ - OUT NOW!!!!!!


Please listen, enjoy, and share with everyone you know. 

The EP is available to download in it’s entirety from BandCamp, no minimum spend.

Please CLICK HERE to read a blog I posted earlier talking about my thoughts, concept and inspiration behind each of the songs on the EP.
Thank you always for your support.

Monday 17 August 2015

'My Disguise' - OUT NOW!!!




'My Disguise', track two from the upcoming 'Songs EP1' is available to stream on SoundCloud right now!!!

Please check it out, like and share with everyone you know!

'Songs EP1' will be released on BandCamp in the next few of days!

Be sure to keep checking back for updates!!! 


Thursday 23 July 2015

I graduated!!!!


Yesterday, I officially graduated from my Bachelor of Arts 'Music, Sound and Enterprise' degree with a first!!! 

Here's a pic of me throwing my (surprisingly heavy) cap in the air! Had a fantastic day celebrating and seeing all of my friends!

The last three years have gone by so quickly, and I'm excited to see where the future leads...

Tuesday 16 June 2015

Two albums that define me....

Hi everyone!

I've had this idea in my head for a while now, but I've been debating whether or not to write it as it would involve revealing quite a lot about me. Anyway, I've finally decided that I think it would make a fun/interesting blog post. so here are two albums that define me.

Please note, both of these albums are undoubtedly amongst my favourite albums, this isn't a "favourite albums" list. These are albums that I feel some form of strong personal connection with, albums that provided a soundtrack to moments of my life story, or a soundtrack to a part of my personality.

So, here goes....

1.

Poses by Rufus Wainwright
What an interesting album to start off with! I'll start by saying that I have yet to come across an album I relate to more than Poses. For those familiar with Rufus and this album, I'm well aware that one of the core themes of this album is Rufus' struggle with drug addiction that he was experiencing at the time. Please don't worry! I'm not, nor have I ever, had any experience with addiction of that sort. I'm saying that I relate to many of the other themes that Rufus addresses throughout this album.

I started listening to Rufus when I was about 18, but I had a very difficult connecting to Poses at that time. Now that I'm 22 (about five or six years younger than Rufus when he wrote this album) I feel like I relate to it more than ever. I can only imagine that, over time, my connection with this album will grow even stronger.

I won't say too much about how I relate to it exactly, as that would mean delving into the depths of my personal life, but the character Rufus centred this album around, a young, non-heterosexual male with a passion for city life and filled with ambition, is very easy to identify with, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. I think the part of this album that I identify with the most is the way Rufus writes about the idea of love and lust, not necessarily the romantic encounters he writes about in this record, but his relationship with romance as a concept.

I feel that, while I find this album relatable, it's also helped me to understand a lot about myself that I perhaps hadn't made the effort to understand before.


2.


Speak For Yourself by Imogen Heap

This album was life-changing for me. I soon learnt that there are a number of artists who have recorded in home studios and produced their own records before Imogen, but this was the first time I had heard a record created by a "D-I-Y" artist. Imogen released this album on her own record label, recorded the album in her home studio, wrote/produced every song by herself and performed most of the instruments. It might sound silly, but before hearing this record and learning about how it was created, I had no idea it was possible for people to do that! 

It was around 2007 when I bought this album, so I was 14. This album proved to be so inspirational to me, because it encouraged me to learn how to write songs and produce my own music. Now, that's exactly what I do! Without hearing this album at the time that I did, who knows what I would be doing now?!



Thank you so much for reading this, I'm planning to share the stories behind even more albums that define me in the future!

Josh :-)


Thursday 4 June 2015

Well.... Sorry for my absence!

Wow!

I know it's a cliché to start off a blog post this way, but it's been quite a while since I updated this blog! I'm really sorry for that!
Just to let you know, there is a reason why I haven't updated this blog in a while (and it's not that I'm lazy!)

Last month, I finally finished my university course! (woo!!!!)
All my classes are done, and my coursework has been submitted, now I've just got to wait for my grades.

If you follow me on other social media, you may have seen that I released a brand new EP last month too!
The EP is called 'Elements' and it was composed as part of my 'Independent Research Project' (more commonly known as a dissertation) and explores the themes of music as symbolism.
The EP is an ambient, instrumental music project, and it's the second ambient music project that I've released.




Here's the beautiful artwork for the EP, shot by my father

I'm currently working on lots of new music that I plan to release very soon!

In regards to this blog, now that I'm done with university, I plan to start writing and updating this blog much more frequently. I've currently got a few ideas for new music-themed posts, as I feel like I haven't done enough talking about music on here yet.

I read a lot of blogs, and watch a lot of vloggers, but I'm still feel like I'm fairly new to the concept of blogging. Some of you may know I've been writing a blog over at http://joshstarmer.tumblr.com/ for a few years now, but I just write that to document the creation of my own music. 

I've got a few ideas of things I want to write about on here in the future, but I'm open to suggestions. Are there any things you'd like to see me discuss on here? Let me know!

Keep checking back for more updates, 

Josh :-)

And if you'd like to follow me on other social media, click here for links to everything I'm on!

Monday 6 April 2015

Roadster by Cartier - Fragrance Review

Roadster by Cartier

Notes:
Top: Bergamot, Spearmint
Heart: Peppermint, Ozone Note
Base: Cashmere Wood, Patchouli, Cistus Labdanum, Vanilla.

Strength: Eau De Toilette
Gender Label: Gentleman's
Perfumer: Mathilde Laurent

'Roadster' by Cartier is a fragrance that I (somewhat) impulse bought over a year ago and it's taken me this long to be able to form an honest opinion on it...

Saturday 21 February 2015

Champaca by Ormonde Jayne - Fragrance Review

Champaca by Ormonde Jayne

Notes:
Top: Neroli, Pink Pepper, Bamboo
Heart: Champaca Absolute, Freesia Absolute, Basmati Notes
Base: Myrrh, Green Tea, Musk

Strength: Eau De Parfum
Gender label: Ladies
Perfumer: Geza Schoen

Wednesday 4 February 2015

La Fumée by Miller Harris - Fragrance Review


Notes:
Top: Lavender, Elemi, Incense
Heart: Cardamom, Coriander, Cumin, Geranium, Chamomile
Base: Cedar, Agarwood, Santal, Cade, Birch Tar, Amber

Strength: Eau De Parfum
Gender Label: Unisex
Perfumer: Lyn Harris

PLEASE NOTE: This is a review for the original La Fumée, not any of the fragrances that are part of the La Fumée collection.

La Fumée is beautiful fragrance centered around one of my favourite notes in perfumery, incense. La Fumée, translated into english, means "smoke", and that's precisely what you get with this scent.

Sunday 25 January 2015

December 2014 Favourites!!!

Hi everyone! (long time, no speak)

I hope 2015 is treating you well. I know it's customary to post your "favourites of the month" blog at the start of the next month, but here's mine anyway!

This is my first "monthly favourites" post, and my lists will consist of literally anything I have enjoyed in the previous month.

Here is a list of some of my favourite things from December 2014!

Monday 5 January 2015

Check out my sister's blog!

Hi everyone! 

I hope you have all had an excellent Christmas, holiday season and New Year!

I'll be updating this blog with some new posts very soon, but right now I want to share my sister's new blog with you.

You can find her at http://poppysconstellations.wordpress.com/


She's published some really great beauty blogs and fragrance reviews on there.
So if you're interested in that sort of thing, you should definitely check her out!


Josh :-)