Slide Guitar 101

I was asked to record some guitar for Kidkanevil's project with Sadler's Wells. He liked slide and some old school blues/roots music, so I did some slide, as well as a whole bunch of odd stuff which will probably weird him out. He'll be sampling it and turning it into tracks for the dancers.

Story ends.

Friday night slide noodling for @kidkanevil 🕺🏻

A video posted by Eddie Al-Shakarchi (@dr_ed_boogie) on

Richie Hayes x Noonday Underground

Richie Hayes is one of the talented guys I know. I don't really know if he's 'mainly' a drummer, a keyboard player, a guitarist, a singer or songwriter. He plays the bass too, of course, but nobody wants to be 'mainly a bass player'.

A while back, I helped him with a rekkid. He came to me with a few songs - the drums, bass, organ and guitars already recorded in a suitably lo-fi manner. We tracked the vocals, a horn section, vibraphone, a little guitar and a few other bits and pieces. I mixed what we had and mastered the digital and vinyl versions, including the flip side of the record.

The other side of the EP featured three tracks from Noonday Underground (DJ Simon Dine & singer Daisy Martey. Dine had previously been a member of Adventures in Stereo. Martey was for a time the singer in Morcheeba.) It was released on 12" Vinyl by Art Gallery Records.

The record is brilliant (well, Richie's side is, anyway). What's scary is that I know that his future music is gonna sound even better.

I love how the songs sound - I do know that, 2-3 years later, I would have mixed things differently, as is the usual way. We have plans to work on more songs in 2017. Cannae wait.

You can listen to the record by clicking the big red album cover below. You can buy the record from the following places... or just click on the big red picture to stream for freeeeeee... :

Click above to listen...

Click above to listen...

Listen, Like, Love: Sera - Little Girl

I spent a lot of 2014/2015 working on an album for Sera. She's a folk/country/americana artist, and came to me with a bunch of songs written on piano or guitar, plus vocals/lyrics, and we worked together to make an album. She's a really brilliant songwriter. 

The album's called 'Little Girl' and was released on Folkstock Records - it's had play on BBC Radio London, BBC Wales & Cymru, Absolute Radio, and I'm sure a bunch more that I'm not aware of.

It was a LOT of work - as well as recording/mixing/mastering the album, I played guitar, synth/keys, bass, drums, percussion and even did some backing vocals (!), so it was quite a labour of love. We wrote the final track 'Through The Night' together, and I'm really proud of the whole album. 

It also features songwriting collaborations with Sion Russell Jones and Gordon Mills Jr (The Bluetones, Ed Sheeran, Lissie, Newton Faulkner and Lillian Todd-Jones), as well as violin by Jenn Williams and cello by Sion Lewis.

Sera/Folkstock also released an EP called 'Rocks' which features a subset of the rockier songs from the album.

Thankfully, both the album and the EP have had some great reviews - I generally am not a huge fan of posting quotes as it makes me feel a bit queezy, so I'll leave you to check out the Huffington Post or Americana UK if you really feel like it. Still, here's one last one from From the Margins, just to flatter one's ego a little (hey, if I don't no one will etc?): 

Her last EP, Straeon, saw a first musical collaboration with the producer of this album, Eddie Al-Shakarchi, who contributed by playing on Mond am Eiliad and Agor dy Galon. If anything has changed to make this new album something a whole stratospheric level above what, however excellent, she has recorded before, it must be this new working relationship. Al-Shakarchi is also a multi-instrumentalist - and his contribution of often spare but dynamic percussion is particularly important here in breathing life into the music.

Isn't that nice? You can stream Rocks below, and if you like it, please check out the whole album on BandCamp or iTunes / Apple Music. Thank you and have a lovely day.

Songs I Wish I'd Written: Part Deux

Continuing the world famous series: Songs I'd Wish I'd Written, it's time for part deux. Deux means 'two' in French. Seriously, it may be one of the best songs of all time: Stevie Nicks - Edge Of Seventeen. I mean, she makes dove sounds and nobody bats an eyelid. You have to be at Stevie Nicks/Kate Bush levels of amaze to be able to pull off animal sounds.

Fun fact: the main guitar riff is apparently (read: clearly and obviously) 'inspired by' The Police's Bring On the Night. If we're throwing songwriting credits around, I wouldn't have minded writing that one too. Cheers, nice one.

I've linked to that one too, for a Brucie Bonus. You're welcome.

Listen: Metabeats x Ed Boogie 'SLSBS' ft. Quelle Chris

Hey, you there. Check out this track I crafted with Chesus aka Metabeats aka Earl Jeffers aka 50% of Darkhouse Family, featuring Quelle Chris (of the mighty Mello Music Group). Music & production by myself and Metabeats, mixed/mastered by myself. Vocals by Mr. Christopher. This is Hip-Hop music: lyrics are NSFW from the get go, so protect your loved ones' precious ears. 

This track is off Metabeats' 'Caviar Crackle' album, from back in 2013 from AssociatedMinds. I think people liked it a lot. At least, this dude did: 

Gilles Peterson: One of the finest hip-hop records to come out of the UK in recent years, heavy on the swing and swagger. Featuring a cast of MCs from both sides of the Atlantic: Action Bronson, Zeroh, Quelle Chris, Dubbledge and a clutch of interludes that you wish were that bit longer. Highly recommended!

I'll be posting more songs off this album SOON. In the meantime, go get that on Bandcamp or iTunes, why don't you?