It has been a while since I posted up new music. I’ve been developing the Golden rabbit blueprints and in the process, re-discovered some of my influences and favorite artists. I’ve never been one to do covers before but………..I’ve enjoyed re-creating them in a G.R fashion so I will be releasing one a week throughout March every Bunday, erm, I mean Monday……..starting today.
Thought it would be a lot of fun and a good way to introduce myself to the world.

The collection is called “Cover me in Stardust”. As it is an introduction to Golden Rabbit, each track has been chosen to represent more than one of my influences, as I will explain through the weeks.

I have made them all myself and so they are not perfect, not even close, so forgive me my faults! They are my interpretations and not meant to be exact replicas.

I will be hand crafting some physical copies in my wondrous crafting studio, so give me a shout if you would like one. They will also be available to download for free on http://soundcloud.com/goldenrabbit and live performance videos will follow on here http://www.youtube.com/user/GOLDENRABBITuk.

“We were stardust at the start, and we will leave the way we came.” - G.R

This is the first part of my “Cover me in Stardust” E.P.
“Silent all these years” by Tori Amos.

As it is an introduction to Golden Rabbit, each track has been chosen to represent more than one of my influences, as I will explain……

Tori Amos was the first singer-songwriter I got into and the reason I first became a bright red-head. She taught me how to be playful as a singer and how to push the boundaries of traditional writing structures and movement.  Mozart piano concertos had a similar influence on my writing techniques but this was a more obvious choice to cover!

I decided to do an a-cappella version as a nod to “Me and a gun” from her first album, “Little Earthquakes” It was such a brave, raw and emotional expression and was the first time I’d heard a song done in that way. It opened my mind to trying different ideas for recording. You may not be able to learn much about my musical style from this one, but it is me laying myself bare, warts and all.

I added the clock (which is a mantle clock from my father) as my dad collected clocks and repaired them when I was little. It seemed like there were hundreds and every Sunday, on Sundays only,  he started them all up and the chimes filled the house every 15mins. ‘Time’ was constantly around me, and seeing as it’s taken me a while to release Golden Rabbit into the wilds, it seemed appropriate.

I know this is a rather self indulgent choice as my first cover to unleash, but this is how I feel.  “I have been here, silent all these years.”
But not any more:0)

Download my version here for free:
http://soundcloud.com/goldenrabbit/silent-all-these-years-excuse-me

Check out the one and only Tori Amos here: http://www.toriamos.com/

“True Love will find you in the end”

This is by the one and only, Daniel Johnston.
He captures such purity and beauty in his songs and artwork. I am drawn to the honesty in his work as are the many others inspired by him to cover his music.
I chose this song, not just because it is my fav Daniel song but also because Beck did a great little cover of this for the “Late great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered” album.

I am a huge Beck admirer and virtually wore out my Cd player when I got hold of the “Seachange” album. (Old skool, I know!) It’s texture and cinematic depth blew me away and reminded me of the some of my favourite production techniques I had heard in the Nigel Godrich Radiohead recordings.

Anyway, more about that another time!
Hope you enjoy this one.

Download for free here: http://soundcloud.com/goldenrabbit/true-love-will-find-you

Check out Daniels work here: http://www.hihowareyou.com/

The original song by the man himself over the trailer for the documentary about him “The devil and Daniel Johnston:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ucN4DActxA

Beck’s cover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=dYKUPb-x-EU

Buy Beck’s “Seachange” album here: http://www.fairsharemusic.com/release/sea-change-1
(Fairshare music donate half the money of every download to a charity of your choice! Brilliant)

I hold Radiohead in a special place in my heart. I used to live in Nottingham and travelled up to Manchester a lot on the trains for work, obsessively playing their albums on repeat all the way their and all the way back. It was the music and Thom’s voice of course, but I also loved the dynamics of the production (good old Nigel Godrich).
I didn’t want to be too predictable so I choose my favourite song from their under-rated first album, “Pablo Honey”. Appropriately, about obsession, it’s quite straight forward as far as songs go (structurally and lyrically) and Anyone can play guitar, right? :) so I wanted to make it different to the original.

Apart from the odd bit of reversed mandolin(!) I thought I’d park the stringed instruments and focus on some of the analogue synths (Tetra/Jomox/Bass station). Not only are the old analogues a large part of the Golden Rabbit sound, this also meant that I could refer to another influence too: my fav old computer games……. namely Zelda and MarioKart!

Buy Pablo Honey and the original Thinking about you here: http://www.fairsharemusic.com/release/pablo-honey
(Fairshare music donate half the money of every download to a charity of your choice-blooming fantastic!)