Good evening. All is well in the Ivybridge camp this week. We’ve hit our stride starting to practice the set for our upcoming shows, tightening up the old tunes and getting the Ivy groove back.

During the week we’ve been blessed with a couple of revelations. The first and most important of which wasn’t even our own – whoever’s idea it was to mix the mints with jellybeans at our practice rooms (the excellent and always accommodating Rooms in Farnborough) has practically hit upon genius! So massive respect to the unknown sweet stocker who keeps our practice sessions so absolutely delicious.

The second revelation was this: Bonus tracks stapled onto the ends of albums are a bad thing. As with any subject, there are certain exceptions to the rule, but in general we’ve come to the conclusion that many albums would’ve been far better without them. Record companies seem to feel that whacking some shite b-side onto the end of a record to beef up running time and make the consumer feel that they’ve got more bang for their buck are sadly ruining the lasting impact that these albums would have without them. We shall highlight some of our worst offenders.

• Deftones – White Pony (Bonus Track: The Boys Republic)
The Boys Republic was a bonus track found only on the limited edition release of White Pony which came packaged in a red or black opaque jewel case depending on your preference. Whilst not necessarily a bad track, The Boys Republic sounds like a cut from the Around The Fur era. It’s certainly not got the layers of depth that blesses the other tracks on White Pony. It’s biggest crime though is that it bludgeons it’s way in straight after the mind-blowing Pink Maggit, which should really have nothing but silence after it’s incredible finish.

• The Mars Volta – De-Loused At The Comatorium (Bonus Track: Ambuletz)
Surely the idea behind a concept album is that all the tracks are written so that they follow a set theme, lyrically or musically. So when you find yourself at the end of the grueling 9 minute prog marathon that is Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt, which to all intents and purposes wraps up the De-Loused concept, to find that an unrelated, and in comparison, boring track has been crowbarred into the end of the record one leaves the stereo why they even bothered in the first place.

• Pearl Jam – Ten (Bonus Tracks: Alive (Live), Wash, Dirty Frank)
Now this is pretty much unforgivable. An absolutely essential, classic album like Ten gets a re-release by the record company, probably looking to make an extra buck off completist Pearl Jam mega-fans. These three extra cuts they’ve added to Ten (which without them is a pretty much perfect album) are just plain bad. OK, so the live version of Alive is pretty good, but is it needed on an album that already has an immaculate studio cut of the track on it? The other two though are just dire. God only knows when they recorded them, because they sound sub-par even by today’s Pearl Jam. Whoever decided it was a great idea to add these after the immense Release needs to be court-marshaled and shot.

Anyway. Our opinions aside… What do you people think? Have you come across any albums that have been ruined by shoddy placing of extra tracks? Or have you got any CDs where the addition of these tracks actually adds to the overall impact of the album? There must be some – They can’t all be bad! Charlie, being the anal type, erases all the bonus tracks off his iTunes. Is this madness, or genius?

We’re going to leave Record of the Week for tomorrow, because the new Portishead album will be out by then, and hopefully we’ll be able to dedicate the honour to them for their latest effort ‘Third’. Matt and Charlie headed to see them at Hammersmith Apollo recently on their Machine Gun tour and were blown away by their new stuff. Although, the highlights of the set had to be the excellent renditions of Wandering Star and Glory Box, which were both absolutely gob-smacking.

So look back later in the week to see what we reckon of ‘Third’. And in the meantime, stay healthy!

Ivybridge x.

We’re afraid that for the second week running, it’s going to be a brief blog. But when we’re uploading the third and final track of the EP for your aural pleasure, do you really care?! Studio sessions this week were composed only of Charlie and Lewis, so it was spent tightening up the rhythm section, getting breaks and timings ironed out. We also wrote the best part of a song, quite a punky little number if we do say so ourselves. God only knows what it’ll turn into when Matt puts his acoustic fingers in the mix.

So again, I repeat, EP One is now on the player. So get back to our profile page (www.myspace.com/ivybridge) and listen…

Listen well…

Then listen some more.

RECORD OF THE WEEK -
Matt has unfortunately not submitted for record of the week this week, so it’s left to Charlie and Lewis to pick out their faves. Lewis has been listening to Meshuggah’s new album ‘obZen’. Though he’s not sure whether to truly class it as a record of the week, as he’s not quite sure what to make of it yet. Meshuggah are, in his words, ‘What your parents expect heavy metal music to be like’. Quite right too. In anticipation of their new album, Charlie has been spinning The Subways’ excellent ‘Young For Eternity’ album. Like a British Nirvana for the new millenium: The Subways totally rock. Get acquainted if you haven’t already.

Anyways. We love you and leave you for another week by which time we’ll be back in the studio rehearsing for the upcoming show(s). Keep it clean.

Ivybridge x.

Hello chaps and chapettes.

Just a brief blog this week as we’ve been hard at work on the computer. Our first proper record ‘EP One’ is now finished. We completed the final mix on Sunday night and we’re totally chuffed to bits with it. And although we do like to avoid an arse kissing as much as possible, we really do have to give a HUGE shout out to the infinitely talented Mr. Tom Manning who engineered, mixed, produced and even guested on several extra instruments on the EP. Without him, it would be a completely different beast (probably not even a beast at all). We’d also like to thank our good friend Doug Forth, who was one of the primary instigators of Ivybridge, through no fault of his own, and we are honored to have him lend us his gorgeous backing vocals on ‘Epic’.

So following last week’s addition of ‘Epic’ to the tracks our myspace (www.myspace.com/ivybridge), we have now posted ‘The Curiosity’. And next week, to complete the EP, we will post ‘Green Or Grey’. So pop back next Sunday for the update.

The finished tracklisting is as follows:

Ivybridge – EP One (2008)
1. The Curiosity
2. Green Or Grey
3. Epic

That just about wraps it up for this week. We hope you enjoy the new tunes. Please let us know what you think.

Hugs all round

Ivybridge x.

Happy Snow Day.

Since we were unable to get to the studio this week because of torrential snow, Matt and Charlie decided to use the day constructively and finish off the mix of ’Epic’ from our forthcoming EP. So if you head to our myspace (www.myspace.com/ivybridge), you’ll find it in our music player. Enjoy! We’re mighty proud of this track and we really hope that you enjoy listening to it as much as we love playing it.

RECORD OF THE WEEK

This week’s records of the week reflect the randomness of the weather somewhat… Charlie has been digging his heels in to the sounds of Strapping Young Lad’s ’Alien’ album. Although being an excellent album in many ways, one can’t help the disconcerting feeling that Devin Townsend might have actually come as close as possible to distilling unadulterated violence onto a compact disc. Lewis has been progging it right up with the help of the new Porcupine Tree record ’Nil Recurring’. Although just 4 tracks in length, The Tree always make sure you get more than your money’s worth. Lewis also notes that the band have come closer to the sound of Tool than ever before, with the help of interesting bongo work. Fresh off the news that Bat For Lashes are going to be supporting Radiohead at their Victoria Park shows in June, Matt has been getting acquainted with her excellent debut ’Fur and Gold’. If anyone has yet to hear the record, we heartily recommend it. It’s just a shame that she lost out to the Klaxons for the Mercury (Charlie reckons she should’ve won, but we’re an equal opportunities blog!).

Anyway, we’ll be back soon with the rest of the finished EP. Keep it real and all that.

Ivybridge x.

Greetings all.

This week we spent the studio time polishing off the structure and dynamics of the aforementioned ’Dwanye Dibley’. Since we’ve satisfied some of our slightly more metal inclinations with this track by including what can only be described as a ’chugga-chugga’ section, we thought we’d go through five of our favourite chugga-chugga sections. Since the chugga-chugga is a staple of much old skool metal, we’ll stick to some of the more inventive manifestations seen in recent years, so here goes.

5 • Smashing Pumpkins ’An Ode To No One’ (From ’Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’)
00:00 – 00:39
In at five is the intro to this hard rocker from the Mellon Collie album. The oldest song on the list, this track has the audacity to open with some beautifully subdued chugga-chugga that sits comfortably underneath the vocals until the song erupts into awesome riffage. This section is different in that it hardly uses any drums at all, eschewing bombast for texture.

4 • Biffy Clyro ’The Kids From Kibble And The Fist Of Light’ (From ’Infinity Land’)
00:00 – 00:09
The next portion on the list does exactly what the Pumpkins section doesn’t: Hits you hard between the eyes with brutal noise. The only thing is that the Biffy chaps have chosen to punctuate the insanity with vocal bursts which seem to have been lifted straight out of schoolboy vocabulary. This equals only one thing = more insanity. Genius.

3 • The Mars Volta ’Ourborous’ (From ’The Bedlam In Goliath’)
00:10 – 00:40
This is Matt’s favourite piece on the list. Following the slightly disconcerting sound that you hear when somebody’s ringing your mobile when it’s near your speakers, The Mars Volta launch into some quality chugga-chugga, except that it’s laced with salsa rhythms and incredible groove. This is how to do chugga-chugga that people can dance their arses off to.

2 • Tool ’Jambi’ (From ’10,000 Days’)
00:00 – 00:15 and 03:56 – 05:27
You might have noticed from the listed time codes that this track in the list for not one, but two reasons. The first reason is for Jambi’s intro. Crushing guitars come in from the off in a startlingly groovy 9/8 pattern that is closely followed by cataclysmic drumming that would make Meshuggah weep. The second reason is what Charlie would call the ’most rocking riff of all time’. Probably best not to dissect this part, only to say that it does indeed rock. If you’ve not heard it, definitely check it out. Probably the only chugga-chugga section cooler than this is…

1 • Oceansize ’Catalyst’ (From ’Effloresce’)
00:12 – 00:36
Again, this is track that you need to hear rather than us try and describe it (but we’ll give it a go). After a wall of sound intro the noise quickly dissipates into an awesomely syncopated mesh of guitar rhythms. Only the rhythm is split between two guitars. Seriously cool. And even cooler live. Check this one out on YouTube if you can.

So there. Plenty of stuff for you peeps to check out. And that goes doubley for those who really haven’t the faintest idea what on earth we’re blathering on about.

We’ll be back, same time next week.

Keep safe.

Ivybridge x.

Just a quick note to let you know that our website at www.ivymusic.co.uk is under construction for now. It should be back up very soon with a brand spanking new look, but for now, just stick around on the myspace for news and updates.

Peace and love

Ivybridge x.

So another week, another blog. This is how the system should work from here on in. And what better way to kick off this week’s addition that with raw insight from Lewis in the form of an essential Ivybridge ’PRO TIP’.

PRO TIP 1: When buying musical equipment, often the best place to start is a music store.

With comments like that, we’ll soon be hanging up our instruments to write books, as we’re sure you’ll agree.
On the song writing front, we went through a change of heart with a couple of compositions this week. The song tentatively titled as Dwayne Dibley went through some drastic changes this week to emerge at the other side as a ferocious, dynamic beast! Whereas before we were concentrating on creating dynamics throughout the song by dropping into atmospherics, now we’ve discovered that by far the best way of doing this is to rock the tune into the ground using insane, cold hard riffage! The other eureka moment came in the form of another insightful nugget from Lewis…

PRO TIP 2: Wherever possible, punctuate your composition with ’Wh-Wh-What?!’ moments.

This golden comment led to the creation of some tight syncopation later in the track.

Another song this week was, for better or worse, shelved in favour of stealing it’s components to create other (hopefully) better songs in the future. But we’ll see how they go in future weeks.

RECORD OF THE WEEK -

This weeks record(s) of the week come in the shape of various genres. Charlie’s been spinning Fleetwood Mac’s classic ’Rumours’ album. According to his Dad, Rumours was the first album in history to be recorded entirely using an Aphex Aural Exciter (great name), a processor invented way back when that basically fiddled with different frequencies separately and made everything sound mighty spiffy. This can be confirmed with just one listen to the Rumours album, which does sound absolutely magic. Recording an entire record with the processor was a rarity, because Aphex charged the use of the unit based on every minute of recorded material.

More information on the Aphex Aural Exciter can be found here.

Lewis has continued his love affair with Lamb of God’s ’Ashes Of The Wake’ album, but at the same time has been flirting with ’The World’s Greatest Drummer’, Buddy Rich on the side. Matt on the other hand has been satisfying his punk/metal/jazz/prog/salsa urges with the excellent Mars Volta album ’The Bedlam In Goliath’. Matt and Charlie have both fallen in love with this album. Anyone who fancies something a bit different could do a lot worse than investing in some Mars Volta (though for virgins, we’d definitely recommend their debut LP – ’Deloused At The Comatorium’. Phew.

In related news, Charlie hit Brixton academy last Friday for The Mars Volta’s insane live show. He came away breathless, and with a 5 star review of the gig. It was, in his words, “Something else!”.

That’s it for this week. Love thy neighbour, love thyself and love thy Bridge. We’ll see you again soon for more exciting encounters of the bloggy kind.

Ivybridge x.

P.S. If you scroll down a little way on the myspace, you’ll see that a new gig date has magically appeared in our upcoming dates section. Bull & Gate, Kentish Town, May 24th, be there, or be square.

OK. So here it is, the first in what we hope will be a weekly (or nearly weekly) diary entry on this page to keep people apprised of stuff that we’ve been up to. Whether that be studio chatter or just life in general.

Lewis’s ‘Starlight Express’ drumsticks.

This week we had our regular jam session at our local practice rooms. Recently Lewis has been rocking some truly brilliantly/disgustingly (delete as applicable) styled drumsticks which he got for Christmas, so let us know what you think of them, and the delicate subject of novelty drumsticks in general.

After we had a month off during January we’re back writing new material, and it’s moving along quite swellingly. We spent the first half of the session polishing parts of a particularly funky new track that we’ve given the moniker of ‘Dwayne Dibley’ for the time being. (This stemmed from last week’s session when Lewis and Charlie came up with the rhythm part for the verse, and it was so damn groovy that Charlie couldn’t help himself from dancing like the Cat from Red Dwarf.) The main part of the track started life as a bass line resembling something a little like The Chemical Brothers’ excellent ‘Orange Wedge’, but after Lewis had put down drums it’s become a bit more Nine Inch Nails. It’s starting to come together nicely – today Matt’s contribution came in the form of a sexy chorus with an interesting rhythmical quirk that happens in the latter half of the song. So it’s beginning to have all the hallmarks of a foot-stomper, which is always nice.

The Cat.

The other half of the session was spent trying out something a little different.

Earlier in the week a text from Matt claimed he had written the ultimate ballad. Now, while it maybe far from a finished song, the licks have a lot going for them. For some reason though, drums and bass were quite painful to write, sooooo we dug out Matt’s second guitar and began constructing a two-guitar arrangement of the material. It’s too early to comment on how the song will end up sounding, but at the moment it’s got kind of a Dire-Straits-meets-mellow-Placebo vibe going on, which is certainly a different tack for us to take. Another untapped resource for us has been the guitar solo. In the past, purely because of the nature of soloing an acoustic guitar on a rock song, we’ve tended to shy away from such things. But if it’s a completely acoustic song, then who knows?!

RECORD OF THE WEEK -

As well as the chatty banter up top we thought we’d also start a bit of a ‘record of the week’ section on these diary entries so you lovely people can get a little insight into what inspires us and what we get our musical rocks off to. Anyway, here goes….

Matt has already flaunted the rules of ‘record of the week’ by citing a couple of albums: Placebo’s ‘Without You I’m Nothing’ and Zero 7’s ‘Simple Things’. Lewis has gone for a broader, band specific approach to his nomination with “Lamb Of God”. It’s nice to see that he’s keeping it well metal. Charlie on the other hand has been revisiting Smashing Pumpkins’ excellent ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’. Possibly one of the only double albums that doesn’t actually get boring after the halfway point. Discuss?

Well, it’s late, so that just about wraps it up for this entry. Be excellent to each other. And come back soon. We might even spill the beans on the forthcoming EP (finally).

Ivybridge x.