#17 Anna Meredith

I am unquantifiably thrilled to be releasing the latest etm episode featuring one of my all time favourite composers in t’world, Anna Meredith. This one is an epic, totally jam packed, 3.5 hours of podcast to digest at your own pace. There are 4 parts, double the normal amount but because we are all on lockdown and more truthfully it’s all so good (Anna is obviously to thank here), I thought it might be a ‘more is more’ kind of situation. All parts can be found on your favourite podcast app. Find out more about the episode here.

Here’s the first part to get you started…

#16B Oliver Coates [CHAT]

I’m so pleased to be releasing the second instalment of Oliver Coates’ appearance on the podcast. It’s hugely inspiring to hear him talk about his relationship to music and his current ‘cello slime’ practice. We also talk about some of his previous albums ‘Shelly’s On Zenn-La’, ‘Upstepping’ and ‘Remain Calm - the latter a collaborative album with Mica Levi. Those things, and plenty more.

Find excuse the mess on your favourite podcast app . Find out more about Olly here.

#14 Elliot Galvin

After a few weeks away from the podcast factory, I’m very pleased to be releasing this “Xmas” special episode featuring my good friend and uber-improviser Elliot Galvin.

Find the episode on your app of choice here and give it a listen. More info, pics and links here.

#13 Anne Nikitin

The 4th episode is here. It’s a goodie. Film composer Anne Nikitin brings her expertise and experiences to etm. If you’re in any way interested in film music then you’ll get a lot out of this.

Look for the episode on your app of choice here and get listening. More info, pics and links here.

Don’t miss out on the music making part of this episode - it’s a lorra lorra fun.

#11 Hannah Peel

Next up on excuse the mess is Emmy Nominated composer, electronic musician and multi-instrumentalist, Hannah Peel. I’m thrilled to be releasing the second episode of this series with Hannah - it’s a great episode and I’m sure you’re going to love hearing from her. Get onto your podcast app of choice here and get listening (and subscribed whilst you’re at it!). More info, pics and links here

extra mess • Hidden Notes Festival Pt.1

Very happy to be releasing the first of a two part episode, a podcast snapshot of an exciting new festival, Hidden Notes. The festival is a much needed contemporary classical focussed weekend of stellar artists. In this first part I speak with Manu Delago, Emily Hall, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch and Erased Tapes record label founder Robert Raths. There is plenty of live recordings throughout the episode to really place you there at St Laurence Church where much amazing performances we experienced.

It was a really incredible weekend and I jumped at the opportunity to try something new with the podcast. Happy listening, I’m sure you’ll wish you were at Hidden Notes yourself!

More info here

Listen on your favourite podcast app here

series one • album release

I’m ruddy delighted to announce that all the music created in series one of the podcast is now out as a standalone album!! It’s an unusual album creation process that wouldn’t have been possible without the inspiring guest collaborators that joined me on the excuse the mess journey. A hugely warm thanks to Manu Delago, Laura Jurd, Emily Hall, Robert Ames, Mark Lockheart, Douglas Dare, Mira Calix, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch and Matt Calvert. Also a special thanks to Mandy Parnell for putting her magic touch to the mastering and walking us all through the often mysterious process.

We’d love it if you share far and wide, but mostly we’d love it if you gave us a listen!
The album can be bought & streamed in all the usual places. Try it out on your ears.
BandCamp • Spotify • Apple Music • and more