charles bullen profile picture

charles bullen

About Me

-Guitar.Bass Gtr, Keyboards, Percussion, Production, occasional D.J....
Most known for being in "this heat" of which enough is written elsewhere...
This page has been flung together by a friend to force me to deal with it.....!
It's more a Circadian Rhythms page at the moment.............More to come ! ..
Circadian was very much a "Project" with the other guys.....especially Gwen..........But I very much got left to "produce" it by the end
IN FACT ...... I think this might just be the press-release from Crammed at the time .........
"If the terms "future jazz" or "electronic jazz" have any meaning at all, they should certainly be applied to the exceptional debut album by Circadian Rhythms, which will put this band right up there alongside nu digital jazzmen such as Ian O'Brien, 4 Hero, Carl Craig, Juryman & Spacer or As One.Circadian Rhythms is the brainchild of Charles Bullen, Although their releases to date have been almost non-existent, there's been a sort of underground cult going on around Circadian Rhythms: they got repeatedly namechecked by Black Dog, Aphex Twin and Mixmaster Morris, and the 'AEA' track (which came out on the inaugural Language 12" sampler 2 years ago) generated great comments in the press:
"At last, a legal release for this legend of the London underground. Inspirational electronica for those in the know" (i-D);
"Circadian Rhythms carry digital jazz to a different plane" (Melody Maker);
"Futuristic" (Vibrations).
Fueled by Charles Bullen's expertise in unusual production techniques and by his love for African music and reggae, the music of Circadian Rhythms is an open and intricate mixture of polyrhythms, keyboards and electronics, spiced up with live instruments such as guitars, percussion and horns (saxes, flutes and trombone).At times it might be described as a post-techno, post-d'n'b version of early-70's spaced-out Latin/African-tinged jazz excursions (Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, Strata East Records), but most of the time it simply sounds like nothing else...
For 'Internal Clock' Charles Bullen has enlisted a series of collaborators, including Gwen J. (who currently DJs with Coldcut), and Jean-Dominique Nkishi (who plays flute on the album, but also happens to be the drummer with Mouse On Mars). Live activities are part of the gameplan, so expect to be able go soon through an amazing Circadian Rhythms live experience, in a sci-fi jazz dive near you...
release date: Feb.98"
In fact we did do one gig at a festival in Switzerland ....
So.... Not the most prolific of (released) musical outputs.... ! But I intend to release a CD of my compositions from the past 15 years or so "soon".. That's a promise I intend to keep !
I have been doing some "other things" including, in 2004/2005, co-producing and editing "Positive News Radio" on Resonance FM
( on 104.4 FM .. New aerial ! better FM reception ! ..or on www.resonancefm.com )
Some Archives should be available to download soon.
"Positive News" is a quarterly newspaper.
Check www.positivenews.org uk
I have not been in "Producer" mode at all, but have been playing a lot of guitar (mostly my Spanish acoustic .. recently fitted with a "Headway" pickup) for the past few years and I think that I'm playing better than ever ......
Now to just Record It !

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 08/01/2007
Band Members: "Timeslice" ... Dodo Nkishi .. Flute / Tom Chant ... Soprano Sax / Charles ... Gtr, Piano solo ( using that Brasilian technique of whistling in unison with a right hand line or solo)

"Aea" ... Gwenael Jamois ... Drum Programming etc

"Communion" ... Is a remix of the band "Killer Bees" which was Airto Moreira with Herbie Hancock

Influences: THE BASICS ....
AIR to Breathe, WATER to drink, FOOD to eat, WOMAN to love, PEOPLE ..( what are people for ??) ...
After these, everything else that one can list is "just" "Culture" or "Art" ... But, of course , for me MUSIC is the most important of these ....

Trans-Categorical-Music ....
all music that transcends its category or genre...

Including....

John Coltrane ..... Miles Davis .... The maestro Moacir Santos .... Antonio Carlos Jobim ..... David Ze .... Hermeto Pascoal .... Fela Kuti.... Claus Ogerman ... Mahmoud Ahmed

Drummers ...

Elvin Jones ... Tony Williams ... Jacki Liebezeit .... Christian Vander .... Tony Allen .... Airto Moreira ... Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace ....

Bassists

Charlie Haden ....

Guitarists ....

Early Influences include .... Steve Cropper...... Sly Stone....
Mclaughlin ( pre-Mahavisnu).... Wes Montgomery..... Jim Hall....

Singers.....

Cesaria Evora.... Oumu Sangare.... June Tabor...

Recent Discoveries....

Waldemar Bastos.... Gigi..... Loysa Lenn (found her on myspace .... Check her out in my "friends" ) ... Tengir Too.... Lura....

Producers...

Lee Scratch Perry...... Teo Macero...

And all sorts of ......... Urban/Village/Rural/Desert/Forest/Jungle/Valley/Mountain music from around the planet

Non-Musical.....

George Oshawa..... Alexander.... Feldenkrais.......... Vandana Shiva ........ Moazzam Begg

Books ... "Sugar Blues" by William Dufty .. Read It !!

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And of course lots more ...

PLEASE WATCH ( or especially LISTEN TO !) THIS VIDEO !

PODCAST: Organic farming CAN feed the world

A new study by the University of Michigan has shown that organic farming in industrialised countries can produce comparable yields to conventional farming, and up to three times the yields currently obtained in less-industrialised countries.

This is groundbreaking research, and adds weight to environmentalists' arguments that the world certainly wouldn't starve if we all farmed organically.

Listen to one of the lead authors explaining her group's findings in this podcast.

Click here to download
(right-click and "save link as ......" )

Record Label: Circadian is on Language/Crammed Discs
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

network ?

network ! ?
Posted by on Tue, 16 Jan 2007 14:30:00 GMT