2015 in Review

It has already been one year since I wrote my 2014 year in review and what a lot has happened!

Highlights include:

• Releasing 'The Ghost Music' and doing a remix for Rikki's 'Back Twang' for Deep Garnet Records.
• Self releasing 'Bass, Synth, Arpeggio' and hearing it on Fresh FM a couple of times.
• Playing live as part of Sidechain in June. That was a massive undertaking learning how to perform and thanks to everyone who showed up.
• Releasing 'Lucidity' on Religion Breaks Records with remixes by heavyweights Jayson Butera and Alter Form AND CHARTING AT #14 ON BEATPORT!!!
• Having my tunes played on international radio shows by DJ's such as Dave Gluskin (Digitally Imported) and Jayson Butera (Beyond Boundaries).
• Getting a killer new look with a brand, spanking new logo, design and website refresh from Kempen Design as well as plenty of promotional photos courtesy Flavia Maria Photography.

2016 already looks like a huge year coming up with some killer tunes itching to be released and  collaborations with some very cool artists in the works.

If you want to follow my ride then please hook up to my facebook and soundcloud pages. Also don't forget you can still download Bass, Synth, Arpeggio for free: https://soundcloud.com/a-duff/bass-synth-arpeggio-very-much-free-download 

Thanks for all your support and remember: don't break sweat, break beats!

Unveiling A New Look

Under wraps for the last couple of months, I'm super happy with my new branding redesign. What do you think?

Kempen Design from Vancouver, Canada was commissioned to redesign my branding to make it fresh, modern and professional and I am so happy with the result.

My new logo is particularly smart incorporating my artist name within the graphic

Together with some bit-crushed imagery from Flavia Maria Photography, I have my new logo and designs up on all my media accounts so check out the new look:

Facebook

Twitter

Soundcloud

Thanks again to the brilliant Tony from Kempen Design and I can't wait to get your speakers partying with some new tunes soon!

999 Plays!

As of writing this post I am proud to announce my official soundcloud account has had 999 online plays! This number doesn't include all the times my tracks have been featured on online and terrestial radio shows, remixes of my tracks and all my other platforms which could easily add another 5,000 or more listens to this number.

Thanks to everyone's support in my growth as an artist and also to those of you who purchased my recent release 'Lucidity' which hit  as high as #14 in the Beatport Top 100 Breaks Chart.

Lucidity Release Date: Oct 15, 2015

OCTOBER 15, 2015 is the big day when Beatport will list and begin selling my upcoming single 'Lucidity'.

The Release will feature 4 tracks:

• A-DUFF, Lucidity (Original Mix)
• A-DUFF, Lucidity (Alter Form Remix)
• A-DUFF, Lucidity (Jayson Butera Remix)
• A-DUFF, Lucidity (Sunday 8am Mix)

A big thanks to Religion Breaks Records for taking a chance with me - an artist who has only been signed once before. They have been great with their promotion, coordination and organising professional mastering of all 4 mixes.

A big thanks also to Jayson Butera, without whom this track wouldn't have been signed. He has also pulled together an epic remix of the track that soars so high. Check out a teaser below:



Alter Form has also put together an incredible remix approaching the track from a very different angle with a lot of break-downs and techy samples. Have a listen below to his preview and tell me what you think

 
Below is the artwork which I'm proud to say I made myself. For those interested, this came from a photo I took at one particular spot in Shanghai's Lujiazui where looking skyward you can see all 3 buildings in the one view.

From left clockwise, the tallest is Shanghai Tower (632 metres) followed by the Shanghai World Financial Centre (492 metres) and then Jinmao Tower (421 metres).

New single 'LUCIDITY' signed.

A big thanks to Religion Breaks Records for signing my upcoming single 'Lucidity' to their label.

The label is home to some pretty respected breaks producers I love listening to including:
- Rick Tedesco (US) who mastered my last self released free download track 'Bass, Synth, Arpeggio'
- Jayson Butera (US) who worked tirelessly on my behalf getting this signed and who has a couple of radio shows, some epic tunes and a global fanbase in the thousands. Thanks mate!
- Alter Form (Russia) who is the label owner and had a number of Beatport Breaks Top 100 tracks and releases.

I am fortunate in that both Jayson and Alter Form shall be remixing 'Lucidity' and having such industry heavyweights behind the release makes me really excited by the new sounds they will inject through their remixes as well as chart potential.

'Lucidity' was conceived around December 2014 when I decided to record my voice, vocode it and chop it up, combining it with a really nice detuned synth chord courtesy of a Jody Wisternoff sample pack.

It was originally going to be a chill-out track and maybe one day in the future after I clean up an 80% finished chilled version I may let people listen to it, but after adding a nice little piano solo, I had to get the feeling of how it all went with a deep bassline and breakbeat.

The rest pretty much wrote itself after I re-figured the track into a new key in D# instead of the original B (from memory).

For those of you who went to my gig at The Producers Bar the other week, you would have got a taste of the track - it was the one I opened with.

Hopefully it will be ready for release in August 2015 and I can share a clip or 2 then.

Break(s) out!

Come & Listen To Me Perform Live!

Wednesday June 17
Producers Bar (The Old Exchange)
235 Grenfell St, ADELAIDE

I'm giving away free entry to my first ever live performance. All you have to do is rock up before 9pm and give the password, "I love A-DUFF and that music he makes... very much"

I have been practicing hard in preparation for the big night and am super pumped to be playing before and after some really cool up and coming electronic artists from Adelaide as a part of the 'SideChain' line-up. 

Big thanks goes to Patrick Lang for inviting me - make sure you buy him a drink on the night.

Can't wait to see you all there and make you dance and love life!!!