Australian based artist Mike Barr is incredibly talented and here he gives a demonstration of how he constructs one of his beautiful paintings, with some of my music for background.
Check out Mikes website @ http://artofbarr.blogspot.co.uk/
Tag Archives: music
“You Don’t Do Enough Self Promotion!”
…so I’m told. To make up for my lack of self promotion here are a few words from people who have bought my first album, Time Stands Still and reviewed it on Amazon and Itunes…
“Time Stands Still is British guitarist Mike Howe’s debut album and contains just under an hour of some of the most soothing acoustic guitar music I’ve heard”, Kathy Parsons
“This is one of the most beautiful CD’s I have ever listened to. You will play this over and over. I could listen to this all day. If you love acoustic guitar you will really enjoy this CD. I hope to hear more from this artist. Just beautiful”, E. DeCamp
“This is the most calming and beautiful CD I have ever owned. I could listen to it all day and never tire of it”, Kathy Meyer
“One of the major distractions for contemplation and reading is music that has words, even if it is an instrumental as the past memory of the words will intrude. Howe has combined good rythmns with abstract melody – done beautifully”, Bette Inman
“A very relaxing sound with a hint of Chet Atkins. Hope to hear more from Mike Howe. This is great music that is timeless and always appropriate”, Technogeezer
I Get Reviews…
For which I am very grateful to Michael Foster @ Ambientvisions.com for this latest review of my 4th album “Heading West”….
“….Mike’s latest album is called “Heading West” and was recently released on the Real Music label out of California. As you might suspect by the title this album chronicles Mike’s travels through the American west. Through some beautiful compositions Mike will leave you marveling at how well he has managed to capture what he experienced on this journey in his music.
Although Mike is a multi-instrumentalist and can do justice to a variety of instruments on his recordings he really shines when he picks up his guitar and begins to play his emotions into life. The music on Heading West is a peaceful journey and one that evokes the many landscapes that Mike must have encountered during his time in the west. With titles like Old Wooden House, Badlands, Prairie Dreams or I Can See For Miles you can understand some of what Mike was trying to translate into music as he wrote this album.
Oftentimes Mike’s music reminded me of another wonderful guitarist who has made a name for himself playing in the jazz field, Pat Metheny. There are times that Mike’s music on Heading West flirts with a soft jazz vibe but as you listen it simply becomes a part of the overall sonic canvas that he is painting for you and each new layer brings out more of the depth that he is trying to communicate to the listener”. Read more… http://www.ambientvisions.com/07182013.htm
Edge Of The Trees
I wrote a piece of music about a dream, a bad dream, not a nightmare as such. Each instrument and rhythm is a metaphor for the different elements of the dream. It’s about standing in the light but on the edge of darkness. My heartbeat starts the music and continues throughout. The acoustic guitar is my calm inner voice, talking and comforting. Half way through the piece the electric guitar conveys a rising panic, doubt and fear, but all the while the acoustic guitar, the inner calm voice, keeps talking and assuring me that it will be ok, there’s nothing to fear….beyond the edge of the trees….
Life, The Universe and Everything…
Here’s a song and video about life on earth….dedicated to Carl Sagan
Chill, chill, chill….
Back In The Mountains
This week I have been back in the mountains of the Snowdonia National Park in North Wales working, although it didn’t feel like work, on an upland farm. I was there to help advise on management and to survey the magnificent heathland that has developed on the mountain in the last 30 years.
There are some rare and unique plant communities growing up there now because the traditional farming practice of burning and grazing by sheep has been absent for all that time.
On the valley floor is the beautiful lake (Llyn Dinas)….
I only have a very small, cheap digital camera, but it’s a times like these that I wish I’d made that upgrade! Here’s one from someone who has…
Hope
A New Tune For a New Adventure
Alejandro Clavijo, who is the editor of the Reviews New Age website and a really nice guy, asked me if I’d like to compose a new song for an upcoming compilation album he was planning on releasing , this following his hugely successful release “The Piano”, which featured pianists from all over the world and which regularly appears in the itunes new age top 10. This time the guitar is to be the focus, and of course I was very flattered to be asked to participate amongst some of the worlds most popular new age guitarists.
Alejandro asked me to compose and record a ‘happy uptempo’ tune for the compilation and I thought Mmmm….well I could try! So this is what I came up with….it’s called “Lucky Day”, what with it being all happy and uptempo and everything….
The album is due for release sometime soon. I’ll let you know when its out just in case you fancy being relaxed away by a plethora of tunes from some of the worlds best (not me obviously) axe men 🙂
Thinking Like A Mountain
This is one my personal favourite tunes that I have written. My first arrangement of the melody was grandiose and elaborate. But then I just sat down and played it on the acoustic guitar and it’s simplicity spoke far more clearly and purposefully to me, so that was it!
It’s a song dedicated to the amazing thoughts and writings of the great Aldo Leopold, who forever changed our thinking about our impact on the environment around us.
Mike Howe 