When I started on a design for this site, I tried to go for something mad and abstract. Think scratchy drawings, lots of line-art and distressed typeface.

It failed.

I realised why today, when thinking about why I liked Biffy Clyro’s latest album so much, but didn’t like the older ones much at all.
Then I got it.
Puzzle is quite a polished piece of work, certainly compared to the older albums. And I like it for that. I think an enjoyment of high production values applies to other favourite albums/songs, even though I never singled that out as one particular aspect until now. For example, BT’s Emotional Technology is widely recognised as a highly-honed and polished piece of work, and some people criticise it for that.

It makes perfect sense of course. I like shiny things. I’m big into technology. I always try and go for the things that have been worked on and polished to perfection … or as near as it can get. It’s why I find myself buying the next version of software and hardware even if the old one is doing just fine, and why in certain aspects of life I can be a bit of a perfectionist.

I said to Rob the other day how I wanted to change the blog again, but couldn’t even write my ‘About Me’ section, so how can I design something that reflects me when I can’t even figure out what to [i]write[/i] about me?
So I guess that’s answered then. Whatever it becomes, you can put a decent bet on that it’ll be shiny and polished

Not that it’ll change for a while I imagine, seeing as I have this week off before I start back at HP-CDS for another 6 months!

BT, or Brian Transeau*, is an Electronic Music artist/producer/DJ/wizard from America. He made his major breakthrough in the UK, effectively giving life to what is known as Trance (hence one of his many nicknames as ‘Father of Trance’).

I’m not going to wax all lyrical about him, because I’ve done that before. Trust me when I say, this guy is brilliant.

I like electronic music because sounds are created that are otherworldly. I love that nothing in this world can produce the sorts of sounds that are made by artists such as BT and their plethora of interesting technology. Songs that are composed entirely on a computer have the ability to send a shiver up and back down my spine, which I think is amazing.

As I’m currently discovering, one of the best ways of really getting in touch with the brilliance of an artist like BT is to listen to the instrumental versions of tracks. The treatment that he gives to the vocals is always interesting, but with them stripped away, you start to pick out nuances of tracks that you’d never even noticed before.

Thanks to a site called MusicFreedom, you can do exactly that. If you like BT or are remotely interested, click here to access those instrumentals, plus a whole load more. You can even buy downloads of the tracks if you like them.

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*NOT British Telecom thankyouverymuch