Solemn Camel Crew

Solemn Camel Crew are a British electronic music band consisting of two members: Jonathan Brammer and James Randall. The music features influences from Electronica, Drum & Bass, Rock and strong influence from pop culture 80’s and early 90’s video games, largely down to the use of 8bit chip sounds in their music. Solemn Camel Crew formed in October 2002 and are currently signed to the Internet Indie label Electric Wax.

The music consists of mainly 8bit and oscillated sound waves put to a sequenced beat. Although a majority of the sounds are completely software generated, elements of live audio appear in many tracks, some of which include: "The BlueTooth Introduction", "Camel (on the right side)", Jeremy's Iron", "Childs Play" and "I Want To Play With Lego".

The name Solemn Camel Crew was adopted due to the frequency of cigarette breaks during early production sessions. At the time, both Randall and Brammer smoked Camel cigarettes, according to Brammer.

History

The Early Years

Solemn Camel Crew started in 2002 when band members James Randall & Jonathan Brammer met as students of Yeovil College. They began working with a demo version of Fruity Loops 4 to create their first batch of digital tracks culminating in The Gypsy Book & Other Tales From The Phat Kitchen EP. The entire record was recorded and produced on sub standard equipment with demo software that disallowed saving. Cosequently, none of the early material has ever been sold or has ever been available for download.

Subsequent recordings were made between 2002 - 2006 to follow The Gypsy Book & Other Tales From The Phat Kitchen. Each with common running themes that have survived to make appearances on later records, namely, Steven Hawking references and The Tony Bear Major Scale Theme.

Early Records

• 2002 - The Gypsy Book & Other Tales From The Phat Kitchen
• 2003 - Alpha Metric
• 2003 - Opium of The Masses
• 2004 - K
• 2005 - Rimpton Mixes
• 2005 - Return

Later Work

Solemn Camel 3000

In early October 2008 after a long break Randall and Brammer got together to write new Solemn Camel Crew material. Introducing 8bit chip sounds and focusing on an upbeat, up tempo style, Solemn Camel Crew found it's feet and it's sound. The Citrus Jaboree called Camelnected By Camelepathy "an anthem". The record paid hommage to earlier records with track eight "The Ballad of Steven (Hawking Episode 2)" and "Exit Music For A Bear" revisiting older themes. The album became a popular electro staple through Last FM Internet Radio.

Finger Party

Finger Party Is Solemn Camel Crew's second studio album. It features more live audio sampling compared to previous release Solemn Camel 3000. New elements such as the use of vocoders showed a development in approach and style alike. Work on the album began shortly after Solemn Camel 3000 was completed in October 2008.

Dodecatuplehedronism

Dodecatuplehedronism is the name given to Solemn Camel Crew's up and coming 3rd studio album due to be complete some time in summer 2009.

Members

Current members

• Jonathan Brammer – Vocals, Keyboards, Programming, Songwriter (2002–present)
• James Randall – Keyboards, Programming, Songwriter (2002–present)

Contributers

• John Pitt - Sound FX (Rimpton Mixes)
• Oliver 'Duffy' Baker - Vocals (K)
• Matthew Tucker - Saxophone (Return)
• Nick 'Bazilbean' Barrel - Vocals (Return)
• Jack Barlow - Writer "The BlueTooth Introduction" (Solemn Camel 3000), Vocal "Jeremy's Iron" (Finger Party)
• John Brindley - Vocals "The BlueTooth Introduction" (Solemn Camel 3000)
• Isabella Griffin Reid - Vocal "Childs Play" (Dodecatuplehedronism)

Discography

Studio albums

• 2008: Solemn Camel 3000
• 2009: Finger Party
• 2009: Dodecatuplehedronism

Compilations

• 2009: The Best of The Early Years

Track Listing

Solemn Camel 3000

• 1. The BlueTooth Introduction (2:48)
• 2. Homafrocat (3:15)
• 3. Camel Toe (1:48)
• 4. Camelisation (2:16)
• 5. Camelnected By Camelepathy (3:26)
• 6. I Have All The Chaos Emeralds (2:16)
• 7. Turn Off The TV (2:21)
• 8. I Hate Mono (2:17)
• 9. The Ballad Of Steven Hawking (Episode 2) (3:18)
• 10. Time For Bed (2:35)
• 11. Camel Goes West (2:45)
• 12. Camel (On The Right Side) (2:21)
• 13. Exit Music For A Bear (4:27)

Finger Party

• 1. Night of The Living MegaDrive (1:45)
• 2. I Want To Play With Lego (4:08)
• 3. Twist Your 8-Bits (1:17)
• 4. The Coolest Lunchbox (1:53)
• 5. Jeremy's Iron (2:18)
• 6. Finger Party (3:19)
• 7. Impossible To Let Go (3:07)
• 8. Japanese Import - Level Complete (0:37)
• 9. All My Sins Are Forgiven...Thanks (2:06)
• 10. Overdraft Accepted (2:19)
• 11. Soviet Assault On My Nes (1:53)
• 12. Sunday Challenge (3:58)
• 13. Power Up & Boogie (1:13)
• 14. Ground Control To Flight Lieutenant Dangerous (1:52)

External links

http://www.last.fm/music/Solemn+Camel+Crew http://www.electricwax.co.uk

uk:Solemn Camel Crew