Peter O’Grady (a.k.a Joy Orbison) has released an EP of old tracks via TOSS PORTAL, his own label.
archive 09-10 is an EP of five of his earliest and “most sought-after” vocal-led demos and vinyl-only releases that have notoriety over the years. This is the first time they’ve been made available digitally.
“These picture (below) were taken around the time my first single, ‘Hyph Mngo,’ was released,” Orbison says. “I was a post boy for a music publisher in Soho at the time. I spent my days in the basement shirking work and planning trips to record shops. Most evenings (when I was supposed to stay late and man the phones) I’d be watching the CCTV waiting for my boss to go home. As soon as I saw him leave I’d leg it to the tube so I could make the train to my mate Kav’s house.
“Kav had a bit of a bedroom studio (brudio) set up and he’d let me work on my ideas while he sat on his bed and ate KFC / perused computer music mag. I made a bunch of music around this time between the brudio and my bedroom setup at my parents’ house. I’m not even sure what the plan was really, I was useless at my (painfully simple) job and I guess this was an escape from that. I had mucked about on Fruityloops and Cubase for years but I think this was the first time I had a bit of a direction or sound. My only goal was to get one of my tracks played on Hessle Audio’s Sub FM show, that was literally it.”
“I was and still am useless at backing up but we managed to remaster a few bits from that era. Mostly mp3s I’d sent to DJs and friends around that time. I’m about to turn 37 and was 21 when ‘Hyph Mngo’ came out, I can honestly say I had no idea that would be the start of a ‘career’ that even now I still feel in the early stages of. Thank you to everyone who has ever asked me about this music or run it up on YouTube. Sometimes it’s ok to look back, but keep your ears peeled for what’s coming next.”
In 2021, Orbison released still slipping vol. 1, his first album, on XL Recordings.
Tracklisting
01. tentative bidding demo
02. smother demo
03. ladywell
04. em & aitch
05. gr etiquette
archive 09-10 is available now. You can stream it below and order it here.
