Thom Bowla was a musical endeavour spanning 2008 -2011(ish).
The 2009 debut album ‘Bad Noize’ swung towards digital hardcore and industrial as inspiring genres, as well as breakbeat, techno, EBM, hangovers, chain-smoking, insomnia, and not overthinking the ‘right way’ to produce a song.
A throbbing hardstyle dance cover of ‘The Promise’ by Girls Aloud, ‘I Ain’t Promising You Shit!’ was created purely because the vocal line is incredible and for weeks I couldn’t get the song out of my head.
The Thom Bowla Sophomore LP ‘I <2 U’ was crafted by frivolously tinkering with my chosen production software, and discovering just what it had to offer; apparently the answer was more samples, more effects, more sequencing, more nonsense. A light-hearted, ‘anything goes’ frolic across multiple electronic mediums.
This EP was inspired by the bright blue, red adorned rescue mannequin that used to live in my bedroom as an ornament-meets-art-installation. RIP ‘Madam Visage’ aka Mrs Face. A weekend without sleep might have been involved….
For the third full length venture, ‘The Fairy Door’, I started to take the project somewhat more seriously. Alongside influences from house, ambient, and pop music woven in amongst the usual harsh electronics, a few pieces even have a near cinematic/soundtrack quality, featuring traditional ‘songwriting’ with more complex melodies and structures. Pretty proud of this one.
It’s clear that at some point I got a hold of an 8-bit chiptune sound package to play with. ‘The Knuckle of the Moose’ EP is the end result. Bass heavy, high energy, chirpy-chirpy, and of course, a little bit silly. Sure, it sounds like an 90s game console having a panic attack, but I was having a good time.
