Released just in time for International Piano Day in 2025, this is (as the title suggests) a collection of short solo piano pieces, performed by Ben Bell. Intended as an intimate fly-on-the-wall listening experience to some familiar and some not so familiar musical ideas that. As Ben says, “this is the sort of music you would often hear emanating from the piano at my home much of the year.”
The collection is available on a limited edition CD from the shop or for digital download on Bandcamp.
In time for the festive season, and the eleventh anniversary of Patchwork Studios releases, we’ve put together a sampler collection for all the disparate projects on the label. Ranging from Fusion Orchestra 2 to Kashgar, and of course taking in Patchwork Cacophony and Broken Parachute, this is the ideal starting point for someone new to the Patchwork Studios discography.
The collection is available for digital download exclusively on Bandcamp on a “name your price” basis, so you’ve nothing to lose by trying it out!
Patchwork Cacophony‘s third album, Hourglass is now on general release. It can be found digitally on Bandcamp and on CD in various places, but the best place to get a copy is here.
Reviews so far have been extremely positive:
“If this isn’t in my Top Ten albums for 2024, there will have to be ten very, very good releases to beat it”
— Velvet Thunder
“Right up there with the best of them”
“Really rather special and only grows more impressive with each repeat visit”
— Sea of Tranquility
“Very wam and special indeed … a classic of its kind.”
— Lazland
“Five Stars… a terrific listen”
— Music-News.com
This is a reminder that there is also an EP of radio edit versions for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music and so on. It is called Halfhourglass. These edits can also be found on Youtube.
Eight years since the release of Five of Cups I’ve finally returned to Patchwork Cacophony to record the third album, Hourglass. While those who know Patchwork Cacophony will, I’m sure, recognise the sonic DNA of its predecessors, I think Hourglass also carries some recognisable elements from the intervening years’ work with Gandalf’s Fist and Broken Parachute and also the fruit of several years of sonic exploration of my own. In short, I think you can hear the effect of the years that have passed, or indeed the sand that’s passed through the hourglass.
Anyway, on with the important details. Pre-orders on the CD are open and the digital downloads will again be handled by Bandcamp. The official release date is set as May 1st but pre-orders will probably ship a little ahead of that.
Out with the old, in with the new! It’s high time for a new Patchwork Studios website where all of the news and releases from Patchwork Studios related bands can be found. Importantly, perhaps, there’s also a shop where you can buy releases and merchandise in one place rather than having to track things down across a set of different sites.