about the mess

Hello to you, I'm Ben Corrigan - creator, host and in-house composer of excuse the mess.
Thanks for taking some time to investigate the podcast.

Before I say anything about EtM, I wanted to pay tribute to the podcast King, Dr Buckles (aka Adam Buxton). It was Adam's interview with Jonny Greenwood that turned me into a podcast addict. So here I am, adding excuse the mess to the " giant podcast bin". Cheers Adam and Jonny!

So, excuse the mess...
It's all about getting to know some of the most exciting composers around.
In each episode I’ll be spending a day with a different composer and each day will involve two parts. The first, like many other podcasts is a whole lot of ramble chat. We'll discuss all manner of things. It's somewhere between a conversation and an interview, an approach all my favourite podcasts seem to take. You'll gain insights into their life, work and minds - hopefully picking up a few useful musical tricks along the way. Each episode will have excerpts of the guests music scattered throughout.

The second part of excuse the mess is a sort of music challenge. We’ll be co-composing a new piece of music but following three rules: 

  1. We only have that day to make the piece
  2. We can’t pre plan anything
  3. Every sound must come from one instrument that the composer brings with them, we can however manipulate the material electronically

Before you hear the finished product you'll be invited behind the scenes to discover how the piece was created from the ground up. The individual building blocks, workshopping of ideas and discussions that went into the music is revealed. A rare opportunity to learn how these musical minds function. At the end of the podcast you'll get the piece in it's entirety.

Happy listening listeners!
Ben

PS get in touch if you have any suggestions...

excuse the mess gratefully acknowledges support from PRS Foundation Open Fund.
Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.