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Shots from the road and the studio

tombartonmusic

Vocalist, composer, looper 💗
🎵FEBRUARY - "Revoiced" live looping/FX series with special guests at @temporubato_au

Just your usual Latin-yodelling Friday right

Just your usual Latin-yodelling Friday right

This articulates so succinctly a joyous and unequi

This articulates so succinctly a joyous and unequivocal realisation that's been growing in me. My purpose now as it ever was. I'm looking forward to fostering the connection and growth with the new creations I am working on. The quote is from Rick Rubin's book 'The Creative Act, A Way of Being'.

I played my first ever gig in Melbourne at The Tot

I played my first ever gig in Melbourne at The Tote in 2001!
My first band, nu-metal teenage phenomenon "Anon" (all the great quotes were attributed to anon, so we thought we'd ride those coat tails) blew the weekday lunchtime crowd away with our two drummers, two bassists, two guitarists and several vocalists – of which of course I sang all the "acoustic" ballads while playing "rhythm" guitar through my Samick lawsuit-era Artist Series and my Vadis quad box.
There's a campaign right now to save The Tote from being bought by apartment developers, to instead put it into a trust forever ensuring it remains a legendary bastian of Melbourne & Australian live music culture.
The venue might not quite epitomise my genre-de-jour these days, but I contributed as much as I could to the campaign because it's a matter of principle. We cannot allow the diversity of music venues to diminish in our city – they make our music culture what it is, and our musicians who they are. If I didn't taste the stage on this day back in 2001, who knows ... perhaps I'd be an unfulfilled chartered accountant, who only gets to wear kaftans and facepaint on the weekends.
Only a day left for the campaign, try to contribute however you can via @thelastchancerockandrollbar
@thetotehotel

Daruma joined me in my studio today and will watch

Daruma joined me in my studio today and will watch over me while I write an album for a whole new project - something totally different to anything I've worked on before.
This project is about connecting with the source and trusting the self. Inhabiting the body. Exploring the mystical. And stretching musical archetypes with beats, synths, freaky vocal glitchery, glorious harmonies and heavy basslines.
We'll be hanging out here together for a good long while. When I reach my goal, he gets his second eye and is released from his bound form with fire 👁️🔥

Local petroglyphs I think I'd better not ignore. I

Local petroglyphs I think I'd better not ignore. If only I could figure out what the aliens were telling me to do 🛸🍄

It's out! It's release day for my rework of @lumin

It's out! It's release day for my rework of @luminemmusic's gorgeous track "Birth of Elements".
I got deep into the weeds on this track, with a huge number of vocal layers, parts and sounds, drawing inspiration reading about p$ychedelic therapy and the nitrogen cycle.
Listen via Spotify and Bandcamp links in my bio.
Thank you so much to @isaacbarter for his brilliant mixing.
Mastering by Rob Masterton. Image by Heidi Wentworth-Ping @theheidipie.

@luminemmusic asked me to rework their track about

@luminemmusic asked me to rework their track about the creation of the universe 🌌 here's the process behind what I did. Track out Friday!

The past few weeks and months have been a blur. Th

The past few weeks and months have been a blur. The landmarks being only shifting waves of sadness, hope and hopelessness, frustration,
fatigue, laughter, irreverence, incredulity and acceptance.
Now with both my parents gone, I feel I’m standing at a precipice with sky alone above and below. Yet in this strange daylight I see familiar threads – the world my parents built and led me through – anchoring me.
I see my baby son and I am parent and child.
I feel like I'm only now joining you all in this year of 2023. I'll be focused uncompromisingly on what's important to me: family, aikido and music. Starting with a new collaborative release coming Friday.

I'm really sorry to all those who bought tickets t

I'm really sorry to all those who bought tickets to my shows at Flinders Fringe Festival this weekend, but I have had to cancel. I am doing my best to be by my parent's side while they leave this world far too soon. I hope to make it up to you later this year. Thanks for your support ❤️

Masakatsu agatsu! (True victory is self victory!)

Masakatsu agatsu! (True victory is self victory!) Yesterday part of me was shouting that I was shit. Today the self hears the real story!
Messing around with Ableton looper FX insert & iterative overdubs, thanks @seedtostage for the great tute

Loop Daddy is a masterclass in flow. A joyous invi

Loop Daddy is a masterclass in flow. A joyous invitation toward the sense of reckless play essential to unbridled artistic innovation ➰❤️

Further proof that major music labels and social m

Further proof that major music labels and social media platforms are antithetical to a healthy music sector. I have had my own original content claimed by @sonymusic and there's nothing I can do about it.
The irony is that this video is of a live streamed, fully improvised vocal and effects performance, which by definition could not have existed before, for Sony to have been able to have owned the rights to.
As a content creator, I have no recourse. Sony Music Entertainment gets to file the claim and adjudicate it as well. Despite appealing three times to Meta - it was rejected each time. I now have no recourse and my original video is muted worldwide.
I am not a heavy hitter who was earning any kind of income from this particular piece of content. However, the automatic filtering system is clearly broken, and this issue highlights a crisis that will ultimately rob us all of a diversity of new music - threatening the health of a vibrant growing industry.
As @tedgioia writes, the major record labels have done everything in their power to resist innovation and investment in the sector of any kind. For decades. The only major activity they undertake these days is the buying of and cashing-in on publishing rights.
This is part of a global reality: charts are dominated by old music, music sales have stagnated (even recent "saviours" like vinyl merch) and there is overwhelming evidence of an inevitable demise of unprofitable streaming services (all of them).
Can't wait to watch it burn while the content creators who have a direct connection with their audiences emerge as the dominant paradigm.

I'm beyond thrilled to have been invited to perfor

2023 goal: Sketch + stream on the regular

2023 goal: Sketch + stream on the regular

When I lived in Myanmar I was good at fashion. Sti

When I lived in Myanmar I was good at fashion. Still am

Thank you all for your support and connection in 2

Thank you all for your support and connection in 2022. I appreciate you more than you can know. I've got some great new projects planned for this year, and I can't wait to share new music and new experiences with you in 2023. TB

Happy this morning to be announcing my first gigs

Happy this morning to be announcing my first gigs for next year, 2x shows at the new Flinders Fringe festival on 17 & 18 Feb 2023. I'll be joined by my legendary long-time collaborators Nathan Liow (piano, synths) and Diego Villalta (guitar, effects). Here's a lil' spiel from the program:
Tom Barton (voice, live looping + effects) Nathan Liow (piano, synths) and Diego Villalta (guitar, effects) present originals, genre-blurred musical interpretations and improvisations in an intimate setting set to inspire and move.
Traversing contemporary jazz, folk and electronic styles, the trio have an utterly distinctive aesthetic delivered by a seamless ensemble dynamic. This appearance is not to be missed by audiences seeking brave new horizons, authenticity, and musicianship of the highest calibre.
The trio have performed together under various guises since meeting over a decade ago while studying at the Victorian College of the Arts. All About Jazz hailed Barton and Liow’s 2020 collaboration on the single Wherever I Will Be as “a spellbinding work that owes no allegiance to any single camp and needs no contrast or company to gain notice.” Barton and Villalta’s 2016 release Connections was lauded by All About Jazz as “a greater constancy to jazz’s restless spirit than any number of aspirational takes on the Great American Songbook.”

It was a real treat to perform last night at @semi

It was a real treat to perform last night at @semiaridfestival for a delightful audience. Thanks so much for having us!

We're soundchecked and ready to perform for @semia

We're soundchecked and ready to perform for @semiaridfestival tonight! A great vibe, great people, can't wait ❤️🎵

Country boy on tour: urgent bespoke luggage labels

Country boy on tour: urgent bespoke luggage labels handcrafted from yoghurt container and single origin zipties

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