(hot off the press)

NEWS (please scroll down)

24th November 09: Back from NYC

After a wonderful five days in New York ­ which, predictably have given rise to new, chilled-out (mainly) instrumental Rain Came Down on Broadway ­ christopher is polishing the last couple of album tracks (stand by for those) and tweaking and remastering some of the earlier tracks. Everything should be done for the end of the month. The album will be available on all the usual outlets by the end of the year, hopefully by Christmas... and will be the first rye collection to be available through Spotify. Stand by for confirmation!

12th November 09: Updates updates updates

OK... we admit it. It's been a while since the last posting. christopher has been in Paris and Barcelona on work-related trips and will be in New York this weekend for five days (his last trip in 2007 gave rise to a lot of the last album...). But he's had the time to post perhaps his best track to date: ThunderStorms, and is polishing the last couple of songs for the album. Expect The Catch in christopher rye to appear at the end of this month...hopefully in time for debuting on iTunes before Christmas (it takes a while for tracks to filter through). Fingers crossed!

• christopher has also been playing with Adhora and generally gearing up for some joint rye/Adhora appearances in the New Year.

10th September 09: Music, music.... and Adhora live

Isn't it always the way: christopher gets THIS close to finishing the new album, when more new tracks turn up: we have We Claim the Night (and yes, you heard the lyrics correctly), spacey, lovely ballad The Night Sky, the spooky, largely spoken Morpheus is Sleeping, and the none-more-rye Satellites, which slowly morphs from a light, upbeat pop song into something much more epic around 2' 40"... and great to hear a deranged rye guitar break. It's a real grower of a song: play loud. christopher is polishing about six other tracks, including camp, glam-tastic rocker Climb on a Streetliight.

• christopher played an A&R showcase tonight on guitar with Adhora (led by singer/songwriter Julia Fitness) at Brighton's prestigious Concorde 2 venue, along with eight other Brighton bands, including Riot Riot and Venetia and the Voltage (who christopher cattily described as sounding like Violet Elizabeth Bott and the Nosebag...). But christopher was most taken with 80s electro band For Marla. Kindred spirits, methinks. Check them out. Adhora sounded great, despite an almost inaudible christopher, thanks to a non-functioning (venue) amp.

• But also check out the video for NuRomancer on YouTube (or hit the Video button on this homepage). It features Glitterbug the robot. Dance, Glitterbug, dance! More new music soon.... and THAT album will appear, christopher promises. Will it be a single, with an outtakes EP? A double, either released all at once or in two parts? Who can tell....

27th July 09: NuRomancer and more

A flood of late album material is taking shape, which will probably see release delayed until later in August than planned. First up is the lead-off single from the album NuRomancer, featuring Adhora vocalist and songwriter Julia Fitness in the chorus.

• Final new tracks for the album will be Climb on a Streetlight, a radical reworking of a song by christopher's school band Dance Macabre (!), which christopher describes as a camp, glammed-up Bowie-esque rocker, atmospheric ballad Morpheus is Sleeping (a return to the romantic, haunting territory of Rainy Night Sunday and September Loves You), In the Velvet Room, Thunderstorms (provisional title), the insanely catchy Falling into India, spooky instrumental Moonlit Nights, How to Disappear and one more, as-yet untitled ballad. This will mean about 20 tracks or more, which christopher may cut down to a single album.... or just release the lot of. What the hell!

Meanwhile, Adhora will be in the studio in a fortnight...

8th July 09: Back in the studio

Fresh from Adhora's successful headline gig at The Providence, Brighton, on 27th June (featuring christopher on his trusty custom Vox Teardrop* and Fender Aerodyne Stratocaster guitars) christopher is juggling finishing his album 'The Catch in christopher rye' for a1st August release and rehearsing with Adhora, which is led by talented singer/songwriter Julia Fitness. Adhora will be in the studio themselves soon and, hopefully, gigging more in the summer.

*: christopher noticed that the Teardrop was drawing admiring glances from several people in the audience! (Must check its insurance status!).

One possible future project is a shared Adhora/christopher rye gig, along with two electro/house DJs. Watch this space for more information on christopher's album, shows, and Adhora news. (Adhora has a MySpace page but none of the music up there features the new line-up. We'll give you the URL when it does!).

• New on the jukebox here is Dizharmony, which christopher feels is probably an outtake from the album, and a remaster of Skyline: a track previously only available as a bonus on the Amiestreet release of 'The Return of christopher rye'.

17th June 09: We all adore-a Adhora

Ever unpredictable, christopher will be gigging around Brighton this summer with reformed local band Adhora, which he has joined as guitarist. The band is led by talented singer/songwriter/pianist Julia Fitness and also features the original drummer from Reef, and Sap's violinist. First gig will be at The Providence on 27th June.

Listen out for the much-missed sparkly guitar tones from christopher's newly dusted, custom-made Vox Teardrop and some frankly Gilmour-esque Strat-bothering. christopher says he is delighted to be gigging and thrashing guitars again. This may be a prelude to some rye shows later in the year!

17th June 09

christopher has taken down the 'work in progress' track 12 0 1, and is busy turning into a finished song... listen out for this and for the last, straggling tracks for the new album, which is due out next month.

6th June 09

christopher has taken the highly unusual step of posting an unfinished work in progress. This is the instrumental backing track for a new track called '12.01 (Speed of Darkness)'. This is because he has to go to San Francisco on a four-day work trip, and wants to write the lyrics while he is over there... so he thought the easiest way was to post the track here as he won't be taking his iPod. Sounds promising, yes? BTW, it has no connection to the earlier rye song, with Lisa Abbott, called 'Speed of Darkness', which christopher scrapped a while ago.

• In other news, christopher is collaborating with a very talented singer called Julia Fitness. More news soon.

30th May 09 More new music

christopher has returned to music-making after a six-week hiatus during which he reassessed some of the tracks for the new album. First off the blocks is catchy new track Everyone is a Heartbeat, Dhich has a housey, almost Air-like feel behind those tademark kinetic guitars.

There are four or five unfinished tracks remaining to tweak from the sessions earlier this year, after which christopher will knit everything.... or some of the tracks.... into an album. One option is a double, but christopher says he is more likely to make a single, very strong album with the rest available as an outtakes EP, 'WarMonkey' style.

• christopher has tweaked the mixes of Killer on the Backlot and Angel on the Underground (making the edited version of the latter into the final version of the song), and stripped four bars out of Monsters. He also plans to beef up the mix of Holy Water, and revisit (LOVE). The remaining tracks to complete are (at the moment) called In the Velvet Room, So I Became Invisible, Man-Bag, and The Boy who Swam to China. There may be one other, Van Ness Sleepworld... but that may be held over for the future.

• christopher has removed the Corridors video from YouTube and will revisit it and also make some new videos for half a dozen of the album tracks.

6th April 09 Corridors video

christopher has returned from a glorious week in Cape Town, South Africa (beautiful... if you can ignore the guns guarding the vines, and the fact that most of the black population are in menial jobs, serving wealthy whites). christopher attended a friend's wedding and enjoyed swimming in a heatwave and standing above the clouds on Table Mountain, but was troubled by a place that seemed unrelated to Africa and still deeply connected with its Apartheid past...

But back in ryeWorld, check out the surreal, disturbing video for Corridors, now on YouTube. Click the Video button on this homepage. It continues christopher's strategy of producing ultra-lowcost, low-fi imaginative visuals, which began with The Christmas Moon. Other videos will follow soon.

26th March 09 Monsters!

christopher has remixed retro fave Here Come the Monsters, which now appears as Monsters (Floor Mix). Because he can. He was never happy with the original, despite its popularity on thesixtyone.com, and has now given it a sleeker, harder edge, courtesy of his new studio.

25th March 09 Stereofame strangeness

christopher has been a fixture over at stereofame.com for about a year, and had built up a points score of 226,000. At one point he was number 13 overall (out of 9,000-odd acts). As some of you may know, Stereofame relaunched this week with new features, but angered a lot of artists by wiping out everyone's points and reformatting the rankings, throwing everything into disarray. Now people's listeners, thumbs up, downoads, and so on, seem to bear no relation whatsoever to their rankings...

So, christopher complained about this to the owners, and also about the site's blanket support of one or two acts. This morning he woke to find his ranking had slipped by 5,500 places after complaining... so he wrote this on his profile and dropped them another line saying he was leaving the site. Now, as we write, he has bounced back up by nearly 6,000 places to number 81 on the site overall... but his point score has stayed the same. Which rather proves his point...

The main issue, he says, is that the site seems to believe it is a talent agency , but in reality it is an online gambling site where people compete to win points to bid for consumer goods. As a result, people cheat and vote for their mates. He has written a detailed list of proposals to Stereofame to challenge them, so watch this space for a response from the site. (What's his rank today? Find out on the Links page). He's usually in the top one percent of acts... for what it's worth. ;-)

24th March 09: New mixes

New and improved, final mixes of Oberammagau, Corridors, and Good Luck, Glitterbug now online. christopher has also produced a 'single edit' of Angel on the Underground, which will be released as a video on YouTube in the next few days, along with a video for Corridors....

23rd March 09 Heart in Your Hand

Joining Angel.... in the ranks of christopher's strongest songs is the rocky, coruscating ­ but also hooky and danceable - Heart in Your Hand. Are your initials 'I.P.'? Then this song may be for you, says christopher. Did you upset

him once? Sounds like you deserved it ;-)

16th March 09: Angel on the Underground

OK, let's get Shakespearian: a hit, a palpable hit! Welcome Angel on the Underground. christopher thinks this is the best, and certainly the most commercial, pop song he has ever written. And we at www.christopherrye.com agree. Everyone get behind the track - which is based on a true story.

12th March 09: The NightWalker returns

Longstanding ryefans will remember the track NightWalker from 2006-7 and the 'Sirens' sessions and concert. christopher deleted some of the tracks from those sessions, while others made it onto what became 'The Silent Age'. But christopher always liked some of the songs, such as Change and Speed of Darkness (featuring Martha Evatt and Lisa Abbott, respectively), and especially, NightWalker, which christopher always felt was one of his best songs. It was simply that the mix and arrangement was never quite right. Well, christopher has 'rediscovered' the song and remixed it in his new studio, with slightly different instrumentation and a new beat, and the result finally reveals the song as it should always have been, with Martha's beautiful, jazzy Annie Lennox-like vocal carrying the song. christopher will be including it on the new album ­ at last! ­ and may also revisit the other songs from the Sirens sessions ­ including a promised remix of Big Handful of Nothing.

5th March 09

A new, improved mix of Killer on the Backlot is now on the jukebox, with a tweaked vocal and an overall tighter mix.

3rd March 09: THE CATCH IN CHRISTOPHER RYE

Well, it's official: the new spate of recordings ­ some 16 or so new tracks written in the space of less than two months! ­ are going to be a brand new album:

The Catch in christopher rye. Latest online so far are the dark, Trent Reznor-esque Corridors, the epic Killer on the Backlot, and possible single Life Underground. Follow the white rabbit......

• Also in the pipeline are new songs The Boy who Swam to China, Memory Box, In the Velvet Room, Heart in Your Hand, and four or five as yet unnamed others.

18th February 09: Begone AutoTune!

With the aid of a defrocked priest, christopher has had Robot Man studios exorcised of the demon spirit of Cher, who had been haunting the main control room. christopher is much relieved, and Glitterbug now appears as nature ­ or is it nurture? ­ surely intended. Meanwhile, new track (LOVE) is here in its current instrumental form. There is a vocal, but it seems to work without it. More new music, some of which has taken a surprisingly rocky path, is imminent.

10th February 09: Glitterbug is here...

New recordings are pouring out of the studio, with one of christopher's finest songs in many a blue moon, Good Luck, Glitterbug forming the centrepiece of an apparent new album. Huge, upbeat and, well, glittery, Glitterbug is a pop gem. We hope you like it.... three new tracks written, recorded and mastered in two weeks. You don't get that with your Kate Bushes and your Peter Gabriels, do you? Gawd bless 'em.

8th February 09: More new music!

New sounds seem to be pouring out of christopher's new Robot Man studios in Brighton, with new track (Send Me) Holy Water really giving a sense of what the new set-up can achieve. Unexpectedly, a whole new album seems to be taking shape in just a few days...

29th January 09 John Martyn RIP

christopher is saddened by the reported death of guitarist, singer and songwriter John Martyn. christopher grew up listening to records by him, and his contemporary Nick Drake, to whom Martyn dedicated Solid Air. Martyn's song Small Hours, with its spacey, Echoplex chords, has always been a huge influence, and his voice was unique and beautiful. A sad loss of an extraordinary and much underrated talent.

19th January 09: Surprise new single!

christopher has surprised everyone by releasing a new single Can You Feel My Heartbeat? He was messing around in his brand new studio and this track came together in a couple of hours, so being christopher, he decided to release it as a one-off single sraight away. Enjoy and dance away the winter blues... the track is available now on amiestreet.com, Stereofame and thesixtyone, and will be out on iTunes in the spring.

23rd December 08: New studio and more

It's been a red-letter year for christopher, opening with a US Electronic Chart number one for The Shadow Man on amiestreet.com throughout January ­ with most of the top 10 at that time being ryeTunes ­ interest from US advertising agencies, the release of 'The Return of christopher rye' in the autumn, airplay on BBC6music from Tom Robinson in the summer, autumn, and winter, christopher's popularity on Stereofame.com, and lastly The Christmas Moon.

• christopher has rounded off the year by completing work on his new Robot Man studio in Brighton, where he will be recording from now on and which he hopes to turn into a hub for local musicians and filmmakers. If you're interested in working with christopher at the studio, get in touch via the Contact button.

Merry Christmas and a gloom-busting new year. christopher rye will return again in 2009 with 'Cinema' (instrumental mixes, remastered at Robot Man studio); 'Shopworn Angel' (acoustic EP) and, later in the year, new project 'The Boy who Swam to China' (featuring Taikonauts). Listen in then ­ and also for live dates.

15th December 08: More BBC airplay

Lovely Tom Robinson at BBC6music played Rainy Night Sunday again on his BBC Introducing Show early on Sunday morning (midnight to 2am). Appropriately enough, it was an extremely rainy night. This time he described the song as "a long-standing favourite on this show" and also talked about The Christmas Moon (doing ok on YouTube now), downloads, and www.christopherrye.com. christopher says his support this year has been phenomenal, and meeting him for pizza and a chat about online music was a highight of the year. Rainy Night Sunday is now one of the most played tracks on his show this year, says iLike.

• To listen to the show while it's on iPlayer go to this link and begin listening at

25 minutes into the show:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fz8hk/BBC_Introducing_with_Tom_Robinson_14_12_2008/

8th DECEMBER 08: Collect and Destroy a Weapon

christopher has announced that all proceeds from The Christmas Moon (08 SINGLE remastered version) on iTunes will be donated to the Collect and Destroy a Weapon Fund, through The Good Gifts Catalogue (www.goodgiftsshop.org). Click the Video page for more.

6th DECEMBER 08: YouTube video channel

christopher has opened a video channel at YouTube. You can find it on the links page, or go to: http://uk.youtube.com/christopherrye

1st DECEMBER: The Christmas Moon: video/single

christopher's Christmas single The Christmas Moon (08), backed with Oberammagau and an instrumental mix of the single (amiestreet.com version only), is released officially today on iTunes, amiestreet.com and christopher's other linked music sites, such as AmazonMP3. We're keeping our fingers crossed for airplay: lovely Tom Robinson at BBC6music says he'll play the track.

• The animated video is online NOW if you click the snowflakes or the Video button on the homepage, and it's on YouTube at: uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sfpQUTCVScM

• christopher's tracks The Film of My Life and Here Come the Monsters will each be garageband.com's Alternative Track of the Day on 6th and 7th December, respectively. Rainy Night Sunday was Track of the Day on 19th November. The Christmas Moon and Oberammagau will be Electronic tracks of the Day on 4th and 6th December, respectively.

12th NOVEMBER 08: Social bookmarking buttons added to homepage.

11th NOVEMBER 08: Christmas vs. the Taikonauts, plus remasters!

christopher has pre-released a new, shiny bauble in the shape of a lovingly polished and remastered The Christmas Moon (08) for the festive season, and

is keeping his fingers crossed for airplay. The track will be available for free download at christopher's page at Stereofame.com (see Links button on our homepage) until December 1st, after which it will be available for high-res download from his favourite store at amiestreet.com.

Backing the festive frolic is the debut track from christopher's live band Taikonauts. The track Oberammagau (pronounced "ober-amma-gow") mixes christopher's kinetic blueprint with a massive heavy rock backing, which will blow away last year's pine needles for good. So welcome Taikonauts, whose website will appear in the new year, along with a debut album with christopher.

• A quick word from them: "Taikonauts are: Hapi; Wuzi; Tripi, and Bang-Bang. Hello boyz and girlz. We r Taikonauts. We r here to serve you. We r of Beijing. Go Taikonauts!" (Thanks Bang-Bang! Check out their new page on this site. cr x)

• christopher has also added remastered and remixed versions of The Film of My Life, September Loves You, and GhostWriter (in a new, shorter 2008 edit!).

4th NOVEMBER 08: Gobama!

christopher is in the US on holiday, and has just spent an amazing night in

the Castro district of San Francisco joining the street party there following the election victory speech of Barack Obama. A shame a gay marriage ban in California may be enforced at the same time, although it's too close to call.

Let's hope gay rights are next on the civil rights agenda... especially as the film

of Harvey Milk's life, Milk (starring Sean Penn) premiered in San Francisco

just a few days ago.

26th OCTOBER 08: More awards, and that old Christmas Moon

August, September and October have been productive for ryeTunes on garageband.com, with The Sky Patrol, The Prince of Serendip, Telethon!, September Loves You, and When Garbo Laughs all winning Track of the Day awards on the site.

christopher is gearing up for the December 1st launch of the 08 version of The Christmas Moon, writing and recording two additional tracks to release with the song, which will all be available through amiestreet and stereofame. An old, inferior version of The Christmas Moon is already available on iTunes, minus the two extra tracks, so stand by for the 08 mix.

16th OCTOBER 08: Sandra

"Some of you may be aware of the story of Sandra Carey Boggans, the amazing woman whose battle to leave her family some treasured memories as she fought terminal cancer has been featured on TV and in the press nationally and internationally over the past few years. Sadly, Sandra lost her battle last weekend living a good four years past all the doctors' predictions, through sheer force of will and living life to the full. It was an honour to have helped her record the song she wrote for her family, who have lost an extraordinary and inspirational woman. It was very moving to attend her memorial service in Southwick yesterday, and to hear her song 'My Journey (Angels and Mountains)' on the occasion for which it was written ­ some four years after I recorded it with her. I remember she told me that she'd been told as a child that she could not sing; in fact, of course, she had a beautiful voice and her simple, honest, heartfelt vocal sounds as lovely today as when it was recorded. If you get a chance, do read her blogs on the Argus (Brighton newspaper) website. There's a chance the song might be rereleased to raise more money for Sandra's charities. If that happens, I'll certainly let you know." cr x

12th SEPTEMBER: iTunes ahoy, part 2

Major rye news today is that The Return of christopher rye, christopher's recent album, is now available on iTunes, including iTunes Plus.

• Coming soon: christopher's downloadable insider guide to online indy music resources and how to get the best from them. For how to get airplay and the best value from promo CDs, check out Tom Robinson's recently updated guide at: www.tomrobinson.com/resource/cdsleeves/index.htm. For the best chance of national (and online, international) airplay, get tracks to his show on BBC6music: christopher got nearly three thousand extra hits from Tom's support of Rainy Night Sunday in July and August.

We're not being partisan ­ as a musician, broadcaster and DJ, Tom's knowledge and advice is really second to none. Having met Tom in the summer, christopher says that TR's passionate support for online music is absolute and genuine and has meant a great deal to him. A 21st century John Peel, no less. (christopher interviewed JP when a student many moons ago: he was lovely, says cr, and had rainbow-coloured shoelaces).

10th AUGUST 08: amiestreet and airplay

Tom Robinson used christopher's recommendation of amiestreet.com as the trigger for playing Rainy Night Sunday once again on his 'BBC Introducing...' show on BBC6music (digital). The track is also featured on the current album-length podcast that Tom puts together once a week, compiled from the best bits of his shows.

4th AUGUST 08: More airplay!

Tom Robinson has emailed christopher to let him know that Rainy Night

Sunday will be played again on his 'BBC Introducing....' radio show, on BBC6music (digital) this coming Saturday night/Sunday morning. It will also

be featured in the album-length 'BBC Introducing...' podcast.

• christopher met Tom, together with gifted singer/songwriter Jono McCleery, dynamic duo Warning Heatray, and Al Mobbs from Ambiguous Records to discuss ideas, and experiences of (and strategies for) promoting the work of independent artists who are building a following online. Al is a string arranger and session musician who has worked with Damon Albarn/Gorillaz and was part of the recent Monkey opera. So watch this space... christopher says it was an inspiring brainstorming meeting, and exciting to hear the work of some very talented musicians, including the very promising Ambiguous artist, singer and songwriter Alice Gun.

Meanwhile, christopher is picking up more listeners online, and 'BBC Introducing...' tags have been added by listeners on Last.fm and Stereofame pages where christopher is sharing his work. Obviously, the message is now spreading of its own accord... Quite right too, as The Doctor once said to Rose.

23rd JULY 08 THE RETURN OF CHRISTOPHER RYE...

A well-orchestrated campaign has now kicked in behind the new album, which

is now finally up in its finished form on amiestreet.com, with leaked tracks on thesixtyone.com (where Here Come the Monsters seems popular) and Stereofame (leaked mixes and freebies). We're hoping Tom Robinson will come good for us again, after he played and lavished praise on Rainy Night...

Final tracklisting is: The Return of Christopher R; Rainy Night Sunday (album mix); Et tu Babe; Smalltown Nightmares; Here Come the Monsters; September Loves You (christopher's own favourite); Telethon!; The Film of My Life; The Prince of Serendip; Hey Tinker Bell, and The Sky Patrol. christopher is releasing two exclusive bonus tracks, Yeah Right, and Skyline on amiestreet.com to thank them for their support. Neither made it onto the official album... but let the market decide, as they say (and look where that's got the world).

christopher will release four acoustic tracks later in the year as an EP, having decided that they worked best independently. So, enjoy: christopher reckons this is by far his strongest set of material. After the acoustic EP, it must be time for The Christmas Moon all over again. ;-)

• STOP PRESS BBC6music update 21st July 08

Tom Robinson emailed christopher this afternoon and promised to correct the URL on the BBC website to point towards christopherrye.com. More importantly, he described the song as "fucking gorgeous", and promised to mention it and this website on the next round of shows this weekend.

• July 21st 08: BBC6music UPDATE

Rainy Night Sunday was featured on the BBC Introducing show with Tom Robinson on BBC6music early this morning, about an hour and a quarter into the two-hour show. Tom said "ten out of ten" and compared it to the Blue Nile. Annoyingly, he gave out the wrong URL, pointing listeners to a MySpace page that does not belong to christopher. But the listener who recommended the

track did mention christopherrye.com and Stereofame. We're hoping to get a correction on the next show (and maybe another play).

In the meantime, nine out of the 11 tracks of the new album, 'The Return of christopher rye', are up on amiestreet.com for download, and the remaining

two will be added before the end of the day UK time.

July 21st 08: CHRISTOPHER ON TOM ROBINSON SHOW, BBC6MUSIC

Word has reached the ghostWorld from a friend that christopher's song

'Rainy Night Sunday' is to be featured on the 'BBC Introducing' show with

Tom Robinson's show on Monday morning 21st July. Tom's twice-weekly

show features the best independent music from around the Internet on this,

the BBC's digital music channel.

You will be able to listen to the show online, on DAB radio, and through Sky or Freeview in the UK, and it will be available on demand afterwards. Fantastic news, we're sure you'll agree, and this could just be the extra push we need to really open some ears. christopher said that he always loved the Tom Robinson track War Baby growing up, and is very glad to have the song played by a musician and campaigner he very much admires.

July 15th 08: More new stuff

The next new tracks off the forthcoming album, 'The Return of christopher rye', are, first of all, Hey Tinker Bell, finally making an appearance after being dreamed up during a high-speed taxi ride through Manhattan on christopher's first trip to New York in January 2007. Back then it was called The House on Liberty Island. christopher is planning to get this track into the clubs. The other new one is a haunting ballad called September Loves You, which at one point doffs the hat to George Gordon (Lord Byron) by borrowing a line from one of his poems. It's a song about the wisdom of age reflected on in solitude. And that.

July 14th 08: Here come the new ones!

christopher has posted the first batch of the new album: new tracks Here Come the Monsters (in its second 'deranged' version, simply amazing) and The Film of My Life. Enjoy... if jealousy is the green-eyed monster, then lust is the blue-eyed one. It's all in the film of christopher's life, apparently. Where do I stand?

July 11th 08 STOP PRESS

After an extremely productive week, it's all change album-wise. The forthcoming album has been retitled 'The Return of christopher rye', and new tracks will begin appearing the week beginning 14th July. Final tracklisting has yet to be confirmed but christopher has said that the album will include a slightly different version of Rainy Night Sunday, correcting some problems with the original mix, a breathtakingly beautiful ballad called September Loves You, plus a host of new songs including Et tu Babe?; Hey Tinker Bell; The Film of My Life; Smalltown Nightmares; Here Come the Monsters; Black Ice, and Telethon!. christopher is undecided about a couple of acoustic songs and may release them separately.

July 2nd 08

In the run up to La Bush's birthday later this month, christopher has posted (until someone makes him take it down!) his live version of Kate's Running Up That Hill (subtitled 'New Deal with God' by christopher), as performed as a one-off at the legendary Moonage Daydream party thrown by christopher and Stu in September last year. Smoke machine ready? Let's go!

June 30th TELETHON!

christopher has uploaded Telethon!, the latest track to be completed from the forthcoming album 'Smalltown Nightmares'. More tracks will follow over the next couple of weeks, including new songs Yeah... Right; the title track, plus two 'New York trip' songs, The House on Liberty Island, and Hey Tinker Bell.

June 25th 08

Despite only joining the site four days ago, christopher rye is now in the top

20 most popular artists for this week on www.stereofame.com ­ the 'music Monopoly' social networking game, which is creating a massive buzz among musicians worldwide.

Check out christopher's page at www.stereofame.com/christopher_rye, where you can download five (comparatively) low-res tracks for free.

• Alternatively, click on the new Links button on the christopherrye.com homepage, which will give you a free pass into the entire ghostWorld of sites.

June 23rd 08

Rainy Night Sunday has gone straight in at number one on the amiestreet.com Electronic chart for brand new releases this morning, and is at number 1 on the overall new releases chart today! That's the first time christopher has hit the top spot on the overall amiestreet chart for new work.

We thought it was a good time to share some of the hundreds of glowing reviews for ryeTunes from garageband, amiestreet and elsewhere. Just click the Reviews button on the homepage for more...

June 17th 08 RAINY NIGHT SUNDAY

christopher is very proud to unveil the first of several new songs that take him in a completely new direction ­ albeit close in spirit to the much more traditional music he used to make several years ago. Rainy Night Sunday is a beautiful, epic ballad, and will be the lead track on a new set of songs called Smalltown Nightmares ­ a collection christopher says is a very personal and heartfelt group of songs, worlds away from the beat-driven and heavily electronic psychodramas of Nightwalker and The Silent Age. Listen out for more new music later this month... and some live performances. Check out the new Rainy Night Sunday flash page on the homepage for lyrics and animations.

June 13th 08

You can now download ryeTones for your mobile phone from myxer.com, by going to the link http://www.myxer.com/artist/9945742/ or by clicking the button on the homepage. Tones have been sampled from I Know You're Gorgeous, WarMonkey, and You Send Me. Follow the instructions to get them sent straight to your phone.

May 11th 08

christopher has posted two new tracks, GhostDancer (a radical remix of Ghostwriter, A) and a sketch demo Good Love. Both are available at amiestreet.

End of May ­ June 08

Brighton residents should look out for possible rye appearances later this month at Kemp Town bar the Sidewinder's 'Open Mac' night on Wednesdays, where christopher may turn up unannounced and test some new material.

28th April 08: When Garbo Laughs v2 [Orchestral mix]

christopher has posted a new version of When Garbo Laughs on the jukebox, When Garbo Laughs (v2) [Orchestral Mix], and created a beautiful new Flash page for it. Just like Shadow Man, When Garbo Laughs (v2) [Orchestral Mix] has gone straight in at Number 1 on the Electronic chart at http://amiestreet.com for today. amiestreet.com is the major US music sharing site where Brighton, UK-based christopher rye has been having a lot of sucess recently.

• Garbo will receive a full commercial release on iTunes and elsewhere in June. You can watch the clip from the Garbo film Ninotchka that exolains the lyrics by clicking on the main image on the When Garbo Laughs page.

10th March 08

christopher's track The Shadow Man has been shortlisted for a year-long US TV, cinema, radio and Internet ad campaign for a major car maker (albeit one with green credentials). christopher is flattered but still a hardcore non-driver.

9th MARCH 08: iTunes ahoy!

christopher's strategy to become a completely independent and self-sufficient artist has taken another giant leap forward now that a selection of christopher's tracks has become available on iTunes (globally) and through Napster, Amazon.com, LALA, Rhapsody, MusicNet, Groupietunes and other outlets. You can also find tracks at last.fm and on parts of the Radio Live365 network.

christopher has also added some of the shots from the exclusive photoshoot

by up-and-coming Brighton photographer Gary Eastwood on the Images page. More will follow soon. The shoot was taken around the Pavilion in Brighton, UK,

a few hundred yards from christopher's house... on a very cold night!

27th FEBRUARY 08

Robot Man/ Turn Me On is to be the Experimental Electronica Track of the Week at www.garageband.com from 3rd March.

25th FEBRUARY 08

christopher is happy to announce that selected tracks are now available from

the MP3 store at amazon.com. Coming soon: some new music; plus a photoshoot by photographer Gary Eastwood.

27th JANUARY 08 christopher owns the top 10!

Well this has to be worth telling you: today the entire top 10 of this month's Electronic chart on amiestreet.com is made up of christopher's tracks, with MoonBeach1 and The Shadow Man in the top two positions. To celebrate christopher will shortly make available a remix of The Shadow Man, which is much tougher and dancier than the original.

22nd JANUARY 08

A version of christopher's album 'The Silent Age' will be available on iTunes, Napster, AmazonMP3, emusic, Rhapsody, and Groupietunes at some point in the next two months, after signing up with Tunecore. Meanwhile, christopher

has an amazing 12 songs in the Electronic chart top 20 for this month on amiestreet.com. Highest place for the month is The Shadow Man, which is currently at number one!

18th JANUARY 08

christopher currently has 12 songs in the Electronic chart Top 20 on Amiestreet..com for this month. If you go to the site, click Charts, then Electronic, then This Month to see the complete listing. There are 1005 songs in the chart altogether, at the time of writing. Highest placed are MoonBeach1, The Shadow Man, and Ghostwriter A, at numbers 3, 4 and 5, respectively.

16th JANUARY 08: Amiestreet review / Guardian music blog

christopher is just back from a birthday stroll around Paris to find that the blog

on Amiestreet.com has given christopher an amazing write-up of his four-song EP 'WarMonkey', which was also track of the day on The Guardian's music blog.

Here is the Amiestreet review in full:

"Christopher Rye's newest release is one of my favorite finds in recent memory. The title track, WarMonkey, is a not-so-subtle jab at a certain world leader, but it's the other three tracks that make this a must-have. Jill Draper lends passionate, strong vocals to Swim to Me (feat. Jill Draper), while the pitch-skewed vocals on You Send Me and Don't Take Me Downtown sound like the best songs David Bowie wasn't performing in the mid-Nineties. rye is talented enough to not have any truly obvious musical influences, and brilliant enough to take the ones that might be obvious and imbue them with something personal and new. Check

out this EP, stat!"

Meanwhile, MoonBeach1, The Shadow Man, and Ghostwriter A stand at numbers three, four and five respectively in this month's Electronic chart on Amiestreet, and christopher has appeared on hypemachine.com for the first time, today.

11th JANUARY 08: Shadow Man hits number one!

christopher's track The Shadow Man has climbed to number one on the Electronic Music chart at amiestreet.com for the week ending today, with MoonBeach1 and Ghostwriter A not far behind. christopher is taking a birthday (14th) trip to Paris this weekend full of the joys of.... uh.... winter.

9th JANUARY 08

christopher's Electronic download chart progress on amiestreet.com continues apace with several of christopher's songs lodged high in the chart for the week, and this month. The Shadow Man remains the favourite so far, at number five for the week, and 18 for the month. Five of christopher's songs are in the Electronic top 10 this week. christopher's music is available at www.christopherrye.com, http://amiestreet.com, www.garageband.com, www.iLike.com (and via Facebook), www.indiestore.com, www.last.fm, and on Radio Live365 online.

7th JANUARY 08: CHART PLACINGS!

christopher's new year store move to music community amiestreet.com (http://amiestreet.com/christopherrye) has already paid dividends. In just three days, The Shadow Man has become a fixture in the Electronic Top 10 of the week, while You Send Me (available on the jukebox here for the first time in several months) has hit number one in Electronic today, with WarMonkey at number two. On amiestreet.com you can currently download 'The Silent Age' album for less than two dollars (less than £1 at the current exchange rate).

5th JANUARY 08: STOP PRESS!

christopher has decided to support the exciting music-sharing community Amiestreet.com, and has opened a shop there from today. Amiestreet encourages music sharing by making all downloads available for free to begin with. As individual songs become popular, the price rises by a few cents to a maximum of 98 cents. (all prices are US, so that's a boon to UK listeners given the current exchange rate) christopher's album is now available there, as are

the individual tracks from it.... so you may get all the music free, pay a few

cents, or perhaps a dollar or two for the complete album. The market decides! The site also pitches us against other indie artists, and many big names.

• Go to http://amiestreet.com/christopherrye, or click the Downloads button on

the home page.

• christopher's Indiestore shop at www.indiestore.com/christopherrye remains open for other tracks and the occasional demo and free giveaway.

2nd JANUARY 08

Happy New Year! christopher rye celebrates the new year by announcing the release of an interim preview version of his new album, 'The Silent Age', for just £2.99 exclusively via his 7Digital shop at www.indiestore.com/christopherrye. This version includes new songs The Shadow Man, MoonBeach1, High Life, Ghostwriter A, Downtown, and Ghost, along with NightWalker favourites

Big Handful of Nothing, Stay with Me, Summer Days..., Robot Man and I Lose

My Mind. Click on the DOWNLOADS button on the homepage and then go to ALBUMS in the rye shop. A full version of the album, with more new songs replacing the 'NightWalker' ones, will be available later in the year, when christopher will also play some live dates. Tracks in progress include Garbo,

We Bring You Moonlight, The House on Liberty Island, Antacid, and I Know You're Gorgeous (new version).

27th DECEMBER 07

christopher hopes you are having a fantastic Christmas. rye music is going

from strength to strength with some of christopher's songs beginning to register on the iLike charts as word spreads. Shadow Man will be yet another featured track of the day, this time on 30th December in the alternative pop category at garageband.com. Shadow Man is one of six songs that currently have a 4 - 5 star rating on the site (currently 4.7), where thousands of reviewers from all parts of the world listen to songs 'blind' without knowing who the artist is. Other top-rated rye songs include MoonBeach1, Ghost, Ghostwriter A, and Summer Days...

20th DECEMBER 07

For the first time, twelve christopher rye tracks are now available through the music engine at www.last.fm, which is sure to give christopher a listenership boost as '07 ticks over into '08. christopher now has a global audience online through last.fm, garageband.com. indiestore.com, iLike, and, of course, still

the most popular destination, www.christopherrye.com. Thanks for making

this site so successful!

18th DECEMBER 07

I Lose My Mind gets a festive boost by being featured Track of the Day on Christmas Day at www.garageband.com in the Electronica section. But not, annoyingly, The Christmas Moon... which will stay available until New Year,

via the Downloads button on the homepage of this site.

7th DECEMBER 07

Good news, and a triple whammy: Ghost will be featured Track of the Day on

13th December in the Alternative Pop section of www.garageband.com, and Robot Man/Turn Me On will be Track of the Day in the Ambient category on

the same day. On 14th December, Ghostwriter A will be Track of the Day in

the massive Electronica section of the international music site. That means christopher has won no less than seven Track of the Day awards so far.

2nd DECEMBER 07: CHRISTMAS SINGLE!

Strings... check... distant choirs... check... sleigh bells... check... Merry Christmas! christopher has posted a new track especially for the festive season. It's called The Christmas Moon. Download it from the BRAND NEW rye shop at Indiestore.

18th NOVEMBER 07

Ladies, gentlemen, others, please welcome The Shadow Man... the lead-off

track and first single from The Silent Age.

14th NOVEMBER 07

christopher has posted a video for the new track High LIfe. christopher

has also added live favourite Ghost, co-written with, and sung by,

Emily Swift-Jones. Click the new button on the homepage.

12th NOVEMBER 07

To celebrate the coming together of a new direction for the next album,

now called The Silent Age, christopher has posted a completed new track,

High Life, to bring christopherrye.com to version 2.5. christopher sees

this track as a Teslstar for the Noughties, in the spirit of Joe Meek. The

new art direction for the album is Expressionist cinema, and The Cabinet

of Dr. Caligari. Any similarities to christopher are, admittedly, slightly disconcerting, but hey...

Meanwhile, several of christopher's songs are garnering more rave reviews

on global music village garageband.com, with MoonBeach1 and Summer

Days being awarded 4.5-stars apiece and winning several reviewer awards.

5th NOVEMBER 07:

To celebrate Bonfire Night, enjoy christopher's new instrumental sequel to NightWalker, the new track GhostWriter, A.

27th OCTOBER 07

REVIEWS: As ryeWorld v2.1 goes live, christopher's tracks have been getting some rave reviews on the worldwide independent music site garageband.com, with Big Handful of Nothing being featured dance Track of the Day on 24th October, Summer Days Out with Your Friends the ambient Track of the Day

the following week, and MoonBeach1 Track of the Day later in the week. Garageband.com (nothing to do with the Apple software of the same name) has millions of listeners and members worldwide, and links through to Facebook.

• Here are just a few of the many reviews from musicians around the world. Of Summer Days...Tim Rice said: "Chunky, crisp drum loop makes this a real standout intro - and the sudden introduction of those awesome, mellow, jazzy pad sweeps really draws the listener in. That flute gives this track a deliciously exotic vibe, and those subtle, vocodered vox give it an ethereal touch. Beautifully produced - the sweeping lushness of the music. This is brilliant chillout."

• Of Big Handful, T Groove said: "Sampled guitar riff is cool. It's a down & dirty tune and it's really good! Can't fault the programming. And the vocal... Haaah... sexy as hell, like Kylie. I love the distorted paddy bassline. It really fits well. Dirty...with the sexy vocal i love it."

• Stay with Me has been variously described as "a wonderful song" and "sweet perfection", while Downtown has been described as "a great dance tune", "a cool clash between rock and electro", and "shimmering", among a series of entirely favourable reviews for the song. All the reviews of the thousands of artists on the site are done 'blind' so reviewers have no idea whose music they are hearing.

21st OCTOBER 07

RADIO LIVE365: christopher's tracks I Know You're Gorgeous, Stay with Me, and I Lose my Mind! have been selected by Internet radio music distributor Radio Live365 and now feature on several online stations' regular playlists.

MOONBEACH1: Also available for the first time both here on the jukebox and

on Indiestore, is christopher's long-lost instrumental piece, MoonBeach1,

which everyone seems to love when they hear it. It was recently rediscovered

on an old DAT tape and it hushed the room at christopher's recent civil partnership ceremony.

AUGUST 2007

christopher is hard at work on new material; in the bag this month so

far are three new instrumental pieces, which may be premiered in the

New Stuff section next month, and later form the basis of new songs,

no doubt. Also in the bag is a kinetic dance cover version of one of his

favourite songs, Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill, in christopher's

recording subtitled 'New Deal with God' — very much a labour of love

for this known Kate Bush fan.

All these tracks will join material written after christopher's trip to New

York in January this year, including a very promising new song called

The House on Liberty Island.

 JULY 2007

christopher is formulating strategies for a new series of live shows,

and speaking to potential singers for gigs locally in Brighton and,

hopefully, elsewhere in the winter and into spring 2008. He has also

been speaking to producer and engineer Al Scott about remixing and

remastering some material for release on disk.

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• Find ryeTunes on iTunes (all world stores), and also at: amiestreet.com; Napster; last.fm; Rhapsody; AmazonMP3 (US);

Stereofame, Tunecore; eMusic; Music.com; Indiestore, the sixtyone, and Shockhound. Download ryeTones from Myxer.com.