Bob Holroyd

I have a new production music album out today called 'Sparsity' on a new label called 7Style Music. It's great to be asked and exciting to see how this new project goes. I look forward to helping it become a success. https://7stylemusic.com/

Thank you to everyone who has downloaded my cover of Peter Gabriel’s brilliant song 'Games Without Frontiers'. It has made just under £250 which I will be sending to the British Red Cross to help displaced Ukrainian refugees who are still suffering as a result of invasion by Russia.
I hope you have a very happy and peaceful Christmas.

I'm VERY pleased and flattered to have my latest album Football Chants and Nursery Rhymes included in Stationary Travels' 20 best ambient albums of 2023 - thank you so much!

2023 in Review: Ambient & Drone Music can be a great companion allowing us to feel connected, comforted, inspired, or simply transported through the vehicle of sound. From cinematic vistas and atmospheric soundscapes to an empath…

Universal Music 'artist-centric'! What Bu****it.

Universal Music Group is worth more than $50 billion, as firm’s share price hits highest point in 2 years According to Google Finance, Spotify’s market cap at the close of today was USD $38.83 billion – that’s around USD $12 billion lower than UMG’s.

Poor man. Maybe he could pay the artists less. Actually, COULD he pay the artists less? What is Spotify without the artists?

Spotify CFO cashes in £7.2m in shares after value surges on news of job cuts Price of shares in music streaming service leaped after announcement it was laying off almost a fifth of its workforce

Thank you so much to everybody who has supported me and listened to my music this year, and over the years. It means so much and I really appreciate it.

I am indebted to RJ Lannan for this very positive and detailed review of my album 'Football Chants and Nursery Rhymes'. Please take a look, and hopefully a listen, thank you.

Bob Holroyd

Footballs Chants and Nursery Rhymes

If ever there was an album that appeared with a deceptive title, then this is the winner. Electronic composer Bob Holroyd presents his latest work Football Chants and Nursery Rhymes. I can attest that there are neither roaring tributes to Manchester United, nor any hints at Mother Goose on the album. What you will find, or better yet, hear, are fourteen tracks of soul soothing vibes that brings up the sense of drifting in a vast sea of music. I have heard Bob Holroyd music before and he tends to get a lot of texture where smooth ground once existed. There is more than a bit of ebb and flow, and a there is a whole lot of negative buoyancy. I say walk the plank and get on board. The music is definitely a welcomed respite from the daily grind.

The opening tracks is called Beige. The music suggests some kind of detachment, as if monochromatic thoughts ensue. It further suggests that the surrounding landscape, possibly sand, makes other things stand out. A blue sky, a yellow sun, a white sailboat. Don’t be fooled by the music’s neutrality.

Mangled Pianos is not created by sharp arpeggios or familiar ostinatos, but by a muted, flowing theme and an improvised piano melody that reminds me of something broken, and it needs fixing. There is a darkness to Bob’s subject, musically equal to a break in the consciousness. A hole in the fabric of the universe where bad can get in. Unchecked. Unhindered. Let the listener beware.

One of my many favorites on the album has the odd name of Straight Jacket. Yeah, you would think it would be restraining in some fashion, but no. Perhaps it is there to confine the body while the mind wanders about. Safely and uninhibited. A lonely horn sounds throughout the piece, swaying, swinging, like some sonic pendulum. Its job is not to mark time, but to give the listener a place to which they may return.

The Surrey Ambience Service is another of those ambivalent labels that truly give no clue to the theme, but Holroyd overlays the experience with a noted heartbeat, a slow, brooding piano, and a muffled refrain in the first half, then a mid-tempo, mental excursion over imaginary cobblestones on the second half. The destination is unclear, but you’ll never forget the journey.

Hiding in Plain Sight is a basic piano tune with soft reverberation and placid background. Until you look under the covers so to speak. A haunting sequence resonates inside the theme with a violin-like voice, far and away. It is a plaintive call. It is the voice at the bottom of the well. The sound from deep in a dark cave. Or perhaps it is from your own conscious. This tune is the most meditative, the most calming of all fourteen tracks. I was completely lost in it.

Low Tide is like listening to the earth rotate at half speed. Waves crash on the shore in slow motion. You can imagine the smell of salt, but the water never touches you. Birds are suspended in the air. Clouds appear to be permanent things. Holroyd’s tranquil, slowly swirling soundscape proves that time (as we know it) need not exist. Ironically, you’ll want to make time for this one.

Ship Sailed, the final tune, deceptively starts out with what sounded like a single note of a fog horn. It transforms into a pipe organ refrain of sorts. It’s a façade of course. Deep within the music there is a storm brewing. Like imaginary waves, the music swells and climbs. We are at the top of the massive wave, ready to be deposited into the trough of sound. Whether all is lost is left up to the listener. It’s a foreboding, but very satisfying tune.

There are seven more intriguing tracks on Footballs Chants and Nursery Rhymes. They are there to be sampled and savored. Bob Holroyd is a composer of electronic ambient music. His work is featured on big and small screens and has been used in immersive applications. Mindfulness seems to be a key ingredient in his music. I rate this album as excellent.

- R J Lannan, ArtisanMusicReviews.com

I'm very pleased to have co-written some tracks with Simon Painter for this new album 'True Crime Stories'. It is on the Zone Plus label and is available to licence now at www.boost.com. Please check it out, thank you.

Unfortunately due to ill health we are going to have to cancel our SoundMoves event on Friday. We're really sorry for any inconvenience and will reschedule it very soon. Anyone who has purchased tickets can either have a refund, or use them for the next date if you would like to do that.
Thank you to all of you who bought tickets, we hope you can come to the next event which hopefully will be very soon.
Love Bob and Joanne Turner.

We still have some spaces left for our next SoundMoves event on November 10th. We have a new playlist with uplifting ecstatic dance music followed by an emotional and relaxing soundbath.
No experience is necessary, just come along and have a great time with Joanne Turner and myself. Jo will lead the dance session and I will be DJing my music live, to get your body and mind moving! All you need to bring is a mat and an open mind.
Tickets are £25 and include refreshments. They are available by contacting me at [email protected] or Jo at [email protected].
Date 10th November from 7.30pm - 9.30pm
The venue is St.Thomas on the Bourne Church, Frensham Road, Farnham GU9 8HA.
We look forward to seeing you there.

Our next SoundMoves event is only 2 weeks today! We have a new playlist with uplifting ecstatic dance music followed by an emotional and relaxing soundbath.
No experience is necessary, just come along and have a great time with Joanne Turner and myself. Jo will lead the dance session and I will be DJing the music live - have fun, and get your body and mind moving! All you need to bring is a mat and an open mind. Don't be scared, we're very friendly!
Tickets are £25 and include refreshments. They are available by contacting me at [email protected] or Jo at [email protected].
Date 10th November from 7.30pm - 9.30pm
The venue is St.Thomas on the Bourne Church, Frensham Road, Farnham GU9 8HA.
We look forward to seeing you there.

Great News!!
I'm really pleased to let you know that Joanne Turner and myself have another SOUNDMOVES evening booked for :

Friday 10th November 7.30-9.30 pm
St Thomas on the Bourne Church
Lower Bourne
Farnham

Tickets available NOW
Pls contact
[email protected]

An evening of movement, dance, and deep relaxation lead by Jo Turner, Nia teacher and somatic movement practitioner and sound therapist 👣🏵, and music written and DJ'd by me, with a new set list of dance tunes, and ambient soundscapes.

All welcome, please spread the word to your friends and family as this is an all inclusive beautiful evening to fully immerses yourself in the joy of movement, sound and stillness.

It's Bandcamp Friday today! I will giving FREE POSTAGE/SHIPPING on ALL purchases of CDs and vinyl today at bobholroyd.bandcamp.com.

It's Bandcamp Friday again tomorrow which is when Bandcamp waive their fees that they normally charge the artists. I will be waiving the postage on all CDs and my latest double coloured vinyl album tomorrow. This is a particularly good deal for the vinyl album as the shipping is a lot for this item, so get shopping, and get FREE shipping! Please visit bobholroyd.bandcamp.com. Thank you.

'This is beautiful, really lovely' - Rob da Bank BBC Radio 1
'Lovely stuff' - Mark Broadbent.
I'm very pleased to have such kind positive words about my new track from 2 titans of the music world. Thank you very much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGpng36ERKc
I can't believe it's a year ago since I re-released my cover of Games Without Frontiers. Sadly Russia's invasion of Ukraine is still ongoing and doesn't look as if it will end any time soon.
I am donating all the proceed that I make from this single to The British Red Cross to help Ukrainian refugees living in the UK as a result of the war.
So far I have made the grand total of $309, which is about £250. I will send this later in the year because on 'Giving Tuesday' in November the donation will be tripled, and hopefully it will be more by then.
Thank you to all of you who have downloaded the track, I really appreciate it.

Bob Holroyd - Games Without Frontiers 2022 Official video As you may or may not know I recorded a cover version of Peter Gabriel's classic track "Games Without Frontiers" in 2003. This brilliant song, which compares...

It's great that there are radio shows like Utility Fog on FBi Radio playing a wide range of unheard and unconventional music. I'm obviously really pleased to have had my new single played, and appreciate it very much, but I think it's more important to have these sort of outlets that showcase artists that otherwise wouldn't get heard. Thank you guys, and keep up the amazing work.

FBi 94.5FM Program - FBi Radio

My new track 'February' is out now on all platforms. Please take a listen, thank you.

February Bob Holroyd

This is 'Continuum'. It didn't go on the new album because it didn't really fit. The video is a real rush - please take a look, thank you.

Bob Holroyd - Continuum (Official Video Remix) Official video remix for the ‘Continuum’ single, released on 8 December 2020 on Real World X.A sense of looming anxiety ticks methodically as the music begin...

It's bandcamp Friday today! If you buy a CD from my site today I will give you another one of your choice FREE!
bobholroyd.bandcamp.com. Email me at [email protected] to let me know which one you would like. Thank you.

Thank you to Stationary Travels for this lovely review of Football Chants and Nursery Rhymes.

As one of the UK’s foremost electronic composers and producers, Bob Holroyd has been making music over a period of four decades. His work has covered a broad spectrum from cult club classics and DJ’ing festivals to soundtrack work for major film & TV productions and a variety of music libraries. Holroyd’s solo projects have also explored intersections of ambient music and found sounds with neoclassical, electronica, and jazz. Take for instance The Cage which was used to soundtrack a groundbreaking architectural exhibition at the 2018 Venice Biennale or Football Chants & Nursery Rhymes, Holroyd’s tenth studio album the title of which derives from a conversation he had with a friend.

Holroyd had with a musician friend who commented on what type of music people say the like in relation to what they actually buy. This sentiment also extends to record labels who imply they are looking for something new and different yet seemingly release the same kind of music. “Although they think something different, all people actually want is football chants and nursery rhymes”.

The irony of that metaphor echoes throughout the fourteen intricately textured collages and soundscapes that patiently unfold. Aptly characterized as “the antithesis of the immediate social media driven world”, there is a restless undercurrent to the music, but only just enough to create a satisfying tension against its refusal to be hurried. Holroyd gives ample space in his shape-shifting compositions for elements of piano, strings, percussion, and horns to inject narrative thrust to the proceedings.

There is nothing mindless about Holroyd’s Football Chants & Nursery Rhymes. It can’t be pinned down and won’t be rushed but lend your ears to it and it will pull you into its vortex and keep your attention.

I know I go on about Bandcamp Friday, which happens to be next Friday (August 4th) but I was prompted to write because Spotify have just announced that they will be putting up their subscription fee by £1 per month
You may or may not know but this is how much the artists get for a Spotify stream .................

Spotify Royalty Calculators
In the case of Spotify, the amount you can expect to receive lies between $0.003 to $0.005 per stream. That's roughly equivalent to a 70/30 split between the rights holders with 70% and the platform with 30%. 29 May 2023

That means for ME to make £1 I have to be streamed 250 times aproximately, the balance seems very unfair.

If you are considering purchasing any of my, or any other artists music, I would be extremely grateful if you could buy it from Bandcamp.
To encourage you to take a look at Bandcamp I will be giving anyone who purchases an actual physical CD, another one of your choice FREE! Just email me at [email protected] and tell me which CD you would like to add to your purchased one, and I will send it with the order, as a thank you for helping to support me and my music. Thank you.

I love the cover of the new library album that I have co-written with Simon Painter for Grey Man Production Music.
Unfortunately the way the world is at the moment it might get some usage!

'The Surrey Ambience Service' is another piece from my new album 'Football Chants and Nursery Rhymes' .
Will AI take over - take a look, thank you.

Bob Holroyd - The Surrey Ambience Service (Official Video) 'The Surrey Ambience Service' is the lead track on the new two-track digital single from Bob Holroyd, out now on Real World X.Listen: https://smarturl.it/XRW...

This is called 'Ship Sailed' from my new album 'Football Chants and Nursery Rhymes'. Please watch the amazing video made by Simon Morton, thank you.

Bob Holroyd - Ship Sailed (Official Video) The new release from Bob Holroyd, ‘Ship Sailed’ will be released on Real World X on 12 November 2021. Listen / buy: https://smarturl.it/XRW14‘Ship Sailed’ is...