We are still recovering from an absolutely fantastic weekend out in the Malverns.

We couldn't have done it without the following:

Kat, Jo and Kirsty for their fantastic performances which have finally enabled us to be the band we wanted to be.

Michael for his sterling engineering and helping us to sound like what's in our heads.

James, Warren, Charlie and all the Big Chill technical, stage management and artist liason team. It's a privilage to be looked after by such a professional team and enables us to be musicians again. I really cannot emphasise enough how important these guys were...they took the complexity of our setup in their stride and were never anything less than brilliant.

Scott for his help on the drum-tech side of things for Cal and for being generally a star.

Ted and Squirrel for the morning bacon sandwiches and tea.

Katherine, Dave, Woody, Ricky, Mark, Anna, the purple people and all our friends who supported us, entertained us and got on one with us.

Ally for his kind words of introduction and for playing Plaid's Rakimou just before we went on stage...chilled me right out that did and gave us the bar to aim for.

The Vasilkie boys for being a laugh and providing a beer stop in the Village Green.

Pete Lawrence, Tom Sweet, Suzi Green and all at Big Chill central for continuing to support us and treat us like we're headliners. We appreciate it more than one can imagine.

Echasketch, Laroca, the frighteningly amazing John Metcalfe, Jon Hopkins, Sundaze, Tom Greenwood, Psapp, Whoever it was playing Abfaht Hinwil on the main stage one afternoon, Tunng, Bussetti, Nicole Willis, Longrange, Plaid and many, many more for soundtracking the best Big Chill we've ever attended. Long may it lie in the sunshine drinking cocktails.

And in 3 weeks time we do it all over again at ABC and Bestival. See you there!

Setlist for the Big Chill was:

1. Intro/Ana Kata
2. Silver Poetry
3. 93 Years On
4. Untitled for Harp
5. Come and Play
6. Leaving Alpha
7. Orange
8. Maris Stella/Halcyon

Sadly we couldn't record it for contractual reasons, but there will be some video posted soon. The sampler CD was available for sale - don't worry if you didn't get the chance to pick it up...we've got loads and will be offering them up on the website very soon (literally building the shop as I type).

We've made some changes to the live page on the site, with details of our set times at The Big Chill and Bestival, plus a couple of new things.

We regretfully have to announce that the Foundation Festival has now been cancelled due to licensing issues. We're really gutted about this cause it was looking great, and it was lovely to see a major event have such a great committment to electronica. We're hoping to do something else with the Nvelope guys that put the lineup together soon and will let you know as ideas become plans. The eagle eyed amongst you may spot that our Bestival set is going to be at 3.30 in the early hours of the Saturday...we hope you've got stamina...

I'd also like to take this opportunity to announce that we have produced a sampler cd which we will make available for a low price at the festivals, at gigs and, eventually, through this site. It's a look back over the past 4 years of Digitonal, including album and ep tracks, remixes and an exclusive new track to introduce new people to what we're up to. It's been produced in conjunction with Vasilkie, makers of fine handmade belts, with a cover illustration by Lord Bunn who co-created the Centre Cannot Hold cover. Look out for it at all our future gigs:

Full tracklisting over at the releases page.

Danny Boyle's new film Sunshine is deep in production at the moment, and the DZA from our mates Medlo is making a bunch of short films and trailers to tie into the making of etc. What has this got to do with us I ask you? Well, the latest one on the site has a tune of ours behind it. It's called Threnody for the Lost and was originally written for The Shining score. Great to see it being put to good use. We may well be sneaking this onto a release somewhere soon.

We have been busy in the studio recently and have completed a couple of new tunes, and a remix for David Bickley which will be appearing soon. Check out David's new album, Still Rivers at Night cause it's lush...

We've also had confirmation of our slot at The Big Chill. It'll be at 6.50pm on the Saturday evening of the festival, on the brand new outdoor Sanctuary Stage which sounds like it's going to be the very definition of lush.

Not a lot of time for updates at the moment so apologies for that. Am having one of those weeks where everything seems to collide and conspire against you. Dayjobwork is busy with a deadline to hit yesterday which has sailed neatly by and although I was on top of it all, features have not so much crept in as pounced noisily on my desk with literally hours to go. I have also been sorting out things for our friends wedding this weekend, some project files for Samy to work with and the inlay layout for a compilation sampler cd that I'm going to press up for the summer festivals. I've been in debate with myself about whether it should be a promotional loss leader so that everyone remembers us (presuming our gig is any cop), or whether I should sell it, albeit for a nominal amount to cover costs.

This, alongside someone on the ninjaboard giving his album away and current contractual wranglings for a side project of mine, has got me thinking about the value of music, and whether what we attain too cheap we really do esteem too lightly. What is the intrinsic value of music? I know exactly what it costs to make this band run and it's a hell of a lot more than what we scrape back from our recordings, tours and the very little bit of licensing we've done (see front page for the latest). Shouldn't at the very least we be compensated for our efforts? Or is this selling out?

I've given away quite a bit of music over the years, over the net, on cd-r and to labels and compilations where I know I won't make any money back. One thing that i've always felt is that people seem to value the properly produced stuff more than they do the cd-r or the mp3 download. The latter becomes disposable - people assume that they can replace it easily so they listen and discard. They're also more likely to not place any monetary value on it which makes it hard for labels to sell. The other thing is that I think a lot of people actually regard internet/cdr/self-releases as being somehow less professional than a proper release and that the band themselves may therefore not be a 'proper' band.

Electronica is, obviously, full of self-producers. I just wonder how many of them are really valued by the record buying public. The last I heard of most indie electronica labels, not too well...

Just a thought...

Things to do: upload some more photos. upload the 02 album artwork which i've had for months and haven't gotten around to posting it. Finish my David Bickley remix...more on that soon.

Oh, and I know I promised more on A Silver Mount Zion. That post is going to have to wait but suffice to say that they are my new favourite band and that "this is our punk rock..." is just about the most perfect album i've ever heard and is everything that I want to achieve in music.

Yup, it's Cal's 30th birthday today, devil child that he is, so many happy returns to the train-loving beatsmith. We hope you get everything you want.

To mark this most auspicious occaision, i'm pleased to announce that Digitonal have had a late booking for Bestival this year, as guests of The Bays. The Bays are a band that we have long admired and have served as the template for our brand of live electronic music so we're dead happy to have been invited to share their stage. You'll find us on the Friday night. More details when we get them.

Whilst i'm here, can I also sneak in a plug to say that Andy will be playing records in the Big Chill Bar next Sunday, 11th June from around 7.50pm.