Monday, July 20, 2026

Welcome to Crispycat Recordings....

WELCOME TO CRISPYCAT RECORDINGS

We issue the solo and collaborative work of musician, abstract artist and podcaster 
DAVID REILLY aka CLOUDLAND BLUE QUARTET (CBQ)
__________________________________________________________________________________

This section is the Cloudland Blue Diary
 
The diary comprises over twenty-one years of daily entries, from Sunday 5 March 2005 to Sunday 19 July 2026

(Please scroll down for the latest posts)
_________________________________________________________________________________

SITE DIRECTORY

To go to another section of the site, click on an icon below

ABOUT    MUSIC    PODCASTS    ART    RECOMENDED LISTENING
                    
__________________________________________________________________________

CRISPYCAT RECORDINGS ON BANDCAMP

To go to the Bandcamp discographies of these Crispycat related artists, click on an icon.

                    

Crispycat Recordings released the first 25 Cloudland Blue Quartet albums (recorded between 1996 and 2012) to Bandcamp in 2013.

A further 8 LPs were released between 2013 and 2019.

Then, with the advent of lockdown, David spent much more time on new Cloudland Blue Quartet works, with the result that, since May 2020, new music has been released almost every month, with almost 100 further new releases having been issued in the last five years.

The current 9 strong pipeline (see below) will take matters to the end of 2026, beyond the 30th anniversary of Cloudland Blue Quartet's debut recordings, pushing the total CBQ releases available on Bandcamp to 140.

Meanwhile, retrospective releases by David's groups Creek, Crazy Wisdom and Capital Models have also been being issued by Crispycat Recordings and these are set to continue, with around 50 planned over the next 18 months or so...

In 2025, Crazy Wisdom and Capital Models also released new recordings, with seven new EPs from Crazy Wisdom and their remastered back catalogue, which you can find here; and, from Capital Models, two new studio LPs, a live LP and an update to their all encompassing "Repertoire" virtual box set, all of which, along with original recordings from 1980 and reunion tapes from 2011, can be found here...
__________________________________________________________________________________

NEWS

LATEST ALBUM FROM CBQ


On Friday, 3 July 2026, Cloudland Blue Quartet released "Music for Guitar and String Quartet in 18 Movements", the 44th in The Soundscapes Series, recorded in November 2025.

As always from Crispycat Recordings, this release is entirely Free to Stream or Name Your Price (including zero) to Download (with 86 minutes of bonuses!)

It sounds like someone playing a 21st Century guitar (with distortion and looping involved) over some cleaned up but still slightly distressed, found string quartet recordings from the early 20th Century...

But that's not what it is...

It is, though, 57 minutes of music, in six parts (Movements 1-6, 7-9, 10, 11-13, 14-16 and 17 & 18)

__________________________________________________________________________________

NEXT NEW RELEASE


On Friday, 7 August, 2026: Across the Landscape (45th in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded October 2025)

"A fragile object moves across the landscape, seeking a signal, untitled.

Dark for a long time, in the tone of a sentry, the first time after winter, it will swallow the plateau.

The night archer looks out at the world from inside the jaws of a wolf, condemned to non-existence, evaporated like air, taking the side roads."
__________________________________________________________________________________

UPCOMING LIVE PERFORMANCES

            

There are no live performances planned at present...

Performances will include solo appearances, as Cloudland Blue Quartet, presenting sets of either songs or soundscapes, and group performances, with the current line up of David's 1980 new wave band, Capital Models 

At present there are no plans for his electronic improvisational quartet, Creek, to play live and nothing in the calendar for Cloudland Blue Quartet, Capital Models or vocal/electronic trio, Crazy Wisdom...
__________________________________________________________________________________

CURRENT CLOUDLAND BLUE QUARTET RELEASE SCHEDULE

    

Friday, 7 August, 2026: Across the Landscape (45th in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded October 2025)
Friday, 4 September, 2026: Broken (19th in The Songs Series) (Recorded November 2025)
Friday, 2 October, 2026: Elevation (46th in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded November 2025)
Friday, 6 November, 2026: Swan Songs (6th in the GLAM! Covers Series) (Recorded December 2025)

   

Friday, 5 December, 2026: Disquietmusik X (10th in The Disquietmusik Frippertronics Guitar Series) (to be recorded November 2026)
Thursday, 24 December 2026: Twentytwentysix: The Originals (a collection of tracks from releases issued throughout 2026) (to be compiled December 2026)
Thursday, 31 December 2026 : Twentytwentysix (a collection of rarities recorded during 2026, many receiving their first official release) (to be compiled December 2026)

(All artwork, releases and release dates subject to change)
__________________________________________________________________________________

LATEST PODCAST

Since 2014, David has produced over 750 editions of the "Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection", his weekly podcast on Mixcloud, reflecting his esoteric taste in music and encouraging listeners to broaden their musical horizons.

Click on the pic below to go to Mixcloud 


Unfortunately, with only the most recent 10 able to be made available, each new podcast replaces the one from 10 weeks before.  

To obtain an MP3 download link for any currently unavailable Cloudland Blue Quartet Eclectic Selection, simply e-mail your request to crispycat@hotmail.com.  

The latest edition was published on 15 July 2026.  Volume 28 features tracks from these recordings, including 3 unreleased CBQ works...


__________________________________________________________________________________

NEW COLLABORATIONS

David has commenced work on new collaborational projects with Edward SparkBlue Sun Chasing and Duke Gray of Oddsfiche.  No prospective release dates are yet known

__________________________________________________________________________________

NEW CRAZY WISDOM

Following the reactivation of Crazy Wisdom in 2024 and the release of several EPs and the back catalogue last year, Crazy Wisdom are planning new music for 2026 and the start of this project is imminent


__________________________________________________________________________________

CREEK REISSUES

The re-issuing on Bandcamp of Creek's long-deleted back catalogue is set to recommence in the Summer of 2026

__________________________________________________________________________________

DIARY UPDATES

Note that, in the diary, 150 days, across 6 periods in 4 of the 21 years are, currently, "picture only":-

2016: 15-17 October (3 Days)
2021: 8-21 May (14 Days)
2022: 18 April - 10 May & 6 July - 5 September (85 Days)
2023: 1 - 15 October & 18 October - 19 November (48 Days)

It is always the intention to update "picture only" days with the relevant text but doing so is, of course, subject to opportunity (and, indeed, memory!)

Sunday, July 19, 2026

Making things reasonably presentable can be an enjoyable task...

Playlist


Up very early and to work on the Capital Models recordings from Friday...



In all, today, seven hours spent on the project of painstakingly removing all the errors and making the nine Dylan songs reasonably presentable...


Lunch was accompanied by the third last "Ride Or Die"...

Then, back to work...


Done and dusted...

Meanwhile, Anne made her triumphant cauliflower Pilaf again...

Yowsah!


...which was followed by the final two of "Ride or Die" - both that and "Flunked" have been excellent...

Both are tee'd up for second seasons but not yet commissioned...

Fingers crossed...

Then, the World Cup Final...

What a disappointment...

Due to awful referring resulting in a distinct lack of early yellow cards for the Argentinians, they went down their brutal route rather than their football route...

They didn't have a single shot at goal over the whole 90 minutes...

They had Fernandez sent off at the very end for a horrendous tackle, having already been booked for dissent...


Spain finally found a way through in extra time (and had two goals chalked off either side of the winner) and, only after that, did Argentina do any form of attacking...

Hopeless...

They were so good against England, it was like watching a different team...

In the end though, justice was done (another red card for them following the final whistle re punches thrown)...

And so, Spain are now both European and World champions...

They were never behind in any game in the finals and only conceded one goal...

Undefeated now in 28 competitive games...

Who was the last country to beat them, Dave?

Well that was Scotland, 2-0 back in March 2024...

So who are the real World Champions?

Spain...

Highlight of the Day: Working on the music...

Today's New Music:

 

Saturday, July 18, 2026

Being in the best hands is the best we can hope for...

Playlist


Saturday and up early...


There was a Record Fair today but I agreed with myself I couldn't leave the house until I'd written up the last three days of this...


Time spent at the machines...


Done...

At 10:30 a lift from Anne and a number 12 bus to the Art College...


Arrived at opening time, 11am - there was a queue...


In I went - boxes of CDs for £1 each at the door enticed somewhat - 11 purchases made...

In the main hall, bought three CDs from old record shop chum Bert Muirhead - he advised he's edging towards retirement...

He deals mostly on e-bay these days - and has passed 114,000 sales...

I have so many great memories of buying from Bert over the years, right back to the mid 70’s at Greyfriars Market...

On the way out, I was enticed by a further 4 items from the £1 sale and then took a seat in the sunshine to sort through the acquisitions...


These crackers for a quid each...












These three from Bert for £5...




And four more £1 bargains...





All told, well over £100 worth of music for £20...

And, as a bonus, they are all top notch!

Au revoir to the Wee Red Bar...


...and a walk to Haymarket...


The place was choc-a-block full of rugby tubes...





...but I made it home for listening and ripping...



Later on, Anne was off out with Chris with a Ch for the postponed meal at Petit Paris - while I cooked a concoction at home...

Grated carrots, peas, Quorn, frozen veg, an onion, chili flakes, mild curry powder, a stockpot and a tin of Tomato Soup...



Tasted very good indeed - like a cheeky wee curry takeaway of sorts...


The rest of the evening, until Anne was back, was spent listening to the new CDs, when I really ought to have been working on sorting the recordings from yesterday...

On Anne's return, we finished off "Flunked", followed by the third place match between England and France...

France didn't turn up for the 1st half and England went in, unbelievably, 4-0 up...

Within 20 minutes of the restart though, it was 4-3 and France, after the unexpected defeat to Spain in the semi-final and that dreadful first half, suddenly seemed to have their mojo back...

Loads of misses from them too - they could've had another 4 goals - with little in response from England, until a penalty in 87 mins from one of their rare forays forward...

France pulled back to 5-4 in 96 mins and were pressing for an equaliser when Bellingham sealed it via a breakaway and a fine individual goal with almost the last kick of the ball to make it 6-4 England...

Crazy game...

Elsewhere, this evening some pics from Lindsay re Lex in his retirement home...

Sadly, he thinks he's staying in a Hotel...

He is, though, in the best hands...





...which is kind of the best any of us can hope for...

Highlight of the Day: New CDs...

Today's New Music: