Tuesday, May 19, 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)

Over 2.13 Million visitors...
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This section is the Cloudland Blue Diary
 The diary comprises over twenty-one years of daily entries, from Sunday 5 March 2005 to Monday 18 May 2026
(Please scroll down for the latest posts)
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SITE DIRECTORY

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

ABOUT    MUSIC    PODCASTS    ART    RECOMENDED LISTENING
                    
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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 8 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...
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NEWS

CURRENT CLOUDLAND BLUE QUARTET RELEASE SCHEDULE

   

Friday, 29 May, 2026: Drift: A Collection of Slow Songs 1996-2026 (19th in The Collections Series) (Compiled May 2026)
Friday, 5 June, 2026: Dark (43rd in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded August 2025)
Friday, 3 July, 2026Music for Guitar and String Quartet in 18 Movements (44th in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded November 2025)
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, 2026Swan 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)

(All artwork, releases and release dates subject to change)
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UPCOMING LIVE PERFORMANCES

            

Next Appearance: Capital Models at The Hop Run at Stewart Brewing, Loanhead
Saturday 6 June 2026 2pm - 5pm

Performances 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 or vocal/electronic trio, Crazy Wisdom but a gig by Capital Models will take place at Stewart Brewing in Loanhead on 6 June 2026...
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LATEST ALBUM FROM CBQ

As always from Crispycat Recordings, this release is entirely Free to Stream or Name Your Price (including zero) to Download (with bonus material)

Recorded in August 2025, "Cobalt" is the 41st Cloudland Blue Quartet soundscapes album - relatively short in comparison to previous releases in the series, it comes in at around 48 minutes, i.e. a (fairly long) single LP.

The download bundle doubles the content though, containing as it does, an alternative version of the album, comprising the initial recordings of the four pieces. At that point , the record was to be called "Dark Slate, Deep Sky", subsequently abandoned for the snappier "Cobalt".

The final album is music in the vein of previous ambient works "Coldclear""Gewitter""Mercurial""Providence""Like a Sunday", and this year's "Low Peach Winter Sun" and can be seen as a continuation of those
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NEXT NEW RELEASE

On 29 May, the 30th anniversary of the first CBQ recordings will be celebrated with a new song-based compilation entitled "Drift: A Collection of Slow Songs 1996-2026".  The collection has now been finalised, with an expanded selection of newly mastered songs, taking the total from the initial 20 to 30, one for each year of CBQ activity since 1996.

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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 11 May.  2026 Volume 19 features tracks from these recordings...


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CAPITAL MODELS TEMPORARY QUARTET

Capital Models are currently in a series of rehearsals with guitarist Martin McQueen, who will dep for John Barclay at Capital Models next quartet gig, in June (see above under upcoming performances)

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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

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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


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CREEK REISSUES

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

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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!)

Monday, May 18, 2026

Finalising the Drift...

Playlist


Monday - week 20 of 2026...


Already 2 weeks since my birthday...

Where does the time go?

Well, I just read read the last two weeks of this and I can see - you could do that and you'd see too...

Up early and breakfasted then, over to the dump with the hall carpet...

Back home before 9...

A snail had taken up residence in the garage door handle...


A couple of CD Boxes attended to...

No 136, from David Murray to Charlie Parker...


...including seven by off the wall fusion band, Network - all purchased in one go from the glory days of e-bay CD buying...


I gave this one an immediate listen and, lo, it as good...


Better than I'd remembered...


Box 137, from Charlie Parker to Phronesis...


More Bill Bruford, this time, with Piano Circus...


I have no recollection at all of what this sounds like...


So, looking forward to giving it a spin over the next day or so...


To work...

Today, I revamped the artwork for the CBQ 30th anniversary celebratory song-based compilation, from this...


...to this...


Much better...

And, as the new cover suggests, I expanded the track list from 18 to 30...


Some remastering and judicious editing was required, plus normalising across the tracks etc etc - all in all this took up a hefty chunk of the day...

But, by close, it was all done and dusted - just the sleeve notes and credits to sort out...

And I brought the release date forward from 9 June (recording date of the first solo CBQ album) to 29 May (the date I first recorded as CBQ, with Peri Urban, 30 years ago)...

Meanwhile, nephew Ali popped by to take the radiator off the wall re decorator Ross's arrival tomorrow...

He also told us how to take this off...



Back to work on the "Drift" project...


This evening, Anne's Pilates was cancelled - and I didn't do the podcast...

I'm sure no-one's on the edge of their seat...

Instead, post a baked potato tea, we watched the final 3 episodes of "Monsieur Spade"...

We both agree the ending was preposterous - almost as if they'd run out of places to go and cobbled together something so they could just stop filming...

If there's ever a season two, I'll be most surprised...

Early to bed...


Highlight of the Day: Finalising "Drift"...

Today's New Music:

Sunday, May 17, 2026

Good times...

Playlist


The only music listening today was Eurovision - I'd downloaded all the songs yesterday and, this morning, it was all about sorting out the tags, some editing and some determining of which downloads needed to be redone as the versions that came through were not the studio originals...

I could just buy the double CD but I'm not that mad... 

Up late needing to recharge the phone...


Hall carpet gone...


...now on the table awaiting transportation to the dump tomorrow...


More morning scenes...


It remained the weekend...


...and the weather looked good...


More work at the machines but no time to do anything re the podcast...


At 12 we were off out...


...down the hill...


...for a bus into town...


We arrived early so had an initial drink round the corner from the venue...


...which was The Spanish Butcher, for a family lunch...


...with Keith and Maureen and Jane and Bobby...


...with much beer and wine in tow...


Starters...



More wine...


...and chat - surprisingly, given the Hearts contingent at the table, not too much about yesterday's travesty of justice...



Mains - Sunday roast...


Bob and I opted for the Chateaubriand...


More wine...


More chat...


The view from the office this afternoon...


Good times...



The three Chs...

Churros...


Cheescake...


Cheeseboard...


We finished off our drinks in the bar and then exited into the sunshine...


...and round the corner to Lucky Liquor...

Sadly the girl behind the bar did not take requests re the music - it had to be her choice - so, Olvia Dean - of course, they make a big thing of it all being on vinyl...

As if that really makes any difference LOL...


Cocktails were ordered but, not being a cocktail person, Belgian lager for me...



8% might have been the straw that broke the camel's back...


Anyway, more good times...


...and, eventually, around 6, it was home time...

Farewells said...


...and a bus from Princes Street...


...followed by an early night for your worse for wear correspondent...

A good Sunday indeed...

Highlight of the Day: Extended Family Lunch... 

Today's New Music: