Friday, May 22, 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 2.14 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 Thursday 21 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!)

Thursday, May 21, 2026

Boxes and burgers...

Playlist


Up late...


Views...





Ross the Decorator's 3rd day - today?  Painting the walls...

CD Box 141, Wayne Shorter to Daniel Smith...


Today's choice was this 1994 recording by Polish guitarist, Jarek Smitetana...


...with the great Idris Muhammad on drums...


Includes covers by Parker, Coleman, Rivers and John Scofield....

 Excellent stuff...


Then, I pushed on with box 142 Jimmy Smith to Soft Machine...


I chose Soft Machine, their current "Thirteen" is my top LP of 2026 so far...

This is "5th" from 1972...


For some, their peak, featuring the classic Dean, Ratledge, Hopper, Marshall line up, but only on side 2, with drummer Phil Howard in for Marshall on side 1...

Chum Sid Smith commented "I fucking love 5th. As If, with Roy Babbington's sublime double bass work, is a BIG deal for me.  Thirteen is ridiculously good and easily the best thing they've done since returning"


I didn't have enough words in my post to mention Babbington's double bass on side two...

And, of course, while a "classic line up" it only existed for one record (or half a record even!)...

But Soft Machine, for me, is the ultimate Ship of Theseus band....

Almost (almost!) without exception, quality remains, no matter the personnel...


And a third box for today, 143 (tomorrow's box) from Soft Machine to Sun Ra...


I chose this extraordinary 2CD (previously, 2LP) set, arranged by (for sextet) and conducted by Heiner Stadler, recorded in New York in January 1978...


It features Thad Jones, George Lewis, Stanley Cowell, Reggie Workman and Lenny White...


Difficult listening hour indeed...


Later, some "work" - although, who knows what?  Certainly not me anymore (he says, writing this just the next day)...


Wait - I've just remembered - I spent an inordinate amount of time bringing my posts re my daily CD boxes up to date, adding no fewer than thirty...

Tea tonight were some very tasty indeed burgers, with all the add ons...


...followed by a 20 year old thing "The Last Detective" - good murder mystery...


...and the latest in the Jack Ryan series - a film as opposed to a season though...


Anne will need to re-watch the end due to dozing off...

Highlight of the Day: Despite all the great music and the exciting films, probably the burger...

Today's New Music: