Thursday, June 04, 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)
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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 Wednesday 3 June 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 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...
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NEWS

NEXT NEW RELEASE

On Friday, 5 June, 2026, Cloudland Blue Quartet will release "Dark", the 43rd in The Soundscapes Series, recorded in August 2025. Deemed "orchestral ambient", elements of this work were first aired at the performances in 2025 of the Live Suite, "Keepsake"...


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UPCOMING LIVE PERFORMANCES

            

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

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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CURRENT CLOUDLAND BLUE QUARTET RELEASE SCHEDULE

    

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)
NEW! Thursday, 24 December 2026: Twentytwentysix: The Originals (a collection of tracks from releases issued throughout 2026) (to be compiled December 2026)


NEW! 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)
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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

On 29th May 1996, David Reilly and Peri Urban met at Peri's studio and recorded the first three of seven instrumental improvisations which subsequently appeared on a limited edition CD entitled "29.V.96 6.VI.96", on which David was credited as "The Cloudland Blue Quartet".

This was the first use of this moniker, following almost two decades of having been known as Sombre Reptiles for his song-based projects and The Heavenly Music Corporation for his soundscape work.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Cloudland Blue Quartet, Crispycat Recordings is proud to present a new song-based compilation, featuring 30 slow pieces, on which work commenced back in 1996 (although the first song was not officially released until late 1997) and was completed in May 2026, with the remix, included here, of "The Surrender of Barcelona", along with the final remastering of many of these works.

We hope you enjoy the first 30 years of "the" Cloudland Blue Quartet's songs and, to bring things full circle, the album closes with the 2026 remaster of "29.V.96 I" the first ever piece released under the name, Cloudland Blue Quartet
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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 2 June 2026.  Volume 22 features tracks from these recordings...



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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!)

Wednesday, June 03, 2026

Dark work needs to be done...

Playlist


Wednesday already...


 ...and up late...


Working on "Dark" - had to reupload over 70 tracks - simplest way to get them in the right order post a rethink...

Breakfast...


Back to the machines...

Anne was off to Zumba...


More work on "Dark" - sleeve note writing, credits etc etc...

It's a virtual 5CD Box Set containing five different versions of the work, which is, essentially, a 51 minute Dark Orchestral Ambient piece...

Out this Friday, 5 June, it will be Free to Stream (main LP)/Name Your Price to Download (incl over 5hrs of bonuses)...



Meanwhile, someone (the Dancing Monk, not me) was playing Rubinmusik...


It's my music from 1977-2017...

A 40 year, 8 Volume, 82 track retrospective collection, including 62 previously unreleased/unavailable works and a 106 page PDF booklet of artworks...

It features items from:
Cloudland Blue Quartet
DDHR
Sombre Reptiles
The Heavenly Music Corporation
Capital Models
Love Parade
The Dancers of San Martino
Call Me Clive
Crazy Wisdom
Creek
and
James Jamieson

You can get it here - again, Free to Stream / Name Your Price to Download...

Meanwhile, on this day 38 years ago, I remember this well...


Plus Scotland lost 3-1 in their opening World Cup Group match against Peru...

I also noted that, Cloudland Blue Quartet's latest collection, "Drift: 30 Slow Songs 1996-2026", is the 100th Crispycat Recording since the advent of lockdown, in Spring 2020, triggered a huge increase in my musicking...

Here they all are, from now back to May 2020...









9 more LPs (6 recorded in 2025) are due before the end of 2026...




Then, we'll see...

So far, 2026 has been a bit of a fallow period, new CBQ wise...

While the two year end compilations above still need to be compiled and "Disquietmusik X" will be recorded in November, I've not recorded anything new by CBQ for six months now...

More "Mindful Murders" this afternoon...

Later on, post some Warholisation...



...I decided to give this a wee spin...





...enjoying disc 1 before...


...a tasty tea...



Then, we finished off "Homeland" Season 2...

That's 24 of 96 episodes watched in the last few days (and I watched the first four twice, as I started the series before hooking Anne in)...

It is rather good...

Bed towards midnight...


...with some more Haydn just before I went...


Took ages to get to sleep...

Highlight of the Day: Getting "Dark" ready to go...

Today's New Music: