Saturday, July 18, 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 Friday 17 July 2026

The entries re the recent trips to Norway and Manchester are all now published...

(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

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)

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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."
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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...
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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)
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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 15 July 2026.  Volume 28 features tracks from these recordings, including 3 unreleased CBQ works...


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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!)

Friday, July 17, 2026

Playing Dylan with the band...

Playlist


Up early and pulling some stuff in re New Music Friday...


Then, packed the car and drove to near the zoo then a bus into town for a catch up at 8am with old chum Raymondo...


...and to pop into the old office to hand in some paperwork to old chum Christine re some financial stuff...

A bus back to the car and home for breakfast - Anne was already away to Zumba...

A good combo...



Then, at 10, out to Roslin and a very enjoyable session with the band - we only played 9 songs, none of which we'd ever played before and only my second time ever singing them - and so, we played "Highway 61 Revisited"...

Moira had made scones to celebrate Johnny B's return to the band...


His guitar playing is stellar and, to my ears, completely unique - it was great to have him back in the fold...

Home around 2:30 for some soup and more "Ride or Die"...

Then, to the machines to edit the sessions - 1 hr 40 down to around an hour including two takes of one track plus our opening "getting the mix" jam...


Swithering about some doctoring re separating the vocals from the playing and editing the music behind the singing to eliminate slight errors along the way, including repeated ones from me in my guitaring on "Like a Rolling Stone" which was particularly hard to play and sing all the lyrics of, without having had any previous goes (singing and chord playing on that one proved beyond me yesterday - and, indeed, today!)...

Anyway, the rough cut was done and made for enjoyable listening despite les faux pas...



Chat amongst us too re what we'd like to do going forward...

While not keen, I am willing still to do gigs offered where we have to comply with others' ideas of what and how we should play but I would much rather play to our own specifications...

There's no real point in having a "ready made audience" a la The Dockers or Stewart Brewing when the level of interest is so low and, in essence, almost no-one gives a fuck about what we're doing...

No real point other than the money...

Chinese takeaway for tea - Chicken Chow Mein for me - probably the healthiest option on the menu...


The slow movement of Ravel's Piano Concerto on the first night of the Proms was excellent - but rather spoiled by the, ahem, "jazzy" 3rd movement, influenced, apparently by Ravel's good friend and jazz club chum, Gershwin, for whose music I have very little love, if any...


Then, a new discovery, French comedy "Flunked" - so good, we watched 4 of the 8 episodes immediately...


I have my eye on a Spanish one too...

Wee Fang popped by - he seemed a bit dithery the wee man - he must be around 11 now?

I do love that wee cat - even though he often slashes me and has pee'd on various parts of our house, including the TV, over the years...


I hope he's ok...

Bed around midnight, post having nabbed a few jazzy things to listen to tomorrow morning...


Lights out...

Highlight of the Day: Playing Dylan with the band...

Today's New Music:

Thursday, July 16, 2026

Playing, listening and familiarising...

Playlist


Up late and out...


...for a very nice Thursday breakfast at The Haven...





Scrambled Egg w/Bacon for Annie...


...and porridge with fruit and honey for your correspondent...


Home via some provision procurement...

While Anne pottered in the garden, to recording and editing very rough solo versions with acoustic, of the songs on Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" which, it seems from further discussions, we may play tomorrow at the band session with next to no prep (apart from this) for anyone - we'll see...

Reasonable... 


I could not sing the verses of "Like a Rolling Stone" while playing the guitar so that was mainly instrumental...

Later, needed to pop to the garage re tyre pressure and bought things for tea...

Back home, started a new thing - "Ride or Die" - entertaining...


Time for tea - emulating a couple of Bergen Teas...


...while Anne enjoyed a lasagne...


More listening and familiarising this evening...


And a squirrel visit at the kitchen window...


Ended the day sorting over 250 song sheets into pure alpha order...



Done...


And Thursday was gone...


Highlight of the Day: "Learning" new songs...

Today's New Music: