WELCOME TO CRISPYCAT RECORDINGS

We issue the solo and collaborative work of musician, podcaster and abstract artist

DAVID REILLY

This is the Cloudland Blue Diary, with daily entries

from Sunday 5 March 2005 through to Sunday 9 November 2025...

 (Scroll down for the latest entries)

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ABOUT    NEWS    MUSIC    PODCASTS    ART    RECOMENDED LISTENING

                         

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

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!)

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 over 85 further new releases having been issued in the last five years.

The current 13 strong pipeline (see below) will take matters to July 2026 and the 30th anniversary of Cloudland Blue Quartet's debut recordings, pushing the total CBQ releases available on Bandcamp to over 130.

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 have also released new recordings...

LATEST CBQ RELEASE

Friday, 7 November, 2025: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Like a Sunday (Ambient Series LP)

As always from Crispycat Recordings, entirely Free to Stream or Name Your Price (including zero) to Download (with bonuses)

"Like a Sunday" is a very quiet, possibly beautiful, 40 minute ambient work based around a synthesiser piece recorded in March 1989. It was designed to be listened to in one session - downloading will allow you to listen gaplessly. 

As an additional bonus to downloaders, three extra tracks (80 minutes) are in the bundle, the original 1989 piece around which this LP is based, plus the full isolated versions of both the synthesiser piece and the ambience - if you download, you can create your own "Like a Sunday" and send it to Crispycat!

CURRENT CBQ RELEASE SCHEDULE

    

Friday, 5 December, 2025: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Disquietmusik IX (Disquietmusik Guitar Series LP)

Wednesday, 24 December, 2025: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentytwentyfive: The Originals (Annual Compilation Series LP)

Wednesday, 31 December, 2025: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentytwentyfive (Compilation of Rarities recorded throughout 2025) (Annual Compilation Series LP)

Friday, 2 January, 2026: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Shostakovich (Composers Series LP)

   

Friday, 6 February, 2026: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Low Peach Winter Sun (Ambient Series LP)

Friday, 6 March, 2026: Cloudland Blue Quartet & Joe Higham - Materialisation (Collaboration Series LP)

Friday, 3 April, 2026: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Dissolution VI (Dissolution Piano Series LP)

Saturday, 11 April, 2026 (Record Store Day): Cloudland Blue Quartet - GLAM! FOUR (Record Store Day Covers Series LP)

  

Friday, 1 May, 2026: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Cobalt (Ambient Series LP)

Friday, 5 June, 2026: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Dark (Ambient Series LP)

Wednesday, 10 June, 2026: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Drift (Slow Songs 1996-2026 30 Years of Cloudland Blue Quartet) (Song Based Compilation LP)

Friday, 3 July, 2026: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Across the Landscape (Ambient Series LP)

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

UPCOMING LIVE PERFORMANCES

            

There are currently no performances planned

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 Capital Models but a gig by vocal/electronic trio, Crazy Wisdom, is mooted for later in 2025...

PODCASTS

David produces a weekly podcast on Mixcloud, reflecting his esoteric taste in music and encouraging listeners to broaden their musical horizons.  

Since 2014, almost 750 editions of the "Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection" have been recorded.  Unfortunately, with only the most recent 10 able to be made available on the Mixcloud platform, 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.  

Click on the pic to go to Mixcloud...

Open a book, write a song...

Playlist

Up early and immediately to work on what is now called "Broken"...

Well, almost immediately - there was a wee monkey to see too first...

And a coffee to be had...

Then, a day spent "working"...

New versions of the 15 pieces created on Friday, now became "Demo 2"...

And a large amount of time was spent compiling this week's podcast but without, as yet, recording the links...

In the afternoon, while I "worked", Anne was at Tynecastle, where Hearts dropped another two points, failing to beat Dundee Utd (as they failed to against St Mirren recently, despite having beaten both Celtic and Scotland's newest club)..

1-1 - even though United had the ball in the net a further three times...

Fish and chips for tea...

Luna accompanied us in some TV watching...

...and I ended the weekend by writing six new lyrics for the "Broken" project, in my usual style of opening a book at a random page and building them from there - the book in question, this time, being Garrison Keillor's "Lake Wobegon Days"...

Highlight of the Day: Creating...

Today's New Music:

The return of the shelf...

Playlist

A day off from music making...

Always good to give new stuff a time away from you ears to get perspective...

This morning, I described the new stuff as "mostly shit with a little bit of potential..." to Mr Spark...

He, in tune, provided his new ambient track to me...

By way of contrast to my own work, this was absolutely top...

It inspired me to fire up "Across the Landscape" from last month - and I wrote up some release notes for it for next July(!!)...

Sounded better than I'd recalled -which is often he case with ambient stuff when you've been away from it for a while...

Once again, Luna was helping me with my "work"...

...and, indeed with the remainder of resetting the ground floor post the re-decoration work...

Breakfast...

Then, I noted in the back room that my 3rd speaker was not making any sound...

Accordingly a lot of taking stuff off of shelves and fixing wires ensued...

After 90 minutes of tidying, this was the new look room...

It’ll be good to get the downstairs radiators moved out tomorrow...

My “Eno 3 speaker system” allows for a stereo sound spectrum wherever I am in the room, hence no worries that the sofa doesn’t face the hi fi now…

The view from the office this afternoon...

It was the weekend...

Curtains still need to go back up...

This afternoon, I picked 30 singles from box 3 to give a spin to...

Jacky, Japan, Jethro Tull & Elton John...

Josef K, Joy Division, King Crimson, Robert Fripp...

The Kingsmen, Kiss, Kraftwerk, John Lennon...

Joe Loss, M, Magazine, Marmalade...

Don McLean, Modern Lovers, Monkees, Mott the Hoople...

Nazareth, New York Dolls, Nilsson (cover designed while off school, sick, in 1972), Osmonds (with sister Pam's horse)...

PFM, PinkFloyd, Cozt Powell (with the Exec Producer's teenage self portrait), Elvis (my first ever record bought with my own money, August 1970)...

Procol Harum, PIL...

Very enjoyable and, on top of that, Queen of the South beat East Fife 3-0 in Dumfries -back into a play off position...

For tea, prawn and n'duja spaghetti...

Yowsah...

And some new releases from yesterday...

And some recent CD purchases upstairs...

...with the return of The Shelf...

Kind of...

Highlight of the Day: Getting the house somewhat back to normal...

Today's New Music: