Tuesday, February 03, 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

This section is the
Cloudland Blue Diary
with daily entries from 
Sunday 5 March 2005
through to
Sunday 25 January 2026
 (Scroll down for the latest entries)

After a trip to Amsterdam, for which the first two days are up, we remain 8 days behind but will be catching up shortly (entries post our return are being written but held back and will be added once the Amsterdam trip is fully documented)...

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

ABOUT    NEWS    MUSIC    PODCASTS    ART    RECOMENDED LISTENING
                         

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

The current 13 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...

LATEST CLOUDLAND BLUE QUARTET RELEASE



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

"On this LP, Cloudland Blue Quartet reimagines seven adagios from Shostakovich's String Quartets.

Each piece comprises a "theme" and "variations" along with "ambience", precise edits of each SQ movement, playing "straight" for the initial part of each piece, followed by a second half of "variations", all designed to be listened to gaplessly, which you can do by downloading.

"Shostakovich" is the 10th in an ongoing series of "composer" releases by Cloudland Blue Quartet, which aim to take pieces by various composers (previous albums have featured treatments of works by Satie, Cage, Beethoven, Schoenberg/Webern/Berg, Haydn, Wagner, Bartok, Brahms and Gould, all of which are available, exclusively, on Bandcamp) and warp them into something completely new, whilst retaining elements of the "DNA" of the original works.

For downloaders the initial version of the LP is included in the bundle, adding over 58 minutes to the release."

CLOUDLAND BLUE QUARTET RELEASE SCHEDULE
   

Friday, 6 February, 2026Low Peach Winter Sun (40th in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded July 2025)
Friday, 6 March, 2026: Materialisation (with Joe Higham) (41st in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded June and July 2025)
Friday, 3 April, 2026: Dissolution VI (6th in The Dissolution Piano Series) (to be recorded March 2026)
Saturday, 11 April, 2026 (Record Store Day)GLAM! FOUR (5th in the GLAM! Covers Series) (Recorded February 2023 - October 2024)

   

Friday, 1 May, 2026: Cobalt (42nd in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded August 2025)
Friday, 5 June, 2026: Dark (43rd in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded August 2025)
Wednesday, 10 June, 2026: Drift (Slow Songs 1996-2026 30 Years of Cloudland Blue Quartet) (19th in The Collections Series) (to be compiled May 2026)
Friday, 3 July, 2026: Across the Landscape (44th in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded October 2025)

   

Friday, 7 August, 2026: Broken (19th in The Songs Series) (Recorded November 2025)
Friday, 4 September, 2026: Elevation (45th in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded November 2025)
Friday, 2 October, 2026: Music for Guitar and String Quartet in 18 Movements (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)

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 in 2026...

PODCASTS

Since 2014, David has produced almost 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.  

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...


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!)

Sunday, January 25, 2026

That soup smells nice, how many should we get...

Playlist


The second day of the weekend in Amsterdam...


Today's box from Dohl to Dvorak...


Chose Dohnanyi’s String Quartets 1 & 3 by the Avivs...


Superb...

Really must get round to getting No 2...


Been a fan of Dohnanyi since attending a performance of a string trio in a library in Dublin, May 1997...


Anyway, views...






...and, looking forward to this evening, a play for Tom Skinner's latest...


Breakfast delivered - rolls (fillings already in the fridge), croissants, eggs, bananas...


Tasty and set us up well for the day...

Meanwhile...



...and out...




...and a short walk to the bus stop for the number 22...



...and into Centraal Station...


The view from the station...


...and out the front and a walk in the freezing cold...

Down to Damm Square...



...and onwards...


..to Spui...




...and then, over towards the Jordaan, over the canals...






Soon, the Westerkerk was in sight...



Further into the district...



...and we found our old favourite "De Blaffende Vis" (The Barking Fish)...


...where warming drinks were enjoyed...



Back out, noting  a lovely aroma from a nearby soup purveyor's premises...

We walked on, with the intention of returning...


More exploring...





...to Haarlemplein...


...and then back for the soup - we made the error of purchasing two portions and two breads when one of each would most likely have sufficed...


While extremely tasty, sadly, a goodly amount of uneaten lentils made their way into the bin...


The soup place is on Westerstraat (as is The Fish) - it's the fifth shopfront from the right...


Onwards, past another old fave, Het Molenpad - which has gone all upmarket, so we gave it a miss...


...and walked on for ages, making our way all the way around the canals to Utrechtstraat...




...and the Kromm Cafe - with its cat...





...it's coffee...


...and its jukebox...


Took a note of the content with a view to a possible future playlist...





Apparently the cat lives in the bar...


Out and to Concerto the record shop a few doors up towards Rembrandtplein..


After some searching through the masses of stock, I bought this 3CD set...


A misunderstanding re the tram routes meant we took the wrong tram from Rembrantplein..


...but that led to a walk though the Oosterpark...



...and we soon ended back at Javastraat from last night, from where it was a short walk back to the houseboat...


The views from the bridge...



...and home...


...for a well earned rest - in all we'd walked around the city today for around 4 hours...


Parakeets visited the feeding station...







...soundtracked by Miles Davis and the next two discs from the CD boxes - brought along on my Samsung...

Then, tome to make our way to the Bimhuis for tonight's performance...


First, a bus to the station...


...where sandwiches from Albert Hein sustained...


Then, a tram along to the venue...



A very impressive building indeed...


...including a wee record booth in the foyer...


Upstairs...


...the stage was set...


Drinks at the bar first...


Then, in - to our front row seats...



Fantastic gig - they played the whole of the latest LP, barring one 90 second piece - plus an older track as an encore...

These pics taken post set, during the band intros...








...and post encore...




Yowsah!


Out into the cold and onto the same tram we took yesterday afternoon...



...which dropped us a ten minute walk from home...




To bed with Mr Skinner in the cans...


A very good day...

Highlight of the Day: Tom Skinner and back at the Vis...

Today's New Music: