Monday, May 11, 2026

Welcome to Crispycat Recordings....

WELCOME TO CRISPYCAT RECORDINGS

Over 2 Million and 52 Thousand visitors, so far...

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
Now, over twenty-one years of daily entries
from
Sunday 5 March 2005
to
Saturday 9 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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LATEST NEWS

New Album from CBQ

 On 1st May 2026, the dark ambient album, "Cobalt" was released


Thirty Years of CBQ

In June, the 30th anniversary of the first CBQ recordings will be celebrated with a new song-based compilation entitled "Drift (Slow Songs 1996-2026: 30 Years of Cloudland Blue Quartet)"


Latest Podcast

The latest edition of David's weekly podcast, "Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection", was published on Mixcloud on 4 May.  The last 10, of over 750 podcasts, are currently still available for listening (see below).

2026 Volume 18 features tracks from these recordings  - this special birthday edition includes 10 hit singles and 10 hit LPs from 4th of Mays across the years 1970-1979...


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

New Collaborations

David has commenced work on new collaborational projects with both Edward Spark and Matthew Nowik (formerly Blue Sun Chasing).  No prospective release dates are yet known

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


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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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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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 bonus material)

"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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CLOUDLAND BLUE QUARTET RELEASE SCHEDULE


   

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, 2026Music for Guitar and String Quartet in 18 Movements (46th in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded November 2025)
Friday, 7 August, 2026: Across the Landscape (44th 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 (45th 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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PODCASTS

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.  

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...

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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!)

Saturday, May 09, 2026

Unrequired but zero bargain resistance...

Playlist


Up at 6 and not writing this - cos, tomorrow (i.e. now, as I type), I am having to write four days' worth of entries...


New batteries applied to the lights to illuminate my songsheets onstage...


...and the garden path...


Today...


...was chum Jorg Sonnenschein's birthday - here we are back in 1998, in his kitchen in Germany, when he gifted me a copy of Miles Davis' "Big Fun" (as shown on the back of the couch)...


...and here's the portrait of him, which I did two years ago today...


We have known him for almost 46 years now...

Coffee time...




...and to work, writing and, indeed, singing, a lyric now for the new Spark piece, re my mixes yesterday, which I also revamped and made better this morning...


So now I have two "next day vocal" mixes (later, I added instrumental versions of those)...


Anyway, around 10, out to B&Q with Annie for some dirt and binbags and chicken wire...

As you do...

Anne dropped me back at a suitable spot to catch a bus out to Linlithgow, where there was a chance of a meet up with Prog Rock Willie...


I passed through bassist Keith's town...



In the end, Willie headed to Stirling with his wife for some shopping so it was a solo trip...

I'd been enticed to the town by an announcement by Willie's fave record shop that they'd be selling CDs for 50p or a bag of CDs (your own choice) for a fiver, in the market square in the town...

Uh oh I hear you say....

Uh oh indeed...

Said bag...


...and an approximation of its contents...





A bus home...


...past the hotel in Keith's town where we played at the start of March...


Back at the bottom of the hill, I popped into GuitarGuitar and availed myself of a new set of strings...

Anne was out at Pickleball...

I attended to the input...

13p a pop...


Here the haul...


































This was an intentional doubler, my original 1983 edition's cover is away to buggery...


These were unintentional doublers...




...which amended the average outlay to 14.7p a pop...

Much ripping and listening ensued, while I kept an eye on Queen of the South in their Play Off Semi Final Second Leg at Stenhousemuir...

1-0 to Stenhousemuir at half time - 1-1 at full time, 2-1 then 2-2 in extra time...

Penalties...

Queens were 3-1 up...

Then, missed their 4th, had their fifth saved, and lost 4-3...

Jeez oh...

Later, I saw a video of the 4th - the poor guy looked like he stepped on a banana skin, slipped and ballooned the ball out of the ground...

Later, Stennie posted a pic of a banana skin on their penalty spot...


Harsh...

Oh well, all over for another season...

Then, this evening, Hearts went 1-0 down at Motherwell, but managed a 1-1 draw - not enough to relieve the pressure...

I may have overdone it with the brown sauce re the pastie and beans scenario...


I said "may have"...

I didn't...

The rest of the evening was watching "The Black List", leaving ourselves with just 3 episodes to go - but no sign yet of the final season coming to Channel Four...

To bed early...


Lights out, machines off...


Highlight of the Day: Buying loads of CDs I really didn't need, for 15p a pop...

Today's New Music: