Saturday, February 07, 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
to
Monday 26 January 2026
 (Scroll down for the latest entries)

After a trip to Amsterdam, for which the first three days are now up, we are 12 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 12 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)

"Low Peach Winter Sun" is the 40th Cloudland Blue Quartet soundscapes album - an almost purely ambient 80 minute work, separated into what would be 4 sides of a double LP

The download bundle contains two completely alternative versions of the album, adding around 160 minutes of music and giving an insight into how this developed from, initially, a "joint" work of synthesisers and Short Wave Radio, to being mainly a study on Short Wave Radio, to, finally, emerging as the almost purely ambient, Double LP/CD Length work presented in the main LP

The final album is music in the vein of previous ambient works "Cold Clear", "Gewitter", "Mercurial" and "Like a Sunday" and can be seen as a continuation of those

Sleeve notes contain diary entries for the three days of recording which produced the work"

CLOUDLAND BLUE QUARTET RELEASE SCHEDULE
   

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!)

Monday, January 26, 2026

The right direction can still be the wrong direction...

Playlist


Monday morning...


Today's CD Box took me from Dvorak to Elgar...


An Einaudi disc chosen...


 Reasonably early in his back catalogue, with much electronics in the arrangements...


Disparaged by many but his music is a template for almost every currently feted “new classical” piano based artiste...


Anyway, Monday morning in Amsterdam!

One of the local Peep Hens (or Coots, as they are actually known) came to visit at the back window...


...and the nuts awaited the attention of the parakeets...


More views...





Another top breakfast in the box this morning and, then, out...


We ventured onto the decking at the front of the house boat...




...and then, the day began in earnest...


We now knew the correct place to catch the bus to Centraal...


View on the number 22...


View from the Number 22...


We alighted at the stop before the station and walked south...


...and past the Dam Monument...



...and down to Spui...




...from where we took a tram across the canals...





...alighting at the Cafe Americain...


...at the Leidseplein...


...and walked along Korte Leidsedwarsstraat, past Jazz Club Alto, where we once witnessed a performance, way back...


...and on, to the Spiegelgracht...



..and then circled back along the Weteringschans, past the Paradiso club...


...to Leidseplein and enjoyed a long walk up to Jordaan...


...and the Noordermarkt...



...where this (pictured later) was found for just one of your European Euros...


The breakfast provision is so generous, we'd been able to bring a packed lunch along...


Back...



...to the Rosengracht and Velvet Records, where these (again pictured later) were picked up...



More walking...


Back to Dam Square and then a tram back down to Museumplein...






...noting the parakeets going in and out of the canopy at the Stedelijk...


In for coffees...





The sculptures in this foyer area used to be outside - in that, the foyer was built around them...





Out and a few yards walk to the Moco Museum, for which we'd pre-booked tickets...







And in, for some Banksy...





















...and others...

Six N. Five








Andy Warhol...




...and Keith Haring...





This is probably my fave pic from all those taken at the Moco...






There were even some paintings by Robbie Williams...



Jean-Michel Basquiat was also on display





Upstairs to the second floor for more...




Damien Hurst...



Hayden Keys...


The view from the top floor...


Francesco Tonarelli...


...including "David-19"...



Icy and Sot...




Kaws...








Tracey Emin...






Into the basement for some video/installation art...






Through the shop (no purchases)...


...and out...


Parakeets in the trees...


We walked through the tunnel at the Rijksmuseum...



We are due to visit tomorrow...


Back along to Leidseplain, popping in to Record Palace...


...where this was nabbed...


Past the lizards...


..and other sculptures...



...and the Milky Way...


...before walking back to Spui and into Cafe Hoppe - a long time fave of ours in the Dam...



...for drinks and a heat...


We should never forget that things will often last a lot longer than people do...


Lovely beer...


...of which two might have been too many for your correspondent, given its strength and, as demonstrated by these...






But another was indeed ordered....



...and today's purchases were perused and pictured (see above)...


Time to go, just as the bar started to fill up...



A tram up to Centraal...




...and a number 22 home...


...for a rest and to listen to a couple of the new things...


This morning we'd been looking at possible dinner venues of the Leidseplein and so, this evening, out we went again...




We took a Number 7 tram back to Leidseplein - initially getting on it going in the wrong direction - even though it was the right direction - but it only went a couple of stops to its end station and turned around and took a wide circle back...

You live and learn...

Anyway, Leidseplein once again..


...and to Pizzeria O Sole Mio...


For drinks...


..and tasty pizzas...



...followed by a constitutional...



...and a Number 7 back to the houseboat...






...for some TV (BBC NL), some music and bed...

A good day...

Highlight of the Day: Amsterdam...

Today's New Music: