Sunday, June 14, 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 Saturday 13 June 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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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 5 June, Cloudland Blue Quartet released "Dark" 43rd in The Soundscapes Series, recorded in August 2025. Deemed "orchestral ambient", elements of this work were first aired at the performances in 2025 of the Live Suite, "Keepsake"...

As always from Crispycat Recordings, this release is entirely Free to Stream or Name Your Price (including zero) to Download (with 5 hours of bonuses!)

A 51 minute Orchestral Ambient album, with added darkness, recorded in August 2025 (released June 2026), presented as a virtual 5CD set, w/ 5 versions of the work

Main LP: "Dark" (50:57) short version of the 2nd mix, with the addition of the final closing piece, incl an excerpt from a Stanley Kubrick interview from 1966

Bonuses for Downloaders:
"Dark" (Extended Version) (79:18) 2nd mix of the LP

"Arcane" ("Dark" Initial Mix) (73:11) 1st mix, incl ambience & Short Wave Radio but no Kubrick

"Kubrick" (75:10) 3rd mix, w/multiple edits of Kubrick to the fore

"Kubrick II" (78:31) 4th mix pushing Kubrick to the background emphasising the music

The 4th mix was considered to be the LP until, after 3 days of listening across all 4 alt mixes, it was decided to return to the 2nd, which excluded the Short Wave Radio, to create more succinct versions of the longer tracks and to exclude the Kubrick interview, apart from one short excerpt, which forms the main content of the final track of the finalised LP 
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NEXT NEW RELEASE

On Friday, 3 July, 2026, Cloudland Blue Quartet will release "Music for Guitar and String Quartet in 18 Movements", the 44th in The Soundscapes Series, recorded in November 2025. 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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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, 3 July, 2026Music for Guitar and String Quartet in 18 Movements (44th in The Soundscapes Series) (Recorded November 2025)
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, 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)
NEW! Thursday, 24 December 2026: Twentytwentysix: The Originals (a collection of tracks from releases issued throughout 2026) (to be compiled December 2026)
NEW! 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 7 June 2026.  Volume 23 features tracks from these recordings...


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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!)

Saturday, June 13, 2026

Big enough for two...

Playlist


Up at six and feeling like shit...


The weather outside was fine but I would not be venturing out...




Sister Pam's 63rd birthday...


Never gets easier - 15 years gone this December...

It has flown by...

And continues to do so - almost half way through 2026 already...

Changed the LP display - did not play them though...


My first post of the day, following Facebook and family tribute to Pam...

"If you only listen to one LP today, make it this 16 song one (another 98 tracks available on download but it's name your price, so, you could get it all for £0)... 

Started in December 2012, finally released August 2021"



Me? I was listening to more new good stuff downloaded today - I just can't stop (see below)...


Also...

Found an old post from years ago, made while playing Toyah & Fripp's "The Lady or the Tiger" LP in 2020, saying "if only I could remove Toyah" to hear Fripp's work unaccompanied...  

So, this is how I was also wasting my time this morning...

Done, dusted...


Also, this chart was posted up...

The top selling LPs of 1977...

I have 48 of the 100...



I noted the highest ranking "Prog" acts 49 years ago...

11 Pink Floyd
16 Yes
42 Peter Gabriel
43 ELP
47 Genesis
49 Mike Oldfield
53 Supertramp
90 Jethro Tull

I hesitated over Gabriel. All of these acts remained popular in 1977 (some, until this very day even), proving that punk did not, as received wisdom might dictate, destroy prog...

Indeed, I recall I bought "Going for the One"/"Never Mind the Bollocks" almost on the same day...

Only idiots actioned a year zero policy...

Updated my "chart albums I'd buy if I had unlimited cash" from February to now, taking my running total for the year to a measly 21...

To be honest, I'm not sure I would actually buy all these were I to have won the lottery...

Nice to see Kraftwerk's mid 70's classic, finally making the UK album chart this year...


This evening, a swift drive to the Bayleaf for a Lamb Bhuna, rice and a naan...

Their curries are so large, they fed the household...



Fang popped by for something he likes...




Later, Brazil v Morocco...


We watched the first half, then, headed to bed with the score at 1-1...



We did not stay up till 4am watching Scotland V Haiti...

Rather, we recorded it and will watch it tomorrow morning before accessing anything online...


Highlight of the Day: Curry...

Today's New Music: