Thursday, April 10, 2025

WELCOME TO CRISPYCAT...

WELCOME TO CRISPYCAT RECORDINGS
We issue the solo and collaborative work of musician, broadcaster and abstract artist
DAVID REILLY

ABOUT    NEWS    MUSIC    BROADCASTS    ART    RECOMENDED LISTENING
This is the Cloudland Blue Diary - to go to another section of the site, click on an icon
                         

DIARY

The diary is up to date, with daily entries for over twenty years...

First Entry: Sunday 5 March 2005
Latest Entry: Wednesday 9 April 2025...
 (Scroll down for the latest entries)

Between those dates, 146 days are "picture only", across 5 periods in 3 of the, now, 21 years:-

2016 (3 Days): 15-17 October
2022 (85 Days): 18 April - 10 May (23); 6 July - 5 September (62)
2023 (58 Days): 21 September - 15 October (25); 18 October - 19 November (33)

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 almost 80 further new releases having been issued in the last five years.

The current 14 strong pipeline (see below) will take matters to April 2026, pushing the total Cloudland Blue Quartet releases available on Bandcamp to well beyond 100.

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...

LATEST RELEASE

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

This is the fifth album in the "Dissolution" series from Cloudland Blue Quartet.

The LPs comprise improvised piano pieces and ambience.  It follows on from the success of the LPs "Dissolution", released in April 2021, "Dissolution II" released in April 2022, "Dissolution III", released in April 2023 and "Dissolution IV", released in April 2024, all of which are still available on Bandcamp.

As with CBQ's "Classical" series ("Satie", "Cage", "Beethoven", "Schoenberg/Webern/Berg", "Haydn", "Wagner", "Bartok", "Brahms" and the upcoming "Gould") and the guitarscape series "Disquietmusik" (Volumes I-VIII, with Volume IX due at the end of 2025), it is hoped this series of albums will continue into the future.

CURRENT CBQ RELEASE SCHEDULE

   

Saturday 12 April 2025 (Record Store Day)Cloudland Blue Quartet - GLAM! III (RSD Special: Covers LP)
Friday 2 May 2025Cloudland Blue Quartet - Variations on Brian Eno's "On Land" (Soundscape Variations LP)
Friday 6 June 2025Cloudland Blue Quartet - Strand (Soundscape Piano & Synthesiser Based LP)
Friday 4 July 2025Cloudland Blue Quartet - Gould (Soundscape Composers LP)

   

Friday 1 August 2025Cloudland Blue Quartet - Variations on Fripp & Eno's "No Pussyfooting" (Soundscape Variations LP)
Friday 5 September 2025Cloudland Blue Quartet Variations on Fripp & Eno's "Evening Star" (Soundscape Variations LP)
Friday 3 October 2025: Cloudland Blue Quartet & Robert Scott Thompson - Forest Ascent (Collaborative Soundscape LP)
NEW! Friday 7 November 2025Cloudland Blue Quartet - Like a Sunday (Soundscape Ambient LP)

   

Friday 5 December 2025: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Disquietmusik IX (Soundscape Guitar Based LP)
Wednesday 24 December 2025: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentytwentyfive: The Originals (Compilation of 2025 Releases)
Wednesday 31 December 2025: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentytwentyfive (Compilation of Rarities recorded throughout 2025)
NEW! Friday 6 February 2026: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Shostakovich (Soundscape Composers LP)


Friday 3 April 2026Cloudland Blue Quartet - Dissolution VI (Soundscape Piano Based LP)
Saturday 11 April 2026 (Record Store Day)Cloudland Blue Quartet - GLAM! FOUR (RSD Special: Covers LP)

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

SCHEDULED LIVE PERFORMANCES

            

Capital Models - Saturday 24th May 2025, Doors at 7pm, Band on at 8pm
Leith Dockers, 17 Academy Street, Edinburgh, EH6 7EE
Repertoire: 3 sets of top covers, from Elvis to Taylor Swift

In addition to these, there are these further possible appearances...

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Occasional Thursdays, from 8pm 
Out of the Bedroom, Safari Lounge, 21 Cadzow Place, Edinburgh EH7 5SN
Repertoire: 3 song acoustic set (if attempting to secure a slot the date will be added here)

Performances include those solo, as Cloudland Blue Quartet, presenting sets of either songs or soundscapes, and group, with the current line up of David's 1980 new wave band, Capital Models, currently playing covers (from Elvis to Tay Tay but about to embark on a project to re-lrearn the bands original canon from 1979/80). 

At present there are no plans for his electronic improvisational quartet, Creek, to play live...

BROADCASTS
David produces a weekly podcast on Mixcloud, reflecting his esoteric taste in music and encouraging listeners to broaden their musical horizons.  Since 2014, over 700 editions of the "Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection" have been recorded.  Unfortunately, only the most recent 10 are able to be made available on the Mixcloud platform.  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...


Wednesday, April 09, 2025

Experiencing the swan once again...

The day started in its usual (these days) fashion - collating yesterday's new music and the music played yesterday and uploading the pics from the phone to the hard drives then putting yesterdays' entry for this together - exactly as I am doing now for this entry...


I sat in the backroom post this...





...and advised the world, via Blue Sky, that, today, I might listen to some CDs or, even, LPs...

The world couldn't give a fu...that's enough Dave...

Two new portraits emerged...



Wednesday...


Anne to Zuba, me listenignto the songs which are being added to the setlist - looking to master versions to add to the part of "Repertoire" on Bandcamp that is free to stream...

That came to nothing...

But I did organise three setlists for the 24th May and posted them to the team for comment...

Tumbleweeds as ever...

Also redid the song sheet for Maggi May, moving it from A to D to make it easier to sing - and a clarified songsheet/instructions re "The Number One Song in Heaven" - as almost ever, John B was the only reactor to any of this...

Oh well...

Lunch on Anne's return and a Magpie jumping up and down to the coconut at the deeding station to get one peck each time at its content...



Meanwhile, we found the first season of Australian cold case drama "Black Snow" having watched episode 1 of Season 2 yesterday - so we watched 1.1 today and will watch the first season before returning to 2...

I love the scenery and the soundscapes...

This afternoon, I got the acoustic out of the attic and managed to run through the first two sets prior to leaving for this evening's entertainment...

This pic was taken tomorrow morning to remind me of that...


As we walked down the hill the Exec Producer advised, in her capacity as Exec Producer, that the lyrics to "Brown Sugar" left something to be desired vis a vis its (now acknowledged by Mick Jagger) inherent racism and misogyny...


...and so, on the bus into town...


I re-wrote the lyrics - rhyming Luger with Sugar and switching the subject matter from raping back girl slaves to praising a golden gun (per the lyric sheet in the pic above, printed off on our return)...

Let's see how that goes...

After all, the music itself is so great to play, it would be a shame to drop it...

Pre dinner drinks...


...then, to the restaurant for 5:30...


Cafe Centro...



Here, I now find it hard to see beyond the seafood pizza...


More drinks, in moderation...


Starters which, in hindsight, we probably didn't "need"...


And maions - a reminder, as ever, that this pizza was extremely close to the camera...


At 6:40, out and a 20 minute walk to the Festival Theatre...


...on a quite beautiful evening...


Obligatory pre gig pic...

We were her for Matthew Bourne's "Swan Lake" - my second time viewing, probably Anne's fourth...


Three hours later, the superb cast took its bows after a mesmerising and, re the finale, tear jerking, performance...



Absolutely fantastic dancing throughout...


We walked back to Prices St via the route take to the theatre, noting a large crane being moved into pace on Chamber St...


...and a lit up St Giles Cathedral...




Princes St and a 26 bus beckoned...


Home to relax, no telly watched...

To bed around 11:30 or so...

No CDs or LPs were played today...

Highlight of the Day : Swan Lake...

Today's New Music


Played Today