Saturday, January 17, 2026

WELCOME TO CRISPYCAT RECORDINGS

Thanks for popping by.  You are around the 1,648,750th visitor to our website...

We issue the solo and collaborative work of musician, abstract artist and podcaster 
DAVID REILLY aka CLOUDLAND BLUE QUARTET

This is the Cloudland Blue Diary, with daily entries
from Sunday 5 March 2005 through to Thursday 15 January 2026...
 (Scroll down for the latest entries)

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

ABOUT    NEWS    MUSIC    PODCASTS    ART    RECOMENDED LISTENING
                         

In the diary, currently, 150 days are "picture only", across 6 periods in 4 of the 21 years:-

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!)

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, entirely Free to Stream or Name Your Price (including zero) to Download (with bonuses)

"On this LP, CBQ 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 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...

Thursday, January 15, 2026

A trip to the West and back...

Playlist


I decided I'd go to Glasgow today...

But, first...


...writing this up then breakfast...

...and out...


...and down the hill...


As ever, the bus was delayed in relation to the timetable..


...but, by just after 10, I was on my way...

I decided I'd soundtrack the trip with full LPs rather than shuffleplay...

Scenes from the top deck...






Arrived just after eleven and proceeded to walk for miles (with stop offs at various music emporia)...


Love Music, nothing found...


Onwards...


...to Shelter, BHF and Fopp, all on Union St - again, no joy...

Then, to Missing, for an hour or so...



Five purchases made, for £10...


Some lunch, then, a further walk, along to Tollcross and, firstly, Mono...


Nothing found...

Out into the cold sun...


I like this pic...


Round the corner to Record Fayre...


There were hundreds of CDs on offer at 4 for a pound...

I looked through rather a lot of them...






...and put together a bundle of eight titles which seemed to be "worth it" (for 25p? Come on, Dave!)...

Back out into the sun and the long walk back to the bus station...







Caught the 3:15...


...and pictured my haul on the bus, hence some slightly blurry outcomes...














The view from the top deck II...





Arrived at the terminus 15 minutes before the EP, returning from a hair session in East Lothian...


Coffee and some toast (she'd had no lunch) were waiting for her on her arrival...

Then, to ripping and listening....



...interrupted for tea...


...and "Lynley", before resuming...

All done by close of play...

A good day...

Highlight of the Day: A trip to Glasgow...

Today's New Music: