going slowly mad to the ticking of my hazard lights

it's a couple of days later from the Esoteric Underground night in Carmarthen and I'm finally starting to feel human again. it was good fun. heard lots of cracking music and got to meet some new people. i made a mix for the night which you can hear here.

Quietude #8 by Quiet World on Mixcloud

the one part of the night i could have happily done without was the puncture on the way home. the wrench threaded when we tried to change the tyre and so had to ring the AA. it took 20 minutes for them to answer the phone and then another hour and a half for the breakdown van to get there. by then the two guys i was with had fallen asleep and i was going slowly mad from sitting there listening to the tick-tock and the on/off of the hazard lights. i am thankful though that the torrential rains of earlier had finished and that the heating in the car works because it was perishingly cold.

A glimpse into the Esoteric Underground

for anyone in the area tonight (thursday 6th) come along to the Parrot in Carmarthen for an evening of Throbbing Gristle, Coil, Current 93, NWW, and loads more.
yours truly will be playing some music at some point.  should be fun.

A last report from the desert shore

was woken up early monday morning (my day off) by workmen ripping the roof off of the house next door so Sioux (my partner) and I decided to go for a trip out to Carmarthen. For those of you who don't know the area Carmarthen is about an hour away (by car) from my home in Swansea. it's a large town with a nice mellow atmosphere which is a nice change from Swansea town centre which is pretty grim and somewhere I try to avoid.

the other appeal of Carmarthen is there is a very fine record shop - The Tangled Parrot - whose owner, Matt, shares my taste for music that exists on the interesting side of life.
once there he sneakily convinced me to part with the cost of the new Throbbing Gristle album.  I probably should add that he did this without ever actually trying to sell it to me, he's that devious.

I'm glad he is though, it's a fabulous album.  picture TG fronted by Blixa Bargeld, Antony (without his Jonsons), Mark Almond (whose contribution is a perfect Coil imitation) & Cosi.

The second disc is a thumping set of industrial stompers. it isn't of the level of sheer gonzo wonderfulness of 'After Cease to Exist' (which was one of the key listens in the genesis of my love of stranger music) but it is a fine way to spend your time.

Wonderful Wooden Reasons #49

The brand new issue of  Wonderful Wooden Reasons is now online featuring reviews of...

Rodolphe Alexis – Sempervirent

Glenn Bach – Radia
Albert Beger & Gerry Hemingway – There’s Nothing Better to Do
Joda Clement – The Narrows
Dog Hallucination – Bob Hallucination
Fasenuova – Ella Esta Llena de Garcia
Flu(o) – Encore Remuants
Miguel A. Garcia – Red River / Rio Tinto
Peter James – There is Only Now
James McDougall & Hiroki Sasajima – Injya
Mites - Something to Ponder upon for a Restless Soul like You
Adrian Shenton & Banks Bailey – Wrapped in Clover
Various – The Machine Started to Flow into a Vein (volume 3)

as usual there's an accompanying mix.

hope you enjoy
peace
ian 

Outer Church

the Outer Church have been organising interesting looking nights around the Brighton area for a little while now.  they have another coming up just before Xmas. give yourself a festive night out where you (probably) won't have to hear 'I Wish it Could Be Christmas Everyday' - unless they're way more twisted than i realised.

facebook event page

i'm and old folkie me...

...except I'm not.  really not actually.  i try and like it but i fail every time.
it's not all folk music. truly it's just the British varieties.  I'm not biased in this. i dislike all four countries worth equally.  there are.bits and pieces here and there that i don't mind but on the whole it moves me not.
quite why then I'm working my way through the 600 pages of Electric Eden is confusing even to me.  273 pages in and i am enjoying it though.  i was a Wire subscriber for about 11 years and so Rob Young's writing was something i knew well, the subject seemed interesting enough but that subtitle was the clincher.  close enough to sounding like some sort of Coil type musical mysticism reference to haul me in.  that axis of music are certainly going to make an appearance (current 93 mostly i suspect) but i am a long way off them at the moment.
as i said I'm thoroughly enjoying it even though i keep trying out the different artists / songs he references and none have done it for me yet.  also, while it says 'Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music' it does so far seem more like an exploration of English music but i have 300 odd pages to go and this may well change.
so, tonight some more reading and a little bit of reviewing. there's a Dog Hallucination EP playing in the background as i type this, after that it'll be the Sempervirent album on Gruenrekorder.  it's a hard old life i tells ya.

IanH

worky work work

I was intending to get a new issue online this weekend but an opportunity has arisen to make a bit of extra cash before xmas so it's going to be online next weekend instead. I must admit it'll be nice to have some coins in my pocket.

in the meantime to motivate me I've got myself a Faust marathon playing in the background, currently...

Repairs and renovations

Been pottering all evening with the Wonderful Wooden Reasons website and we know have an alphabetised Movie Review section.

Both that and the Books have been updated with new reviews.  These rarely get included in the main WWR updates as they generally aren't contemporary so don't really fit.  I've been so busy over the last two years that most of the books I read are graphic novels I grab from my local library that I can dip in and out of easily whilst working. A lot of these are both a few years old and not necessarily very good so I tend to leave them off the listings.

The movie reviews are often just pithy little comments to sum up in as brief a way possible what I thought of what I just watched.

I'm planning more additions to the zine over the next little while.  Not sure what form these are going to take as yet - still plotting - but they are coming.

Peace
Ian

ch...ch...ch...ch...changes

I'm making some alterations to the old homestead and have linked the Quiet World blog (this one) to the Wonderful Wooden Reasons website.

2 reasons...

Firstly so that I can pass on any news about both the label and the zine in a timely manner and secondly I'll be able to announce each new issue here which means you folks can (should you wish) sign up for email notifications or one of the other options on the right there.

In the meantime how about some free music.

This is the Quiet World label sampler.  It's free to download.  hope you enjoy and please feel free to share it around.

live @ home

this weekend brought a rare opportunity to set up my synths and desk and spend some time making some noises.  I'm hoping / intending to make a live appearance sometime in the new year and need all the practice i can get.

I generally set up my recorder when I'm practicing so i can listen back later.  This weekend didn't go as smoothly as i hoped it would but i got a couple of pieces i'm pretty happy with out of it.  My favourite thing that happened was I managed to find (in a box in the back of a cupboard) my melody horn which paired up lovely with the new Music From Outer Space 'Wierd Sound Generator'.  the horn is a bit quiet on the recording but you can hear the results on track 3 - 'Autumn's Crooked Casualties'.

Philip Corner's Quiet Understandings

I don't use this blog anywhere near as much as i could / should.

new album out now on Quiet World by the very wonderful Philip Corner.



Philip was one of the originators of Fluxus in New York in the 1960s and he's still making obtuse and unusul music to this day.  I was honoured to be asked to release something.

Peace
ian

Pier

...is the name of the new download only album I've just put out.

It's a phonography of the Pier in Mumbles, which is the next town along the coast from where I live.  there's more info on it's release page on the QW site but here's the link to the album.






 Also there're two new albums out on Quiet World this week by Colin Andrew Sheffield & Syrinx.  they're both rather lovely.

Wow it's hot!

it's bloody hot in Swansea at the moment.  I have way too much surface area for this sort of weather.

free music

I had some spare time the other night and found myself making a mix of the recent releases on Quiet World.

I'm very pleased with the way it's turned out and have made it available as a free download from my bandcamp site.

un-wandering

just back from a short break to Glastonbury. Was far too tired to really enjoy myself, i lost count of the times I suddenly felt myself toppling over sideways, but it was nice to get away from the house especially as I forgot (genuinely forgot) to take my work file with me so couldn't do any essay work or marking.

am back now and working on some reviews. just wrote one for a Christopher McFall album and currently listening to Simon Whetham's album on Unfathomless.

Mostly though I've been restlessly pottering with stuff all evening.
bout now though I'm very tired and I should probably go to bed.