David Sylvian - Live Japan 2004

Stunning performance from Sylvian and associated musicians. I've really enjoyed his more electronic outings of recent times (well 10 years or more) and parts of this gig highlight them fantastically. 
He gets some sweet sounds from that Nord Synthesizer. This concert reminds me of the more subdued outings by Coil, under their Timemachines guise.



Tracklisting

Opening
Blemish
The Good Son
The Only Daughter
The Heart Knows Better
She Is Not
Late Night Shopping
A Fire In The Forest
When Poets Dreamed Of Angels / Cries And Whispers
Blue Skinned Gods
Praise
Maria
Wasn't I Joe?
World Citizen
Jean The Birdman

Musicians And Technicians

David Sylvian
computer, keyboards, acoustic guitar, vocals

Steve Jansen
computer, keyboards, electronic percussion, vocals

Masakatsu Takagi
visual images


Albums by David Sylvian I highly recommend...

Sleepwalker
Died In The Wool (Manafon Variations)
Plight And Premonition (with Holger Czukay)
Secrets Of The Beehive (more acoustic in nature)

Great compilation called Camphor covers most bases of his earlier career.

Kosmik Elektronik Mix.

Great mix of old and new Kosmische style otherness.

The Kosmische Club - Kosmik Elektronik [part 1] by The Kosmische Club on Mixcloud

DL

Tracklist goes something like this.

1.A Concise Dictionary of Plants and Their Uses Track 3 bySub Loam

2.Ohnologue byCompound Eye

3.Implicate Explicate (The Asterism mix) byRose Keller & Mark O Pilkington

4.The Hexapod Star Shuffle byTime Attendant

5.Severn Beach byEkoplekz

6.Silver Keys byShackleton

7.Blessed Space byMetamono

8.La ofrenda danzante del cuerpo enamorado byUn Festín Sagital

9.Atmospheric Red byRoedelius & Muraglia

10.B 1 byNisennenmondai

11.The Cheikh Arrives by# Etienne Jaumet

12.Telephon byPalais Schaumberg

13.Kusnt Ist Todt byXylitol

14.Horizontal rain byFelix Kubin mit Mitch & Mitch

15.Plastic Infinite bySculpture

16.Binary Wave Rider byLagowski

17.Boing Boom TschakbyKRAFTWERK

18.Watercoaster byTHE TWINS

19.War Dance (12" Mix) byKebekelektrik

20.Silber (6) byConrad Schnitzler

21.In the heat of the night byTwilight Circus meets Edward Ka-Spel

22.Not The Night byBrian Conniffe with Suzanne Walsh and Diarmuid MacDiarmada

23.Mist While Sleeping byCosey Fanni tutti and Philippe Petit

Thinking About Scarfolk - Momus Visual Review

Fascinating little 'documentary' by sometime outsider pop aficionado Momus. It's a overview of a website / book by  designer Richard Littler about the fictitious town of Scarfolk, a town which hasn't progressed further than 1979. A world populated by the Ladybird Book world view and the ever present public information films and documents of a perceived benevolent and benign nanny state. A hauntological world of strange possibilities and juxtapositions. Momus is to publish two books in 2014, one an digitally published novel about a writers Faustian pact with the devil to publish 100 Books of his choice, with the dark lord footing the bill for the characters various writing locations and publishing costs. The other is a novel proper, called Unamerican, which plot I've yet to find out about. I guess he's been using and processing stuff from the Scarfolk site as inspiration for his up coming writings. Much like myself, he admits to being an unfulfilled graphic designer, something I think he's hoping to overcome in the forthcoming  novel Unamerican.

Discovering Scarfolk from Ebury Publishers

"Ebury has acquired Discovering Scarfolk by Richard Littler, based on his cult blog, which gained over half a million hits in its first six months and has high-profile celebrity fans such as Caitlin Moran and Ian Rankin.

Editorial director Sarah Lavelle bought UK, Commonwealth and Europe English Language rights from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann.

The imaginary town of Scarfolk, created by screenwriter and graphic designer Littler, satirizes the public information campaigns of the 1970s. In the book, Littler's realistic images will be threaded together by the frenzied archive of Daniel Bush, whose sons "disappeared" in Scarfolk in 1970.

Lavelle said; "Richard's created an extraordinary world where every image prompts a double-take – it's clever, it's dark and it's very funny. I grew up in the same era and it's all terrifyingly real to me."

Littler added: "Discovering Scarfolk re-imagines the flipside of the 1970s, taking aspects of the decade to absurd, sometimes disturbing extremes...It aims to make the reader simultaneously shudder and giggle."

Ebury is set to publish the book in October 2014 and will be supporting it with a unique, creative and integrated publicity and marketing campaign throughout Autumn 2014."

A Midwinter Solstice Mix For Those Cold Dark Evenings

Thought I'd put together a CD length compilation for these short cold days and star encrusted nights.
Not your usual Xmas inflected jiggery, a bit of a darker theme to mull over the year that's past, and the new one yet to come. Probably best tuned into later in the evening, when you've had a few nips of the good stuff, and are feeling a little contemplative.

Listen Here.

Tracklist goes like this...

1. Intro December - Drama Workshop Presents
2. A Year And A Day - Belbury Poly
3. Fairy Ring - Fursaxa
4 Iopetus - Circle
5. Boreas - Einsturzende Neubauten
6. Hollow Hills - Bauhaus
7. Solstice - Matt Berry
8. Dark Becomes Light - The Album Leaf
9. The Chain - Liars
10. Incantation - Aqua Nebula Oscillator
11. Blood Chant - Gorky's Zygotic Munci
12. Creeping Crazy Time - Big Blood
13. The Hooden Horse - Drohne
14. Misc - Broadcast
15. Threshold - Eric Zann
16. Ghost Seeds - Crow Tongue
17. The Salt Path - Wolfram Wire and Roj
18. Christmas Is Now Drawing Near - Coil
19. Outro Winter - Drama Workshop Presents

 A few of the usual suspects, but hopefully a few curveballs to.

Here's hoping anyone that drops into Sound Mirrors from time to time has a very Merry Xmas.

Don't forget the mince pies and sherry for Santa, he might just drop something nice in your lap.

Mittens Ins Ohr - Original Kosmiche Collection on OHR

Whilst thumbing the vinyl racks at home I stumbled across this great double vinyl compilation of Kosmische, Folk Rock, Avante Garde and Experimental Music released on the OHR label as a sampler for it's artist catalogue in 1971
It's very much in the vein of the recent(ish) Deutsche Electronische Music Compilations put out on Soul Jazz Records. Also shares a list of similar artists, many the usual suspects (Amon Duul, Ash Ra Temple, Tangerine Dream, Guru Guru, Popol Vuh et al) but it has a nice flow to each of the four sides.

Well worth a Listen

Soundtracks To Life - Holiday Listening

Was mooching around the music shelves and came across this superb cassette length track Mindflight by Matthewdavid which I was listening too constantly whilst away on holiday in Pembokeshire this last Summer. This lovely release was a constant companion on my walkman whilst perusing various prehistoric chambers, tombs and mounds, and added a delightful ambient summery vibe to the various places I visited. Think KLF - Chill Out, Think aborted Jimmy Cauty proto Orb offering Space, Think distant african tribal drums carried on the wind, Think half rememberd snatches of sound or dialogue and your in the right ball park. The B-side of the cassette is the A-side in reverse, a rip off you may think, but it really works as a sepearate recording in it's own right.

Have a listen to the A-Side Here.

On a slghtly different tack, I used to own a tape copy of Capt. Beefheart's Abba Zaba that did something similar to Mindflight. The B-side would bleed through onto the A-side during playback, and vice versa making an out there album even more of an 'out there' experience.

And of course, this is just an excuse to show a few 'megalithic' holiday pixs well.

Llech Y Drybedd - Nr Trefwrdn Uchaf

As Above

Carn Menyn - Original Quarry of Stonehenge Bluestone, Preselli Hills

Burial Mound atop Carn Sian, Preselli Hills

Bedd Arthur Circle (Elipse), Preselli Hills

The 'Airforce' Blue of Bluestone

Carreg Coetan Nr Newport Sands

A Rather Sterile Pentre Ifan

The Wicker Man (Castell Henllys)

Castell Henllys Iron Age Fort (reconstructed on actual footprint of fort/buildings)

Pentre Ifan - Mirroring The Skyline

Wogan Caves below Pembroke Castle (no Terry out today)

Bluestone Assemblage eroding out of sea cliff Nr Whitesands Bay - Tantilising proof of ancient journey?

(probabably not)

Jhonn Balance - In Memorandum

In memorium, 13th November 2004

We are a few days past the anniversary of the death of Coil founder and prime agitator John Balance. It's hard to believe it's been nine years since his passing. Johnns final years were a troubled time for him, but I sincerely hope he has found the peace he so richly deserved, and that his beliefs in life have come to fruition.

As artists, I miss them very much, and I've yet to find anyone to fill the musical and mystical void they left in their wake. The music and mythology they created has been a great help and solace to me this year, which has for many personal reasons been a very difficult year.

I met and spoke to both Jhonn and Peter on several occations. They couldn't have been more accomadating in conversation when asked daft, geeky questions by a slightly awkward fan, and Johnns quick wit and humour quickly made me feel at ease. For all the buff and bluster that surrounded them, they were very genuine and likeable people.

In view of the anniversary, I thought I'd post a few Coil related bits and bobs as a virtual remembrance of these two extraordinary individuals.

Great overview of band to 2001 from Fortean Times

Review of gig supporting Foetus - first time I witnessed them live.

Jhonn reading the1983 Coil manifesto on Dutch radio 4 show in 2001.



Dutch Radio Interview with music from Coil, broadcast 2001

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Perhaps my favourite performance of theCSO  Live Box series, Coil - Live Thessalonika, Grecce, 10-05-2002. This performance finds Jhonn in quiet form, but definately channeling something. Some blistering electronics and truly unsettling shrieking during this performance make it one Coil's most rewarding. Outstanding.

CSO9 Thessalonika Live (self edited version)

Coil - final concert - Dublin City Hall 23rd October 2004