the world of the far future village band

a very british apocalypse.

there is the apocalypse of john wyndham, of j.g. ballard, of m. john harrison's running down. for all the utopias there are dystopias but also apocalypses where the new world cannot yet be made, but the old world can be destroyed. 

of course 1970ies tv was rife with it - the changes, survivors, practically every episode of dr. who because in the 70ies collapse was all around.

the three day week, GB75, a fairly secret army...

the 80ies and 90ies there were tedious years of progress (during which, strangely, the material bases of peoples lives were systematically undermined). in 2008 yet another financial crisis hit, followed by brexit, followed by covid, all symptoms of a shrinking malaise. 

and here we are...

horsemouth's far future village band reading list

pavane (keith roberts)

to be frank horsemouth can remember next to nothing about this book. other than it features a world where the protestant reformation never happened and the catholic church maintained a stranglehold on the development of technology (this may not be as factually correct as people imagine it to be). 

anyway it is set in modern times - but modern times where the best technology available is the steam-driven traction engine. 

horsemouth is pretty sure he has it somewhere in the garage. he's had a look. he can't see it. he'll try again later. there's always a danger he has returned it to the commonweal (to the book boxes).

the world of the far future village band

well it's hot. hot and dry or hot and luxuriant. kind of a cross between the dark ages and shogunate japan. rice is the main crop grown around the inland lakes (such as remain uncontaminated by saltwater). the sea-levels have risen but rivers have silted up (or been dammed also) creating inland lakes and seas. 

kind of like richard jefferies after london. 

a strangely accented french seems to be the lingua franca (or perhaps that's just for puppet shows). 

there seem to be lots of dances. lots of animal based dances. lots of flute ensembles. 

a stomp around on the common

yesterday

horsemouth got in a grump and went for a stomp around on the common (exactly why he is unsure). generally he dislikes his mum's work schemes (particularly if they are being worked out on the fly). 

it is time for a re-think

the old dispensation has worked so far but horsemouth is growing increasingly anxious trying to square up what he has to do with what he wants to do. 

in general horsemouth thinks he needs a holiday. (it's just working out how he's going to do it if his brother is not able to cover for him). nonetheless there is stuff he needs to do in town. 

indeed he could just do with a day off just doing some book-browsing in hereford or abergavenny.

vegetable growth

it has been suggested he pick the broad beans in about a week (better to get them when they are young, tasty and tender than later on).  the runner beans and tomatoes are coming soon and everything else is progressing ok. 

it's the morning. horsemouth is near to hung over without being actually hung over. the bell-ringing went ok (horsemouth is not making as much progress as he would like).  afterwards the angel of grosmont (and a lift back). 

to the top of the hill

 yesterday

horsemouth got in a walk on the common. up to the top of the hill. he circled round two tourists who had driven up and were drinking a cup of tea while sat at a camping table.

he also delivered the eggs to the crossroads and took the recycling bin down the drive. (that reminds him he must go and collect it).

the rain the day before had put some water in the water butts (which horsemouth used on the garden). 

one of the chickens has died so they are now down to thirteen chickens (these are the lucky ones). it hadn't been looking well for a while.  all the others look ok. 

horsemouth has had a crack at singing the first verse and chorus of le chaland qui passe (er. it needs work).

today 

horsemouth is unsure. probably the bells later on. at the moment he is up he has fed the chickens and he has his coffee. the coffee is good, nothing leaps out of the grauniad at him. he sneezes. he blows his nose. 

outside it is kind of uninspiring. low dark cloud and cool. 

ok horsemouth tells a lie it is starting to cheer up. 

horsemouth worries about lack of rain. he could do with the water butts being full again so he doesn't have to use commons water which is in short supply. (ah well what will be will be). 

turn the page (calendar day)

so how is calendar day? horsemouth will have to tell you when he gets there. 

photo from donaueschingen, october 16th 1971 (maybe october 17th) 

a gig by don cherry with moki cherry on tanpura. eagle eye cherry is just visible behind the dog (yes there's a dog onstage).

horsemouth could find out who the other people are (see youtube clip details). look at these hippes! look at how brilliant this is!

the album cover this is taken from is not performed by this line-up but by a trio of carlos ward, abdullah ibrahim and don cherry (and very good it is too). 

yesterday

it was actually raining (briefly). (like horsemouth has forgotten such a thing was possible). this is good because it replenishes (to some extent) the water butts and excuses horsemouth from watering duties.

ok it rained for a little bit.  slight chance there would be more in the night. remind horsemouth to go and check on the chickens. 

ok it's calendar day

calendar            july features

triple negative         creatures trapped on the land their city sunk beneath the abyssal plain

ifaw                         3 of giraffes

rspca                        knight of squirrels    

dave and sally         dave and sally (charity run)

looks like a beautiful morning out there - horsemouth will start on his journeyings. 

books, films, gigs, events june 2026

books

-   jacques attali, noise: the political economy of music, english translation 1985

- michael chanan's book on recording repeated takes 

- anathemas and admirations, history and utopia (various essays) by e.m. cioran

-  a guardian article on a biography of ballard by writers nina allen and christopher priest

-   matsuo basho the narrow road to the deep north

- kilvert, diaries

- introduction to experimental cinemas in state socialist eastern europe by gurshtein and simonyi

-  roland barthes' the grain of the voice essay 

- substack article on carlos castaneda

- lrb and nlr sidecar (including tariq ali on andi burnham)

- nyt belated obituary for robbie basho

- tls on cults

- fakes of the future (la review of books)

- GDN 

- m.john harrison's introduction to j.g. ballard's 'the drought'

films

-  in the jaws of cerebrus a radio 4 documentary about global warming

- je tu il elle (chantal akerman)

-  dark places (1974)

- bookpilled, outlaw bookseller

- portugal's second language mirandese

- blue nights (joan didion) introduction

- LRB what went wrong with HS2

- kappas (cartoon)

- radio doc. on michael o'shea

- mothra song (various)

-  podcast of michael chanan interviewed by esther leslie. 

gigs  the wave debb show 61 

events

abbey rota, recording for far future village band III, death of mickey mann,  the far future village band II  arrives, ginsberg centennial. 

'30 days hath september, april, june, and november...'

and so we reach the end of the month of june

tomorrow horsemouth will be able to turn the page on the calendars (the abysal plain of the triple negative calendar will be revealed).

today horsemouth will also publish his books read, films watched, gigs been to, events that happened list.

music

huzzah! the vintage mix of horsemouth's latest collaboration with rob lawson is here (and very good it is too). in it horsemouth mumbles (or is it  chants) in the background some lyrics from jacques brel's anti-war song  la colombe (the dove).

nous n'irons plus au bois, la colombe est blessée

nous n'allons pas au bois, nous allons la tuer... 

(we won't go to the woods again, the dove is wounded

we won't go to the woods, we are going to kill it)

horsemouth is in need of more french songs - he'll have to ask around. 

yesterday a lift to the forge garage to buy chicken feed. 

last night  there was supposed to be a strawberry moon but it was low to the horizon and in the south so horsemouth couldn't see it. meanwhile the military were out night flying helicopters. 

today possibly some rain. which would be good because the water butts are about empty and the water from the common is at a reduced level in the tanks. nonetheless horsemouth may well have to get on and water the plants and the garden with tap water. (he has held off so far). 

the morning a coolish morning (this feels strange after recent weeks but welcome). a second chicken is unwell. horsemouth has put it in the far shed with the other. 

strawberry moon (but no strawberries)

 tonight strawberry moon

the strawberries are gone (the birds and the squirrels had them). the cherries likewise (heat, birds, squirrels horsemouth thinks). 

the runner beans and the tomatoes are flowering away but not much in the way of crop yet. the broad beans look quite possible (as do the peas) but really there are not enough plants. (horsemouth has got more peas on the way together with lots of basil and some pepper plants). there will be lots of onions and beetroot in any event. the spinach has well and truly bolted producing trees.

he planted carrot seed. he thinks one has come up.  some of the brussels sprouts have come up (but no sprouts as yet). 

he's just run off a blackbird that was eating the runner bean flowers. 

the two cabbage plants have reached a decent size.  he's seeing cabbage white butterflies flying up into the skies (bastards).

where the potatoes are in all this horsemouth will not know until he digs some up. 

he has no problems growing nasturtiums but the fuschias aren't looking happy. the petunias etc. in the hanging baskets are looking fairly cheerful. the asters haven't flowered yet. the lavender looks good. 

the weather

this week reasonably cool then warming back up (and plenty of sun) over the weekend and the week after. 

ok horsemouth is making progress on le chaland qui passe. he has come to disbelieve most of the chords proposed by the online chordfinder but it has suggested the chords he actually needs to harmonise the melody (as he hears it). at the moment he is playing it on the resonator (so it is sounding very clanky). 

what he needs to do is learn the second verse. 

the morning

horsemouth is up he has fed the chickens, he has his coffee.