album released - night night

so horsemouth and howard have released musicians of bremen volume 3 - (somewhat chaotically on horsemouth’s part) initially just streaming and as a download, later as a physical CD. he apologizes if there’s any confusion. about 40 or so people have so far responded (clicked like, interested, left conversations, asked where the gigs will be, reposted the link etc.).

horsemouth is pleased. it feels good (and a little like an anti-climax). to celebrate the clouds opened and there was a humongous (though brief) rainstorm. howard still has time to serve at school (and then he’s away on holiday) meanwhile horsemouth will go out and try to get some gigs to play the tunes out/ try to sell some physical CDs. they’ll organise an official release party for later in the summer. he has set the release date and time of the CD to the precise moment of the solstice (the better to align it with the heavens) and send it on its way.

of course now that he can stream it over the internet rather than listen to it direct from his own hard drive, he is listening to it more and with increased intention. for horsemouth the crucial moment was when it came back from mastering - it just sounded much tougher and more focused, much more consistent, like a ‘thing’.

when the faun met alice, funeral music, her hair like some glittering gold, let all mortal flesh keep silence were guitar instrumentals horsemouth had worked out before (two of which he had recorded before with nick lacey - thanks nick - and which he and howard re-edited/ remixed). it feels good to get them out and done. 

slaibh na mban has wanted to record for ages (since he first hear denise singing it on a recording made by graham), howard wrote and sang the second set of lyrics. the devil horsemouth wrote ages ago (thanks to peter holmgren for playing bass on it at short notice). satan (your kingdom must come down) horsemouth learnt off a willie nelson record (well off youtube really), worldes blisse is a 12th century miserabilist anthem from edward lee’s music of the people.

serpent(S) and on the banks of the susquehanna were improvised/ semi-improvised at the end and start of the sessions respectively by horsemouth and howard together, with banks (the last song on the album) they just set up the mics and started the recording device (no rolling tape these days). thanks to john clarkson for the loan of the harmonium and the melodica (key to the sound of the album). next time we’ll get the omnichord on. of course now that it is released horsemouth can see what people make of it.



today is the birthday of harry everett smith - visual artist, experimental filmmaker, record collector, bohemian, mystic, and largely self-taught student of anthropology. besides his films, smith is widely known for his Anthology of American Folk Music, drawn from his extensive collection of out-of-print commercial 78 rpm recordings.