horsemouth has survived 2018 (palaces of gold)

horsemouth has survived 2018.

 achievements? 




horsemouth played a gig (to follow up on the four in 2017) and released an album with howard as musicians of bremen. he’s proud of it and has given tons away (he has even sold a few). he has another gig already in 2019. he feels a bit remorseful that he has not played more gigs to promote it - but the window to do a duo gig was very tight, he would need to be more organised to do this. he intends to be more organised. he did a little singing and playing in social situations (though not as much as he would have liked).

he thanks everyone who came to the gigs, listened to the cd or streamed the tracks or invited him out to play - thank you everyone.

he went to see a reasonable number of bands, read fewer books and watched poorer quality movies than in previous years (the curse of facebook).

he wrote this blog and the one over on facebook.

horsemouth worked and kept a roof over his head and payed the rent (mostly). indeed he kept up his efforts at the social endeavour - eventually these should lead to a (miniscule/ single figure) increase in social housing for single people in the seaside towns. woop-de-doo this is horsemouth’s happy face. 

horsemouth went on holiday (carrigaline, porto) and caught up with friends - he swam in the sea and sunbathed and walked about ‘exploring’. he visited his family back in the wilds of herefordshire more often.

he should probably mention that while he was back home this time he restrung the palma c-103n guitar again (after he found the bridge snapped off and he re-glued it last time) - he hasn't taken it up to full tension yet. he has read a bit, gone for walks on the common and down to the abbey (with his mum and the dog), climbed up garway hill (with the brother, his wife and their kids).

 downsides to the year?

... and of course he farted about excessively on facebook.

he didn’t get the extra work in (like he (didn’t) plan) to render his financial position more sustainable and resilient. he saw his friends less than he would have liked (but the september end to saturday/ sunday afternoons in the pub with howard will have saved him some money). the political situation continues to be shit - the people are reactionary shits we should elect another, that’s all horsemouth can say about it.



horsemouth is pleased to see that his dad has started on the peter ackroyd thames: sacred river (it will probably be more to his taste that the fintan o’toole heroic failure: brexit and the politics of pain).

the co(a)st of incense

freya stark begins with the description (in sohrab and rustrum) of the oxus.

it is the period round late december 1934 to february 1935 - she is away to explore the hadhramaut (the south of saudi arabia);

‘it is, to the geographer, the picture of his life ... to us, who delight in maps, the idea of life inclines to be spatial - we see it moving from point to point, like a road if we are disposed to attribute its shaping to men, like a river if we have more feeling for the unexpectedness of nature. because I have lived free of institutions or the ‘planned economy’, I incline to the river...’

this from the coast of incense: autobiography 1933-39.

in her books about it we find a similar structure, the same journey is recounted in the southern gates of arabia: a journey in the hadhramaut, there she begins with writings of a 1st century greek captain, a practical book, of ports and goods - the periplus of the the erithraean sea - a book she reads while onboard the ship carrying her there.

in her autobiography we find rivers and routes but also houses and hosts. she takes photographs (not here) but there are sketches.

27th january she shares a dish with the locals before hearing one of the children has come down with measles - she comes down with measles (and then with lung complaints) to go with the dysentry. she abandons a visit to shabwa - a german explorer has got there ahead of her and already published a book about it.

meanwhile, over the water, sylvia pankhurst is in ethiopia - wheras freya stark harbours illusions about the benefits of british rule sylvia has no such illusions. soon the second world war will come and the region will be up for redivision by the british, the french and the germans to produce the states that we know today. freya will work in a british propoganda unit.

‘who is this that comes out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense...’

horsemouth is hiding out at his parent’s house in the countryside. outside it is misty and rainy and grey. last night on tv far from the madding crowd (the john schlesinger one, cinematography by nicholas roeg, soundtrack by richard rodney bennett.

bennett used traditional folk songs (trevor lucas and isla cameron provide the vocals on a trio of folk songs in various scenes throughout the film) though he had in fact studied at the royal college of music with cornelius cardew (online someone is wrestling with cardew's treatise), attended darmstadt and studied under pierre boulez (as well as playing jazz paino). the soundtrack uses 12 tone technique (but sounds remarkably tuneful for all that).


the freya stark (the coast of incense: autobiography 1933-39) goes well - horsemouth can compare the autobiography (mostly assembled out of letters home) with the more polished travel books. 

horsemouth has compiled his books read, gigs attended, films watched list for 2018
(a little early).

in the books he notices 3 st.petersbergers of roughly the same era (blok, gogol, benois), in the films three time-loop films and a series - source code, dead the ends, the grudge (remake), 12 monkeys (series).  in the books two enjoyable horrors aylmer vance: ghost-seer - alice and claude askew, and the beetle - richard marsh (which outsold dracula at the time). no great theoretical efforts this year (in fact horsemouth overall is reading and watching less).

gig of the year - lankum, but honourable mentions for gwenifer raymond, stick in the wheel, V4V at the end of the year, alison mcdonnell and triple negative at the start.

a little early - books, films gigs 2018

darn it! regret missing her gig now...
(fred neil song done in an anne briggs style)

films

old to new school horror movies island of terror, tales from the crypt, jack the ripper (hammer vs. sherlock holmes), dr. terror's house of horror, devil girl from mars, the devil rides out, the city of the dead, dracula ad 1972, casting of the runes (trailer), dracula, the mummy, the reptile, plague of zombies, the lost continent (hammer horrors),

monkey paw, city under the sea, masque of the red death (vincent price, roger corman, american international pictures), the howling, wolfcop, howl, late phase (werewolf season), the medusa touch (a psychic richard burton), 10 cloverfield ave, pride and prejudice and zombies,, the hills have eyes (remake), TV - salamander/ homeland / the city and the city, the wickerman remake, urban legends 3, silent hill. from hell, the shining, grim prairie tales, deadpool, world war z, the witch, hannibal rising, night of the demon, ghost rider, day of the triffids,

john carpenter - big trouble in little china, they live, vampires, ghosts of mars, the fog (original and best), escape from LA (terrible), halloween (john carpenter's classic), the thing, (and the thing from outer space,)

giallos and italo-horrors - eye in the labyrinth, tenebre, italo-horror - kill baby kill, bay of blood, danger: diabolik - mario bava, the new york ripper (lucio fulci), terror creatures from the grave, the hole, the black cat (fulci) , opening scene of 'suspiria' (dario argento 1977), amok train (open the gate III).

tarrantino season reservoir dogs, pulp fiction.

two johnny cash movies 'walk the line' (joaquin phoenix) and 'the man, his life, his music' – documentary, a fleetwood mac documentary,

art movies lobster, Elysium, in the shadow of the shard, the third part of arabian nights, a little of 'oncle yanco' by agnes varda, bert lloyd documentary, , baq-had sangi (the stone garden - clip - parviz kimiaki), sympathy for the devil - godard, delius- the song of summer (ken russell - part), schonberg documentary, derek bailey improv series, chiwonisu video for zvichapera, bertolucci’s the conformist (part), the artist phil collins' 'marxism today', silent village, documentary of the !kung bushmen adopting agriculture... high rise.

– time loop films…. source code, dead the ends, the grudge (remake), 12 monkeys (series).

random schlock

the imitation game, picnic at hanging rock(series), gotham (series), rambo: first blood, cops, sicario, ripping yarns, the train (burt lancaster), faster (2010), true grit (coen brothers) iron sky, bear island, the island, 39 steps, the american,come hell or high water,

books

Memoirs and writing anti-memoirs (andre malraux), post office (bukowski), liar's poker (michael lewis), under the volcano - malcolm lowry (start and introduction) plus introduction to 'dark as the grave wherein my friend is laid' and a few letters from selected letters, a biography of sabine-baring gould, 'the narrow road to the deep north' - matsuo basho, aleksandr blok biography, the gide journals, gogol (biography of) - vsevolod setchkarov, claudio magris- microcosms, jose saramago - the notebook, fernando pessoa - the book of disquiet, the story of my heart - richard jefferies, as others see us: cork through european eyes, the abode of love (kate barlow - child of the agapemonians spills the beans), bluffer's guide to samuel beckett - a.alvarez, meet me in the bathroom: rebirth and rock and roll in new york city 2001-2011 (lizzy goodman), a victorian poacher - james hawker's journal (started), the coast of incense - freya stark.

russians, poles, albanians etc. the suitcase (sergei dovlatov), aleksandr blok biography, gogol (biography of) - vsevolod setchkarov, the ghost rider, the siege, palace of dreams - ismail kadare, report from the besieged city (zbigniew herbert), andre benois autobiography.

Italians garden of the finzi-continis (giorgio bassani), claudio magris- microcosms (finished).

Theory work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction essay again (walter benjamin), the philosophy of marx - etienne balibar (start), Laocoon: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry (lessing), in hyperspace - fredric jameson (essay lrb), whatever happened to modernism? - gabriel josipovici, a little of fredric jameson’s archeologies of the future. terry eagleton - criticism and ideology (up to p..40 or so), origin of totalitarianism - hannah arendt (start), time for revolution - antonio negri (started), claire bishop article 'palace in plunderland' - art forum, bluffer's guide to winnicott (start) - adam philips, the wolfman (a little), nina power article in art review on sickness, no future - t.j. clark - new left review 2012, julian stallabrass on the mute magazine anthology -new left review 2012, art forum (nov 2018), peggy kamuf's introduction to derrida's without alibi

the music of the future (robert barry), arguments for a theatre (howard baker), crystalizing public opinion (edward bernays - introduction by stuart ewen),

Religion * church fathers, independent virgins - joyce e. salisbury, writings of the desert fathers (introduction), hebrew myths - robert graves (genesis and dips), the body and society - peter brown (good chunk), the abode of love (kate barlow - child of the agapemonians spills the beans)

Horrors aylmer vance: ghost-seer (alice and claude askew), the willows - algernon blackwood (story and preface), the beetle - richard marsh,

psychology, racism and fascism - michael billig, wolf among the wolves - hans fallada, origin of totalitarianism - hannah arendt (start), rosa luxemburg (biography), the weimar republic (kolb).

random books

george eliot - felix holt, (begun) chronicles of the house of borgia - baron corvo (started) dog moon run - callan wink (finished) folklore of cornwall - two folk singers, think of the self speaking - harry smith interviews, the gray monk - william blake (poem - read)

sirènes m'étaient contées: exposition 20 novembre 1992 - 14 février 1993, Galerie CGER catalogue (illustrations looked at), tuning and temperament - j.murray barbour (started), middle class housing in britain (m.a.simpson & t.h. lloyd), the soul of man under socialism (essay) (oscar wilde), self-help (samuel smiles), de profundis (the decay in the art of lying) - oscar wilde, cloud atlas - david mitchell, watchmen (first episode and dips), exploring the new river (michael essex-lopresti), colleges in crisis.

gigs

three gigs by gwenifer raymond, two gigs by stick in the wheel (album launch and barking folk festival), lankum (probably gig of the year).

three festivals - barking folk festival (unthanks, nancy kerr, gracie petrie, lucy ward, two stilt walking ladies being suffragettes), leigh on sea (men diamler, bob collum and the welfare mothers, alisdair roberts, neil mcdermott and tartine de clous, hoy shanty crew, masal), field day (oumou sangare, princess nokia, tzusing, kurupt FM’s set - cod MC’ing over uk apache and shy fx’s jungle classic original nuttah, charlotte gainsbourg.)

other gigs - cafe OTO and paper dress vintage: moongazing hare, in gowan ring, united bible studies (london branch), alison mcdonnell - awesome once again, great version of borderline by nico, trappist afterland, revolutionary army of the infant jesus, young waters, the rantipoles (and various others) at scaledown , echo choir, martin howard, S&M, and bity booker, john mcgrath adrian sherwood, ADF, steve 'interesting' davis , cuban drummers by the river, patti smith from over the fence, vinyl deptford closing party - gardyloo spew and dj sets, rose petal jam and the scordatura ensemble perform harry partch’s early chamber music, improvising vocalist guillermo horta - met up the park, neutral, triple negative, kostas kilymis rotten bliss (jasmine pinder) and nonfictional, V4V, Sons of Viljems, Ama//Mizua.

conflagration of the sai-antam ashram (on the eighth day of freedom my truelove gave to me)

conflagration of the sai-antam ashram,
ubik has appeared.
(the chickens have come home to roost)

‘the triumphant cries of her frenzied murderers and the music of their harps’

god bless you golden protesters.
god bless you swedish school striker
god bless you gilets jaunes
god bless you refugees and economic migrants
another europe is possible.

modern horror films are rubbish

horsemouth is acting like he has money (by spending it)
- but of course he doesn’t have the money,
it’s his younger self who has the money

(and sadly there is
only a limited supply
of his younger self
to be had).

on the eighth day of freedom my truelove gave to me

eight echoes off the ukraine
seven intellectuals lost in the forest
six used tissues
the five original members of the blue oyster cult
(and four alsatians)
four golden protesters
three discrete coughs
two naked children covered with silver paint

... and the severed head of long lankin

on the fourth day of freedom my truelove gave to me (four golden protesters)

god bless you golden protesters. god bless you swedish school striker for offering out the climate change conference - in 70 years time I will meet with my children and grandchildren, she said,I will tell them I was here, and they will ask me WHY YOU DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WHILE YOU STILL HAD THE CHANCE.

pardon horsemouth. he doesn’t do that sort of thing anymore so he tends to sentimentalise people who do. god bless you (non-fascist) gilets jaunes for refusing to starve quietly in your garrets and provincial towns, for showing that another europe is possible. god bless you refugees and economic migrants journeying in search of a better life

horsemouth is, as you might be able to tell, a cosmic sentimentalist. at some point (and with an audible pop) the world changed from a bitter battleground between contending classes into a beautiful (but doomed) party.

seeing as his conception of the world is already a party horsemouth has little truck with c-h-r-i-s--t--m-a-s or other pseudo-parties. horsemouth continues to be ill, he continues to accidentally transgress facebook community standards by showing you nipples and children covered in silver paint (the covers of venus in cancer by robbie basho and houses of the holy by led zepellin respectively). he’s not sure what he will get up to today (his second real day of freedom - but constrained by illness).

more from the silver (or is it golden) children- an 11 year old rimpa siva plays tabla

‘this mad riddle.. that no one knows what it is’ II

a giant flock of chickens has been roosting on the roofs and in the eaves of the houses of parliament for some time now. it started with one chicken and then rapidly became a deluge - with limpy skaggy legions of battery hens hobbling towards the capital down all major roads.

thousands died along the way - but thousands more still made it. the security procedures were designed for terrorists and journalists, they were not designed to cope with chickens.

soon the sills and the parking bays were white with a mixture of slimy impacted guano and feathers. people began to itch and sneeze and develop allergies. the stench (in wet weather) was awful. taxi drivers would refuse to take you there. westminster bridge fell silent. even the tourists began to stay away.

the sound balance of tv broadcasts were disrupted by random howling cockerels, so the bbc stayed home. cabling was chewed through. even the rats mysteriously vanished, retreating to sub-dungeons and forgotten basements. more and more staff phoned in sick. armed police asked to returned to normal duties. MPs returned more and more to their constituencies.

slowly the gothic contours of the palace were covered as if by mud dribbled from on high - and in a sense it was. eventually the whole place was condemned and forgotten about.

-------------------


wait for it wait for it...

horsemouth is done for the year. (he’s so done). (ok he’s got to drop off some paperwork monday). having become done, horsemouth walked home. stuck on the oven to cook a pizza and ... fell to sleep. when he woke up he discovered there’s no pizza in the house. (ok pasta, pesto and fakemeat it is).

thursday night richard (wild hare) stayed - they went for pizza and in the morning horsemouth put him on the bus (the wrong bus). this is why horsemouth needs a break.

last night he should have been out at the collective endeavour’s christmas party - but he was knackered and misanthropic. instead he sunk a bottle of beer and  caught up on the news.



horsemouth's friend kevin has been busy - he's  even played a gig.

horsemouth paved with good intentions

friday night horsemouth went out to see v4v play - his friend nick doyne-ditmas plays in it (as does the drummer charles hayward). he met myk there. he’s just remembered there was an admission fee so that’s good it means he didn’t spend quite as much on beer as it first appeared (but, of course, he’s not any richer for this remembering).


horsemouth is failing to find the names of the other bands who played (ok no he’s found them now) - he missed the first (solitary) guitarist (apparently playing with the bass player also), then there was Sons of Viljems guitar/effects/ (double) bass who were enjoyable (in an angular way), then a singer technology and violin duo Ama//Mizua (their faith placed in pop music) - most enjoyable, then V4V. 



charles hayward obviously enjoys playing there was a huge grin on his face throughout the proceedings as he accelerated, decelerated, and complicated the beats - and this is what led the music. there were fine moments with nick’s cornet into effects set up matching the technobabble vocalese coming fro the DJ (DJ BPM) and the steve hillage as improv guitar (vern edwards).

given charles hayward's gleeful refusal to let it settle for very long horsemouth was totally impressed that none of the musicians fell off at any point. and then after an encore they were gone- horsemouth was soon dancing again, and drinking more, and chatting to the youth, er. and drinking more and the band went home and myk went home and...., well how do you think he reached his current state, eventually horsemouth went home too.

rotten bliss/ nonfictional

but meanwhile (and more importantly) horsemouth has been out to a gig...


first off rotten bliss (jasmine pender) - she begins with an acapella version of what sounds like a celtic version of the two sisters (‘the one threw her sister over’ - or perhaps the old woman lived on the seashore) some celtic lyrics anyway and then it’s cellos and harmonics and delay and distortion and soundscapes and bass synthesizers and rattling chains. as opposed to toe played zithers we have toe played ipads - controlling the backing textures. a good use of textures and technology. lots of the sea. lots of lotte reiniger type images - like the prehistory of the brothers quay.




... and then nonfictional (in this case without horsemouth’s friend and bass-player/ trumpet player nick doyne-ditmus who had a chest infection and so couldn’t play). a bit echoes a bit siouxsie sioux opined myk, horsemouth would have agreed about echoes but transferred in the cocteau twins - really great singing and playing by maggie turner (vocals), david hunger (guitar), ravi low-beer (percussion). ... are sunday afternoon gigs the way forward (and home in time for tea).

after the gig they bumped into merv (of dead dog mountain) upstairs and chatted amiably like old men.