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. 

a new diary

'a new diary, really only because I have been reading the old ones...' 

- franz kafka, diaries, 27th june 1920.

today an egg delivery mission.

yesterday

myk made it to the leigh folk festival (and saw lou and leo and belinda and fran). horsemouth did not. horsemouth is envious. 

and he won't be there today either (so he will not be seeing the owl service at 12 in the fisherman's chapel). 

yesterday  a mostly lounging about sort of day. horsemouth was relieved that the last few days heat has come to an end and it will become possible to think again. he may find something reasonably smart to say about repeated takes by michael chanan which he has been reading (honest). 

only at 10.20 did it begin to go properly dark. (horsemouth was hanging out for the news).

up above silvah bullet possibly even better than his first incarnation. 

horsemouth has posted off a new version of la colombe  (jacques brel's anti-war song, or at least a fragment of the lyrics from it) to see if that passes muster (as it were). 

gardens underground (and repeated takes)

gardens underground

to avoid the heat. a good idea horsemouth thought earlier in the day (but now it is cooling off and horsemouth is actually wearing a shirt). 

... and it's about 9.20 and it's no longer full daylight. 

today (as will be) 25/26C. cloud as well. sunday cooler still and clouding over. and then over the next two weeks a gradual building back up. 

repeated takes

horsemouth was just reading michael chanan's book on recording repeated takes as part of his attali research project. on chanan's website is a podcast of chanan interviewed by esther leslie. 

of course once music can be recorded it changes utterly (and there's no going back). 

at various points in the day horsemouth sat reading in the shade of the house near the wall his father built round the back of the house to hold off the banking above (that's what made him think of underground gardens). 

ok horsemouth needs to get some food for the chickens. which means getting a lift to the forge. it may be cooler than it was but it is still hot. ok he can delay it a day or two if needs be - he's just remembered his mum's secret stash of corn. 

today more hiding from the heat

so today it is due to be hot. but not as hot as it has been. returning to seasonal 22Cs for the week after. 

however it also rained overnight (there was a thunderstorm). that will  make it humid and possibly feel hotter. 

horsemouth has been out to the chickens already. one beast is not looking particularly healthy or cheerful and is getting bullied.  horsemouth has isolated it from the others and left it with some water and food in the far shed to see if it will cheer up. 

last night a bottle of beer as a reward to himself for having survived the heat. (hobgoblin IPA 3.4%).

music

if horsemouth could get his act together he could possibly squeeze another french track onto the far future village band III but he only really has nous n'irons plus au bois  to offer (le chaland qui passe will take far too long to learn - though it will be good once he has got it). 

he made a couple of attempts at it. perhaps he will send them off to rob and see what rob can make out of them. 

at one point he had a couple of fauré tunes learnt (automne and le secret) but he has pretty much forgotten them and they are of the chanson type anyway. 

he has some songs in spanish (but his spanish really is quite poor). 

today more hiding from the heat. 

extraordinary evidence (seven years, twenty four years, fifty years)

'... stay calm. this is simply the beginning' 

- hans gruber, die hard 

well 32C yesterday. 34C today.

and then gradually back down to the weekend and then a week at seasonal average temperatures (22C). 

of course greta thunberg is right. this is simply the beginning. 

and, of course, if the AMOC fails it will actually get colder here (colder and drier). 

here we see horsemouth live from the riverside on this day ( yesterday or maybe the day before) in 2021 (methinks). a beer and pizza mission with howard in stratford. 

meanwhile in attali land 

horsemouth has been continuing his investigations into jacques attali's stage of composition -  the one that comes as we move out of the era of repetition - the mass production and stockpiling of musical commodities - and into the era of composition, which is what exactly?

seven years after the initial publication of attali's first (french) edition came the english translation by brian massumi. this was introduced by frederic jameson (who was mainly interested in attali's relation to adorno) and afterwarded by noted musicologist susan mcclary.

in her essay mcclary finds extraordinary evidence of the inauguration of composition. how convincing we find this mish-mash of new wave and philip glass (and laurie anderson) is a distinct matter of taste. 

twenty four years after its first publication attali published an updated and substantially re-arranged version. horsemouth published a review in MUTE. 

and next year it will be fifty years since its initial publication. 

you'll pardon horsemouth if he is a little slow out of the gate - he hasn't thought about this stuff in a long time. 

horsemouth is up slightly early and has fed the chickens. it is due to be a hot day. 

at the weekend horsemouth will miss the leigh folk festival (he simply cannot get away). however should you be around in the south east he recommends it to you. 

after that it is soon the end of the month. 

the round dance and the jaws of cerebrus

the round dance

'five people in a circle. are they singing? is there an instrument accompanying them? is bruegel announcing the autonomous and tolerant world, at once turned in on itself and in unity?

for my own part. I would like to hear the round dance in the background of carnival's quarrel with lent as the culmination, not the inauguration , of a struggle begun twenty-five centuries ago. I would like to hear it as the forerunner of postpenitence, postsilence, at the back end of the church, not the rearguard of pagan carnival, supplanted by capitalist lent in the foreground.'

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

the jaws of cerebrus

hot day yesterday. (hot day today).

'... nous marchions sur un tapis de fleurs qui nous cachait un abîme...'

- comte de ségur, mémoires, souvenirs et anecdotes (1824). 

such was the quote that made it into in the jaws of cerebrus, a radio 4 documentary about global warming (but particularly in the south of europe - spain, greece, italy).

it’s been about 32C out here in the wilds (35C on thursday) and horsemouth is cowering indoors. he knows that his friends in london and the south east have it worse - one is working on a roof, another will be in the kitchens.

he’s just been to the village. he passed two of the bell-ringers mowing and strimming the graveyard - he didn’t stop to lend a hand.

how hot things get changes what work can be done and when it can be done

the heat warps railway lines and overhead power cables and knocks out signalling systems. 

heat and rainfall alter where crops can be grown and where is good for animals. hotter weather causes more evaporation from the sea and then later more (and more sudden) rainfall on land - and thus more flooding.

in france they’ve had to shut down a nuclear reactor because the cooling water was too hot.

ok stay cool and stay safe peoples (and better yet stay in).

an entirely written in the morning blogpost

 a-ha! an entirely written in the morning blogpost 

(unless of course horsemouth carries on writing it in the afternoon)

horsemouth can't decide whether he should blog quick, go do the watering (before it warms up) and then come back to it later, or...

actually yes that's probably the right strategy. 

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

ok back after a spot of watering and the milk taken over  to the garage. (32C today maybe 35C thursday). 

... and what's the thing with jacques attali's noise?

noise is a book about the political economy of music. it argues that music is annunciatory - that the political economy of music is ahead of the broader political economy. this (at least) is the rationalisation proposed by frederic jameson in his forward to the english edition - one concerning the interactions between base and superstructure proposed by engels - the relations of production can determine culture but also (reciprocally) the political economy of cultural activities can indicate how the base is going to develop. 

that would be the (broad) thesis of noise translated into marx-speak. 

whether this is an accurate reflection of marx's thought or not horsemouth is not qualified to say. he suspects not. he suspects we are dealing with a simplification by engels that leads us into temporal and causal paradoxes. 

horsemouth was privileged to live through a period when music and  musical production and consumption was changing rapidly as a result of digitalisation - first at the level of production, then at the level of consumption.

to him it seemed that attali's theses around repetition (the huge overproduction and stockpiling of musical commodities) was coming true and that a counter attack was being staged round DJ culture and rave and hip-hop and any situation where the record was becoming a means rather than an end. 

the era being ushered in is one of composition - this is an unhelpful piece of naming by attali. in attali's first attempt at theorisation in bruits (1977) attali sees improvisation as fundamentally hopeful. 25 years later much of rave, MP3 etc. has happened and so attali attempts to incorporate this, but he's not your best source on all of these things. 

it seems to horsemouth a good time to come back to these ideas as AI make inroads into music production and consumption as a precursor to its wider effects in the economy. 

of course (helter skelter - coming down fast), given the speed at which AI is restructuring things, we may not have long to enjoy our new theoretical clarity.

coming next year (of course) 50 years of attali's bruits. 

what must be must be

horsemouth appears to be becoming the guy from the cover of noise:the political economy of music by jacques attali. 

indeed he's a breugel from the quarrel of carnival with lent. 

this was not his intention but as soon as he saw the two pictures side-by-side he had to admit that it was true. 

horsemouth will have to go back to it. attali has a long chapter on the meaning of the painting - mostly about how the four 'economies' of music are  in existence side by side. 

yesterday (in the afternoon) a visit from the guy from the water society. horsemouth had a beer outside in a shady spot and talked nuclear stuff (horsemouth's interest from a long time ago). 

later a zoom chat with someone in far off london. (horsemouth had to have a coffee to recover from the beer earlier). 

horsemouth seems to be moving stuff forward. 

today

well it is due to be hot. horsemouth's plan is to have a cool and quiet day. his mum is off to the doctor's in the village. and in the afternoon there's a delivery. all this is probably a bit too busy (but what must be must be). 

one day (sure you don't want another?)

 '... mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home. first with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes of whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms. spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. it was small wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor, said “bother!” and “o blow!” and also “hang spring-cleaning!” and bolted out of the house without even waiting to put on his coat...'

- kenneth grahame, the wind in the willows (1908).  

yesterday

 the zoom beer with howard. just the one. not even one. more like a half. howard is reading about the suffragettes and contemplating working until he drops. 

horsemouth advised that this was a terrible idea (the working until he drops bit).

howard has a book about sylvia pankhurst (horsemouth was most envious he's a big fan of sylvia pankhurst). 

así fue - that's how it was. 

last night  fireworks (for the solstice?)

and today the solstice. the sun will have risen back at 04.51 - long before horsemouth will have woken up. he woke up at about 7.30. 

in the week? a heatwave. 

in a bit horsemouth will go around the house closing the windows that were open overnight to let in the cooler air. 

and so (inauspiciously) it begins

and so it begins 

'horsemouth writes about where he is (the golden valley, herefordshire), where he lives (mostly), but he doesn't do it in much detail. you know that he goes attempting to learn bell-ringing, you know that he goes for walks on the common, you know that he sometimes goes down to unlock the abbey, you know that he makes use of the local bus services to visit hereford or abergavenny, you know that he makes use of the trains to visit london (the wen). he has mentioned the chickens, the garden, and such wildlife as he sees...'

- horsemouthfolk blogspot, 19th june 2024.

horsemouth's blog dates back to june 2013 but an earlier one on myspace dated back to 23rd of november 2006. 

at some point it became a daily thing on facebook and then, in about 2020,  when facebook abolished the notes tool it became a daily blog on blogspot. 

soon horsemouth will celebrate the twentieth year of his blogging. 

in a bit horsemouth goes to open up the abbey. 

tomorrow the solstice. 

trial by bells (nous n'irons plus au bois)

yesterday was  a typical day in that horsemouth  was feeling anxious. 

he' d done the chickens. he'd done the abbey. he'd got the bin up from the bottom of the drive. he'd watered the garden and the greenhouse and done a bit of weeding. he'd pegged back the nasturtiums to give the other plants a better chance. 

he'd even been for a quick walk up on the common. 

ideally horsemouth would be able to go and drink without subjecting himself to trail by bells first (but hey-ho). 

but before that there was the locking up the abbey and getting the chickens in. he did some watering as well. 

yesterday a wren got trapped in the conservatory. it took horsemouth a while to shoo it out. eventually he succeeded because it flew into his open back-pack as a dark and safe space. 

musically horsemouth thinks nous n'irons plus au bois will work well (clapping and singing version). similarly he thinks there's a version of le chaland qui passe that could be done (because rob is a big fan of jean vigo and l'atalante). this he thinks is a guitar and vocal one. he's taken a look at learning the words and the chords. 

he should watch l'atalante again. his memory of it is that there is a tune other than le chaland qui passe that plays a similar role in the film and it would be good to get that in too if possible. 

so far he thinks the clapping and singing songs he has sent off to rob have worked well  - travailler c'est trop dur, j'ai vu le loup, mes bourons sont morts etc. largely because they work with the limitations of his recording setup

this is not  to say horsemouth's singing always sounds in tune but because it sounds authentically like it is not. 

the songs with guitar or harmonium have been a bit more problematic because horsemouth's laptop takes exception to recording anything other than the human voice and tries to filter it out as background noise as soon as possible. 

various other recording strategies (hambone, playing rhythmically on the banjolin, recording guitar  etc.) have not yet led to success (or perhaps they will but horsemouth just doesn't know it yet).  

next week it looks like a bit of a heatwave (before fizzling out at the end of the month). 

midnight horsemouth is back from the bell-ringing (and the pub afterwards). the bell-ringing has gone well (as has the pub afterwards). 

the morning a grey coolish morning horsemouth has been over to the chickens and put the milk in the fridge in the garage. in a bit down to the abbey. 

a variety of clouds

so horsemouth watched a lot of je tu il elle with spanish subtitles (and french dialogue at low volume).  he didn't at any point hear the nous n'irons plus au bois song on the soundtrack (as is claimed in various places).

jaques brel used a part of this tine in his anti-war song la colombe (later covered by joan baez)  - 

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

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

in  je tu il elle a woman rattles round her apartment. re-arranging the furniture, dressing, undressing, writing letters she won't send, living on sugar. and then she's off hitchhiking, the truck driver's tale of woe, then she's with the ex-girlfriend (who doesn't want her to stay). 

people (but closely observed). you can see the marguerite duras/ chantal akerman comparison. (the woman is chantal akerman).  

it's the morning

horsemouth is just back from feeding the chickens. 

an aphid crawls across the top of the laptop screen. (go away you silly beast! shoo!)

he should go get the bin from the bottom of the drive soon. this evening bells.  

a variety of clouds. a cool morning. he's probably excused watering. 

utopian and apocalyptic (je tu il elle)

yesterday (as will be and then not again) 

horsemouth's mum went to the doctors in ewyas harold. the community transport people came to get her at midday and brought her back for 2pm. it is a very useful service (and horsemouth thanks them profusely for it).

horsemouth is ok with the buses but  for horsemouth the walk back from the village is do-able (except at night in the dark perhaps). for his mum it is not.  so if anything goes wrong it is a bit of a worry.

later horsemouth walked into ewyas harold and back to pick up a few things (and then down to the abbey and back). three miles all told (three and a half by road). 

such are the vagaries of living in the countryside without a car. 

horsemouth on the hunt for french songs

he thinks he has one in nous n'irons plus au bois (we won't go again into the woods). this was a favourite of debussy (he lifted it a number of times for his own compositions). it is also (allegedly) in je tu il elle by chantal akerman (1974) (but horsemouth hasn't found it yet). 

he supposes he wants slightly naive medieval sounding ones rather than chanson and melodie sounding ones. there's le chaland qui passe perhaps. 

the sung stuff seems to work best with the sound recorder software (designed to record speech). horsemouth sings and claps to give a sense of time and lets rob fill in the musical instruments. 

perhaps try some wordless singing.

it is a mild and temperate morning in the wild. 

horsemouth has just been out to see the chickens and he has his cup of coffee. later he delivers the eggs to the crossroads. 

e.m. cioran and utopia

inspired by his conversation with maria zambrano cioran embarks on a two to three year reading project on utopia (and its pre-requisite apocalypse). perhaps this is  his least likely topic. 

who does he read?

hesiod, genesis, prometheus, vico, fourier, saint-simon, pelagius, robert owen, dostoyevsky, cabet, william morris, campanella, swift (gulliver's travels), saint john of patmos, condorcet, plato, and, of course, st. thomas more. 

horsemouth has a fair amount of utopian and apocalyptic literature. 

the true location of utopia

'I remember precisely the moment when, at the café de flore, I made the decision to explore utopia...'

- e.m. cioran, maria zambrano: a decisive presence.

it was his conversation with maria zambrano that encouraged cioran to start on 'readings extending over two or three years'. 

by the end of his readings cioran thought he had identified the true location of utopia and, with his wife, vanished into the brazillian jungle.

for many years he could be found every afternoon sitting in one of the main squares of utopia feeding the many stray cats of the quarter. he made few friends and found the cafe society uncongenial. after an initial phase of ordering him out to labour in the fields the courtyard committee decided to feed him and treat him as an honoured guest (despite the fact that utopia had no need of philosophy). they argued that his philosophy was so uncongenial it could only function to encourage the youth to work  and live as best they could within utopian society. 

cioran's wife found work as a teacher (again) and supported him until he succumbed to dementia. 

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

horsemouth supposes that the main joke here is that notorious romanian pessimist cioran moves to utopia and finds it no worse than paris. in fact he replicates his paris life almost perfectly. in many ways utopia is no worse for him than the everyday world (beset as it is, in cioran's view, by utopic thinking). 

here horsemouth is being unfair. cioran's life in paris suited him well. he spoke the language. he could write in it. he could read in it, he had access to books and educated people.

whether he would have learned utopian is doubtful. 

yesterday horsemouth has been down to unlock the abbey and then he did a little weeding in the garden. 

in the evening a tv documentary on brexit. it is coming up to the tenth anniversary of the referendum.  

horsemouth missed most of it - he was away in porto having a wonderful european experience. this lasts until the evening of st.joao (or more particularly the morning after) when people start commiserating with him about the result. 

it is rare for horsemouth to watch tv (other than the news). the radio he is more partial to.  

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

it's the morning. another beautiful morning here in paradise. in a bit he goes and unlocks the abbey. 

'j'ai vu le loup, le renard, le lievre..'

so this week.

today (when you read this). 

horsemouth will be on the abbey rota  for the week. opening up and closing the abbey. 

once in the morning. once in the evening. 

(he does like to feel useful). 

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

from here on in a written in the morning blogpost

when horsemouth got up in the morning the chickens were there to greet him at the gate (he had forgotten to lock them up the night before). fortunately they were all there (none had been snaffled by a fox). 

horsemouth is very pleased with the way his recording for far future village band III has turned out (and indeed with the whole thing). it will be released on an unsuspecting world in about a week or two's time. keep an eye out for it. 

rob was asking horsemouth if he had any more crazed french songs and horsemouth had to say he'd think about it. j'ai vu le loup (which horsemouth had to start learning for this) was interestingly not the song horsemouth thought it was 'I saw the wolf (oh how scary)'  but rather 'I saw the wolf, the fox and the hare getting drunk/ singing / dancing (disreputable beasts that they are).'  horsemouth only sang the middle bit so that's all there is of it. 

similarly with travailler c'est trop dur - horsemouth recorded it in two parts and rob picked only the second part so it emerges as a fragment. 

meanwhile

it's a temperate morning here in the wilds. in a bit horsemouth will finish off his coffee and go to unlock the abbey. it has rained in the night so this deprives horsemouth of watering the garden task. 

david hockney/ joan didion/ grace jones as a child

such were the three people horsemouth and howard discussed in their zoom call.  

david hockey - well david was a northerner in the art world (this was his relevance to howard). he kept going and so you've heard of him. howard teaches his photography (not his painting). 

with joan didion horsemouth's work was cut out - but howard did have a copy of slouching towards bethlehem with him,  so horsemouth's task was made easier. notebooks - says didion and she pulls out a quote, and via the quote a scene, poolside in LA. later (years later) a re-encounter at sachs in new york. look at this. the fecundity of memory assisted.

horsemouth sang her praises. by the end he may have had howard convinced.  

it was howard who mentioned grace jones as a child (from a poem horsemouth believes).

here a photo from howard. in his back garden reading and writing (and drawing probably).

meanwhile back in the wilds in the day a wander up the hill to deliver the eggs (and then a wander down the hill to check the defibrillator at the village hall). later a walk over to the village shop for the hereford times and then a walk back. 

horsemouth missed a concert at the abbey. it would have required time and planning to get to it (and rapid sobering up after the zoom beers with howard). 

that was a mostly written the day before blogpost.

it looks like a nice day out this morning.

horsemouth has been out to feed the chickens and to open up the garage. whilst he was having a quick pee he saw the black cat (the beast is not inclined to be over friendly). 

et je prends mon violon...

 an entirely written in the morning blogpost

horsemouth could really do with getting up to the wen.

that said he has been fairly productive of late. he has made more music. (something he has been wanting to do for a while). he has emailed a contact about co-op stuff (though not the old communal endeavour but a new communal endeavour). 

he has heard much of the far future village band III. the fragment of la travailler c'est trop dur works particularly well. 

he will take a crack at j'ai vu le loup (a notorious french tongue twister) and at playing the riff from poor black mattie. 

he will also take a crack at recording a 3 against 2 rhythm. given the success of the clap and vocal tunes. 

it is strange to be dealing with this material after all this time. 

today a beautiful morning. horsemouth will wander the eggs up the hill at some point. perhaps a zoom call with howard. certainly some sitting out and reading. 

the behaviour of nomads

'akhmatova, like gogol, wanted to posses nothing. she gave away the presents given to her... this characteristic recalls the behaviour of nomads.' 

- e.m. cioran, the lure of disillusion. 

yesterday in the morning horsemouth recorded. he took a crack at il est né le divin enfant, he recorded himself singing some of travailler c'est trop dur to handclaps and he recorded a  crack at the headhunters' rhythm from you got it, you get it (you got to get it). 

hopefully some of that will stick. 

rob (in far off rio gordo) has processed some photos of horsemouth for the far future village band project. strangely the most conventional photo has come out the best. 

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oh dear. looks like the day starts with a death. horsemouth will let you know more when he is sure. 

'terribly sad to read of the passing of mickey mann, music producer and engineer, who connected the dots between the shamen, aphex twin, orbital, ramjac, moby,  irresistible force and many more. I was honoured to work with his band pressure of speech too.'  - robin rimbaud  (scanner)

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last night a very mixed bellringing. horsemouth missed catching the sally practically as soon as he started (and down came the bell). however got straight back up on the horse and indeed had a second go without incident (ok he missed catching the sally again early on but recovered). 

afterwards the pub. 

no lift in (so he walked). otherwise everything came together to enable him to go.

worst oil shock ever!

ok so horsemouth's current plan is to take a crack at il est né le divin enfant (a french christmas carol as covered by siouxsie and the banshees and featured in the film the curse of the cat people - you remember the one, the one that doesn't feature any cat people).

he doesn't think you need all the verses just

he is born the divine child...

we've been waiting for this a long time...

did I mention the divine child has been born... 

of course the real question is what else can he offer up. 

he has been thinking about attempting a version of poor black mattie as pauvre henri (or henry callaghan or some such). perhaps the opening chords to fauré's pavane (op.50) aka. theme from an imaginary (spaghetti) western. maybe rework a la luna yo mi voy. 

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

the world has been proper shit of late 

(as you may have noticed) 

and horsemouth thinks it is going to get worse (as the oil shock and inflation and interest rate rises hit). of course the argument will be that this is the fault of the incumbent government (however useless they actually are) rather than the fault of an orange shitgibbon in washington starting an unwinnable war on the advice of his genocidal mate. 

add to this a leadership contest in the government (one where you won't get a vote on it for two and a half years) and mobs of racists partying it up in the streets (and that's all proper shit). 

this morning rain. and it looks like it is in all day. (and quite possibly all tomorrow). 

horsemouth has fed the chickens in a bit he will go and get the bin from the bottom of the drive. (ok nix that plan - it's raining too hard).

autobiography (camouflage) (myths of the near future)

'... all his works are merely a more or less camouflaged autobiography, an adept introspection, a diary of his mind, a promotion of his experiences...' 

- e.m. cioran in valéry facing his idols (1970).

and you could say much the same about horsemouth and his 'literary' endeavours. isn't he telling you too much? inviting you to delve into his life to explain his works? (such 'works' as there are).

valéry is buried in the (now renamed)  cimetière marin of his poem.

'ce toit tranquille, où marchent des colombes,

entre les pins palpite, entre les tombes ;

midi le juste y compose de feux

la mer, la mer, toujours recommencée...' 

or at least that's how it was quoted by iris murdoch in her novel the unicorn. like dark places a haunted place novel. strangely, anachronistically, gothic. 

a strange day

'thunder blossoms gorgeously'  (jean toomer)

then almost immediately the sun comes out

meanwhile various of horsemouth's substack posts. the flux wedding. (george and billie maciunas)

and various horsemouths playing guitar (mostly) and the heron that flew into no.10 downing street (symbolising the imminent collapse of the government).

not last or least the pyramid of oyster shells from the graveyard of the outcast dead. (now collapsed and revealed as hollow - but still great nonetheless). surrounded by hollyhocks (horsemouth believes).

last (but not least) another grid. howard, la chinoise. various horsemouths, post-it notes, enza, horsemouth playing a gig, a j.g. ballard book cover (myths of the near future). as a result of going looking for thsi he also found a guardian article on a biography of ballard by writers nina allen and christopher priest. 

'ballard made a mistake when he wrote empire of the sun, that the work that came after was less intense, less radical, that in revealing the source of his inspiration he had drained himself dry.' 

horsemouth hoped the rain would drive the chickens in early. 

it's the morning. today the egg delivery day. the bin down the drive day. perhaps some weeding. 

four trees (dark places)

'writing is a vice one can weary of. in truth, I write less and less, and i shall doubtless end up no longer writing at all.' - e.m. cioran, foreshortened confession (undated).

'the two students also asked me why I had not stopped writing and publishing. not everyone has the luck to die young was my answer.' - e.m. cioran, rereading (1978).

both essays collected in anathemas and admirations (1986). this is going well. it being less concentrated than a history of decay. 

=================================

yesterday a walk on the common.

in the evening horsemouth watched dark places (1974) a 'psychological thriller' starring robert hardy, christopher lee, herbert lom and elizabeth taylor. there's the old ruined house, there's robert hardy there in search of treasure, there are the local scheming to get their hands on it. 

jane birkin is in it too. 

horsemouth has watched it before (but he can't remember when). 

horsemouth was up early enough to miss the first light shower of rain for the day. yesterday the weather was remarkably good. today 

today  it looks like an 'off and on' sort of day. horsemouth has stuff he should be getting on with and must avoid getting into a dither. 

far future village band II (poor black mattie)

'I climbed mount gassan on the eighth. I tied around my neck a sacred rope made of white paper and covered my head with a hood made of bleached cotton, and set off with my guide on a long march of eight miles to the top of the mountain...' 

- matsuo basho from the narrow road to the deep north. 

meanwhile the far future village band II  has arrived from rob lawson in far off riogordo 

it features horsemouth (or perhaps his french cousin mâchoire d'âne) on vocals on three tracks. horsemouth also plays harmonium, guitar, and handclaps on one track each. he is glad to be out singing and playing again on this the first release he has been involved with in five years. 

that is not to say that horsemouth can't spot mistakes in his french or poor pitching and phrasing choices but he's glad (nay excited!) to have got it out. next time more harmonium (as initially promised) better recorded!

in the week rubbish weather. 

the week after better weather (it sez 'ere).

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it's the morning. horsemouth is back from feeding the chickens and has his coffee. 

he is relieved to have got something out. just lately he's been working on the guitar part to poor black mattie (as played by rl burnside). burnside plays the bass (1 and 3) with his thumb and the chord (2 and 4) also. his forefinger picks the melodies. 

horsemouth tried it burnside's way and then went for a simpler approach (thumb bass, forefinger chords and melody). 

it's in openG. this means horsemouth could take a look at la fille au cheveux de lin. or his version of am I born to die? 

he thanks one of the youtube dudes who teaches this stuff (feedback guitar academy).

sunday afternoon a zoom call with enza. he sent her a link for future village band to see what she reckons. 

'rereading this book ... I try to recognise the person I was...'

the diversions of satan 

'dined at llan thomas. a family party. major thomas showed me his stereoscopic slides 'the diversions of satan' which he bought in india. they were made for an indian prince, but were not pronounced enough to suit his taste.' 

- kilvert, diaries, on this day 1872. 

this made horsemouth search for stereoscopic slides - the idea being that the image(s) are taken from slightly different positions producing a 3D image in the mind of the viewer if the correct apparatus is used. 

as a child horsemouth used to own a set and a viewer (a 3D viewmaster) for the tv series UFO. 

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

it's the morning. greyish. coolish. horsemouth thinks the basho deep north stuff kicks off again tomorrow (as he climbs another mountain). 

he has pulled down e.m. cioran's anathemas and admirations down from the pile. it it is a book 'goverened by the fragment... the epigrams constitute a series of perplexities'. 

it ends with a chapter rereading... an apology (of sorts) for his earlier a history of decay and its madness (and, once again, horsemouth has abandoned reading it).

'rereading this book, which is now over thirty years old, I try to recognise the person I was...' 

a friend has this problem (horsemouth probably has it too). they are trying to recognise themselves back 40 years ago. back in the mid-80ies. a very strange time. 

yesterday horsemouth went for a brief walk up on the common. he's just not up there enough and doesn't make enough effort to get round the other sights in the neighbourhood.

later a phonecall. 

a bookfair in very sunny london (and an entirely written in the morning blogpost)

aha! an entirely written in the morning blogpost (how did that happen?).

no kilvert today (drat! horsemouth will have to make it up himself).

a friend has sent him photos from a bookfair in very sunny london. hot air balloons are launched. small children run around in arsenal tops (in high barnet?). typewriters are demonstrated. there is merciless sunshine and heat (by the look of it). 

horsemouth is very envious. he regrets not being there but it was simply impossible to get away. 

he should check on his contacts in london. he should see how they are doing. zoom calls and such like. 

here in the wilds it is now rainy and grey

here in the wilds it is now rainy and grey. horsemouth is not sure what to do. 

he has been out to feed the chickens (here endeth the tasks for the day). 

last night the wave debb show 61 - strange musics from the ambient dub swamps. 

in the day horsemouth delivered the eggs up the hill. on his way (round the back of abbey dore court) he saw a long grey adder in the grass. as he stepped towards it it slithered off. 

(he's forgotten to mention on wednesday there were people abseiling down the outside of the abbey tower, presumably doing structural checks).

this follows up from his slow worm encounter. 

ten years ago horsemouth was crossing into portugal (through the tunnel so new it wasn't on the GPS). on the map the car floated over the mountains. 

forward to the day

'rode mr. venables' pony to bredwardine and called on the housemans. at luncheon there was mr. williams, vicar of bridge sollers. when I saw him in the garden at first I took him for a beggar.' 

- kilvert's diary, on this day in 1872.

'I visited gongen shrine on the .... here the doctrine of absolute meditation preached by the tendai sect shines forth like the clear beams of the moon...'

- matsuo basho, the narrow road to the deep north, on this day (perhaps). 

there was a DJ tendai who was part of the japanese drum and bass night hexion (together with T-Ak).  it was a good night. 

above a T-Ak and  makoto tune. the tune he is looking for is the one that is a knock-off of upper and lower egypt by pharoah sanders. he thinks his copy of the double 12 inch record he has is mislabelled. 

well it's the morning. and a very hopeful morning it is too. 

horsemouth failed to go bell-ringing last night. this was probably a mistake (he should really try to get in as much practice as he can). he just doesn't like the bells at grosmont as much as he likes the other bells. 

meanwhile a copy of the far future village band II CD is winging its way to him. he'll let you know (and start getting all advertorial) when it arrives. today is NOT a bandcamp friday but he has nonetheless made some recommendations over on musicians of bremen's page. 

bookpilled has been back in the states for a while and has reactivated his 'thrift-a-life' alias and the clothing resale business. he promises us he'll do a video talking about his travels. there was an early video where he was in the parking lot of the writing mill where he used to work and he talks about his former career as a stand up comedian. the 'thrifting' came to take over largely because it was something he was in control of as other economic 'opportunities' dried up. 

ridiculous as it seems horsemouth wants to get into town and buy more books. this is largely for the thrill of the hunt. but it is also because he wants new things to read. and this is ridiculous because he has tonnes of books that he hasn't read (or has not read fully, or has not read in a long time). 

ok forward to the day. 

the main hall of the temple (affectionate lamentation)

 'blessed indeed 

is this south valley,

where the gentle wind breathes

the faint aroma of snow...' 

- composed on this day in the main hall of the temple possibly at the dewa shrine by matsuo bashō. 

'the news of my leaving clyro is spreading through the village. these people will break my heart with their affectionate lamentations.' 

- kilvert's diary on this day in 1872. 

horsemouth is up. he has had his coffee and is just contemplating dashing downstairs to get the dregs. ok back in a minute. 

today and tomorrow the anniversary of the recording of geechie recollections by marion brown.

a greyish morning. horsemouth very likely to be excused watering. bell ringing later (maybe). 

yesterday a crow walked into the greenhouse to inspect a birdfeeder to see if there were any peanuts that had escaped in the process of filling it. having satisfied itself that none had escaped it hopped off. 

meanwhile. look at this baby experimental cinemas in state socialist eastern europe by gurshtein and simonyi. horsemouth found it while hunting for a poster of an exhibition of eastern european film clubs from an art exhibit at the whitechapel art gallery. he didn't go (but it's very him). 

allen ginsberg on the centennial of his birth (the record of my mind's epiphanies)

'I write about what goes through my mind, and naturally, the world goes through my mind. so it looks like I'm writing about the world, but I'm just writing about notating the record of my mind's epiphanies...' 

- allen ginsberg (born this day 1926). 

horsemouth has read the barry miles ginsberg biography. previously horsemouth thinks he focused on ginsberg's blake  experience. 

ginsberg was a fan of matsuo basho and worked on various haiku. 

today (maybe) matsuo basho climbed mount haguro (at least according to his a narrow road to the deep north). the dates might not be right (they may have moved as calendars move) but it's the date he claims.

horsemouth has two copies of the narrow road to the deep north - one falling apart, one in decent condition - the one has led a quieter life than the other or may be older (when he has found them both he will check). 

ok so the better edition is from 1979 (or thereabouts) and was bought from judd books (marchmont street), the other was printed in 1981 (or thereabouts) and while barcoded horsemouth doesn't know where he purchased it. 

he owns duplicate copies of terry eagleton's literary theory, of baudelaire's paradis artificiels, of george eliot's silas marner for sure. 

yesterday a walk on the common and a guide to the development of the common's water from st. james's well, to the tank, to the windmill, to the round tank. 

today the bins (recycling) and the eggs. a rainy day (hell weatherwise the next two weeks are not looking great). 

a 'godzilla' el niño is coming but it looks like it will not affect this summer but it will affect the winter.

'the grain is the body in the voice as it sings, the hand as it writes, the limb as it performs...'

nothing from kilvert today. 

from here on in an entirely written in the morning blogpost

how is the mule? well he's taken the milk over to the garage and fed the chickens. he has a bit of a cold. 

in the afternoon his mum is off into the village. hopefully she can pick up some coffee while she is there. (it won't be cheap but it will be coffee). 

and horsemouth has his coffee. he was up a bit earlier than usual. 

horsemouth re-read roland barthes' the grain of the voice essay for the first time in a number of years. it is not quite how he remembers it. there is much more consideration of the particularities of the french language and french art song (mélodie).  

'the grain is the body in the voice as it sings, the hand as it writes, the limb as it performs...' 

today more rain

horsemouth supposes it is good for the garden and that it will fill up the water butts. the nasturtiums were flowering (but the rain seems to have knocked some of the flowers off), some of the runner beans are flowering (as are the broad beans). the spinach plants are veritable trees. 

he should plant more peas. 

the foxgloves have survived the culling. horsemouth has saved some of the smaller poppies. he worries that they need to get a fruit net over the strawberries or the birds will have them all. the cherries, the damsons etc. are not here yet. the gooseberries are well on their way. 

monday 1st of june (the debris at the angel's feet)

it's monday the 1st of june (horsemouth likes the symmetry of this and thinks it deserves celebration  in some kind of a way).

'... I was haunted by the prospect of further full-scale wars between the socialist states: now half these states have joined the debris at the angel's feet...' 

-  benedict anderson, imagined communities, preface to the second edition. 

 so what is kilvert up to now that he is back in clyro?

'I went up the wern below gwernfydden this afternoon to see if the bog beans were yet in flower. since I looked for them a fortnight ago to-day and found none they have come and almost gone... I think it is one of the loveliest flowers that grows...

a pheasant whirred up from the swamp out of a clump of rushes, and in the dingle orchard above the cwm the yaffingale was laughing loud.' 

horsemouth writes this the day before but you can bet he will be turning over the calendar pages in the morning. 

it's the morning and horsemouth turns the page. 

the triple negative calendar page for june concerns basking sharks (creatures that have said no to evolution  and just kept on swimming) and a beast called the mauerschwalben - this word joins together swifts and swallows mauersegler and schwalben - horsemouth was surprised to discover that they were not related but are an example of convergent evolution where the same solution is re-invented in creatures of a different family. 

the ifaw calendar offers him a leopard for june (having offered him an elephant for may).

yesterday (as will be) he went for a walk upon the common (various dog walkers and their dogs). his usual halfway round route (he knows he should get up there more).  at some point he will need to wander into the village to pick up some more coffee to hold him until the next supermarket order. 

oh dear horsemouth has something to attach his generalised anxiety to. 

today er. rain (bugger). he should have gone and got the coffee while he had the chance. certainly a cool, greyish morning. the rain will at least excuse him watering. 

we roll towards the by-election that may get us andy burnham as possible labour leader (horsemouth does not expect that andy burnham can magically fix it). on the other hand he may get defeated at the by-election or he may win because restore has split the reform vote. 

makerfield (is it really just a name?)