'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). 

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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?)