from a voice plantation

Pre Halloween craziness...

2009-10-22T12:41:00.002+02:00

Plus - bijou 80s breakdown (demo)

2009-10-07T00:24:00.005+02:00

animation masks,
silent thread inside the theatre.
unhappy connection, scattered intentions,
multiplied strains,
techno investigator shakes his head,
itching to get out of thread.
in the woods
alone at night. flickering colours, the dozy
masters of tomorrow.

gasoline threads the nation, flying through
frozen colours, interweaving flavours left, stranded in different colours.
ejaculating future reports. bijou 80s breakdown.

hair waves in front of you, suggestively burn down in bed,
a sullen space rocket, a blackness invades your eyes,
reaching out from mossy eyelids, it kicked in and multiplied,
a swirling canvas, a different shadow questions you,
trapped in fuzzy state.

melancholia overload, images
are false to the eye,
delighted quiffs reverse.
therapy deepens layer machine. feedback noise evaluate, evaporate into mist.
flowers bloom over white sheets.

...efforts layer retro fuzz wail and mend the right channel now so the left layer doesn't take over...

a nice, spacey, dreamy demo we recorded a little while ago, just me and Chris, the band version will sound a bit different, will maybe even feature keyboards by a special guest, set to some photos from a very hot August weekend in and near Cognac, France. Where they make the cognac!

www.myspace.com/mmmplus come and see us on the 22nd October at the Cross Kings!

Better late than never... some shots from the wonderful "Our Band Could BBQ Your Life" weekender at the Brixton Windmill

2009-08-23T13:31:00.014+02:00

Simon's mum in the cafe of the Museum of Childhood reading "Our Band Could Be Your Life", Michael Azerrads seminal book on the American underground, through the 80s to just pre Nirvana. Each chapter is dedicated to a different band, and the weekender at the Brixton Windmill featured new bands covering at least two tracks of each of the bands in the chapters. I just re-read the book, it's very inspiring and well written, every chapter is infused with the history, drama, organisation and flavour of that band, and of course it makes you want to investigate further and join the dots. First time I read it I wasn't really familiar with The Replacements, Minutemen, Mission of Burma. That was quite a long time ago, and they've become firm faves of mine. This time I ordered/bought discs by Black Flag, Beat Happening and Husker Du, so fingers crossed...

Dan/4 or 5 Magicians/the organiser of the entire weekend as The Replacements, the highlight of the weekend for me. HOW DO YOU SAY GOODNIGHT TO AN ANSWERING MACHINE? He opened with that, it was amazing...

Winnebago Deal played about 20 Black Flag songs straight through, really astonishing:

My good friends Amy Blue tackling Butthole Surfers confrontational performance art techniques, an intense and noisy set, and certainly in spirit with the inspiration ;)
We're playing a show with them again on the 22.10. at the usual place, the Cross Kings, put it in your diary:

Blenheim Gardens in beautiful afternoon sunlight, quite a contrast to the dark coven of noise inside the venue:

Everyone to the Anderson as Big Black, a very cool, understated, minimalist set, one of my faves:

Ice Sea Dead People as Minor Threat:

The mellow scene outside the Windmill, everyone started to look a bit frazzled at that point:

The Muscle Club as Fugazi:

4 of 5 Magicians second set of the weekend, as Dino Jr, very good - though at that point I was slightly less tolerant of loud rock music, haha, so it didn't quite have the same impact as their amazing Replacements set the night before for me, but solid, only songs from You're Living All Over Me which is cool by me. Freak Scene was played over the PA straight after I think, so it wasn't missing though it wasn't played live:

A mountain of equipment lugged onto the stage by X-Certs who tried to be Husker Du, seeing them maybe wasn't strictly necessary on Sunday night, have to say. But all in all a great weekend and really good to read that book again, highly recommended:

some wonky shots from the Field Day '09

2009-08-02T14:38:00.011+02:00

I'm not that great at photographing bands, it's quite hard, but what interested me visually was the whole scene, the crowds, the lights, especially as things got a little messy, mostly in a good way, from about 5-6 pm onwards, with the rain and the drinks and whatever taking over etc. it looked good. I love the way this one day festival that is firmly an East London fest mixes up edgy indie with mellow alt country and dubstep and electro and improv jazz and burlesque/alt.cabaret in the "Do you come Here often" tent and all sorts of other grooves, it's quite open ended and attracts an interesting crowd, both nerdy and hedonistic, and very East London, again, mostly in a good way. While the very happening dance tents (mainly Bugged Out and Bloggers Delight) and the general clubby atmosphere might make it come across as some sort of eccentric rave party with an indie festival tacked on, it was perfectly possible to immerse yourself in pretty dark and moody soundscapes all day long, from the Sian Alice Group to SCUM to The Horrors to Fennesz to The Big Pink and finally on to Mogwai who were truly magnificent, one of the better festival headline sets I've seen, best enjoyed with your eyes closed... but open your eyes now:

Wet Paint (they were really good, US alt indie influenced - I'm sure, and wouldn't be surprised if they own a few GBV records - and very energetic and fun, shame everyone was sitting down but I think they turned a few heads):

S.C.U.M. slightly overblown and murky neo-goth sounds, does that do it justice? Not sure... :

The Horrors, in the rain, I guess they didn't quite make the impact they should have, but it was entertaining enough to me, if not a little lightweight:

The Big Pink:

Four Tet, dancers with Hula Hoops that had little lights attached:

Bloggers Delight, a smallish tent that seemed to be rammed the whole time:

Mogwai, both the main course and the comedown:

no solution mf: Sludgefeast and Junkyard Choir at the Spice of Life

2009-07-20T23:02:00.012+02:00

James Sludgefeast is back from Singapore for about a week, so there was a series of Sludgefeast shows in quick succession. The biggest one was probably Sat at the Spice of Life, supported by ex Do Me Bad Things singer Mark Wood's Junkyard Choir, and many excellent guest spots on bass, as Coirin wasn't there, guest singers, a Do Me Bad Things cover version, and for the last song, a harmonica (!!!). The whole thing felt like a family party. I got to wear my wig and shades again, James II's shades disintegrated halfway through the set so I gave him mine - unfortunately they kept sliding off as he's a very energetic drummer, and they're just some cheap party shades (you don't see much looking through them but it feels good at a Sludgefeast show, you want it to look woozy!)

Abingdon to Dorchester on the Thames Walk

2009-07-19T22:21:00.018+02:00

The fourth day of our ongoing little project: walking the whole of the Thames Walk, see photos from one of the previous days here. Kirsten, whose idea this is and who is organising the walks, did a couple of days of walking with a friend over a weekend without us in between too, and there's a day's worth of walking missing that was impossible to get to with public transport on a Sunday, so we're not doing this 100 % linear. The weather was meant to be really bad today but it ended up just drizzling for a bit, it stayed mostly overcast and a bit windy but mostly dry and it was quite warm so it didn't matter too much, though our shoes got wet walking through the grass. We started in the pleasant old town of Abingdon, where we walked to from nearby Oxford a few weeks ago, having lunch at the famous Barley Mow pub, housed in a 14th century building, eventually arriving near Dorchester, where we decided we would stop the walk for today as our initial destination was taking a little too long to get to. Dorchester is set back from the Thames by about a mile but is a fascinating small town with many historical buildings, couple of medieval coaching inns and old churches, so it was good to get to see it.

Abingdon:

old railway bridge:

The Barley Mow:

allotments just outside Dorchester:

Dorchester:

pub opposite Didcot Parkway station advertising some food:) :

Sunday: On Blake's Steps, etc.

2009-07-14T08:05:00.001+02:00

The last episode of the five part Torchwood screened last week, I missed it on Friday so watched it on the iplayer. Really got into it, the way the government is trying to cover up for itself in the eerie plot (involving aliens forcing the UK government to give up 10 % of its children, and the government deciding that underperforming schools should go first) is obviously taken from real life to some extent:

Funky old Redchurch Street:

Rivington Street:

The John Snow in Soho, a favourite haunt:

and around the corner to On Blake's Steps, a fairly eccentric gathering of young and old poets reading a few of their poems, poetry fans and Blake heads on the steps of the (modern) house that stands on the site of the house William Blake was born in in Soho (around the corner from Carnaby Street). My friend and old B'ton buddy Naomi Foyle read a poem about her mum's death (exactly 15 years ago), a poem by her mum who was also a poet and a poem by someone she was with on that day, very poignant, unfortunately I was lost in the moment and didn't take a photo. This is Jeremy Reed:

The "eco poet" Helen Moore reads a poem that contrasts the infinite intricacies of the natural world with the financial jargon of the banker (read by Niall Mc Devitt):

Jeremy Reed again at the end, this time with partyshades:

Niall then took the group on a little history tour around Soho pointing out the various residences of the Blakes, Shelley's house and eventually Blake's residence in Poland Street, three doors down from the Kings Arms pub that he used to frequent. In the upstairs room the ancient order of druids was revived around that time and that's where the gathering ended with some more poems and talks and discussions about Blake, by that point history seemed to have come alive out of the books and words, it almost felt like a seance communing with the spirit of Blake and his legacy:

graffiti in the gents at the KA:

Niall Mc Devitt in the historical upstairs room at the Kings Arms (now, of course, the unofficial London bear pub)

with Naomi in Thai Metro in Charlotte Street, always tasty, reliable, and in an ok location where most of the restaurants are more expensive:

aboriginal art gallery on Charlotte Street, I saw a few new galleries around there that I hadn't noticed before:

Soho Square:

later at 100% Dynamite, the excellent monthly reggae/dub/dancehall Sunday all dayer put on by the Soul Jazz Records crew and co, at the equally ace 1001 cafe off Brick Lane:

Brick Lane, going home:

Saturday: walk through (mostly) rainy London

2009-07-12T00:01:00.000+02:00

London Bridge was closed to traffic for the London Bridge 800 fair. To celebrate the 800th anniversary of the bridge, they set up stalls similar to what would have been there 800 years ago:

leading on from the temporary market on the bridge it was just a few steps down to Borough Market, always packed at the weekends:

along the South Bank by the Royal Festival Hall all the trees along this busy stretch of the river have these red-with-white-think-bubbles coats on them right now. People seem encouraged to write their thoughts or whatever on them, and most of them are covered in graffiti:

the ever popular fountains outside the RFH:

Gamelan workshop/demonstration in the lobby of the RFH, there's always something going on in there on the weekends:

Vauxhall:

this is the street of Denis Severs House
at the end of it a new gigantic and IMO very ugly and unoriginal looking office tower block looms, but inside this street time stands still and worlds collide:

The Gwaun Valley

2009-06-29T21:52:00.000+02:00

or the mysterious Gwaun Valley, as it's sometimes referred to... Pembrokeshire is mostly about the coast, but this lush green valley is hidden away between the Preseli Hills and the port of Fishguard where the Gwaun flows into the sea by the Lower Town (also pictured). It's difficult to even find the road that goes there, it's only a small B-road, and once you're there you enter a beautiful and mostly fairly steep valley with ancient woodland, and the occasional meadow, bridge or farmhouse. Apparently people there still follow the Gregorian calendar and all sorts of other old traditions, and it certainly feels like a forgotten place that's left as it's always been...on that day it had rained all morning so it was very green everywhere!

Plus, Paperbag & The Flying Gambinos at the Cross Kings, 11. May, the evening in pics and video

2009-05-17T12:29:00.001+02:00

soundcheck:

Paperbag:

Plus:

photos by me, Simon and Hebe.

setlist: Plus Today / Double Shine Dustbowl Future / I know I know Colony Collapse / Shades of Green / Tired Eyes / 48 Hours / The Cracks of Language / Steamrise / Lemonade Laminate / Ephedrine Daddy

it was another good night, a bit chaotic but it worked, we were quite busy, and I got to wear my new lederhosen with my beehive wig, a good combo! Hebe the DJ unfortunately couldn't get the data discs she brought along to play over the venue's sound system, and I only had one Cocteau Twins album on my ipod, Milk and Kisses, so we did play a bit of that, but also the great 1 hour DJ set I got from werasagtmussauchbsagen (friends of Joerg's from the Munich scene) a couple of years ago, plus later Anderson had some good stuff in his that we played, so it wasn't a huge problem, just a shame as she spent a lot of time preparing her Cocteaus DJ set. The Flying Gambinos played in a new lineup for the first time, including their cover of our song "Antique Doll" (see video below), Paperbag rocked out power pop style, including a Police cover at the end of their set. And we just did our thing too, I did a bit more falsetto than usual, possibly to let hang out my perceived Cocteaus influence, we played a slightly different set again, some songs we hadn't played for a while, several people came up to me later who I didn't really know and told me they really liked it, so thanks! everybody!

trip down to lovely B'ton to rehearse for the gig tomorrow...

2009-05-10T12:25:00.000+02:00

we always rehearse at Monster, in an industrial estate just by Portslade harbour, just outside Brighton. When we arrived on the train there were still a couple of hours before the rehearsal was due to start so I walked through the very busy North Laines (it's the Brighton festival right now as well!) first all the way into Kemptown then back along the beach, got a lift from the others to Monster and then walked back along Hove promenade, so I essentially walked the whole of the Brighton and Hove seafront in total yesterday. Well, it was a lovely day and the air was so good... even though i felt a bit crap, it was a productive rehearsal, some new stuff, and we managed to agree on a fairly varied setlist that has an intriguing mix of old and new...

when i'm pretty presents... Plus, Paperbag & The Flying Gambinos @ the Cross Kings, Monday 11. May

2009-05-10T11:46:00.000+02:00

Norfolk Broads

2009-05-04T12:39:00.000+02:00

I've just come back last night from three days of walking on the Norfolk Broads (I took the Friday off to make it a super long weekend, a wise move which I can remommend as you can beat the Bank Holiday travel rush - even though the train was delayed badly due to someone under a train in the Romford area, affecting all trains out of Liverpool Street), a flat, old landscape that lies roughly between Norwich and Great Yarmouth on the coast with an extensive system of waterways, rivers, ditches and many old windmills, remote villages and country pubs. There are some good long distance walks, I walked a bit of the Weavers Way from Acle to Great Yarmouth, right across the Broads and then along Breydon Water, and bits of the Wherryman Way that follows the River Yare, on the second day around Reedham, and yesterday from Norwich up to the Ferryhouse Pub near Surlingham village. One problem for walkers in this area is access, it's ok if you have a boat, but as there are only crossings over the Yare in Great Yarmouth, Reedham and Norwich, it's quite difficult to get to the walks and back, and even on a bank holiday there weren't many walkers. I walked as far as the Ferryhouse pub expecting to be able to cross over to get to the train station for a train back to Norwich, only to find it stopped in 1965. So I asked around in the pub and got a lift across the river from some very friendly guys who were having a stag do party on three boats and who were happy to help :-)

Great Yarmouth on first impressions wasn't too good, quite tacky and a bit rough, but on closer inspection I quite liked it, there is a very old part of it that faces away from the sea, the historic South Quay, and the whole are around there is actually quite nice, some good pubs as well, walk north from the pier and you come to some quiet dunes facing the amazing Scroby Sand Wind Farm. Norwich too, some streets around the station on a Saturday night are like a giant hen party from hell, but walk around the corner and you're in some amazing tranquil cobblestoned street, old churches loom everywhere, so you have to explore it a bit. I eventually found a nice big pub, that had a little free party in the basement where some dudes played old ska and dub 45s and a cool, chilled crowd hung out, the complete antidote to the towney pissed up scene just down the road.

Norfolk Broads 2

2009-05-04T11:53:00.001+02:00

L'Aquila

2009-04-14T21:26:00.001+02:00

In 2004 we took a very interesting trip through Abruzzo and the Molise, two neighbouring Italian counties that have a fairly remote and to some extent backwards feel, even though they are really quite close to Rome, just east of it in fact, and only about a couple of hours away. This is mostly due to them being very mountainous , I think, especially in the highly recommended Abruzzo national park which almost looks like the Alps. For some reason, these areas, though interesting and featuring many old places, don't really seem to feature very much on the international tourist trails and when you arrive in Rome from the Abruzzo you feel you're suddenly landed in a much more touristy place where everything is double the prize and much faster.

Most people will have heard by now of the terrible earthquake in the old town of L'Aquila that has claimed many lives and allegedly damaged most of the many historical buildings in the town and surrounding villages. But I suspect most people in other countries will not have a real sense of the place, as it's not that famous outside of Italy. So we spent a couple of days over a weekend there during our trip, and fell a little bit in love with the place, actually we were hoping to go back at some stage (and still do). There were many old churches and buildings, a remarkable Roman bath, mountains all around it. It was quite lively, with a university, an arts centre in an old fort, many friendly bars. We discovered the music of the wonderful sad old crooner Frank Buscaglione in one of the bars near the main square. I remember a friendly student bar run by some beary looking types who invited us to sample the local grappas. And this amazing broad old staircase leading up to a church where the local youth would hang out in the evenings. I wonder what is left of all of this, I haven't really researched it but seeing the events unfold on international news programmes was harrowing, actually knowing the place and having met a few of the friendly locals. So anyway, here's some of the photos we took. My thoughts go out to the people of L'Aquila!

Random Journey: The Raspberries, Big Star & Teenage Fanclub's "Thirteen"

2009-04-06T22:45:00.000+02:00

I've been meaning to do this for quite a long time: A few years ago I started a series of blog posts about bands and records, one leading to another, by association, seeing to where it would lead me. Last you heard from me on this journey I was with the Pooh Sticks which lead me to the Raspberries and their Greatest (hits). I've had this record for a couple of years now, and on the whole I really like it, I've played it quite a lot, it's been a bit of a (minor) favourite actually. I'm not sure what the Pooh Sticks saw in them, the overblown, almost baroque stompers (in a maybe ironic way?) or the fine, lovelorn ballads. Anyway, several things: As far as I know this stuff was already retro when it came out, but it's so old now it sounds doubly retro, 60s pastiche sounds different now. When it's good it's lush, breezy, confident, anthemic power pop with quite complex songs that stick in your head after while. While lyrically often riding out some cliched love stories, the music is definitely not too formulaic. Eric Carmen's voice has a beautiful, slightly camp, often wistful and, yes, fruity quality, though some of the stuff goes a little too far into cheese territory for me, the fruitiness becomes over-ripe and slightly rotten so to speak. Some of the songs are real classics in my book though. I'm so glad I bought this record!

I think the next step was via an amazon recommendation and it's not too far a step to Big Stars first two albums collected on this dics . There are definitely some parallels here, Big Star can do lush and grand power pop too, but there is more melancholia and a slightly grittier feel underlying a lot of this material. It bites a bit deeper, it's got a different kind of staying power that anchors it, it inhabits a moodier, more doubtful place, and it's this quality that maybe makes them more relevant today. Again, some absolutely great stuff here and probably high time I checked them out. Saw them in London last year in top form!

So now it goes back to Scotland and the 90s, the link this time happened as follows...: Shortly after seeing Big Star play in London, they did a beautiful version of their fine sad ballad "Thirteen", I was in Glasgow's Avalanche Records en route to the Hebrides and saw Teenage Fanclub's album "Thirteen" there at quite a reasonable prize. Now I knew that they were indebted to Big Star's sound (just like a lot of other indie bands), but up til then I didn't realize that the title of the album was probably a Big Star reference in one way or another (I think there's thirteen tracks on there too), so the link for the "random journey" suggested itself. What sounds maybe a little bit dull and monochromatic on first impression revealed itself as quite accomplished, very understated indie rock with all sorts of subtle nods to the past but still occupying some time and place of it's own. The Big Star template is definitely in there, no doubt, but they manage to blend in all sorts of other elements, and the songwriting is very impressive, once you give the songs some room to breathe. I think they had some sort of problem with this record, it came out after their breakthrough "Bandwagonesque" album, and they weren't so happy with it, but to me it was this record that made me a fan. I've got most of their albums now. It was sitting on the porch in Colonsay playing it on this crappy stereo, over and over, while looking at the craggy hills and the sheep wandering about. There's a song, "The Cabbage", that sounds eerily like an early 90s Weezer outtake, the same bass staccato lines, and even the yearning vocals sound similar. "Escher" is my favourite though, I think, and the opener, "Hang On", is grand too, gets me every time. Though I'm sure I haven't got as deep into this band as you can go. But I'm glad I'm on the way now, again, probably much too late, but sometimes certain bands reach you at a later stage. So where next on this journey? At least I've finally got around to updating here again. Hopefully it won't be two years before the next instalment. It's been really good and educational so far, I have to say!

Rozz Williams Happy Hour

2009-04-01T08:01:00.000+02:00

RIP Rozz...

Actually this is a bit more than an hour so you can skip some of the Shadow Project stuff (for some reason I found a lot of Shadow Project stuff I liked on youtube, but couldn't find many good videos from Christian Death's second and third albums). For more info on this amazing artist check out these websites:the blue hour and http://www.rozznet.com/ //// thomas <<

"Cavity - First Communion" (Christian Death featuring RW Reunion Show '93) 3.35

"Deathwish" (Dr Caligari) 2.10

"Dogs" Daucus Carota in Paris 06.11.94 2.55 lyrics are taken from poems by Dennis Cooper, he told me via his blog

"Spiritual Cramp" (It's a Wonderful Life) 3.03

Premature Ejaculation 8.52

Shadow Project 3.50

Shadow Project "Zaned People" 9.36

"GrungeandDeath"'s short tribute 0.40

"Gleichschaltung" 4.34

"Whorse" with images by David Lynch 3.58

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqRgoD1nrmY
(embedding disabled by request)

Shadow Project 2.07

Shadow Project "Hounds Upon the Hare" 4.54

Christian Death: "Figurative Theatre" (King of Kings) 2.55

Shadow Project live 6.23

Christian Death : "Romeo's Distress" (Reunion show '93) 2.55

Rozz Williams - Memorial (Flower) 6.05

PUT PEOPLE FIRST!!! demo in London

2009-03-29T14:57:00.000+02:00

Some pics and video from the big, peaceful demo in advance of the G2O summit in London. The three main focal points were Jobs, Justice and Climate and I've rarely seen a demo with such a huge variety of groups taking part, unions, environmental groups, Tibetan protesters, priests, people of all ages, with all sorts of banners, messages and concerns, some of which you see in the placards they were carrying set against the background of a pretty good walking tour of most of central London's landmarks, starting at Temple, proceeding towards Big Ben then back down along Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and on to a big rally in Hyde Park, where the variety of speakers and video messages again was very impressive. The atmosphere was great throughout, the weather kept changing, it could have maybe been a bit busier but it was nevertheless a big, powerful and largely good natured demo. Me and Frank the Photographer who I met through the Germans in London forum were making photos and some video throughout, so here it is...

i took this, it's not that great, but hey...

and someone else put this together:

when i'm pretty presents... pics and video from the 15.03.

2009-03-20T07:59:00.001+01:00

GNA pics (apart from first two) by Simon, think they came out really well... another good night, started a bit quiet but definitely picked up later.

So far no pictures of us, Plus, but here is our setlist: I know I know (Colony Collapse)/Walking the foodmiles/Rotating Futures/48 Hours/Potatobiter/Lemonade Laminate/Double Shine Dustbowl Future/Ephedrine Daddy/Antique Doll/Electric Germany/Silhouette (quite a wild set mostly, I was a bit preoccupied before hitting the stage but once it started I got really into it!)

Next "when i'm pretty presents..." night just confirmed for Monday 11. May at the Cross Kings Jester Bar again (w/Flying Gambinos and more tbc).

videos:

GNA - Global Noise Attack!!! sound a bit sh!t on this but you can just about make out the songs and visually it's quite the entertaining, hehe ;)

EVOL-I (Amy Blue):

Simon Amy Blue in excellent solo mode. "Won't You Follow Me?" and "?" (hadn't heard that one before I think). Shame hardly anyone was there for his set, it picked up later, so at least this way he can have more of a (belated) audience...

when i'm pretty presents (rescheduled from 2nd Feb): 15.03. Sunday GNA, Plus and EVOL-I (Amy Blue) @ Cross Kings, Jester Bar, York Way, nr Kings Cross

2009-03-14T11:01:00.000+01:00

Meeting Old Friends: Nico Punk aka Ralf

2009-03-10T23:12:00.000+01:00

The first in a series, possibly, here some photos, not in chronological order, from last Saturday when I finally got to meet my old friend Ralf again. It was a buzzy, balmy afternoon and we had a few hours before he had to get the Stansted Express from Liverpool Street to fly back to Berlin so we went on an epic walk through the East London 'hood, starting at Old Street station, taking in Bunhill Fields, Hoxton Square, the outside of the George and Dragon, Columbia Road, the Hackney City Farm, Broadway Market, and back to Brick Lane, Rough Trade East, Spitalfields market and finally Liverpool Street station. It was quite magical, even to me...

More Snow...: Tannheimer Tal

2009-03-03T22:55:00.001+01:00

two days of falling snow which has a very special quality, it's still new, it's not icy or dirty yet, and it keeps coming. thick layers of it hanging over everything, paths need to be prepared. In the Tannheimer Tal, a high lying valley just over the border in Austria, about two hours drive from my parents house, so they go there quite often, the valley and the lower lying tracks are prepared and some of the alpine huts/restaurants are open, so winter walking is possible (and recommended!) After two days of drifting snow suddenly sunshine and a very pristine white valley emerged on our last morning there.

Plus - Double Shine, Dustbowl Future

2009-02-25T01:34:00.000+01:00

Slouched in the backseat

connecting faces blur again

My lines are broken down to fragments, memories

lines inside the face

peace is full of beasts

waiting for the fantasy to return

paranoid shares seeping into power now

a sea of language frozen in time

he's the first man to do this

double shine double shine

a sharp tug at the corner

evaporate silly maps

i was in it for you

strained laughter

easy message

troubled times flick through

desolation awaits

there is an echo where the river once ran

resources dry out, darker tides even out further

a train into heaven stops, endtimes character

a false boom legacy drags you down

this is not what you want to hear

engineer the land of plenty till you fail

dusty jackets, dustbowl future

From our new CD "Colony Collapse". Photos are from a winter walk in the Tiefental, an ancient valley that is now dry, with amazing rock formations, near Blaubeuren, Schwaebische Alb, in South Western Germany, and the Blautopf in Blaubeuren itself. www.myspace.com/mmmplus

The Snowdiva!!

2009-02-04T17:55:00.001+01:00

Simon Old Cheeser and the snowdiva outside his house. Taken by him two days ago, I guess. Today most of the snowmen have melted away, or started to disintegrate, it never lasts in this city! Love the wig, it looks familiar... ;)

snow :-)

2009-02-02T19:07:00.000+01:00

Weavers Field, Bethnal Green. Pretty full and a good atmosphere. apparently it's like this all over London. Oh, and the gig tonight is not happening, I want to postpone it, hopefully keeping everything intact, the whole lineup. It wouldn't have worked today... and noone would have been able to come to it! Laters...

P.S. "Tagging" Old Cheeser!!! Tagging "Old Cheeser"!!! Pls interrupt yr blogsleep and post a picture of the snowdiva! cheers :-)