landscape eternal - out now

might i gladly take this moment to present my second official spoken-word release, following on from last years' 'shallow pools' poetry collection. entitled 'landscape eternal' and gathering together sixteen pieces taken from the works of some of my own favourite literary masters, some of my closest associates within my own writing circle as well as some of my own compositions, and woven together as a whole, 'landscape eternal' is designed to take us on a brief journey through distant lands, evoking moods of eerie unease and foreboding amidst a psychedelic landscape of strange sights and sounds.

the release also contains a twenty-minute ambient soundpiece to accompany the spoken-word selections, to be used in conjunction with the words or as its own separate entity. a darkened drone-piece that crackles and moans under its own weight, and certainly feels like a fitting companion to the ominous lines of the landscape eternal. the whole thing now being available from both the decorative stamp online store as well as my own bandcamp page, and available as an ultra-limited hand-crafted cd edition of only ten copies, as well as for 'name your price' digital download. get involved.

keep safe

jamesreindeer

dyxz.born.rndr - european tour 2013 - eight-hundred years on the banks of the aare

we followed the autobahn on its curve south-west through the myriad delights of the swiss landscapes on our path towards the always-stunning second-home of bern and the twin mism and luana headquarters of the living legend that is mich moser. how the storm-clouds still loomed ominous on the horizon but the rain kept its distance as we followed the winding path into the city, through its magnificent streets, shrouded in such stunning architecture and across the always beatuiful aare flowing through its whole before reaching the always-welcoming safehouse of captain mich; directly at the door ready to greet us with welcoming hugs and talk of what we could only immediately realise would be a stunning dinner at the broadspectrum surrounding compound already waiting for us. we directly grabbed what we needed from the car and then headed off by foot into the stunning depths of the city.

having ascended the steep hill from mich's place into the city center, it was only a brief excursion for beverages before we made our way to the wonderfully cosy apartment and broadspectrum surrounding compound of the absolutely wonderful can and nicole; a truly wonderfully kind-hearted couple indeed. we were welcomed immediately with the warmest of hugs, hot tea and much marvelous conversation before soon sitting down to an epic meal of home-baked pizzas and salat, wine, saft, coffee, yet more tea before we then found ourselves magically gazing out over the skyline diorama of the city center from their astonishing rooftop vantage point, a spell-binding instant to frame an outrageous series of developments of our evening indeed.

still, how the night held much more in store for us besides. we gathered ourselves up as a group and headed out into the cool of the evening to meet with some of the legendary everest records family over at the mighty reitschule complex; a stunning location which really needs to be on the list of essential spots to visit, and the perfect location to meet up with such marvelous souls indeed. still, how the night was a little cool and the spot a little too chaotic with some kind of minimal-chemical-party occurring out the front of the complex and so how we all retired to the magnificently cosy apartment and kitchen of captain matu to spend the last of the evening sharing drinks and ever-more amusing conversation til the early hours began to beckon. with weary heads we began to wend our ways back to our sleeping places, ready to get some sleep before the show tomorrow.

for my own part, i had the honour of sleeping at the mism/luana safehouse and slept long indeed, not awakening until it was almost time to take to the day to begin our busy schedule. mich and i walked back up into the city to collect dyxz and martin from the compound and how we made our way to the splendid raum to set-up and get a healthy soundcheck happening and to shake hands with the tastatur captains before taking a most-relaxed walk over to the everest records safehouse to chill and take tea with captain matu a while longer and generally take in their whole operation which, was certainly most-impressive indeed. but how the day was racing-by indeed and how we soon found ourself safely back at can and nicole's place for a staggeringly epic home-cooked indian meal with the extended bern family circle. shockingly fantastic tasty treats indeed.

still, showtime beckoned and how we made our way en mass back down to the raum and started to relax with the splendid folk who slowly began to gather in the cosy half-light of this most-intimate and wonderful of locations as the mighty mich began to spin a sinister collection of vinyl for our listening pleasure. still before long we did indeed take to the stage and slowly concocted a drone-heavy invocation filled with as many subtle hues as we could filter through the sound-system, building a steadily rising hymn to fill the raum with a slow and permeating unease of blackened arid lands. in truth, some technical difficulties on our part sadly plagued the performance a little, but how we did indeed muster over the length of the performance and managed to satisfy the ungods with a suitably darkened tone poem of careful duration.

but the night was still so young and how we were subsequently treated to the rhythmic tones of the local masters tastatur as we gladly began to spend the rest of the evening putting our feet up, chatting cheerily, watching the party-madness unfold and eventually taking to the dancefloor as the killer broadspectrum surrounding dj-team took their rightful place on the 1210's and treated us to endless party sounds as the night wore steadily on into the long early hours. how it was a great night indeed and an honour to be finding ourselves again rubbing shoulders with the mighty everest records family members matu and mich meienberg, no less. but how we slowly grew weary and ready for the sleeping, and how myself, mich and the lovely soumy bid farewell to the others and made our weary way back to the mism/luana safehouse for some much-needed sleep. still, how there was indeed enough time for one last tea in the still of his kitchen as we chatted cheerily for a few last minutes to the sounds of the true legend that is fbcfabric, the horror... into the dreaming then.

i greeted the sunday morning with the weariest of eyes to find mich and suomy ready for action and how we made a weary walk back to the broadspectrum surrounding safehouse once more, to link up for some splendid breakfast action with the others and to think about one last stroll through the city before we would have to think about gathering ourselves up for the drive back north across the border. how we were blessed with a sunny afternoon for it though and gladly bore ourselves a suitably relaxed path through the architectural delights of the altstadt, within the myriad wonders of the berner münster, up to the steadily widening views of the magnificent rosengarten for a spot of tea and relaxing, then back along the aare to our starting point; a marvelous sunday-afternoon jaunt indeed. but time had defeated us, and how we were forced to bid the gang the dearest of farewells before taking ourselves back to the car and making the steady drive back to the rhein-main after such a truly wonderful weekend indeed.

so, might we once again take the opportunity to offer our most-sincerest of thanks and so much love to the dear captain mich, the mism/luana family, the wonderful, wonderful broadspectrum surrounding family, the effortlessly kind everest records family, miss soumy, the tastatur captains and everyone who made it down to the show, a truly magical time indeed.

next field report - returning to the steel heart of the republic

jamesreindeer
connewitz, leipzig, deutschland
23rd june, 2013

dyxz.born.rndr - european tour 2013 - blackened tone poems from the industrial district

having said farewell to the skribble-pott family at the 55mm2 festival, dyxz and i drove south down the open autobahn for a little more than two hundred kilometers listening to opium lord and 'dopethrone' in its entirety at full volume with the hi-end turned way down until we reached the rhein-main decorative stamp compound a couple of hours before sundown. we had a day and a half to relax, including a pizza and donut party at the knertz compound with the legendary oskar ohlson and winterismyname, and not least of all linking up with out third man for the rest of the tour, the staggeringly-powerful martin born, our free-jazz legend, wheel-man and all-round unbelievably amazing soul. with our sights set firmly on the road ahead we gathered together and headed south out of mainz towards our first show as a trio with the always wonderful k-gruppe family in karlsruhe.

the weather was a lot better than the traffic as we rode the autobahn south to karlsruhe, but how slowly building storm-clouds and the dry heat could only spell inclemency for later on in the evening, but how it held out long enough for the utterly astonishing vegan barbecue that tomi and the k-gruppe family had laid on for us. quite impossible to put into words and how it quickly had to become the focus of the pre-show activities once the warm hugs and greetings and show technicalities had been taken care of. how much of a delight it was to also get to once again cross paths with bold captain astronautalis, the ever-mighty brock and to become gladly acquainted with oscar and mo, on guitar and drums respectively. how it was also a delight to get to talk with the parenthetical girls over the fantastic aformentioned barbecue.

still, one had to remain somewhat keenly aware that our presence on the line-up for the evening did seem ever-so-slightly at odds with the rest of the program, but how we could only ever treat that as an amusement and a delight indeed. naturally the evenings music began with our dyxz.born.rndr set and, although we had previously planned to keep it a little more on the dark-jazz that blackened-noise side of the coin, i seem to recall it actually being a rather sinister twenty-five minutes or so indeed. but the sound was crystal clear for our part and how the performance was a greatly enjoyable one indeed, although it might be perhaps argued that only a smaller percentage of the audience were ready to bathe in quite such blackened shrouds before the onset of really rather more uptempo tones. but how it was a privilege to grace the stage in every way and yet more so to take in the rest of the evenings' music.

having heard many enthusiastic reports on the parenthetical girls from a number of trusted sources in the lead up to the show, we were all most keen to witness their performance and how they indeed took to the stage with gusto and set about a super-energetic set of songs which had me think of a great number of different influences, but none so concrete that i would dare to hint at in these lines. how it did very much gladden and tickle me that zac, their vocalist very much had an 'ancient mith' way about him and did indeed attempt and successfully scale most parts of the location including a protracted path across the bar, and of course never once missing his queue or breaking his neck. it was definitely a sight to behold and a suitable effective segue from our blackened-shroud jazz-murmurings into astronautalis' full-blown live-rap extravaganza.

as many times as i have had the fortune of performing alongside astronautalis, i can quite honestly state that his performance alongside oscar and mo at the halle14 this night will easily remain one of the most memorable thusfar, not simply as we had the delight of witnessing him with his bandmates for the first time, but also of what became the intimacy of the show due to something slightly more than mere technical difficulties with the sound during the performance. the details need not be discussed, but the upshot of the situation being that the band performed without the aid of the sound system in the location; mo played his drums as they stood, oscar his guitar just running through his amp and andy perfoming his vocals without amplification. i guess this desperate action needed to be taken a mere four or five songs into the set, but how the rest of the performance continued and ended thus and how it really did prove to be a most admirable accomplishment by the good gentlemen onstage, but also a tremendous treat for those in attendance.

still, with the live music concluded in fine style, the rain-storm having rolled in and the mid-week evening wearing on fast there was just enough time to recline a little while in the most-comfortable back-stage area at the halle14 with the ever-splendid young robin, a dog with whom it seems most every passing musician falls in love with, the remains of the staggering barbecue and some rather amusing conversation with the astronautalis troops about something along the lines of a thread involving carmen miranda. but how the time was marching on fast and how we all had different cities to be in tomorrow. we bid the troops fond farewells til next time and started to think about final teas before taking ourselves into the sleeping with keen anticipation of a splendid breakfast with the k-gruppe family in the morning and then the drive further south and over the border into the ever-stunning switzerland.

after a most-comfortable nights' sleep we all awoke slightly blurry-eyed from the late night and early start but we quickly bolstered with tea and sunlight and the brief drive from the location to the k-gruppe family compound. the ever-wonderful tomi greeted us at the door and how we all slowly began to gather around the kitchen table, taking our fill of the amazing breakfast selection and generally relaxing our way into the mid-morning before we would have to think about taking to the road once more, a fine finish to another wonderful karlsruhe episode indeed. with a hearty round of farewells we made our way back down onto the street as the first light rain of the day began to fall and started to think about the journey by the schwarzwald and over the border into the majestic swiss lands.

so, might we quickly take another moment to send so much thanks to the k-gruppe family, everyone involved, everyone who came down, the charming parethetical girls, captain astronautalis, brock, mo and oscar, and how we look forward to seeing you all again at some stage further down the path.

next field report - low dronings from below the
abandoned freight-cars drowning in the heavy rain

jamesreindeer,
mülheim an der ruhr, deutschland
16th june 2013

dyxz.rndr - european tour 2013 - buried deep within the eternal drone

oh, what long, strange and beautiful days and nights we find ourselves amidst. how the road has extended out before us in magical waves and how so many tales have found their way into our hearts, so many beautiful moments to carry and treasure for the evermore. once again i find myself briefly back at the decorative stamp safehouse and with some moments to ponder, to recollect and to try to detail further facts in the case of the dyxz.rndr tour, which most-gladly became the dyxz.born.rndr tour in time for us to travel through deutschland, switzerland and the czech republic in the time since i have been able to word my last transmission.

how it seems so magnificently curious to have to cast ones mind back to only some weeks ago for it to feel like so many moons, but how i can only state that the majestic throes of the 55mm2 festival in mulheim do feel like some beautifully distant dream of a thousand lifetimes ago now. still, how a magnificent time it truly was, a glorious enterprise and how it afforded us such musical treats, such astonishing atmospheres and such warm times with the dearest skribble-pott family members, the souslespaves family members and the whole ruhrpott extended family indeed; not to mention a host of staggeringly talented musicians from near and far.

spread across two days at the AZ in mulheim, the festival was put together by the ever-marvelous souslespaves folk and featured a mouth-watering line-up of stoner-sludge-doom-drone-experiemental-dark-jazz-metal-improv bands, installations, artwork exhibitions and an afterparty effortlessly guided by the skibble-dj's twin-powerhouses in the form of tofuland and frau keludowig. an event to be keenly anticipated for sure and how expectations were soon met and subsequently vastly overwhelmed by the final magnificence of the overall experience.

dyxz and i were scheduled to play on the saturday, but were particularly keen to find ourselves in attendance on friday night that we could witness the observatory take to the stage in all their unrelenting majesty. should you be unfamiliar with the sounds of these astonishingly wonderful folk from singapore then i can only wholeheartedly recommend you investigate their material directly. how they effortless transcend styles and genres, but this night saw them evoking a monolithic display of doomy-stoner riffs juxtaposed with improv-jazz passages and ethereal soothing moments of fragile beauty; a truly hypnotic and mesmerising performance indeed.

with our appetites truly whetted for the saturday, dyxz and i were sure to find ourselves at the AZ in good times and were quickly exchanging the glad-hand with all and sundry and getting ourselves set up onstage in time for our opening-act performance. before long the whole ruhrpott family began to arrive in their droves; far, far too many dear souls to mention individually, but how it soon felt very much like a family gathering in a wonderfully familiar location and a full evening of astonishing music to look forward to. such magical times indeed.

still, how time was marching on and dyxz and i quickly took to the stage, had the lights set down to the darkest possible red hues and began our set; our second official performance together. with great fortune we had managed to have ourselves a particularly successful soundcheck and thusly the performance was nothing less than an absolute pleasure. as i recall we kept the whole performance pretty blackened, carefully extracting the darkest atmospheres we could and evoking a long ease only punctuated by some moments of frightening still. how it felt like the ceremony had worked and the spell had successfully elicited dreams of distant spectral lands, but, moreover, how the response from our dear audience was most enthusiastic and offered us the greatest warmth imaginable. a true honour and delight indeed.

but it was only the beginning. the night continued with truly marvelous performances from all of the acts; not all of which i was able to catch in full, but i can wholeheartedly report that the mighty colaris did perform exceptionally, perhaps my own favourite performance of the night was from the exceptional orange swan, who i would very much recommend checking out if you can imagine a perfect marriage of stoner-doom and post-rock and a lot more betwixt. perhaps n & [ b o l t ] offered the most hypnotic and mesmerising performance of the night with their astonishing ambient explorations of ulow-frequencies, evoking the path that the legendary earth and sunn o))) have opened up for us all. still, the mighty blckwvs also unleashed epic riffs of low-end majesty to conclude the live room ceremonyltra-. but, furthermore, how each of these performances were effortleslly punctuated by improv sessions from the wonderful dharma and bani from the observatory, treating us to guitar, clarinet and percussion invocations of endlessly permutating fascination; a very real treat indeed.

yet still, the night switched gears in astonishingly effortless fashion as the stage was cleared and the twin skribble-dj legends tofuland and frau keludowig began their back-to-back dj set and how i can only report that they absolutely destroyed the dancefloor for the rest of the evening. an impossibly effortless blend of astonshing idm-related sounds which only served to offer the party people such magnificent rhythms to dance to, but also offered astonishingly mind-bending sounds for the avid listener to try to get their heads around; art and dance beautifully married in one cohesive whole, as always. the skribble-dj teams speciality indeed. for my own part i found myself moving between the dancefloor and the comfort of the sofas to take in the myriad hypnotic sounds and the always fascinating and warming conversations with the skribble-family.

but the night grew later and later and how we were all slowly reduced to administering the farewell hugs in increasing waves. how it had been such a special time, and how fitting it seemed as a final farewell to the skribble-pott family for dyxz and i as it would mark the beginning of our touring officially, our next stop being karlsruhe and then beyond. but what better way to temporarily end our time in our spiritual home than to share such a dear and wonderful evening with such dear and wonderful souls. how we would ride south with a great warmth in our hearts and a flickering light to which we knew would would soon return.

...so, might we once again offer such great thanks, warmth and love to the whole skribble-family, the whole souslespaves family, the whole shiny toys family and the whole extended ruhrpott family... glory days and nights indeed...

next field report - blackened tone poems from the industrial district

jamesreindeer,
mainz, deutshland
14th june 2013

dyxz . rndr - european tour - now booking

gentle readers, might we take this moment to announce what shall surely become a legendary tale of occult proportions, and reveal the twin powers of the almighty dyxz of the skribble family and my own humble self, will be darkening doors all across europe as we begin booking shows for our first collaboratory tour together, having uttered our first blackened drones in unison at the shiny toys festival in the ruhrgebiet last autumn.

no territories should consider themselves safe as contacts are being made to spread our sinister tones as far and wide across the lands of the old world as possible. be sure to expect the full gambit of our expertise; spanning our own joint musical endevours, solo works from myself and the unrelenting dj prowess of dyxz himself. be sure to find yourself in attendance at the performance nearest your town, and please, if you can, help us to make sure there will be a performance near your town too.

the darkening awaits

keep safe

jamesreindeer

nocturnal were our ethereal ancestors

with much excitement might we finally announce that decorative stamp is now officially on mixcloud, with a view to using it to present to you exclusive mixes from our own individual family members, as well as decorative stamp-related broadcasts, live performances, rare materials and a wealth of other content besides.

so, might i myself boldly set the ball rolling with an exclusive mix of my very own doing, entitled 'nocturnal were our ethereal ancestors - volume one', and taking us on a mesmerising, psychedelic journey into lands laden with doom/jazz/drone tones, carefully melded together and layered with beautifully-disorientating field and dialogue recordings.

Jamesreindeer - nocturnal were our ethereal ancestors - vol. one by Decorative Stamp on Mixcloud

please do be sure to have yourself repeated listenings, do be sure to bookmark the decorative stamp mixcloud page, do be sure to spread the word, and please do very much let yourself look forward to great swathes of exciting, interesting, fascinating and entertaining musical treats across the coming moons.

take care

jamesreindeer

announcing the 4th skribble birthday party

ladies and gentlemen, here it is, at last! might we excitedly take this moment to officially announce the 4th skribble birthday party, happening at the rotunde in bochum on saturday 30th march. no matter what the distance, we seriously suggest you consider finding yourself in attendance, as this will surely be the party of the year, without a doubt.

the fantastic line-up includes our very own decorative stamp close-collaborator 2econd class citizen, alongside a host of other stellar performers; not to mention the entire all-star skribble dj-team effortlessly melding wonderful sounds for your ears. more details can be found via the skribble site itself, so be sure to think about getting involved as the excitement builds.

take care

jamesreindeer

josef motley : 1982 - 2012

as this long and strange year finally begins to draw to a close, i would very much like to take the opportunity to say a few words in honour of our now truly-legendary captain josef motley, who very sadly left this mortal coil under such desperately tragic circumstances at the beginning of the summer. captain james p honey and myself consider ourselves so very fortunate to have been able to become friends with josef back in the myspace days and had the very good fortune of collaborating with him on what should have been the first of very many songs. in truth, we both very much considered him to be the 'third man' when it came to the uk alt-rap scene and, while our paths sadly never crossed in person, we very much saw him as a close acquaintance and a fascinating artist indeed. his passing is a truly cruel blow to the world and how we can only know that he will be so dearly missed by so many.

josef's creative output was always something very much worth paying close attention to. from his own solo releases, to the storming power of his 'swampglow' group, to the richly bizarre world of the 'tortoiseshell male' to his work on his album collaboration projects with both dCABB and thelostandfoundsound, there was always more than enough to entertain, bemuse and satisfy the most-curious of listeners. josef's talent lay in his incredibly adept ability to filter the mundane sham of everyday life into a strange and captivating series of cut-up words, sounds and images to a standard that burroughs himself would surely have approved of. sometimes 'unlistenable', sometimes wonderfully 'catchy', oftentimes absurd, and joyfully daft, his output so perfectly mirrored this farsical 'everyday life' which the western lands have steadily built-up as 'reality'. the world is a poorer place in his absence, but we will be sure to celebrate his works until the very end, so grateful that he would have given us the chance to do so. an incredible artist and a noble captain indeed. he will remain in our thoughts for all-tme

keep safe

jamesreindeer

throne burner - sky burial - out now

gentles readers, how with much fear and awe, we can swiftly reveal the debut release from the darkly-disturbing throne burner project between myself and the almighty babelfishh. in anticipation of his return to the old world this summer we tentatively began plans for a long-overdue collaboratory project between the two of us and were eager to release some initial musical treats sooner-rather-than-later, so therefore the outrageously heavy 'sky burial' single was born.

throne burner will indeed be an ongoing project between the two of us, with this summer having given us ample time to discuss and hash-out the themes we wish to collectively explore across our eventual slew of releases. there will be much to remind the listener of what they might anticipate from a babelfishh/reindeer project, but at the same time we imagine there shall come to be a few unexpected corners turned along the path.

but, until then, might we wholeheartedly recommend you secure yourself a copy of the digital single, now available as a free download via the splendid decorative stamp, fall away into the sinister world which we have seen fit to create, spread the word, 'like' the facebook page, try to catch one of our few remaining shows this year, and steadily anticipate a continuing host of wrongness to emerge over this long, dark winter ahead of us, and into the still-darker future.

keep warm

jamesreindeer

facts in the case of goat's gloom

finally, the unrelenting terror that is the first ep from the very sinister goat's gloom is at last upon us and now available as a highly limited-edition 7" vinyl via the astounding divergent series. to the uninitiated, goat's gloom is the stunning collaboratory project between decorative stamp's very own babelfishh and dug yuck, alongside the almighty frkse. the murkiness of time makes it slowly become unclear as to when the project first arose, but if memory serves i believe the vocal recording sessions for the ep took place in the spring of 2010 at the seattle residence of dug yuck during the abortive 'galloping halfwits' tour, when james p honey and i were due to travel to the pacific northwest but had our plans torn asunder by the volcanic ash cloud which grounded all european flights for the better part of a week.

still, for my own part, i was also extremely honoured to be invited to guide the ep through the mastering stages and have thusly been heavily exposed to the desolate material contained therein. it is always a privilege for me to reveal that dug yuck and babelfishh are quite easily two of my favourite writers and vocalists, and how this collection of maddening compositions really does show them at the height of their most darkly-disturbing powers, channeling the most ominous of energies through the unrelentingly devastating musical turns of the hallowed frkse. might i strongly suggest then that you secure yourself a copy of this truly mind-altering release. it is very surely not something for the feint-hearted, but those of you bold enough or adept enough will surely revel in the murky depths of this fascinating collection of blackened materials.

keep safe

jamesreindeer

video evidence from stö6, leipzig

gentle readers. might i delightedly reveal this very awesome piece of video footage which was captured on the leipzig leg of my most recent tour of deutschland, as part of the 'summer of discontent' proceedings alongside the mighty babelfishh, winterismyname and oskar ohlson.

wonderfully capturing a solid performance of 'helicopter gunships', the video really does splendidly convey the dream-like atmosphere of the stö6, a surely very special place indeed, and might i take a moment to extend a big 'thank you' to ronnie for keeping the lens steady.

keep safe

jamesreindeer

initial facts in the case of throne burner

gentle readers, might i stop to take a moment to begin to outline the initial facts in the case of the 'throne burner' project which babelfishh and myself have just unleashed upon the world. everything is true, everything is permitted. after long years of friendship, touring and collaborations, the two of us are finally sinking our teeth and nails into a full, ongoing project together under the throne burner banner and shall be revealing a sinister collection of musical, literal and visual works over the coming three moons and long after.

some kind of project between us had long been on the cards but the throne burner came quickly as an unexpected force of nature which has swept us up into the darkest-black turmoil of the chew and drone. at this stage we are gathering materials, writing, developing different waves of the terror, but will keenly be unveiling our first single in the coming few weeks, as well as an audio-visual collaboration with one of our favourite maniacs as well as formulating discussions with others besides.

so, stay poised for imminent developments, be sure to 'like' the facebook page to keep up to date with all that shall soon transpire, be sure to spread the word, cower not in terror, but rather walk out into the blazing heat, soak up the sinister drone and bathe in the blackest-radiance. six hundred and sixty-seven black candles flickering on a raised dais.

keep 667

jamesreindeer

leaving gut city

gentle readers. might i take this opportunity to reveal that i have, somewhat suddenly, found myself leaving darmstadt permanently, due to circumstances perhaps beyond my control, or perhaps otherwise. please forgive my vagueness regarding the actual facts surrounding the case, but know that all is as much in hand as it possibly could be under the circumstances. i currently find myself safely housed with the wonderful oskar ohlson and winterismyname in their mainz residence which also serves as the knertz collective operational headquarters, until i managed to secure myself a residence for the coming moons. it is indeed my intention to remain in germany, due to my current project commitments, but also due to feeling somewhat 'at home' in the rhein-main. naturally, this also means that decorative stamp is currently without a headquarters, so please forgive any slight delays, periods of silence and other unwanted ephemera that may result.

still, might i also take a moment to reflect on my time in gut city, and how it was a curious and certainly eventful period indeed. i was lucky enough to have made a good deal of friends and acquaintances during my tenure there, and shall miss being quite so close to a goodly number of them, kind souls for sure. the city itself was always something of an enigma, so close to being a really nice place to live, but scarred with small-city blights, wants and worries. i am certainly glad of the time, greatly enjoyed being within bicycle distance of the mighty oetinger villa and getting to see so many wonderful and fascinating artists perform, revelled in the acres and acres of woodlands, lakes and fields surrounding the city and loved to study the geometry of the few buildings left that withstood the brandnacht... and how there were very certainly so many beautiful moments to be found under the warmth of the hot hessian sun and in the tranquil quiet of the long nights.

i am indeed writing these lines with a heavy heart, but hope that the coming moons shall allow new avenues to open up and might find me soon embedded in a new safehouse somewhere within mainz city limits. i must confess that i am dearly looking forward to the arrival of babel fishh in just one week and keenly anticipate getting to spend much time with his bold self, along with the mighty oskar ohlson and meike winter, perhaps even finding opportunities  to take to the road with them during their 'summer of discontent' tour activities. i am also intending to spend a good deal of time working on my own musical endevours, continuing to press on with my writings, particularly my second book, whilst attempting to finally publish the first, not to mention keeping a steady hand on the reins of the decorative stamp enterprise and other aspects besides. a turbulent time for sure, but one that i hope will finally result in further advances towards a better tomorrow...

keep safe, be well

jamesreindeer

a distant place - feat. the poetry of jamesreindeer

gentle readers. might we stop to announce a really nice piece for your listening pleasure, something beautifully soothing for the ongoing summer months perhaps. the very splendid souls at folk radio uk have seen fit to assemble a mix of songs inspired by my 'shallow pools' spoken word release, which you can read more about right here.

A Distant Place (Poetry & Music) by Folk Radio Uk on Mixcloud

an hour's worth of glorious folk music, inter-cut with excerpts from the 'shallow pools', featuring beautiful musical works from a host of artists including decorative stamp's very own band of buriers, not to mention the near-legendary meg baird, amongst a wealth of others. be sure to listen in, it is something rather wonderful indeed.

keep safe

jamesreindeer

amidst the grease and chaos - second edition - out now

might we gladly announce that the ultra-limited hand-crafted second edition of the staggering and highly-praised 'amidst the grease and chaos' album from the mysterious iron filings and sellotape collective is now available to order from both the decorative stamp online store as well as my own bandcamp page.

already heralded as a 'classic' from many quarters, the album is a twenty track hallucinatory, psychedelic journey through field recordings, found sounds, manipulated loops, drones and distorted drum-sets. a darkly disorientating collection of sound-pieces indeed.

the second edition features the same tracklisting as the first, but with completely new album artwork, prepared in collaboration with the raindrop watchers and providing yet another enthralling set of images to complement the sounds therein. be sure to investigate immediately.

keep safe

jamesreindeer

iron filings and sellotape - re-release coming next week

ladies and gentlemen. with great enthusiasm and excitement we can announce that, this time next week, decorative stamp shall be re-releasing the highly-acclaimed debut album from iron filings and sellotape as a further limited edition of just fifty hand-crafted copies, featuring entirely new artwork designed in collaboration with raindrop watchers.

already heralded as something of a classic, including being voted as 'album on the month august 2011' by trip-hop.net, and making  a lot of 'end of year lists' for 2011, might we strongly suggest that you think about securing yourself a copy as soon as next monday rolls around, as we are anticipating that they shalln't be available for too long. get involved!

keep safe

jamesreindeer

shallow pools - out now

gentle readers. might i happily report that my official debut spoken-word album, entitled 'shallow pools' is out now, and available as a limited edition hand-crafted cd and digital download from both the decorative stamp online store and my own bandcamp page.

each copy of the album also comes with one of the unique original hand-typed poems in the series, something rather special indeed. do think about securing yourself a copy, should time and funds permit, i would be most grateful indeed.

keep safe, be well

jamesreindeer

shallow pools - coming soon

so. might i very excitedly take this opportunity to announce that, in completing the series of one hundred 'shallow pools' poems, i took it upon myself to record them with a view to creating my first official 'spoken word' album, already completed and ready for release on decorative stamp next monday.

spread over ten tracks, and hovering around the forty-five minute mark, the album is, what i personally believe to be, a really nice collection of moods, images and tones, and one that continues to carry the kind of sentiments that i have sought to convey with all of my musical enterprises.

due to the fact that the poems were originally composed as a series of one hundred hand-typed pieces, i have seen fit to prepare a limited edition series of one hundred copies of the album on cd, and shall make each one available with one of the unique poems.

so, please do begin to anticipate having yourself a listen and perhaps fixing yourself a copy when next monday rolls around, the album is really nicely packaged and something of a collectors treat with the unique poems accompanying them.

keep safe

jamesreindeer

helicopter gunships

albeit somewhat more-belatedly than planned, we can at last unveil the marvelous video of my a cappella performance of 'helicopter gunships', created in conjunction with the very awesome adrian woodhouse for the knertz icings blog some moons ago when the winter still had a strong grip over the new years slow building.

i had been very much aware of the very cool icings blog since its inception and was over the moon when adrian invited me to get involved too, and since i was not so pressed for time as other 'on tour' contributors, being a darmstadt resident, i was keen that adrian and i take a decent amount of time to come up with something extra-special.

still, we are possibly two of the busiest individuals in gut city, so it was pretty tough to get our schedules to co-incide, in fact i think it took four or five moons even, but at last we managed to gather together in the basement of the decorative stamp compound to put together this rather sinister treat, something amusingly dark in comparison to that which adrian might normally be known for.

so, please do have repeated viewings, please do check out the icings blog, make friends with adrian on facebook, check out some more of his work, as well as that of the knertz collective more generally, and do anticipate some more iron filings and sellotape related news shortly.

take care

jamesreindeer

valve in forearm

an impossible to anticipate monday morning field report indeed. might i be so bold as to reveal that i have just now returned home from a most unexpected four-day episode spent recovering in a hospital bed from a relatively serious throat infection which beset me with great discomfort and high levels of fear and panic in the small hours of wednesday-night into thursday morning having returned home from a meeting with the wonderfully talented paulina stulin to aid me with the completion of my final 'nova conditions' manuscript.

i feel the need to share this information with you all, if only to explain my absence from all things decorative stamp and jamesreindeer-related since the middle of last week, a frustrating truth, largely due to the fact that there are serious amounts of projects afoot and not a moment to lose in working on them. sadly, a good deal of moments have been lost, but i am once again at near-full-strength and eager to bring everything back up to date over the coming days, so please expect a lot of news to emerge from both here and the decorative stamp as we wend our way towards mid-week.

so, might i just now briefly hint at some of what is in store, including revelations of the next three decorative stamp releases, including the first official 'jamesreindeer' solo release [of sorts], some seven years after my first commercial available musical outing, another very special and highly limited re-release of an unexpectedly very popular album from the decorative stamp and the next offering from everyones favourite anti-rap-alt-folk duo... shhhh...

so til then, might i leave you with this small prose-poem i found myself assembling in the early hours of last night, a mildly-fictionalised and overly-dramatic version of the events of my last four days and a very clear indication that i am certainly far from the best patient one could hope to be... my intense fear of hospitals something of a burden at an instance like this. enjoy! or, cringe in horror...

...and, might i also be so bold as to offer some personal 'shout-outs' to the very, very awesome and very very patient miss nadia d'alò, for visiting me on a daily basis despite her chaotic university and work schedule, for bringing my lots of tasty treats to supplement the hospital food as well as some essential english-language reading materials and for putting up with my abysmal mood. to the equally cool miss wirginia lewandowski for sending me wonderfully kind sms wishes and whom i still owe a telephone call, and the very, very, very wonderful oskar ohslon and winterismyname for hailing me on my cellphone at regular intervals to keep my spirits lifted, and to one herr schmidt, my room companion who was most kind a supportive despite our language barrier... i am most grateful indeed... and to my dearest mother, father and sister, i must sincerely apologise that this may be the first you're hearing of this, but i really, really didn't want you to worry unnecessarily! 

keep well

jamesreindeer

valve in forearm

gentle readers. we find ourselves in foreign hospital bed, valve in forearm staring long at the words emerging on the page before us. insect chirps and birdcalls in the night. distant trailing language rising up from unknown rooms below us, the droning hymn of the occassional aeroplane sailing by, the rattling of mechanical blinds in the evening breeze, intermittent bleeps and hospital noises from behind the closed door. at some stages laughter and grim moans coming in. 

we have been trapped here for the longest while, a seemingly simple ailment soon becoming a matter of utmost urgengy; infection, blood tests, antibiotics fed intravenously. the gim food arriving on plastic trays three times a day, the sound of herr schmidt* dying slowly in the bed next us. we feel utterly lost and alone in this dark, strange place. there is a silence in the still of the night, in between the cackling and whining, in between the rattling and heavy breaths of the sick and helpless. 

we feel our way through the night, each sigh a step closer to complete abandon. we are watching the grey paint of walls, the rounded corners of the plastic light switch, the geometry of the waste-basket by the doorway. our mechanical bed groans and purrs with each press of its automated button panel. our water and salbei tea in rectangular glass jugs, white plastic lids, brown plastic mug, dropper, tablets laid out in blue plastic containers, foggy air inhaler attatchment resting in grey card kidney bowl. 

we gaze long into the silence and curse our luck, curse our failing body, wish that we could escape into the cool of the night. to race out within the green of the forested hills surrounding the hospital, ride the tramline back into the city, back to the calm solitude of the safehouse, our plants laying dying on the windowsill, one already tossed down to the courtyard through lack of water to stabalise itself amidst even the gentlest of winds. 

there is a strange long misery that holds us. we long for escape, but slowly cannot be sure what we want to escape for. what is there beyond these four walls, beyond the corridor that leads us to the bathroom, to the inhalation room, to the consultation room, even to the elevator that takes us down to the lobby and the few lonely benches sitting idle at the foot of the vast concrete building. 

where are we going to indeed. what ride are we hoping to take. we long to rush out into the night, but are more and more filled with the strange unfolding misery that there is indeed nothing else beyond this place. we are destined to feel hopeless and lost after this strange interval. we may leave this place but our path has been irreperably broken, or skewed in some awful fashion that cannot repair itself. we have somehow been shifted off our course and can no longer find our way back to that simple moment before the affliction of grim infection bore down upon us unexpectedly in the night, reducing us to a scarcely breathing panicked wreck, a pathetic shambles of skin and bone trailing unknown miseries into the spring night. 

we are frightnened and lost and clambering wildly at some unknown in the hopes of finding solace amongst the half-sleep, that it might lift us up into the miracle abandon of some impossible plain beyond all this worldly sorrow and corporeal grit. we are desperate to escape, to pass out into the open sky, to leave this sick and frail body, a frightened spirit emerging from valve in forearm.

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*it seems only fair to mention that herr schmidt wasn't dying at all, although it really did sound like it at intervals. he was a very lovely, kind man and, despite the serious-sounding nature of his ailment, he actually got to go home before i did... setting the record straight in his honour.

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