skribblepott communion

after some time swept up in a host of activities taking me betwixt the rhein-main and leipzig, time was finally found to return once again to the skribblepott to re-commune dyxz.born.rndr in the studio for a weekend, to take in the performance of a band of buriers on the outset of their latest tour and to help celebrate the birthday of one of the skribblepott's most beautiful daughters, miss sinja possekel. a perfect and unmissable constellation of events which saw me eagerly gathering myself up and bidding farewell to the streets of connewitz, shimmering in the frozen still of a hazy wintry sun last thursday morning.

i rode the train line watching the fields, hilsides, towns and farms stretch out before me, just reflecting on the changing of the seasons, seeing the early morning frost stretch out across the scene and dearly looking forward to once again being with the wonderful extended-family that awaited in the north-west. after some delays, missing my connexion and being stuck in hannover for an hour, what better way to be welcomed that by the almighty dyxz waiting to pick me up at duisburg hauptbahnhof, already full of myriad stories, tales, news and the latest developments; my favourite welcome indeed.

we ran some errands before making our way back to his eppinghoferstrasse safehouse, doubling as one of the skribble / ana ott / glbc radio / shiny toys headquarters, with enough time to commune for a splendid meal with the legendary jan ehlen, enough time to write some field reports and enough time to brew a number of pots of the earl grey 69; an essential element in our frequent protracted kitchen communions. word was also exchanged with the mighty martin born and how he would soon be safely en route from mainz to join us in time for the concert which we ourselves we soon gathering ourselves up to be in early attendance for.

dyxz and i paced quickly through the streets of mülheim in the early-evening air to the near-legendary residence of the impossibly enchanting elisa, kara and ana; three of the arrestingly-warm-hearted skribble sisterhood and purveyors of the most legendary house shows, perhaps in the whole world; at least the old world for sure. we were welcomed at the door by miss elisa with wide smiles, hugs and kisses and soon found ourselves back in the cosy warmth of their perfectly-cosy abode, and being greeted by warmest hug after warmest hug from each and every family member, notably including the buriers family, this time in attendance as a three-man constellation with their new-ish drummer ramon, making his skribblepott debut and clearly reveling in the fact.

the guests arrived thick and fast til we were at full capacity, with too many dear names to mention, but the arrival of the omnipotent angel martin born would clearly be worth adding to the record. we took our seats and began to ingest the magical musical performances of the evening, beginning with the utterly unique captain pitt, marauding under his a giraffe persona with a wonderfully-off-the-cuff collection of songs, aided and abetted on second vocal by the hypnotic voice of elisa, before the buriers took the room by storm with their latest collection of songs, all of which directly found a place in the hearts of all assembled; magical moments indeed.

still, how the night pressed on so fast and we were soon relunctantly bidding each other farewells til the morrow, or only til next time. martin, dyxz and i wandered back across mülheim to the eppinghoferstrasse safehouse, took a final pot of earl at the kitchen table and then retired to fall away into the dreaming, knowing full-well that we had a very packed program ahead of us for the subsequent days. but how each moment should surely be made to count in such a situation as precious as that in which we found ourselves embroiled.

we arose in reasonable time, but not quite reasonable enough to be able to catch the buriers for frühstück before they made their way down to the rhein-main to catch the knertz family for their offenbach show. instead we took our fill with kara and ana, and spent the time reflecting on what a magical evening it had been and how wonderful a gathering of souls it had been, and how this new day continued in such a charming fashion. we managed to find ourselves in essen by nightfall, being treated to some exclusive sounds pertaining to the upcoming tesk cassette release on ana ott, from the mighty hands of edis bassdeaph, before communing into the late of the evening at the overwhelmingly cosy residence of the endlessly-enchanting sinja possekel for her bithday celebrations; and once again getting to bathe in the majesty of her waldraum.

but all of this heart-warming fun was far too heart-warming and fun, and how we had to get into the serious business of invoking blackest storms in the studio in the name of throne burner and the dyxz.born.rndr trio. saturday and sunday was spent exactly thus. we had graciously been afforded use of the live room at the highly professional dialogstudios in oberhausen by the masterful captain joost schnitzler, and made good opportunity of the time. we managed to fit in three sessions in the time, rehearsing, refining our sounds, experimenting with new textures and field recordings and indeed recording some test-pieces in preparation for compiling materials for our debut cassette tape release, forthcoming via ana ott in the new year.

sunday also gladly saw us making our way to the ana ott / skribble / glbc radio oberhausen safehouse and the residence of the impossbly amazing felïx möser aka bohemian output. we communed in his attic apartment and took tea in the warmth as the frozen grey and cold extended above the muted tones of the rooftops out of the windows. we were fortunate enough to view the physical version of the tesk tape release first hand and to get to hear some of the upcoming releases the label has in store for the world; a truly mouth-watering collection indeed. be sure to keep your eyes and ears pealed, at all costs.

the evening gladly saw us once again communed around the kitchen table with a beautiful constellation of friends for a last supper before martin and i would have to issue our sad farewells and return to mainz and leipzig respectively. we ate so well, all taking our fill and subsequently taking earl and talking long into the evening before it was time for our dear guests to slowly make their ways back out into the cold of the evening. dyxz, martin and i managed to somehow remain assembled around the table into the early hours, brewing pot after pot of the earl, talking long on what became such silly subjects; managing to squeeze the very last out of such a glorious weekend.

monday morning was cold and wet, grey skies and a faint drizzle of rain falling across the whole of the ruhrgebiet. we gathered at the table one last time for frühstück before the marching on of the hour forced us to begin our farewells. martin was reduced to disappearing first, taking the bus back to mainz and how, but a short while later, dyxz was in turn driving me back to the hauptbahnhof where the pressing time forced us into fleeting farewells. i found a seat on the train and sat staring out of the window as the ruhrpott slowly disappeared from view once more, and how my heart was heavy with all of the weight of these forced separations, but how in my heart i rejoiced at the wonderful magical warmth that lays within the hearts of all these amazing souls. there are so many flickering lights of hope in this dark world, how lucky we are to be able to witness them gathering together, and playing our own part in this ongoing play.

sending so much love to all of the skribblepott family, the buriers and every soul that still believes

keep safe and warm

jamesreindeer

connewitz, leipzig

19th november

2013

reporting from connewitz

gentle readers, might i take this opportunity to reveal some of the current facts in the ongoing case, detail my current whereabouts and hint towards all that appears to be growing near on the distant horizon. the short summer and autumn months caught me in a great spiral of chaotic activity and how it prevented me from finding ample time to be able to detail the myriad events which filled the warmer seasons. but now the slow, steady long of the winter is coming upon us, i am gladly finding myself with much more time to be able to word my reports and to be able to devote more attention to studio projects.

having been forced to reduce myself to leaving the rhein-main, my warm home for a little over the last three years, i can now gladly report that i am settled in the connewitz safehouse in leipzig, east germany. a strange series of events over these last four years or so has finally found me residing in the very same compound in which the jamesphoney & jamesreindeer 'mausoleum handout' live album was recorded so many long moons ago now; not long after i first settled in the depths of gut city, leaving sunny england behind me. but how i might reveal that i am very glad to find myself here and so very keen to produce some great work in this most historic of cities.

amidst the duration of the dyxz.born.rndr tour as the cold of the slow spring turned into the sudden warmth of the short summer, i found myself beginning the planning for a new solo release which would fit somewhere within the throne burner canon but that would enable me to explore some ideas which i had been toying around with on a theoretical level since the blackest depths of the summer of last year, whilst i was in close communion with babelfishh. he and i birthed the world of throne burner amidst chaos and turmoil, which soon bore the dyxz.born.rndr extension, and how i wanted this new project to be a further extension, exploring facets of the sonic landscape we have been pursuing as an extended group whilst bringing in some of the themes i wanted to explore individually.

to that end, and upon returning from our touring through germany, switzerland and the czech republic, i found myself setting about the beginnings of a this new solo project, my work being divided between the mainz safehouse and the connewitz compound, which i was by this point regularly travelling between. the first texts for the project came to me in the still of three nights in leipzig as the warm summer breeze blew through the open windows and the muse caught me swiftly. the first glimpses of loops and melodies arriving during the heat of the daylight under the azure summer skies in the mainz safehouse, and after six weeks of steady toil a new release, my first official full-length solo release, and my first 'reindeer' related full-length release in more than four years is almost upon us.

for now, i shall hold back further details until i can be sure of informing you of an accurate release date and all the other pertinent facts therein. but i can indeed reveal that it will be a cassette release on the mighty mism records, that it shall contain forty minutes of material, that i would describe it as some kind of arabian-psychedelic-free-jazz-doom-rap, that it features the impossible talents of j.mason, now revealing himself as a member of the iron filings and sellotape collective, the masterful clarinet of m.born, the sonic architecture of dyxz, the swarming trumpet of babelfishh and that there shall be a series of videos to accompany the release, the first of which shall be emerging imminently. stay tuned, indeed.

so now, here i sit in the safe confines of the connewitz compound, sipping black tea by candlelight and preparing the various final strands of this upcoming release, along with a host of other materials. again, insisting on being vague, i can also reveal that i am currently working with a series of beats from a host of staggering producers in the form of a number of 'features' to be released on a variety of formats in the steadily approaching future. i shall say no more, other than that it is a varied selection and how all of which are particularly inspiring for me to write and record to, so i am expecting good results from myself over the course of the coming moons.

perhaps needless to say, there are countless other strands slowly drawing themselves out withing the whole, and how i shall attempt to find time to be able to detail as much of them as possible. the winter is surely the time when one finds oneself huddled up by lamplight more than not, and what better way to utilise the time than be able to set ones thoughts in the direction of this strange and long ongoing. i shall be sure to word more on the myriad strands as soon as the next window of opportunity affords me to do so. until then, might i thank you for your interest and promise that there are many upcoming ventures which i am wholly confident shall bring strange new worlds of thought into keen focus as the dark of the winter extends long and frozen across the grey realms of the western lands.

jamesreindeer

connewitz, leipzig

29th october, 2013

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

we drove south out of karlsruhe as the gloomy rainy weather began to set in and followed the autobahn with the throne burning spire of cathédrale notre-dame de strasbourg and the dark extents of the schwarzwald laying ominous in the east, the observatory and japanese guy to detail the ongoing soundtrack of the droning road and the steady concrete skyline of zürich with its fields of cranes ready to greet us as we finally rolled into the city under heavy rains, the prime tower looming resplendent in its shimmering hues as we found our way to the mism zürich headquarters and the wonderfully cosy residence of the ever-magnificent captain manu and his incredibly kind-hearted girlfriend lena. how they welcomed us in out of the rain, immediately had earl grey brewing and detailed the plan for the evenings schedule over the warming brew.

before long we took to the street once more and made our way down to the klubi under the steadily-building rainstorm to load in our equipment and set about the soundcheck process. the venue can certainly be described as something very special indeed. a cavern sunken in a tree-lined spot below the abandoned trailines running beside the river, an old carriage still standing lifeless above a small cavern-club replete with open stone walls and mysterious hieroglyphs in the water-etched granite walls. we soon got some really great sound happening with the aid of the marvelous patrick and also quickly managed to exchange the glad-hand with the mighty borut savski, with whom we would be sharing the performance along with ueli the super-nice manager of the site; a marvelous set of gentlemen indeed.

with all in hand we made our way back to manu's place under what had become incessant rain, the dark of the night already threatening to set in and a cool chill within the breeze that had us think we were being drawn back into the autumn once more. still, how lena, now accompanied by the wonderful alicia had set about preparing us such a fantastic vegan dinner for us all which i could not hope to do justice to with these humble lines. needless to say we took our fill, along with a host of always fascinating and illuminating conversations, our anticipation building for heading back to the venue, taking in the work of borut, not to mention our own humble performance. we wrapped ourselves up against the dismal elements and returning to the klubi on foot and under umbrellas and the blanket of the night having since fallen.

how the sanctuary of the atmospheric location seemed doubly so as we finally made our way out from under the downpour and into the dark, smokey cavern of the venue, darkly-lit and so welcoming. gladly, goodly number of close friends and strangers began to arrive, and in time to catch the fascinating work of borut savski, who treated us to a peformance and brief lecture on a suitably mind-bending audio-visual project he had been crafting in isolation as an experiment and was demonstrating the principles of for those of us lucky enough to be in attendance. he was essentially using randomly generated audio elements to trigger two-dimensional geometric visual elements to build an ongoing, and very-much trance-inducing sensory experience. fascinating work indeed.

after the hallucinatory depths of borut's work, dyxz, martin and i were ready to take to the stage to invoke some suitably dark sounds for those assembled within the stone walls of our temporary compound and directly set about a forty-five minute set of blackened-drones, monolithic doom-walls and spectral moments of frozen still; creating as atmospheric and enthralling world as we could summon within the limits of our confines. it was an absolute delight to perform indeed and how the kind audience were so very attentive and stayed with us along the course of the journey and offering such kind applause upon the final, grim culmination. a roaring success indeed, and one that we are already so very keen to repeat.

with the live performances handled and the merch-table manned for an adequate amount of time, it was time to spend the rest of the evening propping up the bar, listening to the mighty manu spin endless classic vinyl on the 1210's and chatting cheerily with those dear folk still assembled. but the time raced by as always and how the night slowly began to draw itself to a close. we slowly began to gather our weary selves up and take one last walk back through the still heaviest of rain to the apartment to start to think about falling into the dreaming once more. not before another round of earl grey at the kitchen table, of course. but how we were soon ready to fall back into the sleeping, to dream blissful dreams of drone-lands and sound-fields stretching out into clouds of radio-waves sailing high above farm-lands of antenna masts.

the morning greeting us cheerily, and with perhaps a little respite in the rain situation. we gathered together around the kitchen table and took an ample breakfast together before having to think about heading quickly back to the location to packed our gear into the car and starting the journey towards the mism bern headquarters, luana headquarters and the residence of the utterly-legendary mich moser. all was very much in hand and how we were in good time to take to the road as we bid farewell to the mighty manu and the wonderful lena. how they had been such impeccable hosts and how it had been such an absolute pleasure to visit them in their beautiful apartment and to get to share such a splendid time together; a really wonderful time indeed.

still, we were not quite through with zürich yet, and had one more stop to make before taking the autobahn south-west to bern. a complicated route through the city lead us to the compound of the mighty epilog of the magnificent son kas and postrap familia. he had marvelously managed to find himself in attendance at the show the night before and simply insisted that we must stop by before leaving the city, an offer impossible to refuse. so we soon found ourselves ensconced in his apartment, sipping tea and being stunned by an ongoing series of musical works-in-progress which took in his new collaboratory project with other rappers, his new solo works, self-produced and otherwise, and culminating in an auditioning of the viciously-shocking postrap supergroup armageddonendzeitstress, and how there is nothing quite as shocking as unexpectedly having your faced chewed off by soda as an end-point. this all too brief and all too shocking had to come to a close though and, with farewell hugs aplenty we found ourselves back on the road, back towards the impossibly-staggering beauty that is the city of bern.

might we once again take a moment to offer our most warmest thanks to captain manu, miss lena, ueli, patrick, alicia and the klubi family, the mism family, the postrap family, the whole extended zürich family and indeed captain borut, how it was a magical experience and how we so very much look forward to next time indeed.

next field report - eight-hundred years on the banks of the aare

jamesreindeer,
mülheim an der ruhr, deutschland
18th 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 2013 - monolith worship

so, how it would appear that we are already in the very thick of the dyxz.rndr european tour, and how the back-dated field reports are piling-up thick and fast. so, as dyxz and i attend to chores back at the decorative stamp safehouse in the rhein-main during some off-days, might i take this moment to try to begin to detail some of the initial facts in the ongoing case. all is much of a blur already so how i already imagine that these reports will read a little muddied, a little blurred; but i will try to keep to a linear time-frame as much as possible that things don't become too complicated, too fast.

having deliberately found myself up in the ruhrpott for the 4th skribble birthday party the foundation was laid for what would become an ongoing exercise in tour-planning, rehearsing, song-writing, graphic design and video work amidst a thick earl grey haze as dyxz and i steadily counted the days until our first shows whilst taking in the myriad delights of the ruhrpott and getting to spend as much time as possible with the dearest skribble-family. but how the days did indeed race by and, before we knew it, the tour had begun and the first show was upon us.

april 25th, duisburg, de. our first show was scheduled with the almighty walter gross and the monolithic devilman at the near-legendary djäzz jazzkeller in duisburg. despite the ever-so-slow unfolding of the spring the day of the show afforded us all such balmy weather and how dyxz and i found ourselves in the city in good time to link with the very awesome christian, sebastian, jenny and sascha who effortless helped to arrange the proceedings for the evening before we made our steady way to the djäzz to begin sound-check preparations and wait for the arrival of the troops.

before long the devilman team and walter gross pulled up, fresh from their route out of berlin and how we gladly all immediately got on like a house on fire. how i can most-sincerely report that the devilman gentlemen are astonishingly wonderful chaps and how absolutely splendid it was to meet our bold captain walter in person after all these long years. we threw ourselves in to the sound-checking tasks with much gusto and managed to get everything sounding suitably epic in time for the arrival of the first dear guests.

dyxz and i were most modestly operating as 'local support' for the performance and thusly took to the stage promptly once enough folk had made their way through the door, and how i can gladly report that, despite some possibly glaring technical errors, our set was a real success and an absolute delight to perform. we kept it short and sweet, and utterly-dark; knowing that the sounds which would follow would only grind deeper into the sonic depths of terror. still, how the kind words which were offered to us once we had stepped off stage were the most-enjoyable part of all. a wonderful first official performance indeed.

but how the waves of terror only began to escalate at an unworkable pace as the mighty walter gross took to the stage with his twin-mpc set-up and how his set can only be described as utter devastation. within the first phases we had quickly left 'beat' territory and found ourselves sinking impossibly within layers and layers of ever-darkening drones, howls and moans and all the while a steady stream of vocals, chopped samples and unsettling ambience permeated the whole until the final terrorising climax. without a doubt a truly epic performance and one that can only have been permanently burned into the consciousness of all in attendance.

yet more horrors were still to unfold though as the phenomenal devilman began their set. how it is almost impossible to describe the effect their music has in a live context. again, we were soon outside of simple 'beat' territory and experiencing a vast, monolithic wall of bass frequencies only bolstered by such weighty beats and sinister melodic tones. how it was much akin to the awesome power that sunn o))) evoke, but within the more rigid and mechanical framework of 'beat' music. yet further, with the audience completely annihilated by their set, they invited walter and i back onstage to join them for what must have been a ten-minute noise-improv piece that must have been akin to standing at the foot of an erupting volcano; utterly-blackened-monolithic-low-end-darkness. forever.

still, how as they must, the show came to and end and farewell hugs began to circulate before we all made our weary way back to the mighty christian's apartment to spend the rest of the evening in a steadily blurring haze of conversation, nonsense, musical talk, tea and forward planning. we could all most-certainly agree that it had been a really awesome night indeed; a great show, so much fun and another collection of super-special memories to carry with us along the path. with the dawn steadily beckoning we all managed to find our way to our sleeping place for the night and drifted into the dreaming with walls of low-frequency-noise holding us close.

the morning came around so fast and how the marvelous jenny had safely procured two heartily-stuffed bags of brötchen from the bäckerei and how dyxz and i took our fill, along with tea on the balcony watching the trainlines under the overcast grey as walter and the devilman duo slept on a little longer. but after a few errands we were all soon assembled together, gathering our thoughts and thinking about the next steps of the adventure. the day was much cooler and how heavy rain began to fall as dyxz and i helped the troops load up into their car and bid them fond farewells as they made their way on to maastricht and we to our continued preparations for the rest of the tour.

...so, might we offer huge, huge thanks to everyone involved in the show, to the wonderful devilman and walter gross, and to all the marvelous souls, dear friends and loved-ones in attendance...

next field report - buried deep within the eternal drone

jamesreindeer,

mainz, deutschland

15th may 2013

four years of skribble

oh, how fast the time races by; how the third skribble birthday party seemed like just last week, but a different lifetime in the same breath. how we had spent all year waiting for the next birthday and how, endlich, it was at last upon us. last years' party was the highlight of what drew itself out to be a suitably cruel year, culminating in this darkest, longest of winters, and then what better way to mark the slow rising of the spring, the changing of the clocks than to commune together once more under the sublime banner of all things skribble-related; to bathe in the magical other-world that they seemingly effortlessly manage to conjur from some distant dream of a whistful memory.

it was with much good fortune that i found myself travelling north on the saturday morning of the party with the magnificent brothers iskandar; having spent the previous day with the whole rubbert twist gang shooting what shall surely prove to be a very splendid set of live-performance music videos, and how this little road-trip was the perfect antidote to the chaos and draining nature of the day before. our path had us move from the oppressive cold of the rhein-main to the even more oppressive cold of the ruhrgebiet and saw heavy snow begin to fall as we found our way to bochum and the rotunde, the new location for this most important of ceremonies. it transpired that i was the first of our number to arrive and, in wishing fond farewells to raid and chris, i cautiously stepped inside.

i was immediately greeted by the most jovial team of three souls who were attached to the location and attending to a number of chores in preparation for the evening, and it was immediately clear that the skribble-team had gone above and beyond any expectations i had of how special the location would appear under their amazing decorative stylings. the main wohnzimmer was awash with the most beautiful imagery which i subsequently learnt was procured from schools in the area throwing away old teaching materials; a truly amazing find indeed, and so beautifully arranged throughout the space; the effect truly magical indeed.

before long the skribble-gang soon began to arrive, each one setting about attending to their specific chores as the final transformations were made to the rotunde to turn it into a magical paradise for one night only; a truly remarkable feat indeed, and one demonstrating the unparalleled effort and attention to detail which sets the skribble-parties a cut above the rest. but still, amidst viewing this magical climax of the transformation how wonderful it was to be able to greet each family member with hugs and smiles as they arrived; the amount of kindness and love from this beautiful group of people really is deeply moving indeed. how a group of some the kindest souls i have ever met would ban together to create parties with the atmosphere that perfectly mirrors their warm, welcoming hearts; i am truly honoured to find myself a part of this world.

still further, how absolutely wonderful a moment when my dearest brother 2econd class citizen would walk in alongside the almighty glen porter, with whom i had not crossed paths in many, many a long moon; as well as the marvelous kevin mathews with who i had not previously been formally acquainted with. those boys had been on the road for a little while and had some adventure stories to tell indeed, and how it was all their first visits to the skribblepott, so how much of an added pleasure it was for me to be able to introduce them to as many of the family members as possible, and how my excitement was only building for their live performances a bit later on in the evening.

soon enough the evening was upon us andmthe guests started to arrive in droves; perhaps five or six hundred was the final tally, and how each and every one seemed to be swept up in the magical vibe that the skribble-team had created. before long the skribble dj-team was murdering it, the live performances were storming away; 2econd class citizen and kevin mathews killing it so hard, glen porter destroying all, and a very special mention for the mighty young frederic robinson who played a stellar debut performance featuring his really special brand of electronic-wizardry. each room was filled to capacity with guests, all with wide smiles, but it is always the way that there was scarcely enough time to take everything in; the night only lasting so long.

with weary eyes it became clear that the dawn had crept upon us and that the party was drawing to a close. farewells started to be made at intervals and how tentative plans were drawn up for future meeting times; both sooner and later, and how all our hearts were filled with such gladness and light after such a special communion. for our own part dyxz and i bid the remainder of the gang our fond farewells and stumbled back to the hauptbahnhof in the freezing cold of the morning to take an 07:16 service back to mülheim; a week or so of music-related-activity ahead of us. and so we rested our heads to sleep with thoughts filled with a haze of beautiful new memories to cherish; to carry onwards as we slowly begin to anticipate the fifth birthday party.

how i would very much like to take a moment to send all of my love to each and every one of the skribble-family; how i am so deeply moved by the kindness of each and every one of you, and how much it means to me that you would welcome me into your world so fondly. i shall always be forever grateful that our paths would have crossed, for all of these amazing good times over the last four years, and for all of the wonderful times still to come. let us all take a moment to celebrate the entire skribble-family; a unique group of decent, kind, caring, wonderful souls; taking steps to create magical times of close-communion within this oftentimes dark and lonely world.

happy birthday dearest skribble family

keep safe

jamesreindeer

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