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

leaving the rhein-main

after what has proved to be many, many long weeks of blurry activity, and after more than three long years, i am forced to announce with mixed emotions, that i have been reduced to bidding farewell to the rhein-main; a place that had very much began to grow to feel like home in my heart. the reasons are many and various, but how the passing of time seems to ensure that everything keeps moving forward, and this is the next step on the path that i am taking.

it is with mixed emotions indeed. how these last three years have been so eventful, so richly-rewarding, so turbulent, so flooded with activity and travels, so filled with artistic enterprises of all kind. my thoughts are awash with so many different instances bringing close recollection of all the myriad moments spent amidst the dearest rhein-main family, between darmstadt and mainz, wiesbaden and frankfurt; too many moments to be able to comprehend indeed.

how i would want to extend the warmest hugs and smiles to absolutely the whole of the rhein-main family; all of the darmstadt family, the mainz family, the frankfurt and wiesbaden families; of course giving extra love to the whole of the mighty knertz family indeed. but also, to make a point of singling out the incredible oskar ohlson and meike winter, who very much took me under their wings and offered me more support and warmth than i could ever hope to describe in these humble lines.

still, this is very much not a goodbye. how i shall never be far from the rhein-main, and how i shall for sure be returning much sooner rather than later, for their is still much music to be made, many projects to continue, shows to be played and many moments for close congregation. but how i would very much like it to be known that i will be carrying so many warm moments, kind souls and gentle thoughts in my heart as i venture onwards along the steady path. until then, here's to this digital world that keeps us near when far.

sending all the love

jamesreindeer

connewitz, leipzig

deutschland

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

summer of discontent tour

gentle readers, might i somewhat belatedly take the these moments to officially confirm that i shall indeed be joining babel fishh, oskar ohlson and winterismyname for certain stints of their ongoing 'summer of discontent' tour throughout europe over the next few moons. i have thusfar been confirmed for five shows across next week and shall be sure to attempt to elbow my way onto any more that may or may not transpire as the season continues.

so, do be sure to keep your eyes on the facebook event page, which contains all of the relevant information and stay poised to anticipate updates as more shows become booked between now and october. and might i also be so bold as to reveal that i amongst lucky others have had the chance to see the newly reassembled fishh/ohslon/winter live show and how it is simply staggering indeed, you must take the opportunity to catch them at some point before babel fishh heads back to texas in the autumn.

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tour dates thusfar :

29.7. mühlheim - az

30.7. aachen - az

02.8. eisenberg - tba

03.8. leipzig - stö16

04.8. karlsruhe - halle14

also :

07.8. saarbrücken - dock iv  [a band of buriers / babelfishh / jamesreindeer]

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also. since it seems like a most poignant time, might i also encourage you to very, very keenly anticipate their forthcoming 'we'd rather not' 10" vinyl, which shall be appearing shortly via knertz shortly. i am lucky enough to have heard the almost-final mixes and how it really is something of an astounding release indeed. two years in the making, featuring a raft of knertz contributors, vocal spots from a host of cleaver-leaguers, winterismyname absolutely killing it, not to mention babel fishh and oskar ohlson in full control of their formidable artistic powers.

still, finally. it might be only fair of me to also offer a dire warning that, naturally this upcoming stint of shows shall see babel fishh and i in close proximity, and therefore we are very much on the verge of unveiling the first throne burner material on thusfar unsuspecting audiences along our travels. i shall say no more, but it would be wise to anticipate the possibility of the unrelenting blackening darkness to swarm out from various locations across the old world shortly.

keep safe, be well

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

video evidence from the 1,2 piecefest

very happily i found myself invited to play at the very awesome 1,2 piecefest at the oetinger villa in darmstadt last weekend, a splendid affair, now in its third year, and curated by the very awesome adrian woodhouse and scarlet scamper from the knertz collective. a raft of amazing artists graced the stages, all of whom were absolutely smashing it indeed.

for my own part, i had the opportunity to be the first to take to the stage and got to perform a really enjoyable set of my more uptempo tracks as well as a number of really enjoyable freestyle pieces, one of which was captured by the steady hand of the mighty chryso. be sure to have a little look, should time permit.

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