this is exactly what it's like : numbers 011-020

no.011 : prison soup - bill veeck

without a doubt one for the 'songs for my own funeral' list. performed by babelfishh on the out-of-tune piano that was subsequently burnt ceremonially for the 'scathing sentiments' video, and featuring the blistering twin-chew of himself and evak, devastating line after devastating line. there are few vocal combinations that can drive a song as hard as the 667 texas league members operating together at full capacity. i first heard this tape on the rooftop of a crumbling apartment block in gut city under a blistering spring sun having just returned from the cool of the mountains of the l'abruzzo. things have never been the same since.

no.012 : raekwon - glaciers of ice

i am about to turn seventeen years old, taping funkmaster flex sessions from westwood's radio one rap show, picking up vinyl from wyld pytch, selectadisc and mr. bongo, rocking oversized bleubolt jeans, airwalk gto's with fat laces, a stussy shirt, a tommy hill hoodie and a carhart baseball cap. riding my chrome bmx around croydon and working on my freestyling and dj-ing skills whilst continuing to start seriously thinking more about my beats and rhymes; as if the summer would never end. so much classic material was released that year, that summer, but this one 12", criminology / glaciers of ice. the drums, the samples, the flows, the lyrics. utterly hypnotic, utterly captivating, and still standing the test of the time with each new summers' passing.

no.13 : ol' dirty bastard - snakes

it is the summer of '95, late at night, and i am riding my bmx through croydon on a solo night mission, headphones on, 'return to the 36 at full volume', every song just blowing me away with every listen. but then 'snakes' would come on and just up the ante one-hundred fold. that old kung-fu flick sample intro, the bassline rising like a vast serpent from the desert sands, the utterly monolithic beat driving it forward, then this utterly spell-binding vocal sample to lay a serene and soothing veil across the track before the killah priest begins the immense waves of staggering vocals, each emcee drawing us in further and furhter, layer by layer, and i need scarcely attempt to draw attention to ol' dirty's verse itself; pure madness, especially by mid-nineties standards, yet so utterly captivating, affecting and so driven, sheer delight in the hypnotic delirium.

no.14 : perseph one - ey you

in the turmoil and chaos of the summer of 2012 this song was a calm center in the long-storm. the steadily measured-out mahavishnu sample, the relentless beat, and perseph's utterly enthralling flow and lyric sheet, calm and meticulous. devastating line after devastating line, bar after bar. a mirror readjusted into a mosaic. a burning hot summer sun beating down upon the rhein-main, texas winds of 667, slow movements through the chaos of the long days, the azure blue of heavens and the white-washed walls of the hof, earl grey haze and penning lines in notebooks to be returned to once the relative cool of the night descends.

no.015 : scaramanga - seven eyes, seven horns

with the first stab of the organ i close my eyes and wait for the drums to come crashing in. it is forever the summer of '98 and i am forever in paul slater's car, late at night, turning from the coulsdon road onto petersfield crescent, returning home from another night taking in another hip-hop show in the city. gazing out of the window, the shimmering starlight, the warmth of the evening on the breeze and scaramanga's relentless bars, him detailing nostalgic scenes over the hymn-like track, and now these nostalgic teenage dreams are my own. that intangible sense of youth, of feeling as if always on a new path, even with long childhood memories already gathered. i was fifteen... this is exactly what it's like.

no.016 : hank williams iii - country heroes

it is spring 2009, and i am in oskar ohlson's old apartment in mainz, germany, with babelfishh and jamesphoney. after spending the previous six weeks touring through north america and europe we found ourselves with a day off, and spent it near-motionless, moving between oskar's room and his balcony, sweltering in the unexpected heatwave that proceeded the fierce rainstorm which would follow the subsequent evening. babelfishh had a few songs on a beaten-up usb stick for our listening pleasure. this was the first time that i head 'holiday of sisiphus' and 'big top telos', twin-devastations from the forthcoming third papervehicle album, still a year from release, and also the sounds of hank iii utterly owning this amazingly-simple track, which has been stuck in my head ever since.

no.017 : songs:ohia - two blue lights

a song that feels as though it has always been with me. how i have auditioned its lilting tones in so many places, at so many different times, different stages in my adult life. how it has come to haunt me with my own memories as it first haunted me with some strange knowing or understanding the very first time it's saddened tones echoed out before me. this sensitive brevity, these few simple lines, this simple text to transport us directly there. we are within the moment, completely lost within the moment, and it is as if all truly is lost. but how some poetic beauty remains, to instill within us a vague hope, the flickering candle-light holding us close til the dawn rises.

no.018 : tortoise & bonnie 'prince' billy - the calvary cross

i first heard this track soon after its release, when a close friend at the time brought over his newly-acquired vinyl copy. the album spoke to me a little, this track being the highlight, but it was not til many years later that i came to fall under its spell completely. it was the end of the summer of 2009 and i was in sardegna, in fertilia, brewing tea on a camping stove under the bright starlight, feeling the gentle breeze blowing in and listening to the whispering of the long grass that outlined the estuary making its way inland from the sandy shore. this soothing song sounding out from a portable cassette player and the waves of peace, calm and tranquility describing to me exactly what it's like.

no.019 : songs:ohia - the body burned away

the bleakest of devastation. the body burned away. one of the first songs: ohia piece i heard, in a folder of loose mp3's from a friend which arrived in time for me to directly scoop up the 'didn't it rain' vinyl and fall deeply into this haunting, hypnotic, desolate world. there is something so definite, so measured, so exact, so precise in this peace; this slow-unfolding that jason molina was so adept at crafting. it is the slowly crumbling monolith, being slowly worn away by the elements, the slow grinding into dust of all things, the inevitable fate of anything that dares to stand in the depths of the unending storm. this is exactly what it's like.

no.020 : babel fishh & oskar ohlson - grayest work day yet

as much as i have religiously auditioned their twin vinyl releases, each time i hear their songs i am directly transported in my thoughts to all the myriad live shows i have caught of the ohlsons alongside babelfishh across the murky wastes of the old world. from kellers to bunkers, to az's to bars and clubs, and always the same unstoppable wave of energy that, once unleashed, can only bring about wave after wave after wave on twin-headed chewing madness over the hardest of hitting band setups. babelfishh's text, rendered whole with secondary vocals by winterismyname combined with the musical might of oskar ohlson always charts newfound heights of artistic energy. this is exactly what it's like.

keep safe

jamesreindeer

leipzig, deutschland
23rd 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 - 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

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

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

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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