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

fbcfabric & reindeer - instrumentals - out now

ladies and gentlemen, almost exactly eight years after its first official release, and in the wake of the recent release of the original extended version, might we at last present to you the complete, unabridged instrumentals for the almighty 'it's not who you know, it's whom you know', now available for digital download from both the fbcfabric & reindeer bandcamp page, as well as my own jamesreindeer page.

nineteen songs, spanning seventy-minutes and taking in the full-gambit of tracks from the original full-length version, at last presented in instrumental form to take in the myriad subtleties of the astonishing production of the mighty fbcfabric, as well as my own humble efforts. be sure to fix yourselves copies, bathe in the magnificent musical array and marvel at the detail which makes up the mighty whole.

keep safe, get involved

jamesreindeer

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