Both Hands Turn To Heaven (Matt Kinnison RIP)

Long-time Cindytalk friend and collaborator,Matt Kinnison,died on wednesday 7th of May.Matt who had been part of the Cindytalk family since 1982 (having co-written "Under Glass" from the Camouflage Heart album) had been ill with cancer for some time.He died peacefully at around 11am after deciding he had endured enough.I saw him a few hours earlier and let him know that his spirit would continue to shine through all of our future work.And whilst it was very difficult to see him so close to death,he had almost never looked more beautiful.It was an absolute privilege to spend that time with him.He told me he was 16 when he came to audition for Cindytalk (when David Clancy and I lived up in East Finchley in 1982) but we subsequently discovered he'd lied and was only 15.I thought he was too young to be considered as our bass-player at that time but had a strong feeling that here was somebody very very special, somebody that would get better and more interesting through time.He proved me right and more.He wasn't always the easiest person to work with,he didn't just have foibles he had FOIBLES... but he was more than worth any effort made and he showed that time and time again,especially with his bass-playing and tape manipulations on "The Wind Is Strong" & "Wappinschaw".We had been in rehearsal to play live when he had to stop due to a shoulder problem which was later diagnosed as lung cancer.We had also been working together on new material over the last two years,notably, "For The Benefit Of All" and "Silver Shoals Of Light",both of which were written by myself and Matt.A new Cindytalk album, again written between Matt and I ("Hold Everything Dear") had just been completed before Matt's condition worsened,rendering him unable to create any new sounds.Cindytalk label touchedRAW had been planning to release Matt's stunning album of yayli tambur pieces "Evenings Of Ordinary Sand" but had been held up due to the petty deception of our back catalogue being stolen.But we will endeavour to bring that plan to fruition as soon as possible.Matt always worked very hard with his music and he did so right up to the end.He will be sadly missed by all those he came in contact with.Rest in Peace Matt,seek out those corners,wherever you are.You will always be with us.We love you.

Gordon Sharp/Cindytalk

Matt,

You asked me for a shaman to help you on your way... this was written some time ago but maybe i can imagine you near and i'm whispering in your ear...

this journey is fevered
and i'm moving between the lines
in a corner of the sky
where it's dark around the edges
where pity holds sway.
i'm trying to stay dry
for now
hot then cold
i'm slipping in and out of focus
at times i hover
then i'm still
maybe for days.
and then like now
i'm falling
flying
swooping...
like the golden eagle
i can see all things from this vantage point.
i hear you sigh
lost in that distance
of warm bodies
of silver shoals
of light
of flying too..
it's never cold up here
even when it's snows
even when i'm naked.
and you on the edge of adventure
close your eyes
close your eyes
close your eyes
we're falling
flying
swooping...
touching wings
like the inuits kiss
up up up
into the cool blue sky
caressing..
i change my name from icarus
to shaman ghost-echoes
and take my place at the mouth
of every river
dancing with the wind
with the moon
with the love of a million stars
embrace..
and when you reach that edge
and a long long long way down
close your eyes
close your eyes
close your eyes
and feel the ghost echoes...

(Originally posted by cinder on cindytalk's myspace)

Wishing you well in your next journey,Matt.We will be listening...

Flickered Fiction

I recently found this fictional cover for "It's Luxury" by Cindytalk fan Robin Parmar and it made me think about the scarcity of Cindytalk singles.
Is there any particular reason for that?

"Glaciales et psychotiques.Unique et fascinant".

That's how French magazine Elegy describe "It's Luxury",the Cindytalk track included in their Sampler 52 that accompanies the magazine of the same number.There's also a one-page review of the ill-fated reissues:

Minty Archaeology

Despite having released just two singles,The Freeze's repertoire live was surprisingly large.Some of those songs can be rediscovered in David Clancy's youtube project (see Links list).Last year I came across a four band compilation EP from an Edinburgh label called Playlist Records that contained a Freeze reference.A track by "Twisted Nerve","Neutral Zone",was "based" on a song "written by Gordon Sharp for and perfomed with The Freeze".



Any recollections of this song?

Craigmillar,the place

On 30th April 1978, the Anti Nazi League/Rock Against Racism (RAR) march and carnival took place in east London's Victoria Park.The succesful and seminal event was repeated in other parts of the UK and was also held in Edinburgh's Craigmillar Park in the summer of 1978.
As seen in the programme,The Freeze also joined the occasion but The Clash never turned up...Another band,The Scars had to hurriedly leave the stage ... : Freeze biker gang?!

"From the Mountain"

Demo track from "Hold Everything Dear"

Photo by Cinder

SilverShoalsOfLight Updated

"So here is another update on the CINDYTALK 10" out soon on Bluesanct.Most importantly, WE HAVE THE VINYL! and goodness is it pretty and it sounds FIERCE! I was on tour with a friend for all of February, during which time I had hoped to have the b-side of the vinyl screenprinted with the image Gordon gave me... Unfortunately, the image was too detailed to work out, and so we are looking into other ideas for the screenprint, hence the delay.In the meantime, I hope to sort out the sleeve this weekend, and shoot it off to the printers...AND SO...We are making slow, but sure, progress... I will update everyone again soon, with pre-order info and a price, so you can be the first in line and be sure to get a copy of this gorgeous piece of sound and vision by CINDYTALK! All good things...Mkl."

Photo by Spaewaif

Magic-Revue Pop Moderne

The January issue of French magazine Magic included a two-page review of the reissues.
Thanks to Stanislas (Trinity) for the initial information and to Christophe Basterra,author of the article,who kindly sent copies.

Reissues Reviewed

Whilst Cindytalk themselves are keeping quiet regarding the reissues of "Camouflage Heart" and "In This World" ,various websites,fanzines and magazines have been reviewing the remastered and repackaged records.
This silence is due to totally unforeseen and indeed very unpleasant circumstances brought about by the releasing Italian label and Cindytalk are therefore heading towards legal action.
It is not my place to discuss this matter here but - to illustrate the situation - I will just mention the fact that to this date,Cindytalk are yet to receive ANY copies of the releases in either vinyl or CD format from the label,as well as any royalties or contractual payment.
Cindytalk were absolutely delighted to have their back catalogue reissued and worked hard to make these records available but the joy has all but evaporated.
Bruised once again (cf. Midnight Records and World Serpent),the band is now looking into new possibilities to release the back catalogue through their own label.

Aquarius Records, the oldest independent record store in San Francisco,
included these reviews in their highlights of the week:


CINDYTALK Camoflage Heart (Wheesht / Scratch) CD (with 12 page booklet)/ LP printed inner sleeve



"Longtime regular aQ customer Joshua Maremont commented that Cindytalk's Camoflage Heart is a record which was only really meant for about 30 people. Not that only 30 copies of this record were released, or that it is so terminally obscure and willfully difficult that it by design has a marketing ceiling of an elite few. What he's on about is that Camoflage Heart is such a personal document of self-realized torment, pain, and sorrow that when Cindytalk embarked on the project, it's hard to imagine that they had any delusions about the intensity of this album and the potential for these songs to alienate beyond a limited few.
At the helm of Cindytalk is transgendered vocalist Gordon Sharp, who to this day is probably still best known as one of the multitude of vocalists who appeared in This Mortal Coil. In many ways, Sharp is the masculine equal to the Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser in delivering expressionist falsettos, trills, and banshee wails in an eerie, yet heavenly fashion. He's one of those few vocalists who can make the lyrics embody their content by shaping the words into emotionally charged sound. In fact, Sharp and Fraser had come together for a duet back during the Cocteau Twins' Peel Sessions of 1983. In his 4AD lineage, Gordon Sharp's first band was the criminally overlooked punk-glam ensemble The Freeze, where his Marc Bolan strut matched the nightmarish lyrics on top of some truly fantastic Bowie / Buzzcocks sparkplug riffs. Sharp, alongside fellow Freeze band members John Byrne and David Clancy, found shortcomings in the glam punk agenda, and sought a wholly new direction that became Cindytalk.
While undeniably dark and theatrical, Cindytalk cannot be pigeonholed as an '80s goth band, even in comparison to such off-kilter groups like The Virgin Prunes, Princess Tinymeat, or Sex Gang Children. Camoflage Heart was Cindytalk's first album and originally came out in 1984; and it's an album like those This Heat albums which is quite unique in terms of production and aesthetic. The album opens with the militant drum machine of "It's Luxury" setting the stage for an explosion from a monotone guitar riff, coated in amplifier grit, distortion, and detuned heaviness that comes across as a mix between late-'80s Skullflower and The Cure's Pornography. At this moment, Sharp's voice also erupts into the mix crooning with a downtrod beauty to this industrial dirge, spitting and swooning at the same time. The next track "Instinct (Back To Sense)" is more of an ambient interlude with distant heartbeat rhythms, haunted with impressionist piano trickles and Sharp's siren song buried between an atmosphere of smoke and mirror. Two more explosive tracks -- "Under Glass" (featuring Mick Harvey from the Birthday Party for a disjointed stutter of abject rock) and "Memories of Skin and Snow" -- are examples of loud / quiet / loud dynamics, later embraced by the likes of Slint and Mogwai to equally profound effect. "Everybody Is Christ" is often viewed as the pinnacle of Camoflage Heart with its harsh arpeggiation of electronics cast against Sharp's heavenly voice. Soon after, the album disintegrates in a cascade of delicate piano, voice, and grim drones.
As Cindytalk had suffered through the fate of several record companies going out of business (first Midnight Records then World Serpent), their work might have been forgotten had it not been for this reissue. Thankfully, that oversight can now be remedied with this long overdue reissue."

CINDYTALK In This World (Wheesht / Scratch) CD (with 20 page booklet)/Gatefold 2 LP WHITE VINYL printed inner sleeve


"So the rumor goes that Gordon Sharp was invited to join Duran Duran after Sharp dissolved his Edinburgh glam-punk band The Freeze in the late '70s. He turned them down. Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie also put out the request for Sharp to join the Cocteau Twins. After a brief stint accompanying the Cocteau Twins for a Peel Session in 1982 and a guest spot on This Mortal Coil's It'll End In Tears, he opted for his own project -- the obscure, yet majestic Cindytalk.
In This World is an opus in every sense of the word. Originally, In This World came out in 1988 as two separate albums under the same name, each with slightly different artwork. One album, a masterpiece of abject post-punk that in all honesty is the closest parallel to Swans' Children Of God; the other, a delicate ambient construct of melancholy piano scarred with surface noice prognosticating pretty much everything that Type Records has released (e.g Machinefabriek, Jasper TX, etc.). It's a very good thing that both of these albums have been repackaged into one self-contained object, as the only half of In This World that seemed to be floating around was the piano-laced ambient one. As good as that half is, you need the grit and dirge of its companion album to complete Cindytalk's ideas of grand dualities: heaven / hell, pleasure / pain, holiness / transgression, etc.
While billed by Sharp as the 'disgusting' part of the In This World diptych, the first half begins with a lovely tonefloat of scratched violin drones and painterly piano notes. Yet, with the crushing rhythm and noise attack of "Janey's Love," Sharp does not disappoint with his disgusting tag. This is a monstrous industrial dirge with huge monotone slabs of distortion and atonal drones counterpointing Sharp's soaring falsetto. The punk poet Kathy Acker supplies a brief spoken word interlude as the coda to this incendiary number. Immediately hereafter, Cindytalk continue their turgid rhythmic marches with an angular distorted rhythm, slippery bassline mired in audio rust, and twin guitars spitting acid, fire, and brimstone on such tracks as "Gift Of A Knife" and "Circle Of Shit." As the first half of the album progresses, the songs steadily disintegrate as rhythm, song structure, and noise all collapse into a blur of smeared grey that is eerily reflective of William Basinski's Disintegration Loops. The piano which opened In This World becomes the dominant sound in Cindytalk's soundscapes, also marking the delineation between the two halves of In This World. Yes, this is the beautiful side of Cindytalk, coated in ash, snow, bruises, and rust. Gordon Sharp's piano playing comes from Brian Eno's Thursday Afternoon, which in turn came from Erik Satie; and that impressionist sentiment continues forward amidst subterranean drones and field recordings of barren spaces. Sharp's voice is mostly absent from these tracks, although the eponymous finale to the album showcases one of Sharp's most emotive croons. They really don't make albums like this any more, with such attention to detail and dynamics between rage and beauty.
Fortunately, both of these records were concise enough that they could both fit onto one CD; and if you've not had the opportunity to hear Cindytalk, please do not let this album and its predecessor Camoflage Heart pass you by!"

Lacquered

Reference lacquer for Cindytalk's Silver Shoals of Light 10",
coming on Bluesanct in early 2008.

Photo by Drekka

We disappear

" WE DISAPPEAR is the third novel by Scott Heim. It is published in paperback by HarperPerennial, and will arrive in bookstores on February 26th.
This short trailer for the book provides the atmosphere for this psychological thriller about obsession, addiction, and loss, a book that should please fans of Heim's earlier MYSTERIOUS SKIN (which was adapted for a 2005 film by director Gregg Araki)."
Accompanying music by Cindytalk.

From Scott Heim's blog:
I've spent the last few weeks working on a promotional video / trailer for We Disappear. Michael and I (and my HarperCollins marketing team and I) have been discussing the possible publicity options for writers, and I've been wanting to make something like this for a while; after a couple of potential collaborations fell through--collaborations with folks who know more about creating this sort of thing--I finally took the advice from the excellent Joseph G-L to just do it myself. So I did. The result is below. Thank you to Brent Covington for letting me borrow his movie camera; Apple for the super user-friendly iMovie; and the saintly Gordon Sharp of Cindytalk for granting me the use of his song "In This World."

Flashback Feedback

The Freeze 1979

David Clancy,co-founder of The Freeze and Cindytalk,recently started a project on youtube to highlight the band's early work.
So far,TheScottishFreeze shares music from 29 tracks, many of which are absolute rarities.An added joy are the comments from band members.



"Trance"
Song recorded in 1979 for a Freeze side-project called "Pinktones":
"I remember that project was on the outside of the Freeze and I always referred to it as Pinktones.
One of the tracks,an instrumental,was often used as intro music at Freeze gigs (when we needed a change from Nico's Frozen Warnings)".
"Laughing"
"One of the very early Freeze songs captured live in Blair Street Edinburgh circa 79".
"Underglass" (Instrumental)
"Matt Kinnison plays Bass, David recorded the sax and rhythm on top.
(Can't call it drums because it was his bed, a couple of pillows and if you listen closely a bunch of keys).
This would eventually end up of the first Cindytalk album with guest drummer Mick Harvey of the birthday party doing real drums."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"David recorded the drums using pillows with books under them if I recall.
Oh and you can just about hear the change in his pocket as accidental percussion ;-)
How brilliant was David Clancy!!! This is also the first time we recorded with Matt Kinnison,I think he was 16 at the time,you can hear him say "did you get enough" {bass] at the end.
Wonderful stuff."
"Some Kind Of Journey"
"Somewhere between the Freeze and Cindytalk.This tune probably heralded the end of the Freeze. Bounced at Blair street on reel to reel as it was by David, Gordon and Neil. a jolly good way to spend some time on a wet afternoon in Edinburgh!"
"In A Strange Light"
Recorded live,probably at Linlithgow Academy.
"Videoscream"
Encore recording.

"Entretien avec Cindytalk"

Cinder interview for French webzine/fanzine Trinity,
August 2007,part 1.
Trinity will soon release a 10th anniversary compilation CD titled
"Ruines and Vanites" to which Cindytalk contribute two tracks:
"Canto" and "Surrounded by sky and the stillness of time".
The CD comes in an edition limited to 500 copies of which the first hundred are especially numbered and contain inserts.

CINDYTALK

Entretien privilégié avec Gordon Sharp (aka Cinder), figure culte de la scène underground depuis ses débuts débuts post-punk avec Freeze, puis Cindytalk, en collaboration avec Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, Pankow, Black Rose... ou dans ses digressions électroniques sous le nom de Bambule (cf: R.W. Fassbinder).

Partie I:

Since « Wappinschaw » Cindytalk almost disappeared, why?
We heard about your electronic projects (Bambule...), but what about Macbeth...?

Cindytalk has always existed in half-light,so "almost disappearing" is something we are very good at... It has been a difficult journey and invisibility is often very necessary so that we can concentrate on the work.Concentrate on the passion.
Shortly after recording Wappinschaw,the record label we were contracted to,Midnight Music,went bankrupt.The assets of the company were in the hands of a British bank,who were in no hurry to sell us our back catalogue and unreleased material.It took us a couple of years to wrench the rights to our work away from the bank and at the same time stop Cherry Red records from buying it as part of a "job lot" along with the rest of the Midnight Music catalogue.
During those years [early 1990's] we regrouped,started writing new material and began to rehearse to play live for the first time.
It seemed obvious that if we weren't able to concentrate on recording [due to lack of label and finances for decent recording equipment],we might as well try to see what we could be like as a live entity.
So in 1993 Paul Middleton [drums],David Ros [engineer] and myself hooked up with Paul Jones [guitar],Andie Brown [bass] and Mark Stephenson [tapes,sampler & keyboards] and began a new phase for Cindytalk.
At the time most of us were squatting in the Hackney area of East London,so it was relatively easy for us to rehearse without cost at any time we wanted to.It allowed us a lot of room to be playful with our ideas.I actually consider this a classic time for Cindytalk and although a lot of our work [in rehearsal] wasn't heard by many outside [until we started performing live],it was one of the most creative and inspiring times for me personally.In that period we were also starting to become more and more influenced by the London underground techno scene.The structure of the sounds,the parties and the dj sets had a huge impact on us and although we didn't immediately try to make techno music ourselves,those shapes and structures were beginning to creep more and more into our improvisations.This all led into Bambule and beyond that,my work in Los Angeles with Darkmatter Soundsystem.
Macbeth was in many ways destined to become a one-off project.In truth,the track "Help Me Lift You Up" was intended to be a Cindytalk track [for the cd compilation Volume5] but I never felt happy with it.The line-up on the trackwas all wrong.Robin Guthrie and myself managed to cancel each other out,leaving only Nadia Lanman's cello as a bright spot.I decided not to use the name Cindytalk as the whole process lacked the energy or creative spark that was always present in our recordings.It just felt wrong.In doing so,I had a brief flirtation with the idea of more songs of that nature but time just moved on so quickly and left that idea in its wake.It's always possible that I will return to the idea of recording some acoustic based songs in the future but I doubt if I will resurrect the name Macbeth.

You often talk about Scottish culture and mythology, is it always an important influence for your work?


Yes,it is important to me.I was born and brought up in Scotland,weaned on the stories,the music and the songs of our history.I love the poetry of Scottish folk culture and I use the word poetry here,not in the literal sense of poems,although I love them too but in the broader sense of the use of imagery,rhythm and dynamic.
With that passion I can't imagine not being inspired by it within my own work.I also think the landscape of the country or area you were surrounded by whilst growing up,affects who you are and what you do.Scotland has a ragged and sometimes desolate quality but the people are warm hearted and often sad.Not without hope but melancholic.The bad weather could be a reason for that melancholy but I think also the fact that ultimately we are a tiny country that has been subsumed by a larger one [England],which means we are less of a force within our own destiny.I think this affects the psyche of Scottish people and at times gives us an identity crisis.This is compounded by British reluctance to fully identify with being European.The Scots generally feel European and a lot of us see ourselves as Scottish first,European second,bypassing being British altogether.
However by law,we are British,and this makes British leanings toward the USA,as opposed to Europe,all the more galling.
"It's shite being Scottish", I think Irvine Welsh said in "Trainspotting".Half right,the other half gives us a reason to be alive and to remain being creative... Alasdair Gray often begins his writings with the words "work as though you are in the early days of a better nation",I think both those quotes are an essence of being Scottish,the desolation of being a conquered people and the hope of a better future... Those same elements collide within the work of Cindytalk.

When you began Cindytalk,which bands and artists were you listening to?

I remember very clearly the moment I decided to detonate The Freeze and create Cindytalk from the debris. It was late in 1981 and The Freeze were on a trip to the Northwest Highlands of Scotland to play some gigs.I had made a special tape compilation for the trip and one of my band members had done the same.Those tapes were to be the spark that signalled the end of The Freeze and the beginning of Cindytalk.I remember being appalled that my band members' tape was filled with middle of the road classics like Donna Summer,Phil Collins,Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd whilst my own was full of fucked up punk and post-punk tracks by the likes of The Slits, Subway Sect,The Mekons,Fire Engines, Pop Group,The Fall,Josef K, Clock Dva,Scars, P.I.L.,Virgin Prunes, Birthday Party,etc.The dichotomy presented by the tapes alone wasn't the real problem but the conversation that came from it,highlighted some very serious differences in attitude and direction between the band.I was left thinking that my personal vision for the future of the band was not fully supported by those around me.So at that moment I started to dream of something more far reaching,more exploratory.Something edgier,darker,something more poetic...
I started to dream of Cindytalk.
Along with those artists mentioned above,in the early stages of Cindytalk,I was also listening to Test Department,Einsturzende Neubauten,SPK as well as the music I grew up with.I was a crazy Roxy Music fan when I was a youngster and that led to a lifelong love affair with the music of Brian Eno [pre-1985] and related artists.The eponymous Roxy Music album followed by their second album "For Your Pleasure","Human Menagerie" and "Psychomodo" by Cockney Rebel,and the "Ziggy Stardust"/"Alladin Sane" period David Bowie were a huge inspiration to me.Random artists like PeterHammill & Nico.British punk circa 1976-1978 and not forgetting Scottish folk music.
I always considered Cindytalk in its beginnings to be a post-punk band,maybe the second generation of post-punk which led into industrial and gothic,although, I've never considered Cindytalk gothic.

The death of Midnight Music and the difficulty to found records via World Serpent sadly affect the possibility to hear the music of Cindytalk.Is there a chance to found again the whole discography of the
band (self-production via TouchedRaw...)?

Yes,the intention is to set up the touchedRAW label so that it can activate as much of the back catalogue as possible and also release new and existing [unreleased] work.
Beyond that,I would like to release other artists as well.We don't have much money at the moment so it will take some time.


Stanislas , vendredi 31 août 2007

"...then switch to PERFECT CALL..."

"You sit and watch the trains go by,a memory for all,
a life is lost but none too sad then switch to perfect call..."

Early Freeze song from a demo tape circa 1979

silvershoalsoflight

December update from Bluesanct Records:

"This is an update on the progress for the CINDYTALK 10".

The vinyl has been mastered direct to lacquer at Golden Mastering (who
were wonderful to work with), and it currently at the record plant. Test
pressings and labels are being made right now.

I hope to have the vinyl soon after New Years, keeping us on schedule for a hopeful FEB 08 release.

Once the vinyl is in hand, I will begin the process of arranging to have
them screenprinted locally by a friend of mine. As well as the process of
having the covers printed by a friend in Chicago.

Once I have quotes on both those portions, I will be able to figure out
the cost for the entire project, and come up with a price to sell them at.
At that point, I will email you all again with info on how to pre-order
the single.

It's going to be GORGEOUS! Wait until you see this thing... wow!

I would like to thank Gordon and the band for letting me release this
single. I hope to work with them again and again, and have dreamed of
such since I first heard 'In This World' in 1987.

Silver Shoals of Light.
Mkl."

Songlines

Last Friday Nov 30,Cinder and Shrill did a "CINdYTALK" set at The Loaded Dog,Leytonstone.
It seems the experience was good enough to encourage future exploration of singing accompanied by laptop sounds...

Photos by Poison Creeper

Colours and Flames

Sat. 29th of september. Night.
Cindytalk were caged as birds
but still flying.

The menagerie exploded with colours and flames.
Voice and bass and electronics and drums.
Cindy threw shapes like a strange ballet dancer
- ghostdance.

Oh and she wore a silver version of Dorothy's shoes
(Dorothy from Esmerald city of Oz that is).



Paul Middleton's bad good jokes (before and after gig)
were an absolute plus.
Fear quickly became
excitement.
Dreaming.
I was exhausted and definitely in heaven.



Cindytalk live at Behind Bars V
Dame Colet House,London
Sept 2007


Text by Fabrice
Photos by Poison Creeper,manipulated by spaewaif
Shoes photo by Magda

Lights

News from Bluesanct Records:
"CINDYTALK - Silver Shoals of Light art 10" (INRI084).
The third in our series of art vinyl, ltd to 500 copies w/ screenprinted vinyl and letter-pressed sleeve. Cindytalk are one of the utmost important artists in the experimental community, and since the early 80's have produced some of my favourite albums of all time.I am VERY excited to be issuing this brand new Cindytalk track..."

Their website catalogue news indicates this as well:
"CINDYTALK - Silver Shoals of Light 10" (INRI084)
A gorgeous 10" single, w/ screenprinted vinyl and letter-pressed sleeve".

silvershoalsoflight

Cinder at Buffalo Bar,August 2003
Photo by shrill

'We haven't yet found the means to live without speaking.'

Scene from Jean-Luc Godard's "Vivre Sa Vie" containing the sample that was used in the track "My Sun" from "In This World".


in this world, if i have no love, i have nothing.
said no to a silent tongue, no in silence, could it be
there was a way of saying that i didn't know. and just
as i was leaving some voice shouted. just shouted:
be strong in death. a real voice in a quiet low tone.
still shouting. nothing more. just shouting . . .


"The meaning of language is an important issue in Godard's cinematic philosophy, as seen most directly in My Life to Live (1962), in the scene between Nana (Anna Karina) and the linguistic philosopher Brice Parain (playing himself) where they converse about language and the necessity of talking.
Sitting in a café, they discuss the nature of words and speaking. Nana prefers not to talk, longing for a life in silence without words. Because the more you talk, the less the words mean, she explains. Words should express exactly what you want to say. But they don't. They betray us, she argues. Parain understands Nana's longing for a wordless life in silence, but as a linguistic philosopher he does not agree with her.
According to Brice Parain, you cannot live without thinking. You have to think, and in order to think you have to speak. Thinking demands words, because you cannot think in any other way. Such is human life, concludes Parain in his lecture on our dependence on language as human beings.
And such is life for a filmmaker, one might add, with reference to Godard's numerous reflections on the essence of the cinematic language in his articles, films and interviews.
"Language is the house man lives in", as Juliette (Marina Vlady) says in "Two or Three Things I Know About Her".
About thirty years later, Godard repeats this linguistic reflection in JLG/JLG - Self-Portrait in December (1995) as the narrator of the polyphonic inner dialogue in his film:
"Where do you live? In language, and I cannot keep silent.
When I am talking I throw myself into an unknown order for which I then become responsible.I must become universal."
(Peder Groongard)

The Sweetness Loop...

ARTAUD LOOP

*ANDIE:
Do you remember the little song that kept wafting out of the ether on your amp paul(y)? The one from "In This World" that kept cropping up in the middle of rehearsals in Ashwin Street?
*CINDER:
That sound that kept coming out of the amp at rehearsals was the "sweetness loop",used at the beginning of "Touched" (In This World).
I'd found that whilst surfing radio waves back in 1983,during the "Camouflage Heart" sessions.We always thought it was a Portuguese radio signal.But that it should mysteriously re-appear to guide us through our rehearsals to play live more than a decade later was very beautiful indeed.If I recall it also followed us on our U.S. tour in 1996 as well... spooky....

"There's enough elegy in "Touched" to melt an invading army..."
(Melody Maker,1988)

(Artaud loop by Azriel)
(Crackle Series photo by Cinder)

Behind and Beyond

CINdYTALK LIVE!


BEHIND BARS V
29 Sep 2007, 22:00
Ben Jonson Rd. Stepney Green, London, London and South East E1 3NH
Cost : £3-5
Supporting:
The next QueerBeograd festival
&Anarchists Against the Wall (AATW)








"Cindytalk will be playing their first full line-up gig in over 11 years,we
will be playing as part of the Behind Bars V event at Dame Colet House
in Stepney,east London on Saturday 29th of September.The band for
the night is one of the classic Cindytalk line-ups and alongside Cinder
will feature Paul Middleton on drums & Percussion,Paul Jones on guitar,
Andrea Brown on Bass & Sherrill Crosby on Electronics.The set will also
include a laptop live "dubstep" set by Mark Stephenson as The Mook.
Also playing that night will be Devotchka's Conundrum,HRTK & others."

"And now it's playtime"

(CINdY 1985, Abstract Magazine)


I'm with you tonight without mask or clothes
I'm in your hands like a leper I crawl and hide burnt by the sunlight and chased by the cold.
We're in some strangely-lit room no signs of decay until twilight falls over us to show us our way
beyond the comfort of loneliness we follow our footsteps dancing dancing...
I'm lying naked on the floor with my hands held up high
Something is forcing down upon me scarring my body gashing..
A piano plays quietly lullaby-like in the background
Won't you fuck me with your sin
A child rushes into the room,crying... but takes no notice of me lying naked on the floor
She walks over to the window and throws some bread to the birds by the wall
She stands by the window for a while just watching the birds then runs back through the room laughing...
And now it's playtime and some pathway through a laugh and a jolt and a laugh
Your train-stations are my radio-waves
In no mans' land
Some kind of romance
Some kind of romance...

(CINdY 1982)




From ABSTRACT Magazine Issue 5


"Playtime" was especially recorded for this project,it wouldn't exist otherwise.
We wanted to do something short and suggestive rather than structured and clear.
It was a step beyond "Camouflage Heart",though an uneasy,tentative and only partially succesful step".

For the recording of "Playtime",Cindytalk was:
Gordon Sharp: Voice and percussion
Debbie Wright: Voice and instruments
Alex Wright: Instruments
John Byrne: Instruments

Recorded at Alaska Studios,London

(Added to the player)

More on the Wrights and Cindytalk

Powers of Ten (1977)

A while ago,I came across this information:

"Btw, I had a duo with Gordon during that period, dubbed 'Pills for Ills' for the Wexner and Cleveland Cinematheque live performances of new film scores we had composed (to accompany two of Charles and Ray Eames' great films, 'Powers of Ten' and 'Tops') as part of the avant garage music/film series, for a couple consecutive years of its run"...
So I asked Phillip, for more...

"I met Gordon in the late '90s shortly after he moved to Columbus, Ohio where I have lived since 1990.
At the time, I was working in an 'art house' video rental store that was called Aardvark Video and he became a customer there. We soon became friends and shortly began to collaborate on the music/film scores.
I was then, and still remain, enamored of the Charles and Ray Eames films- some of which I saw as a child in my early school days- and I had recently rediscovered them after reading a book by Paul Schrader ('Schrader on Schrader') in which he devoted a section to them.
I had begun making music for short films a few years earlier, mainly by participating in an annual series called the Avant Garage Music and Film festival, which my friend Tim Lanza organized and ran for about 8 or 9 consecutive years.
The general concept of the series was to have several artists or groups compose new scores to accompany existing (often silent) short films, and to perform these live with the film screenings in a public venue for an audience.
I suggested to Gordon that we should attempt to re-score the Eames' films 'Powers of Ten' or "Tops",depending on his reaction to seeing them for the first time. We first watched 'Powers of Ten' and he responded immediately to it, even DJing along with it on this first viewing, if I remember things correctly.
He happened to have had some records already selected that- by sheer coincidence- seemed to work perfectly for the film, and we decided immediately that we would perform a new score based on this for the series. Gordon would perform with two turntables and I would be adding electric static and guitar noises. This was performed at the Wexner Center for the Arts and was well received.
We enjoyed the experience ourselves and decided to do another score for the Eames' film "Tops" the following year for the next installment of the series. Gordon was to be away during the dates of the actual performances, so he contributed to the score with a recording of a piano piece he had improvised some time earlier.
This piece also happened to accidentally work perfectly for a major section of the film and I found it easy to incorporate this into what was otherwise a drum and melodica-based score.
I performed it alone on melodica along with the recorded piano and drum pieces for the film screenings which occurred in Columbus and Cleveland, at the Wexner Center and the Cleveland Cinemateque, respectively.
The name 'Pills for Ills' was a purely ridiculous one I had chosen to use for this second collaboration of ours, partly because I believed I would have to present it myself in Gordon's absence and didn't want the ads to specifically list (or NOT list) him by name as appearing."

Between 1950 and 1982, Charles and Ray Eames made over 100 short films ranging from 1 to 30 minutes in length.
They also made slide shows and multiscreen presentations.
From 1953 is this visually stunning production,

A Communications Primer
Delightful.

Related article in Senses of Cinema

Up Here in the Clouds

From Isolation Recordings website:



"For its first CD release of the year,
Isolation is delighted to announce that this will be
Up Here In The Clouds by Cindytalk.
Up Here In The Clouds is a laptop set by Cindytalk,
who for the past 25 years have been beguiling
and challenging listeners with their beautiful,
uncompromising sound.
The album will be released in a limited edition of 500."

Imagery

The two bottles found in some Cindytalk-related images come from Smile Magazine,produced by Stewart Home in 1985.
About his graphics,he has said:
"...my graphics are usually simple. A prime example of this is a photograph of a packet of tea with the word 'FREEDOM' underneath. These two elements set up a simple but effective dialectical opposition between the slogan 'FREEDOM' and the historical reality of the production of tea being based on slavery.
So while there isn't necessarily much visual delectation to be taken from the graphic and it only requires the viewer to look at it for a few minutes, for anyone intelligent enough to understand how the racket we call society is organized, this combo could potentially spark off hours of thought on the inequities of commodity production and the bourgeois world."

"Haud yer WHEESHT!"

In January 2007 Cindytalk signed a licensing deal with Italian distributors Abraxas.
A sub-label,Wheesht, will shortly be re-issuing their entire back catalogue,re-mastered and re-packaged.
Wheesht will be "run" by Gordon Sharp and longtime friend Maurizio Fasolo of Italian band Pankow.

Sharps' own label touchedRAW is in the process of releasing three albums:
* Cindytalk - "The Crackle Of My Soul"
* Matt Kinnison - "Evenings Of Ordinary Sand"
* Ship On Fire - "Bits And Bobby August"
London independent label Isolation will release another Cindytalk album, "Up Here In The Clouds" (2007).

No more heroes

"No more heroes"
A Complete History of UK Punk from 1976 to 1980.
Written by Alex Ogg.
Published by Cherry Red Books in 2006.