Mego Press Release for "The Crackle Of My Soul"

(Click on the photo for an enlarged version)

Fugued

Last Wednesday (29/7/09) Cinder was invited to sing during the last part of Peter Rehberg's set at Fugue.

Of this completely improvised collaboration,Cinder has said:
"I interacted for the very last part of the set to computer music of an abstract nature but brilliantly filled with implied melody so for me it was perfect to sing to.I didn't do any "big" singing but rather just put a simple human voice into his machine-music.Disembodied but attempting to connect."



Peter Rehberg,also known as Pita and based in Vienna,is author and performer of electronic audio works and operates the Editions Mego label that will release Cindytalk's "The Crackle Of My Soul" in November.

FUGUE is a "weekly intervention from 7-11pm on the 4th floor and roof terrace of 23, providing a safehouse for the unsafe and unfettered with rarest and various accompaniment. Come get lost. "

(Photos by Shrill.Thank you!)

"The Spirit Behind The Circus Dream"

Video uploaded by musicaeternal.
Music by Cindytalk.
Images from David Lynch's "The Elephant Man"

French Tournée

2009/10/02 20:00 @ L’Heretic, Bordeaux, Aquitaine 33000
Cindytalk plus Oharu and Hypos.

2009/10/03 20:00 @ Le Floride Rue St Domingue, Nantes,
Bretagne 44000
Cindytalk plus Les Modules Etranges,Hide&Seek
and Wehwalt.

2009/10/06 21:00 @ Kab De L’usine, Geneve,
Cindytalk plus Blind Cave Salamander

2009/10/08 20:00 @ Le Klub 14 Rue Saint Denis, Paris,
Ile-de-France 75001
Cindytalk plus Hide&Seek

2009/10/10 20:00 @ Epicentre, Cherbourg,
Basse-Normandie
Organised by Trinity

Cindytalk will also be performing what promises to be a very special gig in Edinburgh
on 2009/10/24 20:00 @ The Voodoo Rooms 19a West Register Street, Edinburgh,
Scotland EH2 2AA
(Cindytalk plus support and dj’s).

Release of "The Crackle of My Soul"

"The Crackle Of My Soul" will be released by Vienna based label editions MEGO on November 2nd 2009.
(catalogue number eMEGO 097)
MEGO are planning to release two more Cindytalk works:
"Hold Everything Dear" and "Up Here in the Clouds".
Excellent news from an excellent label.

Silver Shoals of Light

To the Room

"Shapes of Words or Hints of Words"

In 1984,Issue 4 of British magazine "Abstract" published a three-page article about This Mortal Coil.
I am scanning some of it here since it contains a Gordon Sharp photo that you seldom see,together with questions regarding Gordon's work for Ivo's project.



General scans of the magazine:

Scotland's Punk Rock Heritage

Although The Freeze ceased to exist officially by 1982,I was pleasantly surprised to find them mentioned in an American punk magazine last year.
The Issue no. 4 of Loud Fast Rules,published in the summer of 2008,contains a 7-page special titled "Scotland's Punk Rock Heritage".
Consisting basically of the same review found in the punk77 website (click on this post's title to follow the link)),for a band whose discography comprises just two singles,it is quite an achievement to be remembered after so long!
Interestingly,The Freeze item appears on page 66...

"Wallace Rise,Old Jack Must Die"

(Illustration for Lanark, Book 4 by Alasdair Gray)

pursue this gold this gift you hold
deep within and deep below
scratch and scrape beneath the surface
using bare hands for purity's sake
pursue this love this breath you take

During the recording of Wappinschaw,
a track titled "Old Jack Must Die" was recorded and discarded later.It was felt at the time that it didn't quite fit in the album as a whole.
The main ideas behind the song were possibly covered by other tracks in the album already and this song was finally shelved.
We are recovering it here in our player to pay further respects to Matt,whose powerful bass so muscularly propels the song forward as the heart of the voice and the network of nerves within guitar and drums propagate the signals.
Impulse for change!


John Maclean,USSR postage stamp 1979

One year on

"One year on...
One year since the passing of our dear friend Matt Kinnison.
It has been a very very difficult year but it's clear to me that Matt has been with us (all) throughout it all.
We will never be able to write or perform a single song without bringing him with us.

Love you Matt xxx"

(From Cindytalk's myspace)

Rare Rhino

Original August-1979 87x62cm Rock Against Racism
UK Tour Poster with The Freeze included in the line-up.


The Freeze at Ironmills Park, Dalkeith 1979.

Other Freeze flyers, courtesy of
The Edinburgh Gig Archive:

29th November 1978,Freeze & Johnny Colon at Picardy Place.


15th December 1978 The Damned, billed as The Doomed, support band The Freeze.

"Infinite Archive"

From Freeze Set List. . .

(gig at the Milton Hotel,Fort William,1980)

...to Cindytalk Set List...


(from the American tour,1996)


Official tour poster for Cindytalk's 1996 USA tour.
Full color, approx 17" x 22".

(Thanks to Debbie Wright,Daar and Alexei Luthor)

"Nothing Happens in the Absence of Noise"

The latest number of Datacide (10) includes "SilverShoalsOfLight" in one of their DJ charts (DJ Nemeton from Darkmatter Soundsystem).
The 10" is also sold through the related Praxis Records shop.
Datacide and Praxis have been a massive inspiration to Cindytalk since 1993 and it was Christoph Fringeli who first introduced Cinder to the Jacques Attali quote "nothing essential happens in the absence of noise".

Writers&Musicians

Scott Heim's latest novel "We Disappear" contains an appendix titled "Further Reading and Listening" where he explains the importance of music in his creative process:

"My writer friends think I'm nuts because I often listen to music when I work.
I wish I could create a soundtrack for my books:certain sounds and textures and atmospheres that could accompany the reader's experience of the narrative.
Although I listen to a pretty wide variety of music,there's a certain type I play the most when I write.
It's often instrumental;it's often dreamy,eerie or sad.
Some of the album titles even illustrate the mood of the music: A Strangely Isolated Place;Music to Submerge In or Disappear Through.
Below,I've made an alphabetical list of the recordings I listened to the most during the years I was working on We Disappear..."

The list of author's picks include Cindytalk's "In This World",which he also used as the soundtrack for the
book's trailer.


(Photo: The Boston Globe / Eric Jacobs)

From an interview in magazine "Identity Theory" :

-Have you ever collaborated with a musician in another way, like write lyrics for someone to sing?
Have you recorded any music yourself?

*When I was in college, I was in three different bands. I played drums for years--I tried to emulate a lot of the drummers on Factory Records, heavy on the floor tom, that kind of thing. One of the bands I was in did some demo tape stuff. But that career never got off the ground, obviously. Now, though, one of the greatest things about publishing a few novels is it's made me feel legit when approaching musicians I love--I can send a person something I've published, and say "Your music has inspired me, here's my book." I'd be overjoyed if someone ever asked me to collaborate with them.
I've become close friends with Gordon Sharp of Cindytalk and John Grant of The Czars, but I haven't actually worked on music with them.

Allegro Review

European Reviews

DARK ENTRIES,Belgium

Approximate English translation by Hoshino:

"This is the 3rd release in the 'Art Series' singles by the friendly BlueSanct label, of which Pantaleimon's 7" 'Under The Water' is also part. In all cases, an artist is asked to compose a track, which then is released in limited edition on vinyl. On the unplayable reverse side,it then features artwork by another artist. The choice for this release was the obscure, yet influencial Cindytalk. This project of the Scottish androgyne Gordon Sharp has been releasing albums since 1983; they vary from chaotic and emotional Sturm und Drag over poetic movielike soundscapes to pastoral neofolk with a noisy edge. Besides this, Gordon Sharp is mostly known for his contributions to This Mortal Coil's debut single '16 Days/Gathering Dust' and the subsequent album "It'll End In Tears". This Mortal Coil was somewhat accessible, Cindytalk rarely are. This 10" also excels in unconventionality. In exactly 5 and half minutes Gordon Sharp and Matt Kinnison lead us through a dark soundscape, mixed with Sharp's half-muttered vocals... to end in Cindytalk's noisy side. They will (hopefully) never get tired of it... This piece wouldn't have been out of place on the more acoustic part of the two-piece 'In This World' or on their soundtrack 'The Wind Is Strong' made for the movie 'Eclipse'. To those who can't get one of the 500 copies of this little gem, there's hope: BlueSanct already hinted that Sharp & Co are again recording. To coincide with this release, Cindytalk have been performing live again for the first time since... 1994(?).
Who will bring them to Belgium soon?"



SANDS-ZINE,Italy

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~~.~.~.~~.~.~.~.~.~.

"...Outside history is falling like snow..."

In the mid-1970's,Gordon Sharp went to see the legendary Van Der Graaf Generator many times.
They were a fairly strong influence on the music of The Freeze and Cindytalk.
Currently their drummer,Guy Evans,plays with Subterraneans.

Debbie Smith,of SPC Eco,Curve and Echobelly,was in one of London's first lesbian punk bands,Mouth Almighty.
Debbie Wright,once a Cindytalk member,also played with them.

On Dec 10th 2008 Cindytalk have been invited to play a gig alongside Subterraneans and SPC Eco at The Gaff,London.

"Quivering with reflections of the future..."

" QUIETLY BURNING ON A SUNDAY NIGHT

Water flowing / feather burning
Angelic drone floating
A bell chimes (several times)

The voice

Multitude of sounds - ever heard of sonic constellations ? -
Always up
NOIZE poetry
LOUD very LOUD
Attacked
Almost surrendering
Still...
Going UP UP UP

And then

DOWN
CRASHING INTO THE SEA

Calmness of the endless horizon
The gentle moving of waves

To the bottom of the sea, she sang (mermaid cindy doll)
Quietly burning / quietly drowning
Caressing guitar chords... unexpected

Down to
The bottom of the sea

Like luminous fishes dancing into the Abyss

That was Cindytalk that night
10/12/08 @ the Luminaire in Kilburn London "

(Photo and text by Fabrice. Many thanks! )

The work behind the silver

Today sees the official release of "SilverShoalsOfLight" on
Bluesanct Records.
This 10" vinyl is a limited edition of only 500 copies on black vinyl with a screenprinted b-side and letter-pressed sleeve.
The sleeve was created by Chicago-based Rebecca Ann Rakstad of
Rar Rar Press.
Rebecca does letterpress printing using handset wood and metal type and a Vandercook Universal I press to stunning results.
Here we have stacks of the printed letter-pressed sleeves:



The offset printed front:

This is the plate on the press for the back side of the sleeve:

Rebecca decided to make a poster with the remaining extra paper and came up with this!:

Type used for the poster:

The vinyl print on the b-side of the record featuring the image at the top of this post was made by Keith Wright at What Press.