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I post updates and new music every few days.
Bandcamp Subscription #8 now available
My concert in Copenhagen at the start of September is next month’s Bandcamp subscription release available as a full quality digital download and limited, hand typed physical edition.
My train from Rostock took the long way there and arrived half an hour late. I took the most expensive taxi in the world to arrive in time for a quick soundcheck and a round of hellos before Illemann started the evening and I listened from backstage, quarantined and instructed not to venture out front.
I felt that I played a somewhat stiff set, perhaps due to the sensation of flying in and playing to a dark space under such conditions but I enjoyed myself just the same, took my time and listening back later I’m ok with sharing the recording now. Many thanks to Rasmus for the invitation and continued support for my thing and for everyone that came out this evening. I hope to be back in the new year with a little more time and perhaps feel a bit closer to the action.
07/09/20 alice
it don’t stop the bleeding
the royal canal
down down down
i do wrong
pure black coal
fold culinary
lover o lover
deserter
when i was away
make each other anew
super good advice
polly vaughan
so long song
we swam a little song
'cable' ep now available
‘cable’, a new ep of six songs (three new, one traditional and two from my last album) on electric guitar is now available as a digital download or limited physical edition to all subscribers over at my Bandcamp page here.
the ghost is the only one that beats my drum
polly vaughan
miller
fold culinary
the options here are limited
one bite at a time
Here’s a simple film I made for the new version of ‘fold culinary’:
'cable'
Six songs on electric guitar, including three new and unreleased tracks. Recorded a few weeks ago one rainy afternoon, headphones, lots of echo.
the ghost is the only one that beats my drum
polly vaughan
miller
fold culinary
the options here are limited
one bite at a time
The three new songs have also been recorded for my next album which I am mixing now and will be out in November. Not these versions, more instruments, more cables.
This EP available 01.09.20 exclusively to all Bandcamp subscribers. More behind the red button:
'bottle the grief and exile songs' physical edition now available
Over three evenings at the start of the lockdown in the back room of the L.A.Signorina pizzeria in Stuttgart, 'bottle the grief' was recorded and then quickly released as a digital download and subscription only physical edition in very limited numbers. At the time print shops were closed and it felt difficult to put together a full CD release. Now, a couple of months later and as some restrictions have been lifted, I’m making it available (with a companion set 'exile songs') as a double disc edition.
'bottle the grief' consists of nine new songs written in march, whilst 'exile songs' are older songs played during the same three evening sessions. It was an uncertain time and in the quiet, dark room (whilst the pizzeria was still closed) the songs came out slow and sparse. Chairs on tables, reservation phone set to silent and a deserted square outside.
The digital edition (on my site here and on Bandcamp here) includes a pdf of the lyrics and chords to all songs, whilst the physical edition consists of
• Two hand stamped CD-r's
• Full lyric sheet
• A playing card from the pizzeria
• Clipping from a book of photographs of busy Italian cafés by Walter Vogel, recalling a different time of social and working life.
• First edition of 100 numbered copies.
• €15 including full quality digital download and postage anywhere.
Full tracklist:
from the willows by the weir
slow go the dark days
the mistake was to make a character of the wild
miller
a carrion call
the week between the years
fold culinary
the rope
boys, i am worried
the leaving, or what’s left of it
make a dead one of it
trouble
440
super good advice
it don’t stop the bleeding
the royal canal
the hills are alive
'boys, i am worried' from 'exile songs'.
From ‘bottle the grief and exile songs’ available as a physical two disc edition here.
More words and thoughts about this release in the next days.
Bandcamp Subscription #6 now available
The August Bandcamp subscription release is now available to everyone signed up at https://thegreatpark.bandcamp.com/subscribe
The sixth in the series, ‘exile songs’ was recorded in the same three evenings as ‘bottle the grief’ and is a collection of older songs I was playing whilst writing and recording the new songs for that album. Track list goes like this:
boys, i am worried
the leaving, or what’s left of it
make a dead one of it
trouble
440
super good advice
it don’t stop the bleeding
the royal canal
the hills are alive
Some of these things I rarely play in concert, especially the last song ‘the hills are alive’, which I wrote and recorded back in 2008 and is a long, narrative thing with too many words.
As with all the Bandcamp subscription releases, the physical edition comes as a hand stamped CD-r with an individually hand typed cover, complete with random mistakes. I make all of these by myself and I’m not about to win any typing contests.
‘exile songs’ will be included as a second disc in a new, physical edition of ‘bottle the grief’ which will be available to everyone in a week. So, in other words, this instalment of the Bandcamp subscription is technically not exclusive and instead available to everyone soon. Subscribers do get all my releases as I make them and next month I’ll be back to putting things there that aren’t out anywhere else. I’m finishing an album of new songs at the moment and will be sharing music from that at the end of August. It goes on.
ps: here’s a video I made a few days after this post:
HOME TAPING IS MUSIC VOLUME 4
My song, ‘DOWN DOWN DOWN’ is available on the latest Woodland Recordings release ‘HOME TAPING IS MUSIC VOLUME 4’ which is out this Sunday and available to pre-order now right here:
Here’s the full track list, I’m in good company.
01 / FLORIAN VON AMELN / A KEY FIGURE
02 / REMENY / STILL BLEEDING
03 / SQUALLOSCOPE / ROEBUCK
04 / BIRD RADIO / CARDILLO
05 / PÁRAMO / MADEMOISELLE CHAR
06 / LUCY DAY / SNOW
07 / BIRD SEANCE - BLINKING INTO THE SUN
08 / THE GREAT PARK / DOWN DOWN DOWN
09 / DIE GEISTER BESCHWÖREN / EL MALECÓN
10 / JULIA LAURA / PESSOA
11 / THIRTY POUNDS OF BONE / SING (MADRON VERSION)
12 / DAVID HOPP / GOWNS
13 / TWENTY-ONE CROWS / KINGS
14 / STEFANIE & JULIA / MAGISCHE METHODEN
15 / (YOUNG) PABLO UND DESTRUKTION / DÍA DE LAS CASTAÑAS
16 / M. BUTTERFLY / ROOK, RAVEN, CROW
17 / MÄKKELÄ / CHELSEA HOTEL (D. BERN)
18 / THE DIAMOND FAMILY ARCHIVE - COME IN THE SPRING
19 / FARE / BROWN SOFA DEMO
20 / SAINT WOODPECKER / SORROWFUL WILLIAMS
This was quite the thing to put together and is a wonderful, dense collection. I hope you all give it a listen and perhaps find some people that are new to you.
Dunkelkammer
The latest in the series of monthly Bandcamp releases is now available at my Bandcamp page here.
‘Dunkelkammer’ is a recording of a unique concert I gave to just one person in the darkroom at St Arbogast in Austria last summer. 1 on 1 in the dark. A strange hour.
I wrote about this weekend a few times on here already but the darkroom concert was essentially one of a series of performances that I gave at the site over two of the hottest days in the summer. I played in pitch black darkness and couldn’t see my hands, let alone anyone that might be there. Songs went into each other, no applause came. Was like playing alone but with a purpose.
Here’s ‘The Woods Were Full Of Them’:
Pure Black Coal
The Royal Canal
The Woods Were Full Of Them
Song For Fee
What You Fear To Be The End Comes Around
The River Of Men Flows Without End
The Burning Of Two
So Long Song
The setlist went like that and, as with all of these subscription releases there’s a limited physical version that’s also available that looks like this.
This is the fifth release to all Bandcamp subscribers and anyone that signs up gets all of them, plus an additional bunch of other albums immediately. It’s 10€ a month and you can cancel any time and it’s a massive encouragement for me these days.
Have a lovely day and stay in touch please.
Stephen
'Hinterhof' released and 100% of any of my digital sales at Bandcamp today will go to charity
Today is Bandcamp Friday and, like the last couple of months, Bandcamp are waiving their fees for the day. That means that 100% of all digital sales goes to the musicians and labels. This month I’m donating all of what I earn this way to ActBlue, who are helping over 70 community bail funds, mutual aid funds, and racial justice organisers. Their website is here.
Please remember this is for digital downloads only and here’s a big button to click through. Away you go:
I already posted a song from the ‘Hinterhof” album and wrote some words about the whole thing last week. Here’s the post.
Bandcamp Subscription #4 now available
‘March Wood’ is the latest release for subscribers to my Bandcamp and is now available as a digital download and very limited handmade CDr edition here.
As with all of the Bandcamp subscription releases, I’ve made a simple physical edition with a hand stamped CDr and a hand typed sleeve. I send these out each month to everyone subscribed at the 15€ tier, and as of the time of writing there are 11 releases available immediately to everyone who signs up to the 10€ digital or 15€ digital + physical options.
Images of the physical edition and two videos from the release are below.
More music is coming next month as well as a new collection this Friday. Please check back for that.
Thanks all,
Stephen
SUPER GOOD ADVICE last week (free download)
Recorded at one of three little backyard concerts I got to play last Thursday afternoon in Nürnberg, here’s a free download of SUPER GOOD ADVICE:
This was obviously a rare chance these days to play songs in front of an audience and was a lot more fun than it could have been - many thanks to Simone and Daniel for their help on the day. More information about their ongoing series of concerts is here.
I recorded all three sets and have put together a 10 song collection which will be available as a free download at my Bandcamp page in a couple of weeks. Please check back for that or remind me if I seem to have forgotten.
March Wood
‘March Wood’ is the next subscription release through my Bandcamp page and will be sent out to everyone at the start of next month. Six songs recorded one afternoon in a forest near the village of Baach, Germany. Bird song, a little wind in the trees, field recording. Track list goes like this:
When I Was Away
Barbara Allen
From The Willows By The Weir
Fold Culinary
Suit Of Stones
Miller
A video for ‘When I Was Away’ which I filmed in between songs is here:
I’ve been playing the traditional song ‘Barbara Allen’ a lot for some years now and it felt like the right spot to play something like that. You can listen to that from this Friday here:
As always - the 10€ monthly option gets you all these exclusive releases as full quality downloads, plus 6 from my back catalogue and the €15 option gets you all that plus a physical copy which I’ll make and post out to you wherever you are. Simple? Simple. Hmm.
This is the fourth release since I started with the subscription plan so if you were to sign up this month you’d instantly get 10 releases (kind of 11) with this one joining them in a few weeks. It’s been a lot of fun to make things especially for those signed up and I hope that more people go for it too.
New album out today
My new album, ‘bottle the grief’ is now available on Bandcamp here.
Eight new, quiet songs recorded in the L.A. Signorina pizzeria in Stuttgart at the start of the lockdown and released in digital and very limited physical editions.
Here’s some (barely) moving pictures.
I hope everyone’s doing ok, will have more music very soon.
Thanks for sticking around.
Stephen
slow go the dark days
Last night in the room where I recorded ‘bottle the grief” - to be released this Friday the 1st of May. If you feel like pre-ordering it now that would be super good and if you feel like subscribing to receive the physical edition and a whole bunch of other music from me that would be even better. Either way, stay well and stay in touch please.
S
bottle the grief
Hi everyone
I have a new album of eight quiet songs that’s available for pre-order now and will be released Friday the 1st of May.
‘bottle the grief’ was recorded over three evenings in the back room of L.A. Signorina in Stuttgart a few weeks ago. One or two of the songs were written just after Christmas but most of them come from the first days of the lockdown when I was in Switzerland and then Stuttgart.
I have in mind to record some of these songs again with other musicians when we’re all able to move about a bit easier and these nights were always just about trying some new things in a good sounding room. The songs came full of words but light on tunes and it’s not perhaps the most sonically exciting thing to listen to. But as with all things it’s just a record and what was written and made and there’ll hopefully be more to come soon.
The album is available digitally through Bandcamp here and this time the physical edition is exclusive to those signed up for the Bandcamp subscription. There’s a few reasons for this - clearly putting together a physical release is a little difficult at the moment and I also just wanted to make something very intimate in a small edition. I’m also obviously not playing concerts at the moment so there’s really little opportunity to sell a lot of CDs. But if you choose to sign up for the 15€ subscription I’ll send you a copy, plus you get 6 albums to download from my back catalogue and the previous two subscription only releases. If you stay subscribing you get a new release every month. I think it’s a fair deal and it certainly helps me out a lot at the moment.
Please click here for more information at Bandcamp.
If you would prefer to use Paypal that’s absolutely possible and I have a page with a button here.
Anyway, the album is available as a hand stamped CDr with a hand typed cover and lyric sheet in a 100% recycled sleeve, sent to you wherever you are. You’ll also get a digital download of the album in a choice of formats whilst you wait for that to arrive.
A song ‘a carrion call’ from the album was posted to my Bandcamp last week as free download. I wrote this and played it twice and this is the second take. Didn’t have a final verse, just goes like that. You can listen and grab that here:
Here’s a very simple lyric video for the Youtubes.
All in all I recorded about twenty songs in the restaurant and the other half of them will most likely be next month’s Bandcamp subscription. Acoustic, different versions of songs I’ve previously recorded, like ‘The Hills Are Alive’, ‘Boys, I Am Worried’ and ‘SUPER GOOD ADVICE’. They all hang together as another thing somehow.
This is what I’ve been doing, hope some people are into it. Let me know please how you are doing and if you have any questions about any of this stuff.
Take care
Stephen
A Carrion Call (free download)
‘A Carrion Call’ was written last week, recorded the same evening and currently available to download for free from my Bandcamp page here.
Stay well everyone,
Stephen
Bandcamp Subscription #2 now available
The second in the series of Bandcamp Subscription releases is now available at my Bandcamp page here.
A big, dark audience recording of my set in the big, dark UT Connewitz cinema in Leipzig last November at the Woodland Recordings night with Stefanie from Vivian Void joining me on a couple of songs. I like playing in this room a lot and I think this recording goes some way to getting that across.
If you are subscribed you can download this right now but please be aware that the physical editions will take a little while longer this month. The sleeves and the discs are all at home and I’ve still not made it home, sure you understand.
Stay well please and thanks for sticking with me,
Stephen
Bandcamp today
I just decided to make the complete concert in Zürich last Friday available on my Bandcamp site here. For today only they are waiving their usual 10 / 15% payment fee so it’s a brilliant time to pick up some stuff and help musicians who would rather be out playing concerts.
This was a lovely little night and very relaxed - I played a couple of covers and a new song, drank some wine and listened to Flo Bauer play some beautiful blues guitar. A couple of days later I mixed this on a train coming back from Switzerland with some bluetooth headphones so perhaps it could sound better - a sound upgrade could be nice perhaps, let’s see.
Anyway, If you subscribe it’s in your collection to download already, otherwise here’s the link again and please share this stuff if you’re into it.
Be well and thanks everyone,
Stephen
Bandcamp subscription now available
The subscription option over at my Bandcamp page is now live and the first release ‘Hole Of Fame Recording’ is available in both digital and physical editions.
Every few weeks and certainly once a month there will be new recordings for anyone subscribed. You can join to receive digital releases and there is also an option for a physical edition of everything that I will post out to you each month. Subscription also means you’ll receive every new album that I make in the future, six from my back catalogue and a 20% discount on all physical releases. I also like sending postcards so there’s that too.
It’s not for everyone, I appreciate that, but I like the idea of making particular things for the people that want them so here we are. As ever, I’m happy to hear your thoughts and welcome any suggestions or ideas about this - drop me an email or write in the comments and I’ll get back to you right away.
Have a lovely weekend
Stephen