'I Fear Santa'

My new single, 'I Fear Santa', is now available for free download.

For full details, please visit www.7thSun.co.uk/

Compilation - 'Needless Alley'

A compilation of some of the music I have been listening to this year - some new, some old. Enjoy!

01. Harmonia & Eno '76 - Welcome
02. New Order - Your Silent Face (Session)
03. Russian Circles - Hexed All
04. Kelpe - Eye Candy Bath
05. Nine Inch Nails - Lights In The Sky (Live)
06. Have A Nice Life - Deep, Deep
07. Goblin - Suspiria
08. Kraftwerk - Radioactivity
09. Grouper - Little Gray Cat
10. Svarte Greiner - Last Night.

Download.

Sleeping Beauty

Showing until this Sunday, 20th December.

Mogwai - 'Burning'

Mogwai Live Film "Burning" Teaser from Nathanaël Le Scouarnec on Vimeo.

New Guitar

A bit overdue this, but I bought a new guitar recently. It's a Fender Telecaster Thinline '69 in natural mahogany finish. I bought it using the 'Take It Away' scheme run by the arts council.

It's a beautiful guitar to play and will feature soon in some of my new recordings. I'll also be playing it live at my forthcoming work Xmas concert with the 'Natural Born Santas'.

Peter Gabriel - 'The Nest That Sailed The Sky'

Taken from the album 'Ovo', 2000.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Tickets are £7. Email me if you are interested in going and I will get you a ticket.

Gohsten - 'Fright Night'

Fright Night from Gohsten on Vimeo.

I made this video for my friends' band Gohsten.

Jigoku (1960)

Nobuo Nakagawa's film 'Jigoku' ('Hell') tells the story of Shirô, a young student who seems to be surrounded by death. First of all, he is involved in a hit-and-run accident that kills a gang member, then his fiancée dies in another road accident, killing both her and their unborn baby. After a string of further deaths, Shirô is stalked and eventually murdered by the mother of his hit-and-run victim and descends into Buddhist Hell (or 'Naraka'), along with all the people who have died around him.

Nakagawa's film is infamous for its unsettling visions of Hell, created on Shintoho Studio's largest soundstage; however, more screen time is actually devoted to the complex set of circumstances that lead Shirô to his fate. The film's depiction of the fragility of human life and the capacity for horrific events to happen reminds me of the much more recent work of Alejandro González Iñárritu, while I found its brutal depiction of the hypocrisies of parenthood and satirical attack on policemen, doctors and the elderly uniquely bitter. Shirô and his fiancée actually emerge as the most innocent characters, and yet they are still subject to the mercy of Enma, King of Hell.

La Fée Verte

Both my recent trip to France and the fact that I've just finished reading Hemingway's 'The Sun Also Rises' reminded me about absinthe. I haven't drunk if for years and felt it was time to give it another go. Thanks very much to James for hooking me up.

Yevgeny Zamyatin - 'We'

'We' is the fictional diary of D-503, builder of the spacecraft INTEGRAL and citizen of Onestate. He begins the record hoping to describe the beauty and grandeur of the totalitarian society he lives in, but as the narrative progresses, his world is thrown into confusion as he falls in love with a resistance fighter named I-330.

Recognised as one of the key inspirations for George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', Zamyatin's novel has a somewhat strange history: after the book was banned by the Soviet censorship bureau in 1921, a rough translation appeared in England in 1924. Facing trouble at home over a book that had not been published in his own language, Zamyatin was eventually exiled to Paris in 1931, where he died in 1937. 'We' was not published in Russia until 1988.

I read this book in the Penguin Classics edition, translated by Clarence Brown. The cover artwork features Anton Brezinski's 'Painting of Futuristic Buildings and City' (above), but I also like the artwork featured on the Vintage edition (below).

Supersonic Festival 2009

I attended the Supersonic Festival in July and enjoyed sets by
Sunn O))), Remember Remember, Caribou, Head of David, Khyam Allami and Arbouretum. The highlight, however, had to be '70s/'80s Italian prog rockers Goblin (above) who played a lengthy selection from their career (including tracks from 'Profondo Rosso', 'Suspiria', 'Zombi' and 'Tenebre') and also took part in a Q&A session. They were by far the best dressed band.

Brian Eno's 'Apollo' in Concert

20/07/09
Imax Cinema
London Science Museum
Arranged by Jun Lee
Performed by Icebreaker and B.J. Cole

On Monday, Brian Eno's album 'Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks' was performed live in concert for the first time. Korean composer Jun Lee arranged the work so that it could be performed by the amplified ensemble Icebreaker and pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole.

The event took place in the London Science Museum's Imax cinema to mark the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the moon. The music was accompanied by footage from Al Reinert's 1989 film 'For All Mankind'.

Brian Eno was present to introduce the event and was signing autographs afterwards. I was lucky enough to be able to attend and managed to record these videos:











http://www.enoshop.co.uk/
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/
http://www.icebreaker.org.uk/

Shogun Assassin

Another film from 1980, 'Shogun Assassin' tells the story of Lone Wolf, a great samurai warrior whose wife is murdered by the Shogun's ninja spies. Taking his young son with him, the samurai goes on a mission to avenge his wife's death. This film was extensively sampled on GZA's 'Liquid Swords', one of my favourite hip hop albums.

Nine Inch Nails in Manchester

14/07/09
Manchester M.E.N. Arena
Wave Goodbye Tour
Support from Mew and Jane's Addiction


01. Somewhat Damaged
02. Terrible Lie
03. Heresy
04. March Of The Pigs
05. Piggy
06. Metal
07. The Becoming
08. I'm Afraid Of Americans
09. Burn
10. Gave Up
11. La Mer
12. The Fragile
13. Gone, Still
14. The Way Out Is Through
15. Wish
16. Survivalism
17. Suck
18. The Day The World Went Away
19. The Hand That Feeds
20. Head Like A Hole
21. Hurt.


Click for a larger image.

Linked videos by diluteduk. Thank you.
www.nin.com/

Radio On

I first saw this film some years ago at the Tyneside Cinema and really enjoyed it, and now some thoughtful person has uploaded the whole film to Youtube in 10 parts.
Directed by Christopher Petit and co-produced by Wim Wenders, 'Radio On' is a British road movie from 1980. The superb soundtrack features Kraftwerk, David Bowie, Robert Fripp, Devo, Wreckless Eric and more. The protagonist, Robert, drives from Camden to Bristol to investigate the death of his brother, but the film is really more about the people he meets and the things he sees on the way. 'Why [do] the English always want to live by the sea?' Robert's German friend asks. 'They always think it's going to be better than it is', he replies.

Star and Shadow Gig

On Wednesday, I went to see four bands play at the Star and Shadow Cinema in Battlefield. The bands were (in order of appearance): Onoma, Jazzfinger, Dragging An Ox Through Water (above) and Jackie-O Motherfucker. I really enjoyed Jazzfinger's drone, but the highlight of the night for me was definitely Dragging An Ox Through Water. Good show overall, enhanced by £2 pints of Wolf ale.

Blurb

I recently used Blurb.com to publish a collection of my own photographs. It turned out nicely and the quality is really very good. It wasn't cheap, but not quite as expensive as you might think.

Barry Lyndon

I hadn't seen this film before buying the Kubrick boxset, but I highly recommend it.

Svarte Greiner - 'Kappe'

Tonight I got the new album by Svarte Greiner and it's incredible. The previous album 'Knive' was a creepy and atmospheric venture into 'acoustic doom', but this album is even darker and more haunting. 'Kappe' is less fragmented: it has a more sustained, droney feel than its predecessor. Highly recommended.

Svarte Greiner - Kappe
01. Tunnel Of Love
02. Where Am I?
03. Candle Light Dinner Actress
04. Last Light.

Pogonophobia - 'Bimmib'

A couple of months ago, I discovered this obscure psychedelic noise album by Pogonophobia. I think what first attracted me was the striking front cover, but the music turned out to be densely layered and varied. Pogonophobia means 'fear of beards'.

Pogonopobia - Bimmib
01. First Chapter
02. Hologrammic Aspects
03. Road To Samdhi - 1
04. Triumph Of Death (Excerpt From Dies Irae)
05. Siege Of Antioch
06. The Divine Eye
07. The Oracles
08. Lullaby For Stairs
09. Road To Samadhi - 2
10. Final Chapter.

'Insurrection'

On Tuesday, I released my new E.P. 'Insurrection' online.

This E.P. features vocals, mandolin and French horn, none of which have appeared on 7thSun releases before. The first two tracks are alternate versions of songs found on the demo album '2.4.1.6.', the third track is completely new and the fourth is a cover of a song by John Foxx/Ultravox.

7thSun - Insurrection
01. Unsleeping Eyes (Vocal Mix)
02. Wings (619 Version)
03. The Happy Robot
04. Just For A Moment.

For full details, please visit www.7thSun.co.uk/

Stanley Kubrick

My recent Hitchcock odyssey is coming to an end, so I decided to pick up some Kubrick on DVD. Contents: Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket. This set is Region 1, although there are European equivalents available.

Yamaha DX7

This weekend, I invested in a vintage synth: the Yamaha DX7. Often referred to as 'the synth of the '80s', the DX7 has been used by Brian Eno, Nine Inch Nails, Underworld, Vangelis, The Cure, Devo and even the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It's the same age as me and the programming is a bit of a nightmare to get used to, but hopefully it'll yield some interesting results.

Review: Play It Again, Sam

Last night, a production of Woody Allen's 'Play It Again, Sam' opened at the People's Theatre in Heaton, Newcastle Upon Tyne.

The play concerns Allan, a young film critic and neurotic who is unlucky in love. Receiving dubious advice on how to proceed from the ghost of Humphrey Bogart and his friends Dick and Linda (who have their own relationship issues), Allan becomes more confused than ever.

Reg White gives a very strong performance as the uptight Allan, managing to draw laughs and sympathy in equal measure, and demonstrates an impressive mastery of Woody Allen-style mannerisms. Pete McAndrew's Bogart was also very convincing, and he managed to maintain the accent well throughout the play.

The rest of the cast performed well, and as usual at the People's Theatre, stage design, lighting and sound were all excellent. The roar of nighttime New York coming through an open window and set decoration extending into the wings were particularly nice touches. Recommended.

The play runs from 16th to 20th June. Full details available here: http://ptag.org.uk/index.htm

'Rust'

A video for my track 'Rust', from The Cathedral Of Light E.P. released in 2008.
Please watch in HQ.

Welcome to Unsleeping Eyes

Hello and welcome to my blog. While I try to stay on top of my own music on www.7thSun.co.uk, I'll be writing about various things that interest me on here. Your comments are appreciated. Thanks.