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Free 'September 2020' compilation now available
A new 10 song compilation of songs from last month’s concerts is now available as a free download to everyone signed up for my newsletter here.
when i was away (rostock)
i was in the north before the fall (rendsburg)
down down down (rostock)
pure black coal (rostock)
polly vaughan (berlin)
fold culinary (hannover)
make each other anew (copenhagen)
it don’t stop the bleeding (rostock)
barbara allen (rendsburg)
so long song (berlin)
From a crowded, smoky bar in Hannover through a rainy garden in Rostock and finishing up in a backyard in West Berlin, this was a strange but hugely enjoyable set of concerts at a time when the chance to play in front of people is a rare thing indeed.
Thanks to everyone who made it possible despite everything.
To all on my old fashioned mailing list - I hope you enjoy it and big thanks for sticking with me.
Stephen
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
September 2020 - songs and set lists from the concerts
A quick note about this entry - I spent an hour or two and wrote a long post here but somehow closed the browser without saving so lost it all. Right now I’m posting the set lists for those that asked and some choice recordings from each night that I have and will follow with more words about each night and more photos, videos, etc when I get the energy to write it all out again. Bah.
Anyway, I just came back from some shows and they went like this:
Lindwurm, Hannover 03/09/20
i was in the north before the fall
the royal canal
down down down
lover o lover
deserter
barbara allen (traditional)
super good advice
fold culinary
song for a coalman
carrion call
so long song
we could have, we should have, we didn’t
we swam a little song
Prinz Willy, Kiel 04/09/20
when i was away
the royal canal
down down down
lover o lover
deserter
a carrion call
fold culinary
i do wrong
barbara allen (traditional)
song for a coalman
song for fee
super good advice
from the willows by the weir
so long song
we swam a little song
Kulturschlachterei, Rendsburg 05/09/20
when i was away
the royal canal
down down down
i was in the north before the fall
lover o lover
pure black coal
fold culinary
song for a coalman
make each other anew
super good advice
barbara allen (traditional)
polly vaughan (traditional)
so long song
Garden Concert, Rostock 06/09/20
when i was away
the royal canal
down down down
i do wrong
pure black coal
fold culinary
lover o lover
make each other anew
it don’t stop the bleeding
super good advice
so long song
when i was single (traditional)
we swam a little song
Rostock, photo by https://www.instagram.com/alex_ottoxo
Alice, Copenhagen 07/09/20
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 (traditional)
so long song
we swam a little song
Copenhagen, photo by https://www.instagram.com/__leilu___
Tonfink, Lübeck 08/09/20
song for fee
the royal canal
down down down
lover o lover
deserter
delia (song by blind willie mctell)
when i was away
i do wrong
winter (song by the diamond family archive)
we could have, we should have, we didn’t
super good advice
so long song
fold culinary
we swam a little song
Wohlerspark, Hamburg 11/09/20
when i was away
the royal canal
down down down
lover o lover
i do wrong
pure black coal
fold culinary
we could have, we should have, we didn’t
winter (song by the diamond family archive)
super good advice
paper birds
so long song
song for fee
Hamburg, photo by https://www.instagram.com/janina.rrr
Fotostudio Gezett, Berlin 12/09/20
when i was away
the royal canal
down down down
i do wrong
pure black coal
fold culinary
lover o lover
deserter
polly vaughan (traditional)
we could have, we should have, we didn’t
super good advice
pretty peggy-o (traditional)
so long song
Berlin, photo by https://www.instagram.com/gerald.zoerner
September concerts
My plans for September:
03/09/20 Nachbarschaftsgarten Baulücke, Hannover, DE
04/09/20 Prinz Willy, Kiel, DE
05/09/20 Kulturschlachterei, Rendsburg, DE
06/09/20 Private Garden Concert, Rostock, DE
07/09/20 Alice, Copenhagen, DK
08/09/20 Tonfink, Lübeck, DE
09/09/20 FREE
10/09/20 FREE
11/09/20 Wohlerspark, Hamburg, DE
12/09/20 Fotostudio Gezett, Berlin, DE
13/09/20 FREE
Any ideas for the free days or questions about any of the fixed dates please simply drop me a message.
As ever, I'll update this site first if anything changes and will also be uploading music and words on my blog here too. I’ll also be posting more to my Instagram as I go along. Has been a while since I did anything like this, let's see if I can remember how to do it.
Thanks everyone, hope to see some of you along the way. x
'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’:
Concert in Nürnberg this evening
Photo by hurniclaude
I’m booked to play a concert in Nürnberg this evening at Luise, Scharrerstraße 15 from 19.30 at something called ‘Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer’ which is a bit, you know. I’m happy to be playing in front of people after so long but, of course, if it rains all is off.
Entry is free and it’s limited to 50 people so please come along in time if you’d like to hear some music. Julia Laura is playing as well and will have copies of her new album, so there’s that too.
Next week it goes on and up to Hannover, Kiel, Rendsburg, Rostock, Copenhagen, Hamburg and Berlin - dates are always here.
Be well and say hello
Stephen
'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:
Julia Laura 'I Lock The Door Upon Myself'
This is my buddy Julia’s second album, which I recorded and put together over the last year or so. I recorded her first album too, a simple acoustic collection that we put down in a few afternoons, but this time Julia had written songs with space and parts for more instrumentation. We set up in three or four houses last summer in between travels and when we were able to meet. Her friend Mark Timmins had some great electric guitar parts so I started with recording the two of them playing the songs together at his place in Nürnberg in the few hours before his girlfriend finished her shift. Later, in Bayreuth, Josua Bauer (Vincent von Flieger / Nick & June) played some horn parts and accordion and later still, at Julia’s parents house in Fürth, Elena Steri sang some backing vocals whilst her folks quietly prepared dinner in the kitchen. I think there’s also a couple of songs that Julia played in my little bedroom in Fürth on there too. I like to record this way, in rooms where there’s a chance for coffee and books, things placed carefully on the wall. Also a window of opportunity whilst the house is quiet, some gentle pressure on things.
Early one morning Julia went out with Mina Reischer and they shot a roll of medium format film by the river in Nürnberg. Mina works on a lot of the artwork for the label and is something of the house portrait maker.
I mixed it in a couple of different places and then a few weeks ago we got together in Stuttgart and cut paper, stamped pictures and made some copies of the physical edition. Julia sang a couple of songs and I filmed them, like this:
It feels a bit like the album started at a gallop and then lost a little wind towards the end as the different elements and people involved were kept apart by distance and the virus. But recently it’s been brilliant to meet and wrap it up and finally make it available for everyone. I know Julia has new songs and new sounds she is hearing and perhaps there’ll be something else coming from her soon.
Anyway, we made this fine thing together and it’s out now.
Stephen
ps - Julia and I are playing in Nürnberg next weekend - 29.08.20 at Luise.
'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
DOWN DOWN DOWN
'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.
miller
One of six songs I recorded last weekend for subscribers at http://www.thegreatpark.co.uk/bandcamp-subscription