Current music, films and books

Time for one of my occasional updates on what I am currently listening to, watching and reading.

The other day I stumbled across Jeffrey Fayman and Robert Fripp's "A Temple in the Clouds" - allegedly recorded years ago at a Buddhist Temple. This is a dense ambient work that reminds me of "An Index of Metals" from Fripp and Eno's "Evening Star". I have played it several times over the past few days - a recording that I expect to really grow to love more and more.

Also a new live recording of Blonde Redhead - a concert from the USA in 2004. This has very upfront vocals, which does make one or two tracks sound a little odd. But the version of "Melody" and the last track (with its strange time signature and out-of-tune guitars) are extraordinary.

Then there is, as so often, something by Dead Can Dance - in this case a selection of the best tracks from the 2005 North American tour. Again, very clear vocals and new perspectives on a number of tracks - highlights from this tour included Lisa's "The Love that Cannot Be" and Brendan's "Crescent"

Slightly odder is a stack of recordings of a jam band going under the name of Crack Sabbath. This features Sherik, the saxophonist from Les Claypool's Fancy Band. 5 cds of jamming - some of it really excellent

Then odder still is something I found while digging about on the internet - 53 cds of John Zorn in various incarnations. I have a few of these already - some live Masada, Naked City's Torture Garden, the Circle Maker, a couple of Filmworks cds and the extraordinary New Traditions in East Asian Bar Music. But most of the cds are new to me and will take months to plough through.

In the garage the other day I came across a single 90 minute cassette of Phillip Glass & Doris Lessing's "The Making of the Representative of Planet 8". This was an ENO production from 1988 broadcast on Radio 3 - just Act One unfortunately but very worthwhile. I am considering reading the book again soon

Another book I came across in the garage was Elias Canetti's "Auto da fe". This is a very powerful book - his only fiction - but very bleak. It holds a deeply personal message for me and I am also considering reading this again soon

I saw the book "The New Astronomer" in Borders the other day and nearly bought it for £16.99, only to find it for £0.49 secondhand. This is as good an introductory guide to Astronomical observation that I have seen for a long time. It was enough to encourage me to make a few little repairs to my telescope and to consider going out for some observing at some point. Remarkably enough, since I got back from Italy, there hasn't been a single clear night. Whatever enthusiasm I had left from reading about Galileo's observations has somewhat dissapated in the gloom of the UK.

Recent movies have included "Untraceable", "Wanted", "Curse of the Golden Dragon", "The Painted Veil" and "Atonement". We are trying to boost the quality of what we watch a little! Mainstream TV shows have been mainly "Dexter" and "House Series 3" from boxsets.

I have noticed that this Blog has few recent pictures on it as well, so time I started taking a few.