The Caretaker aka Leyland Kirby aka V/vm aka The Stranger

As for the P4k review...

Here are some things that the reviewer could have gleaned had s/he read it:

He's already been working on this project for one and a half years.

It has another three years to run.

That's six albums in four and a half years in total along one theme.

Here's how he describes the first record: "an old person daydreaming"

The second record will be when they first realise something is "wrong". Therefore the first record doesn't really have anything to do with dementia other than it is the control record, if you will - this is for the listener to judge what 'normal' sounds like.

He has done a lot of research, bought books, magazines, read online articles. Not just for this album but several of the previous ones (starting with TPAA not Empty Bliss, as rightly pointed out above).

He describes the disease as "not nice", which is why the latter stages of the project will not be nice either.

He has made 200 tracks for the project so far and will have made 1000 by the end of the three years.

And none of this suggests that we're dealing with some insensitive lazy dilettante who is just trying to cause offence.

On the other hand he's only done one interview on this project in the last three years and the P4k reviewer couldn't be bothered reading it before crimping out their review and, getting nearly the whole thing arse about tit.

Sorry... had she read the interview that I did with him on this very subject I should have said. </half asleep>

s/he even. FFS.

I should say for the record: the sentence in the original press release that said, 'The Caretaker has dementia' WAS ill-judged (or sloppy perhaps). But given that a clarification was issued within an hour or two, this kind of heavy handed smack down issued by a site still fuming and red in the face simply because it couldn't be bothered fact checking a patently not-true "fact" before hitting publish, is insipidly weak sauce.

I still don't think that sentence was ill-judged, nor sloppy. I haven't seen a single fan of his music mistake it for L. Kirby actually having dementia himself. That was all media jumping to conclusions. If you've followed him for some time, there was no way to take it the wrong way imho. Didn't even cross my mind he might have been talking about something outside of his art.

Yeah, I only meant ill-judged in as far as it could have been misinterpreted by someone who knew nothing about the two decade long history of this project and was lazy and was in a massive rush.

Just a shame a person fitting that very description happens to be a P4k staffer - and shameful that they would then attack him over it rather than apologising for their own ineptitude.

NEWS FLASH: David Bowie has revealed he is a Space Invader!

CORRECTION: It appears he is not a space invader but is in fact an alligator!

More on this amazing story as we have it...

so have you guys listened to this Mrs. Mills release? :)

I like it, but am also a huge tim hecker fan

same

tim hecker's thing is amazing but also very clownable and this description on the release page just about killed me
TIM HECKER: Is a serious musician and long time V/VM fan from Montreal whose subtle use of distortions, emotions and pain makes him a perfect fit for the 4AD label, smoke machines and the colour magenta.

i think i've seen tim maybe... four times now? but james kirby only once, sadly

yeah i don't recommend listening to The Caretaker if you don't want to feel uncomfortable feelings

that was shitty, sorry.

i missed something, notably how that was shitty

unless it's "heyooo this music makes you feel bad because it's bad"

in which case lol

haha no i just felt it may have sounded insensitive to those for with a personal connection to Alzeimers, like "GO LISTEN TO YANNI THEN, YOU BABIES"

hah

OK, finally listening to the free Xmas album, and it's... unusual.

What free xmas album?!

A link was sent via email if you'd bought one of the other recent releases, I believe.
V/VM - The Christmess Stocking

Oh wow. Was away for xmas and just found it in my spam box lol

Everywhere At The End Of Time – Stage 2 is out (vinyl still available at Boomkat right now iirc). It does not disappoint, even though it's rather 'unhinged'. Could be because of the theme - the mind of an alzheimer patient going - as it jumps into unexpected waters and at times drowns in them. It feels off, and that's probably exactly what he was getting at. As a follow up to part one and part of a chain of six it will make sense, but as a standalone album it takes some time getting into it. Gorgeous hazey melodies all over though.

(this must be dj candy: was at a film festival last weekend and the dj played the first stage of the series in full between films. Even in that setting, and I doubt many people knew what it was, it is so evocative)

I do love this series so far

Third installment is out, along with a free album!

thanks for the head's up!

dang, is the second one already sold out? i slept on it

Yeah, they go really fast. The blue vinyl will probably be gone tonight.

welp, i did it. i have purchased very few LPs this year since i've been trying to save money (or at least lose it at a reduced rate). i'll have to grab a used copy of Stage 2 somewhere down the road.

Awesome *fist bump*

admittedly i was on the fence until i realized i could also pre-order kaitlyn aurelia smith's new one with a few additional clicks. that is going to be A DAY when the package arrives! :)

"I've been hard at it lately with The Caretaker work so now I afford myself a night out finally sinking the odd whisky or two down at my favourite Krakow bar, Propaganda. It's been a good while since the last time I was sat on the bar stool.

"I'll raise the whisky glass in there for us all. You know the score."

still up to the same old

Karl, watch out, you've been bitten by the boomkat affliction

fuck, i missed the blue vinyl already! i got the others, but damn it, that was too fast. They'll all be for sale on Discogs, still sealed, for crazy money by tomorrow.

boomkat is expensive as fuck. i wish there was a US version

maybe I should look into selling some of my earlier caretaker purchases, hmm

when this comes in i'll have the regular version of stage 1, no copy of stage 2, and the color LP version of stage 3. *calculates* my caretaker everywhere at the time fan score is...6.3

there are a few US places that have a somewhat similar selection (experimedia, forced exposure directly for things distributed by them) but sometimes the exclusives never go to US stores

And doesn't Boomkat do a lot of their own exclusive, limited pressings of some artists, so they won't turn up elsewhere at all

CD version of Everywhere At The End Of Time Stages 1-3 currently on sale at Norman Records (though they're only listing one copy as available at the time of writing).

boomkat also. "in stock" doesn't say how many.

i received my fancy transparent blue super limited rare collectible edition of Stage 3 in the mail a few days ago, but just now had a chance to listen to it. as i mentioned above, i also have Stage 1 (normcore version), but not Stage 2. so maybe it's easier for me to hone in on the shifting approaches between each stage because i have more of a contrast.

i am a fan of looping music that avoids the big blocky dance 4/4 style of repetition, and the caretaker's music really hits the spot for me. a good loop, audio or otherwise, creates an otherworldly sense of time, something in between the stasis of a photograph and the normal experience of linear time. the music in Stage 1 turns so many circles that it's almost nauseating to listen to, and i mean that in a good way (others, i expect, would not mean it in a good way. other creatures, too - my dog gets PISSED whenever i put it on). it's nauseating because it sounds like blurred vision, like getting the spins after way too many drinks, almost, which makes sense with this project because of the connections between alcohol abuse and memory loss, both acute and long term, and early onset of alzheimer's and dementia.

after first listen, Stage 3 is already sounding more like a closed eye re-imagination of Stage 1. at times recognizable old snippets pop up, and others seem familiar but smeared. there's a really beautifully sad, quiet portion of the second side that lasts for quite a bit longer than many of the other themes. i know i'm relying too much on a literal interpretation of the project, but it really sounds like getting caught up in a memory and just kind of wandering off, turning it around and around. if you think of the circling themes of stage 1 as hurricaning paintswirls, this quiet section would almost be like a thin line of the paintswirl dripping off to the side and down off the canvas. where Stage 1 was nauseating, i found myself genuinely unsettled by 3.

I almost don't dare listen, this type of music messes with my head

New one up, dedicated to Mark K-Punk Fisher. But I only just now say the mail, and they're all gone damnit.

man I tried listening to this stuff and it just sounds like someone sampling huge chunks of old thrift store records. do not get it at all.

wtf is the matter with you, stop it ;)

(i agree)

Well yes, he is doing that?

xp IDGI != "fraud"

<3 ;)

I have liked other stuff of his! this just baffles me.

Oh you're speaking specifically about this new one? I'll have to check it out and see.

thread to dis hyped 2017 releases that you don't get/don't like/wanna complain about

love u all

Not this LP, but what isn't wonderful about turning this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPTgiarKc5Y

into this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l236v7FfNBs

I have this outtakes/Fisher tribute one coming

Got it (the CD) at the Barbican show, haven't played it yet. I suspect it might be the same as the music from the show, in fact (it's about the same length).