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

and yes the new album is QUITE great.

Yes, yes it is. And it's suiting a grey and rainy morning brilliantly.

wait, what is the new album called? i can't find any reviews.

Eager to Tear Apart the Stars

while ILX was down (NEVAR FORGET) I finally managed to pick up a copy of Persistent Repetition on vinyl for $20 shipped! it hurt me in my heart not to be able to crow about my score to the two other people who read this thread; instead the only folks who heard were my neighbors who had to suffer through a few minutes of literal whooping & hollering when the auction ended. (there was also actually a second copy on eBay at the time which I wanted to bring interested parties itt but, well, yeah.)

Woohoo, congrats! And a very good price too, I might add, I've not seen them around that cheap before.

Here's a nice, extensive interview The Quietus had with him 10 days ago.

There's definitely something about Chris De Burgh, I think it's his eyebrows. Very strange eyebrows, Chris De Burgh. He's a very small man as well. I actually gave him a copy of the 'Lady In Red' mix I did on vinyl, I handed it to him and said 'I think you might know that one', and he just smiled at me. I never heard anything back, but he must have listened to it. He didn't want to sue me, so that's quite nice.

Persistent Repetition is a god damned REVELATION on vinyl.

Patience for Sebald is FINALLY up for order on Boomkat!

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeaahhhhhhhh blue vinyl baby!

The patronage type thing he put together last year is still pretty great. I just get an email with a download link every once in a while when he releases new material. I think the Sebald one is included.

... and I received the link via email a couple minutes after posting that.

Heh, yeah I just got it too, from the digital subscription. Still ordering the blue vinyl though

I've said it a kajillion times in this thread but Kirby's stuff is always worth hearing on vinyl, if only to hear how world-class mastering can make a great record even better.

and so that you can get the cover art in big-ass size!

8.0 for Patience For Sebald from PF today:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16220-patience-after-sebald/

my copy just showed up last night, looking forward to listening to it!

also in a fit of profound fiscal irresponsibility I sprung for the only copy of A Stairway To The Stars available on the internet, which I think makes my Kirby/Caretaker vinyl collection complete (though I need to upgrade my copy of Intrigue & Stuff #1 to a clear-vinyl copy).

Oof, good purchase!

Great and fitting review from Mark Richardson there. I'm already tempted to rate Patience (After Sebald) higher than all of his 2011 work, which is saying something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlzNE62HDr0

The Caretaker crooning a cover version of Barry Manilow. It doesn't get any better than this.

i wonder if now is the time to liquidate my v/vm stuff

To get a good price for it? Or because you hate the Manilow cover? ;)

Extra Patience (After Sebald) - Free download. We all love free downloads and as a show of thanks for your support and interest in my works I have uploaded a nine track mini album for free download.

It features a couple of alternate versions and exclusive audio which was used as part of the soundtrack to the above mentioned film but which didn't make the physical release of the album.

Download it, share it, enjoy it and remember it.

http://thecaretaker.bandcamp.com/album/extra-patience-after-sebald

My brain is all knotted up by this^ video

Must admit disappointment upon seeing black instead of transparent blue. Record is sounding very nice tho.

Finally watched (and enjoyed) Gee's Patience (After Sebald). Would have enjoyed it less without The Caretaker's soundtrack.

He's been quiet of late, hasn't he?

I liked that one from last year.

Has anyone ever compared the original tracks (by which I mean the sound-sources for the Caretaker's recordings)?

XXXP: Well, quite. Given what a great author he was, all that fucking photographs of fireworks shit at the end was just plain insulting. "I took a photo of a firework... and it looks like his moustache!"

Oh do fuck off.

Yes, that was silly.

I must admit my interest in the film was a) liking the Caretaker and b) liking parts of that stretch of the coast ... and had never read Sebald and am now likely to.

Annoyed that Caretaker AND Ben Frost AND Tim Hecker AND several other like-minded persons are doing a music festival in Adelaide, where I live and nothing like that ever happens, and I can't go.

Going through a major Caretaker phase.

Is everything pre-"Patience" out of print?

Been hammering An Empty Bliss Beyond this World recently...what a perfect, heartbreaking, sentimental record that is. Sounds so...English?

I'd been meaning to buy this but can't find it anymore.

looks like Persistent Repetition of Phrases, An Empty Bliss, and Patience are all getting a repress. Experimedia says they'll be going out on May 8th apparently.

and seriously, do not sleep on the chance to get any of those three albums on vinyl; they sound SO damned good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjG2uP-qsfQ

sounds promising!

Patience (After Sebald) (the film) is on film4 on thursday morning

Grant Gee's documentary traces the hugely respected, late author WG Sebald's account of a walk through Suffolk, which prompted musings on history, literature and the horrors of war.

Caretaker did the music: http://thecaretaker.bandcamp.com/album/patience-after-sebald

(ha, i watched patience (after sebald) last night)

We Drink To Forget The Coming Storm (free 40 track download and other news):

http://ymlp.com/zgqhBn

3 Hours Crackling Log Fire Soundscape vs. The Golden Era Of dixieland Jazz full album 1965 by VJ unregistered | YouTube Doubler

wrote Leyland years back regarding a reissue of AEBBTW and today received a mail from him saying it should be out soon - heads up! (what a great guy to do that, too kind)

He's been quiet, hasn't he? I assume that's related to (as my Gran would say) his "proper job".

I must move "We Drink ..." from "downloads" to a format that I'll play it.

That gum you like is going to come back in style.

Any idea what outlets will carry the Empty Bliss reissue? I can't miss it this time.

I'm guessing Boomkat

maybe bandcamp

actually, it's already on bandcamp as a digital download. he might add the physical copies here.

https://thecaretaker.bandcamp.com/album/an-empty-bliss-beyond-this-world

He's bringing back V/vm btw.

Didn't he delete everything v/vm related from his site a few years ago?

probably

there's plenty of deconstructionist junk going on right now but v/vm is enough of a different take that it might be a good time for revival

No talk of his output as The Stranger here, what do people think/feel about those albums? I only have Watching Dead Empires In Decay, absolutely love it. The low end (or: rumble) on that LP is deeep.

watching dead empires in decay is very good, not sure about other records under that alias. an empty bliss is still my favorite record i've heard from the guy... he is quite a formidable musician/noisemaker isn't he. hopefully i can snag a physical copy this time.

If you dig 'Dead Empires' you should definitely check out Bleaklow as well, from 2008. The title says it all really, it's grim, but I love it.

no crooning this time, although there was an entire segment where he sat in a comfy chair next to another dude drinking whiskey

once the pig mask/boxing match/battle of ambient intro was over, there was a very noisy part where the animation was a walk-through of a mansion where album art for his different releases were on the walls. my impression, which my friend thought seemed correct, was that as we were walking closer to the art, tracks would increase in volume. so it was a bunch of material all playing at the same time, until it kind of evened out (and I passed out from travel lag)

when I saw him in 2010 (wow, time flies) he sang The Way We Were

I stand corrected, he crooned along to a distorted Mick Hucknall music video

Whole days of stuff, now pay what you want
https://leylandkirby.bandcamp.com/album/we-drink-to-forget-the-coming-storm
https://vvmtest.bandcamp.com/album/the-death-of-rave-the-source
https://vvmtest.bandcamp.com/album/the-death-of-rave-additional

I can only listen to bits of Everywhere at the End of Time, it's so emotionally overwhelming that I either have to tune out or force myself to listen. I can't imagine what it must've been like making this and having to listen to each section dozens of times. anyway, probably the single most profound album that I never want to hear again

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bm06ml

James Acaster's Perfect Sounds
The Caretaker's Everywhere At The End of Time is a 6-hour project exploring the descent into dementia. It had a profound effect on James, but what effect will it have on Jen Ives?

I flew ten hours to a festival, ate a small amount of food and had one beer before falling asleep at a Caretaker show (not my first!) right after he did a stage bit in a mask in 2019 ama

the video bits of wandering through The Shining-esque halls were good for sleep

I can only listen to bits of Everywhere at the End of Time, it's so emotionally overwhelming that I either have to tune out or force myself to listen.

I bought this on Bandcamp some time ago (after buying and liking Patience (After Sebald), but I haven't listened to the whole thing until today. I've spent a good part of the day listening straight through. It's . . . quite something. I think it's put me in an alternate state of consciousness.

He just posted a big update on FB announcing he's forced to put his stuff on streaming services due to so many people stealing his music and trying to monetize it themselves.

IIRC, I originally found out about his work as the Caretaker because I liked his work as the Stranger. No recollection where I found out about that work. Watching Dead Empires in Decay was in pretty regular rotation for me for a while.

Was not familiar with him, but my friend had an extra ticket to his show at Lincoln Center (https://www.lincolncenter.org/series/lincoln-center-presents/the-caretaker-moor-mother-673)

Really enjoyed his music, was just surprised that the show also included lip-synching and pretending to play an inflatable guitar to Heroes by David Bowie.

At other times he read an upside down book, drank whiskey, and stood staring and nodding at the audience.

what, no pig mask or boxing match?

a pig mask was on his table of gear, but i don't think he put it on (i didn't have my eyes open the whole time).

Whaaaatts oh fuck fuck fuck I was in New York that day