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

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.

An Empty Bliss is my favorite record of his too, but I'm a big fan of Deleted Scenes/Forgotten Dreams too; I even prefer it to Sadly The Future Is No Longer What It Was when considering his giant compositions which take up an entire side of a record, mostly because it's considerably easier to find the time to listen to one double LP than three double LPs. also when I ordered my copy back in 2007 or 2008, he sent me an email thanking me for my order despite the fact that the US dollar was insanely weak against the Euro at the time.

So I'm just loading up http://boomkat.com/ and https://thecaretaker.bandcamp.com/album/an-empty-bliss-beyond-this-world every day to check for updates - anyone has better ideas?

I'm quite sure Boomkat will see the re-release as "something special" and will send out an e-mail once you can (pre-)order, you could sign up for that.

I got my copy first time around. Not counting on added tracks or anything (which is fine).

I know a lot of people are waiting on re-presses of releases
and in particular 'An empty bliss beyond this World'.

All I can say is it will happen so please remain patient.

Please to add yourself to the mailing list for news
about that so you don't miss them.

from - http://www.brainwashed.com/vvm/

Not seen it mentoined recently but don't you all sleep on Persistent Repetition of Phrases, which is sublime.

Sorry for linking to my own piece here but I'm guessing this constitutes something LJK fans will be interested in.

James Kirby kills off The Caretaker with new album Everywhere At The End Of Time released in six parts over the next three years.

Boom! https://boomkat.com/products/everywhere-at-the-end-of-time?utm_source=Boomkat+Production&utm_campaign=cee1adf164-The_Caretaker_Everywhere_At_The_End_Of_T9_22_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f7c1f6eb34-cee1adf164-121478162

Great great piece Doran!

"People who bought this also bought:
Daphne & Celeste You & I Alone"

Agreed. Nice feature, John.

A fiver for the whole project from Bandcamp:

https://thecaretaker.bandcamp.com/album/everywhere-at-the-end-of-time

Yeah, thx for sharing!

Immediately ordered the lp. Think it's the right way to go for the Caretaker, to end it conceptually, with six lp's. It's how it began, more or less.

http://www.thefader.com/2016/09/22/the-caretaker-dementia-everywhere-at-the-end-of-time
http://www.tinymixtapes.com/news/caretaker-diagnosed-dementia-release-six-works-recreating-its-progression-over-next-three-years

so, uh, he doesn't actually have dementia does he??

Wtf?!

That's terrible.

(Fader and TMT I mean, of course he himself does not have dementia. Fools)

Also there will be a re-pressing on vinyl of 'An Empty Bliss Beyond This World' available on October the 6th.

Thanks for the kind words! And no, he doesn't have dementia.

Why did that article say he had early onset dementia? I also emailed with him a couple weeks ago and he was extremely nice.

the music's evolution across the album releases is like a simulated dementia
which was really misinterpreted

Has he said anywhere where the idea has come from? That is, whether it is completely "imagined" or whether it has been "observed"? (Eg. in his family or through, say, work).

UPDATE: Kirby has apparently just given his moniker The Caretaker “dementia.”

that's kinda cool actually

i mean from a creative standpoint.. kind of an "oblique strategy"

Why did that article say he had early onset dementia?

I can see why they'd be confused, the media promo stuff says he has it."'Everywhere at the end of time' is a new and finite series of works exploring dementia, its advance and its totality. It is the sound of the journey The Caretaker will make after being diagnosed as having early onset dementia."

> Has he said anywhere where the idea has come from?

William Basinski's Disintegration Loops?

He's done a fair amount of research on the subject, from what i've read in previous articles. I think when Empty Bliss was released he mentioned it.

that new vinyl sold out pretty fast!

I'll do my best to bump this thread if I see reissue (which may also be cd?) available before october 6th

> Has he said anywhere where the idea has come from?

William Basinski's Disintegration Loops?

― koogs, Friday, 23 September 2016 07:50 (five days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha, ha. Yeah. I was kind of wondering whether it was a "I like music that sounds like it is disintegrating. I know, I'll make a concept album about dementia" or whether it was more, I dunno, profound than that.

the whole caretaker business has been about memory and fuzzy nostalgia, makes sense that he'd end it with the destruction of memory

thanks for the head's up on this. preordered the repress via boomkat, which is supposed to come out in early November.

great piece, Doran, btw! i hadn't read an interview with him before but he seems very likable in addition to making wonderful music

he stuck around a festival I was at after he'd performed earlier in the week. we had a brief conversation about how the bar at one of the venues had a horrible whiskey selection.

btw he drinks a lot of jameson but likes highland park scotch iirc

ha, i was just reading an old pitchfork review of his, which ends by noting that he gave away the album for free on his bandcamp but requested that he be paid in birthday shots of whiskey

a man after my own heart

Cheers! xxxxp

I love the Disintegration Loops to death but The Caretaker stuff is a lot more specifically 'about' various forms of memory degradation not 'cultural memory' - as the MP3 collection Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia in 2005 and tracks such as Von Restorff Effect, Unmasking Alzheimer's and Libet's Delay suggest.

despite the new one being posted up on his bandcamp, i'm going to hold off until i get the LP in the mail. really looking forward to seeing how this works in the latter stages of the series, esp after reading his thinking about it in Doran's piece. he mentions that he enjoys the challenge of how to present total confusion in a listenable way, and i look forward to seeing how he goes about it! also love the idea of the albums reincorporating earlier releases in various ways, even though i'm only familiar with approximately 0.1% of his 32084250234 pieces of music

also i'm personally interested in art that tackles memory loss, along with a sense of not having a home to return to. i'm an idiot for not listening to his stuff before, despite multiple recommendations from others

Absolutely John. That's why I was a bit miffed about the "Caretaker has dementia!" articles. His musical research alone in this field is unparalleled.

(Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia is not just an MP3 collection btw, I cherish the physical six cd version of it!)

Xxp

I'm holding off till the vinyl arrives, too. Any day now, hopefully!

XP: you lucky bugger. I slept on that CD box and some of the more recent vinyl. I have the first few original CDs in the ziplock bags though.

Ha, was being a bit facetious about disintegration loops comparison. And Haunted Ballroom predates it anyway.

disintegration loops are overrated, I say!

XP: Fair dos but the conceptual memory loss side of The Caretaker only kicks in with TPAA in 2005.

The Empty Bliss reissue is up over at Boomkat. Looks like the purple wax is sold out already, but the black is still available.

Purple already on discogs for silly money :(

just ordered black :D

Fuck! How does this happen?

Despite its melancholy theme, the new one is beautiful drifting off to sleep music