Wyrd Daze Lvl.4 all PDF issues of the zine + Ephemeral Man mixes
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Good morning/afternoon/evening, I am The Nameless Book. Yeah, it’s a silly name, I know.
Where did you come from and where are you going?
We are stardust, we are golden, and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden. Or something.
What preoccupies your mind these days?
Just what the holy hell is going on. It feels like six years living in a fictional dystopia. I hope things will improve, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
Name a favourite taste, touch, sound, sight and smell
Taste – stolen chips
Touch – wiggling the tip of your finger on the knapp of velvet
Sound – a dreaming dog’s muffled barking
Sight – the glint in Bob Mortimer’s eye as he starts to spin a yarn
Smell – taking the bus past the McVities factory on Jaffa Cake day
Describe one of your most vivid dreams or nightmares
I was on a open-topped bus that was speeding across the ocean like a hovercraft. At a signal three of us mounted on dirt bikes rode out of the middle door and began riding through the white horses towards the rapidly-approaching beach. We reached the shore, ditched the bikes (as they would only work at sea), and split up to begin searching for our quarry.
The beach was pebbly and hard to run on, my legs pushing down into it with each stride, so by the time I reached the road my muscles ached. Houses all around were extensively damaged from some unknown bombing campaign. In the distance a column of people in uniform marched steadily closer.
After looking through several ruins I found it: small and fragile, I clutched it to my chest and started running back to my bike on the beach. But the road turned into pebbles as I ran, sucking and pulling my feet deeper and deeper.
By the time I reached the bike I was exhausted, but I still had it in my hand. I looked up at the road to see the masses ranks about to march onto the shingles to intercept me. As I looked out to see the bus swept past and turned its prow to the open sea, leaving me trapped.
That’s when I woke up…
Have you ever had an uncanny experience?
In my youth I once was persuaded to attend a Christian music festival. That was pretty eerie. Or terrible. Both.
How does your sense of place affect the way you express yourself?
It depends on the safety and novelty of the place I think. Somewhere secure and/or boring will prompt more navel-gazing (not necessarily a bad thing); somewhere perilous and/or stimulating will focus my attention outside. But I’m also so scared it’ll go away and never come back I don’t like to question it too fiercely.
What has particularly touched or inspired you recently?
Primarily We Rate Dogs on Twitter. And Wholesome Memes.
Tell us a good story, anecdote or joke
I’ve just heard a good one. Apparently at the siege of Tenochtitlan in 1521 Hernán Cortés’s forces built a large trebuchet to bombard the city. Unfortunately the Spanish forces building it weren’t terribly used to mediaeval weaponry, as they primarily used guns and cannon. They test fired it with a large rock, which went directly upwards and fell back down onto the trebuchet, destroying it.
“Blank Page” will be available to buy digitally from Tbilissi Recordings via Bandcamp (and stream at all disreputable sites) on Friday 18th March. A very limited run of CDs will also be available for lovers of the physical.
Featuring excerpts from two films set in 2022: Soylent Green (1973) and No Escape (1994)
Space rock, epic heavy metal, dungeon synth and electronica
01 Hawkwind – Master of the Universe (Welcome to the Future) (Live)
02 Cursebitten – A Great Journey of Great Hardship
03 Bo Hansson – Leaving Shire
04 Eternal Champion – The Godblade / Banners of Arhai
05 Fogweaver – Farther West than West
06 Keith Seatman – Farthings Chase
07 Timechild – Where I Now Belong
08 Lying Cat – …a soft demon
09 Conqueror’s Mourn – For a time, bathing only in the waterfall
10 Hällas – Labyrinth of Distant Echoes
11 Sunken Grove – Tumbling Banks of Bramble and Stone
12 Fen Walker – Within the Dark Country
13 Ontrothon, Saga of the Ancient Glass – Roots of Samuth
Hello, my name is Kuma. I am a Vancouver based producer, DJ, radio host, cat dad and long-distance runner.
I have had a busy start to 2022. I released an album on Waxing Crescent Records called “Hounds and Echo In Conjunction.” It’s a bootgaze record. Lots of ambient, lots of lapsteel. I released an EP on the RF label called “Sapporo Dubs.” I’m bringing back ambient house. I just dropped a remix for Dogtablet, turning an industrial epic into a drum and bass roller. I continue to host a radio show here in Vancouver called Art Of Beatz, which airs Thursday night/Friday morning at midnight PST on CFRO.
Where did you come from and where are you going?
I came from Bristol, I think that’s where I got my sound-system sensibility from. Where am I going? Likely for a run. Or possibly coffee.
What preoccupies your mind these days?
How to get through the existential conundrum of having a certain sense of normalcy in ones life whilst dealing with the fact that things are pretty mad.
Also music, always music.
Name a favourite taste, touch, sound, sight and smell
Taste: Raw salmon.
Touch: Moquette, because it means I’m back in London.
Sound: My cat galloping
Sight: Takeshi Miike’s Izo
Smell: Western red cedar
Describe one of your most vivid dreams or nightmares
Performance dreams comes up a lot. I’ve been DJing and playing live for many, many years and when an upcoming gig is really important, I’ve been known to manifest it in dreams. Unlike most dreams, it’s never stereotypically good or bad, just really, really detailed.
Have you ever had an uncanny experience?
Presence of the dead after they’ve passed: Check. A shrine I used to visit in Japan always used to leave me with that very specific feeling.
I also suspect my partner’s house is haunted.
How does your sense of place affect the way you express yourself?
It’s hugely influential. The ‘Sapporo Dubs’ EP was directly inspired by the time I spent wandering the streets of the Northern Japanese city. It was there I really learned that I didn’t need to be held down by the constraints of style, genre or tempo. Absorb all things, make them your own.
At the same time, living in a city that I can barely afford to be in has meant I’m thinking about other places to be in, which helped with the creation of Hounds And Echo In Conjunction. Conceived as a soundtrack to a road movie through the American Southwest that doesn’t exist, it meant that I was removing myself from where I am and conceiving of new places to be. Imagination put to its highest test!
What has particularly touched or inspired you recently?
Touched me: I became an uncle in January! I look forward to the possibility of being a positively corrupting influence and making mixtapes for my niece.
Inspired me: The community that I’ve fallen in with in the last two years. I’ve been involved in the music industry for 20+ years in many ways and it’s easy to get cynical, I have seen some shit. I’ve been everything from a radio host for Canada’s national broadcaster to a booking agent. Hell, if you listen to Mary-Anne Hobbs’ infamous Dubstep Warz show on BBC Radio 1, you’ll hear me. I’ve been lucky to work with, and to help signal boost some amazing folks doing amazing things in the last couple of years and look forward to pushing that only ever forward as time goes on.
Tell us a good story, anecdote or joke
I remain terribly pleased that internationally renowned chef Alton Brown once complimented me on my shoes.
I overheard this conversation recently.
Husband: Someone among us is an owl.
Wife: Who?
I’ll see myself out..
Wyrd Daze 