What’s that? It’s midway through January and this website, that chronicler of my Foggy affairs and calling-card to the world is still wishing everyone a Happy Christmas? Oh, dear, better get it sorted out…
Firstly, happy ‘Almost-February’, everyone. I trust your Festive season was well-spent and you are now looking to the year ahead with ears to the wind and noses to the porthole. Despite working before, throughout and after Christmas and New Year, I managed to attain a moderate degree of caroused-ness, much of it cheese-related (eg. sticking handfuls of the stuff in my ears as Gran has to have the telly really loud in order to complain about how Midsomer Murders isn’t as good as it was when that other chap was in it). Plus, without dropping a single hint to anyone, my gifts included some Radiophonic vinyl, a copy of the newly-released English translation of key text In Search Of a Concrete Music by Pierre Schaeffer, and these little beauties:
How lucky I am to have family and friends who appreciate how much I love these things. And who also appreciate how desperately I could use just one smart shirt…
Now, you could argue that my writing about what I got for Christmas does not a particularly interesting post make. And I’d be inclined to agree with you. But the fact is, dear reader, that the past couple of weeks have been decidedly unproductive, and while I was hoping the new year would see me bouncing up and down and pummelling you with details of exciting and imminent projects, the spirit has been willing but the flesh particularly weak. The fact is, that after such a hectic few months and a busy Christmas, I succumbed to what everyone appears to be calling ‘Man-flu’ and have spent much of the last week in bed. Feel free to send me a message of sympathy at this point if you feel moved to do so. You’d be the first.
So, I’m still a little groggy, a little snotty and a little unkempt (hence the title of this posting). But I’m back on my feet and looking forward to another busy year. For starters, there’s Howlround’s set on 31st January at the Full Of Noises event at Cafe Oto (details here). There’s plans for a new LP and a couple of other releases on The Fog Signals label, although we’re currently negotiating a proper distribution deal, so there’s paperwork to contend with before anything else. And, as of yesterday, I’ve started tinkering with a rather exciting new commission, working with a collection of sounds from the other side of the world, which are proving most stimulating!
But for now, please enjoy once again this demo from our performance at Kings Place last December (still only just over a month ago) that I thought was worth another posting. Hopefully it will whet a few appetites for the 31st!
Yours, in anticipation of a veritable mountain of Get-well correspondence,
RTF
PS Just realised I could have made a joke about wearing my influences on my sleeve. I must be sicker than I thought…
Robin The Fog 