Visit implausiblebeauty.com
for inside information on the musicians accompanying David on tour,
examples of their previous work, tour details and a link to the
previously mentioned request for questions to ask David.
I'm really pleased Caan has recorded this, I was already a follower
having seen him live, and he is a fellow Japan fan; it's a great
arrangement picking out some elements of the Japan version but played
on strings. Suzanne Barbieri comments on the YouTube page: "Richard
& I both love your new take on 'Ghosts'. Wishing you all the
best."
Ask David Sylvian a question
Ever wanted to ask David something? Please visit davidsylvian.net to
submit your questions; these will be published and the ones voted most
popular will be submitted to David. I'll post a link to the voting page
here when it is available. Go for it!
Update on the next club night "Implausible Alternatives" David Sylvian special
Doors open 9pm, Saturday Feb 18th at The London Stone, Cannon St.
Last track plays and venue closes at 3am. DJs for the night - I'm doing
a set on my own to cover Sylvian
obscurities and diversions, then we have Giddy Gavin and DJ Stix (Electric Dreams) before
The Contrarians finish off the night. It will build. Arrive early if
you want to hear the rare stuff and chat, later if you want to dance to
Dave - plus we'll have a "singalong" session if you're up for it (maybe
"Silver Moon", "The Other Side Of Life" and "Forbidden Colours" with a
Bowie classic like "Life On Mars?"). Please visit the Facebook event page for more information and to post your requests!
David Sylvian compilation "A Victim Of Stars"
EMI releases "A Victim of Stars" David Sylvian 1982 - 2012 on Monday
27th February 2012. The 2 CD set includes most of David's solo singles
as well as "Ghosts" and a new track "Where's Your Gravity?". Please
note that the artwork above will show "1982 - 2012" on the actual
release; online stores are showing the new version.
Japan badges by artist Patrick Wray
Patrick has interpreted three classic Japan album covers for this badge set available from his website. I particularly like the "Tin Drum" one.
David Sylvian with Joan As Police Woman
Joan recently tweeted a photo taken during a recording session for their new duet project.
Richard Barbieri new album with Steve Hogarth
"Not The Weapon But The Hand" the new album from Steve Hogarth &
Richard Barbieri will be released by Kscope on Feb 27th. Go to the mini site for audio samples, pre order details, signed copies and updates.
Caan to release "Ghosts" cover
Caan, formerly a member of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool will shortly release
his cover version of "Ghosts". More information on Caan and a free
download track is available at his website.
Nightporter Club Nights in 2012
The first club night of 2012 "Implausible Alternatives" will be on
February 18th at our regular venue The London Stone. It will be a
Sylvian special celebrating all aspects of his career - a chance to get
together with friends and speculate what he might have in store for us
during the "Implausible Beauty" tour and to discuss the merits of the
new compilation "A Victim of Stars". Expect to hear rare tracks, see
rare video and if you have a question about David's work, experts will
be on hand to help you find the answer.
On July 21st we'll be having a proper party, as indicated by the recent
poll, "Rouge Magic" will be very retro, very upbeat and we'll be
playing 80s synth, pop and a little bit of indie.
Finally, on November 10th we'll be trying to recreate the atmosphere of
Japan's final tour with "Pioneer Stories". I would like to say it'll be
cool and sophisticated but knowing us it's most likely to feature The
Contrarians dressed as Japan's road crew were at the final show...
Many
thanks to Craig, Rob, Henk and Gary for sharing information, clippings
and corrections. I'm sure there is still more out there to be found! Check it out.
Mick Karn 2010 interview
Rob Kirby has contributed an interview previously published in print in his Ultravox magazine "re:VOX". Read it here.
Japan Live History pages updated
The Live History pages have been
extensively updated thanks to input from Craig Hamlin who has been
helping me dig out some reviews of shows including images. Be warned, a
couple of the reviews are pretty vicious!
Richard Barbieri working on new material with Steve Hogarth
Mick Karn would have been 53 today, July 24th 2011. A new version of "Artemis" by Dali's Car is now available from Mick's store at burningshed.com
To commemorate Mick's birthday, as a treat for fans, a taster for
Mick's last completed project (a new Dali's Car EP) is being
offered as a download.
Artemis is a re-working of an instrumental from the band's debut album
and features new vocal and lyrical contributions from Peter Murphy, as
well as additional instrumentation from Steve Jansen, Jakko M Jakszyk
and others.
A superb reunion with Peter Murphy, the forthcoming EP, In Glad
Aloneness, continues the intense and exotic experiments of the band's
cult classic from 1984, The Waking Hour. All profits will be donated to
Mick's son and wife.
The five Dali’s Car tracks have just been mastered by Peter in Istanbul
and the artwork by Peter Murphy & Thomas Bak is being finalised. We
will be able to advise release date soon.
The EP is entitled 'InGladAloneness', track listing as follows:
KING CLOUD
SOUND CLOUD
ARTEMIS
SUBHANALLAH
IF YOU GO AWAY
Peter Murphy - lyrics and vocals, keyboards
Mick Karn - bass, bass clarinet, additional guitars
Steve Jansen - drums
Jakko M Jakszyk - nylon acoustic, electric guitars, and gu zheng
Theo Travis - saxophones and flute
Sengul - vocals on Subhanallah
Gill Morley - violin
Ellen Blair - violin and viola
Pete Lockett – percussion
Paul Lawford – congas
Steve D'Agostino - additional keyboards
Help
for Japan
Richard has re recorded
and reworked the Japan track "Experience of Swimming" for an
ambient compilation album in aid of the relief effort in Japan.
Also included is the track "Drops of Mercury" from the "Things Buried"
solo album.
Any donation to the Red Cross and the album is then free to download. For more details go to http://www.microscopics.co.uk/japan
Mick
Karn tributes from Bass Player magazine and Peter Murphy
Paul Gaff reports: "Just picked up this months (US) Bass Player Magazine
and there's a short 2 1/2 page retrospective on Mick Karn plus a some
bass-tabs in their regular Woodshed section. There's another
piece next month detailing his after-Japan work.".
Peter Murphy speaks about working with Mick on Dalis Car 2 in an
interview with WYEP Radio. Details are at the blog Slicing Up
Eyeballs and this is the link to the audio file
(m3u playlist will open in your media player). Pete starts talking
about Mick at about 31 minutes in. Thankyou to Vicky for finding this.
David
Sylvian "artist in residence" and performing "Plight & Premonition"
at the Punkt Festival, Norway September 2011
David will be presenting
an audio-visual art installation "Uncommon Deities" plus performing
"Plight & Premonition" with John Tilbury, Jan Bang, Erik Honoré and
others. More information over at David's
official site
David
Sylvian contributing to charity concert in NYC with Ryuichi Sakamoto,
9th April
David has recorded poetry readings for Ryuichi's performance at
The Japan Society NYC Saturday April 9th. The concert will also be
viewable on the internet via Ustream. 100% of proceeds from this event
will go to the Japan
Earthquake Relief Fund, more information over at Ryuichi
Sakamoto's website and also at The Japan
Society website.
New
David Sylvian album "Died In The Wool" out May 23rd
This 2 CD collection includes new
material and re-worked tracks from
'Manafon' . Released on SamadhiSound, the catalogue number is
SOUNDCDSS021 for the regular edition on sale worldwide and PCD-26034
for the Japanese release.
Disc 1:
Small Metal Gods
Died In The Wool
I Should Not Dare
Random Acts Of Senseless Violence
A Certain Slant Of Light
Anomaly At Taw Head
Snow White In Appalachia
Emily Dickinson
The Greatest Living Englishman (Coda)
Anomaly At Taw Head (A Haunting)
Manafon
The Last Days Of December
Disc 2:
When We Return You Won't Recognise Us
I recommend checking out toolateforheaven's
YouTube channel for some excellent quality clips of Japan from BBC
TV shows.
Steve
Jansen and Shoko Ise videos available to download from iTunes in the
UK, EU countries and Japan from 20th April
The videos come from work prepared for Steve's "Slope" concerts in
Japan; most were previously on the DVD "The Occurence Of Slope" but
others are the background films used during the shows. One of the
pieces included is the beautiful "Playground Martyrs (Reprise)". Steve
says that the material will be available from the US and Canadian
iTunes stores aswell but there is no confirmed date yet.
Patrick has interpreted three classic Japan album covers for this badge set 
