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Jul 04 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Yesterday, a strange mist descended onto the city as if it were alive, manipulating its descent, enveloping the buildings, purposefully hiding the aerials and the guttering. The top of the water tower became only its columns, disconnected legs with a floating grey brain. The birds seemed to disappear completely from the sky, not that you could see them, but it was silent, no shrieks or flapping of wings, no seagulls, no pigeons, no early evening swallows or later evening bats, all gone as the mist descended. You could feel the moisture in the air, you could drink it down, hydrate. Not a soul stirred, there were no lights in the windows, no sounds of shutters being lowered, no shapes at the windows, at least not on the inside. There was an atmosphere of uncertainty, playing on the imagination, the fear of the unknown. The negative stars had removed any chance of orientation, lost in the billowing smoke of vision impaired. Who was next to you? You couldn’t see to tell if it was friend or foe and the ear-shattering silence pressed down on your senses and had you aware of whistling and static, a general interference that clouded your thinking, bringing forth hallucinations of shapes in the shadows, cutting through the air in the stillness without explanation, beyond physics, above the ground without propulsion.

In the park, the fountain was on display for an invisible audience asleep. The water recently cleaned was dirty again. The detritus of humans and animals, beer and droppings, the shedding of nature, buckled brown leaves sunk to the bottom, dead and in decay, drowned and unable to feed the Earth. Scraped out weekly by a crew of cleaners, shovelled into black plastic sacks, bulging, overflowing, spilling back out onto the path like the innards of a rescued corpse. The rest of the ground in the park sanitised for appearances lest the leaves block the thoroughfare, trap needles and broken glass and become ice mats to break your neck.

Out in the street, the buildings dwarf the concrete roads, cars speeding too fast towards the traffic lights, praying to stay on green or change from red without the need to ease the throttle, wondering whether the adrenalin rush is worth the risk or the potential consequences of the massacre of an innocent stranger, young, beautiful, vivacious and a victim of the blanking out of danger for thrill. Who takes over inside when the bad decisions are being made? The voice of reason abandoning responsibility to rashness. The eyes in the windows, frozen sand in glass, all-seeing but unable to advise.

In the summer days the line of tables outside the Café Pereira, closely hugging the windows, pressed against the glass, barely leaving room to walk along the pavement. There’s always a man with long lifelines in his face, horizontal across his forehead and vertical down his cheeks, staring into his own thoughts with a glass of beer and a packet of cigarettes. Two girls with tiny coffee cups and large-screened mobile phones, a family in baseball caps with Portuguese cakes and Coca-Cola to quiet the children until the caffeine and the sugar kick in and defeat the original purpose. The cars whisk around and around the square, the general hum of the engines occasionally disturbed by a fire engine from the fire station next to the swimming pool a few blocks away. An ambulance splits the traffic, desperate to save the lives of the careless or the unfortunate from the last accident.

The impressive structure of the modern church looms high above the already tall trees in the square, challenging nature itself. Imposing itself on the weary and the confused, the hopeful and the faithful. The grandiose entrance with the steeple towering above, the mosaics in the groundwork and the wide white steps that give the illusion of actually walking into the palace of a supernatural being, a god, the god, something with more wisdom, more say, than your own mortal soul. It’s another day in Marquês.

Music today was a wonderful immersion into two Kluster albums, Klopfzeichen (knock signs, 1970) recorded in 1969 and with industrial and resonant experimental electronics with a narrative of anti-propaganda spoken by a German woman whose message is better enjoyed when you have a German wife to translate, despite the power of the mood it creates when understanding nothing. Eruption (1971), recorded live and their third release, after their second album Zwei-Osterei (two-easter egg), forgoes the text of the first two albums. It makes Einstürzende Neubauten sound like The Cars or rather the sound of cars being crushed in giant metal machines in a scrapyard in hell, ripping off the doors to the screams of forced amputation but then the aftermath, contemplative and considered.

Music Of The Daze

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: Blog

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there's any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

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Rockin' the MOAT t-shirt next to the real deal! #m Rockin' the MOAT t-shirt next to the real deal! #moatband #poisonstream 🤘🏰

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Photo by @oliviaelektra 

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Peter Walsh and I getting down at the Heron Tower Peter Walsh and I getting down at the Heron Tower disco 🕺🏻 #heyday
Soundchecking at Birmingham Symphony Hall, 10th Fe Soundchecking at Birmingham Symphony Hall, 10th February, 2001. All About Eve supporting Fairport Convention.

📷 by @derektimbrell
Thanks to The Wernickis for a little glimpse into Thanks to The Wernickis for a little glimpse into their new New Mexico listening space 🌵 #nightjar #schoolkidsrecords
Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵 📷 @oliviaelek Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵

📷 @oliviaelektra 

#danelectro #danelectrobass #redeyerecords #pleasantrylane #pleasantrylanestudio
You usually don’t spend the day in the studio an You usually don’t spend the day in the studio and the night at a gig but if you put the studio next to the gig then there’s a greater chance. So @salimnourallah did just that, he put the gig and the studio next to each other and made it possible for me to spend the day recording and the evening playing live 🎵

📷 @drewliophoto 

#galacticheadquarters #happinessarecordlabel #pleasantrylanestudio #salimnourallah #oliviawillsonpiper
TO WHERE I AM NOW A visit in the studio today fro TO WHERE I AM NOW

A visit in the studio today from old mate Mark Burgess from The Chameleons who has been hanging in Texas recently. I was thinking about the two of us growing up in the northwest of England and all these years later finding ourselves in such an unlikely spot together. We fixed a few issues in the universe and I carried on recording some guitars until Mark had to leave. Mark had played at the Galactic Headquarters next to the studio this year as Olivia and I had four years ago and this reminded me to remind myself to remind everyone to remind their friends that we will be playing there with Salim on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, for the ultimate in intimate performance. You can get tickets here (follow link below).

CONTINUE READING: https://martywillson-piper.com/2022/12/to-where-i-am-now-1045

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📷 @salimnourallah 

#markburgess #thechameleons #chameleonsvox #pleasantrylanestudio #happinessarecordlabel #martywillsonpiper #oliviawillsonpiper #moatband
📷 @argirgirl 📷 @argirgirl
TO WHERE I AM NOW Sadness manifested in a buildin TO WHERE I AM NOW

Sadness manifested in a building, today we went to visit Paisley Park. Prince built Paisley Park in Chanhassen, about twenty minutes southwest of Minneapolis. It opened in 1987 and he recorded his later albums there. Apart from Prince, REM also recorded and mixed Out Of Time there, recording Kate Pearson’s vocal on Shiny Happy People vocal. Madonna had Prince play guitar on three songs from Like A Prayer and the two co-wrote Love Song, finishing it remotely due to Madonna not being able to stand the cold weather and the rather desolate location of the studio. Of course, there are things around but it’s not in the city and it’s not in the countryside, it’s in a suburb, no distractions, just what Prince wanted.

CONTINUE READING: https://martywillson-piper.com/2022/12/to-where-i-am-now-1032

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📷 @argirgirl 

#paisleypark #prince
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In Deep Music Archive

Songwriting & Guitar Guidance with Marty Willson-Piper
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"These are awesome sessions that I highly recommend for guitar players of all levels. Very informative, frank discussions on everything related to guitar and music in general. Definitely a must for anyone pursuing songwriting."
(Stephen G., VA, USA)

"Marty knows how to bypass scales and get to the heart of feel and timing. His musical knowledge spans multiple cultures and genres. Perhaps most importantly, Marty is a cool dude. I highly recommend his guitar guidance." (Jed B., MN, USA)

"Ok, so you’re sitting in your home and Marty is across the world but is actually right here teaching you how to play guitar and write songs. He is a delight to talk to and he is your teacher, meaning he wants to see you get something out of his lessons. You know he’s paying attention and wants to steer you in the right direction. I am so grateful and humbled that he offers his time in this manner. This is an amazing opportunity for anyone who admires anything from his enormous body of work. How often do you get to learn from somebody that inspired you in the first place? Amazing." (Ann S., CA, USA)

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there’s any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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