Album release day

YO.

ALBUM RELEASE DAY * THE PRIZE VIDEO * MORE LIVE DATES CONFIRMED * LAUREN LAVERNE SESSION – LISTEN AGAIN * REVIEWS * UPDATES AND REMINDERS * DEAD MAGICIAN * ROTTING WIG * SHERRY AND POPPERS

NEW ALBUM 'THE GHOST IN DAYLIGHT' OUT WORLDWIDE TODAY ON WARP RECORDS

So today is the big day – album release day. And what better way to celebrate the release of The Ghost In Daylight than to go out and buy it. It's available on gatefold CD, gatefold vinyl (with download code), and digital download. I personally believe that it is best appreciated sat in front of a strobe light in a windowless room accompanied by a glass of cheap sherry and a bottle of amyl nitrate.

Available worldwide from all good stores. Here's a brief selection of purchase links:
Rise, Piccadilly, Bleep, iTunes, Amazon

There has been some rather nice press coverage, with my personal favourite being “It's a real grave fave!” 8/10 - The Daily Star. Here is a selection of quotes.

"Warp's unsung genius delivers (a) mellow masterpiece... evocative of Nick Drake's understated English melancholia and the lush, moody atmospherics of late-'70s Brian Eno. An exquisite, unexpected gem" - Q ★★★★

“Terrific, understated songs with a church-like serenity... Talbot is one of music's best kept secrets” - The Guardian ★★★★

"A special album" - Stool Pigeon ★★★★

"Stunning" - Artrocker ★★★★★

“Seriously wonderful” – Lauren Laverne, BBC 6 Music

"Possibly Britain's most underrated singer/songwriter" - Telegraph ★★★★

“A truly unsettling heart of darkness...Talbot has created a uniquely potent blend of icy chill and soothing balm, and with it that rarest of things: totally cliché-dodging songwriting” - The Line Of Best Fit

"The Ghost in Daylight is a memory-haunted journey through the dead voices and deep narratives of Englands lost - broadside ballads culled from earth and air" - Mojo

"Il mêle à l’extrême délicatesse de ses compositions acoustiques dignes des grands maîtres du passé quelques touches électriques et électroniques qui contribuent à les transfigurer. Tout ici respire l’équilibre et la cohérence." - Magic 5/6

"Nick Drake trifft My Bloody Valentine, Simon & Garfunkel treffen Brian Eno – Talbot hat eine sehr gute Platte gemacht." - Rolling Stone 4/5

“A masterclass in restraint and subtlety... songs initially appear to be gentle, rueful folk ballads on cursory listen but a decent pair of headphones reveals deep pools of shimmering reverb and a submarine world of echo. These are still audio waters containing complex depths worth diving into, revisiting, pondering over, dwelling over, dwelling in.” - The Quietus

The Quietus review, written by John Doran is worth reading in full. You can do that here:
Mr. Doran is an exceptionally good writer, and because of his analytical skills and the depths they take him to, the result is a review that was rather difficult to pull pithy quotes from. It was written to be digested, not dissected.

NEW LONDON DATE - CECIL SHARP HOUSE
Plus new France show added

The historic Cecil Sharp House in London will be the venue for this show on Wednesday 26th September, which we have added because the St.Pancras Old Church and Lexington gigs sold out so quickly. This is our biggest UK headline show to date, and like all future shows, unless otherwise stated, this will be a Gravenhurst Ensemble show, consisting of me, Rachel Lancaster and Claire Adams. Tickets on sale now

We've added a date in Toulouse after a band contacted us through Facebook and requested our presence in their great city. Monday 28 May at Saint de Seins, Toulouse.

Full list of live dates and ticket links here

THE PRIZE 10"

There are a few copies left of the limited white and silver marbled 10” of The Prize. You can buy them from Bleep, Rough Trade, or Rise

The Prize is backed with a cover of Tim Buckley's Song To The Siren, which features a Cor Anglais solo played through a ventilation shaft above a sonic drum used to vibrate chicken carcasses, producing mechanically recovered meat for tasty pies, pasties and dog food. Which naturally brings us to...

THE PRIZE VIDEO

Director Jenny Coan's bewitching video for The Prize was premièred on the Arts Desk website where you can read a write up about it that I wrote (how about that for an elegant compound sentence):
www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/gravenhurst-interview-video-exclusive
Also available on YouTube

LAUREN LAVERNE SESSION

The New Gravenhurst Ensemble played live on the Lauren Laverne show on BBC 6 Music on Wednesday 25th of this month. “The Ghost Of Saint Paul” and “The Prize” were performed live and “The Foundry” was pre-recorded for broadcast later, possibly on another show; we are trying to track this down at the moment. You can listen again here.

Yours sincerely,

Nicholas Talbot

Dear Mr. Skeleton...

Dear Mr. Skeleton,

Are there going to be any more episodes of Ultraskull? I would like it if there were.

Yours,

Dom

Dear Dominininininic,

Thank you for your interest in Ultraskull. Mr. Skeleton is no longer the editor of Ultraskull; he was forced to leave two years ago after obscenity charges were filed against him in relation to one of his other publications, "Young and Hairy". Although the charges were quashed, the Ultraskull comittee felt that in the current moral climate, hounding an innocent man out of his job because of completely unfounded allegations was the only right thing to do.
The editor's position was quickly filled by Greg, assuming a caretaker role until a permanent replacement was found. However, Greg had to leave due to an unexpectedly long hospital stay. We were walking along a canal and he fell in, the silly billy. He can't swim, and I did my best to save him, but the current was too strong for me to reach him. I tried to throw out a long branch for him to hold onto, but in his confusion and panic, he allowed his head to collide with it. I threw him another, but again, he hit himself on the head with it. I found a rope and threw that out to him, but he somehow managed to get that wrapped around his throat, with the other end somehow tethered to a cement block. Luckily an Olympic swimmer was walking by, and he did what I valiantly tried but sadly failed to do. Greg was pulled to safety, but not before he had inhaled several pints of effluent. He was taken swiftly to intensive care where he was pronounced comatose. I stayed with him 24 hours a day, praying for him, reading to him, and just hoping for a sign, any sign. After a few days he responded to several cues, but somehow his life support system got switched off. He is now back in a coma, but the doctors say there is still hope. I am writing this at his bedside. There is still hope Greg. I'll never stop hoping Greg. Be strong.
Anyway, while all that shit was going on, Greg's bank manager tracked me down and started hounding me for cash. Because Greg doesn't have any family, I've ended up being his next of kin, and thereby the 'default guarantor' for his rent payments, bank charges, phone bills and whatever else the daft cunt signed up to. Meanwhile, I had no choice but to assume the editorship, moving from the small stipend awarded to bit-part characters, to an annual salary with a generous benefits package. Under my stewardship Ultraskull will be transformed from a grubby little rag into a monthly A4 format glossy lifestyle magazine, combining news features and reviews with sections dedicated to luxury items, investments and men's fashion. I anticipate that the first of the new look Ultraskull will be out some point in the next decade.
Thank you for your interest in Ultraskull.
Regards,
Stickman

Stickman & Greg

Really, really big typefaces coming at you full-on since 1999!

In lieu of a purposeful and thoughtfully crafted blog entry, here's the latest Gravenhurst newsletter.  I haven't had time to write much else lately due to gigs and promo commitments, but this just about passes for creativity. When I started this blog I was commited to keeping it completely separate from my day job, by not writing about music or anything Gravenhurst related. I honestly cannot remember the motivation for my staunch commitment to this policy, so I see no reason to maintain it. I write news letters more regularly than I blog, and there is good reason for me to increase my web presence so here we are.

Hey all you hipsters, hip-hoppers, mods, rockers, beatniks and biker chicks!*

*No Goths

NEW LIVE DATES CONFIRMED * LAUREN LAVERNE SESSION * ULTRASKULL IN PRINT * REVIEWS * UPDATES AND REMINDERS * NOTES & QUERIES * BIRTHS, DEATHS & ANNOUNCEMENTS * POSTAGE & PACKAGING * ABBOTT & COSTELLO * STICKMAN & GREG

Live action

Sustained campaign across Belgium, France and Germany: the following cities will see a visit from the New Gravenhurst Ensemble, an electro-acoustic trio consisting of me on guitar and vocals, Rachel Lancaster on bass, keyboard and vocals, and Claire Adams on percussion and vocals. Rachel plays in the bands Silver Fox, Chippewa Falls and Me And The Twins, and also performs as a solo artist. By day she is a visual artist. Claire plays in the band Beards and D'Astro. By day she runs a private security firm, offering a range of door services to pubs and clubs, from 'firm but friendly' to 'aggressive and intimidating', and has practically the whole of the North East sewn up.

Sat 12 May, LAVAL, FR – Le festival Les 3 éléphants
Tickets here

Sun 20 May, GENT, BE – Duyster 500 night @ DOKarena
Gravenhurst + Amatorski + Lanterns On The Lake
Tickets here

Mon 21 May, BRUSSELS, BE – Nuits Botanique (Rotonde)
Tickets here

Thu 24 May, LYON, FR – Epicerie Moderne
Tickets here

Sat 26 May, MARSEILLE, FR – Le Poste a Galene
Tickets here

Tue 29 May, BORDEAUX, FR – I Boat
Tickets here

Wed 30 May, TOURCOING, FR – Le Grand Mix
Gravenhurst + Sleepy Sun (US) + Siskiyou (Canada)
Tickets here

Sat 23 June, FRANKFURT, DE – LÜFTEN Mouson Arts & Music Festival
Tickets here

Sun 24 June, KÖLN, DE – Gebäude 9
Tickets here

Mon 25 June, BERLIN, DE – Comet Club
Tickets here

Sat 25 August, HANNOVER, DE – BootBooHook Festival
Tickets here

Lauren Laverne Session

The New Gravenhurst Ensemble played live on the Lauren Laverne show on BBC 6 Music this Wednesday 25th April from 11.30am. Tune in, lie back, relax, crash the car. Two tracks went out live and third was pre-recorded for broadcast later.

Ultraskull: 100% in Print! Free and available from all good indie record shops

While Ultraskull has now been planted firmly back online at http://ultraskull.gravenhurstmusic.com following our successful appeal to the European Court Of Human Rights in Strasbourg, yet another writ has been issued, this time from an individual who claims that the character Stickman from comic duo Stickman & Greg is based on him, and is suing us for unpaid royalties and, puzzlingly, defamation of character. While this nonsense plays itself out, we have printed up a Best Of Ultraskull, consisting of an A5 format zine which folds out into an A2 poster of The Ghost In Daylight album artwork. The zine is free and available now from all good indie record shops. The first 10 people to tweet the link to Ultraskull online will receive a copy in the mail, signed by all the featured characters. Grab your ankles, it's kingdom time!

Love to love you baby,

Nick

Winterbrass - Jason Tyndall

The Bureaucrat

"Below their message
Containing me under my office
He, 'neath those supplies used to stress it
Me in his office"

-from "Winterbrass", the new poetry collection from Jason Tyndall.

"Tyndall marvels and winces at our despair; his dispatches are humane, generous and quietly furious"
Publisher's Weekly 
"Elegant complexity or exhaustive simplicity? Tyndall is the later-Wittgenstein of modern verse; of that which we cannot speak, we must allow Jason Tyndall to say it for us"
Independent
"An unfashionably honest howl of raw refusal; a refusal to accept the solipsism of modernity, a refusal to accept its ironical vanities, a refusal to accept acceptance. We are sleep-walking through a waking dream, Tyndall says, and instead of taking pot-shots at the Sandman we must place Morpheus square in the cross-hairs. But - he whispers - what if we miss?"
Kendall Murray, Literary Review
"Tyndall speaks with a tongue that has licked the moon, kissed the stars and sucked the very heat from the sun. Muscular and fearless, he goes about his work with a deeply moral fervour."
Times Literary Supplement
"Through a kind of liturgical necromancy he digs up urban horrors, reanimates them as pastoral idylls, and invites us all to blow his horn of plenty"
Spectator
"Crucial"
Guardian

Jason Tyndall, yesterday

An advert from our sponsors

Ghosting The North

When I covered Gordon Burn's sad death at the age of 61 I failed the spot this superb piece in the Quietus by Austin Collings which surveys Burn's achievements and looks at the 'Northern Noir' of his progeny David Peace. It serves as a fitting tribute to Burn's cryptic legacy. I have to disagree with Colling's criticism of Burn's treatment of character. 'Alma Cogan' is the finest novel I have read, and I found his creation and control of Cogan as a cynical, soiled star satisyingly complex. 'Happy Like Murderers' is the last word on True Crime; the exhumation and burial of a whole genre. Burn is not under-rated, but under-read; critically adored, while most of his potential readership simply haven't heard of him. As his prowess is acknowledged, his grip on the collective imagination can only tighten.

(This post originally published accidentally in the extinct Gravenhurst blog on 30/09/2011)

Bert Jansch 1943-2011

We say goodbye to Bert Jansch at the age of 67; a modest man, a musical giant, and his influence on mine obvious. When I first listened to 'Jack Orion', and heard him cloak 'The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face' in medievalist mystery, I thought "I need to be able to play that", and every bit of guitar work I have engaged in since has been an attempt to prize it open, to steal its secrets. It hardly need be said that it remains intact.

I'm so busy working towards the completion of another Gravenhurst album, (Jansch rip-offs multifold) that I only seem to log in and post here when someone awesome dies. It's turning into a crap little obituary column; syndicated deaths, sour milk skimmed off the back of others' work. I must write something of substance soon and shift the focus of the Notebook back towards grubby politics and grotty culture. For now, put on a Jansch record and bask in dazzling rays of bright and beautiful musicianship.

Rest in peace dear Trish, we'll miss you

Bookish-priapic

A Core Foundation of my New Year’s Resolution Superstratum is (for internal administrative reference purposes: NYR2011SS-CF12pp12/nf_inf.x1.3)

[:] maintain optimal bio-rhythmic routine

Another is (for internal administrative reference purposes: NYR2011SS-CF12pp12/nf_inf.x1.4)


[:] maintain optimal creative routine(s) and subroutine(s)

A full explication of the issue is beyond the scope of this post but the essential worry is that the two objectives may be at odds. If so, then hopefully only contingently and not necessarily so, and nothing that can’t be smoothed out over the course of this week. (Though strictly I suppose I have a year, don’t I? Again, beyond the scope of this post...). In essence, I want to be awake at the same time as other people and I want to have a way of broadly measuring my work effort to attainment ratios. Though I’ve always been a night-owl it isn’t good for me, and doing something creative for a living can make it hard to know when one has achieved enough for it to feel ok to stop and do something entirely passive instead. But then, I do various creative things purely for my own entertainment, such as Ultraskull and most blog posts. And I tell myself that I want to do them more frequently, thereby setting myself up to fail to meet self-imposed standards of recreation. Dammit man, pull yourself together! The issue facing me right now is that I intended to get to sleep by two and get working by ten, but now it is six in the morning and I am laughing at a list of silly book titles I have written. The plan went wobbly around two when the film I was watching went on until three. Pretty basic planning issue there (note to self - see NYR2011SS-CF12pp12/nf_inf.x1abs.time – cf. “Time-keeping”). The film, 'Hallam Foe' was enjoyably moody and did nothing to aid my winding down for the night. And then... I felt my modish poise uncoil to the slutty scent of carelessly shaved pencils, bookish-priapic, all smeared ink and dirty erasers, the coquettish discipline of medium-priority administrative procedure... and before I knew it I had recommenced cataloguing titles for the Art, Photography and Slavic Youth Cinema section of the Ultraskull Mobile Lending Library. Oh God... It's half-past eight... how did we get to here? We have to stop doing this... we both know it's wrong... so wrong... we're so... bad... oh...


Kendal, Kimpy Transgressive Yoke: The Works Of Frami Rallentando (Taschen 1998)

Kipper, Kimpy Rheiner Knizia And The Lone Flame Steeplechase (Dover Editions 2002)

Kotterel, Jethpa Darius Tschevchenko's Arc-Weld Timepiece (Diode Club 19¬¬) * LARGE PRINT

Loperamide, J.K. (Ed.) The Best Of Ian Brady (Void 2007) * AUDIOBOOK AVAILABLE

Jackson, Steve & Livingstone, Ian The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain (Penguin, 1982)

Beegees, C.B. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid: Carlos Blessing's Nine Lives in Print (Taschen 1986)

Kermode, M. Living Loose With Lucio - Ian McCulloch's Italian Cinema Career (Shox 2002)

Strategy 5 The Strategy 5 Manifesto (Strategy 2005)

Dogcollared-Greens, Delia Intention, Pretension Or Purely Convention? How to Choose an Effective Title For Your Non-Fiction Book - A Multi-Titular Approach - Plus! Not Forgetting... ...the Use Of Dots!* *And Be Sure To Get An Asterisk In There For Added Inanity - //NEW EDITION! Fully Revised And Updated To Accommodate It's Own Claims! (Keep Going -Ed. 2009)

Cancer, Nancy Please Daddy, No! Etcetera: Dispatches From The Bravely-Overcame-Shame-For- Financial-Gain-And-Talk-Show-Fame-Gravy-Train (Cake & Eat 2003)

FIN.

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Thought For The Day: "Particularly when it comes to formatting, Blogger is fucking shit."

Gravenhurst news

As I haven't posted anything for ages, I thought I'd paste in the latest Gravenhurst mail out, thus contravening my self-imposed regulation of keeping this blog independent of my day job (not taking my work home with me). New song lyrics aside, the mail out is the most creative thing I've written for a while so what the hell. Here we go.

Greetings people of refined taste and discerning proclivities. And hello to the dull, the indifferent and the moronically incurious. And the horrifyingly pointless. All are welcome here.

I am roughly half way through the creation of the next Gravenhurst album. I will however be taking a break from writing and recording in November because Paul Smith of Maximo Park has a solo album coming out and he has invited me to perform as the main the support act on his tour of Europe and the UK, and naturally I said ‘Fuck yeah’. So here are the dates.

Thursday 4 November, HOLLAND - Amsterdam, Sugar Factory

Friday 12 November, ITALY - Milan, La Casa 139

Saturday 13 November, ITALY - Rome, Blackout

Sunday 14 November, ITALY - Mirano (VE), Moon Club

Tuesday 16 November, SWITZERLAND - Luzern, Bar 59

Wednesday 17 November, SWITZERLAND - Fribourg, Café de la Fonderie

Friday 19 November, SWITZERLAND - Zurich, Plaza

Saturday 20 November, FRANCE - Paris, Fleche d'Or

Sunday 21 November, BELGIUM - Brussels, Botanique/Rotonde

Tuesday 23 November, UK - Southampton, Joiners

Wednesday 24 November, UK - Oxford, Jericho

Friday 26 November, UK - Nottingham, Bodega

Saturday 27 November, UK - Leeds, Brudenell

Sunday 28 November, UK - Birmingham, Glee Club

Monday 29 November, UK - Bristol, Thekla

Wednesday 1 December, UK - London, Bush Hall SOLD OUT

Thursday 2 December, UK - Manchester, Deaf Institute. SOLD OUT

Friday 3 December, UK - Glasgow, Classic Grand

Saturday 4 December, UK - Newcastle, Sage 2

I will be playing at least four new songs and several old ones, switching between electric and acoustic guitars as quickly as possible and trying to avoid wasting time repeatedly tuning up. I will as ever be accompanied by a number of drone-making electronic devices. I am assured by a reliable source that the Deaf Institute in Manchester is haunted and that three-part harmonies may be provided spontaneously by the resident revenants who are doomed to wander the eternal limbo between the realms of the living and the dead, unable to rest in peace until they find that fucking stereo mini jack to quarter inch patch lead that some cunt from the support band accidentally-on-purpose wandered off with after a gig that ended in disaster when part of the building collapsed, trapping the group of singers back stage for three days over the course of which they were driven insane by a monumentally pedantic sound engineer. By the time rescue workers reached them they had smeared the walls with their excrement and eaten their own eyes before finally strangling themselves to death with XLR cables. The sound engineer was found unharmed, lucid, and fervently espousing his position on the problem of phase cancellation in applications involving multiple microphone placements.

Hope to see you there.

Nick

ULTRASKULL IS BACK! 100%! NEW: MINI ISSUE THREE

Ladies and gentlemen, after a long period of mysterious absence, Ultraskull is back on the web, with a *new third installment*. The previous issues have been improved so the pages load faster and are a bit less crap. You can't polish a turd but you can stick a flag in it, and the Ultraskull avatar stands strong and proud against the forces of tyranny, fanaticism and etc
More importantly, the new issue, while on the slim side, and an inexcusable three or so years in the making, contains a new Spade Warrior strip, plus new characters Keith Harris and Orwell, Terry & Dune and more, presented by new Editor Mr. Skeleton, and Guest Contributor Master Rod. And naturally, now it's back up and running, Mr. Skeleton welcomes contributions for a fourth and hopefully much bigger edition. Please bear in mind that Ultraskull is PROBABLY NOT WORK SAFE.

http://www.silentagerecords.co.uk/ultraskull

Coming soon: an Ultraskull Facebook page...because everyone else does that.

In addition, the Silent Age Records site is back up. Though the label is on hiatus until I repress the Gravenhurst debut 'Internal Travels', for those already acquainted it may be worth checking out to find out what everyone who passed through the SA stables has gone on to do.

http://www.silentagerecords.co.uk

Word.