Richard Rees-Jones
@viennesewaltz.bsky.social
Occasional music blogger. Interested in prog rock, folk rock, free jazz & improv, noise, experimental & avant-garde classical.
Author of 'Peter Hammill On Track: Every Album, Every Song' (Sonicbond, 2022)
Substack: viennesewaltz.substack.com
Author of 'Peter Hammill On Track: Every Album, Every Song' (Sonicbond, 2022)
Substack: viennesewaltz.substack.com
Played my son Prophecy at 1420 MHz from the new Boards of Canada album. He hadn't previously heard a note of their music, had no idea of the mythology surrounding them, yet immediately described the song as satanic. This is the power of Inferno.
October 7, 2026 at 6:40 PM
Played my son Prophecy at 1420 MHz from the new Boards of Canada album. He hadn't previously heard a note of their music, had no idea of the mythology surrounding them, yet immediately described the song as satanic. This is the power of Inferno.
Fabs bores are always wanging on about how the mono mixes are preferable & more "authentic" bc the group worked on them together in the studio whereas the stereo mixes were done as an afterthought. But the new stereo mix of Rubber Soul p*sses over the mono mix in every respect.
October 6, 2026 at 5:20 PM
Fabs bores are always wanging on about how the mono mixes are preferable & more "authentic" bc the group worked on them together in the studio whereas the stereo mixes were done as an afterthought. But the new stereo mix of Rubber Soul p*sses over the mono mix in every respect.
40 years ago today I landed at Sussex University for my English degree. It was a life-changing experience for a shy grammar school boy from Wiltshire who’d never left home before. Within my first term I got my hair cut, ditched specs for contact lenses, discovered beer & dope.
October 6, 2026 at 10:19 AM
40 years ago today I landed at Sussex University for my English degree. It was a life-changing experience for a shy grammar school boy from Wiltshire who’d never left home before. Within my first term I got my hair cut, ditched specs for contact lenses, discovered beer & dope.
I'm probably the last person to discover this guy's videos, but this one made me laugh manically – especially the "that's perfect" voiceover. And the way he starts gibbering and grunting towards the end as the process becomes doomed and stricken is actually quite disturbing.
How To Make Pizza Without an Oven
YouTube video by HowToBasic
www.youtube.com
September 28, 2026 at 12:58 PM
I'm probably the last person to discover this guy's videos, but this one made me laugh manically – especially the "that's perfect" voiceover. And the way he starts gibbering and grunting towards the end as the process becomes doomed and stricken is actually quite disturbing.
Awkward lettering
September 27, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Awkward lettering
Who else but Peter Hammill would play a 17-song set in the week his new album is released and only play one song from it? The man is unique.
Peter Hammill - Klub Krakow 26/9/26
My Room
Curtains
Easy to slip away
Just Good Friends
The Siren Song
Comet
Shingle Song
Last Frame
Driven
Ophelia
Patient
A Better Time
For a Rainy Day (world premiere)
The Mercy
A Way Out
Traintime
Refugees
My Room
Curtains
Easy to slip away
Just Good Friends
The Siren Song
Comet
Shingle Song
Last Frame
Driven
Ophelia
Patient
A Better Time
For a Rainy Day (world premiere)
The Mercy
A Way Out
Traintime
Refugees
September 26, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Who else but Peter Hammill would play a 17-song set in the week his new album is released and only play one song from it? The man is unique.
I think of The Tortured Poets Department Anthology as Taylor Swift's White Album. A sprawling, uneven behemoth that you couldn't edit down to a single album bc all of its songs bounce off and chat to each other. Life of a Showgirl Encore, however, is weak sauce. Bring back Dessner & Antonoff.
September 26, 2026 at 5:47 PM
I think of The Tortured Poets Department Anthology as Taylor Swift's White Album. A sprawling, uneven behemoth that you couldn't edit down to a single album bc all of its songs bounce off and chat to each other. Life of a Showgirl Encore, however, is weak sauce. Bring back Dessner & Antonoff.
What a difference 24 hours makes. The Guardian covering its back legally here with the addition of quotation marks and a strategically placed "appearing to".
September 24, 2026 at 12:54 PM
What a difference 24 hours makes. The Guardian covering its back legally here with the addition of quotation marks and a strategically placed "appearing to".
Today I learned that Karl Marx completed a questionnaire of his likes and dislikes in 1865. Netchen was his cousin, Gretchen is the heroine of Goethe's Faust, Martin Tupper is a largely forgotten English poet.
September 21, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Today I learned that Karl Marx completed a questionnaire of his likes and dislikes in 1865. Netchen was his cousin, Gretchen is the heroine of Goethe's Faust, Martin Tupper is a largely forgotten English poet.
Things have come to a pretty pass when a recording approach that doesn't use AI is described as "unorthodox". I don't mind Wilson, but the whole folk horror thing has been done to death, and the track already released sounds like standard-issue Porcupine Tree to me.
September 11, 2026 at 10:04 AM
Things have come to a pretty pass when a recording approach that doesn't use AI is described as "unorthodox". I don't mind Wilson, but the whole folk horror thing has been done to death, and the track already released sounds like standard-issue Porcupine Tree to me.
This album was released 45 years ago today. I remembered bringing it home and being flummoxed by Numan's new direction – where was my beloved synth pop? But now I see it as a masterpiece, filled with vulnerable emotion and nighttime atmospherics.
September 4, 2026 at 8:30 PM
This album was released 45 years ago today. I remembered bringing it home and being flummoxed by Numan's new direction – where was my beloved synth pop? But now I see it as a masterpiece, filled with vulnerable emotion and nighttime atmospherics.
I doubt the publicity-shy Ferrante will see this post & the publishers don't appear to be on here. Once on the other place I pointed out some typos on a new edition of The Handmaid's Tale and Margaret Atwood replied bemoaning the quality of the proofreading.
Eighteen pages into Elena Ferrante's The Story of a New Name & I've discovered this shocking typo. It should be Fernando not Francesco. I sometimes wonder if publishers actually employ proofreaders. This book has gone through nine printings; can I really be the first person to notice this typo?
September 4, 2026 at 2:23 PM
I doubt the publicity-shy Ferrante will see this post & the publishers don't appear to be on here. Once on the other place I pointed out some typos on a new edition of The Handmaid's Tale and Margaret Atwood replied bemoaning the quality of the proofreading.
Eighteen pages into Elena Ferrante's The Story of a New Name & I've discovered this shocking typo. It should be Fernando not Francesco. I sometimes wonder if publishers actually employ proofreaders. This book has gone through nine printings; can I really be the first person to notice this typo?
September 4, 2026 at 12:09 PM
Eighteen pages into Elena Ferrante's The Story of a New Name & I've discovered this shocking typo. It should be Fernando not Francesco. I sometimes wonder if publishers actually employ proofreaders. This book has gone through nine printings; can I really be the first person to notice this typo?
Seeing the Evan Parker/Barry Guy/Paul Lytton trio in London the other week has sent me scurrying back to their recorded output of live & studio work. This, from a festival in Switzerland in 2011, is extraordinary.
September 1, 2026 at 12:18 PM
Seeing the Evan Parker/Barry Guy/Paul Lytton trio in London the other week has sent me scurrying back to their recorded output of live & studio work. This, from a festival in Switzerland in 2011, is extraordinary.
Saw in my local paper that Dominick Shirley had passed away. He was my 6th form history & politics teacher, insanely funny & knowledgeable, great cricketer & hockey player. One of the best teachers I ever had. Go well Mr Shirley.
August 30, 2026 at 12:44 PM
Saw in my local paper that Dominick Shirley had passed away. He was my 6th form history & politics teacher, insanely funny & knowledgeable, great cricketer & hockey player. One of the best teachers I ever had. Go well Mr Shirley.
The 1975 Common Market referendum. A pretty good result, as referenda on the UK and Europe go.
What's the first historic event that you remember?
August 26, 2026 at 11:27 AM
The 1975 Common Market referendum. A pretty good result, as referenda on the UK and Europe go.
Can't beat a sunny day watching Hampshire. It's where you go to be alone.
August 22, 2026 at 11:06 AM
Can't beat a sunny day watching Hampshire. It's where you go to be alone.
A different setting and a different kind of gig tonight. But I was just talking to a bloke in the queue who was also at Cafe Oto last night, surprisingly. Thought I'd be the only one!
August 21, 2026 at 5:22 PM
A different setting and a different kind of gig tonight. But I was just talking to a bloke in the queue who was also at Cafe Oto last night, surprisingly. Thought I'd be the only one!
Trevor Watts, Ramon Lopez, Evan Parker, Barry Guy & Paul Lytton last night at Cafe Oto.
August 21, 2026 at 10:05 AM
Trevor Watts, Ramon Lopez, Evan Parker, Barry Guy & Paul Lytton last night at Cafe Oto.
Looking forward to an evening in the company of these fine fellows.
August 20, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Looking forward to an evening in the company of these fine fellows.
The rain held off and I saw a stunning performance of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians in a lovely Geneva park.
August 18, 2026 at 11:46 AM
The rain held off and I saw a stunning performance of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians in a lovely Geneva park.
First rainy day for weeks and of course it's the day I choose to go to a free open-air concert.
August 17, 2026 at 11:35 AM
First rainy day for weeks and of course it's the day I choose to go to a free open-air concert.
What's the best record shop in London for second-hand avant-garde 20th century classical music on vinyl? @mole9.bsky.social, any pointers?
August 15, 2026 at 5:41 PM
What's the best record shop in London for second-hand avant-garde 20th century classical music on vinyl? @mole9.bsky.social, any pointers?
Interview with Evan Parker by the late Richard Cook, from NME in 1985. Some good material here, particularly on the relationship between live & studio work.
August 6, 2026 at 9:37 AM
Interview with Evan Parker by the late Richard Cook, from NME in 1985. Some good material here, particularly on the relationship between live & studio work.
Contributed something to the new book Gary Numan: A People's History. Unfortunately they edited out the best bits, which were about my becoming a Numanoid at the age of 11 after seeing his début TOTP appearance.
August 4, 2026 at 9:08 AM
Contributed something to the new book Gary Numan: A People's History. Unfortunately they edited out the best bits, which were about my becoming a Numanoid at the age of 11 after seeing his début TOTP appearance.