Next Thursday 4th April 2013, I'm joining up with Mercury Rev's Cinematic Silent Sound Tettix Wave Ensemble for a gig at Koko in Camden, North London.  We're being joined by drummer / percussionist Martin Smith of Tuung, so the full name of the band is Mercury Rev's Cinematic Silent Sound Tettix Wave Ensemble Featuring Nick Franglen and Martin Smth, or MRCSSTWEFNFAMS for short. 

This festival evening - Mouth to Mouth - is being curated by Michael Gira of Swans:  Ben Frost, Xiu Xiu and Grouper in support, then us, and Swans headline the show.  It's a great lineup.  If you've not seen Swans before, they'll blow your fucking socks off, incredible - see below.  Here's an excellent interview with Swans drummer Thor on The Quietus site.  We of MRCSSTWEFNFAMS will be creating a live soundtrack to a film, and it's going to be special and unrepeatable.  Click here for more details and tickets.

Also it's the first time I'll have played at Koko, which is a big deal for me. It was my haunt for my teenage years when it was the Music Machine -  saw The Clash, Siouxsie etc there, and was there on the opening night after Steve Strange and Rusty Egan had dolled it up and reopened it as the what-the-fuck-have-they-done-to-it Camden Palace. They kept the old bouncers though, just so the transition wasn't too abrupt.  Maybe they're still there, with their single leather gloves and cheery disposition.

...there's only one great Cowell in music.  Henry Cowell - The Banshee for solo piano, 1925.

Emeli Sande, pissed off to be relegated to backing singer now Adele's back.  #Oscars2013.

I'm lucky to be one of the recipients of Miles Gibson's great Postcards.  They appear in the post at random intervals.  I think the postman enjoys them as well.

Sometimes there is a random intervention on these 'Guaranteed Genuine Works of Art', as it says on the back.  What could be more apt for today than this belle, receiving a shower of well-deserved hearts from the franking machine.  It must be love! Happy Valentine's Day!

Thomas Dawson's pancake recipe from 1585.  

From the British Library - http://www.bl.uk/ - as is this document, which analyses the geology of the new(ish) British Library building, highlighting the sources for the different stones, and fossils within the walls.  Good stuff.

This is basic plucking or The Staunton Lick. Or at least this is what it sounded like before we messed with it. And a Pig. I should play it a bit quicker but I've hurt my finger. And Mirkin kept falling off. Etc.

I'm prepping for the Nico show on the 16th, getting sounds together and stuff.  And girding my loins for the nightmare polka we always dance at the airport to get my gear through.  Some people can travel light.  Not me.

Love this song.  Shibuya, 1986.

Here's a new track I made last night by mistake - bit early to be getting in the mood but...

The constant dreams have now stopped, but I'm missing Millennium Mills an enormous amount. It's not just the adrenaline, I loved being in there. A very private world.

Here's the first of the Legacy background films.  I am constructing a solar powered toy rowing boat during a firework display.  Enjoy.

It felt like being back in the Legacy building, this dive - far too many similarities to be ignored.  I'm still working on what these abandoned spaces do to me.  Interesting.

Music by Blacksand, my band with Charlie Casey. Click here to hear more.  Our album Barn, winner of rave 5-star reviews and Record of the Week awards, is available on iTunes, but having just seen how ridiculously high Apple have priced it I wouldn't bother with that.  Either download it from Boomkat (at half the price and twice the quality) or contact me if you're after one of the last copies of the CD - this comes in a great Chris Bigg and Vaughan Oliver V23 designed embossed gatefold sleeve that will enhance your life for many years.