New Moon

I'd like a new moon
The old one has been lost since
Ninteen ninety nine

Faust IV by Faust

The term Krautrock was a snooty and dismissive expression coined by the British music press who didn’t like the idea of German bands coming over here and playing rock, instead of proper British bands playing pop - if only there was a term for that, eh? Anyhoo, Faust hit back with the first track on this album, an 11 minute epic called Krautrock that does exactly what it says on the tin. Metronomic motorik beats, temperamental analogue synths, weird electronic glitches and fuzzed out guitars all turned up to 11. Wunderbar!

The other tracks on this album are of slightly more variable quality, ranging from bizarre songs to short, experimental pieces, but generally all worth a listen even if only to say “what the heck was that supposed to be?”. I’d still choose krautrock over yet another boring yacht rock album any day though.

Kraut-tastic!

https://album.link/gb/i/714051180

Of Bloody Bastards and Boar Knights

The mysterious lyre-playing woman seemed to be set up for a tea party including cakes and dainty teacups. She invited us in but we were all suspicious of the chalk circle that surrounded her. Aodhan accepted the invitation to take a seat and then the circle vanished! The ghostly woman introduced herself as Lucretia and briskly departed, leaving an empty sarcophagus and all of the other accoutrements vanished as if they had never been, even the fairy cakes! We then remembered that Lucretia was the wife of the tyrant - oops.

We followed the corridor out and through several turns until we found fresh footprints in the dust leading into the darkness. Bastonn decided to check out a doorway to the north and we came into a room decorated with murals, inscriptions and most importantly four heavily armed people apparently guarding stairs leading down. One of them was dozing but the other three greeted us cautiously, explaining that they were working for Belynda the Bloody and were recovering from a battle with the boar knights on the next floor down.

Aodhan inspected the murals seeing a picture of chained, hooded figure - possibly the tyrant, in chains and hanging from a scaffold. The other murals were of nun like figures with elaborate white hoods and hawklike faces. The tablets were witness testimonies from the trial of the tyrant and his tyrannical tyrannies.

We backtracked and followed the footprints to a wall that turned out to be an illusion leading into a room where we found Belynda, her mage Florian and four of her wounded mercenary bastards. She was sharpening a large axe whilst the mage was tending to the wounded. Aodhan wasn't impressed by the mage's fancy robes. "I'd rather be Einstein than Liberace!"

Krisanna cast some jealous glances at the mercenaries collected loot but eventually they all agreed to team up to take out the tyrant.

The warband returned to the library and headed down the stairs with Krisanna in front. We came into a large room with a barricade =between us and the Boar Knights - heavily armed skeletal knights with pig like helmets. Aodhan called out in an ancient language to ask who their master was and what their role was.

In return they challenged us to prove our honesty by awakening the hawk sisters and driving out the pretenders - at this Belynda and her crew started to draw their swords against us, shouting "kill them all!"

Aodhan cast a fireball at Belynda, scorching her and Krisanna threw a dagger which ricocheted off the mercenary's armour and back at the unfortunate halfling. Makander weighed in with his axe ripping Belynda to shreds. The Boar Knights calmly killed half of the mercenaries before the remainder turned tail and ran.

We headed back up the stairs to the library and took the east door which lead us into a room where several giant beatles were eating spilt food. There were four fonts on the wall of different types on the walls. Curiouser and curiouser.

 

Evening

Dixon of Dock Green
Would break the fourth wall with a
Cheery "Evening all!"

The Nightfly by Donald Fagen

Donald Fagen is not half as cool as the album cover would have you believe. He evidently spent his teenage years as a dorky kid, stuck in his room listening to fusty old jazz stations instead of that scary rock n roll and pining after unattainable girls. After a spell with yacht rockers and steam powered dildo enthusiasts Steely Dan, he put out this album that can charitably be described as easy listening. 

It was recorded and produced entirely digitally, and hence has that bland and soulless feel of the early 80s. Purely for this reason it was popular with audiophiles and cd bores who wanted to show off the quality of their hi-fi setups without caring much about the actual music. 

https://album.link/gb/i/617827654

In Rainbows by Radiohead

In 2007 Radiohead were without a contract and so decided to sidestep the record industry by releasing their music online as a ‘pay what you want’ download. This was a gamble, but it paid off in terms of getting their album out and into the hands of fans and curious bystanders as soon as possible. Reportedly most people were happy to pay the regular price or went on to buy the various physical releases that became available later on.

Aside from the novelty of the release, this was an evolution in their style - less glitchy and weird, more guitar based rock (with some nice string accompaniments), and with a noticeable personal touch to the lyrics. Thom Yorke’s vocals are still an acquired taste, but after being a relative newcomer to their albums until fairly recently I have grown to appreciate them. 

https://album.link/gb/i/1109714933

Wild Rose

Fishing for minnows

On the banks of the old stream
Where the wild rose grows