CLEY HILL, WILTSHIRE: 12:30 - 13:15, WEDNESDAY, 13/02/2008

I've mentioned before that I wanted to go check Cley Hill...it's an ancient Iron Age hill-fort complete w/ barrows and also the epicentre of a UFO flap that first kicked off in the 60s and became known as "The Warminster Thing" (Warminster being the nearest town, about 3 miles away.) I only live about 30 miles away, but I've never been here before...so it seemed an ideal excuse since I was holed up in Frome recovering from the MV/EE show the night before.

It's def. a mythic landscape round here, you can almost feel something radiating from out of the ground...or is this all just wish-fulfilment? I'm fascinated by the psychogeographical phenomenology of all this: certain geo-locs are certainly 'different' in some way, but are they 'different' in themselves or are they 'different' because we're projecting some unconscious interior landscape onto them or reinforcing something within ourselves that desires expression, or is something being tricked into manifesting itself by certain landscapes or locations? Who knows...

It was certainly fucking beautiful and my £15 camera def. doesn't do it any justice. Distant thumps from exploding ordnance dn on Salisbury Plain as we ascended the hill, talking about the 'dragonfly' drones currently being developed by the military. "Some sort of inversion layer going on over there," said Dr. Harper, pointing out a low-lying cloud formation on the horizon. He's a world-level expert in exploiting the physical properties of certain obscure types of molecular nano-layers and the only friend I've got who's got patents taken out in his name.















The evening before, Matt Valentine and Erika Elder had been fucking incredible.

Do you hear me?

Fucking! Incredible!

This was the 3rd time I've seen 'em and v. def. the best. There was an amazing feeling of intimacy in The Old Pump Room and a sense that we were witnessing something very special.

*Shucks* It was like watching Crazy Horse play in your own living room.

Excellent support from Big Naturals, who blasted a set of psychedelic Doom from behind a pile of Marshall and Orange amps. Just two of 'em - bass gtr and drums (plus Korg synth) - joining a venerable lineage of Power Duos that incl. OM, Lightning Bolt, etc. Live, they were less Can-ish than some of their recordings, but they still blew the hair off me chin. Loved the way the audience were hemmed into the remaining quarter of the venue. More bands should create a sense of enforced intimacy, I reckon - squash 'em in, I say!

The Doozer played some touchingly stripped-back one-man Barrett-tinged psychedelia (he even mentioned coming from or living in Cambridge, I think): songs about Daddy Long-legs, walking the dog, etc: seemingly banal ephemera that sweetly touched some inner nerve with me. He also displayed a Robyn Hitchcockesque virtuosity at surreal inter-song banter, then turned up later to guest on space-echo harmonica, swelling the MV/EE band to a 6-piece.

Great to see Cloudboy, Paul and Mr. Ollivetti in attendance along w/ me and Dr. Harper...as well as Chiz from The Cube/Qu-Junktions, Matt aka Team Brick, and Phil from Terrascope. A truly fabulous evening indeed - many thanks to Dr. Harper and Heather for their wonderful hospitality.

Which reminds me: serious props must go to Charlie for organising the shin-dig and for her (no getting round it) totally amazing cakes: