Len Lye, film still from Colour Flight, 1938. Image courtesy of the Len Lye Foundation, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and the New Zealand Film Archive
Len Lye, detail of photogram, Le Corbusier, 1947. Image courtesy of the Len Lye Foundation and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery

In Birmingham (after a great show at the Glee Club) and visited the Ikon gallery to see the Len Lye show, ‘The Body Electric’. Crazy kinetic sculptures sat alongside hand-painted films containing incredible images. Here’s a photogram of legendary architect Le Corbusier and a still from one of the films. Such an inventive man.

I have returned to England after my Euro jaunt and over the coming days, when I have a moment I will update the VISUAL section of this site with some pictures. In the meantime, here’s a taster of a day in Mirano Venezia, walking though a market town, taking pictures of the ornate walls.

Bizarro music made by the four Wiggin sisters in 1969. The chaos of the untutored music is counter-pointed by the sweet vocal melody. Some people I know really love this and others hate it. I think it’s charming, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be their brother in the bedroom next door…

Float away on this wave of goodness from German electronic pioneer, Conrad Schnitzler.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, The Ballroom

I bought a book about the German art group, Die Brücke (The Bridge), in Köln. I love the blocked-out simplicity of their best woodcuts. Many of the images are gnarled, exaggerated distortions of reality, mirroring psychological states. However, to me, their more naturalistic images feel like a German extension of the earlier Arts & Crafts Movement; harshly beautiful and truly expressive, as you can see in this classic Kirchner print.

I bought this album today in Heidelberg. I liked the cover as much as the music. It was a lovely day up in the castle, looking at a giant barrel and a pharmacy museum. I know how to party.

Just woke up in Berlin and thought I’d post the evocative trailer for the Wim Wenders film known in English as ‘Wings Of Desire’. Romantic, realistic Berlin.

Outstanding and important footage of Laurie Spiegel experimenting with synthesised sound in her laboratory. It’s a big swell of noise from a machine that looks full of possibilities.

Gravenhurst will be joining me for most of my tour dates but sadly not the German dates due to a mix-up, which I found out only today. I’ve been killing his last album all week and so I thought I would share an acoustic version of Trust…

As a man who finds himself out of step with many things around him, I still have faith in the 7 inch format, which is as good a reason as any to release a single. As you may already know, ‘Our Lady Of Lourdes’ is the song I’ve chosen to herald the release of Margins and I thought I would send you a reminder of its release today.
It’s been nice to hear the song on the radio. I was in my kitchen the other day when it came on BBC Radio 6 – one of the best radio stations in the Western world. Proud as punch.

I was also really happy when I received my own copy of the single last week – it looks beautiful to me! See if you can spot the (not at all) deliberate mistake on the copy…

Of course, you can pick up a digital version of the single, too, but for once I’m going to stick with less talk and more info. The details of the single and how to obtain it are below:

Rough Trade

Piccadilly Records

iTunes