Fellow Egyptians, occultists, born-again Christians, chariots, Thelemites, Ebionites, AntiChrists, desert masks, reactionary Catholicks, machines and dreams!

Lots of news below, though those of you who are psychic will already know this.

Peace to you all: we are all Aleph.

Anok Pe David+++

Vinyl 2LP of “Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain” now out!

At last the 2LP of ALEPH has been released, and copies are on their way to London now from the USA, where they were manufactured. We should have them in a week or so, and they have been added to the Durtro shop for pre-order. 2,500 copies were made, of which the first 150 copies available from Durtro have been signed by David Tibet.

The 2LP is in a gatefold sleeve. The tracks of the ALEPH CD are on sides 1–3, and side 4 is a 20-minute piece called ADAM AT DOCETIC MOUNTAIN; this is a previously unreleased version of the entire ALEPH text, with voice by David Tibet, electronics by Andrew Liles and drums/percussion by Alex Neilson.

The 2LP also includes the subscriber poster and all the lyrics to the album.

Price is £20 plus postage and packing.

Click here to order

Hardback edition of the text of “Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain” + CD

We are presently finishing off a hardback edition of the complete text of ALEPH, with a CD of unreleased ALEPH material. More news when it is being printed.

Pitchfork review of “Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain”

Click here

Current 93 to play shows in New York and London in March/April in March/April 2010

C93 will be playing a series of shows in NYC and London in March or April 2010. These will be large-scale events marking David's 50th birthday; there will be a lot of surprises! More details when the dates and venues are finalised.

“Under the Rain and Teeth of Gods”: collected lyrics of David Tibet

I continue to work on this book. I have also decided to publish it on my 50th birthday, March 5 2010. It feels an apt and exciting occasion for me to finally release this book, which so many of you have been so very patient over. I did think of publishing it later this year, but it is more meaningful for me to release it along with some new recordings and other items that I am presently working on connected to my birthday.

As ALWAYS, I thank you ALL for your patience. As ever, if anyone is tired of waiting, please let us know and we will refund you immediately.

Shiny and unique metalwork 'stampers' and 'positives' of Current 93 vinyl releases for auction

I have found a small number of the various pieces of metalwork that were used to manufacture some of the C93 albums and singles, as well as the "Cripple and the Starfish" track by Antony and the Johnsons that was part of a shared 7" with C93's "Immortal Bird".

There are 2 types of metalwork (which both look the same): (1) the STAMPERS, which play the "right way" on one's record player; and (2) the POSITIVES, which look exactly the same but are "generated" from the STAMPERS. These are used to press the final vinyl, so play "backwards".

Do note, however, that sometimes there is a slight warp on the metalwork makes them difficult to play; they may need pressing down under heavy books or boxes for a while before they are easily playable. Fundamentally, these are decorative items, and should be purchased as such, rather than audio items to play.

GENERALLY, each single STAMPER side is in its own cardboard box: one box for each side of the record. Both sides of the POSITIVES for any vinyl release are together in one box, except for Side 3 of SOFT BLACK STARS, which is the only POSITIVE metalwork that I can find for this album.

Each box has the title and artist responsible for the specific recording written in David Tibet's handwriting.

I can't work out what they are worth, so I will be putting them up, one at a time, on eBay with a starting bid of £93, or, in this case, its US$ equivalent. The first one is the "Stamper" for side 1 of FAUST, Durtro 060A.

Click here to place a bid

More original Louis Wain artwork from David Tibet’s collection for sale

We have put up more items from David's collection: click here. These original paintings by Wain include those used as, or on, the covers of The Starres are Marching Sadly Home/The Inmost Light, An Introduction to Suffering and Birdsong in the Empire. It also includes the painting "Bounce the Ball Still", on the reverse of which, in Wain's handwriting, is the text "Bounce the Ball still/Softly round it on all sides/The Goal is in each Kit's eye/The Ball fixes each eye open/It rolls to each paws love/Bounced home, where it hides", which opens up the Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre album, as well as being reproduced on the sticker on the front of the recent CD and LP reissue of that album. A final note is that the image which inspired the line "The Dovecots so full of the birds in their thousands", from Sleep Has His House's "Niemandswasser", is also for sale.

Two paintings by pre-Raphaelite artist and decadent Simeon Solomon for sale

I have also added two images of original paintings by Simeon Solomon, which I collected whilst building up my Count Stenbock collection; Stenbock was a great admirer and collector of Solomon's work.

Click here to see them.

“Tatters and Whispers”: a new hand-printed Durtro Press poetry volume by Barbara Emmel

Durtro are delighted to announce the publication of a new volume of poetry, Tatters and Whispers, by Barbara Emmel, hand-printed by Alan Anderson for Durtro Press. This is a remarkable and beautiful collection of poems by one of my favourite contemporary poets which is also, I am honoured to say, dedicated to myself and Barbara's husband, Coptologist and floating C93 member, Stephen Emmel. The opening poem, "Archangel", is also specifically dedicated to me, and I append the first five verses below to give you the sense of Barbara's poetry. 200 numbered copies have been printed. The book is 50 pages long and costs £12 plus p&p.

Click here to order

ARCHANGEL
For David Tibet

In this calm vaulted and towered cathedral
its stone floor grooved by cebturies
of those heavy footed with pain,

my candles' prayer-laden flames
reach thin streams of smoke up to the folded peaks
of the very highest reach of God, where where

I pray for all those I love, especially my son,
and also for that some other mother's son out there,
the shabby accordion player
slight and rampant haired
wild bearded young man,
a smile like a cloud-parting sun,

coaxing out notes as soft and sweet
as the rustle of autumn's leaves
lyred by the wind

standing just by the lichened stone wall
carapacing the foot bridge
cobbled with medieval stone.

Nick Blinko novel, “The Haunted Head’, now available for pre-order

(Cover shown here is a mock-up and is subject to change)

We are now taking pre-orders for this book. Credit cards will only be charged on shipment. The books costs £60 plus p&p.

This hardback book is a limited edition, with blocked front cover and spine, pictorial end-papers with Nick's artwork on them and a book-ribbon. The novel itself is 200 pages long. Each copy will come with a 1-track CD featuring a newly-recorded and previously unreleased Rudimentary Peni song.

Nick wrote out a version of the book, in black ink, in his obsessively beautiful handwriting, on approximately 350 one-sided white postcards measuring 3 ½" x 5 ½" (90 × 147mm). Each copy of the book comes with one of these original postcards with text from the novel. This of course means that the book is limited to the number of manuscript cards. Once the cards are finished, the edition is ended.

Click here to order

Nick Blinko is represented in The Collection de l'Art Brut, Lausanne and The Outsider Collection and Archive, London.

"In the case of British artist Nick Blinko (b.1961), who has in the past been hospitalised, the need to make pictures is stronger than the desire for the psychic 'stability' brought by therapeutic drugs which adversely affects his ability to work. His images are constructed of microscopically detailed elements, sometimes consisting of literally hundreds of interconnecting figures and faces, which he draws without the aid of magnifying lenses and which contain an iconography that places him in the company of the likes of Bosch, Bruegel and the late Goya. These pictures produced in periods when he was not taking medication bring no respite from the psychic torment and delusions from which he suffers. In order to make art, Blinko risks total psychological exposure."

Professor Colin Rhodes, Outsider Art: Spontaneous Alternatives, Thames & Hudson, 2000.

Love and peace to you all,

David Tibet+++