Alan Burns
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alanburns.bsky.social
Alan Burns
@alanburns.bsky.social
600 followers 510 following 5.2K posts
Kilmarnock-born Edinburgher, civil servant who likes a lot of music, niche trivia and funny stuff
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alanburns.bsky.social
Flying visit to Stockbridge Oxfam
3 CDs: Vivaldi Stabat Mater on Harmonia Mundi Charpentier Messe de Minuit pour Noël on Naxos Kapsberger Lute Works, Paul O'Dette on Harmonia Mundi
November 22, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by Alan Burns
cowsarejustfood.bsky.social
live 1am my time (maybe), thankfully archived for future viewing

www.youtube.com/live/72w9fpT...
November 20, 2025 at 9:43 PM
alanburns.bsky.social
Please enjoy this thread of prog bands that fuck
yoda-nobunaga.bsky.social Yoda Nobunaga @yoda-nobunaga.bsky.social · 22h
Prog bands that fuck.

King Crimson: yes
Gentle Giant: yes
Genesis: only Peter Gabriel
Yes: no
Emerson, Lake, & Palmer: have you seen the cover of Love Beach?
orbgazer.bsky.social OrbGazer @orbgazer.bsky.social · 22h
They were dead set on proving that, despite the evidence of their music, they were explicitly NOT virgins
November 21, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Alan Burns
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Friday poem you should probably read before you head home from the office for the weekend www.havehashad.com/preview/hadp...
Please Consider The Environment Before Printing This Email by Ross McCleary
but if you must do so then please make sure to shred the pages after you’re done. If you must print this email then shred it, please, despite previous environmental concerns, burn the shreds in the Pr...
www.havehashad.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:59 PM
alanburns.bsky.social
JG Ballard writing at a typewriter
November 21, 2025 at 3:20 PM
alanburns.bsky.social
Now luteing (luting?)
Anyway, favourite ECM release this quarter of the year (still tempted by the Scofield/Holland, mind)
CD cover of Libro primo by Rolf Lislevand [ECM NS 2848]
November 21, 2025 at 2:14 PM
alanburns.bsky.social
Right back up to date now with this absolute belter
CD cover of The Shieling by Fergus McCreadie [Edition Records, 2025]
November 21, 2025 at 12:13 PM
alanburns.bsky.social
While I'm on 'piano plus electronics', dug this out because I still rate it as one of the best things Erased Tapes have ever released, really need to catch up on what Boysen's done since
CD cover of Spells by Ben Lukas Boysen [Erased Tapes, 2016]
November 21, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Alan Burns
thequietus.com
'Before Aksak Maboul feels like the discovery of a residual tail, an essential part of the story that you didn’t even know existed, an extension of the label #Crammed as well'

Reissue of the Week: Before #AksakMaboul (Documents & Experiments 1969-1977)

buff.ly/Q3LBS0Y
Before Aksak Maboul (Documents & Experiments 69-77) album cover. A collection of tapes and small instruments.
November 21, 2025 at 11:00 AM
alanburns.bsky.social
Now playing
CD cover of Feathers by Poppy Ackroyd [One Little Indian, 2017]
November 21, 2025 at 10:29 AM
alanburns.bsky.social
Tonight's viewing
After The Hunt (Luca Guadagnino, 2025)
November 20, 2025 at 10:03 PM
alanburns.bsky.social
Back on my regular obsessions, opening track of this one is so good (is Winston doing plucked piano strings in the intro? Almost like proto-Frahm/Ackroyd)
November 20, 2025 at 12:18 PM
alanburns.bsky.social
Satie a la Windham Hill time. Starting to get used to this one and how resolutely unadorned Quist's renderings are, it's very pure in a way. Can imagine young Gould at his most mechanical doing Satie like this
CD cover of Erik Satie: The Piano Solos performed by Bill Quist [Windham Hill, 1979]
November 20, 2025 at 10:47 AM
alanburns.bsky.social
John Travolta Dildo was a friend to the poor
He travelled with a gun in every hand
All along this countryside he opened many a door
But he was never known to hurt an honest man
sardonicus.eu Sardonicus @sardonicus.eu · 2d
I didn't realise this was his full name.
a toy model of John Travolta
November 20, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Reposted by Alan Burns
jahduran.bsky.social
thequietus.com/interviews/s...
The Strange World Of... Early Cabaret Voltaire | The Quietus
Stephen Mallinder on the first decade of the Cabs, creating anti-fascist dance routines and the search for the ultimate drum machine.
thequietus.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:42 AM
alanburns.bsky.social
Weirdo percussion time, and respecting the Random Acoustics label's commitment to the bit of 'album covers no, most inaccessible CD sleeves ever made yes'
CD cover of Electro-Acoustic Solo Works 1984-95 by Gerry Hemingway [Random Acoustics, 1996]
November 20, 2025 at 9:34 AM
alanburns.bsky.social
This again to start the morning
CD cover of Philip Glass: Violin Concerto, Company, Akhnaten performed by Ulster Orchestra cond. Takuo Yuasa [Naxos, 2000]
November 20, 2025 at 8:37 AM
alanburns.bsky.social
This again for bedtime, something wonderfully relaxing and calming about it
alanburns.bsky.social Alan Burns @alanburns.bsky.social · 3d
Now playing, 'night all
CD cover of Philip Glass: Company, Violin Concerto, Akhnaten performed by Ulster Orchestra cond. Takuo Yuasa [Naxos, 2001]
November 20, 2025 at 12:11 AM
alanburns.bsky.social
Ooft keeping this mega-list bookmarked for sure, the stuff I haven't heard yet could keep me busy all of next year
November 19, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Reposted by Alan Burns
robpalk.bsky.social
What
November 19, 2025 at 4:53 PM
alanburns.bsky.social
Some nice lighthearted teatime viewing, never actually seen it
Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)
November 19, 2025 at 5:16 PM
alanburns.bsky.social
Returning now to piano, for this oddity I've still not quite got to grips with, probably because there's so much to it, Mikrokosmos-style
CD cover of William Duckworth: The Time Curve Preludes, performed by Neely Bruce [Lovely Music, 1979]
November 19, 2025 at 1:55 PM
alanburns.bsky.social
Sticking with the CH label and 1986: now droning
2CD cover of Harmonic Meetings by David Hykes & The Harmonic Choir [Celestial Harmonies, 1986]
November 19, 2025 at 11:54 AM
alanburns.bsky.social
Now: just vibes (and marimba)
CD cover of In Lands I Never Saw by Double Image [Celestial Harmonies, 1986]
November 19, 2025 at 10:47 AM
alanburns.bsky.social
Glass continues, from that early 00s low point in reissuing history where Sony Classical just thought 'surely nobody wants to see cool album covers from the 70s and 80s any more'
CD cover of Glassworks by Philip Glass [CBS Masterworks, 1982; reissued here by Sony Classical in 2003 sans prisms but with a piss-coloured picture of the composer's face instead]
November 19, 2025 at 10:13 AM