Temples (group) – { feuilleton }

Untitled painting by Aleksandra Waliszewska. The artist is profiled by S. Elizabeth at Dirge Magazine.

• “…from my point of view, the only thing to do with any genre, any medium, is pretty much to break it, to transcend it, to find out what its limits are, and then go beyond them, and see what happens.” Alan Moore (again) talking to Heidi MacDonald about his novel, Jerusalem, which is out next month.

• A Monument to Outlast Humanity: Dana Goodyear gets the reclusive Michael Heizer to talk about his decade-spanning sculptural project, City, work on which is almost finished.

• William Burroughs’ appearances in adult men’s magazines: a catalogue which includes some downloads of uncollected Burroughs essays and other writings.

• Mixes of the week: Homegirls & Handgrenades Mix by Moor Mother, Secret Thirteen Mix 194 by Kareem, and hieroglyphics #014 by Temples.

• Remoteness of Light is a new album by The Stargazer’s Assistant inspired by the depths of the oceans and the vastness of space.

• RIP Gilli Smyth. “The silliness ran deep in Gong, but they could groove like mothers, too,” says Joe Muggs.

• Guide to Computing: historic computers presented by James Ball as though they were new machines.

• “Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis is one of the greatest love letters ever written,” says Colm Tóibín.

• “Will You Dance With Me?” Derek Jarman films dancers in a gay club in 1984.

• Snapshots from an editor: Donald Weise on working with Edmund White.

• Stupid by Wrangler (Stephen Mallinder, Phil Winter and Benge).

• The Rutt-Etra-Izer

• Dynamite/I Am Your Animal (1971) by Gong | Witch’s Song/I Am Your Pussy (1973) by Gong | Prostitute Poem (1973) by Gong

Artwork & photography by Abbie Stephens, Zoë Maxwell. Design by Thomas Caslin.

Passing through a record shop the day after looking at photos of the Winchester Mystery House I couldn’t help but notice this sleeve for the debut album by British band Temples. Yesterday I described Sarah Winchester’s house as a folly, which it is, but it was also her home. The ideal folly is an ostensibly purposeless structure, although many of the ones scattered around the UK do serve some kind of decorative function, often as fake ruins intended to be seen from a distance.

Thomas Tresham’s mysterious Triangular Lodge near Rushton, Northants, has always been a favourite, a small triangular building constructed in the 16th century, and encoded all over with references to the number 3. Tresham was a Catholic at a time when the faith was persecuted in England so the lodge is an expression of his devotion to the Holy Trinity. Given the unusual appearance of the building you’d think it might have appeared on an album cover before now. Temples are from Kettering in Northants so they can claim some local attachment to the place. The cover picture has something of a Hipgnosis look to it, which is no bad thing, and there’s also some Hipgnosis-style collaging at work; those trees in the background have been copied then flipped over. One benefit of the current vinyl resurgence is that sleeve designs like this aren’t spoiled by being only seen at CD size. Some of Temples’ songs can be heard on their SoundCloud page, while Pinterest has more views of the Triangular Lodge.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The album covers archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• The Triangular Lodge

Tag: Temples (group)

Weekend links 324

The Triangular Lodge again