The GoB has been a thing for 10 years right about now. 10 years ago myself & Mrs Bones had a long weekend in Winchester and its environs. A blast from the past for me, a new bit of local history for Mrs Bones. We went to Stonehenge over that weekend, and it was whilst wondering around there I decided to do a new creative thing but hide it behind another identity or mask. Hence, the GoB was begat.

Some of the most successful activities in that time are the numerous releases we have done with Cousin Silas. For no other reason than why not, the following three albums fave been added to the Cousin Silas Emporium, reach with two added remix tracks, one by the GoB, on by CS.

So, without further chatter, here they are;

Spirits of Afrodubism (Extended Reissue)

 

Spirits of Afrodubism, the first of three Silas/GOB collaborations.

Original Notes:

The third hybrid dub set from ambient master Cousin Silas and chancer the Glove of Bones.

This time round we are exploring the power of positive thinking with input from some of the past centuries great thinkers. With particular interest in ethnography, animism and the archetypal unconsciousness, there are hopefully some guiding spirits that may help navigate our turbulent present. With dub.

Originally released November 9, 2018

Cousin Silas
Guitars, Bass, keyboards, synths

Glove of Bones
Apps, Samples, Rain stick,
Chimes & Gris Gris Bag

 

Kafou in Avalonia (Extended Reissue)

 

Kafou in Avalonia, dusted off with two new extra tracks. Both these tracks are reworks, one by myself, and one by GOB. 

Original Notes:

Avalonia developed as a volcanic arc on the northern margin of Gondwana. It eventually rifted off, becoming a drifting microcontinent. The Rheic Ocean formed behind it, and the Iapetus Ocean shrank in front. It collided with the continents Baltica, then Laurentia, and finally with Gondwana, ending up in the interior of Pangea. When Pangea broke up, Avalonia’s remains were divided by the rift which became the Atlantic Ocean.

Kafou in Avalonia imagines a world where the landmass remained connected and civilisation took a more integrated path.

“If The Future Sound Of London and Ash Ra Tempel recorded an album at Lee Scratch Perry’s black ark studio it might very well have sounded something like this. ” — Monolith Cocktail

Originally released June 19, 2020

Cousin Silas – Guitars, Samples & Keyboards
The Glove of Bones – Beats, loops, samples and rituals

Mastering – Rob Mellor

Released October 25, 2024

Cover art, design & juju – The Glove of Bones

New Runes (Extended Reissue)

 

New Runes, re-released with two extra tracks, one refigured by Cousin Silas, and the other by GOB.

Original Notes:

Looking at the files for this album, the first sketches appeared around September 2021. That makes it the longest gestation for a collaboration album with Cousin Silas (our sixth, the last in 2020). It’s also the greatest gap in putting out any new ideas since the GoB began.
In the past I’ve started out with a broadly clear narrative to work around. This didn’t start that way. I just had a circling nucleus of undirected rage that occasionally proposed titles and ideas.

The period from March 2020 to September 2021 delivered so much ‘content’ both over the internets and IRL. It was difficult to filter this down to reason. There’s an interview with David Bowie by Jeremy Paxman from 1999 where DB prophesises the impacts both positive & negative of the internet. Look it up (it’s worth noting that the planet has gone to hell since he passed. Studies need to be made).

It was perhaps not surprising that a global pandemic delivered the best of humanity on so many levels (charity, reason, science, benevolence, realisation of the value of workers, a tantalising look at how life could be better valued and lived) and also finally unboxed the absolute worst that had for numerous past decades been side-lined by truth & reason.

Puritanism, righteousness, division, corruption, an imagined ‘culture war’, embedded & extended privilege, a riled & enraged but ill-informed and manipulated electorate, an unimaginably wealthy tiny number of people, all took a deep breath and realised shouting at the marginalised, using punching down rhetoric and waving flags works and might delay their ultimate & deserved extinction.

Welcome to the New Dark Ages (yes, Pere Ubu got there first but I stand on the shoulders of these giants).

Dedicated to the ‘woke’, the SJWs, the non-conformists, the transgressives, the punks, the anarchists, XTR, the lefties & liberals. Every time these terms are used as slurs it means you’re winning.

New Runes is an arthritic index finger raised and ready.

Thank you to those who contributed to this auditory rant.

G.o.B. // October 2022

Originally released October 28, 2022

The Glove of Bones
Concepts, samples, apps, guitar noises & loops, production / construction / mastering, artwork & video.