Lkrory21

Δεδομένου ότι πρόσφατα εκφράσαμε την ενθουσιώδη άποψη μας για την επιτυχή δισκογραφική σύμπραξη των Nils Petter Molvær & Moritz von Oswald αλλά και τους απολαύσαμε και ζωντανά στην πρόσφατη εξόρμηση μας στο φημισμένο γερμανικό Enjoy Jazz Festival είναι προφανές ότι είμαστε παραπάνω από χαρούμενοι που οι δύο σπουδαίοι μουσικοί έρχονται και στην χώρα μας για μία ζωντανή εμφάνιση,

Από την μία ο γερμανός παραγωγός Moritz Von Oswald -τον έχουμε απολαύσει στην χώρα μας ξανά τόσο ως DJ όσο και με το trio μαζί με τον Max Loderbauer και Sasu Ripatti (aka Vladislav Delay)- που χάρις στις κυκλοφορίες μέσω της Basic Channel (παρέα με τον Mark Ernestus) στις αρχές των 90s όρισε ουσιαστικά τι εστί minimal (dub) techno και συνεχίζει ακάθεκτα για σχεδόν τρεις δεκαετίες να παράγει ηλεκτρονική μουσική υψηλού επιπέδου μέσα από διάφορα projects και συνεργασίες όπως οι Rhythm & Sound (επίσης μαζί με Mark Ernestus), το προαναφερθέν Moritz Von Oswald Trio, οι συνεργασίες με Carl Craig και Juan Atkins, κλπ.

Από την άλλη ο νορβηός τρομπετίστας Nils Petter Molvær που κινείται εδώ και αρκετά χρόνια στον χώρο μιας σύγχρονης πιο “πειραγμένης” jazz (η οποία ενίοτε συναντά την ηλεκτρονική μουσική και άλλα μουσικά είδη) και που έχει στο βιογραφικό του ένα πλήθος συνεργασίων (ενδεικτικά τα γκρουπς Masqualero και Jazzpunkensemblet, συνεργασίες  με Bill Laswell/Jah Wobble, Hector Zazou, κλπ) αλλά και προσωπικές κυκλοφορίες στην ECM, Sony Music, EmArcy (Universal), κλπ.

Οι πορείες των δύο αυτών σπουδαίων μουσικών τέμνονται στον εξαιρετικό δίσκο 1/1 που κυκλοφόρησε στις αρχές Οκτώβρη και πλέον θα έχουμε την ευκαιρία να δούμε και ζωντανά αυτή την πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα (και επιτυχημένη) σύμπραξη minimal techno και future jazz στην σκηνή του Gagarin 205 την Παρασκευή 13 Δεκεμβρίου. Τιμή εισιτηρίου 22 euros τα πρώτα 200 εισιτηρια, 25 euros προπώληση, 27 euros ταμείο. Σημεία προπώλησης: Θέατρο Ακροπόλ (Ιπποκράτους 9-11, Τηλ .: 2103643700)
, Public, Seven Spots, Παπασωτηρίου ,Viva.gr.

Nils Petter Molvaer & Moritz von Oswald – 1/1 (Album trailer)

Nils Petter Molvaer & Moritz von Oswald – ‘Development’

Nils Petter Molvær & Moritz von Oswald – ‘Transition’

Σύντομη ανασκόπηση δύο ολόκληρων εβδομάδων με “μόλις” έξι ταινίες κινηματογραφική συγκομιδή και το La Passe του Αsghar Farhadi να επισκιάζει ο,τιδήποτε άλλο.

07.10.2013

Good Vibrations: Μυθοπλασία βασισμένη σε πραγματικό στόρι για τον μέντορα της πανκ σκηνής του Μπέλφαστ και ιδιοκτήτη δισκάδικου Terri Hooley που μέσα στα troubles, τις ταραχές των 70s δηλαδή κατάφερε να αναδείξει συγκροτήματα όπως οι The Undertones που έγραψαν το αγαπημένο τραγούδι του John Peel “Teenage Kicks“. H ταινία είναι διασκεδαστική και καλογυρισμένη, ειδικά για τους μουσικόφιλους, χωρίς όμως να ανεβαίνει κάποια κατηγορία πάνω από αυτήν της “καλής ταινίας για ένα δευτεριάτικο βράδυ”.

08.10.2013

CBGB: Δεν μπορούμε να πούμε το ίδιο, ότι δηλαδή πρόκειται για μια “καλή ταινία για ένα βράδυ Τρίτης” για το εν λόγω σχεδόν απαράδεκτο πόνημα του Randall Miller. Τα φτυάρια των κριτικών στην άλλη πλευρά του Ατλαντικού έθαψαν πολύ βαθιά την ταινία που σε όλα τα επίπεδα (σενάριο, σκηνοθεσία, ερμηνείες, ιστορική ακρίβεια) είναι κακή. Σταχυολογώ ένα από τα πιο πικρόχολα όσο και αστεία σχόλια ότι ο Lou Reed (R.I.P.) στην ταινία μοιάζει με μια διασταύρωση του Eminem με τον ζυμαρούλη της Pillsbury. Mετά από τα παραπάνω δείτε την ταινία με δική σας ευθύνη.

10.10.2013

A Constant Forge: Το  κυριότερο, όχι αμελητέο, μειονέκτημα του ντοκιμαντέρ του Charles Kiselyak για το βίο και την πολιτεία του John Cassavetes είναι η τεράστια και κάπως αχρείαστη διάρκεια του (τρεις ώρες και είκοσι λεπτά παρακαλώ). Από κει και πέρα αποτελεί ένα πολύ καλό συνοδευτικό/εισαγωγή στο έργο του πατέρα του αμερικάνικου ανεξάρτητου σινεμά για αυτό εξάλλου κυκλοφόρησε μαζί με το boxset της Criterion με πέντε από τα φιλμ του δημιουργού. Αυτό που μένει στο θεατή είναι ο βαθιά ανθρωποκεντρικός και συναισθηματικός χαρακτήρας του κινηματογράφου του, η πίστη και ο θαυμασμός των σταθερών συνεργατών του, αλλά και η περίπλοκη και βαθιά σχέση του με τη Gena Rowlands από αυτές που μόνο σπάνια βλέπουμε στην οθόνη ή τη ζωή.

11.10.2013

La Passe: Σε μια γραμμή μπορούμε να πούμε πως το La Passe του Αsghar Farhadi είναι μια πολύ καλή ταινία η οποία αν εν μέρει αφήνει το θεατή ανικανοποίητο είναι γιατί δε φτάνει στα ύψη του προηγούμενου έργου του A Separation. Μιας και έχουν ειπωθεί πολλά και ενδιαφέροντα ήδη για την εν λόγω ταινία και το σινεμά του Farhadi γενικότερα, να προθέσω απλά το σινεφίλ θαυμασμό μου για έναν από τους σημαντικότερους σκηνοθέτες αυτή τη στιγμή παγκοσμίως. Για μια πιο ψύχραιμη και εμπεριστατωμένη κριτική μπορείτε να διαβάσετε εδώ ή εδώ μαζί με μια συνέντευξη του σκηνοθέτη εδώ.

15.10.2013

Το Catch A Thief: Δεν ξέρω εάν η εν λόγω ταινία του μεγάλου Alfred Ηitchcock είναι από τις ελάσσονες δημιοργίες του ή όχι αλλά σίγουρα είναι από τις πιο διασκεδαστικές. Αν και θρίλερ μυστηρίου στα χαρτιά, στην πραγματικότητα είναι περισσότερο μια ρομαντική κομεντί με στοιχεία μυστηρίου. Ο Cary Grant βρίσκει μια άξια παρτενέρ στο πρόσωπο της Grace Kelly ενώ το χλιδάτο και ανέμελο σκηνικό της γαλλικής Ριβιέρας ταιριάζει γάντι στους δύο πρωταγωνιστές.

16.10.2013

Kings of Summer: Μια κλασική coming-of-age ιστορία εμπλουτίζεται με λίγες πινελιές σουρεαλισμού, υπόγειο χιούμορ, ειλικρινή συναισθήματα και αρκετά καλές ερμηνείες. Αξιόλογο ντεμπούτο από τον Jordan Vogt-Roberts που θυμίζει εν μέρει το Mud και εν μέρει το Son of Rambow και τελικά αφήνει μια γλυκιά γεύση στο θεατή. Πολύ πιασάρικη χρήση του “The Youth” των MGMT στο soundtrack.

Σινεφίλ links

-Πιο απολαυστική από το Kings of Summer παίζει να είναι η μικρού μήκους του Jordan Vogt-Roberts Succesful Alchoholics με το θεούλη  T.J. Miller και την υπεραγαπημένη μου Lizzy Kaplan (τη θεωρώ ταλαντούχα και έξυπνη κωμικό και το Masters of Sex δεν της δίνει το χώρο που της αξίζει να δείξει το ταλέντο της). Δείτε την ολόκληρη εδώ.

-Ανακοινώθηκαν οι υποψηφιότητες για τα έγκυρα κινηματογραφικά βραβεία Gotham Awards που επικεντώνονται στο αμερικανικό ανεξάρτητο σινεμά. Από τις υποψηφιότητες για καλύτερη ταινία δεν έχουμε δει ακόμα τον Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave) και τους αδερφούς Cohen (Inside Llwelyn Davis), σε αντίθεση με τα Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (μίνι κριτική εδώ), το Before Midnight (και τα δύο ελαφρώς υπερτιμημένα κατ’ εμέ) αλλά και το περίεργο όσο και ενδιαφέρον Upstream Color (ωραία αυτή η πιο left field υποψηφιότητα). Σε άλλες κατηγορίες, το  The Act of Killing είναι το μόνο που έχω δει από τα ντοκιμαντέρ και είναι δίκαια στην πεντάδα, χάρηκα για την υποψηφιότητα της Brie Larson (τα είπαμε και για το Short Term 12), νυσταλέα προβλέψιμη ήταν αυτή της Cate Blanchett για το Blue Jasmine και γενικά έχουν μείνει πολλές ταινίες που μέχρι το τέλος της χρονιάς πρέπει να δω (Fruitvale Station, Dallas Buyers Club, Concussion, All Is Lost, κ.α.)

- Με αφορμή το Halloween αλλά και το μεγάλο αφιέρωμα του British Film Institute στη σκοτεινή πλευρά του σινεμά ο Observer προτείνει ένα top-10 gothic ταινιών. Μέσα σ’ αυτές είναι και μια από τις πιο αγαπημένες μου όλων των εποχών, η Rebecca του Alfred Hitchcock φυσικά.

Since their introduction in 1978, Lego's Minifigs have, um, reproduced at a rapid rate. In fact, the toymaker has been making the little fellas at such a pace that they'll outnumber humans by 2019.

Read more...

Because electronic music is so closely tied to evolving technology, there are myriad starting points to explore when talking about the genre’s origins. As Moog, Stockhausen and Krautrock have all been explored ad nauseam, Parisian label Because takes a unique look into the history of electronic and avant-garde with Cosmic Machine.
Focusing on music from ’70s France, Cosmic Machine presents an alternate universe, one where Cerrone and Universal Energy were as influential to the sound and popularity of disco as Larry Levan and Giorgio Moroder. But what makes this compilation so captivating is the array of artists smitten with synths and drum machines, as chansons like Serge Gainsbourg and Pierre Bachelet sit alongside space rockers (Rockets,…

320 kbps | 182 MB | UL | TB | MC ** FLAC

…Space Art), classical composers (François de Roubaix, Alain Goraguer) and the famed Jeans (Jean Michel Jarre, Jean-Jacques Perrey). Working as a terrific glimpse into French electronic’s rich beginnings, while brimming with some classic dance music, Cosmic Machine comes off just as gratifying as captivating.

01. Patrick Juvet – Rêve
02. Didier Marouani – Temps X
03. Droids – Shanti Dance (Pt1 & Pt2)
04. François De Roubaix – Survol
05. Space – Magic Fly
06. Universal Energy – Disco Energy (I)
07. Pierre Bachelet – Motel Show
08. Space Art – Love Machine
09. The Atomic Crocus – Ombilic Contact
10. Jean-Michel Jarre – Black Bird
11. Bernard Fevre – That Is To Be (Exclusive)
12. Cerrone – Générique-Début
13. Frédéric Mercier – Spirit
14. Quartz – Chaos
15. René Roussel – Caramel
16. Serge Gainsbourg & Jean-Pierre Sabar – Le Physique Et Le Figure
17. DVWB – Aqua (Exclusive)
18. Alain Goraguer – Le Bracelet
19. Jean-Jacques Perrey – E.V.A.
20. Rockets – Rocket Man (Instrumental)

[Label: EmArcy | Cat#: 06025 3743670]

1. Noise 1 (4:43)
2. Step By Step (7:49)
3. Transition (15:00)
4. Development (8:28)
5. Further (6:19)
6. Future (8:59)
7. Development (Ricardo Mix Dig) (7:25)
8. Noise 2 (8:59)

It used to take ages for underground sounds to find their way into mainstream pop music. Information moved more slowly, recordings took more time to produce, and there were layers of cultural gatekeepers to be navigated in the process, so subcultures that craved obscurity could usually find it. The internet and digital recording technology have changed that. Now, if your timing’s right, you can see a specific synth sound or drum programming technique make its way from some nobody producer’s SoundCloud page to pop radio in maybe a couple of months, but sometimes in just weeks.

The shadowy postdubstep underground bass music scene, for instance, is currently finding itself thrust into the spotlight by Kanye, Drake, and their legions of followers who've adopted increasingly dark-toned aesthetic identities informed by artists like SBTRKT and Arca. This scrutiny and appropriation will only intensify in the wake of Lorde’s Pure Heroine, which transmuted minimalist bass music that would've qualified as avant garde only a few months ago into chart gold. So what does a musical community with a preference for operating under the pop-cultural radar do when mainstream artists start knocking it off for parts? The smartest and most productive thing would be to launch its own competing, alternative product: And now it has, in the form of Kelela Mizanekristos.

Raised in the Maryland suburbs around D.C. on a diet of 1990s pop-R&B divas before relocating to the bustling L.A. bass scene, Kelela is attempting to do what dozens of top-tier singers, songwriters, and producers are also trying, which is to take the moody sounds of the sorts of electronic musicians orbiting club nights/labels/collectives like Night Slugs and Fade to Mind, and give them a more pop-friendly spin that will appeal to listeners who don’t normally go in for severely dark dance music.

Unlike other singers working at similar aims, Kelela is tight enough with the Fade to Mind/Night Slugs crews to collaborate with them directly, so her beats come straight from the source: Bok Bok, Nguzunguzu, Girl Unit, FtM founder Kingdom, and other affiliated artists who’ve helped define a booming, severely stripped-down sound pieced together from bits of techno, grime, R&B, drum & bass, and dubstep’s pre-neon days. It’s well-constructed launchpad that she’s acquired for herself, and she doesn’t waste it.

Cut 4 Me is an ambitiously catchy record as well as being an aesthetically ambitious one. Essential to this is Kelela’s decision to play against the beats' moodiness—that juxtaposition drives the album’s likability. The beat by NA for “Do It Again” is horror-movie creepy, with a hypnotic John Carpenter-like keyboard figure looping over booming haunted house drums, which she decided to use as the foundation for an slow-motion sex jam straight out of the Aaliyah playbook. The Nguzunguzu-produced “Enemy” is as twitchily abrasive as the most staunchly underground first-wave dubstep, so she tops it with a cotton-candy pop-R&B vocal that could have been lifted from a turn of the millennium Brandy B-side.

Kelela’s an unlikely diva for a scene that’s attracted more than its share of dance music purists who don’t go in for frippery like vocalists, but it works. She also needs to close some of the gap between her ambition and what her voice is capable of—it’s a perfectly good voice, but lacks much of the expressiveness and power that singers who don’t come by those things naturally need time to develop. But this kind of works, too. A full-blast diva would obliterate the subtlety that the beats rely on, and the spunky-newcomer charisma that her performance projects imparts crucial warmth to their icy sounds.

The voice can be worked on, though. The more important things that Cut 4 Me teaches us about Kelela are that she has the taste to pick out a fantasy all-star team of collaborators, the talent to make herself heard over their beats, and the intelligence to get it all together at the exact right moment. That’s all instinct, and that can’t be learned. If she wants pop stardom—if not the five-star kind like Rihanna, then at least the cultishly-adored kind like her former tourmate Solange—she couldn’t be in a better place.

Photo by Jeff Broadway

Dâm-Funk & Snoopzilla: "Faden Away" on SoundCloud.

If you’re truly blessed, you might one day love a piece of music as purely as Snoop Dogg loves “Hit the Pavement”, the first song he recorded with multi-instrumentalist/producer/walking Holy Mothership Dâmon Riddick, aka Dâm-Funk. As a dozen or so people file into L.A.'s Conway Studios for an impromptu listening party for the duo's self-titled EP as 7 Days of Funk—due out December 10 on Stones Throw—the track is playing at a punishing volume. In fact, it's not even the whole song, just the hook. Across 10 minutes, it repeats at least 100 times without a single protest, or even an acknowledgment that this endless rewind might be abnormal. Snoop’s pantomiming every one of his lyrics like it’s a video shoot, even though it’s just for a handful of associates with iPhones. 

Granted, the hip-hop legend—who's going by Snoopzilla for this project—is a professional and knows there’s a performative aspect to even the most casual event, but this is clearly a passion project for both parties. No matter how many joints get passed during 7 Days of Funk's half-hour runtime, the strongest shit couldn’t convince these two that an independently-released EP is going to make them rich or get them more radio play than, say, "Drop It Like It's Hot". Especially when, as Dâm points out, “It's a funk record. We'll say it's hip-hop, too, but we made a funk record.”

Make no mistake, this was a listening party befitting a funk record—West Coast O.G. producer Battlecat mans the mixing console, and about 15 minutes in, four very tall (and barely dressed) women drop by to give Snoop a hug and promptly head to the recording room on other side of the glass. (Very few people seem to know who they are, exactly.) Studio interns and crew members alike help themselves to fried catfish and shrimp while getting a glimpse at platinum plaques—Billy Idol's Charmed Life, Guns N' Roses' The Spaghetti Incident?—that remind you of the since-fizzled artists who would typically frequent this studio when Snoop was getting his start in the music industry in the early 1990s. (The napkin dispenser is also emblazoned with the front of GN'R's regrettable covers album.)  

The complimentary coconut vodka and rosé is served in styrofoam cups with Snoop’s face on them, and Dâm can't help but acknowledge that he’s working with a superstar who just so happened to be born in the same year as him, 1971. “He really made an impact on me and the circle of people who I grew up with,” explains Dâm. “We finally heard somebody who was like us—not like LL, not like Eric B. & Rakim—someone who had the same speech, the same walk, the same style.” 

While Dâm hasn’t slowed down one bit, having emptied his archives on 2010's Adolescent Funk and teamed up with respected funk figure Steve Arrington on this year’s Higher, his 2009 opus Toeachizown still hasn’t gotten a proper follow-up. 7 Days of Funk was prioritized over his upcoming LP, but he says it'll drop next year, and that he’ll once again be working with Ariel Pink after guesting on the weirdo-pop guru's 2012 album Mature Themes. "People can ride to it, they can bang to it, they can roll down the street to it," says Dâm, talking about an upcoming Pink collaboration, "but it's still atmospheric, and Ariel fell right in.”

With 7 Days of Funk finally mastered, Snoop and Dâm aligned their schedules last Friday afternoon to talk about their uncanny musical connection, what hip-hop owes to funk, and the deeper meaning behind Snoop's latest moniker.

"I don't give a fuck about radio, never have. We focus on the emotion. It ain't about selling, it's about a feeling." — Snoop Dogg

Pitchfork: Snoop, you're credited on this album as Snoopzilla rather than Snoop Dogg, does that indicate a different creative approach?

Snoop Dogg: When I'm recording as Snoopzilla, I'm basically an offspring of Bootsy [Collins]. We're keeping that spirit alive with that tone, that delivery, that R&B/funk singing, like Rick James and Steve Arrington. And on this EP, I was on some relationship shit: being tired of the one that I'm with and trying to be with the one that I'm with—shit where I'm questioning the one that I love. I'm not even talking about nobody personally. Is it music? Is it my wife? I'm questioning something! I don't even know what the fuck it is. As time goes by, I get a clearer vision on why I'm saying what I said, because some of these songs are really affecting me right now emotionally. They were just songs I did out of the spirit of having fun, but when I write shit, it comes to motherfucking life.

Dâm-Funk: It's the force. We plugged into it. He wrote what I was going through. I didn't even have to tell him! Even my lady was like, "Man, does he know you're the same type of cat?" I was like, "Yeah, I think he knows."

Pitchfork: Do you feel like the funk influences on this record no longer have a place in contemporary hip-hop?

SD: Hip-hop draws a lot from funk, but it never gives credit to funk, so a lot of these youngsters don't understand it because it's never been broken down for them. It's our duty to make some shit like this and let them know that's where they get their shit from.

Pitchfork: Do either of you have kids?

DF: I don't.

SD: Yeah, I got kids: 19, 16, and 14.

Pitchfork: What are they listening to right now?

SD: My daughter is listening to all that white shit like—what's her name?—Taylor Swift, and all that other bullshit. My oldest son is a hippie, so he's listening to Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. He's real deep into this music. He's cut from another cloth. My young son is into that rap shit, that hip “right now” shit.

Pitchfork: Do you ever try to educate them on funk?

SD: They've been hearing that shit their whole life. They've heard R&B, slow music. I don't play hip-hop because I make hip-hop, so to me it's boring to play it. I play it when I'm DJing or trying to get ready for a show, but for the most part, my stereo session has always been funk and R&B, because that's basically who I am. 

DF: The G's that we knew—everybody that was before us—were the hardest ones and the most respected, but they listened to the kind of music we listen to. They wasn't really listening to a lot of hip-hop. I'm being careful not to discredit anything about hip-hop because we both grew up to Eric B. & Rakim and all that—bumpin' it in the Suzuki Samurais, the Nissan trucks. We was there. But the music template that existed with G's has always been stuff like the Isley Brothers, Blue Magic, and Stylistics, where it's lyrics and live musicians. There’s nothing weak or not-hard about that kind of music. It's about emotion and the way that the chorus makes you feel inside. That's what me and Snoop have a lot in common on.

Pitchfork: There’s elements of pop-funk in recent hits like “Blurred Lines” or “Get Lucky”—do you think 7 Days of Funk is more timely for radio right now?

DF: It wasn't a consideration with me.

SD: Yeah, I don't give a fuck about radio, never have. My radio is the streets. If niggas are driving down the street playing it and it's banging in the club, that beats the radio for me because the radio is so fraudulent. It follows what's going on as opposed to leading. Back when we came on, the radio used to break records and be the first one to play shit. Now, they listen to what's hot in Atlanta and then they make it hot wherever they at. That's a known fact. They go national with that shit. That is what it is and that's why we don't focus on radio. We focus on the emotion. It ain't about selling, it's about a feeling.

Photo by Eric Coleman

Pitchfork: Snoop, what about Dâm's beats stands out to you compared to other West Coast producers you’ve worked with like Battlecat or even Dr. Dre?

SD: Dâm's music gives me more of a R&B connection to work off of. His music made me feel like I could come up front and let me do a real R&B lead vocal thing. 

Pitchfork: And Dâm, how do you tailor your beats for Snoop?

DF: I just think of the artist I'm with: I pay attention to their movements and how they are. I never try to conjure up anything on purpose. The vibe is there. 

SD: That's real shit though. He made the beats in his house—in his room—and I recorded in my apartment, in a muthafuckin' closet right next to a bathroom. I could pee from the mic.

Pitchfork: How long did it take for you guys to put a song together?

DF: The energy was so explosive with “Hit The Pavement”—he came to the pad at 10 p.m. and we were done at midnight. He killed it. His work ethic is stupid, man. I've never seen anything like it. I was New York, in A1 [Record Shop] just listening to some records, and Snoop calls, like, "Hey man, you need to check this out, check your email." Four hours later I’m at the club, and he's like, "Hey man, check these out, two more done." He was just smashing them. When you're inspired by something, that's how you do it.

Pitchfork: When the two of you are working on an atypical project like this, whose opinion do you rely on to know if you’re going in the right direction?

SD: I test this shit when I'm DJing to get a real honest opinion. When they come on, people ain't gonna lie. If that shit jam, they gonna come to the booth and be like, "What the fuck is that?" That's the best natural reaction. 

DF: When Battlecat rose up and turned around and said "I get it now!” that meant a lot.

Pitchfork: Were there any disagreements with people during the recording?

SD: The only time we had an issue was when it got to how we wanted this record to sound: We didn't want it to sound too clean. We didn't mind going back in and mixing it, but we didn't want too many additives and preservatives, because the shit was naturally smoky from the get-go. Me and Dâm cooked our shit. We got enough seasoning between the two of us.

Pitchfork: A huge part of the P-Funk experience was the live show, so do you see 7 Days of Funk as a touring act?

SD: Definitely. I already got a band in mind to get down with Dâm and go hard out there. Dâm was always a one-man band, and now we'll surround him with some bad motherfuckers who can get his back. It'll allow him to be able to do keytar and talkbox and turntables without juggling; when I see him, I'm like, "How does this nigga do all this by himself." 

DF: It's definitely humbling for people to want to be involved. Even Tyler, the Creator wanted to get down on [the EP], but we just ran out of time.

Μερικές φορές μια παλιά κλασική ταινία αποτελεί όαση στην έρημο των νέων αλλά μέτριων κυκλοφοριών.

02.10

The Ambassador: Εξωφρενικό ντοκιμαντέρ του Δανού δημοσιογράφου Mads Brügger που είχε κάνει αίσθηση και στο Φεστιβάλ Ντοκιμαντέρ Θεσσαλονίκης του 2012. Και πως να γίνει αλλιώς αφού εξιστορεί την προσπάθεια του σκηνοθέτη να αποκτήσει στη μαύρη αγορά διπλωματικό τίτλο από τη Λιβερία και να γίνει διπλωμάτης στην Κεντροαφρικανική Δημοκρατία με στόχο να κάνει βρώμικες μπίζνες με ματωμένα διαμάντια. Μπορεί κάποιος να το δει είτε ως ένα χρονικό του μετα-αποικιακού χάους που άφησαν οι Ευρωπαίοι στην Αφρική είτε ως μια κακόγουστη φάρσα. Σίγουρα πάντως διαψεύδει πανηγυρικά όσους πιστεύουν ότι το ντοκιμαντέρ δε μπορεί να φτάσει τη μυθοπλασία.

Jobs: Όχι ότι περιμένατε να διαβάσετε αυτή τη στήλη για να μάθετε ότι το Jobs είναι πατάτα ολκής αλλά θα βάλω και εγώ το λιθαράκι μου στο θάψιμο του εν λόγω φιλμ. Αποσπασματική πλοκη, νυσταλέα σκηνοθεσία και καμιά κινηματογραφική ή αφηγηματική αρετή στον ορίζοντα. Για να μη πω δε πως ο Justin Timberlake όταν παίζει τον ιδρυτή του Νapster στο The  Social Network είναι ερμηνευτικός ογκόλιθος μπροστά στην καρικατούρα Steve Jobs του Aston Kutcher.

03.10

 Lucky Center People International: Άλλο ένα ντοκιμαντέρ που είχε κάνει αίσθηση στο Φεστιβάλ Θεσσαλονίκης (στην παρθενική διοργάνωση του 1998) και μάλιστα είχε συμπεριληφθεί στις επιλογές για την επετειακή δεκαπενταετία του φεστιβάλ πριν λίγους μήνες. Μια σουηδική μουσική κολλεκτίβα, της “Λέσχης των Τυχερών Ανθρώπων”, γυρνά τον κόσμο και κάνει ένα κολάζ εικόνων και ήχου, από διαφορετικούς ανθρώπους και κουλτούρες έχοντας ως έναν πολύ χαλαρό θεματικό άξονα τους διαφορετικούς τρόπους ύπαρξης, πίστης και την εσωτερική ζωή του ανθρώπου και όχι μόνο. Πολύ ανορθολογικό και ανορθόδοξο για τα γούστα μου, αναγνωρίζω όμως ότι πρόκειται για μια ιδιαίτερη δημιουργία για ανοιχτόμυαλους θεατές.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emnBgKcYYJ8

04.10

Αll Is Bright: Μια indie ταινία που τικάρει πολλά από τα απαραίτητα κουτάκια:
α) σενάριο που συμπυκνώνεται σε μιάμισι γραμμή με ήρωες απόκληρους losers (ένας Καναδός πρώην κλέφτης πάει μαζί με τον πρώην συνεργό του που του πήρε και τη γυναίκα παρεπιπτόντως στη Νέα Υόρκη για να πουλήσουν χριστουγεννιάτικα δέντρα).
β) καλές ερμηνείες από τρεις ποιοτικούς ηθοποιούς ( Paul Giamatti- που κάποιον μου θυμίζει, Paul Rudd, Sally Hawkins)
γ) ιδιότυπο χιούμορ.

Ευχαριστήθηκα αρκετά αυτή την (αντί-)χριστουγεννιάτικη ταινία αν και υποδοχή των κριτικών ήταν ιδιαιτέρως χλιαρή.

05.10

We’re The Millers: Το ότι αυτή η ταινία αρέσει τόσο πολύ στους θεατές (βλέποντας τη βαθμολογία του κοινού από το Αθηνόραμα μέχρι το Rotten Tomatoes) με κάνει να χάνω κάθε ελπίδα για το μέλλον του εμπορικού κινηματογράφου. Το ότι έκατσα και την είδα και εγώ ολόκληρη σβήνει επιπροσθέτως και κάθε ίχνος αυτοεκτίμησης.

Shadows: Μετά την Οικογένεια Μίλερ η πρώτη ταινία του Κασαββέτη ήταν κάτι σαν βάλσαμο για τα μάτια και τον εγκέφαλο. Το πρώτο χρονικά από τα πέντε πιο χαρακτηριστικά έργα του σκηνοθέτη που μάζεψε σε boxset η Criterion και ταινία-σταθμός για το ανεξάρτητο αμερικάνικο σινεμά. Ας μη ξεχνάμε όλα άρχισαν (και) από εδώ ταυτόχρονα και παράλληλα με Godard και Truffault στην αντίπερα όχθη του Ατλαντικού.

06.10

Broken: Aγγλικό κοινωνικό (μελό-)δράμα που θυμίζει κάπως και Lynne Ramsey ή Αndrea Arnold, το ντεμπούτο του Rufus Norris μαζεύει ένα αξιόλογο καστ (Tim Roth, Cillian Murphy), με κορυφαία τη μικρή πρωταγώνιστρια Eloise Lawrence, και καταφέρνει να δημιουργήσει μια σφιχτοδεμένη ρεαλιστική ταινία που στο τέλος προδίδεται από την υπερβολική, μεταφυσική στροφή στο σενάριο.

Τα σινεφίλ links της εβδομάδας: 

-Αρχίζει από αύριο Πέμπτη το έβδομο Φεστιβάλ Πρωτοποριακού Κινηματογράφου στην Ταινιοθήκη. Διαρκεί δέκα ημέρες, το πρόγραμμα είναι ιδιαίτερα πλούσιο και εκλεκτικό και μπορείτε να βρείτε όλες τις λεπτομέρειες εδώ.

-Ο γνωστός κυρίως μέσα από τη στήλη του στην Athens Voice Δημήτρης Φύσσας έγραψε και κυρίως διανέμει δωρεάν ηλεκτρονικά σε pdf ένα βιβλίο αναφοράς σχεδόν 1000 σελίδων για τα σινεμά του Δήμου Αθηναίων. Bρίσκεται και εδώ.

-Ένα νέο βιβλίο ανατρέπει την κρατούσα άποψη για την αντιναζιστική στάση των μεγάλων κινηματογραφικών στούντιο και μάλιστα μιλά για συνεργασία Hollywood και ναζί μέχρι το 1939. Διαβάστε περισσότερα εδώ.

Μπορεί να μην είναι προφανής σε πρώτο επίπεδο αλλά η σύνδεση του James Blake με το hip-hop γίνεται ολοένα και πιο έντονη, όπως έχουμε ξαναπεί. Μετά την συμμετοχή του σπουδαίου RZA στο δεύτερο άλμπουμ του βρετανού παραγωγού με τίτλο Overgrown και την χρήση του ‘The Wilhelm Scream’ ως sample προσφάτα από τον Big K.R.I.T. πλέον έχουμε ακόμα ένα δείγμα -το ‘Life Round Here’  από το προαναφερθέν Overgrown- σε ένα νέο ρεμίξ όπου συμμετέχει και ο ανερχόμενος rapper από το Σικάγο Chance The Rapper.

Σε περίπτωση που δεν το έχετε πάρει χαμπάρι, ο Chance The Rapper έχει κυκλοφορήσει πρόσφατα το Acid Rap, ένα από τα καλύτερα mixtapes της χρονιάς και μπορείτε ακόμα να το βρείτε για δωρεάν download εδώ.

Το νέο ρεμίξ μπορείτε να το απολαύσετε παρακάτω μαζί με το συνοδευτικό ασπρόμαυρο βίντεο σε σκηνοθεσία Nabil, ήδη μας χάρισει βέβαια το καλύτερο μουσικό βίντεο της χρονιάς αν όχι της πενταετίας, ο οποίος δηλώνει σχετικά:

“I love juxtapositions so I thought I’d bring an old school lowrider to the countryside in England, and bring the two together in a way that makes people question things“.

James Blake – ‘Life Round Here (Remix)’ (feat. Chance The Rapper) (official video)

If you’d like a record you can shuffle through, then Roly Porter’s new LP probably isn’t for you.

Charting the journey of a star from formation to death, Life Cycle of a Massive Star is as magnetic and compelling from start to finish as gazing at an eclipse. Track titles that describe the narrative arc simply (‘Cloud’, ‘Sequence’) only hint at the beguiling music within – compositions of richly processed recordings, with massive bass and terrific dynamic range, that make you meditate on your  individual insignificance in an enormous universe.

It’s a far cry from the dread club music Roly used to produce with Kuedo as Vex’d. After the decline of dubstep – a scene it was always more convenient than accurate to lump Vex’d in with – Porter all but abandoned steely synths and drums (though not low-end) in favour of heavy sonic processing and introspective atmospheres. In 2011, he released the extraordinary sci-fi-themed solo LP Aftertime on Subtext, and the following year he collaborated with Ondes Martenot player Cynthia Millar on the electroacoustic live project Fall Back. Porter’s output from Aftertime onwards has precedents in classical, ambient, noise, and film soundtracks, and shares affinities with music by fellow Subtext artists Paul Jebanasam and Emptyset –  but it sits so far outside current trends and genres that all efforts to call it one thing or another are futile.

Life Cycle Of A Massive Star is Porter’s most ambitious and affecting work yet. In our interview, he explains its development from conception to a finished record that you couldn’t skip through even if you wanted to.
  

  
Let’s talk about the new album, which is massive in all senses of the word.

Yes, apart from the size, actually! I was quite surprised when I realised it was so short.

I feel that its length works in its favour and heightens its intensity, though. Did you plan it that way?

It got a tiny bit shorter because of its conceptual nature, but at this length the album does exactly what it’s supposed to do, so there’s no point really in fleshing it out – I didn’t need to chuck any B-sides in there. ‘Sequence’ is an ambient track and originally that was a lot longer and had another phase, but when I started thinking about fitting the record onto two pieces of vinyl, it was unnecessarily long, and at this length it’s functional. I started with the title and the chapters, and as I had the names before, anything else would have had to come with another chapter.

So you started with a fully formed idea and worked from that rather than adding as you went along?

Yes, which is really unusual for me. Normally it’s the other way around – I come up with sounds and try and fit them to things. Here I came up with the title and the track names first.

And did the writing process reflect that? I know you edited out what lay outside the core story, but was writing and producing the record quite so focused?

To a certain extent. There were a few markers that were really easy to aim for. For example, ‘Cloud’ was always going to be rhythmical and fast-paced, though I didn’t know what form it would take, and ‘Giant’ was always going to go dddddjjjjjjzzzzz [drone sound] for about five minutes. The shape and concept of each of the tunes was there from the start, so it was about fitting them into these moulds rather than experimenting with ideas.

It definitely feels more purposeful, whereas Aftertime felt quite fictional, even fantastical.

Fantastical’s a nice word for it. Aftertime wasn’t really sprawling because, again, it was quite concise, length-wise. Though it has a coherent vibe, there’s no real narrative. I could have added tunes or taken tunes out and it still would have done the same thing, but that definitely isn’t the case with this second attempt.

The conciseness is interesting, because I think part of the reason Life Cycle feels so massive is because you work with large-scale ideas and draw on genres that traditionally sprawl, like classical and doom.

I struggle a bit, like I guess like everyone does, with musical self-confidence and listening back to things, Most of the music I listen to and that I like is massive – 18-minute sprawling metal songs and so on. Whenever I approach writing a piece of music that long, I always end up worrying that I’m becoming self-indulgent and just writing to please myself. I’m not suggesting a twenty-minute tune is self-indulgent or a bad thing, but I get really nervous when a tune of mine passes the twelve-minute mark. I used to write absurdly long intros. I was so happy with them and I’d play them to other people, and after about four or five minutes of intro they’d start getting nervous, and you could really feel the tension in the room – “what’s going on with this tune, is it gonna happen or not?” So I think for now I’m going to stick a ten-minute limit on everything.

Oh, actually, that’s a complete lie. I’ve just written a 22-minute piece – but otherwise, that’s my limit.

What’s the 22-minute piece?

It’s for strings, so technically I think it’s acceptable! It’s an Unsound / Werkleitz Halle commission. I’m doing a collaboration with two independent video artists I have worked with in the past, Lucy Benson and Marcel Weber. Keith Fullerton Whitman’s doing half the piece, so I do 25 minutes and he does 25 minutes. It’s based on a JG Ballard short story, Dream Cargoes, and I am supposed to represent the end of human life on the planet while Keith is going to be some kind of new form of evolution.

Use your keyboard’s arrow keys or hit the prev / next arrows on your screen to turn pages (page 1/3)

 
Before he settled in to his current incarnation as a neck-tatted steampunk junkie purveyor of industrialized speed-metal for dimwitted bros, Al Jourgensen was a genuine innovator in post-punk synthpop and industrial music. The consensus narrative of his main band Ministry’s career trajectory holds that after an early anglophile period that’s as big of a let’s-pretend-it-didn’t-happen embarrassment to most their fans as Pablo Honey is to Radiohead snobs, the band really got started with the industrial dance masterpiece Twitch. From there, three breathtaking and influential albums of increasingly unparalleled aggression appeared, Land of Rape & Honey, Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste, and Psalm 69, which brought Ministry to an acutely mid-‘90s alterna-fame, whereupon they proceeded to dive more or less headfirst into metal, and, depending on your particular bent, either totally, fist-pumpingly FUCKIN’ RAWKED BRAH or descended into a spiral of cartoonish self-parody and never released another listenable recording ever again ever.

The consensus narrative has a point about Twitch. It WAS a huge leap over their debut, With Sympathy (listen to the full LP on YouTube here), to the point where it sounds like a totally different band (Ministry was by that point basically Jourgensen’s solo project), and compares extraordinarily well against the touchstones of its genre. Compare its single “Over the Shoulder” with the benchmark dance hit “Sensoria” by industrial founding fathers Cabaret Voltaire.
 

 
But largely because of that leap, With Sympathy remains Ministry’s early shame in the eyes of a lot of fans, and its creator, as well. Jourgensen has repeatedly disavowed the album, saying he wanted a harder sound, but that his vision was compromised by label interference and pop production. And every time he says that, eyes roll back in their sockets, and you wish he’d quit pretending he was born a cowboy-hat-and-facial-piercings hardass and just own his early work.

However, listening to live tracks from the band’s first incarnation - Jourgensen, drummer Steven “Stevo” George, and keyboardists Robert Roberts and John Davis - you really have to allow that the man has a point. The live band is sharp where the album is tepid, anxious where the album languishes. Sympathy has always had its defenders, and however fey it may seem in comparison to the work of Jourgensen’s enduring fame, it’s an important document in American post-punk. But good God, it could have been so, SO much better.
 

 
Much of the best live material that can be readily found from that era of the band has been uploaded by YouTube user TheRobSquaredShow, who, unsurprisingly, turns out to be early band member Robert Roberts. Roberts has also let slip an eye-opening CDR rarity called The Scam Lies Down On Fraudway, a recording of a 1982 Chicago concert that features KILLER versions of Sympathy tracks “Effigy” and “Revenge,” plus the very early single “I’m Falling” and its 12”  flipside “Primental.” Sadly, that recording is nowhere to be found online as of this writing - hell, evidence of its existence doesn’t seem to have found its way to the Internet yet - but what is there on Roberts’ channel is the band’s earliest known live recording. The early band comes off as caustic, headstrong and confident, and far more in line with the thorniness of the post-punk synth a-list than attempted radio singles like “Work For Love” would suggest. Credit drummer Steven George with a lot of that - few enough synth bands harnessed the energy of a live drummer, and it’s to Jourgensen’s credit that Ministry did. (It remains a major demerit that Jourgensen sang in an affected British accent so preposterous that Billie Joe Armstrong can almost be forgiven.)
 

 
For a treasure trove of information on Ministry’s earliest years, check out Roberts’ detailed interview on prongs.org. And while you’re devouring that info, enjoy “Same Old Madness,” the video for a terrific early track that, astonishingly, seems to have never had an official release.
 

 
Fans of Ministry’s late incarnation may be interested to know - if you already didn’t - that their new album, From Beer To Eternity, was released last month, and due to the death of longtime guitarist Mike Scaccia, it will evidently be the band’s last.

 
I’ve only formally met one person from Lithuania in my life. I was at a socialist youth conference a few years ago and initially, the event was a bit awkward. It started out as a bunch of people under 30 from different countries, shuffling around, trying to make small talk through the world’s two most common languages, English and liquor. Vainius was small and blonde, warm and smiley. He asked me what part of the U.S. I was from, and after insisting that he wouldn’t know it, I confessed I was from Indiana. His eyes suddenly lit up, and through a thick, Baltic accent, he exclaimed, “Reggie Miller!” Miller was the shooting guard the Indiana Pacers for 18 years, and an institution in the life of nearly every Hoosier.

I quickly realized that Vainius’ knowledge of NBA basketball was encyclopedic, and we no longer had to worry about uncomfortable lulls in the conversation. This was a relief, since the only thing I really knew about Lithuania was, “about 20 years of independence, then Soviets, then Nazis, then Soviets again, then independence again.”  But it was also a pleasant surprise to share something so seemingly regional as sports culture with someone from such a historically contrastive country.

I place The Other Dream Team in that category of sports movies that are nearly universally enjoyable, even to those with no interest or knowledge of any sport. What appears to a simple documentary about Lithuanians playing basketball quickly delves into the Cold War, Soviet colonialism, national identity, and inexplicably, The Grateful Dead.

While the movie culminates in the 1992 Olympic games, it starts at the very beginning, with Lithuanian independence and its near immediate occupation by the Soviet Union. While the subsequent Nazi occupation is what catches the ears of most Americans, the oppression of Lithuanians actually started with the Soviets, most notably with mass deportations to Siberia. There’s an interview with a survivor, who speaks movingly of the regulation basketball court prisoners built in the Siberian gulag.
 

Lithuanians playing basketball on the regulation court they created in a Siberian prison camp
 
When the Soviets regained control of Lithuania, basketball continued to be the most popular sport, if not the most popular pastime This meant that the Soviet basketball team was always disproportionately dominated by Lithuanian athletes forced to play under the flag of their occupiers. In the 1985, Arvydas Sabonis became the first Lithuanian drafted onto an American team. A mob of boos erupted from the crowd, believing him to be a “Russian” player. The irony was not lost on Lithuanians, who resented Russian Soviets more than anyone, and were understandably angered at being the subject of historically ignorant anti-Soviet sentiment. And of course, the Iron Curtain prevented Sabonis from playing for the NBA until 1989 anyway, after the glasnost policies paved the way for more political openness

The strangest turn of events occurred after Lithuanian independence was declared, which left the country newly free, yet very poor. Lithuanian basketball was poised to be a major competitor for the next Olympics, but Olympic participation is extremely expensive. After reading a small piece in a local Bay Area newspaper, unexpected basketball fans The Grateful Dead were moved by the plight of the Lithuanians, and decided to fund their team. There was surreal meeting between some Lithuanian players, who spoke no English, and the band, wherein Jerry Garcia smoked a cigar-sized blunt, and suddenly the Lithuanian basketball team was an Olympic contender.

I really can’t recommend The Other Dream Team enough. Even if you’re not into sports, it’s an amazing history lesson and an incredibly moving story that hits you right in the pathos. Plus, you get to see the 1992 Lithuanian Olympic basketball team in Grateful Dead-supplied tie-dye uniforms in colors of the Lithuanian flag, natch!
 

Kelela's voice is a slow curl of steam rising from the subway grate; it's a beam of light scraped across a curtain of icicles. You know those latticed lasers that protect the crown jewels in heist movies? Her voice is that too, wavering in place and catching dust motes as they drift...

Possibly the only Greek ambient techno album you’ll ever need is set to get the slap-up reissue treatment.

Principally operational throughout the second half of the 1990s, Basic Channel spin-off Chain Reaction was a rich source of dubby techno and spectral 4×4: Vladislav Delay, Monoloake and Porter Ricks were all part of the fold, with the latter releasing their essential Biokinetics - one of our favourite albums of the decade – under the label’s aegis. One of the imprint’s key figures was Fluxion, aka Greek producer Kostas Soublis, who released a string of early 12″s on the label and a compilation album, 1999′s Vibrant Forms.

In the opinion of experimental imprint Type*, Vibrant Forms is a bona fide “milestone in the dub techno genre.” By way of tribute, the label is to give the album its first full reissue next month. No bonus goodies, but the re-release will mark Vibrant Forms‘ first foray on vinyl, and has been freshly remastered for the occasion.

Anyone au fait with the Chain Reaction roster will know what they’re letting themselves in for – namely, churning 4×4 arrangements with molasses-thick low-end – but Vibrant Forms is an unusually coherent and consistent statement. With Huerco S’ Colonial Patterns or WANDA GROUP’s washed-out releases finding major favour at present, it seems prime to time to dredge Soublis’ work out from the depths.

Type will release Vibrant Forms on October 21. Album track ‘Largo’ is available to stream below.

* full disclosure – a label independently operated by FACT staff member John Twells

Tracklist:
1. Lark
2. Hiatus
3. Lapses
4. Largo
5. Atlos
6. Cycops Machine
7. Fovea Centralis
8. Pendoulous
9. Influx
10. Opaque

Well, this could be embarrassing. According to user reports, Google Talk appears to be delivering messages to the wrong recipients.

Read more...

Με αφορμή την συναυλία τους στο Fuzz την Παρασκευή 20 Σεπτεμβρίου αλλά και την κυκλοφορία στις 23 Σεπτεμβρίου του πρώτου δίσκου τoυς Restless Idylls στην εκλεκτική δισκογραφική Blackest Ever Black, η Camella Lobo των Tropic of Cancer απάντησε στις ερωτήσεις μας.

Oι Tropic of Cancer άρχισαν σαν ντουέτο το 2007 (μαζί με τον Juan Mendez, γνωστότερο ως Silent Servant) και με την κυκλοφορία αρκετών EPs απέκτησαν ένα αρχικά μικρό αλλά σίγουρα πιστό κοινό, με μουσικές καταβολές τόσο διαφορετικές όσο και η ίδια η μουσική των Tropic of Cancer: goth,  minimal techno, shoegaze, synth.

Η Camella Lobo, μόνη πλέον εδώ και δυο χρόνια, τελειοποίησε το μουσικό ιδίωμα των Tropic of Cancer και παράλληλα με την κυκλοφορία του LP θα το παρουσιάσει ζωντανά στο ευρωπαϊκό κοινό και μάλιστα η Αθήνα είναι ο δεύτερος μόλις σταθμός της περιοδείας της μετά το Λονδίνο. Η Camella Lobo φαίνεται εξίσου ενδιαφέρουσα όσο η μουσική που δημιουργεί.

To Restless Idylls κυκλοφορεί στις 23 Σεπτέμβρη. Υποθέτω ότι θα έχουμε την ευκαιρία να ακούσουμε αρκετό από το νέο υλικό, οπότε πες μας κάτι παραπάνω για το νέο δίσκο, το κόνσεπτ του, τις νέες ιδέες και ο,τιδήποτε άλλο είναι σημαντικό για σένα…

Ήθελα ο δίσκος να γίνει κατανοητός σαν μια συλλογή από κομμάτια που αναπτύσσονται όλα γύρω από τα ίδια θέματα. Τα ειδύλλια είναι συνήθως σύντομα ποιήματα που περιγράφουν μια συγκεκριμένη σκηνή. Με αυτή τη λογική όλα τα κομμάτια του δίσκου είναι σκηνές από συμβάντα που εκτυλίχθηκαν είτε στη ζωή μου είτε γύρω μου. Μερικές σκηνές είναι τρυφερές και ειδυλλιακές, άλλες είναι πολύ θλιβερές. Όλες είναι ταραγμένες. Στον πυρήνα του αυτός ο δίσκος απλά απεικονίζει την ανησυχία μου για όλα πράγματα που φυσικά συμβαίνουν στη ζωή. Ήταν μια απόπειρα να βρω παρηγοριά μέσα από την  προσπάθεια να δημιουργήσω ομορφιά από τα πράγματα που δεν κατανοώ…ο δικός μου τρόπος να έχω λίγο έλεγχο πάνω σ’ αυτά.

Πώς βλέπεις την εξέλιξη των Tropic of Cancer; Eννοώ, είναι πλέον το σόλο πρότζεκτ σου για αρκετό καιρό και έχεις έναν αξιόλογο σύνολο κυκλοφόριων αρκετών EPs. Ποιες διαφορές βλέπεις και γιατί σου πήρε τόσο καιρό σε σχέση με άλλους μουσικούς να αποφασίσεις να κυκλοφορήσεις ένα LP;

Όλος αυτό το διάστημα ήταν όλα μπερδεμένα για μένα. Όταν ο Juan (Juan Mendez, το έτερο μέλος του πρότζεκτ όσο ήταν οι Tropic of Cancer ήταν ντουέτο) και εγώ αρχίσαμε να δουλεύουμε μαζί το 2007, δεν περίμενα ότι θα βγει κάτι από τη μουσική. Ήθελα απλά να φτιάχνω κομμάτια και να πειραματιστώ με τις δυνατότητες τους, να διασκεδάσω εξερευνώντας τες. Είμαι σε μια διαρκή κατάσταση δέους από την υποδοχή των Tropic of Cancer από τότε. Όταν ο Juan άφησε το συγκρότημα δυο χρόνια πριν συνέχισα να γράφω EPs. To να δουλεύω μόνη μου τη μουσική είναι κάτι πολύ καινούργιο για μένα. Ακριβώς για αυτό το λόγο μου έμοιαζε αδύνατο να βγάλω LP ένα χρόνο πριν. Επίσης ήθελα να εγκιβωτίσω μια ολοκληρωμένη ιδέα παρά να πετάξω μικρά κομμάτια εδώ κι εκεί όπως έκανα με τα EPs. Mόλις ένιωσα αρκετά σίγουρη για τον εαυτό μου και άρχισα να δουλεύω στο δίσκο κύλησε πολύ γρήγορα. Έχοντας τον Karl O’Connor (γνωστότερο ως Regis, μουσικό, παραγωγό και επί κεφαλής του label Blackest Ever Black) στο δίσκο μου επέτρεψε να συγκεντρωθώ μόνο στο να φτιάχνω μουσική. Πρόσθεσε ένα σημαντικό κομμάτι του δίσκου τόσο στο στούντιο όσο και στην παραγωγή. Η ενθάρρυνσή του, όπως και όλων όσων ήταν γύρω μου ανανέωσε τη δικιά μου θέληση να αφοσοιωθώ επιτέλους στη δημιουργία ενός δίσκου.

Σε κάποια mixtape σου ή στο Twitter σου έχεις αναφέρει πρωτοπόρες γυναίκες μουσικούς (Daphne Oram) ή γυναίκες καλλιτέχνιδες (Miranda July). Επηρεάζεται με κάποια τρόπο η μουσική σου από το φύλο σου; Θαυμάζεις καλλιτέχνιδες που εμπνέονται από μια μοντέρνα φεμινιστική οπτική;

Αυτή είναι μια ενδιαφέρουσα ερώτηση. Νομίζω πως θα ήταν αδύνατον να αρνηθώ το ρόλο που παίζει το φύλο στη μουσική μου. Αν συγκρίνεις τη μουσική που φτιάχνω σήμερα με τη μουσική που έφτιαχνα με το Juan, μπορείς να πεις πως είναι πιο μαλακή, πιο ρομαντική, λιγότερο τραχιά. Είναι ενδιαφέρον να σκεφτώ εάν αυτό έχει να κάνει με το φύλο μου ή όχι, μπορεί απλώς να έχει να κάνει με τις προσωπικές μου προτιμήσεις. Ξέρω πολλούς άνδρες που φτιάχνουν όμορφη μουσική.Θαυμάζω πολλές γυναίκες καλλιτέχνιδες από τότε που θυμάμαι τον εαυτό μου. Από τα πρώτα πρότυπά μου ήταν η Kim Gordon, η Kim και η Kelley Deal και η Juliana Hatfield. Όσο αφορά το εάν θαυμάζω καλλιτέχνιδες με μια μοντέρνα φεμινιστική θεώρηση, θα απαντήσω ότι θαυμάζω οποιονδήποτε άνθρωπο, είτε άνδρα είτε γυναίκα, αφιερώνει χρόνο στη ζωή του στη δημιουργία.

Έχεις πει στο παρελθόν ότι γενικά δε φτιάχνεις μουσική για χαρούμενες καταστάσεις, αν και αυτό δε σημαίνει απαραίτητα ότι είσαι λυπημένος άνθρωπος. Εκτός από το σκοτεινό, ζοφερό τόνο των Tropic of Cancer, ποια άλλα συναισθήματα ή σκέψεις θέλεις να γεννήσεις στον ακροατή; Τι είδους ανταπόκριση λαμβάνεις για τη μουσική σου από τους ανθρώπους;

Aπλά θα ήθελα οι ακροατές να απορροφούν το φως στη μουσική μου. Δε θέλω να ενισχύσω την απελπισία και την κατάθλιψη αλλά να βοηθήσω στην ανακούφισή τους. Από την άλλη δε μπορώ να ελέγξω τι λαμβάνει ο καθένας από τη μουσική. Ο καθένας βρίσκει την αλήθεια του σε αυτό που ακούει. Δε μπορώ να το επηρεάσω αυτό και ούτε θα ήθελα. Αν νιώθουν κάτι αυτό με χαροποιεί. Πολλοί άνθρωποι μου λένε ότι η μουσική μου τους βοηθά με κάποιο τρόπο, είτε βρίσκουν μια στιγμή ηρεμίας, είτε γιατί τους βοηθά να ξεπεράσουν κάτι επώδυνο. Με συγκινούν τόσο αυτές οι αντιδράσεις.

Είναι μια αρκετά κλισέ ερώτηση αλλά οι δημοσιογράφοι που θέλουν να δημιουργήσουν hype μιλούν εδώ και καιρό για μια αναγέννηση του σκοτεινού ήχου και της αντίστοιχης αισθητικής. Νιώθεις μέρος μιας τέτοιας τάσης;

Γιατί όχι; Eίμαι μέρος οποιασδήποτε τάσης λένε οι άλλοι ότι ανήκω. Σε τελική ανάλυση τίποτα από όλα αυτά δεν έχει νόημα.

Έχεις παιδικές αναμνήσεις ή προτιμήσεις που ίσως να έχουν επηρεάσει την καλλιτεχνική σου έκφραση; Έχει επηρεάσει το ότι ζεις στο Los Angeles τη δημιουργικότητά σου;

Ήμουν κοντά στη μουσική με κάποιο τρόπο σε όλη μου τη ζωή. Η μητέρα μου, ο πατέρας μου και ο πατριός μου είναι όλοι σε μεγάλο βαθμό υπεύθυνοι για το ότι η μουσική είναι μεγάλο μέρος της ζωής μου σήμερα. Ο καθένας τους με επηρέασε με κάποιο τρόπο. Ο πατέρας μου μας δίδασκε βραζιλιάνικα τραγούδια και ηχογραφούσε εμένα και την αδερφή μου να τραγουδάμε μαζί. Η μητέρα μου μου έδινε ένα κέρμα κάθε φορά που αναγνώριζα ένα τραγούδι στο ραδιόφωνο και ο πατριός μου (που αφιέρωσε ένα μεγάλο μέρος της ζωής του στη μουσική) έπαιζε πιάνο και ήταν σε συγκροτήματα από τότε που θυμάμαι. Το L.A. είναι το μέρος που μεγάλωσα και πιθανόν να μένω για πάντα. Δε νομίζω ότι μπορώ να προσδιορίσω την επιρροή του αλλά αυτή η πόλη δεν έχει σταματήσει να με συναρπάζει.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Τι σκέφτεσαι για την περιοδεία στην Ευρώπη και τα τόσα ταξίδια; Τι εμπειρίες απέκτησες από τα διαφορετικά τουρ όπως με τους HTRK στο παρελθόν ή πιο πρόσφατα με τους Medicine στο L.A. και με τους DVA Damas στην Ευρώπη;

Δε μπορώ να εκφράσω πόσο ευγνώμων είμαι για την ευκαιρία να ταξιδέψω στην Ευρώπη και σε άλλα μέρη σε όλο τον κόσμο. Έκανα φίλους για μια ζωή μέσα από αυτές τις εμπειρίες. Είναι τιμή μου που γνώριζα την Jonn και τον Νigel από τους HTRK. Ήταν πολύ υποστηρικτικοί και πιστεύω ότι έπαιξαν μεγάλο ρόλο στο να αποκτήσουν οι Tropic of Cancer αναγνώριση στον underground χώρο. Το support στους Μedicine ήταν ένα όνειρο που έγινε πραγματικότητα. Και θα δούμε πως θα πάει η περιοδεία με τους DVA Damas σε λίγες μέρες. Τους αγαπώ σαν οικογένεια και ανυπομονώ να μοιραστούμε αυτή την εμπειρία μαζί. Νιώθω τόσο τυχερή.

Προτιμάς τον αναλογικό ή τον ψηφιακό ήχο; Έχεις υιοθετήσει μια ρετρό προσέγγιση στη μουσική δημιουργία;

Βασιζόμουν πολύ στον ψηφιακό εξοπλισμό αλλά σύντομα άρχισα να προτιμάω τον αναλογικό. Δεν ξέρω τι είναι ακριβώς η ρετρό προσέγγιση αλλά αν με ρωτάς αν παίζω κανονικά όργανα η απάντηση είναι ναι.

Παρασκευή 20 Σεπτεμβρίου 2013, Tropic Of Cancer + DVA Damas στο Fuzz Live Music Club (Πειραιώς 209 & Πατριάρχου Ιωακείμ 1, Ταύρος, Αθήνα, 210 3450817, www.fuzzclub.gr). Οι πόρτες ανοίγουν στις 20:00. Τιμή εισιτηρίου: 17 ευρώ (προπώληση), 20 ευρώ (ταμείο). Διάθεση: Ticket House (Πανεπιστημίου 42, εντός στοάς, τηλ. 210 3608366) και στα καταστήματα Public: Η διάθεση εισιτηρίων online γίνεται στο  www.viva.gr (τηλ. 13855).

Salvage workers 'very satisfied' as parbuckling operation paves way to search wrecked cruise ship for remaining two bodies

Exhausted but relieved, the engineers in charge of the marathon parbuckling of the Costa Concordia said they had "kept [their] promise" of a safe and successful operation, hours after bringing the wrecked cruise ship upright for the first time since its catastrophic crash against the rocks of Giglio island last year.

"We are very satisfied with how things went," said Franco Gabrielli, the head of the Italian civil protection agency, who was applauded once again by local people who had gathered in the port since news of the long-awaited success was confirmed – by press briefing and foghorn – shortly after 4am on Tuesday.

The operation, which involved 500 workers of 26 nationalities and was widely viewed as the most challenging part of a salvage plan whose costs have already topped €600m (£500m) and are likely to rise, lasted 19 hours – well over the initial prediction.

Its success should permit a search to begin soon for the bodies of the two people who remain missing, presumed dead, after the tragedy of 13 January 2012.

Maria Grazia Trecarichi, from Sicily, and Russel Rebello, an Indian waiter and crew member, were never found after the disaster, which claimed 30 other lives.

Their relatives are due to arrive in Giglio on Tuesday to discuss the plans with the authorities in the hope that they will finally be able to take their loved ones home.

Gabrielli said the search would begin as soon as the wreck site was declared safe – within, he hoped, the "coming days".

Kevin Rebello, Russel's brother, thanked those in charge of the parbuckling. "Great job team Nick Sloane and the civil protection agency of Italy … for believing in this project," he wrote on Facebook.

"Thanks to the financial support of Costa and Carnival Cruises who privately invested in this project without seeking the Italian government's help."

The successful mission was also welcomed by the Italian prime minister, Enrico Letta, who tweeted that he had called Gabrielli to tell him "that all those working there [on the wreck] are a source of great Italian pride."

The Concordia disaster, especially the behaviour of the ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, proved a source of national embarrassment. Some hope the successful completion of the parbuckling will go some way to restoring that hurt pride.

Begun at 9am on Monday with a delay due to a fierce overnight storm over the Tuscan island, the parbuckling rotated the 114,000-tonne ship by 65 degrees to bring it fully vertical.

For most of the time progress was slow: about three degrees an hour. But in the final stage the speed mounted dramatically to a rate of about eight or nine degrees an hour as gravity did its work and the water-loaded port-side sponsons effectively pushed the ship down on to underwater platforms.

Engineers estimate that about two-thirds of the ship is now underwater.

Nick Sloane, the senior salvage master for Titan Salvage, masterminded the operation from a multinational control room.

Asked whether the platforms – which placed together are about 150 metres long – would support the ship during the winter, Costa Crociere's project manager, Franco Porcellacchia, said steps had been taken to guarantee an exceptional level of security.

The engineers said they hoped to be able eventually to carry out a thorough search of the wreck's cabin safes for passenger possessions that may have survived the 20 months underwater.

The parbuckling revealed a large amount of damage to the part of the ship that had been submerged.

But Gabrielli said the deformation, though significant, was "in my opinion less bad than feared". Engineers would start studying how to go about fixing the damage and welding on more sponsons, he said.

The record-breaking cost of the Concordia's salvage is being footed by its owners, Costa Crociere. Michael Thamm, the company's chief executive, said the current estimate of more than €600m would rise significantly before the ship is finally towed away next year.

But he added that the company's priority was the preservation of Giglio's pristine waters, which are known for their marine life. "We will pay what is required to pay," he said. "We are not driven by financials." To the local people assembled in the media tent, he added: "You can rely on us."

He said the company's insurers would not cover the total cost of the salvage operation.

 
In 1984, I was fortunate to be present for something called the “Program For Progress,” a large-scale site-specific performance by the influential early industrial group Test Dept at the Cannon Street Railway Station in London. Test Dept were a group that were signed to Some Bizarre at the time and had a real buzz about them and the extravagant post-punk political pageantry of their live events. The band’s mainstay members were Angus Farquhar, Graham Cunnington, Paul Jamrozy, Paul Hines and Toby Burdon. (According to Wikipedia, comedian Vic Reeves also played bass in an early version of the group.)

Walking into this epic event was quite something. I recall there being performers jumping on trampolines and “Socialist Realism” imagery projected via slides and film projectors onto huge sail-like swaths of white cloth hung from the high ceilings of the railway station. If memory serves, there were also a few bekilted bagpipers walking around and tables set up for various organizations, including efforts to aid the striking miners. Although the event had the ostensible veneer of an “outlaw” event, there was obviously no way that a huge “happening” like this one could have taken place without the express consent of British Rail. The centerpiece attraction for all assembled was the pounding, uncompromising, militaristic sound of Test Dept.
 

 
I know this will probably make some people groan, but I experienced Test Dept’s audio-visual assault as something akin to Einstürzende Neubauten meets Laibach (if they were easier to pin down politically) meets “Stomp.” Perhaps that makes what they did that night sound uncool, but that’s not my intention. It was an amazing theatrical spectacle to witness, full of savage, precise teamwork. It was a massive metal—and mental—pounding assault, but frankly the sort of thing I’d rather experience live in a concert setting than listen to at home.

The striking political content of the group’s ethos was summed up in one of their songs, “Voice of Reason,” in a text written by radical English playwright Jonathan Moore:

” ... A government that closes hospitals and opens nuclear air bases, that conspicuously favours its wealthy, its corrupt, its immoral citizens, while denying basic human rights to the majority. Extreme conditions demand extreme responses.”

Those extreme conditions were just beginning in 1984. The influential Test Dept broke up in 1993, but reformed again last year for a show in Belgium.

“Fuckhead” from The Unacceptable Face of Freedom album is a real stunner from their catalog.
 

“Kick to Kill” from 1984’s Beating the Retreat
 

“Shockwork” from 1983.
 
Below, a clip from the very Cannon Street Station performance described above, as seen on the South of Watford television program:
 

Aspiring artist Michael Stewart died at the hands of police in the wake of an aggressive crackdown on graffiti by New York City authorities during the 1980s. His death inspired the creation of one of Jean-Michel Basquiat's best-known drawings.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Included here is a great story about Augustus Pablo which was published in NME 11 October 1986.

Pablo features heavily in my 3-part written piece on Hugh Mundell, which is only days away from being published.  Titled “Great Tribulation:  The Life and Times of Hugh Mundell,” the story features rare interviews with Mundell from 1981, never-before released photos, audio, video, and interviews and input from many including Roger Steffens, Steve Barrow, Sir David Rodigan, documentary filmmaker Jerry Stein (Word, Sound and Power) and more.  The most well-researched and definitive piece ever written about Mundell, I hope to use it as a treatment for a book about Augustus Pablo and the Rockers label.

“Day of Judgement” is a single from the Africa Must Be By 1983 LP and was written and recorded by Mundell when he was just 15 years of age.

Οπαδοί της Χρυσής Αυγής (Fosphotos/ Παναγιώτης Τζάμαρος)

Επίθεση στα γραφεία της Χρυσής Αυγής στην οδό Καζαντζάκη στη Θεσσαλονίκη κοντά στα δικαστήρια σημειώθηκε το απόγευμα της Τετάρτης από μια ομάδα περίπου 35 - 40 ατόμων.

διαβάστε περισσότερα

There’s no point in beating about the bush here, Atlanta rap Godfather Gucci Mane has had a pretty weird week.

We hesitate to say it was a bad week exactly, as we’re still experiencing the fallout (or lack of it) but after a weekend of hardcore Twitter abuse (culminating in Monday’s incoherent explosion of letters, periods and spaces) the last thing we expected was a brand new mixtape. This is Gucci though – it wasn’t even a month ago that he released his last trilogy of tapes (Molly, Lean and Gas, if you missed that news); you’ve got to always assume the man’s got material locked up in his safe for any demanding occasion.

You can stream the album below, and download the whole thing right here (who needs Atlantic Records anyway?). It should be noted that Marilyn Manson raps on ‘Pussy Wet’; we first heard about the unlikely collaboration in May.

Take a look at what FACT’s Tom Lea made of Gucci’s weekend Twitter diarrhea, and why he’s still a hero here. Update: Gucci’s now deleted his Twitter account, which is probably a good move.