Manafonistas

1 Jan Bang & Erik Honore: Uncommon Deities
2 Eivind Aarset: Dream Logic  (VÖ: 9.11.2012) 
3 Keith Jarrett: Sleeper
4 Swans: The Seer
5 Jason Lytle: Dept. Of Disappearance
6 Jan Garbarek / Egberto Gismonti / Charlie Haden: Magico – Carta di amor 
7 Stian Westerhus: The Matriarch and the Wrong Kind of Flowers
8 Getchajew Merkuria, The Ex & Friends: Y’Anbessa Tezeta
9 James Yorkston: I am a Cat from a Book
10 Antony and the Johnsons: Cut The World
11 Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin: Live 
12 Frank Ocean: channel ORANGE
13 Michael Formanek: Small Places 
14 Bettye Lavette: Thankful ’n‘ Thoughtful (VÖ: 21.10.2012) 
15 Ivar Grydeland: Bathymetric Modes 
16 Emanuele de Raymondi:  Buyukberber Variations
17 Elina Duni Quartet: Matane Malit 
18 Dead Western: Everything, Eternally
19 The Mountain Goats: Colossal Youth
20 Christian Fennesz: AUM

 
 
 

 
 
 
„Hangtown … sing a final song
It’s called „The Tree From Which You Hang Has Done No Wrong“
Hangtown … the birds have not yet gone
They’re waitin‘ round to see you fly on“
 

Robin Hilton was right. And he was wrong. In the latest edition of „All Things Considered“, the „Fall Preview“ of NPR, he told us what he likes about Jason Lytle’s forthcoming album. Lytle wouldn’t see himself as a songwriter with big messages about big issues like politics, global warming etc. Robin Hilton says what he really loves about these songs  is that, by their dreamy atmosphere, they create a space to vanish into them. So „Dept. Of Disappearance“ seems to be the perfect title for this kind of escapism.

And, right on, there are lovely moods, great noises, funny breaks, playful keyboard arpeggios, a slightly drunken Chopin quote, heartbreaking melodies, catchy lyrics, vintage synthesizer sounds etc. Nearly everything played by Grandaddy’s mastermind himself.

But Robin Hilton was wrong, too. Nearly every song is telling a story about death, and dying. Not in an existenzialist way a la John Cale’s „Music For A New Society“ or Neil Young’s „Tonight’s The Night“. More playful, uplifting, that’s for sure. Full of wonder, but never in a naive way. Thanks god, there’s fucking no one being soaked up by some golden light. In the last song, „Gimme Click, Gimme Grid“, Jason closes this beautiful album with a childhood memory and another way of disappearing. I said this before, I say it again: heartbreaking.

„Do it again!“ Das lässt man sich nicht zweimal sagen, wenn es darum geht, Songs von Steely Dan zu analysieren und als Gitarrenmusik zu antizipieren resp. transskribieren. Mangels eigener Plattensammlung – aber mittels Wikipedia habe ich mal recherchiert, um diese Songs, die mich seit Urzeiten (The Caves Of Altamira) begleiten, chronologisch zuzuordnen. Angegeben sind meine persönlichen Favoriten. Mein Tipp: die Kompilation SHOW BIZ KIDS hört sich gut an – und hat für den selbst Musizierenden den Vorteil, dass die alten Lieder dort auf den aktuellen Kammerton A „geeicht“ sind.

 
 
Cant Buy A Thrill (1972)

• Do It Again
• Dirty Work
• Only A Fool Would Say That

Countdown to Ecstasy (1973)

• Bodhisattva
• Show Biz Kids

Pretzel Logic (1974)

• Ricky Dont Loose That Number
• Any Major Dude

Katy Lied (1975)

• Black Friday
• Bad Sneakers
• Doctor Wu

The Royal Scam (1976)

• Kid Charlemagne
• The Caves Of Altamira
• Dont Take Me Alive
• The Fez
• Green Earrings
• Haitian Divorce

Aja (1977)

• Deacon Blues
• Peg
• Josie

Gaucho (1980)

• Hey Nineteen

Two Against Nature (2000)

• What a Shame About Me
• Two Against Nature
• Jack of Speed
• Cousin Dupree