Manafonistas

on life, music etc beyond mainstream

2014 1 Apr

Room With A View (West Hampstead)

von: Michael Engelbrecht Filed under: Blog | TB | 3 Comments

 

 
 
 

Wieso trug ich einen langen schwarzen Mantel, als ich in St. Pancras aus dem Zug stieg, war der Sommer in London doch mit Macht ausgebrochen, für einen Tag zumindest, schaut euch nur den Blick aus meinem Zimmer an, und völlig verschwitzt sehnte ich mich nach einer kalten Dusche. Die genehmigte ich mir auch, trotz roter Stippen im Hals und einem hartnäckigen Kratzschmerz. Guy Sigsworth war mein erster Kontakt vor Ort, Alison Moyet hat ihn eingeladen, am Donnerstag für einen Song die Bühne der Royal Albert Hall mit ihr zu teilen. Er empfahl mir gleich den besten „Inder“ in der näheren Umgebung, und so verzehrte ich ein „Indian Railway Lamb Dish“, trank einen irischen Apfelwein („cider“), und blätterte in der Mai-Ausgabe der Mojo. Per Email meldete sich der Klangkünstler Janek Schaefer, dessen Opus „Lay-By-Lullaby“ (12k) ich in den nächsten Klanghorizonte spielen werde. Vielleicht treffen wir uns Donnerstag vormittag im TAP Cafe in der Wardour Street in London, um über seine allerfeinste Post-Ambient-Music zu sprechen. Morgen treffe ich erstmalig Manafonista Bob Tsukada Bright im Royal Teas Cafe, und unser Scott-Walker-Freund sandte mir schon mal einen Ausschnitt aus einer von ihm begehrten Platte, die mich in den ersten Minuten an die Zeit erinnerte, als ich „Flipper“ im Fernsehen sah, Walt Disney noch für reine Magie hielt, und an den Weihnachtsmann glaubte. Dieweil freue ich mich, nachdem ich mittlerweile das Interview in der Mojo gelesen hatte, auf die bald erscheinende Schallplatte von Damon Albarn, und plane, folgendes Stück daraus zu spielen, in den übernächsten Klanghorizonten am 26. April, ohne auch nur einen Ton gehört zu haben. Aber das klingt doch, bitteschön, verführerisch: „‚You And Me‘ is a crepuscular mood-piece with Brian Eno adding pulsating synths. Albarn is seemingly revisting here the troubled Britpop comedown of the late ’90s that inspired Blur’s harrowing „13“ (die einzige Platte der Band, die ich wirklich mochte; m.e.). He sings of „digging out a hole in Westbourne Grove“ with „tin foil and a lighter, the ship across, five days on and two days off“, the first real public admission of a period dabbling with opiates. There’s an unusual soulfulness to the song that swells as Albarn duets with himself in a strange falsetto – „blame me, blame me … When twilight comes it all goes wrong again““. Hier im Westen von Hampstead beginnt nun eine laue Sommernacht, die Paracetamol scheint zu wirken, den langen schwarzen Mantel habe ich schon aus dem Fenster geworfen, hinter dem Haus ist ein wilder Obstgarten, und vielleicht lese ich noch ein paar Seiten in Ruth Ozekis Zauberbuch.

 
Bobs Musiktipp: John Rydgren – „Silhouette Segments“

This entry was posted on Dienstag, 1. April 2014 and is filed under "Blog". You can follow any responses to this entry with RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Comments

  1. Michael Engelbrecht:

    Fascinating, even for atheists, this musical archaeology:)

    Background:

    „When Liz played Pastor John Rydgren’s Rinky Dink last Tuesday, I was reminded of just how great and weird Rydgren’s radio spots were, and what a strange confluence of events created the country’s only Psychedelic Christian format back in 1967.

    Heading into the Summer of Love, Rydgren was the crafty head of the TV, Radio and Film Department of the American Lutheran Church. Years before the words „Jesus“ and „Freak“ became joined at the rib, the straight-looking Rydgren created a daily radio show called Silhouette in which he became the reassuring, resonant-voiced Hippy for God. Rydgren wrote, announced and programmed Silhouette, taking his musical and cultural cues from The Electric Prunes, Herb Alpert and the cover of Time (Is God Dead?), with a vocal delivery that was straight out of the Tom Donahue / Scott Muni / Ken Nordine school of breathy baritone radio seduction. Silhouette dropped all the counter-cultural codewords of the day into a heady mix of Peace, Love, Sex, Drugs and Jesus. Not to mention Fuzzy Guitars.

    New York’s WABC-FM picked up Silhouette on a daily basis after the FCC forced them to stop using their FM station to re-transmit WABC-AM, their Top 40 powerhouse. Faced with an immediate need for a new format, ABC signed on to Rydgren’s Psychedelic Christian thang, at least for part of the day.

    The FCC rule in question – the non-duplication rule – sent stations all over the country scrambling for formats at a time when youth counterculture ruled the zeitgeist. Yes, the same rule that created the Psychedelic Christian format also gave birth to the commercial freeform radio movement in the US.
    ABC quickly dropped Silhouette from its lineup, and flailed around for three more years before finally changing the station’s call letters to WPLJ in 1970 and finding their calling as one of New York’s eminent Album Oriented Rock stations throughout the 70’s.

    But Rydgren and the American Lutheran Church aggressively syndicated the show beyond New York, and in that effort, they issued a double LP in 1967 called New Life Radio Spots and Cantata, which distilled Rydgren’s swinging message of redemption into bite size bits for other radio stations to play. If they liked the Silhouette segments on the New Life LPs, they could pick up the whole show, as American Armed Forces Radio did in 1968. The 2-LP set was issued to radio stations only, but the segments were later reissued a few years ago on a single LP called Silhouette Segments. That reissue wisely omitted the LP-length Cantata, which was along the lines of (but far worse than) The Electric Prunes Mass In F Minor, as I recall.“

  2. Uwe Meilchen:

    Damon Albarn’s „Heavy Seas of Love“, Featuring Vocals by Brian Eno:
    http://pitchfork.com/news/54476-listen-to-damon-albarns-heavy-seas-of-love-featuring-vocals-by-brian-eno/

    …hier in D. ist das Video natuerlicht nicht anzusehen (wg. GEMA); aber der Michael, in London, der kann es sich sicherlich anschauen…

  3. Michael Engelbrecht:

    Das stimmt:) am Donnerstag spielt also eine Frau, die wir in den 80ern kennenlernten – ich erinnere mich an elektronische Beats und eine rauchige Stimme – in der Royal Albert Hall. Zu ihrem letztjährigen Album „The Minutes“ schrieb ein Kritiker:

    „`The Minutes‘ shoots down every hoary old preconception of what Alison Moyet is about. Of course, those who have been paying attention to the trajectory of her output will already have spotted that she doesn’t repeat herself.

    Ms. Moyet is a music lover’s wet dream and a record company’s nightmare. Labels seemed only interested in her if she’d channel Etta James for mumsy covers albums – and even then only if she’d prostitute herself on reality TV.

    Before that, a foolish label actively sat on the glorious Hometime album for three years, because it wasn’t wall-to-wall Streisandesque power ballads. So her integrity comes at a price but, time and again, and especially with `The Minutes,‘ Moyet is vindicated.

    The renewed spring in Alison’s step can be traced to a new working relationship with the estimable Guy Sigsworth. With an eclectic catalogue of diverse recordings with an even more diverse range of artists under his stylish belt, his musicality and technical nous are a natural fit for the woman who influenced so many artists.

    The new electronic edge contains plenty of the iconic Moyet DNA. Just don’t expect `Alf II – The Sequel.‘

    The trademark moodiness and lyrical magic are present and correct throughout. Tuneful edginess abounds. `Remind Yourself‘ and `A Place To Stay‘ marry aching melody and abrasive beats. `Changeling,‘ `When I Was Your Girl,‘ `Apple Kisses‘ and `Filigree‘ gang up near the bike-sheds to inflict tune wedgies on all and sundry. The joyous pop of `Love Reign Supreme‘ is a shaft of light in proceedings and shouts „summer hit,“ while `Right As Rain‘ marks a dark and biting return to the dancefloor.

    The Minutes is a cohesive and very musical album. It is cool without being arch or deliberately trendy, and commercial without treading the middle of the road. Immerse yourself and enjoy.“


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