Manafonistas

This has been a day full of surprises. First of all, I tried at least to like that record everybody seems to fall in love with, from FKA Twigs, but it left me strangely cold. Maybe someone can offer me a key. The opposite thing has happened with a record I thought, it would just earn my respect, but then I was stunned by its simple and twisted beauty: David Friedman’s solo vibraphone and marimba record, Weaving Through Motion (out on Traumton, middle of September). Then there were two song albums (I had a lot of time today) that, let’s say it simple, totally impressed me with their simplicity, intricacy and, in parts, double bottoms: Mirel Wagner’s sparsely instrumented song cycle „When The Cellar Children See the Light of Day“, and, okay, an old favourite of mine, James Yorkston’s „The Cellardyke Recording and Wassailing Society“ (ups, long titles!) The song (with spoken words) called „Guy Fawkes‘ Signature“ will belong to my top ten song charts of 2014. The ice on the cake was Arve Henriksen’s The Nature of Connections (out on Rune Grammofon): a textural melange of trumpet with strings, soft pulses, no ego – brilliant. You could make a mixtape of all of these albums, just take your two favourites of everyone, and discover your personal sequence. Ah, yes, and the last track on that tape should be a down-load from Kevin Coyne’s „Millionaires and Teddybears“, the song „People“. Let „People“ be the closer, and I’ll bet it’ll make your day (on the quiet side of sounds). But, off course, what do I know? P.S. Ups, just forgotten, the fabulous duo of Anja Lechner and Francois Couturier (ECM New Series) would intensify this imaginary mix tape for a rainy day. It’s a soft killer from start to end, with the spirits of Komitas, Gurdjieff and Mompou drifting through open spaces.