Manafonistas

 

 
 
 

Once again it was the body more than the mind listening to a piece of music like a leaf that is whirling in the wind slighty falling towards earth and then again uprising, surprised by a deja-vu kind of evidence reliving – and by chance relieved to have one more album released in 2014 to put on a best-of-list. The deja-vu came from the remembrance (a long term retention) of two wonderful ecm-published Jack DeJohnette records: Oneness on the one hand and on the other Dancing With The Nature Spirits. So now again, while listening with body (and soul) to a song called „Transmission“ I feel that Mbókò by David Virelles one by one unfolds its power.

 

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„I wanted the mental and geographical landscapes to be more indeterminate – not Indonesia, not Africa, not this or that … something that COULD HAVE existed if things were in an imaginary culture, growing up in an imaginary place with this imaginary music…. I called it ‘coffee-colored classical music of the future´… . What would music be like if `classic´ had not been defined as what happened in Central Europe two hundred years ago. What if the world knew Javanese music and Pygmy music and Aborigine music? What would `classical music´ sound like then?“ Famous words of the composer, trumpet player and music philosopher Jon Hassell.  The re-release of the month December, POSSIBLE MUSICS, was listed among the genre-crossing 100 masterpieces of the 20 the century in DIE ZEIT when Konrad Heidkamp was still alive. I think he even wrote the review. Ars longa, vita brevis. I met Jon Hassell more than once and wrote a kind of non-review of the album telling stories of floating tanks and leaving it all up to you. I didn’t want to retell the old facts again and again. Lajla has written a review about a German philosophy book thst tries  to appear clever, but fails on many levels, the thriller of the month goes much deeper,  will carry a well-known name and will  have a record player on its cover – and the album of the month is the most Enoesque (meant as a compliment) album of Thomas Köner ever filling white spaces between Music For Airports and Neroli. You wouldn’t call that „drone music“ anymore. To quote another review: „Köner“, to borrow the words of Canadian poet Anne Carson, „moves each note through time `like a needle stitching together the two moments that compose nostalgia´“, the strike of the piano keys and their enhanced echo. Like Music For Airports‘ „1/1″, the titular artist does not play the piano—Robert Wyatt did for Eno, the far less-known Ivana Neimarevic for Köner – but Köner does the celestial shaping. Each note connects the listener to the dramatic action but each echo separates him from it. It is a captivating meditation on the longing in the life of sound.“ (Stephen Fruitman)

 

 
 
 
01. Nautic Dephts: Submental Vol. 1
02. Ketil Bjornstad: A Passion For John Donne
03. Marcus Wiebusch: Konfetti
04. Stoppok: Popschutz
05. Stefano Bollani: Joy In Spite Of Everything
06. Eels: The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett
07. Helge Lien Trio: Badgers And Other Beings
08. BayardOne: Zwischen Industrieruinen
09. Jack White: Lazaretto
10. The Hilliard Ensemble: Transeamus
 

 

 
 
 
1) Tobias Christl – Wildern
2) Henry Grimes / Marc Ribot / Chad Taylor – Live at the Village Vanguard
3) Meret Becker – Deins & Done
4) Andreas Schaerer / Lucas Niggli – Arcanum
5) Kappeler / Zumthor – Babylon-Suite
6) Robert Wyatt – Different Every Time
7) Olcay Bayir – Neva / Harmony
8) Einstürzende Neubauten – Lament
9) The Rough Guide to Arabic Café
10) Die Fantastischen Vier – 25 Years
11) Levantino – Chapter One
12) Bobby Blank – Electrified
13) Les Deux Love Orchestra – Lamyland
14) Anthony Joseph – Time
15) Los Agentos – Tom Waits Project
16) Vijay Iyer – Mutations
17) Neneh Cherry – Blank Project
18) Maya Beiser – Uncovered
19) GoGo Penguin – V 2.0
20) Henryk Gorecki – Symphony No.3
 

My top ten this year so far is easy.
 

1. Daniel Lanois – Flesh and machine
2. John Coltrane – Live at the temple
3. Daniel Lanois – Flesh and machine
4. John Coltrane – Live at the temple
5. Daniel Lanois – Flesh and machine
6. John Coltrane – Live at the temple
7. Daniel Lanois – Flesh and machine
8. John Coltrane – Live at the temple
9. Daniel Lanois – Flesh and machine
10. John Coltrane – Live at the temple

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
Flesh and machine is a recording that changed/s how I listen to music, or as I prefer to say: how music listens to me.

 

„Well at the moment I am using a digital multi-track machine now called RADAR. I have been using that for years now and that works very well for me. What is so great about that is that I can quickly copy a multi-track and get on with some deconstruction without breaking up the original work. What we normally do in the studio is we will take the song to a certain place. And then we will take a break from it and start thinking of how we can have a different angle on it. And that may mean erasing some tracks in order to do this, but the digital side of things will allow me to just press one button and I will get a copy and it will allow me to go and work on the next version of the song. In regards to the analog equipment, I still use all my favorite tools from the different eras I have worked through. So if I had a good microphone or a good delay box, or a good distortion box, I have made sure that I maintained them so that they remain in my tool box. That way I can just go back to that sound if I need to.“

 

For me the John Coltrane – live at the temple is for me strong feeling of coming home. This music is playing inside me – and it continues playing when the album is finished.

 

„Over all, I think the main thing a musician would like to do is give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things that he knows of and senses in the universe … That´s what I would like to do. I think that´s one of the greatest things you can do in life and we all try to do it in some way. The musician´s is through his music.“

 

11. Colin Vallon – Le Vent

 

After being introduced to Julian Sartorius in one of Michaels broadcasts – this recording found me. The piano and the bass player does display to much personal identity in their playing on this record, quite restrained, but not always. Vibrant, alive, present. It is music that quite often leaves the listener the freedom where to focus – but sometimes it just grabs the attention. Listening to it with the idea of the piano being a choir is actually a good way for me to grasp what happens in this music.

 

„I have always been moved the most by vocal music (and especially choral music). Nothing like a voice can go directly under your skin. It is the most direct, rich in timbres and original sounding instrument, qualities which are difficult to achieve on a piano. Actually, in my opinion one must always have another instrument or sound in mind in order to obtain a personal tone on the piano. In my case most of the time I hear a voice or voices when I play.“

 

12. 13. Brian Eno/Karl Hyde – Someday world / High life

 

These albums haven´t really made it all the way for me. It´s like we haven´t decided completely how to relate to each other yet. So far we keep a bit of distance, not allowing each other to enter into each other. Yet. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe never. I will stick around – maybe we just need some more time.

 

„A conversation does not start with someone talking, it starts with someone listening.“

14. Bob Dylan – Another Selfportrait

 

Me and these songs meet regularly, a few tracks a day. Every track on repeat 3 times before i move on the next. We don´t stay together for long time, we know each other, we enjoy our company and we listen to each other in bits and pieces, like archaeology, triggering memories, then moving on.

Just saw it was published in 2013. It found me this year.

It is a timeless snapshot.

 

„If I was a poet/And could write a fine hand/I’d write my love a letter/That she’d understand.“

15. Leonard Cohen – Popular problems.

 

I would like to spend some time alone with him, just him. Maybe make the musical space surrounding him even more naked. Really like a cell with a bed, a table, a chair and a window. Empty walls and nothing more.

I don´t feel the female voices are a integral part of the songs – the naked walls would perhaps show more interesting shadows.

But maybe it is why he still makes records, to meet some people, and to make sure that some of them are women. And that is ok.

 

Did I ever leave you / Was I ever able / Are we still leaning / Across the old table.

16. Anouar Brahem  – Souvenance.

 

I have only heard one track from this record, but if it is as good as what I imagine so far, I expect us to have a serious relationship. Possibly invest in a house and a dog, go on frequent walks together. Possibly.

 

„With this project I feel I’m improvising differently. It’s a response to the identity of the pieces. Sometimes a few notes are enough. All the instruments had to wait to find their place in this music.“ This can be challenging for musicians coming from jazz, where claiming the space to make a personal statement belongs to the territory. „That space still exists in Souvenance but it’s become more subtle, more directed. As the writing and arranging developed, the role of Björn’s bass became quite strong and central. The responsibility of Klaus’s bass clarinet this time is harder to define, but it’s an important element, and it’s not easy, as a listener, to know which parts are improvised and which are written.“

 

Already having the feeling this album might move up into the top ten. How many spaces it will occupy there? I am listening forward to find out.

 

To be continued.

 

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https://player.ecmrecords.com/colin-vallon-trio–le-vent

https://player.ecmrecords.com/brahem-2423-24