Manafonistas

„Banshee“
Jordan De La Sierra
Polar Bear
J.C. Chandor
Chester Himes
„Radio Nordsee“
„Beat-Club“
Sebastian Rochford (Interview)
Adorno
Merve-Verlag
Jan Garbarek („Song For Everyone“)
„Whiplash“
Eberhard Weber (Autobiografie)
Nina Simone
Ella Fitzgerald

I’m not really embarrassed to say how much I loved this series. It has amounts of both explicit violent gore and sex. This is no private obsession.  I only violated one sociopathic driver on a German highway within the last year (breaking his nose), I recently only offended one cop,  and I’ve never been put in prison. And, yep, if that is all this series was about – or if both of those aspects weren’t flawlessly integrated into making the story–then I wouldn’t write this at all. However, here it all just makes sense. The characters are well drawn out and incredibly sympathetic, making the violence and sex just a part of who these characters are and just part of their stories. And the plot really is intense.

Man gets out of prison, kills some people in self-defense, then impersonates a sheriff all the while trying to stay hidden from a Russian mafia boss who wants him dead as well as maybe win back his ex-girlfriend. I realize that sounds absurd and rather dumb on paper–but again – it just works. In fact, everything would quite frankly either seem voyeuristic or just plain stupid if it wasn’t for the amazing cast. The acting here is top quality and this is what gives the far fetching plot equally weight and a natural impact.

Kiwi Antony Starr has a remarkable talent for being able to mete out extreme violence and yet look sad and regretful the entire time. Hoon Lee as Starr’s sidekick could have been a very camp role as Lee’s character is frequently in drag and spewing catchy one liners – and yet Lee’s character „Job“ is one of the most hardcore and rock like characters in the whole cast. Ivana Milicevic plays Starr’s ex, and her physicality in this role is astonishing. She’s believable as both a warm and loving mother as well as the type of person who you would want by your side to face an angry horde of zombies with. Ulrich Thomsen rounds out the fantastic cast as the local ex-Amish mafia lord who is emotionally caught in two worlds thus slightly sympathetic yet capable of horrible violence. BANSHEE is brutally brilliant. Addictive. Well, in case you enjoy some hardcore Tarantino films, Jim Thompson novels – and the darkest stuff of Shakespeare. You don’t need psychoanalysis in Banshee, you only need a good ambulance.

Sometimes you really have to dig deep to find something of great value in that genre once coined „New Age“, crammed with wrong nirvanas and boring heavens. If heaven actually is a place where nothing really happens, the music of Jordan De La Sierra´s „Gymnosphere“ might be a place of constant wonder: a lot is going on here (in a very silent way) – lonesome notes drifting endlessly through a sacred space. As we know, sacred spaces often are a big deal for long reverberations. Call Eno´s classic „Music For Airports“ a (very) distant relative, and you´re close.

The desert has always been a place for inspiration, from Harold Budd to Giant Sand, and Polar Bear´s new album „Same As You“ is no exception. Though it starts with some Woodstock mysticism, invocations of light and love, don´t hesitate to surrender to the overall flow of the six tracks. A wonderful mix using field recordings without any resemblance to the usually „holy desert  sounds“, the album is captivating from start to end. Arthur Russell would been totally enthusiastic about this work of art. The dancing, joyful lines of the two saxophones add to the excellent mix of the primal, the melodic and the experimental. So this may be one of England´s finest contributions to the American „West Coast“-culture ever, known for relaxed moods, skilled studio musicians – and even Sonny Rollins once wearing a cowboy hat.

„A Most Violent Year“ is a fantastic movie, a time travel to New York City, 1981 (the year Eno and Byrne created „My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts“, in Manhattan), shot with late 70´s vibes and colors, and, nevertheless, likewise oldfashioned and inventive. That´s saying a lot about a genre movie linked with gangster syndicates, archetypal anti-heroes from another era and the usual suspects from the old „New Hollywood“. The gist of the matter: J.C. Chandor is really doing fine in creating a new skin for an old ceremony. At times with breathtakingly slow speed, packed with the devil in the details (beware of the soundtrack, sparse and subtle), and, one of the most thrilling chase-scenes since Cary Grant had been attacked by a small aeroplane in „North By Northwest“. Chandor knows when it´s time to speed up. Pop corn fodder? Not at all, more of a descent into the underworld (in the psychic sense of the word). For example, within one single shocking second, you are transported from an overcrowded tube train to a deserted, ghost-like station (in the middle of NYC) – a good place to meet the inner demons.

And coming to terms with your own demons, you might want to enter the sceneries of the „Thriller of  April“. I´m still running through the last hundred pages, and, as you know, you shall not sing the praise of day till the last ray of light has vanished from the sky, and darkness surrounds you with all horror or relief delivered on the last page. Will the story linger in your mind, or is it just a cheap thrill and utterly forgettable? Wait and see. Manafonista Wolfram recently recommended an ancient thriller by Chester Himes. That book might be the other option. Himes can compare in quality to Chandler and Hammett, and he clearly is commenting on and developing their novels, plots and style. The past remains a treasure grove. But you can easily be trapped by it. Chester Himes, and J.C. Chandor luckily know the exit signs.