Manafonistas

 
Amsterdam, Bimhuis, yesterday night
 
again
 
 
 

 
 
 
evocation of a musical compaction by (great) The Necks 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Auch nach fast 30 Jahren (nächstes Jahr) sind Konzerte von The Necks ein (unvergessliches), immer wieder quasi jungfräuliches Ereignis der besonderen Art
 
 
In Germany werden The Necks allerdings recht wenig gebucht … . Warum wohl?
 
 
Am kommenden Mittwoch, 15. April, aber spielt die Gruppe im Kölner STADTGARTEN
 
 
©FoBo_HenningBolte
 

The Wine Advocate – „Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2012 The Boxer Shiraz opens with tons of intense chocolate, vanilla and spice intermingling with an aromatic core of ripe and berry preserves. Very big, full and rich, it is so concentrated you could practically stand a spoon up in the glass. The medium-level velvety tannins hold through the long, slightly hot, finish.“ (Aix Vinum, Aachen, Kleinmarschierstrasse)
 
 

 
 
One can hardly pass a comb through this session (ECM 1145) without singling out „The Laws Of Freedom“. With a minimal and open sense of play from Balke over the subtlest of drones one can imagine, this breathtaking journey into a piano´s beating heart turns reverberation into cloud and spirit, and presses between them footsteps of air.

With this record, Carrie & Lowell, I needed to extract myself out of this environment of make-believe. It’s something that was necessary for me to do in the wake of my mother’s death—to pursue a sense of peace and serenity in spite of suffering. It’s not really trying to say anything new, or prove anything, or innovate. It feels artless, which is a good thing. This is not my art project; this is my life.

“The album’s about lots of things. Mainly temptation, and secrets, and life – and aye, it’s about love being hard work. Or it is for me certainly. I’m sure there are plenty of people who’re very happy but I don’t trust them,” says the sage raconteur with a laugh. “I don’t trust people who say they’re happily attached and they have been for 10 years. That’s nonsense. If it’s true, you’re not living life. „And The Most Important Place In The World is a  record about the city,” he continues. “But it’s abstract, not geographical. It’s about the city as an idea, as a temptress, and even as a God in one of the songs.“ A not really very kind god (manafonistas HQ)

„Beat the Champ is about professional wrestling, which was an avenue of escape for me when I was a kid. Wrestling was low-budget working class entertainment back then, strictly UHF material. It was cheap theater. You had to bring your imagination to the proceedings and you got paid back double. I wrote these songs to re-immerse myself in the blood and fire of the visions that spoke to me as a child, and to see what more there might be in them now that I’m grown.“

— John Darnielle, Durham, NC