Manafonistas

I’ve never heard a single song of them, but the names alone sound so great that they put a spell on me. I’m speaking of the „medieval death-folk“ of a band called „Natural Snow Buildings“. In the same article about Domino reissues of early and fabulous  Flying Saucer Attack albums, I read about another band like no other, and said to myself: „Oh, I’d love to have been there, in the audience listening to the auto-destruction garage-noise house band, Linda’s Strange Vacation.“ Wouldn’t it be nice? I missed Michael Head’s trio in Glasgow, days ago. Lucky Ian! I missed Scritti Politti’s comeback concert at the Roundhouse London, on Feb. 5th. Introducing „Brushed With Oil, Dusted With Powder“ (from „Anomie and Bonhomie“) Green Gartside remembers that he started writing this song in a Hollywood hotel using a guitar that belonged to Joni Mitchell,  and finished it „in a flat above a dentist’s surgery in Newport“. But, right, you cannot have it all. At least, I had been at the Marquee Club, in 1971, and saw „Steamhammer“ go wild. That’s a different story. 

„Hello, little bonehead. I’ll love you forever.“ So begins Heart of a Dog, Laurie Anderson s cinematic journey through love, death and language.

Cantering on Anderson’s beloved rat terrier Lolabelle, who died in 2011, Heart of a Dog is a personal essay that weaves together childhood memories, video diaries, philosophical musings on data collection, surveillance culture and the Buddhist conception of the afterlife, and heartfelt tributes to the artists, writers, musicians and thinkers who inspire her.

Fusing her own witty, inquisitive narration with original violin compositions, hand-drawn animation, 8mm home movies and artwork culled from exhibitions past and present, Anderson creates a hypnotic, collage-like visual language out of the raw materials of her life and art, examining how stories are constructed and told – and how we use them to make sense of our lives.