Manafonistas

1) Neil Young: Psychedelic Pill

2) Eberhard Weber : Resume

3) Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas

4) Sufjan Stevens: Silver and Gold

5) Joni Mitchell: Court and Spark

6) Paul Buchanan: Mid Air

7) Diagrams: Diagrams

v i d e o

Kairos kam, der günstige Augenblick, und mit ihm eine Hörerfahrung. Man hatte da vorweg mal etwas schläfrig reingehört, doch bedurfte es schon dieses gewissen Moments. Nun öffnete sich diese Musik für ein unverfügbares Wahrheitsereignis. Jene Aufnahme eines Tokiokonzerts, das von Ecm spät und frisch getaufte Sleeper, klingt hochaktuell und zeugt von einer Ära, in der noch nicht gesamplet wurde und gesurft, stattdessen die Musik Raum gab für Transzendenz, Ergriffenheit und virtuelle Fluchten – ohne die reflektive Kühle und Abstandnahme postmoderner Zeiten, in denen man dank Google, Twitter, Spotify ja sowieso schon alles kennt. Das Keith Jarrett Quartett begab sich Anfang der Achtziger Jahre auf die Entdeckungsreise eines anderen Modern-Jazz: Grenzüberschreitung, Neuland, Spielfreude. Christopher Columbus nebst einigen Schamanen mögen Pate gestanden haben. Wie seine Begeisterung mit Worten andeuten? Ist doch der Fingerzeig zum Mond nie dem Erdtrabanten gleich. Nüchtern, nicht euphorisch, antizipiert man dieses fiebrig intensive, teils von afrikanischen Rhythmen durchsetzte Konzert-Klangwunder, das vor Formkraft, Einfühlungsvermögen und Virtuosität nur so strotzt. Es ist eine Huldigung, die keinen Schöpfer preist und keine Schöpferin, vielmehr im taoistischen Sinn religiös ist, als Hingabe und Wegbeschreitung.

 
 

 
 
 
Like A Hawk And A Hacksaw before them, Portland’s Ryan Francesconi and partner Mirabai Peart have found themselves seduced by the landscapes and traditional musics of Eastern Europe. On a recent trip around Lesbos, the couple – both members of Joanna Newsom’s touring ensemble – were inspired to produce this seven-track duet. Francesconi’s versatility is sublimated by a close-miked acoustic guitar, on which he picks out clear, confident lines (especially on „Parallel Flights“ and „Pontic“), while Peart’s violn flickers between American folk and Balkan scales. Assured chamber-folk that would have sat comfortably on ECM. (Rob Young, Uncut, January 2013)

„Love came to my door/With a sleeping roll/And a madman’s soul/He thought for sure I’d seen him/Dancing up a river in the dark/Looking for a woman/To court and spark“. (The River)

* Song To A Seagull (1968) ***
* Clouds (1969) ****
* Ladies of the Canyon (1970) ***1/2
* Blue (1971) *****
* For The Roses (1972)  ***1/2
* Court and Spark (1974) ****
* The Hissing Of Summer Lawns (1975) ****1/2
* Hejira (1976) *****
* Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter (1977) ****
* Mingus (1979) *****  (m.e.)

“Joni Mitchell’s Blue probably has the same characteristic that I like about Revolver. It has this in-your-face production value. She had written songs like ‘Clouds’ where she had harpsichord on it and all these strings and all that but this album was devoid of all instruments bar the dulcimer, the acoustic guitar and the piano. I don’t even recall a lot of bass on the album but Stephen Stills might have played a bass line on an acoustic guitar. So what you have is ten or twelve knockout songs that she must have spent months crafting. Poetically, these songs are perfect. They speak to women, I know, but they also speak to men as well, about universal and personal challenges we all face in life. Joni Mitchell articulated them so well but as a record producer, how she did it was so important. Again, it’s that dry sound; in-your-face and a kind of minimal recording but every note and every instrument stated something very clearly and very powerfully. There are times when I hear this and I don’t even realise that I’m hearing a piano or a vocal; to me, it sounds orchestral. A good arrangement can make two or three instruments sound huge and a bad arrangement can make a whole orchestra sound puny.” (Tony Visconti, producer)

Der eine bringt in grossen Abständen erratische Songalben heraus, der andere veröffentlicht fast im Jahresrhythmus Thriller, die nüchtern und spannend zugleich Polizeiarbeit beschreiben. Der eine zitiert im Titel seines neuen Albums, BISH BOSCH, die dunklen, verstörenden Bilderwelten des Hieronymus Bosch, der andere erzählt seit langer Zeit aus der Welt eines komplexen Charakters mit Namen Harry Bosch. Und auch hier ist die Parallele zu dem Maler höllischer, visionärer Bilder durchaus beabsichtigt. Beide sind also den Schattenwelten des Lebens zugetan, der eine wählt dazu eine extreme Klangsprache, der andere ein traditionelles Genre. Beide Künstler haben nichts an sich, was man mit Starallüren in Verbindung bringen könnte. Ernste, nüchterne Menschen. Ich lese gerade den neuen Roman von Michael Connelly, THE BLACK BOX. Darin geht Harry Bosch einem ungelösten Mordfall nach, der zwanzig Jahre zurückliegt: eine dänische Journalistin wurde bei den Unruhen in Los Angeles anno 1992 erschossen in einer Seitengasse aufgefunden. Die politischen Unruhen voller Gräueltaten, die sich vor dem Ende der Ära des letzten rumänischen Tyrannen abspielten, und die Tötung des Diktators, macht Scott Walker zum Thema des letzten Liedes von BISH BOSCH.

Miles Davis once urged his band to “play music that doesn’t sound like music”. The dark and intricate soundscapes of Iain Ballamy (saxophone and electronica) and Thomas Strønen (drums and more electronica) surely qualify. They are full of drama, shifting textures and colours but you’d be pushed to find a hook, a chorus or a middle eight. As saxophone soars over shifting rhythms, guests including guitarist Eivind Aarset and Nils Petter Molvaer on trumpet add to the mood of mystery. What do you call this music: ambient thrash, space-jazz, elevator music for aliens? Whatever, its murky beauties will reward.

„There is only one person this reviewer knows who dislikes this album and he drives a Subaru, supports Man U and thinks James Blunt is brilliant. What greater recommendation could you have to get „Hats“?“

The story of the cerebral ’80s pioneers.

The story is told in the January issue of UNCUT.

It was a hot summer day when I was in Hamburg for two interviews with Jan Garbarek and the German group Kante. In between the two dates, I heared that Paul Buchanan was in town, too, to promote a new Blue Nile record. With some luck I met him for a short 20 minute conversation, the last one of a long day where journalists tried to reveal the magic factor of these specialists of Glasgewian melancolia. It was easy to talk with Paul about the quiet side of life, the moments where time is suspended and the world adopts the colours of an Edward Hopper painting.

p.s.: Yesterday our man on Glasgow, Ian McCartney, told me that there is a new Harold Budd record to be released in these days. Seems to be a bit different. Modern chamber music on acoustic instruments. I’m sure it will nevertheless be vintage Budd. You can always listen to The Blue Nile and Harold Budd records in every possible sequence. You can never go wrong. Nice way to make time go by a bit slower. And, well, the perfect link is Paul’s new song and piano album, MID AIR. (me)

Barring a trip to Asia you can engineer a total sense immersion in the comfort of your home. Get one or two of the Nonesuch CDs: Java: Court Gamelan or Bali: Gamelan & Kecak are good places to start.Then move your stereo into your bathroom, release 37 frogs and 100 crickets, run hot water until it’s nice and steamy, light a clove cigarette and start playing the CDs. Turn the shower on and off to simulate falling rain. Arrange for an occasional earthquake.

(Steve Tibbetts)

„For the uninitiated, there are no words to describe the majesty and chemistry of this trio. For those who have lived for three decades with those two desert island discs, Magico and Folk Songs, this is an unexpected bonanza. It has all the qualities of those two classic discs, the extraordinary simpatico, the breathing as one, deep listening, space, the understated tenderness, all of it and something more: It has the feeling of a group that has been playing together, touring, getting to know one another and exploring the material, going in even deeper than the studio recordings. It’s a profound, dynamic and virtuosic performance with moments of great intensity, but for the most part it is contemplative and searching, redolent of the inarticulate longings of the heart.“