(album) erik honoré: triage (film) die fotografin (prose) thomas kraft: americana (talk) félicia atkinson (poetry) robert macfarlane & hayden thorpe: ness (binge) shogun (archive) byard lancaster: the complete palm recordings 1973 – 1974

Drawing on his experience as an artist, Brian Eno is releasing his book on art, made in collaboration with Bette A.

WHAT ART DOES examines the function of fictional worlds – such as pop songs, detective novels, soap operas, shoe tassels and the hidden language of haircuts – and suggests a new theory of art.

Why do we do it? How does it help us? And how does it hold us all together?

WHAT ART DOES is a full colour illustrated hardback book, initially available in a limited edition of 777 signed copies. Each copy comes with its own unique slipcase hand painted by Brian and Bette A. This limited edition is available exclusively from Metalabel for North American collectors, and Enoshop for collectors in the rest of the world.

Hardback and ebook editions will be available on general release from Faber on 16th January 2025.

not returning
call
that (ghost) ship
floating body…
„just“ elevation –
fondly remembered
in smallest crushing waves
carried away.

„Michael, oh.  “Carried Away” is the aural equivalent of a lonely walk along the docks, which is what Verlaine sings about, and if it doesn’t boast the catchiest melody you’ll ever hear it makes up for it in sheer atmospherics. Verlaine’s singing on the chorus especially sounds hard won, and I love the way he sings “I get so carried away” in a voice that couldn’t sound less excited. At around the midpoint the song breaks for an understated guitar solo, and then the organ and piano return to play a long closing passage that evokes Robert Frost’s boast about having outwalked the furthest city light.“ (David Webster)

The morning demons need to spill out of their dreamtime jackets 
Given words in this verse.
When the firings say in so many complex ways that you weren't there, mother, or 
how can I possibly know what to do -
now we know it is the hurt not the facts
that needs to flex from that compressed absence -
and while your body practices 
strange watchers will continue to people your dreams.

Don't believe the shapes they take 
Believe each opportunity to breathe out.
All is not lost.

einmal eröffnete einer seiner songs eine nicht nur von mir geschätze tv-serie, und der ungemein eindringliche song führte uns aus faszinierende art in eine welt diverser abgründe. nun sitze ich hier im besten restaurant von matala, habe einen „seabrass“ verspeist, und um den fisch herum das erste risotto ever erlebt, das mich umgehauen hat. zeit für ein cappuccino, und ein neues rätsel, und der erste, der mir den namen des künstlers / acts schreibt, in den comments hier, nicht als private mail, bekommt um nikolaus die cd nach hause gesendet. sie erscheint (oder ist erschienen) zwischen september und november 24. auf einflüsse angesprochen, die sich auf dieses album ausgewirkt hätten, ohne unmittelbar hörbar zu sein, in der einen oder anderen weise, nannte er / sie / die band (ich will es ja nicht zu einfach machen) Mazzy Star, Beth Gibbons, Gene Clark – und Sade . good day and good luck! (m.e.)

Rätsel gelöst: HIER ein Song aus „Small Changes“. Tom Doyle fühlt sich in seiner Besprechung in der Dezemberausgabe von Mojo von ferne an „Dry The Rain“ von The Beta Band erinnert – LISTEN!

“(…) The album is playful, too. Audience applause and babble opens Lowdown Part 1, in which a rolling Pino Palladino bass part and Al Kooper-styled Hammon interjectiojs conapire to evoke a kind of downtrodden take on The Beta Band‘s Dry The Rain, replete with a naggingly beautiful melody. (…)“

He was a country maverick, and his famous 1979 song hit me hard and out of nowhere in a bavarian café in October 82 with full punch. Listen HERE. When Iistened there, it smashed me, ripped me into pieces and kindly rebuilt me, so that it could at least, too. „When I first started to write songs I was hanging out with Glenn and Jackson [Browne] and Don [Henley],” he told  in 2006. “It was an acoustic guitar environment. We all made each other better musicians and songwriters.”

// albums: erik honoré / underworld / kit downes // film: die fotografin (the female photographer) // prose: michael connelly‘s desert star // talk: thomas strônen or thomas morgan or … // poetry: romalyn ante: agimat // binge: slow horses (4) //archive: bo hansson (everything) / csn&y at fillmore east 1969

All „revelations“ will be installed close to the end of October. Nothing is guaranteed. Look at the list: some usual suspects, some surprises. And to be very clear from the start: Erik Honoré’s TRIAGE is one of my few five star albums of the year. Normally a running label for „literary“ crime novels from Scandinavia, TRIAGE is another, special kind of „Nordic Noir“. And my enthusiasm is by no way influenced by the fact I‘ve met Erik many times and seen him so often on stage during two decades of Kristiansand‘s Punktfestival. You can see the album as the third part of a trilogy of Erik Honoré albums, but it is a standalone that, for all the good reasons, should not fall prey to the section of „Buried Treasures“ in a Mojo edition from 2075.

Some people asked me about my encounter with Beth Gibbons in Bruxelles knowing she doesn’t give interviews for ages. And they cannot imagine that would happen an a small blog deliberately running under the radar. So time is ready to spread one’s wings and be blown away. Think of Christmas. (m.e.)

Back to the 60’s, and with the words of Graham Nash: „Hearing the newly discovered tapes that comprise Live At The Fillmore East, 1969 was something of a revelation. When you listen to the acoustic tracks particularly, you can really tell how much we loved each other and the music we were making. This was only weeks after Woodstock, which was only our second time appearing in front of people. It was so early in our career and we were still trying to figure it all out. CSNY is a much different band than CSN. The addition of Neil really kicked us in the ass.”

We could easily add the reissue of „An Electric Storm“ by White Noise, from 1969 again, but let‘s do a little hommage to Phil Aston instead, who recently reviewed the vinyl reissue. Nearly half of us flowworkers know this album, so HERE is Phil remembering the beauty amd madness of a very strange work of early days’ electronica.

2024 is a year full of fantastic albums with female voices, from Beth Gibbons to Sidsel Endresen. And there is „Camelot“ from Canadian singer / songwriter Jennifer Castle HERE her song „Blowing Kisses“. A quote from Rob Hughes from Uncut:

„Released to soundtrack an episode of hit TV comedy-drama The Bear (Castle used to work in a Toronto restaurant with the show’s co-producer and cast member Matty Matheson), it’s an eloquent tune that pushes the value of basking in the moment (that immediately rings a Beth Gibbons bell), driven by jazz-ballad piano and a sumptuous string arrangement from Owen Pallett for Macedonia’s FAMES Skopje Studio Orchestra. There’s all the grace of a spiritual hymn, but it sounds like a fresh vow. “Don’t get it twisted”, sings Castle, gliding around the melody and rising into a soft rapture, “My heart’s still in it / My dedication’s a star”.

Hier mein alter Text für die ZEIT, und keineswegs aus der Zeit gefallen, über A MAN ABOUT A HORSE. Seltsamerweise habe ich Steve nie nach der Bedeutung des Albumtitels gefragt. Ich habe etliche Steve Tibbetts-Lieblingsplatten, und einst zu dem wunderbaren Album „Big Map Idea“ die liner notes geschrieben. Ein Werk, das mich nie aus seinem Bann lassen wird, ist sein bislang letztes, „Life Of“ – HIER ein kleines Interview dazu. In nicht zu ferner Zukunft wird ein weiteres Album folgen, wenn ich meiner gut unterrichteten Quelle glauben darf. (m.e.)

Man nenne dies nicht Fusion Music und auch nicht Crossover. Die Musik des 1954 in Madison, Wisconsin, geborenen Steve Tibbetts erzählt Reisegeschichten über elektrische Wildnis und akustische Kulturlandschaften. Mit sechs Jahren hatte Steve begonnen, die Ukulele zu erforschen, und griff zur akustischen Gitarre, sobald seine Hände sie fassen konnten. Später spielte er in Rockbands und richtete sich im Laufe der Zeit in St. Paul, Minnesota, ein eigenes Studio ein, das bald zum zweiten Instrument wurde – Klangmanipulationen gehörten zum Handwerk eines Musikers, der Tag und Nacht Tomorrow Never Knows von den Beatles und Ege Bamyasi von Can hörte.

Der Globetrotter aus Passion hielt Abstand zu jedem drohenden Mainstream, vermied die mechanische Griffbrettartistik mancher Kollegen und kämpfte gegen den üblichen Etikettenschwindel: „Folkmusik vom Mars“ nannte ein Journalist Tibbetts‘ Klanggebräu. Seine erste große Reise führte nur nach Oslo: Unter der Klangregie Manfred Eichers entstand die karge, leicht pulsierende Gelassenheitskunst von Northern Song. Seitdem mischte der Gitarrist die Höhen- und Breitengrade seiner Musik nach den Gesetzen des freien Falls von Mikadostäbchen und produzierte brillante Werke, mit Titeln wie Safe Journey (1984), Big Map Idea (1990) oder The Fall Of Us All (1994) – eine konstante Verletzung des Orientierungssinnes. Manchmal sind da Geräuschspuren der Fernstraßen um Minneapolis zu hören, der Rocky Mountains oder eines Mönchschors aus Tibet.

Und so finden sich auch Fetzen eines fremden Alltags auf seiner neuesten Arbeit, A Man About A Horse, wenn beim Sampeln Natur- und Tierlaute zusammen mit den bronzenen Sounds von Gongs gespeichert werden (ECM 1814). Fasziniert ist Tibbetts von der Kebyar-Schule der Gamelan-Musik, ihren explosiven Attacken, kühnen Synkopen und verwickelten Läufen aus Blockakkorden. Bali, Indonesien und Nepal wurden bald zum ständigen Reiseziel. Er hört zu, wenn ein Einheimischer von den Geistern der Bäume spricht, und lässt sich vom endlosen Klingklang indonesischer Puppenspiele in den Schlaf wiegen. Kehrt Steve Tibbetts von seinen Reisen zurück, arbeitet er mit frei schwebenden Erinnerungen, nicht mit akustischen Abziehbildern.

Asien wird hier zu einer Welt, von der ein später Jimi Hendrix geträumt haben könnte. Komplexe Texturen, die, allem Gitarrenfeuer, aller Perkussionsdichte und Basswucht zum Trotz, eine seltsam beglückende Klarheit verströmen – als könnte man der Musik beim Luftholen zuhören!

Another ECM guitarrero from the old days, an archetypal Nordic one, reappearing on a Rune Grammofon album in a live setting with his old compadre Stale Størlokken, and Elephant 9. Click HERE: and you’re becoming witness of two trips on memory lane, a story told by Steve Tibbetts, and a regular Würzburg summer night ritual from the mid-seventies, with M.E. …

CD in 6-panel digipac or double vinyl edition in stunning gatefold sleeve!

Liner notes by David Fricke

Elephant9 established their reputation as a live powerhouse well before their album debut in 2008 and have since released six more studio albums as well as the two double live albums in 2019, Psychedelic Backfire Iand II, the latter with guest guitarist Reine Fiske, whose favourite guitarist happened to be Terje Rypdal. With both albums out of print, Catching Fire is a most welcome addition to their discography. Recorded at a remarkable concert from 2017 in Oslo, Rypdal would turn 70 later in the year.

Catching Fire share common ground with classic live albums from the likes of Mahavishnu Orchestra, ELP and King Crimson, especially when it comes to energy levels and a sense of untamed intensity. That said, there are also stretches of calm at play here, especially in the 22-minute opener where Rypdal introduces himself with some trademark, glacier melodic lines. Rypdal is on fire throughout, adding lead action, fierce rhythm work and abstract acrobatics from his toolbox.

Terje Rypdal´s main body of work is with ECM, first as a member of Jan Garbarek Quartet (Afric Pepperbird, 1970) and with his first solo album Terje Rypdal (1971), all in all counting some 30 releases up to Conspiracy(2020). Ståle and Terje share a common musical understanding, stemming from Ståle being the guitarist´s “right hand” both in the studio and on stage for close to 30 years. Torstein and Nikolai is the most solid of rhythm sections, a well-oiled engine; finesse and power combined. (Rune Grammofon HQ)