Manafonistas

on life, music etc beyond mainstream

2018 18 Feb

„wild things run slowly – nighthawks and other birds“

von: Michael Engelbrecht Filed under: Blog | TB | 2 Comments

 
„Before and After Roger“
 
 

The first hour of the night – a mix of quiet moods. I didn‘t talk much, I wanted to find a way a way to get through the night without losing part of my utterly seductive voice in the dry studio air. It worked. And the sequence of tracks, pure joy in my ears. Maybe the penultimate track  was a bit too vivid for the overall mood, but then again, the rhythmic pulse of Frahm‘s „Kaleidoscope“ may have kept eyes and ears open late at night.

Dictaphone really should be a discovery for some people. Norma Winstone‘s album of „songs for films“ is so delightful and makes you wanna watch some of the old movies. Roger Eno‘s first solo work in seven years is a document of radical reluctance and accompanied by short short stories offering a desolate East Anglia coastline as a fascinating state of mind. Andy Sheppard‘s quartet music is so brilliant, and some Manas already share my enthusiasm for it.

Nils Frahm‘s album is the real surprise for me, because I didn‘t think he could offer much more than smart wallpaper music. In slight difference to Gregs, I also like the way he works with voices, but then again, the jukebox man and myself always had nice arguments about the sense and nonsense of Leonard Cohen‘s female background singers.

 
 
 

 
 
 
„The Ocean And The Hinterland“
 
 

This is a love-it-or-leave-it-hour about the music of Flying Saucer Attack. David Pearce and his lo-fi-aesthetics don‘t mess with modernity, persona, technology – and create a world full of distant echoes. His unexpected return in 2015 with the album „Instrumentals 2015“ didn‘t deliver anything different, except the fact that it WAS different, in the most subtle ways. Turn on the volume, and lose yourself in a twilight world of distortion and disturbing beauty. This is the end of campfire guitar romance in the British pop culture, so to speak.

 
 

 
 
 
 

„Farewell Aldebaran“
 
 

Now prepare yourself for the last twenty minutes (nearly) of the night. Before this „live-radio-mixtape“ (the last hour is always split in two halfs by the news at 5.30), I played Richard Horovitz‘s „Elephant Dance“ commenting on the fabulous reissue of EROS IN ARABIA without much ado about its position at the crossroads of Fourth World music and minimalism.

And I wished everybody a nice weekend shortly anouncing what to (vaguely) expect during the night‘s last passage: selected bird songs from the album „The Beauty of The Sound Approach“, and a song about the end of the world (both on ECC Records).

What I didn‘t say, is this: you can find that song named „Lullaby“ on the three-vinyl-box „The Self Preservation Society“, a good example for a great cover album project. The artists went on treasure hunt in the late 60‘s and early 70‘s. You‘ll there make the aquaintance of rather unknown gems (like this lullaby, originally part of a psychedelic folk album, a REALLY psychedelic folk album named FAREWELL ALDEBARAN. And you‘ll make the aquaintance of passionate takes on well-known songs like „White Rabbit“.

And what I didn‘t say, too, was how these twenty minutes will end. I didn‘t know that myself. Then, while one of these exotic birds were taking center stage, I saw an old vinyl album in a corner. In fact, I forgot it in the studio, months ago. And I looked at the tracklist. And I smiled. Everything fell into place.

 
 
 

 

This entry was posted on Sonntag, 18. Februar 2018 and is filed under "Blog". You can follow any responses to this entry with RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Comments

  1. Brian Whistler:

    Great first and last hours. (haven’t checked out the other two segments yet.) Enjoyed Dictaphone very much. This kind of ambient electronic is very much to my taste. Never liked that song A Time for Us all that much … until I heard this stellar version. And Amacord theme is one of my favorite Rota pieces. Norma Winstone always seems to find deeper meaning in everything she sings, The Shepard- which album was that off of? Have to get that one.

    Regarding the last hour, really enjoyed the birds. And the psychedelic Lullabye too. The ending was a surprise, but as you said, it fit perfectly. Excellent freeform radio.

  2. Michael Engelbrecht:

    Well said, Brian :)

    From what I think you won‘t join the FLYING SAUCER ATTACK „community“.

    The second hour (not posted here) contained quite diversive stuff, and I seem to be one of the few journalists who think Laurie Anderson‘s teamwork with Kronos Quartet is way too long, not well balanced, lacking focus, and only has a few convincing passages.

    I find more and more joy in the post-minimal, early Fourth World-music that is an ongoing theme on the blog since last year‘s vinyl reissues of artists from Japan, Spain etc.

    In this area Richard Horovitz‘s EROS IN ARABIA is a true treasure. It dates back to 1981, Jon Hassell helped tuning the long track from the show, „Elephant Dance“. The vinyl edition from autumn 2017 is impeccable, but already an expensive object of desire.

    The thing with my „seductive voice“ is, well, a humorous take on problems with a bit of hoarseness in my voice after three, four hours during earlier shows. I try to find a new balance, and good support with herbal tea, globuli and creative strategies like being more and more quiet :)

    And thanks, Brian, for not giving away the final cracker of the „bird sequence“ in the last twenty minutes of it all.


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