Manafonistas

This is the third branch of what was formerly known as Tapped & Packed (the other two are on Rathbone Place and Tottenham Court Road), and don’t be surprised if it’s not the last. The formula is simple and very effective. Buy good beans and treat them with respect. Create a space that’s unintimidating and relaxing – a very long space in this case, with skylights running almost its full length. Employ waiting staff who know that a smile and a friendly word are just as important as efficiency. It pays off. Even though this branch is the largest of the three, it wasn’t easy to bag a table at 2.30pm on a weekday. There were a couple of informal office meetings taking place, but also a lot of people sitting on their own. Average age: low 30s. Food: majoring on sandwiches and salad of reasonable prices (by Soho standards), plus the usual baked goods. A completely satisfying experience. Leaving was a wrench.

Notes took the major step of doing its own roasting in King’s Cross. The result, as judged by a single-farm Yirgacheffe brewed using the slow-drip V60 pour-over filter, is a major success. The room is singularly attractive, big and light with well-spaced seating at both small and refectory-type tables. It was very busy in mid-afternoon on a weekday, with a clientele ranging from suits in meetings to friends hanging out. Food is simple but takes pride in buying the best raw materials, such as charcuterie from the Ham and Cheese Company in Bermondsey. With Trafalgar Square just minutes away and the Coliseum even closer, Notes is an extremely useful place to take note of.

Mitte der 1970er Jahre gehoerte die Zeit vor dem „Internationalen Fruehschoppen“ in der ARD der Jugend. Ich erinnere mich gerne an die Serie „Goldener Sonntag“: vom Suedwestfunk produziert, bildete diese achtzehnteilige Serie in Echtzeit den Sonntagmorgen einer deutschen Familie ab. Hanns Dieter Huesch spielte den Vater; seine Kleinkunst und Poetik lernte ich so kennen und schaetzen.

Zwischen den einzelnen Spielszenen wurde zur Ueberbrueckung immer auf den eingeschalteten Fernseher im Wohnzimmer gezoomt; das (fiktive) Magazin „Sonntagswecker“ mit Albrecht Metzger als Moderator lief dort; vorproduzierte Musik mit dem „United Rock & Jazzensemble“ war zu sehen und zu hoeren.

Eine solche realistische Darstellung von Alltag und dazu diese Musik, die sich wohltuend von der allgegenwaertig vorherrschenden Schlagermusik abhob und meilenweit von den in den 1980iger populaer werdenden Zuckerguss-Familienserien wie „Die Wicherts von nebenan“ entfernt war – das war schon etwas !

Andy Sheppard / Michel Benita / Sebastian Rochford – Trio Libero [2012]

At the time, that was the most spacious I’d ever played, it was so different from anything I’d done previously. The whole album was done in six hours. It just flowed, with no headphones and no bass amp in the room, so it was the quietest I’d ever played. In that way I feel it’s quite a pure album.

There was one tune that we’d played loads of times, for about two years, so we knew it really well. Then, when we recorded it, Andy suddenly played it without any tempo, without us discussing it. There was no question, we just followed it, because we had that kind of freedom as a band.

Then meeting [ECM records producer] Manfred Eicher was very inspiring. I like the way he always explains things in visual terms. For the first time, it felt OK to not have to play all the time. I could play as little as I wanted to. That’s what I was thinking about on that album; ‚How little can I play and still affect the movement of the music?‘ Because sometimes as a drummer, if you stop playing everyone else thinks something’s wrong! In that band it felt okay, and that’s part of the new Polar Bear stuff as well. I’ve said, ‚If I’m not playing, don’t think it’s because I want the music to stop, it’s just what I feel like doing.‘

(Sebastian Rochford, source: TheQuietus)

David Byrne and Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today [2008]
 
To be honest, when I did it I didn’t really know much about Brian Eno. I’m glad I didn’t, because afterwards I realised the size of his influence. It’s incredible what he’s done. I knew who he was, obviously. I knew he’d produced U2 and that he was in Roxy Music. So working with him got me into Roxy Music. Those early albums are amazing. I never realized they did stuff like that. Even now, though, I know more about his music than his philosophy, his ideologies.

It was amazing to get Brian’s perspective on the music. There’s one track where he asked me to play this pattern where the drums were always just before the beat. Everything else was on the beat and it felt really weird. But then you just trust him and listening back, you think, ‚Wow, that’s really incredible. I’d never have thought of that in a million years.‘

He also got me to play on the wrong side of the snare drum, which I’d never done before, and a lot of electronic drums. Then he got me to play a really sparse bass drum pattern, which at the time felt excruciating, but I learned a lot from doing that. I think I used to be a lot busier on the bass drum, and it’s easy to forget the role of the bass drum, which can be melodic.

I generally think of drums as a tonal instrument, and if my drums are in tune it really helps me play. Even cymbals. If a cymbal is in pitch, it helps. I remember when I was younger, I went with my parents to India and they just left me in this village with a tabla player. Looking back on it, I wonder whether my drumming has been influenced by that experience, even though I only had a few tabla lessons. They’re tuned instruments, so very melodic. I’ve been listening to that music ever since.

(Sebastian Rochford, source: TheQuietus)
 
P.S.: wer das Original liest, findet auch Lesenswertes über Sebs Zusammenarbeit mit Leafcutter John (eine Liebkingsplatte von mir!) und Rokia Traore (Beautiful Africa) – m.e.

 

 
 
 
R A D I O ____ ON DEMAND – CLAUDE TCHAMITCHIAN
 

Radioprogramm mit Musik des Bassisten Claude Tchamitchian (aus Marseille) in verschiedenen Konstellationen
 
 
 

 
 
 
ON DEMAND, geht sofort los (und gesprochener Text minimal), reinhören und …

Es gäbe einiges zu Tchamitchian, zu seiner Person und seiner Musik zu sagen, aber hier erstmal die Musik. Worte, Text später …
 
 
 

 
 

all photos © FoBo – Henning Bolte

„Ich kannte London noch nicht und liebte es schon.“ (Der erste Satz aus Ronald Rengs Buch „Gebrauchsanweisung für  London“, der auch das faszinierenste Fussballbuch des letzten Jahres herausgebracht hat“. )

Heute war mal wieder kurz Sommer. Noch vier Tage bis London. Folgende Alben erstand ich im Kölner Plattenladen meines Vertrauens: eine Platte hat ein richtig beknacktes Cover, und enthält doch, stellenweise, reines Gold, ONE TRUTH heisst sie, stammt von Cedric Brooks & The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari. Cedric spielt in den Wäldern rings um Kingston Heftig-Schräges auf seinem Tenorsaxofon, und die Trommeln verrichten ihr Trancewerk. Und wenn wir schon  bei den Mystikern der auch schon wieder älteren Neuzeit sind: I AM THE LAST OF ALL THE FIELD THAT FELL (A CHANNEL). An der Seite von David Tibet und seiner Formation Current 93 tauchen spielend auf: Ossian Brown (der alte Heide aus Grossbritannien), Nick Cave, Antony Hegarty, John Zorn und andere Spirits. Dazu passt, wiederum auf Vinyl, sorgsamst remastert, ein Klassiker aus den frühen Jahren der Elektronischen Musik, den ich noch nie gehört habe. Aber ich bin sicher: ich liebe die Platte schon jetzt, vor dem Knistern der ersten Rille: SILVER APPLES OF THE MOON, von Morton Subotnick. Und dann musste ich schmunzeln, als ich mir auf dem alten Technics-Dreher im Laden (Kleiner Griechenmarkt) die Platte INTERVAL SIGNALS anhörte, von dem mir bislang völlig unbekannten Ensemble Economique. Dahinter steckt ein Amerikaner, der ein grossartiges Nachglühen (aus einem vermutlich ururalten San Francisco) veranstaltet. Ein Meister der Flüchtigkeit, ein Hokuspokus-Verschwindidibus! Tatsächlich ist diese angeblich „ökonomische“ Musik herrlich verschwenderisch: „a seamless, cinematic tapestry of beauty, filled to the brim with cacophonous melodies, meditative auditory chants & hypnotic shambolic rhythms, which  could  probably briefly be classified as ambient / drone / psychedelic / shoegaze.“ Stimmt. So gut. 180 Gramm Vinyl. Das Cover: alles grau, der Blick geht aufs Meer. Die Farben müssen ja einem ja nicht gleich ins Gesicht springen, und spielen erst mal „verstecken“!

Endangered Blood, eine Band, die auf Manafonistas schon vorbeigekommen ist
 
Hier mit Musik diesseits und jenseits … eines der wunderbaren Tiny Desk Concerts bei NPR, National Public Radio (ja, so etwas gibt es tatsächlich in den USA!). Noch mit Trevor Dunn (ja, der von Mr.Bungle), der jetzt meistens nicht mehr mit von der Partie ist. Dafür dann Michael Formanek! Auch nicht schlecht, oder!? Einfach …
 
 
 

 
 
Chris Speed, Jim Black, Trevor Dunn, Oscar Noriega
 

Roller coasters made their thrilling and terrifying debut around 250 years ago and the business has seen almost as many dips and dives in the time since as there are in a typical coaster. After a slow start in 17th-century Russia, coasters really hit their stride during the Industrial Revolution, combining the “appearance of danger with actual safety.” Today, we live in a golden age of steel-railed coasters. These behemoths take between one and five years to build and cost up to $30 million. But who cares about the money if they can make us scream with that magical combination of joy and terror?

IN THE SPIRIT OF ______ P A U L . M O T I A N (25 March 1931–22 November 2011)
 
 
 

 
 
 
Last year there was a marvellous Paul Motian Memorial Concert at Symphony Space (see here on MANAFONISTAS). This year Endangered Blood + Brad Shepik take over, establish continuity
 
THE STONE RESIDENCIES JIM BLACK MAR 25-30
 
3/30 Sunday
 
10 pm – The Music of Paul Motian – Chris Speed (reeds) Oscar Noriega (reeds) Brad Shepik (guitar) Trevor Dunn (bass) Jim Black (drums)
 
THE STONE RESIDENCIES JIM BLACK MAR 25-30