„Like the revenant ghost that Cahun eventually becomes to Moore, this quietly passionate coupling of Eros and history lingers on to haunt the darkest recesses of the reader’s mind.“ Isn‘t this a wonderful last sentence of Miranda‘s review of Rupert Thomson‘s latest novel? Might be seductive enough to persuade some of you to finally discover one of my favourite English writers. When I had been in contact with him a long time ago, I sent him a record that turned into one of his all-time favourites, Stina Nordenstam‘s collection of „noir covers“, People Are Strange. And he described to me, in full detail, the vibes of that long London summer when the first Massive Attack album could be heard out of so many windows.
Another writer of undisputable class is James Lee Burke, and admirers of John Steinbeck will love Mr. Burke for his ways of epic novels. It‘s never a straightahead thing! Speaking of classics that never lose their impact, one can always go back to the first three Wire albums, and it‘s only fair to say that Pink Flag had been the only punk album I literally inhaled. And Chairs Missing and 154 belong to my ten favourite song albums ever made by English artists (okay, I do not include beloved Beatles and Kinks and Eno and Wyatt works).
And our album of August may come as a surprise, cause who really knows a band called „Immersion“? Pure joy it is to read Tim Sommer‘s review of the album of Maika Spigel and Colin Newman (yes, the man from Wire). And though his appraisal seems a little bit over the top, he very nicely captures the essence of a thouroughly immersive and elegant work that, aside from his nods to the dancefloor, reflects some of the virtues of old krautrock with a very British accent. There‘s a deep 70‘s atmosphere in the music easily crossing decades resulting in strangely modern music. Deal?