Not forgetting all things lost
in the fire of our lives
(as far as we can remember).
Sometimes, from a distance, everything
(losses first, and hands still to hold)
falls into place. No catchy songs,
no singalongs, no fairytale parallel worlds,
no hooks, no future evergreens, oh,
hold on, in their own peculiar way
Brian Eno’s modern day lamentations are
a collection of future „everblues“,
haunting, uncanny, anti-
grandiose, epic, enigmatic &
beautiful in a dark way.
And how then could it be
That we appear at all?
In all this rock and fire
In all this gas and dust
Are we not each a flame?
All born to live in light
All born to give our light
1) Brian Eno: Foreverandevernomore
2) Lambchop: The Bible
3) Oded Tzur: Isabela
4) Alabaster dePlume: Gold
5) Neil Young: Toast
6) Moor Mother: Jazz Codes
7) Daniel Lanois: Player, Piano
8) Bill Callahan: YTILAER
9) Weyes Blood: And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
10) Evgueni Galperine: The Theory of Becoming
11) The Smile: A Light For Attracting Attention
12) Midori Takada: Cutting Branches For A Temporary Shelter
13) Father John Misty: Chloe and the Next 20th Century
14) Toechter: Zephyr
15) Jon Balke / Siwan: Hafla
16) Avishai Cohen: Naked Truth
17) Klaus Schulze: Deus Arrakis
18) Wolfert Brederode: Ruins And Remains
19) Geir Sundstol: The Studio Intim Sessions Vol. 1
20) JD Allen: Americana Vol. 2
21) Keith Jarrett: Bordeaux Concert
22) Roger Eno: The Turning Year
23) Uusi Aika: Uusi Aika
24) Daj Fujikira & Jan Bang: The Bow Maker
25) The Unthanks: Sorrows Away
26) Group Thinking: Clarinet and Piano (Selected Works Vol. 2)
27) Horace Andy: Midnight Rockers
28) Wilco: Cruel Country
29) Makaya McCraven: In These Times
30) Kevin Morby: This is a photograph
Another little story about one of these beloved albums of mine
A propos Midori Takada. Old story, new turn: Maybe half a dozen times I played „Cutting Branches For A Temporary Shelter“ by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra in my radio nights running three decades, and only now found out (what has been half-conscious vagueness first place) that it was the irresistible adaptation of an African template.
With the old mbira and other shiny sounds it is now brought to new life, on the first new work by Midori Takada in decades. Very early she discovered the multiverse of a single drum, and like Cage, she had no doubts imagining that a single perfect note on a shakuhachi could exude more magic than some of the high-flying, form-obsessed Western orchestral music of past centuries. The spellbinding art of elementary textures.
Funny, at the beginning, alone with a streaming device, I thought it would just consist of one long piece. But there are in fact two long pieces. Perfect for vinyl. We are seduced by a female magician leading us deeper and deeper into an ancient African folk tune. „Cutting Branches For A Temporary Shelter“ is such a terrific perfomance that starts with strangeness and moves forward to the dance of life that life can be. (m.e.)