How does such a „free-form“ radio show like „Klanghorizonte“ create its impacts? In the end it should be strangely coherent (with all its very different sources) – the „narration“, the „red threads“, the surprising „breaks“, and the sequence chosen tracks. Some will open up the fields of „being on the road“, „in the wilderness“, „archaic“ and „exotic“. Think of the brilliant, at times heart wrenching „folk and beyond-spheres“ from Lankum. Or the archival reissues centered around Jon Hassell’s 1990 album „City: Works of Fiction“. Or Marc Hollander’s new prank with Aksak Maboul, – a fantastic „singspiel“ about a surreal journey that demands complete attention despite its peculiar „earworms“ – a worthy continuation of the „Made To Measure“ series.
Some surely interesting new works will not appear because they don’t fit in terms of „narrative“, or whatever – and 55 minutes have their limitations. Otherwise one of the four very long pieces of The Necks‘ „Travel“ would be played out in full, but now I’ll place a „passage“ of the Australians in the centre and build that hour around it. The long radio nights in earlier years were kind of „epic“, now another arc (of suspense) is required. „Late night stories“ offer more laisser faire than prime time in the evening. But one thing should remain: „the thrill of it all“. Prepare for a journey. Interview passages in preparation. The final version will be posted on the day of broadcast, March 30.
Lonnie Holley*** (or London Brew)
Jon Hassell (Psychogeography)
Lana del Rey (or Lucrecia Dalt or Lankum**)
Kammerflimmer Kollektief (or Evgueni Alperine)
The Necks*
Numün (and Stephan Micus)
Aksak Maboul
Jon Hassell (The Living Garden)****
Brian Eno (Forever Voiceless – RSD)
* „Consciously or not, there’s a lot of Zen in the way The Necks go about making music, most particularly in the way habits are used as a way of breaking habits. In the improvisations that make up their live performances, one member of the group is designated to begin before the others join in at a time and in a manner of their choosing. To construct Travel, The Necks created four shorter live-inthe-studio improvisations and subjected them to the sort of post-production techniques used on many of its predecessors, overdubbing extra layers of sonic texture, most frequently the pianist Chris Abrahams’ Hammond organ and the guitars of the drummer Tony Buck. Through these methods they dramatise each piece, enhancing the quality so cherished by their admirers: a slow-burn narrative arc that can lead anywhere, but never on a whim.“ (Richard Williams, Uncut March 2023, album of the month)
** “You’ll find parallels of the same songs all over the English speaking world, sometimes even further. Some older traditional songs exist in folk tale form in India, ancient Persia or some 6th century Hindu text. Borders don’t make any sense in terms of how singing is concerned.” (Ian Lynch, Lankum, The Quietus)
*** All that said, Holley’s music and visual art (for which he has shown at The Met, The Smithsonian and is represented by the illustrious Blum & Poe) is much more about our place in the cosmos than the cosmos itself. It’s about how we overcome adversity and tremendous pain; about how we develop and maintain an affection for our fellow travelers; about how we stop wishing for some “beyond” and start caring for the one rock we have. Holley has never delivered this message as clear, as concise and as exhilaratingly as he does on his new album ‘Oh Me Oh My.’ (Uncut, April 2023)
**** The Living City captures the Jon Hassell Group in September 1989 performing as part of an audio-visual installation inside the World Financial Center Winter Garden in New York City, with Brian Eno mixing the band live. Eno had designed an audio-visual installation in the 10-story glass-vaulted pavilion, inspired by the hunting, ceremony, animals, and weather sounds of the Ba-Ya-Ka pygmy tribe from Cameroon gathered by Louis Sarno. Jon Hassell and his then band, the musicians who had recently recorded the City: Works Of Fiction album, played in the Winter Garden Atrium over the course of three nights, with Eno mixing the band live with the installation sounds. Available on vinyl for the first time
P.S. The March issue of The Wire has a cover story about The Necks, and an in-depth feature about Marc Hollander‘s Aksak Maboul and Crammed Discs