Bezeten Vuur Brandt

Bezeten vuur brandt in Samizdat, de nieuwe worp van Aroma di Amore. Het album opent met het beklemmende en desoriënterende Schoenen. Even lonkt het vermoeden dat de oude heren van stand de vroegere bloedlijn van pan-europese wave-waanzin wensten door te zetten. Maar met Stront en Hunker ontploft het album in post-industriële kortklanken die de scherpte en stacatto maanzin van Wire op het album Send lijken te evoceren, de vertaling ervan maken naar lokale kleivarianten.

Steeds baadt het album in een verontustende sfeer veroorzaakt door de unieke, bijtende teksten van Elvis Peeters en zijn unieke, bijtende voordracht die perfect versmelten met de muzikale onderbouw van de companen van nu en van weleer. Soms zakt het tempo, en nemen de beats en elektronica de tripperige overhand, met krakende en andere ontstemmende uitwaaiieringen. Dan weer exploderen de neuroses van stem en gitaar in gezamenlijke zenuwuitbarstingen en drift. Opvallend hoogtepunt is de dubbele uitvoering van de korte-benen-pijn en snijdende eenzaamheid in Nu we allemaal alleen/bijeen zijn.

Alhoewel een aantal nummers qua aanpak en sfeer herinneringen aan de jaren van de zwarte jassen oproepen, is Samizdat eerder een uitspansel dat Aroma di Amore bouwt op de wegen die onze eigenste Elvis reeds insloeg met De Legende dan een louter nostalgische trip naar de oude jaren 80. Geen verloren taal. Gelukkig maar.

Omdat de heren ook live een ode brengen aan Wire, hierbij:

2012. Towards the end. It’s a beginning.

2012 is turning out a great Killing Joke year. Again. As pledger, I already downloaded the fantastic live album Down By The River. And now there’s the second album of the re-united original line-up of the band. Although the resurrected formation already produced the compelling Absolute Dissent in 2010, it seems they have truly blended all they were, are and will become on the majestic MMXII. The band keeps looking behind the wave of changes but they do not only feel the future taking shape, they help shaping it themselves. And as I understood from an interview by Jaz, that includes doing a little wardance with faith and destiny by organizing an end-of-the-world music festival by the end of MMXII in New Zealand. Who says they don’t have humour?

My first impressions were that MMXII has the philosophical fierceness of Pandemonium (1994), the political views of the highly underrated Democracy (1996), the melodic beauty of Night Time (1984) and some fuzzmetaldronepulsarbeats blasting through your brain alike Killing Joke (2003). It doesn’t have the explicit, outstretched, introspective anthems of Hosannah From The Basements Of Hell but incorporates trance and the feeling of what it means to be Killing Joke in the ever-present anger and virulent indignation found throughout their collected works.

But that won’t do to describe the richness of MMXII. The album has much variety and subtleties, and that’s being brought in by every band member; lyrics, vocals, synths, guitars, bass and drums. For the latter let’s be grateful once more for the glorious return of Big Paul! But the complete band is outstanding, clearly lifting each other up to new heights. MMXII sounds very dynamic, with its clear mix, its fade in-outs, the use of echo and backings of all sorts. It brings much joy to my heart as the sound balance shows what a great singer Jaz is, and how brilliantly Geordie masters his guitars; 2 aspects of Killing Joke that were frequently lost in the mix of previous albums in my opinion. The songs themselves don’t only swirl around Youth’s bass playing, the complete record is full of change, in rhythms, in tempo, in atmosphere and in pace. And somehow the band has managed to greatly melt their live playing urge with knob turning production demands.

MMXII mirrors a state of the world. I sure hope the world will last a bit longer than the end of 2012, so I can witness further evolutions of Killing Joke. This is rock music in a great guise; deviant, evil, melodic, driven, convincing.

The single In Cythera refers to idyllic times and charms, the lyrical theme equally reflected in the musical textures. Does it also suggest that Killing Joke aims at revitalizing their heavy, overloaded interpretation of rock music into a less severe appearance, like French painter Antoine Watteau did with old school baroque via rococo touches? Or is the desire for romanticism rather something for later, more after-world times, as the lyrics might hint at? A last goodbye to Paul Raven, the Raven King? We’ll meet again. At the greatest banquet in the world, a bottle of wine with some bread and cheese somewhere on a beach. To live like kings & queens?

Check out the video interview of Jaz Coleman on the album, and the band’s intent to respect the ancient calendars:

Another sound year gone by, 2011 (Top Music)

2011 in retrospect turns out to have been an exciting year. Some bands produced great music; some as they have always done, some as they once did (and then left off a bit, so we can use the word ‘comeback’), some as they did for the first time. I’m glad I postponed this overview a bit, as I purchased some (what turned out) great recordings last-minute in the year. I also caught up with the past, so I’ll be mentioning some older recordings in 2011 although they should have had a place in previous Top Music overviews (2008, 2009, 2010). Or much longer ago.

Top 5

1. dEUS – Keep You Close
2. Snow Patrol – Fallen Empires
3. Agnes Obel – Philharmonics
4. Smith & Burrows – Funny Looking Angels
5. Elbow – Build a rocket boys

dEUS released a simply brilliant album with Keep You Close. It shows a sound and cohesive band, not afraid of alt.rock breaks and rhythms, subtle background noises and little bites but still manages to be funky, steamy or romantic while keeping an eye on melodies and pop-ear friendliness. The album is full of great arrangements and orchestrations, and integrates their well-known indie weirdness into a very mature approach to modern rock. dEUS made me realize the mistake of not buying their previous work (Vantage Point), although I already had all of their albums, including a whole bunch of singles and some specials.

dEUS ran a close race with Snow Patrol, whose new release Fallen Empires I only decided to get on the verge of 2012. I am absolutely fond of the band and its down-to-earth charismatic singer/writer Gary Lightbody. But I didn’t feel like buying their previous collector album, and their new singles felt over-familiar. But how wrong was I. They expanded their sound pallet enormously with subtle key boards, synths and electronics. But they managed to keep their essential integrity although I feel even the approach to their guitar playing has been shaken up a bit. I hear them immersing the later rock orientation of Eyes Open in the indie sound of Final Straw (my first love) and still opening that up to wider horizons and stadions.

Agnes Obel surprised me with the sheer beauty and stillness of Philharmonic. I didn’t buy it upon the Riverside single on the radio, but after seeing her playing it live at some television show. And although it is a fantastic song, the album has more than enough besides that single. There’s the follow-up Brother Sparrow for instance, but I have a personal favor for the interpretation of the John Cale song Close Watch. Because I waited long enough I was able to buy the “Deluxe Edition”. It is a terrible insult for the early buyers to release such editions later, but maybe they find rest if I tell them that the additions (“Live In Copenhagen” versions and “Piano Sessions”) don’t add too much as far as I’m concerned.

The only regret I have over the winter album Funny Looking Angels by Smith & Burrows is their band name. Well, it isn’t really a band name, and that’s what I regret. But, hey, the album itself is a terrific combination of own material and carefully selected covers. From the care put into them, in the singing, the (re-)arrangements and the instrumentation, you can’t tell them apart. Both artists turn out to be great singers ànd musicians. The first being a sort of surprise as far as Andy Burrows is concerned, the latter for me not really, being a gigantic fan of Tom Smith and Editors. Music to listen to while slowly drudging through the snow, replacing a warm fireplace, or -better- sitting by a warm fireplace you longed for during that long drive.

It’s too easy to say that Elbow has confirmed their quality with Build A Rocket Boys. Although they did, their standards for intensity, beauty and withheld charms are so high that even just confirming earns them a place amongst the best albums of 2011.

New

The last days of 2011 gifted me with the debut of Belgium’s School is Cool. And I must admit that I am highly surprised by the song material, the overall sound and production, the drive and the variation on their debut Entropology. Sort of too bad of the silly band name, but luckily I overcame that and got their record.
Intergalactic Lovers is another Belgian band that released their debut in 2011, called Greetings & Salutations. But unlike School Is Cool, the album isn’t convincing overall. The singles are great, but stick out too much compared to the rest of the album. In their lyrics I feel Intergalactic Lovers need to grow while in that area, School Is Cool shows much more maturity.

Old New

I would absolutely like to mention the new Waterboys album, An appointment with Mr. Yeats. In several interviews over the last years, Mike Scott pointed out that he had been around for so long and had lived and survived so much in music that he was having a hard time working out new songs. Although their live shows are superb and energetic, yondering from past to modern with great improvisations and full of musical drive, the Book Of Lightning album did prove Mike’s point. However, the boys did not only find inspiration in Yeats’ poetry, they turned it into vivid songs, grabbing what made them so great in the past and mixing that in a melting pot with rock and folk ingredients, and layering it with great backings, violins and flutes to spew a wild, organic and enthusiast set of multi-layered songs.

Gavin Friday produced a very alienating album catholic. Although not co-written with long-time companion Maurice Seezer, the overall arrangements are equally subtle, emotional and rich. It sometimes revives the past (in a good way) to show us the wild performer, but mostly Gavin sings of the emotional rollercoaster that ran over him during the last 5 years. To date I still feel that he’s showing and hiding at the same time in his lyrics. He’s being very personal, but it feels like at the same time he runs from it by generalizing his expressions in order to hide. His completely authentic approach to (pop) music suffers a bit from it, but his amazing live performances totally stand out.

For various reasons I intensely enjoyed following albums:

• Axelle Red manages to take different directions with each album. Although probably not always too successful in it, Un Coeur Comme Le Mien knew to convince me in combining the French language with some country feel and Axelle’s chansons.
• I had lost sight of Heather Nova, except for her radio singles, for many years. But 300 Days At Sea showed her using her roots to update her sound, and focus on song quality again (over production). Glad to have seen her play live as well.
• Editors gave us the low-cost collection You are fading (part I-IV), combining some great songs, new or alternative versions of existing material, as well as sometimes showing that some materials were rightfully not included on the regular albums.
• Nid & Sancy gave us the free collection of songs bundled as Add Nightmare And Rinse, that -to a certain extent- blew me away. They certainly know how to mindblowingly combine electronics with soft shocks of infused guitars and voice noise.

The Kaiser Chiefs (The future is medieval), The Horrors (Skying), British Sea Power (Valhalla Dancehall), Florence + the Machine (Ceremonials), PJ Harvey (Let England Shake), Beirut (The Rip Tide) and Arctic Monkeys (Suck it and see) all showed their star quality and their status as firm and standing rock artists.

New Old

As mentioned, I wanted to hear the previous work of dEUS in its current incarnation of people. And Vantage Point (2008) is worthwhile. It lacks the broader perspective of Keep You Close, but it’s certainly more coherent than Pocket Revolution. I can’t tell whether it would have made my Top 2008, but I do know that The National would have made my Top 2010 with High Violet. Because it is a work of staggering intensity, driven guitars and killer rhythms and percussion.

2011 proved again that you can’t get your youth completely out of your system. Siouxsie and the Banshees with Tinderbox (1986, remastered 2009) and The Dead Kennedys with Fresh fruit for rotting vegetables (1980) have been in my favorite playlists for quite some time. And not only did they not bore me, they still give me much joy.

Nederlands – Dutch – Niederländisch – néerlandophone

In ons Nederlandse taalgebied, en met Nederlandstalig werk, bevestigde Yevgueni met Welkenraedt wat we al enkele malen live hadden meegemaakt, namelijk dat ze stevigere rockers, eerder dan folkies, zijn dan eerder werk misschien deed uitschijnen.

Mira liet met het gelijknamige album een zachtere zijde zien, zonder haar spitse taalkunde uit het oog te verliezen. Alhoewel de muzikale songinslag van Hannelore Bedert gevoelsmatig knapper lijkt, kan haar Uitgewist mij niet ontdoen van een voyeuristisch gevoel, dat net iets te mono-thematisch is. Maar, let wel, het blijft huiveringwekkend knap soms. Tegenstrijdige gevoelens dus. In lijn met het album?

Luc De Vos bracht met zijn vehikel Gorki allicht zijn beste album sinds enige tijd uit, Research en Development. Maar hij blijft lijden aan het syndroom dat hem tegelijk zo sympathiek maakt, namelijk dat het allemaal niet te ernstig moet zijn.

Via Radio 1 ontdekten we onze lokale zigeunerkoningin, Lady Angelina. Met Amor y Caracon bracht ze ons vertederende, licht-droevige maar steeds warme en tedere beschouwingen.

Mira Mira

Op Mira heeft Mira, zonder aan scherpte of woordkracht in te boeten, toch haar bijtend, woordgegeven cynisme omhuld met een zachtere poëtische laag. Ze is even woordkrachtig maar minder sarcastisch. Haar prachtige meesleepstem en haar haarfijne uitspraak zijn op dit Mira-product, haar 3e al, ingebed in schaarse en fraaie arrangementen van roffels, riedels en geklop. De ritmes zijn gebroken, maar meeslepend en ondanks de felheid toch vol van een lichte tristesse. Het gaf me een enkele maal het gevoel van tango, maar vervuld van weemoed en van deemoed, een lichte vorm van medelijden daar waar haar vorig werk eerder een verbale aanslag was.

Een schitterend album van een artieste die niet stilstaat, maar blijft gaan voor vernieuwing en diepgang. En, overbodig om te vermelden maar toch, een stem herkenbaar uit de duizenden. Mira verstaat de uiterst zeldzame kunst om een zacht dialect te gebruiken dat ontzettend past, niet geforceerd, ook niet storend. Een madam met een plan.
Van schoenen en planeten.

Schijnbelediging – Live on stage

In August 1988 a young student, no man yet, went out working during his summer vacation. With the little money he earned from it he bought himself an electric guitar.

End June 1992 the man, no musician yet, fused his ideas of backroom guitar playing with the broken down sound of a little rhythm box he had just bought from another student. In a kamikazian tempo he crafted some songs. As the artist hHijirt! he presented the result on stage (Brasschaat) on 23 August. In December of that year hHijirt! presented a new set of songs at another local stage (Kalmthout).

In 2009 an Ionic Vision friend cleaned up the mess of recorded tunes, notes, facts and melodies of the July session. The December sessions unfortunately remained unrecorded. Lost forever.

With the plans of a glorious return as Shifting Cargo in mind, I now proudly present my long lost sounds combined on the never-to-appear album “Schijnbelediging” on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/shifting_cargo). And don’t go claiming you know the songs. That would mean you were there, and I know exactly who was. Not too many, you see…

Parental Warning: album contains mainly Dutch lyrics.

This is my first, basic version of my MySpace page. I will add versions of the songs of “Schijnbelediging” that I re-recorded after my live appearance (you’re a hero if you hear the difference) and I am thinking about graphics to represent the songs, myself and Shifting Cargo. And I am working on some additional lo-fi work of course.

Heather gone completely Nova

After having witnessed the magnificent show of Gavin Friday at Crossing Border 2011 in Antwerp, we quickly rushed to the other building (Arenberg theater) to check on Heather Nova. Luckily we were still allowed in.

We’d never seen her live, and of course did we wonder about her angelic voice on stage. And did she live up to our expectations! She sang really well. It was even funny to state that in her talking she sounded somewhat raw, but in her singing that wasn’t the case. And she was backed by a great band. Furious guitars alternating with cello or Heather playing piano. It was exactly what I had hoped for upon her great latest album, 300 Days At Sea. That album took me back to the early days of Oyster and Glow Stars. And from what I understood it was intended to be like that. Not only did Heather Nova re-visit the deep waters of her youth, she also re-assembled the musicians of those early days.

Her live performance confirmed the definite return of the ravishing nymph of the Bermuda triangle. A glowing siren tricking innocent listeners into a sea of melodies, to drown in beauty. It was a beautiful ride, like the song she closed the show with.

The lady also announced that the show was being recorded and would be offered as MP3 download via her lady’s website. Luckily the sound wasn’t as vague as typical phone pictures are…

Only The Mirrorball Shone More That Night

Let’s be honest, I wouldn’t expect Gavin Friday to read my blog. Hmmm, but maybe Caroline does, on his behalf. So, I don’t think his superb performance at Crossing Border 2011 in Antwerp was intended as an answer to my warm call for him to return to the stage as “vibrant performer”. I launched that call at the end of my thoughts on his new album catholic , that I considered as quite reticent, held-back and enigmatic.

And, I admit, it’s also a bit cheap to pretend he wouldn’t have done it without my request as we just know Gav sweats, lives and breathes his personae on stage like only Jacques Brel did long before him.

We started our evening by missing Gavin’s interview by our favorite music journalist, Bart Steenhaut. Our dinner, just outside of the Bourla theater at Le Coup Vert in the city was just too good. And, well, mr. Steenhaut had published an interview with Gav the same day so we guessed there weren’t too much revelations that we didn’t know of yet.

After the sounding of the church bells, Gavin and his band started of quite surprisingly with the Virgin Prunes classic Caucasian Walk, driven by bass drum and a slightly reworked bass guitar line and the soft-loud sound explosions (Hérésy style) and Gavin’s evolved singing over it. Great how Gaving revived the song by combining his younger anger with his mysterious whispering and falsetto. I know you can’t have it all, but it was too bad that Dik wasn’t there, as he was at the Irish Electric Picnic concert.

The band continued with Where’d Ya Go? Gone which was a bit louder and more focused on the teasing side of the song than I had experienced it on the album. The next song, the mostly piano-driven Apologia, gave the audience, me and my wife including, the shivers down our spines as it became clear that Gavin was adventuring through his complete solo works. Just a penny for the poor I ask. It was just a little moment of relative silence as Gavin then fiercely bursted into the translated Brel cover Next, also from his solo debut (and recently re-published) Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves. Including military behavior in his shiny suit. Great suit by the way, made him look even sharper than he physically already clearly was.

With Caruso Gavin not only turned the place into a late-nite disco drinking bar that’s so typical for the atmosphere on the Shag Tobacco album but he certainly proved not being one of those ‘pissy popstars’. And we now know it was his uncle Paddy that disturbed his mind at 11 by introducing the young Fionan to this early Italian opera star. After Perfume, with Gavin smelling sex in the venue (like in the song, one of the top songs on catholic for me), he brought us, to my complete exaltation, The King of Trash, not only because he thereby drew from the Adam ‘n’ Eve album but also played one of my all-time favorites. Rex Mortuus Est. After Rags to Riches, Gavin showed his guts by singing the difficult, fragile and very falsetto A Song That Hurts. During the next Able it struck me how great the evening was turning out. The quality of Able, gigantically opening catholic for me, was easily matched by all other catholic material on the concert. Angel did not only end the regular gig but also (finally) showed us the big -no, gigantic- mirrorball sending us back to the disco place.

Luckily the band returned for an encore of Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves, the Oscar Wilde based song from the same titled album, to send us then home with the uplifting message that It’s All Ahead Of You.

It was a great night enjoying Gavin giving the best of himself in his performance, demonstrating what makes him so outstanding and unique; the cabaret-esk clown, an enchanting seducer, a weary drunk or fierce postpunk lad (no women’s dresses or pig heads needed anymore) supported by a subtle, loud or melodic (appropriate as needed) band re-enforced by a warm-hearted cello. The atmosphere went from impressing rage to intensified mantra chants, always enthusiast, always entertaining. Gavin revealed himself once again as an amazing artist chosing work from his amazing catalogue, all fresher than ever, and much into dancing and fooling around that night.

Only the mirror ball shone more that night. But that was a really, really big mirror ball.

Back To The Medieval Future

I don’t completely understand why the press seems to be quite harsh on Kaiser Chiefs over The Future Is Medieval, nor why it’s not selling well (according to that same press).

I was totally not impressed by the previous album, Off With Their Heads, except for the single Never Miss A Beat. But The Future Is Medieval is certainly a lot, a lot better again.

It’s a tiny bit more experimental than I was used, has lots of variation, the well-known energy, poppy lyrics, enough fun and more of the great stuff that we’ve come to appreciate the Chiefs for. Is it that I’m just realistic enough and fair enough for not expecting replica songs for their extraordinary debut album singles? Am I then setting my expectations too low? As far as I’m concerned, musical quality has certainly gone up again on this 2011 work. And not even I like the drummer singing too much. But, hey, give the band some space for inner peace.

And I even haven’t composed my own album and created matching artwork (mind: it’s only for fun currently), but just went for the boys’ own choice. So, I take it that all the admiration (the press, you know) of the “brilliant” move to let their listeners participate has somewhat faded again? Does that make the concept less? No, can’t be. And, but I may be alone with that opinion, it can’t be the music. There is future for the Kaiser Chiefs, and that future isn’t medieval… Even if their recording budgets are cut, or they get kicked out of their record company, or whatever medieval practices are applied on them.

Meetlatpoëzie

Naar Parijs in statig roze. ONaangekomen NOg terug in rafelgroen.

Dat is de informele ondertiteling (thema?) van mijn eerste poëziebundel:

La NOuvelle Cycluste (ONgekelderd en NOg dicht)

En ik zelfpubliceerde dit debuut via Unibook.com. Je kan er via de webshop mijn bundel kopen, en wel via deze link: http://www.unibook.com/nl/Gunther-Verheyen/La-NOuvelle-Cycluste-%28ONgekelderd-en-NOg-dicht%29

De typografie en de drukte?

Het is gewild. Het moest zo zijn. Met 1 lezing niet aan te komen. Aan mij, in mij. Terug te keren. De (meeste) gedichten zitten vol rechte lijnen en hoeken. Dat is te wijten aan de analytische lever (van het werkwoord “leven”) in mij, de overmatige denker, de ingenieur. Overgestructureerd.

Met als resultaat: kubistisch-hoekig gedoe.

Swoon was zo vriendelijk om op basis van een proefbundel een gedichtje te laten inspreken door Arlekeno Anselmo en te onderbouwen met geluid, klank en beeldvormingen. Hij koos “Geheimpje van de dichter” uit. Een grappige keuze want het valt net buiten de bundel. Het bekijkt de dichter en zijn bundel van op een agnostische afstand.

Dit gedicht gaat over het dichten zelf. En ook weer niet. Als het allemaal voorbij is, de bundel gelezen, komt het zeggen dat al die voorbije woorden zichzelf niet waren, want dat er teveel verzwegen bleef. Moesten ze gesproken zijn, ze zouden zich moeten bewijzen, tonen dat ze waar zijn, en kan de dichter dat wel aan?

ps. Van deze site maakte ik met mijn Team nota bene in 2006 een eerste versie voor Peleman Industries, als Wwaow.com (“Worldwide Association of Writers”). Met de naamsverandering, naar analogie met het hoofdmerk Unibind, is de buitenkant blijkbaar hard veranderd, maar ik herken wel ‘onze’ binnenkant nog helemaal. Het ziet er allemaal wat meer flashy uit terwijl wij bewust sterk voor soberte hadden gekozen. En wij maakten zeker geen fouten in databaseverwijzingen, zoals gebeurt bij het opvragen van mijn bundel!

Rex Mortuus Est

Though we still smell his perfume, the king is dead. The King of Trash.

One happy morning I found His Majesty’s testament in my mail. After feeding it many times to my ears I finally got a grip on the journey that Mr. Gavin Friday has taken us throughout his bewildered solo career. In the morning he softly sang of his dreams on Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves, he took us to the dance floor on Adam ‘n’ Eve and he made us think over the day at the bar with Shag Tobacco. And now he’s taken his body to rest in restless nights full of weary thoughts.

He rolls over and over, can’t sleep, mumbling mantra after mantra on catholic (small ‘c’, anti-institutional restoration on semantic grounds). Thoughts of silence, sorrow, guilt, pleasure and blame. A sort of sadness, a blazing hope. He knows he’s going to survive tonight, like he survived the day. And his heart grows more vivid than ever. He celebrates, says goodbye, cherishes the ones he loved and… had to let go of.

Here are the musings of a man skinned by life, still longing to be able to live, love, laugh. With the brittle hope that he can land on the moon. A hidden roadmap showing the determination of life, of living, and moving on. It’s delicate though. As are the musical arrangements. Once voluptuous paintings have been replaced by miniature, pointillist songs. Celtic moods hidden in Dublin mysts, in pubs of swinging sadness, smokey voices of long lost singers.

Mr. Friday has grown flowers on his trash, and he has stopped eating them. The King transformed into an angelic breeze. Herr Doktor Introspektor ruthlessly decomposes and dissects the apple so bitter Eve wouldn’t bite it. While virile Adam-boy has gone grieving but returns to find hope in an eternal mantra that the best is yet, yet to come. There is no real epilogue, no real ending, only growth.

Beyond the dark feelings, I personally dare to hope to see a vibrant performer returning to the stage. A bit of anarchy cabaret reflecting Brel, Weill and Dietrich. The Return of the King! Hail. The man Friday overcomes.