Heute hatte ich nach langer Pause mal wieder die Ehre als Freizeitradiojournalist in meinem Lieblingsradio “radio blau” meine beiden Sendungen über den Äther zu jagen.

Drei, der von mir produzierten Beiträge, könnt ihr an dieser Stelle nachhören.

1. Kommentar: Die Dichotomie des 9. November

anhören (klicken): Die Dichotomie des 9. November

Warum gibt es einen 3. Oktober als “Nationalfeiertag” wenn ein Erinnerungsbombast sondersgleichen für den 9. November propagiert wird? War da nicht was mit diesem Tag? Wie wird man dem “Schicksalstag der Deutschen” gerecht?

2. Höressay: Was ist Öffentlichkeit und warum ist freies Radio wichtig? oder Was hat der Sozialphilosoph Jürgen Habermas mit radio blau zu tun?

anhören (klicken): Habermas Höressay

Es ist der Versuch die derzeitige bedrohte Lage des freien Radios in Leipzig zum Ausgangspunkt zu machen darüber nachzudenken, warum Mensch eigentlich unabhängige nicht-kommerzielle Medien braucht.

3. Filmrezension: Das Summen der Insekten

anhören (klicken): Das Summen der Insekten

Siehe dazu meinen Blogeintrag.

Playlist

TRACKtate 13.00 – 14.00 Uhr

01. K.C. McKanzie – Lovesick Boy

02. Sara Hickman – Mad World (Tears for Fears)

03. Kommentar: die Dichotomie des 9. November

04. Aimee Mann – The Scientist (Coldplay)

05. Cry Cry Cry – Fall on me (R.E.M.)

06. Manja – Kling Klang feat. radio blau

07. Höressay: Was ist Öffentlichkeit und warum ist freies Radio wichtig? oder Was hat der Sozialphilosoph Jürgen Habermas mit radio blau zu tun?

08. Sarah Jakosz – Shankill Butchers (The Decemberists)

09. Filmrezension: Das Summen der Insekten

10. Chuck Ragan – Old rules

rilleradio 14.00 – 15.00

01. Morrissey - Because of my poor education

02. Editors – You don’t know Love

03. Dead to Me – A day without war

04. Banner Pilot – Skeleton Day

05. Junius – A Dramatist plays Catastrophist

06. Freddy Fischer & his Cosmic Rocktime Band – Halt mein Herz

07. Tom Waits - Circus

08. The Black Heart Procession – Back to the Underground

Año de Publicación: 1978
Nacionalidad: Alemania
Discográfica: Capitol/EMI
Producción: Ralf Hutter & Florian Schneider

.

.

.

.

.

.

Lista de temas:

01 Die Roboter

02 Spacelab

03 Metropolis

04 Das Modell

05 Neonlicht

06 Die Mensch-Maschine

.

.

“The Model“

One of the most influential times in British music has recently been the the topic for a season of broadcasts from the BBC.

This series ran over the festive period and is repeated on BBC Four today and tomorrow.

It charts the growth and rise of the ‘Progressive’ musician starting with The Nice and Soft Machine moving onto King Crimson, ELP and of course The Pink Floyd.

Progressive rock (often shortened to progressive, prog, or prog rock) is a form of rock music that evolved in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a “mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility.” The term “art rock” is often used interchangeably with “progressive rock”, and while there are crossovers between the two genres they are not identical. Prog Rock was the first steps of pop musicans and rock and roll musicans begining to get bored playing 12 bar blues. This was the sound of musicians who wanted a little more from their music than repitition

Progressive rock bands pushed “rock’s technical and compositional boundaries” by going beyond the standard rock or popular verse-chorus-based song structures. Additionally, the arrangements often incorporated elements drawn from classical, jazz, and world music. Instrumentals were common, while songs with lyrics were sometimes conceptual, abstract, or based in fantasy. Progressive rock bands sometimes used “concept albums that made unified statements, usually telling an epic story or tackling a grand overarching theme.”

Progressive rock songs either avoid common popular music song structures of verse-chorus-bridge, or blur the formal distinctions by extending sections or inserting musical interludes, often with exaggerated dynamics to heighten contrast between sections. Classical forms are often inserted or substituted, sometimes yielding entire suites, building on the traditional medleys of earlier rock bands. Progressive rock songs also often have extended instrumental passages, marrying the classical solo tradition with the improvisational traditions of jazz and psychedelic rock. All of these tend to add length to progressive rock songs, which may last longer than twenty minutes….Sounds Great Doesn’t it!

Another super cool aspect of Prog is the avid use of technology to aid their timbral exploration. Progressive rock bands were often early adopters of new electronic musical instruments and technologies. Emerson Lake and Palmer pioneered use of the Moog synthesizer, and the mellotron was a signature sound of early progressive bands such as the Moody Blues, King Crimson, and Genesis. Pink Floyd utilized an EMS Synthi A synthesizer equipped with a sequencer on their track “On the Run” from their 1973 album “Dark Side of the Moon“. In the late 1970s, Robert Fripp, of King Crimson, and Brian Eno developed an analog tape loops effect (Frippertronics). In the 1980s, Frank Zappa used the Synclavier for composing and recording, and King Crimson utilized MIDI-enabled guitars, a Chapman Stick, and electronic percussion.

10 string chapman stick

The whole genre obviously imploded and was finally killed off by a combination of Rick Wakeman performing  ‘On Ice’ style shows and the new wave of punk (which was created by ex prog fans).

Prog the early days

Allmusic cites Bob Dylan’s poetry, The Mothers of Invention’s Freak Out! and the Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as showing the “earliest rumblings of progressive and art rock”while progressiverock.com cites the latter as its “starting point”, although earlier albums such as Rubber Soul and Revolver had begun incorporating Eastern music and instruments not common in rock music. This would later be followed by progressive-rock acts such as Yes and King Crimson. However, Piero Scaruffi claims that “technically speaking … progressive-rock began in 1967 with Cream and The Nice”, which he describes as “groups that reacted to the simple, melodic, three-minute pop of the early Beatles”, and notes that if “a more stringent definition, one that considers ambition and pretentiousness” is used, this “would push the birth date [back] to the Pretty Things‘ S.F. Sorrow (1968) and the Who’s Tommy (1969).”

Freak Out!, released in 1966, had been a mixture of progressive rock, punk and avant-garde layered sounds. In the same year, the band “1-2-3″, later renamed Clouds, began experimenting with song structures, improvisation, and multi-layered arrangements. In March of that year, The Byrds released “Eight Miles High”, a pioneering psychedelic rock single with lead guitar heavily influenced by the jazz soloing style of John Coltrane. Later that year, The Who released “A Quick One While He’s Away”, the first example of the rock opera form, and considered by some to have been the first prog epic.

There is so much to cover in this topic it impossible to cram it all here. Mike Oldfield’s  ‘Tubular Bells‘ was a breakthough track demonstarting the poswer of the studio. Mike played every instrument himself onthe recording and the song became a staple stone for sound technology enthusiasts everywhere.

Tubular Bells stayed in the British charts for over five years, reaching the number 1 spot after more than a year and taking there for one week the place of his second album, Hergest Ridge, thereby becoming one of only three artists in the UK to knock himself off the first spot. It sold more than two million copies in the UK alone and according to some reports 15 to 17 million copies worldwide. The album went gold in the USA and Mike Oldfield received a Grammy Award for the best Instrumental Composition in 1975.

In 1967, Jeff Beck released the single “Beck’s Bolero”, inspired by Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, and, later that year, Procol Harum released the Bach-influenced single “A Whiter Shade of Pale”. Also in 1967, the Moody Blues released Days of Future Passed, combining classical-inspired orchestral music with traditional rock instrumentation and song structures. Pink Floyd’s first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, contained the nearly ten-minute improvisational psychedelic instrumental “Interstellar Overdrive”. In 1968, Big Brother and the Holding Company incorporated Bach’s prelude from The Well-Tempered Clavier into their cover of George Gershwin’s “Summertime”.

2009 promises alot following yet another British invasion of Prog bands. A scene taking influences also from post punk and experimental music has emerged spearheaded by bands such as a.P.A.t.T., Kling Klang, The Laze and Stig.

Here is footage of some of the more over looked genius’ not featured in the BBC documentary.These are the American and European counterparts. These artists have all strived to make advancements in their art, whilst maintaining a ridiculous air.

Prog Rock Britannia Tonight.

1. 06 Jan 2009
   23:15
   BBC Four
2. 07 Jan 2009
   03:15
   BBC Four

One of the most influential times in British music has recently been the the topic for a season of broadcasts from the BBC.

This series ran over the festive period and is repeated on BBC Four today and tomorrow.

It charts the growth and rise of the ‘Progressive’ musician starting with The Nice and Soft Machine moving onto King Crimson, ELP and of course The Pink Floyd.

Progressive rock (often shortened to progressive, prog, or prog rock) is a form of rock music that evolved in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a “mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility.” The term “art rock” is often used interchangeably with “progressive rock”, and while there are crossovers between the two genres they are not identical. Prog Rock was the first steps of pop musicans and rock and roll musicans begining to get bored playing 12 bar blues. This was the sound of musicians who wanted a little more from their music than repitition

Progressive rock bands pushed “rock’s technical and compositional boundaries” by going beyond the standard rock or popular verse-chorus-based song structures. Additionally, the arrangements often incorporated elements drawn from classical, jazz, and world music. Instrumentals were common, while songs with lyrics were sometimes conceptual, abstract, or based in fantasy. Progressive rock bands sometimes used “concept albums that made unified statements, usually telling an epic story or tackling a grand overarching theme.”

Progressive rock songs either avoid common popular music song structures of verse-chorus-bridge, or blur the formal distinctions by extending sections or inserting musical interludes, often with exaggerated dynamics to heighten contrast between sections. Classical forms are often inserted or substituted, sometimes yielding entire suites, building on the traditional medleys of earlier rock bands. Progressive rock songs also often have extended instrumental passages, marrying the classical solo tradition with the improvisational traditions of jazz and psychedelic rock. All of these tend to add length to progressive rock songs, which may last longer than twenty minutes….Sounds Great Doesn’t it!

Another super cool aspect of Prog is the avid use of technology to aid their timbral exploration. Progressive rock bands were often early adopters of new electronic musical instruments and technologies. Emerson Lake and Palmer pioneered use of the Moog synthesizer, and the mellotron was a signature sound of early progressive bands such as the Moody Blues, King Crimson, and Genesis. Pink Floyd utilized an EMS Synthi A synthesizer equipped with a sequencer on their track “On the Run” from their 1973 album “Dark Side of the Moon“. In the late 1970s, Robert Fripp, of King Crimson, and Brian Eno developed an analog tape loops effect (Frippertronics). In the 1980s, Frank Zappa used the Synclavier for composing and recording, and King Crimson utilized MIDI-enabled guitars, a Chapman Stick, and electronic percussion.

10 string chapman stick

The whole genre obviously imploded and was finally killed off by a combination of Rick Wakeman performing  ‘On Ice’ style shows and the new wave of punk (which was created by ex prog fans).

Prog the early days

Allmusic cites Bob Dylan’s poetry, The Mothers of Invention’s Freak Out! and the Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as showing the “earliest rumblings of progressive and art rock”while progressiverock.com cites the latter as its “starting point”, although earlier albums such as Rubber Soul and Revolver had begun incorporating Eastern music and instruments not common in rock music. This would later be followed by progressive-rock acts such as Yes and King Crimson. However, Piero Scaruffi claims that “technically speaking … progressive-rock began in 1967 with Cream and The Nice”, which he describes as “groups that reacted to the simple, melodic, three-minute pop of the early Beatles”, and notes that if “a more stringent definition, one that considers ambition and pretentiousness” is used, this “would push the birth date [back] to the Pretty Things‘ S.F. Sorrow (1968) and the Who’s Tommy (1969).”

Freak Out!, released in 1966, had been a mixture of progressive rock, punk and avant-garde layered sounds. In the same year, the band “1-2-3″, later renamed Clouds, began experimenting with song structures, improvisation, and multi-layered arrangements. In March of that year, The Byrds released “Eight Miles High”, a pioneering psychedelic rock single with lead guitar heavily influenced by the jazz soloing style of John Coltrane. Later that year, The Who released “A Quick One While He’s Away”, the first example of the rock opera form, and considered by some to have been the first prog epic.

There is so much to cover in this topic it impossible to cram it all here. Mike Oldfield’s  ‘Tubular Bells‘ was a breakthough track demonstarting the poswer of the studio. Mike played every instrument himself onthe recording and the song became a staple stone for sound technology enthusiasts everywhere.

Tubular Bells stayed in the British charts for over five years, reaching the number 1 spot after more than a year and taking there for one week the place of his second album, Hergest Ridge, thereby becoming one of only three artists in the UK to knock himself off the first spot. It sold more than two million copies in the UK alone and according to some reports 15 to 17 million copies worldwide. The album went gold in the USA and Mike Oldfield received a Grammy Award for the best Instrumental Composition in 1975.

In 1967, Jeff Beck released the single “Beck’s Bolero”, inspired by Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, and, later that year, Procol Harum released the Bach-influenced single “A Whiter Shade of Pale”. Also in 1967, the Moody Blues released Days of Future Passed, combining classical-inspired orchestral music with traditional rock instrumentation and song structures. Pink Floyd’s first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, contained the nearly ten-minute improvisational psychedelic instrumental “Interstellar Overdrive”. In 1968, Big Brother and the Holding Company incorporated Bach’s prelude from The Well-Tempered Clavier into their cover of George Gershwin’s “Summertime”.

2009 promises alot following yet another British invasion of Prog bands. A scene taking influences also from post punk and experimental music has emerged spearheaded by bands such as a.P.A.t.T., Kling Klang, The Laze and Stig.

Here is footage of some of the more over looked genius’ not featured in the BBC documentary.These are the American and European counterparts. These artists have all strived to make advancements in their art, whilst maintaining a ridiculous air.

Prog Rock Britannia Tonight.

1. 06 Jan 2009
   23:15
   BBC Four
2. 07 Jan 2009
   03:15
   BBC Four

The Wombats earlier

Liverpool has always had a long lineage of musicians  and artists. In fact, there can’t be  many people who aren’t aware that Liverpool’s artists have reached the coverted Number 1 spot in Britain more than anywhere else. Well whoop-de-doo!

What on Earth does that mean ?  We have better P.R. companies ? Better haircuts ? What’s the relevance?

Who knows!   What I do know is that there is large amount of music being made in Liverpool that will never sink into ‘average Joe’s’  CD collection.

Music that seems to be intrinsically trying to put the listener off  can only be liked to a threshhold point by the normal music listening public!

Thank God, thank Dog.  It’s ours.

The Beatles 'Yesterday'

According to Wiki:

“1990s bands that enjoyed success were The Boo Radleys, The La’s, The Farm, Ooberman, Sian and Slug.

Since 2000 bands such as The Zutons, The Wombats and The Coral have become popular. As a backlash to this regular guitar pop music, another scene far more influenced by post punk and experimental music has emerged more recently,  spearheaded by bands such as  a.P.A.t.T. , Hot Club de Paris, Kling Klang and Stig “

So, there must be something that binds a lot of  bands together in Liverpool; well, progressive is one aspect…hmmm  and it’s safe to say that simply the music MUST  must be a little Wonky.

Wonk may refer to:

• Wonk, slang for a person preoccupied with arcane details or procedures in a specialised field

Wonky may refer to:

• Wonky, slang for off -kilter. Wonky face , Wonky throat etc

What else could these bands have in common? It’s safe to say all the bands embrace a DIY ethic. However, it’s not something to be surprised by, and it’s  not just complementary to the music but indicative of it.

This is a collection of  the Liverpool practitioners of Wonk and their goods!

.
“There’s a kind of bullishness to just DO stuff. Everyone seems to be always scheming things which is a very healthy sign. Of course, there’s the occasional whinger but they seem to be outvoted by those who just go out and grab some action – that’s very inspiring sometimes.”
-Shooman, Spank

“This is for us, this is ours, this is what we’re going to do, so some sponsor is not part of what we’re involved in.”
- Foxy, SS

“The minute we started it, it was slightly anti-music or something like that, but it’s absolutely guaranteed, set on, to be our life’s work, whatever goes on with it, this is what we’re going to do, even if it’s just goes back to giving out CD-Rs to our friends or something. And it’s me learning, the band learning, it’s us all learning together, and that’s why we enjoy it so much.”
-GM, a.P.A.t.T.

“We try to make what we consider to be good pop music with a progressive mindset. We like to make music which is melodic, innovative and sometimes needlessly complicated”
-Indica Ritual

“Crazy noise, granted, but nothing quite prepares for the flamenco-featuring random meandering, enthusiastically ploughing through unhinged rhythms, bewildering Henry Mancini-isms and Mclusky spikiness” .Rum N Brass. Dis. A semi-abandoned café, bring your own booze, donation entry, crusties, arties, old men with harps. THIS IS THE UNDERGROUND MUXXAFUXXXRS. The Stig Noise Soundsystem start as we’re likely to go on with intense, overwrought sounds. Based around brass and drums, it’s a fast improvised exploration of something approaching tribal doom jazz. As they batter their instruments with force and feeling, there’s odd wonderfully brain-searing moments. Class A Audio. -  Drowned In Sound.com About Stig Noise Sound System

monobrow @ Class A Audio Jne 2008

Already by the 19th century, Liverpool was a centre of musical innovation, in particular the development of the sea shanty. Many shanties specifically refer to Liverpool, such as “Heave Away”, “Liverpool Judies”, and “Maggie May”, which was later performed by The Rutles.

“A gleeful, Technicolour zombie stomp through the dark, B-movie underbelly of music. And if you don’t like the sound of that, well, you’re clearly too alive – Drowned in Sound about  Zombina & the Skeletones

Dirtblonde’s mini-album White Noise, Rubber Heart was recorded in their kitchen, and a reviewer has described them in these words: “You don’t have a Jack and Meg, you have more of Sid & Nancy meets Natural Born Killers’ Mickey and Mallory.”- Dirtblonde

Let’s simply list more of these D.I.Y. timewasters shall we :

a.P.A.t.T.

Balloons

Blue Demon

Dirtblonde

Hot Club de Paris

Indica Ritual

Kling Klang

Monobrow

Mugstar

Norwich Unicorn

Red Panda

Stig Noise Sound System

SSS

SCCC

The International

The Laze

Zombina and the Skeletones

The Wombats earlier

Liverpool has always had a long lineage of musicians  and artists. In fact, there can’t be  many people who aren’t aware that Liverpool’s artists have reached the coverted Number 1 spot in Britain more than anywhere else. Well whoop-de-doo!

What on Earth does that mean ?  We have better P.R. companies ? Better haircuts ? What’s the relevance?

Who knows!   What I do know is that there is large amount of music being made in Liverpool that will never sink into ‘average Joe’s’  CD collection.

Music that seems to be intrinsically trying to put the listener off  can only be liked to a threshhold point by the normal music listening public!

Thank God, thank Dog.  It’s ours.

The Beatles 'Yesterday'

According to Wiki:

“1990s bands that enjoyed success were The Boo Radleys, The La’s, The Farm, Ooberman, Scorpio Rising, Sian and Slug.

Since 2000 bands such as The Zutons, The Wombats and The Coral have become popular. As a backlash to this regular guitar pop music, another scene far more influenced by post punk and experimental music has emerged more recently,  spearheaded by bands such as  a.P.A.t.T. ,  Hot Club de Paris, Kling Klang and Stig”

So, there must be something that binds a lot of  bands together in Liverpool; well, progressive is one aspect…hmmm  and it’s safe to say that simply the music MUST  must be a little Wonky.

Wonk may refer to:

• Wonk, slang for a person preoccupied with arcane details or procedures in a specialised field

Wonky may refer to:

• Wonky, slang for off -kilter. Wonky face , Wonky throat etc

What else could these bands have in common? It’s safe to say all the bands embrace a DIY ethic. However, it’s not something to be surprised by, and it’s  not just complementary to the music but indicative of it.

This is a collection of  the Liverpool practitioners of Wonk and their goods!

.
“There’s a kind of bullishness to just DO stuff. Everyone seems to be always scheming things which is a very healthy sign. Of course, there’s the occasional whinger but they seem to be outvoted by those who just go out and grab some action – that’s very inspiring sometimes.”
-Shooman, Spank

“This is for us, this is ours, this is what we’re going to do, so some sponsor is not part of what we’re involved in.”
- Foxy, SS

“The minute we started it, it was slightly anti-music or something like that, but it’s absolutely guaranteed, set on, to be our life’s work, whatever goes on with it, this is what we’re going to do, even if it’s just goes back to giving out CD-Rs to our friends or something. And it’s me learning, the band learning, it’s us all learning together, and that’s why we enjoy it loads.”
-GM, a.P.A.t.T.

“We try to make what we consider to be good pop music with a progressive mindset. We like to make music which is melodic, innovative and sometimes needlessly complicated”
-Indica Ritual

“Crazy noise, granted, but nothing quite prepares for the flamenco-featuring random meandering, enthusiastically ploughing through unhinged rhythms, bewildering Henry Mancini-isms and Mclusky spikiness” .Rum N Brass. Dis. A semi-abandoned café, bring your own booze, donation entry, crusties, arties, old men with harps. THIS IS THE UNDERGROUND MUTHAFUCKERS.The Stig Noise Soundsystem start as we’re likely to go on with intense, overwrought sounds. Based around brass and drums, it’s a fast improvised exploration of something approaching tribal doom jazz. As they batter their instruments with force and feeling, there’s odd wonderfully brain-searing moments. Class A Audio. -  Drowned In Sound.com About Stig Noise Sound System

monobrow @ Class A Audio Jne 2008

Already by the 19th century, Liverpool was a centre of musical innovation, in particular the development of the sea shanty. Many shanties specifically refer to Liverpool, such as “Heave Away”, “Liverpool Judies”, and “Maggie May”, which was later performed by The Rutles.

“A gleeful, Technicolour zombie stomp through the dark, B-movie underbelly of music. And if you don’t like the sound of that, well, you’re clearly too alive”

- Drowned in Sound about Zombina & the Skeletones

Let’s simply list more of these D.I.Y. timewasters shall we :

a.P.A.t.T.

Balloons

Blue Demon

Hot Club de Paris

Indica Ritual

Kling Klang

Monobrow

Mugstar

Norwich Unicorn

Red Panda

Stig Noise Sound System

SSS

SCCC

The International

The Laze

Zombina and the Skeletones

Kraftwerk ist die deutsche Legende der Synthesizer- und Electrotunes.

Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider & Co. haben sich seit ihrer Gründung in den 70er Jahren ein Renomee der Unantastbarkeit geschaffen, was sich nicht nur auf die musikalische Ebene bezieht.

Mit Alben wie “Autobahn”, “Radio-Aktivität” oder “Die Mensch-Maschine” haben die Düsseldorfer Besteller geschaffen, die viele Künstler auch anderer genres, unter Ihnen Afrika Bambaata, David Bowie oder Depeche Mode, inspiriert haben. Ohne Kraftwerk sähr die heutige Musiklandschaft deutlich anders, und vermutlich weniger vielfältig, aus.

Seit ihrem letzten Album “Tour de France Soundtracks” (2003) und dem anschließenden Live-Album “Minimum Maximum” haben sich die Electropopper in Deutschland eher rar gemacht. Auch der seit langem angekündigte “Katalog”, eine Neuauflage aller bisherigen Alben, hat bislang zur Enttäuschung der Fans auf sich warten lassen. Nach der 2004er Tournee gab es nur vereinzelte Auftritte, unter anderem auf Festivals.

Nun steigt langsam die Hoffnung, dass Kraftwerk auch in Deutschland wieder auf der Bühne zu sehen sein werden. Schneider und Hütter haben in den vergangenen Tagen mehrere Termine für Konzerte in verschiedenen Ländern bekannt gegeben, darunter Syndey (22.11.2008), Singapur (03.12.2008) und Hong Kong (05.12.2008).

Die Fangemeinde hofft indes auf neue Tracks aus dem Kling-Klang-Studio, ein neues Album, und vor allem natürlich Live-Performances in Deutschland. Wir informieren, sobald es gesicherte Informationen gibt.

“Ich bin der Musikant mit Taschenrechner in der Hand.”
(Kraftwerk, Taschenrechner)

Falando em cones, acabei lembrando do Krafwerk. O grupo originado nos estúdios da Kling Klang em Düsseldorf na Alemanha no ano de 1970 tem como capa de seu segundo álbum (também de 70) esse cone aí ao lado.

Pra quem quer conhecer os maiores influentes da música eletrônica, eu recomendo o álbum ao vivo Minimum-Maximum de junho de 2005. A maioria das faixas são remodelagens das antigas versões de estúdio e foram gravadas durante o tour europeu no início de 2004.

O projeto criado por Florian Schneider e Ralf Hüntter já teve diversas formações, mas continua vivo mesmo depois de quase 40 anos, sempre surpreendendo até mesmo os mais “vanguardistas”.

O site do Krafwerk é mega interativo e vale a pena perder algumas (ou muitas) horas se divertindo ao som de sintetizadores gerados pelo seu mouse.

Kraftwerk – Pocket Calculator
Live Utrecht 1981

por J.R. Menezes

It’s not your standard venue for a rock festival, but those who have been to an All Tomorrow’s Parties leave with a whole new view on holiday camps.

I spent this weekend with three old and very good friends at the Portishead-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties. What a weekend.

Within hours of being out from under the guiding (some might say restraining) hands of our better halves, and upon discovering that Russell Brand had named named his first venture into the world of literature “My Booky Wook”, we were compiling a list of “people who can feck off”. Great to be back with some like-minded cynics.

The festival clips are being uploaded as-I-write onto YouTube, and I’m sure that will carry on for a few more days yet. My current favourite, embedded here, shows what went on in the smoker’s shelter for several hours on Saturday night.

Our top three acts of the weekend were Thurston Moore, Portishead and Chrome Hoof.

We were surprised about Thurston, I have to say. After Sonic Youth’s show this time last year (which was also top-notch), we had expected him to show up and give us an hour and a half of loud feedback, just to even things out a bit. He played it straight down the line, and we were bowled over by how good he and his band were.

Portishead, playing for the first time in ten years, were as stunning as you would expect them to be. A big comeback from them next year.

Chrome Hoof can be hard to describe, but I’ll try: it’s kind of Death Metal Disco Psychadelic Funk played by silver wizards with Shirley Bassey on vocals.

Sorry to say (Andrew) that Sparklehorse wasn’t up to much again. I’ve seen him do a much better show. And Jerry Sadowitz (who doesn’t want to be reviewed, but I don’t care) disappointed 5000 people by switching to play at the smallest venue possible, thus allowing only about 400 people to see his show. I don’t think there are any clips of him having a tug on stage, but I think this image is now permanently available in the mind of one of my work colleagues.

Poem of the weekend goes to John Cooper Clarke, who had us reciting hire car all the way home in our, well, hire car. Sounds a bit like Jimmy Saville, but what a hell of a guy.

Honourable mentions also to Black Mountain, Jah Shaka, Aphex Twin and Kling Klang. Anyone else who was pretty good – apologies, I probably wasn’t there.

Whilst wandering past a noticeboard, I noticed (that’s the point of noticeboards surely?) that “The Catford Scum” were there. Google says that “Catford scum does not match any documents”, but I’d be delighted to find out who the Catford scum are, and perhaps even meet them someday.

We’ve come back wondering, after a little too much flavoured vodka and pickled eggs, if it’s possible to have black pepper poisoning?

(Edited slightly on 4 Feb 08, to remove my ill-thought out potty-mouthing.  I don’t want this site to have an adult content label slapped on it, thank you very much.)