Friday, January 25, 2013

“A night where it doesn’t get dark for the lightning”


Am reading Thomas Mann’s “Doctor Faustus” (1947) at the moment, the story of a tortured musical genius Adrian Leverkühn who sells his soul to the devil for success at the price of love.

 
“A night where it doesn’t get dark for the lightning”

 

quips Adrian towards the books end. Such a price.

 

The book is a thinly veiled critique of the German psyche and the rise of the second world war. My translation is H. T. Lowe-Porter’s original one from a 1968 Penguin edition with yellowed pages, typewriter font and lines pressed so severely together. Not as enjoyable as I had hoped. Nonethless, the books greatest feat is to run three parallel times together. It begins with Adrian’s life lasting from the late 19th century to the outbreak of war. It also covers almost journalistically the closing phases of the war when the book was written, as if it was being written s it was read, with Mann injecting himself into the pages via the character and narrator Serenus Zeitblom PhD. The third time is of course the present, which is where we find ourselves now.

 

Some small updates about some recent comings and goings. Many will have seen the recent updates of artists for three of Spains upcoming music festivals.
 

Sonar: Darkstar, Paul Kalkbrenner, Sherwood + Pinch, and Karenn (Blawan + Pariah) among other artists join the show in June.

 

L.E.V. Festival: Plenty of good names on the roster for L.E.V. this year in Gijon on the north coast of Spain (low cost flights do go there). Music is great and beer is cheap, food plentiful and who can beat the line-up of Oneohtrix Point Never, Raime, Andy Stott, Tim Hecker, Pole and more.


Micro Mutek: Micro Mutek is now only two weeks away and obviously everything is now in place so its time to make plans and get tickets. Jeff Mills, Monolake, Laurel Halo, Jon Hopkins, Kuedo, Deadbeat and more. There will also be the usual Q&A sessions with artists, workshops and discussions. Click on the link for full schedule.

 

Speaking of Mutek, here is a link to a recent interview I did for Mutek with Jon Hopkins  who will play a live set at this year’s festival to promote his new album that is coming out on Domino.

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