Floatinghead's ramblings about music and music-related themes interspersed with various interludes and home of Cabeza de Vaca radio show on Scanner FM, Barcelona.
After a couple of heavier techno shows we make
a return to the smoother, sultry world of deep house and Christopher Rau for the new Cabeza de Vaca show on Scanner FM this week.
Quite a simple story behind the man which you
can find elsewhere, which is not to say that the music is dull or predictable. Quite the
opposite. Simple broad strokes and an impressionistic finish are the signature
of his sound here, but the elements are always well chosen and in balance. For
example, you can find the usual elements of jazz, velvet and crimson piano bars
and the hour permanently poised close to midnight, but they are invariable
always used with restraint and at the right moment. But much like Manuel Tur’s
album “Swans reflecting elephants” there wasn’t much press around “Two” which
is strange given the very high profile afforded to “Asper clouds” two years
ago. Moreover, Smallville ended up with quite a good critical score at the end
of the year, despite the relative lack of focus.
We have a lot of different shows planned for
the near future, hopefully with some interesting treats, but we will see what
will fall into place and when. So stay tuned to Cabeza de Vaca and Scanner
FM!!!
New Cabeza de Vacashow on Scanner FM with a focus this
week on Shifted. Not much known about the UK-born, Berlin-based artist, by his own design, but
there is plenty of analysis to be made of the music. There are a number of interesting stylistic features that Shifted uses. The most obvious is the repetition and the shimmering, droney finish to the sounds that give them a more vital energy. The enveloping space is cloudy and stable and resists all the kinetic energy immersed within it. Small additions to the mix change the balance and focal point completely. One thing I forgot to mention
in the show is that quite a lot of Shifted’s tracks just plug in. There is no build up, no
warning, no subtlety. You arrive in the middle. It was interesting being a non-DJ and assembling them in the studio and just seeing their raw, blunt ends plugging one into the other, almost like Lego.
There was an interesting article on Resident Advisor about heavy UK techno this week too
if you need more information.
New show is
up and this week we are all about Sweden!!! We have a triple special: firstly
Kontra-Musik, secondly female electronic artists and thirdly the late and great
film director Ingmar Bergman. You can find all this only on Scanner FM and Cabeza de Vaca.
First some thanks: firstly, “tack” to Jimi
Disco at Subwax BCN for putting me in contact with Ulf Ericsson at Kontra. Ulf duly put
me in contact with Johanna Knutsson at Klasse Recordings who helped tracking
down some female artists, some of whom I couldn’t get tracks for in time for
the show, sadly.
Secondly, in an earlier, deleted take I
gave a shout out to my old housemates Peter and Johanna who are in Malmö, but
in a subsequent version I omitted to say hi. So “Hallä” to them and their
family.
A few little points. Definitely worth
looking at the videos of Andreas Tilliander aka Mokira and TM404. Here are two
of them just to compare. New album was out too close to the show date to get a
track in, but it looks killer.
I also mention Andreas previous foray into
Ingmar Bergman territority with his Mokira moniker. His “Persona” album cae out
in 2009 on the Type label and it somehow manages to mix influences as far
afield as Bergman and Spacemen 3!
“Persona” is not only one of Bergman’s
greatest films, but one of the best films of all time. So many levels of
meaning and complication and also tricks of technique that are only possible in
the medium of film. A true masterpiece.
The only other incidence of Bergman
occurring in electronic music that I know was [Sebastian] Seidemann’s self-released
“Ice and snow” album and the track “Moder och dotter” which featured a sampled
dialogue from “Autumn sonata”
The Ingrid Bergman of the film is the
legendary Ingrid of "Casablanca" fame, but no family relation to Ingmar.
In the radio show I erroneously refer to
this film as a splendid example of one of Bergman’s colour works. It is a
colour film and a good one, but the one I was meant to mention was “Cries and
whispers”
Bergman’s other masterpiece and one that is
less often mentioned is “The Hour of The Wolf”. An absolutely devastating and
utterly paranoid and nearly delusional film with some of the greatest scenes
and characters in cinema history.
Maverick noise/techno trio Frak have been
around the traps since 1987 and there are plenty of archive videos on Youtube
for the hungry. Here is one or two just for a teaser and to highlight their
oddball stage presence and their synth pop origins. Masterful!
Finally, Johanna Knutsson has just made a
nice mix for Discobelle:
And La Fleur is on the road as far afield
as Sydney in the month coming. Show your support!
