Orakel - When time doesnt know itself

I have the dishonourable distinction of having written two consecutive reviews for Resident Advisor that received no comments. “Don’t worry”, the editor tells me, “readers are up, but comments are down.” Everyone is whiling their life away on Facebook apparently. Small consolation. Anyway, here’s hoping that people are still finding new things there and not just reaffirming their existing tastes. Otherwise there might not have been many discovering the Orakel album “When Time Doesn’t Know Itself”.

I first posted on this a few weeks ago  after a few listens at home. But in the process of preparing my review  I unearthed many interesting facets on the contributors to the album.

First up, there are several interesting guest musicians who make an appearance. Ritornell’s Richard Eigner plays toy percussion on several tracks, having also played drums on the track “German Haircut” from Flying Lotus’s “Cosmogramma” album, which also featured Steven Ellison’s cousin Ravi Coltrane.

Another Austrian musician Oliver Thomas Johnson, better known as Dorian Concept, plays on “After All”. A relatively unknown producer with a clear sense of humour, his weird synth experiments and bass mutations have lead him from the underground success of “Trilingual Dance Sexperience” to a recent 12” on Ninja Tune entitled “Her Tears Taste Like Pears”.

Also featured on the track “After All” alongside Dorian Concept is the Canadian vocalist Sacha Williamson who has made several profile guest appearances over the last couple of years. Amongst these has been a Robert Owens-like vocal for the Altered Natives track “Believe in Me”, Gene King’s equally Chicago classic “Changes” as well as guest slots with Basic Soul Unit, Martino, Opolopo and Kaje.

Most prominent on the album is the vocal talents of Finnish vocalist Vilja Larjosta

Travessa feat Vilja Larjosto by ORAKEL

Larjosta has spent much time in Brazil and not surprisingly her main project is a 7 member Brazilian-styled orchestra called Echosystem, while she also sings in Portuguese on the Orakel album. Her other musical collaborations over the years include her work with the Austrian electronica collective Certain Subjects, who probably also have ties to Orakel , Turbo Rexxxa and most recognisably, her vocal contributions to Jeff McWllain’s Lusine project.

Something of a coup for the album was also the appearance of American jazz vocalist Dwight Trible who contributes to three tracks, the opening and closing tracks and one of the stand out pieces, “Recreation Song”

Recreation Song feat Dwight Trible by ORAKEL

Trible is perhaps best known for his contributions to the Pharoah Sanders Quartet although he has had numerous collaborations within the world of jazz as well as hip hop and other electronic groups. His voice carries the resonant spiritualism of Sanders’ work as well as being malleable, taking on deep baritone roles or lighter flourishes. Particularly, his contribution helps the album lift towards a brighter spiritual plane that sets it apart from the imitation that often limits a lot of Nu Jazz releases.

Finally, something unrelated to the album per se, but a nice video of Marvin Gaye performing “I Want You” in a hotel room in Belgium originally posted on the Blog site of the 4Lux label. The naturalness of the performance is extreme, even as he lays back on the couch as the band jams around him.

Jannick Schou - Act of Shimmering

More goodness from Experimedia, this time the album "Act of shimmering" from Dannish tape loop drone meister Jannick Schou. His latest lp comes off the back of several singles and a couple of self-released albums from last year. The press release describes this as "an ethereal dream using nightmarish parts and images". This is a more than adequate description of the coruscating and redemptive sounds on offer. There are certain similarities to the Black Swan releases from earlier this year in terms of the palette: darkly sculpted, but liberating washes of noise and quieter ambience, but the effect here is more poised on the balancing point. Whereas Black Swan dragged you down or ripped you apart from the inside out, Schou leaves you shimmering on the brink, caught between liberation and demise as the positive emotional sensations of the shadowy and negative sounds find their equilibrium.

jannick schou - act of shimmering (album preview) by experimedia

As well as praise for the musicians here, it is worth congratulating Experimedia for the quality of the audio on each release. Maybe it is the mastering, usually by Taylor Deupree, but this time Lasse Marhaug which gives the music such an enveloping and/or elemental quality.

Coda: Sonar Part 4 – Sunday: Come down easy

Everything comes to an end. Parties, people, friendships, love, empires, time itself. At some stage you have to come down and clean up. Reality is always waiting somewhere. In Barcelona at least, it was awaiting in the streets, where it had been omnipresent lately. Sunday afternoon saw massive crowds gathered in the city centre to protest unemployment, austerity measures and in particular the Euro Pact  which many fear will pass on more economic problems to society. It should not be forgotten that the ironic advertising campaign of Sonar this year was that Sonar was for sale.

How poingnant that message seemed in the cold light of day: while many nursed hangovers and tiredness, the streets filled with protesters, angry people, the unemployed and the inevitable clashes with police arose. Another day and more resistance to control and poor governance and little change. Dismay at the lack of progress in the Magreb after the so-called Arab Spring  is also turning somewhat negative these days and one wonders, where to now?

But like the revolutions and the governments, Sonar wasn’t quite finished yet either. At night was a special and semi-independent concert held in conjunction with the annual Grec festival  in the Greek theatre on the side of Mont Juic. Last year had seen Ryoji Ikeda’s “Test Pattern” show, whereas this year was also Raster Noton artists Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto performing the celebrated collaboration to promote their new disc “Summvs”. If you have heard the discs, you know what to expect live: clusters of notes from Sakamoto plucked from the air and flicked into quivering tones and drones and embellished with sparks of white noise by Alva Noto. However, there is an extra air of virtuosity in the live performance that is sometimes missing from the controlled environment of the albums I have heard. Particularly towards the end of the show, Sakamoto’s playing became more untethered, while Alva Noto’s palette thickened and unwove itself from the need to think so heavily. Graphics wise, the two musicians were accompanied by a narrow band of digital display, much more restrained than Ikeda’s show the year before, and less distracting from the music while obviously accompanying it beautifully. One down side was the audience’s impatience to clap after each song, effectively drowning out the tonal decays at the end of each piece, but nonetheless, their enthusiasm did inspire several extended encores from the performers. Bravo indeed, and bravo once more to Sonar.

Sonar 2011 – Part 3 Saturday

Illum Sphere

One problem with Sonar by day is that you always think you are going to arrive earlier than you do. The necessities of sleep invariably take hold and the day starts later than envisaged. Besides, Jack and I, now also accompanied by his brother Lance paid a quick visit to the Miscelanea art gallery where M_nus had set up  with a small exhibition of relics, a shop and in-house DJs out back. Label boss Richie Hawtin had already played a little gig from a fruit stand on the side of the Boqueria market on Thursday afternoon.

However, even a short pit stop was too long as upon arrival, the crowd down in the Sonar Hall was capacity and there was no chance to get inside and see the reactivated and mythical Global Communication project of Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton. Instead we headed to the Sonar Dôme for Manchester’s Illum Sphere aka Ryan Hunn. My first and only encounter of Illum Sphere’s music up until the gig had been his “Titan” single from last year on Martyn’s 3024 label. Yet a few minutes into his set it was clear that this was nowhere near a good enough picture to pin down his style. Hunn seemed more like he was guiding the mercurial course of the music with a deft of touch rather than DJing. Roughly dubstep in terms of genre, yet the overall texture of the music was distinctly more electronica sounding and complicated, like fractured glass catching coloured lights, rather than being indebted to the rampant computer game overload of other brands of bass music. There was plenty of evidence of a signature sound emerging too, such as he showed on his latest 12” for Tectonic which is exceptional. My enduring impression from his set was that this was a guy to watch out for in the future as he clearly had mastered his craft and could entertain without resorting to extremes or to the silliness that sometimes undermines some streams of bass music.

Illum Sphere - FACT Magazine Mini-Mix by Surefire

Apparat Band

I must confess that Sascha Ring’s Apparat project has never done much for me. I reviewed their “Walls” album for Resident Advisor  back in 2007 and received a fairly hefty chain of abuse for panning it. My memory of the time was walking around and around Barcelona with it on my iPod and then putting it back on at home and just looking for a way inside that wasn’t via a safe middle ground. Watching Ring perform many of these same songs plus several new tracks on stage gave me much the same feeling. As much as I appreciated the show it just didn’t change the way I was feeling in any way. I was always watching and listening from outside, even as Ring and his band delved within themselves, apparently, to conjure forth their sounds. Something in the rehearsed playing, the immaculate non-improvised time keeping and the continuous pleading vocals (that sound like they want to be Sigur Ros but sometimes sound like Keane) just seems too artificial for me..and too safe. That is also to praise them for being technically faultless: a crisp sound, a set building to some slightly noiser tracks towards the end and a lot of feeling worn on the face. But like their previous album, it seemed like great music that doesn’t know how to let go from its creators and it belongs to them. Perhaps my opinion is tempered by decades of Indie rock and electronica/techno and Ring’s careful decision to stay on the cusp of both opens him to criticism from both quarters and there are perhaps better examples on either side, but perhaps none that dominate the centre ground so much.

Actress

Magnus had been with me back in February when we last saw Darren Cunningham perform a brilliant, but controversial set as part of the Micro Mutek festival. It was with some trepidation that Magnus approached the gig, whereas I couldn’t have been more enthusiastic. In the end we all left overwhelmed and a little changed from the experience, just as we had been the previous time. It was hard to tell if there was some problem delaying the start with lots of fiddling around on stage, moving mixers and pointing to a blank screen behind, but once Actress started it was with sheer and inescapable force. Cunningham was only a silhouette, dressed bizarrely in a rice paddy hat with no lights on him and only the screen behind. Occasionally you would see the evil glint in his eye, even from the back of the room. Looking at those tiny lights in his eyes, especially during the monstrous opening salvo of pure noise techno, you just thought: this guy is only toying with us and he could fuck us up anytime he wants to. I could review forever the first ten-fifteen minutes alone there was so much going on there: a sound system pushed to the red, but unlike Tyondai Braxton the day before, never once getting painful; a relentless four-four beat that seemed to accumulate energy in repetition rather than lose it; and a milieu of fuzzy noise driving home senseless and evolving melodies that stuck in your head forever. Sometime near the end Kane screamed in my ear “This is the shit they should have had on the big stage last night”. The rest of the set was somewhat restrained by comparison, but never dull and always seemingly further afield. One surprise was the lack of vocal samples which only begun to appear a little before the half way mark, surprising given that "Splazsh" is subtlely, but totally dominated by vocal samples in almost every track. Some of Cunningham’s changes too, were not quite perfect, but given the complex nature of the music everyone was forgiving him. Comparisons could easily be made with Aphex Twin’s complicated set the night before and, of the whole festival, these two artists stood above the rest for overwhelming originality, innovation and entertainment. One final word was the use of visuals: I questioned my colleagues about it and they had said there were none. However, it appears there were: nothing but subtle shades of white in the form of the rings from the Splazsh album cover accumulating in intensity now and again and then nothing. Understated, to say the least.

Clara Moto

After Actress finished around 9:30 we met up with another new companion, the intrepid Belgian/Moroccan adventurer Jacques and took a quick bite, followed by the magical train journey to the Fira where the night gigs are held. This train ride always has the feeling of a time machine or a spaceship voyaging to another world; the return is the same with the added sense of culture shock returning to civilian life. On arrival it was time for orientation and then a stopover at the new Sonar Car stage for Infiné’s Clara Moto aka Clara Prettenhoffer. Super cool behind the decks she mixed a gently persuasive set of sometimes deep house and sometimes lighter house shimmering with more ethereal electric textures. Her changes maintained a disciplined sense of urgency, capturing the suave forces of her more club orientated tracks like “Hall”, whereas the overall selection maintained true to her more melodic interests, captured so extendedly on last years “Polyamour” album. It was a shame to have the interference of the bumper car lights and noise behind for what was ostensibly delicate music, and again, a shame to pass by so briefly, but to paraphrase the lyrics from her track “Deer and fox”, “At least I have been with you for a while”.

Underworld

Then it was time for the most difficult moment of the night and the festival: Underworld. Why difficult? Because having been quite a big fan for years, especially “Dubnobasswithmyheadman” which is a hugely influential album and a soundtrack to one of my happier epochs, it was nonetheless a clash of programming with Shackleton about to emerge on the next stage. But more than that, below the surface I was scared of either getting sucked into their set for nostalgia reasons, looking too heavily for the past in the music and not the present or the future, whereas similarly and contrarily, I had not paid the group much attention since “Oblivion with bells” for a certain disappointment in what they were producing. To make it short: it was time to let Underworld go and this was a difficult thing to do for all the personal meaning they somehow embodied. For this reason, I am grateful they opened their set with a mix of “REZ” and “Cowgirl”, which for me could also have been an adequate closer too. This at least satisfied my masochistic urge to be in the past for a moment. The next few tracks were newer and I confess to not knowing them even while the crowd went mad around me. In any case, I was fascinated watching Karl Hyde twist and jerk on stage, much more the frontman than I imagined he would be, whereas Rick Smith and his companion at the decks where relentlessly busy. A spectacle without doubt, and resplendent with hits and communal gravity that I gradually removed myself from. I may have missed “Born Slippy NUXX”, I may have missed “Dirty Epic”, my personal favourite Underworld track, had they played it, but it was time to leave, time to say “adios”.

Shackleton

Shackleton was already underway by the time we left Underworld with Kane, Jack and Jacques; Magnus had stayed behind. We made our way down near the front of the Sonar Lab stage which was like entering into an energy field. The air seemed to vibrate differently, shimmering and bumping like little atomic waves as the bass frequencies and drones collided. Above this almost-hidden layer was Shackleton’s trademark percussive detail, with flickers of drums, distorted voices and the crash of electronics bursting all around. Something in the music put us all silent and refracted, bent inwards to hear closer and yet twisted outwards dancing, and looking up to try and catch sight of the humming air and the tangerine clouds streaming overhead. Shackleton’s music deliberately evokes African and Middle Eastern atmospheres, but burned into your mind in such a way, via advanced technology in such a primitive and yet modern environment, it somehow awakens something ancestral. Listening to Shackleton is to become elevated, to seek a kind of tribalism or an immediate ritualization of the present. The rhythms are built in such a way that you can quickly unravel them in your mind as he builds a counter-rhythm to challenge you and so on. Shackleton demands response and responsibility for your listening just as he delivers a total environment for this to take place. That is should be sparse and atomic does not mean to say it is empty. Within the arena of his sound, there are all the tools you need to build a new world in the mind. Immaculate, but once again, too brief in moving on.

Lucy

Putting Lucy aka Luca Mortellaro on the Sonar Car stage was perhaps not the wisest act of programming from the organisers. It is doubtful if this influenced his set list, since he wouldn’t have known before-hand what to expect, but nonetheless his performance wasn’t the hour of dark, menacing and politically-motivated techno I had been expecting. Perhaps there was more of this kind of music than I remember, but a clear problem was again the make-shift location of the little stage, the mix of bumper cars and open space around it and the lights which seemed to take the edge off the sound a little. That said, it wasn’t a chore to dance or enjoy the choice of tracks, even if it seemed somehow more conventional, but it was still an experience that would benefit from the cover of darkness. Again, Lucy’s set design, much like his contemporaries Scuba and Surgeon, played little off tricks and gimmickry and focused instead on the drive, with almost immeasurable changes sweeping one track into the next. But next time I think I would prefer and need to see him play in a proper club environment to really “get” the music.

Magnetic Man

I wasn’t a huge fan of Magnetic Man’s eponymous album from last year, but I could see that its more commercial attitude might work on the big stage. Unfortunately I was wrong. Magnetic Man as a live act were simply abominable, pure hype and little substance. The bass was wielded without force while the beats scattered and disappeared in the mix all too frequently as if lost going in circles. In the big environment, the commercial side of the music seemed to show all its holes, rather than strengthen the forms. But perhaps most disappointing of all were the MCs P. Money and SGT Pokes who failed to form any centre point or stimulate the audience in any intelligent or cohesive way. Their big hit “I need air” should have dominated the crowd, but came across with a wimper, without even a decent bass signature, as a half hearted audience sang along to frequent interruptions and coaxing by the MCs. Sadly, the festivals lowest point.

Surgeon

By the time Anthony Child came on it was almost a godsend, but with so many people in our little group, things were getting a little difficult to keep together which meant parts of Surgeons long-ish set were spent meeting lost revellers, fishing for cigarettes for Jacques or generally holding ground while waiting for others to return. But Surgeon’s 90 minute set was one of the festival’s highlights, interruptions aside. Starting with Alice Coltrane’s “Isis and Osiris”* and then proceeding down a long torrid tunnel of sound, reminiscent of his Fabric mix from last year, but somehow less cluttered. A big contrast with Scuba the night before was Anthony Child’s closer ties to dubstep and bass music styles than Paul Rose seems to have now. Surgeon’s music as well, especially his exceptional new album, seems to follow this line, digging out syncopations and clashing rhythms with rolling low ends and smeared basslines that then jigsaw into straighter 4-4 beat chains. The effect is staggering, like listening to two or three tracks at once (which was probably also the case). However, the first hour of the set was more strictly techno, whereas a long run before the climax completely removed the techno foundation for a long respite in more abstract beat and dubstep terrains. Perhaps more so than Scuba, this was a set that made you want to stay out on the floor, but also sit back in an arm chair and listen to what was going on. Perhaps the only surprise, but hardly a disappointment, was the control and discipline on show: with such a big system on offer, Surgeon stayed well away from the red line and seemed almost polite to a point, a big contrast again with the final act of the night.

 * I think it was this track. Surgeon has been playing Alice Coltrane out a lot, particularly “Journey in Satchidananda” from the same album of this name, and the jazz piece opening his set was quite dark, with a slow, almost funeral atmosphere. At first I thought it might have been one of the last pieces John Coltrane recorded which have that “last breath of life” feel to them, but I couldn’t identify it on any of his albums.

Silent Servant

The final act of Sonar de Nit was Central American-born, but US-based DJ and visual artist  Juan “John” Mendez, also known for his contributions to the Sandwell District collective. His brutal and in some ways violent set was an appropriate and overwhelming finish to events. The fact that he could come on stage and make Surgeon look relatively gentlemanly (I mean relatively) says a great deal about his style as a DJ. His first thought was to get the soundsystem at the limit and then keep it there. The kick drum was simply pounding and unstoppable, barely dropping out at all. Mendez’s work then was to keep it interesting upstairs, working the high hats and upper frequencies particularly, while keeping enough space to desecrate the midrange with clashes, crashes and violence. A truly overwhelming force behind the wheels of steel with a huge soundsystem like Sonar’s and a brilliant foil for his more sublime work under the Tropic of Cancer moniker, that also deserves a lot of attention. When the hour comes close to 7am and the lights are coming on in the main room from the rising sun outside and with Silent Servant in control, you know you are in a good place.

Actress remixes Laurel Halo

Darren Cunningham aka Actress is currently very active finishing off his new album for his own Werk label and preparing some re-releases. One other activity has also been to remix the track "Constant Index" off the recent Laurel Halo ep Hour logic.

Laurel Halo - Constant Index (Actress Violet Mix) by theQuietus

Julio Cortázar and jazz

"Música! Melancólico alimento para los que vivimos de amor." - Rayuela

“Music! Melancholy food for those who live for love.”

The other night I started to read a novel by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar called “Rayuela” (Hopscotch). The novel is widely hailed as a classic of 20^th Century literature, but also coincided with the so-called Latin American Literary Boom  that occurred around the time of its publication in 1963. The novel is complicated in structure and mythically so. It contains two books, the first part which is the central story and the second part, which is referred to as the “Dispensible chapters” (capitulos prescindibles). Immediately before “Chapter 1” is a brief instruction from the author which is essentially a suggestion of how to read the book. One way is to read chapters 1 to 56 directly and finish with a clear conscience. The other is to use the authors table (see picture) by which chapters from part one are intercut with more abstract passages from the dispensible chapters in part 2. That is, movement through the book is backwards and forwards, almost like one of those old Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. There is a certain irony at the end of the book too, as the penultimate chapter leads to the final, which in turn leads back to the penultimate, and so on.

In addition to this unconventional movement through the pages is the use of different styles and narrative points of view within the story, switching from first to third person and using stream of consciousness. The reference points are clearly writers like James Joyce, French contemporaries of the Nouveau Roman school, but more so Surrealism and perhaps not surprisingly jazz.

Cortázar was born in Brussels at the time of the German occupation in 1914, moving via Switzerland and Barcelona to Buenos Aires by 1919. He remained there during his formative years and beginning to publish his first writings until 1951 when he moved to Paris as a protest against the government and politics of Juan Domingo Perón. That is to say, that Cortázar was in Paris during the fecund years of the 50s and 60s when American jazz greats would tour and play at the heights of their powers to a receptive and respectful audience unencumbered by the inequalities in civil rights back home. “Rayuela” and many other works by Cortázar are influenced heavily by jazz and in particular their improvisatory techniques.


In “Rayuela”, for example, the characters form El Club de la Serpiente (the Serpents Club) to listen to music. Cortázar has also written articles on jazz such as “La vuelta al piano de Thelonius Monk” (Thelonius Monk’s return to the piano) based on a 1966 concert in Geneva, whereas Michelangelo Antonioni's 1967 film "Blowup" was based upon a short story entitled “Las Babas del Diablo” (The Droolings of the Devil").

Here is the famous Yardbirds scene from the Blowup film. Note also that the street in Soho, London where this was filmed is also the same location that appears in the mythical “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” album cover by David Bowie that would appear a few years later.

Perhaps the most famous of his work linked to jazz was “El Perseguidor” (The Pursuer) which was first published in the short story collection “Las Armas Secretas” (Secret Weapons) in 1959. This story is based around the protagonist Johnny Carter, himself modelled on be-bop saxophonist Charlie Parker and was a turning point in Cortázar’s style and influence.

Here with subtitles in English:

Cortázar’s views on jazz and literature (in Spanish) are expressed here in this interview:

 “[jazz] era una música que permitía todas las imaginaciones”

“jazz was a music that allowed all the imaginations”

Not surprisingly, Cortázar has influenced many musicians and other writers. In 2004 a combined book and CD  called “Jazzuela” was published by the writer Pilar Peyrats Lasuén incorporating all the parts of “Rayuela” that refer to jazz and all the tracks referred to in  the book.

Tango-trip hop group Gotan Project also have a track named after and inspired by Cortázar featuring text from the mythical Chapter 7 about a kiss.

Whereas another track simply entitled “Rayuela” from  the “Tango 3.0” album also draws unambiguous inspiration.

Mouse on Mars

Cologne's post-rock/electronica combo Mouse on Mars look to be reactivating. The group of Andi Toma, Jan St Werner and drummer Dodo Nkishi haven't released under the Mouse on Mars name since 2006, but have of course collaborated more recently with The Falls Mark E. Smith on the Von Südenfed project. However, the duo have several upccoming gigs planned and what may be several releases in the pipeline. Most notably, the group will play with the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra on the 10th of September while a  single track entitled "Paenumnion" is currently available with the media, but with no release date or format information yet available. The track is a long instrumental piece featuring the group in collaboration with the Cologne Philharmonic and is in interesting counterpart to the just-released Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer "Re:ECM" collaboration, only here, rather than reconstruction, the music is a live interaction.

In addition to "Paenumnion", the group also remixed the Popol Vuh track "Through pain to heaven", originally from the Nosferatu soundtrack, for the upcoming "Revisitied and Remixed" double CD due for release on SPV to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the death of founding member Florian Fricke.





Two of the remix tracks appearing on the release originally appeared on Editions Mego in 2008, whereas German producer Roland Appel will also contribute a remix of the same track.

Laurel Halo

Laurel Halo’s second single “Hour Logic” has been causing quite a stir. Recently released on Hippos in Tanks it refuses any easy classification. At times it sounds dubstep, others ambient, sometimes with touches of Detroit techno blended into an organic tapestry of video game sounds and geometric soundscapes. Complicated, slippery and compelling the success of the release has forced the Ann Arbor born musician (real name Ina Cube) into the spotlight, culminating in a recent profile on the Guardian’s exhausting New Band of the Day . It also happens that her boyfriend is Oneohtrix Point Never who also remixed the track “Metal Confection” on her debut single “King Felix” last year. The contrasts between the two releases are marked however, with the silvery synth pop of “Supersymmetry” contrasting beautifully with the more abstract planes of “Hour Logic”

Keeping in vogue with underground, Laurel Halo also has a slew of cassette releases and mix tapes available for those who need more.

MIXTAPES by LAUREL HALO

Sonar 2011 – Part 2 Friday

Atmosphere

More work trouble and the frustrating situation of watching the clock tick down while knowing that Agoria had already started. A mad dash got me there too late, with Minneapolis rap group Atmosphere already on the Sonar Village stage to promote their new album “The family sign”. I’ve seen only a handful of Hip Hop shows in my life and would never count myself an expert, but vocalist Slug (aka Sean Daley) and producer Anthony Davis aka Ant’s show was pretty compelling despite the all-too-familiar need to get the crowd clapping, putting their hands in the air and calls to make some mother fucking noise. Towards the end of the show they paid tribute to the Beastie Boys, by repeating an act they had seen at one of their shows: getting the crowd to hold up their Adidas in the air. The response may have been lukewarm, probably because everyone was wearing sandals and flip flops and not closed shoes, but nonetheless the music was hot enough to kick start the day.

DJ Raff

Out back in the Sonar Dome, drum and bass stalwart Zinc had already been and gone along with Agoria and a brief effort to catch his younger prodigy Katy B was met with resistance due to the overflowing crowd, the biggest I had seen at the festival. Meanwhile oOoOO had put in a miserly 30 minute set of Witch House in the new Sonar Comlex space between the Dome and the Village which meant it was over before it began and was thus another act to cross off the list without seeing anything. By default then, it was time for DJ Raff in the open air as we were also joined by Jack, a DJ for Perth’s RTR FM. DJ Raff is a Chilean born, but Spain-based, DJ and producer, who has contributed to a range of projects over the years including the recent release of the track “Latino and Proud”. Unfortunately he failed to impress with a messy set of bass music and the occasional 4-4 intervention that showed little logical continuity or cohesiveness to the style. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of his style was his ability to catch the crowd and lift them up with a great track or mix and then abruptly dump them by switching too quickly or too far afield with the next selection and then having to start all over again.

Four Tet

Kieran Hebden’s late afternoon slot was one of the first big surprises in a day of sets that exceeded expectations. While having perused his catalogue from time to time, I have never been an active fan of Four Tet’s music, but his set was heavier and much more driving than I would have expected. At times he crossed the threshold into techno, at others staying back in more break beat territory with occasional embellishments of cathartic noise, but always underscored by his trademark emphasis on funk and feeling. Hats off to the man as well for catching the crowd again after the relative disappointment of DJ Raff. There were plenty of big, long build-ups to drag the audience from conversation into contemplation and dancing, and then a lot of space to switch directions and start again. Almost effortlessly he was able to reinstate something of a celebratory air to proceedings that was exstatically received. In addition, while not part of the official festival, there was a screening of a documentary film called “Tongues” on the Wednesday night to celebrate Hebden’s collaboration with jazz drummer Steve Reid.

M.I.A.

The first thing that took me about Sonar by Night was the sheer size of the crowd, much higher than I had ever seen at the festival before. Big cues for drink tickets and every stage rammed to capacity, especially early in the evening meant some logistics to get everything comfortable, but in the end, there was no detraction from the spectacle. Our first full show of the evening was also another that was more than I had imagined it would be. Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam’s debut album “Arular” from 2005 was a personal favourite of the time for its catchiness and its deceptive simplicity, but I never stayed in touch with her work. Several live reviews and recent reports of her poor professional attitude and negative response to some videos has led me to expect little. But an over the top stage show mixing all those catchy, blatant and of course, controversial elements of her persona, proved a hit. M.I.A. was sexy, violent, commercial, trashy, catchy and, dare I say it, entertaining. Her show made Magnetic Man the following night look lame. She opened with a long, almost ambient track of Sri Lankan traditional music before unleashing a restless barrage of both  newer material that I wasn’t as familiar with and some of the cracking hits off the first album like “Galang”, “Bucky done gun” and “Paper plane”. Helped by several guest MCs and screens showing images of sexy girls and sexy guns M.I.A. delivered a genuine spectacle and provided an astounding start to the evening.

Scuba

Last time I saw Scuba play back in January he played a complete techno set from beginning to end with not a dubstep track in sight. This surprised me a lot at the time and was a big talking point amongst some others I knew who had also been at the gig. The fact that he did it again at Sonar wasn’t then such a big surprise, but it does suggest that he is now batting for the other team. The direction his label Hot Flush has taken (exemplified particularly by his own and Sigha’s releases) would also seem to suggest the same. Their recent label compilation Back and 4th was one half older tracks caught in the process of evolving from more traditional dubstep stylings into the newer 4-4 variations present on the second disc of new material. To be fair, Scuba’s change in direction may reflect as much dubstep’s restless mutation into UK funky and beyond, in addition to its earlier flirtation with dub techno, than it does any sell out from Paul Rose himself. Nonetheless, as a techno-styled DJ he still delivers a master class of track selection and set design. Crammed into an hour, his set had the feeling of being longer for its patient emphasis on detail and momentum over psychedelia and cheap tricks. It was only towards the end that he employed one or two bass-dropping breakdowns to make his point before finally setting down on his own track “Feel it” from the aforementioned compilation. Distinguished and egoless, Scuba commands for his ability to incite the dance floor and challenge you to listen closely at the same time, the only shame was he couldn’t play for longer.

Aphex Twin

Much like M.I.A. earlier in the evening, you never really know what you are going to get with Richard D. James, but perhaps more so. Would it be gabba, ambient, techno or breaks? Would it be ground breaking, irritating, mischievous, arrogant, reverent or irrelevant? In the end it was perhaps everything and more and was simply astounding, one of the best, perhaps the best live electronic set I have personally ever witnessed. At times disturbing and restless, at others serene and contemplative, Aphex Twin crossed boundaries, distorted genres and generated seemingly new combinations and bewildering juxtapositions at will. Most impressively, he stabbed and fractured beats to the point of arhythmia only to catch them again at the critical juncture and send them back in phase and the crowd mad again. Somewhere in between there was still time for some of classics to enter the fray. Another intriguing aspect was his minimal presence, reduced to pixelated images on the screen, without ever resorting to egotistical self-promotion, complicated videos or worse, an overdose of the Chris Cunningham-derived monster faces. An elaborate performance that was brilliant to the point of genius and satisfying to the point of gluttony.

Die Antwoord

After Aphex Twin and the whole night spent in the massive Sonar Club, it was time for something of a rest out doors in the Sonar Pub with South Africa’s Die Antwoord. For those unfamiliar with the group, they came to fame (or perhaps infamy?) for their ludicrous fashion and videos, purportedly representing a new style of gangsta rap and “next level beats” called Zef. Perhaps a joke, perhaps not, but from our sitting position at the back, certainly hilarious from the ground up, clothes, hair and that helium voice, but not anything to stay too long for or to willingly seek out again. Well done to them anyway for getting such a good gig.

Boys Noize

Last stop for us at least was German DJ and producer Boys Noize (aka Alexander Ridha) back in the main Sonar Club. Catchy for a time, Ridha nonetheless sold himself short and fell into the trap of many of the big acts to play the Club over the years (I am thinking of SebastiAn in 2009 and 2 Many DJs last year) who’s one trick is the breakdown. Decent enough beats and electro sounds for a time, but never a run longer than five minutes before the invariable breakdown and the bass which come slammed back in. The contrast with Scuba for example, or Surgeon the following day is markedly pronounced as their use of the technique was particularly restrained and concentrated more specifically on the narrative design of the set. While Boys Noize was ok to while away some time, it was still not enough to keep us there until the bitter end.

As an afterword, here is a video of said performances by SebastiAn, Ed Banger’s resident chain smoking DJ, which is musically poor, but interesting from the point of view of the stage design, reminiscent of an early 20^th Century dictator (ala Fritz Lang’s "Metropolis" or perhaps the evil dude from the original Battlestar Galactica tv show). Note the hand gestures to signal the bass drop.

Simon Fisher Turner and Derek Jarman

Simon Fisher Turner (SFT) has come up in the media for two main reasons lately. First is his scoring of the soundtrack to “The Great White Silence” and the second is the recent release of “Super 8” a 3xCD set on Fench Art Label Optical Sound which also links to the cinema of Derek Jarman.

“The Great White Silence” is a film made by Herbert Ponting and first screened in primitive form in 1913, but not assuming its more finished state until 1924. It is part fact, part fiction and part documentary, recording the fatal journey of Robert Scott to the South Pole between 1910 and 1912. Ponting was the official photographer and documenter of the expedition, but luckily did travel in the last leg due to age and the difficulty of the journey where he would otherwise have met his end. Therefore, parts of the film were essentially fictionalised by editing in pre-recorded footage or restaged later.

The original film was of course silent, but in the most recent reissue, the British Film Institute (BFI) has commissioned a soundtrack from SFT. SFT has had a long and distinguished career as both actor, artist and musician, releasing on labels like Mute and Creation under his own name and the King of Luxembourg, as well as once being a short-term member of The The.

In this incredibly fascinating mini documentary of the making of the soundtrack, SFT describes the inherent difficulties of scoring a film full of silence and long scenes of animals and ice and also the level of detail taken to produce an authentic and respectful piece of music.

The second news piece of news relating to SFT is the release of a 3xCD set that pays varying level of tribute to much celebrated English film director and gay-rights activist Derek Jarman simply entitled “Derek Jarman Super 8” with the subtitle “Soundtracks for Derek”. I have not heard the music yet and the available information does not distinctly say to what level the sound material is lifted from Jarman’s films. The CD is also dedicated to Coil's John Balance and Peter Christopherson.

The first piece entitled “I’m ready for my close-up” is credited as including “Derek talking and studio sounds from his film "The Garden"”. An unusual feature of the first disc is that SFT appears to be manipulating a track by Terre Thaemlitz aka DJ Sprinkles who may have himself included the source material from Derek Jarman in his piece (originally entitled "A Crippled Left Wing Soars With The Right (Steal This Record Remix by DJ Sprinkles)). Terre Thaemlitz is himself a fierce gay-rights activist and has consistently spoken out about related topics such as transgender issues and AIDs education.

The short second disc has a title that pays homage to Jarman’s short 1973 Super 8 film “Stolen Apples for Karen Blixen” (Karen Blixen is of course the Danish author who wrote “Out of Africa”). The third disc contains another long piece entitled “Their gods are dancing” and the only information is that it was recorded during the last World Cup while England were losing to Germany.

SFT and Derek Jarman have a long relationship, however, extending back far more than this collection. SFT scored Jarman’s seminal film “Caravaggio” from 1986, one of the few he made on 35mm film, which he found limiting compared to the more portable and experimental potential of Super 8.

“Caravaggio” was also notable for the role played by Tilda Swinton who subsequently collaborated with Jarman on several other projects including “The Last of England”, another film scored by SFT. The following scene from the film features Tilda Swinton in addition to excerpts from Diamanda Galas’s terrifying “Saint of the Pit” album which in itself the second part of The Plague Mass, a triptych that also attempted to raise awareness for AIDs since her brother had also succumbed to the disease.

 SFT also scored “The Garden” a film made at Jarman’s cottage with some difficulty as Jarman who had begun to suffer serious health problems due to AIDS.

Jarman’s break appears to have been as the Production designer on Ken Russell’s 1971 film “The Devils”, starring Oliver Reid and Vanessa Redgrave, collectively based on the book by Aldous Huxley “The Devils of Loudon” and the play “The Devils” by John Whiting. Russel’s film has just been rereleased, but is still regarded as one of the most controversial films ever made.

 Jarman’s 1979 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” which featured much nudity, mostly male, was a likely inspiration for Peter Greenaway’s much maligned adaptation “Propsero’s Books” from 1991.

But more musically, Jarman has played a key role in connection experimental music and film. In the late 70s and early 80s he captured footage of many key groups and made several important music videos.

Amongst these include early footage of the Sex Pistols, Throbbing Gristle and Marianne Faithful. In recent years, Throbbing Gristle have performed live to some of Jarman’s short films at venues like the Turbine Hall of the TATE Modern.

More recognisable perhaps was his work with The Smiths during the recording of “The Queen is Dead” album (excerpts of this footage went to become the video for the single “Panic”) as well as Marc Almond, the Pet Shop Boys and Suede.

Sonar 2011 - Part 1 Thursday

Prelude.

The month of May can often be an unpredictable month in Barcelona, with the often constant runs of rainy days souring the optimism that usually heralds spring and the imminent arrival of summer on the Mediterranean coast. Unusually, May was bright and warm, hot even, with the rain arriving at the start of June and seemingly about to threaten Sonar, who’s daytime events, particularly on the Sonar Village stage, need the bright sun to thrive and catalyse the party atmosphere. Thankfully, the clouds parted true to form and in the nick of time with Sonar week kicking off with its traditional warm weather and the first sun burns of the year.

Despite the good fortune with the weather, the only downside on a personal level was the overwhelming pressure of a demanding day job and the unpredictable behaviour of my paranoid boss who made the ability to come and go freely difficult or impossible, compromising the day time events in particular (and by that I mean the ability to stay out all night as well). This meant horrendous hours, up to 16 hour days, and changing deadlines which is not conducive to relaxing, sleeping well or preparing mentally and physically for a three day music festival. Also in somewhat traditional fashion was the proliferation of thieves with the hot weather (who sometimes seem so ubiquitous here) who robbed my English friends Magnus and Kane (not their real names) hours after arrival in the city. Their arrival on my doorstep at 7:30am after a torrid and minimal night’s sleep with no money or address was not what the doctor ordered, but was nonetheless a good primer for things to come.

Little Dragon

Work and the dentist meant a later than desired arrival at the usually quiet Thursday opening day. Missing sets by the intriguing Toro y Moi, Nicolas Jaar and Floating Points was already a blow, but one more than easily tempered by arriving just after the start of Little Dragon. Despite being my first show of Sonar 2011, Little Dragon was easily the best new find of the festival. The quartet from Gothenburg, Sweden delivered an absolutely magisterial set of motoric and down tempo disco electronica that enthralled for their stage presence and the unexpected twists in the music. Yukimi Nagano’s movement and voice was absolutely magnetic, drawing you in, but never once over powering the musicians, Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrik Källgren Wallin (bass), and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards). Their simple, but tight interplay kept the groove propulsive for long periods and sent the breakdowns, when they came, into unexpected territory, using genuine, but understated virtuosity to eke out contrasts, angles and recreate new rhythms seemingly from nothing. Having trawled through their back catalogue on record, they are enthralling with a glut of hits and catchy songs, often more down beat than their live show, but too many to post. A sample of what they are like live is here:

They have a new single “Nightlight” out now from their forthcoming album “Ritual Union” (due out later this month)

An intriguing Interview can be found on Canada’s Q TV can be found here:

Finally, for those who don’t know the group directly, you may have some across them via one of their many collaborations that most notably includes Gorillaz on the tracks "Empire Ants" and "To Binge" from the “Plastic beach” album:

Nagano’s vocals were also used on the tracks “Bright Nights” and the eternally optimistic and immensely classical “Summer Sun” from Koop’s seminal 2001 Nu Jazz album “Waltz for Koop”.

Tyondai Braxton

After Little Dragon, we headed to the Sonar Hall to catch the end of Nicolas Jaar, but to no avail and instead waited for the onset of Tyondai Braxton’s set. Tyondai is the son of celebrated free jazz musician Anthony Braxton and a former member of Warp group Battles, but now works as a solo performer.  From the back of the room in low light and with little movement on stage it was not always easy to divine what he was doing. But with guitar perched on his lap and other instruments at hand he slowly built up a cacophony of loops into a piecemeal collage of noise. Whereas his recorded pieces often have grace, inventiveness and enigma, live he was almost unlistenable. To be fair, this was largely due to the poor mixing which was extremely loud and at times physically painful and prevented any penetration of the music. Intriguing passages would emerge, but then become uncoupled beneath the pressure of volume and the desynchronisation of the loops and after 15 minutes we had had enough.

San Soda

It was a tough call between Ninja Tune and Big Dada on the Sonar Village stage, or Belgium’s San Soda out back in the Sonar Dôme, but in the end we elected for the later. The light still up, Nicolas Geysens’s equally light and uplifting set was marred only by the use of well-worn records that refused to stay in the groove to the jeers of the crowd. He recovered well by dropping crowd-pleasing tunes like the Friendly Fires' “Paris” and plenty of smoother cuts, like his own releases for We Play House. San Soda was a brief, but welcome, relief from the intensity of Tyondai Braxton, and enjoyable, but somehow a little vacuous as well. Perfect then, for the bridge between afternoon and night.

Raime

As the sky finally turned dark (but not a blackest ever black), London duo Raime took to the stage back down in the Sonar Dôme. But much like Braxton before them, they failed to deliver on the promise of their recorded sound. Starting well with some gut wrenching bass, gradually rising drones and buried, echoing beats, they nonetheless failed to map out any particular direction nor effectively evoke the dark industrial moods of the singles. Unfolding too slowly, they tested the patience even for music bordering on ambient and rather than highlight contrasts and attack with hidden menace they instead overfilled their mid range, suffocating any subtlety or craftsmanship from the music. As much as you wanted them to be more, they were still somehow dissatisfying.

Thursday night:

With work the next day, it was not a possibility to head out late, despite the immense line-up in the off-Sonar events, particularly the Eastender mini-festival that must have been causing the Sonar organizers  a headache in potentially lost ticket sales. Thursday’s line-up alone included Desolat and Moon Harbour showcases, while Saturday featured the Planet E 20^th Anniversary show, headlined by Carl Craig, in itself a frustrating gig to miss, despite being at Sonar.