Sober Maal. De Mannen Broeders

Een sober maal anno 2024 is zonder twijfel iets geheel anders dan een sober maal in 1786 of 1850 en zelfs in 1914 het jaar waarin de Vlaamse vluchtelingen voor oorlogsgeweld in de kerk van Middelburg sliepen die op de hoes zijn te zijn. Dat is de tijd waarop De Mannen Broeders terug kijken. Sober Maal is dat helemaal vanuit een muzikaal standpunt gezien, want behalve de drone die een kerkorgel als grondtoon kan hebben, is de muziek die de teksten omlijst onvoorstelbaar en zeer waarschijnlijk niet om aan te horen voor een persoon die leefde zonder elektriciteit, quinoa en gemotoriseerd vervoer. Laat staan in een kerk te horen was.

Dat alles maakt Sober Maal bepaalt niet een minder indrukwekkende plaat. Tonnie Dieleman, a.k.a. broeder Dieleman en Colin van Eeckhout, zanger van Amenra slaan hier de handen ineen onder de naam De Mannen Broeders. "Aangetrokken door de donkere kant van het leven, verdriet, rouw en een voorliefde voor ritueel" zijn ze aan de slag gegaan op basis van (religieuze) teksten van onder andere priester en kunstenaar Omer Geliet, al bekend van eerder werk van Dieleman.

In vijf opnamedagen, met hier en daar assistentie, namen zij het album op in de doopsgezinde, 18e eeuwse kerk in Middelburg. Geen heel rare keuze, gezien de achtergrond van de teksten. Het kerkorgel werd een onderdeel van het proces. Verder zijn een piano te horen en de banjo van Tonnie Dieleman, al dan niet met een strijkstok bespeelt.

Als broeder Dieleman heeft Tonnie Dieleman mij al verschillende keren ver uit mijn comfortzone getrokken met een reeks platen die niet anders dan speciaal kunnen worden betiteld, 'Uut De Bron', 'Komma', ik heb niet een andere plaat in mijn collectie die maar bij benadering hierop lijkt. Totdat Sober Maal hier aan is toegevoegd. Van Eeckhout is voor mij een nieuwe naam. Metal is voor 98% mijn ding niet. Van metal is hier geen spoor te bekennen, van muziek over drones des te meer.

Opnieuw is het de mix van soberheid en weelde die mij als eerste raakt. De Mannen Broeders weten met heel weinig veel te bereiken, zoals in de vooruitgesnelde single 'Verteere Heel'. Een grondtoon en een floortom of basdrum, dat is het wel. Toch weet het binnenkomende banjo spel van Dieleman het nummer op zijn kop te zetten. Over impact van muziek gesproken.

Het album kent ook besproken woord bijdragen. Het klinkt als een preek. De teksten zijn van Omer Geliet Mijn vrouw hoorde het bij thuiskomst van haar werk en vroeg zich luidop af of ik mij aan het bekeren was. Daarmee is de sfeer van Sober Maal goed omschreven. Dit is kerkmuziek, maar dan anders. Het gaat ook over verdraagzaamheid, zoals in 'Grafschrift' en de vriendschap tussen priesters van een andere vorm van christendom. Iets wat (ook) in 1786 niet gewoon was. Ook hier wordt weer met minimale middelen absolute schoonheid gecreëerd. Een paar pianonoten van Pim van der Werken is al genoeg. Als dit nummer geen plek krijgt in Wino Penris' 'Kairos' show, dan weet ik het ook niet meer.

Kerkmuziek komt ook sterk naar voren in het prachtige koor in 'Onze Lieve Vrouwe'. Als de plaat een hoogtepunt heeft, dan is dit het wel. De hemelpoort staat wagenwijd open en laat de engelachtige zang zo nederdalen op de gelovigen en ongelovigen gelijk, zonder aanzien des persoons. Zoals het hoort. Het nummer volgt een derde preek en start met een drone en mannelijke samenzang, waarna de dames zich erbij voegen. De galm van de kerk is een extra instrument dat prachtig is gevangen in de opname. Ik heb geen idee waarom dit nummer mij zo raakt, maar het is van absolute schoonheid.

Zonder de muzikaliteit van de betrokkenen te kort te willen doen, is het heel bijzonder om te horen hoe met minimale middelen een maximum effect kan worden bereikt. Sober Maal is een album van grote en sobere schoonheid. Het doet zijn titel volledig eer aan, want een sober maal kan zeer voedzaam zijn.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

Je kunt Sober Maal hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://mannenbroeders.bandcamp.com/album/sober-maal

Cosmic Room 99. Cosmic Room 99

Over the past months Cosmic Room 99 debuted on this blog with its singles 'E-Corp' and 'Plastic Venus'. Now it's time for the band's eponymous album. The bio coming with the album mentions psych rockers. It is quite easy to state: yes, true for 100%. On Cosmic Room 99 the band explores several forms of psychedelic rock.

Cosmic Room 99 is a band from Italy releasing its debut album. It consists of Antonio Angeli (vocals/drums) and Matteo Scarpa (vocals/bass), both members of Kill Your Boyfriend, and Diego Menegaldo (vocals/guitar), a former guitarist of New Candys. The band mostly recorded in its own studio in Treviso, a town a little north of Venice. The inspiration comes from a documentary on the discovery by a NATO employee of a plan to "eredicate a part of the world's population to maintain Earth's sustainability", called 'The Cosmic Room'. That sounds rather Dan Brown to me, so let's focus on the music.

The Italians have listened to a lot that has been going on in psych rock over the past decades. To my ears, things start with those typical The Velvet Underground rhythms. From there the band that comes to mind most to me is The Black Angels. Cosmic Room 99 brings the same mix of directness and mystery to its music. Listen to 'Red Lights'. The band combines that pounding on the skins, making the song rock hard, with an electric guitar that does everything from shredding to playing a stark rhythm and mysterious wafts of tones. The voice is somewhere between real and treated. It makes for a very direct and yet mysterious song.

It is perhaps a decade ago that I wondered whether the world needed one more psychedelic band. Since then dozens have reached me and the answer must be mostly yes. There certainly is room for Cosmic Room 99. Especially because the band is not afraid to rock. It brings a lot of energy to its music. In combination with the quality of the songs, the band wins out easily. The fact that it has three singers, makes for more variety as they sound very different.

A good example of how the mystery ends on the higher level, is the aptly called song 'Atmosphere'. The tempo goes down, the bass receives a fuzz oomph (or something like it) and there are whole swaths of sounds smeared out over the song. Together with the way of singing, it gives 'Atmosphere' a dreamy quality. Underneath is a huge rhythm section, above it a host of melodies are presented in an early Pink Floyd style, from before that band really broke big. Whether Cosmic Room 99 will ever get there is uncertain but certainly something it may want to strive for.

Cosmic Room 99 successfully manages to manoeuvre itself between these two sounds. It makes band and album a welcome addition to my psych rock collection.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

You can listen to and order Cosmic Room 99 here:

https://cosmicroom99.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-room-99

Sentir Que No Sabes. Mabe Fratti

De uit Guatemala afkomstige muzikante Mabe Fratti levert met Sentir Que No Sabes een album af dat de fantasie constant prikkelt, maar het is ook een album met een unieke sfeer en een bijzondere schoonheid.

“Rich, rewarding, spellbinding music from a true original”, het zijn de woorden van de Britse kwaliteitskrant The Guardian over Sentir Que No Sabes van Mabe Fratti en zoals zo vaak heeft de krant het bij het juiste eind. Mabe Fratti maakt op haar album muziek die je songs na song weet te verrassen of zelfs te verbazen, maar het is ook bijzonder mooie muziek en muziek die, ondanks het label avant garde, verrassend toegankelijk klinkt. Net als bijvoorbeeld Arooj Aftab betovert Mabe Fratti met muziek die anders klinkt dan alle andere muziek van het moment. Het is muziek waarin invloeden uit de jazz, neoklassieke muziek, Midden-Amerikaanse muziek, avant garde en pop en rock op bijzondere wijze samenvloeien. Bijzonder mooi.

Zonder enige twijfel het meest bijzondere album dat ik deze week heb gehoord is Sentir Que No Sabes van Mabe Fratti. Het is niet het eerste wapenfeit van de celliste uit Guatemala, die momenteel Mexico City als uitvalsbasis heeft, maar in tegenstelling tot haar vorige albums kan Sentir Que No Sabes rekenen op flink wat aandacht van de betere muziekpers. Dat is op zich best bijzonder voor een album waar het etiket avant garde wordt opgeplakt, maar met dit label vertel je maar een deel van het verhaal van de muziek van Mabe Fratti.

Je hoort het direct in de openingstrack, die verrassend veel klinkt als een redelijk normale popsong met een lome beat, jazzy drumwerk en de mooie stem van Mabe Fratti, die haar Spaanse teksten met veel gevoel voordraagt. Het is wel een redelijk normale popsong met een twist, want de blazers op de achtergrond klinken wat atypisch. Wanneer stemmige pianoakkoorden worden toegevoegd klinkt het nog wat conventioneler, maar op hetzelfde moment is duidelijk dat Mabe Fratti muziek maakt die anders klinkt dan alle andere muziek van het moment.

Het is muziek die me qua sfeer wel wat doet denken aan de muziek van Arooj Aftab, al is de muziek van Mabe Fratti minder jazzy. Invloeden uit de jazz spelen wel een rol in de songs van de muzikante uit Guatemala en dat hoor je vooral in het spel van de ritmesectie. Het wordt gecombineerd met invloeden uit de neoklassieke muziek en de avant garde, maar ook liefhebbers van aangenaam in het gehoor liggende popsongs met een kop en een staart hoeven Sentir Que No Sabes zeker niet direct opzij te leggen.

Dat Mabe Fratti een achtergrond heeft in de avant garde hoor je vooral wanneer ze haar cello er bij pakt en wat vervormde en tegendraadse klanken uit de speakers laat komen. Omdat de rest van de muziek op het album vrij toegankelijk is versterkt de cello vooral het unieke karakter van de songs van Mabe Fratti, maar heb je niet het idee dat je naar een heel experimenteel album aan het luisteren bent.

Dat idee heb je zeker niet wanneer Mabe Fratti zingt, want de muzikante uit Mexico City beschikt over een prachtige stem. Het is een stem die nog wat mooier en bijzonderder klinkt door de Spaanstalige teksten, die de muziek van Mabe Fratti voorzien van een extra dimensie, net zoals het gebruik van het Urdu dit doet op de albums van Arooj Aftab. Wanneer de stem van Mabe Fratti wordt gecombineerd met fraai klinkende blazers doet de muziek op Sentir Que No Sabes Mexicaans aan, maar wanneer de cello of de ritmesectie invalt of flink wat strijkers worden ingezet is de muziek op het album toch opeens weer meer neoklassiek of jazzy of schuift het op richting triphop, waarna elektronica de muziek van Mabe Fratti weer een andere kant op kan duwen.

Het doet me in muzikaal opzicht soms ook wel wat denken aan de muziek van Talk Talk uit de meer experimentele dagen van de Britse band, maar die vergelijking is niet meer relevant wanneer Mabe Fratti zingt. De muzikante uit Guatemala was het afgelopen jaar zeer productief in diverse samenwerkingsverbanden en heeft haar nieuwe album gemaakt met flink wat gastmuzikanten, die allemaal bijdragen aan een geluid dat totaal anders klinkt dan de andere muziek van het moment, maar dat desondanks zeer makkelijk weet te verleiden. Het levert wereldwijd zeer positieve recensies op en dat is echt volkomen terecht.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt Sentir Que No Sabes hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://tinangelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sentir-que-no-sabes

Dust Chaser. VanWyck

Ah, sometimes things seem easier to explain than I could have imagined. Christien Oele, the singer-songwriter behind VanWyck, was born in The Netherlands but was raised in New Zealand, before returning to NL. So, she drank from the same water, whatever it is that is in there, as singer-songwriters like Reb Fountain, Vera Ellen, Aldous Harding and Ebony Lamb and others have. Mostly the first singer though.

On her new album Dust Chaser the associations with Fountain are once again quite obvious. I'm very happy with them as both make make albums that guarantee some serious listening, mystery and beauty. VanWyck lives up to expectations with Dust Chaser - and the some.

VanWyck made her debut on this blog in 2018 with the album 'An Average Woman', reviewed by Erwin Zijleman, followed by 'God Is In The Detour' (2020) and 'The Epic Tale Of The Stranded Man' (2022) reviewed by yours truly. That Dust Chaser follows is only logical. Some things have changed, as the album is released on a different label. But, there is more.

My impression is that on her new album VanWyck rocks a little harder. That there is a far greater role for the electric guitar. That may be totally erroneous as in my mind I hear slow(er), mysterious, piano driven songs and very little relatively harder rocking songs. The balance between the two is quite right here on Dust Chaser. There's even a song that positions itself in between. 'Desert Bride' is a song I would opt to call roots music, with its typical lead guitar (sound) and rhythm suggesting endless trips down an I-something highway through the endless U.S. deserts.

I noticed that in both previous album reviews I mentioned Reb Fountain. Recently I found that both singers have more in common than just their style of making music and way of singing. Both released their first album relatively late in life. Both emigrated to New Zealand with their parents when young. This doesn't explain the similarities, striking it is.

The more surprising is a song like 'Jump In'. With a little imagination I can call it funky and bluesy. 'Jump In' has a great rhythm and goes for it in a totally different way than one would expect from a VanWyck song. Oele shows a different side to her musicality. It makes Dust Chaser more dimensional, so more varied and interesting. The mystery and beauty comes with a bite in 2024.

I have never seen VanWyck live. This is going to change in a few weeks. I have no idea what to expect, except that the music will take concentration from the listeners. If people start talking, it will be hell. Otherwise it may well be a mesmerising experience. On the basis of the three albums I know, expectations are high and because of Dust Chaser even higher.

Wout de Natris - van den Borght

You can listen to and order Dust Chaser here:

https://vanwyck.bandcamp.com/album/dust-chaser

2024, week 41. 10 singles

Is there any nice news left in the world? Yesterday I got the question whether the situation in NL and much of the rest of the world was bringing me down. Luckily, I could answer that I'm not that kind of person but yes, I'm seriously worried about many things (They all came together in this evening's 8 PM news: politics, war, weather/climate change.) Then we are going to make some music tonight, was the response, as we were on route to band practice last night. We rammed the hell out of 'Radar Love'! In the mean time life is made a little prettier by the 10 songs in this post. With a lot of new names as well, so enjoy!

Are You Live Here? EP. Iskander Moon

When does an EP stop being an EP? An interesting question, because with seven songs, each, minus the intro, clocking (well) above the four minutes I would opt for mini album. That said, Iskander Moon presents itself as an atmospheric live act. The songs were recorded live in the Funkhause studio in Berlin. A live album that is not a live show. Iskander Moon is the moniker Belgian (Ghent) singer-songwriter Iskander Moens releases his work under. Start listening to Are You Live Here? and you will be sucked into an atmospheric musical work, that will make you recall albums by the likes of Patrick Watson and City + Colour, all artists that work somewhere in between pop, ballads, atmospherics and mystery. You will hear traditional instruments for pop bands, but at some point a trumpet can come in like it does in a song like Soft Cell's 'Torch'. The instruments are played in a way that can mesmerise a listener, dreamy, floating, tense, yet relaxed. Iskander Moon is also not afraid to give a song body, like it happens in 'Berlin'. The tempo goes up. Drums and bass gain prominence and a guitar starts shredding. In 'Saturday Silence' the mood is brought down immediately, but as you will notice a spine in a song can return in a totally different way. There's no need for tempo or noise to do so. This band masters that expertly. For six songs Iskander Moon plays with the mood and responses of the listener and succeeds to do so with ease.

Library Girl. The Dogmatics

The Dogmatics, so I'm told, played in the Boston area in the 1980s before folding, after which members played in a host of other bands. Some recordings have surfaced recently on Rum Bar Records. Now decades later the band is back and shows that it hasn't lost any of its tricks. Library Girl starts with the kind of chord-riff that started 1000s of great rock songs. Library Girl is no exception. It's the kind of song that sounds almost familiar, one you want to sing along to, beer in one hand and fist in the air with the other hand. While your head is going up and down as if there's no tomorrow. Library Girl is the kind of rock song any fan of this kind of music should get to know to draw The Dogmatics out of the Boston circuit. Yes, Library Girl is that good, believe me.

First Time. Greg Mendez

What a story. A guitarist unable to use his right hand, turns to an electric organ and only plays it with his left hand. It results in one of the most bare songs I have heard for some time. It's just Greg Mendez' downcast, melancholy voice and the chords played on the organ. The only embellishment is literally a few single notes in the outro. Greg Mendez had released his debut album, that received good reviews and then fate struck. Mendez needed surgery on his wrist and could not play and preform for four months. The result is an upcoming EP, 'First Time / Alone' to be released on 18 October. An EP the world might never have heard, as it rose from a forced break from performing and guitar playing. The mood of the single reflects the down side of life Greg Mendez will have felt, after the twist of fate. The result is an intens, yet sweet single.

Summer Breeze. Black Doldrums

In the week before 'In Limerence' is released Black Doldrums is found on the blog for the third time. Summer Breeze is a song that combines the darkness of Joy Division with the light side of The Cure in its new single. And in a successful way. Singer (and guitarist) Kevin Gibbard has a dark voice with which he is able to return to the doom and gloom of the early to mid 80s with ease. When around him the rhythm guitar has this light sound, the sun starts to shine a little as well. There's a host of guitar overdubs and a synth adding to the atmosphere. The London trio, besides Gibbard, Sophie Landers on drums and new bassist Daniel Armstrong, creates a sound that is impossible to recreate on stage as a trio. That is for them to figure out. On Summer Breeze the band does a lot right, if not all. Black Doldrums manages to weave a little pop into its early 80s new wave sound. This makes Summer Breeze a very attractive song to listen to.

Orange Background. Crash Harmony

Orange Background is a nostalgic song in a few ways. To explain, I have to point out that Crash Harmony reformed after more than three decades after calling it a day in 1988, during the bandmembers' college days in New Haven, CT. The song is on the one hand a message from the then young men to their older selves today and it is musically a trip down memory lane to the music that was emerging on the U.S.' east coast at the time. Think The Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, etc. Crash Harmony obviously liked the bands at the time and still does. It brings good memories back for me as well and adds a song very much worthwhile hearing to a well-liked and known roster. Note also how Crash Harmony plays with the tempo within the song and its mood by adding an organ. Well done. So, Dave Derby, who can also be found on this blog as a member of Gramercy Arms, Nils Nadeau, Jon Nighswander and Mike Potenza came back together and now did record an album, so it may be the band with the longest wait for a debut album ever, 38 years. No One Asked For This' is out on 18 October.

See You Again. Jon Chesbro

Another new name to the blog Jon Chesbro is. See You Again is the lead single from his latest EP, 'Outta State Outta Mind', released on 25 September. See You Again is a dreamy single of the kind that allows you to travel in your mind, in the way Chesbro travelled around the United States, to come back to New England with a bunch of new songs in his bag. He starts the song with a lot of oohhs over the solid music, providing a dreamy vibe to See You Again from the start. I have reached the 0.50 second mark before the vocals starts. All the time there is a prominent drum part. Whoever is playing, Jon Chesbro is promoted as a multi-instrumentalist, he's having a great time. Even if it's a machine it obviously is. The musicality Chesbro is capable of, shows in the many guitar parts that both adorn and solidify See You Again. Beware, a new guitar part can come in any second. It makes for great listening.

Stay Strange. Then Comes Silence (with Goth Dad)

Now what can I call the music presented by Then Comes Silence on Stay Strange? It's rock, it has a metal edge, it is postpunk in the style of Killing Joke et al, maybe even goth. So, have your choice. What is clear that Stay Strange contains loads of energy that Then Comes Silence was able to capture in the studio and share with its fans and other listeners. On the single the Swedes are joined by Vision Video's frontman Dusty Gannon a.k.a. Goth Dad. The two singers really go for it but in the background it is guitarist Hugo Zombie and drummer Jonas Fransson that kick life into the song. That is not all though. There's a wild guitar intro and a bit mysterious interlude that gives the rock song a little psychedelic edge, before the song is kicked towards its end in full rock swing. On an average day a song like Stay Strange will be a bit much for me. On the right day it is all I need.

Motoroller. Pixies

I will probably have written this before but Pixies totally passed me by around 1990. It was a few years later before I became interested again in music  by new bands. That did not stop right up to today. Not so though in 1987 or 1988 when Pixies broke in the alternative rock world. In 2024 I am again listening to a new single by the band and I like it. Where fans of old may not like it at all, I love the way this single develops. The little darkness, the voice of new bassist Emma Richardson of (or ex?) Band of Skulls. Boy did I love that band's 'Diamonds and Pearls'! The chorus of Motoroller is simply so great. The lead guitar underneath it. Black Francis taking his voice down and Emma Richardson challenging him for the whole of the way. There's an album announced for 25 October, 'The Night The Zombies Came'. It may well be that for the first time I have to check a Pixies album out.

If God Is A Woman. Larkin Poe

Time for some dirty, low down electric blues. Larking Poe returns to the blog with a great blues rock song. The sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell are on route to release their ninth album, 'Bloom' on 25 January since 2014. With If God Was A Woman the tone is set for some dirty blues rock. Dark distortion and a wining, even darker slide guitar say it all. God help us men if Larking Poe is right that if God is a woman, the devil is too, turns out to be true. "I will pray for you", Rebecca sings. It's better to be an atheist, just to be sure. Musically you will have heard it all before, from artists and bands like Stevie Ray Vaughan or Heart, but who cares when it sounds as good as If God Is A Woman does. Larking Poe, the name of the sisters' great-great-great-great-grandfather and cousin of Edgar Allan Poe, is smoking on this song and I have no doubt 'Bloom' will as well.

I Don’t Know What To Save. Sophie Jameson

We end this week's singles post with a very serious song by British singer Sophie Jamieson. You can find her on this blog with her album 'Choosing' in a review written by Erwin Zijleman. For me she is a new name though. I have to say that I'm impressed by the way she builds up I Don’t Know What To Save. With her voice that is somewhere between deep and higher, she commands listening. Jamieson sings with a lot of emphasis stemming from the use of her voice. Always in full control of the words. Musically, the song contains great dynamics, including beautiful details. In the small parts, the music is very elementary. Like in the intro, where only an electric guitar accompanies her voice. A short interlude brings solo notes from a second guitar. After the second verse slowly but surely more instruments come in, including a string section. Then drums and bass kick in, giving the song a boost, that is reflected by the singing. Beautiful melodies adorn the music and I Don’t Know What To Save just grows and grows. The album ' I Still Want To Share' will be released on 17 January.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght