.No's December 2015 Kairos on Concertzender

Each month Concertzender broadcasts a radio program called 'Kairos'. This program is made by .No, Wo's partner in WoNo Magazine. As their musical tastes are not exactly matching, Wo. challenges himself and listens to the Kairos broadcasts and shares his opinions, thoughts, ideas, feelings and stories. Sometimes it is a pleasure to listen, other shows he has an extremely hard time. Due to several complications, mostly to do with things he does during the day, work, he is rather behind on the listening schedule, but that is not really of importance. That, dear listener,is Kairos it self. Here are his thoughts on the December show.

The show starts with a song from my own collection, what a surprise! Yes, I can divulge here that I tipped .No about Sophie Hunger and now we are both fans. 'Le Vent Nous Portera' is a song from one of her older albums, from before I knew she existed, which started in 2012. The song is a cover of Noir Désir. And now it gets interesting. It is not every day that a song is played on Kairos written by a convicted murderer. The song is from before this deed, so technically it was not written by a murderer, a wife slayer even. I would have wished Bertrand Cantat some Kairos at the time in that Baltic hotel room.

The story takes rather away from the beautiful playing and singing of Sophie Hunger. It holds one of the elements that makes her music so magical: the flügelhorn. Not exactly an instrument that I run into when listening to "pop music", but one that I love hearing when listening to Ms. Hunger.

The moody, dusky song morphs into what? Sounds? That is the best description. Sounds like waves on the beach roll over my ears. With some suggestions at under water sounds as well. Interesting to learn that they're are cd on which the creator of the music does not identify himself. A cd, from a drugstore retailchain, called 'Dance Of The Wind'. This works well as intro for Broeder Dieleman, who we can call a Kairos veteran by now. His song on the furthest darkness, 'Adriana', about someone who never saw the light. His most elementary music has such a large effect. A song that would have fit 100% on 'Gaaphonger', De Kift's album about the winter on Nova Zembla. 'Adriana' is eerie, ghostly, but above all shatteringly good.

'Carrion' by Orcas is a song where there is neither light nor hope. It is all atmosphere, but the melody is caught so beautifully in the vocals. If Snowstar Records hasn't heard this record yet, it should do so soon. Based on this song it is easy to hear how the band would fit in there. The sounds wash over the vocal melody and again I'm reminded of waves. There may officially be no theme this time around, it seems like I found one.

'Carrion' disappears into the piano of Dustin O'Halloran. (An excerpt of?) his Opus 7 is presented. He catches me immediately. The mood is set by all that went before and I can only listen in awe. I close my eyes and let the music carry me to wherever it wants to go. So beautiful. It could have gone on much longer as far as I'm concerned, but I awake from my reverie with a classical guitar or charango. Jean-Pierre Jolicard plays Jorge Michberg's 'Cora Se Durmio. Another piece of music that is so modestly uplifting that closing my eyes is sufficient to enjoy what is going on here.

Luik is another Snowstar Records band and has passed a few times before on Kairos. 'Spleen' is almost a non-song. There's is so much atmosphere that the song almost disappears in the long-held notes. In the guitar there is a hint at Mike Oldfield in the very soft pieces of 'Tubular Bells'. The music is so soft, so modest, so not present that it is hard to concentrate on 'Spleen'. I'm not sure what Luik wants to achieve with this song, but forcing to concentrate is surely one possibility. If I wouldn't do that there would be nothing left. So point taken, but a little more life would be welcome.

King Karoshi is a band from Canada that I was introduced to by Vancouver, Canada based singer Nathalie Ramsay. "I used to play with Patrick when I was living in Montreal", she wrote to me. I got into contact and now have two EPs in my possession. This song, 'Here's To Us' is from the latest EP called 'Catching Echoes' that was released in 2015 and reviewed on this blog. Compared to 'Spleen' there is just these more accents in the otherwise also extremely quiet song. (Leaving the singing aside.) Again keyboards wash over me, as do the accents on the cymbals. The lead notes on the guitar make all the difference and make 'Here's To Us' come alive totally.

'Bourgeois Blues' is up next. This song from long ago, gets a very electric treatment. A dirty guitar is accompanied by an instrument that I never heard in blues before: a clarinet. Xavier Charles does things to the woodwind that it was probably not invented for, but who cares. All sorts of effects are applied to it to great effect. Sometimes it is unrecognisable. This song in a way is also empty, but in another totally filled. The atmosphere is nothing like the Ry Cooder version I know, not the part of town Charles and De Boer are in, which is suggesting more of the throat slashing variety. Listening how dirty the song is played, it spells danger the whole way. 'Bourgeois Blues' is a pleasant surprise.

Next up is more atmosphere coming from an album called 'Time Elapsing Handheld'. A bit pretentious? Certainly, but something needs a name, so why not this one? Emanuele Errante's 'Memoirs' is like a Dada painting. Cut up techniques, different materials, all pasted, painted and glued together. Instruments pop up, disappear, return, fade away. Like a Dada painting it is not easy to make something of this work. I simply miss a few handles in this composition to steady myself with and find my way in from there. If I cut away the guitars, there is this rolling keyboard sound, again, and crickets filling the warm night air. Nine long minutes I sit through 'Memoirs'.

'Giardini di Mirò's 'XXXXX' is the next composition. An electric guitar full of echo, plays a few beautiful notes and chords and is the perfect intro for my absolute hero: Jeff Buckley. 'Dream Brother' has a lead guitar that fits so very well with 'XXXXX', that at first I thought I was listening to a version that I didn't yet know. What can I write about Saint Jeff that I haven't written yet? That I'm moved to tears again, just listening to him? About all the music that we were robbed of when he drowned in that Mississippi river in 1997? Is it 19 years ago this May? Yes, it is. He would have turned 50 this summer. Forgotten? World famous? We will never know. 'Dream Brother is one of his fine songs, full of mystery. Led Zeppelin at heart, sprinkled with the Buckley fairy dust.

Dustin O'Halloran is allowed to return. This time with a 'Minuet For A Cheap Piano Number Two'. I think I can hear that the piano is not exactly sounding very clear. Adam Bryanbaum Wiltze is hired to cover up and produces the finest of sounds.

The English Chamber Orchestra plays a Gavin Bryars composition for cello called 'Farewell To Philosophy'. Dark, moody, befitting the death scene of Socrates, which turned out not to be the end of philosophy after all. Personally this music works rather well. It does not invite thinking nor do I encounter a lot of images. Closing my eyes is enough as I do hear the beauty. .No got me into a very special mood this show. I can already say my favourite to date, which is not really fair as I had a rather, though indirect, big hand in this one. Inspiration by writing?

Broeder Dieleman also returns, this time with 'Zusterstraat' of his album 'Gloria'. It is announced by them birds that weave into the cellos. The raw beauty of Dieleman's violin stands in no contrast to what the English Chamber Orchestra played. There's no comparison of course.

Then a jazzy guitar cuts in and a band starts playing that I have not played since the late 80s is my guess. Paul Weller's familiar voice cuts in and this must be The Style Council. A song in which Mick Talbot is not in sight. 'The Whole Point Of No Return' is small, lovely and unpresumptuous. A perfect ending to a perfect Kairos.

Wo.

You can listen to this Kairos here:

http://www.concertzender.nl/programmagids/?date=2015-12-03&month=0&detail=82250

This is the "setlist":

00:13  Bertrand Cantat (tevens tekst), Denis Barthe, Jean-Paul Roy, Serge Teyssot-Gay. Le vent nous portera.
Van het album 1983 van Sophie Hunger. Two Gentleman, twogtl 009-J.
03:49  Onbekend. Dance of the wind.
Van cd ‘stretching meditation’. Kruidvat 99394
05:16  Broeder Dieleman. Adriana. Broeder Dieleman (Pim van de Werken, Adam Casey, Ersha Sollgar, Janine van Osta, Tonnie Dieleman).
Album: Gloria. Snowstar Records 14-056.
09:46  Orcas (Benoît Pioulard en Rafael Anton Irisarri). Carrion.
Van album Orcas. Morr Music morr 111-cd.
14:43  Dustin O’Halloran. Opus 7. Dustin O’Halloran, piano.
Van het album Vorleben. Fat Cat 130701.
17:55  Jorge Milchberg. Cora se Durmio. Jean-Pierre Jolicard, charango.
Van album Amtasiña van Jean-Pierre Jolicard. CD uitgegeven in eigen beheer.
20:35  Lukas Dikker. Spleen. Van album Owls van Luik. Snowstar Records
25:45  King karoshi (tekst: Patrick Dunphy). Here’sto us. King Karoshi (Rémi Denis, Patrick Dunphy, Alexy Guérer, Antoine Poliquin).
Van de EP ‘catching Echoes’.
28:31  Zea & Xavier Charles. Bourgeois Blues.
Van de single: Bourgeois Blues 7″. Arnold de Boer, gitaar; Xavier Charles, klarinet. Makkum Records MR5.
31:53  Emanuele Errante. Memoirs.
Van het album: Time Elapsing Handheld. Karaoke Kalk CD 75.
40:50  Giardini di Mirò. XXXXX. Giardini di Mirò (Jukka Reverberi, Corrado Nuccini, Luca Di Mira, Mirko Venturelli, Emanuele Reverberi, Andrea Mancin).
Van het album Il Fuoco. Towerblock CD 048
41:42  J.Buckley, M. Grondah, m. Johnson. Dream Brother.
Van album Grace van Jeff Buckley. Sony Music/Columbia 88697995712.
46:59  Dustin O’Halloran en Adam Bryanbaum Wiltze. Minuet for a cheap piano number two. 3:09. Dustin O’Halloran en Adam Bryanbaum Wiltze. Album ‘A Winged Victory for the Sullen. Erased Tape Records ERATP032CD
49:57  Gavin Bryars Poco Meno Mosso uit Cello Concerto (Farewell to Philosophy).
English Chamber Orchestra olv. James Budd; Julian Lloyd Webber, cello.
PHILIPS 473 296-2 PM2.
55:44  Broeder Dieleman. Zusterstraat.
Broeder Dieleman (Pim van de Werken, Adam Casey, Ersha Sollgar, Janine van Osta, Tonnie Dieleman).
Album: Gloria. Snowstar Records 14-056.
57:16  Paul Weller. The whole point of no return. The Style Council.
Van album Café Blue. Polydor 817 535-2.