Kairos #125, January 2021

The number of Kairosses slowly grow, our Wo. is still a quarter of a year behind. Is that important? Not really, as he shares his inner most experiences with you on an individual episode of the programme .No makes for Concertzender. It's on the Internet perhaps for forever, so what is a month in the face of infinity? Kairos subjects Wo. to music that he's not subjected to on a daily basis. Except in those instances where the influence of the Blog comes together in writing and radio. Where the twain do meet, so to say. Continue reading and you will find out what happened in the next hour.

The familiar notes and the dark, pleasant voice announcing Kairos come to me through my computer box speakers. I find myself bracing for another musical adventure. Let's go.

A wave of synthesizers roll over me and a female voice speaking a Slavic language speaks to me in a language I don't understand, except for the world Hollanda. This is about me, as a citizen, I rejoice. The voice changes to Dutch, a story about war, dark colours. The music has nothing to do with the story, I read in the playlist. The music is Blear Moon's 'Winter Journal'. Long held notes on a synthesizer. The story is a recording of Richard Bolhuis and Hybrid Agency called 'Ongehoorde verhalen' (Unheard Stories). Ninar is telling her life's story about a war and the longing for what once was had to be left behind. Only memories remain. The mix is quite impressive, as Blear Moon's music is a presence, almost an entity. There may even be a female ghost voice looped into the music. Blear Moon reminds me of that weird movie 'The Blair Witch Project'.

The music changes to a more upbeat instrument. A harp? I don't know. The Estonian duo Maarja Nuut and Ruum return to Kairos. The violinist plays a basic theme over which she starts singing, with intervals. More a recital of tones that a melody at first. Like the violin notes being repeated over and over, so the voice repeats. In the background waves hitting the beach sound. In the atmospheric singing with loads of echo added, slowly but surely vocal melodies as stapled. I'm reminded of Celtic music, let's say Enya for the ease of an example. The melody is taken over by other instruments. I take it Ruum is at work now in 'Mahe'. I find myself slowly but surely moving into the layers of music, able "to walk" around in there.

Another story starts. Johnny tells that he is not always feeling good. He only shows the good side of himself to the world. When he does not feel good, he leaves. Behind him there's music, a little chaotic Johnny announces silence in his words, that Kairos reflects. It was quiet for a few seconds!

Maarja Nuut returns with her voiced looping different backgrounds before the lead melody starts. Sung with a high voice she sings in her Estonian language, I suppose. 'Kurb Laulik' from there moves into a plucked violin sequence. Slowly grown more and more, layer for layer. The voices replaced by a bass sound. Beautifully done with a magical folk like element, not unlike Norwegian singer Susanna. Do the dark, estranging sounds belong or are they mixed in? I do not know.

An acoustic guitar comes in joined by a second one. The slow melody slowly grows with some atmospherics in the background. Michael Tanner & Sharron Kraus play 'Valley4'. The poem of this month is by Jan Kleefstra, read out after which 'Valley 4' continues its meandering melody. The atmospherics in the background could be a meandering brook in a forest. Slowly but surely carrying the water to a lower point. Never in a hurry but certainly adhering to the laws of nature. The next story is about a person who walks the route to work for 20 years, never seeing, again by Johnny. Tanner and Kraus wind up soon.

They are replaced by dark sounds, changing the mood less then perhaps expected as the mood wasn't joyful already. It is only that the dark piano notes stress the darkness a little more. It becomes more obvious, not much darker. Moonchy & Tobias return to Kairos. 'Dum' is actually quite interesting and nice. Nothing like I remember the whole album to be. Moonchy's voice got in my hair quite soon there. Here it is absolutely beautiful, while the dark music underscores the deeper shade of her voice. 'Dum' is a song deserving to be heard.

From Tiny Room Records it's only a small step to Snowstar Records. It becomes even better. Label owner Stefan Breuer played bass in I Am Oak for several years. The Corona album, where I Am Oak rerecorded 50 songs, for having something to do in the first lockdown, called 'Odd Seeds' is a beautiful album. You can find my review somewhere late last year on the blog. 'Clavicles' is a nice, small song, just keyboard and Thijs Kuijken's voice with loads of echo on it. It simply works. A review can be that simple and still fully justified.

A piano takes over. Slowly tinkering away over a bass progression. It is SYML with 'In Between Breaths'. One of the many albums released in the past two years, where a pianist plays romantic, neoclassical pieces, alone or with more accompaniment. In this context I notice that it is relaxing to listen, so it works.

The lightness of 'In Between Breaths' disappears instantly. The dark side is moving in once more. Long held, dark notes hover into my room. Creaking doors and floor boards, a voice of the devil is all that is missing here. What to make of this? Let me call it intriguing.

There's no time to linger on my thoughts too long, as the next song comes in already. Piiptsjilling's 'Unkrûd' is slowly playing itself out. What is it I'm hearing? Extremely long held notes coming from a ...? I do not know. I suppose some sort of synthesizer or a singing saw. That's another option. A female voice sings notes, a male voice recites a poem on weeds, the translation of the title by the way. Ah, I hear an electric guitar playing a few isolated notes. Unkrûd is experimental but also quite listenable. It is also exciting in a way as it's unpredictable when something is added to this form of minimal music.

When a choir is added, I know .No is mixing away. First dark male voices than the ladies come in. A John Cage composition from the Rothko Chapel album. It's been a while since we heard this on Kairos and I welcome its return. Like a chapel or church has, the choir singing has an effect on my mental composition. A sort of rest and awe come over me while I listen to small nuances in the vocal melody. I do wander whether it is gratifying for the choir members to sing Cage. The members or perhaps better, sections of the choir are used to produce sounds, monotonous sounds and not nice flowing melodies. On the other hand, they do sing Cage and are on record. So perhaps it's honourable to be involved in this experimental choir music. Personally I prefer playing in a band, singing pop, blues and rock tunes from a while back.

Dark tones on an organ, long held once again, are added before the choir is slowly faded out. Stars of the Lid is the name of the band or artist. The music clearly fits this Kairos. It was January, the darkest month and music like this belongs there and not in the ever lighter evenings of April. That is my fault of course. A matter of keeping up. A piano moves into the long held notes. Beware folks. If you thought that only the DeWaele brothers can do successful mash ups, listen to .No. He's mixing Stars of the Lid's 'Don't Bother They're Here' with SYML's 'Where We Landed' and not much later with Olafur Arnalds' 'Frá Upphafi'. The listener is treated to something that does not exist in the real world outside of Kairos. It takes a tremendously good set of ears and the dedication to actually do something with the connections .No hears in his head. I have to say it works. The dark piano notes blend into the dark, moody sounds behind it.

This composition of Arnald is another estranging affair, seemingly announcing danger or evil. I kind help thinking of that Medieval clad devil monster in the first episodes of the Netflix serie 'The Irregulars'. I haven't watched further yet, so don't ask me what comes next.

All in all this was a dark Kairos, matching the time of year. Also a Kairos that allows one to think and take the time to do so. To contemplate what I was hearing. It's almost one hour later and I am listening to the slow piano and violins of Olafur Arnalds' 'Lokaðu Augunum' and feeling quite alright.

Wo.

Here's the link to the Kairos show:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_588697/ 

 

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g
 

This is the Playlist:

00:13 – 07:34  Blear Moon. Winter Journal.
EP ‘Winter Journal’. ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ Records (Pantheon).

00:18 – 00:27  Richard Bolhuis/Hybrid Agency. Ninar (fragment).  Ongehoorde verhalen: https://hybridagency.bandcamp.com/album/ongehoorde-verhalen.

01:14 – 02:05  Richard Bolhuis/Hybrid Agency. Ninar (fragment).  Ongehoorde verhalen: https://hybridagency.bandcamp.com/album/ongehoorde-verhalen.

03:14 – 04:23  Richard Bolhuis/Hybrid Agency. Ninar (fragment).  Ongehoorde verhalen: https://hybridagency.bandcamp.com/album/ongehoorde-verhalen.

07:20 – 08:04  Richard Bolhuis/Hybrid Agency. Ninar (fragment).  Ongehoorde verhalen: https://hybridagency.bandcamp.com/album/ongehoorde-verhalen.

07:48 – 12:47  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Mahe. Album Muunduja. 130701 Lt. CD13-30P.

12:29 – 14:52  Richard Bolhuis/Hybrid Agency. Johnny (fragment). Ongehoorde verhalen: https://hybridagency.bandcamp.com/album/ongehoorde-verhalen.

14:50 – 18:57  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Kurb Laulik.
Album Muunduja. 130701 Lt. CD13-30P.

18:36 – 23:50  Michael Tanner& Sharron Kraus. Valley4 (slightly altered by Wino Penris).
Album “In the Rheidol Valley”. Morctapes.

18:46 – 18:54  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Kurb Laulik (fragment).
Album Muunduja. 130701 Lt. CD13-30P.

18:54 – 18:57  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Kurb Laulik (fragment).
Album Muunduja. 130701 Lt. CD13-30P.

20:07 – 20:39  Poem by Jan Kleefstra from his collection ‘Verlegen land’. 

22:11 – 22:44  Richard Bolhuis/Hybrid Agency. Johnny (fragment). Ongehoorde verhalen: https://hybridagency.bandcamp.com/album/ongehoorde-verhalen.

23:38 – 26:46  Moonchy & Tobias. Dum.
Album ‘Moonchy & Tobias III. Tiny Room Records.

26:26 – 29:48  I Am Oak. Clavicles. Album ‘Odd Seeds’. Snowstar Records.

29:38 – 33:02  SYML. In between breaths. EP ‘You Knew It Was Me’. V2 Records. 

32:36 – 34:19  Akasha Project. Quantality Part 2 (fragment).
Album ‘H2 the Quantum Music of Hydrogen’. Klangwirkstoff Records ‎– KW005.

33:55 – 40:15  Piiptsjilling. Unkrûd. Album ‘Wurdskrieme’. Mariska Baars, Romke Kleefstra, Rutger Zuydervelt. Poem: Jan Kleefstra. Expermedia XPCD012.

39:21 – 45:50  John Cage. Four2. Huston Chamber Choir.
Album ‘Rothko Chapel’. ECM New Series 2378 4811796.

45:22 – 55:33  Stars of the Lid. Don’t bother they’re here.
Album ‘And their Refinement of the Decline’. Krank 100.

49:06 – 53:41  SYML. Where we landed. EP ‘You Knew It Was Me’. V2 Records.

54:58 – 56:45  Olafur Arnalds. Frá upphafi.
Album ‘Dyad 1909’. Erased Tapes Records eratp19 cd.

56:45 – 59:57  Olafur Arnalds. Lokaðu Augunum – Dyad 1909 Version (fade out).
Album ‘Dyad 1909’. Erased Tapes Records eratp19 cd.