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Kaleidoskophimmel. Kaizers Orchestra
What?!
Yes!!!!! A new song by one of my favourite bands of the 21st century
ever. In 2013 I was ill and gave away my ticket to a friend of my son.
He came back home saying "this was a farewell show". The band had gone
out with a bang. Three 'Violeta' albums in about a year, the one even better
than the other. And now Kaleidoskophimmel. A short, just two minutes
long song, that tells about all Kaizers Orchestra is capable of. A great
melody, loads of melancholy, great singing and a great arrangement. No,
like always I have no idea what Jan Ove Ottensen is singing about. It
doesn't matter what he means by a kaleidoscopic heaven. The music and
melody tells all. Like always. The band has not changed its line up.
Ottensen is grey, like me, his voice has its power. My only fear is that
this is a one off, as the band fades out of view totally during the
last part of the video. Don't worry, there's an album on the way and a
show in March. Count me in, please, this time. Kaleidoskophimmel is
utter musical beauty.
Pom
has a subscription to this blog it seems and Together We Go is no
exception. The Amsterdam band on a Rotterdam label, yes, in music
everything's possible, will release its debut album in November. This is
the first single and Pom manoeuvres itself nicely in the alternative
pop niche, with a very obvious nod to the, until recently, ubiquitous
Wet Leg. Together We Go has that brightness and great pop feel without
making any concessions to the alternative rock roots. The Beths come to
mind as well, just like Personal Trainer from Amsterdam. Pom takes it
own enthusiasm to the record and the result is a song that makes you
jump up and down, in the living room, the venues and the festivals this
summer. Infectuous Together We Go is.
I
would almost call this a church song. Amber has nothing to do with the
church or a church theme. Maria BC sings about a very personal
experience in relation to another person, called Amber. No, it is the
almost sacred atmosphere of the music and the deeply sensitive way of
singing that excludes, somehow, all profane thoughts. Maria BC is from
the Bay Area and about to release her second album, 'Spike Field' (20
October). Over an acoustic guitar, recorded with quite some echo options
around it, they sing with their serious voice. Underneath there are
some piano notes and chords and what I would call atmospheric sounds,
sometimes recognisable, sometimes more misty. It's a made-up bed where
Maria BC feels at home, totally. Whether I'm able to sit through a whole
album of them, I cannot tell yet. Amber is impressive though and very
much worth while listening to.
Liz
Pearson may well have the premiere on this blog of a fully a capella
song. Birds In The Spring is a traditional folksong from the U.K. The
song is released in the late summer because of the release of a
documentary film called 'The Nettle Dress', in which it features as the
only song. We have met Liz Pearson before as the singer of Chalk Horse
Music, a project that revives old folk songs in a modern setting. Here
you will only hear Liz Pearson. Twice actually, as she harmonises with
herself throughout Birds In The Spring. The result is a beautiful song
that does not need any instruments to convince. Her pleasant voice is
more than enough to please. Clear, pleasant and soothing. In Birds In
The Spring it is all you need for a full experience.
More
music from Groningen, released on the Subroutine Records label. The
double a-side single, limited as 7", is the band's third release. Schau
Schau is, I presume, a reference to the Hamburg life of The Beatles
where the owner of the obscure, no doubt seedy, club they played ordered the five young
men to "macht schau, macht schau". Musically the two are not related in any
way, except that they make and perform music and release it. Schau Schau
plays alternative rock. Wants is slightly more alternative than Social
Skills. Its rhythm is more complex with the suggestion of stop-starting
the whole time, over which a light psychedelic sauce is spread. Social
Skills is more of an alternative The Byrds track. Not that the
folky-hippies were able to contemplate a rhythm like Schau Schau's, the
psychedelics are straight out of the 'Eight Miles High' songbook. I have
never heard the band's the previous releases. This introduction is quite
alright. This band has potential.
Dutch
band's do influence each other. Dreamers could be a Direct song in my
ears. With one difference. I'm usually indifferent to Direct and am a
Blaudzun fan for over a decade now. Dreamers delivers exactly what the
title promises. The song is exquisitely dreamy. Directly recognisable as
a Blaudzun song and yet, with a much lighter touch. The central riff
sounds like a sampled whistle, supported by lightly touched piano notes,
until the solo that is played on a piano. Years ago I wrote something
like "world beware, here's Blaudzun". The world does not seem to have
heeded my message at all. Their bad, without doubt. The same goes for
Dreamers. The song is just so nice and listening to it once is enough to
never lose it again. The question is: who convinces the rest of the
world?
Had
the band's name been Dropkick Murphys, I might just have believed it.
Bread & Roses is a traditional song turned punkrocker like Boston
finest Irish punk band are famous for. Already Dead is quite alive
considering its name. The band revives a song written in support of a
1912 strike in the town of Lawrence in Massachusetts. What makes these
punked up traditional so much fun to listen to? I have asked myself that
question a few times over the years. The original (folk) songs I
don't like, while I certainly do not appreciate all forms of punk
either. The combination though is often like shining gold. The answer
may lie in the recognisability of the folk tunes and the energy the punk
brings. Together there is only one thing left to do: sing along and
dance/jump around. No matter how sad and serious the 1912 origin and inspiration of
Bread & Roses was, in 2023 singing and dancing is what is left of the
bad conditions the factory workers had to endure over a century ago. Some of
their children may still be alive, but even they are fading away. The
song is what remains of the hardships, so sing it loud and proud, in commemoration of all striking today for better wages and climate.
With
Alright Alright Ghost Woman works towards the release of its third
album in about 18 months. The previous two were on my longlist but
never made it to this blog, i.e. a review by yours truly. Two singles
did and here's the third. In the meantime Ghost Woman evolved from a one
man project to a duo. With co-writer and drummer Ille van Dessel on
board, the band is now Canadian, Evan Uschenko and Belgian. This song is
darkness incarnated but also a mix of 60s surf, a little Link Wray and
1980s postpunk. Musically this is 100% Cari Cari. The Austrian duo excels
in this kind of music for a few years already. Ghost Woman adds darkness
to that mix and gets away with it fully. The final component is a hint
of psychedelia in the style of The Black Angels. Alright Alright is the
correct title for the single.
What
to do, write or discard? It was a close one for Loneliness. So what
convinced me to write? The better argument is the warmth of the song.
The less good, that I thought it would be good to add a ballad to the
whole. Back to the warmth. This is what a better Snow Patrol song could
sound like, if that band didn't adhere to its urge to fill every single song with empty
pathos. Bear's Den just plays everything a bit louder without resorting to empty
loudness. The voice remains warm and searching. The drums give the song
body and the trumpets a little playfulness. "I thought I was over this
shit, but I'm not", is the conclusion of Loneliness. The world can be
glad Bear's Den never got over it, as we would not have heard the song, would we?
From a piano the song is built up until it has a huge sound, without
screaming guitars, without whole string sections, large choirs singing nor huge cymbal crashing.
Loneliness does it all by itself. So, now you know why I decided to
write.
With Living With The Moon, Léanie Kaleido, Karamelien's singer and songwriter, in a way rewrote Dave Edmund's famous lyric "From small things, one day big things come". She turned it into from bad things one day good things come. Kaleido wrote the lyrics after a bout with depression. Near the end of her sessions, her therapist said to her: "it's like living with the moon". And that provided the title and basis what Léanie Kaleido used to write her new single. Living With The Moon is an upbeat song, with a beautiful chorus, that has a bittersweet edge giving the song a little extra. A little light and a little shade. Kaleido plays most instruments. Bandmember Mark Foster plays nearly all guitars. Lee Pomeroy adds the bass. Once again Karamelien convinces me totally with a new song. The duo deserves to be heard more widely than it is.
Today I learned that the Japanese see a hare with a hammer crunching rice on the moon's surface. Something to look forward to to discover with the next fool moon.
Wout de Natris
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