Entrainment. Enclosed & Silent Order

Run a blog for several years and more and more artists, labels, promoters, etc., find me and invite me to listen to records. Of course, it is impossible to keep up with and many pass me by. I can't even apologise for it. It is what it is. When someone new comes by, I always give it try and somewhere before the summer I received an email from Stafford Glover inviting me to listen to the single from his, then, upcoming album Entrainment. I did and was introduced to a musical world that is far removed from what I normally tend to listen to but came out surprised.

Enclosed & Silent Order is the name under which Glover releases his records and it is partially true. He does not sing himself, but on two songs or better compositions the silence of the order is broken by vocal deliveries. The music breaks through any wall, door or gate anyway. The sound is, often, huge and played at the intended level, earsplitting.

What to call the music? I think it may get the moniker post rock. The only music I've once heard live coming close to Entrainment, was at A Place To Bury Strangers show at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. Still, that is not right, as Stafford does not rock, does not use huge drums and above all does not use guitars. And that surprised me. Listening to the sound on Entrainment, my guess was hearing heavily distorted guitars, so distorted that the sound is on the verge of falling apart, like dust caught in the light swirling in all directions with the movement of air.

According to the Bandcamp page what I hear are all synthesizers, no doubt heavily treated by effect pedals. A trumpet can come through the haze, a piano or organ, they hardly make the mood lighter. Enclosed & Silent Order is not one to let the light in easily. Darkness prevails but its alright. Light does not belong here. Colours something to be shunned as much as possible. Even tints of grey are dubious.

And then comes the almost modern classical 'No Darkness'. Don't go in search of light though. Go in search of space. Between the over and over repeated piano notes, dark(er) notes of course, there is so much space. Filled by the lingering sound of the notes played but also other sounds and the voice of Amy McKenna, somewhere between an apparition and an angel. 'No Darkness' is the kind of song that can put me into a trance. The question is how big is the scare with the next composition. 'No Darkness' is a track for the 'Kairos' show on Concertzender alright.

Next up, is an undefinable sound, emulating a steamtrain slowly gathering speed, I'd say. A looped sound that is going faster and faster. Nothing to get scared of. It is more a sound experiment than composition. 'Broomway, 5AM' last far beyond ten minutes and moves slowly but surely into almost a pop track. Air on a dark trip, instead of a sunny Club Med one.

Enclosed & Silent Order takes the listener through several surprises. If the noise of 'Purity / Penence' was not made by an electric guitar, effects and amps, then how did Stafford get this sound? Even the artwork surprises. At face value it looks like an electronically made work of art. It is a painting by Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach called 'The Fairy Dance' from 1895.

Having listened to Kairos for years, I have gotten used to listen to atmospheric works that sometimes go beyond what I call music. That helped when I exposed myself to Entrainment. My ears were trained as it were. Enclosed & Silent Order in several pieces moves far beyond the works on Kairos. It is what I decide to call the metal version of soundscapes, while at the same time there is a melody to be found in most works. And finally, there is 'No Darkness'. Impressive and surprising this album is.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Entrainment here:

https://enclosedandsilentorder.bandcamp.com/album/entrainment

Soon. Soon

With the pre-released track Komodo Dragon Soon was found on this blog for the first time. The long, instrumental track struck me with awe and fear at the same time. The music was adventurous, yet unrelenting. Beautiful and ugly, pleasant and overwhelming. So many contrasts and all within minutes. What was lying in front of me when the album dropped on my doormat? I'll admit not daring to put it on straight away and certainly not when my beloved is in the house. 'So, where are you with the album?', you might be inclined ask.

Soon is a duo. Guitarist Liú Mottes, and also a member of Blue Crime and Slow Worries and "interdisciplinairy soundmagician" Jochem van Tol. Together they must have decided to explore their extremes and at times found the middle road in a track resembling a song. The result is the album 'Soon', a musical adventure that demands a truckload from its listeners, but nothing so extreme that listening becomes unbearable. In my case that's easily foreseeable with music like this.

The first album of this kind I ever heard was Absolute Elsewhere's 'In Search Of Ancient Gods' based on the books by Erich von Deniken. For a long time it was the only album I ever heard in its kind. Then I was exposed to Kairos, the radio programme on Concertzender and the soundscapes there certainly prepared me for 'Soon'. In fact, it is quite easy to digest and even enjoy.

'Soon' opens with soundscapes in 'Winter Swells'. More non-music than music in the traditional sense. 'Winter Swells' is an exploration in sounds and pulses, somehow presented as music, as there are sounds and I can listen to it. 'Twilight' is a combination of sounds and a song structure. Soon found several beautiful melodies, together making up a composition. It could be a movie soundtrack but one that is fine to listen to without the music. At some point the drums kick in, only to truly set the mood in the next song, 'Wollomi Pine'. For the first time a loud, somewhat distorted guitar takes the lead, with Mottes exploring her instrument and effect pedals in a predominant way. Soon moves into postrock territory here. The, again, instrumental track takes the listener along through different moods, including a 'Tubular Bells' like sequence. With a very basic bass guitar playing one note repeatedly, relentlessly even, at a time, until a chord change comes and another note is played over and over. 'Wollomi Pine' takes 7 and a half minute and is not one second too long. A lot happens in the composition, including weird sounds and effects near the end.

With 'Pool' the exasperated listener is offered a dreamy song. A very alternative version of Donna Blue. Mottes' singing style and echo on her voice resembles Danique van Kesteren's. The song is too restless to be called a point of rest in the traditional sense. As everything is relative, 'Pool' is that point of rest in the middle of 'Soon', together with 'Minimal'. Expect looped sounds before the mood goes down and a more dreamy song unfolds. It is spiked with sounds and treated conversation. Absolute Elsewhere for the 21st century 'Minimal' is. Again, 'Minimal' is far from a conventional song, but it totally captures me. Liú Mottes and Jochem van Tol created something special here.

Those who needed had their rest, all others are more than ready to dive into 'Cleopatra'. The guitar is distorted close to the point of the sound falling apart. Van Tol is working his keyboards, in a very slow way. Where the guitar was going out of bounds, the keyboards only plays slow notes. The difference is estranging and at times hard to connect to.

Soon is a project. On the face of it, the project certainly succeeded. With its album the duo fascinates from beginning to end. 'Soon' is full of surprises, just like I expected, but never for a moment I have the inclination to run away. When with 'T'iju T'iju' it tends to become too much, I know that 'Komodo Dragon' will soon come. On average, I'm mesmerised by the twist and turns taken, surprised many a time and yes, at times exasperated. The question does remain: when to play 'Soon'? On the other hand my beloved has surprised me several times with what she indicated to like. So who knows?

Wout de Natris

Wende live. Zaterdag 31 augustus 2019, Nazomer Festival Middelburg

Foto: Wo.

"Ik heb kaartjes voor een festival, maar ik kan niet. Hebben jullie zin om te gaan'? Dat was de vraag die wij ergens voor de zomer kregen. Eerlijk gezegd dachten we dat het een festival was dat de hele dag zou duren, dus er stonden flink wat uren geblokt in de agenda. De opzet van het Nazomer Festival bleek iets anders in elkaar te steken. Iedere avond treedt er een artiest op op het Abdijplein van Middelburg. Dus in plaats van een hele dag, hoefden wij pas om 21 uur present te zijn in Middelburg. Daarnaast schijnt er nog veel meer te gebeuren op andere locaties, lieten wij ons vertellen later.

En wie ging ik eigenlijk bekijken? (Ik mocht mee en had mij totaal niet verdiept tot de dag voor vertrek.) Wende? Het zei mij helemaal niets. Een dame die ik wel eens bij 'DWDD' heb zien zitten en een stukje van een documentaire. Een vrouw met donker haar en een "guitig" gezicht.

Het podium licht ging aan. Twee heren nemen plaats achter een batterij aan elektronica/elektronica en percussie. Op de achtergrond in het midden stond een mini vleugel. Binnen de kortste keren klinken er geluidscollages die niet hadden misstaan op 'Dark Side Of The Moon', in dat nummer dat opgebouwd is uit synthesizerklanken. Het zwelt aan en aan en ik kijk bezorgd om me heen, want de gemiddelde leeftijd leek mij wel achter zich te laten. Hoe gaan deze mensen op deze elektronische storm reageren? Nou, heel positief bleek al snel.

Foto: Wo.

Wende werd met een groot applaus ontvangen en brandde direct los met confronterende teksten, die ze soms werkelijk uitspuwde. Af en toe een glimlach tonend om de mensen gerust te stellen, leek het wel. Alsof ze daarmee wilde zeggen dat het maar teksten waren en ze het niet echt meende. Die indruk had ik echter niet. Hier stond iemand zich binnenstebuiten te keren, met hele grote vragen over zichzelf, haar omgeving, haar lief, de wereld. Deze voorstelling, getiteld naar haar laatste album 'Mens', bleek ronduit existentieel.

Het zorgde ervoor dat alles wat er op het podium plaatsvond direct binnenkwam. Het leek persoonlijk te worden. Wij werden allemaal gedwongen zelf ook na te denken over onze existentie. De manier waarop de elektronische muziek opzweepte en dempte gaf Wende de gelegenheid om te performen tussen zang, tekst en rap. Af en toe was het volledig overdonderend. Ik bleef verbaasd dat het (jong-)bejaarde segment in het publiek zo hard bleef klappen voor muziek die zo extreem weinig met hun (en mijn) generatie van doen heeft, maar deze mensen, die Wende misschien hebben leren kennen door haar interpretaties van Franse chansons, bleken bereid haar te volgen in deze fase van haar carrière. Een enorm boeiende fase, overigens. Ik ben er nog niet uit of ik het thuis ook een kans ga geven, zal ik toegeven, maar op het podium volgde ik ieder move en wending van de show.

Het bleek ook net op tijd, want dit was de een na laatste 'Mens' voorstelling met Ludovic en Jan aan haar zijde. Twee mannen die al die geluiden tevoorschijn toverden. Uit kastjes, machines, knopjes, toetsen en wat niet meer, terwijl Jan net zo makkelijk er hard op los trommelde of subtiel aan een xylofoon prachtige klanken ontlokte. Hier stonden twee zeer geroutineerde muzikanten hun beste te geven.

Alleen dat blonde haar en een jaren 80 spoiler van minsten 20 centimeter van Wende? Ook dat werd verklaard. Een drukbezet vrouw, zo veel is duidelijk.

Wo.


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

Kairos 105, April 2019 on Concertzender

Once a month or just about, Wo. listenes to .No's monthly radio show on Concertzender. A show called Kairos. A show in which music is played that almost for certain would never have reached his ears, except for those pieces of music where the blog and the show influence each other. Every single time is an adventure Wo. says as "I have no clue upfront how the music will hit me". Sometimes even baffling artists with his musings, who respond to .No over Wo.'s experiences. That is the way of the musical world it seems. Lets see where Wo. found himself with the April 2019 version of Kairos.


Having just been to the gym I am sitting here with a different form of energy than the usual closer to the end of the day. I wonder if this influences my Kairos experience.

Slow sounds like musicians warming up reach me. They are, roughly at least, playing the same composition it seems, yet there is a hint of something unfinished to me. A copper instrument leads the whole on, beneath it is almost a free for all as long as it is the same key. When a darker instrument joins the orderly disorder, I have the idea it does not belong. Yet does, in the way .No can mix songs. Sytze Pruiksma is replaced by Trio Ramberget. The background is gone, darkness prevails, with serious notes from instruments playing in a low register. Somehow it could be a continuation, 'Blue Throat' and 'Eb dur Torpet'. Music sounding over a dark fjord, like fog horns, warning all around it.

A piano takes over, again darkness with sound coming through it. A bass note and some hiss. The song is called 'Vault', so I can't let go of the impression that this music is coming from the grave. As Reigns plays louder ever so slowly, this music can only presage a zombie army rising. The tricks of a mind while listening to modern classical music. Although this could be incorporated into symphonic rock without any doubt.

The mood doesn't change, again. Yet, a guitar comes in replacing the piano. Harrold Roeland returns, but for the life of me I can't tell where Reigns stops and Roeland begins, except at a certain point the music drops away and is replaced by sounds and atmosphere. I have heard Pink Floyd do something like this on its best albums, before a glorious song like 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' really bursts loose.

When high sounding voices can be heard in between the sounds, at first ever so hesitantly, I know .No is working his mixing machine. A mash up of Harrold Roeland and Trondheim Voices. Sounds like those used in submarine movies and other undefinable sounds are hanging suspended in the mix behind the high voice. This composition is so fragile, I can imagine it breaking. I do notice being intrigued for the first time by Trondheim Voices. It sounds as if something is about to happen any second. The fjord and the mist comes back to mind, but now without a fog horn or any other warning sound. Navigating a dangerous coast in pitch dark, that is the image 'Rise' presents to me.

Recently I read that Low Hill signed a record contract with a company. After inquiring it turned out to be for one single only. There are no coincidences it seems. This Kairos Low Hill returns to the show after an absence of some months, perhaps even a year. His mysterious music fits this show excellently. His voice, good sounding as ever, is what I can do with right now. Yes, I like 'Falling' as much as I did when I first reviewed the EP. Modest electronic pop music, with a mood that is slightly downcast. Laurens Hulle might be falling for someone, it is not as if he is overjoyed by it. More like it is something that still needs a lot of rational thought.

The mysterious music continues with Högni's 'Parallel', but it could be something is missing on the play list. Now that the fjord image is in my mind, I can't seem to shake it. That has to do with the sounds that simply seem to continue after Low Hill's intermission. Listen to the, what is it I'm hearing?, these little glockenspiel things that can be ticked against each other, digital something? I just do not know. The submarine bleeps are back and some sounds hovering around in the mix. What is real here? What is .No mixing away? I simply can't tell what it is I'm listening to. There is no mistaking, this music is slightly troubling. I notice that the sounds are unsettling. The voice that comes in like a soul crooner, does not help. The sounds just continue and the singing in part is like it comes from behind the grave, once again. "Though I'm fading" the singer sings and I am confirmed in my inner visions accompanying this music. Checking the music on Shazam, I got a picture of Högni showing four eyes in his face. So my feelings are not so strange. Something is just not right it seems. Deeply troubling.

Electronic beats? The mood is really being lifted, were it not that all the sounds defining Högni are still present for a while. I am listening to something I have never heard on Kairos before. Electronic dance music, with a twist of course. The beats do not simply go straight forward in Etapp Kyle's 'Axiom'. The submarine sounds return as do the twinkles, pushing the beats away. I am in the pitch dark fjord again. Rock every where and my vessel on the water with no clue where to sail. Danger potentially every where and nowhere at the same time.

A new sound can be heard through the vestigial fog. "Let thy soul be wakened", I'm told. Someone with an Indian accent is telling me to wake up and to feel. Repeated and repeated. So here I am in the fjord. Have I fallen asleep or is this a male siren calling me to the rocks to go asunder? It's pitch dark, fog thick all around me and I'm told to feel. As if my senses aren't already stretched to the max, listening to every other sound and trying to interpret it as safeness or danger. And then someone calls out to me. No, thank you, but I'll pass for now.

From Low Hill to Low Roar is a small step in Kairos. Ryan Karazija, as he is behind the name Low Roar, returns to Kairos with the beautiful 'Without You'. If anything this song sooths my souls and eases my senses. I'm caressed and am told things will be alright. Why do I have more faith in Low Roar than in the Indian chant?

Low Roar leaves me behind and suspense takes over once more. House of Cosy Cushions starts to 'Haunt Me Sweetly'. Again music that gives the impression to come from the nether side. This Kairos is dark, darker than I ever remember. Let me not forget to mention that 'Haunt Me Sweetly' is a song that immediately gets to me. The way it is build up is excellent. The atmosphere may be dark, the details, the female voice that joins in, work really well. It ends like a dirge though.

Some spoken words takes over. Like something that could have come from Tom Waits. Tom it is not but something called Hiss-Tacts. Something to do with a harmonica.

Again a song comes in. A song from an album that was on the blog first. From a Susanna from Norway with four other ladies accompanying her. You can read on by searching for 'Garden Of Earthly Delights'. Again a dark song, but one that is so welcome at this stage. The almost hesitant way the music is played, reminds me of U.K. folk band Modern Studies. At certain points it is as if 'Beautiful Life' will break down, will falter but does not at the very last second.

It all ends as we almost began this Kairos, with the dark copper and woodwind of Trio Ramberget. The fog horn has finally returned and leads me towards the harbour in the fjord. Finally I can sail home and lay my head to rest after a night full of suspense. This was a dark Kairos with several highlights and loads of mysteries. Well done, .No. What I almost forget to mention, is how beautiful 'E dur - Fält' is. It gives the impression that the world is unchanging. Going about its business and us humans running around on top of it, with the world not caring. It will outlive us all, one way or another. Now that is a song we will never hear on Kairos.

Wo.

You can listen (along) to this Kairos here:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_498667/


Playlist:
00:00  Sytze Pruiksma. Blue Throat. Album ‘Conference of the Birds’. Self-released.
02:13  Trio Ramberget. Eb dur Torpet. Trio Ramberget (Johanna Ekholm, Gustav Davidsson, Pelle Westlin). Album ‘Musik att somna till’. Self-released.
05:38  Reigns. Vaulted. Album ‘The House on the Causeway’. Monotreme records MONO-37.
07:55  Harrold Roeland. Generative Landscapes – Paris. Self-released.
10:56  Trondheim Voices + Asle Karstad. Rise. Album ‘Rooms & Rituals’. Grappa LC49093.
16:15  Laurens Vanhulle. Falling. Low Hill. Album ‘Hurt’. Self-released.
26:21  Högni Parallel. Album ‘Two Trains’. Erased Tapes Records eratp103
32:00 Etapp Kyle. Axiom (fragment). Album ‘Klockworks 16’. Klockworks /
Modern Matters.
36:14  Yogi Bhajan. Let Thy Soul be Awakened (fragment). Golden Temple Enterprises.
40:05  Ryan Karazija. Without You. Low Roar. Album ‘Once in a long, long while’. Nevado Records 823674059620.
43:46  Richard Bolhuis/House of Cosy Cushions. Haunt Me Sweetly. Album ‘Haunt Me Sweetly’. Outcast Cats CAT 0C01.
47:41  Hiss-Tacts. Drake Motel. Album ‘Shortwave Nights’. Constellation cstl04-2
48:34  Susanna & The Brotherhood of our Lady. Beautiful Life. Album ‘Garden of earthly delights’. Susannasonata/It’s All Happening..
51:04  Trio Ramberget. E dur – Fält (fragment). Trio Ramberget (Johanna Ekholm, Gustav Davidsson, Pelle Westlin). Album ‘Musik att somna till’. Self-released.

Kairos 102, 3 January 2019 on Concertzender

Another year gone by and here is the first Kairos of 2019. Wo. takes up his task once again to listen to the choices .No presents the world with by way of his radioprogram Kairos on Concertzender. Although it seems that through the past four years plus something he is amusing himself somewhat more, probably through getting used to the sort of music he hears, pleasant and unpleasant surprises always lay in wait. So where does .No venture in this Kairos and will Wo. follow? Undoubtedly.

The familiar, yet unknown music sounds out, the slightly whiskey tainted voice does his voice over. A few seconds later the fun starts. A by now familiar name follows, Ólafur Arnalds. Behold, I am even running into this name in my newspaper. Lo, in a two page interview with Nils Frahm no less. Names that would have been meaningless to me were it not for Kairos. The soundscape is over before I've finished typing my introduction.

Already I'm listening to KJ Rothweiler. No barking dogs allowed though. 'You', is a rather removed composition. I wonder whether I would be pleased if it was about or composed for 'me'. All sounds are mixed in a way as if they all come from a distance in a very large hall or church. Somewhat blurry as if windswept or through a wall where part of the sounds goes missing. Like hearing people speak but being unable to pick up any words (that are not meant for me any way, yet so distracting). I have a hard time attaching to what I'm hearing, as in not.

A new soundscape takes over. A digital choir moves in and out over a soft drone in the background. It is Michael Price's 'Sandham' from his album 'Tender Symmetry'. The choir becomes more real. Wordless singing. As .No has not mentioned the title of this composition, I asked Shazam. No, no recognition, but the electrical sawing next door might have aided here. The tranquillity of this composition and the sawing is a bizarre mix, but one I'm dealing with right now. (A poem about groceries is told near the end.) (And, the title misunderstanding stems from a missing dot between Price and Sandham.)

The piano of Annelie also finds a place again on Kairos. Softly she tinkers away, while ever larger pieces of whatever are cut in two in the room on the other side of my wall. 'Quiet' it ought to be but alas is not. At least the radio with the Dutch 'songs of life' is silent now. Annelie plays her extremely slow notes slowly taking me over. I notice that this sort of music is released more and more it seems. The ultimate reaction to modern life? It may well be. Anyone who surrenders to compositions like 'Quiet' surrenders to the music and leaves all else out. No messages, apps, emails, no whatevers, just pling, pling, pling on a piano. And it is enough. There is a place for Led Zeppelin's 'Rock And Roll', to name just an example, though a very good one, and 'Quiet'.

I'm am pulled out of my reverie by voices like a siren's wail. After 'Quiet' it sounds like the equivalent of scratching of nails on the blackboard. A sound from the past, I guess. Trondheim Voices sings its wordless melodies. Some like witches, others like angels from cathedrals. Weird is the word here. Why create beauty to distort it with ugliness? It is an effect of course, but the right one? It made it into Kairos, so perhaps I'm wrong here.

Rothweiler comes by again twice. 'Sile' as only a fragment, 'Caro' for nearly six minutes. Although I would not be surprised if the two songs are somehow mixed. The loop underneath continues for a while and is joined by a beautiful piano motive that is answered by a darker one. The same answer over and over, the basis of 'Caro'. It is quite possible to get under the spell of 'Caro', a simple matter of letting go and go with the flow of the piano part or let yourself be caressed by the undercurrent waves. A few times I have the impression 'Caro' is over, yet returns again and again.

When it is really over, there is no doubt left. A high singing lady takes over and the quiet lapping of the undercurrent is truly gone. A holy song by Johan Duijck sung by the Flemish Radio Choir comes by next mixed into 'Sile', KJ Rothweiler's undercurrent. The singing is too high for my taste, the undercurrent quite impressive. Truly like waves upon the beach.

'Zilverspa' is a song from Broeder Dieleman's first album 'Alles Is IJdelheid'. At his show in The Hague, .No and I attended last November we, i.e. the audience, were allowed to sing along with the band. The community singing was so impressive. A man, a guitar, it is all 'Zilverspa' needs. Yes, more comes in later. Soft, delicate, fragile. This is a song that can break if not handled with care. Broeder Dieleman is a unique person in Dutch popular music, a tower of strength all by himself. A song to bring tears to your eyes.

'Selene''s piano notes come next. Ben Lucas Boysen is a familiar name by now. His album 'Spells' must have been heard fully on Kairos. Dark piano notes, a dark mood is 'Selene''s. Boysen is playing without much light. At best a faint dusk on the horizon before dark descends again. Luckily there's beauty in darkness and it is easy to spot in 'Selene'.

O.k., folks. Tie up, as the next contribution takes almost all of the rest of Kairos. Nearly 20 minutes are reserved for 'Glacier Looming' by Rocókon. Glacier Looming? That suggests music for eternity. Music in which nothing much happens, except the slow drip of water melting from the eternal snow. A droning sound, a sparse note here and there. Tucking into the atmospheric music I am reminded by the beginning of 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond', one of Pink Floyd's absolute master pieces. Yes, this could be the beginning of a progrock adventure, except that I doubt it will be. Birds' song is heard, most likely the mash up with Sytze Pruiksma's 'The Sounds And Science of Bird Migration'. (The workforce next door packed up for the day, now somewhere in the house dance beats have come awake, mixing with the deep sounds of 'Glacier Looming'.) Nothing much happens in this composition, yet within that time and space encapsulating nothingness a lot goes on. Small melodies are developing, a beatlike sound moves in, totally isolated from all around it, and out. There's always a drone or two involved. Harrold Roeland is not packed for time. He takes it and expands on it. The birds assist to enliven the glacier, like they might do in real life as well, soaring over the peaks in migration. Well, what to make of 20 minutes of this slow, meandering music? Not my cup of tea. I notice I'm too restless to truly surrender to it today. In another mindframe it might well work as there is nothing against what Roeland presents here. Just not for me today. When it becomes more exciting, it is .No mixing elements of the final song into this one.

Luckily it all ends with a track from Sophie Hunger's latest album, 'Molecules'. It took a long time before the LP entered my home as the first copy had a scratch. Coincidentally I played it with a headphone on yesterday evening and decided I was listening to a superb album. The switch to Berlin and electronics worked very well for Ms. Hunger. 'She Makes President' is the first song on the album. Totally un-Kairos perhaps, yet the sound is so nice after 20 minutes of 'Glacier Looming'. This song is direct in a totally dreamy way. Beats driven, yet totally melodic. A grand opener to the album, a fantastic way to close this Kairos. Sophie Hunger is one of the most important European artists in the 2010s with a lot of promise for the 20s, says

Wo.

This is Kairos 102's playlist:

00:04      Ólafur Arnalds. Frá upphafi. Album ‘Dyad 1909’. Erased Tapes Records ERATP 019CD.

01:20      KJ Rothweiler. You. Album ‘Ex’. DRONARIVM RD-54.
06:37      Michael Price Sandham. Album ‘Tender Symmetry’. Erased Tapes Records ERATP112CD.
11:39      Annelie. Quiet. Album ‘After Midnight’. Sony Music Entertainment/DGR.
17:11      Trondheim Voices + Asle Karstad. Sardin cluster. Album ‘Rooms & Rituals’. Grappa LC49093.
20:00      KJ Rothweiler. Sile. Album ‘Ex’. DRONARIVM RD-54.
20:37      KJ Rothweiler. Caro. Album ‘Ex’. DRONARIVM RD-54.
26:24      Johan Duijck. O Salutaris Hostia (from Cantiones Sacrae in honorem Thomas Tallis op.26). The Flemish Radio choir / Johan Duijck. Album ‘Johan Duijck Cantiones Sacrae’. PHAEDRA DDD 92058.
28:55      KJ Rothweiler. Sile. Album ‘Ex’. DRONARIVM RD-54.
30:56      Broeder Dieleman. Zilverspa. Album ‘Alles is IJdelheid’. BEEP 020-2012.
35:39      Ben Lukas Boysen. Selene. Album ‘Spells’. Erased Tapes Records ERATP085CD.
37:53      Rocókon / Harrold Roeland. Glacier Looming. Album ‘Generative Landscapes 1’. Self-released (see: https://harroldroeland.bandcamp.com/album/generative-landscapes-1-3).
Combined with fragments from Sophie Hunger (She Makes President from the album ‘Molecules’) and from Sytze Pruiksma (Red Knot from the album ‘The Sound and Science of Bird Migration’).
56:22      Sophie Hunger. She Makes President. Album ‘Molecules’. Two Gentlemen

You can listen to Kairos 102 here:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_479989/


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

Kairos October 2018 by .No on Concertzender

There's so much good music being released in the past weeks that Wo. started to run behind on his Kairosses. This is mended with his view on the October 2018 Kairos here. Once again Wo. shines his unique light on .No's radio show on Concertzender, every time wondering what he will encounter next. Of course there are staples by now but each month very new (forms of) music, although arguably he seems to think that some contributions do not deserve that name, reaches his ears and sends his imagination reeling. So where are we?

It's time to meditate on modern times music. Now I haven't heard music from Bob Dylan's album called thus, but then the old grumpmeister started his decent into music of his past on that album. So instead I'm hearing a light, female voice singing in a language I don't get a single word from. Until I realise it's German. A very traditional melody is laid over soundscapes and dark sounding percussion (no Steve Lillywhite production here). Irish sounds are mixed in and somehow a mix of music celebrating the EU comes from my speakers. It is from an artist called Faun and all of a sudden I remember one of the very first contribution of .No on this blog (read on here: http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2012/03/faun-in-013.html). Yes, despite this being an odd combination, this is beautiful music. Let's call it 21st century folk. The singing disappears, the melody is continued on a harp or something, while underneath it darkness creeps in. Slowly but surely the evil spirits take over, with a sigh from the innocent voice. Strange fauny voices come forward from the edges of an ever darker forest. Time to move on for sure.

To Pieter Nooten who returns with a track from his album 'Stem'. High clear piano notes announce a new morning. The sun is rising, the fauns are gone from this earth. The air is fresh and quivers in the sunlight. Dew frops fall from leaves and animals take their first steps while walking through the early morning mist that hovers over the fields, about to be driven away by the warmth of the sun. A new beginning 'Quarter Moon' is after 'Das Tor'.

Now I know never to believe my ears while listening to Kairos. Not even the tracklist can be trusted, as .No has turned himself into the Ben Liebrand of Concertzender with his incredibly good ears and mixing qualities. Still I'd say that despite some doubts around 9.50 into this Kairos what follows is still Pieter Nooten. Clear, high, pristine. I have to say, this is a great start of Kairos. 'Quarter Moon' could be a film score yet is tenfold more interesting.

Yes, the change is there. Around 12.30, the same dark interlude as when I expected the change before, so what happened there really? Dazzle Ships were painted war vessels in WWI meant as a disguise to fool the enemy. Whether it actually worked I haven't learned. Dazzle Ships is also an album by Orchestral Manoeuvrers in the Dark from the 80s. That album without hitsingles and it is a contribution on this Kairos from a band called Trouble Brooks. Atmospheric, nearly non-musical. Just instruments swelling, deflating and a sound like old fashioned cash registers. Not my cup of tea, but an interesting interlude, especially as it is so short.

Some weird noises and a piano returns, sole, lonely notes, recorded with all the reverb the piano and the room could deliver. Behind it a choir, really in the background, to my ears just singing "oooooooo". 'Nocturne 4' from Boysen's album 'Spells' is moody, dark, yet radiating beauty from within. Piano notes played with one finger it seems. Perhaps I could even play this. And then like a tsunami sound rolls in, enveloping all and turning the fourth nocturne into a (classic or prog) rock anthem. This is so good, so refreshing, so cleansing. 'Nocturne 4' is really up there with those five ***** albums I've reviewed recently. (Check TMGS, Cari Cair, Light, Distance & Sky and The LVE if you like.) The rock beast lies down its head and the Medieval Gregrian choir returns, with underneath it the final piano notes and the electronic treatment as this choir may well come out of a synthesizers for all I know. Everything is possible these days. But, no it is the mixing of .No. Just look at the playlist and know this choir was added twice it seems.

Kairos returns to the album 'Rothko Chapel'. This time with John Cage's Four^2. Very very serious music, with dark, dark male voices until the ladies take over. Underneath it again soundscapes, but what to make of it. The music is sacred, yet modern. Fit for the poem of the month. A long poem this month, 'Ademtocht' by Erna Speek.

Back to Iceland. Has .No ever been on holiday there? Not that I'm aware of, but a fact is that Icelandic artist and composers often find their way to Kairos. It will have to do with the mysticism surrounding the faraway, Nordic island, the myths and legends there. Högni presents us a dark, sombre choir piece, full of deep voices, male and female.

That mood is broken by a soft guitar and a familiar harmonium. The story of how a 19th century harmonium made it's way to the two musicians leading the U.K. folk band Modern Studies is nice to know. The album they recorded with the harmonium one of my favourite albums of 2017. (The 2018 album is even great, but the harmonium has been put to pasture.) The soft melody if 'Swimming' is far from joyful, after 'Andaðu' everything becomes a feast of brightness and joy. Time to put my Modern Studies LP on once again. The harmonium ends the song in a soft and beautiful way.

Jeroen Elfferich returns to Kairos as well. A composition for four hands and two pianos. Mind, minimal music for two pianos, so no quatre mains here! Underneath, I suspect, .No was at work with a soundscape of a choir of some sort. All this leads to a formal conclusion:  A) There is too much melody for 'Holy Wood' to be minimal music. This is the total opposite with the exception of Paganini. B) I really do not hear four hands, unless both musicians are able to play the exact same thing at the exact same time. But then, this contribution fits several others this month. A piano based Kairos for sure.

A clock of sorts takes over. What to make of this? That choir continues, slowly to be replaced by sounds, the clock becomes louder and louder. From the crackles another choir comes forward, as if been drawn through a minimum of three consecutive phaser effects. It could be the start of a Pink Floyd song like 'Time' on 'Dark Side Of The Moon'. It is the introduction to Richard Bolhuis' House of Cosy Cushions' return to Kairos. (By the way, I walked past the "Kerkje te Oostum" recently, so now I know how special that location is.) I stick to my Pink Floyd comparison. This is totally Rick Wright inspired and Roger Waters experimenting with his first synthesizer. Go Richard!, I say. here.

Next up are two fragments of people who have lost their native tongue. Something that can happen when people stop speaking it for whatever reason. I remember seeing a postcard in Cornwell with a commemoration of the last woman who spoke Cornish. And that wasn't that long ago at the time. We're several decades further since. An organ drones, with in the background a shower or something or rain outside a window. The language is lost alright, so there Yui Onodera & Celer are quite right. Am I interested in what I'm hearing? No, far from. This is simply too uniform. Just drones on an organ or something. Apparently going nowhere, just droning. And I'm just not a fan of drones if it doesn't lead me anywhere or isn't a part of a more interesting whole (which drones seldom are).

So I'm quite pleased a violin pops up, introducing a change. Minco Eggerman returns with a track from his album 'Kavkasia'. Not that this is a cheerful song. No, 'Dance' is not what it suggests to be. "I'm not the swinging kind", is sung, I will profess to this statement. After 'An Imaginary Tale of Lost Vernacular' 'Dance' is a fest and I am aware I'm repeating myself here. The horn part towards the end is quite interesting.

But them it happens, that drone returns and I know the duo with the strange sounding names returns, I'm speechless this time.....

Church at Oostum. Photo, Wo.

.....And no, I hadn't read what follows now when I wrote the above circa 10 minutes ago, before I heard this track, as I always try to be totally unprepared listening to Kairos and let myself be swept by my impressions. The next contribution is called 'Church At Oostum' (Kerkje Te Oostum). This time dark sounding violins and cello's take over. This little church lies on a wierd in the province of Groningen, the top of a small, unnatural hill in a polder, an endless polder. Around it only a few houses and that is all Oostum is. A graveyard around the church where mortal remains lay buried and people still are being buried. A windswept, near deserted part of the country. I had never even been there before. From .No's stories I had the impression Oostum was in Friesland, but obviously not. Richard Bolhuis organised a show there .No was present at. Now Johanna Varder plays her composition inspired by the little church on top of that wierd and I can imagine the whole thing now in my mind's eye.

How long ago is it that I played 'Wincing The Night Away' that beautiful album by The Shins from 2007 and until now its best? It must be years. And here .No plays a track from the album on Kairos. 'Red Rabbits' is the track of choice. Too bad the vernacularless duo returns in between (not funny!!!), but hey, I did get that delightful bittersweet voice of James Mercer at the end of this Kairos. 'Red Rabbits' is one of those lighthearted, sprightly songs of The Shins where at the same time not all is right. "Tijd om uit te gaan", the last line from the poem is repeated at the very end. Yes, tonight (at the time of writing) my band rehearses, so I will be going out soon. But not before I recommend the best track The Shins recorded to .No. 'St. Simon' definitely belongs is Kairos. Let's say January 2019?

Wo.

This is the link for this Kairos:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_465497/



Playlist:
00:14  Faun. Das Tor. Album ‘Renaissance’. Banshee Records 00152
07:36  Pieter Nooten. Quarter Moon. Album ‘Stem’. Rocket Girl RGIRL115.
12:30  Keith Freund, Linda Lesjovka & Mike Tolan. Dazzle Ships. Trouble Books. Album ‘Gathered Tones’. Own Records OWNREC#49.
13:41  Ben Lukas Boysen. Nocturne 4. Album ‘Spells’. Erased Tapes Records ERATP085CD.
20:02  Johan Duijck. Emittit Verbum Suum (from ‘Lauda Jerusalem op. 4’). The Flemish Radio Choir, Ignace Michiels (organ), Johan Duijck. Album ‘Cantiones Sacrae’. PHAEDRA DDD92058.
20:33  John Cage. Four² (fragment). Houston Chamber Choir. Album ‘Rothko Chapel’. ECM NEW SERIES 2378 4811796.
25:28  Högni. Andaðu. Album ‘Two Trains’. Erased Tapes Records eratp103.
27:40  Modern Studies. Swimming. Album ‘Swell to Great’. Fire Records 555073.
32:06  Jeroen Elfferich. Holy Wood. Album ‘Elfferich Four Hands, minimal music for 2 pianos’. Self-released..
35:56  Dmitry Evgrafov. A Gleam. Album ‘Comprehension of Light’. FatCat Records CD13-27P.
37:29  Richard Bolhuis. Fever Angels. House of Cosy Cushions. Album ‘Underground bliss’. Outcast Cats.
40:42  Yui Onodera & Celer. An Imaginary Tale of Lost Vernacular(fragment). Album ‘Generic City’. Two Acorns 2A01.
41:07  Yui Onodera & Celer. An Imaginary Tale of Lost Vernacular(fragment). Album ‘Generic City’. Two Acorns 2A01.
45:58  Minco Eggersman. Dance. Album Kavkasia. Volkoren 73
48:49  Yui Onodera & Celer. An Imaginary Tale of Lost Vernacular(fragment). Album ‘Generic City’. Two Acorns 2A01. 
51:28  Johanna Varner. Church of Oostum. Johanna Varner. Album ‘Johanna Varner. Self-released.
58:02  The Shins. Red Rabbits (fragment). Album ‘Wincing the Night Away. SUBPOP SPCD 705.
59:21  Yui Onodera & Celer. An Imaginary Tale of Lost Vernacular(fragment). Album ‘Generic City’. Two Acorns 2A01.
59:35  The Shins. Red Rabbits (fragment). Album ‘Wincing the Night Away. SUBPOP SPCD 705.


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

Brazil. JFDR

Jófríður Ákadóttir is pas 22, maar timmert al een flink aantal jaren aan de weg in de IJslandse muziekscene. De IJslandse muzikante deed dit onder andere met haar band Samaris en met het duo Pascal Pinon, dat ze vormde met haar tweelingzus Ásthildur Ákadóttir.
 
Voor haar nieuwe soloproject koos Jófríður Ákadóttir niet voor haar eigen naam, maar voor het alter ego JFDR, waar natuurlijk wel iets voor te zeggen valt met zo’n ingewikkelde naam.
 
JFDR’s debuut Brazil verscheen al begin 2017, maar ik heb het solodebuut van Jófríður Ákadóttir uit een obscuur maar bijzonder jaarlijstje geplukt.
 
Op Brazil maakt de IJslandse muzikante het de luisteraar zeker niet makkelijk, maar als je eenmaal in de stemming bent voor de bijzondere muziek van JFDR is het muziek die je mee kan voeren naar een compleet ander muzikaal universum.
 
Brazil staat vol met atmosferische soundscapes die worden aangevuld met bijzonder fraaie gitaarlijnen, zweverige synths en subtiele ritmes. Het zijn klanken die uitnodigen tot wegdromen, maar de muziek van JFDR is ook buitengewoon spannend en avontuurlijk. Het is muziek die complex in elkaar steekt en is opgebouwd uit meerdere lagen, maar heel ontoegankelijk zijn de klanken van JFDR niet.
 
De zweverige en vaak wat sprookjesachtig aandoende klanken worden op Brazil gecombineerd met de mooie en heldere stem van Jófríður Ákadóttir, die past in het rijtje van de IJslandse ijsprinsessen dat nog altijd wordt aangevoerd door Björk.
 
Brazil is zoals gezegd een plaat waarbij het heerlijk wegdromen is, maar de muziek van JFDR komt het best tot zijn recht wanneer je de vele lagen waaruit de muziek van de IJslandse muzikante bestaat probeert te ontrafelen. Dan hoor je hoe subtiel en trefzeker de individuele bijdragen zijn en hoe alle individuele klanken bijdragen aan het zo bijzondere geheel.
 
Wat op het eerste gehoor nog enigszins experimenteel en ongrijpbaar is, wordt langzaam maar zeker een bedwelmend en bezwerend klankentapijt, waaraan je je alleen maar over wilt geven. Zowel de instrumentatie als de zang op Brazil zijn subtiel en zeer breekbaar, maar het geheel dat ontstaat is uitermate krachtig.
 
Zeker bij beluistering met de koptelefoon hoor je hoe mooi de plaat is. Synths gaan naadloos over in werkelijk prachtige gitaarlijnen, de zang is zo helder als een beekje in de IJslandse natuur, de atmosferische klanken zijn van een bijna onwerkelijke schoonheid en de songs van JFDR blijven maar aan kracht en verbeelding winnen.
 
Bij snelle beluistering vervliegt Brazil van JFDR snel en vrijwel volledig, maar wanneer je net wat meer energie steekt in het ontdekken van deze bijzondere plaat, komt de bijzondere en intieme schoonheid steeds nadrukkelijker aan de oppervlakte.
 
In het enorme aanbod van het moment is Brazil van JFDR een wat vreemde eend in de bijt, maar het is een vreemde eend met bijzondere kleuren en vormen, die je na een paar keer horen echt niet meer wilt missen. Buitengewoon fascinerende plaat van deze pas 22 jaar oude IJslandse muzikante.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt Brazil hier beluisteren en kopen:


https://jfdr.bandcamp.com/releases


Here's the link to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

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