Coming Up For Air. Roufaida

Na een terecht geprezen mini-album keert de Nederlands-Marokkaanse muzikante Roufaida deze week terug met haar debuutalbum Coming Up For Air en wat is het een mooi, spannend, vernieuwend en sprankelend album geworden.

De Rotterdamse muzikante Roufaida maakte in 2023 al indruk met een bijzonder eigen geluid en dat geluid is op Coming Up For Air alleen maar mooier, rijker en eigenzinniger geworden. Het is een geluid waarin bijzondere ritmes centraal staan en waarin zowel plaats is voor invloeden uit de Westerse popmuziek als voor invloeden uit onder andere de Marokkaanse muziek. Het is van de eerste tot en met de laatste noot spannend, maar het is ook bijzonder mooi. Het wordt nog mooier door de stem van Roufaida die diepe indruk maakt als vertolker van zowel Engelse als Arabische teksten. Roufaida sleept je een bijzonder muzikaal universum in, dat je vervolgens voorlopig niet meer wilt verlaten.

De Nederlands-Marokkaanse muzikante Roufaida (Aboutaleb) leverde in het voorjaar van 2023 een titelloos mini-album af en maakte terecht flink wat indruk met bijzondere klanken, persoonlijke songs en een mooie en karakteristieke stem. Op het mini-album combineerde de Rotterdamse muzikante op bijzondere wijze invloeden uit de folk en de indie met invloeden uit de Marokkaanse muziek en muziek uit het Midden-Oosten. Het leverde uniek klinkende maar ook zeer aansprekende songs op. 

Roufaida keert deze week terug met haar volwaardige debuutalbum en laat horen dat ze sindsdien alleen maar beter is geworden. Op het ruim twee jaar oude mini-album liet Roufaida al een bijzondere smeltkroes vol invloeden horen en hier zijn alleen maar invloeden aan toegevoegd. Naast folk en indie en invloeden uit de muziek waarmee de Rotterdamse muzikanten kennis maakte tijdens de vakanties in Marokko uit haar jeugd, zijn op Coming Up For Air ook invloeden uit onder andere de hiphop, R&B, Afrobeat en pure pop te horen. 

Roufaida koos op haar mini-album nog vooral voor songs met een duidelijke folky basis, maar kiest op haar debuutalbum vooral voor dansbare maar tegelijkertijd redelijk ingetogen tracks. Het zijn tracks die worden gedragen door bijzondere ritmes en het zijn tracks die in muzikaal opzicht continu een brug slaan tussen de culturen waartussen Roufaida zich beweegt. Het klinkt allemaal bijzonder lekker, maar de muziek op Coming Up For Air is ook altijd spannend, waardoor je steeds weer nieuwe dingen ontdekt op het album. 

Het slaan van een brug tussen culturen doet de Rotterdamse muzikante ook met haar teksten, die deels in het Engels en deels in het Arabisch zijn. Het zijn overigens teksten waarin Roufaida geen blad voor de mond neemt. Direct in de openingstracks vraagt ze aandacht voor de Palestijnse zaak, maar ook meer persoonlijke thema’s als discriminatie, het vinden van een eigen identiteit en volwassen worden in een onstuimige wereld komen ruimschoots aan bod op een album dat ook optimisme uitstraalt. 

Roufaida trekt niet alleen aandacht met haar bijzondere muziek, maar maakt ook indruk met haar stem. De zang op Coming Up For Air heeft aan kracht en souplesse gewonnen en voelt zich als een vis in het water in het avontuurlijke en veelzijdige geluid op Coming Up For Air. Hoe mooi haar stem is hoor je misschien nog wel het best in een zeer ingetogen track als Li Beirut, maar ook in combinatie met wat steviger aangezette klanken is de stem van Roufaida echt bijzonder mooi. 

Het heeft heel af en toe wel wat van de muziek van Naaz, die ook verschillende culturen samenbrengt in haar songs, maar Roufaida heeft op haar debuutalbum ook een duidelijk eigen geluid. Het is een geluid dat verder wordt opgetild door de fenomenale productie van Wannes Salomé, die we kennen van zijn band Klangstof, maar die ook als producer inmiddels flink aan de weg timmert. De Nederlandse producer heeft het album voorzien van een mooi helder geluid, waarin de ritmes een cruciale plek innemen en waar de rest van de muziek en de zang fraai omheen draaien. 

Coming Up For Air bevat elf tracks en bevat ruim een half uur muziek, maar wat gebeurt er veel moois en spannends in dit half uur. Na haar mini-album waren de verwachtingen met betrekking tot het debuutalbum van Roufaida hooggespannen, maar de Rotterdamse muzikante maakt ze met speels gemak waar. Wat een bijzonder album.

Erwin Zijleman

The best albums 2000 - 2024, 5 of 10

We are half way and start with number 50 ....

50. Remedies. Soup (2017)

Symphonic rock, alternative rock, progressive rock? What to call Remedies? A little of all is my best guess. It's easier to conclude that Remedies is the album with the best cover art of the century so far. Claiming it can't be far from the truth. Norwegian band Soup explores its compositions and follows the chord progressions into every hidden nook and cranny, resulting in an album that keeps surprising, even after many listening sessions. The light, the dark, life and death, love and sadness it all comes by, showing all the different phases of each. I have no idea what came after but with Remedies Soup made a great impression on me.

 

 

49. Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action. Franz Ferdinand (2013)

As I wrote recently, you had not seen the last of the band. With Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action the band set another great step in its career. With songs like 'Love Illumination' and 'Bullet' you can't go wrong. FraFer swings no little here and was still together in its original line up. This would not last much longer. For some time now there's only two left, Alex Kapranos and bassist Bob Hardy. Like many bands from the second punkfunk era, the band is great at making songs that are not easy sound like they are. FraFer finds the melody that can be sung along to with ease while the notes and chords played do not sound like the most obvious ones. That starts with the opening song 'Right Words' and ends with the last note on the album. Although the band never got as big as it promised at the start, it is still popular to this day.

48. Niemandsland. De Kift (2024)

Another album that time will tell how good it really is, but I'm impressed alright. Niemandsland is an album where De Kift goes off the deep end. All the anxiousness and fears of 2024 have gone into it. The environment, war, pollution, extinction, sorrows and woe, singer and text assembler Ferry Heijne has found pieces of text from all around the world to share his message. The band obliges fully but has never sounded more subdued than here. Niemandsland tells of the world crumbling apart with nothing we can do, as it is the hot shots of this world determining what it is that happens to us. Niemandsland is, even for those unable to understand Dutch, an album to take to heart. And the artwork you see here? It is 100% unique. There's not one the same. Only the concept and shape is.

47. Ompa Til Du Dør. Kaizers Orchestra (2001)

It was at least a year later before I learned of Kaizers Orchestra, but I can still see myself sitting in the record store on a Friday or Saturday afternoon, when I saw one of the fathers from school walk in. Whether he did anything with my advice I don't know, fact is, I was jumping up and down on my stool listening to the album. Kaizers Orchestra is one of my favourite bands of this century for certain. The Norwegians blend everything from rock and punk, to Balkans, gypsy music and Tom Waits and not to forget De Kift. Kaizers Orchestra is the punk version of De Kift. Everything is sung in the band's local dialect from Bergen. This album was followed by 'Evig Pint', that only just did not make to this list. Many other albums did as you will find out. The promise made in the album's title, unfortunately was not lived up to when the band broke up in 2013.

46. Uut De Bron. Broeder Dieleman (2015)

By far the most experimental album on this list, my co number 1 of 2015. Co, because it should not be there in a musical sense. This was all about experiencing pure senses as Tonnie Dieleman, who is Broeder Dieleman, mixed so much into his music. Sound scapes, atmospherics and spoken word, in which he tried and succeeded to capture his heritage of the Zeeland towns, marshes, religion and people. This is not music perse but so much more and so impressive. His other albums are not here but they are all very much worthwhile.

45. American Idiot. Green Day (2004)

With 'Dookie' American Dream is the album of west coast punkers Green Day. The band's reaction to George Bush JR's presidency. One hit after the other came off the album making it without doubt the band's most successful. The album that makes Green day fill the biggest venues and being the main act on festivals to this day. It is also the band's most ambitious album and that paid off. It proves that punk can be more than either just anger or having a good time and pogo the night away.

44. I Am The River, The River Is Me. Jen Cloher (2023)

I was surprised I did not let 'Jen Cloher', her eponymous album, make this list. Choices are tough, I can tell you. Her latest album is played regularly to this day. After her breakup with indie darling Courtney Barnett, conspicuously absent here, she went back to her New Zealand roots and returned with this even better album that shows so many sides to her musicality. In that she's so much better than Ms Barnett. The Maori chants really enrich some songs but overall I Am The River, The River Is Me is a very strong album.

43. Forever. Cracker (2002)

Cracker still exists yet seems to have faded away completely. The band's list of great albums stopped with Forever in 2002. The mix of country(rock), pop and music somewhere in between the two, that is part serious and part in jest, is of the kind that makes me want to sing along. For the whole of the time. I hadn't played the album for some time, as I always put on Cracker's first three albums. When I did, I found there was not one song I could not sing along to and enjoyed them so much. I was lucky to be able to have seen them twice live in small venues, incredibly loud, okay. Live the band is totally professional. The albums show the band's other side, the fun stuff.

42. Aces Eights & Heartbreaks. The Shang Hi Los (2023)

Rock and roll from 2023 that could have been made anywhere in the past 50 years. Boston bands and singers move in and out of bands and collaborations and The Shang Hi Los is one such constellation. The best I've heard to date. With an opening song like 'Takes One To Know One' a slot on this list is already guaranteed. With the songs that follow the rest is a piece of cake. The voices of Jen D'Angora and Dan Kopko seem to have been made for each other, while together they make great records. Kopko's band Watts came close with its latest album, in this constellation things are simply better.

41. A Band In A Box. Zita Swoon (2005)

A live album and the only one in this list. Zita Swoon is (was?) a Belgian band around singer-songwriter-guitarist Stef Kamil Carlens. Zita Swoon has a drummer who seems more like a mathematician than percussionist. A band that makes square songs round. That makes difficult things sound easy and even more importantly beautiful. Supported by a host of great musicians, among whom the late Tom Pintens, and three female singers, the songs on A Band In A Box surpass the original versions. Although a live album, recorded without audience, it is the distilled version of all the albums that came before and the highlight of the band's oeuvre.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

Siempre Tiene Flores. Hannah Everingham

Nieuw-Zeeland staat bekend om muziek die net wat anders klinkt, wat ook weer duidelijk is te horen op Siempre Tiene Flores van Hannah Everingham, die verrast met bijzondere klanken en imponeert als zangeres.

Tips van Flying Out Records uit het Nieuw-Zeelandse Auckland neem ik heel serieus en het album van de maand van de muziekwinkel is bijna altijd verplichte kost. Het geldt ook weer voor Siempre Tiene Flores van de Nieuw-Zeelandse singer-songwriter Hannah Everingham. De muzikante uit Christchurch maakt vooral folky songs, maar het zijn songs die op afwijkende maar bijzonder wijze worden ingekleurd. Het zijn bovendien songs die uiteenlopende invloeden verwerken, waaronder invloeden uit de wereldmuziek. In muzikaal opzicht klinkt het fris en origineel, maar Hannah Everingham maakt de meeste indruk met haar geweldige zang en haar gepassioneerde voordracht.

De nieuwsbrief van de Nieuw-Zeelandse platenzaak Flying Out Records maakte me weer eens heel nieuwsgierig naar een album dat ik zonder deze nieuwsbrief echt nooit zou hebben ontdekt. Het gaat om Siempre Tiene Flores van de Nieuw-Zeelandse singer-songwriter Hannah Everingham. Het is een songwriter die volgens Flying Out Records afkomstig is uit Ōtautahi, wat de Maori naam voor Christchurch is.

Ik weet niet heel veel over Hannah Everingham buiten het feit dat Siempre Tiene Flores haar tweede album is en dat ze voorafgaand aan de release van haar nieuwe album speelde als support act van de crème de la crème van de Nieuw-Zeelandse muziekscene en bovendien haar vaderland een tijdje verruilde voor Brooklyn, New York. Het zijn ervaringen die ze meeneemt op Siempre Tiene Flores dat een eigenzinnig maar ook bijzonder knap album is.

Siempre Tiene Flores opent redelijk conventioneel met de folksong Mercury, die wel direct laat horen dat Hannah Everingham beschikt over een hele mooie stem, die ze op bijzondere wijze gebruikt. Naarmate de track vordert voegt de muzikante uit Christchurch opvallende klanken van de vibrafoon toe, waardoor het een steeds minder conventionele folksong wordt. Door de verrassende instrumentatie, die uit gitaar, vibrafoon, keyboards, bas en percussie bestaat, maar vooral door de sterke zang van Hannah Everingham was mijn aandacht direct getrokken.

Die houdt Siempre Tiene Flores makkelijk vast met de zwoele en bijna tropische klanken en de Spaanse tekst van Maria, dat definitief duidelijk maakt dat Hannah Everingham zeker geen dertien in een dozijn singer-songwriter is. Halverwege de track schakelt de Nieuw-Zeelandse muzikante over naar het Engels en wordt de track wat theatraler. Bij eerste beluistering moest ik er vooral om glimlachen, maar ook de tweede track op het album heb ik inmiddels omarmd.

Dat ging overigens een stuk makkelijker met de meeste andere tracks op het album, want de Engelstalige songs dringen zich een stuk makkelijker op. In deze songs hoor ik flarden Britse folk en flarden Amerikaanse folk en het is vooral folk van een aantal decennia geleden met zeker Leonard Cohen als inspiratiebron. Het zijn echo’s uit het verleden die worden gecombineerd met meer hedendaagse accenten en met de geweldige zang, die me echt steeds dierbaarder wordt.

Hannah Everingham kan de concurrentie met haar folky collega’s uit de VS en het VK makkelijk aan door haar songs veel origineler in te kleuren en door te imponeren met haar zang. Siempre Tiene Flores lijkt echt geen moment op andere albums van vrouwelijke singer-songwriters van het moment en combineert op bijzondere wijze invloeden uit uiteenlopende genres, waaronder met name invloeden uit de folk en de jazz.

Iedere song op het album klinkt weer anders en in iedere song zit je op het puntje van de stoel door de spannende klanken en luister je ademloos naar de bijzondere zang van Hannah Everingham, die in de Spaanstalige track verandert van een psychedelische folkie in een gloedvolle vertolkster van zwoele wereldmuziek.

Je moet het maar durven maken als startende singer-songwriter en je moet het maar durven uitbrengen als platenmaatschappij. Op basis van de bovenstaande beschrijving klinkt Siempre Tiene Flores waarschijnlijk als een heel vreemd album, maar dat valt reuze mee en op een of andere manier werkt alles op dit bijzondere maar o zo overtuigende album.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt Siempre Tiene Flores hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://hannaheveringham.bandcamp.com/album/siempre-tiene-flores

2024. Week 23, 10 singles

Week 23. Believe it or not, we are almost at the half of 2024. The days are tremendously long again. What is not here, not even close, is summer. Rain, clouds, and northerly winds most of the time at least. With temperatures remaining below 20 on most days and no change in sight. It's not the end of the world but I like to hope for better. Let's focus on some more music instead. It's a nice varied lot again but beware, the name Patrick Watson does come up a few times. Enjoy!

Hey, Sharon. The Wynotts

A review of The Wynotts? Why not. Hey Sharon, rocks in all the good ways. A strong melody, aahhs to sing along to, a short pointy guitar solo, nice female background vocals and a great rhythm section, with a drummer threatening to hit his kit into two. Except, this isn't new music at all. The Wynotts were a band from 2007 to 2009. On the basis of their recorded but not released music, the erstwhile members rebanded and decided to release their music anyway. With members of bands like Jerry's Kids, Underball, The Downhauls, and The Killer Abs, only The Downhauls can be found on this blog, The Wynotts obviously know how to rock hard. Hey, Sharon is that kind of track. Simply made to set every stage on fire and put the love of rock in anyone's heart.

Heartbreak For Jetlag EP. Vera Ellen

Just over a year since 'Ideal Home Noises', an album I still play regularly, New Zealand's Vera Ellen is back already with an EP. The outset is different though. She has recorded everything by herself in her "bedroom". The EP is as bare as you would expect it to be. Lo-fi however doesn't exist any more, Anyone with a bit of talent can make a great sounding album in his/her/their living room. So did Vera Ellen. She is playing her acoustic guitar and sings. From there she has added other instruments and voices. Her "Vera Ellen voice" is not there for the whole of the time. She has several voices and experiments with her voice. Some are more successful than others, granted. On average though Vera Ellen shows her considerable talent in songwriting. Even at her most bare, the songs speak volumes. For me it all proves that Vera Ellen is an artist that should gain more success soon. Maybe not on the basis of this home recording, that may be a bit too intense for the average listener, but certainly on the basis of 'Ideal Home Noises'. Those with a good ear though will hear the beauty in Heartbreak For Jetlag. Anyone not captured by 'Danger', featuring Oli Devlin, should get their ears seriously cleaned. Vera Ellen may initially not have intended to open this music up for the world, it would have been a crime not to do so. Heartbreak For Jetlag is an important piece of work for all the world to enjoy.

Oh France. Mdou Moctar

Mdou Moctar is a Nigerian band. I am nearly certain that will be a first on this blog. The song is a blend of western rock and traditional music. Oh France is rocking hard. The way it does rock is totally different from what I would normally be hearing. This band is truly standing with each foot in different ground. One in the arid sand of the Sahel, the other in western clay. The result is a hybrid killer of a song. The lyrics are about the relationship with France. It's sung in a local language. The translation on You Tube does not leave room for a lot of subtleties. The anger comes out in the music as well. Mdou Moctar cooks up a storm of notes in a way that in the West is unknown. Not the fiery way of playing. Oh France is cooking.

Help Me, I’m Spiralling/Drones. SPRINTS

With that great debut album 'Letter To Self' only on the market for five months and a relentless tour schedule in the recent past and ahead it will be a while before the world will be able to welcome a new album by Irish band SPRINTS. To kill the time in between the band released two songs recorded during the 'Black Box Sessions'. Every band that has released a killer debut, has a giant task to come up with a better one later. There are two options. The 1960s way and the "Coldplay" version. Something tells me SPRINTS can better follow The Beatles and The Stones. Hone the skills and improve fast by writing, recording and playing, all at the almost same time. On these live performances SPRINTS shows how it is honing its chops. Both songs of this session are not on the album and show an even wilder side of the band. SPRINTS plays with the brakes off and the effect pedals deeply on. The result is two raw gems that show the band at its rawest. Yes, I'm a fan.

So Desperate. Salem Wolves

Wrestling is something so far removed from my and all my friends' consciousness that I was totally amazed that my U.S. origin friends said that they were going to a wrestling event nearby. Why I'm writing this? Because wrestling is the theme So Desperate. Providence, Rhode Island's Salem Wolves will even release a whole album on wrestling later this year. Single So Desperate is driven by a strong drums. Over it the guitars can start playing like lying in a just right bed. Musically, the first band that comes to mind is Bon Jovi from the 80s. That is not the whole story though. For that So Desperate is not commercial enough. Salem Wolves is far tougher. Singer Gray Bouchard has The Decemberists' Colin Meloy's phrasing while being a friendly rock singer. I'm glad I gave So Desperate a second chance, as I notice that I like the song better with each spin. And that solo is simply heavenly.

Thick. Louisa Nicklin

Writing single posts is time consuming but also fulfilling. I get exposed to so much music that I otherwise would have missed. The downside for the artists is that many a song comes in the one ear and leaves the other. The name Louisa Nicklin did not ring any kind of bell but she was on this blog before in 2021 with a single called 'To Be Fine'. I never got around to the album it seems. Reading the review of 'To Be Fine', I notice that I could use a lot of it. The vibrato voice, the bare music with a very prominent drums and bass, the weird sounds. All check. Thick is Nicklin's first single towards her new album 'The Big Sulk', out on 23 August. Thick is an energetic song with a clear darkness over it. A song like there are not many others around and that has mostly to do with her unique (use of her) voice.  In Louisa Nicklin New Zealand has a very unique singer, once again.

Everything Turns. A Shoreline Dream feat. Mark Gardiner

My intro to the previous single is proven when checking up on A Shoreline Dream on the blog. I wrote on the same single twice, in one day! LOL. Not so with Everything Turns. Featuring Ride's Mark Gardener, A Shoreline Dream returns to the blog with a mysterious single, as if capturing Tears for Fears during a daydream. Music and singing both seem to float on a river of a soft and warm oily substance carrying them slowly but surely to the end of the song in a way as if there's no end in sight nor needed. Of course, there is a difference between the instruments and the voices but only if I pay close attention. The somewhat hypnotic music easily does away with nuances. If anything its the drums that draw attention. It's almost tribal the way they are played and the most prominent instrument because of the hypnotic synths. Thank you, Shauna, for bringing attention to the song, as I definitely missed the uniqueness of Everything Turns the first time around.

Damage. Chris Cohen

From hypnotic to jazzy music is not a huge step I notice. Chris Cohen is a new name to me but he is on this blog under Rozi Plain's review by Erwin Zijleman. Damage is a jazzy, dreamy song. In music and singing. Chris Cohen is not in a hurry, that much is clear. He has an extremely pleasant voice to listen to. The 70s West Coast singer-songwriters come to mind but Damage is a far easier song to listen to. At the same time there is an exquisite horn arrangement. Jeff Parker wrote the arrangement and Josh Johnson played several of the instruments. In a month Cohen is to release his fourth album, 'Paint A Room'. If it is only half as relaxing as Damage is, it will be an ideal late evening album to play with your love close, enjoying a late evening glass of red wine and the album together. Life can be a lot worse.

Pearl. Morpheus

Pearl is a song that could have been sent to the Eurovision Song Contest instead of winner Duncan Lawrence. It is unbelievably more beautiful, just as powerful and does not need the horrendous vocal acrobatics. He would instantly have received my douze points. Pearl is so incredibly beautiful. For several seconds I was under the impression to be listening to another modern classic piano song, until Morpheus started singing and simply one name pops up: Patrick Watson. Music isn't a competition, except for that Eurovision one, but Morpheus can compete with the Canadian easily. Pearl is a dreamy song, somewhere between electronic and analogue. Producer Thomas Azier managed to keep the balance between the two in perfect order. The piano is at its heart but there are slowly but surely all sorts of other sounds let into the mix, making it a different song. Martijn Verhagen, he is Morpheus, has released his second EP, 'The Ascent', last week. Pearl is an extremely interesting introduction.

So We Find Ourselves. Fink

If I'd received So We Find Ourselves first in my inbox, I would have added Fink to Patrick Watson in the single by Morpheus right above Fink's new single. That is three very relaxed songs in a row by the way. Also here the link to Patrick Watson is evident. Fink's music is almost more atmospheric that melodic. The music is almost cut out of the whole. His voice is extremely prominent. Behind him there are more holes then notes. There are indistinct sounds in between the piano notes, human and instruments. The result is ultimate beauty. Music can hardly be made slower than this. Fin Greenall is at his most bare here. There's no escaping, there are no cover ups when music is so empty. The result is glorious and soulful. As if Otis Redding was allowed one acoustic session after all. Something like that. I have heard many a nice and good song by Fink through the years but never like this. A big tip of the hat.

Wout de Natris

The best live shows of 2023

Looking back at 2023 I notice that I have not seen that many shows. Has Covid been a watershed for live shows? I haven't seen that many movies as well. Staying home as the new normal? It may just be the case. Most likely I have still seen far more shows that the average person, just like I listen to more music and buy more music. The latter has gone down distinctly as well though. Frankly, LPs have become too expensive to buy a lot of.

All shows I saw were good, except for one that was disappointing (see last December). I have missed a few that I would have liked to have gone to but didn't. Sometimes a choice needs to be made. When all is said and done, these are my favourites.

10. Loupe, Record Store Day, Sounds Haarlem

The show because of which I almost forgot that the record still had to be released. Loupe played a nice and intimate show showing the promise its debut album was about deliver on. The dreampop is influenced by bands like Warpaint, except the level of musicality of the U.S. band is totally surpassed by the Amsterdam band. It was also the last opportunity for me to see the band with the singer on the album. She was replaced not long after the release.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2023/04/record-store-day-indian-askin-and-loupe.html

9. Japanse drummers, International Conference Centre Kyoto

I have no idea what the name of the performers is. They were part of the official opening of the Internet Governance Forum 2023 taking place in Kyoto, where one day later I was on stage myself with the conference band. The band with three, at times four drummers, two singers and a lady on a Japanese kind of guitar really made an impression. What a power and energy!, but also what grace in the songs with the "guitar" and vocals.

8. Mood Bored, Rotown

The Tilburg band showed its potential as support act of POM. The trio rocked a little harder than on record without losing the quality and gelling. On stage the songs came alive effortlessly.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2023/12/pom-with-mood-bored-live-rotown.html

7. Shame, Melkweg

Before Covid the band was in town at the wrong time, during Covid I decided not to go to shows, so 2023 and album number 3 was the first opportunity to see my favourite "postpunk" band, whatever postpunk means. To be honest, it was not as good as I had expected. That said, what remains was an energetic show with a band that really went for it. So not hard to be in this list anyway.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2023/04/shame-live-melkweg-amsterdam-thursday-6.html

6. De Toegift, Patronaat Café

My final show of 2023 and what beauty. The album was released very early in 2023 and was almost forgotten. Because of the show I started to play the album again, resulting in a spot in the 2023 list. De Toegift played in a small venue but the proverbial pin would have been heard had anyone dared to drop it. A band that dares to play with silence as intimately as De Toegift deserves a fully dedicated audience.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2023/12/de-toegift-met-puntjudith-live.html

5. Personal Trainer, Paradiso

The album kept growing on me over the months after its release and by the time of the show, I knew it should have been high in my 2022 top 10. The show totally delivered. Willem Smit is on his way to become a true frontman but wasn't there yet. For the rest this band is as good as its record. More shows will bring it to the next level, ready to conquer the world.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2023/02/personal-trainer-live-paradiso.html

4. The Beths, Rotown

The only show I ever was at inebriated. How good the band really was that night, I will never know. My senses worked totally different than usual. At the same time, I can only say that my favourite songs all came by in great versions. The Beths is a band that deserves a far larger audience here in NL.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-beths-live-with-lande-hekt.html

3. The LVE, Huiskamer Haarlem

Covid got in the way of this show for two years. Finally it was scheduled and The LVE played a beautiful and intimate show. The few new songs that may have been premiered in the living room sounded extremely promising. The olde(er) songs received beautiful renditions. As a surprise for all, Karen and I sung Love When You Don't Want It with the band. That aside, this band deserves a serious fanbase.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2023/03/magie-lve-live-in-de-huiskamer-26-maart.html

You can see us all here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1asuIRMDV5g&ab_channel=Sweetwood

2. POM, Rotown

Amsterdam band POM played Rotterdam and did a rock version of crossing the Rubicon. This band is ready for so much more. It has great songs (and a great album) and knows how to play them to effect. The only comment I could make was a better matched setlist between the tracks on the album and "older" songs, would have made the show better.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2023/12/pom-with-mood-bored-live-rotown.html

1. De Breek, Huiskamer Haarlem

The moment the three members of The Breek started harmonising, let's say after 10 seconds into the show, I saw a few dozen mouths drop around me and knew the band had caught the audience already. De Breek did not let go until the final note. A perfect set by a perfect trio.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2023/11/huisconcert-de-breek-haarlem-vrijdag-10.html

Wout de Natris

Kairos 133, October 2021

May 2022 and Kairos of October 2021? Yes. Does it matter? No. Once again Wout delves into Wino's radio show on Concertzender and reports on his ideas, emotions, thoughts, associations all called up by the music presented in Kairos.

The familiar opening tune calls out to me. All mystery in 16 seconds and what lies in wait behind it? As usual I do not have a clue and submit myself to the music, while committing myself to the programme.

Soft music takes over. Slow notes on a keyboard ring out over a bed of atmospheric music. I'm not familiar with the music, although I recognise the name Faten Kanaan as an artist that came by in the albums presented to me. The label is Fire Recordings, so I'm not surprised to hear 'Mist & Madrigal' come by on Kairos. Many releases of the label have found their way to the show. Fire and Kairos are a good match and it is easy to hear why. The music does conjure up thoughts of mist and the mystery that can surround mist.

Something else, far less harmonious, takes over. The contrast is even a little disturbing. The quick notes totally in opposite of Faten Kanaan's music. Time is fleeting, and this music is as well. The music is like the hands of the clock. Seconds, minutes and hours all get their own piece in 'Time' by Poppy Ackroyd. Whether this is intentional, I don't know of course and had I thought of the association had I not read the title? Of course not. Fact is that 'Time' can be listened to in this fashion. Fascinating. Another association I have is with Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' in the way the fast parts are played, on, I think, a piano.

A dark sound moves in with over it piano notes, fairly sparse. The mood is consistent I notice. This music fits well together, despite the double tempo playing having been left behind. 'Sleeping Deer' is a piece by Mary Lattimore. A synth joins in a bubbly, propulsive manner. It creates the tempo that was abandoned anyway. What to make of it however? Is this butter or cheese? This can only be ascertained when you have seen or tasted either before. With 'Sleeping Deer' it's hard to say. The work comes close to being non-music. There is a melody involved but so sparse, so radical that I have a hard time getting through the 6.30 minutes it lasts. What I can't get my head around, is what Mary Lattimore wants to share with me. Atmosphere, a semi, non-pleasant one, sure. But beyond that?

A guitar takes over. A slow, stop-start rhythm. A female voice, hazy, hoarse starts singing. A tinkering, slow piano under a vague chorus. This is different but I like it alright. It's not a female voice at all. It's Sufjan Stevens & Angelo de Augustine who return to Kairos. The soft song is mysterious. The musical accompaniment is kept so small. The slow musical melody is angelic and beautiful in both a gruff as angelic way. Something impossible to obtain. 'Olympus' has it though.

What comes next? Simple Minds' 'Belfast Child'? No, it could have been though. This song has the exact same mood, though created by more traditional instruments, like a droning pump organ or something like it. A bagpipe for instance. It's an organ alright, I notice when the chord changes. It is 'Dew' by Bridgid Mae Power (Fire Recordings again). This is a traditional song alright. Folk at its most elementary. Beautiful, yet unapproachable. Warm and so cold. That is what 'Dew' is, very probably like dew on a cold morning is.

This month's poem is in English. Inspired by the sea. The music must be Ben Lucas Boysen's 'Nocturne 4'. It was woven into 'Olympus' somehow already. Now the slow and atmospheric keyboard, synths and atmospherics slowly works itself to a grand staging. A full drum kit joins giving the composition a giant oomph. Had a trumpet been provided, it could have been a new and more modern work by Ekseption, had its founding members not died that is. Boysen combines the classical with symphonic rock here and in a successful way to. Like it should. It doesn't matter from which side you approach symphonic rock it seems, it works both ways.

Next I hear church chanting come in. Fleeting, from so far away, as if coming to me from another universe. Until the male voices join in. This music of course ought to have been cancelled, coming from Russia and its orthodox church at that. Well, this Kairos comes from October and what did we know then? Nothing. 'We magnify Thee, Most Holy Virgin Theotokos (from the Service of the Baptism in Russia)' also indicates babies and what do they know? Nothing. I suggest we leave this chant be.

More slow notes fill my ears. Beneath it long held atmospheric notes can be heard. This could be a mysterious intro to a rock song and it can be something that continues on its own for half an hour, as sometimes compositions on Kairos do. What is this instrument?, I do wonder. It is a harp. This is Remy van Kesteren, an artist releasing songs faster than anyone can keep up with it seems. 'Waves' comes from his album 'Amber'. It is slow, mysterious and feels like being in the dark, reaching for the light which is, somehow within reach.

Somewhere the song changes or melts into something called 'Here We Are (Once Again) by Okkyung Lee. Another harp, that's easy to discern now. Underneath it other extremely slow playing instruments. A clarinet? The darker notes, coming by every so many measures, will be bass strings of the harp, I guess. To enjoy this music, I would need more rest in my body, which I notice I do not have enough of right now. I'm not submitting to this mood and music. My brain is on and not in a meditative mood.

Effortlessly the music moves into something else. It could be Akkyung Lee changing his song to incorporate another instrument, violins. It is not, however. What I'm listening to is 'Valley Of Tears' by Tom Snijders. Although, where the mood is concerned, this song is totally in line with the previous one. So is it a harp, that I can't relax myself on? As this music totally releases me from whatever occupied my brain just now, immediately. What am I writing?, I notice myself thinking. You enjoy listening to violins?! Am I getting old? No, I just totally enjoyed 'Wet Leg', one of the best albums recently released. The contrast to 'Valley Of Tears' is huge and yet this also works for me. The soft and relaxed but above all modest mood Tom Snijders presents is simply beautiful.

Another violin enters the last, muffled piano notes of Snijders. Also soft, yet by comparison harsh and biting. It's almost weird to notice how through comparison something soft containing long-held notes can be so loud, simply because of what came before. The composition is called 'Articulated Silences (part 1)'. It's also strange how this title articulates my first impression. Of course the effect quickly dissipates. The long-held notes create their own rhythm and atmosphere. I can imagine to mentally surf over the notes, catching wave after wave on an endless ocean without a beach in sight. Stars of the Lid has been in Kairos before and again claims its rightful place it seems.

To be replaced by world music. An exotic, to my ears, wood instrument whether bowed or blown introduces a female singer, singing deep from her throat, more sounds than words sometimes. The guitars, acoustic, give 'El Sikameya' a modern feel. This recording is less traditional than the song is. I always have a hard time to listen to this, but in this context, it feels totally right.

Some sort of modern church music takes over. With a reverb on the voice giving the impression to be recorded in a huge cathedral, catching the voice from a huge distance, using the acoustic qualities and ambiance of the big church fully. There are instruments involved in Gavin Bryars' 'Incipit Vita Nova' but they are totally subjected to the vocals. As I have written several times before, repetition is unavoidable over so many years, this music is not for me. Yet, I can hear the inner beauty in this music. Just like I can imagine myself sitting in that cathedral. Eyes closed, letting the music and singing grab me fully. At this moment someone starts using an electric saw or something like it outside. Speaking of dissonance within total tranquillity.

Kairos closes with another artist who has found his way fairly recently to Kairos for the first time. The mood in music hardly changes, despite faint percussion and digital sounds. It is the Moritz von Oswald Trio's 'Chapter 3'. What to truly make of it? Slowly the music fades out and Kairos comes to an end, before I can really make up my mind.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to this episode of Kairos here:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_629469/

 

The playlist:

00:00 – 00:16  Kairos Tune by Wino Penris

00:11 – 03:23  Faten Kanaan. Mist & Madrigal.
Album ‘A Mythology of Circles’.  Fire records.

02:37 – 08:47  Poppy Ackroyd. Time. Album ‘Resolve’, Poppy Ackroyd, Joe Quail, Mike Lesirge, Manu Delago. One Little Indian Records.

08:17 – 14:56  Mary Lattimore. Sleeping Deer.
Album ‘Collected Pieces II’. Self-released.

14:34 – 17:41  Sufjan Stevens & Angelo de Augustine. Olympus.
Album ‘A Beginner’s Mind’. Secretly Group.

17:31 – 18:08  Ben Lukas Boysen, Nocturne 3 (fragment).
Album ‘spells’. Erased Tapes Records.

17:58 – 21:25  Traditional. Dew. Brigid Mae Power.
EP ‘Burning Your Light. Fire Records.

21:09 – 27:57  Ben Lukas Boysen. Nocturne 4 . Album ‘Spells’. Erased Tapes Records.

21:27 – 22:32  Poem by Esther Rozenboom. Voice and recording by Esther Rozenboom. Private recording.

27:23 – 29:18  Anonymous. We magnify Thee, Most Holy Virgin Theotokos (from the Service of the Baptism in Russia). Znamenny Chant. Album ‘Hymns to the Mother of God at the Moleben’. Publisihing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate.

29:03 – 33:58  Remy van Kesteren. Waves. Album ‘Amber’. Snowstar Records.

33:09 – 39:19  Okkyung Lee. Here we are (once again).
Album ‘Heaven On Fire (various artists)’. Fire Records.

34:51 – 35:05  Fragment from poem by Esther Rozenboom, adapted by Wino Penris.

38:48 – 44:16  Ton Snijders. Valley of Tears. Album ‘Solo (2)‘. Munich Recrds.

43:58 – 49:23  Stars of the Lid. Articulate Silences (part 1).
Album ’And their refinement of decline’. Kranky.

49:18 – 52:05  Traditional. Istikhbar Sahli. El Sikameya.
Album ‘Atifa’. Editions Le Mur du Son.

51:44 – 57:52  Gavin Bryars. Incipit Vita Nova. (David James, countertenor; Annemarie Dreyer, violin; Ulrike Lachner, viola; Rebecca Firth, cello).
Album ‘Vita Nova’. ECM NEW SERIES.

57:34 – 59:57  Moritz von Oswald trio. Chapter 3 (fade-out).
Album ‘Dissent‘. Modern Recordings.

Aboogi. Imarhan

2021 was het jaar van Afrique Victime van Mdou Moctar, die het stokje doorgeeft aan de Algerijnse band Imarhan, die met Aboogi een album heeft gemaakt dat kan worden geschaard onder de hoogtepunten van de “woestijnblues”.

Het was een curiositeit toen het twintig jaar geleden opdook, maar inmiddels is de “woestijnblues” uit de landen rond de Sahara een zeer interessant genre. De Algerijnse band Imarhan bracht al twee prima albums uit, maar zet een volgende stap met het geweldige Aboogi. Het is een album vol muzikaal en vocaal vuurwerk en vol dynamiek, maar het is ook een bezwerende of zelfs hypnotiserende luistertrip, die zomaar kan uitgroeien tot een van de mooiste in het genre. Aboogi neemt je mee naar andere werelden waar het heerlijk wegdromen is, wat weer fraai contrasteert met de naar verluidt politieke en maatschappijkritische teksten.

Ik weet nog goed hoe het Britse muziektijdschrift Uncut aan het begin van dit millennium voor het eerst en zeer beeldend schreef over het genre dat vaak wat oneerbiedig wordt omschreven als “woestijnblues”. Het is muziek die op de kaart werd gezet door de Toeareg band Tinariwen, die een paar jaar later gezelschap kreeg van de band Tamikrest. 

De afgelopen jaren doken meerdere bands op in het genre, dat vorig jaar een enorme boost kreeg door alle waardering voor Afrique Victime van de uit het Afrikaanse Niger afkomstige Mdou Moctar. Er was bijna geen jaarlijst te vinden waarin dit album niet voor kwam, waardoor bands in het genre in 2022 waarschijnlijk kunnen rekenen op extra belangstelling. 

Ik bespreek zo nu en dan albums die in het hokje “woestijnblues” passen en heb de afgelopen jaren een flink zwak gekregen voor de muziek van de uit Algerije afkomstige band Imarhan. Imarhan leverde met haar titelloze debuut uit 2016 en met Temet uit 2018 twee uitstekende albums af en keert deze week terug met album nummer drie. 

Ik ben benieuwd of Imarhan met Aboogi net zo gaat scoren als Mdou Moctar vorig jaar, maar aan de kwaliteit van het album zal het zeker niet liggen. De muziek van Imarhan is misschien net wat minder toegankelijk dan de muziek van Mdou Moctar, maar de verschillen tussen de twee albums moeten zeker niet overdreven worden. 

Aboogi opent met behoorlijk ingetogen akoestische klanken en de wat bezwerende vocalen die we kennen uit de muziek die in en rond de Sahara wordt gemaakt. Op een gegeven moment gaat het tempo wat omhoog en duiken de ook voor het genre zo karakteristieke elektrische gitaren op. De muziek van Imarhan krijgt vervolgens een bijna hypnotiserend karakter, waarna de muziek van de band je meesleept op een bijzondere luistertrip. 

Het is een luistertrip waarin de akoestische klanken meestal domineren en het tempo over het algemeen laag is. Het akoestische gitaarspel op het album is keer op keer van een bijzondere schoonheid en komt prachtig uit de speakers. Door de combinatie van akoestische en elektrische gitaren en het lage tempo heeft de muziek van Imarhan vaak iets psychedelisch. 

Deze psychedelische kant van de muziek van Imarhan wordt versterkt door de bijzondere zang op het album, waarbij mannenstemmen domineren, flink wat verschillende stemmen worden ingezet, vaak bezwerende koortjes worden ingezet en de Soedanese zangeres Sulafa Elyas tekent voor het hoogtepunt op het album. 

Zeker bij beluistering met de koptelefoon hoor je hoe mooi de muziek op het album is, maar ook in vocaal opzicht is Aboogi een knap in elkaar stekend album. Nog meer dan Mdou Moctar vorig jaar slaagt Imarhan er in om een unieke sfeer te creëren met vaak redelijk subtiel ingekleurde songs. 

Zeker de zich uiterst langzaam voortslepende passages zijn prachtig, maar het is knap hoe de Algerijnse band met wat eenvoudige percussie het tempo op kan voeren en de muziek van de band voorziet van dynamiek. Die dynamiek komt ook terug in de zang op het album, die ook fluisterzacht kan klinken. 

Ook ik nam Afrique Victime van Mdou Moctar vorig jaar op in mijn jaarlijstje, maar nu ik Aboogi van Imarhan een paar keer heb gehoord, vind ik dit eigenlijk een beter album. Laten we hopen dat het minstens net zoveel aandacht krijgt als die overigens zeer terechte jaarlijstjesplaat van vorig jaar. 

Erwin Zijleman

Sky Trails. David Crosby

David Crosby does a Steely Dan was my first thought when listening to 'She's Got To Be Somewhere'. The electric piano, the singing, the rhythm and jazzy atmosphere, everything spells Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.

This is far from strange. David Crosby always has more jazz than pop in his songs. The reason why his music can turn me off just as easily as it can please me. The music reminds me also of what he did in the band CPR around the turn of the century.

David Crosby turned 76 this summer. Decades older than some may have predicted decades ago. He seems on a mission as Sky Trails follows 'Lighthouse' within the year. (Read on here: http://wonomagazine.blogspot.nl/2016/12/lighthouse-david-crosby.html.) Crosby has something to say before he goes. Perhaps not being distracted by his old pals SN&Y accounts for his creativity as well. The burden of the quality rests totally on his own shoulders as well.

David Crosby does not make music that I listen to often. When it comes down to it, ever since I heard 'Triad', his song that got him kicked out of The Byrds and was recorded by Jefferson Airplane instead, I sort of have heard it all. 'Triad' is the blueprint for his career. Sung beautifully by Grace Slick by the way.

At the same time I find myself emerging in a song like 'Sell Me A Diamond'. The song is beautiful. Despite the fact that I can hear David Crosby coming up for air here and there, his voice does everything it needs to do, to cut this track perfectly.

His son James Raymond produced the album and is musically all over the place. The P in CPR, Jeff Pevar, plays guitar. For the rest there's a long list of session musicians and David Crosby, to my great surprise, on drums, though not exclusively. So it is no surprise that the album sounds familiar. It could have been a CPR album too. I remember my surprise when I ran into a live show of CPR on TV by chance.

If you love David Crosby, Sky Trails can do no wrong. The man is in great form. I find myself liking this album better than Lighthouse easily. There is more to discover here. The arrangements are of a subtle lushness. Take the flugelhorn(?) in 'Here It's Almost Sunset'. Flying over the bare guitar notes the instrument adds something near magical to the elementary song structure.

His ageing voice shows in a song like 'Capitol'. At the same time he is still able to show his indignation and protest against things he thinks are not right. Politicians "filling up their pockets from here". Again a horn fills up the song, battling it out in a decent way with a jazzy electric guitar in the best Steely Dan tradition. The arrangement just did not take six years to refine -and yes, that shows too.

Neil Young will forever be my favourite of the four individuals making up that great collective in 1969 and 1970. David Crosby beyond doubt is my #2. The other two just don't come close in my universe. The future is uncertain but if David Crosby releases a further record I have no doubt it will be one of substantial quality.

Wo.

You can listen to 'Sell Me A Diamond' here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TClV7quWFYc

Carry Fire. Robert Plant

Beware, dear reader, in the coming days we are emerging in old stuff. Musicians come by who started their respective careers in the 60s and are still around. Some with old, but newly released work, others with brand new songs. There's one constant: the quality is extremely high.

The quality of Carry Fire is everything what I have come to expect from Robert Plant and the musicians he works with, The Sensational Space Shifters. There are absolutely no complaints here. In fact, in my opinion Carry Fire is exactly what Led Zeppelin might have sounded like, now all the musicians of the band still alive are in or are approaching their 70s. All the elements, bar the classic (blues)rock are there. Folk, eastern and Moroccan influences and traces of the rock the classic rock band infused in its music. The blues is gone but Plant introduces some 60s pop into the whole.

Fact is that Carry Fire sounds so full of ambition. The artistic fire is burning brightly, even after nearly 50 year in the music business. In my review from 2014 (read here: https://wonomagazine.blogspot.nl/2014/10/lulleby-and-ceaseless-roar-robert-plant.html?m=0) I wrote that I guessed that Plant didn't want a reunion tour with his old band, just because of that. It would waiste time for the things he really wanted to do: create new music, where Jimmy Page is in a reminiscing mood for the past three decades.

The only complaint one can have of Carry Fire is its lack of originality. And then the music on Carry Fire kicks in. Robert Plant's voice is over-familiar. It may be more that fact, than the music on the album. Despite the fact that there are several familiar sounding tunes and sounds, the production is modern and even takes a jazzy, triphop, folk turn in a song like 'Keep It Hid'. There's no holding back on trying to be influential, even after all these years, here. And that is something that goes for more songs on the album. Robert Plant is still grooving with the best of them. Just listen to what happens to the late 1968 The Beach Boys hit 'Bluebirds Over The Mountain'. And don't I recognize Chrissie Hinde's voice there in the duet? Besides the vocal melody there is nothing helping me towards the original song. So much is going on at the same time. Classic rock (drumming), modern sounds, an Irish fiddle, folk, eastern sounds. A hodgepodge making up for a great cover.

The opening song has a title that points directly to things past. 'The May Queen' features in 'Stairway To Heaven' of course. The acoustic guitars reference many a folk song played by Led Zeppelin. Without a doubt Robert Plant is catering his fans of old here. Without ever touching on the hardest rock and blues side of the band, Plant is graciously dealing with his heritage. That is the only thing that could be seen as negative about Carry Fire, it leans on things past. The music no longer holds any form of danger. The quality of the music on the album outweighs any inhibitions as mentioned just now. If one could dream of a new Led Zeppelin album Carry Fire would come close. Without any forced ways of trying to find new riffs that may just no longer be there in their forté.

Robert Plant again comes up with a beautiful album that not only does right to his past, but makes him as relevant an artist as one can be at 69. His voice still contains that characteristic lightness that made it him stand out in the past. The pace of the songs befit his age and all, without a single exception, hold a level of quality that makes the singer shine. I already liked the previous album, 'Lullaby And ...  The Ceaseless Roar'(2014), I may come to like Carry Fire even better. I can't find a single fault.

Wo.

You can listen to 'The May Queen' here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OPKSZyRPFQ