Gather live. Birds of a Feather en Jara Holdert

Op vrijdag 19 mei is de derde aflevering van Gather live. Na het mooie optreden van The Wanderer en het ontwapenende optreden van No Ninja Am I april jl. is het de beurt aan de Amsterdamse singer-songwriter Jara Holdert en het Zwitserse duo Birds of a Feather. Wat kunnen we verwachten in het oude V&D gebouw in Haarlem?

Birds of a Feather releaste recentlelijk haar nieuwe EP 'Rise Up', volgend op hun eerdere EP 'Light Up', uit 2016. Ze staan beide op Spotify. Amy McKay en Ryan Lean zingen en spelen samen in delicate arrangementen die iemand toestaan om uiterst relaxt te luisteren naar hun nummers. Enerzijds kan een liedje klinken alsof het zo uit de kerk is weggelopen, terwijl anderzijds het volgende een beschaafde pop rock song is. Voeg daarbij een song die klinkt als het een intro is voor een nummer vol EDM beats, die natuurlijk niet komen, en het beeld is wel compleet. Birds of a Feather is een gevarieerde band, die niet bang is om haar nummers geheel verschillend in te kleuren.

Dit maakt het lastig om vergelijkingen los te laten. Het voert te ver om te zeggen dat het duo een eigen geluid heeft gevonden. Daarvoor gebeuren er teveel verschillende dingen. Het hokje beschaafde pop staat zeker wijd open, maar dat vertelt het verhaal maar ten dele. In de samenzang schuilen hints richting country, in de muziek voorzichtige elementen naar veel modernere muziek. 'Home' is een gedragen song, maar de atmosfeer maakt het nummer ronduit spannend. Diverse keyboards doen hun ding op de achtergrond en creëren zo een eigen wereld onder 'Home'.

Live verwacht ik prachtige samenzang van Birds of a Feather over zacht gitaargetokkel heen. Intieme momenten in licht gevarieerde nummers die zorg dragen voor een mooie luisterervaring.

Jara is een singer-songwriter uit de residentie. Op You Tube vond ik een paar solo nummers, die mij de impressie gaven met een naar jazz neigende singer-songwriter te maken te hebben. Dat klopt ook. Zij studeert jazz zang.

Op Soundcloud trof ik nog een aantal nummers aan. Het startte met nummer dat meer indie klonk, met een bandbegeleiding. Jara Holdert's stem is nogal hoog, een beetje zoals Joni Mitchell, dus dat moet je liggen. Zodra 'Sorrow' begint te spelen, is de vergelijking geen vage referentie meer. Het had mij kunnen foppen. Als vervolgens een Astrud Gilberto achtig nummer begint, is duidelijk dat Jara net zo veelzijdig is als Birds of a Feather. Ook zij is niet voor een sound te vangen. Haar stem moet je liggen, merk ik. Maar 'To Like You' vangt mij met zijn fraaie opbouw en prettige referenties.

Met deze twee artiesten moet het aankomende "huiskamer" concert in Gather opnieuw een interessante bijeenkomst worden. Veel mooie liedjes van twee totaal verschillende artiesten.

Wo.

Deuren open om 19.30 uur. Meer informatie vind je hier:

https://www.haarlemmarketing.nl/uitagenda/overzicht/2278063272/gather-live-jara-birds-of-a-feather

Je kunt hier luisteren naar 'Rise Up':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yDMHhLVdN0

Nummers van Jara staan hier op Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/listentojara

In Debt. Disco Inferno

Google the web and all hits on Disco Inferno will get you to the 70s disco hit of the vocal group The Trammps. So when I was sent a record by a band called Disco Inferno (of D.I.) I was mildly surprised. My amazement only grew when I read the bio. It gave me the impression that I was about to listen to a new Big Star. An overlooked band of geniuses from the early 90s that experimented with electronics in their music like has become so common years later.

When I put on the record I was surprised but not like Big Star once surprised me. I heard music like they played in the early 80s. The Cure, The Comsat Angels, that sort. Darkness all around, the bomb about to fall on us all and as little melody as music allows for. Joy in listening and playing music simply strictly forbidden. So that not only caught me by surprise, it set me off on the wrong foot as well.

Disco Inferno was a band formed in Essex in 1989 by four teenage lads, soon to be a trio. When Ian Crause bought himself a sampler, things changed in how the band approached music. All the sounds were sampled and reprocessed into the whole. A painstaking lot of hard work at the time, that in the end got little recognition, until bands much later started working the same way and started naming Disco Inferno as an influence. The band released three albums and a lot of EPs. That music was summarised into a compilation called In Debt which is now re-released through Rocket Girl Records.

So that was history for you. What to make of the music now? I can't get myself over the feeling that In Debt sounds horribly outdated. This has everything to do with the 80s doom and gloom feel that lies over all the songs. There's a darkness that just doesn't belong in this world any more. No matter how gloomy people are in 2017, at times, a lot of them are better off them 25-30 years ago. And they know it. The question whether this is a long-ignored masterpiece should be left to someone who really loves 80s music, which I did, and do, not.

So, is there nothing positive to write on In Debt? Yes, there is actually. For starters it is always a good things that music people truly believe in is made available for others to discover. What also attracts me to the album is the inventive rhythms Rob Whatley (drums) plays on several of the songs. Over that the bass of Paul Willmott plays all the right accents. This leads to fairly exciting songs like 'Set Sail'. The guitar style laid over the beat is light, yet extremely busy, like a waterfall full of cascades that ends in a Niagara.

Crause's voice suits the music. Dark, joyless, laying a near lifeless atmosphere over the music. I have a hard time enjoying this. Yet, the voice has the effect it intends to have. I'm not feeling really happy from listening to In Debt. Again I hit on a song that rocks out a bit more, 'Freethought' and find myself nodding my head. 'Freethought' is all but that. Attention went into the details of the song. The looped guitar sounds that keep coming back, around which nothing is withheld. Whatley going "Animal", guitars all over the place and the bass doing runs in the background.

Anyone who listens to the music will find details like this. In the dark soup of gloomy music gems are hidden to be discovered. With a few listening sessions I have discovered some. Disco Inferno was able to find sounds and pieces of music that add to the whole and never seemed to have been content with just the first or second set of ideas. It always managed to go beyond that and add to what was there initially. In that way I'm certainly glad to have been introduced to In Debt.

Would I have bought the record? No, for that this music is simply just past my taste in music. The 80s just don't belong in there. A pop element in the vocals is missing to really grab my attention. Having said that, In Debt is an album worth discovering for people who love this sort of music. Disco Inferno is no ordinary band. In that the bio is completely right. Go and discover, writes

Wo.

You can listen to and buy In Debt here:

https://discoinferno1.bandcamp.com/releases

Live A Fugitive and Stahlr. Cinetol, Amsterdam Thursday 11 May 2017

On the first summer's evening of 2017 I took the train to Amsterdam to go and see A Fugitive and a band?, solo artist? with the mysterious name Stahlr. It turned out to be one of the strangest shows I've attended. Not because of the music, but what was going on in another part of the building, where a restaurant and bar had been turned into a football match haven. Ajax was trying to qualify for the Europa League finals and managed. The two events inevitably started mixing for most people concerned. The show starting around the football and watching football in the interludes. Let's leave Ajax behind and focus on what I came to do, listen to music.

Before the show started I had met with friends, family and booking agent of the acts. We were just about the audience I'm afraid. Simply too much competition of weather and Ajax. The good thing is that this did not deter both artists to play with the energy and commitment a show needs.

Photo: Wo.

Walking into the Cinetol stage was rather a strange experience. Near total darkness, smoke everywhere and no one inside. Absolutely no one. So back into the light outside.

The darkness, the mist. It turned out that it was part of the act. When Stahlr, who I had got to know as Anne by then, stood on stage, all that could be seen, very, very faintly, was a person donned in a long, mysterious, hooded cape. Face hidden within the hood. Light coming straight from the bottom lighting the figure up for just a flash. Despite the glistening robe I was reminded of pictures of the Middle Ages. Of monks and the people who brought Black Plague victims to their mass graves. Only the protective, strongly pointed nose mask filled with herbs was missing. The hooded figure stood behind a desk with some electronics on it and in front of two panels with light bulbs and a laser. Big, dark, brooding beats started. So deep, reverberating the room. Immediately it was clear to me that the sound system here was so good as it not only withstood the onslaught, but made every nuance in the electronic sound available to hear. Without being too loud. (Later I found out that Paradiso assists here.) When the first song played itself out I found myself wondering why this can't be heard on the radio. Perhaps because the average speaker would blow itself up.

Stahlr captured me totally, where I have to point out that she sings beautifully over these dark beats. Even the hiss from the smoke machine falls in with the beats. A lot is orchestrated to the last detail in this show.

A technical problem with one of the songs, broke the spell. Here was no high priest of Egyptian times singing for us. All the music comes from a laptop placed on the floor. The magic and mystery comes from a well thought out light show. What Stahlr actually does on stage, besides singing beautifully, is cloaked in mist, mystery, light and laser. It worked for me though.

After the break with a lot of football and excitement I went back in to watch A Fugitive. Followers of this log will recall how excited I was about her EP 'Coincidence' that was released this April. The three songs captured me fully and are charged with emotions. "A Fugative makes a statement ...of no small proportions" I wrote at the time.

Photo: Wo.

The stage was filled with electronics, pedals, a few keyboards, a laptop and who knows what else surrounding the singer and to contrast all the black, a beautiful white Fender Stratocaster in the hands of Rosan Rozema. Songs are built op from scratch with samples of melodies and sounds. Beats kicking in at the right moment that seemed pre-recorded. With each addition the mood of a song changed slightly; or by avalanche.

Making music takes concentrations as everything has to fall into the right place. Here it is even more than that. While playing and singing it is necessary to start and stop sampling at precisely the right moment, making the sample coming back in or add whatever sound or rhythm, as there is no one else doing this when you're a solo act. On top of that the artist is performing so has to show just that. Practising and practising is most likely what it takes and Rosan Rozema showed that she was comfortable doing everything at once. And more, as she obviously stood her ground, self-assured and showing it in her performance.

The songs from 'Coincidence' stood the test live effortlessly. The other songs sounded promising. A Fugitive is a project that deserves more listeners as things don't get more intense without losing musicality than this. A Fugitive simply pushes all the right buttons.

Wo.

You can listen to and buy 'Coincidence' here:

https://afugitive.bandcamp.com/

You can listen to Stahlr here:

https://soundcloud.com/stahlr-676914479

Whiteout Conditions. The New Pornographers

I can remember seeing pictures of whiteout conditions in my country but can't remember having been in such a condition ever. Global warming is making heavy snowfall an exception for quite some years now. Let alone in combination with heavy frost.

So now an album with that title, from a band that I rather like. What does the new album bring. A lot of pleasure, that is for sure. With the exception of Dan Bejar and drummer Kurt Dahle the whole crew is there, delivering the purest of pop rock imaginable.

Owning all records and having seen the band perform twice in the past years, a new album is more than welcome. Carl Newman has come up with eleven new pop gems that he seems to have a patent on delivering. The songs pulsate with energy and shine from being polished so hard. In combination with the harmonies and alternating lead vocals an unbeatable formula is tapped from. The only imaginable complaint is that the variation created by Dan Bejar's songs, like on 'Brill Bruisers', is lacking here. That would be really splitting hairs though when the level of songs and musicianship is as high as on Whiteout Conditions.

Part of the energy that oozes out of this record comes directly from the propulsing synths that are being played in the best 80s tradition, merged into a high and modern poprock environment. The synths keep at it. Never in a straight manner. Always sending out signals with a slight delay built in, creating a digital heartbeat in the music. The synths set the pace of Whiteout Conditions.

They are incorporated into alternative rocksongs with a fine bed of drums and bass. On top of it all are the vocals. With fine singers like Carl Newman, Neko Case and Kathryn Calder it is possible to work out intricate vocal arrangements. And that is what The New Pornographers do as its trademark. The contrast between Newman and the two ladies is nice. Once they all go at it together things get even better.

Overlooking the whole album, I have to conclude that the touch of brilliance that 'Brill Bruisers' and 'Twin Cinema' both hold is missing. A hint of something shiningly fresh and new. For that Whiteout Conditions is too dark in sound. Or too whitened out, to keep with the title. I find it hard to internalise the songs, where on other albums I did not have that problem. This doesn't take anything from the fact that I enjoy listening to this album. In the end it is the new The New Pornographers album and that is enough. There's so much to enjoy here.

Wo.

You can listen to 'High Ticket Attractions' here:

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

The Navigator. Hurray For The Riff Raff

Hurray For The Riff Raff is de band rond frontvrouw Alynda Lee Segarra.
 
Alynda heeft Puerto Ricaanse wortels, maar groeide op in de Bronx in New York. Op haar 17e verruilde ze het zware leven in een wat minder florissante wijk in New York voor een bestaan als muzikant in New Orleans en dit begint zo langzamerhand zijn vruchten af te werpen.
 
De platen van Hurray For The Riff Raff zijn sinds het uit 2008 stammende debuut alleen maar beter geworden en ook The Navigator is weer beter dan zijn voorganger.
 
The Navigator is een opvallend ambitieuze plaat, waarop Alynda Lee Segarra een verhaal vertelt dat lijkt op haar levensverhaal. Het is een levensverhaal dat voor een belangrijk deel wordt ingekleurd door de muziek waarmee de frontvrouw van Hurray For The Riff Raff opgroeide in New York.
 
Op Spotify heeft Alynda Lee Segarra een lijstje geplaatst met de songs die haar hebben geïnspireerd tot het maken van The Navigator en dat is een interessant lijstje. Het is een lijstje dat wordt gekleurd door haar Puerto Ricaanse afkomst en de muziekgeschiedenis van The Big Apple, maar het belangrijkst was naar eigen zeggen de eerste beluistering van David Bowie's The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust. Persoonlijk hoor ik overigens veel meer van Patti Smith, die ook vertegenwoordigd is in de playlist op Spotify.
 
Hurray For The Riff Raff opereerde tot dusver binnen de kaders van de Americana (in de breedste zin van het woord), maar op The Navigator slaat de band haar vleugels uit. In een aantal songs raakt de muziek van de band aan de Americana die het in het verleden omarmde, maar de plaat biedt ook volop ruimte aan de rockmuziek uit de grote stad.
 
Invloeden uit de rockmuziek uit de jaren 60 en 70 staan centraal op The Navigator, maar Hurray For The Riff Raff vermengt deze invloeden op bijzonder knappe wijze met uiteenlopende andere invloeden.
 
Het ene moment sluit Alynda Lee Segarra nadrukkelijk aan bij de muziek die Patti Smith in de jaren 70 maakte, maar The Navigator sluit ook net zo makkelijk aan bij de emotievolle folk van Natalie Merchant of bij de Latin die op zijn beurt weer aansluit bij de roots van de zangeres van Hurray For The Riff Raff.
 
Dit alles wordt vermengd met donkere klanken, Surf gitaren, hier en daar melancholische strijkers en altijd heel veel passie. Het levert een plaat op die zich met geen enkele andere plaat laat vergelijken. Het levert ook een plaat op die ondanks de zeer uiteenlopende invloeden klinkt als een geheel en wat is het een indrukwekkend geheel.
 
In muzikaal opzicht schiet het alle kanten op, maar in vocaal opzicht is The Navigator verrassend consistent. Alynda Lee Segarra zingt op de nieuwe plaat van Hurray For The Riff Raff met hart en ziel en maakt indruk met vocalen die haar songs tot leven brengen.
 
Bij mijn eerste beluistering van The Navigator had ik 12 songs en 40 minuten lang kippenvel en dat keert bij iedere volgende beluistering terug. Hurray For The Riff Raff heeft een hele moedige plaat gemaakt en wat is het een verschrikkelijk goede plaat.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt hier luisteren naar 'The Navigator':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcXlkjAyvl4