Sous La Peau. Versari

Sous la peau translates into under the skin. I'll settle for that description when listening to the music on Versari's new album. This is the kind of music that does. It is extremely direct. Some songs come towards me with the direct intent to conquer and dominate. There's little room for delicacies to discuss somewhere in between. Hence the music on Sous La Peau can be a bit much at times. So far I've lived to tell.

Sous La Peau was released just before my holidays, so came too late to be taken in at the time. I do make amends like I had intended then as this album deserves full attention on this blog.

Versari is a French trio, bass, drums, guitar, led by Jean-Charles Versari. With his dark voice he sings in the tradition of the French chanson. I have no hardship recognising someone like Jacques Dutronc in his way of singing, but also more traditional chanson singers. It is what happens underneath his voice that underscores his way of singing in a totally different way. The result is a form of bleakness that borders on no hope forever. The band received help from an Englishmen, Adrian Utley, e.g. from Portishead, who added guitar and synth parts to the trio setting.

My personal guess is that it is the parts of Utley that let some light into the songs. A few lighter parts that adorn the darkness Versari produces.

Promo photo

Things Versari start with the dark bass that goes full out over the drums. A heavy chugging sound that drives the songs forward like cowboys herding cattle over the prairies to the train bound for Chicago's slaughterhouses. Over that firm foundation the guitar chords are played, filling up parts that are empty. The overall result is impressive as the music is as direct as it is good. I can only believe Jean-Charles Versari when he says that his lyrics are all on losing things, feelings, loved ones. For that my French is too dismal. What I can only note is how his words and diction deliver the cherries on the cake Sous La Peau is.

The album ends with a slower and more open song. 'Pour La Tristesse' is the kind of song I want to end an album. Impressive and inviting. The kind of song that invites a relisten and making it hard to wait for a new album to come along. 'Pour La Tristesse' does all this and more. A post punk epic songs it is.

Wo.

You can buy Sous La Peau here:

https://www.gentlemenrecordings.com/


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

Even In Exile. James Dean Bradfield

With a career spanning 30 years James Dean Bradfield is slowly getting on in life. I have to admit that I have missed the last albums of his band Manic Street Preachers as they seemed to have become too predictable to me. So I was not standing first in line for a solo album. It seems I have moved forward quite a lot since that initial reaction to his album. There's a simple conclusion: it's good.

Writing about Even In Exile however has to start with a different introduction. All the lyrics are inspired by the poems of one Victor Jara. I don't read poetry but the name faintly rang a bell. My thought was a poet from the Spanish civil war but no, he was a Chilean poet, teacher, singer and politician in the Salvador Allende government. He was murdered under the Pinochet government in 1973 aged 40.

This brutal ending of the life of an inspirational person due to political differences and not caring for individual lives due to these differences is something that resonates in the late 10s and early 20s. I only have to watch the news in the past few days to know. Bradfield saw political oppression on the rise and an infatuation of the many with "the strong man" become a "normal" topic. That made Even In Exile a necessary album for him to write.

Bradfield was introduced to the writings of Jara by poet Patrick Jones and was inspired to write a concept album on the work and life of Victor Jara. With Jones contributing by writing the lyrics. Of course many aspects of Even In Exile sound familiar. Foremost because of his voice but also because of aspects in the music, which he writes for his band. This is not where the story stops though. Even In Exile has a looseness and in a sense frivolity that his band does not often have. The (stadium) rock elements are, at times, ditched and replaced by acoustic guitars, a piano, a harmonica, etc. The big gestures are in place of course but are neutralised in the right places, creating an at times open atmosphere.

From the very first time I was able to play the record I found I was pleased, but so was my girlfriend. We both found Even In Exile to be a great album. In other words this could be an album that ought to be able to catch the attention of a lot more people that the guitar loving Britpopfan I am. After the introduction 'Recuerda' and the masterfully forceful 'The Boy From The Plantation', it is 'There'll Come A War' that sets a different tone. Solemn, with an almost classical piano over a deep dark beat and atmospherics, the song is one of promise for the rest of the album. And of expectation. From a song like this many more surprises may follow.

Both promise and expectation are delivered with the ease and self-assurance only a confident and accomplished artist can deliver. 'Seeking The Room With The Three Windows', the next song, comes close to a progrock exercise with its guitar motifs and less expected changes. It reminds me of Fish-era Marillion but with a bite that Marillion usually was not capable of delivering. This instrumental has it the whole of the way. A piece of music I had never heard Manic Street Preachers play, for this reason only a solo album was a correct choice.

The piano in 'Thirty Thousand Bottles' sounds like it came before on the album, as if it is the leitmotif of Even In Exile. As if we should see the album as a rock opera. And why not? The piano intro gives the song a grandeur that belongs in a rock opera. By then I had been totally convinced to be listening to a great album.

What follows underscores that conclusion. There's no need to go into every detail that follows next. Expect loads of beautiful details in each song. Whether functional, little adornments or perhaps even in excess, they fit and underscore the beauty of the songs and music of Even In Exile. It may well be that James Dean Bradfield has released the defining album of his 30 year old career.

Wo.


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

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

Trini Lopez (1937 - 2020)

Trini Lopez, was the man still alive?, I mused when I heard on the radio this morning that he had passed away. Somehow I had him filed under music of my parents' age and time. Somewhere with Frankie Laine, Louis Armstrong, Doris Day and Pat Boone. Singers of the few albums we had in the home, that my mother had brought from Canada when she emigrated to The Netherlands.

The reason I had filed Lopez incorrectly had a simple reason I found: his big hit song 'If I Had A Hammer' is around for as long as I can remember, so that includes the albums of my mother and the singles of my uncle and aunt that were played when I was very small when visiting my grandparents, but had nothing to do with their choice of music. I must have heard it somewhere else on a radio or whatever. The song was just always there.

'If I Had A Hammer' turns out not to be a pre-rock and roll single but post rock and roll from 1963. By the time that I started to find out what hits were and develop my own taste in music Trini Lopez was an almost forgotten memory. Probably touring the golden oldies circuit quite successfully.

My guess is that Lopez appealed to the part of youth and perhaps their parents that had barely lived through rock the craze or scare depending on a person's response to the devil's music. It is a nice, innocent song of warning, etc. When I hear it my nostalgic streak is immediately pleased but that is about it.

Diving in deeper, only two other songs pop up: 'America', the 'West Side Story' song and 'Lemon Tree'. Another song that I sort of know for ages but for a long time did not know who the singer was. That turned out to be Trini Lopez as well. He does get one thing very wrong in 'Lemon Tree'. Obviously he had never heard of Limoncello or limone granita. Granted, I do not eat lemons.

I do not own a single song by Lopez. For that I'm not interested enough. He remains a pre-The Beatles artist of a not rock and roll and blues kind. So in spirit does belong to my parents', who did not care for music really, day and age.

I do have 'If I Had A Hammer'. My mother brought the single for me from a fancy fair or something like it. Not by Trini Lopez but by Rob Denis. Look at the picture listen to the, English singing, voice and it is clear. A very young Rob de Nijs, one of The Netherlands most famous singers of the past 50 years gave a go at an English language career that never got off the ground. But that is a different story.

Trini Lopez died at the age of 83 of Covid.

Wo.


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 118, June 2020

Our Wo. tries hard to keep up with writing about our .No's monthly radio show on Concertzender. Through Kairos he gets exposed to loads of music that would otherwise never enter his ears and brain. Through the blog .No has been exposed to acts that fit well in his show. The interaction between the two is firmly in place just like in the old days of WoNo Magazine, which is getting an ever more distant memory. So what's in store for Wo. in the June 2020 Kairos? Let's give the page to him.

A soft piano takes over the familiar intro followed by a soft flute and a darker instrument. It makes me think of something I must have heard a long time ago but can't get around to recognising. I notice that the intricate melodies demand listening. They need to be followed and not written through. So, that's just what I'll do.

I listened to Trio Leandro and the Nottorno from the Trio for Flute, Viola and Harp. (Harp?, so it started with a harp? Okay, if you ask me a harp started as a dissembled piano that was plucked to see what happens.) The music is sounding sweet but also challenging. The notes are not my average blues scale for sure. Without listening seriously to this composition as a listener you're lost. Let's resume the program.

Harrold Roeland is mixed into the trio with an excerpt of 'Koen'. Estranging sounds wash over like waves coming in too fast and rockets flying over not impacting me. The effect is disorientation especially as The Orb returns somewhere in here as well. I have no telling what is what here. I am hearing part classically inspired music, loops and electronics, a French and Swiss? voice. In combination with the French horn I think of Sophie Hunger immediately. Associations galore but I notice that I'm also a little impressed. The disorientation leaves me, replaced by a feeling of being intrigued. What is this I'm listening to? How can someone think of it and combine it?

The modest cacophony is replaced by long-held notes. Again the mood is dark, the kind where ghosts feel at home in, wavering on the airwaves, coming at me as if someone unlocked a secret gate within my speakers. Ben Lukas Boysen certainly triggers my imagination here.

Next up is Marja Nuut & Ruum. It's been a while since she was on the program. This is amended by having an over six minute chunk. In what I take to be Estonian she sings for me in the form of a wave as well. The music and background singing are all waves. Long rolling waves, where the lead melody is a fast one, going up and down per syllable. The result is a combination of relaxation and disharmony, accented by the high notes on Nuut's violin. At some point the song is chopped up into fragments. .No at work I suppose.

'Helmut Holds The Chaos Helmet'. Is that title coincidental after what I've heard so far? Lárus Sigurðsson plays long held piano notes, exuding calmness. In the background though there's room for the helmet to go at work. Long atmospheric sounds interfere with the piano. Electronics that are mixed deeply away but are undeniably present. The Helmut and his helmet have their work cut out. Joking aside, this composition holds an inner beauty and strength that reach me easily. Several seconds see .No taking his skills to the song.

Marja Nuut & Ruum return with a second song. 'Kurb Laulik' is more traditional in singing. In the outset it could be an Estonian folk song. From that moment in the duo sets to work. A long held organ note is adorned with electronics in total contradiction to the serene vocal melody. Estrangement is again the word that comes closest to describing it. Ghosts and witches hover in the background of 'Kurb Laulik' or is it just a sad singer? Marja Nuut is certainly singing with a sad voice as if singing from the netherworld towards us living mortals. I'm listening alright.

Next up is what I expected to be a church choir but is not. Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke return to Kairos with a serious but serene song called 'The Unfolding'. As far as I'm concerned this composition could be sung in a cathedral any day. It is not fully Gregorian but has parts that are. Oddly enough it sets off in a direction that, with a slightly altered presentation, could be a part of a James Bond movie theme song like 'Goldfinger' or 'You Only Live Twice'. At the same time it could not be further removed and yet so close.

A new name for me, Di Gojim, sings in Dutch. A serious song sung in a style that reminds me of Herman van Veen. Underneath is a long held note, expanded on later, but not changing the song until much later when notes turn into chords flowing the vocal melody closely. The approach puts the emphasis of the song on the lyrics about Ashja, who flees her village on horseback.

Another new name on Kairos and to me since yesterday, coincidentally, is Marynka. Another album of slow piano notes called 'Red Moon'. As I have already written before, it is impossible for me to keep these piano compositions apart. There are just a few slow notes played and they simply all sound the same. It is not that I dislike the records. In fact I have tried to express my feelings when listening to them several times. It remains something that I will never play at home. Marynka releases another record like this and well what can I say? If you like slow, solo piano music this is an album to try out.

'Asia' returns this time with prominent, sad sounding violins. The way of playing clearly has a classical influence. It sounds as if the solo has been cut out of the song and placed here to contrast with Marynka.

Soft singing replaces the violins. Klangstof, a Dutch band, influenced by e.g. Radiohead, returns to Kairos. 'We Never Liked The Outcome' is one of the most beautiful songs on 'The Noise You Make Is Silence'. It is intricate and delicate. The kind of song that would break could if it be touched. I'm glad that it is in the program. I had sort of forgotten about the album because it was so expensive when released as a LP. Time to check again.

The change into Eluvium's 'Bending Dream' is excellent, as it could have been a mysterious outro to Klangstof's song. Again I have an association with waves and Hollywood, digital ghosts. So as far as I'm concerned here's this month's theme.

Coldplay is a far too big name for this show but some of the band's later songs, which I think are mostly boring, could have fitted here. .No presents Fink once again, but how different is this from 'Fix It' (one of the songs causing me to doubt my future relationship with Coldplay in 2005). Only barely more bare. Fink dares to descend into a level deeper, making his music less commercially interesting but artistically winning. 'I Just Want A Yes', who doesn't, does play with the listener as it plays with the listener's mind by presenting different levels of depth to the song. The mystery, the rhythm, the churchlike solemnity.

The poem of the month, 'She speaks in colours', is accompanied by Pieter Nooten. Long held piano notes are accompanied by what could be an orchestra or inventive electronics. The piano notes are so far apart that it's almost impossible to speak of a piano composition. 'Epicural' nevertheless is worthwhile to listen to. It holds a dreamlike quality and inner tranquillity only interrupted by a piano note every once in a while. Like a minor ripple on a lake on a windless, sunny day.

Is there a storm gathering slowly on the horizon or is it Harrold Roeland with a second input of his 'Ceres' album? The piano has disappeared the mood has not changed. Long-held notes and uninterrupted sounds abound.

For the second time there is a longer silence in the program. I had never heard that before and wonder if it is intentional, before Roeland returns with a final fading note.

The program ends with one of the new Donna Blue songs, also so different from anything being released these days as pop music. 'Fool' is one of the slowest pop songs ever and belongs to another day and age. Nancy Sinatra's 'Like I Do' comes to mind but then played on 33 RPM. It makes the song so relaxed and empty it fits precisely with the piano players and electronic music artists of this Kairos. Still a shame that 'In Between' has not been released physically by Snowstar. The EP was so deserving of it. There are no bands like Donna Blue in the world. Wallowing in nostalgia for a dream world from long ago that never existed. Every once in a while I dream with the band before I strap on my rock guitar and boots again. An extraordinarily beautiful ending to a beautiful Kairos.

Wo.

You can listen to June's Kairos here:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_559418/


This is the playlist.
00:00 – 04:36  Harald Genzmer. Notturno from Trio for Flute, Viola and Harp. Trio Leandro. Album ‘Trio Leandro’. NCA 60158-207.
04:09 – 05:05  Harrold Roeland. Koen (alternatief). Album ‘Ceres OST’. Self-released.
04:36 – 08:46  The Orb. Pervitin- Empire Culling The Hemlock Stone Version. Album ‘Abolition of the Royal Familia’. Cooking Vinyl.
07:53 – 10:48  Ben Lukas Boysen. Blessed. Album ‘Mother Nature (OST)’. Hymen Records.
10:30 – 15:42  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Une Meeles. Album ‘Muunduja’. 13701 Ltd.
15:42 – 15 :46  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Une Meeles (fragment). Album ‘Muunduja’. 13701 Ltd.
15:46 – 15 :51  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Une Meeles (fragment). Album ‘Muunduja’. 13701 Ltd. 
15:51 – 15 :55  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Une Meeles (fragment). Album ‘Muunduja’. 13701 Ltd. 
15:55 – 16 :13 Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Une Meeles (fragment). Album ‘Muunduja’. 13701 Ltd. 
16:09 – 19:56  Lárus Sigurðsson – Helmut Holds the Calmness Chaos. Album ‘We are told that we shine’. Volkoren 65.
19:49 – 20:04  Lárus Sigurðsson – Helmut Holds the Calmness Chaos (fragment). Album ‘We are told that we shine’. Volkoren 65.
19:52 – 20:15  Lárus Sigurðsson – Helmut Holds the Calmness Chaos (fragment). Album ‘We are told that we shine’. Volkoren 65.
20:04 – 20:21  Lárus Sigurðsson – Helmut Holds the Calmness Chaos (adapted fragment). Album ‘We are told that we shine’. Volkoren 65.
20:15 – 20:54  Lárus Sigurðsson – Helmut Holds the Calmness Chaos (adapted fragment). Album ‘We are told that we shine’. Volkoren 65.
20:21 – 24:20  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Kurb Laulik. Album ‘Muunduja’. 13701 Ltd.
24:07 – 28:43  Liasa Gerrard & Pieter Bourke. The Unfolding. Album ‘Duality’. 4AD – CAD 8004CD.
28:33 – 32:11  Di Gojim. Asia (fragment). Album ‘Oostenwind’. Syncoop 5760 CD 251.
32:06 – 32:43  Di Gojim. Asia (adapted fragment). Album ‘Oostenwind’. Syncoop 5760 CD 251.
32:11 – 36:20  Marynka. Heart Beat. Album ‘Red Moon’. Self-released.
36:09 – 37:09  Di Gojim. Asia (fragment). Album ‘Oostenwind’. Syncoop 5760 CD 251.
36:56 – 37:34  Di Gojim. Asia (adapted fragment). Album ‘Oostenwind’. Syncoop 5760 CD 251.
37:20 – 40:34  Klangstof. We Never Liked The Outcome (ft. Flaming Lips). Album ‘The Noise You Make Is Silent’. Mind of a Genius.
40:07 – 42:49  Eluvium. Bending Dream. Album ‘Similes’. Temporary Resistence TRR 163CD.
42:25 – 46:06  Fink. I Just Want A Yes (fragment). Album ‘Bloom Innocent’. R’Coup’D/DGR.
46:05 – 47:00  Fink. I Just Want A Yes (fragment). Album ‘Bloom Innocent’. R’Coup’D/DGR.
46:55 – 51:46  Pieter Nooten. Epicural. Album ‘Stem’. Rocket Girl RGIRL115.
47:00 – 47:49  Manuel Suurhoff. Ze spreekt in kleuren (poem). From ‘Het Oog van Memnon’. Uitgeverij de Wilg.
51:16 – 55:23  Harrold Roeland. Zomer (fragment). Album ‘Ceres OST’. Self-released.
54:56 – 59:57  Donna Blue. Fool. Album ‘In Between’.

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

A Hero's Death. Fontaines D.C.

Fontaines D.C. have become critics' darlings fast. Last year's 'Dogrel' did not get past my personal criteria though to start writing on a record. I did not think it good nor original enough to listen past two to three sessions. A Hero's Death again stirred a lot of excitement on release but my take is that most critics are somewhat disappointed.

Yet, I'm writing. That started with that great single called 'A Hero's Death'. The energy sucked me into listening to the album after its release. What struck me first is that the band is releasing its second album in the year after its debut and not three years or more later, like is more normal nowadays. I'm happy with it. Bands must write and record new songs all the time. It's the only way to progress as songwriters which is the essence of any band or singer.

I find that the energy of the same titled single is brought to most of the album. There are some ballads in there as well, that many critics object to. I don't. They bring a balance to A Hero's Death. Something the album needs. Not every song can be like 'Living In America', a great alternative rock outing, exploring sonic ranges of guitars and all. The balance is what gives this album its depth, something I missed on 'Dogrel'. The energy is spread out evenly this way.

This combination makes that I have started listening seriously to A Hero's Death. I still do not rate the album as high as 'Songs Of Praise', Shame's debut but certainly on a level with The Murder Capital's 'When I Have Fears'.

The album kicks off with guitars and drums playing an almost jazzy rhythm. A bit lazy in sound underscored by the gravelly voice of Grian Cullen. 'I Don't Belong' is an intriguing song. Where will it go? Will it explode at some point? Questions I find myself asking the whole time. It keeps building itself up. Little details are added, a piano comes in, the band plays harder, a cymbal is used. When most sounds disappear near the end I know the explosion will not come. The thought of an exciting song remains with me just the same.

One of the things I notice in most songs is the inventive drumming of Tom Coll. In several songs there's a special pattern he plays on and on, creating a meditative mood almost. On the one hand it confines what the rest of the band can do over the drumming, on the other it supports the atmospheric song 'Love Is The Main Thing' is. It makes the song stand out. I hear that happen in a few songs on A Hero's Death and I notice I like it.

With the third song the energy is turned around. 'Televised Mind' is an alternative rocker and one of the songs where singer Cullen uses the repetition of a lyric line to set the mood of the song. Not as extreme as Porridge Radio but quite similar in effect. Fontaines D.C. is rocking out in a great way here, only to jump over with 'A Lucid Dream' and the title song. Yes, I hear Liam Gallagher's way of singing and several great post punk bands in there but also Fontaines D.C. This band is its own with a little inspiration from the past.

The third kind of song on A Hero's Death is a softer version of a ballad, for an alternative rock band. To me the band gets away with it with ease. It is able to write a convincing ballad without becoming a syrupy, sticky band like Foreigner was in the 80s. There's no comparison here. I just love the little wailing guitar in 'Your Mind' for example.

A band is allowed to diversify and experiment with new forms in order to develop and be set for the long(er) haul. In my ears the band has made the right step towards a long and successful career. A Hero's Death is so much better than 'Dogrel'. What a step forward!

Wo.

You can listen to and buy A Hero's Death here:

https://fontainesdc.bandcamp.com/album/a-heros-death


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