Far from Moscow

http://farfrommoscow.bandcamp.com/album/switch

Fennesz + Sakamoto - 'Flumina'

There was a time when Christian Fennesz was really innovative. These times are long gone. 'Seven stars' for all its beauty hardly raised my interest. Oh yes, nice sleeve and nice drums by Steven Hess. Great, but... Fennesz must feel this too. The time lapses between solo releases are getting longer. The collaborations though... Here is one with the eternal mr Sakamoto. He already worked with Alva Noto last year and here is one with Fennesz. It's a double album. I like the 2nd one more. Although the name of Fennesz comes in the 1rst place, you can barely notice him in the overall sound. This is nice soft pianomusic with a twist like sun shining through rainclouds or the other way around. There are some very nice moments like track 8 of disc 2. But it remains good background music. Not more!

http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/news/tone_46_fennesz_sakamto_flumin_1.html

'Genealogie' op Krakatau.

http://www.krakatau.nl/?p=10197

'Hard Coming Love' by Hard Coming Love

Wow! I'm already completely in love with this record sleeve... Hard Coming Love by Hard Coming Love on Spezialmaterial out on February 18. Rock'n'roll with Hard Coming Love is the mantra.

Hard Coming Love - 'Bodies To Ghosts'

Bodies To Ghosts by Hard Coming Love from glenn breda on Vimeo.

"From the cellars of the Aussersihl corner of Zurich booms a heavy, grinding sound, a deep torrent of pulsating energy. When the six men play, each plays every instrument in support of a psychedelic, hypnotic, wobbling wall of sound. When crowd and band sweat in unison, everybody knows: Love never comes easy. Love comes hard. It's a HARD COMING LOVE." Hard Coming Love by Hard Coming Love comes out on February 18 on www.spezialmaterial.ch.

'De weg naar Naaman' op Krakatau

http://www.krakatau.nl/?p=10185

'Manas' op Krakatau.

http://www.krakatau.nl/?p=10190

Sense & nonsense of censorship

This reminded me of the sense and nonsense of CENSORSHIP. Being CENSORED as a poet is not even a bad idea. It certainly has some advantages. It adds some mystery and magic to the CENSORED poem. Nowadays it is even an honour to be CENSORED. My poem is saved because of CENSORSHIP. Oh yes, when a poem is published you are open to criticism and scorn. But if you publish only your name and the title of the poem, well... What can they say? What can they do? The poet is visible but the poem remains 'invisible'. You know the poem exists but you can't even read it. Poets should be CENSORED once in a while. Only then they are real poets. There must be something really dangerous and subversive about them to get CENSORED. Why else would they get CENSORED? Poems should be worked upon in total silence and in secret far from the social media. Far away from the public eye. Then the poets will be really worshipped. Consider me as the Osip Mandelstam of Dutch poetry sent to my own Siberia. It is a real honour. (Also: the censorer is mostly wrong as was proven many times by history).

Gedichtenforum

Welkom op het Gedichtenforum van De Contrabas. Hier kunt u de reeds geselecteerde gedichten lezen en voorzien van een inhoudelijke reactie. Wilt u zelf kopij aanbieden voor plaatsing, stuur dan uw recente ongepubliceerde gedichten met een maximum van drie per maand naar contrabasforum@live.nl. Onder reeds gepubliceerd verstaan wij gedichten die eerder in bundels en tijdschriften zijn verschenen, zowel op internet als in papieren vorm. Gedichten die eerder verschenen op weblogs, dichtfora of facebook zijn wel toegestaan.

Index:

* Peter Wullen, Genealogie
* Menno van der Beek, In Memoriam de Blauwe Boekanier
* Ingrid Strobbe, Kindje
* Paul Hautmans, Winterlicht
* Fred Jenner, De zin van dit allesAfficher la suite

Literair Weblog De Contrabas: Genealogie

dat de keltische vorst milesius in 45 voor christus vanuit spanje het bevel gaf tot invasie van ierlanden er de oorspronkelijke inwoners de fomoren verjoeg

Oren Ambarchi - 'Audience of one'

Oren Ambarchi used to be the uncrowned king of suspended guitar notes. 'Suspension' from 2001 is after 10 years still a worthy masterpiece. The album created a new genre. In 10 years time Ambarchi gained a lot of respect and he worked together with everyone in the experimental scene with music ranging from suspended ambient to sheer noise. His new album 'Audience of one' on the Touch label is kind... of a milestone too. Audience of one? Yes! But Ambarchi is not alone on this record. His trademark guitar playing is here nicely integrated in a set of 4 tracks with lots of collaborators like Eyvind Kang, Joe Talia, Crys Cole, Jessica Kenney and many others. 'Salt' features lyrics and voice of Paul Duncan from Warm Ghost, an Australian band well worth seeking out. 'Knots' is a different beast, a freakout free improv trip of 33 minutes, which reminded me a lot of New Zealand improv scene of the nineties. 'Passage' and 'Fractured Mirror' are vintage Ambarchi tracks but executed with such brilliance! The year only started and here is already a masterpiece. 'Audience of one' from Oren Ambarchi comes out on the 30th January 2012!

http://www.orenambarchi.com/

Guts of a chihuahua

Oh, I was impressed by Francisco López and Reinier Van Houdt deconstructing the piano on 'Untitled #275'. And I was even more astounded by Reinhold Friedl's (Zeitkratzer) 2 hour trip inside the piano. But this is even more radical & extreme... 'Guts' really means the insides of a piano. You don't know what you hear when you listen to this. Sometimes the sound of shrieking metal. Sometimes the sound of trampled & shattered glass. This is an eeping, screeping record. It's abrasive but the funny thing is: I actually enjoyed listening to this Menche album. It's not just noise. He has a method. There's a method in all this madness. Or maybe there's not. Daniel Menche simply destroys the image of the piano as a romantic instrument for once and for all in exactly 4 movements: 'Guts 1', 'Guts 2', 'Guts 3' and 'Guts 4'. So, guts, guts, guts & bloody guts. A piano that screams like a tortured chihuahua. What about that? And oh yes... The x-ray photo on the cover does show the guts of a chihuahua dog. Impressive stuff!

'Guts' by Daniel Menche is now out on Editions Mego, www.editionsmego.com.

Jacaszek - 'There are no others, there is only us.'

There are no others there is only us from Michal Jacaszek on Vimeo.

New wave of Polish composers! Here's Jacaszek. Btw, gorgeous videoclip by Marc Silver. I just keep looking & looking & looking... There is something in the flight of these birds. A language we don't master.