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PREVIOUS PLAYLISTS:
MARCH - 2007
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PLAYLIST (MARCH 2005) This
playlist does not claim to do anything more than hope to introduce
people who enjoy Piano Magic to music the band themselves enjoy.
The writing may be a little basic but that's because we're a band,
not music journalists. And we only review record we like because
what's the point of being nasty about something just because you
can be? We aim to be encouraging. If you know of a record you think
we should hear, please let us know and if you work for a record
label, please send us your records. Otherwise. Piano Magic generally
purchases records from www.smallfish.co.uk
and www.roughtrade.com Listening To Richard Brautigan - Richard Brautigan (Collector's Choice Music/EMI)
Remarkable CD re-issue of an album originally only released on vinyl
in America on Harvest Records in 1970 by one of the greatest writers
imaginable. And you can only really imagine Richard Brautigan. He
is there, for sure, in photographs on each book jacket, standing
tall, "Lennon" glasses, long hair, beads, a pinstripe
suit or suede tassled jacket and always beside a beautiful young
girl who you suspect might not be his lover but a hired model. He
is there in his books - fantastic, bulletin chapters that fluidly
sidestep from the path of conventional writing into staggering prose
or surreal jokes. He is there on this record - home "field"
recordings, readings by the man himself and one (Love Poem) which
utilises 18 different friends to read it's single line : "It's
so nice to wake up in the morning all alone and not have to tell
somebody you love them when you don't love them anymore." But
without actually talking to Richard Brautigan, without sitting with
him over a black coffee, how can we really know the man? We just
have this vague impression of him as a talented, soft, mischievous,
"hippy" giant who succumbed to alcohol, melancholia and
eventually, suicide. Behind him a trail of wonderful, wonderful
books that no living person should ignore. You have a Brautigan
sized hole in your life if you have not read Brautigan.
Some
music defies containment - either by genre or by how it can make
you feel. This record really should soundtrack the most beautiful
film that can possibly ever be made but here, on CD, in isolation,
it makes you want to lie down in the dark and play back the most
wonderful moments of your life in slow motion, Technicolor. "Herbstlaub'
slowly, gracefully unfolds, like a wave, like the dewy petals of
a Spring flower, like every wonderful thing that's ever stopped
you in your tracks; that's made you forget the world's fucking mad,
just for a moment. Somehow, Marsen Jules has bottled those moments
and made six pieces of such emotionally resonant bliss that I didn't
know whether to laugh or cry.
The builders across the street down drills around 4 so, I turn off
the Einsturzende Neubauten album I've been using to drown them out
and settle down with a cup of green tea and Clogs' "Stick Music."
As the eyes are the windows to the soul, the CD cover is generally
the window to the music within. "Stick Music" is all forests
and hands full of earth and eggs in nests. The music, plucked and
sawed and scratched, spare and finite, has an earthy, magical, folkish
quality to it that's not only out of time but also perhaps one step
removed from reality. Indeed, on listening, I could easily imagine
myself lost just before sundown in a Brothers Grimm forest shortly
before something rather terrible happened. Prepared guitar (how
does one "prepare" a guitar exactly?), violin, viola,
cello and percussion conspire to set you on your back foot but don't
doubt this is beautiful, innovative music on a par with the most
evocative moments of Rachel's. Nouvelle Vague - Nouvelle Vague (Peacefrog)
Having seen Nouvelle Vague three times in the last 3 months and
having played this album at least 3 times a week since I bought
it many months ago, may certify me as fan. But why do I feel a slight
twinge of embarrassment about that? Well, perhaps it's because Nouvelle
Vague are considered by some as sacrilegious. Essentially, they
have taken a bunch of "classic" 70's and 80's "indie
pop" songs and arranged them for bossanova rhythms and pretty
female voices. Is that so bad? It certainly doesn't sound bad. And
over 100,000 sales suggest it's marketing genius too. The band themselves
have no qualms about their concerts being full of pissed late-30's
couples and old punks reliving their youth by terrace-chanting along
to "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Too Drunk To Fuck."
It's actually the most fun you'll have within the law. And do I
really care that two of these "interpretations" can currently
be heard soundtracking major tv ad campaigns? Good for them, I say.
All that aside, true to form, my favourite moments on the album
are the more pensive ones. The cover of Tuxedomoon's "In A
Manner Of Speaking" greatly outshines the original, much down
to a sensitive arrangement allowing a truly wonderful vocal performance
by Camille - a household name in France who could do this stuff
in her sleep. Indeed, she carries much of this record through her
completely unselfconscious way with the songs. She's having fun
and you can hear it. The Sisters Of Mercy's "Marian" manages
to be brooding and feather light at the same time - a common attribute
of many of the versions here. Does bossanova make everything sound
like Summer? Information:
www.peacefrog.com Yupi - Kazumasa Hashimoto (Plop) If you're a completist with a penchant for sweet, innovative electro-acoustic fare, this Japanese label has a lot to offer. Kazumasa Hashimoto's music, minimal, naÔve, is perfect for lying on your back on a Summer's day and counting clouds. This is delightfully breezy, meditative stuff that consistently unveils plenty of pretty ideas. Toy piano, glocks, singing crickets, harpsichord, Mac voice synthesis and flute paint something of a fantastical botanical garden set sometime well into the future when all the wars are done and everyone just wants a peaceful life staring at the orchids. Contact : kazumoog@tkf.att.ne.jp or nao@impartmaint.com Information : www.impartmaint.com/plop/
The Soul Of The Rainbow And The Harmony Of Light - Growing (Kranky)
Growing take their time. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security
by the first 15 minutes of "The Soul Of The Rainbow"'
What begins firmly in "Discreet Music' territory, patiently
branches out into a palette of high frequency tones, barbed white
noise, tweeting birds, thunderstorm; all backboned by the group's
gentle, time-stretched, guitar drones. Information : www.kranky.com |