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Countrymuziek op Dark Entries? Nu ja, dit is niet zomaar het relaas van een losgelopen cowboy maar wel de nieuwste release van 17 Pygmies en mensen die een beetje hun weg kennen in de Amerikaanse post-punkscene weten meteen dat dit één van de meest baanbrekende groepen uit het genre is. Het begon allemaal toen in 1982 één van de Savage Republic-leden (Philip Drucker) samen met twee andere gasten in één of andere garage wat begon te jammen. 17 Pygmies wordt terecht vaak in één adem genoemd met deze postpunkgoden uit het Zuiden van Californië, maar toch was hun post-punkaanpak iets anders. Het bekendste voorbeeld hiervan is hun klassieker “Jedda by the sea” waarin ze de Joy Division-podtpunkinvloeden gingen vermengen met Braziliaanse sambaritmes. Ondanks enkele sporadische opnames werd 17 Pygmies niet meer dan een herinnering te worden van muziekfanaten die zeer goed wisten dat deze band garant stond voor kwaliteit maar zoals wel eens vaker het geval is : gedoemd om nooit meer weer te zien… En nu plots zijn deze heren hier terug met nieuw werk en zoals we aangaven bij het begin van deze bespreking : dit heeft niks meer met het oude geluid te maken. Je kan er natuurlijk duizenden meningen op na houden wat een groep moet doen : zichzelf blijven herhalen of gewoonweg niet bang zijn om iets nieuws te proberen? De ware muziekliefhebber kiest natuurlijk voor het tweede, ook al houdt dit in dat je favoriete groep daardoor wel eens flink op de bek kan gaan. Ook al verkiezen deze heren om hun oorden te gaan opzoeken in de muziekwereld van de blues en folkwereld van voor de Tweede Wereldoorlog blijft deze cd aan het lijf plakken en is dit werkje duizendmaal eerlijker (en beter) klinkt dan de doorsnee nu-countryrommel waar de “alternatieve” pers ons recentelijk met om de oren slaat, meestal omdat ze niet weten waar ze anders moeten over schrijven. Inderdaad, iemand die Bonnie Prince Billy geniaal vindt zou deze “The outlaw J.D. Ray” het achtste wereldwonder moeten vinden maar soms is logica in de muziekwereld ver te zoeken en is deze release nu al gedoemd om letterlijk in de kelders weg te rotten. No one ever said that life’s going to be easy…
Didier Becu 28/06/2010 Loose English Translation
Dark Entries in country music? Well, this is not just the story of a wandering cowboy but the latest release of 17 Pygmies and people who know their way a bit of the American post-punk scene know immediately that this is one of the most pioneering groups of the genre. It all started when in 1982 when one of the Savage Republic members (Philip Drucker) along with two other guests began to jam in a garage or other places. 17 Pygmies are often justified in the same breath as these post-punk gods from southern California, but had their post-punk approach to something else. The best known example is their classic "Jedda By The Sea" in which she went podtpunkinvloeden Joy Division mixed with Brazilian samba rhythms. Despite some sporadic shooting 17 Pygmies was no more than a reminder of music lovers who are very well aware that this bond had a guarantee for quality but sometimes as often the case, doomed to never see again ... And now suddenly here are these guys back with new work and as we indicated at the beginning of this discussion: it has nothing with the old sound. You can of course have thousands of opinions on hold after what a group should do: keep repeating themselves or simply not afraid to try something new? The true music lover chooses the latter course, even if it means that your favorite group ever so well on the mouth can go. Even for people who prefer to visit the music of blues and folk world before the Second World War continues to this CD to the body stick and this is drawing a thousand times fairer (and better) sound than the average nu-country stuff which "alternative" press beats us recently with the ears, mostly because they do not know where else to write about. Indeed, someone who Bonnie Prince Billy genius would find "The Outlaw JD Ray "the eighth wonder of the world but sometimes have to find logic in the music business to look far and this release is already doomed to literally rotting in the basement. No one ever said thats life's going to be easy ...
Didier Becu |
Monday, June 28, 2010
DARK ENTRIES reviews The Outlaw J.D. Ray - 17 Pygmies
Trakwerx
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Plastelin interviews Cult With No Name
CULT WITH NO NAME - and the cult with a name - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Cult With No Name, the honorable post-punk balladeers, have done it again. But this time they score in a different away. After two great albums for the Trakwerx label - Paper Wraps Rock (2007) and Careful What You Wish (2008) - Erik Stein and Jon Boux, instead of a giving us a proper album, introduce us to a new DVD score for the silent film classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Trakwerx 2009). This may sound odd given that CWNN themselves are real maestros of 'real songs', but then they didn't waste the chance to prove that their ability to write good tunes is not just one dimensional. Indeed, they have further improved and enriched themselves in an area where you would expect them to be limited. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is not only a teaser for Erik and Jon's next adventure, but an integral part of their legacy and musical personality.
Plastelin: So, how they decide on doing an original soundtrack for the silent movie classic?
Erik Stein: - Well, the short answer is that we were asked. Cult With No Name will attempt anything. Our label, Trakwerx, had already released two fabulous new scores for classic silent films, namely 'Nosferatu' and 'Battleship Potemkin' (both by Del Rey and the Sun Kings). Our initiation was to compose a piece for a compilation of short films by the pioneering filmmaker Georges Melies that Trakwerx were putting together. Trakwerx had always mentioned that they'd like us to do a silent film score, but I guess it wasn't until they heard our Melies track that they asked us to attempt something bigger.
Jon Boux: - Yes, we were very fortunate to be asked and I think it quickly became apparent that the format sits well with our approach.
Was it more challenging than usual to compose a score because you're following the imaginations and creative direction of other people, or was it good because you discovered new strengths within yourself?
- I don't know if challenge is the right word, it was just different. It was very daunting at first, because you're not sure where to start, especially given that it's 51 minutes of continuous music. Jon suggested including some songs, which was a great and bold idea, as it immediately set us apart from modern Caligari (and most modern silent film) scores that had gone before. Luckily we had some songs that fitted perfectly. We also had some help, as we sampled part of Jeff Brenneman's abandoned score. In terms of the rest of the score, we split the film up into smaller pieces and Jon dissected them further in his laboratory. Of course, writing a score retrospectively is very different to composing a new score to a new film. It immediately struck us how unsettling it is to write to an old silent film because everyone you're engaging with is now dead.
- I would say that it definitely allowed us to explore a new way of approaching our sound. The songs in the score work really well for me. Some of my favourite modern soundtracks use song and lyric so effectively (e.g. 'Donnie Darko'), so the feeling was why not try it with silent film! As Erik says, there is a sadness to Caligari that we really tried to capture. Not only are all the actors long gone, but the character Cesare is someone quite tragic - a victim really.
So the way that you approached the writing and recording of Caligari will affect they way you approach other projects?
- Working on Caligari did stretch our creative boundaries - I think we have come out of the other side with some new ideas and ways of working. Having said that though, we did stick to some tried and tested methods when putting together the soundtrack. We know each others strengths which works well.
- I think one thing that working on Caligari has shown us is that we have a much wider pallette of sounds than we first thought. It's given us a wider and richer source of atmospheres and moods to draw from.
Do you have a favourite work in this field? You mentioned Bill Nelson's Caligari score once to me?
- It's funny, really. I have a few thousand records but within that maybe only a dozen soundtracks. With the exception of 'A Clockwork Orange' by Walter Carlos, soundtrack music is not something that had really ever interested me that much... until now. So, it would be unfair of me to choose a favourite new score, as I haven't seen or heard enough of them. Having said that, I can tell you that 'Battleship Potemkin' by Del Rey and Sun Kings is excellent.
- I'm greatly influenced by soundtracks and have a number of faves including Vangelis ('Bladerunner') and Michael Nyman ('The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Her Lover') but my favourite soundtrack composer has to be Ennio Morricone, with stand out scores for me being 'Once Upon a Time in America' and 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'.
Many artists return to this form. Do you have any plans for something similar?
- Love to - I feel we've only just scratched the surface!
- Yeah, no plans yet. As usual, we're waiting for our invite.
What other plans are there for CWNN in the future?
- We have at least two performances of the Caligari score coming up, which will be exciting. Other than that, we're contributing some music to a play entitled 'Bored Stiff', and are working on a collaboration with someone quite high profile on a possible album release. I shouldn't really say who at this point. We also have at least another album's worth of material half-recorded. Business is good.
You had Blaine Reininger of Tuxedomoon guest on your last album. When will new one be out?
- Well we'd certainly love Blaine to guest again! We have links with lots of amazing people now, but it's important not to have guests on your album for the sake of it. They need to fit...join our cult, even if just for one day. We'll have to see what's needed, and then seek the appropriate help. There are no release dates yet for new material, but rest assured we're busy cooking.
People that haven't heard your Caligari score can listen to and download it from Last.fm. It works great on its own, as well as with the film. Why did you decide to offer up the soundtrack separately?
- Thanks very much for saying that the music works on its own. I'm so pleased you think that. It's a record label decision to make the music available as widely as possible, and obviously that's great for us. With a thousand different ways to access and listen to music these days, it would be suicide to only make your music available one way and make everyone conform to you. We're not dictators, nor suicidal (although sometimes we may sound it).
- One of the really pleasing things about the soundtrack is that people have enjoyed the music with and without the image. I'm with Erik in the sense the more ways we can make the music available, the better.
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/cwnn3
www.cultwithnoname.com
Author: Mileta Okiljevic
Monday, June 21, 2010
Cult With No Name at Top of CD Baby's Ambient Charts
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