Ghosthorse tales; Raphael you know just how to take me in the swimming pool like a child (!@#$%^&*?)

ey there,

While the press always hypes things up on the presumption that unhinged artistic images need to be pushed onwards -like Joanna Newsom last year-, Coco Rosie is likely to get this year's cuddle trophy from the associated alternatives, hence the new album is being overdosed with praise. Adorable indeed for the folks who have yet to discover their crafty child's play, but a tedious repetition for those with the initial attention span.
In short, the new Coco Rosie album 'The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn' has kind of lost the sincere innocence as portrayed in earlier lullabyes, my inner demon/angel tells me. I guess this youthfull and intimate innocence quality turned me onto their music from the first moment, made me share it and experience it with others at special times. Sweet loving thoughts eventually turned into sour feelings, lost in the ugly bliss. You kinda get that with musical memories attached to emotions, making you leap into highs and lows....

While the album disappoints in full play, there are a few amazing gems on it that can still capture their playfull essence at its best. Karen Dalton, Nina Simone and Maria Callas remain in artistic unison here:

Coco Rosie - Black Poppies
Coco Rosie - Animals
Coco Rosie - Raphael

no pics no pics no pics. let the press machine run their own operation ;)

Crooked links n 'fings.

quickie; noticed that most of the friendly blog links and other links where all crooked, wrongly formatted by me. Oops. Fixed now! Stop hitting me.

*It's got spam in it, I don't like spam!* classic Monty Python

Rarararareviews

Some reviews which will go into print around next month. They're neurotic sleepdeprived fodder, but I'll share them anyway.

Ok, I won't make the effort to translate them, sorry for that. In Dutch they remain. But you could however follow the exciting Rory way and use the untrustworthy yet hilarious Babelfish to do the trick for ya in your preferred language, though I rather call it crippled Babyfish brabble. Perhaps all reviews should be made that way from now on....would make it more exciting, hah!


Jack Rose
s/t
(ARCHIVE)
Greg Malcolm & Tetuzi Akiyama
Brombron 12: Six Strings
(KORM PLASTICS)

Men neme een gitaar, leert erop spelen, echter zonder onnozele Bob Marley of Nirvana covers, maar als een meerkoppige band. Hoe? Fingerpicking is het antwoord op de religie die dit mysterie verhult. Jack Rose is een lid van de band Pelt maar in de vrije tijd brengt hij ook solo platen uit die zijn adoratie van John Fahey in geheel eigen stijl neerlegt. Dit album is een speciale tour editie die niet snel in een winkel te vinden zal zijn, maar daardoor extra speciaal de moeite waard is na te jagen via het internet. In 'St. Louis Blues' zorgt een slide meldoie voor mooie blues melancholie die puur door het hart stroomt. Je kunt er van op aan dat zulke vngervlugge tonen de gitaarfanaat intens doen genieten terwijl de electrofantast vies de andere kant opkijkt. Keuzes vervangen het wikken en wegen. De meeste composities volgen de lijn van ouderwetse blues en slide blues, behalve in 'Spirits in the House' waar in 12 minuten een hypnotiserende raga compositie wordt neergezet in Indiase drone traditie. Echter zonder sitar maar met een speciaal afgestemde western gitaar. De fata morgana van dit geluid had u bijna beetgenomen en de illusie ploft weg maar de droom blijft, zwevend en zwervend. Deze fraai ontworpen hoes in kaartvorm, met een quasi authentieke sepia foto uit omstreeks 1930, is al een waar kunstwerk op zich. Om over de extra waarde van deze schone muziek maar te zwijgen voordat de extase omslaat in geestdriftige kronkels. Greg Malcolm en Tetuzi Akiyama kunnen gezien worden als fingerpickers, maar dan van een zeer improvisatorische discipline die niet strookt met blues. Het geluid is steriel en breekbaar, doch meevoerend. Met 2 gitaren spelen de Kiwi en de Jap driftig door elkaar heen om ook tokkelpauzes in te lassen indien nodig. De composities klinken vooral vals, echter daarin ligt precies de schoonheid die niet 1-2-3 te vertalen is naar een simpele context. Een impressie; grootmoeders klok bij het slaan van het uur, de koekoek heeft opwinding nodig want zijn noten zingt hij niet zo scherp meer, tegelijkertijd piept de deur en klappert de deurknop. Het is de verbuiging van het moment, juist dat ene moment met die ene speciale toon. Of men het nu wilt of niet, deze kabbelende rust brengt de gedachten intuïtief op een ander niveau, ver van de normale wereld en de dagelijkse beslommeringen. Een meditatief gitaarhoorspel waarbij geen verwachting nodig is, is wellicht de beste omschrijving voor deze akoestieke ervaring. Niet te missen voor de drone liefhebber. Tja, en laten we er nog bij zeggen dat Machinefabriek de cover heeft ontworpen op basis van gitaarsnaarverpakkingen. (www.archivecd.com , www.kormplastics.nl)

Greg Malcolm & Tetuzi Akiyama - So We Go
Greg Malcolm & Tetuzi Akiyama - Life On Its Way


Machinefabriek
Zink mcd-r
(CUT HANDS)
Aaron Martin & Machinefabriek
Cello Recycling mcd-r
(MACHINEFABRIEK)

Het is niet te stoppen. Nieuwe 3" cd-r releases rollen namelijk maandelijks van de machinale productieband zonder enige afbraak van de kwaliteit. Rutger Zuydervelt kan met recht geclassificeerd worden als een muzikale ADHD’er, een diagnose om trots op te zijn. Ditmaal presenteert hij een release op het Nederlandse label Cut Hands, een vers label dat andermaal door een Gonzoïst is gestart. ‘Zink’ is de naam van het 15 minuten durende kindje en doet de vormgeving recht aan door middel van een grof zinken plaatje als hoes, chapeau. Het geluid is een bewerking van een live improvisatie in een ondergrondse parkeergarage te Utrecht, een zeer passende context. Beholpen met een opwellende echo, ijzige tonen en uitrek van de aangeslagen gitaar bouwt een minimaal stuk zich op als een constructie in niemandsland. Het is een omgeving met vele wendingen die wij volledig willen begrijpen, om het mysterie te kunnen doorgronden dat ons slapeloze nachten bezorgt daar op die eenzame plek. Het is een spannende zoektocht waarbij de beloning de ervaring zelve is. Op ‘Cello Recycling’wordt het over een andere boeg gegooid. Zuydervelt staat niet alleen en de Amerikaan Aaron Martin is de helper op de cello. De cello wordt in de eerste en langste compositie gebruikt als een dreigend wapenfeit in minimale geluidskunst, waarbij het instrument zwoegt en kreunt onder druk van de drones van Zuydervelt. De volgende 3 tracks zijn solo composities van Martin die een sfeer van tragiek en melancholie uit de doeken doen. Het doet denken aan Rachel’s, echter worden de composities gevormd door pedaalloops en een reeks uitgestrekte tonen die de term "klassieke drones" waardig zijn. Wij wenen mee, de tranen rollen van de wangen in deze momenten van verstilde sereniteit. Wat is het zalig om zo geraakt te worden, midden in de roos van het gevoel. ''Please listen to this record with eyes closed. Thank you''. Deze oprechte boodschap verklapt de meeslepende pracht van dit kleine schijfje. (www.machinefabriek.nu , www.freewebs.com/cuthands , http://www.myspace.com/prisonwine)


Lackluster
Repulsine EP
(SLSK RECORDS)

De stille Fin Esa Ruoho alias Lackluster, blijft ongestoord zijn uiteenlopende electronica stappen in de aangekoekte sneeuw zetten. Soulseek is niet enkel een gletsjer van gratis downloads, maar heeft ook een eigen label en als "Slsk" oudgediende mag Esa daarom zijn digitale bytes laten weerklinken. Onder zijn voeten kraakt en kreunt de vrieskou, knispererende stukjes ijs breken en glijden uit elkaar. De synthesizer tonen herbergen een mooi winterlandsschap dat aan de rand van de lente staat, klaar om van natuurlijke plunje te wisselen. Sneeuwklokjes tingelen mee op de maat van de muziek, want de lente is nu eenmaal een lief en aandoenlijk jaargetijde en het Lackluster geluid gaat daar heel goed in mee. In 'LL060205' wordt dit gevoel tot in de puntjes uitgevoerd, goed voor een kop warme choco, knus met een sprookjesboek op schoot. Denk aan de electronica uit IJsland en Schotland, beiden zijn het plekken waar de tijd stilstaat en de tonen zachtaardig en melancholisch zijn. Als extra noot is te vertellen dat deze collectie deuntjes zijn gemaakt in volks Dublin, het trendy Shoreditch in Londen en de afgelegen prairiestreek Saskatchewan in Canada. Dat Esa op zulke uiteenlopende plekken toch een sterk samenhangende sfeer heeft kunnen grijpen, getuigt van een geest vol verwondering en speelse magie. Dit is betoverend leuke laptopmuziek die de warmte terug in huis heeft gehaald. (www.slskrecords.com)

Lackluster - LL060205


Sickboy
Musical Therapy EP
Cardopusher
I Need Someone I Can Imitate EP
(WOOD RECORDINGS)

De sprinkplank op, hup! En het Wood Recordings label duikt dieper in het wildwaterbad van de Lage Landse electronica. Het label uit Gent en Antwerp van de Vlaamse breakcore trotsen Droon en Sickboy weet wat het wilt; u vastpakken en bijten opdat het virus zich goed mag verspreiden en uw ziel zal innemen. De muzikale ziekte heeft geen onverwachte symptonen want breakcore heeft inmiddels al de plaats tussen de stijlen gewonnen door de geen-stijl attitude. Sickboy, voor zijn kleuterklasjuffrouw nog altijd Jurgen DeSmet, maakt op zijn eerste Vlaamse ep allerlei knutselwerkjes. Ja, muzikale therapie met een dosis humor en een deugnietblik toe en de juffrouw laat hem als beloning buiten spelen. Daar in de zandbak zitten Evi Hanssen, en warempel, Mauro Pawlowski op hem te wachten en zingen ze over ontmoetingen op de maan. Zo simpel is het leven, zittend tussen het verloren speeldgoed en de halfbegraven kattendrollen. Het geluid van deze plaat is meer richting de rave getrokken dan oorverdovende breakcore die we normaal gewend zijn en deze afwisseling toont een nieuwe richting aan die Sickboy hier bewandeld heeft. 'The Riddler' brengt ons even bij een oude mooie boom en tevreden lopen we door. Cardopusher is een nieuw aanstormend talent uit het verre Caracas, Venezuela, waar El Chavez koning, keizer en admiraal is. Breakcore uit Zuid-Amerika, waar moet men daarbij aan denken? verknipte baile funk, verzopen reggaeton? Niets is gelukkig minder waar, want Cardopusher stookt zijn brouwsel met vele ingrediënten die buiten de populaire latino omgeving liggen, echter ligt er wel een sterke nadruk op het geluid van de Caribische eilanden. Tel daarbij de hardrock gitaren en enkele synthesizer deuntjes op en de ketel krijgt een hevige walm van karakter die men ter plekke vloert, want het tempo is moordend. Als de roes is verdwenen, de kater uitgeslapen, dan vragen wij ons verbaasd af wat er schuilgaat achter dit producerende fenomeen. Van goed hout zaagt men hier dubbeldikke planken! (http://wood.widerstand.org/)

Sickboy - The Drifter


Various Artists
Polyphonal
(DELIRIOUS RIOT)

Wie denkt er nog aan de cassettes? Het vertrouwde geluid van gruizige mono, de herinerring aan oude krakkemikkige opnames van de radio, van jezelf schreeuwend met poging tot zingen en kopie op kopie collecties van al je vrienden. Juist, het fenomeen zou ooit terugkomen en wel door de opgegroeide generatie van twintigers en dertigers die hun jeugd nu op volwassen wijze willen onderdompelen. Zo is dat ook bij Delirious Riot. Het obscure cassettelabel uit Utrecht wordt gerund door een zeer opgewekte en geïnspireerde Duitse biologie studente die graag toffe concepten bedenkt en daar zoveel mogelijk vrienden in meesleurt. Het gegoten concept is Polyphonal in de zin van telefoons en hun communicatie eigenschappen waarbij vriendelijke bijdragen van allerlei artiesten de minimale lijn vormen. En dat zijn niet de minsten; onder meer Machinefabriek, Nilo (Wixel), Wouter van Veldhoven, Haruki, Sinebag, Vollmar, Pequeña Fieral , Manipulator Alligator en anderen uit Europese windhoeken. Een speeltuin van geruis, gerinkel en geroezemoes opent zich en de kinderen laten zich meeslepen. Mooie drones, ambient, flarden noise en improvisatorische stukjes wisselen elkaar af in uitgestrekte composities die elk een eigen sfeer bewaren en tegelijk overdragen. Het is een telefoonketting die niet doorbroken wordt en goed in elkaar overloopt. De Twee kanten; A en B, tellen tot 22 minuten, wie niet weg is, is gezien. Want deze cassette moet vooral in eenzame rust gehoord worden. Voor de mensen met cassettevrees; vrees niet, er wordt ook een klein ceedeeke meegegeven. En een button toe, hoera! (www.deliriousriot.com)

Caged around the ghett0))), ID please!

Pre-scriptum:

University, 9 am. It's Monday and it feels a few hours too early. Downstairs in the marble hallway a student is waiting for an appointment with his music teacher and practises his classically trained baritone voice to kill time, as they say. A perfect swooning echo of angelic proportions bounces off the walls up into my confined space, with background noises of office rumble giving it a surreal context. Everything freezes and I listen, it kills my time.

It has just snowed for an hour, thick white shards of fuzzy frost out of nowhere. Now, all clouds are gone, the snow dissapeared and full-on spring sunshine. One weird Monday I tell ya.

Now playing on the compressed office soundsystem: Musique du Nordeste, Brasil, 1928 - 1946 (Buda Musique). Grammophone cracks and dusty recordings in mono give this musical antiquity a touching personal quality. It softly makes this Monday morning swing.

How come this feels like an ancient Tom Zé song?
Luis Gonzaga & Humberto Texeira - Briao

and here Tom.
Tom Zé - Medo de Mulher

Luis Gonzaga was one of the main predecessors of Bossa Nova and it's also his voice that nearly resembles Tom Zé's smooth dark voice, shaped from the Brazilian local patois perhaps, since Tom Zé is also from up north. Carolina, if you read this; is this a typical quality of the singers of the Nordeste or am I shooting at mosquito's?

Here another classic pearl.
Joao Pernambuco - Meu Noivado

To come back on Wednesday, when I visited my friend in the Ondiep area. Ondiep literally means shallow, though emotions that rose up during early last last week were far from that. The main streets towards the riot hotspot were casted off with fences put up by police, which at the time of my entry were still open. I came up to the school building where my friends live and saw a bed of flowers lying in front of one of their doors. 54 year old Rinie Muller was in fact shot dead right on their doorstep and this spot had become the pinnacle of the eruption. I came in the building and my friends were still shaken from the past nights of rioting, not knowing what to expect tonight. I naievely hadn't realised the curfew was still on and would come up at 18.00 sharp. With a friend I had to pick up some equipment elsewhere and we were told we could come back in if we just carried our ID with us. I'm not receptive to ID verifications, stubborn as I normally am while supporting the cause of these people (sorry, no english option). Buuut, hypocrisy is a standard given rule and I surrendered for a night. When we came back, all the entries were closed off, with fences locked and riot police in full helment and stick garment guarding these gates. We weren't allowed in, 'residents only' and could see the building only hundred metres away. Talking with your friends through a fence is well weird, with them ghettonized into a human zoo as police looks on. The situation does create a lot of impulsive jokes to lighten up the spirits, though it seemed that only we were able to create an effort for a happy mood on this border control, unlike the rest of the people on the street. The police did lose their suspicion for us so we could get our stuff back from the building. All in all, no riots happened anymore. The atmosphere was a tad grimm and people -many of them teenagers to twenty somethings- were just gathering in circles as if to expect a theatre spectacle from the stickmen in blue n black. In other words, this free show was a no show, thankfully. Since Friday the curfew has been lifted, gates erased and disappeared. It will take much longer to bring the social mood back in balance. Perhaps the city council should focus to organise festivities in the area, as a perfect way to counter an otherwise downward spiral.

Ok, on a positive weekend note... Saturday there was a night in Amsterdam of mashed up world music, rusty with sharp edges, intwined with a fundraising motivation; the Rebel Up! Soundclash. See it blogged here. I am extremely biased ofcourse, since I started this idea with the help of a few friends so we could throw this gig in the OCCII squat bar. We kinda expected 30-50 people at most,-like friends and company-, but in the end over 100 people came, creating a superb atmosphere on the crammed dancefloor. Plus even better, we raised a few hundred euro's for the grassroots project in Chiapas. Truckload of Gracias indeed! To be continued in future months, for sure! I'll restrain from spamming my own blog too much and will put all info bits on the Rebel Up! blog instead.

Pity that because of these preparations, I missed DJ/Rupture and Andy Moor (The Ex) playing at the OT301 the night before, impov guitar meeting rough cuts from vinyl. Were any of you Amsterdam readers there? Please fill me in at the rabbit hole. Instead I went to the Bonte Koe Records night, just around the corner of my Utrecht den, which was a mixed night of indie, big band jazz, songwriter moods and electropop...though I didn't catch all. Good to see some friends and new faces (hi there!). Another time pity I had to leave early, pity for various reasons... vaguely I reside.

About that upcoming Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan record that was blogged about here, Joana freshly informed me in our pseudo journo manner that the distributor isn't too happy with the backward play of this album. Backward? Yup, it can only be heard backwards apparently. Music turned into a crafty concept, though what is the sharing use for it in fairness? The backlash surely will soon happen in various alternative media, offset by encouraging and opposing crusaders. I wonder who will win the flame war.

ta-doo-do-do-doo-ta-do-doo-do-do-do-doo!

Utrecht goes deep in Ondiep, even after a 'Prince' sings softly

Notes from last night disturbances and woeful wailing......

The last few nights there have been a series of evening clashes in the northern Utrecht area Ondiep, right on the Thorbeckelaan street where friends of mine are living in a defunct school building. The scenario is of a grimm nature that sees groups of local dutch residents oppossing kickabout youths of Northern African immigrant descent, who accordingly are said to cause troubles in the area. In a nutshell, the Ondiep area is predominantly white and working class, whereas the youths come from the neighbouring stretch of the mulitculturalised Amsterdamsestraatweg, which bustles with foreign food markets and phonebooth shops.

It started Sunday night when the Dutch residents took a collective stand against the youths by crowding the square they normally meet up. As everyone can imagine, neither group backed down and gained in size as people joined either group. A Dutch resident named Rinie Mulder, angered beyond extent, took his vigilante act too far and treathened a policeman with a butcher's knife. It is unclear in which manner this happened, but it prompted this policeman to shoot Mulder who died on the spot near his doorstep. In impromptu graffitti, the place of his death has been marked with the words "Rinie, rest peacefully", flowers and (uncanningly) beercans as a solemn ode to his unnecessary death. As expected, the fire was readily put in the hole to create 3 straight nights of riots.

Supposedly, rioteering youths did not come from the nearby area, but from allover Utrecht and surround..mobile phones used as tools of gathering for destruction indeed. The media mentions these rioteers without defining them. In this case, it simply means it are white youths since any allochtoon rioteer would have been defined as such. For instance you will hardly ever read if *white local folks* kick up a riot, whereas the tag dropping of Moroccan, Turkish or any other ethnical minority in Holland will always be given on a silver plate to the feeble reader. Disinformation does not matter when it concerns the marking of nationals, one could nearly think.

135 people were arrested yesterday, and it's even said that some were football hooligans coming in for a piece of the mayhem from allover the country, probably part of their riot tourism travel scheme chartered by oh so friendly agitators. On my way home near to the area, all the roads were blocked off by police and riot police alike, with vans driving along, squad cars parked to obstruct and cut off the 3 mile Amsterdamsestraatweg from the centre. Along came a towtruck on the road beside me, pulling a burnt out car behind him, crispy fresh I reckon. Paris is still very far though.

With sporadic tensions erupting in Holland now and then, it is autochtoon (ie, someone with dutch nationality) against allochtoon (someone holding a foreign identity). Perhaps white against non-white, thought that might prove a notion too strong since this stand off is in fact not racial but rather cultural. Images of suburbian France burning can not be compared here.

On a brighter note, I went to see Bonnie "Prince" Billy (otherwise known as Will Oldham) last night in the grand Vredenburg concert hall. Just a little man with a guitar on a too big stage and far away audience, same for the support act. Odd experience for such intimate music. Sir Richard Bishop played fingerpicking support to Oldham in a fitting warm up show on a solo guitar, tuned up to high pitched levels. Sir Richard is actually the older brother of Alan Bishop, whom I posted about recently, see here. Coincidence does not deal in time shares. Richard has a full mop of curly long hair, Alan is bald as ever. Both Sun City Girls. I like this bloodline contradiction.

Bishop plays a mix of various fingerpicking styles such as classical, flamenco and indian raga and he indeed did so during his +30 minute set. Especially his last composition was a 15 minute long raga trip to the max with self-shaped drones from his lower snares, looped in regurging patterns. Amazing stuff, though most people did not think so and were either busy chatting (say, blabbing) loudly to each other or quietly snoozing off (eh Carlos!) ;) The chatter was very annoying to say the least, with fans of Oldham not giving Sir Richard any creative credit, perhaps not acknowledging or understanding the righteous awe that Oldham himself has for Bishop, which I can dig but my fingerpick nerdist opinion wasn't to be shared as joyously, shucks. -later a Sir Richard track here, yours to decide on-

Oldham came on and did the tricks with a variety of his famous songs from over the years with trademark lyrics on how he can not have kids to grow, the topic he touches upon a lot. He's a quirky beardy-cultivated man though, who likes to make funny moves and gestures, either facial or with his rubbery legs. Hard to explain all his moves, though he seemed to have a preferance for put his leg up behind the other and standing on one leg whenever he pleased. 'Crane bird Oldham', that's how I'll always see him from now on, hah :) His performance was kinda unbalanced though, as in some songs he sung every word as perfectly lisped in tune, sweetened with sorrow, while in other songs his voice could not reach the same great heights as on his albums. Someone said; 'that's perhaps the brilliance of his singing; it's so human and incomplete.' Oldham also played 2 songs in which he used fingerpick patterns of Sir Richard, which the fans didn't spoil, rather not realizing the underlying truth I'm sure. Irony does not strike twice depending on the context that it is given in and by who it's given.

Here something that was given on a 4 track sampler last nite; a project of Will Oldham and Mark Lanegan under the name Soulsavers:

Soulsavers - Kingdom of Rain
Soulsavers - Through My Sails

Tonight, I actually have to be in the Ondiep area to eat at a friend's place...which is in the exact street where that man was shot dead. Strange feelings will be felt. The police is again gonna seal off the area so I wonder if we'll be able to leave...or to enter.

Animals in the Rabbit den

It probably has become quite clear that the Animal Collective ranks pretty high on the soundsystem down the Old Style Rabbit hole. Yup. But can anyone name another band that has brought such a special sound these past few years? Perhaps the way they push themselves deeper with every album is scary to most people, who instead rather dwell on old favorite bands that do not hit the innovation bar as severely. Expectation is a silent killer folks.

I don't want to turn this into a writeup lesson about the band or anything, Wikipedia can do that trick. Just providing some footage and audio is the theme I carry around on this late sunday. In this case, wrapped in a paper bag, sprinkled with crayola colors. It's the give-away kinda bag.

Below a clip of a live session with members Avey Tare and Doctess did at a French radio station, covering The Purple Bottle song in stripped vein. Doctess is in fact Kria Brekkan, or better known as Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir -remember her from the Icelandic group Múm?- and who has recently become Avey's wife. European and American freakfolk married in unity. Soon an album of the couple too, see here.



Avey Tare & Doctess - The Purple Bottle
(the audio version of above clip, I like the way that for once it's possible to clearly hear their lyrics, which otherwise is kinda...errrr, impossible.)

Avey Tare & Doctess - I've Got Mine
(me thinking pre web search; where do I know this female voice from?)

Animal Collective - People
Animal Collective - My Favorite Colors
(both released in 2006 as an EP on an obscure Australian label, this is wholly shamanistic stuff!)

Ok, time to snooze off.

Thriftstore gifts, handpicked for your hunger

Oy oy, Jo spilled the beans in her peculiar surprising demeanor, Instant dose of warmth and a blushing glow! :)

Another year, none the wiser. Inflation does strike the age trough gaining scratches, lacerations and whatnot scars of experience. So says the inner advisor. Scary. But I smore him deep down.

Pixeled cake, it tastes empty so don't bite it. but instead click and listen. Here some b-day treats in audio from me....for you all!!!!!!

Animal Collective vs. Koçani Orkestar - Oi Bori Sujie (from 'Electric Gypsyland #2')
(the virtuous Animal fella's doing a gypsy remix for this auld Macedonian brass band, ofcourse! So obviously well-suited, plus perfectly warped and psychedelic too! THE remix of the year so far!)

Mudboy - Starlight (from This Is Folk Music)
(keywords: psychedelic, drones, organ. All is good)

Haruki - Ants Qualify for Tree (from 'Birds And Other Machines')
(yessa, soft Belgo electronics from a friend...it turns so sweet after 1:20, I can almost feel it hugging me)

Linda Perhacs - Chimacum Rain (from Parallelogram)
(this is freak folk from way back, such droney sounds, we're talking 1970 here!)

Tommy Johnson - Slidin' Delta Blues (from 'The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of')
(that voice, the ragged guitar picks. 1928, bliss and awe)

Is it too much cake???? There's the bonafide bucket in the corner to throw up in if needed....

Oh, this saturday me and 2 other friends organise a co-op birthday party in a fairly inhabited warehouse in the nothern side of Utrecht. With DJ's, alcopop drink, vegan grub and the usual nightly wares on offer, providing for this all-nighter gig. Yay. Totally DIY though. Expect disorder and mingling, in a friendly neighbourhood punk-ass way. Errr, you folks around Utrecht, if you didn't get any invitation (by accident), do mail me and just show up! Forgetfulness comes with anxiety. To you internationals out there, you are openly invited indeed, whether you can make it is another thing alltogether ;)

chi-owwwwww!

!