Editorial issue n° 10
DEAR READER,
I'm writing to you from
the jungle of Polynesia,
the isle of Tuvalu. I’m here researching the sound- textural qualities of the Tuli bird and its influence on western post-WWII avant-garde. How and why
I ended up here involved
a wild night in Brussels,
a somewhat scruffy man and a dodgy contract. So... At this very moment, I’m sitting in a bar barely worth the name. The bartender only serves warm beer,
and I’m deeply wrapped-up in the significance of Tuli bird chant.
24 November 2017 |
AG 10
Andrew Pekler
The Berlin-based Andrew Pekler delves deeply into playful loop-based electronic exotica. His most recent record is an homage to the legendary anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss and his book ‘Tristes Tropiques’. The record is a sonic journey, composed out of fragments of music made by imaginary tribes. It displays a deeply nostalgic longing of a researcher who is confronted by the big questions about himself and his culture, as he becomes aware that the great enlightened stories are just one of the many truths. An interview without questions on identity, a book, internal logics and wordplays.
15 November 2017 |
AG 10
Tony Conrad
History is like music, completely in the present; an essay on Tony Conrad’s legacy.
15 November 2017 |
AG 10
Jéricho
Jéricho is a quintet making experimental folk music, rooted in the south of France. Banjo, hurdy gurdy, occitan singing and more are the key elements… How does it work, we asked Clément Gauthier (chabrette, ttun ttun) and Yann Gourdon (veille a roue, boîte a bourdons).
15 November 2017 |
AG 10
Aşıq Nargile
PRESERVING HER IDENTITY AND TAKING IT ABROAD.
The compilation Mountains Of Tongues: Musical Dialects Of The Caucasus brings together songs and instrumentals that were recorded by the Sayat Nova project across 2012 and 2013 during trips across Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. All tracks are drawn from many different musical traditions and several were never recorded before. Stefan Williamson-Fa, one of the founding fathers of the project, provided translation for the following conversation with Asiq Nargile. An Ashiq is a singer who traditionally, accompanied his song with a long necked lute (saz) in Azerbaijani culture and related Turkic cultures.
15 November 2017 |
AG 10
Novo Line
Novo Line is the moniker of Nat Fowler, once part of the Baltimore math rock scene, but nowadays transformed into a clusterfucking techno act that delves deeply into the unknown territory of old skool atari computers. Last year he released an amazing record on Ecstatic Records that takes the idea’s of UR, Drexciya and alike deep into the 21st century, without resigning to new technology. Techno used to be a thrilling genre that was all about developing new idea’s and sounds, but then the market started mingling in by producing pre programmed plugins aimed at lazy producers copying each other. Novo Line revives the original spirit and takes techno where it belongs: boldly into a universe where no-one has gone before.
15 November 2017 |
AG 10
Richard Dawson
“MY ROOTS ARE IN SOMETHING MUCH MORE ANCIENT THAN BRITISH FOLK AND MY BRANCHES ARE TICKLING THE FUTURE.”
The International press is already raving about Dawson’s new record ‘Peasant’. The album is a proper concept record about a small medieval community under pressure by higher powers. Exclusively for the festival Dawson will present the record for the first time with full band for the Belgian audience.
15 November 2017 |
AG 10
Leo Svirsky
MOVING SOUND. Piano player and accordionist Leo Svirsky is an ex-punk with Russian roots who dwelled from Russia to Washington DC to end up in The Hague. He specialized in contemporary classical and avant-garde music — collaborating with Christian Wolff, Marshall Allen, Jaap Blonk and Veryan Weston. He just released a highly recommended album that displays a deepened meaning towards deep listening accordeon music inspired by the innovations by Pauline Oliveros.
Right before Leo went off to Düsseldorf to play at Klangraum, we talked about his love for accordion and the mystical side to his album and his use of the accordion.
15 November 2017 |
AG 10
11 Questions for Susan Alcorn
Mostly, people associate the pedal steel with cowboy music. Not here at the KRAAK office, especially because we are big admirers of the Baltimore based Susan Alcorn, pedal steelist pur sang. She grew up playing country & western and alike, but became very soonish interested in free jazz, raga, contemporary classical music and deep listening practices. Alcorn is an open minded, true researcher of sound; the lap steel, with its endless possibilities is — despite its connotations — for her foremost a natural tool to pursue a new universe of sound.
15 November 2017 |
AG 10
Keiko Higuchi
Keiko Higuchi is a Japanese vocalist and musician with an impressive résumé, who has already released nine albums, both in groups and as a solo artist. Her music - covering genres like avant-garde, jazz and free improvisation - has been released on labels such as Improvising Beings, Utech and Music Atlach. Her live performances are particularly intense because she uses expressive body movements to create certain vocal sounds, along with her use of the piano as a percussion instrument. On The Eastern Daze Festival, she will perform with bassist Luis Inage (Aural Fit, Derakushi).
15 November 2017 |
AG 10
STILL
Still is a moniker of Simone Trabucchi of Invernomuto and Hundebiss Records, previously known as Dracula Lewis. After a one year break from music, Trabucchi got inspired by Jamaican and Ethopian electronic sounds. Entering this great legacy of music, he found a way to give a voice to Italy’s colonial past. The result: tripped out, cosmic and challenging electronic music, that has been released by PAN. At the Eastern Daze festival, STILL will feature three vocalists, Devon Miles from Nigeria, Freweini from Erythrea and Keidino.
15 November 2017 |
AG 10
Afework Nigussie
Afework Nigussie is an Ethiopian musician and singer from the Gondar region in North Ethiopia, who grew up in the capital Addis Abeba. He is a master of the masinko, a claret shaped violin with thick snares and goat skin which gives a strong sound that trembles into your belly and bones. He also plays a wide range of traditional Ethiopian string, wind and percussive instruments. His musical background is that of the ancient Azmari tradition, the wandering minstrels who carried the latest news and social criticism in loud songs from village to village, from door to door. Yet in his case, he chooses not to copy the old Azmari lines, but rather recreate his own songs that belong to current times, whether in secular or spiritual folk styles. Nigussie is a contemporary songwriter and composer who prefers to look forward instead of back.
15 November 2017 |
AG 10
