I thought I was Frankie Frankie’s fan (beautiful people doing Swedish post-power pop), but this guy at their show not too long ago has me beat. Good stuff man…photo courtesy of Björn (papa to the bass player, who is married to the guitar player). Went to look for a vid of these wonderful folks doing their thing but came up with nothing except this “Fuck Frankie” (not sure if that’s the band’s name or if it’s the song title…apparently Marilyn Manson has a song with that title). I hope it’s not a slam on the FF, because it’s not a bad song (and that would be uncool)…
Peter Fonda died…kinda sad as more of my Mom’s generation of epic people are passing into the great divide. Everybody has seen him in Easy Rider, but ya ever seen 1967’s The Trip with him in it (and a host of other greats and written by Jack Nicholson)? Very trippy (hahahaha), dosed one time with my old pal Roy, I guess we were about 14…taking LSD and watching a movie about taking LSD, thinking back now, that’s fucking classic!
My trip to California last week, in a nutshell, food and old Burbank heads. It’s legal in California you know what I’m saying? Fucking perfect trip in most respects…
Very interesting, puzzling compositions, sort of out of my realm of understanding was my initial response to Niet of Kaczynski Editions. I’ve listened to it several times now and still can’t make heads nor tails of it, but the press description helps clue you into where the artists are coming from and it makes a lot more sense. “Haiku is a record inspired by Masaoka Shiki’s short poems to which it pays homage, merging rhythm and matter in the fewest possible beats by mirroring the author’s minimalism. It uses a series of micro-compositions that subvert the traditional image of a haiku as static and meditative state. Ranter’s groove has placed these poems in a dynamic and futuristic sonic dimension, through a series of dancing rhythmical obsessions punctuated by the poems’ vocal reading. Essentially it is a twin vision of Japan’s polar opposites: traditional and futuristic, meditative and furious, using beats and field recordings. These are the two elements that mold “Haiku”‘s characteristic sound: concrete noises recorded with microphones merge with the analogue-digital rhythms produced with guitar and tape loops and also a groove-box.” Some folks may not even know what a haiku is…”a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world.”
醉ふて寐て 夢に泣きけり 山櫻
Yote nete/ Yume ni naki keri/ Yamazaku
I got drunk, a sleep.
And wept on the dream.
A wild cherry blossoms.
I remember studying Haiku in one of my English classes in high school and being fascinated by them, in much the same way that Ranter’s Groove fascinate me…a totally new, even foreign experience to me. The interpretation is a dark one, not necessarily a bad kind of darkness, but an absolute one, like having your eyes closed and having to rely solely on a sense of sound. I think my favorite track, the one that really, helped me to understand was #15, 血を印す, but then again I’m not certain I do really do understand, but it left me feeling contemplative. Coming full circle, here’s my haiku inspired by the CD (which of course was inspired by haiku)…
absolute darkness
fluctuating primal sound
eyes open see naught
Below you can get a (much) better take on the record (CD/DL)
Touching Extremes
Toneshift
Suoni Distorti (Italian)
Traks (Italian)
It’s out now (he sent me the info when it was still a pre-order, but I flaked as usual), give it a listen or go get you a copy…