Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt
Originally uploaded by snapster.

Today a short reading list, that might contain some Robert Wyatt info. The only reason for posting this, being that I wanted to use snapster's fine portrait.

- Paul Morley on music: the Mercury music prize (Guardian 3 September 2010).
- 3:AM Cult Hero: Ivor Cutler
- Klaxons: 'We’ve never been ashamed of the fact we are a pop band' (Metro 15 August 2010).
- The Lowland Hundred: Under Cambrian Sky (The Quietus July 26 2010).

Puma and Susanne Sundfør

Puma and Susanne Sundfør do the Alicia Keys song "Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart" for the Norwegian NRK radio program Lydverket (bigger format over there).

Please tell if this is not working outside Norway.

PUNKT 2010 - Day three

Saturday at Punkt was just as hectic and great as Friday, but I´ll try to make the blog post less detailed, just read the program!

Sidsel Endresen and Stian Westerhus did a well attended concert early in the evening (double bill with Norwegian guitar player Knut Reiersrud). Raw guitar and fantastic vocals, with Punkt´s super sound and lights, and you just have the perfect festival happening. In my opinion the concert was even better than the one the duo did at Moldejazz this summer.

Now how about John Paul Jones opening up for Supersilent with a bass solo piece? And how about him not leaving the stage at all, but playing with Supersilent! Well, things like that happen at Punkt! Great fun!

The festival organizers really want unexpected meetings to happen, and that´s at least one of the reasons for having a couple of live remix sessions billed as tba until the last moment.
Saturday Dino J.A. Deane and Nils Petter Molvær remixed Westerhus/Endresen and Knut Reiersrud, while the Supersilent concert was remixed by no others than Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Skuli Sverrisson and John Hassell!

If we are lucky, at least a couple of focused pictures will soon be in the Punkt Flickr set. To be an amateur photographer at dark festivals (add some dry ice too) is some task, but I´m quite happy with the picture of Sidsel Endresen from Friday´s seminar!

At Punkt the official language seems to be English, and even the Norwegian artists speak English at concerts (far better than me, I´m glad to say). The main concerts were presented by Fiona Talkington, prooving that the organizers want quality in all parts of the festival.

PUNKT 2010 - Day two

Punkt (Kristiansand, Norway) is a killer festival, but the schedule is so tight you hardly have the time to eat. Here is a short (but messy) summary of Friday´s happenings.

You even go to seminars at this festival, and first out was Dino J. A. Deane, who told stories about being in the studio with Ike Turner and old ways of sampling (and more of course). Very entertaining.
Sidsel Endresen demonstrated her thoughts on improvisation by making the audience sing for her. Quite impressive, really. She confessed she sometimes could get "Lost in improvisation".
Supersilent played a great concert first, and afterwards Arve Henriksen, Ståle Storløkken and Helge Sten answered questions from the audience. They have hundreds of hours of recordings, so be warned, you might want to prepare for a jubilee and "Supersilent 50" in a couple of years.

Håkon Kornstad did a beautiful solo concert at the opening of the exhibition "Herbarium", by artists Kjell Nupen and Nils Chr. Moe-Repstad. Totally packed house? That´s an understatement.

In the Agder Teater I attended concerts with the Estonian choir Segakoor Noruus, Jan Bang´s "...And Poppies From Kandahar" (picture) (with Jan Bang, Arve Henriksen, John Hassell, Sidsel Endresen, Lars Danielsson and Erik Honoré) and Iceland´s Skuli Sverrisson.
The concerts were fine, but I´m more than impressed by the live remixes, that happen just after the shows. Sidsel Endresen, Jan Bang and Erik Honoré  remixed Skuli Sverrisson´s peaceful music, while  Dino Deane, Håkon Kornstad, Anders Engen and David Wallumrød treated "...And Poppies From Kandahar", with John Hassell listening.
Both remixes had sounds and melodies from the original concerts up front, and the same happened with Maja Ratkje´s magic remix of the choir concert. Her voice and electronics a perfect match to the choir sound.

PUNKT 2010 - Day one

The PUNKT 2010 festival started in Kristiansand Thursday, with concerts and live remixes, and later we may even attend seminars (this is serious stuff).
I attended my first concert ever with Frøy Aagre (sax),  and Andreas Ulvo (p) and Freddy Wike (dr), who did a great concert (jazz with melodies folks, I needed that!), later remixed by Splashgirl (picture). And note to myself: check out Frøy Aagre´s album too.

Rockettothesky did music from an album soon to come, but also some tunes fro the beautiful "Medea" album (2008). Jenny Hval has a fantastic voice, and things are not getting worse at all by having Susanna Wallumrød on stage too. The boys in the band were Håvard Volden (g) and Kyrre Laastad (dr). This concert was remixed by Terje Evensen.

Doing live remixing is a great idea (even if you have to run up and down stairs all evening to catch it), but I wonder why I could not recognize more of the material remixed? My ears, or is that the point? And damn it, PUNKT did spend lots of money on dry ice!

Not too good pictures (I´m afraid) will end up in a set on Flickr.

Nuart Stavanger

It´s soon time for the street art festival Nuart in Stavanger, Norway. Blu and Ericailcane already started.

London, Wednesday 8th December 2010

London might be the city to visit, at least on 8th of December. The Unthanks explore and perform the music of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons ! As all regular readers of this blog know, The Unthanks and Rachel Unthank & The Winterset, have covered Wyatt´s "Sea Song" on "The Bairns" and live too (thanks to YouTube).

Now they are going to pick more songs from the Wyatt catalogue, and even add a folk touch to Antony´s music.

Will somebody please, record this concert?!