Electric Eye: Tangerine

Here is a new record company from Bergen: Klangkollektivet.

Check out the video for the new krautpsychsingle "Tangerine" from Electric Eye, being Øystein Braut (Alexandria Quartet, Dig Deeper - and leader of the band), Njål Clementsen (Megaphonic Thrift, The Low Frequency in Stereo), Anders Bjelland (Hypertext) and Øyvind Hegg-Lunde (Building Instrument and lots of impro and jazz cooperations).

The album "Pick up, Lift off, Space, Time" is out 5 April. International distribution by Fuzz Club Records.

Borealis 2013

I´m a bit busy this week! The Borealis festival of Bergen is happening right now.

Wednesday I went to the grand festival opening with (among other concerts) Lasse Marhaug´s powerful commissioned work for Ny Musikk (New Music org); "Waste music (for two furnaces )" - giving us the sonic recycling of a waste plant. Both earplugs and helmets this time! Great day at the waste plant!

Espen Sommer Eide has several performances in his exhibition "Dead Language Poetry" at the Bergen Kunsthall, Wednesday hi deid one together with Alexander Rishaug, Janne-Camilla Lyster, Signe Lidén, Tolga Balci and Trine H. Friis.

Trond Lossius is presenting his sound installation "Lontano" in the Haukeland Unversity Hospital´s anechoic chamber. The sounds of railway stations, parks, the birds at night and a even a full storm, is a strong and strange experience in a completely sound isolated room like this one.

Read more about all this over at Borealis, and feel free to check out more of my photos on Flickr.

Shipbuilding

BBC Radio 4 just broadcasted a 30 min program on Clive Langer and Elvis Costello´s song "Shipbuilding", written for Robert Wyatt.
Listen here (available on the BBC Radio 4 site for how long??).

Robert Wyatt is not interviewed, but we hear from (among others) the composers, politicians, The Unthanks, and the philosopher Richard Ashcroft, on who BBC Radio 4 writes:

"Richard Ashcroft is a philosopher who wants the song, which he describes as a kind of secular hymn, played at his funeral because it gives a perfect expression of how he believes we should think about life. Not being able to feel the emotion of the song would, he feels, would be like being morally tone-deaf. If you don't like this song, he'd find it hard to be your friend".

Videos: Robert Wyatt, Elvis Costello and The Unthanks.

Robert Wyatt pays tribute to Kevin Ayers

Robert Wyatt pays tribute to Kevin Ayers (who died 18 February) in Stuart Maconie´s Freak Zone (BBC Radio 6).

They cover the Wilde Flowers and early Soft Machine years, and Wyatt stresses how important Kevin Ayers was as a proper songwriter, and that the first Soft Machine albums probably didn´t really show them from their best side.
Robert Wyatt thinks it´s a pity that the bands of today seldom go through the phase of playing at dances, like they did with The Wilde Flowers!

Kevin Ayers is described as "bright", "funny" and "posh - but without education", and as a very pleasant person!
And how about Kevin Ayers voice resembling Rex Harrisons´? Wyatt himself admits that he tried to sing like both Van Morrison and Steve Marriot i those early days.

Maconie wants to know if we may expect some new music by Robert Wyatt soon, but Wyatt claims he is retired now!

Please note: You have got 6 days left to listen, so don´t wait!

Annie Whitehead Group: O Caroline

I don´t know if Annie Whitehead Group are touring with their Robert Wyatt tribute "Soupsongs", but they sure played at Teatro Bonci di Cesena (Italy) 2 March.

According to a nice mail from Aldo Saporetti, they played a lot from "Rock Bottom" and "Shleep", and treasures like "Left on man" and "Vandalusia".

Musicians:

Sarah-Jane Morris and Cristina Donà (voc)
Annie Whitehead (trombone)
Brian Hopper (sax)
Mark Lockheart (sax)
Jennifer Maidman (g, voc)
Janette Mason (keyb)
Tim Harries (el-bass)
Liam Genockey (dr)

Daniel Darc (1959 - 2013)

The French artist Daniel Darc passed away 28 February.

Robert Wyatt added voice and breathing (!) to the song "Ça Ne Sert A Rien" on Darc´s album "Amours Suprêmes" (2008), and Darc sung "O Caroline" on Orchestre National de Jazz: "Around Robert Wyatt" (2008).

Check out the video "Fuck Dance Let´s Art" (Gautier & Leduc) on the recording of "Amours Suprêmes", and Robert Wyatt is joining around 19 minutes into the video.

Arianna Blu

Today a dramatic short movie called "Arianna Blu", made by Nicola Piovesan during Mon Film Festival.

The music is made by Soft Machine Legacy, who also have a new album out on MoonJune called "Burden of Proof". Musicians: John Etheridge, Roy Babbington, John Marshall and Theo Travis.

More info on the movie and the music on YouTube.