Julie Fowlis

Julie Fowlis and her band gave a great concert at the Bergenfest yesterday. She's from the Hebrides, and sings in gaelic, but who cares as long as she explains what she's singing about. We were lucky and got a song on the spreading of manure and a song on a man's three favorite areas of interest: potatoes, butter and women! The music was from Scotland and Ireland, but I didn't catch the names of all the musicians. What I know is that Eamon Doorley played bouzouki, Tony Byrne guitar and Martin O'Neill bodhran. You'll find the rest of the musicians among the names on Julie's MySpace page I guess. Martin O'Neill got a standing ovation after a bodhran solo! Great!

Museum Gong

The following letter was sent to members of "Planet Gong" on Facebook. In Bordeaux they are planning a Gong exhibition, and since Daevid Allen is on the road again (and visiting Bergen too 14 May) and I guess a lot of Gong memories have gone up in smoke (*cough*), we try to help!

"Call for early Gong objects and documents – Gong exhibition

Dear Gong fans:
An exhibition about Gong is currently being organised at CAPC Museum
of Contemporary Art in Bordeaux, France and will open the 27th of
November, 2008. It is organised by Yann Chateigné, head of programs of
the museum, along with a team of young curators.

The exhibition will show artworks, objects and documents related to
the history of Gong during its first period (1968-1975), as well as
artworks by contemporary artists showing the resurgences of
psychedelia in a wider sense. Moreover, the exhibition space will be
the framework for a music festival, which aims to blend concerts by
original Gong members and younger bands.

We, organizers, would like to dedicate a special part of the exhibition
to the various objects handmade by Gong fans.…
We are also seeking for early Gong photographs and films.

The following materials are particulary looked for :

Costumes
Accessories
Puppets, small objects (handicraft representing the famous Gong
iconography… or remains of Gong concerts)
Photographs of Gong
Films of Gong (concerts, documentaries, TV shows…)
Audio recordings
Press material
…

WE NEED YOUR HELP : if you ever own or know the existence of such
objects, please get in contact with us as soon as possible :

gongbordeaux@gmail.com


All the borrowings will follow the loan procedure of the museum and
will be covered by insurance. They could be also reproduced in a
catalogue.

Thank you in advance for your kind collaboration.
Hope to meet you in Bordeaux !

Axelle Blanc, curator
gongbordeaux@gmail.com"

Håkon Kornstad

Håkon Kornstad plays "Sweden". Please listen to this one, even if you think you don't like jazz. Fantastic, or what? You'll find it on the album "Single Engine" (2007). More on Håkon Kornstad here and here.

Sea Song

You may like music as files or not, but they at least enable you to shop single tunes from albums you don’t want or need (my God, I’m growing old, albums you "NEED”?). I ended up in the I-Tunes-Store again (!) some days ago, and went looking for cover versions of Robert Wyatt tunes. The most popular one seems to be “Sea Song”, and I’m not surprised, because it’s a beautiful song with nice lyrics.
These versions are on heavy rotation on my I-Pod:
Tears For Fears (“Saturnine, Marshal and Lunatic” -1996)
Dune (”Forever” – 1997)
Aldo Romano/ Remi Vignolo/Baptiste Trotignon (“Flower Power”- 2006)
Rachel Unthank and the Winterset (“The Bairns” – 2007)
Eyes Like Saucers (“Still living in the desert (and mostly inside my own head )”- 2008)
Here you have all kinds! The pop guys in Tears For Fears and even prettier Dune, the jazz people with Romano, the folk scene with Rachel Unthank and the low-fi-not-at-all- slick Eyes Like Saucers. Wow, what a song this is! The lyrics to "Sea Song" (and a lot of others) may be found at Calyx, but I've set it up like it is presented in the cover of "Rock Bottom". Makes it easier for you to sing!
Get an overview of Robert Wyatt covers here, and I’m sure you’ll be able to find my Tears For Fears 7” too. “Sea Song” is the b-side of “I Believe” (1985). I-Tunes sell “Rock Bottom” at this ridiculous price in Norway: 36 NOK (some more than 3 GBP, 7 USD).

SEA SONG
Words and Music by Robert Wyatt

You look different every time
you come from the foam-crested brine
It's your skin shining softly in the
moonlight
Partly fish, partly porpoise, partly
baby sperm whale
Am I yours? Are you mine
to play with?

Joking apart
when you're drunk You're terrific
when you're drunk I like you mostly
late at night, you're quite all right
But I can't understand
the different you In the morning
when it's time to play at being
human for a while
Please smile!

You'll be different in the spring, I know
You're a seasonal beast
Like the starfish that drifted with the tide
So until your blood runs to meet
the next full moon
Your madness fits in nicely
with my own
Your lunacy fits neatly with my own
my very own
We're not alone.

Mop Meuchiine plays Robert Wyatt

Mop Meuchiine was filmed during a concert in February this year, playing Robert Wyatt tunes. First you get "Anachronist-A.W.O.L" (both from "Comicopera") and "British road" (from "Old Rottenhat"). Nice!

NPM Re-Vision

It seems like this is going to be a great Nils Petter Molvær year (1,2). He is now out with "Re-Vision", a collection of tunes based on soundtracks he has made (Hoppet, Edy and Frozen Heart). I'll make it short (as usual), and just say you have to get this one too. If I should at least pretend to be a tough critic, I'd wish some of the tracks were longer, and that it was possible to read what's written on the inner cover. Hey, we're getting older here!

Multicolour splatter vinyl

If you collect Motorpsycho, you'd better hurry up. Rune Grammofon has made a "multicolour splatter vinyl" edition of "Little Lucid Moments" (500 albums, and that's it). You may even buy it together with an even more limited edition T-shirt! Look here.
I've given "Little Lucid Moments" thumbs up earlier in this blog, and believe it's only getting better.