For those who still check this blog of mine once in a while, I apologize for being the lame-ass blogger that I am. I could blame my mom’s sudden death a couple of weeks ago but that would be very hypocrite so let’s just say that the blog format isn’t written for me. I prefer spending some of my precious little spare time on Facebook or Twitter where I don’t feel the obligation to review every goddamn book, movie or record that crosses my way but where I can easily recommend remarkable stuff to like-minded folks instead.
Anyway, while my mom was lying on her deathbed, the following 3 records were a constant source of release and consolation to me:
(Sub Pop Records CD 2004)
I almost immediately found out that the best way to deal with these harsh feelings of alienation, loss & despair was by surrounding me with mean & dark twisted sounds. This abrasive and compelling album is a tough ride but so is death. On my way home from the morgue, I think I really understood what this album is all about. Those who dismiss 'Burned Mind' as sheer noise are entirely missing the point.
(Bumbo Records LP 2010)
This fascinating second album by ex-Piranhas members DRUID PERFUME has been on constant rotation over here for the last couple of weeks. Like some kind of modern day’s 'Trout Mask Replica', the record meanders between free jazz and avant-garde experimentalism, between blues and garage rock. Insane vocals, a squalling sax and some tripped out guitar is just what the doctor ordered for me.
(Experimental Intermedia Foundation 3CD 1994/1998)
Electronic music composer Eliane Radigue spent eight years working on her trilogy (1988-1993) and the result is awe-inspiring and deeply spiritual. The first chapter of this drone-alone trilogy – “Kyema” - is inspired by The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a book that was very dear to my mother. Eliane Radigue dedicated this piece to her son Yves who died in a car accident shortly after its completion. Two weeks after the accident, she began work on “Kailasha”, the second chapter of the trilogy named after Mount Kailash, the most sacred of the Tibetan mountains. With the third piece, “Koumé”, Eliane emphasizes the transcendence of death. Death is never the end. In Eliane Radigue’s music, there is a feeling of time having almost stopped. In the liner notes I read:
“This musical texture demands that those who approach it surrender themselves into that secret and inaccessible part of the human soul – a vibration as fleeting as that which sustains the numberless stars. It is after having sailed for sometime on this sea of sound that every human being will finally recognize that divine expression, the living force which he experiences alone.”
Beware however: those expecting new age sounds will be in mortal fear.
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