Oh Joy!

I guess it’s about time to reanimate this blog of mine 'cuz, after all, facebook doesn’t seem like the ideal place for sharing my random thoughts & rants about my passions in life being movies, books and music. And travel. And women. And there goes my focus. I hope to post here on a regular basis and at least once a week.

The upcoming shows listed above will be kept up-to-date so friends can see where the action is and attend.

To kick things off in style, here’s a SoundCloud-link to one of the compilations I made last year. Many more eclectic mixes will follow and I hope you will have as much fun listening to these collections as I have in compiling them. To the musically broad minded: I salute you!

1. Come With Me To The Casbah - GANIMIAN & HIS ORIENTALS
2. Chills & Fever - JOHNNY LOVE
3. Jericho Chain - ROLAND ALFONSO
4. Cumbia De Menor - LITO BARRIENTOS Y SU ORQUESTA
5. Jan Paheechan Ho - MOHAMED RAFI
6. Margaya - FENDER FOUR
7. How do you know? - LYRES
8. Reptile Style - REIGNING SOUND
9. Trocitos de Madera - LA YEGROS
10. Music Box - BENGA
11. Mr. Harry Skank -  PRINCE JAZZBO
12. Swampland - THE SCIENTISTS
13. What's Inside A Girl? - THE CRAMPS
14. Jukebox Babe - ALAN VEGA
15. Autonomy Boy - THE LONG BLONDES
16. Sugar Kane - SONIC YOUTH

Nobody Can Live Forever: The Existential Soul of TIM MAIA (Luaka Bop CD/2LP)

According to the liner notes, Tim Maia was the personification of rock star excess, having lived through five marriages and at least six children, multiple prison sentences, voluminous drug habits and a stint in an UFO obsessed religious cult. After a 3 year stay in America at the end of the 1960s, he was deported back to Brazil where he started to blend North American black music to Brazilian music. The fine result can be heard on this great Luaka Bop compilation that includes many highlights by this Brazilian Funk Soul Godfather. Some songs are in English, others in Portuguese – all are very exciting. Another winner from Luaka Bop!



THEPPABUTR PRODUCTIONS: The Man Behind The Molam Sound 1972-75 (Zudrangma Records CD)

Theppabutr Satirodchompu was one of the key producers of modern Molam music from Northeast Thailand. Next to 17 scintillating tracks, this digipack release offers a fat booklet with interesting liner notes and great photos of record sleeves from long gone. Sound is really excellent. Highly recommended for exotic music aficionados who are eager for more Thai country groove after hearing both Molam compilations on Sublime Frequencies from a couple of years ago.



POP YEH YEH: Psychedelic Rock from Singaore and Malaysia-1964-1970 (Sublime Frequencies CD)


Sublime Frequencies releases keep getting better and better. Upon first sight, I thought this was a 2CD compilation but in fact this single CD release includes 2 fat booklets full of background history and pictures. It’s amazing to hear how fresh & vital these rock/pop songs still sound almost half a century later. The ideal summer soundtrack for nostalgic escapists!

DEATH HAS COME OVER ME

NEUROTIC DEATHFEST - Europe’s biggest indoor extreme metal festival - celebrated its 10^th anniversary last weekend. The line-up was impressive; an exciting mix between well-known bands (CARCASS, EXHUMED, MAGRUDERGRIND, PIG DESTROYER) and rather obscure bands (MALIGNANT TUMOUR, VALLENFYRE, WORMED). By writing this, I am aware that I probably make a complete idiot of myself in front of metalheads. But then again, I am no metalbeast but have always been a sporadic metal listener. My wife used to be a (speed)metalchick so when we first met some 25 years ago, we both went to a lot of metal shows (OBITUARY, MORBID ANGEL, AGNOSTIC FRONT, BRUTAL TRUTH and NAPALM DEATH spring to mind). A little later, however, I found the whole punkrockscene much more fun and only occasionally went to metalshows.

When I heard about the NEUROTIC DEATHFEST in Tilburg, Holland a couple of years ago, I became curious and bought a ticket. The great thing about this kind of festivals is that you can rely on the expertice of a bunch of devotees who know the bands that matter and try to book the cream of the crop. I paid a visit to the 2010 and 2011 edition of the festival and was amazed at the diversity of the bands at the festival: deathmetal, blackmetal, grindcore, deathgrind, deathcore… all very LOUD & BRUTAL! Especially the shows at the second stage impressed by their sheer power and intensity. As a result, bands like ROTTEN SOUND and BEHEADED surpassed themselves through a flawless monster sound.

The 10^th anniversary had some real surprises: the legendary band POSSESSED who coined the term "Death Metal" in 1983 on the band's 1984 demo of the same name, put on one hell of a show. Singer Jeff Becerra has been in a wheelchair for over 18 years as a result from a street robbery where he was shot and subsequently paralyzed. The band sounded like a ruthless metalversion of Poison Idea and blasted through its repertoire with hardly any stops. POSSESSED were not the only legendary band on the festival. Also REPULSION – whose Horrified album from 1987 is a genre-pioneering masterpiece - made its appearance on the festival. Not as impressive as POSSESSED but still very good.
 

Also CRYPTOPSY from Montreal put on an amazing show: tight, mean & totaly in your face! Frontman Mike Disalvo turned out to be a supernice dude who ran across the stage and agitated the audience in style. Next to bands with an established reputation like UK legends CARCASS and IMMOLATION from New York, there were a few discoveries to be made. MALIGNANT TUMOUR from the Czech Republic played an amazing mix of metal, crust & rock & roll. Their fast-paced tunes reminiscent of Motörhead turned the small club into a total slamfest. Paradise Lost's chief songwriter and lead guitarist Gregor Mackintosh created the band VALLENFYRE which also includes the bass player from UK crust legends DOOM. Slow pounding metal with a raw, sepulchral voice: awesome! A MAGRUDERGRIND show has to be witnessed to be believed. Insane grindcore with only drums, a guitar and vocals but what an impact this New York trio makes: a primal scream that leaves you  gasping for adjectives! I could go on for a while but let me finish this post with CATTLE DECAPITATION who sounded like The Jesus Lizard playing extreme metal! No kidding. Their show was manic, brutal and totally wacko.

 

Quite some bands that I have enjoyed on this unique festival might not leave the same impression on record. Some bands like the ridiculously named German trio COCK AND BALL TORTURE get on my nerves after 40 minutes. But NEUROTIC DEATHFEST proofs that the most extreme metal genre offers a full range of exciting sub-genres that are best to be experienced in a live setting. Why don't you go knocking at death's door?

 

3 STUNNING ART DOCUMENTARIES

Almost a year has passed since my latest post so I guess it’s about time to breathe some life into this blog of mine. From now on, I promise to post more frequently. After all, these are interesting times and the amount of fantastic music, amazing books and wonderful movies keeps increasing constantly. On the left hand I hope to update my concert list so friends can see what’s going on as far as live shows go. Today, I would like to recommend three inspiring documentaries of late about contemporary artists.

PINA is a feature-length dance film with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal, featuring the unique and inspiring art of the great German choreographer PINA BAUSCH, who died in the summer of 2009. The documentary exists of many bewildering dance scenes and is beautifully shot by Wim Wenders. Even if you haven’t seen many dance ensembles in real life (I only saw a couple – Meg Stuart, Wim Vandekeybus, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker) the magic of Pina Bausch’s choreography even works on film. I saw this documentary in 3D but the annoying glasses spoiled some fun and I don’t think the result was worth the effort. Just watch it on DVD or online and be amazed! Here’s the trailer that should wet your appetite:

Another fabulous documentary is Marina Abramovic The Artist is Present. Abramovíc was born in 1946 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia and pioneered the use of performances as a visual art form. She lives and works in New York where she was the subject of a major retrospective at the MoMA – The Artist is Present – from March 14 through May 31, 2010. This documentary follows the artist as she prepares for this major retrospective of her work. The centerpiece of this film and the MoMA retrospective is a stupefying performance by Marina herself: all day, every day, from early March until the end of May, 2010, she sits at a table in the museum's atrium, in what she describes as a "square of light." Members of the audience are invited to join her, one at a time, at the opposite end of the table. There is no talking, no touching, no overt communication of any kind. Her objective is to achieve a luminous state of being and then transmit it ­ to engage in what she calls "an energy dialogue" with the audience. Sounds boring? Watch this film, it’s one the most gripping ones you are likely to see! Believe me, even just watching it is a riveting experience!

 

 

The third and final documentary of this post that I highly recommend is called Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry. Ai WeiWei is China’s leading contemporary artist who is known for his activism against China’s opressive laws as much as his art. Alison Klayman's film gives a fascinating insight into this man’s life and work. Ai Weiwei is an agent provocateur who twitters things like “There are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship.” At the same time however, his art can be very subtle and touching for example when he bypasses the silent government and formed a team to gather 5,212 names and birthdates of children who had died in shoddily constructed schools during the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

According to Ai Weiwei, life is much more interesting when you make a little bit of effort. I can only agree and bow deep to these 3 amazing artists!

Talk about coincidence! I recently grabbed some CDs off the stack before driving to a Chuck Prophet show and instantly fell in love again with FREAKWATER’s awesome ‘Feels Like The Third Time’ Thrill Jockey album from 1993. Then the next day - to my surprise - I see the album on display in the window of a record shop! Turns out that this album has been reissued on vinyl on the opportunity of Record Store Day! I used to be a huge ELEVENTH DREAM DAY fan (I even managed to book the band in my village in 1990) and was very curious at the time when I heard about a new band founded by ELEVENTH DREAM DAY’s drummer girl Janet Beveridge Bean. For one reason or another (stupid me), I didn’t really pay much attention to FREAKWATER although I once saw the band play a great show as opening band for CALEXICO in Brussels (2002). ‘Feels Like The Third Time’ was a way influential record in the early days of the No Depression movement and still deserves your utmost attention! More info about the band on Freakwater’s excellent website!

Later on that night, I was dumbstruck to find out what an amazing artist CHUCK PROPHET still is! His show at Café Den Trap in Kortrijk was a blast from start to finish and reminded me of the good old days when guitar bands could let their guitars go roam, groan & creak (think Giant Sand, Thin White Rope, Green On Red etc.). After this perfect show, I bought Prophet’s latest album which is really excellent. As with FREAKWATER, I feel the urge to bury myself deep in CHUCK PROPHET’s comprehensive discography!

World Circuit has recently reissued both of its essential CUMBIA collections from 1989 and 1993. Although there are no extra tracks and everybody I know who likes cumbia already owns both albums, this reissue is essential and definitely a must-have for the uninitiated! This irresistable dance music was recorded between 1954 and 1972 in Cartagena and Medellin and licensed from Discos Fuentos. Soundway Records has recently issued 2 other essential cumbia collections: CARTAGENA! CURRO FUENTES & THE BIG BAND CUMBIA AND DESCARGA SOUND OF COLOMBIA 1962-72 and THE ORIGINAL SOUND OF CUMBIA: THE HISTORY OF COLOMBIA CUMBIA & PORRO AS TOLD BY THE PHONOGRAPH 1948-79 COMPILED BY WILL “QUANTIC” HOLLAND. Very addictive stuff to say the least!

Every now and then, I buy myself a bunch of CDs from the unsurpassed ACE RECORDS. Not only because every cd is a quality release but also because I like funding labels that make my day and do hate dorks who think it’s normal to rob record labels and artists through illegal downloading. Labels like Ace Records really need my cash in order to survive! I placed my ACE order at Red Lick Records who do have a wonderful mailorder service (good communication, quick & correct) and whose prices are competitive. Here’s what I recently ordered, all are fantastic hoo-ray!

• Your On The Hour Man: The Modern, Dolphin & Downey Recordings 1952-1960 – LITTLE CAESAR (Ace)
• I Am The Lord – LORD LUTHER (Ace)
• THE GODFATHER’S R&B: JAMES BROWN’S PRODUCTIONS 1962-67 (BGP)
• SALSO MUNDO: COLOMBIA – MUSIC BORN OF CONFLICT (BGP)
• SHATTERED DREAMS: FUNKY BLUES 1967-1978 (BGP)
• Hot Like TNT: The Best of the Early Years – JOHNNY “GUITAR” WATSON (Ace)
• I’m Living Good 1964-1974: The Soul of ARTHUR CONLEY (Kent)
• MUSIC CITY SOUL: FROM NASHVILLE’S BLACK CATS (Kent)
• On With The Show Volume 2 1957-1974 – THE JOHNNY OTIS SHOW (Ace)
• IKE TURNER STUDIO PRODUCTIONS: NEW ORLEANS AND LOS ANGELES 1963-65 (Ace)

I end with one of the first CDs I bought at the time when the release of a new album was promoted by means of including the artist's former album. The CD I am talking about collects the first two albums by Houston's PAIN TEENS ('Case Histories' from 1989 and 'Born in Blood' from 1990). Both albums mix industrial noise, weirdo rock, Middle Eastern strings & tape loops to full effect. All Music says: "The Pain Teens' core was the husband-and-wife team of Bliss Blood and Scott Ayers; Blood played the role of goth chanteuse, while Ayers' murky, ultradistorted guitar work veered from creepy psychedelia to pure avant-garde noise, with occasional hints of Texas blues filtered through the Birthday Party." Right on! I think it's about time to rediscover both albums!

By the way, I am working on a Dutch-only books blog. I'll let you know when it's ready! In the meantime: Stay Cool!

10 great films seen at the International Film Festival Rotterdam

EIGHT DEADLY SHOTS

Each year, the IFFR shows a couple of very rare & almost forgotten masterpieces from the film archives worldwide. This year, Mikko Niskanen’s EIGHT DEADLY SHOTS from 1972 was screened in its ultra-rare 5h+ original version. Many Finns call this the greatest Finnish film ever and who am I to disagree? An unforgettable experience to say the least!


THE DAY HE ARRIVES

Hong Sang-soo is regarded as the Woody Allen of South Korean Cinema. THE DAY HE ARRIVES is another one of his engaging films about intellectuals and their struggling relationships. As Tony Rayns states: “Sometimes riotously funny, sometimes tremendously moving, sometimes both at the same time.”


ABRIR PUERTAS Y VENTANAS

A rather depressing but intriguing film about three sisters taking different approaches to moving forward following their grandmother's death.


L’APOLLONIDE - SOUVENIRS DE LA MAISON CLOSE

A charming but bitter French film that depicts life in a Paris brothel at the turn of the 20th century. The soundtrack features Lee Moses’ immortal “Bad Girl” and The Mighty Hannibal’s “The Right To Love You”. How’s that for sheer genius?


APUDA

This 145-minutes documentary film about a middle aged single man who cares for his dying father in the wilds of Yunnan feels like the Chinese equivalent to a Pedro Costa movie. One of the true revelations of this year’s IFFR! Read more about it here.


HELLO, MR TREE!

Since its screening, I can’t get this dark comedy that explores the politics of China's rapid urbanisation out of my head. A real festival gem produced by Jia Zhangke.


I WISH

A beautiful film about childhood desires and imaginative adventures. One of Kore-Eda’s best!


PATIENCE (AFTER SEBALD)

I hope to spend an entire post on this brilliant documentary about the German-born England-based writer W.G. SEBALD (1944-2001).


TWO YEARS AT SEA

An enchanting film shot on 16mm and blown up to 35mm about a man who lives alone in a ramshackle house, in the middle of nowhere. Awesome! Read more about it here.


LIVING

A fascinating grim Russian fairytale where all hope is abandoned. This movie left me dumbstruck.

LIST MANIA 2011

I saw about 125 films in theatres this year, most of them at the 4 film festivals I attend yearly (International Film Festival Rotterdam, Cinema Novo Film Festival in Bruges, L’Âge d’Or/Filmvondsten in Brussels and the Flanders International Film Festival Ghent). As usual, I make a TOP 20 of my favourite films of the year and list the other ones I really liked. You will found the latter films on the Batarang! website soon.

1. MISTÉRIOS DE LISBOA (TV series/6 episodes) (Raúl Ruiz)
2. THE TURIN HORSE (Béla Tarr)
3. ELENA (Andrei Zvyagintsev)
4. BLUE VALENTINE (Derek Cianfrance)
5. WINTER'S BONE (Debra Granik)
6. LE GAMIN AU VELO (Jean Piere & Luc Dardenne)
7. THE ARTIST (Michel Hazanavicius)
8. BLACK SWAN (Darren Aronovsky)
9. THE TREE OF LIFE (Terrence Malick)
10.MELANCHOLIA (Lars Von Trier)

11. TUESDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS (Radu Muntean)
12. 13 ASSASSINS (Takashi Miike)
13. AURORA (Cristi Puiu)
14. ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
15. BAL/HONEY (Samih Kapanoglu)
16. WU XIA (Peter Chan)
17. NORWEGIAN WOOD (Anh Hung Tran)
18. ESSENTIAL KILLING (Jerzy Skolimowski)
19. HORS SATAN (Bruno Dumont)
20. IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE (Florin Serban)

***
Here are my 10 favourite new albums of 2011. As opposed to movies, I feel that there are still a bunch of great albums that I haven’t heard yet or of whose existence I am ignorant. Thus, this list gives an overview of the albums I enjoyed the most in 2011.

1. COIN COIN Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres - MATANA ROBERTS
2. El Camino - THE BLACK KEYS
3. David Comes To Life - FUCKED UP
4. Let England Shake - P.J. HARVEY
5. Ease & Delight - BLACKUP
6. Castlemania - THEE OH SEES
7. Taledragger - T-MODEL FORD AND GRAVELROAD
8. Dirge - WORMROT
9. Arabia Mountain - BLACK LIPS
10.Scandalous - BLACK JOE LEWIS & THE HONEYBEARS

***
As far as I am concerned, the whole punk rock & roll scene fell apart after the sad demise of Jay Reatard in January 2010. The only live bands that matter today are still the ones that did so yesterday. I didn’t see any new & exciting punkrock bands this year, only reproductions. Fortunately, I got lucky because some friends of mine started a band that I totally dig and that I can see often around on stages over here…



1. THEE OH SEES (Charlatan, Ghent + AB, Brussels)
2. EILEN JEWELL (Manuscript, Ostend)
3. NEUROTIC DEATHFEST (O13, Tilburg)
4. STONE RIVER BOYS (Porgy & Bess, Terneuzen)
5. CHARLES BRADLEY & LEE FIELDS (Vooruit, Ghent)
6. FUCKED UP (Trix, Antwerp)
7. THE FRESH & ONLYS + TY SEGALL (Trix, Antwerp)
8. TAMIKREST (4AD, Diksmuide)
9. EDDY MITCHELL (Wex, Marche-en-Famenne)
10.RICHARD THOMPSON (AB, Brussels)

I also really liked PO'GIRL (N9), TYVEK (Pit's), JOHNNY THROTTLE (De Kreun), DWAYNE DOPSIE & THE ZYDECO HELLRAISERS (N9), ROTTEN SOUND (Trix), SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB (Trix), PERE UBU (4AD), CRYSTAL STILTS (Charlatan), THE SONICS (AB), SONNY VINCENT (DNA), CONJUNTO ANGOLA 70 (Zuiderpershuis), BLACKUP (Charlatan + Pit's) and last but not least FATOUMATA DIAWARE (N9).

***
Each year, I gotta feeling that I saw about 95% of the movies that matter to me and that I heard about 85% of the albums that I dig. Although I love to read, I am afraid I only read about 5% of the worthwile books released this year. Moreover, most of the books I did read this year were issued before 2011. If I have one wish for 2012, it’s enough time to read 30 books. That’s my goal for 2012!


1. De nazi en de kapper - EDGAR HILSENRATH
2. Waar de tijgers thuis zijn - JEAN-MARIE BLAS DE ROBLÈS
3. Big Bosoms and Square Jaws/ The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film - JIMMY McDONOUGH
4. Ingmar Bergman: De Lust en de Demonen - MIKAEL TIMM
5. A Rocket In My Pocket: The Hipster's Guide To Rockabilly Music - MAX DECHARNE
6. Het schijnbestaan - JOSE SARAMAGO
7. Reis naar het verleden - STEFAN ZWEIG
8. Nachttrein naar Lissabon - PASCAL MERCIER
9. Ademschommel - HERTA MÜLLER
10.Diego en Frida - J.M.G. LE CLEZIO

A next post will list my favourite reissues and compilations of 2011, as well as my favourite DVD's. Stay tuned and oh- by the way: HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!