The xx — Angels (2012)

The XX
Angels (Single)
From the Coexist Album (expected sept. 2012)
Preorder album here / Photography: Davy Evans

Sergei Vasiliev — Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia

Here are a few fascinating black and white photographs from Sergei Vasiliev. These pictures are published in the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia. You can find an interresting review of this book by design expert Rick Poynor on Eye Magazine's blog.

Dead Can Dance — Amnesia (2012)

I've been expecting this new album by Dead Can Dance for some time. I think every album Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry have made together are just perfect. Well here is a sneak peak of what is to come! The album will be titled Anastasis and this new song is called Amnesia. I hope you have as much fun as I had discovering this. You can listen to the full album and preorder it on Dead Can Dance's webpage.

The Daughters of Bristol — Velvet Curtains (2005)

I'm not perfect, I have my flaws. One of them is enjoying clone bands of The Sisters of Mercy. I just can't help it. I have listened to too much music by the Sisters and need something new (but not different). The Daughters of Bristol may not win originality contests but they certainly do a great impersonation of Mr Eldritch. Ok, I admit... maybe too much at times. But I just can't help it, I love this song. For more visit their bandcamp.

Pieter Wisse — I Believe in 88

I am a long time reader of the excellent 500 photographers blog. I have to give some credit to Pieter Wisse, photograph, who is also the writer of this blog. He specializes in portraits and journalism photography and he recently published a book called I Believe in 88. The book is a documentary about the time he spent with neo-nazis in Wismar (East Germany).

Project statement: "After a violent encounter with a group of neo-nazis at the age of 14 where Pieter Wisse was stabbed in the stomach, he decided to take a closer look at the daily life of the people who call themselves neo-nazis in former East Germany, a group of people at the edge of our society."

Here is Pieter Wisse's conclusion to the book: ... I personally did not encounter any evil animals. The people I documented deeply believe in their extreme rightwing ideas. Violence is part of their lives and critical to acquiring status in the group. This puts them on the edge of society. Characteristic are equally their pride and loyalty towards comrades and family.Vanity and the craving for attention gave me the freedom to register the fineline between hate and love.

The Portico Quartet — Line (2009)

I had a recent obsession with the sound of the hang drum, (see article on the subject here). I have been looking for interesting records featuring this musical instrument.

I just discovered the Portico Quartet. A London jazz group making minimalist music featuring a hang drum. The instrument is really well integrated and doesn't sound like a gadget or something added on top of the music. Their music is repetitive, minimal, sometimes reminiscent of the sounds of Philip Glass and Steve Reich. It is accessible jazz that will probably please amateurs of minimalist music.

The Portico Quartet
Line

Album: Isla (2009)

Jon Lezinsky — Illustrator

Illustrations: Jon Lezinsky

The Chameleons Vox — In Shreds (Live on KEXP radio)

Recent recording of In Shreds, probably my favorite song by The Chameleons Vox (aka The Chameleons UK). This song is featured on the excellent The Fan and the Bellows compilation (1986).

Cyclobe — An Interview with Ossian Brown

Ossian Brown is a musician, known for his participation with english experimental group Coil. I Already shared my love of this group in this blog. The influence of Coil on experimental music, be it dark ambient, neofolk or electronic music has been tremendous. Since the departure of Coil, I felt there was a void waiting to be filled. It is no exaggeration that Cyclobe (the association of Ossian Brown and Stephen Thrower) may very well be the new torchbearers of this unclassifiable pagan experimental music. I had the chance to ask questions Ossian Brown about his project and his coming participation at Meltdown 2012.

How did you get to play music with Coil?
Is it there you got to know Stephen Thrower?
Playing in Coil was the most natural step, I was very close with Jhonn and Sleazy, we all lived together in West London so it was very intimate, it felt like the most organic progression to be in a group together. We all trusted and felt safe with each other, we also had a lot of similar interests. Our imaginations spun off together in very enjoyable and excitable ways, very much so between me and Jhonn. That's something I miss enormously now they've gone. So living together, spending so much time together, and with us all being artists, naturally we'd conjure up lots of ideas and plans we'd want to collaborate together on. I met Steve through Jhonn and Sleaz, Steve used to come to the house a lot and stay over for days at a time... It was his home from home for the majority of the 80s. 

Recently you had a lot of exposure for your book Haunted Air, a collection of antique Halloween photographs. How did you start collecting those pictures?
Well I've always been a bit of a magpie, filling my homes up with pictures I find interesting, photographs and objects, old rags and buttons I find. With my Haunted Air pictures, when I first saw them I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing, I really couldn't. The ones that appealed and stood out to me seemed so complete and alive, not a single element earthed them or dampened the magic they expressed to me.
They felt completely supernatural, riddled and buzzing with revenants - they became my wraiths and strays. After finding one and feeling completely astonished by it, I found another and on it went for years, it was like tapping into a ghost artery. They overwhelmed and excited my imagination, as they did also to David Lynch. They go straight in! Geoff Cox was incredibly encouraging and supportive from very early on, we felt very protective of them. I showed them earlier this year at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, in an exhibition called Read Into my Black Holes.

When did you start making music as Cyclobe and what prompted you and Stephen Thrower to start this project?
With wanting to be close in as many ways as possible, there was no way on earth we wouldn't have worked together. Our first recording sessions together were in a hired studio in South London. some of the experiments we did there turned out interestingly, they where encouraging, but there was nothing we felt at that point we really wanted to share, it felt like we where just touching on the areas we wanted to explore, just scratching the surface. A few fragments from these sessions appeared on Luminous Darkness. It became clear to us very quickly that we needed our own studio though, so we could spend concentrated amounts of time working on pieces together privately, without that pressure of a ticking clock or having to consider and relate to strangers, however accommodating.

You created Phantomcode, a label for distributing the work of Cyclobe. Why did you feel the need to create your own label? Do you eventually plan to release other artists on Phantomcode?
I'd like to say we would release other artists on Phantomcode, one of the difficulties though is time. The label is completely independent, and we only have a small amount of help from our friend Daniel Mars, so although we'd love to release other work, in order to record Cyclobe which is very time consuming, to create our releases and send them out into the world, that's about as much as we can manage presently. Perhaps things might change and we'll be able to get more support one day, for now though we pretty much do it all.

There seems to be a lot in common between the music of Cyclobe and Coil. In the themes and the desire to experiment. Do you see Cyclobe as a continuity of your work with Coil? If not, how is it different?

Our motivation is to try and create music that essentially moves us, that transports us in a beautiful and overwhelming way, sound that perplexes us, shakes us. We want to make a very organic and alive sound, that oozes and seeps into the normal and transforms space, takes you out of time, so it's enveloping, like a giant Crab Nebula. So much of what we do I feel has a sense of reverie, I really want to convey those feelings in our work, Cyclobe for me is devotional music.

   There is a continuity, a part of us is very much in Coil, with the music we worked on together and the ideas we shared and developed back then… and the same works in reverse of course, with those influences and shared experiences together revealing or manifesting themselves subtly in what we do, feeding into the creative process's we explore now. It makes sense there should be finger prints, atmospheres echoing though. Coil is part of our heritage, our family blood line, so it would be foolish to say it's not present and an influence.
   It feels more like light refracting through a piece of quartz though, but seen from slightly different angles. We might be peering through the same crystals but the effect is unique to the work we do in Cyclobe.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Wounded Galaxies Tap at the Window has an alien atmosphere that reminded me a lot of the work of H.P. Lovecraft (like something menacing trying to invade our world).
Quite a few people refer to H P Lovecraft’s writing when they've talked about our work, that's fine. Steve would certainly embrace that description - it’s not something I feel personally, although he was without doubt a great American writer, both me and Steve have loved his books. Clark Ashton Smith was one of my favourite fantasy writers, he was a good friend of Lovecraft’s, and an artist and poet, also published by Arkham House. A Star Change is a wonderful short story for instance.

There is a lot of unusual ethnic/folk instruments used in Cyclobe, can you name a few?
Rebabs, Hurdy Gurdies, Diples, Duduks, Tulums! A lot of this is thanks to Cliff and Michael. Michael’s also a craftsman and often tailors instruments for our pieces specifically. He has a wonderful collection of instruments a lot of them he's made himself. We've been incorporating this kind of folk instrumentation since our earliest recordings though, it's something we're very much enjoying bring to the forefront now with our music. We first started working with Hurdy Gurdies on 'Inevitable Black Horn', on our first album in 1999. Hearing Cliff Stapleton play, the tunes he wrote was a big inspiration for me.
   Those instruments are so evocative and pagan… made from goat skin, fur lined bags full of your breath, bodies carved out of wood, spinning wheels resonating, heating up and vibrating your body, against your belly. I find them so moving to hear, they effect me very deeply, they're so full of emotion and history. I play a Pajot lute-back hurdy gurdy, it's around 150 years old. When Michael plays his Tulum, you can smell Pan in the studio, it's very exciting.
   It's also good though to be taking these instruments into new areas, playing them in ways they weren't intended, seeing what else we can conjure, blending them with other instruments, sounds we've created.


What can we expect from a Cyclobe live show?
We'll be making our first live performance here in England this August at Meltdown, invited by Antony [from Antony and the Johnsons] whose curating the festival. It'll be our second performance in 13 years, we don't come out often! I always been incredibly nervous about performing Cyclobe live, increasingly less keen to be out in large public situations as well. We've become very hermetic in recent years.
We couldn't say no for Antony though, whom we dearly love and have such great admiration for. Antony's so brave and fearless… such a unique and essential artist. I think Antony's put together a fascinating selection of artists this year.
   So many great and inspiring female performers, underground queer artists, and very driven visionary musicians as well, like David Tibet for instance with his new group Myrninerest. They'll be playing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with us, along with some magical and rarely seen super 8 films by Derek Jarman.
   Our evening is called 'ALBION - HYPNAGOGUE - GHOST: Hallucinatory Queer British Paganism’. We'll be performing pieces from our last album 'Wounded Galaxies Tap at The Window' along with some new work, including a collaboration from our next album to be released in Spring 2013, performing with a very special guest which we're extremely excited about. It should be beautiful and telesmatic… an evening of mantrical moon pieces!
   It's been fascinating recently, to hear our work developing, transforming them into compositions that can be performed live.
   We're going to be working visually with artwork by Fred Tomaselli and Alex Rose, projecting films by Anna Thew and David Larcher, a very beautiful piece of film from his 'Mare's Tail' and Anna's arboreal meditations, her Equinox and Solstice films. I've felt very hesitant to play live since Coil, those shows could be very intense, very stressful emotionally. With Cyclobe, since then, I've been the stick in the mud really, the goat boy dragging his hooves, until Antony surprised us with such a flattering invitation.
   We'll be performing with Michael and Cliff of course, but also with Dave Smith from Miasma and the Carousel of Headless Horses, and our good friend Ivan Pavlov from COH, Sleazy's partner in Soisong.

What are your favorite music albums?
They change from week to week, I'd have to say though The End, Marble Index and Desertshore by Nico are three really important records for me, they exist out of time, there's nothing comparable. She could snuff out the stars with those songs, such beautiful, haunting and devastating work. At the moment I'm listening a lot to John Jacob Niles, Jimmy Scott - and Moondog's ‘A New Sound of an Old Instrument’, Moondog always. I think I've listened to that album more than any other over the years. I'm playing a lot of Billy Holiday right now, Sylvester and Sun-Ra, the Turkish singers Bülent Ersoy and Selda. Lal Waterson has a very special place in my heart.

Cyclobe will be performing at Meltdown festival in august 2012
Photo credit: by Ruth Bayer

Artwork: Alex Rose

Tony Wilson's Tombstone

Yes, another Joy Division related post. It's an obsession lately. Here is the splendid tombstone Peter Saville designed for Factory Records founder Tony Wilson.

The stone doesn't bear a FAC catalogue number. In fact the last item to have a FAC number was Tony Wilson's casket. I love the minimalist design, and the white type on black marble.

More information about this piece of art on Creative Review.

New Order — Doubts Even Here (1981)

Probably the best Joy Division song that never made it on their albums. It's only recently that I discovered the excellent Movement (1981) album by New Order. If you like Joy Division this is mandatory listening.

New Order
Doubts Even Here
Album: Movement (1981)
Painting: Le forze della curva (1930) by Tullio Crali

Werner Herzog's letter to his cleaning lady

The Sabotage Times has published what is presented as a letter from Werner Herzog to his cleaning lady. The mention "by Dale Shaw" and the total exaggeration of this letter leads me to believe this is a fake. But it's a good, funny fake.

Rosalina. Woman.

You constantly revile me with your singular lack of vision. Be aware, there is an essential truth and beauty in all things. From the death throes of a speared gazelle to the damaged smile of a freeway homeless. But that does not mean that the invisibility of something implies its lack of being. Though simpleton babies foolishly believe the person before them vanishes when they cover their eyes during a hateful game of peek-a-boo, this is a fallacy. And so it is that the unseen dusty build up that accumulates behind the DVD shelves in the rumpus room exists also. This is unacceptable.

I will tell you this Rosalina, not as a taunt or a threat but as an evocation of joy. The joy of nothingness, the joy of the real. I want you to be real in everything you do. If you cannot be real, then a semblance of reality must be maintained. A real semblance of the fake real, or “real”. I have conquered volcanoes and visited the bitter depths of the earth’s oceans. Nothing I have witnessed, from lava to crustacean, assailed me liked the caked debris haunting that small plastic soap hammock in the smaller of the bathrooms. Nausea is not a sufficient word. In this regard, you are not being real.

Now we must turn to the horrors of nature. I am afraid this is inevitable. Nature is not something to be coddled and accepted and held to your bosom like a wounded snake. Tell me, what was there before you were born? What do you remember? That is nature. Nature is a void. An emptiness. A vacuum. And speaking of vacuum, I am not sure you’re using the retractable nozzle correctly or applying the ‘full weft’ setting when attending to the lush carpets of the den. I found some dander there.

I have only listened to two songs in my entire life. One was an aria by Wagner that I played compulsively from the ages of 19 to 27 at least 60 times a day until the local townsfolk drove me from my dwelling using rudimentary pitchforks and blazing torches. The other was Dido. Both appalled me to the point of paralysis. Every quaver was like a brickbat against my soul. Music is futile and malicious. So please, if you require entertainment while organizing the recycling, refrain from the ‘pop radio’ I was affronted by recently. May I recommend the recitation of some sharp verse. Perhaps by Goethe. Or Schiller. Or Shel Silverstein at a push.

The situation regarding spoons remains unchanged. If I see one, I will kill it.

That is all. Do not fail to think that you are not the finest woman I have ever met. You are. And I am including on this list my mother and the wife of Brad Dourif (the second wife, not the one with the lip thing). Thank you for listening and sorry if parts of this note were smudged. I have been weeping.

Your money is under the guillotine.

Herzog.

The Botanist — weird dulcimer black metal

I love weird musical combinations. So I was curious about The Botanist: A black metal project featuring the use of hammered dulcimer (the same instrument featured on many Dead Can Dance records). The sound is really something different... Time will tell if this just a musical curiosity or something interesting.

Olafur Arnalds — 3355 [Official video]

Olafur Arnalds
3055 [Official video]
Album: Eulogy of Evolution (2007)
Animation by Zoon Designs

Biosphere & Lustmord present Trinity (2012)

Recently, two legendary ambient musicians Biosphere and Lustmord have teamed together to present a live show: Trinity. You can read a very interesting interview with Lustmord about this project at the Resident Advisor webpage.

They have already done a performance for the Unsound Festival in New York. They will soon be performing at Montréal's Mutek Festival (and hopefully touring elsewhere near you if you are lucky):

"Though both hail from very different worlds – Los Angeles based Lustmord is shrouded in darkness, whilst Biosphere's equally mysterious persona is deeply connected with the Arctic Circle - together they will create a work inspired by the first testing and development of atomic weapons in the New Mexico desert."

Contrary to a lot of ambient bands made for listening at home with a pair of good headphones, Lustmord seems to give a very impressive live performance. I will certainly attend this show!

Chez Le dilettante is back

My blog is back. BUT I will be posting less regularly than in the first incarnation of this blog.

For many reasons I decided to stop blogging. Mainly because I thought it was time consuming and not personal enough. But lately I feel the need to return and add some stuff I discovered.

One thing for sure, I won't be posting once a day as I did before. I will see where inspiration takes me.

Supersilent — 6.2 (2003)

Supersilent is a jazz / improvisation band featuring a lot of unconventional instruments. The group features ambient trumpetist Arve Henriksen and sound artist Helge Sten of Deathprod. Each album is completely improvised (and some albums have a very aggressive electronic sound not very common in jazz).

Supersilent
6.2
Album: 6 (2003)


Painting:
Aurora Borealis (1865)
by Frederic Edwin Church

Ben Frost — There Are No Others, There Is Only Us

There Are No Others, There Is Only Us is a video installation by Marc Silver, filmmaker about the power of crowds. The visceral music of Ben Frost (already discussed in this blog) has been composed to accompany the images.

In a time where the world is ever more connected and unbordered, Marc Silver considers whether crowds are a force for oppression, or a potential for resistance. There are no others, there is only us is a powerful visual metaphor illustrating the nature of collaboration and the power of crowds, with music composed by producer Ben Frost.

Zdzisław Beksiński (1929-2005) — Alien Landscapes

To learn more about Zdzisław Beksiński.

Corpus Delicti & Press Gang Metropol

I love the music of french goth band Corpus Delicti. I don't get tired of their sound and their music just gives me shivers. Unfortunatly the band had disbanded and disappeared for some time.

Well they have just returned under the name Press Gang Metropol. Of course, like most "aging" bands, the new sound is cleaner (with some clear New Order inspiration).

Little update (4/4/2012): The song Answers is available for free to download on Press Gang Metropol's Bandcamp page.


Corpus Delicti
Twilight
Album: Twilight (1993)


Press Gang Metropol
Answers
Album: Checkpoint (2012)

Karen Knorr — India Song

More information on the artist's webpage.

Fire Walk With Me — Group show [Corpo Gallery]

Corpo Gallery in Los Angeles presents a group art exhibition called Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. In february 2011 an exhibition called In the Trees was held at Clifton's Brookdale restaurant (you can see some of it here). However since Clifton is a restaurant, the art was only displayed during one week. Corpo Gallery contacted David Lynch and proposed doing a sequel to the first exhibition. See more at High-Fructose

Lori Earley

Brett Amory

Essao Andrews

Ryan Heshka

Martin Wittfooth

The Video Collages of Dario Cogliati — Naked City

Dario Cogliati is a photographer. He also happens to have made these little video collages for the crazy music of jazz group Naked City. See more on his Vimeo Channel.

William Blake (1757-1827) — 5 paintings

Michel Houellebecq — On his love of nature

Michel Houellebecq, jovial as usual, shares with us his love of nature. Because poems are always better in their original language I added the french version in italics for my french readers.

I have no time for those pompous imbeciles

Je ne jalouse pas ces pompeux imbéciles 

Who go into ecstasies before bunnies’ burrows

Qui s'extasient devant le terrier d'un lapin

Because nature is ugly, tedious and hostile;

Car la nature est laide, ennuyeuse et hostile;

It has no message to transmit to humans.

Elle n’a aucun message à transmettre aux humains. 

How pleasant, at the wheel of a powerful Mercedes,

Il est doux, au volant d'une puissante Mercedes,

To drive through solitary and grandiose places;

De traverser des lieux solitaires et grandioses;

Subtly manipulating the gearstick

Manoeuvrant subtilement le levier de vitesses

You dominate the hills, the rivers, and all things.

On domine les monts, les rivières et les choses.

The forests, so close, glitter in the sun

Les forêts toutes proches glissent sous le soleil 

And seem to reflect ancient knowledges;

Et semblent refléter d'anciennes connaissances;

In the depths of their valleys must lie such marvels,

Au fond de leurs vallées on pressent des merveilles,

After a few hours you are taken in;

Au bout de quelques heures on est mis en confiance;

Leaving the car, the irritations begin;

On descend de voiture et les ennuis commencent.

You stumble into the middle of a repugnant mess,

On trébuche au milieu d'un fouillis répugnant,

An abject universe, deprived of all meaning

D'un univers abject et dépourvu de sens

Made of stones and brambles, flies and snakes.

Fait de pierres et de ronces, de mouches et de serpents.

You miss the parking-lots and the smell of petrol,

On regrette les parkings et les vapeurs d'essence,

The serene, gentle glint of the nickel counters;

L'éclat serein et doux des comptoirs de nickel;

It’s too late. It’s too cold. The night begins.

Il est trop tard. Il fait trop froid. La nuit commence.

The forest enfolds you in its cruel dream.

La forêt vous étreint dans son rêve cruel.

This poem can be found on La Poursuite du bonheur

Photographs by Sabine Delcour

Fennesz — Vacuum (2008)

Fennesz
Vacuum
Album: Black Sea (2008)