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dimanche 22 juillet 2012

Album de la semaine : CAN - The Lost Tapes


CAN - The Lost Tapes


Interview d'Irmin Schmidt, par Igor Hansen-Love de L'Express


Le groupe germanique culte sort des enregistrements inédits, The Lost Tapes. Une mine d'or pour les affectionados de Krautrock et un prétexte idéal pour en discuter avec Irmin Schmidt, le claviériste de Can.


Irmin Schmidt: "Can est mort avec son guitariste"
Can, hors des sentiers battus
(c) JD Eusthalerer

L'heureuse surprise. On pensait avoir fait le tour de la question. Une réédition de l'album Tago Mago, en 2011, nous avait donné l'occasion de raconter brièvement l'histoire du groupe de Cologne, du Krautrock (tant qu'à faire), et de son influence sur le rock contemporain. Cette fois, l'événement est encore plus inattendu: la sortie de 30 titres de Can, parfaitement inédits, retrouvés par hasard, l'année dernière. 
L'histoire raconte que lorsque le studio de Can situé dans la banlieue de Cologne fut démantelé puis vendu au musée Rock and Pop, les déménageurs mirent la main sur une grande quantité d'enregistrements "oubliés". "Les étiquettes étaient à peine lisibles, si bien que personne n'était sûr de ce qu'ils contenaient" précise l'alléchant dossier de presse - vers lequel nous renverra aimablement et régulièrement l'ancien membre de Can. C'est ainsi qu'Irmin Schmidt, le claviériste, avec l'aide du producteur de Mute,Daniel Miller, et Jono Podmore, son acolyte (l'artiste derrière Kumo), se mirent à compiler ces kilomètres de bande, à tailler dans le gras pour ne garder que le meilleur. A l'arrivée: 30 titres, enregistrés entre 1968 et 1977, la période la plus faste du groupe. Les formats sont divers: des musiques de films, des morceaux enregistrés live, des jams, des expérimentations et la présence de ses deux chanteurs, l'américain Malcolm Mooney et le japonais Damo Suzuki... Autant dire, une véritable mine d'or, un bordel monstrueux, des séquences parfois inégales et indigestes, avouons-le, mais un ensemble toujours passionnant et intense. 
Irmin Schmidt, depuis sa maison en Provence, a pu apporter quelques précisions sur The Lost Tapes à L'Express. 
Votre Français est excellent...
Oui, c'est normal. J'ai suivi des cours de Français à l'école, comme un bon nombre d'Allemands d'ailleurs. Maintenant j'habite en Provence. 
Pourriez-vous nous décrire la façon dont vous êtes tombés sur ces enregistrements?
J'ai déjà tout expliqué dans le dossier de presse. Je n'ai aucune envie de me répéter. 
Comment expliquez-vous que vous étiez l'un de seuls groupe de rock, dans les années soixante dix, à tout enregistrer? Qu'est-ce qui justifiait une méthode de travail aussi contraignante?
C'était parfaitement logique. Dans Can, toute la musique était composée spontanément, sur le fait. Nous n'écrivions pas de chansons comme la plupart des groupes avant de rentrer en studio avec un couplet et un refrain. Nous jouions, tout simplement et surtout, tout le temps. Nous improvisions, à partir de motifs, des motifs rythmiques très souvent. L'enregistrement était la seule façon d'avoir un semblant de contrôle sur ce que nous faisions. Nous n'avions pas vraiment le choix. Après, l'écriture, et l'assemblage des albums se faisait dans le choix des bandes. Nous collions, nous éditions, nous réenregistrions parfois lorsque c'était nécessaire. C'est pour cette raison qu'il existe des kilomètres de bandes. 
Quel fut le critère de sélection pour ces Lost Tapes?
La qualité. C'était le seul et unique critère de sélection que je m'étais imposé. Ma ligne directrice était la suivante: il faut que ça sonne aussi bien que les premiers albums de Can. C'était un travail difficile, relativement laborieux. Aucune nostalgie n'est intervenue dans ce processus. Les membres de Can ont une chose en commun, ils ne sont pas nostalgiques. J'avais le souvenir de quelques très bons titres, "Grau Blau", par exemple. Mais globalement je n'ai pas eu beaucoup de surprises. 
Avez-vous impliqué les autres membres du groupe pendant la sélection?
Il y a eu de discussions, avant et après. Mais non, chacun vaque à ses activités. Et puis de toute façon, vous savez, Jaki (Liebezeit, le batteur ndlr) n'aurait jamais eu la patience de faire tout ça. Il aurait tout jeté à la poubelle, au bout de trois minutes. Jaki est la personne qui s'agace le plus rapidement que je connaisse. Quant à Holger, il est loin de tout ça je pense. 
Vous entretenez quel rapport avec la mémoire de Can? Vous avez apprécié ce travail d'archiviste?
Comme je vous l'ai dit: oui et non. C'était un peu laborieux mais je suis content du résultat. Il n'y aura pas de suite à la discographie de Can. Le reste n'est pas assez bon. A jeter (rires, timides tout de même). Je sais qu'il y existe des enregistrements que certains fans ont réalisés lors des concerts. Des vieilles cassettes gisent ici et là dans des greniers paraît-il. Je ne serais pas contre la parution de ces choses là. Mais du côté du Can, c'est terminé. 
L'écoute de ces Lost Tapes ne vous pas donné envie de reformer Can?
Non. Can est mort avec son guitariste (Michael Karoli ndlr). C'était lui qui donnait l'impulsion rock. Je crois que sans lui ça ne ressemblerait à autre chose, ça ne serait pas le même groupe. Il n'y aura jamais de reformation. Ceci dit j'adore toujours autant jouer avec Jacky quand j'en ai l'occasion. 
Vous portez quel regard sur le rock contemporain?
Je suis un peu déconnecté de tout ça. Mais j'ai parfois de bonnes surprises. Il y a quelques années j'ai vu Sonic Youth jouer un disque de John Cage. C'était passionnant. 
Il y a des musiciens avec lesquels vous aimeriez jouer aujourd'hui?
Oui. Si je cherchais un guitariste je proposerais à John Frusciantede me rejoindre (l'ancien guitariste de Red Hot Chilli Peppers). Je le trouve vraiment exceptionnel. 


Line Up :
Holger Czukay
Michael Karoli
Jaki Liebezeit
Irmin Schmidt
Malcolm Mooney
Damo Suzuki
Rosko Gee
Rebop Kwaku Baah

Label :
Mute Records

Tracklist :
CD1:
01 – Millionspiel
02 – Waiting for the streetcar
03 – Evening all day
04 – Deadly Doris
05 – Graublau
06 – When darkness comes
07 – Blind mirror surf
08 – Obscura primavera
09 – Bubble rap
CD2:
01 – Your friendly neighboughood whore
02 – True story
03 – The agreement
04 – Midnight sky
05 – Desert
06 – Spoon – Live
07 – Dead Pigeon Suite
08 – Abra cada braxas
09 – A swan is born
10 – The loop
CD3:
01 – Godzilla Fragment
02 – On the way to Mother Sky
03 – Midnight Men
04 – Networks of Foam
05 – Messer scissors fork and light
06 – Barnacles
07 – E.F.S. 108
08 – Private Nocturnal
09 – Alice
10 – Mushroom – Live
11 – One more Saturday night – Live




dimanche 15 juillet 2012

Album de la semaine : Lungfish - A.C.R. 1999

Lungfish - A.C.R. 1999


Interview de Lungfish, par Vader de End Hits

Daniel Higgs was the singer of Lungfish, a band from Baltimore with an easily distinguishable and reformatory sound, and one of the most important acts on Dischord Records from the late 80s till the mid 2000s. I own a Hungarian fanzine from the 90s in which Daniel claims to love one of our most exciting and unique bands, Úzgin Űver. So when the opportunity found me to host Mr. Higgs and organize a solo concert for him in Szeged, I felt it would be a once in a lifetime situation to introduce them to each other. Well, almost all of them. Two members of the aforementioned band came to meet Daniel and play before him in Grand Café, a lovely place for film and music admirers.
After Daniel’s memorable, fantastic performance on banjo and voice the three joined forces to jam for about 10 minutes – banjo, various wind instruments and drums. There you go, a dream come true! At least for me. Being a promoter of shows, these are exactly the moments it’s worth doing the whole thing: to make it possible for the most talented artists – musicians – to meet and to witness the birth of music coming from different cultures, and in all cases, from somewhere inside. Fortunately, the cooperation was captured on tape and made available for everyone – watch and hear the video below the following interview.
This recorded conversation – in which we came round different and interesting subjects, I hope – took place in my dining room the next day (05-24-2011) while sipping some coffee and having a lemon cake. I simply felt the need to talk to this charismatic visionary, a theoretician behind music, Daniel Higgs. Enjoy!
endhits: Nice to have you in Szeged, it’s your first time in Hungary. How’s that you’ve never been to Hungary before?
Daniel Higgs: I don’t know. I tried to come a few years ago. A man I know in Budapest – I knew him from San Francisco – tried to get me a concert there, which he did, but I wasn’t able to make it. Because I’d run out of money elsewhere, I couldn’t make the trip. But I don’t know why never before, but I’m glad that I have been here now.
endhits: How about Lungfish, why didn’t you have shows over here?
D.H.: We didn’t know how to get here. The furthest we came East was Poznań in 1993 in Poland. And that’s just as far as we went. And then after that we didn’t tour that much, especially in Europe, we didn’t come back to Europe for 13 years.
endhits: Really? Why not?
D.H.: There is no specific reason. We wished to come back, but we didn’t really know how to do it exactly. We had no direct invitations at the timeSo without invitation it’s difficult to know how to begin, you knowAnd we were a somewhat disorganized group, I mean we’ve played all the time, but for us to come to Europe was major. It seems less major now, but back then, it was really a big deal to get everybody together, make sure they had their valid passportand then the air fair and all that. So I don’t know why we never did, but…yeah, we never did.
endhits: So I was thinking maybe we could revise a little bit of history, because you have a nice history behind you and then we can move on to present times. So you mentioned yesterday that you started playing music when you were 28?
D.H.. That’s when I started playing strings. I started singing in bands when I was 17 years old. I started with Lungfish when I was 22. So still early in my musical life. But I was in a few different bands when I was a teenager – nothing that you would’ve heard of, I don’t think. That’s how I began, and then Lungfish was the first, I would guess, as really a serious band I was in.
endhits: What was your musical background and taste back then? Was it the punk scene that you rose from?
D.H.: I was into that to a degree, and the first band I really got into, when I was around 11 years old, was The Beatles. I enjoyed other bands before that, but that’s the first band where I felt like the records held a mystery that required me to listen over and over again and always enjoyed listening to the records, but the lyrics especially were really challenging for me; and I was writing songs at that ageand my mother listened to the Beatles with me, so we had many discussions about the lyrics and that led to conversations about pretty much every subject. So then, when I was later teenager, I got into some of the punk rockI think the band that really grabbed me next was Devo. I was very into Devo for a year or two, which is a long time when you are teenager. And then after Devo the next band that really grabbed me was Black Flag. The first record I heard was Jealous Again with Chavo (Ron Reyes) singing. But I’ve never saw them with ChavoI only saw them with Henry Rollins.Because they only came to the East Coast once without Henry, that was with Dez (Dez Cadena) singing, which I heard was an incredible concert but I didn’t know about it at the timeAnd then in our early bands, no one in the bands I’ve played with was an accomplished enough player to really be a mimic of the music we enjoyed, which was a strength and a weakness. And as the band started playing faster and faster – I remember we wished to play faster to keep up with the current tempo but we actually couldn’t do it – we could not play that way, even though we wished to, so in the end, technically we were not able, not as a band. I’m sure we could’ve figured it out but instead we just made our own sort of songs with our own natural tempo and our music was not radical. Now it doesn’t sound so radically different maybe, but at the time it was a little… we were kind of different sounding than the other groups. One band in particular I was in was called Reptile House. We played a lot of shows and so it wasn’t an artistic statement – it became an artistic statement but it wasn’t conceived of that way which is because we were very limited and all we could make was our own songs that sounded peculiarly like ourselves; and then the same thing happened with Lungfish. At the beginning of Lungfish we sorted out some of the influences that were… you could hear in the music… it’s in some of the earlier recordings, but after maybe a year or two we really found our own way. And then stuck with that and let it develop all the way to the end.
endhits: And it really was kind of a unique sound…
D.H.: Yeah, we didn’t sound exactly like the groups on Dischord Records – the recording sound, sonically, is sort of the same because we recorded in the same studios as most of those bands, but you know, the songs, the structures and melodies and everything, and the lyrical content is very different than most of the groups. Although there were a lot of bands on that label, it’s a pretty varied label actually, on the surface it all seems similar, but you don’t have to go very deep to see that many different ideas are happening there.
endhits: You put  all your albums out on Dischord.
D.H.: Yes, all the Lungfish records came out on Dischord. The first one was a split release with Simple Machines on another label but it was still Dischord also.
endhits: For us, Eastern Europeans, it’s so exciting to hear about the Dischord scene. So please, tell me a few words about this whole thing, about the world of Dischord Records. How did you get into it and how did you get to know Ian MacKaye?
D.H.: I first got into it… When they were still teenagers they started a label. They were 19 years old, Ian and Jeff Nelson, and Baltimore is 40 miles from DC so they started putting out 7 inch records and a few of them made their way up to some of the record shops in Baltimore and… I forgot if I got The Teen Idles one first or the Minor Threat one first, I don’t remember, but I think The Teen Idles was the first one… but I got one of them or both and I was just astounded that these bands from the next city had even figured out how to make a record. That to me seemed impossible, I didn’t know how they did that. And I knew they were roughly my age and I heard Minor Threat, I saw them many times live, I was just blown away by the existence of the record itself because that never had occurred  to us to make your own record. It never occurred to us that it was even possible. So that’s how I was introduced to them. Reptile House did a 7 inch record with Dischord, a split we had on our own label. That’s the only record we’ve ever made, a split with Dischord and Ian recorded it with Don Zientera – that’s how I met Ian. And then when Lungfish started and after we were together a few years, I was living in San Francisco at the time so I don’t really know how… I wasn’t there for the conversation that wound up with Lungfish being on the label. We were the only group that’s often said that wasn’t from Washington DC or the suburbs on the label. There isn’t a real reason why, except that it’s Ian’s label and if he wants to break his own rule, he certainly can do that. But the community in DC felt kinship with us and we felt it with them so it didn’t seem that strange to be on that label.
endhits: And then you put out 11 albums on Dischord with Lungfish.
D.H.: Yeah, I think 11.
endhits: Was there an evolution in sound, the concept and everything from album to album?
D.H.: Yeah, I think it became more and more focused all the way to the end. I think the last Lungfish record (Feral Hymns, 2005) is the best example of what we were always trying to do. I don’t know if it’s the best album, but I think it is the most precise Lungfish album of the whole bunch.
endhits: Is that the reason why you finished the band? That you achieved your goal with Lungfish?
D.H.: Not just the reason, but it feels nice if that’s the case to me. I’m very happy with the final record and if that is the last Lungfish record, I think it’s a very good final summation of what we were trying to do.
endhits: Are there any chances of getting back together maybe?
D.H.: That’s certainly possible – but highly unlikely.
endhits: But you told me about a project with Asa Osborne.
D.H.: Yeah, The Pupils. We might do that again. That seems possible and highly likely. But it hasn’t happened yet, so who knows. But I think that will happen, maybe next year, I don’t know. We talked about it, we’ve played a little bit together.
endhits: How did it feel to play together again outside Lungfish?
D.H.: With Asa? I’m used to it. We spend a lot of time together anyway, we listen to records together, play together sometimes, we always share music we are making separately, we always hear each other’s music as it’s happening, so we were very close musically and in every way.
endhits: What do you think of the new Zomes album (Earth Grid, 2011)?
D.H.: I’ve only heard it once, but I enjoyed it very much and I’ve heard him play a lot of these songs live a lot. I did a 3-week tour with him in the US just a couple of month ago so I need to spend more time with the record but I know the material. I’m into it.
endhits: And how does it sound live?
D.H.: The Zomes? I think it’s great live.
endhits: Is he alone?
D.H.: He’s alone. He had a trio a couple of years ago but now he is just doing it alone. I think it’s great live and because it’s live to me anyway it becomes clear that it’s very good dance music. It’s not good for rap, it’s dancing. But it’s good for relaxed dancing and you can, of course, dance to the records but live… if you have the music it’s actually hitting your body in a larger way ’cause the music coming out of the speakers – it doesn’t even have to be a really good speaker – is just somehow smaller even if it’s louder, the waves are smaller, I don’t know. It feels good live.
endhits: You have played together in the Czech Republic recently.
D.H.: Yes, we did one show together in Prague.
endhits: And was there any cooperation between the two of you?
D.H.: Not during the performance, no.
endhits: And now you’re doing solo shows. How long have you been doing this?
D.H.: About 8 years now.
endhits: And you have also put out albums.
D.H.: Yeah, more than I should probably. (laughs) Well, I get a little hasty just to get it out. I keep getting another one out.
endhits: But they are all different: there are improvisations for banjo, then there are more vocals-oriented albums, the last album was Say God, which is mostly voice. Are you reciting poems on it?
D.H.: Yeah, they are poems that I’m singing. That’s all I’ve ever been doing anyway and that’s what Lungfish is basically.
endhits: So you do sing poems.
D.H.: Yeah, but the difference is that I write poems and some I know I consider that I will sing them, others I don’t worry about how they may be recited in a song. I’m not concerned with the rhythm and my lyrics and poems that I sing are more often with rhyme. The rhyme, of course, helps you remember the words. It’s a mnemonic device and it sounds nice. The lyrics and the poems are not very different, because sometimes a tension has been given to making it easier to sing. So the shape of the words and the rhythm and the rhyming. The poems that remain silent just on the page are even more free.
endhits: How would you define your poetry?
D.H.: I would define it as a devotional poetry. If I have to call it something that’s what I would call it. There are poems and prays and thanksgiving to the mystery that is immediately alone being in the reality – when you stop to think about it, it’s pretty bizarre. What you or I are and where we are in this dimension etc. So, and even the older poems, I think, are the same but they were less. My older writing was more confused, my newer writing is less confused but it may be more confusing. But for me it’s clearer. I think people hear that it is clearer, but intellectually it’s not clear necessarily. But before, I didn’t know what I was writing. I was clawing at it through the words, trying to get to the words.
endhits: And are these poems put down in writing and released in form of books?
D.H.: Not much, a few. I have some books, I’m working on one now, but most of the poems that I have, have been shared through music on records. I do have one book I’m working on right now.
endhits: And how about an album?
D.H.: I have an album (Beyond & Between, 2011). I’ve recorded one in Spain.
endhits: Have you already made a new one?
D.H.: I just did on this tripso that will be out sometime this year I hope, maybe in the fall. (It was released on the 12th December, 2011 – endhits). And it’s on the label, from Barcelona La Castanya Records.
endhits: What is the music like?
D.H.: Well, it’s myself with the banjo and the voice but I was accompanied by a percussionist named Marc Clos, who is a classically trained percussionist. He played timpani and marimba, vibraphone, and a lot of frame drums – kind of Moroccan frame drums. He’s an incredible player. It was a simple record but it was really nice rhythmic complement. I haven’t heard it since we made it, but I think it’s good.
endhits: How will we be able to get it?
D.H.: Well, from La Castanya I guess, I know they will try to distribute it in Europe. It would be a small pressing, like most pressings are these days, I’m not really sure, hopefully if I come back next spring I’ll have some with me. (Update: “La Castanya is releasing Beyond & Between worldwide on LP+MP3 and Digital. From January 2012 Dischord Records will distribute the LP in the USA, and a number of different distributors will deliver the record around Europe.”)
endhits: Yes, that would be nice! You don’t have merchandise, though.
D.H.: I just never got it together, even in Lungfish we were really bad at it. I guess we didn’t have our priority straight…or we did have…
endhits: Have you ever had T-shirts with Lungfish?
D.H.: No. We did a T-shirt in Japan. We went to Japan and we thought we didn’t want to do a T-shirt – but, to me, it felt they couldn’t accept that. So they actually made a shirt for us in Japan. But we haven’t made too many of those. We liked the idea… When we were younger we made our own T-shirts and maybe they looked stupid or something, but we always wanted to encourage that rather than all this… You know the merchandise is just a product that is created simply to sell, especially T-shirts and stuff. The record is different.
endhits: But a T-shirt can also be promoting something good. I mean, you can promote a band that you really like.
D.H.: That’s true, spreading awareness. That’s a very good point. If you wanted to do t-shirts purely just to spread awareness, it would be a lot cheaper. With us, it was more a matter of laziness, but we would play and we would give everything we had to our set, and you know we just didn’t feel like having sit at the table and sell stuff, even if it would have helped certainly, financially… but you never know. But I’m into making books and records.
endhits: Do you like to record music?
D.H.: Yeah, I like it. It’s a struggle, I prefer live way more. It’s a struggle because you’re capturing one version of the song out of many thousands of time you’ve played it and then you have to accept that it will be at least heard as the definitive version, it’s very difficult to know when you have captured that version. So yeah, it’s difficult. But I do enjoy the process at this point and I’m more relaxed with it.
endhits: Do you record easily nowadays? You said earlier that you recorded a whole new record now in Barcelona. Is it as easy as that?
D.H.: Yeah, it happened in 3 days, it was pretty easy. I record a lot on my own just with a cassette recorder and every now and then I go into a studio. I like to record with a cassette recorder, it’s a small hand-help that I just never get tired of the magic of it – you can see the real. It’s still a mystery. I had it explained to me how a magnetic tape works and I do not grasp it; I grasp the language, I understand what they’re telling me how it works – the negative-positive charge on the tape – but what I still don’t get is how the sound I make is captured. Somehow it’s impressed on the tape and then we revergitate it and I hear at least a very close approximation of the sound I made, it comes back out. To me, it’s very high magic, but that’s true for most of the modern appliances, they are pretty incredible, especially the electrical stuff which most of it is, whether it’s stored in a battery or coming out of the wall… You know the scientists don’t even know what electricity is yet, they still don’t know. I mean, we have a name for it and we have applications we can control it – but what is it? Nobody knows. They call it energy but that’s a blanket term. The energy is not really a clear description. We’re surrounded by it, by deep mystery. I think it’s exciting.
endhits: And what do you think the future of recordings are? The world is changing so rapidly and recorded music has changed so much…
D.H.: I met a man who said that the wireless connection, for instance, to the internet… which is sort of this, you know, what is it… it’s the ever growing library of humanity, the internet, which allows anyone at anytime to intercept with any other node, it’s incredible. But we need to use devices to tap into it – that’s the portal, we need a door to enter the internet, whether it’s a computer, a smart phone or whatever… But he said that there is an endless free energy supply all around us. We’re made of it, it’s in the air, it’s in the ground. Nikola Tesla was investigating this and Wilhelm Reich from a different angle. They say Tesla was on the verge of being able to extract this ever-present energy so that people could use it. And there is no way to meter it – so the big money people weren’t really interested in it because once it’s available it will be free, and endless supply. There is no business in it and maybe no harm for the environment, who knows, we haven’t tried it yet. But anyway, this man told me that any of the man who was involved in this sort of research, that they were very close to tapping into this energy field all around us. And when that happens your access to the internet will also be equally immediate, because… he didn’t tell me if there will be a technological implement… but he said in the near future – and he made it sound very close that if you wish to access the endless banks of knowledge, or the navigational system or for personal communication, you will merely just… you will will it and it will appear either in your mind or in your perceptual field. So, for instance, if I wish to speak with you but I’m in Baltimore and you are in Szeged – we could skype and look to each other on the screen – in this new way there will be no screen. So when you and I wish to have a conversation, we will have it exactly as we’re having it now, the only thing it may not be able to supply is the sense of smell. But they are working on force field type… resistance field technologies, they are actually… we’ll be in the screen. It’s kind a terrifying but I…
endhits: Are you terrified by the whole idea?
D.H.: No, I’m not terrified. I fear for the children because they’re the ones who are the most at risk to become mindless slave drones, just standing digital credits to stay alive in a totally boring pseudo imagination, but also maybe they’re the most at risks to benefit from it. I’m less afraid all the time. I think things are bizarre now… but they have always been bizarre. It’s just a new bizarre way. But I said to him: How will we know, at this point – again, say we contact one another, we enter into a merely artificial reality that is indistinguishable from authentic reality in almost every way and it will abolish space and, perhaps, abolish time – like maybe I want to talk to Abraham Lincoln after I talked to you… And I said to him: How will we know if we’re awake or if we’re dreaming? That was my first question and he said: Who cares. And that really made my head do some circles… So yes, it isan exciting time, for sure. But the future of recording, who knows. If his idea is somewhat close, I mean the future of recording will be that there is no future. I mean, we’ll be able to attend concerts that happened all through recorded age. Or the musicians may be able to link with the audience and record music into the audience’s mind so that they have a fixed record in their mind of the event. Like last night: you and I, we were both there, I played and you were in the audience; I don’t remember at all, I never remember at all, I have very distinct impressions. We are not recording it; of course, our memory faculty is getting some kind of a recording of it but it’s different than mechanical recording because you record impressions, feelings and things that you are not even aware of. Like the way the light felt while music was playing…
endhits: Do you remember that it was very hot?
D. H.: I remember it was very hot. I always sweat even if it is not that hot. So yeah, the future of recording is just as open as the future of our civilization. In our lifetime something we live, what they say, is the typical amount of years, so for me that’s maybe… if I make it that long, another forty years maybe, who knows, if they come over some panacea that I could live to be two hundred or you might be one of the first to live two hundred or your children might be… I read somewhere some biologist was saying that the human body is built – it’s engineered – to last for two hundred years on Earth. So we are falling very short of its potential. But still, I thought it is interesting that he said two hundred years as opposed to five hundred or a thousand… Because two hundred seems like a long life but it also doesn’t seem like insane, you can grasp it. But it’s still more than twice than a typical lifetime now in, whatever they call, modern world.
endhits: Do these things, we are speaking about, inspire you in your poetry, in your art? Do you write about these thoughts?
D.H.: Sort of – not directly. I maybe write about it indirectly. Writing is a communicative act, of course, you don’t always have a counterpart listening immediately. And I do write about communication, I do write about writing and I sing about singing and I play music about music. I’m witnessing and I’m part of them in our society but I don’t often write directly about them, they are too confusing for me to write about. I don’t have an opinion. It’s too immediate and it’s happening now. I wouldn’t know what to write about it. I like to talk about it though. And one of the very nice things about touring that it is not just a concert; I spend all day in the car with Libor (Daniel’s driver on his European tour – endhits), so that’s a relationship happening, and then we stop and get gas and I have instantaneous exchanges with people, with many of them we don’t share the same language but then at the concert I’d meet a lot of people before I play, in one state of mind, then I sing – of course, that’s an interaction – and than afterwards I’m in a different state of mind. I had a lovely conversation about the internet with two young men last night after the show. So, in a way, it’s part of it all but I rarely address directly in the songs themselves. I feel like the music is… no matter what else is going on socially or in our civilization, the music just sort of keeps on going: before the faros, before the Sumer, all through the dark ages we know nothing about, but you know, there was somebody playing one of these old whatever instruments they had back then. So that’s my cheap concern. The historical continuity of music is older than history and it maybe goes beyond the end of this history. And music is universal, every culture’s got it. And if they don’t, I think it is still somehow a musical choice to not make music. But I don’t really know of a music-less culture… but it may have existed.
endhits: What are your impressions about last night?
D.H.: Well, I loved the first group, Majorca07, as they call it, so I had a very nice experience listening to them. Well, I liked the café a lot, good light, nice view… I would have to say, one of my favorite shows of the tour. I felt very connected with the audience. I felt a quite, relaxed audience but I really felt their presence and I felt like I was understood and I enjoyed playing very much. It got a little out of control here and there, but it always does, that’s part of it.
endhits: That’s what makes it real…
D.H.: Yeah, I’m not the total master of my own music. So I thought it was a great event.
I’ve had 24 hours now in Hungary and I definitely wish to return. I want to go to some other cites, and return here. I have seen a lot of countryside from the highway. Are there mountains in Hungary?
endhits: Yes, there are, in the North.
D.H.: I don’t know why but mountains help… You know, flat land is just more difficult to engage with, no matter where you are. I mean it’s true in the US. I’m learning to do it, but the broken horizon is just more attractive, gives to the eye more to do.
endhits: What are your future plans?
D.H.: I go back to the US after finishing here. I have five more concerts. I’m not exactly sure, I have a show in Montreal, they just start up again in the US, I cross the country a couple of times a year by highway and I play some shows. Then I come back here in the fall. I would like to go to Asia, I would like to go to Africa… Africa seems like the furthest, the hardest one to accomplish. I would like to go and play and hear some music there. Go anywhere! I look forward to travel in the US – it’s not even about traveling itself, I don’t have a travel lust, I just want to go wherever people want to listen and be heard. I want to go and hear too, I would like to hear music from other places. So my plans are vague, but they’ll come together in due time.
endhits: One more thing that came to my mind is that last night you were jamming with two musicians from Úzgin Űver (who now played as Majorka07), the band that you’d known before. Is it the only Hungarian band that you know?
D.H.: Yeah, I may have heard maybe some Hungarian gipsy music.
endhits: How did you feel during the jamming?
D.H.: Oh, I enjoyed it! After hearing Gyula (Gyula Majoros) play before I played… I was just really… the way he plays… I don’t know how to describe it… I just get it. I think that he is just a really accomplished communicator with the instruments that he has chosen to play. So then when I was going to play with him… I don’t know him well, but I hold him in high regard. But I found it very easy to play with them and I enjoyed what we did. I mean, we’ve never played together having just met. I’d definitely like to play with them again. I think his playing and my playing are sort of an automatic fit and I’d like to sing more too, I think he is a great singer also. Yeah, that was a bonus. In the East, at least, I haven’t played with any other players. Even though it was only ten minutes, it was really nice. I’m really glad that it happened.
endhits: I wish it had a follow up!
D.H.: Time will tell certainly, but now it has begun, so it is certainly possible!
endhits: Thank you very much for playing in our town. I really hope that you will come back.
D.H.: I plan to. Anywhere near, it is part of the plan, for sure!



Line Up :
Daniel Higgs
Asa Osborne
Mitchell Feldstein
Sean Meadows

Label :
Dischord

Tracklist :
01 – Eternal Nightfall (version)
02 – Symbiosis
03 – Screams Of Joy
04 – Occult Vibrations (version)
05 – I Will Walk Between You
06 – Aesop
07 – Sex War (version)
08 – Infinite Daybreak (version)
09 – Hanging Bird (version)
10 – Shapes In Space (version)


dimanche 8 juillet 2012

Album de la semaine : Future of the Left - The Plot Against Common Sense

Future of the Left - The Plot Against Common Sense


Interview de Future of the Left, par Tof de Rock in Chair

Vous pouvez vous présenter au public français, pour ceux qui ne vous connaissent pas encore ? 

Et bien je suis Andy Falkous, chanteur de Future to the Left.
Je décrirai notre musique comme Rock. Parfois, on la qualifie de Noisy Rock mais je m'oppose à cette appellation de ce que l'on fait. Même si on jour fort et qu'on est super dynamiques, on reste mélodieux, on travaille sur ça. On écrit des chansons, des mélodies, c'est loin d'être chaotique comme le noise rock.
Parfois on passe par des étapes très fortes mais ce n'est pas ce qui reste à la fin. Bon, on a essayé d'écrire des chansons pop mis on est clairement nuls là dessus… 


Ca vous arrive de jouer sur des Péniche comme ce soir, ou dans des endroits un peu originaux? 
Oui! on a récemment joué sur un bateau à Bristol, un lieu énorme de 350 places. C'est différent d'ici parce que c'est un bateau entièrement en métal et le son se diffuse très particulièrement. Même au centre, on entend parfaitement le moindre son.
On a joué dans des lieux très différents et c'est toujours des expériences cool. Ici, c'est quand même un lieu génial même si c'est difficile pour un groupe de s'adapter à une scène petite. 
Mais je me fous d'à quoi ressemble le lieu, que ce soit une soucoupe ou un sous marin, l'important c'est de bien jouer pour les gens qui viennent. 
Quant à Lille, je ne sais pas si c'est un endroit évident pour faire jouer les groupes de rock (bon, on lui a gentiment expliqué oui, il y a pleins de groupes de rock à Lille et que oui, il y a pleins de groupes qui viennent à Lille contrairement aux apparences!) 


Votre album sort le 11 juin. Est ce que c'est bien de jouer des morceaux avant la sortie, même si le public ne les connait pas? 
En fait, l'album devait sortir un peu avant et de manière générale, c'est plus sympa pour un groupe quand le public connaît les chansons. Les groupes préfèrent toujours ça, il y a comme une familiarité entre eux et le public du coup.
Mais en même temps, ça permet que les gens écoutent plus le concert parfois. Les nouvelles chansons sont plus scrutées que les anciennes. Mais c'est très sain de passer ces chansons "au test" pour être sûr qu'elles plaisent. Et si ça n'est pas le cas, ça veut dire qu'il va falloir revoir le truc. J'aime bien l'idée de familiarité mais c'est bien de se mettre en danger et de relever un challenge pour des musiciens plutôt que d'être d'office dans une position confortable. 


C'est le 3ème album. Vous aviez une idée spécifique du son que vous vouliez rendre, de la direction qu'il devait prendre ? 
Non pas du tout. 
On a écrit, écrit et écrit encore pendant longtemps avant l'enregistrement. Pour écrire 15 bonnes chansons, il faut en écrire 50 ou 150 je pense. Comme pour tout le reste dans la vie, le plus important c'est ce à quoi on va arriver, et aussi la façon dont on y arrive. Et pour moi, pour le groupe, la finalité de l'album est aussi importante que le cheminement qui permettra d'arriver à cet album. Le processus de création est aussi agréable: se regarder les uns les autres, chercher et créer c'est magique en soi!
J'adore écrire, j'adore faire des concerts et quand on est musicien, on doit aimer chacune des étapes, le processus d'un album.


Il y a beaucoup d'humour dans vos textes, parfois humour noir même. C'est difficile de trouver le juste équilibre entre l'importance des textes et la force de la musique? 
Mais oui, c'est difficile de trouver le juste équilibre. 
Humour noir mais bon humour ! Il ne faut pas non plus que ce soit considéré comme une blague donc il y a une certaine limite à ne pas franchir. L'humour fait partie de la vie, de la mort, ça fait partie de tout. Mais dans la musique, et particulièrement dans la musique actuelle, il est un peu rejeté. C'est comme s'il n'y avait le choix qu'entre les trucs très sérieux et les "groupes blagues". Et quand on nous considère comme un groupe à blague, je trouve ça dévalorisant et offensant.
Mais c'est clair que l'humour c'est un part très importante de tout ça, c'est vraiment très très important dans l'ensemble du truc. 


En France, on connaît la musique anglaise mais un peu comme terme générique qui regroupe toutes les régions de l'Angleterre. Vous êtes du Pays de Galles, est ce que vous pensez que le rock de là bas a une spécificité particulière? 
Le groupe est basé au Pays de Galles, mais il il n'y a qu'un membre gallois en fait. Je suis de Newcastel (Nord de l'Angleterre) mais j'ai vécu 19 ans à Cardiff, Jack est de Porthsmouth, Jimmy est du Pays de Galles et Julia est australienne… 
Je n'ai aucun problème quand on dit que nous sommes du Pays de Galles pares qu'on est plus un groupe gallois que n'importe quoi d'autre, mais c'est réducteur de nous limiter à un emplacement géographique. 
Il y a beaucoup de groupes à Cardiff et il y a une bonne entente entre tous. Je n'arrive pas à nous distinguer vraiment mais on est nombreux et on aime jouer, jouer ensemble, se filer les tuyaux pour les concerts. On s'entend bien mais on est pas tout le temps en train de se congratuler non plus, sinon, plus personne n'avance, il n'y a plus de challenge.
On est pas Liverpool et les Beatles par exemple. 
Il y a un délire en Angleterre qui consiste à se présenter différemment de ce que l'on est. par exemple Blur, qui se présentait comme un groupe issu de la classe ouvrière alors qu'il était plutôt de la classe moyenne, en parlant avec un accent populaire…. Ou Joe Strummer (un super musicien pourtant) qui était fils de diplomate et qui jouait à être fils de pauvre, à vivre comme un pauvre par choix… C'est très anglais de romancer son histoire autour de ça. 
Je suis fils de prof, je suis de la classe moyenne et j'en ai pas honte. 


Et pour finir, aujourd'hui, en France, le Jubilee d'Elizabeth II a été retransmis à la télé tout l'après midi, on en parle depuis des jours, c'est vraiment dans l'actualité. Tu penses quoi de toutes ces cérémonies ? 
Je n'ai rien contre la Reine, elle est née comme ça, elle est née pour être Reine. Point. Par contre, j'ai un problème avec la Royauté. Toutes ces dépenses alors qu'on connait une crise économique énorme, c'est effarant. 
Plein de gens vous diront qu'on garde la famille royale parce que c'est un attrait touristique énorme et que ça fait venir du monde. Mais je pense plutôt qu'ils sont juste royalistes.
Dépenser autant dans ces circonstances, pour le faste et la sécurité, c'est juste offensant et indigne vis à vis des gens qui galèrent pour juste tenir un mois avec leur salaire et qu'on voit des sans abris de plus en plus nombreux dans Londres, dans Glasgow ou dans Manchester. Si on a un minimum de compassion et de dignité humaine,on ne peut être qu'opposé à tout ça. 
Mais bon, on ne peut pas mettre tout ça sur le dos de la Reine. Déjà qu'il a plus pendant toute la parade.. on a envie de lui dire "Good luck the Queeny" (rires).
Enfin, en france, avec Sarkozy, vous n'avez pas été gâté non plus… c'était un putain d'idiot. Mais bon, un putain d'idiot très riche. 



Line Up :
Andy "Falco" Falkous
Jack Egglestone
Jimmy Watkins
Julia Ruzicka

Label :
Munich Records

Tracklist :
  1. Sheena Is a T-shirt Salesman
  2. Failed Olympic Bid
  3. Beneath The Waves An Ocean
  4. Cosmo's Ladder
  5. City of Exploded Children
  6. Goals In Slow Motion
  7. Camp Cappuccino
  8. Polymers Are Forever
  9. Robocop 4 - Fuck Off Robocop
  10. Sorry Dad, I Was Late For The Riots
  11. I Am The Least Of Your Problems
  12. A Guide To Men
  13. Anchor
  14. Rubber Animals
  15. Notes On Achieving Orbit