Pärlan i ostronet

June Tabor & Oysterband

Ragged Kingdom (Topic/2011)

När brittiska folksångerskan June Tabor för första gången sedan 1990 ger ut en skiva kompad av Oysterband för upplägget tankarna till Johnny Cashs sista skivor. Traditionellt material samsas med folkmusiktolkningar av mer moderna låtar, i detta fall av t ex P J Harvey och Joy Division. Tabors senare soloskivor är av ett drömskt akustiskt snitt, tillsammans med Oysterband blir musiken stadigare uppstyrd men tyvärr upplever jag att energin snarare sänks ju mer bandet vrider upp volymen. Det blir aldrig tråkigt, men det känns påfallande ofta jämntjockt i jämförelse med briljansen och dynamiken som lösgörs i albumets mer avskalade låtar, t ex i den andäktiga "The Hills of Shiloh". Jag kan därför inte släppa tanken att det är en större vinst för Oysterband att samarbeta med Tabor än tvärtom.

- Thomas Jonsson

Roxy Revised

This is another excerce for the music writings' course, which is to revise the imagined sleeve notes for Roxy Music's debut album I wrote a week ago.

Batterin' Glam

Wow, what just happened? While listening to the eponymous debut of Roxy Music, one thing that will strike you is the way it's prickled with unexpected turns and surprising elements. Still, if you think it's far out of left field now, then try to imagine how it would've been to listen to it when it was released in 1972. Given that you first had to cut off all the genre clashes and degrees of ‘musical awareness’ provided through the last four decades of music history. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes this album remain that edgy and poignant. Instead of just shallowly 'hailing it as a masterpiece', perhaps it's time to get a bit more analytic. Evidently, it has a lot to do with the musicians' combined conviction but I will also dare to imply that the album's evergreen feel is much a result of its reluctance to ‘fit in‘. The difficulty to label it instead becomes what truly defines it. Roxy Music surely contains a lot of glam and progressive rock but it's way too progressive to be glam and too glam to be prog. It definitely adds a lot of rock'n'roll into it but is far from rock'n'roll as we know it. Truth is that even Bryan Ferry a few years after the release was quoted expressing the debut's production, signed by Peter Sinfeld, to be too far off. Luckily, nothing could be changed at that point, allowing this remarkable musical document to still prove how well it stands the test of time. And to be honest, the unorthodox angle of Roxy Music is not at all an issue of production matters, it dives deeply into the band's own arrangements, the song structures and the use of instruments and vocals.

Let us take it from the beginning, here we have an emerging band being active a few years, achieving some sprouting acknowledgement but being constantly rejected by the leading music biz. The journalist Peter Frame describes the situation strikingly in Crimson & Roxy (one of his famous Rock Family Trees) as “Ferry's demo tape was greeted with universal thumbs down ... but Melody Maker and John Peel were sufficiently interested to give them national exposure". So how insane it may sound now, Roxy Music were not currently having a record deal when they entered Command Studios in London to record their debut album in March 1972. Even when being helped by EG Management, their budget forced them to limit themselves to merely two weeks of studio time. This is far from the situation indie bands with convenient bedroom studios have got now, not to mention the unlimited studio excess the biggest names in the music business at the time could enjoy. Roxy Music had two weeks, no more.

And guess what? It turned out just lovely and maybe the limitations were just what kept the sextet on their toes, that kept their minds and creativity fresh and what made them aware of how crucially important the weeks of preparations prior to the recordings would be. The album starts off with placid murmur, actually a sound sample taped at their very first stage appearance, at the Friends of Tate Gallery Xmas Show in London, only three months before entering the studio. Subsequently, the chattering becomes interrupted by a brief piano intro, giving way for the band to show not only The Friends of Tate, but the whole world what they've got. Brass instruments, electric guitars and Ferry's characteristic vocals are fiercely running through the opening track Re-Make/Re-Model. The song reaches a climax before weird micro solos from all individual members, small snippets of other songs like Peter Gunn Theme and Day Tripper, end the song. The lingering aftershock transits into Brian Eno's eerie keyboard intro of Ladytron. His spacey drone notes eventually meet a bit more conventional song style here and all of a sudden the album's variety reaches all over you. From the laid back rock'n'roll of If There Is Something to the sophisticated brass section's bridge midway through 2HB. Then on the flipside, we hear Ferry trying out his vocal's vibrato limits to the maximum on The Bob (Medley) before the album eventually reaches a bit more normal grounds again on Would You Believe? At the very last part of Roxy Music, the slow orchestral ambience of Sea Breezes is turning into an experimental and noisy crescendo before all ends with the amusingly bizarre rendition of the 60's pastiche Bitters End. That song not the least proves that Roxy Music is an album taking you absolutely everywhere. When music journalist Sid Smith wrote an extensive article on the subject in Classic Rock Magazine, his list of acts who've influenced Roxy Music included, side by side with Bowie, King Crimson and Pink Floyd, the usually ever so unholy alliance of Velvet Underground and The Andrew Sisters.

Shortly after the master tape was finished, Roxy Music got signed to Island Records and the rest is history. Roxy Music reached a striking number #10 on the UK album charts and the single Virginia Plain went even further to a #4. The band and Bryan Ferry, as we know, made their way to world fame. Now, when 40 years have passed since their debut's release, its legacy remains obvious as a favourite album of listeners all over the world and it has served as a solid influence for countless emerging bands through the following decades to come. Not at least during the new-wave movement of the 80's and the late 90's bloom of neo-symphonic rock fronted by bands like Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips and their ilk. Musical history would scarcely have sounded the same if not six unsigned English musicians had decided to give their music a shot in the Command Studios in London in March 1972. Happy 40th birthday, Roxy Music!

Like a Keef in the night

KEITH RICHARDS - LIFE

"This is my life. Believe it or not I haven't forgotten any of it”, står skrivet i rött på baksidan av Keith Richards årsgamla memoarer Life. Det finns anledning att häpna över att minnena fortfarande är intakta då detta lika mycket som en bok om musik är en skildring av ett narkotikamissbruk av närmast episka proportioner. Richards själv menar att hans musik kvarstår oinfluerad av drogerna han tog. Samtidigt är boken nästan som en manual för hur en musiker med missbruksproblem kan fortsätta vara produktiv.

The Observers Sean O' Hagan verkar följa denna tankebana och delar sonika upp sin recension av boken i en drog- och en musikdel. Om än kanske inte stående med vattentäta skott emellan, men som beskrivs var och en för sig. Dagens Nyheters kritiker Kerstin Gezelius ger å andra sidan inte narkotikadimman samma stora utrymme som O’ Hagan, samtidigt är den ständigt återkommande i korta omnämnanden texten igenom. Tankar väcks om det överhuvudtaget är möjligt att hävda att någonting i livet skulle kunna stå sig opåverkat av ett sånt tungt missbruk som Richards sänkte ner sig i.

Dock är både Gezelius och O' Hagan rörande överens om att det är den skildrade musiken som är bokens stora behållning. Hur Richards klarar av med briljans att beskriva ackordföljder och influenser, hans närmast erotiska förhållande till sina gitarrer eller hur låtskrivandet växte fram och frodades tillsammans med Mick Jagger i en ständigt friktionsfylld vänskap dem emellan.

Något som jag saknar i båda recensionerna är en diskussion om spökskrivarens (i detta fallet James Fox) roll. Hur mycket återspeglar boken Richards eget språk egentligen? Är autencitet överhuvudtaget viktigare än en bra historia i den här genren? Möjligen svårt att nå en absolut sanning men faktum kvarstår, Fox kvarstår oomnämnd såväl i texterna som i faktarutorna. Gezelius skriver i alla fall om en liknande "förvanskning", nämligen om den stagnerande skärpan i den svenska översättningen.

-Thomas Jonsson

A hairy tale of New York

PATTI SMITH - JUST KIDS

(2010)

Inledningsvis formulerar en ung Patti Smith en rädsla, inte över att behöva utstå de prövningar som ett konstnärsliv kan medföra, utan för att inte ha själva kallet. Detta blir en programförklaring i den nyligen polarprisvinnande Smiths självbiografiska roman som handlar lika mycket om hennes liv med Robert Mapplethorpe som om den tålmodiga utblomningen av sitt eget konstnärskap. Just prövningar är ett kännbart återkommande tema genom boken, såväl under skildringen av de inledande svältande åren i New York som av det mångbottnade förhållandet till konstnären Mapplethorpe. Genom Smiths mycket observanta och närvarande språk befästs en skarp bild av staden under slutet av 60-talet till mitten av 70-talet, denna populärkulturens guldålder som skapat mycket av dagens New York-romantik. En av "Just Kids" stora behållningar är sättet som Smith framställer sig själv på, lika mycket som en betraktare som en del av stadens kulturella elit, till lika stora delar en beundrare som en utövare.

- Thomas Jonsson

Radioaktiv poppärla

M. Ward - Transistor Radio (2005)

M. Ward brukar nämnas som en nyckelpersonerna i den alternativa amerikanska folkgenren jämsides med musiker som t ex Cat Power, Bonnie "Prince" Billy och Jason Molina. Efter att ha nått en betydande kultstatus på independentscenen med en rad kritikerrosade släpp toppade portlandmusikern Matt Ward sin patenterade ljudkollageproduktion med sitt fjärde soloalbum, den varma, akustiskt aviga skivan Transistor Radio. Som många vet övergick han därefter till mer bandarrangerade soloalbum, samt de mer eller mindre ofokuserade samarbetsutflykterna She&Him och Monsters of Folk (som otroligt nog ibland verkar få mer uppmärksamhet än hans egna album).

Har man följt indie/folk-musikern M. Wards katalog både före och efter Transistor Radio vet man att han alltid har fantastiska låtar i rockärmen och ständigt en extra dimension redo att delge lyssnarna. Frågan är dock om inte just Transistor Radio är albumet där han mest kommer till sin fulla rätt. Karln har fullkomligt proppat in idéer, melodier, referenser och ljudkollage på det här sexton spår långa mästerverket. Det är tydligt märkbart att hela skivan är en hyllning till de oberoende radiostationernas guldålder på 50- och 60-talet. Detta inte bara på grund av det Beach Boys-aktiga plingandet i "Fuel for Fire" eller den raffinerade melodiplankningen av The Beatles "Here Comes The Sun" i outrot av hans egna "Here Comes The Sun Again". Inte heller de många textmässiga referenserna till sjutumssinglar, radiokampanjer och wall of sound, utan framförallt i M Wards egna och unika släpigt värmande ton som ljuder genom både hans röst och gitarrspel, som tar med oss på ett svindlande ljudlandskap. Bland spåren märks den olidligt vackra balladen och livefavoriten "Lullaby + Exile", den Jerry Lee Lewis-stompiga "Big Boat" och den självreflekterande turnéobservationen "Paul's song" där namnet i titeln möjligen refererar till Paul Brainards (Richmond Fontaine) sockersöta pedal steel som väver in låten.

Transistor Radio var en tydlig vattendelare i M. Wards karriär. Efter att tidigare ha befunnit sig främst i den akustiska indiepopscenen, tog han med Transistor Radio ett tydligt steg mot en mer folklig och traditionell terräng. Det var en riktning som fortsatte med de nästföljande albumen. Även om M. Ward aldrig fastnat i något träskigt gubbigt så var det just Transistor Radio - där en stor del av hans vitala indie-nycker fortfarande fanns närvarande - som på ett imponerande sätt belyste hans fulla spännvidd. Från "One life away" som låter som hämtat från Alan Lomax inspelningar, till den akustiska poppärlan "Hi-Fi" och texmex-hasande innerliga "Fuel For Fire".

Vi som haft den stora äran att se mannen livs levande på scen vet att vi har att göra med en av popvärldens mest egensinniga och flinkaste gitarrister. På albumen låter han däremot bara det göras som tjänar låtarna bäst. Detta gäller även när han får fritt spelrum på skivans hela tre instrumentala låtar; den surf-twangiga "Regeneration #1" samt de två tolkningarna på klassisk gitarr som ramar in albumet.

M. Ward är inte bara en briljant musiker och låtskrivare, han är dessutom en mångsidig lyriker av rang. Personligen tycker jag han är som allra bäst och gripande när han har en räv bakom örat. Detta gäller såväl spexiga "Big Boat" (He says he's got a fast boat / talking 'bout light speed / get your oars back in the water, kid ...//... It's just a ferry boat / no faster than a gold fish" som den popnaiva "I'll be yr bird" (I'll sing statistics, & hide the truth, I'll tell your dad anything that you want me to, I'll hide your locket under the dirt, I'll be your bird.) Det gläder mig också att lägga märke till nickningar till stora alternativhjältar inom genren. Den alltför tidigt bortgångne Vic Chesnutt namndroppas kvickt i tidigare nämnda "I'll be your bird" och Daniel Johnston parafraseras med raden "Love will get you in the end" i skivans förmodligen allra bästa spår "Lullaby + Exile". En mening, som visserligen är lika unik i en popsång som reklamavbrott är i en tv4-produktion, men om man känner till Wards vurmande för Johnston med flera släppta covers på skiva så vet man nog att den syftar på Texas mest udda fågels största hit "True Love Will Find You in The End".

Transistor Radio är som Roy Orbisons och Phil Spectors mest aviga och krumbuktande popdröm och är ett album som så väl förtjänar att bli erkänt som ett av pophistoriens starkaste. Man kan bara ana att tiden som går kommer att tjäna det väl. Detta är nämligen ett album av yttersta toppklass, som möjligen med undantag för den lite väl endimensionella "Four Hours in Washington" lyckas hålla sig fläckfritt från dalar. Skivan visar inte bara på möjligheterna som kan göras i en akustisk genre som ofta håller på att halta, utan hur popidealen som sattes upp på 50- och 60-talet kan låta mer nutida och angelägna än någonsin.

- Thomas Jonsson

M. Ward reveals new song "Hold Time" on his website

As you might have found already, the title track from M Ward's forthcoming and much awaited sixth album "Hold Time" is available on his website. By clicking on the featured tv set's switch, it changes from the video of 2006's "Chinese Translation" to the new song. Enjoy! This will doubtlessly be one of the best albums of 2009.

A talk with Emma Adbåge

I got to know the illustrator and author Emma Adbåge back in 2006 and I can't in word describe how much I like the things she does nor how much I appreciate discussing creative issues and such with her. I could start a blog solely for writing about her. I don't have to though since she's got one of her own. Her very recommended blog (in english) with sketches, photos, art/book/music-references and more (where I also borrowed the photos and sketches for this post).

Since 2001, she's been very productive with four own children's books and countless collaborations and illustrations. This year she had three very nice books out, first her own "Jag var superhjälte säger vi", plus the illustrated short story "Limited Edition", available in the anthology "Samtidigt". She also illustrated the book "De ovanligaste barnen i världen", written by Inger Edelfeldt.




Currently residing in Mjölby, I know that she has just finished new material and some details have just begun to leak out on the big Swedish book sites. I wanted to make an interview with her and I'm very proud to have her aboard on my blog now.


Emma, you seem to have been furiously productive 2008 with the new two books that are put out. They're amazing. What can you tell about the future, if you're allowed to talk about it? (I just found this on Bokus).

Thanks! Both of them were made last year though (you know, there is so much work between me and the book stores) - so let’s say that I was furiously productive 2007!
-Seriously speaking, among other things, I have been working with two children's books this year as well so, OK. Your link mentions one of them: “Vi hittar Smulbert” (“Finding Smulbert”). The other one, which I’m just about to finish the cover for, is called “Fylla år” (which is hard to translate into English but I will call it “The birthday book”). Both of them are my own – both text and illustrations.

“Finding Smulbert” is a quiet story about two siblings at the beach, a hot summer's day. They get up early, squarrel in the backseat and do all that beach-stuff, like pretending they’re dolphins and having packed lunch on a blanket. Then, they find this bug and call him “Smulbert”. Smulbert gets a big castle made out of sand and they bathe him - to death!
The summary: play, picnic and death and joy

The other one – “the Birthday book” – is more like a philosophical book about having birthdays. Why do we (in Sweden) call it “fylla år” …like “fill the years”? -With what? And isn’t it unfair that while some of us can have like hundreds of birthdays in a lifetime, the dragonfly, for example, only lives for a couple of days (NO BIRTHDAY PRESENTS!)! Both books are expected to be out in the stores 2009 (“Vi hitter Smulbert” – Eriksson & Lindgren AB & “Fylla År” – Alfabeta Bokförlag).


Apart from the children's books, you also do comics for a more grownup audience. Is comic the correct term? You had an illustrated short story, "Limited Edition" published recently in the anthology Samtidigt. Which is brillant, funny but very moving too. Is this something you're planning to do more in the future?

Oh, interesting that you question the word “comic”, 'cause I really hate using that word. “Cartoon” as well. It makes me think of comic strips. Stuff that makes one laugh (not me though, I’m whining!). It can be so much more than just those funny strips that you can read in your daily paper. “An illustrated short story” feels more correct so let’s use that term.

Now I will answering your question: THANK YOU. And yes, definitely. I’m working on a couple of stories when I got some time left. I really like to tell a story that way – you can get so much out of an illustration instead of trying to explain it all in just words – an amazing tool! Maybe in the same way that you use the music to your lyrics? -I wish that more grown-ups weren’t so afraid of the “comic”-genre, cause like I said, there is so much more than just a punch line and then it’s over.


I read the Tove Jansson biography "Ord, bild, tanke" and was reminded of your stuff. Mostly because both of you do illustrations where you first get an instant impression and then after a while discover tons of details in the background. Does Tove Jansson inspire you?

Yes, oh yes. Her work really is amazing! I don’t think you can see it in my work, but there is a difference between “inspired” and “influenced”? She inspires me in the same way that a great movie can inspire me, or a great song or a book. Or a person who is really good at something - that amazes me and gives me the inspiration to create, to use colours and to tell stories. She does that for me, Tove, she gives me that inspiration, definitely.


More, what are you inspired most by? Other illustrations or something else? Would also love to hear what other artists you like.

There are many things that inspire me; music, movies, friends and books. You know, the common things. And to spend time with children and look into their world - they are so uncomplicated and open minded, unaffected! And of course - other childrens books and artists. I just told you about Tove Jansson, so I can do some fine namedropping of artists that makes me feel inspired and elated: Nigel Peake, Carson Ellis, the Swedish illustrator/autor Eva Lindström, Owe Gustavson, Stina Wirsén, the fantastic ! Jockum Nordström and the genious David Shrigley of course - I love his humour and simplicity, so relieving! I also have to mention another person that inspires me: the Swedish actor Gösta Ekman, what a man huh!

-except other illustrators and artists I collect inspiration from other stuff: this summer I got introduced for real, to the work by Bauhaus. Me and my man visited Bauhaus archive in Berlin. He already loved the Bauhaus works and took me there. It was the best, I fell in love with the Bauhaus-stuff for real. The colours and the shapes. Wow!

If I’m allowed to name one more thing that ispires me (I can make a long long list that never ends) I wanna tell you that I actually get inspired by ugly things, and stuff that makes me say: “EEH? Ha ha!? What the hell!?” Like strange fashion trends, home styling and ugly party photos. A giant source of ideas!



What's your favorite book + cd album of 2008

Book: Since I do read a lot of childrens books I will choose “Nu är vi gorillor låssas vi!” (“Let’s pretend we’re gorillas!”) by The Great Swedish author Barbro Lindgren. IT’S AWESOME. I laughed and got all warmed up when I read it. Really fell in love and Barbro is also one of my biggest idols. If I would choose one novel this past year it would be the actor Jonas Karlsson’s debut “Det andra målet”. If I have to choose ONE except your music dear friend… - Fleet foxes, the self titled debut (?) !


That stray cat we met this summer. Have you figure out if he got a home or not?

That poor thing. I’m sorry to say that I do see him around sometimes – but I still do not know if he’s got an own apartment… But I can tell that he has two cat friends hangin’ around and he looks quite strong and healthy. -I will sure look after him now when it gets colder.