Showing posts with label Änglagårds third album. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Änglagårds third album. Show all posts
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Video of the day 16th of February 2014
Glockenspiels for Änglagård
I have always loved glockenspiels, bells and celestes. To me they symbolize stars, snow, cold and glistening. I also love how they frame a production. If the Tauruspedals are the bottom of the picture, the ground, the earth. The bells are the skies.
I know how stupid this sounds....but guess what? Im fine with it.
Im very sorry that I came up with the title Buried Alive for the bands live album. My suggestion for the third album was Struthus Camelus as I felt the band had their heads in the sand not hearing the outside world. You might imagine the shock I felt when noone else in the band liked the suggestion. I must admit that I also felt a perverse joy knowing that they all went out on google to see what it meant...and a picture of an ostrich shows up on there screens.
The Ostrich or Common Ostrich (Struthio camelus) is either one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member(s) of the genus Struthio, which is in the ratite family. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species separate from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a subspecies.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Gig Reflection Part 2 Mother at Fylkingen Staer (Nor) 13th of February 2014
After a beer or two its time for the main event, the Noiserock trio Staer from Norway.
The band has positioned themselves on the floor. Im not sure but Ive always felt a bit annoyed when people set up flat on the floor but with Staer its a blessing. It feels like a privilege to be close to see what is going on. The trio is placed with drummer Thore Warland firmly placed in the centre.
As some of you might know Im originally a percussionist. Thats were I started and I always look for new and interesting drummers or percussionists. I like everyone from Ringo to Aphex Twin to Tom Waits and Harry Partch and back again.
So when we were about to start up my old band Änglagård again I started to look around to see what was going on on the drumming scene. I wanted to do my homework, find out what was going on...and I must say I wasnt really too impressed.
This is sort of what I found or things quite like it.
And to me it sort of actually feels like this.
There are amazing drummers out there but when I listen to them all I hear are chops, math and endless hours of practising but sadly enough....almost no Ideas or visions. No personality. To me Bill Bruford, Stewart Copeland and Jaki Liebzeit are still people I admire and look up to as their feel is so personal and strong. The superdrummers nowadays that are perceived as being great are of course very impressive. But their drumming never moves me, it leaves me cold.
Staers drummer is very much the opposite. He has chops but his ideas and approach are filled with personality and a very unique dialect. His way of moving around a kit is inspiring and his body language speaks volumes.
The bands guitarist and bassplayer build a massive stompboxlaced wall of dark noise. I have to come clear though on one point...when you have two musicians with a whammy pedal each and multiple Moogerfoogers you know that clean harmonies and sing-a-long choruses arent on the menu. They sound more like two tuned tanks trying to pocketpark in downtown Dhaka.
Its a rivetting display of sounds and layers but not exactly hummable.
But to my immense joy even though bass and drums lock occasionally the playing field is pretty much open for this truly remarkable drummer.
His style is very loopy which I love. His drumming is based around a open doublestroke moved freely around the kit. I have never heard a drummer play in this manner before. The actual drumming technique is definitely not new, he uses a very simple basic foundaton of drumming but utilizes it in a refreshing and exciting way. As a bonus I can also tell you that it is very uncomfortable playing like this for extended time. Well atleast for me.
He also used a very cool sonic technique. Contact miking his cymbals and then pulling them out thru a mixer and into an amp. In my experience cymbals generally dont need too much miking
but this added another dimension to the sound.
From the first note to the last I stood there with a big stupid grin on my face.
I have played the clips to my wife and some of my friends and they all look at me with a slightly confused look on their faces. A mix between Why? What? and a splash of Whatever....
But I was there and I saw the light.
And it came in the shape of an exceptionally talented Norwegian Drummer.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Video of the day 6th of February 2014
Sometimes video of the day....is from the actual day.
Other times it is from the same date but a couple of years back. This is to give things "perspective" (as I write that Im smiling on the inside).
Sometimes it is a fairly fresh video that hasnt been "published" yet.
That is the case with the video of today. Its from the Carl Hasselrot sessions.
I am playing a pair of Sabian Minihats.
I like them and I use them a fair deal to bridge between electronic drums and acoustics...
They are great to add a bit of movement.
I hope you like it.
Also I thought I could throw in a little bonus...On february the 6th 2012 the first episode of the Änglagård documentary was published. Wonderfully documented by Martin Gustafsson.
I really like how naked and raw a lot of this footage is.
There has been a lot of editing of course but you cant deny how honest it is...apart from the looking straight into the camera stuff. I also like how positive it all starts.
Familar storyline?
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Video of the day 1st of February 2014
This is sort of the way I envisioned the summerhousestudio.
Video of the day is from the Änglagård Percussion sessions.
Im really pleased with the detail of the recording in this.
Im not sure anything survived the mix as its for Änglagård.
One thing that I find to be quite interesting is that when I look at the statistics...
not one woman has watched this video. 100% Men. Mostly Swedish and American men.
So if you are a woman and you are feeling adventurous. Or just very excited and need to calm down a notch or two...this is a video for you.
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