A gig reflection Silent films with The Muffin ensemble, Larrys Corner 29th January 2014

Mathias Danielsson at his trusty pedal steel Tape echo combo.

Im calling this a gig reflection instead of a review quite simply because I was sick when I was there and I missed the two last films. It would be unfair to...everyone.

As some of you might know I have been playing to Silent movies for 13 or 14 years now on and off with the Matti Bye Ensemble. We have played pretty much all around the world and it has been an amazing experience. The venues has been everything from the majestic Castro theatre in San Francisco to a small communal theatre in russian barentsburg, Svalbard.

My dear friend Rickard P. Stumm

Therefor I was thrilled when Mathias invited to come and see them play at Larrys Corner. He warned me. Its small, really small. And usually people exaggerate about venue sizes but he was pretty much on the money. It IS really small. So I can also add that the place was packed. Not an empty seat in the house.

The two films I had the pleasure to catch were Lot in Sodom and Létoile de Mer by Man Ray.

At the different silent film festivals I have played I have seen a number of different ensembles take on the challenge and there seems to be two different lines of thought. One is the heavily scripted and arranged. The other is a more ambient approach. And the feeling I get is that people tend to start with Plan A and then drift into Plan B occasionally. Also there is the whole school of using instruments of the era. Pianos and theatre organs. 

I have no real sharp opinion, if it works with the film....it works. 

The Muffin Ensemble

The Muffin Ensemble are firmly routed in the second category. The lap steel becomes an orchestra creating washes of chords using tape echoes. The fretless bass has a more relaxed role often just giving pulse or accents using loop pedals and pitch shift effects but also playing freer melody lines. Also prerecorded voice were used to highlight sections.

The Muffin Ensemble at Larrys corner

With my raging fever and Man Rays avant garde approach to film (and focus) this approach created a sort of seemless ambient feel. I found it hard to grasp if there were any traditional themes as such but more a flowing arrangement line. 

I thought it suited the films and the setting very very well.

Also I loved the idea of the small setting and D.I.Y feel of the event. Its great to take control of a small margin cultural phenomena and make it your own. It felt intimate and personal. I love the inititiative and the passion that goes into aranging stuff like this. Good stuff. I would have loved to have a bit more of a background about the films. Maybe just a little programme so that the viewer can have some background info and put things into a bigger historical context.

Gig review: Frederik Galiay at M/S Svalbard

Gig review 23rd of January M/S Svalbard

Fréderick Galiay (FR) Elbas, David Linnros/Saxophone & Electronics , Niklas Korsell/Drums & Percussion Yann Le Nestour/Compressed air, machinery

I was invited to probably Stockholms most beautiful and interesting "Venue". 

The machine room on Yann Le Nestours boat Svalbard. 

A beautiful boat with one of Stockholms most breathtaking views of City Hall and Kungsholmen.

The evening starts with soup and wine and mingling where everyones opening ine seems to be are you a "boatperson" or a "musicperson". Because the audience seems to be divided between the tour. Music fans and people who live on boats. 

Someone asked me if I had a boat and i replied that my wife owns a boat. 

And they asked me where it was, how big it is etc...and when I explained that I didnt actually live on the boat the look I got was of disdain and distrust. In their eyes I am a complete sellout.

The gig was held in the machineroom. Its cold and smells of gasoline and oil. 

The first set starts with low rumbles and mumbles from Fréderick Galiays bass interrupted by small flourishes and waves of electronics from David Linnros.

Its slow and fast at the same time. Yann leNestour "plays" the boat turning machines on and off, contactmicrophones dispersed thruout the machineroom.

I have often been frustrated by how guitars and basses often feel like they are frozen in time. They are relics to be played in one way. A out of tune guitar feels like a revolution. 

A crime against the ear.

Frederick Galiays approach to the instrument (electric bass) is refreshing, ruthless and utterly inspiring. Using kitchen utensils, slides and bows he makes the bass a mutifacetted orchestra. Its almost as if he started with a slide and then went looking for something to slide it on.

The tempo is free and the composition stalls occasionally like a conversation between strangers. And then all of a sudden it starts up again. A new idea pushes the piece forward.

Yann le Nestours setup.

The second set is more "traditional" with David swapping electronics for his sax and Niklas Korsell joining on drums. The volume is pushed up several notches and it all becomes more frantic. Ideas bouncing back and forth quickly. 

As a drummer I was very impressed by Niklas Korsell. Moving between instruments seemlessly and constantly changing pace and texture. As a drummer coming from a fairly traditional background I find it exciting and frightening to hear a drummer who is so free of the boundaries of a steady tempo. New ideas connecting into each other making change the only constant. 

Clank, tink, booooom.

In this more traditional setting the Music also is more accessible. Building to a climax that has a almost Crimsonesque energy but in a more parallell way. They are playing together, going towards a goal. It is just not certain that they will get there at the same time or 

using the same roads.  

To me this is the kind of music you have to hear live see the communication on stage. 

Its abstract, noisy and sometimes hard to grasp.  

The information attacks all senses.   

I would never listen to a recording of it.

I realize how vague all of this sounds. 

This is art, music and performance in a setting where the lines all blurr. 

Frederick Galiay, some swedish dude and Yann LeNestour 

Thank you Yann for a great night.

Photos by Fredrik Eckardt

Walrus live in Svalbard? I was there!

There is a grey heavy sky over Stockholm today. The good thing about that is of course that things can only get better (-Howard Jones). Or maybe we will just give up on this day and try again tomorrow. 

Walrus once did a gig in Svalbard at a restaurant. We started the gig as we always do with a blistering A and then from there we just go. For 40 - 60 minutes of a mix between Kraut, prog and more cinematic stuff. Pretty loud, noisy, After about 30 minutes we had cleared the place. Everyone had left except the bartenders who loved our performance as it probably meant that the could close early that night.

Back in the old days I would have been devastated. Were we that Bad? Why did they hate us?

Nowadays I seriously dont care. I dont. Things become incredibly complicated when you let other peoples judgement direct you. Last year I recorded with an artist who was constantly thinking about his audience. "They like this song when I play it live. This songs lyric will probably appeal to people."
And the results became...less than great.

We have only a certain amount of chords and rhythms...so what makes Frank Sinatras lovesongs different from Miley Cyruss or Screaming J Hawkins? Its about personality and the choices those artists made. That makes it special and dare I say it....unique. Their standpoints, their outlook, their story. I have a hard time seeing Screaming J Hawkins pondering what a pale dude in a grey Stockholm new years day 2014 would think of "Hong Kong" or "I put a spell on you". And the idea that he would try to change something to suit that same pale dude is just ridiculous.

Im interested in you. Your views and ideas of the world. Your version of a broken heart. If you try to tailor it to my tastes we will have a problem. You are far more interesting than me. I know....I spent almost all my time with myself. We need your version of weird, odd and wrong. The mainstream is a very crowded place. But I know this great bar just outside of the mainstream. Meet me there. Ill bring microphones. You bring the music and the story.

What should we have done at that restaurant in Svalbard?

Broken up the Mekanik groove and played "summer of 69" instead?

I dont think so...I think Walrus should become the biggest thing since the four freshmen so that the Svalbard gig becomes a classic gig where everyone can say. "I was there and it was...amazing"

Its 2014, kids. Surprise me.

Now playing: American Music Club - The golden age


PS I lost my Nancy Reagan biography that I was reading at the gig in Svalbard if you have found it please email me at Rothhandlestudios@gmail.com and just tell me how it ends.

....and yeah Martin Gustafsson took the picture.