More than brilliance: Meltdown, by The Gathering

thegathering.nl

This is the best news I have heard in quite some time: The Gathering are back with new material. The acclaimed and influential Dutch band have just released Meltdown, a single from their upcoming tenth studio album Disclosure. Just like their previous single Heroes for Ghosts, Meltdown is available as a free download at their bandcamp page. In the recent newsletter I received, the band address this track as "an emotional plea about how to come to terms with events in life."

Meltdown kicks off with what perhaps is the grooviest rhythm The Gathering have ever written, led by Hans Rutten's fantastic drumming. Another surprise is the vocals contributed by the keyboard player Frank Boeijen, complementing Silje Wergeland's ethereal voice, and effectively transforming the lyrics into a dialogue. Harsh guitars and electronic elements give way to the organic sounds of the strings and a melancholic trumpet, as the song reveals the melodic soundscapes the band is renowned for in a beautiful second part, led by the exquisite vocals of Silje Wergeland. I suppose that most bands would not have been able to resist a return to the addictive rhythm laid out in the beginning, but this is The Gathering: Meltdown is a work of art in two parts, fading into elegance.

(I)  

It’s time to leave - this eerie sound

I cared but failed - the ones I love

I guess it’s just - what comes around 

We try to bend - but then it breaks

What kind of mind - makes these odd shakes

I can't believe - it ends all here 

You pull me down

 

You always failed 

 

You pull me down - I fake a laugh - I sway

You broke my heart – I fell so hard always

Because of you I’m still afraid today 

It’s time to leave - this eerie sound

I cared but failed - the ones I love

I guess its just - what comes around 

You pull me down 

 

You pull me down - I fake a laugh - I sway

You broke my heart – I fell so hard always

Because of you I’m still afraid today

Because of you I’m still afraid today 

(II) 

 

I will not give you what you think that you earn from me

I will not make the same mistakes you always made

I tried to show you that I cared although you always failed

I was too young to have known better - better than you 

You could have kept all those stories to your self 

 

I tried to show you that I cared although you always failed

I was too young to have known better - better than you 

Credits

Music by F. Boeijen / R.Rutten, Lyrics by S. Wergeland / F. Boeijen

Produced by René Rutten 

The Gathering: Frank Boeijen – keyboards, vocals, Marjolein Kooijman – bass, 

Hans Rutten – drums, René Rutten – guitars, Silje Wergeland – vocals

Backing vocals by Frank, Marjolein, René and Hans

Guests: Jos van den Dungen - violin and viola, Noel Hofman – trumpet

thegathering.bandcamp.com

My reflection on Meltdown is that everything we know and love about The Gathering is here, and yet at the same time it feels like listening to them for the first time. This is not just a brilliant band releasing great work; it is the Gathering breaking new ground like never before. And in this respect, Disclosure is most certainly an album to look forward to. The band addressed this release in their newsletter as follows:

'Disclosure' is the most personal soundscape we ever made, lyrically and musically. The album is a great marriage between electronic and organic sounds, and has a wide range of colourfull songs. With long epic songs we stayed close to ourselves. We are incredibly proud of this album which is a reflection of what we do best, and our urge for experiment. 

The album will be released on 12 September and its art work is made by Carlos Vergara Rivera from Chile; the handcrafted cover art is inspired by the song Heroes for Ghosts. The track list of the album is as follows:

                                                                    1. Paper Waves

                                                                    2. Meltdown

                                                                    3. Gemini I

                                                                    4. Heroes for Ghosts

                                                                    5. Missing Seasons

                                                                    6. See for Miles

                                                                    7. Paralyzed 

                                                                    8. Gemini II

thegathering.bandcamp.com

Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello: The Ghost of Tom Joad returns

Wikipedia

Tom Joad is a key character in John Steinbeck's classic novel The Grapes of Wrath, which was published in 1939, and is set in the era of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The book focuses on a family of farmers who are financially destroyed, lose their farm, and migrate from Oklahoma to California, where they now have to struggle against their exploitation as labourers. This is one of the best and most popular novels of the 20th century, as well as a manifestation of the argument put forward by John Steinbeck when he received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962: "the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation."  The book has been a consistent cultural reference against social injustice, and the following excerpt, articulated by the character of Tom Joad, is a case in point: 

Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there... I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an'—I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready. An' when our folk eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build—why, I'll be there.

brucespringsteen.net

Bruce Springsteen reflected upon the book in a contemporary context, as well as made reference to the above excerpt, in the title track of his 1995 release The Ghost of Tom Joad. This album offered a politically aware exploration of social inequality, and included references to the struggle of Mexican migrants to find a better future in the US. The title track has also been covered by Rage Against the Machine in 1997; it was released as a single, the cover of which featured Eric Drooker's artwork Police Riot. 

 Wikipedia

The Ghost of Tom Joad has been performed live in various arrangements, by Bruce Springsteen alone or together with the E Street Band. Three of these performances featured Tom Morello, the guitarist of Rage Against the Machine, who has also expressed his folk side in The Nightwatchman. In one of these cases, at the 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert in Madison Square Garden in 2009, Bruce Springsteen introduced a particularly powerful version of The Ghost of Tom Joad by addressing the context of the current economic crisis. He also made reference to the long tradition of musicians who were interested in and wrote about the world around them; as he put it, "if Woody Guthrie were alive today, he'd have a lot to write about." And indeed he would; during the 1930's, Woody Guthrie had made the trip from Oklahoma to California, which is depicted in the Grapes of Wrath, and subsequently wrote the song Tom Joad. And in this respect, both the character and the book illustrate the significance of the link between culture and politics to this day.

Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks
Goin' someplace there's no goin' back
Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretchin' round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin' in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

 The highway is alive tonight

But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes

I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light

Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad

He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag

Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag

Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last

In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass

Got a one-way ticket to the promised land

You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand

Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock

Bathin' in the city aqueduct

The highway is alive tonight

But where it's headed everybody knows

I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light

Waitin' on the ghost of Tom Joad

Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy

Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries

Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air

Look for me Mom I'll be there

Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand

Or decent job or a helpin' hand

Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free

Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me."

The highway is alive tonight

But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes

I'm sittin' downhere in the campfire light

With the ghost of old Tom Joad

brucespringsteen.net

Solar eclipse 2012: in pictures

Michael Chow, AP Photo/The Arizona Republic  photos.oregonlive.com

At first glance one may think that this fantastic photograph by Michael Chow is portraying the moon; but it actually is an image of the sun during the solar eclipse which took place on May 20, 2012. As the moon is passing between the earth and the sun, it obscures the view of the latter; this type of eclipse, however, is called annular because the moon's apparent diameter is smaller than that of the sun, and thus the latter eventually looks like a ring. It obviously is an amazing event to look at, but I must say that I was more amazed by the pictures themselves; the works of Nick James and Cathleen Allison are characteristic examples.

Nick James britastro.org 

Cathleen Allison/AP Photo photos.oregonlive.com

During an eclipse I suppose that everybody is staring at the sky; inevitably, and predictably, so. Which is why I was fascinated to find out that some photographers were apparently interested in portraying what the world looks like in the unique light of the eclipse, as in these exceptional shots of the Huangpu River in Shanghai by Aly Song, and Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour by Bobby Yip.

Aly Song/Reuters  newsfeed.time.com

Bobby Yip/Reuters  darkroom.baltimoresun.com

The annular phase of the May 20 eclipse was visible from the Chinese coast, northern Taiwan, southern Japan, and the western part of the United States. This kind of eclipse is also addressed as 'ring of fire', a metaphor which is eloquently brought up in the work of photographers such as Katsuro Okazawa and Albert Cesare.

Katsuro Okazawa/Aflo/Zuma Press  newsfeed.time.com

Albert Cesare AP Photo/Odessa American photographyblog.dallasnews.com

Thank you, Tim Berners-Lee

allaboutjazz.com

If there is one person we need to thank for being able to communicate the way that we do, this of course is Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web. Moreover, the significance of inventions exceeds that of their technical aspects, however ground-breaking the latter may be. Technology is not a neutral domain, but a social product, bearing political and cultural significations. And the invention of the World Wide Web is inseparable from the politics of an open and participatory internet culture. As James Curran argues, Tim Berners-Lee placed a public service ethic above market values, and rather than promoting his work through a private company, the World Wide Web code was released as a free gift to the community (James Curran and Jean Seaton, Power without responsibility, the press, broadcasting, and new media in Britain, 7th edition, London: Routledge, 2010, pp. 262-263).

Tim Berners-Lee is sometimes asked if he is upset about not making a lot of money from the web, and he has a quite interesting reply on the matter (Weaving the web: the original design and ultimate destiny of the World Wide Web by its inventor, London: Orion, 2000, p. 116):

What is maddening is the terrible notion that a person's value depends on how important and financially successful they are, and that this is measured in terms of money [...] Core in my upbringing was a value system that put monetary gain well in its place.

So thank you, Tim Berners-Lee.

Innocence

In a dream place somewhere across the universe...

17 May 2012...

Red Guitar: brand new work by Cassandra Wilson

Photograph by Clay Patrick McBride  sfgate.com

Cassandra Wilson is one of the most important figures in the contemporary jazz world: an award-winning vocalist, musician, and songwriter, instantly identifiable by the trademark richness of her voice, who never rested on her laurels. Her course over the past twenty-five years incorporated elements from blues, country, folk, and occasionally pop music, and resulted in a highly original and diverse body of work. The albums New Moon Daughter and Loverly, which won her two Grammy awards in 1996 and 2009 respectively, may serve as a fine introduction to her work together with Travelling Miles (1999), Belly of the Sun (2002), and Thunderbird (2006). The latter includes a great favourite of mine, her incredible cover of Blind Lemon Jefferson's Easy Rider, a beautiful live version of which you can enjoy below:  

The good news is that Cassandra Wilson is back with a new song, Red Guitar, which offers a first view of her upcoming seventeenth studio album Another Country. As Jeff Tamarkin of the Jazz Times reports, most of the songs on this album have been written by Cassandra Wilson herself, or in collaboration with Fabrizio Sotti, the guitarist and producer with whom she had also worked on her 2003 album Glamoured. Another Country displays a guitar-based sound, and its track list is as follows:

                                                              1.  Red Guitar
                                                              2.  No More Blues
                                                              3.  O Sole Mio
                                                              4.  Deep Blue
                                                              5.  Almost Twelve
                                                              6.  Passion
                                                              7.  When Will I See You Again
                                                              8.  Another Country
                                                              9.  Letting You Go
                                                            10.  Olomuroro

theurbanflux.com

Perfect Sense, by David Mackenzie

Wikipedia

A profound appreciation of what it means to be alive. But most of all, a shared urge to reach out to one another.

Perfect Sense tells the story of two people falling in love as the world falls apart. David Mackenzie's direction is superb, and so are the performances by Eva Green and Ewan McGregor; but Perfect Sense is not only a well-crafted film, it is also one with a heart, and a rather strong one. The love affair unfolds against the backdrop of an epidemic robbing every one of their senses; and the loss of each sense is preceded by enormous emotional turmoil, including the intense experience of grief, despair, and anger. This juxtaposition is particularly engaging as the lovers, wittingly portrayed as an epidemiologist and a chef, struggle with themselves for a relationship which seems to be nothing more than a lost cause; but isn't this the very essence of romanticism? Perfect Sense has much better things to offer than soothing or reassuring answers; it is a film about the brightest, warmest, and most courageous aspects of the human condition. This is a world where people may have lost their sense of taste, and yet restaurant critics continue to write reviews, commenting now on the temperature and the texture of food; where lovers seek each other out until, and despite, the inevitable end; where life refuses to give up and comply to the most harsh and devastating reality.   

Film quotes #3: She's So Lovely

listal.com

She’s So Lovely was directed by Nick Cassavetes in 1997. The screenplay was written by the independent film pioneer John Cassavetes, and is the only work of his to be posthumously released. His insightful focus on unconventional characters and his unique exploration of emotion are naturally ever-present. The film includes stunning performances by Sean Penn and Robin Wright as Eddie and Maureen Murphy Quinn, a couple deeply and madly in love. Half way through the film, Eddie gets arrested; he will be held in a psychiatric hospital for ten years, and Maureen will remarry. They will subsequently meet again, and claim each other; however, this is their last and particularly moving scene together while Eddie is in detention:

EDDIE: I think we ought to start our life old. And we have all the pain, and we’re feeble, and we look at our friends, and they’re feeble, they’re a hundred. But every day we get younger, and we have something to look forward to.

MAUREEN: You start out old, and then you get young?

EDDIE: You can’t take care of yourself but... there’s hope. And then, when you reach twenty, nineteen, twelve, ten, every day is really a new day, and it’s really a miracle.

MAUREEN: Eddie, you gotta get outta here.

EDDIE: And then you’re a baby, and you don’t know your life is ending, you just suck on your mother’s tit, and then you die.

Very much so

Em. Benaki St., Athens, 17.02.2012