Monday's Long Song

 

It’s already August and I have to move into a smaller flat in the next few weeks. I had most of my furniture moved last week. Now I just need to sort out the items that I won’t have room for in my new flat. The good thing is that my new home is just across the road; the bad thing is that I find it hard to part with things that have been with me all my life. But these are simply the challenges of life that I have to face up to.

There’s still a lot to do before the final move, time is running out, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to keep updating this blog as usual over the next few weeks. But I’ll do my best.

Today’s track is taken from Michael Rohter’s first solo LP, released after he left NEU!. Flammende Herzen is a masterpiece of meditative guitar sound – warm yet ethereal. 

Michael Rother - Zyklodrom

New Song On Sunday

 

Today's song is not new, it's a contemporary interpretation of a forgotten song from 1984. The first single by David Sylvian was released on his debut album Brilliant Trees after his band split up. On this album, he turned his back on the sound of Japan and, together with the Japanese pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto, embraced a more jazzy sound without compromising his own style. The result was a veritable hit in the charts at the time.

More than 40 years later Kent's based electronic duo Puerto Montt City Orchestra transformed this song into a Balearic tune. The press release describes the song as follows: A 'Balearic Beat' that's now much more Mike Francis. The keys are rolling. The B-line roots reggae. The fretwork matching jazzy, cool and breezy electric with strummed acoustic. Sexy, spoken Spanish baritone narration countering Maya Blandy's ethereal lead vocal. It is rare enough for this description to apply.

And as a bonus the beautiful original, directed by Anton Corbijn.