Last year Rich Ruth (aka Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist Michael Ruth) released his superb album I Survived, Now It's Over, a superb mixture of neo-jazz fusion and experimental psychedelic music. His influences spread from Santana to John McLaughlin's cosmic attitudes and the sounds Tortoise gave us decades ago. His ambient influences were best shown on It's The Water. When I thought I Survived... was a studio album and can't work live I was proved wrong by the release of the live album from a concert for the release of I Survived... at his label Three Man Records. If your ears are willing for a new sound, so give him a chance.
One of the most interesting and confusing albums I listened to during the last weeks was Paste by Moin. I don't know what moin means but in northern Germany it is a way to say hello in the morning time. As far as I know Moin is a side project by Tom Halstead and Joe Andrews probably known as the masterminds of electronic pioneers Raime. To describe their music is difficult and for me it is a mixture of post-rock with dub elements and spoken words. But this words are not all they also created a guitar based sound fantastic bass-lines and the drum-work by Valentina Magaletti that I would like to compare Tortaoise did decades ago. Paste is a raw and emotional experience where you can't grab the core of their ideas. An outstanding album where you can hear new nuances the more you listen to.
Primrose Green by Ryley Walker was one of the best albums from 2015. Not only because I saw him live at these days I really liked him because he came across the same cosmic folk vein as Tim Buckley or John Martyn. Now he is back with his latest album Course In Faible recorded and produced in his hometown Chicago by John McEntire a former member of Tortoise and The Sea and Cake. This album is stamped by Walker's own unique voice and combines his eclectic influences like Nick Drake, John Martyn and Bert Jansch with a massive touch of prog-rock. It is not the album you can listen to every day but if you find the time to get into this record you might find the beauty in it. I guess this will be an overlooked highlight and someday a classic.
More than 20 years ago Tortoise released their second album Millions Now Living Will Never Die. I saw them first in 1995 supporting Eleventh Dream Day and was electrified by their sound. Never heard a band before using three drums, two basses and not singing a word. This experience made me follow them during the years. Many call their first album or TNT as their best but for me it was MNLWND just because of it's opening song Djed a perfect combination of Krautrock, dub, minimalism and electronic music. Can , Neu! and PIL could be proud of this distillation of their sound
One of those records that impressed me much this year was Ryley Walker's Primrose Green. My place is a really desert for live acts - especially when they mostly unknown and new. So I was lucky that he appeared in a small club a few days ago. So I decided to give myself a pleasure and join this concert. The distance to the venue was only 12 miles away but I had an endless journey going by public transport. It would be easy to go there by car - if you have one. A couple of weeks ago I sold my 14 year old car. It was a Volvo running by diesel and no carbon-particulate filter. In these times it is hard to drive to different cities with an automobile that hasn't a reduced emission. If you do it and the police will grab you you'll get a penalty about 80 EURO. In addition I live in the center of our town, go to work with public transport and don't use the car very rarely. Counting the miles I used the car for the last two month I added the miles and the result was the I drove almost 100 miles in this time. That was the last fact that I decided to sell this car because I think it is not necessary to have a own car, paying fees, insurance and taxes and don't use it. A friend of mine who is reselling cars made me a good offer and I sold my old car. That are the facts when I went to the gig. Moving 35 minutes from the middle of Stuttgart to a far away destination in the small mountains beside my hometown. I came easily to the place where the concert should take place. I arrived one hour before and there were not more than 15 people waiting for the artist to start. While I was sitting outside for a beer and a cigarette Ryley Walker appeared and I sat down with him to a pint of beer. It was a well conversation about the Chicago music scene. Then he left to get the gig done. I've been to many concerts during the last decades but less grabbed me the way he did. The show was awesome and I stood there and almost couldn't believe what I've seen. Ryley is an artists that treats his guitar like less people before. He played it with his fingers like a hurricane and I got a feeling right back in the late 70s where artists like Bert Jansch or Nick Drake showed up. He and his band played not that sound that's everybody's cup of tea. Listening to his very intimate song he some artists came up my mind: Tim Buckley, Van Morrison and especially Tortoise. Yes, Tortoise, a Chicago based band which combined rock, ambient and jazz in a very unique sound. I was so grateful that I took the travel to watch the show. Maybe the highlight of this year.
This is an edit of a live taped show by acidjacknyc who gives us maybe the best live taped music at all.
If I consider within the scope of this series what was this year importantly for me and how I have felt than I have to say that it was a good year. I spent a lot of time together with my kids watching them growing up and teaching them how to walk. Now they were old enough that we could take small conversations (as good as they are able to). Showing them the world outside our house and the beauty of our country satisfied me so much that most other things got back into second row. Although we only one small budget had we have resolved to drive ourselves with the children on vacation. Our destination was the Italian Adriatic. We stayed there in that so called eurocamp where you can rent a big tent including a fridge and three-leg couches. All you have to bring with was your sleeping utensils. On the whole camping place strict rules have been valid. So for example to be very quiet during the early afternoon and something like that. Not that this is the way to spent my holidays it was perfect for the kids. I remember the laughing eyes of my daughter when she took her first steps into the sea. Before we started our vacation me and my mates took the chance to watch a German game during the UEFA European Championship in England. We grabbed the chance for a cheap flight and a ticket to watch the first German game in Old Trafford against the Czech Republic. It was so much fun to watch football in an English stadium. I know that it might hurt you guys but I have to say a few words to the semi-final between England and Germany. England got a damn good team these days with the fantastic Paul Gascoigne (remember his great goal against Netherland), Alan Shearer, Paul Ince, Steve McManaman and Gareth Southgate. It was a very good game and for me these teams should play the final. But like many times Germany had a little more luck at the penalties.
Some records that I remember that was released in 1996:
Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die: Even if only because of 'Djeld' a perfect composition of dub, krautrock and understated guitars
Tocotronic - Wir kommen um uns zu beschweren: German guitar music and the start of the so called Hamburg school
Fugees - The Score: A record many people could agree to
Lighthouse Family - Ocean Drive: Nothing special but good pop music
Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded: Two great voices with good songs
Belle And Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister: Because I love most of the ting they did.
Some songs they perform duties this year:
If we had time to go to the movie we watched this:
The English Patient: Great drama with fantastic pictures
Fargo: Sensational crime movie by the Coen brothers
The People vs. Larry Flint: Fantastic biopic about about the Hustler
Michael Collins: Liam Neeson plays the Irish revolutionary leader very well
From Dusk Till Dawn: Robert Rodriguez shows us Mexican vampires
White Squall: Nothing more than a great movie
Before and After: Another superb drama with Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson
Mars Attacks: Weired movie about aliens finally killed by music
Brassed Off: Superb movie about what's important in life.
Some things that happened in the world this year:
Jacques Chirac announces the so called definitive end to Frensh nuclear testing // Chess computer 'Deep Blue' defeats world chess champion Garry Kasparov for the first time // Dictator Robert Mugabe is reelected as the President of Zimbabwe // IRA bombs again especially in Manchester // Germany wins the UEFA Euro 1996 in England against the Czech Republic by the first and last sudden death goal // Dolly the Sheep is the first mammal which is cloned from an adult cell.
Kruder & Dorfmeister were an Austrian DJ- and producer team well known for their remixes of pop, Trip-Hop and drum and bass songs. Their style reaches from Downtempo and Dub to Electronica and Trip-Hop. For me it was another step into a new musical era - and I never missed it. I grew up with that classic Rock and Roll and followed other music as you might know when you followed my little series. Their music gave me the kicks to search more music like this. It is one of those records I can listen to from start to the end and it always gets me down when I came home from work after a busy day. Most of the songs are timeless and after all I have to admit: It is a classic in this genre.
