Although their collective nose was rather put out of joint by the release of Walls Have Ears – it was, after all, unsanctioned – contained within its fiery orange pumpkin cover, the album nevertheless remains an early jewel. Some inspired unofficial curation has caught ferocious live interpretations of an hour and a half worth’s of material culled from their first two albums and some which would appear for the first time the following year on Evol.
Daily archives: 08/02/2024
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Bureau B Robert Wiene’s 1920 film of The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari is the cornerstone for all expressionist film-making and one of the jewels in the crown of Weimar Germany’s art. Filmed at what would become the UFA studio in Berlin, Dr Caligari was created on the large soundstages there using painted backdrops and even painted shadows. Its sets were skewed to give a dreamlike effect throughout the […]
Noble's Reynard is as wise, playful and tricksy as ever, but there's a noirish modernity to the proceedings, putting one in mind of TS Eliot or Iain Sinclair, with Reynard as the ultimate flaneur, shifting effortlessly from the green of the countryside to the greys and neons of the city, from the terror of the hunt to the tedium of the office.
On the strength of this, his sophomore album, he has left any pure jazz strains far behind and is instead forging ahead with his own recipe for the guitar trio, blending blues, Balkan and scratchy improv into a wholesome stew. Choosing the backing of bassist Tilman Oberbeck and percussionist Jan Zeimetz has imbued this album with a more exploratory sound compared to 2020's Szvetlo and you can feel his confidence rising. Although shorter in length, it feels more assured and more willing to take risks.
The film takes this classic western trope, establishing a small band of characters and setting them off on an expedition, but foregrounds the violence and cruelty at the heart of their quest, with every encounter they stumble upon drawing more and more out of them, and further brutality into the story.
Although a year in the making, only three days were spent in the studio recording Ville Blomster. That spontaneity, as well as Liv's manner of writing in her apartment with the windows open, allowing life to suffuse the compositions, comes through in the end result.