a slow start to a fast year

Well yes it has been a slow start as Rabbi Rabbit has commented. In truth I’ve been a tad under the weather and undergoing some somewhat painful physiotherapy, and this in conjunction with the long wait for my new ergonomic therapeutic all singing all dancing office chair has led to the current state of affairs. And I’ve started my new novel, working title “2007 project”, and no, I’m not going to tell you all anything about it. Firewalls have ears, don’t you know.

But that’s not to say that it has been an entirely quiet Jan.

First gig of the year saw me and big Ol machete-ing our way through a dense forest of facial hair and student odour to the Roundhouse for the O Degrees of Separation Tour, organised by the Contemporary Music Network, the people who brought you last year’s Photophonic Experiment and Kitchen Motors Tours. This gig was a four ball featuring Weird Folk guru Devendra Banhart’s backing band Vetiver, goofy electro-nerd Adem, annoyingly dippy hippy pleased with herself but wonderfully named Vashti Bunyan (yes a relative of Pilgrim’s Progress Bunyan, but not of Queen Vashti) and last and, in truth the real reason we was there, the very wonderful indeed Juana Molina (pictured below) – check out http://www.myspace.com/juanamolina

Formerly Argentina’s favourite television comedienne, JM has produced three stunning albums of lilting honey dripping electronic tinged loveliness. I have tried on several occasions to catch her live but for some reason the gigs were cancelled. Was it worth the wait? I would admit to being biased but even the “professional reviewers” agreed she blew the others off the stage with her self-sampling sweet brew of mellow and delicious electro-acoustic harmonies. Can’t wait to catch her doing a full gig of her own.

My waiting for Juana was as nothing however compared to my waiting for Genty. 15 years in fact since the Compagnie Philippe Genty last performed on the London Stage, but they squeezed themselves on to the too too small stage of the Queen Elizabeth Hall with their latest production Vanishing Point. It is almost impossible to describe what their shows are or what they do to you. Mesmerising and meditative, they combine elements of puppetry, dance, mime and extraordinary visual effects to induce a dreamlike state in the viewer. Cardboard cut-outs morph into people, people morph into other people or into puppets, faces melt, the stage sags and expands, a giant insect tears away from its puppet masters, beating its legs to form a wild clackering sound. Wondeful stuff and I hope I won’t have to wait another 15 years for the next show. Check out http://www.philippegenty.com

So that was January, but oh what a year we have in store. So much to look forward to. New albums and tours from the big 4 – Air, Múm, CocoRosie and Bjork. And intriguing cross-pollenisations – Bjork working with Antony, CocoRosie with Icelandic contemporary classical musicians, Air incorporating traditional Japanese classical instruments into their repertoire. And two of the great German electronica acts return – Pole and Laub. Really I should take out shares in Amazon.

There’s no doubt that this is a critical and possibly defining year for this extraordinary electronic/contemporary classical/ffreakyfolky/music without labels new music. A couple of days ago saw a headline gig hosted by David Byrne at the Carnegie Hall in New York featuring erm Vetiva/Vashti Bunyan/Adem, CocoRosie, and the lovely and yet to be seen live by me Cibelle in a grand celebration of dreamy loveliness. Me and Big Ol were seriously considering flying out to New York for that one, just because it seemed so IMPORTANT. So it seems remarkable that the BBC in their infinite wisdom, have chosen this moment to cancel Mixing It on Radio 3. This wonderful programme has been my main source of discovery of new music; they gave me my first hearing of all of the bands in today’s bulletin bar Air, as well as, off the top of my head, the Necks, Deerhoof, Clogs, the Notwist, Tarwater, Jackie-O Motherfucker, Four Tet, Mira Calix, Susumu Yokota, Tunng, Dorine_Muraille, Matmos – oh the list goes on and on. Shame on you BBC.

SACK JEREMY BOWEN, NOT MIXING IT!

I’m also embarking on a new theatre initiative, ie going to the theatre, quite a lot it seems in the next few months.

Plus there’s the launch of the Latte Days Book Group Inc.

And yes I will be continuing to stick my cultural thermometer up the arse end of the contemporary world, so stay tuned.