Enon Acoustic

As mentioned a couple of posts ago, i had a chance to see Enon live again recently at the HereIStay festival in Sardinia. A couple of days later, while in Cagliari with Tostoini, we climbed into the car to hear Enon once again, performing and being interviewed for a local radio show called On Repeat.
The following week, back home in Duino, i tracked the show down online and found most episodes to be downloadable on its website. Something we hadn't heard at the time were the two acoustic versions that Enon played live in that occasion.
Since i've been listening to them over and over for the past weeks, i separated them from the rest of the recording for enhanced comfort. And since i've been appreciating the songs so much, i've decided to share them here.

Enon - Sabina (Acoustic live @ OnRepeat)
Enon - High Society (Acoustic live @ OnRepeat)
(right click to etcetera)

Unplugged sessions from Enon are something extremely rare, especially considering how versatile they are with electronic implements in studio (most of their creative process admittedly occurs there), and how energetically electric they are live. Sabina -from the recent Grass Geysers Carbon Clouds album- is rearranged here in an almost bossa fashion whilst maintaining most of the strength of the original. High Society, from the eponymous 2002 album, is performed in a slightly lackluster form but is still an interesting listen.

OnRepeat, the radio show which apparently generates live acoustic sessions only because the studio reportedly isn't big enough for electric ones, also has a fair amount of other interesting podcasts available at this link. There's plenty of good stuff to choose from: i personally ran immediately towards an episode with Comaneci and another with a band called June, of whom more will be said in an upcoming post.
Even Trabant recorded with them back in December. Here's hoping they release that podcast soon, too.

Dorival Caymmi, 1914-2008

I was shocked this morning to hear the news of Dorival Caymmi's death. He was 94 years old, so it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise, but it still feels like a strong presence is suddenly gone. Oh, he's still here of course, his songs are still all over the place and inspiring people every day. (Coincidentally, my winamp had been playing his songs on random much more often than usual over the past 2 days. Maybe it was trying to tell me something.)
You've heard his songs, even if you may not know it. Over the years, from the late forties onwards, his songs have been all over the place.

I've made a little compilation, with a dozen of his songs - as performed by himself and by many of his colleagues and a couple of tributes.
You can download it here. Link removed due to a DMCA copyright claim! The whole thing can be heard at this Spotify link, minus the offending track (the one from Jobim's final studio album, which apparently is now in copyright limbo).

Dorival was one of the giants that came before our musical forefathers, and his songs are part of the cultural mud that links us all and it's always good to go back to the genius and the simplicity of his songs, as if we were lizards remembering the time they were dinosaurs.


A quick runthrough of the compilation contents:
Gilberto Gil & Nana Caymmi - Buda Nagô
A tribute to the master, penned by Gilberto Gil and sung with Dorival's daughter (and Gil's ex-wife) Nana. I first heard this song at my first GG concert, back in 1997. It's from the 1991 Parabolicamara album.
Caetano Veloso - Coqueiro De Itapoã
From the 1982 Cores, Nomes album.
Stan Getz & João Gilberto - Doralice
From the quintessential Getz/Gilberto album, 1962. Once again, 24 years after the first time, a Dorival song is included in an international hit album.
Arto Lindsay & The Ambitious Lovers - Dora
Even in the New York post-No Wave, a Caymmi classic can't help showing up.
Tom Jobim & Dorival Caymmi - Saudade da Bahia
A beautiful, heartfelt rendition from two masters of 20th century brasilian popular music.
Carmen Miranda - O que è que a bahiana tem
From the late thirties, the first brasilian superstar makes this Caymmi song an instant classic.
Garganta Profunda - 365 Igrejas
I love the arrangement on this version, it works so perfectly.
The song has one of my absolute favourite lyrics, beautifully simple:
365 Igrejas, a bahia tem
Numa eu me batizei
Na segunda eu me crismei
Na terceira eu vou casar com uma mulher que eu quero bem
It doesn't get much simpler, or better than that. Why try to write complicated, thoughtful lyrics when things like this exist?
Elza Soares - Rosa Morena
An exceptional version from an exceptional voice.
João Gilberto - Rosa Morena
No version is however better than this one. This is from the famous session where João used up an inordinate amount of takes - 59 i think - just to get the right sound on the first "o" of the first word.
Gilberto Gil - Marina
Too poppy and overproduced perhaps (it was, after all, 1979) but it still works. Some songs are exceptionally hard to do wrong.
Tom Jobim - Maricotinha
From Jobim's final album, another duet. This time with plenty of jobims and caymmis on the backing track - they both had very extended musical families, most of whom were part of Jobim's recording team. A video of the rehearsals can be seen here.
Marlui Miranda & Ulisses Rocha - Promessas de Pescador
Even in such a different arrangement, the basics remain.
João Gilberto - Na Baixa Do Sapateiro
João's guitar sings one of Dorival's most famous songs. A classic rendition, Caetano recorded a cover of it (yes, a cover of a cover) on his Livro album, in 1997.
João Gilberto, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil - Milagre
The way the three voices blend together is a true marvel.
Gilberto Gil - Buda Nago
Gilberto Gil reprises his tribute, this time solo voice and guitar, at a 1993 concert in Umbria with Caetano Veloso.
Dorival Caymmi - Na Baixa Do Sapateiro
Just Dorival and his guitar.

One of those posts which don't really need a title (couldn't think of one)

Seriously, we have to reinstate some stereotypes in the world. Like eskimos. Do eskimos really exist, do they build igloos, fish from holes in the ice and make friends with seals? Or mexicans. Most mexicans i've met are a bit of a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, they were mostly fascinating, intelligent and friendly people, with interests varying from poetry to anthropology to music to easel painting. They were a disappointment because none of them was large, sported a moustache, wore an extremely wide sombrero and carried a guitar around to accompany their rancheras and boleros. Damn it, that's what mexicans are supposed to do. It's what we're taught at an early age. (They do eat bugs though)
When you're tiny, you will be shown picture books which occasionally display what is commonly known as foreigners. These are described as having standard appearances and behaviours. Living in a place with very strong ethnic diversity, a day does not go past without me witnessing somebody else's perfect idea of the world destroyed by reality, for example when europeans or south and north americans meet an african for the first time and discover most africans do not live in villages. They live in Cities. Cities. In Africa. You see something die within the poor westerner's soul as he realizes the world is not as interesting as he thought. Later he will even find out that africans are not cannibals. That in reality, they do not cook white people in a large pot, while one of them slices a carrot and adds it to the boiling water for flavor. Such a pity.
(Of course africans don't eat white people, that would be daft. Ever tried tasting a white person? Pretty disgusting. It would be an insult to african cuisine, which to my experience is quite delicious and has very rarely included bits of people inside.)

I have decided to actively search for and encourage stereotypes. They take us back to a simpler, happier world where all italians dress up as gondoliers and sing serenatas and where all canadians are mounties and lumberjacks.
More people in their countries should dress up in traditional garb and adopt stereotypical behaviour. It would definitely make the world a more interesting place.
Now russians, they're already in a good position. I've known a fair amount of russians, and most of them when prompted would actually do the cossack dance of old, legs swinging in the air and hands clapping to music, imaginary or otherwise. Also, all the russians i've met are alcoholics. This supports my argument even further.

Here I Stay Festival 2008: Day One, 25.07.08

We arrived while Il Moro E Il Quasi Biondo were finishing their set, and we put our tents up (and Roberta started to build her stand) while Vanvera was playing at the White Stage. Vanvera was good and enjoyable, but since there was a lot of running to and from the car with boxes and struggling with vegetation involved i can't remember a thing of it. What we did manage to see was Lupe Velez, who played at the Black Stage while we helped Roberta finish setting her stand up. They sounded a bit like Beatrice Antolini but without keyboards, a bit better and doing it for longer than her. Then there was a break for an hour while another band played at the White Stage, but since our stand was next to the Black one we stayed put around there. The next Black Stage band we saw was

Lush Rimbaud

Great job. 4-piece band quoting Fugazi and Disco Drive on the press release, sampled beats the drummer someties struggles to cope with but he needn't because they're doing great. Their Post-prog noise punk with uneven, sometimes oblique rhythms sounds a bit like what the Grateful Dead could have been in the '00s minus the blues, the beards and the embarrassing fans. I'd heard of them before but never seen them live: the former is well-deserved but the latter isn't. Had to resist the temptation of buying their cd.

After that Enon did their line check at the Black Stage, and Dos Hermanos started their set at the White Stage. Since things were pretty slow we decided to close shop and go watch

Dos Hermanos
Dos Hermanos will liven up your birthday party. They will bring girls to your party. They will bring the strongest booze you've ever tried to your party. They ARE your party. And they're sending you to bed without your supper.

More? Standing on his chair, the left half of the duo croons "Da Da Da" into a loudspeaker while Hermano #2 drums an obsessive beat. Obsessive and repetitive, but funky anyway. We don't know how they does it, but they jus' does it.

For fairness, Roberta's opinion was "perfect running-away-from-peasant-lynchmob music". Yes, she liked them too.

After them came Enon, who had obviously made the most of their soundcheck. I didn't take any notes down because i was too busy enjoying the show, but what i can say is that they sounded enormously better than last time i saw them (in Udine, in December, in a cellar), and i had already enjoyed it quite a lot that time.

The sounds were perfect and nice and loud - especially for those of us right in front of the stage. The sheer energy of the trio was something that has to be seen to believed: definitely one of the best bands currently active who you can still manage to see in DIY places like Friulian cellars or the Sardinian countryside. Their setlist (which -in its physical incarnation- i kept after the show and is quite a feast for the eyes) was fundamentally most of the latest album plus most of their previous hits, all played amazingly tight, surprisingly fast and with almost no breaks inbetween. The drummer in particular, clad in a Neil Young squared shirt and sporting a lumberjack moustache, stood out for the sheer energy of his performance. All in all, they played the best possible set and if it had been any better there would probably been a police intervention due to excessive coolness. No, they didn't play Daughter In The House Of Fools. Yes, it was that cool anyway.

Enon's setlist, w/guest

We were positively knackered after their set, so we headed back to our tents and fell asleep in mere minutes completely oblivious to how close the White Stage was and to how long the all-night deejay played.

That's all for day one of the festival. I'm going to skip day two because due to the things that happened that night i didn't manage to take notes on the concerts - or enjoy them, for that matter. But this is a topic that must be dealt with elsewhere.

The italicized comments are the ones i had written down during the festival, sometimes even during performances.

Hereistay Records/Festival official site here

Sardinia. Population: 1,655,677. Eyebrows: 827838,5 (figure it out for yourselves)

Since my feet are finally starting to recover from the long Livorno-Sardinia voyage, to the extent that there are now some parts of them that no longer hurt as long as i don't touch them too hard, i think i'm still in time for writing a post about my stay in Sardinia.
I don't plan to write too much, though, because i wouldn't know where to start nor where to end. The plan is therefore to take the twitter updates i was compulsively sending while on the road and expand on those with images and small anecdotes.
I wish i could embed twitter updates the way Warren Ellis does, but i don't really have the technical knowledge to do that on Blogger.

Background: It was Sunday, the 20th of July and Italia Wave had just ended. It had ended around 4 or 5 AM after something of a staff afterparty and something of a general falling over from exhaustion. So in the late afternoon/early evening we made our way to the ferry, which considering how little we were paying was expected to be of the dirty and dangerous kind, with rusty metal bits sticking out and sailors who have had pretty bad marine accidents ("his face was eaten by the seals, it was. Twice. They had to stick the bits back on with blu-tack" etc). Instead it was a luxury boat of the type where you see people with top hats and monocles. We got to sleep *indoors*. On a carpet, even. I had especially brought some heavy clothes for the crossing as i expected to have to sleep in a segregated corner outdoors ("there's no place left on these decks for your kind, only place available left's the plank") with seawater splashing over me and keeping an eye open for thieves, stowaways and mutiny. Instead, Luxury. Which means i had to lug a pair of heavy winter trousers and a warm heavy sweater in my rucksack for our entire trip through sunny Sardinia in late July. Just my luck.

anyway, on the morning of the 21st we got to Olbia:

Week begins in Olbia, basically an extension of the ferry arrivals ramp rather than a town. The roads are mysteriously uphill both ways.

11:45 AM July 21, 2008 from txt

Olbia is quite the ugly town, apparently existing only as a place for people to get off their ferries and bugger off towards the beaches as fast as they can. We had to spend the whole morning there, coming across nothing but cement, abandoned houses that were probably once beautiful and were now about to be thrown down, and one extremely bizarre church:


Bizarre, indeed. I'm still wondering what those hand signals in the tainted glass are, they look like something out of a Steve Ditko Doctor Strange comic.

Then we managed to bugger off to Alghero, on the opposite coast. A word of commentary on sardinian public transport: There isn't any. There's usually one bus or two a day to and from medium-sized towns, maybe more from larger ones. If there's a bus station there might be timetables scribbled on the walls. If there isn't one, which is usually the case, you're on your own. We had to make it across Sardinia using only public transport, in about five days. It was going to be a long five days.

Day 2, north of Alghero, coral reefs. What is coral anyway? Animal, vegetable, mineral, frenchman?

06:12 PM July 22, 2008 from txt

Alghero is a wonderful place. The camping we found was luckily within very short walking distance from the train station and even next to a bus stop. It bizarrely had the same name as one of the bands i work for, and was probably the best camping i've ever been to (long story short: Things worked). What the hell, i'm linking to it in case anyone needs a cheap and comfortable place to stay in Alghero because i was so damn pleased with the experience.

Day 3 outside Bosa, vegetation draws equally from 50's B-movies and Dr. Seuss illustrations. The rest of the landscape behaves accordingly.

08:03 PM July 23, 2008 from txt

If these ain't Dr. Seussish, i don't know what is.

Exploring natural caves, doing our best not to wake or offend any ancient phoenicio-atlantidean demigods, as usually happens in these cases.

08:08 PM July 23, 2008 from txt

Yes, this is the part that counts as having WACKY, WILD ADVENTURES.

Which reminds me of the time derf and i went to an abandoned slovenian village and accidentally activated some ancient magic stones or something and ended up getting chased out by a legion of cardboard cut-outs. Remind me to tell you about that someday.

Day 4. Leaving Bosa, where the sunbathers are usually gone by 6pm. Not because it's late, just because the sand is actually quicksand.

02:55 PM July 24, 2008 from txt

A word of information about Bosa Marina. DON'T GO THERE. It is that kind of beach you hear about in tabloids and newscasts. Bosa Marina is where you end up when you've been very very bad. It's not just that, it's the kind of place you end up in if yourself, most of your ancestors and a fair amount of your yet-to-be-born descendants have been really really viciously nasty.

Having no web is ok, it's the no mp3s that fries the mind. Hey Steve Jobs, where's my brain-implanted broadband wifi celestial jukebox?

10:41 PM July 24, 2008 from txt

I still stand by this assertion. without permanent connection to my mp3s, i am nothing. Almighty techie guys, what are you waiting for?
It must also be noted that after all that time away from the internet it took me a while to remember what Steve Jobs' name was.

Day 5. Morning: quartz beaches of Is Aruttas. Night: Enon live at Hereistay Festival with @Tostoini. Not bad, Sardinia.

02:56 PM July 25, 2008 from txt

Yep, pure quartz.

These pictures were taken around 7 AM because we wanted to be there before ANYBODY.
Small advice: if you go to the beach in Sardinia at 7AM, the water will be freezing.

From Is Aruttas we made it to Oristano, from Oristano to San Gavino and it was there that Tostoini came to rescue us. We were much darker, had lived in a tent for a couple of weeks, had lost some limbs and had also forgotten what the internet looks like. From there we went to Guspini, where the Here I Stay Festival was being held. More about the bands that played, and more importantly about what happened there, will be told in future posts.

I Hear A Symphony - a photoset on Flickr

"Instead of resting, as i was on the good side of tipsy, i started taking pictures of the very, very rare Pizzicato Five DVD box set which i had recently acquired, and of the images it created on my monitor.
This is probably the nerdiest photoset i have ever made and that i ever will, period.

This series is intended to be viewed as a slideshow."

Taken between 19:26 and 19:31 of Saturday, 29th of March 2008.
The Mp3 of the video pictured is here. (single version - 6.4Mb 201kps VBR Mp3 - Right click to download)

Sardinian posts coming soon, promise.

Kitty quote of the day.

If I can't get them to live in peace, I may have to move my computer out there and blog from the back yard while I play Traffic Cop at the cat dish.

-Mark Evanier, updating his readers about the inhabitants of his back yard.

The Plan.

You wake up and it's August and it's 7 AM, an hour after you went to sleep.
You get up, close all the windows and then turn the air conditioning on, setting it to maximum. You shave and shower. After the shower put your best clothes on: shirt, tie, long trousers, the whole works.
You then go to your room and get back into bed, and sleep until the remaining hours of daylight are over.

Closing tabs

I am in the process of closing tabs which have been open in my browser for some time. These are three of the most recent, and also interesting.

-Dave McKean finally has something like a website.
His name was one of the first things i ever looked for on the internet, now over a decade ago, and for quite the long while i had to make do with the very-excellent-anyway-but-still-not-official dreamline.nu, which has been closed for almost a year now.

-Rediscovered Delia Derbyshire experimental tracks, one of which (listenable at the link) sounds like it was made last weekend in somebody's basement but was actually done around 1967 at the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop.

-David Byrne and Brian Eno's new album, the very reassuringly titled Everything That Happens Will Happen Today will be out in a couple of weeks. David himself spills the beans on the project in this blogpost, and an official website is available for when the thing is released into the wild. I'm quite looking forward to this.

More, interesting if possible, content to come. August is a closing loose threads month this year.

Very personal post which nobody will really get anyway.

(I'm actually surprised i'm still logged into blogspot after over two weeks of not touching it, besides a single aborted attempt to post pictures of Danger Mouse's equipment for the Gnarls Barkley tour)

Small post just to say that the Cristina Donà poster on my door just slumped over on itself and apparently died due to the bizarre phenomenon of my door expanding a bit during the hottest days of the year, also causing it to be much harder to close and to sometimes open in a manner completely independent from human (and sometimes even feline) touch.

This is the same Cristina Donà poster i took off a wall while wandering through Rome at 2 or 3 AM with Andrés, Cristobal and Agi back in autumn 2003. The same one that has since been visible on various parts of my room since, including when i first made M. listen to the Goccia EP (ft. Robert Wyatt) the following year or so and when, last year, i was preparing to interview her for Fucine Mute. An instant after turning my sound recorder off, she proceeded to say something about my features being handsome. If i had left the recorder on a few more seconds, you would have been able to hear the sound of me blushing. The poster was also on my wall when i first listened to her sing TTD's song Sign Your Name, which was one of my favourites as a teenager (and let's admit it, it still is), on her 2008 Piccola Faccia album.

That's all, i just wanted to capture this little train of thought and send it out somehow. No big messages or morals or anecdotes, more like just the outline of an object i hadn't paid attention to in quite a while and the thought processes it activated by, well, slumping onto the floor.

UPDATE: And why, i hear you asking, haven't you just stuck the poster back up? Well, my dear reader who makes non-clever questions, the answer is that i've tried. And failed. I tried sticking it back up with the original sellotape, it flumped to the floor after few minutes. So i tried with new sellotape: same result. Further attempts involving blu-tack and industrial black tape (both of which i have a discreet supply of which i hide religiously in an undisclosed location somewhere within my room, considering they are two of the most requested human necessities on earth) were of no consequence. I have therefore resolved that the poster is no more, it has lost its will to live, and shall soon be rolled up and placed in the dark place where unused posters are placed, which in this case is not dark at all because i have no space left in my wardrobes or cupboards. How sad.