colleen

A mostly high energy mix perfect to close the year on an upbeat note (that C.K.Mann “Medley” being high on my list of all-time African favorites – please play this loud!!!). Tomorrow I’ll have something even more energetic to start 2021 with the right bass-heavy vibration!
For once I’ll be brief and will just say THANK YOU for your support: it has meant more than you can imagine. Can’t wait to pay you back with new music, May 2021, @thrilljockey.
Also never knew I’d miss the mess, stress and bliss of playing live this way. “Don’t it always seem to go / That you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone”. Photo from my soundcheck before my show in Cork, Ireland, 2 November 2013 (Mark and Craig Carry /Fractured Air thank you).

MIX LINK – DOWNLOADABLE – PS: the Haruna Ishola track is missing from Dublab’s tracklist.
Sonny Rollins – East Broadway Run Down
C.K. Mann & His Carousel 7 – Medley
Arthur Russell – The Platform On The Ocean
Zimbabwe: The Soul Of Mbira / Traditions Of The Shona People – Dangurangu
Yabby You – Big Youth Fights Against Capitalism [King Tubby’s Version]
Amy Denio – Hey Hey #3
John D Loudermilk – Laura
Family Fodder –Malfunction
Video Aventures – Laissez-Nous Entrer Dans Vos Cœurs 
This Heat With Mario Boyer Diekuuroh –  Various Cassette Recordings 1977-78
Alhadji Haruna Ishola & His Apala Group – Egbe Omojaiyejaiye, Shagamu
Boutaiba Sghir – Malgre Tout
Albanie, Polyphonies Vocales Et Instrumentales,- Kava
Sonny Rollins – East Broadway Run Down

If like me, for personal and/or Covid reasons, the only biped you’re spending the so-called festive season with is the person you see in the mirror every morning (and in that case, I hope that also like me, you are lucky enough to share your life with a couple of furry quadrupeds), chances are you could do with more great music in your life, so without further ado… Back to the mix retrospective I had started a couple of months ago, which I had to interrupt when work on LP7 got really intense.

6 long years elapsed between my 3rd album Les ondes silencieuses and my 4th The Weighing of the heart. Sometimes it just takes time to rebuild yourself artistically.
Some of my biggest inspirations were Arthur Russell and Moondog. Also lots of non-Western strings (Brigitte Fontaine, Alain Peters, Zainidin Imanaliev, Violeta Parra), influencing my way of playing my violas.
The Gareth Williams/Mary Currie, Stina Nordenstam and Laurie Anderson songs were almost «templates» for me in terms of mixing traditional song structure with experimentation.
African Brothers Band I just love as it has that rare quality of being both melancholy and joyful at the same time, with that unimitable African groove and warm sound.
The Yabby You/Lee Perry track points to what I already felt like doing but didn’t have the time to achieve except on «Breaking up the earth», announcing the flavour of Captain of none.
Mix made for the label that released The Weighing, Second Language Music. Eternal gratitude to Glen Johnson/Textile Ranch/Piano Magic, David John Sheppard/Snow Palms and Martin Jensen/The Home Current.

Moondog – Voices Of Spring
African Brothers Band – Kyeremirekuku
Gareth Williams And Mary Currie -Generous Moon
Alain Peters – Mangé Pour Le Coeur
Laurie Anderson – Big Science
Yabby You / Lee Perry – Rally Dub
Stina Nordenstam – The World Is Saved
Brigitte Fontaine – La Fille Du Curé
Zainidin Imanaliev – Küidüm Chok
Violeta Parra – La Pericona Se Ha Muerto
The Kiwi Animal – Time Of The Leaves
The Servants – People Going Places
Arthur Russell – Place I Know/Kid Like You

Two days ago Antony Ryan of Red Red Paw mastering sent me the finished masters of LP7. I can’t wait to let you hear it and let you know more about it. All I can say for now is that it closes what has been one of the most challenging and rewarding years of my life, which unexpectedly gave rise to one of the strongest creative waves I’ve ever had the chance to ride.
So much so that I’ve already started to work on LP8.
But there’s another reason for this: LP7 ended up being a completely different beast to what I originally had in mind when I started working on it in the summer of 2018. I was planning to make a “weirdly danceable / weird dance” album (I got the Elka Drummer One from Soundgas just for that). But in early 2018 I was hit hard by a chronic autoimmune disease: long story short, it was first left untreated due to an incompetent doctor, and it then took almost 2 years to finally get to the point where adequate treatment gave me back my normal life: a life in which I can actually get up and have enough energy to get things done.
By the time confinement hit Spain in March of this year, I was feeling the best I had in years, but then a major “life derailment” occurred and all of a sudden, it was clear I was not going to make that “weirdly danceable” record: LP7 was restarted from scratch and became what it needed to be.
Fast forward to now, and the desire to make that danceable record is stronger than ever, so you’ll not only get LP7 in spring 2021, but also – if all goes well – LP8 in spring 2022 on Thrill Jockey Records
Talking of 2021-2022, given current Covid circumstances, it’s unfortunately clear to me that I won’t be able to tour the US at the time of release of LP7 (I’m crossing my fingers for a few shows in Europe, but only if this can be done in a responsible way). What I’m hoping to do with all my heart is touring the 2 albums in spring 2022, when hopefully the world is back to a more normal state in which hugging and being together is once again possible.

Photo by @luistorroja (gracias Luis 😃😃😃).

Clothes handmade by myself, Hadley top Grainline Studio, pants self-drafted.