ODG023-OUI066 : Himiko Paganotti / Jazz Songs

Cover art : Anne Maizia

ODG023-OUI066 : Himiko Paganotti / Jazz Songs

After so many fabulous projects and travels with her voice, singing for people and genre as various as Touré Touré, Patrick Gautier, Sophia Domancich, Magma, Nguyên Lê... (bio), or SLuG (on Off, see here), Himiko finally tries to have some fun with Jazz!

And this is a superbe try as not only she sings beautifully those classical jazz songs, but she is also naturally followed in her desire by her husband Emmanuel Borghi (bio) who wanted to help her to discover new territories for her voice.

Backed by a quartet of fantastic musicians, she is delivering four songs for now, but they will go back in the studio soon to record a full album (here).

Mixed by Ludovic Lalen and mastered by Pierre Vervloesem.

Digital only release at a bargain price on the 26th of May 2014.

Himiko Paganotti: voice

Emmanuel Borghi: keys

Nicolas Rageau: bass (he has play, among others, with: johnny Griffin, Benny Golson, Kenny Wheeler, Grant Stewart, Manu Katché, Claude Bolling...)

David Prez: tenor sax (bio and website)

Philippe Soirat: drums (bio)

Tracklisting:

1) Never let me go

2) My one and only love

3) You must believe in spring

4) Candy

Here is a very nice pice of writing ( in French) about Himiko's past, present and future works and about this Ep: " Gimme a Hi, gimme a Mi, gimme a Ko...Himiko!" (here).

The beautiful cover art is by Anne Maiza (website here) after a pic from Thierry DocMac.

Itunes, Apple Music, Deezer, etc.:

https://bfan.link/jazz-songs

And on Bandcamp:

OVD003 : Les Boucles Absurdes / Lines

cover art by Patrick Pirlot

ODV003 : Les Boucles Absurdes / Lines

Following the release of their fantastic album 'Boîtes à Tartines' in 2013 (here), Les Boucles Absurdes is back with a digital release Ep. 

Jean-Pierre Jonckheere (here), master of the band, asked four renowned Belgian musicians to take a track or parts of it and gave them total freedom to reconstruct or remix it the way they wanted.

The result, depending of the mood of the musician, is four very different versions and variations of the music on the album.

The guest musicians are Seesayle (here), Pierre Vervloesem (here), Clémentine Collette aka DJ Clémix (here) and Gilles Mortiaux (here, here, here and here).

Digital only release at a bargain price on the 14th of April 2014.

A nice review (here) in United Mutations:
"The result is quite fascinating
Seesayle takes the mysterious approach. Subdued vocals and eastern elements make her contribution a perfect and impressive start.
Pierre Vervloesem continues with a (re)mix that adds powerful beats and enchanting guitar lines. Great.
Next up is Clémentine Collette (also know as DJ Clémix). This must be the club / dub version. A great beat with a fine bass line. Nice. Very nice.
The final 'Line' is drawn by Gilles Mortiaux. Gilles remix begins rather spooky and chaotic, and slowly turns into a rock song. Almost. Beautiful layers.
The funny thing is that these four different remixes and approaches fit together very well."

And a German one in Ragazzi magazine: here

Tracklisting:

1) Red Line : featuring Seesayle

2) Brown Line : featuring Pierre Vervloesem

3) Green Line : featuring Clémentine Collette

4) Black Line : featuring Gilles Mortiaux

And on Bandcamp:

OCD017 : Soldier Six / Lost at Timekeeper's Gate

OCD017 : Soldier Six / Lost at Timekeeper's Gate

Finally a Belgian rock band which gave me gooseflesh the first time I heard one of their songs. 

So Off is proud to present the debut album entitled ‘Lost at Timekeeper’s Gate’.

An album incorporating sounds, ideas and views they gathered over the past three years. Making the album one high speed train by embedding all tracks in field recordings.

It was recorded in the summer of 2013 and produced by Teun Verbruggen (Jef Neve Trio, Flat Earth Society, The Bureau Of Atomic Tourism). Mixed and mastered by Pierre Vervloesem ( dEUS, Flat Earth Society, BRNS). The album will be released on February 24th 2014 for the digital version and on the 28th for the physical one.

The band is formed by three young wolves with an appetite for wild punching arrangements, distortion, pins-on-the-dance-floor and a voice that’s taken care of daily by a glass of liquid lead and nails.

In other words, they dare to hit the bend real hard, but they got more than enough hooks to keep them on the road. Nasty garage-rock, math-rock, reminder of industrial noise with catchy tunes and a serious dislike for clichés. The result is a blend of all things rock with a definite weird twist. And it works!

Think Muse meeting King Crimson period ‘Red’ or Queen of the Stone Age meeting Dinosaur Jr and you will only get a small idea of their sound.

SOLDIER SIX is based in Brussels, Belgium and are: 

Vitja Pauwels: Guitar,Synth&Vocals

Rudy Pelicaen: Bass

Tim Welkenhuysen: Drums

Vitja is also one of the guitarist of 'They Call Me Mr. Fluff (here)

They will play live a lot in 2014 , so don't miss them!

Reviewed (here in full) in Caleidoscoop by Jan Wilm Broek :

" Deze is bijzonder origineel en daarom ook niet eenvoudig te bestempelen. Ze brengen op luide wijze zoveel stijlen, dat wanneer je er een stempel opdrukt ze alweer iets anders maken. Klinkt chaotisch, maar dat is het totaal niet. Ze smeden op coherente wijze één geheel, alleen met steeds weer verrassende wendingen. Nergens wordt het voorspelbaar en nergens doen ze iets clichématig. In de basis zou je kunnen zeggen dat ze prog rock maken, maar dit wordt met enige regelmaat aangevuld, doorkruist dan wel afgewisseld met math-rock, noise, garagerock, psychedelische rock, synthesizermuziek, wave, stoner, jazz en funk, dat ze op ludieke wijze aaneen weten te rijgen. Een soort eigenzinnig locomokipkanariefantje van de muziek. Op dynamische en energieke wijze brengen ze hun innovatieve kracht en pracht ten gehore. Je hoort tussendoor ook gewoon het praten van de jongens tijdens de opnames; alsof alles puur, zonder opsmuk en direct op het album moet komen. Nu heeft het ook de intensiteit van een live concert en is het knap dat ze een dergelijke sensatie op cd weten te vangen. Om enig idee te krijgen hoe dit klinkt, moet je denken aan een intrigerende kruisbestuiving van The Mars Volta, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Cardiacs, Queens Of The Stoneage, Deftones en Drive Like Jehu. De pakkende, caleidoscopische muziek is echt een muzikale kaakstoot waarmee menig genregenoot meteen gevloerd wordt. Grote klasse en een moddervette belofte voor de toekomst!"

Another great review (here in full) by Dirk Steenhaut : 

Metaljazzsoldaten

"U begrijpt: Soldier Six draait de volumeknop graag wijdopen. Maar de groep heeft net zo goed catchy nummers in de aanbieding, zoals de zigzaggende single ‘Wide-Eyed Kid’ (op ons eigen landgoed nu al een hit). ‘Wastelands’ steunt op logge Black Sabbath-riffs en ‘Shark Ethic’ schiet uit de startblokken als nerveuze, hoekige funk, van het type dat ook de jonge Foals al in de manen hadden. In ‘The Creator’ en ‘Dead Fish Au Mur’ horen we echo’s van met jazz flirtende Amerikaanse indiebands uit de jaren tachtig en negentig, type fIREHOSE en Karate, al twijfelen we er eerlijk gezegd aan of de leden van Soldier Six met die referenties vertrouwd zijn. Op andere momenten vallen dan weer pijlen te trekken naar King Crimson en Triggerfinger. Toch zijn die namen niet méér dan wegwijzers voor wie ‘Lost At Timekeeper’s Gate’ nog niet heeft gehoord. Het trio weet zijn invloeden namelijk zo organisch te versmelten dat ze er sowieso iets eigens uit puren.
De niet altijd even grammaticale teksten blijven voorlopig de achilleshiel van Soldier Six. Vitja Pauwels lijkt zich meer te laten leiden door de klank van de woorden dan door hun betekenis. Toch ontvouwen zich na enkele luisterbeurten thema’s als misantropie, vervreemding, verstoorde communicatie, het verlies van idealen en de strijd van het individu tegen de verstikkende buitenwereld. “Living a lie / Burning mind’s eye / Consciousness fades / Body decays”: vrolijk word je er niet van. Maar naar zinsneden als “The only sin is stupidity” en “The only crime is getting caught” te oordelen, zijn deze metaljazzsoldaten zeker niet gespeend van ironie."

Other reviews in Flemish: damusic , Cutting Edge

English review (here in full) by Zachary Nathanson :

"This up-and-coming trio from Belgium has completely taken me by surprise after hearing a couple of their compositions that had my jaw dropped to the floor. It has the combinations of Post-Rock, Garage Rock, and Fast-Driven beats that will keep you up on your feet from the moment you plug in and dance to the rhythm of the sound and the vision since they recorded the album during the summer of last year... I have listened to Lost at Timekeeper’s Gate about ten times already and Soldier Six have finally came in at the right time at the right place to create some strange, weird, hypnotic, and electronic rock album. And it proves that they have finally done an amazing job to get your seat belt ready for an adventure you will never ever forget."

German reviews (here) in Babyblaue and (here) in Magazin Amboss.

Track listing:

1:  Wide-Eyed Kid

2: 7 Steps to Ear Damage

3: The Creator

4: Spaghettification (or Gettingsuckedintoablackhole)

5: Shark Ethic

6: Dead Fish au Mur

7: Wastelands

8: Noise To/o Noise

Special price when you order OCD017 + OCD030, check under:

And in Bandcamp:

Prices

World shipping €12,00 EUR OCD017+OCD030 €20,00 EUR

Just for fun, here under is a video from March 2013, a song (not on the album) called Mary Jane:



and another new one:

ODG022 : They Call Me Mr. Fluff / Plastic People

                                                            Cover art by Lore Troch

ODG022 : They Call Me Mr. Fluff / Plastic People

'They Call Me Mr. Fluff' is a one-year-old instrumental trio with two guitars, drums, occasional synthezisers and samples.

With Londerzeel (situated between Brussels and Antwerp) as operating base, they tend to play some kind of kick-ass progressive violent electro-rock from outer space named zombie-beat, with an appetite for odd rhythms in unusual time signatures and complex but stunning harmonies. Nothing is unimaginable for these guys.

During the summer of 2013 they recorded their first EP 'Plastic People' at Pascal Snoeck's home studio in Ternat. The mixing and mastering was done by jedi master Pierre Vervloesem. The result makes us think of bands like 'Dub Trio' or 'Meshuggah', only differently.
Edger Van Rompaey : (bariton)guitar & synthesizers
Olivier Penu : drums & samples
Vitja Pauwels (also in Soldier Six, see OCD017 and  OCD030) : guitar & synthesizers 

One video:



Digital release only on the 31th of January 2014.

Track listing:

1) Rest Ur Dangerous You
2) Don't Tell Anyone
3) You Want It All
4) Moving Daylight
5) Hard Five
6) On a Sunny Day (She Left Me)
7) Cold-Eyed Death Stare

ODG021 : Roedelius & Christopher Chaplin / Live at Silencio - Paris

ODG021 : Roedelius & Christopher Chaplin / Live at Silencio - Paris

Third and final release of the Roedelius duets is the concert Roedelius (bio) and Christopher Chaplin, late son of Charlie Chaplin (here, bio, discogs) at Silencio in Paris on the 7th of December 2012.
The concert was part of the presentation of the sculpture-audio "Grateful Vanity" of designer/artists duo  Florence Deygas and Olivier Kuntzel with the music of Roedelius.

This concert was the following of a duet with Jean-Benoît Dunckel (from Air, see here) at Silencio in Paris on the 8th of September 2011 and another duet with Christoph H. Müller (from Gotan Project, see here) at The CDA in Enghien on February 15th 2012 They are to be released respectively on the 6th, 13th and 27th of January 2014.

This release sees also the last cover by Kiekebiche. He was the designer of all the covers and image of Off from the start till end 2013. Off wants to thank him again for all those beautiful images, involvement, time, creation and advices. Kiekebiche is going back to what he does best: painting! We will miss him and wish him all!

Track listing:

1) Live at Silencio - Paris ( 66 min)

                                                                      Christopher and Roedelius prior to the gig
                                                       

ODG020 : Roedelius & Christoph H. Müller / Live at the CDA - Enghien

ODG020 : Roedelius & Christoph H. Müller / Live at The CDA - Enghien

Second release from the Roedelius duets is the concert Roedelius (bio) and Christoph H. Müller from Gotan Project (here, Gotan, discogs) did in Enghien at The Cda on February 15th 2012.

The concert was part of the presentation of the sculpture-audio "Grateful Vanity" of designer/artists duo  Florence Deygas and Olivier Kuntzel with the music of Roedelius.

This concert was the following of a duet with Jean-Benoît Dunckel ( from Air see here) and was followed by another duet with Christopher James Chaplin ( late son from Charlie Chaplin) at The Silencio on December 7th 2012. They are to be released respectively on the 6th, 13th and 27th of January 2014.

Track listing:

1) Live at The CDA - Enghien ( 54,49 min)

                                                    Roedelius and Christoph H. Müller

and a nice teaser of Roedelius and Mueller:

ODG019 : Roedelius & Jean-Benoît Dunckel / Live at Silencio - Paris

ODG019 : Roedelius & Jean-Benoît Dunckel / Live at Silencio - Paris

First of the three Roedelius duets series to be digitally release is the fabulous concert Hans-Joachim Roedelius (here, bio, discogs) and Jean-Benoît Dunckel, half of world famous French band Air (bio, discogs) did at the select David Lynch Silencio club (here) in Paris on September 8th 2011.
The concert was part of the presentation of the sculpture-audio "Grateful Vanity" of designer/artists duo  Florence Deygas and Olivier Kuntzel with the music of Roedelius.

                                Pic of Florence, Olivier, Roedelius and the sculptures by Mohamed Khalil

Hans-Joachim Roedelius, born in Berlin in 1934, has long been regarded as a pioneer of ambient music. In the early 1970's his band Cluster made several recordings with Brian Eno. Since then, his extraordinarily prolific career has resulted in over 80 albums, many of them collaborations with musicians from all over the world. 

This is what Jean-Benoît said in an interview in "A certain view of life" on the fifth of October 2011:

Quelle expérience la plus forte avez-vous vécu cette année?

« Mon experience la plus forte a été musicale. J’ai fait un concert avec l’artiste Roedelius du groupe Cluster au Silencio et j’ai beaucoup aimé son détachement, sa facilité de jeu, sa façon d’approcher la musique . Liberté de faire sans nervosité ou appréhension, très détendu.

Finalement j’avais oublié que jouer de la musique doit être aussi un moment agréable, et que ce qu’on entend est le reflet de ce moment. J’ai acheté donc des coussins pour mon studio d’enregistrement. »

What was the strongest experience you have lived this year?

"My strongest experience was musical. I made a concert with the artist Roedelius (from the band Cluster) at Silencio and I liked a lot his detachment, his ease of play, the way he approaches music. Freedom to play without nervousness or apprehension, very relaxed.

Finally I had forgotten that to play music has to be also a pleasant moment and that we hear is the reflection of that moment. I thus bought pillows for my recording studio."

This concert was followed by a duet with Christoph H. Müller (from Gotan Project) at The CDA Enghien on February 15th 2012 and another duet with Christopher James Chaplin ( late son from Charlie Chaplin) at The Silencio again on December 7th 2012. They will be released respectively on the 6th, 13th and 27th of January 2014.

Track listing:

1) Silencio, Pt.1

2) Silencio, Pt.2
3) Silencio, Pt.3

4) Silencio, Pt.4

5) Silencio, Pt.5

6) Silencio, Pt.6 (after the track "The Shade" written by Eno, Moebius, Roedelius from the album "After the Heat")

7) Silencio, Pt.7 (after the track "By this River" written by Eno, Moebius, Roedelius from Eno's album "Before and after Science")

8) Silencio, Pt.8

9) Silencio, Pt.9

10) Silencio, Pt.10 (after the track " Wobbly Flu Twilight" written by Tim Story, Roedelius from the album "Lunz")

11) Silencio, Pt.11 (after the track "Murmering Mermaids" written by Tim Story, Roedelius from the album "Lunz")

12) Silencio, Pt.12

13) Silencio, Pt.13 (after the track "Clue" written by Tim Story, Roedelius from the album "Lunz")

14) Silencio, Pt.14

15) Silencio, Pt.15