ALEXANDER HACKE - THE MAKING OF SANCTUARY
You don't necessarily have to go into a studio or on stage to record an album. In the new millennium one just packs the equipment into a small knapsack and roams about as in the dark ages: A hunter and collector. Hacke does it like this: He flies to the USA for example and visits his friends. Most of them are musicians. He asks whether he could record something with them and plays them the material he gathered elsewhere. By these means transports his loot from one location to the next. Gaining every place he goes. Always leaving parts behind, going further and picking up another batch, collecting audio in many places, pressing the record-button in various situations.
The location does have an impact on the perception. Concentrating on details that would be out of focus otherwise. Drive-In and Take-Away instead of Delivery-Service! Hacke is compiling a menu of specialties by digging and researching, not trying to preserve his finds or to put them on a pedestal.
Instead the audio-tracks are keepsakes he then filters, processes and mixes or partly even chucks out in order to make room for even more advanced creations. Applying a subtle cartography all the while not intending to be accurate. It is not about the exact reproduction of the before measured territory. Insignificant places get magnified out of proportion, capitals are being ignored on the world-map and entire landscapes are inverted. >Back in Berlin he then edits the clippings of his travel-itinerary and the local directory in order to build his sanctuary.
The album is in digipack format, including a 16 panel color booklet, each panel a photo of all the souvenirs he collected in the making of each track. The last panel is the trunk that houses his "Sanctuary", or collection of mementos.
The Making of 'Sanctuary'
HARMFUL - ELAINE
Next up it's Harmful, with the video to 'Elaine' from the bands album '7' featuring Bill Gould on guitar. The video for this was shot in approximately a day by Norwegian film director Espen J Jorgensen (The Sequential Art, Soundescapes, etc) "
"it was a case of going down to Germany,came in on Friday, started shooting in the afternoon, shot stuff on Saturday. Had to cut out a lot of shots (before shooting it), just trying to make the story work, removing the fat." Jorgensen tells me, he continues,"In the silly business called show business, or to be precise, the music business, record companies hire music video directors to make music videos. (Or, fool some poor schmuck into doing a video for free by telling him that he´ll probably make it to Hollywood if he does.) Billy Gould never asked me to do the Harmful music videos "Elaine" and "Tension". Bill had, at that time, already started scoring The Sequential Art, and since he´s basically done it for free, I felt that I wanted to give something back. So, I jumped on a plane to Frankfurt, and shot the "Elaine" in one day aprox. As time was limited and I had to catch a plane back to good olde, frosty Norway, I had to scrap a lot of scenes. The video is what it is, quirky, not really perfect, but, it was fun to do. And that´s the stuff I like to do - stuff which is down to earth, on the verge of amateurish to give it a human touch, but still out of touch".
Bill Gould: "I am a big fan of Espen Jörgensen; he is extremely focused in whatever he does, and I knew that it would be a productive collaboration from the start. But I had no idea as to the depths of his depravity until he brought out the mannequin."
FLATTBUSH - FUCK YOU UNCLE SAM
'Fuck you Uncle Sam' from Flattbush's Otomatik Attak album (or 'Dear Uncle Sam) as they changed it to on the album is a song about U.S. domination in the Philippines and the atrocities it has committed against the Filipino people.
Uncle Sam is the symbol of American government and American policy. He personifies the IMF-World Bank, the US military and capitalist consumerist culture. The song was written to expose and oppose U.S foreign policy in the Philippines.
The song itself is heavy, fast and brutal, but with those trademark Flattbush hooks.
Riko tells me:
"We wrote this song during the term of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. We were going to change the lyrics to make it more universal by including the rest of the U.S puppet regimes in the country but it's just going to be too wordy. Besides the past and present Presidents are all the same and the issue of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo a.k.a GMA is still relevant. Human rights violations are still rampant and the possibility of all-out U.S. military intervention still exists. The Filipino people are fighting to end this system of puppetry and war, but they are being repressed. Activists are being tortured and killed, amidst the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer due to continued U.S. control."
Riko continues "We hope this song will inspire people to fight for justice and end impunity in the Philippines. We also want American citizens to be aware of the Philippine situation and hopefully give pressure to their policy makers to stop using their tax dollars to fund local fascist governments in countries being controlled by the U.S. The repetition of the lyrics "FUCK YOU…" is intentionally disturbing because the truth is disturbing. The sad part is most people would rather stroke themselves and stroke each other to feel good. Obviously that is not our goal."
The video is as hard hitting as the songs lyrics, showing dead bodies, and the torturing technique water boarding. " The video is basically a bunch of existing pictures from the internet copied and pasted together. We also scanned some pictures from a book called "The Forbidden Book: The Philippine-American War in Political Cartoons". Like the song, it's a very disturbing book. What is very interesting about this book was that it wrote about how Mark Twain was very active against the Filipino American War and how African American soldiers defected to the Filipino side -- stuff that you will never learn in school unless you stumble into Flattbush or activism" says Riko.
Enriko Maniago " we can write songs that preach about sex, money, individualism, and lyrics that have thousands of interpretations or make mainstream beats that you think will sell. But we are not in it for the money. We'd rather use our music to expose the reality of the lives of the working class, and other sectors who are voiceless."
CAF - YA llEGO
CAF
'Ya llego' is the first video of "Colores y cadáveres", the bands third album. It was directed by Camilo Zuñiga and produced by Hernan Gaete.
The video depicts the band as characters with their heads being replaced by the instruments associated with each member, for example a drum for the drummer, microphone for the singer etc
The band who hail from Santiago, Chile, tell me "We call all our live performances "asesinato" (murder), and we take the count of them: asesinato nº1, asesinato nº2 etc.
So the video just show how our characters prepare a new murder.
The chorus of the song says " Is here, is here, is here... the band of shit, shitting your scheme".
The song does an excellent job of combining Jazz elements with hip hop style vocals and keeps the listener anticipating what is coming next.
From the day they first performed in Santiago, Chile, in 2007, they’ve been hitting the circuit of bars and clubs, including some major events like the Maquinaria Festival and in a self-booked tour to Haiti and Panama. They have been featured on the covers of their local music magazines and praised in the major periodicals.
To view these videos and more please check out Koolarrow on Vimeo
You don't necessarily have to go into a studio or on stage to record an album. In the new millennium one just packs the equipment into a small knapsack and roams about as in the dark ages: A hunter and collector. Hacke does it like this: He flies to the USA for example and visits his friends. Most of them are musicians. He asks whether he could record something with them and plays them the material he gathered elsewhere. By these means transports his loot from one location to the next. Gaining every place he goes. Always leaving parts behind, going further and picking up another batch, collecting audio in many places, pressing the record-button in various situations.
The location does have an impact on the perception. Concentrating on details that would be out of focus otherwise. Drive-In and Take-Away instead of Delivery-Service! Hacke is compiling a menu of specialties by digging and researching, not trying to preserve his finds or to put them on a pedestal.
Instead the audio-tracks are keepsakes he then filters, processes and mixes or partly even chucks out in order to make room for even more advanced creations. Applying a subtle cartography all the while not intending to be accurate. It is not about the exact reproduction of the before measured territory. Insignificant places get magnified out of proportion, capitals are being ignored on the world-map and entire landscapes are inverted. >Back in Berlin he then edits the clippings of his travel-itinerary and the local directory in order to build his sanctuary.
The album is in digipack format, including a 16 panel color booklet, each panel a photo of all the souvenirs he collected in the making of each track. The last panel is the trunk that houses his "Sanctuary", or collection of mementos.
The Making of 'Sanctuary'
HARMFUL - ELAINE
Next up it's Harmful, with the video to 'Elaine' from the bands album '7' featuring Bill Gould on guitar. The video for this was shot in approximately a day by Norwegian film director Espen J Jorgensen (The Sequential Art, Soundescapes, etc) "
"it was a case of going down to Germany,came in on Friday, started shooting in the afternoon, shot stuff on Saturday. Had to cut out a lot of shots (before shooting it), just trying to make the story work, removing the fat." Jorgensen tells me, he continues,"In the silly business called show business, or to be precise, the music business, record companies hire music video directors to make music videos. (Or, fool some poor schmuck into doing a video for free by telling him that he´ll probably make it to Hollywood if he does.) Billy Gould never asked me to do the Harmful music videos "Elaine" and "Tension". Bill had, at that time, already started scoring The Sequential Art, and since he´s basically done it for free, I felt that I wanted to give something back. So, I jumped on a plane to Frankfurt, and shot the "Elaine" in one day aprox. As time was limited and I had to catch a plane back to good olde, frosty Norway, I had to scrap a lot of scenes. The video is what it is, quirky, not really perfect, but, it was fun to do. And that´s the stuff I like to do - stuff which is down to earth, on the verge of amateurish to give it a human touch, but still out of touch".
Bill Gould: "I am a big fan of Espen Jörgensen; he is extremely focused in whatever he does, and I knew that it would be a productive collaboration from the start. But I had no idea as to the depths of his depravity until he brought out the mannequin."
FLATTBUSH - FUCK YOU UNCLE SAM
'Fuck you Uncle Sam' from Flattbush's Otomatik Attak album (or 'Dear Uncle Sam) as they changed it to on the album is a song about U.S. domination in the Philippines and the atrocities it has committed against the Filipino people.
Uncle Sam is the symbol of American government and American policy. He personifies the IMF-World Bank, the US military and capitalist consumerist culture. The song was written to expose and oppose U.S foreign policy in the Philippines.
The song itself is heavy, fast and brutal, but with those trademark Flattbush hooks.
Riko tells me:
"We wrote this song during the term of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. We were going to change the lyrics to make it more universal by including the rest of the U.S puppet regimes in the country but it's just going to be too wordy. Besides the past and present Presidents are all the same and the issue of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo a.k.a GMA is still relevant. Human rights violations are still rampant and the possibility of all-out U.S. military intervention still exists. The Filipino people are fighting to end this system of puppetry and war, but they are being repressed. Activists are being tortured and killed, amidst the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer due to continued U.S. control."
Riko continues "We hope this song will inspire people to fight for justice and end impunity in the Philippines. We also want American citizens to be aware of the Philippine situation and hopefully give pressure to their policy makers to stop using their tax dollars to fund local fascist governments in countries being controlled by the U.S. The repetition of the lyrics "FUCK YOU…" is intentionally disturbing because the truth is disturbing. The sad part is most people would rather stroke themselves and stroke each other to feel good. Obviously that is not our goal."
The video is as hard hitting as the songs lyrics, showing dead bodies, and the torturing technique water boarding. " The video is basically a bunch of existing pictures from the internet copied and pasted together. We also scanned some pictures from a book called "The Forbidden Book: The Philippine-American War in Political Cartoons". Like the song, it's a very disturbing book. What is very interesting about this book was that it wrote about how Mark Twain was very active against the Filipino American War and how African American soldiers defected to the Filipino side -- stuff that you will never learn in school unless you stumble into Flattbush or activism" says Riko.
Enriko Maniago " we can write songs that preach about sex, money, individualism, and lyrics that have thousands of interpretations or make mainstream beats that you think will sell. But we are not in it for the money. We'd rather use our music to expose the reality of the lives of the working class, and other sectors who are voiceless."
CAF - YA llEGO
CAF
'Ya llego' is the first video of "Colores y cadáveres", the bands third album. It was directed by Camilo Zuñiga and produced by Hernan Gaete.
The video depicts the band as characters with their heads being replaced by the instruments associated with each member, for example a drum for the drummer, microphone for the singer etc
The band who hail from Santiago, Chile, tell me "We call all our live performances "asesinato" (murder), and we take the count of them: asesinato nº1, asesinato nº2 etc.
So the video just show how our characters prepare a new murder.
The chorus of the song says " Is here, is here, is here... the band of shit, shitting your scheme".
To view these videos and more please check out Koolarrow on Vimeo