Sunday, 11 December 2011

Thomas Köner - Permafrost


Music is a bubbling pot of emotions. If you throw out an adjective, there's probably a band, album or song. Desolation, euphoria, nostalgia, dread, these have all been done thousands of times with various degrees of success.

Thomas Köner makes empty music. Music devoid of emotions. Ambient drones, consisting of cold field recordings and very low synths. There is no pain, no joy here. Köner creates a world unlike any other, where even sound barely exists.

He doesn't make easy music either. In fact many would be quick to decide it's not even music, even that it's mainly silence. Köner's drones consist of whistling wind like noises, low cold bass and the occasional snatch of a crystalline synth. Köner doesn't make music for the end of the universe, he makes music that is only heard after the universe has imploded, brief echoes of what once was.

Yet despite it's lack of emotions, it's very captivating. Listening to it is almost a hypnotic experience, as you feel your surroundings dissolve and fall apart around you. The album is short for ambient as well; under 40 minutes, but it's the perfect length, meaning the album never feels too long. Permafrost is an almost perfect album, one that shows us a place too dark to put into words.


Thursday, 6 October 2011

Crywank - James Is Going To Die Soon (2010)

Who Is Crywank?: According to his last.fm Crywank is James Clayton trying as hard as he can to do some folk-punk influenced acoustic music with no previous experience playing guitar.

Who Does He Sound Like?: He's a lot like John Galm but completely different in another sense. You kinda have to listen to him to understand I think.

Why Should I Listen To Him?:
Crywank is heartbreaking, the name I can only assume is self mocking at the heartfelt emotions put into the song and gives you the impression that the guy singing them recognises this. The songs are simple from a musically point of view, but the lyrics are what really matters here. An album like this could have failed miserably if the guy didn't have the songwriting ability to pull it off. But he definately does. I'm not sure what James Clayton thinks about these incredible songs, but I think he's one of the best songwriters around today, and I think he is truely a poet.

I have to pay special attention to some of the lyrics and lines that really stuck out at me and made me stop and think how incredible they are.

"If I become nostalgia, you'll always love me more."

"My name is Casablanca,
and I'm practically alone.
I'd like to say I gave you away,
but we both know you where stole, by a stone."


"I want to be academic, confident and romantic,
but I just feel weird and overdramatic.
Daily reminders that I am pathetic.
When you're surrounded by it, it's hard to forget it."


"Each night I'm scared I'll die in my sleep.
Am I losing my mind or am I skipping beats?
I'll mouth nothing to no-one then call myself stupid,
it isn't helping anything but I won't hesitate to do it."



Song I Wish I'd Written: Hary Milk Shit On The Table




Honorable Mention: You Won't Meet a Girl Sat In Your Room Listening To Music (But Some Songs Can Still Give Butterflies)