Above and Below (1968) by Wendy Abbott.
• “Thirty-two years after the five Central Asian countries of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan appeared on the world map, little of the region has been portrayed in film. Countries associated with the -stan suffix are perceived as dangerous or sinister.” Komron Ergashev on Central Asia and cinema.
• Old music: Alice Coltrane’s Carnegie Hall concert from 1971 has been available for many years as a high-quality bootleg but never the complete recording. The first official release next month promises to at last present a full performance.
• RIP Damo Suzuki, vocalist for Can during the group’s peak years. The Rockpalast concert from 1970 captured the group in impressive form shortly after Suzuki joined.
• “I’ve always been drawn towards esoteric phenomena: the illogical, the inexpressible, the impossible.” Dorothea Tanning talking to Carlo McCormick in 1990.
• “This film was shot live on the surface of an 8mm² chemical reaction.” As Above by Roman Hill.
• New music: Floating On A Moment by Beth Gibbons, and All Life Long by Kali Malone.
• At Unquiet Things: The art of Kiyoshi Hasegawa.
• Joel Gion’s favourite music.
• Esoteric Circle (1976) by Jan Garbarek | As Above, So Below (1981) by Tom Tom Club | Esoteric Red (1997) by Tao
RIP Damo. Very sad to see him go even though I knew he’d been ill, on and off, for a decade. His spirited determination and optimism to carry on creating and connecting with everyone against the odds is very inspiring. The one time i met him he was amused and patient as I fumbled forever for money in my pockets to buy a cd. That Can gig at Soest is absolutely cracking. They’re really cooking more or less from the word go. Spoon should really haven it in their Can live series. And on the other stage Hutter, Schneider, and Dinger. Probably no one at the time would have known how special the event would seem in the future. Happy travels in the beyond, Damo.
When they made Damo, HE broke the mould. Their next live release, out at the end of this month, fittingly features his final gig with them from 1973; RIP.
I discovered Alice Coltrane rather late so I’m really looking forward to that complete set.
As Above is terrific. If I’m remembering correctly Kubrick used a similar technique for some of the imagery at the end of 2001. The visuals have texture that CGI simply doesn’t possess. (The video is also very effective at half-speed. Even the music.)
Graeme: God bless WDR for recording all that stuff and keeping the tapes! The BBC really failed in the 1970s compared to Germany and France (Pop2) when it came to documenting the rock music of the time.
Modzilla: I’ve had a bootleg of that Paris concert for years, it’s a good one. Better, it should be said, than some of the ones they’ve released already in the live series. But even middling Can is still Can.
Stephen: I was thinking the same re: 2001. I think Kubrick’s shots were more chemicals on water but it’s a similar idea.