Merchants Of Air
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • Concerts
  • Interviews

Eline's 2017 list that is not a list

26/12/2017

Comments

 
Picture
In 2017 I only wrote a review or five. Of course I've heard a massive amount of massively awesome stuff while or after Serge was reviewing it, or after the albums were added to our day-to-day playlist, but I suffer from bad memory so it's hard for me to get new names into my head. There are only two new albums that really stood out for me: 

Bathsheba's - Servus and a live recording of a concert by Foudre and Christine Ott as a soundtrack to a movie called 'Earth'
But I've been doing some listening to music that has been released before 2017. For the first time in my life, for example, I listened to Pink Floyd's 'Dark side of the moon' while doing nothing else but reading the lyrics in a karaoke way or sitting with my eyes closed. Of course I had heard tons of songs by Pink Floyd before, mostly in our day-to-day playlist, and when I was a teenager I only knew their 'Wish you were here', which I must have played about a thousand times. I also listened to CHVE's 'Rhasa' in 2017, Mike Oldfield's 'Ommadawn' and one of my all-time favourites, 'Discovery'. Bonobo's 'Black Sands' and Tangerine Dream's Stratosfear'. And to the few albums that I reviewed. And there this tiny list already stops.

Maybe that is the reason why I haven't written write many reviews yet: I think it's your duty as a reviewer to focus all of your attention only on what comes out of your speakers or headphones. No checking out info on the band or trying to find an intro, no conversations or social media or reading or walking in and out of the room while doing chores, no daydreaming or worrying or contemplating, nothing: just stay where you are and consume the music. It is as simple as it is almost impossible. Yes, I can listen to albums in public transport or while walking, but even though I have very good headphones, I still partially focus on the road, the landscapes that pass by, the book I'm reading, what the other people are up to or what my mind is yapping about. That is not 100% attention, that is not listening in the right sense of the word. It took me more than two years of mindfulness practice to be able to listen to music.

And it pays off. I hear new aspects in songs that I already knew by heart. I transform into the feeling that the artist has put in there. I truly appreciate their hard work. I am in the moment. Maybe that's why I'll focus on concerts that I've seen in 2017 for the rest of this article, because at a concert it is much easier to focus on the music alone - if the audience would read and apply
Serge's guidelines for concerts, that is.

And do you know who is responsible for my new ears? Cecilia, the old soul in the body of a young lady, protagonist of Serge's debut 'Cecilia's World'. I'll insert a small break while you go and buy that book: 


​
There you go. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I did editing it and re-reading it. Because I don't want to favour one of the headlights of 2017 above the others, I'll go through some mind-blowing concerts I went to in order of appearance. There have been concerts too with me in the audience but me not being there. I had a shitload of shit going on in my head and I had to invent a plunger. And I missed 2/3 of Dunk! festival due to illness, unfortunately.

In January we went to Mol. Opener of the evening was Sitka, and in October we saw Ben perform live again. Sitka brings us lovely drone ambient and we heard him evolve this year. Then came Stratosphere and the same goes for Ronald: we saw him multiple times and we were pleasantly surprised by the evolution his excellent ambient tunes have gone through. After Stratosphere the two metal bands just didn't do the trick for me and then came Ashtoreth. We saw Peter perform too in April, two times, and not two of his concerts are the same. Ashtoreth is the master of meditative drones for me. January also brought Primordial to Antwerp, together with some other bands I can't remember. Primordial, heroes of my confused adolescence, bringing pure pagan black power, what an awesome gig. And they brought a lot of early work too, a very pleasant surprise.

In April we saw a lot of Ashtoreth and Stratosphere, one time they did an improvisation session together which also was memorable. This was the first time we went to living room gigs and we enjoyed that concept very much. And there was Kuro. Kuro! They brought top shelf drone jazz and I liked it from the very first notes.

May is Dunk!Fest month. Due to circumstances mentioned above, Mooncake, CHVE and Barst are the concerts I remember best. Dunk!Fest is awesome. And so are these three bands. In June we saw Chelsea Wolfe and Moon Duo in Antwerp. Moon Duo kicks ass. Go see them when you can. July brought us a day of Gent Jazz festival with two top acts: Archive and Einstürzende Neubauten. Man, those were awesome concerts. Thanks to Belgian railways we had to leave after only a few songs by Einstürzende Neubauten but it was totally worth the trip.

In September we went to see Bohren & Der Club Of Gore in Antwerp. This was the most emotional musical evening for me, a bit of a catharsis. And were they good! A German father and his two sons (or so they claim), all multi-instrumentists, bringing the best dark jazz there is. 

And in October it was time for the first musical evening Serge had organized in years. Sitka, Stratosphere and Lord Kesseli and the Drums performed in Antwerp. It was a magical night, one to never forget. Check out Lord Kesseli and the Drums.

In November we went to Brussels for Bonobo. Awesome sound, awesome performance, awesome atmosphere. I loved every minute of it. A few days later there was another living room concert where debuting drone artist Urall convinced me of his capabilities, Stratosphere did the best gig of the year and Thisquietarmy did awesome things as we are used from him.

Closer of the year were Angels Die Hard, highly energetic psychedelic rock with synths, and O Yuki Conjugate who toured for the first time in a very long while. I was baffled by their set. Also extremely memorable. 

Thank you to all of these artists, all of the organizers and helpers, all of the Merchants Of Air readers. And all the best for 2018.



Eline
Comments
    Picture
    Serge's new episodic thriller 'I Do Not Want This' is now available.

    Archives

    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Writers

    All
    10 Songs For Whatever
    2016
    Analogue Atmospheres
    Antwerp Metal Fest
    Belgium
    Best Of
    Biography
    Björn
    Black Metal
    Cecilia's World
    Chauvinistic Chill-Out
    Comedy
    Creative Generalism
    Dance
    Doom
    Downtempo Delights
    Drama
    Dubstep
    Dunk Delights
    Dunk Festival
    EBM
    Edm
    Eline
    Elvae
    Fuel The Revolution
    Full Moon Jazz
    Games
    Gardening
    History
    Horror
    Inspired By Keys
    K3
    Lists
    Literature
    Lovecraft
    Metal
    Michiel
    Monsters
    Movies
    Music
    Music From The Cosmos
    Of Former Times
    Patsker
    Paul
    Poetry
    Politics
    Polls
    Preview
    Religion
    Rerooting
    Rik's Rassling Ramblings
    Rik Stalknecht
    Romance
    Scene Report
    Science
    Serge
    Serial Killers
    Space
    Strange
    Summer Chill
    Sunday Evening Sessions
    Synthpop
    Thorsten
    Thriller
    Valentines Day
    Wagner
    World Cup
    Wrestling
    Writing

Find us on

facebook
google+
twitter
tumblr
​
minds

About Us

Contact
FAQ
Logos and banners
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.