This is Avant Tard

So this is the debut of the new blog. No more myspace ramblings about how many apples I stacked in a tower on the kitchen table or how many poos I had in one day. No, this is going to be intellectual blogging at it's best dammit, cerebral stimulation that supercedes comprehension. All axis of life squished into a pocketful of magic dust, dust from the bones of a unicorn's horn. Yeah, now I mean business. I'm bigger, better, faster, stronger and more retarded than ever. Even Stephen Hawkin will be mystified by this shit. Jigga what.


Drinking in Odenplan with my new music friend and part Zoologist, part fiddler "Ben", I was informed of an exhibition happening imminently at Färgfabriken (an old factory bulding, now art gallery) in liljeholmen. Where Talking Head's legend David Byrne would be PLAYING the building. That's right PLAYing the building. Not PLAYing "IN" the building, but PLAYING the building. As, turn the building into a music instrument. Let me explain...

Jan 5th EDIT: (So, ok the hairy fruitnut warewolf Ben is no longer my friend. Another story for another time my children. Lets get back to bizness shall we..)



An old organ (pictued below) was connected to various pipes and motors throuout the factory by tubes. Each tube was triggered by a key on the organ, and when the keys were pressed, natural sounds would emmenate from different corners of the old factory. Musique Concrete without the splicing and pasting, and maybe more concrete. Karlheinz Stockhausen without the Stock. The silver fox himself, David Byrne introduced the project at the seat of this factory playing ogran without hitting a note. HE DIDN'T EVEN PLAY PSYCHO KILLER.

Fucker.

(ok, I was being facetious)



TV cameras were there, so look out for my ugly mug on some midnight minute on the Mezzo channel or something.

The angle to this exhibition was that the public could also sit at the organ and play the building, but non of the Swedes dared to approach this scared instrument. No, only the under 8s and we two Englishmen played the damn thing. Eagle Eye Cherry was hovering around, building up the courage to tap his finger on the ivory, but cowerdly retreated to the bar upstairs. As did we...

Have you seen the video to Franz Ferdinand's "Do you want to?". Well the gallery bar resembled that faux arty club, almost uncanily. How odd. As the clientelle listened to spaz jazz and scrutinzed swedish tunnelbana art.... Ben and I talked Requiem for a Dream, Lolita, Ennio Morricone, Trad Folk, Dudley Moore/Peter Cook, John Barry, Pere Ubu and planned our upcoming musical assault into the ears of a generation. Yes, we're going to try and write some stuff over the next few weeks and see how it goes. I don't want to jinx it, but I have a good feeling. He's a smashing chap, and has some magnificent muttonschops. I am really into the music he makes too.

Johanna didn't come along, maybe she would've had it been Bowie and not Byrne. The exhibition goes on until the middle of November, maybe I can drag her down to play a ceiling or two.



Jan 7th EDIT: (DJ COOLOF from The Knife played records at this event, how the hell did I miss this? I really needs to start reading Swedish so I don't miss out on these things..sigh, me and my incompetence)