MAGMA - rfi

Didn't you promote a concert for them?

In the late Eighties, I thought it would be nice if they came over to London to do a gig, so I set up Interesting Promotions to promote it. Well, I paid the bill is what I really mean. I never realised that there were 14 of them in the band, which raised the overheads slightly. They did three nights at the Bloomsbury theatre; the last night was a sell-out. I'd done my nuts (spent too much money), too, so it was great. Then I went back to (whispers) playing snooker.

Would you ever do it again?

Interesting Promotions sits there on the loss sheet, so probably not. What would be good, though, is if you could get all of the Canterbury jazz rock bands together and create a festival. They do a similar thing in America called Prog Fest.

"Andy Votel, it says"

Rather obviously, I would say.
Let us know if its good! :)

OK, now clearing some things up! Massiera came onstage to "collaborate" with Chrome Hoof. Which basically meant that CH played some Massiera tunes and he went WOORGGGH AAAHHH OOOOF over the top and occasionally banged a sample pad. It was, erm, interesting. The best thing about it was the two silver alien dancers pretending to capture him and drag him off to eat him.

Sorry, I'm still a bit dazed from Magma. Seriously. I didn't think anyone could really follow Chrome Hoof. Except the stage went all dark and Magma snuck on like spacemonks from planet prog and suddenly the lights went all red and then PHHWWWOOOOAARRRRRROOOOOUUUUUURRRRRAWAAAAWAWWAARRRGGGGGGHHHH amazingness holy shit what the FUCK is that. It's like space-jazz-opera almost Wagnerian in its scope. There's something very, very operatic about the way that they perform, especially the way that the three singers wander about the stage to take their solos.

And then some more ding ding ding whooosh BONG BONG BOOOOONNNGGG WOOOOOARRRGGGGGGHHH neow neow neow BOOOOOOOM.

80 piece drum kit (of course), bass, guitar, Rhodes, VIBRAPHONE (oh god, I loved the vibraphone) and 3 singers.

I'm not familiar enough with the catalogue to tell you what they played. But they did introduce the latter part of the set as being two new songs - one of which was AMAZING which started with a 10-minute sort of Philip Glass interplay Rhodes solo and then went all PHWOOAARRGGGHH towards the end. Then they said they were going to do the first song they ever wrote for their encore - title sounded like Kumbyah?

Really liked the records Andy Votel played between sets. Wish I had a set list. It was all amazing, but there was one that had those kind of big-beat 60s drums with swooshy synth noises that blew my mynd.

Oh, we got a nice little potted history in the programme. I'll scan it if anyone's interested?

sounds amazing. really, really wish I'd been able to go to this. hopefully they'll do some more gigs in the sticks and provinces.

Loaned some gear to Richard Pinhas trio last year and one of the dudes from Magma (not Zander) played my drums. He was great.

The Ruins (alone) set I saw a few months later was fucking insane though.

― Nate Carson, Monday, February 4, 2008 2:07 AM (1 year ago)

i saw both of these on probably the same tours that you saw them. Ruins (alone) was fucking insane and awesome.

I agree with Masonic Boom that the track they introduced as being off the new record out next month was a massive great big awesome behemoth. Kobaia was the encore track, which was a fantastic finish. I also recognised the first couple of tracks they played, but couldn't tell you what they were.

Are there any Magma forums or mailing lists where knowledgeable heads could give us the true low down?

Where were you sitting Masonic Boom? It surprisingly emptied out throughout the Magma set - what the hell were people up to? I snuck down and sat near the front though when space was cleared, so bonus!

I was sitting right in the middle of the main block of seats on the floor. Could not believe that the entire row in front of me cleared out! Wish I'd had the nerve to move down, but my row was full so could not have moved without drawing attention to myself.

I thought the early leavers were due to train times, but I was surprised when I looked at my phone at the end and saw it was only 11pm, I thought about 4 hours had gone by - I think the gravitational heaviness of the music slowed time for me - in the best possible way.

Aye, bunch of lamers wussing out. I was thoroughly confused, as even with a few flagging periods, it was a bona-fide awesome experience, and how could you resist seeing what the hell else might still be to come!?

Photos from the Magma show @ Barbican on Tuesday 6th October 2009: http://krakow.zenfolio.com/magma1009

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v2/p902588780-3.jpg

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v7/p48122999-3.jpg

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p1035562987-3.jpg

jealousy

<a href="http://www.seventhrecords.com/MAGMA/EMEHNTETT-RE/html/er_1.mp3";>new record sample</a>

ügh

Got some Chrome Hoof photos from this show sorted now as well: http://krakow.zenfolio.com/chromehoof1009

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v7/p739082944-3.jpg

just got new one, Emehntehtt Re, in the mail today -- best vocals of any magma studio release?

Excellent, I'll have to start looking for it about the place. Definitely going to pick this one up after hearing the piece at the Barbican show.

awesome! didn't realize this was coming out so soon.

any other impressions?

not as impressed by this as i was by KA.

but i'm only on my second listen.

I'm actually like this better than KA, though compositionally, it's some exhausting! I think the middle 30 mins of the CD is constant peaking ("Hhai" through "Zombies" to old Magma heads). Vander's drumming sounds a bit tighter to me than on KA, tho since I've been listening to the Retrospektiw tracks the last couple of weeks, everything else is going to pale in comparison. But I still think the singing, specifically the choral arrangements and production, are the best that I've heard on a Magma disc. Really precise arrangements, really beatiful blending-- haha, I feel like a choral director commenting on it, but it's just put together really well w/the band!

Also, the DVD is cool. Vander is a perfectionist, but often doesn't know *exactly* what he wants, so hats off to his poor bandmates doing their best to figure it out. I'm going to start saying things like "that take had more music in it" at rehearsals from now on.

*somewhat* exhausting, that is

v. excited to hear this.

personally, I'm usually OK with exhausting. probably even prefer koenjihyakkei to magma! (sacrilege?)

also love KA, btw. especially the hypnotic build of "KA II".

probably even prefer koenjihyakkei to magma! (sacrilege?)

I like some of their stuff better than some of Magma's, so you're not totally alone in your heresy.

good to know. :-D

obviously, they're each doing different things within the prog framework... I think I just prefer koneji's heaviosity.

De Futura is still "the jam" though.

as a bassist (and human with ears and a soul), I can only agree.

Coming around to this. There's just a lot more going on than on KA. Exhausting is the word.

Can't argue with Dominique's description above.

Picking this new one up tomorrow/today and have amazing reports from my very trustworthy (in terms of musical taste) friend. Excited.

Jade chante magma!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52vhtwuGjOA

wow. that's fantastic. I really must expose my daughter to more zeuhl.

Looks like she understands the lyrics - real feeling there!

Ha that Jade footage has been floating around for a couple of years now. I'd like to think that she's moved on to the likes of Mekanik Machinenow she's a bit older.

i like to think she'll form a baby eskaton cover band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBaCum5V8Hc

hey dudes, i'm listening to "simples" - does anyone know if "klaus kombalad" is an excerpt of a longer song?

whoah, "muh," closing track on kobaia, is so so good

finally listened to emehntehtt-re. first thoughts: FUCKIN' MASTERPIECE.

will have to listen to this many, many more times. was taken back by the parts that sound like new arrangements of "hhai" and "de futura" (or is it one of the similar songs bookending it on udu wudu? can't remember.) but they sound great in the context of this album.

really liked K.A but this new one is just massive, and on first listen, it pales.

now I'm listening to kobaia and reading the liner notes. (the ones from the recent box set.) not sure how much of this is due to translation, but vander has some seriously great quotes in here:

There we were, a few crazy people stuck in a studio rehearsing the same thing over and over, saying: We're going to change everything! We're going to change everything! We're going to change everything!!.. We never stopped!... I remember eating a sandwich sometimes but it sat on top of my drums, that sandwich... I ate it playing the drums..."

and my fave:

When Magma came into being in 69, I considered the people who came to our concerts as enemies (we used to play mainly in clubs.) They'd listen a bit, then chat whilst they had a drink and I knew that it was because of people like this that Coltrane died.

really liked K.A but this new one is just massive, and on first listen, it pales.

k.a pales in comparison to emehntehtt-re, that is.

and now that I'm re-reading the thread, I see that dominique already ID'ed the track I was iffy on ("zombies") and hit on some similar points. cosmic consciousness, man...

the coltrane thing I quoted sounds like something herzog would say on a commentary track.

yeah - it does sound like Herzog, doesn't it?

Anyone else been following the absurd "ex Magma member outs Christian Vander as a N@zi" furore at the Kohntarkosz Magma blog? Here : http://kohntarkosz.blogspot.com/2009/11/some-words-about-recent-controversy.html

wow, had not heard about that. sounds like a lot of speculation and very little in the way of facts...

Crucial question: Does Christian Vander like or loathe Hogan's Heroes?

FACT: christian vander is indifferent towards hogan's heroes.

listening to live cover of Gamma Anteria ("allelujah" part of KA) by Eskaton....!

FACT: christian vander feels that apple strudel has been misunderstood

sort of surprised it's taken this long for the internet to spark this off, and so many of the comments after that post are a case study in witch hunting and self-righteousness. it's sad to see people so ready to turn their backs on music which they've loved for decades. and yeah, the internet is dangerous, we all consider ourselves media-savvy and critical and then we read a blogpost summary of a private facebook chat and civility evaporates

that being said, it's hard to miss the Nazi content being explored throughout the music & packaging once you see it. and the framing of it can definitely be ambiguous. to me I thought it was clear that the framework was critical -- on the cover of the first album, the corrupt Swastika'd world is being vengefully -destroyed- by the Space Talon, and the story involves humans fleeing into space to leave a culture not worth saving. (but then, the original gatefold cartoon of the band...).

And, as a poster way down on that thread in response to those paling in horror after someone pointed out the phonetic match for the 'Zir Hhäi' chant: The 'Zir Hhai' phrase comes at the moment in the narrative of the Theusz trilogy when the people have turned towards the tyrant.) But the fact that the chant is maniacally intense & uplifting part of the record is too much for some people. Or the monologues in 'Zess' or 'Stoah', too close for comfortable listening. The other symbols in the packaging, critical references or stealth advocacy? Any multi-album science-fiction opera about despotic alien warlords systematically conquering the galaxy is going to be this complex.

The comments are worth reading in full if you love the band and I'm writing this much because I'd hate for this to turn into a brainless viral meme about their music passed around by people who haven't engaged with it. Even after I heard the rumors a decade ago, I decided that the music has far too much going on inside it for it to be written off, and the comments helped me figure out why -- Vander's reverence of Coltrane and gospel, the woman he married, the diversity of the musicians he consistently chooses to work with -- in practice his life is more nuanced than any personal issues he has, and as a result far far more ends up in the music than any kind of secret, personal advocacy of an ideology. Which explains exactly why so many social progressives have found their way to, and love this music. Liner notes of 'Köhntark', 'The music of Magma is like a mirror where everyone can see a reflection of who he is'.

very thoughtful take on this, milton. great stuff.

So eMusic has tons of Magma now, and I presently own only Live (1CD version) and MDK. They don't have the original recording of Wurdah Itah but they do have the live Trilogie Trianon version. Is the Trianon one a good way for me to hear this music?

was listening to wurdah itah this morning and reading the liners. vander talks about a demo version that they recorded w/a slightly different/more stripped-down lineup. he says it was a much wilder performance then the one eventually released as his solo album and that those sessions were the ones featured in the Tristan et Iseult film.

anyone ever hear this demo? sounds cool.