Det utopiske sted hinsides forståelsen

RF 2023: Martin Creed

Roskilde Festival, Camping Vest, 25. jun.

Sune Anderberg. © Alexander Banck-Petersen

Nu, hvor endnu et Roskilde er forbi, kan jeg ikke lade være at tænke tilbage på festivalens allerførste koncert i år. Under sit glorificerede vejskilt af en roterende installation på Camping Vest, Understanding, stod den britiske kunstner Martin Creed på åbningssøndagen med guitar, mundharpe og et lapset jakkesæt påsyet dartpile.

Hans rablende tekster, basale akkorder og skramlede, men hurtige folk-spil var så karikeret vagabond-avantgardistisk, som man kan forestille sig. Men han ramte alligevel noget essentielt med sin gakkede performance. For hvor hans installation lignede et generisk opråb om forståelse, kæmpede han her aktivt for at nå hinsides forståelsen.

»Stop thinking!« udbrød han og legede sig helt ind bag sprogets egen logik med remser om hellere at ville præstere et »bad hi« end et »good bye«. »Let’s be vague!« fortsatte han og slog guitaren an så langt oppe på instrumentets hals, at akkorderne lød som klangsmat i de to små højttalere, der kæmpede med adskillige lejranlæg om opmærksomheden.

»All songs are glove songs,« bedyrede Creed og saboterede sin næste protest-muntre tossesang ved at spille iført skriggrønne handsker. Det rum, han med sin minikoncert åbnede for en henført lille skare under installationen, var vel netop det, årets festival i sine bedste øjeblikke præsterede at skabe: et rum uden tankens forurening af oplevelsen.

Et utopisk sted, hvor musikken tog styring over krop og sind, så man sent om natten lå under en teltdug, forelsket i verden, og spekulerede over, hvad pokker der var sket.

playlist

11.09.2023

My name is John Grant – would you like to see my playlist?

»Music has been a healing balm for me.«

John William Grant is an American singer, musician, and songwriter holding both American and Icelandic citizenship. He first came to prominence as a co-founder, lead vocalist, pianist, and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band The Czars. After releasing six albums between 1994 and 2006, the band disbanded, and Grant withdrew from music for four years before embarking on a solo career.

He returned in April 2010 with a critically acclaimed debut album recorded in collaboration with Midlake. Queen of Denmark was named Album of the Year 2010 by Mojo magazine and was also selected as one of the ten best albums of 2010 by The Guardian’s music critics and writers.

playlist

13.06.2023

My name is Allan Gravgaard Madsen – would you like to see my playlist?

»In his music, composer Allan Gravgaard Madsen tries to create a better version of himself.«

Allan Gravgaard Madsen is a Danish composer based in Copenhagen. His most recent works include Träume nicht and Nachtmusik. He tries to create a better version of himself in his music – where his personality tends to be restless, chatty and has an active inner life, his music is controlled, simple and merciless in its expression. He is the recipient of the Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Hæderspris 2022.

in briefrelease

23.01.2022

Finnish Space Travel

Tomutonttu: »Hoshi«

Vauva, 02.12

Kristoffer Møllegaard

The Finnish multimedia artist Jan Anderzén has, with the album Hoshi, released under the solo moniker Tomutonttu, created a true little star. Not only because »hoshi« literally means »star« in Japanese, but above all due to the music itself. There is something cosmic, yet infinitely minute, about the sonic worlds Anderzén conjures—like a galaxy reflected in a puddle, or a space journey in a rocket carved from a hollow tree trunk. Synths emit busy, warm blips and bloops, while ultra-short vocal and instrumental samples create a recognizable blur. At once artificial and organic – soft, rounded, jagged, crackling.

Anderzén approaches sound with a playfulness I simply adore. His music is strange in an incredibly comforting way. It places me in a kind of colorful, trance-like state, only interrupted when, several times over the course of the album, I find myself smiling in delight at a particularly great sound. The synths on »Katse osuu sähköön!« The choral samples on »Kesä oli äkkiä ohi!« Milo Linnovaara’s flute on »Malta lausua ‘AH’!« And many more. Hoshi is an album packed with microscopic moments that together form a frayed, exploding, radiant, idiosyncratic whole—a stellar moment of just under 38 minutes.