Category Archives: Trance

Bhang is a delicacy created from the leaves of the cannabis plant, which is native to the Indian subcontinent.

Holi is the favorite festival of many and is widely celebrated and enjoyed across the country. Holi is a Hindu festival that celebrates the triumph of good over evil. People meet in great numbers every year on this day to play with colors, dance to Bollywood songs and eat delicious dishes and sweets. People also typically turn to 'Bhang' during celebrations to keep the festivities going.

It's difficult to think of Holi without bhang. Holi, also known as the 'festival of colors,' has quickly established itself as India's 'high' or 'trance' festival, with revelers letting loose with a glass of bhang thandai in one hand and vivid colors in the other.

Bhang is a delicacy created from the leaves of the cannabis plant, which is native to the Indian subcontinent.

The first reference of the hallucinogenic substance can be traced back to the 'Samandar Manthan,' when the gods gathered to churn nectar from the sea to save the planet from approaching catastrophe; some of the nectar spilled on the ground, and the cannabis plant was formed.

But, given that cannabis is a prohibited substance in India, how is bhang so widely available?

While the 1985 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act designates cannabis as a narcotic drug, forbidding its production, possession, consumption, or transit, it only designates certain portions of the plant as narcotic, such as the bud and resin. It cleanly omits the plant's leaves, which are used to manufacture bhang.

Bhang is also described in ancient Hindu literature such as the Atharvaveda as a stress reliever and a weapon for warding off evil. Shiva, according to tradition, was the one who discovered it.

Shiva, the meditating recluse, is closely identified with cannabis. Bhang is frequently served as a prasad at prominent Shiva temples during Mahashivratri and even on ordinary days. Shiva bhakts typically see marijuana smoking as a surrender to him.

According to legend, Parvati sought Shiva's attention while he was deep in meditation after his wife Sati self-immolated, and she needed Kamadeva's help. Interfering with Shiva when he was in trance would be disastrous, Kamadeva realized.

Shiva, on the other hand, needed to return to the real world. So, for the greater good, Kamadeva took a gamble. According to legend, on the day of Holi, Kamadeva launched his arrow at Shiva, captivating him in Parvati's love but also causing him to be burned to ashes.

South India honors Kamadeva for his service and presents him with sandalwood on Holi Day to aid in the healing of burns.

And so Holi became a celebration of Shivas return to the world, just as much as its a celebration of the harvest and the victory of good over evil.

Bhang Thandai/ Lassi

Bhang thandai or lassi is the most popular way of consuming bhang in India. It is made by mixing milk, curd sugar, cannabis, and lots of dry fruits.

Bhang Pakoras

Bhang pakoras are a lip-smacking delicacy that is a favorite among many.

Bhang Gujiyas

Bhaang gujiyas are sweet desserts filled with khoya and dry fruits with added bhang ki goli to make it even more refreshing.

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Why Do People Consume Bhang in Holi? Heres the Answer - Krishi Jagran

I have always been bashful and coy of all the colour and vitality, the boisterousness and the paint, the wetness, the trance and the intoxication of Holi. To me, it has always been the food. Years ago, I was shooting for my food show on the streets of Mathura. Mathura, along the banks of the river Yamuna, is believed to be the homeland and birthplace of Lord Krishna. While the intent was to discover the glorious street food that this holy city has to offer, I found myself bang in the middle of intense Holi celebrations. Celebrations that last not one or two days, but a full week.

On these streets of Mathura, Radha and Lord Krishna had avowedly romanced each other. Mythology describes their shenanigans, and how the little dusky Krishna, jealous of Radhas fair complexion, smeared colour on her cheeks out ofenvy. But at the Banke Bihari Temple at Vrindavan, its an altogether different Holi. Just a few days before the big colour bash, they celebrate what is called Phoolwali Holi. Everyone gathers at the temple and instead of colours, throw flowers at each other. Thats my kind of Holi, just days before madness erupts and the ghats of Mathura turn into a wild shindig of chroma with sticks, shields, colours and cannons of water, and the streets are full of hungry revellers looking for a hot snack.

On every corner, there are kachoris and jalebis frying in desi ghee. The Mathura kachoris are round and flat with a strong flavour of hing, they are spicy and crunchy and served with aloo ki sabzi. Along with kachoris a plate of freshly fried jalebis is par for the course. Most of North India celebrates Holi in the same fashion. On the streets, with colour and kachori. Of course, there is also a lot of bhang and thandai as well.

By itself, thandai is a unique drink. It is cool, refreshing and vitalising. Milk is ground with rich ingredients like cashew, almonds, cardamom, black pepper, poppy seeds, fennel seed (saunf) and rose petals. Its an unusual combination of tastes especially since pepper and fennel are an unlikely combination in a sweet milky drink. This thandai however turns into bhang, a hallucinogenic when a mixture made from the buds, leaves, and flowers of the female cannabis plant, or marijuana, is added to this rich milk concoction. It is the influence of bhang that makes Holi a celebration of elevated rampage and revelry and creates an appetite for food and sweets that is bottomless. So, then what do you do? Head for the closest place that serves you gujiya.

Gujiya is synonymous with Holi. Similar to the karanji in Maharashtra, or the ghugra in Gujarat or the karjikai in Karnataka, the gujiya is crescent-shaped, flaky pastry filled with sweet stuffing and deep-fried. Traditionally, a gujiya has a filling of sweetened khoya or mawa (milk solids), cardamom and nuts and sometimes sooji and desiccated coconut as well. After deep frying this puff, some mithaiwalas dip these fried pastries into saffron-infused sugar syrup and serve them hot, garnished with pistachio and almond slivers. They are quite soft, juicy, sweet, crunchy and delicious when hot and fresh and considered auspicious on Holi.

Holi is undoubtedly the festivals of sweets. Another Holi specialty is coconut ladoos. Easy to make with just condensed milk or thadai ingredients and desiccated coconut, these are round sweet balls of pleasure and available nearly anywhere where Holi is being celebrated.

This is another deadly Holi combination. Malpua, as you know, are traditional North Indian deep-fried pancakes made with wheat flour, sugar and cardamom. Once the pancakes are crisp and golden, they are quickly lifted out of the hot boiling ghee and immersed in a nectar of saffron and sugar syrup, and then served with rabri, rich, sweet, creamy condensed milk. It is sinful and pleasurable as hot and crisp malpua combines with the cold, thick rabri.

No Holi celebration in a Maharashtrian household is complete without puran poli. This is essentially a sweet stuffed paratha, made by filling soft whole wheat dough with soft-cooked yellow dal, jaggery, cardamom, nutmeg and saffron. Once the dough is stuffed, it is rolled out thin and cooked exactly like a paratha with lots of ghee till it turns crisp and golden brown. Most people eat puran poli as it is or dipped in warm milk. I like my sweet, warm, golden puran poli with spicy kheema or mutton. Sorry, I can get quite blasphemous.

Besides all these sweets, Holi is also celebrated with chaat and dahi bhallas. Soft balls made of soaked urad and moong dal are fried, and then soaked and dunked in soft, beaten yogurt, and served with a variety of chutneys, garnished with sweet date and tamarind chutney, green spicy chutney and sprinkled with spices. This cold and soft, tangy and sweet dish if well-made can just melt in your mouth.

And I will end this celebration with a few more Holi specials. Like spicy besan sev, namak para or shakar para, which are diamond-shaped fried biscuits made either salty or sweet, and finally Holi bhang ke pakore. These are made with besan, onions, spices and bhang. I guess if you can drink bhang you could eat bhang as well. In any case what more is there to life than celebrations? Eat, drink and be merry.

Kunal Vijayakar is a food writer based in Mumbai. He tweets @kunalvijayakar and can be followed on Instagram @kunalvijayakar. His YouTube channel is called Khaane Mein Kya Hai. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.

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What The Fork: Kunal Vijayakar on Mathura Holi, Hot Kachoris, Jalebis and Cool Thandai - News18

Recordings From the land Islands

Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer

International Anthem

11 March 2022

Scattered off Finlands west coast and close to Sweden, the land Islands are a liminal space between both nations. An archipelago in the Gulf of Bothnia made up of more than 6000 islands, they are nominally Finnish, linguistically Swedish, and have been autonomous for over a century.

For longtime musical collaborators Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer, exploring land was a wholly unexpected adventure. There for a summer renovation project, Chiu and Honer quickly found themselves struck by a sensorium worth capturing. On Recordings from the land Islands, they offer compositions that go beyond superficial soundscapes, integrating field recordings from their trip with instrumental improvisations. In doing so, they convey not just their impressions but their experiences of a particularly idyllic Nordic summer.

The album opens with In land Air, a collage of distant birdsong and Chius synthesizers. His pitches roll and waver so that all elements sound strangely organic, electronic instruments blending with sounds of sky and sea to build an energizing atmosphere. On the Other Sea follows, hand chimes sparkling against smooth keys and tumbling water in vibrant tribute to the Baltic. Honers electrified viola resonates, almost hornlike, as it pierces the ambience. Sncko layers strings on strings, different lines crisscrossing in freeform waves atop one another until spiraling keys gradually overtake them.

With the world thus crafted, the subsequent tracks take a more miniaturized perspective. On Stureby House Piano, Chiu plays the titular instrument with preternatural grace that speeds up into trance-like ecstasy over a blurry backdrop of pleasantly mundane recorded conversations. Together, they make for a cozy slice of indoor life with an undercurrent of enchantment. Later, Annas Organ has a similar effect, albeit on a more majestic scale, with electronic keys sounding a starry chorus behind the stately leading organ.

Some compositions capture whole short stories. Rocky Passage flows seamlessly into Kumlinge Kyrka, sounding both journey and destination. After a brief multilingual montage, Voices, By Foot By Sea is perhaps the albums most complete narrative, opening with a short conversation about an upcoming boat ride between visitors and locals. Rising and falling keyboard lines and a lyrical viola voice transport the distant audience to gentle northern waters. Later, Archipelago is an awestruck view of the entire region, with Honers strings building in luscious, droning strata. The album draws to a close with Under the Midnight Sun, a synth-heavy twilight that makes for a buoyant farewell.

Recordings from the land Islands makes for a brilliant joint debut from Chiu and Honer. While they do a fine job evoking the serenity of their surroundings, what really makes this album shine is a sense of play and humanity. This recording goes beyond soundscape ambience and utopian visions of isolation and instead delves into the living connections between people, place, and sound. Through their sonic lens, we are not discovering lands ecology but encountering what is already there through carefully chosen field recordings. Chiu and Honers interpretations of this space build a sense of place at the intersection of their lived experience and the unique geography of the archipelago, and its this sense that they share with us on this new release.

Original post:

Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer: Recordings From the land Islands - PopMatters

Giant has completed its rapid overhaul of the Trance line-up with the new Trance 29. Offered in Giants ALUXX-SL aluminium, the new Trance 29 inherits most of the features of its carbon sibling, including updated and adjustable geometry and increased rear-wheel travel to 120mm from 115mm, paired with a 130mm fork.

The Taiwanese brand overhauled its flagship Advanced Pro carbon frame last December. This was in addition to carbon and aluminium offerings of its rowdier relative, the Trance X, earlier in the autumn. The news also follows the update to Giants sister brand Livs Embolden.

While the term downcountry might spring to mind when looking at the bikes suspension travel, Giant asserts that the Trance 29 is a trail bike made for tackling technical terrain, only faster.

The flip chips can be found on the inside of the upper rock link arm/seatstay junction. Giant Bicycles

The Trance 29s geometry is updated from its predecessor, and is almost identical to its carbon sibling.

Like its carbon sibling, the Trance 29 features adjustable geometry via a set of flip chips on the rocker arm/seatstay junction.

There are High and Low settings to choose from. These will alter the head tube and seat tube angles by 0.7 degrees, the bottom bracket drop by a significant 10mm and the reach by 8mm.

In its high setting on a size large, the Trance 29 sports a 66.2-degree head tube angle, with a bottom bracket drop of 35mm, coupled with a steep seat tube angle of 77 degrees and a reach of 480mm.

In the low setting, the head tube angle is reduced to 65.5 degrees and the bottom bracket drop increases to 45mm, so its lower to the ground and has less clearance. The seat tube angle slackens to 76.3 degrees and the reach reduces to 472mm.

The only difference in geometry between this alloy offering and its carbon sibling is a slightly increased standover height (by 3 or 4mm, depending on which flip chip setting you are using).

The brand says that the updated geometry should translate to a ride that rolls over rough terrain with balance and stability, combined with momentum for climbing performance.

The Giant Trance 29s Maestro suspension platform. Giant Bicycles

The updated Trance 29 utilises Giants long-standing Maestro suspension system, a twin-link design, where the rear triangle is connected to the front by a pair of links. It features an upper carbon rocker link, which Giant dubs Advanced Forge Composite to deliver its 120mm of rear travel. The brand says the Fox Float DPS Performance rear shock has been custom-tuned for the frame.

The frame features a mounting point on the underside of the top tube for tool caddies, and there is space for up to a 650ml bottle on the single down-tube bottle cage.

The Trance 29 also utilises the newer design of cable guides its carbon sibling uses, which have a neater appearance and should run quieter.

Giant includes two areas of rubber frame protection, one on the underside of the down tube and bottom bracket area to guard the frame against rock strikes and another ribbed protector on the driveside chainstay.

There is an ISCG-05 interface should you wish to install a chain guide or bash guard. Tyre clearance is rated up to 292.5in.

The Trance 29 builds feature Shimano 112 drivetrains.

Giant is offering two models of the Trance 29 for 2022.

Both feature predominantly Shimano 112 groupsets and Shimano hydraulic disc brakes with 180mm rotors front and rear.

Giant supplies its own finishing kit, as well as its Contact Switch dropper seatpost on both builds (S: 125mm drop, M: 150mm, L and XL: 170mm).

Maxxis Minion DHF tyres are fitted up-front, with their 3C MaxxTerra compound and EXO casing. An Aggressor is on duty at the back, also in EXO casing, and both are in the frames maximum 292.5in width.

Additionally, both tyres come tubeless-ready and already seated and set up out of the box.

Giants Trance 29 2 comes in Metallic Black. Giant Bicycles

The more expensive Giant Trance 29 1 in Phantom Green. Giant Bicycles

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New Giant Trance 29 increases rear wheel travel to 120mm... but don't call it downcountry - BikeRadar

The devil you know is better than the devil you don't, so goes the proverb. But when it comes to our heroes, how well do Astrid (Jana Morrison) and Lilly (Samantha Aucoin) know the details of their own memories?

That's the question posed by this week's monster, who is quite possibly the most creative villain to have come through the portal thus far in Astrid & Lilly Save the World. By exploiting the past traumas of its victims, it raises all kinds of points about memory and illusion, fact and fiction, and overcoming what holds us back.

That said, it also does want to kill people, so we shouldn't praise it too loudly.

So strap in, folks: We're about to get intensely introspective.

**SPOILER WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Astrid & Lilly Save the World Season 1, Episode 5, "A-Borg."**

When Astrid and Lilly show up for school, they each find little jacks-in-the-box in their lockers. Astrid thinks Sparrow left it for her as a cute joke, and Lilly thinks it was Brutus (Olivier Renaud). Valerie (Christina Orjalo) gets one too, as does Tate (Kolton Stewart), and the urge to crank those cranks is simply irresistible.

In reality, however, these jacks-in-the-box are the farthest thing from harmless pranks, and in fact are actually more like landmines that blow up in their recipients'... memories. When the toys explode, they temporarily transport the cranker into their minds, to relieve their worst memory. It's pretty sadistic.

For instance, Valerie is forced to relieve a time she was performing and farted live on stage; and Tate is trapped in a memory of being publicly scolded as a child by his father for slacking at soccer.

But why?

Cue Brutus with the DL. The knick knacks are the work of the latest interportal interloper, the Memoragotu, whose gambit is to trap its victims in a loop of their worst memory, feeding off their trauma until they waste away. The only way to vanquish the Memoragotu is to do it twice: the first time in the memory world, and second in the real one.

So everyone's got their work cut out for them.

After Tate forgoes a date with Candace (Julia Doyle) in favor of soccer practice, the spurned lover asks Lilly if she'd like to run lines for Romeo & Juliet with her. Lilly is honored, and invites Candace over to her house after school, incurring Astrid's jealousy.

But a few lines into the Bard's masterpiece, Lilly goes off-script, and goes into a trance, prey to her worst memory one that just so happens to involve Candace. Lilly was just a toddler when her mothers took her to Candace's for the little diva's birthday, and she was disinvited right there at the threshold of the door. When Candace remembers Brutus's counsel, she storms through the door in her memory to confront Candace and her homophobic mother Christine (Geri Hall). This has a liberating effect on Lilly, who frees herself from the Memoragotu's grasp, as well as her own trauma.

But by this time, Astrid, Tate, Valerie, and even Brutus have beckoned the call of the Memoragotu, and in a trance wandered into town to a makeshift carnival where the monster plans to do something nasty to them.

Lilly, having risen above her memory, helps the others to do the same. Astrid is reliving the memory of when her father left home to pick something up for her and died in an accident on the way back. Astrid still feels guilty that she caused her father's death, and that her mother never forgave her. But as she digs deeper into the memory she realizes this is not true: Her father was heading to the office anyway on that fateful night, and her mother didn't think twice about forgiving her.

When Astrid sees the error of her thinking, she is able to overcome the Memoragotu in her mind and snap out of the trance. The same happens for Tate, who also realizes that sometimes memory is not his best friend, and when he comes to he helps Astrid and Lilly defeat the monster by impaling her through the head on a loose nail (always some of those around at a carnival).

Our heroes collect the Memoragotu's eyeball for the vessel, lift the spell on their classmates and Brutus, and make on their way, seemingly with a bit lighter step as they are freed of the shackle of false memory.

Excerpt from:

'Astrid & Lilly Save the World' Recap: Traumas return to haunt our heroes and all of Pine Academy in Ep. 5 - Syfy

There's nothing I love more than an underlying current of melancholy floating beneath a film, giving the piece a tone and a texture unlike anything else. As great as a romance or a horror movie can be, if there's a film that finds that balance of emotional realism and a sadness based in the everyday mundanities of existence, it will stick to your bones in a way that no specific genre can reach. Most don't have sharp enough edges to dredge quite that deeply.

Writer/director Jessica Beshir's existential masterpiece, "Faya Dayi" not only finds that depth, but revels in the hallucinatory spaces between waking and dreaming, between breath and scream and between the heat of the sun and the icy grasp of patient death. The melancholy is tempered by deferred hope and euphoric longing for a life just out of reach, but the documentary/fiction hybrid doesn't succumb to the sadness; instead, Beshir keeps reigniting the spark of life by illuminating the beauty of shadows.

"Faya Dayi" loosely translated means "giving birth to health." The title drips with the counter-intuitiveness of sincere irony because "healthiness" is not necessarily a word that comes to mind while watching the film. Shot in the rural city of Harar, Ethiopia, "Faya Dayi" spends most of its luxurious 120 minutes focused on the native plant khat, a dichotomous leaf that is simultaneously one of Ethiopia's largest cash crops and also an important stimulant for Sufi Muslim meditation rituals. The people of Harar use the drug recreationally while also using it for religious purposes, meaning that while so much of the city is reeling from the euphoria of chewing khat, many of them are using it for completely different reasons.

The film's dialogue is deeply poetic, with every sentence trying to convey a dozen meanings, much the same way Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life" achieved. What's astounding about that achievement is that there are several different languages spoken in Ethiopia. Beshir speaks Amharic while most of the citizens of Harar speak Afaan Oromoo, so she was unaware of what was actually being said during the filming of the documentary and didn't have any context for the words until she could get the sound bites translated; then she translated the subtitles herself.

Not knowing the context of the images she was capturing, Beshir has made a film mostly reliant on some of the most stunning black-and-white imagery ever caught on film. It's an amazing call and response as an audience member: the visuals take your breath away and the haunting words give it back, over and over again until the viewer becomes caught in some form of somnambulistic trance and the same meditative state the documentary's subjects are hoping to achieve.

The fact that "Faya Dayi" wasn't nominated for Best International Feature and Best Documentary is shocking. The importance of the Academy Awards has lessened for me knowing that something that actually transcends the form of a motion picture isn't flashy enough to be recognized. Beshir should be given a blank check for her next project and will have a career of legend, Oscar nod or not.

There's no hyperbole here when I say that "Faya Dayi" is a transformative experience that will burn images and themes into your eyes and heart forever. I've watched it three times and there are just so many things to unpack in each frame, with some shot compositions among the most beautiful ever captured. The black-and-white photography makes the subtext live on the screen by carefully chronicling the smoky battle between light and shadow.

This film doesn't just expand the medium of movies, instead, Beshir reframes the importance of them by laying bare the soul of a culture and then asking the viewer to commit to empathy without judgement, to understanding without allowing us to enter the narrative. No white knights or saviors allowed; instead "Faya Dayi" just wants us to remember that once in the very beginning we all had the same pulse and maybe, if we're lucky, we can all find our way back again.

Faya Dayi

Dir. Jessica Beshir

Grade: A+

Now Playing at Tin Pan Theater

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Leaf of Life - The Source Weekly

Sometimes its hard to feel what you know a choreographer wants you to feel.

In the case of Chapter 3: The Brutal Journey of the Heart, there is a lot of purposely awkward positioning of taffy-supple bodies: arched backs, far-flung arms, wide and ever-deepening plis. This evening-length work, performed by the company L-E-V, dances and winds its way around themes related to the anguish that love brings. There is pleasure in the pain.

It helps to know that L-E-V means heart in Hebrew. In this final section of a trilogy exploring aspects of love by the companys artistic directors and founders, Sharon Eyal formerly a star of Batsheva Dance Company and, for a time, its house choreographer and Gai Behar, the heart is both muscular and tender. Once the chest is fully released with arms trailing behind the back, the body is a showcase of vulnerability.

But this Brutal Journey, making its American premiere at the Joyce Theater on Tuesday, is a meandering trek as six dancers display their sensuality with such forcefulness that it slips into parody. Is it trippy? Not really. The choreography aligns itself unabashedly with Gaga, the movement language developed by Batshevas longtime artistic director Ohad Naharin; it can be hypnotic, but here it is static.

Brutal Journey, which unfolds over an hour to a dreamy soundscape laced with percussion by Ori Lichtik, feels like many knockoffs of Gaga, of a dance party in a Gaspar No film, of a fashion show. The costumes are by Maria Grazia Chiuri, the creative director of Christian Dior Couture, who outfits the dancers in tattooed unitards, each with a red heart on the left side of the chest. Its a bit much.

The program notes include a selection of words by Eyal, including Silence. Dryness. Emptiness. There is also a quote from Hanya Yanagiharas overwrought, at times brutal novel A Little Life, which reads, things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully.

Its true that the dancers give off a broken quality in their bodies. The piece, which shifts in intensity along with Alon Cohens dusty lighting, tries to create a sense of seamlessness, yet as one part bleeds into the next, the pacing stutters. The curtain opens on a single dancer balancing on demi-pointe with one hand protectively pinned to her chest and the other to her abdomen.

Shifting her hips, she teeters and twists on the tips of her toes, until two others enter from the wings swiping at their throats like feral animals. Eventually more dancers join in; as they take small, mincing steps in unison spreading out and converging back together a lyric pokes through the melody: You are one of those creatures.

While there is something trance-like about Brutal Journey, it never lands in a strange-enough place. The monotony of the movement especially those arms that twist like weathered branches on a tree and the repetitive way in which the dance is structured, lends an airless and aimless quality to the performers quest for love or, perhaps, attempts to move beyond it.

The contrast of quick feet with slow-motion posturing soon becomes contrived; at one point, with the dancers forming a tableaux, two bend their arms around a third dancer in the center as if tracing a heart around her. Voguing, or something loosely like it, enters the choreographic picture, but what is it building toward? Just as the dancers ferocity seems forced, this Brutal Journey feels archaic, a relic of the prepandemic world where performance could more easily exist in a place of commercial flash. (Its premiere took place in September 2019.)

These dancers, wallowing in the pain of love and longing, never break your heart. Theyre caught up in sensation, yet no matter how deeply they feel, it doesnt penetrate past the stage. As the curtain slowly falls, they keep moving as if lost in a reverie of love.

L-E-V

Through Feb. 27 at the Joyce Theater, Manhattan; joyce.org.

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Review: Exposing the Heart in a Brutal Dance of Love - The New York Times

For the first time in years, Joe Mount is a very busy man again. After dialling his number, were met with a customary beep! Hi! This is Joe. Leave a message and I may or may not get back to you. Its the day after Metronomy have dropped their seventh studio album Small World, and hes in the thick of celebrations, loading into a venue in his hometown of Totnes for a release show.

When Mount does get back to NME, hes crackling with a warm, excitable energy: Were playing at The Civic Hall in the centre of town. Its quite charming; it must have been built in the 60s or something. We were at Rough Trade [in east London] yesterday and then we slept on the bus for the first time in two years and then woke up on an industrial estate back home. A lovely start!

Its a routine hes simply getting reacquainted with. Metronomy have always proved an unwavering live force as a fixture on British festival bills, pulling their brilliant and offbeat electronica forward with each album, never losing sight of their sense of youthfulness and invention. Is it strange being back given the pandemic held them away for a while? Its not weird being back in venues, the frontman replies. The odd thing is that its been such a long time. Its noticing that you feel a bit older, I guess. Its really fun. I think Im pleasantly surprised by how excited I am.

I think Im always just relieved that people are still interested [in our band]. It feels like the longer you do it, the more impressive it is that people are willing to humour me.

He neednt have been worried. Small World is an album brimming with the confidence and spritely energy weve come to love the five-piece for over the years, but its not exactly the Devonshire band as we know them. This time, Mounts songwriting thrives as intimate acoustic pop dealing with matters of love, life and the passing of time, without their glossy-floor filling beats.

He says Small World is something of an antidote to their adventurous and epic predecessor 2019s Metronomy Forever: I thought it would be nice to make something much more concise and focused. I think for me there was something slightly fun about trying to make a Nashville Metronomy record, a grown-up record, so I thought that would be quite eclectic to be, like, were taking ourselves seriously all of a sudden.

Its a testament to the bands sense of youthfulness that theyve finally penned their growing up album approaching 20 years into their career. He says that sense of adventure has been central to their longevity: Its entertainment and you can have fun with it. At this point in our career, you dont have to stay in your lane, you can enjoy the freedom that youve got. I realised I could make a record like this and then the next one could be psy-trance.

The change in gear didnt come out of the blue, though. Mount relocated to the countryside with his wife and two kids a few years before the pandemic struck, and this offered space to enjoy lifes simple pleasures away from touring schedules. Its a factor that flows wholly through the record notably on the radiant good to be back, when the glitchy bop opens up and Mount accepts: Yeah, I see the world / But sometimes not whats right in front of me.

Today he explains: I already wanted to write more about myself what I feel and then the pandemic happened and it clicked with what I was already thinking and feeling. He pauses, before pondering on the sacrifices of being a musician: You end up for long periods of time away from your family so when youre suddenly presented with two years of time at home its really unusual, which is quite sad. I remember saying to my fianc: We have to enjoy this, because it will never happen again. So from the word go it was not lost on me that it was a really unusual situation.

One of the records many highlights in the form of the dizzying and romantic Hold Me Tonight, a duet with Porridge Radios Dana Morgalin, who offers grungy and heartfelt vocals that summon all the passion and uncertainty of an early romance: And I dont know who Ill talk to / I dont know who Ill cry to / And I dont know what Ill do / Instead of loving you.

Mount says that collaboration is vital in keeping their flame alive: When youre lucky enough to have been doing it for this amount of time, you dont want to forget that early excitement. Every time I work with a newer act you can feel that and feed off it like a vampire. He chuckles before acknowledging the age gap between himself in his late 30s and bands nearly half his age: That distance creeps up on you and you realise that theres quite a big gap.

Does it bring about nostalgia of when he was a fresh faced artist starting out? Absolutely, he says. Its like when you watch interviews with old bands and they say, Oh, I remember when we were driving around in that little van. Its because you never forget and I think the people the reason always go on about it is because its the most exciting time in your career. Its great to work with someone who is so open-minded about everything; its refreshing and inspiring.

metronomy have done a fair share of looking back on their own breakthrough days in recent times, with their classic albums Nights Out and The English Riviera receiving 10-year anniversary treatments. Mount says its good to take stock of the journey so far: Every time I put out a record I go down a bit of a rabbit hole. Sometimes Ill try to find an ancient interview, watch it and see what I said and whether Ive done what I said I would.

Well, has he? I do feel very proud and happy, he admits. We were a young band 10 years ago and you realise there was this potential to develop into what we are now. Its like, What kind of musician will I be for the next 10 years? Its rewarding to stop and reflect. Its quite a nice position to be in because there are people who are still interested to find out what comes next. Having a 10-year anniversary of a record kind of just reminds everyone that theyre 10 years older, as far as Im concerned. Its not just me; its the people that listen to it as well.

At this point in our career, we dont have to stay in our lane. The next record could be psy-trance

Joe Mount every right to be proud: few buzzy bands who emerged in the late 00s have seen it out and continue to make some of their best work. Hes proud of that in itself: There are obviously a lot of bands that come and go but that is a part of the deal as well. Some bands are only meant to exist for maybe one youthful, exciting record theres room for everything, I guess. I think what I will always enjoy is that we were never at the beginning heralded as the ones that would get that far; I like the idea that we stealthily did it in our own way.

So whats next for the band? Theyve headlined Glastonburys John Peel Stage and have a show packed summer on the horizon, including a slot headline at Green Man in the Brecon Beacons. Im not sure whats left to tick off, Mount reflects. Most of us are going to be in our 40s soon, so its like, Oh, what landmarks are on the horizon?

Metronomy. Credit: Alex Lambert

NME suggests theres always time for a slot on the Pyramid Stage. Mount laughs: I will give you a million pounds if we do the Pyramid, and actually I cant give you that amount of money Ill give you a hundred.

Well take our chances on that bet. Metronomy have climbed the hill in their own weird and wonderful way. If they continue to do so, nothing is out of the question.

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Indie survivors Metronomy: "I like the idea that we stealthily succeeded in our own way - NME.com

Planning a vacation is a little tedious, but planning a vacation with friends is a nightmare. Where you could easily choose a hotel you would like, now you must consider three or four other opinions and suddenly making decisions becomes impossible. Will everyone like the windows in this place? Will so-and-so complain about the noise from the street? Will whats-her-face be able to lug her 70 pounds of luggage up the three flights of stairs to this adorable apartment with a clawfoot tub?

This weeks episode begins with four friends planning a vacation and ends with five friends all mad at each other. A tale as old as time. It also asks an extremely important question: Are exotic lamps a great idea, or a menace to society at large?

Joining me this week are Emma Gray and Claire Fallon! Emma and Claire are the hosts of The Bachelor podcast Love To See It. They also host a culture podcast and write a newsletter called Rich Text.

We started off this week talking about how gossip functions as a part of the Bachelor universe (both on and off the show), how both Emma and Claire receive gossip, and the trials of calling yourself a gossip. Then we dove right into a wild and raucous tale of five friends desperate to have a good time on vacation in southeast Asia, whose personalities grate on each other until it all explodes in a single night of drama, terror, and trance music.

This weeks episode is our season finale. We will be taking a little break so that no one burns out before we begin recording new episodes for the very shiny, very exciting season two. In the meantime, though, please send in your FAMILY GOSSIP for a very special bonus episode to tide you over between seasons!

Our bonus episode will feature all of your lovely voices, and you can decide if you want to leave your name or remain anonymous. You can help us out by calling in that delicious gossip over voicemail to 2-6-7-9-GOSSIP or send us a voice memo to normalgossip@defector.com.

You can subscribe toNormal GossiponApple Podcasts,Spotify, orwherever elseyou listen! You canfollowNormal GossiponInstagram here.

(The transcript for this weeks episode can be found here)

Continued here:

Let's Play 'Spot The Scammer' - Defector

Alai K grew up surrounded by the traditional music of Kenya, soaking up ancestral songs and rhythms passed on by his father and great grandmother, both professional musicians, while nurturing a reverence for the ritualistic power of music that he believes transcends borders both geographical and cultural.

Years later, formative experiences in the clubs of Berlin led Alai to draw parallels between those traditional rhythms and the hypnotic 4/4 pulse of contemporary techno. I love techno and believe that African drums influenced the percussion and programming," he says.

"lts coming from the same place; with both you get extended periods with no chorus or verse, just occasional chanted or chopped vocals. In Africa people play drums and dance for hours, which is the same experience as western electronic music."

On his latest release, Kila Mara, Alai joins the dots between the feverish techno of Jeff Mills and DJ Bone and the music that he grew up with: Giriama music, Taarab music, polyrhythmic patterns from across Mozambique, Malawi and Mombasa. I want to express the patterns of electronica, but not necessarily by making straight techno." he says of his ambitions for the project.

"Its magic how repetition can drive dancers into a trance-like state, but my structures are less rigid; theyre not confined to 8 or 16 bars, for example. I want to express the feeling of techno, but bring something new, from somewhere else. Drums are spiritual however theyre used.

When did you start making music, and how did you first get started?

Ive been making music since 1995. I started in Kenya, with a group called Ukoo Flani - they were the first hip-hop group in Kenya. I was rapping, and singing with the group. Some years later, I started playing music live with the band, composing my own songs and touring, playing festivals.

We were working with different producers, different studios, but the end product wasnt the way I like it. Many of the producers in Kenya, theyre the type to just give you a beat, and youll write lyrics on top - that wasnt really my thing. Every time I was going to the studio I was missing something.

It shouldnt be that techno music is played only with machines - this gets boring sometimes, just going to the club and DJing. I want to play this music live

The Goethe-Institut started a project called BLNRB, where they brought some German producers to Nairobi, artists like Modeselektor, Teichmann and Jahcoozi.

"They set up studios in a townhouse and invited all these artists from Germany to work with Kenyan artists, including my hip-hop group, and this really opened my mind to music production. After that, I started producing my own music, and its been about seven or eight years now.

Talk to us about your new album - what inspired this project?

I moved here to Germany, and I was alone here. I always make music with other people, so I didnt know what to do. I went to the clubs to find out whats really needed, whats not there, you know?

"I have a friend in Hamburg who is Kenyan, Izo Anyanga, hes a percussionist. I was visiting him, and we started jamming and doing some small recordings. We invited another guy, Chalo T, and started recording in Hamburg, recording session after session then coming back to Berlin to work on them, translate them and try to bring out something different, something that is coming from my heart.

Living in Berlin, did you find the music thats prevalent there seeping into your own work? Was that an influence?

On some tracks, yes, they really influenced me. Not so much on this album - I have a new album Im working on, Disco Vumbi Vol. 3. This is only inspiration from Berlin, club music, discotheque music. Kila Mara is mostly inspired by traditional music, trying to bring my traditional music into electronic and give it a new look.

When I came here for the project with the Goethe-Institut, I went to so many clubs here. All the clubs were only playing techno music - I was dancing, and they would give me a microphone to jam with them, you know?

"Every time I listen to techno it reminds me of spiritual music, tribal music, like its done in Africa. This is our style, before classical music came, it was more just patterns, rhythmic patterns. This is how I see techno myself, and every time I listen to techno I hear these patterns.

Music from Mijikenda, Giriama music, Taarab music, this is whats influenced me

I said, okay, why is there only beats in techno? Why are there no patterns for vocals? This was my idea, having these repetitive vocals. Chorus after chorus, not chorus then verse then chorus, and so on. This is my way of trying to bring something new - I dont know if its going to work, but I feel like it should be done.

"It shouldnt be that techno music is played only with machines - this gets boring sometimes, just going to the club and DJing. I want to play this music live, people should experience this music live, with drums and vocals and electronic sounds.

Tell us about your studio/set-up.

I have a home set-up. Mostly Im using my Maschine, and Ableton. I use this studio mostly for creating and arrangement. I go to another studio, in a youth centre - this is where I make most of my productions, because I can make noise, I can sing loud.

"At home its just small arrangements, always using my headphones. All my arrangements I do at home, and all my mixdowns I do at home. But all the live recordings, vocals and everything, I do in the other studio.

So the track ideas are mostly starting in a live context, then youre laying them down in the DAW?

Yes, the whole of Kila Mara - every track started live, nothing was started on the computer. Percussion, marimba, kalimba, sometimes vocals, this is how all the tracks were started.

Are you mixing the live, recorded percussion with software instruments or samples?

It depends. The next album, Disco Vumbi Vol. 3, is me playing electronic percussion, then recording vocals. I make beats out of feelings. I start with an idea of what I want, and maybe some vocals, I repeat the vocals, record them, chop it up and make a beat out of it. But with Kila Mara, everything was jamming, everything started live.

Were there any tracks or artists that were particularly influential on the new record?

Its not so much influenced by other artists, but more influenced by traditional music from Kenya. Music from Mijikenda, Giriama music, Taarab music, this is whats influenced me.

"Its music I listened to when I was young, nobodys giving a damn about it - people think its too traditional, they say we are young, why should we listen to this kind of music? So I want to approach this music in a new way, so the young generation can listen to it, and the older generation can still enjoy it.

My great grandmother from Malawi, she was a writer and a great singer too. I didnt meet her but when I was growing up, I had so many stories from my mother, and she would sing her songs. This is what inspired me, traditional music from my people.

Alai K's new album, Kila Mara, is out now via On The Corner Records.

Read the original here:

Alai K: "Every time I listen to techno it reminds me of spiritual music, tribal music, like it's done in Africa" - MusicRadar