Casiotone For The Painfully Alone:

Chicago’lu Owen Ashworth’ün tek kişilik dev grubu Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, 1997 yılından beri tadından yenmez pop şarkıları icra ediyor. Ashworth’ün müziği karşı koyulamaz gücünü, çeşitli klavyeler, davul makinaları ve diğer elektronik ekipmanlarla şekillendirdiği parçalarının üzerine oturttuğu vokallerindeki Magnetic Fields-vari ironiden alıyor. İlk kayıtlarında ağırlıklı olarak elektronik ekipmanlardan faydalanan Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, ilerleyen albümlerinde analog enstrümanlardan daha sık faydalanmaya başlayarak müziğini daha ileri bir seviyeye taşımıştı. 2009 tarihli son albümü “Vs. Children” ise Casiotone For The Painfully Alone’un güçlü melodileri ve yeni hikâyeleriyle, cazibesi yüksek bir dizi “hit” ortaya koymayı başardı. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, 19 Aralık akşamı Indigo’da insanın kendi başında kaldığı zamanlardaki içselleştirme güdüsünü besleyen, samimi ve tatlı bir melankoliyle desteklenen müziklerden hoşlananlar için kaçırılmaması gereken bir performans sunmaya hazırlanıyor.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums

19 Aralık akşamı, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone’dan hemen önce ise, İsveç’in son zamanlarda çıkardığı en orijinal müziklerden birinin altına imzasını atmış olan Wildbirds & Peacedrums sahne alıyor. Wildbirds & Peacedrums, aynı zamanda evli bir çift olan Mariam Wallentin ve Andreas Werliin’in kurguladığı bir vokal ve ritim ikilisi. Müzikte Mariam’ın teatral vokal yeteneğiyle anlattığı hikayelere çoğunlukla eşlik eden tek şey Andreas’ın kendinden geçmiş davulları ve onların yanı sıra netice alabildiği her şeye vurarak çıkardığı sesler. Başka bir şeye ihtiyaçları olmadığı da aşikar. Kimileri onları free blues olarak tanımlıyor, kimileri ise alternatif pop… Kimileri deneyselcilikleriyle Björk’ün yaptıkları arasında sağlam bir bağ olduğuna inanmış, punk grubu olduklarını düşünenlerin sayısı ise oldukça fazla. Mütevazı bir tavırla 2007’de kaydettikleri “Heartcore” adlı ilk albümlerinin ardından geçtiğimiz yıl tamamladıkları “The Snake” ile ise onlar çoktan küçük mahallelerini terk etmiş, okyanuslar aşarak çok sayıda insanın gözünü kamaştırmayı başarmış. 19 Aralık akşamı Casiotone For The Painfully Alone’dan hemen önce, Wildbirds & Peacedrums tokmaklarıyla mekânı inletiyor olacak, sakın geç kalmayın.

CITY STAR NIGHTS BY CONVERSE # 23 // CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE (US) + WILDBIRDS & PEACEDRUMS (SWE) // 16 DECEMBER WEDNESDAY @ INDIGO

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone

City Star Nights by Converse concert series organized by Bant Magazine presents 2 amazing acts of these days on December 16, Wedneday at Indigo.

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone is Chicago’s Owen Ashworth’s one man band going on since late 90’s crafting beautiful pop songs with various keyboards, drum machines and his ironicly sweet vocals. With strong melodies and brand new stories, his latest album “Vs. Children” succeeded in putting forth a series of charming “hits”. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone’s sincere melancholy will be on Indigo stage on Wednesday, December 16.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums

City Star Nights by Converse konser serisi yeni çalışmalarını hızla sürdürüyor. Büyülü canlı performanslarıyla gönülleri fetheden Danimarkalı topluluk Efterklang, 29 Kasım Pazar akşamı Indigo sahnesinde Türkiye‘deki ilk konserini gerçekleştirmeye hazırlanıyor. Kopenhag’ın Efterklang‘ı, İngiliz şirket The Leaf Label tarafından 2004 yılında yayınlanan ilk albüm “Tripper” ile, yoğun klasik müzik etkileşimlerini post-rock’a giydirerek deneysel bir oda müziğine dönüştüren Amerikalı topluluk Rachel’s misali bir girizgâh yapmıştı. Şirketin 15 yıllık tarihinde en hızlı satışı yakalayan ilk albüm olarak derece kazanan “Tripper”ın ardından gelen EP’ler ve 30′u aşkın konuk müzisyeni ağarlayan 2007 tarihli ikinci albüm “Parades” ile Efterklang, daimi bir yükselişte olduğunu kanıtlamıştı. Efterklang’ın özenli tınıları; electronica, post rock ve art pop’un görkemli bir kesişimine işaret ediyor. Grubun kimliğinin en keskin özelliği de müziklerinde ustaca kotarılmış orkestral kurguları vokallerden yoksun bırakmıyor olmaları. Benzer aranjmanlarla tanıdığımız diğer birçok gruptan farklı olarak Efterklang, vokal düzenlemelerine de müziğe gösterdiği titizliği gösteriyor ve parçalarında bu anlamda derin ve dopdolu bir bütünlük oluşturuyor. Topluluğun dört kişiden oluşan çekirdek kadrosu, konserlerde yerini gösterişli orkestralara bırakıyor. İlk günlerinden beri, şarkı yazma, kaydetme ve müzikleriyle ilgili her türlü detayı kendi başlarına kurgulayarak “kendi kendine yetme” anlayışını benimseyen ekip, çarpıcı renkler ve grafiklerle büründükleri görsellikle de sağlam karakterini net olarak ortaya koyuyor. Efterklang’ın aynı zamanda Rumraket isimli bir plak şirketi de var. Aslen grubun kendi işlerini yayınlamak üzere 2003 yılında kurulan Rumraket, bugün sofistike deneyselciler Grizzly Bear ve İzlanda‘nın gururu amiina gibi çok özel isimlere ev sahipliği yapıyor.  

Gecede kabinde ise B Yüzü var. Yayın hayatına 2009 baharında başlayan B Yüzü, Hemi Behmoaras ve Cem Kayıran tarafından hazırlanılıp sunulan bir radyo programıdır. 94.9 Açık Radyo’da her salı gecesi saat 12’de yayınlanan programda zaman zaman konuklar yer almakta ve bu konuklar kimi zaman canlı performanslar sergilemektedir. Bugüne kadar DDR, Reverie Falls On All, Kim Ki O, Proudpilot gibi konuklar ağırlayan B Yüzü’nün programcıları Arkaoda, Peyote, Dogzstar, Dunia gibi mekanlarda birlikte ve ayrı ayrı dj setlerde de yer alıyorlar. B Yüzü programcıları, 29 Kasım gecesi Efterklang’dan önce B Yüzü DJ Set ile dinleyenleri konsere hazırlayacak.
www.efterklang.net
www.myspace.com/efterklang  

CITY STAR NIGHTS BY CONVERSE #21: EFTERKLANG (DEN) // DECEMBER 29, SUNDAY @ Indigo
+ B YÜZÜ DJ SET

Denmark’s Efterklang is getting ready to perform their first ever live appearance in Istanbul on Nov. 19 at Indigo as Bant Magazine’s guest of City Star Nights by Converse series. Their first album ”Tripper” on English Leaf Label came out in 2004 as classical music influences worn by post-rock to shape an experimental form of chamber music. The EPs that came afterwards and ”Parades” album hich guested more than 30 musicians in 2007 proved the band on the go. Efterklang’s special tunes point to an impressive intersection of electronica, post-rock and art pop crafted by orchestral arrangements supported with vocals as intimate as the music. Since their early days, the band has been doing everyhting by themselves in the name of seld-sufficency and their music is accompanied by striking graphics they present as their visual character. They are also running a label named Rumraket which presents sophisticated experimental acts such as Grizzly Bear or Icelands amiina. Efterklang will be playing a not-to-miss show at Indigo, Istanbul on Nov. 29, Sunday.
The DJ Of the night is B Yüzü, which consists of Hemi Behmoaras and Cem Kayıran, who has been preparing the same titled radio show on Açık Radio (94.9 FM) on every Tuesday at midnight.

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The bedside book about the city…

Following Garanti Gallery’s exhibition in DAM, Frankfurt last year, the book titled “Becoming Istanbul” has been published in 3 different languages; English, German and Turkish within the first months of this year. The book consists of over 150 topics that touch to various problematics of Istanbul, written up by almost 80 different writers. Meriç Öner, the coordinator of the project is answering some questions we ask.

Have you had already made the decisions about the format, the multi-writer feature and the content of “Becoming Istanbul” when it was just a projected book?

M.Ö.: “Becoming Istanbul” did not emerge as “another book on Istanbul”. The “Becoming Istanbul” exhibition lead to such a book project. Yet, the book is not a catalogue for the exhibition, it is more like a starting point. With its enourmous population and spacious borders, we evaluate Istanbul as a metropol today. A big number of and a rich variety of components such as Bant’s “City Star Nights by Converse concert series”, Marmaray excavations, ecologic skyscraper utopia, Istanbul Bienale, the demolition of Sulukule compose the content of this metropol. However, when we proceed to analyse, to discuss, and to explain Istanbul, we are exposed to loads of formulaic expression. Moreover, all these expressions have been repeated dozens and dozens of times and they have invaded various minds in various ways. The way to oppose this situation could not have been pronouncing another epilogue. The book’s multi-writer and multi-topic format takes off from here. In short, the construct was clear since the very first days, but we owe the richness of the book’s content to the process and the excitement of the collaborators.

Can you explain how the multi-writer feature and thus the polyphony is beneficial to this encyclopedia-like book?

M.Ö.:First of all the book is alphabetically indexed but it is not a typical encyclopedia; it is more like a bedside book. Actually it is possible to come across to such books within the last few years. But since these recognized examples point to certain disciplines, they unavoidably bring together writers who have a voice in the certain area. “Becoming Istanbul” does not have chosen topics; it has striking facts, problematics and metaphors. We wanted to go further than debating all these within one or two disciplines. Therefore we wanted to reach to writers from various backgrounds and areas. Thus, it may count as an advantage that it does not need to engage in a certain discipline and its terminology. And the alphabetical index breaks the lineer reading habits. There are typical dictionary “vide”s which enable the transition between different texts. These define a pattern relating to the city. You can move around the book. That’s why we call it a bedside book. It is not some book that can be consumed quickly at one go and with a singular point of view.

Individualism goes beyond academic standards with this book, yet without compromising from competency. This competency is surely related to the writers picking their topics themselves… What was the process of choosing writers to contribute in the book like? How did this competency reach this convenience and thus the originality?

M.Ö.: We believed that the writers we invited shared the common concerns against the formulaic expressions on Istanbul. Surely all the writers brought along their professional knowledge, but the invitation we addressed them explained that this book was not an academic publication and personal determination and experience especially mattered. We emphasized that the topics in the book were carefully chosen with the transformation of Istanbul within the last 150 years taken into consideration, yet they were all precious in a current context. So the writers, who were looking at a long list of topics with examples such as anarchy, ATM, electricity, security, hotel, beach, etc., must have guessed easily that the topic titled as “byzantine” was not supposed to be the summary of Byzantine history. One of the main reason for the convenience you mention is probably this. And another one doubtlessly is the hot trail of the editors.

This interiew was published in Bant Magazine’s March 2009 issue.

“Ya da?” in Turkish is known to English speakers as “or”. It’s the name of the design brand which is lately created by graphic designer Aslıhan Özgen and architect Nuray Togay. They have created the “white series” that consists of extraordinary patterned and hand binded notebooks and they are available in various spots in Turkey. Here is a short interview with the creators.

How did the idea of making notebooks first occurred?
Today, there are hundreds, thousands of types to every single object. And it’s boring that the varieties are only repeating each other in such wealth. For example, notebooks are objects which are produced in high amounts and consumed casually. It’s challenging for us to think that even though there are so many different types to them, they are produced in strict standards. Not that it’s bad to have standards; but notebooks tend to be more free objects, yet they always are made up of lines with constant distances. However, notebooks are like playgrounds where everyone can express themselves however they want. In order to make the user conscious of this, we started the process with the lines. We challenged the order and the stability and gave it a white binding. White being a messy colour is also helping the freeing of the object. It scares the buyer, but it was intended. You can wipe them clean, don’t worry about it. The production process was quite adventureous. Hand-binding issue complicated the whole process.