LUCKY DAY!
YOURS. OR MINE.
Division House
Some people like to lose themselves in a remote landscape when they go on holiday, but Japanese architects Makoto Takei and Chie Nabeshima felt a little lost when they landed in a forest where they were to build a getaway for a Tokyo couple. “The endlessness of the forest and the lack of any signposts upset our sense of direction,” Chie told Wallpaper* magazine. “Only the slightly sloping ground told us we were at the foot of the Yatsugatake mountains.”
They designed a wooden house which looks like a set of cubes with large glass walls, all directing the eyes towards specific views like a pond and the road leading to the spot. It might all sound rather academic but the work of Takei-Nabeshima-Architects (TNA) is as romantic and idealistic as you could hope for in modern design. Take a look at their website for more.
Casino vs Japan
For thirteen years Erik Kowalski of Milwaukee in Wisconsin has been producing smooth, sophisticated IDM which has earned him comparisons to Boards of Canada, though not the same level of fame. If you do a search for his name, he might be pipped by an actor of the same name. Just as well that he decided to work as Casino vs Japan when he released his first CD in 1998.
As a kid Erik recorded episodes of Miami Vice so he could sample Jan Hammer's soundtrack music. He taught himself to play piano, guitar and drums and started creating songs. With one album in the bag he started performing live, opened for Low and then released Go Hawaii in 2000 followed by Whole Numbers Play the Basics two years later. Next was the wonderful Hitori + Kaiso 1998-2001, a collection of unreleased tracks and a good place to start discovering what Erik has to offer. It was compiled by a record company from an archive of material Erik gave to a music friend as a present. He didn't have plans to release it, but in 2010 it was mined for another excellent collection, Night on Tape.
Music Has The Right To Children came out in the same year as Erik's first EP. He has a lot in common with Boards of Canada, but his music doesn't really have a dark side. It's uplifting, inspirational stuff.
andrea camilleri
Take a slice of fresh farm bread, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt and ground pepper. Go outside, sit against the side of a house like a kid and take a bite. Savour it. A crime story by Andrea Camilleri is a simple, sensational pleasure much like that. Especially if you can imagine sitting in blazing sun against a crumbling farm house wall on the island of Sicily.
Camilleri's beloved detective, Salvo Montalbano, visits family in one of the books and has some bread the way he used to as a child. He's still a food lover who will dodge appointments and turn off on dusty roads to try a good restaurant. Sea food is his passion and when a storm keeps the fishing fleet stranded in the harbour, he despairs at the prospect of eating something from the freezer.
Montalbano has a temper, maybe a national trait, and a few colleagues he simply can't stand, one of them a grumpy pathologist who handles all his cases. His police team is a colourful bunch who have to accept that he'll always keeps them one step behind in his investigations. Murders in his part of the world often have sinister connections to organised crime or corrupt officials and sometimes your standard "body of a naked girl found..." can turn into a political nightmare.
LIEDJIES TE KOOP!
Hier is vyf nuwes liedjies wat nog nêrens opgeneem of gespeel is nie. Laat weet as jy ’n kunstenaar of musiekbaas is wat van hulle wil gebruik en ek stuur jou die volle demo. Jy kan ook die lirieke gaan bekyk.
As jy dalk wonder, ek is die ou wat Voëlvry geskryf en gesing en die lirieke vir Our Heritage (kyk die video) deur Die Heuwels Fantasties, die Soweto Gospel Choir, HHP en JR geskryf het. Laurika Rauch se liedjie Nuwe Aarde op die album Die Gang is ook een van myne. Meer onlangs het ek vir Pick N Pay se webtuiste ’n stukkie agtergrondmusiek geskryf en opgeneem wat hulle vir aanlyn-video's gebruik.
Site built and maintained by Pieter van der Lugt, a freelance writer based in Cape Town. He's available for work in Afrikaans or English and his