Within a Sky Full of Earth

The odyssey of joining 33 musical projects together, from Portugal and from the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, is finally out of the box with mostly all of the aims of Project T(H)REE achieved. After one year of detailed work and effort with the participation of more than one hundred people, David Valentim, the producer, taking all the credits of this olympic challenge, and Bloom * Creative Network, a part of the engine, have launched the first III CD last weekend in Hong Kong and Macau, with two successful events.

T(H)REE is a musical project that brings together for the very first time, on the same record, modern musicians from Portugal, Macau and Hong Kong. Wishing to materialize and shape a truthful blend of cultures the idea also comes from the significant ambition to enhance local music creation beyond its borders. Reaching distant domains, bringing the steer to extensive forms and new contacts as musical and cultural projects that otherwise would never taken place. This project is also born under the structure of a pure and boundless dialogue, where the finest blend of creative processes, sounds and distinctive ways of making music flow in a world without space and distance, making technology the elemental connection and the convergence point. The final result is a surprise and an outlook reference for the music scene of the three territories involved.

III T(h)ree • New Musical Roots from Portugal, Hong Kong and Macau
Concept and Production: David Valentim • Graphic Design: Alexandre Paixão • Photos: Ana Mendonça, António Falcão, David Valentim, Hina Shimomura, Paulo Carneiro • Texts: António Falcão, Erik Piece, Rui Dinis, Yuen Chi-Chung • Mastered by: Alok Leung • Presented and distributed by: Bloom * Creative Network

...
T(H)REE is on sale in the following places:

HONG KONG
• White Noise Records [http://www.whitenoiserecords.org]
• Kubrick [http://www.kubrick.com.hk]
• Zoo Records [http://www.zoo-records.com]

MACAU
• St. Paul's Fine Arts Gallery [http://www.stpaulscorner.com]
• Portuguese Bookshop [Rua de S. Domingos 18-20 R/C]
• Pinto Music [Senado Square • next door to Starbucks 1st floor]
• Lines Lab | Bloom [Creative Albergue • Calçada da Igreja de S. Lázaro, 8]

ORDER ONLINE here.

"Smells Like the Nineties" was the theme of our previous party, that took place on The Rooftop earlier on April 18. You can see now some of the photos and the faces that were there. Check them
here!

Stay tuned for more news on Bloom's involvement with the St. Paul's Corner.
THE LINK: SMELLS LIKE THE NINETIES PHOTOS [OR CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE]

"SMELLS LIKE THE NINETIES"
[APRIL 18 • Saturday • Starting at 10 PM]

Have you heard of THE ROOFTOP?
Well, there's something going on through the leads of St. Pauls Ruins that is bringing all the saints awake to what's the whiz in town.

THE ROOFTOP is the bar at the St. Paul's Corner Club on the steps of the most remarkable landmark of Macau and it's back with a party. Once more on a venture with Bloom * Creative Network is creating what might be something different in town and surely not to be missed!
"SMELLS LIKE THE NINETIES" is a return to that great stream of sound and fury marked in time and deep down on everyone's memories. That's it, we're inviting you to come on this BUZZ evoking all the hits of Indy, Pop, Punk, Rock, Dance, and Hip-Hop, and whatever, that made the whole of a decade and that are still echoing in our minds.
With the illustrious JORGIBOY, the rage of DJ KUNMING and introducing THE LOUNGE at the Corner's Club, what will be a surprise and a trial for following events, you must come and dance through out the night.

JOIN IN and invite your friends to come! It's simple as that.

DETAILS
Host: Corner's Club
Start Time: Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 10:00pm
End Time: Sunday, April 19, 2009 at 3:00am
Location: St. Paul's Corner • Travessa de S. Paulo • Macau

Each man kills the thing he loves, by each let this be heard.
Some do it with a bitter look, some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss, the brave man with a sword.

Some kill their love when they are young, some when they are old.
Some strangle with the hands of lust, some with the hands of gold.
The kindest use a knife because, the dead so soon grow cold.

Some love too little, some too long, some buy and other sell.
Some do the deed with so many tears, and some without a sigh.
For each man kills the thing he loves, yet each man does not die.
Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves by GAVIN FRIDAY • WORDS by OSCAR WILDE

Don’t scream out now, from the faceless
A silent shout, no you shouldn’t
Stand, don’t you stand, don’t you stand in this crowd
Oh, don’t you stand, don’t you stand in this crowd
Clear cut and drowned, like it’s bleeding
Don’t make a sound, you know you couldn’t
Stand, don’t you stand, don’t you stand in this crowd
Oh, don’t you stand, don’t you stand in this crowd
Run where you can, while you can
Run where you can, while you can
Embracing time…
CARNIVÀLE BY KINEMATIC • 2007

Lawrence was the name, the only one he staged. That's how everybody knew him. No surname, not a family story. Felt was his band and he was one of my cult heroes back in the 80's. Still is, I guess, in a different shape. From time to time I step across his work and for days I play all his songs again. In these occasions I try to check where he is and what he's doing. Nobody knows, as nobody knew before. He had a hard character but the music is timeless and life flies back and forth. 

I will be
the first person in history
to die of boredom
and I will have as my epitaph
the second line of 'black ship in the harbour'
I'll rest this case
condemn my race
I'll stab a knife into the face
of any man who dares to oppose me
DECLARATION by FELT • POEM OF THE RIVER • 1987

A morte saiu à rua num dia assim
Naquele lugar sem nome para qualquer fim
Uma gota rubra sobre a calçada cai
E um rio de sangue de um peito aberto sai
O vento que dá nas canas do canavial
E a foice duma ceifeira de Portugal
O som da bigorna é como um clarim do céu
Vão dizendo em toda a parte o Pintor morreu

Teu sangue, Pintor, reclama outra morte igual
Só olho por olho e dente por dente vale
À lei assassina à morte que te matou
Teu corpo pertence à terra que te abraçou
Aqui te afirmamos dente por dente assim
Que um dia rirá melhor quem rirá por fim
Na curva da estrada há covas feitas no chão
E em todas florirão rosas de uma nação
[JOSÉ AFONSO • 1972 - TEMA DEDICADO AO POETA JOSÉ DIAS COELHO, ASSASSINADO PELA PIDE EM 19 DEZ 1961]

This song could have been our soundtrack. It's called "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead" "The Sun Smells Too Loud" and is on the last album of the Scotish band Mogway, which was titled "The Hawk Is Howling", that will be realeased on the 21st of September. It's a delightful essay on sound and ambience. Mogwai member Barry Burns described the album's songs as being "dreamy ballads about forbidden love gone awry".
Listen to it as you scroll our website down. We've been very busy and we could not update our blog so often, we'll try our best to do it more in the future, as soon we park all our cars.
[MOGWAY ON WIKIPEDIA]

YOU CAN LISTEN TO:
Scott Walker

I've become the Orson Welles of the record industry. People want to take me to lunch, but nobody wants to finance the picture... I keep hoping that when I make a record, I'll be asked to make another one. I keep hoping that if I can make a series of three records, then I can progress and do different things each time. But when I have to get it up once every 10 years... it's a tough way to work.
[Scott Walker in an interview for THE INDEPENDENT]

There are a lot of ‘classic’ (i.e. ageing) rock groups where all is ego and restriction. The bass player only plays what he plays and hasn’t listened to anything new in two decades; the drummer is really only interested in salmon farming and collecting china pigs; the singer thinks he’s Stooges era Iggy reborn but he’s nearer Danny La Rue. Such bands continue to tour the world, but the worlds they encompass narrow to the size of a major chord or two, and the most pedestrian of lyrics (rock-and-roll-must-never-die).
There are a lot of ways Scott Walker might have gone and this is one of them: into showbiz purgatory, yet another bogus man trolling the world like a pale Xerox ghost of himself, before an ensemble of the best session musicians money can buy, maybe even a ‘triumphant return’ at Glastonbury. There are a lot of things people forget about Scott Walker; journalists use words like mysterious and reclusive but is this really so? Draw up an honest profile of Scott Walker and you might find yourself looking at somebody very much like… yourself. How strange is that?
There are a lot of ways you might introduce the stunning, the towering singularity of Scott Walker works, specially The Drift, from 2006. As the critic Cynthia Ozick once said of novelist William Gaddis (three novels in thirty years): he may not have been “prolific”, but “instead he has been prodigious, gargantuan, exhaustive, subsuming fates and conditions under a hungry logic.”
There are a lot of self-proclaimedly ‘experimental’ artists clamouring for our attention, but who else gives us so much space in song, yet still a recognisable song, one marked by sex and pity and perplexity and rage, all the while keeping his ego to a bare minimum. Who else allows so many other voices - unlikely, unmoored, unmourned voices - into his song? Who else gives us language back as such a shock and surprise, as here, in the incredible risk and wager and CRISIS of The Drift, hear how sweeps and heaps of gory or holy or horrific confusion and reflection and fall are rendered with so precise and unfaltering and unique an ear eye and throat, by this man alone, out of time, our first and last and best recording angel, the last Modernist left standing, the only one left alive, Scott Walker.

[FOLLOWING THE QUESTION: Is he, for example, being recognised in public again?]
No, not that often. I had a guy sit down next to me in the tube not so long ago and he said, 'I have to tell you, I'm a big fan of yours. I bought your last two records and - he pauses for dramatic effect - I'm never going to buy one again!' And he got up and walked out. He was really pissed off.
[Scott Walker at THE GUARDIAN]

MORE HERE:
• 4AD RECORDS
• WIKIPEDIA
• ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
• OFFICIAL WEBSITE FOR 'THE DRIFT' | CHECK THE TIMELINE
• SCOTT WALKER ON YOUTUBE

It's just because, from old times til now, Scott Walker sounds marvelous, special and unique. Something you cannot find in life very easily. He's the only survivor of Brel's plane crash heritage, who managed to kept renewing himself. Come by and feel the power of his songs crawling up through your bones and reaching your soul. I guess he will be playing here all week. Expect him at one of BLOOM RADIO's channels very soon.

Well, is about time to put some sound here. We have the pleasure to announce the opening of BLOOM RADIO today. Supported by Last•FM, the social music revolution, we bring you two channels that you can choose from, play, stop, change, fast-forward, and sing and dance. Look at the right side here at our home. Currently we are playing, on CHANNEL #1, songs from Jacques Brel and related artists and, on CHANNEL #2, Nick Cave as his deadly friends. This will change with time. We're open for requests. Take your peek now and enjoy! We don't need to say more. It's all for you.

[REMINDER]
• BLOOM RADIO #1: Jacques Brel's Similar Artists
• BLOOM RADIO #2: Nick Cave's Similar Artists
[CLICK TO OPEN IN A SMALL POP-UP WINDOW]

A fighter against hypocrisy and proudly iconoclast, Belgian-born singer and songwriter Jacques Brel derided the flaws of society and left enduring masterpieces, such as 'Dans le Port d'Amterdam' (In the Port of Amsterdam), 'Le Plat Pays' (The Flat Country) and 'Les Bigotes' (The Bigots).
Wishing to escape media pressure, he set out to sail around the world on the Askoy, his private ketch, accompanied by his companion, Madly, from Guadeloupe. In November 1975 they arrived at Atuona at the Marquesas Islands and, seduced by its serenity, Brel never left. In 1976 he and Madly setup a small home on the hillside above the village. He equipped himself with Jojo, a Beechcraft airplane in which he travelled between the islands of the northern group and as far as Papeete.
Jacques Brel and Madly became involved in village life and were well-liked by the locals. From time to time the artist would perform medical evacuations to Papeete in his plane.
Jacques Brel died of cancer in October 1978 at the age of 48. His last song, 'Les Marquises' (The Marquesas), resounds as a vibrant homage to this generous place. At Calvaire Cemetery, where he rests near Paulo (as he called Gauguin), Brel's tomp is lovingly decorated with flowers.
[TAKEN FROM THE LONELY PLANET'S TRAVEL GUIDE 'TAHITI AND FRENCH POLYNESIA']

This must be a pretty hell of a coincidence. As we are trying to dig ourselves into our new place in St. Lazarus, the district of Macau near Tap Seac, set by the local government as a Creative Industries area, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds release their new album called “Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!” Well, I like to think that they made it just for us. To push ourselves further inside of it. "Go!", they say. "Dig for it!"
The first video, as usual, is available at Bloom TV (courtesy of YouTube and the MuteChannel, thank you very much!). Nick Cave returns to the Bible, his first and favorite subject. It's a crazy song. “Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!” is a song written by Nick Cave and was released by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds as a single on February 18th, 2008. It is the title track from the new album. The song, like much of the band's recent work, was produced by Nick Launay. and has been available to be listen to on the band's official website since Christmas Day, 2007. In a journal available at the Nick Cave Exhibition, it is revealed that an earlier version was instead about a man who was dead, who when he was saying "I don't know what it is but there's definitely something going on upstairs" referring to continuing brain activity, who never asked to be raised from the tomb and then ends up homeless and slave, and finally dead.
This is how Cave describes the whole record:

Ever since I can remember hearing the Lazarus story, when I was a kid, you know, back in church, I was disturbed and worried by it. Traumatized, actually. We are all, of course, in awe of the greatest of Christ's miracles - raising a man from the dead - but I couldn't help but wonder how Lazarus felt about it. As a child it gave me the creeps, to be honest. I've taken Lazarus and stuck him in New York City, in order to give the song, a hip, contemporary feel. I was also thinking about Harry Houdini who spent a lot of his life trying to debunk the spiritualists who were cashing in on the bereaved. He believed there was nothing going on beyond the grave. He was the second greatest escapologist, Harry was, Lazarus, of course, being the greatest. I wanted to create a kind of vehicle, a medium, for Houdini to speak to us if he so desires, you know, from beyond the grave.

At current reviews all the critical voices gave them a mass high mark. It seems that Nick Cave is set loose, he and his moustache, since his project called The Grinderman, and goes wilder than ever in the last years of his career. Fuck the "Love Song", he might have said. Check the reviews on the bottom, but first of all load on to the video clip here. The video was directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard and features Cave walking towards the camera in a strut fashion, singing the song, whilst images of New York pass by him. During the chorus, the images of New York are replaced by the members of the Bad Seeds dancing. Nick Cave will turn 51 next September 22.

REVIEWS: The Observer • The Guardian • The Sun • On Record • Gigwise • NME • The Independent • The Times

AGAIN:
Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!! - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
[GO TO THEIR 'MYSPACE' SITE AND HEAR ALL THE RECORD]

I Don't Feel Funky [CLICK TO PLAY]
{This song is from 1984 from one of the oldest Portuguese bands nowadays. It comes from a record named "Special Defects" and was their second long playing album. This was almost twenty four years ago. They are still around. A life has passed and we're getting old!}

During the month of March the Alliance Française de Macao will produce a serie of events that will boost the cultural life of the territory. It starts tomorrow with an exhibition of the chinese artist Anaïs Zhang. Born in 1973 in Zhuhai (China). From 1992 to 1999 she studied at the Guangzhou Fine Art Academy where she obtained a Master in Oil Painting.
She applies paint using a variety of techniques and styles, her sources of inspirations run from the memories of the landscapes and faces she has witnessed during her worldwide travels (Europe, Tibet, Nepal, USA, South Asia) to old European photographs taken by her grandfather-in-law. Check the whole program bellow.

French Speaking Festival - March 2008
Saturday, March 1st, 7 pm • Alliance Française de Macao
Opening of the exhibition of paintings by Anaïs Zhang (March 1st –March 22th):
“La Belle Époque”

Wednesday, March 5th, 8.30 pm • Macau Cultural Centre • Small Auditorium
Live concert with the French Rock Band: Rue d’la Gouaille
Mop 30 [Free for students of the Alliance Française] • BUY TICKETS AT WWW.MACAUTICKET.COM

Thursday, March 13th, 8.30 pm • Alliance Française de Macao
Pancakes evening

Wednesday, March 19th • Alliance Française de Macao
Contest: “La Plume d’or”
[Reserved to students of the Alliance Française de Macao. Please contact us for more information]

CONTACT:
Alliance Française de Macao • 4F Travessa do Bom Jesus • Macau
Tel: 2896 5342 • Fax: 2896 2697 • culture.macao@afchine.org

Wong Kar-wai was broken hearted when he completed and abandoned is lovelife project "2046". For that he had to travel to USA, from New York to Vegas, and make a road movie. Much in the way of Jim Jarmusch, much like Wim Wenders experienced before, giving hands with Ry Cooder on the same way. If you could hear the silence from the remains of that bitten heart that would be what My Blueberry Nights sung to us through a process of reflections and deep feelings. An observation deck. Along, he picked up Jude Law and the singer Norah Jones and made a perfect clash. A long way to cross the road to the other side and explain what is love about. Simple and daring. Captured with special tenacity where his camera lost half of the frames to create and extend a punch of soft and great emotions. I could be there forever and never come back.
[SEE THE TRAILER HERE] [AND ENJOY THE MAIN SONG BY CAT POWER HERE] [PUT IT LOUD AND COME AGAIN FOR MORE]

Peter Björn and John

Peter Björn and John were formed in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1999. Made up of members Peter Morén on vocals, guitar, and harmonica; Björn Yttling on vocals, bass, vocals, and keyboards; and John Eriksson on drums, percussion, and vocals, the band is influenced by the sounds of classic '60s baroque pop, power pop, and new wave, but the guys aren't revivalists. Instead they created some of the most exciting and original indie rock of the mid-2000s. The band began playing gigs soon after forming and quickly began appearing on compilations alongside other artists. After releasing three singles, the band released its self-titled first album in 2002 on the tiny Beat That! label. After more shows and more singles and an EP, the group jumped to the Planekonomi label in 2004 and released the Beats, Traps and Backgrounds EP. It was soon followed by the wonderful 2004 full-length release Falling Out, which was picked up for American release by Hidden Adenda in late 2005. The record placed them, along with The Concretes, the Shout Out Louds and the The Legends, at the forefront of the sparkling wave of great pop bands coming from Sweden. Their third album, Writer's Block, followed a year later.
The third album deserves every bit of attention and hype it's received, from large media outlets right down to the lowliest blog. It's a major work of post-everything indie rock that has enough hooks, production genius, and emotional strength to make other rock acts (indie or otherwise) sound like they are just wasting everyone's time. The group's previous two albums were excellent power pop records with an excess of brains and style, whereas Writer's Block scales back the guitars in favor of subtler arrangements that deliver just as much power sonically and ups the stakes in every other way. Every song has that kind of stripped-down production style that brings the music fully to life. Check the steel drums on "Let's Call It Off," the shh-shh-shh percussion on "The Chills," or the majestic tubular bells of "Roll the Credits" for Spectorian shoegaze production magic. Or look at the infectious single "Young Folks" for the key to why the record sounds so right. [SOURCE ALL MUSIC]
• OFFICIAL SITE
• CHECK THE VIDEO OF Young Folks ON YOUTUBE {courtesy of BLOOMTV}
• LOOK FOR THE ALBUM HERE
• AND THEN BUY IT AT ITUNES STORE

Lawrence Hayward (born August 12, 1961, also known as Larry, Jon Lawrence or simply Lawrence) is best known as the enigmatic singer, songwriter and guitarist of seminal British indie band Felt. He is often described as being eccentric.
Felt released ten albums in the 1980s, and Lawrence was the only constant member of the band from its inception in 1979 to its dissolution in 1989, though he doesn't appear at all on the band's penultimate album, Train Above The City. During his time in the band, he served as lyricist and primary songwriter, though early on he shared songwriting credits with then-lead guitarist Maurice Deebank, who left the band in 1986.
Very little is known about Lawrence's background or personal life - even his last name has never been verified, since in official songwriting credits, only his first name is given. It is sometimes reported that he is from Water Orton, a suburb on the outskirts of Birmingham (where Felt formed), though at times Birmingham itself is reported as his place of birth. Early on he was heavily influenced by Tom Verlaine of Television in both his guitar-playing and his idiosyncratic vocals.
After the dissolution of Felt, Lawrence formed Denim. Influenced by 1970s glam rock, Denim released two albums in the 1990s, plus a compilation of B-sides and extra tracks, but mainstream success continued to elude Lawrence. A third album, Denim Take Over, was shelved indefinitely.
1999 saw the full-length debut of Lawrence's current project, Go Kart Mozart, released through his personal imprint, West Midlands Records and distributed by Cherry Red. The 2005 follow-up was titled Tearing Up The Album Charts – a wry comment on his failure to achieve commercial success, a habit the album itself did nothing to break. UNCUT awarded Lawrence the dubious honour of being "one of the stars fame forgot".
Since August 2006, Lawrence has been working on a new Go Kart Mozart album. Additionally, filmmaker Paul Kelly has worked on a documentary centred around Lawrence, titled Lawrence of Belgravia (a reference both to the Englishman who led the Arab Revolt and the district of Central London in which Lawrence resides), which was set to premiere at the London Film Festival in either October or November 2006, but failed to be ready.
Updated info on the Unofficial Felt site.
[SOURCE WIKIPEDIA] [MORE HERE] [ONE OF THEIR SONGS] [AND ANOTHER ONE]

Charlotta making lasagna
With Mia above the clouds
Charlotta making lasagna
With Mia above the clouds
But you could have waited
You could have locked yourself up
For ten years or so
And when you finally came out
There would still be no chances for you
[THE KNIFE - LASAGNA • AUDIO ON YOUTUBE]

JASON COWLEY: I saw you perform Blemish at Festival Hall, in London, in the summer of 2003.Your audience listened respectfully, as they always do. But I remember at the start of the second half of the show, when you began by singing one of your old songs, The Other Side of Life, from Quiet Life, there was a huge cheer. It was so loud that you could have heard it from the top of the Millennium Wheel.
DAVID SYLVIAN: It was probably a cheer of relief [we both laugh]. Blemish is an album that people have to work at. That people are prepared to do just that, to spend some time getting to grips with it – well, that’s an act of true generosity on their part.

JC: What do you think of the remix album, The Good Son vs The Only Daughter?
DS: I’m happy with it. Remix albums are, in general, only ever moderately successful: the person commissioned to do the remix would generally prefer to be working on his own material than being paid to work on someone else’s. In this instance, the remix gave us an opportunity to build relationships with artists like Akira [Rabelais] and Burnt [Friedman] that could lead to future collaborations. It gave us a chance to discover if we spoke the same language, if you like.

JC: To listen to Blemish is to discover an artist engaged in the complicated process of remaking himself. I was shocked when I first heard it. It sounded like nothing you had done before.
DS: When I began work on Blemish I had an incredible desire to eradicate the past and to find a whole new vocabulary for myself. At first, you are working from pure intuition. You are not sure where you are going; later, you begin to understand where the vocabulary is leading you and how to make it speak for you in a more profound way.

JC: The form of the pop song no longer interested you?
DS: For me those old forms reached a natural end – or shall I say their pinnacle – with Dead Bees on a Cake. Without the benefit of having to face my catalogue as I had to when putting together those compilation albums [for Virgin], I would never have been able to make such a radical break. In the end, I was too familiar with my own material. I’d toured with it, I knew it too well. I was happy to put it to rest and never face it again. I still enjoy the challenge of writing a well-structured pop song, but the stimulus for doing so usually comes from outside – someone will offer me a project or will offer to collaborate or give me a song to write a lyric to.

JC: You are in the process of completing an album with Steve Jansen and Burnt Freidman. I’ve heard the title track, Snow-borne Sorrow: much more accessible than Blemish but still bold and innovative and rather beautiful. How did this come about?
DS: Steve and I had been working on a project, and I’d also been working on another a project with Burnt. From there, the two projects just came together in the most natural way, and began to develop into something very impressive. The project will incorporate some of the strongest material I’ve ever written with Steve – that’s for sure, some really beautiful pieces. It’s a very confessional album. It has that same confessional edge as Blemish had and some very powerful and emotional qualities to it. The structures are rather repetitive, similar to Blemish, but, yes, far more accessible. But I’m looking forward to putting this one to bed and moving on. At times the speed at which I work causes me great frustration... so many other ideas to pursue. [...]
[TAKEN FROM DAVID SYLVIAN'S WEBSITE] [PHOTO NEW YORK TIMES]

• UPDATE: 20.10.07 - Show Cancellations
Reluctantly, David has had to cancel the shows in Moscow, San Sebastian and Lisbon due to illness brought on by fatigue. We will continue to keep you posted should there be further cancellations.