MECANO

MECANO

Amsterdam New Wave / Pop Punk / Punk Membres: Dirk Polak, (submembers) Idan Karutchi, Sonja Rozenblum, Mark Ritsema, Reinier Rietveld In http://backtotheoldies.over-blog.com/archive-11-2007.html Ce groupe hollandais nommé "MECANO" (du  nom du célèbre jeu de construction) est un goupe mythique qui n'a sorti que quelques vyniles au début des années 80, alliant, pour le dire vite, des textes égalant les plus brûlants poètes du  XXème siècle (Maïakovski, Celan, Breton...) et une musique que les critiques rock décrivent comme le croisement de Joy Division (pour l'intensité) et de  Jean Sébastien Bach (pour le génie de la composition), mais leur trentaine de titres est  inclassable, évoquant aussi bien Erik Satie et Ravel que Minimal Compact . La voix grave et incandescante de Dirk Pollack chantant, sur un accordéon qu'emportent des guitares minimales  et une batterie incantatoire, ses "romances sans sens" ou ses poèmes aux fureurs d'extrême gauche et aux audaces formelles inouïes et musicales, c'est proprement indescriptible. Les  disques de mecano sont introuvables ou presque (sauf à courir les échoppes de disques  rares dont les disquaires avertis gardent jalousement les exemplaires) depuis des lustres.	The beginnings... in http://mecano.ws/ Inspired by an old booklet of a Meccano construction box (a very popular toy long before Lego existed, as fabricated and sold in the 30's) Dirk was struck by a vision of a world built out of Meccano, in painting, sculpture and even lyrics and music that lead to his 1977 Painting "______". The examples in the instruction booklet set Dirk to paint his Meccano figures, surrounded by surrealistic landscapes and interiors. In those days punk was booming and Dirk thought it was time to start a band and together with Pieter Kooyman and a few hired guns he recorded Face Cover Face, b/w Fools as Mecano Ltd. for the "No Fun" label. But Dirk wanted a real band and so he asked Ton Lebbink to be the drummer. Ton, who was a bouncer at Paradiso in Amsterdam and thus knowing everybody on the scene, immediately introduced the brothers Tejo and Cor Bolten, who also worked at Paradiso. Beside their musical abilities, Ton and the Bolten brothers, had the advantage of unlimited access to Paradiso, the best rehearsing place a band could think of and they started experimenting and putting the music together, mainly based on the ideas of Dirk and the Bolten brothers. The band was formed in the blink of an eye. In the summer of '79 Mecano made their stage debut and began touring. After some years, the band decided to take separate ways, although reunited throughout the times for specific projects. For a long time, Tejo Bolten had felt the will to start Mecano again... there was a mission to fulfill and it was unfinished. Sadly, it was the killing of Theo Van Gogh what triggered Dirk. This loss made him promise upon his dead body that he would sing again. In January 2005 Tejo Bolten and Dirk Polak, brought their music and lyrics to another level with the release of the album 'Snake Tales for Dragon'. As a metaphore of the Meccano toy found years ago "for the engineer of tomorrow", Tejo and Dirk reassembled the parts of the original structure and began to build a whole new story for Mecano. Emerging from the punk-era, Mecano is best described as new wave, with remarkable arrangements, colored with unusual guitar harmonies; with brashness and provocation, converting into an astonishing electric blend. All this combined with Dirks' own grammar like "lack of joie de vivre" or "globe old influenced by the poetry of Andre Breton, Paul Eluard and above all Russian poet Maiakovski, are overall cryptic and along the way Dirk added his".
Liens http://mecano.ws/ http://www.myspace.com/mecanomusic Mélancolia, ;-) (un grand merci pour la découverte)
MECANO DISCOGRAPHY Alben: 1981 Entitled (Torso) 1982 Autoportrait (Torso Divine) 1983 Retitled (Torso Divine) 1986 Titled (Torso Divine) 1996 The half inch universe (Lazy Dog) 2002 The half inch universe (Mutant Jasz) 2005 Snaketales for dragon (Mutant Jasz) 2007 Those Revolutionary Days (Do-CD)  Singles: 1978 Face cover Face / Fools (No Fun) 1980 Untitled (Torso EP) 1980 Escape the human myth (Torso) 1980 Subtitled (Torso EP) 1981 Robespierre's Re-Marx / Room For Two (Torso) 1983 Flexi-Disc in der Zeitschrift Vinyl, Nr. 22 Mecano: March of the Iron Workers Fad Gadget: Untitled Tapes: A Shapeless Volume (Torso/Backstreet) Mecano / Robert Wyatt - Tago-Mago Magazin mit Kassette (Limitierte Auflage 1500 Stück), Musik: Tejo Bolten, Texte und Interviews: Pascal Bussy Compilation: The Divine Album - From nowhere to eternity (1985) inkl. "Robespierre Re-Marx" und "March of the iron worker" Co-Produktionen / Gastprojekte / Solos (Auswahl): Valori Plastici - Kunstduo mit Dirk Polak Flue - One And A Half produziert von Dirk Polak (Torso) Flue - Vista komponiert und performt von Cor Bolten und Edward Gijsen (Torso) Minimal Compact EP mit Cor Bolten (Gitarre, Synthesizer)  und Dirk Polak (Vocals, Melodica, Percussion und Produzent) - Crammed Discs Belgien Ton Lebbink - Luchtkastelen m. Tejo u. Cor Bolten Sophya - Third Wish (Mutant Jasz) - Mix von Tejo Bolten Dirk Polak - Wonder van de Liefde (Mutant Jasz) Dirk Polak - Zilveren Eeuw (Mutant Jasz)