#the dutch lesson

[dustedmagazine]

Soft Machine — The Dutch Lesson (Cuneiform)

The Dutch Lesson by Soft Machine

Cuneiform has done it again! A more multifaceted and satisfying series of Soft Machine archival recordings is not to be found anywhere, and just when it might seem to be over, Steve Feigenbaum adds another entry into an already large catalog. The Cuneiform releases include concerts, studio and demo recordings, and while there are too many to mention, the 1967 Middle Earth Masters provides one unparalleled glimpse into early Softs as they blaze through a club set caught in surprisingly good sound. The same is true with this 1973 Rotterdam concert, and even before diving into the music, a word of praise is in order for the restoration wizardry of Ian Beabout. His recent work on Baker’s Dozen, the Muffins’ box set also on Cuneiform, set the bar very high, and The Dutch Lesson does not disappoint. The front-row taping is both vivid and extremely powerful, not to mention dynamically varied, and Beabout squeezed every last sonic detail out of it.

Those details are especially important at points of transition, as when the opening “Stanley Stamps Gibbon Album” leads first to “Between” and then into “The Soft Weed Factor.” The quartet lineup, so similar to that on the sixth album, consists of drummer John Marshall, keyboardist Mike Ratledge, winds and keys man Karl Jenkins and bassist Roy Babbington replacing Hugh Hopper. To hear the contrast between the ever-in-sync Marshall and Babbington-driven opener and the intricate and delicate “Between” is to behold a thing of rare and gentle beauty. Ratledge’s organ sound becomes more and more rounded, its distortion slowly fading into polyrhythms of delayed keyboard repetitions and luminescent percussion. Just when it seems that the sound is going to disappear altogether, so near to silence has it strayed, “Factor’s bluesy trudge emerges with perfect timing. It builds, with crushing inexorability, until Marshall and Babbington slam the groove home at 2:15. They kick into similar overdrive on a particularly maniacal rendering of “37 ½” that gives Jenkins a chance to stretch way out on what sounds like oboe. His serpentine solo eventually enters multi-phonic mode, and a more illustrative example of his improvisational chops would be difficult to imagine.

Aymeric Leroy’s notes set the stage and fill in the background, as they always do. He posits, insightfully, that the seventh album’s largely overdubbed textures probably account for the fact that only one track from it, “Down the Road,” appears in this October 1973 concert. What we do hear, an even more tantalizing proposition, is an early version of the now-iconic “Hazard Profile,” emerging headlong, with volcanic import, from “Chloe and the Pirates.” Dig the keyboard arpeggiations as Marshall’s opening roll clears a space for the track’s initial burst of groove-laden activity an astonishing 1:43 in! Yes, the drums are loud throughout, and that’s what Marshall sounds like in performance. He’s one of the most underappreciated drummers still on the scene, every power-packed roll and thud tempered by ornaments of exquisite precision and delivered with unerring timing. Again, the glacial dynamic descent leading into the following improvisation is made all the more poignant by the preceding quarter-hour of mind-stomping riff and distorto-slam.

If all you’ve heard are the album versions of these tracks, this concert will offer up a new perspective, one that hits with immediate viscerality. If the quintet lineup with Alan Holdsworth, added very soon after this concert, raised the stakes, the keys and winds so prominent in this relatively short-lived band certainly makes The Dutch Lesson well worth investigating, but there’s so much more to enjoy! We experience a band in transition as exciting as any connecting their propulsive live sets, but when has Soft Machine been anything other?

Marc Medwin

[arthursfuckinghat]

I think a lot of people forget why a character like Micah exists - aside from aiding the plot.

Micah is a guide (of sorts) for you to see what a "bad man" really is, to help you understand why Arthur does what he does and to show you that there's actual thought and morals behind his actions.

Micah, on the other hand, kills because he wants to and for stupid reasons. He is a malicious, mocking, hurtful, and sadistic man who cares very little for anybody but himself. He's a misogynist, racist, and frankly irredeemably evil.

As much as Micah was able to manipulate Dutch, Arthur could see right through him. Ultimately causing a rift between Dutch and Arthur, which is exactly what Micah wanted.

Micah was made for you to see the differences between "good" and "bad" people.

Characters like Sean, Lenny, Charles, all "good" people who have done "bad" just like the rest of the gang, including Arthur. I think the reason that people are quick to say that Arthur was "a bad person until he got tb" is because we see his experiences first hand (plus player choices) and not much of the other "good" gang members' "bad" actions. That and his motives and his background is sometimes misunderstood by players.

Arthur is a "good man", "a saint", "an angel", "a blessing" to some and a "bad", "evil", "cruel" man to others.

Playing as Arthur means getting to understand his internal conflicts and his desire to be a better person, something Micah had no intentions of being.

[dairsmuids]

how many times have you watched this?

me: yes

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

Jan Steen (c. 1626-1679) "The Drawing Lesson" (c. 1665) Oil on panel Dutch Golden Age Located in the Getty Center, Los Angeles, United States

[greensaplinggrace]

dutch really was so completely and utterly blinded by his own ego. anybody with the decades of experience he has as a conman - and an intellectual and pseudo philosopher no less - should know that the first thing to look out for in any situation is something or someone agreeing with you so wholly that it erodes all sense or wariness.

[lilithlikesart]

Rembrandt (Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn) - The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, 1632, Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands

[river-of-wine]

A bonus Molly sketch from my gilded cage things! Given the circumstances for Molly in particular during chapter 4 and the fact that Dutch being the way he is would likely just use her as an accessory for the evening I can’t imagine her having a good time, but at least the dress is pretty

[schizononagesimus]

Griddlehark Cry Counter - 16th Augustus, 2024

13.45- eenmaal

[rising-blood-moon]

One thing I find particularly funny in the dutch version of the Lego Dreamzzz book, was the translator's absolute refusal to translate Bunchu's name. So instead of Bunchu being called Bunchu, he consistently gets called ''Plushie-Rabbit'' (now that I think about it, I don't think Bunchu has a name in the dutch dub either)

And Nightmare King's translation doesn't make much sense either. He gets called "The lord of nightmares'' probably to make it roll of the tongue better. But I feel like a 1:1 translation would still be fitting and be much easier to say then his extended name version.

[dailyfigures]

we need a miffy nendoroid i can't live like this any longer

[richo1915]

Old Scholar sharpening his Quill Pen

Frans van Mieris the Elder 1653

[rosecorcoranwrites]

You ever been doing research for a book and stumble across a city in a country that you have never, in your life, heard of, and question reality for a second?

[tired-smartass]

My physics teacher's point of view-

Children learning physics in their native language:

Girl who has been learning said language for less than 2 years: forgets the Dutch word for squared:

Teacher: it's kwadraat (squared in Dutch)

The girl's (me) POV:

This picture isn't mine btw

I got it off of Google

[radio-ghost-cooks]

hey if anyone finds an alternative for duolingo that offers Welsh put it in my askbox

[mojaves]

conjugation my beloathed

[schizononagesimus]

companies advertising jobs i am begging you to learn the difference between interpretation and translation i am BEGGING YOU