Konzertbericht & Interview: Kafka Tamura

Wie schon in der Verlosung angekündigt, habe ich es mir nicht nehmen lassen Kafka Tamura live auf der Bühne zu sehen und davor habe ich ihnen noch ein paar Fragen gestellt, aber alles der Reihe nach!

Den Abend eröffneten These Weeks, kannte ich davor nicht. Ihre Musik passte thematisch perfekt, doch irgendwie schafften sie es nicht ganz das Publikum für sich zu gewinnen. Schade eigentlich, denn ihre Musik hatte etwas Two Door Cinema Club ähnliches an sich. Dort auf der Bühne haben sie mich nicht ganz überzeugt, doch wenn ich mir ihre Musik bei SoundCloud anhöre, hat sie etwas. Gefällt mir.

Kafka Tamura schaffen es einen mit ihrer Musik in eine andere Welt zu nehmen. Klingt jetzt erst Mal ungewohnt. Doch wenn sie anfangen zu spielen und Emma das Singen beginnt, zählt nur noch die Musik. Man vergisst alles um sich herum. So ist das bei mir, wenn ich ihr Album höre und so war es auf dem Konzert. Es ist schön, wenn man gedankenverloren dastehen und einfach nur hören kann. Kafka Tamura gehören zu den Bands, die nicht groß zwischen den Liedern Geschichten erzählen und mit dem Publikum interagieren. Muss auch nicht sein, doch wenn Emma mal etwas gesagt hat, dann wurde sie mir nur noch sympathischer! Sie hat es auch einmal genau auf den Punkt getroffen, als sie meinte, wenn uns das Konzert gefallen hat, dann wird uns auch das Album (ab dem 12.Juni erhältlich) gefallen. Und genauso ist es!

Bevor die drei die Bühne betraten, hab ich sie mir noch geschnappt und ihnen ein paar Fragen gestellt:

hdiyl: Why do you find the author Haruki Murakami so fascinating?
Patrick: I don’t know. It was a few years ago that I started reading his books. The first one was “Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World”. I’ve never read something like this before. I like this surrealism in his novels and I like the main characters. They are quite similar in some other novels and they always have a weak and a very strong side. It’s one of the very few modern writers that I like. Usually I read more the older writers. The classics. He also writes short stories, but I like his novels much better. They are epic. It’s great.

hdiyl: Emma, was it surprising for you, when Patrick and Gabriel stumbled on your songs on SoundCloud?
Emma: I’ve had a few people sending me messages on SoundCloud, who wanted to work with me. I was surprised that people wanted work with me. So it wasn’t surprising at first when Patrick and Gabriel wrote to me. But what was surprising was how good the music was. It was for the very first time, I liked the music someone sent me. That was the surprise.

hdiyl: Your music has something far-eastern about it. So have you been to Asia before? Or if not, is it the way you see Asia?
Patrick: We’ve never been there, not yet. Of course we would like to go there. There is this description of this Asian aesthetic and it also comes from this connection to the novel. We think our music has this aesthetic as well and when we started on the Kafka Tamura Sound, I started developing a certain style of piano chords and I use pentatonic scales to make it sound a little bit cliché Asian melodies. It comes from that.

hdiyl: What do you think when you are compared to Alt-J or The xx?
Gabriel: Alt-J? I don’t see big similarities to Alt-J.
Patrick: For The xx and London Grammar we hear it quite often.
hdiyl: Maybe Alt-J because of their new album “This Is All Yours”.
Patrick: I haven’t listened to it. I think their first album was a masterpiece, but the second one. I don’t know. I wasn’t so interested, after I heard the single. So there is definitely no inspiration from the second Alt-J album. (laughs) For most of the people the xx and London Grammar it’s just a certain style of guitar, playing very minimalistic and melodic, that is also in our music. People always search for comparisons. If they want to compare us to The xx or London Grammar, that’s fine for us.

hdiyl: This is your first big headlining tour across Germany, how has it been so far?
Patrick: It was good.
hdiyl: Any surprising things happened on stage?
Patrick: We were very surprised in a positive way by the Berlin show. It always seems complicated to play in Berlin, because there is so much going on, but it was a really good show and a big crowd. They were really enthusiastic. We really liked that.

hdiyl: Your album is coming out in June, what is the plan for the next couple of months?
Patrick: Until June?
hdiyl: No, after June.
Patrick: I mean more touring. Everything we do at the moment is just preparing the album release. Afterwards we see how the reactions are and we going to tour more, intensely. That’s the plan.

hdiyl: What’s your favourite song/album at the moment? What are you listening to in the tour bus?
Patrick: I’m excited for the new Other Lives Album which is out in May. I’ve listened to their new single “Reconfiguration” on SoundCloud. The band structure changed and I don’t know if it’s about that. I like their sound as well. So I’m very curious.
Gabriel: I like The National at the moment. “Trouble Will Find Me” and “High Violet” are both very good. It takes a very long time to dig them but they last so long. There a lot of albums you hear a few times and then you get bored after a few times. I’m listening to them for a year and every week.
Emma: I just rediscovered a Jamie T album “Kings and Queens”. I started to listen to him again. I really like him and the way he speaks the words and writes. Just everything.
Vielen lieben Dank noch mal an Kafka Tamura für das Interview!

Kafka Tamura gehören mit zu meinen Lieblingsentdeckungen dieses Jahr! Ihre Musik ist so wunderschön und Emmas Stimme fasziniert mich bei jedem Hören aufs Neue!