R.I.P. Damo Suzuki (CAN)

[Progatron]

From their official site:

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the passing of our wonderful friend Damo Suzuki, yesterday, Friday 9th February 2024.

His boundless creative energy has touched so many over the whole world, not just with Can, but also with his all continents spanning Network Tour. Damo's kind soul and cheeky smile will be forever missed.

He will be joining Michael, Jaki and Holger for a fantastic jam!

Lots of love to his family and children.

We will post funeral arrangements at a later date.

[chalkpie]

RIP. Future Days going on the turntable today. Legend.

[TheNefariousHED]

Simply crushed!

Michelle Heighway's Energy documentary about Damo is a must see! It focuses on his battle with cancer. That and the CAN documentary are on our docket for this evening.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Ooof.

Quite a loss. His spirit will not be diminished. The trilogy will be spun tonight.

RIP

[mozo-pg]

He seemed so timeless. Eighty seven is a good life.

[Munster]

A legend. And he features in the next Can Live release that arrives in a week or two. Spoon, from the Tago Mago 40th anniversary set, will be played tonight

[spellbound]

Oh, no. Rest in peace, Damo.

[Sunlight Caller]

He seemed so timeless. Eighty seven is a good life.

I think he was only 74 from the obit I read. Sad news, he was one of a kind, RIP.

[Bake 2]

There was something uniquely narcotic and transportational about the Can records that Damo Suzuki was on. His seemingly half asleep vocal delivery and his ambiguous semi English lyrics were a big part of what made Can alter a listeners blood chemistry. His death is a sobering reminder that all the cool music they made is fading further into history. Can't say I liked all Suzuki's post Can recordings and have probably only heard about half of them. Any suggestions on which ones to check out will be greatly appreciated. Liked this track from Seattle recorded in 1998:

[Dave (in MA)]

I love this even though I can't make out many words.
The youtubes don't seem to overlap with the Bandcamp material.



https://radiomassacreinternational.b...transit-4-damo

[dropforge]

Damn. RIP Damo.

[Munster]

The Guardian newspaper has run three articles following Damo’s death, two very bland. But this one seems to capture the essence of what made the vocalist stand out.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...tic-rock-music

[per anporth]

The Guardian newspaper has run three articles following Damo’s death, two very bland. But this one seems to capture the essence of what made the vocalist stand out.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...tic-rock-music

Agreed - Sweeting's obituary was particularly thin gruel. In some ways, it speaks to a more pervasive phenomenon - as if all of those right thinking right thinkers know that they have to be hip to Can...but then struggle to articulate what makes them so special (usually falling back on the old standby of mentioning bands who have mentioned Can as a formative influence).

[pb2015]

I saw Damo with Michael Karoli in Chicago, late 90's. It was a strange show as Karoli was visibly not happy with the rhythm section. At the beginning of the second set Damo jumped from a chair and screamed to try to bring energy to the proceedings.

Still worth it to see Damo and how his very soft spoken, polite way of speaking contrasted with how he sang.

[mozo-pg]

I think he was only 74 from the obit I read. Sad news, he was one of a kind, RIP.

This is embarrassing, I read the subject heading and thought it was a famous environmentalist in Canada - David Suzuki!!!! I'm sure you're right. .

[Hour Candle]

Such sad news to hear about Damo passing. RIP to a giant! This leaves Herr Schmidt and Mr Mooney as the only surviving members. What a band they were and what a legacy!

[moecurlythanu]

I've never heard his first name pronounced. Is it a short "a" like Dame-oh, or long, like Dahm-oh?

[sphinx]

While being neither Japanese-speaking nor an anglophone, the Japanese 'a' is generally demonstrated to sound like in:

Yamaha (or even Omaha, NE) -> so that's the a you'd apply here

So, the result would be more like "duh-mo" (rather than dah-mo), but definitely on the short side (as in most, if not all Japanese syllables, I think)

[Munster]

Agreed - Sweeting's obituary was particularly thin gruel. In some ways, it speaks to a more pervasive phenomenon - as if all of those right thinking right thinkers know that they have to be hip to Can...but then struggle to articulate what makes them so special (usually falling back on the old standby of mentioning bands who have mentioned Can as a formative influence).

Good point. Apparently Damo's death was mentioned in a BBC Radio 4 news bulletin. I suspect that not more than 5 per cent of the listeners would have heard him (with a perhaps a lot more having heard OF him).

I've never heard his first name pronounced. Is it a short "a" like Dame-oh, or long, like Dahm-oh?

A quick search revealed this question and answer from an interview Mojo conducted with Damo in 2018 (and rerun since his death)

Question: Where did the name ‘Damo’ come from? Accounts differ – is it from the accident-prone manga character Marude Dameo, or did you get it in Ireland?

Answer: I don’t know. Maybe in Sweden? It just came, maybe I said, I’m Damo. But in my opinion, everybody has to change their own name. Maybe your uncle or aunt is making your name when you are born, but after a while it’s not fixed together with you, so it’s good after 18, 21 to change your name [to one that] fits with your personality. To pronounce, if I’m in England its Day-mo, if I’m in Germany or Japan it’s Dammo.

https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/...ki-remembered/

In England, the album Tago Mago is often pronounced with a short a, as in dame, but the Germans pronounce it with a long a, as in dahm.

[chalkpie]

In my mind it'll always be Tah-go Mah-go.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

I guess I'm German or Japanese

[Scrotum Scissor]

Damn.

Enough hipster juveniles will arguably recall the groove vector of "Halleluwah" for reasonable amounts of time to come, but they'll likely not bother to credit the band/Damo with its invention. Supposedly they won't think it matters.

Tomorrow I'll do classic Can over afternoon shorties. I wasn't aware of his passing until reading it here and now. What absolute destitution. None escaping.


Argh.

[Scrotum Scissor]

In some ways, it speaks to a more pervasive phenomenon - as if all of those right thinking right thinkers know that they have to be hip to Can...but then struggle to articulate what makes them so special (usually falling back on the old standby of mentioning bands who have mentioned Can as a formative influence).

QFT.

But then again there's preciously little left of feature journalism as "sanctioned" guild domain, not to mention the craft of formalized distinctions in critique of the arts and letters. It's all about the principle of fixture on the self and then affirming or discomfirming on behalf of what's subjectively defined through argument alone - this seldom more than "felt sentiment".

The Guardian themselves indeed contributed essentially to widespread developments of fine practice in this subjective fallacy already by the late 1980s, symptomatically highlighting grace of defense settled on a volatile logic of "egalitarian" nonsense. It all started with popular culture, of course - but has now long since sowed the seed destructive to most things inherently cultural as such. Maps sort terrains, accordingly - not the other way around as in the old days'n'ways.

Old is out, and "truth is no excuse".

[Progbear]

I finally got around to watching Deep End, which features a long scene with "Mother Sky" in the background. It had been on my watch list for a very long time. Glad to finally see it, alas under rather tragic circumstances.

[TCC]

Descanse Maestro!.
I made a radio special ... so sad!