Her aura supposed he is
For all of them home alone
And the soul, sleeps for days
This is from the first album of a band which created some of the most original and characteristic music of the 80s. Here they have not yet shaped their final smooth and heavenly sound which has been labelled ethereal by the critics. The female singer was just over 18 years old when this was recorded but her voice already has got that siren like quality which she accentuated over the years. In this track I really like the clash of the ominous, catchy bass line which starts the song and the pure female voice suddenly coming out of nowhere. It is like the collision of hell and heaven. The roughness of the overall sound makes this piece especially attractive to my ears.
Here are the solutions to the third bunch (1, 2) of blindtests in my 2010 music countdown series a day a second. Until end of November I intend to post each day a song a second shorter and write a little bit about it.
We walk like a ghost,
We learn dances brand new dances,
Like the nuclear bomb,
With this one I surprised myself. Last night I had the blues and was going for a different song by a band which has already been featured twice here. This morning I checked it again and I realised that my morning mood was too good for their song. I like melancholic music best when I am sad myself. Today’s choice therefore went to a song from a late disco or early new wave queen. She was pretty bizarre, actually thinking about her she was more than a woman. Something like a woman from another star. This song seems to be good stuff to explode on the dance floor to.
A song from one of my all-time favourite albums but a song which in comparison to most others from that record to me always seemed less spectacular, less immediately appealing, less lovable. But it perfectly encapsulates the sound of that album which is so relaxing and so warm. An album about searching a home when travelling. And only finding it on the road itself. The bass contributes a lot to this laid-back atmosphere, the bassist had found a unique way to make an electric instrument sound human. Unfortunately this was one of his last works.
In a day, a second there was a song of this supergroup before. From the same eponymous debut album. This track is even stronger than that first choice. What a staggering dance groove. If you are able to refrain from moving your hips to this music chances are high that you are already dead. The funky keyboard, the hopping beats, the glistening guitar. And somehow this track manages to get even better near the end, when the keyboard starts reverberating and totally takes off into psychedelic wonderland in the instrumental coda. I really love those throwaway lyrics as well by the way. How could anyone not be moved by the naïve and the innocent?
I believe in love, I’ll believe in anything
That’s gonna get me what I want and get me off my knees
Then we’ll burn your house down, don’t it feel so good
This song is like an Irish Coffee. It warms you from the inside. Today I had my first day in the new Berlin office of my employer. And the sun was melting away the ice on the pavement. Yesterday morning there was still some snow falling and today it seemed as if spring had chased winter away. A good omen for my new life, I’d say.
This is a crisis I knew had to come
Destroying the balance I’d kept
Moving around to the next set of lives
Wondering what will come next
In my book they were the greatest of all rock bands. And live they were even more amazing than on the two albums they released. This song was played at the band’s last concert. You will probably know what happened after, if not read that last verse and it should be pretty clear. The singer’s delivery here is rather reserved, his voice is neither exaggeratedly low (in graveyard mode) nor does he shout like on many other songs. He has made a decision and he has found his peace. Besides him there are the two string manipulators. For once the bass is not playing lead, he takes himself back as well. A pounding background noise in the lower registers, that is all what is left of the bass here. And the electric guitar? Is adding little sketches of noise and slash, is not too prominent neither. How come that this song holds together despite all these instruments fading away into the off? It’s because of the drums which are very much upfront. They are played with a robotic precision and still they sound deeply human. They sound serious and powerful in contrast to the cartoonish and flat drum machines. They are played by the programmer and not by the program. Near the end there is a hiccup of the drums in comparison to the other instruments. Or vice versa. But somehow the band can get back into groove soon. The name of the song could refer to a religious feast but I think it is a synonym of passage.
In my imagination,
You are cast in gold,
Your image a compensation for me to hold.
The last song from the debut of this duo which I think is the only band of the zero years that I am enthusiastic about. In the beginning I was skeptical as they were hyped as the forerunners of a new movement but then it clicked soon. Their understated style, stressing the single notes – the piano just plays four notes over a period of 15 seconds in the beginning – proves my old belief that „less is more“. The slowly strummed amazingly natural sounding and resonating rhythm guitar gives this song a timeless quality, the singer seems to whisper not to wake someone up. There is this soothing effect on the listener like in a lullaby. After the first verse, the guitar melody can blossom slowly in all its melancholic beauty. In the next verse we realise that once again the instable state of love did not last for long. The notion that the two lovers who have quit each other are like parallels from now on and will never meet again but will always be close is an idea I can sympathise with a lot.
Lovers kneel by the roadside in pools of broken glass
Gator tails fly like black angels from the wheels – as they pass
That oriental riff totally bewitches me. I feel like being hypnotised by a snake charmer. But unlike the dancing snake I am transfixed. The riff goes straight to my head. And then this incredible voice which makes Tom Waits sound like a show-off. Usually I don’t like heavy music but here it works. At the end the singer introduces the next song in the live set by saying what it is about. This band has got a soft spot for hallucinogenic substances combined with sexual allusions of the phallic kind. Guess what their name stands for!
I’ll think of you always
For you know it as well as I
That for you I would have died
and would still die
Yesterday I thought that winter was over as most of the snow had melted. Last night I saw a dark, low hanging cloud cover in the evening sky though and thought that we would have some rain today. But this morning everything was white again, huge, wet snow flakes were falling down and shortly after 9 am most neighbours were shovelling the snow off the pavement.
Today’s song is a love song by an indie band which never really made it. They had one „hit“ which got some airplay in the British indie pop world. The B-side of that single is this little ballad on the unfulfilled love between the male singer-songwriter of the band and the female singer. From the second verse on they duet here. This song – as most of said band’s œuvre – has got an innocent, naive and sentimental touch to it. An understated, wistful guitar melody opens the song which is about a love which was not meant to last. The man and the woman have to go different ways and they both seem to have accepted it.
Here are the solutions to the second bunch (1) of blindtests in my 2010 music countdown series a day a second. Until end of November I intend to post each day a song a second shorter and write a little bit about it.
Oh Elise it doesn’t matter what you do
I know I never really get inside of you
To make your eyes catch fire
Another band from Engeland. The one word describing them best is mopey. But here like on their phantastic single from the same album (it must have been their biggest hit, it came really late in their career) they are kind of upbeat and almost jubilating. This song makes me think of a love affair. Or more. There was this girl I was totally nuts about in L. I won’t tell a lot but in 1991 when I met her first and wanted so badly to be with her, she didn’t want to. One spring later she came back and shortly after this album came out we listened together to it and finally made out. But somehow it was too late.
I don’t belong to no one
But I want to be with you
I can’t be owned by no one
What am I supposed to do?
What a surprise. Another British synthpop (with a strong guitar component though) band from the 1980s. That is the genre which is apparently reigning the 5+ minute song in my music collection. We had this band before in this series but it was a song from the early 80s where they had to overcome the shock of the suicide of their original singer. A heavy, dark affair. Here we meet them at the end of the decade and they have honed their sound which is light and sad at the same time. They were the champions of catchy, melancholic tunes with straight lyrics to dance to. I really love the natural sound of the acoustic guitar in the beginning which is then topped by a second guitar playing the melody. Miraculous.
From the place that I stand
to the land that is openly free;
Watching rivers run black by the trees
that are vacant to greed.
I really have no clue what those lyrics are about. They seem to be about nature and environmental pollution. And when I hear greed I think about financial crisis and our dim future. This song surely was not about this theme, it is about a quarter of a century old.
Every time I hear the way the vocalist sings the line „Gotta give it up“ it takes me by surprise. There is so much positive energy in his delivery, everyone can hear that the words really come from his heart. Does he refer to giving up greed? I’d like to know more about this. By the way the album this is on is a great starting point for this band. They were just about to move from pop to post pop.
I am not certain if you are aware that a song of this group has already been chosen in this project. Anyways they have definitely earned it and I would not be unhappy for a third piece by them though chances are rather poor as they specialised in longish tracks.
Tonight
I’m in the hands of fate
I hand myself
Over on a plate
After the first 20 seconds or so for a wink I thought this was a different band, also British, also synthpop and also 1980s. But that band has more of a playful melancholic thing going on in their dance music whereas this lot has got more of a darkish goth component. Mainly due to the singer’s voice, I guess. Their hooks are also hookier in a massive way if you know what I mean. From the lyrics I thought this song was about a guy who was going to a party with his girl-friend, getting drunk there and then letting her drive him home (I have done it many times, I confess). But it could actually be about quite the opposite, i.e. a bloke who gives the control over to his partner, who likes to be dominated by women. Whatever. Who cares about lyrics in pop songs? On this track I hear all these little hammers punching the beat. They are ubiquitous, come from all sides, left, right, up and down. And somehow they seem to be melodic hammers. Of course it is the synthesizer playing the tune but in my mind it spills over to the drum machine. Which for once fits perfectly.
Q. How many My Bloody Valentines does it take to change a lightbulb?
A. One. But he takes 20 years to do it! And everybody stands around and applauds while he’s doing it!
Main dish:
Q: What did Belinda and Kevin drink together before having sex?
A: Strawberry wine. (Strawberry Wine is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: What did Kevin say to Belinda when they were making out before sex?
A: „Feed me with your kiss.“ (Feed Me With Your Kiss is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: What did Belinda say when she felt Kevin’s erection when they were making out?
A: „I can see it (but I can’t feel it). (I Can See It (But I Can’t Feel It) is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: How did Belinda describe herself right before having sex with Kevin?
A: „Emptiness inside.“ (Emptiness Inside is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: What did Kevin say when he had sex with Belinda?
A: „Soft as snow (but warm inside).“ (Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside) is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: What did Belinda say when she was talking dirty to Kevin during sex?
A: „(Please) lose yourself in me.“ ((Please) Lose Yourself In Me is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: What did Kevin say when he was talking dirty to Belinda during sex?
A: „Drive it all over me.“ (Drive It All Over Me is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: What did Belinda say when she was getting tired of sex?
A: „Lose my breath.“ (Lose My Breath is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: What did Kevin say when Belinda asked when he was going to climax during sex?
A: „Soon.“ (Soon is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: What did Belinda say to Kevin right before he climaxed during sex?
A: „Cupid come.“ (Cupid Come is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: What did Kevin say to Belinda when he pulled out and climaxed during sex?
A: „Swallow.“ (Swallow is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: What did Belinda suggest after sex with Kevin was over?
A: „Cigarette in your bed.“ (Cigarette In Your Bed is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: What was Belinda thinking after sex with Kevin?
A: „Never say goodbye.“ (Never Say Goodbye is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Q: What was Kevin thinking after sex with Belinda?
A: „(You’re) safe in your sleep (from this girl).“ ((You’re) Safe In Your Sleep (From This Girl) is a song by My Bloody Valentine!)
Dessert:
Q: How does Kevin Shields keep from going deaf at My Bloody Valentine concerts?
On days like these I get the impression that I am the only normal person on earth. Everybody else seems to be insane (and additionally has a music taste inferior to my own, just joking). Yes you heard it right, you are all totally nuts. You have a budget of millions of euros and you spend your time saving a stamp for a letter and a roll for a guest. Or you buy stuff for half of half the price (after negotiating) and then you are surprised that the stuff does not work. Or you put the stuff in the cellar where there is lots of other stuff and you don’t find it anymore after buying more stuff to stuff in the cellar. Or you are insincere to a good friend of yours. And you think much more about others than about yourself. When you actually should think more about yourself. Or you write superfluous blog posts like this one. See, it is infectious, I am crazy too now.
I wish that you were here
We’d have a tea party to celebrate
We’d drive a cop car into the lake
and hold our breath for two long boring days
More than the visual arts or the literature music has a direct appeal to the beholder. Either you like a piece or you don’t. Reflection or discussion will usually not change your mind. Music can repel us or overwhelm us, we are at it’s mercy. Sometimes it will take us some time to „get“ certain music, sometimes the impact will be direct. For me this is an example of the latter. Ten seconds in and I am already captivated by the miraculous guitar line appearing after the drum intro. Another twenty seconds and the singer joins in with his pleasant soft voice. And then the keyboard doubles that magic tune, it almost sounds a little cheesy but it has got a relieving effect. The subsequent humming and the intertwined singing of the two singers add some more harmony to this, it reminds me of the grapes of muscat which can be so sweet that they give you a headache. I don’t know where this song came from – and I don’t mean California here – but it sounds incredibly mature and wise. It must be at least ten thousand years old.
Still some people they brand you ya
Just because you are rasta
You move to the country
You live in the hills
Due to their signature sound it should be easy to guess this bunch. They just released a new album which has not clicked with me at all. Here they are on the height of their power though. A wonderful groove bathing in thick layers of dub. I also like the soft vocals very much on this one. The overall vibe is a special mix of relaxed reggae lightness and ponderous British murk. It gives the track which is about the intolerance towards the rastas in the cities an ambivalent character. Imagine some heavy rain in the city, you are in the cellar and suddenly the end of a rainbow peeks into the cellar window. And you start your sluggish dance of joy in the basement. The only problem: Why does the track stop in the middle? It could have gone on for an hour or so if you ask me.
Why have fun on carnival if you can also be depressive and suicidal? The thing about this slow, dark, brooding song from sunny LA is that it never actually brings me down. On the contrary in a way it lifts me up, it works like a balm for the wounded soul, when I am in a bad mood this kind of heavy tuneful music is like a friend who comforts me. Besides that the CD this is on which was one of my 40 albums from this project is our favourite soundtrack for bed action. The gradually evolving songs with lots of pauses and the deep baritone make it easy to totally forget about the rest of the world and just do it. The slower, the better.
My love she speaks like silence,
Without ideals or violence,
She doesn’t have to say she’s faithful,
Yet she’s true, like ice, like fire.
To choose the daily track I listen to all the songs with the appropriate length which are on my iPod – between 30 and 50 at the moment – and choose my absolute favourite. Usually it is a tune that jumps at me but not always. Today like yesterday I had already given up when this song came up. Again it was the last one in the playlist. What else could I have chosen? The one after the last song? There we are at a koan and this song fits well into this kind of stuff. This song is personal, it is a declaration of love for the woman the singer is just about to marry. It became one of his most famous songs and he must have played it hundreds if not thousands of times. After a while he did not want to play it anymore but he had to, the audience insisted. So he changed it, he massacrated it so that it was almost impossible to recognize it. When I saw him in Frankfurt a couple of years ago, it took me more than a minute to realize what song he and his band were playing. On this live version from the first half of the nineties he still loves his tune though. Everything is shaking and falling apart in this song except his lover’s love. She is well above all the earthly ado. Probably closer to Buddha than to him. This is originally on the album where according common belief he changed from acoustic to electric. Listening to this song it seems to be another legend in his life which already is not short of myths.
The second instrumental, I think after about five seconds everybody who has a minimal knowledge of music should know who the composer is. I associate this kind of music with winter and especially with Sundays in December, it has got this comforting ideal world feel, everything falls into place, it is all so well-measured, it’s almost too perfect. That setting was my parents‘ house and I had to escape from it. Of course somehow I have always loved the stringent beauty of a fugue – this is a good example – but in my childhood it has all been a little bit too much. Fortunately these days I can enjoy this presto movement of one of his most famous concerts for violin, two flutes and strings. In the end there is no doubt that he was the greatest of all composers.
Here are the first ten posts in my 2010 musical countdown series a day a second. The rules are easy: On 1st of January the year has 365 days left, therefore the first day of the year gets 365 seconds, the second day gets 364 seconds etc just to the last day December, 31st which gets one second. I only started Februray, 1st, so my first song had 365-31=334 seconds, which is 5 minutes 34. My plan is to continue until end of November and skip the last month of quickies. Please keep your fingers crossed that I’ll make it. I intended this as a sort of blindtest for the readers and hoped you would all be guessing what kind of music I was posting here. Maybe you were but you did not communicate that in the comments. Never mind. Here are the solutions to the first ten blindtests:
This is the band that became more and more quiet with every album until they arrived to the silence which they haven’t broken for almost twenty years now. I would still not know which genre name this piece would fall under, it is neither rock, nor jazz, nor classical, nor world but it has something of all four. Just thinking of it, they were actually the band the term post-rock was coined for at the time. Something is for sure, this is very organic chamber music (it’s not by chance that all instruments are acoustic) and it has a spiritual vibe to it. Especially the way they use pauses and simple tones has always captivated me. There is also an improvisational feel to it, there are some dissonant parts which do not sound disharmonic any more to my ears after many times of listening. There is no band which has ever successfully continued what this band has accomplished and I don’t think I am the only one to hope that they will return one day. They – and especially their singer – are the Messiah of pop music.
There are things I want to do but I don’t know
If they will be with you, if they will be with you
There are things I want to say but I don’t know
If they will be to you, if they will be to you
The ninth song and already the third one from 1991. It definitely has to do with the fact that during that year I seriously got into listening to indie rock but I also think that 1991 objectively was one of the most exciting years in rock music history.
It took me some time to appreciate the music of the band in question. In the beginning I found it boring and too soft. In comparison to the other music at the time I might have had a point. But after a while I got into their extremely tuneful version of noisy pop (that’s how the French DJ from France Inter, Bernard Lenoir called this kind of music, others called it power pop). They are from Scotland and there is something about the knack of Scottish bands for melody. Could it have to do with their rough, hard, germanic accent which they can hide when singing? What always amazes me is that I can’t hear their accent when they sing but when they talk it kills me.
The name of this song which I only found out about a while ago still makes me smile. It basically condenses how I spent my vacations when I was twentysomething. The word is invented. Like many German words it concatenates two other words. It makes me think of the image for a hangover a Scottish bloke told me on my travels. It’s when your head feels like a box of frogs.
That verse above always breaks my heart when I hear them sing it. It is so bloody cruel. Because somehow I imagine she is in love with him which is probably totally off the mark. Anyways this is a song I can bath in and bathing (together with walking) is my favourite pastime. One last advice: I think on headphones this sounds better than on loudspeakers. But what good song doesn’t?
Look at me, I always get the blame
But I can’t even learn to spell my name
I like to read, I like to write
But where I live I learn to fight
Another light-weight song I also chose for nostalgic reasons. When this album came out everybody within our clique in Luxembourg purchased it within a couple of weeks. It was the soundtrack to the early summer of 1991. A very consistent album of easy-going europop numbers by a supergroup which for once delivered the goods. The lyrics were not exactly poetry but that has always been part of the charm of the songs the singer wrote in this or his more famous other band. It is weird that this beat driven music which uses a drum machine, a synthesizer and many electronic sounds from the can did actually find the way into my ear. One reason might be that I was younger at the time and more open, other and more important reasons are probably that the melodies despite all the elaborate production are breezy and that there is this sunny, good vibrations side attached to the tracks. There might be better songs on this album than the one I selected here but this one has the advantage that it lasts 5 minutes and 27 seconds. That’s what iTunes says at least.
Concerning the exact lengths of the songs Tom already mentioned that he uses the WMP time information, I use the iTunes info. Apparently they are not identical, guess which one is correct? Apple or Microsoft? Jobs or Gates? Whom would you trust more? Unfortunately I use the incorrect song length data. Apple rounds the seconds. So the song I chose today (see graph above) in reality is not 5 minutes and 28 seconds long but only 5 minutes 27,915 seconds. That is a serious blow 😉 for my project, the lengths of the 5:31 song on Thursday and the 5:33 track on Tuesday were exaggerated too. I hope my dear readership can live with this, I won’t change anymore now, that would be too much of a hassle.
At sunrise the monkeys will fly
and leave me with pennies in my eyes
Here we have a piano ballad as tender and restrained as few others. The slow, measured, grave, melancholic melody drills itself straight into my heart. Another example of the immediacy and urgency of beauty in music. And then this turns into a duet. With another one of my favourite female singer-songwriters. The theme of the song seems to be the crossing of a divide. Either from life to death or from childhood to adulthood. Money could play a role in both scenarios. Either for Charon to row the deceased over to the other side of the Styx or as a symbol for adult life. In any case the lyrics are pretty simple but their meaning is rather mysterious. After the small pause in the last minute comes the weird coda which consists of a rumbling noise with occasional squeaks as if a revolving machine was not oiled.
I mentioned this means to amplify the impact of a melody on the listener in my last post. It suddenly occurs to me that there are at least two kinds of repetition and that their effects on me are almost opposite. When someone playing an instrument repeats a chord progression or a certain beat on the drums he only approaches repetition, he never perfectly repeats the figure he plays twice. This kind of weak repetition is something I like, it enters a tune or beat in my brain slowly. It gives my mind a degree of freedom. The other kind of repetition is the perfect digital copy of a line or a sample which recurrs over and over in a track. That is something I cannot stand at all. It feels like blows from a hammer on my forehead and makes me aggressive. I guess my brain needs that little work to assemble the puzzle pieces of weak analog repetition so that it has a good blood circulation. Or something.
What genre is this? Kosmische Musik? New Age? Some sort of guitar synth pop? Let’s just note that this is one hell of an earworm, leaning slightly towards kitsch but still on the good side. The man behind this instrumental who has been on the cutting edge of krautrock around 1970 was breaking the chains of band memberships and was doing his own thing at the time this came out. Like always with beautiful melodies it is hard to describe what exactly is so lovely about them. There is the instant gratification aspect; as soon as this tune enters your ear you know it has got the little something to stay there for a while and you won’t be unhappy if it doesn’t go away. Irresistibility is another quality which comes to mind here. Even if I wanted I could not not listen to this and not be charmed by it. A characteristic which seems to describe the melody quite well is warmth, there is a pleasant cosiness from the inside mounting up in my body towards my head when I hear it. A propos „moving up“, a metaphysical dimension, an aspiration towards the immaterial, the out of this world, the inexplicable – the only one word nailing it I can come up with and it is with great hesitation I use that word (in German we would say Bauchschmerzen [bellyache]) is God – is absolutely indismissable in a piece of music to really make me fall in love with it. Last not least the perpetual repetition amplifies the effect of the enchanting tune and it was reflected in the title. Going round and round and round…
Mama never taught me how to cook
That’s why I am so skinny
One of my favourite female singers. She has got the punch, she has got the power, she is so cool. And she is smart and she has humour too. What else could a man want from a woman? Children?
And I have heard men saying
Hey baby, your love is the greatest show on earth
And hey baby, I’m your man with the perfect plan
And I’ll give you everything your heart desires
I want you and I give you everything you dream
Everything you need,
Just let me get close to you
I want you, hey baby
I wanna suck your honey
I wanna cop your conception
Take your energy, absorb your vibe and preach you philosophy
I wanna become you
I want you and I want you to die
So I can be you
Hey, come over here
And give your sweet vampire some blood
And I’m your man
Come over here and pay your landlord some dues
Hey baby, that’s what I call love
And that’s what I call a relationship
Now do you want to get it on?
And I say, hey man
My destiny is not to serve
I am a woman
My destiny is to create
This is not a fun song. It may well be a love song though. It captures a band in metamorphosis, a band which had to reinvent itself as its leader had abandoned the ship, a band in between post punk and electro pop. The song is build on an intricate bed of rhythm which is provided by the drums coming from all directions. After a while they accelerate and the song gets more and more menacing and moves up to a higher level. It is like a lift to heaven. After the earthly toms, the ringing guitar dominates now. In the middle the song suddenly fades out in a synth tone for a while. There is a pause where everything literally hangs in the air. The tension is mounting and is then relieved by the bass playing that little riff dominating the song. The drums, guitars and synthesizer join in as well and end the song on a firm base. This is from my favourite album of the reborn band. Later on they changed the heaviness for the lightness and became the electro dance band it was okay to like.
Not the kind of music I listen to every day but from time to time I like it groovy and chilled-out. I think after thirty seconds it is about clear who the people behind this track are. They have a signature sound, the big dubby bass beats, the elaborate naturalistic drum programming. Plus an ear for melody and the gift to put existing music into a new context by remixing it. Take the samples of the woman chanting here. They add a new dimension to this piece, give it a warm, human touch. Of course a little saxophone line has to feature as well. I may be wrong but I have the feeling that there is something sleazy about this kind of late 90s club music but sometimes cheap & cheesy is irresistible & sexy. Felix Austria. File under guilty pleasures.
There were four versions of this song on my iPod. Two of them were five minutes and thirty-three seconds long and both were live recordings. I chose the more conventional, the more polished version, the other one gives the impression that it has been recorded in a staircase with the drums sounding like a dozen of trash bins falling down the steps from the 5th floor down to the ground floor. Cherchez la femme!
Cut.
I’d like to dedicate this post to my friend T. who is beginning to see something he hasn’t realised before. Everyone around him in the last ten years has seen it except him. Or maybe it is more realistic to say he probably saw it himself but he didn’t want to admit it to other people. Now he has made the most important step to get out of the circulus vitiosus, it is only a question of time that he will see the light again.
Another cut.
Something about this song is really amazing. It does not date, it is undestroyable (unkaputtbar), the groove and the tune still sound fresh & young in my ears. Why is that? One reason must be the compact, dirty guitar sound, especially the strummed rhythm guitar, another one the forward movement, the perfect flow, the song pulls the listener toward the future. We cannot escape the promised illumination. That is another important aspect of the song and the album it is from: the spiritual vibe. Somehow it is so totally unexpected and on the other hand it feels so right. And then there is another little line which makes me hold on for a second:
I met myself in a dream, and I just want to tell you,
Everything was alright.
I never had that experience but fortunately I never received electroshock therapy neither. Unlike the singer of this song.
Tom Ewing, the person who started the wonderful music forum I Love Music about ten years ago has kicked off another project on 1st of January called It Took Seconds where he posts a song a day and writes about it. Nothing special really but there is a twist to it. He started with a track which was 6 minutes and five seconds long and he intends to finish on December, 31st with a one second piece. Each day he is going to lose a second. A lovely idea which I would like to take up. I am a month late so I start with 5 minutes and thirty-four seconds. I will neither name the artist nor the name of the song, of course you are all invited to guess or discuss about what I have posted if you like.
The band behind this song found a magic recipe. But unlike the alchemists formula of how to turn shit into gold theirs actually worked. They managed to create blissful melodies out of guitar noise. Who could have thought before that there is so much beauty hidden in distorted guitar feedback? Behind all those layers of mist there is a fuzzy ray of sunlight warming the heart. I was listening to the album this is on at carnival 1992 on my car hifi when a love was lost and I was driving by night through an impermeable fog with my VW Golf from Trier to Luxembourg. I was doing an average of 30 km/h, instead of half an hour it took me two hours. The slowdown, the poor view and the blurred music fused to something strange, something out of this world. I stopped and only listened to the music inside the car. I gave up all hope to ever arrive at home again. Somehow I got there in the early morning just before dawn but I don’t think I would have made it without this tape on repeat.
Dr. Feelgood ist ein englisches Slangwort für Heroin, aber auch für einen Doktor, der einem zu starke Medikamente verschreibt. So hieß auch eine englische Band aus der Vorpunkzeit der Mittsiebziger, die ich später sehr gemocht habe. Als Rhythm & Blues noch eine eigene Bedeutung hatte und nicht ein Synonym für weiblichen Soul & Funk war. Bei I Love Music wurden sie gerade mal wieder ausgegraben, ein kleines Livevideo aus dem Thread.
Da stimmt einfach alles. Der Drummer leitet ein mit einem herrlich simplen Rhythmus. Lee Brilleaux mit seiner knarzigen, erdigen, maskulinen Stimme und einem fetzigen Mundharmonikaspiel, von dem sich Bob Dylan ein Scheibchen hätte abschneiden können. Wilko Johnson mit einer knallharten, furztrockenen Gitarrenattacke. Außerdem ständig in Bewegung, dauernd vor und zurück rennend und wie ein Roboter mit dem Kopf nickend. Absolutely classic!
I participated in the I Love Musicalternate 1970s albums poll and my ballot actually made a difference. Three albums entered the top 100 only because of my votes. Here is a small taster of those albums with one track each.
Chic’s second album C’est Chic from 1978 just about made the top 100 on position 99. The first song from it, Chic Cheer is one of my favourites due to the groovy bass line. It is so perfectly tight and self-sufficient. If this does not fill the dancefloor, you have invited the wrong people to your party.
On position 97 we had Patti Smith’s debut Horses of 1975. The opener has some of the most famous and strongest opening lines of any song in pop history.
Jesus died for somebody’s sins. But not mine.
And soon after that the band starts rocking out and she starts screaming and howling. It has to be taken into account that this was before punk had had its breakthrough, the music stations in the US were playing streamlined stuff like The Eagles and Steely Dan at the time. Patti Smith proved that poetry and rawk did not exclude each other.
Neu!’s 2 from 1973 arrived at position 90. Krautrock from Düsseldorf with Klaus Dinger’s motorik drum beat. Maybe only their third best album after the debut and Neu! 75 but still as good as it gets. Especially this almost bukolic instrumental called Neuschnee (fresh-fallen snow) which fits quite well with the weather situation in Germany right now.
The new Massive Attack album Heligoland which is scheduled for February, has leaked. I listened to it twice, once on loudspeakers and once on earphones. The expectations were low but what I heard was more than disappointing. There was no way I could listen to the first three tracks until the end. They were very repetitive and unimaginative. I had to skip each of them after half the time. The only song on the whole album which I really dug was Girl I Love You featuring Horace Andy. Besides having a menacing bass line like many tracks on the great 100th Window it has also this hypnotic quality I love so much. In the second half there is some experimentalish dissonant brass action going on followed by some arabic undertones. A phantastic track. The other song I like is Paradise Circus but that is more because of Hope Sandoval’s sleepy, sexy voice than anything else. Damon Albarn sings on another song but he sounds so tired and down that I got depressed too when listening to it on earphones while walking through the snow covered meadows. Maybe the whole album will grow on me but somehow I doubt it.
This made my day. I had never heard of Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band before the alternate 70s poll. That combination of swing and disco is so much fun. Kid Creole plays bass here. In other news there was some snow shovelling to do today. The whole of Germany is covered with a layer of white, frozen crystals. Nice to look at, I hope it will stay for a while. It slows everything down which is a very good thing.
zumindest hab ich jetzt das tonträgersystem gefunden von meinem neuen usb-plattenspieler von omnitronic (günstiger technics-nachbau), es war im styropor versteckt (dank und sorry an den händler). der klang ist allerdings nicht so toll, scheinbar wenig dynamik, ich hab da eine in new york gekaufte platte vom love unlimited orchestra (barry white mit orchester und ohne gesang) auf dem plattenteller drauf, die ich noch nie vorher gespielt habe. der sound scheint mir so dumpf. hab ich evtl. das auflagegewicht falsch (2,5 g) eingestellt? oder ist die nadel so schlecht? da muss ich nochmal ran. ansonsten ist es mir gerade viel zu kalt irgendwas vernünftiges zu machen. der arbeitstag war lausig. ein superlied zum abschluss, dass meinen trüben abend aufgehellt hat (wirklich sehr sehr schade, dass david berman seine band aufgelöst hat):
bis gestern dachte ich, es wären noch drei monate bis berlin, es sind aber nicht mal mehr zwei! nur noch 54 tage. eigentlich lohnt es sich gar nicht mehr, den kopf aus dem sand zu ziehen.
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einen schönen bunten taschenkalender gekauft. eine woche auf 2 seiten, fester einband, etwas dick für die hosentasche. brauche jetzt aber nicht mehr meine tasks auf die karteikarten zu schreiben, im kalender sind pro tag 28 zeilen. sollte normalerweise reichen.
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in südwestfrankreich ist mir wieder aufgefallen wie nett die leute sich dort grüßen. hier dagegen sehe ich beim joggen und vor allem beim spazierengehen fast nur mürrische, griesgrämige gesichter, die fast nie als erste grüßen und einen gruß auch nur in ca. einem von zwei fällen erwidern. und einen dann entweder so seltsam mustern oder ostentativ weggucken. widerwärtiges, arrogantes pack. vor allem beim joggen deprimiert mich das zutiefst, da es eine anstrengung für mich bedeutet, einen „guten morgen“ zu wünschen, wenn ich völlig außer puste bin. in laroque des albères erfreuen sich die leute an meinem „bonjour“ und erwidern es lächelnd. wobei mir allerdings aufgefallen ist, dass ich selber auf den fotos aus südfrankreich fast immer ein lächeln auf den lippen habe. vielleicht reagieren die leute ja deswegen positiver weil ich besser drauf bin. und wieso ist das so? hat garantiert mit der wärme und dem licht zu tun, die die sonne dort verschwenderischer verteilt. man wird dadurch einfach lockerer und unernster. dieses mal gab es sogar den astérix-effekt. der einzige teil frankreichs wo es nicht regnete bzw. schneite in den letzten 2 wochen war justement die gegend um perpignan. letztes jahr hatte es noch ein furchtbares schneechaos gegeben mit unter der schneelast zusammenbrechenden palmblättern u.ä.
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bei „i love music“ gibt es die alternative wahl der besten alben der 70er. bis jetzt eher enttäuschend. allerdings schön, dass es chic geschafft hat.
Egoïste , où es-tu ?
Montre-toi , misérable !
Prends garde à mon courroux ,
Je serai implacable !
Ô rage , ô désespoir ,
Ô mon Amour trahi !
N’ai-je donc tant vécu que pour cette infamie ?
Montre-toi , égoïste !
Egoïste !
(Music from Prokofiev’s Montagues & Capulets from the Romeo and Juliet Suite)
I still love the ad and I still use the after shave balm.
David Thomas live. If there is an extraterrestrian on earth it is him. The way he moves his hands, the way he shows his index finger, the way he pats himself on his heart. This guy is totally nuts. What a genius (lifted from here).
wenn das leben ohne musik ein irrthum wäre, dann ist es mit musik noch lange nicht kein irrthum. aber irrthum mit h ist der ultimative irrtum, der aber ziemlich cool aussieht. ich glaub ich weiß jetzt wieso der philosoph irre geworden ist. wenn man die logik und die orthographie gegen sich hat, dann muss man ja verrückt werden.
This is from the same year as the Gun Club song before. Besides that there aren’t too many connections I can think of. Not quite true, they sing in English too. Whenever I hear something by this band I immediately get the feeling that the music comes from a different planet which is actually not totally wrong: They are from the other side of the earth. It sounds so fresh, so naive, so innocent, so light-hearted, so breezy. The place this music comes from must be a sunny place near the sea without too much rain and without dark, long winters. And it is. The name of the group is the name of a small, cute mammal with relatively big eyes native to the region where the band comes from. The internet does not know a lot about them. They have a myspace site though. Why they never broke through is one of the huge mysteries of popular music for me. All they ever released were a couple of singles and a compilation made from them where I got the track from.
He was from LA, CA but the music he and his band made always had more of a dark aspect to it which contrasted with the bright Californian sun. There was something obsessed about him and his music. As if he was trying to exorcise the devil from his own body with his shouting. The name of his band described something very American and it fit quite well with the music. With their first album they immediately broke through. They did not become famous or rich but they had established a new name on the map of rock’n’roll. They fused punk and blues to a style some people called psychobilly. Their songs were blasting of energy, he seemed to be delivering his soul while singing. He spent ten years in London before he returned to the US. Like many other rock musicians he fought with drugs and in the end he lost the battle. He died 37 old years old, the alcohol had taken its toll on his body. The song from above is from his last album. Which has a completely different vibe than the others, it is very calm and relaxed, as if he had already made peace with the world.
The countdown of the ILM 1980s album poll is going on and I discovered this devastating live performance by Big Black of a song from Atomizer which placed at #97. And I immediately wanted to be back in 1986 again. What an incredible burst of energy!
Ein kleines von einer Sirene gesungenes Schlafliedchen, das einem melodischen Höhepunkt zustrebt und ihn dann in Verzerrung erreicht. Nichts Besonderes eigentlich und doch ein ziemlich hartnäckiger Ohrwurm.
When I saw David Freel last year in Weinheim in front of about twenty people he told me that there will be a new record out soon under the awkward moniker Be My Weapon and I thought, oh well, really? Swell was the band which defined my seven year stay in Luxembourg best. The smell of sweet grass in the kitchen in my flat in Limpertsberg with the phone on Don’t Give from 41 ringing into the void on a hot summer afternoon when I was having a Weißbier on the balcony and A. was about to join me there. There was a very relaxed atmosphere of light heartedness in the air. We were at the right place at the right time. I have not had that feeling so often in my life. Hardly ever for such a long time, almost a year. And Swell’s music was part of it, the slightly distorted guitar playing bittersweet tunes which carved themselves in my brain, the forceful drums & bass, the long pauses mounting the tension, David Freel’s calming baritone. I hardly ever listened to the words, they were more or less banal I think but it was not important. Swell released a lot of hit and miss records in the past ten to twelve years, David Freel on his own or with always changing band members, I bought them all, my love is hard to kill. I did not expect a lot of the new release which I bought from his site, so I was in for a nice surprise. It sounds almost like a Swell album from the old times. I Miss Your Mischief, the song from above, has got this melancholic touch combined with this sluggishness I adore. It is not yet grand cru again but it is at least premier cru. Thank you, David.
Why must happy hearts break so hard? I am pretty sure I posted this song already. But I am too lazy to search. This time Daniel Johnston is accompanied by Okkervil River. The country treatment with a banjo and a pedal steel does this song quite well. It has this cocooning effect. This song needs friends, the more friends the better.
hab ich es geschafft, heute nicht zu rauchen. aber ich weiß nicht wie. war vorhin im dunklen spazieren, um mich abzulenken. es hat geklappt. im grunde bin ich immer noch ein kleiner hosenscheißer, der beschäftigt werden will, um nicht loszuschreien. höre gerade die neue kings of convenience. sie fängt gut an.
Anton Fier was the drummer on the Feelies debut Crazy Rhythms. Later on he founded the Golden Palominos. I first heard of Mark Robinson when he played in a band called Air Miami whose only album Me. Me. Me. I bought in Luxembourg in 1995. What a refreshing guitar powerpop album. Full of hooks, full of bubbles, full of goodness. Later – when I had already started blogging the Absintheur who at the time also blogged about music and other stuff sent me Perfect Teeth, the second album of Unrest, the previous band of Mark Robinson. Another tuneful indie guitar gem. Today an old ILM thread was revived and I started listening to the first Unrest album Imperial f.f.r.r. for the first time. And got stuck at the third track, Imperial. It is seven minutes of one simple rhythm guitar figure accompanied by a wee bit of singing. And there is not one second of boredom in all that repetition. I think the fascination has to do with the fact that the guitar is actually played in real and not just sampled and looped. It breathes and lives. I love dancing to it in our cellar where I type right now on the keyboard. It is the dance where I just move the body, swirl the arms around and stare at my feet. With a smile on my face.
– Anton Fier, Bill Laswell, Nicky Skopelitis, Arto Lindsay, John Zorn, Bill Laswell, Fred Frith, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, David Moss, Bob Kidney, M.E. Miller, John Lydon, Syd Straw, Jack Bruce, Richard Thompson, Jody Harris, Michael Stipe, Matthew Sweet, Don Dixon, Peter Holsapple, T-Bone Burnett, Amanda Kramer, Bob Mould, Lori Carson, Knox Chandler, Nicole Blackman (some people who have been in the Golden Palominos)
– Nicole Blackman has got that voice which is crystal clear, razor sharp and attractive at the same time, I have to listen to what she says, I cannot not listen to the words coming out of her mouth. Her whispering sprechgesang is quite similar to Laurie Anderson’s actually but more feminine and seductive. The song has got this road movie feeling, just a simple beat and her voice luring us into the darkness. The atmosphere reminds me a little bit of David Lynch’s Wild at Heart. The song is going where it has to go, nobody is going to stop it.
Things only feel true
when someone’s abusing you
You are sometimes startled you are never surprised
There are only two speeds: fast and faster,
now you’re lashed to mast and lashed to master
Whether you’re in bed or in court, everybody gets off
So she smokes to keep from eating
and you fuck her to keep from feeling
and this is a taste, and this is a waste
and these are all of your days sacrificed
– Why do I have to listen to so much bullshit to find a good tune? Out of 20 songs I play, one is worth it. How can I decrease that ratio? I don’t think last.fm is the answer. I don’t believe in masses.
– These days I have a problem to listen to tracks from beginning to end. As I said in my last post I am checking everything on the ipod and rating stuff. That means that after 20 or 30 seconds I have made up my mind and have to move on. I am bored by any title after the 30 seconds mark.
– I have rated more than 5,000 songs by now, there are another 15,000 to come. I fear that my already dwindling love for music is about to disappear completely after the rating exercise. I should never have downloaded all that free stuff in the first place. The greed is firing back. It is a killer like in real life.
– When I started this blog at WordPress I reserved another name which didn’t appeal to me enough to use it. A word which mixes German and English. And ear and sex. Right now I prefer it tons to the name and address I have chosen. What do you think? Should I change again?
– I love that soul number by Scott-Heron. It’s cooler than a glacier in the Swiss alps. And hotter than the music in any techno club in Berlin. And smoother than a Pomerol.
One of my standard after hours settings. I lie on our mauve leather couch in the living room and listen to my ipod on shuffle. My job is to rate songs as quickly as possible. 100 songs usually take less than an hour. The main question is: Will it stay or will it go? Suddenly this little blues from the old times comes on. Judging from the sound quality and the hissing it must be from the 1920s or something. Three stars, a keeper, I’d say, just about. After ten seconds I consider moving on to the next title. But what does this woman sing there? Something about making a dead man come without omitting the physical details. Apparently in 1935 – the year this was recorded – the U.S. weren’t quite as Victorian as these days.
I am totally addicted to this rock song right now. It is from 1975 by a band from Detroit who has been rediscovered this year. Three black guys riffing hard. What a phantastic dirty guitar sound. Imagine Jimi Hendrix with a better more varied voice switching between rap, soul and shout.
1) Gar nix. Nobody is perfect.
2) Er assoziert Erde mit etwas anderem als dem zweiten Album der Feelies.
3) Die Erde ist ihm zu klein, es muss die ganze Welt sein.
4) Die Erde kann für ihn nicht gut sein, die Welt aber schon. Könnte zumindest, rein theoretisch.
5) Er ist eher ein abstrakter als ein konkreter Denker.
6) Er wollte testen, ob es einer seiner Leser merkt.
(Mehrfachantworten sind möglich)
By the way. Etwas Ländlicheres als das zweite Album der Feelies kann ich mir kaum vorstellen. Es strahlt so eine Ruhe und Gelassenheit aus. Die zarten Gitarrenmelodien scheinen vom Wind gehaucht zu sein. Man riecht die kühle Frische der Musik förmlich. Unbeschwert und gleichzeitig erdverbunden. Natürlichkeit pur. Breitwandkino für die Ohren. Nachdem man es das erste Mal gehört hat, versteht man nicht mehr, wie man vorher ohne es leben konnte. Aber das steht auch schon so ähnlich in dem zweiten nostalgischen Post oben.
heute morgen serviert mir mein ipod ein liedchen von the english beat namens „mirror in the bathroom“. hab es vorher noch nie gehört, bin sofort hin und weg. eine tolle melodie gekoppelt mit einem wahnsinnsgroove plus einer coolen saxophonlinie. wie konnte ich diese band bis jetzt so völlig ignorieren? gefällt mir besser als madness. bessere partymusik als diese reggae-ska-popnummer gibt es ja wohl kaum. auch die band konnte damals ihrem eigenen beat nicht widerstehen wie man im video sehen kann. die dubversion auf meinem ipod hat allerdings noch mehr schmiss. ich höre sie gerade zum gefühlten zwanzigsten mal.
I have never been a big fan of Prefab Sprout – too melodramatic or something for my likes – but this song from their upcoming new album is a keeper. There is a lovely tenderness in Paddy Mc Aloon’s voice and the track bursts with positive vibes.
The first thirty seconds of this beam us back into the glorious post-punk days of the early 1980s. A marriage of the powerful, gloomy atmosphere of The Cure around Seventeen Seconds with the minimalistic low-key indie pop tunes of the Young Marble Giants. Sometimes retro can be really cool.
und was spuckt mein ipod vorhin nach zwei drei liedern shuffle aus? eine liveversion von nouvelle vague’s cover von ever fallen in love. buzzcocks, was für ein geiler name und was für wahnsinnsmelodien. ganz klar meine lieblingspunkband. wenn man mal joy division’s anfänge außen vor lässt.
Ganz viel Charme. Eine tolle, soulige Stimme. Ein Liebeslied, das schon jetzt wie ein Klassiker klingt. Amanda Zelina aus Kanada (via). Wer könnte da widerstehen?
There ain’t nothing you can say,
Baby that will take my love away.
Seems there’s nothing you can do,
That will take my eyes from you.
Intelligenz macht keine Freunde. Idiotie allerdings auch nicht. Freundschaft ist unabhängig vom IQ. (Sorry, aber es muss hier weitergehen. Selbst s[chl]aublöde Sprüche tuen es.)
[Listening to: Cowboy Junkies – Speaking Confidentially
and Joni Mitchell – For Free].
I know you have all been waiting for this desperately. Just plain text. Without links to youtube or whatnot. Additionally the choices are extremely predictable. I am such a sucker for simple tunes. By the way Lovesong would have been #11. The order is more or less chronological.
There are things I want to do but I don’t know
If they will be with you, if they will be with you
There are things I want to say but I don’t know
If they will be to you, if they will be to you
(Teenage Fanclub, Alcoholiday from Bandwagonesque, 1991)
ich höre gerade close your eyes von keith jarrett im blue note eingespielt. mein blog war besser als dieser substandard-standard, sorry keith. nur zwei sterne. und damit ins archiv.
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was sonst? achja, die änderungskündigung. montag ist der tag der wahrheit. bis dahin isjanochjanzvielzeit. das ding kann ich eigentlich nicht nicht unterschreiben. berlin rückt jeden tag einige kilometer näher an frankfurt. ich sehe mich schon in wilmersdorf tränen vergießen für mainhattan.
Recently I was in New York and I finally bought an ipod. The classic version which has 120 gb (111 gb to be correct). Now I have a problem which I wouldn’t have had immediately if the ipod still had a capacity of 180 gb as in the past. I have more music on the hard disk of my pc than fits on the ipod. So what I did was putting all artists from a to q in a playlist and synchronise it with the ipod. Whenever I listen to songs on the ipod now I rate them. One star means I really dislike the song, it will be deleted from the hard disk. Two stars means I don’t want to have it on the ipod but it can stay on the hd. Everything from 3 stars onwards stays on the ipod. In the past weeks I have rated well over 2,000 tracks. More than 600 got two stars. The last band I have added is Silver Jews. So I am slowly managing my way through my mp3 collection. At Christmas the latest I should arrive at Z and the ipod should include only music I like if everything works well. Right now I have 20,435 songs on it. Somehow I don’t believe that there are more than 20,000 good songs out there. And you? (first posted here)
blogge momentan eigentlich nur noch wörter im kompetenzteam.
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gestern kommt mir nach fast einem jahr die idee, jean eine e-mail zu schreiben. jean hatten wir vor einem jahr auf dem jakobsweg getroffen und seine füße waren schon nach wenigen tagen voller schwären. abends nach dem tagesmarsch torkelte er wie ein betrunkener. war in neuen schuhen unterwegs. natürlich ohne einlagen obwohl er mindestens so schlimme knick-, senk- und spreizfüße hatte wie ich. sein glückseliges lächeln machte ihn zu einem, der die erleuchtung auf dem weg gefunden zu haben schien. wir trafen ihn kurz hinter logroño am ersten tag und verabschiedeten uns in villafranca del bierzo drei wochen später. wir waren mehr oder weniger synchron gelaufen. anschließend war er mit zwei anderen pilgern bis santiago gegangen und wir waren wieder zurück gefahren. ich schicke ihm also eine e-mail mit zwei bildern und der frage wie es ihm so geht und eine knappe stunde später kommt die antwort. er ist 12 km hinter logroño und geht den jakobsweg ein zweites mal, dieses mal mit seiner frau, die im dritten monat schwanger ist. sie fliegen am 23. juli wieder zurück nach québec. können also nicht alle etappen machen, müssen etwas bus fahren. der witz ist, dass wir nach unserer planung am 22. in santiago ankommen werden, d.h. also wir gehen wieder synchron, was für eine koinzidenz. wir werden sie höchstwahrscheinlich treffen.
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bandwagonesque vs. loveless vs. nevermind. bandwagonesque for me. as in the beginning it just sounded bland and dull. then i heard the melodies. and at the end the noise. loveless was from the beginning on the perfect marriage of noise and melodies. melodies in the mud of looped noise.
I don’t think it is necessary to write one sentence about this track. It’s music you feel or you don’t. The perfect music for a summer party with lots of people who like to move their bodies. Rave on. How come that I don’t remember ever having heard this song at a party? Maybe I was always at the wrong parties? There are other great tracks on Primal Scream’s chef d’œuvre Screamadelica but this is the one I’d like to save from the record if I could save just one. There are some positives vibes emanating from it. And it feels like a hymn for freedom.
das hat mir vorhin beim ipodshuffle die füße unter den beinen weggeknickt. und das trommelfell zum grooven gebracht. der stereoeffekt am anfang hat mir richtig angst gemacht. da springen die töne hin und her von links nach rechts und von rechts nach links als wären sie explodierende mp-patronen. das hört man nur auf ohr- und kopfhörern. und der wahnsinnshall. das ist elektronische musik wie ich sie mag, leute. auf der suche nach den grenzen des bewusstseins. idm nannten sie das genre. gar nicht so blöd auch wenn es angeberisch klingt. techno ist jedenfalls eher ddm. d wie dumb. ob ich die verachtung für techno nochmal aus meinem system krieg? vielleicht demnächst im berghain?
Though the various components repeat themselves incessantly, it’s how they interact and build that determines the sound — and that’s the essence of most electronic dance music, that complex interplay between several repetitive elements.
(The AMG on Manuel Göttsching’s E2-E4 which was recorded in 1981)
Formulated like this it seems to make sense. The repetition of the elements drum machine loop, guitar line and synth figure is not 100% linear. There is a dynamic operator fusing those three in the equation. But as can be heard in this small extract the variational element is too small to not bore the listener even after less than five minutes. This piece actually goes on for almost one hour. A torture for anybody who hasn’t taken the adequate drugs. The funny thing about this track is that it is actually by Manuel Göttsching who was in Ash Ra Tempel from Berlin, one of the early krautrock bands. They were electronic pioneers playing similar spherical music as Tangerine Dream. Klaus Schulze was even a member of Ash Ra Tempel. So in the end techno was just one little twig from a particular branch of the huge krautrock tree. And it became a German speciality again.
This hypnotic live song is originally from 1983’s The Crackdown. Totally different from the two tracks I posted before which were machine music whereas this has a very human touch. Especially the phantastic tribal drumming together with the deeply resonating bass gives it a funky down to earth groove. This sounds very much like something from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Eno & Byrne. It has a world music vibe which is married with some out of this world synthesizer sounds and Stephen Mallinder’s singing which in places sounds like scat, i.e. random syllables. It’s great that there are still amazing bands like that out there for me to discover.
If you want to get an idea of what this is like, imagine this:
The Emergency Broadcasting Channel tonal noises, raised about 10000 octaves, to produce the most ear-splitting continous beeping, just shy of a dog-whistle. Add to that, the sounds of bus-boys who, while carrying a full load of dirty dishes, drops it all. Glasses, silverware, dishes, sauces, etc., all come crashing down. Cut and paste a few chirping bird noises and the sound of a man having his throat slit (i.e., Mike Patton) while trying to speak and gargle mouthwash at the same time. Next, imagine 500 diesel engines all trying to start at the same time, but can’t. Then, for good measure, imagine 1500 grindstones all being used at the same time to sharpen axe blades. Lastly, throughout the entirety of the above, imagine 400 jet engines running constantly, while 6000 short-wave radios are all trying to tune in different channels at the same time (constantly).
There is 70 billion people over there. Where are they hiding?
This is from 1982. And I like it. It sounds like techno. But techno didn’t exist (under that name) at the time. Why in the world do I find techno so brainless? And this inspired in comparison? One reason might be that I don’t really know techno, another that techno arrived too late in my life. In 1990 I was 27, my music taste was more or less forged already. Which is actually not true. I discovered indie in form of the Pixies, the Blue Aeroplanes, My Bloody Valentine, PJ Harvey etc. And I loved all of them. I always found that techno was a stupid name. Which was actually fitting the music very well. I think namewise I would prefer a genre called no tech. Another reason why I like this song is that sentence with the 70 billion people. Either there are billions of people on other planets or the song was recorded in the future. And the future is bright as mankind will not only survive but propagate.
they sound like music played by really shitty robots, like if you’d buried an early prototype of Kraftwerk in toxic sludge, then accidentally uncovered them two hundred years later and OH SHIT THEY’RE STILL ALIVE WHAT AN UNSPEAKABLY HORRIBLE EXISTENCE (q)
.
I never really got into them before tonight. But right now they seem to be the greatest band of all-time. Or at least of post-punk. After having listened to them I understand even less what all the fuss about techno was about. They made techno in the early eighties. And it sounded so much better than any techno I have ever listened to. It was inventive, varied, obsessed. Besides that they were into synths, dance, dub, funk, punk, tribal rhythms, industrial, noise, goth, trash, medieval choirs almost anything that gave music a distinctive flavour in the past 30 years. Put Suicide, New Order, The Pop Group, Einstürzende Neubauten, Devo, Throbbing Gristle, Black Sabbath, Gang of Four, the Talking Heads and PIL into a mixer and the result will be something like the Cabs.
in diesem plattenladen in new york, in greenwich village, ganz in der nähe von the strand, dem riesigen buchladen, wo sie mich wegen meines rucksackes, den ich nicht durchchecken lassen wollte, nicht reinlassen wollten, da lief eine schallplatte, die mich total umgehauen hat, sie war vom love unlimited orchestra, von barry white, dem alten schwerenöter aus den siebzigern, in denen ich aufwuchs, um genau zu sein aus dem jahr 1974, und das beste war, auf der platte sang keiner weder barry white mit seinem ultrabass noch die mädels vom orchestra, die platte war rein instrumental. und ich habe mich unsterblich verliebt in sie. barry white ohne die stimme, das hat was. ich hör die scheibe gerade auf meinem lausigen halbautomatischen plattenspieler von vor 20 jahren. hört sich scheiße an, so eindimensional blechern, ohne bässe, kann auch an den englischen boxen liegen, vielleicht hätt ich ja statt der platte die anlage in dem laden in new york kaufen sollen.
[muss gerade ganz fürchterlich über den namen lachen. white? schwärzer als barry white, geht das überhaupt?]
heute morgen vorm joggen hatte ich einen puls von 33. wenn das so weitergeht, dann erwartet mich in elf tagen das nirvana. ansonsten will ich unbedingt was über new york schreiben bevor ich wieder alles vergessen habe, eine woche im big apple geht nicht spurlos an einem vorbei. you can call it liebe auf den zweiten blick. 1979 rannte ich im heißen juli durch greenwich village – wo eigentlich nix zu sehen war – und war glaube ich im natural science museum, ein tag, der kaum hängen geblieben ist. nur an die knapp einstündige fahrt vom see in connecticut mit robert, der in meinem alter war, erinner ich mich noch ganz gut. er fuhr glaube ich den bug – beetle sagte damals niemand in den usa – nicht den straßenkreuzer, im radio viele worte und werbung, der morgen hatte noch diese erfrischende kühle, die ihm im sommer noch einen zusätzlichen vorteil gegenüber den anderen tageszeiten beschert. cut. vorhin mal wieder „on the beach“ gehört – da gibt es einen ilm thread drüber was das beste lied auf der platte ist – und die story über die honey slides gehört. also das titellied und „motion pictures“ sind so ziemlich die besten lieder, die gras und honig so hervorgebracht haben. lässiger geht nicht mehr. und das schönste ist, diese backmischung nimmt man oral ein, lungenzüge braucht sowieso kein mensch. wieso ich so derartig over the top bin these days, ist mir auch schleierhaft. weil die zwei monate abstinenz vorbei sind? weil ich immer noch den kick vom fliegen habe? weil der jetlag noch wirkt und mich aufputscht? weil ich heute zweimal sport getrieben habe? weil ich jetzt wieder morgens meinen liter tee trinken kann? wegen der nachmittag-kaffees im büro? oder sind es die altoids? no clue whatsoever. schon viertel vor eins, jetzt aber ab in die heia.
Zuerst erschienen 1970 auf Abraxas, 1974 dann als Single aus einer Hitkompilation ausgekoppelt.
Die Siebziger waren musikalisch gar nicht so langweilig wie sie mir in der Erinnerung bis vor kurzem erschienen. Sie waren nicht nur das überproduzierte Wasteland aus Progrock, Jazzrock, Glam, Soul, Funk, MoR, Schwedenpop, Schlager usw. Sie waren auch und vor allem das, das stimmt schon, aber sie hatten auch ziemlich gute Musik zu bieten. Und das Erstaunlichste ist, dass ich sie sogar zum Teil gehört habe obwohl ich in den Siebzigern zwischen sechs und sechzehn war und somit nicht unbedingt die Musiktrends jenseits des Mainstreams kennengelernt habe. Ich fange jetzt mal eine lose Reihe mit Posts über Tracks aus den Siebzigern an, die mir mit guten Erinnerungen im Hirn haften geblieben sind und die ich auch heute noch gelegentlich, wenn ich in einer nostalgischen Stimmung bin oder mich in eine versetzen lassen will, gerne höre. Bei sehr vielen Songs aus der Zeit ist das nicht der Fall. Hierunter fällt z.B. das Gesamtwerk von Abba und auch die Fistelstimme des Supertrampsängers Roger Hodgson ertrage ich nicht mehr. Von Freddie Mercury und Queen will ich jetzt gar nicht anfangen.
Samba pa ti (auf deutsch: Samba für dich) habe ich zum ersten Mal Mitte der Siebziger in einer TV-Vorabendserie gehört. Ich glaube es wurde gespielt als sich gerade eine Liebesgeschichte zwischen einem Mädchen und einem Jungen anbahnte. Auf jeden Fall war ich beim ersten Hören sofort hin und weg. Das Instrumental wurde in meinen Gedanken sofort das ultimative Bluesstück. In Frankreich sagt man übrigens erstaunlicherweise slow zu dem Tanz bei dem sich die Partner eng umschlingen und sich gaaanz langsam um die eigene Achse drehen. Natürlich habe ich auf Samba pa ti nicht ein einziges Mal in meinem Leben mit irgendeinem Mädchen getanzt. Dieser Traum wird wohl auf ewig unerfüllt bleiben. Nick Hornby hat sich übrigens gewünscht zu Samba pa ti seine Unschuld zu verlieren, für ihn hörte sich das Lied an wie wenn zwei Liebe machen. Ist nicht völlig abwegig, u.a. auch da die Geschwindigkeit im Laufe des Stücks ansteigt, aber auf den Gedanken wäre ich niemals gekommen. Dazu war es mir damals viel zu verträumt romantisch und zu zärtlich. On second thoughts: Wobei schneller werdende Musik eigentlich gerade nicht zu Sex passt. Weil sich die Bewegung beim Sex schon von ganz alleine beschleunigt. Meine Lieblingsmusiken für dieses Setting sind jedenfalls alle durchgehend langsam.
Bei Samba pa ti fasziniert mich die meditative Ruhe der langsam gespielten Gitarrenmelodie, deren einfache Schönheit fast weh tut, und dieses Innehalten nach der aufsteigenden Tonfolge. Die Pause, in der sich eine starke positive Spannung aufbaut, die erst in einer Wiederholung der Melodie vorübergehend aufgelöst und dann später von einer dissonanten, lauten Keyboardfigur endgültig entladen wird. Danach wird extemporiert und improvisiert, der Track läuft irgendwie ohne klar definiertes Ende aus. Er könnte eigentlich noch ewig weiter gehen.
Carlos Santana sagte kürzlich in Mojo folgendes, was die direkte Emotionalität des Liedes anspricht:
…when I recorded it I was thinking of nothing, it was just pure feeling. I have a suspicion it came from stuff bottled up inside me, that I didn’t know how to express or articulate. (q)
Das ist das zweite Lied auf der ersten Platte der Cocteau Twins, die im Juni 1982 rausgekommen ist. In dem Monat gegen dessen Ende ich mich auf eine Reise gemacht habe, von der ich eigentlich nicht zurückkommen wollte und in gewisser Weise auch nie zurückgekommen bin. Liz Fraser, die ätherische Stimme der Cocteau Twins, war 18 zum Zeitpunkt der Aufnahme. Sie ist sechs Wochen jünger als ich wie ich vor kurzem herausfand.
Der Song beginnt mit einem langsam anschwellenden Hallton. Die kosmische Hintergrundstrahlung als Geräusch? Und nimmt damit den Faden des ersten Liedes Blood Bitch auf, das entsprechend ausklingt. Enter the drum machine. Sowie der elektrische Bass von Will Heggie, der diesem Album und diesem Lied den sonoren Sound gibt. Ominös und dunkel, in den Vordergrund gemischt, stark hallend, ist der Bass hier das Leadinstrument. Ganz in der Schule von Peter Hook bei Joy Division/New Order. Der schnell gespielte, kraftvolle, erdig-melodische Bass windet sich geschmeidig um die drum machine, deren perfekter, klinischer Rhythmus mich ausnahmsweise mal nicht stört. Er passt in die bedrohliche und bedrückende Atmosphäre. Und akzentuiert das anziehend Hypnotische des repetitiven, minimalistischen Songs noch. Robin Guthrie’s verzerrte, feedbackgetränkte Gitarre versorgt das Stück mit einem zusätzlich verunsichernden, lärmigen Element. On top of that kommt dann nach über einer Minute Liz Fraser’s mädchenhafte, gurrende Stimme hinzu. Sie bringt engelhaftes Licht in die Dunkelheit und hält das Lied davon ab, dass es sich völlig im Schattenreich verliert.
Im Gegensatz zu den anderen federleichten Cocteau Twins Platten, deren Musik zu schweben scheint und den Hörer nach oben Richtung Himmel trägt, zieht dieses ernste und gewichtige Album nach unten auf die Erde. Vielleicht sogar zur Hölle hin. Wie auch einige andere Meisterwerke des cold wave (Joy Division’s Closer, New Order’s Movement, The Cure’s Faith, The Birthday Party’s Junkyard) hat dieses Album einen Titel aus einem Wort, das allerdings weniger abstrakt bzw. schmuckvoller daherkommt: Garlands (Girlanden).
Nachdem ich am Wochenende mal alle knapp hundert Cocteau Twins Lieder außerhalb des Albumkontexts durch- bzw. angehört habe, kam ich übrigens zu dem überraschenden Ergebnis, dass ich Garlands (7/8 Stücke, die ich mag) Heaven or Las Vegas (8/10) vorziehe. Noch erstaunlicher war allerdings, dass diese beiden noch von dem vorletzten, recht poppigen Four-Calendar Café (9/10) übertroffen wurden. Ich bin halt doch sehr simpel gestrickt wie ein guter Kumpel sagen würde.
Talking of coincidence. A colleague introduced me to two bands today which I had hardly heard of. At the same time somebody revives an old I Love Music thread: Taking Sides: Moloko vs Morcheeba. It’s got to be Moloko, I suppose. Just have a look at them live, what a groove, what a performance.
Das Konzert der Go-Betweens vom 9.5.2003 in Darmstadt in seiner vollen Pracht. Das ist schon wieder fast sechs Jahre her. Ich sehe Robert Forster noch vor mir wie er am Schluss zu dem nicht enden wollenden The Farmhouse that Jack Kerouac Built so ausgelassen tanzt, dass er nahezu vom Hallenboden abhebt. Those were the times.
I had forgotten about this great song (yootoob). What a nasty and energetic riff. Exactly the right kind of music to start a day. It would kick a dead out of bed. But I tell you in advance: you won’t get the melody out of your head for the whole day long.
…
Moi je t’offrirai
Des perles de pluie
Venues de pays
Où il ne pleut pas
Je creuserai la terre
Jusqu’après ma mort
Pour couvrir ton corps
D’or et de lumière
…
Je ne vais plus pleurer
Je ne vais plus parler
Je me cacherai là
A te regarder
Danser et sourire
Et à t’écouter
Chanter et puis rire
Laisse-moi devenir
L’ombre de ton ombre
L’ombre de ta main
L’ombre de ton chien
Ne me quitte pas
Die Stadt Frankfurt greift im Kampf gegen die stetig wachsenden Populationen von Kaninchen und Tauben im Stadtgebiet nun zu drastischen Mitteln: Nach Informationen der Rhein-Main-Zeitung hat der Magistrat eine „Abwrackprämie“ zur Bekämpfung der Plagen beschlossen. (mehr)
In the last few months I have read several reports about internet providers working with record labels and the RIAA to cut off the service of anyone who downloads music from sites like this one. Now, there’s finally a plan that makes sense. (more)
leaked.
sounds pretty great.
like Rather Ripped, but with thicker sound – which is better! (more)
Says Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, “The first time I heard it, I hated it; but the second time, my brain turned around backwards in my skull. It changed me forever; I think it changed all of us.” (more)
I’ve just heard that FIDE are considering reinstating an old rule that pawns don’t need to promote when they reach the 8th rank, but can simply remain as pawns. (more)
Dieses Video habe ich mir heute abend bestimmt schon fünf oder sechs Mal angesehen und es langweilt mich immer noch nicht. Das Lied ist von der ersten Platte Fetisch (1983) von der Hamburger Band X Mal Deutschland. Sie waren nicht besonders erfolgreich in Deutschland – kein Wunder bei dem Namen – aber die Engländer und zwar insbesondere John Peel liebten sie. Sie tourten damals mit den Cocteau Twins und landeten dann passenderweise bei 4AD. War auf diesem anspruchsvollen ätherisch angehauchten Indie-Label jemals noch eine andere deutsche Gruppe? Ich weiß es nicht. Im Mittelpunkt der Band stand die charismatische platinblonde Sängerin Anja Huwe, die heute in Kunst macht. Wie sie hier am Anfang mit den Armen und den Schultern sehr energisch tanzt und dann beim Singen die Augen nach oben rollt das hat etwas Berückendes. Der Song bewegt sich irgendwo zwischen NDW-Pop, EBM, Gothic, Punk und Drone Rock, da ist so ziemlich alles drin was mein Herz begehrt. Eine schön verzerrte, lärmende Gitarre, ein satt dahinwummernder Bass, ein lautes, das Ganze nach vorne treibendes Schlagzeug und eine super catchy Synthie-Melodielinie. Die Soundqualität ist eher untergründig, aber das ist gut so.
Neulich hatte ich so nostalgische Anwandlungen und dachte zurück an meine Jugend. Und ich stellte mir die Frage, was eigentlich das erste zeitgenössische Lied gewesen ist, das ich bewusst wahrgenommen habe. Da kam mir sofort die deutsche Version von Robbie Robertson’s (The Band) Bürgerkriegsballade The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down in den Sinn. Ich erinnere mich zwar auch sehr gut an so einen Ohrwurm wie Sugar, Sugar von den Archies, der schon Ende 1969 rauskam, aber ich gehe mal davon aus, dass ich ihn erst später bewusst gehört habe, ich habe jedenfalls keine Erinnerung an einen Ort oder einen Zeitpunkt. Damals wäre ich sechs gewesen. Das war anders mit Conny Kramer. Das Lied habe ich auf dem Schulhof der Grundschule in Moers-Hülsdonk gehört. Wahrscheinlich als ich schon auf dem Heimweg war. Ich war acht Jahre alt und in der 3. Klasse. Die Szene am Grab mit den läutenden Glocken und den weinenden Freunden ist sofort haften geblieben und ich fand sie unheimlich traurig. Allerdings habe ich nie verstanden warum Conny Kramer gestorben ist. Der Schlager tönte glaube ich aus einem Transistorradio. Das war also 1972 noch vor den olympischen Spielen in München, an die ich mich sehr gut erinnern kann, da ich sie vorm Fernseher in Vaters kleinem Zimmer mit der Terrassentür von morgens bis abends verfolgte. Es war ein wunderbarer Sommer. Bis zu dem Terroranschlag im olympischen Dorf. 1972 war das Jahr, in dem der Tod sich das erste Mal ganz fern am Horizont bemerkbar machte in meinem Leben. Juliane Werding war gerade mal 16 als sie mit diesem Schlager ihren Durchbruch hatte. Der Text hat einen autobiographischen Hintergrund. Sie kommt aus Essen und zog dort mit einem Straßenmusikanten namens Peter durch die Fußgängerzone. Er war der erste Drogentote in Essen. Wenn man sich das vergegenwärtigt, dann kommt sie einem hier unglaublich tapfer vor und man versteht auch warum sie so ernst und niedergeschlagen guckt.
I only came across Juana Molina recently but I loved her slightly detached, dreamy voice immediately. She is from Buenos Aires and sings in a soft Spanish accent which sounds almost as melodic as Italian. E.g. the way she slowly pronounces profundamente. Apparently it is Rioplatense Spanish. Río Seco is a sad song which doesn’t surprise considering the title. A dry river is unnatural, even frightening. And the electronics in this song create a spooky atmosphere. There is this sustained noise in the beginning which is repeated all the time. For me it sounds like a coyote howling in the middle of the pampa. The acoustic guitar is mainly a rhythm instrument here. Juana sings the tune herself. Río Seco is the starter on her fourth album Son from 2006. Her new album Un Día seems to be more electronic and less folky.
One of the first songs by The Smiths, the b-side or actually c-side of the 12“ of their second single This Charming Man from October 1983 is a grave and slow ballad in minor. Besides the wonderful line
But when she calls me, I do not walk, I run
I absolutely adore how Morrissey bathes in sentiment in this song. He sing-sighs for most of the second half, a vocal style which will become one of his trademarks later on. He literally sighs the tune and it sounds more melodic and of course more melancholic and more emotional than if he had sung just the words. He surrenders himself completely. Something especially young men love(d) so much about Morrissey. Apparently the lyrics are about Linder Sterling, one of his best friends who sang in the post-punk group Ludus. Could it be that he sighs as he realises that they will never be a couple as he is not able to live with another person? Whatever this is definitely a love song from a man to a woman.
Eines der Lieder, von denen man nach dem ersten Hören meint, es schon einmal gehört zu haben. Aber dadurch, dass man den unmittelbaren Ohrwurm nicht wirklich in seine auditive Rezeptionsgeschichte¹ einordnen kann, so total umwerfend. Wobei ich es wirklich schon einmal gehört hatte, und zwar auf France Inter, wo die Deutschschweizerin Sophie Hunger regelmäßig gespielt wird. Analog zum Döner Kebap könnte man sagen ein Lied mit allem: Da sind vom Rhythmus her Drive und Groove drin, die expressive Stimme hat viel Soul und eine Prise Blues und die unwiderstehliche Melodie schraubt sich wie ein Korkenzieher direkt ins Herz. In seiner Wärme erinnert mich Hunger’s Gesang an den von Leslie Feist, es schwingt aber auf jeden Fall auch ein bisschen Janis Joplin mit und etwas Folkiges à la frühe Michelle Shocked oder Sally Barker. Ihre Stimme schmiegt sich um die Musik und kann auch sehr eruptiv werden. In solchen Momenten muss ich an Jeff Buckley denken. Ich erinner mich an keine andere Sängerin, die ähnlich intensiv und verletzlich gesungen hätte wie der unglückliche amerikanische Troubadour.
Links:
– Homepage (Myspace)
– 15 Lieder im Stream bei last.fm
– 2 mp3s bei aurgasm, wobei die Plattenfirma darüber nicht so begeistert ist
– Video von Ne Me Quitte Pas für die Blogothèque
– Artikel zu einem Konzert in London Ende 2007 in Das Magazin
¹ Oder wie nennt man die Summe aller Musikstücke, die man jemals gehört hat, etwa individuelle Hörgeschichte?
Caos Calmo (Stilles Chaos), der gerade erst in Berlin gelaufen ist, mit Nanni Moretti in der Hauptrolle gesehen. Mir hat vor allem gefallen, mal wieder italienisch zu hören, verstehe zwar so gut wie nichts aber die Sprache und natürlich ihren Klang habe ich immer gemocht und die Leute auch fast immer. Das Land sowieso. Der Film war untertitelt und ich habe gelernt, dass casino auf italienisch nicht Spielbank heißt, das wäre casinò, sondern Bordell, Durcheinander, Haufen, Lärm, Radau, Schlamassel, Tohuwabohu, Drunter und Drüber etc. Es dauert halt bei mir manchmal etwas länger bis der Groschen fällt. Der Film hat mir übrigens bis auf die dreifache Schleichwerbung für einen Premiumautokonzern gut gefallen. Vor allem das Lächeln der kleinen Claudia¹, der Tochter, das mich an den Charme eines anderen etwa gleichaltrigen italienischen Mädchens erinnert hat, das heute so an die 20 sein sollte. Hexen scheinen für eine italienische bambina unheimlich spannend zu sein. Ich wurde sogar an das wunderlich schöne Wort strega erinnert. Ansonsten auch noch gute Musik. Radiohead’s Pyramid Song in einer zentralen Szene des Films. Was für ein gefühlsschweres Lied, dazu kann man ganz phantastisch loslassen und -heulen, das hat Nanni Moretti dann auch gemacht. Ich glaube, ich versuch das jetzt auch einmal.
Ohrenschmaus 