Dying without a sound
When you're kicked into space, you never really expect it. You're surprised how dark and cold it is altough you're nearer to the sun than before. You can't hear anything. The Earth is so far away that you can't see all the people that you know are down there. So you feel even more lonely. And then you start gasp for breath...
Enjoy the silence
Yesterday and today I haven't heard much music. I haven't felt like it. Maybe it's because I'm spending the next week at a music festival and it's kind of the silence before the storm. So I've been listening to the church bells and yelling graduate students instead. I don't know if graduates act the same way in other countries, but here they drive around drunk in the back of an open truck cheering all the time. Almost in a sick and manic fashion. I remember riding through town the same way when I graduated, but I don't remember being that manic. Of course I was drunk most of the time so it's hard to remember. Eventually I got so tired of the screaming teenagers that I put on U2's The Joshua Tree and although I'm definitely no U2-fan, it was kind of a pleasant experience. Some times it's nice though to take a break from music and just enjoy the silence as Depeche Mode preached.
Thoughtful hiphop for the elderly
Where is all the old rap stars? Yesterday i saw O.C. who had an underground hit i '94 with the brilliant "Time's up" and it made me wonder why we seldom see old hiphop-stars making reflective lyrics for a mature audience. A Bob Dylan or Neil Young for grown-ups. I know that the genre as such haven't existed for that long, but still, some of the old guys could still be in the game. Guru of Gang Starr is soon to turn 40 and still active, I suppose. The last Gang Starr-album was great. Q-tip and Rakim haven't released anything since 1999 (unfortunately Q-tip's Kamaal the Abstract was never released). Ice Cube just released an album that should be ok. Chuck D of Public Enemy is the oldest I can think of with his 46 years who is still active, but I don't dare to buy that Public Enemy-album from last year. KRS-One is probably the only one who makes hiphop for the mature hiphop-listeners. Anyone with suggestions? Maybe hiphop merely is a youth culture, but it shouldn't be that way.
Anyway, O.C. was still in great shape and with great timing, but there was no doubt that when he played "Time's up" at the end of the show, he proved that he hasn't made a single song that good ever since.
Anyway, O.C. was still in great shape and with great timing, but there was no doubt that when he played "Time's up" at the end of the show, he proved that he hasn't made a single song that good ever since.
Fix a heart, mr. Lanegan
I'll take care of you is as simple as it's cover. Barely 34 minutes of heartbreaking love songs. I think the drizzle made me put it on. The soul and pain in Lanegans rusty voice and the plain, beautiful melodies fit perfect for a melancholy state of mind. He got the blues under his belt and a whiskey within reach. It should be said that all the material on this album is covers of folk-, blues- and country-songs, but it doesn't differ much from his original material. The bar is closed and the girl you spent time with is in the bottom of your empty glass. Start sobbing.
Hippies and neanderthals bringing the sixties alive
A family party. An uncle turning 60 and a grandma turning 90. I know it doesn't exactly sound like a blast and it did start out pretty slow. If everybody finds the party boring, everybody's starts drinking, loose their boring facade and out comes real people with humour and personality. Still, it wasn't until late in the evening when one of the local hippies brought forth his guitar and played hits of the sixties of Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and so on. Then the icelandic guy, who looked very much like a longhaired neanderthal, borrowed the guitar. Like a burst of pure manhood, of primitive energy and experienced life his voice cut through like a copy of John Fogerty. The rest of the night the two of them took turns playing songs - the hippie doing the mellow songs and the neanderthal doing the uptempo songs. To hear "Lola" or "Turn turn turn" live in an intimate setting might be too much hippie-lifestyle around the bonfire for some, but with a fair amount of alcohol attacking my liver it was quite possible the best thing that could happen.
The minimalistic pop of Young Marble Giants
I don't know why, but I'm a sucker for pop these days. Young Marble Giants unfortunately only got to release one record, but what a record. It's about as minimalitic as possible without getting infantile. Just a quirky bass, a bit of festive organ or an electric guitar with no distortion and an electronic drumbeat. Plain and simple. Alison Stattons vocal in front is cold and hollow. A bit like Moe Tuckers of The Velvet Underground actually. These are effective, simplistic pop songs with high durability. The spare instrumentation and Alisons voice makes them unique - it's like a glimpse into a fully orchestrated pop album, the sketches, before the strings are added and the producer turns the buttons. As such it's quite captivating.
The dirty mind of pop
Like most bleak teenagers I hated every expression of happiness. I especially hated the songs "Friday I'm in love" with The Cure and "Shiny, happy people" with R.E.M. The videos were obnoxious with all the colours and the dancing around. I didn't care for pop at all actually, unless it was heavy rock like Metallica, Pearl Jam or whatever. Prince was of course absolutely no go in my world at the time with the self confident "Sexy M.F." and all that funk. I hated it. Fortunately I grew older and through hiphop I learned to appreciate soul and funk and that way around also Prince. His Dirty Mind from 1980 is a small pop masterpiece.
Actually it can easily be compared to many of the great pop records that came out of the new wave-scene in the early eighties from Blondie, Elvis Costello, The Buggles and so on. It has that same synthpop feeling with a touch of simplistic rock, but of course mixed with funky bass lines and that high pitch soul vocal. The album lasts no more than half an hour without a single superfluous moment on it.
Actually it can easily be compared to many of the great pop records that came out of the new wave-scene in the early eighties from Blondie, Elvis Costello, The Buggles and so on. It has that same synthpop feeling with a touch of simplistic rock, but of course mixed with funky bass lines and that high pitch soul vocal. The album lasts no more than half an hour without a single superfluous moment on it.
Pleasant afropop
Imagine a warm summerday in Kenya. Two American musicians come to a small village, talk to the population, warm feelings are exchanged and they get invited to a village party the same night around a bonfire. The day after they start jamming with two local musicians and six beautiful, half-acoustic songs at lengths between six and twelve minutes with both local and American singing is the result. You can listen to Extra Golden's debut, and probably only album because one of the local musicians, Otieno Jagwasi, passed away last year, if you want to know how it came out.
The two Americans are Ian Eagleson and Alex Minoff who are normally part of the experimenting indie band Golden and the two locals are part of Orchestra Extra Solar Africa. The collaboration is well executed and the songs run smoothly throughout the album with a positive vibe.
The two Americans are Ian Eagleson and Alex Minoff who are normally part of the experimenting indie band Golden and the two locals are part of Orchestra Extra Solar Africa. The collaboration is well executed and the songs run smoothly throughout the album with a positive vibe.
Surprise!
Somebody's pulling my leg. Maybe both of them because they're equal length still. More or less. Today Primal Scream was announced for Roskilde which makes me more than happy. Last time they visited the festival, I was so drunk and tired I fell asleep standing. Now I get to see them again and all though their new album is old man's rock'n'roll, I'm sure it's still going to be a blast. This must be one of the best main act lineups in the history of The Roskilde Festival.
By the way: I received my This Heat-box today which I mentioned earlier this year. And that is one damn fine, fulfilling box. Six digipacks in a tasteful designed cardboard-box, an informative and beautiful booklet to go with it and the best part is one of those cute mini-cds with my name and issue number on it. They still have some left. Do yourself a favor and spend 47 bucks on this baby.
By the way: I received my This Heat-box today which I mentioned earlier this year. And that is one damn fine, fulfilling box. Six digipacks in a tasteful designed cardboard-box, an informative and beautiful booklet to go with it and the best part is one of those cute mini-cds with my name and issue number on it. They still have some left. Do yourself a favor and spend 47 bucks on this baby.
Yawning my festival away
The time's running out for The Roskilde Festival to make any brilliant announcements. I'm quite disappointed. Yes, they have great, big names: Tool (definitely Tool), Morrissey, Bob Dylan, Guns'n'Roses (if they're actually coming), Happy Mondays (if they're still fun) and Kanye West, but the really good, experimenting, exciting artists, that I'm longing to see, is missing. Dalek is the one artist I'm really looking forward to seeing because I haven't experienced their live show since they supported Tomahawk in 2001. I have already seen Animal Collective and they weren't even that great, Clap your Hands say Yeah might be fun, but I've heard they're a bad live act, I'm afraid The Ex is too old by now, Silver Jews might be cosy, but not arousing, dEUS I've already seen this year, Serena-Maneesh, just saw them, all though they were great, Sigur Ros are always great, but then again, I've already seen them.
Birdy Nam Nam is one of the only interesting names that I don't know so I hope they will do the trick for me, Opeth probably is going to be the best metal experience of the year, Raconteurs will probably rock because, well, it's Jack White and Brendan Benson, Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid might be an interesting experiment live, and I guess Why? will be a pleasant concert.
But I still need to get more excited.
There should have been a lot of links, but I just didn't care enough. Sorry.
Birdy Nam Nam is one of the only interesting names that I don't know so I hope they will do the trick for me, Opeth probably is going to be the best metal experience of the year, Raconteurs will probably rock because, well, it's Jack White and Brendan Benson, Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid might be an interesting experiment live, and I guess Why? will be a pleasant concert.
But I still need to get more excited.
There should have been a lot of links, but I just didn't care enough. Sorry.
Au Pair needed for my amusement
If you are absolutely crazy about the danceable postpunk of the early 80's, I'm talking Gang of Four and The Slits, then you'll have to get this delicious babe:
The first reissue of The Au Pairs' debut have been backordered for a while so it's a welcome treat to get that album and the following and everything they goddamn recorded on two albums! It's danceable postpunk with a hint of jamaican music. Fantastic funkalicious, haunting, repetitive, energetic songs with feminist themes. The end of the 70's/early 80's was one of the most creative periods for rock music and definitely one of my favorites.
The first reissue of The Au Pairs' debut have been backordered for a while so it's a welcome treat to get that album and the following and everything they goddamn recorded on two albums! It's danceable postpunk with a hint of jamaican music. Fantastic funkalicious, haunting, repetitive, energetic songs with feminist themes. The end of the 70's/early 80's was one of the most creative periods for rock music and definitely one of my favorites.
The bass player of Serena Maneesh is gorgeous
The beginning of the concert was amazing. Noise from two guitars and a violin, a groovy bass line, an uptempo drum beat and no voice for 7-10 minutes. The hype of Serena Maneesh was justified. Unfortunately it didn't remain that magic througout the concert when they went into Ride territory with spacy noise of Spiritualized and Rolling Stones-as-interpretated-by-Primal-Scream-and-Royal-Trux-kind-of-songs. But they were still an amazing live band. Maybe the songs weren't that great, but they played like hell. And the bass player was a hot, tall blonde with tattoos. I loved her.
This morning I've been listening to Wax Taylor. Instrumental hiphop at it's best. He don't come up with any new tricks, but he studied the likes of RJD2, DJ Signify and DJ Shadow well.
This morning I've been listening to Wax Taylor. Instrumental hiphop at it's best. He don't come up with any new tricks, but he studied the likes of RJD2, DJ Signify and DJ Shadow well.
Boy, did we get spanked
Holy shit. That was kick ass!!!
Yesterday, as part of the festival CPH Distortion, there was a live concert with Spank Rock. As a insane marketing stunt the entrance was free which meant that a big bunch of hipsters came to see the new hype. Well, who cares, it was for free. First off, Track 72 did an excellent job to warm up the audience with old school electro, hiphop and soul. Unfortunately half the audience didn't catch on to it. Then there was a 45 minutes break where the resident DJ played irritating techno for all the party poop ravers. But it was worth the wait because when Spank Rock went on stage the venue was set on fire. Goddamn, that shit is funky! Prince-inspired funky futuristic hiphop that would make Beans of Antipop Consortium envious, because that's what he have tried to do the last couple of years without any greater luck. Spank Rock had the groovy songs that could make your head spin all night. Yir, that was intense!!
Yesterday, as part of the festival CPH Distortion, there was a live concert with Spank Rock. As a insane marketing stunt the entrance was free which meant that a big bunch of hipsters came to see the new hype. Well, who cares, it was for free. First off, Track 72 did an excellent job to warm up the audience with old school electro, hiphop and soul. Unfortunately half the audience didn't catch on to it. Then there was a 45 minutes break where the resident DJ played irritating techno for all the party poop ravers. But it was worth the wait because when Spank Rock went on stage the venue was set on fire. Goddamn, that shit is funky! Prince-inspired funky futuristic hiphop that would make Beans of Antipop Consortium envious, because that's what he have tried to do the last couple of years without any greater luck. Spank Rock had the groovy songs that could make your head spin all night. Yir, that was intense!!