Back in 2010 one of the biggest things in dancefloor and electronica was Daniel Victor Snaith a Canadian composer and musician. He released under his stage name Caribou one of the best dance records at the beginning of the new decade - Swim. I owned this record after listening to a late night radio show that featured Caribou. Mixing the best of early psychedlica with electronic and loops. He knows like a few to build up it with every song a tension curve from which one cannot avoid any more. Give yourself a chance to this.
A few days ago Sad Man's Tongue Rockabilly Bar & Bistro - Prague announced a some concerts from afternoon till midnight. All the bands appearing have one thing in common: They play various kind of Rockabilly. I posted in this series Rockabilly from different countries but never before from a Japanese band playing Rockabilly. This concert might be a very good reason to spent some days in Prague - a city that is every time worth to visit. Sadly, I have no time to go to. So let's have some fun with the Starlite Wranglers with the video instead.
I spent many hours this weekend (only discontinuously by consider football) to upload a mix to mixcloud. There were many tutorials to read and to watch but I wasn't successful at all. On Sunday downloaded a DJ program to make a mix out of my selected files. After five hours of working with this program I stopped in the afternoon and go out for a beer with my mate. This song would be on my mix (if ever I can release it on mixcloud). Okapi Guitars are a Sydney based band with black and white members. They play a combination of Zimbabwe music with guitar styles from all over Africa. It from their 2004 release with the same title and this song is typical for their style. Using rich guitars with picked pattern of afrobeat. I have been reading some translations of their lyrics and I can say that their lyrics are marked very politically, because they sing about the ongoing disaster of Mugabe's Zimbabwe.
Seems like the weather will change throughout the next days. After a period of sun and higher temperature we'll going into a wet and cold period. According to this I will post a song that makes you feel warmer (hopefully). Lambchop is an American band associated to the Alternative Country music. But there music is much more. They have influences from soul, post-rock and lounge music as well. This song is from their album Nixon released in 2000. A little gem with only a picking guitar added with string and horn arrangements. A song perfect for a lazy Sunday morning.
My workload has reduced to a normal mass this year and I was mentally able to stabilize again. I was very busy with myself that I didn't noticed what really happened around me. So I didn't realized that C. wasn't happy in her job any more. Surely we talked about these things but we were not able to find a final solution for her problems. Looking back from my my today's point it seems that something has gone lost in these period. As normally we have pushed it on the general strain in the occupation and have fled in the next vacation. In hope that we afterwards again enough strength will have to master around the upcoming problems. We both weren't willing to take a round-trip anywhere so we decided to go tho Goa, India, again. Just to have a quiet beach life with sun, swimming and some good times. We found a nice apartment in immediate beach nearness which was pursued by an older English lady. It was wonderful. And for the first time in our life we met Russian people during our vacation. Unfortunately, became all prejudices we have belonged confirmed. Very loud people who have no respect to the culture of the host country. Many have behaved like small dictators and have treated the locals like personal slaves. So I kept distance to them. Anyway - these days were peaceful at all and we got the power to pull up again. Not knowing what the next year will bring. More next week
When I was looking back to this years music I have to admit that I didn't got my eyes on longplay records. I was more into electronics and dance these days. But anyway, here are some records that are worth to be named again:
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest: Fine mixture of folk and experimental rock
Fever Ray - same: It would be my record of the year if The XX wouldn't appear
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - same: Clever indie pop
Element of Crime - Da wo du bist bin ich nie: More hooks this time
La Roux - same: The evolution of 80s synthie-pop
In addition to this: here are some songs I like to play again.
Seems like I watched different kind of movies this year:
Sherlock Holmes: Guy Ritchie makes an old story new - awesome
The Hangover: If only for the first sentence 'We fucked it up'
The Hurt Locker: Great movie during the war in Iraq
Crazy Heart: One more fantastic movie with Jeff Bridges
Inglorious Basterds: The breakthrough for Christoph Waltz
Taken: Great thriller
The Boat That Rocked: Back into the early 60s
Some headlines from 2009:
Horrible bushfires in Australia kills nearly 200 people // Swine flue outbreak - the influenza spreads from Mexico and the United States to other countries // Sri Lanka announces victory in its 27 year war against the terrorist organisation Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
It's not purist. A short band name, the same time album name is and, of course, a cover which only by a 'X' is decorated. As highlighted in the treasure hunt, as it were, the X is the body. And if you're going to dig this music turns out this album as an incredibly minimalist but it is precisely this incredibly stirring dream. The quartet from London unfolds into a dark beauty with the simplest of means. 2 Guitars a bass and drum computers, as well as triggered beats from a few slight electronica rich from. It is like as if the dark despair and mood of the early Cure and Joy Division experienced an amazing reinterpretation in this form in the outgoing decade sure a few bands have succeeded. The music is melancholy sad but is always allowed moments of hope again. Especially if Romy Madley Croft with her wonderful voice and thus the micro takes a fragile soul and an honest warmth in the music as you would expect at first glance. Particularly in a cheering chorus with band mates Oliver Sim makes this incredibly fun because he is, so to speak, the dark counterpart to his teammate. So the songs sometimes almost like dialogs. Introverted love songs in dark times. Ideal for the autumn some may also write for the financial crisis' but the other should decide. This album is so incredibly great and wonderful to listen to them that it almost brought tears to the eyes. Long would despair isolation and darkness not so good anymore in music packed as here. The xx is an honest emotional and incredibly good album full wonderful soft sounds.
I thought by myself to finish this little series with the last post. But I remember still some bands that would be worth to featured in this series. One of them were The Motors which was formed by former members of Ducks Deluxe Nick Garvey and Andy McMaster. After a short period of existing they got a new guitarist called Bram Tchaicovsky (what a name!). Trained by many appearances in a lot of pubs the released their first record called '1' in 1977. It was the time when punk and new wave started to open the ears of a lot of people. And The Motors released a record with classic Rock and Roll or how it was called later PowerPop. Dancing The Night Away is a guitar dominated song added with some good voices and harmony singing. I loved them songs because they had the best of 'two worlds'. The structures of guitar based songs with hooks and empathy. It was a record that showed a lot of folks how new music could sound.
It is just a mix today but what a mix! I spent some hours on Soundcloud the other days and found a mix by Justin Robertson mostly known as a DJ during the Madchester era. This one is like a trip through musical history. Loved to hear Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in this mix.
Take time and enjoy (will be out tonight to watch the semi-final of UEFA-Champions League)
Today the Internet offers infinite possibilities to investigate. In 1980 these possibilities were not available. This is the reason why I didn't knew for long years that today's song as a classic tune. Stiff records released in this year a record by a band called Joe 'King' Carrasco and the Crowns. I got this record just because of it's cover. This band was from Texas and played a mixture of punk styled rock and roll with a great influence of tex-mex music. I loved this band and their party-styled sound. One of the tracks I listened often was Party Doll not knowing that this was a cover by an another Texas-based musician. Buddy Knox is another great artist of the rockabilly decade. I think the story of Joe 'King' Carrasco will be told during the next weeks.
Today's track is from Underworld a British electronic band. They got their breakthrough when their track Born Slippy was featured in the movie Trainspotting. I first noticed the band in the late 80s when they released one of their first singles Underneath The Radar which was one of my favorites in this summer. This track is from their 1998 record Beaucoup Fish an is a softly forward moving pop song with the best electronic music could offer these days. Sometimes this songs let me think about New Order.
Enjoy!
As I have already indicated the last time, dark clouds have gathered in my horizon. I told that lots of work should be done until a fixed date. Therefore I worked often for more than ten hours a day. And in this time my social contacts have suffered very strongly. I arrived often close to 8 p.m. and didn't want more than a couple of drinks. During the weekends I slept for many hours and if I arrived in my scene I was often angry and was looking for some trouble. Finally I had to accept that I suffer on a burn-out syndrom. It has lasted more than 10 months with psychological support to me to get back in my on in my working and private life again. That might be the reason why I don't know much about this year. Sure we were on vacation but if it was in India or Thailand again - I really don't know.
What I remember was these records which was released in this year:
Foals - Antidote: Fine Indie-pop from Qxford
Grace Jones - Hurricane: Good to have her back
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles: Wonderful electronic music inspired by Jazz, HipHop and Electro
The Kills - Midnight Boom: Indie-rock at the height of time
Fleet Foxes - same: They remind me at the best times of CSN&Y
Vampire Weekend - same: The album of the year you could agree with the most
Walter Becker - Circus Money: One half of Steely Dan made a timeless record
This are some songs I used to listen in this year:
And as usual - some movies I can remember:
Slumdog Millionaire: Fantastic story about love and getting successful
Mama Mia: Just an entertaining movie for the family
A Quantum of Solace: Daniel Craig is the best James Bond since Connery
The Wrestler: Is he acting or is he playing the way he is?
The Reader: Fantastic novel and fantastic movie as well
RocknRolla: Guy Ritchie's back
Gran Torino: One more remarkable move by Mr. Eastwood
When I go back into 2008 than I will remember this:
Subprime Mortgage Crisis starts all over the world // Fidel Castro announces his resignation as President of Cuba // Rising food and fuel prices trigger riots and unrest in the Third World // An earthquake in Sichuan, China kills nearly 80000 people // Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is reelected again with more than 85% of the votes - why, knows nobody // First political crisis in Thailand and it will go on for years // Barack Obama is elected as the 44th President of the United States.
If you have never been into House music before you should listen to Hercules and Love Affair. As I listened to it the first time I thought by myself: Oh my god, what a sensational crossbreed from Chicago House, postal punk and a lot of disco. Disco rouses rather – not necessarily positive – associations with John Travolta, afro-wigs and plateau shoes for semi amusing motto parties. For Andrew Butler, the head of Hercules And Love Affair, an unfortunate development, but quite only surely stimulus to present his debut album at the old age of 29 years him goes back directly to the roots of disco and House. Has helped him in it beside his label DFA which is anyway known for excursions in the past of the dance music, above all his long-standing friend Antony Hegarty by Antony & The Johnsons. Though his eccentric-artificial song also a little bit needs getting used to here, however, "Hercules And Love Affair" lends, in the end, the cream bonnet to divaism in which the coming decay already stands out. The tension which lies in this is perceptible from the first second. "Time wants tell" hits with tender guitar picking about a taken back housebeat so softly against the beach like the waves on the party island Ibiza early in the evening if the sun stands quite close over the sea. In addition Antony sings beseechingly lines like "Be true to me / Be true to me, my love". Legend once again one, electronic music has no soul." Hercules' theme" gets free, powered by propelling blowers, from this gravity and rather straps on the disco scooters. With "You belong" the album enters in a Chicago House saloon slowly at the deep night from which "You belong to him tonight / There is nothing I can do" painful dissolving about the track climbs. After this lonesome excursion to the darkness the first single "Blind" again starts the reflecting ball - with pluckering disco bass, whipping handclaps and blower's fanfares in a good mood which are transferred at the end in a melancholy subdued trumpet and dramatic synthies. And about all the glamorous falsetto of Antony which nowhere fits sits enthroned better than here. Hercules & Love Affair - Time Will Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules' Theme Hercules & Love Affair - You Belong Hercules & Love Affair - Blind
Hercules & Love Affai - Athene
This series has today a small anniversary. In the past months has I tried show up the spread of German rock music. I omitted consciously a section, which was enormously popular always in Germany: the German hit.
As hits are generally easily recognizable vocal pieces as pop music accompanied by instruments with often less demanding German-speaking often also called sentimental texts. Based on popular operetta melodies made since the 1920s the influence of jazz rhythms and harmonies and pop music since the 1960s. Since the 1950s, hits were difficultly to describe. I would like to use this term:A short form for easy catchy dance music. It's characterised by the simplest musical structures and trivial texts to the harmony and the listener's feeling of happiness.The limits to popular and folk music were most fluently.
I didn't grew up with the 50s hits because I am a child of the late 50s but I remember that very well that in my youngest times the radio was still often played the songs of Vico Torriani, Peter Alexander und Caterina Valente. Many of the songs were designed to listener distract from the harsh post-war times.
The 60s were the years of the so called Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle). The Germans started to go on vacation mostly over the alps to Italy. And this longing for sun and the sea has been addressed in many hits. The other longing was shipping. Freddy Quinn a former artist from the circus picked up this longing in some very successful hits.
On behalf of the hits of the early 1960s here is the 1962 by Mina sung Hot Sand whose text is inherently ambiguous and yet - or precisely for this reason - the taste of the youth this time: Black Tino your Nina was when Rocco already in the word. / Because Rocco you now found Black Tino you need to go / hot sand and a lost country and a life in danger /hot sand and the reminder that it once was / Black Tino your Nina dances in the harbor with the boys only the waves sing quiet what of Tino everyone knows / Hot sand ...
These era was influenced by the music of the American soldiers which was stationed in Germany. It is shown in some songs that was arranged in a jazz-band style. Other former GI's made it great in Germany as solo artist. For example Bill Ramsey who had some chart success thes days. I saw him once in the late 90s playing jazz standards - and was surprised how good he was after all these years.
The popular music in the 60s was divided into two camps in the German-speaking area: in the of the classic paddle and the German pop music. The largest contrast to pop music. The new experimental approaches in language and music was tried that remained of the paddle and already established German sung rhythms and melodies. Indeed the student movement to the critical questioning of the listening. The beat music of the Rock and the Pop conquered the German hit market. The music industry was afraid of the loss of their target group and tried to establish carefully French, English, Scandinavian and Italian artists who was already successful in their home countries singing their songs in German. I remember artists like Gus Backus, Alexandra, Wencke Myrhe, Rita Pavone, Mireille Mathieu, Nana Mouskouri, Siw Malmquist, Peggy March, Salvatore Adamo and many others trying to sing German. Some of their songs are evergreens which I can listen to sometimes in a sentimental mood.
In the 70s the young folks left the hits behind and turned more and more into another kind of music. But for the older one hits was still popular. More and more TV-sets were sold and in nearly every household you could find one. A lot of women listened still to German hits sung by handsome singers. I remember my parents watching the monthly chart show with acts like Roy Black, Michael Holm, Bernd Clüver, Peter Maffay and Udo Jürgens. Most of them were one-hit wonders others like Peter Maffay were still successful (of course he turned into rock music).
In the 80s the so called New German Wave was characteristic for German sung music but a lot of them turned into the nirvana of the New German hits (for god's sake).
In the 1990s it was hip to look back into the 70s. By a bigger retro wave the old fashion (clothes, accessories and music as well) were popular again and brought us acts like Guildo Horn and Dieter Thomas Kuhn for a short time. In this time classical traditional German music became the taste of many people. I don't want to talk about Wildecker Herzbuben or other ones that appear with typical countryside clothes and singing of a life that is real in no moment (but take a look and decide by yourself).
In the last years female singers like Andrea Berg and Helene Fischer were very successful. If I am honest I don't know any song of the two above-mentioned singers. But I know that they are are extremely popular in Germany by people between 20 and 70. The newest trend is that old hit-artist appear on Heavy Metal Festivals like Heino played with Rammstein and Roberto Blanco played with Sodom.
How was said quite several times for me pub rock were the basis and above all the catalyst for punk rock. The music of the bands that belong to this genre reduced their music to the basics. Based on the old R&B they played simple hand-made music again. Most of them learned how to play in front of the audience. Some bands were able to join the new music that would be played in the mid 70s. The best example were The 101ers with Joe Strummer. At the end of this little series I would like to feature Eddie and the Hot Rods. A band that started with playing cover versions of classical 60s cuts is for me the link from pub rock to punk rock. Their single Do anything you wanna do is for many of my mates a classic punk rock song. I think this song has both: the new power of punk and the classic influence of R&B. According to my opinion their first publications are very good examples how pub rock sounded like over 40 years ago.
Luscious Jackson was an American indie-rock band based in NYC. They were close to other new acts in the 90s like Beastie Boys or Cypress Hill. I loved their first EP In search of Manny with their female harmonies. Their following records were good as well. It is a disgrace that this group has never had the success which it would have earned. But anyway it's worth to remember them with a soft ballad from their third record.
Most of the songs I posted in this series are very old and nearly forgotten from the 50s and 60s. Today's song was from a musician who can celebrate his 70th birthday today. He formerly played blues with his band Love Sculpture and reworked classical pieces like Khachaturian's Sabre Dance as a speed-crazed rock number or Georg Bizet's Farandole. After the split of the band he worked at the wall of sound in memory of Phil Spector. Then in the early 70s he turned into classic Rock and Roll. Since this time he publishes records in those he acts as the keeper of classical rock music. On his records he played a lot of twanging tunes. This one is a cover of Bill Murray's Trouble Boys, released in 1978 on Trax on Wax 4.
Enjoy and happy birthday Dave Dave Edmunds - Trouble Boys
I think it's time to post another song by Paul Weller. This song is from his 1995 record Stanley Road. In my opinion one of his best albums. With this song he shows once again his qualities to interpret ballads in his only kinds of manner. I have chosen this song while I was thinking about to post a new song on This Is My Jam.
It seems like it will be another comfortably and relaxed Sunday. I am sitting on my sofa, drinking another cup of coffee, typing this post and listen to a record which I have not belonged for a long time any more. Withered Hand is an alter ego for Don Wilson a Scottish indie rock musician. The songs are from his first record from 2009 and are arranged mainly economically. The songs were carried by his impressive voice. I think I will check out his newest release New Gods soon.
All in all, this was an unspectacular year with one highlight. Nevertheless, the future already throws her shades ahead. At the middle of the year it was officially announced what many of my colleagues have already supposed. We will merge with another bank and put our arithmetic system completely on another base, in addition, still next year. This means for me that I must invest a lot of time in the preparatory works for a free from problems crossing on the new arithmetic system. Namely after my regular work. With this background we have decided, to visit my sister-in-law who lived at this time in Japan. Presumably we would never have visited Japan if not a part of the family lived there. And we have not regretted it. We have seen a fantastic country with so many places of interest. Thanks Kerstin that you could show us so much from this country. There are some things I will never forget: One of them was the onsen, a Japanese term for hot springs. It's located in the countryside and describes the bathing facilities around hot springs. If you ever get the chance to see it check it out and take a bath in the hot springs. The other are the Pachinko halls. Widespread all over the country you can find them halls filled with a lot of slot machines. From far away you hear the noise from inside the halls and you thousands of flashing lamps which are supposed to animate one to play and spent your money. Another thing you don't have to miss when you visit Japan is to go to a local pub for eating and drinking. I've never seen so small bars filled with so many people drinking their beer and sake and eating yakitori.
Some remarkable records were released in 2007:
Tocotronic - Kapitulation: I follow this band since their first record
Feist - The Reminder: Softly breathed songs of a wonderful singer
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible: Indie-rock at it's best
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver: Simply fantastic
Pantha du Prince - The Bliss: Electric music on a high level shows us the future of this kind of music
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank:
Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge: I simply love to hear him sing
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times: Their third record - great as before
With these songs I connect this year:
300: Another great move based on a comic
No Country for Old Men: The Coen brothers made a fantastic movie again
Hot Fuzz: This kind of movie can only made in Britain
The Bucket List: Nice story about two old men
Some headlines from 2007:
European heat wave: approximately 200 wild fires broke out in Greece // The Nepalese government announces that the 240 year old monarchy will be abolished in 2009 and a new republic will be declared // Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated by a bomb blast at an election rally // Mine disaster in eastern Ukraine kills more than 100 people
Another great record from Modest Mouse. Already their last publication Good news for people who loves bad news was splendidly they reach with this record their next level. Johnny Marr joined the band and you could hear his guitar on some spectacular riffs. The new album of Modest Mouse differs only some from his younger predecessors. However, it is present not in the least boringly. Since another quality the volume was always to be sounded them, thus richly, variably and essential as usual only a few. Also by often obsessed, broken voice of Isaac Brock which fits usually well to the music of his tapes. It is just no catchy pop music which Modest Mouse characterises. It is the miraculous wide world of the tricky rock music whose borders the tape as usual no other has plumbed. A world whose discovery needs time. Modest Mouse are and remain the Hobos from the province of the American northwest, and Johnny Marr has been incorporated only without further ado. He has become the Hobo and has completed the unbelievable talent this Trucker-Lookalikes.
Just two months ago I have written in this series about the so-called Hamburg school. And Dirk has rightly asked, why I have mentioned Tocotronic with no word in this connection. The reason is easy: Tocotronic are worth to be written it only about them. They released their first record nearly 20 years ago and I have to agree to Dirk that this one is a masterpiece.
They are angry young men of the German Indie pop, the model boys of the so-called Hamburg school - Tocotronic count to the most important German tape of the 90s.
In the end of 1993 the Hamburg punk musicians Jan Müller (bass guitar), Arne Zank (percussion) and the guitarist incurred from Freiburg and singer Dirk von Lowtzow found Tocotronic (named after a Gameboy precursor) and begin with it a pop phenomenon of nearly British magnitude. The Hamburg music scene numb at that time in selfreference celebrates the first concerts the volume like a revelation: The unconventional hairstyles, the corduroys, sportjacket-style, the politeness of the announcements are appreciated and admired.
The tape publishes published by the author Rock-O-Tronic a single whose title line "I Would want part of A youth movement being" short time later on house walls and in a Blumfeld song finds again. Over Blumfeld head Jochen Distelmeyer originates the contact with the label L'Age D'Or which takes over the distribution of the single and accompanying T-shirts.
In the beginning of '95 the debut album appears 'Digitally Is better' and puts a landmark in the German-speaking Indie pop history: Trashy Post-Grunge à la Dinosaur Jr., moving-melancholy snapshots of the youth everyday life provide with identification-donating texts, partly punkiges Sloganeering, partly. The pop-intellectual press cheers at the expression of a new generation and this time the generation sees also in such a way: A 2-week club tour carries the name Tocotronic about the town borders of Hamburg in the consciousness of young, furious people.
For me her political statements were far less important than her music. About the years away the tape has developed steadily and has added to her formerly guitar-oriented sound a melancholy mark.
This series about Pub Rock wouldn't be complete if I didn't write some words about Dr. Feelgood. They were the classical type of Pub Rock. Lead by the choppy style guitar of Wilco Johnson and the voice of Lee Brilleaux backed with a phenomenal rhythm section. It was pure energy to see them on stage. In my view the weight-bearing figure was in this group was Wilco Johnson. He was one of those guitar slinger who are able to play riffs and lead guitar at the same time. I recognized them with the release of they fantastic live record Stupidity from 1976. It was just the time when punk and new wave wasn't present and the boring pathetically distended music was played in the radio. Then a band appeared that brought us back to the values of Rhythm and Blues. Songs like Roxette and Back in the Night were often played in our local pubs. My favorite song is the title track from their 1977 record Sneakin' Suspicion. The song exists only of reefs - nothing more and nothing less. I don't know much songs that make me shiver anytime I listen to it. Their music isn't spectacular but at any time it is true and soulful. Of possible manner this music is not any more up-to-date, however, in spite of all I love them.
Corduroy was a London based band that released a couple of records in the mid 90s. This song was released in 1997 on Big Cat Records at the height of the so called acid-jazz era. They combine a bit of lounge music with the best elements of bands like Steely Dan. I loved that sound so much but didn't listened to their music and remember when I first got a notice from them. It must be about ten years ago when I was in Thailand in a club where the DJ played a couple of their songs. Not too bad to listen to them when the spring will come (hopefully).
One more weired singers from GB was Screaming Lord Sutch. He did in his time time shows that combined horror and classical R&B inspired from the legendary Screamin' Jay Hawkins. He made bloody appearances before Alice Copper started it. I like his strange sound and songs for ages. Maybe he's not one of the greatest performers and musician but he's still one of them that done it in his way.
Let's start this working week with a song from Gotan Project a musical group based in Paris. They released their record La Revencha del Tango back in 2001. Their music is based on classical Tango in the style we know from Astor Piazolla but combined with samples and breaks. I recommended this records to a lot of friends at those days because it is a music nearly everyone could agree with.
Only when I have come back from my vacation I have got to know, the Frankie Knuckles has passed away too early. All the words about him are said and I don't want to add more. He guided me into another kind of music, that I didn't knew before. So I have to say thank you and may you rest in peace, Frankie.
First I must rectify something: my sister-in-law does not have married 2004 in Hawaii - their wedding was this year. In this respect I must apologise that apparently my memory does not seem to function for the past years, nevertheless, any more so. But the rest of the details were right. For me it was impossible to go to Hawaii as well this year. We have merged with another bank this year and in my position I got no holidays for the wedding. Anyway I remember that we didn't traveled far away this year. We spent a few weeks at the seaside in northern Germany. I haven't been there for ages and Christiane has never been there. As we used to travel to South East Asia we felt also well at the rough climate at the sea. It was great to walk along causeway feeling the wind in our hairs. This year we went for some weekend trips with a couple of friends as well. In February we went out for skiing and in autumn we went for a boat excursion on the Swabian Sea. Both times we had a lot of fun with them all. In this year the FIFA World Championship took place in Germany. The mood before and after the plays was simply magnificent. For example: the game between France and the Netherlands took place in Stuttgart. The whole city was filled with supporters of each team. Even four hours before the game started the main place was filled with thousands of supporters singing their fan songs. It was so funny to see the Dutch supporters salute to the garbage disposal (just because their dresses are as orange as the supporters dresses). That Germany lost the semi-final against Italy was sad but after all satisfactory.
A year of remarkable records:
The Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams: Perfect combination of funk, indie pop, electronic and house
Jan Delay - Mercedes Dance: German singer Jan Delay turned from reggae into funk
The Long Blondes - Someone to Drive You Home: The smash hits of this summer
Donald Fagen - Morph, the Cat: Still good after all the years
Ben Harper - Both Sides Of The Gun: A lot of great songs again on this record
Willard Grand Conspiracy - Let it roll: Alternative country/Americana at its best
Lily Allen - Alright, Still: Wonderful pop songs at all
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black: She got great with this record
Tom Waits - Orphans; Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards: Even his outtakes are better than something else
And again: some songs we listened to this year:
Some movies that came in the cinemas in 2006:
Babel: Little things can have influence on the everyone
The Departed: One more good movie about the good and the bad
Little Miss Sunshine: Funny road movie for the family
The Last King of Scottland: Remarkable movie about things happened this way
The Queen: Brilliant
The Devil Wears Prada: Another movie for the family again
The Illusionist: Great story with a fantastic finish
V for Vendetta: Another comic brought to the cinema
Volver: Spanish ladies power
Pan's Labyrinth: Pictures between dream and cruel reality in Spanish civil war
Some things that happened this year as well:
An Egyptian passenger ferry sinks in the Red Sea - more than 1000 people die // Italy wins the FIFA World Cup against France in Germany // Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death by hanging by a Iraqi Special Tribunal // Another Lebanon War because Israeli troops invade Lebanon in response to Hezbollah kidnapping 2 Israeli soldiers and killing 3. Hezbollah declares open war against Israel 2 days later
For a long time above all a voice has not enchanted me any more so. "The Greatest" earns this title. Quiet, melancholy and touching songs and a magic voice which has pulled me immediately in her spell. Almost floating and hypnotically Chan Marshall's song seems to me. Any more completely as economically does not arrange as on former albums, here her songs have mostly wonderfully been played in in small occupation. I was hypnotised from the outset as by this miraculous music and the incredibly intensive voice. Every song is reduced only to the essentials and is interpreted at the same time astonishingly completely. Painfully nice songs and melancholy positive songs flow into each other. No second too much and of course too briefly. This album should be absent in no record cupboard. Even a friend who hears otherwise almost only electronic music was completely enchanted immediately by the album. To emphasise single titles makes no sense - listen to them in a row!
Arrived last night back in Germany after a long travel but with enough power to go back to office next week again. I had a relaxed time and now it will be business as usual. This means that I will post regular and my series will continue. Today I will feature a band from the glory days of post punk. Abwärts was formed in the late 70s in Hamburg by Frank Z. and FM Einheit (later member of Einstürzende Neubauten). Their first record Amok-Koma is still a milestone in German punk music. Their songs are dominated by a leading guitar in the tradition of Wire. Short songs with many influences (even Turkish elements) made them great. I saw them in a small club in Stuttgart in 1980 as a support act from The Cure. Their physical presence on stage was very impressive and Robert Smith had to give it's best to beat them. The concert ended with a session by members of both bands playing standards from the early punk era. Never will forget this fantastic concert. Listening to this songs again inspire me to grab out more of this old stuff and listen again. Maybe it's sentimental but anyway - it is still worth to look back at this time and the music we listened to.
