I Broke Up In Amarante

I found this band during searching and investigating new music. First I thought it is another American collage band playing their well known style. Their songs are fresh and full of enthusiasm. Further investigations told me that they are a band from Cardiff but none of them were Welsh when they formed almost ten years ago. Now they make a perfect indie-(pop)sound with great guitars and harmonies. Listen to their songs and you can listen to influences of some of the best bands during the last decades.

JAMC on Sunday

After 18 years The Jesus And Mary Jane announced a new record and released one song the last week. I don't have to tell you about their place in history with their groundbreaking first two records. Amputation is exactly this what they stand for: a cheap anc clanky rhythm, sweet melodies and noisy guitars. This also fits even today, even if we were younger in earlier times, today the times have become other and money wants to be earned. The rock'n'roll must still make a noise and sound as if it was about something, namely about the fact that all other is stupid.

Some Tunes From The Past On Wednesday

A few days ago I stumbled in to Paul Simonon's playlist on Spotify. Most of the songs were from days long gone. And it is a pleasure to listen to them again after ages. It is a eclectic compilation of songs long time ago and I think it is worth to feature them at my place. Rock 'n' Roll to all the ones that was borne too late.

Viet Cong ...

finished to  be a band with this name. There were too many controversy about her name remaining the original Viet Cong with these words: "We are a band who wants to make music and play our music for our fans. We are not here to cause pain or remind people of atrocities of the past". Viet Cong made one of the best records in 2015 and they went out of my radar since they changed their name last year. Now they want to be named by Preoccupations and nothing changed in their music since then. It is an forgotten masterpiece from last year's record. The LP with the same title has it all: powerful noisy post-punk songs, a little bit of psychedelic and futuristic elements that sometimes reminds to Blade Runner. If I got closer to this record it would be in my last year rundown. Pure music to pure people. Try this.

Preoccupations - Anxiety
Preoccupations - Zodiac
Preoccupations - Degraded
Preoccupations - Memory

We Don't Stop

Today's track is by SK Intvitational a band from Salzburg, Austria formed in 2006 by Stephan for a final concert of his university. They started to experiment in the coloured box of black music. Starting with dancehall, Drum 'n' Bass they shortly arrived in Hip Hop. Their first record got critical acclaim but nevertheless they moved to NYC. Now they are back with a collaboration with the Hip Hop collective M.O.P. The result is a wreck of full energy; it is burning and bouncing and it grooves like an unknown hit. The sampled guitars reminds to the early Public Enemy sound. Funk, fanfares, explosion.

Another Sunday Morning ...

... with a new band that came on my radar a few weeks ago when a promo mail arrived in my in-box. It is not often that I listen to the whole record but I did by Loess, a Philadephia based project by Clay Emerson an Ian Pullman. Their songs are based on ambient percussive elements. On this groundwork they foster a feeling of building and collapsing. Those slow, crunchy and drifting sound escapes based on synthesizer sounds may be out of time but timeless in the way Loess do.

Red Hot And Rhapsody

Strange sounds today - I know. Rummaging in my record collection brought me these days to a compilation by the Red Hot Organisation released almost 20 years ago. I bought a few of this records thinking it will be for the benefit of something worth to support. I liked this series because all artists get close to the main theme and give songs you might never heard on official records. This compilation is a tribute to George Gershwin, a piano player and orchestral composer from the early days of the last century. He wrote the music to a lots of musicals and got famous for the music to Porgy and Bess. This songs are not for listening during the daytime - they are something special for later at the evening. These songs are superb and if you're in for some great arrangements and voices it will be something for you.

Have a great weekend (I will go to watch the far-away game of my team early this evening in the pub next door, hoping that they will still be at the top of the table after they did their job).

Near To The Wild Heart Of Life

I knew this Canadian duo by name and sorted them under another indie-band among many others. A friend of mine recommended Japandroids them to me as something I should listen to. So I started to investigate about them and I listened to their new album. He introduced them as a band with new wave roots and I've got a band that was close to stadium rock. A few songs have the spirit of independent music but many of them are mainstream. Their songs aren't too bad and worth to listen but I miss the scares other bands burned into my musical heart. I think they are worth to got a chance to appear on this blog and I would like to know what you think about them.

While typing these words I follow with one eye the CL-game between Bayern Munich and Arsenal London. Maybe you know that I am not a supporter of Bayern but I have to say that I am impressed how they could change a game in 15 minutes to their advance. Sorry for Arsenal.

Japandroids - Near to the wild heart of life
Japandroids - North East South West
Japandroids - Midnight to morning

Klez.e

Another band that my brother Martin introduced to me is Klez.e. Formed in eastern Berlin shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall. You can name them as a Cure-cover band but it is much more than to copy the originals from the early 80's. Rather they take up the sombre and melancholy sound from the early years of the post punk and interpret this on her own unmistakeable perception. E guitars and synthesizers undulate majestically, there is a lot of sound, and the pieces hardly come out once about the ballads in a mid tempo.It is about all forms of the cold, "disintegration" stands for the feeling of isolation, foreignness and non-affiliation.

One Eye Open

Last weekend I had a very nice time with my youngest brother talking about this and that. He guided my to spotify and the possibilities it have. I am a starter but I will add this to my possibilities in listening music. As we set together he introduced me to this new song by Danish multi-instrumentalist Anders Trentemoller. He's in the scene since ages for electronic music an remixes. This one is more earthed than a lot of other songs he made. A steady flow with a superb voice within a very own choreography. A reduced but propulsive piece of music.

I Give The Power

One more song against what happened since D.T. sits on the regulators. Never thought that Arcade Fire made a statement against what happened in the USA weeks ago. It was no accident hat they released this song was published by chance on the day by Donald Trump's swearing-in ceremony to the president of the USA. It celebrates the power of the people, the democracy, besides, lets already also rather clearly play the muscles and is ready for battle. From whom goes the power out? We can also take away differently - namely the power also again.

Instead of with guitars, string players and choirs he comes along with sluggish industrial beats– and with a guest singer: Mavis Staples sings together with Win Butler, among the rest, the lines "I can take it all away - watch me!". There is so many hope in songs these days that we all can stop him and his barbarous politc.

Al Jarreau 1940- 2017

Sad news arrived that Al Jarreau died last night. At the age of 76 he died in a hospital with nothing more news about what happened to him. He was ill during the last years and I hope he passed away in a very peaceful way. Al Jarreau accompanied me during the last decades with his superb voice and the crossover between jazz, funk, soul and pop music. There are so many songs almost al can remember. Another great artist passed away.

RIP Al.

Music Is The Answer

Another song for Sunday morning. Hot Chip's Joe Goddard released another song from his next album. It is a hybrid of pop and club-music with a lot of ecstasy and desire. Music is the answer to your problems / Keep on moving than you can solve them. Certainly one opinion.

Priests

After two weeks of inauguration of the main disaster in the western world there is some rumour in the public scene. All over Europe a lot of people rise up against the decrees of Mr. Trump (still too less in my opinion). And it makes me smile, that there are people across the ocean that think in my way about what is going on (wrong) in these days. Priests are a new band from Washington D.C. and they stand in the tradition of punk/new wave. It is probably the best band I heard this year so far. They unite classic punk with a kind of surf-rock, Sonic Youth, Raincoats and early Sleater Kinney. This combination is not the worst at all. Maybe the sound a lot of folks can agree with.

Show You The Way

Never thought that I would listen to something new by Michael McDonald or Kenny Loggins. Both were living legends of west-coast sound of the early 70's. While McDonald got popular as the lead vocals of the Doobie Brothers, Kenny Loggins made some good records Jim Messina. It already required to the abilities from Thundercat to get both great voices on one song. Thundercat is the stage name of Stephen Bruner an American bass player and producer. He's at home in different genres and played with Suicidal Tendencies and Flying Lotus as well. I don't know if this is representative for his work but this song is so much in the tradition of late Steely Dan and others that it is simply a pleasure to listen to it.

You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling

These days Empire State Human by Human League shuffled up on my mobile phone when I was on the way back home from work. Listening to this very old song made me want to listen to their first record from 1979 once again. I bought this record without knowing anything about Human League because I was fascinated by the cover. The cover shows the feet of a man and two woman seemingly dancing on a number of babies. The music I got was far away from most I ever heard before. Strictly electronic sounds with a lot of rhythm and melodies got this record on heavy rotation in these days. Looking back after decades I have to say it was probably industrial before industrial was born.

Human League - You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling

And here is the original from 1964 by the Righteous Brothers:

The Blame Game

HVOB (Her Voice Over Boys) is the project by Austrian producers Anna Müller and Paul Wallner and I follow their career since several years and featured them on this blog during these days. Musically the duet moves between Techno and Electronica and HVOB hold her songs rather minimalist and unfold a melancholy atmosphere. A sound by deep basses, reversed electronic music and whispered lyrics generate a subliminal tension which changes a melodious dynamism in a smooth trance. For this song they made a collaboration with Mumford And Son's Winston Marshall which I never expected in this musical field. Music that fits for Sunday mornings and late evening as well.

For One Touch

Back after four days of illness. I have caught to me a strong cold and could go neither to the work, nor at all follow activities on the Internet. I think I am not the only one around with this kind of illness in these days. A lot of my co-workers were ill too. I had to cure myself to be able to take part yesterday in an advanced training which is important for my job. Anyway, I feel myself much better than a few days ago. So here's a remix by Andrew Weatherall (knowing that this should be the part of SA) from Justin Robertson's For One Touch. A simple electronic track added with echoes, beats and a few guitar licks.