The German Correspondent Returns

 

At the beginning of the 1980s, our local pub put out a call for tenders looking for footballers who would like to play for the pub in amateur tournaments. Me and a few friends signed up and played for the next few years. Many of us had played for our home club as youth players up until last year, but never made it into the first team. Despite this, we made a very good name for ourselves in many tournaments and often beat even better teams. Since we finished our active careers, we've been meeting up every month for a few beers and talking about this and that. Last time we asked ourselves which German band has the worst band name. The first band that came to mind was a band from Cologne called the Bar Sluts but finally we agreed that The Dead Crack Whores In The Trunk were the one. It is a band from Berlin playing pop-punk/ElectroClash. One of my mates ripped their first record and sent it to us to make ourself an opion about their music. After all I have to say that there is  only one song that should be remembered. Ich Und Mein Pony is a pop-punk song and a video inspired by the Beastie Boys. Not a great song in musical history but a forgotten gem in German grlll-riot.

 

Monday's Long Song

 

During my holiday I listened often to Cat Power's latest album Sings Dylan and discovered the beauty of this record. I can't explain why this album didn't appear in my end of the year list. Probably because I didn't listen intently to this versions of songs I knew for ages. The story of this record is shortly told. Chan Marshall was invited to play a concert in London's Royal Albert Hall and she decided to play the full set of Dylan's concert in Manchester where he was named as Judas because he played the second half of the set in an electric style. From this day on Dylan was free and released of the chains of pure folk music. Marshall did cover versions on several records before and made them a part of her own. And so it is on this live album. Without question she has an extraordinary voice that fits to Dylan's songs but seldom heard this songs in that emphatic and soulful way. 

From The Inbox

 

The first week of work after my holiday is over and has confirmed that my decision to retire this year was the right one. It wasn't the work itself that was stressful, but the commute to and from work. Due to the train driver's strike, local public transport was largely paralyzed. Avoiding busses and changing trains several times cost me more energy than the tasks at my office. I found relaxation after work when I checked my inbox for new and excitin music and discovered some gems among them.

In Germany last week around a million people took to the streets against right-wing extremism. Something is happening on the streets again, in people's minds and Beth Ditto wrote the song Real Power about this empowering feeling of standing up side by side for your own ideals. Inspired by the Blacl Lives Matter protest in her hometown she createt with Rick Rubin  a stirring dance-punk song with a great bass-line and accentuated  guitar riffs. Gossip is back and I look forward to her upcoming album.

Totally different to Gossip is Lola Young, a London based singer with a voice that fits perfect to her kind of Northern Soul influenced music. She has currently left the hip-hop influences of her earlier songs behind in favor of punkier guitars; the soulful melt of her voice still gives her stirring indie pop songs a soulful touch.

Fugu

There are bands I follow since a couple of years and I am pleased about almost every release they made. One of those bands are Dub Spencer and Trance Hill, a band formed 20 years ago in Luzern, Switzerland. I got aware of them in 2011 when they released The Clashification Of Dub when they transformed many songs by The Clash into superb dub versions. Now they released a few weeks ago another song that combines roots dub with psychedelic rock and form a warm and dense sound. Another great release in this year.

Monday's Long Song

 

Jon Savage`s ambient 90s was the soundtrack during the last week in my holidays. Released in the first week of this year Savage catched the mood of early ambient works into a superb compilation. There a some classic recordings on this compilation and also some gems that were new to me but at all a very good few on this genre from a very personal sight. One of my favorites on this sampler is Montauk Point by Strange Cargo, the stage name of William Orbit, an English musician and producer. It starts slowly to get into a steady groove with guitar licks and electronic bleeps. An overlooked gem from the early 90s.

Strange Cargo -Montauk Point

Beautiful People (Stay High)

 

For a few days I am back after my break for several weeks in Southeast Asia. I was able to get enough sun to dive back in normal life. Lately I have been relatively little occupied with music and I am slowly starting to take a closer look at my inbox. I have deleted many mails in the meantime, but there are still many entries about new music that need to be proceed. In one of those The Black Keys announced their upcoming album in April. I always liked some stuff of this band especially the way they combine different kinds of style like blues, soul, country and rock and roll into their sound. The first single from this album is a retro-styled little anthem for the upcoming summer. Nothing more or less a song based on a simple riff and well arranged with some horns with a kind support by Beck. In a good world this song will climb high in the charts.