Sonntag, 31. März 2013

Christian Soldier


Got up early yesterday to fix some things downtown I should do for longer time. Now I have some time before we go the supermarket and later to watch our team on TV in our favorite pub. While following my bloglist I read by Drew what he has to say to Eastern and Christianity. I was much impressed about the things he wrote. Not that I had to live through the same one like he, I can than understand his thoughts and his setting to the Christianity more. I also have grown up at a time in which it was not possible to express itself critically compared with the church  without consequences.

More than 30 years ago I quit my membership to the Christian church although they told my all the stories and meanings of the holy bible. What survived from all these words are some general things I try to life: Tolerance, equality and patronise nobody.

Japan - Ghosts

Samstag, 30. März 2013

Have I properly understood the text?


Drove home from work at Thursday with the train having my headphone on and listened to the music on my mobile phone. I read to normal manner alongside a book, but this day I have simply listened in of the music and have dwelled on my thoughts. Thus I also had to be able to concentrate time on the text and had been surprised what I have heard. I think there's no other song starting with the words 'It was the biggest ever cock you'd ever seen...' and the rest of the lyrics are also worth to listen. Very sad story - but this might be real life.

The song is from Arab Strap - another great Scottish band. I know them for a long time and I also posted some time ago their great 'Hey, fever'. I think I will listen to their lyrics with more attention. And I suggest, if someone will sing this lyrics in German the song will be banned from airplay (if it gets on airplay anyhow).


It was the biggest ever cock you'd ever seen, but you've no idea where that cock has been.
You said you were careful - you never were with me.

I heard you did it four times and jonnies come in packs of three.



She was the best shag I'd ever had.

That doesn't mean I'm saying, bedwise, you were bad.

I think you were working, we got a hotel.

We didn't have anything but I thought I might as well.



I never told the rest.

I was drunk and I told you I was thinking about a test.

You know I just said it for effect.

Then you laughed and said I'd fuck anything in a skirt once I'm erect.



And she's a famous harlot in this town.

I know enough to, but still I couldn't turn her down.

He said I'm an arsehole, what was I thinking?

It's far too easy to blame it on the drinking.

If I read this words I remember the famous and crazy writer Hunter S. Thompson. This is exactly the style of his output. May he rest in peace.

Arab Strap - Packs of Three

Freitag, 29. März 2013

Knocked up


Today's track is from Lykke Li, a Swedish singer/songwriter those of an artist's family is descended. Her mother is a photographer and her father is a musician. At the age of 19 years she moved to New York for a couple of months to turn back again to Europe to record her first album. This track was originally from Kings of Leon who approached Lykke to cover on song of her choice. Although the song in the original version already is great, this version must not hide behind it.
Enjoy and have a nice eastern time,

Lykke Li - Knocked up

Mittwoch, 27. März 2013

Killa Soundboy



Today' track comes from a band I really don't know much about. Fort Knox Five is a Washington, DC-based recording artist and they released there recordings on their own record label Fort Knox Recordings. Their music styles mixes elements of Funk, Reggae, Hip Hop and Electronica to an fantastic sound. Absolutely perfect for dancefloor.

Fort Knox Five - Killa Soundboy (Sub Swana Remix)

Dienstag, 26. März 2013

Boom Shalock lock boom


Now it is close to the Easter holidays, where one should be turned more normally wise in himself. And it is also not usual to play music loud and not ones with aggressive attitudes. So I take a chance to play one of my most loved heavy tunes. It is from House of Pain and different to their version on the first record added with a lot more heavy guitars. It is closer to bands like Motörhead and Pantera than to classical Hip Hop.

Montag, 25. März 2013

Problems



Let us start this short working week with a little roots reggae from Horace Andy. Born in 1952 in Jamaica he worked there together with great producers like King Tubby. In early 80s he settled down in London to live as a musician. I first recognized him as a guest singer of the first record from Massive Attack. Remarkable is his voice on Five Man Army. He also joined Massive Attack on several tours. Later he collaborated with Mad Professor. This are tracks I won't miss - so enjoy and have a good week people.

Sonntag, 24. März 2013

At home he's a tourist



Last days I often heard music from the late 70s/early 80s influenced by punk and New Wave. One of my favorite bands are Gang Of Four.

That's what Wiki knows about them:
Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1983, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill. In 2004, the original line-up reunited but in November 2006 Allen was replaced on bass by Thomas McNeice and Burnham on drums by Mark Heaney. Singer Jon King departed some time during 2012.

They play a stripped-down mix of punk rock, funk music and dub reggae, with an emphasis on the social and political ills of society. Gang of Four are widely considered one of the leading bands of the late 1970s/early 1980s post-punk movement. Their later albums (Songs of the Free and Hard) found them softening some of their more jarring qualities, and drifting towards dance-punk and disco. 
Gill and King, the primary creative forces in the band, brought together an eclectic array of influences, ranging from the neo-Marxist Frankfurt School of social criticism to the increasingly clear trans-Atlantic punk consensus. Gang of Four was named by a member of the Mekons when while driving around with Gill and King he came upon a newspaper article on the intra-Party coup against China's "Gang of Four".

Gill's guitar sound had a forebear in the playing of Wilko Johnson, the guitarist with Dr. Feelgood.Gill's staccato, aggressive style has proved an enduring influence in turn. Paul Morley described the band's music as "a kind of demented funk, incredibly white but also, because of political commitment and defiant sloganeering, very dark, and ultimately as close to the depraved edge of the blues and Hendrix." Critic Greil Marcus found his first viewing of the group's performance so shattering that he left after their set rather than risk having the impact of the deeply political Gang of Four's songs dampened by the pop-punk of the Buzzcocks.

I've ever loved their political statements and their combination of leading aggressive guitars and bringing the Funk into New Wave. A good example is their single 'I love a man in uniform' which was banned in British radio during the Falkland war in 1982.

The real gang of four in China is still another dark side of Chinese communism. But that is another story to be told.

Gang Of Four - I love a man in a uniform
Gang of Four - The history of the world
Gang of Four - At home he's a tourist

Freitag, 22. März 2013

Sunshine's better



Another busy day ahead and no spring in sight. I've more than enough from cold and snow. Wish I could be back at a place where I could take a drink under palm trees. Therefore a very relaxed tune from John Martyn in a remix by Talvin Singh. He's also good in mixing not only playing in his band Cornershop. I do not know If they still working as a band but I remember well when they played live in the late 90s. 

Dienstag, 19. März 2013

You've got to tolerate some of those people that you hate ...


... I'm not in love with you, but I wont hold that against you. Fine lyrics from the Welsh band Super Furry Animals. They combine so different styles like Britpop, Glam Rock, Westcoast Rock, Progressive, Drum  and Bass, Punk and many more to their very own style. It's easy to feature their maybe well known song but for me it is a classical tune and always worth to listen again - also most of their other stuff




Sonntag, 17. März 2013

Amarok


For a longer time I used Media Monkey as a player on my notebook and also to administer my files. Now I changed to Amarok. In my opinion it's the best one I ever used. Go and give him a chance.

Samstag, 16. März 2013

What has happened only with the football


A couple of days ago Drew from across the kitchen table published in his blog a a nice story where he described his feelings and thoughts about watching a football game from a VIP-box at Villa Park Birmingham. The circumstance of the evolution in how to watch football is running around my head since I've read the post.

I am addicted to this game from my youngest days. I still remember the first time my Dad took me to a game of our local team by the age of four or five. At that time I knew football only from our black and white TV set and was surprised that the players wore colored jerseys. From that day I was infected to the game.

Playing several years in the promising teams I quit playing because I turned into puberty and got other Interests than playing football. This was the time I turned into a spectator for football and I gave my heart to a team. Although Cologne is a long way from my place I support the 1.FC Cologne since then and tried to see them play when they played against VfB Stuttgart. And that's why I also support them.

My Dad's heart belonged to Stuttgart and we often visited their games. Since the mid 70s we visited lots of games but every time we went there we didn't lost any idea to take a seat - we always been out on the terraces. Talking to strangers about situations in the game - sometimes ironically and sometimes abusively- that what made fun at that time. In this time most people were not interested into football and when they joined our discussion the blamed us as proles. And we were happy that way because it was our own little world.

But since the mid 90s the world in football began to change. All the major clubs all over Europe began to reduce the terraces to a minimum and tried to make it suitable for mass. More and more people came to the playground because it was hip to go there. And it ended watching the games by public viewing. We'll never have the days the proles had their own game. It is sad but this will be the way the world goes.

This is a congenial version of a classical tune from The Smiths
Enjoy and have a good weekend.

Dum Dum Girls - There's a light that never goes out

Freitag, 15. März 2013

Sneaking Suspicion


Grabbed out a song from the late 70s performed by Dr. Feelgood. Starting as a classical band from the pub rock movement they had a great influence to the uprising punk rock scene. Playing simple Rhythm and Blues like many bands at this time there was one thing that made them unique. And this was their incomparable guitar played by Wilko Johnson.

He achieved his playing style by not using a pick but instead relying on fingerstyle. This enabled him to play rhythm guitar and riffs or solos at the same time creating a highly percussive sound. Good example is this song below, which exists only of riffs. Although he's still on tour he started a career as an actor. Johnson was cast in the role of mute executioner Payne in the fantasy series Games of Throne

Dr. Feelgood - Sneaking Suspicion

Montag, 11. März 2013

Rock Lobster


Back in 1979 The B-52's released their first record. To me the album  struck  by his garish cover and the retro design of the musicians. I bought blind just on the recommendation of my local record trader. After I had played the record at home, I was completely beaten by this sound, the overexcited voices of the singers and the sound of the Rickenbacker. This record was one of my favorites of this year. Sad, that the lead guitarist of the band Ricky Wilson died on HIV-influenced illness in 1985.

Sonntag, 10. März 2013

Black and White


Today I want to feature Wynn Bullock and his photographs. He was born early last century and became a well recognized American master photographer of the 20th century. After school he was hired to the Irving Berlin Music Box Revue as a chorus member. During the mid-20s he settled over to Europe to studying voice in giving concerts in France, Germany and Italy. In Paris he got fascinated of the Impressionist and the post-Impressionists. He discovered the works of Man Rey and experienced a strong affinity with photography. 

Back in the United States while the great depression he settled down in West-Virginia to rule his wife's family interest. Short time later he moved with her to California to study law like his mother (who was the first Californian female jurist). After a couple of month he quit study law and became a student of photography at the nearby Art School.

Throughout the decade of the 1950s, he devoted himself to developing his own vision, establishing deep, direct connections with nature. He was one of the pioneers of making black and white slides - long before they were used a stylistic form of photography.

Todays music is taken from the 1980 record Bass Culture and shows the dub-poet at his best.
Enjoy and have a good week.

Samstag, 9. März 2013

I'm not calling you a liar


Within the scope of my data protection I have bumped into the first record of Florence + the Machine. I didn't listen to it in full length for a long time and nearly forgot how complete it is. Still love her voice to her fragile songs.

Florence + the Machine - I'm not calling you a liar


Freitag, 8. März 2013

To victories means to see suffering you


was the title of a chapter about a documentary about the Israeli domestic Secret Service called Schin Bet or Schabak I watched this week on TV. It was a sentence spoken from an Palestine diplomat to the boss of the Secret Service during the second Intifada to demonstrate his basic thoughts to the relationship between Israel and Palestine.

In this documentary all the bosses from the last decades of the domestic Secret Service given interviews for the first time ever. They told about the history of nearly the last 50 years in Israel starting from the six-day war 1967 until present time.
Israeli soldiers conquer the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem

I grew up with the history of Israel, but until now I heard details about what happened in the Secret Service at this time and why they killed and tortured people over so long time in their own words. To hear an old boss talking about torture like he he would explain his last vacation makes me angry again against the Secret Services all over the world - also the government in this countries that allowed them to act this way.

Not even the headline of this post makes me wonder why this 'problem' in near east could be set to an end it's one more some sentences from a former boss when he explained why the agreement from Camp David according to the Oslo account (creation of a Palestine Nation Authority and granting partial control to them about Gaza Strip and West Bank) was beaten down by the fundamentalists in Israel. A very big wave of hate came over Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel in this time. Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a right-wing Orthodox Jew who opposed the signing of the Oslo accounts in November 1995.

Knowing that the ultra right-wing orthodox Jews will never accept any restrictions in them Settlement politic and that they hate Palestine people from the ground I give up any hope to peace in near east.

btw: today's the world woman day. The main aim of an ultra orthodox Jew is to study the holy words and not to work. This has to be done by women.
Intaferon - Get out of London

Mittwoch, 6. März 2013

Pictures of War


Always I was impressed by the pictures of Robert Capa. He was a Jewish-Hungarian combat photographer photojournalist who covered five wars: the Spanish Civil War, the second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arabic-Israeli War and the first Indochina War. Capa documented the course of World War II in London, North Africa, Italy, the battle on Omaha Beach and also the liberation of Paris. His action photographs, such as those taken through the 1944 Normandy invasion, uniquely portray the violence of war.



If you take a look at the pictures of the Normandy invasion you will know where Steven Spielberg got the set decoration for the first 20 minutes of his move 'Saving Private Ryan'. 

In 1936, Capa became well known all over the globe for the 'Falling Soldier' photo long thought have been taken in Cerro Muriano on the Cordoba front in the Spanish Civil war. It was thought to be of a Workers' Party of Marxist Unification militia man who had just be shot and falling to his death, and was long considered as an iconic image of the war. In the last decade a lot of people found out that this picture doesn't show a real shooting. But anyway - even if this picture is a fake by Cape it shows exactly the cruelness of war.


Robert Capa: If you picture isn't good enough, you weren't close enough.

Montag, 4. März 2013

Raw and Rough


By searching in my archives I found the record from the Beat band. Formed in the early 60s by several GI's in Germany they made - as far as I know - only one record. But this is still one of the greatest pieces of Beat music you can find. Maybe the birth of raw music.

Enjoy and have a good weekend people.



Sonntag, 3. März 2013

Happy Birthday Mr. Hitchcock


Today Robyn Hitchcock gets 60 years old. He was, together with Kimberley Rew, the head of the Soft Boys, a group that brought neo-psychedelia and folk into punk and New Wave. After their superb record 'Underwater Moonlight' the Soft Boys broke. Since then Robyn Hitchcock is still on the road, made a lot of records and look more and more as a double of Nick Lowe.

Influenced by Bob Dylan, John Lennon and especially Syd Barret he introduced me to the psychedelic sounds of the late 60s. I saw him in the late 80s in a small club in southern Germany and was still impressed, what spectrum he's able to play. It's good to see him well on stage.

I don't have their songs in digital versions - so today only the versions I found on you tube:
The Soft Boys - Kingdom of love
The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight
The Soft Boys - I Got The Hot For You
Robyn Hitchcock - Goodnight Oslo (live at Glasgow ABC)
Robyn Hitchcock & Venus 3 - Trains


Samstag, 2. März 2013

Kongo - Suffering of a nation


These days I read a book about historical development of the state Congo during the last 150 years. It written by a Belgian documentary author and it shows again how European imperialism can ruin a country by the years.

In the years starting from 1870 the Congo was the property of the Belgian King Leopold II. The main reason why he got the country, was that he had promised, that trading is free for all without taxes. Main thing they traded was ebony against some pointless objects. After the traders came nearly at the same time the church which has sent out her missionaries.  

Missionaries weren't the big problem - they just broke up family life and traditions and owned young black people to work for their benefit. The main problem is (until now) that the Congo is the wealth of plants and mineral resources.

First the invention of the tyre and then the India rubber required for this. When these resources were nearly ruined, one rushed at the nearly inexhaustible raw materials which lay underground. Therefor they pressed a lot of Africans in them so called Force publique. They built a very brutal regime to pour out everything from the natives. After the end of the rubber area it quickly turned into mining with the only difference that the mining companies didn't use soldiers to treat the people. That's how capitalism works. The result of bringing western standards to foreign nations is mostly the chance of some warlords to built a dictatorship on terror against their own people.

Freitag, 1. März 2013

I'm gonna go as fourteen dollars will take a fool like me


Let's start the day with one of my a song by the great Lee Hazlewood. It is one more song of getting departed and that is not the way I feel now. But I think, no one could these feeling better than him. The song is taken from his 1970 record 'Cowbow in Sweden' when he went there not to get drafted.

Enjoy and have a good weekend