One of the artists that has accompanied me during the years is Tom Waits. I grabbed out his fantastic record Mule Variations on this lazy Sunday morning and one more time I was astonished how many good song are on this record. Most of them carried on a sparing bluesy rhythm with reserved guitar inserts. Just the perfect music to start into this Sunday.
Welcome to the new millennium and to a new employer. As I have already indicated last week I have got difficulties with my directors. To cut a long story short: he put the blame on me because he lost his face in front of all other employees. Because I would not longer stand any other chicaneries in the future I have already applied last year for a new job. With some connections I built up the last years I got a very good job in our capital Stuttgart. It was hard to leave the company and all my co-workers behind after 23 years. But I have also been glad about the new challenge. The first weeks were hard because it was all new and totally different. I used to work in a familiar bank and now I came to a bank that tried to work as a really big bank. Anyway, I did my best to get my position in this bank.
Christiane and I have grown together more and more and we decided to take a longer time out and go traveling to India for 5 weeks. We spent a lot of evenings to plan our vacation. I haven't been there before so it was a great surprise how it will be. I heard about the poorness, dirt and crowded places but I wanted it to see by myself. In fact that this is a very big country we decided to travel 'only' through the southern part of India, Kerala. And we wanted to travel by ourself - not with any guided and fully arranged tour. So we fixed the places we wanted to see not knowing how to get there. We traveled by bus, train and sometimes by a taxi and it worked easily. We have seen a beautiful and for Indian relations a rich country. Kerala produces the most of home vegetables in India and their number of illiterates is less than 20% because this region was civilized by Portugal. Impressed of a lot pictures and places we have seen we spent a week to relax on Goa, a place where the hippies went to in the late 60s. A few of them were still there but most of them toothless and stoned. When you sat at the beach at sundown you could hear sounds that my ears didn't knew before. So I was introduced to the Goa sound.
Not much records this year but it might be my fault because I listened much to old school jazz, funk and soul music this year:
Radiohead - Kid A: More electronic sounds with influences of Krautrock and Jazz now on it now
Phoenix - United: This summers record comes from France
Coldplay - Parachutes: This record is the reason why I listen to them still
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven: Canadian instrumental post rock - fantastic
Steely Dan - Two Against Nature: They are back on the same high level
Underworld - Everything, Everything: Just dancefloor but awesome
Santana - Supernatural: His last good work
This are some songs from 2000 I remember very well:
Of course we went to the cinema this year again:
The Perfect Storm: Fantastic novel and a congenial movie as well
Gladiator: A good period movie
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Martial art at it's best
Billy Elliot: Great movie about a boy going his way
Oh Brother, Where Art Though: The Coen brothers going to Homer's Odyssey
The Beach: I've been there
High Fidelity: What are your top 5?
Almost Famous: Movie about the Rock and Roll Circus
Snatch: Crazy story with an excellent Brad Pitt and Vinnie Jones
Let's take a little look what happened in the rest of the world:
Pope John Paul II apologizes for wrongdoings by members of the Roman Catholic Church throughout the ages // Vladimir Putin is elected President of Russia // Civil war in Sierra Leone, Africa starts // The Tate Modern Gallery opens in London // At the Roskilde Festival 9 people die and 26 are injured on a set while Pearl Jam performs // France defeats Italy 2:1 after extra time in the final of the European Championship // The Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, all 118 members on board die // Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visits Temple Mount and Palestinian riots erupt
Calexico's third record Hot Rail was a great step forward in their career. Sure they played that sound before but now they added horns and violins in their sound. As I was a kid I used to watch a lot of western movies and I loved when the gunman hit the saloon and saw a Mariachi band playing. Dressed up in their suits and big sombreros the played their Mexican instrumental songs and mostly added with a trombone. These pictures comes to my sense when I listen to Calexico. Named by a town in California they play a kind of desert rock (often called Americana but I don't like this classification) with a lot of influence by the Mariachi sound. It is one of these records I have chosen when I had to drive a long distance. There are less records that are so relaxed and cool as this one. The songs slowly develop from easy, almost monotonous rhythms and quiet melodies. Partially these are rather sound collages than songs. Every movement solidifies, the thoughts become pleasantly sluggish. Only the Mariachi inserts rouse the listener over and over again briefly to let feel him, however, immediately that he has mounted again only of one fates Morgana. I know a similar mood from "Siesta" by Miles Davis.
Back in the glory times of glam rock when we where pretty as sun. Marc Bolan and T.Rex ruled the scene. It is more 40 years ago when I first heard this song. I still love it and T. Rex. It might be sentimental to look back to the days when I was young and pretty but this was the times they told me the how to to feel about pop music.
If you search the Internet you will find a lot of rockabilly bands from all over the world. This one is from Budapest, Hungary. The Silver Shrines formed in 2004 as a three-piece band with a modern psychobilly and punk rock outfit. Over the years they released a few records following the psychobilly path with punkabilly roots. I think that this kind of music featured as a video as well.
Few days ago I played Pink Flag by Wire again. Nearly forgot how good this record was/is. Wire are classified as pure punk or past-punk and had their very own style. Their influence in post-punk, alternative rock and hardcore was immense. Still worth to listen to.
I started my day by checking out what the other blogers did the recent days. And Drew posted a song that was worth to listen. And I think it is the perfect song for a mellow sunday. So take yourself 28 minutes to get lost in music. While I searched my files for some Electronica and Ambient I found a track by Darkside a collaboration of electronic musicians Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington. This song is from their first album and I got it as a free download from the bands homepage.
Last week I told that me and Kerstin made the decision to go separate ways. Now I asked myself what to do with your new life? Should I creep away in my flat and live a life of sorrow or should I go out looking for another woman? I am not really sure what I thought I should at this time but I remember that I started to contact my older mates and friends more and more. I also started playing football again. The last thing I wanted to start was a new relationship again. But sometimes the life plays a trick to you and you cannot fulfil your intentions. This trick came to me with Christiane which I met in my local pub at the end of last year. I knew her for a long time because she has been in a relationship with my brother's class mate. The more we talked about nearly everything we recognized that we thought about most of the themes the same way. It was also great that we had the same kind of strange humor, liked the same movies and what was important - the same music. That's what I didn't knew from my former wife - she was in that fucking Cologne stuff not paying any listen to The Smiths or something like that. And at last thus we have become a couple. To find out whether we also can spend longer time together we booked a vacation to Southern Italy. And at least it worked. We had a real fine time in this small club spending a pretty nice time together. I remember one evening when we watched the UEFA Champions League final together. It might sound strange for a German but I supported Manchester United this evening. The reason is that I don't like that snooty team filled up with so called stars. So Mario Basler made a pretty goal and it looked like they are going to win another time. I ordered me another beer to stand the last five minutes as Teddy Sheringham tied in the injury time. And Ole Gunnar Solksjaer made it perfect to minutes later. We both were happy about this result and had a wonderful evening. But there was one more thing that impressed me more this year. We are able to watch a solar eclipse in our hometown. Presumably I will never get this experience again when the moon pushes before the sun and it becomes pitch-dark on midday. Totally silence on our market place and so a good feeling to have. It was also the year I quit my job because I got in trouble with my bosses. But this will be a story maybe told next time.
Here are some records I used to play this year ...
Blumfeld - Old Nobody: German Indie Pop at it's best
Blur - 13: Very good record including Tender
Terry Callier - Lifetime: A brilliant album by a legend
The Beta Band - The 3 Eps: Underrated at this time
Built To Spill - Keep it Like a Secret: Arty high school rock
Tom Waits - Mule Variations: He's back with a superb late work
Michael Franks - Barefoot on the Beach: It's jazz and a little funk but fine songs
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication: More direct than before and listen to the bass
Diana Krall - When I Look in Your Eyes: A lot of great ballads and versions on it
Underworld - Beaucoup Fish: Fantastic record made for dancefloor
Fun Lovin' Criminals - Mimosa: They were cool as hell at this time
... and some songs you will surely remember:
The movies we went in this was:
The Matrix: Bewildering story but style-pedagogic camera settings
Notting Hill: The romance of the year
American Beauty: Kevin Spacey at his best
The Green Mile: Just a wonderful movie
The Blair Witch Project: You don't need millions of dollars to make a great movie
Arlington Road: Are your neighbors terrorists?
Fight Club: Bored men try to get their fulfillment in boxing matches
Sleepy Hollow: Excellent pictures and a mystery story makes a fantastic movie
And some remarkable things that happened in 1999:
The Euro is established - no way back // Bill Clinton is acquitted in impeachment proceedings in the US Senate // Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey // Former Warsaw Pact members Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic join NATO // A fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel kills 39 people, closing the tunnel for nearly 3 years // For the first time the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10.000 mark // The Kosovo War drags on // Manchester United defeat Bayern Munich 2:1 in the injury time of the UEFA Champions League Final in Barcelona (thank you Mr. Solskjaer) // Napster debuts on Internet and millions starting downloading tracks .
I picked out this record by Jim O'Rourkeas the one that I connect with this year. Jim O'Rourke is an American musician, composer and director influenced with jazz and classical music. He collaborated at this time with Sonic Youth playing bass. Why I love this record? Because them compositions, arrangements and songs on it. This was one of the less records I listened from the first to the last song in a row. Never a dull moment on it. Even if he plays long and quiet songs. You think nothing will happen and suddenly some pearls begin to creep into your ears. And also the cover version of Burt Bacharach's Something's Big is worth to listen. Eureka is simply a masterpiece and very underrated.
