Bessere Zeiten (Better Times)

After yesterday's post I was in the mood to check out some old German music again that had the spirit of John Lydon and the post punk era. One of those bands that appeared in the late 80s was Kolossale Jugend a band that was close to the so called Hamburg school that brought Germany a very new and rough sound in independent music. Named by a song from Young Marble Giants (Colossal Youth) they made a fantastic combination of post punk mixed with a bit of grunge and experimental pop. Their texts were often cryptic – half crazy, half brilliantly – however, the note which the band sound like was unequivocal. They freely rocked after the motto: According to and indirectly. They had an attitude by controlling their rage, always remained far away of every market compatibility. Their play was full of pressure and rousing. This is a song from their album Heile, Heile Bouches released in 1989 and it was a highlight for me in these times.

Kolossale Jugend - Bessere Zeiten

Twanging Tuesday # 82

Today's twangy music comes from a band called Drunken Prayers, a band formed by Morgan Geer, located in Oregon, Portland. The first song, Hellraiser, is one of those laid back country forward driven songs with a bit of twangy guitar. The rest is just a laid back country based ballads that would work well in a smoky bar on Friday night after a few beers. Nothing that would turn the world into a better way - just music for BBQ.

By the way, the cover is designed by Jon Langford.

Swan Lake

35! years ago Public Image Ltd. released their second recording, well known as the Metal Box. Sadly I didn't own the original packing with the 12-inches but it is still a classic recording in the post punk era. When the record was released it sounded like nothing compared to past, present and the future. Weired guitars by Keith Levine, a gigantic dub-inspired bass by Jah Wobble and the cryptic lyrics by John Lydon makes this record remarkable for everything before and after.

Public Image Ltd - Swan Lake

In Search Of The Perfect Pop Song

I'm glad to be back in the internet again after several days without connection to it. The reason was very simple because I made an upgrade to higher transfer rate. And it seems that disconnecting me for a few days is part of the game when you're going for an upgrade. It is easy to install the new router following the instruction manual. And you become desperate when you sit in front and nothing works. So I took my phone and called the Vodafone what went wrong. The simple answer was that the clearing of the connection takes two more days. I think most of you will know the trouble with internet providers. Anyway now it works and I got exactly what I wanted. There are many bands searching for the perfect pop song. Belgium's Leaf House are very close to it. It's a fantastic mixture of indie, folk and dancefloor. All together in an amazing video.

Hot Dreams

There are songs that are really good in the original version and getting much better in a remix. Hot Dreams by the Canadian folk band Timber Timbre is one of them. The title track of them last year released record has something of sad ballad that might be used in a movie by David Lynch when the actor is driving on an endless highway through the night. To make this ballad complete is a remarkable saxophone at the end of the song. This song has something of the mood of Lambchop's Grumpus and reminds me on Prefab Sprout's Andromeda Heights.

Enjoy.


And as a bonus a remix of this beautiful song:

Twanging Tuesday # 81

The twangy sound is mostly based in early Rock 'n' Roll and bands playing instrumentals. Only a few bands played that true retro sound in the early 1970s. One of them were the Flamin' Groovies. In 1971 they released Teenage Head, a true homage to old school music. I heard that some critics name this record as an answer to the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers. For me there are less conformities in both records aside from that they both are addicted to country rock. Anyway, todays song offers a great guitar and a sound that could be played in the early 1960s.

Flamin' Groovies - Evil Hearted Ada

Ryley Walker Again

One of those records that impressed me much this year was Ryley Walker's Primrose Green. My place is a really desert for live acts - especially when they mostly unknown and new. So I was lucky that he appeared in a small club  a few days ago. So  I decided to give myself a pleasure and join this concert. The distance to the venue was only 12 miles away but I had an endless journey going by public transport. It would be easy to go there by car - if you have one. A couple of weeks ago I sold my 14 year old car. It was a Volvo running by diesel and no carbon-particulate filter. In these times it is hard to drive to different cities with an automobile that hasn't a reduced emission. If you do it and the police will grab you you'll get a penalty about 80 EURO. In addition I live in the center of our town, go to work with public transport and don't use the car very rarely. Counting the miles I used the car for the last two month I added the miles and the result was the I drove almost 100 miles in this time. That was the last fact that I decided to sell this car because I think it is not necessary to have a own car, paying fees, insurance and taxes and don't use it. A friend of mine who is reselling cars made me a good offer and I sold my old car. That are the facts when I went to the gig. Moving 35 minutes from the middle of Stuttgart to a far away destination in the small mountains beside my hometown. I came easily to the place where the concert should take place. I arrived one hour before and there were not more than 15 people waiting for the artist to start. While I was sitting outside for a beer and a cigarette Ryley Walker appeared and I sat down with him to a pint of beer. It was a well conversation about the Chicago music scene. Then he left to get the gig done. I've been to many concerts during the last decades but less grabbed me the way he did. The show was awesome and I stood there  and almost couldn't believe what I've seen. Ryley is an artists that treats his guitar like less people before. He played it with his fingers like a hurricane and I got a feeling right back in the late 70s where artists like Bert Jansch or Nick Drake showed up. He and his band played not that sound that's everybody's cup of tea. Listening to his very intimate song he some artists came up my mind: Tim Buckley, Van Morrison and especially Tortoise. Yes, Tortoise, a Chicago based band which combined rock, ambient and jazz in a very unique sound. I was so grateful that I took the travel to watch the show. Maybe the highlight of this year.

This is an edit of a live taped show by acidjacknyc who gives us maybe the best live taped music at all.