A few good times in my life
Almost two years ago I listened the first time to Love Makes Magic, the latest full album by Nottingham's songwriter and producer Jim Baron under his stage name JIM. Since then I often go back to this album that is a mixture of Westcoast sound like Crosby, Stills and Nash with a massive Balearic beat. Fine fingerpicking guitar and a warm sound added later with relaxed electric guitars show us that the spring has finally come.
JIM - The Ballad Of San Marino
Today's song is from the new album by Japanese Breakfast the project of Michelle Zauner a Korean-American singer/songwriter. She is active since more than a decade and nominated for a Grammy a couple of years ago. She has left the electro-pop of recent years behind her and has set her songs to music with acoustic instruments and cello. The result is fairytale-like and melancholy songs in which she reflects on herself and her music. As I said, sentimental and melancholic, but pretty much recommendable for everyone.
In the seventies, there were virtually no magazines in Germany that dealt with contemporary music. Apart from the German Sounds, the only other option was to buy British music magazines in the international magazine shop in the capital. For a long time, Sounds was characterised by old hippies who found it difficult to make friends with punk and new wave. The inevitable happened - Sounds ceased publication and many of the journalists jumped ship to work for Spex in Cologne.
One of these music journalists was Hans Nieswandt, who favored writing about new electronic music and broadened my musical horizons with his clever reviews. He tried his hand at DJing at a young age and has since developed into a respected DJ and producer, with a preference for house, techno and electronic music in general.
His latest record is being released today and with Flureszent he has written a song that I can't get out of my head after hearing it for the first time. Over a motorik beat, he recites about his golden days when he first started dabbling on the decks.
Last December, Saint Etienne released The Night, perhaps the most extraordinary album of recent times. The music creates a meditative and dreamy mood that serves as an antidote to the hectic pace of everyday life. Almost without rhythmic elements and clear song structures, recitations and field recordings create a world of sound that works best with headphones and has a decelerating effect.
One of my favorite songs from this album was Alone Again will be released in various remix versions.
Another journey through decades of music and genres.
1969: True soul-funk by Sly and the Family Stone
Last week the news told that George Foreman died. Not that I miss him much or that I'm a fan of boxing, but this news reminded me of how often I used to watch such events on TV with my father. As always, he woke me up in the middle of the night so we could watch these fights together. I will never forget his fight against Muhammad Ali in 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Ali looked passive in the early rounds, dropping to the ropes and fending off Foreman's punches. Foreman wore himself out for several rounds until Ali changed tactics in the eighth round and became more active himself, landing a combination of left uppercuts and right straights to knock Foreman out.
One-hit wonder Johnny Wakelin paid tribute to this fight in 1976.
I would never have believed that I would be presenting a real gospel song here. But Annie Caldwell has proved me wrong. She has been travelling with her family for over 40 years to praise the Lord.
The Caldwells can be thought of as an extended family from West Point, Mississippi. Mother Annie, who is a member of the Staples Jr. Singers, performed at weekends with her daughters and sons, her husband and a goddaughter in various clubs and dives not far from her home town. They played a mixture of rhythm & blues and soul, sounding like a highly explosive mixture of Chaka Kahn, Bootsy Collins and Prince unplugged.
Now they released their first album with powerful and moving songs, all recorded live in a church. The call and response of Annie's lead vocal and her daughter Deborah is one of the strongest vocals I listened to since a long time. The funky beat and the superb guitar passages make this song exceptional. An unusual but fascinating record. Hallelujah from me too.
