Monday, September 28, 2009

GIANTS CHAIR lost dauphin

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a structure that nurtures expectations.


listen.


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GIRLS lust for life

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the actual big thing. they haven't reinvented the popsong, but do nothing wrong.

and a totally unexpected (at least for myself) semi-ironic relief, in times of emotional need.

now on tour
- tomorrow at Bang Bang Club - here, in Europe's most hipsterized city.






listen.


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Monday, September 21, 2009

JESSICA BAILIFF warren (home version)

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when your throat is too sore to swallow your snot; when you've blubbered too much to keep your eyes open; when you don't even remember how to smile, then this song is there, for you.


listen.


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Saturday, September 19, 2009

LOW lift

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Low themselves don't really like that song.
but i do.

very much in the Long Division vein.

released as part of a spectacular comp 7inch, together with Lois! Alan Sparhawk plays and sings on her Infinity Plus lp, and also on the Snapshot Radio ep - just in case you care.


listen.


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Friday, September 18, 2009

HOOD the year of occasional lull

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yes, the cover is made from a barrel organ - tape.

Rocket Racer will remain.

this is a mid-phase-Hood-track.


listen.


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SHARON JONES how long do i have to wait for you?

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an all-around song - at any time and any place, and almost in every mood.

bought in the amazing hamburg-located store i already wrote about.

listen.


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BANANARAMA venus

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M. loves that band.

oh, and we're having this neverending controversy on a short dialogue preceeding this Poptarts song (where the drummer is mumbling something in berlin dialect that M. deciphers as "Bananarama" and myself "seien immer lahmer"
- said to be always lamer.

your comments will, as always, be highly appre-ciated.




listen.



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THE BUDGET GIRLS go away geek

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eleven years old, and already antiquated, if not obsolete.

how will the world be in 2020?


listen.


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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

BONNIE BLUE BILLY little boy blue 2

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elegant despair - not as semi-drawling as in his recent releases, but far far away from the Days In The Wake blackness.

a unique moniker for this release.


listen.


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THE ELEVENTH HOUR the team that never wins

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definitely one of the poppiest Wurlitzer Jukebox-releases. this could have been a minor hit.


listen.


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EXPLODE INTO COLORS coffin & sharpen the knife

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very soon, they will be big.

perfect buzz-strategists, they just released two 7inches in a very similar outfit, but on different labels - the songs you get here are from the first, on M'lady's Records.

to me, the best 7inch released this year. so far.


listen.
listen.

buy it as long as you can!

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Friday, September 11, 2009

JACQUES DUTRONC il est cinq heures, paris s'éveille

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a strange personnage. an extremely gifted actor - Van Gogh in Pialat's movie, and a couple of appearances in Chabrol's oeuvre, among others.

as a musician, he seems to have been most of the time behind his possibilities.

but this one, as you may agree, is a classic.



watch this non-playback broadcast-version - everything but common in the mid-sixties!




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LOW sleep at the bottom

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not the best Low song, far from that.
yet quite untypical, and a perfect 04:00am-track.

at home, on the road, or waiting for the first tube to come.


listen.


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Thursday, September 10, 2009

THE MICROPHONES get off the internet

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(my cheap digicam was unable to focus on that cover)

many people hate this sincere preachy vein in Phil Elverum's work.

but, first of all, on this issue, he's right.

and, secondly, this song is too much to not be fun. Elverum knows what self-irony means.


yes, you can love The Microphones and Michael Jackson at the same time.

don't ask me why he released this 7" under the old moniker - i don't know.


listen.


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LOLITA STORM get back (i'm evil)

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during my first stay in brighton, in the summer of 1999, i happened to go to a Songs:Ohia show in a semi-elitist club called Sussex Arts Club, near the port. in those days, Jason Molina wasn't taking himself too seriously - not as show-offy and at the same time totally unironic neilyoungish as he appears nowadays.

that hot july night, he was great. before the show started, Sam Prekop's first album was played at a low volume - THE soundtrack of the late 90ies, so many clubs used to play that record as a background sound layer.
i went to the bar to order a beer. the barmaid was gorgeous - bored and funny. after SP's album, some early Cat Power was played, and we had a brief conversation about it.
her name was Romy, and she told me about a band she was playing in, Lolita Storm.
a couple days later, we met at an AMP / Pram / Telefunken show - The Pressure Point this weird venue was called.
she was drunk, and still as desirable as i had remembered her. but i was young, and shy.


listen.


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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

TINDERSTICKS plus de liaisons

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my brother and i have always had this Stuart Staple vs Nick Cave argument. he cannot stand the first, me not the latter.

what is it that makes human voices compelling, what unsupportable - on a very single, rarely universal level?
how come this has nothing to do with what they perform - neither with the melody nor with the lyrics?

and how come these two singers polarize that much? aren't they both nothing but ageing semi-pathetic bohemians?

or is this nothing but a brother-issue?

again, comments are highly appreciated.

listen to the song searching for it on the net (the post was taken down following the request of some silly copyright-sharks).

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Monday, September 7, 2009

PALACE MUSIC oh how i enjoy the light

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Palace Records' first release - Will in a Gainsbourg-mood, as he confessed a couple years later in the at that time brilliant swiss magazine Vibrations.


listen.


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NAZARETH love hurts

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german radio on the autobahn-history - at least part of mine, driving to the horizon as a child, on the backseat.



listen.


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WOELV le niveau de la mer

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Geneviève Castrée, Phil Elverum's wife.

one of my favourite visual artists - and apart from her somewhat annoying hot potato in your mouth -singing gym, a musician by her own, in and beyond the Microphones-galaxy.


listen.

listen to the b-side


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JEFFREY LEWIS the chelsea hotel oral sex song

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a nonchalance-classic.

All around the world there may be folks singing tunes
For the love of other people that they barely knew
And it puts a smile on my face - yes it do
And let me tell you that you ought to be smiling too
Because the next time you're feeling
kind of lonesome and blue

Just think that someone somewhere
might be singing about you



listen.


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AIR MIAMI stop sign

.
as they sing in another song:

i love you, you're so cool
.

recommended lecture to this song: Rick Moody's Garden State.


listen.


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JULIE DOIRON second time

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there was a time when this song meant a lot to me.

back then, many space-entities had not imploded.






Jon Claytor , who made the cover's artwork and this short comic strip, used to be Julie Doiron's husband.


listen.


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HOLIDAY FLYER it's getting late [Galaxie 500 cover]

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it's a shame they didn't get more recognition, back in the late nineties.

what a brilliant Galaxie 500 cover-version.


listen.


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DSCHINGIS KHAN dschingis khan

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indispensable for any german carnival-party.

listen.


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CRAYON a horse is not a home

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i got that 7" from Norman Records, and while reading their euphoric review, i decided to get all the available releases from the label, The Great Pop Supplement.

Crayon's is the only one to remain in my collection.


listen.

buy it while you can.

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Sunday, September 6, 2009

HOOD home is where it hurts

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Camille stole this song-title.

Hood have always been avantgarde.

their claim not to pay much attention to their song-titles and lyrics cannot hide the inherent literary self-conception.


listen.


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PJ HARVEY liverpool tide

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a non-essential, yet interesting b-side for the Polly-completist.

recorded in 1998, but matching more her Dry-period.


listen.


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