BEAT HAPPENING knock on any door

.
one of my all time Beat Happening faves.

different artwork than on the original release, yes. don't know anything specific about that one.

bought at the tremendous Academy record store in Brooklyn, in the winter of 2005.

listen.

MADONNA sounding on Like A Virgin at 33rpm like...

exactly! (to me, he's THE reference amongst the 80ies superstars. watch this documentary that was a big surprise to me:)

any conspiracy theory ? who pretends to be who? common!

listen.

WHY? pick fights & deceived

.

incredibly gifted super-smarties.

listen.

buy!

JOHN VANDERSLICE do what you want

.

i love that guy, even though his westcoast-24hours-pleasantness seems to me, as a central-european, at times too professional.

here on his encore at Admiralspalast, in the fall of 2009:

listen.

buy as long as you can.

JESSICA BAILIFF & ALAN SPARHAWK highwire (Marc Bolan cover)

.

a dream-team. recorded in Low's home studio.

listen.

AIDAN MOFFAT & THE BEST 07S knock on the wall of your womb

.

as a man (don't know how's the feminine posture on that one, please tell me), it seems impossible to not love that guy.

Arab Strap's loss cannot be overestimated. pain, deep pain:

listen.

THE FEMININE COMPLEX 6 o clock in the morning (demo)

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a Wurlitzer Jukebox-release designed by, damn, Mark Robinson! and, what's more, a Cake-related all girl-late sixities combo.

good night, good morning.

listen.

HOOD collapsing climate soul

.

stay awake all night long and listen exclusively to Hood. turn out the light.

that's good.

listen.

ALDEN PENNER surface to air missive

.

Alden is a spirit-political-thinking musician. not a popstar.

it's that easy.

back in the spring of 2005, at a time this 7" was supposed to be released (more or less simultaneously with this one), he had invited J.O. and myself for a dumpster-diving-dinner. i was quite reluctant.

it was superb.

now, in the early year of 2012, is there anything left of this wide opening?

listen.

M pop muzik

.

ah, Dave. this HAD to come from you.

listen.

MIRAH recommendation

.

no real surprise to you, dear reader, my personal female K-universe-hero is Khaela Maricich. and Mirah? hm. she's the intheolddays-closefriends-goddess, and that should mean something. to me. it should.

the last The Way Things Change post - they're complete, now.

listen.

A SMILE AND A RIBBON miracles

.

weird genre-mix presented in a semi-amateurish way on that 7"+CD-album, and an artwork that is extremely far from my personal preferences.

but, i have to say, i like it.

listen.

buy it as long as you can ! it's a bloody 300copies-thing...

LIGHT turning

.

another incestuous Flying Saucer Attack-family WJ-release. and, needless to say, essential.

listen.

BEARSUIT foxy boxer

.

she's got hips like mahagony

a fucking hit, indeed.

listen.

LORELEI mostly i sleep

.this supposedly poppy song improves. you may have to be patient. and been a teenager in the nineties, of course.

listen.

FALCO rock me a-made-us (ihn liebten alle frauen)

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großes tennis!

until Rammstein, the only US #1-hit sung in german, if my popcultural smattering is right.

listen.

VERSUS tin foil star

.

i remember getting my first Teenbeat order (done by fax - those were the days), while at my relatives' home in Aylmer, Ontario. i was seventeen years old, first time in north america, absolutely everything during that stay unique and unforgettable, read: e v e r y t h i n g.

so i opened the heavy overstamped cardboard, found the rad Air Miami & Tuscadero t-shirts - that are still in service -, awesome stickers (VSNY, you know), a couple LPs and 7inches, and the gorgeous The Stars Are Insane CD, Versus' first album.

and, that's why this is being told here, an overenthusiastic letter written by the mailorder-guy, saying how much he was in love with Versus, that he was listening to the Dead Leaves comp and the Secret Swingers lp 24hours a day, and so on. this was (or at least seemed to me - but seriously, who cares about that difference?) honest, sincere stuff, not the 'we appreciate your business'-thing. and gave me the feeling of being, hm, part of a youth movement, to quote a german band i never was interested in, even though almost all my friends were. (you'll get some candies if you can tell me what i'm talking about.)

so, here comes Versus' contribution to the mémorable (yep, that's bloody québécois) Simple Machines Working Holidays split 7" project. no real surprise, they got the first series-release.

listen.

LOW long long long (George Harrisson cover)

.

02:12 am. time to go to bed.

please enjoy this semi unknown White Album classic.

listen.

HOOD two left channels down; who needs enemies

.

The last Hayfever- 7inch to be posted - no more have been released, sigh.

and they even managed to get Hood on one of their comps! not a big surprise, though, if you consider Hayfever's impressive discography...

more than ten years later, this fanzine is present in my emotional background. well done, guys.

listen.

buy!

CATERINA CASELLI nessuno mi può giudicare

.

the song that was ready to be covered by us (=LGDT), and for, hell, what reasons, Dave?, didn't make it.

don't tell me that two Caterina songs would have been too much... and imagine the ladies dancing this way on stage!

listen.

ELECTROSCOPE space travel

good old Wurlitzer-stuff!

not much more to say on that one. apologies for the scratch.

listen.

THE HAPPY COUPLE song for the troubadour (acoustic version)

.

second brilliant 'resurrection'-split 7" on Slumberland.

it still seems like a miracle that after such a long hiatus, they're back and more active than ever.

listen.

and buy as long as you can!

VERY SECRETARY nagarcot

.

friendly, but not essential.

for the sake of completism, that is: for the idea(lism) behind Tree Records.

listen.

JANE BARTHOLOMEW fiery son

i confess: this was mostly an artwork-love affair.

pleasant, in a folky-cheesy way. (still much better than most of the female-guitar stuff that has been labeled 'dark-folk-psych' in the last years!)

listen.

Ô PAON masques

what a great reverence made by Geneviève Castrée to Réjean Ducharme's (the french canadian Salinger, if you want) L'avalée des avalées.

right now translated into german by the very gifted T.B. expect something unique.

listen.

buy as long as you can!

SWELL too many days without thinking

when everything is over without a new beginning in sight, Swell remains.

i'm not living this right now; not at all. but more than one person i love does.

listen.

ELBOW our little boat

Take a selfish lover for a while
And apply the tricks you learn to all you love
Convince yourself the research was worthwhile
And file it under "N" for "No harm done"

Lie with a smile in your eyes if you can
These are the things that will make you a man

There is nothing inconsistent (about a lie?)
He can never change the course on which he's set
Decisions in the white heat of desire
Think nothing of the bitter cold regret

And sins of the father will wake in the son
Till you can't count the cost of the damage you've done

These are the things that will make you a man
Oh how can I tell you how sorry I am?

I took a selfish lover, no harm done
Forgetting all the gentle love she gave
The single indiscretion weighed a tonne

And it pushed our little boat beneath the waves

listen.