THE NOTWIST panama - electric bar

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for some obscure reasons, it took me a while to open my soul to NOTWIST.

many people i love adore them.

in the end, i've joined them.



Thomas Ott is a genious.


listen.


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THE FAMILY WAY sugar baby love

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a song to dance and smile, with or without a drink (gin tonic?) in your hand and someone cheek to cheek.

like in the old days.

listen.


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DEAD SCIENCE make mine marvel (remix) + white mane

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brilliant. they will last.

started as a hybrid Jeff Buckley meets Xiu Xiu visits Anthony & the Johnsons thing, the album they released two years ago on Constellation Rec. is a monolith.

truly essential.


listen.

buy as long as you can!


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HAVERGAL my heart

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not much to say on this one.

pleasant to listen to for this post - probably the first time in, hm, 8 years.

bought in 1999 in brighton, at Borderline Records.

ah, the late nineties....!


listen.


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GO SAILOR long distance (alternate mix)

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post-post-Sarah-stuff. HEAVENLY, TIGER TRAP, etc etc..

niiiiiicccccce.

long live Slumberland!


listen.

buy!


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COSMETICS soft skin

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M. loves them.

on the overhyped Captured Tracks label.

in its retrochic-attitude quite ephemeral. but who cares on a sweaty dancefloor?


listen.


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PTTRNS definitions

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cologne has always been one of my homes.
as a teenager, regular record store and show-trips, going there by train (often mentioned in this blog, so i'm not going into details).

later, abroad, my night-dreams often played in that town. i'm serious, i tend to remember quite well my rem-activities.

since january, i live there ~10 days per month. and, beside the deep happiness i feel to share time and space with the woman i love there, i love the city for itself.

there are (for me) at least two musical hemispheres there: the recently, way too late!, discovered ERDMÖBEL, a band that is either loved or hated (i'm on the lover-side), and the punk-guitar-thing, in the last years represented, among others, by Sascha's Parapop label, and, in a trendy way, PTTRNS.



listen.

buy!


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VERSUS insomnia

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from their first 7" on Landspeed.

already pure VERSUS-magic.


listen.


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APPENDIX OUT ein grauer star in der kavallerie

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Ali Roberts singing about Kaspar Hauser.

oh my.






listen.

buy!


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GLOW-WORM beyond the sea [Charles Trenet cover]

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a gorgeous song, sung by the unique Pam Berry (check this article in case you don't know about her inestimable impact in indie rock) - altered by the fact that its original author was a well known pedophile?

comments on this quite essential topic are, as always, welcome.


listen.


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MOTE stevie

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belgian openers for SMOG, back in 1995.

Rotten Windmill's second release!

an unfair emphasis, definitely - but that's how (even indie-)history works.


a song worth to close the first side of a moody tape.


listen.


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TIED & TICKLED ain't no sunshine [Bill Withers cover]

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one of the earliest recordings of NOTWIST's bavarian jazzy soundtrack side-project (actually quoted as TIED & TRICKLED in the booklet).

this label sounds awful to you? so it does to me.


next to the Palace 7" they released , THE milestone in Hausmusik's catalog (in my would-be humble opinion).


listen.


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UNREST cherry cherry

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Mark Robinson! Mark Robinson!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bought in a longtime gone record store near the central train station in geneva, back in 1997. very skilled female seller, i remember.

my earliest Teenbeat record (#49!)


listen.


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MOVERE WORKSHOP second watchung [sic]

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one of the best hidden All City secrets.

perfect late night-in the cold wet streets-of berlin-in fall-track.


WILCO's Mikael Jorgensen, back in 1995.


listen.


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JEN WOOD sheltering for the birds

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discovered thanks to an upbeat sale-review from mr. michael stahl, back in 1997.

recently, she went more and more mainstreamish.

this song gives you an idea how she sounded in the old days.

remember: she's on JOAN OF ARC's Live in Chicago (btw, Tim Kinsella is on this Long Distance Lovers split with her) , BLACK HEART PROCESSION's 1 , and, exactly, POSTAL SERVICE's Give Up.

her first two solo albums will remain as essential parts of my heartbreak biography.

strange enough, i've never been a fan of the TATTLE TALE thing.


listen.


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SHANNON WRIGHT wish you well

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her very first solo release.

the last post for tonight, it's 2:22am, gotta get out in four hours.

but, hey, it was worth it.

next posts in a week.



listen.


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WHY? as i went out one morning [Bob Dylan cover]

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these guys are, at times, too smart. to me.

a great split 7" (the supreme discipline!) on Asthmatic Kitty. get any release as long as you can.


listen.


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THE WAVE PICTURES watching charlie's angels

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ephemeral youth. innocence that abolishes itself with a weary smile.

there's this Robert Crumb sketch book-strip with the old bearded guy mumbling similar wisdom, talking to a young woman:


exactly: i better shut the fuck up.


how can one not love this band? seriously.






listen.


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SIMON JOYNER veterans hospital song

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it's a major injustice that Hayfever hasn't got, at least, the alternative nobel prize for great merit during the pre-internet era.

(thinking about it:

nowadays, who really cares about posts on music-blogs?

and, on the contrary: how many times - and with how much commitment! - did we, in the old days, listen to 7inches coming with paper-fanzines?

see?

i'm not flirting.)

besides, WHAT A SONG!

a future classic. again.


listen.


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JOHN VANDERSLICE moon rocks

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a future classic.

mr vanderslice in his Tiny Telephone studio:








listen.


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PLOVER shade for today [Tall Dwarfs cover]

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it took me more than a decade to discover this hidden treasure in PLOVER's discography - thanks to discogs.

the whole 7inch is beyond belief - BOYRACER, BARTLEBEES and PLOVER covering Chris Knox - on the legendary french Acetone label!

wenn es dat ding nicht gäbe, hätte man es erfinden müssen.


listen.


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ENON fly south

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an unintentional coincidence to post this thematically related song straight after BESNARD LAKES' aviation.

really.


listen.


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THE BESNARD LAKES aviation

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Alden loves them. and that means something!

this 7inch came out before the buzz started, at a time when they were playing semiprivate shows at Sala Rossa.

if you wanna get an idea of their meanwhile highly distinctive sound, dig this:






they deserve it.



listen.


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MOUNT EERIE i whale OR i am about to see my heart OR my heart is difficult to see, like a whale on the bottom of the ocean, but it's coming

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[The Whale] says: 'Knock knock!' from beneath
'You know it's me!
I'm your heart, I'm a whale
I'm the bottom of the deep black sea
My mouth is white and toothy'

listen.


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CAMERA OBSCURA let's go bowling

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to me, the better Belle And Sebastian.


listen.


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KARATE cherry coke

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maybe their best song - at least from their pre-jazzy period.


listen.


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BONEY M hurray! hurray! it's a holi-holiday

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definitely the best german casting-band ever:



but, alas, they're also able to give you this very special feeling...

give it a try, then you'll know what i'm talking about.

listen.

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