THE HUMAN LEAGUE – being boiled

If you like bass lines, especially electronically created, big fuzz, deep and all encompassing bass lines, in all their historic glory (history being the last three to four decades) then you can’t go by this one. And by all means I guess you haven’t, so who am I telling this to? Still able to boil down any dance floor and to induce strange, edgy movements in dancers of all sorts, a lot of people still refer to this song as “listen to the voice of Buddha”, which is very funny.

4^th Sep 10

MANIC STREET PREACHERS – postcards from a young man

The title song of the new Manic Street Preachers album as most of the other songs on the album remind me very much of a rocking, healthy and energized Robbie Williams. I used to be a Robbie Williams fan, you know, but I miss the times back then when the Manic Street Preachers were a fuzzed out, energized alternative rock band and not a (pretty good, but still) mainstream rock band. I picked up their first 12” on a visit in London almost by accident and it blew me away. But that never happened again with them. Maybe I just miss being young, because I am not anymore, and it would be wrong to blame MSP for that. Well, on the other hand, this does sound like Robbie Williams.

3^rd Sep 10

JOHNNY DOWD – judgement day

He blatantly stole the guitar lick from “Break on through” by the Doors. The song is great, though, but with that start you’d expect something very different. Can’t do any wrong, though.

31^st Aug 10

GRINDERMAN – heathen child

That is one crazy fucker of a music video. Very disturbing. I wish I hadn’t seen it before I heard the song for the first time. Because, as Nick Cave once said: music videos destroyed all the mystic and magic for the listener. As the visuals to the music so strongly overpower the sounds. And here is a strong song, but those pictures will probably never leave your mind again. Well, do you think someone’s gonna save you? Your wife, your friends, your children? You are wrong.

28^th Aug 10

THE SWORD – Night City

This sounds so very much like Danzig it is almost hard to believe it is not Danzig. Thinking about the last Danzig album, this is actually not a nice thing to say. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depends on how you think about it) this is the worst track on the whole “Warp Riders” album. A tragic stab at bad hard rock only bearable late at night on VH1 “rock show” inbetween decent stuff. Even has a bad twingle-twingle-wingle solo.

24^th Aug 10

LENNY KRAVITZ – can’t get you off my mind

It has to be admitted that Lenny Kravitz is probably the last remaining real American rock star of the kind that lives the flamboyant life of a rock star. And as such he wouldn’t be the one if he hadn’t recorded a very beautiful love song filled with melancholy and the sweetest form of sadness around. Sure, this is not the only one of those schmaltzy rockers. “Stand by my woman” for instance has a saxophone solo on top. But I like this one here best. And yes, all of this is also true for Aerosmith and for instance “I don’t wanna miss a thing” (oh, Liv Tyler…), but then Aerosmith is a band and not a single rock musician. So there.

20^th Aug 10

I AM KLOOT – Northern Skies

That’s wonderful but the first sixty seconds I was sure I am listening to Willie Nelson here. The strings convinced me otherwise, though you can never be sure with Willie. Maybe the volume was just too low. Anyway, the sound goes on for the rest of the album. Man, how I love that nasal sneer so filled with emotion. I can even forget about the faux English working class accent.

6^th Aug 10

THE CURE – boys don't cry

"Boys don't cry" is my favorite song by The Cure by far. I have no idea why or how as they have written many good songs (or should I rather write "he"). The album of the same name for instance has a number of great songs ("Killing an arab", "Jumping someone else's song", "Grinding Halt", etc). Moreover, I never understood how The Cure came to be a gothic band. Yes, there is a lot of echo and some sentimentality in their old stuff, but they always were a New Wave band, even with a slight early Eighties punk appeal. What a little eyeliner and lipstick can do.

30^h Jun 10

THE STARS – changes

Another perfect late night listening sessions song. A great refrain going “changes, I’ve never been good with change, I hate it when it all stays the same, caught between the cold and the rain.” Perfect synthie-strings in between the hushed voice of the singer. But all that is not the reason I mention this. The true reason is the greatest use of those dumb synthie drums that I thought had gone lost in the late Eighties somewhere in Los Angeles. No idea where these guys dug them up again. But they fit. They still sound corny, but they are not a disturbance but a great ingredient to a great song. Pure magic.

27^th Jun 10

GABBY YOUNG & OTHER ANIMALS – the one that got away

Mix every kind of art you know and become a piece of art yourself. If you are tired of Lady Gaga or just plain don’t like disco music, then Gabby Young’s single “the one that got away” could be something for you. A jazzy, circus-musique floor burner all filled with fashion, costumes and textures. Cool, swinging and all the rage in Gabby’s own little part of the world. Lately I seem to like bands more that have a big brass section in the back and s Gabby Young keeps brightly away from all kinds of Manhattan Transfer superficiality as well as the patronizing art-stance of Dresden Dolls, I like this much more. Waiting for her full first album.

26^th Jun 10

THE STARS – dead hearts

I think this song is about dead little children, or angels, or elves and fairies. Or all mixed together. How come I listen to this? Because lyrics are not everything. The music of this pop song is a mesmerizing blend of synthies and harmonies, soft and subtle and low intimate parts and fully filled, cinemascope broad range arrangements. Perfect for late night listening when you don’t want to be scared but uplifted in a special way. I hope, this will grow on me a lot, because then it could become a mainstay for a long time.

25^th Jun 10

THE PIXIES – wave of mutilation

I have been listening to “Doolittle” almost twenty years now. It was great when it came out and it still one of the few albums I know that are perfect to the last little note. And “Wave of Mutilation” has always been one of my favorite songs from there. And that is all I wanted to mention regarding this album, because if you don’t know this one, you don’t know The Pixies, and if you don’t know the Pixies, you better head out somewhere else and get to know them.

24^th Jun 10

AGAINST ME! – Bob Dylan Dream

“I dreamed Bob Dylan is a friend of mine.” What a line to sing in a song. And what enormous ideas that may give to fantasize about. Bobby is about everybody’s want to be friend, and therefore probably no ones for real. But then I know some people who really see Bob Dylan as their friend, even though they have never met in person. Ah, who cares, if there is a fiddle on a punk(?)-record that is usually more than enough justification for me. Especially when Against Me! Sometimes sounds too close to John Mellencamp to my ears.

8^th Jun 10

CHAPTER THREE – my sweet girl

There are many tales of men killing their sweet love, usually by the river with a stone or a knife. But this one here is different as the singer / murderer admits to have made “sweet love” to the girl after he hit her over the head from behind. Necrophilia is a rather rare and rarely used issue for a love song. So girls, be careful, as this is a new song.

3^rd Jun 10

RAY CHARLES – your cheating heart

More than half of the songs on the legendary “Ray Charles – Greatest Hits Volume 2” are Country Songs and not even of the closet kind, but openly with a 2/2 beat. Either the compiler was a hidden redneck and full of spite towards blind and black man (there is a picture of Stevie Wonder in a cowboy suit I once saw somewhere, this guy must be responsible for this, too. If he exists, that is.) Or Ray Charles was just way too ahead for all those regular cats that demand of black musicians to play black music and vice versa. Sometimes I wish I was colourblind, so I wouldn’t know what the fuss is all about. As long as I am not deaf, though.

19^th May 10

THE LOVIN’ SPOONFUL – Summer in the city

Man, I am so spoiled by Hollywood. Whenever I hear this song I see a picture in my mind of a street in New York in the next moment a department store will blow up and then somebody will call the NYPD demanding to speak to John McClane. That’s one of my favorite movies, so that’s why.

12^th May 10

MOBY – that’s when I reach for my revolver

Looking back this is probably the only decent song Moby has ever recorded. The only one worth coming back to for any kind of reason, e.g. anger, aggression or frustration. In that respect a lot of people believe this is just a cover version, because Moby is too lame ass for a song like that. Easily possible. I don’t know and I don’t care, you see. Are you talking to me? You talking to me? Feel lucky, punk?

10^th May 10

EMMYLOU HARRIS – hello stranger

We gotta look at the classics a lot more, methinks. I mean, listening to this song could have spared me listening through two or three of the five or six albums in total released by Freakwater. Of course, this is a definite classic, written by Pappy Carter, if I remember correctly. And it comes from the “Luxury Liner” album, which is chock full of great songs. Why Emmylou Harris never made it as big as Linda Ronstadt is completely beyond me. Maybe because she never became the all American roller girl, but stayed as country as she ever was.

3^rd May 10

THE FELICE BROTHERS – T for Texas

Another band in a long line that is classified as alternative country or indie country (whatever that is meant to be) but only shows that Bob Dylan was the most important singer / songwriter ever. As if we didn't knew that. Also see under The Tallest Boy.

21^st Apr 10

BLUR – Charmless Man

It took me some years, almost a decade, to realize that Blur is actually a great pop-band. Maybe that is the reason, because this last decade I couldn’t care less for anything pop. The thought that “this song is perfect for mainstream radio” was usually followed by some derogatory sneer. Not anymore. I am mature enough now to keep it to myself and not demand the whole world to listen to punkrock, electronic improvisation and pure noise. Because I now know that if it did, I would be listening to radio-pop instead.

16^th Apr 10

MICA P. HINSON - my way

After Frankieboy Sinatra and punkboy Sid Vicious you either have to be a bit of a prick or have a lot of guts to take on this song. Micah P. Hinson pulls it off with grace and virtue and does a great alt.country / songwriter version in his trademark gravel voice. Pretty cool, and of course a perfect ending to his new album filled with cover versions, all of them a dare to do and all of them done quite well.

10th Apr 10

LAMB OF GOD - redneck

If you listen to this song when doing your laps or any other kind of condition sport you'll bust your damn lungs, I warn you. It is a pounding, fast, motherfucker of a metal track, and I know nothing about metal, I tell you. But I like this one as it is fast as hell, mean as spite and burns with an intensity that is hard to come to grips with. "This is a motherfucking invitation!" Yeah right, to busted lungs and broken knees, or at least a hurting neck from all the headbanging. I wish I never cut my hair off.

23^rd Mar 10

BLITZEN TRAPPER – goin’ down

This one is from the “Black River Killer” EP and it has to be the most Beatles-sounding song the Trappers ever did. It is like one of those fine songs by Lennon / McCartney with the oozing aahs in the back and the bitter sweet melody that makes “Let it be” such a fine album (aside from the title song). And it is the first time this influence really shines through one of their songs. Mark the spot.

3^rd Mar 10

KNIFE HAND CHOP – bounty killer killer

Some seven or eight years old, and I only own it on a measly vinyl seven inch single, this is still the coolest mix of freakazoid IMD distortion with ragga rhythms and jiving that you can get your dirty paws on. Definitely able to blast any kind of dancefloor to bits and then suck up the remnants of unfortunate survivors. And still a lot better than 99% of all that dubstep shit that set out so promising only to deliver so little. Crazy, how one little slab of vinyl and the distorted beats on it can lighten up your living room.

12^th Feb 10

GLEN CAMPBELL – rhinestone cowboy

Like it or not, or even want to know it or not, but Glen Campbell by all means is the Neil Diamond of country music. All the time I expect him to break into "I am I said" but all he does is "rhinestone cowboy". It's cheesy, with lotsa orchestra and everything you want from kitsch to come. But, hell, I like it.

4^th Feb 10

GIRLS – big bad mean motherfucker

You read about “Laura” below? Well, “Big Bad Mean Motherfucker” is the best mix of Jesus and the Mary Chain and the Beach Boys ever since Jesus and the Mary Chain covered the Beach Boys themselves.

16^th Jan 10

GIRLS - Laura

The Girls will get the award for sounding most like early Elvis Costello for 2009 from me and this song will get an honorable mention for being a complete Costello rip off from the voice of the singer to the chorus in the background – but in a really good way. Good to listen to. Wonderful song. This is a real award, meaning not that it really exists, dude that was irony, but that it is a good way of ripping off.

16^th Jan 10

MUMFORD & SONS – little lion man

One of my favorite alt.country bands at the time and they are from Scottland – make of that what you want. “Little lion man” is a great song and a wonderful re-interpretation of the old “what a stupid sod I was to let you go / betray you / not love you enough” man to woman song. And the music video I saw had the “fuck” censored to silence, even though the line reads “I really fucked it up.” Just in case you was wondering.

14^th Jan 10

ADAM GREEN – buddy bradley

Just over a week after I had re-discovered the little info-tidbit on this one song by Treepeople (see below) I look at the new album “Minor Love” by Adam Green and what do I see? One song is named Buddy Bradley, the protagonist of my favorite comic of the grunge era and an avid fan of Ballard Bitter. There are no coincidences, the signs are everywhere, man. All I need to know now is what the heck they mean.

7^th Jan 10

TREEPEOPLE – Ballard Bitter

This legendary band from Seattle (do you remember what Dug Martsch is doing now?) obviously had an obsession with comics, and especially with Hate by Peter Bagge. I have no idea how many people pointed this out already, but it took me more than fifteen years to write it down: Ballard Bitter is the favorite local brewskie of Buddy Bradley, who is the main character of Hate and lived in Seattle at the same time (in the comic) as the whole Grunge explosion (in real life). That there is another song on this album (“Just kidding”) called “Cartoon Brew” only corroborates my theory. And it is definitely worth it to write this down, if only to finally use the word corroborate somewhere.

28^th Dec 09

BILLY PAUL - let em in

An educative disco hit? Really, this song not only is a great, soulful disco-hit from the Seventies, it also features vocal samples of all kinds of black leaders from the Seventies, some reciting the US constitution, some remembering Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and so on. An unexpected insight into the differentialism possible in all kinds of music all througout the times. Now, whenever someone will go on about the stupidity of disco and its unpoliticalness, I will draw out this song as an example of the opposite. That does not prove anything important, though, but it'll show who knows what about what.

HAROLD MELVIN AND THE BLUE NOTES - don't leave me this way

Christmas party at the office. Somebody puts on this track. Someone else says, I remember this to be faster. Yeah, but that was a newer version, somebody else says, I think it was Frankie goes to Hollywood. No way, I say, it was Erasure, you hear me. Anyway, this version has a lot more soul and it is eleven minutes long. So what else do you want for a party?

TOM WAITS - Fannin Street

Despite the variety of standards that have slowly crept into Tom Waits' repertoire - the opera singer, the blues destroyer, screaming jay hawkins, etc. - he is still the master of the wonderful late night ballad. And "Fannin Street", originally one of the bawlers on the Orphans triple CD, presented live on "Glitter and Doom" is a perfect example of this. Whenever Waits seems to sing lowly to a lonely girl in a dark night sidestreet somewhere, cautioning her, guarding her, tempting her, this setting soothes me and almost drives me to tears. 

RUMBLE STRIPS - welcome to the walk alone

Somewhere in a good place between Mando Diao and Dexy's Midnight Runners this english soul sixties retro-fiers are a nice suprise. Sure, the singer sometimes sounds like that whining siren of Keane but the Mark Ronson production makes this very soulfull and enjoyable. Warms up any cold evening.

GIRLS - lust for life

It struck me right away: these Girls are re-impersonations of early Elvis Costello, both in the akward-pop-songwriting skills and in the nasal, introvert vocals. I know a lot of people see connections between Weezer and Elvis Costello, but that is wrong. Yes, both wear big glasses, but then they should be going for Buddy Holly for Weezer and leave Elvis Costello for the Girls. Would fit me a lot better. Thank you.

GORDON GANO & THE RYANS - waves and water

With its funky guitar strumming, the ethno beats and the nasal singing voice of Gordon Gano this sounds a lot like late phase Talking Heads. I have no idea what that means in regards to the re-surfacing of Gano after years of not hearing anything from him (aside from "Blister in the sun" used in a mobile phone commercial)...

A GIRL CALLED EDDIE - the long goodbye

Life is way too short to listen to boring lovesongs, they have to be great right from the start. For some reason the best love songs are always about lost or broken love. How come? Anyway, this one is a very nice one. Perfect for late night drives with the lonely piano, sparse arrangements and endless repetition of the refrain at the end.

SCOOTER – the sound above my hair

Apart from the as usual grandiose 4/4 beat, hardcore trance soundscapes and skimpy clad dancers, the melody of the verses is a direct rip off of Black’s “Wonderful world” from the Eighties. Yes, remixing a hit from the Eighties with a techno beat is still a perfect way to make some bucks, but do Scooter really have to get so low in their aspirations?

13th Nov 09

HOCKEY – song away

I like this Eighties beat, probably because I grew up with it and it is re-vamped enough to not be purely retro. And also because it fits so well with the refrain and then makes my ass move. Maybe this will end up on mainstream radio airplay for a long time, like “Tubthumping” or “Crazy”, but that is okay. Sometimes I have to listen to radio as well (in a car, a shop, an office) and then songs like these are better than the usual R’n’B-shit of today.

26^th Nov 09

FUCK BUTTONS - surf solar

I like Tangerine Dream, You Like Tangerine Dream, we all like Tangerine Dream. I like Isis, you like Isis, we all like Isis. I like Brian Eno, you like Brian Eno, we all like Brian Eno. I like crazy motherfuckers, you like crazy motherfuckers, we all like crazy motherfuckers. I like Trans Am, You like Trans Am, we all like Trans Am.

FOREST FIRE - survival

I guess "Exile on Mainstreet" is high on their list of top albums of all times. It wasn't intended, put the pun on "high" is pretty good as well, methinks. Anyway, the drunken stupor of the mid-seventies Stones mixes wonderfully with the home-made atmosphere of these songs and the overall Americana feeling. Interesting, isn't it, that time and time again you'll have to remember yourself that the Stones are actually from England.

CHUCK RAGAN - for godness sake

This is the opener of the pretty good new album by Chuck Ragan, who once sang in some punkband, but I forgot which one. Most interestingly, though, he sounds a lot like Barry McGuire here. Certainly you remember the "Eve of Destruction" and how Barry never became as famous as Bob Dylan even though he did that older, rougher, edgier Dylan-imposto very well. I don't know about Ragan in this respect, but if McGuire actually was a lot better than everybody assumed, then there is a lot of future ahead for Ragan. Personally, I like his rickety country style stompers the best.

MONEYBROTHER - (never ever) I've been kissed

"Did I wake you up by singing a song?" Yes, indeed, but thank you very much. This song stands out from the new album with its Elvis impersonation singing style. They are back to the good old, driving a car on the highway kind of groove when the chorus strikes in. Just as the are back to the cool songs when album starts to end. In the middle they try out a few new things, but all of that is cool. This is not a first listen great album, it takes a few rounds. But then all the songs are cool. But this one has that Elvis impersonator deep voice, which is übercool.

KILLSWITCH ENGANGE - starting over

Truly, people tell me that Killswitch Engage are the shit-all best new metal band around and I am willing to believe them. Also for the reason that I have no intent of checking the truth of that statement. Anyway, it is also the mark of the return of the air-raid-siren singing of heavy metal vocalists. The huevos crunching wailing that together with the double guitar attack and stampede riffs made the first two albums of Iron Maiden so great. Yeah, there is a lot of new stuff in here as well, but if you grew up in the Eighties in a not so well off suburb then you'll know exactly what it is that I like about this song.

FIERY FURNACES

Sounds strange, as if two bands played the same song in different styles at the same time, at one part the one taking over (a late night alt country band) and then the other (the smallest electric guitar big band on earth). Maybe all it means is that with their umpteenth album the Fiery Furnaces have started to swing with their own beat. Let’s see where that will lead us too. Half a dozen songs into the album it starts to sound familiar. And the singers voice becomes more and more like Ani Di Franco’s with time.

TALKING HEADS - heaven

Here is a lyric for you: "Heaven, is a place, a place where nothing, nothing ever happens." After clocking in 60+ hours for weeks I know exactly what David Byrne meant when he wrote that. Moreover it is a beautiful song, no matter what. Great major / minor fall from first verse to bridge, too. From their "fear of music" album. 

7th Sep 09

NOUVELLE VAGUE - road to nowhere

How cleverly Nouvelle Vague show us with their arrangement, that "Road To Nowhere" could have been a very fine Americana song, instead of the unbeatable cult classic it has become. Fine work!

4th Sep 09

GET WELL SOON! - Listen! those lost at sea sing a song on christmas day

In a lot of ways this song starts like a better version of the pop-version of Radiohead. I mean, I like Radiohead. At times. It is difficult to write about music seriously and then say you don't like Radiohead, because in a lot of ways it is like saying you don't like Apple. Instant confrontation in a lot of places. Metalheads are on your side instantly, but who wants that? So, if you ask me about Radiohead, I would say that I prefer Get Well Soon. And then you say, that is something that can not be compared and I will answer, right, and so you are.

27th Aug 09

NO MEANS NO - Hunt the she-beast

I know exactly who they are talking about, because I know the she-beast. She is a markeitng executive I used to work for and many employees used to have aggression release day-vision that came really close to what this song depicts. And, probably opposite to what the song really wants to convey, she deserved every single bit of the treatment.

27th Aug 09

XTC - This is pop

This song is thirty one years old and has lost nothing of its freshness and energy. I wish I could say the same thing about me.

20th Aug 09

PORTUGAL THE MAN - People Say

This might be the best song that Oasis didn't write in the last five years.

14th Aug 09

JERRY LEE LEWIS - (You're the only star) in my blue heaven

The average song length of early Jerry Lee Lewis albums is apr. two minutes. Now talk about the Ramones as inventors of american punk. Now way, the "Killah" beats them by good ten to twenty seconds. Not a lot people know on top of being the main mothafucka rock'n'roller Jerry Lee is also a genius country singer. He can even blast live and energy into this sodden Gene Autry classic.

8th Aug 09