July 30, 2005

Bought a Zen Mirco today.

Didn't order any CD's though.

It's raining a LOT in Denmark and the U2 concert is tomorrow. I'm afraid it's going to be a wet experience!

July 29, 2005

Friday ramblings:

It's been a while since I've promoted Sensuous. Go check them out - NOW!

Heard A Little Respect by Erasure on the radio this morning. What a great pop song that (still) is!

Read a small piece on Nick Drake last night. Apparently he hardly sold any albums while being alive, but today he is considered a genius. Wish more pop stars read this and were a bit more humble about their success! Way to Blue is a beautiful song!

Will try to get tickets for the Coldplay concert. They will be for sale on Monday. It might end up being very difficult and it will probably sell out in no time!

Planning to order some CD's later today. Albums by Blur, Brendan Benson (no surprise), The Magnetic Fields and Terry Hall are on the wish list! Didn't happen. Will have to wait 'till Monday.

Really should be listening to U2 as "warming-up" for the concert. Don't feel like it though!

Will be home alone tonight, so there should be plenty of time for downloading and listening to new music (though it can be difficult finding it) and maybe having a beer!

My Swiss connection has sent me several songs by Shack. Recommendable stuff!

Apparently David Gray has a new single out called The One I Love. I haven't been able to find a copy yet, but I'm looking forward to hearing it!

New single by Morning Runner called Gone Up in Flames is rather good. Makes me looking forward to an album (if they will ever release one - no info on their webpage) even more!

Another much talked about/hyped song is Emily by Stephen Fretwell. Beautiful is probably the only correct word to describe it?

This Is the Day by The The may be an oldie (22 years old in fact) - but what a brilliant one it is - brilliant? - it's f*cking great you know!

Hopefully I will continue the Ramblings tonight - so I did!!
Found these 7 CD's at the library yesterday (Tuesday):

Frank Sinatra: In The Wee Small Hours
Sufjan Stevens: Michigan
Brendan Benson: Lapalco
Tegan and Sara: If It Was You
The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers
Sufjan Stevens: Seven Swans
The Style Council: The Sound Of


During the next couple of days I will listen to the albums and add a few comments along the way.

I like Frank Sinatra - in fact I've done so for as long as I can remember. At RateYourMusic this album is highly ranked, so I thought it would be appropriate to give the album a spin. I didn't know any of the songs beforehand, but I wasn't surprised that this is a really quiet album, because with a title like that - I guessed it had to be! Probably more suited for dinner music than as music to "kick start" your working day!

No matter where you turn you always seem to find someone who writes something positive about Sufjan Stevens. Parts of Michigan (ranked as the 3rd best album of 2003 at RateYourMusic) are indeed astonishingly great and other parts are, well, not so great. But this was my first listen and as always that's not nearly enough to make a final verdict.
Thoughts on Seven Swans are pretty much the same as on the Michigan album. More time is needed I guess?

Brendan Benson is another one of those artists that everyone seems to like. Lapalco is surprisingly immediate and made a really good first impression. Second listen: This is a brilliant album! Will be in my "shopping bag" the next time I order CD's. If you want to check it out I suggest that you start with Tiny Spark, You're Quiet or Life in the D. Come to think of it I actually recommend that you check out the entire album!

How do you describe the music of Tegan and Sara? Is it pop music with a twist of country or vice versa? The songs I already knew (Living Room, Monday Monday Monday and I Hear Noises) are really good, but overall I'm a bit disappointed, because the rest of the songs are not of the same caliber as those three! Quantity will never beat quality, but 12 songs running just 36:39 is not really enough - is it?

I'm not a fan of The Rolling Stones, but I'm constantly trying to get into their music. So far I've only had mixed success with this Stones "project", but I have managed to find a few songs that I really, really like (She's a Rainbow, Sympathy for the Devil and Gimme Shelter). Sticky Fingers is widely considered to be one of their better (best?) albums, so I thought it would be the next logic step in the exploration of The Stones after listening to Forty Licks a few times. The standout tracks on Sticky Fingers (except for Dead Flowers) can be found on Forty Licks as well, but for a first listen my impressions of the album as a whole are very positive.

The Style Council were never really my cup of tea in the 80's, but ever since I downloaded the (excellent) 12" version of My Ever Changing Moods a few years back, I've started to explore their music. The Sound Of is a nice compilation, which also has been added to my wish list.

This sums up my recent visit to the library. More ups than downs; well worth the effort, so expect more of this stuff in the future!

July 27, 2005

Visit Torr if you're interested in listening to a couple of new songs by JJ72 and Nada Surf.

The new JJ72 songs are brilliant. She's Gone could very well end up being my favorite song of the year! I know being a JJ72 fan makes me biased, but trust me! They are really, really worth checking out.

July 26, 2005

1 new album added to my CD-Collection:
The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

My Swiss connection thought it was time to eliminate one of the most glaring omissions in my collection and sent me Sgt. Pepper’s as a gift.

Fixing a hole – indeed!


Thank you :)

July 25, 2005

Friday I listed Precious by Depeche Mode and Cold Hands (Warm Heart) by Brendan Benson as a couple of current favorites. Add the excellent Without You by El Presidente and Soul Meets Body by Death Cab For Cutie (Thanks Chris!) to those.
If my heart ever gets broken again (hopefully it won’t), I will spend the days listening to Chris Isaak. My god he’s miserable.

The list is endless, but check out Somebody's Crying, Lie To Me, Let Me Down Easy, his cover of Yellow Bird or the tear-jerking Things Go Wrong - *sob* *weep* etc.

If I’ve ever had any credibility I’ve probably lost is now, when admitting to liking this guy?

July 22, 2005

Friday ramblings:

I'm listening to the 1981 (debut) single Ceremony by New Order. Doesn't it sound quite a bit like Regret (from the 1993 album Republic) or to be more specific - doesn't Regret sound a lot like Ceremony?

The inclusion of Hello by Sugarbomb on the compilation I received the other day lead to an e-mail discussion on why this song wasn't a major hit. Can anyone explain?

According to Last.Fm I've listened to Precious by Depeche Mode 46 times! That's in less than 24 hours!

Another current favorite is Cold Hands (Warm Heart) by Brendan Benson. This is the first song I've ever heard from this guy, but since I've read lots of positive stuff about him, I guess it won't be the last?

Check out the recent list of artists recommended to me by Audioscrobbler. Still no chance that I will start listening to Björk or The Streets.

July 21, 2005

Quite a shocker!

I've just downloaded the new Depeche Mode single called Precious and I really hate to admit this (because I think the band is sooooo overrated), but it's simply awesome!

Bet a couple of my friends (who happen to be hardcore DM fans) will be excited to hear this!

So far today I have listened to the song 25 times, which is an absolutely insane number of times. I have no intention of becoming a DM fan now, because I'm really far too old to start wearing nothing but black clothes! ;-)
Just like X-mas :-)

Yesterday I received a package from my Swiss Connection (thank you!) containing the following 4 CDs:

Teenage Fanclub: Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds - A Short Cut To Teenage Fanclub
Porcupine Tree: Deadwing
Morning Runner: Drawing Shapes (EP)

and finally a "home cooked" one called Cool Sounds/Summer Songs (including songs by Moi Caprice, The Raveonettes, Sugarbomb, Coldplay, Ash etc.).

Ever since getting hooked on Neil Jung I've wanted to learn more about Teenage Fanclub. This compilation should provide the perfect starting ground.

I've written before that I'm no fan of Prog-Rock, but maybe someday that Swiss dude will be able to turn me into a fan - you never know! Actually I've heard a couple of tracks from Deadwing before receiving it and they (surprise, surprise) didn't sound bad at all!

I've previously heard the brilliant song Work by Morning Runner, which can be found on the EP. Hopefully there's an album in the making!

July 20, 2005

I'm listening to Manic Street Preachers and have decided that these are the 5 best songs by the Manics:
1. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next (It doesn't matter if it's the single version or the David Holmes remix)
2. Motorcycle Emptiness
3. La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)
4. No Surface All Feeling
5. Little Baby Nothing

I've previously picked these 5 songs as the best by Radiohead:
1. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
2. Creep
3. Let Down
4. Fake Plastic Trees
5. There There (The Boney King of Nowhere)

I suspect that this could be the beginning of a new posting thread!

Might as well add the following to this thread:

Top 5 songs by Coldplay:
1. Don't Panic
2.
In My Place
3.
Talk (the 1st version)
4. A Rush Of Blood To The Head
5. Trouble


And this:
Top 5 songs by The Smashing Pumpkins:
1. Thirty-Three
2. Stand Inside Your Love
3. Tonight, Tonight
4. Ava Adore
5. Today/Disarm

July 19, 2005

1 new album added to my CD-Collection:
Diefenbach: Set & Drift

Hearing Favourite Friend (first single from the album) was enough to convince me that it would be a good idea to buy Set & Drift - the third album by Danish band Diefenbach.
After listening to it 5 times it still seems like a good idea, because overall this is a pretty good album.

Favourite Friend aside; the standout tracks (so far) are Mechanical, Glorious and The Rocket.

July 18, 2005

4 new albums added to my CD-Collection:
Lou Reed: Transformer
PJ Harvey:
To Bring You My Love
The Magic Numbers: The Magic Numbers
K's Choice: 10 - 1993 > 2003 Ten Years Of

July 17, 2005

I’m back again after 14 days in the sun (Mallorca).

From a music point of view not much happened during the holiday, because I didn’t bring any CD’s, MP3’s etc. with me. However our house did have a satellite dish, which meant that we were able to watch some sort of music TV (those dreadful German TV stations claim that what they are playing is music, so I guess the correct term is music TV?).
Having a close encounter with those channels for 2 weeks definitely made it more clearly to me than ever that people these days really are listening to horrible, horrible music. The most played videos were Lonely by Akon, Dubi Dam Dam by Banaroo and Un Monde Parfait by Ilona Mitrecey. Need I say more?
Some say they used Christina Aguilera for torturing prisoners at Guantanamo. Try these songs instead. Pretty much stuff that makes you want to kill yourself!

A couple of days before the holiday ended, my friend bought a handful of CD’s (my god they sure were illegal ones), which meant that we could listen to Coldplay, Pink Floyd and Green Day instead. Quite an upgrade - don't you think? Luckily we also managed to find a sanctuary a couple of evenings (when the wives let us out) at the local British Pub. They Brits sure have a much better taste in music than the Germans.

My holiday unfortunately meant that I didn’t get to watch much of the Live8 show, but Green Day definitely kicked a**!

If time allows me to, I will update my CD-collection tomorrow, because 4 albums have arrived while I was away.

July 1, 2005

"I am going on a summer holiday.
No more blogging for a week or two.
I won't post while on a summer holiday.
No more nonsense from me to you.
For a week or two."

Re-written without permission - sorry!
I've just ordered the following 4 CD's:
Lou Reed: Transformer
PJ Harvey: To Bring You Love
K's Choice: 10 - 1993>2003 Ten Years Of
The Magic Numbers: The Magic Numbers