Deutsche Links
- Zum einen das komplette in realiter fast zentnerschwere Grimmsche Wörterbuch im Internet, dessen Javascript aber nicht überall funktioniert. Zuhause unter Windows 98 ging es, wenn auch sehr langsam, unter Windows 2000 im Büro klappte es leider überhaupt nicht. Habe die Artikel zu dem Begriff "Gott" nach Word kopiert: Unglaubliche 139 Seiten!
- Etwas verspätet, aber eigentlich immer aktuell: Die Abmahn-FAQ V. 1.2. Das Betreiben eines Weblogs ist vom Juristischen her immer ein Risiko. Da die Server von Blogspot an der kalifornischen Westküste sind und ich meist sowieso auf englisch schreibe, hoffe ich, dass ich von derartigen Nuisancen verschont bleibe.
posted by Alexander at 2:33 PM

Musical links
- The documentary film A Skin Too Few - The Days of Nick Drake according to Pitchfork does not reveal anything new about the most gifted suicidal songwriter of all times. The memories of his sister Gabrielle seem to be the most interesting part.
- Article in the LA Weekly on a big fan of The Doors who happens to be one of the foremost rock critics: Richard Meltzer (via freezing to death)
- Pitchfork on Sonic Youth: Murray Street. Rating wise from zero for their last album NYC Ghosts and Flowers to 9. Only the Flaming Lips going from 0 for Zaireeka to 10 for The Soft Bulletin have received the two opposite extreme ratings from one album to the next at Pitchfork. Though I ask myself if those two numbers were not confused.
- Another positive review of Murray Street by Marvin on the Aussie site Delusions of Adequacy. My review on this phantastic album is in the makes, promised.
- There is also a positive review of Pere Ubu's latest St.Arkansas by Patrick at DoA. I loved the last album Surf's Up of David Thomas and Two Pale Boys. Truly great haunting and weird atmospheric stuff.
- Jim O'Rourke who seems to be the bête noir behind most great albums this year (Wilco and Sonic Youth) has been releasing loads of albums himself recently. The five releases I'm Happy, and I'm Singing, and a 1,2,3,4, Insignificance, Halfway to a Threeway EP, Eureka, Bad Timing and Happy Days have been reviewed very positively at Tiny Mixtapes Gone to Heaven
- I even started a thread on ILM: Jim O'Rourke S/D. Forget what I wrote on Tortoise's Djed there.
posted by Alexander at 2:17 PM

Unmusical links
- Interesting LSD discussion at kuro5hin: My Lysergic Acid Diethylamide Life. From the introduction text:
"Acid has the strange ability to make all of the parts of your mind that make you who you are, dissolve away, and you can see your pure sort of essence. ...
Acid made me happy. ... I never thought that the human mind could think as fast as I have experienced on acid. Imagine that you catch a glimpse of your finger, the tiny ridges on it, and while pondering the implications of fingerprinting technology, and the injustice that is the FBI and federal government, you see the blood vessels in your finger, which, in your imagination, you can sort of travel down, and seeing that blood indeed permeates every part of you, you become aware that everything you intake, air, food, water, does indeed permeate every part of you also. These thoughts, spiraling faster, take you back, when you blink, realizing that you have been thinking for about a faction of a second."
- Four page Haruki Murakami story: Airplane in The New Yorker. Murakami is like a mix of Kundera and Carver to me. The obsession with the physical and psychological relations between men and women from Kundera, the austerity, simplicity and open-endness from Carver. Only less striking and dense than those two.
- Big Brother is watching the US: FBI checking out Americans' reading habits / Bookstores, libraries can't do much to fend off search warrants (via wortlog)
- The hardcore version of this blog: sax and sunshine. mainly a farting music blog. (via s*xblog)
posted by Alexander at 1:44 PM

Beautiful losers and/or good public relations?
The German Samsung headquarters are in Schwalbach about 500 meters from our house. Coming back from work in Frankfurt today by car I saw a German flag and a big banner in front of the Samsung building.
It said: WM 2002. Glückwunsch Deutschland.,
in English: World Cup 2002. Congratulations Germany.
If there is a football god on Sunday I will write Felicidad Brasil here.
posted by Alexander at 1:29 PM

American Analog Set live
The concert took place last Thursday night in the small Dreikönigskeller in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen. We had been waiting for almost 1 1/2 hours before the support act Don Lennon, a young singer/songwriter from Boston started around ten o'clock. He sang with a pleasant baritone and articulated the words of his often rather trivial lyrics centering on himself, on parties and girls very well. I thought the song in which he repeated his name in three languages was ingenious as it prevented me from forgetting it as it happens so often to me with support acts. His last song Dance Music was outstanding. He finished it without guitar just humming and making other strange noises with his mouth. That reminded me a little of Bobby McFerrin.
Around 11 o'clock the five guys of the American Analog Set from Austin, Texas arrived on stage and started tuning their instruments while Murray Street, Sonic Youth's excellent last album was still playing on the stereo.
AAS music is almost purely instrumental, the singing is subordinate, soft and rather high, more like a background effect, the lyrics are quite difficult to understand. Though AAS have existed for more than seven years the guitarist/singer seemed to be very young. He was extremely sympathetic and laid-back. Somehow this guy was so sweet that he radiated sunshine. He even apologized for playing a song they had performed six months ago when they had already been at the same venue. His guitar playing technique is rather economical and careful. At the end when his band already had left the stage he asked if there was a drummer in the audience to continue jamming a little. Of course there wasn't.
The drummer was the motor of the music. He provided the frame to fit in for the others. His drumming was very focussed, mostly rather energetic, sometimes more restrained. The peculiar thing about him was that he sticked out his tongue while drumming.
I can think of the following adjectives concerning the music: hypnotic, addictive, psychedelic, warm, mellow, serene, tender and tuneful. Many songs are rather minimal and repetitive. Some explose in a small crescendo. Besides drums and guitars there was a bass, keyboards and percussion (often xylophone). I had the impression that the keyboards sometimes played the same notes as the xylophone but with a small delay. The effect was like a kind of echo. During the second half of the concert I often closed my eyes to concentrate and enjoy the music better. The musicians did the same. For one song the guitarist used a black box which he stroke over the strings. The resulting sound was very low and full. Almost symphonic. In another song there was only drums and xylophone. I had difficulties to hear the bass. The bass player always turned his back on us.
Overall I loved the concert and bought their singles compilation Through the 90s: Singles and Unreleased after. It seems that they have changed their style slightly on the last record. The keyboards which have been dominating on many older singles have been pushed more into the background whereas the drumming has become more prominent. To me this is like a shift from psychedelic (keyboards) to hypnotic (rhythms). On the other hand it could be that this impression is mainly due to the concert where the drums have been louder than on the records.
- Genre: Drone-pop (due to AMG)
- Similar bands: Yo La Tengo, early Stereolab, Luna (for the singing and mood)
- Mp3s: "The Kindness of Strangers"(3.2 MB) and
"The Only One" (2.1 MB) from their latest album Know By Heart and
"Weather Report" (2.7 MB) from the album The Golden Band.
posted by Alexander at 11:03 PM

Goose pimple voices
David Thomson in The New Republic on Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker by James Gavin: My Unfunny Valentine:
"In the early hours of a May morning in 1988, a body was found on the street outside the Hotel Prins Hendrik in Amsterdam. Its skull was crushed from having landed on a spiked post; the body seemed to have fallen from a window of the hotel...
...Chet really had only two things in life: playing the trumpet and doing drugs."
One of the most touching things in Jazz is Chet Baker singing. When Chet sings he sounds like a ghost, like a spirit. His voice is celestial and unbelievably sad at the same time. There is only one other singer who moves me as much as Chet Baker. That is Billie Holiday. A good place to start with Chet is the excellent documentary Let's Get Lost which came out shortly after his death. But be prepared Chet's life was more about self-destruction than anything else.
posted by Alexander at 10:45 PM

I have changed the name of the blog again, the pronunciation is the same
- Longish account of Brian Wilson's concert in Nottingham by Mike from troubled diva. Apparently a great concert after a difficult start. A moving performance in between karaoke and sincerity.
- ILM discussion: Which other music is similar to "Unicorn" by Bel Canto and "Heaven or Las Vegas" & "Ivo" by Cocteau Twins?
- Ein Hamburger, der inzwischen tibetanischer Mönch ist, läuft zu Fuß durch Europa, er ist gerade dabei, die österreichische Grenze zu überschreiten, nachdem er Deutschland hinter sich hat und schreibt darüber im Internetz (via mosaikum). Das Ganze ist ein Friedensmarsch und soll dazu dienen, den Leuten in Europa das schwere Schicksal der Tibeter näherzubringen. Noch ein alter Reisetraum von mir. Zu Fuß um die Welt oder zumindest ums Mittelmeer.
posted by Alexander at 2:12 PM

Links
- Think positive. Only good news on the Good News Network. A good example: Palestinians and Jews. Working Together.
- ILM: A seemingly thorough interpretation of Gillian Welch's latest album Time. The Revelator and its refutation.
- Where's a good place to start with Wilco? After having read that thread I still don't know which will be my second album of theirs. The eclectic double album Being There or Summer Teeth full of violins?
- PLAYLOUDER | review - Murray Street by Sonic Youth:
"The way they manage to weave the songs into the whirling improvisational playing, like on 'Disconnection Notice', is seamlessly brilliant, and there is just enough balance between the tune, and the unexpected jazz chords, ear-splitting squeals, and lovely harmonic noises to make it forever listenable. This is unique to Sonic Youth and one of the reasons they have remained so relevant for 21 years. 'Murray Street' is mint."

German section
- Philosophiefragen kann man hier stellen und beantworten: WERTSCHRIFT.NET - das online-tool der philosophie
- Habe zwei Mal vergeblich versucht, mit dem Rad nach Indien zu fahren. Einmal war in Griechenland, einmal in Kappadokien Schluss. Zwei Studenten haben es kürzlich gepackt. Mit dem Fahrrad in die Uni: von Berlin nach Bangalore und weiter nach Seoul (Kurzfassung im UniSpiegel).
posted by Alexander at 1:49 PM

Sorry I am going to abuse this blog for some personal advantage for a while
I'd really like a cigarette now. Wouldn't it be a nice marriage with the Erdinger Weißbier I am drinking right now? Of course it would, but I can't have everything. That's what I tell me anyways. I just post this for the Google spider, ok? God, this must be my most embarrassing post ever. And off it goes.
posted by Alexander at 2:58 PM

The nicobeast is a rodent
I am in the blog hole but I am not alone. There is an animal gnawing inside my throat with its fine, little black teeths. It is the nicobeast. And it whispers into my ear:
"I stop gnawing at you if you just have one puff of a cigarette. Just one microgram of nicotine and I will leave you alone."
And I answer:
"No thanks. Been there, done that. Enough is enough. The vicious circle has to be broken. By the way I can hardly feel your gnawing anymore nicobeast. It almost feels like tickling now. I will starve you out little nicobeast. Only a heap of black nicotine will be left of you."

- I have to thank Hot Poop - Zappa News & Other Lumpy Gravy for linking to me.
- Recollections based on the album Doolittle, by the Pixies (long Mefi discussion on music memories in general).
- Sonic Youth interview and positive Murray Street review by Andy Gill in the Independent. Alvin from Nancy (in French) likes the album too.
- Concerts in the Rhein-Main region:
16-6 Midnight Choir in the Nachtleben in Frankfurt: Don't really know the band. They are from Norway and they sound quite epic and dark, a little bit like the early Tindersticks, but kitschier. A goth band with a crooner singing.
20-6 American Analog Set in the Dreikönigskeller in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen: Know by Heart was one of my favourite albums last year. They are from Austin, Texas which is home of a very good independent music scene. Somewhere in between early Stereolab, Luna and Yo La Tengo. The music is more on the bright side but definitely has a psychedelic undertone.
27-6 Calexico at the AstA-Sommerfest in Frankfurt-Bockenheim (free & outdoors): Giant Sand minus Howe Gelb are best without mariachi and when they don't sound like the music to a Western film score. Joey Burns and John Convertino can play music as far out as Giant Sand if they want. Just check their Aerocalexico tour CD from last year. Jazzy improvisations and Nick Drake covers are to be expected.
27-6 Suzanne Vega in the Volkspark in Mainz (sorry Suzanne but Calexico is more tempting).
posted by Alexander at 2:52 PM

I stopped smoking on Tuesday 4 pm
That's one reason for the lack of updates. The other is that I am uninspired and a little tired of my blog. Hopefully that will change soon. The first anniversary is not too far. I have been listening a lot to the first two New Order albums in the last days. Especially Movement is one of those records touching me deep inside. Maybe more on it later.
posted by Alexander at 10:19 PM

I think I will give up the titles soon
- Luke known as Captain Fez in the tiny blogworld has been fired from his job as he blogged during working hours. Blog or job that is the question. And the terrible thing is, a blog which would be paid and could replace a job wouldn't be a blog anymore.
- I don't have to write my review of Wilco's phantastic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot anymore. It has been written by James Surowiecki in the New Yorker already:
"But 'Yankee Hotel' is more about things holding together than about things falling apart. The sonic chaos heightens the sense of order that's embodied by the melodies and, ultimately, by Tweedy's voice."
What is so amazing about this album is that despite its refined production with loads of sounds and instruments it is down to earth (how I love that expression) and simple. It is full of surprising bends. It is pop and experiment at the same time. I have been listening to it in my car stereo going to work (about 2x20 minutes per day) for about four weeks now (except one week of Tom Waits interlude) and I am still not tired of it. There is a lot of sun and a lot of darkness on that album. It is like real life.
posted by Alexander at 2:08 PM

More pointers
- Political compass: ca. 50 questions to find out if you are economically left/right (communist/neo-liberal) and libertarian/authoritarian (anarchist/fascist). To my astonishment I turned out to be close to Gandhi. A little less left but more libertarian.
- 1984 comes true in Europe. Big Brother will be watching us soon: Europe votes to end data privacy. I can't believe it.
- I haven't taken this test yet. I probably will turn out buddhist I suppose: belief-o-matic test
- ILM: One of my favourite today almost forgotten indie pop bands musically in between The Velvet Underground's third album and The Smiths: House of Love: unjustly neglected?
- Noch ein Test für meine deutschen Leser: Wie alt sind Sie wirklich? (Focus). Dass ich wieder mit dem Rauchen angefangen habe, hat mich natürlich nicht jünger gemacht. Mehr Sport wäre auch nicht schlecht. Mindestens fünf Kilo sollten runter. Also ich arbeite dran, mein biologisches Alter dem Aktuellen anzupassen. Vegetarier werde ich aber trotzdem nicht werden.
posted by Alexander at 11:03 PM

Feeding the swallows
The weather is too nice to blog today. Just some links:
- PopMatters Music Interview | The Forgotten NYC Band: An Interview with Interpol. They don't think that they sound like Joy Division.
- index magazine interview: Brian Eno. Focussing on sociology and philosophy with a short discussion of Norbert Elias, Richard Sennett and Richard Rorty whose introduction to his book Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity Eno condenses to: "In the end, what Rorty turns out to be saying is that philosophy is just another kind of writing. It doesn’t have any special grasp on the truth."
Concerning the music only My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Eno's collaboration with David Byrne from the early eighties is mentioned.
- Modern classics: Performance Today. Christopher O'Riley interprets Radiohead on piano: Knives out, Thinking about you, Like Spinning Plates. And Nick Drake: Place to Be. MeFi discussion with a link to Brad Mehldau's version of Paranoid Android at KCRW.
- ILM discussion on Murray Street, the soon to be released new album of everybody's darling indie band Sonic Youth.
posted by Alexander at 2:10 PM