Reclaiming the Purpose to Live

I was rather down, grumpy and moody the last couple of months. I'm awfully sorry for this. However, today there was this current streaming through my body when I opened the post. Kylie's brand spanking new album Aphrodite is here.



It's almost weird yet totally flabbergasting how something like this can change your mood by 180°. Kylie saved me again :)

Love Is Stronger Than Death

Tonight, a tweet harmless tweet by Borstal Boy sent me heavily down memory lane.



It took not long that I came to The The's Love Is Stronger Than Death which is such a wonderful song for being in love in spring time :)



Lovelovelove
Lovelovelove

Me & my friend were walking
In the cold light of mourning.
Tears may blind the eyes but the soul is not deceived
In this world even winter aint what it seems.

Here come the blue skies here comes springtime.
When the rivers run high & the tears run dry.
When everything that dies.
Shall rise.

Lovelovelove is stronger than death.
Lovelovelove is stronger than death.

In our lives we hunger for those we cannot touch.
All the thoughts unuttered & all the feelings unexpressed
Play upon our hearts like the mist upon our breath.
But, awoken by grief, our spirits speak
How could you believe that the life within the seed
That grew arms that reached
And a heart that beat.
And lips that smiled
And eyes that cried.
Could ever die?

Here come the blue skies here comes springtime.
When the rivers run high & the tears run dry.
When everything that dies.
Shall rise.

Lovelovelove is stronger than death.
Lovelovelove is stronger than death.

Shall rise. shall rise.
Shall rise. shall rise.

2009 Reviewed - Über Cute

Shakira's She Wolf burned itself into my memory only because its video was recreated as He Wolf in the most über cute way :)

I want my Christmas & I want it like now!

Today, the fabulous Pet Shop Boys released their Christmas EP. Of course I rushed to my on-line CD store of trust to order it immediately after Jon tweeted it, only to learn that the delivery time is 2 weeks. Yes, this is like after Christmas. What is the _______ point of this?



I actually might have to get it from the iTunes store :/

Vital Necessity: Portable Loudspeakers

Sadly, only a few hotels have yet realised that it is really a vital travellers' necessity that you can plug your portable music player into the sound system of your room. Until I can rely on them having this basic equipment, I have no choice but to travel with my TravelSound thingy.



Talking about travels... Earlier today, there was a big contract signed, which will keep me busy for most of the next five years, including loads of trips to India.

But now, or to be more precise in an hour, I'll be checking out here in Bangalore to return to Toño :) Time to get into the shower and then to pack my TravelSound.

Blue Monday

I'm having a bit the blues today. It was just not my day. Can happen... So I call it an early night...

A Wolf Finally Makes Me Smile

I’m on a shitty assignment here in Spain. I sweat like a pig (it's too hot for the season), I have to work on the deck of a ship under construction (think juggling two notebooks with numerous cables attached to them, while on your left a bloke is welding, on your right a bloke is painting, behind your back an angle grinder is squeezing, and you try not to be hit by an erratically swinging gun barrel), have hardly any support from home base (caring employer's IT services are in Armageddonal disarray), Toño is not here to comfort me, and I'm not even paid for this (I reached my monthly working hours days ago and my contract does not entitle me to be paid for overtime). In other words, I rather moody and sulky*.

I tried to calm me a bit today by sipping some beer, while reading some of those amazing blogs out there (when for a change the hotel's internet is not down). That's how I came to Formysake's blog, who does some community service by dedicating a video for those among us, who are experiencing autumnal doldrums. I though, wow, good video. But then there was another one on the bottom of the post and WOW! That finally turned my mood!



Here is a comparison with the original:



And finally, the story behind:



*Although I haven't got the body for it, I would probably be a good prostitute, since I endure shitty circumstances much better when being paid for it.

Language is a Virus

Associating is a fascinating function of our brain. First I read Planetx_123's experiences with TV news and then I learned from Suf n Steve that it's Dictionary Day. I guess it was the combination of those two, which lead my brain to tell the conscious part it that I haven't heard this song for years:

Lovetronica

I've pre-ordered the upcoming new album Love 2 by Air only because of this line in the review by Monocle:

...sounds like a warm, indulgent paean to a fondly remembered, sun-dappled morning fuck with a sleepy-lipped lover in the George V.

Scarlet

While I was ironing, I put on old records and got kind of lost in memories. I don't listen quite often to Swiss music, but it happened today. There is this one song from 1992, which is IMHO like one of the best love songs ever. It's is called Scharlachrot (scarlet):

Die isch ja filmryf, die Szene i dere Frytignacht.
Dr Mond isch es wysses runds Loch
u luegt zur Wösch us wien'i.

Hie bini lang elei gsi u ha Fläsche ghöut,
Schtunde zeut i däm viu z'grosse Bett
u ha gseh wie sech d'Wäut wacker dräit...
nume nid um mi!

U jitzt bisch du cho, grad jitz, woni's nümm hätti dänkt,
u luegsch dry, wie wenn's öppis z'gwinne gäb
für die u für mi:
Im schlimmschte Fau nume'ne Nacht!

I boue mir mini Tröim uf
rund um di,
u male se scharlachrot a.
I brönne mir di Name
z'mitts i mis Härz.
Chönnt schwöre, dass i ewig blybe
we üs nüt drzwüsche chunnt.
-- Büne Huber

That could have come straight from a film, this scene on that Friday night.
The moon is like a round white hole
and is scowling like I am.

Here I was alone for a long time, emptying bottles,
counting hours in this far too big bed.
and have been watching how the world revolves valiantly...
only not around me!

And now you came, just now, when I had given up hope,
and you are looking like there is something to win
for you and for me:
At the worst only a night!

I'm building my dreams
around you,
and I'm painting them scarlet.
I'm burning your name
into the middle of my heart.
I could swear that I will stay forever,
if nothing cropped up.

Thankfully, I could also brand a name into my heart: Toño. And today Toño is celebrating his birthday. Unfortunately, there no present big enough to express my gratitude to Toño. As a humble attempt, I dedicate today this song to Toño

Gloomy Thursday

It wasn't really my day. Did loads of fruitless treadmill-like work stuff, but nothing else. What a waste. I was far off the flow and was just pulling the cart through the mud.

So I'm a bit gloomy and was looking for some music to close the day with. I came across Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division. This song is also a bit melancholy but is full of verve at the same time. A combination I like. And it brings back some nice dream-like memories.



Now I think I can go to sleep.

Volver Revisited

The song Volver, which gave Pedro Almodóvar's film Volver the title and the stand-alone song, was sung in the film in a flamenco version by Estrella Morente (and lip synced by Penélope Cruz)



There is an amazing version on her website (go to Multimedia).

However originally, this song is an Argentinian Tango... here sung by Carlos Gardel:

Enchanted

Last Friday we travelled to Lucerne with extremely high expectations and we were not disappointed at all but enchanted by a handsome magician. Jamie Lidell and his band were frolicsome and just extremely masterful. If I were a musician*, I would have given up after this concert, burned all instruments and would still be snivelling.

Once his musicians left the stage and Jamie Lidell constructed the tracks of this song live on stage by continuously sampling, looping and mixing his own voice:



* I lack all talent in this respect

Not Just Another Weekend

We had to put the most exposed flowers on the balcony floor this morning. Heavy storms are forecast for today. We also expect the evening to be a bit wild. We are going (finally) to see (cutie) Jamie Lidell, who will be performing in Lucerne at the Blue Balls Festival (I know, silly name).



Early Saturday morning we will embark to Vevey at the banks of Lake Geneva. Friends have invited us for the weekend. The climax of that visit is expected to be a dinner at Denis Martin (2 Michelin stars, 18 Gault Millau points). I better pack a clean shirt for that.

Though Toño has warned me. All involved but me are Latinos. Not everything might be that smoothly and predictably organised. I reckon, I will survive it, for once.

I wish you an amazing weekend. May some wild dreams come true for you!

Old Skool

MartininBroda posted some older Trance tracks, because obviously the weather is to sticky to think today. Well I'm not thinking but ironing* and so I put his tracks on.

They were a good selection but a tiny little bit too trancy for my taste. Although Martin had other intentions, he made me think. Like how did I get hooked up to electronic music in the first place.

I reckon one of the oldest tracks I can remember was Eisbär by Grauzone. I did not actually listen to it in 1981, but about two or three years later.



One of my oldest maxi singles was automaten by mittageisen (embedding is disabled, so follow this link), which was published in 1985. I even went to a Propaganda concert, because mittageisen was the warm up gig (no sacrifice was too great).

Also heavy influence came from The Young Gods. Here is the proof that their early songs based on sampling also work in an acoustic version.



But if there was one song in the 80es that still makes me shake, it's Let's Get Brutal by Nitro Deluxe.



* I you're thinking, based on today's posts, that I'm doing all the chores here, that would be the wrong impression. Toño does far more than I do. I just talk more about it.

My Soundtrack of Summer

My spring was dominated by Love etc.. But now summer finally has arrived here in the most liveable city and I think it's time to change to more summery vibes. This year I feel like summer when I'm listening to French band Phoenix on their entire latest record Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. To be honest, I've never really listened to the lyrics. It's the freshness of the sound that gets me this feeling.



Oh, now I did listen "like we did it all summer long" :P I wish you a bombastic summer (or winter for the ones with the sun on the wrong side).

Unfaithful Sunday Morning

Coincidentally, while I was reading about...



I was listening to...

Elvis Has Just Left The Building

I could not help but to hum this song all day. It is so sad that Zappa passed away far too early since we needed him right now for a new song.

Never Being Boring

If Yevgeny Zamyatin's novel Мы was ever adapted for a motion picture I insist that the Pet Shop Boys will be responsible for the soundtrack. Their concerts are how I imagine a baroque mass to render homage to Taylorism. There is nobody else making pop music with such mathematical precision.

This is one of my favourite songs with a fabulous video by Bruce Weber:



We have been participating in such a mass yesterday evening. And did I mention that their stage design reminded me somehow of a la La Fura dels Baus' show I saw years ago? And Chris Lowe, the coolest person in pop, wore a mirror-ball hoodie :)

"I'd rather be alone than try to be someone that I'm not"

Eels have released their seventh studio album "Hombre Lobo - 12 songs of desire"



Although Mark Everett is not exploring new territory, as he so often does when releasing a studio album, I like this 12 songs about longing, loneliness, frustrated desire and desamor.

The title I chose is out of the last song Ordinary Man. Its desolate beauty is so typical for what I like when I think of Eels. And there is still some hope despite all the despair. The line is followed by and you seem like someone who could appreciate the fact that I'm no ordinary man.