I could write about the Swell concert two days ago (a mixed affair) or about the latest Fennesz album ('cept one track a total letdown) or about Cluster (maybe the greatest German band ever) or about images of people tortured and killed or or or. But why? What's the point of throwing my words onto the huge rubbish pile called the internet? Nobody cares so why should I? Pathetic but true. I am depressed. Don't listen to me.

Somehow while searching for Fennesz interviews and audios I stumbled upon Opal today when confounding them with Oval, the German electronic experimentalists. Opal were from sunny California and dissolved long ago. They were part of the paisley underground, the return to folky guitar tunes after the technology trip called new wave ran out of steam in the early/mid 80s. Paisley underground was also a kind of hippie music revisited. Often extremely psychedelic with guitar drones and spacy organs.

The nucleus of Opal were David Roback (guitar and organ) and Kendra Smith (bass and vocals). From Roback's point of view they were the band in between Rain Parade and Mazzy Star, from Smith's one the band after Dream Syndicate. Smith's voice which is not too dissimilar from Hope Sandoval's (Mazzy Star) is nevertheless a lot less sexy and less languid. She sounds more like a Nico transplanted from frosty Germany into the Mojave desert. Overall Opal were influenced a lot by Velvet Underground. Mostly by the third album and Loaded but also by White Noise/White Heat and the first.

In the following I have collected real audio links to the five Opal songs I found in the rich treasure trove of the WFMU radio archives. They are all excellent but my faves are the last two. Fell from the Sun is a gorgeous melancholic tuneful ballad which has some of the most mesmeriszing fuzzy guitar work on it I know. Siamese Trap bends more towards guitar noise, especially at the end. The repetitive organ "riff" gives it a slight Doors feel. The raw guitar sound has got something of Hendrix. At the end we arrive in deep improvisational droneland. I have been asking myself what song Grains of Sand reminds me of. It begins like a classic but never arrives to the climax. Now I know. It is Jim Morrison's The End.

• My Only Friend (Early Recordings)
• Grains of Sand (Early Recordings)
• Northern Line (Early Recordings)
• Fell from the Sun (Early Recordings)
• Siamese Trap (Happy Nightmare Baby)

are going to play in the Oetinger Villa in Darmstadt tomorrow at 9.30 pm. They used to be one of my favourite bands in the early nineties. Their music is psychedelic indie folk-rock with a very distinctive atmospheric warm guitar sound plus some good drive. There is something all-encompassing about their music. Swell are from San Francisco. Which is a dream of a city.

For a taster I can point you to two sites with mp3s. First there is a French fan page (I think they are most "famous" in France) with two concerts from 1991 and 1998: Is that Important?. Then there is another fan site which offers two mp3s from each of their albums. Meet you at the Villa.

Is George W. a "Dry Drunk"?:

PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her album download links over at Kingblind.

for those who use the blog digest kinja: adding the xml/rss feed of a blog to the system often works when the regular url does not. Example: Antville blogs. Just add "/rss10" to the address (hint by herr k.).

Paul Auster has written a song on the man who looks like a monkey, who talks like a robot emulating a monkey, who doesn't seem to have the brains of a monkey, and who is in charge of an insignificant country Columbus took for a part of India when he arrived close to it a while ago. It's a sad song of course: lyrics and mp3 of King George Blues (sorry for not linking to the main page but you are asking too much there).

Everything is Everything by the French band Phoenix (videos and radio). I had heard the song before but had to google it to find out by whom it was. There is no better way to start the day than with this kind of refreshing infectious pop song. Especially when you do not expect anything from the radio.