This weapons of mass destruction thing is just a mantra. It is repeated so many times that it does not mean anything anymore besides the tranquilizing effect. A way of saying fuck you all we can attack whoever we want and for the reasons we want. No one is going to stop us and if our "reasons" are crap for you we do not care. We won't even produce evidence for those "reasons" ourselves afterwards. As we do not need to. We are the emperors of the world. And everyone who criticises us has just not understood who is the boss.

An extremely trustworthy base for a future democracy in Iraq, don't you think? As the court decision who brought Bush to power. I would really like to think that everything will be going fine now, the whole Middle and Near East will be democratised and peace will be everywhere but sorry I don't see it happen. Maybe I am too skeptical for this new world. Or even worse: too old and too European.

Matthew Ingram on ten forgotten Krautrock records of which I don't own one (as you can see I am not an aficionado of German rock music, I discovered Neu! only last year, Kraftwerk never did anything for me).

The German orthography of Mr Ingram is far from perfect (no offense intended) but it's fun: Album #7 Deutshe Amerikanische Freundshaft: Die Klienen und Die Bosen for example should read Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft: Die Kleinen und die Bösen

Actually usually we abbreviate the name of that band to DAF. There is a grain of irony in that name (German American friendship) I suppose. Especially in view of recent developments in our relation. Sad but true. Unfortunately the small DAF tour this year with concerts in Berlin, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Munich last week is already over. Apparently (German review) it went all right for those provocative rock dinosaurs. In a way they are the missing link between punk and techno.

Ist jemand daran interessiert, die Minima Moralia gemeinsam zu lesen und in einem Blog zu diskutieren? Dazu geht es eventuell hier weiter.

Ich habe gerade die Minima Moralia von Adorno angefangen. Dieser in der Endphase des zweiten Weltkriegs 1944 begonnene unglaublich dichte Text scheint mir im Moment aktueller denn je. Ein kurzer Auszug:

An attempt of an English translation by Google Translate seconded by me:

The crazier, the more fucked up this world becomes, the better is Radiohead's music. There is a +1 correlation between those two. Radiohead show that in an age of brutality where force reigns there is still art which is stronger than any corrupt government. If there are still people listening to music in a hundred years time from now they will get a better picture of today's world by listening to Hail to the Thief than by reading any history books. History books will be falsified like journalism today. Music will never be. There is still hope for this world as long as there is music. Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and Powell (why did you sell your soul, Colin?) will be dead ashes soon, art will stay. Those bastards barbarians will soon be footnotes in history. Thieves will meet the fate they deserve.

Love is a feeling which usually does not last long. When love comes true very soon routine settles in and the fire of love consumes itself quickly. I mean the exciting part of love when you still don't know most of your partner. When you are still exploring each other. Wouldn't it be a good idea to try to slow down the process of falling in love in order to preserve the feeling of love the longest time possible?

There even is an analogy in listening to music here. When I love a record very much I often try consciously not to listen to the album too much. In order to preserve the value of the music and to prevent playing (loving) it to death.

I know that the concept of love I write about here is only one small part of "love" as it is generally understood. But I still think it is the most thrilling aspect of it. The reason is probably exactly the transience of this feeling.

Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth has started a new free mp3 label. The name is the program: Protest Records. Up to now 5 volumes with ten tracks each are available. Artists include Cat Power, Jim O'Rourke, Glenn Kotche, Eugene Chadbourne, Mike Watt, Gary Lucas, Mudhoney, Kimya Dawson, Tom Zé, Sonic Youth and many more. So what are you waiting for? Download for peace!

A woman without a man in love with her is like a flower without water. A man without a woman in love with him is like a tree without leaves.

Is a record you love on first listen necessarily more shallow and of lesser quality than a record you have to warm up with, you have to force yourself to listen to in the beginning to appreciate?

I am not sure about the answer. There is a tendency in me which dismisses music which is easy to like like chart music as artistically inferior to music which is harder to get into. At the same time I am almost 100% sure that music which I instantly like is music which I will also instantly (after few listens) dislike. Easy getting in means also easy getting out.

Music which takes its time to sink in seems to me music which also settles in more permanently. The relation is deeper than to superficial chart pop. The investment of listening to music which wasn't amazing in the beginning pays off later. Falling in love slowly means falling in love more intensely. Or is this theory too simple to be true?

For me usually getting to like music is a slow process of discovery. By listening I try to predict if I will like music I am not sure of yet in the future. It is a little like on the stock market where you try to forecast the evolution of the future price of the stock you buy. Often it works but sometimes it doesn't at all.

Let's take Giant Sand which is one of my favourite bands right now. It was pretty difficult to fall in love with their music. I bought Center of the Universe in 1992, listened to it and thought that it was ok but nothing special. Another band trying to sound like Velvet Underground without succeeding really. I didn't hate the record but I didn't find it extraordinary. At the time I was very much into My Bloody Valentine which immediately drew me in and which I still like but not as much as in 1992. Somewhere around 2000 I got Chore of Enchantment and I was enchanted (I couldn't resist) almost immediately. Howe Gelb sounded like Lou Reed, the music was close to the third VU album but even more relaxed, more American, more wide. And I relistened to Center and was totally hooked. It was like a hard rock Neil Young album with lots of psychedelics. Gorgeous. It had taken me eight years to get it but now it was mine.

I ordered the new Howe Gelb album The Listener last week-end and I liked the piano-dominated samples I heard immediately. Is this a bad sign or does it just mean that my knowledge of the music I like just gets better and better?