Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil - Haiti (from Tropicalia 2)

A song about racism in Haiti. About mostly black soldiers beating up black slackers and almost white ones so poor they are almost black.

Caetano Veloso raps but it doesn't sound like aggressive North American rap at all. It's slower, smoother, more human. It swings and has sex appeal. Revolution the Brazilian way. Naive, I know. The deep-resonating bass. The martial marching rhythms apparently provided by a drum computer which I don't recognise as such. And then the song changes into its longing falsetto refrain. Gets even mellower. That's really quite unbelievable.

the Jesus Lizard - Monkey Trick (from Goat)

Hungover from a party at work which finished in the pub. Just me and a colleague who is into heavy metal. He always tries to convince me (or maybe himself?) how technically proficient musicians playing in metal bands are. How close metal is to classical music. But he knows that it is totally useless. As I cannot overcome my gut feeling that metal is dumb as it all sounds the same to me. And I have the feeling there is no point yet in trying to open him up for different styles of music. We have been exchanging a fair amount of CDs, the only one of his I kind of liked was by Kyuss, a stoner rock band from California. I recently gave him Goat and he told me that the first couple of songs were ok but then it got dull and uninspired. And that they are not very good at their instruments. I felt a little offended though he is probably right. He has been playing guitar for twenty years and should know. But to be honest I have never cared for virtuosity.

It was interesting what he told me after. Up till now he hadn't given me any of his most beloved CDs as he was afraid I would say that I didn't like them and that they were nothing special. To be honest I didn't give him the music I love most neither. He always tried to give me stuff he thought I could like, stuff not too far from rock and I did the same by trying to find the albums which seemed closest to metal in my collection.

Anyways the song I uploaded tonight is not metal at all. It is visceral, intense and very powerful. The lizard who walks the water made music which could be called psychcore. David Yow, the singer who allegorically true to the band name used to surf the crowds during concerts without stopping singing, lets loose a screech after one minute into the song which is like a cry releasing the bad spirits slumbering in his soul. I love that outburst of energy. During most of the song there is a slow heavy bass riff which is then counterpointed by the slightly warped and fuzzed-out guitar. It's all pretty oppressive but addictive as well. Steve Albini produced this dark raw gem in 1991 and I could imagine it being played by the devil in a hell which would be a cage in a cave.

Listen to the new Cat Power album The Greatest on the official site before it comes out in January.

The Chills - This Is the Way (from Kaleidoscope World)

Silence. Some notes on a guitar. Keyboard washes. Martin Phillips giving away the title with that Kiwi accent which reminds me of Irish accents. Where way almost sounds like why. That ringing guitar going higher and higher. It's one of the simplest tunes imaginable. Not as sophisticated as Pink Frost. Not as deep lyric wise. Who cares if you can create music as beautiful with so few elements. One of those magic songs I could listen to endlessly.

Shake Your Fist on Pink Frost by The Chills. The kind of writing about music I aspire for.

Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth

This was released in January 1967 and I guess it got a lot of airplay in the summer of love as it was Buffalo Springfield's biggest hit charting on #7 in the US. A song by Stephen Stills which anticipates the retreat of the super power from Vietnam. It was supposed to be about young draftees being burned in the Far East but in the end it was about the police overreacting to protests against the war in LA. Something which is probably bound to happen soon again. Stills pleasant baritone makes the message clearer than clear.

My Bloody Valentine - We Have All the Time in the World

I was just about to delete the MBV folder on my mp3 jukebox when this last tune came on. A cover of John Barry's theme song for Her Majesty's Secret Service, a James Bond film from 1969. The original was performed by Louis Armstrong. It turned out to be Armstrong's last recording session. What a weird twist of fate concerning the title.

MBV released this in 1993 and Kevin Shields on the other hand must have taken the title rather literal regarding MBV's post Loveless output.

It's a song that reconciles the listener with the world, a heart-warming exuberant melody made even more ethereal by the dreamy vocals of the female singer (it's not Bilinda Butcher, is it?). You can't think of anything but "everything is gonna be alright" when you hear this. And there even is a kind of little practical advice for making something work we all strive for:

If there is just one person in the world reading your blog that's enough to go on blogging.