• Dummy
• Self-Titled
• Third

I wonder how they will call their fourth album.

No. of albums per year in my possession:

YEAR Anzahl von AID 2003 46 2004 31 2005 29 2006 14 2007 7

My interest for music has been decreasing in the last couple of years. The peak was in 1992 with 123 items. Since then this statistic has been steadily going down. Except in 2000 where it was up from 66 to 83. God knows why. Anyways my 40 years, 40 albums series stopped in 2002. Here are the five favourite albums which followed in the meantime. Probably not very trustworthy as my sample got tinier and tinier over the years.

• 2003: Yo La Tengo - Summer Sun
• 2004: Bark Psychosis - Codename: Dustsucker
• 2005: Annette Peacock - 31:31
• 2006: Thom Yorke - The Eraser
• 2007: PJ Harvey - White Chalk

Abilene - George Hamilton IV Albuquerque - Neil Young Amsterdam - Jacques Brel, John Cale, Peter Bjorn and John, Prelude Anchorage - Michelle Shocked Asbury Park - King Crimson Athens, OH - Solex Atlantic City - Bruce Springsteen Austin - Reto Burrell Baltimore - Lyle Lovett, Randy Newman Bangkok - Alex Chilton Barcelona - Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé, Will Oldham, Rufus Wainwright Baton Rouge - Guy Clark Belfast - Boney M Berlin - Heidi Brühl, Crawling Chaos, Ideal, Pole, Lou Reed Bloomington - Old 97s Bobcaygeon - The Tragically Hip Bordeaux - The Durutti Column Boston - Gene Clark Box Elder - Pavement Bratislava - Beirut Brisbane (Security City) - The Saints Bruxelles - Prolapse Budapest - Poni Hoax Chapel Hill - Sonic Youth Cherbourg - Beirut Chicago - Sufjan Stevens, Graham Nash China Grove - The Doobie Brothers Copenhagen - Scott Walker Dallas - Silver Jews, Steely Dan, The Flatlanders Damascus - John Zorn Dayton, Ohio - Randy Newman Denver - Steve Alaimo Detroit City - Bobby Bare Downey, CA - Saint Etienne Düsseldorf - La Düsseldorf, Pole Edinburgh - Cinerama El Paso - Marty Robbins Freiburg - Tocotronic Galveston- Glen Campbell Gary, Indiana - Robert Preston (Music Man soundtrack) Halifax - The Pills Hamburg - Lassie Singers Helsinki Rock City - Giant Robot Holland - Sufjan Stevens Houston - Dean Martin Istanbul - Wild Stares Jackson - Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams Jerusalem - Mirah, Sinead O'Connor, Royal City Johannesburg - Gil Scott-Heron Johnsburg, Illinois - Tom Waits Kansas City - Wilbert Harrison, Little Richard, Okkervil River Lafayette - Lucinda Williams Lake Charles - Lucinda Williams Lebanon, Tennessee - Ron Sexsmith L.A. - The Fall, Neil Young L.A., L.A. - Tragedy Los Angeles - Frank Black, The Brilliant Green, X Lisboa - Jessamine, Six Organs Of Admittance, The Durutti Column Lisbon - Keith Fullerton Whitman Livonia [Michigan] - His Name Is Alive Lodi - Creedence Clearwater Revival London - Pamelia Kurstin, Pet Shop Boys, The Smiths, Patrick Wolf London, London - Caetano Veloso Luckenbach, Texas - Waylon Jennings Lyon - Pinback Macau - Monolake Madrid - Aroah Manchester, England - Hair, The Original Soundtrack Memphis - Chuck Berry, Joe Jackson Memphis, Egypt - The Mekons Mendocino - Sir Douglas Quintet Miami - Randy Newman, U2 Mill Valley - Miss Abrams' 3rd Grade Class Minneapolis - That Dog, Lucinda Williams Monte Carlo - Diane Cluck Montgomery - Long Fin Killie Montreal - Autechre, Blue Rodeo, Of Montreal Moskau - Dschingis Khan Nantes - Beirut Nashville - Casiotone ftpa New Amsterdam - Elvis Costello New Orleans - The Barmitzvah Brothers, U.S. Bonds City of New Orleans - Steve Goodman/Arlo Guthrie New York - Serge Gainsbourg, Montt Mardíe, Sex Pistols, Nikki Sudden, T-Rex New York City - Cub, Damon and Naomi, Demics, The Jesus and Mary Chain New York, New York - Frank Sinatra Omaha - Moby Grape Oslo - Norfolk & Western Oxford Town - Bob Dylan Paris - Jonatha Brooke, Patrick Wolf Paris, Texas - Ry Cooder Peoria - King Crimson Pineola - Lucinda Williams Philadelphia - Magazine, Prewar Yardsale Philly, Philly - Eve feat. Beanie Siegel Portland - The Replacements Providence - King Crimson, Sonic Youth Rockville - REM Rome - Les Savy Fav Saginaw, Michigan - Lefty Frizzell San Francisco - Scott McKenzie Santa Fe - Bob Dylan Sao Paulo - Guillemots Scarborough - Crash Vegas Seattle - PiL Seville - Pinback Sheffield: Sex City - Pulp Singapore - Tom Waits Strasbourg - Julian Cope, The Rakes My City Is Sydney - Tommy Leonetti Syracuse - Pinback Tallahassee - Mountain Goats Texarkana - R.E.M. Tipp City - The Amps Tokyo - Bruce Cockburn, Lesbo Pig Toledo - Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello Toronto #4 - The Tragically Hip Toulouse - Claude Nougaro Tripoli - Pinback Vancouver - Jeff Buckley, The Violent Femmes Ventura - Lucinda Williams Versailles - Pinback Vesoul - Jacques Brel Vigo - Aroah Vincennes - Bobby Bare Warsaw - Joy Division Warszawa - David Bowie Wien - Labradford Vienna - Ultravox Weissensee - Neu! Winnipeg - Martin Teilli Woodstock - Joni Mitchell

(see also here)

I spent some of my Sunday afternoon looking for songs with titles which are cities. Thanks to ILM I assembled this list. Actually I wanted to find songs about a city with a title which does not necessarily have to match the name of the city exactly. But that task must wait as it is a lot of research work. As a condensation of the song search here are the top twelve cities after the number of songs dedicated to them (by the way I have been to seven of them, the five I haven't seen are all in the US except Jerusalem):

• New York 10 (incl. New Amsterdam 11)
• L.A. 6
• Berlin 5
• London 5
• Amsterdam 4
• Lisboa/Lisbon 4
• Barcelona 3
• Dallas 3
• Jerusalem 3
• Montreal 3
• New Orleans 3
• Philadelphia 3

• Transmission (9)
• Shadowplay (8)
• She's Lost Control (8)
• Insight (7)
• Disorder (6)
• Love Will Tear Us Apart (6)
• Colony (5)
• Interzone (5)
• Dead Souls (4)
• New Dawn Fades (4)
• Novelty (4)
• Passover (4)
• The Eternal (4)
• These Days (4)
• Twenty Four Hours (4)
• Warsaw (4) ...

Control kommt in Deutschland im Januar in die Kinos. Nicht die schlechteste Zeit, um mal wieder dieser phantastischen Band zu gedenken. Gab es je eine bessere? Wenn ja, dann hab ich sie verpennt, wie ich Joy Division 1980 verträumt habe.

safe for work

Albums from this year Karl Bruckmaier (Bayern 2 Zündfunk, Süddeutsche etc.) gave a five star rating:

• Fe-Mail "Voluptous Vultures"
• Toni Kitanovski & Cherkezi Orchestra "Borderlands"
• TV on the Radio "Return to Cookie Mountain"
• Matmos "The Rose has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast"
• Geoff Muldaur "The Secret Handshake"
• V.A. "Das Dieter Roth oRchester spielt kleine wolken, typische scheiße und nie gehörte musik"
• Sufjan Stevens "The Avalanche"
• Bonnie "Prince" Billy "The Letting Go"
• Pere Ubu "Why I Hate Women"
• Kante "Die Tiere sind unruhig"
• Lambchop "Damaged"
• V.A. "Paint It Black - Die besten Songs der Rolling Stones"
• Nina Kinert "Let There Be Love"
• Gram Parsons "The Complete Reprise Sessions" (6 stars!?)
• Wreckless Eric "Bungalow Hi"
• Couch "Figur 5"
• Die Goldenen Zitronen "Lenin"
• Ramblin' Jack Elliott "I Stand Alone"
• Howe Gelb "Sno Angel Like You"
• Seu Jorge "The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions"
• Jazkamer "Metal Music Machine"
• Tullycraft "Disenchanted Hearts Unite"
• The Red Krayola "Introduction"
• Be Your Own Pet "st"
• Woog Riots "Strangelove TV"
• Archie Bronson Outfit "Dart for my Sweetheart" (CD-Single)
• Be Your Own Pet "Let's Get Sandy" (CD-Single)
• Morrissey "Ringleader of the Tormentors"
• Flaming Lips "At War with the Mystics"
• Department of Eagles "The Cold Nose"
• Frank Niehusmann "Day Tracks 1"
• North Quartet "Malamute"
• George Clinton "How Late Do You Have 2B B4 UR Absent?"

I only know the Pere Ubu which is wonderful, the Howe Gelb which doesn't work for me and the Lambchop which I haven't warmed up to yet.

P.S. I listened to a couple of the Bonnie Prince Billy songs and some clips from the Morrissey. In both cases I am positively sure that I have enough (& better) albums in my CD and LP shelves of the artists. Sufjan Stevens? TV on the Radio? Flaming Lips? Not at all interested in that kind of bombast. So in the end Bruckmaier's music taste and mine don't seem to overlap a lot. The Ramblin' Jack Elliott must be good though.

I made a list of all countries I have music of. 50 in total. Making a trip around the world in music could be a new project reinvigorating my blog. There was a similar thing on the ILM blog a while ago. Here is the list:

North America
• Canada
• United States


Central America and the Caribbean
• Cuba
• Jamaica


South America
• Brazil


Africa
• Algeria
• Congo
• Egypt
• Ethiopia
• Gambia
• Guinee
• Mali
• Mauritania
• Morocco
• Nigeria
• Senegal
• Sudan
• Zimbabwe


Europe
• Austria
• Belgium
• Bosnia
• Croatia
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• Kosovo
• Macedonia
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Russia
• Serbia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom


The Middle East
• Lebanon
• Turkey


Rest of Asia
• India
• Japan
• Pakistan


Australia and Pacific
• Australia
• New Zealand

60s: The Beatles 70s: Roxy Music 80s: The Smiths 90s: My Bloody Valentine

They are all British but most of my favourite albums are American. It's weird. Maybe the British have more stamina ('cept that Shields guy who is Irish anyway). Not to forget originality, of course.