[music, songs] May 20, 2010 at 12:45:00 PM CEST

• 3:47 Giant Sand - (Well) Dusted (For the Millennium) (2000)

 
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[music, songs] May 18, 2010 at 10:45:00 PM CEST

• 3:48 Belle and Sebastian - Seeing Other People (1996)

Irgendwo muss ich es mal sagen, in meinem jetzigen Blog kann ich es aber nicht, ich bin unglaublich enttäuscht darüber wie sich die Blogosphäre entwickelt hat in den letzten paar Jahren. Da wird nicht mehr verlinkt, da wird nicht mehr kommentiert, da wird nicht mehr diskutiert, da wird nur noch versucht, irgendwie Hits zu generieren. Es gibt da z.B. ein Blog mit täglichen eingebetteten Youtube-Videos ohne irgendwelchen Text. Und dieses Blog kriegt angeblich 2 oder 3 tausend Visits oder Hits am Tag und ist damit eines der populärsten deutschen Musikblogs nach einem Blogverzeichnisdienst. Das sagt absolut alles über den aktuellen Zustand der deutschen Blogszene oder was davon übrig geblieben ist.
 
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[music, songs] May 17, 2010 at 9:36:00 PM CEST

• 3:49 The Go-Betweens - Streets of Your Town (1988)

 
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[music, songs] May 16, 2010 at 7:37:00 PM CEST

• 3:50 The League Unlimited Orchestra - Don't You Want Me (1982)

 
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[music, songs] May 15, 2010 at 12:39:00 PM CEST

• 3:51 Joni Mitchell - California (1971)

 
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[music, songs] May 14, 2010 at 7:51:00 PM CEST

the beat goes on

• 3:54 New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle (1986, S. Hague remix)
• 3:53 Dump - Pop Life (2001, Prince cover)
• 3:52 Aimee Mann - Susan (1999)

 
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[music, songs] May 11, 2010 at 10:35:00 PM CEST

100 Lieder

habe ich Tag für Tag seit dem 1. Februar ausgewählt, jeden Tag eins, das eine Sekunde kürzer war als das Vorhergehende. Damit habe ich knapp ein Drittel der Strecke bis zum 30. November (0:32) hinter mich gebracht. Hier sind die ersten hundert:

• 5:34 My Bloody Valentine - I Only Said (1991, music offline)

<li>5:33 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/533/">The Velvet Underground - Beginning To See The Light</a> (1969, music offline)</li>
<li>

5:32 Kruder & Dorfmeister - Gotta Jazz (1998, music offline)

<li>5:31 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/531/">New Order - The Him</a> (1981, music offline)</li>

<li>5:30 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/530/">Annette Peacock - My Mama Never Taught Me How To Cook</a> (1978, music offline)</li>

<li>5:29 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/529/">Michael Rother - Karussell</a> (1977, music offline)</li>

<li>5:28 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/528/">Sparklehorse - Eyepennies</a> (2001, music offline)</li>

<li>5:27	<a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/527/">Electronic - Gangster</a> (1991, music offline)</li>

<li>5:26 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/526/">Teenage Fanclub - Alcoholiday	</a> (1991, music offline)</li>

<li>5:25 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/525/">Talk Talk - Inheritance</a> (1988, music offline)</li>

<li>5:24 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/524/">Johann Sebastian Bach - 4. Brandenburgisches Konzert G-Dur, 3. Satz</a> (1721, music offline)</li>

<li>5:23 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/523/">Bob Dylan - Love Minus Zero/No Limit</a> (1965, MTV Unplugged version from 1995, music offline)</li>

<li>5:22 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/522/">Idaho - Gone </a>(1993, music offline)</li>

<li>5:21 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/521/">Massive Attack - Spying Glass</a> (1994, music offline)</li>

<li>5:20 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/520/">Pinback - Lyon</a> (1999, music offline)</li>

<li>5:19 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/519/">Neneh Cherry - Move With Me</a> (1992, music offline)</li>

<li>5:18 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/518/">Depeche Mode - Behind the Wheel</a> (1987, music offline)</li>

<li>5:17	<a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/517/">Talk Talk - Give It Up</a> (1986, music offline)</li>
<li>

5:16 New Order - Dream Attack (1989)

• 5:15 The Cure - A Letter to Elise (1992)
• 5:14 The Field Mice - When Morning Comes To Town (1989)

<li>5:13 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/513/">Thin White Rope - Red Sun </a> (1992 live)</li>

<li>5:12 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/512/">Kings Of Convenience - Parallel Lines </a>(2001)</li>

<li>5:11 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/511/">Joy Division - Passover </a> (Birmingham 2.5.1980)</li>

<li>5:10 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/510/">Lloyd Cole &amp; The Commotions - Forest Fire </a> (1984)</li>

<li>5:09 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/509/">Electronic - Feel Every Beat </a> (1991)</li>

<li>5:08 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/508/">Joni Mitchell - Furry Sings The Blues </a> (1976)</li>
<li>5:07	<a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/507/">Portishead - Mysterons </a> (1994)</li>
<li>

5:06 Stereolab - Pack Yr Romantic Mind (1993)

• 5:05 Grace Jones - Nightclubbing (1981)
• 5:04 Cocteau Twins - The Hollow Men (1982)

<li>5:03 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/503/">The Field Mice - Sensitive </a> (1989)</li>

<li>5:02 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/502/">Joni Mitchell - Coyote </a>(1976)</li>

<li>5:01 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/501/">Diabologum - Mieux Vaut Se Taire </a> (1994)</li>

<li>5:00 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/500/">Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy </a> (2005)</li>

<li>4:59 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/459/">The Smiths - That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore </a> (1985)</li>

<li>4:58 <a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/458/">Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas </a> (1990)</li>

<li>4:57	<a href="http://ohrensause.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/457/">Joy Division - Dead Souls (Licht und Blindheit version) </a> (1980)</li>
<li>

4:56 Mazzy Star - Fade Into You (1993)

• 4:55 Annette Peacock - Too Much in the Skies (1978)
• 4:54 Bill Evans - My Foolish Heart (1961)
• 4:53 Moriarty - Hanoï Blue (live) (2007)
• 4:52 Arizona Amp and Alternator - Where the Wind Turns the Skin to Leather (2005)
• 4:51 Neil Young - See the Sky About to Rain (1974)
• 4:50 The Associates - Club Country (1982)
• 4:49 Thom Yorke - Pyramid Song (live) (2001)
• 4:48 Nick Drake - Cello Song (1969)
• 4:47 Cat Power - Good Clean Fun (1996)
• 4:46 Santana - Samba Pa Ti (1970)
• 4:45 Swell - Song Seven (1994)
• 4:44 Catherine Wheel - Flower to Hide (1992)
• 4:43 Silver Jews - People (1998)
• 4:42 Joni Mitchell - A Case of You (1974)
• 4:41 Grace Jones - Pull up to the Bumper (1981)
• 4:40 Beth Gibbons & Rustin' Man - Mysteries (2002)
• 4:39 New Order - Truth (1981)
• 4:38 Another Sunny Day - You Should All Be Murdered (1989)
• 4:37 Opal - Fell from the Sun (1989)
• 4:36 U2 - New Year's Day (1983)
• 4:35 Sonic Youth - Into the Groove(y) (Madonna, 1986)
• 4:34 Lloyd Cole & the Commotions - Perfect Blue (1985)
• 4:33 The Jesus Lizard - Monkey Trick (1993)
• 4:32 Cat Power - Cross Bones Style (1998)
• 4:31 New Order - World in Motion (1990)
• 4:30 Roxy Music - More Than This (1982)
• 4:29 Cowboy Junkies - Speaking Confidentially (1996)
• 4:28 Radiohead - Sail to the Moon (2003)
• 4:27 The Feelies - The High Road (1986)
• 4:26 Nada Surf - 80 Windows (1998)
• 4:25 Low - In the Drugs (2002)
• 4:24 Elliott Smith - Jealous Guy (Lennon, live 1998)
• 4:23 Cat Power - Nude as the News (1996)
• 4:22 Kings of Convenience - I Don't Know What I Can Save You From (Röyksopp remix 2001)
• 4:21 New Order - Denial (1981)
• 4:20 Brian Eno - Dead Finks Don't Talk (1973)
• 4:19 Lambchop - Grumpus (2000)
• 4:18 Okkervil River - Happy Hearts (2002)
• 4:17 Joni Mitchell - The Last Time I Saw Richard (1971)
• 4:16 Swell - Forget About Jesus (1994)
• 4:15 Radiohead - Knives Out (2001)
• 4:14 Nirvana - Come As You Are (Unplugged 2003)
• 4:13 Jacques Brel - Ne Me Quitte Pas (1959)
• 4:12 My Bloody Valentine - When You Sleep (1991)
• 4:11 Brian Eno & David Byrne - Regiment (1981, remastered)
• 4:10 The Smiths - Still Ill (live 1986)
• 4:09 The Velvet Underground - I'm Set Free (1969, closet mix)
• 4:08 Joy Division - A Means to an End (1980)
• 4:07 Sonic Youth - Kool Thing (1990)
• 4:06 PJ Harvey - The Dancer (1995)
• 4:05 Nick Drake - Saturday Sun (1969)
• 4:04 Yo La Tengo - Detouring America With Horns (1992)
• 4:03 The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out (1986)
• 4:02 The Dandy Warhols - Everyday Should Be A Holiday (1997)
• 4:01 Cat Power - Wild Is the Wind (live cover 2006)
• 4:00 The Smiths - Well I Wonder (1985)
• 3:59 Joy Division - Transmission (1979)
• 3:58 Silver Jews - Random Rules (1998)
• 3:57 Nick Drake - Things Behind the Sun (1972)
• 3:56 Nick Drake - Man in a Shed (1969)
• 3:55 Isabelle Adjani - Pull Marine (1983, Gainsbourg)

 
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[music, songs] January 17, 2009 at 11:17:00 PM CET

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Cowgirl in the Sand

I heard this song a couple of days ago on the wonderful internet radio byte.fm - I think it was the album version which I linked to above - and I realised how stellar the guitar play was. Somehow last week I started to talk to a friend & young father about Neil Young and the soothing effect of his music on babies (book quote). This song though is maybe not as well suited for the tiny ear of the suckling as it involves a wee bit of distortion but on the other hand babies scream themselves so why shouldn't they like shrieking guitars?

---

Let's get back to the song. It starts with a calm acoustic guitar playing an innocent, slightly wistful line which for me evokes meditative Indian music. It is a dreamy setting, someone could be lying at the beach and gazing into the rising sun. After half a minute there is a long pause. Total silence for an eternity. And then at once the whole band kicks in full blast, the guitars chase the natural serene beauty away like an electrical storm. From now on people who listen to this in stereo - it is especially great in the car or on headphones - will be able to distinguish the two guitarists and their different styles very well. First there is Danny Whitten - who died of a heroin overdose later on and inspired The Needle and the Damage Done - on rhythm guitar on the left channel. He is setting the groove, repeating and varying the riff ad infinitum together with Billy Talbot whose melodic bass is humming like a dancing bear. Going round and round. On the right channel there is Neil Young's lead guitar and he is doing his own thing. While the others are providing the rhythmic base he is orbiting around them and sometimes shooting off into the sky with his rough & noisy improvisations. But they always catch him back on the ground. Greil Marcus wrote that Neil Young makes his guitar talk like the old bluesmen. At least there is no doublespeak - see last paragraph - when he picks the strings. The most amazing thing about this piece is that after ten minutes it suddenly stops in the middle. I am always surprised when it is over. All the repetition of the band together with Young's creative excursions make it never boring. Additionally there is the stark contrast of Young's falsetto and his guitar feedback. For me it could go on forever. This song has no end! There are actually live versions of 18 and more minutes around but I haven't listened to them.

---

What does a cowgirl make in the sand? Isn't that too slippery for a down to earth girl? Neil Young said about this song that he wrote it with 103° fever in bed in Topanga (liner notes of Decade). At a concert he said "This is a song I wrote about beaches in Spain. I've never been to beaches in Spain... but here is an idea of what it was like over there." Fantasy seems to be the key to the interpretation. The lyrics point into the direction that the song may be about a femme fatale who wants to seduce him ("When so many love you is it the same? It's the woman in you that makes you want to play this game") but doesn't succeed ("To be a woman and to be turned down"). Or about himself coping with stardom ("When so many love you is it the same?") and already - we are in 1969, this is on Neil Young's second solo album - doubting the future of his career ("Has your band begun to rust?"). The ambivalence of the lyrics makes me think of this drawing where depending on your perspective you either see Abraham Lincoln or a nude woman. "Hello woman of my dreams. This is not the way it seems" summarises the blur of the plot. The woman may be only existing in his imagination. She is just a fata morgana Young sees in his fever dreams, therefore she is in the sand!

 
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[music, songs] January 14, 2009 at 11:00:00 PM CET

Roxy Music - While My Heart Is Still Beating

Recently I became extremely lazy in the morning. After the fresh fruit juice mix (lemon, oranges & grapefruit) and the corn flakes with muesli and banana I usually move over from the kitchen table to the sofa in the living room and have my black tea there. In the meantime Catherine pollutes the kitchen with hundreds of toxic substances she blows into the air. Where was I? Oh yes the sofa. When lying on the sofa this morning I started listening to my mp3 player. It was in shuffle mode. I love it to be surprised by some great music I haven't heard for a long time and that is what happened this morning. The first track started with these few saxophone tones, then there was some tom drumming, then the electric bass joined in with a fat sound and finally the keyboards came on with a quick chord progression and lots of reverb. It was all kind of hanging there, a jazzy setting. And then the voice, androgynous, with an unclear pronunciation, first I thought Brian Eno, then David Byrne. Finally it dawned on me that it was Bryan Ferry. Somehow this song in which Ferry sings with an incredible sadness in his voice to an equally sad saxophone line does not seem to fit on 1982's Avalon, the last album and biggest chart-topper of Roxy Music. A synthpop masterpiece where the old pop experimentalists Roxy Music showed the new romantics how to make heavy emotional tuneful music and be successful at the same time. What actually sets this song apart from the others on the album except the last track, the wonderful yearning saxophone dominated Tara was that it was composed by Andy Mackay, Roxy Music's saxophone player. And that both these compositions point towards Talk Talk. There is already this feeling of time and space, a certain slowness in them. And Ferry's heartbreaking singing on While My Heart Is Still Beating definitely foreshadows Mark Hollis' plaintive chant where the words are even less distinguishable. Additionally I very much like the title in which the heart is beating and not bleeding which would have been such an obvious choice.

 
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[music, songs] December 31, 2008 at 5:28:00 PM CET

Songs for today and tomorrow

Donna Summer, the queen of disco, turns sixty today. A good excuse to relisten to her 1977 smash hit I Feel Love tonight. It used to be the sound of the future as Eno once said but now it has become the sound of the past. Still a great song to dance to between the years though!

Gisbert zu Knyphausen singt Neues Jahr (via). Ich erinner mich kaum noch, von einem deutschen Songwriter jemals so ein starkes, anrührendes Lied gehört zu haben. Doch vielleicht Tom Liwa und sein Tal der nackten Männer. Auch schon wieder sechs Jahre her. Es ist so egal, wo die anderen jetzt sind.

 
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