Matt Cameron, American drummer (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam)

Jade Puget, American musician (AFI)

Looks like I didn’t give In Rainbows a chance before. Here is another song that has the same mood from Radiohead. Found it yesterday and upset it wasn’t sooner.

Artist: Radiohead

Album: In Rainbows

Song: “All I Need”

Disc One
1. “Chi Ga” – 1:42
2. “This Is The Modern” – 2:32
3. “Son Of Dad” – 4:35
4. “Duel Of The Dynamite” – 3:38
5. “The Malevolence” – 4:01
6. “Popovic” – 5:03
7. “Hail The Sunny Days” – 3:54
8. “Cinderella” – 2:31
9. “Last Time Infected” – 3:15
10. “Carbon Place” – 3:57
11. “Sheepdog (Acoustic Version)” – 4:38
12. “Chet Baker” – 2:22
13. “Sweet Jesus” – 3:51
14. “A Picture Of ‘Em All” (2002 Digital Remaster) – 2:31
15. “And I Don’t Know” (2002 Digital Remaster) – 2:04
16. “With Or Without Love” – 3:40
17. “Good Morning,Herr Horst (RAC Mix)” – 2:23
18. “Spit On Your Love” – 3:29
19. “Telephone Song” – 4:01

Disc Two
1. “The Quarry” – 4:34
2. “How We Walk” – 4:07
3. “Searching For Owls” – 4:02
4. “San Fransisco Bay” – 3:01
5. “Your Lover’s Nerve” – 3:26
6. “Moonshine Fever” – 2:36
7. “India Love” – 3:01
8. “For The Tears” – 3:10
9. “Waves Of Fortune” – 4:24
10. “Deep Blue Sea” – 3:08
11. “She’s So” (2002 Digital Remaster) – 4:07
12. “Jeanette” – 4:06
13. “Long Before Rock’n'Roll (Live)” – 3:26
14. “We’re Hit” – 4:14
15. “Chi” – 4:10
16. “A Hard Day’s Night” – 3:00
17. “Little Boy Jr (Live)” – 3:24
18. “Paralyzed (Live)” – 4:38
19. “Sheepdog (Live)” – 4:00
20. “Driving Around” – 7:33

[RS: part 1, part 2] [MultUp: part 1, part 2]

Mike Bordin, American musician (Faith No More)

30 Seconds to Mars – This Is War (CD)
30 Seconds to Mars – This Is War (3xLP)

I know this comes out in only a couple weeks and most people probably already pre-ordered theirs, but if anyone missed the boat, we’ve got plenty of tickets! The follow up to 2005’s ridiculously popular A Beautiful Lie, which spawned a ton of singles and had many people complaining loudly about them. Personally, I like the band and am looking forward to this new album. Bonnie is not looking forward to having to hear them, but whatever to you!

Alkaline Trio – Crimson (Vinyl)

The often delayed repressing of Alkaline Trio’s 2005 effort, Crimson, appears to finally be on course for release this December. This colored double LP pressing features a full color, double-sided 12″x12″ insert and…um…huh – nada. Couldn’t even add the bonus tracks ala Good Mourning’s double LP release? Whatever, not gonna stop these Trio collectors from gobbling up one of each color. Shit.

Many Thai J-Rock fans blamed Thai artists that they copied Japanese songs. In fact, they should believe in ability of Thai people, or say just, coincident or Japanese artists copy Thai things. Although one case is true, that does not mean other million cases have to be just like the first one.

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Listen To the Music, please scroll down to the end of the post.
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One of my friend that I met when I just had been a J-Rock fan, always told me that a Thai band called, Giwa copies his beloved Luna Sea. I was so young, and I did believe him. I believe many things flood around world wide web. Thai J-Rock fans keep post this kind of thing up. They matched short parts of some Japanese songs and Thai songs, and they said that Thai artist copies Japanese artists. Most of the parts they matched are less than 10 seconds, and it is very easy that musicians can think about the same thing. It is coincident rather that coping.

Mahidol Wittayanusorn Students with scholarship in their high school and right now they graduated in New York, England and Japan, Photo by Sw Eden

Thai people are not stupid, because they can own many copyrights they make by themselves. Thai people can work so well if a reward/award is waiting for them, such as world robot competition, or sport tournament. Naturally, Thai people do not like to step up without motivation. Thai musicians have a lot of motivation, especially pop-rock artists after 2000. Pop-Rock in Thailand have been popular again after 20-30 years. Between 2 eras, Thai people consumed much of sweet-pop songs. Many bands was founded in late 10 years, and many old bands did re-union. The boys want to be cool, especially for the sight of girls. They created a unique style of Thai Pop-Rock. Many songs may sound similar, because those kids grew up with pop songs. Some people are different, because they listen to other things, such as Thai country songs and other foreigners’ things.

I am the one who really like Thai country songs. If we do not count the style of voice and Thai instrument, many fast songs can be popular in Alternative-Rock/Pop world. Both sound very similar. Many Thai people also listen to Rock n’ Roll artist from the United States and Europe. They get the influence directly from the original rock bands, and they do not need to past J-Rock artist. Some Thai people also listen to J-Rock and do cover, but there is less percent.

Clash is another band that Thai J-Rock fans blames that they mimic “Forever Love” of X Japan in their song called, “Nangfa Naijai” (Angle in Mind). I do know both songs so well, and I cannot find that Clash really copies that songs. They are same type of music, but not the same song. Although Clash did cover of L’Arc~en~Ciel, it does not mean that they do not have brain to compose their own music. I am a Punk fan, and many Punk songs are similar. Let’s listen to sample of DecayDance things. They are similar and they are good!

Heath of X Japan, Rough Drawing by Sw Eden

Another important conflict is the song call, “Ter Mai Kir Tai” (You Have Never Died) of a Thai band called, Two (they have 2 members.). My parent keeps that albums, too. The famous guy named, Tong. He helped around many projects. Thai people know that he is really nice. Right now he is older, but he just looks the same. I do not know if this nice guy hears what some people are railing him. I pass around the websites, many Thai X Japan fans railed “Two”. Unbelievable, I saw a guy wrote, “Two-Kuy”. “Kuy” (ควย) is the rudest word in Thai Language. He blamed Thai artists who did not know what X Japan was about. The company always manages things for pop artists, and the only thing that the pop artists need to have is the great performance.

I did look through the track list of that album of “Two”, and style of X Japan songs. (It is 2 years, I was their fan, my early high school.) The melody is weird for Japanese songs, but the song composer is weird in “Two” albums. I could not say, but the news already said that. They said, Thai company has to pay for Yoshiki. I do not want to believe. It is just the late visits of Yoshiki in Thailand. So,… My early high school time, a senior guy who was a friend of “Yai” (Yai was known as a big fan of X Japan in our school.) told me about this conflict. “Two did release “Ter Mai Kir Tai” before X Japan release Say Anything”. If I can go back to that moment, I will never show the goat hand to him. I did,.., I did that hand. He ran behind me and tried to kill me. Where was my soul of Thai person? I had had it when I was a boy scout. I did respect King Rama VI. I love his firmly goal to make Thai people to love each other as one big family.

The news was unbelievable for many people. That song sound quite like Thai songs, and the lyrics can fit in so well. No matter what the reality is, but if there is no that song, many Thai people will never be fans of X Japan.

Tetsu69 of L’Arc~en~Ciel kills cat, Drawing by Sw Eden

There is another conflict of Neo Universe of L’Arc en Ciel, but that is a little thing. I think it is coincident, because it is just a small part of the song. Most of Thai L’Arc en Ciel fans are still young and rich, and they do not really care to talk about the past, because they look up the new stuff, and they talked a lot. I have many friends who like this band, that is why I can say. Like, once I met Kaun with her L’Arc book in a school bus, and we just began to talk although we had never known each other. We talked a lot. It is familiar in American people, but unusual for Thai people. (I am smiling.)

The main thing I would like to say is, Thai people always look down themselves. Many foreign songs were composed after Thai songs. Whenever they sounds the same, Thai people will say that Thai copied those foreigners.

There are other cases, such as Peace Maker’s songs and Josh Groban’s, and also the hair style and dress style of Thai teenager. Although the idea cannot be Copyrights, people keeps railing that style of dressing is wrong things. This may be only one attitude in a corner of Thailand, because most people do not care (me, too). They dress up and they want to be cool.

Let’s see the side of Thailand. What the songs that Thai artists composed before the foreigner and they sound the same! I am an audience and also an artist, and I will never say that they mimic each other. Many people can think about the same thing. The one part of melody or similar style cannot prove that that artist is the copier.

“There is no unique thing in the world. Everything you think that it is new, someone has done it before.”, Jiyoun Kim said.

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Listen to these coincident couple now!!
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* Paradox (Thai Band) – “Ta-Lai” (Slip)
http://www.imeem.com/people/NhZaiB/music/8yIHHWo0/paradox-10-mp3/
The beginning of this song is similar with Cobra Starship – Pop Punk is so hi’ 05
http://www.imeem.com/artists/cobra_starship/music/xwnpOen5/cobra-starship-pop-punk-is-sooooo-05/
This Paradox song is in album “Free Style” and was released before Pop Punk is so hi’05 about 2 years.

Both Paradox and Cobra Starship are Punk, so no confused that they can think about the same thing.

Paradox, a famous Thai Alternative Rock band

Cobra Starship and Victoria Asher

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* Zi:Kill (Japanese Punk Band) – Kiss Me Good Bye
http://www.imeem.com/people/MjSTkez/music/CLVxNBvB/zikill-kiss-me-good-bye/
The All American Rejects – The Wind Blows
http://www.imeem.com/theallamericanrejects/music/CLLCdDK5/the-all-american-rejects-the-wind-blows/
The beginning of both songs just sound the same, and I do not think that The All American Rejects will care about Zi:Kill. Alright, both are punk, .. again.

The All American Rejects, an American Alternative Rock band

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* Paradox (Thai band) – Greedy (similar at 2:30)
http://www.imeem.com/sw-eden/music/p9szG3Af/paradox-greedy/
Slipknot – The Nameless (similar at 3:00)
http://www.imeem.com/people/uvHKWM2/music/IPjRJ6Kv/slipknot-the-nameless/
For the international world, Slipknot is more popular than Paradox, but in Thailand, Paradox is more popular. I do not think that both will prefer to listen to each other. Paradox also released this song before Slipknot, too.

Slipknot is Cute, Drawing by Sw Eden

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* Dope – Pig Society (intro)
http://www.imeem.com/artists/dope/music/9kNkLZrn/dope-pig-society/
and Ebola (Thai Band) – “Kawm Pen Pai” (The way it goes) (intro)
http://www.imeem.com/people/nXyWCx8/music/zB-SDoqr/ebola/
Eggasit Gabungpai pointed that to me.

Edsel Dope Dread Hair, Drawing by Sw Eden

Ebola, a Thai Metal band

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* Zi:Kill – Lonely (intro)
http://www.imeem.com/people/MjSTkez/music/uOzAVj6Q/zikill-lonely/
Avenged Sevenfold – Dancing Dead (outro at 4:27)
http://www.imeem.com/people/E_VpXgQ/music/gEorD6X4/avenged-sevenfold-dancing-deadmp3/

First time A7X came into the music industrial, they were considered as a metal band, but now, they are considered as a punk band. Every Japanese fan of Zi:Kill know that Zi:Kill is punk. And very important for us to know that both Zi:Kill and Avenged Sevenfold have a super cool guitar solo. Zi:Kill may do not that great in Lonely, but all stuff in their Rocket album are so amazing! (Pick up the songs that Ken did the music)

Avenged Sevenfold A7X (Synyster Gates,The Rev,M. Shadows,Zacky Vengeance,Johnny Christ), Drawing by Sw Eden

Zi:Kill (Seiichi, Eby, Tusk, Ken), Drawing by Sw Eden

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* Michael Jackson – We are the World (Chorus)
http://www.imeem.com/artists/michael_jackson/music/QEwdUfPT/michael-jackson-we-are-the-world/
จรัล มโนเพ็ชร – อุ๋ยคำ Jaran Manoped – Ui Kam (Old Northern Woman)
http://www.imeem.com/gamink/music/o8h0emR9/ (at the first verse of this song)

Ui Kam may be older than We Are The World. I feel I heard of it since I was born. It is truly classic one, every Thai people know. It is beautiful and lonely. Jaran Manoped is also a great teacher of many Thai people. We all love him. He passed away in 2001. All his songs are forever songs.

จรัล มโนเพ็ชร Jaran Manoped

Michael Jackson, Thriller cover

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The All American Rejects – Night Drive (intro)
http://www.imeem.com/jmsabler/music/nDqCSEqx/all-american-rejects-night-drive/
Hideto Matsumoto (Hide) – Emotion In Motion (intro)
http://www.imeem.com/people/v4GYTlP/music/ZE93ITGf/inmotionmp3/

Most of my matching went to the bands that I can remember their things so well. It is not a lot of bands that I can remember every part of their songs.

Hideto Matsumoto (Hide , 秀人松本), Drawing by Sw Eden

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Paradox (Thai Band) – Balloon (at first verse)
http://www.imeem.com/people/i7OzZej/music/oP3rASE1/paradox-balloon/
Hideto Matsumoto (Hide) – Rocket Drive (at first verse)
http://www.imeem.com/zinger96/music/va3naIWH/hide-rocket-dive/

Paradox is so great at their show. Almost all songs of Paradox sound more modern than Hide’s. Paradox tend to be Alternative Rock, which is really popular in Western world such the United States and the United Kingdom. Hide is more into underground alternative rock, which can be found in both LA and NY. Although Hide did a lot of underground style, those songs are not popular. Hide’s songs which are popular are something modern; such as In Motion, Tell Me, Lemoned I Scream, Ever Free, Post and Honey Blade.

TarTar, the vocalist and music composer and lyricist of Paradox. He is very talented!

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ปู พงษ์สิทธิ์ คำภีร์ – โรงเรียนของหนู “Poo” Pongsit Kampee – Rong Rean Kong Nu (Our School)
http://www.imeem.com/people/oSl_ogm/music/wV8eYYsg/
The Academy is… – After the Last Midtown Show
http://www.imeem.com/artists/the_academy_is/music/7WoBSh9s/adam-siska-after-the-last-midtown-show-album-version/

Rong Rean Kong Nu is so classic, too. This song is very old, but still catching people’s hearts. If you know Thai language, you will cry since the first time you listen to it. It is strange that The Academy is… has the same stuff. The world is so coincident. I played Rong Rean Kong Nu on Harmonica, too. This song is about children who have a hard time to get to school. They lived on the mountain and their school is really faraway. They have to walk step by step. They love to go to school. This song reflect the city society that many children do not like the go to school, although they are so rich and very easy to go to school.

ปู พงษ์สิทธิ์ คำภีร์ เจ้าของเพลง โรงเรียนของหนู Poo Pongsit Kampee

William Beckett from The Academy is…, Photo by Sw Eden

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พลพล – ใจเขาใจเรา Palapon – Jai Kao Jai Rao (Your heart, My heart) (at Chorus)
http://www.imeem.com/people/ZI6Iass/music/iprc7M-m/
L’Arc~en~Ciel – Metropolis (at Chorus/Beginning)
http://www.imeem.com/people/VuZGAK/music/7xKOaUyO/larcenciel-metropolis/

I think Palapon heard of some other Thai older song. I had heard this vocal melody before when I was about 5 years old. (about 15 years ago)

พลพล Palapon

L’Arc~en~Ciel and Hide, Drawing by Sw Eden

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* Zi:Kill – Touch Me
http://www.imeem.com/people/MjSTkez/music/B-HLssGR/zikill-touch-me/
Marilyn Manson – Heart-Shaped Glasses
http://www.imeem.com/ilikeboobs/music/jWFluCr0/marilyn-manson-heart-shaped-glasses/

In fact you may notice a part of Ken’s song called, “Do you Believe in Magic” (at solo, 3:18-3:21)
http://www.imeem.com/sw-eden/music/o2rg3SZ4/ken-zikill-believe-in-magic/
I love Ken’s things, all make me smile.

Marilyn Manson, Drawing by Sw Eden

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* AC DC – For those about to Rock (we salute you)
http://www.imeem.com/acdc/music/4SNmf1WU/acdc-for-those-about-to-rock-we-salute-you/
Zi:Kill – Rocket (fast part)
http://www.imeem.com/people/cyBWrAg/music/H27jb3fb/zikill-rocket/

Oh hey! you know that Tusk Zi:Kill is a fan of AC DC (he might be a fan of Obama, too), but I am not sure about Ken. Zi:Kill did play Suffocate City of Sex Pistol. I do not know about their copyrights, because they do not blame any people who re-play their songs, too. Zi:Kill is so fun. Tusk draw “Z” during this show. (I am smiling) If you let me compare about “For those about to Rock” and “Rocket”, you can be sure that I do love Rocket. The guitarist of Zi:Kill always have a wonderful line. His solo is always optimistic and never ever boring.

AC DC band and its logo

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Your favorite artist does not have to be the first one who create the things. We should be very happy that someone thinks the same as our favorite artists. And now, we start to listen to the new things!! Our world is not just a box that other people cannot touch. We will never look down other people just because we want to praise our heroes.

1. “The Queen Is Dead” – 6:24
2. “Frankly, Mr. Shankly” – 2:17
3. “I Know It’s Over” – 5:48
4. “Never Had No One Ever” – 3:36
5. “Cemetry Gates” – 2:39
6. “Bigmouth Strikes Again” – 3:12
7. “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side” – 3:15
8. “Vicar in a Tutu” – 2:21
9. “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” – 4:02
10. “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others” – 3:14

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Os Smiths dispensam apresentações. É ouvir até cair.

Spaceape

Cover of Björk's Homogenic (One Little Indian, 1997); image courtesy of slantmagazine.com

Cover for Björk's Vespertine (One Little Indian, 2001); image courtesy of harmony-korine.com

When I began conceptualizing this blog in the ol’ brainspace, one of the first sections I came up with was “Records That Made Me a Feminist.” I knew Björk was going to get at least one entry. Homogenic and Vespertine each played a vital part of shaping my politics. So, I figured out I’d probably have to write about them together.

Pairing albums for this section of the blog is something I originally wanted to do this when covering Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun, which I started listening to around the same time as PJ Harvey’s Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea. I liked the idea of dialoguing seemingly dissimilar work by female artists with one another, but I feared covering those two albums together would short-shrift the artists who made them. However, talking about two distinct pieces of work by one woman seemed easier. And essential. So here we go.

I must admit that covering Björk’s 1997 and 2000 full-length releases present its own political challenges that makes me think critically about how I understand and practice feminism. Both of these albums made me a feminist largely because of the boys I was preoccupied with at the time.

But while my initial reception and resulting connections to them were tied up with potentially normative feelings around romantic angst and heterosexual coupling, I feel the albums speak to my development at the time as well as transcend it. In other words, Homogenic and Vespertine may remind me of boys I used to date, but they speak to larger, more overtly feminist issues as well.

Of course, being a feminist doesn’t mean you can’t like boys or be hung up on them from time to time, so long as you don’t let them run your life. Which I don’t think Björk endorses in either of these records, even though she herself has an ambivalent relationship with feminism (though not with calling out the music industry’s sexist practices of attributing male engineers and instrumental songwriters).

Importantly, as both albums were prescient to my development, they also went over my head when I first listened to them. Debut and Post were more accessible and, as a result, I liked them almost immediately. It was hard for 10-year-old me not to fall for the girl dancing through New York City on a flatbed in the music video for “Big Time Sensuality.”

But Björk’s next two albums took more time to process. Both albums mark advances in the artist’s production sensibilities, approaches to music-making, and interest in electronic instrumentation. Thus, just as Björk had to evolve as a musician before creating these albums, I had to mature a bit as a person before liking them as a fan.

So, Homogenic came out just as I was starting high school. I don’t exactly remember when I bought it, but I think it was sometime toward the end of junior year. I completely ignored it at the time. Or rather, I listened to it once, went “ooh, so angry!” and put Post back on.

The particulars I’ll keep to myself for the sake of decorum. Suffice it to say that I dated someone for a little while, fell in love, we broke up, and I spent a little over a year trying to get us back together. It didn’t work out. Eventually I got over him and whatever I thought we were, but not without some pain and denial and then serious personal re-evaluation. The healing process involved some righteous anger, loud parties, several bottles of wine and other goodies, and burgeoning feminist development. After a rough start, 19 turned out to be a pretty okay year. Homogenic was its soundtrack.

Now, I have no problem acknowledging that this guy was a total jerk to me. But feminism isn’t only about recognizing and calling out chauvinistic bullshit. It’s also about self-empowerment, personal accountability, and un-learning heteronormativity and patriarchal co-dependence. It isn’t always just the guy’s fault, even when it is.

Thus, I also have to own up to being really needy and delusional at the time. I pinned my worth on whoever I was dating without questioning whether being with them was actually good for me. So I projected my own big feelings and insecurities on someone who clearly didn’t want to be with me. I was ignoring the reality of the situation and, as a result, my own well-being. I finally recognized what I was doing when confronted with the lyric “How could I be so immature to think he could replace the missing elements in me — how extremely lazy of me.” 

Kinda appropriate that a break-up record got me over mine, no? Apparently, Björk made the album after breaking up with drum’n'bass musician Goldie while they were working on their own project. Hence lines like “So you left me on my own to complete the mission, but now I’m leaving it all behind.” But it pretty much hit all the right notes of melancholy, indignation, rage, and feisty recovery for me. I’m a quarter Norwegian on my mother’s side, so even the line ”I thought I could organize freedom — how Scandinavian of me” in “Hunter” applied.

Attention must be paid to the album’s sound and how it marked a musical departure for Björk. Post was an eclectic mix that boasted songs like “Army of Me,” “Enjoy,” and “Headphones,” that opened up her sound to include state-of-the-art aggressive digital distortion and serene electronic minimalism.

While this was evident in the production work Tricky and 808 State’s Graham Massey did on Post, it wasn’t the focus. It would come to define the artistic work she began doing with producers like Mark Bell on Homogenic and would continue to do with Matmos on Vespertine. But I’d hedge that most casual listeners just remember Post’s ”It’s Oh So Quiet,” which was produced by Björk’s then-mainstay, Nellee Hooper, the man responsible for all the production on her breakthrough Debut. He was also responsible for “Hyperballad,” which I’d argue suggests the artist’s shift, which is fully evident on her next album.

Man, I wish I could post the music video, but WMG has apparently disabled the audio. All the more reason to check out Michel Gondry’s Directors Label DVD, or any of the other myriad DVD titles that have documented her videography.

So Homogenic marks a transition from being a pop star to an artist who challenges her listeners’ ears and expectations with each release. By 1997, we also heard alternative pop stars like Beck and Radiohead establish themselves similarly with Odelay and OK Computer. We would hear Radiohead do it again in 2000 with the mind-blowing Kid A, where they really demonstrated their love for electronic instrumentation and experimental production techniques.

Björk was already on this path in 1997, but while Radiohead looked outward toward the fallabilities of modern life, Björk looked inward at the seductive pleasures and wobbly peculiarities of domestic life and partnership on her next record, rapturing at her voice’s clicks and finding percussive possibilities out of shuffled decks of cards. I don’t think these innovations went unnoticed when Radiohead went to work on In Rainbows. To me, Vespertine’s influence is all over a song like “Nude,” which was originally an outtake from OK Computer. This is further confirmed by the band’s rendition of Homogenic’s ”Unravel” as a tip of the hat. As if lead singer Thom Yorke’s backing vocals on “Náttúra” aren’t enough.

Hmmm. Maybe at some point, I’ll consider Yorke’s duets with Björk and PJ Harvey. Yorke is one of my favorite vocalists, a fact confirmed by a recent revisit of Hail to the Thief. If one of my friends ran a blog on male masculinity and music culture, I’d pen a guest entry in a second.

But I was afflicted with a troubled mind when Vespertine first came out. In addition to boy heartache, I was going through some considerable familial strife. I was also starting my first semester of college, so a tackier person might blame 9/11.

After seeing the music video for “Hidden Place,” I dutifully bought the album, along with My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, another at-the-time inscrutable release, at the Tower Records by campus. I listened to the album a few times, but my head was not in the right place for it. It was too contented and quiet. I couldn’t hear it. And then for a little while all I could hear was Homogenic at full volume.

Stills from the video that convinced me to buy "Vespertine"; image courtesy of unit.bjork.com

To be blunt, Vespertine didn’t really make sense to me until I started having sex. Critics like Ryan Dombal would seem to concur. I remember seeing her performance of ”Cocoon” on Jay Leno and thinking that it was really quiet, but totally not getting how micro-embodied intimacy is the song’s entire purpose. While I had a good understanding of mechanics and had engaged in related activities before going into my first listen, I don’t think a song like “Cocoon” makes sense to a person unless they’ve experienced it, to speak euphemistically, in a corporeal sense.

BTW, yes that is Bill O’Reilly adjusting his tie. If he was actually listening to the song, I’m sure he’d be appalled by how delightfully, defiantly sexual this song is and that it was performed uncensored on network television. Watching it now, I can’t believe I wasn’t really listening. Maybe I should have been leaning into the television.  

Again, the particulars here aren’t really important. I was a week or so into being 20 and, frankly,  didn’t want to be a virgin anymore. The guy was someone willing, it was fun, and didn’t last very long.

In short, the romanticism and emotional connectedness that is often built into such an experience was not there, nor do I regret that it wasn’t. I would find that later, which would make my understanding of those aspects of Vespertine more profound and further develop my feminist principles.

I bring sex into the discussion because I, to borrow briefly from Arrested Development’s George Michael Bluth, find Vespertine’s complex eroticism one of its most key contributions to what made me a feminist. Though perhaps a stretch and certainly not without its own distinctions, I tend to think of this album in accord with Audre Lorde’s wonderful essay “Uses of the erotic: the erotic as power.”

And while I don’t know if this entry’s subject has read the essay, something tells me that the same woman who identifies as bisexual and recognizes the erotic potential in mundane activities would concur with much of the theorist’s thesis.

Of course, feminists must also have the wherewithal to recognize that eroticism, even ephemeral evidence like orgasms, are luxuries to some women and girls. Not everyone is given a space, a country, or a political system that allows them the safety and freedom to enjoy and explore these possibilities.

But eroticism isn’t about cataloging who did what to whom for Björk. As David Fricke gestured toward in his review of the album for Rolling Stone, it might be everywhere, at once tangible and theoretical.

This is where I think it’s important to consider the album’s production sensibilities and Björk’s particular uses of her voice. In addition to non-conventional practices like sampling and turning seemingly non-musical domestic items into instruments, the singer’s voice is the album’s real focus. Because of how closely she’s miked, you can hear every tic, breath, whispered turn of phrase, and any other sound coming out of her mouth. As a result, her voice becomes a varied and vital instrument, an idea she has continued to develop and that has continued to stay with me.

I just discovered this band recently and I must say they rock! The video was not made in a narrative form, supposedly because the director did not want to distract the attention from the song itself.

The use of fire is just awesome and in any case fire is always an artistic way to present powerful emotions.

4.5/5

1. “Adored” – 3:42
2. “Song For Jacob” – 3:23
3. “Slow Poison” – 3:31
4. “Hatefuck” – 2:55
5. “I Am Your Skin” – 3:01
6. “She’s So Bendable” – 2:21
7. “The Spectator” – 3:50
8. “I Have Seen The Future” – 3:15
9. “Red Hands and White Knuckles” – 3:21
10. “Jack-O-Lantern Man” – 2:50
11. “Sugar Pill” – 3:17

[RS] [MultUp]

Mark Lanegan, American musician of Screaming Trees

Eric Grossman, American bassist with K’s Choice

[no cover yet]

The highly anticipated new album by the canadian duo is awesome. The music is more complex and rich. Nicely layered with guitar, synth/organ and vocals.
The vocals, oh they are so rusty now. Sounds like Victoria Legrand has been smoking a lot since their 2007’s Devotion.

My favorite track is Norway. Where they passionately declare their love for Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine.

John Squire, Brit guitarist with The Stone Roses

Chad Taylor, American guitarist for Live

Fünf Alben in 15 Jahren und der Erfolg der schottisch-irischen Band „Snow Patrol“ ist nicht mehr aufzuhalten. Der kommerzielle Durchbruch ließ zwar lange auf sich warten, aber mit dem Hit „Chasing Cars“ konnte sich die fünfköpfige Band dauerhaft in die Charts katapultieren. Pünktlich zur romantischen Weihnachtzeit brachten sie diesen Monat nun ihr erstes „Best Of“-Album mit dem Titel „Up to now“ raus!

© Universal

Die Alternative Rock-Band hat 30 Songs auf 2 CDs gepackt, wobei auch Neues und Unveröffentlichtes geboten wird. Gary Lightbody, der Leadsänger der Band äußert sich zum neuen Album wie folgt: “It’s a portrait of us as a band, warts and all. We’ve climbed a hill and now we’re looking back and taking in the view for a bit. It’s nice to show people that we didn’t just arrive overnight.” Eins der drei brandneuen Songs die auf der “Up to now”-CD zu finden sind ist „Just say yes“ – die neue Single.

Hier ist die genaue Trackliste des neuen Longplayers von „Snow Patrol“:

CD1

1. Chocolate
2. Chasing Cars
3. Crack The Shutters
4. Set The Fire To The Third Bar
5. Crazy In Love
6. Just Say Yes
7. Batten Down The Hatch
8. You’re All I Have
9. Hands Open
10. Cartwheels
11. The Planets Bend Between Us (2009 Version)
12. Ask Me How I Am
13. On-Off
14. Making Enemies
15. Run (Live at the Union Chapel)

CD2

1. Take Back the City
2. Shut Your Eyes
3. An Olive Grove Facing The Sea (2009 Version)
4. Run
5. Give Me Strength
6. Signal Fire
7. Spitting Games
8. Open Your Eyes
9. Dark Roman Wine
10. Fifteen Minutes Old
11. You Are My Joy
12. Golden Floor
13. Starfighter Pilot
14. PPP
15. Chasing Cars (Live at the Union Chapel)

Leider sind die Poprocker in diesem Jahr nur noch in Großbritannien und Irland live unterwegs, aber sie werden im nächsten Jahr bestimmt auf große Europatour gehen und auch in Österreich wieder einmal vorbeischauen. Beim diesjährigen Donauinselfest haben sie die Menge zum Toben gebracht und so werden sie uns sicher bald wieder die Ehre erweisen!

For this weeks local interview its the turn of indie rockers Kashmir Red.

“Fact & Fiction” haben den diesjährigen Publikumspreis des Newcomer-Festivals gewonnen und werden 2010 den Erlanger Rock in Wladimir vorstellen dürfen. In Vertretung von Oberbürgermeister Siegfried Balleis überreichte Helmut Wening, Chef der Grünenfraktion im Erlanger Stadtrat, den Preis in Form eines Gutscheins. Ob die geschätzten 800 Besucher richtig lagen und auch den Geschmack des Wladimirer Publikums treffen, müssen die vier Jungs bald unter Beweis stellen. Noch in dem Jahr soll der Termin für die Tour in die Partnerstadt festgelegt werden.

Wie auch immer, mit “No Trouble”, der Wladimirer Gastband beim Festival, die nun selber als Gastgeber fungieren will, steht die Reise unter einem guten Stern, auch wenn stilistisch der russische Alternative Rock weit entfernt sein dürfte von dem Erlanger Punk-Pop. Jedenfalls betritt “Fact & Fiction” partnerschaftliches Neuland und kann neue Maßstäbe für den Austausch setzen, nicht nur musikalische. Der Blog bleibt dran und gratuliert nun erst einmal herzlich!

Thanks to everybody who commented on my last blog post! I really appreciate you sharing your playlists with everyone and introducing us to some great new music!

As I was responding to your comments, something hit me. You guys have shown us an incredible ammount of support over the last few years. You’ve called your local DJs to request our music. You’ve come to our shows and purchased our CDs. And your votes have caused us to win more contests and get onto more playlists than I could count. Each of you has helped make what we do possible.

Last week was really cool because we had twenty people contribute to our post! But, our anlaytics show that hundreds of people read it. Why is that? I’m not sure. But I feel that it is – at least in some part – due to the fact that so often the creation and delivery of art is a one way street. I want to change that; so I’d like to invite you to take a moment to do three things:

1. Visit atris.wordpress.com (This will be more fun if everyone goes to the same page.)
2. Scroll down to the comment box and introduce yourself. Write a few words about anything you’d like. How did you first hear our music? What city are you from? What are your favorite movies? Pretend we just met at a coffee shop. If you’d like share your blog address, Twitter ID or someplace where we and other people can learn more about you that would be great too!
3. Check the box that says Notify me of follow-up comments via email.

Please don’t do this for us, do this for yourself and for everyone. It takes a certain amount of bravery to put yourself out there; but it’s worth it. We love to get to know people with similar interests, ideas, and opinions. And it’s really cool when group discussions are started. If you have something in common with someone who posts, let him or her know! It makes me feel great to see people responding to my comments, and I love to chime back in to share my thoughts.

Looking forward to meeting you!

-Mason