Franz Ferdinand: Il 7 Dicembre ospiti al Palatorino a Torino: I Franz Ferdinand, gruppo nato nel 2001 dall’incontro di due amici Alex Kapranos e Robert Hardy in collaborazione con il chitarrista ed esperto di musica Nick McCarthy. Nel 2003 viene pubblicato il loro primo album, ispirato alle sonorità dei Beatles, il successo arriva nel 2004 con il disco omonimo “Franz Ferdinand”, in particolare grazie al singolo “Take Me Out” che arriva al terzo posto della classifica inglese. Il secondo album esce nel 2005 e s’intitola “You Could Have It So Much Better”. Nel terzo lavoro “Tonight”, uscito nel febbraio 2009 esplorano sonorita’ più elettroniche.Acquista subito il Tuo biglietto telefonando al numero 899002789…

Como um país cada vez mais emergente, os shows internacionais tem conseguido cada vez mais vagas nas agendas das principais cidades do Brasil. O Pombo traz para você a lista de shows confirmados até 2010. Confira:

Shows em 2009:

1) Jason Mraz (26 de novembro, Rio de Janeiro): O sucesso mais esperado no show, certamente, é a canção I’m Yours. O show será no Vivo Rio e os preços dos ingressos variam entre R$ 180,00 e R$ 300,00.

2) AC/DC (27 de novembro, São Paulo): O grupo se apresenta no estádio do Morumbi sua turnê Black Ice World Tour. As informações adicionais podem ser adquiridas pelo fone (11) 4004.2060.

3) Beach Boys (02 de dezembro, São Paulo): O grupo se apresenta no Credicard Hall e os ingressos variam entre R$ 40,00 e R$ 340,00.

Shows em 2010:

1) Eagle Eye Cherry (21 de janeiro, São Paulo): O compositor se apresenta no Via Funchal e os preços dos ingressos variam entre R$ 100,00 e R$ 200,00

2) Cramberries (28 de janeiro a 03 de fevereiro, Rio, São Paulo, BH e Poa): A banda se apresenta nestas cidades nas datas citadas, respectivamente.

3) Coldplay (28 de fevereiro e 02 de março): Com sua turnê Viva La Vida, a banda se apresenta no dia 28 de fevereiro na Praça da Apoteose (RJ) e dia 02 de março no Estádio do Morumbi (SP). Mais informações pelo site www.ticketmaster.com.br.

4) Franz Ferdinand (de 18 a 23 de março, Poa, Rio, Brasília e SP): Os escoceses fazem sua turnê nestas cidades nas sucessivas datas, respectivamente.

Qual será o melhor show internacional no Brasil nesse fim de 2009 e início de 2010? Comente…

You’d be forgiven at the moment for thinking we were nearing the end of a decade. The interwebs have been awash of late with more countdowns, best ofs, top tens and general reminiscences of the 2000’s then you could poke a digital stick at. Suddenly everybody is a critic, and while some of the countdowns have been insightful and thought-provoking, others have been….well, like this one. For the nostalgic, these countdowns are practically memory-heaven. But for those who don’t buy into that sort of stuff, it gets a little tiring. So, what better than to list some of the best (and worst) ‘best-of’ lists currently clogging up cyber-space?

Pitchfork: P2K

Over the past months American music site Pitchfork have taken an in-depth look at the decade in music. Way back in the dark ages of 2001 the site barely existed, but since then has grown to be one of the most formidable online music news and reviews sites on the net. Not only does P2K count down the best albums, songs and music videos, it also features a series of essays detailing some of the more interesting developments in music over the past ten years. Of particular note is the ‘Decade in Indie’ and the social history of the mp3.

Highlights
Best Album: Radiohead- Kid A
Best Song: Outkast- B.O.B.

Paste Magazine: The 25 best Album Covers

Slightly more obscure is Paste magazine’s countdown of the best album covers. It has been argued that as digital sales boom and physical CD sales decline, the quality of modern album art is going steadily downhill (as this cover would seem to prove). Regardless, Paste have put together an interesting countdown, which includes the likes of The Flaming Lips, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire and Lil Wayne. Whoever decided to award Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone cover as number 1 though needs to go back and re-take primary school art classes.

Highlights
Number 1: Neko Case- Middle Cyclone
Number 2: Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion (and rightly so)

The A.V. Club: The 30 best TV Shows

The problem with critics is often that their views on what is ‘good’ differs from the majority of the viewing public. Which is a shame, but it’s also the reason why most of the shows on the A.V. Club’s list of best TV shows of the decade have either ended or been cancelled. Still, it’s a formidable list. The top 3 (The Wire, Arrested Development and the Sopranos) are undoubtedly some of the finest productions since television’s inception, let alone in this decade. Other notable shows include Mad Men, Lost and The West Wing, just scraping in at number 30. The best part of this countdown though is the shitfight in the comments as to what constitutes a ‘decade’. Hilarious.

Highlights
Number 1: The Wire
Number 15: Veronica Mars
Number 22: Six Feet Under

News.com.au: Moment of the Decade

Oh, News.com.au. Purveyor of fine, quality journalism. Not content with simply telling Middle Australia what the best bits of the noughties were, good old Rupert has gone and encouraged everyone to name their own favourites! For anyone that’s ever read the comments to any article on the site, that should be enough to click your way on over. In case you need any more incentive though, today’s category is ‘Killers, Haters, Tools: Choose the Villian of the decade’. Apparently Kyle Sandilands and John Mayer are in the same league as Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Who would have thought? The fun doesn’t stop there. Oh no siree, it doesn’t. For you creative types, you can even have a go at naming what the next decade should be called! An issue of utmost importance, of course. Seriously, the sooner this site becomes paid-only, the better.

Lowlights
Pop Culture
Money
Sex & Life
…actually, just spend a good 15 minutes trawling through the site. It’ll make your day.

Times Online: The 100 Best Movies of the Noughties

Slightly more classy news outlet Times Online went all out and counted down the top 100 cinematic releases of the decade. With everything from political drama Milk to Roman-epic Gladiator to comedy Knocked Up, the list does well to cater for everyone…up until the odd choice of The Bourne Supremacy/Ultimatum at number 2 (So really it should have been the best 101 movies). And Team America World Police in the top 5? You must be joking.

In Brief
Number 1: Hidden
Number 16: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Number 34: Finding Nemo
Number 64: Anchorman

Well that’s about it. Some of the best (and worst) countdowns of the best (and worst) things to happen in the noughties. Of course, a quick google search will reveal thousands more best-ofs then the ones here. But really, is there much point? When it comes down to it, who gets to decide that Franz Ferdinand is better than Hot Chip? Or that Monsters, Inc. deserves to place ahead of Pan’s Labyrinth?

Perhaps the best countdown of the decade should go to Hungry Beast. They look at the ten best years of the 2000’s. You can check that out here.

]]> http://zukino.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/mentiras-verdadeiras/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:21:22 +0000 Simone Marques http://zukino.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/mentiras-verdadeiras/ http://musicwebzine.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/los-discos-de-la-decada/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:00:49 +0000 indiegnado http://musicwebzine.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/los-discos-de-la-decada/

Listas, listas, listas…

Oh, las listas, que absurdas son pero como mola hacerlas. Elegimos los 50 discos de la década, los 25 míos y los 25 de eldrsaleabailar (próximo miércoles). Ambos coincidimos en algunas referencias, pero sobre la mayoría estamos en radical desacuerdo, he aquí mis 25, con comentarios hirientes propios de eldrsaleabailar.

1. The Strokes – Is This It

Indiegnado: Indudablemente, el disco de la década. Once autenticos himnos que han inspirado tanto a músicos como a simples mortales durante los 9 años que esta maravilla lleva con nosotros.

Eldrsaleabailar: Indudablemente, unos pijos medianías de NY que tuvieron la suerte de vivir (artisticamente) en la década más medianía de la historia.

2. Arcade Fire – Funeral

Indiegnado: Con su instrumentación barroca, sus melodías completamente particulares y diferentes, hizo que, por primera vez, la palabra épica adquiriera un nuevo significado.

Eldrsaleabailar: Uno de los pocos descubrimientos de Pitchfork que me hicieron volver a creer en la música después de los 90

http://musicwebzine.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/morrissey-you-are-the-quarry/

3. Morrissey – You Are The Quarry

Indiegnado: Con este disco, Morrissey volvia tras siete años de silencio. Y lo hizo con el mejor disco que ha firmado en solitario.

Eldrsaleabailar: Grandísimo, guapísimo y con la mejor canción de la década. Un recuerdo para la organización del festival en el castillo de Sohail, espero que no hayan levantado cabeza desde aquel despropósito.

4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell

Indiegnado: “Fever To Tell” es un disco de rock hecho en los 00, y cuando digo hecho en los 00 me refiero a que suena de esta decada, no es un revival, ni intenta copiar a nada anterior. Solo ellos consiguieron hacer un disco de rock, aportando algo más en estos ultimos 10 años.

Eldrsaleabailar: Vamos de sobrada en sobrada. Perdonadle, es joven.

5. The GO! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike.

Indiegnado: Ian Parton es el ideologo de esta autentica joya. Creando a partir del mash up sobre discos de los 70 y aportando voces y matices, Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento y que en cada corte crea melodias perfectas. Tremendamente fresco.

Eldrsaleabailar: Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento, Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento, Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento, Thunder Lightnin Strike es un disco que no se repite en ningun momento” ¿QUÉ NO QUÉ?

6.Los Planetas – La Leyenda Del Espacio

Indiegnado: Siempre en progresión, siempre dando un paso más en su música, Los Planetas consiguen en “La Leyenda del Espacio” fusionar el flamenco con el rock, algo que nos intentaron colocar erroneamente con “Omega“. Ellos lo consiguen firmando algunas de las mejores canciones de todo su repertorio, desde “Ya no me asomo a la reja” hasta “Si me diste la espalda“.

Eldrsaleabailar:Lo único erróneo es tu animadversión a “Omega“, pieza clave de la historia musical patria.

7. Death Cab For Cutie – Transanlanticism

Indiegnado: Death Cab For Cutie son uno de los grupos que más vende en america, juegan en la liga numero uno del mainstream americano, algo que empezaron a conseguir tras su “Transantlanticism“, un disco de pop preciosista simplemente perfecto.

Eldrsaleabailar: Me aburren un poco. Para mainstream americano me quedo con Britney Spears.

8.Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Indiegnado: Animal Collective hacen la música que se deberia hacer en el siglo XXI, música actual que aporta algo nuevo y se olvida de esa estupidez estendida del “todo esta inventado” ellos demuestran que no, que aun se puede hacer algo nuevo que no suene mal, algo nuevo, que de hecho suena como nada más suena actualmente.

Eldrsaleabailar: Estoy de acuerdo, lo que no sé es si gracias a dios, nada más suena a ellos.

9. Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare

Indiegnado: El debut de Arctic Monkeys fue un golpe de aire fresco en el panorama musical, y supuso un disco que llevo la musica a aquellos oidos que la relacionaban con horteradas varias sin sentido. Pero lo mejor llego con su segundo disco, un disco que no se centraba en el hit instantaneo, sino que buscaba nuevos matices y nuevos sonidos.

Eldrsaleabailar: Los caminos del myspace son inescrutables.

10.La Casa Azul – La Revolución Sexual

Indiegnado: “La Revolucion Sexual” es un disco perfecto, hit tras hit y estribillo coreable tras estribillo coreable, los intentos anteriores habian  dejado grandes canciones, pero no es hasta esta revolucion sexual cuando todo suena engranado y menos organico, pero a la vez, más profesional, un sonido que le va mucho mejor a La Casa Azul.

Eldrsaleabailar: Guille Milkyway es lo más importante que nos ha pasado, si señor.

11. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

Indiegnado: Soplo de aire fresco. Los lideres del afroindie, con un debut mas que interesante lleno de cambios pero sonando siempre a ellos mismos. Increible.

Eldrsaleabailar:Increible, de inicio a fin, yo también caigo rendido y espero que el nuevo trabajo me siga hechizando

12. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

Indiegnado: Grandes. Su primer disco es una coleccion de hit tras hit, y con canciones tan míticas ya como “Take Me Out” o “Michael“.

Eldrsaleabailar: Grandes no, gigantes.

13. TV On The Radio – Dear Science

Indiegnado: “Dear Science” es el disco que mejor suena de Tv On The Radio, aunque muchos prefieran el anterior, en “Dear Science” alcanza una variedad de estilos, sonidos y matices que pocos han conseguido en estos 10 años.

Eldrsaleabailar: No me acaban de llegar, pero no se puede negar que no sean buenos

14. The XX – XX

Indiegnado: El debut de 2010. Ellos han demostrado que se puede tener 20 años, un par de guitarras y una caja de ritmos para crear un disco redondo y con un sonido exquisito, 11 canciones llenas de magia.

Eldrsaleabailar: Buff, empezó sin gustarme y ahora me empieza a encandilar, en mi lista no llegarían a tiempo.

15. Capitán Melao – Lágrima

Indiegnado: Si tengo que elegir un descubrimiento personal del underground mas underground me quedo con Capitán Melao. Un disco injustamente olvidado hasta por su creador, que desde entonces no ha vuelto a dar señales de vida al proyecto y con canciones tremendamente buenas.

Eldrsaleabailar: Si es tu disco fetiche nada tengo que objetar, para que no me taches de inmaduro

16. Astrud – Tú No Existes

Indiegnado: “Tú No Existes” es el disco mas pop de Astrud, esa música tremendamente recordable llena de arreglos electronicos y acompañadas de esas letras tan divertidas. Ni que decir que “Noam Chomsky” o “El Vertedero De Sao Paulo” son de lo mejor que astrud han firmado.

Eldrsaleabailar: ¡Increíble!, va el tío y escoge el menor de todos los discos de Astrud de la década, en fin…

17. Amy Winehouse – Back To Black

Indiegnado: La drogada mas mal vista del mundillo rosa, ¡canta! y ademas lo hace de una forma absolutamente espectacular. “Back To Black” es un disco imprescindible dentro del revival soul que se creo, en parte, gracias a ella.

Eldrsaleabailar: Me aburre

18. Triángulo De Amor Bizarro – Triángulo De Amor Bizarro

Indiegnado: El noise patrio, las ganas y la furia de los gallegos, todo eso esta contenido en el debut de TAB, un debut que pronto tendra su esperadisima continuacion. y dentro de ese debut una de las mejores canciones de la decada a nivel nacional, “El Fantasma De La Transición“.

Eldrsaleabailar: ¿Son tan buenos como para estar entre los 25 mejores?

Indiegnado: Rotundo sí.

19. Coldplay – A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Indiegnado: Coldplay son los nuevos U2, los herederos de los estadios, lo llenan todo, incluso un año antes, de locura. Pero esa euforia que se ha desatado en los ultimos años poco tiene que ver con el pop pianistico de los inicios, lo verdaderamente bueno de Coldplay

Eldrsaleabailar: ¡Viva La Vida! , ¡Afroditaaaaa! (Prefiero a dana internacional)

20. Ellos – Lo Tuyo No Tiene Nombre

Indiegnado: El primer disco de Ellos es el mas fresco, y punto. LLeno de himnos bailables y un aire muy divertido

Eldrsaleabailar: Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, ¡por fin algo bueno!

21. Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin

Indiegnado: El primer disco fue un disco aclamado en todos los medios, pero no fue hasta el segundo “Cease To Begin” cuando Band Of Horses alcanzaron su exquisitez musical, canciones pop rock con un aire americano realmente exquisito.

Eldrsaleabailar: Apenas les conozco, será por algo.

22. El Guincho – Alegranza

Indiegnado: Si tuvieramos que el artista nacional con mas proyeccion y que mas fronteras ha conseguido romper, ese es sin duda, El Guincho, por primera vez, un artista nacional no es tratado como secundario, sino que se coloca en las privilegiadas primeras posiciones, y ademas con un discazo absoluto como es “Alegranza“.

Eldrsaleabailar: Absolutamente de acuerdo

23. The National – Boxer

Indiegnado: El post punk ha sido el estandarte mas copiado e irritante de la decada, que si interpoles, editores, y catpeoples insulsos todos, pues bien, The National escapan de esas connotaciones y colocan su “Boxer” como un disco lleno de matices y buenas canciones.

Eldrsaleabailar: Disco precioso, de verdad, para escuchar con alguno de M. Ward.

24. Ladytron – Velocifero

Indiegnado: Viva el electropop de los 00´s y claro, vivan Ladytron. Cuatro discazos en siete años, el mejor, el último, un disco impecable.

Eldrsaleabailar: A mi no me ponen.

25. Sigur Rós – Takk…

Indiegnado: ¿y que seria de la decada sin la bizarrez extrema de Sigur Rós? Pues nada, lo suyo si que es autentica epica, sin el significado negativo.

Eldrsaleabailar: ¿sin?

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

Una de las bandas más interesantes que ha salido del Reino Unido en los últimos 5 años, ha alcanzado su popularidad gracias a los sencillos de sus dos primeros discos: Dancing Shoes, I bet you look good on the dancefloor, Fluorescent Adolescent o Teddy Picker, que además de pegajozos, sin duda son unos temazos. Ahora los chicos de Sheffield acuden al genio Josh Homme para grabar su tercer disco y los resultados son muy gratificantes.

Comenzando con My propeller, inmediatamente llama la atención que la banda se distancia del sonido del disco anterior, Favourite Worst Nightmare. Ahora no parecen estar apurados o necesitados de hacer las canciones más rápidas que puedan componer, lo que les permite experimentar con nuevas propuestas. Así, el cuarteto se americaniza y sustituye el frat rock por una ambientación lúgubre con un sonido ligeramente sucio, que recuerdan de cierta manera la propuesta stoner del desierto de California, que el productor Homme ayudó a forjar desde los noventa con bandas como Kyuss o Queens of the Stone Age.

En conclusión, Humbug termina siendo un disco que como nieto lejano del Mojave Desert, tiene un compendio de canciones muy parecidas entre sí, donde a pesar de que no hay temas que puedan reventar en la radio o que vayamos a escuchar en una fiesta, dejan claro que la banda liderada por Alex Turner no se conforma con escribir himnos para los borrachos de Inglaterra, y han comenzado a madurar su sonido. El resultado: uno de los mejores discos de este año.

torrent.

Video del primer sencillo: Crying Lightning

Segundo sencillo: Cornerstone

Gisteren, beste mensen, ben ik naar het 4e concert in 1 maand tijd geweest. Namelijk naar dat van Franz Ferdinand.

Opwarmers van dienst waren The Cribs. Daar kende ik maar 1 liedje van, Men’s needs. Niet dat een onbekend repertoire mij al veel heeft teleurgesteld, de eerste keer dat ik Team William live zag, kende ik hen ook totaal niet en kijk nu eens. Hetzelfde bij de Staat van de woensdag.

The Cribs

Toch konden de Cribs het niet waarmaken. Voor mij toch niet. Ze hadden leuke liedjes, dat wel, maar als je er 1 hebt gehoord ken je ze allemaal. Bovendien leek die anders zo pretentieuze Ryan Jarman zelfs bang van het publiek! Hij stond namelijk altijd met zijn rug naar ons te spelen. Niet zo bijster leuk natuurlijk.
Het was zelfs de bassist die het meeste zong. Niet dat ik dat zo erg vind, Ryan zou zelfs niet door de prerondes van Idool geraken. Maar goed ook. ( Wel moet ik hierbij zeggen dat zangtalent, of beter het gebrek eraan, niet altijd zo erg is; denk maar aan Clap you hands, say yeah!)

Gelukkig kwamen toen de geweldige mannen van Franz Ferdinand eraan. Zij kwamen, zagen én overwonnen het publiek moeiteloos. Alex Kapranos beweegt spastisch over het podium, maar geen erg; dat is net zo leuk! Hij had overigens een rode ruitjesbroek aan. Move over, Dominic Howard! De setlist zat bomvol hits, en maar goed ook want het publiek was gekomen om eens goed los te gaan.
Take me out, No you girls en Can’t stop feeling werden zo hard meegebruld dat Franz zelfs ging lopen. Gelukkig kwamen ze na een korte break terug voor de bisnummers met onder andere Lucid dreams, dat naar mijn gevoel overigens niet zo hartelijk werd onthaald. Misschien hadden ze beter geeindigd met een bekendere single? Ach wat; het einde moest echt niet anders zijn voor mij, het was namelijk Fe-No-Me-Naal! Serieus; het leek op een soort on stage – improvisatiespel ( dat naar’t schijnt toch op de CD staat, zo vertelde A. mij) van misschien wel 10 minuten lang! Zonder overdrijven!

Franz Ferdinand!

Verder moet ik nog iets vermelden; Alex, Bob, Nick en Paul zijn blijkbaar stuk voor stuk drumgenieën! Zo leek het toch tijdens een drumintermezzo waar iedereen drumstokjes in zijn handen kreeg en op alles begonnen te slaan. Er ontstond een zéér aanstekelijk ritme en het beste is; I caught it all on tape;

Ik was eerst een beetje sceptisch ten opzichte van Franz. Ik dacht namelijk; jaja leuke deuntjes, dansbare rock; maar dat gaat nooit zo goed klinken live.

Wat ben ik blij dat ik ongelijk had zeg! Het was echt een fenomenale show.

Nu denkt u misschien, hoe daarnet was ze nog helemaal into Muse?

Maar het is gewoon zo anders; Muse was in het sportpaleis en dat is zo een grote venue, je kan niet zo bijster veel zien omdat er veel volk voor je staat en je wéét gewoon dat ze goed gaan zijn.

Bij Franz was er een major verrassingseffect én we zaten echt dicht zodat we elk spasme van dichtbij konden meemaken.  Als je ooit de kans hebt; zeker ernaartoe gaan, dus!

Verdict? 8 op 10! ( Cribs waren namelijk niet zo een goede opener, in mijn ogen. En de ticketten waren best duur.)

Tot de volgende!

Augh, FML. Seriously. Why is there so much homework for me to do this weekend? Why is my freaking psych professor assigning the normal homework along with the gigantic semester paper? Totally unfair. I seriously should have made more time for this stuff during the week, but the thing is…even if I knew it was going to be like this, I guarantee I wouldn’t have worked on it before Friday at the earliest. I’m so lazy. Lol…it’s a “conditioned response.” THIS STUFF IS SO BORING. But at least I understand it a little better than some of the stuff in the textbook.

I am seriously a music downloading addict recently. Today I downloaded almost 300 songs! I got these albums off of various free (and probably illegal, l-lol) websites: Aimee Mann (Bachelor No. 2 The Last Remains of the Dodo, The Forgotten Arm, I’m With Stupid, Lost In Space, @#%&*! Smilers, and Whatever), Bob Dylan (Modern Times and Under the Red Sky), As Tall As Lions (You Can’t Take It With You), Dashboard Confessional (The Shade of Poison Trees), The Fall Of Troy (In the Unlikely Event), Franz Ferdinand (Tonight), Lenka (Lenka), Norah Jones (Not Too Late), Pat Benatar (The Essential), Red Hot Chili Peppers (Blood Sugar Sex Magik), The Rolling Stones (Emotional Rescue, Goat’s Head Soup, Some Girls, Sticky Fingers, Tattoo You, and Undercover), The Strokes (First Impressions Of Earth), and Tegan & Sara (Sainthood). HOLY HELL THAT’S A LOT OF MUSIC, AMIRITE? I’ve actually been keeping a music downloads log so I can keep track of all the stuff I download.

I’m hungry but I felt kind of sick earlier, so I’m hesitant to actually eat anything.

I finished all 900 and some pages of Penny & Aggie that are up so far yesterday after school, haha. I like it a lot otherwise I wouldn’t have kept reading all of that. But yeah, it took forever.

I’ve been wanting to color I picture I drew the other day for a few days now and I just haven’t had the chance. It’s been minimized on my desktop for at least two days. I’m really tempted to color it and leave the rest of my homework for tomorrow, but I’m worried I won’t be able to get it all done. I have a math test, a psych quiz, assignment, and discussion board thing, and of course the psych semester paper. I’m thinking I’m going to try to finish part I of the semester paper and possibly the math test and then get to coloring if I have time. It just sucks ’cause what I really want to do is color. But… yeah, I need to pass. OTL I’m supposed to register sometime soon, I guess. My parents keep bugging me about it and I just feel like OKAY HOLY SHIT I WILL GIVE IT TIME.

Lily is constantly in my room with me. It’s really sweet. Haha, actually, now that I think about I think Lily has a conditioned response to “bathie.” c: She’s such a sweetie.

Umm…what else? I guess that’s it for now. BBL, wish me luck on my horrendous homework load!

TONIGHT (Get it?  If you don’t, well, I’ll forgive you. Just read on.) I’ve seen probably the best gig I’ve ever seen.

Franz Ferdinand was supported by The Cribs, who had an adorable (according to me; because he was jumping all the time and really into the music) and maybe also a bit weird (according to my friend; because of the same reason?) guitarist/singer. (The Cribs seem to share the vocals equally?) I have no idea how they sound on their album(s?) but they weren’t bad at all! That weird/awesome guitarist stood like 40% of  the time with his back turned to the crowd, but the audio is the most important thing of course. (Although he wasn’t that bad-looking !:) )

The Cribs' cool/weird guitarist.

Then Alex Kapranos (In red checkered trousers, jawohl. No one wears trousers like Alex.), Nick McCarthy, Bob Hardy and Paul Thomson came on stage and started off with “Michael”, an oldie from their first album. Then came “Bite Hard”, and the crowd still was a bit lame. But then they played “This Fire”, during which the audience had to sing a part and the temperature rose. “Tell Her Tonight”, “Live Alone” (one of my favourites of their most recent album, but they cut out the nice synth sound so I didn’t like it very much), ”Can’t Stop Feeling” (to shake your butt off), “No You Girls” (idem), “Dark of the Matinee” (idem!), “Ulysses” (AAAAAAAAAAAAAH yess! Awesome!) and a few others, to end with  ”Outsiders” (‘When you saw me sleeping, you thought I was dreaming of you; no I couldn’t tell you that the only dream is Valium for me’), where all the band members took place at the drumkit and just BANGED it until I got erm, almost mental .

Alex and his amazing pants.

Luckily, however, that wasn’t the end of it! No, they came back to rock out with the first part of  “Jaqueline” (only guitar), “Turn it on” (which was not a crowd’s favourite … nor mine). After that they played “Shopping for Blood”, which I totally didn’t expect to hear (because not on one of their cd’s) but was quite cool to hear live. But then: “The Fallen” with its catchy guitar-riffs! “Lucid Dreams: Extended Version”! No, I mean: Exteeeeeeeeeeendeeeeeeeeed Veeeeeeeeeeersiiiiiooooooooooooon. They made the outro into a whole electronic dancy tune (even more than on the album), which I loved and danced to. That was the end of their 2 hours lasting set and I must say it was a typical Franz-gig I think. Bob was just being the bassplayer, shy but indispensable (In the end I clapped a little harder and longer for him than the others. I think bassplayers deserve more attention.). Paul was a living metronomy, Nick provided the melody and Alex was the man, jumping all over the stage and making strange pirouettes (I know I could never like a band with a non-moving guitarist. I know it.) and a certain moment he danced/moved in a way that reminded me of Talking Head’s David Byrne in “Stop Making Sense”. On video’s on youtube I’d heard his voice failing sometimes, but TONIGHT (Oh humour.) it was all ok. No, better.

To quote Mr. Kapranos himself: “A good concert is one were you really live in the moment.”

Well, I had my moment. A moment that was very close to perfection!

P.S. I’ll post some video’s later!

Kurz: Franz Ferdinand rocken! Leider erwies sich die Sporthalle zu Hamburg erneut als nicht Konzerttauglich!
Die Vorgruppe “The Cribs” überzeugten!

Heute Abend in der Sporthalle > Franz Ferdinand! Viel Spass!

"Does this even need a witty caption?"

Lady Gaga is a confusing artist. I’ll say this right now; her songs are cringe-worthy, and incredibly pretentious at times. However, she creeps up on you, and before you know it you are singing along to every chorus, and trying to join in on the absurd dance moves in her videos. Lady Gaga is the both the worst of pop, and the best of it all at once, and I don’t know if I’ll ever wrap my head around her fully. If her first album wasn’t confusing enough, this special edition bonus tracks-cum-EP-cum-new album that she calls ‘The Fame Monster’ just adds to the Gaga enigma.

Just let me take on the Lady as a whole, first off. She’s incredibly odd, in terms of look, costume, public persona, music, and especially her music videos. By rights, she should have gone the way of Bjork in the public perception, a one hit wonder that drops out of the mainstream but still has hardcore fans who can accept her strange aesthetic and unique musical style. Lady Gaga, on the other hand, endures. I think this is because she isn’t unique. Whether this is pure lack of creativity, or as I like to see her, a big postmodernist comment on the world of pop and celebrity, is still up for debate. What Gaga does well is take on the wide range of what we call pop, smash it all together through massive layers of production and create something decidedly weird, but catchy as hell and so bombastically unoriginal that it comes full circle and feels fresh and new.

I hate to go track by track, but I’m going to party have to for ‘The Fame Monster’ as it is not really a coherent album. Oh sure, it’s being sold as that now, but it was originally planned as a bonus disc for her debut release ‘The Fame’, filled with tracks that were either new or left off that release, depending on which articles you read. The only thing that seems to pull the album together is the repetition of the words “free bitch” in a few of the songs. The reason for highlighting certain tracks will just give you an idea of what to expect, and an idea of how eclectic an album ‘The Fame Monster’ is:

Bad Romance is the closest to what I’ve come to expect of Gaga thus far, with a similar sound to previous songs like Paparazzi, though with a vocal hook that reminds me of Boney M’s Rasputin, and a verse in French for no other reason than it’s a Lady Gaga song. Alejandro opens with a spoken intro in a bad, pan-European accent, and carries on in that vein, sounding like Shakira taken to the Europop extreme. Monster is booming R&B and features the line “he ate my heart and then he ate my brain.” ‘nuff said. Speechless would sound like Abbey Road/Let It Be era Beatles mixed with Christina Aguilera, if it weren’t for the strange accent Lady Gaga puts on to sing it. Try to imagine a country drawl mixed with Dick Van Dyke quality cockney and you’ll be about half way there. Dance In The Dark sounds a little like a darker version of her earlier song ‘Just Dance’, funnily enough. Telephone (feat. Beyonce) opens with a harp, and then breaks out into a thumping club track. If you like random vocal effects and hearing Beyonce for a verse, then you’ll probably enjoy it, there’s not much else to it really. So Happy I Could Die is what Rhianna would sound like if she’d been around in the 90s, pop R&B scene. Finally we have Teeth, which to my ears is the love child of Fanz Ferdinand’s ‘Ulysses’ and everything Scissor Sisters ever released. Though sadly, unlike those bands, Lady Gaga’s tongue is nowhere near her cheek in this one.

So where does that leave us? The Fame Monster is an eclectic mix of songs, which while possibly enjoyable on their own, don’t totally work together. Actually even on their own, just as you start to get into a song something, be it the lyrics, or an odd sound effect Gaga decided to add, will make you cringe. The subject matter is a little more mainstream than her main her first album, with each track seeming more about relationships than celebrity. Here’s the rub. Nothing I or any other reviewer says about this album will matter. This album will sell. It will pump out single after single, and Lady Gaga will make video after absurd video to promote it. I still can’t work out whether Lady Gaga is a genius or just very lucky to hit on some untouched artery of the market, but it doesn’t really matter. She’s cemented in pop culture now, and this album is doing nothing to endanger that.

5/10

Standout Tracks:

Bad Romance

Speechless

Telephone (feat. Beyonce)

Obiezioni? No Grazie!

Libertà: condizione di un individuo che è libero di pensare, agire e operare così come gli pare.
Definizione semplice e lineare applicabile alla maggior parte delle situazioni quotidiane ma per troppo tempo lontana dal mondo della musica o piuttosto da un po’ di tempo lontana dal mondo della musica. Da quando fare musica è diventato un mestiere e un modo di guadagnare e sopravivere i vari produttori discografici hanno deciso bene di passare a setaccio ogni idea e ogni testo sfornassero i musicisti da loro scritturati rendendo le loro idee conformi alla massa e atte ad essere vendute ad un pubblico più vasto; insomma hanno trasformato una passione in un business rendendo ciò che alle origini era pura e limpida comunicazione nella più infima forma di marketing. Leggi di mercato rigide vigono su qualsivoglia artista che decida di andare avanti grazie all’appoggio di una casa discografica e, malgrado i buoni propositi iniziali, nel corso della carriera ognuno a suo modo s’è dovuto arrendere al modo di vedere dei produttori che hanno plagiato e uniformizzato il modo di fare musica di quasi tutti gli artisti.Negli ultimi anni invece per chi desiderava portare avanti i propri propositi continuando a suonare la propria musica s’è aperto uno spiraglio: l’indie.
Questo modo di fare musica (per niente facile da realizzare) prevede l’autofinanziamento in modo da poter portare avanti le proprio idee senza dover sottostare alle rigide leggi di mercato. Basta avere una band, qualche soldo da parte e la voglia di remare controcorrente per ottenere i proprio obiettivi, per potersi sentire veramente liberi anche per quanto riguarda la musica.Malgrado sembri qualcosa di utopistico o controproducente, rappresenta perfettamente, a mio avviso,  l’essenza della musica, quella vera e pura fatta di passione e poche influenze attraverso la quale si possono  trasmettere passioni o più semplicemente portare avanti le più stravaganti teorie musicali arrivando addirittura a creare generi musicali totalmente nuovi.
Insomma senza arrivare ad idolatrare questo modo di entrare nel mondo della musica si deve ammettere che, con la giusta determinazione e coraggio si può arrivare ad ottenere lo stesso successo e gli stessi incassi dei gruppi che operano sotto la supervisione, alquanto invasiva, dei discografici ma mantenendo allo stesso tempo una libertà creativa totale e quasi sconosciuta nella musica degli emergenti.

Tritolopuro32®

(Alberto.A)

FRANZ FERDINAND

EMPIRE OF THE SUN

PRODIGY

JOHN DIGWEED

BOYS NOISE

ABOVE & BEYOND

etc…

Franz Ferdinand FRANZ FERDINAND Franz Ferdinand FRANZ FERDINAND…

End of October met beginning of November, another fine, eventful dates. Spent most of my hours at office and around the town, wandered through unfamiliar neighborhood with friends (streets, parks, etc. and somehow for solitary ramblings) and found some film ideas to execute with Bruda. Went to Instituto Italiano di Cultura to catch Europe Film Festival and currently listing down names of film I’m going to watch at iNAFF’09 (including Vincent Gallo’s Metropia).

Last Friday the Creative department had a gathering at our ECD’s. Practically, what he had pointed out was somehow a eye opener, not only that I’m (honestly) still a bit desperate to perform, I also still want to be around these people for longer while. Had a thought that the 45 minutes of eagerness enhancer would somehow be forgotten.. (no, not there yet!)

And most of it, we went to see Franz Ferdinand at Carnaval Beach. Despite the salty wetness of sea wind that got into your skin pores, it was really great. There were 3 venues, before they started, everybody rushed and filled into this one and got colossal mostly when song likes ‘Take me Out’ and ‘Do You Want To’ kicked in. Though I would enjoy more if the crowd kept moving without other songs being disposed, it’s just their third album is little known here. On one and only negative note: I was standing behind this ecstatically dancing ‘4L4y’ girl I meet at every gigs I went almost constantly (or fatefully). Whether she’s very multi-exist or she’s stalking on me.

I must thank Amang for showing me his book of Luis Sepulveda, ‘The Old Man Who Reads Love Stories’ it was translated to Bahasa but I found the translation is very fine and relevant, like how the nature of Sepulveda’s writing expressed in there. Making short of what I had from it, Ecuador is helluva paradise of sexy animals and good booze. Soon after that, I was recommended to read 2666 which I’m currently on page 300 something now.

Not only good things happened, had some frictions with someone I’m having kind of relationship with, still in same fashion of jocularity and dark humor, showing my innerchild, my disgusting egomaniacal disorder, my obsession for balance, including social standing and cash balance. As you see, living amidst the environment is full of award winning drama queens/kings/queers that forces me to define my own performance.. ha!

On high heels two days in a row doing manly job of carrying and installing photo panels. I’m thinking bout grooming.


This morning I took some photos of baby Annaya with Gun’s and Roses tees from me.

she has girly action on right pic!

“It is much easier to make war than peace” — Georges Clemenceau (French ambassador at the Paris Peace Conference) 

When the Great War, WWI, had ended, and the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28th, 1919 by the victorious Allied Powers and the defeated Germans, it set in motion a chain of events that ultimately led to the greatest catastrophe in world history, WWII. 

The Kaiser’s army had been quite different from that of the Nazi’s. Yes they had been ruthless, yes they had committed atrocities, but so did many other armies at the time. What made the Kaiser’s forces so much different from Hitler’s was ideology. The Kaiser viewed all Germans, including Jews, as his subjects. In fact, many German-Jews took up arms in the name of the Kaiser and had even served as officers in the war. This is not to say restrictions were not in place; Jews could not join the ranks of the nobility, which in German meant receiving the noble particle “von” before the surname, unless they renounced Judaism and converted to Christianity. This meant they could only rise so high within the ranks of the military, which was not uncommon throughout Europe, as many countries slighted minority groups during the age, be they religious or ethnic, but many Jews served in the Kaiser’s court, and had long established themselves as a well-assimilated, and appreciated community within German society. German-Jews, under the Kaiser, were, for the most part, very proud of their country, culture, and nationality, and thought of themselves as nothing but German. Ashkenazi Jews were actually very closely linked to Germany at the time, and adopted many aspects of German culture into Judaism. Yiddish, for example, was a dialect of German that was widely spoken by many Jews worldwide before the rise of Hitler. 

When Germany surrendered at the end of WWI, one must realize that the Allies didn’t even possess a single square-inch of German soil. For the most part, the British naval blockade, and the protracted nature of trench warfare, was what defeated the German army and the German people’s morale. At the time the armistice was signed, German troops actually occupied French and Belgian territory. Many of the German troops who were told they had to surrender, Pvt. Adolf Hitler included, could not understand why, since it was they, and not the Allies, who occupied their enemy’s countries. They had already technically won the war on the Eastern Front, after signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Russians in 1918, and had come close to winning the war in the West as well, on a number of occasions, even coming to within 30 miles of Paris at one point in the war. What these soldiers could not see, due to the fact it was intentionally being hidden from them by their government, was the fact that the German empire was running out of food, resources, and money, and morale had dwindled so low at home, and in some divisions, that the Kaiser had been deposed and many of his beloved divisions had begun to surrender their positions to the Allies wholesale. The German war machine had essentially been choked out, rather than smashed altogether, and German defeat was more of a matter of circumstance rather than fact. Most parties, such as the British, were simply happy to end the war, given the fact it had been the most costliest in human history up to that point. The French, however, having suffered German invasions for centuries, advocated a march on Berlin that would disable German war capabilities once and for all. The Allies undoubtedly had the upper hand at the time, but the Germans wouldn’t have stood by quietly had the Allies pursued such a strategy. It would’ve cost far more lives and could’ve extended the war for years on end… and, as is always the case in war, there was no guarantee of success either. 

Without being directly exposed to conditions on the home-front, bitter WWI vets, like Adolf Hitler, could not fathom how they had lost the war. From their bunkers and foxholes, all they could see were German boots on French and Belgian soil, yet they were being told that they had lost the war. Various conspiracy theories quickly started to spread amongst the soldier’s ranks, one of which was the Dolchstoßlegende, which translates in English as the “Stab-in-the-Back Legend”. The Dolchstoßlegende was a belief that gained widespread popularity in post-war Germany that claimed communist Jews, who were not believed to be “true Germans at heart”, had sabotaged the war effort both at home and in the field, causing the German war effort to fail. Only reinforcing the people’s belief in this conspiracy, two prominent German-Jewish bankers, Max Warburg and Carl Melchior, were sent to Paris as part of the delegation to negotiate the Treaty of Versailles and procure the “best possible financial terms” for Germany. When the Versailles Treaty turned out to be as harsh as it was, the two bankers were pointed to as evidence of a Jewish conspiracy that was trying to destroy Germany (Max Warburg’s role in financing the Bolshevik movement in Russia didn’t help things either). Jewish bankers and businessmen were accused of profiteering off of Germany’s defeat and the German-Jews as a people were viewed as an alien-element within Germany by much of the population from that point forward; making the people all the more susceptible to Hitler’s anti-Semitic message. The Weimar Republic was also thought to be responsible for the terms of the treaty, due to their ineptitude and corruption. This created a very hostile climate within the country against the government, which led to various coup attempts throughout the Weimar regime’s short reign. 

An astute statesmen, whose name I cannot recall (thought it was Woodrow Wilson but it doesn’t appear to be) said, “If you treat the Germans like enemies, they will not disappoint”. The exceedingly harsh conditions laid out in the Versailles Treaty, designed to break Germany for several generations, were obviously not very well received in the Fatherland. What really bothered many Germans, more so than the loss of territory/colonies, military reduction, or the reparations, was the forced admission of war guilt on the part of country. In the eyes of many, Germans and neutral parties alike, the Allies were at least partly to blame for backing Serbia after Serbian agents assassinated the crown prince of the Austrian Empire, the archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Allies believed that Kaiser Wilhelm simply used the archduke’s assassination as a pretext for war, and that he had been craving new territory for some time. There was no denying that Kaiser Wilhelm was a militarist-expansionist, and that he had a particular distaste for both France and Russia, but claiming that Germany would’ve declared war on the Allies even if Franz Ferdinand had not been shot is pure speculation. The German people begrudged this condition of the treaty so much because they felt it was the source of all the other terms, such as the territorial loss and reparations. Had Germany’s cause for war been declared legitimate, the Allies would’ve had no justification in sticking it to Germany in the fashion that they did. 

These perceived injustices, combined with the ineffectiveness of the democratically elected Weimar Republic, caused widespread resentment in Germany towards the West (i.e. France, Britain, USA, etc..). Democracy, capitalism, materialism, civil rights, etc… were disdained by many, and a rash of anti-Semitism spread like wildfire. Post-WWI, the German people essentially split into two camps, neither of which were democratic; Marxists and National Socialists. Various communist coup attempts took place throughout the reign of the Weimar Republic, which partly led to a rise in ultra-nationalism. In response to these Marxist agents, many of which were Jewish, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party began to make headway on the political scene. It wasn’t long after that that Marxists and Nazis were openly killing each other in the streets. Promising to save the wealthy businessmen in Germany from communism, Hitler gained the support of many capitalists, even though he had no more love for capitalism than the communists did. 

The chaotic political conditions mixed with the miserable economic conditions in Germany set the stage for a demagogic, savior-like figure to rise to the forefront of the political scene. The Germans believed they had been unfairly treated by the Allied powers and believed communist Russia was covertly attacking them, in an effort to dismantle their sovereignty and subjugate them to Soviet rule. When Adolf Hitler promised to put the people back to work, rearm the nation, recover lost territory, and rid the country of foreign/communist/Jewish influence, it resonated with many of the people. Although the Nazi Party never gained a majority in the Reichstag by the vote of the people, they did become the most powerful political party in the country by the late ’20s, and their popularity only grew when Hitler started delivering on his promises (i.e. economic revival, rearmament, territorial reclamation, etc..). 

Had the Allied Powers not alienated, punished, and isolated Germany at the end of the war like they did, they would not have fanned the flames of ultra-nationalism within the country and soured the German people’s taste for democracy. On the other hand, had the Allies not totally destroyed the Kaiser’s system and replaced it with a corrupt faux-democracy, there would’ve been no need for a demagogue to create a new system of his own. On the other side of the spectrum, had the Allies, at the very least, driven the Germans out of France and Belgium, there would’ve been no need on the part of the German soldier to reach for conspiracy theories as to why their government had told them to surrender. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but one can make a pretty good case that the Versailles Treaty was to Hitler as Dr. Frankenstein was to the Frankenstein monster.

In the opinion of most all historians, the first turning point of WWII came decades before Hitler came to power; decades before the second worldwide conflagration was ignited. Had the Allies either dealt with Germany more leniently, or pressed their advantage all the way to Berlin, the course of world history would’ve unquestionably played out much, much differently. 

“I don’t know whether war is an interlude during peace, or peace an interlude during war” — Georges Clemenceau 

The signing of the Treaty of Versailles may have been WWII’s first turning point, but it was by no means its last. I will further elaborate on WWII turning points in upcoming posts.

I’ve recently made a revelation.

Most, if not all, of the music I’ve been covering in this here blog has been focused primarily on artists and bands who call New York or England their home. Naturally there have been some rare exceptions along the way but for the most part I’ve been kind of predictable. Allow me the opportunity to make a slight deviation from my tried and true formula. I’d like to present a pretty spiffy indie rock band that’s been making some waves for the past year but is about ready to drop their eponymous debut that will be sure to rattle the senses soon enough. The best part? They’re not from New York and they’re not from London or Manchester either!

Nope. The Soft Pack come to us from the sunny and very friendly confines of San Diego, California. When this band first started out, they were known as the Muslims. Personally I thought the Muslims was a great name and rather ballsy given the current climate we find ourselves in. Unfortunately since we tend to share our planet and on a more micro level, a music scene with bumbling and stumbling idiots, the Muslims thought it better to change their name. Luckily for us, the name change was not followed by a change in sound. This quartet brings their tightly wound and rapid fire assault on the nerves in the form of The Soft Pack, the self-titled debut via Kemado Records on 2 February.

If you’ve happened to catch these guys in concert in the last couple of years sharing the stage with the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Phoenix, White Lies and Friendly Fires, you know that the songs are brief in length but simply blistering and full of panic. Just the way we like it. The lead-off single taken from the record entitled Answer To Yourself should serve as a more than acceptable introduction to the band for those previously unaware. Very accessible. Very poppy and oh so hummable. Is 2010 the year of the Pack? I dare say we are about to find out…

The Soft Pack on MySpace
The Soft Pack on Facebook
The Soft Pack on Twitter

“Answer To Yourself” by The Soft Pack, taken from the forthcoming Kemado release, “The Soft Pack”

“hit me with your eyes so sweetly”

Dear Franz Ferdinand,

Thank you for coming to Jakarta, wiping our tears while our medias are busy exposing corruption that makes us gasping for just a breath. We’re singing “Fallen are the virtuous among us, walk among us, never judge us”.

Playing music, dancing, moving, you burn the fire in us, “this fire is out of control, we gotta burn the city.” Yup, burn the city!

Joy, dance, music, what’s better than all of those? You bewitched us and we long for your music, your gig. When you played “The Dark of The Matinee”, I was brought back to my school years. Though I couldn’t change the past, I was glad that I had already been out from that psychedelic factory and entered another exciting moments when I found you in “The Dark of The Matinee”. You brought me to “Lucid Dream”. I’ll definitely dial Ithaca for you.

When you suddenly disappear from us, it’s as if you asked us “Do you want to”, and yes we want you more! This “can’t stop feeling’ was out of control, the fire burned us already. Nothing can’t stop us! At that time, I really prayed to God, hoping that you didn’t “walk away” on us. Apparently, you did not.

When you, Alex, came down to us, shaking our hands. We yelled triumphantly. You love us, we love you even more.

Let’s get high together. You’re my “Ulysses”. Do come back to Jakarta again very soon. Rock our body, heart, and soul ever after.

From your biggest fan in Jakarta,

Olivia

From the deepest of my heart, I love you guys!