Ca tot am facut mai demult un alt articol despre coveruri, vin acum in forta cu altele mai misto, mai noi (sau nu) si nu neaparat mai bune decat originalul, dar cu siguranta niste variante interesante. Here you go:

As you might know I live in Belgium, a small country in the centre of Western Europe. For artists in the music industry this means you’ll probably won’t make it as easily as bands from bigger countries. But still, we have some great bands in Belgium altough not many of them are known outside of Belgium. That’s why Stubru, a belgian radio channel, presented the 50 best songs (voted by the public) made in Belgium in the last 10 years. And this is the top 11 from their Bel 2000:

1. Absynthe Minded – My heroics part one
2. Daan – Housewife
3. dEUS – Nothing really ends
4. dEUS – The architect
5. Daan – Swedish designer drugs
6. Hooverphonic – Mad about you
7. The Blackbox Revelation – Never alone, always together
8. Admiral Freebee – Rags ‘n run
9. Millionaire – Champagne
10. Admiral Freebee – Oh darkness
11. A Brand – Hammerhead

Why not a top 10 but a top 11 on my blog? Because Hammerhead is my personal  favorite Belgian song of the last 10 years (or at least I strongly believe so). You can see the whole list here. I recommend you to search some of these songs on the internet because all of them are really worth the try! I’ve put the video of our number 1 underneath so you don’t have to search it for yourselve. Enjoy it

So what do you think about Belgian music? Do we have what it takes or not?

Anyone who hasn’t tested the water’s with soundtracking your love makin’ is missing out.

I’ve come a long way since my “Portishead or Pretty Hate Machine” days. Although, I must admit they’ve provided fond memories. But NIN and Portishead aren’t the only artists to get steamy with.

Here is a sampling of tunes that provide a soundtrack to your love or lust.

JJ’s “Ecstasy”- Okay so I hate that damn lick it like a lollipop song,both versions-one by a crappy rapper who doesn’t know how to get a lady lick it like a lollipop and another by a mediocre walmart rock band hoping to score some booty.

But this…oh this song—-is delish.

Hooverphonic “2wicky”

This track harkens back to that 1970’s bow chicka wow wow beat. Combined with breathy vocals about what could go wrong, this track is spicy.

Wax Tailor “How I Feel” featuring the lovely miss Nina Simone. Anyone ballsy enough to mix nina into one of their tracks and incorporate that lovely pulsing beat simultaneously has won my affections.

Tv on the Radio “Staring at the Sun”

Few song’s capture the rush you encounter when you are falling for someone. Staring at the Sun does the trick in my opinion, that perpetual motion forward, an adrenaline rush you can’t really explain. Plus, it’s Tv on the Radio.

Mike Doughty “Down on the River”

Doughty’s Soul Coughing days are indeed memorable musically, but as far as this list goes-his solo project did the trick. Heard this on WMNF’s sonic detour in 2006, haven’t been able to get it out of my head yet. I like references to old south in a good get it on tune. Any song that references honey, sugar, baby, molasses, etc…

Otra muy buena canción de Hooverphonic, esperaremos impacientes a que vuelvan al mundo musical.

Hooverphonic

http://open.spotify.com/track/0hqDo3Fcnk5V7lvjxotC4h

Hooverphonic – The President of LSD Golf Club – Expedietion Impossible – 2007

Earlier this year I explored Brit Rock starting from The Killers and other artist suggested by friends.. Friendly Fires, Whitest Boy Alive, Just Jack, The Streets and Sondre Lerche. I love the accent! When I had this web project in Ortigas, I sneaked out in one of the drives and saw this mp3 folder named Euro Rock.. I’m a thief! I copied those files to my iPod =) cool finds..

• Travis
• The Libetrtines
• We are Scientists
• Supergrass
• Futureheads

I even got Trip Hop tracks from Hooverphonic, Snicker Pimps, Massive Attack and Portishead. Now I wonder who owns this playlist.. maybe i’ll like him haha.

Na vele gouden albums en vele concerts en optredens heeft de zangeres van hooverphonic Geike Arnaert van Hooverphonic in oktober 2008 geeft ze aan dat ze een eigen richting wilde uitgaan.Op de Muzikantendag van Poppunt, een dag vol workshops, masterclasses en feedback op zaterdag 14 november in de Ancienne Belgique, gaan Alex en Raymond ook op zoek naar een nieuwe zangeres of zanger voor Hooverphonic. Ook mannen kunnen met andere woorden deelnemen aan deze audities.

15 kandidaten krijgen de kans om op zaterdag 14 november tijdens een persoonlijke auditie in de Brusselse Ancienne Belgique Alex en Raymond te overtuigen waarom zij de nieuwe stem van Hooverphonic zouden moeten worden.

Kandidaten voor de auditie kunnen zich tot en met zondag 8 november inschrijven via de online muziekcommunity vi.be van Poppunt met een recente bio, duidelijke foto’s en één nummer van goeie opnamekwaliteit waarin hun stem duidelijk tot hun recht komt. Vrouwen én mannen zijn welkom, zolang ze maar een frisse, jonge uitstraling hebben. En kunnen zingen uiteraard.

Alex en Raymond kiezen dan persoonlijk 15 kandidaten die op zaterdag 14 november tijdens Muzikantendag op auditie mogen en zo misschien kans maken om de nieuwe stem te worden van Hooverphonic. Tijdens de auditie zingen de kandidaten onder pianobegeleiding het nummer Mad About You.

Back from Mexico. Good trip. Have a few leads on some new music from the Monterrey scene. Apparently, there’s a good music scene happening there. Depeche Mode was playing there one night and I missed Moby by a few days. Next time I’ll do more homework and plan ahead.

A three hour flight on one leg and an hour flight on another left plenty of time for listening to music, especially with a new set of noise canceling headphones. While the bass is subdued in the headphones, the clarity with which other sounds often missed arose was miraculous. The next couple of posts will be the playlist.

Hooverphonic’s second album featuring a new lead singer, Geike Arnaert, after the original lead, Liesje Sadonius, didn’t want to tour the U.S. with the band. Similar sound but defining a new sound, it’s another great album.

I had forgotten this but the song “Battersea” was played as the outro to the final episode of Third Watch, one of the best shows on television in recent memory.

Try

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Las musas del arte… aqui les dejo un par de canciones de unas de mis artistas favoritas haciendo covers a grandes grupos

Grazziela - Jules Joseph Lefebvre (una versión según C'est la vie)

http://open.spotify.com/track/4CXcTVhZ4WbhKKRrTKJF3m

Sheryl Crow – Sweet Child O’Mine (Guns N’ Roses)

http://open.spotify.com/track/0A1c3AtcwhPT55trBCi6Gx

Alanis Morissette – King of Pain (The Police)

http://open.spotify.com/track/0e5iW4ZyJEtRmEaxlKgvEz

Hooverphonic – Shake the Disease (Depeche Mode)

Those who know me well know that my affinity for a good cover song (and sometimes even a truly awful cover) knows no bounds.  For reasons that will soon become apparent, I’ve recently been revisiting Nirvana’s Nevermind, particularly with an eye to the tributes that other artists have paid in cover form.

Shortly before last year’s departure of lead singer Geike Arnaert, the Belgian electropop group Hooverphonic [m] [w] recorded an excellent cover of “In Bloom.”  Hooverphonic’s rendition is relatively faithful to Nirvana’s original performance, in the sense that the instrumentation is similar… there aren’t any washboards or kazoos or trombones or anything.  The loud/quiet dichotomy of the original is also preserved, but instead of ramping up the noise on the choruses, Hooverphonic puts its own twist on the song by bringing it down to an ambient dream pop-esque sound.

All in all, Hooverphonic’s rendition of “In Bloom” does everything a good cover should do:  it keeps what’s great about the source while straying from the original version in a way that makes it sound comparable to the covering band’s original material.  So go get out your trip-hop flannels and give this genre twist a try by downloading “In Bloom” from Music Is Art.  Enjoy!

The essential Hooverphonic album to own. Has a really cool vibe and their signature song, 2Wicky, contains a sample of one of the pioneers of electronic music, Pierre Henry, kind of a nice, subtle tribute. Liesje Sadonius is one of those vocalists whose voice just soothes the soul, reminiscent of a tripped out Julee Cruise.

Try

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photo: savage gardener

i’m currently in akron, a city best known for lebron james and the goodyear blimp more than anything else these days, just south of cleveland, ohio. there are few good things about this area – but i’ve learned to love where i’ve come from, and with that i embrace days like today. these are the kinds of days oakland only wish it had. (whistle tip?) these are the nights mornings san francisco doesn’t get to experience… ever.

muggy yet chilly. skies muddled with clouds casting bright white light upon the just turning leaves on the trees. the faint shhh of cars shushing themselves down the street as the rain barely continues to fall is almost as melodic as the screeches and hums of bart trains. cicadas, crickets – they’re all going crazy, singing along to some sort of mind-numbing song. tree branches creak under the weight of water they’re apparently not used to. it’s all coming together, that perfect meshing of expectation and the five senses.

this calls for a playlist of sorts. impromptu, of course.

motorcycle . as the rush comes (gabriel and dresden’s chillout mix)

every track found on the ultimate chillout 2004 album is simply lovely – and this song is no exception. the original is a little more upbeat and a lot more dance-worthy but that’s not what i’m going for today. pretty vocals = win. snag the whole album.

high contrast . brief encounter

when i first started listening to drum and bass, i felt anxious all the time. now, the complex snares do nothing but calm me – especially when you pair them with a sparkly vocal sample and a rolling bass line. lincoln barrett, aka high contrast, just celebrated his thirtieth birthday – show him some love/support.

plastician . japan

i could cry every time i hear this song. how the sounds can both dance so delicately around each other AND hit so heavy are beyond me – but i guess that’s what draws me to most of the music i enjoy. plastician is also behind one of my favorite vocal dubstep tracks at the moment – salt air. get that track at the fader.

hooverphonic . 2 wicky

i don’t need to say anything. just listen. then grab the mp3 and listen some more. thank you, belgium, for giving the world such fine music.

royksopp . what else is there

there have been about a thousand remixes of this song, but nothing nothing nothing can top the original. the vocals (thanks to karin dreijer andersson of the knife) are so haunting, feisty but ferociously sad.

mmm. hope you enjoyed that as much as i did.

The reason I am feeling very old is because I went to register (or matriculate if you’re posh) at my new university today.  It was an extremely daunting experience that left me feeling jumpy and nervous, despite the fact that I am actually looking forward to doing the course!  For one thing, I wasn’t there on any particular “postgraduate matriculation day”, everyone just registers together.  That meant I soon realised how uber-young and ultra-trendy the younger students were, some seemed as though they were about 15!

The process itself was daunting, involving a queue of about 600 people, a registry check, a finance check, a second finance check (had the first finance woman been out the previous evening, perhaps?), then a final registry check before you could finally queue to have your photograph taken and your ID card issued.  For what it’s worth, I ended up with a really good photo, which is unusual for me.

After the hour-and-a-half-long process, I held a small plastic card in my hands, which had a colour picture of me and one of the university buildings in the background, and the text read: “Jennifer Anne Fairgrieve, Full Time Postgraduate Student”.  And then something inexplicable hit me and I felt as though I was in shock.  Up until now the whole idea of going back to uni has been great to think about, and I’ve been merrily doing the coursework without really thinking about the fact that the start of the course is now so near.  I’m not worried about managing to read the last book and finish off the autobiography before then, after all I’ve already read three books so I can read another, and the basic autobiography is there and just needs tweaking.  There were times when I’d have asked myself why I felt a certain way, why I was nervous and anxious, but right now I am happy to just accomodate these feelings and allow them to be there.  I am sure that when I start the course a week on Monday I will soon settle down!

In other news, Mosco our Black Russian Terrier, has a very sore leg, and after an unsuccessful week’s course of anti-inflammatories, she will have an x-ray tomorrow morning at the vet’s to see if she is showing any signs of arthritis.  She’s now on an overnight fast so she can have the anaesthetic for the x-ray tomorrow morning.  Poor Mosco, hopefully she’ll feel a bit better soon.  On the plus side, she’s lost a kilogram since last week so her diet must be working.

Tomorrow I’m back at the Transcendental Meditation course to have my meditation checked so will no doubt report on how that goes.

I also thought I’d mention the wonderful world of trip-hop, which sounds like something a young person might say, but sadly not.  Trip-hop started in the 90s (i.e. nearly twenty years ago!) with bands like Massive Attack, Morcheeba and so on, and there is a wealth of trip-hop artists out there today, both current and non-current.  Not all electronic music is trip-hop, but I would definitely say that all trip-hop is (or appears to be from my current listening experience) electronic.  Often trip-hop is characterised by gentle rap and/or haunting vocals, keyboards, drums, samples of virtually anything and a 4/4 beat.  Artists I am currently listening to and heartily recommend are:

• Tricky
• Morcheeba
• Massive Attack
• Goldfrapp
• Portishead
• Bjork (not strictly trip-hop but has some trip-hop-style songs)
• Lemon Jelly
• Hooverphonic
• Groove Armada
• Lamb

Want to listen to them to see if I’m right about it being good? Then get yourself a copy of Spotify.  It’s free to download and easy and quick to install, and what’s more, you can listen to any music you want for free.  That’s right, free.  I’ve actually gone to the bother of putting a trip-hop playlist together to give you an idea of the beauteous, chilled-out world that awaits you!

Track List

1. Stranger
2. 50 Watt
3. Expedition Impossible
4. Circles
5. Gentle Storm
6. The Eclipse Song
7. Billie
8. Black Marble Tiles
9. Strictly Out of Phase
10. Bohemian Laughter

[DOWNLOAD]

La dulce muy dulce voz Geike Arnaert es increíble, le da un toque muy especial a la música de esta banda belga. Vale la pena escuchar sus canciones.
Aqui les dejo un par de ellas que me han gustado mucho.

Hooverphonic

http://open.spotify.com/track/5drK2kTE2mrUdV33iHWyrx
Hooverphonic -The Magnificient Tree – Mad About You – 2000

http://open.spotify.com/track/5FMYsqzxEkQBx0bhfOJJVs
Hooverphonic – The Perfect Dose – The Perfect Dose - 2008

Track list

1. Inhaler
2. 2Wicky
3. Wardrobe
4. Plus profond
5. Barabas
6. Cinderella
7. Nr. 9
8. Sarangi
9. Someone (recomendada)
10. Revolver
11. Innervoice

[ DOWNLOAD ]

Μη σας φοβίζει ο τίτλος! Για ακούστε!

1. AC/DC – I’m a Problem Child

Fuck this

I am hot
And when I’m not
I’m cold as ice
Get outta my way
Just step aside
Or pay the price
What I want I take
What I don’t I break
And I don’t want you
With a flick of my knife
I can change your life
There’s nothing you can do

I’m a problem child
I’m a problem child
Yes I am
I’m a problem child
And I’m wild

Make my stand
No man’s land
On my own
Man in blue
It’s up to you
The seed is sown
What I want I stash
What I don’t I smash
And you’re on my list
Dead or alive
Got a .45
And I never miss

Oh, I’m a problem child
Ay, I’m a problem child
I’m a problem child
Just runnin’ wild

Just watch your step

Every night
Street light
I drink my booze
Some run
Some fight
But I win, they lose
What I need I like
What I don’t I fight
And I don’t like you
Say bye bye
While your still alive
Your time is through

Cause I’m a problem child
I’m a problem child
I’m a problem child
I’m a problem child
Problem child
I’m a problem child
And my mother hates me
I’m a problem child
I’m a problem child

Και το επόμενο πολύ πολύ όμορφο!

2. Hooverphonic – Mad about you ή καλύτερα Trouble Is My Middle Name!!

feel the vibe
feel the terror
feel the pain
its driving me insane
for god’s sake why am I driving in the wrong lane.
trouble is my middle name but in the end I’m not too bad.
can someone tell me if it’s wrong to be so mad about u
mad about u
are u the fishy wine that will give me a headache in the morning?
or just a dark blue land mine that’ll explode without a decend warning
Give me all your true hate and I’ll translate it in our bed
into never seen passion,never seen passion
that why I am so mad about u-mad about u
trouble is your middle name but in the end u’re not too bad
can someone tell me if it’s wrong to be so mad about u?-mad about u

…

Sand smell in my tears!

Two in Saltland

Photo by: Maria-Mihaela Sârbu  copywriterul cu care am lucrat acum 2 ani – ii gasiti linkul la categoria “a tout le monde – tous mes amis”, ii multumesc pentru fotografie si pentru the “smart talks” we used to have when we were in the same team.

On 10 October 2008, Geike Arnaert, the lead singer of the band, announced she would leave the group by the end of the year to pursue her solo career. Arnaert wants to focus on her solo career and has been working on solo material for a few months.[1] The last concert of Hooverphonic with Geike happened on December 13th, 2008 in Tele-Club, Ekaterinburg, Russia. It was filmed by local MTV station and will be shown on Russian TV in 2009.

Ladies and Gentleman, sit down and listen to Hooverphonic!

Today’s post is really special, today’s Hooverphonic’s turn and it will not be an easy post so please excuse me if I sound reiterative but I’m in love of this band and that love just don’t allow me to be rational.

The first Hooverphonic song I listened was “Mad about you” and all of the sudden I got mad about Hooverphonic, this song is so perfect, so sweet and so human I just loved it so lets go step by step, first of all the music, classic instruments open the song in such a dramatic way and it’s not only the opening then everything develops into a 3:43 minutes of drama, passion, love and even hate, it’s not all classic instruments, we can listen drums, some synthesized keyboard and other contemporary instruments but everything comes together in such perfect way from the beginning to the end, there’s no highs and lows in this song every single part of this song is on a high, the we have the voice, the voice here is of an Angel singing evil things, you can really appreciate the passion on Liesje Sadonius’ voice and just admire how well voice and music come together, then the lyrics, we have here a true poem transformed into a song, and not the silly poem where everything is pink and sweet, but a poem where even though things can turn out badly, it’s worth to live and enjoy the experience while it lasts, those 3 items combined create a master piece that can only be described as sublime!

Then we have Jackie Cane, here we do not have Classic instruments and it’s not even necessary, Guitars take it’s place instead while still making a warm  and deep atmosphere, also here you can understand that Liesje’s voice does not have any boundaries and so her songwriting talent, Jackie Cane is once again a piece of art with deep and powerful lyrics,  brilliant music and an Angel’s voice.

And if it weren’t enough we have Vinegar and Salt, another impressive well orchestrated song where Liesje steals protagonism with her beautiful and powerful voice but the music is still extraordinary and Lyrics are once again not about the typical silly romance but about a mature person who knows her/his deffects and knows that those will turn such romance into inminent failure, but as the song states… “But sometimes, it’s better to lie” even if it’s to your self.

Those three songs I mentioned are within a single album believe it or not, and what is more impressive is that all other songs in that album are just fantastic but those three are true master pieces, those are in a cathegory appart, yet more impresive is that every single album released by this Belgian band is as good as this one, all Hooverphonic’s albums are quite different and quite interesting, music is always amazing, lyrics deep and powerful and the voice is always something unique and a true experience to listen to.

Other jewels are “2Wicky”, “This strange Effect”, “One”, “Other’s delight”, “Opium” and truly, a lot other songs, I don’t describe each one here because it’s really hard to describe the indescriptible, so I highly recomend you listen this band, any disk, any song I’m sure will be a unique experience.

So enjoy because …Music is opium for free…

11 maja 2008, Fabryka Trzciny, Warszawa

fot. Paweł Kwiatkowski (fotomusic.pl)

support: Jerboa

Hooverphonic