a friend and i were reminiscing about how good sia is.

that the way she beautifully carries herself on the album *colour the small one* is breathtaking. we laughed how the song breathe me let alone should be served with a warning label.

“this song may cause a severe mental breakdown but its okay. its good for you.”

recently, sia released a candy-coated b-side called pictures. please enjoy & be sure to catch her solo US fall tour through november. its highly recommended.

deadboy & the elephantmen are one of those bands i stumbled across while i was living in new orleans. almost six years ago, a friend had told me that they were a must-see live. exhausted, wandering along the streets until i got towards the end of the mississippi river, i stood up against a wall and before i knew it.. i had entered the total chaos of what it is to hear and watch a band perform. only two members played upon the stage, tessie on drums and dax on guitar/vocals, but it was all they needed. they fused together their lo-fi louisiana blues mixed within cigarette smoking-whiskey drinking southern rock, leaving me completely obliterated. in a city full of vampires, darkness, beauty and sadness, all i could think was “this band IS new orleans.” listening today, they still remind me and i love every lil bit of it.

from we are
night sky [2006]

• blood music
• stop, im already dead
• misadventures of dope

recently, i asked shara worden of
my brightest diamond
the way she feels music and art

…
this is how she responded.

I was just in New Orleans on tour and that city feels like art itself. I want to simultaneously hold the city in my arms, smile from ear to ear and burst into tears. I kept thinking of Bjork’s Olympic dress, and how if she could come to New Orleans like a mother hen and cover the whole city with her skirt, maybe the city would smile and feel a little better. It groans with sadness now. The buildings droop, the faces are drawn, the trees are sagging under the weight. I just hope they don’t turn it into Disneyland. That would be a great tragedy. The other tragedy would be if it is lost like Detroit. I took a lot of poloroids and felt so alive because there is so much story there. The possibility of art to do something, to bring life and hope seemed enormous. The possibility for beauty to conquer commercialism is great.

The show at the House of Blues was incredible. Songs like “Workhorse” with lyrics like “somewhere, sunshine burns a dark but common horse when he fell by the wayside, no one seemed to notice him” took on a new meaning in New Orleans. I was practically screaming the line “Bring me the workhorse.”

Art has the ability to bring community, to capture the valiant nature of the human spirit, to gather our hopes and while I don’t believe in using art for an agenda, there is great power in the force of art to change an environment. We look to art to bring a certain redemption, a revelation that is beyond what we ourselves are capable of.

Some of my favorite artists include Bernd Preiml [above], Deth p. Sun, Sarah sze, Ginger geyer, and Ron Mueck. There is something very personal and yet grand about each of them. There is so much cynicism in both music and art right now, and that I find rather uninteresting. These artists have found a way to bypass that trend and explore universal ideas and are making completely unique, creative work. I am delighted and inspired by them!

My top 10 favorite songs are…

01. Henry Purcell :: Dido’s Lament
02. Jeff Buckley :: Grace
03. Nina Simone :: Wild is the Wind
04. Prince :: Sometimes it Snows in April
05. Tom Waits :: Dirt in the Ground
06. Baby Dee :: My Love Has Made A Fool of Me
07. Diane Cluck :: Wild Deer at Dawn
08. Regina Spektor :: Chemo Limo
09. Heatwave :: Always and Forever
10. A-ha :: Manhattan Skyline

I think these artists, most of whom were or are great singers, used their voices freely and in a deeply emotional way. I thought a lot about Nina Simone being in New Orleans and felt like singing a new version of “Mississippi Goddamn” but rewriting it for Louisiana! The corruption is enough to make a lady spit and curse.

[currently, my brightest diamond is supporting sufjan stevens on his fall us tour. shara worden is a brooklyn neighbor and good friend to sufjan appearing on recordings, touring over the years. her album *to bring the workhorse* appeared in august 2006 and already noted as one of the most beautiful releases of this year.]

photos by wesley verhoeve

kinda stoned :: swell
dirty boots :: sonic youth
hair & skin :: mazzy star
my lover will go :: ane brun
dont hold yr breath :: the walkmen & calla
just like tom thumb’s blues :: nina simone
im so lonesome i could cry :: johnny cash & nick cave

“I’m wondering where everything went wrong. What I mean is, how did we get so detached and disconnected from the thing that is sustaining our very existence? The world, this planet, our home. I don’t think that it’s all going to end tomorrow, but we are on the precipice of changing things to such an extent that things will not recover. The sad thing is we are so accustomed and attached to our materialistic way of life, all these things we have, all the things we consume, when it comes down to it, what do we really need? Food, Water, Love, Family. I guess it sounds all hippy dippy right? well, I think there will come a time, in the not so distant future, when we will all have to make a choice between those things that we think are beneficial to our existence, and those things that are truly crucial…”

words & art by ken dougherty.

Sweden have brought us many great things. Where would we be without our meatballs and Alfred Nobel? My student flat would be bare if it wasn’t for Ikea furniture. But best of all: Swedish music. Gone are the days of associating Swedish music with ABBA and other dodgy Eurovision-style tunes. I keep discovering new bands then discovering that they are Swedish. I’m really quite obsessed.

In particular, my love for Swedish pop music knows no bounds.
First Floor Power are no exception. They made music between 2000 and 2004, and vocalists Jenny Wilson and Karl Jonas Winqvist are currently pursuing side projects, but with talk of a new FFP album in the pipeline.

I find their music quite hard to define. Jenny’s vocals are terribly distinctive, and at times it’s heavily guitar-based but interspersed with bleeps that sound as if they have come directly from a 90’s console game. I think it’s probably best to just listen.

Time TimeScissors, Bag or a StoneA Mother is Missing

Always Having Fun in Front of the CamAll from There Is Hope (2001)

I’m half-convinced there’s something in the water in Ontario.

It seems to me that almost every single rock band that comes out of that province is absolutely flawless. There’s a certain “Canadian sound” that you can sample in bands like Our Lady Peace, Finger Eleven, and a young band called First Time Fallen.

Even though the band is comprised of a handful of twenty somethings, the band sounds like it’s been crafted over the last decade. One of my favorite “shower bands,” (the albums you listen to while you’re showering so you can revel in the alleged greatness of your voice which is really just a product of amazing acoustics) this band hails from Burlington, a hotbed of musical intensity.There’s nothing about this band that doesn’t come close to perfection. The vocals soar over the crushing guitars, bruising melodies and heartwrenching lyrics- this is one of those bands that you cannot help but rock out to. By the end of the first track, you’re guaranteed to be singing into your hairbrush microphone to your imaginary audience of thousands.

You know those rare moments in songs where you have that surge of electricity in your soul that screams, yesss yesss, one of those moments that can only be described with devil horns?

This band will make you want to do that with every song they play.

i don’t want to think

i don’t want to dream

i just want the point shown to me clearly

i just want to know my meaning

would it be more than i can bear to take

would it be a grave mistake

(( Confinement Insanity ))

more…

Through Wicked and Wise

About Tomorrow

Your Vietnam

Covered in Flames

the other day this song appeared. it was a few minutes of WFMU’s DJ Nick Hill, joined with a few musicians, making a phone call to jeff buckley.

they ask if he may sing something special with everyone there in the studio and jeff performs a lovely dylan cover of *i shall be released*.

singing through the telephone with the musicians playing in the background, its quite amazing, important and very bittersweet to listen to.

they say every man needs protection
they say every man must fall
yet i swear i see my reflection
some place so high above this wall
i see my light come shining
from the west unto the east
any day now, any day now
i shall be released
…

Professor Gunther Von Hagen creates a controversial macabre hybrid of art and anatomy, using a technique called plastination to hold organs and corpses in a life-like state. He replaces body fluids and fat with plastic, halting decomposition and preserving the subjects as they are. His Body Worlds exhibitions and public and televised autopsies have caused outcry all over the world: being labelled pornographic, immoral and borderline psychotic. Both the Catholic and Protestant churches declared that his exhibit was a breach of ethical and moral values, opposing Christian principles and even natural law, and stressing that human dignity must be respected after death. And yet, on average, five people attending the Berlin exhibit every day signed up to have their bodies donated, bringing the total number who have made this commitment to 3,700. Von Hagen believes his work allows people to look at death in a new way, without fear and allowing an appreciation of their own anatomy.

“I had long arguments. Is it art or not? And I always said, no, no, no – but then I realised the people see the specimens in an emotional way. It goes beyond information. I understood step by step that plastination opens the hearts of the people to themselves. They recognise themselves, get a new kind of body pride.”

boards of canada : opening the mouth

measles mumps rubella : nice hollow bodies

the servant : cells

how to swim : bones

the knife : a lung

this mortal coil : loose joints

natalie merchant : my skin

the scala choir : heartbeats

peaches : operate

headphones : wise blood

This is what has kept me running scared. Those thoughts of “I’m not good enough, I’m not smart enough” for this — this bullshit that was going through my head. But I’ve come to realize that I’m a human being, that I will make mistakes, but I’m going to win.

beth hart uses every dimension in and out of her body to reveal herself. that’s just the way she works. all those past words and inner demons are unleashed while she openly presents herself as a strong sharp-tongued woman crowd surfing into a welcoming audience. performing inbetween songs, she enjoys sharing intelligent short stories about the good and bad side effects of ecstasy, how we sometimes call out for god to help us but who the hell is he really, and the ways men & women can be so disappointing but how good they feel, how much we care for them anyways.

being able to see beth hart perform live in an intimate venue is one of those memories that i feel and will remember for the rest of my life. her stage resembling the warm comfort of home with a touch of oriental rugs, nag champa incense and the soft ambient glow from a tiny light that rests upon her piano. the moment she enters the stage, its obvious from her whiskey slick voice how one minute it feels like her entire world has ended and at the next, that everything simply is born again. for awhile, her rocking band appears but theres nothing quite like watching beth hart solo. so emotional, powerful, direct and personified that it hurts, she sings deeply from within her soul.

live & acoustic

immortal

jackie’s song

la song

mama

skin

hiding under water

buy beth’s music here.
artwork by max.

If you like a mix of wurlitzer in psychedelic indie rock, you probably know Rogue Wave and their drummer Pat. Well time to spread the words, donate, or attend their San Francisco concert, they are doing a benefit because Pat needs a second liver transplant. (boo to insurance company)

Their last album “Descended Like Vultures” is a mix up of tempo power pop with light texture here and there. Think happy California sun. They are afterall from SF… etc. go click some stuff already.

- The Benefit Concert : September 30th 2006, San Francisco.

- for more information and donation go to Rouge Wave’s webpage.

Rogue Wave – Every Moment
Rogue Wave – 10:1
Rogue Wave – Endless Shovel
Rogue Wave - Publish My Love

see also: subpop, crossposted at Motel de Moka.
(PS. Yeah I will post a nice list soon.)
image: subpop

sometimes i get so startled when i listen to antony & the johnsons. this feeling crashes inside me and it feels so powerful, i want to hide under the covers of my bed and dream and cry about how good it is to feel. becos if i didnt feel this… i dont think i would even begin to understand what all this even means.

its true i always wanted love to be hurtful
and its true i always wanted love to be filled with pain
…
i am very happy so please hit me
i am very very happy so please hurt me
i am very happy so please hit me
i am very very happy so come on hurt me

theres a consistency in antony’s vocals that fall from the deeply impacting human necessity to love, to fear, to face change and to feel different from the rest of the world. as his music and lyrics build upon one another, an exceptional dramatic range addresses the darkest of hidden places as sensitivity through elegance and grace infuses a secret romantic frequency from deep inside the heart. whether its suppose to be much more than what it seems, its hauntingly emotive and only intensifies to unveil the beauty of who antony is.

bsides//rarities::
+virgin mary
+frankenstein
+find the rhythm of yr love

covers//live::
+so young [the ronettes]
+candy says [velvet underground]
+strange fruit [billie holliday]
+be my husband [nina simone]
+child of god [millie jackson]

buy antony’s music here.

i think both understood :: neutrino
[turntable on hudson vol1 1999]

dont think :: lali puna
[scary world theory 2001]

key bored :: portishead
[unreleased from their myspace 2006]

saffron :: mf doom
[special herbs 1&2 2002]

papercuts :: broadcast
[the noise made by people 2000]

quiet storm :: blockhead
[downtown sciene 2005]

talk show :: the new deal
[the new deal 2001]