Hey there,

I should be grading papers for finishing my old job (long story, to be told later), but I have the urgent need to share some music - I guess I'd explode otherwise...

Ever since I listened to the National's album the Boxer for the first time, randomly picking the cd while dog sitting at a friend's place last year, I loved it. Both the voice of this guy and the sound of the band (the instruments, arrangements) are awesome. I have listened to the album so many times in all kinds of situations, mostly when I was trying to calm down (given the situation) but also when I was happy or just cycling a bit. Well, check it out yourself. Here's a video with the band performing the opening track of the album, "Fake Empire". The sound quality is not so great, you should take the time for checking out the proper recordings, but the intro of the presenter is worth listening to :-)

The National - Fake Empire

Labels: Soundtrack

Ok, today is blogging day. This post actually dates back to November 1st. My friend Marco indirectly reminded me of it by announcing on Facebook today: "The Facebook cheat: "Press up up down down left right left right b a enter, and then click... " Why that reminds me of this post, you will find out once you listen to the song below.

Alright. On the day I came up with the idea of writing this, I was sick, had a cold, and all kinds of aches. Basically I felt like I couldn't do anything. Even listening was rather difficult. Still I was longing for some background music that might help in believing that everything was not so bad or at least would be alright some time soon.

So I chose for the soundtrack of the movie "Juno". I must have been looking for some naiveness or whatever... Somehow I remembered it as being easy.

It turned out to be more complex than that. Right, starting to listen to it, it mainly sounds sweet. But there seems to be more to the woman who is singing a lot of the songs, with the voice of a teenager. Well, but probably you already know Kimya Dawson and the Moldy Peaches, the band in which she used to play together with Adam Green, the singer/songwriter hero of the alternative music scene*.

Anyway, check it out yourself... For the more bitter version of Kimya, see "You're so nice, you're so smart". Below you get the nice side... Because I am still fascinated by these weird characters who are incredibly famous...



*) To take part in the hype: Adam Green will play in the small hall of the Paradiso on February 10 and 11, 2010. Ticket sales start on November 21. I bet it's gonna be sold out.

Labels: Soundtrack

Yesterday I had a hard time falling asleep, still struggling to get rid of a cold and my brain unwilling to stop thinking. Listening to music (Jon Foreman and Dustin Kensrue) helped a bit... The stuff of Jon Foreman and especially of Dustin Kensrue (yes, the guy from Thrice) is remarkably unspectacular but soothing to me somehow. I got stuck on Dustin's "Blanket of Ghosts" which really helped getting my mind set on sleeping mode...


Dustin Kensrue - Blanket of Ghosts



Sleep well!

PS: The studio version even has an organ...

Labels: Soundtrack

... and no, I don't mean dancefloor music à la 2 Unlimited etc.

A while ago a friend said "time heals all wounds" when I asked her what to do about my grazed knees. After that an incomplete song line was stuck in my head. Days later on the bike I suddenly thought "it's the Spin Doctors!" Well, well, shame on me, I still had to search which song it really was. Turned out it's "You Let Your Heart Go Too Fast" and the line goes "If time heals all wounds, don't you know that time also deals them." The video is sooo 90s :-)

I just realized that my main Spin Doctors time was before I could watch MTV, and I probably didn't know about the Internet. I only got to know more of their music than the radio hit "Two Princes" because I knew that somebody I liked had their CD, and that was a good excuse to talk to him :-D Now I'm very happy about it, because they are one of the bands that inspired me to start playing the bass guitar years later. (...and remind me that it's time to practice more again, hehe.)

Below another video with Chris White playing a pink bass guitar. Ohoooh.


Spin Doctors - What Time Is It? (live TV 1993)

Labels: Soundtrack

So here comes the music :-)

I've been so much into this song since I was on the look for a video of "No Such Thing" a while ago. John Mayer's interpretation of "Free Fallin'" is just so beautiful. The lyrics suddenly got to me in a much different way than when I used to hear the Tom Petty version on the radio. I feel really sorry that this song has been so overplayed and disappeared in the mass of "greatest hits" on the radio. It is so worth listening. Tom Petty's live version is awesome, too. Oldschool. I guess it's just a great song. To me. Check it out:

John Mayer - Free Fallin' (Tom Petty)




Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Free Fallin'




PS: If you don't have enough yet, here is an awesome version with Axl Rose. Yeeehah. He's got the moves :-D

Labels: Soundtrack

Haha, funny to listen to this song on the train on the way from Stuttgart to Amsterdam at 279 km/h.

John Mayer - Stop This Train

Labels: Soundtrack

So... Life is complex. There is too much to do and still not enough is happening. Maybe you know what I mean.

Anyway, I just remembered one of the songs that were constantly playing on my iPod on the long bike rides right after I moved to A'dam. It's "Street Map" by Athlete. Well, once again, reading the lyrics I don't really get the meaning; but listening to it as a whole, it seems to make sense and fit the moment.

Have a nice weekend!

Athlete - Street Map



I would like to think our paths are straight
Disconnected from choices we make
That there is no reason why it can't be like you said

One day it's gonna happen
I dont know when
I'll be on your street
But I know one day it's gonna happen
You're gonna be swept off your feet

I would like someone to make a map
Mark my home and draw some lines that match
All of the reasons why
It can be like you said

One day It's gonna happen
I don't know when
I'll be on your street
But I know one day it's gonna happen
You're gonna be swept of your feet

I dont know when
I dont know why
I dont know when
I dont know why

One day It's gonna happen
I don't know when
I'll be on your street
But I know one day it's gonna happen
You're gonna be swept of your feet

But all that I know is it's gonna happen
I dont know when
I'll be on your street
But I know it's gonna happen
Your gonna be swept of your feet

Labels: Soundtrack

After the cancellation of a meeting tomorrow morning, I decided to treat myself to a hot chocolate. It is really hot, so I have a few minutes for an update...

The thesis is 99% finished. Still waiting for input about the language from somebody. Then I can send it off to the second reader and wait for the grade.

Anyway, life's still incredibly busy. I keep going with the other project. It's still challenging, but I hope to finish it soon. (In case you are wondering: No, after that I can't graduate yet. Will have to get another 6 credits *sigh*.)

Future plans are still blurry, because a) finishing the Master's takes me much longer than planned and b) I'm again having a hard time to make a decision what I want to go for. The major question is still whether I should go for academics or not.

Well, and I was going to write an extra post about it, but cause of a lack of time, here it comes: I'm playing in a band again :-) We're called "Vélo Volé" (stolen bike) and it is so much fun! Will keep you posted about it. Our Myspace-page gives an idea what the songs are like. We are kind of different now, because we have a violin player and the bass which are not in the recordings yet.

On Friday I saw Emiliana Torrini play. It's the third time she played here since I came to A'dam, and I'm glad I finally made it. It is just really cool how she is telling stories about the songs, which makes them more spicy than when you listen to her sweet voice on CD. The Paradiso was again a beautiful concert location, and Emiliana somehow managed to make the crowd shut up while she was talking.

Hot chocolate's empty, time to finish, so here some Emiliana stuff. Couldn't decide what's better.


Emiliana Torrini (live) - Lifesaver and Jungle Drum
Check her story about Jungle Drum at 4:05 so typical :-)

Emiliana Torrini - Sunny Road
Really cute video...

Labels: Leben, Soundtrack, Studium

Hey there, Friday's almost over, a new, still incomplete version of the thesis is on the printer, I'm tired and out of energy. The news of the day are that I will leave academia after my master. I'm pretty sure. So I got back to another song that was part of my Christmas/New Year-soundtrack and will probably stay part of the one for finishing the studies...

Johnny Cash - I Won't Back Down (Tom Petty)

Labels: Leben, Soundtrack, Studium

Having survived a day that turned out to be rather confusing in the end, I was standing on the ferry and thinking about life. Is this it? Is this my life?
Once I was discussing some program design with a teacher and said "this is how it works in theory, let's see how it will work in real life". He replied: "This is real life."

True.

So here I am sitting, listening to what the "Genius" is playing for me, and once again I hear John Mayer telling "I just found out there's no such thing like the real world". That might be it. Don't know what it should be helpful for. But that might be it. Yes.



PS: Please excuse me for making the blog a collection of pop music wisdoms these days. It's all I can say. Let me know if it bores you.

Labels: Soundtrack

The weekend passed by too fast. I was trying to keep going with my thesis, and I kind of did, but it still feels like it's taking forever... Yesterday I went to church in spite of all, which was good. After that I bought a cap and a calendar which took me ages. Later I had dinner with friends. Very nice.

Today I finally got good gloves. I had been borrowing a pair from a Vietnamese fellow student for a few days because my old cheap ones had big holes and my hands were freezing when I was cycling... But now it feels much warmer anyway, with or without gloves. It even started to rain :-(

These days I got out some music from a few years ago and have been listening to Switchfoot's Beautiful Letdown over and over again. Here comes my song of the weekend. Have a good week everyone!

Switchfoot - More Than Fine

Watch more NETLOG videos on AOL Video

Labels: Leben, Soundtrack

The laundry container is out of power and that gives me the unique chance and motivation to finally write something again... Christmas, New Year's Eve, just taking some days off and hanging out with family and friends were great! Thanks for that y'all!!!

Today I want to tell you about the Dixie Chicks virus that spread in my family. I think it started with sister 1 when she was in the USA a few years ago, then it was sister 2 looking for a wedding outfit, then my dad watching the dvd "Shut Up and Sing" and now it's me. I bet my mom only doesn't talk about it.

My sis presented the album "Taking the Long Way" to me in this time of being at home, going to the Christmas service, seeing people who are still living in my home village, thinking about past, present and future and being asked about it again and again...

The opener of the cd begins:

My friends from high school
Married their high school boyfriends
Moved into houses in the same ZIP codes
Where their parents live

But I, I could never follow
No I, I could never follow

Could have been the soundtrack of my Christmas holidays :-)

So that album is pretty cool, I must admit. Funny enough that the Dixie Chicks worked with Semisonic's songwriter Dan Wilson (remember my last post?). Plus Rick Rubin, John Mayer and Chad Smith (RHCP's drummer). Whoohoooo.

The documentary is definitely recommendable: Check the trailer or the whole documentary. No need to be a country fan to like it.

Finally here comes the video. Enjoy!

The Dixie Chicks - Taking The Long Way Around

Labels: Film, Leben, Soundtrack

Just because I have the time for it (yeah), once again here comes a song that I randomly remembered. Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in the 90's...

Semisonic - Secret Smile

Labels: Soundtrack

Dear friends of rock music,
(and I say that with a strong German accent, because the one and only thing is "Liebe Freunde der Rockmusik"...)

On the way to the ferry I thought about writing a "supposedly I'm writing my master thesis..." series of posts. It might be funny. But because I'm realizing that the outcome won't be funny - I will have to present in two weeks - I stop the thing before starting it.

I might even try to not write here and on Twitter and wherever...
This is the time to focus and just do it.

Prayers, encouragements etc. are appreciated. Please forgive me if I'm off for some time and kick my ass if you find me doing nonsense stuff.

Soooo... My last music post until December 17th at least: The Brown Feather Sparrow concert finally is online. I couldn't figure out how to link to one specific song, so here comes the player for the whole concert. Check out song number 12. Right band in right place.

Labels: Leben, Soundtrack, Studium

Supposedly I'm writing my master thesis at the moment. Reality is different.

A friend shared her iLike playlist with me on Facebook, full of retro hits... So now I am severely distracted, checking out very important things like if Celine Dion wrote "My Heart Does Go On" herself (no, she didn't, but she didn't write most of her other songs either).

Still giggling about the pink dress of this anti-star of mine, I was a bit shocked that somebody I considered a really "cool one" discovered James Blunt for the US. James Blunt! Aaaaaah. He can't sing! So guess who got him signed? Hint: She is writing hits for Christina Aguilera and Pink, too. No idea?

It's Linda Perry from the Four Non Blondes... Remember? The cool one with the awesome voice and, yes, an "evergreen" to me.

Congratulations for making it to real professionalism. I'm still kind of shocked but admiring the versatility, for sure.

Labels: Soundtrack

Last week a teacher asked what we thought about the assignments we had just handed in. After a not very unexpected awkward second of silence one of the group was honest enough to just say "it depends on the grades". The teacher's reaction was "come on guys, you should be intrinsically motivated, not extrinsically". Well done, teacher, you puzzled the students and the big grin on your face was just right in this situation.

Anyway. What he said keeps coming back to me... What am I doing why? What keeps me going and what is next? Questions that are there anyway, being so close to the end of my studies (?) and a possible change of location, but they are brought to surface again with this line. I guess there is not much more to say about that at this moment. Except that the nice thing in this phase is that friends prove their patience by listening to my moaning. Thank you.

Finally here comes a song that I remembered biking in the November rain (haha). In German. And no video. Sorry. "Ich wär so gern extrovertiert, dann wär ich schon längst nicht mehr hier..." *hau drauf* :-D

Such a Surge - Was besonderes

Labels: Leben, Soundtrack

Today's song is not really random. It popped to my head when I updated the hours I was working today, including last night.

Life is very busy these days... Luckily it's not only working and studying and other everyday life business that needs to be taken care of (flat tires suck), but also friends and music :-) Since the last post I've seen three more concerts: The Pigeon Detectives in the Melkweg (I will never understand how somebody can have as much energy as the singer), Damien Jurado in the small hall of the Paradiso (great, saw many familiar faces) and finally Brown Feather Sparrow in the main hall of the Paradiso.

The Brown Feather Sparrow concert was so beautiful, it would definitely be in my top list of concerts if I had one. The beautiful voice of the singer and the atmosphere in this building that was a church ages ago were mind-blowing. The show is supposed to be posted on Fabchannel soon. I'll try and remember to put the link here, so you can get an impression.

So much for now. I should decide on what to do next... Dinner, nap, laundry or grading? In the meantime have fun with the band I did not see live because I had a math exam the next day:

Matchbox Twenty - Long Day

Labels: Leben, Soundtrack

... war ich gestern zum dritten Mal auf nem Bloc Party-Konzert. Danke, MTV und 3voor12! Ich war ja schon überrascht, als ich von MTV angerufen wurde, dass ich zwei Tickets gewonnen habe, aber dass ich bei 3voor12 dann auch noch abgesahnt habe, war schon der Hammer :-) Also sind Lily, Cansu und ich zusammen nach Rotterdam gefahren anstatt zusammen zu kochen. Was für ein Spaß! Es hieß ja schon vorher, es sei ein "exclusive showcase", aber dass es so klein wird, hätte ich nicht gedacht (fragt mich nicht nach Zahlen). Das Watt war auf jeden Fall angenehm un-voll, obwohl ausverkauft.

Bloc Party haben natürlich gerockt. Die paar Mal, als ich dachte, ach, jetzt wird es aber doch langweilig, kam gleich wieder was cooles. Die Leute gingen voll ab, Stagediver ohne Ende (zum Glück war ich nicht vorne). Am Schluss hat die Band auch noch in der Menge gebadet.

Alles in allem mag ich die Band einfach. Die neuen Songs* sind gewöhnungsbedürftig, aber die alten Hits mussten mir auch erstmal ans Herz wachsen. Immer wieder schön, wie der Sänger abgeht und die Leute anstrahlt, der Schlagzeuger abgeht wie's Tier und sich schon nach dem ersten Lied das T-Shirt auszieht, der Gitarrist vor sich hinspielt und sein Gesicht nicht zeigt, und der Bassist seine Sache gut macht und einfach nen schönen Bass hat :-)

Hach ja, es gab auch ein paar Sachen, die ich kritisieren könnte, aber das ist so schwierig, so niederschreiben, dass man das richtig versteht. Und da hab ich jetzt keine Lust drauf. Hab ja nichtmal die Energie, auf Englisch zu schreiben...

Hier gibt's ein paar schöne Bilder auf Flickr.

Ne gute Woche euch allen!

*) neues Album = "Intimacy", kann man gerade auf dem Luisterpaal hoeren.

Labels: Leben, Soundtrack

A while ago I stopped listening to music on the way to university because usually some tune got stuck in my head and kept me busy all day. Well, now random songs keep popping up out of nowhere :-D Today's song:

Jimmy Eat World - Sweetness

Labels: Soundtrack

Zum Niederländisch-Üben habe ich gerade auf Uitzendinggemist.nl was angekuckt. Zum Ausklingen eines ohnehin Niederländisch-gespickten Sonntags habe ich eine Sendung mit Musik gewählt, und zwar über 10 Jahre Krezip. Kennt die jemand?

Ich habe die Band vor einer Weile mehr oder weniger nebenbei wahrgenommen, als sie bei so einer Preisverleihung, die ich im Fernsehen gesehen habe, sämtliche Preise abgeräumt haben. Scheinen hier so ein Phänomen zu sein. Wundert mich aber auch nicht mehr bei den Ohrwürmern, die sie schreiben. Neulich "All My Life" im Supermarkt gehört und nicht mehr aus dem Kopf gekriegt.

Hier ein Video von ihrem Auftritt auf Pinkpop 2007, wo sie anscheinend für die betrunkene Amy Winehouse eingesprungen sind. Das Lied nennen sie einen Evergreen, was durch das Mitsingen des Publikums wohl bestätigt wird:

Krezip - I Would Stay


PS: An "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" haben sie sich auch versucht. Aber an die Beck-Version kommen sie natürlich nicht ran ;-)

PPS: Meine Auswahl der Songs ist keineswegs repräsentativ. Die Band hat durchaus auch un-schnulzige Lieder...

PPPS: Und jetzt lese ich gerade noch, dass es die Band nur noch bis Dezember geben wird. Tsja, 12 Jahre sind schon ne Zeit.

Labels: NL, Soundtrack