Mixtape #2 - It's (not) the end of the world

This mixtape is mainly dedicated to the great band R.E.M., which I was lucky enough to see live in front of the Cologne Cathedral in 2001 before their release of Reveal. They played for free, and they finished their amazing concert with the sublime "It's The End of the World (As We Know It)". As much as I loved R.E.M. back then and still love them now, I've got to admit that the news of their split left me cold. The lacklustre 2004 album Around the Sun left me disappointed and I couldn't be bothered with their following albums. As many fans will agree, R.E.M. never really recovered from their drummer Bill Berry leaving the band in 1997. The drum machines on Up are a painful reminder of how essential Berry was to the band. They did very good songs after 1997 (e.g. At My Most Beautiful), but not another great album.

In the past week, I've discovered Lana Del Rey, whose song Video Games is already one of my favourite songs of 2011. I won't add to the discussion that surrounds her (lips) and let the music speak for itself.

Listen to the mix here:

X-Ray Spex - Germfree Adolescents

Ol' Dirty Bastard - Shimmy Shimmy Ya

Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express

R.E.M. - E-Bow the Letter

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Bats in the Attic

Emmylou Harris - Heaven Only Knows

Lana Del Rey - Video Games

R.E.M. - The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite

Half Man Half Biscuit - Joy Division Oven Gloves

The Wedding Present - Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft

Anna Calvi - Desire

R.E.M. - It's the End of the World (As We Know It)

Mixtape #1 - This mess we're in

Boy, this was fun. Inspired by @fromdesktildawn, I've compiled my first online mixtape. I really enjoyed putting the tracks together and listening to them, and I just hope – if anyone's listening – you won't be bored.

A couple of words about my music listening habits: I'm a huge BBC 6music fan. I've started listening to Marc Riley's show in 2007, and I've discovered many old and new fine tunes on there (Marc Riley basically discovered the Ting Tings, you know...), and one of my faves is on today's mixtape: Cockney Rebel's Judy Teen, which is one of the finest Glam Rock songs ever. Most new music I still find on 6music (Tom Ravenscroft! Gideon Coe! The Playlist!), but I also read Pitchfork now and then (although it's getting worse and worse), and I use rateyourmusic.com as a reference. And of course there's Twitter which is a treasure trove.

I still buy music, mainly on vinyl, and this year's harvest included this year's #1 so far, Metronomy's The English Riviera (listen to the slick guitar on Corinne), Radiohead's King of Limbs (it's good but not overwhelming, but hey, limited edition!), PJ Harvey's Let England Shake (undeservedly Mercury Prize winner). Some of my favourite track's from this year are included on the mixtape too: Alex Ebert's Truth, which was already used in Breaking Bad, to my utmost pleasure, Lia Ices' heavenly Love Is Won, the controversial Vaccines If You Wanna, which is a cracker in my book. The rest of the tape is about my love for glam, punk, and drinking songs. Enjoy!

Playlist:

The Clash - White Riot

PJ Harvey (feat. Thom Yorke) - This Mess We're In

Alexander Ebert - Truth

Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop

Cockney Rebel - Judy Teen

Real Estate - It's Real

David Bowie - Changes

Metronomy - Corinne

Queen - Keep Yourself Alive

The Vaccines - If You Wanna

The Pogues - Streams of Whisky

Lia Ices - Love Is Won

The Harry Potter Project #1

So, I’ve started the Harry Potter project. It just means that I will read the seven novels, and maybe watch the films afterwards, all for the first time. Why now? you might ask. Well, no special reason, I’ve always wanted to read them, just to find out whether they’re any good. I mean, how’s the saying? One billion Harry Potter fans can’t be wrong. I’ve read five chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone so far, and reading them was fun but also felt kind of strange, mainly for the fact that I was somewhat familiar with many things that were happening and with parts of the plot, which is another thing that makes the Harry Potter franchise special. Even the people who haven’t read the novels or watched the movies know a lot about Harry. There are the names: Dumbledore, Voldemort, Hogwarts, the sport Quidditch. I’ve stumbled across them in the past, so it was nice to finally learn more about these characters and things. And everbody knows the story about the genesis of the novel: It all started in a café, right? But of course J. K. Rowling couldn’t have started without giving serious thoughts as to how the novel would develop. That’s quite clear from the very beginning.

The novel starts off with a nice bit of exposition. One of the reasons why it must have been so popular is that the reader and Harry are on the same page as to most of the topics which means that the main protagonist has no advantage over the reader and is even more clueless at times. Then there’s the battle of good (Dumbledore) vs. evil (Voldemort) which has been popular since the world was young and makes clear that Rowling knows her Lord of the Rings, among other things. And the Dursleys are as horrible as can be imagined, which reminded me of Grimm’s fairy tales (Aunt Petunia surely is a version of Cinderella’s step mother). The talk about magic is also pretty common to most fantasy readers. Unicorns, wands, books of spells. So, why did it become popular in the first place if it doesn’t offer anything new? Well, it does. Rowling invents a whole new kind of sport (Quidditch is “like football in the Muggle world”), which is very clever, and she basically conjures up a whole new universe for readers, which already worked for J.R.R. Tolkien. The first novel serves as an opening door to that universe, which feels fascinating. I mean, almost every reader wants to know how Quidditch and the magic potions work, and there are other mysterious objects, like the package from vault 713, the wand which is a relative of Voldemort’s, which add suspense to the story. I do not wish to say that she just copied elements from older books, that would be unfair. She created something very original here, despite all the familiar fantasy elements. I certainly want to go on that train from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters which will depart soon.

Track of the Day: Emmy the Great - A Woman, A Woman, A Century of Sleep

Emmy the Great's second album "Virtue" will be released on June 13.

You can download the song "A Woman, A Woman, A Century of Sleep" via RCRDLBL.

It's a slow burner, so you might want to give it a few listens.

Track of the Day: The Dodos - Black Night

This reminds me once more of the Dodos' gig at the Melt! Festival 2009, with an awful sound. That's a shame really, because their sound is so unique, the drums and the rhythm being such a prominent feature of their music. This is a great taster for their new album which has already been released in March.

Track of the Day: Modified Toy Orchestra - Qwerty

Qwerty video from Modified Toy Orchestra on Vimeo.

This should be a hit. The Modified Toy Orchestra uses modified toys to make music and it sounds more original than anything else I've heard this year. Maybe ever. The kraftwerky-looking video only adds to the fun. The lyrics are spoken by one of those toys which has annoyed thousands (or millions?) of parents immensely. This is fun.

Africa Hitech - Out in the Streets

I'm totally having that.



Album "93 Million Miles" out 9th May 2011 on Warp Records.