Archive for October 2011
The Greatest
Once I wanted to be the greatest
Two fists of solid rock
With brains that could explain
Any feeling
Cat Power – The Greatest (Mediafire Link)
Now i’m only thirty-two;
And all i wanna do, is boogaloo!
Actually I’m 33…
Raising the bar, being self-critical, not giving myself a chance… Not a good idea.
The ones that make it have the ego that goes with it.
THey give themselves the means to make things happen.
And no, “conciliant et fuyant ne sont pas nécessairment les deux faces d’une même pièce…”
Money
Not really. Just an easy transition from the previous post.
Also, I’ve been receiving a number of links to the Anonymous’ Plan.
And I just saw two of the funniest and clearest explanations of the situation / I think it’s Australian TV.
And now, the songs/covers:
The Drums – Money (Mediafire Link)
Not technically a cover. But they sound so much like early Cure/Smiths
Flying Lizards – Money (Barrett Strong New Wave Cover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ6GxCHb2O0
Easy Star Allstars – Money (Pink Floyd pothead Cover)
BTW, the picture illustrating this post comes from another easy “shortcut” visualization of the US debt.
Want
“People often desire something but don’t really want it. Don’t be afraid to want what you desire.” – Slavoj Žižek speaking to Occupy Wall Street
I think I’ve been living under a rock. Completely out of touch with the outside world.
This movement has actually grown? I hate it when I’m that skeptical at first.
It reminds of my reaction to the initial call for demonstrations in Syria a few months ago. I stupidly scoffed…
Anyway, I think I’ll scramble back under my rock and play ostrich. Here are my thoughts for today.
No Lyrics; it would be too much. Especially this first version…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiOmhOumh-w
Elvis Costello – I Want You (Mediafire Link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iBLMZjltu4
Bob Dylan – I Want You (Mediafire Link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4CzqrPZtXk
The Beatles – I Want You (Mediafire Link)
Sforzando
afp.com/Gabriel Bouys
And now the news:
Today’s Soft Focus is on the Sugar Free Soy Flour Sausage Festival of Spanish Fork, UTAH.
It seems that the Saturated Fat of those Specialty Foods covers thousands of Square Feet and has dealt an unprecedented blow to the Sunflower industry in the region. This Scarcely Found type of Swine Flu is very dangerous because of its hybridization with Scarlet Fever.
Sustained Fire is the only solution to eradicate this mutant disease. Our Secret Friends at the Special Forces have guaranteed that all Safety Factors will be respected: Scuderia Ferrari has been transformed into an actual Strike Force with Significant Figures that recall the heyday of Northern Ireland’s Sinn Fein and Denmark’s Socialistisk Folkeparti.
With its Simple Formulation, Sigmund Freud’s Super Friendly Survivor Function has transformed the Spayed Female’s Smoking Fetish into a Super Fancy Static Force. Our Semi Floating Star-Fleet is here with Sword and Fist to make sure the Swiss Franc System Failure is not repeated and the Sexy Female’s Sticky Fingers are defiantly aimed at her Step-Father, looking for a Soft Feel on the Shop Floor.
Please forgive the Semifinished Sentence Fragments ; I’d say this is more Speculative than Science Fiction.
Sincerely,
Superfreak
Scott McKenzie – San Francisco (Mediafire Link)
If you’re going to San Francisco
You’re gonna meet some gentle people there
That’s the song most people get in their head. I could have also posted Village People’s Go West.
But I went in for the kill with his one
Magnetic Fields – Come Back From San Francisco (Mediafire Link)
Come back from San Francisco.
It can’t be all that pretty,
when all of New York City misses you.
Should pretty boys in discos distract you from your novel,
remember I’m awful in love with you.
[…]
When you betray me, betray me with a kiss.
Damn you. I’ve never stayed up as late as this.
And continued with this one: the manipulative cherry on top
Chris Isaak – San Francisco Days (Mediafire Link)
I still love you, I still want you.
I still need you, don’t hang up and say goodbye.
[…]
we never will be through…
Pain
Pain
I guess it’s a matter of sensation
But somehow
You have ways of avoiding it all
In my mind
I have shot you and stabbed you through your heart
I just didn’t understand
The ricochet is the second part
Cause you can’t hide
What you intend
It glows in the dark
Once you’ve sought
The path of revenge
There’s no way to stop
And the more I try to hurt you
The more that it hurts me
Strange
It seems like a character mutation
Though I have all the means
of bringing you fuckers down
I can’t make myself
To destroy upon command
Somehow forgiveness
lets the evil make a loss
No you can’t hide
What you intend
It glows in the dark
Once we become
The thing we dread
There’s no way to stop
And the more I try to hurt you
The more it backfires
The more it backfires
The more that it backfires
Sparklehorse and Dangermouse featuring Wayne Coyne – Revenge (Mediafire Link)
Where is the ritual
And tell me where where is the taste
Where is the sacrifice
And tell me where where is the faith
Someday there’ll be a cure for pain
That’s the day I throw my drugs away
When they find a cure for pain
Where is the cave
Where the wise woman went
And tell me where
Where’s all that money that I spent
I propose a toast to my self control
You see it crawling helpless on the floor
Someday there’ll be a cure for pain
That’s the day I throw my drugs away
When they find a cure for pain (x2)
When they find a cure find a cure for pain
Morphine – Cure For Pain (Album) (Mediafire Link)
Demain
Je pense pas à demain, parce que demain c’est loin…
Hier ou demain, mais pas aujourd’hui…
When you’re both a procrastinator and a control freak, the idea of tomorrow is pretty hard to deal with. And if you have a lot of time on your hands, then it gets even worse.
I get so excited every time I discover a new song.
I glimpsed the first few seconds of this Marianne Faithfull video on somebody’s laptop. I realized later that it was from the musical Anna by Serge Gainsbourg and that I actually had it on the album “Mister Melody – Les Interprètes de Serge Gainsbourg“.
I could sense a certain uneasiness in the look I received, as if I had stumbled on something that wasn’t meant for my eyes. On the contrary, the song spoke straight at me. Or perhaps that was exactly the problem…?
Écoute mon coeur qui bat
Il ne bat pas pour toi,
Mais pour un autre que toi
Que je ne connais pas.
Hier ou demain,
Je t’aurais dit oui.
Hier ou demain,
Mais pas aujourd’hui.
Oui, j’aurais pu être à toi,
Mais tu n’étais pas là.
J’étais libre comme toi,
Mais ne le savais pas.
Hier ou demain,
Je t’aurais dit oui.
Hier ou demain,
Mais pas aujourd’hui.
Hier est si loin déjà
Et je ne t’aimais pas.
Et dès demain si tu penses à moi
Je ne serai plus là.
Hier ou demain,
Je t’aurais dit oui.
Hier ou demain,
Mais pas aujourd’hui.
Hier ou demain,
Mais pas aujourd’hui.
All this talk about tomorrows started over drinks yesterday with a bunch of friends waxing lyrical about IAM and the album L’ecole du micro d’argent. I just had to find the closing track everybody was raving about.
IAM – Demain, C’Est Loin (Mediafire Link)
Lotsa lyrics, here are a few:
[…]
La fin, la faim, la faim justifie les moyens, 4, 5 coups malsains
Et on tient jusqu’à demain, après on verra bien
On marche dans l’ombre du malin du soir au matin
Tapis dans un coin, couteau à la main, bandit de grand chemin
[…]
Tirroir, on y passe notre vie, on y finit avant de connaître l’enfer
Sur terre, on construit son paradis
Fiction, désillusion trop forte, sors le chichon
La réalité tape trop dure, besoin d’évasion
[…]
Lendemain? C’est pas le problème, on vit au jour le jour
On n’a pas le temps ou on perd de l’argent, les autres le prennent
Demain, c’est loin, on n’est pas pressé, au fur et à mesure
On avance en surveillant nos fesses pour parler au futur
[…]
Seeing my current state of mind, perhaps I should’ve posted the Velvet Underground’s “All Tomorrow’s Parties” or The Shirelles’ “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” but I’d rather end this on a more positive (?) and childish note.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yop62wQH498
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You’re always
A day
Away!
Trash
Well the insomnia isn’t getting any better
So I thought I’d just go with the flow and follow rivers…
Beirut’s underbelly blablabla
Oh well, not as nitty gritty as I thought it’d be. Or else I wouldn’t be back here posting about it.
I know a girl, a girl called Party
Party girl
I know she wants more than a party
Party girl
And she won’t tell me her name
I know a boy, a boy called Trash
Trash Can
I know he does all that he can
Wham Bam
And he won’t tell me his name
I have a heart, a heart that’s beating inside
When I was three I thought the world revolved around me
I was wrong
And so I sing along
And if you dance, then dance with me
I know a girl, a girl called Party
Party girl
I know she wants more than a party
Party girl
I know a boy, a boy called Trampoline
You know what I mean
I think you know what he wants
I think he knows what he wants
I think he knows what he wants
U2’s “Trash, Trampoline and the Party Girl” is one of my favorite tracks from Under a Blood Red Sky. Yet another teenage resurgence. I wonder if there’s a pattern here…
PS: the image is the poster to Trash, the 2nd film from Paul Morissey‘s trilogy with Joe Dalessandro.
This movie actually got me into a lot of trouble in the early noughties with my girlfriend at the time. I told her I went to see a “trash” movie with a friend. It was actually Takashi Miike‘s “Visitor X“. And she thought I was lying about my whereabouts. She told me: You’ve seen Trash last week, and made a whole deal about it… It’s crazy what jealousy can put you through… And then you find yourself doing the same thing…
PS2: this night had at least one positive outcome / it’s always good to put a name to a face…
Plus there were the 2 Jenna Haze lookalike dykes at this new 24/7 bar in Hamra…
PS3: Inside joke / Datarock’s Fa Fa Fa (Mediafire Link)
The Night
Just saw the Killing‘s season 2 Finale.
Sarah Lund is definitely Copenhagen’s biggest export since Danish Butter Cookies…
And then, the craziest thing happened: I had just finished typing this first sentence when I got a call from Denmark!
Of course when I picked up, I got the all-too familiar sound of a cellphone bouncing in somebody’s pocket. That’s what you get when you’re name starts with an A and you’re the first number in everybody’s phonebook.
But that was a sweet mistake indeed…
Transition: The picture illustrating this post is DR Byen by night and I had ended my previous post with a link to Mashrou’ Leila‘s latest EP.
Most of the people reading this blog know that Leila isn’t a girl and the band’s name should be understood as “overnight project”.
And then I remembered the first few lines of one of Morphine‘s best tracks.
You’re the night, Lilah. A little girl lost in the woods.
You’re a folk tale, the unexplainable
You’re a bedtime story. The one that keeps the curtains closed.
I hope you’re waiting for me cause I can’t make it on my own.
I can’t make it on my own.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ66zPjRlkE
“The Night” (Mediafire link)
Turns out, Mark Sandman was probably also playing on ليلة / ليلى
Of course, my tired brain followed that convoluted hyperlink with a logical musical leap to Eric Clapton’s “Layla”.
Not the unplugged one.
No lyrics equating Pattie Boyd to Majnun’s Layla.
Just the epic part that starts halfway though the original version.
The instumental Scorsese used in “Goodfellas”.
And that scene transported me back to Beirut in the early nineties where a third Leila appeared, followed by a group of hunters.
Yeah I know, you’re saying it can’t be: he’s posting corny Cabrel songs!!!
But listen to it: Leïla et les chasseurs (Mediafire Link)
Leïla, si tu savais les yeux qu’elle a
Quand elle voit s’approcher les chasseurs
[…]
Elle rêve d’un fragile, d’un fou
Qui l’embrasse au quinzième rendez-vous
Qui tremble en lui prenant la main
Et surtout qui ne dise rien
In my teenage years, it contributed to some of the most naive and persistent theories on love I’ve ever come up with.
Anyway…
Hi hi CPH!
See you in my next life!
Habibi
Just finished reading Craig Thompson’s gorgeous graphic novel, “Habibi”.
I was scared I’d be disappointed because of the exotic looking subject and how much I love “Blankets”.
Don’t be put off by the cover or the dots under the “B”s: it’s a mind-blowing labour of love and – … I’ll just leave it at that.
For more info on Habibi:
Official site
Review
Slideshow
Craig Thompson’s Blog
And here’s the quote from Thompson’s interviews that justified and triggered this post (’cause yes, for the time being this is still only a music blog…):
“There’s a description of Arabic calligraphy as ‘music for the eyes, and that’s how I felt about it from when I first saw it. The musicality of it, the movement, the flow.”
I immediately heard Soapkills’ cover of Asmahan’s “Ya Habibi Taala” in my head:
Habibi (Live in Circus, 24 June 1999) (Mediafire Link)
And yes, Dodola does look a bit like Yasmine.
And this is where the plot thickens: Habibi is the missing link between Beirut’s various alternative scenes through time!
Balkan Beat Box – Habibi min Zaman (Mediafire Link)
Forget where they come from, the intro sounds so much like the Incompetents’ “Bullets Gently Dancing Over My Head” (2008)
And of course, in 2011 Mashrou’ Leila released another “Habibi” on their latest EP, El Hal Romancy (Official free download).
Sleep
According to our friends at Wikipedia, Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles.
It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and is more easily reversible than being in hibernation or a coma.
Sleep is also a heightened anabolic state, accentuating the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, nervous, skeletal and muscular systems. It is observed in all mammals, all birds, and many reptiles, amphibians, and fish.
Unfortunately I can’t get any!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuqEbRzy_t8&ob=av2n
Faithless – Insomnia (Mediafire Link)
I only smoke weed when I need to,
And I need to get some rest,
I confess, I burnt a hole in the mattress,
Yes, yes, it was me, I plead guilty,
And on the count of three I pull back the duvet,
Make my way to the refrigerator,
One dry potato inside, no lie
Not even bread, jam,
When the light above my head went bam!
I can’t sleep, something’s all over me,
Greasy, insomnia please release me,
And let me dream about making mad love on the heath,
Tearing off tights with my teeth.
But there’s no relief,
I’m wide awake in my kitchen,
It’s dark and I’m lonely,
Oh, if I could only get some sleep,
Creeky noises make my skin creep,
I need to get some sleep,
I can’t get no sleep…
And now, here’s the Kinks’ pong to Faithless’ ping: A cover produced by Geoff Barrow of Portishead
The Kinks – I Go To Sleep (Demo Version) (Mediafire Link)
When I look up from my pillow I dream you are there with me.
Though you are far away I know you’ll always be near to me.
I go to sleep, sleep, and imagine that you’re there with me.
I go to sleep, sleep, and imagine that you’re there with me.
I look around me and feel you are ever so close to me.
Each tear that flows from my eyes brings back memories of you to me.
I go to sleep, sleep, and imagine that you’re there with me.
I go to sleep, sleep, and imagine that you’re there with me.
I was wrong, I will cry, I will love you to the day I die.
You alone, you alone and no one else, you were meant for me. ot sure how
When morning comes once more I have the loneliness you left me.
Each day drags by until finally night time descends on me.
I go to sleep, sleep, and imagine that you’re there with me.
I go to sleep, sleep, and imagine that you’re there with me.
Somebody told me recently that some things are better left unsaid. I should’ve just posted the lyric that came through my head. Now, this post has taken a totally different meaning… or has it?
Audiogrammes 
