Saturday 14 August 2010

Eric Roberson makes everything around you stop for a minute

I've never heard Eric Roberson's "Still" before its accompanying video was realeased a few weeks ago. (Yeah, I know, shame on me! I just hardly listen to albums anymore. And that's worth another post one day maybe.) But anyhow: The video is very good, one of the few these days that's actually telling a story. If you haven't seen the end, I don't want to spoil it, but let me just say: It is a very different end from what I expected from the first verse. Now, whenever I listen to the song, the video comes up to my mind and I wonder: Would I have liked the song as much if I hadn't seen the video at all? I really can't decide.

Watch the video to "Still" here:

Saturday 7 August 2010

Janelle Monáe declares "Cold War"

It took me a while to give Janelle Monáe a listen after reading a lot about her. I dont know what made me hesitate but once I gave her a chance, I was struck by her obvious talent and artistry. Yes, she is different but different does not mean you are good. But Janelle is more than good. "Tightrope" is such an exquisite song that just made me wanna dance. Now, Monáe comes up with the second single from her album "The ArchAndroid" - and it is another great offering. The video for "Cold War" which you can see below doesnt thrill me very much. I think it is kind of daring to make a video which forces viewers to watch your face for a whole song. The inevitable tear doesnt make it any better. But maybe thats just me. However, the simplicity of the video made me concentrate on the song even more. It is really infectious and intense. I guess I now have to check out the whole album by Ms. Monáe :)

Watch "Cold War" here:

Friday 6 August 2010

The Scissor Sisters sound like The Killers - and are not the only ones

When I first read about the Scissor Sisters' new album "Night Work", I wasn't thrilled to hear any new music of the band. According to the article, the new album is very much inspired by Berlin's club scene as Scissor Sisters' lead singer Jake Shears spent several months in the German capital. So I expected a lot of hard-pumping electronic beats and was very much surprised when I heard the project's first single, "Fire With Fire". The song has everything I like about a good Killers record! Yes, the Killers! It is not at all a dance record like I thought it would be after reading about the whole album. It is a great, catchy pop song with a nice melody which centers around a hymn-like chorus.

I guess it is somewhat of a trend to sound like the Killers... The Killers' very own Brandon Flowers recently decided to come up with a solo record. "Flamingo" will be released September 6th and is preceded by the single "Crossfire". After listening to this song for a while, I still can't tell why Flowers would want to record a solo record, maintain that this doesn't mean his band is splitting up und still sound like his band on his solo material. Can you?

Watch the Scissor Sisters' new video "Fire With Fire" here (the video itself is rather boring, I have to admit):





And give Brandon Flowers' "Crossfire" - which stars Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron - a look here:


Friday 30 July 2010

let's go!

yesterday night I saw "Julie & Julia". Though it turned out to be much different from what I expected, I so loved this movie. The love for food and cooking is so well displayed and makes you contemplate following in Julies's footsteps or - which is probably more practical - rather just cooking more elaborate meals every now and then :)


We'll see how that works out in the long run. anyway, thinking about the movie also makes me start this blog. For several weeks, I thought about where to put my comments on music, movies, literature, politics etc. ... and never thought facebook or twitter would be the right platform. So I'll give blogging another try. Just as Julie's husband said: "You don't need to be published to be a writer." and let me add: It doesn't matter if I don't end up with a dozen readers and/or a book deal :-)