Music

You can smile about the sterotypical weirdnesses of Japan as much as you want (like the rumour, that they just get into other countries to carry around their camera and make vacation at home by looking at the images they made), but when they do something, they do it right. One example: One would consider that that an 10 minute film music would be edited down in length and complexity to play it live. Well ... not really. Just listen to the studio version and the live version of Kenji Kawais "Kugutsuuta kagirohi ha yomi ni matamu to" from the "GitS2 - Innocence" soundtrack. They simply played the studio version - live. Virtually identical. Awesome.

The musician Apparat is known for his soundscapes, he is able to paint landscapes with melodies. Modeselector on the the other side is a band known for their beats. Now mix both up, and you have great electronic music and the band "Moderat".

At the moment their eponymous album "Moderat" is a heavy rotating guest on my MP3 player. It's electronic music, so it may not hit everyones taste of music. I would suggest to "Rusty Nails" and "Slow Match" as some easy starter, try "Les grandes marches" and "A New Error" just to approach the rest of the album afterwards.

So ... you may think that Jörg got totally insane given that his taste of music gone totally haywire now. But i want to remember you, that i flew once to London to hear the massive choir with hundreds voices in the Requiem of Hector Berlioz. Okay, this music is made by a choir, that isn't that large, but the repertoire is much more modern.

By pure luck i found the music of the danish a cappella choir "Vocal Line" in iTunes today. Their version of Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street" is just awesome. The acappella interpretation of Tori Amos "Crucify" is excellent as well. And i'm surely prefer their version of "Jóga" as i don't like the voice of Bjork. Another recommended tracks is the a cappella version of "Don't give up". Just give it a try

PS: Remember that choir music just works with good speakers and a lot of volume

The days gets longer, the nights shorter, but my taste of music didn't move out of the shadows so far. I've found an interesting album by accident yesterday while searching for the song from the end credits of "Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex".

I wasn't able to find it, but i stubled about this music: It's "Shape a new sharp" by Act noir. These guys from Italy seem to be influenced from a lot of groups and created an interesting combination out of it. At some times the music remembers me of Nine Inch Nails, sometimes of Tool. The last track of album could count as Prog, except it isn't 20 minutes long Not the worst inspriations.

Of course i want to recommend some songs here: "The Higher I went, The Deeper I fell" is a good piece of music, "2008" is at heavy rotation today. Another track worth of listening is "Shape A New Start".

PS: Despite of being in business since the nineties of last century, they just published two albums. Their debut long player "Automatisme psychique" is worth listening as well..

It's just a single track i want to recommend today: It's Animal Collective's "My Girls" from their album "Merriweather Post Pavillion". I heard this track yesterday while watching a documentary about the free solo base jumper (climbing hills without ropes and doing a base jump instead of falling to death) Dean Potter. Somewhat strange music, but i like it ... especially the second half.

Just purchased the new album of Peter Gabriel from iTunes: "Scratch my back". There is an interesting concept behing this music: Peter Gabriel reinterprets a song of well known artists in turn for a favor: They have to reinterpret a song of peter gabriel.

The album is Peters part of deal. And his versions of many songs are nothing short of great. I would like to highlight one song from this LP. It's Peters version of "Heroes". It's different, but as good as the original version of David Bowie (however, i've read that Bowie won't return the favor, but Brian Eno will do it, which participated on Heroes"). Peter Gabriels version is just with strings and his voice and the song works exceptionally well.

A good cover version reinterprets a piece of music and tries to put a different light to the the work of an different artist. My prefered example is the song "Kiss". There is a version of Prince and then there is the version made by The Art of Noise in cooperation with Tom Jones. Two pieces of music, pretty much different but both version have their own focus (I have to admit, that i prefer the Tom Jones version). Obviously there are other versions of this piece: Herman van Veen made nice instrumental for strings out of Kiss. The version of Max Raabe and his Palace Orchestra is hilarious. And when we at Max Raabe, you should listen at his version of "Oops ... I did it Again" or even better the version of Children of Bodom.

Other examples are the Down to the bone album made by Sylvain Chaveau reducing Depeche Mode to the max (for example this excellent live version of the reinterpreted "In your Room"), the "Rock Swings" album of Paul Anka showing that Soundgardens "Blackhole Sun" works perfectly as a piece of music, where you can imagine your grandparents dancing at the 5 o'clock dancing tea. Or "Hello" reinterpreted by "The Northern Kings" delivering a much meaner, more aggressive version of the prototypal tearjerker by Lionel Ritchie giving it a completely different mood.

Sometimes the cover seems to be the original and the song gets practically the song of the covering artist. One example is Hurt. But the version of Johnny Cash is much better and even Trent Reznor admited that this cover made it Johnny song.

Yesterday i found an album made the darkwave band "Collide". While it's not music described in the last paragraph, it's certainly very good music. I'm a fan of this band since i found their album "Vortex". I know it for quite a while now, but Tempted (in the Conjure One mix) or "Halo" remixed by Sensory Gate are still on my favorite music list.

Collide published a album consisting just out of cover versions. In These eyes before they try to reinterpret some of the classics of music. And it works really well. Some of the tracks names raise an instant "Blasphemy imminent" alert, but even there the version works. Comfortably Numb works in this setting as well as Breathe. Even "Space Oddity" isn't that far away from the original. Collides version of "Nights in white satin" works extremely well with the voice of kaRin. This album is definitely not everyones taste, but give it a try. I like it

It took some rotations for me to get fond of this album, but i'm starting to really like it. It's the album "11i" from the Supreme Beings of Leisure. This album is a really atmospheric piece of music. Excellent for sitting in the train with closed eyes and just listening to the music.

I would really recommend that you listen into tracks like Lay me down, Mirror, Ride and Oneness when you want to give this album a try.

Long time readers of my blog know, that I'm a fan of the music of Imogen Heap. On August 24th she published her new album. My opinion: It was time ... her last album dates back to the year 2005.

The music on Ellipse is magnitudes away in terms of innovativeness from the rubbish that fills the charts. More interesting is the fact that all this innovation comes from one artist: Imogen Heap writes, produces, programs and engineers and sings her music on her own.

I wrote "innovative": Yes, it's great music ... but it comes at a price, it's not that kind of music that enters your ear without resistance and left you head on the other side without leaving any traces. But on the other side it has a big advantage: Once it's in your head it will not leave you for a while. And it looks like this album will be on heavy rotation for quite a while on my iPod

So what's so great at this music? I don't think you can describe music with words, ending in the desparate search for a matching drawer. It's the same with paintings. You can't describe a painting in words. But I have a very simple test for this. When the music touches me, then it is good music ... at least for me. When it touches me and i like to listen again and again via headphones into it to find something new, it's excellent music. And this album falls into the second category.

I would recommend Tidal, Half Life, Canvas and obviously First Train Home for a first listening into this record.

There is one thing i didn't published in my blog: A playlist. Perhaps it is time to revive this habit. Okay, this this my heavy rotation playlist of this summer:

• Arcadia (Telefon Tel Aviv Remix) by Apparat from the album Things to Be Frickled (Remix Apparat)
  I discovered Apparat just a few weeks ago. Instant heavy rotation on my iPod. Don't know why, but i really like it. (iTunes)
• This Must Be It by Röyksopp from the album Junior
  Many people just know Royksopp because of their track "Eple", which was choosen as the welcome song of Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther". But they make really great electro pop. This piece is from their recent album ((iTunes)
• Moan (Mikael Simpson Version) by Trentemøller from the album Vamp / Miss You Remixes - EP
  Oh, this song is on the list because of the occurances of the horror week in February this year. I heard this song again and again until May this year. I perfectly matched my mood at this time (iTunes)
• Blind (slot B Mix) by Backlash from the album Impetus
  I really like the driving beat of this piece in conjunction with the female voice.(iTunes)
• A Perfect Lie (Theme Song) [Gabriel & Dresden Remix] by The Engine Room from the album Nip/Tuck
  I didn't like the series "Nip/Tuck" but this track from the theme is really great.(iTunes)
• Dirty Thirty (feat. Peter Hook) by The Crystal Method from the album Divided By Night
  There is one moment in this sond i like most. It's this brass section at 4:26. Well, i'm not sure if this part is really brass, but it sounds a little bit like it and it fits perfectly at this place. (iTunes)
• Drugs Or Me (Styrofoam Remix) by Jimmy Eat World from the album Work - EP
  Styrofoam is repsonsible for many of my favorite tunes this and last year. But i didn't included a song from him in this list. I've decided to include a remix of a song of a Jimmy Eat World track.(iTunes)
• Teardrop by Newton Faulkner from the album Hand Built By Robots
  There was a time, where i wasn't able to stand a single view of this baby in the womb with this Massive Attack track. Nevertheless is a great piece of music. This version doesn't have the broken, intense female vocals, but has it's own attaction.(iTunes)
• Around the World / Harder Better Faster Stronger by Daft Punk from the album Alive 2007 (Live)
  I'm not really fan of Daft Punk. At first, because not every piece of them is really good and the really good ones were instant "Good song but played damned too much" pieces. But this live version of intermixed "Around the World" and "Harder Better Faster Stronger" is really great. Both tracks wins through the mixture(iTunes)
• Play Dead by Pain from the album Psalms of Extinction
  I know quite a break in this playlist, but there weren't just electronic tracks on my playlist of this summer. This is one of the better cover versions of one of the few pieces without a squeaking Björk Guðmundsdóttir (iTunes)
• Careless Whisper by Seether from the album Careless Whisper - Single
  I hate George Michael. But this version of "Careless Whisper" makes a enjoyable experience out of this greasy crime to good taste. I've heard the Seether version on my vacation in California and it's somewhat connected to this trip.(iTunes)
• Bliss by Syntax from the album Meccano Mind
  Let's close this playlist with an electronic piece. I really like the atmospheric soundscapes in conjunction with the beat. (iTunes)

When you here new music, most music is just substandard ... products of industrialized music production from musicans, that doesn´t deserve this name, as they are just casted into the role of presentators of music, that isn´t art, just the result of market research to provide music you buy, but you don´t know why. Music you hear, but you don´t know why. Music you will forget, and you will never know that you ever knew it. Just to get the money from your purse. And often this works reasonably well to keep the music industry running . But within all this meaningless music you will find some stuff that seems to counter this trend. This recommended listening is such a kind of music.

For people reading my blog for a long time it is nothing new, that i´m a fan of the music of Imogen Heap. Her album Speak for yourself was on heavy-rotation for quite a while in my playlist. Now her new album "Ellipse" is imminent and a first single is available: First Train Home. I like this track ... i´m really looking forward to the album.

In the case i would have to create a list of music that i´ve heard quite frequently around the millenium change, the album Vegas by The Crystal Method would be on this list for sure. Vegas was their debut album and it´s music ccompanied me for a quite a time and through many situations. Thus some important situations of that time are connected to this music and thus i really like this music.

Now it´s 2009 and Crystal Method published a new album. Divided By Night is their fourth album. I wasn´t really fond of their two other albums they´ve published in the mean time (Tweekend and Legion of Boom) but their actual album is much closer to Vegas, thus i´m really starting to like it. I don´t know if this music will be as important for me as Vegas but at least it´s very good music .

I would like to speak out some recommendations: Dirty Thirty, Smile? and Double Down Under. A rather untypical, nevertheless good track is Falling Hard.

Okay, this music is from Scandinavia and its good, too. Like the last album from Röyksopp (the last recommended listening). But the rest ist pretty much different. To be exact: it´s the diametral opposite. Much harder, much faster, much darker. My first recommended listening is a cover version. Play Dead is a great song, but as we all know: Bjork squeaks (I like her voice, other people search for earplugs). The version of Pain is great without losing much of the original. So you should give Play Dead a try. My next favourites are Walking on Glass and Psalms of Extinction. I won´t publish a screenshot of the cover. It´s horrible ... looks like Johnny Depp .. whould give you the wrong impression of the music.

Okay ... i already see questions in your mind ... what did Mr. Moellenkamp smoked to recommended this music. A few days ago a metalized version of Careless whisper and now electro pop. Just to answer this question: Nothing.

Due to my vacation and the preparation of my vacation i missed the new album from Röyksopp. Röyksopp? Yes, it´s a norwegian group making electronic music. Many Mac Users know their music, at least one title, as their song Eple was the music in the Setup Assistant of Mac OS X v 10.3 Panther.

After four long years since The Unterstanding, they published a new album: Junior. I´ve just downloaded it and i´m really linking it. It´s something like a mix of their first (Melody A.M.) and their second album (the already mentioned Unterstanding album). It´s melodic and danceable like Understanding, but has many parallels to Melody. Why do i like it ... don´t know ... but the music matched my mood at the moment really good.

I just wan´t to recommend a few songs here: Röyksopp forever is a good example for the great instrumental track from this group. My favorite songs of this album are "This must be it", "The Girl and the Robot" and "You don´t have a clue".

Just pure luck that i´ve found this album. I searched for another band, found the Nip/Tuck soundtrack album and voila ... found Syntax. The music on the Meccano Mind album is something in the direction of dark electronica. At the moment the music that matches my mood at best. Dark ... with Ambient influences ... headphones, closing the eyes and start leaving the world for a moment.

The album "Meccano Mind" is already 4 years old (doesn´t sound this way ... could be 2008 as well), but according to Wikipedia there is hope for a second album in 2009. At the moment i have two tracks on heavy rotation: Pride and Message. Another excellent track on the album is Bliss.