Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
kleerup feat. robyn - with every heartbeat
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
maps - you don't know her name
This is one of my favourite songs from the new Maps album. It works really well on the commuter and in the subway.
killing time
Went out to the country for the Midsummer weekend. Checked out my parents new iMAC and played a bit with Photo Booth. I think I look damn good!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
simian mobile disco
simian mobile disco - hustler
simian mobile disco - it's the beat
When I played at Snottys yesterday I played a lot of Simian Mobile Disco. They are one of those bands that people always come up to me and ask who they are. Simian Moblie Disco has its roots in Simian which split up in 2005. Simon Lord started a new project called Garden and James Ford and James Shaw started Simian Mobile Disco. Their new album Attack Decay Sustain Release will be released on June 18. That's almost now!
simian mobile disco - it's the beat
When I played at Snottys yesterday I played a lot of Simian Mobile Disco. They are one of those bands that people always come up to me and ask who they are. Simian Moblie Disco has its roots in Simian which split up in 2005. Simon Lord started a new project called Garden and James Ford and James Shaw started Simian Mobile Disco. Their new album Attack Decay Sustain Release will be released on June 18. That's almost now!
permanent vacation
Then we went to Foresta for dinner. We had a really great time there. After that some of us went out. I was dead tired the day after.
school's out for summer!
Monday, June 11, 2007
sheffield 1978 - 1983
human league - circus of death (1978)
human league - path of least resistance (live BBC 1979)
cabaret voltaire - nag nag nag (1979)
cabaret voltaire - yashar (1983 remix - original came 1981)
In Düsseldorf, Germany, did Kraftwerk make five very influential albums between 1974 and 1981. Their music was totally electronic, clean and machine like. Often did their music celebrate different aspects of the modern world - the autobahn, radio, trains, robots and computers. In Sheffield, England, Richard H. Kirk - a member of the Young Communist League - and Chris Watson formed Cabaret Voltaire in 1973 and four years later Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Mars formed The Human League together with Philip Oakey. They were all influenced by A Clockwork Orange and Wendy (then Walter) Carlos electronic soundtrack to that movie. Other big influences were William S Burroughs, the British New Wave SciFi writer J. G. Ballard - especially his book The Atrocity Exhibition - and Brian Eno. Cabaret Voltairs and The Human Leagues music were much darker than Kraftwerks music. It showed the dirty backside of industrialization. When I listen to these four songs now - almost thirty years later - I'm surprised how vital and modern they still sound.
human league - path of least resistance (live BBC 1979)
cabaret voltaire - nag nag nag (1979)
cabaret voltaire - yashar (1983 remix - original came 1981)
In Düsseldorf, Germany, did Kraftwerk make five very influential albums between 1974 and 1981. Their music was totally electronic, clean and machine like. Often did their music celebrate different aspects of the modern world - the autobahn, radio, trains, robots and computers. In Sheffield, England, Richard H. Kirk - a member of the Young Communist League - and Chris Watson formed Cabaret Voltaire in 1973 and four years later Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Mars formed The Human League together with Philip Oakey. They were all influenced by A Clockwork Orange and Wendy (then Walter) Carlos electronic soundtrack to that movie. Other big influences were William S Burroughs, the British New Wave SciFi writer J. G. Ballard - especially his book The Atrocity Exhibition - and Brian Eno. Cabaret Voltairs and The Human Leagues music were much darker than Kraftwerks music. It showed the dirty backside of industrialization. When I listen to these four songs now - almost thirty years later - I'm surprised how vital and modern they still sound.
Labels:
cabaret voltaire,
human league,
j g ballard,
postpunk,
sheffield
new buoy
go, snottys go!
Saturday, June 09, 2007
chromatics - lady
Chromatics and the other bands on the Italians Do It Better label are the official soundtrack of this summer.
3 minutes from home
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
berberisvägen
lundsjön
sunshine!
It's June 6 and I didn't have to work today because it's the National holiday of Sweden. It's a stupid nationalist holiday that the government forced upon us in 2005. Why do we have to celebrate the despot Gustav Vasa? It's just stupid. But it has been a great day. Lot's of sunshine.
the golden compass
Finally the first trailer from the Golden Compass has arrived. Since I'm a Sci-Fi & Fantasy nerd I care for things like these. I really enjoyed Philip Pullmans trilogy of books called His Dark Materials. They added something new and interesting to the Fantasy genre. Mixed it with a typical Sci-Fi theme like a multiverse of parallel worlds that you can travel between. One of those worlds is ours. The book also brings up a very dark view of organized religion. In a parallel world to ours the Church is very powerful. It's a world where magic, witches, talking animals and dæmons exist. In this world the girl Lyra Belacqua grows up at Jordan College, Oxford not knowing who her parents are. The world outside Jordan College is like a steampunk version of the Victorian era England. In this world the Church and the scientists have discovered the existence of something they call Dust. The Church believes that Dust is a manifestation of Original Sin and that there's a relation between Dust, a persons dæmon and sin. Because of that they start a series of horrific experiments on childrens dæmons. At the same time Lord Asriel, a highly respected member of the Brytish aristocracy and an explorer and a experimental theologist, has done his own research about Dust. He attempts to overthrow the Authority's divine monarchy and replace it with a Republic of Heaven. Quite a heavy theme for a book targeted at "young adults" and it made the Christian Right shit their pants. First Harry Potter and then this!
So, what about the trailer? It looks pretty nice. I like the look of the panserbjørn Iorek Byrnison, at least in the close ups. The running scene at the end was a bit to much Coke commercial. But what the hell. Daniel Craig looks great as Lord Asriel. The same goes for Nicole Kidman as Marisa Coulter, Sam Elliott as the aeronaut Lee Scoresby and Eva Green as the witch Serafina Pekkala. But I'm a bit doubtful when it comes to Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra Belacqua. I really hope she can act otherwise the movie will be hard to watch. The look of the Gyptians also worries me a bit. I hope they won't look and sound like a bad stage version of Oliver Twist.
Here you'll find better versions of the trailer - The Golden Compass.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
yelle - je veux te voir
One more great party tune from France. Here's Yelle with her simple but very effective electro pop. Love the video too - very tasteful!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
paprika
Satoshi Kon, the creator of classic animes like Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress and the strangely beautiful series Paranoia Agent has released a new movie called Paprika. It explores similar themes as his earlier movies. The subconscious, dreams, myths, movies and their influence on our lives. The animation is beautiful and the script is well written and thought provoking. Sometimes I think about Jeff Noons books about the drug Vurt. In those books dreams, myths and peoples subconscious seems to invade reality in the same way as in this movie. This is intelligent grown-up anime that's light years ahead of most western animated movies.
i, videogame
Discovery Channel has produced a series about the history of video games called "I, Videogame". So far I've seen three episodes and my feelings are mixed. They have interviewed almost all the major players in the video game history - Steve Russell, Ralph Baer, Nolan Bushnell, Toru Iwatani, Shigeru Miyamoto, Alexey Pajitnov, Sid Meier, John Romero etc etc. But Discovery Channel doesn't let them speak. They cut the interviews to pieces and turn the material into simple catch phrases. Personally I don't believe that everybody who's interested in video games are speed addicts. I'm sure that most of us would actually manage to watch a programme that doesn't have cuts and sound effects every second. It would be nice if they had raised the bar a bit higher. A "serious" programme doesn't have to be boring. Here they have interviewed loads of interesting people involved in the video game industry but reduce the series to something they seem to believe will interest 14 year old kids addicted to Red Bull and Jolt Cola. I think that's a mistake and I'm still waiting for the definitive history of video games.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
italians do it better
chromatics - in the city (2006)
If you haven't checked out Chromatics, Glass Candy, Mirage and Farah then it's time to do so. They are all on the New Jersey based label Italians Do It Better. Minimalistic chilly music inspired by Disco, Italo disco and old John Carpenter/Claudio Simonetti/Goblin soundtracks. Unit Black Flight and datA are kind of in the same area. Especially Unit Black Flight who sound a lot like John Carpenters Assault on Precinct 13 soundtrack. Perfect music for the commuter. Now it sounds like I'm on my way on some dark adventure. Pretty damn cool.
claudio simonetti - phenomena (1985)
If you haven't checked out Chromatics, Glass Candy, Mirage and Farah then it's time to do so. They are all on the New Jersey based label Italians Do It Better. Minimalistic chilly music inspired by Disco, Italo disco and old John Carpenter/Claudio Simonetti/Goblin soundtracks. Unit Black Flight and datA are kind of in the same area. Especially Unit Black Flight who sound a lot like John Carpenters Assault on Precinct 13 soundtrack. Perfect music for the commuter. Now it sounds like I'm on my way on some dark adventure. Pretty damn cool.
claudio simonetti - phenomena (1985)
path
a bench
who's the real me?
pac-man
My body has turned into a Pac-Man game. Every morning I take a little Pac-Man (Doxyferm, an antibiotic) and hope that he will eat all the little evil bacterias that have invaded my body. I'm tired of being sick. Go Pac-Man, go! Eat all the little bastards!
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