In light of the current financial crisis that shakes the world with iron fist, I think that listening to “Money” by Pink Floyd is very fitting. 35 years after it first was written, it’s still a great song.

Money
Get away
You get a good job with good pay and you’re okay
Money
It’s a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream
Think I’ll buy me a football team

Money
It’s a crime
Share it fairly
But don’t take a slice of my pie
Money
So they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a raise
It’s no surprise that they’re giving none away

My parents are really cool. I mean, isn’t it rather kick-ass to move to a completely different country when you’re 58 years old? Not a whole lot of folks do that. Generally people over 40 are extremely reluctant even to move - much less to another country. I think that’s pretty dang awesome.

In general matter, my whole family is cool. My relatives are cool. Well, at least my swedish relatives. The American ones are kind of stereotypes. But my swedish relatives are all cool. We’re not a big family, but all three of my aunts would easily kick your aunts butt. That’s a fact. They’re so cool they’d fit in no matter where they might end up - a nude beach or outer space or even a parallell dimension. They’d just adapt and after a minute or so it’d be like they’d always spend time there.

But back to my parents. I’ve recently come to define the exact moment when I realized my parents weren’t the poster-couple of the square community.

It was back in 1991. I was thirteen years old at the time. I stepped into the house after having disembarked from the schoolbus, and was met by a solid wall of psychedelic rock. The stereo was playing The Doors debut-album on an incredibly loud volume and Jim Morrison was shouting at the listener to light his fire. Come on baby, light his fiyaaaah! That kind of thing.

A bit later I found out that my dad had gotten so inspired by the release of Oliver Stones movie about The Doors that he’d dug out his old vinyl and was blasting it like it was going out of style. It was awesome. To this day I’m not even sure if he ever saw the movie, but he got so inspired by the hoopla around it he had to act.

This was the exact moment that I realized my parents weren’t all they’d seemingly cracked up to be. They were a boatload of much, much more.

One of my favorite movies is Groove. A lovely, independent, somewhat low-budget movie revolving around an illegal underground rave in San Fransisco. The soundtrack is full of wonderful music, and the really sad thing is that most of that music isn’t present on the soundtrack.

One of the defining moments of the movie is when DJ John Digweed enters and starts playing… well, what song is that? It’s not on the soundtrack and it’s very difficult to track down. A few years ago we found a song named “Virtua Trancer” by mr Digweed which sounded similar, but it’s not the right song. I lost that song years ago, and for the last two weeks I’ve been trying to track it down - not remembering what the name was.

I found the “Virtua Trancer”-song, but it didn’t sound right. Plus, it was an awful MP3. So I went off and decided to find the proper song.

Turns out it’s “Bluebottle” by POB Featuring DJ Patrick Reid. I bought a digital copy (WAV-file which I converted to FLAC) from Junodownload. Completely worth the £2 I paid.

Today I found something interesting in my inbox. It was an email from an unknown band in Stockholm asking that I listen to their demo and if I found it good that I write about it. This was a mass-email thing, but none the less I found it interesting and kind of flattering that they included tiny old me in that list.

There’s a lot of hopefuls out there, and in my opinion too many of them have very high hopes. I’m also extremely cynical to the “music industry” thanks to various things. At first I wasn’t sure if I was interested enough, but I figured I’d give it a go and see if the music was worth listening to. The band writes that they’re trying to build up some momentum for their debut-cd that’s going to be recorded in January 2008.

The band in question calls themselves “Six Figure Transatlantic” and even though that’s a rather weird name it kind of goes well with their music. They have a homepage and of course also a presence on Myspace. Pretty standard fare, the website and Myspace-page gives you all the information you need, and in case you’re interested their demo is available for listening on the Myspace-page.

So what is the demo like? Well, it wasn’t quite what I had expected. I’m not quite sure what I expected, probably some generic pop from some hopefuls who were rejected by the Idol-jury. I was happily surprised when I was completely wrong about this.

No, Six Figure Transatlantic instead plays some very listenable melodic pop-rock. The music makes me think of older Radiohead-material, back when they focused on great melodies and interesting lyrics. As far a demos go this one is also surprisingly well-produced, making the band sound good and giving the listener a good idea of what the band is capable of as far as songs go. Overall I found the demo very accessible. I just hope that they don’t dumb down their sound in order to become more commercial - I think this band would be perfect for a small club or other intimate settings. The demo consists of five songs, one of which is a cover of an old Cyndi Lauper-hit; the five songs are an excellent showcase of the type of music SFTA makes.

If you’re into music such as Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young then you might want to give this band a listen.

I love music. Music fills my world in almost any situation -sitting in front of the computer, talking a walk, relaxing in bed- there’s hardly any situation or place where I would refuse some excellent music. My taste in music is also rather eclectic and wide. I listen to almost everything from delta-blues to old-skool techno to death metal to progressive rock to folkmusic to reggae to classical music.

One thing that I’m also completely convinced of is that music is best experienced live. There’s really nothing that beats a great concert with competent musicians having a blast, and inviting the audience to share it with them.

Due to this, there’s a lot of artists and bands that I wish I could see live but for one reason or another can’t. In most cases it’s because either the artist is dead or the band is lacking a key member to make it happen. This list originated as a top-ten style list but even when I didn’t consult my catalogue of music and just limited it to the bands/artists that I could name from the top of my head I easily exceeded ten of them.

These are bands/artists that were too magical to be merely recorded, and the only true way to experience them would’ve been to see them in concert. Unfortunately I came of age too late to be able to do just that in most cases, and that’s why they’ll be consigned to being a dream never to see realization.

Thus, I give you the Top Ten + Four Bands/Artists That I Wish I Could See In Concert:

Jimi Hendrix

Well, this is a bit obvious. Who wouldn’t have wanted to see what is arguably one of the greatest, most influential and creative guitarplayers in history? I’ve seen some footage of Jimi performing, and the man knew how to play. Not only did he know how to handle the guitar, he was also crazy enough to always try to expand his music and playing style. A true legend who was brutally taken away from the world far too early.

Janis Joplin and the Big Brother Holding Company

Now, Janis and her backing band aren’t the most talented or technically brilliant musicians ever. At least not in my humble opinion. Instead, what really made them intense as musicians was an extremely raw passion for what they were doing. Unfortunately in that process Janis soaked herself in alcohol and exited stage left.

The Doors

I first discovered the Doors in my early teens. My parents had their LP’s and it didn’t take long until I was sitting in darkened rooms listening to Jim Morrissons haunting lyrics set to the background of the musical fusion provided by the rest of the band. Unfortunately drugs and alcohol got the better of Jim and just like the two previous on this list he departed early. Without him, The Doors just weren’t open for business any more.

Stevie Ray Vaughan

The blues-man from Texas is someone I would’ve loved seeing in concert. A more intense man working in the electric-blues field I don’t think ever existed - playing until his fingers literally bled and then supergluing the calluses back to keep on playing. A master of the electric blues, with a presence heavier than a black hole and with a limitless talent for playing the guitar. The only thing up for question was his sense of fashion - or lack thereof. Despite cleaning up his act and kicking drugs and alcohol fate wanted things differently, and Stevie perished in 1990, only 35 years old.

White Zombie

Inventors of Groove Metal and the brainchild of Rob Zombie. Disbanded in 1998 and even though all the members are still alive there’s no way of White Zombie ever re-uniting. Even if they did, it probably would be a pale copy of what they once were. Rob prefers to direct gory horror-movies and the other members don’t seem to be on speaking terms with each other.

The Ramones

Sheena was a punkrocker, and Sheena sure as hell listened to The Ramones. Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and various other Ramones are probably being really annoying in some alternate dimension these days since most of them are dead. The Ramones were an unquestionable influence on multiple genres and bands, and I’d have loved seeing this crazy fourpiece live. The kids were hopped up and ready to go then.

Bob Marley & The Wailers

Say “reggae” to anyone and they will say Bob Marley. Combined with his backing band The Wailers he made reggae popular and somehow managed to not sell out or lose his ideals along the way. Sure, there were/are lots of other great reggae bands, but none that really managed to match Bob Marley and the Wailers.

Jefferson Airplane

One of the few bands from the psychedelic sixties who managed to survive that era without losing members to alcohol or drugs, despite being heavily into both. In fact, the only reason the grim reaper has started visiting them lately is because of old age. Jefferson Airplane later morphed into Jefferson Starship, and when Grace Slick lost the rights to that name it morphed into just plain Starship and was responsible for some really horrible 80’s hits. But good old Jefferson Airplane was at the height of 60’s psychedelia, and if you follow the white rabbit you might find them, or at the very least a hooka-smoking caterpillar.

Johnny Cash

The man in black was a legend. Strip him down to a guitar and his singing and he was intense and brilliant, and also with a weird sense of humor. Backed by the Tennessee Two (later Three) he was at his best. The man who fused country and rock and who walked the line between them almost died until he found June Carter and later on God. Despite leaving this realm in 2003 his music will keep on talking to people for centuries.

Led Zeppelin

Who said brits can’t play blues-tinged rock? Led Zeppelin was just like it’s name implied - huge and heavy. Jimmy Page took the blues and added his own flourishes, coupled it with Robert Plants vocals and added a crazy drummer and the mixture was pretty much done. Unfortunately John Bonham died in 1980 and that solidly put a stop to any future Led Zeppelin-albums. However one reunion show has been announced - with the late Bonhams son Jason behind the drums - but none the less it will be impossible to experience the real Led Zeppelin.

The Who

A once great band who for the last 20 years have morphed into a nostalgia-act. Sure, they still release albums every now and then, but essentially The Who of today is the guys version of Cher. Endless farewell-tours and no real substance, living on former glory. In my opinion The Who died the same instant that Keith Moon kicked the bucket, since he was such a catalyst for the other bandmembers.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

The vital parts of the “real” Skynyrd didn’t survive a plane-crash in 1977. Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines bought the farm in the crash, and unfortunately that turned out to be the heart and soul of Skynyrd. A decade after the crash they reformed with some of the original members, brought in Ronnies younger brother Johnny on vocals, but the magic was unfortunately gone.

Pink Floyd

Most of Pink Floyd still lives on, except for Syd Barrett who died in 2006. None the less, Syd was only a brief influence on the Floyd, and most of what me and other enthusiasts view as the “real” Floyd is the one helmed by Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Unfortunately relations have been tense between the two for decades, and apart from four songs performed in 2005 for the Live 8 concerts they haven’t shared a stage for almost three decades.

Queen

Last but definitely not least is the band fronted by one of the most wonderfully flamboyant men to ever grace a stage. Freddie Mercury died from AIDS in 1991, and even though various other singers have sometimes performed the songs together with other bits of Queen the band cannot exist without Freddie. Freddie was a vital part of why Queen worked, and filling his shoes is a tough call. So far no singer has even come close to matching his showmanship and energy.

The floor is now open for suggestions and debate.

When it comes to music I’m a huge snob. Really. No kidding. I wrinkle my nose at pretty much anything that plays on the radio. I think of myself as a musical connoisseur and spend hours boning up my knowledge of various styles and bands that definitely will never be played on MTV. My girlfriend Ann-Sofie has several times called me a musical elitist, and I hate to admit that there’s a large grain of truth in that.

I do however like a very wide range of music. I’m into most everything from classical music (a little of the Ludwig Van) to ethnic stuff such as celtic and swedish folkmusic, to bluegrass, to some genuine country-twang, to death metal, grindcore, and then over to a plethora of electronic music. But the common thread is that most music will never see airtime on commercial radio.

So, that’s why I’m kicking myself. I’ve totally fallen in love with a commercially produced tune that’s being played all over the place. I hate my black-clad self for liking this damn song so much, yet I cannot stop listening to it’s intentionally infectious groove.

The last time this happened was sometime in 2001 when I had a brief infatuation with Jennifer Lopez “Play“. Most of that love-affair was due to whatever producers decision to use grinding analogue-sounding synthesizers combined with old-skool drum-machines. The heat cooled off after a few weeks and I haven’t listened to the song ever since.

But now I’m head over heels for the Sugababes song “About You Now“. I’ve had it on repeat about a billion times today, and so far I haven’t grown tired of it. The more cynical part of me is certain that the entire song is constructed specifically to appeal to as many people as possible, with proven hooks and arrangement.

And it worked on me. Dammit, I should be stronger than this! Damn you, damn you all to hell!

Back around 1996 I got my very first exposure to the phenomenon called MP3. This was far before filesharing and P2P-networks, back then MP3’s were traded directly with friends and hoarded like gold. Very few actual files circulated, and whenever something fresh appeared it was furiously distributed among my friends.

Since computing power and storage space back then was much more limited the hoarded collections were of limited size. A collection consisting of maybe 30-40 files was considered absolutely gigantic, and having a computer that could play back a song without stuttering was considered quite powerful. The software players back then were a far cry from the limousine software of today. Back then the only available player was the Frauenhofer original, and it sucked quite badly.

None the less we were blown away by the possibilities of the format. A CD-quality song contained in less than five megabytes? It was unheard of! So, the few MP3’s that existed were preciously stored and enjoyed.

Of course this was complete anarchy. No one knew where most of the files originated, and in many cases we were quite dubious as to the correctness of song titles and artists that were attributed to the music contained in the file. But we were young and didn’t really care much about such pettiness. Like conspirators around a candle we talked of the legendary process of CREATING an MP3 file.

(After a while we learned how to make our own digital copies. Back then the encoding process took roughly 20 minutes per file, so it was a tedious process. This was also at the now relatively low bitrate of 128 kbps. Compare this with my current rig, which is of 2003-vintage yet encodes a 256 kbits MP3 in less than 30 seconds. Quite a difference.)

Now you have the rough backstory to my detective-work.

One of the songs that I listened a lot to back then was an intriguing techno-song that was attributed to Moby. The name of the song in question was supposedly “Hymn”. It sounded kind of like what Moby did back in the mid-90’s so no one was too skeptical about it. That is until a few days ago when I got a hankering for that exact song. I guess some part of me needed a trip down memory lane, and that song was the key to it all. So I set about trying to track the song down.

I quickly discovered that even though Moby did make a song called Hymn, it sounded nothing like the song I remembered. Thus I needed to figure out the real identity of the song.

The first thing I tried searching for was a memory of a sample being played in the intro of the song. Basically a female vaguely computer-sounding voice saying “We create a mental atmosphere”. I tried googling for this, but the only thing I learned was that it’s a very common sample appearing in at least a dozen different songs. I needed something that would narrow the search a bit.

After some hard concentrating I managed to remember a fraction of the lyrics. Something about the power and the glory, until my kingdom come. After several searches I discovered that there in fact was a song named Hymn, performed by a woman named Tina Cousins. After having listened to that song I was certain that I was barking up precisely the right tree. It didn’t fit quite right though, since Tina Cousins song was released in 2004.

Now that I had the title of the song everything else was a lot easier. Some brief googling and Wikipedia confirmed that Tina Cousins song was a cover. It was a cover of an old Ultravox song from the early 80’s. Again, that song was very close to what I heard inside my head, but it still wasn’t the right version. Wikipedia provided me with a list of people who had done covers of that song, one of which was Tina Cousins, and another artist on the list seemed very likely:

A cover produced by a german eletronic music-project called Music Instructor. They’d made a cover-version in 1995, and this fit nicely into the general timeframe. After listening to less than two seconds of Music Instructors version I knew I’d hit paydirt. This was the song I’d heard so many years ago.

Now I can close the case on this song. Music Instructor, Hymn. Original by Ultravox. Tina Cousins-cover in 2004.

Jag var nere i centrum idag. Det är (stora) saker i rullning som jag ska skriva om senare, men just nu är det inte färdiglagat och inte redo för servering.

Hursom, jag hade lite dötid mellan två olika saker och spenderade en stor del av denna inne i en musikaffär jag inte tidigare besökt. Det här var den sorten som sålde instrument och inte skivor, och jag hittade två saker med stor vill-ha faktor. Den första var en Korg MicroX, en jättekul liten wavetable-synth med inbyggd MIDI-controller och lite lagom godis. Prislapp lite över fyra lakan. Jätterolig pryl, jag stod en lång stund och lattjade med den samtidigt som jag fäktade bort expediter. Jag gjorde också ett besök i trumavdelningen och provspelade ett par Roland V-Drum (som jag skrev om för två år sen) och hade hur kul som helst. Känslan är faktiskt kuslig i trummorna med nätskinn, det känns exakt som “riktiga” trummor. En trevlig fördel för oss som bor i lägenhet är också att det enda egentliga ljudet från trummorna är ett dovt “tocktock”. Otroligt lajbans, tills jag såg vad sakerna kostade - lite under 18.000 kronor. Dock ingick hage och “cymbaler” men inte någon pedal. Det var nedsatt från 21.000, och när jag kikade på samma rigg i en annan musikaffär kostade den över 25 lakan. Ändå en bra bit utanför min ekonomiska räckvidd. Men man kan ju drömma…

Iaf. Jag var på väg till den andra saken och såg den här skylten på vägen dit. Reklam för en ny bilmodell från KIA.

Om någon inte ser det heter denna bil alltså

cee’d_sw

Exakt sådär. Hur uttalar man det? Jag gissar att man tydligen ska uttala det med rätt sorts font också eftersom skylten byter font när modellnamnet kommer. Jag gillar hur man klämt in en underscore ( _ ) mitt i bilnamnet - hur ska den uttalas? KIA har ju visserligen en förkärlek för udda bilnamn, men det här är väl ett nytt rekord. Snart låter man väl som en afrikansk bushmänniska när man ska grymta och klicka sig genom uttalet för deras bilnamn.

Nästa steg blir väl att hitta på ett eget KIA-språk bara för bilnamnen, och sen får man gå på kvällskurs för att lära sig det…

Technorati Tags: Korg, microX, Roland, trummor, digitalt, kia, cee’d_sw, v-drum, underscore, bilnamn, musikinstrument

Måste bara få dela med mig av det här underbara stycket musik. Jag hoppas att Youtube inte plockar bort det, för här är kultur när den är som spretigast. Det är världens coolaste band tillsammans med Röda Arméns Orkester och kör. Vi snackar Leningrad Cowboys, och året var 1993. Solisten som sjunger har pipor av hög kaliber, hur länge klarar han hålla samma ton egentligen? Mycket imponerande.

Tack till USAbloggen som jag hittade detta via.

Imorgon rullar Live Earth igång. En stor galakonsert för att väcka uppmärksamhet kring miljöfrågor, komplett med massor av kända artister.

Personligen är jag djupt kritisk till det här evenemanget. Det är väldigt mycket med det som känns fel på nåt vänster. Att väcka uppmärksamhet kring miljöfrågor genom att ta in massor med redan kända och väletablerade artister som under några timmar får ännu mer uppmärksamhet känns lite galet enligt mig. Men visst, det är väl i princip enda sättet att överhuvudtaget få nåt slags reaktion från den massa av tonårszombier som vandrar genom gatorna; vifta med deras för närvarande favoritartist och kanske tänds nåt ljus långt inne i Coca-Cola och hamburgermörkret.

Min första spontana reaktion var att jag blev fundersam över rent praktiska saker. En konsert drar massor med energi i form av ljud och ljus-anläggingar, och även om arrangörerna pratar sig svettiga om hur de enbart använder miljömärkt energi till evenemanget har det kommit fram att man skeppar in artister medelst privata jetplan. Jetplan om något är miljöskurkar, och att då ha en mindre armada av jetplan som för in en hoper med diviga artister klingar lite falskt. Att dessutom helt ignorera t.ex. den afrikanska kontinenten där en majoritet av människorna knappt har pratat i telefon, än mindre suttit på ett flygplan känns inte heller positivt.

Vidare tycker jag att det är alldeles för lätt för artister att ställa upp på nåt sånt här. De behöver inte göra nånting mycket mer konkret än stå på en scen och spela några låtar (alternativt mima till ett kassettband) och får i gengäld massor med gratis PR och anseende. Anseende som dessutom återigen ringer lite falskt med tanke på att många av artisterna antingen direkt eller vars verk är med i reklam för bensinslukande bilar och annat som inte direkt förbättrar miljön.

Fortsätter jag med mina funderingar känns hela evenemanget dessutom som en enda stor sponsorsfest. Huvudsponsorn är Microsoft via sitt MSN-märke, och de pratar sig varma om hur hela evenemanget plus massor med bonusinslag kommer att kablas ut över internet till hela världen. Det som inte nämnts men som jag misstänker kommer att bli en sanning är att det här webcastandet säkerligen är begränsat till Microsoft-sfären. Konserterna sänds förmodligen i slutna Microsoft-format, och stänger ute t.ex. Mac eller Linux-användare. Känns inte det också lite tokigt?

Jag minns inte vem som sa att “the revolution will be televised” men jag tror att hädanefter måste devisen modifieras till att bli: “The revolution will be televised, sponsored by Microsoft and Coca-Cola”

Bob Geldof som arrangerade Live 8 samt är välkänd som arrangör av diverse medvetandehöjande galor var rätt kritisk till det hela. Han är också rätt irriterad över att bli associerad med Live Earth trots att han inte har nånting med den att göra. Han sa att

I hope they’re a success. But why is Gore actually organising them? To make us aware of the greenhouse effect? Everybody’s known about [the greenhouse problem] for years. We’re all fucking conscious of global warming. Live Earth doesn’t have a final goal. I would only organize [a gig like this] if I could go on stage and announce concrete environmental measures from the American presidential candidates, Congress or major corporations. They haven’t got those guarantees. So it’s just an enormous pop concert or the umpteenth time that, say, Madonna or Coldplay get up on stage.

Slutgiltigt tycker jag det är aningen saftigt av arrangörerna att ta uppåt US$350 för en helbiljett, utan att konkret visa var de pengarna går efter arrangemanget. Visserligen kommer arrangemangen i Rio De Janeiro samt Washington DC att vara gratis, men ändå känner jag mig lite skeptisk.

EDIT: Renskrev litegrann.