Archive | January, 2014

Saw it, listened to it, bought it

22 Jan

In the mail today:

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It’s about time I share some of my favorite records. Not that I’d have that many – actually it’s quite a small collection consisting of but a few dozens of vinyls and CDs I have managed to keep after moving and relocating a couple of times. Also, opposed to adolescent dreams I did not turn exactly into an audiophile, but anyway… this ought to be about having fun and that’s also what I’ll concentrate on in this blog series.

So, I am starting with my recent acquisition, which is a milk white 10” vinyl single by Hole. The background story is that around new years we were watching some music documentaries on tv whilst I was lying in bed with a stupid stomach flue, which brought amongst others Hole to my attention. Actually I have not been overtly interested in them before as that whole grunge thing and related had more or less passed me by. However, I remember to have been quite fond of Courtney Love’s acting in The People vs. Larry Flynt and began looking for Hole music videos and interviews on youtube. After listening to some stuff from the 90ies I finally checked out the latest (and last?) album Nobody’s Daughter, which I’ll have to give another listen. Then visited the merch site and came across the glass slipper poster… continued to look for records on ebay and was quite happy to find this was indeed the art on the single release. Honestly, why else buy a single if not for some attractive cover art? Well, it also got a heartfelt cover version of Codine on the B-side, which makes a nice addition, however I could live without that. I bought this record chiefly for the visual aspect. The white vinyl adds to this and I must say it feels nice to hold this record in the hands, there is not much fuss around it apart from the cover. Therefore it has one dirty rock song on it. (Love the contrast.) Secondly I imagined this song may sound nice on vinyl and infact I like a lot how it sounds on our old vinyl player. Besides, at first we accidentally spinned it at 33 rpm… doom baby (don’t go slower). My mum then asked me if it was a man singing (however the record was already spinning at 45 rpm then). Well, I think next time she’ll recognize the voice! A final remark, I appreciate the fact there is still someone like Love in the alternative ‘mainstream’ department continuing to do music like this. This is rock the way it’s supposed to be. Good choice to release this song as a lead single. Btw. if you have not seen it yet, here is a nicely done video by a fan.

Bought from: hhv.de (fast shipping, safe packing, good customer service)

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Listen to the Silence II

18 Jan
Ivy

In a moment of clarity I snapped my camera and went down to the park, photographing the ivy and barren trees until the sun was setting, which was 233 images later and that was also when I ran out of battery. My fingers and feet had actually been freezing way earlier but that was secondary as my focus was on different things: the more you look the more you see and the more I was photographing the more I was discovering… It has not been like that for a while that I could be with the trees and vine and see them and listen to them. Respective there has been music on my mind all day, whereas the trees stood silently, but hearing is not always about hearing as much as seeing doesn’t always have to do with the eye… so what what did the senses sense or what did -I- sense? Usually it’s an overload. Nature’s silence can be very loud and powerful at times… That’s what is worked through and recapitulated later, when examining, picking out and enhancing the photos, finding forms and structures, whereby listening to the music that had been on my mind all day… Each photo in this post is representative of a row of similar photos, but for convenience I chose 20 of them to share here. And I leave them untitled this time around…

Closing tonight with this song by Oliver Huntemann: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gYcunUMpeE

Before I was listening to old and new stuff by Hole. I could never get into this band, but since New Year’s Eve it caught my attention and now bought a record this evening.

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On the Train

3 Jan

On the train to Stralsund

Stay hungry. It worked for Michelangelo, it worked for Picasso, and it works for a hundred thousand artists who do it not for love (although that may play a part) but in order to put food on the table. If you want to translate the world, you need to use your appetites. Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t. There’s nothing as human hunger. There’s no creation without talent, I give you that, but talent is cheap. Talent goes begging. Hunger is the piston of art. That little girl I was telling you about? She found hers and used it. – Stephen King, Duma Key

Reading on the train. Arriving at the hotel I suddenly feel sick and have to vomit. Can’t eat for 3 days. Slowly the hunger is back. Temperance comes after the death card. Happy New Year everyone.

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