How cliché can you go?

Brits are said not to like Germans very much, mostly due to events that took place on battlefields - from Verdun over Dunkerque to Wembley Stadium. Nevertheless, they are also said to have a soft spot for German middle class limousins. At least, that is what French car manufacturer Citroën had in mind, when it commissioned the TV commercial for its new C5 for the British market.

The outcome serves every cliché people all over the world and especially the Brits have towards Germany and Germans - from saber-duells to motorways. But the spot also bows before the German's art of engineering and attributes all these special German characteristics - to a French car (!).



The vulture you see at around 00:30 seconds is definitely NOT todays Germanys heraldic animal...

And the Oscar goes to...[update]

surprisingly to Austria for 'The counterfeiters' by Stefan Ruzowitzky as best foreign language film. I promise you - almost no Austrian has seen it when it was in the movies. I didn't go, because critics were bad. Haha, never trust the newspapers, not even the so-called 'serious' ones. Nah, winning an Oscar doesn't make a movie automatically good. Remember 'Titanic'? Anyway, today I allow myself to be a little proud for my homecountry.



[update] As I just learned a veritable indie-song was chosen best song by the Academy. This is good and this is fair and this is right. It's a pretty pretty song, performed by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. I post it below in the version of The Frames, whose singer Hansard is and whom i was lucky enough to see live in my city last year. I love Irglova for the words she found in her acceptance speech:

'Fair play to those who dare to dream; and don't give up.'

The Frames - Falling slowly

FM4 DJ Day

2008 is one of these fancy lap years. Now Radio FM4 says about itself that it has no budget for the additional day, neither it has hosts for it nor any plan at all. The solution? The FM4 DJ Day. From 0 to 24 o'clock selected DJs of all genres will present their art to the public.

Hosts of this special event, only taking place every four years, will be incredibly cool DJs Beware and Functionist. Check out their sites:

http://www.myspace.com/bewarebewarebeware (pay special attention to the Blur/M.I.A.-remix - scroll down to the bottom in the player window)
http://www.myspace.com/functionist

People outside Austria can listen via webstream:
offical live stream:
http://fm4.orf.at/static/stream/index.html
(un)official live stream:
http://fm4.amd.co.at/

Don't miss it!

malade

Back from Copenhagen, caught a little cold up there. Thus probably less activity on the blog.

Promise to get well soon and put up some more fancy music.

Cheer so long.

Happy being-single-awareness-day!

'What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?' (Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, 1995)


Here's a choice of songs for dedicated to all the lonely people, the lost souls and the broken hearted.

A Camp - The bluest eyes in Texas

Explosions in the Sky - Your hand in mine

Erasure - Oh, l'amour

Soko - I'll kill her

The Secret Machines - Sad and lonely

Joy Division - Atmosphere

Lost souls forever!

Fuck forever

A certain Peter D. wrote one of the best rock-songs of 2006. Recently, a couple of Viennese singers released an album full with cover-versions of songs like 'Fuck for ever'. The special thing about it: They sing in Viennese dialect. Thus the mentioned song becomes 'G'fickt für immer'. The outcome is, at least for me, astonishing.



[note: the sound-quality of the songs is of course better on the record. but the rawness of the lyrics is way better transported in the above video]

Der Mensch war gut...

...damals hinterm Mond.

For no obvious reason I'm a bit, hum, let's say not too happy. Had a great weekend with nice people so that can't be the cause. The flat-issue we gonne solve, somehow. So? Whatever.

Here's a nice song that reflects my mood at this very moment, 11th of Feb 2008, 11.29 o'clock.

Element of Crime - Damals hinterm Mond

Thursday Copenhagen, so good.

---------------------------------------

Nun, da sich der Vorhang der Nacht von der Bühne hebt, kann das Spiel beginnen...
das uns vom Drama des Lebens berichtet.

California girls move away from here..

As I am mental as anything, I sometimes suffer under Hallucinations about California girls moving away from here. But back in my head I know that the truth about cats and dogs is that they die.

Weird? Listen to the following tunes. There are some great new ones and a classic. Once more, it proves that the best music at the moment comes from a vast and cold country upnorth. I'm talking about Canada, of course.

Pony Up - The truth about cats and dogs (is that they die)
The Raveonettes - Hallucinations
Magnetic Fields - California girls
The Jolly Goods - Girl move away from here
Mental as anything - Live it up
Tegan & Sara - Back in your head

Post scriptum:

Pay attention to 'California girls' lyrics. Evil I say! Perfect antithesis to Beach Boys glorification of these chicks.
The 'Jolly Goods' are from a place in the middle of nowhere in Germany. I heard a interview of them on the radio. They were as stoned as their sound is cool.
'Mental as anything' are a typical one-hit-wonder-band from the 80ies. 'Live it up' has recently been covered by wonderful 'Architecture in Helsinki', yet couldn't find that version.
The 'Pony Up' are another offspring from Montral and will spread the glory of those realms upnorth further around the world. Not far away, twins Tegan & Sara grew up in cold Calgary. I spotted them for the first time back in 2003 when they released their first album which was, back then, even broadcast on (late) indie-music-TV-station Viva2. 5 years later FM4 brings them as the next big thing. Let the hype-games begin.
Finally, Danish 'Raveonettes' produced my favourite album of 2007. Nothing to add.

Resurrection

Ok, ok, long time no post. Let's say I was busy. Or lazy. Or whatever. Anyway, I try to revive this blog. Has been quite promising in the past, no?

Let's start this resuscitation with something funny. The video below made me (and E., Näsan, Norbert and Junior) laugh for a whole weekend. Enjoy!



Hilarious!