Number 6: Kings Of Leon "Because Of The Times"
Playlist, thirteen tracks: 1. Knocked Up, 2. Charmer, 3. On Call, 4. McFearless, 5. Black Thumbnail, 6. My Party, 7. True Love Way, 8. Ragoo, 9. Fans, 10. The Runner, 11. Trunk, 12. Camaro, 13. Arizona
"Kings of Leon delivers straight rock; guitars, drums and bass - creating catchy songs, cool riffs with lines and melodies that tickles where you want them to. From my playlist it seems that I’ve preferred the following tracks; On Call, Ragoo, Fans, The Runner and Arizona, however in my (humble..) opinion the whole album deserves credit."
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The album was released the following dates; March 30 (Ireland/Australia), April 2 (UK) and April 3 (US).
More: Wikipedia; Kings Of Leon
http://www.kingsofleon.com
Number 7: Tord Gustavsen Trio "Being There"
Playlist, thirteen tracks: 1. At Home, 2. Vicar Street, 3. Draw Near, 4. Blessed Feet, 5. Sani, 6. Interlude, 7. Karmosin, 8. Still There, 9. Where We Went, 10. Cocoon, 11. Around You, 12. Vesper, 13. Wide Open
"Delicate and whispering tunes. Music that guides you in search for silence, contemplation and need for recreation. This collection is excellent music from excellent musicians."
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Tord Gustavsen Trio consist of Tord Gustavsen (Piano), Jarle Vespestad (Drums) and Harald Johnsen (Double-Bass). "Being There" is the third album from the trio – the third in a mentioned trilogy that commenced with "Changing Places" (ECM, 2003) and continued with "The Ground" (ECM, 2004).
The Guardian: "...it's possible for even hardcore jazzers to get the point about Tord Gustavsen. This one just did." – John Fordham (April 27, 2007).
Livingwithmusic.com: "Tord Gustavsen's trilogy now completed with "Being There" is a 21st century work of art that will - beyond doubt - stand the test of time." –
Volkher Hofmann
More; Wikipedia, Tord Gustavsen Trio
http://www.tordgustavsen.com
Number 8: Bon Iver "For Emma, Forever Ago"
Playlist, nine tracks: 1. Flume, 2. Lump Sum, 3. Skinny Love, 4. The Wolves (Act I And II), 5. Blindsided, 6. Creature Fear, 7. Team, 8. For Emma, 9. Re: Stacks
"These songs are shy moments, they weave themselves around Justin Vernon’s voice in his quest for recognition of his memories and solitude; a state we at times all may crave in a world out of tempo which limits the possibilites to slow down. Like a winter-coat in a cold summer - like an all-embracing privacy. Bon Iver sings to us all. Bon hiver... a good winter!"
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Justin Vernon is Bon Iver. This album is self-released, but Bon Iver is later signed to the label Jagjaguwar. "For Emma, Forever Ago" will be released again on his company February 19, 2008.
http://virb.com/boniver
Number 9: Feist "The Reminder"
Playlist, thirteen tracks: 1. So Sorry, 2. I Feel It All, 3. My Moon My Man, 4. The Park, 5. The Water, 6. Sealion, 7. Past In Present, 8. The Limit To Your Love, 9. 1234, 10. Brandy Alexander, 11. Intuition, 12. Honey Honey, 13. How My Heart Behaves
"Leslie Feist is an obvious companion for anyone who just wants to count loudly (in tune, mind you...) from 1 to 10 like it is a completely natural thing to do in public places, melodically cure hang-overs by the dousin like it is a perfectly normal state to be in, or merely wander quietly through a park watching birds. Or you can also choose to dance. If that´s what you prefer..."
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Feist (Leslie Feist) is a Canadian artist that also have performed in the band Broken Social Scene. "The Reminder" is her third solo-album [Nice!]. The album was released April 23, 2007 outside the U.S. and May 1, 2007 in the United States and Canada.
Det er typisk norsk å...eh...et eller annet; Eirik Glambek Bøe from Kings of Convenience adds vocal to "How My Heart Behaves".
http://www.listentofeist.com
Number 10: Beirut "The Flying Club Cup".
Playlist, thirteen tracks: 1. A Call To Arms, 2. Nantes, 3. A Sunday Smile, 4. La Banlieu, 5. Cliquot, 6. The Penalty, 7. Forks And Knives (La Fete), 8. In The Mausoluem, 9. Un Dernier Verre (Pour La Route), 10. Cherbourg, 11. St. Apollonia, 12. The Flying Club Cup, 13. Untitled
"The perfect soundtrack to a pit-stop in a Parisian "Boulangerie Paul" enjoying black coffee and a mille-feuilles, waiting for the evening train to the west of France about to enter Gare Montparnasse with rhythms from the Balkans. This is "modern" folk-music, blending various instruments, voices and languages."
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Beirut is Zach Condon. Beirut's second album, "The Flying Club Cup" was leaked on the internet at August 25, 2007. Subsequently it was released in shops October 9, 2007.
http://www.beirutband.com
Before launching "my-albums-of-the-year-list" in this tiny corner of the internet I provide this list of favourite songs from 2007:
1) Re: Stacks | Bon Iver (For Emma, Forever Ago)
2) Run Off The Road | Ola Podrida (Ola Podrida)
3) Virtute The Cat Explains...| The Weakerthans (Reunion Tour)
4) Green Gloves | The National (Boxer)
5) Saro | Sam Amidon (All Is Well)
6) So Lonely Was The Ballad | Jamie T (Panic Prevention)
7) Ceremony In The Basement | Kill The Lights (Buffalo Of Love)
8) Mr Brightside (Jacques Lucont's...Remix) | The Killers (Sawdust)
9) 320 | Project Jenny, Project Jan (XOXOXOXOXO)
10) 2080 | Yeasayer (All Hour Cymbals)
11) Favorite One | Revival (Horses Of War)12) Palest Form Of Sabotage | Kill The Lights (Buffalo Of Love)13) We´re Not Alone | Dinosaur Jr (Beyond)14) Sonol | Will Stratton (What The Night Said)
15) My Moon My Man | Feist (The Reminder)
16) Please Read The Letter | Plant/Krauss (Raising Sand)
17) Jigsaw Falling Into Place | Radiohead (In Rainbows)
18) The Beginning After The End | Stars (In Our Bedroom...)
19) A Beautiful Place | Robert Wyatt (Comicopera) 20) Sett Deg Ned | Leieboerne (Følg Oss Hjem, Ole Paus)
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Songs in bold are also represented in my top-10 list of albums of the year.
It is Christmas Eve today and it seems like a good opportunity to update this weblog. Just watched "Reprise" again this evening – a treat for anyone like me; who enjoys scenes from bleak parks, the city of Oslo, snapshots from Paris, people who are mostly wearing black, talking about films, music and literature. In addition to other subjects of life-saving of course. I´m also working my way through the Book Thief by Markus Zusak which is rather entertaining (...must hurry this post and get reading again, as I know I will commence reading my xmas-present tomorrow night...). I have (as usual) chosen the book I will receive myself. Still exciting to unwrap it though. Quality is a requirement, then I am easily pleased.
Also finished "Ensemble, c´est tout" since last posting here, and it is a book I can recommend to anyone. Feel-good book, but not at all in a bad way! Missed the film at the cinema, so I will get the DVD whenever it is available for approximately NOK 100. (Me...? I hardly ever buy a film for more than that...)
All the best for the holidays – and for 2008 – to anyone who should happen to swing by this corner of the internet. Quite pleased about the fact that it was exactly you who became the reader. Feel special - you are almost all alone.
I have also recently bought the books "Bikubesong" by Frode Grytten, "Eg vil at nokon skal vente på meg" by Anna Gavalda, the film Infernal Affairs by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak.
I think it´s going to be a nice break - - -
(and psst...it is still Kill The Lights with "Buffalo of Love" who´ve released the best record so far this year. All other bands must hurry! A revised list from me will be published here early next year.)
I går så jeg "300" - en film som i noen partier minnet om enkelte reklamefilmer som presenterer haute couture, i andre som om innspillingen fant sted på samme location som åkeren i "Gladiator" og i atter andre som en virkelig (som i; virkelighet) tegneserie. Og dette var etter det jeg kan forstå også meningen. Jeg likte filmen, men på en helt annen måte enn en setter pris på filmer som "Little Children", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Salmer fra kjøkkenet" eller "Little Miss Sunshine". Så klart. Det skulle bare mangle. "300" var for meg også en introduksjon til Lena Headey – selv om jeg ante at jeg hadde sett henne på film eller fjernsyn tidligere, kunne jeg ikke plassere henne før hadde googlet henne. Hun ter seg og tar seg ut som et fint eksemplar av arten vår.
Ellers har jeg i dag tidlig passert 100 sider av "Ensemble c’est tout" - oversatt til nynorsk som "Saman er ein mindre aleine" av Anna Gavalda. Så langt er dette en frydefull opplevelse. Tror faktisk jeg avslutter denne posten her sånn at jeg kan lese videre før jeg drar på arbeid.
Det finnes manglende kunnskap blant folk om bruksområdet for produktet Pineau des Charentes (Pineau Charentais eller bare Pineau). Dette er urovekkende, siden kunnskap bør etterstrebes. Men det er dog ikke utrolig, siden det er en drikk som nesten bare er kjent i de franske regionene Charente og Charente-Maritime hvor den produseres.
Legenden vil ha det til at en vinbonde (i 1589) slo en blanding av moste druer opp i et fat han ikke var klar over inneholdt eau de vie – fatet ble deretter satt i vinkjelleren, og vóila; noen år senere oppdaget man at en ny drikk var klar til å bli introdusert for verden. Drikken brukes som aperitiff, og den finnes i både en hvit og rød utgave. Den hvite blir laget på druetypene Ugni Blanc, Folle Blanche og Colombard. Enkelte ganger med innslag av Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc og Montils. Såkalt barnelærdom vil noen hevde. Blandingen blir lagret på eikefat i en periode på minst 18 måneder. Resultatet er en drikk som inneholder en alkoholprosent fra 16 til 22%, mens varen som selges i butikker vanligvis holder 17%.
Den røde utgaven på bildet over er produsert på Ile de Ré, og det er denne jeg har drukket mest av. Den har en fin, dyprød farge. Via franske bekjentskaper har jeg også smakt en variant av hvit pineau, servert fra flasker uten etikett (et element nordmenn nok kan ha et smule ambivalent forhold til). Her snakker vi likevel ikke hjemmebrygget skvip, siden ansatte på Coopérative de Vignerons i La Bois Plage en Ré får med smaksprøver fra distilleriet før etiketter festes på flaskene.
Da tenker jeg vi slipper de helt store overraskelsene enkelte har fått om de forsøker å servere Pineau som cognac til voksne menn i 50-årene her i distriktet (ingen nevnt = ingen hengt ut). Selvsagt nevner jeg at dette ikke gjelder undertegnede med flere års erfaring i å drikke Pineau.
Brumund Dal har reist videre - han installerte seg i en fullastet Elvegris i går og ble sist observert på vei opp Overfloden. Han etterlot seg mye å bli husket for. Tusen takk!
I dag – onsdag den 14. november 2007 – åpnet St Pancras – Eurostar-stasjonen i det sentrale London. Klokka 11 [ lokal tid ], kjørte det første lyntoget ut fra stasjonen for å ankomme Gare du Nord i Paris to timer og femten minutter senere. Dét er raskt det. (Et hyggelig poeng er at toget ankom den franske hovedstaden uten forsinkelser, til tross for at de av franskmennene som vanligvis sørger for at togtrafikken fungerer streiker i disse dager - men...vel, streik er en relativt dagligdags aktivitet i Frankrike. Og ikke misforstå, jeg liker Frankrike jeg...)
Tilbake til tog - lyntog! Tidligere har standarden på den engelske delen av jernbanenettet, på den aktuelle strekningen, forhindret togene i å oppnå samme hastighet som de har kunnet holde på fransk jord. Jeg har kjørt fra Waterloo til Brüssel og Paris flere ganger tidligere, og gleder meg sammen med briter, franskmenn og andre som nå kan suse enda raskere til og fra London og Paris på den genialt avslappende måten en togreise tilbyr. Stasjonen St Pancras er bygget om til den nette sum av £800 millioner. Det engelske pundet koster pr nå (kl 16H50) kr 11,163 - vi snakker om NOK 8,9 milliarder! Dét er mye penger det. Toget i dag var det første passasjertoget som benyttet den nye "channel tunnel rail link", som gir togene anledning til å kjøre like raskt på engelsk som på fransk side av kanalen.
Sakset fra The Guardian:
Richard Brown, the Eurostar chief executive, described the improved service as a "new dawn for short haul travel in Europe". "Our move to St Pancras makes Eurostar even more accessible to travellers across Britain," he said. "We will carry passengers with greater speed, ease and reliability than ever before, and our travellers will have the extra reassurance of knowing that they are making far less environmental impact compared with flying."
Heia lyntog - også i Skandinavia, selv om befolkningstettheten (les: kundegrunnlaget) på kontinentet og her oppe selvsagt ikke kan sammenlignes!
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Ellers i vinden: Klementiner / The Killers; "Mr. Brightside (Jacques Lucont's Thin White Duke Remix)"
Jeg er frivillig dyttet ut fra 10-meteren av to (velmenende) rampejenter, uten å være sikker på om bassenget inneholder vann.
Alle tar bilder for tiden. Nesten hele tiden gjør de det faktisk. Disse fotografene dokumenterer sine og andres liv - på godt og vondt. Heldigvis kan disse bildene nå enkelt (og enklest) lagres i kilobytes og megabytes og-så-videre, sånn at det fortsatt er en sjanse for at de fleste av dem etter hvert skal glemmes eller bli til noe forgjengelig. For det taes mange unyttige bilder i vår tid. Vår evne til å fortrenge det unødvendige er grunnen til at vi overlever - ja, til at vi i det hele tatt er i stand til å overleve. Dokumentasjon er ikke alltid å foretrekke. Ikke lytt til pessimistene. For all del - ikke hør på meg!
Lytt for eksempel i stedet til Sam Amidon og hans "Saro" fra albumet "All Is Well". Eller hva du nå enn foretrekker.
Music lately: Bob Dylan | Joy Division | Robert Plant & Alison Krauss | Sam Amidon | Babyshambles | Will Stratton | Jonquil | The Russian Futurists | Raven & Chimes | Rilo Kiley | Kill The Lights Books lately: "Love in the time of cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez "En Tid For Alt" by Karl Ove Knausgård "The Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai "How To Be A Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul" by Adrian Shaughnessy Films lately: "Little Miss Sunshine" directed by Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris | "Little Children" directed by Todd Field | "La Haine" directed by Mathieu Kassovitz | "Das Leben der Anderen" directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
"A little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit of whoo, a little bit whaa... I just fell down! Brilliant!" [Courtesy of Fast Show] - this week I´ve mostly been eating self-made vegetable soup, french baguettes with butter while drinking tea; reading "Love in the time of cholera" and "En Tid For Alt"; while listening to Plant/Krauss, Raven & Chimes, Rilo Kiley, Dylan (as always), Joy Division - purely for joy, The Russian Futurists to learn more about Canada - and Kill The Lights and The Weakerthans for the same reason; and I watched "Little Miss Sunshine" yesterday with awe, while Kate Winslet will be appear in a (film in a) living-room near me this night - or tomorrow...
Fully aware of the fact that I´m joining a number of reviews praising the album "Raising Sand" by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant; this is excellent music. It is a collection of songs that slowly grab your attention. Roly Salley´s "Killing The Blues" is the most direct route one can choose, but the other numbers offered by this duo are patient, growing - and after a couple of rounds listening you´ll get your reward, again and again.
Favorites so far include "Your Long Journey", "Killing The Blues", "Stick With Me Baby", "Please Read The Letter" and "Polly Come Home". Incredible vocal performances both by Krauss and Plant. His voice embracing space around hers - even though the opposite originally was intended. The whole album is produced with distinction by T Bone Burnett.
You don´t need to be a fan of bluegrass, country, blues, americana or whatever genre you can imagine - you only have to like music. Class.
http://www.robertplantalisonkrauss.com/site.php
I have now started working on my list for the best albums of the year. Not easy to choose, as some of the albums I have liked (and played) the most this year have been released prior to 2007. Nevertheless; here´s a list (so far) from this year:
1. Kill The Lights - ”Buffalo of Love” --- Pop fashioned the way rock would have done it... 2. Beirut - ”The Flying Club Cup” --- Waiting in a Parisian "Boulangerie Paul" enjoying black coffee and a mille-feuilles, while the train that´s going to bring you west in France rolls into Gare Montparnasse with rhythms from the Balkans... 3. The Weakerthans - ”Reunion Tour” --- Amazed by the song depicting the story of Virtute the Cat, but also due to the fact that this album contains good tunes like "Hymn Of The Medical Oddity", "Tournaments Of Hearts", "Night Windows", "Utilities"... 4. Alaska in Winter - ”Dance Party in the Balkans” --- Skiing in freshly fallen snow towards a house in the forest where vodka on ice awaits in front of the fireplace... 5. Kings of Leon - ”Because of the Times” --- Melodies that tickles where you want them to... 6. Stars - ”In Our Bedroom After the War” --- Pop the way pop should be... 7. Band of Horses - ”Cease to Begin” --- In my opinion not (yet) as strong as their debut album, but it is still way good enough... 8. Ola Podrida - ”Ola Podrida” --- Ola from N.Y. made a pit-stop in my flat with their "Run Off the Road" 9. Wilco - ”Sky Blue Sky” --- Wide open landscapes, gentle breezes - while slowly taking their songs in... 10. Bright Eyes - ”Cassadaga” --- A nice salute to us all from the house of Conor Oberst...
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Lurking on the threshold (as they have just arrived):
Babyshambles - "Shotters nation" --- Keep carrying on up in the mornings...
Radiohead - ”In Rainbows” --- Another Jigsaw falling into place...
