Here it is, party poopers:
My new bit of song that carries the name of this blog: GEBÄRMASCHINE (birthgiving-machine, not half as neat or gruesome in english)
audible on www.myspace.com/illoyalrap
The music was shredded, stuffed and quantisized by myself, same for the words.
enjoy!!
all the love of the universe
man.
daniel d. johnston is one of the most gripping songwriters i’ve heard in a long time. followed by red house painters. i gotta reduce the amount of super-sad music a little…
i just finished editing an interview with the great ZOOT WOMAN’s singer Johnny Blake, shy but talented fellow who arrived two hours late, but smashed two acoustic exclusives for our campus radio.
tomorrow at six pm (european time! 
), the interview will be broadcasted on 100,0 mhz (cologne) or on stream at www.koelncampus.com …check it out!!
friday still holds the great PANZERDIVISION COPACABANA concert, now expanded to two each guitars, drums, basses and one keyboard. hoping to blast the little venue a little.
now on the watch: the great BURNING MOON by the incredible OLAF ITTENBACH (check this guy out! vhs direct to tape splatter cheese in bavarian german!!!)
!!!
after an unusual photosession today, i discovered some interesting portrait of someone closely to marvellously resembling this blog’s author! (photo courtesy sir disco jü)
woffelsbach
all is full of love…blistering love
V
25.9. EJS LEVERKUSEN – SCHLEBUSCh 19:30 Uhr Beginn….
Freiimprovisation mit zwei Drums, zwei Gitarren, Bass, Keys….
be there…for more info see here.
love
V
hullo all,
the new Zoot Woman album rolling smoothly about in the background, I’d like to sum up some music I dug into the weeks past.
Starting with a mean eighties flashback, I rediscovered a band I remember my uncle playing most frequently: 80s-Neo Prog innovators MARILLION.
Being dissed as early Genesis copycats from the start, the comparisons in parts seem justified, even when MARILLION found more of their own style with the albums: Lead singer Fish’s timbre, vocal effects, at times use of victorian English and his generally highly theatrical approach, costumes and stage antics all show his deep admiration for the great Peter Gabriel. Musically, the long, diverse and winding songs, sometimes almost mini-operas owe their groundwork to Hackett & co, certainly.
But what sets these both bands apart is, for better or for worse, the overall sound. While Genesis recorded their baroque epics in a wonderfully crisp and articulated sound outfit that well reflected the recording ideal of the times (dry and high-tuned drums, crisp Rickenbacker4000-bass guitar, analog Mellotron, organ, piano, Gabriel’s flute, the only thing really reverberating being Hackett’s volume-pedal-treated guitar), Marillion entered with a completely contemporary eighties antithesis to that sound.
It is this sound that possibly causes most contemporaries to dismiss the band as a regrettably cheesy 80ies-relic: Everything drenched in thick layers of reverb (almost sounding like a synthetic cathedral was the recording studio), drums downtuned to that typical snare-thud and echoing tom-bashing that many loathe, guitars overcharged with chorus and swelling effects and long howling solos, keyboard and synth sounds not mentioned.
But still, maybe that’s just because of my sentimental inclination or rather willing acceptance of eighties sounds, the songs on their first three albums totally convince me (with few exceptions).
Starting out with their debut “Script for a jester’s tear” from 1983:
Marillion - Script for a jester's tear
(again, first in a series of HORRIBLY TACKY cover artworks)
The title track immediately grabbed hold of me: Through all of the complex parts, it conveys feels of sadness and lovesickness (oh yes!). Garden Party is another fav and the resemblance to Genesis is present lyrically (Selling England etc.)
The follow-up, FUGAZI goes in a similar direction, sometimes shortening the compley epics to mere songs. Apart from HORRIBLE choir-pad keyboards, it contains beautiful songs as well.
(horrible cover artwork pt.2 
Marillion - Fugazi
After the obligatory live album, 1985 then found Marillion recording their third album, containingtheir big hits (the first one I knew):
Misplaced Childhood was recorded in Berlin and found the band both continuing their lengthy and complex epics, as well as settling on rather simple, childlike songs, the ones to become their biggest hits: Kayleigh and Lavender (cut in sequence on the album).
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood
Afzer one more album I do not know, singer Fish and Marillion disbanded, the band continueing their course with a new vocalist (these works are yet unknown to me).
Given the often regrettable sound (which actually remains their brand of recognition), it cloaks song epics in the Genesis tradition into an even more epic veil. Enjoyable with a sigh. The albums don’t stand the test of time (in contrast to Genesis’ Gabriel phase ones) but offer great songs and concepts.
More music to follow.
all is love
V.
again, written some place and some time not so long ago (two weeks)
Die Parabel ist nach oben offen und führt ins Leere, dreht sich um sich selbst und führt zu ihrem tiefsten Punkt
ein hölzerner Bilderrahmen mit Stillleben hinter Glas spendet Licht für atmende Wandteppiche,
Brücken und Eckläufer ächzen unter Bleifüßen
im Aschenbecher steckt mindestens eine Stange Ernte23
in der Zigarettendose stecken unendlich viele Zigarettendosen
wie auf dem Cover der McDonalds-Mr. Bean Best Of-
ich beiße in ein Foto, auf dem ich in ein Foto von mir beiße…
schafft den da im Spiegel hier weg, er droht größer zu werden und rauszukommen
raus zu uns, in die Zeltstadt des Siedlertreks in einer riesigen Rodung, die sich pro Sekunde um 20 Quadratkilometer ausdehnt und ständig an den Rändern qualmt
das Licht frisst den Schatten und nicht andersrum
sein einziger Schutz ist das bezopfte Mädchen mit dem Spielreifen im Gegenlicht
um die Ecken huscht ein Eichelhäher nachd em Anderen, die sich am Schnabel festhalten, dass gerade noch die Atemlöcher frei sind
Ragt auch nur etwas was ein Schnorchelrohr sein könnte aus dem Latrrinenwasser, wird umgehend der Nachttopf darüber ausgeleert bis das Gurgeln verstummt
- wieder einen erwischt, der erkannt hat, dass Exkremente ziemlich nährstoffreich sind und sich vor der Pflicht gedrückt und in die allgegenwärtigen Scheiße hinabgelassen hat,
die längst das Bodenniveau übersteigt und in mehreren tausend Jahren selbst das Bodenniveau sein wird
kleine bunt bemalte Fensterrahmen samt Blumenkästen und Kuckucksuhren können die Wärme nicht im Zaum halten,
auf der INfrarotkamera alles ockerfarben bis dunkelorange, um die Stellen mit Menschen tiefblau bis schwarz
Holzscheite prasseln auf DVD mit Ton aus,
das Lammfell vorm Flachbildschirm schwitzt vor lauter Suggestionskraft
Hallelujah Brüsseler Lampenschirme aus Schweinsblase
Hallelujah junger Halbgott mit Lendenschurz und Tonflöte
Michael Hirte and friends wachen gemächlich über die frischgeschorene Herde, deren Wachhunde längst in Handtaschen und Einmachgläser passen, vorausgesetzt eine Leiter und Luftlöcher stehen bereit
eine Generation von vollautomatisierten Geigerzählern
zum Frischmachen in die mit Blei ausgekleidete Dusche
und zum Bräunen in den Bleikeller
“Something I dreamed last night”:
(Not really. Something I wrote bout a week ago.)
Feuer Feuer Feuer
Schnee find ich eigentlich spannender
Feuer duldet nichts außer seiner Flamme
und wird niemals etwas anderes als Flamme sein
was ihm etwas anbietet, wird Asche
was ihm den Fraß verweigert, schmilzt
Schutz und Schild werden zu gefügigen Waffen
Schnee ist reiner Moment
er war und wird Wasser
was ihn bettet wird überzuckert
sein Fraße verläuft in Rinnsalen, Hunger unerhört
Schutz und Schild sind nur ein bisschen angefeuchtet
trink von seiner Schmelze
good day,
after a lenghty stretch of absence from the keyboard, i decided to throw all in and to sum up what has happened the last months.
right now, as the blister on my left index finger i got from intense learning and writing slowly molds back while a new one of unknown purpose shapes a nice little hill on my left thumb (right next to the nail). needless to say it is probably filled with pus of some sort. anyways, what struck me about this is that it could be taken as a metaphor for my current situation: holidays now slowly fading, after almost two months of what felt like a necessary repose (left index finger) and put-aside stuff, back-of-your-head-thoughts, quarrell, pressures and fears but also joyful new perspectives towering within or over my head.
august saw me visiting southern france and berlin and getting myself into all kinds of new musical activity: playing drums and guitar duos with brand new people, planning a new rap record with my friend holgerrr (visit www.myspace.com/diefalschenfreunde for upcoming infos and stuff) and approaching another important new step: joining my cologne friends MENAGERIE on percussion and who’s-to-know-what-further.
august quickly melting into september, this current month has been nicely busy up to now: MENAGERIE and i played three shows in a row, one each in cologne’s Studio672, düsseldorf’s Pretty Vacant and cologne’s tsunami club, all in one and a half weeks. I’d get used to such schedules quickly. especially the Düsseldorf gig, supporting scotch We Were Promised Jetpacks was an extrem knockout to me: a shabby small cellar venue, packed to the brim with an appreciative crowd: such a thing positively made me sweat through the whole bottom of my pants (whose light grey rendered the sweat extreeeeemely visible hihi) and shake the tambourine and (Horace Silver:) ‘whatever else you may wanna shake’. After these three gigs, last saturday brought another two exciting concerts. I was invited to participate in a ten-minute talent challenge in cologne. Not only did I (rather involuntarily but necessarily none the less) throw over everything lying on stage within my first song, I left immediately after my performance and still made second place to win a box of beer. Looking forward to that beer. My fellow Manuel and I then quickly sped on to the nearby city of Leverkusen to a catholic assembly house where the annual “Night of Rock” was held. That night, my friends of WHAT HAPPENED TO ROY G BIV had offered me to take the drummer’s chair, once replacing my dear absent friend Niklas. Another appreciative crowd and great atmosphere, combined with a superb feeling while at play made that night another memorable one. Thanks, guys!
The following monday, i spontaneously drove over to Berlin once more for a few days. Especially the museums I revisited left their mark, great to see original works from Hans Arp, Max Ernst to Joseph Beuys, Donald Judd and Cy Twombly, to name a few.
Well, returning thursday, I at once found myself in a pretty somber mood the other day. Just think the left thumb thing over. Pressure in my head even turned into headaches. Anyways, currently, I’m wide awake, a new morning and lots of things to come up: tomorrow, fellow Stefan and I are going to interview the great Zoot Woman for campus radio, upcoming friday, I’ll lead a freely improvised concert of an assembly of three guitar players, two drummers and one pianist. In a fortnight, some friends and me are going to shoot my first music video in an experimental style. We’ll see about that.
Accompanying all this sentimental, joyful, whiny, whimsical, rejoicing, sober, drunk, somber, bright clay of life is, of course, the fitting music!!! See the next post!
some artsy fartsy tripstone:
Yves tanguy - yesterday
Günter Brus - Selbstbemalung (painting one's self)
Love and love again
V
Hello readers,
something that I remembered recently while preparing a post was the fact that i had actually started a blog three years ago. after some puzzling, i came up with the url and, naturally, i feel urged to exhibit the pathetic results of two (!) posts all in all right here!
THe texts are in German and curiously, the circumstances they depict are fairly the same at this present hour: Hanging out at a friend’s pad and being in the presence of eight to ten gamers of whatever virtual provenience. Time for nerd-jokes etc. But read for yourself if you may:
(posted july 25th, 2006:)
ich befinde mich augenblicklich in exorbitanter hochstimmung in Verbindung mit einer 14jährigen namens Anne M., einem lichtscheuenden Alex S. aka FreezingBeatz und einem anderen Typen dessen Namen ich auf Grund seines verstärkten Stillschweigens nicht kenne. Die zum Zerbersten gespannte Stille wird nur temporär durch merkwürdige Monologe des kopfhörertragenden Onlinegamingfreaks unterbrochen. Doch die Blicke sind wie durch Eisenstränge an den Bildschirm gekettet. Nichts kann Sie ablenken, nicht einmal das Öffnen des Fensters.
Nach fünf Minuten jedoch kommt der wütende Ausspruch:
MACH DAS FENSTER ZU HIER KOMMT ZU VIEL LICHT REIN
und schon ist die stille wieder eingekehrt. und die kränkliche Blässe kehrt auf die gesichter zurück, während die soldaten auf dem bildschirm durch den eigenen schweiß richtung d-day waten
…abgründe tun sich auf. doch ich bleibe weiter fröhlich und schicke einen medialen gruß in die unendlichkeit!!!
bald mehr…
It hasn’t lost any of its actuality, apart from the fact that i’m regrettably not on holiday yet. This is compensated by really fair temperatures and, of course, great tunes to accompany them:
Absolutely beautiful. Not much to say, one of the most positive, shattering, meditative, simply beautifu performances to me. Pharoah’s multiphonic melodicism is incredibly vivid and breathy. Pure emotion.
This guy is taking it a lot more down home and into dirty depths of the thing called funk. Featurin his harsh vocals and some great Ronnei Cuber on baritone.
So, let’s hope for more light, less blinds and, of course the victory of everything funky. And for holidays to come soon.
All is love,
V.
hullo,
i recently returned from berlin, and as i find minutes between learning sessions that feel like near-marathons, i shall present my friends’ band called Menagerie. Wonderful feels of sadness and joy, also, neatly packaged in a sound outfit that is thoroughly and accurately retrospective. Vocals, guitar, piano, organ, bass, drums and, at times, tambourine and clapping. just click on the image below and sway a little!!!
wishing you (you you and you) the best of however many worlds.
given my recent stay in berlin, yesterday brought a visit to some older accquaintances of mine:
the great phase & zenit of team avantgarde and cryptonasen “fame”
it has definitely been two/three years since i last saw these gentlemen and also two/three years of wanting to record tunes together. so, stepping into zenit’s small cellar flat, i was quite amazed by the bulk of cds, records and analog mastering equipment he had stuffed in his small bedroom.
a dream-come-true for 50s/60s jazz and psychedelic collectors, also for those a little into homerecording…
a smooth feeling on the neumann microphone, nice little conversations and out again.
no matter how short my visit was, this has once again consolidated my feeling that zenit’s one of germany’s most humble, but most silently persuasive producers of instrumental hiphop.
2006 brought the release of his first purely instrumental album “Natur und Industrie” (Edit Entertainment).
This album, carried by a constant opaque melancholy or resignatory mood, is maybe one of the most detailed studies about the beauty and sadness of grey times and people living in them.
The basics of his work here are, nostalgically, pure sampling processes. but far from merely cutting elements together, zenit uses sampling merely aas a compositional approach: taking one sample, molding it into a structure and then finding various other disparate samples to enhance the textures and to find further hints, breaks, beginnings and ends. later, quite organic sounding basslines are added, here a little organ, there a little flute and, of course, drums. shattering, acoustic, breakbeat, sampled ride cymbal passages, in short: versatile and non-artificial sampling and drumprogramming, always with an analog depth and warmth to it (although the pieces are put together on the computer).
It is obvious that Zenit’s instrumentals aren’t just a product of high craftsmanship: behind it is a sensitivity for song structure, for variation of textures, for mood, which all account for high musicianship.
check out “Natur und Industrie” on Zenit’s myspace: www.myspace.com/zenitteamavantgarde or his band website www.cryptonasen.de
His label Edit Entertainment is also worth a browse: www.edit-entertainment.com
There are videos for some of the tracks from “Natur und Industrie” on YouTube.
Cy Twombly-Leda and the swan
Love & Greetings
V.
