*at least the German audio track
PS: “Fit to Die (Part 1)” by Future Is Tomorrow is a rather good Power Metal album.
Yesterday, I watched The Longest Day. I was surprised to find the whole movie shot in the respective native languages. It added a lot to the authenticity and – given the serious topic of the film – didn’t diminish the experience of watching it at all. In Germany, foreign films are usually dubbed in German. The art of replacing the dialogue has declined enormously over the last three decades. Fortunately, DVDs usually feature the original audio track along with the German one. The only other international films I can think of that have not been somewhat de-babelized are Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, both excellent examples of superb film-making.
Today’s music review is about “Force of Gravity” by Sylvan, a German progressive rock band that delivers flawless music with a bit of sound track atmosphere in the more quiet parts. The album is pretty good and includes stand-out tracks like “Embedded”.
Many years ago I discovered the music of Anvil Chorus. The band had been active in the early 80s. There were no proper releases except for one single (“Blondes in Black” b/w “Once Again”). But if one looked hard, one could get copies of old demos and live tapes. Those n-th generation copies sounded aweful, but the music itself not only stood the test of time, but even had a timeless quality only few metal bands can offer. The band reunited from time to time, but an album release seemed as unlikely as a show in Europe.
This year finally saw the release of the first CD by Anvil Chorus, “The Killing Sun”. I wrote a review in German over at Vampster.com. I thin it sounds rather tame, but songs like “Phase to Phase” and “Once Again” still sparkle. The lead guitars are amazing and the music, well, still timeless. And as if that weren’t enough, the band is scheduled to play in Germany at the Headbangers Open Air 2010!
PS: The picture above has nothing to do with Anvil Chorus. I took it on my way to university and thought, why not share it with the world.
Heute Abend spielen Roxette in Stuttgart und ich bin nicht da. Doof. Immerhin spare ich mir eine Menge Fahrt- und Eintrittsgeld. Nach dem tollen Konzert von Sänger Per Gessle im April war ich einfach nicht in der Stimmung, jetzt weniger Stücke mit mehr Orchester zu hören. Zum Glück ist inzwischen das Live-Album “Gessle over Europe” erschienen, so dass ich hin und wieder ein bisschen in Erinnerungen schwelgen kann. Und Mr. Gessle ist ja ungebrochen aktiv in Sachen Twitter-Updates und YouTube-Heimvideos.
Wer professionell produzierten, aber ansonsten uninspirierten Melodic Metal hören will, kann sich gerne mit “Japanese Hospitality” von Warmen (Vampster-Review) beschäftigen. Auf der Japan-Version gibt es hier übrigends eine wenig originelle Cover-Version des Roxette-Hits “Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)”.
Some time ago I made a song/video about me not having the novel “Paper Towns”. It actually won me a copy of the book signed by its author John Green. That made me very happy! I started reading it last week. That was a mistake, because only a few pages into the story I was hooked. But I had to work. And to eat. And to sleep. Still, I finished it before the weekend and wanted to write couple of things about it ever since.
Anyway, let me reiterate: it’s a good book. Buy it. Read it.
Today’s music recommendation goes out to everybody who enjoys the mainstream kind of melodic punk rock. “The Days that Follow…” by Multiball (Vampster-Review) is a strong album that could totally be in the charts. The vocals are rather clean and melodic, the music itself rather powerful than catchy. It’s not the most original album; yet it sound rather fresh compared to many successful pop punk albums out there.
Für die nächsten 24 Tage werde ich diese Seite in einen Adventskalender verwandeln. Es wird täglich Einträge geben, jeweils mit einem Link zu Vampster, wo ich parallel täglich schreibe (i.d.R. CD-Kritiken). Wer noch musikalische Geschenkideen sucht, wird hier vielleicht fündig, da ich noch eine sehr bunte Mischung hier zum Besprechen herumliegen habe (Prog, Punk, Weihnachtliches und eben Heavy Metal).
Aktuell gibt es eine neue Runde im Song Fu-Songwriting-Wettbewerb. Manticess (also Susanne und ich) sind wieder mit dabei, auch wenn die Deadline – und damit die Aufnahme – direkt in die Erkältungszeit fiel. Immerhin hat das Lied (1998) nun einen Charme, wie man ihn von Manticess bislang noch nicht kannte. Ach, was fasele ich: Anhören! (Ja, am besten alle!) Abstimmen! Bitte. Danke.
Wer lieber professionellen Progressive Rock mit schönem Gesang und einer wirren Konzeptstory mag, sei auf das Album “Realm of Shadows” von Knights Realm (Vampster-Review) hingewiesen.
As I wrote earlier, I attended the Jonathan Coulton-concert in Dublin on 6th November. He brought along Paul and Storm as opening band. I had grown a bit tired of their podcast rambling. But their performance in Dublin reminded me of their awesomeness. More than that: it convinced me that they’re actually incredibly talented entertainers. Add to this their amazing singing voices and you get 50 minutes of pure musical humour. Although they relied mostly on their battle-tested material – it was their first gig in Ireland, after all – everything sounded fresh, including the three (!) Song Fu entries they played.
Much to my liking they started with their Theme Song, before launching into their signature song Opening Band. They had won over the audience by the time the first panties were thrown half-way through the song. Still, Paul kept being intimidated by the audience. Unlike most of their gigs, this was a standing audience and whenever possible everybody sang along loudly. Each song was a highlight, so just look at the setlist below to figure out which songs to check out in case you’re not familiar with the duo.
The true fascination comes from the combination of flawless vocals and witty (if not dirty) lyrics. This combination also showed in between songs, when Paul and Storm have their own way to communicate with the audience and each other. In short, they were genuinely enjoying themselves (despite jet-lag and work-permit trouble) and you just had to smile at their stories and antics.
Russ Rogers (of Gödz Pöödlz) said it much better than I ever could. Please read on:
The first challenge for Masters of Song Fu #5 was posted last week. The challenge was to write a song based on one Mole-man from a list of 700 Mole-men created by John Hodgman. (Hodgman is the “I’m a PC”-guy from the Mac ads. You’ve seen him on the Daily Show. He’s got two books out. The Mole-men are from his second book, “More Information Than You Require”.)
The first round songs are now posted and ready for your votes. The songs are phenomenally creative and diverse. Seriously, a good crop.
http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/2009/11/17/song-fu-5-round-1-voting/
You can vote ONLY once, but you can vote for up to FIVE different songs.
So take some time to listen to at least part of every song. There are 33, so it will take a little time. Listen closely to ALL of the songs you like. Then, choose your TOP FIVE SONGS and vote for them.
You can even download ALL the songs for FREE!
You will receive Special Silver Bonus Points in Heaven if you comment at the bottom of the Song Fu page. This can be as brief or as in depth as you like. But speaking from experience, one person taking the time to comment on my song with either praise or constructive criticism was worth more than 50 votes to me! You’re comment could be as simple as listing the five songs you voted for. If you want to be more complex, give your reasons and mention the songs that almost got your vote (the ones you wish you had more votes to give). Try to stay positive or constructive.
Extra Special Heavenly GOLDEN Points are awarded to folks who encourage other folks to check out the songs and vote. Post it to your facebook status. Twitter about it. Blog about it. Make sure you link to the Song Fu site. Talk about Song Fu. This is a concept that deserves viral attention from the Hive-Mind.
Masters of Song Fu is a special contest. There is NO prize money involved. The songwriters are doing this out of love for their craft and in the hopes that SOMEONE will notice, enjoy and appreciate their efforts.
So take some time, VOTE, COMMENT and POST about the contest.
This is the first of 3 preliminary rounds of voting. The Challenger with the most cumulative votes after 3 rounds will meet a Super-secret Champion, “The Master of Song Fu” in a final head-to-head challenge for the title and trophy of Master of Song Fu!
Voting will end this Saturday, November 21 at 11:59 PM EST.
The website’s system is designed to lock out IP Addresses that have already voted. So, when I say you can only vote once, technically it means that each computer only gets one chance to vote. Sometimes the voting system gets locked up, allowing NOBODY to vote for a while. Don’t let this frustrate you. Just come back another time and vote. You can always leave a comment, even when the voting system is SNAFU.
Thanks for Supporting Song Fu. Now, got Vote, Comment and Post.
This being quoted, and yes, I second every word Russ wrote, here’s a list of my six favourite entries, followed by the video Susanne and I shot last Sunday to go with our own entry, “423. Red” by Manticess.
Jonathan Coulton returned to Europe. Last Saturday he played a fantastic concert at the Academy 2 in Dublin, Ireland. I had a splendid time along with 200 Irish people. The audience sang along like there was no tomorrow. We even got an unplanned encore. There just wasn’t a weak moment in the whole show. I wish I could indulge in all the little details and communicate better the awesomeness of JoCo. But I really don’t know where to begin and where to end and how to describe the simple fact that I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here’s the setlist:
A couple of days ago I got hold of the book The Workflow of Data Analysis Using Stata by J. Scott Long. I haven’t yet delved into it. But I’m already loving and condemning it. Loving it, because it covers an integral part of scientific data analysis, filling a void that left by both the literature and the courses taught at university. Condemning it, because I had wanted to write a book on the same topic (how to ensure your data analysis is documented well, i.e., replicable) during the next years. It wouldn’t have been the same book; in fact, it would have been vastly different, possibly much worse.
It’s too early for me to review the book in a conclusive manner. Still, the content looks very promising and I think it’s telling that Long focuses on Stata as the software of choice. This is going to be fun!
