Someone I can believe in, too.

Like some people have with their parents or their partner.

music: K's Choice - Shadowman

Oh, and I really have to stop obsessing about the whole friendship-going-down-the-drain thing.
In London I dreamt that L. was Damien Rice which is really really sick.
Problem is, last time I felt thoroughly betrayed by what I believed to be a friend was about 5 years ago and I'm still stalking her nude photos online...

Esta é dedicada a uma pessoa. :)

Not An Addict - K's Choice

(...)
Breath it in and breath it out
and pass it on it's almost out
We're so creative and so much more
We're high above, but on the floor
(...)

Mai jos, dementialul original al dementului Ed Kowalczyk.

Apoi a continuat cu dEUS. Big chapter, league of their own, nu mai zabovesc.

And then, ceva mai tarziu, am vazut un film caruia i-au spus Ex-Drummer. Intamplator sau nu, filmul cu cele mai crete coaie (;) ) de la Trainspotting incoace, spun eu. Pe care am sa-l iubesc căpăţânos pe veci nu numai pentru ca m-a pus in fund si lasat cu gura cascata si inca o mai face ca prima oara, ci si pentru ca mi-a dat pe rand, cel mai tare deznodamant pe muzica, doua din trupele mele preferate here-to-stay-forever, Ghinzu si Madensuyu, precum si melodia ascultata in cel mai obsesiv hal (probabil la egalitate cu vreo 2 Smiths, si asta ar trebui sa spuna tot): Ghinzu-Blow.

Si de parca nu era de ajuns, spre rusinea si ciuda mea, abia zilele trecute dau prin last fm (adaugand in trecere si Absynthe Minded pe lista de bunatati belgiene), peste ASTA:

Red Zebra. If this is not quintessential mother-fuckin good punk-that can proudly stand next to the good-old British shite, then my middle name is Juanita.

And I rest my Belgian case.

l.e: Si daca tot suntem aici, recomand sa aruncati niste ochi si prin cuibul asta de intelectuali belgianizati, ca le asculta bine, si mai ales, le si scriu bine (chit ca au zis ei la un moment dat ca nu mai.)

Volviendo a mis orígenes, he pensado que una buena canción para recordar en estos momentos es "20.000 seconds" de k's choice, una de mis favoritas. Ni la letra ni la música son nada del otro jueves, pero me encanta lo que tiene de costumbrista, de cercana y, sobre todo, porque te invita a relajarte y escuchar. Ésta es la única versión que he encontrado cantada por Sarah Bettens, la cantante original del grupo, pero es que esta canción necesita esta voz, entre inocente, potente y rota, para transmitir todo lo que contiene.

¡Feliz domingo!

We'll admit it, if someone else is in the room we're a little bit embarrassed when these songs pop up on our iTunes shuffle. But when we're alone, we kick 'em hard-styles! Please don't hate us. We still love you and we still love good music.
xo,
Ollie & Mimi

Alkaline Trio- Fuck You, Aurora
Deftones- Minerva
Spin Doctors- Two Princes
Marilyn Manson- I Put A Spell On You
Ryan Adams - Come Pick Me Up
Live - Lightning Crashes
K's Choice - Not An Addict

CD's
Bjork - Post (gevraagd)
The Black Heart Procession - the spell (digipak) (gevraagd)
John Cale - Circus Live (2cd + dvd) (8 euro) (gevraagd)
Coldplay - X & Y
The Cure - Concert, the cure live
dEUS - The Ideal Crash
DeVotchka - How It Ends (digipak) (gevraagd)
Doe Maar - Alles (gevraagd)
Ef - Give me beauty… or give me death (digipak) (gevraagd)
Einstürzende Neubauten - Alles Wieder Offen (digipak) (gevraagd)
Gnarls Barkley - St-Elsewhere
PJ Harvey - To Bring you my love (gevraagd)
Hoover(phonic) - A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular
Kraftwerk - The Man Machine (gevraagd)
De Kreuners - 25 jaar, het beste van...
Lalalover - Heliotropic
Marc Moulin - Top Secret
Marc Moulin - Entertainment
The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute (gevraagd)
Muddy Waters - The Essential collection
PVTV (vervloesem & verbruggen) - Wing-Chester (digipak)
Orchestre du Mouvement Perpétuel (Peter Bultijnck) - Orchestre du Mouvement Perpétuel (digipak)
Orchestre du Mouvement Perpétuel (Peter Bultijnck) - The all or nothing show (digipak)
OW - Nowhere (digipak) (heavenhotel)
Rainer (Giant Sand) - 17 miracles (gevraagd)
Spacemonkeyz (gorillaz) - Laika Come Home (digipak)
Talking Heads - Fear of music (gevraagd)
Tarwater - Spider Smile (digipak)
Kathleen Vandenhoudt - Heart & Wings
Vaya Con Dios - The Best Of
Woodface (k's choice) - Good morning hope (digipak)
X-Press 2 - Muzikizum
Zap Mama - Seven

Filmmuziek
Diverse Artiesten >> Flashdance
Diverse Artiesten >> Trainspotting

Verzamelaars
Diverse Artiesten >> Kinky Star - Hot Collection 2003 (+ cd-rom)
Diverse Artiesten >> The Best Air Guitar Album In The World… Ever! (2cd)

DVD's (film)
Lost Highway (David Lynch) (gevraagd)

DVD's (muziek)
Sinéad O'Connor >> Goodnight, thank you - You've been a lovely audience

The band I discovered today, as strange as it may seem, was K's Choice. I had already heard at least one of their songs, but was never curious enough to find out who they were. So, to repair my shameful fault, this show is totally dedicated to them. Here they are, K's Choice playing four songs in a row.

Virgin State of Mind:

Everything for Free:

Believe:

Not an Addict (this is the one I had heard before):

That's all...

Of course, first I have to mention the fantabulous band Tegan and Sara. I can't possibly say enough good things about them. Here is their cover of Umbrella by Rihanna. Sadly, the audio quality isn't that great, but you can download their Umbrella cover from Sendspace.

See the original version here.

Next we have the Stevie Ann cover of Britney Spears' song Toxic.

Instead of linking you to the original version (why would you want to watch that anyway?), I'll link you to yet another cover of this song: Yael Naim - Toxic (Britney Spears Cover).

And my newest discovery, Mr. Ruben Santos. He doesn't have a head, but he has a nice voice. This is his cover of Wild World by Cat Stevens.

Here's the original version by Yusuf IslamCat Stevens.

Here's Kim013523 and KrisShred covering My Heart by K's Choice.

But make sure to also watch the original by K's Choice (live 1996).

And last but not least the White Stripes cover of Walking With a Ghost.

And of course, since I love Tegan and Sara, here's the original version:

Enjoy and COMMENT!

I'm too young to know I'm young
I'm too selfish to be strong

..

There's something about this day
That feels a lot like yesterday..

K’s Choice - Somewhere.mp3

Anyway, I went to a Sarah Bettens concert this Monday, December 10, at the Brotfabrik in Frankfurt am Main. It was very cool.

I used to be a big K's Choice fan several years back before they took a break to pursue solo projects. I felt that their solo projects were not anywhere near as good as anything they had done in K's Choice. I don't know why, but Sarah Bettens ended up writing really lame lyrics, even though her lyrics in K's Choice were really good, especially on the later CDs.

This is a snippet from her song FINE from the CD Scream (which is only $9.98 at Amazon.com):

Here's one reason to be sad
Half of us have nothing and the other feels too fat
but this is not the the time and place
to crucify the human race
there's a massive hight to ride
I'm keeping my eyes open wide

The songs are better live, though.
The last song she performed at the Brotfabrik was I Can Do Better, which I had never heard before and which impressed me greatly. She performed it alone, her band was sitting at the side of the stage snipping their fingers. Before she launched into the song she told us that they had about 40 CDs left for this show and that they couldn't bring them into Switzerland tomorrow (I wonder why that is? Does anyone know?) and so among the 400 people at the show, if only one in ten bought a CD, they'd sell them all. "Or," she went on, "if one in 5 bought 2." Eric Grossman, her bass player (see his MySpace page if you don't detest MySpace as much as I do), corrected her, though, saying, "It's one in twenty, Sarah." "One in twenty?" she said and then blamed it on the German numbers being confusing or something. It was funny, but I guess you had to be there..

So, here's Sarah Bettens' I Can Do Better, coming to you straight from YouTube and making me wish she'd release a Blues record sometime:

As for Gert Bettens, his solo project is called Woodface and his CD is a complete bargain at Amazon.de, you can buy it at amazon.de for 61,99 EUR. (That's only 4,77 EUR a song...)

Here's the relatively nice Woodface song Are You Ready To Sing?:

Also, here's a cool K's Choice song called Believe from way back when:

Lastly, here's another song that my favorite co-worker recently told me about. It also has a very sweet video. I bring to you: First Day Of My Life by Bright Eyes:

Now here's some more linkage to more YouTube videos you might or might not enjoy:
K's Choice - Shadowman (live) (Jan plays the eBow!)
K's Choice & Skin - Not An Addict (live) (from back when Sarah Bettens used to look like Lady Di)
K's Choice - Mr. Freeze (music video)
K's Choice - Everything For Free (music video)
pv2000 YouTube channel (with more Woodface/Sarah Bettens)

For those who don't detest MySpace:
Woodface on MySpace
Sarah Bettens on MySpace
Eric Grossman on MySpace
Koen Victor Lieckens on MySpace

Enjoy.

Nothing new, BUT...Sarah Bettens has her style and she's still very much using it. She sways between driven rock songs, that since her going solo become more and more political, with songs like "daddy's gun" and "the soldier song"; and on the other side she sings these shamelessly beautiful ballads that make you cry, like "pave the way". I could imagine her political writing comes from moving from a liberal (in european standards) country right into the middle of the bible belt. I don't know what that would do to me...

[audio http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a0302896/TheSoldierSong.mp3] "The soldier song" is a horribly bad example of a"driven rock song" but I really loved listening to it at her last concert which she closed with this song...

[audio http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a0302896/PaveTheWay.mp3]"Pave The Way"

So basically, everything sounds like her typical K's Choice style and that's were it becomes addictive. I usually listen to her albums on repeat until at some point I have enough for a year or maybe more. Then I'll start wondering about her whereabouts again and see if she's got another album out or simply go back to listening to old songs - in a loop, of course.
One might argue that the album is boring and at a certain level I do agree, but also it is like visiting a friend that you haven't seen in a while. It's like going to a place that you know well and feel comfortable at, where the comfort comes from nothing changing too fast.

I checked her tour schedule and either I missed her or she won't play Vienna this time around. She usually does, so I'm kind of disappointed. Maybe next time around then...

All in all, Shine is a well made album, but to me Sarah Bettens will always make music best heard live, when she's enchanting her audience. And here I wanna quote one of my (straight) friends who after her first Bettens concert said, "Well, I know I'm not into women, not at all but...maybe...well, if...she...hmm...Let's just say, I'd not wreck my mind about it."

Wat bijvoorbeeld met al die mensen die traditiegetrouw elke ochtend op een onchristelijk uur DM gaan kopen of in hun brievenbus vinden. Niet iedereen vindt de vrouwelijke K's Choice helft zo wauw. Hoeveel cd's zullen er met dit in het achterhoofd wel niet in de vuilbak belanden? Leuk voor het milieu maar vooral leuk weggesmeten geld! Niet dat de consument hier last van heeft, maar het doet je toch nadenken. Hoeveel klaagzangen hoor je wel niet over het illegaal downloaden en kopiëren van muzikaal materiaal dezer dagen? Logischerwijs daalt de cd-verkoop hier door. Maar wanneer een platenmaatschappij van groot kaliber zoals Universal Music, waar Bettens deel van uit maakt, zijn cd's gratis uitdeelt? Wil dat dan niet zeggen dat die cd's eigenlijk voor veel minder dan de prijs waarmee ze nu in de rekken liggen, te maken én dus te verkopen zijn? Ok, Universal Music zal er nog wel iets aan verdiend hebben, want DM zal er financieel gezien ook wel voor iets tussen zitten, maar toch niet voor de gemiddelde prijs van een cd vandaag de dag?

Ook nice to know is dat wanneer je net naast de 120 000ste cd grijpt, je nog twee weken moet wachten tot je een exemplaar in de winkel kan gaan kopen. Zeer bemoedigend voor al die Belgische fans, en dan zwijgen we nog over de buitenlandse Bettens volgelingen! Als dat niet aanzet tot illegale praktijken weet ik het ook niet meer. Alsof 'Shine' die frustrerende twee weken niet op het internet zal rondfladderen met het label 'download mij'. ... Verbazend toch wel, die muziekindustrie.

Anyway, teveel analyseren is ook niet gezond voor een werkende geest. Daarom rep ik mij zaterdagochtend niet schaapsgewijs naar de krantenwinkel. Beter nog, ik heb mijn exemplaar al laten klaarleggen. Waar ik toch nog even mee wil benadrukken dat ik Sarah Bettens nog wel altijd de max vind! ;-)

As the woman behind the '90s drug-love anthem, "Not An Addict," Bettens is making a solo comeback, and she performed at this year's fest. Her new candid photos include a lesbian guitar circle, a pose with wine and a tent in the Michigan wild, a deep convo with Amy Ray, and her performance. Mostly, she looks like Jackie Warner with a less-expensive haircut.

"Weren't the 1990s good to us?"

I was a kid, you were my dad
I didn`t always understand
I wanted freedom, you got mad
You were concerned, I got upset
I didn`t recognize you yet
And did you cry, I know I did
When I lied to you
I didn`t want to hurt you
I just never knew I did
You never told me that you loved me
I know you didn`t know how
I guess that shows we`re much the same
`Cause I love you too and until now
I`ve never said those words out loud
I hope you`re proud
To be my dad...
What are your secrets, do you pray
Is there a god that shows your way
I wish I knew...
Do you have crazy fantasies
What happens in your dreams
I want to know...
I guess you`ll always be a mystery to me
But you taught me how to value life
And what else do I need
I have a dad who watches over me

I'm so aware of where I am, but I don't know where that is
And there's something right in front of me and I
Touch the fingers of my hand
And I wonder if it's me

Can you turn me off for just a second, please
Turn me into something faceless,
Weightless, mindless, homeless

Vacuum state of peace.

It's not a habit, it's cool, I feel alive
If you don't have it you're on the other side
I'm not an addict (maybe that's a lie)