Asbestblog

What a wonderful song.

Flammenmensch, deine Krone wiegt zu schwer

Frei in dir ist Geist, der sich an Täuschung bindet
Frei in dir ist Kraft, die alles um sich schindet
Schönes, das in dir, sich noch vor Schmerzen windet,
Befreien wird es dich, sobald du frei es gibst

Frei in dir ist Geist, in ihm die Täuschung schwindet
Frei in dir ist Kraft, die ihre Quelle findet
Schönes, das in dir, sich noch vor Schmerzen windet,
Befreien wird es dich, sobald du frei es gibst

Dein Herz, es schlägt,
Doch nimmt es nur, es trägt zu schwer

Geist in dir gibt frei, was ihn an Täuschung bindet,
Kraft in dir gibt frei, was alles Leben schindet
Schönes, das in dir, sich noch vor Schmerzen windet,
Befreien wird es dich, sobald du es frei gibst

Geist in dir gibt frei, was ihn an Täuschung bindet
Kraft in dir gibt frei, was alles Leben schindet
Schönes, das in dir, sich noch vor Schmerzen windet,
Befreien wird es dich, sobald du es frei gibst

Dein Herz, es schlägt
Und prägt die Welt - zu sehr?

(Dornenreich)

Anathema will finally release their new record at the end of May. I am waiting for this day for two years.

I saw the great performance "AutoAuto" last Friday. Five years ago I saw it on the city festival in Dresden for the first time and it was such a great evening that I did not forget about it. It is subtitled as "a smashing car symphony" which is definitely true. AutoAuto is one of the best and most entertaining performances I have seen.

There is a lot going on in the world of music. Joanna Newsom has a new record. She will play a concert in the Passionskirche in May.

Crystal Castles will come to Berlin in April!

I will also go to London to see the anniversary concert of Current 93 at the end of May. And last but not least: Jonsi, one of the members of Sigur Ros, will play in Berlin at the beginning of June.

One of my favourite bands from Scandinavia, DU - formerly known as Bogus Blimp and Det Är Jag Som Är Döden, has recently published their new record "risk and investment". You probably have not heard about them - which is a pity...

The year is almost over - here is a kind of best of list for movies, concerts, records and authors that I especially enjoyed in 2009. (The individual categories are not ordered.)

Authors: Thomas Ligotti, Béla Hamvas, Michelle Houellebecq

Concerts: Neurosis, Anathema, Fuck Buttons, The Prodigy, Editors

Records: Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender, Arvo Pärt - In principio, Current 93 - Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain, Editors - In this light and on this evening

Movies: Inglorious Basterds, Man on Wire, Watchmen, The International, The Wrestler, District 9

I am sure that I forgot something from the first half of 2009.

Perhaps half of the blog contains music recommendations but this time the band is really a pearl - Choir of Young Believers. I put them already in my favourites of 2007 (I got to know them at the end of last year). If you have not heard of them until now, I strongly recommend to listen to them.

Sigur Rós have released a new record and they will be on tour in Germany in August. The concert in Berlin will provide seating. Because I am travelling on this day, I will go to see them in Dresden. However, their concert in Dresden will not provide seating. That is a pity because I really prefer to sit... ...by the way, you should not wait to long to get a ticket, I assume there are not many left.

I take a fancy to a lot of music and by now I know enough bands that I like and that have an impact on my moneybag with their regular new records such that I do not follow music reviews or fanzines anymore in order to find new interesting bands. But yesterday I encountered a strange unknown band! Yesterday evening around 10pm, it was getting darker and darker, we were at a small lake in an old open pit area and listened to Soundgarden on Radio Fritz when they played the song Sweet Love for Planet Earth from Fuck Buttons.

Seit gestern besitze ich das neue The Mars Volta Album The Bedlam in Goliath. Am Sonntag spielen sie hier in Berlin, sodass ich vorher unbedingt das Album gehört haben wollte. Eigentlich bestelle ich mir meistens meine CDs bei Mailordern oder Amazon, weil es günstiger ist. Letzte Woche bin ich jedoch mal zu Dussmann (und Saturn) gegangen, in der Hoffnung es dort zu einem halbwegs fairem Preis zu bekommen - es hätte dort 18,95 Euro gekostet. Diese modernen Raubritter! CDs für fast 19 Euro zu verkaufen!? Wie kommt man zu solchen Preisen? Bei amazon.com (in den USA) kostet das Album derzeit 12,99 Dollar - das sind weniger als 10 Euro. Ich habe es bei diesen Verbrechern natürlich nicht gekauft. Nachdem ich das Album gestern und heute tagsüber immer mal angespielt habe, um mit den Songs vertraut zu werden, habe ich es mir heute Abend bei einer Flasche (Weiß)Wein über Kopfhörer angehört. Mir fallen auf Anhieb drei Bands ein, deren Alben man von Anfang bis Ende, ohne dabei gestört zu werden, unbedingt mal in einem berauschten Zustand über Kopfhörer gehört haben sollte. Das sind die letzten Alben von Neurosis, alle Alben von Devil Doll und eben die Alben von The Mars Volta! Ich bin mir noch nicht ganz sicher, worüber die Texte von "The Bedlam in Goliath" genau handeln (ich habe irgendwo irgendetwas von Mörderbiographien gelesen). Die Songs sind in jedem Fall unglaublich komplex und es wird noch einige Durchläufe brauchen, bis ich die vertrackten Strukturen aufgesogen habe. Aber ich bin mir schon jetzt sicher, dass es mich genauso fesseln wird, wie "Frances the Mute". Unbedingt anhören - mehrmals!

Current 93 will be playing two shows in Berlin on April 13th and April 14th. Both shows will take place at Volksbühne.

The Mars Volta will be playing at Huxley's new world in Berlin at the end of February. I bought already a ticket - it costs 31 euros. I have also read that Current 93 try to give two concerts in Berlin around April.

Anathema, one of my favourite bands, has put three new songs online. They can be downloaded (and listened) for free. Check them out, because they are great.

My provider had some server problems some weeks ago. There were also problems with the backup (of the database), so I have lost my blog entries. That means I will start from scratch. Tomorrow a new year begins and before I start my first entry I wish everyone a happy and peaceful new year. Because the year is almost over I will give my personal "playlist" of 2007. I have attended only three concerts in 2007, but all three were really good:

1. Wooven Hand (06/07 in Budapest)
2. Bohren und der Club of Gore (01/07 in Budapest)
3. Ortega (11/07 in Berlin)

I have been in cinemas in Budapest regularly and saw some good movies. To be honest I do not remember all the names because they generally were in Hungarian. Here are three movies I liked:

1. Az álom tudománya (The science of sleep)
2. The fountain
3. 4 Monate, 3 Wochen, 2 Tage

This is only an extract. There were other good ones like Zodiac, The wind that shakes the barley, Babel,... And here are my three music discoveries. I won't state records only the composer/bands: My greatest discovery this year were the records of Nicholas Lens. My second discovery this year was Wooven Hand. I knew 16 Horsepower for years, but somehow I didn't check out Woven Hand until this year. And during the last weeks I got to know and listened often to Choir Of Young Believers.