She rules

11/5/2009 7:33:00 AM

Sometimes a portrait has a hypnotic effect - you cannot escape from its gaze. One such portrait of Elisabeth I hangs now in the National Portrait Gallery of Washington. When in town, go check it out. Photographs don't do it justice. They just don't make queens like her no more.

http://www.marileecody.com/gloriana/elizabethclopton.jpg

The bright side of life

10/23/2009 12:43:00 AM

Monty Python was instrumental in the liberation of my generation. After seeing them, we never looked at a policeman, a teacher or a priest the same way again. A recent documentary on them leaves a strange, bittersweet aftertaste. What a drag it is getting old.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-monty-python18-2009oct18,0,4352012.story

The scheme of things

10/16/2009 7:35:00 AM

Dan Brown has made it all up. There is no such conspiracy, just a bunch of old men.

But Murray Gell-Mann exposed the real conspiracy 15 years ago: the whole universe is out to get us. His book "The Quark and the Jaguar" renders all other books redundant.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/book-review--quantum-leap-of-model-professor-the-quark-and-the-jaguar--murray-gellman-little-brown-1899-pounds-1414474.html

Keats and Yeats are on your side

10/2/2009 12:57:00 AM

I think the time is ripe for an Irish poem:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned.
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

- William Butler Yeats, 1920

The road to recovery

9/18/2009 7:50:00 AM

Can you describe the economic situation in less than 50 words? Me neither. Well, Tom Toles can. Maybe the Fed should hire him.

http://www.gocomics.com/tomtoles/2009/09/13

Post it

9/1/2009 1:29:00 AM

Tony Judt deserves all the praise he got for his monumental book, "Postwar". It covers everything and spares no-one. I hope it's translated into Russian soon.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/03/featuresreviews.guardianreview4

TV art

7/31/2009 6:02:00 AM

I'm glad to note that Arte.tv is shaking its reputation as the channel where professors talk about Franco-German history. Putting a bunch of jazz musicians in a studio and asking them to cover '80s classics sounds like a recipe for disaster but they managed to pull it off. It's rare to hear such natural groove in pop music these days, thanks to the industry discipline.

http://www.arte.tv/fr/Echappees-culturelles/Nighting-Eighties/2765006.html

She bangs the drums

7/17/2009 2:00:00 AM

Just when I thought that all fun had disappeared from pop, out come The Ting Tings. They are so much fun to watch and a good reminder that popular music is basically about dance and sex.

http://www.thetingtings.com

Walkman fever

7/9/2009 1:20:00 AM

No better way to spend a summer Sunday than listening to old cassettes. With the right gear they can sound great - lush, organic, warm. Things started to go wrong when B sides went out of production.

http://www.walkmancentral.com/products/wm-d6c

Box magic

7/3/2009 1:16:00 AM

God bless bands who still have the guts to put all their production in a CD box. Freaks like me can spend hours with them. Time stops and your mind flies into some quiet Nordic town, waking up slowly.

Kent Box 1991-2008 is a masterpiece. And Joakim Berg is one of the greatest songwriters of his generation. The non-Swedophones don't know what they're missing.

http://www.kentjunkie.com/box1991_2008.htm

My kinda cop

6/25/2009 1:07:00 AM

I never thought this could happen: I'm hooked on a police series on TF1. There's just something enigmatic about the screen presence of Elsa Mollien. Wish they needed another bad guy, say, from Brussels.

http://www.tf1.fr/claire-brunetti/

That charming man

6/10/2009 2:48:00 AM

It is rare to find an audience as varied as the one Morrissey had in Antwerp on Monday: middle-aged parents with their kids, the rockabilly scene, the gay community, the usual pop crowd, and loads of people you could meet in any supermarket. And, of course, us, the Smiths-nostalgists, fighting back the tears.

At 50, Morrissey has become the Frank Sinatra of pop. May he live till 100.

Louder than bombs

5/28/2009 6:11:00 AM

It's saddening to listen to a Western minister talk about world politics these days. Events are "unacceptable" and "they need urgent attention". Then... well, nothing. Google David Miliband's speeches, for example, and you'll know what I mean.

Couldn't you hire a professional writer? Someone who can write a sentence without an adjective.

Like Nicholas D. Kristof.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/opinion/21kristof.html?_r=1

Lesen gefährdet die Dummheit

5/15/2009 7:24:00 AM

I feel a certain longing for books that cover absolutely everything. The best one I've read so far is from 1976: Mankind and Mother Earth by Arnold Toynbee. It's still so topical that it's almost frightening. The discrepancy between man's technological progress and his moral and political inadequacies has been with us since the beginning. The real question is whether it's about to become fatal.

http://davidderrick.wordpress.com/contents-of-mankind-and-mother-earth-2/

Something to write home about

5/6/2009 2:05:00 AM

The sad thing about most columnists today is the fact that they write about a virtual reality - stuff they've seen on their pc screen, on tv or - saddest of all - in other people's columns. Is there a non-violent way to get them out of their offices?

That's why it's so refreshing to run into someone who's actually lived through something worth writing about. Like Maggie Robbins.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03lives-t.html

Soundcraft

4/27/2009 1:45:00 AM

How times have changed for us soundfreaks. Warren Cann of Ultravox practically became a persona non grata at Roland when he tried to tweak his CR-78 to produce that distant thunder on "Vienna" thirty years ago.

Last year, OMD began their show with Gregorian chant which is easily accessible on the Roland library. I of course snatched it for my Heraklion song (see profile).

Viva ingenium!

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/33335/live-architecture-morality-more/

And justice for all

4/22/2009 2:58:00 AM

In a recent WSJ article, officials from the previous US Administration are kind enough to explain that they didn't really torture anyone. No-one was actually meant to die and the sessions didn't last that long anyway.

Ever heard the expression 'half pregnant'? Please tell me you're joking.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124018665408933455.html

And if a ten-ton truck kills the both of us

4/17/2009 5:10:00 AM

Just when I thought I'd seen everything in spin, the car lobby expands our horizons once again. An "independent" study shows that it's dangerous to own small cars since they might be crushed by large cars. With that logic in mind, we might as well ban bicycles and pedestrians too. They might also be crushed by large cars. Keep the chosen path, guys, and those taxpayer dollars will surely come raining in.

http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr041409.html

Goodnight, travel well

4/14/2009 3:42:00 AM

I'm glad to note that those members of my generation who have not yet died of substance abuse have become decent chemists. Examples:
- One strong multivitamin tablet just before going to sleep makes you dream dreams even in the worst shithole on earth (from a British commando).
- An ampoule of vitamin D a day and you never get ill (from a Finnish businessman).
- High-dose magnesium, calcium, vitamin B and a lot of hot chocolate will kill any alcohol withdrawal symptoms except delusions and clouded consciousness which mean that things are really bad (from a French musician).

These are the things that dreams are made of.

Ach ja

4/8/2009 1:01:00 AM

It's only right that Sacha Baron Cohen sets his sights on Europe this summer with the release of his film, Bruno. I always thought this character deserved more attention: he gets people pissed much more quickly than Borat, who is actually rather innocent. (That's the ex-punker speaking.)

We know we deserve this.

Bruno

The patchwork of civilizations

4/3/2009 1:13:00 AM

When the Commander-in-Chief said "the world is a complicated place" at his press conference yesterday he made me think of an excellent book, "A Brief History of the Human Race" by Michael Cook.

How I wish someone had left it at a bedside table in the White House eight years ago.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/ian.g.mason/Michael_Cook.htm

Dead man talking

3/27/2009 2:28:00 AM

My worst nightmare is my name being used posthumously to justify something I never advocated. Happens all the time. If poor John Maynard Keynes was alive today, reading the editorials, he would scream.

Get this, guys: he never said you can borrow your way out of a recession. Go buy the basics of macroeconomics. Twenty bucks second-hand.

And ambitions are low

3/19/2009 1:30:00 AM

I'm one of those sad characters consistently trying to kill the Sunday blues with Austin Powers, Monty Python, Wayne's World and Spinal Tap. It's a bit like the hair of the dog. The agony is simply delayed and reinforced.

"Control" by Anton Corbijn has an amazing reverse effect: intense suffering followed by absolute peace. Very much like classic drama, all characters drawn into a tragic whirlpool, unable to quench its thirst.

Boys on film

3/12/2009 2:35:00 AM

"The making of" DVDs can be extremely boring. They tend to inflate the egos of the people involved to an extent that you really begin to question their sanity.

No such danger with Duran Duran. Their DVD on Rio is genuinely entertaining - maybe because after 27 years you can usually place the events in a meaningful context.

And I can't stop laughing at the thought of Nick Rhodes arriving at steamy Sri Lanka, in black leather from head to toe, asking where his limo is.

http://duranduran.wikia.com/wiki/Classic_Albums:_Rio

But when they cut me open

3/6/2009 12:39:00 AM

Some lyrics have this magic capacity to function as a channel for your own imagination. Take "Spaceman" by The Killers which BTW is on its way to becoming the pop song of this decade. It for some strange reason reminds me of the fact that a woman or a girl is raped in East Congo every second minute.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/spaceman-lyrics-the-killers.html

The meaning behind the moaning

3/2/2009 1:51:00 AM

I've spent so much time trying to understand lyrics, mine and others, thinking that they were some sort of coded messages from some other dimension. I guess that Freud did much more harm to me than I am prepared to admit.

I'm glad that, once again, I was guided by an elder. Leonard Cohen is spot-on in a recent NYT interview: "it doesn't serve the enterprise to really examine it from outside the moment." Shalom.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/arts/music/25cohe.html?_r=0

The one to watch

2/26/2009 4:47:00 AM

France 3 remains in its own class as a provider of public service television. It's hard to think of any other public channel - anywhere in the world - showing the links of the sitting president to the national defence industry ("Droit d'inventaire" yesterday).

And they have an amazing ability to find great journalists that also happen to be a pleasure for the eye.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_d'inventaire

Electronicaland

2/20/2009 3:29:00 AM

I try to avoid writing about gigs on the spur of the moment. They often seem better or worse after some time. But now I just can't help it.

Yesterday's showcase of Belgian electronica at the AB was simply amazing. It reminded me of what John Peel (bless his soul) once said: "Sometimes you run into music that just seems to come out of land naturally."

This is my eldorado, this is my rubicon. I'm glad I lived to see this.

http://www.abconcerts.be/fr/agenda/evenements/soldout-mvsc-casiokids/3997/

Bagpipes and swelling harps

2/16/2009 4:53:00 AM

This science thing is beginning to get out of hand. This is the last episode, I hope.

You can now listen to the scientifically engineered world's worst song:

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2009/02/the_scientifically_engineered.php

I could take it for 14 minutes, waiting for the R'n'B ballad bit that never came. Was Akon too busy to contribute to this?

On dinosaur saliva

2/10/2009 8:53:00 AM

I got an entirely justified comment on the previous entry: how has science helped you?

Well, it has helped me understand complicated things, such as Stonehenge, which then feed into my songwriting.

I'm glad there are other artists who feel the same way, such as Spinal Tap.

He blinded me with science

2/3/2009 1:36:00 AM

Such a shame I did't have Bill Bryson around when I went to school. My life would have been totally different: much more Einstein and much less Shakespeare.

But it's comforting to note that, when it comes to co-operation, scientists are not much better than high school girls.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Everything

On their hands a dead star

1/30/2009 7:35:00 AM

These are interesting times for anyone following the music industry. First, the Rolling Stone vet Steve Knopper publishes a book on the record industry's certain ruin (Appetite for Self-Destruction). Then, John Kennedy, the industry's top lobbyist, talks to the BBC saying everything is just fine (HARDtalk of 8 January).

Well, at least something isn't right since it's so difficult to buy a record these days. If you're not buying last year's Star Academy, that is.

http://lyricwiki.org/The_Smiths:Paint_A_Vulgar_Picture

Only the light could

1/25/2009 3:07:00 AM

Some acts are simply too horrible for our brain. But if you push them away they will come back to haunt you. Thank God for songs that function as prayers in times like that. Francis Cabrel has many and I've taken the liberty of translating a bit of his below. I will remove it if requested.

We will take off from the same gate
Our eyes on the same shades
For this life and the one next
You will be my only project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkWqQfdv86o

Waiting for the van to come

1/16/2009 5:35:00 AM

It's great to run into an ambitious column. David Brooks does a pretty good job in the NYT with his piece on death. He just makes one remark about scientists that is no longer true. The distinction between an inner voice and an outer voice is not a scientific fact.

When Oasis finished their Brussels show with "I Am the Walrus" on Tuesday these voices sang in perfect harmony.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/opinion/13brooks.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Live in Brussels 2008

1/8/2009 8:36:00 PM

As has become customary, here are some of the highlights from last year, in chronological order this time:

The Cult, AB, 7 March

I've seen some pretty awful performances by these lads (the rock bottom being as a support act to Metallica in 1993). It was somehow reassuring to see them back in shape.

Duran Duran, Cirque Royal, 18 June

The perfect venue for these guys. It's great that they don't even try to hide the kitsch.

Soldout, La Rotonde, 6 November

Felt like the wall of sound was just barely in their hands.

Soap&Skin, Le Witloof Bar, 11 December

This was an extremely shy girl, a grand piano and a laptop. It's always nice to run into something touching, authentic and strange.

What is it good for?

1/5/2009 8:28:00 PM

In the Middle Ages your identity was the same as your profession. You could be a Smith, a Butcher or a Poet and that's all you were. The only question was whether you were any good.

Rupert Smith is definitively a good Soldier. He is proud enough of his profession to tell the political masters that they are very bad at war fighting these days. When will they ever learn?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Smith

Worüber man nicht schweigen kann

12/16/2008 8:13:00 AM

About four years ago today, a great writer, Dietrich Schwanitz, passed away. He was one of those few characters who have been able to address the history of all countries, including his own, with absolute honesty.

If you haven't decided what to read over Christmas yet, get his bestseller on Bildung/Education from 1999. It's available in most languages these days. It will definitely spice up your small talk.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/dietrich-schwanitz-754521.html

Know your rights

12/11/2008 8:08:00 AM

The media coverage on the 60th anniversary of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was exactly what I expected - lawyers explaining to us the differences between international humanitarian law, customary international law and public international law. I'm sure this was followed with great interest in the Chinese prisons.

God, I wish Joe Strummer was alive.

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/clash/know+your+rights_20031891.html

Pad history

12/5/2008 10:04:00 AM

Some sounds have an interesting temporal identity. One of them is the bang of the Simmons SDS-V electronic percussion set which automatically invokes the early '80s and you feel like putting on some black lipstick again. They were those white hexagonal pads you saw on stage in front of the drummer.

Here are some of the masterpieces featuring that beautiful piece of kit:

"Planet Earth", Duran Duran

Fantastic fills that sound like a bunch of meteors coming down.

"Today", Talk Talk

The highlight comes towards the end where Mark Hollis sings "Belle Malissima" and the pads go to a sort of a march beat.

"On meurt tous d'amour", Valérie Lagrance

Interesting blend of French passion and cool English production.

"The Song (We Go)", Ultravox

If my memory serves me well, Warren Cann played this drum part standing up on the unforgettable Monument Tour. Those were the days.

Cranberry sauce

11/28/2008 6:29:00 PM

Some songs are like enigmas. You keep coming back to them and you never quite figure them out. And each time you rediscover them they sound different.

I have two theories about these riddle songs. First, they usually have weird chord progressions. They don't do what you'd expect and leave this uneasy feeling that someone's messing with your musical brain. Second, something strange usually happened during the recording.

42 years ago today at Abbey Road, London one kaleidoscope started to fall into place. That is I think it's not too bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_Fields_Forever

I want my G7sus4

11/20/2008 10:38:00 AM

The last time I heard an interesting new chord in a pop song was around the release of Hunky Dory in 1971. Try playing "Life on Mars" and you know what I'm talking about.

The only bright spots I can think of since then were Nik Kershaw ("The Riddle" is more complicated than you think) and Crowded House ("Into Temptation" has all the forms of minor chords I can think of).

Thanks to the software all the major record companies are using, all the chords you hear in pop music will have three notes only and our brains will get smaller.

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1718612

http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2008/11/beatles-hard-days-night-mystery-chord-solved/

It hurts

11/13/2008 7:44:00 AM

... to note that stories are slowly disappearing from songwriting. What we get, most of the time, is "emotions" that are as genuine as decaf.

And it's not that difficult. Put yourself in someone else's shoes. The results can be really touching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbpIw4X7Kww

I get around

11/7/2008 9:54:00 AM

Looking at most web pages you wonder why you're wasting your youth tied to the mouse. Wouldn't  it be better to just go back to bookstores, newsagent's and the last remaining record shops and get something real with a shape, a smell and some real content?

Then, when you're about to log off for good, you run into a web page that's actually inspiring. Here's one:

http://www.panoramicearth.com/

Try to find a hill that you sat on as a child and take a look around. It's mind-boggling. Where did all those trees come from?

Wall of guitar

10/31/2008 9:59:00 AM

Lou Reed once said that nothing beats two guitars, bass and drums. Ten years of crap grunge bands almost made me think he was out of his mind.

Enter "The Shock of the Lightning" by Oasis, 2008. I can no longer start my day without it. So lads, put on those round sunglasses, plug those guitars, say a four-letter word, stand still and strum. No better way to celebrate the 45th birthday of Johnny Marr.

I'm glad my career as a critic was short-lived. All my defenses are down.

Four notes to spoil the world

10/24/2008 1:09:00 PM

Simplicity is difficult. It can hypnotize you into a nirvana or get on your nerves big time. Examples:
- "Life's What You Make It" by Talk Talk features a piano riff that releases endorphin instantly. It's great company on a running track for example.
- "4 Minutes" by Madonna features a horrible synth riff that Timbaland probably found in the wastebasket of his computer. Haven't they heard of half notes?

Where have you gone, Mark Hollis? The nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

The state of the industry

10/14/2008 8:40:00 AM

Reality TV characters are the gladiators of our time. And we are not much different from the Romans sitting at the Colosseum.

My absolute favourite is Ève Angeli. Her reality TV show is a disturbingly true reflection of the music industry today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%88ve_Angeli

Road to nowhere

10/7/2008 8:12:00 AM

It is almost hallucinating to watch TV spots of people at the Paris car fair, sitting in Humvees and Ferraris while the rest of us are wondering whether we still have money in the bank.

My dad used to say that petrol is not expensive enough. How right he was.

http://www.mondial-automobile.com/

Dust in the wind

9/26/2008 3:43:00 PM

Songs from the childhood have a strange effect. They emerge from the depths of your spirit when you're at your most vulnerable. They bring magic consolation. No one can put a bullet through your soul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2w6Oxx0kQ

It all keeps adding up

9/18/2008 8:19:00 AM

U2's Zooropa Tour had a feature that I liked very much: a news broadcast that made no sense, a huge tv set with a man reading news that were absolute mumbo jumbo.

Sometimes I catch myself thinking that this is actually how things work. We have only been engineered to "understand" the "information" we get from the media.

It was nice to find a book that takes this thought to the absolute extreme: the whole history is a bluff. "The Secret History of the World" by Jonathan Black is hilarious. Am I the only one who thinks this is all very funny?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/oct/13/society

Can’t get there from here

9/10/2008 12:56:00 PM

Dear guitar thief,

You might think that when you plug a vintage Rickenbacker 360 into a Vox AC-30 out comes automatically the intro to "Shiny Happy People". It won't. I can tell you that much.

Return that guitar.

One for the road

9/2/2008 12:38:00 PM

We've all been there. On an autobahn four o'clock in the morning in the rain, trying to survive amongst the ten ton trucks and the BMWs doing 200 km/h. In that situation, as always, the key to success is a good soundtrack. Here is mine:

World in My Eyes / Depeche Mode

A perfect starter. Sounds amazing if you have a six point speaker system.

Airbag / Radiohead

Makes you feel like you're flying an airplane.

Cocaine Blues / Johnny Cash

If the kids are awake skip this one. The lyrics are explicit, to put it mildly.

Oxygene / Jean-Michel Jarre

Try to get the twenty-minute version.

I Believe / K's Choice

This helps when you're about to loose faith, 500 kilometres from home.

Allez, viens!

8/25/2008 8:59:00 PM

How to spot a real classic? Well, if you hear a song four years after its release, for the upteenth time, and it still makes you shiver you're pretty close.

That happened to me on 14 July with Raphaël's "Caravane" and I wasn't the only one. It somehow hit a nerve spot on. It's that space where you feel a strange generational unity and the presence of the divine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hva-sVzAfMM

The video of that song is a masterpiece as well, featuring my favourite weather.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHJoY0oSD_Y

Please, say "Si Si"

7/30/2008 11:57:00 AM

What on earth happened to summer hits? I'm beginning to believe that summers really were sunnier thirty years ago. Here's my evidence:

Beg, Steal or Borrow / The New Seekers

I remember singing this with a hairbrush.

Mexico / Les Humphries Singers

Great use of flanger. The chorus will stay with you for a while once you've heard it.

Seasons in the Sun / Terry Jacks

That sense of death you get in springtime for some reason.

Top of the World / The Carpenters

Soft, warm wind in your face.

Spanish Eyes / Engelbert Humperdinck

Your mother cried when she heard this at the airport coming home from Spain.

Truly that bad

7/23/2008 1:35:00 PM

Recent events have made me reload some of the texts of my favourite columnist, Nicholas D. Kristof of the NYT. He is the only one I know who can approach horrific issues with absolute intellectual clarity, a bit like a surgeon.

Below is an example. Some readers might find the text disturbing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/opinion/10kristof.html

Whodunnit?

7/18/2008 4:11:00 PM

Some people have an amazing ability to piece things together. One of them is Anthony Seldon. His account of the later Blair years ("Blair Unbound") is so exhaustive that he begins to sound like a fly on the wall.

But it's worth the read. You realise that little has changed since Westphalia.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,,2208912,00.html

Good times never felt so good

7/10/2008 7:50:00 PM

Pop music ages so much better than rock music. Last week saw two major developments in this respect.

1. Abba were reunited at the premier of a film about them and Benny said they should just get together and sing. That is so true. I beg you, get together and sing. There are millions of us waiting for a decent pop song to replace that r'n'b-ballad-bs in the charts.

2. Neil Diamond had the Glastonbury at his knees. No sunglasses, no long hair, no confused '60s nostalgia. Just great songs and a decent singer.

Your time has come.

The city I live in

7/3/2008 1:02:00 PM

I like to contradict myself (see previous entry). So, here are some of the most beautiful songs written about a hometown:

Waterloo Sunset, The Kinks

Amazing authenticity. Makes you want to go back in time.

Under the Bridge, Red Hot Chili Peppers

A great poem led to one of the greatest guitar intros of all time.

Sunshine on Leith, The Proclaimers

That smalltown feeling.

Gezellig

6/27/2008 9:15:00 AM

There are very few bands these days who can take you on a musical trip that covers more than their hometown - or their bedroom in most cases.

Zita Swoon are so different. They take you to this strange space made of dreams and undiscovered places somewhere in the back of your mind.

Their gig in front of the Royal Palace last Saturday was magic. A sunset and everything. And the best guitar playing I've heard in ages.

http://www.zitaswoongroup.be/

Simon Le Blog

6/18/2008 1:53:00 PM

Most pop star blogs are awful. Stuff like "working hard on the new album, it's going to be another masterpiece".

A welcome exception comes, of course, from the more experienced side of the industry. Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran has gone where few pop stars have gone before him: books.

http://www.duranduran.com/bookclub/

More than a thousand words

6/13/2008 2:43:00 PM

I never get tired of the annual World Press Photo exhibition. It captures our time in a chilling way so prepare to be cell-shocked. Humanity does not seem to be making any progress, quite the opposite.

http://www.worldpressphoto.org/

A spin doctor we can believe in

6/5/2008 4:18:00 PM

Whatever you think of American politics you have to acknowledge that it's professional. And I don't say that like it's a bad thing. There's nothing more depressing than a bad speech.

Chapeau, Jon Favreau! You are writing history.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/fashion/20speechwriter.html?_r=2&ref=style&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

The frog diet

5/30/2008 10:16:00 AM

If you need inspiration for writing furious punk songs, try surfing international news agencies. You won't be disappointed:

"Myanmar's ruling junta lashed out at foreign aid donors Friday, saying cyclone victims did not need supplies of  'chocolate bars' and could instead survive by eating frogs and fish." (AFP)

Keep up the good work guys. The medals are on their way.

Brussels-Helsinki, EUR 728,56

5/23/2008 9:48:00 AM

That's the price of an ECONOMY ticket if you're flying Finnair. When you look around in the aircraft you realize that most of those tickets are paid with taxpayers' money. Is that an excuse or what?

There's only one thing I like about Finnair: those black leather gloves that come out when the air hostesses start to deal with luggage or a difficult customer. Could you turn that into a separate service at the airport?

Hab' 'nen Luftballon gefunden

5/21/2008 2:44:00 PM

This is what I'll remember from 2008, if nothing else:

A hot May morning at a Berlin hotel. I turn on the telly and out comes "Mercy" by Duffy (must be one of the greatest music videos ever made). I pull the curtain and see the huge Die Welt hot-air balloon floating up and down in front of my window.

One of those moments when everything seems to make sense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcRvzYI6h-4

Dear Shania Twain

5/16/2008 9:17:00 AM

I was sorry to learn about your divorce.

I was just wondering if you'd be interested in a second-hand goth musician who can play "Still the One". No smoking, no drugs, no alcohol. Well, the occasional glass of wine maybe if you insist. Switzerland is not a problem.

Emmenez-moi

5/7/2008 3:06:00 PM

Brussels-Marseille in less than five hours and no changes. My prayers have been heard. Adieu, Paris-Orly. I will never see you again.

Why did this take so long?

http://www.raileurope.com/

It's only rock'n'roll and I hate it

4/29/2008 7:06:00 AM

The '90s reversed the development of live music and to some extent the damage was irreparable. The idea was that all you needed for a live show was a couple of Marshall stacks, a pair of jeans and a checkered shirt. I simply cannot understand people who pay 20 quid for a Pearl Jam DVD.

Here are my favourite antidotes to this disease:

12 Years of Tears, Marc Almond

The Royal Albert Hall, a lot of costume changes, dancers, and a grand piano. So Pearly don't you shed more tears.

Cubism, Pet Shop Boys

Auditorio Nacional, Mexico City. Grand but entertaining.

Kraftwerk

Their website is an inexhaustible source of joy.

But does it work in theory?

4/22/2008 10:56:00 AM

Intellectual laziness is infectious. Most editors-in-chief, for example, love to recycle soundbites that correspond with their predetermined worldview and the prejudices of their readers.

That's why things like the "clash of civilizations" stay in the press regardless of what's really going on.

Thank God for people like Nicholas Kristof who actually know what they're talking about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Kristof

Flight to nowhere

4/15/2008 3:37:00 PM

Beautiful and functional airports are a dying breed. I can't think of a single one after they close down Berlin's Tempelhof.

Soon we'll spend most of our flight time on our way to and from the airport or stuck in an ugly terminal.

If this gets any worse I'll finally move to Japan. They sure know how to organize transport.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Flughafen_Berlin-Tempelhof?uselang=de

Worth the hype

4/11/2008 1:51:00 PM

Yes, I know they're all over the press. Yes, they are the darlings of the pseudo-intellectual pop establishment. Yes, they are the flavour of the month.

I don't care. "Day & Age" by The Killers stays on my turntable until it melts.

Laissez-vous faire, Milord

4/7/2008 7:43:00 PM

I know I’m beginning to sound like a travel guide but I can’t help it.

Nothing beats a Sunday lunch at Wepler, Place Clichy, Paris. Babies, grannies, and everything in between. A menu catering for every budget. And absolute equal treatment for everyone.

When you listen carefully you can still hear the laughter of Edith Piaf.

http://www.wepler.com/

Unconcerned but not indifferent

4/1/2008 9:25:00 AM

Easter in Paris.

A late, rainy afternoon at the cemetery of Montparnasse. The dark clouds hang low, like a squadron of B-52’s. And just as you are about to leave, a ray of sunlight, like a hand waving goodbye.

And then, of course, tea at La Coupole. Gracias a la Vida.

http://www.sitebits.com/2008/rambling-about-montparnasse-cemetery.html

Every day nirvana

3/20/2008 4:01:00 AM

I’m so proud of my new T-shirt featuring the cover of The Cult’s Love album with all its Egyptian symbols. It’s nice to look at all those perplexed faces in a gym, for example.

I have no idea why that album is so timeless. It was recorded in the summer of 1985 in a rather short time with Mark Brzezicki of the Big Country on the drums. It sounds very much like a live album.

http://croymusicmiscellany.com/2011/06/23/classic-review-love-by-the-cult/

Not your usual do-re-mi

3/17/2008 5:01:00 PM

I’m so thankful for the Guitar Player magazine interviews. Without them, I would probably still think that you can only tune your guitar from E to E. I love the more sinister D-tuning you hear on my tracks.

And the amp is my cranked-up, digital version of JC-120. Thanks for asking. It was great to listen to Billy Duffy of The Cult on 7 March in Brussels. He sure knows how to beat the shit out of that amp.

Yes, I did add reverb to my vocals. Even my humanism has its limits.

Non-Europeans only

3/13/2008 9:25:00 AM

When arranging my vinyls (again) I was struck by the frequent mentioning of Europe in many UK hits about 25 years ago. For example:

"Europa and the Pirate Twins", Thomas Dolby, 1982

A great opening line: "I was fourteen, she was twelve."

"New Europeans", Ultravox, 1980

This whole Vienna album is a masterpiece.

"Living in Europe", Thompson Twins, 1982

Great hairdos, too.

I guess you could go to jail for mentioning Europe in a UK hit these days.

Only human

3/4/2008 5:52:00 AM

I hate to advertise an individual DVD but "The Human League Live at the Dome" really stands out. It shows that synthpop can be truly live. There is a human touch on everything, even camerawork.

And the Brighton Dome sure brings back some fond memories from 1981. I was the guy with the Manchester City shirt which was a mistake. I didn't even know they had a football team in Brighton.

Thou shalt travel

2/29/2008 11:07:00 AM

With the holidays approaching, here's another list of tips for those who are into knights, maidens, and dragons:

Kutná Hora, Czech Republic

A paradise for medievalists. An amazing gothic cathedral.

Bormes-les-Mimosas, France

A breathtaking medieval village by the seaside.

La Roche-en-Ardenne, Belgium

An imposing castle and a great carnival.

Environmental torture

2/26/2008 10:32:00 AM

There are certain jobs that can easily get you to an international tribunal for crimes against humanity such as warlord, dictator, tyrant and despot.

I hereby propose that we add another profession to this list: architect.

http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/viewsingleimage.html?mode=singleimage&handle=luisfrps&number=376

No more apologies

2/15/2008 5:11:00 PM

Do you remember that strange guy in your class? The one who didn't really speak to anyone and who seemed to be on another planet.

Google him. He might be world-famous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0TZZZcC9l4

The Power and the Glory II

2/13/2008 1:38:00 PM

Oh, sorry, there is another exception: Peter Garrett, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts of Australia. Yes, that bold ex-singer of Midnight Oil.

I'm so proud of you. Keep saving those whales.

The Power and the Glory

2/12/2008 2:54:00 PM

As a rule, musicians should steer clear of politics. It's hard to give advice when you can't tell the difference between the GDP, the GNI and the gin.

The sight of Bono makes me squirm these days.

There's only one exception: Imaginary Kingdoms are always welcome at my doorstep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymn_(Ultravox_song)

Music the machines make

2/7/2008 2:33:00 AM

Here are the best drum machines of all time:

Linn LM-1

Sounds incredibly up to date 27 years after its release. Used on almost every good pop record in the early '80s. Impossible to get these days.

Roland TR-808/909

This is what you hear in early techno and a lot of Japanese pop. That computer-like sound.

Boss DR-808

Pretty difficult to use but worth it. Unbelievable samples.

La vie en rose

1/28/2008 3:40:00 PM

Is it just me or are the major newspapers getting worse? Why do I have the feeling they are destined for high school dropouts these days?

There is one major exception: The Financial Times, especially the weekend edition. It's great they have the guts to cover all walks of life despite their relatively small circulation.

Where would the Brussels spin doctors be without their weekly leaks to the Purple Bible.

What the hell am I doing here?

1/17/2008 9:12:00 PM

Great lyrics work in many contexts. That's why they stand the test of time.

I was just trying to go through my Facebook profile and couldn't make any sense of it.

That's when an old friend came to my rescue:

http://www.metrolyrics.com/creep-lyrics-radiohead.html

A Feeny tale

1/15/2008 11:38:00 AM

Great voice, great face and a lot of good, old-fashioned song-writing.

And a great website:

http://www.catherinefeeny.com/

Thanks, Catherine, for keeping up the Brussels connection. See you soon.

Worst of 2007

1/4/2008 7:52:00 AM

I tried to resist the temptation but I couldn't. So here we go:

Kanye West vs. 50 Cent rivalry

Please tell me this is some sort of a joke.

Mika

Another breakthrough we didn't need. One more falsetto singer in the charts and I'll find a desert island.

"Always" by Johnny Hallyday

Don't tell me I'm the only one who noticed that this is a shameless rip-off of Tracy Chapman's "Baby Can I Hold You".

Madonna's song for Live Earth (Hey You or something)

She's great but didn't anyone have the guts to tell her that this song was rubbish?

Pharrell Williams, Will.i.am, Timbaland etc.

I curse the day when the word 'guest producer' was uttered for the first time.

Best of 2007

12/21/2007 10:14:00 AM

Here's the definitive list of the best gigs in 2007:

The Church, Paradiso, 20 April

One of the few existing bands that can fill two hours with great songs.

Editors, Halles de Schaerbeek, 28 October

The perfect venue for this act. Next year they will probably do stadiums, I'm afraid.

The Waterboys, Ancienne Belgique, 13 March

Mike Scott ages well. He just gets wilder and crazier.

Indochine, Forest National, 3 March

Grand, majestic, monumental.

Evanescence, Antwerps Sportpaleis, 3 June

Same as above.

The way it really went

12/14/2007 10:00:00 AM

Autobiographies are usually pathetic. You get to know that the writer was a hero all along and the rest were just crooks and idiots.

"Madam Secretary: A Memoir" by Madeleine Albright is an unexpected exception. No excuses, no whitewash and no magniloquence. Just the bare facts and some emotion.

Can't wait to read the story of Condoleezza Rice.

Why walk away in silence?

11/29/2007 12:34:00 PM

It was nice to see Interpol live at Forest National.

There's just this one thing I don't get. Why do you guys have to play for half an hour without saying anything to the audience? Something like "Hi, we're Interpol" would have been nice.

No, it won't spoil the atmosphere. You don't have to smile or anything.

Dear Santa Claus

11/21/2007 3:19:00 PM

Here's my humble wishlist:
1. Remove all passenger cars from the centre of Bruges.
2. Reunite the Smiths.
3. Remove Justin Timberlake from the charts.
4. Bring democracy to Russia.
5. Remove all small arms and light weapons from circulation

The string spice

11/12/2007 2:19:00 PM

Adding a string section to a pop song is a difficult task. It's a bit like adding sugar to coffee - a delicate balancing act. Here are some of the best results I know of:

Linger / The Cranberries

Very touching. Great intro.

There Is a Light That Never Goes Out / The Smiths

Melodramatic but wonderful. The anthem of my generation.

Whatever / Oasis

Nicked from The Beatles but so what.

Bird flu

10/31/2007 5:14:00 PM

Airports have a strange effect on me. I become someone else - or someone I was in the past. This is dangerous since I've lived in some pretty weird places.

Last week end I went to a bar at an airport. They were playing Trace Adkins (full-bodied Nashville Country Rock).

When I ordered my beer I heard the following: "So, what's a Southener doin' up here?"

Lady in black

10/24/2007 10:47:00 AM

Sense of style is a rare commodity. Its worst enemy is fashion.

The Museum of Modern Art of Paris offers one example till 13 January: Helene Schjerfbeck whose style was absolutely timeless.

I wish I had known her.

http://www.paris.fr/portail/viewmultimediadocument?multimediadocument-id=33394

Live history

10/19/2007 3:16:00 PM

Live albums are a dying breed and they will not be missed. Most of them are plain boring and there is so much more to enjoy in a DVD.

I only have three live albums that I can listen to without falling asleep:

Rank / The Smiths

Shows that they were actually pretty raw onstage.

Songs of Faith and Devotion Live / Depeche Mode

A commercial and critical failure but has strange appeal neverthless. Great company on an extended nightly voyage.

Johnny Cash at San Quentin

The one and only. Digital remastering done right: If you put this into your home entertainment centre you feel like one of the inmates.

The public wants what the public gets

10/17/2007 11:28:00 AM

Here's an interesting test: Watch the evening news in parallel from the BBC World and the CNN.

I can already reveal the result: They not only talk about the same subjects, they talk about the same subjects at the same time, i.e. in the same order.

Get that dish and get it soon.

Just what the doctor ordered

10/12/2007 9:29:00 AM

The guitar is like a drug. If you shoot too much of it too quickly you get sick.

It's probably no coincidence that most of the '90s guitar records have too much guitar in them. Can't really listen to them.

Thank you God for the likes of Interpol. Listen to "Pioneer to the Falls" - that's what those strings are for.

The supposed Golden Path

10/9/2007 9:08:00 AM

Collaborations between two bands tend to produce absolute disasters. Think of the U2 and the Green Day, for example.

No rule without an exception.

I just don't get tired of watching the Chemical Brothers featuring The Flaming Lips at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2003. So unexpected, so true, and so rock'n'roll.

Con amore

10/4/2007 5:26:00 PM

Some people just look so amazing on the screen that they don't even have to speak.

Like Monica Bellucci. She hardly said a word in Malèna or in The Passion of the Christ but I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

In Shoot 'Em Up (awful title) she seems to be wearing a red corset. I wonder if that tops her breathtaking appearances in The Matrix Reloaded where she was clad in beige latex. Heaven forbid.

Her melodious lay

9/28/2007 9:13:00 AM

Here's a good reason to spend a day in London: the Millais exhibition at the Tate.

He was so ahead of his time - a pop artist, a businessman, and a star. Very inspirational for songwriters and poets.

Some of his paintings have a hypnotic effect. You just can't walk away.

http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/ophelia

Birdhouse in my soul

9/26/2007 9:35:00 AM

There are days when you'd just like to stay in bed and sulk.

That's when people like They Might Be Giants are urgently needed. I usually turn to their Flood album. It's amazing - 19 tracks that are all hilarious.

I can't forget their gig in Manchester in 1990. All those shoegazers dumbfounded by a duo equipped with an accordion, a guitar and a drum machine - and about 50 songs that last for two minutes or less.

It wasn’t me

9/20/2007 8:19:00 AM

Some people are so brave it's almost frightening.

Like Marie-Ange Le Boulaire. Her documentary on rape victims on France2 was almost too tough to watch. A rape victim herself, she knows her subject.

When a wife meets her two boys after finally having her husband face the justice after years of rape and violence and they ask "where is daddy?" it is hard to sit still.

Where did THAT come from?

9/18/2007 11:09:00 AM

I'm probably not the only musician who's spent hours trying to reproduce a sound that's somehow emblematic - like that ghostly guitar in New Order's Blue Monday.

Luckily there are self-care websites for people like us:

http://www.guitargeek.com/

You do need a Shergold Marathon 6-string bass to get that sound. Been there, done that.

Childish things

9/14/2007 10:10:00 AM

I spent years wondering why the writings of Marguerite Duras were so haunting in any language.
Then I saw a film that was based on her life. It began with this:

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

Yes, the Bible. Should have known.

Calling Elvis

9/11/2007 9:44:00 AM

September is perfect for listening to everything Elvis Costello ever recorded.

It makes you wonder whether digital sound engineering was actually an improvement at all.

Listen to that Gretsch growl, scream and bark in "I Want You". Listen to that small tube amplifier hum and breathe. Elvis is sitting right there next to you, crying his heart out.

Nessun dorma

9/7/2007 11:35:00 AM

I hope they keep playing it for weeks. What a great man! What a breathtaking moment! And his face after the last note, as if he's saying "I have given you all I have".

I will not sleep.

Dasepo Girl

9/5/2007 10:45:00 AM

God bless online shopping! Without it you would hardly get to see any interesting films these days.

For example, Dasepo Girl, a Korean release from last year, shows the hidden potential of high school comedies. I really like the way it takes all the clichés to hilarious extremes.

Put "Dasepo Girl" into the search engine of YouTube and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Dasepo_Girl.php

Excess mess in darkness

8/31/2007 9:06:00 AM

We've all been there: four o'clock in the morning and I CAN'T GET NO SLEEP.

I personally know that all hope is gone when "Insomnia" by Faithless starts to play in my head.

This time of the year it's easy since the early morning light is so beautiful in the park, great for jogging. But come winter and those moonlit mornings. Pure living hell.

All lost in the supermarket

8/29/2007 4:15:00 PM

I wonder who has decided that rock festivals need to have five stages scattered around a huge field. After paying a ridiculous sum of money you spend most of your time wondering what's happening and where, a map in hand.

At Pukkelpop this resulted in most people just giving up and laying on the ground.

Luckily I managed to find the Editors though. What a huge wall of sound!

Ich habe ein Berliner in meine Lederhosen

8/27/2007 10:40:00 AM

It's rare, at this age, to fall in love with a new city. But yes, it can happen.

Berlin, Berlin, what a great beacon of liberty!

And here's a tip for all the dj's out there. At 8 o'clock in the morning, when people are thinking of leaving your club, play Der Mussolini by DAF. They will not leave.

Und tanz den Mussolini.
Tanz den Adolf Hitler.
Beweg deinen Hintern.
Und tanz den Jesus Christus.

Harvest

8/24/2007 10:46:00 AM

The best thing about holidays is checking out acts that you've never heard of. You can run into some real gems, like these:

Rilo Kiley 

An entertaining show with a lot of variety. Fantastic songs. And I'd pay anything for the phone number of the singer. What a great C&W vamp!

Die So Fluid

It's amazing how this lady can warm up a half-empty northern club. And spanking your tour manager on live radio is a great way to get attention.

Roadmovie

A very charming duo from Oslo. They make you feel like you're in their living room.

Etat des lieux

7/20/2007 9:36:00 AM

I ran into an interesting piece of information: the French economy has been running on deficit since 1981. This naturally made me think about other things that have gone wrong since 1981, like these:

Mobile telephones

I miss the time when this question would have sounded strange: Where are you?

Hip Hop

Music that even I could compose cannot be any good.

Cars

The number of passenger cars has doubled. Where is everyone driving to?



But luckily there have been improvements as well:

The internet

Spend an hour in a bank or a travel agency and you know what you don't miss.

High-speed trains

Consommez sans moderation.

The euro

Can I have some more please.

Chaqu'un son goth

7/18/2007 10:41:00 AM

It's funny how different goth parties are in different parts of the world. In the North they tend to be serious and ritualistic. A lot of sitting and staring. In the South they are very sensual, to put it mildly.

In Brussels it's hard to find the right word. I guess surreal comes closest. A great celebration of diversity and weirdness. My kinda town.

https://fr-fr.facebook.com/BliZarK

And the living is easy

7/16/2007 10:20:00 AM

I guess summer leaves a permanent mark on you when you're in your late teens. That's probably why my favourite summer tracks are all from the early '80s:

The Things That Dreams Are Made Of / The Human League

Still makes me want to get on a train straight away.

Tesla Girls / OMD

Hot July wind in your face.

Someone Somewhere In Summertime / Simple Minds

Summer night magic. She's out there somewhere.

Not just a fair-weather friend

7/13/2007 1:36:00 AM

Here's another strange hobby: weatherspotting.

There are some great sites for it but my favourite is still the good old Wunderground (http://www.wunderground.com/).

Check out the Wunder Photos too. They can give a whole new perspective on your hometown.

On druids

7/10/2007 9:39:00 AM

I have a problem.

I cannot stop laughing at the druids that appeared on stage with Spinal Tap in the Live Earth concert. That mini-Stonehedge and all, buhaha...

Can you imagine my agony? It's like a constant bubbling in my stomach that tends to burst out at the worst moment, like in the middle of a serious professional discussion:
- What's so funny about this draft budget?
- Well, the druids.

This is a bit like when I heard that Liam Gallagher thought the Spinal Tap movie was a documentary. It's probably an urban tale but I couldn't stop laughing at it for months.

City of light

7/9/2007 9:42:00 AM

The viewers of TV5 in France, Belgium and Switzerland have a great opportunity tonight at 9 pm to see where Paris came from.

Louis Laforge will take you from medieval times all the way to the banks of the Seine today.

Pay attention to the camerawork: a great sense of space.

http://programmes.france3.fr/des-racines-et-des-ailes/drda-accueil_in.php?id_article=129

All a boy could give you

7/3/2007 9:53:00 AM

BBC World's HARDtalk Extra is a goldmine for anyone interested in the soul of the popstar. Gavin Esler has a magic ability to make his guests look very human without being intrusive.

Marc Almond really wears his heart on his sleeve this week. He is so authentic it is almost embarrasing.

"Those tenements are memories of where you've risen from."

Editors

7/2/2007 9:48:00 AM

It's been long since I was this excited about a band. That must have been when I discovered Interpol some three years ago.

When I first heard Editors I thought I had dreamt it up. It's like a huge ship moving majestically through stormy seas.

I just wish that Ride realise now that their time has come, twenty years after.

On riffs

6/28/2007 5:53:00 PM

It's sad that very few guitarists know how to make a good riff these days.
The recipe is simple: Just try to think of something that stays in your head from the moment you hear it. Like these:

Atomic / Blondie

About three notes. Great bassline too.

Butterfly / Grazy Town

Shows what a good pedal (Holy Grail) can do to a guitar. And I know where it came from, a good riff just doesn't count without lyrics.

Hey Mr. Tambourine Man / The Byrds

A landmark sound. Probably the first time the guitar went straight to the board, just through a number of tube compressors. Do try this at home.

Long time, no sea

6/26/2007 6:50:00 AM

There is something profoundly healing about the seaside. Coming from a coastal town, I develop withdrawal symptoms if I don't get my fair share of it regularly.

Luckily there's a motorway close to my house that takes me there in one fell swoop.

Nottingham Castle

6/25/2007 11:01:00 AM

Nottingham Castle is a great way to spend a day - especially if you're into knights and maidens and that sort of thing. It also provides a spectacular view on the city.

And the cave tour provides inspiration for many sorts of human activities.

Great getaways

6/19/2007 11:15:00 AM

Nothing is more inspiring than a train trip through a majestic landscape. Here are my favourite European options:

Oslo - Bergen, Norway

Really breathtaking, especially in the winter when it sometimes feels like a sleigh ride. Not for people who are afraid of heights.

Clermont Ferrand - Nîmes, France

Shows you why this region is called the Massif Central.

Liège - Hamburg, Belgium-Germany

An Ardennes adventure. If you continue to Denmark you get to see a lot of water as well.

Lounging

6/14/2007 7:31:00 PM

Possibly the only positive development that the '90s brought nightlifewise was lounging - i.e. the possibility to just hang out and to move in mysterious ways.

For a while I thought lounging was out.

Now I'm glad to note that lounging seems to be en vogue again. Thank you, Zinella, Epicuria, and others.

My favourite talking head

6/13/2007 9:46:00 AM

TV presentators are generally plagued by manerisms and condescending behaviour in the presence of the powerful.

Audrey Pulvar of France 3 is a charming exception to the rule. She does not even fear Sarkozy who clearly tried to flirt with her during a pre-presidential interview. I loved the way she dismissed it.

You can also catch her on TV5.

Chicago Navy Pier

6/11/2007 3:01:00 PM

Some sights have strange, magic allure.

One of them is Chicago Navy Pier. It is particularly enchanting on an early Sunday morning. All that majestic emptiness.

I just hope that the recently announced renovation does not destroy its magic.

The difference that it makes

6/8/2007 3:07:00 PM

I know it's very uncool to relate any difference in performance to gender. But here is one that I am sure of:

WOMEN ARE BETTER DRUMMERS THAN MEN.

For example, listen to Meg White (The White Stripes) or Cindy Blackman (Lenny Kravitz et al) if you're not convinced. They kick ass like no man could.

Brasserie bliss

6/6/2007 9:50:00 AM

It's nice to eat out in a brasserie. For some reason, in a brasserie you never feel alone even if you're all by yourself. Here are some of the gems in that category:

Wepler, Paris

The one and only. A world of its own. A nice blend of intellos, artists and locals.

Terminus Nord, Paris

A seafood paradise. Breathtaking art deco interior.

Fouquets, Antwerpen

Easy-going and friendly. Great asparagus.

Back to Jupiter

5/30/2007 5:01:00 PM

In February this year, a French company called Arturia released a software that reproduces the sounds of the greatest analog synthesizer ever made, Roland Jupiter 8. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

In the meantime, here are some of the albums that take you into the world of that great instrument:

Love and Dancing, The Human League, 1982

An instrumental remix of some of the tracks from the "Dare" album. Great for parties.

Rio, Duran Duran, 1982

Has huge Jupiter arpeggio layers all over the place. Some of them come from Jupiter 4 though.

It's My Life, Talk Talk, 1984

Shows the attack potential of this weapon.

This is where it's at

5/29/2007 10:24:00 AM

Here are Europe's best streets for a musical shopper:

rue de Douai - rue Victor Massé, Paris

A string of music stores that are all very 'sympa'. A lot of vintage guitars.

rue du Midi, Brussels

Loads of second hand books, records and stamps. Inexpensive.

Denmark Street, London

Guitarist's paradise. Expect to run into Chris Rea, Mark Knopfler and Noel Gallagher

Signs, symbols and books

5/24/2007 3:37:00 PM

One of my strangest hobbies is collecting books on signs and symbols. There is a shitload of them in my bedroom but the following tend to lie at my bedside:

The Book of Signs, Rodolf Koch, 1955

A piece of art. Great company on a long journey. A strong gothic/ medieval flavour. Not much text but a lot to think about. A magnificent font (magere deutsche type).

Dictionnaire de Mythologie et de Symbolique Egyptienne, Robert-Jacques Thibaud, 1996

Well-researched. Detailed drawings and a lot of text (in French).

Tecken, märken och symboler, John Foley, 1995

I have this in Swedish but the original is called "The Guinness Encyclopedia of Signs and Symbols", 1993. A comprehensive encyclopedia that covers everything, even brands. The reproduction of symbols is top-notch, excellent for tattooing, for example. If you only want an overview of this strange world, get this.

Cages

5/21/2007 9:23:00 AM

A Finnish novelist, Märta Tikkanen, published a book called "Män kan inte våldtas" in 1975. The title is difficult to translate but it basically says that you cannot rape a man.

A Franco-Belgian film called "Cages" (2007) shows that yes you can. The scene in question is very chilling because it's not brutal or violent. You could actually say it's tender.

It's unfortunate that the second half of that film is such sentimental bull.

http://www.premiere.fr/film/Cages-1376319

In a rich man's world

5/18/2007 9:44:00 AM

A Dutch TV Channel, NOS 3, showed a fantastic documentary yesterday: "Abba's All Time Greatest Hits". Great stuff for Abba fans and anyone interested in the craft of songwriting.

The documentary used a piece of software, 'Hit Song Science', to see if the Abba songs would still make their way to the Top Ten today. They would.

You can take that in two ways. Either it shows that nothing replaces a good songwriter or it shows that today's Top Ten comes out of a computer. Take your pick.

The life of a ghost

5/17/2007 9:07:00 AM

I am a text fetishist. This illness manifests itself, inter alia, as an ability to memorize long passages from my favourite books.

Here's the one that I keep closest to my heart. It's from "On the road" by Jack Kerouac. (The character has just woken up after sleeping all day in a cheap motel. The sun is going down and the sky is red.):

"I wasn't scared. I was just someone else, some stranger. And my whole life was a haunted life, the life of a ghost."

Eurodivision

5/15/2007 2:08:00 AM

Although this is territory that I should probably stay clear of, here's my innocent list of the best Eurovision winners ever:

"Poupée de cire, poupée de son", France Gall, 1965

Sounds groovy still. Great year.

"Un banc, un arbre, une rue", Séverine, 1971

 

Nice nostalgic feel. Represented Monaco.

"L'oiseau et l'enfant", Marie Myriam, 1977

Well-crafted, modulation and all.

Flashback II

5/11/2007 9:37:00 AM

A warm August night in 1986. Driving my bicycle somewhere between Jönköping and Göteborg in West Sweden, looking for a camping site. Listening to the radio on my Walkman.

Suddenly, on a wide open stretch, a westerly wind starts to push me gently and I go faster and faster.

And then, as if somebody's watching, "Driving Away from Home" by It's Immaterial starts to play on my Walkman:

"Driving away from home

Thirty miles or more

And we'll go moving away from home

Without a care in the world".

Great old gear

5/10/2007 10:15:00 AM

I am fascinated with vintage electronics. Here are some of my dearest treasures:

Salora 810V tube radio

Manufactured in Salo, Finland, in 1954. The best possible reproduction of pre-sixties music. Looks marvellous, a lot of wood.

Asa 3300 Hifi Studiotrio

A flat, black hifi ensemble, manufactured in Salo, Finland, in the late seventies. Surprisingly powerful (55W). Great for 70's and 80's vinyl and C cassettes.

Creamsound CS-1/6 guitar amplifier

Very few of these were manufactured in Vantaa, Finland, some time in the '90s, I think. Less than 10 watts. A sound that takes you straight back into the '50s. You can hear this amp in some of the latest recordings of a Finnish band called Egotrippi.

Just in case: not for sale.

Real TV

5/8/2007 11:08:00 AM

There are two documentarians that never let you down:

Serge Moati

"La Prise de l'Elysée", shown on France 3, is interesting, revealing and funny. This guy has an exceptional ability - he can approach anyone objectively, even Jean-Marie Le Pen. It's funny what people say when they think no-one's listening.

Peter Taylor

The "Panorama Special" on BBC World is another leap into the world of spooks and hotheads. This guy has a Borat-like approach to interviews: just ask a simple question and let the answer speak for itself.

What a producer does

5/4/2007 12:54:00 AM

It's interesting to listen to the answers you usually get to the following question: what do you think a producer does to a song?

Most people, including young musicians, tend to think that a producer "turns the knobs", "pays for everything" or "puts the thing on a cd".

I've had the pleasure of seeing two major producers in action. This is what they do: change the key and the tempo of the song, remove beats here and there, retune the guitars two or three keys down, have the singer sing in the staircase, and so on. They mess things up.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that Rick Rubin, Bob Rock and Nile Rodgers are geniuses.

Not so stupid

5/2/2007 9:47:00 AM

An intelligent popstar is such a rare sight that seeing one is tremendously uplifiting.

Such unique occasion presented itself on 27 April at the Hardtalk Extra of the BBC World, where Gavin Esler interviewed Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys. What a great, warm-hearted man!

Here are some of the highlights (as I remember them):

Q: Why do you play pop music?

A: Well, pop is short for popular.

Q: Do you represent the gay movement?

A: Sexuality is far too categorised. People are not that simple.

Q: Why were you so vague about your sexual orientation in the beginning?

A: People want to construct their popstars themselves.

I hope they put the whole interview online soon.

World Press Photo

4/30/2007 11:53:00 AM

Here's a tip for anyone interested in photography and world affairs.

Go see the World Press Photo exhibition. You can find its "tour dates" at worldpressphoto.org. It's a real eye-opener.

And bring along a large package of handkerchiefs.

Death songs

4/26/2007 8:31:00 AM

I have a morbid interest in songs about death. They have weird commonalities. The singer, for example, almost always refers to his mother or wife, sometimes both.

Here's my Top Three in this dubious category:

I Know It's Over/ The Smiths

"Oh mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head." Very little to add.

Oi mutsi mutsi/ Tuomari Nurmio

Sung in such thick Helsinki accent that the lyrics are almost impossible to understand even for a Finn. But the guy basically asks his mother to buy him a white suit. Finnish pragmatism.

Give My Love to Rose/ Johnny Cash

A heartbreaking story with the usual Cash ingredients. A chorus that I like to sing in a certain state of mind:
"Give my love to Rose please won't you mister
Take her all my money, tell her to buy some pretty clothes
Tell my boy his daddy's so proud of him
And don't forget to give my love to Rose".

Flow of thought lyrics

4/25/2007 9:29:00 AM

Some of the greatest lyrics have been written with a method that I love: just take whatever comes into your mind in whichever order it comes to you. This is very revealing but sometimes produces really magic lyrics that keep your mind occupied for years.

The R.E.M. have always mastered this technique. Here's a fantastic example from a song called "You Are The Everything":

Sometimes I feel like I can't even sing

I'm very scared for this world

I'm very scared for me

Eviscerate your memory

Here's a scene

You're in the back seat laying down

The windows wrap around

To sound of the travel and the engine

All you hear is time stand still in travel

And feel such peace and absolute

The stillness still that doesn't end

But slowly drifts into sleep

The stars are the greatest thing you've ever seen

And they're there for you

For you alone you are the everything

Claudia

4/22/2007 5:19:00 PM

A friend of mine, Claudia, was laid to rest this weekend. She started her career as a soldier in Bosnia. The Milosevic army pushed an AK-47 into her vagina.

At the time of her death Claudia worked as a prostitute in Amsterdam. She was 37 years old.

I am devastated.

Björn again

4/18/2007 9:30:00 AM

I'll never forget a documentary I saw on ABBA some time in the eighties. It had a section where Björn Ulvaeus explains that he writes most of his best songs while running. Then he is shown running and "Take a Chance" is playing in the background: "take-a-chance-take-a-chance-take-a-take-a-chance-chance...".

In another scene Björn and Benny are on an island outside Stockholm playing the piano and the guitar and saying they almost never write anything on paper.

I can totally relate to that. That Vagabond song on my Soundcloud page came to me at Easter while walking on a lakeside in East Flanders. It took about two minutes.

I won't tell the name of that lake because it wasn't its fault.

On roadies

4/16/2007 1:39:00 AM

I started my professional life in the early eighties as a roadie for a major act. I remember how the other roadies laughed at my packed sandwiches. I soon learned why.

One of the greatest living guitarists, Dick Dale, has the following advert on his website:
"Wanted: Road crew. Based in Southern California. No drugs, No smoking, No alcohol. MUST!!! have strong work ethics, clean appearance and a good driving record."

It's been up there for at least a year now. That pretty much says it all.

Just like a gothic girl

4/13/2007 10:55:00 PM

Picture this: you get on a local bus in Antwerp and stay on it for an hour and a half. You observe an endless string of residential smalltowns and school girls going home.

Then you get off. A kiosk, a Chinese restaurant, a gas station. And little else. But look more carefully. In front of a small club you see a group of die-hard gothic girls squatting with roadies. Welcome to Biebob Vosselaar!

I've often wondered how those gothic creatures always manage to pop up at the right place at the right time. The 69 Eyes gig was the perfect way to descend into Good Friday.

People are strange when you're a stranger.

Working class hero

4/5/2007 9:24:00 AM

Johnny Marr never got to the top of the US charts as the guitar hero of the Smiths, which is one of the great injustices in pop history.

Well, now he is up there as the rhythm guitarist of Modest Mouse, an indie band from Washington - of all the places. No jingle jangle, no solos - just what the song requires and nothing else.

I guess this goes to show that if you do what you do best long enough you'll reap the rewards one day.

Pure bliss

4/4/2007 10:10:00 AM

Very few radio stations do anything truly interesting online. And, surprisingly, most radio websites are clumsy, messy and low-tech.

The notable exception is, again, Pure FM. They have become a fantastic clearing house for new talent: www.puredemo.be

Keep up the good work, guys, and record companies finally become totally irrelevant, which will be a big relief for many. They have done enough harm already.

Totally addicted to bass

4/2/2007 8:56:00 PM

Nothing beats a good bassline. It has unfortunately become a rare commodity thanks to music-making software. You just can't get it right with those.

Here are some of the greatest basslines in pop history:

Good Stuff/ B-52's

So groovy. And that Kate Pierson sure can sing.

Celebrate/ An Emotional Fish

I just love songs that begin with bass only.

Rising Son/ Massive Attack

There's something threatening about this song - in a positive sense.

Why old music sounds bad

3/29/2007 10:05:00 AM

I'm so sick of reading comments on how bad old music sounds online.

Well, of course it does if you download it in that format that has an m in the beginning, a 3 in the end and a p in the middle. Yes, that format that does not reproduce the sounds "inaudible to the human ear".

Get that same music on vinyl and put it in a record player from the same era, and voilà!

Let's take an example. Download the "Theme for Great Cities" by the Simple Minds. Yes, it does sound like shit on your device. Then get the same song on 12" vinyl (yes, I know it costs a fortune), and listen to it through a turntable from the early seventies (yes etc.).

Otherwise, it's your loss.

Machinemuzik

3/26/2007 1:23:00 AM

It is unfortunate that all music-making machines sound so natural these days. That's probably why people keep paying astronomical prices for vintage Casio, Commodore and Roland gear at eBay.

Here are my favourites in the Casio VL-1 category:

Da Da Da/ Trio

Stays in your head for days with just one play. Great lyrics.

Der Komissar/ Falco

A Casio masterpiece. Just like a cheap digital watch that never lets you down.

Tower of Song/ Leonard Cohen

Took this guy to a whole new level. I've heard he actually "plays" the Casio on this track.

Flashback I

3/23/2007 9:22:00 AM

I'm blessed with overdeveloped auditive memory. It enables me to store the magical moments of my life as audio files. Here's one of them:

A windy June afternoon in 1978. Lying on my bed in a cottage by the lakeside listening to the radio. The following songs are played without interruption:
- Freddie Are You Ready/ Wigwam
- Baker Street/ Gerry Rafferty
- Year of the Cat/ Al Stewart.

Sometimes I think it's all been downhill ever since.

The quest of a disco dancer

3/21/2007 12:33:00 AM

I'm so glad the '90s are over. It was so boring to dance to that noise that had no lyrics, no melody and no groove.

Today's dj's are so much more interesting. What we are seeing is basically a return to what djing was in the '80s - choosing the right string of songs to keep people dancing. Try these:

Du Hasst/ Rammstein

A killer, especially in the beginning.

Firestarter/ Prodigy

An easy song to jump to. Good for boxing also.

Smells Like Teen Spirit/ Nirvana

For some reason, people don't mind your stepping on their toes when this song is playing. Or at least I hope so.

Oh yeah, and this list was inspired by dj's Angesombre and Drakks. Thanks for Saturday!

On war films

3/16/2007 2:40:00 AM

I generally hate war films. They usually glorify acts that should be despised. There are very few exceptions:

Der Untergang (2004)

Gründlich in a very chilling way. Filmed under unforgiving fluorescent strip light. The Americans should leave the making of war films to Germans altogether.

La vita é bella (1997)

Gives a totally new meaning to tragi-comic. Very torturous stuff to watch for a father.

Malena (2000)

A fantastic allegory: the disgracing of a beautiful woman as a sign of the lurking evil inside everyone - just a small step away. 

Waterboy to waterboy

3/14/2007 1:46:00 AM

Isn't it disappointing when go see one of your childhood heroes and they have lost all their magic?

No such danger with Mike Scott, a great angry old man. His show at the Ancienne Belgique was extatic - not least thanks to the wonderful Brussels audience. This town has a unique rock scene. Very strange acts attract full houses here, which is immensely uplifting.

When Mike said "I didn't think I would play that again" after "Old England Is Dying" we all knew what he was talking about.

But Mike, stop making unnecessary comments about people like Britney Spears. They make you look smaller than you are.

So me!

3/12/2007 2:00:00 AM

We all have songs that we think are about us. My list has remained the same for almost ten years:

Left to My Own Devices/ Pet Shop Boys

Everything fits - the lyrics, the atmosphere, even instrumentation. I often find myself singing the chorus by myself.

Traveller/ Talvin Singh

The soundtrack of my life. The song that I would like to have played at my funeral.

One Caress/ Depeche Mode

The darker side of me. Describes a recurring aspect of my life that I call the point of no return.

Cemetery gates

3/9/2007 1:18:00 AM

Here's a tip for those of you who haven't decided what to do this Easter.

I know it's a cliché but try spending a day at a cemetery. Take a big bottle of water and go to, say, Père-Lachaise in Paris. Reserve a whole day for this. Walk slowly. Read the tombstones, study them carefully. Think about your life. What would you want to leave behind? It's a strange process, profoundly heeling.

When you leave the cemetery, you feel very alive. And that's a promise.

Si vous assumez la nationalité belge...

3/5/2007 4:53:00 AM

I used to think that the French can't rock'n'roll. The good old Indochine has made me change my mind.

Their show at Forest National was something I haven't seen in years - a political concert. Brave talk, dangerous talk!

And I'm glad you stopped fumbling your hair, Nicola. It almost destroyed the otherwise historical DVD, Hanoï.

Something to sing about

3/1/2007 12:15:00 AM

The sad thing about most of today's singers is not that they can't sing - it's that they have nothing to sing about.

Go see "La Môme". It's a great film about someone who had a lot to sing about.

I just don't understand why this film is being exported with the title "La Vie en Rose". That title has nothing to do with the film.

Would this be the right time for Francois Lévy to put his great exposition on the road?

Spring albums

2/27/2007 7:27:00 AM

Probably due to my end-of-winter birthday, my year begins in March. It's my favourite time of the year, full of promise and bluster. I always return to the same albums at this time of the year:

The Cult: Love

If I had to find a guitar sound to describe the beginning of spring, it would be Bill Duffy's White Falcon in the beginning of "Big Neon Glitter". All over the place.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Pleasuredome

What Trevor Horn does during the first two minutes of this album is still unsurpassed in the intro category.

Pet Shop Boys: Please

"West End Girls" still gives me a longing for London, a long lost friend.