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Zuid-Holland rocks

The province of Zuid-Holland is not only home to me, but interesting musicians too. The Popunie takes an active role in promoting them and produces a double-CD with some of the most interesting musicians each year. The latest one is already a few months old, but I’ve only now had a chance to properly listen to it. Here are my favourites, in no particular order.

So What

So What – As long as I’m sinning
Myspace

Bombay Show Pig

Coolest drummer ever.
Bombay Show Pig – Ass minkeys
Myspace

Okay, Chris

Okay, Chris – Confusing You
Myspace

You’re the crowd

Even better live with samples in between songs. I want more samples!
You’re the crowd – Intruders
Myspace

The Mirror Conspiracy

The Mirror Conspiracy – Trees
Myspace

The Death Letters

The Death Letters – Schizophrenic
Myspace

Ntjamrosie

Ntjamrosie – Bia Yon
Myspace

Elle Bandita

Elle Bandita – Queen of Fools
Homepage
Myspace

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Blood Red Shoes

Blood red shoes have been around since 2005, but I’ve only recently learned about them, as they’ll be playing at the Lowlands launch party next month (unfortunately sold out). They make what I can only describe as highly danceable grunge, which is great news not only because it is great music, but also because it might mean we’ll finally get a grunge revival that’ll instantly make me fashionably dressed.

They released their debut album “Box Of Secrets” in 2008 and the follow-up “Fire Like This” will be released on March 1st. The first video from the new album is available on their homepage (and below), as well as a free download of another new track.

Samples

Blood Red Shoes -- I Wish I Was Someone Better

Blood Red Shoes -- Colours Fade

Links

Blood Red Shoes’ homepage

Myspace

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Cold War Kids – Behave Yourself EP

Cold War Kids released the four-track “Behave Yourself” EP in December of last year. The only disappointment about it is that it is not a full album.

“Audience” is one of Cold War Kids’ poppiest and catchiest songs to date, while the others required a few listens before I took to them. Since then, “Santa Ana Winds” has become one of my favourite tracks.

Samples

Cold War Kids – Audience

Cold War Kids – Santa Ana Winds

Links

Cold War Kids homepage

Myspace

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More music, fewer rants

Recently I have taken several steps towards adulthood. Not only did I join the ranks of middle-management and buy a dining table, I also stopped caring about the world at large. That means there’s little left for me to rant about.

As becoming an adult is one of my worst nightmares, I have compensated by buying more music and going to more gigs than ever. And I’ve decided to spend more time blogging about music. So expect more frequent posts about music I’ve bought, gigs I’m attending and what not.

My taste in music has been described as eclectic and that is probably right. So expect indiefolk, electroindie, death metal and plain old pop.

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How to help yourself. Sorry, practice science.

It is almost the end of the year again and that means it’s not only time for absurd predictions about the year to come (we are all going to be happy and miserable and have hover cars), it is also time for New Year’s resolutions. Obviously, when it comes to self-improvement, there is no better time to start than a randomly decided date that occurs roughly every time we rotate around the sun. But keeping resolutions is hard. And this has nothing to do with the fact that people resolve to do things that are hard, because doing things that are easy takes no resolution; no, it’s because we’re doing it wrong.

Luckily, the Daily Mail is here to help. And for once not by blaming our failure on immigrants or the EU, but with some real advice. And the advice is good, because they enlisted the help of a real professor, Richard Wiseman, Professor of the Public Understand of Psychology. I have no idea what is wrong with the public understanding of psychology, other than that some people consider it a science, but that is besides the point, or it will be the moment I decide what the point is going to be.

You may have  heard of  Dr Wiseman before; he is the same guy who researched the world’s funniest joke. And ended up with this:

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, “My friend is dead! What can I do?”. The operator says “Calm down. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says “OK, now what?”

Which I can confirm is indeed a joke. As I’m not a professor, I’m not qualified to judge whether it’s the world’s funniest, but I’m willing to assume that it is.

Anyway, back to New Year’s resolutions. Why do we fail?

Those who failed tended to dwell on the bad things that would happen, adopted role models to copy and removed temptation from their surroundings – all things advocated by self-help gurus.

Yep, it’s the fault of self-help gurus. Luckily, Dr Wiseman has written a book about how to actually stick with your resolutions. This is obviously not a self-help book, but a cracking novel about the search for inner peace, featuring unicorns, several excellent – though somewhat disturbing – sex scenes and an unexpected plot twist towards the end. Or so I imagine, I don’t read self-help books.

So what are the foolproof tips? Tip #1 is to break your resolution into smaller, realistic steps. This makes perfect sense. Realistic goals are better than unrealistic goals and smaller means easier. So, rather than aiming for world domination in 2010 – which is somewhat unrealistic as long as the US has nukes and I don’t – I now plan to only dominate my side of the street. See, that is a lot more realistic and I might actually achieve that.

Tip #2 is rewarding yourself when you achieve a sub-goal. Again, makes perfect sense. One of my resolutions is to give up smoking, which is hard. However, I now plan to reward myself whenever I do not smoke, by allowing myself to have a cigarette. This makes giving up smoking fun and therefore much easier to maintain.

Tip #3 is to gain the support of family and friends. That one may be a little trickier, as I tend to be a cynical, sarcastic bastard. However, my friends and family are nice, so I’m sure I can get them on my side. Especially when I promise them cabinet positions when I finally dominate the world, though they may have to settle for street-corner drug dealer in the mean time, as world domination is now planned for 2012.

And the crucial tip is resolutions should not be made at the last moment but thought about carefully for several weeks. Which really screws up my resolution to be more spontaneous, but there’s no arguing with self-help science.

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Favourite music of 2009

By popular demand (well, one person, but my alternative right now is to go shopping) it is music time again and this time I’m jumping on the retrospective bandwagon. Some of them are albums, some singles, some album tracks. I’m very bad at choices, so it’s quite a long list, so without further ado, my favourite music of the last year, in no particular order.

(Sorry about some of the crappy videos, but it seems to be getting ever harder to find decent links to music and there’s no way I’m exposing myself to the wrath of Buma/Stemra by hosting them myself.)

Playlist

Play all of them below, or go to the playlist on youtube.

Mumford & Sons – Sigh no More

Not only very good live, but also some of the most entertaining stage banter of the year.
Little Lion Man

Homepage: http://www.mumfordandsons.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mumfordandsons

Handsome Furs – Face Control – I’m Confused

The best thing to come from Canada since Rush (try getting that crap out of your head). Bear with them for the 42 second intro, they’re trying to be alternative.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/handsomefurs

The Invisible – The Invisible

Nominated for the Mercury Prize. They got screwed. This is the only decent video I could find, the album contains many better tracks.
London Girl

Monster’s Waltz
They deserve to get this track posted too; sorry about the sound quality.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theinvisiblethree

Bat for Lashes – Two Suns

I preferred Fur and Gold, but after listening to this one for dozens of time, it grew on me.
Sleep Alone

Homepage: http://www.batforlashes.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/batforlashes

The Maccabees – Wall of Arms

Can you Give it?

Homepage: http://www.themaccabees.co.uk/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/themaccabees

Yuko – For Times when Ears are Sore

Meal Mobiel

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/yukotheband

Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career – French Navy


Homepage: http://camera-obscura.net/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/cameraobscuraband

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

Two Weeks

Homepage: http://grizzly-bear.net/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/grizzlybear

The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love

Thanks to their artistic cutting, this one is completely unlistenable to other than in its entirety. But it’s well worth it.
The Wanting Comes in Waves

Homepage: http://www.decemberists.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thedecemberists

Julian Casablancas – Phrazes for the Young – 11th Dimension

Julian Casablancas is The Strokes’ singer and the rest of the album sounds like just another Strokes album.

Homepage: http://www.juliancasablancas.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/juliancasablancas

Julian Plenti – Julian Plenti is Skyscraper

Julian Plenti is the solo project of Interpol’s singer and as such this sounds very much like an Interpol album, but I liked “Our Love to Admire,” damn it.
Games for Days

Homepage: http://julianplenti.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/julianplenti

Florence and the Machine – Lungs

Rabbit Heart (Raise it up)

Homepage: http://florenceandthemachine.net/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachine

The Official Secrets Act – Understanding Electricty

Girl from the BBC

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/officialsecretsact

Paloma Faith – Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful? – Stone Cold Sober

The rest of the album is not bad, just not very exciting.

Homepage: http://www.palomafaith.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/palomafaith

Passion Pit – Manners

Got a bit bored with them during the year, but a great live performance in November sealed it.
The Reeling

Homepage: http://www.passionpitmusic.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/passionpitjams

Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms – Big Bird in a Small Cage


Homepage: http://www.patrickwatson.net/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/patrickwatson

Port O’ Brien – Threadbare

My Will is Good

Homepage: http://www.portobrien.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/portobrien

Skinlab – The Scars Between Us

Just to make sure this was not just a year of electro-indie and indie-folk, one of the world’s best death metal bands reformed in 2009.
In for the Kill

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/skinlab

Von Bondies – Love, Hate and Then There’s You – This is our Perfect Crime


Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/vonbondies

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We are all valuable. Except for bankers.

Today has been a bad day for bankers. Not because more countries have decided to tax their bonuses – so far only France have gone this route and bonuses are based on productivity, so this should not have any serious effects. Today they have been confronted with the harsh truth: people do not like bankers very much. You and I already knew this, but bankers probably didn’t. They live a sheltered life of cocaine-fuelled orgies and in between buying Porsches and eating the deliciously prepared babies of extinct species served with wine made from the blood of virgins, they simply do not have the time to read the Guardian.

But the people of Southwold, Suffolk have come to the nation’s rescue. The arcade on Southwold pier now has a ‘whack the banker’ game. As Southwold is a friendly town with none of the problems that so plague the rest of Britain, this has lead to many disappointed inner-city youths who, after making the long and treacherous journey from their drug-infested urban ghettos to the coast, found they were not allowed to use their favourite gun to kill a banker, instead being faced with a machine full of plastic bankers and a rubber mallet. As these youths are not used to exercise other than moving their thumbs and the occasional gang rape, the arcade has not made much money from them. Luckily for the operator, Britain is also home to a large number of people who hate nobody more than people who make them money for doing nothing only twelve years per economic cycle. These people – know as the ‘middle class’ – have flocked to the game in droves.

The game is based on the ‘Whack a mole’ game that was invented by an arcade operator in Genoa, Italy in 1872 as a response to popular disenchantment with moles, after they speculated heavily on coal, causing the price to reach record levels. This game was not an immediate success, as the only way to power it at the time was the steam engine, which took a fortune to operate at the coal price at the time. Its fortunes improved with the invention of the electric motor.

And there is more bad news for bankers. Not only are they less popular than a computer programmer at a party, they are also useless, according to a study by the New Economics Foundation. They are focussed on a new model of wealth creation, based on equality, diversity and economic stability and as such are eminently qualified to conduct independent research on the current model of wealth creation.

According to the study, cleaners create more benefits to society than bankers. Having recently lost both a cleaner and a bank, I’m not too sure of this. Yes, it is a waste of time to clean my own apartment, but this is time I would otherwise have spent doing nothing, whereas the money lost due to the collapse of my bank has left my local pub on the brink of collapse. What is even more worrying is that the report suggests that hospital cleaners and child minders create great benefits to society. What the New Economics Foundation clearly overlooks is the fact that people are the main cause of global warming, so anything that encourages people to reproduce or stay alive will be highly unbeneficial in the long term. Nevertheless, according to the study bankers destroy £7 of value for every pound they create. As the report does not use money as the traditional measure of wealth, but rather as a measure of value to society, I have no idea what it is supposed to mean, but it sounds horrible. If there is anything society needs, it is more value.

So next time you speak to a banker, keep in mind that they have had a rough time. When you call to complain about the fact that you can’t pay the mortgage you used to build a kitchen extension because you also have to pay three credit card bills and go on holiday to the Maldives, just remember that they cry themselves to sleep every night on their satin pillows. And we many not have their money, but we have value! Which is wonderful for society.

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Modern man not maladjusted enough

According to Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister’s book “Manthropology”, modern man is a wimp. In the book, Mr McAllister points out that prehistoric Australian Aboriginals could have outrun the current world-record holder on the 100m, Tutsi men could jump higher than the current high-jump world-record and that any Neanderthal woman could have beaten Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm wrestle.

The book’s subtitle describes the gist of Mr McAllister’s point: “The Science of the Inadequate Modern Male.” Or so I assume. I have no interest in reading a book that points out how inadequate I am as a male; for that I go on dates. To reiterate the point, the book opens with:

If you’re reading this then you are the worst man in history.

Which I find a bit unfair. Mr McAllister has never even met me and has no idea what I do to kittens. Besides, there is always Tony Blair, who does not believe in science and – I am fairly sure – cannot read. On the other hand, it could just show that Mr McAllister has a great insight into the kind of people that read books written by people who think anthropology is a science.

I’m willing to accept the thesis that most ancient men and women can kick my arse, largely because most modern men and women can kick my arse. And they do things like accountancy and jazz-dance rather than hunting tigers and clubbing each other to death. My problem is that Mr McAllister seems to think this knowledge is somehow relevant.

Let me give you an idea of what I did today. I got out of bed, had a shower, got dressed, made coffee and got some croissants at the bakery, read my paper, did some cleaning, renewed my phone subscription and listened to music. Did you notice the absence of things involving running, jumping or arm-wrestling? Sure, I could have saved a minute by running to the bakery, but I wasn’t in a hurry. So yes, any Neanderthal woman could probably beat me at arm-wrestling, but I’d like to see any of them save a tenner month by switching to a cheaper phone plan.

There is of course always the possibility that one of my experiments goes horribly wrong and I open up a time vortex in which we and the Neanderthals coexist. In that case we’re fucked. I do apologise for this eventuality. The upside is that this time vortex will probably also include killer robots from the future who have become sentient and are therefore thoroughly pissed off with humanity. If history is anything to go by, I’d choose a swift clubbing to death over whatever means the future has in store to torture and kill me.

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Boys will be boys. Even at 67.

French politics have recently become quite interesting. And yet again, this has nothing to do with French politics, but everything with French politicians. Frédéric Mitterrand – 67-year-old French minister of culture – has been in a spot of bother recently, after admitting to having paid for sex with Thai young boys in his memoirs “The bad life”.

Mitterand’s memoirs date from 2005 and the French apparently didn’t really care that much. Or perhaps never got around to actually reading it. If they didn’t, they missed gems like: All these rituals of the market for youths, the slave market excite me enormously and The profusion of very attractive and immediately available young boys puts me in a state of desire that I no longer need to hinder nor hide…as I know that I will not be refused. Which is to say, Mr Mitterand quite enjoys having sex with young boys who have no way to refuse him. Which is apparently not really a problem in France.

But then Roman Polanski got himself arrested for raping a 13-year-old. And Mr Mitterand defended him. Because he thinks raping a 13-year-old is okay when you’re an artist. (Did I mention Mr Mitterand is also a bit of an artist?) I personally don’t really know where I stand on the Polanski issue. Of course, rape is evil and so is paedophilia and Mr Polanski should serve his sentence, but I do hope to be famous one day and will require impunity of the grandest kind when I publish my memoirs.

But, as usual, I digress. Getting back to French tolerance of raping young boys, it turns out they weren’t so tolerant after all. In fact, they got mildly worked up about the issue. Not to the point where they are willing to sack a minister for it, but there has been some back-pedalling. Mr Mitterand now says that his memoirs are not actually fully autobiographic. (His lawyers are currently considering which parts he can get away with calling not fully autobiographic). And that when he earlier said young boys, he actually meant adults. A mistake certainly, a crime no, nor a fault because each time I was with people of my age, [or] who were five years older than me. There was never the slightest ambiguity – and they were consenting. Which slightly contradicts his earlier statements about slavery and young boys, but who am I to distrust a French politician. Mr Mitterand now also [condemns] sexual tourism, which is a disgrace. And he’ll never do it again. That is not a quote, but I’m sure he just forgot to mention that.

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Gotta teach ‘em everything

Those good-for-nothings can’t do anything for themselves these days. They’re lazy, unemployed, riddled with STDs and can’t even manage to have sex without the help of the government. God, the elderly are useless.

As the BBC reports, Manchester City Council has just released a booklet with sex advice for over-50s.

A council spokesman said: “The guide was developed after listening to the concerns of older people through a number of focus groups.

“It is written in a language older people understand and addresses the issues they have raised.”

As I avoid them at any possible turn, I have no idea which language it is that the elderly understand, but I’m sure it features phrases like “This never used to happen”, “Get off my lawn” and “It’s a bit chilly in here, isn’t it”.

That’s all there is to this post. I just wanted to plant the idea into your head that your parents are having sex. Right now, probably.

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