Lutz Kokott's Blog

Wayne Coyne decided to give all Flaming Lips fans a breakdown of the meaning behind each track on the forthcoming record (April 3rd). If you’re like me and often have no clue what the band is talking about in its songs, then let Wayne tell you about each of the songs on the album, in his ‘Song Notes From The Sorceror’s Orphan’ on FlamingLips music/album info

Hear the entire new album right now.

Matt Amis reports:
At 23 years old, Norwegian pop prodigy Sondre Lerche has toured America with Elvis Costello and appeared on the “Late Night With Conan O’Brien”. We are eagerly awaiting the Stateside release of Lerche’s third full-length, Duper Sessions, a David Lynch-ready excursion into jazz-pop to be released March 21 on Astralwerks. Once again, we are again behind the times– Duper Sessions entered the Norwegian album chart at number four when it was released in February.

Duper Sessions– named for the place it was recorded, Duper Studio in Bergen, Norway, not as a bad pun– features Lerche’s longtime accompanying band, the Faces Down, along with pianist Erik Halvorsen. It includes covers of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day”, Prefab Sprout’s “Nightingales”, and Elvis Costello’s “Human Hands”. Read Lerche’s diary entries on his website to find out how obsessed he is with Elvis Costello. It’s kinda scary

SondreLerche

Lerche is already at work on yet another LP slated for 2006 release, but instead of classy and jazzy, this one promises to be a punchy, aggressive rock record. He plans to record in L.A. this spring with producer Tony Hoffer (Belle and Sebastian, Beck) and put the album out in the fall.

I am wise enough to listen

ElvisCostello

Press Quotes for COSTELLO My Flame Burns Blue:

The latest and most interesting addition to the small club of crossover rockers . . . a true breakthrough recording . . . a fascinating melange of jazz, Latin pop and modernist tonal essays that at times approach the edginess of Bela Bartók or the noirish qualities of hard-boiled detective movies. Indeed, what’s striking about this collection is how well it works as an album, like a formal program of art songs wafting in the alcoholic haze of a smoky, pre-tobaccolawsuit club . . . Indeed, this collection is an almost eerie re-creation of the kind of 1950s nonrock music that seems lost in the mists of time . . . If you’re sick of the same old, “My Flame Burns Blue” is a pretty good way to break out of your rut.
Record Review / T.L. Ponick, The Washington Times / 17 February 2006

German:

Vielleicht ist Elvis Costello der letzte Vertreter der aussterbenden Gattung “musikalisches Universalgenie”: Rock und Pop kann er natürlich, Jazz und Swing plus Easy Listening auch, und selbst in der Klassik hat sich der Brite inzwischen Anerkennung erspielt. Auf dem Livemitschnitt “My Flame Burns Blue” (Deutsche Grammophon) sind alle Facetten von Costellos Talent in erstklassigen Jazz- und Big-Band-Arrangements zu hören.
Record Review / Stern (Hamburg) / 16 March 2006

Have you read the new Wire? Loose Fur have an album you’re not going to be able to get until 2009! Well, you’ll be able to get it on March 21st, 2006, but if you work for The Wire, you won’t “get” it until a couple years from now. Apparently they’re just “getting” the first Loose Fur album now! Guys, guys…it’s just music. Come on, give yourselves a break, loosen up, have a beer and get down. It’s only music. And protest. And spiteful joy. It’s called Born Again in the USA and it’s an all-new, all-great album from Loose Fur that’s set to take the known world by storm. With a combination of classic rock and roll, progressive improvisation techniques, world music and a twist of musical theater, Loose Fur have created one of the best albums in the last year or five. It’s up front and in your face! It’s downcast and introspective! It’s pop! It’s rock! It’s everything you want it to be! Except what you want it to be! What else could you possibly expect from the combined iconoclastic forces of Jeff Tweedy, Jim O’Rourke and Glenn Kotche? These guys have been following their own muse for years now and now we’ve got two Loose Fur records to prove how great following your own muse sounds. And then there’s the social commentary angle, that should have people rioting in the streets. It’s only right for a populist statement in this fucked-up day and age. Don’t take our word for it, get the album! Or check out the free Loose Fur video sample.

Born Again in the USA is coming get down!

by Rian Murphy, Drag City Inc.

Du kender dine favoritbands. Du ved, hvad du kan lide at høre, og hvad du absolut ikke vil ligge øregange til. Din CD-samling rummer alle de udgivelser, du er interesseret i at eje. Har du det sådan?

Måske går du glip af en masse gode bands, der i stil ligger meget tæt op af dine yndlingsbands. Det er der nu råd for. Hjemmesiden Musicplasma er en visuel søgemaskine, der har specialiseret sig i musik.
Utallige bands og kunstnere er blevet kategoriseret efter blandt andet tidsperiode og genre, og det vil sige, at du blot skal indtaste dit favoritband, for at finde de bands og kunstnere, der har relationer til det indtastede band.
Søgeresultatet bliver præsenteret på en flot og overskuelig måde, hvor de enkelte kunstnere og bands er repræsenteret ved farvede bobler. Desto tættere boblerne ligger på hinanden, desto tættere ligger musikstilen op ad hinanden, og jo større boblerne er, jo mere populært er bandet.
Siden er rimelig ny, og det er derfor ikke alle funktioner, der virker helt færdige endnu. Det er blandt andet meningen, at man skal kunne høre små lydbidder fra hver enkelt kunstner og band, men det fungerer ikke endnu. Derudover kan man til tider undre sig lidt over størrelsen på nogle af boblerne, men siden er stadig brugbar og bestemt et klik eller to værd.
musicplasma»

Beck har netop lagt to nye indspilninger ud pÃ¥ sin hjemmeside. Det drejer sig om to covers fra afdøde Nick Drakes ‘Pink Moon’-album.

www.beck.com »

Beck var vild med Tommy Seebach, han har hentet inspiration fra supervideoen “Apache” (se under Links)