January 2010
34 posts
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“Kleine Tochter: Ich wünsche mir zum nächsten Weihnachten ein Polizeiauto. — Und...”
– 9. Januar 2010
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My favorites albums of 2009
Being a huge music fan I decided to go through my iTunes collection and identify the albums released in 2009 that impressed me most. Out of the more than 9000 single tracks (including loads of mashups and kids titles) added to my library during the last year I found 16 defining albums. There are quite a few great albums missing that I only discovered in the last year but were released earlier.
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Albums of 2009: The Who Boys — Now That’s What I...
Along with the Kleptones and DJ Schmolli, The Who Boys are my absolute mashup heroes. The don’t not just combine two matching songs but create completely new music by using tracks by other artists as basis instead of traditional musical instruments. Apart from that difference I think their work is about as original as any other composed and hand crafted music. Styles used on this album...
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Albums of 2009: O Teatro Mágico — Segundo Ato
This is music I found by pure coincidence through a Portuguese only web site from Brazil. More great stuff to be found there BTW. The group O Teatro Mágico delivers an absolutely mesmerizing blend of traditional Brazilian elements with all sorts of different genres from classical to funk music while never loosing the beauty of the song itself.
The whole album is available as a free download,...
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Albums of 2009: The Base — 16 Songs In Self...
I first heard the catchy tune “Dirty Little Hole” (iTunes) on Austria’s fantastic FM4 radio station, the only radio station I can bear for listening to music. Immediately took a screen shot of the FM4 iPhone App (iTunes) showing the title and bought the album after checking out a few tracks. The style is labeled Indie or Alternative, which doesn’t tell much, except that it’s...
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Albums of 2009: Bugge Wesseltoft — Playing
Another example of an album very hard to classify. On his latest work “Playing” (iTunes, Gubemusic) Bugge Wesseltoft (MySpace) mostly only plays the piano, at least it seems at the first glance. Listening more careful reveals some electronics, percussion and even a vocal track. The style could be summarized as Jazz, but that does not really describe the music well enough. Die-hard Jazz fans...
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Albums of 2009: Nils Petter Molvær — Hamada
Another great album from Scandinavia, unfortunately not (yet?) available on iTunes US. Norway and Oslo in particular seems to be the perfect spot for creative minds. Like his fellow Bugge Wesseltoft, Nils Peter Molvær (also on MySpace) does not care too much about fulfilling listener expectations.
If you can stand a certain amount of noise check out the track “Cruel Altitude” (iTunes). It...
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Albums of 2009: OSI — Blood
This one is a bit more straightforward. OSI (Office of Strategic Influence) do quite hard hitting Progressive Rock. At times the sound is very much Electronica and Ambient, at other times it is just Metal. Blood (iTunes) is their third and so far best album, featuring Gavin Harrison (drummer with Porcupine Tree) in addition to the two members Jim Matheos and Kevin Moore. Perfect album if you can...
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Albums of 2009: Dave Matthews Band — Big Whiskey...
Being sort of a fan of Dave Matthews Band since my time in Atlanta back in 1995, “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King” (iTunes Pass) is definitely one of their strongest albums in a while. It has always been incredible how well these guys play together, but this album really rocks and has very nice grooves, Carter Beauford on drums is at his best!
Check out “Shake Me Like a Monkey” (iTunes) for...
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Albums of 2009: Street Sweeper Social Club
Another tasty blend of styles: Tom Morello fame of Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave teams up with the Hip Hop vocalist Boots Riley to create the explosive Funk Rock album / project “Street Sweeper Social Club” (also on MySpace).
They call their songs “revolutionary party jams” and add the following quote on their web site: “This is a time when the working class is being fleeced left and...
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Albums of 2009: Dredg — The Pariah, The Parrot,...
A bit more on the Pop side than their previous efforts, “The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion” (iTunes) is a really great album providing a lot of variety while showing a quite consistent experience. The style of Dredg is probably best described as Progressive Rock.
I totally dig the crystal clear sound. It’s magic how the album still feels “natural” and hand made while providing...
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Albums of 2009: The Dead Weather — Horehound
This is one is on my shortlist of all time greats. The compositions are fairly simple, lots of them being simple Blues tunes. The style is a southern funky blend of Rock.
What’s so great about The Dead Weather and this album is the mood, the sound and the raw energy, revealing an attitude that I would describe as very refreshing in this world of auto-tune effects and smooth toothless...
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Albums of 2009: MUSE — The Resistance
I got hooked on MUSE after listening extensively to their last album “Black Holes And Revelations”. “The Resistance” (iTunes) mostly continues where the previous effort ended, and adds even more glamour to the Rock they play. The sound is very dense and powerful while never being aggressive. Melody and harmony always play the major role.
IMHO it’s a pity they didn’t pay for a real...
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Albums of 2009: Pearl Jam — Backspacer
Can’t help it, I just love Pearl Jam, always have. “Ten” was and sill is an exceptional record, it blew me away when it came out. Hard to say after a short time, but “Backspacer” (iTunes LP) is probably heir best album since the self-titled one in 1993.
Their style nowadays is a lot more punk-oriented with great folk-like tunes like “Just Breathe” (iTunes) mixed in. It’s the kind of...
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Albums of 2009: Knut Reiersrud — Gitar
”Gitar” (Gubemusic, iTunes) by the Norwegian Blues guitarist Knut Reisersrud is the perfectly relaxed Blues album for the non-Blues fan. The magic of this recording are the rests, not the notes.
“The Hook” (listen to it on Gubemusic) is the most straight forward tune, while “Tamil” (iTunes) has a strong Indian flavor to it and “Magnolia” (iTunes) features the beautiful trumpet of Nils Petter...
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Albums of 2009: Morten Lauridsen — Choral Works
This one is really stunning! If there are angels, they must sound something like the choir (Elora Festival Singers) on “Lux Aeterna” (iTunes), the first track of this album of choral works (iTunes) by the contemporary American composer Morten Lauridsen.
The variety of works on this album reaches from modern madrigals like “Quando son piu lontan” (iTunes) to a capella songs of French poetry by...
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Albums of 2009: Them Crooked Vultures
Them Crooked Vultures are another milestone of 2009: Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters teams up with Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and Josh Home of the Queens of the Stone Age. The result is just Rock’n’Roll, but a great breed of it. These guys know how to rock and are a joy to listen to. They are like a modern variant of great 70’s rock bands and I enjoy that they...
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Albums of 2009: BlakRoc
Released in End of November, BlakRoc is the last in my personal hall of fame of 2009. I love when musicians (or people in general) extend their horizons and cross borders. In this particular case, The Black Keys, more or less a traditional Rock band invite the crème de la crème in Hip-Hop and Rap to create something great: Hip-Hop played by a Rock band.
Despite the variety of artists and styles...
Just for fun let’s assume that the iPhone does not exist. Never seen one. In that case the nexus one UI looks almost usable.
BoinxTV 1.5 is now also available via Software Update. Go get it!
Here’s one for the early birds: BoinxTV 1.5 is out. Download page: http://is.gd/5MTmh Release notes: http://is.gd/5MTkJ #boinx
I just love “ChatError:NoError”: http://twitpic.com/wrind I did not even do anything, a buddy was trying to contact me. Stupid iChat #fail
“Uptime / Downtime” by The Kleptones has to be the Mashup album of 2010. Incredibly well done: http://kleptones.com/pages/downloads_ud.html
Anyone yet tried Friend Locator? http://www.friend-locator.eu/
Unknown life forms detected in places where they definitely shouldn’t be.
OK, forget about Friend Locator. Crazy custom UI without feedback and does not really work.
BTW, the iPhone App Moodagent also has some potential. Plays a customized soundtrack based on mood: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id341652752
If Apple is really going to announce a “major new product” by end of January I think it’s rather mean that they skip Macworld!
“Mac OS X Clouded Leopard”. Now, that sounds even better than iSlate or iProd ;-) via @TUAW http://bit.ly/7zydpB [post]