Link-up In Music: Jay-Z's favourite albums ranked by ... Jay-Z

Arguably, Jay-Z is the smartest dude on the planet, a close second being Arnold Schwarzenegger, before he reached too high too early, but that's another story. So Kottke linked to this, hence I just re-link to him with some other comments.

Jay-Z's book, Decoded, is not the greatest ever written. It's no "Road to Freedom," but I read it because I do believe it's a smart dude. So, in his works, you could argue it's a piece of long-form poetry,  I would rank that maybe around Blueprint 3.

I came across him during Blueprint 1 & 2, as well as the Black Album, all of which were great and continue to be re-listens. I'm also, for some reason, a great fan of American Gangster (movie & soundtrack), which is kind of like a fairy tale of a gangster movie, where you root for the bad guy, even though you know the man's eventually going to get him.

Do I really think he's smart? Yes, absolutely. The smartest? It depends on context, but I do think he's got an empire state of mind (much like Arnold) and moves the chess pieces accordingly. So he deserves my respect for that.

OK, I'm out. 

In Music: Nirvana

One of the most marking thing in my life has been the passing of Kurt Cobain in the 90s. I don't really know why this event was so important to me as a 17 year old. It was a man that died under questionable circumstances at the other side of the world—I was in the Netherlands at the time—but since music was such an important part of my life, grunge in particular, perhaps a decade passed before I listened to another Nirvana song.

When I read the letter that Steve Albini wrote to Nirvana about producing their last album, it struck a chord, particularly the phrase "If a record takes more than a week to make, somebody's f######g up. Oi!" Albini actually presses this point for most of the first two pages and it fits how I feel about Nirvana and about good music. It has to be spontaneous and raw, rather than over-produced and clinical, in order to really touch your soul. 

Even if you're not into Nirvana, I think that what Steve Albini writes is interesting and relevant to whole bunch more in life than just one band. So check that out.

I hope that I've stated my love for Nirvana enough. While it isn't a band that I listen to frequently, once a year would be generous, there are plenty of bands that are inspired by them and they did have that raw talent that is hard to reproduce. It was unique for its time, much like Bob Dylan was unique for the 60s (perhaps more on him at another time).

In Music: Ute Lemper Live in Dublin

Just before we went into the concert, my sister told me that it would be ok if I wanted to leave early. I told her that this would only happen if the artist was very, very bad. OK, let's flash back a month before. I received an SMS from my sister that she had booked tickets to Ute Lemper, yay! (paraphrasing). I kind of forgot about it because I had never heard of Ms. Lemper.

Back to last night. Ms. Lemper starts her music with a story, a story of 'Le petit Piaf" (Edith) that had to find her way in the world, in Paris, until she was finally discovered while singing on the street. I think the first song of the concert was "Ma Vie En Rose," a movie I still have to see, and the second "Padam… padam!" (see Piaf's original performance below). Which brings me to the conductor of the symphony, Mr. Robert Ziegler.



Now as much as you can say that Ms. Lemper has got style, she's got flair, Mr. Ziegler is clearly her equal in as far as conductors can have a presence on stage. From the moment he appeared in his more colourful attire than you would normally expect, you knew this guy was different. And he was! Which you noticed most of all in Piaf's Padam. If music is a wave, it was as if his entire body was a ship floating through it. It's hard to describe, but he had this way of keeping rhythm and tilting his heels ever so much when a musical climax was to occur. Oh, and if you didn't know who Robert Ziegler is, he conducted the music for "There Will be Blood" and collaborated with Radiohead.

"Padam… Padam" was easily a master-piece, but it didn't stop here. Ute Lemper took us on a journey through the 30s, 40s, and 50s, interpreting German and French artists that sometimes sang as if it would be the last sound to pass their lips. She told us about the hidden cabaret that formed a not so silent (but hidden) outlet for people when WWII was the worst. And even that was not to last. All this emotion could be felt clearly in her words and in the music.

Something about Ms. Lemper herself. Apart from being an established singer, she's an actress and a painter. I haven't seen her latter works yet, but her acting skills manifest herself in her presence. From Marlene Ditriech's "They call me naughty Lola" to the sad 'hidden cabaret' ballads like "Die Ballade vom Wasserad," she impersonates that artist in all its might and plight and it's powerful, like you're really there. Next to that, Ute Lemper is a beautiful woman and knows how to dress in style.



Why I knew I would enjoy the concert most of all was because she would be singing a number of Jacques Brel's songs, such as "Amsterdam" and "Ne me ne quite… (pas)." You don't know this about me, but I grew up with hearing Brel on my dad's record-player every weekend and he is to me what to some people is The Beatles. So I loved it!

The concert finished with Van Morrison's Moondance. She received a standing ovation, after which she came back for one more untitled song, after which she received another standing ovation.

One of the greats!

I warmly recommend buying her music (e.g. here) and even more seeing her live. It's likely to be an experience you'll never want to forget.

In Music: Thievery Corporation live vs. Massive Attack live

About five years ago, I watched the band Thievery Corporation live in Cologne. Last night, I saw Massive Attack in Luxembourg. The cycle is nearly complete. All that is missing is the Future Sound of London, which I grooved to on the way back.

T.C. and M.A. have similar styles of performing. Both use a lot of live instruments, more so Thievery, and both use a lot of different (styles) of singers. But if I had to compare the two, they are completely different. Compared to Massive Attack, Thievery Corporation is like the happiest sound imaginable. Massive Attack on the other hand, seems literally (see Nicolette's performance at the end) like a sad clown. Case in point: "Splitting the Album"



While the crowd was quite energetic in this video, the Lux. crowd was (typically!) more lullabied, the band too seeming in some kind of undead trancey mood.

Let's contrast this with a video from a live performance by Thievery Corp.: "Warning Shots"



Completely different kind of energy!

Perhaps it's to do with Massive Attack being around for such a long time. A lot of hits were being played last night and while the crowd ate it up, I'm always reminded of Adam Sandler in the Wedding Singer, regurgitating the same song over and over again. The clown makeup that the female singer, Nicolette, was wearing, not a smile on her face, didn't help either.



All in all a great concert, don't get me wrong. From the light show flashing messages in the background, from what drugs would be good to take right now (pcp?) or how much it costs to sponsor a nurse in Africa (2.500 per year), vs. buying a diamond iPod (39.000) or paying the Lehman CEO (somewhere in the millions). To the different styles of singing, lullabying vs. energizing, from psychedelic reggae to rock to techno. Everything was in there and it was an amazing experience.

In Music: 88-Keys' "The Death of Adam" and Mixtape

According to my iTunes smartlist (called 'Rate these?'), I should mark every track on their official album, "The Death of Adam," as at least three stars (That's how I remember what I like and don't on my 'pod). Actually, I can tell you exactly how that is calculated:

The tracklist:

• "Morning Wood" - Played 16 times
• "Nice Guys Finish Last" - played 18 times
• "The Friends Zone (feat. Shitake Monkey)" - played 15 times
• "Handcuff 'Em" - played 12 times
• "Stay Up! (Viagra) (feat. Kanye West)" - played 13 times
• "There's Pleasure In It" - played 11 times
• "(Awww Man) Round 2?" - played 15 times
• "Dirty Peaches (feat. J'Davey)" - played 17 times
• "Close Call (feat. Phonte)" -played 14 times
• "The Burning Bush (feat. Redman)" - played 11 times
• "Ho' Is Short For Honey (feat. Kid Cudi)" - played 11 times
• "No. I Said I LIKED You" - played 15 times
• "M.I.L.F. (feat. Bilal)" - played 9 times
• "Another Victim" - played 16 times

This is of course just statistics, which only tells you so much. Add to that that I've had it for a month, that the total album time is 45.7 minutes, and the average number of times I played this album is at around 12.8 times, that's approximately 588 minutes of playtime. Spread over a month, that's 19 minutes a day! If that isn't love, I don't know what is.

My favourite track is, according to my own rating system, "Stay Up!" (see vid. below). According to the number of plays, which is random, it's "Nice Guys Finish Last." Perhaps, I'm trying to tell myself something… o_O



Just to give you a taste, the mixtape, "Adam's Case Files," can be downloaded for free here. I haven't listened to it that much yet, but it's not bad.

Featuring Kid Cudi, Izza Kizza, Tanya Morgan, Guilty Simposn, Grafh, Mr. Bentley, Serius Jones, and more. Adam’s Case Files is the precursor to 88's first solo album release The Death Of Adam, hitting stores this October on Decon Records and executive produced by Kanye West.

In Music: The last track of 'Six Feet Under'

The last track of the show was a beautiful piece of ambiance while the final scenes of the show were shown. So sad! I wrote before how I wondered whether this show, which is about death, desensitised you from the death-experience. I think that it does the opposite, that you become more sensitive to it, but that ignoring it is worse—you have this constant shadow hanging over you, especially when you get older. I didn't realise that Alan Ball, who also wrote and directed 'American Beauty,' had done the same for this show. A marvellous piece of art and I feel privileged to have been allowed to see it (as I feel with many of HBO's shows).

Enjoy the track!

In 2008: a year of media

My media memory only goes back so far, but the great thing about the human brain is that it's self-selecting, automatically dismissing that which isn't noteworthy.

Memorable this year were a few things in tv-shows, films, and music.

The year in TV-Shows:
My highlight this year is definitely finishing "The Wire", which I managed to do over the period of several months. A genius piece of writing and it made me a big fan of HBO, which, as I recently found out, stands for Home Box Office. A great name!

Another gem that stood out was "Damages," with Glenn Close, which never let up in the tension. I've only seen the first season and can't wait for the rest.

Comedy-wise, I've been left pretty disappointed since Seinfeld and the early Friends, but I can warmly recommend "How not to live your life." It only aired a few episodes this year, but it was laugh-out-loud funny British comedy.

The year in Films
Last Christmas, I actually made it my resolution to focus on the classics in 2008 and beyond, and can't really recall any brilliant films coming out (of course, I'm wrong, but my brain only holds that much space).

Classics that stood out were:

• The Public Enemy, which I liked because it's the oldest thing I've ever seen and I'm fascinated at the idea of looking through a window into life when my grandparents lived.
• Rebecca, which was also tension non-stop.
• A few Jean Arthur movies, whom I've developed a mini-crush on.
• Lawrence of Arabia, which just seems like the optimal adventure movie to me.
• And Casablanca, which is just a classy flick.

I'm trying to strain my brain for some more recent films, perhaps you can suggest some. Did Juno come out this year (no), in which case, that's worth a watch, as well as Mongol (the life of Genghis Kahn).

The year in Music
Similarly, I think it is hard to form a valid opinion as to an album is great, when it has only recently been released. Thinking back at 2008, only two albums stood out:

• 88 Keys - Death of Adam, which is the story of Adam, told in bits and pieces.
• M83 - Saturdays = Youth, which is a trip down the 80s.

Everything else, I still have to think about.

In music: Spoon & The Black Keys

Two albums I liked today:

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Favourite track so far: The Ghost of You Lingers



The Black Keys - Attack and Release

Favourite track so far: Lies

In music: Ziggy Marley's "Beach in Hawaii"

Somebody in my street blasted this song this morning and woke me up. I'm sure that makes me biased, but I liked it. That said, Ziggy M. has the artistic bandwidth of my left foot: always the same rhythm and always the same theme: love.

In Music: tracks U can dance 2 like Daft Punk's 'Around the World'

• Daft Punk's "Around the world" (no really!), on Homework


• MGNT's "Electric feel" on Oracular Spectacular


• Justice's "D.A.N.C.E." on Cross


• Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic (Strawberry Bath and Jelly Soles Instrumental Version) (original track)" on Best Of Grand Royal 12's


• Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Jess & Crabbe Remix)" on Daft Club: Daft Punk


• Crystal Castles's "Crimewave (Crystal Castles VS Health)" on Crystal Castles


• Chromeo's "Fancy Footwork" on Fancy Footwork

In Music: best Beck songs

• Chemtrails, by Beck on the Modern Guilt album


• E-Pro, by Beck on the Guero album


• Electric Music & The Summer People, by Beck on Air's Deck Safari Vol. 1 album


• The Golden Age (CD101 Version - Beck Cover), by The Flaming Lips on the Fight Test EP.


• Modern Guilt by Beck on the Modern Guilt album


• Soldier Jane by Beck on the The Information album.


• Still Missing (Royksopp remix) by Beck on the Guero (Deluxe!) album.