The Knife – Nedsvärtning

“The Knife announce new album Shaking The Habitual, to be released in April 2013.
The Knife will be playing some live shows in Europe in 2013.”

Alu – Solidarnosc

A friend of mine posted this song on Facebook a couple of years ago. How could I hear a song like this on such a common medium? This song deserves to be led in on one of those elevated boards noble people lounge on, carried by commoners, as they journey to their throne while they are eating little grapes dangling from a servants hand. Look, I am completely against aristocracy but this song is fucken royal.

Nadja, the vocalist has a way with the rhythm and cadence of her lyrics that really works well with the synth driven industrial beat. But it’s her non-lyric vocalizing guttural breaths that really get me. It’s a technique that is difficult to do well, but it is rightly done here. I listen and listen, repeat and repeat.

Alu is a German band from the 80s and that’s all I know about them but some Google searches lead to the info below. It was the best I could find.

From this website:

No need to be ashamed if you have never heard of Alu, a German trio, that came from the band Sand. Their ‘Golem’ LP was one of the classic krautrock records of the seventies and later on released by World Serpent on CD. After Sand broke up, Johannes Vester and Ludwig Papenberg formed Alu, sometimes together with Nadja on vocals. They released two LPs, one 7″ and two cassettes, in the period 1981-1985. I remember owning one of the LPs and the 7″ (don’t know why not anymore, but that’s a different story), which had a strong rhythm-box, synth, guitar and vocals, all in a pretty raw fashion – world’s apart from the Sand sound. ‘Autismenschen’ is not a re-issue of any of the old stuff, but rather the first LP that was never released, from 1981, except for two tracks, ‘Bitte Warten Sie’ and ‘Liebe Machen’ (which is a cover of ‘I Just Want To Make Love To You’ from Willie Dixon), which are now included on this CD too of course. In recent years there have been many young musicians wo rking in ‘electro’ music, the synth-rhythmbox stuff from the eighties, but you may call me a retro freak, I prefer the old stuff, like Alu, or The Screamers or Suicide, with whom Alu has in common that they both combined the speed and energy of the punk rock, combined with analogue synthesizer stuff. Some of the more lengthy pieces, such as ‘Halt Dich Fest’ sound, with lenghty guitar doodlings show their krautrock background, but Alu is at their best in their shorter pieces: a screamy voice, full of doomsday paranoia, a continuous rhythm-box, simple melodies on the organ and guitar in a distorted mood. The real stuff that can’t be beaten by a groove-box and microphone. The best re-discovery of 2005!–Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly

Click to listen while reading: Roberto Cacciapaglia – My Time and here for an amazing televised performance by Ann Steel.

This is a quick snapshot of my life. I hear a song. I love the song. I try and find out who sings the song. I can’t find out who sings the song. The song takes on mythic proportions of greatness.

My Time was one of these songs. I heard it on my phone while out on a walk. I was listening to my favorite internet radio station from Italy. I tried to catch the name of the artist. I didn’t have a pen just my lousy memory brain. By the time I finished with my long walk, all I could remember was Roberto Ca____? I couldn’t remember his last name or the name of the song, grrr!

I spent many hours on the internet searching, trying variations of Roberto Ca (missing letters). I searched through a database of Italian last names to jog my memory, nothing. I watched the internet radio station playlist to see if it would pop up again, nope. I gave up, temporarily. I then began a futile search for another song called morceau inconnu 7, which I was soon to find out meant “unknown song track 7” in French. Haha, the joke is always on me.

Last week I was in San Francisco. My tradition is to have breakfast at Boogaloo on Valencia and then pop into Aquarius Records to see what’s new. I usually buy something there because they’ll have stuff no one else does like, for instance, my beloved Hala Strana. I bought a CD last year, I don’t remember who it was, I ended up selling it. But who buys CDs anymore, right? It’s all about the vinyl these days. And the vinyl section is where I was looking when I saw it! The Ann Steel album by Roberto Cacciapaglia! It was a re-issue from the late 70s and they wrote a little blurb about it being electronic music ahead of it’s time. This must be the guy, I thought. I didn’t buy it though because I still wasn’t sure if it was the right person (duh) and I wanted to double check. Now I kick myself for not getting it but I was in a really bad mood that morning and about to drive back to Los Angeles. So my joy was tempered by other frustrations.

With the name of the album I was able to find the song on YouTube. It was still a bit confusing because the artist is listed as Ann Steel on many of the uploaded videos while the album credit is given to Roberto Cacciapaglia. If you look up Roberto Cacciapaglia on YouTube, all that comes up is his more recent music which is nice but not my thing. So as I have explained, finding this song was not easy but through a lucky chance my musical mission has been fulfilled, this time.

My Time was covered by the Belgium synth-pop band Telex (video below). Their version, I think, is the more popular one. I prefer the oddly-accented vocals by singer Ann Steel on Cacciapaglia’s original. It’s what made this song worthy of investigations.

Now you know what I do with My Time.

Telex – My Time

More on The Ann Steel album here.

AraabMuzik – Remember

Julee Cruise – I Remember

Sibylle Baier – Remember the Day

Coolio – I Remember

MDC – I Remember

Daphni – Ahora

Nice thick beats and an echoing Eastern-sounding sample start this song off right. But when the harmonizing melody and house beats start, I’m ready to fly away with the music. Where will it take me? Ah, the break at 1:20, it feels like I’ve just flown through a fuzzy musical cloud! Nice get away, this song.

Due to the technological availability of computer music programs, a lot people are doing electronic music these days and while their beeps, bumps and drops may sound nice, many seem to be missing the arte (as we say in Flamenco) that goes with it. Some people might call it soul or depth, perhaps it’s just good old fashioned talent. This song keeps it simple, with just a bit of tweaking and nods to the sample. Daphni also adds in heavy dizzy drums and high hats punctuated by double echoing beats at just the right moments. If you don’t like electronic music, you might say “Eh, sounds like everything else” but to those of you who do like electronic music, who do listen intently, you know what I mean, right?

By the way, Daphni is a side project of Daniel Victor Snaith, best known for the band Caribou.

Daphni – Ahora (Margot Remix)