My father is a funny guy. I used to think he was a classic left-wing conservative; believing in the power of regulation, against free, uncontrolled capitalism and most of all, always longing for the ‘old days’, when things were better. Like music. He got stuck in the 60’s, introduced me to The Beatles, and believed…
Play for today (and yesterday too)
The other day I suddenly stopped in my tracks and did nothing for almost 4 minutes. The occasion…my Ipod decided to play an early Cure song, ‘Play for Today’. What’s with this song, why does it make me stop, do nothing and go back in time? The answer essentially is that ‘Play for Today’ defined…
Le Sacre du Printemps
Easter and spring belong together. Easter virtually kicks-off spring and is a near perfect blend of catholic and heathen rebirth rituals. It symbolises new life, both the resurrection of Christ and the hunt for Easter eggs can be viewed in that light. Of course, the Catholic church partially invented Easter to put a stop to pagan,…
One set of lines to rule ’em all
I stumbled out of bed/ I got ready for the struggle/ I smoked a cigarette/ And I tightened up my gut. (Leonard Cohen, I can’t forget) There are better opening lines. There are more philosophical opening lines. There are more poetic opening lines. There are more beautiful opening lines. There are definitely more cryptic opening…
For the love of music – a letter to Ivanka Trump
Dear Ivanka, I don’t envy you. Your life is under a magnifying glass, everything you say or do is being judged. You can’t even say you love your father. That’s the world we are living in. Maybe you’re being compensated in money, attention and business opportunities, but it still must be painful. I would never…
Music for Airports
It happened to the iPhone, it happened to Facebook, and now the headphone was just the next victim. Good old headphone, to be worn at all times, with or without music to justify your use, you all of a sudden left the orbit of youth culture and entered the domain of old people. When people…
Teenage Wildlife
Friends are like clothes, they are either in or out of fashion, they make you look good or not. As a teenager I defined style as the point where politics and music intersected.The Clash were the only band that mattered and after reading Orwell’s ‘Homage to Catalonia’ I ruled out communism in favour of anarchism…
Living too late (the death of Mark E. Smith)
The artists who defined my youth all die at a frightening pace. It almost feels like routine. Soon my youth will be erased. Soon I will look at the musical landscape and feel nothing. No joy, no hate, no melancholy, no nausea. Losing my youth also means losing originality, chaos, excitement and unpredictability. What’s the…
There is a light that never goes out (best of 2017)
Light goes out. Of course, it always does. Even the sun will one day stop to shine. There is no light that never goes out, unless it’s love, as Morrissey proclaims.I tend to believe him, both in romantic and societal sense. I also believe Leonard Cohen, whom I quoted last year. There is a crack…
You want it darker? (the end of 2017)
Towards the end of 2016 I was in shock. Not about Brexit, Trump’s election or right- and left-wing cultural wars that dominated the news cycle. Not even about the failure to systematically report on the one real problem facing humanity; climate change. No, Leonard Cohen’s death in November 2016 made a bad year truly horrible….
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