Woven Hand.

Favourite poems pt.11

Emily Dickinson - Hope is the Thing with Feathers
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Simian

Many, many years ago, when MTV still played music videos, there was a show called MTV:New presented by a blonde scandinavian guy called Lars or something like that. It was through that show that I discovered many a good band, the most important of them is Simian. Back in 2001 I saw the video for One Dimension and completely fell in love. Later that year I managed to see them live in Amsterdam (Crossing Border festival) and it was seriously the best thing I'd ever heard/seen. They are still the best live band I've ever had the fortune of watching, my favourite gig was at the 2002 edition of London Calling, again in Amsterdam. I think I probably forced Simian on almost all of my friends, and I don't remember a single person disliking them!

Nowadays, many people are aware of Simian Mobile Disco, but don't know that they were once a band (although the Mobile Disco is obviously two people and there were four in Simian). And even when they do know they were a band, this is usually because of their last album, We Are Your Friends and the songs "La Breeze" and "Never Be Alone". I love that album and those songs, they are wonderful, but nothing compared to their earlier stuff. Simian started out as more of an electro-folk outfit, making incredibly beautiful, small, heartwarming/breaking songs. Here are some of my favourites:


The Wisp


Round and Around


Turn Around


Over the Hills


Reasons

young person's guide to classical music

For a while I'd been toying with the idea of making a blog dedicated solely to classical music. I find the internet (and other media) to really be lacking in places for young people who love classical music to go. There aren't many blogs about classical music that I find particularely inspiring (although I love John Adams' blog so much, and The Rest is Noise will always be one of my favourite websites) and very few that talk about classical music specifically from the viewpoint of someone young (and by young I mean under 35). And I decided that instead of complaining about it I should just try to contribute something. So here is my new blog: A Young Person's Guide to Classical Music. There's two posts on there that I wrote today, and I will try to post every monday (and as always, feedback is appreciated).

I will still continue to post in this blog though, don't worry!

The Sorrows of Young Werther

There's a lot of books that I love. Usually when someone asks me for my absolute favourite I go for The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, because it sort of has everything I love (well-written, nerdy, murder mystery, crazy-ass church things, mentions of Abelard etc), but that's not the book I want to talk about today. I was thinking about how all art forms can make the world a more beautiful place, and there are certainly some books that have done this for me. One of the first books that really wowed me because of the beauty of language is Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther (Die Leiden des jungen Werther).

The book is a series of letters that Werther sends to his friend Wilhelm, he mainly talks about the village he is staying at and about the girl he falls in love with, Lotte. And really, nothing much happens in the book at all but you don't even notice, because Goethe was such an extraordinary writer. You get dragged into the story and into the emotions and the love, and for me the book was nearly impossible to put down. The language is very colourful and I know there will be plenty of people who find it overly flamboyant but well, that just sucks for them.

I know that the book promted copycat suicides (Werther effect anyone?) and the story is incredibly sad, Werther is a miserable young man, but still, I find the book to be of almost unparalleled beauty. Here are some passages that I love (difficult to pick any, every page is quotable!):

In other respects I am very well off here. Solitude in this terrestrial paradise is a genial balm to my mind, and the young spring cheers with its bounteous promises my oftentimes misgiving heart. Every tree, every bush, is full of flowers; and one might wish himself transformed into a butterfly, to float about in this ocean of perfume, and find his whole existence in it.

[...]

In vain do I stretch out my arms toward her when I awaken in the morning from my weary slumbers. In vain do I seek for her at night in my bed, when some innocent dream has happily deceived me, and placed her near me in the fields, when I have seized her hand and covered it with countless kisses. And when I feel for her in the half confusion of sleep, with the happy sense that she is near, tears flow from my oppressed heart; and, bereft of all comfort, I weep over my future woes.

[...]

Oh, the brilliant wretchedness, the weariness, that one is doomed to witness among the silly people whom we meet in society here! The ambition of rank! How they watch, how they toil, to gain precedence! What poor and contemptible passions are displayed in their utter nakedness! We have a woman here, for example, who never ceases to entertain the company with accounts of her family and her estates. Any stranger would consider her a silly being, whose head was turned by her pretensions to rank and property; but she is in reality even more ridiculous, the daughter of a mere magistrate's clerk from this neighbourhood. I cannot understand how human beings can so debase themselves.

[...]

I turned my sorrowful eyes toward a favourite spot, where I was accustomed to sit with Charlotte beneath a willow after a fatiguing walk. Alas! it was covered with water, and with difficulty I found even the meadow. And the fields around the hunting-lodge, thought I. Has our dear bower been destroyed by this unpitying storm? And a beam of past happiness streamed upon me, as the mind of a captive is illumined by dreams of flocks and herds and bygone joys of home! But I am free from blame. I have courage to die! Perhaps I have,—but I still sit here, like a wretched pauper, who collects fagots, and begs her bread from door to door, that she may prolong for a few days a miserable existence which she is unwilling to resign.

If you're interested in reading it, you can actually find it online at the Project Gutenburg here.

Favourite poems pt.10

Anna Ackmatova - To Many
(translation by Sergei Roy)
I am your voice, through me your temper rings,
And I am a reflection of your face.
In vain, the futile flutterings of your wings,
For I will stay with you in any case.

That is the reason you love me so greedily
Me in my feebleness and in my sins,
And that was why you gladly gave to me
The fairest and the finest of your sons.
And that was why in all these endless days
You never asked me where he was; instead
You filled with acrid fumes of empty praise
My house from which its heart and soul had fled.
You plead now: none could be as close to me,
No other love could be as misbegotten...

The way a shadow would from substance flee,
The way the soul aspires the flesh to leave -
That's how, these days, I want to be forgotten.

Music in 2010.

Sorry it has been so long since my last entry, but I am actually working on something that's taking up more time than I figured (but I promise it'll appear on here soon!). But, in the meantime, I thought that it might be a good time to post some end-of-the-year lists, musically related ones that is. Although I don't think I will surprise anyone.

FAVOURITE ALBUMS

1. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Beat the Devil's Tattoo
What a surprise! I really don't think I need to explain just how much I love this band, but I will say that I don't understand why this album doesn't appear in any end of the year lists (then again, I don't think I've ever agreed with any end-of-year lists by music journalists), because it really is a FANTASTIC album. I think it's their best, and that's saying something. It has some of my absolute favourite songs of the year and only one song I don't particularely like (Bad Blood just bores me), it's nice and loud (sorry neighbours) and just so good. Words always fail me when talking about this band. Favourite song: "Half State" is pretty EPIC.



2. Wovenhand - The Threshingfloor
I will never love Wovenhand as much as I love 16 Horsepower. Really, I won't, probably because Wovenhand are just a bit more polished. But this album is wonderful, it's bleak, gloomy but strangely reassuring and warm. Nobody does creepy-and-depressing-yet-comforting as well as David Eugene Edwards, that's for sure.
Favourite song: "The Threshingfloor"

"The Threshingfloor"

3. Foals - Total Life Forever
I love Foals. I find them exciting and inspiring and intriguing and they just make me want to dance. This album is quite different from their first, in that it seems to have more layers and is more complex, yet it also has some of the most poppy songs (Miami, This Orient) they've written. (Un)surprisingly enough, those are really the only two songs I don't love (Miami has grown on me though), all the others are so good and perhaps even beautiful. They also translate so well live, which is always a plus! Favourite song: "What Remains" but I can't seem to find that on youtube, so have my second favourite, "Total Life Forever".



4.Hot Hot Heat - Future Breeds
Not gonna lie, their last album Happines Ltd wasn't so good. I mean, strings that sound like a crappy synthesizer are never a good idea. Ever. Happiness Ltd had some amazing tracks but just less than stellar recordings. But Future Breeds is like good old-fashioned Hot Hot Heat again!! Only.. more mature and maybe even a bit better. It's still happy danceable ridiculously-catchy indie-pop with the familiar vocals of Steve Bays, and sometimes there is really nothing better to listen to. Definitely their best effort since Make up the Breakdown. Favourite song: "Future Breeds"



5. She and Him - Volume Two.
I can't help it, I love Zooey Deschanel and M.Ward's beautiful pop songs. There's a certain innocence about them, and listening to this album feels like putting a warm blanket around me, it's comforting and uplifting and relaxing. Favourite song: "Over it Over Again"




FAVOURITE SONGS NOT ON THESE ALBUMS
(Otherwise top 5 would be just BRMC...)
1. Janelle Monáe - Tightrope
C'mon, JUST LOOK AT THIS. SHE IS THE MOST BADASS PERSON IN THE WORLD:



2. Micah P. Hinson - The Striking Before the Storm
This is such an incredibly lovely song, reminds me of why I love Micah's music so much. Micah P. Hinson and the Pioneer Saboteurs (it's my #6 album of the year) has some amazing songs, like "2's and 3's" and "My God, My God" and "Watchers, Tell Us of the Night", but none of them are as good as "The Striking Before the Storm".


3. Sarah Blasko - No Turning Back
I know that officially this album was released in 2009, but it wasn't released here till 2010 so I think I can count one of her songs! There's a bunch I love on As Day Follows Night like "All I Want", "Bird on a Wire", "Hold on My Heart" and "Lost and Defeated", but "No Turning Back" is my favourite, I think.


4. Sia - Stop Trying
What can I say, I'm just a sucker for a good pop song. And for Sia's voice.


5. Gogol Bordello - Sun is On My Side
Usually my favourite Gogol Bordello songs are the hyperactive ones you can jump to like a manic (especially Mishto!) but this song is just so simple and lovely.



FAVOURITE SHOWS
1. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Batschkapp Frankfurt [22-11-2010]
2. Shostakovich's Eleventh Symphony, De Doelen Rotterdam [19-11-2010]
3. Raskatov's "A Dog's Heart", Stopera Amsterdam [18-06-2010]
4. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Batschkapp, Frankfurt [23-11-2010]
5. Foals, Melkweg Amsterdam [29-11-2010]