Kaufbeuren

my grandparents grave

the shop, now 222 years old

YOUR WORD IS THE TRUTH

a painting of this view used to hang over my grandfather's study

above on the wall it's the Geyrhalter family crest on the right together with the initials M.G. (click to enlarge)

some (rudely defamed) paintings of the towns landmarks by local schoolchildren in a corridor underneath the station

the family crest (a man holding a bird of prey)

some pics from the afternoon we spent in Kaufbeuren, a small-ish old town in lower Bavaria. My family name GEYRHALTER (an old name that is fairly rare and has an odd spelling that confuses even native speakers) comes from this town and the history of the family tree is very much connected to the place - one of my forebears was apparently even a mayor and wrote a 17th century history of the once important merchant town, and in the St Blasius chapel on the hill (now beautifully restored) you can find the family crest (see also right above, from my parents house) and the crest of another family painted on the wall to mark the occasion of a wedding between the families. There is a  shop by that name in town which has existed for 222 years now and is run by another branch of the family. We met some of them when my grandparents were buried there. Even though he hadn't lived there for a long time (in my grandmothers case she never lived there) my grandfather and my grandmother are buried in the same grave together with his parents and siblings, and there are family graves of the other branches right next to it, in the old cemetery in town. My grandfather used to have a painting hanging over his study in their lounge (in the flat where they lived for over 40 years) showing a view of Kaufbeuren from the old city wall right next to the chapel that features the family crest, we don't have that painting anymore but that view sticks in my mind and the view is virtually unchanged now, you can see over the town with the various churches looming over it.  

I'm not sure what all this means to me but from when I was very young there was always talk about the town, and I was glad to reconnect a little bit with it and take some pics. 

What I didn't know is that there is an old convent in town where supposedly a miracle took place, and even a three day hike to commemorate the holy Sister Crescentia . Since the area is lovely, you can already see the Alps in the not so far distance, I wouldn't mind doing it one day!

Some photos from the mountains / Tannheimer Tal in snow

some photos from the three sunny days I spent in the Austrian Alps, in the high lying Tannheimer Tal where there is still snow, a lot of cross country skiing, some alpine skiing and snowboarding but you can also do a bit of winter hiking, mainly in the valleys, and lower slopes, and that's what we did. There are a couple of lakes that were completely frozen over so you can walk on them. One day it was a very beautiful sky but a lot of mist was lying over the lake. I didn't take my camera that day... but it looked stunning. 

My Records of The Year

I wasn't sure whether I needed to do one but then I saw the list on Dennis' blog and decided to write down what I remembered and thought about, at least music wise. This list would probably have more than "just" two Pollards and a few other things if I had actually got around to get them. But it's always the way, the things that attract you in advance, the necessary purchases, the instinctive buy, and the exploration. it's all part and parcel of the experience. So here is mine, in no particular order, as they say:

The Shins, Wincing The Night Away. OK, now this had a somewhat lukewarm critical response. Also it seemed like the Shins were suddenly everywhere, even on the radio constantly with "Australia", overexposed and no longer a little secret like they were in the beginning. But I still love them and their pretty, pretty songs. I think I can hear The Cure in there, and I think I always have, in the voice, but there is quite a distinctive quality to the songwriting that I'm almost totally enthralled with at the end of the day. See what happened here was that I really lost interest in them and didn't even want to get this but then Simon got it anyway, and slowly it grew on me, first the gorgeous and maybe obvious single, Phantom Limb, then Australia, and then more songs started to rent large spaces in my head. It's a sleeper hit, this record, and my favourites ended up being Sea Legs and Girl Sailor. Also right now the whole album is still at the top of my most played songs on my ipod. Weird, really, but I surrender. I'm a sucker for a pretty song, but hey... one two three four, "when that dead moon rises again....." 

Bad Brains: Build a Nation. For me their show at the Astoria was *the* gig of the year. Produced by big fan Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, HR's vocals are heavily treated, echoes, effects etc. to the extent that the treatment takes over a bit too much at some points, but you know, they still get through with their subtle hooks and subliminal messages, there's ferocious precision riffing courtesy of the original lineup, and sweet dubby interludes, quite a few of them. Maybe not a really essential album, but it's still a good Bad Brains album and that's more than I ever hoped for. Still one of my favourites after all these years.

Six Organs of Admittance: Shelter from the Ash. More weathered, blissed out waymarkers. Saw two excellent Six Organs shows, one with Elisa Ambrogio of Magic Markers who features on this record. The two of them were so intense together on stage, constantly feeding off each other. I love his records (got three now) and play them quite a bit.    

of Arrowe Hill: Dulce Domum. Another strong oAH album full of ghost stories, and other weird stuff. Dulce Domum means "sweet home" so maybe this is an ode to the England of the classic horror stories? Could be... it's lovely stuff, like a sweet dark treat just before midnight, and quite raw and rocking in places too. God bless oAH!

Holy Fuck: LP. Since the new Rough Trade East shop is fairly close to us it was inevitable that it would infiltrate our living room in many unexpected ways, and it has already. Simon picked this up as it was the current shop favourite and we've been playing it constantly ever since. Up until today I didn't even really know who they were or anything about them. This has a nice krautrock-y motorik beat throughout and features heavily treated but beautiful and funky freakouts, apparently mostly on "toy instruments". We love you, Rough Trade East! 

Circus Devils: Sgt Disco. The Circus Devils on Ipecac records, what an inspired combination! This will age well, I feel, already one of my favourite CDs releases. 

Robert Pollard: Coast to Coast Carpet of Love. I haven't got Standard Gargoyle Decisions yet, and I hear Bob thought people should hear SGD first. Maybe it's the titles. I do like quite a lot of this but it hasn't sunk in completely. I will give it some more time. And buy SGD. Oh, check out this amazing video with Bobs collages:  

Deerhunter: Cryptograms. I love the hallucinatory, vaguely hysterical atmosphere of this record, the drowsiness, the woozyness, like a dose of painkillers that's gone a bit wrong, and some of the vocals remind me of my beloved Virgin Prunes, even. A weird record but strangely compelling after a while.     

Deerhoof: Friend Opportunity. Dear Deer Deer. Well, I decided this should be on there too after all. We were a bit worried about Deerhoof when they lost a guitarist but this is bang - bang - back to what they do, and they still do it so well as a power trio. It's quite accessible too, and will work a treat for small kids I reckon, right down to the cover art. I'm very tempted to give it to my three old niece. Well maybe... love them anyway!

Dinosaur Jr: Beyond. Laid back, scruffy, noisy and some great songs, this can stand right next to the old records. Nice to see that without any further drama Lou Barlow managed to get two very good songs on this too, they balance it out a bit.   

The New Pornographers: Challengers. I don't mind that it's not so relentlessly poppy and dramatic anymore, it still has some of those moments but pretty much every song is a grower and well constructed, so yeah, it should be on here cos I really enjoyed it. 

Is that it? Thanks for reading. Happy New Year!

       

The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green

We took Simon's mum to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, one of two interesting local museums (the other being the Geoffrey Museum, a series of rooms decorated in the changing fashions of ages). It's a great place and now features more displays since it's had a revamp and been integrated with the V & A. There are Victorian dollhouses, a Space Age exhibition ("Please touch the meteor") and old and not quite so old toys throughout the ages. Highlights include a couple of Chinese miniature rock gardens detailing everyday life in 17th century China, a dollhouse found and restored by the wonderful writer Denton Welsh (I had heard about that but had forgotten it until I saw it on display!) and - right above - a 50s toy garage that used to be in Simons old family house (exactly the same model!) and later reused (or abused - depending how you look at it) as a headquarter for the Daleks (though that is contested now). Simon claims he recognizes quite a few of the toys actually. Great fun! Mostly full of kids and their parents, but with a fair smattering of local hipsters too, it was a good way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon! 

Michael with the wig

Plus Rehearsal in Brighton

We've started rehearsing in Brighton on Saturdays. Don't know why I hadn't thought of that before - John - one third of the band, no less - lives there anyway - and it's nice to come down and good to have a reason to do so. Also Saturday afternoons are much nicer than weekday evenings after work. Plus this is how the band started anyway - Saturday afternoons in my old flat in Kemptown. Joining us today was John's friend Pete who has recently started playing bass and wanted to just "check it out". Chris thought he was pretty good considering he was only playing for two months. It kinda changed the dynamic a bit and made it slightly harder to concentrate on what else was going on, since Chris seems to play quite few things at the same time quite frequently, including basslines. But that eventually focussed me, and everyone else I guess, and we played out with a really good string of older ones. Looks like we're playing a gig in Brighton soon...

We rehearse in this studio called Monster which is basically an industrial unit right in Shoreham harbour, quite an odd place but it's nice to go down to the waterfront during breaks, and the rooms are okay, and everything looks really new, the mic stand works for me (and I do have problems with some mic stands, haha)! On Saturdays at least the place feels almost like a youth project. We felt a bit out of place. Conversation in the corridor: "How old are you?" - "Twelve" - "Are you in a band?" - (more animated) "Yes" - "Wow - What are you called?" - "Trip Hazard" - "Cool, I'll look out for you"... Later on we're in the port area just outside of the studio and I notice the first sign there says "Caution! Trip Hazard". Super sweet! I'll rename that Pollard-style into "Tribute Hazard". That's what we are - whatever it means!

Oh yeah, dig the wig!

Gavin's birthday EP, Sludgefeast, etc.

I haven't done this before. So bear with me. If you go here: http://www.box.net/shared/kxhmgibpfb you can listen to three tracks that me and Chris recorded in our nifty little "home studio" last Saturday. Recording with Garageband is really impressive if you ask me, fairly clear sounding, nice effects, etc.

They're not in the right order either, but anyway

1 Rotating futures (Helium Voice mix) - yes, that' s me with the helium voice treatment. You don't want to use effects like these too often, haha, but it works a treat. The lyrics sound kinda like I want them to sound, over the top, creepy, with an added layer of alien sweetness. I like the hushed barely audible first-take vocals layer grounding it underneath. Whenever we record , on at least one or two tracks we end up using two or even three vocal layers, and quite a few effects, reverb, etc. I dunno, I like hiding in these effects and layers, it works for me, and I don't want the lyrics to be too clear. The lyrics here are from a notebook entry where I'm reflecting on something ou might want to call Retro-futurism or something like that, scribbling down thoughts and impressions while simultaneously watching old and new sci fi movies. I use the same entry and another one in the last song, they're at least partly about an environmental conscience that was missing at the time the future was imagined in this old sci fi stuff but is overhanging it now, all these kitschy, now slightly rusty and outmoded looking utopias that have contributed to an environment and a way of living that is basically unsustainable for much longer, and generally a reflection on shifting times and shifting perceptions of the future. I used these notebook entries for this blogpost (some of the "helium voiced" lyrics from "Rotating futures" are found here, and I like the way the text is recorded, slightly warped, out of kilter, unsettling and pseudo-cute) and also as a brainstorming, kinda stream of consciousness exercise for this experimental science fiction novel I've started writing a while ago (it's gonna take a while before that is ever finished...)

2. Flickering Curtain

3. Walking the foodmiles. This is probably my favourite of the three. A weird, warped pop song about "trashing the planet like an old hotel room of the past" . I want to use that title for stuff in the "future".

So since this was Gavins birthday weekend, the EP is dedicated to him, happy birthday, Gavin!
After we finished recording for the day we ate and headed out to the Bull and Gate in Kentish Town to see Sludgefeast and Winners (and missed three other bands before them) . I didn't really know that Winners consist of three (out of four) ex-members of Do Me Bad Things, and you can still hear a certain exuberance and willingness to rock that is vaguely reminiscent of the DMBTs but there is also a more leftfield indie/powerpop thing going on, I hear Pavement and my beloved Superdrag in quite a few of the songs. Explains why Tom (ex-DMBTs drummer) told me the next Do Me Bad Things album would "sound like Pavement". That sounded so incongruous at the time, and alas, it wasn't to be as the DMBTs imploded soon after but I see how this has been channeled into the Winners project. A winner in my book.

Sludgefeast: short, mostly one - to - two minute songs, um, limited vocabulary ("mf come on"), superheavy riffs, shades and in James' case a fake American accent and big hair. Excellent live band. The night before I saw them play a completely different set (reunited with former band mate Andy for one night only), I've got the setlist for that, 25 songs in 25 minutes (they wanted to do it in 20 minutes and even had a member of the audience measure the time on a stopwatch), it's got titles like "Andy's No 7" and "James No 44" indicating the vast catalogue of (very short) songs at their disposal. Also on the bill were (more Nu-Pavement!) Four or Five Magicians and a rapturously received show by early nineties indie rockers Done Lying Down (well, I didn't actually know them and I even thought they were over from the States since their singer is American, but the gig was great, people loved it and it just rocked, very good!). ..So... at the Bull and Gate I'm wearing my black "80s hairmetal" wig and shades which is really the best way to see a Sludgefeast show, you don't want to see too much anyway, just dive into the heavy, dark sound... James lets Vanessa who is naturally at the front of the action play a few chords on his guitar and later Gavin gets a birthday cake handed from the stage. And the big surprise happens in the end when James replaces everyone in the band with a bandmember from each of the other bands to play a Sludgefeast tune and, you know, to be Sludgefeast for one number, and ... it worked! Really great evening! Happy birthday! I want to see Sludgefeast in the Netherlands now (where they have a booking agent!)!

It's all true - but who or what are Projekt???

What subcategory of Goth best fits you? You scored as a Ethereal Goth You are an ethereal goth... you favor Projekt and Dead Can Dance and have very refined tastes. You like the fine arts and probably prefer red wine to snake bite. Click on my name to take my other tests if you liked this one. Ethereal Goth 71% Anything-Goes Goth 63% Romantic Goth 58% Death Rocker 58% Old-school Goth 54% Industrial/Rivet-Head 50% Perky Goff 46% Understanding Outsider 38% Cyber-goth 38% Confused Outsider 33% Fantasy Goth 25%

Cut and paste quiz results to display on your site: Entire Result Result picture only Result bar graphs only Result text only Entire Quiz <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tblBorderAll"> <tr><td><img src="http://quizfarm.com//images/1148547929artist_930[1].jpg" /></td></tr> <tr><td><br /><a href="http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=46074N" target="_blank">What subcategory of Goth best fits you?</a><br /><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">created with <a href="http://quizfarm.com" target="_blank">QuizFarm.com</a></span></td></tr> <tr><td>You scored as <b>Ethereal Goth</b><p>You are an ethereal goth... you favor Projekt and Dead Can Dance and have very refined tastes. You like the fine arts and probably prefer red wine to snake bite. Click on my name to take my other tests if you liked this one.<br /><br /></p> <table width="'50%'"><tr><td><p><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">Ethereal Goth</span></p></td><td> <table border="'1'" cellpadding="'0'" cellspacing="'0'" width="'71'" bgcolor="'#dddddd'"><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">71%</span></td></tr><tr><td><p><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">Anything-Goes Goth</span></p></td><td> <table border="'1'" cellpadding="'0'" cellspacing="'0'" width="'63'" bgcolor="'#dddddd'"><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">63%</span></td></tr><tr><td><p><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">Romantic Goth</span></p></td><td> <table border="'1'" cellpadding="'0'" cellspacing="'0'" width="'58'" bgcolor="'#dddddd'"><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">58%</span></td></tr><tr><td><p><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">Death Rocker</span></p></td><td> <table border="'1'" cellpadding="'0'" cellspacing="'0'" width="'58'" bgcolor="'#dddddd'"><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">58%</span></td></tr><tr><td><p><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">Old-school Goth</span></p></td><td> <table border="'1'" cellpadding="'0'" cellspacing="'0'" width="'54'" bgcolor="'#dddddd'"><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">54%</span></td></tr><tr><td><p><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">Industrial/Rivet-Head</span></p></td><td> <table border="'1'" cellpadding="'0'" cellspacing="'0'" width="'50'" bgcolor="'#dddddd'"><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">50%</span></td></tr><tr><td><p><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">Perky Goff</span></p></td><td> <table border="'1'" cellpadding="'0'" cellspacing="'0'" width="'46'" bgcolor="'#dddddd'"><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">46%</span></td></tr><tr><td><p><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">Understanding Outsider</span></p></td><td> <table border="'1'" cellpadding="'0'" cellspacing="'0'" width="'38'" bgcolor="'#dddddd'"><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">38%</span></td></tr><tr><td><p><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">Cyber-goth</span></p></td><td> <table border="'1'" cellpadding="'0'" cellspacing="'0'" width="'38'" bgcolor="'#dddddd'"><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">38%</span></td></tr><tr><td><p><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">Confused Outsider</span></p></td><td> <table border="'1'" cellpadding="'0'" cellspacing="'0'" width="'33'" bgcolor="'#dddddd'"><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">33%</span></td></tr><tr><td><p><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">Fantasy Goth</span></p></td><td> <table border="'1'" cellpadding="'0'" cellspacing="'0'" width="'25'" bgcolor="'#dddddd'"><tr><td></td></tr></table></td><td><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:'1';">25%</span></td></tr></table> </td></tr> </table>

control / release

Five images I just "stole" off the google image search, they're stills from Anton Corbijn's beautiful Ian Curtis/Joy Division biopic "Control". There could be loads more of these moody black and white stills that seem vaguely familiar in style if you know Corbijns work with Depeche Mode, U2, etc. The look of the film is the most striking thing, all shades of grey, black and white, recording a re-imagined desolation, isolation, internal struggle, and the general greyness (if that can be a word) of the time and place. This is combined with sudden outburts of marvellous live reconstructions of JD concerts and TV appearances, the sharp almost military rhythm, the precise delivery, the moody dark voice, all suddenly more present than ever and interrupting the long shots where nothing much seems to happen. I think it's a very touching tribute, and it worked for me.

When I first came across Joy Division, I felt I was lured into the presence of an extremely romantic transript of a literally haunted bunch of souls. It seemed to come from somewhere else. The graveyard in Genoa with its giant mausoleums. The North of England seemed like a mythical landscape. It seemed so sophisticated and knowing too. What the film makes clear and evokes so strikingly in its visual language is the very mundaneness of the environment out of which they came. It does romaticize it a bit, but it's mostly quite downbeat, with the odd flashes of humour, quirkyness, character sure, but it's mostly quite depressing. Curtis' struggle to juggle his encroaching illness, a job, a wife and kid, a band that becomes quickly too successful for him to handle, and a foreign girlfriend is depicted in a way that is quite sympathetic. "Control" really tries to tell a story that needs to be told, and mostly succeeds to bring to life quite a few of the harrowing scenes in Deborah Curtis' book "Touching From A Distance". And yet, it is a very arty film. Corbijn has always been good to find striking visual images out of unlikely situations. So the main impression of the film is the way it fills the screen with these long, impeccably captured scenes. Go back to the late 70s and early 80s if you want to see it like it was. And it's made for cinema, it looks and sounds good on the big screen so you can fully immerse yourself in it.