I can't resist.

I wanted to post a video of Taylor Dayne performing "Prove Your Love", but that would have been at the risk of finally losing my entire readership (there's plenty of you I suppose!) completely and irretrievably, so I decided for something solid, almost understated, intellectually groovy.
It's just the proof that good techno music never gets out-of-date.

Oda Jaune

 Soon @ Golden Pudel Club, yay!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Of course Versace is tacky. Has always been (as far as I know). It conveys this very blimpish idea of being a Donnatella-lipped trophy wife, sipping your way-too-sweet and way-too-colourful cocktail at at a way-too-glittering bar in, let's say, Monaco or Palm Beach, while your sugar daddy is waiting for you to get drunk enough to do dirty things with him. This is maybe why the emanciapted, self-aware and critical woman of 2013 should wear Versace. It's an act of rebellion. You regain those fields your feminist predecessors had to reject. Everything is possible. Much better than all these modern and actually stylish dudes! Haha. Maybe this is bullshit. Maybe I'm just trying to find a good reason to justify my current crush on this tackiness. I'm going to get the Versace-inspired blouse from the Kleidere tomorrow.
And I am going to wear it every single day of the week!

Versace can actually be wonderful, I did not know.

And this track perfectly fits the dress:

it's all about the taste of fresh air and the curiousity on what lies beyond the known.

(and making love, as always)

Please don't take this too seriously, I don't know what's happening to me these days.

Sometimes I feel like I should throw away every fucking thing that belongs to me. Throw it in the garbage can or maybe out of the window. Get rid of all that rubbish inside and outside of me. I am not the person I've been yesterday and I will another person tomorrow. There's no consistency, ever. I find it rather calming.

I LOVE how this set is so r'n'b for a short while (minute 30:00).

Very interesting short self-portrait of Gabor Schablitzki: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjhc7fpGU6U

 

Thanks to monopol magazine I just learned about the works of Mike Brodie. He was 17 when he began travelling illegally on wagon trains (that was in 2003 apparently, now it seems that he is "retired").
These photographs leave me with a strange feeling which could be described as a mixture of longing for this romantic nature authenticity hobo thing and strong abomination. Makes me think of tarot cards, eating (hallucinogenic) mushrooms, sleeping in garden plots and believing in dwarves and elves. Scary, actually. And therefore hooking at the same time. The thing is, no urban underground lifestyle photographer could ever take pictures like that and that is what makes them so fascinating for me. I can imagine to be part of the worlds of Alba Yruela or even Nan Goldin (if these are comparable at all), but I definetely can't imagine to be part of Brodie's world. It's too far out and at the same time you have a vague idea of how it could be and that's why it's so haunting. And by the way: I don't really know why Ryan McGinley is mentioned so often in the context of Brodie. To be honest, I find his (staged) photographs BREATHTAKINGLY BORING (and cheesy, too!).

Oh and you can chose the soundtrack yourself. Maybe some old tapes in the basement of your parent's house?

This video is just glorious/hilarious and the song is definitely one of my favourite classics. As you may have noticed I have a certain fascination for American mega stars (see name of the blog and post on Michael Jackson), which is caused by nostalgia for sure. Seems that stardom isn't the same nowadays - people like Rihanna and Lady Gaga might good performers, and they might even be interesting from the perspective of creating a more inapprochable, mystified, dada image and doing random things on stage but the music is just boring as fuck. Whereas Madonna is just an adorable woman who made really adorable music in the 80ies (unfortunately her music has changed as well). And Britney has been the first icon to me (being 10 years old), so please never put her grandiosity into question.

Apparently (or even evidently) some people whose opinions I really appreciate think that techno music is some kind of spectacle. You must understand the term spectacle in this context as Guy Debord defined it in his Society of the Spectacle. I believe they think techno doesn't let you find yourself but draws you back from doing so and makes you forget the world's serious issues by paralyzing you and making you feel constantly happy or off your head (I guess the drugs normally associated with electronic music add to this conviction). I don't want to generally negate this perspective, there's certainly some truth in the cliché. But it's just one aspect of many and techno can be SO different from that as well. I think that in the past, techno might have missed out on being the lead of  a serious political movement but the culture has always been a subversive one. Techno is maybe the type of music most disembodied and therefore a great weapon against sexism, lookism, capitalism - at least when you think of it theoretically. It is very democratic in its structures as well. And have you ever seen so many people creating small (illegal) dance venues in public spaces like it happened the previous German summers (I must admit, I don't exactly know how it has been in the 90ies for instance, there has happened a lot as well I guess, but it occurs to me as if there's really a thing going on at the moment)? If this is a form of spectacle, it reveals the strategy to fight the spectacle at the same time.

I just watched my first Bergman movie, Wild Strawberries (1957) and must say it deeply moved me. Although I am 23 already (!), I feel like a blank sheet. Well, not quite. But I wonder how life is at the age of 75 or something, when you know you have entered the evening of your existence. Probably you've had at least one serious relationship, you have experienced real love and hate, anger and placidity. Will I be happy and satisfied? Will I regret a major issue in my life or a decision I made? Who will be the person I will have loved the most? Will it be possible to name this person? Will I remember all those people that surround me now and that are so important to me at the moment? When I think about it, the only fear that I have is that I'll regret something I didn't do (hello, Coco). That I might have been too afraid or too comfortable to take certain opportunities or to show my real thoughts and feelings. That I might have always done something else than I actually felt I needed or wanted to do. And I know: The time is now.

My beloved flatmate just moved out. I still feel a slight ache induced by helping her carrying all her things down the stairs a few hours ago. But the heartsickness is much bigger. The flat feels so empty and the autumn muddiness outside adds to it. There are many things we should've done but didn't do because of external bondages and compulsions. We didn't have enough time. But when does one ever have enough time? We have plans for Berlin though. I feel like I need this awkward, grey, overcrowded city more than ever. Things in Hamburg have not come to an end yet, but I'll have to take a break and plunge into another sea.
For now, I'll stay on the couch listening to Felt, probably the best dream pop band I know. Longing for another place, another time.

Just reading an interview with Lawrence (see below) on protest songs in the currrent issue of De:bug. He says this is the "perfect protest song". He might be right!

 

... Some poeple just don't have a clue. Maybe they are

Selling records is quite a psychological business. For instance, everyone of my workmates is convinced that if you really like the music you put on loudly at the store, it sells much better than if you don't like it that much. The reason for this is not so much that all of us have a splendid taste in music (haha)as that the music you are listening to changes your appearances, your charisma. Somehow the good vibes we feel must transferred to the customers and make them want to buy what we are listening to. On the other hand, it's also quite interesting to analyze the people entering the store by their appearance and habitus and adjust the music to their style. It's not as tricky as it sounds though - about 90% of grey haired men wearing beige pants and sporting a leather briefcase will buy the Rodriguez record or at least ask for it if you play it at the store. Today, I was basking in electronic sounds when a whole armada of these fellows entered the store. I wanted to soothe them with some jazz so I dug out a Freddie Hubbard CD, which was quite nice actually. (to be continued tomorrow... I am tired!)

Looking Forward to Lawrence's new LP "Films & Windows", which will be released on DIAL Records in the middle of September.

 

I try to avoid getting too obsessed with a single person that's still alive and possibly someone I could meet somewhere accidentially because I find it very creepy. But sometimes I can't help myself. This is the case with Archie Samuel Marshall aka Zoo Kid aka King Krule. He's a freshy turned 19-year-old who has been making music for basically all his life. The thing that fascinates me most about him is that despite his age and his awareness for current youth culture and trends, he seems to have already developed a mature artistic personality. He's one of the few guys who have always been literally too cool for school. But he doesn't seem to take himself that seriously either which makes him even more adorable. Go, Archie!

(I removed his picture from here as I think I wouldn't like a picture of myself on some random blog - but if you read this: Listen to his music, it's fabulous.)

dazed digital on king krule

This is just SUCH a great guy!

<3