Favorite Records 2008 (Top 20)

1. Max Müller - Die Nostalgie ist auch nicht mehr das was sie mal war (CD, Angelika Köhlermann)
2. James Blackshaw – Litany Of Echoes (CD, Tompkins Square)
3. Grouper – Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill (LP, Type)
4. Bohren & der Club of Gore – Dolores (CD, PIAS)
5. Brethren Of The Free Spirit – The Wolf Shall Also Dwell With The Lamb (CD, Important)
6. Loren Connors – The Moon Last Night (LP, Family Vineyard)
7. Tom Carter & Christian Kiefer – The Great American Songbook (CD, Preservation)
8. Jozef Van Wissem – A Priori (CD, Incunabulum)
9. David Grubbs – An Optimist Notes The Dusk (LP, Drag City)
10. Ignatz – III (LP, K-RAA-K)
11. Pocahaunted – Chains (LP, Teardrops)
12. Paul Metzger – Gedanken Splitter (LP, Roaratorio)
13. MV/EE – Ragas Of The Culvert/Total Loss Songs (LP+CD, 3 Lobed)
14. Nicola Ratti – From The Desert Came Saltwater (CD, Anticipate Recordings)
15. No-Neck Blues Band – Clomeim (2LP, Locust)
16. Aethenor – Betimes Black Cloudmasses (LP, VHF)
17. Emeralds – Solar Bridge (CD, Hanson)
18. The Dead C – Secret Earth (LP, Ba Da Bing!)
19. Loosers – The Natives Are Restless (2LP, Qbico)
20. Crystal Stilts – Crystal Stilts (LP, Woodsist)

Of course there have been a lot more cool records, but fort his time I wanted to keep the list short. The music listed above is (apart from some other records not mentioned, the latest Sic Alps for example) what I really enjoyed most this year.


Favorite Concerts 2008 (In Order of Attendance)

Pere Ubu (Studio, Mousonturm, Frankfurt a. M., 18. Februar 2008)
David Thomas got pretty drunk on red wine and walk off stage once in a while to have a smoke backstage. When on stage he performed in a superb way: joking around with the band and the audience and leading through a highly entertaining set that covered his whole career from the early pre-Pere Ubu days to his solo-works and up to the new Pere Ubu stuff. Excellent gig.

Tom Carter, GHQ, Zaika (Kulturbunker Mühlheim, 13. März 2008)
We drove to Mühlheim and ended up with like 12 people in a venue where at least 300 people might fit into. (Later in the year at a show with LSD March, Ignatz and Our Brother The Native it would be like 20 people!) After three brilliant sets we ended up on the patio at night having a beer (maybe more than one beer) with Marcia Bassett & her fellow travellers.

Marissa Nadler (Unrock-Instore Gig, Krefeld, 29. März 2008)
Marissa Nadler played performed a breathtaking Instore Gig singing and playing guitar without any microphones! A very intimate show in this cosy record shop. Unforgettable!

Hakon Kornstad (Moers Festival, Moers, 10. Mai 2008)
Amazing solo performance in a church during Moers Festival. Kornstad played saxophone and flutonette (clarinette with a flute mouthpiece) and whilst playing little bits he recorded and looped them simultaneously to accompany himself.

MV/EE & The Golden Road (Unrock Instore Gig, Krefeld, 17. Mai 2008)
Another Instore Gig, but this was a special one! The Brattleboro Two in Krefeld (and Samara Lubelski and Doc Dunn with them)! Of course they played an amazing show and everybody had a good time listening to their space-jams and folky tunes.

Sunburned Hand Of The Man (Unrock Instore Gig, Krefeld, 05. Juli 2008)
This time we found ourselves encircled and sitting on the floor whilst listening to the quadrophonic imporvisation Sunburned Hand Of The Man layed upon us. Cool Show and some cold beers afterwards! A perfect evening!

Max Müller (KUZ, Mainz, 22. September)
Sehr amüsante Show im Anschluss an eine Lesung. Max Müller singt zum Halbplayback, das er per CD Player selbst bedient ( und was nicht immer so 100% funktioniert, weil die CD widerspenstig ist). Das zur Lesung zahlreich erschienene Publikum verkrümelt sich überwiegend und zügig – wer bleibt ist mitunter so geschockt wie die Dame, die sich Müllers komplette Darbietung anschaut, aber dabei die Ohren zuhält! Müller (das erzählte er später in einer Mainzer Kneipe) war über dieses Verhalten so baff, dass er die Dame damit „belohnte“, sich während seines Auftritts für einige Sekunden singend neben sie zu setzen, was die Dame starr und reglos und sich weiter die Ohren zuhaltend geschehen ließ. Schräger Auftritt, gelungener Abend.

Sic Alps, Titmachine (Kulturrampe, Krefeld, 12. Oktober 2008)
Titmachine played „Sex Beat“, „I wanna be your dog“ and some other songs in their very own charming not-so-professional-style. Everybody in the room liked it immediately. Afterwards the Sic Alps played a loud and tight but loose set. Very noisy and the set ended with my personal favorite: „Message From The Law“. As you already know, their Byrds-meets-early-Sonis Youth-Style is pretty cool.

Paul Metzger (Stadtgarten, Köln, 27.10.2008)
Another show with nearly no audience. About 20 people attending an awesome improvisational set played by Metzger on his modified banjo. It was amazing to watch Metzger use his instrument in so many different ways.

Festival, Greg Weeks (Private Acoustic Show In A Living Room In Frankfurt a. M., 13.11.2008)
Something special, again. Laurent usually does those living room shows at his place, but this time it all happened at a flat nearby... Greg Weeks and his fellow travellers Festival needed a place to rest on their way from Sweden to Switzerland and that’s why they came to eat and sleep and play in Frankfurt. After sitting in the kitchen together having some cheese and bread and wine and chatting a bit about this and that we all took a seat in the living room where Festival and then Greg Weeks (and a girl whose name I don’t remember) played some acoustic songs.

Acid Mothers Temple (Oetinger Villa, Darmstadt, 20.11.2008)
Mindblowing set.

James Blackshaw (Unrock Instore Gig, 03. Dezember 2008)
A perfect day and a drunken night! After spending the afternoon with James (buying second hand records, talking about music and movies and other things and having a few beers) we got back to Unrock where lots of friends had arrived. Drinking and smoking we stood in front of the shop waiting for James to be ready to perform – and, of course, he played a gorgeous set. Some old songs (some even older) and some pretty new ones from his forthcoming album (he finished recording a few days before he came to Germany). Afterwards we said goodbye to James and got off to Duisburg where some really funny things happened... at the end of a long night we ended up in Markus’ flat having some last beers and sank deep into sleep at 6 in the morning. Perfect!


Favorite Re-Releases 2008 (Alphabetical Order)
The Angels of Light – Sing Other People (LP, Young God; orig. 2005)
The Dead C – Eusa Kills & Helen Said This (2LP, Ba Da Bing!)
The Dead C – Dr. 503 & Sun Stabbed (2LP, Ba Da Bing!)
Jandek – Ready For The House (LP, Jackpot records, orig. 1978)
Nihilist Spasm Band – No Record (LP, Allied Record Corporation; orig. 1968)
Six Organs of Admittance – Dark Noontide (LP, Holy Mountain, orig. 2002)


Favorite Bootlegs 2008

Cat Power with Loren Connors - Live at the Tonic, New York, 10-07-99 (Bootleg, 1999) Posted at http://killedincars.blogspot.com/ on 05-21-2008

THE BROTHERS UNCONNECTED: A Tribute to Charles Gocher and the Sun City Girls – Live at the Knitting Factory, New York 06-22-2008. Posted at http://allegory-of-allergies.blogspot.com/ on 09-25-2008


Favorite Movies 2008

(I haven’t been to the movies that much (music is my first love...), but at least I enjoyed:)

1. Encounters At The End Of The World (W. Herzog)

2. Burn After Reading (Coen Brothers)

3. Mr. Lonely (Harmony Korine, Herog’s in it, ha, ha....!)