Currently Listening to

[Ulrich]

To those who really made America great...

[MeltingMan]

[Ulrich]

[MeltingMan]

The early 2000s weren't ready for the Hives.

True. 

[Ulrich]

The early 2000s weren't ready for the Hives.

True.

Are you serious? As far as I know, they sold millions of albums worldwide! 

[MeltingMan]

Are you serious?

I did a little research. What is striking is that WIW was released shortly after the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. That can't be a coincidence. I'm currently listening to the corresponding B-side:

The Hives - Genepool Convulsions

The Hives are such a bracing antidote to all things flatulent and self-important that is tempting to love their major label debut on principle.

But of all the Swedes' winning qualities, the music is perhaps the least persuasive. Like the last Strokes album, Tyrannosaurus Hives offers clenched brevity (12 tracks in half an hour) and musical progression so limited that, barring the occasional synthesizer, it is inaudible to the human ear. The sole exception to their hard-and-fast garage-rock formula is the lurching Diabolic Scheme.

Even more so than the White Stripes, the Hives have an aesthetic so rigidly codified that it becomes a straitjacket. This is good fun within those self-imposed limits but, unless they're ready to break loose, you suspect the smartest thing the Hives could do after this would be to split up.

[Ulrich]

I did a little research.

I did too, sounds like the 2000s were ready for them...

https://thecircle.de/blogs/popkultur/20-jahre-tyrannosaurus-hives-als-the-hives-den-rocknroll-retteten

In Schweden übernehmen The Hives sehr schnell die Vorherrschaft. Ihre schwarzweiße Ästhetik und ihr eleganter Anzugslook wirkt retrofuturistisch und nostalgisch zugleich, der gute alte Rock'n'Roll kommt hier aber eben nicht mit polierten Tanzschuhen, sondern mit weißen Sneakern. Nach ihren beiden Platten Barely Legal (1997) und Veni Vidi Vicious (2000) ist auch für die Hives der große Moment der Wahrheit gekommen. Das dritte Album ist das Make It Or Break It-Ding der Band aus Südschweden. Davor gab es Knatsch mit ihrem alten Label Epitaph, weil die Plattenfirma ohne das Wissen der Band die Rechte an ihren eigenen Songs an Warner Bros. verkauft haben soll.

The Hives reagieren prompt. Und unterschreiben bei Universal. Zehn Millionen US-Dollar soll dieser Deal schwer gewesen sein, ein guter Referenzpunkt für die Größe, die man dem Garage-Rock-Revival damals zugesteht.
...
Indie-Festivals kommen spätestens jetzt nicht mehr ohne einen ihrer fulminanten Auftritte aus, 2006 wird die Band vom Spin Magazine zur besten Liveband der Welt gekürt. Nicht zu Unrecht, muss man in aller Deutlichkeit sagen.

[Ulrich]

[MeltingMan]

[word_on_a_wing]

Sharon Van Etten has released a new album, as part of 'Sharon Van Etten and The Attachment Theory'.  I find it always takes me some time to really digest her music, so will give it more time. My first impression is favourable, with the exception of the song Indio which is not my style and feels out of place for the album, and her catalogue more generally imo. I don't want to judge though, as others may love that track, it may just not be for me. 

In honour of beautiful Shazza I'm revisiting my favourite tracks, which always captivate me...

Also, she is a big fan of The Cure! In November she posted a video in which she was wearing SOALW shirt, and in something recently posted she referred to her love of The Cure, saying how she initially fell in love with Wish and then discovered more of their atmospheric stuff.

[Ulrich]

I've listened to some old stuff I used to listen to circa 20 years ago (Interpol, Editors...)!

Sharon Van Etten has released a new album

Thanks for the info. Bloody F*ceb**k has a habit of not showing me the important updates (even though I do follow Sharon's FB page)! 

Also, she is a big fan of The Cure!

Who isnt? 
(Okay, maybe Paul Weller and Morrissey... but most other musicians seem to be fans...)

[MeltingMan]

[word_on_a_wing]

Max Richter is touring Australia and I saw him last night. 
I love his new album which he played in full, alongside another album which is equally beautiful.
They are playing some beautiful theatres around Australia, such as the Sydney Opera House and in Melbourne it was Hamer Hall
There was no recording allowed but here is a NPR Tiny Desk Concert from a few years ago...

The concert was beautiful however I was sitting directly behind a very annoying couple who were drunk, talked and giggled throughout the whole show! Wtf! It was especially annoying given the music being played, as I felt like it kept jolting me out of the quiet and introspective mood of the evening (that i was keen to soak into!).  ...however I could see the irony as he describes his new album as trying to create harmony between two states that feel in opposition.  I must say I struggled to find such harmony in this particular experience as found myself becoming quite frustrated at these people! 

[Ulrich]

The concert was beautiful however I was sitting directly behind a very annoying couple

Yeah I've never been a fan of seated concert halls, because if you're standing you can move more easily to another point where the sound is better or the people less annoying!

[word_on_a_wing]

The concert was beautiful however I was sitting directly behind a very annoying couple

Yeah I've never been a fan of seated concert halls, because if you're standing you can move more easily to another point where the sound is better or the people less annoying!

True but I do like a seat, especially as I'm getting older (in my 40s). I'm pretty fit but there's something about standing still for 2+hrs that doesn't suit my body ...ouch!   
I do love a seated beautiful concert hall