title, what title?

sonic youth - incinerate real good music. It is from Sonic Youth's latest album. They are working on a new album as you listen to this.

It is somewhat implicitly assumed that gender equality is a pre-condition for a better society. Although I am behind this idea, I never thought about the "why" question behind this. I am sure this is the topics of many dissertations and books. What occurred to me as I listened to my best alternative rock playlist in my mp3 player, that the quality of the music -as far as I can judge- is highly correlated with the gender equality in a band. All of my favorite rock bands have at least a single woman member: Kim Gordon - Sonic Youth (Bass) Maureen "Moe" Tucker - The Velvet Underground (Drums) Kim Deal - Pixies (Bass) Bilinda Butcher - My Bloody Valentine (Guitars/Vocals) Debbie Googe - My Bloody Valentine (Bass) By the way, you know where gender inequality leads. Spice Girls.

When Sonic Youth covers a pop song, the result is eerie yet briliant. Here is their tribute to Carpenters, Superstar. Their highly modified sounds mixing up with traditional rock'n'roll sounds... Simply briliannt. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRiyN_Zn5L8

80s are known for bad music, bad hair and bad clothes. Although I agree on the last two, I think the alternative music scene, especially in UK, was extremely productive, innovative and good. Being a categories guy, here are my top 5 Alternative Rock Albums from the 80s, without any particular order. Daydream Nation - 1988 - Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were influenced by the works of the avant garde composer Glenn Branca. Their early work were a little too noisy even for the alternative music scene. They found the perfect balance between being avant garde and being easily enjoyed in this album. Teenage Riot, Eric's Trip, Providence, and Triology are my favorite. Treasure - 1984 - Cocteau Twins Elisabet Fraiser's -one who sang Massive Atack's Teardrop- nearly unintelligible yet magical singing mixes with ethereal guitars of Robin Guthrie, to give the music of Cocteau Twins a dreamlike tone. This record is much harder than their other works, and reminds me slightly of Bauhaus. Ivo...

I am very excited about the new Dylan Movie " I'm Not There " which shared the best movie and best female actress prize in Venice along with best actress in a supporting role in the golden globes. Sadly, I have to wait a month for the movie -I guess it has to do with the Berlinale. But thanks to Thuan I got a hold of the Soundtrack which features Dylan covers by artist such as Calexio, Yo La Tengo, Anthony and the JOhnsons, Cat Power and Eddie Vedder. However my favorite song is definetely "I'm Not There" by the mighty Sonic Youth who managed to recreate their unique sound. One has to admit that the original song -which was not released officially- had an eerie tune which suits Sonic Youth.

June 26 and June 27 in Berlin this year will see two historic events for those interested in art-rock. On June 26 Lou Reed, who came to fame with Velvet Underground, will perform his most dark, and his best solo album Berlin - a fact I deny, my favorite is Metal Machine Music for its musical ingenuity and braveness - in Berlin with a large ensemble of musicians. For this album he worked with the eclectic producer Bob Ezrin, who is know best for his work with Pink Floyd in their Album "The Wall", and as a result the album was very symphonic. I don't wanna miss this album played in the lovely city that it was dedicated to. Here is a longer version of the title song, from Reed's first album: The next day, prominent noise-avantgarde rock band Sonic Youth will be performing their seminal album Daydream Nation . I have found a fan video to my favorite song of the album Providence, about which I had commented on my musical blog : The eerie telephone talk reminds me of God...