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Wednesday, November 5th, 2008




Music: Noa live (Stockholm 2008)
Wednesday, 05 November 2008 at 11:32 pm
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SA invited me to hear Noa, an Israeli singer she introduced me to. I wasn't totally convinced I like her enough to be worth seeing live, but I wanted the excuse to spend the evening with SA, so I agreed.

fusion music done well )

I am very glad indeed that I let myself be persuaded into attending, because she's really special live. Now I need to get to sleep, because I am going to Germany straight from work tomorrow, and haven't packed or anything. I'm very, very excited about spending a weekend doing Progressive community building stuff in Berlin. Of all places; the conference looks exciting in its own right, but with that factor I just have to be there.


Whereaboooots: Mosebacken, Stockholm, Sweden
Moooood: bouncy
Tuuuuune: Noa: Genes and jeans
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Friday, October 17th, 2008




Music: Leonard Cohen live (Stockholm 2008)
Friday, 17 October 2008 at 08:29 am
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Wednesday night I went to the most amazing concert ever ever ever!

too much raving to call a review )


Whereaboooots: Globen, Stockholm, Sweden
Moooood: awed
Tuuuuune: music of the spheres
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Sunday, September 14th, 2008




Musical challenge
Sunday, 14 September 2008 at 04:36 pm
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[info]redbird and some friends have set up a blog to collect songs that portray healthy love. This is a fun game; I think there are more songs about breakups than about happy relationships, but even among songs that are supposed to be positive, there is a lot of sexism, stalkery possessiveness, co-dependence, deeply back-handed compliments and other such junk. So, can you think of any songs which describe a relationship you'd be willing to aspire to?

My suggestions: Nothing else matters (Metallica); Independent love song (Scarlet); Hey there Delilah (Plain White Ts); When I was a boy (Dar Williams); and If I could save time in a bottle (Jim Croce).

I'm making a playlist of some of the suggestions, but as usual it's pretty random what is available at any given moment.


Whereaboooots: Älvsjö, Stockholm, Sweden
Moooood: soppy
Tuuuuune: Bon Jovi: Always
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Sunday, October 28th, 2007




Music: VNV Nation Live (Stockholm 2007)
Sunday, 28 October 2007 at 11:31 am
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VNV Nation are fantastic live. Just real artists, wow.

concert review including girlie stuff about clothes )

Oh, and I have no voice left at all, cos when there was no room to move I was screaming instead of jumping!


Whereaboooots: Tinitus, Stockholm University, Sweden
Moooood: bouncy
Tuuuuune: VNV Nation!
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Saturday, August 18th, 2007




General update
Saturday, 18 August 2007 at 11:41 am


I've spent this week learning how to be a better microscopist. microphotography )

Not a particularly major event, but something to note: Making Light posted a link to kd lang singing Hallelujah. If you haven't heard this already, you really should; it's the first time I've been motivated to find software for saving YouTube videos (though really I only want the soundtrack, the video is just of a concert at Sidney Opera House). I am a purist about that song; I care too much about Leonard Cohen's original to like most covers. And I don't generally like kd lang all that much. But this performance is seriously awesome. And then there was some discussion about Cohen covers and I found out that the Jennifer Warnes cover album Famous blue raincoat has been rereleased. And it's even on eMusic, so now I have a copy of Warnes' duet with Cohen himself, Joan of Arc, where she sings Joan and he sings the fire. [info]rysmiel played it to me when I was in Montréal in 2005, and it is just about the most emotionally powerful song I have ever heard.

On the planning front, well. I tend to stress about travel more than is really required, and in this case I'm not nearly as pre-organized as I would like to be. However, I have booked all the travel from here to London via Finland, Estonia, Germany, Holland and briefly Belgium, and all the accommmodation I need at the stopover points. That's the important thing. I reckon once I'm in England I can be flexible and if some of my planned meetups don't work out, well, it's a pain that I don't get to see people I'd hoped to see, but at least I won't be stranded. And I haven't planned what I'm going to do in any of the cities on my whistle-stop tour of northern Europe. But if I'm only going to be in each city for between a few hours and a day and half, I think I can get away with just wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere, rather than going to specific Tourist Sites. (I have to do it all on a 64Mb camera memory, which should be an interesting discipline, as apparently they no longer make the cards that fit my camera.)

Not connected to anything else at all, but while I'm posting, have a link to the writer Catherynne M Valente's thoughtful and personal essay on porn.


Whereaboooots: Huddinge Hospital, Flemingsberg, Sweden
Moooood: pleased
Tuuuuune: Jennifer Warnes + Leonard Cohen: Joan of Arc
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Friday, July 6th, 2007




Olllllllld music meme
Friday, 06 July 2007 at 08:40 pm
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Back when I first started blogging, there used to be a thing called "Friday Five" where you would answer a series of five questions as a way to generate content when you couldn't think of much else. I never did this Friday Five four years ago when it was doing the rounds, and for some reason it popped up into my brain recently. I think it's because I've been expanding my music collection a bit via emusic, and because the listy format appeals to that part of my brain.

playlists ) Five songs you're really digging right now I'm not a great believer in pressuring people to do memes. If you like this one, you're very welcome to it. I think I probably picked it up from [info]darcydodo, but I filled it before going back to look up the details so my memory wasn't precisely accurate. The same goes for some of the lyrics, they might be a bit misheard or misremembered.


Whereaboooots: Älvsjö, Stockholm, Sweden
Moooood: geeky
Tuuuuune: Hot Puppies: Drowsing nymph
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Sunday, June 10th, 2007




The food of love
Sunday, 10 June 2007 at 12:36 pm
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There is a fantastic early music festival going on at the moment. They seem to be defining "early" music to include baroque, whereas I would have used to the term to cover pre-Bach material. But that's ok, because I like baroque as well as early.

concert reviews )


Whereaboooots: Gamla Stan, Stockholm, Sweden
Moooood: pleased
Tuuuuune: Johan Agrell: Harpsichord sonata V in D major
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Saturday, March 17th, 2007




Music: Levellers live (Stockholm 2007)
Saturday, 17 March 2007 at 09:36 pm
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So, Levellers gig. Not an easy one to review; I bounced and bounced and bounced and screamed until I was hoarse and relived the emotions associated with most of the past fifteen years and sweated and bounced and it was loud and a lot more primal than verbal.

babble )

All in all, a brilliant night, and thanks so much to [info]ploni_bat_ploni for agreeing to come along to a concert of a group she didn't previously know.


Whereaboooots: Nalen, Stockholm, Sweden
Moooood: hyper
Tuuuuune: Levellers, obviously
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Sunday, June 15th, 2003




Music: Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (1979)
Sunday, 15 June 2003 at 11:08 pm
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Verdict: Very cool, really quite subtle and intricate.

Reasons for listening to it: I already knew some Joy Division (thanks, Russian M), which I'm fond of, so I thought I might sample some more.

How it came into my hands: Library

detailed review )

I think I might look out for a copy of this one to own.


Moooood: impressed
Tuuuuune: see post topic
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Tuesday, May 27th, 2003




Music: Fauré's Requiem (Orchestral version)
Tuesday, 27 May 2003 at 05:43 pm


Musicians: Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal conducted by Charles Dutoit. Dame Kiri te Kanawa (soprano) & Sherill Milnes (baritone).

Details: (c) 1988 The Decca Record Company; Opus 48; Orchestral version 1901

Reasons for listening to it: I've been completely obsessed with this Requiem since I was 12 so it seemed good to hear a new version.

How it came into my hands: It happened to be in the local library. (For some reason they shelved it under 'Easy Listening'; they seem to imagine that anything which doesn't have a dominant drum beat falls into this category...)

Verdict: Ummm. The balance of instruments is wrong. Obviously technically excellent with such big names, but when it's wrong it's wrong.

detailed review )


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