When Under Ether

The ceiling is moving
Moving in time
Like a conveyor belt
Above my eyes

When under ether
The mind comes alive
But conscious of nothing
But the will to survive

I lay on the bed
Waist down undressed
Look up at the ceiling
Feeling happiness
Human kindness

The woman beside me
Is holding my hand
I point at the ceiling
She smiles so kind

Something's inside me
Unborn and unblessed
Disappears in the ether
One world to the next
Human kindness

Lash at that Bat!

Anxiously I`m waiting for the new PJ Harvey and Jon Parish album. Already read a promising review in OOR, and they say it's going to be a very diverse album covering a wide range of sounds. It will be released in two weeks, so in the mean time I found another great one: Bat For Lashes.

She's a British singer-songwriter and will release her second album later this year. I`m listening to it now for the first time, and those first 5 songs are very impressive. On Last.fm her similar artists are My Brightest Diamond (I like), PJ Harvey (I like like), Cocorosie, Cat Power and Patrick Wolf (I know and interested). So I guess this album and me are meant to be? Hopefully she will come near one day. Or maybe she will play on Lowlands 2009?

On other concert news, I bought concert tickets today for Mostly Autumn, ZzZ and Roosbeef. Mostly Autumn is a British Progrock band who were destined to be the "2nd Pink Floyd" in their early days, but seemed to have had some bumps along the way. Bumps always make people stronger, so I`m hoping for a great concert. ZzZ is a Rock 'n Roll band from the Netherlands who I saw 3 years ago on Lowlands, just after the release of their first album. The play two instruments: Drums and a Hammond. And they sound pretty massive and raw.

Finally there is Roosbeef (she picture to the left), she's a dutch singer-songwriter who seems to be either loved or detested. On 3FM (The worse dutch radiostation there is; they aim at a young audience by playing the same hits every day and talking a lot of sh*t in between) they only played her song a few times and got a lot of feedback from disapproving radio listeners. It had something to do with her singing, she has a certain style..My opinion: Bob Dylan is a great singer, and so is Roosbeef. You just have to get used to it, give it a chance. That's what I will do on a friday evening in May.

Finally: I do not like the Vivian Girls. It's too straight forward and too rickety.

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Phoenix are my favorite French band.
The first song I heard from them was "Too Young", which is a great little tune on the soundtrack of "Lost in Translation", a movie from Sofia Coppola. The lead singer is actually married to Ms. Coppola, but do not fear, their marriage had nothing to do with the inclusion of this song on the soundtrack. It does not need the film to be great.

About three years ago I read some reviews of their last album "It's never been like that" which caught my attention. "A french band making an album that should have been the second Stroke's album". I bought the album and indeed, it was full with great pop songs. Listen to songs such as "Consolation Prizes", "Rally" and "Long Distance Call" and you`ll know what I mean. It's just fresh, music without worries, only great catchy songs.

Now they unveiled their first single from their new album "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" which will be released in May 2009. Looking forward to it already. Download it here. Or simple listen to it on You Tube.