Home / Archive: Albums of the Month
September 2025 - Album of the Month
BAND – Iggy and The Stooges
ALBUM – Raw Power
After some modern post-punk and industrial albums, I will take you all the way back to the roots of punk music, to a US band which heavily influenced the explosion of punk in the UK in 1976/1977 and also laid the foundation for grunge.
The Stooges started off in Detroit in the late sixties and released their third album Raw Power in 1973. The singer Iggy Pop himself took care of the (one-day) recording sessions and, apparently, the result was so basic and useless (in the opinion of the executives at Columbia Records) that David Bowie (of all people) was called in to salvage the tapes.
In Bowie’s words, “the most absurd situation I encountered when I was recording was the first time I worked with Iggy Pop. He wanted me to mix Raw Power, so he brought the 24-track tape in, and he put it up. He had the band on one track, lead guitar on another and him on a third. Out of 24 tracks there were just three tracks that were used. He said ‘see what you can do with this’. I said, ‘Jim, there’s nothing to mix’. So we just pushed the vocal up and down a lot.”
You could probably compare the situation to a menu with 24 ingredients, of which the cook decided to use only three. And Bowie had to try his best with salt, pepper and onions. Many stories circle around subsequent remixes, and what you are hearing is a 2023 remastering of the original 1973 mix by Iggy Pop.
In any event, what is really important about this album is the raw power exerted by the complete maniac Iggy (who is famous for verbally abusing and physically attacking his audience, which I can confirm after several live concerts), the guitar sound of James Williamson and the bare bones rhythm section composed of Ron Asheton (bass) and his brother Scott (drums).
Iggy Pop remains a tower and inspiration of punk who has never softened his attitude, still touring the world, stage diving and showing off his naked upper body at the age of 78. What a beautiful crazy lunatic.
August 2025 - Album of the Month
BAND – Young Gods
ALBUM – Appear Disappear
Since 40 years, The Young Gods have demonstrated what a sampler in destruction mode can achieve. Flying under the radar for four decades, The Young Gods have just delivered their best album yet – at the age of 60+.
The band from Geneva who single-handedly created industrial hard core in the 80s are back with the album Appear Disappear. For all fans of Nine Inch Nails or Ministry: this is the original.
Franz Treichler (vocals), Cesare Pizzi (sampler) and Bernard Trontin (drums) present a superbly produced onslaught of razor-sharp electronic sounds coupled with lyrics on drone warfare (Shine That Drone) or dimly lit clubs packed with sweaty bodies in a haze of smoke and cheap liquor (Off The Radar) – escapism at its best.
Appear Disappear is definitely a candidate for best album of 2025 – if you have a chance to see them live on the current tour, get tickets! Not surprisingly, The Young Gods are also a fantastic live band.
July 2025 - Album of the Month
BAND – Idles
ALBUM – TANGK
To prove those nostalgics wrong who claim that no good music is created these days, I present Idles, a post-punk band from Bristol, with their 2024 album TANGK.
In stark deviation to previous recordings, singer Joe Talbot is actually singing instead of barking, about love instead of revolution. The influence of Radiohead’s producer Nigel Godrich is noticeable, rendering the music more diverse and accessible.
What Godrich could not influence is the punk attitude deep inside Talbot. To Godrich’s great surprise, Talbot would show up to the studio without any lyrics and improvise on the go. Apparently, Talbot considered writing ahead of their sessions, but decided that it was bullshit. This is why I never liked the description “post-punk” for bands like Idles. Punk is more than a music style – it’s an attitude.
Idles will be playing at the Musikfestwochen Winterthur on August 15th, a few tickets are still left, see you there!
June 2025 - Album of the Month
BAND – Kae Tempest
ALBUM – Everybody Down
Kae Tempest (formerly known as Kate Tempest) is a queer slam poet, rapper, lyricist, writer and musician from South London no less than 25 years younger than me. So why would an old bag want to listen to this? Because Kae is angry and has a compelling story to tell about the dark side of capitalism in the UK, the wreckage among the younger generation caused by unemployment, drug abuse and a general lack of perspective.
If your inspirations are Virginia Woolf, Samuel Beckett, James Joyce and the Wu-Tang Clan, the result should be good. An example? “A Hammer” from the 2016 album “Everybody Down”:
Dale was Pete’s Mum’s new boyfriend’s son
He had a mouth that was too small for his tongue
Teeth like a ladder that was missing a rung
Chin looked like it was trying to run
He had a laugh like a car crash
Eyes like… Pot holes in tarmac
Complexion the colour of chewed up bar snacks
Kinda guy spend his whole life getting laughed at
When all you’ve got is a hammer, everything looks like nails
If rap music had been around when Allen Ginsberg wrote his poetry, this is how it might have sounded. Presented with hard electronic beats, the stream of lyrics creates a special attraction. Some of you will hate this, but that’s OK. You could try Kae’s poetry, e.g. the collection Hold Your Own, or just wait for my next album.
May 2025 - Album of the Month
BAND – The Cure
ALBUM – Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
I’ve been getting into a lot of arguments recently about the quality of music in the 80s. People my age do not like to be reminded of how bad it was. I was a teenager in the 80s and most of the music we listened to was from the 60s and 70s (Rolling Stones, Velvet Underground, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix etc) – not a good sign.
One of the bands that definitely stood out though were The Cure. Robert Smith with his two meters, make-up and wild hair was the ultimate cool. For nights on end we listened to him shouting out his Weltschmerz to a hammering bass, realizing that our protected childhood in remote Eastern Switzerland (St. Gallen) would probably steer our life more into the direction of lawyers, architects and chemists – if we resisted the temptation of hard drugs (which we did).
It was quite a challenge to select an album for this post. From the very beginning (Boys Don’t Cry of 1979 with Boys Don’t Cry, 10:15 Saturday Night, Killing an Arab [a reference to Sartre’s L’étranger which the Americans did not get, leading to a ban in the US], followed by Seventeen Seconds [A Forest], Pornography [The Hanging Garden], The Top [Caterpillar], The Head On The Door [with the unforgettable video of the band dropping from a cliff inside a box and watching the water filling during the song Close To Me]), The Cure produced a series of great albums with songs we will never forget and helped me and my friends through the 80s.
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me of 1987 is a rather cheerful album, by The Cure’s standards, with a dark undercurrent of course, and a double album so you can spend some time to take in some more of the scarce good music of those times. The band is so good that, last year (after a break of 16 years), they produced a new album with new songs, which is considered by critics as one of the best in 2024.
April 2025 - Album of the Month
BAND – Keith Jarrett
ALBUM – The Köln Concert
Everything was geared towards disaster on this rainy evening in Köln on 24 January 1975 – a run-down grand piano, a tired and grumpy star (Keith Jarrett), and a very young and inexperienced organizer. Then the turning point: Jarrett was already sitting in the car to get away from the Köln Opera House and the inadequate instrument when the 17 year old organizer Vera Brandes approaches him, with nothing better to say (in broken English) than “If you don’t play tonight, I gonna be truly fucked, and I know you gonna be truly fucked, too.”
Whatever these words may have stirred inside the maestro, he came back and two piano technicians miraculously managed to bring the old baby grand to life again (although you can still hear the pedals clatter on the recording). The flagship Bösendorfer 290 Imperial remained in the cellar where nobody had located it before.
What followed is the most famous and beautiful jazz performance of all times. Because the sound of the sub-standard baby grand remained limited, Jarrett was forced to keep it simple: basic chords, gospel-like and groovy. The concert is based on the progression G-D-C-G-A, the simple melody of the opera loudspeakers used on that day to ask the audience to take their seats. Nothing for a high-brow jazz audience, but accessible touching music for the non-initiated.
Every time I listen to this record, a warm feeling of beauty and ecstasy spreads inside. All is good. But don’t play this for a dinner party – discussions will stop immediately. A fine example of how magnificence is very often based on simplicity.
March 2025 - Album of the Month
BAND – Neil Young
ALBUM – Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
With around 50 solo albums, Neil Young is one of the most productive artists in the history of rock. This idiosyncratic and eclectic loner has given us a wide range of styles since the late 60s, as electro rebel, folk hippie, neo cowboy and grandfather of grunge.
His second album of 1969 already offers the blueprint of later success and many of his best songs. Particularly the classics Down by the River and Cinnamon Girl with their extended length, rough guitars and thunderous galloping solos contain all elements that make Neil Young’s music so unique.
Because of the huge success of his more mellow country songs (above all Heart of Gold from the 1972 Album Harvest), Neil Young’s electric guitar playing is highly underestimated in my opinion. It is not so much the technical side of his guitar soli but the unexpected brutal intermezzi that make his guitar playing so diverse and interesting. This is probably the reason why he has continuously fascinated older and younger generations alike over the last 50+ years of his career, something that very few musicians are able to achieve (David Bowie would come to my mind). I remember my surprise at one of his concerts in Oakland in 1996 when the crowd was dominated by young kids. When Neil picked up his guitar and rocked the stage like a 20-year old berserk (although he was already 50 back then), I understood why.
Equally impressive is Young’s political engagement. Besides going to court to forbid Donald Trump from using any of his songs at political rallies, the Canadian acquired U.S. citizenship only to be able to vote against Trump in the 2020 elections.
It is characters like Neil Young that will hopefully keep us rocking in a free world. Let’s flood the zone with good music instead of racist shit.
February 2025 - Album of the Month
BAND – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
ALBUM – Are You Experienced
Hard to believe that this album appeared 58 years ago, in 1967. Jimi Hendrix’ debut album was a sensation back then and is still a sensation today. It’s one hell of a ride between blues, psychedelic, jazz and first elements of heavy metal Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass put us through.
Some of the best drum performances ever by the phenomenal 20-year old Mitchell (check out the steamrolling rhythm on Manic Depression), combined with Hendrix’ revolutionary new way of extracting any possible sound out of his instrument, resulted in one of the sexiest rock albums of all times.
Almost all of the songs on this album have become instant classics: Foxey Lady, Manic Depression, Red House, Fire, Are You Experienced?, Hey Joe, Stone Free, Purple Haze, 51st Anniversary, The Wind Cries Mary, Highway Chile.
Remembered also for the incredible live performances of this band, where Jimi started the trend of lighting up instruments on stage, characters of his stature are dearly missed in the music industry today. While some guitar players might have achieved the same technical level as Jimi, his groove and style remain unmatched (just listen to Joe Satriani and you’ll know what I mean).
January 2025 - Album of the Month
BAND – Rage Against the Machine
ALBUM – Rage Against the Machine
In today’s confrontational and unsteady times, it’s time to introduce the spearheads of social protest in rock music – Rage Against The Machine. Their angry texts and deadly crossover music (somewhere between rock, metal, hip hop, funk, punk and jazz) resonate more than ever. Some unforgettable lines from this 1992 debut album:
- “They say jump, you say how high” (“Bullet In The Head”, on manipulation by media)
- “Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses” (“Killing In The Name”, on Klan members in the police force)
- “Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission, ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite / All of which are American dreams” (“Know Your Enemy”)
Another shocker was the album cover, an image taken in 1963 of the Mahayana Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức who had set himself on fire in Saigon as an act of protest against the Vietnamese government.
Singer Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello with his killer riffs on guitar, Tim Commerford on bass and Brad Wilk on drums continued their mission (with some breakups along the years) until March 2020, when a reunion tour was cancelled due to Covid. Having seen the band live in San Francisco in 1996 (during an open air concert in Golden Gate Park with Beck, Yoko Ono and others), it’s a pity they might not perform on stage again.
Rage Against The Machine is needed more than ever – to shout out to all those idiots who think they can rule the world with money and a middle finger. I’m sick of it. There’s only so much music can achieve, but giving up is not an option, so tune in my friends, turn up the volume, get your Doc Martens out of the closet and jump!
December 2024 - Album of the Month
BAND – Patti Smith
ALBUM – Horses
“Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine
Melting in a pot of thieves, wild card up my sleeve
Thick, heart of stone, my sins, my own
They belong to me, me
People said “beware” but I don’t care
Their words are just rules and regulations to me, me.”
What a glorious opener for possibly the best debut albums of all time – Patti Smith’s Horses of 1975. Produced by John Cale of the Velvet Underground, the avant garde master (thank God) failed in his attempt to forge Patty’s raw energy of live performances into a normal studio album. Instead, Patti Smith’s combination of spoken word and punk rock merged into an immensely important piece of art, influencing such diverse musicians as Siouxsie Sioux, REM’s Michael Stipe, Morrissey, Courtney Love and PJ Harvey.
The cover shot alone (taken by Robert Mapplethorpe) had a huge effect on younger female singers – Patti looking straight at you with androgynous Rimbaud-type clothes. And songs like the opener Gloria (a radical readaptation of the 1964 song by Them), Birdland (based on the 1973 memoirs of the radical Austrian psychologist Wilhelm Reich by his son Peter) and the 9½ minutes of “Land: Horses / Land of a Thousand Dances / La Mer (De)”, with their complex lyrics partly based on Patti’s earlier poetry work, make this album unforgettable.
The character Johnny in “Land” is an allusion to the similarly named homoerotic protagonist of the 1971 William S. Burroughs novel The Wild Boys – while additionally referencing Arthur Rimbaud and, indirectly, Jimi Hendrix, whom Smith imagined to be the song’s protagonist. Johnny was also inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe and his experiences in the New York S&M scene.
Having grown up in poverty in New Jersey, Patti Smith has not lost any of her rage against discrimination and continues to shout out at her concerts today.
With this reminder of what really counts, I wish you all some rest and reflection with your loved ones during the holiday break.
November 2024 - Album of the Month
BAND – Screaming Trees
ALBUM – Sweet Oblivion
Nirvana and Pearl Jam did not come out of nowhere. Before they catapulted the Seattle grunge scene into the world in the early nineties, there were many others who have disappeared into oblivion or suffered a niche existence since then.
One of the most underrated of these bands are the Screaming Trees. Formed in Ellensburg, a small rural town in Eastern Washington, by the brothers Van and Gary Lee Conner together with the drummer Mark Pickerel in 1985, singer Mark Lanegan raised the Trees to a new level. With his very rough background as juvenile petty thief, alcoholic and weed addict who happened to stumble into a local store with records of Iggy Pop, The Sex Pistols and other punk music when he was twelve, Lanegan and his band soon attracted the attention of Seattle producers, also because the live shows were notorious for Lanegan’s physical attacks of the audience and the violence between band members. Lanegan could not stand the autistic 300 pound sociopath Gary Conner who would crash around the stage with his guitar, hitting the microphone stand and inflicting wounds around Lanegan’s mouth. He once hit Conner so hard on his back with the 10-pound stand that the concert had to be aborted (for more information I can recommend Lanegan’s biography “Sing Backwards and Weep”).
The song “You Nearly Lost Me” from this album of 1992 brought the Screaming Trees into the charts and into permanent rotation on MTV. Unsurprisingly, the sudden fame did not loosen the tension among the band members, but rather brought a slow end to the Trees. They managed to produce a few more albums (in alternating formations; Josh Homme [Queens of the Stone Age] was once a member, and Lanegan was part of the QOSA in later years).
Lanegan pursued a solo career with some fantastic heavy rock/dark blues albums such as Bubblegum in 2004 (check out the song “Hit The City” with PJ Harvey on vocals, still one of my favorite rock songs ever), joined Afghan Whigs’ Greg Dulli for the project Gutter Twins and published a few albums with Duke Garwood, who will be playing in Zurich’s Bogen F on 1 March 2025, before Lanegan died in 2022 at the age of 57 from the effects of Covid.
Last but not least,for friends of noise rock, allow me to promote the work of my son Miles on drums. His band Wolfer (with the sisters Miriam and Julia Wolf on guitar and bass) has recently recorded the album Hey Lester! in the UK and Scotland. Hey Lester! has been published by Hummus Records in La Chaux De Fonds (https://hummusrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hey-lester), and Wolfer have been touring in Bern and the Romandie (with a last concert in Bulle on 21 Dec: https://site.humus-records.com/artists/wolfer/).
October 2024 - Album of the Month
BAND – Smog
ALBUM – Dongs of Sevotion
Back to the uncharted territories of the alternative universe, this one is a true insider tip and one of my top five of all times – Bill Callahan aka Smog.
His double album “Dongs of Sevotion” of 2000 (with a “spoonerism” in the title; another fine example: “The Lord is a shoving leopard”) is only one of many great recordings of this highly versatile artist with the flat voice – check out the song “Held” on the album “Knock Knock” if you have time. On Dongs of Sevotion, “Dress Sexy for my Funeral” stands out, not only because of the unforgettable title and lyrics (“Dress sexy for my funeral / my good wife / for the first time in your life”). Once the guitar riff has settled down in your hearing, it will never leave. Another wonderful song with a viciously slow build-up and ecstatic guitar deliverance in the end is “Distance” on side C. The coming-of-age ballad “Nineteen” comes along with the wonderful line “My movements were slow / She didn’t even know / What she was taking away”.
Bill Callahan has consistently been producing eclectic jewels for over 30 years (the last albums under his real name), something very few musicians have ever achieved. Lou Reed comes to my mind, but he has thrown us some utter crap in the late years (e.g. the album “Lulu” together with Metallica, one of the worst productions to ever hit the shelves of music stores). On the other hand, David Bowie stayed elegant until the end.
If you are a vinyl aficionado, I would recommend getting this album soon, there are not too many left around the world.
September 2024 - Album of the Month
BAND – Nick Drake
ALBUM – Pink Moon
As we get older (my 55th birthday is approaching, good lord) and reflection starts replacing aggression and raw power, it is not a bad idea to listen to the young.
One morning in January 1972, Nick Drake dropped off a package at the reception of Island Records, containing the tapes of his album Pink Moon. He was never seen again by the studio people and died in 1974 from an overdose of antidepressants. The album, Nick’s third and last, was not a success when it appeared, since the music industry was more focussed on new sounds and bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd or Deep Purple.
The masterpiece was rediscovered later and revered by such diverse musicians as R.E.M., Elton John and Ben Folds. It also paved the way for modern songwriters like Conor Oberst, Ryan Adams or Devendra Banhart. No disrespect to this fabulous crowd, but Nick Drake remains unmatched to this day.
Living alone with his mother in Tanworth-in-Arden south of Birmingham, Nick wrote and played these 11 songs (spanning little more than 28 minutes) on his acoustic guitar at the (unbelievably young) age of 24. While the lyrics are absolutely heart-breaking, his unpretentious voice with its beautiful timbre carries us away on a Free Ride (my favorite song) to heavenly places under the Pink Moon (a slightly coloured moon in April considered by some indigenous people to be an omen of inescapable death).
I dedicate this review to my mother Maya (1940-2024), who shaped me to the person I am and supported us all the way with love, dedication, altruism, strong nerves, resilience and the courage to let us free and roam the world.
August 2024 - Album of the Month
BAND – My Bloody Valentine
ALBUM – loveless
As the light, taste and morning mist of the fall season is slowly building up in Central Europe, it’s time for some noise rock from the early nineties. Standing on the wide shoulders of the Velvet Underground (see the first Album of the Month for May 2023 in the archive), My Bloody Valentine were the first band to evoke the term “shoegazers”, credit to their static performance on stage, gazing down at Converse sneakers while hammering it away at distorted guitars, fuzz pedals and more.
Borrowing from the sounds of Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr., the stunning album “loveless” of 1991 paved the way for later noise rock bands such as Hole (the band of Courtney Love, Curt Cobain’s ex) and, oh yes, have probably even influenced Oasis (although Liam and Noel Gallagher would certainly never admit to such a thing as musical heritage; their songs were rather dictated by Tony Blair on cocaine).
Like all great music, this album sounds best at high volume. So do not listen in the train with headphones – ear plugs and even most over-ear headphones are not able to reproduce the necessary dynamics, particularly not those of My Bloody Valentine’s layers of sounds. Moreover, you would miss the beautiful signals around you on the commute: the announcement of (i) a train problem (in Frankfurt or London), (ii) a strike (in Paris or Milano), (iii) a delay of 3 minutes (in Switzerland), or just a young kid laughing its head off at the general condition humaine.
July 2024: Album of the Month
BAND – Tinariwen
ALBUM – Amadjar
With summer temperatures rising in the Northern hemisphere, it’s time to introduce you to the music of the Sahara and the Tuareg tribes. The members of Tinariwen (Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, Alhassane Ag Touhami, Eyadou Ag Leche, Elaga Ag Hamid, Said Ag Ayad and Amar Chaoui) toured the Western Sahara and Mauretania in late 2018 with an eclectic group of other musicians: French composer, singer and guitarist Rodolphe Burger; Warren Ellis of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds; the US folk and alternative rocker Cass McCombs; the Mauretanian griot Noura Mint Seymali (griots are West African historians/storytellers/praise singers/poets/musicians and repositories of oral tradition who also act as mediators in disputes); Micah Nelson (the son of Willie Nelson and new guitarist of Neil Young and Crazy Horse); Stephen O’Malley [a US musician and visual artist sometimes referred to as “SOMA” who has founded various drone metal, doom metal and experimental bands such as Sunn O)))]; and Jeiche Ould Chigaly (the guitarist and husband of Noura Mint Seymali ).
The product of some weeks of live sessions around Nouakshott, the capital of Mauretania, and additional recordings in Tamanrasset and Paris, the album Amadjar combines traditional instruments such as djembe, calebasse, ardin (a type of harp played by female griots), charango (a small stringed instrument of the lute family originating from the Andes) and hand claps with more modern elements (violin loops by Warren Ellis and electric guitars).
The result, in my very humble opinion, is irresistible. While I do not understand a word of the lyrics in Tamashek, the language of the Tuareg, the last song apparently evokes the Revelations, the Upanishads (the most recent addition to the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, created around 800-300 B.C.) and other religious texts, as it paints a picture of the end of the world. And yet, I’m told, the song’s narrator finds himself confronted by the fact that he’s got his trusty camel and the endless road ahead.
June 2024: Album of the Month
BAND – Queens of the Stone Age
ALBUM – Songs for the Deaf
I went through my CDs today for some good music and stumbled over this heavy desert rock sensation of 2002. Queens of the Stone Age (Josh Homme, ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, Nick Olivieri and Mark Lanegan) start their album with a delightful punch into the solar plexus (You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire).
Nobody who has ever heard this song will forget how, after some innocent radio station bla bla, the metal guitars blast your mind away. For those who turn away in fear and disgust, let me tell you this: There is nothing more exhilarating. Nothing. Every time I hear the track and the guitar kicks in, I just wanna growl “Fuck yeah!!”
And for the metal fans out there (whom I have met surprisingly many at arbitration conferences) – you will find the album fairly easy listening. I thought about bringing on Scum by Napalm Death, but decided to wait a bit until the posts are more established and people don’t stop by to break my knee.
Crank up your stereos my friends and enjoy the summer!
May 2024: Album of the Month
BAND – Radiohead
ALBUM – The Bends
The music aficionados among you will not be surprised by this month’s featured group – Radiohead. This band has produced such consistently great music over the last 30 years that it was not easy to pick a favorite album, but The Bends from 1995 is an absolute masterpiece. Favorite song(s): all of them.
I have recently grazed through Radiohead’s catalog and realized that their music is not boring for one fucking minute. This is especially true for The Bends. Following Planet Telex and The Bends, High and Dry is clearly a highlight: Thom Yorke’s ecstatic head voice singing is pure goose bumps and would be a great challenge for karaoke. I spectacularly fail every time in my car. Or Bones, starting out in the low registers, Thom’s singing is met with crashing guitars before he loses himself, or Just, or Black Star – I have no words.
Yorke’s singing is not there to please everyone, and some might find it whiny when he addresses his demons. But check out Radiohead’s live performances (for example In Rainbows – Live from the Basement from 2008) – this is pathos at its best, and a band on the very top of it all. My deepest respect.
April 2024: Album of the Month
BAND – Nirvana
ALBUM – MTV Unplugged in New York
For those of you who also belong to the “MTV Generation” (i.e. remember the days when MTV was an innovative music channel and not a joke), Nirvana’s acoustic performance on 18 November 1993 will continue to be one of the most memorable live concerts of all times. Sitting on stage with his acoustic guitar and a worn out ugly sweater the color of vomit, Kurt Cobain and his band threw out a rather obscure set of their own songs and some cover versions that single-handedly launched careers of befriended (completely unknown) bands such as the Meat Puppets or the Vaselines.
The combination of an acoustic performance and an exhausted lead singer (who took his life five months later at the age of 27 years like many other musicians such as Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin) lead to one the most intimate and authentic performances ever, laying bare the unique emotional intensity of NIrvana’s songs.
Kurt Cobain, who always hated publicity and the life as a rock star, is the antithesis of today’s teflon stars (Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande etc) and their “economy of attention”. You will therefore not be surprised that I agree with the comments by Kurt Cobain’s ex-wife Courtney Love (who was a remarkable musician herself with the band Hole) that “Taylor Swift is not interesting as an artist” and that she “does not like Beyoncé’s music”.
While I cannot turn back the time, I will be happy to continue trying to explain what really matters in music. Stay tuned.
March 2024: Album of the Month
BAND – Eels
ALBUM – Daisies Of The Galaxy
I started listening to the Eels again after a long break of around 10 years, and it feels like yesterday. The combination of idyllic cover art and cheerful music, combined with sometimes melancholic but irresistibly funny lyrics makes this album stand out.
Favorite song – I Like Birds (especially for a bird aficionado like me): “I can’t stand in line at the store / The mean little people are such a bore / But it’s all right if you act like a turd / ‘Cause I like Birds. If you’re small and on a search / I’ve got a feeder for you to perch on.”
Mark Oliver Everett aka “E” easily combines this feelgood tune with the heart-breaking and beautiful “It’s a Motherfucker” on the pain of separation, immediately followed again by “Tiger In My Tank” with its keyboard sound of a children’s song. Apropos keyboards: Absolutely wonderful vintage sounds played on a Hammond B3, a Wurlitzer electric piano and a Mellotron (an electromechanical keyboard instrument from the 50s that is considered as the analogue original of today’s samplers).
Hopefulness persists throughout the rest of the album (A Daisy Through Concrete, Jeannie’s Diary) up until (and including) the final song, Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues, which was forced onto the album by the producers against E’s wish. It’s a beautiful day while I am writing these lines, spring is here, and I look forward to many more reviews to come!
February 2024: Album of the Month
BAND – Johnny Cash
ALBUM – American Recordings
Those of you who were in university like me during the early nineties will remember that Johnny Cash CDs were numerous, cheap and of a really bad quality back then, before Rick Rubin decided to start Cash’s renaissance with the album American Recordings in 1994. It’s hard to imagine that nobody was interested anymore in this singer before this series of albums was released.
Rick Rubin, the producer of such an eclectic group of bands as the Beastie Boys, Slayer, Public Enemy, Nine Inch Nails, Donovan, System of a Down, Lucinda Williams, Sheryl Crow and Justin Timberlake, applied his typical bare bones “in your face” approach to country music, resulting in songs with nothing but Johnny Cash’s voice and guitar, interpreting mostly songs of others artists proposed by Rubin (Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Loudon Wainwright). Counterintuitively, there is even a song written by heavy rocker Glenn Danzig for this album (Thirteen).
Rubin continued to produce Cash until his death and posthumously (Unchained, American III-VI), and the following albums are just as good as the first. My favorites: “Hurt” on American IV (based on the almost unrecognizable but equally incredible hardcore/industrial original by Trent Reznor aka Nine Inch Nails), “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode (also on American IV) and “I See a Darkness” by Bonnie Prince Billy (on American III). On the other hand, a few of the recordings are pretty awful in my view (e.g. Bridge over Troubled Water), showing that even a genius like Rick Rubin can have a bad hair day once in a while.
But please make your own opinion and send feedback, musical tastes are entirely subjective as we all know.
January 2024: Album of the Month
BAND – John Coltrane
ALBUM – My Favorite Things
Anyone who listens to a lot of music eventually ends up loving jazz. My appreciation for the modern jazz giants (Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock) started not so long ago, so I haven’t even scratched the surface.
Here’s an LP I recently bought in a Zagreb record store – John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things” of 1961, recorded with the first group of his own. Coltrane is playing soprano and alto sax (soprano is the one on the cover, alto and tenor sax are the types we typically refer to as saxophones, with the lower end bending back up), while his quartet includes McCoy Tyner (piano), Steve Davis (bass) and Elvin Jones (drums).
The 14-minute title song combines Coltrane’s typical “sheets of sound” (long and fast lines of scales) with exquisite piano playing by McCoy Tyner. Some of you may recognize the melody from the movie “Sound of Music” (with Julie Christie singing in a bed full of kids), the younger crowd from Ariana Grande’s hymn to materialism, “7 things”. I prefer Coltrane’s version.
What really sets apart jazz from rock or classical music is the unexpected, the courage to experiment. No matter how technically advanced a classical musician is, the educated part of the audience will know exactly which notes will be played. Not in jazz: I remember a totally uncompromising concert of Herbie Hancock in the Lucerne KKL, where most of the audience (those with a season card who were probably expecting jazz standards by the 75-year old and his band) walked out after 10-20 minutes.
So I challenge you busy folks to take those 14 minutes from your precious time, sit on your couch with a glass of Single Malt but no other distractions, and dive into the void.
December 2023: Album of the Month
BAND – Steve Gunn
ALBUM – Time Off
6 songs for an album, every one of them more than 5 minutes long – this man knows how to take his time. Apart from its flow and ease, I have chosen Steve Gunn’s album Time Off for its careful use of instruments. Combining a wide range of instruments to create an organic sound is one of the most underestimated skills in contemporaneous music. While most listeners concentrate on those instruments they can hear best (i.e. loud guitars and forced singing), it’s the careful compilation of more temperate instruments that characterizes the true master.
Let’s take the first song on the album as an example: Who noticed the jaw harp/mouth harp in Water Wheel? And what makes up the beauty of the guitar solo? Not only the reverb/hall effect, but also that Steve takes a step back to create an organic flow. Nothing is forced here, nobody has to show off. In the words of another reviewer: “There’s a real sense, listening to these tracks, that everything could be a little simpler if we all stopped trying so hard.” (Amanda Petrusich, Pitchfork).
November 2023: Album of the Month
BAND – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
ALBUM – Push The Sky Away
Those who know me well will be surprised that it took so long to present this band. Nick Cave is the musician I have admired most, not just for his music but for the courage to go all in after the death of his 15-year old son Arthur some time ago. Instead of drawing back into private life, he started his blog “The Red Hand Files”, where anyone can post questions to him. Among the thousands of questions, he has answered more than 260 over the last years, displaying a combination of immense wisdom, sensitivity and humour. With unmatched candour, Nick offers consolation and advice to his fans. It’s the only blog I ever read.
It was not easy to pick an album, but this one truly stands out. Favorite song: Jubilee Street. With the hardly noticeable increase in pace and ecstatic ending, this song has never left my system since I heard it for the first time 10 years ago. Fun fact: The drummer of the Bad Seeds since 1985 (Thomas Wydler) is from Zurich.
If you ever get a chance to see Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds live, drop everything and go! It does not get any better. I know you might not trust me any more after a rather inflationary use of superlatives in the past, but please trust me this time. Nick’s concerts are something else.
October 2023: Album of the Month
BAND – Willard Grant Conspiracy
ALBUM – Paper Covers Stone
Willard Grant Conspiracy was not really a band but a loose group of constantly changing local friends around the Boston musician Robert Fisher. The double album Paper Covers Stone was published in 2009 – an alternative country masterpiece that is in constant rotation on my Thorens TD 160B turntable from the early seventies (more about hardware in one of the next posts). Favorite songs: “Soft Hand” and “Ghost of the Girl in the Well”. A lot of Fisher’s music is based on traditionals, with a layer of musicality I find hypnotizing and liberating despite the devastating lyrics. Moreover, some of the singing (check out the end of Ghost of the Girl in the Well) is out of this world.
In the last post, I was trying to explain what good artists can achieve – there’s a lot more to say. Good artists:
- write their own songs (instead of delegating this to a team of writers and consultants);
- write songs for people of the same age;
- have a music style that is not easy to label;
- have a long career if they survive the early years;
- and are not constantly documenting their own lives but observing the struggle of others.
Robert Fisher passed away in 2017 at the age of 60. I was lucky to see him play live some years before in El Lokal in Zurich. As you can imagine, it was a great concert, and I sometimes miss artists like him.
September 2023: Album of the Month
BAND – Bry Webb
ALBUM – Free Will
This album is so good that it used to be non-available on Spotify. Bry Webb’s last album Free Will was released in 2014, was introduced to me by a wonderful hifi and music freak (who had two of these rare LPs in his collection) and has remained obscure since. It contains the best song about parenthood, Let’s Get Through Today (“Go to the Places Where I Can’t Protect You / I Will Keep Trying to Know What You’re Going Through / The More Fucked Up Things Get The More I Love You; btw the strange instrument in the background is a so-called hurdy-gurdy), and a kind reminder that constantly positive people are a pain in the ass (Positive People). My son Miles performed a cover version of Let’s Get Through Today at his graduation from Jazz School Bern in September 2023; he has it all and it was a killer.
You might be asking yourself by now why all the presented albums are difficult and melancholic: It’s because the best music is based on unanswered love, despair and the loss of close people, the most intense and devastating emotions that one can experience and the most difficult to address. The best musicians have found a way to process these feelings and touch our insides, providing a paradox of comfort and reminding us that life is hard sometimes but we’re not alone. If you want easy listening – go ride an elevator.
August 2023: Album of the Month
BAND – Sun Kil Moon
ALBUM – Among The Leaves
The childhood of Mark Kozalek aka Sun Kil Moon in Ohio (where I also lived for 2 years as a kid) was probably not as carefree as mine. While he is probably best known for a cover album of AC/DC songs stripped to the bone and transformed into melancholic folk tunes (check out the stunning version of Up To My Neck in You), my favorite is the double album Among the Leaves released in 2012. The topics of his songs range from one-night stands with groupies (I Know It’s Pathetic but That Was the Best Night of My Life), the near death (and nearing death) of addict friends (Elaine), the fragility of new relationships (Young Love), the passing away of your trusted guitar restorer (Song for Richard Collopy), bad artists (Not Much Rhymes with Everything’s Awesome at All Times: “I’m an artist it’s all that I’ve got/I know when I see one and baby you’re not”) all the way to the ridiculous life of musicians and the pains of recording music (Track Number 8, my number one). The combination of his classical fingerpicking style, the lyrics and relaxed (some would say resigned) voice are unmatched. On the other hand, it has to be mentioned that Kozelek has a #metoo problem. This should not stop you from listening to his music because artists’ characters can be abstracted from their art in my humble view. After all, most of us probably still listen to Richard Wagner even though he was a rather disgusting anti-Semite.
July 2023: Album of the Month
BAND – Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
ALBUM – Superwolf
Will Oldham aka Bonnie Prince Billy is a songwriter from Louisville Kentucky who has released around 100 albums, EPs and singles in the last 25 years, has defied Spotify until recently and is one of the great unknown underground heroes. He combines an absolute lack of pathos with endless charisma. I recently tried to describe his style to some friends at a recent conference and failed – listen to the music and decide for yourself. If you can muster the courage for a second or even third listening, he will have you. In 2005, Bonnie Prince Billy wrote and recorded the album Superwolf with his buddy Matt Sweeney. As you might have come to expect by now, the lyrics – combined with precarious music and singing – beat everything. Just listen to the opening lines of My Home Is The Sea (I have often said / That I wanna be dead / In a shark’s mouth), Beast for Thee (Why aren’t you kind to me / You could so easily / Take me in your arms and see / A donkey) or What Are You? (What are you waiting for if not for me? / What are you waiting for? It must be me / To take you over my knee / And spank you mercilessly). And for those who do prefer a little pathos: Watch the video “Bonnie Prince Billy Black Cab Sessions” where he rides the streets of London in a black cab with Angel Olsen (supporting vocals), Emmett Kelley (guitar) and a harmonium player – grande.
June 2023: Album of the Month
BAND – PJ Harvey
ALBUM – Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
Almost every fan of alternative music has a secret crush on Polly Jean Harvey. The English singer presents a stunning combination of unique voice (changing between angry, husky and sublime), killer music and lyrics that blow you away. To give you a little break after the Velvet Underground, I have chosen her most accessible album – Stories From the City, Stories from the Sea of the year 2000. But don’t relax just yet: It’s only a bright album compared to the previous ones. Quite unusually, the songs just get better and better until the end, culminating in “We Float”, with one of the greatest breaks ever after 2 minutes and 2 seconds. Favourite lyrics: “How can life be so complex when I just wanna sit here and watch you undress” (This Is Love). My most treasured song however is Horses In My Dreams. Apart from the obvious innuendo of the title (the rumour goes that PJ was spending time in NY with the underground actor Vincent Gallo some years after ditching Nick Cave), the relaxed guitar strumming, simple bass line, craving voice and lyrics bring tears to my eyes every time. She goes straight to the heart and stomach. People today don’t realize anymore how difficult it is to create an entire album of great songs. I hope you will appreciate the hard work behind a masterpiece like this one.
May 2023: Album of the Month
BAND – The Velvet Underground
ALBUM – The Velvet Underground & Nico 45th Anniversary
The legend goes that everyone who bought this record when it was released in 1967 went off to start their own band. “Produced” by Andy Warhol (whose only contribution was to force the German singer Nico onto the band), this is possibly the most influential album in rock history (even though it never went beyond No. 171 in the Billboard charts). Punk and grunge would have sounded quite different without it. Lou Reed and his congenial partner John Cale (who joined from the classical avantgarde with a mean viola) created a sound and lyrics nobody was prepared for at the time. While the texts focus on previously unheard topics such as waiting for your drug dealer in the streets of New York City (Waiting For My Man), shooting heroin (Heroin) and S&M (Venus in Furs), the sound is uncompromising, feral and hard to stomach – a punch in the face of the hippie sound dominating counterculture back then. After listening to the album more than 100 times, it continues to amaze me and only gets better – a sign of true quality. Stay tuned.