Music: FRANK LIIN and an amazing alter ego situation (Jordan Rakei)

A couple of months ago I happened to stumble upon this amazing track by Frank Liin and have been hooked and a fan ever since. I didnt really know why his voice and style seemed so familiar and couldnt quite put my finger on it until a few tracks later - and oh lord it definitely hit me!

Music: Etta Bond - NEW MUSIC VIDEO: SEEN AND NEVER HEARD

One of our all time favorites Etta Bond gives us hope that there are still artists with voices and messages out there. She has just released a new music video for her new self-empowering song Seen and Never Heard and we love it.

"They might judge us, rate us out of 10, objectify us....When you are able to deflect the bullshit people throw at you, when you are able to shrug at people's feeble attempts to define who you are—the strength and power absorbed from that is worth the bullet. This video was not just a chance for us to 'love ourselves the way we are' it was to test ourselves. This was not an egotistical display. It was us, coming together as one. If you can't see past a bunch of naked ladies, you're simply proving my point. And that's fine." *

Literature: poetry XII

notes found in an 1890 diary 

by Kilian

my fellow men, 

can we be like that 

or even better? 

I turn to you, 

you poor in exaltation, 

timidity or rest,

seek wealth in your 

breathless chest, not on the 

golden platter. 

since gold is rare and your stay long, 

mine over soon, but 

saying this 
I've found the cure, 

for isn't it a pleasure 

not floundering 

all in vain, rather one thing 

pure in heart that's 

firmly planted, so every 

shine now gone 

will mirror in ourselves 

and soul can merge, enchanted by 

rapture, apart, painless, 

undaunted

Literature: poetry XI

xx

 sss

the dramatist, rid of dialogues 
by Kilian

these days
snow covered
my house and garden
not undue the hour, calm, sanguine,
breathe on the window pane
as the blurred air fades
I begin to draw,
somewhere else, find
not much more than
what I'd won
long before, already
reached what there's to be at,
undoubted, my lands
end earlier than I thought
they would, comforting
that I know them well
for they embrace
with careful hands
the outward,
my wicked good

Music: The Kabeedies Are Dead (Kind Of)

Fear not, music lovers, The Kabeedies are only sort of dead, in fact they are back with a new vocalist, new music and a new name - Keep Up.

It's been a bit over a year since former vocalist, Katie Allard, left the band and I am sure her wonderful dance moves will be greatly missed by anyone who had the pleasure of seeing The Kabeedies live in the past (new vocalist Christian has yet to impress us with his moves, needless to say, he has big shoes to fill...), however the remaining band members Rory Hill, Evan Jones and Francis Bell, having added a new member and re-named the band, do not fail to impress with their new, still fun, still very danceable, sound.

Keep Up have once again crossed the sea to bring fantastic guitar pop and fun times to Germany, kicking off tomorrow in Hamburg's Molotow Bar and visiting many cities in the following weeks. 

See them play, dance, have fun, say hi and try to make up some bad jokes about their name, like: "Hi guys, I've been trying to Keep Up to date with..." - I'm terrible at making jokes, so let me know if you have a good one.

by Poppy

Literature: poetry X

Apache 
by Kilian

I'm good at things

that I can't loose,
solitude and patterned moves
the bleaching arm of hills
in rain and
vessels, thick enough
regain the substance from this
foreign peak where
tides are gold
and flush is weak
cisterns now begin to spill,
I'm bleached in rain,
a man-soaked hill

Literature: poetry IX

grasslands
 by Kilian 

once out of 

haven 
I washed my back
from pears and oil,
savannah's lair and groves
of spoiling paranoids,
there
the filthy senses raise with pomp,
stiff and ugly, how can those 
be the sons of 
pitied Fronde, a mess and more, 
though I come 
to see 
that cleansing sumps is 
paradoxed, but one 
and two, not much, enough, 
and just
as I've swapped
the love for innocence
I learn to see
that
heart is bold betimes
and dirt genteel
instead

Music: Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth

Gone Native

Long-lasting farewell from New York underground was the result of this record. Not because of betrayed ideals but in consequence of the penetrating power of Sonic Youth's 1988 work. In a period of pop cultural rebuilding they hit a nerve and set down the yardstick on a melange of noise, pop, experiment and avant-garde. With a transgressive approach of both conservation and subversion one breathtaking peak of electric guitar music was formed around the couple of Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon. 25 years after it is time to re-listen.

by Kilian

Literature: poetry VIII

patrol 
by Kilian 

nine crowds,
varied types of beings
slowly
walk beside me on
white walls
at night, foreseeing
that we will not compromise
for I don't know one
single word
written on their shoulders,
teeth are black and
heads are grey, all of
them grown older

Literature: poetry VII

the edge of buildings

by Kilian

what if the parody

is true but lost

and my visions plod

in corners

how can I waste

the many things, tossed,

cosy, cheap suborners

Music: Turn on the Bright Lights by Interpol

At Least One Minute Each Day

They were prophesied as the new Joy Division of the U.S. indie rock scene associated with gloomy baritone vocals, uniquely odd lyrics and an as cold as concrete sound. With their 2002 debut album Turn on the Bright Lights the New York based Interpol contributed one of the most important pop albums of the 2000s. Their distinctive signature shines through each song and perhaps this record carries one of the symptomatic styles of the past decade.

by Kilian

Literature: poetry VI

visitors/particles 
by Kilian 

have you rested in a
thousand years,
your voice ahead of millions,
tunnels in congested spheres
through sticky tons of
trillions

Literature: poetry V

xx

this site

by Kilian

speaking

I'm not represented

here and in these words

in juddering sequence,

move then and

map

the vast, shady piles,

therefrom clap-

trap,

a stutter is gushing out,

night-blue sallowness

where it defiles

with rigours and odds,

but now 
cycles have ended

and augur 

remains a lie, what I 
was all about,
I cannot 
identify

Film: Vanilla Sky by Cameron Crowe

There Are Two Colours In My Head

A rich man's sorrows won't become less painful through love affairs, suicide or cryostasis. But the future is not made and every minute can emerge as a revolution of the mind in Cameron Crowe's 2001 blockbuster Vanilla Sky. Hollywood's visible thumbprints cover the work and still, the subconscious is strong in a nightmarish journey towards the very own person. With some luck this may end with someone asking to "open your eyes" and see that everything is still in its right place. Or just in another hallucination?

by Kilian

Literature: poetry IV

to spend one day 
by Kilian 

do what pleases you
laud your minutes,
they are long
find your urge, then
lead a life
get where you want, dive
deep and pick up your
pieces
from this ground

Literature: poetry III

the hurried 
by Kilian

there can be no somnolence
there can be no silence
and no rest
instead of holding
effort's throwing
and when it lands in the still growing
no sleep could interrupt
the striving pursuit for completion,
holiest ambition

Film: The Phantom of Liberty by Luis Buñuel (Part 2/2)

Stories From the State of Grotesque

 

In his surrealist tour de force filmmaker Luis Buñuel explores the brinks of narrating and staging the big picture of a strange world. From behind the observing eye of the camera he remarks an augmented reality of sights, sounds, actions and urges.

by Kilian

Literature: poetry II

tale 
by Kilian 

ideas without origin
I picked you up on railroad tracks
what will it be,
where are you from?
the hint is long and
dim the word
I thought I heard it once,
it's you who had been told and I was there
and then you were with me
and whispered that
this way, you would be coming back

Literature: poetry I

morning
by Kilian 

the world not created by myself

I see it clear-cut
loose ends and flesh
in storied rooms
space is forming
and I watch
how it all turns upon itself
a sparkling fury
in a lighthouse on a rock
I'm lifting weights in heaven's stores
my light as pale as fog

Music: Etta Bond - 'Under The Knife' VIDEO

Picture copyright by Landmark / PR Photos.

'Say I'm beautiful, oh say I'm beautiful.'

Have you ever been called beautiful or pretty? Those kind words often compliment our outer appearance, our look, hair and make up and all the other things we want people to notice about us. Being thankful for them is easy since they boost our self-confidence and make us feel great and liked. But compliments directed at our amazing hair which we have spend 2 hours on or our skinny legs that we have starved for only cover up one part of our beauty. So what about the inner beauty, our personality, our charisma? 

Etta Bond knows: 'It ain't perfection when you've got no soul.'