400 new pictures added to my website

I finally uploaded all the 400 new pictures from 2008 to my FlickR-page, for anyone who's interested...

* Sofia (March)


* Bucuresti (summer)


* Oslo (summer/autumn)


* Sfântu Gheorghe - Anonimul Film Festival (August)


* Vama Veche (August)


* Berlin (September)


The main page for all the DJ-mixes, blogs, pictures, videos etc. is always www.frankplads.com.

Thanks,


Christian

Huge update to my website - 80 interviews and 10 DJ-sets (almost 50 hours of music)

Hey all. I just updated my website and added:

a) almost 50 hours of music, in 10 DJ-sets that are all about FIVE hours long and contain tons of various music styles, with playlists and timing-points
b) over 80 interviews (in Norwegian) with various artists and producers, from 2001 up to now

Feel free to check it out if you want, www.frankplads.com is my new website.

Videos and pictures from Rokolectiv 2008

These are videos and pictures from the third edition of Rokolectiv, a Romanian festival in Bucuresti/Bucharest for electronic music and related visual arts.

It took place at the 11th and 12th of April at the club Session, and on the closing Sunday the 13th at the National Museum of Contemporary Arts (MNAC).

This year's theme was Playground, and the artists were encouraged to "push their limits of their creativity and engage their playful energies".

Some of the artists are listed here:
* Underground Resistance (US)
* Mungolian Jet Set (NO)
* Jean-Jacques Perrey & David Chazam (FR)
* Daedelus (US)
* Elektrofant (NO)
* Khan of Finland (DE)
* DAT Politics (FR)

For much more information, go to the official website.

Below are 28 videos on YouTube - click on a video to open it in a separate window, and you can also click here to see a gallery of 32 pictures on Flickr.

DAT Politics




Underground Resistance (seven videos)
















Tom Wilson




Kalabrese presents The Rumpelorchestra






Mungolian Jet Set (three videos)








Elektrofant (three videos)








Khan of Finland




Daedelus




Jean-Jacques Perrey (nine videos)

Candy Says - Picture Of An Angel (from "Live Nude Girls")

"Live Nude Girls" is a nice little movie from 1995 about a group of women having a sleepover party, while constantly talking about relationships, life and sex. Lots of sex, I should add!

During this very sensual fantasy scene (see it below) with Olivia d'Abo and Lora Zane, a song is played that I was never able to find out what was - until now. Answer is coming up...

I finally had the bright idea of emailing the film's music supervisor Robin Urdang, and she told me it's "Picture Of An Angel", by the pretty unknown group Candy Says. It's available on their very rare album "Kaleidoscope" (1992).

Strangely enough it doesn't really resemble any other songs on the album, since it's the only ambient track like this there. Here you can listen to the whole track:

And I hope the band don't get angry with me, but since it's nearly impossible to find this album I took the liberty of sharing the full MP3 of the song. Here it is in 320 kb/s: link 1 or link 2. (Comment if the links go down.)

LYRICS

"I've been gone for days now

You didn't hear me leave

I had good intentions

But I was so naive

I was wrong

I want to be a lady

An angel for a day

I want to be forgiven

What more can I say

I was wrong

I could die tomorrow

Wouldn't that be sad

Another voice gone silent

In a world gone mad

I was wrong

I was wrong"


REVIEW IN LOUISVILLE MUSIC NEWS (MARCH 1993)

"Comparisons to other alternative groups abound about the Lexington, Ky-based pop rock poets Candy Says, ranging from 10,000 Maniacs to the Cure to the Sundays. Guitar-based rock trios featuring girl singers with feathery voices are hardly a new configuration and they usually serve to showcase either the female singer's vocals or the group's songwriting abilities or both.

Candy Says' second release, Kaleidoscope, bows to the form, with clean, precise arrangements that offer up Aleah X. Metzger's voice. Most of the time it works, though occasionally she seems to be a butterfly being chased by large felines, as the guitar-rooted melody lines edge toward snarling power-chords.

The rhythm section of Jay Baker on drums and Keith Coleman on bass is straight-ahead and generally right in the pocket. When that section is combined with R. R. Hornback's guitar, many of the tunes have a riff-driven pop groove. That sound goes a long way back past current alternative to a mid-Sixties feel, sometimes like Hendrix, sometimes even like early Fairport Convention but still Nineties smooth.

Ah, but to the point -- is there a radio tune on this project? Any hit songs?

"Upside Down" has a fine little guitar riff for an intro and the tune's musical structure fits solidly into the mold. Some of the most interesting lyrics on the album are found in this song.

"As She Fades" seems to the band's choice -- they throw in a little radio static and tuning at the beginning. Hornback's guitar part even feels like Fogerty in his Credence days.

The rest of the tunes are less individually memorable, although the overall sound and feel of the album has a certain stick-in-the-back-of-the-head quality. The lyrics are obscurely poetic but lack real punch. When there is a strong lyric, it doesn't match the music, so that there are no dynamite hooks.

Still, the project is a good effort by a band that clearly wants to be taken seriously (read major-label ready).

Kaleidoscope should earn them at least a look at their next project."

Written by Paul Moffett


P.S. Not surprisingly, the movie doesn't contain much nudity, which might be a bummer for those wanting to see Dana Delany and Kim Cattrall naked.

P.P.S. I will of course remove the download links if requested by the band or other copyright holders.

Geert Wilders' "Fitna"

The Dutch politican Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV) recently released his short anti-Islam film "Fitna" on the net.

It's actually not a very good film, and after seeing it I was going to write something about the content – but I actually don't dare. And I'm not alone about this. For instance, many sites that had it up for streaming have removed it from their servers, due to fear of retaliations from Islamists.

Also, in the movie Wilders seemingly tears a page out of The Qur'an, then it fades to black and he writes "the sound you heard was a page torn from a phone book", to make it clear he didn't touch the holy book.

This makes me think... what does all this fear say about the situation of Europe today, and where we are headed?

China are killing monks in Tibet

China are now murdering innocent monks and other protesters in Tibet, while lying to the world community and saying no violence is happening. This is all part of their invasion of Tibet.

PLEASE help Tibet by signing one (or both) of these two petitions:
Avaaz and ThePetitionSite

It only takes a minute or so, and your signature will help. Also, please give the link for this page to all your friends, so they can sign the petitions too.

If you don't believe this is happening, click here to see pictures of monks who have been shot to death (warning: very graphic pictures). Here is the press release with facts about the killings.

When remixes are shit: Michael Jackson - Thriller (25th Anniversary Edition)

Michael Jackson's "Thriller", one of the best pop albums ever, recently got a re-release coinciding with its 25th anniversary.

There is already a really good "Special Edition" from 2001 with all the original tracks plus interviews, but of course MJ and Epic wanna sell the album again, so on this "25th Anniversary Edition" you get new and bland remixes thrown in:

* "The girl is mine 2008" (with Will.I.Am)
* "PYT (Pretty Young Thing) 2008" (with Will.I.Am)
* "Wanna be startin' somethin' 2008" (with Akon)
* "Beat it 2008" (with Fergie)
* "Billie Jean 2008" (with Kanye West)

Sure, they are all decent and typical productions for 2007/8, and they sound similar to any other shit that's on the charts these days. But when you are remixing Michael Jackson, this just isn't good enough.

So all of these manage to turn the original brilliant songs and productions into mediocre blandness. Nothing of value is added, and they demonstrate perfectly how poor modern and programmed R&B can sound. Compare each remix to the real musicianship and funk of real soul/funk/disco/black music, and they all sound lame, tame and pompous, especially Will.I.Am (who apparantly never even learned to spell).

If you want to, you can actually point to these new remixes as shining examples of everything that's wrong with popmusic these days, and I'm sure that wasn't the intention of Will.I.Am, Fergie and Kanye West - whom should all be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for shitting on "Thriller" like this.

Please don't spend any money on this crap, but download it from Torrent or Rapidshare it if you can. Make sure no one gets more money for this!