best albums of 2009

best albums of 2009, in no particular order:


Prewar Yardsale, "M104"
One of the most criminally underrated bands ever, Prewar Yardsale might have made a modern masterpiece - again. A lot of the songs were written by their son Harmon.


Toby Goodshank, "Johnny's Democracy"
The most rock album Toby Goodshank has ever done, this is full of outrageous songs and puns. Name them all yourself.


V.A., "A Orillas del Magdalena: Coastal Cumbias from Colombia's Discos Fuentes" (Domino Sound)
An amazing compilation from New Orleans' Domino Sound, this is 'deep' cumbia; swampy, earthy, dirty, and full of great melodies.


Bill Callahan, "Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle"
Stunningly precise, ambitious, meditative.


David Tattersall, "Happy For A While"
Even without his band The Wave Pictures' trademark garage rock sound, this proves (again) what a great songwriter Tattersall is. Backed by Clémence Freschard and Stanley Brinks, this album was recorded in Berlin and has some of his strongest songs I've heard so far.


Der Nino aus Wien, "The Ocelot Show" / "Down in Albern" (Problembär Records)

Inhabiting a similar narrative universe as an artist that seems to be very distant -- Mount Eerie, Nino’s songs are all about impossibilities, inabilities, nowheres and nothings. All his favorite songwriters are dead (but some of them are not), he doesn’t know who he is, and we should all give up on certain things. But unlike Mount Eerie’s soundscapes, his songs are always on the verge of collapsing, of falling down in a haze of beer and dance (see him live). Nino manages to play with the German language in a way that few have done before him because he’s not afraid of silly combinations or nonsensical repetitions. Although the fellow Vienna band Ja, Panik are nowadays hailed as the new Tocotronic, Nino follows the iconic Hamburg band’s attitude of refusal or denial better than I’ve heard anywhere else.

Hazel Rickard, "Windfall"

In early May 2008, my friend Hazel and I embarked on a cross-country adventure, albeit with different means of travel: I had packed my American self and four friends in my 1992 Ford Taurus station wagon; Hazel and her friends were equipped with a small banjo and bikes. We both started in Portland, OR; I was headed for New York, she was headed for Portland, Maine, as far as I can recall. My car broke down after five hours of driving while we listened to the Easy Rider soundtrack; Hazel made it. I continued on greyhounds and airplanes, Hazel continued to make a record documenting her travels. In the same spirit of my New Orleans favorites Hurray For The Riff Raff, „Windfall“ is a collection of banjo/accordion originals that sound distinctly modern, positively angry, and incredibly strong, more like a bike than a car.

Also very very good albums:

Freschard, Moonstone

Old Crow Medicine Show, Tennessee Pusher

Sam Amidon, All Is Well

Locas In Love, Winter

Great Lake Swimmers, Lost Channels

Jeffrey Lewis & the Junkyard, Em Are I

Schwervon!, Low Blow

Julie Doiron, I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day

Falk & die Wiese, Appointments

Kevin Blechdom, Gentlemania

Huggabroomstik, The Alternate Huggabroomstik

Karl Blau, Nature’s Got Away

Patrick Wolf, The Bachelor

Stahlberger, Rägebogesiedlig

John Houx, John Houx's Green Period

Stanley Brinks & the Wave Pictures, s/t

Stanley Brinks, Horns In

Maher Halal Shash Baz, C’est la dernière chanson

Sarsaparilla, Ebb / Dear Ancestors

Various Artists, Dark Was The Night

Uke of Space Corners, Flowers In The Night

Emily Jane White, Victorian America

Woods, Songs of Shame

Spring Breakup, s/t

Michael Hurley, Ida Con Snock

Lonski & Classen, Climbing On Branches

LAKE, Let's Build A Roof

The Burning Hell, Baby

Bowerbirds, Upper Air

favorite songs of 2009

really, really good songs from 2009:


Air Waves, "Shine On" (myspace)


Dirty Projectors, "Stillness Is The Move" (youtube) (solange knowles cover version)


Phoenix, "Lisztomania" (youtube)


Der Nino aus Wien, "Es geht immer ums Vollenden" (youtube) / "Nicht jeder Spiegel ist gleich"


John Houx, "Born in 1984" (youtube) / "Apple On A Table, Green" (youtube)


Hazel Rickard, "Ives" (website)


Clint Michigan, "Hawthorne to Hennepin" (myspace)

Bat For Lashes, "Daniel" (youtube)
Boo Hoo, "Pete & Pete"
Bowerbids, "Northern Lights" (youtube)
Camera Obscura, "James" (youtube)
The Cay, "Cachalot"
D. Cooper, "So Low" / "In the Morning After" (youtube)
Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, Jason Lytle, "Everytime I'm With You" (youtube)
Daniel, Fred & Julie, "Runner"
The Debutante Hour, "Galax"
Demons' Claws, "Trip To A Clinic"
Dinosaur Jr., "Over It" (youtube)
Emily Jane White, "Victorian America" (youtube)
Everybody Knows/Daniel Bernstein, "Tag Your Hollow"
Falk & die Wiese, "Appointments" / "People"
Forest City Lovers, "Orphans" (youtube)
Generationals, "When They Fight, They Fight" (youtube)
Great Lake Swimmers, "Pulling On A Line" (youtube)
Hurray for the Riff Raff, "A Slow Walk" (Daytrotter Session)
Jeffrey Lewis & the Junkyard, "It's Not Impossible"
Jim White, "Jailbird" (youtube)
Karl Blau, "That's The Breaks" / "It's The Stars"
Kevin Blechdom, "Lazy"
LAKE, "Don't Give Up" (youtube)
Laura Gibson, "Spirited" (youtube)
Locas in Love, "Bushwick"(youtube)
Martha Rose, "In The End" (myspace)
Michael Hurley, "Wildegeeses"
MoreEats, "Macht" / "Momo Le Chat" (myspace)
Moritz Krämer, "90 Minuten" (myspace)
The Mountain Goats, "Genesis 3:23"
Nneka, "Heartbeat" (youtube)
New Boyz, "You're A Jerk" (youtube)
Patrick Wolf, "Damaris"
Plies, "Can't Cry"
Sarsaparilla, "Hunt" / "Earthling" (myspace)
Sharon van Etten, "Much More Than That"
Shotgun Jimmie, "Bedhead" (myspace)
Simone White, "Bunny In A Bunny Suit" (youtube)
Stahlberger, "Rägebogesiedlig" (youtube)
The Thermals, "Now We Can See" (youtube)
Toby Goodshank, "Untitled #1"
tUnE-yArDs, "Little Tiger"
Vic Chesnutt, "Flirted With You All My Life" (youtube)
Woods, "Rain On" (youtube)

favorite shows of 2009

Down by the River Festival, 4.7., Bar 25, Berlin

more: The Left Outsides / The Debutante Hour / The Fishermen Three

Omar Souleyman & Group Doueh, 13.6., Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin



John Houx, Art Sorority for Girls, Dibs, 3.8., Petrolia, CA

Through the Living Rooms sample
von fhadid

Der Nino aus Wien, 3.5., rhiz, Vienna


The Burning Hell, Candle Cave Ensemble Pt. II + more, No Fest at the Spill, Peterborough, Ontario


Also really really good:
Jonathan Richman, Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin
Kat Burns, Boo Hoo, Dan Costello; Ä, Berlin
Spring Breakup, Veda Hille; Lagari, Berlin
Ava Petit René; VorWien, Berlin
Emily Jane White, Fancie; West Germany, Berlin
Anais Mitchell, Creaky Boards; Schokoladen, Berlin
Huggabroomstik, The Fishermen Three, Horror Me; West Germany, Berlin
MoreEats; Schopf, Schaan, Liechtenstein
Bowerbirds; One Eyed Jack's, New Orleans, LA

best movies of 2009

in no specific order, these are my favorite films discoverd in 2009:



Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo (USA 2009; dir. Bradley Beesley)




Encounters at the End of the World (South Pole 2007; dir. Werner Herzog)



Japón (Mexico 2002; dir. Carlos Reygadas)



Milk (USA 2008; dir. Gus Van Sant)



City of Borders (Israel 2009; dir. Yun Suh)



Welcome (France 2009; dir. Philippe Lioret)



Shelter (USA 2007; dir. Jonah Markowitz)



Gomorra (Italy 2008; dir. Matteo Garrone)



Ander (Euskadi 2009; dir. Roberto Castón)



The Yes Men Fix the World (USA 2009; dir. Andy Bichlbaum & Mike Bonnano)



Afterschool (USA 2008; dir. Antonio Campos)

Interview mit dem "Nino aus Wien"

Herbst in Berlin. Mittwochabend. Regen. Der Weinbergspark verschwindet in Nebel und Dunkelheit, ein finsteres Loch in der Stadt. Scheinwerfer rauschen über die Kreuzung vor dem King-Kong-Klub. In aller Gemächlichkeit beginnt dort der Konzertabend „Wien in Berlin“, der vielversprechende Musiker aus der österreichischen Hauptstadt dem Berliner Publikum vorstellt. Die Wiener sitzen in großer Runde auf den ausladenden, ausgesessenen Ledercouchs. Einer von ihnen steht auf und trottet zu uns an die Bar. Seine Bewegungen sind fahrig und gleichen denen einer »schlampert« geführten Marionette. Es handelt sich um Nino Mandl, den »Nino aus Wien«. Er ist gerade einmal 22 Jahre alt und wird angesichts seiner skurrilen wie originellen Texte und seiner anrührenden wie spröden Melodien in Wien als die neue Singer-/Songwriter-Hoffnung gehandelt. Er hat seit letztem Jahr zwei Alben bei dem kleinen Wiener Label Problembär-Records veröffentlicht: »The Ocelot Show« und »Down in Albern«. Wir kennen uns schon von gemeinsamen Konzerten in Wien und Berlin zu Beginn des Jahres und freuen uns über das Wiedersehen. Wir bestellen ein Bier, zünden Zigaretten an und kurz bevor wie den MP3-Recorder einschalten, beteuert Nino, wir sollten uns keine Sorgen machen, er sei nicht bösartig.

http://goon-magazin.de/index.php/2009/12/14/nino-aus-wien/#nav

slices

so my friend Isabel and I spent countless hours sweating in a copy shop (and drinking countless gin and tonics while editing) to finish this little project: the English/German-language literature / poetry / photography zine slices. On about 80 pages, it has brilliant writing by Josepha Conrad, Gerd Dembowski, Dan Fishback, Thomas Gockelen-Kozlowski, Anna Kasten, Bernard King, Monika Rinck, Sibylle Schmidt, Max Steele, Hope Volans, and Deenah Vollmer; and photographs / illustrations / comics by Florian Lüdde & Alberto Accettura, Anja Conrad, Tine Crunk, Toby Goodshank, and Scott Longo. We thank all the contributors! We made it! If you're interested in getting a copy, please write an email to sebastianhoffmann at web.de

best burgers of 2008

Here are the results of the first independent burger test, conducted in Berlin by Isabel and myself. All places where tested and rated according to the quality of meat, bun, sides, service, fries, location, and value for money, on a scale from 1 (worst) to 10 (best).

9. Politically Correct Burgers (Manteuffelstr., U Görlitzer Bhf)
Meat: 1pt / Bun: 2pts / Sides: 1pt / Service: 3pts / Fries: 2pts / Location: 2pts / Value: 4pts
Average: 2,14

8. Kreuzburger (Oranienstr. 190, U Görlitzer Bhf)
Meat: 5pts / Bun: 2pts / Sides: 3pts / Service: 5pts / Fries: 2pts / Value: 3pts
Average: 3,29

7. Pow Wow (Dieffenbachstr. 11, U Schönleinstr.)
Meat: 6pts / Bun: 5pts / Sides: 9pts / Service: 4pts / Fries: 6pts / Location: 2pts / Value: 4pts
Average: 4,57

6. Burgermeister (Oberbaumbrücke, U Schlesisches Tor)
Meat: 7pts / Bun: 6pts / Sides: 1pt / Service: 5pts / Fries: 5pts / Location: 4pts / Value: 6pts
Average: 4,86

5. White Trash Fast Food (Schönhauser Allee, U Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz)
Meat: 7pts / Bun: 8pts / Sides: - / Service: 6pts / Fries: 4pts / Location: 6pts / Value: 3pts
Average: 5,00

4. Frühstück/Kuchen (we don't know the name of this place, but it's a yuppie-ish café on Schlesische Str. between Skalitzer Str. and Falckensteinstr.)
Meat: 8pts / Bun: 4pts / Sides: 6pts / Service: 9pts / Fries: 1pt / Location: 2pts / Value: 7pts
Average: 5,29

3. Burgerhouse (Reichenberger Str. 174, U Kottbusser Tor)
Meat: 6pts / Bun: 8pts / Sides: - / Service: 3pts / Fries: 6pts / Location: 5pts / Value: 10pts
Average: 5,43

2. Frittiersalon (Boxhagener Str. , U Frankfurter Tor)
Meat: 7.5pts / Bun: 5pts / Sides: 9pts / Service: 8pts / Fries: 9pts / Location: 6pts / Value: 5pts
Average: 7,07

and the best burger place in Berlin is

1. Room 77 (Gräfestr. 77, U Schönleinstr.)
Meat: 9pts / Bun: 5pts / Sides: 7pts / Service: 7pts / Fries: 7pts / Location: 9pts / Value: 7pts
Average: 7,29

best albums of 2008

top 11 albums of 2008, in no particular order:


Leyna Noel, "From The Mouth Of The Jar" (self-released)

I played a show with Leyna Noel this year in January, in San Francisco, at the lovely Fort Gallery. She had just returned from a tour in France, and she played the guitar. Before the show, I heard she plays the piano. I liked her songs, and I wrote down a lyric in my notebook "The happiest people play the saddest songs" (or was it "the saddest people play the happiest songs"?). After the show, we exchanged CDs, and she told me it was the last copy of her CD she had. The CD came in a hand-sewn bag, and I had to cut it open to listen to it. Beautifully produced, these songs are so powerful because every single note fits, every single note is needed.

Hurray For The Riff Raff, "It Don't Mean I Don't Love You" (self-released)

This summer, I heard about a new queer bar in Berlin, Silver Future. I checked out their website and saw that a band from New Orleans was playing there. I missed New Orleans. It was a rainy summer night, and I convinced my friends Josepha, Isabel, and Deenah to join me. After a long walk, we finally hit Silver Future, saw the wonderful Ronetta open for Hurray For The Riff Raff, who then, just banjo and accordion, played the most heart-breakingly simple songs I had heard in a long, long time. I imagined the tree behind the Walmsley Mansion, I heard the stray cats, there was a taste of Daiquiri in my mouth, I swear I could even smell the heat, that night.

Alex Banjo, "Y2K Ghost," "E.V.I.L.," "F.U.C.K." (self-released)

Alex Banjo is a member of the great French folk band Coming Soon. He gave me a couple of his home recordings at the end of last year, and this summer, when we played a fun house show together in Annecy. Those songs are all jewels, raw and unpolished. Sometimes just Alex on guitar and ukulele, sometimes with mad casio beats, sometimes I wonder what they would sound like if they were covered by, say, Sam Cooke or Nina Simone. Because these are classic tunes, melodies like rollercoasters.


LAKE, "Oh, The Places We'll Go" (K Records)
The tape is rolling. You can hear it in the background. Everyone in this collective seems to know what everyone else holding an instrument will do next, and for each song they change instruments, like an internal challenge maybe. They are tight.


The Pica Beats, "All Mysteries Solve Themselves" (self-released), "Beating Back The Claws Of The Cold" (Hardly Art)
My friend Tiffany gave me a copy of "All Mysteries..." in a dusty back room filled with paintings in Seattle, Washington, in April. I was put off by the funny cover art at first, and the sitar (a new age indie rock band?), but then the title track suddenly jumped in my face, and for weeks, there was nothing else I could listen to, hours that only consisted in waiting for those damn drums to finally kick in: they're built like modern musical instruments, the likes of which you never heard before


Jonathan Richman, "Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild" (Vapor Records)
At the Wave Pictures' David Tattersal's and Johnny Helm's house in Leyton, East London, it seemed like we only listened to Django Reinhardt, Bruce Springsteen, or the new Jonathan Richman record. Fresh like the world.


Dan Fishback, "Calendar Boys" (self-released)
Produced by Andrew Phillip Tipton (who also put out his remarkable third solo album this year) in Staten Island, this is a B-Sides for an album that hasn't even been fully recorded. Banjo, glockenspiel, ukulele, guitar, Dan's voice; that's it, and many many very funny and wise reflections on boys who play guitar.


François Virot, "Yes Or No" (Clapping Music)
In front of the Theaterkapelle in Friedrichshain, I discussed François Virot's music with a couple of friends while he was re-stringing his guitar inside. One friend said he'd never heard music like this before. I agree.


Mount Eerie, "Nobody's Perfect," "Lost Wisdom" (with Julie Doiron & Fred Squire, P.W. Elverum & Sun, ltd.)
I don't know where "Nobody's Perfect" comes from. There's little info on these five live songs, they seem to come from Nowhere. Neil Young drums, Neil Young electrical guitars, but these are different words, coming from a didactic world Neil Young doesn't know about: all materials borrowed, all songs immediately lost forever, singing in a generous way, that will be my signature, a cool album with a cool name, by noone, called Nobody's Perfect, nobody / maybe it's not fair to expect so much from you, young people of the modern megastate, the adults have always brought you food, so you won't know who to ask, how to cook when it's time to walk into the night alone / we must stop thinking nationally, it has no name so it has nobody, it has no shape so it has no border, it has nobody and having nobody is perfect, nobody's perfect / so having walked until dark, like this with nothing, how does the world look now, it looks different / what I find it will be found easily and only when I am not looking for it


The Burning Hell, "Happy Birthday" (Weewerk)
Happy Birthday to the end of the world! Pro-folk and anti-love, this band from Ontario had dinner in my room and then convinced us all to get out of the romance and fucking party.


Arthur Russell, "Love Is Overtaking Me" (Audika Records)
A very carefully compiled overview of avant-garde cellist/disco producer Arthur Russell's country and folk songs, this is overflowing with pain, and immense, immense love.

Honorable mentions:
The Mountain Goats, "Heretic Pride"
Jeffrey Lewis, "12 Crass Songs"
Xiu Xiu, "Women As Lovers"
Ashley and Eli, "Dying Dogs Come Again"
Dream Bitches, "Coke and Spriters"
Ching Chong Song, "Little Naked Gay Adventure"
Dave End, "Fruits Commonly Mistaken For Vegetables"
Susie Asado, "Hello Antenna"
Coming Soon, "New Grids"
Lupus & Van Pelt, "Pirate Politics"
The Lisps, "Country Doctor Museum"
Falk & die Wiese, "Pigeon & Moron"
Toby Goodshank, "Pray To You"
Karl Blau, "A.M."
PEACE, "On Earth"
El Guincho, "Alegranza!"
Liv Carrow, "It's About Time"
Andrew Phillip Tipton, "The Champion Of Love"
Beißpony, "Beißpony"
Kat Frankie, "Pocketknife"
The Wave Pictures, "Just Like A Drummer EP," "Instant Coffee Baby"
Alela Diane, "The Pirate's Gospel"
Gustav, "Verlass die Stadt"
Sorry Gilberto, "Memory Oh"
Jack 'Thunder' Lewis, "Digital Lvov"
Silver Jews, "Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea"
Morgan Orion and the Constellations, "s/t"
Snöleoparden, "Snöleoparden"
Club Mate, "Plays The Songs Of Thomas Patrick Maguire"
Animal Collective, "Water Curses EP"
Lucky Dragons, "Dream Island Laughing Language"
White Fang, "Pure Evil"
My Sister Grenadine, "Shine In The Dark"
Stanley Brinks, "Sings The Blues"
The Fishermen Three, "Rosina On The Balcony"
Emily Jane White, "Dark Undercoat"

and many, many more

best songs of 2008

standout tracks of 2008:

Tissø Lake, "I Am Like A Lake"
Perfume Genius, "Mister Petersen"
Toby Goodshank feat. Major Matt Mason USA, "Walk Away"
Dengue Fever, "Seeing Hands"
Alela Diane, "The Pirate's Gospel"
Jonathan Richman, "When We Refuse To Suffer"
Jack 'Thunder' Lewis, "Wait It Out"
François Virot, "Say Fiesta"
White Fang, "Green Beanz"
Final Fantasy, "The Butcher"
Falk & die Wiese, "Appointments"
Animal Collective, "Water Curses"
The Mountain Goats, "San Bernardino"
Alex Banjo, "Skinny Cat"
Silver Jews, "We Could Be Looking For The Same Thing"
Gustav, "Happy Birthday"
Dan Fishback, "Make Out"
Andrew Phillip Tipton, "First To Love"
D. Cooper, "I Hate Your Flip Flops, I Hate Your Smile"
Liv Carrow, "Madame Rosie"
Mount Eerie, "Nations"
The Burning Hell, "It Happens In Florida"
The Fishermen Three, "Danny"
Morgan Orion, "I'm Not Here For The City"
Horror Me, "Sad When Gone"

favorite shows of 2008

In chronological order, my favorite concerts of 2008 (of course, all the tour shows were the best but cannot be listed here):

Andrew Phillip Tipton & Dan Fishback / Pete's Candy Store, Brooklyn, NY
Jeffrey Lewis / Sidewalk Café, New York
The Mountain Goats / Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
LAKE / The Artistery, Portland, OR
Schwervon! & Angelo Spencer / House of Commons, Austin, TX
Physics of Meaning & The Lisps & Laura Gibson / After the Jump BBQ, Austin, TX
Your Heart Breaks & Big Little Dipper Dipper / a house in Seattle, WA
Knit Hands, Tom Gk & the Gockelettes, The Roadrunners, White Fang, Adrian Orange /SU, Reed College, Portland, OR
Scout Niblett / Doug Fir Lounge, Portland OR
Homesick Elephant, Apple Miner Colony / Echo Curio, Los Angeles, CA
Black Lips / Market Hotel, Brooklyn, NY
Huggabroomstik, Ching Chong Song / Goodbye Blue Monday, Brooklyn, NY
Liv Carrow, Dibs, Poton, Andrew Phillip Tipton, Dan Fishback / Everything Goes Book Café, Staten Island, NY
LAKE, Toby Goodshank, Dizzy Spells Martian / nbi, Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
Ronetta, Hurray For The Riff Raff / Silver Future, Berlin-Neukölln
François Virot, Horror Me, Jeffrey Lewis / Theaterkapelle, Berlin-Friedrichshain
Orchestre Miniature in the Park & Phoebe Kreutz / Ostkreuz, Berlin
Major Matt Mason USA / Total Art Space, Berlin-Neukölln
Animal Collective / Berghain/Panorama Bar, Berlin
The California Honeydrops / Bassy, Berlin
The United Steel Workers of Montréal / Bassy, Berlin
Mr. Mostash, The Burning Hell / West Germany, Berlin-Kreuzberg
Agent Ribbons, Falk & die Wiese / West Germany, Berlin-Kreuzberg
Kid Ikarus, Susie Asado, Freschard, Jimmy Trash and the Gunpowder Temple of Heaven / Schokoladen, Orph-Theater, Berlin-Mitte

best movies of 2008

In no particular order, these are my favorite films discovered in 2008:



Syndromes And A Century (Thailand 2006; dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul)



En el hoyo (Mexico 2006; dir. Juan Carlos Rulfo)



Los últimos zapatistas: héroes olvidados (Mexico 2002 ; dir. Francesco Taboada Tabone)



King Corn (USA 2007 ; dir. Aaron Woolf)



Mister Lonely (USA 2007; dir. Harmony Korine)



The Dark Knight (USA 2008; dir. Christopher Nolan)



A Wild Combination: A Portrait Of Arthur Russell (USA 2008; dir. Matt Wolf)



For The Bible Tells Me So (USA 2007; dir. Daniel Karslake)



The Darjeeling Limited / Hotel Chevalier (USA 2007; dir. Wes Anderson)



This Is Nollywood (Nigeria 2007; dir. Franco Sacchi & Robert Caputo)



Persepolis (France/USA 2007; dir. Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud)



El Violín (Mexico 2005; dir. Francisco Vargas)



Apart From That (USA 2006; dir. Jennifer Shainin & Randy Walker)



Un poquito de tanta verdad (Mexico 2007 ; dir. Jill Friedberg)