Holy crap! A year ago I wrote a post about Courtney Love and Hole here, about longing for her upcoming Nobody’s Daughter that was scheduled to come out that spring - but surprise, surprise didn’t - and fondly remembering the past. Well, folks, the new album is now finally here! But trust Courtney to do it with a twist.
She’s reformed Hole! Without Eric! And she’s releasing the album as Hole instead of as herself. AND NOBODY TOLD ME! And according to someone on rateyourmusic.com, and oh of course this on Spin, he’s not too happy about it. Drama aside, this is weird. Is it a marketing thing? That she didn’t sell as many records with her own name as she did with Hole? Given, she is the VOICE of Hole, but isn’t a band more than that? Also, Hole was always girls and Eric, now it’s Courtney and three guys. I’m not against change per se, but this is weird for me, it really is.
The album is going to be released at the end of April and this time it really is, right? Yeah, well, we’ve heard it before. The website says April 26th and 27th.
Music wise, I’m not sure yet. I mean, I’m gonna buy it, and listen to it, when it comes out, cos I’m a sucker for Courtney, but I’m not sure yet what I think of what I’ve heard from it. There’s a single up on their MySpace, “Skinny Little Bitch”, that doesn’t really speak to me. I don’t dislike it, but it doesn’t do anything for me, yet. I’ll have to listen to it 20 more times. However, it wouldn’t be the first time for something of Courtney’s to take a while before sinking in. There’s also a video of “Samantha” up on their youTube Channel and on the website. It’s supposedly a second coming single, and on the album (or so says Wikipedia).
As an old fan of Hole I guess I should be thrilled, and I guess in a way I am. Finally an album after such a long time. An album that, judging from the two songs I’ve hear so far, does sound like a natural next step from Celebrity Skin and America’s Sweetheart. Again, more mature than the one before. Following the pattern. Though at the same time I watch her perform “Samantha” and I’m not feeling it. What I definitely felt watching the singles from Live Through This. What I still felt watching her live in ‘99 on Hultsfred Festival. What I sometimes still feel listening to her solo album. I don’t know. Maybe I just need time to reconnect to the aged Courtney. Hell. I’m fucking aged as well.
I just came back from Paris.
As usual, I brought a size-of-a-playing-card copy of PTBJ logo with me and took a lot of useless pictures out and about in Paris.
While waiting to finish choosing the most ridiculous ones to put in the next post.. here’s something parisien, just to get in the mood.
Before losing my “teenage status” in the mid 90’s, I had the chance to live a few years in probably the worst ranked decade of the XX century, at least in music reviews. Before becoming a shoegazer, before wishing to be Kim Deal’s husband (and PJ Harvey’s lover), before playing air guitar on Pumpkins’ “Cherub rock” and headbanging to NIN’s “March of the pigs”, my favourites were Read More..
I often talk about electronic music with Dino (London-based sardinian friend of mine). I know so little about it; Dino (aka Home Alone), on the other hand, loves it and produces it. A few months ago I asked him: “Who do you think is gonna be the next electronic/dance/disco/techno big thing?”. I “just” wanted a name that would have gone through the barriers of the genre and became “popular”.
The answer was “The Bloody Beetroots, definitely. They’re don’t belong to mainstream, but people will talk about them”.
He was right.
And now that it’s about time to write a post about them, I thought it could have been a good idea to ask Dino for some help. Here’s what he says about The Bloody Beetroots:
Last year Friendly Fires’ “Jump in the pool” gained a post here on PTBJ, and I decided it also deserved a place among my own personal best singles of 2008 (here’s the unmissable and marvellous post about it. Still wonder why they didn’t give me the Pulitzer for it).
Last Christmas I bought myself Read More..
On the last night in Bruxelles (see post), we had a few rounds of local beer in a charming pub in the Grand Place (Grote Markt): warm and relaxed atmosphere, dim lights, and.. I’m not a beer fan (I’m far way more the wine type), but the unexpected flavours of those home brewed neptars made the brass fixtures, the dark wood furniture, the aluminium pipes and the.. er.. fermentation cylinder look sooo Read More..
New baby in town!
Former PretendingToBeJapanese contributor Jenny from Malmoe, Sweden, has become a mother!
As you can read and see by yourself in Jenny’s own blog, the baby boy’s name is Alvin, and he’s, in a word, bellissimo.
In the beginning was London, then comes Berlin, and, last April, Ireland.
And.. a couple of weeks ago, as I advertised in the previous post, PTBJ logo went to Belgium. Bruxelles/Brussels and Bruges are such lovely cities, full of spots that deserve a photo, welcoming you with charming and attractive pubs, excellent restaurants, nice people and a choice of beers with the size of a galaxy (the choice, not the beers).
How can’t you love a country whose national food is “steamed mussels with fried fresh potatoes” and where CHOCOLATE, in its any form and expression, is an art?
(the rest of the footage here, in my page on Flickr)
And so.. this very weekend I’m going to Bruxelles, Belgium.
Know almost nothing about their culture, surely not enough to write a decent post about it.
However.. there’s a bunch of belgian artists I loved in the 90s and still appreciate: we already talked about marvellous dEUS, here; in my opinion the best “made in Belgium” indie item of all time.
I cannot forget to mention Venus, a brilliant band from Bruxelles I happened to see live in Sardinia a good ten years ago: in that occasion I bought myself the cdsingle of “Royalsucker” (their first EP). I strongly suggest you to go searching the net for this guiltily underrated indie pop gem. They split a couple of years ago.
There’s another belgian band I liked a lot in the past. It’s Soulwax. Their 1998 “Much against everyone’s advice” album is awesome and filled with killer tunes. They’re still alive and kicking, but unfortunately they decided to choose djing and remixing over.. er.. guitar-toting? (here’s the Uk site, last updated in november 2004).
You could happen to see them performing as a (ultra-hyped) duo, under the Soulwax former brand or the 2manydjs new one.
In memories of those good old days (3 videos 3)..
