Music from Sin Fang...

Sin Fang new album "Flowers" is out now since a while and I finally had the chance to listen to his new music the other day. I came across him as I liked the cover very much and the idea to name an album after a cover, not after a song. 

It looks different and so is the music, classic but more alternative and not a single moment boring. He has funny songs about being a boy and others about weird hearts and what's wrong with your eyes. 

It sounds fresh not just like it came out 2012. 

So, even the art work is not that old from that time. Actually nowadays you'll find those beards with flowers in campains, but then... No. 

Anyway, the music made with cello, violins, trumpets, frensh horn and other instruments is surrouned by a deep and warm voice you may not expect watching at the picture of the singer. 

The names of those who play the instruments and the name of the singer Sin Fang / Sinori Már Sigfússon leads you to the idea of scandinavian rock and pop and alternative music and you are not that wrong with it. Thought the album is produced in Germany, actually in Berlin. 

The lyrics he wrote have something of a dream story or fantasy world. Sometimes the structure of the song is a bit classic, but mostly not. However they are made in a way so they sound like being from today and have a positive vibe, which seems to be grounded but flowing in the same time. 

Listening to this art is like wanting to listen once more. 

Perfect music for winter time when wayting for spring is a must. 

Getting a warm feeling and a bit swing- that's what you're after- so here it is....

My recommendation for the weekend.

Love & Light

LP visus CD

Seems this is no question at all, isn't it?

Don't be that sure. The lovers of LP will nearly kill you for the wrong answere. But I refuse to let me blinded by the love of them. 

Seriusly, it is actually a good question. 

Let's see who wins, the CD or the LP.

Remember the CD came into stores around 1990 and made the life for the LP a hell of earth. The new thing the better quality they say and less place and easier to handle. True, true the world bought all in CD what they had on LP. Many did for sure had their doubt but as the CD became cheaper and your flat got space, it was no hard question to go on buying the CD. 

Nearly dead the LP was, but some refused to give up and then their was Disco and Techno and all the DJs needed LP. Thought these days no longer, but on the other hand, the best DJs are those with LPs or am I wrong. 

Now a CD is cheaper to produce and can give more money buy selling them than a LP.  

Now after nearly 20 years things have changed and we have streaming. No need of CDs anymore. But less quality of sound came with the new versions. Your Ipad still has a high music quality, but the generation after got down with it and now their are far away from being excellent. But all we know that and for what we use the new technic it is not needed. Or do you need to hear the music in such a high quality when you do your sport?

Still we want good music home and have quality, keep what the artist is actually doing. 

By the way - sadly to say, the quality of pop songs, and most charts songs have been going down and many CDs, many albums are not the same as it used to be, but when you have to pay less, you don't care that much about it. 

But then again, some artist have produced very rare and beautiful albums and even made the CD out of paper, not plastic. They worked with storybooks and art and made it special to buy a CD, not just a plastic box with a plastic thing which has music on it. 

Some even made an LP version, but as the LP nearly was out, many albums from the around 92- 99 are not to find on a LP or are only to find in little numbers and therefore expensive.

But who is better now- the CD or the LP? 

The testindustry says it is the CD with the better sound, which the LP lovers deny and they say it is a trick. 

Then LP lovers say the sound is not that hard, it is softer, more naturally. 

As a human myself being hard of hearing I can't hear the difference.

But I can tell you some things about the CD and LP.

The CD is cheaper, easier to produce, has a high sound quality and does not take much space, is easy to bear and handle and collect and it does not matter how high the quality of the songs.
You can even have singles and a lot of remixes, which I like a lot.
A CD comes also in papper versions and with art made just for the CD. 

The LP has more space to have a cover feeling like art and making it special. It wights in your hands and makes you listen to music more carefully and take it not for granted. The LP needs more time to be cherished and lives longer for sure (as a CD has a lifetime of about 20 years they say). And if you hear a scratch on the LP it reminds you of life. You choose more carefully what music you buy and will enjoy it for sure more like being happy.

............ ..... So no one wins in my eyes. 
When I just want to buy music or have a -Best of-, the CD is still first choice. When I want something to listen to when I travel, then it is the CD I take with me. When I want to mix things or just have a single, then I stream or have my I tunes. 
When I want to keep a special album until I die or even give it to the next generation, I will buy a LP. It is luxury, it is special and for all time. The LP makes me remind to listen also to CDs more carefully again and to be true, because of all the cheap music I stopped buying CDs long time ago and only bought them when I thought the music worth it. And I even have my cassettes/ tapes... they still are functional and the radio DJ is still to hear on them. 
But sometimes it is a question of money. Like the money I have to pay for the K.D. Lang LP "Invincible summer" is quite high. Thought David Bowie LPs are worth now much more, even -Blackstar- is now over 30 Euros up to already 70 till 80,-€. 
Yes, the big time for LPs maybe never comes back as it is nearly impossible to produce as much as needed already now. 
So for me, I like both and will take it that way and this way and have fun.

Love & Light

 

I am grateful

About three weeks ago I started my #IAMGRATEFULFRIDAY as I believe we all need a reminder once in a while about the things we have and are grateful, about the beauty and about what is life. 

Today I am grateful about the freedom of speech. Actually do we all have it but some live under pressure and repression. Thought we can speak and tell. It's just the way how we do it. I am therefore very grateful to live in Europe as speaking freely is something I can do but I use to remind me that this is all but granted. Of course (it should be clear) that does not mean to speak the words like a blind man. We all know how words inflicts pain, can kill and give wrong pictures. That's why it is always good to look behind the meaning of words. To learn the understanding of a sentence and content. Choosing words wisely is something we all have to learn as it is so easy to misuse them or to make mistakes we don't want. You know, many times you may talk in a good way and only want the best but the understanding of the language of words is very difficult sometimes and so don't be to surprised when people get angry or upset. 

In my job I have had this many times. The misunderstanding of words. That's why I have to look how I talk and to whom and when. I also have to keep in mind which words are right and which are better to avoid as understanding is a sensitive thing. 

Even on Facebook I do not speak and tell what I know and want and so on. You may call it censoring or call it to protect myself, but I say that I only are aware of what words can do, how words can fly and how easy it is to get beaten down for saying loud out. Don't get me wrong I am loud if needed, I tell what has to be told but I use my voice and words the way I believe is best also for me. As all reflects on you and comes back to you, I believe it is a healthy way of communicating. 

It's facsinating how communication function and how much influence a speech has. 

How important it is to watch your words as they become true or lead you to the path you maybe wanted to avoid. 

The freedom of speech means to have responsibility. 

Yes, to be able to speak is a dangerous thing which can free your mind and life and therefore will be cut from many people of power. But your thoughts are still free, as they sitt in your mind. Don't let them kill your inner talking. 

Discover it again if you have lost it. 

The responsibility lies also in using the freedom of speech for good things, for love and positive things instead for spreeding hate and fear and lies. 

But all in all... how high the challenge may be... I am very grateful of the freedom of speech. 

Love & Light

Tonight my David, Goodnight my David!

A man is gone, he has sent himself for the never ending sleep. 

A man we believed would live forever.

But this man got more then the mostly simple R.I.P on the News, on Twitter, on Facebook.

How so? Because he was special. 

I am sure most of us are not the big David Bowie fan, but most of us have minimum one album of him home. 

How come we feel sad about his being dead? 

When I read all the postings, it is always with a clip from youtube or a story people tell. Those stories are not I remember what I did when... People told us what they remember. Those stories are about David and I, You and me and we. It is David in there lives. Inside their lives, not just meeting on the surface. Thought next to no one really meet him or got to know him. He seldom gave interviews. There have been next to no home stories for papers and TV. He remained mostly silent about his private life. But we knew him one of a kind, a man who was really accepting people. He was color blind, did not care about your sexuality and gender. Had no interest in your age as it was just a number, not your personality and he was always looking the same, but different. He was cool. 

Mr. Bowie  had a big influence in many homes. He touched our mind, our heart and souls. 

He showed that music is much more then just an easy listening thing. He showed that you can be commercial and in the same time outstanding and special and an outsider. He showed that you can be creative and have your spleen and in the same time be earnest and truthful and credible. He showed that you can make a concept album and have it in the same time done with your heart. 

Lucky man he was, as many struggle to get the same result. Seems people have forgotten or are afraid to believe this is possible for each artist. 

And his voice, deep, soft and commonly, yes classic and in the same time special and outstanding. 

No wonder that we could and still can find us in him as the common people and the outsider. 

The other day I was talking with my friends, will he ever go on tour again? Now we know, he wont and know we understand the last big show was at Tate Modern to show his art and I remember when the 24. Album came out it felt much like it could be his last one. Doing the best songs in new versions a-like and remembering his career, his time on several places. As a Berlin guy it felt special. Here in my town he got a new start and became the biggest star and it was the beginning of an era of -do what you like and make your own image- and it was after all the beginning of becoming a legend.

Yes, David Bowie was already in his lifetime a legend and he truly was. 

Already to feel after his peak and strongest time. Having created imagination and figures who died and then come back and be another man. He was the man on the moon and will always be. Because even if he did not made many albums he was never out, never away, never unloved. People like him, love him or have respect. Now the last album is a new step in every way. His legacy if I may say and as Dumbledore once said: Happiness can be found even in the darkest of time, if only one turn on a light. 

Blackstar will be that light I guess. A wild mix of experimental music and classic choices. 

So- a Legend, a real one. 

Just look at the numbers. It is the 25. album and his last one. He became 69 and suffered 18 months from cancer. The Blackstar came out on his B-Day the 8. January 2016.  I wonder when the first conspiracy theories will come out. 

One thing is for sure, the CD won't be cheap for a long time, but the LP will go up in prices faster and higher then it cost yesterday. 

But even a legend dies at the end. This is another sad thing and make us remember that we all die at the end, no matter what. It thus is a reminder that of all the big stars we lost another one and there are just a few still living among us. 

Do I need two hands to name them? I am not sure. But sure I am that the man have gone and just the women are still there. So it seems.

A Cher, a Streisand, a Midler and Tina just to name the women who came from bottom to top and gave the music world and many peoples hearts so much, much more then all the stars of the new era. Yes, they are next in line and old too. 

But there are not only that. They changed music and TV, changed movie and the way a star lives and should be. Just like David. 

And to all the young fellows... Those stars have been the first to break free from what they have been allowed. A Monroe, a Bogart, a Sinatra... they had rules much harder and could not live all along the way they wanted as a star or do what they wanted- not 100%. But Stars like David knew that and had learned the discipline too. A secret of the success. 

From the stars of the new era only Madonna has the same discipline and controlled way of being a famous person. 

But back to David. He is the star of the generation born from 1950 to 1980. We have been grown up with him. We found a man, a way, a light for our lives and saw visions and warnings, hope and love with him. 

That is another reason why we are sad and cry about this lost. 

David- tonight... Thank you for the music, thank you for being you and the time you have been among us. May your new journey be a funny time. And... let's dance...!

LOVE & LIGHT

Let's have a positive start!

Happy New Year and welcome to 2016. Another year and another chances to make the world a better place. 

Yes, in the end of last year we had quite sad thoughts about what was happening but also some nice one. Not all was and is bad and hope is still around. 

But maybe you need some more to feel more comfortable as you maybe know five positive words are needed to clear off one negative. 

So let's take in the good things in life and see what I have found...

More people then ever have access to drinking water. 1990 it has been 77% now in 2015 there are 91% all around the world.

More people then ever live longer then ever. 1990 the expected lifspan was 65,3 years and now in 2015 we arrived to 71 years. That can't be bad. That means we did some things right.

Fewer starving people then before as we know. Just take a look at 1990: 1010,7 million people did starve. Then in 2004 it was already 961 million people and the number went down again and so we had in 2015 around 795 million people. Sure still far to many, but significantly less.

And another positive thing we achieved: Less children die. The infant mortality has fallen from 12,7 million in 1990 to less then the half in 2015 with 5,9 million. Thought it's still a tragic number and could make you shiver. All those little souls but then, less have to die. More stay alive and get a second and third and fourth summer and so on. Let's hope this continues.

And the fifth thing I will give you is that you could see the internet rise and in the last years also in good ways as people started to connect and get aware that you have a place to share positive thoughts, to remind each other in the good in us, that you can share positive words and pictures and that we can help each other and give trust and faith, that we can understand things and ask, and last but not least that we should use this medium to make this world a better place. Just IMAGINE.... 

Five positive things... well it's a start, isn't it? Let's be grateful for that.

LOVE & LIGHT for 2016