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posts about alternative rock.

a very influential project is nine inch nails, founded and mainly driven by trent reznor. i first stumbled about nin when listening to a video called last poet, using the song hurt from nin‘s the downward spiral album. that song made me buy that album, and i already dedicated two posts on spielwiese to the song hurt. another famous song from that album is closer, coming with a rather disturbing music video:

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

another song i want to present is the hand that feeds from the album with teeth.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

another awesome song from that album is besides you in time, which i already presented on spielwiese. another example for the more rocky side of nin is discipline from their newest album the slip, released in 2008.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

besides rock songs, there are also very different nin songs. one example is the 7:33 minutes instrumental corona radiata (some speculations about the meaning of the title can be found here). it’s a track best listened to loud.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

(remember to turn the volume down again.) the album the slip can be downloaded from its official site.

a very astonishing release by nin is the ghosts i–iv album. 36 tracks, created in a process of improvisation and experimentation. combined with the beautiful booklet, this piece of art is my favourite nin album (next to the downward spiral). i want to present four tracks from the album. the first is 2 ghosts i, a slow piano oriented piece.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the second is 12 ghosts ii. starting slow and calm, as the above track, it evolves into something more powerful after approximately half of the time.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the third is 14 ghosts ii, an impulsive, funky tune. hard to describe.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

the fourth is 32 ghosts iv is centered around a single piano key, rythmically played. somewhat mesmerizing.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

ghosts i can be downloaded for free on the ghosts homepage; you need to go to the order page and select the free version.

blackfield is a project by the british prog mastermind steven wilson and the israeli rock star aviv geffen, playing alternative and art rock, sometimes even pop. the first song i want to present is from their first album, blackfield, and called blackfield. it comes with a beautiful music video, which for whatever reason didn’t show up in the music video series.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

(apparently the video does not work in all countries, for example in germany. if it doesn’t work for you, try this version of the song without the video.)

the second piece is the opener of their second album, blackfield ii, titled once. it was also the opener on their tour in 2007, when i first saw them. this is a live recording, but of very high quality, both the video and the sound. if you want to watch the band, click into the window to open it in youtube.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

a very beautiful and calm song from their first album is lullaby:

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

another beautiful, more rocking song about love is epidemic from their second album:

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

finally, here’s a song from their first album, called cloudy now. it’s in fact a song written by aviv geffen, which he used to play on his solo tours, which was then translated by steven wilson to english and recorded by the two. it’s a somewhat doomy, depressing song, and one of the most impressing i remember from the concert.

[[for legal reasons, i do not want to include youtube videos here anymore. please click on this link to watch the video at youtube.]]

(and yes, aviv also iteratively removed his tops during the switzerland concert, until ending up as in the video. i think the girls liked it :-) )