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posts about rock.

noekk is a progressive rock / doom metal band from germany. they use a wide range of instruments, combined with vocals sung in an opera voice, to create a complex stream of music.

the first song, strange mountain, is from their debut album the water sprite.

[[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 next song is from their second album, the grimalkin. consisting only of three songs, none of them shorter than 10 minutes, one even reaching 20 minutes, this album was the first one of noekk i listened to. personally, this is my favourite 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.]]

the last song is from their latest album, the minstrel’s curse. that album goes a bit further in the metal direction, and the guitars are featured more prominently.

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

when i saw north atlantic oscillation the first time last week, i knew this was a great band. and the longer i listened to their album grappling hooks, the more i thought that i should write about them on musikwiese. north atlantic oscillation does post-progressive rock and electronica.

the first song, ceiling poem, is rather an ear-worm, at least to me. i really love this song. i already liked it when hearing it first at the concert, and i just have to listen to it alot.

[[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 next three songs are also very nice. i hope you’ll enjoy them as much as i do…

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

after a longer silence, i’m back with writing something about bands. today i want to write about a band i used to listen a lot to a long time ago: the german fun punk band die ärzte. let me start with a somewhat sarcastic song called hurra (hooray) from the 1995 album planet punk, aimed at the reunion of germany with all its exaggerated promises.

[[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 song is ist das alles? (is that everything?) from the 1986 album die ärzte.

[[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 song is a famous one called westerland, from the 1988 album das ist nicht die ganze wahrheit… this version is a longer maxi version, containing several versions of the song. beginning with an a cappella version, a strange pop version, followed by

ich bin die kleine robbe
und algen find ich gut
am morgen hab ich ausschlag
am abend spuck ich blut

after that comes a pseudo-satanic metal version, which is followed by the real version of the song. finally, a blues version comes up.

[[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 next song is grotesksong (grotesque song) from the 1998 album 13. a mean, sarcastic song. i like it :)

[[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 fifth song is radio brennt (radio burns) from the 1987 album ist das alles?. this again is a special version, with a funny intro. a song about hate on radios (or more precisely, radio stations), which play a lot of crap.

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

i also like prollhead‘s version of radio brennt, which can be heard here. it’s one of the fantastic pieces from the götterdämmerung tribut album to die ärzte.

the next song is also from the planet punk album and is called opfer (victim). on the evil sides of capitalism.

[[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 last two songs are love related. or, more precisely, unhappy love. the first song, mach die augen zu (close the eyes), from the 1993 album die bestie in menschengestalt, is about a broken relationship, where love has left one side but not the other.

[[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 last song, nichts in der welt (nothing in the world), from the 2003 album geräusch, is about someone losing faith, losing his belief in love.

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

there are many more good songs from die ärzte. it’s really hard to choose such a small number of them… i already presented one more on spielwiese last december.

music styles: fun punk
tags:

after writing about opeth’s forest era, i want to write about their recent albums, starting with deliverance. let me begin with their progressive rock side (i.e. no metal! for all of you who don’t like metal), with the song coil from their newest album watershed. a very untypical opeth song, very easy to listen to, yet beautiful.

[[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 song is from their 2003 album damnation, which is closely linked to the 2002 album deliverance. both albums were recorded at the same time; while deliverance features mostly heavy songs, damnation is a progressive rock album. to rid the disease is my most favourite song from the damnation 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.]]

the third song is from the 2005 ghost reveries album. it’s a very beautiful instrumental progressive rock piece. somewhat spacey.

[[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 song is a balad from the deliverance album. the first song today which includes heavy parts.

[[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 next song is also from their newest album watershed (which, not surprisingly, did very well on the charts especially in scandinavian countries). a very progressive, complex song, with some surprises.

[[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 sixth song, the lotus eater, is also from watershed. if i recall correctly, it was the first song officially released before the album. a very nice piece of progressive metal.

[[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 seventh song is ghost reveries, the opener of the ghost reveries album. another beautiful progressive metal 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 last song is deliverance from the album deliverance. a wonderful piece of progressive death metal, with a very interesting ending starting at 9:38. i once heard a rumor that the strange drum patterns for the ending appeared while fooling around with a drum computer, and in consequence opeth‘s drummer had to learn how to play this.

deliverance
thrown back at me
 
deliverance
laughing at me

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

if you like something heavier, you can try wreath, another song from the deliverance album.

arena is a british progressive rock band i saw live in 2007. here, i want to present four songs from their albums contagion and pepper’s ghost. the first song is never ending night from the 2003 album contagion. its a calm song, already displaying one big feature of arena: beautiful and catchy melodies.

[[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 song, riding the tide, is an instrumental song from the same 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.]]

the pepper’s ghost album is a concept album, telling a story of five heroes in 19th century london. bedlam fayre is the opener:

[[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 album is ended by a 13 minute song called opera fanatica, including some opera elements. this is one of my favourite arena songs.

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