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Archive for the ‘music’ Category

Le Printemps

A great song… in French! Based on Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s Je t’aime… moi non plus from 1969, Swedish rappers Mutte & Clive in realPfft hope to make a dent in the French market and land a hit song. Je t’aime… hasn’t aged well and sounds lousy today, leaving a lot of room to record Le Printemps using digital production. Beyond love and porno, Le Printemps’ lyrics devolve into politics, providing a laundry list of annoying things about a certain president, set to the beat of house music.

Le Printemps

Madame, tu es vivante!

Fantastique! Je croyais que tu sois mort dans un accident de voiture.

Oui ou non?

Dis à moi. Qu’est-ce qu’il y a?

Hupp hupp!

Ça va?                                                          

Moi, j’aime la musique house

Le printemps arrive

Ce président se prend pour un roi

Il est comme Napoléon, il aime lui même sans répit

Fermer la fenêtre! il cri. Fermer la bouche!

Il est aussi en colère que Louis XIV

Distingué et agaçant

Il se vante de choper les femmes par la chatte

Il se prend pour Jésus et se bat avec le pape

Il s’en fiche complètement

De plus en plus compliqué, de moins en moins de succès

Il n’a pas reçu le prix Nobel de la paix

Tant pis

Et maintenant, il préfère la guerre

J’ai lu dans l’Associated Press que le président portera le coup de grâce 

Aber, der Krieg ist vorbei ?

Les guerres viennent, les guerres s’en vont

Tous le monde veut la tranquillité, mais il n’y a pas la tranquillité

Et moi, je veux visiter Téhéran avant qu’elle ne soit réduite en cendres par les bombardements

J’adore la musique house

Ooh la-la, où est-ce qu’il y a ton main?

Tes yeux sont si belles, comme un vin spectaculaire   

Tes pieds sont si petites, comme un chien

C’est le coup de foudre

Tu travailles dans un supermarché

Combiens de mois est tu ici?                                            

Je t’aimerai toujours

Tu mange mon gateau, non?

C’est divertissant

Embrasse-moi

Ich liebe dich

Est-ce que tu veux coucher?

Springtime

Madam, you are alive!

Fantastic. I thought you had died in a car accident.

Yes or no?

Tell me

What is happening?

Hup, hup!

How are you?

Me, I love house music

Springtime arrives

This president thinks he’s a king

He’s like Napoleon, he loves himself without end

Close the window! he shouts. Shut your mouth!

He’s as angry as Louis the Fourteenth

Distinguished and annoying

He boasts about grabbing women by the pussy

He thinks he is Jesus and is fighting with the Pope

He couldn’t care less

More and more complicated, less and less success

He did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize

Too bad

And now, he prefers war

I read in the Associated Press that the president shall deliver the final blow

But the war is over ?

Wars come, wars go

Everyone wants peace and quiet, but there is no peace and quiet

And me, I want to make a trip to Tehran before it’s bombed to ashes

I adore house music

Ooh-la-la, where is your hand?

Your eyes are so beautiful, like a spectacular wine      

Your feet are so small, like a dog

It was love at first sight

You work in a supermarket                                                                                   

How many months have you been here?

I will always love you

You are eating my cake, yes? It’s entertaining

Embrace me

I love you

Do you want to sleep with me?

Category:

political satire, music

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Adagio with a Broken Baton

Adagio with a Broken Baton is a short, intriguing piece of contemporary classical music. Channeling Bach, Mutte shows his chops, pulling at our heartstrings in what critics would call a bravura performance.

Enjoy!

Category:

music

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Windows

Another Top-40 hit by the mad musicians in realPfft! Both Swedish pop and ambient jazz, this instrumental is as fresh, happy and boisterous as a summer day. realPfft continues to push the envelope. I mean, who uses xylophones?

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music

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Broken Dreams

Fierce. Sexy. Ambient experimental jazz, this is one of realPfft’s more bizarre musical creations.

Fed up with songbirds Taylor, Nicki and Ariana, I asked Mutte & Clive to come up with something experimental.

Be careful what you wish for! Gabriella sings her heart out while Frankenstein’s laboratory bubbles in the background. A fade in the middle is followed by a whole new verse. A strange love song, it shouldn’t work, but it does.

– Kev

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music

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Eviga Beatles (Remix)

Eviga Beatles — “Beatles Forever”— REMIX

A Mary Hopkins throwback, sexy Stockholm songbird Maria sings her heart out over the demise of the Beatles. Audio engineers Mutte & Clive had a tough time taming Maria’s high C, resulting in this remix. Reducing the treble, they hope to appeal to a wider audience. Shite happens. Doubling Maria’s voice has created a nice ABBA effect. An English translation of the song lyrics follows.

Beatles Forever Lyrics

A lonely heart beats in 4/4 time

A simple rhythm, in child-like glee

From the gray streets of Liverpool

A dream of boundless summer fun

“Yeah, yeah, yeah” echoes in a chorus

Of simple joy, free of sorrow

We search for truth in a beat

A bridge of sound, a musical refuge

But the world turns, tones become brittle

And the sun’s rays beat down

“Yesterday” whisper quiet memories

Of all that was, now soon gone

Psychedelic dream in color

Lucy with diamonds in her soul

“All you need is love” sung in harmony

But what is love, is it true, is it complete?                                                                           

“Strawberry Fields” in perpetual fog

A place where nothing is as it seems

“Across the Universe” a star shines                                                                          

“Jai guru deva om,” an eternal conclusion

We travel through time and space

Toward the horizon in a yellow submarine

A collective meditation

A spiritual journey, beyond spontaneous

But the world turns, tones become brittle                                                              

And the rays of the sun beat down

“Yesterday” whisper quiet memories

Of all that was, now soon gone

Psychedelic dream in color

Lucy with diamonds in her soul

“All you need is love” sung in harmony                                                                      

But what is love, is it true, is it complete?                                                                                  

“Eleanor Rigby” cleans the church  

A mirror of our loneliness

“Let it be” a wisdom, free of cost

An acceptance of our shared existence                                                                        

We seek answers in a melody

But the answer is a question, never ending                                                                              

The mystery of music is our philosophy

A search constantly disappearing

The beat goes on, a ceaseless pulse

From a simple “She loves you” to “Abbey Road”

We are all Beatles, in a chaotic waltz

A journey without end, a timeless coda                                                                   

We are yesterday, we are today

We are a dream, we are a song

A melody that never dies

In the limitless stream of time

Category:

music, translation

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“Needle Drop (Live)”

Smooth jazz. A live club recording featuring British rapper and lounge lizard Stanley from the London neighborhood of Brixton. The man raps his heart out over nostalgia for vinyl records.

Needle Drop

Verse 1:

Crate digging through the decades, dust on my fingertips

Original pressings hold the magic that the stream skips

Black wax spinning counterclockwise through my memory

Each pop and hiss a reminder that the beauty’s temporary

I’m searching for that texture, something hands can hold

The cover art tells half the story before it unfolds

Flip it to the B-side when the A-side fades

This is ritual, not background, give the music space

Refrain:

Put the needle in the groove, let it breathe

Analog soul is all I need

Put the needle in the groove, feel it turn

Every rotation, something learned

Let it spin, let it spin

Let it spin, let it spin

Verse 2:

My sanctuary sits between the speakers, volume just right

The album plays beginning to end, the way they designed it

No skip function, no shuffle mode, just intentional time

The warmth wraps around me like I’m stepping inside

Labels spinning hypnotic, watching revolutions go

Twelve inches of freedom from the fast world below

The scratch adds character, imperfection is the gift

And when the tone arm rises, man, I feel the shift

Refrain:

Put the needle in the groove, let it breathe

Analog soul is all I need

Put the needle in the groove, feel it turn

Every rotation, something learned

Let it spin, let it spin

Let it spin, let it spin

Verse 3:

This ain’t nostalgia, this is presence

Hands on the turntable, that’s the essence

The weight of the disc, the careful placement

Sound waves through air, not ones and zeros adjacent

They pressed this moment into circles back in ’73

Now it’s living in my living room, connecting you to me

The producers, the session cats, the engineer who cared

All that energy preserved, the moment that they shared

So I’m collecting frequencies, building up my library

Each record is a portal, call it sonic therapy

The ritual grounds me when the world accelerates

I drop the needle down and let the groove communicate

Outro:

Let it breathe, let it breathe

Yeah, just let it play

Let it breathe, let it breathe

The analog way

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music

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“Nothing on a Sunday”

Yesterday was a Sunday. Continuing to showcase some of realPfft’s best tracks from their back catalog, it is truly a pleasure to present the haunting instrumental “Nothing on a Sunday” from March 2023.

The cover art is a homage to Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s world-renown painting “The Scream.” Mutte’s pal Patrick J. strikes a similar pose on a wharf in the Uppland archipelago. Even the two dudes in the background are part of Munch’s original masterpiece.   

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music

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“Back in the Pandemic”

No way is this “Best of…” A total train wreck, it has curiosity value. Released in June of 2020, recorded live in the Uppsala studio, the boys were joined by wailing guest guitarist Björn B., guest drummer Micki Lightstream, and a guest producer— who shall remain nameless. Also, their audio engineer had issues. This is take 9 of 16 takes recorded over a three-day period. By the last take, all the noisy blemishes had been cleaned up, Björn’s impossible guitar had been tamed and the Chinese gong no longer blew out the walls. Unfortunately, the song was no longer any fun.

Boring.

Despite the coronavirus, realPfft’s business manager at the time was visiting from the States. He had gotten a good price on his plane ticket. Now he was unhappy. Insisting on his right to listen to all sixteen takes, he came to take number 9 and said “There it is. That’s the song! What have you dudes been doing the last day and a half?” Like, there went mucho hours of Herculean effort flushed down the toilet.

Bands have broken up over less, but these are Swedes and they like one another. Agreeing that take 9 needed more treble, that’s all they added, leaving everything else alone. Unrefined, with a nod to the Beatles, a punk rock sense of rebellion and singer Clive Flatenbad channeling Joy Division, here is realPfft’s messy but fun “Back in the Pandemic.”

The cover art, from Clive’s personal archive, shows how our boy looked as a punk singer in the steamy 1980’s.

Back in the Pandemic

[ Sound of an airplane landing ]

Here’s a piece of concrete art:                                             

Crushed out promises, a broken heart

Face up to truth wherever it finds you

Face up to love whenever it blinds you

Ten more years

And we’re all still here.

Escalating germs off of the plane                               

My brain’s cookin’, I’m goin’ insane

Time is measured in a crystal ball

The time clock sits at the end of the hall

She’s no friend, no, no friend…

You pretend… but she’s gone!

Patriotic songs by a patriotic fool                               

Gun-toting protesters think that it’s cool

Circles on the grass at the edge of the park

I wear a mask and a broken guitar

It’s your country, my country…

All our countries… gone.

Retail apocalypse, empty malls                                           

Unemployment and the Stock Market falls

On the TV, the— evening— news

Happy talk by the prez just gives me the blues                            

Trump’s your man… lies all he can…

Until… he’s… gone!                                                                                 

Irreduceable summation                                             

Of this once proud nation!

I hide behind my thumb

And eat up all of my ration!

Rocket ships leaving for outer space

Desert us to live in the same old waste

They’re gone… ten more years…

Of fear… Will we still-l-l… be here?

Open a packet of biscuits and a packet of beef        

My light is waning, I’m not a thief

Church bell country ringing the changes

The Virus— Task— Force plans and arranges

Clueless… they’re a joke…

One more press conference… Then they’re… pzzzzzzt!

Parking lot examinations for Covid-19                       

I dig the vibe but dislike the routine

Trump says— the coronavirus

Will disappear by the end of the year

In quarantine, both you and me

People complain… this is tyranny!

“Social distancing?” you— may— well— ask            

Six feet apart behind a mask

Everybody comes with the same old chant

“Wash your hands with soap and disinfectant”

It smells awful… Life’s no fun…

People crowd the boardwalk…Then, they’re… gone!

A blackout Sunday and I’m sleeping late         

My parents died early but my brother can wait

March to the Capitol with all the other guys

Everything Trump tweets cannot be lies 

Lonely funerals, dead rock stars…                                                          

And it’s all… they’re all gone!                                                                  

My country, ‘tis of thee                                                

It’s happening to you

It’s happening to me

You’re the one, I’m the one

Ten more years

And we’re all… all go-o-one

Lonely funerals, dead rock stars…                            

Then it’s all… we’re all gone!

Category:

music, Politics, satire

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Best of realPfft – “Fettuccine Western”

In October of 2021, during one of their most productive periods, Swedish rap duo realPfft released “Fettuccine Western.” Their take on Sergio Leone’s glorious spaghetti westerns, the vocal may sound like it was recorded off a DVD, but that’s actually Clive channeling Clint Eastwood. “Hang him by his bootstraps! Lazy varmint!”  When it comes to theatrics, Clive is always available.

Great cover art by Kuny.

Category:

humor, music

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Beatles Forever!

Eviga Beatles är en hyllning till Fab Four. “Beatles Forever” is a tribute to the Fab Four.

Sexy song bird Maria is a Mary Hopkins throwback. All the boys here in the studio want to bed her! When constructing a playlist, place Eviga Beatles— “Beatles Forever”— alongside “Those Were the Days” or similar Apple releases. Doubling Maria’s voice in the mix has created a nice ABBA effect.

The lyrics are the usual realPfft combination of brilliant insight and hopeless sentimentality. The phrase “We are all Beatles” wins the prize for hokey drivel. Read the English translation below.

Cover artist Kuny used Copilot to create lettering based on Rubber Soul and to show Paul and Ringo in living color while John and George are spooky, ghostly apparitions in black & white.

Beatles Forever

A lonely heart beats in 4/4 time

A simple rhythm, in child-like glee

From the gray streets of Livepool

A dream of boundless summer fun.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah” echoes in a chorus

Of simple joy, free of sorrow

We search for truth in a beat

A bridge of sound, a musical refuge.

But the world turns, tones become brittle

And the sun’s rays beat down

“Yesterday” whisper quiet memories

Of all that was, now soon gone.

Psychedelic dream in color

Lucy with diamonds in her soul

“All you need is love” sung in harmony

But what is love, is it true, is it complete?

“Strawberry Fields” in perpetual fog

A place where nothing is as it seems

“Across the Universe” a star shines                                                       

“Jai guru deva om,” an eternal conclusion.

We travel through time and space

Toward the horizon in a yellow submarine

A collective meditation

A spiritual journey, beyond spontaneous.                                                                                 

But the world turns, tones become brittle                                                              

And the rays of the sun beat down

“Yesterday” whisper quiet memories

Of all that was, now soon gone.

Psychedelic dream in color

Lucy with diamonds in her soul

“All you need is love” sung in harmony                                                            

But what is love, is it true, is it complete?

“Eleanor Rigby” cleans the church

A mirror of our loneliness

“Let it be” a wisdom, free of cost

An acceptance of our shared existence.

We seek answers in a melody

But the answer is a question, never ending                                                                    

The mystery of music is our philosophy

A search constantly disappearing.

The beat goes on, a ceaseless pulse

From a simple “She loves you” to “Abbey Road”

We are all Beatles, in a chaotic waltz

A journey without end, a timeless coda.

We are yesterday, we are today

We are a dream, we are a song

A melody that never dies

In the limitless stream of time.

Category:

music, translation

Tagged with: