Mt. Sims „Grave“

Recently I made a resolution. I know it's not New Year and I don't know if resolution is the right word... well, „...resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous.“ says Wikipedia. So I guess it is a resolution. I resolved to smile and wave in photographs. Nobody seems to do this anymore. That is something I realized when I saw the cover of the new Scout Nibblet album. There was something odd about the cover picture and after a while I got it. It was the fact that Scout smiled and waved at the photographer. That made the whole picture somehow anachronistic. That and the fact that she is also holding a flame-torch. That two things combined make it look like she was surprised by the photographer and his intent to do a photograph of her. Pleasantly surprised, it seems. And that's the point: nobody is pleasantly surprised by a camera. Hardly surprised and mostly annoyed maybe, due to the omnipresence of photographic devices. And therefore that's what most people look like in a photograph: annoyed. Of course unless you're at a party and having fun or at least pretending to have fun and you want to document the fact that you're having fun for all the people who are not at the party. On the other hand, when you're at a party and having fun or are at least pretending to have fun and you want to document this fact for all the people, or at least some specific people who are not at the party you know that the picture has a purpose and a mission. I expect every taken picture's mission is to end up on some hard-drive in a folder among hundreds and thousands of other pictures in other folders. A picture became a mass product and by this meaningless.
Anyway, the new Scout Nibblet album is really good and she played with Xiu Xiu who also has a really good new album. But unfortunately they played the same day the Dum Dum Girls played who I went to see them instead. The show marked the end of a week packed with lots of really good bands playing and mostly at least two interesting shows on one night.
For me that week started with Best Coast and Think About Life. The show got transferred to the new MAGNET which also got transferred recently and is still trying to rearrange itself to the new location. I was there a few weeks earlier to see Dan Le Sac and Scroobious Pip and was a little surprised by the stage in the far corner and the soundman opposite. This time the sound booth got moved again. In the end was the sound not as good as it used to be when the club was still in its old location but not bad either.
Between the sets I had a „I've heard this one before but I can't remember what it is“ moment. It took me a while and a little effort to identify the song as “Able To” by Eternal Summers. The chorus gave away the title of the song a little but the usual investigative methods didn't produce any suspects. You could expect a home made video for every song ever written on youtube but I guess the words were just too common. In the end I got lucky and one more thing was off my mind. Unfortunately it is the only good song on their 10“ but a earworm alright.
I skipped a few interesting shows the next day and went to see Cold Cave on Wednesday. This show got transferred to the COMET club very early on. The COMET is the little brother of the MAGNET. But I’ve never been to this place before and was very curious what it would be like. The location itself is very appealing. Enough space in front of the stage and if that is too crowded you still can sit on the stairs to the second floor and see and hear well. The sound was really good, which I heard isn't given at that place. The show was totally awesome, even though I preferred the noise parts over their more recent cold wave stuff.
The next day I re-equipped my mp3-player and find Mt. Sims „Grave“ on repeat for the next few days. The song is the title track of Matt Sims last EP and I remember I liked the song a lot when I heard it the first time but since the EP has four songs and I only like two of them I forgot about the record.

The video was shot at an abandoned amusement park nearby where I spent a lot of time when I was a kid. It is closed for decades now but some of the features still seem recognizable. Like the small pond you see in one of the shots. Right next to it was one of my favourite rides. I can't remember what is was, it is just that the memory of the pond connects to a „I really liked it there“ feeling. I think it was a scooter or something.
Seeing music connected to that place is funny. There used to be a long walk from the next train station to the park that also served as a black market for everything music related. Actually this is the only black market in East Berlin I know of. I went there almost every week hoping to find posters and clippings of my favourite artists taken out of West German music magazines. Some people sold the whole magazine but you could get more money out of it when sold page by page. The prices were in accordance to the East German price system: twice the quantity – twice the price. So one page was five East German Marks, two pages were ten Marks and a four-page „super poster“ was twenty. And yes, people paid those prices. A whole magazine was like 1,80 West German Marks. That was about ten East German Marks. And some good connections. West Germany was far away. Not on a map, but in our minds.
Now West Germany is a venue and on that Saturday was holding the show I was looking forward to for months: the Dum Dum Girls played the town. Not knowing what to expect people-wise I went early to make sure it wouldn't be sold out when I get there. I was way to early and the „headliner“ for the night (which to my surprise wasn't the Dum Dum Girls) weren't even there yet. So I got rudely kicked out and went for a bite. After that I still had to wait ages.
The first band sucked. Like really bad. They added some beer crates to the stage to have more room and after their set four teenager girls purposely pissed of that guy who kicked me out earlier by making out on those crates when he tried to clear them off and put them backstage.
Since the sound at the West Germany is the worst in town and since the sound in there is shitty everywhere and it doesn't matter where you stand I went for the front row. I made room for some people with cameras which in one case turned out to be a mistake. After doing his photo things he asked his to girlfriends to join him in that little to nothing space he or better we got there and as soon as they arrived on my toes he started a lively conversation with them.
After the set he called me rude for asking him to shut the fuck up. I guess the concept of rudeness is a very individual one.
I left early, like many others, since the Dum Dum Girls played second and were the band most people came for. On the way home I lost myself again in Mt. Sims „Grave“.