Saturday 31 March 2007: Sarah misses her camera... and has very mixed feelings about the new Zita Swoon CD " big city"...

Sarah says:

The above photo was the best I could get today! Had I had my own camera, maybe I would have taken a photo of myself with Heidi - as we went to a wallet and luggage sell-out sale of sorts - finding ourselves in strange consumer-driven surroundings - acting like vultures! But we got a bunch of nice, high-quality wallets, bags and travel stuff and a great discount so we were happy! I also would have taken a photo of myself with Gèsman himself or some of his bandmates at their gig at De Kreun last night. Perhaps I would have taken my second photo together with Wim Opbrouck, who was at the gig playing God - a very controversial God at that. Just to make today's post more interesting and due to my lack of camera last night, I will put the picture of me with Wim Opbrouck in his pre-God days from a November 2005 post below. For you Americans and non-Belgians out there wondering who the hell the God-like Wim Opbrouck is, well, he happens to be one of the funniest people in Belgium.

And last but not least, if I had had my camera today, perhaps I would have taken a photo of the show Battlestar Galactica playing on my TV late at night after the concert. Finally we got through the 1st episode and we are loving it! It's a mix between Lost and Carnivàle!

Oh and wait!!!! I forgot to mention the new Zita Swoon CD, "big city", that you can listen to, as I have been, by clicking here. There are a bunch of new things on Luisterpaal that you can listen to right now! Anyway - I'm not that thrilled with the new Zita Swoon CD yet. Maybe it will take me some time, though usually it sucks me right in. I don't know - not this time. I really can't say I like the single "big city" on the radio at all. Maybe it will grow on me but now I almost want to turn the station when it comes on. I hate to even write this here and to say it out loud because I love Zita Swoon - always have and probably always will -and live, I am sure no matter what, they won't disappoint. They never disappoint. But so far, this CD does disappoint me. It is way too French for me. The last CD already had a lot of French songs on it, but of the more melodic kind - and with time, they really grew on me and I came to really appreciate them. But the French songs on this CD are like really French-sounding. Not in the "cool" Serge Gainsbourg kind of way but in the sort of French street musician kind of way - but sort of cheesy French. I can't really explain it and the fact that I don't understand the words very well surely doesn't help - though it didn't hinder my listening on the last album - I don't know, I might regret saying this, but it sort of sound like a parody of French music. I hope it all grows on me and there are about 3 songs that struck me in a good way right away enough to make me want to listen a few more times. I will certainly buy the CD - no doubt about that - I am a committed and devoted Zita Swoon fan for sure. I will see them live no doubt as they are always great in concert and change their songs so much that the audience is always in for a great surprise. But still, I sort of feel sad that the single on the radio is so bad (if you ask me). I am sorry. I never thought I'd have a bad word to say about Zita Swoon. I also have to add that though the background singer sisters have a wonderful presence and lovely voices - what worked really well on the last CD seems to be lacking now - rather, whereas before it added a great extra dynamic, now it is no longer new, so with the surprise gone - I don't know, it just doesn't do much for me. I hope after listening a few more times that I get sucked into the CD and learn to love and appreciate it! I really do. I will try my best for sure!

By the way, I had a bit of the same problem with Gèsman. The songs were so hard for me to understand sometimes because they are in West Flemish dialect - my attention just faded away from time to time. The end result was that the more verbal, vocal songs didn't do much for me. I much preferred the heavier, guitar-driven songs where the focus was more on the music. So maybe it is just my problem - the dumb American who after 12 years of living here still has trouble understanding Flemish and French! Who knows... Anyway, my best intentions are there - at least I go to these gigs and listen to these CDs and try try try to get into this stuff!