Day 66 Song 66 - Fall By My Side

Good day to you Sir/Madame! If you are reading this, then welcome to my blog. If you scroll down you will find literally LOADS of my songs, all embedded in soundcloud players, ready to be listened to, with their accompanying anecdotes written above each track. If you follow this link to my Soundcloud Radio Station, you can listen to all my songs so far, one after the other, and simply enjoy the audio experience. Obviously you may skip around as well, according to your emotional needs ;-)
It's true, my song writing knows no end. That's not a boast, it's just the way it is. Some people are good at tax returns, some people are good at giving speeches, some people are good at running an office, or any combination of those - I on the other hand can write songs. My production ethic is pretty much speed-oriented. I like to capture inspiration and just go for it, and get a song recorded within 24 hours. If I don't record it, then I notate it and put it in a folder along with millions of other scraps of lyrics, melodies and chords, to wait until the necessary project or time frame to dig it out.
As well as that I have a whole swag of unfinished demos, and that's pretty much what this blog is all about. I just got sad one day that all of these sweet songs of mine were gathering dust on my harddrive and never getting heard. So I decided to be brave and let all my not-yet-grown-up-babies be put on aural display in the hope that one day some-one will discover them and find a place for them in their heart.
Maybe that some-one is You!
At the moment I'm on holiday from this blog, looking after my little boy everyday until he starts at the kindergarten in September, but from then on I'll have a bit more time for music and associated projects, and hopefully you will have listened faithfully to the 60 songs already uploaded, and be ready for the next daily deliveries.
I will also have my new album out hopefully, and have a tour booked (yet to secure a label, but that will come very soon I hope!) and then I can come and visit you personally :-)
Enjoy my music, and you can leave a comment without registering, so please feel free to write me.
See you soon!

Happy New Year!

I just had to write that at the top of this post. Please don't be mad at me.
And I know I've been super lazy with this blog, but hey, you try juggling a baby, a household, a burgeoning musical career (always burgeoning) and No Maid! Maybe my Chomsky leanings are to blame, or the fact that I myself did so many shit jobs in my life, but I just can't bring myself to "get help". Not withstanding the fact that I probably couldn't afford it anyway... although I am not averse to a babysitter every now and then...
I was really saddened by the "Biblical Floods" in the state of Queensland over the last week. I dug out a song I once wrote about the subject - I wrote it because I read in the newspaper that flooding was one of the side-effects of global warming, and I always like to be prepared. It went like this:
"We're under water. We're under water now. We're under water. We're under water now."
and:
"The rains came, the water rose, I saw the priest in a boat, the windows blew, the dogs flew away, there won't be no drinking today..." etc. etc. If I get some time to record it, you will see it here on this blog.

I am dedicating this post to my new friend and fan "Anna" who wrote me the loveliest ever pre-xmas fanmail. I will take the liberty to publish it, as Anna doesn't divulge her surname:

dear justine

in the last few days i've been listening a lot to your soundcloud. one night i fell in love again with soft rock (killalady especially) and looked around to find new stuff of yours...
i am very happy with the blog/ radio - there is a lot new stuff.
i think these days my very favorite one is boozy shoes, dance to it in my kitchen when i'm alone. but i also like the sad ones.
what about your cover if wo die nordseewellen? i heard this song many many years ago, actually when i heard you the first time, in volksbühne, playing with le tigre.
if you have a recording of that i would love to hear it!

anyways, i just wanted to say hi and how happy it makes me to have found all these songs to listen to.
hope you keep on with the project.
with all the best mid-winter-wishes,
anna
Nordseewellen is a fabulous song which I always wanted to get down. I found the lyrics online in a Schleswig-Holstein traditional song website, which I was perusing for signs of a song which apparently my Oma insisted on singing at my Uncle's funeral, called "Der Schleswig-Holsteiner". The lyrics of Nordseewellen moved me SO MUCH however, I was forced immediately to bring them into a modern song form. The results have only been broadcasted live so far. The song also contains a bootleg of the bassline from "Come Together" by the Beatles, which maybe makes me a little annoyed in advance of having the royalties of the song stolen from me by rich musical oligarchs (not referring to the Beatles of course, but the crazy bunch of lawyers who are probably living off Apple Recordings nowadays). Anyway, what's a kooky blog without a bit of ranty-raving these days!?

Artist Future - Daniel Hundermark

We (the child and I) went to the babyclub meeting last Wednesday and I met this lovely guy called Daniel Hundertmark. Apart from being the only man I ever met at a babyclub, he also had this really massive professional looking camera (wink) with which he took some of the most awesome pictures I have ever personally been involved with. Here's his website. And here is a photo he took of me with the babies:

Meezi, Jay Jay and me

Jay Jay in a more classical portrait pose

And here are a few of my favourite photos from Daniel's web collection:

Online Returns

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen
During my time offline, I got quite a lot of feedback about my blog. Some like it just the way it is, some think it should be more nitty gritty autobiographical, and one thinks it cut close to being back-stabby, but whatever the opinion at least it has created a little bitty world wide splash ;-) The vodafone persona is coming around tomorrow (apparently) to put me on 16mb for once and for all, and after that I hope to back on your screens launching my music toward you, and getting feedback and input in return (!). Since moving to the West side of Berlin, I've gotten this huge gust of inspiration and actually feel really inspired to share my experiences with you dear reader, and hope we can have regular fun in the next few months :-))
But I request lightly - please comment! Even if it's just a couple of words, or if you're shy, a little sentence in an email, let me know that someone's out there watching and listening in cyber space, otherwise it's just way too lonely!
The person who leaves the most feedback by the end of the year (you know who you are Martin B) will receive a personally knitted baby-scarf, to give to the baby of your choice as a christmas present. I AM SERIOUS!!!
So till tomorrow (new song!)
xxx
J

The note Steffen found on our car this evening ;-)

Blog Explosion!

Hi Bloggees! Been away on sabbatical, but I'm back from Bavaria now and packing my entire apartment into boxes. Yes folks, Justine is moving to a bigger place! Main reason being that the doctor prescribed a lower number of stairs thanks to the massive baby, but a change is as good as a holiday!
As for the blog - sorry to my regular readers/listeners but I'm gearing up to go pro! My good friend Bea Jugert and I are concocting a wonderful photo shoot, we're organising a press kit, and my buddies at Filmlounge are planning music videos to promote this blog on a broader scale. I'm also going to try and get some funding from Initiative Musik, and maybe go on tour with an Israeli band (yay!). But my song archive is still a huge priority - just give me a minute to get my cookies together. I'd say a week or two.
And till then, stay tuned for photos of the new flat!

Day 63 Song 63 - Mom and Dad and Me and Mom

Yo Landy. A song for people with irresponsible parents...



BTW the blog is going on holiday! Just till the start of August, so come back soon and we can swap sunburn photos!

Day 62 Song 62 - Kalimba Song

Originally "Calimba Song", I changed the name to "Kalimba" after I played it to some German friends of mine here in Berlin. Calimba isn't the easiest instrument in the world, but like most things, it gets easier with practice.

Day 61 Song 61 - Killalady

So 1/6th of the songs are up! Hmm... hope I can keep going! 365 songs is a lot more than I bargained for... anyway, here's a classic from 2006 - City Slang promoted it admirably on the radio and as widgets and on samplers all around the globe. And it is most certainly a favourite of mine. Question for a free mp3: who is this song inspired by?
Btw did I mention Schneider TM wrote and played the catchy guitar riff? It was originally played on the one - but it was my brilliant idea to place it on the off-beat ;-)

Day 60 Song 60 - Evil Dead Disco

Juli Holz and I made this track in August last year, and we just resumed working on it last week... we want to release it as an EP - yes, on VINYL!
Question: who else has bass as dirty as this?

Artist Future - Blu

Have a look at this stop-trick animation. Pushing the boundaries!

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Day 59 Song 59 - My Boyfriend

This song got 3rd place on a Pale Music Compilation Sampler, so I'm pretty proud of that. Steve Morell came over to my place while Mohini and I were recording the vocals and just went crazy for it. He was like "Finish that song and I'll put it on the next sampler!". Mo does the French stuff, obviously. She was in Sex in Dallas for a while. Nils Esdar aka Sline came around with a very sexy casio digital guitar and made up the main guitar riff. I love it!

Day 58 Song 58 - Crazy Synth Song

Back in the early noughties i did one of my first ever tours. I went all the way to Hamburg! A friend of mine, Nicole, booked me a gig in "Astro Bar" and promoted it all herself. My good buddy Jan Hendrik Meyer drove me there, and invited his friend Arne Zank to come and watch. If I remember rightly I hoped that Arne would recognise my talent and take me to Toco-Stardom, but instead him and Jan ended up getting ratfaced. But they did stay till the end, to their credit.
I have a question for you: what is this song about? The right answer wins it as an mp3! Be sure to provide your email :-)

Day 57 Song 57 - I Can Fuck the Music

I have no idea where the idea for this song came from. Maybe Madonna? Sometimes I get in a mood and I'm like - "Goddammit. I'm going to write a HIT!" Then I get out my drum samples and attempt to come up with a "Catchy Groove". Sometimes it works, but usually my inner rebel takes over and forces me to make an "anti-hit", with a weird sexual by-line in it. This is one of them.

Day 56 Song 56 - Bluesman

This song appeared on the B side of my Blues & Reds vinyl 7 inch. It's probably still possible to buy it somewhere, but I only have one copy so sorry not from me!

Day 55 Song 55 - Though I Like You

Good morning Starshine! If you, as did Caro and Martin, managed to stay awake through my last post, then you will be ready to for this.
It's called "Though I Like You" and is, like most of my songs, a somewhat witchy advertisement for a better life for myself. There are some interesting samples on there of boys I recorded on the street on one of my weird visits to an English-speaking land. Which reminds me: has anyone ever heard of "The Dictionary of Imaginary Places"? I seem to remember reading a hardcover version a long time ago...

Day 54 Song 54 - Mountain Climbing Baby

Three days of bronchitis! Yuk! But I dealt with it in record time... My approach to illness has become "holistic" over the years, partly because of learning from my own medical history. Since I was three I had an annual tonsilitis problem, which would have been practically fatal if my parents hadn't given me antibiotics for it, but as you may know "antibiotics are often overrated". They caused some long-term side effects with my physical well-being, one being a constantly weak immune system. Around 6 years ago I got sick with tonsilitis on a weekend and didn't have health coverage anyway, so I went to see my friend's most amazing homeopath, Georg Kindler. He lives in P-berg, Berlin, and at first I thought it was all bullshit, but I had to go along with it cos I was dying like a dog. He gave me some crazy snake bite essence, and bee sting whatever and I swear - within 12 hours I was back on my feet! Literally! Then I went back to him for other long-term complaints of mine, but there was alas no quick cure. I had to teach my body to be strong again, and to heal itself.
So over the years I gradually changed my diet to be less sugary and more grainy and vegetably (pretty much according to Georg's guidelines), and I only eat meat from the wholefoods supermarket (bio laden)... And also I REALLY BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF TEA! That's actually Georg's main rap. He's big into concocting special teas for your ailments... But anyway, it's been 6 years since I took my last antibiotics! I had some kind of an internal infection a few months ago (diagnosed by the hospital post-partum), and went straight to him - he gave me a bottle of mixed homeopathic liquids, some homeopathic balls and of course - a lot of tea! Since my body had been trained to look after itself instead of relying on antibiotics all the time, it took immediately to the treatment. I was tested a week later and the infection was gone! So thank you Georg!
One thing I also learned through the experience was this: an infection isn't necessarily something completely foreign and evil marching through your body. It is often just "higher levels" of this and "lower levels" of that. I found that out from the hospital lab ladies. So in the end all you have to do really is to stay calm and try and get your levels balanced. I hope that doesn't sound naive!
I am however a true believer in giving yourself a chance to take control of your own body's chemistry and health. It's not only the doctors who can cure you.
But also, if you don't succeed with natural healing the first time you get hit with a disease, then leave it till the next time. The second time around you will start noticing the symptoms a lot earlier, and know what's coming. Then use natural medicine to nip it in the bud. And if you beat it naturally once, then the chances are high that your body will build its own healthy immunity to the problem!
If you know any mountain climbing babies then you will like this little scratch track from this morning - and Jay Romeo loves singing along!