Post Rock Mixtape Vol. 1

This is a mixtape I made in July for a girl that I saw at a Caspian show in Leipzig. Actually, I saw her two days before in one of our university buildings, but only after the concert did I know she had great taste in music. Me idiot didn't talk to her, though, but instead I followed the obvious path and went to have a few drinks with my friends. Relying too much on good luck, again, but somehow I felt that since I had seen her twice in three days, I should be confident there would be a third time if this may be fate's will... So I did this mixtape for her, which entailed a DIY booklet and a card, because I did not simply want to ask her out for a coffee or something ordinary like that. Well, end of the story, I forfeited this chance, never saw her again, I left only some weeks later to come here to wonderful Taiwan... Since the mixtape is rotting at home, I might as well try and spread some beautiful music on the internet.

(Hier gibt es noch eine nette Mixtape-Definition:

Unter einem Mixtape (auch mix tape oder mixed tape) versteht man eine selbsterstellte Zusammenstellung (Compilation) von Songs ,welche in einer bestimmten Reihenfolge auf einer Compact Cassette (Audiokassette) oder CD augenommen werden.aufgenommen wurden. Gute Mixtapes pappen die Songs nicht hintereinander, sondern Mixen die Songs in einem neuen zusammenhängenen Rahmen als neue sStück Musikkunst.

Der Essayist Geoffrey O’Brien bezeichnete das persönliche Mixtape als “die am häufigsten ausgeübte amerikanische Kunstform”. Viele Mixtape-Begeisterte sind davon überzeugt, dass durch die sorgfältige Auswahl und Festlegung der Reihenfolge der Stücke innerhalb einer Zusammenstellung eine künstlerische Aussage geschaffen werden kann, welche durchaus aussagekräftiger ist als die bloße Summe der einzelnen Lieder. Will sagen, es entsteht etwas neues Ganzes.)

I did the mix using pacemaker editor, a free software you will find on the net.

Songs I used for this compilation:

The intro is taken from a poem by Hermann Hesse, Stufen, and it means "in every beginning, there dwells some magic, that protects us and that enables us to live..."
The Ghost - Red Slippers, Red Wheels (taken from the album This is a Hospital)
On the Might of Princes - Go Fuck Yrself (Sirens)
Gifts From Enola - In the Company of Others (Loyal Eyes Betrayed the Mind)
Caspian - Further In (You Are the Conductor)
Scraps of Tape
Moving Mountains

margaret's hope - 2 Songs

I've wanted to upload some of our stuff for a long time now, so it feels that now is a better time than never. These two songs date back to the year 2006, and they were recorded entirely by ourselves (well, by Alex, to be honest).
You can stream them right on this page, no need to download anything. I hope you like this music which we created about 3 years ago, which is actually a very long time, especially considering that we didn't keep up with it. I am back in Taiwan now, and so everybody is in a different place. Still, I treasure these few pieces that serve as footprints to what life felt like in our adolescence, the things we valued the most. And I admit that I am still dreaming of a life grounded in arts, musics, and simply doing the things that you love to do... If all else fails, then at least having my own bar and having other people perform, play music or theater. And - why not in Taiwan?
These two songs are called "Phürditsch" and "The Fine Art of Balancing Nine-Inch Squared Balls (In One Hand, While Standing on the Other)", they are not the best we wrote but were easiest to record at the time when I was about to leave the country for Taiwan in 2006.

這是我之前在德國之樂團的兩首歌，style 大概可以描寫是後搖滾樂或所謂 Emo，可是我們卻沒有歌手。 樂團名稱 margaret's hope，這個名字來自我以前喝過的印度紅茶，產生地田就叫為 margaret's hope，好像以前老闆娘之名字。 我只覺得名字聼起來很不錯，而且讓聽者想到 "Margaret 是誰呢？ 是不是因爲失戀而寫歌？" 呵呵。
我很希望你們會喜歡，歡迎留言！ 我也很想繼續做音樂，不過我正在臺灣， 其他樂團員都住不同的地方，事實期望不能太正式。
兩首名稱為 "Phürditsch" (不是真字，我們亂寫我們德文方言一個説法，意思大概翻成 "For You") 和 "The Fine Art of Balancing Nine-Inch Squared Balls" (開始的吉他 riff 我在瑞典想出來的，而夜裏時不斷地彈，也許腦死我的室友 ;)。

raining Taiwan

rain, everlasting rain, eternal rain... we used to sacrifice for you... Taiwan is so rich in it, blessing for the island's flora and fauna... why do we stay in cold abstract amassings of concrete, waiting for the day to pass, waiting for another day to starve, letting our creativity starve in office boxes, take every bit of green out of the bricks, keeps our work ethic clean, plants keep on teasing us with questions on our true place in nature, complain we haven't come home in such a long time, and then the production line sucks us in again, numbing conscience to subconsciousness, we are wholly torn apart, this is the world we live in, and no - it is not: this is the world we made for us to live in, and we try to live forever, forever we try, can't deal with what lies beneath this our crafted walls of concrete, dreams become subject to analysis, mere substitution for what is happening while we're "awake", or perhaps we are not, anyway, raindrops fall on corrugated sheets like drums of nature to our ears, and this is the sound of now, a gift from heaven, water is creation, is creativity in process, and we keep ourselves clean and dry inside our own creations of massive gray, waiting for the day to end, another day to dawn, another day in black and white, and gray, and we love and hate, all the same over and over again, and though i might idealistically disdain myself for it, i am nonetheless able to swim with the stream, to live my life walking concrete precincts, sitting on plastic chairs, staring at virtual realities, blinded by artificial light; this is where i am, as though i did not have a choice, i'm sure it will kill me, and everybody else, and we all know, but still - we have to face it somehow everyday, and i am not afraid to admit i cannot explain, but though knowing and dreaming we may still be able to rejoice, - and i consider this a unique treasure -, and i love it, or maybe it is THROUGH knowing and dreaming that we can rejoice eventually, if knowledge is what enables us to reflect, change, and cherish what is running through our hands



(picture taken from http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/dujuan99nihon/30246100.html, Martin Winter's blog. Read it.)