Edge, Bono, What are you listening now?

U2.com has published an interview to Bono and Edge where they speak about music (and not theirs!).

Florence Welch of Florence And The Machine opening for U2 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami in June 2011.

As the year turned Bono and Edge called in to U2.com to reflect on some of the music they've loved in the past twelve months... and wonder at what the next year holds. 

What acts or albums left their mark in the past 12 months ?

EDGE: I think the Bon Iver record will be remembered for a while, with it's combination of the new folk thing and a level of experimental production that sets it apart. Very compelling and powerful but also very innovative. The Florence and the Machine record, Ceremonial, is also in that category.

There’s a Scandinavian band called I Break Horses and I really like their record ‘Hearts’. It has hints of Cocteau Twins and of Sigur Ros but while it’s cinematic and organic it also has an electronica feeling… quite fresh.

Then, for great writing, there’s Foster The People. Compositionally this is so powerful, and thematically strong, with hooks and ideas which are clear and to the point. I’m enjoying that new record (‘El Camino’) just out from The Black Keys and another band, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, have an album called Up From Below, which is a sort of mad circus of a record, full of life, vitality and fun. It’s like you’re entering a carnival, the smells and tastes and sounds that are wrapped up in that record.

Sounds like you feel it was a good year for music?

EDGE: A great year. Things are moving in several different directions at the same time. There’s no unified cultural movement that everything refers to but several different trains of thought which are all very interesting. The most interesting things will end up being those that have a certain duality, a certain internal argument going on within them which is certainly what’s happening with Bon Iver, with Florence and the Machine and with The Black Keys.

BONO:… yes, The Black Keys, much more interesting than The White Keys.

EDGE:… stay with The Black Keys and you can’t go wrong. As any piano player will tell you, it’s almost impossible to play a bum note if you’re on the black keys.

BONO… and the same for the band.

EDGE: There’s also another Irish singer I’ve been getting into lately, James Vincent McMorrow..

.

BONO: Oh yes, ‘If I had a Boat’, what a song…

EDGE: His version of Stevie Winwood’s ‘Higher Love’ is really beautiful and he might even be from Malahide…

BONO:.. sure nothing good comes out of Malahide…

EDGE:… as I was about to say!

BONO: Actually, I think Edge is also big on M83

EDGE:…yes!

BONO: ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming’ was an important album but the one before that I loved too, ‘Saturdays = Youth’, that one really got to me.

I have to say, not just sticking with an Irish theme, but I think ‘Fallen Empires’ by Snow Patrol is an extraordinary album and for very subtle reasons. It’s a strange concoction of club culture and ecstatic rock. I find it very funny with some great lyrics and then it has all this organic, almost folksy energy but at a frenetic, speedy level… that’s been blowing my mind. Then the Coldplay album ‘Mylo Xyloto’ is great, they keep getting better.

For me Gavin Friday’s ‘Catholic’ is an amazing record, one of the albums of the year, and his song ‘Lord I’m Coming’ is my song of the year. It opens and closes the film ‘This Must Be The Place’ which premiered at Cannes and stars Sean Penn, Frances McDormand and Eve Hewson.

Of the acts that are less well known I think that Burst Apart by The Antlers is astonishing and Edge has already mentioned Ed Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros – ‘Desert Song’ is ridiculously good. Bloodless Coup by Bell X 1 is fantastic and, of course, Foster The People – ‘Torches’ - joy as an act of defiance. It’s kind of psychedelic pop music but in the face of the times we’re living in, I find the bouncy, big grooves just a real tonic.

The Love We Make

In the morning of September 11, 2001, Paul McCartney was in New York City on an air­port runway waiting to fly to Britain. As he absorbed the news of the unfolding tragedy, he wondered, “What can I do?” The answer, of course, lay in music. As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the documentary "The Love We Make", which chronicles Paul McCartney's journey through the streets of New York in the aftermath of the World Trade Center's destruction will be previewed at select theaters across the USA on September 8th. According to Beatles-Freak’s Review, the film is in "black & white, the camera follows Paul in New York City in his travels from October 11, 2001 to October 23, 2001 and his day-to-day dealings to organize and prepare for The Concert for New York, a benefit concert that was held on October 20, 2001. If you were expecting a 90 minute film on Paul’s reaction to 9/11, then you will be truly disappointed. If you’re a McCartney fan that wants to see what it’s like to be Sir Paul, then this film is for you."

"During TV and radio interviews leading up to the concert, Paul touches on issues dealing with how he’s dealt with grief in his life, how he deals with the conflict of being a pacifist after the devastation of 9/11 and how he came to the realization that he needed to do something while sitting in a plane on the tarmac watching the twin towers burn." 

"Mixed in with the interviews are Paul and his band rehearsing for The Concert for New York with many guest cameos as Paul discusses debuting his new song, “Freedom” for the first time at the show." 

The film was made by Albert Maysles, whose Beatles connections started with the 1964 Beatles film "What’s Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A.". And just as back then, the new film has also been shot in 16mm black and white.

http://wogew.blogspot.com

Happy Christmas!!!

An amazing U2 year, with a mammoth tour,  and the best of fun...Now it`s  festive time, luckily Edge and Bono could make it home (via Irish Rail, full article here) and they are all ready to celebrate. While we wait for pics of their infamous nights-out in Dublin, I want to wish all U2 fans a Happy Christmas!!!! May all your wishes come true (and that include a concert in your city of our beloved band).!!!


And this Christmas, Baby, please come home...

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk//www.wondersay.com

A House Based on U2´s Props

Bruce Ramus, who spent 16 years directing hundreds of shows for Irish rockers U2, has listed his 1,860-square-foot post-and-beam waterfront home in British Columbia for $1.5-million. The home sits on 1.25 acres of wooded island property and includes a giant sectioned olive, a leftover prop from a U2 show.
The three-bedroom home, which took four years to build and has cedar and fir flooring throughout, was dubbed Posts Standing because of its native longhouse and Japanese temple influences. It’s heated by a central fireplace and has beautiful panoramic views of Howe Sound. Its design, Mr. Ramus says, was inspired in part by his association with Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.“I grew up as an artist when I was with U2,” says Mr. Ramus. “We shaped each other’s way of looking at things, like, ‘What do you want to say with your life?’ They are engaged with that question. I wanted to make a significant work in architecture.”Posts Standing was designed by B.C. architect Henry Yorke Mann and built with ecologically friendly construction methods. Its massive posts are from cedars that grew on the lot and were milled on site. The walls are six inches thick and require no insulation.
Mr. Ramus, who has also worked with the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and R.E.M., bought the property from actor Carl Weathers.



I wonder where the lemon is... would that make a good house too? Would Larry like to live there?

www.life.nationalpost.com

U2 Recommends U2

Lemon lyrics - U2 lyrics

Lemon Video - U2 Music Videos

Adam recommends "Lemon", he recently said in an interview.It is his all times U2 favourite song.

"Lemon" was the second single released from Zooropa. It followed the trend of not being a worldwide release, nor being released in typical formats, that started with the Numb single. A commercial version of this single was not released in Europe. Instead the single only had limited release in the United States, Australia and Japan. Europe and other regions had promotional singles released. The single did chart at number 6 in Australia where the more traditional formats were released;released in July 1993. The album was avant garde and very creative.


With Bono putting on his now well-known falsetto for the entire song rather then just a piece as in the past, and Edge relying heavily on his delay pedal while Adam, Larry, and Eno and company supply a slick groove to hold it all down, this is as perfect a marriage of rock and electronic/ambient music as one can imagine. And it´s the successful marriage of these diverse elements which allow the band to move ever forward in musical creativity yet maintain their core identity. The drums, bass work, vocals, piano, everything suggests this is a U2 song. And just as equally suggests it is not.

With one of the best videos ever (not only in the videography of the band but in the history of videos), perhaps a forgotten song (from an album that had been underestimated, though much appreciated by the band and countless fans). Adam thought the album could have been their "Sgt Pepper" but Bono felt it somewhat "unfinished".