Cogs can think.

Still one of my favourite songs by The Cardigans. Frantic music, frantic lyrics, frantic video. It may be clear what the song’s about - like so many other of Nina’s songs, it’s about alcohol abuse.

I just love this line: “Baby you’re foul in clear conditions, but you’re handsome in the fog”. Utter brilliance.

Another difficult musical decision I just made. What’s the best album by The Cardigans?

A few things you need to know about The Cardigans. Basically, the band’s career can be divided in two. Their first three albums (”Emmerdale” [1994], “Life” [1995], and “First Band On The Moon” [1996]) are not my thing. There’s nothing wrong with them technically, it’s just that the ’60s inspired sound is not for me. This period of The Cardigans, which I refer to as the ‘old Cardigans’, did produce one gem: “Lovefool”, probably known by just about anyone. A great song, with much more depth to it than you’d say upon hearing it for the first time.

No, my Cardigans are the ‘new Cardigans’, which started with 1998’s “Gran Turismo”, which had a completely different sound to it than their previous material: it was dark and electronic, and very, very well produced. From beginning to end, the album is one entity, songs logically flow into one another, and despite sporting just ten tracks, it’s enough. There’s only one way to describe this album: it’s done. These albums were followed by the country-inspired “Long Gone Before Daylight” in 2003, and the much darker and more raw “Super Extra Gravity” in 2005.

At first, I thought it would come down to either “Gran Turismo” or “Super Extra Gravity”, but surprisingly, after some intense listening sessions of the three ‘new Cardigans’ albums, I had to scrap “Super Extra Gravity” from the list. Despite the album sporting nothing but very, very good songs, it’s also a very inconsistent album. It goes from left to right, as if it doesn’t know what it wants to be. So, despite absolute gems like the pounding “Losing A Friend”, the manic “I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer”, and the haunthing and chilling “And Then You Kissed Me, II”, the album lacks coherence.

Which leaves me with the other two. After some more listening, it became apparent to me that “Long Gone Before Daylight” just lacks something. I can’t really put my finger on it, but it seems as if the album lacks power. The percussion is fairly subdued, and the guitar play is light - not bad, but light. This creates a lack of power, a power that certainly is present on the other two.

By the way, the album’s closener, “3.45: No Sleep”, is a song you just have to have.

This means that the dark and electronic symphony “Gran Turismo” is my best album by The Cardigans. It’s an exercise in technical excellence, and it’s the best showcase for Nina’s dreamy, bedroom-y voice. I can’t help but fall in love with her every time I listen to the album.

All three albums are top-quality material, but “Gran Turismo” just stands out.

There are five albums I’m currently waiting for. These five albums will more or less define my music habits for 2008 and 2009.

First and foremost, a new album by my idol, my girl knight in shining armour, my future wife, my everything: Fiona Apple. I need not introduce you to my admiration downright obsession with Fiona, and I also need not detail (again) why she is, by far, the greatest singer/songwriter that has ever walked this earth. Just go to the little search field in my sidebar, and do a query on her name.

Anyway, she said in the first half of 2007 that by fall 2007, she’d dive into the studio to work on her fourth album. Her third album, “Extraordinary Machine”, was released on 4 October 2005 (after an excruciating seven-year wait) to basically unanimously raving reviews, but it did mean the end of an era; “Tidal”, “When The Pawn…”, and “Extraordinary Machine” together form a trilogy. On “Tidal”, Fiona portrays herself mostly as sullen, slightly sad, and sometimes even as the victim. On “When The Pawn…”, she’s more of an agressor instead of a victim; she details the damage she ((un)willingly?) inflicts upon others, and she comes across as more assertive, ready to pick up a fight. On “Extraordinary Machine”, however, we hear a Fiona who has come to terms with her past, who accepts herself for what she is - we finally hear a Fiona who is content, even happy. The final line on the album closener “Waltz” says it all: “Everyone else’s goal’s to get big headed / why should I follow that beat being that I’m / better than fine.”

So, now that the trilogy is complete, what’s next for my beloved Fiona? Time will tell, but I hope Time won’t take its sweet time like it did between 1998 and 2005.

The second album I’m waiting for is The Cardigans’ 7th studio album. Studio time is planned for late 2008/early 2009, and knowing The Cardigans, who pride themselves on never having made the same album twice, we’ll be surprised and baffled by what they’ll come up with this time. I hope for at least a little dash of “Gran Turismo”, as I think that album’s dark and electronic sound had much more in it than just “Gran Turismo” - which is not to say it could’ve been better, I’m just saying the sound hasn’t been explored to its fullest of potential.

I’m also waiting for a new Garbage album. “Bleed Like Me” left me with a bitter aftertaste, as the album was a clear response to criticism the band received after “Beautifulgarbage”, a highly experimental, difficult-to-listen-to-at-first masterpiece. And you really shouldn’t listen to music critics. Because they are idiots. “Beautifulgarbage” was highly stylised, and mostly lacked the powerful guitar riffs from their highly successful and critically acclaimed first two albums. So, for “Bleed Like Me”, Garbage tried to sound more ‘grunge’, more raw, and it just didn’t work very well. Garbage is a band consisting of four producers (Butch Vig being one of them) so they should stick to what they do best: studio albums. Turn and twist those knobs, Shirley, Butch, Steve, and Duke, I know you like it.

Speaking of Shirley, she’s recording her solo album, and I’m obviously awaiting that one too. The album will be “quite dark and moody”, and that’s just how I like Shirley Manson.

This leaves me with number five on this list, and that’s the second A Camp album. A Camp is the solo project of Nina Persson, vocalist of The Cardigans. A Camp’s first album, imaginatively called “A Camp”, caught me completely off-guard, and even though it was not love at first sight, a few listens later, I embraced it for what it was: a slightly experimental journey into the unknown, Nina breaking free form the shackles of being in a band. It’s a great album, although I’m sure its country influence won’t be to everyone’s liking.

The coming two years are going to rock. Well, musically at least.

The bond between me and my brothers (better put: between the world/reality/everything and my brothers) has never been all that good. Maybe when we were very young, but all the shit that happened after that kind of obscures my view on my pre-teenage years.

Anyway, because of who and what my brothers were, I always tried extremely hard at being totally unlike them. This meant general things like in fact going to school, not picking up smoking, not terrorising the rest of the family, not stealing from my parents and brothers, not going to juvenile mental institutions prison, you know, the whole nine yards. Being a teenager in one of the richest countries with one of the best schooling systems in the world, with the best parents you can ever wish for, in a fairly wealthy and very loving family is, like, hard.

I also avoided very specific things. For years, I tried me very best to steer away from the music my brothers would listen to. Now, when it comes to my oldest brother, that’s not very difficult, but when it comes to my middle brother, that was kind of actually difficult. He has a very, very, very decent taste in music. Still, I never even glanced at the bands or artists he listened to, because in my fragile little mind (yeah right) I had constructed this warped idea that not listening to the same music would somehow help me in my life-long ambition of not becoming like my brothers.

Not too long ago, I broke this nonsense thought by diving into the world of The Cardigans, which, as regular readers of my blog (do they exist?) will know, was a fairly big success. Today, I did the same thing. I bought Bjork’s “Postal”, and I’m loving it. As I love the 10E worth of Jelly Beans I bought.

There goes the relative safety of my teenage mind.

I never quite saw the purpose of Valentine’s Day. I just don’t see the point in sending anonymous cards or flowers; if you don’t know who they’re from, how can you value them? I see this day more for people who already found each other than for people still trying to find each other.

So when Marco asked me if I sent a Valentine’s card to anyone, I answered with a resolute ‘no’.

Anyway, for me, there’s only one justification for Valentine’s day: you can legally indulge yourself in dreary love songs and ballads. I wouldn’t be myself if I did not have a certain song in mind for today, so here it goes. This is a song by A Camp, whose leading lady is none other than Nina Persson from The Cardigans. It’s called “The Bluest Eyes In Texas”.

The lonesome Texas sun was setting low
And in the rearview-mirror I watched it go
I can still see the wind in her golden hair
I close my eyes - for a moment i’m still there

The bluest eyes in Texas are haunting me tonight
Like the stars that fill the midnight sky, her memory fills my mind
Where did I go wrong? Did I wait too long? Or can I make it right?
The bluest eyes in Texas are haunting me tonight

Another town, another hotel room
Another dream that ended way too soon
Left me lonely way before the dawn
Searching for the strength to carry on

The bluest eyes in Texas are haunting me tonight
Like the stars that fill the midnight sky, her memory fills my mind
Where did I go wrong? Did I wait too long? Or can I make it right?
The bluest eyes in Texas are haunting me tonight

For every heart you break
You pay the price
But i can’t forget the tears
In her blue eyes

The bluest eyes in Texas are haunting me tonight
Like the stars that fill the midnight sky, her memory fills my mind
Where did I go wrong? Did I wait too long? Or can I make it right?
The bluest eyes in Texas are haunting me tonight

The bluest eyes in Texas are haunting me tonight
The bluest eyes, the bluest eyes
Are haunting me
The bluest eyes… Tonight

It makes me want to go to Texas again.

I was just driving through my hometown, with The Cardigans in my car’s CD player, at maximum volume. At the side of the road, I see a man and a woman, in their late 50s I suppose; the woman is supporting the man, the guy was clearly having trouble walking, despite his walking stick. He may have been blind as well, I couldn’t tell.

As I’ve been taught by my parents, I stopped, and waved at them that they could safely cross the road. As they get to the other side, the woman raises her hand in greeting, and I greet back; I release the clutch, and just as I’m about to set my foot on the gas pedal, Nina Persson sings:

Well you get what you give

I felt all sparkly and warm inside.

Yesterday, as a sort of personal birthday present, I bought myself another album by The Cardigans: Long Gone Before Daylight, released in 2003. Critically, this album was not as well received as their other albums, so I did not really know what to expect. Obviously critics are full of shit 99.9% of the time, so I went out to buy it anyway at my local independent record store, Pop-Eye in Big City Alkmaar.

And while listening to the album at the store, it hit me; I knew why critics did not like this album.

Obviously, it had absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the music I was listening to. You see, Long Gone Before Daylight was their first studio album after their big international hit album Gran Turismo in 1998. But instead of doing what fairly mediocre and uninspiring bands do after a big hit album (Coldplay and Keane come to mind) they did not continue down the same path; they did not create Gran Turismo II. Long Gone Before Daylight is darker, less accessible than the sometimes frivolous sound of Gran Turismo.

And “critics” do not like this. They want you to change, but not too much; they want you to stay the same, but not too much. I see a few men nodding; exactly, critics are like women. Gran Turismo was a massive success, and it takes guts to stray from a successful path in the music industry. Especially to come out better than before, and not to come running back to your old and tried style after you “critics” hit you.

Because their last album, Super Extra Gravity, my favourite, is different all over again, but nothing like anything they ever made. And this is what makes a band great: the will to experiment– but not forgetting what you’re good at.

What a great song by The Cardigans. A song that took a few weeks of listening to grow on me, but now, it might be one of their best. Chilling, just chillingly cold.

Slow dancing tight
My barring heart and I
Your name used to taste so sweet
Then you beat the love right out of me

It’s a mystery how people behave
How we long for a life as a slave
When he kissed me I gladly gave in
To a fight nobody could win

Man, he left me blue
And if I could I would do it too
I tell you now like I told you before
Love is a powerful force

And it’s a mystery how people behave
How we long for a life as a slave
And tumble into any open arms
That will only ever do you harm

Oh, you you it’s always you
The best kisser that I ever knew
True love is cruel love
Not much to be proud of

Nerve-wrecking acrobatic backwards bend
All for a happy end

It’s a mystery how people behave
How we worry ourselves to the grave
When he kissed me I lost everything
Then I got up and did it again

Oh you you, it’s always you
The hardest hitter that I ever knew
True love is cruel love
Not much to be proud of

Ass-kissing mercy-missing faithless friend
All for a happy end

I’ve never seen a song tell so well the powerlessness women victim of husband agressions must feel. There are two especially chillingly direct rhymes in this song (I made them bold). However, the song is also filled with less obvious hints at the subject; for instance, the man, he left me blue/and if I could I would do it too is especially subtle and telling; women in this situation often want to leave, they see that what their husband is doing is wrong, but they still cannot leave (if I could I would do it too), because they still feel a lot of love (Love is a powerful force).

Great song. Go listen to it. The Cardigans, “And Then You Kissed Me, II”.

I’ve seriously fallen in love with not only Nina Persson, but also with The Cardigans’ music. “Don’t Blame Your Daughter” especially. Here’s the video on YouTube (legal, actually).

I need to find out what is the best album title, and what is the best song title. At this point in time, I find these the best:

Best album title: “License To Ill” - Beastie Boys
Best song title: “I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer” - The Cardigans

Runners up to best album title: “When The Pawn…” by Fiona Apple (the title is actually an entire poem, but I don’t feel like reprinting it this time), this title so perfectly describes this out-of-the-ordinary album - I think that if Lewis Carrol’s Alice grew up to make music, tis album would’ve come out. A second runners up is definitely “Nebraska” by Bruce Springsteen. That one state’s name just so perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere of this legendary album.