Aesecakes

When Arsenal striker Kai Havertz stepped up to take a penalty against Bournemouth last season, it felt like his career was a crossroads. The German forward had joined Arsenal from their London rivals Chelsea for a hefty £60 million transfer fee, but he still hadn’t found the back of the net. And critics were questioning whether all that money had been a waste.

But when Havertz smashed the penalty into the bottom left corner and wheeled away to celebrate, 40,000 Arsenal supporters erupted into a brand new song—a remix of Shakira’s 2010 World Cup hit “Waka Waka,” with new, bespoke lyrics: “sixty million down the drain, Kai Havertz scores again.”

The Arsenal fans were serenading their new striker and laughing at his critics by saying: “who’s a waste of money now?”

This bizarre scene exemplifies a European football tradition that has evolved into a folk art form over decades, particularly in the English Premier League. Every weekend, supporters fill stadiums with complex, often witty songs that blend pop culture with football passion—creating a soundscape unlike anything in American sports.

New track from Mr Bejar and co. New album coming in March.

Invidious link

The recommendation algorithm served this band from LA up for me today. Solid track with distinct Siamese Dream vibes, perhaps? The EP they released in 2023, that this track is also on, is quite good.

They have apparently signed with Transgressive, so I would expect that an album is on the way.

Invidious link

5 February is over and so is International Covers Day but I'll just sneak in one more.

Here's Sydney's Royel Otis with their version of the Sophile Ellis-Bextor hit, "Murder On the Dancefloor" It's catchy. So is the original, actually.

Thanks @[email protected] & @[email protected] for also contributing songs and thanks to commenters, too.

Yewtube link

There are 3 tracks in this YT upload from the 7" single from the Swedish feminist punk band:

1. Söndagsskolehyckel (Sunday school hypocrisy)
2. Stålmannen/kvinnan! (Superman/Woman!)
3. Särskild Sort (Special Variety)

This ties in with my recent post about Pink Champagne's guitarist's future band, Curious (Yellow).

Pink Champagne Wikipedia

Yewtube link

Seeing as I just posted a song adjacent to to The Church, it would be remiss of me to not add this classic to the annals of this Lemmy Community.

Yewtube link

Do you like The Church? Curious (Yellow) was the band that was led by Karin Jansson, ex-partner of Steve Kilbey, and mother of two of his children. He gets credited for performing on this song, and others on the album it is from, Charms and Blues. He's also listed as the, "Producer, Executive Producer"

I used to own a cassette copy of Charms and Blues. It just occurred to me today to see if a video exists from back in the day and here it is.

Yewtube link

My continued exploration down the rabbit hole of international dreamgaze has led me to Japan's Shikisai Puzzle (シキサイパズル). It's hard to find info but they appear to have released a 2014 album that this track is from and a follow-up mini-album. Both are on Spotify. The album is also on Youtube.

Beat Happening was an American indie pop band formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis, and Bret Lunsford have been the band's continual members. Beat Happening were early leaders in the American indie pop and lo-fi movements, noted for their use of primitive recording techniques, disregard for the technical aspects of musicianship, and songs with subject matters of a carefree or coy nature.

— Wikipedia

Yewtube link

Probably the funnest song I have heard in a long while from Swiss, Berlin based, Anna Erhard.

Every Noise at Once is an ongoing attempt at an algorithmically-generated, readability-adjusted scatter-plot of the musical genre-space, based on data tracked and analyzed for 6,291 genre-shaped distinctions by Spotify as of 2023-11-19. The calibration is fuzzy, but in general down is more organic, up is more mechanical and electric; left is denser and more atmospheric, right is spikier and bouncier.

Click anything to hear an example of what it sounds like.

Click the » on a genre to see a map of its artists.

Be calmly aware that this may periodically expand, contract or combust.