unity

Nina Hagen: “Open My Heart (Dinner Time)”

Often with this feature we have to spell out the origin story for a young up-and-comer. Today? Not the case. That’s ’cause we’re talking about East Berlin-born New Wave & Punk trendsetter Nina Hagen. Despite bitter Cold War tensions, Hagen, with her operatic pipes and distinctive visual statements, instantly exploded with her backing band’s eponymous 1978 debut. After going solo in ’82, Hagen’s oddball aura, dolled-up wardrobe, and near-cartoonish makeup have helped her to become a powerful counterculture icon worldwide.

Strictly discussing studio output, Hagen’s prolific as hell; before this year she had sixteen LPs, two EPs, two live albums, fourteen compilations, and one original soundtrack album under her snappy elastic belt. But in light of Hagen’s undeniable legacy, we haven’t heard anything new since 2011’s Volksbeat.

That all changed this morning. Breaking a decade of studio silence, Nina Hagen just released her fourteenth solo record Unity. At a dozen tracks, Unity brings together nine new originals (including a duet with Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof as well as a George Clinton feature) plus three inventive covers (of Sheryl Crow, Bob Dylan, and Merle Travis). As is tradition in Hagen’s work, Unity does have somewhat of a political agenda. However, there are also several songs that are just plain fun and wacky. Case in point, Unity‘s penultimate offering “Open My Heart (Dinner Time)”. Between a trip-hop-esque breakbeat, chopped and pitch-shifted vocal samples, and elegant harp glissandos, “Open My Heart”, would have 100% blown the minds of ’81-era Tom Tom Club and well beyond…my own rattled noggin included.

United

With the primaries just behind us and mask mandates continuing to lift, the rifts between us all seem very evident — Who will you support come November? Will you still wear that mask? What do you think of X, Y, or Z major issue? But looking overseas to Ukraine, we can see evidence of what it looks like when people from the same country come together despite all those other differences. What would it look like if we decided to do the same? That was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.

Texas Standard: June 15, 2021

A new warning from ERCOT urging Texans to conserve electricity. How prepared is the power grid for a long hot summer? After last winter’s deadly power outages, politicians promised changes to beef up the grid. But this weeks warning sends an ominous message about readiness as temps climb into the triple digits. We’ll have the latest. Plus, Houston’s plan to battle climate change with the help of solar panels. We’ll hear how that effort is going. And farmers say it’s not just sour grapes, but a serious concern over herbicides. Plus what’s being billed as the first scholarly book on the history of Juneteenth. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: November 19, 2020

As a new wave of COVID-19 cases sweeps across the state, a strikingly different response from Governor Abbott compared to the last statewide surge. We’ll hear what health experts are saying. Also, more on an emergency treatment approved by the FDA. And as those cases rise, a test of faith for some Catholics called back to the pews. And a forthcoming vote on a new sex education curriculum Texas LGBTQ advocates say falls far short. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Unity

It’s been a long year and a long week, no matter how you voted on Election Day. We are all tired, and starting to look towards the future. It’s worth remembering that even though we may have different points of view – in the end, we are all humans.