Next in my little collection of musicians... Carla Bozulich / Evangelista. She completely blew me away first with a great concert at the UT Connewitz and then with her new album "Prince of Truth". And here's some fine stuff to listen to.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
I lay there in front of me covered in ice
Next in my little collection of musicians... Carla Bozulich / Evangelista. She completely blew me away first with a great concert at the UT Connewitz and then with her new album "Prince of Truth". And here's some fine stuff to listen to.
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
They don't expect little grrrls to shout...
A while ago, I started drawing bands or artists I like, sometimes trying to include song lyrics. As a start, here's Gustav, who made my personal album of the year 2008. According to her Myspace site she's currently working on an ambient album with the title "Hallo Knallo!". Other pics will follow soon.
Monday, 25 May 2009
If I could face the music
As I've said before... this year there is SO MUCH new music to listen to, so many great albums out and many more to come. Before I forget half of it, I use this place for some middle-of-the-year listomania and collect all the faves and some stuff I should keep in mind for the next visit to the record shop...
favourite albums of the year so far:
* Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
* Kevin Blechdom - Gentlemania
* Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care
* Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
* AGF / Delay - Symptoms
* PJ Harvey & John Parish - A Woman A Man Walked By
albums I still have to get:
* Lady Sovereign - Jigsaw
* Fever Ray - Fever Ray
* Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
* Peaches - I Feel Cream
* Chicks on Speed - Cutting the Edge
* Soap & Skin - Lovetune for Vacuum
coming releases I'm looking forward to:
* Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
* Lord Cut-Glass - Lord Cut-Glass
* Gossip - Music for Men
* The Left Outsides - ? (don't know the title yet)
Saturday, 6 December 2008
A Tribute to Gustav
The end of the year is coming closer, everyone starts thinking about their favourite films, records, concerts etc. and I also tend to some list-o-mania these days. I've come to the conclusion that I've seen too many good films, for example, and find it hard to pick just a few, while I seem to have neglected music a bit this year (or mostly listened to older stuff). A couple of favourite 2008 albums are quite obvious though, and I will start my 2008 reflection with a tribute to one of my personal "artists of the year" - Austrian musician Eva Jantschitsch alias GUSTAV...
For more than one reason, 2008 has been a Gustav year. Not only that the title of her new album - “Verlass die Stadt“ (Leave the City) - can be seen as my personal motto for the year (and somehow the title track describes perfectly well how I felt about my long time city in the last months), it also is a brilliant record in every respect. More focused than her (already impressive) 2004 debut “Rettet die Wale“, she seems to have found her sound: basically electronic but also very song-oriented, including catchy, bittersweet tunes. And, last but not least, her intelligent, rebellious and thought-provoking lyrics (about society in general, resignation, longing for the next catastrophe, to name just a few), often combined with a dark ironic twist that is hard to describe. But unlike most German-speaking songwriters, who put so much emphasis on their lyrical content that the music seems like nothing more than a medium for the message, Gustav is obviously interested in both message AND music. Her way of combining different styles and sounds makes it impossible to name her influences just by listening to her records. Apart from releasing one of my favourite albums this year, her musical brilliance was even more impressive when listening to the songs live. I had the pleasure to see two Gustav concerts this year, first in May at the Leipzig Pop Up in a tiny overcrowded club, and then for a second time at the Skala (again in Leipzig), with basically the same setlist but a much better sound quality. The songs seemed even more powerful live than on the record, and the concert showed that she can even cover a Rage Against The Machine song (“Sleep Now in the Fire“) and make it sound totally like it was her own stuff. And she's one of the very few musicians who can make you think, laugh, cry and dance. Yes, even all at the same time.
A couple of songs (both old and new) can listened to here.
For more than one reason, 2008 has been a Gustav year. Not only that the title of her new album - “Verlass die Stadt“ (Leave the City) - can be seen as my personal motto for the year (and somehow the title track describes perfectly well how I felt about my long time city in the last months), it also is a brilliant record in every respect. More focused than her (already impressive) 2004 debut “Rettet die Wale“, she seems to have found her sound: basically electronic but also very song-oriented, including catchy, bittersweet tunes. And, last but not least, her intelligent, rebellious and thought-provoking lyrics (about society in general, resignation, longing for the next catastrophe, to name just a few), often combined with a dark ironic twist that is hard to describe. But unlike most German-speaking songwriters, who put so much emphasis on their lyrical content that the music seems like nothing more than a medium for the message, Gustav is obviously interested in both message AND music. Her way of combining different styles and sounds makes it impossible to name her influences just by listening to her records. Apart from releasing one of my favourite albums this year, her musical brilliance was even more impressive when listening to the songs live. I had the pleasure to see two Gustav concerts this year, first in May at the Leipzig Pop Up in a tiny overcrowded club, and then for a second time at the Skala (again in Leipzig), with basically the same setlist but a much better sound quality. The songs seemed even more powerful live than on the record, and the concert showed that she can even cover a Rage Against The Machine song (“Sleep Now in the Fire“) and make it sound totally like it was her own stuff. And she's one of the very few musicians who can make you think, laugh, cry and dance. Yes, even all at the same time.
A couple of songs (both old and new) can listened to here.
Friday, 5 December 2008
Looking for the new sound
Yes, yes and yes! Just a week ago I wrote in an email to a friend that Leipzig-Plagwitz is so great that you hardly have to go the city centre at all. Except for record shopping maybe. Well, just a couple of days later, I found a flyer in a pub and it announced great things. A new record shop opened this week - not exactly in Plagwitz but still very, very close. And even if it's still very basic, it already has a surprisingly good selection of music, including lots of records by the Touch label... some old post-punk classics I've never seen in shops before, and an impessive Fennesz collection. With more good stuff coming up soon, hopefully.(The first record I decided to buy there was Stina Nordenstam's "The World Is Saved".)
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Meant for the Stage
The Decemberists live in Berlin, 30/09/07
(In a desperate attempt to write a review with some kind of wannabe-professional approach, I gave up halfway though because I noticed that it was impossible for me to write about the Decemberists in this neutral, analytical style. I'd seen them twice before, each concert ending in an outburst of enthusiasm and addiction to listen to each of their albums on end. I'm too big a fan of their music to write about their concert as if I was a music journalist. So here comes my second attempt - impressions from the perspective of a dedicated fan.)
The support act, Canadian 3-piece Land of Talk, opened the set with great charm and lovely tunes. As with Two Gallants on their 2005 tour, the Decemberists proved to have a good taste in choosing their support acts. When the Decemberists appeared on the stage, the lights revealed a beautiful illustration by Carson Ellis: a little Japanese village with a crane flying away – actually, a picture from the band's recent LP „The Crane Wife", and a very original visual background for the songs, most of them from this album. The band opened the set with the title song „The Crane Wife 1&2", a song based on a Japanese folk tale and a shining example of Colin Meloy's truly poetic songwriting style.
Without any additional musicians this time, the band still easily managed to transfer the complexity of the songs to a live scene – no wonder with several multi-instrumentalists in the group, especially Chris Funk, who seemed to be able to play every instrument he could get his hands on: guitars, the violin, the banjo, and one bizarre instrument I'd not seen before (this must be a hurdy-gurdy, I guess?). Jenny Conlee on keyboards and accordion - the instrument that makes up a considerable part of the band's unique sound – also had an opportunity to show her singing skills, in „Yankee Bayonet" and the „Mariner's Revenge Song", where she sang the part of the suffering widow with such a melancholic passion that one could think she'd really lived through the story herself. Drummer John Moen also turned out to be a highly gifted singer whose background singing added to the gorgeous melodies, and bassist Nate Query played both bass guitar and upright bass as if it was the easiest, most natural thing in the world. And of course, singer and guitarist Colin Meloy sounded as gorgeous live as he does on the records – he could probably sing to me about anything, and I'd listen patiently, indulging in his melodies and storytelling. Even after having heard the songs very often, they still strike a chord within me, move me – especially when played live. „Eli the Barrow-Boy", for example, one of the most beautiful and sad songs I've heard. Or „O Valencia" from the recent album – at the concert, the song provoked two very strong and very contradictory emotions in me: a deep sadness evoked by the tragic story, and at the same time an incredible euphoria about the music and the joy of being there. It was one of these moments – realising why music means so much to me. And just like the other Decemberists concerts before, this one showed that - apart from their musical and lyrical genius - all the individual band members are unique personalities with a charismatic stage presence and the skill to relate to their audience. So the last song of the regular set - „I Was Meant fot the Stage" - turned out to be more than true once again.
After the last song ended in a massive feedback of noise, the Berlin crowd was still demanding for more – understandably so. The band returned to play two more songs: „Bandit Queen" with Colin alone on acoustic guitar, and finally a Decemberists classic, „The Mariner's Revenge Song". Following a little lecture about marine biology in general and whales in particular, we learned how to scream when swallowed by a whale, in order to provide this special effect at the crucial point in the song, when exactly this happened to our vengeful protagonist. Again I enjoyed the absurd brilliance of the story („Don't know how I survived, the crew all was chewed alive, I must have slipped between his teeth. But oh what providence, what divine intelligence, that you should survive as well as me...") and the accordion sound evoking a longing to be at some seaside place. A 'grande finale' to a marvellous concert that filled me with enough enthusiasm and inspiration to last for weeks. I still have these beautiful tunes in my head and I'm already looking forward to the next time the Decemberists return to cloudy Berlin.
(In a desperate attempt to write a review with some kind of wannabe-professional approach, I gave up halfway though because I noticed that it was impossible for me to write about the Decemberists in this neutral, analytical style. I'd seen them twice before, each concert ending in an outburst of enthusiasm and addiction to listen to each of their albums on end. I'm too big a fan of their music to write about their concert as if I was a music journalist. So here comes my second attempt - impressions from the perspective of a dedicated fan.)
The support act, Canadian 3-piece Land of Talk, opened the set with great charm and lovely tunes. As with Two Gallants on their 2005 tour, the Decemberists proved to have a good taste in choosing their support acts. When the Decemberists appeared on the stage, the lights revealed a beautiful illustration by Carson Ellis: a little Japanese village with a crane flying away – actually, a picture from the band's recent LP „The Crane Wife", and a very original visual background for the songs, most of them from this album. The band opened the set with the title song „The Crane Wife 1&2", a song based on a Japanese folk tale and a shining example of Colin Meloy's truly poetic songwriting style.
Without any additional musicians this time, the band still easily managed to transfer the complexity of the songs to a live scene – no wonder with several multi-instrumentalists in the group, especially Chris Funk, who seemed to be able to play every instrument he could get his hands on: guitars, the violin, the banjo, and one bizarre instrument I'd not seen before (this must be a hurdy-gurdy, I guess?). Jenny Conlee on keyboards and accordion - the instrument that makes up a considerable part of the band's unique sound – also had an opportunity to show her singing skills, in „Yankee Bayonet" and the „Mariner's Revenge Song", where she sang the part of the suffering widow with such a melancholic passion that one could think she'd really lived through the story herself. Drummer John Moen also turned out to be a highly gifted singer whose background singing added to the gorgeous melodies, and bassist Nate Query played both bass guitar and upright bass as if it was the easiest, most natural thing in the world. And of course, singer and guitarist Colin Meloy sounded as gorgeous live as he does on the records – he could probably sing to me about anything, and I'd listen patiently, indulging in his melodies and storytelling. Even after having heard the songs very often, they still strike a chord within me, move me – especially when played live. „Eli the Barrow-Boy", for example, one of the most beautiful and sad songs I've heard. Or „O Valencia" from the recent album – at the concert, the song provoked two very strong and very contradictory emotions in me: a deep sadness evoked by the tragic story, and at the same time an incredible euphoria about the music and the joy of being there. It was one of these moments – realising why music means so much to me. And just like the other Decemberists concerts before, this one showed that - apart from their musical and lyrical genius - all the individual band members are unique personalities with a charismatic stage presence and the skill to relate to their audience. So the last song of the regular set - „I Was Meant fot the Stage" - turned out to be more than true once again.
After the last song ended in a massive feedback of noise, the Berlin crowd was still demanding for more – understandably so. The band returned to play two more songs: „Bandit Queen" with Colin alone on acoustic guitar, and finally a Decemberists classic, „The Mariner's Revenge Song". Following a little lecture about marine biology in general and whales in particular, we learned how to scream when swallowed by a whale, in order to provide this special effect at the crucial point in the song, when exactly this happened to our vengeful protagonist. Again I enjoyed the absurd brilliance of the story („Don't know how I survived, the crew all was chewed alive, I must have slipped between his teeth. But oh what providence, what divine intelligence, that you should survive as well as me...") and the accordion sound evoking a longing to be at some seaside place. A 'grande finale' to a marvellous concert that filled me with enough enthusiasm and inspiration to last for weeks. I still have these beautiful tunes in my head and I'm already looking forward to the next time the Decemberists return to cloudy Berlin.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
