Sleep At Your Own Speed Melancholie und Reduktion auf dem Debüt
des englischen Songwriters Joel Nicholson alias BUTCHER THE BAR beschreibt die
Besetzung seiner „Band“ gern als „Ich und mein Schlafzimmer“. Ähnlich
heimelig bis ausgeschlafen geht es zu auf „Sleep At Your Own Speed“, dem
Debütalbum des jungen Engländers. Seine von der Akustikgitarre getragenen
und mit leiser Stimme gesungenen Kompositionen erinnern einerseits an die
ruhigen Songs von Elliott Smith, haben aber andererseits genug Kraft zur
Eigenständigkeit. Wäre der Begriff Singer/Songwriter nicht schon verbraucht,
man müsste ihn für Joel Nicholson erfinden. Die dreizehn Songs des Albums
sind so etwas wie Kurzgeschichten, die sich zusammen als ein
Entwicklungsroman lesen lassen. Und selten waren Sänger und Lied so eins wie
auf „Sleep At Your Own Speed“. In puncto Melancholie, Entschleunigung und
Reduktion steht Nicholson zwischen Folk und Postfolk, zwischen alten und neuen
Helden wie Nick Drake, Paul Simon oder Sufjan Stevens.
ORA COGAN from Vancouver is one of the premier voices of the Canadian
Folk/Americana underground and will play several shows in Germany starting
in may incl. 2 shows in Berlin.
GARETH DICKSON (Benbecula Records) aus Glasgow; dessen Talent
entging auch dem englischen Ausnahmelabel FatCat nicht und brachte ihn
kurzerhand mit Vashti Bunyan zusammen, für die er die letzten Jahre als
(Live-) Gitarrist arbeitete. Zudem war er maßgeblich an den Aufnahmen des
aktuellen Albums von Juana Molina beteiligt und eröffnete während ihrer
letzten Europatournee. Da wird man auch schon mal von Max Richter
angesprochen, mit ihm an einem Soundtrack zu arbeiten. Gareth spielt
Akustikgitarre und singt, dies gestützt und umrahmt von kleinen
Soundkollagen und dem Spiel mit der Zeit.
Just before the morning, while the nervous sun hesitates beyond the horizon,
CEDARWELL wakes up at the bottom of the ocean. Slowly gasping for a breath
and swimming towards the surface Joel Philip Stokdyk (percussion,
harmonica) realizes they are far away from home. Erik G. Neave (acoustic
guitar, voice) gets sucked up behind him and grabs a glossy tuft of seaweed
peeking out from a slit of darkness and screams up to his shrinking partner "I
will never let go. I can never let go."
Björn Kleinhenz wurde in Stuttgart geboren. Doch seine Eltern wanderten
gerade noch so rechtzeitig nach Schweden aus, dass aus dem Sohn ein
grandioser Singer/Songwriter werden konnte. Heute ist der 27-Jährige ein
Aktivposten in der Göteborger Musikszene und veröffentlicht mit seinem dritten
Album ein glattes Meisterwerk. In der Vergangenheit konnte Kleinhenz bereits
Vergleiche mit Elliott Smith, Tiger Lou oder Kristopher Aström einheimsen -
und spätestens jetzt sind sie alle gerechtfertigt. Statt auf Larmoyanz setzt er
lieber auf Melancholie und stillen Humor.
Ohne Musik-Diplom und Praxiserfahrung in renommierten Kombos wie dem
Linzer Bruckner-Orchester oder den Berliner Philharmonikern rührt hier
niemand das Blech oder das Schlagwerk an.Und trotzdem ist das Quintettt
irgendwie Punk – denn was am Ende bei La Brass Banda rauskommt, lässt sich
so wahrscheinlich in keiner Musikschule oder Uni lernen. Wolfi Schlick – Leader
der Münchner Express Brass Band glaubt, dass das Epizentrum der neuen bayerischen Brass-Musik-Szene bei den Bandas im Chiemgau liegt.
La Brass Banda blasen zum Blech-Massaker. Balkan Sounds und Mariachi
Fanfaren treffen auf bayerische Polka – Heimweh auf Fernweh –
Trainingsjacken auf Lederhosen – unvermoikte Folklore aus der ganzen Welt
auf die Beats von DJ N-Dee und seinem International Bohemia Soundsystem.
Manuel, Stefan, Andreas, Olli und noch mal Manuel spielen zwar zu fünft nur in
Brass Band Minimalbesetzung. An Bühnenpräsenz und Party-Ambitionen
übertrumpfen sie aber so manches 10-köpfige Blasorchester.
Ob in Chiemgauer Wirtshäusern, auf bosnischen Musikfestivals, in italienischen
Bars oder Londoner Pubs – das Blechfieber der Bandas steckt überall an. Ihre
Musik ist geblasene Völkerverständigung. Halb so wild, wenn ihre Texte auf
dem internationalen Tanzparkett keiner versteht.
SETTING SUN-Singer-songwriter Gary Levitt has a solid take on the balance
between rural naif and urban hipster that's at the root of the current alt-folk
scene, but for all the acoustic guitars and simple musical settings of the third
Setting Sun album, he's no Devendra Banhart type of modern flower child.
Levitt (who basically is Setting Sun, although Erica Quitzow, adds cello, violin,
drums and vocals) has far more in common with Destroyer's Dan Bejar: the 11
songs on Children of the Wild use not only vintage psych and folk-rock as
musical touchstones, but the melodramatic likes of Scott Walker and Hunky
Dory-era David Bowie, as well as sophisticated '80s college rockers like Prefab
Sprout and the Go-Betweens. Moods range from the giddy, strummy pop rush
of "Overjoyed" to the whispered tension of "Not Waste," with room for the
folkish delicacy of "Morning Song" as well as the trippy edge of the Beck-like
single "No Devil Me No More," with the boyish charm of Levitt's vocals and the
inventive melodicism of his tunes tying the whole thing together. Children of the
Wild may not fit easily into any currently fashionable genre descriptors, but it's
definitely worth a listen.
SORRY GILBERTO like melodies you can humm along by yourself, inbetween
places, on an afternoon. Its all about the weather, big citys and small towns
and especially about the people, running around, trying to get a grip on
something (or maybe on each other).
These songs are shortmovies. Somebody has lost the storyboard in the rain, so
you can concentrate on faces, sudden movements and the strange guy in the
back. If you are into instruments, give a hand to the lazy guitars, the squeeky
organs, the swinging basslines, the stoic beats of the rodeo and the little casio.
There are voices too. Singing about things you already know. But hey: Dont
you wanna hear about them over and over again?!
Tanz hat heute viele Funktionen, kann aber auch Selbstzweck oder Zeitvertreib sein.
Ritualisiertes Tanzen drückt Zusammengehörigkeit und sexuelle Emotionen aus
und kann als festlicher Initiationsritus die Aufnahme neuer Mitglieder in eine Gemeinschaft begleiten, etwa wenn junge Mädchen beim Debütantinnenball
der Gesellschaft vorgestellt werden oder wenn Schüler beim Abschlussball eine bestandene Prüfung feiern. Vor religiösem Hintergrund werden mit Tanzritualen
Götter geehrt oder um Beistand gebeten, während böse Geister abgewehrt
oder vertrieben werden.
Tanzen dient als Sport der körperlichen Ertüchtigung und fördert Muskelaufbau,
Motorik, Koordination und Gleichgewichtssinn. Das erfolgreiche Erlernen, Planen
und Umsetzen komplexer Bewegungsabläufe bildet Selbstvertrauen und
unterstützt ein gesundes Verhältnis zum eigenen Körper.
Als Kunstform dient Tanzen dazu, Gefühle und Handlungen bildlich darzustellen.
Mimik, Gestik und ganzkörperliche Tanzbewegungen bilden zusammen mit Musik
das anspruchsvolle Arbeitsmaterial des künstlerischen Tanzes, der dem Zuschauer
Eleganz und Ausdruckskraft des menschlichen Körpers vor Augen führt.
Center of the Universe (C.O.U.) started as a reaction to the solitary feeling of
beeing the only guy around who was equally crazy about Eastern European
folk music, jungle, French progressive rock from the seventies and lo-fi.
The musical climate in Oslo's suburbia was so depressive in the early nineties
that any attempt to make happy and experimental music at the same time
was bound to be unpopular. Sissyfus, the only member of C.O.U., gave
himself ten years to achieve cult-status. The first years he spent as a
"casette only" artist in the spooky village Skjetten, then he moved to Oslo.
Unwilling to send demos and even more unwilling to drink beer with the "right"
people, Sissyfus made the very first Metronomicon-CD-R and the rest is history
(but it’s not this history because this is a text about the Center of the Universe
not the story of Metronomicon Audio, even if these stories have pretty much in
common).
Being rejected by the conservative Rock n' Roll hegemony in Oslo (at least the
first years), the Center of the Universe was "discovered" by the famous
playstation-duo Töyen, and they played his songs on the radio. Finding an
audience in techno clubs, art spaces, illegal parties and in people’s homes, the
C.O.U. made a lot of concerts and released a lot of CD-Rs the following years.
Sometimes alone and sometimes together with drummer Dj Jubel, singer and
accordionist Sara, violinplayer Moriarty(tm) and Ergo; the paganini of the
tone-generator.
The C.O.U. has played concerts all over Europe, and in many cities in Norway.
C.O.U. has also made a lot of remixes for different artists, made some music
for the performances of Monica Winther, some installations with the Sister of
the Universe, done a lot of Dj-ing as Dj Sissyfus and played many concerts as
support act for the nice band Salvatore.
Koppens music is Japan-o-file cartoon-infected cut-up folk. Inspired by slapstick
humour and blues from long before any of us were born, Koppen is raising
sample-, and banjohell together with his producer Sissyfus. Koppen and his
producer sissyfus takes a deep dive into the field of popular culture and comes
up with forgotten superheroes, abandoned computergames, crazy noises and
tic krash boom bang wheeee soundFX.
Metronomicon Audio is a little CD-R and CD label based in Oslo (Norway) that
has chosen to go straight against the massive commercialism, double
standards, vanity and unserious behaviour of the music industry.
Metronomicon Audio has focused on the freedom to make the music we all like,
and their never-resting design and typography crew Yokoland has done the
very same in visual terms.
Metronomicon Audio is a community, with a flat structure where the artists
have full control of their own music and artwork. They arrange concerts and
happenings nearly all the the time, and every year they arrange the event
*By;Alarm*, which is a mockery of all the grammy’s and awards that are to be
won in the dirty, terrible, ridiculous and malicious business of music.
Tonights special guest Magnus Moriarty mixes Folk-rock, lo-fi and sci-fi together
into a joyful and poppish mixture. The lyrics are absurd fairytales, and the
melodies are bound to be whisteled by you if you can whistle and if you listen
to his music more than once.
Ergo got tired of being everyone..s sidekick. For years he laboured as whistler
for Magnus Moriarty--, bouzouki player for Now We..ve got Members and tone
generator operator for The Center of the Universe. All the while he conducted
small experiments in sound back home in Ergoland. In Ergoland Ergo was his
own boss and could do precisely as he wanted. There were no spiritual advisors
or singer/songwriter primadonnas to push him around. Ergo plays a sort of
off-center pop music comprised of white-keys-only piano, cosmic folksong,
closet electronics and a hint of amateur recorder flute. Ergo has released the 3"
EP Reclaim the Mall! on Metronomicon Audio, and is currently working on a
follow up 3" with more folky material, as well as a full length CD of more
electronic music. Ergo enjoys freckles, single malt whiskys and cats.
Aron Ward is lead vocalist and songwriter in The Color of the Sun, whose
eclectic songwriting and beautifully rich soundscapes have been impressing
crowds around Bristol for the last year. Like Bowie or Cornelius, Aron has a
chameleonic approach to creating a song. There’s no shame in attempting to
write the perfect pop song or delve into an introspective epic.
Aron felt it was time to flesh out the sounds he'd been recording over the last 4
years and enlisted Phil Collings– Drums and Keys, Mirte van Geenen – Vocals,
Clarinet and Samples and Tom Franklin playing Bass. Older tracks have been
re-interpreted and made more vital to what is happening today. The more
electronic songs have taken on a more organic, avant garde feel. Don’t be
surprised to find The Color of the Sun ignoring the common restraints of simply
performing a set list to the letter but instead going hell for leather into a
Can like, 15 minute improvisational piece - eminently creating a listenable
marriage of sample mashing and live musicianship.
In the current trend of relatively tuneless fret tapping math rock or image over
talent electro no wave bands the Color of the Sun are a rare entity. Although
proficient they concern themselves more with delivering aural pleasures and
strong catchy songs to the listener. Combining all the slacker/post rock guitar
“techniques” Ward developed back in California with carved up beats and
frequent tectonic sub bass, the songs come together like puzzle pieces that
The Color of the Sun persuade to fit regardless of their shape. Lush mellotron
strings easily disintegrate into a brutal din then back to a catchy, Brian
Wilson-esque chorus. Most recently they have played in Bristol with acts such
as Safetyword, Kid Carpet and The Sea & Cake. Several other collaborations
are also in the pipeline, promising even more interesting results.
The man named BROKOF was said to be a gambler. a happy go lucky.
charming. he was told to be a gypsie at heart who deserted and fled the nazis
three times to make his way home from the ostfront to see his wife giving birth
to their child. again and again they caught him somewhere and stood him back
into battle. finally, like many others he was used as a human mine detector and
spread to dust somewhere on the island of krim.
Carrie ERVING sings and plays guitar, ukelele, and keyboard. She spent four
years in a New England boarding school, where she was frequently scolded for
squandering her scholarship and future in favor of daydreaming and dancing
around to songs by The Cure. Later she rooted herself for several years in the
music community of Ithaca, NY, and founded the all-girl bluegrass band The
Hillbetties. She began her solo career in a New Mexico desert town, singing
lullabies to miners and ranchers in the local saloon. Next she was off to Ireland
for a year to learn sean nos singing (so that, should she ever have babies,
they'll have something decent to listen to). Now settled in Berlin, she is
recording her own electronic folk pop songs with the wonderful Tom Krimi.
Please stay tuned for new music. Her songs reflect her love of old country
waltzes, lonely Irish laments, and the fact that she's always been a sucker for a
good pop song.
Named after a golden ship found rotting in Reykjavik harbour, Berlin-based musician Theresa Stroetges creates dreamy, experimental folk-tronica that
sounds like walking on a beach with the sun in your eyes. She combines a mass
of instruments and found objects (guitars, viola, glockenspiel, sticky tape, toys)
together with the fragile beauty of recordings from her laptop.
M:SOUNDTRACK presents: THURSDAY the 18th of JUNE @ 9 p.m. :: TUNA LAGUNA (Norway) + LIGER (Österreich) + BRENT ARNOLD (U:S:) + DJ Melody Burn
TUNA LAGUNA is a norwegian instrumental rock band focusing on immediate, catchy and groovy tunes. Some people have described our music as "post rock", and like many others that recieve that label we don't really know what that means, but what the hell. Lables are for jam jars ;) LISTEN: www.myspace.com/tunalaguna / tunalaguna.com LIGER is Dino Spiluttini, who played all kinds of instruments in the post-punk-duo Bruspi, hit the drums for the silly metal band Kniff17, currently also makes music as Yeah Pretty Boy and Duran Durandom and runs the label Beatismurder Records and Gernot Scheithauer, who played the Drums and other stuff in Barbarella Plüsch, Mimi Secue and is currently the awesome drummer of Marilies Jagschs band. they have played with acts like Carla Bozulich's Evangelista, Unwed Sailor, Rechenzentrum, Picastro,... LISTEN: www.myspace.com/postfolk
BRENT ARNOLD attacks the cello with fiery intensity and delicate subtlety, with an unconventional approach that often sounds like anything but a cello. He sings his genre-defying songs while fingerpicking the cello like a guitar, pounding it like a piano, or creating mysterious, electronic-sounding tones. His avant-garde yet populist approach calls to mind forebears like Tom Cora and Arthur Russell. He has worked with artists including Modest Mouse, Sleater-Kinney, DJ/Rupture, Lia Ices, Lenny Kravitz, & many more. LISTEN: www.myspace.com/brentarnoldmusic
On June 12th, NILS FRAHM, DUSTIN O'HALLORAN, GREG HAINES and ANNE MUELLER we be playing the beautiful Grunewaldkirche in Berlin. For more information on the artists, or how to get there, please view our profile. We sincerly hope you can make it!
Ziegrastr.11, 12057 Berlin-Neukölln 5 min from S-Bahnhof Neukölln Start:23:00 Tickets: 6,00
Raum18 has panoramic views over Neukölln/Kreuzberg and is situated in the middle of a working industrial estate. There will be 2 rooms in operation with a special appearance by Jamie Vex'd (London/Berlin), live performances from ONRA (Paris/FRA), Timeblind (N.Y./Berlin) & spec. guest performance from N.Y.'s Pursuit Grooves next to DJ-Sets by ONRA (again) and fine acts from Robox Neotech and DUBWD - welcoming the freshest dance stylings into socal experience all of Electro, DubStep, Future Funk & Wonk ...
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