28 April 2013

Out, damn'd spot! out, I say! SPOT Festival May 2-4

I hope you liked that Macbeth quote. Guess who's little writing hobby, someone's small side project, someone's little fun-thing-on-the-weekend, yeah I'll do this sure why not casual music writing thingie (which is now taking almost as much time as my real job) has earned them a place as a delegate at Denmark's own version of SXSW, the SPOT Festival? Me! 
I am so excited, Rob Helbig, founder and giant creative brain behind Nothingbuthopeandpassion, asked me to come along. Launch day is this Thursday, when we board a bus with a bunch of other German media people to take a nine-hour ride to 
Århus. Read the blurb we wrote here, I'm very proud of my "use other buzzwords" sentence and the cigarette analogy.  Rob and the nice people over at Nordic by Nature came up with a Top 21 Hottest Acts of SPOT 2013.  Memorable acts that have gotten started here are Sigur Rós, The Raveonettes and  Spleen United.  Tune in to NBHAP for updates and shenanigans.

In honor of my third trip to Denmark in less than a year, I want to share this picture of the Redflesh (Danish hardcore) 7" I purchased at Spillestedet Stengade during the Distortion Festival.  I did it  because M- told me to. I didn't even have a record player. At 4 a.m. we saw someone set a bike on fire. At 6 a. m. we were still walking around Copenhagen talking about Phillip Roth. Nørrebro kærlighed. Since then, a whole perfect series of events have led me back, and the Waldo and Marsha interview I did in Århus in December was my ticket into Nothingbuthopeandpassion. See, dreams do come true. At least indie in Denmark dreams.


21 April 2013

Brasstronaut interview, Øya Showcase and Chvrches show review

Had the pleasure of interviewing Brasstronaut a few weeks ago, they were in Berlin to 
perform at the Comet Club. Expansive, Canadian neo-psych-folk.



Brasstronaut - Bounce from TIN ANGEL on Vimeo.

Thursday night was the Introducingin April: Øya Special. This was at Bii Nuu, especially nice because beforehand they had a reception with free food and drinks for music industry people. All Norwegian bands, Truls is the most catchy. Sample dialog:
R: I manage Heyerdahl. You wrote about that band?
K: Hmm, no never heard of them, pretty sure I never wrote about that band

[some time later, realizing I DID write about them, I just didn't understand the name as it is pronounced in Norwegian]
K: [thinking] I need to pay more attention.
 


Also, saw Chvrches with Arthur Beatrice at Berghain.  I lost my coat check tag and someone turned it in, there is hope for humanity. I will convince this band has a lot of crossover mainstream appeal, a lot of friends who aren't really that into music have heard of them and love them and so forth. Please just know that there are PLENTY of rad bands out there that are doing something far more cutting edge and interesting than Chvrches. Yet they covered Prince so enjoy. At the temple of club culture.


16 April 2013

SiSSi - Fool for Love

I almost forgot, the first video I wrote about, SiSSi singing "Fool for Love." Gold fingernails! Black and white imagery!

Jason Lytle, Jason Lytle, how I love thee

February was special for a lot of reasons. First, it was dark and totally sucky. Then, I went on vacation and got strep throat and got to experience the French emergency room. "Je suis mal a la gorge" is how you say "I have a sore throat in French." Lastly, I went to Brussels for the PIAS [NITES] festival. I was hoping to interview Alt-J and Jason Lytle and both interviews fell through the day before. I never wrote a review of the festival because it was such a disappointment. Jason Lytle (who was introduced as Jason "Little") got so frustrated during his set he almost walked off stage, there was some malfunction with a drum tone that kept going off. He ended his set with ten minutes of drone and stomped off looking majorly pissed. The one good thing was I found this amazing photographer, see one of her choice pictures below.
Jason Lytle at PIAS Nites in Brussels, photo by Trân N. Kulash

However, it was a magical month because a few days later, two weeks to be exact, Jason Lytle was in Berlin and I had the privilege of seeing him in a much better venue, Zur Gluhlampe, a great bar with a total SF vibe. It just goes to show how much place has to do with enjoyment of a band or a musician, and a giant warehouse in Brussels is not ideal for someone as earnest and intimate as the former Grandaddy frontman. I wrote a review of it, and was reminded of how much I love writing show reviews.

So, to counteract all the stuff that went wrong earlier, I found a great bar and saw an awesome living room style show. See, life is...worth it. Jason also remixed an Indians track, follow the link for the free download.

15 April 2013

hearts were broken and remade this month

Let's just say I've been busy writing some fun little odds and ends. I got really sick for about a week which led me to watch three straight days of MTV and VH1, which was like Top 40 crack, I loved it! My favorite was an "80s versus 90s" show on VH1, which made me realize how many drugs people did in the 1980s, especially Boy George.  I saw a lot of mainstream pop and rock acts and then would read all about them online. Anyway, the upside, besides my new-found deep and expert knowledge of Rihanna, is that I once again appreciate the video as a companion form to a song. Which is great, because STRFKR made this unbelievable short yet eye-melting accompaniment to their song Beach Monster, from their most recent album Miracle Mile. The album got slammed on Pitchfork, which just goes to show, not everyone has the same opinion. I wrote something about it for NBHAP too.
Next up, it's Wayne Coyne and the Flaming Lips, doing what they do best, which is alternately freaking out and seducing suburban America. They performed on Late Night with David Letterman. Check out my thoughts on their newest album The Terror, do not listen to while on a bad acid trip it will only make it worse. 
As far as a few little odds and ends, I wrote the promotions for the Introducing in March and Introducing in April series, which NBHAP is now co-sponsoring with Intro magazine. I'll be there this Thursday, the line-up is very promising. 

14 April 2013

so much has happened: Snøffeltøffs, Bleached and The Leisure Society

I can't believe I haven't posted here in over a month, it's been busy in life and at NBHAP, I have a Twitter feed @kikajonsson so please follow that if you want to be kept up to date in what I write. Biggest change is that NBHAP is Berlin-based, and growing constantly. I'll be interviewing a few bands this month, and also very psyched to attend the SPOT festival in Denmark with blog founder Rob Helbig. So put that in your pipe and smoke it!


I interviewed Christian and Nick of The Leisure Society, who are some very British, very good looking and very talented musicians from Bristol/London.  They have a new album out, Alone Aboard the Ark.
Next I had the pleasure of interviewing fellow Californians Bleached, they are from San Fernando Valley but I won't hold that against them because they are so good. They both have 808 tattoos on their lower lips. The new album Ride Your Heart is very catchy.

Lastly, I had a great time talking to an actual Berlin band, Snøffeltøffs. The name means nothing and the Scandinavian "o" is a big pain the ass, next time you name your band make sure it without requiring weird keyboards. Just saw them play last night and they are a band that is much better live than recording. Their EP Female Dreams, is, appropriately, all songs about girls. Really fast paced garage rock, worthy of comparisons to The Undertones, The Kinks, and the Ramones. I had originally used their last names in the article and they frantically asked for them to be removed, so they can stay anonymous, I don't get it, whatever, they are good catch them live if you can.