non traditional interviews and please follow this chick on Twitter @kikajonsson

No rest for the wicked! Summer looks very promising, as I will be realizing a mostly-life long dream of attending Roskilde Festival in Denmark. This combines all that I love: music, journalism, and Danish people. Read my interview with spokesperson Christina Bilde, some interesting bits on festival history. 

I also finally finished the interview with Out in the North founders, who I had the pleasure to meet in Arhus at the SPOT festival when we both could not get into the Broken Twin show! This project take Scandinavian/Nordic musicians out into natural settings to play acoustic versions of songs, it's thoroughly original. Read about the ideas and inspirations and occasional mishaps behind this project.

 Coming up soon: I was able to interview Canadian former-quartet-now-trio Braids on Thursday. Will get that up as soon as possible, they were incredibly nice, well-spoken and gregarious. They played as one of three bands for the Introducing in June, part of the Intro series. They played songs off their new album (out in August) Flourish//Perish, which is different then debut album Native Speaker.
Rock Ton Paintball avec Braids (Épisode 8) from Scène 1425 on Vimeo.

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.

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. 

Jack Beauregard, Nias and Retro Stefson at Bii Nuu, August 16, 2012

  it is not rock and roll if you don’t get sweaty

There will be a moment when I get to say I told you so, and it may or may not center around one of the three bands I saw tonight.

This evening saw me and a lucky plus one trying something new: a first come, first served guest list. Part of Intro magazines Introducing series, tonight’ lineup at Bii Nuu (the club under Schlesisches Tor U-bahn Station, club name more easily pronounced than station name) was Hamburg favorite Jack Beauregard, followed by Nias, and ending with a rousing set from Iceland’s own Retro Stefson. I saw the first band open for Gotye at Franz last winter and I knew Retro Stefson from an amazing performance at the 2011 Berlin Music Festival.

Okay, so the first thing with a guest list like this (tickets could not be purchased, you could only sign up online, giving your email address and a plus one) is that lining up outside, in Barbara’s words, is like an Easyjet flight, everyone is eyeing to get in first. We made it in (5^th in the door thank you!) and secured a nice spot right up at the stage.  I have to say while the sound was decent, by midpoint the club felt like dancing inside the sun, but (brace for cliché) the bands were so good I barely noticed awww.

Jack Beauregard

First, Jack Beauregard, who (and this is a flattering comparison) do at points remind me of Pink Floyd if they sang about love and girls instead of space type things.   Three guys that craft pop melodies layered with sweet vocals reminiscent of the kind of love notes and thoughts you scribbled on your English notebook in high school, but not in that saccharine, obnoxious way.  If any of you remember the Philadelphia space pop scene that brought us Mazarin (now defunct) you’ll definitely dig Jack Beuaregard.  Male harmonizing worthy of the latest all male vocal groups (Fleet Foxes, Midlake). 

Nias

Next, Nias, a band I didn’t even know was on the bill until 3 strapping young lads took the stage. I know nothing about them (and later learned they are from the Czech Republic, offshoots of a post core band, this info brought to you direct from the facebook page yes), but musically, I would give the trio the honor of buying the CD. Vocals reminded me of The Walkmen, while the music was mix of early Flaming Lips (like the Punk Rockers are Finally Taking Acid era FL) and the Psychedlic Furs. No kidding, there were some riffs that were obvious synth 80s throwbacks.

Retro Stefson

And finally, my somewhat ancestral Icelandic brethren take the stage like Beowulf taking down Grendel (let no Scandinavian studies Phd be reading this please.)  The best thing seeing an Icelandic band may be the intros, everyone has names that are like 10 syllables long.  7 barely legal musicians: Logi Pedro Stefánsson, Haraldur Ari Stefánsson, Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson, Þórður Jörundsson, Þorbjörg Roach Gunnarsdóttir, Jon Ingvi Seljeseth and Gylfi Freeland Sigurðsson. What the fuck I love Icelandic names! Anyway, it’s a large group of keyboard. drums, girl on digital synth/keyboard, 2 guitars, 1 bass, and Harald, who plays tambourines and the crowd. Now, this band has what rock and roll is lacking, and that is stage presence. That they can rock a crowd as big as the daytime crew at Berlin Festival or as cramped and crowded a teeny show as at Bii Nuu, should encourage ALL bands to get a sexy, dancing tambourine man. The point when he took of his shirt and showed the lovely six pack that I guess Icelandic winters give you, made it all worth it. And let no one ever tell you Northern Europeans can’t dance, because the boy has moves. Retro Stefson owes a lot to the metal and hardcore coming out of that portion of the planet (I know, it is still going very strong).  Over some repetitive and deep beats that reference reggae, pop, electro and smattering of Latin American beats are incoherent lyrics (what a xenophobe says because maybe it’s another language) that worm into your brain, and fill you with the desire to chant back when the band asks that of you (and they ask a lot, we are taught no less than 5 dance moves, and instructed to do them in unison).  So if you want a show that leaves you sweaty, happy, and reaffirmed that the future of rock n roll is being shouldered by young 'uns from a tiny island nation, then follow these guys. Band to watch, band to watch.