Song Of The Month - November '14

Hello again my friends, stalkers and everybody else. I'll always find some excuses for my low posting activity. Right now there are exams going on. Later there will be Christmas, New Year and for January I'll find some excuses, too. But I promise to write about at least two concerts this month. But not in English. Sorry.

The current song of the month is so fresh, it could as well be called "Song of The Week". This time it is Sizarr's  "Scooter Accident". If you watch the video it might remind you of the movie "The Place Beyond The Pines" (with Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes). That's because it is in fact a reference to it. I don't want to spoil anything, but in the music video you will see a guy walking around a funfair, but he doesn't seem to have any fun at all. Then he gets out, on his motorcycle, drives through a forest and then...

The song and the video are made for each other. At the beginning it's calm, the velvety and soulful voice of Fabian Altstötter is asking some questions and as the singing stops, the rhythm speeds up. It gets slower, again singing, again speeding up and THEN there is both - exciting rhythm and the voice. At the same time something dramatic happens in the video. The end is more dramatic, though. There are squeaky sounds and an abrupt ending, not only of the music.

All in all the song consists of many changes between slow and fast parts, which makes it interesting and exciting. But Sizarr always make interesting music that seems to have many different influences. Maybe they are the German version of Alt-J. Maybe not. Who cares. You don't. You just want the song. Here you go.

P.S. Their next album will be released in February 2015.

Song Of The Month - September '14

Yo. This time I managed to publish an article on time. I see that I've written a lot during the last four weeks. Not. Maybe I should post some pictures instead of texts. So, this was the intro-duck-tion, let's take a look at the topic.

September began with the Berlin Music Week. It's like The New York Fashion Week, but in Berlin and more about music than fashion. There were some Festivals, like the First We Take Berlin Festival (FWTB) and the Berlin Festival. The band and their song I want to present to you played at the FWTB. And they were great. I'm talking about As Animals and their song "I See Ghost (Ghost Gunfighters)". 

The song sounds a little dramatic, but cool. Zara, the singer, has a beautiful and strong voice and in "I See Ghost" she exhausts almost all possibilities of it. Every time I listen to this song I'm tempted to sing along. And I do. But at the refrain it's getting difficult for me and I sound like hamster that gets squeezed.

It's not easy to categorize As Animals' music. There's soul, there's pop and probably even more. Also the singer has a slight french accent which sounds pretty nice.

Here's your chance to sing along:

Song Of The Month - August '14

Writing a blog without an internet connection is not easy. Really, I tried, but then I got tired because it didn’t work. Anyway, now everything is back to normal. Or at least what I consider this way.

It was difficult to make a decision: Alt-J vs. Trailerpark, “Evey Other Freckle” vs. “Bleib in der Schule” (=Stay at School), peculiar lyrics vs. provoking lyrics. Finally Trailerpark made it, because school just started. "Every other Freckle" sounds really cool, though.

As with their other songs, “Bleib in der Schule” contains some explicit content, but besides all these drug references and descriptions of a superstar’s lifestyle (money & um... beautiful women), there is also irony and satire. Aside from that the hook fits perfectly to the young audience. Just one request: don’t take this song literally.

The beat is not really spectacular, the song rather focuses on the lyrics. But there’s a guitar solo at the end, which is nice. Watch or listen, even if you don’t understand everything. Oh, and by the way, the video might be nsfw.

Song Of The Month - June '14

June is over, Alt-J released a single with a Miley Cyrus-Sample, Lana Del Rey released a new album, the FIFA World Cup started - but I don’t care. Now there’s only one thing, only one thing on my mind.

Felt Tip’s song “Simple Things”. I probably wouldn’t have discovered it on my own, but thanks to some almost-hipster-guy this cool little gem became a part of my life.
When I first googled the band's name, all I got were pictures of felt tips. Pretty soon I realized that this were not the band members and so I added some more catchwords to my research. And then I found what I was looking for.

The intro/outro are pretty much the same – James Tyler sings with a slightly melancholic voice and there is a guitar softly playing in the background. Then – bam – the guitar wakes up, percussion and bass join the party, the rhythm accelerates and the song gets even cooler. Or hotter. I can’t decide.

Every now and then everything slows a little bit down, but only to create a tension and once again you find yourself jerking to the music. Or twerking. Or however you move to a song.

The videos all have a gloomy atmosphere. In “Simple Things” the singer reminds me of a zombie-vampire, but a stylish and cool one.

All en masse (ouh, j'écris en francais) this song doesn’t get boring, it does even compete with Glass Animals’ “Exxus” on my personal “most-played-in-a-row-song” –list. And I really want to hear this song live, in real life, not just on YouTube.

Song Of The Month - May '14

Omg, I know it's already June. Omg, I know I've been lazy. Omg, I know all you fans have been waiting desperately for this. Omg, I know... well... no, that's it. I didn't forget it, procrastination is just a good friend of mine.

Honestly, I'm often bored by these slow, all-acoustic songs sung by some guy who has a soft voice and serious brown eyes. Nick Mulvey is an exception. His eyes aren't brown. So it's ok.
The song "Cucurucu" starts slowly, with Nick telling a story and a subtle guitar in the background. If I wouldn't have been interested in listening to the story I would have just ignored the radio, but fortunately I gave it a chance. When the drums began, the song won over me and I looked it up on he internet.
It's a warm, nostalgic song, not one of those deadly serious ones, mainly because of the "cucurucu"-part and the beautiful melody. I really love it, this song makes me calm down and feel hopeful. Also a good song to listen to before you go to sleep. Sweet dreams. This time no soundcloud:

Song Of The Month - April '14

Yeaaaaaah, it's spring. 
And it feels like summer, at least here in Berlin. Sunshine, the cold is away, free time because of holidays. The icing on the cake would be some summer music. Oh, hey, I found some. What a coincidence!

The chosen song comes from Cayucas. And they come from sunny California. If you listen to their music you will notice that they have this beach-touch: songs about love and the life at the coast and of course they play guitar. Also you can easily sing and dance along. Perfect music for playing volleyball or dancing at the beach.

Their songs aren't that new, but better late than never.''High School Lover'' is my favorite, though the Math Bishop Remix of ''East Coast Girl'' sounds pretty nice, too. Maybe the songs will make it on your summer-playlist as well.
Here you go.

Song Of The Month - March '14

It's the last day of March and do you know what it means? YES! Time for another song of the month! Yay! Sorry, it's spring and I'm getting a little overenthusiastic. 

This time, I'm going to present you a band called Junior. Though actually none of the members is from Berlin, they're considered as a Berlin band because they've met there.
Junior consists of songwriter Ian Fisher and musician/producer Fabian Kalker. They've already released their debut ''Self Fulfilling Prophets'', a varied album that doesn't fall into a certain category. It contains pop, electronic, even a little soul.

Their song ''I Don't Listen Much'' is quite catchy and has everything a pop-song needs - a cool bridge, a fast beat, the word 'love'. The only objection to this statement might be a little swearword. If you feel uncomfortable by singing it, just drop the 'sh' and say 'It gets a little dark'. Problem solved.

The video makes fun of teleshopping and contains some strange dancing and other interesting elements. See for yourself.

Song Of The Month - February '14

In this category, I'm going to write about a song at the end of every month. Not just any song, but a new one that drew my attention somehow.

Even though I wrote about Glass Animals' "Gooey" in the German counterpart of "Song Of The Month", this version will be about Klaxons' "Children Of The Sun" and "There Is No Other Time". I know, that's not just one song, but does it really matter?

When "There Is No Other Time" (TINOT) was released at the beginning of February, it received a lot of negative feedback. People were disappointed, because it just didn't sound like any of the old tracks and is more of a disco track than a new rave track.
Sure, it's a strange thing when Klaxons sound like that, but many bands experiment with their style and that's always a risk. TINOT is not really a success, nevertheless it could be worse. At least you can dance to it and sing along. Plus, it is pretty radio-friendly.
I think it's ok, but nothing special.
You can make your own decision here:




A few days later, "Children Of The Sun" was released. This song settled the minds of the fans who were not satisfied with TINOT. Even if just a little. 
Other people, including me, were convinced by this song and are looking forward again to the next album.

"Children Of The Sun" (COTS) has a distinctly stronger beat and more tension than TINOT. But they also have some similarities: you can dance and sing along to both of them, to COTS just with more... fire in your heart.
In my opinion, COTS is a cool song and a very good one for a live show.They've played it along with some other new songs at the Berlin Festival in 2013.
Here you can listen to it:



BTW, the new logo looks simple but nice. I guess it shows how they've changed.