Browsing through the Guardian Music site recently, I saw their new, Spotify-enhanced (hello, sponsorship ‘cooperation’ deal, eh) project, Six Songs of Me. Quite a cool idea. But I thought their choice of questions left a little to be desired, and besides, only *six* songs? You can’t condense a lifetime’s worth of obsessive music listening to … Continue reading »
I’ve got a soft spot for accordions. To me, there is something very old-worlde and nostalgic about them. Perhaps it’s my history of playing Beirut on high rotation for many, many months. And my penchant for wandering the streets of Eastern European towns. So my attraction to Canadian folk noir singer Wendy McNeill’s fifth album … Continue reading »
There comes a time in every young BOTM’s (Band Of The Moment) life when they have to break on through all the hype and really come up with the goods if they are going to have any chance to sticking it out in a biz where fame is fleeting and fickle. I’m getting the feeling … Continue reading »
Sunday starts with a sharp pain to the wallet – ouch, CHF 45 for parking! That kinda sucks, as it was the same price to park the whole weekend. Oh well. Next year I guess we will do as everyone else did, and park around the town*. Continue reading »
I’ll be in Australia for most of the summer this year – lucky me – but I’ll manage to squeeze in a couple of summer festivals before I go, including Open Air St Gallen, which has a killer line-up this year – the Sunday programme is particularly thrilling. Here are my picks for this year’s … Continue reading »
Oooh, nice line-up: The National, PJ Harvey, Beirut, Portishead, Anna Calvi, Sheila She Loves You, The Chemical Brothers, Tame Impala, The Strokes, Angus & Julia Stone and more in this year’s Paléo Festival. Wish I could go, but sadly I’ll be gallivanting about Down Under in July. Would desperately love to see PJ Harvey again, … Continue reading »
The good news just keeps on rolling in this week – look at all the musical goodness coming our way in the next few months: The Phoenix Foundation @ Komplex 18.02.11 Maps & Atlases @ Plaza 18.02.11 Fran Healy @ Abart 20.02.11 Hurts @ X-Tra 21.02.11 Hercules and Love Affair @ Abart 22.02.11 Wintersleep @ … Continue reading »
Walking the streets of this ancient city, but recalling its more modern, tragic times. Beirut’s 2006 album Gulag Orkestar is Zach Condon‘s ode to Eastern Europe, inspired by the Germanic and Balkan folk music tradition of horns, mandolin, accordion and ukelele. Kind of incongruous coming from a Alberquerque teenager (Condon was but a pip squeak … Continue reading »
I seem to be cluttering up my other blog with music posts, so I’ve made another one specifically for music, live and otherwise, reviews and other stuff. I live in Zurich, Switzerland and go to as many live gigs as I can. This is a recent love. I’m not sure what sparked it, but I … Continue reading »
