once more with feeling

“The song is almost entirely made up of samples we made by clanging pieces of metal around in a mile-long sewer tunnel & bass guitar, 808 drumz, and vocals – all run through a severely malfunctioning tape delay.”

I have to admit that after reading those lines, I was quite skeptical. Then I listened to it. Once. Twice. Five times. I liked it. I went to their Myspace page and to their Soundcloud page, listened to the other stuff. I liked it. And now I can’t stop listening.

Who I’m talking about? True Womanhood. This trio from Washington DC describes themselves as having found together through a shared nostalgia for The Smiths and Joy Division and their interest in futuristic beats, modern dubstep and hip hop. And this is exactly what they sound like. The experimental mixture of synths, industrial tunes, intense rhythms, melodic guitars, backed up by Thomas Redmond’s Thom Yorke-like voice.

True Womanhood already released their first EP Basement Membranes, and they’re just figuring out when to release their first full-length album – where the song mentioned at the beginning, Nite Prowlers, will be on. Until the release, you can check the song out here.

But there’s another song that caught my attention immediately, and which you all should… no, HAVE TO listen to. The song will also be released soon on a 7”, so stay tuned!

Last Rites by truewomanhood

Watch the days, they’re like leaves
as they fall, as they fall.

It’s winter. As in: I finally accepted that it’s winter.
I usually prefer summer. But there is one thing about winter that I love: snow. And two days ago, we had the first snow in Vienna. I love it when the whole city is covered in white. I love to walk through the city under the snowfall. I love to draw hearts on cars covered with snow. I don’t even mind the cold. Snow makes me happy, snow puts me in a romantic mood, snow makes me smile.
So, here I am now, in my winter mood. Drinking tea, reading, going through old pictures from my childhood, listening to tragically romantic music, thinking about the thousand different meanings of “love”. And there is one artist I started to listen to again in the past few days, an artist that will be in Vienna soon, and I just can’t wait. I saw him live once, and it was incredible. During the gig, you feel your heart breaking, you feel his sadness, you live his experiences. You leave, speechless. Because there aren’t any words to describe the feeling you get from seeing him, hearing his songs.

So, this is who I’m talking about:

Sophia – Ship in the Sand

Forget the past it’s just an ugly backdrop
that stains everything we try to believe in
Except the things that failed love brings
and don’t project it on to anyone else.

So, Arcade Fire released their video for The Suburbs some days ago. And due to a totally exhausting time (= me going crazy between uni, working, studying, and trying to still have some kind of social life) I only realized that today.
Now, here it is. It’s been directed by Spike Jonze (famous for working with Beastie Boys and Weezer for example), and it’s about the life of some 15-years old kids. And it’s not some shallow story about first love or first drug experience. In the nearly 6 minutes you see a transformation, you see different stages of their lives, you see their happiness, their recklessness, their anger, their fear, their frustration, their violence, their jealousy, their desperation. You see children on their way to adulthood.

Now, watch for yourself:

I have a new favorite music video. And it’s this one:

Under God’s Heaven – Heinali and Matt Finney Music Video from Freddie Lloyd on Vimeo.

It’s amazing, isn’t it? It’s perfect for my mood at the moment, and it’s perfect for the cold, though not yet wintery weather in Vienna, with daylight disappearing around 5 pm, turning half of the day into night. Darkness, beauty, sadness. It gets into your head and won’t leave again.

The song is from Heinali and Matt Finney’s new EP Conjoined. It’s their third one, and it’s available as name-your-price download here.

Just a little something I just found. Even though I don’t really like the beer (I’m not even sure if I even drank it), the spot is awesome. Not a new concept, but still better than most of the German beer spots.

It’s true I knew it from the start
you’ve been my love, I lost my heart. (Diver – Come Home)

Three guys – one from Munich, one from Berlin, one from Vienna. Three different characters, but sharing one passion: music. Acoustic, harmonious, multifaceted. Diver put emotions into words, form sentences, add guitars, keyboard, accordion, rattles and melodica – and there it is, a song that says everything it needs to say, honest and intense. And even if the stories about the first encounter with this girl and falling in love with her, about changes that life brings, about London and heartbreaks aren’t true – who cares. I surely don’t.

Diver are my personal new discovery highlight of 2010. They more than deserve to have played at the big stage of Flex for the first time now, and I’m convinced that we’ll be hearing a lot more from them next year. They do have the potential, that’s for sure.

Yesterday, Diver was supporting Indie-Vienna’s most favorite British musician: Trouble Over Tokyo.
Toph seemed nervous, overwhelmed by the full Flex and his fans that not only knew the lyrics to every song but also confessed their love in between the songs. But as soon as he starts singing, it’s gone, and the nervousness turns into energy. Toph jumps around on stage for his faster, quite electronic songs, and wallows in melancholy for his slower, heartbreaking songs. And he infects the audience. I danced (and that’s something you won’t hear often!), I closed my eyes and drifted away, I nodded my head to the beat, I sang along, I laughed and I had tears in my eyes.

Toph just released his third album, “The Hurricane”. It comes with a self-made book, and you can (and should) get it here.

Have I been lying all this time to keep myself stuck?
I’ve been nowhere, I’ve done nothing
I’ve been talking to myself for so long. (Trouble Over Tokyo – The Liar)

It’s getting cold in Vienna. The ground is covered with leaves, the Christmas markets are getting ready to sell their delicious “Punsch”. And there are a lot of concerts to look foward to:

1. On Wednesday, Trouble Over Tokyo will present his new album at Flex. Since I’m in Vienna I actually never managed to see him live, so I’m quite excited about this gig. Plus, he’s supported by my insider tip of the year: Diver. Remember?

2. On Thursday, Frightened Rabbit are playing at Flex. Probably, I’ll completely freak out as soon as they get on stage – their recent album is totally on my “Best of 2010″-list.

3. Chris Garneau is coming back to Vienna. For the Bluebird Festival. Do I need to say more? He’s just amazing. At the festival, you can also see Sweet Sweet Moon, Scout Niblett, the Hidden Cameras and many more. Three days of wonderful artists.

4. Destroy, Munich present their debut album on December 9th at B72. One of the most talented and sweetest Austrian bands. This is going to be great!

It’s time for a lot of #musiclove.

Frightened Rabbit – The Loneliness and the Scream

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1Lf7mriehU

Am I here? Of course I am, yes
All I need is your hand
To drag me out again.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart just released a new song, called Heart in your Heartbreak. So far, you can only stream it on Pitchfork, but it will be released as a digital single in December and will be part of their new album coming in March.

You can already here a slight development from their first album – the sound is richer, the guitar and the keyboard more present. And still, the reasons why we fell in love with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart didn’t change: the wonderful melody and the bittersweet lyrics that let you sigh after the last second, that make you want to listen to it over and over again.

No matter what you pray,
it’s never gonna take the pain away.
Even if she’d stay
you know it’s wrong.

There are times when you win, and there are times when you lose. Everybody knows that, everybody has gone through that. And still, when the times of winning are over, and we face the losing part, we stand there, unprepared, once again. As if it was the first time.
I won a lot so far this year. I found wonderful new friends, revived old friendships, enjoyed lots of awesome concerts, moved in with the sweetest person in the world (aka my little sister), travelled to exciting places and found the courage to quit my job and go back to university.
Now, I’m facing a loss, and it hits me as hard as it always does. But this is life, and I’ll get over it. We all do get over it, it just takes time. We grow with it, we learn, and even though it won’t be the last time we feel this weight and desperation, we know there will be the winning part again. And I can’t wait for it to come.

Nada Surf – Enjoy the Silence

Feelings are intense
Words are trivial
Pleasures remain
So does the pain
Words are meaningless
And forgettable