once more with feeling

At the moment, 2 jobs and one upcoming and really important exam keep me from posting more regularly. But since apart from a lack of spare time, life is pretty awesome at the moment, so I’ll just stop complaining here.

No matter how little time I have and no matter how little time you have, there’s something worth watching: Einar Stray playing at by:Larm, a festival in Norway. Enjoy!

BYLARM2011 – Gårsdagens konsert – Einar Stray from byLarm on Vimeo.

Two days ago was Valentine’s Day. And I didn’t care.
Since I started dating, I associate a terrible ambivalence with this day – when I’m in a relationship, I don’t want to celebrate this day because a boy should show a girl everyday how much he loves her, not only when the advertising industry tells him to. However, in secret I still always hoped to get a little surprise present. Just a little one.
On the other hand, when I’m single, I curse that day and just want to hide under my blanket and not see any of those disgusting couples demonstrating how much they love each other.

This year was different. No need for surprise presents, no need for hiding under blankets. I didn’t care, at all. It was just a day like every other day. Why? I’m not sure. Probably it is because over the past year, people showed me their affection so often with little gestures that I couldn’t care less for a single day. No matter if that was a boy making a mixtape, a friend letting me use her guestlist spot, my sister buying two chocolate spreads because she knows that it’s my favorite one, a friend comforting me after I ran into the ex, my mum helping me to live my dream or someone special making my last days of the year magical.
Because it’s the little things that count.

And a little thing that still made Valentine’s special was Little Things That Kill (yeah, did you notice the wordplay here?). Little Things That Kill is one of the most awesome Dutch bands. And Antonie, the singer, played an acoustic session for Red Ribbon Rock via a Twitcam livestream. That’s a quite nice idea, I was surprised how that tool seems to work very well and how the picture and sound was perfectly fine.
And who doesn’t like having someone sing the line “I hold you close, beneath a million stars, they’ll never be as beautiful as you” with such passion right in front of you?

Little Things That Kill already released one album called Smokescreens which you can download as name-your-price here. Also, they are currently working on new songs and I’ve been promised (by whoever writes on their Twitter account) that we’ll hear some of the new stuff soon.
Meanwhile, get the record and enjoy the live session from Monday here.

“Is this what you try or what you want to say / You cannot run away, turn back and run.”
Those are the first lines of the second single of Deckchair Orange‘s The Age Of The Peacock, their second album which was released last week. Let’s take a closer look at it:

The first song (and first single released), Dance With The Geeks, is the most danceable song, with fast metallic drums and a chorus to sing along to. When listening to Stay, you start to get the feeling that this record might be completely different from the first one. More profound lyrics which hint at a messed-up relationship that won’t work out (“Stay, stay stay / You’re slowly drifting away / When we are breathing in / You and I is what only can go wrong”), once again the vocal support of the drummer Wolf creating a much richer sound, and a short instrumental passage.
Then, there’s Go Go Go. And the first questions that come to my mind are: ‘Is this Deckchair Orange? Is this Alex’s voice?’ Yes, it is. But it’s different. Something has changed. It’s not only guitars and drums anymore. All of a sudden, there are electronic beats. Indiepop became Synthiepop.
While at the second half of Heartbeat, the synthesizer clearly sets in and once again reminds you of the evolved sound, No Regrets might be the one track of the record mostly in line with Deckchair Orange’s first one.
Coast To Coast continues the new found style – with an instrumental, keyboard-driven part rather than an old-school guitar solo.
Different to Hands, My Love refrains from a sing-along chorus, but focuses more on critical story-telling (“I heard the kids screaming / The other day but knew / They were only playing with their guns”).
After the failed lovestory of Ghosts, the record finds its end with Buzzing Air and its lively, upbeat piano sound and momentous lines: “I’m lost in possibilities / So give me reasons to decide”.

Conclusion: Deckchair Orange changed. The boys became men. The sound became more synthie-electronic and more rocking, new (digital) instruments appear, the lyrics are deeper and more meaningful. The soaking wet T-shirts and the theme park have been replaced by amazing artwork.
The Deckchairs try to underline their position in Austria’s flourishing indie scene, to find their niche beneath bands such as Francis International Airport, Ginga, Bilderbuch, Velojet and Garish – what they definitely manage with the new record.
For the fans of the old, catchy tunes like Solid Lie and Rose (as I am), it might take 3 or 4 times listening to The Age Of The Peacock to become accustomed to the new sound. But as soon as you are, you start to see the new potential, the new possibilities for even further development.
Only one thing that’s left to ask: How will they manage to get this sound across on stage? Will they need two Macbooks and three keyboards? Is it going to downgrade their live performance? Will it still sound as good as on CD?
Well, we will see. The best opportunity for that is at one of their album presentations in Munich (Feb. 19th) or in Vienna (March 2nd). More tour dates: check their Facebook page.

Since by now, you’re probably all excited to finally hear that new sound I’ve been trying to describe as good as I can – you can order The Age Of The Peacock here. And here’s their latest video for Stay, full of their pretty but quite battered faces:

DECKCHAIR ORANGE – Stay from Deckchair Orange on Vimeo.

It’s Sunday. I’ve cleaned the flat (even the windows!), and now it’s time to sit down, relax and listen to some music.
What I recommend you for today (and every other day):

1. The Streets – Computers and Blues
It’s said to be Mike Skinner’s last album. He was inspired by an exhibition he saw in Graz (Austria, yeah baby!) and the record is supposed to sound like the city of Berlin – whatever that means. The album will be released tomorrow, but you can already stream it here. My two favorite songs so far: Puzzled by People and Without Thinking.

“Loving isn’t easy, you can’t google the solution to people’s feelings.”

2. Einar Stray – Yr Heart isn’t a Heart
Another new record to be released tomorrow is the one of Einar Stray, a singer/songwriter whose long, sometimes quite dramatic arrangements cause wonderful daydreams about walks in a green, misty Norwegian forest, finding a little wooden house at the shore of a huge blue lake and taking a rest inside this house in front of the warm fireplace.

Einar Stray – Yr Heart Isn’t A Heart from APPARATET on Vimeo.

3. Ghost Ghost
No Clothes on Ragged Island was already released in March 2010, together with the EP Of Innocence and Experience. But I only found out about Ghost Ghost‘s wonderful music through a short conversation on Twitter about a religious poem a while ago.
No Clothes on Ragged Island has been written in a single day and is dedicated to the life of Edna St. Vincent Millay, a lyrical poet who died in 1950. In case you’re like me not that satisfied with the new Bright Eyes record but love the sound of Conor Oberst’s voice, this band is the perfect alternative – listen especially to the songs No Clothes on Ragged Island and Kate (on Of Innocence and Experience).
While No Clothes on Ragged Island is quite folky, their first record Time is Gravity goes way more in the direction rock/punk – let’s see how their sound will evolve until the next release. In the meantime, listen to all three records on bandcamp.

“Could it be, you were meant to be with me, and I with you.”

The child in me loves to speak in the funny voice you get from inhaling a balloon’s helium. It loves to lie in the green grass and discuss the shapes of clouds. To build castles in the sand, to shake snow globes, to eat sweets before dinner, to have my mum around when being ill, to drink strawberry milk until you’re sick, to sleep in my Snoopy pjs, to spend a Sunday rather in a theme park than in a museum, to buy a Kinder Surprise for the toy and not for the chocolate, to be a bad loser, to make huge soap bubbles. To make figures from music videos and play “happily ever after” with them.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oqXVx3sBOk

Heinali and Matt Finney. A composer from the Ukraine and a spoken word artist from Alabama. A beautiful, yet somehow gloomy and disturbing sound. Thousands of miles distance, but songs so perfectly harmonized. Two ambient/ post-rock artists covering one of the biggest chart hits of an alternative rock band.
Yes, it sounds a bit exceptional. But that’s what they are – exceptional. There’s no “they sound like xyz”. There’s just them, their very unique style. Hear for yourself.

In my previous post, I wanted to encourage you to buy more music instead of illegally downloading it.
Now, I want to encourage you to support more music. Well, actually, to support one artist. Luke Leighfield.

I fell in love with Luke when I heard his first song quite a while ago, and last year I had the chance to meet him in real life. Luke confirmed what I thought about him before: he is a funny, incredibly talented musician who loves what he does and lets you feel this in every song, on stage and on record.
Unfortunately not all musicians and bands have the luck to have a huge label behind them that covers all their expenses. And since producing is a pretty expensive engagement, they rely on the support of others. In this case, on you.
Luke is about to release his new record called “New Season“, but before he’s able to start recording, he needs to raise some money. And there are plenty ways of you contributing:
- For only about € 18 you can get the deluxe CD (signed and personalized), a DVD of the recording process, the MP3s of the album and demo MP3s.
- For about € 35 you will receive all of the above plus a T-shirt, a poster, badges and sticker.
- For about € 53 you get all that plus a unique polaroid, a phone call (!!!) from Luke himself, you’ll be on the guestlist for a show, you get a bag and a hand-made lyrics book.

Still not enough?
Contribute between € 90 and € 300 and you can be on the album cover, have your very own song written by Luke, sing with him, party with him or have him play at your home. And for about € 590, you can even spend a whole day with the lovely boy.

I’d say there’s something for everyone. € 18 really isn’t a big deal compared to what you get out of it – just refrain from the next 5 beer, that’s about the same expense (at least in Vienna). Personally, I’d suggest you to invest some more money and have your own song written. Think about it, wouldn’t that be the perfect surprise for your loved one for Valentine’s? I can’t think of any better present.

Now let’s all spend some money and help Luke. Thank you.

Luke Leighfield – Introducing ‘New Season’ from Luke Leighfield on Vimeo.

Napster. Do you remember it? Napster was the first program I had for downloading music. Illegally. I stopped buying CDs, because (nearly) everything I wanted was available for free, and only one click away from me having it. In my hometown Kufstein, the only record store we had closed in my early teenager-years. There was no Saturn or Media Markt, and I was still quite suspicious of ordering records via the Internet.
However, I always wanted to also have every record physically. This is why I burned everything, and even created the cover exactly like the “real” record looked like.
Then, I moved to Vienna. I started going to concerts, and I started to buy CDs again. I realized that buying music gives you a good feeling, because you know that you’re supporting the artists, because it tells the artists that you appreciate their music, that they should keep going.
What makes me happy is when artists take their records as serious as I do. When they put hard work in the creation, when the whole thing is more than a 2-sided leaflet with some “Thank you” notes and a disk with a couple of songs on it. When you have the feeling that it’s worth every cent. Austrian bands are quite good in that. Just think about Toph Taylor‘s amazing CD-book or Destroy, Munich‘s latest release full of pictures and the images of handwritten lyrics. And on Wednesday, I found another piece of music no one should be missing in his record collection.

It’s the first EP of diver. Remember? Yes, it’s the band I’ve been enthusing about since last summer. I promised you to be hearing more of them. And I was right. After having played as support for Trouble Over Tokyo, they now opened for Francis International Airport. I was standing in the second row (as usual) and overheard some girls talking about how amazing they are, that the cute singer is Wolf from Deckchair Orange, and they even knew some song lines. Yes, diver are on their way to Austria’s indie-elite.

Their EP is a masterpiece of self-made artwork. A retro-style cover that has been sewed together by a friend of the band and a CD in the look of a vinyl disc. The 20 copies they brought to the concert on Wednesday were sold out in about 5 minutes, but they are already producing the next edition. So you can either write them an e-mail (wearediver (at) gmail (dot) com) saying that you really really have to have the record as soon as possible or you come to one of their next gigs (28.2. Scherbe/Graz, 14.3. rhiz/Wien, 20.3. Flex Café/Wien) and get it there. And until that, you can always listen to the songs on their Facebook page and take a look at the amazing pictures of the gig on Wednesday at the gap.