once more with feeling

You open the big and heavy wooden door. You step inside. The ray of sunlight coming through the gap in the curtains throws a sparkling shimmer on the family pictures on the wall. The air is filled with memories and the smell of books and food. You can hear the noise of the TV from the living room. You walk up the stairs, they creak with every step. You enter the room and see your grandma in her chair, having fallen asleep while watching a movie. She looks so peaceful and has this little smile on her face, as if she was dreaming of something wonderful. You give her a kiss on her forehead and walk down again, outside. You stand on the terrace, everything around you is so colourful. You’re dazzled by the sun, you can hear the rustling of the birds in the trees. You touch the green grass and inhale the smell of spring. You start running. The wind blows through your hair. You pass the small lake where the ducks do their usual round, you keep running. Faster. You pass the cemetery. You keep running. As fast as you can. The school you went to, your best friend’s house, the bakery. You keep running. You stop. You close your eyes. You take a deep breath. You’re there. You arrived.

Press play. Close your eyes. Can you hear it?

Sometimes, when I think about how fast time goes by, it hits me. Especially those past couple of years since I moved to Vienna have changed me, my life and the people who form this life of mine in ways I never expected. And it all happened so fast. I can’t believe that it’s nearly three years ago that I met Uno Moller for the first time. It was at this amazing exhibition that combined pictures with music of this girl and this boy, who I barely knew back then and now consider people essential in my life.
Not only has my life several steps and jumps forwards, backwards, to the left and to the right in the three years since this day – also Uno’s has. With his band Team Me he’s currently touring all around the world, their first album gets the best reviews from magazines and bloggers and they recently won the “Spellemann Prisen”, kind of like the Norwegian Grammy. As a solo artist, Uno signed to Lazy Acre Records and will release his new album “Silent Riots” there in April (pre-order here). And today in two weeks I’ll see him again in a double-feature, since he’s currently opening with his solo-show for Team Me.

Since I can’t wait to finally see and hear Uno again, and since it’s such a perfect grey and wintery and lazy Sunday, I want you all to give Uno’s latest single “Riots” featuring the lovely Lucy Swann a listen.

Am I still alone?

The first time I saw Robert Stadlober was when he played the main character of Crazy. That was 12 years ago. However, my “encounters” with Robert were few: there was Sonnenallee (yes I’m one of those who watched Crazy before Sonnenallee), Engel & Joe (my favourite, since it came out right at the time when I started sliding into my punk-phase) and Verschwende deine Jugend (a principle after which I’ve lived to the maximum).
It was only in 2010 when I learned that Robert was making music. And surprisingly for an actor-gone-musician, it’s even good music. The first time I heard “Leave Me”, I immediately fell in love with the harmony and polyphony, with the feeling of intimacy and of lightness. But it’s not only Robert himself – it’s Gary, the band he has together with Astrid Noventa, Rasmus Engler and Daniel Moheit. Gary released their first album already in 2002 and their 3rd album “Hey Turtle – Stop Running!” will be released on March 9th (including an incredibly cute album cover).

A couple of days ago, Gary released the first single of the upcoming album – and since it has the “love” theme in it, what day would be better to post it than Valentine’s? Yes, right – any other day, because love shouldn’t be limited to a single day of the year. However, I chose today, so you gotta live with it. Oh, by the way: you can also download the song for free on their Facebook page!

But today I fell for you.