i like.

Gaslight Anthem

Kings of Leon for the Alternative Rock crowd.

The Whitest Boy Alive

Their new album is on their way and a tour through the UK and Europe is on its way.

So far the live confirmations are:

London – Scala – 16.04.09

Manchester – Ruby Lounge – 18.04.09

Get tickets here.

LOTUSFLOW3R

This saved my life.

Prince is back. Online. And ready to take the world with his new website:

http://www.lotusflow3r.com/

It will be the only online space where prince will be available. As you may have noticed, none of his material is allowed to be on youtube or any other popular online community. Cause he now has his own.

Check out his new songs that will be released on 3 different albums over the next 12 months.

And here a great article on “A Night with Prince” – the only official report on Prince’s life ever as far as I can tell.

welcome to 2009… music

And here (a bit late) the predictions for 2009’s top music by the BBC:

1. Little Boots
New synth-pop queen aims for the stars

–> I got to work with her last November and she is truly amazing on stage and a lovely girl.

2. White Lies
London rockers with dark, deathly anthems

–> The hype, the hype, the hype! Good guys but need to watch out for the hype…

3. Florence and the Machine
A striking, fearless and quirky new singer-songwriter

–> Interesting!

4. Empire of the Sun
Australian fantasy pop heroes on a spiritual mission

–> new to me…

5. La Roux
London synth duo aim to revive the sound of 1984

–> Her name has been flying around for a while! I like.

6. Lady GaGa –> Her song is all over the radio. I think it will be a one hit/one album thing

7. VV Brown –> New to me

8. Kid Cudi –> Once again, all over the radio in the UK..

9. Passion Pit –> Passion Fruit would be more like it. Electronic fun.

10. Dan Black –> A Justin Timberlake. But Cool

welcome to 2009… movies

2009 and I have realized a great passion of mine. Movies. They take my mind off of things and at the moment there are some great productions to look out for. And some, not so great…

Great movies:

Kite Runner – I only just got it on DVD and it was one of the best movies I have seen in a very long time.

Lars and the real girl - Already a bit old but incredibly touching and very funny.

Che: Part 1 - the best part of this movies is the educational aspect. It is like a great documentary on Che and the Cuban Revolution to be seen on the big screen.

On my list to go see:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – for the philosophical aspect

Rachel is getting married – for the life dramas

Frost/Nixon – for the history

Milk - for the history pt. II/revolution

Marley & Me - for the relaxed (romantic) comedy and Owen Wilson

What you should not watch:

Bride Wars – I anticipated a funny movie to take my mind of of things. It turns out that my friends and I came out of the movie, devasted by it and it’s representation of marriage, women and friendship..

The Spirit - horrible try to do another sin city comic/movie…

Germany’s new superband

Tokio Hotel won a VMA as Best Newcomer. And they seem to be well on their way to be noticed as one of the few German bands to make it internationally, following the likes of Nena, Kraftwerk, Rammstein and the Scorpions.
What is it about Tokio Hotel? Because they are a mix of EMO and POP with horrible haircuts. All very strange!

http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/tokio_hotel/artist.jhtml

Tell me what music you listen to and I tell you who/what you are

This is great. News from CMU daily musicletter (05.09.2008):

“STUDY FINDS LINKS BETWEEN PERSONALITY AND MUSIC TASTE
A new study of more than 36,000 people by Heriot-Watt University has found that musical tastes and personality traits are very closely linked. Amongst the findings, it was discovered that both heavy metal and classical music fans tend to be gentle and at ease with themselves.

Professor Adrian North, who conducted the research, told the BBC: “We have always suspected a link between music taste and personality. This is the first time that we’ve been able to look at it in real detail. No-one has ever done this on this scale before”.
He added that the findings could have significant uses for marketers. He said: “If you know a person’s music preference you can tell what kind of person they are, who to sell to. There are obvious implications for the music industry who are worried about declining CD sales”.

He continued: “One of the most surprising things is the similarities between fans of classical music and heavy metal. They’re both creative and at ease but not outgoing. The general public has held a stereotype of heavy metal fans being suicidally depressed and of being a danger to themselves and society in general. But they are quite delicate things”.

There is still time to take part in the study. Just fill out the questionnaire at www.peopleintomusic.com

Here’s what your taste says about you:

Blues: High self-esteem, creative, outgoing, gentle and at ease.
Jazz: High self-esteem, creative, outgoing and at ease.
Classical: High self-esteem, creative, introvert and at ease.
Rap: High self-esteem, outgoing.
Opera: High self-esteem, creative, gentle.
Country & Western: Hardworking, outgoing.
Reggae: High self-esteem, creative, not hardworking, outgoing, gentle and at ease.
Dance: Creative, outgoing, not gentle.
Indie: Low self-esteem, creative, not hard working, not gentle.
Bollywood: Creative, outgoing.
Rock/Heavy Metal: Low self-esteem, creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, at ease.
Chart pop: High self-esteem, not creative, hardworking, outgoing, gentle, not at ease.
Soul: High self-esteem, creative, outgoing, gentle, at ease.”

Seems like the hip indie kids are loosing out.

digital music services

Every music newsletter I receive these days either talks about a new digital music service, debates subscription services (Napster et al) vs. single sales (iTunes et al) or the rumour about iTunes going for a subscription service OR should we stay away from iTunes et al/digital sales at all?

According to Bob Lefsetz (2008) selling single tracks via iTunes is why the labels got in trouble to begin with. Suddenly one didn’t have to buy a whole album, where 4 out of 10 songs (guestimate) were shit anyway.

Apparently Kid Rock’s huge summer hit (yes, the funny cover of Sweet Home Alabama played EVERYWHERE these days (almost as bad as Nickelback’s Rockstar)) wasn’t released through iTunes in America and was able to top the charts anyway. Now the success and apparently the non-release digitally managed to get Kid Rock a whole lotta album sales.

Yet again, iTunes has become the biggest music retailer in the US, surpassing the mighty WalMart in the first quarter of 2008.

Here’s what I think:

Digital Music is the future, although I love my CD’s (or vinyl’s if I had the money, the space and someone to help me move them every time I decide to live somewhere else).
It is inevitable to have your music available for online sales these days. The physical sales are going down and digital sales up. Just look at Japan.
And screw the people who moan about Album covers/booklets, etc. I love ‘em too but the new kids on the block don’t. Covers and booklets will only remain a part for collectors. Otherwise it is a nice, colourful but tiny addition to your iTunes / iPod – A bonus.
There are too many digital music stores out there. I love iTunes. I’ve become a mac girl. And guess what: it usually is the cheapest of all anyway with 99 US/Euro cent/ 79 pence per track while others start at 1,29 Euro cent. And yes, they might not have every track available online but certainly one of the most popular collections. And if they shouldn’t have it available I go buy it in the record store. Or amazon.
And subscription services? Great stuff for music fans, but I don’t think it will pay musicians as much as single sales would…Yet again, at least they get paid at all.
And I get too confused about compatibility, DRM free or not, will it work on my iPod and will I be able to listen to the track as long as I want or does it expire once I quit my membership?

So here is where I stand. If I buy digital I want:

• compatibility with my preferred music player (iTunes) and with my mp3 player (iPod)
• I hope for DRM free tracks
• I want an easy accessible website or digital shop that allows me to search for tracks easily
• Fast and smooth download
• I want the track to be in my possession until I decide I do not want to have it anymore (no subscription service with limited access to track once I quit my membership)
• And how about a selection of bootlegs/live versions? Add a special note to it. Or have interesting recommendation

What are your thoughts?

Top 10 bands of all time

NME reports:

Oasis‘ Noel Gallagher has revealed what he believes are the 10 best bands of all time.

“This means the Top 10 bands of all time. No solo artists allowed. No female artists allowed. No collectives allowed (Public Enemy etc.).

“This is the 1,000th time we’ve been here with this. It never gets any less interesting for me. For the record, THE DEFINITIVE Top 10 is this..”

And here it is:

1: The Beatles
2: The Rolling Stones
3: The Who
4: Sex Pistols
5: The Kinks
6: The La’s
7: Pink Floyd
8: The Bee Gees
9: The Specials
10: (Peter Green’s) Fleetwood Mac

_________________________________

I think no. 8 is an interesting choice. I will never forget sharing a limo with Barry Gibb’s wife from FLL to MIA airport, almost missing our flight back to Germany because we thought it was waaaay cooler to go in the limo than the family car. I love the BeeGees. And the Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Who.
Seems like Oasis and myself might actually have something in common.

As for myself, I wouldn’t want to make a choice yet, on the greatest bands of all time – simply, because I feel I need to listen to so many more artists named in music history.
I think the new Kings of Leon tracks sound absolutely f***ing amazing. And I just stumbled across these guys

Who would be in your top 10?

how long should a band take to release a new album?

Harvey Goldsmith, THE PROMOTER of the century (..some may say..), writes in his blog that these days there are too few superbands developing and they should be given more time. ( see his entry on June 30th 2008 at http://www.harveygoldsmith.com/harvey-blogs.php )

Then I read about MGMT on CMUdaily, a newsletter everyone interested in the music industry should read http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/:

MGMT have told BBC 6music that they’re looking forward to getting back into the studio to begin work on a second album. The duo told the station: “We’ve been longing to get in the studio for a while because we got out of it recording our last album about a year ago. So we’re definitely ready to start working on some new stuff but I think in January we’re gonna start recording and hopefully put an album out next summer.”

I think, by next summer there will still be some people discovering and enjoying the current MGMT album. And there will be enough time to let the band breathe and work on a great follow up for longer after that. Fans must also get the chance to recover and then rediscover the new works by a band.

I do understand that we work in a fast changing industry, but if we keep on pushing bands to release more material faster and faster, there will be an overkill.
These days there sometimes are only a few months between the band finishing their touring for their current album and releasing the new one. That’s definetly too short in my opinion.

Feel free to comment and discuss. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I am right.

review of bbc’s choices for 2008

On January 4th nme.com reported on BBC’s new music talent list for 2008. (see my report and nme.com)

I was aware of the first few on the list. But I neglegted the latter. But suddenly they are all over the place. It is time to review all 10 and they are all certainly worth a listen.

It was:

1. Adele - it happened. and she went big. we’ll see what she’s got to offer in future. the game is on.

2. Duffy – mercy was and still is all over the place. great voice, but a bit to dusty springfield revival for me. but you go girl.

3. The Ting Tings – that’s not my name! what a tune. and they cover many music magazines these days.

4. Glasvegas – i’m over it, but they are slowly sneaking to the top.

5. Foals – i loved them over a year ago when i saw them at korova, liverpool. they have yet to make it big and they already had their feautre on uk’s show skins. time is running out in my opinion. sadly.

6. Vampire Weekend – very impressive melodies from these (rich boys) New Yorkers, and they are buzzing on the island.

7. Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong – mmh. Didn’t do it for me but for many others it seems.

8. Black Kids – these floridians are a huge hit at o2 wireless and a favourite these days.

9. MGMT – you can believe the hype. They opened for Radiohead and have more promising shows coming up around the world.

10. Santogold – she’s so 80’s but so much fun. a domesticated version of M.I.A. with her own edge.

It seems the BBC are doing their job! Or maybe they just are a great media company to have behind you, allowing the bands they touch become the new big thing..