A bird in the Latest Music Bar

I have just realised that I never mentioned Wallis. Wallis Bird! Well those who know me have heard about her. I am getting always a bit euphoric went it comes to her. Especially after a gig! She is awsome!!! Yeah, simply amazing! Very dedicated to what she does, very emotional and somethting you cannot get on the CDs is that she always have quite a few jokes inbetween her songs. This is already entertaining enough! Especially swearing with her Irish accent makes it even more unique. And for those who may see her in Germany, you can hear her speaking in German! Very sweet!

Last night I had my 4th date with her. This time in Brighton. The first time I saw her was in Berlin, back in 2006 during the Popcom. At that time she already impressed me with the energy she brought on stage, one green and one red chuck on and breaking her strings while playing with so much strength. After another gig in Berlin in 2009 and last year in Freiburg, I can say that yes she's getting better and better but she still stays the same. She still breaks her strings (3 times last night!). It gives me the feeling each time I am going to see an old friend. Also because she seems so honest and real.

Yesterday's concert was also a very special concert. She is touring currently on her own. New experience for me as well. The great thing is that the Latest Music Bar is pretty tiny. We were roughly 50 people. Makes the whole thing fairly cosy. And the emotions seemed to get stuck in the room. It was wonderful! I'm getting euphoric again. Very hard to stay objective on this post. But anyway it's nothing about objectivity anyway.

Here you'll find a video from one of her latest concerts. It was very similar to last night maybe it will convince the one or the over ver great she is live!



Concerning her fabulous humour, in the five last years I have never heard a joke twice from her. That's why I know I'll come and see her again soon. Hopefully very soon!



Many thanks to Peter-Williams for making so many great shots at last night's gig:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_williams/sets/72157626626144143/

Perfekt Darkness

Okay okay I had already a post about Fink! But a new album is coming out soonish and on following link it is possible to download FOR FREE the first song of it!

http://www.finkworld.co.uk/

I listen to it non-stop! I hope you'll enjoy it too!

He's also playing on a few festivals this summer in the Netherlands. Check his Myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/finkmusic/shows

Happy Easter

The Apple

A bit of summer feeling, a bit of salt on your skin, a bit of sixties... This is what I hear when I listen to Steve Cradock. The Beatles seem to me a certain in fluence.
I just discovered his music today. He'll be playing at the Haldern Pop Festival this summer. Looking forward to it.

Raggamuffin

What about a bit of sunshine? Well spring seems to finally arrive slowly on the island, but a bit of reggae can only help to get a little glimpse of the summer to come.

Selah Sue finally brought out her first long player named after herself. I am pretty excitted to have this really cool lady on my itunes list now!

Enjoy the probably most famous song of hers "Raggamuffin".

N.

Philharmonics

Recently I downloaded a couple of albums, I can't even remember from where I got the names from. Anyway this does not really matter. I needed today some quiet music to work on my beloved uni dissertation. I chose Agnes Obel in my Itunes list. And after listening to her album Philharmonics for pretty much the last four hours, I can say that I do reall enjoy what she does. She reminds me a little bit of Basia Bulat or Anna Ternheim.

Agnes Obel is from Denmark but lives in Berlin. I like the smooth voice and the piano. That reminds me sometimes even on Amelie's soundtrack.

Anyway have a listen yourself. Now that my dear friend Geoff explained how to embed nicely a video on the blog it will be even more enjoyable!

N.

Reunite

A new discory I made this week were the Isbells. They are somewhere from Belgium and remind me a bit of a mixture of the Great Lake Swimmers (Your Rocky Spine) and Nick Drake.

Their album is called like themselves, 'The Isbells' and my favorite song of it is so far 'Reunite'. Just check out for yourself.

N.

Astrid Küver

Okay this not music. But this is art. Well there is music involved as well to a certain extend if you get through the galery. Well this are all creations from my wonderful cousin Astrid Küver. No indeed I am not objective! How could I be, when I have such a beautiful and talented cousin who is also my godmother! Lucky me. However I thought I could share with my couple of followers the following website. 

It may distract you for a couple of minutes, maybe even inspire you.

The "Souvenirs" section is about my cousin and people she knows, friends, her partner. She is in each picture and a painting of a person. Both are in a place which relates my cousin to that person.

"Slipservice Soundteppich" are handmade rugs by my cousin which represent buttons related to dj-ing (and here comes the music!)

"Landlines" are paintings which are from movies, where people are on the phone... on landlines. Event the 'Matrix' picture is in a telephone booth and not with someone on a cell phonte.

"2nd Holidays" are about pictures, my cousin once found on a flee market. The same persons always travelling together in different places. She reproduced those pictures on big canvas to keep those moment alove from thos complete strangers to her.

"Das Endspiel auf die Farben" shows her very deep interest in snooker! 

"Das Leben auf drei Ebenen" has been a new discovery for me. I found those three patings really awsome. Probably it's the setting, the time.

Anyway I hope you enjoy her creations as much as I do and spread the word!

N.

Link: http://www.astridkuever.de

Fixin' to die

With my mate Dan we talked recently about music, and I came to talk about G.Love and he told "what a stupid name!". Maybe it is and I don't even know the reason why G.Love is named G.Love. He used to play with a band called "Special Sauce". Do "G.Love and Special Sauce" sounded even more... interesting! But one thing is sure I love his music! And to my surprise he is releasing an album in... just 5 days! How amazing is that?

Here is a link to listen to the latest song on which I am already hooked.

And you can also download this song for free under:

http://philadelphonic.com/fixintodie

I did :o)

N.

Oh My God!

Oh my God! I missed last year's release of my beloved French band Cocoon! They released their second album in 2010. And yes Nate, it is again a band with two members! That's why they are probably so awsome!

The album "Where the oceans end" is similar to the first one: gentle voices and gentle melodies and this very cute Accent Francais which makes it all even more gentle!

Oh my God is one of their songs of that album, I really like since they used strings to make the music a little bit more dramatic.

And yes right now I am up for a bit more cocooning. It's still winter!

N.

P.s.: I wanted to embed this video but it is not working... sorry Geoff. You need to click the link!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRxVhBIJWMU

Heart of my own

I turned it on and even the sun found its way through my window! Basia Bulat! A fantastic musician from Ontario, Canada. Her first album which I discovered in 2008 blewed me away and remains until now one of my favorite singer-song writer albums. Last year she released her second one which seems as excellent as the first one. It is pretty similar in the style but why do we always need changes one the old is already good enough anyway?

I love the bonus track "Hush" which is an accapella. I found a video which is pretty awsome where she sings that song accapella.

Another nice link I found is the following where she gives a live concert with her band in record store.

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/24/133113463/basia-bulat-tiny-desk-concert

I hope you'll enjoy as much as I do and that the sun finds also the way through your window today.

N.

I was made for sunny days

Nate is probably right the best bands are made of two persons! Here is another bad which confirms that: The Weepies. A few months ago I had a free download for the song "I was made for sunny days" and if made me really feel warm in this cold Englisch winter. A bit of Californian sun in my bedroom. But then the song was forgotten. However in my CD exchange with my friend Marit, I had the chance to get a whole album by them!

It is sweet music. Very straight forward. But since it is very straight forward music those guys are actually present with their melodies in most of our current series such as "How I met your mother", "Gossip Girl", "Grey's Anatomy" and many more.

Yes this music is even cheesy. It makes you think of girls in dresses running in flower fields and the boys plucking flower for them.  But don't we all love occationally a bit of cheesyness in our lives? I absolutely do!

N.

Watch out for...

THE JEZABELS

The Australian band have taken the country by storm. By "Dark Storm" to be precise. After having supported bands like Tegan and Sara in the past and showcasing at One Movement Festival 2010 in Perth, the Sydney four-piece recently released their 3rd EP "Dark Storm" as a final addition to their EP trilogy which started in 2009.

The song "Hurt Me", lead single of their second EP "She's so hard" (09/09) was an instant success in Australia as well as in Europe also thanks to heavy support of Australia's radio station Triple J who place a strong emphasis on Australian unsigned bands and alternative music and have become very influential on local record companies in the past.

Vocalist Hayley May's style reminds us of Kate Bush and Florence (and the Machine) yet is truly unique. Expect irresistible deep, dark and mysterious pop hooks that will stay with you from the first time you listen. Free downloads are available through their website by the way - don't miss out! If that is not enough, there will be an album released in the near future - likely to be one of my musical highlights 2011.

If you want to catch these little diamonds live, check for shows and more information here http://www.thejezabels.com.

Sophia

Some Sort of Revolution

A couple of you guys know that I am a huge huge fan of Fink. Already for years. My training manager, a few years ago told me about him. And since then I am absolutely hoocked on his music. It is very quiet music but stirring to me. His voice has something very deep and it's one of my favorite music to listen to with good headphones, cut off from the rest of the world. And yes in those moments I can get very emotional. Extremely emotional.

Fink is from Brighton, and I am desperately hoping to see him live sometime soon. Since I am here, on the Sussex coast, just an hour away from Brighton I am really hoping to see him there, in his home town. And I am expecting an amazing live gig. Hopefully I don't expect too much.

So yesterday while I was studying (*hum hum*) I checked his website. He is planing live gigs this year and a new album! This is an omen for a good year to come, at least for me.

An English, grey, foggy day where the roofs disappear suddenly seem somehow pretty and romantic.

Here is a live gig link. It's actually in two parts. The intro is in French but, for those who don't understand that weird language (!!), don't worry, it's just for a minute or so. I like those links as they show his live performance in very good quality.

Hopefully those links will work in any country. 

N. 

Digital Old Skool

We are soon celebrating our 2nd anniversary! How exciting! And I do really hope it will last much longer! Forever? Maybe, who knows...? Yes it's love! Of course it's love!

It started in 2009, the first exchange. The love affaire officially started in April 2009.

The love for music! Confused?

Well March 2009, my friend Marit from the Netherlands was came to visit me in Freiburg. A few drinks and long conversations led us to that affaire. Or maybe call it business deal. But a fun business: we both love music and we love to share it. But we both thought that giving a full DVD full of music usually leads to forgotten albums, because many of them stay un-listened due to the overload. 

Therefore the business business deal could be called "A CD-A Month". Marit send me each month one album, and I send her another one in return. We can be a little bit creative as well when designing our covers with whatever we find (paper, ribbons, cottons, pins...). Another rule we have in this "game-business-thingy" is to make a whole album of only one artist, not a compilation, in order to discover in depth during one month that artist.

I just told this whole story because last night, I got four Cds of Marit. Four because she was late. But I was late too. I have three on the way to Amsterdam. Everytime I get a packet it's like Christmas! I love it! And the best part you never know what will be in this time!

This time I got a nice mixture: some of the artists I knew already but I didn't have this specific album, another band I only heard the name but never listened to their music and the last one is a complete new discovery! And now I have a whole month, and even longer to discover them!

The "old-skool-mix-tape-exchange" is still alive, just in a digital format!

N.

The Golden Age

Yes I am an early riser. Well uni work obliges me to do so. January is rather overwhelming.

Anyway I have posted already in the past week, two songs of the Asteroids Galaxy Tour on Facebook. But I thought I should do so on this blog, since they are my driving source to give some sort of energy to make my day a bit more sunny and happy.

The Golden Age is one of those upbeat songs which wanna make me dance whenever (yes even in the morning when I get up!).

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour are discribed as a Soul & Funk Band from Copenhagen, Denmark.

N.

Please dance with me today:

Mango Tree

Because I love this Australian duo and because I love mangos (I probably look like a child on christmas day when I can have a really ripe mango in its country of origin. Not those you find here in our supermarkets). And I also post this precise song because I love the idea of having one day a mango tree in my backyard and pluck one for breakfast!

If you ever have the chance to see Angus & Julia live, please go! Some people might find the music to calm and dull, but it is impressive to see how talented both are on their different instruments. Just thinkf of a beautiful longhaired woman in a long summer dress, barefoot playing the trompet! And it is simply beautiful to see how brother and sister interact on stage.

I think I'l have a look in my backyard now and see what kind of cress I can pluck...

N.

Finally

Over half a year ago, late at night with my friend Sophia, we sat in the pub the "Alter Simon", in Freiburg (Germany), talking about music (our favorite topic and also the reason we probably became friends), and thaught that we could start a music blog.

We won't be trend setters (or maybe we will?), but we just love to search for new music or rediscover older stuff which seemed forgotten. Researching this kind of things seems so much easier than uni reseach, ask yourselves why.

Anyway this blog was already created months ago, and always stayed empty due to lack of time and probably no idea how to start the whole thing.

However, here it is! "Krasse Kresse" is online! Why "Krasse Kresse" (eng. wicked cress)? Well this name just came up that night in the "Alter Simon" and we loved the sounding of it! It could fit to the sustainable idea of today or the fact that discovering music is like a growing plant and that we want to find only the really good ones (to us!)! And it is also a linkage of different topics of that evening in the pub which made us come to that expression!

Many people already comment on my music posts on Facebook, some others were asking me when we'll finally start the blog! In that matter I think of Matze and Juan! Thank you guys! And for all the others, I hope you'll enjoy the posts!

Let 2011 be a good musical year!

Natha