Gedichte!? Langeweile! Von wegen!

09.11.08 + Sonntag + 20Uhr + München + SubsTanz + etwas deutsche Sprache = Der Beginn eines nahezu musikfreien, dennoch sehr gelungenem Abends.

Wovon ich spreche? Zum 120 mal fand gestern der Poetry Slam in Münchens Bar SubsTanz statt. Proppevoll. Eine lange Schlange hatte sich schon vorm eher unscheinbar wirkendem Club an der U-Bahn Haltestelle Poccistrasse gebildet. Und das alles für ein paar Zeilen Sprache? Weit gefehlt. Was hier stattfindet gebührt wirklich höchsten Respekt. Europas größter Poetry Slam findet 1x monatlich im SubsTanz Club statt und das hats wirklich in sich. Gewonnen hat diesmal Alex Burkhard, der seinem "Scheiß Tag" mehrmals "high five" geben musste und von seinem eigenen Kind autoritär erzogen wird.
Wer denn nun wirklich gewonnen hat, war dabei schon fast Nebensache. Ein 3 stündiger Abend ging mit 400 grinsenden Gesichtern und 800 klatschenden Händen zu Ende. Was die beiden Moderatoren Ko Bylanzky und Rayl Patzak seit Februar 1996 da so auf die Bühne stellen hats auch auf jeden Fall verdient.
Es wechselten sich Gedichte und Kurzgeschichten ab, es gaben sich Lokalmatadoren und Gäste aus aller Welt ( unter anderem war gestern auch der aktuelle Poetry Slam Weltmeister Danny Sherrard, der wohl das ein oder andere "Augustiner" schon inne hatte ;-) dabei ) das Mikro in die Hand, das Publikum entschied über die Sieger und die Vortragenden von denen manche sicher auch das Zeug zu richtig guten Stand Up Comedians haben, hatten jede Menge Spaß an der Sache. Wir natürlich auch. Weiter so. Und mehr davon. Mehr im Netz dazu gibts hier.oder hier. oder aber auch dort.

Lets call this the comeback...

...of the Shout Out Louds. I think this is going to be a kind fo obituary for the wonderful Shout Out Louds. Anybody who doesn't know them, just a few facts:
Who: Shout Out Louds: Adam, Carl, Bebban, Ted, Eric
Where from: Stockholm, Sweden
Music: Indie Pop
Albums: Our Ill Wills, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
Singles: Impossibel, Tonight I Have To Leave It, Please Please Please, The Comeback, Very Loud, Shut Your Eyes

So, as you see, this band are not newcomers anymore. This post has to be seen as a short apprecitation for this great band. Great lyrics and great songs, combined with a wonderful live perfomance (have seen them in the Atomic Cafe Munic (2005) and in Salzburg (2007)) and the mixture of all kind of instruments lifted them into the top 3 bands of my personal best-bands-list.

Their debut Howl Howl Gaff Gaff is full of songs, that have the potential to fill dancefloors in indie pop clubs or to listen to it after a night full of alcohol, to come back to real life. Well, you might know Please, Please Please, one of their greatest hits, well, maybe Tonight I Have To Leave It, from their second album Our Ill Wills, is more known, just because it was in the radio charts in Germany and Austria...

Our Ill Wills, is the kind of album that you want to listen to, when you finished work, or beeing totally damished after a very hard day. More quiet sounds with eaven more instruments and more filed songs that are going straight to your heart and back again.
They are now on tour with Peter, Bjorn and John in Brazil, I think to promote their second album. Hope their are going back to studio soon, to produce another great album...
Until their comeback, we have to listen to those wonderful two albums and satisfy our apetite for more Shout Out Louds songs with some even not worse remixes like this one... (The Comeback)
So, Shout Out Louds, want you please please please come back to me!?

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/shoutoutlouds

Ohr und Gespühr: aus tralien...

Getreu nach dem etwaigen Motto "globale indiepopmusikalische Aspekte" verschlägt es den geneigten musikliebhaber einmal mehr fernab europäischer Breitengrade richtung südöstliche geographien der weltkugel. Tatort: brisbane. Zur schau stellende: kate cooper (guitar, vocals) & damon cox (drums, vocals), die in einem australischen plattenladen musikalisch zusammenfanden. Zusammen musizieren sie unter dem bandnamen "An Horse" eine bezaubernd unbeschwerte indiepopmixtur mit einem schuss sanfter nachdenklichkeit. Wem die beiden ami-zwillinge Tegan & Sara gewogen waren, dürfte sich auch bei kate und damon äusserst aufgehoben fühlen, waren beide nicht zuletzt gemeinsam auf tour. Ihre debüt lp "Rearranged Beds" wird demnächst via ihrem australischem label "mom and pop" über die ladentische gehen. Auf der im frühjahr 2008 vorgeschobenen ep "Not Really Scared" sei einmal mehr auf den schmissigen track "Warm Hands" hingewiesen. Definitiv unverzichtbar ist das sich in tempo und wachsender inbrunst steigernde "Little Lungs". Via MySpace gibt`s natürlich die eine oder andere fesche Indieperle der musikschaffenden obendrauf. Melodie ist eine Strategie!

Over again amiland: Britpop/Shoegaze as its pure plantation...

These five guys are based out of brooklyn, new york city. They have managed to create a truly infectious album. On their debut "Gone Faded", released last autumn 2007 , Soft struggles to give old school Britpop new life. All songs combines an enjoyable warmly voice. Their evident guitar dominant but never to untrusive sounds throwback to the shoegaze world of British rock. Songs like "Gone Faded", "Higher", "100 days" or "Ring On" heat up my mind and sneak almost unnoticeable in the auditory canals. If you're looking for a flashback to '80s Britrock or '90s shoegaze, you should attend to these musicians more than a few minutes. For Example here...

Pay attention, the ultimate perfection of noise pop...

...further on todays fishbowl: The Early Years. For the most part still unfamous but further an excellent one from london. Formed in 2004, the juvenescent trio stands for psychodelic beats, acrid acoustic feedback and harmonical shoegazed melodies. The single outcome "all ones & zeros" opens furiously their self-titled lp "The Early Years". Guitar streams, which loses themselves in outer space spacious and high in effects. Bass lines, which defines the spheric scenery only as a tall whole. Melancholia in its most beautiful art presentation of music. Please take a quick look at their MySpace page and enjoy their amazing work to the full. Ladies and gentleman, we are floating in space!

Anti-Anti indeed !

Snowden is an indie quartet based out of atlanta. In 2006 jade tree records signed figurehead Jordan Jeffares and the other band members and released their debut album "Anti-Anti." Here someone suffers again. And he jingles so hopeless, as he strikes with his head against the wall while he`s singing. Once again the guitar and drums always drive on the songs vibrant. Snowden presents a fascinating mish-mash of indie rock, dance-floor beats and shoegaze borrowings. Wether with the bittersweet track "Black-Eyes" or with the cranky pulsative and together innocent blackly "Stop Your Bleeding": Every now and then you have the feeling, radiohead meets clap your hands say yeah and themselves meets arcade fire again. One`s tone labyrinth joined the other one`s imploring straightness. Altogether a dolefully fine sound creation. Album number two can’t come quick enough!

Our problems are just going to reappear again...

When you hear the name and the music of I Was A Cub Scout, there`s no need to think about a huge band. No, rather it`s about two very young musicians - Todd Mariott (vocals, guitar and Synthie) and William Bowermann (drums) from long bennington and collingham, england, which delivers some emotional delightful sounds. At first sight their debut lp "I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope" sounds a little bit fragile and not like these typical ones from england filled with hype and brightness. Anyway, it contains catchy volumes (e.g. the veritable hitsingle "Pink Squares") as well, but rather this is an album, that comes along with somebody. In the car, when the rain falls down on someone, before bedtime after an exhausting day, with friends or during a fine dinner. I recommend you warmly to listen to their dumpish lyrics ( "...don`t be pulled down/do not look back/maybe tings are gonna change/keep your chin up/try to hold your smile/maybe we`ll see better days...").

But some story draws to a faster close you may even think. In february 2008 I Was A Cub Scout have published their debut album yet, there`s no room for hope currently. On their MySpace page Will and Todd announced the band won`t continue any longer. After a uk-tour they split in June 2008. What a crying shame! Absolutely!