Angus and Julia Stone // Backstage, Munich

Every time people ask me what moddi sounds like, I always answer, “scandinavian”. It might sound silly or ‘obvious’, but he sounds nordic, his music exhales ice cold vapor and, in the best of cases, a slightly denuded landscape, with a small hint of Garneau-like vocals and classical orchestral arrangements. In recordings, it’s intense and a bit gloomy but live, it’s like fireworks, with energy spilling out and about. I’m sad we missed half of his set due to our obstinacy to wanting to walk everywhere (as opposed to taking public transport) in…

song #10,000: Pedro the Lion – Big Trucks
song #15,000: Mineral – Sadder Star
song #20,000: Planes Mistaken for Stars – Standing Still Fast
song #25,000: The Saddest Landscape – The Sixth Golden Ticket
song #30,000: The Arcade Fire – Maps
song #35,000: Death is Not Glamorous – Assets
song #40,000: The Vaselines – Son of a Gun
song #45,000: Rival Schools – Used for Glue
song #50,000: The Cure – Love Song
song #55,000: Jim Sturgess – Strawberry Fields Forever
song #60,000: Eels – P.S. You Rock My World
song #65,000: Coeur de Pirate – Pour un infidèle (avec…

obviously I should be doing some catching up on work and work and maybe work… but this is (almost) more fun.

Name your weekly 10 most played bands on LastFM

1) Death Is Not Glamorous
2) Regina Spektor
3) Jeff Buckley
4) Neutral Milk Hotel
5) Austin Lucas
6) Clara Luzia
7) No Knife
8) Metric
9) Tryo
10) Sebadoh

Now answer the questions according to the numbers:

What was the first song you ever heard by 6?
My Body is a Diary (I think)

What is your favorite album of 2?
Soviet Kitsch.

What is your favorite lyric that…

Fri 17 Apr – Noiserv, Bernhard Eder
Sat 18 Apr – Noiserv, Bernhard Eder

David Santos, in the music world Noiserv, appears focused and slightly shy on stage. He builds soft and intense melodies from nothing; he is like a magician pulling a white rabbit from his hat, using instruments as a wand. A one-man band sounding like an orchestra. He starts off his set in silence, almost unaware of the audience, concentrated on his small keyboard and his metallophone.
Little by little, as he picks up each instrument separately, he records and loops each part until you find yourself…

Sat 4 Apr – Emilie Autumn

The good thing about going on a gig-ticket-shopping-spree when you get your paycheck (november 2008, when I bought tickets for Emiliana Torrini, God is an Astronaut, Son, Ambulance, Everton, Islands and Soap&Skin) is that you end up going to shows you’d think twice about going to if you were broke and picky. That’s how I found myself outside of Szene on a saturday night, among 16-year-old goth chicks and sexually frustrated, awkward-looking middle-aged men, to attend the Emilie Autumn concert. But first things first: a little word of advice,…

Soap&Skin at Brut

The piano was immense and the stage was so dark you had to squint to see something behind the main spotlight, right above the keys. People were whispering and shush-ing each other, you could almost hear the heartbeats in unison and the held breaths. When she came onstage, there was something slightly off about Anja aka Soap&Skin, this tiny girl in her black and purple dress and really black hair. Something eerie and disturbing out of a Tim Burton movie.
The first song was a bundle of something like sadness slowly being let out like air…

1. Death Cab for Cutie (x2)
2. Bright Eyes (x3)
3. Nada Surf
4. Verdena (x2)
5. Chris Garneau (x2)
10. Death Is Not Glamorous
11. The Smashing Pumpkins
12. Maria Taylor (x3)
13. Kristofer Åström
17. The Cure
18. SoKo (x2)
19. Maximilian Hecker
27. Brand New
32. Bloc Party
36. 7yearsbadluck
38. Something Less Than Perfect (well, almost. Andy organised a private gig just for me. haha)
40. Incubus
45. The Decemberists
48. Placebo (x3)

19/50. Not bad. considering half of my top bands are dead and/or broken up.

and on another (very lovely) note.
I got my…

What a perfect way to start off the year.
Post your top twenty bands/artists, the first song you heard of theirs, the song that made you fall in love, and your current favorite.

1) Death Cab for Cutie

First song I heard: Photobooth
Song that made me fall in love: Steadier Footing.. and the rest of the Photo Album.
Current Favourite: I will possess your heart

2) Bright Eyes

First song I heard: A Perfect Sonnet
Song that made me fall in love: No Lies, Just Love / Bowl of oranges
Current Favourite: Pull My Hair

3) Nada…

Fri 24 Oct – Xiu Xiu, Chris Garneau

If I remember well, this was the set Chris played:

We Don’t try
Not Nice
Relief
Sad News
Baby’s Romance
Between The Bars

It was really lovely, because I think most people had shown up for Xiu Xiu, but Chris amazed a few of them I think (and hope). You could have almost heard a fly in between the chords he played on the piano, everyone was so incredibly quiet. I get into this weird state of mind when I listen to him, especially live - it’s as if my heart…

Tue 3 Jun – Chris Garneau

Last night I went to see Chris Garneau play at Garage. I’d heard a few songs because of the crazy NYC connections between bands (The Age of Rockets, Saul, Gregory and the Hawk) and then I listened to more, and I was hooked. Besides, the show was free and it seemed like Chris didn’t have a big audience around here, so I was looking forward to a nicely quiet and intimate show.
but that small small gig was so much more than that.
When I got there, I noticed him…