PowerPopSquare

So, only a few days til christmas eve, here is my Mixtape for Xmas 2011 - hope you like it: 01 - Mike Viola - Give Me A Second Chance For Christmas 02 - Ron Sexsmith - Maybe This Christmas 03 - She & Him - The Christmas Waltz 04 - Bleu - Cold, Cold Christmas 05 - Jim Boggia - Christmas Baby Please 06 - The Nines - It's Christmas 07 - The Pogues - Fairytale Of New York 08 - Travis - Alone On Christmas Day 09 - David Mead - Christmas Is So Far Away 10 - Coldplay - Christmas Lights 11 - Aimee Mann - Whatever Happened To Christmas 12 - Ben Folds Five - Stumblin' Home Winter Blues 13 - Eels - Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas 14 - She & Him - Baby, It's Cold Outside 15 - The Nines - Winter Song 16 - Billy Mack - Christmas Is All Around 17 - The Darkness - Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End) Most of the songs are streamed here:   I made this tape not downloadable for...

Bleu - Besides  Seems to be delayed, probably it'll be out in early 2012. Besides is a collection of unreleased songs (a long time ago they would have been called B-Sides...). You only can buy it HERE . Jellyfish - Spilt Milk & Bellybutton (January 10)  The vinyl re-release from Omnivore Recordings. Preorder it HERE . Nada Surf - The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy (January 23) The first single "When I Was Young" for free download HERE  Goldfrapp - The Singles (February 6) Well, it's a .. Singles collection. - with a great selection of tracks - and two new songs. More info's HERE . AIR - Le Voyage Dans La Lune (February 7) ‘Le Voyage Dans La Lune’ (A Trip To The Moon) is a classic black & white silent short film by French director Georges Méliès from 1902. It is widely considered one of the most important works in film history, and the very first to use science fiction as its theme, incorporatin...

Yesterday Lojinx , an independent record company based in the UK (love them for bringing artists like Bleu and Fountains Of Wayne to Europe) posted a review of the new Ben Lee record Deeper Into Dream . It's in German, so I did a little translation : A record about dreams is what Ben Lee wanted to do. It became an unusual mixture of a folk record, guitar pop a mini audiobook. At certain points of the record songs are fractured by small stories or dialogues from friends of some experiences – in dreams or reality. They keep a record thematically together which offers a broad range for a singer songwriter album. Other than on some of his so far eight other records, the Australian works with a complete band. He develops songs than remind more of Death Cab For Cutie or Ryan Adams than a dreamy singer, which tilt into too much sweetness - whenever he tempts to do a song for format radio. He’s entitled to make money with his music, but these straightness offensives...

  Now for some advertising for my hometown Halle an der Saale : The city has the privilege to present visitors The Beatles Museum , it's only some minutes to walk from the birthplace of Georg Friedrich Händel . The house itself was built in 1708 and restored in 1999. The museum front The museum offers more than 2500 exhibits including rarities, curiosities and known stuff of the Beatles era (until 1970) and solo stuff (1970 until now). The complete musical development of the band with words, sounds and pictures.  Almost every room has a sound station or movies. Three floors which are fully packed (no exaggeration!) with everything you need to get back to these days: first gigs in Liverpool, photos and autographs from the Hamburg era, rare vinyl, posters and also a fully equipped Beatles Rock Band to play Beatles songs as a full band. The founder of the museum has excellent relations to Beatles surroundings: Beatles-photogra...

Maybe it's a bit early this year, but here they are - My Top Ten Records of 2011 : 1. Mike Viola - Electro de Perfecto  The long awaited follow up to Lurch: 10 songs. No filler. Fab. More info here . 2. Bleu - Besides It's still not released, hopefully it will in 2011. Most of the songs are known to the fans - it's great compilation. More info here . 3. David Mead - Dudes The kickstarter - crowd funded record from Mr. Mead. More info here and here . 4. Brandon Schott - 13 Satellites  Brandon Schott's new, indiegogo - crowd funded record, filled with beautiful songs! More info here . 5. Teitur - Let The Dog Drive Home A strong album, breathtaking melodies and lyrics. More info here . 6. Jeremy Messersmith - The Reluctant Graveyard Though the record was out in 2010, I discovered it not until this year. More info here . 7. Jay Clifford - Silver Tomb For The Kingfisher More info here . 8. Feist - Metals  Darker tunes than on T...

Some days ago I stumbled upon the name Jeremy Messersmith . (Thank you Brandon!) He is an indie pop musician from Minneapolis. Messersmith released 3 LPs: 2006 The Alcatraz Kid  2008 The Silver City  2010 The Reluctant Graveyard  Let's see what the press says: " It's hard to listen to The Silver City, the new CD from Minnesota chamber-pop artist Jeremy Messersmith , without thinking of Sufjan Stevens . Both artists have strikingly similar voices and a love of richly orchestrated story songs. " -NPR Second Stage " Imagine Elliott Smith driving in a convertible, the wind flying through his hair, singing about sadness and somehow creating joy enough to forget his troubles for a while. " -The Onion "His second album, The Silver City (...) is a breathtaking work of craftsmanship and heart. Picking up where his delicate and profound debut The Alcatraz Kid left off, The Silver City adds layers of instrumentation and harmonie...