Saturday, November 26, 2011

Beatles Museum in Germany


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-photographer Astrid Kirchherr contributed photos of her private archives and Heinz Edelmann - main designer of the movie Yellow Submarine - draw a littles sequel especially for the museum.

Here are some impressions of the exhibition:

Abbey Road
Ringo - the cop
The Fab Four
Beatles dolls
A room in the 60s
Rock Band Beatles - Play as a whole band (drums, guitar, bass, vocals) - much fun,
especially in this environment

The Official Museum page and shop (sadly only in German - but I could help you there ;-) is HERE.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Top Ten Records Of 2011


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 The Reminder. More info here.


9. Hotel Lights - Girl Graffiti 
More info here.


10. Ivy - All Hours
Released 6 years after their last record - finally. More info here.


Special award: Ben Folds - Best Imitation Of Myself 
It's a Best Of, so it doesn't really count. But the compilation has three new Ben Folds Five songs - and there's probably a whole new record coming in 2012! More info here.

Jeremy Messersmith

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 harmonies to Messersmith's signature gentle croon. (...) Critics are calling the Dan Wilson-produced Silver City a "love letter to the Twin Cities" and "perhaps the best local album of the year." - Citypages


You can listen to all three records on Bandcamp - and also buy them (like I did instantly, and I don't do this very often).





Official Site: http://www.jeremymessersmith.com

Mike Viola - Live in Brooklyn

Here's a live stream of the Mike Viola concert in Brooklyn on November 4 2011 (feat. Todd Jasko) - thank you Yoshi:





There's also a download of this stream - just contact me as usual.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Poll - Which artists you would like to see performing together again? - Results


A month ago I started a poll - "Which artists you would like to see performing together again?".

So here are the results:

1st place
Jason Falkner & Andy Sturmer & Roger Manning Jr

Jellyfish -80%   

Jellyfish
 

2nd place

Bleu & Mike Viola - 28%

Bleu
Mike Viola
 
3rd place
Justin Currie & Ian Harvie & Andy Alston

Del Amitri - 12%

Del Amitri

So, a conciderable first place for Jellyfish - which is no surprise. It seems as if also a new Bleu/Viola project would be very welcome.

Well, Jellyfish and Del Amitri will be unlikely (but you CAN prove me wrong), but maybe Mike Viola with Bleu?

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Ocean Grove - First Full Length Album @ kickstarter.com

Ocean Grove is recording their first full length album. And they ask you for your support. At kickstarter.com you can pledge for this project. In return you can get amongst other:
  • the digital album
  • a tour poster
  • a t-shirt
  • white vinyl
  • a day in the studio
  • a photo shoot
  • a private concert