the less that we talk.

...the more time to try. (seeed - "aufstehn!")

it´s been 8 days since i left my family, my dad´s homemade thai curry, volkswagen, some of my best friends, sauerkraut and sadly most of my cds/vinyl/dvds/books (in other words: germany) and moved to the most wonderful place (in my opinion) that is manchester.

welcome to my world! 

people keep asking me “what´s so special about manchester?” and you know what, i have no clue. i really don´t know. i wanted to leave germany since i was 10 or 11 years old. the big and shiny united states caught my attention, so i went there for a year but returned in the end. i certainly don´t regret the decision to go to america, especially since i got to meet some amazing people while i was there. but it wasn´t the “real thing” after all.  

manchester was the first big city (cos you simply can´t count the first uk trip to newquay, cornwall) i visited in the uk and that´s probably one of the reasons why i like it here so much. i´ve been to birmingham, london (i´m totally anti-london, believe it or not), glasgow and liverpool since then and nothing compares to manchester. i´ll keep travelling around the uk though. next stops: chester and bristol in november, oxford and cardiff next year. 

but ok, back to the real story. one thing i simply love about the uk in general is the fact that music is usually a lot cheaper here. cds and vinyl are quite expensive in germany (most of the time), so i always stock up my cd/vinyl collection when i´m in the uk (especially because it´s so much easier to find the things i´m looking for here). you simply can´t get some stuff in germany (not even via amazon). so in the first week here i bought 6 cds (other lives, 2x bombay bicycle club, the travelling band, jonathan jeremiah, the low anthem), one 12” vinyl, one band t-shirt (wild beasts) and a guitar (yes, i bought a guitar!). i guess i should abandon food from my room/flat and just spend all my money on music. 

it was more than hard to find the travelling band´s debut album “under the pavement” (especially when the bands online store rejects your credit card even though it works with every other site!). i decided to check out piccadilly records on oldham street today because their website said they have this record and the live album available in their store. and yes, they certainly did. now i finally have “under the pavement” on vinyl and the live album “arrears not careers” on cd. it was about time. i love the travelling band but i really dislike their online store. 

 piccadilly records

another great thing about manchester: you can find all sorts of live music events here. there´s something going on pretty much every single night of the week. last sunday night i went to the odd bar on thomas street for “shut the far cupboard”.  the fabulous the travelling band put on a night of great live music with adam gorman and jo dudderidge (of the travelling band) playing some amazing tunes throughout the night. 

t.e. yates (musician or artist?), joe mcadam, chris selman + band and taylorandthemason were playing. haven´t heard of any of them before but they were all great in their own way.

 t.e. yates (sorry for the shit quality of this photo)

 chris selman (on guitar) + band

i would highly recommend joe mcadam.  i checked him out on myspace before i went to the odd bar and was really impressed but he was just stunning live. he has an ep out as far as i know, so i´d advise you to check out his facebook page for more info and links to his songs.

and yes, i´ll say it again and again, the world needs a joe mcadam / jo dudderidge duet. the two songs they sang together were simply brilliant. 

 jo dudderidge and joe mcadam (on guitar)

as many of you probably know by now, i´m not a big fan of female musicians or their voices for that matter. i wasn´t really that thrilled to see that taylorandthemason were actually two girls (haven´t checked them out before, so didn´t know what to expect), especially since they were the last act on sunday. but i learned my lesson. they were great, no doubt about that. they both certainly can sing and it was lots of fun to watch them play. i´d go and see them again any time.

 taylorandthemason

the odd bar is a nice little place and great for such small events as “shut the far cupboard”. the staff was very friendly, the audience or at least a few people were a little annoying (in terms of not keeping their damn mouths shut when the artists where playing) but all in all, it was a great night out with some fantastic live music (and poetry! check out michael wilson here – he´s awesome!). i´ll be back.

i came across jonathan jeremiah a few days before i left germany. i wrote his name down but somehow forgot about him. one of the first places i went to when i got to manchester was, of course, fopp. i´ve been in love with this shop since the very first time i went in there two years ago. anyway, i found jonathan jeremiah´s debut album “a solitary man” by accident and decided to buy it. and what can i say – money well spent. jonathan doesn´t have the most special voice ever but there´s still something magical about his record. the album is really easy to listen to and the string arrangements that are a part of pretty much every song are simply beautiful. my album highlights: “happiness” and “see (it doesn´t bother me)”. he´s on tour in europe right now. check his website for a full list of dates.

after i mentioned the outstanding performance by wild beasts at the haldern pop festival in my last blog post, i really want to recommend their latest record “smother” (again). it was no surprise that their second album “two dancers” was nominated for a mercury prize (but it sure was surprising that “smother” wasn´t nominated this year…) because there seriously is no other band out there that makes this kind of outstanding music. “smother” is just as good as "two dancers" (or maybe even better) and definitely one of the best albums of 2011 – if not THE best. so if you haven´t already checked it out, please do so. you won´t be disappointed.

more haldern pop festival acts: 

other lives released their second record “tamer animals” in europe on august 29^th and this album is just as good as their debut album. they were fantastic live, so if you can, try to catch them on their upcoming tour through the uk, the netherlands and ireland (full list of dates here). 

dry the river confirmed that their debut album will come out early next year, no specific release date yet though. but beforehand, they´re going to release an ep (called “weights and measures”) on november 14^th, so keep your eyes glued to their website for more news.

i´m heading to the odder bar this sunday for “sideways saloon” (some more live music). will report back.

that´s pretty much it for tonight but here´s a list of what´s definitely coming up during the next two months:

album reviews

* julia marcell - "june" (september 30th)

* ben howard - "every kingdom" (october 3rd)

gig reviews

* bombay bicycle club + dry the river and dog is dead @apollo, manchester, oct 7th

* ben howard @ruby lounge, manchester, oct 20th

* ash @hmv ritz, manchester, oct 23rd

* other lives + young galaxy @deaf institute, manchester, oct 30th

* the travelling band @academy 3, manchester, nov 2nd

* the travelling band @telford´s warehouse, chester, nov 5th

* wild beasts @cathedral, manchester, nov 17th

* wild beasts @anson rooms, bristol, nov 19th