dry the river. live.

who: dry the river

when: 16 november 2011

where: moles, bath, uk

support: bite the buffalo, i dream in colour

after seeing dry the river at the haldern pop festival in august and supporting bombay bicycle club at the o2 apollo in october, it was finally time to go to a proper dry the river headline gig.

bite the buffalo were kicking off the night. brother duo stos and dimitri goneos are originally from zambia. they live in bath now and certainly know how to rock. with stos on guitar and vocals and dimitri on drums and also on vocals, they create a sound that can easily be described as rock with a nice punk edge to it. there was no doubt that they had the audience on their side. lacking a bass player didn´t seem to be an issue at all, they had fun and owned the stage.

i dream in colour were up next. i´ve read tons of reviews about them and everyone seemed to absolutely praise lead singer richard judge´s vocals. i, for my part, had some problems with his vocals. it took me a lot of getting used to but they´ve managed to find the perfect way between highlighting the music on the one side and richard´s vocals on the other side. their studio sound is mostly dominated by some great guitar riffs, but the live sound was based on keys a lot as well. indie-rock band iI dream in colour includes richard judge on vocals, guitar and keys, peter judge on drums, michael thackeray on guitar and steve daniels on bass.

dry the river are definitely one of the best uk bands of 2011 and they absolutely deserve all the support, no doubt about that. haven´t found two songs yet that sound similar which is not surprising, simply because their music has so many different sides to it. their sound is based somewhere in between rock, indie and alternative with that special classical twist.

taking into account that dry the river arrived at the venue around 20 minutes before the doors opened because their van broke down on the way, they delivered an absolutely stunning set. besides, the audience didn´t seem to care anyway as long as they were playing. the guys themselves were probably more annoyed by the lack of a proper soundcheck than anyone else.

didn´t really matter in the end because the crowd absolutely loved them. starting with “no rest”, we were in for a (first) treat when “shield your eyes” followed. i´ve heard this song for the first time when they played it at the bombay bicycle club gig and instantly loved it, so it was great to hear it again. “family tree” and one of my favourites, “bible belt”, were up next. especially “bible belt” gets to me every single time. the way it starts off slow with lead-singer peter liddle´s stunning and fragile vocals accompanied by will harvey´s wonderful violin, is just amazing and once matt taylor (on electric guitar) and scott miller (on bass) join in with backing vocals, you just have to love the song. dry the river´s debut single “new ceremony” and the title track of their new ep “weights & measures” (including the little unplugged bit at the beginning) followed, before they ended with all-time favourite “lion´s dDen” which is always a great way to end their set. this song just shows what they´re made of and how well they play together.

my personal highlight of night was the encore. “shaker hymns” has been my favourite dry the river song ever since i saw their gospel oak session. jonny warren´s drums guide you through the song like no other instrument does. the three-part harmonies here are spot on and the combination of slow and fast elements is great. it doesn´t sound like the violin and the drums are working against each other but instead one completes the other. all in all, a rather short but simply fantastic set by dry the river.

i shall see them again in st. gallen this saturday and for another headline show in london in january. till then i´d like to advice anyone who somehow managed to make their way around dry the river up until now, to check them out. they´re more than worth it. promise. 

 

scott miller and peter liddle (dry the river)

jonny warren (dry the river)

matt taylor and will harvey (dry the river)

you can connect with dry the river via their website or their facebook page. make sure to check either one (or both!) of them out for the latest news and tour dates.

julia marcell - "ctrl".

following the release of her second record “june” in late september, julia marcell is treating her fans to a little special something. she has not one, not two but actually three remixes of her new single “ctrl” waiting for us. the album version is already one of the best dance tunes of 2011 in my opinion and those remixes definitely just prove that once more.

releasing all three versions over the time of three weeks, the remix marathon kicked off last monday (14^th) with the remix by giovanni freudenberg. if the album version didn´t make you want to dance (which i highly doubt), this remix definitely will. 

http://soundcloud.com/haldern-pop/julia-marcell-ctrl-giovanni

today (21^st) the second remix was released, this time by grossstadtgeflüster. compared to the first remix, this version starts off a little quieter before it turns into a real dance tune. it also doesn´t highlight the vocals as much but that just makes it even better for a little bit of club fun.

http://soundcloud.com/haldern-pop/julia-marcell-ctrl-ohoh-edit

the last remix comes from kid simius and will be released next monday (28^th). this version is by far the longest one (6:10 mins) and does not include too many vocals (which is a little bit of a shame because the vocals in “ctrl” are one of the best of the entire album). the few vocals you can actually find in this remix are great though. kid simius´ remix basically focuses on the melody and the music in general. 

all remixes are available via the haldern pop website, so make sure to check back there next monday for the last remix. i promise it´ll be worth it. plus the official video for "ctrl" will be released soon as well, so you´re definitely in for a few treats over the next couple of days!

 julia marcell - "june" album cover

julia marcell´s album “june” is out now and available here (remember, every amazon site ships worldwide!). my song by song review of “june” can be read here. 

get in touch with julia via her website, facebook or twitter.

agnes obel. live.

who: agnes obel with anne müller and gillian fleetwood

when: 9 november 2011

where: the ruby lounge, manchester, uk

support: martin john henry

if you´ve never heard of agnes obel before, you should change that immediately because you´re simply missing out on so much if you don´t know who she is. her debut album “philharmonics” contains a great deal of catchy piano tunes combined with a clear and rich voice. last Wednesday, danish born agnes obel stopped in manchester for the second time this year to play an incredible show at the ruby lounge.

martin john henry opened the night with a rather wonderful eight song set which left me quite impressed. much to my annoyance, not everyone in the audience seemed to appreciate him, especially this group of four chatty females who just wouldn´t shut up. but fortunately henry didn´t seem to care much and still delivered a great set. singer-songwriter henry, who is originally from scotland, gained critical acclaim as the lead singer of de rosa. his band released two studio albums before splitting in 2009. since then henry has worked on solo projects, releasing his first record “the other half of everything” in october this year. his music is based somewhere along the lines of acoustic folk and indie represented by his beautiful voice, great lyrics and mostly the sound of his well-played guitar.

after a short break agnes obel, accompanied by anne müller (from germany) and gillian fleetwood (from scotland), entered the stage. once she played the first few notes of “liana” the audience suddenly went quiet. it was absolutely magical. agnes obel´s compositions are brilliant, her lyrics are literally painting timeless pictures.

with obel herself on piano, müller on cello and fleetwood on scottish harp, it was the ideal set up to present “philharmonics” live. as if the amazing piano sound wouldn´t be enough, the extraordinary way müller added her stunning cello to the songs, they sure fulfilled the definition of perfection. once fleetwood also joined in with her scottish harp, there was absolutely no way anyone in the audience could not feel the magic that was going on up on stage. when the cello was replaced by an acoustic guitar for “brother sparrow”, the trio showed once more why they play so well together.

we were not only treated to quite a few album numbers like “beast”, “over the hill” and the wonderful “riverside”, but also to some new songs / non album tracks like “sons & daughters” and an absolutely wonderful rendition of elliott smith´ “between the bars”.

agnes obel manages to combine folk and classical elements with a warm, enchanting voice, gorgeous lyrics and mesmerizing melodies. the piano instrumentals are just as addictive and not lacking vocals in any way. the addition of cello, acoustic guitar, harp and some perfect backing vocals which fit beautifully into obel´s lead vocals, simply make “philharmonics” and especially her live performance a real pleasure.

 agnes obel

  gillian fleetwood

 anne müller

agnes obel, anne müller and gillian fleetwood

agnes obel is still on tour around europe in november/december. make sure to check her facebook page for a ful list of dates.

nils frahm. live.

who: nils frahm

when: 8 november 2011

where: band on the wall, manchester, uk

support: date palms, alexander tucker 

when i was sitting in my room on tuesday afternoon, mildly enjoying the chaos of shared student accommodation, i did what i´m doing pretty much every single day: checking all my favourite manchester venues to see what´s going on. once i came across nils frahm, there was literally a voice going off in my head, telling me to go and see him. i remembered my friends telling me about nils frahm a while ago. long story short, a ticket was booked and i soon headed to band on the wall.

the night was supposed to start with the us-band date palms, which it eventually did. after resolving some major technical problems, they began their set with delay of 25 minutes. date palms are gregg kowalsky and marielle jakobsons from oakland, california. according to their facebook page, they would describe their music as eastern psychedelic minimalism. they ended up playing a two song set, one of them 18 minutes, the other one 6 minutes long. i reckon they would´ve played at least one more song because a clarinet was also part of their set-up but it wasn´t used. while kowalsky provided the electronic music, jakobsons joined in with electric bass and violin. since neither one of them sang, i couldn´t help but think about the film “eat, pray, love” during their set. date palms´ music might as well have been the soundtrack for the scenes which play in india. it would´ve fitted perfectly at least.

up next was alexander tucker. originally from kent, he describes his music as a mix between experimental, blues and psychedelic. although you need a good pair of ears to hear the blues elements, the rest totally fits. his set basically consisted of one single song, at least there were no intermissions in between, which was roughly 40 minutes long. his music was completely electric, no real instruments were used. alexander tucker has got a wonderful voice which he sadly rarely used. wish he would´ve done a little more singing but since he was the only one who sang that night, it was definitely better than nothing.

i remember a few years ago when i first discovered jamie cullum and i told people how amazing he is, they all said that piano tunes are never good because they all sound like dinner music, especially when no one is singing. i was a little afraid that nils frahm would actually fit into this category because i haven´t checked him out before, he was only recommended to me by friends. but as it turned out, there was absolutely no reason to be worried and i´m frankly quite embarrassed now that i actually thought i might have to.

my knowledge of nils frahm was actually limited to the fact that he´s a fellow german and plays piano. so i went to band on the wall absolutely unprepared which was probably a good thing though. from the moment he came on stage, it felt like he put me (and probably the entire audience) under a spell.

after two beautiful piano pieces, he suddenly said “i also like the techno!” and began his third song by using synthesizers. didn´t matter, it absolutely fitted in there and was actually one of the highlights of the night. the second highlight followed right afterwards. nils introduced the prism quartet that consists of two violins, a cello and a viola. while they performed one of his songs on strings, nils took a seat in the audience, enjoying their interpretation of his original piano piece. he then joined the prism quartet for the fifth song of the set. according to nils, it was the first time he ever played live with strings and it was more improvised than anything else too, but nevertheless it worked out perfectly. it was simply wonderful and had probably quite a few people in tears. he played one more song as part of the original set, where he was joined by a young gentleman on the yamaha piano. and as if this wasn´t enough, he came back for an encore. his piano tunes have something magical, something mesmerizing to them that you just can´t explain. they´re basically one of the best soundtracks you can possibly put on during this time of the year.

nils frahm certainly knew how to impress. he may just be the best musician my friends ever recommended to me. and judging by the response he got for his beautiful live set, his fan base here in manchester sure is anything but small and definitely still growing. 

 nils frahm

 prism quartet

nils frahm is still on tour. make sure to check his website for a full list of dates.

his new record "felt" is out now on erased tapes.