nordic vibes

the hatching of exciting stuff is beginning! i've now started working with the lovely 'crew' at nordic vibes (www.nordicvibes.com) to promote all cultural nordicness in the netherlands and belgium! and i've started writing my first articles for the website and shot my first gig of the year that has a nordic slant (click on the headings below to go straight to the website features).

so we'll not only be promoting any gigs and new records from bands from all over the nordic regions - so that includes iceland, norway, denmark, finland, sweden (have i missed anyone?) - but are also planning something very exciting ourselves, more on that in due course!

26.02.12: francis (SE): new ep and tou

//full set of photos from the last time francis played amsterdam on flickr here

12.02.12: you say france and i whistle (SE) - gig photos

//full set of photos on flickr here

 

if anyone has any top musical tips from the nordic regions, i'd love to hear from you. and it is not just music, any design, art, film photography, etc. with a nordic slant that is happening in the netherlands and belgium.

x

damien jurado

damien jurado and his stories, that's what i like. and his songs of course, but primarily his storytelling, and the banter in-between songs. and i wasn't disappointed when he took to the stage at the solo gig in haarlem, a taster for what is to come in a couple of months when he is back with a full band to tour his new album, maraqopa (due out towards the end of next month). and herein lies my dilemma: i never know if i prefer the solo act - just one man and his guitar - or the full-on band version (see my similar quandaries with chad vangaalen last year, here). turns out i guess that i can like both equally and, in which case, this gig was an exciting taster of what is to come when he's back in march.




 
  

at some point, i would like to come back here and try and put into words the impact of one of his songs (before the encore) which, with its so-vivid-storytelling, transported me into the situation of the tale being recounted... i can't tell the story as well though, so maybe i'll just keep it in my head.

//full set of photos on flickr here; bamshakalah blogpost here; in-photos gallery set on drownedinsound here

laura gibson

a few days before the damien jurado show, i saw laura gibson at paradiso in amsterdam. her voice is something special, and i now need to check out her album. 

 

 

//a few more are on flickr here

x

looking back over 2011

happy new year! let's hope it is as music-jammed as 2011 was. according to my collection of gig-shot sets on flickr, i pretty much saw the equivalent of one band per week. that might sound a lot but i think there is room for improvement! ;) so now i've got one full year under my belt living in the netherlands, it might be a good time to reflect. i am so happy living in amsterdam and i am extremely happy with my decision to move here. i moved for the music, and it hasn't disappointed. a friend said to me before i moved that paradiso would become my second home and, although yes i do see a fair number of gigs there (more in the small room upstairs i think, altho i also see lots of great gigs in the big room - see below), actually it is not my favourite venue...

fave bits of 2011:

-gigs: see below...
-venue: de nieuwe anita (fave gig at this venue here)
-festival: iceland airwaves (full set of photos here, so many favourite moments!)
-musical family: belmont bookings (my fave bamshakalah blogpost here)

so... favourite gigs? i'm rubbish at choosing, but think i'd plump for these top five dutch gigs:

1. tv on the radio (paradiso, amsterdam)

// link to original blogpost here, and full flickr set here

2. band of horses (paradiso, amsterdam)

// link to original blogpost here, in-photos gallery on drownedinsound here, and full flickr set here

3. olafur arnalds (500-year-old house in nijmegen, as part of de affaire)

// link to original blogpost here, and full flickr set here.

4. no age (ot301, amsterdam)

// link to original blogpost here, in-photos gallery on drownedinsound here, feature on belmont bookings blog here and full flickr set here

5. tallest man on earth (paradiso, amsterdam)

// link to original blogpost here, in-photos gallery on drownedinsound here, and full flickr set here




in 2011, i saw so many good bands and met so many good people who i know will help to make this new year just as good if not better. exciting things are hatching, look forward to seeing what emerges.

x

first aid kit

first aid kit came to town this month and made me a very happy carmymac. this was only my second time seeing the swedish sister duo and 1.5 years after the first time (which made it into my fave gigs of 2010), they are still spell binding and yet still so young (older sister joanna is now 21 and klara 18 years).

since the last tour, they've been to america recording the latest album with mike mogis (of bright eyes) and they'vejust returned with stories of coner oberst (who also guests on the album), emmylou harris and dancing around the joshua tree.

the gig was fantastic, and i want to bottle the feeling i get when watching them singing 'ghost town' acoustically at the front of the stage. magical.



 

i was happy also that this gig saw my first interaction with www.nordicvibes.com and my photos can be seen alongside an interview with the band (in dutch) here. next year there will be more nordic vibes goodness. watch this space! 

x

cant // blood orange

cant is a band i didn't know much about before going to see, apart from it's chris taylor from grizzly bear's new project. and also i'd only seen the support act blood orange's dev hynes in one of his previous guises also (lightspeed champion) and i also knew nothing of his new stuff. this ended more like a double-headliner show and i loved both bands pretty much in equal proportions. dev was a surprise, in that he started on stage but then meandered into the audience, never seemingly stand in one place for long, happier it seems with his back to everyone.












more shots from the gig here. and a review (in dutch, so not by me! ;) here.

x

i like trains + stalking horse in amsterdam

soon after getting back to amsterdam, it was fun to welcome my good friends i like trains back to the netherlands (at the end of october). these guys are my most frequent visitors from leeds and this would be my third time seeing them playing over here since i moved (the first gig being only a few days after i got here).

still having airwaves and reykjavik pretty much engrained in my bones (it has that effect on you), i started to think whilst watching 'the trains' that they have to play iceland airwaves. it simply must happen one day. in 2012 would be amazing. here's hoping! and for now, here's a few shots from the gig (more here). there is also one photo of a new band, also from leeds - stalking horse - who i'd never seen before (in this guise - i know all the guys in the band from their other bands' guises, if that makes sense...) and i can't wait till i get to see them again on these shores (or elsewhere, maybe also in reykjavik!) .

 









more shots of stalking horse here

airwaves: highlights

so, here are some of my favourite acts from iceland airwaves. in the end, i opted to use video-accompaniment with this blog entry, mainly with visuals of some of the country's amazing landscape. one person not featured in this summary, who i would have included if i could find a video, is guðrið hansdóttir from the faroe islands (so instead, why not check out some great shots of her by dennis stempher, a fellow music photographer who had also made the journey to iceland from the netherlands, from the first day of the festival here).

sin fang

since getting back from reykjavik, i'd say sin fang's album summer echoes has been the one i've played most. i first saw sindri már sigfússon perform in leeds a few years back with his other band seabear and to be honest i wasn't quite grabbed by the show - not sure why, maybe it was my mood? or the fact that sindri *really* didn't look like he was having a good time. i saw him perform a couple of times at airwaves and i now think i get it. that's just the way it is. i really enjoyed his shows this time, particularly the one at hressa when i was down the front snapping. am already looking forward to when sin fang heads to amsterdam for his next gig, which this time is not allowed to clash with any other gig that night (last time he played, beirut was also in town that night)!

Sin Fang - Because Of The Blood from Máni M. Sigfússon on Vimeo.

snorri helgason

next up, snorri helgason whom i discovered  unexpectedly in one of the most quirky off-venue venues (a men's clothes shop). i'd actually turned up to see borko who i thought would be playing on the store's tiny little stage surrounded by paraphenalia such as a reindeer (?) head, a shoe-shining machine, an old record player (which was used to play the between-sets background music, a nice touch that was noticed by this vinyl loving gal!) and a picture of john f. kennedy (which made me wonder, do icelanders have a similar obsession leftover from the '60s that the irish do - in many family homes in the west of ireland, a photo of jfk still sits on the mantlepiece; this link is not the only thing that both countries have in common, as the icelandic scenery is not so unlike that of county mayo, albeit with added extras such as larva and volcanoes). anyway, so snorri's album winter sun has also been played a lot recently on my stereo (aka computer) and i particularly love this video (another one from the studio of máni m. sigfússon).



Snorri Helgason - River from Snorri Helgason on Vimeo.

patrick watson

ok, so this one is cheating a bit as really i only wanted to get the video in this round-up. sadly i didn't get to see patrick playing any (rumoured or real?) sets at airwaves but i did see him playing with esmerine (a band which is made up of members of both godspeed you! black emperor and thee silver mt. zion) at harpa on the saturday night and i was wowed by (i) the most amazing instrument set-up (cello, marimba, a zylopone or two and a harp) and (ii) the song the canadian musicians played for their friend, the late lhasa de sela. 

Patrick Watson - Fireweed from Patrick Watson on Youtube.

olafur arnalds

and last, but not least, olafur arnalds. he was the reason for my being at airwaves this year at all, after i saw him play an inspirational and intimate show at a festival in nijmegen a few months back (to 50 people in a 500-year-old house, see blog post here and one or two more photos here). at airwaves, i was lucky enough to catch his off-off-venue solo piano show at the city hall and could hear just some snippets of the start of his nordic house show, but it was not till his saturday night performance at harpa that i got to witness the full effect of his piano, orchestral and electronic arrangements and all i can say is, wow! (the show did seem crazily short, but at least it did leave me wanting more!) i can't wait till he next tours this way (maybe be as part of the holland festival? now that would be rather something). oh, and i couldn't find a video of olafur's music with any scenic shots, but this one does have a view out of the window of his reykjavik apartment. i think that counts. :)

Olafur Arnalds - Near Light (one of the Living Room Songs) 
from Ólafur Arnalds on Youtube.

for a really good summary of a number of the bands mentioned on this post, go see chromewaves' thoughts on airwaves here. i really love the way he summarises olafur's show at harpa in particular ('...in every gentle piano note, every wavering bowed string, every stuttering electronic beat – even in the projected animated bird mobiles and flickering strobe lights'...).