Tears in a cup

Finnish indie band Cats on fire are not completely different from all other good indie bands. They are addictively melancholic but that's also not something new. They are however incredibly adorable.
So far they've released 3 albums and I managed to get my hands only on the first one: "The Province complains". According to Wiki:

"The mood in their lyrics extends from melancholie to self irony."

When I asked Ville to sign my CD, he slightly blushed. I find that incredibly cute but then again, I always had a soft spot for the shy guys...

Taste some of their good stuff, yeah:

Radio Dept. - Swedish indie with a style

I like discovering new band by checking upcoming concerts and listening to the songs on youtube. In this way I discovered Local Natives, a band that quickly became one of my new favorites.

So last week I Radio Dept. came on my indie radars. They are an indie band from Sweden (Lundt), that exists for 15 years. So far they've released 3 albums and I have to say, I really like the music they play. Not only they sound extremely well, their songs are also political.

The concert was like a balsam for every indie fan. Soft indie electro was extending from chillout to dancy rhythms. By a coincidence my friend and me met a part of the band after the concert.  Interesting coversatoins about music, politics and life pretty much convinced me they really have something important to say.

In case you wanna hear - I recorded this video at the concert.

The Villagers & Here we go magic in Berlin

Checking out new indie bands became my new summer sport (apart from repairing my bike). This time I bought tickets for Here we go Magic, indie band from New York. It is fair to say the band is not inventing new kind of music, nevertheless it is performing a crossover indie extremely well. Untamed raw guitare sounds are sometimes very soft and gentle and the other times hardcore, almost old school rock like. So yes, definitely 12 EUR well spent.

But this time something quite strage happened. It was not the main band that impressed me so much, but their support act - The Villagers. Actually it was only the frontmen Conor J. O'Brien performing but OMG, what a voice! Clear, strong and melanholic in that indie kinda way, topped up with quality lyrics that left me speachless. Apparently he described his lyrics as:

"transcendental darkness and the weirdness...Dark imagery or feelings alongside really mundane domestic everyday things".

Yes, I bought the CD and yes, will definitely go and see the next show. I think the music did for me what John Mayer did for some of my female friends. However, I do think Conor O'Brien is entirely different story than John Mayer and probably less of a cunt too :)

Local Natives

Yesterday's concert of Southern Californian indie band Local Natives was indeed one of the music highlights. Only a week after the German release of their debut album Gorilla Minor they peformed in Berlin's rather small but nice alter place called Bang Bang Club. And let me tell you, oooh, and aaah doesn't even begin to describe it.

Expectations were high and were partially satisfied by an excellent rock pre group who's name I didn't manage to catch. Needless to say the club was packed with excited people and so was the stage.

Local Natives were not performing at all, it seems as they were completely melted with their music, enjoying every minute of it, and so did we. They mastered their instruments as well as the genre. Positive surprise and a band that is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Unfortunatelly I didn't make any photos as I found concert much more enjoyable that way, but here is a taste of their live performance. Very likable!

Fuck the pain away!

Nope, it's not about rebound, it's all about concert of Peaches in Berlin. Definitely one of the top 3 concerts ever, right after Rammstein.

It's hard to say what exactly was so great about it cause it was pretty much everything. Of course it also helped to have two rather lousy groups performing before.

Hawnay troof was some kind of funky wanna be Michael Jackson meets The Beegees. Only offtune. Rich lyrics included "You're my momma, I'm your brother/cousin?" and "I'm feeling it." So yeah, definitely not a keeper.

Snax was slightly better at singing,  but much better to listen to than to look at.  All that manic jumping on stage made me think someone underestimated their daily drug intake.

But then she came. Simply amazing performance, not just because of the costumes, stage diving, laser show and walking on our hands, but also because of extremely addictive energy. Yeah, I'm definitely a believer.

Sorry, no pictures this time. I was too busy jumping.