Emerging Fervour

I really love to discover music. Often it’s just music, which is pretty fine, but sometimes it’s more like a chain reaction where I discover much more than only new tunes. In the case of Ramona Falls, I have to tell the whole story. So, here it is.

A few days ago I discovered a director/animator called Stefan Nadelman. He does a lot of short films and commercials often stop motion and photo animations. Absolutely amazing, you should check out his site and have a look.
Anyway I saw a video he has made for Ramona Falls (this project is named after a waterfall in Oregon, USA), which is this one:

So after this I had a look at the myspace site and was thrilled by the music. A Lo-Fi sound mixed with sort of celtic folk elements, rough rock guitar hooks, piano tunes and on top you smell blues and wave. I’m running out of genres here, so let’s keep it this way (better than calling it indie…).

April 9th 2010 at 7pm

I’m so there to support Chima’s launch of his album New Day. Kid Fury (our blogger, Franklin) will be there, providing us with a DJ set that’s sure to blow us away.

I can’t wait! Make sure you get your tickets well in advance from the Barfly site, or www.ticketweb.co.uk

An interview with Robert Raths, founder of Erased Tapes. Visit music is okay to read the German version.

Robert Raths originally came to London for architectural studies, but he stayed for music. Three years ago he founded the label Erased Tapes and proves in a quite impressive way that “the best things in life happen naturally.”

You gave up your own musical project to set up Erased Tapes. What was the reason you’ve changed your mind?

Erased Tapes: First I wanted to express myself musically. When I tried to transfer the music into a live show, I had to accept that it wasn’t working. It was hard trying to explain my musical concepts to other musicians. They usually gave me the questioning look. But for me it was always about creating something new and different, I never wanted to sound like anybody else.
I think the point is, my music was packed with ideas and sounds which needed more space to develop themselves. The bottom line is, I came across all these musical elements I wanted to combine, which are now individual artists on the label. I started to focus more on other artists’ work than my own, rather being the observer than the creator, and that was a very fruitful development. For me it’s all about supporting my artists on every level and being constructive as a part of the creative process.

Two years have passed since Tunng released their last album Good Arrows. Now they’re back with a new sound and without an old member. And Then We Saw Land is an album full of charming and catchy tunes, embraced by the characteristic sound of Tunng. We met Becky Jacobs (vocals) and Mike Lindsay (guitar and vocals) on a boat on the Thames, the perfect place to talk about their  journey, isn’t it?

© Photography by Evelyn Kutschera for Emerging Fervour

Your new album “And Then We Saw Land” sounds really different compared to what you’ve done before. Where does the change come from?

Mike: There are a few things like Sam leaving the band, which changed things vocally, but we also didn’t want to make another ‘glitch cut and paste’ kind of electronic record. We’ve done that and we still like that stuff, but we wanted to try something we haven’t  done before. A record that uses synths as synths not as chopped up sounds for instance. We wanted to make something that is bigger and proud, where people can sing along to. I think the album is the reflection of our live shows from the past couple of years. We really enjoyed the reaction of the audience to certain moments of the shows, when we played songs which had been reworked a to give them a bigger sound. That’s what we wanted to capture with the new album.

A short creative piece ..

I am simply somebody who loves music. Music is an art form but is often no longer treated as one and this disappoints me, but without going off on a rant about the good ol’ days I will get straight on to the positives of internet music.

Underneath the sheer volume of musical sewage floating around on the net every now and again you will find something that evades the constraints of the current trends. An artist or band that you just have to wonder why the heck are these guy’s not massive though whether through trying or inadvertently it seems they make steps to doing something which could be deemed classic or timeless.

I may be labelled a purist or a music snob, more likely a hater. I’m never likely to post something just because everybody else has and never in a rush to blog something and co-sign on it being cool when a week later it will just be a solitary invisible mp3 not assigned to any particular playlist in Itunes or Serato never to be played again.

Alright, I can’t fight it, I’m in love with five guys. And no, I’m not a pervert. I just discovered The Miserable Rich. What the modern chamber quintet based in Brighton does, is so awesome, I can’t stop listening to it. Every song from the album 12 ways to count is overwhelming. The combination of cello, violin, double bass, acoustic guitar, chimes and James de Malplaquet’s voice is so full of purity and beauty that it’s driving me nuts.

The single Summerhill will be released on the 8th of March and the second album Of Flight and Fury will be released later this year. The Miserable Rich are touring Europe in March, April and May, so don’t you dare miss them.

The Explorers Club is a collaboration between LOAF Recordings and the Arctic Circle Collective.
And the title is right to the point. This monthly one-off single compilation brings you amazing soundscapes from a diverse range of genres from all corners of the world. So if you consider yourself as an explorer, this is definitely your cup of tea. I’m running out of words to describe the music, but I think this is the idea of the Explorer’s Club. These amazing tunes have to be experienced, you can’t just listen to them. But if you let your mind travel this will be a great journey.

So how does it work?

With a subscription to the Explorer’s Club you will receive a monthly e-mail for one year with the instructions how to download the release of the month. As a special bonus you’ll get the Explorer’s Club survival bag which includes a quality organic cotton tote bag, screen printed calendar & poster and some extra little surprises, all specially designed by the Pika Pika design team.

You don’t know what Disco Lento Deloroso is? Don’t worry, most people don’t. And you don’t know the band Hurts? That’s a shame and here’s your chance to know better. Have a look at wikipedia, this will explain everything you need to know about Disco Lento. Trying to find out more about Hurts is a bit more complicated.

You can find them on myspace, but apart from the video for Blood, Tears & Gold, you’ll find scarcely anything. And if you go to the band website, the name – informationhurts.com – says it all. It’s just a link back to nothing. So you look on youtube and find the video for Wonderful Life. Alright, two good looking guys (Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson) in decent suits, who look and sound like a mixture of The Human League, Spandau Ballet and Zoot Woman.

This old fashioned synth pop transports you directly to the mid/late 80ies and after listening to Hurts, you’ll feel the deep need to de-dust your Ultravox and Talk Talk vinyls. It’s absolutely nothing new, but it’s beautiful.

One thing is for sure: they won’t remain a secret. They’re playing a little tour, so see them live on February 24th @Wiltons Music Hall in London, on the 26th @Lido in Berlin or on the 27th @Gebaeude 9 in Cologne. The single Wonderful Life (Arthur Baker Remix) will be released on January 18th and definitely worth buying it!

This band is ridiculous.
They’re young, cool, good looking and talented. I’m desperately trying to hate them, but no chance. The first single “Let’s go surfing” has the best whistling part since “Young Folks” and is a hit or rather it will become one. The music is an intoxicating mixture of 50s surf pop, British invasion beat rock and 80s synthpop tunes. I presume they’re on the way to become the new decade’s “The Strokes”. So, is this it? Yes, that’s it. Buy it, listen to it, go and see them live, dance.

Download “Let’s go surfing” for free!

From a marketing point of view I would say that this is one of the worst slogans a record label could have. But I guess, it’s a question of interpretation.

The London based independent label Erased Tapes was founded in 2007, focusing on cinematic music. The artists on Erased Tapes cover diverse genres and styles, but they’re all united by one thing: sincere emotions.

Listening to the Erased Tapes compilations is like watching a plant grow. It seems random in the first place, but when the flower buds start to open, you can see that it’s all part of a master plan, that leads to perfection. And with selected seeds like Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm or Peter Broderick, the label proves its green thumb.

Nils Frahm is a Berlin based composer and producer. He recently released Wintermusik, and in just three absolutely overwhelming piano songs, he lets Yann Tiersen sound like a mediocre hobby musician. After his album Bells, which was recorded in a church in Berlin, Wintermusik is another stroke of genius. The more often you listen to his music, it becomes obvious that Nils Frahm creates something really rare: grace.