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elektrischemaidchen · 20 days ago

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Lisztober #23: Flowers of Hungary

Today we're taking a biographical trip down memory lane. The reason for this is that we still need enough Franz-and-Hungary for the next few days, so we have to get abstract today ;)

So, here's the „great“ story of how I got to Franz. (And I would be so interested to hear what your story is!!!! Tell us! You wouldn't all be here if there wasn't one ;) ) @franzliszt-official

I don't think there's anything that can please a family in the Ruhr area more than the following sentence: ‘I want to become a classical singer.’

I pestered them until they enrolled me in music school. And what a music school it was! It produced an outstanding internationally acclaimed composer & conductor, two tenors...and my precious Liszt-Thirst. (My thirst only. Electronic music, bah. Look at aaaall my voice filters!)

And that was mainly due to these two great people:

There was Márta on the one hand, and István on the other. Both originated from the Franz Liszt School of Music in Budapest - she studied singing, he did a doctorate in piano and composition - both emigrated to Germany in the early 1980s to enchant generations of music students with their Hungarian flair.

Márta had a fantastic habit of hammering out any musical accompaniment on the piano as if the devil himself was after her. She was tiny, very old and her high, heavily accented voice always demanded ‘more feeling’.

And this demand for ‘more feeling’ was not limited to singing. She was always keen for us to have a proper overview of music history and theory. She was a fantastic storyteller when it came to the background to pieces, in which phase of his life which composer had written what and why. She gave us CDs, dug out the most bizarre works that we had to rehearse and sometimes censored piquant passages with black sharpie („Not suitable for young ladies!“) From time to time we had to première István's new – admittedly, very (very!!!!) specific - operas, had lots of great evenings with our orchestra colleagues... in short, a really great time for nerds.

Thanks to Márta, I also got into Liszt. That really changed my life. I'd like to say that Franz got me with the ‘Liebestraum’, but no, it was the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 8. <3 After that, I was hooked. And although I was/am really mediocre as a musician, Márta found my understanding of musically conveyed emotions worthy of encouragement. And I think it also triggered her national pride a little, that my love was for Franz and not Ludwig or anyone else.

At some point, she suggested to my mum that I really needed a piano myself. And I can still hear my mother in my ear: ‘Nya, where should we put it?’

I ended up with the crappiest instrument under the sun: a second-hand Casio SA 21. That was the beginning of the end. Lacelove and I watched a few gear videos of the thing a few days ago. ‘ Would be cool to put on the mixer.’ No. You can't do anything with it except play ‘Memory’ from Cats on 06 ‘Church Organ’ at your aunt's Christmas party while nobody listens to you because everyone is drinking eggnog....

Even the video was gut wrenching. I even hate the sight of it.

And it came as it had to: at some point, Nine Inch Nails/Trent Reznor came into my life and that paved the way for the stuff we do today.

I've forgotten so much music theory that it's really frightening. My unbroken love for Liszt has remained. Márta would be pretty shocked if she knew what I do today (or with Franz), I think. But I still miss her. <3

Marta was My singing teacher Strict and tiny And Hungarian More feeling, more feeling She screams at me And I don't know Whether I can give her all that She's always so angry To her piano And I guess That's often because of me She beats me up with Music history We practise all the arias Till I cry She gives me Hungarian Rhapsodies I can't escape them No more And then she asks me Who is your favourite Composer? And I say, oh, it's Franz Liszt She hugs me I get the kiss of consecration After that her rage is finally over And she says to my mum The child is a talent Because it knows true love Please buy her A piano right away I only get A fucked up Casio And then she asks me Who is your favourite Composer? And I say, oh, it's Franz Liszt Since then Franz hangs on my wall I caress every night A model of his hand Marta, if you knew what we do at night you would probably never rest again And then she asks me Who is your favourite composer? And I say, oh, it's Franz Liszt And I thank you So much I'm not sorry We had such a Such a good time You and me. And Franz List. And Franz Liszt.

#lisztober #franz liszt #lisztomania

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notafraidofredyellowandblue · 1 year ago

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What's your favourite Emigrate song and music video?

Actually i think for both i have the same answer

youtube

i love several Emigrate songs (though maybe not all), and it varies a bit which is my fave, but this one is always right there at the top of my list ❤️🖤

#richard kruspe #emigrate band

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derwahnsinn · 2 years ago

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31 Days Rammstein Challenge - Day 28: Favourite Solo Project

I thoroughly enjoy the various Rammstein solo projects. While I have to admit some of the Lindemann lyrics were a bit - interesting - I really enjoyed the music. I am also happy that I got to see three of the concerts before Till Lindemann and Peter Tägtgren split up.

Till Lindemann is, for now, mainly the same music, but Till's collaborations and new material is great. I love that he is not afraid of singing in various languages, and I can't wait to see his new band play live.

Till's poetry is good as well, but unfortunately, my understanding of German is not good enough for me to grasp all the nuances of his writing.

Flake Lorenz's writing, radio, and podcasts is fantastic. He is so straight forward and funny, and it's wonderful to get insight into his thought processes and to read the stories from his life as a musician.

That said, I have to go with Emigrate for this one.

It's definitely a close call and a difficult choice, but Richard is a strong songwriter, and I like how he has moved into the rock/pop genre and how he collaborates with other musicians. As a bonus, his work with Emigrate has generated a lot of photos and interviews. Finally, Richard having Emigrate helps him find balance in his life so that he can still do Rammstein. And Rammstein beats everything.

Illustration: Richard Z. Kruspe by Alexander Gnädinger for Emigrate, 2014. I'm a sucker for photos of Richard smiling.

Day 1: Favourite Song Day 2: Favourite Era Day 3: Favourite Single Day 4: Favourite Album Day 5: Favourite Music Video Day 6: Favourite Member Day 7: Favourite Lyrics Day 8: Favourite B-side or Unreleased Track Day 9: Favourite Remix Day 10: Favourite Live Photo Day 11: Favourite Live Video Day 12: Favourite Making of Day 13: Favourite Picture Official or Unofficial Day 14: Favourite Vocals Day 15: Favourite Bass, Guitar, Drums, or Keyboard Work Day 16: Favourite Outfit Day 17: Favourite Live Moment Day 18: Favourite Pyro Effect Day 19: Favourite Herzeleid Song Day 20: Favourite Sehnsucht Song Day 21: Favourite Mutter Song Day 22: Favourite Reise, Reise Song Day 23: Favourite Rosenrot Song Day 24: Favourite LIFAD Song Day 25: Favourite Untitled Song Day 26: Favourite Zeit Song Day 27: Favourite Pre-Rammstein Photo

#Rammstein #31 Days Rammstein Challenge #Rammstein Challenge #Rammstein Favourites #31dr+c #Richard Z. Kruspe #Till Lindemann #Flake Lorenz #Emigrate

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woodswallow · 2 months ago

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That music video is such a work of art, it's so well done... And that song is also one of my all time favourite Emigrate songs, I adore the James Bond vibes sooo much! If you don't know it: Listen to "You can't run away" by Emigrate ❤️

“you’re the only one” (x)

#richard kruspe #emigrate #Gorgeous song!#I really love his solo stuff!

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struwwelzeter · 4 years ago

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For a variety of reasons, I got into a bit of a rabbit hole about Richard's guitars, and my brain went "oh I know someone who will probably have opinions on this" so essentially, if you feel like it, pretty please talk RZK guitars to me? Favourite? Retired one that needs to come back? (Though I probably already know the answer, that fancy black one?)

Allrighty, buckle up because this is gonna be long. After much consideration I have decided to split it up in two parts because I don’t think I can make it fit into one post that is still vaguely tumblr appropriate, and I really wanted to do it some sort of justice. I still feel like I don’t. But oh well. Full disclaimer, I am NOT a guitarist, but I lived with a few, two of my best friends are pro players and I’m a sponge so I kind of soaked some bits and pieces up over the last 15 years. But in case any lost guitar hero finds this and disagrees with me over the finer points of tone wood: I know honey, I oversimplified, and I am wrong. I tried? 💜 for easier read I formatted everything specific to Richard’s guitars normally and anything general about electric guitars in cursive.

My main sources besides watching about a 100 a month of guitar tube videos (that is youtube for guitarists) with my ex, my main sources will be this interview and this.

Richard Z. Kruspe (of Rammstein and Emigrate)’s Guitars - In Order of Appearance, Part 1/2

Diamant (Les Paul Style)

“I traded the acoustic for a guitar called Diamant, which was like a Les Paul version in East Germany.” - RZK

Now I’m skipping the acoustic he started out with, because it’s basically impossible to know what that was, and go straight into the electric. Now presumably, it would have been something like this, a soviet build Les Paul rip off. The irony is that these still go for several thousands up on reverb today for being historical and collectors pieces. The thing is, that while anything east build might have used cheaper materials, I would assume this thing isn’t worse than any of the beginner/intermediate models sold today, if not better, and kids all over the world do decent stiff with those.

Something general about electric guitars is that you don’t really so much play the guitar, you play an entire system. The instrument doesn’t make the sound, it only influences it. You play a guitar - but you even more so play the amp. Which makes this a bit tricky, because an e-guitar is a slab of wood and a copper coil, and amps are way more complex. You can make the exact same guitar sound so many ways. Still - there are tendencies. The fact how and why and to which degree the shape and wood of a solid body (a guitar without a hollow wood piece) influences the sound is highly debated and can get a bit esoteric sounding to sane people non-guitarists, but there are some differences in how the general set up and build of the guitar changes things, and tendencies how they are traditionally outfitted. Les Paul style guitars are normally humbucker guitars, Stratocasters and Telecasters normally are outfitted with single coils. Usually a guitarist can switch - between using the bridge, the neck, or both (or more) pick ups and depending on where the pick up is located they pick up different frequencies, different aspects of the sound. Humbuckers produce a richer, deeper or fuller sound than single coils. Very roughly speaking, think the Stones vs. Metallica.

Fender Stratocaster

“Then in East Germany, we had this imagination to get one of the great guitars, to me it was always the Fender Stratocaster because it was the Jimi Hendrix guitar. I didn’t know anything about pickups or humbuckers or whatever. So there was this guy that I met in a café in my old hometown and he was buying all these books because he could get all the books out through customs and he would store them in my apartment. So we became kind of acquainted. He would come over and pick up the books. So one time he came over and I asked him if he could get me a guitar and bring it over. In East Germany, if you exchange money from East to West it would be like 1 East mark and 20 West mark. SO everything I had, I changed it to West Mark and I gave him the money and I gave him the money and asked him to please buy me a Fender Stratocaster. I gave him the money and I didn’t hear anything for like three months, nothing. I wasn’t able to call because we didn’t have phones and stuff like that – it was a different time. So I thought fuck, I gave him 1400 west mark and now he’s gone and never coming back. [...] Then my imagination was so high, I thought the guitar would just play by itself and I wouldn’t really have to do anything, which I found out was bullshit. I was really happy that I had the guitar but it wasn’t really the sound that I had in mind.” - RZK

The first time I heard that story, I literally went “no, no, no, don’t be stupid, don’t give him your money, you won’t even like that guitar, stupid, lost dumbass.” I can not, for the life of me, imagine him play anything other than humbuckers. He apparently does use single coils for some things today again in the studio, but still, it’s so obviously wrong. He did play one again sometime during the late 90s, but I couldn’t find anything on the pick ups he used with that, but can hardly imagine he kept the original, unless he needed it for a specific sound maybe in one or two songs. I get it though. For many, many people the Fender Stratocaster is THE guitar. Jimi Hendrix is the main reason for that, but it’s also the countless idols that picked it up after him for the same reason, people who ended up plastered on the walls of angsty teenagers in their own right. This totally has to do with the whole amp thing aswell. You see your idol play that type of guitar ... but it’s not even half of the sound, and it won’t sound the same. Maybe probably they changed the pick ups, they have an effect rig, the spend hours fiddling with the knobs on an amp you can never afford. It’s never the same. Which is why ...

Fender Telecaster Black Gold

Then I had a guitar that I was very fond of. It was an older black and gold telecaster – there weren’t very many of them made at that point. I put a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck SH-4 in there, like a humbucker. I remember it was like my beauty guitar and I needed someone to put that pickup in and I was with Paul and he had more experience with that stuff than me so he would get out a hammer and a chisel and he start banging away on it and I was like ‘Fuck! Fuck! Don’t do that!’ but we put the thing in there and it was one of my favorite guitars” - RZK

... this one first didn’t really make sense for me for him. It’s even more a classic single coil guitar than the Strat is, and it only really started making sense for me when I learned he Paul indeed put a Humbucker in there. It’s a stunningly beautiful guitar, and weirdly non-modern for him. I don’t know why and this is completely instinctual on my part, but I find it fitting he played it during that time after the wall came down, which seems to have been a rough time for him generally, it seems like a somehow super emotional guitar, this relic. Telecasters were some of the first electrics ever build, it’s such a pioneer, but it’s also one that alot of punk bands used, possibly because they were old and cheap in the 70s and noisy and people customized it and put other pick ups in. The whole putting a chisel to it and adding a humbucker into it is such a “I’m gonna make whatever I have fit for me, and I’ll love it” move. If you look at it, a double coil pick up is really something you have to force to go in there, you really have to break it open. There is also this:

“... and then I think I had to sell it because I needed drugs or something. I was really sad that I sold it because I was at a very low point in my life.” - RZK

If I would get the chance to do one thing only for him to thank him for his music, I would go back in time to that Richard who is just sad about selling that guitar and hug him, and tell him he doesn’t need to worry, because they will name guitars after him in the future. It breaks my heart so fucking much. But of course, it’s what opens the doors to what happens next, which is ...

ESP 901

“That led me to my very first convention in Frankfurt. With guitars, it is like with women, you have to fall in love. Sometimes you get a guitar and you fall in love later but there has to be some sort of connection with it. So I was walking around that convention and I saw that guitar hanging at the ESP stand. It was a 901 ESP Sunburst and I was looking at it because it was such a beauty. And I was walking around for hours – they probably thought I was some weird guy who wants to steal the guitar. I bought that guitar and that’s how I got connected with ESP.” -RZK

He might have fallen for it because it is pretty, but it did come with a ESP double humbucker set up, with an added condensator to muffle up the sound, although not yet an active one (more on that later). It was a 90s metal guitar, one of those things marketed to the Metallica generation, something loud and heavy and full. Also, and this is where I will put in another general insert, there is something else about the choice of electric guitars that we haven’t talked about yet.

Now, I’ve discussed that you can push or pull the sound of a electric quite far in one or the other direction with what pick ups you use, what effects, what amps. But what this ignores is that especially standing up a guitar is a really shitty asymmetrical piece of equipment. And what that does to your body is that it needs to fit you, your hands, and your playing style. Some people prefer it chunky, others like sender. Guitarists, especially the 80s shredders, like to talk about a “fast neck”, which is another one of those things that get slightly esoteric, but which usually means a slimmer neck and slightly bigger frets, that need less way for your fingers to press until the string gets stopped. Someone who plays very bendy blues might dislike that and prefer something to dig in their fingers more down to the fretboard to get more control over how they bend the string. There are different neck profiles, there are different neck lengths, and all of it contributes to how comfortable someone might find their guitar.

I am mentioning this, because until today, Richard’s guitars are build very similarly to that ESP 901. His Eclipse Model is a tad different (again, more on that later), but the one he uses the most, the RZK I, has the same neck scale, similar frets, and that comfortable ESP slender neck. Even the shape seems to be inspired by turning it upside down. He has said in interviews that he hasn’t got very strong hands, and it makes perfect sense to me. I bought my own electric (again, more on that later) purely because I wanted to own one and not even so much because I ever had any real ambitions of learning to play it, but my friends at the time (10 years ago now) forced me to try out alot (!) of models (despite me knowing what I wanted), and the only guitars that I tried that had slimmer necks were Ibanez guitars, which in turn were wider. Ironically Frankfurt is my hometown, so the place to try a lot of different models is That exact convention Richard went to, and I haven’t skipped a Musikmesse in the last 15 years. I was at atleast one were Richard was too (I just didn’t care at the time, yikes), and it somehow greatly pleases me he found “his” guitar at that particular convention. Things have changed in recent years, but electric guitars always were in Hall 4.01, with ESP being left of center in the middle, and I don’t know, I can just see him walking in circles around it, and it makes me so emotional for him because it’s what musicians do at that place. It’s really loud, everyone is playing, there is someone better noodling around at every corner, and it can be quite an intimidating setting I think. And every year you see that one kid coming back and back again to that same stand, staring at that one guitar until they finally work up the nerve and ask to try it (or the staff takes pity on them and offer). And it’s the same everytime, they think “oh god they must think I am crazy” but really, nobody does. Everyone in that hall who owns a heart knows what those dreams are made of, and all it maybe does inspire is a “oh god, I hope that one makes it”. I digress. I think it’s more common now to look for different neck styles and companies started caring about it, but especially coming from Fender and Gibson guitars, that neck is honestly just very, very nice for weaker hands.

This is where I will stop, because it makes a good moment for a break and this post is honestly getting too out of hand otherwise. There will be a part 2 - where Richard starts using active pick ups, starts playing my favorite guitar in the whole wide world (and stops playing it), and finally, set up his own signature.

This is him with that 901 though: when he must have had it pretty much brandnew, while he used it, and right before he sold it.

#richard kruspe #rzk #richard zk #rammstein #esp #electric guitars #can you tell I love him very much #although i might love the guitars more than him #i keep meeting guitarists and I never know if i like them or the fact they play guitar

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marimayscarlett · 29 days ago

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Hello!

I just wanted to ask: what are your favorite facts about emigrate? (Be it about songs, videos, or just the band in general)

Thank you in advance!

Hi 👋🏻

Thank you for this sweet and thoughtful ask! Had to think for a bit, and I'm not sure if these count as facts...more thoughts I think about repeatedly when it comes to Emigrate 👀 Going to throw some of my favourite pictures of Richard in Emigrate-settings into it, just to fit the theme 🤲🏻

1) The fact that Richard literally found the inspiration for the band name on the streets of New York, as if it were fate:

"I had just arrived in New York when I found a piece of paper on the street which read 'Emigrate'. To me, that was a sign. It describes many things, like breaking free from my past." (EMP 07/2007)

2) The fact that he clearly expresses his love/appreciation for the people in his life through his music. 'Rainbow' and 'You are so beautiful' seem to be dedicated to his daughter Maxime, 'Babe' was dedicated to Khira, and Merlin's unwavering enthusiasm for 'Come Over' motivated Richard to further develop the song (Thank you, Merlin! I really came to love this song 🎶).

"Sometimes I was really surprised [about some of the songs he wrote in his earlier Emigrate-days]. The song 'Come Over' was one such case. What was I thinking? But then I remembered that my son was absolutely crazy about this song, and it moved him deeply. So, I continued writing the song with him in mind. A song like that is probably something I would never write nowadays, but I didn’t want to deny the past either." (source)

Additionally, he reflected on his friendship with Till in 'Let's go' and dedicated 'We are together' to his Rammstein colleagues. Richard really seems to use Emigrate like a little musical diary or journal - you can truly feel the emotion flowing through the music.

"There was a lot of work, a lot of talking, a lot of caring and love – so I was trying to write a song about that, to say I’m very proud that we’ve had the patience and managed to stay together for all these years. Everything we’ve achieved, singing in German, who would have bet on that?" (source)

3) I’m glad that Richard had the courage and determination to start Emigrate as a side project, a channel for his seemingly endless creativity. The existence of Emigrate has been beneficial for him and for Rammstein, contributing to balance and helping Richard through depressive lows.

"Basically, I need Emigrate as a balance for myself, so that I can enjoy Rammstein again. The problem was that over the years I felt more and more uncomfortable within the band. EMIGRATE restored a balance that was important. Because of that, I feel good with Rammstein again." (source)

4) Although he doesn't like giving interpretations of his songs, he still can’t resist openly sharing his ideas and inspirations. I really like the song 'Hide and Seek' and had to smile when he talked about his love with spaghetti westerns 🤭

"If this has a cowboy vibe it’s because I’m a huge spaghetti western fan. It might sound strange, but I have really early childhood memories of my father watching these cowboy movies and falling asleep… that ended up being part of my upbringing somehow. I particularly love the work by Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone did together… it’s very inspiring." (source)

5) He also shared his thoughts and inspirations behind the song 'Get down':

Well, kind sir, then please explain these here:

I probably could list some more, but that's it for now 🙂‍↕️

#richard kruspe #Emigrate #Rammstein #ask

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scotianostra · 3 years ago

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Happy 68th Birthday singer Colin Hay, born 29th June 1953 in Saltcoats.

Colin spent his first 14 years in Kilwinning but then moved to “a land Down Under” when his family emigrated, to Melbourne . At 21 he met Ron Strykert, and they formed an acoustic duo. They started composing songs for what was going to become Men at Work. After years of hard work gigging and a couple of releases in Australia the band signed for with CBS Records producer Peter McIan, and they released their debut album Business as Usual, with the hit singles Who Can It Be Now?, Be good Johnny and of course the one everyone knows, Down Under!

Men at Work quickly became MTV favourites (during the station’s early days). Since he was the group’s main singer and songwriter, Hay quickly became the focal point of the band, as such humorous videos for “Who Can It Be Now” and “Down Under” pushed the debut album to the top of the U.S. charts – making Men at Work an overnight sensation.

Perhaps sensing that they should strike again while they were still fresh in people’s minds, Men at Work went directly back in the studio to work on another album. Issued in 1983, Cargo was another sizable hit, but did not fare nearly as well as its predecessor, commercially or artistically.

Their third album in 1985, although selling okay in the states did not yield any hit singles, the band split soon afterwards.

Colin continues to make solo records and has taken to acting, appearing in some indie Aussie films, he also toured with Ringo Starr in his annual All Starr Band. If I would described Hays singing, don’t judge it by Down Under, which was a great song but didn’t challenge his voice, some of his other songs are sung much better and have a bit of a former Police frontman “Sting” to them, if you listen to some of his tunes you might hear the resemblance.

I love Colin, he has a great sense of humour, as is evident in many of his songs, Down Under is a fun tune, have a wee listen to the video I have added to this post, Are You Lookin' At Me? again shows his humour and is a sort of autobiography in song!

I was talking to a guy in the pub a few weeks ago, turns out he is a published music historian described as "a man who knows more about rock music than is healthy for one individual" Martin C. Strong is his name, we started talking about Colin Hay and he said, “Well he is actually Australian” I said, well if anything you would have to say he is American nowadays as has lived there for over 20 years and is a US citizen. He said to me Hay went to Australia at an early age. Colin Hay has triple citizenship, UK, Australian and American. I pulled my phone out and played him this song, Are You Lookin' At Me, on hearing it, he conceded that above all else Hay was a true Scot.

Listen to the song and make your own mind up!

#scottish #Scotland #history #music history #scots-american #scots-australian #singersongwriter #happy birhtday

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veilingofthesun · 4 years ago

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2, 21, 28, 38, & 40 for the musical ask!!

This will be fun:) Thanks for the asks

2. What musical got you really into theatre?

I loved The sound of music with all my heart as a child. It is my mum’s favourite movie. For some reason it was shown on Swedish TV every christmas season, so we'd watch it at least once a year. My mum had (and still has) the LP, me and my sister would listen to it and look at the pictures on the sleeve a lot. We'd play the Von Trapp children and sing the songs all the time. Our parents took us to see a local amateur production when I was about 8-9 and I fell in love with it even more and wanted to play Brigitta. For various reasons, my interest in musicals faded away for a number of years.

Fast forward several years later and my sister had started to get interested in musicals again. It began with Matilda the Musical and soon we came across Kitt & Yorkey’s work. Matilda, N2N and If/Then were the musicals that really got me back into musicals again. A year or two later I went to London and watched musicals for the first time in several years. The year after I went to Malmö Opera to see Billy Elliot and after these trips I was hooked. Now here I am, obsessed with musicals and running a blog about Swedish productions.

21. Best Disney musical:

I have only seen two,The hunchback of Notre Dame and Beauty and the Beast. You’d think it would be easy to pick one since I’ve only seen two, but I really enjoyed both of them. Both productions were amazing, so I can’t really choose. I’ll say both.

28. What book, tv show, movie, biography, video game, etc. should be turned into a musical?

I would like to see a big, full scale of production of the book Ronja Rövardotter (Ronia the robbers daughter) by Astrid Lindgren. It’s a childrens book that I love a lot. There’s been a lot of adaptions for TV and some smaller plays based on her books, but not a a musical. Plus Ronja has been overlooked in terms of stage work. A high budget musical with a big cast and advanced scenography and lightning to capture the mood and look of the book would be amazing.But the director would also have to capture the sad themes of the story and the relationships between the characters.It’s a deep story about coming of age (among other things)and you have to take it seriously. Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson would be the dream composers because the score has to be quite grand and dramatic and also a bit of Swedish folk musicish.

38. Favourite dance break.

It’s a very fitting question for a dance lover like me! :) It seems like people define dance breaks a bit differently, so I’ll just go with the first thing that came to mind. I really like the bottle dance/wedding dance from Fiddler on the roof. I like the intricacy and how it accelarates with the music. Seeing it live was really special.

40. What’s a musical more people should know about?

If/Then, of course, it deserves much more love and recognition. The concept, the story, the characters, the beautiful music and lyrics, I love it so much. It makes me think, laugh, cry and connect with all the characters in different ways. I never tire of If/Then. I always come back to it.

Also, Kristina från Duvemåla and Så som i himmelen. Kristina från Duvemåla is like the peak of Swedish musicals, based on one of the most beloved Swedish book series ever, music and lyrics by Björn and Benny and the most loved and successful Swedish musical of all time.

Short synopsis: The story concerns two Swedish peasants, Karl-Oskar and his wife Kristina, who emigrate to the United States from the south of Sweden with their children and some friends during the famine of 1848. After a difficult journey, they arrive in Minnesota and start a new life. They manage to survive in their new country but Kristina still longs for her homeland.

The songs have been translated into English and performed in concert versions in both the UK and the US, but there’s never been an English speaking production.

Så som i himmelen is based on Swedish movie from 2004. Short synopsis: A successful international conductor suddenly interrupts his career and returns to his childhood village in Sweden. He is asked to listen to the church choir and from that moment nothing in the village is the same again. The choir grows, and the conductor makes both friends and enemies and finds love.

It’s a beautiful, sad, funny and hopeful story about ‘normal’ people and the power of music and relations with other people. It’s got a beautiful score, well thought out characters and it’s adapted really well. I actually love the musical more than the movie.

It might sound silly to say that more people should know about these two, but they're not very well known outside of Scandinavia. I realise it’s hard to get into Swedish musicals when you don’t know the language and don’t have any connection to these books and movies, but these are two amazing musicals. The stories and themes of both musicals are quite universal, too.

#musicals #asks #miyacantdecide

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mcrmadness · 3 years ago

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music-themed questions, 30 and 31

Ask game: Music themed questions.

30. name an album you really love that you haven’t listened to in a while

Too me a little while to come up with something to answer to this, but now I know: Sam's Town by The Killers. I bought this album, along with their first album Hot Fuss, when I was 15. I had been hunting Hot Fuss for at least a year at that point without being lucky, and then suddenly found both from a local record shop (that has now been closed for maybe 10 years, rip), as Sam's Town had been just released.

I was so excited over them but especially fell in love with the latter. Still after all these years it's my favourite TK album, and I always feel so good when listening to it. I don't think I've ever had a phase when I would have not listened to The Killers? Like, with almost all other bands, that I found before the age of 17, I have had pauses. But not with The Killers. Their later releases are not so much my cup of tea, good songs here and there, but so far nothing has beaten Sam's Town for me.

It isn't exactly long time since I have listened to these albums, but I'm still gonna answer to this: Sam's Town. In fact, just started to listen to Hot Fuss because I got a fanfiction idea two days ago, thought about a name for the fanfiction and heard a word to the tune of one of the songs :D And if I don't get too tired, I'm gonna continue to Sam's Town afterwards!

***

31. name an album you’ve wanted to listen to for a long time, but you haven’t gotten around to it yet

Probably Emigrate's third album, I think. At least that's the first to come to my mind now. I had to even look for the name because I couldn't remember it but: A Million Degrees.

I liked the first album, and several songs from the second album, but not so much that I would have been that hyped for the newer songs (e.g. Rainbow is better than anything on Emigrate combined, but Emigrate as an album is better than Silent So Long...). I did watch the first maybe two or three music videos from A Million Degrees when they got released, but none of the songs really convinced me. And then I listened to some random song from the album, and it was just so lame and boring to me, that I kinda lost my interest in the whole album.

I still need to listen to it eventually because I need to know if there are songs that I would like more than what were released as singles or that I heard later, because that's very common for me to not like songs that get released as singles and then find some of the remaining songs insanely good instead. Almost every time my favorite song from every album, from every band, is a song that is so underappreciated and almost never mentioned anywhere, and certainly not released as a single.

Thank you for the ask! :)

These were actually nice and challenging asks, had to really think hard (which I do like! :D), that's why it took a while to get this post out! :D

#gwynhwyfar #ask games

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a-silent-symphony · 4 years ago

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Metal behemoths Nightwish: “David Attenborough wrote to personally decline appearing on our album”

The arena-filling group's golden-lunged singer Floor Jansen talks album nine, Swedish lockdown and why the world's greatest conservationist turned them down

With the exception of maybe Rammstein – and we’re only quantifying this statement because they own flamethrowers and we do not – no band in European metal can rival Nightwish for their popularity in mainland Europe.

Formed in Kitee, Finland in 1996 by top hat-wearing keyboard player Tuomas Holopainen, the band welcomed Dutch-born singer Floor Jansen in 2012, by which point they were seven records into their career. The addition has seen the symphonic metal band become bigger, grander, more expressive and increasingly ambitious. She’s such a force that she’s become a Dutch TV personality, appearing on the musical talent showcase Best Zangers.

Their recent ninth record, the infuriatingly stylised ‘Human. :II: Nature.’, is their first double-release, the second half featuring lush orchestral music over the band’s core metal. Listen to album highlights ‘Harvest’, ‘How’s The Heart?’ and ‘Noises’ – rarely has a modern metal band’s music been infused with such power and glory. Tellingly, despite being released within the very centre of storm COVID-19, the record entered the charts of Finland, Spain, Switzerland and Germany at Number One.

With that in mind, we decided to check in with one of Europe’s favourite heavy metal bands. Your guide for the duration will be Floor Jansen and her massive lungs. She will roar and you will quiver…

Hello Floor. Can I tell you what I really like about the new Nightwish album? There’s so much misery and ugliness everywhere right now, and yet your record is so ornate, grandiose and – dare I say it – hopeful…

“We were definitely going for that. There are so many different instruments on the record and so many different parts. Nightwish is quite complex music, really, and so it was important for us to have real emotion in the songs; something that cut through everything. The dynamics were really important to us. The songs needed space. Sometimes what you don’t put into a song is as important as what you do. There are nine songs on this record and eight orchestral suites. Without dynamics it would have been a very relentless listen.”

Can we go way back? I don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that your voice is properly, brilliantly amazing. When did you realise you could sing like that?

“I guess when I was a teenager. There was a school production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and I auditioned. I didn’t get a very important part in it. You know how it is – the popular kids get all the best parts and that wasn’t me. But even just being stuck in the background, I absolutely loved it. I didn’t know I was any good, though. I was pretty badly teased at school, so my confidence was quite low.”

Do you want us to fuck someone up? Why were you teased?

“I was taller than everyone else and my dialect was different. I was just… different.”

Do you think that experience has had any lasting impact on you?

“I do… but, to be honest, only really positively. I can’t say I look back fondly at those years and certainly not at the people who were doing that, but I do think I stand on more stable legs in adulthood because of it. I don’t want my daughter [three-year-old Freja] to have to go through that, though.”

Do you ever have the classic revenge scenario where you’re standing onstage in front of thousands and thousands of people screaming your name and think, ‘Well, I won, didn’t I?’

“All the time. Especially now I’m on this Dutch TV show that has really increased my popularity in the Netherlands. I sometimes wonder if those people would even remember me and I don’t spend that much time thinking about them. You have to live for yourself – I’m almost 40, y’know!”

Tell me more about the TV show. I love the name! Beste Zangers!

“It translates as Best Singers! It’s not a contest or anything like that. It’s a collection of singers of different styles and backgrounds who sing each other’s music to one another, or collaborate on cover versions of songs that have inspired us. It’s a really nice show, and all about a love of music. It’s prime-time Saturday night television and it’s completely changed my life! It’s really benefited Nightwish too. We were already doing well in Holland and playing arenas, butt it’s definitely increased our profile, which is brilliant for me after 24 of nobody in my home country paying me any attention!”

The new Nightwish record was released on April 10, making you one of a tiny number of bands who can attest to the realities of releasing an album at the epicentre of a global pandemic. How has that been?

“We were one of the very first bands who had to cancel a tour. We were actually supposed to start in China. I should be there right now. Very early on we realised that the tour wasn’t going to happen, even though the illness was at that point contained in one continent. Then the global fuck-up that resulted in an illness becoming a pandemic happened. I still can’t believe that it has happened, really. It feels so incredibly unnecessary…”

I’m detecting you have an opinion about how this has all played out? You live in Sweden, right?

“I do. I emigrated five years ago, from Holland.”

Sweden’s approach to handling the virus has been very liberal – there’s been no mass lockdown, as there has been in elsewhere in the world. Do you think they took the right approach?”

“Partly. At the same time, I’m not a scientist, so what do I know? It’s all about following the science.”

I’d like to remind you that there’s a species of beetle named after you. Last year scientist Andreas Weigel named the newly discovered insect Tmesisternus floorjansenae. It’s fair to say you have more scientific credibility than almost any other heavy metal singer…

“Okay – well, in lots of ways the Swedish approach makes sense to me. Sweden is a big country with not that many people. It makes sense to me that the approach would be different to in the UK or back in Holland. Then again, a big city is a big city, whether it’s in Sweden or anywhere, and if people from the cities start moving away then I think we have to be careful. During Easter there were people everywhere near where I live, on the Gothenburg side of the country, next to the sea. Sweden is a big enough country that there’s enough space for people not to be locked down – but you head to a touristy place anyway? That I don’t get. It’s stupid.”

Speaking of space – you’re married to Hannes Van Dahl, the drummer in military history obsessed, Swedish metal titans Sabaton. Onstage he plays his drums sat inside the cockpit of a tank. I presume you have badass military stuff lying all around your house?

“Oh, everywhere. All over the house.”

Really?

“No!”

I heard that you have horses, though. It doesn’t seem fair to me that you’re allowed to have horses, but your husband can’t have a battleship in the garden…

“Oh, he doesn’t mind. Horses are nicer than war. I have two – Lily, named so after my mum, and Auri, named after my bandmates’ Tuomas [Holopainen] and Troy [Donockley]’s side project – and also a character from The Kingkiller Chronicle series of fantasy novels by Patrick Rothfuss.”

I think it’s fair to say that you’re not the only member of Nightwish that bloody loves nature. The band just teamed up with the conservation charity the World Land Trust. Tell me about that…

“They’re a great organisation. The video for the last song on the album, ‘Ad Astra’, was filmed in conjunction with them. They work to preserve our planet by buying up areas of land and preserving them. I think it’s hypocritical that we’re telling Brazil that they need to save their rainforest when European’s have absolutely decimated their own. But at the same time, we really do need to save the rainforest or we’re facing a climate crisis. The World Land Trust works with governments to find alternative financial outlets for local people to stop logging and deforestation. You can’t just say to people, ‘Stop doing this’. You need to consider the human impact, then the environmental one. We found out about them via David Attenborough being a patron…”

Please tell me he’s a fan…

“We tried to get him to speak on the album. We wrote him a letter and he wrote one back, declining, but it was very impressive that a man of his stature would write personally to us and explain that he just didn’t have the time right now.”

You can’t like all animals, Floor. There must be one you’d like to see eradicated from the face of the earth…

“No! I love all of them. I love cats. I love dogs. I love birds in all their splendour!”

C’mon…

“Okay, okay… I don’t really like snails. We grow vegetables and they eat my crops. They’re disgusting. I don’t wish them death, though! I just wish they’d go somewhere else!”

#Floor Jansen #nightwish #Human. :II: Nature.#2020 interviews

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jackshithere · 6 years ago

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Richard ZK Interview with Kerrang

Cryptic Rock – That is life, that’s very true. Alright, so 2019 is just days away. What should we expect from you, musically, in the upcoming year? Richard Z. Kruspe – At the moment, as I mentioned before, I’m mixing the Rammstein record. First of all, I’m feeling like I am out of energy; I’m really tired and I’m hoping that I can finish this project by the end of the year. We’re ending the year, we’re having a show in Mexico – which I like. Then, next year, we’re doing five new videos with Rammstein, which is a lot. We’re going to come out with the record in April, and then we’re going on a stadium tour. The first stadium tour we did with Rammstein sold out in four hours, the entire stadium tour in Europe. It was unbelievable! Sometimes in life, you think there must be an end to it, it must go down – but with Rammstein it just grows and grows, and grows. So, 2019, 2020, and 2021 are dedicated to Rammstein: the big mothership is calling and there’s not going to be time for anything else.

Full interview here

Richard talks about his mental state, art neccesitating pain, music genres, Emigrate, a bit on Rammstein, his kid in “ You Are So Beautiful “ and lastly about his favourite movie genre.

#Rammstein #Richard zk #quote #interview #article #These tags are stupid #but just to have everything in on place is good

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androace-bunny · 6 years ago

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Details About My Fursona!

(May contain some material not suitable for those under 13. Reader discretion is advised.)

Art: 'RVBShush' on Twitter

Bits of his character arc

Gerry's personality is largely based on his real life counterpart (me! And my name just so happens to be Gerry! XD)

The story between Gerry and and his real life counterpart are both totally different!

His breed is a American Jackrabbit-European Hare mix, as evident by his ears and his hare-like nose. His biological mother is a jackrabbit named Sarah, and his biological father is an Irish emigrant hare named Dermot (hence Gerry's Irish descent).

He's born and partially-raised in a distant part of the North American region, outside of both Bunnyburrow and Zootopia.

A couple of guys on e621.net (where I upload some of my commission pieces) thought I was making him a child to Judy and Nick, when that's not the case at all. He's in a totally different walk-of-life to them. He is however a major fan of the duo, ever since he discovered them on a reality TV show.

It's often expected in fictional media that rabbits (and sometimes hares) would have dozens of offspring/children (as this is sorta true with wild rabbits, as they tend to commonly produce litters, especially in springtime; pet rabbits would probably do so too if given the opportunity...), but that's not the case with Gerry's family. He was the only child born to the rabbit and hare couple of Sarah and Dermot (until a decade later), but he was kidnapped by a deceitful nanny that they unintentionally hired when he was only a year and a quarter old. He was taken to be sold for overseas child labor, but he would then be rescued by the police that busted this crime syndicate, and brought to an adoption centre at Bunnyburrow, but they were unable to track his parents anywhere. Fortunately, he would be adopted by a kind widowed hare lady named Heidi. 7 years later, he would be reunited with his parents, as they were finally able to discover his whereabouts! And not long after, his parents would then have triplets. Two girls named Elizabeth and Virginia, and one boy named Kevin, thus Gerry would become the big older brother of these kids.

His right-side ear got slightly notched as a result of being bullied at school by both a rat named Jake and a raccoon named Kyle, particularly for his emotional drive and rather wimpy attitude during his foster-child school years.

He's not codenamed 'Andro-Ace Bunny' for nothing. He may be a male, but he's one that's quite androgynous. He has some feminine qualities to him, such as taking interest in some female-oriented activities such as yoga, childcare, etc., getting either really giddy or really annoyed easily, doesn't feel comfortable in taking some major risks, and prefering to sit on the toilet in the restroom instead of standing up like a normal guy (though he sometimes would do the latter). Plus, he has little to no sexual desire or attraction, hence the asexual identity. However, he finds non-sexual/romantic attraction towards both male and female of any species, therefore he's bi-romantic!

Character details about Gerry's parents, his younger triplet siblings and his foster mother Heidi will be coming soon!

His likes and dislikes

He’s very fond of video games, culture, drawing, computers, technology, music (particularly film scores, Xmas songs and chart hits from the 80s and 90s), beverages like Coca-Cola, banana juice and milk tea.

But not exactly a fan of carrots (unusual for bunnies! Another stereotype debunked!), coffee (unless it has milk) and heated arguments.

His favourite love songs are "Beauty and the Beast", "Baby Mine" and "Flying Dreams".

He pursues a career as a game programmer and working at Carrot (the 'Zootopia' version of Apple). Though again, he also enjoys drawing as a hobby.

His inspirations

Judy Hopps

Nick Wilde

Judy's parents, Bonnie and Stu Hopps

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Peter Rabbit

Brer Rabbit

Jiminy Cricket

Donald Duck (except less short-tempered)

Mickey Mouse

Goofy (mainly his 'George Geef' alter-ego)

Fiver (Watership Down the TV series, especially in his design and colors)

Buttercup (Watership Down TV series, same with Fiver)

The Nesquick Bunny (especially with fur colors)

Porky Pig

Miles 'Tails' Prower

Gonzo and Rizzo

Thumper (Bambi)

Woody (Toy Story)

Lucky Jack (Home on the Range)

Mike Wazowski

Surly, Buddy and Andie (The Nut Job)

and Myself (e.g. my personality, my interests, my overall character, etc.)

Why he’s a rabbit

Just for those wondering...

(The following is a unpopular opinion) Contrast to most Zootopia fans I know, my favourite character in the movie is actually Judy Hopps (with only Nick Wilde as the runner-up, I will add in all fairness). I relate to her the most, and I find her to be a very positive female role model, especially for the next generations to come.

I've been inspired by the fursonas/Zoosonas of @trashasaurusrex, 'CiderBunArt' and @spazziebunnie to make a rabbit fursona of my own. I had a fursona already but this one was a brown dog. So I gave this character a total makeover during autumn of 2016 and changed his species into a rabbit/hare-mix.

According to Zootopia, rabbits are generally very emotionally-driven and effeminate animals. I could practically relate to this with all sincerity. In real life, I find myself to be less masculine than the average Joe where I come from. I don't work out much. I get really excited about something easily. And I have such a very soft spot for babies, pet animals and other cute things. But then there are times where I'm very emotionally unstable and sensititve. I get nervous easily. And whether it be bad luck or a missed opportunity, I tend to get very frustrated or mad at myself.

Ever since the likes of Zootopia and Watership Down, I found myself very fond of rabbits, more than I ever had before.

(Art pieces visually depicting my fursona's story arc will be coming soon and added to this post)

#androacebunny #gerry #zoosona #character description #gerry's parents

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sole-cuore-amore-e-droga · 6 years ago

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Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta France to Eurovision with king of controversy

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T’was a good decision for the French televisions to make Destination Eurovision a thing for yet another year. Sure, I only end up having heard of only 1 name per year beforehand (Nassi from 2018 and Florina from 2019, additionally hearing music from one other act from each year but forgetting their names soon after!), but that doesn’t stop everyone else for me from showcasing their best. Heck, I have listened to quite a lot out of some of my Destination 2018 favourites and I have never had any idea who they were! (They were Masoe and Max Cinnamon, je suis absolutely NOT désolée.)

And honestly I found this year extremely much more better to care about. For the previous edition I ended up not caring for like 5 or more songs, because I spent more of my investment in the finalists. This year I pretty much cared about way many more songs, even those that I didn’t wound up liking THAT much. Seemone for example, AKA “the only best possible choice for France from those that don’t need to have big followship numbers to have fans for the song, unlike Bilal tsk tsk”. I can’t say I was 100% mesmerized with her song, but I do remember her more than June the Girl, which was quite a fan fave but also a disaster from 2018. Oh sorry, I mean, June the Who?

And of course Destination 2019 paved the way for some more exciting plot twists and turns, for example, two of the bigger fan favourites fizzling out in the semis (and I already lowkey discussed them on my other segment, Fanwank Assimilation), and another two lowkey favourites crashing and burning live (one of them sounding like she was drunk and scared, another one being less energetic than her song requires). What did that give out at the end? Why, nothing but a homosexual French-Morrocan social media starlet Bilal Hassani of course. Let’s go ahead and review his entry.

My first impression of this song turned me off a little because of how... poppy bland it sounded. Nothing against Madame Monsieur’s co-crafting (they did make a song I liked for last year’s Eurovision), it’s just that I think that I’m a person that’s looking more into pop songs with expectations full of excitement, but then getting something average at the end. The English lines in this are ‘reasonatable’(?) with though - it’s a self-empowerement against haters, telling to oneself that they’re the “king” (yes Bilal may be wearing wigs a lot but for the last time - HE DOES NOT IDENTIFY AS A SHE) and that they “can see [their] kingdom”.

Though it grew on me overtime, to the very point I couldn’t see anyone taking his way, not even Seemone, not even any other darkhorse of the comp. No. My organism was fully adapted to the fact Bilal will win, so I ended up there lowkey supporting his win, even if I wanted someone else deep inside. (Same for A Dal 2019 but my inner systems refused to bring myself to Joci possibly winning an A Dal again, though they saw it being a likely endgame... just in a different light of events, but more on the Hungarian writeup, buckle up for that one because there’ll be buckets of everything for that one! >:) ) That and Bilal was kind of a runaway choice considering France is huge and the jury in there can’t do shit if the televoting is valuated in stronger numbers than in Melodifestivalen (I mean, look at how many points did he get??? His telescore beat the televote’s runner-up’s one by 87 points!), so if he has that many fans in a big enough country then of course they were gonna flock to him massively, and ain’t no Eurofan can’t object against the French televote numbers like these. Though they might seem too big because last year Madame Monsieur won with 118 as opposed to the artist’s of a song’s they have co-written with him for this DESC 150. And the televote gap between the 1st and the 2nd was much more humble - 29.

Maybe it has had to do it with the fact that it has a pretty damn alright pop melody that doesn’t sound specifically written for an ESC NF (unlike most of stuff that’s been done by Ylva & Linda and the like)? Maybe it has got to do with the golden hands of both Madame Monsieur members (pretty sure it might have just been Jean-Karl) touching upon this track (and some randomer whose name I don’t remember rn and I don’t want to? idk)? Maybe it’s the state of Bilal’s studio voice capabilities that carry this across for me nicely enough? Maybe it’s the persona? Somehow I don’t think I know but I’ll probably choose the first option. This is listenable, yes. Flows through like a normal pop song would. Maybe would have needed some polishing in some places (for that exists an up-and-coming revamp that will only be revealed on rehearsals (youhou Moldova 2014), but actually I only think that it will impact the song in a way that it will now be in F minor rather than F sharp minor?? So that Bilal could avoid being one of those kind of people that did sth like this:

RETWEET IF YOU CAN HEAR THIS PICTURE

Anyways. For all that it is, I savour it, it’s pretty decent, it stands out with its message if you know what it is (a kiss-off of the haters that once doubted this “roi”), I kind of like the way it’s being sung (and that vocal variation at 1:21) and some of the lyrics are not that bad actually, and for the matter of fact, I’d DIE for a possibility to create a song like this at best; I don’t quite know if it can do as well as his fanbase imagines, but I really hope it at least doesn’t do France dirty for choosing its up-and-coming-ish social media icon over the NF acts that I’ll be going off about a little later and brings a savourable result! I cannot remove my like for this song now that the deed is done, period. And I really hope that someday all this outrageousness over Bilal in a bad way will be stopped because poor 19 year old, let him be whatever sexuality he wants to be as of now, let him have his fans, let him wear those wigs, and keep those upcoming TV series about a terrorist man with an intent to blow up Eurovision in Israel (or something like that) at bay. Not to mention, these nasty caricatures. I definitely did not like seeing them. I legit feel like we’re almost talking about Lithuanian situation and what do my country’s citizens think about gay rights and all that (spoiler alert: they’re not friendly towards them). Stop it, get some help.

Oh and I know this is essentially 2,5-ish months late now but can I adress something real quick before finishing off this review and moving down to my chance-o-meters and all? Pretty please?

To all the Nightcore lyric videos of “Roi” that did this and would still do this:

Please consider looking back at the official lyric video for “Roi”, where it says:

and thank me in advance.

Not can’t, can. No wonder he’s a “roi”, ffs. What would be a king who cannot see his kingdom now? I’m sorry but this is just lowkey absurd, ngl.

Anyway:

Approval factor: As of the time I’m finishing this, I sort of approve it for now. The big dilemma though is to where do I rank this big boy - do I think it deserves to go higher than UK or lower? Do I drown it in the bottom 3 just because I had a rather negative first impression for it? God knows. For now though I’ll aprove it and carry on, dreading for the revamp obliterating some of the song’s charm that I had for it, just like maybe for Spain.

Follow-up factor: I think it is quite of a stepdown, considering last year a lot of guys publicly ADORED “Mercy”, and Madame Monsieur didn’t even need to have a huge social media following just to get that far as to win Destination! Bilal, however, did, and most people didn’t even fancy his self-empowerement ‘anthem’. And so did I at first, and eventhough I kind of like it as of now, I still prefer “Mercy” big time. France for the kings of controversial song topics and controversial entrants!

Big 5 factor: at the end of the day, you cannot change the fact that most of the Bilal fans are definitely centered in France (and maybe in some outskirts in Belgium as well) and not around Europe, especially the first time viewers, boo. So Bilal’s memorability levels in there from a Big 5 country will be questionable, unless his massive-ass French fandom decides to mass-emigrate for a week, get some foreign Simcards and start spamming votes for their idol - that’s a guaranteed televote for a guaranteed low jury vote, and if high any-votes are any indicators for where things are heading (like for Poland 2016 for instance), then Bilal will finish decently, but without any high-votes, he’ll be stuck in a low-low, maybe somewhere in the bottom 10. Sorry if you’re reading this, any remaining Bilal fans on Tumblr... you better get ready for your mass emigration for a week then?

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

Destination’s memes are still glorious to look at, even if it feels like it’s been years since them, considering my social media timeline does not have all that many of them remaining, BUT we still got some highlights from them saved and I can’t wait to freshen up the minds of the mutuals that seemed to have forgotten them. As well as some note-worthy NF songs that the others won’t get the chance to see because only one can represent France and Bilal can’t stand in for any other ones but himself, cuz he is he, and you know he’ll always be. Let’s go:

• Silvàn Areg, probably the biggest underdog-turned-overdog-overnight act of them all out there. Back when his song was still “Le petit Nicolas” (it was changed to “Allez leur dire” thanks to copyright turmoil with some book’s publisher - no it wasn’t about Le petit prince, there ARE Le petit Nicolas stories in there), I don’t think anyone really saw THAT much potential in this song to stand out, maybe except a few select others? I mean who’d even DARE to support this upbeat guitar French-like tune that... has cartooney visuals on stage and that way wows the viewing audience??? NO WAY!!! Yeah these visuals made me truly forget this was one of the songs that didn’t come out in full release yet (as of DESC 2019, only 3 songs weren’t released in full yet, along with The Divaz and Doutson (the latter dragged his kid on stage for his performance BTW, maybe that kid liked Silvàn’s stage illustrations despite maybe not seeing them the way they were supposed to be viewed?) and enjoy the king of popup-book visuals taking it away. So much so I ended up rooting for both visuals AND the song during the final as well (and the final had the colouring book painted!). Don’t you love it when your fave has an impeccable staging AND can nail their performance as well? I sure do... Click to find out his performance serve. I stan men who can sometimes rap out of nowhere when necessary and unexpected.

• Looking for typical French chansons/ballads that make you think of how longsome and melancholic (with a hint of happiness) can things be? Look no further than aforementioned Seemone and her alive-father-ballad, “Tous les deux”. If you’re not here for all this French zany, you can sit back and relax with hearing this piano delight with Adele-ish vocals on top and the paternal gratitude intertwined in the lyrics... well duh, if the constant repetition of “PAPAAAAAA” in the bridge doesn’t give it away for you, an unassumer, then idk what does. Noir, compelling, heart-wrenching, stunning, solid and all that it is. For all the ballad lovers out there. Hope her father’s proud of her achievements (for what did she do is to take the Eurofans by storm against this inevitable Bilal-ness with her feelings-over-fireworks and her strenght to carry out this beauty without crying... in the NF final at least, making International juries side with her more than Bilal, for whom we firstly thought it was over until 150 televotes, even getting the Bjorkdaddy on her side in the semis... only to never win the televoting as hoped to (Bilal was in a different semi so another man won over the girl, while in the final Seemone was 3rd and voted just under another experienced artists and Bilal obviously) and just remain the jury darling) and will hold this song up to himself dearly. We love supportive and thankful children <3

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• This 25 year old chanteuse/violinist Gabriella Laberge, hailing all the way from Canada but with a passionate love to France probably ever since performing in La voix (je t'aime nuit et jour), I mean, The Voice France 2016, dived head-first into the social interraction game, with being all-round positive with her supporters, retweeting their stuff, liking their posts, being in groupchats... she did all she could. And the international jury still let her flop big time. Probably they were too underwhelmed at how engaging her entry, “On cherche encore (Never Get Enough)”, was on the big stage, with Gabriella out there, rocking her yellow pantsuit and dancing on top of a rectangle with other cello-or-contra-bass player madames inside of it and stairs to get on top of that rectangle besides the rectangle. Oh and playing the piano at the beginning. Were they afraid she was gonna fall off the rectangle with her musical ‘gun’ the next time? Was it the show opening that startled her chances (as people are afraid that the same will happen to Srbuk in Eurovision 2019)? I don’t know, but for one that I know is the fact that the poor woman was robbed to the core for all the friendliness she radiated. And the violin lady realness she delivered. Here’s now hoping her strong friendship ties with Olivier Dion will persuade him to fly to France from Canada next for a Destination Eurovision adventure, then? (tbh he’s pretty decent!)

• UH-OH! GIVE A LITTLE RESPECT for The Divaz! Seen by me as a little bit of those girlies that will definitely be drowned in the results because of their... aura and decision of paying a tribute to the late Aretha Franklin, I was shooketh to the core when I saw them NAIL “La voix d’Aretha”... the passion, the drive, the energy, the sass, the style, the dresses, THEM VOCALS! Needless to say I got incredibly sold and even more so happy I was interested in hearing that song all along beforehand, so much I think I tried skipping our own NF over just to see these gurls S-L-A-Y! Hopefully this ain’t the last of them together, they’re a true cool bunch. Happy to see that the international juries saw something in them!

• Emmanuel Moire... now, his song “La promesse” is even more so boring sounding imo and would do less of an impression if people didn’t know the message of it, but the message (and his status in the French music skies), boy does it shine. He sings about making a promise to stay true to himself and not be afraid to admit that his heart beats... FOR A MAN! And where is the Eurofan community that denounces a ballad unless it’s gay?? Some happen to still denounce gay ballads too, but only if it comes to NFs apparently :F I applaud for this song existing tbh as I find it nice myself. Such a shame the man couldn’t really sell his song THAT strong enough though, as I couldn’t help but crack a smile at hearing his falsettos go terribly off, but still feeling sorry for the guy. His staging (that has two men playing around, further going for his song’s memo) and the fact that he beat Seemone in televoting due to his bigger status than the rest of the most other DESC participants this year (save for Chimène Badi which has a status as big as his?). And this one moment that made me feel like I’m looking at Malena Ernman’s true form:

• So how about these few other bedazzling NF flops in a little bit of blitz summary, seemingly as the paragraphs here are already going out of hand? Sure! Allow me to introduce y’all to the shy French Mélovin named Ugo who was tryna get to the spotlight all by himself with a song about... crushing I think (he’s fantasizing of meeting a gal in some interesting interesting ways), but tanked majorly live due to being nervous and letting the pre-recorded backings overwhelm him majorly. Then comes the other up-and-coming chanteuse Florina which I also talked about in the fanwank flops section (though I published it right after Spain’s NF because I had enough of THAT rattling around my drafts... and same goes for the rest of my 2019 reviews!) but I’ll put up a mention for her because I undercooked my thoughts for her. “In the Shadow” - studio god-tier that sadly reeked of “Chandelier” heavily and another NF underperformance that grew condescencing during the rehearsal-snippets period that maybe made people keep their hopes up during it just like for Rykka’s, Jana Burčeska’s and Sennek’s odd pre-party performances. Who knows if Michela would have followed them suit if she was allowed to attend all the pre-parties despite “rehearsals”! In the end we still got a lackluster performance and a total 0 point score from the international juries. Wow. I hope that didn’t scar her for life. Also worth a mention are Battista Acquaviva, the Basque-singing goddess that had some sort of a potential but heavily crushed it by sounding weak and a bit drunk even (or even similar to this) on her own performance + adding some Roman-esque shirtless hunks for no reason (sweetie if they didn’t work for Anggun then what’s the point saving your live with them? Unless you can mask it up like Demy, just leave), and the other studio fave that tanked that was Tracy de Sá who served a French-Spanish (!! that’s where the title came from, you really thought the song was gonna b called “Par ici” noooo) summer bop with her rapping skills on fleek and her desire for “whiskey cocktails rum rum rum” as a cherry on this delightful cocktail has also got really grinded down by her live performance where she was barely even enthusiastic to live up to her own song and maybe have needed some of those liquors she offered on the song to make it sound better. But hey, at least from Tracy we got 1) studio version leak drama that obviously affected the poor sis so hard she raged about it on Instagram a bit; 2) slapping track about parties n stuff for our own summer 2019; 3) her own little version of that notorious song which wouldn’t probably be remembered so fondly in the memedom if not for some mother’s pasta dish; 4) the light tunnel she emerged from at the beginning of the song during her performance, which in reality is just the NF arena exit tunnel; 5) this meme:

Yeah well, good luck at your hairbuns and your hoop-de-hoop ‘rings trying to save you this time

• I was also gonna add this interesting phenomena of “hot violinist guy” because of course I remember this hype being set up for some dudes (especially for THAT violinist. I remember almost everyone suddenly crushing on him but I couldn’t care enough to buy it because lol!) even without their song coming out to public - yes I’m talking of Lautner who obviously also tanked during their live performance of this song but the international juries loved the shit out of it (same for aforementioned Ugo... and mind you I wrote them down as sure NQs after seeing their carcrash performances live! To think they would have almost MADE it thanks to them and SHATTER my predictions???) and their bromance probably lived on... for another 15 minutes

And the ‘drunken auntie’ of someone’s that sang a rather underrated catchy spring-esque sunflowery song but completely ruined it by her awkward jumping around in red suit on stage, PhilipElise, but that’d require me to brief my thoughts upon like nearly all of the damn roster of the irrelevants, so it’s best if I forget all the rest and move on!

• Not to mention, Bilal himself is a highlight. On an occasion he’s such a mood, as demonstrated on this first biggest ESC 2019 NF season meme down here:

And keep in mind, that wasn’t the final. But for the final this happened, which is still as amusing as the first:

Epic hairspin! Laura Rizzotto wishes she remembered this technique just in time to engage some more audience so that they could at least pull her out of the NQ zone.

• Who cannot forget the occasional thought of Garou, the NF’s host, singing. This year he was one of the final’s interval acts, and his choice to sing was because of honouring a Frenchman who passed away not so long before the DESC broadcast. Truly the dedication <3

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• One of those NF cases that had people rallying up against Eurovision being in Tel Aviv and withdrawing the broadcasters from it by their own force because “well fuck you, our feelings and sentiments towards Palestine are more important than this schlager-ridden shitshow musicfest!!” lolno. Some protesters came on stage sometime after Netta’s guest performance during Semifinal 2, and both Garou and the security guards did their best and hardest to chase them away, but some still got on shot because reasons. This is ridiculous (as much as it was when it was found out that some people in Spain were waiting outside RTVE’s headquarters before the OT 2019 ESC Gala just to make THEIR move) and thankfully it didn’t follow on many more NFs to come.

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• oh and also the neon cube argh

Feels like a way larger post than I intended to, and this review is waaaaay long overdue, so at least I tried reminding you of the memes, didn’t I? Anyway, I wish Bilal for all the best in Tel Aviv! xx

#eurovision 2019 #tel aviv 2019 reviews #france 2019 #bilal hassani #roi #france

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larissatandyofficial · 3 years ago

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Sirens.

Of all the places I have lived, there is only one that comes to mind when people ask me where I’m from. I didn’t grow up there, but I lived there for a crazy period of my life, when almost everything was going catastrophically wrong, and I was bonded to this place and the people who live there forever.

You can drive into my hometown, Murchison, from two different directions. Both have signs that state the population of the town, but they don’t match, so depending which way you arrive and leave, it's like a bunch of people just moved here, or a bunch of people just left. No one calls it Murchison. It's Murch. There's a pub with a wonky pool table, a post office which used to be run by some creepy twins, a pool I never swam in, a general store, one cop shop (police station) with just one cop (hey Ricky), and a winery just a minute out of town where two of my favourite people, guido and sandra make a bunch of great wines. Passing through this tiny town on the banks of the Goulburn river, you’d think not a lot happens here, but like every other small town in rural Australia, this unassuming facade belies the real goings on of the place.

Sure, there's the billions of years old meteorite that landed in Murch in the 60s. And the POW camp which is now a low security prison, just out of town. But there are things that have happened in that place which will never make it to wikipedia, or even be heard outside of conversations between locals. Because that's what it is like in small rural hamlets in australia. It always struck me, living out there, that rural life is so rich with Natural Drama. It seems like no one ever dies peacefully in their sleep - it's either some unbelievable, traumatic accident, or worse, someone just goes out to work one morning and they’re never seen or heard from again. And truthfully, it was my own experience of this - when my mum's partner passed away in a gruesome accident about a hundred feet from the front gate - that instantly made me a part of this town and it’s story. It's a story I relived on my 2017 album, The Grip.

In small towns, you’re almost forced into community. Aside from joining forces to get necessary work done (because one person has the truck, one person has the labour, and one person has the hay), your life intersects with everyone in town eventually. You can’t disappear in the crowd and you get to know people that you might not naturally connect with in a big city, where you can pick and choose your interactions. In a small town, liking or disliking someone isn’t a thing - you just know them and that’s all. And when you get to know people, free of the expectation that you need to like each other in order to coexist, you discover that you have more in common than you ever could have imagined. Living in a small town, you can’t help but develop a familial fondness for everyone, whether you love them or don’t, because you start to know and understand the generations-long stories that made them who they are.

My mum and I were working in our top paddock one day in the stinking heat. Our conversation drifted into talking about a guy we knew, and how he always seemed to land himself in trouble that he could have easily avoided. I was swatting flies away from my face when I said, “He’s a nice person. He just has that idiot streak.” I wrote it down. I put it in my bank of things to write about at some point.

When I finally got round to working on that idea, I had left Murch, emigrated to Canada, and was living on Vancouver’s notorious Downtown East Side, perched on the seventh floor in my studio apartment. The Opioid crisis was raging in just a few blocks of the city and I lived right in the middle of it. Sirens wailed around me constantly while an unprecedented number of people lost their lives to fentanyl and carfentanil. It was confronting at first, with every siren reminding me that yet another family was having the worst day of their lives, but eventually my ears adjusted to the sirens, and I started to hear birds and low conversations on the street again. And as my ears adjusted, my mind did too, a self protective mechanism I guess, and I stopped pausing to think of what every siren represented, and got back to working and writing. I started writing exclusively in the key of E, which seemed to work with most of the sirens, setting them back into the music, creating harmonies to the melodies I was writing, and allowing me to focus. I kept writing about emergencies though. A song called SIRENS emerged. And this week, SIRENS is finally being released.

The song's narrative came together quickly. What is now the final verse/outro was the first part I wrote. In trying to flesh out the idea of the idiot streak, I teased out a story in my mind of two bored kids getting themselves into trouble. It isn’t autobiographical, but it isn’t not - it reaches into the stories of my youth: a close friend losing control of her car and dying when I was 17, and the many times I found myself in unsafe cars with drunk teenagers behind the wheel, which in turn got me thinking about the recklessness, fueled by loneliness, that defined my life back then, growing up not straight and not in the city in the pre internet world.

I recorded this song in Nashville, with my friend (and roommate at the time) John Little, at his little studio on Dickerson Pike. I was only a few days out from making the trek back north to Canada after a long stint in Tennessee. We were standing in our kitchen just off Trinity Lane throwing ideas around about who we’d like to bring in to play on the recording. I wanted a drummer and bassist that worked together a lot and had some kind of glue between them. John scratched his beard and said “oh we should get the Jons!”, meaning Estes and Radford. From there we quickly settled on trying to get Dan Knobler in to play guitar, and Ryan Brewer who I’d known back in Melbourne before either of us had made it to Nashville, to play keys. Dan also ended up mixing the songs.

I was a closeted Soul and Motown fan when I was a kid. While everyone was enraptured by Nirvana's Nevermind, and Pearl Jam’s Ten. I was making secret journeys to the city, riding the train for an hour to go buy cassettes. I’d fallen hard for Aretha and was slowly building a collection of her work bought with my burger flipping money that came in at $6.84 an hour. There was a guy at the record store I'd go to who helped me source some harder to find things, which had me reaching into Aretha's gospel catalogue. By way of these records I drifted into Motown, and when I think back to that time in my life, every step I recall is punctuated with the sound that defined motown for me - The funk brothers. THAT tambourine. Jack Ashford.

While listening back to what we’d just recorded that day in Nashville, Jon Estes and I got talking about tambourines, and off hand I said “Imagine if we could get Jack Ashford in to play on this”. Jon said “he's in Memphis you know”. And the conversation continued I think, but I was already thinking about how I could find him, and maybe record him. Was it even possible? I found what I could on the internet, and sent a Hail Mary email that I figured wouldn’t get to anyone, but later that night, my phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a Memphis number. Jack, now in his 80’s, was calling me.

The next day John and I drove to Memphis and walked in the door at Ardent Studios, where so much of my own record collection was made, by artists like Wilco, Bob Dylan, Big Star, Al Green, Mavis Staples and so on. Big Star’s Jody Stephens now runs the studio and greeted us. We got set up in Studio B, Jack arrived, we recorded, we talked, we left. Then John and I tore out onto I-40 and headed back to Nashville, singing smokey robinson songs the whole way home.

So much has happened between that day and today, but I’m excited to finally share some of these songs. SIRENS is out today, but next month, and the month after that, there’ll be more songs. All of them will arrive with a companion music video made with Brian Lye, whose oddball genius I’ve admired from afar for years.

You can listen to Sirens HERE

Watch the music video HERE

And look at the Sirens T shirt design I did HERE. If you like it as much as everyone else seems to, there’s a way to get one for free…

Just go to wherever you stream or consume music: Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Youtube, whatever.

1. Make a playlist of songs you think go well with my new single Sirens.

2. Share your playlist on whatever social media you use, and tag me.

I’ll send you a tshirt in your size if your playlist is my favourite. Extra points if it’s shared widely and listened to a lot. If I can’t decide which is my favourite (highly likely), and can’t pick a clear winner, I’ll just send out more t-shirts I guess. If all that seems like a lot of work, just go ahead and buy yourself a shirt HERE.

Feels weird to be sitting in North Vancouver, Canada, writing about a release that brings together my life in rural Australia, my life in Nashville, and my life in Canada. But I guess that's how it works. Thanks for reading and listening.

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