“Estonia has just been clearing it’s throat these last few years, and now this little country is singing with a distinctive voice all of it’s own.” John Rogers heads to Estonia to check out what Tallinn Music Week has on offer.
John Brainlove
Berlin Festival, Tempelhof Airport, Berlin 9-10/09/11
With a promising lineup and strikingly unusual location, Berlin Festival seems like a stuffily organised and controlled experiment in fun, writes John Rogers.
The Books – The Way Out
More electronic and less melody based than their past work, every new Books release feels like an important addition to a body of work best considered as a whole. John Brainlove reviews.
Grum – Heartbeats
Heartbeats is an intoxicating sugar-rush of dance-pop mini-anthems according to John Brainlove.
Grizzly Bear w/ Efterklang – The Serpentine Sessions @ Hyde Park, London 28/06/10
The Serpentine Sessions is, it turns out, a kind of mini-event stapled onto the side of Hard Rock Calling. Can Grizzly Bear and co. save this underwhelming event from being a sunny summer washout? John Brainlove finds out.
Daniel Bjarnason – Processions
Feeling both entranced and endlessly disturbed, John Brainlove reviews the latest from Iceland’s Daniel Bjarnason.
Future Islands – In Evening Air
John Brainlove reviews the latest for Future Islands, a particularly odd pop proposition.
So Hot Right Now!
John Brainlove picks apart the BBC Sound Of 2010 shortlist. Who comes up trumps, and who ends up looking like a special needs jogger..? Find out inside.
BRNLV does Leeds :: Idioteque & Tiger Trap
Brainlove travels up the M1 for a bit of aural enlightenment…
Efterklang & The Britten Sinfonia – Barbican Hall, London 28/10/09
John Brainlove witnesses a band dispel any coffee-table-electronica stigma that may have come from their earlier recordings as they embrace an epic, utterly absorbing sound that’s nothing short of magical.
TLOBF Interview :: Hafdis Huld
John Brainlove curls up on the chaise lounge with Icelandic chanteuse Hafdis Huld to catch up on some small talk before a recent show at London’s Slaughtered Lamb.
Stórsveit Nix Noltes – Royal Family / Divorce
Made up of between 9 and 12 Icelandic musicians, Stórsveit Nix Noltes are an Eastern European folk music arkestra with a punk-rock aesthetic. John Brainlove reviews the latest from the FatCat stable.