TEENAGERSINTOKYO. I’m interviewing them tomorrow so if there’s anything you’d like to know, give me a shout.

A while ago I got asked to design the artwork for the upcoming EP of the Scottish band The Cinematics. I’d never done anything like this before but I was absolutely thrilled to do it and it turned out to be a dark, Guernica-themed design. And the new songs, well, just see for yourself:

The “Silent Scream EP” is released on the 22nd of May, if you’re in Berlin make sure to come down to Lido to celebrate the release and see the guys playing an exclusive show! And grab your copy of course as it’s gonna be a limited edition.

I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of the new M.I.A. single but the video turned out to be a fascinating, yet disturbing and pretty brutal short film directed by Romain Gavras. who is also the man behind videos of Justice, Simian Mobile Disco and The Last Shadow Puppets.

Rather old HEALTH song and rather new video.

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Spring is probably one of my favourite seasons. The world outside is slowly waking up again, the air smells of, well, Spring and it’s warm and sunny, yet not too hot (which is the main reason why I kinda hate Summer). So here’s my very random Spring mixtape with some nice, rather new and not so new music.

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We Were Promised Jetpacks - Quiet Little Voices. Good Shoes - The Way My Heart Beats. General Fiasco - Ever So Shy. I Blame Coco feat. Robyn - Caesar. Foals - This Orient. Vampire Weekend - Cousins. Kate Nash - Do Wah Doo. Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work. We Are Scientists - Rules Don’t Stop. Goldfrapp - Rocket. Everything Everything - Suffragette Suffragette. Marina & The Diamonds - Girls. Mumford & Sons - The Cave. Crystal Fighters - I Love London. YACHT - Summer Song. Jamaica - I Think I Like You 2. Royal Bangs - My Car Is Haunted. Kid Cudi feat. MGMT & Ratatat - Pursuit Of Happiness. Local Natives - Camera Talk. The Drums - Submarine. And my all time favourite: Larrikin Love - Meet Me By The Getaway Car.

I saw Local Natives on Wednesday they were pretty amazing. “Airplanes” has been stuck in my head for a while now so I decided against lots of sleep and a night in and joined Sina. The club was surprisingly busy and they played for about an hour.

I’ve really missed going to good gigs lately - you know you haven’t been to a lot of gigs in a while if your back and feet start to hurt, if you can feel the bass tearing your ears apart even when you’re watching a folky indie rock band and the spotlights make your eyes water. Just saying. Maybe this is me getting old.

Read on…

This record is pretty amazing.

Lots of things have changed. The magic is gone, the naive faith in love and music has vanished, all the long nights and the songs and dreaming big. The cities and the snow, the waiting, tingling with excitement, the disappointments, the gin in teacups, the gin from bottles, the raki in glasses, hours and hours of music, floral dresses and shaking hands. The jokes and obsessions, daisy chains & schoolyard games, early mornings, the worries, the cigarettes, the good old days. I sometimes miss it, a lot. There are no good old days, these are the good old days.

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I’m going to see Peter Doherty again tomorrow night, solo and acoustic and pretty big. It’s gonna be a weird gig. The venue is sold out, there will be good music I hope, maybe a bit of magic and people just waiting for something scandalous to happen. Beer from plastic cups, noise and memories. It’s kinda surreal, but I think I’m looking forward to it. A lot.

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Although it’s freezing cold outside I’m seriously looking forward to leaving the house every morning, walking to the train station, listening to music and breating the cold, fresh air. Here’s a little cold weather playlist with old & new stuff I’m enjoying at the moment.

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The Organ - Brother. The Cinematics - New Mexico. The XX - Crystalised. Joy Division - New Dawn Fades. Glasvegas - A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss). The Ark - Calleth You, Cometh I. Patrick Wolf - Theseus. Jamie T - Earth, Wind & Fire. Babyshambles - Loyalty Song. The Big Pink - Dominoes. David Bowie - Life On Mars. Emmy The Great - Canopies And Grapes. The Whitest Boy Alive - 1517. Littl’ans feat. Pete Doherty - Their Way. Fryars - Olive Eyes.  The Ark - It Takes A Fool To Remain Sane. The Cure - Just Like Heaven. The Velvet Underground - Heroin. The XX - Shelter. Jamie T - Hocus Pocus. Arcade Fire - No Cars Go. Stars - Take Me To The Riot. Lou Reed - Perfect Day. Florence & The Machine - Hospital Beds (Cold War Kids Cover). Joy Division - Disorder. The Libertines - Music When The Lights Go Out.

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For some reason autumn makes me incredibly happy. It’s all about drinking black coffee early in the morning, snuggling up in in bed reading books, walking around taking photos with my old camera (yes, I’m really taking photos!), the smell of rain, falling leaves, listening to weird psychedelic music and wearing scarves, boots and even more leather. For my last birthday Franzi made me this book called “Ines’ journal” with lots of sweet little tasks for sad or boring days and I’m still having so much fun with it. It helps me so much when I’m feeling a bit down. I’m trying to make her something of similar value for her birthday on the 30th but I got the slight feeling that I will fail miserably.

This week I finally went to a gig again in what feels like an eternity but probably only is a couple of weeks, maybe a month. 1990s played in a rather small club, more a pub really, in front of about thirty people. It’s a shame, they’re pretty good and a very lovely live band. I was told two of them used to play in a band with Alex Kapranos before Franz Ferdinand formed which is more of a random fact though as they don’t have a lot in common with Franz Ferdinand except for being from Glasgow. In case you haven’t heard of them, give them a listen!

“You’re Supposed To Be My Friend”

(This is a rather “old” one from the first record. They also have a new album out called “Kicks”. Some new songs: The Box, Tell Me When You’re Ready & Everybody Please Relax - one of my favourites live! )

I think I don’t need to mention that I absolutely love this guy and the songs he writes. If I had to name the author of my all time favourite song lyric quotes, it would definitely be him. For some reason I kinda missed he’s got a new single out but it didn’t take me long to catch up on everything so I present the song I’ve been listening to on repeat for the past two days:

“And I’ve driven across deserts driven by the irony that only being shackled to the the road could ever I be free.”

(For the Germans out there, read the interview Franzi did with him earlier this year. It’s really good!)

I don’t even remember where I was when I turned seventeen. It might have been one of the years when I didn’t celebrate at all, simply because growing up was frustrating. There’s basically no difference between being sixteen and being seventeen, it’s just a very random gap of two years. You’re too young to be accepted as a proper grown-up and too old and self-important to have others making decisions for you.

Some people might call my mum a bad mum for letting me go at the age of seventeen. I don’t. It’s the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Being seventeen changed a lot for me and I don’t regret a single thing. To be honest, I try not to regret anything, as everything leads to something else which leads to another thing which wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

Anyway, I love this song by the amazing and fabulous Marina & The Diamonds.

For some reason there’s just not so much to write about at the moment, at least I can’t come up with anything decent. But there’s still music!

I started watching the nightly music TV programme again and this song is on at least once an hour (I realised MTV is less cool than I thought, they basically play the same songs every hour and hope noone watches longer). Anyway, Dizzee Rascal, I think he’s one of the coolest people in British rap music right now. I already loved his collaboration with Calvin Harris (“Dance wiv me”), this time he teamed up with Armand Van Helden and it’s a fresh song that will probably be stuck in your head forever. At least that’s what happened to me.

“Hard Times” is the second single off his album “The Bachelor” which is already one of my favourite records of 2009. I love this boy, oh yes, I fucking do.

I thought it was time to share a new mixtape with you all. I’ve been listening to a lot of weird stuff to be honest, but see for yourself. Enjoy!

1. JAMIE T, 2. Marina And The Diamonds - Cuban Bar London 24.04.09, 3. Shingai - Noisettes @ Komedia, 4. Telepathe @ The Market Hotel 2/20/09, 5. Mike Skinner, 6. FLORENCE, 7. Empire Of The Sun, 8. Weezer // Madison Square Garden // New York City // 9-24-08, 9. Lily Allen

Rest in peace, Ian Curtis.

In the early hours of 18 May 1980, Curtis hanged himself in the kitchen of his house in Macclesfield. He had just viewed Werner Herzog’s film Stroszek and listened to Iggy Pop’s The Idiot. At the time of his death, his health was failing as a result of the epilepsy and attempting to balance his musical ambitions with his marriage, which was foundering in the aftermath of his affair with journalist Annik Honoré. His wife found his body the next morning.

(Wikipedia)

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I know, lots of people have been blogging about it lately but I need to share it as well as it’s absolutely brilliant: Jamie T’s new single “Sticks ‘N’ Stones”.

After listening to “Fire Fire” a while ago I was a bit worried how his new stuff might turn out but then again, how could I ever lose my faith in Jamie? I’ve always loved him, although the first time I saw him live was at his “worst gig ever” (quote) with lots of Dutch weed involved. You know how that story goes… The second time was brilliant, though. The third time as well.

I’m usually not one to constantly hype new stuff (come on, I’m not) and I believe you can’t force music on anyone. So decide for yourself if you give this piece of brilliance a listen.

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It’s a Sunday and I’m bored so I made another mixtape of songs I’ve been listening to and some new stuff. Enjoy!

1. Patrick Wolf, 2. La Roux at UEA, 3. the maccabees, 4. Lissy Trullie , 5. Maximo Park_1601, 6. Holy Fuck

London Calling Festival in Amsterdam is definitely one of my favourite festivals. The lineup of the next edition (30.04. - 02.05.) features amazing bands and artists such as Little Boots, Eugene McGuinness, The Cinematics, Frankmusik, Noisettes, Marina & The Diamonds, Erol Alkan etc. etc. and I’m so gonna be there.

To whet your appetite London Calling is now giving away a free mixtape called “It’s A Right Royal Cockney Barrel Of Monkeys”. Tracklist:

Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts
Micachu & The Shapes - Golden Phone
Dananananaykroyd - Chrome Rainbow
Flashguns - Ro Shambo
The XX - Teardrops (Womack & Womack cover)
Little Boots - New In Town (Golden Filter remix)
Marina And The Diamonds - Obsessions (The Aspirins For My Children remix)
Passion Pit - The Reeling
James Yuill - This Sweet Love (Prins Thomas Sneaky Re-Edit)
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - The Sun Ain’t Shining Anymore
Filthy Dukes - This Rhythm (Fred Falke remix)
Golden Silvers - True Romance (True No.9 Blues)
Chew Lips - Solo
Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work
Stricken City - Lost Art
Delphic - Counterpoint (The Chain remix)
The Temper Trap - The Science Of Fear (Herve dub mix)
Chrome Hoof - Pronoid
Kap Bambino - Red Sign
Maps - Stay Another Day (East 17 cover)

You can download it here.

Every year when it’s getting warmer outside I make a new summer playlist with songs for the perfect summer feeling, for lying in the park and for being in the car driving to festivals. Here’s my playlist for 2009 featuring, among others, Florence & The Machine, Lissy Trullie, Larrikin Love (of course!), Jamie T, M.I.A., Tilly & The Wall etc. etc. etc. Enjoy!

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Lissy Trullie is not only a unique-looking frequent face on the well-known American party photo websites but also a musician and I’ve been enjoying her music quite a lot lately. “Boy Boy” is a catchy, summery indie-rock song, with rather boy-ish vocals but a lot of female charm. She’s going to support The Virgins on their US tour and rumour has it, trips to Europe are already in the pipeline.

(Mark Bowen, General Manager of Wichita says, she’s their biggest signing since Bloc Party.)

So after reading your suggestions and talking to my co-workers I compiled a long list of songs for my gym sessions. I wanted it to be fast and electronic, not too pushy but encouraging at the same time. There’s a lot of electro music I like but I can only listen to it if it’s connected to a physical activity (i.e. dancing in a club or in this case, exercising).

Here are some of my favourites:

So, The Horrors. I never liked them a lot. I remember being in London in summer 2006 and missing their gig somehow, it was that “legendary” 100 Club gig where people were almost squished to death because everyone wanted to see them. But seriously, what was that hype about? Just because they wore the tightest pants ever and had their faces covered in hair? The music wasn’t spectacular either, considering 75% of their record was covered or stolen. And their live shows had an average length of 20 minutes.

To cut it short, I hated them. And well, I think I changed my mind when I listened to their new song “Sea Within A Sea”, sounding so much more mature and even Joy-Division-esque (and i love Joy Division). Now the new album “Primary Colours” leaked online and I think I will give them another chance.

Oh - my - god. Patrick Wolf, the fairy-like teenage runaway, the Peter Pan of the 21st century, the lascivious disco queen, my favourite artist and future husband has a new single. It’s called “Vulture” and is amazing.

However, the video outshines it all. It’s about Patrick wearing a bondage outfit and “getting involved in some dodgy satanic sex games”. What more can you ask for?

(via)