BEAT'N'TRACKS /independent music webzine

[beatntracks]

It's Friday! Lose yourself to dance (with style)!

One more week is gone at work, the weather is getting better and you are in a party mood. So, it's time to enjoy a boozy weekend but when it comes to hit the dancefloor, your dance moves really don't help. No panic!

Here is our step-by-step to guide your hips and improve your fabulous dancing powers. Don't be shy and get on your dancing shoes because our brave indie-rock stars can help you dance on the table of your nearest pub without shame!

[1] Start by warming up before going to work or during daily commutes. The street is all yours!

[2] Using escalators can be a pretty boring journey. So, don't' waste your chance!

[3] Waiting for meetings at work can be stressful. Keep the good mood!

[4] Stuck in the traffic? Just relax and have fun!

[5] Your little sister or niece can also give you precious tips.

[6] Dont' take yourself too serious. Improvise!

https://youtu.be/a_426RiwST8

[7] Alone and bored at home? Dance like nobody's watching it.

https://youtu.be/tBTTd0gfkn0

[8] Originality is important. So, create your own style.

https://youtu.be/cfOa1a8hYP8

[9] Now, you are ready to impress and look good on the dancefloor. Jump to the beat of a party line!

https://youtu.be/3vS1Hf3CVGs

Strike a pose!

Leti

[beatntracks]

Made in Brazil: The poetic experimentalism of Apanhador Só.

One of our goals with this blog is to bring something new, fresh and unusual in terms of music for those interested in exploring different sounds and take your ears out of comfort zone. Coming from different places in the world, this allow us to enrich our constant searching for new tracks and beats.

In the previous post, Ian told us what's going on in the actual Swiss music scene. Now, it's my turn to show you a little bit of the Brazilian independent music scene and goes beyond the very well known and cliche samba, bossa nova and MPB (brazilian popular music). Because that's what comes to your mind when you think about Brazilian music, right?

My attempt here is to bring you something nice and different considering our vast and talented contemporary music scene (sometimes even unknown for us Brazilians. Such a pity!). When a foreign friend ask me to recommend a brazilian band or artist to listen to, Apanhador Só is always the first one that comes to my mind. It couldn't be different for B'n'T and soon you will understand why.

I came across Apanhador Só searching for new sounds on the web in 2010 and it was love at first play! The indie rock band has been originally formed by Alexandre Kumpinski (lead singer and guitar), Felipe Zancanaro (guitar and percussion), Fernão Agra (bass) and Andre Zinelli (drums) in the city of Porto Alegre (south of Brazil) in 2005. The first EP "Embrulho Pra Levar" has been released in 2006.

Their debut album called "Apanhador Só" came in 2010 and it was a wonderful surprise to my ears. The first song I've heard has been "Maria Augusta" and I couldn't stop listening to the entire album for days, weeks, months... My next goal was to find out if the band really sounded good live. 

Living in the countryside of the Brazilian southeast, it was a long wait until I had a chance to see their gig somewhere nearby. It finally happened with a gig in Sao Paulo and Apanhador Só sounded absolutely awesome (apart from the adventure to find an awkward place, get lost with a crazy GPS and wait for the live show between a small kitchen and corridor of a flat turned into a space for events with more than 50 people)! From their first album, I would highlight my favourite song "Bem-me-leve", "Um Rei e o Zé" (which has an amazing video you can watch below), "Nescafé" and "Prédio".

Following the successful debut album, Apanhador Só released "Acústico-Sucateiro" in cassette tape format in 2011 (yes! That's exactly what you read!). This project included nine songs of the previous album as acoustic versions plus a new song "Na Ponta dos Pés" (which has a beautiful video produced by Casa do Mancha). Once again using creativity, Apanhador Só abandoned the conventional instruments (keeping only an acoustic guitar) and adopted the most unusual instruments in a sense of exploring their musical and percussion abilities as well as having fun making music without the intention to sound perfect. The result of what you can do using knives, screwdriver, grater, a bicycle wheel (by the way, this is the mascot and visual identity of the band) and children's toys is surprisingly good. The album is available for free download (if you don't have a cassette player anymore!). The band also did a couple of live performances called "Acústico-Sucateiro Interventions" in parks, squares, streets. In 2012, the band released the EP "Paraquedas" in vinyl with two songs.

Apanhador Só, as many independent bands around the world, found in the crownfunding strategy the only way to released a new album and keep doing their own music with freedom to take their experimentalism to next level. After a successful online campaign, the expected money has been raised with help of their fans. For those expecting continuity of what they presented in the debut album in terms of sound, it was totally unexpected what "Antes Que Tu Conte Outra" (second album) brought to us in 2013.

The band completely put itself out of the comfort zone and took a new direction in order to use their musical creativity and experimentalism to provoke and instigate both musically and poetically. Presenting lyrics about existential questions, relationships and everyday life chronicles through the amazing vocals of Kumpinski, Apanhador Só naturally evolved and revealed us a stunning sound experience starting with "Mordido", "Despirocar", "Líquido Preto", "Rota" and closing with "Cartão Postal".

"Antes Que Tu Conte Outra" has received two awards and great reviews in Brazil. Last month, Apanhador Só performed at SXSW (Austin, Texas) and grabbed the attention of Jon Pareles from The New York Times as one of those indie-rock bands who brought innovation instead of nostalgia. The band also played a couple of gigs in Mexico. Back in Brazil, they are now preparing a new crownfunding project for the recording of the third album. Also, there will be some gigs in Porto Alegre and Sao Paulo this month. So, don't miss out, stay tuned and help to keep good brazilian music alive if you can (donate!!).

ps: It worthwhile to say that you can stream, download for free and buy the whole discography of Apanhador Só here.

Leti

[beatntracks]

Rock & Walking (live notes from the swiss scene).

There are some music venues that are not easily accessible. You slowly have to conquer them. This is certainly the case for Bikini Test (located in La Chaux-de-Fonds/Switzerland) and Bad Bonn (Düdingen/Switzerland). In fact, the promotional “slogan” of this second venue is: “Where the hell isBad Bonn?” This is definitely a well-chosen motto (and it could actually be used by both clubs).    

If you don’t own a car (this is proudly my case), reaching these legendary swiss venues involves a lot of walking (through dodgy industrial estates for Bikini Test and through bucolic agricultural fields for Bad Bonn). But this is not a problem if you take some malted cans for the trip and it’s definitely worth it. Bikini Test sounds great (acoustically speaking, I mean) and Bad Bonn has an incredibly edgy program.

But let’s come to the point. I visited Bikini Test on the 15th of March and Bad Bonn on the 27th. Why? Because of Peter Kernel (of course!).

It’s been a while now that I’m vigorously spinning the records of this delightfully rugged duo but I never had the chance to see it rocking a stage in flesh and bones. Well, now this is done – twice.

It all starts with a friendly verbal welcome in french (pronounced with an italian accent): “Bonsoir, nous sommes Peter Kernel et nous venons de la Suisse-canadienne”. …They start playing…bewitching the audience with their new gateway song, Ecstasy…and then BOOM.

The set gets very physical and intense. Wild and “animalesque” moments alternate with more intimate and soft musical textures. Sometimes, the audience is invited to smell the atmosphere of the stage and sometimes to swing its knees like fennels (en français “genouilles” rime avec “fenouils”, che è diverso dal finocchio italiano - sorry English-readers you won’t get this one, it’s PK multilingual humour).      

Anyway, to summarize the experience, PK live is a blast and it’s really fun too. So is the new album (Thrill Addict, On The Camper, 2015). This last opus of the band sounds pretty amazing and traces a coherent continuity with the previous work. From Ticino with love!

But PK is not just great because it’s great. It’s also great because their wicked live sets are always supported by others wicked live sets.

In Bikini-Test, I happily assisted to the performance of Metzger und Bauer. This crossed-influences “tomwaitsesque” five-piece saxophone-led pastiche is pretty interesting (even if it maybe doesn’t sound as a totally mature sound yet). If you are intrigued by the universe of M&B (see video below), you can freely download their digital album here.

In Bad-Bonn, I got an unexpected rocking surprise with a cherry on top. It is called Overdrive Amp Explosion, it comes from the city of Fribourg and I liked it a lot. With a precise as-a-swiss-watch rhythm section, enticing guitars and pretty good vocals, this combo got it all and delivers a fresh and travelling indie-rock. For the moment, the band has just released a split EP - together with a band called Easy Tiger (Subversiv Records, 2011). Affaire à suivre. We want more of this…  

Happy listening (and watching).

Ian     

Listen to Overdrive Amp Explosion’s Spring grows here

[beatntracks]

SXSW 2015: Top 5 fresh discoveries.

The 2015 edition of South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference closes its doors today (17-22 March). This Austin (Texas, USA) based event is probably the most insane music festival on Earth with a program which gathers over 2’200 acts (from USA and worldwide) and a blend of all musical genres.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to Austin (damn!). …But here in Switzerland the first week-end of spring brought us a very lousy weather. So, I largely had time to extensively browse through the SXSW online program and discover a lovely wild bunch of new bands and artists.  

As in this time of the year we all need some new fresh melodies to pass through our headphones, I prepared for you an heterogeneous playlist with my top-five picks and discoveries from the SXSW 2015 line-up.

Get inspired, play it loud and enjoy it with no moderation! 

Ian     

[1] Ben Caplan

[2] New Myths

[3] Rubblebucket

[4] Ava Luna

[5] Deehrhoof

[beatntracks]

Remembering Jason Molina.

You might never have heard of Jason Molina (16.12.1973-16.3.2013). Sometimes, it happens that some special people come down to earth, do something beautiful and then suddenly leave without having received the amount of public recognition they actually deserved. I think this has been the case for Jason Molina.   

Jason Molina started to go through a period of health issues in 2009, which forced him to cancel his ongoing tour dates. At that time, he was dealing with severe alcohol-related problems. He couldn’t even afford medical insurance and couldn’t manage to pay off his medicals bills any longer. For this reason, in 2011, his family launched a medical found to try to raise money via the Internet to help Jason (meanwhile he was trying to recover, working in a farm in Virginia raising goats and chickens). Unfortunately, the effort proved not to be enough and this fine American musician died exactly two years ago in his home of Indianapolis.

In the course of his 39 years of existence, Jason Molina blessed us with a rich and strong musical heritage signed under different artistic names (Jason Molina of course, but also Songs: Ohia and, overall, Magnolia Electric Co.). His work has been released by the label Secretely Canadian.

Magnolia Electric Co. is with no doubt my favourite project of Jason Molina. This band produced a nostalgic and characteristic blend of folk and electric 70’s rock. It is for sure and with no doubt a sad and lonesome sound but there is no better music than the one that comes scratch you at the bottom of your soul and heart…

Personally, I’m deeply and particularly attached to the albums What comes after the blues (Secretly Canadian, 2005) and Josephine (Secretly Canadian, 2009) which I strongly recommend you all to listen to. Speaking of Josephine, it also exists a great documentary by Ben Schreiner called Recording Josephine: Magnolia Electric Company at Electrical Audio. You can freely stream it here. This doc offers great insights about the creative process of the band, its music, but also about the great musical honesty and integrity of its members.  

But let’s stop spilling virtual “ink” and let’s just listen to the amazingly touching sound of Jason Molina. I invite you to have a watch to some live videos I especially like. I selected two songs of a performance of 2007 in Lleida (Spain): Talk to me Devil, Again and Hard to love a man. The third video comes from a live tribute to Jason Molina that his former band performed in 2013 in Bloomington (Indiana, USA). This third song is named The night shift Lullaby, featuring Jenny Benford on vocals. Enjoy!      

If you like the videos and you are intrigued by the sound of Magnolia, proceed to the extensive Molina experience. Take a couple of days off, grab your headphones and listen to Jason’s discography. You won’t be disappointed.

R.I.P Jason Molina. Thank you for your music and work.

Ian

[beatntracks]

30 Camden Square, NW1.

Rather a late post for Women’s Day almost a week ago, but hopefully not too late as a tribute to the late owner of above property address. One of my all-time favourite beautiful female singer.

The semi-detached house is located in a leafy and quiet (rather upscale too) neighbourhood of Camden, London. The street name picks up the name of fairly nice park right opposite this property. Lined with mature trees, yes obviously with the squirrels running on the lawn, and wooden benches.. the park seems to be pretty idyllic place for the late owner the house when she returned home early in the dawn.. from pubbing and clubbing around Camden or Shoreditch, inhaling her morning ciggy and possibly contemplating her next single.. well, who knows.

Apparently, this place is merely 15 minutes away walking from my Camden Town flat (except my area is blessed with late-night noise from drunk hipsters.. plus guaranteed vibration from Overground tracks just right behind the flat). No problemo - this is part of the amenities living in Camden Town!, within a half mile away from world-class legendary musical venues such as Koko, Roundhouse.. and oh yeah The Exhange studio, whose the mastering engineer and founder is the father of Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, is just 100 metre away from my place. (The band recorded one of their vinyl tracks here.. so did Kasabian for their latest album). 

OK.. back to Camden Square now.

Anyway, there’s one particular tree, right in front of this house, wrapped in bamboo with lots of wishes from international pilgrims (note those from Brasil and Espana.., and of course Indonesia - should have written something if I had my marker there). There were indeed some international-looking folks around the area too when I was there, not sure if they were looking for this place - or just some lost tourists. This place does attract some die-hard fans of hers.. just want to visit and “feel” the aura near the house - which has by now changed ownership.

Oh yeah.. you guys guessed right!

30 Camden Square is the house where the young talented singer drank her last bottle of Vodka, slept her last night sometime in the summer of 2011.. and never wake up in the next morning. 

Her spirit lingers on, not only around this place.. but all over Camden, where she would hang around, chill out pub-hopping, make a brilliant music and now rest in peace. 

Yes, she was Amy Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011).

Doddy

[beatntracks]

International Women's Day. Inspiring voices.

Our wish is a less sexist society, more equality, respect and stop domestic and sexual violence. Girls just wanna have fundamental human rights!

Here is our playlist to celebrate talented women who found in music a beautiful way to express themselves.

Leti

#1 Patti Smith

#2 Janis Joplin

#3 Jesse Sykes

#4 Sharon Jones

#5 Cat Power

#6 Alison Mosshart 

http://youtu.be/JR4pz6OLxvo

#7 St. Vincent

http://youtu.be/VmnhY9Smj3M

#8 Lucius

http://youtu.be/kD9l1pfjyGA

#9 Karen O

http://youtu.be/arlbbwRnTto

#10 Amy Winehouse

http://youtu.be/QmV6_oc2lwM

[beatntracks]

The Moriarty family will soon give birth to Epitaph.

Back in November 2010, I was spending a couple of days in Berlin, staying at some friend’s place in the east of the city. One night, as it often happens, the conversation took the direction of “musical affairs”. We started speaking about gigs and my friend started describing a live act he recently saw in a local club…

I remember he spoke about a stunning female voice, about a guy with a big belt full of strange “musical” tools and about a whole band playing around an only mic. Of course, all this stuff awoke my curiosity and as soon as I got back home I started to listen to the incredible music of “Moriarty”. Since then, this french-american band has never left the top playlists of my Iphone and it has always remained a steady element in the soundtrack of my life. 

The band apparently gets its name from the character of Jack Kerouac’s “On the road” (and not by the super-villain enemy of Sharlock Holmes). This name is well suited to the band, since the music of “Moriarty” is fully impregnated with archetypes of travel, mystery and adventure. But it is not “just” about music. “Moriarty” is a creative manufacture that produces atmospheres and settings capable of making minds wander around magical places (nope! I am not exaggerating. If you do not believe me check the videos I post at the end of this text and the beautiful artwork that regularly comes with the albums of the band). 

As far as the discography of “Moriarty” is concerned, the band has released, between other projects, two main albums (Gee Whiz But This is a Lonesome Town, Naïve 2007 and The Missing Room, Air Rytmo 2011). Since the last one, it has been a pretty long wait but this year will finally bring us new original material from the “Moriarty” family. 

Epitaph (Air Rytmo, 2015) is expected for the 30th of March. Yehiii! I am sure we can expect some ghosts, murders and beautiful stories of the “au-delà” on this one too. 

Interestingly enough, the band is not following a usual promotional scheme. In fact, it has toured Europe playing the new songs before having released the new album. This give us a chance to try to grasp a preview of the new record, directly from the stage, with Diamonds never Dies. This song, which will be featured on Epitaph, has been recorded and filmed during the Nova Sessions of FranceTV. Please, enjoy it with no moderation! 

Ian

[beatntracks]

Happy (late) Valentine's Day! Crazy in love?

February 14 - It's that time of the year again, you love it or hate it. 

Well, not here in Brazil where we are celebrating Carnival while the rest of the world celebrates love... But this is a subject for the next post.

With the blessing of Sid & Nancy, we prepared this playlist with the most unexpected and amazing duets presenting songs for couples in love, the nauseatingly romantic, broken hearted ones, those desperate or single & hopeless... If love is not in the air, you will find it in music for sure!

Press play, enjoy it and share your favourite love song with us!

Leticia

|1| Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue - Where The Wild Roses Grow 

|2| Amy Winehouse & Paul Weller - Don't go to Strangers

|3| PJ Harvey & Josh Homme - Crawl Home + I Wanna Make ItWit Chu

|4| JackWhite & Alison Mosshart - Love Interruption

|5| Mavis Staples & Jeff Tweedy - You Are Not Alone

[beatntracks]

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis. The powerful London based trio is back.

It was a Tuesday evening in July 2011 and I was at Dingwalls (Camden) having a pint with a Japanese friend who had introduced me to the amazing musical universe of Kitty, Daisy and Lewis. We were there waiting for their gig and with a little help of their parents Graeme Durham (a studio engineer) and Ingrid Weiss (drummer in the 70spost-punk band The Raincoats), the trio definitely did not let me down.

Multi-instrumentalists, they play a wide range ofinstruments from piano, guitar, drums, and banjo to harmonica, ukulele and accordion. I found it incredible, especially Daisy playing drums with such class wearing a dress and high heels. Not an easy job!

Flirting with rockabilly, R&B, blues, country and funk, people tend to describe their music as vintage sound from the 50s. Honestly, Kitty, Daisy and Lewis are not nostalgic musicians stuck in the past and they do what matters: good music. Despite their retro look and musical influences, they sound original, fresh and vibrant. A relief for the ears in this auto-tuning era!

  The three multi-talented siblings released their new album entitled The Third last week after the successful second album Smoking in Heaven (2011). Produced by Mick Jones (The Clash), The Third has been recorded in their own analogue studio (a derelict Indian restaurant in Kentish Town), completely avoiding digital technology. The first single Baby Bye Bye is part of a trilogy of videos followed by No Action (my favourite track of the new album).

As an urban planner, it worth highlight the song Developer's Disease which is a critique to the massive regeneration schemes and new developments going on in London that is destroying what is unique, characteristic and special in the city.

The UK tour starts next week and I would recommend you to purchase a ticket for the gig at the iconic Electric Ballroom in the heart of Camden Town on 18th February. I promise it will be impossible to standing still!

Leticia

[beatntracks]

Will Butler to release first ever solo project.

As huge fans of Arcade Fire we are pretty excited about this news. Will Butler is releasing his first solo album, called Policy, for the label Merge Records. The record will be out on the 10th of March 2015. 

We are used to admire Mr. Butler's frenetic dancing moves during Arcade Fire hyperactive live shows. In this video we can see that he has definitely not lost his powers.  

The sound tastes great. It looks like we will have a nice soundtrack for our 2015 springtime! 

Check out his new video Anna.

Ian

[beatntracks]

The essentialism of Courtney Barnett. Present and future.

I sit in my living room with a fresh beer and a bowl of green olives. I browse through my records and pick up Courtney Barnett’s A sea of split peas – the double EP (Milk records, 2013). 

I start from the end and spin the Side D of the second record. It starts with the powerful bass mantra and the psychedelic guitar solo of Canned Tomatoes (Whole), introducing afterwards the gentle chorus and the beautiful evasive end-of-the-song piano adventure of Porcelain (that is one of my favourite songs of this double EP). This side of the record then finishes with the bizarre Ode to Odetta.

I look at the artwork of the record, which is drawn by Miss Courtney herself. Her drawings, which you can find on the record cover but also in the wicked interactive zine that theMelbourne-based artist publishes on her website, are simple and childish. They depict objects andviews of everyday’s life with freshness and essentialism.

The drawings of Courtney Barnett are like her music. They go straight to the point with no frippery. The signature sound of the 27 years old aussie is direct and pure, it is rock’n’roll in its most stripped-down form. And all this comes with beautiful and truly funny lyrics that sometimes turn into acid urban poetry.

As on record, her live acts are an energetic blast! I was lucky enough to see Courtney Barnett rocking twice last year (the first time, in Rough Trade East in London UK and the second one in Frison in Fribourg, CH). If in the past the band toured with a trio (with Bones Sloane on bass and Dave Mudie on drums) a new element (Dan Luscombe on guitar) add lately to the gang. Unfortunately, I feel as the coming of Luscombe diminished a bit the live performances, with Courtney concentrating more on vocals and doing less dirty guitar work. But, still great.  

At the beginning of this new year, the band announced the release (23rd march 2015) of its first full album: Sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit (Milk records, 2015). Courtney Barnett has been one of the best music surprises of 2014. If we are lucky enough, the future will be as good as the present. While waiting for the release we can speculate about the times to come watching the video of a new song: Pedestrian At Best. Enjoy.     

Ian