Album Review: 'Letters'

Last Thursday (July,23rd), Nick Cunningham dropped his debut EP 'Letters' with 6 songs on it.

The Album is a great mix of more quiet and powerful songs that you can listen to, no matter what mood your in.

To me, the EP is an easy summer listen that I can imagine listening to while on a road trip.

Nick Cunningham is an Australian Newcommer artist who is currently playing at bars and a few shows in Byron Bay in Australia. The Singer-Songwriter also played at the Australian Music Festival 'Splendour in the Grass' this year and last year as well.

In my opinion, Nick's Music is comparable to Ben Howard's and Matt Corby's so if you're a fan of either one you should definitely give him a listen. Due to Nick's unique voice and 6 guitar-based heart-warming songs, 'Letters' is definitely a set part of my this year's summer playlist.

You can find his music on iTunes, Spotify and Soundcloud.

To get your hands on a hard copy of the EP, head to his webpage: nickcunningham.com.au 

Introducing a Band: Oslo Parks

Stevie McMinn and Jeremy Lloyd form the Brighton based band 'Oslo Parks' together. Their indietronic music strongly reminds of some great 80's music (especially their song 'Fiction' from their 'Fiction-EP') and has a very atmospheric, remarkable sound. In my opinion, their music is well fitting for a listen during hot summer days and nights.
The band is signed to the recordlable 'X Novo' via which it has released it's debut single, including the two songs 'Twin' and 'The Night'.
With only 1200 likes on facebook, they're one of my insider's tips.
You can find their music on youtube, spotify, itunes, soundcloud and hypem.com.
7 days ago, Oslo Parks has released their new song 'Slipping Away'. You can find it on soundcloud here: 'Slipping Away' by Oslo Parks.

Introducing a Band: Satellite Stories

In 2008 the four Finns Esa Mankinen, Marko Heikkinen, Jyri Peson and Olli Pekka Ervasti formed their indie dance rock band 'Satellite Stories'. They are signed to the independent recordlabel 'XYZ Berlin', and have released 2 Ablums so far:
Their debut Album 'Phrases to Break the Ice' was released September, 21st 2012 and they released 5 Singles from it, such as the songs 'Anti-Lover' (Track 1) and 'Family' (Track 9).
Their second Album 'Pine Trails' was released November, 1st 2013 and they are currently touring with it. The first track 'Campfire' was released as a Pre-Single October, 18th 2013.Additionally, they've released 3 EP's and the Single 'Scandinavian Girls'.
All of their songs have the same sound but are still very different to one another. They all have very nice guitar riffs and are very catchy. To me, their music has a summer atmosphere and always puts me in a good mood. I also really like the lyrics of their songs and the lead singer's, Eda Mankinen's remarkable voice. If you like one of their songs, you're probably going to like all of them.
You can find their music on youtube, itunes, amazon, spotify and soundcloud.

Following is the official video to 'Campfire':

                                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt43vyqoRHY

Bands in Concert: The 1975

On November, 18th The 1975 had a show in Berlin.
They played at Bi Nuu, a small Club in Kreuzberg
that fits around 200 people. The line in front of the Club was quite long so I had to wait a while. Even though it was not sold out, the club was pretty full. The people in the crowd were all very open and easy to talk to.
The preband 'Pool' (introduced in the second post on November, 25th) played for about 45 minutes and despite not many people knowing them, almost everybody in the crowd moved to their music and visibly enjoyed their show. Pool weren't too dissimilar from The 1975, so it was a good choice to pick them as preact for the show.
After approximately 30 minutes of waiting and of the roadies doing their job, The 1975 finally came on stage. They started off with 'The City', the first song on their EP 'IV', which was released May, 20th

and the second song on their debut album 'The 1975', released September, 2nd.
Since 13 of the songs on their setlist were from their Album, they sadly didn't play many songs of their Ep's which I would have liked.
Still I can say that it was a great concert with a cool light show and the band interacting with the audience. I had a very fun night.

Introducing a Band: The Belligerents

The Belligerents are a five-pieced indie dance rock band from Australia formed in 2010. The band is currently unsigned but they have already released 2 EP's, the 'Less Arty More Party' - EP and the 'She Calls The Shots' - EP. Both of them have each 5 Tracks on them that all have a very high earwig-potential. You can buy all of their songs on itunes and listen to them on soundcloud.
Their Music is characterized by strong and catchy guitar riffs that you can find in every one of their songs. Also the voice of Lewis Stephenson, the lead singer of the band, is pretty extraordinary and adds something very special to their music.
The Belligerents have been selected to play at the Festival 'Big Day Out' at the Gold Coast in Australia next year, which will be a big step for their career path.
Following is the official videos to their song 'Such a Crime' from their first EP 'Less Arty More Party':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh_K47rYl4E

Introducing a Band: Milky Chance

Milky Chance is a German duo, consisting of Clemens Rehbein and Philipp Dausch. Milky Chance's music isn't really apportionable to a certain genre; their sound is influenced by pop, reggae, soul and electronic music. The two band members said about their music that they wanted it to be 'dancable melancholia'.
Even though Milky Chance are not very unknown, they are still very independent. They are signed by their self-made independent record label 'Lichtdicht Records', which they made with some friends to be able to produce and release their own music.
What makes their music unique is the mixture of many different genres, the deep and meaningful lyrics and the extraordinary voice of Clemens, the singer of the Band. Even though most of their lyrics are quite sad, the sound is very carefree. This mixture makes their music really emotional and I think their attempt to make 'danceable melancholia' was very successful.
They will tour again in Germany early next year but loads of their shows are already sould out.
Their single 'Stolen Dance' is currently number 3 in the German charts and their debut album 'Sadnecessary', which was released October, 18th , is available to download on Itunes and Amazon.
Here is their song 'Sadnecessary', track 7 on their Album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dojrvo_TBDQ

Introducing a Band: Pool

The band 'Pool' is an indie rock band from Hamburg, Germany. They have a contract with the german record label '2diy4' , a sister label of Diynamic records, and have released 2 EP's so far. They've released their debut EP 'Game Over' at the beginning of 2012 and about a year later their second EP 'Flex'. Each of the EP's have four songs on them, two original ones and two remixes.
Pool's music makes you want to dance and it's not possible to keep your feet still while listening to it. The lyrics of their songs are quite simple to pick up and therefore easy to sing along. These two features make their concerts unique and make them have a great atmosphere since the whole crowd is moving to the music and almost everyone joins in singing. Their live shows are always brilliant. I've seen them live three times so far and every show was great. When they're on stage you can clearly see that they are enjoying themselfs and that they are having fun.
You can listen to their songs on youtube and on soundcloud. Their song 'Harm' was also the soundtrack for the 'Berlin Festival' 2013 and is free to download on the official page of the festival.
Here is the link to 'Harm' on their Youtube-Channel:  'Harm' by Pool

Introducing a Band: Magic Man

If you are looking for some music, that will put you in a good mood, Magic Man's definitely you're band! Their happy tunes are very catchy and stay in mind for quite some time.
Magic Man is an electropop band from America. They are signed by 'Neon Golden Records', a New York/London based Independent Record Label.
The band has released one EP so far,called 'You are Here'. It has 5 Tracks on it, that you can listen to on soundcloud. 'You are Here' is available to download on Amazon and Itunes. You can also download the song 'Every Day', track 3 on their EP, for free on their Facebook page.
Magic Man are currently touring in the US.

Below is the link to the second song on their EP called 'Paris'.

Paris by Magic Man

Introducing a Band: Kadie Elder

After seeing the danish synthie pop band 'Kadie Elder' live at the 'First we take Berlin' - Festival in Berlin, I can't stop listening to them. Their songs are very easy to access and have really nice and meaningful lyrics. The Band has released one album so far, called 'Kadie Elder'. You can buy it on Itunes and Amazon but since they are not very known yet you can only buy it as an MP3 if you live outside of Denmark. As far as I can see it's still worth buying though. All of the songs on their album are quite quiet but still sound very different to one another. The whole album is sung in English.

They haven't got any tours planned for next year so far, but if you get the chance to see them live you should definitely go. They were amazing live and probably one of the 5 best concerts I've ever been to.

You can listen to a few of their songs on youtube and you can also download their song 'Widen Rift' , Track 3 on their debut Album, on their soundcloude page.

Below is the official video of  Kadie Elders song 'Simple Guy'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYii-0pOqX0