Blog Archives

COMPANY FOCUS: BOOGIE DRUGSTORE

10/10/2012

Name of company: BOOGIE DRUGSTORE
Type of Business: Press Relations & Management
City/Country: Paris France
Year Founded: 2010
Employees and their roles: Justine Debicki (Manager, TV and Radio Promotion); Thomas Rousseau (Manager, Press and Radio Promotion); Erwan Julé (Web and Local Promotion).
Roster/Clients: Warp Records (UK), No Format Label, (FR) Tambourhinoceros Label (DK), The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Jay Jay Johanson, WhoMadeWho, The Spinto Band, EBBA/Eurosonic Noorderslag, The Scoop Engine, MUSEX, Music Austria..
Company motto: The company's approach is that of a label: Making strong artistic choices and accompanying artists in the long run by elaborating a personal management, marketing and/or promotion strategy. The company mobilizes its extensive network (media, labels, distributors, publishers, tour promoters, etc.) at their service. Boogie Drugstore is also specialized in music event PR. The company ensures its client get the best media visibility (radio, TV, press and web) and that they benefit from the specific implication and strategic advice they need at all stages.
Company Highlights so far: Organisation of special nights in Paris in cooperation with Music Export Offices and the booker Super! : „Helsinki Mon Amour!“, „Vienne Mon Amour!“, Being part of the new pan-european PR Agency „The Scoop Engine“,representing Warp label in France...
Goals for next 12 months: Developing events in Paris in collaboration with Music Export Offices in Europe to ensure visibility to emerging indie bands and creating opportunities with the French music industry for them. Finding new bands and helping then develop their carrer in France...
Biggest Challenge ahead: Developing our US network...
Key Projects: All the bands/events we are working on, be there development or confirmed acts or festivals are all key projects to us. We are putting the same amount of effort to promote each project we are working on.
What are the main things are you looking for at the moment: We are always looking for new bands, mainly in PR. That’s why we try to travel as much as we can...

HOMEPAGE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH: JONAS VEBNER (MUSIC EXPORT NORWAY)

10/10/2012

name: Jonas Vebner
company: Music Export Norway
job: Head of GSA Office
city: Berlin
working on: Having recently relocated from London to Berlin to head up our GSA office, I’m currently spending most of my time meeting old/new colleagues in these territories. In addition to developing project proposals for 2013, we’re also introducing some schemes we initially set up for the UK market. I still work 20% towards the UK and part of my time is spent following up my successor in London. I still do a Nordic showcase series here called Ja Ja Ja which has spawned an editorial new Nordic talent music blog and we’re currently exploring some interesting new avenues for the platform. I’ve started preparations for By:Larm, the premier Nordic music conference, were we co-produce the international program. But the majority of my work is constantly dialoguing with our Norwegian music industry professionals (and their international partners) who are already active in the GSA market or trying gain entry: advising on service providers/partners, entry strategies and general information, mediating contact between professionals and administering our various schemes/tools. We are also about to into Pfuelstraße 5 in Berlin, a great creative environment full of other music companies. Oh, and I’ve just started my intensive German course!
favourite artist(s): Chopin, Debussy, Thelonious Monk, Roy Orbison, Bill Evans, the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, T. Rex, Arthur Russell, Serge Gainsbourg, Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Guided by Voices, Yo La Tengo, Andrew Bird, Fennez, Beach House, Grizzly Bear to mention a few that comes to mind.
first gig: My first proper gig was probably seeing Lauren Hill at 16 which I remember being a big deal as I was well into Fugees in my teens.
highlight(s) of the last year: I’m really pleased about how the Ja Ja Ja platform has developed over the last 3 years and excited about the new editorial site we recently launched with the Line of Best Fit. I’m also very chuffed about having been given the opportunity to relocate to Berlin and further develop our GSA office.
musical hero: Music is surely one of the most sublime art forms, but has also been a powerful tool to address social and political issues (from Shostakovich to Rage Against the Machine). The case of Pussy Riot got a lot of attention recently, but unfortunately censorship is quite widespread. The guys over at Freemuse work hard to advocates freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide.
listening to: Of new stuff I’ve been really enjoying Jessie Ware’s Devotion, Janka Nabay’s En Yah Sah, Tim Burgess’s No I Love You, Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland’s Black is Beautiful, Flume’s coming album, Savages recent live EP, Sizarr, Actress’s album RIP, Efterklang’s latest and a new discovery for me in Hélène Grimaud’s Reflections (thrilled to learn she is soon to play with the Berlin Philharmonie). Some (new) Norwegian music to watch out for; Stian Westerhus’s The Matriarch and the Wrong Kind of Flowers, the debut of Moskus (winner of Young Nordic Jazz Comets award), Mikhael Paskalev (who is playing our next Ja Ja Ja night!), Highasakite, 1982 + BJ Cole, Machinebirds, Alfred Hall, CLMD, Terje Bakke, Mari Kvien Brunvoll, Okkultokrati, Bloksberg, Hanne Kolstø, Neneh Cherry & The Thing + the remix album (feat. people like Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas, Four Tet, Kim Hiorthøy) . Still very much appreciating Susanne Sundfør’s latest album - catch her this November when she’s touring Europe. I’m also excited about Young Dreams impending release on Modular.

Connect with Jonas HERE

REPORT: REEPERBAHN FESTIVAL 2012

10/10/2012

The seventh edition of the Reeperbahn Festival offered everything you could hope for: A strong lineup, easily accessible seminars, a nice lounge area for the delegates and the obvious advantage: Reeperbahn itself, the central street of Hamburg’s St. Pauli neighbourhood. You’re never more than 10 minutes away from the farthest venue, which makes it easy to make it to as many shows as possible. Oh, and let’s not forget the free stuff either. Verdict? The NMO had a blast at Reeperbahn Festival 2012

Arriving at Reeperbahn, you rarely experience an overwhelming sense of doubt as it’s quite clear where you will find what you need. And let’s be honest, there are many different needs that can be fulfilled at this particular location! As with most well-organized festivals, it doesn’t take long before you run into a colleague, a friend, a business associate or simply someone you know because he or she threw a killer keynote speech at the last festival you went to.

One of the hot topics this year was the merger between Universal and EMI or, in other words, the former’s acquisition of the latter. It was a big part of Ben Challis’ introductory keynote speech, and it was the object of much attention in general: Whispers in the corners, heated discussions and quite frankly a certain amount of fear from a lot of people.

We won’t bore you too much with the business side of things. We met some great people, had some interesting meetings and went to a few conferences of which one of the best was on transparency in the music business. A topic rarely discussed but very central to many of us. But let’s focus a bit on the music now, yeah?

The first day:

Whenever you arrive too early at a festival you have a lot of time to build up expectations. When you combine that with the restless impatience of a coffee addict (guilty), you better be treated to something good when it all kicks off. Yours truly has been a fan of Einar Stray for quite a while, so when I heard the Norwegians were playing a semi-acoustic show on the outdoors Stage East, I had to go. The small venue is slightly odd with its limited visibility and tropical vibe (were those palm trees?!), but all the bands I saw there did quite well – Shiny Darkly being another highlight – in spite of the difficult outdoors conditions with the street contributing with quite a lot of potential background noise. Einar Stray himself sings in a somewhat withdrawn yet very present voice, with an airy, mysterious feel to it, which works well with the rest of the band’s backing vocals. The long instrumental parts are quite brilliant and somehow, meant in the best way possible, live up to the old cliché of the ‘Nordic’ sound.

Next up was Berlin-based band Mighty Oaks at the small and cozy Imperial Theater. The trio excels in their own personal interpretation of folk and Americana traditions. The band used to live in Hamburg and did indeed play like they felt at home. They put their acoustic guitar, bass guitar and electric mandolin (later exchanged for an electric guitar) setup to good use and occasionally combined it with singer Ian Hooper’s kick drum and tambourine with great effect.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I had to go see how Swedish youngster Amanda Mair had developed since the world first heard about her after signing to the strong Stockholm indie label Labrador. An interesting thing about her show at Schmidts Tivoli was the demographic diversity, underlining the broad appeal in her music. When her band finally entered the stage, it was, indeed, the band and not Amanda herself. Instead, she let the band kick off things before casually strolling in; despite her young age she knows how to make an entrance, and though not a diva she has the potential to become one of the more sympathetic divas out there. Her voice is still her biggest asset, but her songwriting is very mature for her age. A somewhat obvious example is the song House, which was the first she ever wrote and also her first single in Sweden. At times, the oft-heard comparisons with Kate Bush made sense, but Amanda Mair may very well be, well, Amanda Mair in all her underplayed theatrical glory.

One of my favourite venues at the Reeperbahn Festival is Café Keese, and the first band I caught there was one of Copenhagen’s finest bands, The Rumour Said Fire. Their folk-pop is based around the songwriting of Jesper Lidang who seems inspired by acts such as The Decemberists, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and other contemporary American bands. The band has evolved greatly and is now a wonderful live band, having added a keyboard player for their live shows. The band started with a couple of songs off of their first full length, The Arrogant, before playing new song Voyager from their forthcoming sophomore album, Dead Ends. They tested their new material successfully but, quite wisely, didn’t forget to play some of their earliest songs – of which the audience responded quite enthusiastically to the radio hit The Balcony.

At this point it was indeed time to test how quickly one could get from one end of the Reeperbahn to the other as I was only minutes away from missing the beginning of the Dad Rocks! show, an old NMO favourite. Born in Iceland, based in Denmark, Snævar Njáll Albertsson often plays shows alone but occasionally has up to eight people with him on stage. This time around there were four of them to accompany him and his trusted, acoustic guitar with which he never ceases to amaze his listeners with fingerpicking and clever chord progressions. Add some violin, trumpet, upright bass and a very competent backup singer, and what do you get? The best Dad Rocks! show yours truly has seen to date with a very attentive audience, supplying the room with a warm atmosphere.

Two days to go:

With so many people and so many shows, it can be difficult to keep up and get enough sleep. At this point we could simply conclude that we had a great couple of days following the first evening of concerts, but there are certain shows that I simply have to mention.

Another old NMO favourite is Ewert and the Two Dragons from Estonia who played at the aforementioned Café Keese on Friday. The place was packed – and with good reason. The show started with a steady beat that caught everyone’s attention, and the band simply didn’t look back. This is pop music with a folk twist, not the other way around. Ewert and the Two Dragons understand this important distinction and make it work to the fullest.

You know that need to be blown away by something loud though? That’s where I was at this point. Luckily, all I had to do was walk a bit down the street, turn right and follow the noise. Luxemburg’s finest purveyors of noisy rock and post-hardcore, Mutiny on the Bounty, played (as always) one hell of a show at Kaiserkeller. Pure power and ultra-tight, one couldn’t ask for friendlier noise!

But the best was yet to come: I’d be lying if I said that I expected my best concert at Reeperbahn Festival 2012 to be Spring Offensive, mainly because they haven’t yet released enough for me to be able to form a proper opinion. The Oxford-based quintet played in the small Molotow bar to a dedicated crowd eager to hear every single chord, sound, syllable and detail coming from the stage. The five band members could barely fit the cramped stage, but they somehow seemed comfortable, sending out one emotionally overwhelming song after the other. They don’t play math-rock per se, but you do sense that they’re hailing from that tradition (Oxford has had quite the math-rock scene the past six years or so). The set was incredibly tight and seemed, above all, sincere. The lyrics are an important part of the band’s identity, and the way in which the entire band sang along was a testament to the honesty manifested in their all-out aesthetic. The beautiful harmonies came to full force when the band played an acoustic, stripped-down version of Carrier in the middle of the crowd. Breathtaking.

Amongst the Saturday highlights were Foxes (UK) and Indians (DK). Whilst the former was pure pop pleasure for those of us with no time for feeling pop guilt, the latter was well-executed dream pop based on beautiful synths. No wonder 4AD snatched him up recently!

There were downsides as well, the luxury of not being able to choose between great concerts being one of them, whilst some problems were bigger: The big Stage West, outdoors, had horrible sound and seemed a difficult stage for many bands who had problems creating a good atmosphere. At the end of the day, though, The NMO had a great time at Reeperbahn Festival 2012. Thanks for everything, Hamburg, and see you next year.

text: Martin Hjorth, The NMO

REPORT: THE NMO NIGHTS @ BERLIN MUSIC WEEK 2012

10/9/2012

Berlin has been searching for the perfect place and format for a while and Berlin Music Week made some decisive changes and positive moves for its 2012 edition. The new direction, based along the banks of the Kreuzberg section of the river Spree's, utilised fully the most active, cultural and authentic neighbourhood of Berlin.
The conference centre offered a quiet and nice area for meetings and chats with gorgeous views across the river towards the Oberbaumbrücke.

After an efficient registration system, we were unfortunate to be effected by one or two delays and a cancellation to some of the conference programme, but filled our time easily by enjoying the new Spreespeicher location. Despite the need for some improvement in its use, the venue certainly has the potential to quickly become a genuine hub for the whole event.
On the opposite river bank, the club festival takes over the various venues and concert halls based on each street corner, making Kreuzberg the ideal place for such an event. Despite the fact that there is still a fair distance between the most extreme venues - a 15 minutes walk is already too much if you want to go to all events you have on your list - there does seem to be a street festival spirit being built around the Schlesisches Tor area in particular. If more spaces can be found and incorporated into the music programme here then the club festival could become genuinely vibrant.

Despite the brutal competition within the music programme, The NMO made the decision to take over a venue and organize its own showcase for two of the club festival nights. For the first time, The NMO hosted a live event during an international music festival. Presenting nine artists in 2 days, we booked a strong line-up of national and international artists at Tante Emma - a typically cool example of an authentic Berlin lounge cafe located directly at the festival centre at Schlesisches Tor. Despite the unscheduled decision by the venue manager to knock out the entire front wall of the venue and fit in new wall-to-ceiling windows on the opening day of the festival, the music programme was still able to kick off on time. Dad Rocks! went on stage as planned with a set full of the usual smiles and energy, and the evening was off to a flying start. Estonian violinist, Tiit Kiikas kept the audience enthralled with a beautiful set of looped playing backed by projections shot live during the performance. German, Jonathan Kluth, proved to be a real crowd-pleaser as he climbed off-stage and strode across the audience's tables and chairs without missing a note. The night was wrapped up with the dark, subtle tones of the gorgeous Tiny Ruins, performing as a duet and filling the room with careful quietness. As the correct number of windows were already fully installed, the second night began in slightly less dramatic fashion. Georg auf Lieder was discovered busking in the Berlin streets and took this chance to showcase his powerful vocals and classy guitar picking to an enthusiastic crowd of Berlin music-lovers as well as industry professionals who had taken a shine to this cosy venue and returned to Tante Emma for more, despite a hectic night of events elsewhere, including the Great Escape Meets Haldern Pop Night featuring Ghostpoet; the Nordic By Nature night with Spleen United, I Got You On Tape, LCMDF, Highasakite; and the Paris Connection all nearby. Denmark's Boho Dancer took to the stage next, following up their international debut performance at the Danish Invasion showcase the night before, with a stunning acoustic set which took the breath away of the now full room. Sweet Sweet Moon of Austria was next up with his edgy approach to looped violin and atmospherics dominating the place for the next 30 minutes. A current NMO favourite, Schultz & Forever, gave a splendid version of their songs as a stripped down duo, Jonathan Schultz's voice cutting right through any traffic noise leaking through from the street. The night was closed by local act, Elias, again performing acoustically following a celebratory gig by the whole band at the Universal Radar night the previous evening.
As the stage was broken down, lights flicked on, and the audience filed out into the streets, there was a real feeling that the NMO had succeeded in the aim of presenting a line-up of new, exciting, and diverse artists to a perfectly mixed audience of locals and professionals. The NMO had attracted a lot of attention itself and we are pleased to say that there are even more music business decision-makers who are aware of the good work we are doing for new artists and companies around the world. So, expect to see more NMO shows at conferences and festivals in the coming months. Thank you for your support and to the fantastic artists and managers who appeared at our first event.

Following two exciting days, we headed off to the "headline" event of Berlin Music Week - Berlin Festival. The festival remains in the location at Tempelhof airfield but there have been significant improvements to the lay-out of the site. There is a new, giant main stage and, for once, it felt like the area had been laid out with some care and attention. Having a cracking line-up certainly helped make it an enjoyable experience. For the first time, there was the addition of a Berlin Music Week stage which featured some of the acts that had performed at the previous day's club festival. This provided a great opportunity for acts like Highasakite, Turboweekend, Muso, Toy, and Lay Low to perform between more established acts such as The Killers, Sigur Ros, Franz Ferdinand, and Bonaparte.

Sunday was the final day of the week of music. By now, the NMO was feeling tired and empty so there could have been no better way to spend a warm and sunny afternoon than by heading off to the tape tv rooftop festival. This took place on 3 rooftops by the river with big screens relaying the performances down to street level for a large and enthusiastic audience. Acts such as Two Door Cinema Club and Ghostpoet stole the show and seemed to really enjoy the strange experience of playing high above the crowds.
As the sun went down on the the day as well as the event, it left us with a mellow feeling. We were already missing the previous few days of non-stop action. Great bands, great people, crowds, venues, Berlin. Berlin Music Week has a heck of a lot to do if it wants to become a viable option for music professionals, with plenty of focus needed on taking care of better networking and meeting opportunities especially, but in terms of taking a snapshot of Berlin life and presenting it for a few days to its visitors to show what a fantastic city Berlin is to be in, then in that they did a perfect job.

text: Crispin Drigh and Sarah Schwaab, The NMO

COMPANY FOCUS: BOOGIE DRUGSTORE

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH: JONAS VEBNER (MUSIC EXPORT NORWAY)

REPORT: REEPERBAHN FESTIVAL 2012

REPORT: THE NMO NIGHTS @ BERLIN MUSIC WEEK 2012

The NMO Newsblog

Archives

Categories