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COMPANY FOCUS: SLOW TRAVEL BERLIN

1/7/2013

Berlin can seem like an overwhelming, sprawling place to visit sometimes. That's why anyone spending time in the city needs to follow the guys at Slow Travel Berlin to get the very best info regarding off-the-beaten-track hangouts and activities.

Name of company: SLOW TRAVEL BERLIN
Type of Business: Local Travel & Info Hub With Broad & Sometimes Atypical Ambitions
City/Country: Berlin, Germany
Year Founded: 2010
Employees and their roles: Paul Sullivan (Founder & Editor), Brian Melican (Sub Editor), Natalie Holmes (Listings Editor), Rebecca Loyche (Art Listings) plus a team of lovely and excellent contributors inc. Marian Ryan, Giulia Pines, Paul Scraton, Tam Eastley, Grashina Gabelmann, Natalye Childress, Marcel Krueger, Vanessa Remoquillo, Rhea Boyden and Wyndham Wallace.
Company motto: Slow Travel Berlin is first and foremost a repository of eclectic information about the city from a range of perspectives. Our take on travel is very sustainable, something that's needed in a city as swamped with tourism as Berlin. We feature regular contributions from city residents on subjects ranging from food and family life to art and personal experiences with an aim to encourage deeper, more varied exploration and promotion of small, locally-minded businesses and services. We aim to facilitate any quest to get beneath the skin of the city a little, or discover it at a more leisurely pace. We offer an insider’s view that at the same time tries to be as inclusive as possible.
Company Highlights so far: Company Highlights so far (best achievements): Consistently delivering high-quality content on Berlin that is deeper and broader than most, and with zero budget. We've also hosted two really fun (and quite big!) events this year: our "Day of Cuisine, Creativity and Culture in Berlin" at the Markthalle IX (April 2012) was packed with great and free things to do, including a Locavore food market, things for kids, a literary corner with bookstalls and music performances. It was really popular and we might repeat it next year; and The Slowlympics (August 2012), which was our non-commercial, Monty-Python-esque take on the Olympics that included Compact Discus throwing and Slow Cycling races.
Goals for next 12 months: We'd like to do more events this year, both large and small. We've also been testing the water with various tours and workshops (photography, walking and cycling tours, film making - all sustainably minded), which we will launch properly next year. And we're producing a couple of books, the first of which should be ready for Spring and will be a fantastic companion for anyone wanting to get to know Berlin's hidden nooks and crannies a little better.
Biggest Challenge ahead: Growing a business model that is fair, non-hierarchical and transparent. Expanding without losing our Slow ethic.
Key Projects: The main thing right now is getting our first book finished, and broadening our tours and services
What are the main things are you looking for at the moment: Now that we're expanding, I think we could do with someone to help manage everything. Someone who knows about marketing would be a great help too, since we need to start spreading our vision (and commercial services) beyond the local blogger scene. And we are always happy to link up with like-minded services and people in different cities and countries.

Homepage address: http://www.slowtravelberlin.com
Facebook address: https://www.facebook.com/SlowTravelBerlin
Twitter address: https://twitter.com/slowberlin

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH: BASTI WEINERT

1/7/2013

name: Sebastian Weinert
company: Freelancer
job: Production, Event, and Tour Manager
city: Berlin
working on: Since 2005 I’ve been working as a professional production- and tour manager for various companies. From the beginning my work was focused mainly on rock´n´roll shows for the Berlin based promoter Trinity Music. Over the years I did nearly all kinds of different production work from concerts, sport events to exhibitions and business events. Since 2007 I’ve been one of the production manager for the Citadel Music Festival in Berlin. From 2009–2011 I was also responsible for the local production for the „Telekom Extreme Playgrounds“ @ Velodrom/ Berlin. In 2010 and 2011 one of the biggest experiences was to supervise the Popkomm showcase festival which included up to 7 venues and more than 80 artists in 2 days. Next projects will for example include the World Economic Forum 2013 in Davos.
favourite artist(s): Too many to name them all. But to mention a few of my all-time favs: Social Distortion, Wolfbrigade, The Generators, Depeche Mode, Beastie Boys....
But I always look out for all kinds of new and good music.
first gig: One of my first shows I ever visited was Depeche Mode in 1993 at the „Songs of Faith & Devotion“ Tour.
highlight(s) of the last year: Absolutely to work with Henry Rollins was one of the best experiences ever. And as every year to work at the Citadel Music Festival with different artist such as Soundgarden, Snow Patrol, Alanis Morrisette etc.....
musical hero: HENRY ROLLINS!!!
listening to: music ;)

Connect with Basti HERE

THE NMO ESSAY: THE EP - AN EXCUSABLE PROJECT, AN EASY FORMAT?

1/6/2013

The EP – an excusable project, an easy format?
An essay by Martin Hjorth

EP is an abbreviation of “extended play”, which basically means that we’re confused from the beginning. It may have made sense when we defined different kinds of musical releases based on what actually fit on a particular vinyl. Back in the days, the EP used to be a 7” that contained more songs than the typical single. So far so good.

Before I go on, I should perhaps say that some of my favourite records are EPs. I even released a few EPs myself, so I’m not trying to run this format into the ground. But what is an EP in 2013, and which problems do we encounter when speaking of this format? Let’s start by taking a look at what it’s not.

A friend once said that an EP is merely “a demo with better recordings”. I don’t agree, but symbolically there is some truth to this. I’ll get back to that. Can it then be considered the same as an LP, simply shorter? Again, this simply isn’t possible from a symbolic point of view.

Nowadays, you’ll come across EPs that contain one song in three different versions: An original recording, a remix and a live version – or perhaps an instrumental version. That is basically the same as calling something a “festival” even though it’s only one night. So why not just call it a single instead of an EP? Let’s have a look at this idea of quantity.

Quantitatively speaking

After that clumsy headline, let’s have a look at some examples. You might remember the debut EPs by rock bands such as Arcade Fire, Interpol, Vampire Weekend and Tokyo Police Club. These served to build a certain hype before the bands (or labels) were ready to record and/or release their respective debut LPs, which would be known as the official “debut albums”. So in terms of marketing, their EPs weren’t “real” as these weren’t really the “debut”. They were EPs, but the bands released something more “real” when it was an LP? Huh!

This is, however, not to say that many journalists and fans don’t pick up on this; many writers are good at clarifying what kind of debut they’re speaking of (first release, first full-length, first major label album etc.). Let’s stick to Tokyo Police Club for a second. They released their first EP, “A Lesson in Crime”, in 2006, containing 8 songs and a total length of about 16 minutes. Three of these songs were released as singles. Three singles on one EP! In 2007 they released a second EP called “Smith EP”, which originally contained only 3 songs. Back then, Adam Moerder wrote the following in his review on Pitchfork:

“Oh, what a coy temptress is this Tokyo Police Club. With only about 20 minutes of released material under their belt, [they’ve] generated a tidal wave of well-deserved hype... as the indie world collectively holds its breath for the TPC full-length, they first punch us in the gut with the “Smith” EP, a three-song, eight-minute release that could pass for a free iTunes preview.”

Besides serving as an example of building hype through the EP format before releasing the “real” debut album, these EPs also serve as an example of how many tracks you can put on an EP and still release it as the same format. The “Smith” EP was, by the way, initially only released digitally. Personally, I always thought of their first EP as a sort of “mini album” rather than an EP, exactly because of the number of songs - something that also allowed them to test out different styles.

Mini albums and double EPs

Let’s cross the pond and have a look at Wales-based (but English) indie pop outfit Los Campesinos!. After releasing their debut full-length in 2008, they followed up with the quite brilliant “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” in the very same year. The latter consists of 10 brand new songs and a total length of 32 minutes, compared to the 42 minutes and 12 songs that made up the debut full-length. And yet, somehow, this second album was indeed not officially an “album” or a “full-length”. It was, rather, a “mini album” or an “EEP” (extended extended play). Supposedly, there were contractual reasons behind this.

Right, let’s go back across the Atlantic and have a look at Modest Mouse, a band known for long releases, whatever the format. In 1997 they released “The Fruit That Ate Itself” EP, spanning 9 songs over 21 minutes. Very short songs for their standard! The number of songs is, however, what is interesting here, and the Japanese version even contains five more songs. That is, an EP with 14 tracks. Their EP “No One’s First and You’re Next” from 2009 is a collection of B-sides, unreleased songs and new material. These 8 songs make up a total of 33 minutes, more than many “full-length” albums released today.

Now consider Sufjan Stevens. His “All Delighted People” EP from 2010 is 59 minutes long. That’s almost one full hour of music and only seven minutes shorter than his breakthrough full-length “Michigan” (2003) and ten minutes longer than his LP “Seven Swans” (2004). Sure, he followed his 2010 EP with a full-length that is slightly longer, “The Age of Adz” (74 minutes), but an EP of 59 minutes certainly stretches the idea of an “extended play”.

So we have EPs that could in one way or other also be considered singles, maxi singles, LPs, mini albums. Sticking close to the full-length album is also the quite rare “double EP” (a relatively new example of this is Beirut’s “March of the Zapotec/Holland” EP). And we have the classic and stricter vinyl definitions of the format. But they matter less in this (sigh) increasingly digital world, right?

Cost benefits and indie ideals

The past few decades, the EP format has been popular mainly within a punk and indie discourse (and no wonder seeing how confusing it is to understand what it even is!). If you were buying records in the 80s, the EP was exclusively the output of indie labels and artists. They were simply good value for money. Indie bands were unlikely to compete in the singles market in the UK (the top 40 was all important) as they tended not to be singles-led acts. There were of course exceptions, The Smiths being amongst the most famous, but the EP was seen as value for money and somewhat of an antithesis of what being a major label artist was about.

Back then the Majors brought in the 12” single as their way of offering value for money. These tended to be 3-4 tracks with remixes and instrumental versions of the same song. But what about the cost factor today? You can sell an EP for a lot more than a 7” single, and they are thus easier to recoup on. At the same time it gives you a better idea of what a band stands for. As Kevin Douch, owner of Big Scary Monsters Recordings (based in Oxford), says: “From a fan’s point of view it offers a lot more than a single, musically, so you really get a good idea of a band.”

David Laurie, owner of the London-based label Something in Construction, agrees: “They can be a nice summation of a themed body of work that is more than a couple of songs and less than an album. For new acts, they are a nice way of drawing an audience a little closer to what an artist is about than a single track; and they’re not as, well, time-consuming as an album.”

In the early days, Big Scary Monsters was built on a few key EPs by bands such as Secondsmile, Jeniferever and Get Cape Wear Cape Fly. They all went on to do well and at the same time help build the label’s name. The fact that the EP is neither a single nor an album (the way most people would define ‘album’) is what gives the EP its niche quality. It is, however, also what makes it occasionally problematic: Magazines have never quite figured out where to place them in their reviews section, and shops have never really embraced stocking them.

David Laurie elaborates: “Some media types don’t cherish them quite so much. Many magazines won’t review them, [which is] a shame because they are often not a second tier frippery at all. Many, especially older journalists, who still recall B-sides as a concept, will view them just as a single with extra B-sides.” At the end of the year, you also see plenty of magazines and websites listing the best EPs of the year, while others include them in their list of “best album” (notice how many have included the Burial EP in 2012 in this section).

These might not be huge factors to indie labels, who rely on selling directly to fans via word-of-mouth and very small marketing budgets, but for many others it will make it a less appealing format. In the case of Big Scary Monsters, though, it has been a most useful tool: 8/10 times they have opted to release an EP before releasing a full-length album when beginning work with a new band.

For Hannes Tschürtz, CEO of Ink Music from Austria, the EP is now mainly somewhat of a “bridge” between albums. They occasionally use EPs to open a campaign for a new artist, which gives the format more of a promotional and strategic purpose. In their case, the EPs hardly bring the money back they cost but instead serve as an investment.

Future embrace of the mainstream?

Regarding the mainstream market, there is generally good reason to avoid confusion, and the EP does often represent just that. And how often do you see major artists and major labels release EPs? One infamous example is Lady Gaga’s “The Fame Monster”. The 8 songs make for 34 minutes of music. Almost 10 minutes longer than the Official Chart Company in the UK defines the limit (anything longer than 25 minutes cannot be an EP). So that was apparently an EP whilst she has only released two “studio albums”. Again: Huh!

We live in an age with easier access to our cultural archive than ever before. Incidentally, we’ve also been called an “ADD culture”. If you consider this combination of technology, attention span, and accessibility there could be a change underway. Maybe not a paradigm shift as such but the idea of the EP as the “mini album” would make sense to a certain extent. Talking to Kamilla Traberg of Copenhagen/London-based label Good Tape Records, she told me that she liked the format because of her own inability to stay focused: The EP has the ability to show what a band is capable of without boring you.

In this hypothesis we would have to consider the dynamic between habit and collective romanticizing: Although more and more established labels sign “singles deals” instead of traditional record deals, the idea of the album transcends idealism and is still somewhat of a “condition” in terms of taste and consumption. It’s what artists are supposed to do - we expect them to release albums. It’s what we’re used to, and it’s what our parents are used to. Major labels have been criticised heavily for not adapting to the new (digital) conditions of the music industry, but there’s a reason why they can actually still sell full-length albums, and it’s more a question of habits than marketing. The EP is still too confusing, too weird, too unusual. But everything needs to start somewhere, right?

Excuses and liberation

But enough about the future and the past. Let’s go back to the idea of the “demo” and “the real” (this is neither a theological nor philosophical notion in this context). When calling something a “demo” you imply directly and literally that it’s not finished, either creatively or in terms of production/mixing/mastering. When putting out an EP the piece of art as such is (or is to be) considered “finished”. And yet we most often don’t take it seriously in the same way as an “album”.

Granted, most of the people who will read this are probably nerds like me who will have several favourite EPs that are right up there with the “real” full-lengths in terms of quality. For some listeners, the EP might even have something more authentic to it; partly because the recording and/or production is often not quite as good or smooth as that of an LP (which is why we have been accustomed to calling an LP a “studio album”), and partly because of who usually chooses to work with EPs – that is, not the mainstream labels and artists.

But even the glorification of the EP underlines its different status altogether. A common joke about music snobs is that they always “liked the EP better”. This actually calls for a discussion of Plato’s “simulacra”, but we can also stick to calling the EP a work of art that is closer to the pure “idea” or even genius whilst the “album” is the somewhat corrupted piece of art. It’s not exactly news to anyone that we often (pretend to) prefer the rough diamond over what we could call “polished”.

In an interview with the blog Aquarium Drunkard in 2011, Swedish group The Radio Dept. expressed something similar to this idea of what is ‘pure’. Martin Larsson from the band said: “An album really defines you in a way, and it’s kind of boring to be defined when you’re trying to be creative or do something different.”

Larsson even speaks of a certain fear of how people will define you for years based on full-lengths, which is why they can be seen as less ‘corrupt’: “I really love the idea of an EP. You don’t have to think and just do what you want. You don’t have to go through the whole media cycle and neither does the audience.”

The Rumour Said Fire had an impressive breakthrough in their native Denmark with their debut EP “The Life and Death of a Male Body” in 2009. Singer Jesper Lidang does see it as a sort of mini-album, but he concedes that the strength of the EP is the fact that you don’t have to create something coherent, which enables musicians to simply share whichever new songs they want to share. This way you don’t have to be held artistically responsible to a possibly dated view of “meaning” and “history”, he says.

David Laurie of the Something in Construction label adds: “For more established acts, they can be a nice mini-statement that doesn’t have the same this-is-going-on-your-tombstone-or-Wiki weight. They can be fun or experimental or just a nice release for ideas that you don’t have to live with for two years.”

So we can also glorify the EP. In the verdict, the judgment of taste, many people do take the LP and the EP seriously, but it still becomes a question of status. If an EP is great and receives glowing reviews, congratulations! If it’s not received well either critically or commercially, well, it was just an EP. It’s an artistic freebie in this sense. Excusable.

Why so serious?

Some would call it a kind of euphemism for a demo, and very often that would be true. But we’re not culturally and socially allowed to call anyone out for having created, crafted, released and promoted something that is “less serious”. This is where the EP format, from a philosophical point of view, gets extremely interesting: It is considered a finished piece of art but is subject to a relativised judgment of taste and not the merciless honesty and responsibility connected to the “album”. It is somehow a piece of art and artistically in transit. Flexible. We can view it as finished or unfinished, something less serious or something less in general, and at the same time as something more pure. There is a kind of magical, aesthetic discrepancy at work here.

So the ‘problem’ might essentially be more of an aesthetic conundrum. We may simply have decided to accept the mystery. David Laurie of the Something in Construction label, categorises the EP as “the middleman”, which might very well summarise some of the problems and paradoxes as well as potential found in this format.

We touched upon the theme of temporality earlier: The length of various releases, attention span and ADD culture. David Laurie half-jokingly remarks how the blogosphere seems to be afraid of albums and of all the MP3s they might miss during the course of listening to one and encourages new acts to make EPs. But despite an intrinsic conceptual arc, they are still advised to put out the most single-y track of the EP first: “Be very prepared for people to only listen to, and thus judge you on, one track. And it’s probably going to be track one or the first one you put out.”

In the spring of 2012 the Gothenburg duo Air France decided to call it a day. They released two brilliant EPs and never a full-length album. The last EP, “No Way Down”, was particularly good (the aforementioned Something in Construction released it in the UK). One song, “Collapsing Outside Your Doorstep”, uses a sample with the voices of two kids. One says: “It’s sort of like a dream… isn’t it?” to which the other kid responds: “No. Better”. The statement is beautiful and much more autobiographical than the band could ever have hoped for themselves.

This last EP was such an accomplishment and did indeed feel like a short album, statistics aside (six songs, a little shy of 23 minutes). Pitchfork included it on their year-end list as one of the albums of the year. And yet people have been lamenting that they never released “an album”, thinking the EP cannot possibly be their best work. They must have been holding something back.

The music itself is dreamy, but the disbandment is what allows the dream to take on a new shape: We can now keep wondering what the band could have become if they had released – dare we say it? – an album.

But this is the key: To keep wondering. We have been busy the past few years criticising major labels for handling the transition to the so-called digital age clumsily. They were sleeping giants. But we must not risk the consequences of not keeping up, major or indie, composer or producer, listener or writer; what we need is to genuinely keep wondering and keep asking (ourselves) questions.

If we cannot define something clearly, we should at least have the decency to reflect on the state of things, and the idea of the EP has so much to offer in this regard: What do we want from it, what can it offer, do we really need to define things? Should the EP format be more accessible, or is it thriving exactly because of the quasi-negation: Its status as a non-album of sorts? Is it even a problem that an EP can be… anything?

Pop music already has trouble being included within the realm of art, so should we be concerned that the EP can be seen as an artistic loophole or freebie that can be excused? On the other hand, its playful character might somehow be able to set it free to make it true or real to many people in a sense the full-length cannot. These are dangerous adjectives to throw around, but if it makes us reflect on the state of music isn’t that exactly what gives it the artistic legitimacy we are searching for?

REPORT: ICELAND AIRWAVES

12/12/2012

Iceland Airwaves 2012

31 October – 4 November || Words and photos by Vasilis Panagiotopoulos

Iceland Airwaves has changed drastically over the years. Starting out, in 1999, as a one-off stunt in an airplane hangar, thirteen years on it has become an international professionally run multi-venue event that sells out months in advance. Probably one of its most defining changes has been the recent closure of legendary club NASA, formerly the heart and soul of Airwaves and despite the vehement public outcry – especially within the artistic community – the club is still threatened to be torn down to give way for a hotel. As a result of this, Harpa, Rekjavík’s stunning concert hall has become Iceland Airwaves’ new home giving the festival a sleeker more upmarket feel.

Gusgus

Despite the unfortunate cancellations of Swans, Poliça and Django Django the 2012 Airwaves line-up consisted of a long list of highlights, including Gusgus, Phantogram, Retro Stefson, Dirty Projectors, FM Belfast, Sóley, DIIV, Philco Fiction, Friends and its indisputable headliners Sigur Rós.

But what about the newcomers? The NMO travelled to the Icelandic capital in order to bring you a selection of the best new acts at Iceland Airwaves 2012:

Nova Heart (CN)

http://soundcloud.com/novaheart/beautifulboys

Chinese-born, US/Canada-bred, former MTV VJ Helen Feng was voted the no.11 coolest rock star by Beijing Timeout Magazine. Nova Heart’s new wave sensibilities and uplifting electropop beats were brought to Reykjavik all the way from Beijing. Aided by her huge stage presence and a series of well-thought-out tunes the unsuspecting crowd that gathered on Thursday night at Gamli Gaukurinn was in for a real treat.

Oyama

Oyama (IS)

http://soundcloud.com/oyamaband/oyama-dinosaur

Oyama won’t get an award for being original, but their fuzzy noise-rock is honest, cleverly melodic and highly-addictive and they surely deserve credit for that. The band’s Friday show at Bar 11 was jammed-packed by eager shoegaze fanatics. Júlía Hermannsdóttir and Úlfur Alexander Einarsson’s boy-girl vocals will please all Lush and, Jesus And Mary Chain fans out there.

Tilbury (IS)

http://soundcloud.com/rvkmusicmess/tilbury-slow-motion-fighter-1

On first listen Tilbury sound pretty dull. It takes a while to get into their peculiar dreamy world. Þormóður Dagsson’s softly-spoken voice and quirky melodies convey a dark nostalgic beauty. No wonder that this is an all-star band comprised of members of Skakkamange, Jeff Who?, Valdimar, Sin Fang and Hjaltalin. Unfortunately the writer only got the chance to see a short-but-sweet daytime show. So stay tuned for more… Highly recommended

Nelson Can

Nelson Can (DK)

http://soundcloud.com/music-week/nelson-can-apple-pie

Nelson Can like the minimalism of the White Stripes’ and The Gossip. Consequently the female punk-trio rely solely on bass, drums and some percussion. That didn’t prevent them from causing a mini-riot at Deutsche Bar on Thursday night. Expect ample amounts of attitude, Nordic wit and Danish charm. What’s not to like?

Pascal Pinon (IS)

http://soundcloud.com/ramdadadej/pascal-pinon-bloom

Ethereal female ensemble Pascal Pinon started playing music at the early age of 14. The young Icelanders specialise in genuine and intimate performances such as the one on Thursday afternoon in Eldhús, a tiny house specially built for Airwaves on Ingólfstorg Square; coined the festival’s smallest venue. They played material from their brilliant new album produced by Alex Somers with lyrics in Icelandic, Swedish and English. Managing to charm all passers-by

Retro Stefson

Further new acts worth checking out are folk-pop female extravaganza My Bubba & Mi, eighties devotees Kiriyama Family, stripped-down rock’n’roll duo The Echo Vamper, alternative rockers Two Tickets To Japan, eccentric popsters Monotown, shoegazers Dream Central Station and finally upbeat disco-pop crew Boogie Trouble.

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...

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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: VERSTÄRKER

8/13/2012

Name of company: Verstärker Medienmarketing GmbH
Type of Business: PR/Promotion, Full Service, Music Publishing and more
City/Country: Berlin, Germany
Year Founded: 1995
Employees and their roles: Sven Staedtler – Head of Promotion / Partner
Carsten Stricker – Founder / MD
Vivien Mierzkalla – Online Promotion
Raphael Schmidt – Apprentice / Radio Promotion and Freelancer
Roster/Clients: Groove Attack/ Chimperator (Cro), Berlin Festival, PR for WiMP music streaming service, Berthold Seliger (Lou Reed), Ignition Mgmt. (Oasis, Beady Eye, Noel Gallagher), Cooperative Music (Garbage, Bloc Party), PIAS (The Temper Trap), BMG Rights (The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Young Man) as well as the UK-Labels Ninja Tune/Big Dada, Full Time Hobby and Memphis Industries and many more... Full Project overview here (http://www.verstaerker.com/sitephp/artists/).
Company motto: Verstaerker translates into 'amplifier', 'verstaerken' means 'to boost, fortify, strengthen or fuel something’
Company Highlights so far: Surviving and working for cool bands/projects for more than 17 years now
Goals for next 12 months: watch this space for news shortly!
Biggest Challenge ahead: See above
Key Projects: all our projects are key projects.

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EWERT & THE TWO DRAGONS: THE STORY CONTINUES

8/7/2012

The NMO is extremely proud to be part of the latest success for the massively talented and increasingly acclaimed, up and coming act from Estonia, Ewert & The Two Dragons.

It was announced on 2nd August that the Tallinn-based folkpop band has signed an exclusive global songwriting deal with BMG Germany and we are happy to say that The NMO was instrumental in helping the band land this golden opportunity.

Ewert & The Two Dragons was a Featured Artist earlier this year following an NMO-led campaign that saw the band become the most hyped performer at Eurosonic Festival. We first came across the band in their hometown back in March 2011 during our annual trip to Tallinn Music Week. The band was quick to catch the eye and were booked immediately to perform at European events such as Berlin Music Week, Waves Vienna, Lost In Music, and Eurosonic.

Following the official NMO focus on the band, there was an instant reaction from our members who were coming across this name for the first time. Several intrigued parties were key Berlin-based companies and the NMO was able to connect the band's manager, Toomas Olljum, with some of the most interested people. He says " I met the NMO for the first time at Tallinn Music Week after which they ran a story on Ewert and The Two Dragons that resulted in initial e-mail correspondence. The NMO was then also kind enough to fix us important meetings in Berlin and one of them has led to this publishing deal with BMG". He continues "The NMO`s slogan is "putting new music on the map" which sounds pretty pretentious but it's only pretentious when you don`t live up to the hype. The NMO has always kept the finger on the pulse when it comes to finding new talent, wherever it is from, and that`s the key - being aware of the talent out there and giving it the support".

Founder of The NMO, Paul Cheetham, claims that this result shows why the NMO is perhaps unique within the music industry. "The key to the NMO is that we are able to be more than a mere blog or even a tastemaker. Our added ingredient is that we can pick up the phone or send off an email to decision-making people who we think should pay attention to the particular band we are featuring and, as was the case with BMG and Ewert & The Two Dragons, ensure that any initial interest we gain is not lost. In this case, Toomas happens to be a very smart, active and ambitious guy and he was quick to jump on our offer of help in arranging meetings for him. He flew in to Berlin for a day, had a few meetings and a beer with us and the rest is quickly becoming history. Toomas has been a member of The NMO since we met in Tallinn last year, and it is people like him that the website is designed to help so we are really thrilled to see our input has given him, and his artist, a helping hand".

Florian Schrödter, A&R BMG Germany commented “Ewert & The Two Dragons is one of the most promising indie-folk music discoveries in Europe this year and we proudly support such great talent coming from Estonia.”

The band seems to be going from strength to strength, with a full European tour underway as well as a debut run of dates in the USA supported by Filter magazine.

For more information about Ewert & The Two Dragons go HERE
For business enquiries about the band contact Toomas Olljum HERE
To sign up to The NMO go HERE

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COMPANY FOCUS: SLOW TRAVEL BERLIN

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH: BASTI WEINERT

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REPORT: ICELAND AIRWAVES

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

COMPANY FOCUS: VERSTÄRKER

EWERT & THE TWO DRAGONS: THE STORY CONTINUES

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