|
|
|
|
The Best of Swiss Underground
I'm a big supporter of Swiss Bands, especially young ones who play cool music but haven't managed to make a break-through yet. So before going to the US I wanted to compile a playlist featuring songs from my favorite Swiss bands (one apiece).
Here goes:
Labels: coldeve, Labia, Marylane, Music, Switzerland
|
|
Coldeve & Marylane @ Vorstadt Sounds Week
Vorstadt Sounds Week is a festival in Zurich which features eight consecutive nights with concerts from Swiss up and coming artist.
The location is a common room of a parish which was decorated with a lot of thought and care. The place felt like a cool and modern beach bar (without the sand of course ;) ).
Opening the evening were Marylane, a young band playing a mixture between trip hop and electroaccoustic with ethereal touches. This description may sound a bit clinical and completely misses the point ;). What Marylane does is play wonderful music which leads one on different planes and lets one forget everything that's happening around. And so it happened that an hour passed without my noticing and the concert was over way too soon. After the show I immediately bought one of their limited Demo CDs (the songs can be heard on myspace) and I'm looking forward to hear more from them in the near future :).
Next up were Coldeve, a Zurich based band playing a mixture of Alternative and Indie Rock with electronic influences. Compared to Marylane their sound has more power but lacks the ethereal edge. In this way they complement each other well which results in a perfect line-up. The audience obviously shared these sentiments and appeared in droves ensuring an (almost) sold out house, this stood in stark contrast to Coldeve's last concert in the Culture Club. Thus it was no wonder that they were extremely motivated and started full blast into their set. At first I was the only one dancing but after a while all open space was occupied, unfortunately there were many stools in the way, so the place was quite restricted. Coldeve played a very cool concert and the audience applauded ecstatically and would have been happy to listen longer than the hour that the gig lasted. But all good things have to end sometimes, and by the end of the gig I was very exhausted (it was extremely warm in the club and I was very active throughout ;) ).
Coldeve also sold their brand new CD "Super Himalaya" at the gig and Fatima, the singer, was so nice and gave me a copy in recognition of my enthusiastic cheering at the last concert :).
To sum up: Vorstadt Sounds is a very cool festival with a lot of flair and both Marylane and Coldeve are extremely cool bands which you should definitely check out!
PS: 333 posts and counting :DLabels: coldeve, Concert, Marylane, Music
|
|
Coldeve @ Culture Club
A year after I first heard of Coldeve at the Whit Sunday Rock festival in the abart I finally managed to catch up with them again.
The gig took place in the Culture Club in Schwerzenbach. I found the location without problem, but standing in front of the door I stopped for a moment to study the half-dozen signs which proclaimed it a private club. Yet the door was opened for me and so I stepped inside. Once I saw the stage and the party area the whole place started to ring a bell. After a moment the penny dropped. I had been here before at a Labia concert four or five years ago when the club was still called 2nd Floor.
After a while Coldeve took the stage to play the most exclusive concert I have ever personally witnessed. I'm used to small concerts with few guest, but the four people (including me) that turned up to see this show was definitely a new record. And yet the band took this in their stride and played as if the place was filled to the brim ^^. At first I needed to get used to their new style, I'm used to their old CD which features a Cello but no keyboard or synthesizer. And even though I'm normally quite skeptical to bands which use synthesizers, Coldeve's music was so inspirational that by the second song I was completely lost and had a terrific time dancing to their songs. There was another reason which made this concert special as well: Coldeve played without a song-list and so either one of the band members mentioned a title or he would just start playing and the others would tune in. This worked so well I wouldn't have noticed it, if they hadn't confessed to this experiment after the gig. 50 minutes later everyone was so exhausted, it was quite hot in the club, that the concert just had to end. And so I'm looking forward to their next gig at the Vorstadt Sounds festival.Labels: coldeve, Concert
|
|
Whit Sunday Rock Night vol.2 @ Abart
The second Whit Sunday Rock Night took place at the Abart yesterday and I almost missed it! Per chance I visited the Abart homepage at 5pm yesterday to get some more information about the party of the evening; only then did I discover that a concert-marathon was scheduled for the day! Ten Swiss bands, none of which I had previously known or heard of (except My Name is George, which is very present in the media lately). So this was definitely something I had to check out. Fortunately I was just in time to see the first band.
Zhivago were first on stage and they played a cool mixture of Easy Listening and Alternative (Brit) Rock. I liked their style and fought it a great opening act, a pity that not that many people saw them perform.
Next up was Rita Hey, they introduced themselves as "the contrast program", which fitted very well. They played a mixture of Folk and Country music, something I normally don't expect to hear in the Abart, but nevertheless a very nice change.
Then came Barakuda, a three-piece which played Alternative Rock. The music they played was solid, but I just couldn't get used to the vocals. Maybe I'll have to give them another chance someday.
Then came Coldeve, one of my favorite bands of the evening, even though I cannot describe their style of music. I'm looking forward to their upcoming CD-Release later this year.
Next on stage were Dave Doorslammer & The Guests, the biggest disappointment of the evening. They played only one song, which lasted twenty minutes, but reminded me very much of a Jam Session. Normally I don't like music being labeled as noise, but for this band it just fits. All they made was noise, sometimes louder, sometimes quieter.
The Sidewalkpoets were then a very nice change. They played Melodic Rock and Easy Listening and were a blessing for my tortured ears.
Poison Ivvy were by far the oldest band of the day. This didn't stop them from delivering a kick-ass show! They played good old-school Punk-Rock and they managed to grab the crowds interest very well. And I enjoyed their gig tremendously.
Next on stage were elfish. I cannot quite describe their music either, but it has a very eery quality and their first song literally went under my skin. Definitely a band to look out for!
The second to last artist on stage was J. Kriste (Master Of Disguise). His back to the basics Indie-Rock could not quite convince me. But he seems a nice enough guy full of enthusiasm; he was thrilled to play in front of 400 people.
Then it was finally time for the main act: My Name Is George. Whereas the other bands had to present their music in a fifteen minute time-slot, My Name Is George had a whole hour at their disposal. Well, they were the most famous band on stage after all. The crowd loved their Retro-Rock and even though they have some catchy tunes, I couldn't quite get into the vibe, maybe it's just been too long a day. Maybe I'll give them another chance in the near future.
What stays with me after this evening is the good feeling that there is a lot of talent present in the Swiss music scene and that there are still many great bands out there to discover. And most of the bands have already produced a CD or EP. So I ended the evening with four new CDs (Zhivago, Sidewalkpoets, elfish, Fisher). Fisher didn't play that evening, but I've seen them twice at an unplugged concert in Uster and I've thought about buying their CD for a while now :)Labels: coldeve, Concert, Music
|
|
|
