Sat 16 Apr – Record Store Day 2011 Last Saturday, it was the yearly Record Store Day. I went to Amsterdam to visit some record store venues, for the sake of it. Being at Velvet's, Schradinova, a popjazz band starring Janne Schra (former Room Eleven) as singer and composer of songs plugged in for playing some songs. Since I bought this deluxe version of their album, last year, I decided it would be nice to see how they did live.

And well, it certainly was entertaining! One could really see the band members enjoyed performing on this very doorstep. Not…

Sat 9 Apr – Moss, Case Mayfield Hopefully soon with the track listing.
It seemed I was too late. I ended up somewhere in the middle of the Case Mayfield gig. Although Moss was sure to be the main attraction, I was eager to hear more of this man with his guitar.

Case Mayfield
Mayfield, born Volendam, opened up for Moss, but he didn't really get the attention of the audience (around 60 people). It always feels a bit awkward when someone plays songs that really ought to make you remain silent for a while (at least during…

Sat 26 Mar – The Tunes, PTT Op zaterdag 26 maart speelde de Hoornse formatie PTT samen met het Amsterdamse The Tunes een concert voor een handjevol Horinezen, Medemblikkers en Onderdijkers op het podium van Manifesto in Hoorn.

De avond werd geopend door PTT, een jonge band uit Hoorn. Met veel sterke teksten, trefzekere arrangementen en een zelfverzekerde presentatie wist de band te overtuigen. De keuze voor Nederlandstalige teksten is gewaagd, maar ze vervallen noch in het (quasi) poëtische of in het bijna banale.
Helaas was de zaal was te mak, of te leeg, om de aanwezigen mee te…

Ondanks alle kritiek van Last.fm'ers is het sinds vorig jaar is het niet langer mogelijk om gratis Last.fm te beluisteren. Het is ook niet meer mogelijk om als betalend lid een persoonlijke selectie af te spelen, ook niet op basis van kenmerken (tags) die je zelf hebt gegeven.

Feitelijk kun je alleen nog maar zogeheten global tag-radio afspelen. Kun je dan geen speellijsten meer maken? Ja, natuurlijk. Door simpelweg creatief te zijn met je tags. Ikzelf heb een lichte fascinatie ontwikkeld voor bekende jazzcomposities. Dit botvier ik op Last.fm door verschillende uitvoeringen kenmerken mee te geven als Summertime…

New: the summertime fm tag radio, playing over 1,100 versions of Gershwins Summertime!

Maybe you know the song. Summertime in Wintertime. Great song by Badly Drawn Boy. In the summertime, another classic.

But if it comes down to classicness in summertime, nothing compares to Gershwin's classic Summertime. This classical opera piece has become a jazz standard, and has been performed by numerous artists around the world. Of course, it has been performed as jazz, instrumental and with vocals; but also ska versions have been released, aswell as banjoëd versions. Steel drum groups have adopted the song.…

If it comes down to common themes in music, the Blue Moon isn't really what would pop up in your mind. Still there are many songs called 'Once in a blue moon'. Once in a blue moon fm sums them all right up! From the most beautiful jazzy performances and Chinese orchestras to the crappiest home recordings. It's all there. Behold!

Fri 7 Nov – Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba is alive! And acoustic! Some 100 people went to see Chumbawamba and they got it. With none other than Bettina Schelker, Swiss singer-songwriter, as additional extra.

I can't hesistate emphasising the fact that she was singing and playing the guitar very nicely (and so damn groovy sometimes, yeah baby!) and almost everyone was silent and enjoying listening to her songs. She sings in Swiss German, German but last but not least: English and very well indeed. It was funny yet good to hear about the stories behind all of these songs aswell. Even…

Sun 10 Feb – Kaki King, Habiba
Until a few days ago, just before a friend of me at 3voor12.nl notified me of the concert of Kaki King and Habiba, I had my harp moved from my moms place to mine. I never heard of Kaki King or Habiba. If so, I'd probably had my harp moved to my new home way earlier; to make spheric music (like Kaki does) on my harp (like Habiba).

But no, before this notification, I thought of Khaki as a colour. Besides that, the only modern times harpist I knew was Joanna Newsom…

Sometimes… sometimes I just listen to regular radio. It's like, so different from listening to music whilst working, chatting, writing et cetera. I have created a tag-list with songs that were played from my favourite radio show: Boogie Nights of the VPRO (a Dutch broadcasting organisation). My goal is to tag every song that has been aired on the show. Especially because most of the material isn't available on Last FM (yet)…
However you can find loads of more or lesser known songs already available at the Last.FM station on VPRO Boogie Nights-tag.

I love to listen to debates,…

Sun 18 Nov – The Gee Strings, Rene SG
Fuck, fuck, fuck yeah! There are a few things about Rene SG you just can't ignore. It's all about fuck this and fuck that, and not about the great lyrics. There are these bands, that are really proud of their great lyrics, but when nothing remains of these great lyrics when performed live. Rene SG is just loud and short. And well, kinda fun. Punk.

The Gee Strings was totally different cook. Of course. Hailing from the seventies, Germany, still active, they were there. Punk as ever. Well I saw Chumbawamba…