Shazamers' Blog

One of the most distinguished events out of the European festival circuit is taking place this year from August the 10th-14th in Norway’s capital city Oslo.

The Øya Festival stands out from the avalanche of similar events thanks to its historical location on a medieval park, right where Oslo was originally found. Its impeccable green credentials – having won several awards and mentions for its full compromise with the environment – and with a line-up that focuses on new music, it easily stands comparisons against any other rock events held around the globe.

Headliners this year include Pavement, who continue their acclaimed reunion tour, LCD Soundsystem’s rumoured final tour, M.I.A, Big Boi, The Flaming Lips and The xx next to up to 200 other acts scheduled to perform. The event also offers a comprehensive program of multidisciplinary art activities and club nights. More details of which can be found at the festival website.

While giving the finishing touches, the organisers have compiled a triple-sided mixtape with some of the most interesting up and coming talent featured in this year’s edition. Recent favourites from the likes of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffitti, Yeasayer or Marina & The Diamonds go back to back with a good selection of local talent- and it’s available to download for free! For links and full tracklist info read on.

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Roberto Gonzalez Around the world, Gigs/ Events ariel pink's haunted grafitti, marina & the diamonds, Øya festival

After all the hype and hysteria, this Sunday the 2010 World Cup reaches its conclusion. The past few weeks have been packed with excitement and disappointment in equal measure, leading to the final match between Spain and Holland.

In this World Cup, the role of music has been even more prominent than previously. The two different official anthems, K’naan’s ‘Waving Flag’ and Shakira’s ‘Waka Waka’ -which the Colombian superstar will be performing during the closing ceremony – have been flying high in the charts around the world. Whereas in the UK, Dizzee Rascal and James Corden revisited an eighties Tears For Fears classic, throwing in a little hook from Blackstreet’s greatest moment ‘No Diggity’ in ‘Shout (For England)’. We’ve even found a new weapon of mass hearing destruction in the shape of a traditional South African folklore instrument, the much maligned Vuvuzela.

Both finalist countries have also prepared some local anthems to boost morale among their respective selections. In Spain, they’ve chosen an African-sounding choir to sing ‘Podemos (Himno de La Roja)’ (We Can ‘Anthem Of the Red One’) – La Roja being the name Spaniards give to their national team, after the colour of their uniform. Meanwhile, the Dutch chosen anthem is ‘Viva Hollandia’, sang by veteran artist Wolter Kroes, which also shares some echoes of the Black Continent’s music.

While neither tracks are likely to go down in the books of music history, they’ll serve us well to wish both teams luck. May the best team win!

Roberto Gonzalez Around the world podemos, viva hollandia

Our look at the music that’s popular in different corners of the globe makes a brief stopover in China, where the Top 10 has a distinctive rap flavour. The highest entry of the week is ‘Rap Along Song’ by Hong Kong duo Fama, taken from their new and also very successful album ‘O’Fama’. The track deceitfully begins as an acoustic ballad, but shortly changes into the rap that’s mention in its title, to finally morph again into a powerful guitar anthem. All in less than four minutes!

‘O’Fama’ contains vocal collaborations from other popular Asian artists such as Andy Hui, Edison, DJ Tommy; etc. and it has been produced by Eason Chan - currently considered the king of Cantonese-Pop who’s also topping the charts with a  ballad taken from his more recent opus ‘Time Flies’. (Below)

Roberto Gonzalez Around the world eason chan, fama

No one does it quite like the Dutch! Not when it comes to Hard Rock Festivals anyway.

Last weekend saw the annual Groezrock Festival 2010 headlined by Bad Religion and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones; and while the Volcano eruptions in Iceland prevented some of the stateside acts appearing, most of the line-up made it in fine form.

Highlights included blinding sets from Agnostic Front, Face To Face, H2O and Lit. This was one of Lit’s first shows since the passing of drummer Allen Shellenberger in 2009. Despite the tragic events have promised to come back stronger and better this year with a new management team and a new album in the pipeline.

With beer tokens at two Euros a pop and a rather fancy ‘Cava Stall’ it seems the Belgian’s really do know how to rock out in style.

Hazel Savage Around the world, Gigs/ Events, News Bad Religion, Groezrock Festival, Lit, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

The last few weeks haven’t been short of thrills for music fans.

Beginning with ‘Tumbélé: Biguine, Afro & Latin sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-74′ a festive anthology of songs from Guadalupe and Martinica taken from the region’s golden musical decade. Focused in the common Afro-Latin influence that’s shared around the area, it’s a look at a musical heritage often ignored due to the wealth of influential rhythms coming from their surrounding neighbors. Some of its highlights can be checked here. Read more…

Roberto Gonzalez Around the world Sublime Frequencies, The Numero Group

The throne of Popular Music was conquered by two very different females in 2009: It was Lady Gaga vs. Susan Boyle. Luckily, around the world a few local artists have challenged their chart supremacy. Beginning in Germany with Peter Fox, a hip-hop musician member of the dancehall band Seed, whose solo career has provided two of the biggest selling records in Teutonic lands. His late 2008 debut ‘Stadtaffe’ ranked high in the end of the year Eurochart, having sold over 700,000 copies. It was rapidly followed up with a live album with Coldsteel as backing band.

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Roberto Gonzalez Around the world alejandro sanz, Alicia Keys, dominique a, peter fox, the veronicas

Having Sweden as main hub, Scandinavia is becoming a new Mecca for popular music. Be it leftfield indie, Chamber pop, Balearic Beats or 80’s retro infused electrodance; there’s not a single week passing without a new artist or DJ being discovered and joining a growing list of critical favourites such as Lindstrøm, Tough Alliance, jj, Air France, Studio or Annie. Here’s a look at a few recent releases coming from Swedish shores.

The most popular of them is Victoria Bergsman’s latest project Taken By Trees. The former singer of The Concretes – also the female voice in Peter, Bjorn & John’s whistling great ‘Young Folks’- released ‘East Of Eden’, the second album under her new moniker, to widespread acclaim. In one of the record’s highlights, she even dares to cover what’s probably 2009′s most iconic song, Animal Collective’s ‘My Girls’, changing its genre to ‘My Boys’ and turning it into a tropical feast. Read more…

Roberto Gonzalez Around the world, New Music taken by trees, the sound of arrows, wildbirds & peacedrums, [ingenting]

The influence of French legend Serge Gainsbourg can still be felt among today’s most forward-minded pop artists. This week two releases by high profile Gallic stars bring his name back to memory.

Since his 2001 debut, ‘Rose Kennedy’, singer-songwriter Benjamin Biolay has often been compared to Gainsbourg. His penchant for dramatic string and orchestral arrangements, combined with his XXI century update of ‘La Chanson’ melancholic spirit, has established him as one of the new French pop’s key figures.

His reputation has been cemented not only through his own records, but also by giving a hand to other artists; both veteran – Henri Salvador, Françoise Hardy – and new – his sister Coralie Clement and Keren Ann. He was also one of the arrangers in France’s first lady, Carla Bruni, recording debut ‘Quelqu’un M’a Dit’.

Biolay will unveil on October the 19th ‘La Superbe’, his sixth studio work. An ambitious double album, conceived as a cinematographic narration through characters such as Miss Catastrophe, in which the singer-songwriter reflects about the moments when a person is forced to reconsider his life. It mixes his country’s nostalgia-tinged pop heritage with a rich diversity of elements taken from classical, jazz, post-punk and his personal admiration for such British pop-rock greats as The Beatles or The Smiths. The title track track can be downloaded through his website.

And if Biolay is often considered one of Gaingsbourg’s musical heirs; his real daughter Charlotte Gainsbough has also grown up to become a multidisciplinary artist. Her 2006 debut album ’5:55′ was largely ignored, despite having on board such illustrious guests as Air and Jarvis Cocker.

While she’s now better known for her film career, after scooping the best actress gong at Cannes film festival for her disturbing performance in Lars Von Trier’s latest shocker ‘Antichrist’. Charlotte is ready to show the world that music is on her genes with the arrival early next year of her second album ‘IRM’. This time she’s hired Beck on production duties - with whom she sings first single ‘Heaven Can Wait’. However, to start the anticipation building process, the title track is now also available as a free download.

Roberto Gonzalez Around the world, News beck, benjamin biolay, charlotte gainsbourg, IRM, la superbe, serge gainsbourg

Shazam’s Jason Keck  gives us the low down from Burningman, one of the world’s most spectaular, psychedelic and all round mind blowing music events:

Having just gotten back from Black Rock City, Nevada USA site of the annual Burningman Festival, people haven’t stopped asking me, “How was it? What was it like?” So here goes…

I’ve included some pictures to help, but they don’t do it justice. Burningman is more than the art and costumes you see in the photos, it’s the creativity, the innovation and the production level required to put on such an amazing event. It’s also about the music, mostly electronic, but live shows as well. There is no line up, just camp after camp of some guy or girl mixing their favorite tracks and the best ones tend to draw the biggest crowds. A few big names were on show this year including Armen Van Burren and Carl Cox, but the best set I heard was by a DJ named “Mike” from Victoria Canada who played on the Esplanade at 2 am on Tuesday night. We rocked up after a night of cruising the playa on our bikes and decided that THIS was the place to end our night, dancing till our feet hurt. We followed Mike’s gigs that week and heard two more great shows from him by the end of the festival.

Burningman is about the community experience which is so far removed from big city life the most people can’t even imagine the level of civic responsibility and neighborly good will that is such a differentiated part of the experience.

So don’t ask, just go. But be prepared. Bring everything you need to survive for the week including food, water, a dust mask and goggles. Take a tent or a motor home, but make sure to leave no trace and, above all, don’t be a spectator. Burningman is the amazing festival that it is because people get involved and contribute by do the things they enjoy doing, amazingly, for the benefit and enjoyment of everyone else there. Contribute in any way you want, but make sure you contribute.

Hazel Savage Around the world, Gigs/ Events Armin Van Burren, Burningman, Carl Cox

In our endless search for the newest sounds across the globe, this week we have a look at the world of Asian Indie pop through some interesting recent releases. We begin in South Korea with EE, a boy-girl duo, currently earning rave reviews as one of the country’s best electro-pop acts. About to unveil their debut album ‘Imperfect, I’mperfect’; an eighties retro, techno pop feast that include such highlights as last year’s debut single ‘Curiosity Kills’ or the track that anticipates the record ‘High Collor’. Their highly kitsch videos, exploring the typical visual excesses of the decade they revisit, are a big part of their charm. You can watch and listen to some more EE tracks here.
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Roberto Gonzalez Around the world EE, SHRIDAR THAYIL, TIKA & THE DISSIDENTS