NYDiscovery

NEW Music Discovery: Fever Ray

This happens to me only with a few songs: they strike some sort of resonance in me, making me feel instantly good, inspired and full of energy. Blonde Redhead's 23 is such a song or Christobel by Joan as Police Woman. These are the songs that deserve an iTunes 5-star rating, something I'm very careful with.

I heard Fever Ray's Seven the first time on the NPR podcast All Songs Considered. Then it showed up in my most compatble last.fm friend's ceri stream, which instantaneously prompted me to download it the self-titled album from iTunes. I listened to it while I walked to Elke's office and when I arrived, Seven, got it's 5-star rating.

Fever Ray is Karin Dreijer Andersson, who does purely electronic music, which is (for some surprisingly) not so much my favorite music. But her unusual voice and way of singing complements the cool sounds beautifully.

Recommended for:

Having it on the iPhone/iPod while walking through the city. Elke also very much likes the video to When I grow up.

My Favorite songs on this album:

Seven, When I grow up (and probably more)

Reminds me of:

Not really of anything

Website:

http://feverray.com/

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/FeverRay

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/feverray

My iTunes rating:

4 star (probably soon to be upgraded to 5)

Album Release Date:

1/13/2009

Where I'll see them live:

webster Hall, 9/26

When there's sad news, turn it around! Ha Ha Tonka's "Caney Mountain" live at the Bell House in Brooklyn, June 22nd 2009

Shortly after having celebrated my 5th year with Fotolog.com, I learned about the sad news! Michael Jackson, with whose music I grew up with, weather I liked it or not, is dead! I was trembling, when I first read about it on a friend's wall post on facebook. And how's that, I learned about it on facebook!

On a such a day, while I've accomplished something i never thought I would - remaining in one and the same job for 5 years, keeping the passion and the drive and the love for the community - it's important to keep on going.

Keeping the spirits and legacy up!

While I've never been to a Michael Jackson concert, not even call an album of his my own  - just two videos, we downloaded earlier this year, actually, because of Adam Lambert's rendition of "Black and White" - the best thing one can do is to distribute mus ic and the love for music!

And that's what I want to do by promoting Ha Ha Tonka. We did two videos during their concert. Here's the first one. Go and watch and listen to CANEY MONTAIN and experience the energy and inspriation those 4 guys bring to the stage! And by the way, they chose their name after a National Park.

Okay now, go and watch the video already! Don't judge their music after our homemade video though, It's done with a flp (awesome new toy!) not with profi equipment. Hey - enjoy :)

-- Elke

Lani Ford and STARK playing at the Annex

Here's the final song of the STARK gig at the Annex on Orchard Street - with the "big ending".

It's also the first try to record some video with the Flip Ultra HD and I think it came out nicely. We'll post more videos here soon.

Headed to Brooklyn's The Bell House to Experience the Stellar Missouri Band Ha Ha Tonka

Yesterday, Oliver and I headed fearlessly into a very industrial area of Brooklyn to see Ha Ha Tonka playing The Bell House.

It's been my first time at this venue and I was blown away by its atmosphere. It's really pretty, with lots of inspired top shelf drinks and great micro brews, without being "upscale". In the contrary! It feels very casual, and "gemuetlich", a place to hang out. So, the setting was perfect!

 But even without a great venue, I would have been monster happy, since I've anticipated the concert ever since I listened to the first couple of notes of this Missouri band. Whenever I discover a new band, that I like, I look at their touring schedule and 9 out of 10 times, they *just* played New York City.

Not this time. This time I was lucky and two tickets were mine!

Usually, I am pretty fearless and get what I want (my husband and my current job to name just two) and so I came to chat with Brett Anderson, one of the team members before the show and Brian Roberts,  the lead singer and Lucas Long, the bass player, after the show. All four band members by the way can sing! They impress with great, great harmonies. Stunning moments during the concert!

I even wrote an album review too and while I know that all the comparisons suck, I still stick to it. Although, they are clearly unique! I suggest you to simply check Ha Ha Tonka out for yourself. Go to eMusic, go to Rhapsody or go and BUY already their awesome 2nd album "Novel Sounds of the Noveau South". And speaking of album - I bought the vinil which also includes a digital download and I managed to get autographs from all four band members. Thanks so much guys. Truly appreciated.

I for one can't wait to see Brian, Brett, Lennon and Lucas back in New York again in Fall 2009. Be prepared for some heavy promotion from my side. This time, I'll "schlepp" all my music loving friends with me. I simply know what's good, and Ha Ha Tonka (on twitter) ARE good!

iPhone 3G S: it's really fast

This year the iPhone procurement was a breeze. Pleasant temperatures, a line of moderate length and a pre-order, which kind of guaranteed availability. There was even free water and Starbuck's coffee.

So is the upgrade worth the money: I think so. The faster processing leads to applications start up faster, which again makes them more useful. For example Evernote in the 3G was just too slow to quickly take a note, which is after all its main purpose. Same with OmniFocus, which almost opens instantaneously.

As for the camera and video I haven't had an opportunity to do a lot with it, but I will try posting more often in my picture log on Tumblr.

Discover NEW Music (2): Ha Ha Tonka "Novel Sounds Of The Noveau South"

How did I come across Ha Ha Tonka, a band with a name that I find as unappealing as "The Killers" or as silly as "Panic at the Disco"? Luckily I didn't judge the book by its cover alone and gave it a try! I listened to their 2007 album Buckle In The Bible Belt and was immediately in love with Brian Robert's voice which reminds me - yes it does! - of Caleb Folowill's (Kings of Leon).

And Kings Of Leon is the reason why I happened to learn about Ha Ha Tonka in the first place. There's this feature on Rhapsody or Last.fm or many other music sites where you can see influences of a band or "sounds like" and a while back, I checked out the suggestions for Kings of Leon and did so 2 weeks ago again and there they were Ha Ha Tonka! Luckily I could listen to their former record and then last week, there new album was available for listening as well.

And here we go! Can't stop listening since. So, consider yourself being warned!

Recommended for:
Winding down after a stressful day at work. Stimulation for a quiet day at work. Starting into a great weekend. Sunday brunch.

My Favorite songs on this album:
"Pendergast Machine", "Thoreau in the Woods" and all the other songs!

Reminds me of:
Vocals: Kings of Leon
Sound: Hm... like the already mentioned, and also a bit like Ryan Adams...

Website:
http://www.hahatonkamusic.com

Facebook:
Fan page with currently only 2,112 fans. Become one!

Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/hahatonka

My iTunes rating:
4 out of 5 - If I could give 4 and a half, I would do so. It's really my current favorite album together with Buckle In The Bible Belt.

Album Release Date:
June 2009

Where I'll see them live:
The Bell House in Brooklyn on June 22nd, 2009

iPhone Week Part III

No summer in sight yet, but still there's a new iPhone coming out. Last year, it was a long story, ending in a five hour long line at the Apple Store on 5th Avenue. This year should be better: first I hope only few people are as crazy as me and pay $200 extra, just to get the new model on the day it comes out. Second, reportedly the activation process has been streamlined at lot this year. Third I have pre-ordered, so I hopefully can pick it up Friday at the Apple Store in Soho.

iPhone part III: 3Gs it is

Apple likes to do thinks a little different every time: compared with the July 11th big bang release of the iPhone 3G last year, this was almost low key: The new iPhone 3Gs going to ship in less than two weeks and if you want one on the first day, just pre-order it on the Apple or AT&T websites. Presumably that means no lines, which were annoying on one hand, but also kind of an exciting community event.

Anyway, looking at my wish list, I got almost everything I wanted. Battery life has been improved, not much as I'd have liked it, but maybe it's enough to keep it juiced for a day even with increased usage.

The only disappointment is the price: early adopters of the 3G have to pay a $200 premium to get the 3Gs. That's pretty much standard in the wireless industry, so not really a reason for complaints. It just annoys me that Apple followed the bad habit to advertise prices with an asterisk, especially if probably the vast majority of the audience is not eligible. Getting new customers is important, but just ignoring existing ones is not good style, in particular not for Apple, which benefits so much from it's loyal fan base.

In any case, I'm getting one and Elke too as her trusted first generation model slowly gives up the ghost.

Switching from MobileMe to Google and it really works

Last weekend I spent one and a half hour watching the presentation of Google Waves and by all means it was very impressive. This was software engineering done right: a set of functionality, founded in standardized protocols and interfaces and a portable user interface in the browser. I'm pretty sure, this will transform communication over the network.

This also was a reminder that Google operates at the cutting edge of the Web. They are, app after app, building a complete solution to store all personal information in the web, including sharing data with other.

I've been always impressed with their online products with one deal breaker: they're only available while online and they would not really sync to the iPhone. That's why I've been using MobileMe and it has been surprisingly good to me since its introduction: I experienced none of the issues that plagued others. But Apple is not a Web company. During the last year they only surgically improved MobileMe and major functionality, such as subscribing and sharing calendars, is still missing. And since Apple treasures secrecy over everything, we don't even have a clue if it will ever come.

Now, since quite a while, Google offers calendar and contact sync for the iPhone. I haven't really looked into this as sync is a tricky thing and third party applications, more often than not, mess up your data. For two reasons I gave Google iPhone sync a try: first it is using Microsoft Active Sync, which is native to the iPhone and should be more than just a hobby for Google as it is also the key to the Windows Mobile world. Second, you can switch back and forth between Google and MobileMe in minutes and even run both in parallel on the iPhone (provided you can sync local calendar and addresses with Google, which I'm using Spanning Sync for).

So I retired Apple Mail (which I still think it's the best e-mail client around and iCal (which is pretty but slightly cumbersome to use) and moved over to Gmail and Google Calendar. Both offer offline support as well as a notification app for incoming e-mail and due events.

I've been running Google iPhone sync now for a couple of days and I'm utterly surprised how well it works. Changes in Google Calendar - except notifications - sync over almost immediately to the iPhone. Same with contacts in Gmail. Only Gmail e-mails are (not yet, hopefully) pushed via ActiveSync, but they can easily accessed via IMAP.

So what's missing? ActiveSync, for some reason can only sync 5 calendars, which could be a restriction. Groups in Gmail contacts are not synced. Also, generally, contacts are a little bit underpowered in Google and some useful fields, like birthday, are missing. I hope Google has some plans here, for example integrating it with the new Google profiles, so that addresses can be enriched automatically with public data in a profile.

As it is Googles habit, everything is free, which I see with mixed feelings as it relieves Google from all obligations to its users, except their promise to do no evil, ever.