Let the countdown begin...

New Eurovision Year officially starts on Thursday when Bulgaria hold their first quarter final.I know,Bulgaria- how's that for a spectacular opening?Info/videos of the participants seem to be pretty hard to come by,but I did find this- it's Monika Kirovska and "Bring Me Back My Freedom" from last years' finals...



Can't wait for Thursday... :/

I'm as harmless as a chicken in a freezer

Don't let it be said that Teitur is all about wonderful introspective songs about long-distance relationships and loneliness...



I love him!

WYM Official Top 10: Week 2

10: BWO- Lay Your Love On Me
9: Dima Koldun- Kazhdiy Den Na Zemlye (I do tend to get bored with Dima songs quite quickly...)
8: The Rasmus- Living In a World Without You
7: Take That- Pray (God knows why,I hated them first time around,but since buying the Greatest Hits album for (and subsquently stealing back from) my dad,I've been really getting into them)
6: Teitur- The Singer (Love this video,the way he nails the ending makes me all goosepimply.I can't wait for Friday)
5: Marie Picasso- Out of My Hands
4: BiS- Katya (read an amusing story about this song that I might write about some time if I can be bothered.Then again,it was probably made up anyway)
3: Leona Lewis- Better in Time
2: Baracuda- I Will Love Again

Now I've never been a fan of Queen,but my God this version of one of their songs is amazing...

1: Friðrik Ómar- Somebody to Love

Because of you I'm lonely

As if the last 2 days of sitting on my arse doing nothing weren't bad enough,I got sent home from work this morning for being full of germs :( Still,at least that means I can blog a lot today.

Great news Russian Reality TV fans- Fabrika may be gone but Zvezdniy Led is here! Literally meaning Starry Ice (how quaint),ZL started erm,recently,and what a celeb-fest the opener was! Unlike Dancing On Ice at home,where we have washed up Blue Peter presenters and- as Keira pointed out- Westlife for the grand finale,the Russian version has big names like Dima Bilan (yes,him again) and his manager Yana Rudkovskaya skating,performing to live music sung by the likes of Russian overlord himself Filip Kirkorov!No Z-listers presenting either- Zvezdniy Led is hosted by Maksim Galkin (who else,this is Kanal Rossija after all...) and Dima B's Eurovision buddy/Yana's boyfriend Evgeniy Plushenko.

As seems to often be the case with Russian Reality TV,the performances are pretty dramatic- there's your normal ice skating lifts and stuff but also a few other interesting elements as well at times.Also as seems to often be the case with Russian Reality TV,they talk for a hell of a long time after the performance...

Here's Dima and his partner Elena Berezhnaya (Team Berlan as they explain at the beginning).They did quite well,as you'd expect.I'm having a bit of a love-hate relationship with Dima's hair at the minute,I'm thankful that the mullet's gone,but still,is a ponytail really necessary?



Also,it seems Dima's got a new song out.It's called Lonely and well,I really like it actually.Even if it does remind me of something you'd hear in the chavvy clothes shops on Chatham High Street.

There's less crap songs than there used to be

So excited,I'm off to Denmark on Friday morning to go and see this man...



It's costing a small fortune,despite only being 2 hours away,but I missed him in London in August,because I thought coming here early would be a good idea.I've seen videos of this tour from various different places,and it looks pretty damn good.Now if only I could work out how to get to Esbjerg...

What promotion!

My family come from a tiny tiny island (actually,it's not that small- as big as the Isle of Wight apparantly) in the Tyrrenhian Sea called Ischia.Wikitravel says "Ischia is the largest island in the bay of Naples and is considered by many to be the most beautiful." Ha,in your face Capri! Anyway,not much goes on there,there's a lot of German tourists but that's about it.Until now,now Mr Shut-Up-Baby-Don't-Be-Fake went on holiday there that is.Here he is loving the Castello Aragonese so much that he can't even bear to look at it.And here he is also doing the Italian thing of wearing dodgy clothes and posing on a moped*.Now these pictures have made it into OK Magazine,hopefully a trend will be set amongst other Russian pop stars and Dima,Dima and Chelsi and the BiS boys will want of a bit of l'isola verde action.Must get involved with the family business pronto!

*In the background of the moped picture there's a typical Ischitanian taxi.They're certainly an experience everyone should try!

They ask you where you're from,but never tell you about themselves

The Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg started yesterday.It finishes tomorrow- some festival that is.Anyway,there are a lot of bands/singers there,some I've heard of,but most of them I haven't.One I do know though,is Philipp Poisel.Lovely-German-Friend-Just-Up-The-A7 sent me one of his songs a while ago,and I really really like it.I'm becoming quite accustomed to this German music business it seems :) Unanständig means a whole manner of things (rude,obscene,shocking...),things you wouldn't really think of when listening to the song if you don't speak German.Now I do speak German,but apart from the first line (post title),the lyrics are pretty difficult to translate.My friend explains it as "he sings to a girl that he wants to do nice things with her and that it doesnt matter what other people say/think about it".How sweet :)



I have since listened to a lot of his album,and it's pretty good.Will probably write some more another time when I'm not insanely tired.Well,I did spend the whole day at a bloody trade exhibition thing in a school today after all.If there's one thing I've learnt about the Germans since I've been here,it's that they love their trade fairs!

Newly remembered fabulous songs

Isn't it strange how one little word can remind you of a song you'd completely forgotten about and probably wouldn't have ever thought about otherwise? Well today,that word was "grausam," which led me to remember not only a conversation I had ooh,nearly 2 years ago now,that resulted in the line "Yuck,das ist grausam. I don't even know what grausam means,but I'm sure it's appropriate," but also this great song by Die Ärzte.It's called Nichts in der Welt,and is incredibly self-indulgent,but I love it all the same.Cover your eyes and ears Pop Purists,for guitars are on the way...




Nothing reminded me of this second song- which is either a really bad pun,or some kind of mindbending paradox depending on how you look at it.I didn't mean it to be either.Anyway,this is Remind Me by Röyksopp.I've never taken any notice of what the song's about,I'm just always bloody fascinated by the video...



This is one of my favourite unsuccessful Melodifestivalen songs (2006),but I didn't even know it had a video til 5 minutes ago...



This came on my ipod just as I was arriving in Schleswig on Saturday,and it made me so happy.Probably more to do with the fact that I could get off the bus after 2 hours,but also partly because it made me think of good times in Guildford when me and Keira used to sit doing our work in the front room with the Chelsi DVD (my finest achievement) on "in the background",but getting distracted by Malenkiy Prins and Krilya.Every single time.Still find the scandal of Roman and Aleksei nicking Senya's line at the end hilarious :)



As far as last-year-nostalgia goes though,nothing beats this song.I found it somewhere on my computer the other day,and although it might seem an odd one because a) it's British and b) I've never mentioned to anyone that I even like it,it reminds me so much of last year in Surrey that I feel just a little bit sad when I hear it...



Although I must say- the intro does remind me more than a little bit of Round and Round by US5 :)

WYM Official Top 10: Week 1!

It's new,it's (not very) exciting...it's the WYM Official Top 10! (Read- excuse to blog every week even when there's no news) So...

10: Daughtry- Over You (Thankfully I'm leaving my temporary rock stage now)
9: BWO- Lay Your Love On Me
8: Teitur- I Run the Carousel (sooooo want to see him in Hamburg next month!)
7: BiS- Tvoi ili Nichei
6: Dima Koldun- Ya Pridumal (don't think I've mentioned that one before,watch it here)
5: The Rasmus- Living In a World Without You (Look,look,look! - they were on RTL on Saturday night,along with someone else I'll mention in a minute and- erm- Paul Potts :/)
4: Teitur- The Singer (I simply must write another big Teitur post sometime soon)
3: Dima Koldun- Kazhdiy Den Na Zemlye
2: Baracuda- I Will Love Again

And what can possibly be number 1...?

Everyone's favourite futuristic Russian duo from Fabrika Zvezd 7 of course!

1: BiS- Katya

I only posted the proper video a few days ago,so here's a nice "live" version from Sochi.The boys are doing their best to get their groove on,but I must say they look pretty lost without the robots.Oh,and I love the attempt at making the final chorus a bit special,where Dima does a cartwheel and Vlad just kind of bounces :)

Though my heart is breaking I will love again...

Dear readers,I believe I've found a good German song! I'm sure I've heard it in Britain before,but then again,it's a dance song,and they all sound the same after a while.Baracuda have been around for quite a while actually,but their latest song I Will Love Again is the only one I've heard.It's your typical anthemic dance song,but I really like it- probably just because it's not Coldplay or Gabriella Cilmi.

I heard it on Saturday night on RTL2,when there was some big musical event thing called The Dome on,and I haven't really stopped listening to it since...

Everything but lies can survive

Whereas Chelsi have taken their time to release the very substandard Mladshaya Sestryonka,there's no stopping the hit machine that is Dima Koldun these days.I think I mentioned Surrender and Plohaya Novosti,but there's quite a few others I haven't got round to listening to properly yet.My favourite one of the moment though is Kazhdiy Den Na Zemlye (Every day on Earth).The lyrics are a bit wishy-washy (see post title for a probably badly translated example),but it's a really good tune that reminds me of a kind of cross between Land of Make Believe (in places anyway) and something I can't quite remember the name of right now.Anyway,here's Mr K at the Belarussian national finals of Junior Eurovision looking resplendent in a washed-out denim ensemble.Thankfully it stops just before he starts singing Surrender- I'm really not liking that one very much.

I'm yours or nothing

There's been quite a bit of talk lately about BiS representing Russia at Moscow 2009.Or they're currently working on a song for the national finals anyway.Although this isn't quite as exciting as it would be if it was Chelsi,I reckon Vlad and Dima would be pretty good.What with Kirkorov allegedly presenting,and BiS singing- there's gonna be a hell of a lot of hairspray going on in the Olympiski Arena...



That's their new song (Katya) by the way.There's clappy bits in the chorus,a funky funky beat AND (eventually) a key change.What's not to like?OK,so they do tend to sound a bit bored when they sing,and the lyrics make no sense to me at all,but whatever.

The boys tend to be quite into their futuristic videos.This is Tvoi Ili Nichei (Yours or Nothing)- their first single I believe.



Who knows- if they do end up at Eurovision,maybe we'll end up with a S.A.G.A.P.O style performance.Now that would be a treat wouldn't it?!

Have you ever wondered...

What Reality of Dreams sounds like in Russian?Of course you have.Well wonder no more.(It's quite good).

OMG!!!

Chelsi have a new song out,and well,I don't really like it :/

It's called Mladshaya Sestryonka (Young...something),I think it may be a cover but I might be wrong.Here's a video anyway,complete with photos of Kirkorov and Dmitry Medvedev looking like a holiday camp entertainer.As if Roman's screeching wasn't scary enough...



Think I need a bit of Krilya after that.

You told me my darling,without me you're nothing

Russian stuff aside,there's been 3 big obsessions in my life so far.The Cossacks, ESC and The Rasmus.

I urge you to hurry over to Tales From Turku to check out their new fabulous song.I love it,and I think you should too :) It's from the new album Black Roses,which has apparantly just been released in Scandinavia and Germany.Thankfully,Living In a World Without You isn't like the stuff I heard from the last album (Hide From the Sun),it's more kind of somewhere between Into and Dead Letters.The verses are pretty funky actually- it doesn't really sound like Lauri at all.But then you get to the chorus and you recognise his unique voice straight away (actually,he still reminds me a bit of the guy from Europe of Final Countdown fame).I love the contrast between the quick,punchy verses and the anthemic chorus- Lauri has quite a plaintive edge to his voice when he's in full flow I think,which often gives a new dimension to his songs.

This isn't the first time TR have done an I'm-over-you song- in lyrical terms,this new one is quite similar to Since You've Been Gone,which was only a B side (to First Day of My Life),but is one of my favourite TR songs all the same.If you listen to it,you might see what I meant in the paragraph above...

Living in a World Without You also reminds me quite a bit of Chill (the second single from 4th album Into),with the fast verses and sweeping chorus.There's a more complex bridge in LIAWWY,but on the whole,I think they're quite similar.I must post the video,it's one of their better ones- filmed on tour in Scandinavia,and back in the day when blond hair suited Lauri...



I'm quite excited to hear more of this new album anyway,although given the pretty rubbish quality of CD shops in Kiel,I'm going to have to travel a bit to find it.

Expect more about Finland's best musical export ever quite soon- I've experienced a bit of a Rasmus Renaissance in the last few months :)

A note about music in Germany

On Thursday morning I found myself stuck on an Autobahn somewhere between Kiel and Husum.We were literally stuck in the same place for a good 25 minutes.It was all overcast and horrible,and all there was to do was watch the cows in the field to the right of us mating.And to make it all worse,the Lighthouse Family were on the radio.It was one of the most grim moments of my life.

Now back in the day about 5 years ago,I used to love listening to NDR2 online.But now it's my local station,I try to avoid it at all costs.It took 2 hours to get to Husum,and in that time I heard one German song.Quite a new one admittedly,and I quite like it.But Die Ärzte excepted,what they played was either a)at least 20 years out of date or b) Coldplay.And it's not just NDR either- it seems everything I hear everywhere I go is awful.If I hear Coldplay or Gabriella Cilmi one more time,I may just have to get the next flight home.

I'm just starting to despair a little bit- there are some great current German bands and singers: Revolverheld,Karpatenhund,Philipp Poisel...Even Tokio Hotel have their moments I suppose.So NDR- ditch the 80s power ballads and play them!

You can play this piece of brilliance too if you like...



Oh,and by the way- what the bloody hell is going on with Sitemeter these days?My computer can't cope with the new,pointless version apparantly so I'm going to have to look around for an alternative.I'm so sick of websites making ridiculous new changes when there was absolutely nothing wrong with the original version!Grr!

No news week

Been far too busy this week to hunt for any new music or music news- but I did come across this,and am very excited about the prospect.But as Keira rightly pointed out- would there be room for any music what with all his inevitable demands and costume changes?Still,all we need now is for someone just as brilliant to actually sing for Russia.Dima B won't do it again,Dima K doesn't want to do it this year,and Sergey doesn't even like Eurovision.So you know what that means...For God's sake Russia,force Chelsi to do it!

I'm slowly getting closure,I guess it's really over

It's only been a week,but being here has had 2 noticeable effects on me: a) I think in a weird mix of German and English a lot of the time and b) Something weird's happening with my taste in music.I mentioned Karpatenhund last time (still loving Zusammen Verschwinden),and now there's this...



Daughtry are American (I normally hate American music) and there's far too much guitar for my normal liking.But I heard Over You this afternoon whilst shopping for tat in Wicky,a tat shop on Holstenstrasse,and thought "wow what an amazingly well-written,catchy chorus" (or rather in my current brain state- something like "Dieses Lied ist so catchy and well geschrieben,oder?").Then again I might have just been overexcited about hearing something other than sodding Coldplay for once...

Pandemonium...

...is what BWO are releasing in Britain.How exciting!Apparantly the next single from it will be Will My Arms Be Strong Enough.Not one of the best songs I don't think.If Lay Your Love On Me,which is an absolutely brilliant song,only got to No.69, I doubt WMABSE will get any higher in the charts.
Anyway,let's watch the fabulous Bells of Freedom- the first song off of Pandemonium.Is it just me,or does Martin look particularly cute in this video?



I love the Swedes.If only Queer Idol was a real programme...

I want you to miss me before you forget me

My one and only lovely German friend has been practically my only source of entertainment and new music since I've been here,despite being a whole 80km away.Now normally the songs he sends me are a bit hit and miss,but this one is einfach toll!.Karpatenhund are from Köln and by rights I shouldn't really like them seeing as they are a) a bit indie and b) fronted by a girl.I'm loving Zusammen Verschwinden (Disappear Together) though- it's funky,it's catchy and I love the lyrics,both in terms of content and rhymes...