Artist Rendezvous: IAMWE

This Thursday, it is time for another Artist Rendezvous and it is about one of my favourite new discoveries: IAMWE.

IAMWE is an American indie pop/rock band from sunny Phoenix. They are a five-piece consisting of frontman Nate Huss, guitarist Shane Tschida, guitarist Ryan Williamson, bassist Erik Brunner and drummer Josh Carlson.

Their debut EP LOVE and LOSS was released a few weeks ago and it sounds really good. The songs are super catchy and have a great vibe. It is music that is enjoyable and easy going, but also has that special extra spark. And this is the groovy sound paired with an awesome presence and philosophy.

I had the chance to ask the band some questions and get to know them a bit better. Hit play on their EP and read the interview below.

Songs of the Week [10]

Hello fellow music friends! I'm keeping it short and sweet this week, because I'm ill and got a lot to do. But I didn't want to withhold these new releases from you, thence I'm doing a short post anyway.

The first song on the playlist has already been out for a while, but is on the list to celebrate an album release. The song is Love Is Blind by Låpsley. Her debut album Long Way Home is out now and it's so lovely - you should listen to it.

The other five songs have all been released last Friday. First of all there's a new version of Desire by Years & Years. This time featuring Tove Lo. I think Desire along with Illuminate were the first songs I heard of Years & Years back in 2014. Desire is a great track and I'm glad they've finally released it as a single.

Back Into It by Graham Candy is the first single taken from the singers' debut album Plan A. It's a catchy, dance pop track. You might remember Graham's Candy voice from Alle Farben's track She Moves.

Speaking of catchy pop tunes. Genghis Khan by Miike Snow is another one. The Swedish indie pop band has released their third album iii on Friday and Genghis Khan is the latest single taken from it.

Frank Turner's new single is called Mittens
and it's rocking and gleeful love song.

And now that were on the rock trail already, there's also a new memorable single by one of the newest promising rock bands around: Last Night by The Sherlocks. I already picked another The Sherlock's song for a playlist last year and it looks like I was right about being excited for new music by the Sheffield boys as this one is really great again.

And that is it already. Hopefully you enjoyed this week's picks. Check out the full Songs of 2016 playlist on Spotify to catch up with the Songs of the Week so far.

Love
Julia x

Kodaline // European Tour 2016

As promised in Monday's SOTW post, I wrote a few words about the Kodaline gig in Stuttgart I have been to last Friday.

I've been looking forward to my first gig of 2016 for a while - especially because it also meant I would get to see one of my favourite bands again.

You probably know that I've seen them twice before, but this time it was the first real tour gig I've been to, so it was still special.

I don't want to repeat myself too much, hence you can read why I think Kodaline are a brilliant live band in my post about their New Pop Festival performance last year and about their music in general in my post about their latest album Coming Up For Air.

But here's why I really loved this particular concert: I'm so happy they had Lost on their setlist, I adore this song. And the lighting was pretty epic as well. And of course I had tears in my eyes again when they played Love Will Set You Free - it's just such a beautiful and emotional song and it happens every time...

If you have a chance to see them live somewhere near you, you should do it - I promise you will have a great night.

Last but not least, I have a video with some impressions from the gig for you - I'm sorry that the sound isn't great... My camera is broken and it was just too loud for my phone... Hopefully you can enjoy it anyway.

Songs of the Week [9]

Hey everyone! How are you? I had a great weekend, I hope you had a blast, too.

Last night I stayed up to watch the Oscars as every year with a friend. I love our little tradition it's always fun. And tiring...

Additionally, I have been to see Kodaline last Friday, which I enjoyed a lot. They're such a great live band. You'll get to read and watch a bit more about it on Thursday.

Also, The 1975's new album was released on Friday, you should give it a go it sounds great. It's called (take a deep breath) I like it when you sleep for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it.

And luckily for you, I also found the time to pick six great new tracks for this new edition of Songs of the Week.

Artist Rendezvous: FEELS

I haven't done this in a while, but now it's finally time to meet a new band. Press play below and read on.


FEELS is a Finnish electro-pop group formed of singer and songwriter Sofi Meronen, keyboardist Mikael Myrskog and producer Jooel Jons. They describe their music as gripping and toned with northern melancholy.
The band's debut EP Butterflies will be out next week and therefore it's the perfect time for you to start following their musical journey.

I think my favourite song is I Wished For Butterflies, but the other songs are really good as well. Smoke Signals is vibrating song with some great synth sounds and If You'd Meet Me Tonight (the one you're listening to right now, if you pressed play above like I said) is a beautiful, melancholic ballad about love and pain - a theme that is running like a thread though the whole EP. You can tell that the lyrics are written about big feelings.

Songs of the Week [8]

Hello there - I hope you have been looking forward to Music Monday as much as me. I've been going through this week's new releases over the weekend and there's been some really good ones.

I have also picked some songs that aren't particularly brand new for today's list, but they're great and should be heard. 

If you don't enjoy the beginning (of what I hope isn't the case, but you never know) make sure to read/listen on because Midnight River is totally worth a listen, believe me.

Of course all the songs have been added to my Songs of 2016 playlist on Spotify - make sure to follow it to enjoy the full beauty of 2016's music.

But back to this week's new additions. Here's this week's playlist - press play and continue reading (yes, I've changed the layout a little).

Carpool Karaoke Favourites

After the joy of watching Carpool Karaoke with Sia yesterday, I thought it might be cool to present you to my favourite participants in this feature.

What? You do not know what Carpool Karaoke is? You have missed something so far.

It is a segment of The Late Late Show with James Corden, where James Corden picks up musicians in his car, has a chat with them and they sing along to some songs - it is so entertaining.

And because I do not want you to miss out on it I have picked my five favourite editions of these special sing-along interviews. I hope you're up for having some fun and a little singing session of your own, because it is contagious.

Songs of the Week [7]

Hi everyone! It's Music Monday and time for six new and exciting tracks.

It's been my birthday last week and I had a little party and hence I was on the search for some new cheery songs for my party playlist. My guests seemed to enjoy the songs and so I thought you might like them as well.

That is why today's additions to the Songs of 2016 playlist are picked from my party music collection. They've all been released recently and are good fun. I hope you like them.


Temple - Parson James



Ooooh oooh oooh - here we go. Parson James calls his music "Conflicted Pop Gospel", I call it cheerful and catchy. Temple is an upbeat happy pop song, perfect get your fingers clicking.
Parson James is currently working on his debut album and Temple is his second single following Stole The Show which was a collaboration with Kygo.

Joy [Film Review]

I've seen it! I didn't believe in it anymore. I wanted to see this film ever since I had seen the first trailer, but then it got complicated. Nearly any cinema where I live was showing it and the ones that did decided to show it at stupid o'clock...

But I've made it. Last Saturday was the last chance to see Joy in the city I live in and I was there. Along with three other people and one of them was my friend. The situation was a bit weird, but nevertheless I really enjoyed the film.

Joy is the latest film by David O'Russell starring dream team Jennifer Laurence and Bradley Cooper. And if this isn't enough of a brilliant cast already, there's also Robert De Niro and Isabella Rosselini. And let me tell you they are all doing a great job!

The film is about the life of Joy, who struggles with life but then becomes an entrepreneur running a powerful family business. I know I've maybe spoiled the plot with this already, but as it's based on the real Joy Mangano, so you might know how it ends already. But the end is not the important part of the film.

Songs of the Week [6]

Helau! Narri Narro! Alaaf! To all my fellow Germans out there.

And for the others: It's carnival over here, the time when some Germans get a little more weird. There's lots of parties, everyone dresses up with funny costumes and there's parades with confetti, candy and chocolate. It's the best thing. For some. Others hate it...

Anyway it's time for six new songs to be added to my Songs of 2016 playlist, don't forget to give it a follow on Spotify.

I hope you will enjoy this week's songs - here they are:

This Is Acting - Sia

Last Friday was the day Sia's new album This Is Acting was released. I've been looking forward to this ever since I heard the first single of the album.

It is not as great as I hoped it would be, but still a good record. There are some stunning songs on there, but also some that are a bit strange.

To give you a good impression on what the album is like I decided to write a little track by track review. I hope you like it.

The album is starting great with Bird Set Free and Alive. I've talked about Bird Set Free already in a post last year and it is still one of my favourite songs. Some of the lyrics of the song can be seen as the mantra of this record in a way: "I don't care if I sing off key - I find myself in my melodies - I sing for love, I sing for me - I shout it out like a bird set free."

Songs of the Week [5]

Hello February! 

Hello Music Monday!

Hello my fellow music fans!

As always I have added six new songs to my Songs of 2016 playlist. I hope you will enjoy them.

It's five brand new releases and one new single from an "old" album of a band I'll be seing live at the end of this month. I'm already really excited for that first gig I'm going to this year.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

I haven't been to the cinema to see new films lately. But that's not too bad because this means I finally got a little time to catch up on all the ones that I never saw but always wanted to see.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is one of these films on my Watchlist, I even had the DVD for a while already and now I've finally seen it.

And I enjoyed it so much! It is so relatable and I will tell you why after a short summary for those who don't know what the film is about.

The film is - who would have thought - the story Walter Mitty who is day-dreamer working in the photo archives of a magazine calles LIFE. He escapes his boring life by descending into his fantasy world which is filled with adventures and love. But one day, when his and lots of other jobs at the magazine are threatened he goes on an adventure that turns out to be even better than the ones in his mind.

I was very touched by the film because I am a very dreamy person myself. Sometimes I imagine these great things happening to me or I dream of being someone else. Who doesn't? And occasionally, when returning to the real world I don't even know if the stuff I just imagined really happened or not.

Songs of the Week [4]

It's Music Monday again.

This week's list is full of new releases, finally this new year is gaining speed when it comes to new music and I really like it.

But luckily there's a lot of other good music out there lately and you'll get another taste of this on this brandnew Songs of the Week list.

It felt a bit like I was putting together a roadtrip playlist. The ORACLE told me to Drive into the Wild West. At first It Gets Cold but then we meet the Summer Girls. But I'll Never Be Like You, because you're taking this musical journey for the first time. I heard it in the wrong order before... Anyway. Here we go.

5 reasons why it's great that The X Files is back

Sunday - or should I say Monday - is the day! Time zones are a weird thing sometimes, aren't they?

Anyway, it's the day The X Files will be back!

I never thought Mulder and Scully would be back again on my telly, but they are. I really hope the show has gotten even better with age (or stayed the same, that would be alright as well). And fingers crossed that I will find a way watch it and I won't have to wait until February. I can't avoid social media for a month.

To celebrate the return of one of my favourite TV shows I thought it would be nice to list five reasons why I am really happy and excited about it being back.

Songs of the Week [3]

Hello, hello! This week's playlist is a fun one. Maybe I was in need of a bit of happiness, but not too much. I'm still a fan of slightly sad lyrics.

I think were all up for a bit of happiness after the world has lost some of the greatest artists over the past weeks. (I'm talking David Bowie and Alan Rickman here, for those who missed it, what seems nearly impossible, but you never know.)

Anyway, I've been searching for some special songs this week and I think I've found them: Another surprising comeback single, a song of an artist turning into a slightly different direction and an actor turned singer of which I didn't know until last week. Oh, and that chart song I just can't get out of my head.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

The book I'm presenting today is an old one. But a good one. Probably my favourite book of the early 20th century (at least of the one's I've read so far). And it's one of those books I've even got two editions of, the German one I read when I was younger and the original English version I read when I was able to understand it.

The book is called Rebecca and it was written by Daphne du Maurier in 1938.

And I'll be telling you about it, because I've got the feeling that Daphne du Maurier, who has written it is way too underrated. Sometimes people I talk to about her know the stories, but don't know she's written them. They all think it was Hitchcock, because he made the films.

Daphne du Maurier was born on 13. May 1907 in London and began writing when she was 18. At first she wrote a lot of short stories, but then also novels, plays and biographies. As she married she moved with her family to Cornwall, where most of her stories take place, because the wild, stormy weather and wild past inspired her imagination.

Songs of the Week [2]

Are you excited? It's new music time again, like every Monday. I hope you had a good week back in normal holiday-free life last week.

This playlist turned into something more emotional this morning. I had picked the songs already over the weekend and written most of it down.

And this morning I woke up to the news that David Bowie has died after fighting cancer for the past 18 month. I was confused and a bit in shock. It was weird to hear that after I was listening to his new album only yesterday and had a Bowie-day as I chose to listen to loads of his old songs as well afterwards.

Anyway. I hope you enjoy the new playlist with the new, a bit more emotional ending due to today's news. Here we go.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

I haven't reviewed a film in a while, have I? Actually, I haven't even watched a lot lately either...

Of course I've been to the cinema to see Star Wars - Star Wars: Episode 1 was my first grown-up film I saw in the cinema in 1999, hence how could I not go and see the new one and I loved it. But there's so many reviews of The Force Awakens out there, I didn't want to add one more.

One of the only other feature films I've watched throughout this holiday season was Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.

I've never seen the film before, but it has been on my Watchlist nearly since it was in cinemas in 2011. And now I'm glad I finally watched it, because it was really good.

The film directed by Lasse Hallström (Chocolat, Casanova) is about, well, salmon fishing in the Yemen. But it's not as boring as it sounds, seriously. I first thought it's about people going fishing, but it's about much more.

The head of the Yemen, Sheikh Muhammed bin Zaidi bani Tihama is an avid fisherman and wants to bring fly-fishing to the desert of his country.

Songs of the Week [1]

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you all had a great start into 2016. I actually did. I was visiting a good friend in Zurich and we had a joyful time wandering around the city, eating too much cheese and watching the NYE fireworks at the lake.

I'm excited to start the fresh playlist for this year - Welcome to the Songs of 2016. Follow this playlist and you'll be able to watch it grow throughout the year.

I was slightly excited for this week's Songs of the Week. I hoped to find a lot of new songs for you, but most of them are from last year. I'm so outdated. But seriously folks, I've found some songs that are really great and by artists of whom I hope that they'll be doing great in 2016. Except for Radiohead of course, they're big already.

So here we go - check out the first 2016 Songs of the Week: