Katla (2011) - ♪♪♪
Amsterdam Klezmer Band (Netherlands)

The eclectic collective Amsterdam Klezmer Band have always been an impressive live-act. As always these energetic performances are difficult to translate to a studioalbum. But naming your album after one of the most active volcanoes in Iceland holds promises. The myth of Katla tells of an evil woman who, thanks to a pair of magical pants, could keep running without getting tired. She met her end when she slipped into a glacier crevasse while running, after which the volcano underneath the glacier came to life. For the album the band again tapped from European musical sources. You’ll hear traces of Sirba, turbo Polka, the swinging Cocek Oompah and klezmer influences from Turkey, Eastern Europe and even North Africa (Desert Banjo). As many as nine of the fourteen new songs are instrumental. This means that vocalist Alec Kopyt is placed a bit to the background. But on the closing ballad ‘Valentina’ the Ukrain-born singer gets all the room to croon. With their second regular album for the international Essay records the AKB come close in delivering a convincing transition from stage to studio. Keep it up guys.

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Uitgewist (2011) - ♪♪♪♪
Hannelore Bedert (Belgium)

Two and a half year after her ‘Wat als’ Belgian Miss Bedert returns with a more electric musical venture then her previous album. Was her 2008 album mostly an acoustic experience, with ‘Uitgewist’ (Wiped out) she gives her backing band more room to rock a little. This works out really well when a more intimate song like ‘Loeihard’ is followed by the more electric ‘Au revoir’ where the band gets room to go wild. It gives Bedert’s music a diversity that was missed on her debut. Credits are due to guitarist Thomas Vanelslander who seems to know how to dose subtle guitar eruptions with Bedert’s acoustic riffs. What did not change are the bittersweet lyrics in which Hannelore tells of relationships gone wrong. Like on one of the best songs ‘Koffie’: “You pour the milk in my coffee / I say: I drink my coffee black / You don’t know how to respond / You say I have changed / I say “that’s normal, the best surprise is always kept until the end”.

The burdens and shallowness of fame are painfully penned down in ‘Niemand’ when Hannelore speaks to the unnamed star: “ You’ve been excluded / the match has been played / you can leave the playing field / you can never come back / still you lie through your teeth / where has you pride gone / You only have your reputation / for which you paid the highest price / the world placed you on a pedastle / and you took yourself down”.

With her sweet voice the lyrics of Bedert can sometimes be extra biting. So, if you don’t speak Flemish and you think that Hannelore is a lovely singer-songwriter girlie, think again. There is a darker side to this Belgian singer. With these eleven new songs she deepens and electrifies that dark side without losing character.

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Alles blijft anders (2011) - ♪♪♪
Bløf (Netherlands)

For those of you who thought their semi-acoustic ‘Oktober/April’ project was a complete bore (and so did a lot of critics. Unjustly I might add) get a wake up call when the Bløf album 'Alles blijft anders' (Everything remains different) hits your cd-player. Following the current Coldplay / U2 adaptation in European rock we see among so many Europop rockbands Bløf also graps towards the wavering guitars, piano driven melodies and orchestral sidesteps. Opener ‘Maan en sterren’ immediately sets the tone with a thin guitar sound and a leaning towards U2 drum sound. Single ‘Wijd open’ has an even stronger reference to U2 while ‘Hoe Vol Hou Vast’ makes a strong and compelling song with a slow beat and open guitar chords. Like we know from Coldplay. Now it would not be fair to blame the boys of being copycats. For that they shown to much of strong musician ship over the years. And yes, with the title track they do deliver a musically and lyrically most interesting song. With ‘We Doen Wat We Kunnen’ they even adapt some the experiences they had on their acoustic project into the new sound. But not for long because with ‘Beter’ the band again fall into grand gestures. Do I hear someone say ‘stadium rock’? Could well be that with this album the band finally can fill the Amsterdam Arena. They sure sound like they’re already warming up for it.  

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Hyväile minua pimeä tähti (2011) - ♪♪♪♪
Eleanoora Rosenholm (Finland)

On their third album Eleanoora Rosenholm takes a turn to a deeper and darker innerworld. Their previous album already showed a hang towards dark themes and on ‘Hyväile minua pimeä tähti’ (tl. 'Caress Me, Dark Star') they pursue that path further. Central figure on the album is again the somewhat psychomathic Eleanoora. Still active as a housewife serial killer Eleanoora escapes to the city placed in the heart of a dark star. The album starts with Eleanoora creeping to a hole (‘Kolo’) when the ‘gaslight marine twilight’ lures her to the heart of the ‘Pimeä tähti’. Musically the band takes a step forward from previous albums Vainajan muotokuva (2007) and Älä kysy kuolleilta, he sanoivat (2008). This is partly due to the fact that the band expanded recently in order to perform the songs on stage. Therefore you’ll hear drums, trumpets and clarinet added to the elemental mix of electronic pop, Vangelis-like atmospheres and dark soundtracks. Also vocalist Noora is not the only one anymore playing a part (as the persona Eleanoora). Was Mika’s vocal input previously limited to the ‘pompompom’ background chorus, now he has more text adding to the dark claustrophic atmosphere even claiming lead vocals on ‘Köysitehdas’. With all these extra’s it is remarkable that the album in itself has become even more nuanced and ambient-like then the previous one. All instruments and input are well balanced. It has been said often but it is the art of leaving things off that is the most difficult. With this talent it is possible to turn Gregorian choir influences to a potential modern synth song (Sata Ave Mariaa) without going Enigma. Recorded in the SS-Palace studios in Ulvila, Rättö and Salmi sculpted a dark tale of murder and the sinister psychic things that follow. The ideal soundtrack if you're a forensic psychiatrist. Haunting and unique in Europopmusic.

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Schiffsverkehr (2011) - ♪♪♪
Herbert Grönemeyer (Germany)

“Let go of my hand / Lift the anchor / Down with the problem fixed / I want more boat traffic / finally we are at high sea”. With this Herbert’s thirteenth album bursts out of your speakers in an explosion of rock and orchestra. If you’d expect the detailed productions work of the last two Grönemeyer projects you have another thing coming. The title track and ‘Kreuz meinen weld’ thunder into your living room like a German steamloc. Powerful and electronic it seems Herbert teamed up with London bombastrock band Muse for this new project. Luckily, the first two tracks are just to get the boat out of the harbour. ‘Fernweh’ is a swinging boogie and with ‘Deine zeit’ he even limits himself to just a piano. Contrary to his former albums the theme of this one doesn’t seem to be looking back but much more looking forward and moving on: Tell me of tomorrow / Show me your country / Can you tell me you borrow, you lend / 've lost everything / all wasted / the certain release / help me to repent / God has an interest / for much and the world / just not for me (Erzähl mir von Morgen). More biblical allegories pass by in ‘Auf dem feld’ written for the soldiers in Afghanistan: ‘Dance around the golden calf / It leaves the guilty cold / planning their moves / by looking at their screen”. The world Herbert’s going to is one more obviously humane then the one he encounters in our current timeframe, without remorse: Let it not rain us / We letting go / no tears, I'm sorry / Perhaps it was a mistake / Perhaps it was our time / what was always remains”.  As said, muscally ‘ Schiffsverkehr’ is quite a bombastic project with a leading role for Herbert’s regular drummer Armin Rühl who gets every room to display an impressive arsenal of percussive rhythms and instruments. This also makes it a very crowded album, hardly any intermezzo’s are build, making it sometimes a bit of a tiring listen. .

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Moving on (2010) - ♪♪♪
Romy Haag (Germany)

October 29, Romy Haag presented her latest album, ‘ Moving on’. Romy is a living legend in Germany – or Berlin, to be precise. She was born as Edouard Frans Verbaarsschott in The Netherlands in 1951 and would later become Eva Maria Verbaarsschott. Some twenty years later she moved to Berlin and started the legendary club ‘Chez Romy Haag’ there in 1974. Many famous artists (Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury, Bette Midler, Tina Turner and Lou Reed) frequented this place, not in the least because of the remarkable owner. They must have had some wild parties back in those days in Berlin…

Romy started a recording career at the beginning of the eighties with the album ‘So bin ich’ (‘This is how I am’) with a nice collection of chansons, mostly in German. On her following albums she combined traditional chansons with more modern (dance) tunes. And on ‘Moving on’ she follows the same path. It is a collection of new songs and new interpretations in which she salutes her famous friends. Examples of the latter category: ‘Wildside’ (Lou Reeds ‘Walk on the wildside’), ‘Helden’ (a fantastic cover of Bowie’s ‘Heroes’), ‘Flugzeuge im Bauch’ (by Herbert Grönemeyer) and ‘Everybody knows’ (by Leonard Cohen). She brings the interpretations with a lot of flair and power. Three of the new songs were co-written by Haag and sound very modern and they express her humor. Opening track ‘Träume werden wahr’ (‘Dreams will come true tr’) is a festive anthem. ‘Spiegel meiner Träume’ (‘Mirror of my dreams’) and title track ‘Moving on’ are dance tracks pur sang and real floor fillers (I can only imagine those friends in Berlin clubbing on this tune…). The disco continues with the following track ‘Be my loverman’, written by Alexander Köpke, who also duets with Romy on the song. The track is produced by Inga Humphrey and Tommi Eckart (2raumwohnung). A very funny and naughty track is ‘Backseat of your Cadillac’, a duet with German singer and actor Denis Fischer, who also wrote the song.

The more personal side of Romy also shines through in some of the songs, like in ‘Jesus’, a social-critical song by Bettina Wegner:
“Jesus, do never come down here! / You will get no home and nothing from the pie. / You will not get a job and you will be send to jail / Because you resisted militantly and screaming. / Because Jesus was a Pole and also a Jew / Jesus was black and came from Peru / Jesus was a Turk and Jesus was red / Man, Jesus, stay up there, otherwise, they will beat you dead.”

The most touching and personal song on the album is ‘Meine blaue Gitarre’ (‘My blue guitar’). The song was written especially for Romy by Klaus Hoffmann and tells her personal life story:

“When the wounds have long healed, the scars still hurt / You need to have lived your whole life in order to understand your childhood. / … / Twenty years ago, the one who said: “farewell, you knew me once” / They gave me fifty florins and backed me to become normal / There hangs my blue guitar and it smells like coffee and cinnamon / And after all these years, now I finally know who I am / Only when the wind is blowing from Holland, it becomes clear to me again / The things I can see today have always been inside of me.”

Romy Haag is certainly not the best singer in the world. But despite her vocal shortcomings, she know how to entertain and to captivate her audience. She has nothing left to prove to anyone and so she just does what she feels like. And it is just that spirit that is the main attraction of her latest album, with wit and emotion, but without pretentions, a nice collection of songs, with different moods.

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‘Okruchy życia ’ (2010) - ♪♪♪
Martyna Jakubowicz (Poland)

Not counting her Bob Dylan tribute project ‘Tylko Dylan ‘ from 2005 it has been a fat twelve years since Martyna and her brother Andrzej  put a pen on paper (‘Skórka pomarańczy’ was released in 1998). So in a way this is the first album she released in the new century. But now she is back and she brings us twelve songs about life, love and betrayal, longing and the passing of time, grief and joy and a disagreement on the human meanness. You can say that she takes 20th century ideology into the 21st century. On the album she gets help by several artists who accompanied her the past few years in stage, gathered under the name Żona Lota. The most known of this group is jazz-drummer Przemek Pacan who takes care of a diversity of percussion on the album. The fact that we are dealing here with very experienced musicians adds a value to the album. Especcially the highlight of the album ‘Lorca jest snem’ (Lorca is a dream) is an outstanding display of strong musicianship. And complemented with some nice dreamlike lyrics based on the poets of Federico García Lorca. “no bananas in the sea / no love in Sevilla / four pigeons swirls Cordoba in the distance, in the time /  Moon over the black mountain / Olives in the bag to the saddle / I know the way to Cordoba but I never reached her”.

There are more highlights on the album. ‘Handel słowami’, ‘Mam dary boże’ (I have a gift of God) and ‘Nie tylko ja jedna’ are strong songs. And Martyna’s ‘Pan Kasa’ (Mister Cash) can be added to the long list of recent songs about the economical crisis and the greediness of bankers: “ Mr. Cash has its own style / And it is the continuous increase / food for him our blood / our heart, our bone / paper and metal / same kind of dead death / So someone else must live life / and drink our blood/ It's a bit that give us / is a drop in a sea / you eat per week / and empty pockets again.” Martyna’s calm voice can be misleading sometimes. She is able to damn the world to hell in a soothing and comforting matter: “although this was not the objective / it all starts to bore me a little / How to commit kamikaze / I am a torpedo today / TNT blew up in August / time to go.” Jakubowicz made an album that fits her voice. In an interview she said: “I cannot add to the trend of joyful consumption, full of wiggles and beats, also I did not want to make a strict jazz. And therefore I will not be disgustingly rich. It is not important, because we had a heap of fun working on this album.” And that shows.

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Ora (2011) - ♪♪♪
Jovanotti (Italy)

With ‘Ora’ Jovanotti seems to return to the years when he recorded his debut ‘for President’ in 1988. He opens with a megamix of the entire album (how eighties) and boogies down like it’s 1989 on the track ‘Io Danzo’ on which elements of early house and hiphop parade on by. The entire album sounds like a big wink to the Eighties and early Nineties with the note that Jovanotti did try to give it a 21st century spin. In that sense the album title ‘Now’ is bit odd. It is more a summary of all the musical genre’s Jovannotti incorporated over the past 23 years. Like a chameleon he blends elements of  rap, ska, acid-jazz (do your remember what that was?), electro, pop, rock and african blues. On ‘Battiti di ali di farfalla’ he takes on an old fashioned battle of brotherhood with Michael Franti of Spearhead: “Watch my feet dancing the swing / the center of the ring / Rivals as it should / as surely as it is healthy / As the muscles of the human body / antagonists / faithful to the movement / Under the same sky.” In Lorenzo’s own words he wanted with this album to convey the genuine desire to live, not merely to exist. "They say it is true that every dreamer become cynical with age" ("Time") but not Jovanotti. He jubels about ‘Il pui’ grande spettacolo dopo il Big Bang’ , which is bigger then a Lady Gaga show and a mass at the Vatican. And celebrates ‘La bella vita’ with Malinese duo Amadou & Mariam. He brings a danceable ode to love in ‘La notte dei desideri’: “It is a night with something special / A music calls me to him  / Like water to the sea / I see a swirl of colored people / Flocking back to a basic rhythm / I see the eyes of a woman who loves me / And I no longer feel the need to suffer / Everything Is Illuminated / Everything is within range of becoming / I see stars falling in the night of desires”.  ‘Ora’ is bursting with positive energy in a time when that may be needed most.

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‘Pesme iz godina uspavanog razuma ’ (2011) - ♪♪♪
Keckec & Acid folk orchestra (Serbia)

New sounds from Novi Sad, Serbia with Keckec & Acid Folk Orchestra and their ‘poems from the years of sleeping mind’. On the album songwriter Milan Kerezović gives countryfellowman Goran Bregovic a run for his money when he takes the traditional Serbian music back to it’s roots with a big influence from punk , pop, Tom Waits and Kurt Weill. You’ll hear the ‘pots and pans fanfare’ influence which can be heard around Europe under the name Balkanbeat. But the Acid Folk Orchestra is much more then that. The whole album sounds like you’re in a Belgrade winebar while the band jams on stage. Songs like ‘Momaka’, ‘Rizla’ and ‘Plakao Sam’ come across as if the Poques had a Serbian holiday. It’s folky, it’s punky and it itches and scratches. With instruments like vibraphone, marimba, saxophone and accordion to give it an acoustic feel. Sometimes the band gets into a bluesy vibe like on somber ‘Očiju mi’, sometimes they go ‘Wooly Booly’ with an organ like on ‘Ne stedi me’. Producer Miloš Jovanović (also known for producing recent albums of Šaban Bajramović and of Itakanataka) did everything to keep it simple but sufficient. Meanwhile Milan tells simple everyday stories. About hanging in local coffee shops, walking in the rural countryside (Harizma ), cabaret (Šest momaka) school musical notebooks (Očiju mi) and a pagan procession with a drunken choir on ‘Dobro jutro groblje’.(Good Morning Cemetery ). On the album Kerezović takes on different roles and appearances as a narrator of everyday Serbian life. The power of Keckec & Acid Folk Orchestra is that suddenly you realize that all those acts wandering the western part of Europe, claiming to play Balkan music, are just a weak image compared to an act rooted in the South-East part of the contingent.  

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‘Le verger’ (2010) - ♪♪♪♪
Bastien Lallement (France)

I bought this cd in a record shop in Paris just because of the intriguing album cover. ‘Le verger’ (‘The orchard’) is Bastien Lallement’s third album and it was already released in the midst of last year. Still I think this album, has lots to offer for europopmusic lovers, so here is my review, although a bit late…

Bastien Lallement comes from the more rural areas around Dijon. After his first two albums, he was sacked by his record company. He recorded his new album over a period of two years time, together with his friends Albin de la Simone and Bertrand Belin, who have released some very relevant albums in their own right. These guys are certainly part of the young artists that represent the new alternative French pop scene. The album has been produced by Albin and Bertrand Belin and Bastien is accompanied by the following musicians: Jacques Tellitocci, Thibault Frisoni, Pascal Parisot and, in two duets, Armelle Pioline (from the group Holden).

As mentioned, it took Lallement over two years to record this album, so it appears it must have been quite a struggle. In the end, it was worth the effort, since every note and tune on this album sounds exactly right and in place.

It is a concept album with twelve songs, that are literary and pictoral. They tell a small, dark stories of secrets, cruelty and murder. This way, Lallement opens a variety of secret drawers of the human soul, where all dark things lie hidden... These small, disturbing stories were sung by Lallement with lots of confidence and in a early Gainsbourg-style. The instrumentation of the songs is sober and light, adding to the sinister, expressionist atmosphere.

‘L’empoisonneuse’ (‘Poisoning’):
“When the poison takes effect / And it will be intimated in his veins / Three drops in his tea are enough / To send him in a private jet / And you're finally happy, yes, you're finally happy / When the police come snooping / Take care to conceal / Plead the passion and weep / The poisoner is forgiven”

‘Cowboy’:
“I'm a cowboy, a cowboy / The least addicted, I spit fire, I take out my colt / in your blouse area of cotton is the crop / Take care to lead if you wiggle, doll / I'm quick-tempered, I'm a cowboy, you know I'm a real cowboy / I'm not normal, you say / I take all evil, and only do you harm / I care about everything in the air / I have learned that our love is not a bullet / TILT! Here, take this doll, sorry! / I'm a cowboy, you know, I'm a real cowboy.”

‘La plage’ (‘The beach’):
“On the beach / Without ending / A woman / Discovered by the waves / Then cover endlessly / On the beach. / On the sand / If finaly / A woman / Hold by the sand / Then glides through his hands / On the beach / Of endless sand. / On the beach / This morning / A woman / Recovered by sailors / That releases sea spray / On the beach / Of endless sand.”

The album is packed in a beautiful black and white cover, showing a photo of Lallement and his guitar on the cover that resembles a sad, distracted Hank Williams look-alike. Apart from the lyrics, the booklet contains a photo story.

Bastien Lallement in an interview stated that he initially wanted to name the album ‘Interior’, since it contains a collection of small dramas that reveal the dark side characters. “Ialso wanted to go back to some of the music that I listened to when I was young, quite dark music like Cure, Joy Division, Bauhaus." And a dark album it has become… Lallement’s  subdued style of telling/singing resembles both Brassens and Nick Cave (‘Murder ballads’). A poetic, timeless album that deserves to be heard throughout the world.

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La saison de passage (2010) - ♪♪♪♪
- M - (France)

The more introvert character of his latest studio album ‘Mister Mystere’ didn’t urge me to place a rendez-vous with Mathieu Chedid during his extensive tour last year. Expecting a more acoustic, less theaterical show. How wrong could I have been! Documented on ‘La saison de passage’ is a live-show that resembles a roller coaster ride of musical theater.  Dressed from head to foot, wearing a huge wig giving it the air of a giant raven, M is a musical omnivoor that burns the boards of theaters in which he lays his amp. This stage energy is fully restored on an album that oozes gross smells, sweat and distortion. He does not interpret the new album. He reinvents the songs turning a simple guitar-voice light in an electro-rock frenzied ... and vice versa. And with an abundance of audience participation. Together with an apt band consisting of Chedid family members Anna and Joseph,  Matthieu gives a calling card of his talent. And that calling card has a lot of guitar in it. That detail is also the downside of the album, if you’re not a fan of wah-wah fused guitar solo’s this album is not a treat. For the rest this album is a an inspired, flamboyant and electrifying listening trip, wish I was there. NB. For those of you expecting the same experience from the DVD release; think again. The DVD is a seperate release consisting of a two hours long fragmented diary of the tour. Even if you do speak French it’s fun to watch only once and only as a bonus next to the album. Bit of a waste of money…spend it on the CD.

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Mezalianse (2011) - ♪♪♪
Maleńczuk & Steczkowska (Poland)

Since the Polish QM label got the copyrights to the catalogue of legendary polish 50’s songwriters  like Agnieszkę Osiecką, Jeremi Przybora and Jerzy Wasowski they gradually re-release them in an original manner. They invite modern day pop singers to interpret the songs. But they also link artist in unlikely and surprising combinations. Before they asked Kasia Nosowska, Raz Dwa Trzy and Stanislaw Soyka (with work from Agnieszkę Osiecką), Marysia Sadowska (who interpreted Komedy i Kaczmarskiego) and recently Kayah and Renata Przemyk (who did songs from the Kabaretu Starszych Panów). And now it’s the second collection of songs from the ‘Cabaret of old men’ done by none other then pop-diva Justyna Steczkowska and rocksinger Maciej Maleńczuk (former singer of Püdelsi and Homo Twist). A highly unlikely combination but in the roles they interpret it works remarkably. Justyna plays the twinkling housewife and Maciej grumps his way through the texts like the devil himself. Although a large portion of the songs is carried by Justyna the input from Maciej gives it that extra dark tone it needs. They interpret the lyrical "Utwierdź mnie", the sentimental "Herbatka", the sarcastic romantic "Bez Ciebie" sung by Maciek or the cabaresque on "Na ryby". Like the other projects you have to take into account that they tried to stay close to the original intentions and music made in the fifties and sixties. Don’t expect something very hip and modern. But do expect a rare quality insight with a modern twist in Polands musical history

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Ricoveri virtuali e sexy solitudini (2010) - ♪♪♪
Marlene Kuntz (Italy)

The once-called Italian Sonic Youth have turned more and more melodic over the years. And the collaboration with former triphop guru Howie B brings them even further from the beaten track. That does not mean frontman Cristiano Godano have turned soft in spirit. On the openingtrack Cristiano bites: “Deficient a loser / Sing with me this piece: "I am arrogant but rejected. Sing loud, loudly, while you’re off to school. How much stuff you've downloaded?  How little you have heard?
And how much shit you're going to throw in your virtual shelter? Sing with me this piece: "I am proud but neglected. ". The virtual shelter and sexy solutions from the album title are all in the PC’s of the subject. It is as if Cristiano wants to give a wake up call to all the kids sinking away into their virtual world. He calls them idiots (L’Idiota): “You can play all you want / and give your whole body to light / shadows do not find anyone who tried / something inexplicable / Appear and nothing more / and escape from it with Coca”. It is clear, contrary to the current trends Marlene Kuntz finds nerdism uncool. Musically, although Howie has a strong influence production wise, the album sees a return to a less polished and more basic rocksound. Songs like ‘Orizzonti’ and ‘Oasi’ are good examples of this. It is as if the band, insync with the theme of the album, also wanted to make a pure album instead of one made with the help of virtual aids. However, this approach also caused that the album lacks a certain uniqueness. Where Italian rockbands like Vibrasonic and Baustelle came up with a restyling of Italian rockmusic Marlene Kuntz stays close to Anglo-American counterparts. It makes ‘Ricoveri virtuali e sexy solitudini’ a pleasant but not an impressive album.

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Io e Te (2011) - ♪♪♪
Gianna Nannini (Italy)

On the cover of the album Gianna is shown in a state of high pregnacy. Meanwhile her daughter is born and mama is busy promoting her latest musical baby. But the maternal detail is something that hovers over the entire album, including the title ‘You and I’. If we listen to the single ‘Ogni tanto’ you could say that Gianna softened up a little. The rock elements are kept to a minimum and the song weavers on with an easy and beautiful chorus. There are more soft ballads to be found in the first section of the album like ‘Dimentica’ and ‘Ti voglio tanto bene’ written together with Isabella Santacroce: “I will sing for you, remember my name I love you so well". Is this going to be one of those hormonal influenced mother-baby albums? Has she tuned down not to wake the baby? Thank heavens no. On ‘Rock 2’ and ‘Mi ami’ she shows that she still can rock, even delivering a new classic with the song ‘Perfetto’. A song about the thin line between love and being condemned to one another.  “I will not leave you / tonight you're my chain / I stay in this jail / Perfect / Let's go to bed / nothing is more beautiful in the world / who come here will disappear in the dark / Perfect / wonder that now / the noise is a song for those who listen in the dark / Perfect / with all your mistakes / I will not leave you anymore / I swear”

Even the titlesong, in which you actually expect an ode to baby, is a 3.40 minutes orchestral rockballad and not a soothing lullaby. In the song it almost seems Gianna is already bracing for the moment her daughter will leave her in future years: “The eyes talk in your sleep / just us just us / Sweet as you do not know / But then when you go and take love / if we look at us and laugh  / Why is our world not here / That flower born in the middle of the sea / Me and you and me and you and me / Never die / give me kiss forever / The arms the breath / And then nothing”.  For a young mother quite a dark and sombre text. The second highlight of the album 'Com'Era' again speaks of falling love and dorment frustations. To end the album with a more positive note she swings in 'Scusa' and Domenico Modugno’s ‘Nel blu dipinto di blu’ gets a raspy scratching rock makeover ending in an almost grunge-like manor. In conclusion, the new album by Gianna Nannini is perhaps not as urgent or innovative as its predecessors, but it is a sophisticated collection of songs with a keen ear for arrangements and sound. And a much more moody album then you expect from someone who just gave birth.

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12 Düet (2011) - ♪♪♪
Nilüfer (Turkey)

At the age of 56 and after the somewhat sweet ‘Hayal’ Turkish singer Nilüfer thought it was time to rock. And so her new album is a gathering of anyone hip, rock and trendy she and producer Ozan Çolakoğlu could find in Turkey. Malt joins her on ‘Ara Sıra Bazı Bazı’, Ogün Sanlısoy  whips up ‘Hey Gidi Günler’and Rashit bangs on ‘Uzak Dur Ateşimden’. The album opens with the only female duet together with Şebnem Ferah she sings ’Erkekler Ağlamaz’ (Boys don’t cry) also the single of the album. It is also the only song Nilüfer wrote herself. Almost half of the album is written by Ülkü Aker added with three compositions by Adnan Ergil. But Nilüfer gave every artist carte blanche to what they wanted with the song. So in the end it is not all entirely rock on the album. She gets intimate with Teoman on ‘Sensiz Olmaz’. With Badem she creates a more melodic popsong. But on epic centre piece of the album ‘Aşk Kitabı’ Hayo Cepkín takes the song and develops from a haunting soft song into a demonic grunt storm of over 4:11 minutes. Highly original and the positive thing about the project is that most artist seemed to have taken their assignment serious without losing the goal that this was to be a project for Nilüfer. But on the other hand Nilüfer sometimes drowns in the waves of guitars and she is here and there overvoiced by her enthousiastic duet-partners. Her only option then is to SCREAM but that is not the best volume level for her. But that is just a small critique on a further sympathetic  project that succeeds in staying mostly consistent in it’s theme. If you just like the sweet balladry of Nilüfer it is best to stay away from this album. If you like a little adventure it is certainly worth a try. 

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Nella terra dei pinguini (2011) - ♪♪♪
Patty Pravo (Italy)

In april, Patty Pravo will turn 65 years. But apparently she has no intention of slowing down her career, since she just released a brand new album with 11 new songs. Her career launched back in 1966 with ‘Ragazzo triste’ and since then she has been ever present icon on the Italian music scene. She released over 25 albums and she always managed to integrate new musical styles into her music. In 2004 she released the album ‘Nic unic’ with a bunch of young musicians and she also toured with them. On her new album, ‘Nella terra dei pinguini’ (‘In the land of the pinguins’), she again chose some younger musicians. Together with producer Diego Calvetti, they created a fresh and solid pop album.

The album opens with one of the best tracks, ‘La vita è qui’ (‘Life is here’). It is an up tempo rock tune with a modern flavour and expressive lyrics: ‘La vita e qui’ (‘Life is here’):
“Stay silent like this, now do not move / Stay like this so that I can paint you / Stop here and give me the eyes / From which time has never taken luminosity / … / Lifeis here, between your eyes and the sky / This is how we are, we are like this / Andwe are living right now / … / Us, in a single beat, that makes huge / We are both eternal and fragile”

Also present on the album is Patty’s entry for the 2011 edition of the San Remo Festival, ‘Il vento e le rose’, written by producer Diego Calvetti and Marco Ciappelli. The deluxe edition of the album contains three bonus tracks, including a version of this song on which Patty duets with Morgan (from Bluvertigo). The album contains mostly rock ballads and a few mid and up tempo songs. Patty’s voice sounds incredibly good. She is definitely one of the signature pop singers in Italy for the past 4 decades. And respect to her for the fact that she always stayed true to her rock roots – unlike many other artists who start singing Burt Bacharach songs after they turn fifty something... .‘Nella terra dei pinguini’ is a solid album, but it lacks the sense of urgency in some of the songs, unlike its predecessor, ‘Nic unic’. Yet, it is still a very good album that any Pravo fan can buy without reservation. And Patty’s voice sounds better than she has done in the past fifteen years.

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Noce i sny (2010) - ♪♪♪
Magda Umer (Poland)

Magda Umer is a famous Polish poet, actress and singer. In the autumn of her life, she released the cd ‘Nocy I sny’ (‘Nights and dreams’). It contains seventeen songs by famous Polish songwriters (Agnieszka Osiecka, Marek Grechuta, Jonasz Kofta and Jeremi Przybora), interpreted by Magda. In interviews Magda explained that these songs all are particularly close to her heart and important to her. The album apparently was recorded in a few days time and the songs were modestly arranged, so the music paves the way for the lyrics. The instrumentation and arrangements of the songs are very intimate (string quartet, accordion, bass, piano). The lyrics are mostly sad but very beautiful. Magda sings about love (and the ending of it) and the passing of time. The album opens with a text by Jeremi Przybora ‘Jak zatrzymać tę chwilę jesienną’ (‘How do I stop this moment in autumn?’), dealing with the subject of beautiful moments slipping away, one cannot prevent them from disappearing. The next song, Marek Gretchuta’s ‘Ocalić od zapomnienia’ (‘Saved from oblivion’) touches the same theme. ‘Artysty mutny walc’ (‘The artist’s sad waltz’) handles with the unavoidable end of every life and the question if God exists:
“This is the artist's sad waltz, It is a cruel waltz / The artists is a cold God / When asked about the silence / He knows, knows the effect / I do not know him, I guess he does not exist / This is a waltz for the fate of everyone / And we all know the effect / I guess that many - many guess, but not me / Not me.”

‘Wszystko dla Twej miłości’ (‘All for your love’) is a love song by Gretchuta, but with very poetic and clever lyrics:
“All for your love, all at her feet / All the joys of the world, the most valuable loot / Everything so as not to lose to be able to live / All for those few words, those words - I love you / My last penny to feed her / Remnant forces to save her / The best joke to amuse her / The best poem to her delight / There it was and there was happiness”

The last song lyric of the album is ‘Śnie, który uczysz umierać człowieka’ (‘Dream that you teach a man to die’) by Jan Kochanowski. It is a text that describes the passing of life:
“Dream you teach a man to die / I manifest a taste of future rights / But this is the last sleep for this mortal body / … / He wants you to see where the bright day comes from the sea / He wants you to know where the evening aurora goes / Or where snow and ice prevail / Or where water has dried up from the heat. / … / A body that rests will / not feel the time missed / And that it did not live in a time that it regardeth.”

Magda Umer delivers an album with interpretations of songs with truly fantastic lyrics. The only thing is: what if you do not understand the Polish language? And you do not have ‘google translate’ around? Much of the beauty of the songs get lost and halfway the album gets a little monotonous. Still, I respect her effort to bring these songs with these sober and intimate arrangements, fully focusing on the beautiful lyrics.

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Rue Washington (2010) - ♪♪
Line Renaud (France)

Line Renaud (born in 1928) recorded a new album after thirty years (!) of absence from the music scene. La Renaud was one of the biggest international French stars back in the fifties and sixties, she even encountered quite some success in the States. By the end of the seventies she decided to focus entirely on her acting career.

The story goes that Dominique Blanc-Francard, who produced the album, worked right by the building of Loulou’s (her late husband, Louis Gasté) music publishing house, in rue Washington in Paris. After they encountered Blanc-Francard and Renauld decided to enter the recording studio together. An enormous string of famous writers and composers contributed material in order to make this album a success. (Alain Chamfort, Julien Clerc, Michel Delpech, Marc Lavoine, Grand Corps Malade, Mylène Farmer, Adamo…) And Line even sings a duet with her god-son, Johnny Halliday - the duet ‘Ce monde est merveilleux’, a cover version of Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a wonderful live’.

The question is, of course: did it all work out? Well, yes and no. It is a pleasure to hear Line Renaud again singing new material again. Her voice and singing style sounds somewhat out of date, but still shows a lot of class, expression and ‘joy of live’. She really gives it all she’s got. But somehow, the album does not work as an album. It fails to express relevancy or urgency like, for example, the latest string of albums by Juliette Gréco.

The album does have its moments. Opening track first single ‘Les torrent d’amour’ (‘The river of love’) by Michel Delpech and Laurent Foulon is nice mid-tempo song. ‘La mémoire dévêtue’ (‘The stripped memory’) by Julien Clerc and Jean-Loup Dabadie is a stylish song that perfectly suits Renaud. Also Adamo’s contribution ‘Un sourire’ (‘A smile’) works out fine.

On ‘C’est pas l’heure’ (‘This is not the time’) La Renaud duets with Mylène Farmer. Although the song is not bad, the result is terrible. The combination of voices is painful for the ears. ‘Happy birthday la vie’ (‘Happy birthday to live’) is a boring jazz pastiche. The duet with Johnny Halliday is a disaster; ‘What a wonderfull world’ - why on earth did they chose this song, that so many others already sung? It is unoriginal and has nothing to add.

It is good to hear La Renaud again and even the handful of nice songs are worth the purchase of this album. At the same time it proves that a collection of songs by famous writers and composers does not automatically result in a successful album. This one is recommended for fans of Line only.

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Regenrhythmus (2011) - ♪♪♪♪♪
Marianne Rosenberg (Germany)

This year she is celebrating her forty-year anniversary as a performing and recording artists: Marianne Rosenberg. In those forty years, she has experienced many ups and downs. At an early age discovered in a talent show, scoring big schlager hits in the seventies, her struggle to move away from her schlager image in the eighties, the discovery of her songwriting talents (thanks Rio Reiser and Marianne Entzenberger), her cult status in the nineties and her come back in 2004 with a collection of old hits, followed by a jazz album. And now: 'Regenrhythmus. A completely new Marianne, a serious Marianne, a melancholic, even dark and obscure Marianne. After forty years, finally a big girl?

Let us be clear: on 'Regenrhythmus, Marianne sings better than ever. The lyrics were to the thirteen songs were written by herself, the music and the production of the album was done by Marianne together with Dirk Riegner (Guano Apes, HIM). The result is an intriguing album of mostly mid-tempo songs with multi-layerd electronic sounds. From the didgeridoo solo opener ‘Liebe tief erfunden’ (‘Love invented deep’) to the last dark sounds of ‘Jetzt’ (‘Now’) Marianne immerses you in a very special listening experience. Only two songs are more upbeat, the single ‘Rette mich durch die Nacht' (‘Help me through the night’) and 'Und wenn ich sing' (‘And when I sing’). Both songs are not bad in themselves, but are almost out of place compared to the other songs, which are much more serious and sometimes downright dark and depressing. It is not easy to name the highlights, because the album actually needs to be listened from start to finish. Only then you will experience the album completely, and the songs will crawl under your skin and will not let you go ...

Also lyrically La Rosenberg presents her talents – she has never wrote such beautiful lyrics.

‘Liebe tief erfunden’ (‘Love invented deep’):
“We have met - to the core / Did we already know then that love makes lonely / Our wounds have closed - every time / … / We fall apart you and I / Because proximity creates distance, love is invented deep / The hearts are old enough to understand / We are still the same, do not know where we are going / There are many types of walls, also inside the heart / I just do not think of you picture, this one rhymes on pain”

Also Marianne expresses her views on some social issues. In 'Verliebte Jungs’ (Boys in Love’) Marianne first sings about love between boys, a song that will undoubtedly please her huge gay following. She is truly sharp in ‘Lauf Kleine' ('Walk you little one’), in which she criticizes our society and the various singing and fashion contests in which boys and girls are being exploited at a very young age, just for the purpose of companies to make a quick profits.

‘Lauf Kleine’ (‘Walk you little one’):
“They suck your dream like a raspberry bon-bon / They fit you a hair cut and a killer-song / You sign their usurious contract with blood / They willflatterand for now you'll be OK / Still you are number one, with your powdered nose / Always higher and so on, just another sport on the ladder / After some time, to puke is not so difficult anymore / Hunger has left you a long time ago”

A key title of the album, according to Marianne herself in an interview, is ‘Genau entgegengesetzt’ (‘Exactly the opposite'). “In this song I explain that what we seek in our constructed world and how we define ourselves in it. I think that our lives are more and more removed from what we are trying to do. Exactly the opposite is therefore the direction."

‘Genau entgegengesetzt’ (‘Exactly the opposite'):
“Exactly the opposite is the direction / You will loose, when you win / The heart knows it already for a very long time / You can only take what you give / … / The door of all the wonders closes into your face / You do not recognise it, you do not know who you are, you want more / You give everything a name so you can be certain of it all / And you confuse the heart – confuse the heart”

‘Regenrhythmus’ is completely in vogue and ‘2011’, and at the same time it is a timeless masterpiece. It has absolutely nothing in common with German schlager or other kitsch. It is probably Marianne’s best album – and that after forty years!

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Soleil blue (2010) - ♪♪♪♪
Sylvie Vartan (France)

Sylvie Vartan released a brand new album with 12 new songs just at the end of 2010. She’s been a recording and performing artist for nearly fifty years and she is still going strong, releasing albums in an enormous tempo.

According to quotes from interviews, Sylvie did not intended this album to be released so fast after her last regular album (2008) and the live following live album (2010). But after she had been introduced to Doriand and Keren Ann Zeidel via her friend Etienne Daho, all things just accelerated automatically. Doriand and Keren Ann played ‘J’fais la moue’ for Sylvie and she was just captivated. They went into the studio together, Sylvie brought some songs with her she had already selected. And Karen Ann and Dorian presented her some of their own songs. According to Sylvie herself, the recording process went very smoothly, some of the tracks were recorded in just one take.

It all resulted in one of Sylvie’s better albums of her career. It sounds fresh, current and sincere. The production is modern yet timeless, never sounding forced or concealing. The twelve songs were created by some of the best writers and composers of the French pop scene (Doriand and Karen Ann Zeidel, of course, but also La Grande Sophie, Julien Doré, Benjamin Biolay, Sylvie’s son David Halliday and, naturally, her friend Etienne Daho.

The album opens with the funny yet somewhat melancholic ‘J’fais la moue’ (‘I pout’), a retro-sound with mandolin and violin, subtly reminding us of Vartan’s Bulgarian heritage. The next song is the beautiful ballad ‘Pas si facile à oublier’ (‘Not easy to forget’). Tracks 4 and 5 are both high lights of the album. The Daho-penned song ‘La prisonnière’ (‘The prisoner’) is a very sophisticated song with a sixties fibe and fine lyrics:

‘La prisonnière’ (‘The prisoner’):
“Even if I draw a world between us / A world between us / The past that binds us, challenges us / Why do we get crucified by memories. / Even if the heart full of bruises / The wounded soul, that I will never, never expose / Even if the links are to be settled / My captured heart, sleeps under your locks / The past is the dog that keeps me a prisoner of your eternal destiny.”

‘La femme coupée en deux’ (‘The woman cut in two’) is an energetic disco-inspired track co-penned by Vartan’s son David Halliday. The album also has it’s more reflective moments, like the fantastic ballad ‘Je me détacherai’, written by Karen Ann Zeidel and Doriand:

‘Je me détacherai’ (‘I will detach myself’):
“Migratory birds have not so much remorse / They are also expected elsewhere / And elsewhere is still other doors. / I detach myself of love, if necessary / From everything I know / With nothing on the back or arms. / As frequent travelers, learning to walk / Even a dust in the eye / They are just passing to wherever they will be.”

‘Tous ces garçons’ (‘All those boys’) and ‘Le monde est moins dur que toi’ (‘The world is less hard than you’) are both retro-tracks that resemble the sixties, the decade that Vartan first emerged and become one of Frances leading ye-ye girls.

‘Personne’ (‘No-one’) is a modern mid-tempo pop song, written by La Grande Sophie, that brings us back in 2010. The album closes with the introspective ‘La vanité’ (‘Vanity’), written by famous France singer-songwriter Benjamin Biolay. A perfect closing track for a great album. La Vartan certainly knows how to extend her artistic career in a credible and fashionable way. Keep on recording this kind of albums, madame Vartan! (PS: If you want to see Sylvie Vartan perform live, she will be touring through France in April 2011.)

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De Koek (2011) - ♪♪♪♪
Eefje de Visser

After winning the annual Grand Prix for upcoming musical talent in the Netherlands, ‘De koek’ (‘The cake’) is Eefje de Visser’s long awaited debut album. This 24 year old young girl grew up in a musical Dutch family and now she’s taken the first steps onto a solo career in music herself. And her debut album is a very promising start!

Eefje has a soft and crystal clear voice. She still sounds somewhat young, but very relaxed and secure, there is no trace of mannerism. The album has been co-produced by Eefjes boyfriend, Marcel Tegelaar (aka Skiggy Rapz). It is worth a compliment that they have chosen to stay away from the cabaretesque sound that characterizes so many Dutch artists. It is a singer songwriter album pur sang, with catchy, poppy songs, yet with a lot of subtle surprises and experiments. For example the use of some exotic instruments like the udu, celesta and vibraphone combined with electronic touches. It provides a warm and exciting blanket for Eefje’s own guitar playing.

Crucial element for a singer-songwriter are the lyrics. And fortunaltely Eefje proves that she can write some very proper song texts. Actually, it is quite amazing hearing this young woman singing this beautifully in the Dutch language. It only makes you wonder why other Dutch singers chose to sing in English. Like almost every other European language, Dutch is a marvelous language to express oneself in.

‘Genoeg’ (‘Enough’):
“Theheat upsets me / the warmth paralyzes me / the summer burns me / and I’m not doing anything / donot worrybecause when I start, if I do this it is because / I never, I never, I never have enough / of you, of me, of us, of this”

‘Trein’ (‘Train’):
“There was a train, that drove me away, drove me away / And when it halted, we a woke on our own, bewildered and alienated, but alone, alone, alone / … / Because no one leaves me / because no one understands / no one lets me go / but I am constantly traveling / because you have not shaken me awake / because I put the blame on every one / because I tell every one is right / because I talk and talk and talk / and listen, listen, listen / I choke in this story”

‘De koek’ is an album that certainly has the potential to please many people throughout Europe. If you are interested in high quality Dutch music, you should definitely get this album. An a big thank you to Eefje for creating an album with international appeal, using the beautiful Dutch language!

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Safari Disco Club (2011) - ♪♪♪♪
Yelle (France)

Is it a Caribbean new wave band? Is it a Swahili electro club? No, it’s the second album by French electronic pop purveyors Yelle. Build around singer Yelle, née Julie Budet, and composers GrandMarnier (born Jean-François Perrier) and Tepr they deliver their second album after their 2007 debut ‘Pop-up’. The band used some of the time between albums broading their experience in collaborating with other artists they admired: They swapped covers with Robyn (Yelle covered Robyn’s ‘Who’s That Girl’; Robyn covered their ‘A Cause Des Garçons’); remixed Katy Perry and worked with dance production duo Crookers on the track ‘Couleur Cooler’. But now it was time for the follow up. The first impression is that not much has changed. Yelle stills splendors with fun-loving girl-on-boy edgy electro beat. But the change is in the detail. Where ‘Pop-up’ came across as a compilation of bits and pieces made in a bedroom studio ‘Safari disco club’ has a much more balanced and coherent feel. On opening the door to the Safari Disco Club you’re met with a bopping and bubbling party. “What we see here, I promise, promise / The animals dance in the safari disco club / I want to taste everything, I want to taste, taste / Know the taste of sin, sin”. “We’re all infants / we’re all adolescents here / I dance and I play / like a child” sings Yelle on ‘ Comme un enfant’. In the club people have ‘Chimie Physique’ amongst each other and strut their stuff on ‘La musique’. “I drank all the songs” is the motto on ‘ J’ ai bu’ when Yelle sways over the beats like drunk on music. On ‘Unillusion’ hints of Chicago house pass by on a minimal techno kick, while Yelle’s lazy voice analyzes a new love: “Hand in hand / United when it goes well”. The evening at the Safari Disco Club closes with the lush drone of ‘S’éteint le soleil’ (The Sun Goes Out) considering the end of days and slowly building up to a drum filled climax when you’re zapped outside. With album #2 Yelle makes a nice step forward shrugging themselves towards Belgian electroact Vive la Fete or maybe a modern day Lio & Telex from her ‘Amicalement Votre’ album. In that perspective Yelle sounds more Belgian then French but only the connoisseurs will bother about the difference. Tasty danceable starter of 2011.

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