Pisara ja lammas 1 (2012) ♪♪♪
Absoluuttinen Nollapiste (Finland)

I am just old enough to remember the classic cartoon movie ‘Heavy Metal’ from 1981. An animated science fiction adventure revolving around a glowing green orb (the Loc-Nar) as the personification of ultimate evil in the universe threatening a young and rather well build girl with stories of dark fantasy, eroticism and horror. Hrrrr, Ok you can forget about the storyline. The soundtrack for the movie was made of a collection of popular All American Rock songs by Sammy Hagar, Cheap Trick, Journey and the Blue oyster cult. To get to the point. The new album by Finnish progrock band Absoluuttinen Nollapiste send me in this timewarp. ‘Pisara ja lammas 1’ (The Droplet and The Ram 1) is the first part of a conceptual double album build around a science fiction adventure taking place in the near future. A droplet of pure evil is sent onwards from Planet Benign. It sweeps across the universe towards Earth and then… Sound familiar? Never mind what happens next. Since we can’t understand Suomi anyway we’ll judge the album just on its musical merits. And artistically the score to the adventure is much more interesting than the rather crude 1981 soundtrack of the movie we mentioned above. Fact is that the guys from AN are far better musicians. The album cleverly moves between the intelligent rocksound we know from the guys to something that is close to an epic soundtrack. And since this is a concept story we have a diverse cast joining in and playing (and singing) the different parts. We find Erkki Seppänen as the Ram, Olavi Uusivirta as the  Shepherd and Paula Vesala as the Woman. Tommi Liimatta handles the narration. It is quite a surprise to hear guest vocalists on an AN album but not an unpleasant one. Inspired by the rock opera’s of yesteryear they translated the concept of such an album to their own style adding folky elements and Scandinavian progrock influences. And exchanged the chesty main character of the American example for a sheep. Part 1 of ‘Pisara ja lammas’ is an interesting project that can easily be listened to in a seperate manor without any deeper knowledge about what’s going on. Still, my guess is it is more fun if you can understand the lyrics.

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La Grande Roue (2012) ♪♪♪½
Adamo (Belgium)

50-year career, 500 songs, more than 100 million records sold worldwide. Quite a trackrecord for a Belgian artist. Most of that fame was gained in the sixties and seventies when Jacques Brel named him the tender gardener of love. Like a white Al Green Adamo was the Belgian king of light chanson mixed with pop. Since the Eighties his fame limited itself to French speaking countries but he never was totally forgotten. His previous album ‘De toi à moi’ got recognition from a younger generation and now Adamo is back with his 23rd album ‘La grande roue’ or The Big Wheel. Registered under the leadership of François Delabrière (Marc Lavoine, Daniel Darc, Pascal Obispo) he recorded twelve new songs. Although new, Adamo just perfects the sound he has been bringing us for the past 50 years. He still writes most of his material but lets some of the younger generation like Stanislas, Fred Pallem, Jean-François Berger and David Hadjadj join in here and there. Two songs are based on texts by Science Fiction writer Bernard Werber. The title son gis based on the book ‘Nos amis les humains’. An aniti-war song telling about the contradictions of men, his desire to transcend, to go to the spiritual, and everything that it is exactly the contrary, he kills in the name of a God sometimes capable of barbarism. The other is the intimate ballad ‘Alan et la pomme’ based on the book’ 'L'encyclopédie du savoir relatif et absolu’. It tells about the life of Alan Turing, a British mathematician, pioneer of computer science, particularly famous for having managed to decipher the famous Enigma code, used by the Nazis during the Second World War. Alan Turing was gay, despite its merits, it was hunted, tortured and dragged before court. He eventually committed suicide in 1954 by eating a poisoned apple with cyanide. It is said that Steve Jobs based the Apple logo in this story. The weary look at the current state of the World is a recurring theme on this album. ‘L'homme triste’, ‘Je vous parle d'un ami’ and ‘Tous mes âges’ all share a bit sombre view on reality and what we will learn from it (not that much). He acknowledges the world changes and cassiers are replaced by self help machines (De belles personnes). Adamo still searches for love on ‘Ton infini’ but also knows that nothing lasts forever. ‘La Grande Roue’ is an almost intimate autumn-like album. Written by a 69 year man who still can sing beautifull and create warm comforting music. It is not a new sound, it is not something innovating. But with its quality arrangements, good songwriting and use of acoustic instruments it is one of the better albums in Adamo’s extensive catalogue.

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Daha Yüksek (2012) ♪♪½
Seher Ahmetzade (Turkey)

What is it with Turkish female singers that they make such heavy rock albums? New singer Seher Ahmetzade created a very heavy popalbum together with her brother, metal guitarist Reha. They locked themselves in his studio Hangar 18 to come up with eight songs that form Daha Yüksek, or ‘Higher’ as it translates in English. And that higher is regularly taken quit literary when Seher’s voice shoots up a few octaves in an almost painful swipe. She mangles a song like ‘Selale’ that way which an almost toe curling screeching. And that’s too bad because when she tones down a bit and the guitars play in a more controlled manor (ease off with the power riffs Reha!) the duo can in fact make some good music. Seher’s voice has a light bronze colour when she uses her normal voice, a bit gritty at the edges but clear in the centre. With that voice she can easily sing an opening track like ‘Kirik tebessum’ and deliver a convincing track. Take the title track (and the single that attracted my attention to Ahmetzade). It starts with Seher singing over a string arrangement and acoustic guitar. Midway a war-like drum enters from below. And then the guitars erupt and lift the song ‘Higher’. It’s the balance and dosage how the song is made that show that sister and brother can make a good song. And then it’s OK to go over the top on a track like ‘Kahramanlar pes etmez’. But the guitar overdose and metal pop pastiche does not make this album a completely enjoyable listening experience as a whole.

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2084 (2012) ♪♪♪
Ákos (Hungary)

In 1991 Hungarian synthpop trio Bonanza Banzai celebrated its commercial highpoint with an adaptation of Orson Welles’ 1984. In 2012 frontman Ákos Kovacz returns to the future and sets the stage for 2084. As the narrator tells us: “And it came to peace. The silence. The period of relief / The dissatisfied disappeared. The once was a factious country at dynamically developing economies blossom / The local authorities of all territorial units of the International Fund for expert guide / Competence, efficiency, calm development / Each channel of a hilarious show/ The year: 2084”.

Musically it is no step to the future but a return to the Bonanza Banzai / Depeche Mode sound, with a leading role for drums and synthesizers. And it is quite a step back from the more styled epic sound Ákos created during his solo career. That almost sounds like a setback and a superficial album. But maybe there is more than meets the eye/ear. The album lyrics read like a longing for the euphoria of post-Iron Curtain years between 1991 and 1994 when the promise of a new future was almost tangible in the air of the Budapest streets. “Again in the devastated world of joyful crowd / I could not understand it that the eye above the ceiling of the sky finally cracked / And where chromium was and neon / Now only weeds and broken concrete / wounds and bruises of the old, false glamour” he sings on ‘Veled Utazom’. But Ákos realizes he is no longer the rebel he used to be: “We'll stay old teenagers / no one can understandI do not want it /no longer want to wait / do not meet whatever is right again” In that sense it is not as superficial as it seems. The solid stomping production is maybe lacking finesse but it is also enticing to play loud. In your car, in your bedroom or just on the living room stereo. Or during a live concert where the artist plays for a large crowd (which ‘Artisták’ tells about). The songs on the album seem to be written for big stadium concerts and festivals. Which in fact where Ákos tested the material thoroughly last summer as can be witnessed on the accompanying DVD with the Sziget show. But to be honest the choice for a fat production of the songs make them a bit replaceable with each other. Due to this it is artistically not the most layered and stylish album Ákos made in the past years. And therefore is a bit monotonous and less impressive.

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Samsara (2012) - ♪♪♪
Alice (Italy)

Dear Mrs. Bissi, cara Carla,

Fourteen years it has been since your last album with original material – fourteen years since you released ‘Exit’, one of my all time favorite albums. I know, you kept in touch by releasing an album with your interpretations of famous Italian songs in 2003 and a great live album in 2009. Both of which I have given a 5-star on this website. But still, fourteen years is very, very long time. So it will not be a surprise that I was enormously exited when I learned that you were about to release a new album consisting of new songs at September 18th. I pre-ordered the cd, entitled ‘Samsara’, straight away at Amazon.it and waited. And waited. Until the postman rang the door bell last week and delivered the carefully packaged treasure. I unwrapped it forcefully, inserted the cd into the player, pressed ‘play’ and waited a few very long seconds… until the first sounds of opening track ‘Morire d’amore’ (‘Dying of love’) poured into my ears. A song by Mino di Martino, who wrote most of the tracks on the album, in homage to Joan of Arc:

“You were just nineteen years old, when you found yourself put in front of your inquisitors / Mystifying the meaning of words / Wanting to lead you in error and condemn heresy”

It sounds nice, but most of all: familiar. The production and arrangements seem t pick up where ‘Charade’ and ‘Exit’ stopped, at the second part of the nineties. It’s okay, but definitely not impressive. Well, it is only the first song, eleven songs to go…
The second song is ‘Nata ieri’ (‘Born Yestarday’), one of the two songs written especially for you by famous Italian singer/songwriter Tiziano Ferro and the first single of your album. It’s quite a catchy tune, poppy and light. I like the melody, still the sounds and production seem a bit out of date. Tiziano’s lyrics are great though:

“And from the heart I wish you a good life. You, the one that knows how to smile while the world is crying. / Today it is worse than normal, now even the pain does not hurt. / If life has improved after every wound, it is thanks to you. Among the gray ashes of the black, it is there that I was born, Yesterday.”

The third song is ‘Orientamento’ (‘Orientation’), one of the two songs you wrote yourself. Isn’t that a bit spare, to record just two of your own compositions after fourteen years?! You have written so many beautiful tunes in the past few decades. Why didn’t you include more of your own songs on the album? Or did you suffer from a writers block of fourteen years? It leaves me puzzled and disappointed, especially since ‘Orientamento’ is definitely one of the stronger tracks, with inspirational, philosophical lyrics:

“And the trivial is lost, leaving the opportunity in the idea of love. Dripping drop by drop, holding you by the hand, the consciousness within love. Everything changes and often sinks, but I want but I want it to turn back. / Look - can you stop the seasons or not? / And then look - I just want to grow together. / Look – can you move the horizon or not? / And then look at me - you can change orientation and see who is here, near you, next to you, together with you.”

‘Eri con me’ (‘You were with me’) is a new tune by your old friend Franco Battiato. I like the melody and the philosophical lyrics about cause and effect and the (un)manufacturability of life. Yet, the production is dubious, too slick and with too much synthesizers. It’s one of the five songs produced by Steve Jansen, that we all remember as David Sylvians brother and part of the new romantics band Japan. I really think the result would have been much better if you had restrained him a bit during the production of the album.

The next two songs are again compositions by Mino di Martino: ‘Un mondo a parte’ (‘A world in apart) and ‘Come il mare’ (‘Like the sea’). The first one is a beautiful love song, with nice guitar and strings to accompany your still warm and powerful voice.

“Only one glance, just a hint, and we are in a magic circle /In a space that no one can violate / In a dimension in which only we are. / Always with the same desire, to see each other and know everything, one of the other, even the most trivial thing. / Love, like a rite, unraveling the mysteries of this religion for two / The temple and the altar, our body, the ceremonies and prayers are our actions and the words that we say.”

I do not like ‘Come il mare’ very much though, even though it contains excerpts from Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine. As a thank you for his many contributions, you granted him the honour of singing this song with you. Unfortunately, I do not think his voice matches yours very well. And the production of this songs is again quite outdated.

‘Cambio casa’ (‘Changing house’) is the second song contributed by Tiziano Ferro, co-written with Michele Iorfida. I actually like the catchy tune of this one. Somehow, I think it would have fitted perfectly on ‘Viaggio in Italia’, your cover album of 2003. The combination of the poppy tune and intelligent lyrics works perfectly. And speaking of ‘Viaggio in Italia’, your next song would have fitted on that album as well. ‘Il cielo’ (‘Heaven’) is your homage to the great Lucio Dalla who passed away earlier this year. The song is beautiful, a true classic. And your singing is fantastic. But, again, why is it so overproduced? It drains out the emotion and intensity that I know is somewhere in there.

Then on to the next one, ‘Sui giardino del mondo’ (‘In the gardens of the world’) that you wrote yourself together with Marco Pancaldi. It is a true Alice-song. Fortunately, the overproduction does not seem to bother me that much on this one. And I find your poetry impressive and touching:

“Here I have walked with time, to realize that it does not exist,and only exists with respect to this life. / Teach me to understand, to love all that you are. / I know that sin is in the transgression of a belief. / Here I am, here for you, talk to me, tell me what's there. / Help me to understand, to act, not to miss.”

‘Autunno già’ (‘Already autumn’) is again one of my favorite songs on the album, written again by Mino Di Martino, this time co-written with Terra Di Benedetto, with excerpts from Arthur Rimbaud. Your voice sounds fragile and strong at the same time. Hearing you singing these sad lyrics brings tears to my eyes.

“I thought I had supernatural powers. I, who believed to be an angel, a magician, free from any moral, now I'm thrown to the ground with a duty to seek and the miserable reality in my hands. / Autumn already / Must be modern live, the struggle of the spirit. It’s as brutal as the war between men, but the vision of justice is a pleasure that belongs to God alone, belongs to God alone.”

This fantastic song is followed by your interpretation of Giuni Russo’s ‘’A cchiù bella’ (‘Oh, how beautiful you are’). Why on earth did you add this one to the album? You already recorded and published it on your 2009 live album ‘Lungo la strada’ – and in a much better version I must say! The last track is again a cover, this time ‘Al matino’ (‘In the morning’) by I Califfi. It would have been a fitting ending of the album but… you decided to add a bonus track. A remix of ‘Cambio casa’ by Michele Canova. A terrible, cheap remix that adds absolutely nothing to the original version. It is as if this track has been added only to emphasize my disappointment…

Carla, cara Carla, I have been a true and loyal fan of you since I first saw you perform on the stage of the Eurovision back in 1984. Your albums have become the soundtrack of my life since then. Without your beautiful songs I would have been a poorer man. How I have hoped and prayed that your new album would have prove to be a next chapter in the perfect series of albums you have released. Alas, it was not to be. I know I may take all this a bit too personal. And there is absolutely no need for you (or anyone else) to take it as personal as I do. And surely ‘Samsara’ is a decent album. I know a lot of young artists would just give everything to create an album like this. And I will certainly play it every now and then. But it will never come close to ‘Il sole nella pioggia’, ‘Charade’ and, especially, ‘Exit’. I will continue to play them during the years to come. And who knows, maybe, just maybe, you will encounter your muse again and release a spectacular album somewhere in the next fourteen years or so…

With love and respect,
PR

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Tik Daudz (2012) ♪♪♪
Anete (Latvia)

This debut album of Latvian singer/songwriter Anete Kozlovska is in fact a compilation of the songs she has written between 1996 and 2010. For the album the folky singer adapted some of the poems and ideas she already had since highschool. Although initially trying to write in English (inspired by her love for ‘foreign’ indie music) she found she could express herself better in her own language. The title of the album, which means ‘So many’, hints that the pile of songs she had to chose from was quite a collection. Eventually Anete has chosen for the universal theme of love as the central theme for her album. And so you’ll find songs about new love like ‘Tuvums’ (closeness) and ‘Kāzu dziesma’ (the wedding song).  But also about love lost like ‘Skumjas ir dumjas’ (sadness is silly) and ‘Ja es aiziešu’ (seconds before I go). Anete plays most instruments herself and her soft whispering way of singing fits perfectly with the songs. It all sounds playful and light. Her dictation and voice makes her sound very tributary to Joni Mitchell. The same thin hoarse voice and a penchant for jazzy vibrations making her voice flutter like a blackbird over a summer cornfield. The downside of these folky albums is that due to the minimal instrumentation it can all become somewhat unilateral. Anete overcomes this problem by performing a number of songs with a stringquartet and overdubbing her own voice into multiple layers. It is with these songs (listen for instance to ‘Muļķe sirds’ and ‘Kāzu dziesma’) that she convinces the most. For the lovers of semi-acoustic eurofolk Anete’s debut is an interesting album to seek out.

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Vostè és aqui (2012) ♪♪♪♪
Antònia Font (Spain)

Only one year after their poppy album ‘Lamparetes’ Antònia Font is already back with a new album. Although album? ‘Vostè és aqui’ is more a concept with no less then forty!! new songs spread out over 68 minutes. Written down it seems like an insane job to write so many new songs in just one year and also make it any good. Fact is that Antiona Font actually pull it off. The album is build around a virtual public transport map. You have the choice of three different lines, the red line (1), the green line (2) or the blue line (3). Line 1 takes you from ‘Sunshine oranges’ (Sol de taronges) to ‘N’Angelina’. In between you pass 15 stations / songs with all their own vibe. Some have a folky songstructure, some more rock or incorporating elements of reggae. Meanwhile singer Pau Debon sings short songs (most of them are between 1,50 en 3 minutes) with travelling as the main theme. “This aircraft flying silently above a sea of clouds / With you inside, white light dimensions” or “A suitcase in each hand / walking down a road / I will be at night, LED lights / blue, red and green small lights”. Pau stays the observer while he passes the stations, with his head glued to the window he glides past the platforms and poetically narrates what he sees. “Waiting, you’ve been sitting a minute / circulating robot pedestrians pass / Tank eyes, imaginary statues with open eyes”. At the endstation of line 1 he meets Angelina “Angelina is six years old, it is Tuesday taekwondo / but one day it will be great, healthy deadliest warrior / Angelina is six years old, goes to karate, it is clear”.

Here you take line 2 going from ‘Canta a sa dutxa mi nina’ to ‘Goril-les vestits’ passing 11 stations / songs. On this line the lyrics become more and more hallucinating. Like you’re woozing on a magic subway train through a wonderland that is amazing as musically alluring “A taxi will be flown in the future, purple clouds upfront”, “In these mothers of the south, the puesta sun, the Pacific blue, singing my song / Come celebrate our genocide, we can provide” or “It is blurred away, we do not know where, do not ever go out of here”. Once on a line the songs flow into each other and interlock. Once you’ve reached the end there is a short pause before you hop onto the next line. The last line you can take goes from ‘Winter in Mallorca’ (un hiver a majorque) to ‘Polaris’. There, in that icy North, AF departs singing with an almost angelic voice: “Their star hung up, spins a polar car / Polaris is the northern spark, the guide boats in port / Divers under a roof of ice, slow blue silhouettes / Counting small algorithms, parallel to equal magnitude / Their stars shine there, splinter body expands / Harmonic constellations, we know little other worlds”. Here their wondrous travels end. But you can always go back to line 1 and start over. With ‘Vostè és aqui’ Antonia Font created a an album that is as structured as it is unstructured. It is an album that has to be listened in a flow, like a stream of consciousness. It is hard however to pick one song to put it in your Ipod. The songs all hang together, like a string of tunes, like interlocking stations. In all the magnificence of this concept album that is the only critique I have on the album. But maybe that isn’t its purpose anyway. Sit back and enjoy. You are here.

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Apriti Sesamo (2012) ♪♪♪♪
Franco Battiato (Italy)

‘Apriti Sesamo’ (‘Open Sesame’) is one of Battiato’s best albums from the past two decades. Intellectual and philosophical music, yet always accessible and with beautiful melodies. Lyrically, Battiato again teams up with his friend, Philospher Manlio Sgalambro. The songs show a man in the autumn of his life, reflecting on the condition of the world, expressing his discomfort with the current political, economical and social situation, caused by men’s violent actions, and his own searching to find new peace and balance, offering menkind that a better existence is within our reach. The title of the album can be interpreted in several ways – it hints to the ten songs, ten hidden treasures, that will be revealed when listening to the album. But it also means it shows us ways to achieve a better existence, if only we would take a look behind the closed door…. It is a great comfort that, despite all his critical observations, Battiato’s confidence in humanity seems unchanged. Beyond the sharp social criticism, therefore, the ten tracks of ‘Apriti Sesame’ push themselves more often in the field of the intellect, touching philosophies, religions, arts and literature. In this we can find the greatness of the human being, declined in all its forms, that does not bend to the elements of our times.

This alternation of disenchantment and hope returns to the musical structure, made of brightly electronic sounds and classical openings. Musically it does not differ substantially from his past albums ‘Dieci stratagemmi’ and ‘Il vuoto’. It contains ten rather short pop songs, integrating all aspects of that typical Battiato style we have come to learn and love. Modern synths and electronics with classical strings and melodies. That soft, tender voice, so unlike many of those brutal Italian singers (Ramazotti etc.). Battiato continued to work with his familiar group of musical friends; philosopher Manlio Sgalambro as co-lyricist, Pino ‘Pinaxa Pischetola (rhythmic and programming), Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree , King Crimson) on drums, Simon Tong (formerly Verve) on guitars, Faso (Elio e le Storie Tese) on bass and the New Italian Quartet for the prominent strings.

The album opens with ‘Un irresistibile richiamo’ (‘An irresistible calling’), a great opening track, mysterious and passionate. The lyrics contain two phrases by St. Teresa of ‘Avila (1515–1582), a prominent Spanish mystic, Carmelite nun, writer of the ‘Counter Reformation’ and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer. She is considered to be a founder of the ‘Discalced Carmelites’ along with John of the Cross. In 1622, forty years after her death, she was canonized by Pope Gregory XV and was in 1970 named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI. “My arms give up easily / Your bones do not feel pain / The minerals of which we are composed, turn, return to the water. / The sound of distant bells, irresistible, the calling that invites the prayer of sunset. / Dear is the mirror, look and see that my soul has a face. / I salute you gods of my land... the call invites me.”

The second song ‘Testamento’ (‘Testament’), touches on the theme of reincarnation in a clear caveat, namely citing the Gospel, unlike the Christian constipation on the subject. It contains quotations rom the 26th ‘Inferno’. "You were not made to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge" / We never died, we were never borne! / The time lost for some reason, is never to resume”. ‘Eri con me’ (‘You were with me’) is an intruiging song, with a base of synth and strings, but with a captivatingly beautiful melody. (Alice interpreted the song on her album ‘Samsara’ that was released in September this year.) The lyrics are very mystical and serene and deal with cause and effect, relativating the manufacturability of human existence, containing a quote by the Indian mystic Ramana Maharshi: "What needs to happen will happen / because it is already happened". “We are debris, human flotsam, dragged away by a flooding river, which does not know bounds or destination. Our mind, our actions, are the 'cause', instead of the effects, our destiny. What has to happen will happen, whatever we do to avoid it, what needs to happen will happen, because it has already happened!”

In ‘Passacaglia’, the albums first single, Battiato and Sgalambro freely adapt excerpts of the opera ‘Passacaglia of life’ by Stefano Landi (1587-1639), an Italian baroque composer and priest. With the synths and arrangements of this song, Battiato revisits the eighties and his best pop songs of that era.The manufacturability of human existence is also one of the central themes addressed in ‘La polvere del branco’ (‘The dust of the pack’). In this song Battiato recites Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (1920-1996), a Tibetan Buddhist master. “We believe we are free, but we are prisoners, with invaded homes in which we helplessly live. / We believe we are free, but we are prisoners on nonexistent rowing boats, lifting the dust of the pack, fiercely and mysteriously. / We believe we are free, but we are slaves, millions of millions of shadows secluded, passing the streets noisy just raising dust. Millions of shadows walking into nothingness.”

‘Caliti junku’ is inspired by early-classical opera composer C.W. Gluck (1714-1787) from Germany. It moves between pop, classical and rock. In ‘Caliti junku’ Battiato expresses his concern with the state of the world of today: “Do you see the dramatic escalation of violence? The world outside is insane, it's full of evils. Without wasting time, we take refuge in the empty Essence. You can see the dramatic increase in violence?” More chritical views on society in ‘Il serpente’ (‘The serpent’). Battiato is somber on the way man behaves nowadays, but he does express hope for a better future: “…but somewhere a new man is born.” It is a beautiful ballad straight from piano and strings. “Man was told you will walk eternally, traveling and that the shadow will carry you. His eyes looked amazed, the hands strong and pale, wandering the mournful city of the West, in dark society, where lace and rags were mixed. We live, we all cry. / Money is crawling like a snake in the so celebrated cities of the West, but somewhere a new man is born.”

The album closes with the title track, that recalls the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (from "The Thousand and One Nights"), with references to the symphonic suite ‘Sheherazade’ by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. An closing track in which Battiato is telling us a simple fairy tale, as if he is offering some relief and lightness in the end.‘Apriti Sesamo’ is a great album, serene, introspective and reflective, but always earthed – Battiato never looses sight of our current situation. Its cohesive, intelligent without being moralizing with Battiato’s clear and recognizable identity. A record that confirms, once again, the greatness and uniqueness of the Sicilian ‘Master’.

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Vengeance (2012) ♪♪♪♪
Benjamin Biolay (France)

Three years ago Biolay delivered his pop ouverture with ‘La Superbe’, an independent release that was what the title said it would be. Would this album therefore be his revenge? And a revenge to what? To love? Because more than ever love is omnipresent on the album in all its complexity. Benjamin opens the album with his plea to love his Love: “As it is to you now / Love my love / Because it is in your nets / Even if she cries rivers / Throughout the long winter / Even if you have no nails in the spring / even though it keeps its mysteries / Even if you send in the air / Love My Love or I'll shoot you / Because it is now my love Love /And forget my name forever”. As always there is a dark edge to Biolay. He croons close to your ear his luscious promises of an adventurous night. But somehow there is always a sort of dark threat, something dangerous, horny and gritty in his invitation. With a raw tearing saxophone blowing the song to an end. Like on ‘Le sommeil attendre’ his bronze, dark and luring voice speaks of the sunrise: ”Keep your eyes wide open / on this point here, waiting for sleep / as stone statues / Let's shake, because here is where the sun / Let's make love and war”.

Sometimes the lure fails and Biolay returns home alone. But even then he slips you a Whatsapp telling you he’s lonely and he longs for you:” There's nobody in my bed / There is a ton of debris / From unspoken love / No person / Who comes and goes / That's the course of life / one stopover in Paris / but if you change your plan / My love, I'll always keep / the side of the bed overlooking the courtyard” (‘personne dans mon lit’). Some compare Biolay to Gainsbourg but with his interest in the dark self side of love he is more and more the heir of Alain Bashung. Musically Benjamin hooks on to the trend in France to incorporate old elements of rock ‘n roll into his music with a leading role for the fuzz-guitar. Even when the synthesizers tend to play a leading role, like on ‘Le sommeil attendra’, this typical sound forms the centre of the arrangement. Or when a song is tripped down like ‘Trésor Trésor’ with a cello, a tambourine and some subdued strings the guitar twangs full of selfpity: “Treasure / see how I cry / eight days a week in orbit / it was inevitable that you would leave me”.

In a way it reminds me of the albums Morrissey made at the start of the Nineties (also a complex person with a fondness for dark matters of the heart). For this album string of guests hook up. But Orelsan, Carl Barât, Vanessa Paradis, Oxmo Puccino, Giula Stone and Gesa Hansen are mere night butterfly’s in service of the master-crooner himself. Because eventually the revenge Benjamin wants to take is the revenge on himself. Accused by the French media for predatory love affairs he will one day show them otherwise: “Revenge is a sorbet that later melts in your throat / It is a legend, a myth, it's like safety ice / Grease endless your old gun, spray your Ming vase / Rage at the end of a syringe, treat others like crazy / I wear mine in a sling, and I firmly believe / I swear I would live in the sun/ With my wife, my lover / With my daughters and sons”. With ‘Vengeance’ Biolay celebrates his career with the sum of the elements of his past albums. From orchestral arrangements to synthpop to erupting chanson-rock, sprinkled with a hint of soul and hiphop (on Belle époque / Night shop #2). At the least it is a consolidation of the excellent albums he’s been making since he perfected his style with ‘À l'origine’ in 2005 and is fitting for the sequence of supremacy he holds in the French popscene.

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Og så kom resten av livet (2012) ♪♪♪♪♪
Kari Bremnes (Norway)

Norwegian singer Kari Bremnes turned 55 this year. Contemplating on her career and life she presents her 16th solo album. The album is a look over the shoulder but also an energetic statement for the continuing road “And then the rest of your life”. Kari started the project with writing the last song called ‘Tidlig’. It’s a tale about how she travelled with her mother through Europe when she was a girl of 19. They went to Spain and France. She now looks and sees her mother has become an old woman incapable of travelling. This may sound a bit depressing but that is exactly not Kari’s point. She wants to tell you to celebrate those memories, never look back in regret, always with joy. Aside a retrospective personal album ‘Og så kom resten av livet’ is also an album about strong women. ‘På kanten av et liv’ tells about Dagny Juel (1867-1901), writer and central figure within the international avant-garde. Again a travelling song this time taking place on a train from Warsawa to Tbilisi, with her 5 year old son Zenon and another young man who will eventually turn out to be her murderer. Further on the album ‘Lysestake I Sannergata’ tells about a strange bag lady and ‘Med sin nydelige kone’ about the women behind powerfull men.

On the two opening tracks Kari makes a parallel of the nature surrounding her house and a human life cycle. With the dark winter outside, sea close and rough, the landscape open wide, and reindeers passing her kitchen window she sings ‘E du Nord’ and ‘Like før dagen gar ned’. The songs breath an existential loneliness but also a promise that spring will come again. If not for you then at least for all the children. The band (with Bengt Hanssen on haunting backing vocals) and the Tromsoe Chamber Orchestra lift the two opening tracks to higher heights. Some artists stiffen in form and style when they turn a certain age and continue their career as a repetitive exercise. Not so with Kari. ‘Og så kom resten av livet’  breathes an autumn atmosphere. But it is a beautiful autumn with the forest in fierce orange and brown colors, the sun breaking through and the road no longer obscured by leaves and shrubs. It is magnificent and shows Kari Bremnes’ music is still viable in 2012.

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Circus (2012) ♪♪♪
Circus (France)

Sometimes you get on the wrong foot when you listen to an album without any background knowledge. When I received the album of Circus I first thought this was the French answer to the folkrock of acts like Mumford and sons. Judging by the cover I expected some copy act I was pleasantly surprised to find a collection of really well crafted songs and good musicians. Then I read the booklet. No wonder this album sounds so convincing because behind it aren’t the least of French popular music. Circus is in fact a new French supergroup consisting of Stanislas, Philippe Uminski, Elsa Fourlon, Karen Brunon and most of all Calogero. Next to these established artist collaborating songwriters are Jean Jacques Goldman, Dominique A and Marc Lavoine. That makes this release suddenly top heavy, does it fulfill that promise. These artist earned their spurs. The tricky thing about projects like this is that the individual artists don’t grant each other a leading role. And thus overshadowing each other blowing the whole thing out of proportion. This is not the case with Circus. The individual artists work together to build to a communal concept that is hip and trendy. And that gives us excellent songs like 'Chagrin d'ami', ‘Ce soir et demain’, ‘Les nuits Romainesc’, Je Tombe’ and the stomping opening ‘C’est quoi ce cirque’ that combines elements of glamrock, pop and folk. And yes some songs seem to jump the bandwagon of folkrock with a circus theme but this all star celebration of les chanson rock is just too nice not to enjoy. Thoroughly.

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Vigilo del fuego (2012) ♪♪♪
Lidia Damunt (Spain)

The firewatch. That is what Spanish singer Lidia Damunt took as title for her latest album. But on first listen the material doesn’t sound very inflammable. Inspired by Spanish folk and blues singer Odetta she left the synthpop from her previous band Hello Cuca and ventured on more acoustic grounds. The opening track sounds like a soundtrack for a roadmovie and with a typical Spanish singing style Lidia sings about the language of lava. As if fire isn’t enough. For the album Lidia took to a reclusive studio in Barcelona and prepared this third album with care, with a lot of awareness to detail. More actually then you will notice on first listen: Drum sixties, mandolas autoharpas and handclaps with electric guitars, getting discreet but decisive details in songs like "Ay Pena" and the a-tonal sung "La escritora". The roadtrip she is on is full of suprises. After four acoustic songs she suddenlies comes to the magical islands (Somos Islas Magicas) where a drumcomputer and streams of electric distorted guitars suddenly hover over. ‘La Carta’ is  similar dreamlike song which erupts halfway like a volcano in waves of guitar. In its minimal structure Damunt took the maximum out of the songs. With her typical Spanish way of singing it takes some getting used to but 'Vigilo del fuego' is absolutely an asset for Spanish pop this year.

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Allt på rött (2012) ♪♪♪
Familjen (Sweden)

Johan T Karlsson takes a gamble and puts everything on red with a strong choice for technopop for his third album. Strategically that is probably a wise choice since ‘Allt på rött’ is much more radio friendly then his more experimental and adventurous previous album ‘Mänskligheten’ from 2010. This time Familjen is bubbling over with joyish catchy poptunes. But due to this more breezy approach the choruses sometimes flatten out into a tepid monotony - instead of lifting the composition to a higher level. The experimental character of 'Mänskligheten' was in an artristic sense maybe more interesting and inviting to listen to but with the bass and beats placed on the foreground 'Allt på rött' is an album much more clear in what it intends. The focus lies on danceability and partying. A good example is the track ‘Fulast vinner’ that sounds like a lost Josh Wink track. One of the tracks on the family's third album is composed with an iPhone app but the core of Karlsson sound is still the snarling synth sounds from the 30 year old sequencer Roland TB-303. And with the focus more on the dancefloor then on the living room this album sometimes comes close to Johan’s other career as a DJ. Especially when he goes instrumental (three tracks are without vocals on the album). The memory to the euphoria of the raves of the Nineties seems to have inspired Johan. To go to secret warehouse parties in the weekend, to drive a car in the website with a sound system in the back and just have a party. Single ‘Vi va vom’ seems almost a transcript of such a memory: “The sun turned black when school came out / But we held our heads high / And played with a secret plan / From woods in Snapphane country / Do something big, something that no one has done / We are those who lost us / the hell whenever / Among ordinary people in a small town”. With ‘Allt på rött’ Familjen placed his bet on juvenile enthusiasm instead and scores.

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Monkey Me (2012) ♪♪½
Mylene Farmer (France)

Let’s start with the good news because after the ‘Bleu Noir’ debacle with Lady Gaga producer RedOne Mylene returned to the familiar cooperation with her mentor Laurent Boutonnat. The duo can relate on a decade long musical partnership highly responsible for Mylene divinelike status in France. And that is exactly what the duo does on this 9th album, lean heavily on past experience. Single ‘A l’ombre’ and the title track sound like they are leftovers from her material made at the start of Nineties. ‘Tu ne le dis pas’ has a sound that could easily go down as a new Snap single in 1992. A good track and classic Farmer if you’re in a nostalgic mood but meanwhile we’re 20 years on. Even the albumcover goes back to the days when housemusic was new and happening, with its design and typography it has the look of techno maxi single from that time from an anonymous girlsinger. The retro-vibe can also go wrong. With vicarious shame you’ll hear the duo deliver ‘Love dance’, a cheap eurohouse track with a semi-erotic nursery rhyme: “Love me do. Me do love you. Me too / If you say so ... La la la la la. Will not let me go!”. It underlines that not every track was perfect in those days. ‘J’ai essaye de vivre’  and ‘Ici –bas’ have the recognisble repetitive piano riff and techno beeps but lack any enthusiasm and everything just floats by. But you can still feel that there is magic in the assembly of these two artist on a ballad like ‘Quand’. It shows a more adult side and "quality" on an album dominated by easy dance music. The chilly breeze, the airy synths and the angelic voice of Mylene lift this track above average. And if you go backtracking why not do it more openly. The duo takes the track ‘Chloé’ from her debut ‘Cendres de Lune’ from 1986 and rebuild it to ‘Nuit d’hiver’, a horrorsoundtrack for a Edgar Allen Poe story. Chloé has already slid under the ice and you’ll hear Mylene whisper in the distance the lines of the original song “Eh, oh, ce matin / Y'a chloé qui s'est noyée” while her dead body sinks to the bottom of the river . Why not more like these two tracks? Why the standstill? Does this album mean that there is no more innovation in the cooperation between Farmer and Boutonnant? If so then we’ll probably have to comfort ourselves with a great and distinctive catalogue and sometimes a nice new track in the future.

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Felkeltem a reggelt (2012) ♪♪♪
HS7 (Heaven Street Seven) (Hungary)

In 2006 the band around singer Krisztián Szűcs won an EBBA award with their English compilation of their past album called ‘Sordid Little Symphonies’. But after that not a lot of border-breaking was at hand. In Hungary the band stayed popular however pleasing the Hungarian public with quality alternative pop. ‘Felkeltem a reggelt’ is their tenth album. The album title ‘I woke up in the morning’ is Szűcs reflection on getting up early and looking at the world: ‘A mi lányaink’ (My daughters) opens the album with an Vivaldi-like string arrangement before an uptempo nervous rhythm breaks the silence. “So in the past, like the expanding universe / from Him we came, did not know anything about it / And every minute relentlessly expanding / Woody Allen is why he did not want to go to school” Szűcs mysteriously sings. Krisztián is undeniably a man who dresses his songs in mysterious poetry and imagery. On the excellent track ‘A réten’ he envisions the meadow: “Today I counted the morning a lot of dust, a nice trophy, / I had all but today unfortunately shattered by an ocean / What is idyllic in the meadow, but the evil whittle silence / of a few audio and video, which commanded a little less seems here / I can only say kids / Keep looking at each other”.

Beats me what he is on about. But if you expect these lyrics to be accompanied by woolly music you’ll be surprised that the band arranges itself as a steady indie-rock band delivering a firm basis. Sometimes even almost cliché like on ‘Gesztenyefák alatt’ and ‘A te meséd’ which could be exchangeable with fifty percent of the European pop/rock acts. But luckily you get tracks like ‘Három bárány’ on which the guitars are mangled through distortion and an electronic beat and staccato melody forms the backbone of the song. Or the dark sinister sounding ‘Faun’ capturing the hour of silence just before night turns into day: “The morning does not wake up / the bright dense gloom / you drive around the city / dissolve my poor world / cool breeze, rain groomed”. It’s on songs like these that HS7 show that they are worthy of borders breaking. But the collection of songs on this album does not transcends the average of the European alternative pop / rock bands. And that makes a ‘Felkeltem reggelt’ a nice album but nothing more than that.

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Do rycerzy, do szlachty, doo mieszczan (2012) ♪♪♪♪
Hey (Poland)

Only one year after her great solo album ‘8’ Nosowska already returns with her band Hey for their 10th album and 20th anniversary. The album is dedicated ‘to knights, to the nobility, to the bourgeoisie’ (as the title means translated). An album for king and country then. In the past Nosowska’s solo albums differed from her band efforts in being much more experimental en electronical. But since both projects circle around her persona it was only to be expected that both streams gradually sound more and more alike. Especially since Marcin Bors is the producer behind the desk for both projects. But Hey still tries to construct their albums as a joined effort. The subtle difference is in the detail. More emphasis on the guitar and acoustic instruments and slightly less on electronics. And those electronic sounds are gradually winning terrain with this latest album. Gone is the grungy feel, ‘Do rycerzy, do szlachty, doo mieszczan’ comes across as more atmospherically and organic. The old ghost only rears its head with the help of fellow musician Gaba Kulka on the closing track ‘Z przyczyn technicznych’.

But let’s start at the beginning because the album starts with a positive perception on the dawn of the day: “ I watch with delight / As the sun rays puts a needle into the night / How sad the Guest / Consistency of approach the Dew “. Is this the same Nosowska of introvert doom and gloom? Yes indeed because the first track turns out to be of deceiving positivism. On ‘Podobno’ we come on familiar ground when Nosowska sings over a guitar driven warlike rhythms “It is absolutely no laughing matter / When the howling in the street / Ambulances and police / There simply is no laughing matter / So do not make the fooling around / Because anger is rising in me”.

Being a young mother has changed Kasia’s look on the world somewhat. She is now more lioness then critical observer. Although she already is bracing herself for the detachment of the mother and child bond if we listen to the haunting title track: “You are valuable just as I / You are beautiful like me / I'm brave like you / even dangerously / Let the silence / Spill in your ear / Let the darkness under the eyes / Reject, stop sucking / Severe chest sour milk / The umbilical cord has been broken”. The same theme can be read in the lyrics to  ‘Lilia, kula i cyrkiel’: “Boy, with me, but separate / Live like no one was dead /Fly bird in the world do not look back / I've already set fire to the nest / Remember, my son, that I am / Here you will find me “. With this anniversary album Hey proves that they are still the leading rockband in Poland for a reason. It’s a strong album, combining the accessible (read non-experimental) elements of both Nosowska solo and band. And is therefor appealing to a broad audience. There is no reason anymore why this band is not famous all over Europe.

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Χρυσαλλίδα (Chrysalida) (2012) ♪♪♪
K.Bhta (Greece)

Konstantin Beta, or known by his artist name K.Bhta, presents his seventh album, this time on Greek’s indie quality label Inner Ear. Or rather presented, because the album was already released in May but only now reached the attention of our humble Europopmusic office. The mellow spring atmosphere of the album is indeed much more fitting for a nice sunny afternoon then cold winter days. Although the music K.Bhta recorded is so androgynous that it could easily adapt for a melancholy time by the fireplace. The album handles the topic of the condemnation of the materialistic culture, the conflict between freedom and commitment, the alienation of the heart and the endless skirmishes on impulsiveness and responsibility. A true follower of the poetry - rock school of Lena Platonos you would say. But the critising tone is tempered by the sweet, soft and whispering way Beta sets his lyrics over the music. Like a fluffy cloud that holds the threat of a thunderstorm but could also perform a pantomine in the sky changing form each time you look. In a sense he is similar to Belgian electronic poet Stromae from Belgium. But unlike his Belgian counterpart Beta doesn’t use the mechanical, inhuman synthesizer for a cold techno sound. He shrugs towards a warmer sound we know from Californian artists like Beck by adding funk and breakbeat elements. And so can regard tracks like ‘Χρυσαλλίδα’, ‘Δύση’ and ‘Βασικό ένστικτο’ like a field of snowdrops (or Galanthusses) that open their flowers towards the listeners to show the first hints of spring in dark days.

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De her dage (2012) ♪♪♪♪
Marie Key (Denmark)

Only a year after the release of her last album ‘I byen igen’ (‘In town again’) Danish singer-songwriter Marie Key is back with a brand new album: ‘De her dage’ (‘These days’). On her new album Marie continues her exploration of the musical electronic universe she started on her previous album. Travel partner is, once again, musician and producer Andreas "Maskinen” (‘Machine’) Sommer. Before working with ‘I byen igen’ Marie fronted the Marie Key Band, that produced folksy pop music and released two albums during the first decade of this millennium. She completely re-invented herself musically when she wrote and recorded her first solo album with Andreas Sommer, who provided an intriguing electronic basis for Key’s songs. The album was quite introspective and contained some great songs. The duo have been touring intensively in the past year with much commercial and critical success. During their touring they started to write songs for a new album. They wanted to create energetic songs with a bit more pace and attitude that would be fun to play live.

And so they recorded ‘De her dage’, an album with eleven new songs. The songs once again proof Key’s ability of writing good pop songs with intelligent, witty lyrics. The combination with Andreas “Maskinen” Sommer works again very well. The duo chose a more streetwise sound, al lot less introspective and atmospheric than their former album. ‘De her dage’ shows influences of hip hop and r&b, which works well most of the time. But sometimes the combination of Key’s childish singing voice, the Danish raps and Sommers synths that resemble the Pet Shop Boys tends to become somewhat forced at times (‘Uden forsvar’ (‘Without defence’)), or downright hilarious at other moments (‘Ryg mod ryg’ (‘Back to back’)). But at their best they create a beauty that is almost unearthly, for instance in single ‘Uopnåelig’ (‘Unattainable’) and especially in the last three songs: ‘Et aftalt spil’ (‘An agreed game’), ‘På farten’ (‘On the pace’) and the title and closing track ‘Den her dage’. On these tracks the voice and electronics intertwine and start a unique symbiotic existence. Marie’s singing is clear and expressive, yet never rude or exalted. It is great to hear her sing and rap so fluently in Danish, showing what a beautiful language it actually is! Sommers synths are always centered around Marie’s voice – introvert when required, exciting and pulsating when allowed.

Once again a great record by this young promising female artist from Denmark. The only thing that comes to mind is: what will she do after this album? Another album with electronic musical arrangements has the danger of becoming a bit of a formula. I guess I just have to wait and see what the future will bring…

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Je descends de signe (2012) ♪♪♪1/2
Marc Lavoine (France)

Marc Lavoine delivers his eleventh album, "Je descends de signe” (I descend from monkeys), in which he engages in an open-heart talk without metaphysics or the evolution of the human species according to Darwin's theories. Like his other albums the emphasis of Lavoine’s work is again in carefully chosen words that, sung with his dark silk voice, weave over small and intimate arrangements. In that sense there is no change to his previous ‘Volume 10’ or any other album. The album was recorded in Paris and Los Angeles and according to Marc the vast emptiness of the Great American Plains formed the inspiration for his album. The plains also play a leading role in the video for the title track, together with a chimp. The song is also one of the stronger tracks on the album. Combining folk and reggae in a haunting atmosphere it’s a nostalgic song that tells about the reality check you sometimes get when you stop and look back: “There are days when I miss you, times when the happiness hides out / Days of torture that have a sharp tongue / There are days of running out of air, two fingers to fuck up / I'm white as a sheet, I descend from apes / And I go down the street among the people lost / I, on the pier, talk to salty wind / I empty my bottle, I drink to the sun / I fly to the dregs of a thousand and one nights, ah! / I'm white as a sheet, I descend from apes.”

Nostalogia seems to be the common theme on this album. With songs like ‘Il resetera’ and ‘Notre histoire’: “our history / It is written in a few words / In the rain when it's nice / It stretches it strays / On the platform of our history / It's like people's lives / Lost in feelings / She invents random / She is dumb is our history”. That some personal intervision can also mean looking back at the ones you lost lead to two intimate ballads. One for his brother "Auprès de toi mon frère" and one for his recently deceased mother  "Ballade pour Michelle". On ‘Avec toi’ he is joined by actress Julie Gayet for small duet. Although all this nostalgia may give the impression that this is rather a depressive album the fact is the contrary. It is more comforting in a way. It is more like Marc gives you personal reading from his diary with his arms around your shoulder.  He shares his inner thoughts with you and his bronze whispers are aimed only at you. The album ends with ‘Je compte les jours” on which he counts the days when he will see you again: “miss your skin on mine / I miss your eyes in mine / I miss your daily life, I lack of air at the end / I look forward one day I come back, I can not wait to be reborn in the morning / I can not wait and I tremble and trolling, I look forward to seeing you then”. Until album number 12.

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Kalder laengsel (2012) ♪♪♪♪
Anne Linnet (Denmark)

According to the reviews in several Danish media, pop artists are not allowed to create dance music once they have reached a certain age. Danish musical icon Anne Linnet, age 59, has released an album with lots of influences from electronic and dance music. Many critics sable the album down, comparing it to Madonna’s poor latest release MDNA claiming that ‘singers from 95 have no idea of what is going on in the clubs’.

I could not disagree more with these critics. Except maybe for the fact that MDNA indeed was a poor release by Madonna… But Anne Linnets ‘Kalder laengsel’ (‘Longing calling’) – her 23thrd album - is so much more than just a dance album. First of all it is a traditional Linnet album in the sense that she presents us eleven new songs ranging from up-tempo to mid-tempo and one ballad. The compositions, all written by Anne Linnet and her son Marcus, are diverse but all bear the distinctive mark of Anne Linnets songwriting style. Anne’s lyrics offer intelligent views on love and life with the usual twists and references that we have come to know from her many previous texts. Mother and son play all instruments on the album, Marcus took care of the production and Anne co-produced it. And yes, Anne and Marcus clearly wanted to bring something different, so they turned to minimalistic arrangements, electronic touches and they frequently put Anne’s voice through a vocoder.
The result is a fresh and optimistic album containing eleven multi-layered songs. When first listening to them they sound fine, but after a view times they start to reveal their true beauty. Slowly, eleven perfect songs appear from underneath the electronics and dance beats.

This is definitely not an album that resembles Madonna’s MDNA, this is a great pop album from a mature artist who wanted to avoid repeating herself. Okay, people may say that Anne’s characteristic Nordic voice doesn’t need treatment with the vocoder. And they may say that the songs are strong enough by themselves and that they don’t need the electronics and beats. But hey, those people can just put one of Anne’s older albums on? I can only have immense respect for the artist who challenges herself and dares to explore new territories. And yes, some people might not always appreciate the results. For me, it works perfectly and I keep repeating the songs from ‘Kalder laengsel’ on my i-Pod.

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Îl (2012) ♪♪♪♪♪
- M – (France)

Funny to start an album called ‘Îl’ (he) with a song called ‘Elle’ (she). But that is typical for Matthieu Chedid’s (aka –M-) style. A bit tongue in cheek, a bit joie de vivre and a big chunk funkpop. So what can we expect this time for one of France’s biggest stars. His previous album ‘Mister Mystere’ from 2009 was a pretentious concept album that was good but also became top heavy. Just as the following tour that was a vibrating show in which numerous guitar solo’s played a leading role. For this album –M- obviously took a reality check and gave his old albums a spin. He moved to Los Angeles (what is with that city that all France’s stars go there?) with Brad Thomas Ackley and Dorion Fiszel to start a writing and recording process that would last nine months. And so it has become a diverse album. He continues the euphoric rock from his last album on single ‘Mojo’. But also does quirky spookyfunk on ‘Le film’,  slips into a latin mood on ‘Baïa’, goes punk on ‘Faittes moi souffrir’ and ‘La Grosse Bombe’, visits the cabaret on ‘La masion de sarai’. And sometimes even transcends himself with more ethereal experiments like the hauting ‘Machine’, the flowing rhythmical ‘Ocean’ and the almost accapella ‘Oualé’. On ‘Îl’ there are traces that go way back to the zany debut album ‘Le Baptême’ and comes close to his excellent ‘Qui de nous deux ?’ from 2003. After ten years of climbing up the ladder of French megastardom with tours that had no ending Matthieu shed his pretenses, threw his whig out of the window and goes back to making an album that is his best since years. He surpasses himself on this one and so we can answer to the question “Who is Îl? Îl is –M-!

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El murmullo del fuego (2012) ♪♪♪
Macaco (Spain)

The shaman of the Rumba Catalana and Iberian reggae returns home with his bag filled with experiences after two years of travelling the world accompanying ‘Puerto presente’. He played Rock In Rio in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in front of 80,000 people and had sold out concerts in Argentina. The Latin vibes he experienced in South America find a place in his musical spectrum on this new album ‘El murmullo del fuego’ or the murmur of fire. And that fire in his idiom is passion. Passion for music but also passion towards each other. Macaco tries to fill his albums (and gigs) with positive energy and, like his other albums, he still succeeds to do so. With his typical nasal voice he semi-raps over beats and arrangements that seem to come from around the globe. With his music he tries to support unity, respect and improve between people a universal act of solidarity. And so he welcomes you at the start of the album: “One voice! / We will be, if your heart and mine sing at the same tempo / Sources who bring flowers to plant in pain / Fists never be able to hold  each other’s hands / It is the song of the children of the earth and the sun / Give me your hand / We are a drum and a voice”. The alliance of the drum and voice is what’s it’s about. And for that he uses music, dance rhythms and everyday issues like love, friendship, loneliness, fear, anguish, hate and happiness. Sounds a bit far out? Maybe, but he gets away with it due to a certain bohemian allure. Like an exotic guru. For seven albums Macaco has been molding this ambition into a concept that he slowly been perfecting to the flaming live-spectacle he and his team are today. So does this album add anything to that catalogue. Like said, the addition of Latin American rhythms is maybe not new but he sure blended them in a subtle manor for this album. With as result excellent tracks like ‘Quema’ and ‘Una sola voz’ which even features string arrangements! The perfection also leads to a certain cleanliness. His previous albums all had a raw edge, for the first time this one sounds smooth. Like can be heard on ‘Sol’ and single ‘Love is the only way’ which sound like commercial Jimmy Cliff tracks. Due to letting that former grittiness slack a bit he has to lean more on his voice for that certain raw effect. And since he has a limited vocal range it has the effect that here and there the songs blend together and are not so distinct. ‘El murmullo del fuego’ continues in the line from his last albums and ads just a some extra foreign spice but is not the revelation that he made with ‘Entre Raíces y Antenas’ and ‘Rumbo Submarino’. The dish served is no longer a paella from mama but a tapas-table filled delicate goodies prepared by a chef in training. It is the step from street musician to established musician Dani Carbonell makes with this album.

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Lykken er… (2012) - ♪♪♪
Barbara Moleko (Denmark)

We said it before, the Danish music scene always has the developments in the UK in the corner of their eye when they make music. Musically they loan big chunks of what is popular in London. It is what you do with that that seperates the original from the copy cats. In which category Barbara fits? Openingtrack ‘Det Kribler’ and single ‘'Gå en tur' immediately give away that miss Moleko has been listening to Duffy, Adele and Amy Winehouse. It would define Barbara in the copycat category jumping the bandwagon a bit late. But stay tuned, because after this somewhat unlucky start she captures herself to create some great funky Nordic Soul. ‘Dum For dig’ is a stomping soul track and one that sticks. It’s the kind of tune that sounds hip and happening. From here on she more sounds like the Danish alternative to Sharon Jones or Macy Gray in a poppy modus. ‘Jungle Jazz’ is a stomping pop ode to the Kool & the Gang classic ‘Jungle Boogie’. Or at least so it seems. For the continuing 10 songs she keeps up the level so that in the end we can conclude there is more to miss Moleko then meets the ear. Adding up all the names we dropped she comes across as  the Danish cousin to Carleen Anderson (for those of you who don’t remember her, she was a UK soul/pop singer in the Nineties) somewhere between jazz, pop, soul and funk. And all songs in Danish, good for her! Certainly not bad for a debut.

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Du bist gut (2012) - ♪♪♪
Nena (Germany)

For the past 32 years Miss Kerner has been a fixed landmark for German pop. Known to the outside world as Nena she delivers her latest 15 new songs with the comforting affirmation that ‘You are good’. Over the years she somehow succeeded in remaining loyal to her initial pop-sound and still incorporate modern influences. Over the years small dance-beats and indiepop elements trickled through. And she delivers her tracks still with energy: “When and where and how I do not care / That's not all / that can not be anything / And I do not live for the first time / That is not true it can not be anything / I believe in you and our potential / The world is different the world will be different / Develops and carries us out into space / And it is true, the world will be different” she sings in the openingtrack ‘Das ist nicht alles’. Nena is not one to linger in the past although hints of Hamburger Schule (‘Lied nummer eins’) and NDW (‘Goldene zeit goldenes land’ with a sample from Corey Hart's synth classic ‘Sunglasses At Night’) are evident in her music. With producer Derek von Krogh she tries to deliver a palette songs but also shows her age a bit with an emphasiz on midtempo softrock and ballads. Allthough seperately not bad this tends to give the the album something of a uniform candence that makes the songs not really distinctive from each other. The surprise is at the end with the title song which is in fact a dark electronic track with hardly any vocals at all. In a way you can detect a comparison with that other grand lady of German pop, Anette Humpe (and maybe also her sister Inga). With their bands Ich + Ich and 2raumwohnung they also lean heavily on their own personal vocal identity and style. The music around them is just an accessory over which the women remain unmistakably themselves. Like a recipe they add small novelties and so create an album that can be described as descently hip. Nothing to upset the fans and trendy enough to hook up to the sound of today.

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Jezus Maria Peszek (2012) - ♪♪♪♪
Maria Peszek (Poland)

‘Or the diary of my nervous breakdown’ could be a good subtitle for this third album by 39 year old Maria Peszek. Actress, singer and now official riot grrl. The success of her previous album and tour had strained the tiny singer. It took a six month leave on a tropical beach and some serious self reflection to get herself back on track. Her musical diary opens thus: “I went bankrupt / Today the whole world / I know how to lose / despair in the stock market / I have a fire in my head / in the heart of black smoke / God left me / I paused the movie”. God left me. There it is. First over a single simple beat but halfway fanning out into a ecstatic technotrack. Like Maria explains in a recent interview some people find God in such an inner search. She came to the conclusion that God is just an idea in your mind. And therefore you are your own deity. No one will safe you but yourself. “Nervous breakdown, call an ambulance / I'm so tired today / I'm so very badly today / I can not, I'm dying, no! / Instead of one head – two / I do not embrace Jesus Christ / I do not comprehend, Jesus Maria Peszek” In a religious catholic country like Poland a statement like that is a prelude to trouble. Especially when you link your own name to that of the ‘Holy mother and child’ over a pumping electropunk beat. And so Peszek found the fundamental Christian community opposite. Not that she actually cared.

Next to atheism her patriotic feelings have a limit. “Poland sorry / forgive me / I pay a subscription / and pay for a ticket / I go to elections / I do not go for stowaways / just do not let me die / do not ask me to die fighting / Polish is not my blood be pleased” (Sorry Polska). In other words, I have no obligation to justify myself just because we were born in the same country. And that sung over a musical concept switching between alternative pop, indie colored elements, and technopunky electronics laid down by Michael 'Fox' King. Both artists are very strong and dominant but music and lyrics complement each other instead of overruling. And such a cooperation can lead to an intense strong alternative prayer like ‘Pan nie jest moim pasterzem’: “I do not kneel / the Lord is my shepherd / And there is nothing I lack / I do not belong and do not believe / I walk through the valley ofthe Bad / do not be afraid and do not kneel”. In the whole concept of the album a seemingly breezy lovesong like ‘Padam’ (“Without you, I mean less / Than a postage stamp”) seems out of place between the eleven other in-your-face tracks. Especially when it follows the suicidal song ‘Piblotoq’ where Peszek wispers the text “There is something wrong with me / I dream of flesh / blood of my dreams / I would like to remove the heart from my ribs / and swallow it whole”. Some Polish critics accuse Peszek of posing and cheap sensationalism. I don’t think that is the case. Jezus Maria Peszek is as intense as it is honest. An almost exhibionistic and intriguing insight into her past mental condition.

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Vēl viena klusā daba (2012) - ♪♪♪♪
Prāta Vētra (Latvia)

Four years after their last original Latvian album ‘Tur kaut kam ir jābūt’ Prāta Vētra (for ESC fans also known as Brainstorm) overcomes the tragedy of losing  bass player Gundars Mauševics in a car crash and set themselves in recording a new album. To concentrate the guys packed their things and moved to Hudson, USA where they set themselves to writing and rehearsing the songs. Different then what you might expect the trip to the USA did not spark a further move to Anglo-American rock but sees the band sounding more European than ever. And more nostalgic or even homesick. It’s like the Still Life they’re trying to paint is all in memory of home. On the title song Renārs Kaupers seems to talk to the homefront from Hudson imaging how it is back home: “darken the sky high / white dandelion field / your hand sleeping in mine / a bowl of apples on the table / Everything between us was still there / on warm summer shade / abide quietly and without leaving / behold, the sun has already set slowly”.

The homesick feeling continues on ‘Šonakt neguļ tik daudzi’ (Tonight sleeps so many) a song about insomnia and loneliness and ‘Manās atmiņās tas viss vēl ir dzīvs’ about lost childhood memories. You might consider if it was such a good idea to travel abroad for the album. At the time maybe not but the result of being dependent on each other sure made the guys lift their artistic output to a higher level. Because ‘Vēl viena klusā daba’ is quite an impressive leap forward in being a very mature, balanced and serious album. The production under guidance of David Fields is rich without overdoing it in any of the songs. And so a slow funky popsong ‘Starp citu’ pitches in small bits of guitar riffs and piano loops. Towards the end the song opens up in an open organ driven sequence while Kaupers sings: “Here I stand with open outstretched hand / I do not know how to beg.” The band also took great care of recording a good selection of uptempo poprocksongs, midtempo ballads and atmospheric excercises. One of those highlights is the duet with Evija Smagars called ‘Nākamā nodaļa’, based around a moving dry drum beat and a weaving synth motif. ‘Vēl viena klusā daba’ is an excellent return to form from Latvia’s prominent poprock band.

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Discorocksupersexypowerfunky (2012) - ♪♪♪
Gianni Resta (Italy)

Discorocksupersexypowerfunky is probably the longest Italian songtitle since Adriano Celentano had a minor European culthit with 'Prisencolinensinainciusol' in the Seventies. And is just as funky. Heavily inspired by his youthfull guilty pleasures from LP’s by Kool and the Gang, Ohio Players, The Bee Gees and Jamiroquai Gianni Resta shakes his booty and lays down nine Eurofunky tracks. And that does not cheap europop. The albumtitle is the accumulation of all the (black) music styles he likes. Disco, Rock and Funk. Resta breathes new life in the old art of making a soulfull production with a keen eye for arrangements and ‘real’ instruments. Funky guitars, drums, violins and lots of horns and sax. But especially the soulfull backing vocals by Brunella Boschetti Venturi give the whole album the right vibe. And Resta has a point. Where has European funk gone to? At the turn of the millenium artists like Jamiroquai, Joss Stone, Dino Dvornik and Sinclair gave new energy to the European white funk scene in combination with the Big Beat dancescene. It was a shortlived incarnation, as quickly as it came their music disappeared from charts again. Time for a reincarnation. Gianni took to Los Angeles to master the album together with Brian "Big Bass" Gardner (who has mastered the works of Michael Jackson, George Clinton, Donna Summer, Santana, Beck, Outkast and a 'infinity of others ...) to create a "coherence" of sound with the production of black music that inspires him. He also expresses his ode to black music by appearing completely painted black on the cover. A foolish attempt? Perhaps, and maybe white folks don’t know how to dance but better to dance like a fool then not at all: “Dancing like a fool, dance and have fun like a fool. Dancing like a fool, the world goes to hell and you're clear”. Gianni Resta’s album is what it promises to be; Discorocksupersexypowerfunky.  

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Le calme et la tempête (2012) - ♪♪♪
Olivia Ruiz (France)

With 'Miss Météores' Olivia Ruiz showered the listener with a pleasant mixture of chanson, slam, punk, folk and Hispanic rock. On ‘Le calme et la tempête’ she continues to explore that path. And so the album opens with a texmex styled song telling the story of Iomo and Olivia. With handclaps, tambouring and mandolin this folky diddy suggest Olivia has gone completely indiefolk and is going to spend the entire album as some kind of campfire singalong. But the music and the mood already shifts with the title song. Haunting violins and running shoesteps sound as she tells of the calm before the storm. On the third track she imagine yourself in a saloon where miss Ruiz is performing her emotional song ‘Plus j’aime, plus je pique’. And at that point it makes sense. Olivia has been working on her own soundtrack of an imaginary spaghetti western. The Almodovar hint in the Spanish ‘Volver’, the ‘Paris-texas’ Ry Cooder mood on ‘Ironic Rainbow’, the Tom Waits atmosphere on ‘Larmes de crocodiles’. Like a modern Scarlett O’hara she creates her own ‘Gone with the wind’. You get a tastes of Cuba, Spain and Los Angeles blended with the chanson rock. But not the clean cut version. Olivia took inspiration from the self side of those society and added a rough and nasty vibe to her music. At times she even joins the gangs of French bands that currently mix rockabilly sounds with chanson like Dionysos. In the end the movie ends with a funeral march, ‘La Llorana’. Olivia her lover is escorted to his last resting place, mariachi band in front and Olivia veiled supported by two men joining her in her song. With ‘Le calme et la tempête’ Ruiz does not chose a commercially easy path by repeating her critical acclaimed last album but choses to deepen her inner search to her musical roots. And if this results in a less accessible album her respons will probably be: “frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn".  

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Alma de cantaora (2012) - ♪♪♪
Amparo Sánchez (Spain)

If her first solo album ‘Tucson-Habana’ was a journey into the latin music culture over the world then this, her second album, is a sort of homecoming to Spain. The ‘Alma de cantaora’ or Soul singer brings the friends that she made outside Spain home to create a more localised acoustic album with a heavy bluesy feel. And so we hear Mane Ferrer from Cuba on ‘Vieja pasión‘, Muerdo on ‘Vueltas‘, Giant Sand leader Howe Gelb on ‘Free day‘ and Calexico on ‘Muchacho’. To spice it up Bongo Botrako and Chalart58 do a reggae remix of the title song. Travelling Sanchez witnessed the destruction of the Earth and so the new songs reflect what is happening to the planet. In the bio she explains: “The messages are very necessary. We must help the earth, nature and ourselves. We are dehumanizing; away from our very essence. Just look at how the ecosystem suffers. But my call is not only in the ecological environment, also appeal to a single revolution. It is the only way to leave a better world for our children and grandchildren”. Ah, revolution, there is that word again. You can make the music as soft and acoustic as you want, Sanchez still succeeds to lay a biting venomous blues-vibe underneath. Just like in the days when she toured Europe as Amparanoia. Strong tracks in this manor are the Ry Cooder like ‘Pulpa de Tamarindo’, La flor de Palabra' and ‘Para ti’. While ‘Fuera fiera’ a duet with Bebe on a rumba rhythm and ‘Mujer levántate’ with Jairo Zavala are fierce pleas for change and independence from a women’s perspective. Musically Sanchez stays close to her musical roots with lots of acoustic elements, blues and latin passion. The only way for her to sing from the soul.

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Demasié (2012) - ♪♪
Varry Brava (Spain)

OK, on unguarded moments we sometimes also go sentimental about music made in the Eighties but that does not mean everything was great made in that era. The eclectic breeze popsound from Spanish act Varry Brava is energetic and danceable. That’s for sure. The songs are catchy and up tempo. But also filled with clichés so much it’s almost corny. You go back when Adam & the Ants, Spandau Ballet, ABC and Level 42 dominated the charts, Sonny Crocket was still sexy in Miami Vice and Spain ruled the disco with Baltimore. Even the imagery goes that way with the band members in colorful clothes and heavy make up. The lyrics are no high poetry and maybe that’s not the point. Sometimes lightheaded simple chorus can be nice. But on ‘No gires’ (for instance) it just gets plain silly: “one thing you know / I can not control / dancing to the rhythm of songs / not stopped ringing / do not turn on me dancing / ra ra pa pa pa pa pa pa pa ra ra ra ra /ra pa pa pa pa ra ra ra ra ra ra / pa ra ra ra”. But with it the band is not able transcend the risk of being just background music for a sunny day at the beach. It’s nice but exchangeable for anything made before. With some good will there are some hints of something interesting and modern on songs like 'Radioactivo' and 'Calor'. But two tracks out of 11 is a bit poor. Emphasis on the synths and slapping bass. The music is like a big bubble of chewing gum. Fluorescent colorful, sticky but completely empty inside.

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Panna, fragole e cipolle (2012) - ♪♪♪♪
Viola Valentino (Italy)

Viola Valentino is back with an ep containing seven new songs and two instrumental bonus tracks. For this ep Viola teamed up with Giovanni Germanelli and Francesco Mignogna, who produced the album and wrote most of the songs. In 2009 Viola re-invented herself with the release of 'I tacchi di Giade' and since then she interprets nice pop songs with credible lyrics, produced by young Italian artists. With her latest project, 'Panna, fragole e cipolle' ('Cream, strawberries and onions'), Viola continues this succesfull path.

The album starts with the first single, 'Stronza' ('Bitch'). It's a strong song with commercial potential and it has quickly become a gay anthem during the past summer months at Italian gay prides. 'Ancora un'ora' ('Another hour') is a typical Italian song, mid tempo, which is very much in the style of her previous album. 'C'est a vie' is a melodic duet with Francesco Mignogna. Its theme is everything heals with the passing of time:

"Please listen to me, everything ends sooner or later / And when I watch the sun tomorrow, wondering if that was yesterday / And 'dead or alive in my thoughts .."

'L'occidentale del Kashmir' ('West of Kashmir') is an modern, exotic tune with an Eastern melody on electronic sounds.'L'unica donna' ('The only woman') is the second single of the album. It's amid tempo tune about a woman sharing a lover with another woman. It has nice tango influences thanks to touches of accordeon. 'Ahimè' ('Alas') is a beautiful, intimate ballad and certainly one of the albums best tracks. It reflects on love and has a very melancholic atmosphere:

"Would you like a list of things that I can not understand - you, me, our love / You know, for example, certain things I can not understand - me, you, us / I do not seek retaliation even if you kiss elsewhere / I do not cover my distance ... alas / I do not seek reprisals if I think of our love ... alas"

The album closes with 'Via Toledo', athe only song not written by Germanelli and Mignogna. It combines modern production with a glamourous seventies melody, that might have been sung by Olivia Newton John.... The closing track is followed by instrumental versions of the two singles, 'Stonza' and 'L'unica donna'.

All in all with this ep Viola adds another gemm to her discography, that is only getting better since the last few years. Let's hope this ep will be followed by a full length album in the near future.

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Nowa Płyta (2012) - ♪♪♪
Voo Voo (Poland)

The gang around musical mastermind Wojciech Waglewski celebrates its 25th release with a simple title ‘Nowa Płyta’ or translated ‘New album’. This album was created after the death of drummer Peter "Feet" Żyżelewicza, who was replaced by Michael Bryndal. Maybe that is why the intro and outro of the album sounds like a gypsy brass funeral march. We’re not sure of this had any other impact on the sound on the album but fact is that after their raw and blistering rocksound on ‘Wszyscy muzycy to wojownicy’ this album suddenly sounds much more styled and tailored. The arrangements hint to jazz, blues and folky hornsections. Like Captain Beefheart met up with Beirut and Goran Bregovic. The edgy guitarplay of Waglewski is suddenly less distorted and more toned down and intimate. Voo Voo got the blues and so tracks such as ‘Smutas’ and ‘ Może dziś’ sound like they were recorded on the front porch of a house somewhere near the Masuria lakes with the sun setting in the distance over thinking life, love and death. The melancholic mood underlines the memories of the deceased drummer (Do Stopki), the story of the passing (‘Co było to było’ and ‘Bezsenność’), or observations of life (Moje Kathmandu). The more subdued approach gives the saxophone of Matthew Pospieszalski room for some sudden ripping outbursts and funky riffs.  And this in effect enables the band to play a funky diddy like ‘Powiewa’ where horns and sax create an almost light bubblegum environment. But the subtle style change aside Waglewski’s passion for music is present as ever. For him there is no other way like he sings on ‘Inaczej nie umiem’: “I go from house to house and give my own sounds (...) I will give them free, the wine, the beer.'ll Make you better, happier”. A blind commitment to his art and his fans. Because although this 'new album' is rather retained and accessible for Voo Voo standards the passion for music remains so evident and flaming that the quality is never in danger.

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Dom (2012) - ♪♪♪
Joachim Witt (Germany)

With the third installment of the Bayreuth trilogy Witt finished his high mass on the subject pain and suffering. An epic gothic Teutonic construction that delivered him the name of being the Godfather of dark German electronic music. But Witt has more tricks up his sleeve then just bombastic rockmusic. On ‘Dom’ we enter the dark cathedral he gradually build and we are not welcomed by fire and thundering guitars. There is confronting light in the spacious inner sanctum, symphonic electronics and a children’s choir bursts out in ‘Gloria’: “The world is changing / I see my heart, how it breaks apart / Time stands still / as far away from you / it was for good, but now you're missing here / Time stands still”. The physical pain that was present on Bayreuth has been replaced for another pain. A pain less visible but a pain that is maybe more insidious and intense, the pain you suffer from getting old and gradually losing the ones you love. The pain from the heart.” Forever would have been nice, but mostly a dream / pass the summer and empty the room / somewhere waiting for a new prophet / to eternal love / Take my tears and go” (Tränen). In Witt’s cathedral there is room for resignation and reflection. There is no way to turn back the clock so Witt rather has you don’t speak about it: “I feel restless and nervous / Total retired from this world / I cannot even cry, / let alone grasp thoughts / broke all lies / Do not ever come back again / Never speak of happiness / Give me your word – never” he sings over the etherical synthsounds on ‘Komm nie wieder zuruck’. Maybe due to this introspective mood the music is less bombastic and swollen and is the emphasis on piano led melodies. With songs like ‘Mut eines kriegers’ and ‘Licht im ozean’ you almost hear Witt return to his NDW period at the start of the Eighties when he scored hits with songs like ‘Goldene Reiter’. Witt probably also felt he had to explore his other musical talents with disciples like Unheilig and Rammstein perfecting what he had started. The turn to more accessible and symphonic electropop met with mixed feelings from fans and critics. One of the harsher came from Rolling Stone magazine who called the album a “kitsch reminiscent of a Leni Riefenstahl film”. This probably says more about the reviewer’s look on the world and his views on German popmusic then it does about Witt. Take a song like ‘Leichtsinn’ where a haunting harmonica, electronics, violins and Joachim’s dark voice come together and you’ll hear something that is unique, where German culture and rock blend. ‘Dom’ is maybe not Witt’s most impressive album of his career but in all its introvert gloom it is sure one of his more majestic ones.

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Gespaltene Persönlichkeit (2012) - ♪♪♪
Xavas (Germany)

Xavier Naidoo’s catalogue can be divided into three categories. His soulful work under his own name, his guiding production work for other established artists and his hiphop / rap work with Söhne Mannheims and Brothers Keepers. As a project this collaboration with rapper Kool Savas is a mix of these three. Naidoo’s signature smooth voice is present in almost all the choruses on the album, his hands professionally on the mixing desk. It is Savas that delivers the hard edge on the album. His raps are slicing though Naidoo’s silk tapestry giving the album the ‘split personality’. Although the album title suggest a collision of opposites, the album sounds like a close-knit cooperation between two creative minds. Both artists leave each other enough room to display their talent with Naidoo (it has to be said) at the wheel but Savas as a necessary co-rider. He keeps Naidoo’s tendency for pathos in check and prevents him from going too sweet and swooning. Together, the two artists reflect on themes such as love ("Du Bereicherst Mich"), friendship ("Gegen Die Freundschaft"), feelings ("Form Von Liebe"), melancholic optimism ("Schau Nicht Mehr Zurück"), evil ("Satan Weiche") and a reflected description of your own creation ("Wenn Es Nacht Ist"). One subject and song is hidden on the special edition CD album. ‘Wo Sind Sie Jetzt’ got Naidoo and Savas in some trouble in Germany. Handling the subject of ritual murder and misuse of children the song reflects their disgust on recent pedophile incidents. (The song got taken the wrong way by some liberal groups who took the song for a homophobic anthem. Naidoo and Savas explained in public their intentions on the song and hope the subject is now closed). Musically Naidoo takes his signature silky, swooning and elegant beats and mixes them with strings and samples. Not from the often browsed funk catalogue. Naidoo searched in his record cabinet for the more elegant soul brothers and found the Brothers Johnson and Shuggie Otis as inspiration. With ‘Gespaltene Persönlichkeit’ Xavas shows that rap doesn’t have to be hard and insistent but that elegance and melody are in the essence of European hip hop.

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