Happy Honeymoon, Bernd! There's Room to Come!

The first Room CD ever is recorded, mixed and mastered... ready to be judged and ripped by you. Jan is working on the cover, which should be worth your money already there. Tobias Klutke took 87 pictures for 20 dollars and a whiskey, which is probably the best price a band ever got from the famous star shooter. Same with the sound wizard of brooklyn, england, QJ, who completed the near impossible task of getting one full long player out of one single Room session in three hours. Listen to the rough mixes at Room's My Space Site.

HeadQuarters in the Spotlight at Annex

We've all heard HeadQuarters, sure, but this last show for quite a while at Annex is worth an extra mention. Never before have the guys rocked out so wildly and vividly, animating crazy dancing and cheering: Here, just before singer Charles Wallace is leaving for a solo stint in Europe, HeadQuarters finally found their home in NYC, in style of course: They are, after all, still the most british American band in the world. Check out news from Charles on www.hqmusic.net.

Walking Hellos Wont Tour With Aerosmith! Kapow for Liechtenstein!

New New York indie sensation The Walking Hellos celebrated their CD release at Galapagos with a wild mix of sexy rock and the seemingly totally unsexy world of, say, dishwashers and vacum cleaners. Hm, maybe I should rephrase this. The all girl band rocked and rolled, alright, but without really looking the part. Intriguing, but not quite the band that Aerosmith would wanna share their tour bus with, you know? Some people are born to rock, other choose to. These girls, on first glance, don't look like they are going to rock in the next three decades. But oha. As Ringo said: There's more in here than meets the eye. The glistening charisma of Heather Wagner on drums of course helps in more than one way, here.

It's early summer and the Byrds come alive...it was like that in 76, in 86 and 96... dude, psychedelic seems to get a rebirth with every other mushroom growing in my garden. Kapow! excell with their harmonies and get points for not showing of, but delivering. Sometimes though, they tried just a tiny little bit too hard to fly.

Soccer World Cup Stops Blogger from Updating!

Music blogger Roman E.* (39) has been known for updating his music blog with the punctuality and precision of a swiss watch, so subscribers were starting to panic when he started missing out on his New York music scene write ups. Thousands of visitors stared at the same last post for three full weeks. Ad revenues tumbled. Bands complained. The music industry wondered: Is blogging out? E.* could not be reached for any comment. But fear not: I was in the Nicaraguan jungle (pictured here in front of the National Palace in Managua, the place the Sandinistas stormed to initiate their revolution). Coming back over Washington and the Coporatocracy in freezing cold air conditioned rooms, I just couldnt take the urban nyc jungle for three days, having caught a mean cold in the World Bank. Anyway. Read more about my trip to Nicaragua next week on The Swiss American Blog.

Mickey Finn on Williamsburg Roof

No, nobody in this band is called Mickey nor Finn and if you wanna find out, you best ask Brett, the charming guitar player readers of this blog know from his earlier project This Transient Life. Not so transient seems this line-up, fronted by earthy singer Damien Pearce, who howled into the cool Williamsburg night like a tall, sane Iggy. The next band reminded us very much of the Strokes and Interpol, which was kinda stange, given that those bands in turn remind us of Joy Division and The Fall, faintly. Anyway. Mickey Finn is cool. Buy the guys a drink, but watch your glass!

Gibbs and his Heer Conquer Switzerland

Here's what Christian Gibbs reports from Swinging Europe. Looks like he made quite a few new friends over there! and Christian, we definitely want one of those rare tour CDs! C. Gibbs is playing live with his new project Lucinda Black Bear at Petes Candy Store this Saturday at 11pm!

"Our mini-European tour went swimmingly. Switzerland was incredible. Sausages and Chocolate were eaten, my eyes were burned with tear gas, I saw a street fight, heard "These Boots are Made for Walking" sung in a Swiss accent, sold all my T-shirts and nearly all our cd's, made many new friends and hope to return to that clean and splendid town soon. The drives were especially long from city to city (2 hrs max). Frank (a.k.a. Privateman) was nothing less than stellar in his ability to rock the cello, mini Korg, piano, and snare. Not to mention his fine agile maneuvering of our tour vehicle, the Hatchback Renault (see tour photos here).
By the way, we have a Tour Only CD with some new songs on it. It features mostly sparse acoustic guitar and cello. There are 3 left but will make more if enough people want them. After the many long drives we were exhausted and had to store up on provisions for the next day's journey. These included Grether's Pastilles, breaded Cauliflower, asparagus wrapped in Horse Bacon, and many other fine Swiss delicacies not including the Wurst Case Salad...Nonsequitor: A word of advice- -dont venture out in Bern at 7:30 am on a Sunday locked out of your hotel room thinking you will find a nice warm cafe to ease your insomnia..the Bears are nice though ( again pictures here). Zurich trully kicked Swiss ass, the crowds were great. The Haffenbuffet at Rorsarch was a decent enough show with a great view of the lake. Thedrive to Austria (2 hrs ) was well worth it for the food alone. While in Dornbirn we hung out with real live pigs and drank in the beautiful countryside of the nearby village...then off to the Swiss alps. I couldn't help thinking of James Bond everywehere I went. Frank may have been slightly annoyed at my James Bond inquiries as well as my "Brokeback Alps" jokes, but he didn't show it. Solothurn kicked Butt Baroque style as we did a completely acoustic set at The Kreuz. I there encountered the only slightly mean Swiss person in my life when the next morning I attempted to make myself one of those little coffees they are so fond of during "complimentary breakfast hour". I was harshly reprimanded in German. However, the hostess quickly redeemed herself and was assuaged by my eventual fully caffeinated demeanor.
After a fond farewell from Frank and Adrian I found myself on a train to Paris from Zurich...There was no food for the long journey but I survived on Grether's Blackcurrant Pastilles and made it safely to the 19th district where my friends Kit and Gaelle reside....I had a difficult time getting out of the train station as every sign indicated "Sortie" and I was damn well sure I wasn't getting stuck on a train to some town named Sortie. After stumbling on a few hooker's doors on accident at 1:00 a.m. trying to find the 5th floor I eventually made it to shelter and was treated to a late night snack of baquette, stinky cheese ,and salmon. The next day we ventured off to Rue de Rivoli on bicycle to the art squat and I was introduced to a multi-national burgeoning creative force. We saw a great band "Nervous Cabaret" . The next night was a party/show on the Seine with this Italian gypsy band of which the violinist Malomiento accompanied me at my show along with Barry, a french Canadian flamenco guitarist. It was the first show ever that I traveled to on bicycle and in Paris no less. I got a flat tire and while Kit was getting a patch kit (n.p.i.) this art kid from Berlin decided to have a half hour photo shoot with my stickered and battered guitar case. A beautiful day it was, and after lunching at Cafe Pompidou we went to the museum across the square and saw the Hans Bellmer exhibit....this also after a brief gander at Notre Dame and a bicycle stroll near The Louve. Our show itself was great and the lovely French folks endured my bad-broken english as I was now speaking a dialect "Swarzenegger-an" in nature due to my abandonement of superfluous determiners and past tense conjucations to better communicate with my French, Swiss and Italian brethen. It was a good tour and I even came back with some play money, a bottle of French perfume and a big 2lb. bar of chocolate for my lady....C."

Alles War Da Da Da in Berlin

Good news from Berlin! Mr. Privateman reports that all exile New Yorkers over in the German capital are well and still into good Rock music: Nikko, Dana (of Bee and Flower), Larry (plays with Swiss star Stephan Eicher), Anthony (of JC & Anphibius fame), Moses (the original Transporterraum... and of course Botanica, who get the deserved recognition in Europe, while the States still hold out. Frank, there for an interview with Neue Deutsche Welle star Stephan Remmler of Minimal Popband "Trio" forgot (again, some might say) to bring his camera to the show, he sends one of his ole blue eyes and Steph Remmler, who says Salut und Ahoi.

Rock the Jazzbar Vol. II (Flee the Jazzbar says Room drummer)

With that much talent, you can't expect everything to go right, but the 5x5 songwriter night at Detour went by about as smoothly as possible. Kristofer of Morex Optimo opened the evening as his alter ego Pharmacy and Gardens, with delicate songs and revealed his new project, "Songs my father would write if he was a songwriter". One fan compared the music - quite rightfully, I'd say - to the great Smog. There are three new Morex Optimo songs in the making, and rumor has it it's gonna be by far their best work yet.


A great moment for me was the female Blue Spark Reunion during Alanas set. It's no secret anymore that Alana can do country like almost nobody else in NYC, but the highlight came when, for the first time since the break up of the prematurely demised Blue Sparks, the voices of Alana Amram and Kerry Kennedy were heard together live again. Alana invited Kerry to join her for a song and, alas, the magic was there immediately.


With tons of wit and charm, artist Jim Avignon brought Euro Tech Pop to the venerable Jazzbar and reunited E- and U-music with painting. Jim, of course, belongs into bigger venues, cause everybody knows that sur le songs d'Avignon, on y danse. Not in the mood for dance was Room drummer Martial who fled the place five minutes before the show. He has not been heard from since and Room are desperately looking for him - post any sightings of him on this blog! The versatile Jan switched from guitar to drums and they got admirably through their set. The lamp had its revenge on Roman and shot out a burst of flames and electricity, when she was teased for being deceased by the singer.

5x5 Songwriter Series at Detour this Tuesday

Tomorrow, we rock the Jazzbar again: DETOUR on 13th Street and 1st Avenue in Manhattan is the place for the 5x5 songwriter series in Mikes Mixed Bag, or in other terms: 5 acts play 5 (well, maybe six) songs, and we have quite an illustrous team of youngsters playing with us: Behind Pharmacy and Gardens is the great Kristofer from Morex Optimo solo, Alana Amram performs with her sister Adira and the two amazing girls sing impeccable country music. Jim Avignon is a pretty famous German painter/artist/musicians who performs with mic and Minidisc only and he will have you dance! Pee Air is the singer of Melomane, whom, by now, you should know. Guaranteed no boredom, although Room promised to be as subdued as possible, in order to not destroy any lamps or hurt the audience. Still, we recommend you sit not in the first row, unless you wanna be made part of the spectacle. The most beautiful hair contest is still outstanding!

The Anti Death of Entertaining Rock: Jim Avignon

Fashionable Deconstruction: Room

Something in Construction at Union Pool...

Well, they actually finished construction of the nicest and most real live space in Williamsburg some months ago, and by now it is the hotspot of the area, impressively proven last Saturday night when, when the British label "Something in Construction" presented their three newly signed NYC bands Silent League, Kid Casanova and Other Passengers. Silent League (the eight piece band in the pic) struck us as the most original of the three acts, kinda Folk-Rock'n'Roll with academic attitude and lotsa charisma, while Kid Casanova (pictured up front from bass player to lead guit.) presented a delectable version of Franz Ferdinands and Other Passengers (the guys with the visuals) rode the Joy Division/Interpol train. All in all, a very enjoyable mix and a friendly crowd. Recommended!

Sputnik...Far Out Man!

Thanx to the nice crowd at Sputnik and to the lovely Melomane for enduring so much Room on Thursday. While Melomane shone in beautiful excercises of harmonies and rhymes, Room trashed their instruments, clothes, songs and some of the equipment. Apologies that they didnt mean to were accepted later.

ROOM and MELOMANE Spacerock at Sputnik

Man, I haven't been writing for almost three weeks and apologize for that - this is no way to treat my dear blog readership, I know. Been terribly busy, you see, but i still managed to see a couple of amazing bands in the last few days, and I'll be telling you about them soon here. For now I just wanted to let you know that our friends Melomane who are touring behind their great new CD GLACIERS have invited us to play with them tomorrow, THURSDAY MAY 11th at SPUTNIK Bar in Brooklyn and it would be great to see you there! We have a couple of new songs and are honored to have the great Heather Wagner of Morex Optimo on drums for a couple of tracks! Our beloved Jeano Jan is in Europe unfortunately, but he says he'll be there in spirit. Opening is Juliette Lazareth and her Factory. Oh, and Room finally got out own MySpace Place, its here and you can listen to four of our demo tracks for the upcoming CD "Room...for Development".

Here's what they write on the Sputnik Website
05/11/2006 - THURSDAY: LIVE MADNESS
8 pm
JULIETTE LAZARETH AND HER FACTORY - A GIRL TRAPPED IN AN APOCALYPTIC SPACESHIP SINGING THE BLUES IN FRONT OF A VIDEO PROJECTOR
9 pm
MELOMANE - A SWEET POLITICAL STANCE FEATURING SONGS ABOUT POLAR BEARS, GHOSTS AND ITALIAN LOTHARIOS.
10.30pm
ROOM - AMBIENT ROCK DROPS OF METALLIC BALLADS OF FORMIDABLE MELLOW MINDEDNESS
$5 COVER

Melomane
Room

DRINK SPECIALS: BUY ONE GET ONE WELL DRINK and $2 BUD LITE PINTS 5 to 9pm

French Film Noir Now In Color

Melomane made best use of the circular space at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn and set up quite a multi media spectacle for the release party of their new CD Glaciers. Those who got there early enough were treated with 'Greatest Hits' set, including old material such as the beloved 'Ginsu' in a new clothing. More intimate was the second set, where they played the whole new record, start to finish, and you could tell how much love, craft and talent the 'manes put in this new music. It's tender, it's haunting, it's wise and relaxed, then mean and demanding: Just how you like your life to be, just a little bit cooler - Glaciers, you know. The big turnout of hip people was most promising - lets see how the video does...right, Pierre?


The band was in superb form, Pierre all in white looking like Elvis, Kenny with most inventive drumming imaginable, Daria's bass and voice strong and solid and diverse guest at the right moments. One of the secret new hits was Quentins song "Nobody". If you haven't bought the record yet you've got only yourself to blame. In Melomane related news, congratulations to Gerald "Steel" Menke, who is getting married to Genevieve, the beautiful singer and sister of Melopierre. His Bachelor party was a four hour session at Euphoria Productions, all recorded, with about 15 musicians joining, including Chad Swahnberg, Christian Gibbs, Lance Kruger...hell, i forgot most of the names, but it was about themusic, anyway, right? I brought my German rap tools, but had to leave early to make it to the party at Growing Studios, where the eighties are back, believe it or not.

No Longer on Ice: Melomane's Glaciers is Out Now!

Mark your calendars and cancel all appointments: Tonite at 9PM, Melomane will do a super-special show at the Issue Project Room to celebrate the release of Glaciers. They promise an amazing visual and sonic experience....
IPR is a circular music space in a converted grain silo in Brooklyn on the banks of the Gowanus Canal. Melomane will be setting up around the perimeter of the space, and the audience will be inside the band (like you've always wanted,) almost like a live surround-sound Zaireka. We will have a plethora of guest musicians and live multi-media stimulation on the surrounding enclosure. We will do two sets, encompassing our repertoire from old to new in a way youve never heard it. Prepare for an evening of fascinating repartee, cold drinks, visual and aural stimulation, and riverside gallivanting in the springtime! For more on the new record, Glaciers, see right below.

Cast of characters:
Pierre de Gaillande Guitar, vocals, trumpet
Quentin Jennings- Keyboards, vocals
Daria Grace Bass, vocals
Kenny Savelson Drums, sounds
Jesse Neuman Trumpet
Jody Redhage Cello
Philippa Thompson Violin, saw
Jack Grace Harmonica
Kevin Campbell Video trickery

Eleventh Dream Night at Mercury Lounge

Maybe it’s the eleventh truly great show I’ve seen at Mercury Lounge, where heroes such as Midngiht Oil, Lloyd Cole or the Mekons have had the 200 people crowd eating every note and word from their hands and mouths or maybe it’s the eleventh time I’ve seen this true and real Chicago band - anyway, it was wonderous. They’ve grown older, maybe wiser, and they certainly haven’t lost it. To see Rick Rizzo, Janet Bean and Douglas McCombs play together is pure proof of the idea that a family is a band. This trio has a whole Thomas Mann novel of personal history, but somehow manage to play together in such a unique and personal way, that it touches your very soul. The beauty of minor chords, open tuning and the right dose of noise, laid over Rizzo voice full of desperation and anger but of stoic acceptance. Sound pompous? That’s my writing, not the music. Go order their new record! Click on the pic to see more photos of their live show.