I’ve made two new playlists on YouTube, with the videos from the Motown concert and the last original tunes concert I played at NISS. And here’s the video recording of The Day and the Night. Sounds better with video, doesn’t it?
Also, if you’d care to take a look, an old childhood friend of mine is studying animation and has a YouTube channel where she posts some of her work. Please check out YamiNoRisu’s YouTube Channel!
This is a song I started writing last night, inspired by the way the rain shone in the light of the streetlamps outside. It soon became rather clear, however, that the real theme of this song is my fear of being separated from my boyfriend when I go off to England in a couple of weeks.
Filmed with Photobooth, which is why the piano looks “wrong”; it’s mirrored. Also, just want to mention that up close with an extreme wide-angle webcam, from that angle, even Kate Moss would look fat.
And yeah, I fucked up at the end there; I’m no pianist, deal with it. 
Any opinions are perfectly welcome, of course. That’s why I’m sharing an unfinished work like this. I’m going to write at least another verse and chorus, maybe some new melodic variation later on, but I’m not sure it needs it… what do you think?
I wanted to wait to upload these songs until I got the final mixes for them. Unfortunately, they are still not complete, and it’s been a long time since I’ve made a music post, so I thought I’d share with you the unfinished ones. The first is ridiculously drum heavy, while the second has too little drums and one guitar that’s hardly audible. Still, you can hear the songs themselves; I’m sure even these mixes are better than some MySpace demos.
Vocals: M. Haraldsen
Keys: M. Dahlsrud
Guitars: A. Lysenstøen, K. Kværner
Bass: M. Johannessen
Drums: A. Skaala
Alive:
Lyrics: Haraldsen
Music: Haraldsen/Skaala/Johannessen/Lysenstøen
Child of the Light:
Lyrics: Haraldsen
Music: Kværner/Lysenstøen
Sgrow played a wonderful, if short, concert at Oslo Jazz Festival on the Statkraft stage.
Beautiful, sunny day, but unfortunately both I and the camera got the sun in our eyes… (more…)
This is a work in progress I wrote down yesterday. It does have a melody, so I’m gonna try recording it soon.
Please take off the mask
And show me that he’s real
The one who knows me to my last
The one who knows where I begin (more…)
Band: You Wish
Venue: Skuret Kulturpub, Oslo
Date: 10th of August, 2010
There is always a slight problem with reviewing bands you know personally, in that it’s not always so easy to be entirely objective. In addition to not really wanting to say anything bad about ones friends, ever, there’s also the chance that they might actually read this at some point, and what if they don’t like what they read?
All the same, I will try my damndest to be as objective as I can.
I have already raved about this band here. You Wish play music of a genre of their own creation, called Ghost Pop. It’s not really easy to describe, but the words “haunting” and “dance music” certainly fit in the mix. It’s a five-piece band, with guitar, drums, bass, keytar and vocals, and the music itself is based on hauntingly beautiful chords and somewhat unusual rhythmic patterns, though it is, perhaps, the vocals that most immediately sets it apart.
You Wish started their concert in a way that would have been extremely effective and awesome, had they been playing at a real concert venue rather than a pub, because between all the people talking, laughing and ordering beer it was a bit hard to tell whether they’d actually started playing yet or not. However, once they picked up the pace they seemed to get everyone’s attention. I was in the front, but looking behind me I don’t think I could see a single face that wasn’t turned towards the stage.
This was my first time seeing them play a full concert, so I was unfamiliar with most of the songs. I found most of them to be absolutely fantastic, and the ones I did know I sang along with as well as I could. If you’re anything like me, you can’t stand still to this kind of music. This was more true for some than others, and there was especially one couple dancing so violently they almost knocked me over twice.
There was an unfortunate mishap with the vocalist’s microphone in the middle of the concert, whereupon she was forced to switch microphones with the bassist (who is also backing singer), but after this, the concert went relatively smoothly. Pub sound is never as good as you’d want it to be, and the sound tech was less than attentive to the band’s gesticulations regarding monitoring, etc.
For such a tiny stage in such a dingy pub, the stage show was amazing. They were all wearing make-up and masks, feathers and glitter, and little butterflies pinned to their clothes. They were all rocking out and communicated with the audience pretty well.
The vocal harmonies were gorgeous and, given the monitoring in that place sucks on the best of days, very clean indeed. The main vocalist and the keytarist, who sometimes shares the main vocals, sing very well together, and communicate well.
I very much enjoyed the concert, and would like to recommend seeing this band to anyone who has the opportunity. So far that probably just means Norwegians, but keep your eyes peeled; you never know when these guys are gonna break through internationally. They’re certainly not far off from making it big here – I’m absolutely sure of it!
Photos were taken by me with my mobile phone. Sorry about the quality, or lack thereof.