W♥M

Flashback: Asobi Seksu at Bowery Ballroom, New York City (16 Oct 2009)

Read More Asobi Seksu I’m sure I don’t need to remind Asobi Seksu fans that the band’s name roughly translates as “fun sex,” so I won’t, even though I did. Teeny tiny Yuki (small singer night!) is Asian (obvious) and they all call New York home. So, sexy name + Asian singer

Since most of the heavy lifting was already written about Shoegaze Asobi Seksu at the tiny 7th Street Entry a few days prior (in 2009), we decided to just publish some photos from New York’s Bowery Ballroom with this brief description: “The band was deafening. Yuki was adorable. The crowd swooned. All in all, it was a very successful night and an emotional victory for anyone below the 5’2” mark.”

Unfortunately, due to the passage of time, the original photos are no longer available online. The photo used below is taken from a public image via ZimmyD.

Openers were probably the same bands: Anna Ternheim and Loney Dear.

This is their tour schedule (at the time)

10/10/09 Bottom Lounge Chicago, IL
10/11/09 Grog Shop Cleveland, OH
10/12/09 Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, ON
10/13/09 Il Motore Montreal, QC
10/14/09 Great Scott Boston, MA
10/15/09 Maxwells Hoboken, NJ
10/16/09 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
10/17/09 Johnny Brenda’s Philadelphia, PA
10/28/09 Delirio Alternativo, Colombia
10/29/09 Teatro Julieta Lima, Peru
10/31/09 Insomnia Lima, Peru
11/18/09 Bournemouth Academy UK
11/19/09 Brixton Academy London, UK
11/20/09 Brixton Academy London, UK
11/22/09 Leeds Academy Leeds, UK
11/23/09 UEA Norwich, UK
11/24/09 Sheffield Academy UK
11/25/09 Rock City Nottingham, UK
11/27/09 Apollo Manchester, UK
11/28/09 Glasgow Academy UK
11/29/09 Newcastle Academy UK
12/01/09 Guildhall Portsmouth, UK
12/02/09 Bristol Academy Bristol, UK
12/04/09 Cardiff University Cardiff, UK
12/05/09 Birmingham Academy, UK

Asobi Seksu at Bowery Ballroom, New York (16 Oct 2009) photo by ZimmyD

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Flashback: Asobi Seksu at the 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (09 Oct 2009)

Setlist New Years Strawberries Meh No Mae Layers Me & Mary Nefi + Girly In the Sky Thursday Familiar Light Transparence Red Sea -- Encore -- Strings Read More Asobi Seksu I’m sure I don’t need to remind Asobi Seksu fans that the band’s name roughly translates as “fun sex,” so I won’t, even though I did. Teeny tiny Yuki (small singer night!) is Asian (obvious) and they all call New York home. So, sexy name + Asian singer Loney, Dear I had previously seen Loney, Dear (Yes, it’s “Loney,” not “Lonely.” Sorry, Spellcheck.) at Soundfix Lounge, a far more smaller, intimate venue. It was a lovely show, but I wondered if it would translate well into the much bigger Music Hall of Williamsburg. Anna Ternheim It's been a year since I briefly mention Anna Ternheim, but I am very excited to let you know that the Swedish singer's latest album, Leaving on a mayday will be available in the US, finally, on August 11th (I think the album is already available in her home country).

This was mostly a Swedish show, headlined by shoegaze Asobi Seksu at the tiny 7th Street Entry. I remember that I was really happy how the photos turned out for this show. Around this time, I think I was using an Olympus 4/3 camera.

>>>
Anna Ternheim was the only artist that we haven't reviewed live, so I was quite excited to see her. Although she's not that well-known in the States, she's quite famous in her home country of Sweden (having won both "Best Female Artist" and "Album of the Year" on the Swedish Grammy). So for her to tour here, at very intimate settings, is such a boon. In fact, there was a group of Swedish fans (like six of them) who visited Minneapolis just to see Anna in such a small venue.

Ternheim's "band" was basically stolen from Loney Dear (we'll get to him later). They adapted well to playing (and backup singing) her songs. My favorite from the set was, of course, "What Have I Done". This song feature this distinctive violin, which was replicated by pre-recording, so no live violas on stage.

So embarrassingly enough, I only had a brief chance to play around with the Pen camera's setting. At the show, for Anna Ternheim, I could not figure out how to change my shutter speed and ISO settings. Thanks to Erik who looked it up to tell me that the up/down/left/right d-pad doubles as a wheel! Who knew?

The only thing I savaged out of Ternheim is this video of her performing "Let It Rain", which includes the lyrics that would inspired the title of her latest album, Leaving on a mayday.

Loney Dear

The same band that played for Ternheim came back for Emil Svanängen, aka Loney Dear. Loney has been doing this musician for a while now. You can just tell, the way he handles himself on the stage and the way he manipulate his audience - yes, he made the audience do that "na-na-na-na" chorus from "The Meter Marks OK".

Compared to Ternheim's set Loney's set was much longer, or at least it felt more like a full set. To be honest, it seems that Loney could continue to play for another hour. He kept asking the soundguy (who was probably with the touring bands as it was not the typical staff guy) if they could have four more minutes to play one more song.

I read that Asobi Seksu's Yuki was small, but wow, she's really small. Sometime, I think the loud noise of guitar, bass, drums, and effects, drowns out Yuki's voice. So, combined with my already damaged hearing, I could not make out what she's singing about. Something about cats and strawberries and rain or something.

While this may be attributed to the fact that they were already late on arriving at 7th Street, due to some detours driving from Vancouver, Canada, which resulted in no soundcheck, I just think the band is normally loud when played live.

Setlist

One thing I will mention is that the band is incredibly hard to shoot, due to poor lighting, because they wanted to emphasis on their own line of blue lights and strobes effect lights and combined with Yuki's hair-in-face and/or looking away.

They started off with "New Years", a Japanese song that's been a staple of their intro song since 2006. They played "Thursday", which I know a few people liked, and for the finale, Yuki took over the drumming-action on "Red Sea". The final song was ridden with all-out strobe light city. It's very cool effects when you see them on stage, blinking in and out, but yeah, not so much for photosensitive epilepsy people.

This is one of the best bill for a band I've seen in a while, so it's definitely worth it to see them all together.

PS, Stay tuned for Kate G's update on Asobi Seksu when they arrive in New York on the 16^th of October.

Asobi Seksu at the 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (09 Oct 2009) photo by Vu

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Asobi Seksu at the 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (10/09/09)

Asobi Seksu - Thursday Asobi Seksu    Asobi Seksu ♥ 7th Street Entry,    Minneapolis (10/09/09) Tour Dates 10/10/09 Bottom Lounge Chicago, IL 10/11/09 Grog Shop Cleveland, OH 10/12/09 Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, ON 10/13/09 Il Motore Montreal, QC 10/14/09 Great Scott Boston, MA 10/15/09 Maxwells Hoboken, NJ 10/16/09 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY 10/17/09 Johnny Brenda’s Philadelphia, PA 10/28/09 Delirio Alternativo, Colombia 10/29/09 Teatro Julieta Lima, Peru 10/31/09 Insomnia Lima, Peru 11/18/09 Bournemouth Academy UK 11/19/09 Brixton Academy London, UK 11/20/09 Brixton Academy London, UK 11/22/09 Leeds Academy Leeds, UK 11/23/09 UEA Norwich, UK 11/24/09 Sheffield Academy  UK 11/25/09 Rock City Nottingham, UK 11/27/09 Apollo Manchester, UK 11/28/09 Glasgow Academy  UK 11/29/09 Newcastle Academy  UK 12/01/09 Guildhall Portsmouth, UK 12/02/09 Bristol Academy Bristol, UK 12/04/09 Cardiff University Cardiff, UK 12/05/09 Birmingham Academy, UK Read More Asobi Seksu http://weheartmus... Shoegaze is on the rise these days; from bands like The Autumns and Stella Luna sticking to the o...

This was a perfect bill for the tiny 7th Street venue in Minneapolis: Asobi Seksu, Lonely Dear, and Anna Ternheim.

Since I've been closely following each of these artists through my various album reviews and show reviews by other W♥M writers. What I expecting was "yellow fever" and "Teeny tiny Yuki" and "audience sing-along". I do suggest you check the previous reviews, since I probably won't add much to it. All are true, with the exception of Asians in the audience (there were a few, but not like overwhelming "itwasallyellow" moment).

Anna Ternheim - What Have I Done

Anna Ternheim (annaternheim.com / myspace.com/annaternheim) was the only artist that we haven't reviewed live, so I was quite excited to see her. Although she's not that well-known in the States, she's quite famous in her home country of Sweden (having won both "Best Female Artist" and "Album of the Year" on the Swedish Grammy). So for her to tour here, at very intimate settings, is such a boon. In fact, there was a group of Swedish fans (like six of them) who visited Minneapolis just to see Anna in such a small venue.

Ternheim's "band" was basically stolen from Loney Dear (we'll get to him later). They adapted well to playing (and backup singing) her songs. My favorite from the set was, of course, "What Have I Done". This song feature this distinctive violin, which was replicated by pre-recording, so no live violas on stage.

So embarrassingly enough, I only had a brief chance to play around with the Pen camera's setting. At the show, for Anna Ternheim, I could not figure out how to change my shutter speed and ISO settings. Thanks to Erik who looked it up to tell me that the up/down/left/right d-pad doubles as a wheel! Who knew?

The only thing I savaged out of Ternheim is this video of her performing "Let It Rain" (see video), which includes the lyrics that would inspired the title of her latest album, Leaving on a mayday.

Lonely Dear ♥ 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (10/09/09)

The same band that played for Ternheim came back for Emil Svanängen, aka Loney Dear (loneydear.com / myspace.com/loneydear). Loney has been doing this musician for a while now. You can just tell, the way he handles himself on the stage and the way he manipulate his audience - yes, he made the audience do that "na-na-na-na" chorus from "The Meter Marks OK".

Compared to Ternheim's set Loney's set was much longer, or at least it felt more like a full set. To be honest, it seems that Loney could continue to play for another hour. He kept asking the soundguy (who was probably with the touring bands as it was not the typical staff guy) if they could have four more minutes to play one more song.

Asobi Seksu Setlist ♥ 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (10/09/09)

I read that Asobi Seksu's Yuki was small, but wow, she's really small. Sometime, I think the loud noise of guitar, bass, drums, and effects, drowns out Yuki's voice. So, combined with my already damaged hearing, I could not make out what she's singing about. Something about cats and strawberries and rain or something.

While this may be attributed to the fact that they were already late on arriving at 7th Street, due to some detours driving from Vancouver, Canada, which resulted in no soundcheck, I just think the band is normally loud when played live.

One thing I will mention is that the band is incredibly hard to shoot, due to poor lighting, because they wanted to emphasis on their own line of blue lights and strobes effect lights and combined with Yuki's hair-in-face and/or looking away.

They started off with "New Years", a Japanese song that's been a staple of their intro song since 2006. They played "Thursday", which I know a few people liked, and for the finale, Yuki took over the drumming-action on "Red Sea". The final song was ridden with all-out strobe light city. It's very cool effects when you see them on stage, blinking in and out, but yeah, not so much for photosensitive epilepsy people.

This is one of the best bill for a band I've seen in a while, so it's definitely worth it to see them all together.

PS, Stay tuned for Kate G's update on Asobi Seksu when they arrive in New York on the 16^th of October.

 10/10/2009 21:18:44 ♥ vu () ♥ asobiseksu.com ♥ myspace.com/asobiseksu

Anna Ternheim - Leaving on a mayday

Anna Ternheim - What Have I Done Anna Ternheim Tour Dates 09/30/09 Casbah, San Diego, CA 10/01/09 Troubador, Los Angeles, CA 10/02/09 Slims, San Francisco, CA 10/03/09 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR 10/04/09 Chop Suey, Seattle, WA 10/06/09 Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC 10/09/09 7th St, Minneapolis, MN 10/10/09 Bottom Lounge, Chicago, IL 10/11/09 Grog Shop, Cleveland, OH 10/12/09 Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON 10/13/09 Il Motore, Montreal, Quebec 10/14/09 Great Scott, Boston, MA 10/15/09 Maxwells, Hoboken, NJ 10/16/09 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY 10/17/09 Johnny Brendas, Phila, PA 11/04/09 Linköping, Sagateatern 11/05/09 Norrköping, Skandiateatern 11/06/09 Skara, Katedralsskolans aula 11/07/09 Arvika, Ritz 11/08/09 Göteborg, Pusterviksteatern 11/10/09 Göteborg, Pusterviksteatern 11/13/09 Alingsås, Palladium 11/14/09 Växjö, Växjö Teater 11/16/09 Uppsala, Reginateatern 11/17/09 Uppsala, Reginateatern 11/19/09 Gävle, Spegeln 11/24/09 Nyköping, Nyköpingsteater 11/25/09 Stockholm, Södra Teatern 11/26/09 Stockholm, Södra Teatern 12/02/09 Malmö, Victoriateatern 12/03/09 Malmö, Victoriateatern Discography [2004] Somebody Outside [2006] Somebody Outside (Japan) [2006] Separation Road [2008] Halfway to Fivepoints (US) [2009] Leaving on a mayday Read More Anna Ternheim http://weheartmus... As it, I came across Sweden's Anna Ternheim in association with El Perro Del Mar, who apparently ...

I've previously mentioned that I came across Anna Ternheim mostly because of my obsession with Swedish pop music. Ternheim's name was attached to another Swedish musician, El Perro Del Mar, who did a brief tour throughout the US a few years ago.

To catch everyone up on this singer/songwriter, she quietly debut her album Somebody Outside in 2004 and was recognized as "Best Newcomer" on the Swedish Grammy and P3 Guld award. For Separation Road won "Best Female Artist" and "Best Lyricist" after two other nominations for the Grammy. So clearly, she was well-established in her hometown.

Unfortunately, repackaging her US album Halfway to Fivepoints with the best bits from her two albums, released last year was a good introduction - but it didn't exactly set the US on fire.

I hope all that will change with producer Bjorn Yttling (of PB&J) on her side for Leaving on a mayday (US release August 11^th on Verve Forecast), will change all that. In fact, it already won Best Female Artist" and "Album of the Year" in her home town.

I felt, based on the two US albums is that Yttling understand that Ternheim has a beautiful voice. No vocal trickery (goodbye, autotune) her voice comes through piercingly clear. Any effort to bring in orchestral seems to be met with it being only used in background arrangements. Check out her single, "What Have I Done", which was recently remixed by El Perro Del Mar, it shows off both Yttling's organization around Ternheim's angelic vocals.

Lyrically, I feel that Ternheim seems to write a lot about running away, unfamiliar locations, being hurt or "damaged", to yearning for unobtainable desires. Very personal lyrics, and I'm curious to see how that is interpreted when she plays some these songs live, particularly on my favorite track, "Black Sunday Afternoon". Hopefully, I'll get a chance to see that when she comes here in Minneapolis on October 9^th with Loney Dear* and Asobi Seksu).

Leaving on a mayday is out now, you can find it at the usual places, amazon or itunes.

* PS, I have for ages thought that name was "Lonely Dear", until I was schooled a few months ago.

 09/18/2009 11:22:40 ♥ vu () ♥ annaternheim.com ♥ myspace.com/annaternheim 

News: Anna Ternheim - What Have I Done (Video)

It's been a year since I briefly mention Anna Ternheim, but I am very excited to let you know that the Swedish singer's latest album, Leaving on a mayday will be available in the US, finally, on August 11th (I think the album is already available in her home country). In the meantime, there is an exclusive bundle of "What Have I Done", the music video for "What Have I Done", and "What Have I Done" (El Perro Del Mar remix) available last Tuesday via iTunes.

Anna Ternheim-Girl Laying Down Anna Ternheim Tour Dates   06/18/09 Bell House Brooklyn, NY 06/22/09 Joe’s Pub New York City 06/27/09 Peace & Love Fest Borlänge 07/02/09 Trädgårdsföreningen Göteborg 07/03/09 Långholmsparken Stockholm 07/04/09 Arvika Festival Arvika 07/05/09 Freluga Trädgårdsscen Freluga 07/08/09 Sofiero Slott Helsingborg 07/10/09 Hultsfreds Festival Hultsfred 07/14/09 Slussens Pensionat Orust 07/15/09 Slussens Pensionat Orust 07/18/09 Melt Festival 07/25/09 Varberg Fästning Varberg 07/29/09 Olafs Fest @ Blaest Trondheim 07/30/09 Storsjöyran Östersund 07/31/09 Putte i Parken Karlskoga 08/01/09 Luleåkalaset Luleå

Expect to be hearing a lot about the new album, Leaving on a mayday, as this album won the 2009 Swedish Grammy for Best Female Artist and Album of the Year. The album was produced by Bjorn Yttling of PB&J and will be available via Universal Music in August.

See Anna & Bjorn performing "What Have I Done":

06/11/2009 10:57:44♥ vu () ♥ annaternheim.com ♥ myspace.com/annaternheim

Reviews: Girls, Girls, Girls!!!

I'm going to use a five stars, or rather hearts, rating. I've created 10 images in my Rating Folder, if anyone else wants to use it for review. Since images tend to align itself defaults to "center", you can actually set the image to align to the bottom. Here's how, example:

<img src="http://a6.vox.com/6a00f48cdd2598000200f48cf11d4e0002-500pi" style="vertical-align: bottom;">

The code above will generate a 2.5 rating:

Okay! So this week's review theme is Girls! Girls! Girls! Here we go:

The Last Town Chorus - Loud and Clear Rating: The Last Town Chorus - Loud and Clear Apr 22, 2008 at 10:15 PM I am kind of excited to see that Megan Hickey, aka The Last Town Chorus, has a new single out called Loud and Clear (released last February). I believe it's just a one-track single that you can download on iTunes for 99 cents. The Last Town Chorus, since the last time I reviewed her Wire Waltz on W♥M, I noted that all her songs are kind of mini-biography, or at it least seems so. This song is a dialogue between listener and song, with her obvious trademark lap steel guitar sliding in and out. [ read more ]	Madita - Better Brother Rating: Madita - Too Apr 22, 2008 at 11:31 PM Edita Malovcic, aka Madita, is an Austrian singer and actress. To be honest, I haven't seen any of her films, they're mostly European features, but they do look interesting. And who knew that she would also have a great voice to go on her second album. I'll have to also admit that the first time I saw her album artwork, I thought of that M.I.A. woman, but although the DIY/weird mix of sounds is more to do with improv jazz as heard on "Fragile", I think in some ways, Madita is more classic and traditional. [ read more ]
Anna Ternheim-Girl Laying Down Rating: Anna Ternheim - Halfway To Fivepoints Apr 23, 2008 at 12:28 AM As it, I came across Sweden's Anna Ternheim in association with El Perro Del Mar[W♥M], who apparently they are going on tour together in May (with Lykke Li). And just in time, for America to catch up on Ternheim, Universal Music released a self-titled EP and Halfway To Fivepoints , which collects some of Ternheim's best known songs together. I wish they'd use a different cover artwork for Halfway To Fivepoints as it is exactly the same as her second album, Separation Road. [ read more ]	Sarah Vonderhaar - Over You Rating: Sarah Vonderhaar Apr 26, 2008 at 9:39 AM Sarah Vonderhaar just released Are You Listening Now on April 22nd. According to her notes printed on the CD, she lived with her manager, Bill Covert, for six weeks to record of this debut album. The result? An impressive debut pop record. She first found fame through CW's America's Top Model (Cycle 8), which translate to her massive fan base of mostly young women. As I previously mentioned this being a pop record, most of these songs are radio friendly (which means they are 3-minute songs)... [ read more ]
Nicole Atkins - Maybe Tonight Rating: Nicole Atkins - Maybe Tonight Apr 26, 2008 at 3:31 PM I've seen Nicole Atkins in concert before, so I'm glad to see that she's doing some promotional dates in the UK, just in time for her album Neptune City to be released in the UK on June 2nd, 2008. Since I already have the album, being in the US, I can tell you that it'll do well in the UK charts. Prior to the album, her UK single will be Maybe Tonight to be released on May 26th. The one-track promo I receive doesn't have any album artwork, so I'm putting one of favorite photo of the 'magical' Atkins. It's one of those songs that would play very well on the radio and you'll find yourself humming and singing to the catchy chorus of "I know we'll never meet again/Maybe tonight/Just tell me where and when", but failing to know any of the other lyrics. [ read more ]	Lara Ewen - Untethered Rating: Lara Ewen and the Unstrung Orchestra Apr 26, 2008 at 4:21 PM I'll have to admit, I think Lara Ewen is very good looking, based on her photographs on her debut album, Ghosts and Gasoline (2007). I even love her mysterious angel wings on her left arm, which she wears proudly like a badge of honor. By the way, the band's name is actually Lara Ewen and the Unstrung Orchestra. The orchestra part is kind of amusing because I don't really recall any traditional orchestra part at all (although it would be interesting to hear her music set to wind instruments...) Most of the songs are kind of folky and country, centered around Ewen's gorgeous full vocals. Such as the bluesy "Clear", probably taken from her debut EP. Her vocals suggest a sassy young woman in New York City, full of an American dream. [ read more ]

 04/26/2008 18:24:10  vu my♥posts weheartmusic.com