Category : Blog Posts

ToTarTu is going to Berlin in August to soak up the creative music culture of this hip, cool city.

I know this much about the city as I was in Berlin in November, 2010 and had my own personal experience there.  That said, I am going back to live there for a while.

Some standouts for me were the people. Whether I was just lucky I’m not sure, but I met some really down to earth cool people.  Berliners, for me, are uber friendly.

The trains I found were nostalgic holding a charm that always made me think of what it would have been like the decade after post WWII.  No idea whether these trains were the same but my mind would drift down to the east and west Berlin days.  Really thought provoking.

Plus the trains made my friend from Sweden, Elizabeth, and I, famous for Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame as we managed to feature in the Berliner Morgenpost when they ran an article about the train system actually not working for a few hours due to some fault.  We were interviewed and my response to what we thought about the trains being down was “we love Berlin anway”.

I was leaving Berlin the morning after this interview and as I was boarding my plane I grabbed every newspaper available as I was not sure which paper was running the story.

Half way through my flight to Charles De Gaulle airport I found my name and the article!  Made my trip!  The article was framed when I returned to Melbourne and hung proudly on my wall!!

Happy days 🙂

Today I went back in time and listened to an old favourite music group – Massive Attack. One of my long term besties is the CD, Protection – The Remixes, released in 1994.

What would ToTarTu rate this release? 5 Star thank you very much ☺

Massive Attack worked with Hooper and Trick, and brought vocalist Nicolette, as well as Everything but the Girl’s Tracey Thorn, into the fold. Three singles — “Karmacoma,” “Sly,” and the title track — were released from the LP, which was also remixed in its entirety by Mad Professor and issued as No Protection. A lengthy tour followed, and over the next several years, Massive Attack’s solo work was primarily confined to remixes for artists including Garbage; they also worked with Madonna on a track for a Marvin Gaye tribute album.

Bit of background on Massive Attack though (thank you Wikapedia) –
Massive Attack is an English musical group from Bristol consisting of Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be progenitors of the trip hop genre. Their début album Blue Lines was released in 1991, with the single “Unfinished Sympathy” reaching the charts and later being voted the 10th greatest song of all time in a poll by The Guardian. 1998’s Mezzanine, containing “Teardrop”, and 2003’s 100th Window charted in the UK at number 1. Both Blue Lines and Mezzanine feature in Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The group has won numerous music awards throughout their career, including a Brit Award—winning Best British Dance Act, two MTV Europe Music Awards, and two Q Awards. They have released 5 studio albums that have sold over 11 million copies worldwide.

Thank you Massive Attack!!

Go Eurovision! According to media reports Eurovision Song Contest 2013 had an international audience of 120 million people. Wow!

This year Malmö, Sweden hosted the event (and I must say done extremely well – good job guys!!). ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus have composed We Write The Story, which has been adapted by Avicii, for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. The anthem is the main theme of the Swedish hosting as well as the music for the Grand opening act of the Final.
Apparently it was a big challenge for one of the most successful Swedish producers of electronic music; Avicii. More so on a collaborative point of view bringing two of Sweden’s biggest musical exports together.

If you haven’t heard of Avicii then please check them out www.avicii.com

It’s been almost 40 years since Swedish pop music begun its success worldwide, with ABBA’s victory in the Eurovision Song Contest. Today, Avicii conquers the charts all over the world and this anthem is a way of putting together the international success story of Swedish music.

ToTarTu had a soft spot for Estonia’s entry and wishes Birgit all the best with her pregnancy and baby – Birgit represented Estonia with the song “Et uus saaks alguse“, which qualified from the first semi-final and went on to place 20th in the final, scoring 19 points.

Congratulations to Denmark! Denmark will be hosting Eurovision 2014 after Emmelie de Forrest won the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo last night.

See where your favourite finished:
1. Denmark: Emmelie de Forest, Only Teardrops – 281 points
2. Azerbaijan: Farid Mammadov, Hold Me – 234 points
3. Ukraine: Zlata Ognevich, Gravity – 214 points
4. Norway: Margaret Berger, I Feed You My Love – 191 points
5. Russia: Dina Garipova, What If – 174 points
6. Greece: Koza Mostra feat. Agathon Iakovidis, Alcohol Is Free – 152 points
7. Italy: Marco Mengoni, L’Essenziale – 126 points
8. Malta: Gianluca, Tomorrow – 120 points
9. Netherlands: Anouk, Birds – 114 points
10. Hungary: ByeAlex, Kedvesem – 84 points
11. Moldova: Aliona Moon, O mie – 71 points
12. Belgium: Roberto Bellarosa, Love Kills – 71 points
13. Romania: Cezar, It’s My Life – 65 points
14. Sweden: Robin Stjernberg, You – 62 points
15. Georgia: Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani, Waterfall – 50 points
16. Belarus: Alyona Lanskaya, Solayoh – 48 points
17. Iceland: Eythor Ingi, Eg a lif – 47 points
18. Armenia: Dorians, Lonely Planet – 41 points
19. UK: Bonnie Tyler, Believe In Me – 23 points
20. Estonia: Birgit, Et uus saaks alguse – 19 points
21. Germany: Cascada, Glorious – 18 points
22. Lithuania: Andrius Pojavis, Something – 17 points
23. France: Amandine Bourgeois, L’enfer et moi – 14 points
24. Finland: Krista Siegfrids, Marry Me – 13 points
25. Spain: ESDM, Contigo hasta el final – 8 points
26. Ireland: Ryan Dolan, Only Love Survives – 5 points

After recently having the time to review some music websites and then wanting to play certain tracks via Spotify, I have become aware of the need to comment on what the hell is happening with the ability to find your favourite tracks on websites?

I don’t mean looking up a known artist like Moby or something and then playing his tracks, but more when you’re looking for music you know and cannot remember the names of. The worldwide web is generally harsh in this regard.

Which leads me to – can Spotify ever replace YouTube?

This was backed up Saturday night after finishing work on my latest track, where I wanted to go back to my roots and listen to some old retro pieces by the likes of Little Heroes (One Perfect Day), Split Enz (I Hope I Never), to mention a couple… and had YouTube never existed, I would never have been able to listen to them because I had to use about five different searches to finally find them!!

Had it not been for glorious YouTube I would have had no chance finding these gems using Spotify.