Soluna Samay - by: Justine Hoegh

Shooting star Soluna Samay, who recently won the Danish ticket for the Eurovision 2012 in Azerbaijan, is not at all new to the stage.

Not only has she been performing, touring, and playing music with her dad, Gerd G. Kettel (Gee Gee Kettel) since childhood, she has already published an EP – ‘I wish I was a Seagull‘ – in 2006, and her first album – ‘Sing out loud‘ – in 2011. And to those of you who like her Eurovision bid ‘Should’ve known better‘… You have heard nothing yet!!!

Personally I’ve had a weak spot for American songwriter Sheryl Crow since I saw/heard her in ‘All I wanna do‘, playing her Ocean Turquoise Fender Stratocaster.

Listening to ‘Sing out loud‘ I get a similar feeling of comfort, ease and swinging excellence as I did listening to the early Crow-albums. I’ll get back to that later.

I see two reasons for this, as it is:

1) Samay really has immense potential and knows what she’s doing.
2) Samay is surrounded by some of the very best musicians in Denmark.

Taking a dive into to ‘Sing out loud‘ a few names jump from the sleeve. First of all producer Michael Friis is regarded as one of the most important bass capacities in Denmark. He plays another key part as Samay’s personal bass teacher, and his vast knowledge and understanding from more than 40 years among the very best musicians in Denmark, have surely rubbed off on Soluna Samay – a lot.

The album was recorded at the Baltic Records studios on the island of Bornholm. The label is owned by Jesper Mejlvang, who has throttled down a long career with an extensive list of music celebs (most famous; Robert Palmer) to focus on producing and refining young talents. Mejlvang, like Friis, plays on the album.

Other Danish top names playing on the album are: Jakob Andersen (percussion), Ole Kibsgaard (guitars), Lars Juul (drums), Troels Skovgaard (guitars) and Maria Sita (backing vocals).

And finally daddy, Gee Gee Kettel’s harmonica suddenly pops up on the track ‘Pipe Dream‘.

And now back to the Sheryl Crow sound. This is the only weakness this album has (if it can even be considered a weakness to sound like Crow). Several tracks bear resemblances to the famous Missourian to an extent that it might confuse the listener. It is shame, because the album is so all-over well made and played. After listening to all 14 tracks, however, my recommendation stands abundantly clear:

Go buy this album! – (Buy it @ SolunaSamay.com)

I really like all tracks on ‘Sing Out Loud‘. But where this young star shines the brightest is in the beautiful ‘Like A Rose‘, and the very, very intense ‘Winter Song‘ where Mejlvang’s piano and Friis’ awesome fretless bass support Samay’s fragile words excellently. My all-over favorite piece, however, is ‘Number 24‘. Its smooth reggae-beat reminds me of the Caribbean and makes me long for another visit there.

Tracklist is as follows:
1. Two Seconds Ago
2. Insanity
3. My Own Medicine
4. Everything You Do
5. Pipe Dream
6. World in Colors
7. Mama
8. Like a Rose
9. Sing Out Loud
10. Number 24
11. Do You Understand Me Now
12. All This Time
13. Winter Song
14. See You in June

Thanks for reading this far “south”. Now, tell me this girl hasn’t got star potential

Soluna Samay – ‘Everything you do’.

But earlier this summer the band announced that something was on the way. The single ‘Grateful‘ boded well for a return to scenes and on December 5, 2011 the EP ‘Part Of The Way‘ was released.

The single ‘Grateful’ and four brand new songs feature on the publication, and they bring back memories of the trio I heard in a small café (PC’s) in Herning almost 20 years ago.

Although Søren Lund, Hans Henrik Præstbro and Palle Hjorth appear on the EP, NLP is back to the three-man line-up; Michael and Carsten Kolster and Bo Feierskov – the essence of what it was all about from the beginning.

‘Part Of The Way’ really is how the band sounds – The sound of Nice Little Penguins.

And as the title of the EP suggests this is only ‘Part Of The Way’ towards the new album.

Five songs made it onto the EP and they are all very, very different from each other.

‘Grateful‘ has an unmistaken resemblance to the 1994 smash hit ‘Flying’. But as the song progresses into bridge and chorus you are no longer in doubt. This is a completely new song and a potential new crowd-pleaser at the 2012-festivals, no doubt.

‘Sleepy Sunday‘ is the strongest of the new songs, in my opinion. A true NLP-song with all the large major 7 (or 9) chords and beautiful Beatles-like backing vocals that the three do so well. ‘Sleepy Sunday’ is good enough to sell the entire next album.

‘Bless This Land‘ is a peculiar little piece that requires the listener to sit down, shut up and listen a few times. With a soft Tom Petty touch, guitarist Michael Kolster leads us through something as rare as a political statement. It suits the band very well indeed and is done balanced and without being completely subversive as in the 60′s and 70′s.

‘I Am Cupid‘ – Roy Orbison didn’t live in vain. I really had a hard time figuring out what this song is about – but about love itself. The personification of ‘love’ or Cupid wrapped around a very well played song. All I can say at this time is that I’m dead sure a hidden tape with some VERY entertaining recordings of this song is hidden somewhere in Bo Feierskov’s attic.

‘Crazy Love‘ – here’s another really typical NLP-song. No redundant fills. With a slightly more Beatles-touch it might as well be a song from the second or third album. And in some way this wraps up this EP nicely.

All in all – This is EP is not complete. It is… Part of the way. And it doesn’t have to be more at this time. Overall I really like the direction it sets out. It’s going to be very interesting to see and hear the full album due in the beginning of 2012. Are we to bet, I’ll put my money on ‘Very, Very Good’.

Just to set expectations where they belong

Latebar’s recommendation —> Buy the EP:
@ Amazon
@ reStorm
@ iTunes

More about Nice Little Penguins:
- Nice Little Penguins (official website)
- Nice Little Penguins on Facebook
- Nice Little Penguins on MySpace
- Nice Little Penguins on Wikipedia (DK)
- Nice Little Penguins on Wikipedia (EN)

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Nik Kershaw - No Frills

As the title “No Frills” state, this album is nothing but Nik. 15 songs with guitar and vocal only…Well, except the Boss RC20XL loop station of course *hehe*.

This is Nik Kershaw! – Nothing more… and dare I say nothing less.

Let me just say it out loud – This album is a pop masterpiece!

A mix of both new and old tunes flow through the album like they were contemporaries (25 years between new and old). But with this album it really becomes obvious, that the 80′s teen idol is perhaps one of the best pop songwriters of our time – and better now than he ever was.

Kershaw’s newer albums “15 minutes“, “To Be Frank” and “You’ve Got to Laugh” are clearly more thought through productions with the man himself in complete charge. Songs like ‘Wounded’ and ‘Billy’ in the new acoustic versions sounds alot like their original studio album versions… But with no frills, of course.

Where “No Frills” becomes really, really interesting is the re-recordings of the evergreen classics: ‘The Riddle’, ‘Wouldn’t it be good’, ‘Don Quixote’, ‘Dancing Girls’ and ‘I won’t let the sun go down’. To me these have never sounded better. Especially ‘Dancing Girls’ has been tweaked quite a bit making the story within stand out much more. Marvellous!

I still recall an evening with Nik early 2009 at the Danish club ‘Fermaten‘ (Herning City), where it struck me midway through the concert just how skilled this guy is. I’m sure many guitarists can play what Kershaw does. But to be able to compose and even re-compose old and established evergreens…

And then of course – no real compilation of Nik Kershaw titles without something new for the fans

Buy the album and find out for yourself. I recommend you go directly to Nik’s official website and buy “No Frills” right away. You’ll thank me later!

Meanwhile I will leave you with ‘Don Quixote‘ where both Nik, his guitar and the Boss loop station is in action. And then hope Shorthouse Records will allow us this copyright exception.

More about Nik:
- Nik Kershaw (Official Website)
- Follow Nik on Twitter
- Wikipedia

The band is so brand new it doesn’t even have a wikipedia entry yet – but I can throw you this bone I found in an interview in the Burnley Express from June this year.

Musical influences include as diverse a crowd as Metallica, Duran Duran (who were recently bumped to second place on my “laminated list” to make room for new #1 crush: Alan Rickman), The Cure, Queen and Guns’N'Roses.

I won’t write much now – mostly because I haven’t been able to find a whole lot more than the above. Hopefully that’ll change soon.

You can listen to the appetizers from their upcoming studio album on their website and on their MySpace profile. Or just click “Play” below!

Enjoy the summer – and don’t forget to bring music.

UPDATE: ‘You Make Me So Electric‘ is now available on iTunes

As a way to comfort more than 100,000 disappointed fans and concert guests around Europe, the band announced Saturday on Twitter that their May 12th performance on Italian radio RDS was released as a free download on DuranDuran.com.

Tracks published:
- All You Need Is Now
- Blame It On The Machines
- Notorious
- Safe
- Save A Prayer
- Ordinary World
- Girl Panic
- View To A Kill
- Careless Memories

This is indeed a good “present”. Especially for the fans who – like us here at Latebar – worried a bit after hearing the initial live performances of the new album songs. To cut to the chase – We REALLY look forward to the AYNIN-tour now more than ever. Especially ‘Girl Panic!‘ works extremely well live, and played as tightly and snappy as on RDS, this will no doubt be four minutes of wild dancing and screaming for the dedicated fans. Here at Latebar we also found that the sligtly sharper edge of guitar and keys on ‘Blame The Machines‘ improves the already intense dance beat tremendously.

So… Simon Le Bon – get well soon. There’s an all night party all over Europe waiting for you!

So be it!

I do respect the many musicians participating in the Eurovision. But I’m puzzled they never dare to break the conventions of the dinosaur-broadcast. Why can’t a song be more than 3 minutes long? I mean most good tunes are. That almost rules out any Jazz, Blues or Classical artist and thereby some inspiration to develop the genre.

Take a look at the winner. A very handsome duo consisting of Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal outruled everybody with their swedish written and produced song ‘Running Scared’ – a song that might as well have been performed by Take That. Beautiful as it most definitely is it completely lack the ability to surprise or put new standards to the business of pop. It’s sad – because it is otherwise a good pop-tune no question.

Azerbaijan, Eldar & Nigar – ‘Running Scared’.

But they were not the only neat but uninventive bit. We already addressed the Danish contribution this year in an earlier post. Poland presented Magdalena Tul with a song called ‘Jestem‘ – a song that immediately makes you think of Britney Spears‘ ‘Womanizer‘.

Romania presented Europe to the band Hotel FM and a song called ‘Change‘. And eventhough it’s very likable, it sounds alot like something I’ve heard before.

Sweet Stella Mwangi of Norway probably seduced half of Europe with the unusually delightful afro-inspired ‘Haba, Haba‘. Only a shame half of Europe loves football and remembers Shakira‘s World Cup song ‘Waka, Waka‘.

Hungary introduced the powerful voice of Kati Wolf to the european viewers. Her song ‘What about my dreams‘ probably still make the backstage crews dance in the hallways in Düsseldorf. I on the other hand went through my collection of Cher-songs to hear more like it.

I could pick out several more examples, but to give a few examples of the opposite take a look at Loucas Yiorkas and Stereo Mike‘s ‘Watch my Dance‘. The greek delegation dared to experiment and challenge conventions. I would have given Greece my 12 points – just for the sake of trying to mix rap with greek folklore pop. It might not be the best of songs. But they dared! Well done boys, well done indeed!

Also I think France and Amaury Vassili deserves a big hand. With a opera-like voice seldom heard by anyone in the crowd, the song ‘Sognu‘ managed to challange the conventional boring sound of Eurovision’s usual pop-robot. Thumbs up to France who sadly ended in 15th place.

But apart from that… I’m sorry, I was bored stiff!

Photo: Charles Michael Photography. Source: melissapolinar.com

We realized something awful today: Latebar is fiercely dominated by male artists and bands! Wonderful boys, obviously, and we love them all equally! But we need more girls to visit the bar, so on that note, I would like to introduce you to Melissa Polinar.

We came across her video “Sing to me” on YouTube, (long story, can’t be bothered accounting for the details), and immediately fell in love.

All the videos on her YouTube channel have served as our feel-good soundtrack to a grey Danish Sunday, all morning and way into the afternoon, and they have assisted the cappucinos and candles in keeping us warm.

She masters a mix of her own original songs and covers of various artists with an equally unpolished and honest nerve. I love the videos of her alone with her guitar, and I especially love this duet with her cousin, Jesse Barrera:

It has been difficult to find anything written about this Ft. Worth, TX girl in any European media, but here are a few facts we found in our preliminary googling efforts:

• According to her official website, she has released a few singles and two EPs, “Sound Vault Sessions“, and “As of now” – all available on iTunes, Amazon and bigcartel.
• She manages her own bookings but currently has no shows or events on her calendar (whywhywhy??? And is she planning a European tour?).
• She contributed to the 2010 version of “We are the World 25 for Haiti (YouTube edition)“.
• According to an interview on Key of Grey, she has had classical training on the violin but no vocal, guitar or piano training – she is self taught in those departments.

We’ll try to dig up more gems for you. For now, we hope this makes your Sunday sunny, no matter how grey it may be where you are.

The Danish entry to the Eurovision 2011 song contest was found Saturday. A somewhat unknown famous band ‘A friend in London‘ went with the title and will now represent Denmark in Düsseldorf, Germany, on the 10th-14th of May.

The song ‘A New Tomorrow‘ is obviously a winner and has great appeal to a broader audience. The band who has already made a name for itself in Canada, however, face charges of plagiarism.

Danish daily Jyllands-Posten Sunday brings quotes from voters, saying the chorus sounds like Andreas Johnson’s (known from the everlasting ‘Glorious‘ – the best 007-theme that never was) Eurovision song of 2006 ‘Sing for me‘. Others say Future Trance United should claim ownership as the verse from their ‘Face 2 Face‘ resembles that of the Danish winner song.

On YouTube the debate is on too. Here a user claims ‘A new tomorrow‘ sounds a bit too much like My Chemical Romance‘s ‘Black Parade‘.

Listen in and tell me what you think

Personally… I think A Friend in London made another friend at Latebar.org.

The former member of Thin Lizzy and Skid Row leaves behind a great vacuum to thousands of dedicated fans and guitar lovers along with a smashing career that provided the world with numerous outstanding tunes and performances.

Belfast Telegraph: “Rock legend Gary Moore found dead”
Irish Times: “Former Thin Lizzy guitarist Moore dies”
BBC: “Rock guitarist Gary Moore dies”
SkyNews: “Thin Lizzy Guitarist Gary Moore Dies”

Personally I have no further words to add. So we’ll let Gary take it the last leg. Thanks Bob!