WHAT IS THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST? Started way back in 1956 as a way to draw a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open Continue Reading
Music
Road to Eurovision 2014: Week 3 – Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy
WHAT IS THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST? Started way back in 1956 as a way to draw a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open Continue Reading
The history book on the shelf: 40 years since ABBA’s historic Eurovision win
When ABBA, Sweden’s youthful and highly unorthodox entry for 1974’s the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England, walked on stage in all their extraordinarily tight glam pop glory, it was clear that the staid world of Europe’s post World War Two musical experiment in good neighbourliness, was in for Continue Reading
Now this is music #26: Talos, Lucy Mason, Sleep Thieves, Porter Robinson, Zella Day
Ah the sweet, sweet sound of new music on my ears! While it is always good to treasure the old songs that have got us through breakups, celebrated new love or simply helped us to dance and celebrate a joyously good mood, trying on some tunes for size is Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2014: Week 2 – Denmark, Estonia, FYR Macedonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany
WHAT IS THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST? Started way back in 1956 as a way to draw a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open Continue Reading
Weekend Pop Art: Famous bands and their Lego doppelgängers
Lego are quite the flavour of the month at the moment, thanks largely to the incalculable charms of the recently released The LEGO Movie. The movie, about which barely a bad review has been penned, imagines a world where everyone and everything is made up of the wonderful Danish blocks, Continue Reading
Music review: The Take Off and Landing of Everything by Elbow
There is a world weary beauty, both musical and lyrical, to Elbow’s The Takeoff and Landing of Everything that captivates the troubled soul, and soothes the ear dulled by the cacophony of life’s trials and tribulations, from the first delicate opening notes. Never afraid to tackle the weightier issues Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2014: Week 1 – Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium
WHAT IS THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST? Started way back in 1956 as a way to draw a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open Continue Reading
Now this is music 25: Cathedrals, Glass Animals, Great Good Fine OK, Young & Sick, Fujiya & Miyagi
Ah, the thrill of the new! Not everyone craves it admittedly but for those of us who do, it is the elixir of youth, the magical ingredient that infuses the mundane, the banal and the downright ennui’d with all the fun and sparkle of the circus. Well, perhaps that Continue Reading
Music review: “Wonderland” by ceo
If there is one thing that good people of Scandinavia have mastered to an almost elemental degree, it’s the ability to mix the dark and the light, ecstasy and misery in one seamless, reality-embracing package. In the case of ceo, the moniker used by Eric Burglund, one time member Continue Reading