cafebabel.com

Concert review: south London band The xx continue European tour

('theroxbox',) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -0000

They count Courtney Love as a fan, they're one of the groundbreaking new acts of 2009 and among the most innovative bands of the late decade. As the band of twenties return to their European tour today in Angouleme, one fan remembers how, in spite of wild winds, the Danish hoards flocked to catch a glimpse of the Wandsworth trio

Grand Archives: ‘In five years time we’ll probably be bartenders again’

('theroxbox',) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:00:00 -0000

Mat, Jeff, Curtis and Thomas are four friends from Seattle, four musicians from a small city. They’re not easily recognisable - you won’t have seen their faces in magazines or billboards. They don’t seem like typical indie rock stars; ‘nor do we don’t want to,’ says frontman Mat Brooke. We catch the group on their European tour leg in the Spanish capital

Annett Louisan: 'I don’t need to go the fake platinum blonde bombshell route anymore'

('Lindsey Evans',) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -0000

The breathy German chanson singer hasn’t only changed hair colour over the years - she seems to have done a bit of growing up as well. We catch the 31-year-old entertaining the Franco-German relations ambassador and performing live in Paris for the first time

Fever Ray, Peter Bjorn and John: Swedish music right now

('Alexandra Baxter',) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:28:07 -0000

Famed in the nineties as the capital of pop, Scandinavia doesn’t seem to have exhausted its creative vein just yet. With a legacy of pop artists such as Aqua and Ace of Base, the northern European music scene is opening up to new sounds, experimenting with new technology and ambient tones, whilst never forgetting its musical past

Music in March: Killed by 9V Batteries and Extraperlo

('Andrew Christie',) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Paris-Berlin machine rock, continental breakfast from Barcelona and Austrian pot-washers –spring is blossoming in many ways on the music scene! Café Babel’s music diary for March

Aviv Geffen: 'Israel is a paranoid country'

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:00:00 -0000

Hopeful sounds from Israel: the 35 year old pop singer was one of the first conscientious objectors in Israel. Today, he sings about peace in the Middle East and wants to lend a voice to a 'new generation' with his songs

Sweden's Lykke Li: heartbreak leads to electro pop

('Ed Saunders',) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:00:00 -0000

Lykke means 'happy' in Norwegian. Li's debut album has led to a European tour, and she’s hyped as one of 2008’s biggest new stars. But chart positions don’t make the 22-year-old singer happy

Teen rock bands: the Tokio Hotel phenomenon

('Martyn Hawkins',) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Young, extremely successful - and extremely annoying for some. Why are teen bands like Estonia's 'The Bedwetters' and Denmark's 'Dúné' storming the charts across Europe?

Cuba: backstreet with an escape route

('Erin Woycik',) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0000

In the first of our ‘rock and backpack’ series, we discover Havana - the cultural centre of a Cuba in which everyone has the ability to produce something, but few express themselves

Jean-Benoît Dunckel: 'the English are a hard audience to win over'

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Ten years since the release of Air's first album 'Moon Safari', one half of the French duo, 38, talks Czech audiences, being a vanguard of the European electronic scene and why Air are not like Radiohead

'Europe's Sundance festival'

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Culture crosses borders in Europe this March, as Spain visits Nantes, the Balkans accept a second invitation to Brussels and Irish beer takes over the continent

An Pierlé: 'Downloads kill the industry'

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0000

The Dutch compared her to Tori Amos. In fact, the 33-year-old Belgian connoisseur of ‘kitsch’ French songs and pop is a theatrical musician who plays the piano sat on a big transparent ball, jumping about whilst tightly clutching her accordion

August culture vulture

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 12:00:00 -0000

Despite a slow start to the summer weatherwise, Europe’s festivals – even outdoor festivals – are in full blossom. THE event overwiew for August

Keren Ann: ‘You take something from everything’

('Nicholas Dobson',) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:00:00 -0000

The French singer of Dutch origin, 33, was born in Caesarea, Israel. She lived in the Netherlands until the age of 11 and sings in English. Now, she moves between Iceland, France and New York

Pink revolution

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:00:00 -0000

Over 200,000 people flooded Independence Square on 16 June to see British singer Elton John's AIDS-awareness free concert - publicising a dark aspect of Ukrainian society, with estimated adult HIV prevalence of 1.4%