Lists: 2013 in Musical Review (Revue?)

Musically, 2013 has been about writing towards a new Wasp Summer album (which we’re thinking of calling Mitropa – listen to some demo tracks)  and booking shows for amazing acts through Sofa Salon and A Headful of Bees. 2014 will definitely be about recording and touring and much, much less about booking for other people.

In regards to concerts, it was a good year. I’ve seen great, moving small-scale shows this year. Look these artists up: Lindsay Phillips, Gillian Grassie, Roland Satterwhite, Elyas Khan, Ben Salter, Liz Stringer, Pinto, Kini Mod, PHIA, Bernhard Eder and Vincent Long, amongst others.

I saw great club, arena or festival shows from Oneida, The Re-Mains, The Knife, Brandt Brauer Frick, Hans Unstern, Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra, Mudhoney and Everything Everything.

So to my list of my favourite songs of 2013, in no particular order, plus five songs that found their home in my head in 2013:
Dancing Suns – Tarnished
Ben Salter – The Prophetess
Dead Sentries – Nowhere is Home
Elyas Khan – Bells
Everything Everything – Cough Cough
FKA Twigs – Papi Pacify
Jimmy Tait – All My Friends
Lindsay Phillips – The Crossing
Neko Case – Where Did I Leave That Fire?
PHIA – Do You Ever?

Ainslie Wills – Fighting Kind
Brandt Brauer Frick – Skiffle It Up
HAIM  – Forever
Kat Frankie – Please Don’t Give Me What I Want
Jens Friebe – Neues Gesicht

Happy listening and a Guten Rutsch.

Cheers,
Samantha

The Last Dance, or Final Tour Updates

Tour update #23: This song is my tour obsession! I’m home straight off the Paris to Berlin sleeper train and my body is still feeling a loooooooong right-hand curve. I must give a huge thank you to all my hosts: Petronella Pflaumenstein, Boumchaka and Le Nimby, Celia Wagenfuhrer, Sylvain, Sam Rasschaert and Salla Lahtela, Oscar, Denis Quélard and Eric for the great gigs and couches and wine and conversations.

Tour update #22: This morning, the Loire Valley skies were leaden, filled with rain and the air smelt like woodsmoke and blown roses. Later, the sun pushed through and I saw the broad river Loire running unusually high and fast, too dangerous to swim in. I saw the indigenous windmills of wood and pale yellow tufa stone, sentinels over the poppies and the low, yellow wheat.

Tour update 21: Dusk. Wandering in Don Walker’s steps “on Rue Île Saint-Louis”, I hear the most glorious singing from a blocky grey building. Of course, it’s a spectacular church and Friday night is full gospel service with 12-piece choir, live band and gooseflesh-inducing vocals from a Jean Carpenter. Went dancing into the night to eat Roquefort by the Seine and met a flute-playing Wizard under a wing of his *butterfly bicycle*. Last drinks at Pop In.

Tour update #20: Last night in Paris. Great time with Irene Wareing. On an otherwise serene Seine cruise, our self-appointed and inebriated “tour guide” exclaimed, “Look! Look! That’s where Diana crashed in the bridge!” Tonight I am contemplating dinner at “Saint Meat” followed by drinks at La Feline.

Tour update #19: Doing after-show shots with my mother at Pop In. That is all.

Tour update #18: Breakfast in Montmartre, then directed some American rockband looking for Jim Morrison as I headed for Edith Piaf to ask for a strong voice for tonight’s show at Pop In with This is Avalanche. — at Cimetière du Père-Lachaise

Tour update #17: Paris. That is all.

Tour update #16: Oh Brussels, I had a great time but I can’t take your emergency sirens seriously. They seem to have added vibrato which makes all emergency vehicles sound like a robot child running behind you making “scary” ghost noises. Also, I will never diss lacemakers again.

Tour update #15: I have no sense of direction in Brussels. Well, I was warned. However, I had an awesome plate of Muamba when I eventually found the Matonge district, plus some shopping at the St Gilles street market.

Tour update #14: Walking in Ghent, we saw two little boys forcefully herding a tiny black and white cat – “KAT! NEE, KAT!”. As we passed, they stopped us and, in hard Gantoise dialect, said they thought, because it had no collar, that maybe it was a lost cat so they were keeping it off the road. They pointed to a child’s handmade missing cat poster nearby but said they didn’t think it was the same cat because the cat in the poster was purple.

Tour update #13: From the pre-show dinner, this idea needs venture capital and a documentary immediately, Sam. Drunkle.com – short a drunk uncle at your next wedding/christmas/christening/sauna fest? Drunkle.com will compile a profile of your desired drunk uncle traits (including interviewing said relatives) and send a substitute drunk uncle to your event. Pelvic thrusting? No problem. A vast knowledge of football “songs”? Easy. Tie as ninja-style headband? Obligatory. Incoherent speeches? Our specialty.

Don’t blow the Per Diem on French cheese

Rule 1 of touring: Do good. Wherever you go. On this run of shows, I am relying on the kindness of strangers as an independent musician and playing mainly house concerts, car sharing and couchsurfing. Be good conversation, pitch in, cook a few meals, learn a little about the host and their town.

Rule 2 of touring: Play good. Every time. It is what I have to offer. In good faith, someone has taken me up on my pitch and I try to honour that trust with a good and entertaining show.

Rule 3 of touring: Do not blow the Per Diem on cheese. My Per Diem is 10€/day. Thank god I’m not a smoker. This miniscule amount pretty much precludes museums, second hand clothes shopping, definitely record stores. Everything except morning coffee and lunch. However, I’m going to France and it’s going to be REALLY HARD not to blow the lot on good cheese and wine every day. REALLY HARD.

I’m also going to Belgium for the first time, which I’m excited about. Any country which functions for nearly two years without a government is OK by me. Here is an excellent blog post using vegetables to explain Belgium’s recent Constitutional Crisis. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to pass through both Bielefeld in Germany and the mysterious land of Luxembourg and see if they really exist. 

I’m Australian so it is really so novel to travel for 10 hours and end up in A DIFFERENT COUNTRY. Amazing that simply moving over land can actually take you to places with entirely different languages and varying standards of beer making. I’m looking at you, France.

Check out my tourdates below. I’m going to be in Strasbourg for a week on writing sabbatical in between shows and I will try and stage a last-minute gig or house concert there as well. If you know anyone in the towns I’m in, please invite them to the show or ask if they also want a house concert. Email me on waspsummer [aet] gmail.com for information.

WASP SUMMER – CLOSE AS A SLOW DANCE tour May/June 2012

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24.05.2012 Duisburg (DE), House Concert

26.05.2012 Thionville (FR), Le NIMBY

27.05-01.06 Strasbourg, House Concert?
02.06.2012 Brussels (BE), House Concert
06.06.2012 Paris (FR), Pop In w/ This is Avalanche (Fr)
09.06.2012 Blaison-Gohier (FR), House Concert

 

Wish me luck!

 

Sam