Monthly Review: May 2014

 
Hey guys,

And another month is almost over which means we're halfway through 2014 already.

Just let that sink in!

Also, this means it's time for another monthly review to reflect how well May treated us.

I added a few new sections and I hope you enjoy them.

Let's go!

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Gig Impressions: The Arkanes at Crystal Club, Berlin (May 2014)

Hey guys,

Let's do some Maths:
awesome band + first headline gig + blogger = collaboration

I'll explain:
I basically just got back from my favourite city, Berlin. 

Actually I arrived on Sunday but a part of me is still there.

Part of my trip was a very special concert.

My favourite Liverpoolians The Arkanes played their very first Germany headline show.

Since the interview we did last month went absolutely well and we all had a good time working together, we decided to collaborate once again.

This time we wanted to film a documentary of them getting ready for the show.
Before I'm going to show you that, I wanted to share some photographs and my personal impressions with you.

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Video Of The Day: 'London Lives' by Mark Mathews

 Hey guys,

Music videos are strange things.

There are only two options you have when you watch them:

1) The video visualizes the song perfectly and represents the lines sung in moving pictures

2) You just don't get a single thing about what's happening on your screen

At least that's the only options I've ever experienced while watching videos.

Really.

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Get To Know: Plastic Barricades

 Hey guys,

The 'Get To Know' features are back!
For those of you who are new to the game - this is some kind of a basic interview.
The questions are really simple, and basic, and help the artists to introduce themselves to you, the wonderful readers.

Today Plastic Barricades from London take the mic!
Enjoy!

Who are you?

Romantic and honest, gloomy and curious, melodic and melancholic, Plastic Barricades chronicle live in the trouble yet fascinating XXI century with painstaking sincerity, asking questions and trying to find the answers. Inspired and influenced by almighty Radiohead, Oasis, Coldplay, Muse, Keane, Razorlight, Nirvana and many others, trio loves to experiment with styles, sound and approach.

Based in North-West London, Plastic Barricades are Dan Kert on guitar, keyboards and vocals, Daniele Borgato on bass and Frazer Webster on drums.

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Interview: Ciaran Lavery

Hey guys,

There is so much talent on this planet - especially in the music business.
But you know what's the problem?
The charts always seem to feature the same artists and it's so hard for indie musicians to make it these days.

But luckily house in the sand is always excited to show case these absolutely talented people.

Ciaran Lavery is a singer/songwriter from Aghagallon, Ireland.
His music is passionate, expresses all different states of heartache and could be classified as alt-folk.

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Spotlight On: awesome rock music

 Hey guys,

The last article which featured multiple song tips got some wonderful feedback, that's why I decided to writer another one of those.

This time I want to put the spotlight on six brilliant rock bands which asked me to write about them.
I always try to be open for every genre and I don't think you can be happy by just listening to one single genre. At least I couldn't.
But I admit, rock music has been with me for years and I really got a thing for raw guitar riffs, marching drum beats and basslines and expressive vocals.

Personally, I absolutely enjoy each and every single song you'll find in the post, so I'm really asking you to take some time to listen.

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Interview: Mark Mathews

 

Hey guys,

It's always a pleasure when artists I've worked with before come back for a second visit at house in the sand.

In fact, it's lovely to when it's not just a one way promo thing but an honest support collaboration.

Mark Mathews is a great example for that kind of working relationship.

We've worked together twice, the second time was for our HITS birthday, check it out here.

And now he's back for an interview!

Mark Mathews is an indie singer/songwriter based in London, UK where you can find him busking on the streets or playing countless gigs.

As the writer of super catchy indie pop songs he's a great artist to listen to. His tunes definitely burn themselves into your brain.

The upcoming release of his song 'London Lives' was the perfect occasion to sit down and chat a bit about the single, the video shoot, London and some more good things.

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Album Review: 'You' by Of Clocks And Clouds

Band: Of Clocks And Clouds

Title: You
Genre: Electronic rock
Label: independent
Release: 13th May 2014
hits rating: 7,5/10

__________________________________________

Hey guys,

Most of the artists who send me an email ask for reviews.
That's a fact.

Since I like to keep things lively on the blog I don't post review after review (even though I could).
But today I'd like to share my thoughts on an electronic rock album with you.

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Spotlight On: The Koniac Net

Hey guys,

The greatest thing about music in my opinion? The fact that it's international. It's a world wide thing.

Name a country where music doesn't exist. 

The greatest thing about the internet?
We can share the music.

As I'm writing this article I'm sitting in my room in a super small town somewhere in the South of Germany.
My blog statistics tell me that my readers are from the UK, the US, China, Italy, Japan and a lot more countries.

And the band I'm introducing today is from India.

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Live Music: Gig Dates

Hey guys,

2014 has been brilliant so far when it comes to gigs.

And the rest of the year promises even more great shows to visit and to have a good time at.

Since live music is my favourite part of music things in general I made it my mission to get as many people to see amazing bands/artists as I can.

Rumour has it I've already succeeded but in that case I just can't get enough.

So I'm going to show case some events that I'm sure a lot of you would have a great time at.

Here we go!

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All Lenses On: SPS Photobooks

image: Social Print Studio

Hey guys,

I'm super happy to be part of another brilliant collaboration. The absolutely good people from Social Print Studio have treated me another one of their products to review and introduce to you.

I believe we are the first generation with more photos stored on our phones or computers than we actually have printed. And to somebody who's absolutely in love with photography that's just a shame.

It's cruel.

It hurts me to think about how many awesome photographs are just files and not printed for everyone to see.

Ouch! It just hurts.

And Social Print Studio really help us to fight this pain it causes.

They offer loads of different ways to print and show case your photographs.

I already introduced you to the mini prints and today I'd like to put the photobooks into the spotlight.

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Interview: Quinn Archer

 
Hey guys,

Working with absolutely talented people is what I do basically every day.
It sometimes takes a while and I really have to take some time to go through their music and listen to what those musicians do, but then I just realize what absolute blessing this job is.

Quinn Archer is no exception when it comes to incredibly talented people.
She had me from the first note I heard her sing and well, now here's our interview.

Quinn Archer is a British born singer/songwriter who now resides in Los Angeles, US.
Her sound blends all kinds of genres together; the slightly gothic touch is complimented by her strong, souly and dark voice. Pop and rock elements give a lot of grip to the songs and let them sound more lively.

In the interview Quinn talks about getting into music, living in Los Angeles, performing on the same line up along with Bon Jovi and Taylor Swift and a lot more.
Enjoy!

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My blogging equipment

 

Hey guys,

as a blogger I always find myself reading articles about other bloggers work, equipment and general tips.

Maybe you find it interesting to see what stuff I use to create the blogposts you read.  Maybe you're a blogger and can take some of this as inspiration.

Either way: I hope you enjoy!

Before you start reading, please keep in mind that in no way I mean to brag about any fancy things I own. I take this whole blogging thing very serious so investing in these things was a personal choice and took a while to save all the bucks. ;)

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7 tunes you need to hear

 Hey guys,

The amount of music submissions I've been receiving lately has been insane!

It makes me happy to be a person people come up to to show their tunes. It's an honour.

But it's also a bit hard to plan solo features for about 50 artists/bands. It would take 100 days to blog all of them since I blog every other day.
You don't need to be a math genius to figure out that it's just way too long to let people wait to finally appear on your blog.

That's why I decided to throw a few submissions into one blogpost and show case them to you that way.

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Memory lane: Interviews

 

Hey guys,

As I was just preparing a few interviews I got the idea to bring back some interview memories from the past.

When I first started producing interviews I wanted to have one question I ask every single band/artist I would ever interview.

And until this day it worked pretty well - at least when I do online interviews.

Said question is: Please complete the following sentence: We are/I am [insert band/artist] and we/I

I think this question is awesome to get to know the people by reading just one sentence.
It says a lot about the artists. 

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Monthly Review: April 2014

Hey guys,

Yes, the monthly reviews are back! After ages I realized I haven't done such posts for... well, ages.

If you are not familiar with my monthly reviews - I basically review the last month by listing all artists I've worked with and mentioning things I loved. 

It's a simple thing but I like it.

First of all - how is April already over? It's May now and that's crazy. But exciting. I can almost smell Summer! :)

Anyways let's get started!

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