Monthly Review: June 2014

 

Hey guys,

Writing the intro for the monthly reviews is always a challenge for me because I'm always like "oh, another month is over! Time flies!" and seriously - it's just annoying to write that every month. Even I am annoyed by it.

So yeah ... what can I say?

I just can't come up with anything else, therefore - let's get started!

Here's everything that happened on HITS in June. :)

Thanks for being part of this month, you made it a lot cooler.

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Song Of The Day: 'Nostalgia' by Martin Luke Brown

Hey guys,

Do you ever feel nostalgia?
Well, I do. Quite often to be honest. And I like wandering through early days in my mind, remembering little things from my childhood like running in a princess dress thinking I could do everything.
(I still do that.) (Not in a princess dress though.)

And 'Song Of The Day' is exactly about that feeling - feeling nostalgic about your childhood and dealing with growing up.

Martin Luke Brown is the artist behind our song of the day. He started making music at the age of 14 and has been writing and recording ever since. The musician from Leicester, UK could be classified as alternative pop mixed with acoustic and soul elements.

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Album Review: 'Wanted On Voyage' by George Ezra (Deluxe Version)

Artists: George Ezra
Title: Wanted On Voyage
Genre: Folk, Acoustic-Blues
Label: Sony Music
Release: 30th June 2014
hits rating: 8/10
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Hey guys,

I still remember how early last year the world discovered Tom Odell, a young British lad with a voice that got most of us drooling.

Around the same time this year we all did the same again and discovered George Ezra - another young British lad with another voice we can drool over.
The singer/songwriter from Bristol has been around for a little longer though. BBC Bristol started playing his music back in 2012, in 2013 he played at Glastonbury.
And again it was the dudes from BBC who listed George under 'Sound Of 2014' and apparently they were right, once again.

And now George Ezra is here with his debut album 'Wanted On Voyage'.
Is it worth the hype?
Let's find out!

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Spotlight On: Hudson Taylor

Hey guys,

Oh me oh my. Today I'm once again really excited because I already know a lot of you are going to enjoy the music I want to introduce today.

Hudson Taylor is a duo consisting of the brothers Alfie and Harry from Dublin, Ireland.
Two lads with a lot of passion and even more talent to make music.
They started out busking on the streets of Dublin and continued recording videos on their YouTube channel throughout the years which had over 4.5 million views by now.

Besides cover versions of famous tracks they also perform their originals and have released quite a few tunes.

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Album Review: 'X' by Ed Sheeran (Deluxe Edition)

Artist: Ed Sheeran
Title: X
Genre: Acoustic, Folk-Pop
Label: Asylum/Atlantic
Release: 23rd June 2014
hits rating: 9/10
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Hey guys,

Great Britain - you land of musical talent...
Has anyone of you noticed that around 70% of all artists/bands blogged are from the UK?
I'm not saying that other artists are not talented, geez, there are so many jewels from all over the world.
But a lot of them are from the British land.

And so is Ed Sheeran.

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Interview: Bella Loka

 
Hey guys,

Who doesn't know the Abbey Road Studios?
Yeah, they're legendary, it's no secret!

And the band you'll be able to get to know today has recorded their EP there.

Bella Loka is a two piece outfit from London, UK consisting of Tea Boothby and David Boothby.
David took time to chat with us about recording in said legendary studios, writing songs at night, the household of a married couple making music together and Doctor Who!

Find out more about the band now and make sure to check out their music below.
Enjoy!

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Social Media & Music?!

Hey guys,

It's no secret that I'm a convinced social media user.
Neither is it a secret that I'm a massive music lover.

And those two topics seem to melt together in so many ways, that at some points you might not even know that there are (were) other possibilities before the whole social media thing existed.

A little while ago I had to produce an interview for my journalism studies; the task was it to talk to somebody about something they know a lot about.
Being a music blogger I instantly thought about musicians to interview and special topics to talk about.
For me, usually, the first idea I get is the best and the one I stick with.

The first idea in this case was it to talk about how social media affects the music industry.

And of course it makes sense to interview a musician for that. The wonderful James O'Neill from the Scottish duo Martin and James (aka one of the most talented bands I know) was the one I got to talk with.

Actually the interview was just for my studies but it turned out to be so interesting that I just have to share it with you.

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Video Of The Day: 'Say No' by Casino Circus

 Hey guys,

A lot of you have noticed how videography is becoming a bigger part of house in the sand. I'm getting more and more into video making and just the whole concept of visualizing certain emotions and moments by capturing things the right way is absolutely fascinating to me.

And that's why I've decided to publish more "Video Of The Day" features.
The video that's in the spotlight is the music video for 'Say No' by Casino Circus.

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Berlin Adventures

Hey guys,

Do you have a city in which you don't live but you feel like it's your home?

I do and it's Berlin. The capital of Germany.

It feels like there's nothing you can't do there and inspiration and creativity is basically everywhere.

During my last trip in May I've done a lot of cool things and I thought I'd share them with you in this post.

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Behind The Scenes with The Arkanes

Hey guys,

The one thing I've learned about working with musicians is that things never work out as planned.

So why plan them at all?

May 23rd, 7.30am - Berlin: The morning of a very long day begins and I decide to text message Chris from The Arkanes to set up a time for our collaboration.

Same day, hours later: Still no reply. In the mean time I've wandered through the streets of Berlin, filmed an interview and even changed outfits.

So I decided to head over to the venue and just hope the best.
It probably was faith - the second I arrive at Crystal Club a black van rolls up (the black van, guys!) and the guys arrive too.

Just like you right now, I was wondering why Mr Pate did not reply to my message - simple story:

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EP Review: 'Paradise Blue' by Moonlands

Band: Moonlands

Title: Paradise Blue

Genre: Alternative, Pop-rock

Label: independent
Release: 25th May 2014
hits rating: 8,5/10
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Hey guys,

Threre's so much good music on this planet and I fear I won't be able to introduce every talented band but at least I can share some of them with you.

Moonlands for example.

Moonlands are a four piece outfit from Brighton, England consisting of
Lucy Elliot (vocals, guitar)
Joel Frosh (guitar)
Josh Fry (bass, backing vocals)
Joel Brooks (drums)

They play atmospheric pop blended with different elements.
Just last month they released their debut EP 'Paradise Blue' which was recorded at JBJ Recording Studios.

And today I'd like to talk about that.

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400 times house in the sand

  Hey guys,

This is exactly the 400th time I've used this expression to greet you and start an article.

Considering the fact that I've never had a guest writer I think that's quite a lot of articles.

And I think it's quite cool that no matter how crappy some of the posts I wrote in the beginning, they always expressed exactly what I wanted to say.

Within these 400 posts are so many posts that took me hours to produce and soaked me in while writing. There are so many posts I've been dying to share with you. There are so many posts that scared the hell out of me because I thought I wasn't good enough to work on them. There are so many posts that I was absolutely nervous about sharing with you because they meant so much to me.

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Songs Of The Day: 'Forgiven', 'Lucky One' and 'Lifeline'

Hey guys,

I'm sure pretty much every single one of you has been asked this one question which sounds oh so simple: what is your favourite song?

To be completely honest with you - there's no question I hate like that one.

Whenever somebody asks me "so Vanessa, what is your favourite song?" all I want to do is run in circles and jump in anger.

Why?

Because I never could and probably never will be able to just pick one damn song. 

And I'll always be paranoid about forgetting some brilliant song.

That's why I am not made for "Song Of The Day" features.

But - this is my blog so I can change things up.

And that's why I decided to simply add an "s" and make this the "SongS Of The Day" section.

Simple but affective.

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Video Interview: Ben Barritt

Hey guys,

It's video interview time again! 

I flew to Berlin just a few weeks ago to do some work and part of that was an interview with Ben Barritt.

Ben Barritt is a singer/songwriter and guitarist originally from the United Kingdom. 
The love for music took him to Berlin where he's been living for quite a while now.

After releasing a four track EP called 'Sundial' in April last year he is now working towards a debut album.

We sat down close to the water and chatted about things you need to take with you on tour, travelling in general, different crowds, influeces and a whole lot more.
Enjoy!

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