Our little Danes have been touring a fair bit recently and making quite the impression on everyone that’s been fortunate enough to see their live shows (If you haven’t, what happened? We were supposed to be friends). The boys did get some time off though from kicking bottoms live and in that spare time we organised a video shoot and told the guys to put the shiniest clothes they have on and meet us at the Bella animation centre. The results my friends are truly wonderful, behold……..
So it’s Friday, which really constitutes as Funday and what better way is there to kick start the weekend by celebrating possibly one of our generation’s greatest recording artists. His name is Tay Zonday and by the looks of things he a) has a massive following on Youtube and b) he has respiratory issues. The song in question is “Chocolate Rain” which could quite literally mean anything (political) and to be frank I wouldn’t want to hazard a guess as to what that is. So sit up, catch your breath and sing along…… “Chocolate Rain, some stay dry and others feel the pain”
If that wasn’t enough, then check out this beauty. This one sees Tay team up with internet uber producer Kooby, to create that butterflies in the stomach feeling called Love for this song called “Love”. Yeeeahhh….
We’ve been told by your employers that you can have a five minute break this afternoon to watch the new video for Stephanie Dosen’s second single “Only Getting Better”. Really unbelievable that they would extend such a kind gesture, but hey who are we to argue with the Boss.
Anyway, have a watch (in the allotted time, check with your HR department) of this incredibly charming video made by the Belgian band Soy Un Caballo. It’s full of mystery, romance, paper animals, old time sailors and has been EU approved. Hooray. So let’s set sail with Stephanie:
Wasn’t that great? Oh it really was, wasn’t it. Well stay tuned folks because we’ll have more videos coming your way in the next couple of days.
Just a short note to say what fun we had at the 10th Anniversary shows at the Royal Festival Hall and a big THANK YOU to anyone involved and anyone who came to shows. We really appreciate your support. Also a big thanks to all the bands, you all put in amazing performances and made the night a very special night for the Bella union Team. We literally couldn’t have done it without you.
You might be interested in a little backstage gossip from the afterparty that featured in a recent press release:
The celebrations ended rather dramatically when a drunken 6 foot, 18 stone meathead managed to gate-crash the aftershow party. It all kicked off after he rather nastily insulted a girl for accidentally knocking his jacket on the floor… Thomas and Soren from The Kissaway Trail, behaving rather chivalrously (though they were also pretty drunk), told him he was out of order and insisted that he apologise. Next thing you know he’s head-butted Soren and punched Thomas. He then proceeded to grab a bottle of wine and started swinging it at anyone within the near vicinity as assorted fists went flying… Fortunately for us the (normally mild-mannered) Eric Pulido from Midlake was at hand and bravely wrestled him to the ground in a Die Hard-stylee, knocking over the drinks table in the process, before the security guards bundled him out… and that was the end of the party!
Good old Rock N Roll still breathes heavily in this office people, and don’t ever forget it. So if you plan to gate crash one of our shin digs, you better be pretty handy.
Regardless, we had an amazing night and thanks again to everyone!
The Bella Union office has been a hub of activity these last few weeks, what with the 10th Anniversary show and countless festival appearances from the Bella greats. Well we’ve just been up to our necks in it. So lets start somewhere at the beginning….
Spain played host to the first leg of our festival appearences with Dirty Three playing their kick ass Ocean Songs at the Primavera Sound festival. Things went well for the guys and the crowd were left wanting more (literally, they didn’t get to finish their set!).
Unfortunately Explosions were set to play but due to illness the band had to cancel their summer dates and missed what is easily the best festival in the world (along with ATP, Green Man and End of the Road). They were sorely missed!
Then most of the gang spent a sunny Thursday, June afternoon at this year’s completely non corporate sponsored Wireless festival, where The Kissaway Trail set the main stage alight with their joyous set.
(Look at the big screen shot, makes you want to cry)
And of course Stephanie Dosen joined the Bella/Wireless collaboration with a very intimate performance at the bandstand area located next to the KARAOKE tent. Cheers Wireless Festival. Regardless of the baffoon who sang “Acceptable in The 80’s” five times, Stephanie sounded amazing and it eneded up being a wonderful show. Good on you Stephanie!
So fun was had by all and we even managed to do get involved in the marketing activities with this jaw dropping poster for The Kissaway Trails album.
(These three wonderful people are part of the team responsible for the great Bella music)
Well that’s part one guys. We’ll be touring various other festivals and venues this summer so be sure to check the website and myspaces for dates this summer. So come and meet us and say hi. I’ll be here soon to update you on the second installment of what we did on our summer holidays. Bon Voyage!
Our good friend Dan Sully (MC MTV) and all round great director sent this little ditty over to me today and frankly it’s one of the best videos (documentaries) I’ve ever watched. These kids are reppin hard and busted some of the tastiest beats and rhymes since, well ages. Also for all you keen fashion warriors there’s a couple of dynamite trends shown in this video that could well do with a 07 reprisal. So grab your posse and get twitchin’ here’s flavour that’ll save ya…..
And Part 2
How this clip isn’t looped on all TV channels at least 12 times a day, I just don’t know.
It’s been a pretty hectic week here at the Bella Mountain HQ and it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down any time soon. We all had a fantastic night on Tuesday courtesy of the Kissaway Trail boys and the Great Escape looks like it’s theirs for the taking. SO if you’re heading down to Brighton this weekend, then go and check them out at the Concorde 2 on the MTV2 stage. It’ll be great!
Now let’s get on with today’s post. On our daily search of the world wide web we came across a couple of “civvies” covering our artists. Some are pretty good and others, others aren’t so good. But this is not a negative blog so rather than dwell on those that missed the mark by a considerable margin, we want to celebrate everyone and anyone who is brave enough to cover one of our band’s songs and put it out there for the world to see. We salute you! And as they say, immitation is the best form of flattery. So here we go, the first installment of All Covered In…
This video is by a young man named Ali Americanos (can’t be real) and he took on the difficult job of covering Fionn Regan’s “Be Good Or Be Gone”. But that’s not it, he also went one step further and covered the amazing video using various locations around his humble abode. We think he’s done a really sweet thing here and we hope you do to……
And for those of you who just don’t like cover versions here’s a rather wonderful video from the man himself, Fionn Regan. Here playing the truly fantastic “Snowy Atlas Mountains” in a garden, I think you’ll all agree that indoors or out, he’s one seriously talented fella…
Some of you probably spend a considerable amount of your day thinking what do all the lovely people at Bella Union listen to while working their little socks off to put out some the best records in the world ever! Well, I’ve asked around and after various “funny” answers the gang joined together in prayer last night to reveal their top 3 records of the moment. (Our more savvy readership will have noticed in the side bar the same post, but to be brutally honest it looks rubbish down there and once we sort it out, the list will be updated monthly). Now on with the list fine sir:
Simon
Justice - Escapades
Max Richter - Songs From Before
Yndi Halda - Enjoy Eternal Bliss
Jo
Malajube - Trompe L’Oeil
The Autumns - Throw Another Fog Onto The Liar
Elliot Smith - New Moon
Darren
The Maccabees - Colour It In
Feist - The Reminder
Bright Eyes - Casadaga
Duncan
The Maccabees - Colour It In
Tom McCrae - King Of Cards
Low - Drums And Guns
Mark
Tap Tap - Lanzafame
Johnny And The Moon - Johnny And The Moon
Department Of Eagles - No One Does It Like You
Silvia
Low - Drums And Guns
Radical Face - Ghosts
Micah P Hinson - Micah P Hinson And The Opera Circuit
Steve
Bill Callahan - Woke On A Whaleheart
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
Gun Club - Miami
Johnny
Bjork - Volta
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Interpol - The Black EP
And that’s the lot. So anyone who’s looking for a new CD to buy this weekend (bearing in mind you’ve made sure to purchase all Bella Union CDs) just skim the list and make a blind decision. Let me know how you get on.
On another note, if you want to go to a mind blowing night of music then come and join us on Tuesday the 15th at the London Barfly where The Kissaway Trail will be playing all the hits form their debut album and more. Come on, join us!
The idea of posting every day was ambitious to some, ludicrous to others, but we promise to return to these pages more often. We still love you.
We have had a busy couple of weeks here at Bella HQ, The Kissaway Trail have released their debut album and it’s a cracker (also still available in all good record stores), Midlake re-entered our hearts with their incredible new single Roscoe, and the Dears are set to drop the almighty You and I are a Gang Of Losers on the 21st of this glorious month. So get your pocket money ready! The Bella gang also enjoyed an extremely loud weekend at this year’s Dirty Three curated ATP. The weekend was a huge success for the band and saw them perform twice to a loving audience (as well as individually for many other outfits). We also saw Josh T Pearson in great form playing to a packed crowd of admirers. Other highlights came from bands (not on Bella Union!) such as Low, The Drones and Joanna Newsom. A fantastic weekend in all and totally worth the car journey.
Now, on with the show. Today we have a little slice of entertainment in the form of a video. Oooh, a video you say. Yes. But not just any video, it’s a debut video, the debut video for Stephanie’s debut single This Joy, which is Stephanie’s debut in a video, taken from her debut album on Bella Union, and what a debut it is, a fine debut indeed. And you can watch it here, FREE! Yes my friends that’s right, you can watch the video here for no money whatsoever. Unbelievable I know, but we’re feeling rather generous here at Bella Union, and we want to share that generousity with YOU. So sit back, grab a friend or two, smile at each other, maybe hold hands and envelop yourselves in Stephanie’s warm voice. This Joy ladies and gentlemen……….
It’s been a while since we posted on this blog and for those of you that have been checking back every day and feeling neglected, we apologise, we still love you.
So what’s been happening at Camp Bella Union? Well we have just put the finishing touches to the Kissawy Trail debut and Stephanie Dosen’s new album. Both incredible albums that you should go out and buy several copies of. The whole gang also spent Wednesday night at the Midlake gig at Sheperd’s Bush Empire, which my friends, was incredible and if you haven’t had a chance to see the guys live, they’re out on tour in the UK at the moment, and definitely worth the price of the ticket. Which brings me to the exciting news that Midlake have just wrapped up a hub session with the fantastic Gideon Coe. The session is online now at : http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/events/hub/ and features a chat with the lovely Midlakers and two fantastic songs; Head Home and Chasing After Deers. If you get a spare minute check it out.
On another note, we sadly lost an extremely effecient stapler the other day. It’s blue with red lining and features the words “Rough Trade” written on it in tipex. We are offering the finder of this prize possession a choice of any CD from our back catalogue. Get searching all you budding detectives.
SIMON: Justice - Escapades///
Max Richter - Songs From Before///
Yndi Halda - Enjoy The Eternal Bliss///
JO: Malajube - Trompe L'Oeil///
The Autumns - Throw Another Fog On The Liar///
Elliot Smith - New Moon///
DARREN: The Maccabees - Colour It In///
Feist – The Reminder///
Bright Eyes - Casadaga///
DUNCAN: The Maccabees - Colour It In///
Tom McCrae - King of Cards///
Low - Drums and Guns///
MARK: Tap Tap - Lanzafame///
Department Of Eagles - No One Does It Like You///
Johnny ANd The Moon - Johnny And The Moon///
SILVIA: Low - Drums And Guns///
Radical Face - Ghosts///
Micah P Hinson - Micah P Hinson and The Opera Circuit///
STEVE: Bill Callahan - Woke On A Whale Heart///
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime///
Gun Club - Miami///
JOHNNY: Bjork - Volta///
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation///
Interpol - The Black EP///
