Sofar 3 & Von Krahl

Charlotte dit que c'est trop méga stylé!

Welcome back!

Monday fun in Von Krahl.

I've been making music every day since the 4th of January. The plan is to be making music 360 days of 2014. So it's 41 days down. The first fruit of the labor is "Bass And Clap" the first single off of the coming album. It should be out towards the end of the year, but expect a mixtape and singles before that.


Recently I have been to two events worth mentioning. The first one was a Monday party in Von Krahl. It started at 9 and had two bands playing. The first one was OUU and the second was Non Quartet. I missed Ouu because they started 9 o'clock sharp(!?). It's a shame. I will make it next time. They are talked about a lot and they managed to make the newspaper because two of their fans were kissing. Apparently the security in Von Krahl didn't like the fact that they were both boys and threw them out along with Ouu.

The bass star.

I did catch Non Quartet and part of the reason I went was because my good friend plays in it. I was also interested in seeing what happens if you have a concert on a Monday. There were about 50-60 people, which could actually happen during the weekend as well. Some people forgot it was only Monday. It was partly because of the 1€ bar.

Souvenir of the time you could buy coke from the pharmacy.

The second event was Sofar 3. I haven't yet missed a concert and you can catch up with the first Sofar and the second one from these posts. The place was awesome and we could have squeezed in another 15-20 people, even more if people would have stood up.

Faun Racket in the middle of their set.

The three acts were Lotte and Robert Jürjental, Ndioba from Senegal and Faun Racket who should have played last time already. All the acts added differently to the atmosphere. Lotte and Robert started with a soundscape of synth and guitar ambient and vocals. It was hypnotic and trippy. My companion Stan admitted to never having heard anything like that.

Stan enjoying Sofar.

Ndioba played somewhat traditional African world music. As my parents used to listen to Youssou N'Dour I was acquainted with the sound and its liveliness and earthly feel was a big contrast to the act before.

Inviting the dogs off the billboard.

Faun Racket tied up the night with their regular live. It was the third or fourth time I have heard them and I must say it was the best time. They have the artistic finesse that makes a performance good to look at. Andres Lõo broke some borders with his outburst. First adding Estonian story telling to the track that was shot for the international Sofar channel. After that he took it out on the keyboard, managing to create some beautiful noisy textures.

This would loosely translate to "Your Brain"

Somehow the last acts at the Sofars have the best stage presence. I like their event and sending much love to the organizing crew of Sofar. I'll go to their events as much as I can and keep you posted.

Sparkling Vodka - always a mistake.

To see me play, come to Von Krahl on the 19th where I'll play a set before Sex Drive Live(!!) and a french experimental elecronics act Dorcelsius. Here's the Facebook event.

See you in Von Krahl,

Barthol

Christmas, sofas, busted knees.

kanye west is heeeeeere

Expect new music and visual goodies very soon.

Everything started on Wednesday when we went to Sofar Talinn's concert number two. I guess you already know about Sofar, but in short it's a series of concerts that take place in people's living rooms. There's no ticket but you have to register in advance to go there. Three acts play and you won't know which ones before you get there.

Audience at Sofar 2, Chalice in the middle.

This time the acts were Markus Nylund, Vul Vulpes and Chalice/Jarek Kasar. Markus was standing in for Faun Racket. I had mixed feelings about that substitution, I love Faun Racket's electronic sound, but I'm not sure they would have rocked through the small speakers.

It's the sound of my shoes.

We were somewhat late and so we didn't get a good spot. Instead we hung on the indoors balcony. There were people from advertising, fashionistas and musicians in the audience. The building was in the Luther quarter and it was truly impressive. The passing trams were a nice finishing touch.

Photo battle casualty

Friday was one of the quietest in a long time. We hit Von Krahl, as we didn't get to go to the "AKGP 21" neon special event. It was a Kuduro party with not that many people there. A few drinks and dances to breakcore and we left. I hit Noorus to say hi and continued from there towards Telliskivi. We never made it there.

The girls on the left were supposed to dance on the speakers.

Saturday was once again a wild night. My first Christmas party this year was at Slothrop's book shop. A great place for feeding your brain. All the people working there are interesting in different ways.

Microcobra is ready.

I was to play a Dj set at Red Emperor. I was excited to see how do russophone glitch/8bit/breakcore acts and DJs interact with Australians, other foreigners and xenophile girls. I was a little late to see the experiment, as the foreigner concentration was fairly light when I got there.

Girls

I got on stage at 2:30 am. After the first 15 minutes the crowd got on the stage with me and stayed till the end of the night.

Olya rocking it.

The set was loads of fun. A lot of people came up to me while I was playing and I think only half of them requested a track. After an hour I gave the stage to Olya who was a real master of continuing the vibe. Big thanks to her for organizing the event in the first place.

I managed to bust my knees that night, as Tallinn is the slipperiest city in the world. To my surprise a passing guy pulled me back on my feet instantaneously. I ended the night at a birthday I can't tell you about.

See you soon
Barthol

No sleep, just play

That hallway live was really special

What a wild weekend. I played three nights in a row, it's a personal best. It all started on Thursday night when I was the warm up DJ for Sunlight Heart at Von Krahl bar. I played the first hour and to keep it mellow I played tracks I wouldn't get to usually play.

Pouring shots of beats at Von Krahl

There were not that many people, but the night was fun. The bad part was when the sound guy took one of the RCA cables that connected the deck to the mixer and told me to keep playing with one deck.

The set up for the apartment-hallway live.

It sucked, but somehow I managed to pull it off. On the bright side there was rum back stage, just too bad there was nothing but beer to mix it with.

The crowd of my apartment live.

On Friday Ao street was celebrating it's 80th jubilee. People were on the streets with tables full of food and drinks. There were reinforcements from the Uus Maailm district and nearby streets.

Playing from the apartment.

I was to play a live in a hallway. Hannaliisa Uusmaa also played a set in the hallway next door, but unfortunatly I didn't see it happening as I was busy setting up my own set.

These girls were in a hurry to flee from Leace and Pove.

The short 20 minute live was cool, as I have never seen a setup like that and the people seemed to enjoy standing in the hallway and on the stairs. If something then maybe the speakers should have been bigger.

At Noorus, looking for Bert on Beats.

After the jubilee I swung by Leace and Pove to see what it's all about. I had to see Progress for a second day in the row there. The space at Guitar hunt wasn't best for this kind of party as it was mostly chairs and tables and not that much room to move around in.

The awesome bar staff, too bad yet again there was no long drink.

We continued the night in Must Puudel and then we headed over to Noorus bar. We heard that Bert on Beats was celebrating his birthday there. I just got to wish him a happy birthday before he took off.

Dj Zuks in deep concentration.

On Saturday we headed to Tartu with Sunlight Heart. They were scheduled to play Kink Konk, so me and Zuks were to be the warm up and cool down acts. It was quite a lot of playing, three hours per Dj, but it's nothing we haven't already done at Danger Danger. The hardest part was the ride to Tartu. I don't think it has ever taken me four hours to get to Tartu before. Nevertheless it was an adventure, a road trip with a car full of sound equipment and instruments.

The core of Sunlight Heart.

I decided to play some IDM classics like Autechre and Amon Tobin to cool the people before the band went on to cool them down. I didn't think people would be able to dance to Autechre that well. The bands performance went much better than in Von Krahl.

Getting naughty.

By that time I had slept 15 hours altogether in three nights. So I didn't mind that much when Dj Renka started setting up turntables to take over with house.

What do you think she told her?

See you soon and thanks for coming,
Barthol.

About to blow!

In this post: Barthol at Tallinn Music Week and playing at Nälg.

Hey you, welcome back!
As you might know, I'll be playing at Tallinn Music Week. I'll be playing on two different occasions. On Friday at the showcase for Rada7 in Hoov, I jumpstart the night at 2 a.m. Next day we'll recover at LHV bank where I play an early show at 18:30 and I believe it's free. Bring your bodies, energy and friends.

This is how it went last time! Photo: Keiu Maasik

I've been working on the special set already and it's going to be shorter, more intense, but also smoother. It will have all the tracks from the fresh EP and possibly some unreleased ones or remixes. It's going to be a dance night at least at Hoov on Friday.

Mark it in your schedule.

Another jumpy gif!!

Coming Friday, 2nd of March we're playing in Nälg with Zuks. We'll be playing beats to dance to. It's going to be explosive so be careful! Bring someone to watch out for you and wear a hardhat at all times. Photos will be taken and you could end up on these pages if you dance, are naked or do something else worthwhile. The last couple of times our shows have gotten out of hand and I hear I'm not allowed to have Westons anymore, but we'll just see about that.

You probably already like my page on Facebook, but be sure to join the newsletter, the form is on the right. You'll get 2-3 short emails a month with news, giveaways and tracks. It's in Estonian for the moment, as so are all the members.

The EP will be released here on the 7th March. More about how the EP tracks were born and at what time you should listen to which track, in next posts. See you at Nälg!

Barthol

Hunting season begins

Dope ass beat

Welcome back!
Friday's party was my first live of the year. Below are some photos by Keiu Maasik. I played at 3 am and by then the backstage Jack Daniels and dry cider had worked it's magic. I had rehearsed the set 2-3 times before so it wasn't an obstacle. Too bad cold had taken it's toll on my voice and I couldn't sing Pick up track.

Starting my set

The organizers had constructed a cage on stage and fitted animal skins on the walls. Also we were the first to try the new subwoofers in Von Krahl as I heard. The sound was decent and enjoyable. Thanks to everyone who took part in the Facebook draft, 56% of  partakers won a free ticket. Not bad as a number!

Me and Tõnis the Organizer

I enjoyed playing my live over couple of months and I plan to do it again soon. Finishing the E.P. is priority right now and I still have to finish one track and get a design. After that it's ready to be in your night in the clubs, on the radio and on your iPod .

See you real soon!
B

Delayed! Broken! Canceled!

Your computer output is broken, no soundcheck and your live is an hour later than planned. Does this sound like the start of the best party?

Well it was.

I used the Lexicon soundcard of the Krahl sound guy (thx). After Zebra and Snake I threw on the Tallinn Daggers remix and we went crazy. Even though the tempo and feel of my song was twice as ecstatic. You were crazy on the floor and I was crazy on the stage. For that half an hour we were unified in the beats. Dj Vattu came to give me a hand on knob twiddling and also a very refreshing zip of rum (various animals had drunk all the alcohol in the backstage).

not a photo of the best party

Hundreds of people at the party. The stairs too crowded to go downstairs to smoke or to listen to the reggae party below. Lots of cool artists in the backstage and among them Mia the superstar organizer who only ate caffeine and peach cigarettes and didn't allow her best friends backstage not to mention the groupies or the spaced out dancer-promoter guy. She was strict and it was cool like that. The act that cancelled was Henry, a good friend of mine from the Dance marathon (the blog post for that), but luckily he got to play the outro for the party. His ambient sweeping the room as the Mc rhymed and beatboxed and I was embracing my fans while Emer the star Vj accused me of being a rockstar. Which as you know I am not, but to be sure come and see next time as I bang my cowbell, the sister of all instruments. More on that next time.

A special thanks to all the friends that were ravin away. We will go crazy again soon and people who missed Tallinn, we'll meet in Tartu on the 10th in Plink plonk.

Did you miss the best party ever?

...Not yet and I sure hope you won't.

Take a shower! Because soon my bass will get you dirty ;)

The live is on the 20th November in Tallinn and where else than Von Krahl. Be prepared for another world as you enter. I will be up on that stage giving you the raw fun to dance to.

I will play after the foreign bands. First up are Zebra and Snake from Finland and the other band thinks that they are animals as well. Who are they?

you can try to guess...

iiiiiiit's Instrumenti from Latvia, two guys in Panda suits playing Indie dance.

So after they make you cry I make you dance!

As a girl once put it:

Barthols music is raw. I love that when I listen to it then I don't care for a normal life anymore. I just want to put on tons of make-up and wear high heels. Really high ones and smoke in a dimmed out room and just enjoy being vain. His music has got a sharp dangerous edge to it but gets me out of the everyday routine.

But don't believe her before you've seen me play live in full gear. A good friend of mine will come all the way from Paris to party with us. You know it will be wild, when we do it Paris style.

If you somehow did miss it in Tallinn then don't give up hope and come to Tartu on the 10th of December. As the next party will be there.

Meanwhile get prepared for the party with my:

music

remixes

videos

And if you want the afterparties then follow me on facebook or blogger