gimme a beat

* Use Me, Abuse Me, Sample Me *

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a sound recording of a song in a different song or piece. This phenomenon used to be most obvious in hip hop, but with hip hop becoming mainstream and crossing to other genres (together with hip hop producers) it is nowadays visible everywhere in the music world. Listen more carefully to the music around you and you will be surprised to discover that every other song samples some other, more or less known song. From it's beginning sampling was controversial legally and musically. Legally it is becoming less controversial because of the copyright clearance that is today necessary to obtain before sampling someone's song. Musically, I believe, sampling will always be controversial and while praised by ones at the same time criticized by others.I am following this trend for many years now, not only because of my love for hip hop music, but also because by doing the research and checking out the samples of the song I love, I discovered many other great songs, that I otherwise wouldn't have a chance to find via my usual music sources.However, in the times when it feels that everybody seems to be using and abusing good, old music to create a hit instead of relaying on their own creativity, I am not as enthusiastic as I used to be about this trend.Thankfully, there are still creative, talented artists out there, that are using (and abusing) samples in the right way.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Tonight (17.03.2014) in Gimme A Beat I am going to dive deep into the world of sampled music. Tune in for my choice of songs from female artists that are either sampled or are sampling some other songs. And this time,
exceptionally, I will also play songs from male artists if they fit in
either group of songs.Use Me, Abuse Me, Sample Me with a playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lorafeaturing artists that I will play tonight:
gimme a beat on youtube
and TED speechWe Should All Be Feminist from Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieKisses,
Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Daytrottering 2014 *

Since 2011, I've been doing special editions of the Gimme A Beat shows that I called appropriately Daytrottering. In these shows I show love for one of the coolest music websites out there: Daytrotter.
I started listening to Daytrotter long time ago. In the beginning, daytrotter dudes were giving 7 original sessions, 28 songs for free each week. Over the years they recorded more then 2000 sessions and gave it for free to million of music lovers like me. In 2012, the things have changed, but luckily for all of us, not the "Why" of Daytrotter, but the "How" of Daytrotter. Therefore today, in order to help Daytrotter continue doing what it has been doing throughout the years, all of you, real music lovers can purchase monthly pass to Daytrotter for ridiculously low 4$ a month or an annual pass for just $32 for the entire year.
Now, let me remind you again what the Daytrotter is all about and explain what kind of goodies are coming with a membership.Daytrotter sessions are exclusive, re-worked, alternate versions of old songs and unreleased tracks by some of your favorite bands and by a lot of bands that will be your favorites. Minimalist recording process used to records songs of the visiting band in the setup that is configurable, makes a very honest presentation of the band/artist on that particular day, in the physical and musical sense. These songs are them as they are on that particular day, on that particular tour - dirty and alive. Daytrotter membership allows you access to everything on the site: all new session postings (5 new sessions posted M-F - roughly 100 new songs weekly), the archive of over 2000 previous Daytrotter sessions and audio and video content of hundreds and hundreds of exclusive Barnstormer tour shows and other live performances throughout the years. Also members get a free vinyl upon annual membership purchase and another free vinyl at every renewal thereafter. You can also purchase a live session pass and listen in live as they tape sessions - they stream a bunch live every week, to your computer or daytrotter iPhone or Android apps, wherever you may be. It's as if you're in the studio with your favourite artists. In addition to the sessions recorded in the Horseshack studio (original daytrotter studio) in Rock Island, Illinois, daytrotter guys are working closely with Communion Records in London and friends/studios in in Montreal, Portland, Oregon, Nashville, Asheville, NC, Austin, Texas and San Francisco and few other places, in order to chronicle as much as they can.
The stuff like cute drawings of the artists (which makes it also very easy to search for them in extensive archive), short impression/biography stories on daytrotter session artists page as well as easy to use daytrotter mobile apps are available. There are concert videos showing artists performing live, from daytrotter's Barnstormer tours, to the stages of Austin and beyond. There are featured and artist playlist available as well. Last year, daytrotter dudes introduced Horse Power. If you click on *Horse Power* button, and Copy & share the link to tell your friends about Daytrotter you can earn fantastic Daytrotter prizes: vinyls, poster, daytrotter gift certificate and even your own daytrotter illustration.
Believing that live music is what the future of music is all about, it is only natural that I am big supporter of what Daytrotter is all about. Therefore I decided to Daytrotter at least once per year with Gimme A Beat listeners through my selection of the Daytrotter Sessions performed by female artists/all-female bands or bands with female vocalists.
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Tune in tonight (17.02.2014) to Gimme A Beat and let me try to convince you that this membership is the best deal you ever got in your life.
Daytrottering with a playlist and all the songs directly available on the Daytrotter website.
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lorafeaturing artists that I will play tonight:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Andy Allo in Zürich *

Andy Allo is Cameroonian born singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist, model and actress. Being a huge Prince fan, I came across Andy few years ago when she joined his band, the New Power Generation, and start touring with him around the world. Last year I got reminded about Andy when Prince covered one of her songs, People Pleaser, on his concert at Montreux Jazz Festival. After his gig, I re-discovered Andy's album Superconductor, that she wrote and perfected on the tour with Prince and recorded and released after. I wasn't surprised to find out that she was into the music from very early age because her talent is obvious, but more research I did about her, I realized that this gorgeous, smiling young lady, is also a hard working musician that knows what she wants and that is determined to keep full control over her music, image and her connection to the audience.I was very excited to find out that Zürich is planed as one of the stops on Andy's European tour. Curious to find out more about Andy, I reached out to her and her management for a chance for an interview. Finally, in December 2013, I was able to sit down with Andy, after her gig at Kaufleuten in Zürich, and ask her in person all those questions that popped up in my mind after listening to her music and reading her story and interviews. We talked about her life and her music, how much are her fans important to her and how does it feel to have Prince as a friend and mentor.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tune in tonight (20.01.2014) for an interview with Andy Allo and the music from her both albums: Superconductor and UnFresh, as well my impressions from her gig in Zürich
Andy Allo in Zürich with playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00:web radio on radio LoRa
featuring:andy allo on youtube
Kisses,Babymonster
---------------------------------------------for more info please go to: previous entries

* Xmas Session *

Yaaay, it's Xmas time again  !
Xmas time is definitely one of my favourite times of the year, when people get more friendly and pleasant and everywhere you go it smells like glühwein and Xmas cookies.
Therefore I prepared very easy going Xmas session for tonight, something that can be listened over and over again, this and any future Xmas.
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Tune in tonight (16.12.2013) for Xmas session, eclectic playlist of Xmas songs sung by female artists.
Xmas Session with playlistfrom 22:00 - 00:00:web radio on radio LoRafeaturing:gimme a beat on youtubeKisses,Babymonster---------------------------------------------for more info please go to: previous entries

* Gavlyn in Zurich *

Gavlyn is 23 year old LA based rapper. She is a member of the Organized Threat movement and part of the Broken Complex record label. Organized Threat is a collective of the international artists that aims to support good quality hip hop and keep it fresh, poetic and therefore timeless. Perfect place for somebody like Gavlyn to grow creatively and without any inhibitions.Gavlyn has been rapping since tender age of 16 and she has been touring Europe since the beginning of 2013, but I have only discovered her this summer.This year I was for the first time at Montreux Jazz festival as a Gimme A Beat and I was blown away not only by the concerts that I've seen but also with people that I met. It seemed to me that everybody at this festival: organizers, staff, members of the press and visitors were true music lovers. So one evening, while waiting for Angel Haze concert, I was chatting with local group of people and one of the guys living in the area asked me if I heard about Gavlyn. He saw her live in March and he was totally blown away by her music, her personality and of course, her live performance. I wrote down the name, checked her when I was back in my hotel room and instantly loved what I heard. And then I realized that she is having a gig in Zurich, in the next few days, just at the time when I was suppose to be back from the festival.I immediately reached out to the people that could help me with setting up an interview. Several days after, few hours before Gavlyn's concert, I was chatting with this talented, young artist. It was a perfect summer day and we were in the back yard of the house of her friends, taking a break from a BBQ and listening to some chilled hip hop music. Time flew by while I was chatting with Gavlyn about her life, European tour and her music. She was refreshingly open, raw and honest, very much like her lyrics. After that, perfect flow of the summer day continued into the night, with her gig at Gonzo. It felt very good to be there, feeling the good vibes of the people who truly appreciate hip hop music and embracing the talent of the young artist with bright future ahead of her..------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tune in tonight (18.11.2013) for ...
Gavlyn in Zurich with playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00:web radio on radio LoRa
featuring:gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,Babymonster
---------------------------------------------for more info please go to: previous entries

* VV Brown, In The Valley Below, La Femme at Rock En Seine 2013 *

Since 2003, Rock En Seine festival is happening every year at the end of the summer, last weekend of August, at Domaine National de Saint-Cloud, at Château de Saint-Cloud's park just outside Paris, inside the garden designed by Le Nôtre in 17th century. In the beginning this festival was happening only during one day and had 2 stages and 10 bands. Nowadays, over the 3days this festival features many local and international bands that play on one of the 4 stages: Grande Scene, Scene De La Cascade, Scene De L'Industrie and Scene Pression Live.
Perfect balance of phenomenal line-up, location very close to Paris town and lots of cool, stylish visitors that are not only taking care of the style and what to wear, but really know how to enjoy the music and give it all when the artist they love is on the stage in front of them are one of the main reasons that Gimme a Beat keeps on coming back. This festival never gets dull for me. And even though 2013 edition of Rock En Seine only had one sunny day and two rainy days leaving everybody stuck in mud, this didn't stop me from enjoying.
Even if Gimme a Beat explores female factor on the festivals, I've managed to see loads of non-female related bands and discover several new ones as well. My playlist on the youtube and my short review after the festival on Gimme a Beat facebook page includes videos and list of all the bands that I've seen.
But tonight, in Rock En Seine 2013 review of Gimme a Beat, I will focus on following artists: VV Brown: talented British artist that stepped away from her previous style and brought her new, fabulous material in the performance at the Scene De L'Industrie of Rock en Seine; In the Valley Below: Californian duo with intense, sexy stage dynamics that adds something dark and fascinating to their already impressive debut album and La Femme: young french band with the name and songs that assume more female presence then bands agrees with (but you can decide what to think about this after you hear an itw and their music).
I will include impressions of their performances as well as whole-festival experience, while playing the interviews with these artists and chosen songs from their current albums..
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Tune in tonight (21.10.2013) for ...
VV Brown, In The Valley Below, La Femme at Rock En Seine 2013 with playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00:web radio on radio LoRa
featuring:rock en seine 2013 on youtube
Kisses,Babymonster
---------------------------------------------for more info please go to: previous entries

* Laura Mvula at Blue Balls Festival 2013 *

Blue Balls Festival is an annual music festival happening in a beautiful surrounding next to Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, on the various locations like an Open-Air Pavilion, the Lucerne Culture and Convention Center and The Club at the Schweizerhof Hotel.Started with an audience of 300 people, back in 1992, this festival, with slightly inappropriate name for an English speaking artists and audience, is today an international music festival with 100 000 visitors over nine days in July. It presents more then 100 shows with international artists different genres; with local, Swiss artists (Young Talents stage) as well as photography exhibits, video lounge and films dedicated to music. This was my third year of visiting Blue Balls Festival as a Gimme A Beat. In order to explore female factor of the festival, I've chosen two days with female artists that I wanted to include in my review.The headliner of the Blue Balls Festival 2013 was Laura Mvula, an amazing British artist that I came across through her nomination for this year's BBC - Sound of ... This poll has always been a great reference for exceptional musicians and I have been fortunate enough to, over the years, interview several of the nominated artists.The afternoon before the festival's opening night and Laura Mvula's first Swiss concert, i had a chance to sit down with this young, talented lady for an interview. The interview happened at Schweizerhof hotel in Lucerne, beautiful, family owned 5 star hotel with personal charm and elegant, period decor, renovated to accommodate it's classy guests. Appropriately, the surrounding suited my impressions of Laura's debut album: enchanting, fabulous world, but still modern and somehow approachable. And an interview only confirmed what was obvious before. Laura is beautiful, strong woman with a great sense of style and capability to experience music visually. And on top of that she is bubbly and has great sense of humor. All of this made an interview fun and I very much enjoyed talking to her.The day after, on the opening night of the festival, Laura continued to impress me with her mesmerizing performance. In addition to first part of tonight show, and my focus on Laura Mvula, exploring female vibe at Blue Balls Festival 2013 included another day at the festival and gigs from Trixie Whitley and

* Emilie Nana at Montreux Jazz Festival 2013 *

In 1967, while he was director of tourist office in Montreux, Claude Nobs organized his first Montreux Jazz Festival. Festival lasted 3 days and was immediate success, locally and internationally. Even
today, jazz is still very important part of the festival, however,
nowadays the festival features wide variety of music styles. The
festival also grew length-wise dramatically: from 3 days to 2 weeks of
tightly packed, always impressive lineup and many other interesting
happenings. It attracts not only audience but also volunteers and staff
from all over the world.The festival was originally held at the
old Montreux Casino, which burned down in December 1971 during Frank
Zappa's performance. From 2007, the Convention Centre hosts two main
stages: Stravinsky Auditorium and Miles Davis Hall, as well as the
smaller Montreux Jazz Cafe, and several smaller open-air stages around
the Centre. Most importantly for one festival, all venues have
impeccable sound system and lineup adapted to their style and size.2013 brought some very sad news and was the first Montreux Jazz Festival
without legendary Claude Nobs. But it also proved that neither Claude
Nobs nor his legacy will ever be forgotten. And this is not only
because the part of Grand Rue has been changed to Claude Nobs avenue, but mostly because his spirit will stay forever on the stages of Montreux Jazz
festival, protecting the legacy built on enthusiasm and love for art.This year one of the most obvious changes venue wise, Miles Davis Hall got a new name, Montreux Jazz Lab, and not
only that but also change in look and very up-to-date lineup with great, bit
edgy bands and artists with music style ranging from rock, hip hop to
electronica. And after midnight Lab was hosting free (most of the
nights) after show parties. Other venues as the Studio and Rock Cave
also gave opportunities for the visitors to dance the night away till
the early morning hours.And in the case that all of this wasn't
enough, as a part of the festival various workshops and competitions are
held at the nearby Montreux Palais and Le Petit Palais.I've
been many times at Montreux Jazz Festival but this year I attended it
for the first time as Gimme A Beat. Of course, as expected, I was blown
away with the festival vibe, concerts that I attended, but … I was also
amazed with invisible, perfect organization and staff that as motivated
and as excited about the concerts as audience. While exploring "female factor" at the festival for Gimme A Beat, I've seen following female artists: Emilie Nana, Trixie Whitley, Cat Power, Angel Haze and DaughterAlso,
in the Le Petit Palais, I attended *Gimme The Beat: rhythms in music,
the voice and the brain* workshop, hosted by Johanna Wiebke Trost and
Sascha Fruehholz.My main focus in the review of the festival will be on Emilie Nana,
multi-talented DJ and producer that creates beautiful music since very
early age. We sat down few hours before her gig at the Studio and she
shared roots of her passion and love for music and how she became an artist that she is today. She also
prepared short music mix for tonight's show.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Tune in tonight (19.08.2013) to Gimme A Beat to hear my impressions of Montreux Jazz Festival, gigs I've seen, music from the artists I've seen, interview with Emilie Nana, her music and short mix she did exclusively for gimme a beaters .. Tune in for..Emilie Nana at Montreux Jazz Festival 2013  with playlistfrom 22:00 - 00:00 on: webradio lorafeaturing: emilie nana at montreux jazz festivalcadenza podcasts from emilie nana
Kisses, Babymonster ————————————————————————– the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Coachella 2013 *

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly known as Coachella) is an annual three-day music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley.
First official Coachella festival happened in October 1999.  Then, after the break of one year, to avoid intense heat during the summer, time of the festival moved to April. In following years Coachella became an event with impressive lineup and amazing atmosphere that attracted many people from all over the world. The event has several stages/tents set-up throughout the grounds, each playing live music continuously. The main stages are: Coachella Stage, Outdoor Theatre, Gobi Tent, Mojave Tent, Sahara Tent and newly introduced in 2013, Yuma stage.
For many years I was watching from the sideline (aka another continent) what is happening at this musical oasis in the middle of the desert until finally, last year, I decided to join excited Coachella festival goers. The experience was absolutely mind blowing. It combined many things that I love: opportunity to spend some time in California, before and after the festival, hanging around with some seriously awesome people (making friends for life) and seeing bands in the atmosphere that can't be explained, only experienced.
Having goose bumps every time when I thought about Coachella 2012 experience, there were no doubt in my mind that I have to repeat it and come back to the desert festival extravaganza again in 2013.
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Tune in tonight (17.06.2013) to Gimme A Beat to hear all about my experience at Coachella 2013, chosen songs of the female artists that I saw on the festival and many short interviews of friendly Coachella visitors that were kind enough to step away for a moment from the festival fun and answer few of my questions..
Tune in for ..
Coachella 2013 with a playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
coachella 2013 on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
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for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Evelinn Trouble, Steff La Cheffe and Velvet Two Stripes at m4music in Zurich *

m4music is a 4-days music festival which, since 1998, at the end of the March, takes place every year in Zürich and in one other city of the French speaking part of Switzerland (usually Lausanne). The event is organized by the Migros Pour-cent culturel.
As a music festival m4music features four live stages in the beautiful Schiffbau complex. But m4music is much more then just another music festival. It is also a conference with presentations and discussions as well as a competition for next generation of musicians (Demotape Clinic). There are always interesting panel discussion on hot issues in latest music business held by industry experts. And at the venue, you can see many national and international people from music industry hanging around, sharing ideas, knowledge and opinions. And best of all you can meet them and join them as well.
Therefore maybe m4music can be best defined as a type of an exchange platform between artists, clubs and cultural institutions with a strong focus on young artists.
I have been visiting m4music for many years now, but this year I decided to review/cover one day of it and as usual, focus on the female factor on m4music.
On Friday, 22nd of March, I've managed to catch two female artists: singer/songwriter from Zürich: Evelinn Trouble (real name Linnéa Racine); beat-boxer and swiss-german female rapper from Bern: Steff La Cheffe (real name Stefanie Peter) and all-female, rock band from St Gallen: Velvet Two Stripes for a quick interviews while they were getting ready for their gigs later in the evening.
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Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat (20.05.2013) for impressions of their gigs and the festival, interviews and to hear selected songs from their new albums.
Evelinn Trouble, Steff La Cheffe and Velvet Two Stripes at m4music playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
m4music festival playlist
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Albums That Ruled (My) World *

When Albums Ruled the World is documentary that I've seen few weeks ago on BBC four. By focusing on Golden Age of vinyl LPs (mid 60s to the late 70s) this documentary takes the viewers on the journey through music history. The albums that are mentioned are the albums that had biggest impact, that changed music history, forged careers, or set new artistic standards. The people interviewed were part of that history and therefore could share not only their opinions but also their own experiences. After I watched it, I discovered several related ones from the same season. Danny Baker's 3-part Great Album Showdown gets more personal. Danny and his guests select their favorite LPs from the Golden Era and talk about their choices and way they experienced music in those days. With 3 shows and different guests Danny covers 3 genres: Rock, Pop and R&B.
All of these documentaries brought many of my memories back, from the first record I bought; records that I loved, shared with my friends and those that I still listen today.
I never stopped being obsessed with vinyls. There is something truly magical about the whole ritual that happens after you buy the record: opening it, reading through the cover, checking out album art and then taking it out of the sleeve, putting the needle on it and playing it for the first time. In my world, using any other music format, physical or digital, could never replace this feeling. It is very personal, private experience that sometimes can't be explained and many times not even shared with anyone else.
But tonight I will dig into my record collection, pick up some of my favorite albums from female artists and share part of that world with the listeners of Gimme A Beat. These albums ruled (and are still ruling) my world.
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Tune in to Gimme A Beat (18.03.2013) for selection of ...
Albums That Ruled (My) World with playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
ideas from documentaries
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Daytrottering 2013 *

Last two years I've been doing special editions of the Gimme A Beat shows that I called appropriately Daytrottering. In these shows I showed the love for one of the coolest music websites out there: Daytrotter.
When I started listening to Daytrotter they were giving 7 original sessions, 28 songs for free each week. Over the years daytrotter guys recorded more then 2000 sessions and gave it for free to million of music lovers like me. Last year, the things have changed, but luckily for all of us, not the "Why" of Daytrotter, but the "How" of Daytrotter.  Therefore today, in order to help Daytrotter continue doing what it has been doing throughout the years, all of you, real music lovers can purchase monthly pass to Daytrotter for ridiculously low 2$ a month or an annual pass for just $24 for the entire year.
Now, let me remind you again what the Daytrotter is all about and explain what kind of goodies are coming with a membership.
Daytrotter sessions are exclusive, re-worked, alternate versions of old songs and unreleased tracks by some of your favorite bands and by a lot of bands that will be your favorites. Minimalist recording process used to records songs of the visiting band in the setup that is configurable, makes a very honest presentation of the band/artist on that particular day, in the physical and musical sense. These songs are them as they are on that particular day, on that particular tour - dirty and alive. Daytrotter membership allows you access to everything on the site: all new session postings (5 new sessions posted M-F - roughly 100 new songs weekly), the archive of over 2000 previous Daytrotter sessions and audio and video content of hundreds and hundreds of exclusive Barnstormer tour shows and other live performances throughout the years. And, you listen in live as they tape sessions - they stream a bunch live every week, to your computer or daytrotter iPhone or Android apps, wherever you may be. It's as if you're in the studio with your favorite artists.
Most of the sessions are recorded in the Horseshack studio in Rock Island, Illinois. In addition to those sessions, Daytrotter guys are working closely with Communion Records in London and friends/studios in in Montreal, Portland, Oregon, Nashville, Asheville, NC, Austin, Texas and San Francisco, California in order to chronicle as much as they can.
The stuff like cute drawings of the artists (which makes it also very easy to search for them in extensive archive), short impression/biography stories on daytrotter session artists page as well as easy to use daytrotter mobile apps are available. There are concert videos showing artists performing live, from daytrotter's Barnstormer tours, to the stages of Austin and beyond. There are featured and artist playlist available as well. And if some of your friends are also daytrotter members, you can connect to them via friends page.
Few weeks ago daytrotter dudes introduced Horse Power. If you click on *Horse Power* button, and Copy & share the link to tell your friends about Daytrotter you can earn fantastic Daytrotter prizes: vinyls, poster, daytrotter gift certificate and even your own daytrotter illustration.
I've been listening to Daytrotter for years now and I am big supporter of what they are all about. Therefore I decided to Daytrotter at least once per year with Gimme A Beat listeners through my selection of the Daytrotter Sessions performed by female artists/all-female bands or bands with female vocalists.
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Tune in tonight (18.02.2013) to Gimme A Beat and let me try to convince you that this membership is the best deal you ever got in your life.
Daytrottering with a playlist (with all the songs) directly on Daytrotter
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring artists that I will play tonight:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* AlunaGeorge and Factory Floor at Pitchfork Music Festival in Paris *

In late 1995, after he had just graduated from high school, Ryan Schreiber  launched Pitchfork Media, one of the most innovative and relevant online music magazines. While it has been sometimes criticized as being too hipster and über cool, the fact is that guys behind Pitchfork have impeccable music taste and are usually very accurate in their recommendations and reviews. I think I share view of many of their readers around the world (and apparently there are more then 240,000 readers per day) when saying that I discovered loads of good music by reading Pitchfork.
In 2005 Pitchfork Media was hired by a music promotion company called Skyline Chicago to curate the Intonation Festival at Union Park in Chicago. In 2006, Pitchfork premiered it's own Pitchfork Music Festival in the same park.
In 2011, Pitchfork Music Festival crossed the Atlantic and landed in Paris, for it's first full-fledged festival outside of USA, addition to Pitchfork European presence on Primavera Festival and collaboration with All Tomorrow's Parties.
While Gimme A Beat missed 2011, this time I was happy to return to Paris, only few months after Rock En Seine festival, to finish my crazy festival packed 2012 with a bang, an amazing Pitchfork Music Festival Paris. The festival happened over 3 days, November 1st-3rd at a beautiful La Grande Halle de la Villette, a stunning 19th century glass and metal structure that stands in the center of the Parc de la Villette, the city's largest public cultural park. 2012 edition of the festival also featured 2nd stage. I thought that this was a very clever way of using this fabulous space, creating a seamless illusion of fluid ping pong transition while moving between gigs and two stages. 2nd stage and 3rd day (2011 edition of the festival was happening over 2 days) ensured twice as many acts and that created even more impressive line-up.
During the festival, as you would expect from Gimme A Beat, I've seen many good bands and discovered several new ones. I also had a chance to help out a friend and Parisian Flavor Magazine and capture the street-style and looks of the festival. And I had endless fun strolling around, hanging in the Converse sponsored backstage area; checking out stalls with fun products from local vendors and buying some cool, music related merchandise.
All of these impressions and much more I will share with my listeners in tonight's two hour show.
And in the true spirit of all-female vibe of Gimme A Beat, in the review of Pitchfork Music Festival Paris I will focus on the female artists and bands with female members that I've seen on the festival.
First part of the show will include interviews and music from following bands: AlunaGeorge, musical fusion of Aluna and George that creates sleek, seductive sound of electronic R&B;and Factory Floor, band consisting of Nik Void, Gabriel and Dominic that makes almost hypnotizing, journey-like electronic sound. I will round up my review by taking you through the impressions of performances of few more artists that completed my experience of the festival.
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Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat (21.01.2013) for
AlunaGeorge and Factory Floor at Pitchfork Music Festival in Paris with playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
pitchfork music festival paris
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Kimbra in Zurich *

Kimbra Lee Johnson, better known as Kimbra, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter/guitarist.
I saw Kimbra for the first time at Coachella in April this year when she came out at Gotye's gig and sang *Somebody That I Used To Know*, song that not only brought her and him mainstream success but Grammy Nomination as well. At the end of the summer of 2012, I saw Kimbra again, this time at Rock En Seine and without Gotye. She was exceptional. Kimbra does something very magical on the stage. Even though she only released one album, her debut album Vows, she improvises and performs the version of the songs very different from what you can hear on it. Charming, with amazing voice, working the stage with lots of energy it's hard not to follow her every move and fall in love with her. I, and I believe the rest of the audience, was mesmerized with her. However, my favorite performance was two weeks after, when I saw her again performing live here in Zürich.
On 11th of September, few hours before her concert at Kaufleuten, and before Kimbra put her fabulous outfit on, I sat together with her and talked about her music, how she became an artist that she is today and her plans for future.
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Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat (17.12.2012) to hear an interview and listen to the music from Kimbra's album Vows as well as her choice of songs sang by female artists that inspire her.
Kimbra in Zürich with playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimmeabeat on the youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Deap Vally, Grimes, UME, Family of the Year and Hyphen Hyphen at Rock En Seine 2012 *

It is becoming some kind of yearly tradition for Gimme A Beat to visit and review Rock En Seine festival. What is the reason that every year I keep on going back to this festival? I guess it is a perfect balance of phenomenal line-up, location very close to Paris town and lots of cool, stylish visitors that are not only taking care of the style and what to wear, but really know how to enjoy the music and give it all when the artist they love is on the stage in front of them.
Since 2003, Rock En Seine festival is happening every year at the end of the summer, last weekend of August, at Domaine National de Saint-Cloud, at Château de Saint-Cloud's park just outside Paris, inside the garden designed by Le Nôtre in 17th century.  In the beginning this festival was happening only during one day and had 2 stages and 10 bands. Nowadays, over the 3days this festival features many local and international bands that play on one of the 4 stages: Grande Scene, Scene De La Cascade, Scene De L'Industrie and Scene Pression Live.
This year, Rock En Seine celebrated 10th Anniversary and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac created very cool T Shirts for the occasion (I got one of course).
As it usually happens every year, and whenever I attend the festivals, I’ve seen loads of good bands and artists and even discovered few new ones.  However, since Gimme A Beat is all about female artists, all-female bands and bands with females as a leading vocalist, I will of course focus my review on them.
Tonight, I will focus on the following artists: Deap Vally, sexy, powerful all-female rock duo from LA; Grimes, aka Claire Boucher, young, talented Canadian experimental pop artist; UME, mind blowing rock trio from Austin; Family of The Year, charming indie/folk rock quartet from LA and Hyphen Hyphen, electro rock french band based in Nice.
My review of the Rock En Seine festival will include impressions of their performances as well as whole-festival experience, while playing the interviews with these artists and chosen songs from their albums/EPs.
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Tune in for ...
Deap Vally, Grimes, UME, Family of the Year and Hyphen Hyphen at Rock En Seine 2012 with playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
rock en seine 2012 on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Lianne La Havas at Blue Balls Festival 2012 *

Blue Balls Festival took place for the first time in the evening of September 19, 1992, with an audience of 300 on the old steamboat "Stadt Luzern". Many years later and this festival with slightly inappropriate name for an English speaking artists and audience, is an international music festival with 100 000 visitors over nine days in July. The festival presents more then 100 shows with international artists different genres, with local, Swiss artists (Young Talents stage) as well as photography exhibits, video lounge and films dedicated to music. There is something called Meet The Artists as well, which is kind of an open, interactive studio, where moderator entertains audience until artists pop-by for a short chat. This can be either very dull or very interesting experience, depending of the artists popping by, something being total mystery until they enter the studio. The festival is happening in a beautiful surrounding around Lake Lucerne, Switzerland on the various locations like an Open-Air Pavilion, the Lucerne Culture and Convention Center and The Club at the Schweizerhof Hotel.
This was my second year of visiting Blue Balls Festival as a press. Like last year, this year, again, I've chosen two days with female artists that I would like to include in my review of the festival.
On the first day that I visited the festival I saw amazing Esperanza Spalding. During the concert, this talented lady managed to create the world of her own. World where she sings, plays different instruments, talks about different subjects from love till political and environmental issues; and crosses between soul and pop without losing her connection to the jazz roots. And even if it sounds contradictory she does all of this in the precise manner of professional musician but still very naturally. Amazing!
Second day of my Blue Balls Festival visit I saw another talented young artist, Lianne La Havas. In the very short time since I listened to her for the first time, Lianne La Havas became one of my favorite female artists.  And after listening her EPs and debut album over and over again, I was very excited to finally see this young lady, live, on the stage. There are no words to explain how I felt that evening when I saw her live. Simple said, Lianne La Havas (just) gets me every time. Her music, her voice and her lyrics seems to be catching the deepest emotions and totally mesmerizing my soul. Her live performance was an amazing, emotionally intense and beautiful experience. And as a cherry on the top of it I had a chance to interview Lianne after the concert.
Interviewing Lianne was very easy. She is as honest, funny and approachable as her songs. We talked about her music, her inspirations, how she became an artist that she is today and how her talent gave her an opportunity to meet Prince and jam with him at his studio in Minneapolis.
To hear the whole story and the music from Lianne La Havas's debut album: * Is Your ♥ Big Enough? * as well as review of Blue Balls Festival, tune in to Gimme A Beat tonight (15.10.2012).
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Tune in for ...
Lianne La Havas at Blue Balls Festival 2o12 with playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
blue balls festival 2012 on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Sneaky Sound System, Little Dragon, Miss Kittin, Hercules and Love Affair at Exit Festival 2012 *

Exit Festival is an annual music festival that is taking place at 18th century Petrovaradin fortress of Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia since 2000. It started as a student initiated project against the Milosevic regime and over the years grew into the festival that is adored by artists and audiences all over the world. There are seven stages that are considered to be bigger ones: Main Stage, Dance Arena, Fusion Stage, Suba Stage, Explosive, Elektrana and Happy Novi Sad and many smaller ones. With so many stages this festival manages to cover every possible genre, and range of the artists from mainstream, well-known ones, till underground, alternative and even many local ones.
This festival is to me much more then just another music festival. First of all it is happening in Novi Sad, my hometown. Second of all there is  something wild, crazy, intense and totally untameable in the air.
It is kind of the vibe and energy that no one can really explain but like many powerful things in life, only experience.
Nevertheless I'll try to bring that vibe and my Exit experience in Gimme A Beat tonight.
In my review of Exit Festival I will include interviews and the music of following artists: charismatic Australian duo Sneaky Sound System ; charming Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon; my favorite female DJ, über cool Miss Kittin and fabulous Andy Butler and Whitney Fierce of Hercules and Love Affair
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Tune in tonight (17.09.2012) to Gimme A Beat for ..
Sneaky Sound System, Little Dragon, Miss Kittin, Hercules and Love Affair at Exit Festival 2012  at Exit Festival 2012 with playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
exit 2012 on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Hollie Cook, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside and The Buttshakers at Les Eurockeennes 2012 *

I've been visiting this festival for few years already and I never got disappointed with a line up or an atmosphere. And  like in the previous years Les Eurockéennes de Belfort 2012 impressed me again. Still, let me remind you about this festival with few facts..
Les Eurockéennes de Belfort is a festival that is taking place on the peninsula of Malsaucy, near Belfort, France. Amazingly enough, even if this festival is happening since 1989, it’s line up seems to be always fresh, but not overwhelming, having just right amount of more and less known artists. Easy to access: if you are staying at the campsite you could take a walk or a shuttle buss and if staying in Belfort, there are free local trains running every half an hour, even during the night.
There are four stages on the festival: Grande Scene (main stage), Club Loggia (that got covered up this year), Esplanade Green Room (which replaced smaller Chapiteau from the last year) and La Plage (that moved to even better location from the beach to the water)...  All of the stages are surrounded with beautiful scenery, water and green hills reflecting in it.
My review of Les Eurockéennes 2012, in tonight's Gimme A Beat (20.08.2012), will focus on, as I would like to call it, female factor on the festival. This will include an interview with following talented female artists: Hollie Cook, young British artist that successfully combines roots reggae and pop; Sallie Ford of Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, lead vocalist of american rocknroll band that continues to make amazing, fresh sound based on good old&curent music that she is constantly inspired with and The Buttshakers with lead singer Chiara Thomson, that will make you shake your ass whenever they are playing on the stage.
I will finish my review by playing the selected music of other female artists and bands with female leading vocals that contributed to my Les Eurockéennes experience.
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Tune in tonight (20.08.2012) to Gimme A Beat for ..
Hollie Cook, Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside and The Buttshakers at Les Eurockeennes 2012 with playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Spankin' New Music *

Once upon the time, when MTV was still a music television, there was a magical show called Spankin' New Music. This show featured brand new releases of the moment.
Here we are today, in June of 2012 and I feel that since the beginning of this year, music world has already been overloaded with amazing music from hot new artists and returning ones.
So I decided to stop for a moment, take a deep breath before summer festival frenzy and look at all the releases that happened in 2012, till now.
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Tune in tonight (18.06.2012) to Gimme A Beat to hear my choice of spankin' new songs from brand new releases of the female artists or bands with female vocalists.
Tune in for ..
Spankin' New Music with playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* Coachella 2012 *

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly known as Coachella) is an annual three-day music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley.
November 5, 1993 is marked as non official beginning of Coachella when Pearl Jam performed before almost 25,000 fans on the lawns of Indio's previously rock-festival free Empire Polo Club. 6th years later, on October 9 and 10, 1999 the first actual Coachella festival was held.  Then, after the break of one year, to avoid intense heat during the summer, festival moved to April. In following years Coachella became an event with several stages/tents featuring many genres of music, including rock, indie, hip hop and electronic music as well as large sculptural art.
This year, for the first time, Coachella became two weekend event that got sold out in only few hours after the tickets went on sale.
An impressive lineup and amazing atmosphere is what attracted me to Coachella in the first place. Over the years I followed excitingly what is happening in this musical oasis in the middle of the desert, imagining that one day I will make it there as well. Never being the one to shy away from a challenge of fulfilling my dreams, I finally made it in 2012.

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Tune in tonight (21.05.2012) to Gimme A Beat to hear all about my experience at Coachella, chosen songs of the female artists that I saw on the festival and many short interviews of friendly Coachella visitors that were kind enough to step away for a moment from the festival fun and answer few of my questions..
Tune in for ..
Coachella 2012 with a playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
coachella 2012 on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

* California Love *

California has been one of my dream travel destinations for many years.  And even before going there i had an idea, vivid image of it, based on the movies, books and music.
Now, finally, at this very moment, I am not dreaming anymore about it, but experiencing it!
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And while i am soaking up the California sun, in tonight's (16.04.2012) Gimme A Beat I will share my image of California with eclectic choice of California themed songs sang by female artists.
Tune in tonight for..
California Love with a playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Itw with Liela from The Duke Spirit *

The Duke Spirit is an English rock'n'roll band based in London with frontwoman Liela Moss, Luke Ford and Toby Butler on the guitars, Olly Betts on drums and Marc Sallis on the bass guitar. Even before hearing their music i heard (and read) a lot about their fantastic, energetic live performances. The magazines that I trust wrote good things about them, people that have similar taste to mine and that are usually great references told me about their gigs, and I absolutely loved every of their records that I got in the meantime; but somehow, even if I am known to be total concert/festival freak, I keep on missing seeing them live.
Finally, I saw that they are coming back to Switzerland for one show only, at the small venue in Wil, Gare De Lion. And this time, I was in the town and I decided that no matter what happens I will make it to their concert and experience them live.
I was expecting a lot, and I wasn't disappointed. What happened on the stage, actually, right in front of me, was the rock'n'roll, the way it should be: raw, sweaty, sexy and seductively powerful. And even though only few minutes before the gig, I really thought that my energy levels are irreparable and that i will fall asleep somewhere in the corner and again miss the concert, with a first sound of music, the mind-blowing energy of Liela and the dudes from The Duke Spirit brought me back to my well-known Duracell mode and I couldn't stop any more. Nothing else mattered while I completely surrendered !
Few hours before the gig, i sat down for an interview with a charismatic frontlady Liela Moss. She is definitely one of the coolest and nicest people i ever met, proof that you can be über talented and still very approachable, and i really enjoyed listening to her stories in very unusual setting, out in the wilderness, near old abandon railroads covered with graffiti and with the sound of roosters in the background.
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Tune in to the Gimme A Beat tonight (19.03.2012), to hear all those stories from Liela as well as music from their last album, the Bruiser. I promise that you will become a fan if you are not one already.
Tune in for ...
Interview with Liela from The Duke Spirit with a playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Daytrottering 2012 *

Last year in March, in the Gimme A Beat show that I called appropriately Daytrottering, I showed the love for one of the coolest music websites out there: Daytrotter.
When I start listening to Daytrotter they were giving 7 original sessions, 28 songs for free each week. Over the years daytrotter guys recorded more then 2000 sessions and gave it for free to million of music lovers like me. Recently, the things have changed, but luckily for all of us, not the "Why" of Daytrotter, but the "How" of Daytrotter.  So today, in order to help Daytrotter keep on doing what they are doing, which is frankly speaking much more then it used to be, all of you real music lovers can purchase monthly pass to Daytrotter for ridiculously low 2$ a month.
Now, let me remind you what the Daytrotter is all about and explain what kind of goodies are coming with a membership.
Daytrotter sessions are exclusive, re-worked, alternate versions of old songs and unreleased tracks by some of your favorite bands and by a lot of bands that will be your favorites. Minimalist recording process used to records songs of the visiting band in the setup that is configurable, makes a very honest presentation of the band/artist on that particular day, in the physical and musical sense. These songs are them as they are on that particular day, on that particular tour - dirty and alive.
Most of the sessions are recorded in the Horseshack studio in Rock Island, Illinois. In addition to those sessions, Daytrotter guys are working closely with Communion Records in London and friends/studios in in Montreal, Portland, Oregon, Nashville, Asheville, NC, Austin, Texas and San Francisco, California in order to chronicle as much as they can.
The stuff like cute drawings of the artists (which makes it also very easy to search for them in extensive archive) and the short impression/biography stories on daytrotter session artists page and easy to use daytrotter mobile apps are still there, but many new things are also available. There are concert videos showing artists performing live, from daytrotter's Barnstormer tours, to the stages of Austin and beyond. There are featured and artist playlist available as well. And if you are really somebody that believes that there is nothing like hearing it live, for a small additional fee per session, you can tune in and listen to the sessions live, as they are recorded in the Daytrotter studio.
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If you are still not convinced that this membership is the best deal you ever got in your life, tune in tonight (20.02.2012) to Gimme A Beat, cause I will share my membership goodies with you and play my choice of awesome Daytrotter sessions performed by female artists.
Daytrottering with a playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring artists that I will play tonight:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* New Look in Brooklyn, NY *

New Look is a Canadian husband-and-wife band currently based in Brooklyn, NY. The duo consists of synth-playing vocalist, former model, Sarah Ruba (doing mostly band related modelling nowadays ), and the multi-instrumentalist, producer Adam Pavao. They are signed with K7!, Berlin based label, established for over a decade and known for being one of the most influential independent  labels worldwide for contemporary electronic music.
The first time i heard New Look, i got reminded on all those bands that i loved back in the days and on something coming out of the dark side of the disco compilations. Dark electronic synth-sound with a fresh twist of  the futuristic dub pop and with a beautiful Ruba's vocals made me listen their debut album over and over again...
Since my NY trip was already in the plans, i contacted  their agent and organized an interview. We met in a small cafeteria in Brooklyn on a rainy November day. They both looked relaxed and Sarah looked even more beautiful in person. I really loved how obvious their connection was/is and how they symbiotically told me their story and answered my questions. It is totally understandable that next to all the über-coolness, their music also has a warm tenderness of the harmonious couple that  share so many things: talent, creativity, passion and love for each other and the music.
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Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat (16.01.2012) to hear New Look story and listen to the music from their self-titled debut album.
New Look in Brooklyn, NY with a playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Nneka in Zurich *

Nneka is the singer and songwriter, daughter of Nigerian father and German mother, who was born and raised in Warri, Oil City in the Delta region of Nigeria at the height of its new found wealth in the mid 70s. At the age of 19, Nneka made the big decision to leave behind the African way of life. In order to further her education, she moved to Hamburg in Germany, where she studied Anthropology and Archeology. What happened there as well is that even she, herself, discovered amazing talent that she carried all along, but never thought that it was that special. And like many African musicians before, once she left her home-country she discovered her own Africaness.
Today, Nneka's first home is again Nigeria, while Germany now takes 2nd place. She want's to discover more of Africa and give back to her Nigeria, raise awareness in Nigerians about themselves and their history.
I first saw Nneka at Rock En Seine 2011 in Paris. Even though I have listened to her album before seeing her live, I wasn't prepared for what I saw. Her live performance is indescribable, simply mind blowing. There is some kind of intensity that at that time I couldn't explain but now I believe that those intense emotions are coming from the life experience that Nneka had and that she somehow transformed into the music.
Of course, I was curious to find out the story behind Nneka's powerful performance, behind the powerful musician that I saw in front of me. On 6th of Decembar 2011, few hours before her concert at Kaufleuten, in Zurich, Nneka and I sat together and had a long conversation about her life, life in general, intensity and complexity of her music, her plans for the future, life-wise and music-wise, and what could make the world better place.
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Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat (19.12.2011) to hear all about Nneka and listen to the music from hers, very appropriately named album Soul Is Heavy.
Nneka in Zurich with a playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Fiona Daniel at radio LoRa *

Fiona Daniel is a young, very talented female artist from Zurich, Switzerland. She plays several instruments and on top of that (somehow) she uses her own voice as an instrument as well.
I saw Fiona for the first time when she guest appeared at the concert of my good friend, Lee Everton. He told me about her and how talented she was, but he never really prepared me for the experience that followed. After that performance I got her album and saw her few times live at her own, solo concerts. This summer, after one of the concerts, when I was again absolutely blown away with her performance, we had a quick chat and made an appointment for an interview.
What I loved about Fiona's debut album Drowning is that it is not overly produced but really, somehow a representation of Fiona and her music. The feeling that you get while listening to it is like if you are drowning into Fiona's dreamy, magical world for the 35 minutes of the album. And her concerts seem to be deeper, more intense experience of that. I am really impressed with is how she almost uses her voice as an additional instrument. It seems that it changes with the moods and the vibe of the different songs that she performs. Therefore, every song, every concert is a brand new experience and no matter how much you know her music, you will be surprised, emotionally moved and blown away every time you see&hear Fiona live. And I believe that, with years, it is going to get only better.
My interview with Fiona Daniel happened this summer, one sunny Sunday afternoon, when we left the good weather outside and sat in the dark, but still kind of intimate and cozy studio and had afternoon long chat. Next to being talented artist, Fiona is also a storyteller, easy to talk to, and while I was asking only few questions she told me the story about her life, her music and her ideas for the future.
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Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat (21.11.2011) to hear all about Fiona Daniel, music from her debut album Drowning as well as one of the new songs, that she sang, live, in the Radio LoRa studio..
Fiona Daniel at radio LoRa with a playlist
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Cherri Bomb, LCMDF and Myra Lee at Rock En Seine 2011 *

Just before the summer ends, and cold, rainy autumn starts, there is one last chance for Parisians to rock and it is on the Rock En Seine festival. This festival is held at Domaine National de Saint-Cloud, at Château de Saint-Cloud's park just outside Paris, inside the garden designed by Le Nôtre in 17th century. This year, unfortunately, the summer ended few days before the festival and it was raining on and off during the 3 days, but not even that could stop good vibes and rock happening on the stages of the Rock En Seine.
2003 was the first year of the Rock En Seine, and in those days, festival happened during only one day and had 2 stages and 10 bands. When I was there in 2009 festival had 3 stages. But this festival keeps on growing and this year, another, 4th stage was added and in 2011 this festival had more then 100 000 visitors over 3 days.


Last year I wasn’t able to go, but this year, I couldn’t resist phenomenal line-up of Rock En Seine and visiting Paris, one of my favorite to places to visit with or without festival. I just had to go ! And, again, I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve seen loads of good bands/artists, I was even pleasantly surprised with some of them and in addition, this year, in between concerts and stages, I could see part of the magical Domaine National de Saint-Cloud, especially when walking to the newly added, 4th stage of the festival.
While I’ve seen several excellent female artists, all-female bands and bands with females as a leading vocalist, which is what Gimme A Beat listeners know I am specially interested in, I am not going to be able to focus on all of them. Regrettably, two hour radio show is just not enough.
Instead, I’ll focus on: Cherri Bomb, very talented, very young, all-girl, rock band based in LA; LCMDF (= Le Corps De Mince De Francoise), sister’s duo from Helsinki that makes vibrant, pulsating (electro) pop and Myra Lee, charismatic, enchanting singer/songwriter from Paris. Tonight, my review of the Rock En Seine festival will include impressions of their performances as well as whole-festival experience, while playing the interviews with these artists and chosen songs from their albums/EPs.
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Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat (17.10.2011) for ...
Cherri Bombs, LCMDF and Myra Lee at Rock En Seine 2011
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
rock en seine 2011
Kisses,
Babymonster
————————————————————————–
for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Marina & The Diamonds at Blue Balls Festival 2011 *

Blue Balls Festival took place for the first time in the evening of September 19, 1992, with an audience of 300 on the old steamboat "Stadt Luzern". Many years later and this festival with slightly inappropriate name for an English speaking artists and audience, is an international music festival with 100 000 visitors over nine days in July. The festival presents more then 100 shows with international artists different genres, with local, Swiss artists (Young Talents stage) as well as photography exhibits, video lounge and films dedicated to music. There is something called Meet The Artists as well, which is kind of an open, interactive studio, where moderator entertains audience until artists pop-by for a short chat. This can be either very dull or very interesting experience, depending of the artists popping by, something being total mystery until they enter the studio. The festival is happening in a beautiful surrounding around Lake Lucerne, Switzerland on the various locations like an Open-Air Pavilion, the Lucerne Culture and Convention Center and The Club at the Schweizerhof Hotel.
It was my first time to visit Blue Balls Festival as a press. I've already been few times there and really liked it, but this year I noticed that their program featured many female artists that I love. So I contacted press responsible and have chosen two days with four concerts of the female artists that I would like to include in the review of the festival. Unfortunately one of the artists that I wanted to see, Beth Ditto, canceled due to family tragedy.
Therefore, in tonight's Gimme A Beat, I will focus on three female artists: Marina and The Diamonds, Erykah Badu and Andreya Triana. I will talk about my impressions of their performances and play chosen songs from their album(s).
However, major focus of my review of Blue Balls Festival, will be on Marina Diamandis, better known by her stage name as Marina and The Diamonds, that I interviewed at the festival. This was definitely one of the most fun interview that I ever did, even if it was the short one.
I met Marina hour before her gig on the Sunday evening at the Blue Balls Festival. She just (dramatically) changed her hair color to blond/silver and was wearing The Simpsons 'Livin' La Vida Sofa' T-shirt, mini skirt and high heels in American flag pattern. The combination looked cool, unusual and unexpected, but still something that I would expect from Marina, after following her career and her quirky styling. While I was trying to keep my serious 'press' face, she start laughing with such an infectious, loud laugh, that when she turned to me and introduced herself I was laughing as well. The rest was easy. We sat down and talked about her beginnings, the fame, current and new album that she is already working on.. I was impressed with her no-bullsh**ting honesty and how she can laugh at herself, with the same loud laughter that I heard at the beginning, just before meeting her. During an interview it was pretty obvious to me that nobody should be fooled by her in-your-face sparkly, fun-loving personality; Marina is a strong women and serious musician that knows what she wants and that is aware that next to her talent(s), she needs to continue working hard to get close to her dreams. And with that attitude she will definitely go a long way.
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Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat (19.09.2011) for ...
Marina & The Diamonds at Blue Balls Festival 2011
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
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for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Moriarty at Les Eurockeennes De Belfort Festival 2011 *

Last year, I discovered the rock festival in France with very diverse and interesting line-up and very close to Switzerland, location-wise. I've decided to visit it this year, again.
Les Eurockéennes de Belfort is a festival that is taking place on the peninsula of Malsaucy, near Belfort, France. Amazingly enough, even if this festival is happening since 1989, it’s line up seems to be always fresh, but not overwhelming, having just right amount of more and less known artists. Easy to access: if you are staying at the campsite you could take a walk or a shuttle buss and if staying in Belfort, there are free local trains running every half an hour, even during the night.
There are four stages on the festival: Grande Scene (main stage), Club Loggia (that got covered up this year), Esplanade Green Room (which replaced smaller Chapiteau from the last year) and La Plage (that moved to even better location from the beach to the water)...  All of the stages are surrounded with beautiful scenery, water and green hills reflecting in it.
My review of Les Eurockéennes 2011, in tonight's Gimme A Beat, will consist from two parts.
In the first part I will focus on Moriarty, band with members of French, American, Swiss and Vietnamese origin, who took the name from the lead character of Jack Kerouac's On the Road novel. Their music is as diverse as parentage of the members of the band as they play something between folk, country, blues, jazz and cabaret. The real magic, however, happens on the stage when, with their theater like performance, Moriarty takes you to their fantasy land.
I've managed to catch up with Rosemary, Stephan and Thomas Moriarty, backstage, in the press area, for a short but fun interview, that, together with the music from their latest album The Missing Room, will be featured in tonight's show.
Second part of the Gimme A Beat will be dedicated to the selected music of other female artists and bands with female leading vocals that contributed to my Les Eurockéennes experience.
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Tune in tonight to Gimme A Beat (15.08.2011) for...
Moriarty at Les Eurockeennes De Belfort Festival 2011
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
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for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Women Who Rock:Vision, Passion, Power*

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is the nonprofit organization that exists to educate visitors, fans and scholars from around the world about the history and continuing significance of rock and roll music. It carries out this mission through its operation of a world-class museum that collects, preserves, exhibits and interprets this art form and through its library and archives as well as its educational programs.
Museum has opened a groundbreaking and provocative new exhibit that illustrates the important roles women have played in rock and roll, from its inception through today. Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power highlights the flashpoints, the firsts, the best, the celebrated -- and sometimes lesser-known women -- who moved rock and roll music and American culture forward.

The interactive exhibition spotlights more than 70 artists and fills two entire floors of the museum. The exhibit features artifacts, video and listening stations, as well as a recording booth where visitors can film a short story or moment of inspiration related to women in rock. The exhibit moves through the rock and roll eras, weaving a powerful and engaging narrative that demonstrates how women have been the engines of creation and change in popular music, from the early years of the 20th century to the present.
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Since I am not able to check out this interesting exhibition myself, and neither many of my listeners, I've decided to bring at least (music) part of it, to Gimme A Beat tonight (20.06.2011).
Tune in for ...
Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
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for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Dum Dum Girls at Mascotte, Zurich *

Dum Dum Girls are an indie noise pop band from sunny California currently signed by Sub Pop records.
Dee Dee formed Dum Dum Girls in a late 2008 as a solo project and named it after the song Dum Dum Boys from Iggy Pop and Dum Dum album from The Vaselines. When Dee Dee needed a band to take her songs out of the bedroom, she looked to her friends: Jules (guitar and vocals), Bambi (bass), and Sandy (drums and vocals), and created an all-female band.
I met Dee Dee on 17th of April, Sunday afternoon, before the Dum Dum Girls gig at Mascotte club in Zurich. Like all the artists Dee Dee is inspired with, she is a multitalent: she can sing, write awesome songs, play drums and guitar and is a total babe with an impeccable, cool style. On the top of everything she is funny, easy going and very approachable, which made an interview with her an effortless endeavor.
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To hear the interview, songs from Dum Dum Girls debut album and recently released EP as well as 5 songs from female artists of Dee Dee's choice, tune in tonight (16.05.2011) for Gimme A Beat and
Dum Dum Girls at Mascotte
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
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for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Classic Motown *

Motown is a record label that was originally founded in Detroit on April 14, 1960, by Berry Gordy Jr. It played an important role in the racial integration of popular music, but not only because it was the first record label owned by an African American, but also, because by creating the new sound, known as The Motown Sound, a style of soul/R&B music with a distinct pop influence, it crossed-over racially different music styles.
Even though artist development at the Motown was very strict and production style almost factory-like, in order to create artists with the look and the sound that would be accepted in a conservative, white popular music market, the music that came out of the Motown, was still creative and very fresh and different. I always felt that parallel to the important changes in the society, Motown brought non-aggressive, smooth and subtle music revolution with a sound that influenced and inspired, and still does, many musicians, in every genre of music.
Since 2005, Motown is a part of the Universal Motown, but I will take you back to the roots, to the world of the original Motown sound, better known as a Classic Motown, where it all started.
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Tune in tonight (18.04.2011) to Gimme A Beat, to hear my choice of the female artists of Classic Motown sound
tune in for..
Classic Motown
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
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for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Daytrottering *

Daytrotter is this amazing music website that is giving 7 original sessions, 28 songs for free each week. The sessions are recorded in the Horseshack studio in Rock Island, Illinois, and as its written on daytrotter website, these songs are exclusive, re-worked, alternate versions of old songs and unreleased tracks by some of your favorite bands and by a lot of your next favorite bands. All the session songs can be either downloaded for free or bought as a lossless ones, if available, for few bucks only.
Minimalist recording process used to records songs of the visiting band in the setup that is configurable, makes a very honest presentation of the band/artist on that particular day, in the physical and musical sense.
There are also some additional touches that I really like and that are provided by Daytrotter dudes : cute drawings of the artists (which makes it also very easy to search for them in extensive archive), short impression/biography stories on daytrotter session artists page, daytrotter for your eyes with video recordings of the sessions, daytrotter radio as well as really cool and easy to use daytrotter iphone app.
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On the top of all of this, these guys were kind enough to let me use any of their recordings.
Tune in tonight (21.03.2011) to Gimme A Beat, to hear my choice of awesome Daytrotter sessions performed by female artists:
tune in for..
Daytrottering
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
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for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Female Drummers & Itw with Cindy Blackman *

There is something really fascinating about the drummers. Maybe it's because they give the feeling that they own the beat? Or maybe it's because they can make a song/band sound really good if they have an impeccable drumming skills, and in the same way, make it sound really bad if they miss a beat (or two)?
However, comparing to the other musicians or members of the band, female drummers always were and still are a rare breed. But times are changing and actually, already nowadays, there are many excellent female drummers out there. Thinking that maybe we are just not aware of all those impressive ladies with drumsticks, I decided to do my bit and put more spotlight on them, like I will do in tonight's Gimme A Beat.
One of the women responsible for making female drummers more prominent is without any doubt jazz/rock drummer Cindy Blackman. She has been considered as one of the top drummers in the world as well as one of the hottest drummers in the business. Always on the lookout for new music challenges, new ways to artistically express herself, being driven by her own passion, and desire to be free in her creativity, Cindy has been an inspiration for many female drummers and musicians in general.
In the words of Talking Drum:
" She is thunder. She is fire. She is energy. She is passion. She is Cindy Blackman. "
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Tune in tonight (21.02.2011) to Gimme A Beat, to hear my choice of female drummers in the first hour and an interview with Cindy Blackman, that my special guest, Charles Blass, conducted in Zurich last summer, in the second hour of the show.
Charles Blass is a music and content advisor with over 25 years of experience in the music community. In Gimme a Beat tonight, Charles and I will talk about Cindy, his past experiences and future ideas, and by introducing his new radio LoRa show, Sun Radio, I will also welcome him to a radio LoRa family.
tune in for ..
Female Drummers
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
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for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace

* Looking Back At 2010 *

Personally for me 2011 started stress free and very smooth. Music wise as well it seems like it's going to be very promising year. There are already few albums released with news of some potentially good ones to come out very soon. All of this will bring awesome concerts from promotion tours as well.
But while I am excitingly waiting to see what will the new year bring, as I usually feel in the beginning of every year, before steping into 2011, let's look back at all the fabulous music that 2010 brought in.
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Tonight (17.01.2011) in Gimme A Beat I will play all of my favorites female sang tracks of 2010, either singles or songs from brilliant albums.
Tune in for..
Looking Back At 2010
from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora
featuring:
gimme a beat on youtube
Kisses,
Babymonster
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for the info about old shows please go to previous entries or : babymonster’s blog on myspace