Make It Up (Sam Tsui) - Album Review

Details: "Make It Up" by Sam Tsui (prod. Kurt Hugo Schneider)

Released: May 11th 2013

Who Is This Guy?

Sam Tsui is a part of this next generation of pop-stars born and breaded on the internet. Together with his childhood-friend, Kurt Hugo Schneider, they have been making music videos on YouTube for over four years, and together they've really worked their way into the music industry from the bottom and up. Sam was the cute boy with the incredible voice and Kurt was the music-magician that breathed life into the music and knew how to actually piece all the different pieces together. I've already written a post about Kurt and his work, so I strongly suggest you head over here to read more about the man behind the music! 

Last year they announced that a full-length debut album was already under production, and this time around it contained all original music as opposed to the covers they usually do. Instead of signing with a record label they wanted to make this all by themselves, and to do that they certenly needed their fans' help. Several years of brilliant content had made both their YouTube channels very popular, and with Kurt's 2,3 million subscribers (KurtHugoSchneider) and Sam's 500 000 (TheSamTsui) they actually got their own fans to finance this album through a Kickstarter-project. They even got twice the money they needed!

Album Review

The album itself consists of fourteen songs, and surprisingly they are actually not as similar to each other as I feared! Since I am one of the contributors to their Kickstarter-project I actually got an early digital download of the album over a week ago, so I have been able to listen to it quite a couple of times... And this is actually one of those albums that grows on me and gets better and better each time. 

Ever since hearing his covers of songs like "Titanium", "Just A Dream" and "Don't You Worry Child" I knew he really could sing... But when I played this album loud in my headphones, without being "distracted" by some beautiful music video, his voice was so perfect it took my breath away! 

The greatest thing about this album though, except from his incredible voice, was the lyrics. I've only seen him do covers, so I was not fully prepared for the heart and emotion he had put down on the paper. Pop is not usually my genre since a lot of it sounds exactly the same and most of the lyrics are pretty shallow. Even though Sam's songs too are mostly about love I could actually feel the emotion... It was very easy to tell that he had put his heart and soul into this and was writing based on his own experiences. 

The weakest songs, according to me, were Wherever You Are and Bring Me The Night. The funny thing is that they were the only ones that lacked that emotion I mentioned. Wherever You Are is probably a great party-hit but Bring Me The Night played too much on clichés. They were ok, but also the reason this album does not get a topp rating from me.

However, the album was fantastic all in all! Let me show you why...

Make It Up

The leading single from this album is actually so perfect for me and the situation in my life right now that it's ridiculous! Uplifting, enjoyable and with great lyrics I know means a lot to him personally. And accompanied by a fantastic music video, this is a guaranteed hit!

Me Without You

Such a gripping song... I know firsthand how a single person can change your life for the better. 

Worth It

A very honest song that should be able to touch anyone's heart. Arguably the best song of the entire album. So raw and filled with emotion. He manages not to just sing the song, but actually preform it.

Next Best Thing

This is a subjective review, so I feel fully justified saying that this song touched me so hard I actually broke down in tears. A lot of people need to hear this message, even if they don't want to, because being a person's second choice is not a good place to stay. Way too many are fine with being under-appreciated and settle for less than they deserve...

(Get it on iTunes)

April Update - A Neon Colored Life

Another month flew by way too quickly.

The fun has ended. From now on the studies and exams' got the upper hand...

Did you do anything exciting?
This month I've been home for a couple of days to visit friends and family. I even got to go to my good friend Sara's eighteenth birthday. I've also been to a christian youth-camp just outside Bergen together with Simon, Jonas, Ole and Benjamin. The camp was even better than I expected and I got to know lots of new people! I even got to know some girls... What? It might come as a shock for some of you, but I don't only ever talk to guys!

Funniest thing that happened?
This is always the hardest question! Too many great moments to choose from...
But one moment that made me laugh the most was probably during blind man's buff. Simon, Jonas, Benjamin and his brother Tom and myself was visiting a guy named Robert. After playing various childhood TV-games for a while we suddenly decided to be even more childish and play blind man's buff. We turned off all the lights in the entire apartment, removed anything that could easily get broken and turned on some scary "haunted house"-music. One person then got blindfolded and the fun could begin! Let's just say that screaming, laughing, pushing, running and falling quite a lot was all a part of the game. Throwing mattresses at people and turning on vacuum cleaners was perfectly within the rules too. Being the only girl, it was quite a challenge not to reveal my identity too easily, but all in all it was some of the best hours of fun I've had in a while! You aren't fully grown-up until you dare to be childish...

Best Movies you've seen?
Shockingly enough I've actually only seen two movies during all of April. Luckily they were awesome! The first one was The Amazing Spiderman and it was so much better than I expected. The second one was Casino from 1995 (reviewed here), and it was just like watching a masterclass in both acting and moviemaking...

Favorite edible thing?
Again the winner is Zupperia! It's starting to become a favorite restaurant of mine. This time I had deep fried scampi. Even for a person not too fan of seafood this tasted heavenly!





Which songs have you listened to the most?
This month it's definitely been all about punk-rock and other alternative sub-genres. I had a week of walking down memory lane with Panic! before the brilliant and fantastic thing that was FOB's Save Rock And Roll (reviewed here) was released. Now, however, I need some new bands and artist to listen to so I wouldn't go tired of the ones I already love. I also see myself drifting towards the more "quiet" genres of music... I guess it is required to keep up the musical balacne or something? Of Monsters And Men, Ben Howard and Birdy became my saviours...

"The Phoenix" - Fall Out Boy

"cute as a button" "avenue maintain" "mint candy apple"

"Young Volcanoes" - Fall Out Boy
"Life In Color" - OneRepublic
"Little Talks" - Of Monsters And Men
"Trade Mistakes" - Panic! At The Disco
"Miss Missing You" - Fall Out Boy
"Burning Bridges" - OneRepublic

Favorite material thing?
Bright and flashy colors is not usually something that can be connected with me. But this spring I decided to give it a try and bought sweaters in neon-orange and mint-green and bright blue. And nail-polish! (From Essie of course. Where else?)

Something that made you proud?
This blog actually... I've invested quite a few hours designing and improving both the layout and the content, and I actually feel like I've got it just how I wanted it to be in the first place. That's a great feeling!

What did you learn?
That strangers are just friends you haven't gotten to know yet.

What are you looking forward to?
Well... First I have three exams... But after those I get to go to London with my amazing best friend!

Copyright: Bente (thebenteway.blogspot.com)

Save Rock And Roll (Fall Out Boy) - Album Review

Details: "Save Rock And Roll" by Fall Out Boy
Released: April 15th 2013

Review: Since I've already written a quite long blog post about Fall Out Boy I'll actually dig right into what I thought about this album... (click here to read the other post, though!) After a hiatus lasting more than three years they suddenly surprised the world when they announced that they had finally come together again and made their fourth studio album. I'f you like their facebook-page you probably know that they actually made their entire album available for free streaming through SoundCloud last week already? Due to this joyous surprise I've been able to listen through the entire thing a lot of times already, and I can't stress enough how truly great it is!

If you've been reading my monthly updates for the past couple of months you've probably figured that I've been obsessed with the first two singles from the album, so I had a pretty good idea of what I was in for when I was finally getting to listen to the rest of the tracks. A lot of it was just as awesome as I expected, but there were also some surprises in there like the song Young Volcanoes. Someone mentioned that it sounded like Fun. and that's not someone you'd normally associate with FOB. But both that one and some of the other ones were standouts both despite and because of the new and different vibe they'd put into it.

Some have argued that despite the album title not all of these songs are actually rock... But that doesn't really seem to be FOB's intention either. To me this album feels like their statement to the world that they want to bring back the rebellious and groundbreaking form of music that once changed and defined generations, but that to accomplish that they also had to make it new and current. Both they and the music world has changed over the past couple of years, and that's the way it has to be. Change is always for the better. To me Save Rock And Roll proved what can happen when a punk-band grows older, braver, wiser and better.

Maybe they didn't exactly save rock and roll? But they totally made something fresh and exciting by giving an old feeling a new sound. Even though some tracks were just a tiny bit weaker than the rest of them it's not even worth mentioning, because for me this is actually one out of a very few albums where I honestly love and enjoy the entire thing from beginning to end. Fall Out Boy and Save Rock And Roll has saved a place on my all time favorites from now on...

Favorite tracks: My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark,
The Phoenix, Young Volcanoes, Alone Together,

Rating: 9/10 - AWESOME

Fall Out Boy Is Back!

Joe Trohman, Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Andy Hurley

I found a "new" band!

You know that when you open Spotify you're presented with a page containing new music specifically recommended for you? One day it told me that since I love Panic! At The Disco I'd probably like this new single by a band named Fall Out Boy. I clicked on it to check it out... and I've never regretted that decision! 

I've discovered that I really like original and experimenting music. From Kaizers Orchestra to Florence & The Machine to Panic! At The Disco, Muse, Linkin Park, Hoobastank and Imagine Dragons... They were all very original and wired when they first started. Now they're all kind of mainstream, but that's because the world has finally discovered what good music is. Fall Out Boy included.

A little background-research

Fall Out Boy is said to be a pop-punk or pop-rock band with both hardcore and emo influences. Over the years they've kind of made their own genre and have experienced a lot of success as a result. When they first formed in Chicago in 2001 they were heavily influenced by their interest for hardcore punk as most of them had been playing in various other hardcore bands prior to forming Fall Ot Boy. 

From their debut in 2003 to their latest studio album from 2008, they've been massively successful and have sold millions of records all over the world. However, at the end of 2009 the band announced that they'd take an indefinite hiatus. No problems, no breakup, no explanation at all... just a break. A break that lasted more than three years. 

When 2012 was coming to an end the rumors had started to pass about Fall Out Boy's reunion. On February 4th 2013 the band officially announced that their hiatus had come to an end and that a new studio album was to be released along with a brand new tour. They were back!

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark

The song I found on Spotify that day was their new single with the ridiculously long name My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up). It's become a radio-hit all across the world, and it's simply a stunning piece of music! One could argue that this is some kind of agressive rock that pulls you right in from its first beat to its last, which wouldn't be too far off as their new album is titeled Save Rock And Roll.

The music video was kind of a let-down at first... But it turned out that it would be explained further by the video for their next single. Regardless, the song in itself is so majestic and original that you don't need any visuals at all to love it. Like most of their songs the lyrics aren't too easy to decipher and make sense of, but I somehow find the entire track both quite rebellious and uplifting. Combined with the music video I feel like it has to do with letting go of the past and start all over with blank pages to figure out who you really are and how you want to be. (Exactly what Fall Out Boy just did themselves...)

Favorite part: 2:13 - 2:38
Rating: 10/10 - AMAZING

The Phoenix

Their second single was released worldwide on March 26st along with another music video. This video  proved to be the prequel to the first one, as this takes place a few days earlier. Here a group of masked girls are kidnapping one after one of the bands members. For what reason it does not say... but that somehow doesn't seem to be too important. Again I feel the song is way better than the music video and should be blasted at ear-shattering volume in your car. It's just got a fantastic energy that comes every single time I play it!

Favorite part: 3:29 - 3:32

Rating: 10/10 - AMAZING

Giving both the singles top rating is not something I usually do... But these two have been on constant repeat on my iPod and MAC for weeks now and I love them more now than ever! I simply can't wait to get my hands on their new album and will tell you what I think about it as soon as I have it. April 12th can not come fast enough...

March Update - Spring Time!

I know it's technically April already, but since I had my best friend visiting me here in Bergen for the end of March I decided it was no crime to finish this post a little late. 

Easter is over, but it's finally spring <3

Did you do anything exciting?
It seems like the answer to this particular question is always YES!
And as I've mentioned before, my best friend, Maria, visited me during the Easter-holiday. We had a thon of fun! However, I've actually quite forgotten to document much of it, so there aren't really that many pictures to show you... I'll try to do better next month :)
However, most of February was spent with my little gang of boys. We've truly had a great time doing all sorts of things... Basically staying up all night and sleeping most of the day :D I'm so grateful that I got to know these guys!

Funniest thing that happened?
Ow... thats hard! There has been so many fantastic moments...
But one I remember was when I decided to visit one of my best friends here in Bergen, Ken Martin, when he was at work. I actually got to know him through Facebook... which I usually never do! Anyway, since I got to know him through messages and such I've actually never met his girlfriend. So when I walked into the kiosk where he works and saw that a girl was sitting next to him behind the counter, I can't be blaimed for thinking it was her... However, she acted really wired as I said hello to him, and did not seem to want to notice me at all? After the longest and most tense silence I've experienced in a while he finally presented us for each other. It turned out that she was just a friend of him waiting to catch a train, and that she thought I was his girlfriend! We all had a good laugh about it... especially Ken Martin himself!

Best movies you've seen?
As you can probably see in the sidebar to the right, I've been watching a lot of movies recently. The best one was probably Argo (rewieved here) which surprised me by being far better than I'd anticipated. Others worth mentioning are Pitch Perfect, basically Glee made into a movie... The Croods, an animation I loved more than I thought I would... And the two "older" movies Monsters, Inc. and X-men Origins: Wolverine.

Favorite edible thing?

Tapas at Zupperia with Maria <3

When Maria visited we ate so many fantastic and exciting things I honestly don't know which was best!  Standout moments were when we tried tapas, sushi and a fantastic noodle-dish with beef. Zupperia and Namo, we are coming back :)

I must also mention the black pasta I got served at a dinnerparty at Simon's house! Cool, right?

Which songs have you listened to the most?
Actually my playlists have mostly been quite similar to the ones I listeden to during February... For me, who's not that good at keeping track of all the new and good music out there, finding new music can take hours! But I kind of "rediscovered" Vices & Virtues by Panic! At The Disco... it's awesome!

"My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark" - Fall Out Boy
"Try" - Pink
"Sara Smiles" - Panic! At The Disco
"Trade Mistakes" - Panic! At The Disco
"Tokyo Ice Til Clementine" - Kaizers Orchestra
"Let's Kill Tonight" - Panic! At The Disco

Favorite material things?

Here I'm gonna be really girly actually! You see, I walked by Kicks one day and suddenly spotted a new parfume from the brand Escada. I love all their scents so I decided to smell this one as it was the limited edition spring fragrance named Cherry In The Air... Needles to say it smelled so good I actually bought it on the spot. Love it.




Something that made you proud?

I actually went jogging! Once... But still, better that none! It's been so freaking cold here that it's not been very tempting to go outside more than absolutely needed, but as I can finally feel the spring heat creeping upon us I'm going to try my best to get at least a bare minimum of exercise. I need it!

What did you learn?
During the past couple of months I've met so many new people I couldn't count them all even if I wanted to. Meeting new people is always both exciting and frightning at the same time... And I've always been one of those people who has to constantly make a choice to put myself out there and be social and talk to new people. It just doesn't come naturally to me... But the thing I've learned is to just be myself and be open about me and my life and ask a lot of questions... In doing that I'm always nice to the people I meet, but I also know that not everybody will like me or like the way I am. That's life. But in accepting that I also discovered that I had nothing to loose. Those who do not like me wouldn't have been great friends anyway, and those who take me for the person I am can become true friends :)

What are you looking forward to?
I'm actually going home again in two weeks, so that'll be this month's thing to look forward to <3

February Update - Poker, Kaizers and Oscars

And suddenly it's time for another monthly update!
I know it's technically March already, but this post took more time to write than I first thought...
For me February has been quite eventful actually. I even traveled to Stavanger not only once, but twice! So let's just get into it :)

Did you do anything exciting?
YES! A lot!
And to not make it too tiresome for you I'll just list some of this month's highlights:

- Poker-tournament where I got to meet a lot of new people!
- Got to know and become friends with a group of boys here in Bergen. They are awesome!
- Finally got to see Kaizers Orchestra live at their concert in Stavanger!
- Had my sister visiting me in Bergen for a whole week!
- Went to a christian youth-conference with great people and great concerts!
- Went to Stavanger to stay up all night and watch the Oscars live with my sister <3

Copyright: Bente (thebenteway.blogspot.com)

Funniest thing that happened?

(I'm awesome at drawing!)

Remember the boys I said I'd made friends with? The day after I'd met most of them for the first time we all were at that poker-tournament I also mentioned. (I'll come back to that soon...) But after that we all went home to one of the guys to actually play some more games! However, at approximately 2:00 a.m. we were all getting quite hungry, so we decided to drive into town to get some kebab. Classy! We must have been quite a sight as we were four guys and one girl sitting there a saturday night all dressed up in suits, shirts and even bow-ties and (for my sake) a skirt and high heals! Anyway... The most awesome moment actually occurred during the car-ride back to this guy's house. Imagine me and four guys crammed into a tiny car, and then add the sound of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" suddenly blasting through the radio-speakers... And the hillarious thing? All four boys spontaneously and simultaneously starts to belt out the lyrics from the top of their lungs! First thing first... They're guys and that's freakin' Taylor Swift! And secondly... They knew all the lyrics! After that shocking moment where I realized what was actually happening I tried to sing along as well... but failed miserably as I could not stop laughing!

Best movies you've seen?
"Life of Pi" (reviewed here), "Silver Linings Playbook" (reviewed here), and the 1999-classic "Fight Club", an incredibly odd and yet massively intriguing film with a lot of fighting... even though that's oddly enough not at all what it's about. I'll have to re-watch it to be able to write a proper review, but I know it's one of the best films I've ever seen. Loved all three of them and recommend them highly!

Favorite edible thing?
I have recently been loving the white-and-blue Burn. The one that tastes like apple... I'm not a big fan of soda, but *this* is literally heaven in a bottle! Sadly it's very unhealthy, contains massive amounts of sugar and caffeine and is very expensive... I love it anyway.

Which songs have you listened to the most?
I've listened to a lot of music this month! Suddenly I decided to get updated on what the earth's population is actually listening to at the moment. That resulted in me buying more songs on iTunes than I initially planned... But right now there are actually a bunch of half-decent songs on the top-lists. Unbelievably! But because of this massive overload of newly discovered music I have a lot of favorites this month...

"Bleading Out" - Imagine Dragons
"I Knew You Were Trouble" - Taylor Swift
"My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark" - Fall Out Boy
"One Day / Reckoning Song" - Asaf Avidan & The Mojos
"Battle Scars" - Lupe Fiasco & Guy Sebastian
"I Feed You My Love" - Margareth Berger
"Running To The Sea" - Röyksopp & Susanne Sundfør

Favorite material things?
I finally decided to do something with the fact that I have to hold things up to my face to read them... So I got glasses! They took some getting used to, but now I love them!

Something that made you proud?
I made the worlds best Chinese wok one of the nights my sister was here...

What did you learn?
As I've mentioned several times by now, I joined a poker tournament. What I didn't say was that I'd never ever played (or even seen anyone play) poker before that night! I literally had to learn it by scratch when I came there... And during the first couple of rounds I had no idea what I was doing or how I should be playing so I lost round after round. Until suddenly I realized what I did that made me loose... When I stopped doing that, I actually started to win. A lot! I went as far as knocking several people out of the competition and unbelievably enough made it all the way to the finalist-table. I ended up in third place out of more than 35 players! It was awesome and completely exhausting and a great deal of fun!

What are you looking forward to?
My best friend in the whole world, Maria, is coming to visit me for a whole week around easter!
Can't wait <3

The Dragons That Conquered The World

It's been quite a long time since I first got to know the band Imagine Dragons.

Back in february 2012 they released an EP named Continued Silence consisting of six tracks. Shortly after that I actually watched a live-chat with youtuber makeupkatie95 where she talked about this band she'd fallen in love with. I took her advice and searched for Imagine Dragons on iTunes the same day. After having listened to the preview for only the first couple of songs I was so amazed I bought the whole EP right there and then! 

A couple of months later I was thrilled to discover that the very first song to be featured in the fourth season of the TV-series Glee was "It's Time", Imagine Dragons' lead single. After that suddenly everybody knew the song! Friday they were even invited to play on the Late Show with David Letterman...

Like a lot of the bands I've been liking lately, their music can be put under the category indie-rock. Normally that's not the kind of music that gets featured on the radio or becomes number one hits around the world... So you can picture my surprise and amazement when Imagine Dragons suddenly became famous all across the world through the end of 2012 and start of 2013! Chances are pretty high you have heard a lot of their songs on the radio already... Radioactive? It's Time? Demons? Tokyo?

The funny thing about this whole story is that Bergen, the Norwegian city in which I'm currently living, was one of the first places Imagine Dragons got to play in front of an international audience. As early as 2011 they cought the attention of Frank Nes, the General Manager of the annual summer festival Bergenfest. He flew the then unknown band all the way actoss the Atlantic and never regretted doing so! Today, in 2013, they are one of the hugest rising stars in the music industry world-wide, but they never forgot the people who believed in them in the beginning. This summer they're headed back to Norway and to Bergenfest, and now they are the headlining act!

Like I said they released an EP named Continued Silence in early 2012. In September they also released their first full album titeled Night Visions, but unfortunately this was limited to the States only... Here in Europe we had to wait until early 2013. But it was worth the wait. I absolutely loved it, and so did luckily the rest of the world!

Radioactive and It's Time, their two singels, are two of my favorite songs of all time actually. Other great ones from their album includes Bleeding Out, On Top Of The World, Demons, Amsterdam, Tiptoe... and just about all of the others as well! The entire album is brilliant and a world-class masterpiece.

If you haven't already, run to the nearest record-store and get Night Visions at once! You'll not regret it.

The Script - Music Video and News

I've told you all about The Script already, and if you still haven't heard about their new album (#3) you can check my review here. Less than two hours ago they uploaded a brand new music video to their Youtube channel!

A while ago they released the music video for "Hall of Fame", which became an instant hit all over the world. Peaking at number 3 on Billboards Hot 100 and number 1 on the UK Single charts, it took the world by storm and beat a lot of better known artists!

I actually made this collage a couple of weeks ago, and by now #3 is number 1 on the Spotify Albums charts!

Anyway, the song they chose to make a music video for is called "Six Degrees of Separation", and it's actually one of my very early favorites from the album. The video is very simple, but the message is so powerful! Personally I've not been through a terrible breakup lately, so I can't really relate in that sense  but I just love the song and the raw and honest feelings behind it...

I'm oddly enough not able to post a thumbnail for the music video? But to see it click here...

_____________________________________________

MUSIC VIDEO for "Six Degrees of Separation"
_____________________________________________

The Kaizers of Stavanger

Everyone in Norway has probably heard of the band Kaizers Orchestra. Unless, off course, they've been living under a rock for the past decade... And almost everyone must have noticed that in these days their newest and, temporarily last, album has been a hot topic! It's the third album in their musical trilogy masterly named Violeta, Violeta - A Romantic Tragedy. Very much could be said about this, but I've decided to keep the details short as im hardly qualified to either judge their music or tell their story in a proper way. But, it you don't already know who Kaizers Orchestra are, head over here for a brief introduction...

What I will do, however, is to say that Violeta, Violeta Volume III is simply one of the greatest and most brilliant musical masterpieces I've heard. I'll have to come back to it in a different post, but just know that it's great and well worth the money!

I just wanted to share with you some pictures from their visit to Stavanger today. As the album came out just yesterday, they went to our record store Platekompaniet today to sign their album and talk to their fans. It was awesome and really, really cold! For over two hours we stood outside before we finally got to meet them. But it was all worth it :)

Bestseller... Shocker!

The cover is stunning!

An hour before they were even scheduled to arrive...

The awesome guys at Platekompaniet handed out coffie to all of us freezing out there <3

Less then one third of the line...

Someone brought speakers and loads of Kaizer-music. Thanks for making our wait more pleasant!

Finally inside!

Dressed for the occasion. They have style ;)

Terje and Helge. Most awesome and nice guys!

Crappy picture quality, but great people! Janove and Rune.

Geir and Øyvind, however, seemed too busy to pose, but no hurt feelings :)

All in all, a great band and a great experience!

The result was great! Trilogy complete :)

Darren Criss - Where Did He Come From?

Thousands have seen the TV-series Glee. Most of them know the character Blaine Anderson. Some also know that Darren Criss is the actor portraying him. But very few actually knows where he came from... What did he do before Glee?

Have you ever heard of A Very Potter Musical? Or StarKid Productions?

I actually discovered Darren before he became a part of Glee. He could be found om Youtube!

While attending University of Michigan he majored in Theatre Performance. After graduating, he and a bunch of his former class-mates founded the production company StarKid Productions. 

The idea for their first stage production came quite out of the blue. Darren and a couple of the other guys was just playing guitar and making up songs for fun, and suddenly they had made this funny song where Draco (from the books of Harry Potter) was secretly in love with Hermione, and that's the reason he was so mean to her all the time. That little idea lead to a lot of ideas... and soon they had made an entire parody musical based on the Harry Potter-universe!

It became an instant hit, and all of their performances at the University of Michigan was completely packed. So high was the demand that they decided to videotape one of their shows so that friends and family could watch it online. What they didn't expect however, was that the show would go viral on Youtube. Today, the first part of the show has got over 9 million views!

The show has a completely different take on the Potter-story, key words being Draco played by a girl, Voldemort being the most likable character, and RedVines turning out to be quite magical. The songs are really catchy, the characters and the plot are truly hilarious, and the actors behind it all are brilliant. Even Tom Felton thought it was great! In 2010 they did it again, and A Very Potter Sequel was born. 

This unpredicted success boosted both Starkid's and Darren Criss's carrear. Out of the blue Darren got an audition for the hit TV-series Glee on Fox. He was cast as Blaine Anderson, and only two days later they started filming. Now that season four has just started Blaine is listed as one of the main characters and Darren has never been more popular.

Earlier this year he got his first role at Broadway as the main star of the show How To Success In Buisnes Without Really Trying. And just to confirm what a strong bond there is between Darren and Harry Potter, he was cast in the exact same role as Daniel Radcliffe! They played a couple of weeks each.

As some sort of gesture to where Darren originated from, one of the newest episodes of Glee portrayed him in a wizzard costume. Fans of StarKid and AVPM all over the world spoke up in total excitement! Everyone is eagerly waiting for the finished edit of A Very Potter Senior Year, which was preformed at this year's Leaky Con.

He recently starred in Katy Perry's music video Last Friday Night along with some of his fellow Glee members. As he's one of Gleeks' favorite character, and he's set to starr in the movie Imogene opposite Kirsten Wiig, just imagine how far he can go from here... Three years ago he and the other Starkids dressed up and sang their songs outside the midnight screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Just one year later he was invited as a special guest at the red carpet screening of the Deathly Hallows Part 1! He's such a humble, thankful, awesome and hard-working guy I hope his journey has just begun :)

A Dubstep Violinist? (Lindsey Stirling - album review)

Lately I've been more into music than I usually am... Så here's yet another post about a new album!

Lindsey Stirling entered America's Got Talent in 2010, and became known as the "Hip-hop Violinist". However, she got voted off after just a couple of weeks. Piers Morgan, one of the judges told her she was unmarketable and needed to be in a group. He also said that she was unable to dance while she played because that made her playing sound like "rats being strangled". At the time she said id was quite devastating, but it also made her determent to prove him wrong...

Shortly after, she was contacted by Youtube cinematographer Devin Graham (devinsupertramp) who wanted to make a music video with her. The result, the song "Spontanious Me", instantly became popular and got thousands of views! This marked the start of a great collaboration and an even greater Youtube carrear.

What's so different about her is that she brings so much more to her music and videos than normally expected from Youtube musicians. She's got a bobly personality that shines through and makes her stand out! Even though she plays the violin, which is a very classical instrument, she loves genres like rock, dubstep and just about anything with a good rhythm. The key is that she mixes the genres in such a perfect way so that just about everyone that hears her loves her music.

Another fantastic thing about her Youtube-channel are the videos themself. They are SO GOOD. Costumes, fantastic landscapes, thousands of camera angles, surprising locations... She's got it all. As of this date, her channel "lindseystomp" has got 870 116 subscribers and the incredible total of 144 million views!

She's also done a very famous medley of music from the videogame "Zelda", a "Lord Of The Rings" medley, and she cooperated with percutionist Peter Hollens on a "Skyrim" cover and, more recently, a "Game Of Thrones" cover.

Due to her success she recently released her first album, appropriately named "Lindsey Stirling". It can either be bought on iTunes or, like I did, directly from her website. It features a lot of the songs form her Youtube channel, but also a couple of new ones.

It's just as amazing as I knew it would be! Even though you don't get the visuals like you do watching her videos, the music itself is so good and varied itself you don't need anything else, really...  For some of her songs she's even added vocals here and there, and that made the songs stick out even more, and it removed the danger of the different tracs being too similar.

Favorite tracks: "Moon Trance", "Elements" and "Crystallize"

All in all... loved it!
Perfect for both enjoying really loud in my headphones and as background for my homework reading :)

The Kaizervirus

As most of my norwegian readers already know, The Kaizervirus is spreading across Norway, Europe and beyond. But I thought I'd make this post anyway to enlighten those of you who don't know.

So, first thing first...

Who and what is Kaizers Orchestra?

Well, they are...

Jan Ove "The Jackal" Kaizer (Vocal)

Geir "Hellraiser" Kaizer (2nd guitar)

Terje "Killmaster" Kaizer (1st guitar)

Rune "Mink" Kaizer (drums)

Helge "Omen" Kaizer (Pump-organ)

Øyvind "Thunder" Kaizer (bass)

And that's just about it!

Adressing the what-issue, Kaizers Orchestra is probably the most famous Norwegian band since... ever? At least they've done what many thought impossible: Make a Norwegian band, singing in Norwegian, that is not a heavy metal-group, famous abroad. Now fans all over the world actually learn Norwegian just to sing Kaizers-songs!

Formally, Kaizers Orchestra is an alternative rock-group, but they don't let themselves be pinned down to just one genre. With "instruments" like a pump-organ, ash-trays, trash-bin-lids, hubcaps and their ever-so-famous oil barrows they are truly unike and never boring. Some describe their style as messy, noisy and just a mashup of screeching sounds. I used to be one of those... But increesingly many people all over Europe and beyond love their style and theatricality, and they are said to be Norway's best live-band.

Just to clear some things up, the band formed in 2000 and have published eight albums since then, so they are in no way in the "new-and-upcoming-category". And secondly, I'm not at all fitted to be a spokesperson for them or their music, as I only a couple of months ago suddenly discovered that I actually liked them.

What is The Kaizervirus?
You see, they are from Jæren in Norway, which is basically where I'm from. (It's about 20 minutes from Stavanger.) And they even sing in my dialect, which would probably be called Stavangersk or Jærsk. It's actually got a very special, odd and distinct sound to it. In Norway people either love it but can't imitate it, or they hate it and think it's broad and ugly. Either way there are even a lot of Norwegians that can't understand it very well... My point is: All of Kaizers' lyrics are written and preformed in this dialect, which is a very bold and un-common choice.

Anyway, to complete their album trilogy named "Violeta, Violeta", they have developed an android-app named The Kaizervirus. Basically you just install it on your phone, go for a walk, and suddenly your phone tells you that you have been infected by one of the viruses. Which means that you walked by another person who'd already been infected. Then you open the app and you get to listen to one of the bright new songs from the not-yet-released album "Violeta, Violeta: Volume 3". After a while, the band will release another song, and it will start to spread just like the others. After all the songs have been spread the album will be released... It's never been done before, it's awesome and it actually works!

The music video for the first single, Aldri Vodka, Violeta, has been released today and can be watched HERE.

The second song, Siste Dans, and its intro has been leaked unto Youtube...

Why haven't you been a fan of these for years already?
I know. Stupid me. My problem is this: I always refuse to pay any interest to what "everyone else" is into at the moment. I don't listen to the Billboard Hot 100, or read the bestselling books, or buy some kind of clothes that everyone wears... You get the point. It's not because I want to be cooler or better than anyone else, it's simply because it's boring. It doesn't tell anything about who you are.

This sort of thinking sometimes makes me very "late" in discovering popular things that were actually great! I discovered The Lord Of The Rings seven years ago, the Harry Potter-series five years ago, the Twilight-saga three years ago, MUSE two years ago, and so on... Since Kaizers was basically from Stavanger, where I grew up, they were very popular and "everybody" loved them. As you have already guessed, I did not. Perhaps mostly because my little sister became so into them? I figured she could have a passion I didn't "interrupt".

Sadly that ment that I only recently discovered how great Kaizers Orchestra really were. But, better late than never...

Now I'm trying to make up for lost time, as I'm actually going to see them live in the new Stavanger Concert Hall together with my sister in February! She told me I could not embarras her by not knowing any of their songs. I guess I'll just start in one end or the other?

So, twelve years later, I hope I'm still welcome into the line of Kaizers-fans...