Deck Whaaat?

03/11/2021

Time for another video I would say, right? And it is interview number two from my little trip to Hamburg. This time with Edmonton indie pop band St.Arnaud !

They released their first album at the end of 2019, shortly before the pandemic hit and they just started releasing new material a few weeks ago – you can listen to the new song Big Winner on my Indie Update playlist!

In Hamburg I had the chance to talk to Ian and his band mate Connor. They told me how they made that first album work despite the pandemic, what their plans for the future are and most important: they gave me lots of tips for other indie artists like you.

𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹: https://bit.ly/DeckWhaaatSubscribeDon't forget to activate the 🔔 so you'll get notified when we upload a new ...

06/10/2021

..no no no no no, it's DECK WHAAAT!

Yes, this channel is going through some changes as I was challenged with a tiny little trademark issue last week. A super interesting and actually quite complex topic. But believe me, I've learned so much about it in the last couple of days that I will definitely make a video about it very very soon. Fascinating, and also somewhat frustrating at the same time.

First thing on the to do list is getting all my "old" videos up and running of course. But then this little channel and will rise from the ashes like a 🦚 (yes, a peacock)

01/11/2020

So many things are happening right now ✨

First of all: we’re uploading a new video tomorrow, woohoo! It’s about ‚How to make an EPK for musicians‘.

Second: We got an amazing shout out from Thank you so much Sina 💖 You should definitely check out Sina‘s YouTube channel: she‘s a kick ass drummer!!!

Aaand third: I‘ll be recording an interview about music distribution for a podcast this week. More details following soon ;)

We also took some new profile pictures as you can see...𝓘 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶...

Have a great Sunday and stay safe!

11/10/2020

PVA‘s latest single ‚Talks‘...yes, I do like it a lot!

As genre doesn’t really cover it for that band I would describe it as...unagitated 80s pop rock with an organ...? Is that an organ? Anyway, there’s an EP coming in November, and I‘m quite excited about it ✨🦋

Listen to the song on our INDIE WEEKLY Spotify playlist – the home for amazing new indie releases.

01/10/2020

Mental note to myself for next time I feel like I made a huge mistake! ...𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮!

Also, I'll probably post a Cher quote every week now. This wonderful woman had a lot of great things to say 🌸✨🦋

16/09/2020

...artist Sol LeWitt's words in a letter to sculptor Eva Hesse, 1965. Hesse was suffering from creative block and self-doubt shortly after she moved from New York to Germany.

My personal favourite lines in one of the letters: You must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to DO.

Probably the most important when your mind is blocked and everything seems impossible!

02/09/2020

With all the ambitions one has as an artistic individual, it is often difficult to stay with the matter at hand. At least I often feel that way. I usually prefer to get everything done at the same time – which mostly leads to nothing getting done at all.
Because of that I try to look at others and how they deal with their own perfectionism in situations like these.
I recently came across Henry Miller's 11 Commandments of Writing, which are wonderfully applicable to any kind of creative process. The most important lesson for me from this: Inspiration is great, but it shouldn't keep you from creating. An important point for all those dreamers out there – myself included 🐠♓

30/08/2020

Sundays have always felt a bit depressing to me....If you feel that way too, I might have a cure for us: new album 🔥 𝔓𝔩𝔞𝔶 𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔉𝔦𝔯𝔢 🔥 You like psychedelic/garage/punk stuff? You will definitely like this!

Also on our Spotify playlist. Link in bio.

22/08/2020

It's rainy and a bit gloomy in Berlin today. Time to go back to bed and listen to some music 😺
One of my latest obsessions is Jilian Medford's project IAN SWEET especially their new single Dumb Driver. If you start a song with the line "I'm a dumb driver when I'm in love. I run all the red lights." you can be sure that I'll be a major fan. The song "describes the toxic cycle of being so overtaken by your love for someone that you put yourself in harm's way for it—like a car crash you can't look away from. On ‘Dumb Driver’ I am pleading with myself to stop the car, pull over, and get out of the situation before the damage is irreversible," says the artist.
If you like dreamy cotton candy rock with a dark core then this will be for you! (The answer is yes)
Dumb Driver is a great example of a song which is already great when you listen to it for the first time; but then you actually start listening to the lyrics and the obsession starts. This being said: with music this can easily be the other way around as well. ...so here’s a plea to all the songwriters out there: take your time when you write songs; write meaningful things; lyrics just shouldn't be an afterthought; people will notice✨💖

14/08/2020

Sindri Már Sigfússon, aka Sin Fang, just released his latest Album The Last Shall Be First today! I've been following his artistic output for a while now and I have to say that especially the first two songs on the record are really amazing! Melodic and fragile and spacy and just beautiful. Where's the Pitchfork review please 🌸💖
Apart from being very productive as a solo artist — this is already album number 2 within less than 12 months — he also did an amazing co-production with Sóley and Övar Smárason. I've mentioned it before and will probably say it more often: writing and producing with other musicians is a great way to connect with other artists on a deeper level, reach a bigger audience and most important, to create a truly different and hopefully unique sound.
Listen to the song! For example on our playlist on Spotify.

06/08/2020

Label mates Jen Cloher and Hachiku, aka Anika Ostendorf, just released a very sweet remix of Cloher's song Sensory Memory and you should most definitely listen to it. A perfect match and a good example on how differently you can approach a song.
It is also a great example for how you can create content in between bigger releases. Collaborations like this can bring a whole new facet to your songs and you might also end up reaching a bigger audience. Networking & collaborating! I can stop talking, right?