gimme a beat with babymonster

Last year, sometime in June I got an email from the 57th Montreux Jazz Festival about new names on their programme. The email included Swiss singer-songwriter NNAVY.  

She was already well-known to Montreux Jazz Festival audiences, as she performed there earlier. In addition to this, in 2022, she was the first Swiss artist ever to play one of the COLORS SHOWS. And last year, she was celebrating her comeb...

Rolling Stones' 100 Greatest R&B Songs of the 21st Century created lots of buzz since it came out on January 3rd 2024. Some people loved it, others pointed out what was missing, and the artists featured in it, celebrated. But as we know, music is a very personal thing, and what one person likes is not necessarily the other person's favourite.

I have always been a huge fan of R&B, the classic and contemporary one.

What is no...

In my previous Gimme a Beat, I reviewed the 19th edition of Zurich Film Festival.

I have been exploring the female factor of the Zurich Film Festival for several years now. But this year, I had a chance to get together with so many female filmmakers and actresses that I decided to breakdown my review of the ZFF into several shows.

While I've seen 30+ movies during the festival, I haven't reviewed all of them. But the ones that I di...

2023 was another successful year for Zurich Film Festival.

The 19th edition of Zurich Film Festival attracted 130’000 visitors (slightly less than the previous year). A total of 150 films were screened, 52 of them as World or European premieres – more than ever before.

First held in 2005, Zurich Film Festival established itself very quickly on the national and international film festival scene. The formula for its success it's prob...

Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as simply Primavera) is an annual music festival held in Parc del Fòrum, a park situated directly at the Mediterranean seafront in Barcelona, Spain. The festival takes place between the end of May and the beginning of June, every year since 2001. In addition to the best-known edition in Barcelona, Primavera Sound expanded to other locations as well: since 2012, there is a Primaver...

NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concerts were always one of my favourite things to listen to, but with the pandemic, my interest turned into an obsession. In 2020, I did two shows dedicated to them: Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2020 Part I and Part II, in 2021 I did one more and in 2022 another one. 

So what is it about NPR Tiny Desk Concert series that I love?

It is very simple, this series brings an intimate concert vibe through approx 20-minut...

I discovered Arooj Aftab, like many others, through her Mohabbat song. After hearing this song, I listened to her's Vulture Prince album and fell in love with it. Then I heard her NPR tiny desk session and loved it so much (I was literally obsessed with it) that I included it in my (latest) *Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2022* Gimme a Beat. 

From that moment on, I wanted to see her live and feature her in Gimme A Beat. Around that time (...

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 gluehwein and Xmas cookies.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tune in to Gimme A Beat (19.12.2022) tonight for Xmas session, an eclec...

First held in 2005, Zurich Film Festival established itself very quickly on the national and international film festival scene. The formula for its success it's probably a mix of an attractive location: an international but small city of Zurich; a great selection of movies and different programs/events like ZFF Masters, ZFF Talks, Film Music Competition, ZFF for Kids and a few others.

The best way to explain Zurich Film Festival's ...

I had the pleasure of attending and reviewing Flow Festival (commonly known as Flow) this summer.

You can find more details about the festival, my impressions, interviews with Marcia and Helena and selected DJ mixes in Part I: Marcia Carr and Helena Star at Flow Festival 2022

You can also check my reviews for each day of Flow Festival 2022: day 1, day 2 and day 3, with some additional highl...

Flow Festival (commonly known as Flow) is an urban music and arts festival in Helsinki, Finland. It was created by the Finnish music producer Tuomas Kallio and his friends from the Helsinki-based music collective Nuspirit Helsinki. Since 2004, the festival has been organized annually. Over the years the festival grew from 4000 visitors to 90'000. In 2007 the festival moved to Suvilahti, the former power plant that bri...

My personal experience with music in the movies is that if chosen correctly, hearing the music when watching the scene will make it more intense and therefore memorable.

My rationale behind this is simple: there is an emotion that music triggers in us because of the music itself or/and the lyrics of the song. For me and I can imagine that this is the same for many people, the great songs trigger images as well. And when we are watc...

I love this part of the year!

That time of the year when we are almost in summer, but not fully there yet. The mornings are still cool and refreshing, days are warm and sunny and evenings are warm enough to hang outside but still with enough breeze to make the night cosy and pleasurable.

This kind of weather reflects my mood, it makes me happy, hopeful and chilled at the same time. This also transfers into the music that I am liste...

NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concerts were always one of my favourite things to listen to, but with the pandemic, my interest turned into an obsession. In 2020, I did two shows dedicated to them: Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2020 Part I and Part II, and in 2021 I did another one.

So what is it about NPR Tiny Desk Concert series that I love?

It is very simple, this series brings an intimate concert vibe through approx 20-minute video performanc...

Roadtrips are my favourite type of travelling.

My favourite roadtrips are the ones where I travel alone. There is no better feeling than driving in the car by yourself for miles, on, if lucky, empty roads, enjoying your music or only your thoughts in your mind in silence, while soaking up the nature around you. Every year I do at least one road trip, to recharge my batteries and get back my (un)usually high energy levels. My most l...

Sónar CCCB 2021 is/was a 2 day festival of music, debate, experimentation and inspiration, with more than 60 activities spread over 5 spaces, with 40 concerts and DJ sets and an extensive program of lectures, debates, presentations, workshops and an exhibition space with local and international projects. This festival and its program was set in place to connect the world of art, science and technology. 

The festival happened on 2...

First held in 2005, Zurich Film Festival established itself very quickly on the national and international film festival scene. The formula for its success it's probably a mix of an attractive location: international but small city of Zurich; great selection of movies and different programs/events like ZFF Masters, ZFF Talks, Zurich Summit, ZFF for Pupils, ZFF 72 and few others.

The best way to explain Zurich Film Festival's succ...

NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concerts were always one of my favorite things to listen to, but with pandemic my interest turned into an obsession. Last year I did two shows dedicated to them: Obsessed with Tiny Desk 2020 Part I and Part II. 

So what is it about Tiny Desk Concert series that I love?

It is very simple, this series brings an intimate concert vibe through approx 20 minute video performances, recorded either live at the desk of...