Dragon Spring, Helsinki, Finland
French Films is a five-piece band from Espoo/Järvenpää, Finland. Their music is often described as sunny garage pop from the 60’s combined with 80’s punk and new wave. The band was formed in February of 2010 and has already been getting attention all over the world after releasing the debut EP, Golden Sea, in October of 2010. Currently working on their debut album, they’re also getting ready for touring Europe in May.
Judging by the creative name you probably never would have guessed it’s a Chinese restaurant we’re talking about. It’s located in Kamppi, in all aspects a very central part of Helsinki. Right next to the restaurant is Finland’s most well-known music venue Tavastia and the hectic shopping center / bus terminal –combo “Kamppi”.
About the restaurant itself… Let’s keep it simple. Whenever we’re playing a gig nearby or just strolling around town, Dragon Spring is for us the place to eat and have that relaxing moment to ourselves. The food, as in almost every Chinese restaurant around here, is generally very basic and somewhat influenced by Finnish food customs. There are of course a few exceptions that make Dragon Spring a place worth mentioning: Try any dish that involves sweet & sour sauce, the must-have beef with mushrooms and bamboo shoots, or perhaps most importantly the garlic-chili paste that’s on every table. Vegetarian meals do really good job aswell! Just don’t try the whatever with curry sauce unless you have no idea of what real curry tastes like…
In addition to the food, the atmosphere is something else. The staff welcomes you with sincere smiles, takes your orders way too fast, and, after you’ve been to the place a couple of times, starts guessing what you’ll have this time. In other words, it’s utter perfection.
All in all, if you are nearby and happen to have a thing for Chinese food, give Dragon Spring a chance. It might not give the Sichuan cuisine connoisseur a new, mind-blowing gastro-experience, but it will definitely leave you with a satisfied feeling and a smile on your face. And at what price? During lunch hours (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.) you can get the whole three course deal for less than 10 €. Bié kèqi!”
Chinese restaurant Dragon Spring
Urho Kekkosen katu 4 – 6
Helsinki. Map
Everywhere by Nive & The Deer Children
Sort vinyl & Kaffe
Nive Nielsen & The Deer Children are from Nuuk, Greenland. They recorded their debut “Nive Sings!” with John Parish and some help from Howe Gelb and friends from a.o. The Black Keys & Wolf Parade. Called “heir to the Arcade Fire” by Filter Magazine, they sold a whopping 5000 copies of their self-released debut back home (on a population of 56.000 people), played 80+ international concerts last year alone (a.o. SXSW, NXNE; Eurosonic, Pop Montreal, Secret Garden Party, Iceland Airwaves), won an IMA independent music award in the US, and made the soundtrack for Greenland ´s first ever feature film “Nuummioq”. Snow songs? Eskimo folk? Arctic Indie? Do check ‘em out!
I´ve travelled a LOT last year. Which lead to many new favorite places and hang-outs - this is the best thing about touring: finding these cool little amazing spots where you want to go back to, so the next visit becomes something to really look forward to. And well there´s an ever growing array of such cool spots… In Tucson AZ there´s Little Poca Cosa, with the best chile relenos ever. I got into the whole desert music thing by just eating there, over and over again. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.
In Austin TX there´s Domo Bookstore which is the perfect place to lose track of time browsing the weirdest magazines and art books… They also arrange cool experimental concerts and let you hang out as long as you want, and they´re not hipsters, which gives ‘em a bonus :)
In Copenhagen, DK no visit is complete without a quick stop at Sort Vinyl og Kaffe (the picture), a tiny coffee shop with super espresso and a wicked selection of LPs.
Also, I´m always looking forward to traveling through Antwerp, Belgium where there’s Cafenation, with the best coffees I ever had (and I have had many) - the people working there make you feel super welcome and let you sit and browse magazines all day if you want. It´s my little refuge when in Belgium, I´m there every day.
In San Francisco I always end up at Aquarius Records which comes as close to music paradise as possible - plus the people there are super nice. Portland OR has Mississippi Records.
Montreal, kind of my second home, has the Drawn & Quarterly bookstore, and Cafe Olympico which is my favorite hang out to just sit and sip ice lattes and watch people and shoot some pool… So so so many good places.
Risør, Norway
Bergtatt is a folk rock band, containing members from the southern and the western part of Norway. The band’s music is a blend of rock music
and traditional folk music, and one of its trademarks is the
combination of old acoustic folk instruments and the classic rock band
instruments. And the cherry on top? Intriguing, powerful female
vocals! The band released it’s debut record “Røtter” in 2009 to
critical acclaim and is currently testing new material live as part of
the work for the second album.
When I was asked to write about my favourite place, I immediately
thought of my home town Risør. This small, peaceful, secluded and
idyllic town is crammed between rocky hills and has the ocean as its
closest neighbour, surrounding most parts of it. All the houses are
made of wood, painted white and lies on each side of the harbour. Just
wandering in the streets is soothing and if you’re anything like me,
it can make your mind drift away, thinking what it might have been
like here long ago. Because when visiting Risør, it is pretty evident
that it’s quite an old town and that it has a lot of history to it.
The church in the town centre dates back to 1641, and in the 1700s and
1800s Risør was an important and prosperous town in Norway for the
expanding ship building industry. The marine culture is still very
prominent in Risør and is still a vital part of the town’s identity.
The outskirts of Risør consist mainly of woods and wild nature, and
two of Bergtatt’s members grew up here. This, combined with the
previously mentioned fascination and interest of the past, makes up a
big part of what Bergtatt is influenced by as a band, as well as our
songs.
Like most of the many tourists that visit Risør and people that spend
their holiday here would say, I would agree that Risør is at its
finest during summertime. It’s at this time of year that the town gets
a special, almost magical, glowing aura. Try having dinner at
“Stangholmen” (a restaurant lying on a close-by island) late in the
evening, or quench your thirst with some beers on the rooftop of the
good old bar “Prommen” during sunset, and you’ll see what I mean. Yes,
I am biased, being from Risør and having my mind packed with memories
of growing up in this place, but it’s definitely worth a visit!
By Rolf-Erik Solstad Karlsen for Bergtatt
Risør is here
Hovedøya, Oslo, Norway
My name is Knut-Oscar Nymo and I play bass guitar in the band Oslo Ess together with vocalist Åsmund Lande, Guitarist Peter Larsson and drummer Mads Golden. Oslo Ess is an up-and-coming norwegian punkrock band and our debut album “uleste bøker og utgåtte sko” will be out the 11th of march.
If you take the ferry from the docks down at Vippetangen and get of at the first stop, you will find yourself at one of the nicest places in Oslo. The place that I`m thinking of is Hovedøya and it has been on of my favourite places ever since I found out about it in 2006. I had already lived in Oslo since 2004 at the time and the discovery of this place changed my whole idea of the city.
During the summer the island is full of people and it`s almost impossible to find a quiet place to relax in the sun and cool down in Oslofjorden. But if you walk past the crowded beach and trough the woods, you get to the rocky part on the edge of the island. This is where me and my band find peace and the inspiration to do what we like best. Theres no better way to prepare for rehearsal or a night out than to take a swim and spend some hours in the sun. When the sun goes down and we`re out of beer, the ferry takes us back to the docks and the concrete streets of downtown Oslo. Only to return the next day to escape the stress and sound of the “big” city.
So if you`re ever in need of a timeout or you simply want to spend some time at a beatiful location, you know where to go.
Knut-Oscar Nymo - Oslo Ess
Damsgårdssundet, Bergen, Norway
The Urørt (Norwegian BBC Introducing equivalent) team described Lovecult as “the sound of of the 60s successfully mixed with 70s krautrock and 80s shoegaze-pop, a place where finishing your songs with blissed out fuzz cacophonies and feedback orgasms is de rigueur. You don’t always have to be on the way somewhere, sometimes it’s nice to just be!”
On the shadow side of Bergen, just across Puddefjorden, you find Damsgård, an area awaiting major gentrification but sort of in limbo due to the financial crisis. It used to be an active shipping and industry area, but in the recent years it’s sort of been left to its own, ever more rapidly decaying. The area is quite ugly and all in all pretty dodgy, but it’s just so beautifully demised. There are several classic old brick and tile buildings with that unique old industrial atmosphere. Perfect for New York-style loft apartments and creative studios. When we first moved our rehearsal-studio there a few years ago, the area was mostly empty, but only since last year, more and more musicians and artists are filling in the vast spaces of old factories and storages. You can always hear music from one of the several rehearsal spaces in the area, or if you’re lucky, stumble upon an atelier. This is not an obvious place to visit, even if you live in the city. We probably wouldn’t be familiar with it if our studio hadn’t been located there. It’s close to the centre of Bergen, but there never seems to be anyone around, except the occasional junkie or jogger.
The reason why we chose the Damsgård area is that it is so filled with opportunity, contrasts, and inspiration. It’s a place that makes you want to explore and imagine what all these run down spaces could be used for. Since there never seems to be anyone around it’s a great getaway from everything. There’s also a couple of weird and sort of creepy David Lynchy elements in the area, like a small café under the Puddefjord bridge, crammed in between two huge industrial buildings, with an old army-tank parked in the backyard, or a ferry on the docks turned into a houseboat. This only adds to the sort of special mood of the area. Crossing the Puddefjord Bridge and walking down dusty Michael Krohns street always fills us with anticipation.
In the summer it’s nice to bring some cold beers to the docks, watch the sunset under the bridge and dream of what could take place here if enough people took the opportunity, before it is all turned into hi-end real estate. Bring a camera and capture images of an area caught in limbo. Finish the tour with beers at Bien bar!
Bakklandet , Trondheim , Norway
Ida Jenshus is a 23 year old americana/country artist from Steinkjer, Norway. After releasing her debut album “Color of the sun” (2008) and her follow up “No guarantees” (2010), she has been crowned Norway’s new country queen. See her tour schedule at www.idajenshus.com.
When I had to think of one favourite spot , the first place that came to mind was Bakklandet. This area in Trondheim has been my home for the last 4 years . It’s just the nicest place to live, and to come home to between being on tour or working in the studio. I`ve grown up in a small town myself, so I fell completely in love with this small-town-feel-area in the heart of Trondheim. It`s got this old bohemian look, with crooked houses, small cobblestone streets, vintage shops, small cafes and the Nidelven river running through .
In the summer I love to sit around the benches down by the river with my morning coffee, music on the ear and a book, Ive written a lot of lyrics and songs down there. It´s kind of a peaceful and quiet area, although it’s in the middle of a bigger city. I love the way I can sort of “hide away” here, be in my own world if I want to and find peace to work on my music, but at the same time it has got its pulse.
On sundays the street cafés are always crowded, especially in summer or whenever the sun is out. Try the sweet chilli coffee at Dromedar, it`s the best! Or catch a outdoor concert and a beer at Rabarbra. The Baccalao for lunch at Baklandet Skydsstation is also a favourite of mine, so is the carrotcake. Whenever I need new dresses or outfits to wear on stage, I usually go to the small vintage/re-design shop Stella Snella, where I design my clothes with the sweetsweet owner Hege Biermann . She has the loveliest pieces and the biggest smile .
Watch out for my little black kitten “Søta” ( Cutie ) running around .
Jaeger, Oslo, Norway
Of Norway are well known to not only Norwegian dance heads but also festival crowds and the gang at NRK P3. The band describe their sound as “like getting lost in the Norwegian woods”. It is a sometimes warm, sometimes cool world of crackles, clicks and bleeps which mix stripped-back electronic sounds with the exotic, exquisite sound of modern life.
The few times we crawl out of the studio to check up on the world around us we go to Jaeger in Oslo. It opened in January 2011, and took over the venue from an older rock club (Garage), and it looks like it’s going to be a new haven for the techno/house/disco crowd in Oslo! Good sound both upstairs and downstairs, good DJs, MC.
Caman, great atmosphere and friendly people. What more could you wish for? You can find it in Grensen / Oslo
Åmli, Larvik, Norway
Jonas Alaska makes music inspired by the old singer/songwriter tradition with strong elements of folk and americana. His backing band consists of a clean and tight rhythm section, CSN and gospel influenced backing-vocals as well as honkey keys and guitars.
His album is expected in June, 2011.
My favourite place is my hometown, Åmli.
Åmli is a small village deep inside the woods somewhere in the south of Norway. I haven’t lived in my hometown since I was 16. I currently live in England but I tend to write a lot when I’m home visiting my family. I’ve got a guitar and a borrowed el-piano standing by the window so when I write songs I’m staring straight into the woods.
There is only one street in Åmli. I know that street inside out as I used to skateboard when I lived there. There are also three hairdressers on that small street in the middle of the woods!
I really like living in the city though, and I hope I get to move to New York soon, but my dream is to build myself a cabin somewhere in my hometown with a studio in it. That way I can still live in the city, and write new songs the way I like it.
I sometimes like to think of my hometown as upstate New York, in the Woodstock area, where Dylan, Young, The Band and a bunch of other artists bought a house, made good coffee and recorded some awesome music.
Hubroåsen “the eagle owl hill”, Vestfold, Norway
The acoustic core of piano, double bass and drums gets challenged by simplistic, analogue elektronics, which in Splashgirls hands creates a distinctive, instrumental music somewhere between improvised music, ambient and experimental rock. Genres aside, Splashgirls music contains a concentration, a graveness and a focus on details matched by few others. Aside from touring most of Europe, Splashgirl spent the fall of 2010 recording their coming album with Alex Kloster-Jensen. Their third album further investigates the referances to drone from their last album “Arbor” (Hubro 2009), and the new album is mixed by none other than Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn 0))), Jesse Sykes). The record will be released on Hubro in april.
My favourite place in the world is called Hubroåsen, “the eagle owl hill”. It is a small hilltop with an overhang, a view and a bonfire. The hill is not particularly high, but it is still quite spectacular. If you are not afraid of steep hills it only takes 20 minutes to walk there. That is, unless you end up in the much-feared triangle at the start of the bridge. The triangle is only a couple of hundred meters away from the hilltop itself, still my father has gotten lost amongst the scrubs and bushes, and he grew up by these woods. If you are not paying careful attention to where you put your feet, you might end up somewhere completely different, and much, much later than intended, something my brother and I did one Christmas Eve. We just about made it home for dinner.
To get to Hubroåsen you have to drive from Oslo towards Larvik in Vestfold County, and turn at the junction with a sign towards Hedrum Church. After about 4 km on a country road you will arrive at Ulvedalen, “the wolf valley”, where one of the paths towards the hill starts. Here you will probably have to sneak quietly past some cattle before you get to the actual path. It usually goes well, the cows are mainly concerned with grass and clover, although they might stare at you for a long, long time.
We go to Hubroåsen to make coffee on the fire and not much else, and sometimes one does not need to do more than that. When the water is boiling and the coffee pot has been ceremoniously sunk seven times to make the coffee grounds sink, we sip coffee whilst looking out over the large fields with lazy cattle, woods and a country road where once in a while a car or a tractor drives by. If one feels particularly adventurous, one can sit at the tip of the overhang and contemplate the 150 metres of air between the feet and the ground, but that I have almost never done.
By Andreas Stensland Løwe for Splashgirl
The Love Park, Norrköping, Sweden
Lillte Marbels is Sweden’s freshest most innovative little pop band. It has been two years since the release of their critically acclaimed debut “Vi accepterar mitt kaos” (“We Accept My Chaos”), two years that have encompassed hundreds of shows, almost every festival in Sweden. Their newest album is “Vi slutar när vi är klara” (“We’ll Stop When We’re Ready”) and was released in May 2010.
Our favourite spot in the world is The love park in Norrköping- Sweden
We woke up at 7.20 every morning in a bed that looked like a flowerfield. With big mens underwear and Tshirts that had been washed to many times, we walked barefoot to The love park in the morning sun.
9.00 The grocery store had opened and we left our blanket and sunny spot to buy some ice cream. The only trouble was that the store didn’t sell any spoons, so we had to eat the ice cream with our fingers.
10.00 Insects love ice cream as much as we do, so suddenly they had surrounded us and we had a panic attack and ran home.
20.00 When darkness dominates the park, it turns into a big summer party. The wine was made in a bathtub and..
