I Won't Quote

Saturday

On Saturday the concertst started quite earlt - at 15:30 already. Before those, I went to the town to pop by my favourite coffee vagon, Roots coffee bar. During the corona quarantine, they had a really cool "coffee window" where me and my friend went several times (basically you ordered through a window and they sent your coffee down in a basket). Anyway, really cool people, good coffee and cool idea.

After that, I went to Telliskivi again and decided to go to F-Hoone, where there were performances by LAGI records company, who base on rap and hip hop.

Firstly it was time for Apollo, who I don't even know what to say about. I quite liked it, even though the words were... quite boring to be honest. It wasn't anything specail. It kind of reminded me some Norwegian artists, which was a big plus, because I am a fan. Especially Norwegian hip hop and rap. The artist seemed like a nice person and I was sad there wasn't more people listening to him.

In general I thought that the weaker artists were more during the day and that they will get better as time goes by, but it was the opposite. :'D I hope I am not too strict, but this is how I felt.

Next it was time for Kriipsu-Uku, whose words I just didn't understand. But they said that the music tracks are also made by him, which was cool. He had a nice style. When I interviewed Tommy Tee a few years ago, he said that the beat is the most important thing when creating a song and Kriipsu-Uku had done this. I don't know what else to say about him.

Next it was turn of NEO, who I don't even remember. I guess he was similar to the others, meaning nothing special. At this point I also felt that I was too tired of listening to the same kind of stuff, I didn't even stand up to listen to the artists, not to mention taking pictures. I thought of moving somewhere else, but there weren't any other concerts at that point yet. So I stuck around. After him it was turn of Manna, who I really did want to see.

Manna was good. If there wasn't her performance, I would have been really disappointed in this day. It was really nice to see a female artist. Her presence, songs and everything was different and fresh. Finally I gathered enough strength to stand up and jam along! I think we will hear about her in the future. She is worth it.

Then it was väike kelder's turn, where they had a lot of memebers but what was quite terrible. :D I am really sorry, please forgive me! One song was acceptable, but in general it felt as if they really missed the tone? I mean, it was as if they were yelling along to a song in a club. This wasn't enjoyable. I think they have a lot of room to grow and get better. But this one song shows that at least they COULD do something better as well.

And finally I listened to the Kaw, but I really couldn't do more than him. His songs were just okay, I can't bring out anything specific. Anyway in general all of the artists mashed together in my head and I think it was just too much too fast. But in general, this day wasn't too bad either. It will be interesting to see where they go from here, definitely. At one point I am sure we will hear about them.

Anyway, I recommend checking out Manna and give a chance to Apollo. Regarding others, I am a bit doubtful, but they can prove me wrong.

Then for the last concert I picked Mari Kalkun, and she was awesome. It started to rain, but this didn't ruin the experience. She is really different and enjoyable and it was really good to listen to her, a change from all this hip hop and rap. This is very Estonian and simple. Exciting.

Unfortunately I didn't go and see anyone else after her, because I was cold and tired and I was so tired. Tallinn Music Week definitely wasn't what it was in 2018.

Like in general I expected a lot more artists or names that I had heard before. This year wasn't so good. There weren't many "main" events, there was no vibe of 2018. So I would say that the level has gone down. But at the same time I understand this - it was supposed to happen in spring and a lot of artists couldn't come due to corona. So I guess they still did their best. But I am sure that there is room for progress.

I really hope I get a chance to participate more events like this and share my thoughts. I really would like if people read this, lived it with me and enjoy it. I want only good things to happen to all of the performers, I want them to get what they deserve. I want to share a positive message and be happy with them.

Anyway, I wrote down quite a list of artists I would like to listen to in the future!

Friday

On Friday I wanted to see Kristjan Järvi and Ott Lepland, but it appeared that for this concert you needed an extra ticket. I didn't want to get it, as it was quite short performance and the price was simply not worth it. I am a bit sad and I wish they had told this to press in advance...

Instead, I went to Telliskivi again to listen to a Finnish artist named Tomi Saario. I had listened to some of his songs preciously and I was quite excited to see him live. He has a good, carrying voice and I really liked his presence. Songs in general talked about love, which I couldn't really align with, but it did seem that he was master at putting words together. It was a joy to listen to him. At the same time I would say that his performance was like a one long song, because it was all in the same style and it kind of became one. But he was pretty good and I do recommend checking him out. Maybe he reminded me a bit of Ed Sheeran, to be complerely honest. And I am not a big fan of Ed, so yeah... :D But it was nice!

Next I thought to listen to Ariadne, but instead I decided to pop by F-Hoone to see what is jonas.f.k about... and this was the first surprise of the night! I don't understand why they have so few likes on their Facebook! This was awesome and it seemed that the people loved it. It was kind of like a mix of pop, electronic and alternative music. The singer had such a good stage presence, he pulled the people in, everyone seemed to lean forward, as if he was to drop the secret of a lifetime. And his... "I don't care" appearance... it matched so well. Anyway, I am OBSESSED!

As jonas.f.k made such a good appearance, I decided to stick around and see what else TIKS records has to offer. And the next performer was EiK. EiK was called... a rapper who is not a rapper. And the first song... I didn't like. It was kind of telling a poem in music and I am not a fan of poetry. But I decided to stick around and give him another chance and I am super glad I did it! Because the next songs were amazing and overwhelming in a good way. It was like music, like poetry, like songs - everything together. Best way to enjoy these three things. This was a great surprise for me! I don't understand how he has so few fans once again. :D I wish that my post made at least one person to check him out. Then I can say my work is done in this world. :D EiK is definitely not for everyone, but even people who don't like him have to admit that he has some serious skills.

In addition I wanted to listen to a lot more artists on Friday, but my health was concerning and told me that this was enough. I don't know if I was too tired or what was up, but I just couldn't stay and listen for more. Instead I headed home. Besides, if I was really sick, I didn't want to spread it. At the same time the next day I was completely fine, so I saw a lot more performances and I still feel good. I guess it was just that I was super tired from the work week, but what can you do. I wish it didn't happen. But at the same time... I am happy. I am happy that I saw the artists that I mentioned. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself and think that I need to see every single artist from the time performances start until the next morning. I want to enjoy music and doing it under pressure is not it. It loses it's magic when forced.

Also I have tried to stop writing down what exactly I like. I don't say that EiK's rhythm was good or jonas.f.k's guitar solo made my fingers tingle. I want to just tell people that their music is cool, worth a listen, exciting, different, amazing, surprising, living. I want people to listen to their music simply because they like it. I don't have to tell why I like it - it can be as simple as "I just like it".

One more day and then I will write more about the music and my mental health in regards to it. :)

Today's post is a little different, as I was press representative at Tallinn Music Week.

Thursday

TMW hit it off on Thursday, 27.08. At first it was supposed to happen in March-April, but due to corona it was postponed. I can totally understand this. At the same time I am really sad that a lot of the foreigh artists couldn't come even now, because they set this 2 week quarantine norm again. So mostly it was all about Estonian artists, with some odd ones out (for example Latvian, Finnish, Norwegian and I think one Hungarian).

Firstly on Thursday I attended Carnival Youth's concert, who performed at Telliskivi Creative City in an open air. We were lucky with the weather - it was a bit chilly, but it was clear and not rainy at least. This would have been awful. What can I say about them though... it was a nice band. It was a bit weird that I enjoyed some songs a lot, but didn't care at all about the others. They had a lot of different things going on. At the same time I think it is positive, because everyone can find something they like. But I don't think I have come across a lot of bands whose songs I really like and dislike at the same time. Anyway, it was a good start to the festival.

Next, it was INGER's performance, who had quite decent songs. I saw her on Estonian TV, but I didn't know much of her. This was nice, chill music. I really liked some of the songs a lot, while others just left me with no particular emotion. Also, there were quite a few people listening, which was sad, but also good - with the corona and all. Anyway, Inger was really sweet, she seemed a bit stressed and nervous, but this made her very charming and warm.

At one point I decided to move on and went to Fotografiska to listen to Puuluup. And this was a huge surprise! I haven't heard anything as interesting and different in a long while, I highly recommend you to check them out. People were living for it, they were dancing and everyone were completely obsessed. Neozombiepostfolk is indeed a word to describe them. I would really love to just attend their solo concert, if I happened to come across one. I am really glad for them!

In addition to these concerts, I wanted to see what Kadri Voorand was all about, but... it wasn't something I enjoyed at all. I can't even describe it - maybe in some different context I would like it (like when I had dinner at a restaurant and she was playing live?), but on this evening it wasn't anything special to be honest. Of course her music has something that is beautiful and likable, but I don't know, maybe I was too tired already or had listened to way too much music already, but this just didn't sit well with me. :D

I randomly talked to one music producer from Italy, who really liked Estonia and who was really excited he happened to be here during Tallinn Music Week. We talked about how sad it is that most people can't earn a living working only with music. A lot of the journalists and producers and artists have a different job on the side. Like this Italian guy worked as a lawyer during the day.

I am not a person who would really start talking to strangers, but this was an interesting chat. At first he approached me to compliment my mask (I got one, because I thought that even if it doesn't help, it adds the feeling of security and maybe people won't actually bump into me when they see this) and then we got talking. These kind of chats are ALWAYS super interesting and I would love to talk to more people like him.