“Amsterdam” (Used 33 times)

From Berlin´s underground Camera is heavily influenced by 70s Krautrock bands like Neu and Can and have been playing spontaneous guerilla-like shows in U-Bahn stations all over the city. They were at Festsaal Kreuzberg opening up for the mighty Trans Am aswell as several festival appearances including performances with Neu´s very own Michael Rother. Having just debuted an album you should (if in Berlin) try and catch them live by going to one of their shows. The music is psychedelic, hypnotic and intense.

Fortunately they also travel outside the underground tunnels of Berlin and showed up last December in Amsterdam for the Solaris Fest at Plantage Dok. Noise Problems was there and caught it all on´tape. Check out the whole voyage here at the FMA. Camera rules.

For those new to Noise Problems is a net-label dedicated to electric and amplified music of all sorts. Many of our releases come straight from actual gig recordings and so we like to think of it also as a collection of live shows. All awesome bands are exclusively recorded by Noise Problems for all free music lovers out there and our first compilation is up. 

For the occasion of the 50th release by Noise Problems a compilation was issued to commemorate. Now its 23 tracks are available in 6 volumes for download here at the FMA. Great tracks selected from amongst the first 50 Noise Problems releases. Check out the Selections. All shows recorded live between 2007 and 2010 at various Amsterdam venues except for Tzaatzuim recorded in the studio and Tchakare Kanyembe recorded at the Boom Festival.

Purple Pop was a one time event (at least till now, you never know) held at the OCCII in Amsterdam and was seen as an alternative to...Pinkpop the major festival which this year is headlining such acts as The Cure and Bruce Springsteen. Great stuff we all love the classics but not everyone can afford it and for those fans of sub- and counter-culture they could "pick up their hearts and dance until the early hours at Purple Pop." (Pinkpop finishes at 01.00 sharp wtf?!).

Purple Pop took place on May 28, 2010 in Amsterdam. The festival was an iniciative from the producers who also organized the “Anti-Lowlands Festival" a year before, which was very successful and sold-out as a lot of people got the "anti" statement...but then a lot didn’t.

"We did Purple Pop deliberately the same weekend as Pinkpop. Were not per se anti-Pinkpop but want to offer resistance to the big commercial festivals and to give a fun place to indie bands who, like the big acts, deserve attention and showcase. The independent music scene in Amsterdam is quite small. Everyone has had enough of so little selection of authentic sub-cultural music. As with Anti-Lowlands, Purplepop is a network of like-minded people." Yes...Go Purple Pop!

The festival started early with veggie dinner at the MKZ restaurant behind the OCCII were acoustic bands where playing. Highlights went to the Suicidal Birds acoustic set of guitar and contrabass. Line up for the evening on the main stage was all awesome bands Apneu, Red the Planeeet, Pattern Cut-off and The Stutters.

Thomas "Tommy Tornado" Streutgers is a 31 year old saxophonist from The Netherlands. A saxophone player "who is so connected to his instrument that he has blown more air through his mouthpiece than he has exhalled!" At just 17 he won the Big Boss Jazz Award and has been a rising star ever since...

His first solo album "Sunrise" was released in 2009 on RRR Rude Rich Records with features from Jamaican legends like Dennis Alcapone and Winston Francis and other upcoming international artists like Osagyefo and Soulmack.

The CD release party at the Pacific Parc club in Amsterdam was memorable with Tommy Tornado and a "Dynamite" horn section performing many of his new cuts backed up by The Rude Rich & the High Notes, one of Hollands greatest reggae acts.

Check out the whole show right here at FMA Tommy Tornado live at Pacific Parc and navigate to Tommy´s website for his latest release "Cool Down".

"THORRABLOT" The Icelandic Viking Midwinter Festival in celebration of the end of the dark cold winter days and the arrival of light where excessive eating, drinking and dancing till dawn is a good thing. Lets celebrate this event with music by none other than Ragga Gisla and Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson.