10 Days with Europe's Top 10 Pop Music Scenes. #10.

Every week, I listen to the new pop music arrivals on about 40 European music charts. I maintain a spreadsheet (9000 songs and counting) of my impressions. Every song is reviewed in "stoplight" fashion (green = great, yellow = so-so, red = not at all interested).

It occurred to me that I might be able to use this as a basis for ranking the countries by the quality of their top 40 charts.

That, of course, makes for a terribly subjective exercise complicated by many variables. There are some countries for which I have never been able to find a good pop chart, so they are out of the race. There are other countries whose pop charts are so consistently dull that I just don't check them at all, preferring instead to catch their hits when they rise up on the hot 100 European chart.

My records only show when a song made its first appearance somewhere. If a pop hit is to my liking, and winds up on 20 different charts, only the country whose chart I found it on first gets the credit. (In this sense, one could say that my ranking system rewards the most farsighted countries.)

So, at the end of the day, this is just a list of countries whose top 40 charts make one guy who has listened to 9000 songs over the last couple of years the happiest. We will look at one country each day (a good Euro-nationalistic exercise to correspond with Eurovision). We begin with:

Number 10: The Netherlands. 7.63% GREEN (7.63% of that country's charting songs earned top marks on my spreadsheet)

What impresses me about the Netherlands coming in at number 10 is that they do so despite having an enormous amount of levenslied (Dutch schlager) on their charts. Anyone for a Dutch-language version of "Daydream Believer"? Who thinks Patrick! has really earned the exclamation mark following his name? And WTF?

The levenslied stuff, you will note, is almost always in Dutch, whereas the country's pop and dance music output is usually delivered in English. Accordingly, levenslied is associated (fairly or not) with a less-cosmopolitan, working-class audience. (Dutch rap is usually in the Dutch language as well. Rap, which relies on verbal dexterity, always benefits from being delivered in the MC's native tongue.)

A music chart with one-third levenslied consistency is a lot for the rest of the music scene to overcome. But fortunately the Dutch also love dum-dum dance songs, and so do I. Consider that the country delighted in happy hardcore during the mid-1990s, then transitioned into dance pop like Alice DeeJay in Y2K. Today, the Netherlands are home to internationally acclaimed trance DJs like Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, and Ferry Corsten; the first two regularly top DJ Magazine's top 100 DJ polls each year, and Corsten (my personal preference) is never far behind.

The Netherlands also have a talented crop of MCs who sample from far funkier sources than their U.S. counterparts. One thing I remember about Amsterdam were the many vinyl record stores, which I imagine are filled with good hooks just waiting to be sampled.

Ah, old records. That reminds me of the Dutch pop music of the 70s, like Mouth & MacNeal's "How Do You Do?" Earth and Fire's "Weekend," and Patricia Paay's "Livin' Without You."

Hell, I even enjoy the occasional levenslied tune. ;-)

A few tracks from the last couple of years:

CJ - Rapfanaat
DIO feat Sef - Aye
Elize – Hot Stuff
Esmée Denters - Admit It
Ferry Corsten feat Maria Nayler - We Belong
Jeff van Vliet - Uit de weg
Rigby - Parade

David Guetta - Arena, Zagreb, Saturday 22 May 2010

In mid-2009, David Guetta's "When Love Takes Over" (featuring Kelly Rowland) began to climb the European pop music charts. Several smash hit singles later, 2010 has turned into the year of David Guetta.

In 2009 Guetta moved up two spots in DJ Magazine's annual readers poll of the top 100 DJs to number three, just underneath perenniel Dutch favorites Armin van Buuren and Tiësto (those two guys have been in the top three every year since 2003, and van Buuren and Tiësto have been roosting at numbers one and two respectively for the last three years). I will be shocked if Guetta doesn't take the crown this year; he's got a ton of recent hit songs under his belt and he's been touring like mad. Vive la France!

I saw posters for Guetta's Zagreb appearance throughout the Balkans in March, and I felt quite sad that I would not be able to see the show myself.

Urška Renier (pictured on right), who lives in Maribor, Slovenia was luckier. When she bought her tickets the agency also arranged bus transportation from Maribor to Zagreb. After two hours on the road she arrived at the Arena. After the show ended she hopped right back on a bus to Maribor and was home by 8 AM.

Guetta returns to the Balkans on 10 July, when he plays Serbia's Exit Festival at the picturesque Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad.

All photos below by Urška Renier.

His name in lights

Urška writes: "There were about 16.000 people all dancing and screaming lyrics of Guetta's songs. At one moment I felt like a sardine in a can—especially when I was in the front row surrounded by dancing people. For a better understanding, you can watch my movie on YouTube."




The exterior of the Arena

Urška writes: "The concert was in Arena Zagreb, a new multifunctional hall. It was built in 2008 to host big sports, cultural, business and entertainment events, but thanks to its beauty and grandeur it has become the architectural landmark of the City of Zagreb.

"This building has two halls, a large and a small one. The large hall has a seating capacity of 15.200, with 150 seats reserved for disabled persons. Depending on the event, it can accommodate more than 20.000 people."




Inside Arena Zagreb

Urška writes: "There was big floor in the middle and seats on the side. The floor was full (and also the seats, but everybody was standing)."





Cool lights

Urška writes: "The concert (party) officially started at 10.00 pm, but Guetta started playing at 12.30 am. This concert was David Guetta 'and friends,' so first there was a DJ from Slovenia, DJ UMEK. Guetta played for about 3 hours, until 4.30 am. At 5.00 am we left Zagreb. I came home to Maribor at 8.00 am."










Keeping an eye on things :-|

Urška writes: "He played mostly stuff from his album, but also some other songs. I was really disappointed because he didn't play 'One Love.' He generally played songs from his album One Love."

Here is a tracklist:

1. Intro / 2. Gettin' Over / 3. Rhythm is a Dancer / 4. Shots / 5. Love is gone / 6. Memories / 7. Guetta Blaster / 8. Be / 9. When Love Takes Over / 10. End







"Thank you. Thank you very much."

Planning Stage: Ukraine (Part 2: Kiev Nightlife)

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Well, my sister, who is sensible, is not on board with my doing this, so I regret I mentioned it to her. It's a shame some people cannot be told things; they force us to become liars.

Packing of belongings is moving along. I am patching holes in my apartment walls and boxing up my library. I hope to be more than halfway moved out this week and completely moved out by end of next (save my mattress, computer, DJ equipment, and some other essentials).

More Kiev

Ukraine's brutal presidential campaign will culminate on 17 January, provided swine flu paranoia doesn't delay the vote. I want to be there for that.

Hotels in Kiev are expensive. Renting an apartment will not get you a good value either (prices online suggest a nightly rate that is about the same as what you'd pay for the Holiday Inn Express here in the states, which is to say around $60 a night). As Bradt's travel guide notes, Kiev has yet to discover the budget hotel. One can take a gamble and rent an apartment for possibly much cheaper from any number of entrepreneurs, but Bradt's discourages this (too many ways to get scammed).

The only other options are hostels or a personal connection with a couch to sleep on. I would prefer the latter, as the hostels look like the usual 4 to 8 bunks per room, and it takes just one snorer to spoil everything. (If it should come to that, I will certainly be bringing my noise cancellation headphones and earplugs with me.)

Regarding Ukraine night life, it seems a large number of dance clubs also double as strip clubs and casinos. Some of these are described as "entertainment centers," and their website splash pages begin at that broader level, with a menu to narrow the scope for the different specific offerings.

Heaven looks like a potentially fun place (I love their advertising), though again I fear it may be too trendy for me. Clips on YouTube show the usual gyrating, scantily-clad professional club dancers on the bar counter. But in studying so many clubs in Eastern Europe lately I'm beginning to recognize that such may simply be the norm for club culture in that region, so sexy girl dancers perhaps does not equal pretentious in that part of the world. Indie bands play live at Heaven also, which is a positive sign.

Arena Night Club looks primarily to be a big-name place, for the likes of Antoine Clamaran, David Guetta, and Inna.

Disco Radio Hall, formerly Modabar, looks like an especially promising venue. The pop is clearly right up front (they put Katy Perry on one flier). I will definitely aim for this one.

Cocktail Bar 111 is situated in a posh hotel. Reviews are mixed, but it sounds as if it could be appealingly trashy.

Pa Ti Pa had Hungarian ex-porn star turned DJ Niki Belucci perform; she removed her clothing while DJ'ing as well. As it turns out, there are other Kiev venues where topless girls DJ. Which makes for some formidable competition.

Tiësto has played Decadence. Fave Ukrainian house group Gorchitza has also. Described as "ultra exclusive," one site says the door policy can be "harsh." It does look lavish, and therefore is probably not my kind of place.

Azhur is described as an "unpretentious" disco. Decor and music are based on the 60s-80s. That would be a fun and interesting DJ challenge. Crowd looks older, unsurprising considering the retro atmosphere. The venue looks quite beautiful and the door policy is relaxed.

Random Observations

Friend Darko from Croatia on the subject of whether or not I can play turbofolk in the Balkans: "Turbofolk? Do not go there!"

Renting an apartment in Tallinn, Estonia for a month is far more reasonable and affordable than renting an apartment in Kiev.

If a cop asks for your passport on the streets of Kiev, you give it to him to look at. If a cop asks for your passport on the streets of Bucharest, you don't. That's because in Romania real cops don't ask to see your passport; only cop impersonators do this.