A few days ago, Astronautalis posted this video and - as you can read - asked to reblog it when I like it. I love it, so I guess I should reblog it. And a few days ago, back in 1869, Dimitri Mendeleev introduced the periodic table to the world. How is that connected to Astronautalis, you might wonder. It’s quite simple: “Dimitri Mendeleev” is one song of his newest album “This Is Our Sience” and was available as a free download a long little while ago. (Side note: I am currently writing my diploma thesis in Chemistry therefore these things are a plus just like that.)
Astronautalis is still the only rapper that can catch my interest (and had it from the first time I heard/saw him). A few weeks ago I saw him live in Berlin and he was just fabulous. He brought Bleubird with him and I am pretty sure Bleubird wasn’t bad (he was good) but I just couldn’t feel it. But that was just me and I started to wonder why that might be the case. I think I am not “trained” to hear rap - so many words in such a short amount of time. I just can’t follow them and then everything starts to sound very similar to me (except for the beats). That is just very ineffective when you listen to a storyteller like Bleubird. It’s my “fault” (can’t find a better word for it), not his. I always want to understand it, I would love to understand rap better, make a better sense of it, but I guess you just can’t like every music style even if you want to. However, if you like rap, make sure to listen to Bleubird. But what is the difference to Astronautalis since he is a rapper and a storyteller as well? For me there is a difference in the energy of the performance - it’s not only different from every rapper I ever saw but also from a lot of other musicians I saw. Astronautalis feels a lot more intense to me (nevertheless the passion for what they do could be felt with Bleubird and Astronautalis), he fills the whole room and even when he is in the background, he is there. And the sound of Astronautalis’ voice is amazing. I just love utterly his voice (which sort of doesn’t fit the way he looks at all but that is just an irrelevant fact). It’s so rough. It sounds a bit like too much whiskey. He sings and shouts and raps and combines it all to a one of a kind thing. It’s the stories he tells. It’s lines like “Tell me this, put up your fingertips/ If you’re living your life exactly the way that you wished, yeah/ And for the rest of us with our hands on out hips/ Our work is never done, we are Sisyphus” that make me love his music.
I hope one days he will bring his band with him to Germany even though it was quite awesome to hear “Measure The Globe” without any back up (not even a beat from the apple). Currently he is touring the US with his band - you can find the dates on his facebook. Make sure to see him live and be blown away. Oh, and he is pretty funny, too. So, prepare to laugh as well.
Thank you for reading,
Dörte
In honor of my new tour starting today, i am excited to release the new video for “This Is Our Science” shot, directed, and edited by June Zandona. If you like the video, PLEASE REBLOG IT! and if you live in the middle of america or will find yourself at SXSW, be sure to come see me live with Busdriver & Jel!
CHECK ASTRONAUTALIS.COM FOR FULL DETAILS!
Last week I talked about how I have music styles where I don’t have the biggest affinity to and this week we will learn how I actually don’t have the biggest affinity to Rap or Hip Hop. But there are always exceptions like Astronautalis. I have seen him live over 1,5 years ago for the first time and it was intense. He is a story teller, he tells tales in his songs. And I really love his voice. Well, I am very happy to finally share a link that will bring you to a site where you can download the first single of his upcoming album “This Is Our Science” for free. It is called “Dimitri Mendeleev”. Dimitri Mendeleev is the guy who invented the periodic table and therefore Astronautalis already won by the choice of title because chemistry is something I like. I still need to wrap my head around the lyrics which as always takes a little longer but at the first listen in doesn’t sound like it is about this Medeleev. And I don’t want to make presumptions here (not this time).
And I just read along with a lot of other things on his facebook page that he wrote it in Berlin when he was here the last time. I remember the show he made back then and how awesome it was. Oooh, I want to see him now. Where are you? And why haven’t you moved to Berlin? I can’t wait for the whole album to see the daylight. And now go and get this new song, too.
He is my most favourite rapper. I love his unique voice. I love the stories he tells. And the intense live shows.
Go and get it. (It’s free, too.)
Astronautalis is a rapper and even though I am usually not the biggest Hip Hop fan on planet earth I found him amazing when I saw him for the first time a bit over a year ago. He was the support for Tegan and Sara. And I didn’t knew at all what I should expect when that one man with his computer hit the stage and he literally blew me away in the end. He is very intense on stage and his songs are amazing (and I do love his voice a lot). “Pomegranate” is an amazing record. It’s maybe due to my lack of knowledge about Hip Hop but what was fascinating for me about him was his different style and the unique way he told his stories. The stories are not the usually one, too. It’s at times like he has a time traveling machine and comes back with stories of older times. Something I have never seen or better hears until then. It actually doesn’t matter how big the stage is, he just does what he does and that is simply amazing and works out on both-small and big stages.
This is a photo of him back then:
The following video was just released. “The Wondersmith and his Sons”. Enjoy it!
And if you don’t have enough and you need a bit of a laugh I also recommend you to watch the following video for “Trouble Hunters”:
P.S. Happy Birthday, Astronautalis!
