• Business
• Features
• Property
• Regulars

on the radar

rising star

thomas buttenschøn
singer-songwriter

words by Petra Sjouwerman

“Less jazz, more soul” is how the young Danish singer-songwriter Thomas Buttenschøn, 22, describes his new album Billeder af min baggård (Images of My Backyard), released in March. His debut CD in 2006, Fantastiske Mandag (Fabulous Monday), earned him a gold disc in Denmark and his funky, bluesy songs – with Buttenschøn on guitar and vocals, and the rest of the band on keyboard, drums, bass and guitar – got excellent reviews.

With his gigantic afro, spectacular soul voice alternated with high falsetto, and humorous lyrics, the musician appeals to a wide audience. “People of all ages attend my concerts – the young, couples with children and elderly people. Last time a woman of about 70 came up afterwards. She said: [Buttenschøn switches to an affected Copenhagen accent] ‘You make excellent music.’ No one has ever addressed me using De before, the Danish polite form of address,” he chuckles.

Buttenschøn, who has a Zambian mother and a Danish father, grew up in a small town near Denmark’s second largest city, Århus. He began writing songs when he was 14. “I played in a rock band and we wanted to become world famous – of course. Back then, I wrote all my songs in English, but I soon realised my Danish lyrics were much better. Something that sounds funny in your own language isn’t necessarily funny in English.”

So he sticks to Danish nowadays. His lyrics are unpretentious and deal with everyday life. On November in Copenhagen from his debut recording, he sings: “Have taken it easy in my boxer shorts and slippers to Kind of Blue and got a reminder for something I obviously hadn’t paid…”

Buttenschøn’s big break came in 2005 when he won Den Danske Bank Talent Award. With the award came the chance to make his first album, and he has worked as a full-time musician ever since. “I feel very privileged that I can make a living with my music,” says the soft-spoken singer. “The lyrics on my new CD are more mature. My first CD was more ‘here I come and I don’t care’. But my lyrics still deal with daily life. I sing about my girlfriend. She’s beautiful, but sometimes a bit hysterical just as women can be,” he laughs.

Inspiration often comes from walking around Nørrebro, the lively Copenhagen neighbourhood where Buttenschøn lives. “Sometimes I start with the text, sometimes with the melody, and sometimes I just feel… oooh… and it all comes together at the same time. I just play with it until I get it right.”

Last year Buttenschøn gave 107 concerts, mostly in small clubs. “It’s easier to create an intimate atmosphere in small places. It’s cosy and people really listen.” He was also the opening act during Danish pop star Thomas Helmig’s tour last year. “I have to admit that the big concert halls are also awesome. You can scream and go totally crazy.”

Thomas Buttenschøn and band tour Denmark in April and May. For dates and more information visit www.myspace.com/buttenschon

music

words by Richard Clayton

critic’s pick

accelerate
by r.e.m.

We wouldn’t normally recommend an album without hearing the final tracks, but we’re making an exception for R.E.M.’s latest, their 14th studio work. Clips on YouTube of their “live rehearsals”, held in Dublin last June, suggest Messrs Buck, Mills and Stipe are back up to speed on Accelerate after 2004’s dreary Around the Sun. Guitarist Peter Buck looked liberated on the hard-driving chime of “Horse to Water” and the choppy jangle of “Man-Sized Wreath”: no more playing second-fiddle to electronic loops! Bloggers reckon the band are again digging the sounds of mid-80s albums such as Document and Fables of the Reconstruction, which purists consider to be some their finest, and there’s still an automatic singalong ballad in “Until the Day is Done”. Has producer Jacknife Lee (U2, Snow Patrol) retained that exuberance on record though?

the big gig
the cure

© Getty

The gestation of goth legend The Cure’s latest album has been as agonised as Robert Smith’s vocals can sound. Expected last autumn, it’s now due this spring, and is likely to be a double. After two members suddenly left last year, fans might have thought the band was disintegrating. But guitarist Porl Thompson has rejoined and Smith believes he’s given the group back its “rock edge”. This European tour will be the ideal chance to find out if that’s true. Songs from the new album, which is, apparently, “more in the style of [1987 album] Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, with different things happening instead of being a mood piece”, will be aired along with, no doubt, such classics as “Lovecats” and “Lullaby”.

Concert dates in Sterling destinations include Barcelona (10 March); Paris (12 March); Antwerp, fly to Brussels (14 March); Oberhausen, fly to Dortmund (16 March); Rotterdam, fly to Amsterdam (18 March) and London (20 March). www.thecure.com, tickets at www.euroteam.info

band to watch
foals

Galloping up on the outside rail of last year’s new-rave scene, Foals could be about to turn the competition into also-rans. Fifth in the BBC’s prestigious Sound of 2008 poll, the Oxford five-piece give math-rock and afrobeat influences a sharp pop spur. Their lead single, “Balloons”, is like Bloc Party in a jittery trance. Yet the guitar-scrambling “Mathlectics”, their signature track, isn’t even on debut album Antidote, which is due out on 24 March on Transgressive. Are these boys confident or what? www.wearefoals.com

film

words by Richard Clayton

must see

in bruges
© Allstar Collection

This debut feature from abrasive playwright Martin McDonagh finds Irish hitmen Ray and Ken (Colin Farrell and the lugubrious Brendan Gleeson) lying low among sightseers in the medieval Flemish town. Trouble flares when Harry (Ralph Fiennes, playing a similar hardnut to Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast) arrives to pay the odd couple a house call. The gunplay and the goofing seem equally compelling – imagine a Tarantino movie scripted by Roddy Doyle.

In Bruges is only out in a few European countries this spring, so catch it while you’re travelling. Directed by Martin McDonagh In cinemas in UK, Belgium and Germany from 7 March

also out now
The Other Boleyn Girl – Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson are sisters competing to leap into King Henry VIII’s bed. There’s a lot at stake in this historical romp – not least several characters’ heads.
The Spiderwick Chronicles – This fantasy for kids sees Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland) playing twins drawn into a parallel universe of fairies and ogres. The movie’s effects and script both look good.

who’s hot

martina gedeck
Two years on from The Lives of Others, Martina Gedeck is finally getting the big screen work she deserves. In Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Oscar-winning film of love and loyalty under the Stasi, the 47-year-old Munich-born actress was superb as the scheming, seductive yet ultimately sympathetic Christa-Maria. A small part in Robert De Niro’s CIA saga, The Good Shepherd, was her Hollywood reward, but now Gedeck has real-life characters to get her teeth into. In Clara, currently in post-production, she plays the lead as the composer wife of 19th-century maestro Robert Schumann; and she stars as Ulrike Meinhof in Uli Edel’s film about the Red Army Faction, the terrorist group that caused mayhem in the 1970s Bundesrepublik. Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex has just finished filming and co-stars Moritz Bleibtreu as Andreas Baader. There’s a prominent role for the brilliant Bruno Ganz (Downfall), yet most eyes will be on Gedeck – to see how she gets inside the mind of a woman who turned from aspirant radical journalist to bomb-planting bank robber.

Answers 1. c – Linguini 2. b – Mickey Mouse’s ears

art

words by Richard Clayton

berlin biennale

5 april – 15 june
Every other city seems to hold a biennale now – gallerists having developed festivalitis to cash in on the art boom. With the credit crunch starting to hit sales, then, it’s a good job that Berlin’s fifth such jamboree appeals to Joe Public as much as the professional collector. The programme splits into day and night events; the latter making sorties into unusual places and spaces around the German capital, including the Zeiss Planetarium. The regular venues are the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, the Neue Nationalgalerie and the 60 vacant lots of the Skulpturenpark Berlin Zentrum, in former no man’s land. Featured artists include Romania’s Daniel Knorr (work pictured below], Estonia’s Kristina Norman, Croatia’s David Maljkovic and Iranian-born Berliner Nairy Baghramian. Susan Hillier, the veteran American video artist based in London, will be screening her latest film, The Last Silent Movie, whose cast speaks endangered and extinct languages. But what in this artistic Babel will make most sense to you?

Entrance fee €12 for all venues, €8 for groups, students and under 16s Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Auguststrasse 69, Berlin, +49 (0)30 2434 5970 www.berlinbiennale.info

Daniel Knorr’s book of trash, Carte de Artiste
© Timotei Nadasan

design

words by Petra Sjouwerman

illusion table
by john brauer / denmark

Maybe it’s magic… or just a side table made from acrylic. Every table is handmade so each piece is unique. The larger size is newly available.

DKK 1290 (approx. €175) (45cm high, 31cm diameter top)
DKK 1990 (approx. €265) (54cm high, 44cm diameter top)

Available in various colours in design stores throughout Scandinavia, Europe, USA and Asia.

To find your nearest shop visit www.essey.com

pocketbook case
by karin nyberg / sweden

This versatile and smart bookcase is excellent for keeping all those stray paperbacks neat and tidy.

SEK 2850 (approx. €300)
122cm long x 67cm wide x 12cm deep

Available in Designtorget shops in Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg. For addresses see www.designtorget.se Or buy online at www.heliumdesign.se

PLEX/08 lamp
by jonas klein / denmark

Klein’s plexiglass lamp in opalwhite is simplicity itself. Changeable shades are also available in red or green to give the room a brighter vibe.

Opalwhite DKK 1395 (approx. €187)
Coloured cover DKK 1495 (approx. €200)
DKK 349 (approx. €46) for extra cover

Available in selected shops in Denmark,
including Designer Zoo, Vesterbrogade 137,
Copenhagen, www.dzoo.dk
www.jonasklein.dk

style

items chosen by Josh Sims

metallics
Add glamour to your wardrobe this spring with fluid, light-reflecting metallics. Whether you’re going for gold, silver or bronze, this season it’s all about subtlety. So bury your bling and buy something cute and shiny to team with jeans and simple summer dresses

Laser cut silver tote bag by Nougat, €202, www.nougatclothes.co.uk
New York gold sandals by Zadig & Voltaire, €238, www.zadig-et-voltaire.com
Silver-grey vest with jewelled/metallic trim by Velvet, €94, www.velvet-tees.com
Gold Weave Extreme trainers by Sebago, €90, www.sebago.com
Silver foil linen suit by Bolongaro Trevor, blazer, €195, and trousers, €161, www.bolongarotrevor.com
Bottletop bag by Bottletop, €67, www.bottletop.org.uk
Bronze Nouveaux Lux metallic leather holdall by Mikey, €87, www.mikeylondon.co.uk
Eden stainless steel necklace with gold detail by Breil, €134, www.breilmilano.com

beauty

words by Gemma Elwin Harris

steps for spring

If your feet have been neglected through winter, ’tis the season to get them pretty for the beach. Treat yourself to a luxury home pedicure by following these simple steps…

Firstly, remove any nail varnish using a non-acetone remover (acetone dries and damages nails and skin) and give rough areas a light scrub while your feet are still dry.Champneys’ foot file [1] is easier to grip than a pumice stone and has a handy nail file hidden inside the handle. Take on tough spots with Nails Inc’s girlie-pink sugar crystal exfoliator [2]. Next, soak your feet in warm water, gently cleaning under the nails. Tracy Stern, of the high-end tea salons, sells a blissful vanilla tea soak with ginseng, hibiscus and rose petals in her new beauty line [3].

Lastly, pat your feet dry and finish by softening the skin with a deep moisturiser. Lush’s minty lotion [4] softens with arnica, almond oil and cocoa butter, or try Philosophy’s Soul Owner [5] with eucalyptus oil, a natural exfoliator. For tired city feet, Aveda’s relaxing Foot Relief cream with jojoba and lavender [6] is particularly good. The ultimate weekly softening treatment, though, comes from New York spa, Bliss [7]. Slather on the eucalyptus oil salve then pull on socks lined with polymer gel and relax for 20 minutes while soles turn butter-soft. No time for a full pedi? Give tired legs and feet a quick lift with a cooling chamomile spritz of Champneys Foot Reviver [8].

1. Champneys Soft-Touch Smoothing Foot File
€16.75, www.champneys.com
2. Nails Inc Eaton Exfoliator
€16, www.nailsinc.com
3. Tracy Stern The Society Hostess Foot Tea Duo Pack
€26, www.tracystern.com
4. Lush Fair Trade Foot Lotion
€12.75, www.lush.com
5. Philosophy Soul Owner Exfoliating Foot Cream
£14 (approx. €18.80), www.philosophy.com
6. Aveda Foot Relief
€24.50, www.aveda.com
7. Bliss Softening Sock Salve and Socks Salve
€25, socks, €50, www.blissworld.com
8. Champneys Crackling Foot Reviver Gel
€8.05, www.champneys.com

food+drink

words by Gemma Elwin Harris

everyone’s talking about

daniel rose / paris

Who? Daniel Rose, the owner, chef and maitre d’ of Spring, a tiny restaurant in the 9th arrondissement, has become a favourite of Paris food crits.

Why the fuss? Excellent food and an unpretentious atmosphere have won over the city’s most jaded gastro snobs. The Figaro’s columnist said he nearly “wept for joy” at the vision of a chef-patron actually cooking in his own kitchen. With just 16 seats and a single set menu, Spring has the feel of a convivial dinner party. The big chefs in Paris may be downsizing to cute little bistros, but Rose has set himself apart by really going for the personal touch.

What’s he cooking? Creative, seasonal dishes with clean, bold flavours. On Sterling magazine’s visit a velvety pumpkin soup came topped with roasted pumpkin seeds, rich hazelnut butter and a whirl of roast pigeon jus. Salmon lightly seared in duck fat was lifted with a citrus dressing, and mint and coriander salsa. Small taster desserts were particularly good – most memorable was the salty chocolate melting cake with lemon and vanilla custard. The menu is great value and comes with all the refresher sorbets, surprising spoonfuls and petits fours that you’d find in a much pricier restaurant.

Where’s he been all my life? Chicago-raised Daniel Rose hasn’t come out of nowhere – he’s done time with Paul Bocuse and Le Meurice’s Yannick Alléno. Big on talent, low on ego – it’s Rose’s quiet enthusiasm that gives this place its special buzz.

Spring is open for dinner Tuesday to Friday, and for lunch Thursdays and Fridays only. The four-course dinner costs €39. Rose has recently started Saturday afternoon cooking lessons, available on request: 11am-2pm, priced around €150 per person, meal included.

Spring, 28 rue de la Tour d’Auvergne, 9th arr., Paris, +33 (0)1 4596 0572, www.springparis.blogspot.com

eat my blog

http://orangette.blogspot.com
blogger: molly wizenberg, seattle, usa

© Portrait photo
Carla Leonardi“I am 29 years old and a freelance food writer. I’m originally from Oklahoma but moved to Seattle about five years ago, after stints in San Francisco and Paris. I come from a family of avid home cooks and am newly married to someone who’s as crazy about food as I am (and whom I met through my blog; he was one of my readers!).

“I write autobiographical essays about food – what I call ‘food stories’ – and each comes with a recipe. For me, food is a natural way of exploring ideas about the way we live and who and what we love. Blogging about it is pure pleasure: easy, fun, accessible, and so rewarding.”

Best food memory in Europe… a sunny Sunday morning visit to the Bastille market in Paris. It’s open from 7am to 3pm, and you can buy anything from fish to cheese to olives, wild mushrooms, salami, and sausage.

Favourite cookbook… I’m loving The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis. It was published g in the 70s and is full of stories and recipes from Lewis’s childhood in the American South. Her voice is utterly charming, with recipes for honest, humble food that anyone could love.

My food hero is… Julia Child [the late American food writer and presenter]. She went after life – and food – with her arms wide open. She’s an inspiration, always.

I couldn’t live without… Chocolate and cheese. Bittersweet chocolate, please, and almost any kind of cheese.

My food philosophy… The simplest of ingredients, when treated with care, can make a spectacular meal. I’d rather have a roasted chicken and homemade apple crumble than a million fancy dinners with sauces, reductions and fuss.

I find inspiration in…. Everyday life. The way a warm cake makes the kitchen smell, the way a handful of orange slices look when you put them on a plate.

taste of a place

Bergen Fish Soup:
“one of the best in the
world” chef andreas viestad in bergen
“In the square next to the long rectangular harbour lies northern Europe’s largest outdoor fish market, with dozens of stalls offering a huge selection of the freshest fish and shellfish. Despite the rain, the market is always crowded with people, and on Saturdays there are long lines. Walking through the market can make even the most ardent carnivore develop a deep hunger for fish, and even though I am always there as a visitor and hardly ever have access to kitchen facilities, I can walk around the market for hours, enjoying the atmosphere and imagining what I would prepare. There are scary-looking monkfish with their enormous heads and monsterlike faces, shiny green and blue mackerel, beautiful pink salmon, sad-eyed redfish, fierce-looking wolffish, enormous halibut, charmingly freckled plaice, and the occasional mackerel shark. There is also an abundance of fish roe products, and smoked salmon with an orange tint, which tells you that the fish has been smoked in an old-fashioned smokehouse. You can even buy live fish: a few of the best stalls have giant saltwater tanks filled with live crabs, lobsters, pollock, or cod.”

Andreas Viestad is Norway’s leading food columnist and host of TV’s New Scandinavian Cooking. Extract taken from his book Kitchen of Light, where you can also find the recipe for Bergen Fish Soup pictured. To order at the special price of €29, including postage and packing, email orders@gbs.tbs-ltd.co.uk quoting ref. MPS61. Offer runs til 31 August.

brussels + bruges

whistlestop tour for… beer lovers
From strong Trappist beers made for centuries by monks, to thirst-quenching wheat beers and the acquired taste of sour lambics, Belgium has an unrivalled portfolio of brews, and some of the best cafés, bars and breweries to sip and savour them are to be found in Brussels and Bruges.

In Brussels, a good place to begin is A la Mort Subite (rue Montagne-auxHerbes Potageres 7), a classic beer hall which retains its original 1928 décor – a warm interior of wood panelling, columns and huge, mirrored walls. Here a mix of locals and travellers share intimate table space, chatting and enjoying their tipple of choice served by nattily dressed waiters. Before you leave town, be sure to drop in on Bier Tempel (rue Marché Aux Herbes 56), a specialist beer store selling 525 Belgian varieties including the prized trio produced by the monks of Abdij St Sixtus at Westvleteren.

In picturesque, medieval Bruges, don’t miss ‘t Brugs Beertje (Kemelstraat 5), an atmospheric if frequently packed little tavern located on a backstreet near the old market square; it features a novel-thick menu of over 250 national brews. Or, hidden down an alleyway of drainpipe proportions between Markt and Burg, there’s the tiny, dark local’s local, De Garre (De Garre 1), with some 146 beers. Try their creamy-topped amber house draft. For a blow-out dinner, Den Dyver restaurant (Den Dijver 5), specialises in Belgian dishes subtly flavoured with beer, and you can also take in a tour at De Halve Maan (Walplein 26), a family-run brewery that has been active since 1856.

Belgian Railways will take you from Brussels to Bruges in less than one hour; for times and prices, see www.b-rail.be.

ANDREW MARSHALL

www.alamortsubite.com
www.brugsbeertje.be
www.dyver.be
www.halvemaan.be

drinking habits no.2

how to toast
There are local variations everywhere. In Switzerland you must clink glasses with everyone within reach before drinking. In Japan you should never fill your own glass; wait for your neighbour to offer, and when his is half empty, fill it in return. In China, if your host proposes a toast, you must immediately reciprocate with one of your own. In Germany, an old superstition holds that if you don’t look into your counterpart’s eyes when clinking glasses, seven years of bad sex will follow.

Excerpt from Going Dutch in Beijing: The International Guide to Doing the Right Thing by Mark McCrum, published by Profile Books (€14.35), www.profilebooks.com

Other recent features: