Yays and nays...

Yay – ENTAKT believe they have finished recording the last track for their sophomore album. Come October the album will hopefully be released.
+ Kunsten At Slippe Taget (oldie but goodie)

Nay – The new Last.fm layout is downright ugly and the download function isn’t working. They’ve taken a huge step in the wrong direction if you ask me.

Yay – Celestial have finished recording their sophomore album. No news on any release date.
+ Dream On (another oldie but goodie)

Nay – Chris is busy, though he did find enough time to write a post today. He doesn't seem to be a fan of the new Last.fm design either?

Yay – A Classic Education are now so popular that one of their songs has been covered. The band's own version is still the better of the two.
+ Stay, Son

Nay - I have exactly 1,156 mails in my mailbox waiting to be read, filed or deleted.

Yay - Afraid of stairs have a new track streaming at Myspace.

Nay - The Danish album chart. A joke as always, as the best selling album is by "newcomers" Creedence Clearwater Revival!

Yay - Superb Swedish indie pop band Sweet Sweet Concorde has a lovely new tune named Benji and Me streaming at Myspace.

Opening the mailbox...

The debut album Portuguese Prince by Austin indie rock band Goldcure is definitely worth checking out. I’ve been giving a few spins this morning and it probably deserves a post of its own. Will be out August 26 on Sorin Records.
+ Make It Stop

Labrador is giving away the new Pelle Carlberg single 1983 (Pelle & Sebastian). A lovely indie pop tune and the Belle & Sebastian references make perfect sense.
+ 1983 (Pelle & Sebastian)

Among things I'm trying to understand why there is such a hype surrounding From Bubblegum To Sky. Still haven’t figured it out.
+ I Always Fall Apart

I’ve just downloaded the Liz Durrett album Outside The Gates. Promo track Wild As Them got me interested.
+ Wild As Them

Fields are currently recording their sophomore album and sends this track to give us an idea of how things are progressing.
+ Worst Love

Mmm...I kissed a girl...

First song on the radio this morning was the Hanson “classic” MMMBop, but no way that I’m going to post that video. Though I do recall requesting it at some disco back in 97 and dancing to it like a maniac. Instead I have no problems posting this funny new video for the Max Vernon cover of I Kissed a Girl.



+ I Kissed a Girl

On the radio this morning...

This was the first song on the radio this morning. Even though the title isn't the most optimistic you'll ever hear, I still expect today to be a fine one, with a start like that.



+ No One's Gonna Love You

Shorties...

It’s summer and thus the season for reruns on TV, so with that in mind, I thought no one would complain about this fine cover by Ether Aura being reposted?
+ Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me

Hitmeister has nominated my two German blogger friends Peter & Peter, a.k.a. Mr. Schallgrenzen and Mr. Coast Is Clear for Superblog of the year. And they really need your votes!

Motivated by the awesome title track, I’m currently listening a lot to the new album Another Noon by Canadian acoustic folk rock duo Jon and Roy.
+ Another Noon

I’ve been asked a few times, if I’m going to this year’s Rip It Up festival. Sadly the answer is no.

The free download album Secrets of the Witching Hour by The Crimea has now reach 92,811 downloads. That's another 6,224 downloads since June 26.

Superman where are you now...?

A while back I submitted this blog to the blogger social network blogcatalog, with the attitude that I’d do a lot of promotion of Hits In The Car and not give a damn about other people’s blogs. Now that I’ve spent some time there, I’ve realized that just about everyone else has the exact same agenda (shameless self promotion), so one could claim that I from day one fully understood what this so-called “social network” was all about. That said, I did actually stumble upon a quite interesting blog called Catapult Fitness, where the writer describes how she’s taken the 100 Push-Up challenge. Heavily inspired and extremely motivated I thought I’d take on the challenge as well, so Saturday morning I began my journey towards the 100 push-ups and everything went pretty well (or at least so I thought). However my upper-body didn’t think it was such a terrific idea, as I’ve been having constant muscular pains ever since I woke up yesterday morning. But once the pains are gone, I’ve promised myself that I’ll continue the challenge – stay tuned.
Today’s title was (of course) inspired by this classic:

Can you sense the frustration...?

Call me naïve. Call me stupid. Call me hopelessly stuck in a distant past. Call me whatever you like. But there I was yesterday, down at the local CD pusher wanting to spend my weekly allowance on the new (2 months old) album Zen Sucker by Larsen & Furious Jane – just to be informed that the album is only available on vinyl and as a digital download (had I been paying attention to some of these very fine and highly informative Frekvens posts, I could have saved myself from the embarrassment). Get lost! My turntable is now living its own quite life in the attic, as my wife has once and for all expelled the vinyls from the living room and I still refuse to buy any releases as digital downloads (and back we go to that good old “is music tangible or intangible?” discussion). So what the *explicit swearing* do I do now?
+ Fine (which things in my humble opinion certainly aren’t!)

UK playmobil faced popsters Play People have uploaded a new track Don’t Come Back to Myspace, and once again it’s streaming only. So I’ll continue adding fuel to the fire and claim that I have a sneaking suspicion that the band will soon release an EP on Cloudberry Records. This piece of information, which could be classified as a homemade rumor, hasn’t been verified, but exactly when did that stop the tabloid press from printing anything?

Yesterday I received a mail from Swedish electropop duo Psychic Stunts and once I had listened to the band’s fine new EP 101 Pick Up Lines (free download), my thoughts started to wander. Why is it that every Swedish indie pop band seems to be coming from Gothenburg, whereas every band with a more electronic approach origins from or is based in Stockholm? This is not meant to be a scientific analysis of the musical landscape of Sweden, but I’m simply trying to figure out, if there’s any truth to this (and there probably isn't)!

Gothenburg (indie pop)
+ The Electric Pop Group - I Could See The Lights
+ Days - Downhill
+ Tellus About The Moon - Wwwm
+ The Lost Homeboys - Don't Say You Don't Know

Stockholm (electro/synth-pop)
+ Psychic Stunts - Speaker's Block
+ Ostrich - Icecold Kisses
+ Le Sport - Tell no one about tonight
+ Kuryakin - Take My Hand

On the radio this morning...

Doubt that I'll ever be a fan of Nephew, but this has to be their finest moment.

Mixed bag...

How The West Was Won is the title of a brand new track published by Andrew Boland. How can you not love this voice and you should prepare yourself for 6 minutes of grand beauty!
+ How The West Was Won

The first part of the interesting 80’s cover project REWIND by Buffetlibre is now officially complete. A total of 60 songs are now included and amongst the last two additions was French synth-/electropop act Anoraak covering Talking In Your Sleep. The originally by The Romantics was a major anthem of my teenage years, so quite funny hearing this electronic rendition of it.
+ Talking In Your Sleep (The Romantics Cover)

While One Weekly Gun is away on holiday, his track 12 Million has been remixed by DJ Vonbas. As we all now by now, every song in this project has been written and produced in less than three hours, so it was quite interesting hearing how the end result improved, when more time was available for producing and mixing.
+ 12 Million
+ 12 Million (DJ Vonbas Remix)

US youngster Max Vernon has recorded a jazz inspired cover of the Katy Perry track I Kissed A Girl and spending 3 minutes in his company is certainly a lot more enjoyable experience than listening to the original.
+ I Kissed a Girl

I’ve just received my copy of the A Sketch For Summer CD and it’s truly fabulous packed with "sunshine indie pop". Pick up your free copy in one of these selected CD stores (UK only) or grab a free digital copy. Thanks a million to CatCutter Records for shipping a copy to Denmark!
+ Telegramme - Dance

A boy is bathing...

I've been giving the debut album A Fire to Make Preparations by NY quartet The Boy Bathing a few spins the past few days. Appraisals galore have been sent its way, but so far my reactions are quite mixed. Album opener The Beaches Meet the Sea is as beautiful and dreamy a pop song as you’ll ever hear and immediately raises expectations. The rest of the album consists of quite lovely and well-written tracks (with clever lyrics, I've been told), which should be all the foundation needed to produce an excellent album. Still I’m not quite content, with my main objection being that this far to often sounds like yet another Bright Eyes release. Inspiration and admiration is a good thing, but a more serious attempt at trying to distance themselves from Mr. Oberst, would probably have done wonders and transformed this from a really good to a bloody brilliant album! Order it from the band's webpage or wait for it to be digitally released on Tuesday, July 15.
+ The Beaches Meet the Sea

Shorties (short edition)...

Fuck I’m getting old. I was a wee bit drunk Saturday evening and my body is still in complete recovery mode.

My condition makes it almoste impossible focusing on stuff too complicated, so electro pop tunes like this one by MakeUpBreakUp are exactly what I need.
+ Jungle City

Jonas recaptures his Roskilde Festival 2008 experience.

Still enough time left to grab Chanson de juillet by Biker Boy.

On the radio this morning...

Few songs sound better on a sunny day...

Shorties...

It's weekend!

Indonesian indie pop band Sunny Summer Day is sharing a live version of this perfectly titled track.
+ Happy In The Summer

RAC covers Take On Me with some help from Karl Kling. Part of the REWIND project mentioned yesterday, and it's (mildly said) somewhat different from the original.
+ Take On Me (A-Ha cover)

UK indie label CatCutterRecords is giving away their Sketch For The Summer compilation for free. You can pick up the CD (still for free) from selected CD stores in the UK or just download it.
+ Foxes! - It's Ridiculous, Adam

Via It's A Trap comes word on the new summer single by Universal Poplab. A bit cheesy perhaps, but certainly charming and catchy.
+ Summer Struck

My Blue Underground...

The very productive Death Valley Sleepers has once again published a new track. The music remains very much inspired by the likes of The Raveonettes and The Jesus and Mary Chain, though My Blue Underground is bit slower paced that most of the previous songs. I am slowly beginning to wonder if there is a deeper plan behind all of this (e.g. being signed and releasing an album or perhaps some live performances). Hopefully there is, as these songs certainly deserve to reach a much wider audience.
+ My Blue Underground

On the radio this morning...

Not that many interesting songs played on the radio this morning, but on a summerday like the one today, I guess this tune is OK?