On the last day of the year I bought the following 4 CD's:

Sigur Ros - Takk...
One of those 2005 releases I should have bought a long time ago!

And in a bargain bin (less than €3 each) I found A Place To Land by Dakota Moon, One by Dirty Vegas and Dexter Fox by EPO-555. The last one I quickly gave to a friend as a gift!

Thus ends 2005 and I guess the only thing remaining is to wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2006!

Mike from great blog Take Your Medicine predicts that The Bridge Gang will be HUGE in 2006. What do you think?

London Sky Tonight (MP3)

A string of music bloggers have cast their votes and Indie For Dummies has compiled the Top 100 albums of 2005. Great work!

Rocky Votolato - White Day Passing (MP3)
Difficult to believe that it is possible to write beautiful acoustic pop music with a name like that, but......

Found at Barsuk Records.

Norwegian band Kawaii released their debut album If It Shines, We Have It in November 2004 on Shelflife records, so this is really old stuff. But as long as the music is new to me it will have to do! This male/female duo writes short, catchy songs and sounds a bit like Swedes The Radio Dept. A new album should be released early 2006.

Kawaii
They Would Probably Talk, Sleep or Fuck (MP3)
Even lineup (MP3)
If It Shines, We Have It (MP3)
Happy Planet, Scary People (MP3)
Friends Who Make You Lonely (MP3)

*Sixeyes favorite album of 2005 was Pixel Revolt by John Vanderslice. As I wrote earlier today I'm suspecting that there are still plenty of interesting 2005 releases for me to discover.
Pixel Revolt definitely seems to be one of them, because the two songs that can be downloaded from the artist's webpage are pretty good!
John Vanderslice
Exodus Damage (MP3)
Trance Manual (MP3)

2005 is almost over so it's time to post my year end lists.

As always when posting lists like this I feel the need to stress the obvious fact that I am only familiar with a very tiny part of all the great music released in 2005. So years from now when I have listened to a lot more music, my list of the best albums/songs of 2005 will most likely look completely different!!!!!

BEST ALBUMS OF 2005

#15 Diefenbach - Set & Drift
A few weak moments prevents this album from being in my top 10!



#14 The Arrogants – You’ve Always Known When Best To Say Goodbye
Not just the bargain of the year. Also very good!



#13 The Lucksmiths – Warmer Corners
A late bloomer. This band is one of the revelations of the year!



#12 Moi Caprice – You Can’t Say No Forever
Perfect when the sun is shining! Perfect when it's snowing!



#11 Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
Didn't really believe that I would like it. But I did!



#10 The River Detectives - King Of The Ghost Train Ride
Probably the most pleasant surprise of 2005. Never expected to hear from these guys again!


#9 Coldplay – X&Y
Not the groundbreaking and earthshaking album many hoped it would be. But still very good!


#8 The National – Alligator
Somehow I managed to ignore this one for months.



#7 The Consultants – Work From Home
A late addition to my CD-collection and it probably would have been even higher on my list had I "discovered" it at the time of its release!


#6 Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning
Listened to this one over and over again when it was released!



#5 Spleen United – Godspeed Into The Mainstream
I was a bit hesitant at first, but now there is no doubt that this is the debut album of the year.


#4 The Raveonettes – Pretty In Black
An early favorite for best album of the year, but the second half of the year changed that!


#3 Kent – Du & Jag Döden
At first I was disappointed, but it really grew on me. Still the best band in the world.



#2 Kashmir - No Balance Palace
It only took one listen to realize that this is a fantastic album.



#1 Mew - And The Glass Handed Kites
Much has been said and much will will be said. But it doesn't change that this (in my opinion) is the very best album of 2005!


Close but no cigar:
Athlete - Tourist
Figurines - Skeleton
Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth
Supergrass - Road To Rouen
Richard Hawley - Coles Corner


BEST SONGS OF 2005
Not necessarily the ones I've listened to the most, but simply the songs I think are the best.

#15 Idlewild – Love Steals Us From Loneliness

#14 Hard-Fi – Hard To Beat

#13 Moi Caprice – My Girl You Blush

#12 Death Cab For Cutie – Soul Meets Body

#11 JJ72 – Coming Home/She’s Gone

#10 Forest Giants – Beards

#9 Coldplay – Talk

#8 Richard Hawley – Coles Corner

#7 The Lucksmiths – The Chapter In Your Life Entitled San Francisco

#6 Mew – Apocalypso

#5 Kent – 400 Slag/Dom Som Försvann

#4 The Raveonettes – Love In A Trash Can (Video)

#3 Moonbabies – War On Sound (MP3)

#2 Leisure Alaska – Hey There Mr. (Video)

#1 iLiKETRAiNS – A Rook House For Bobby (Video)

Canadian band The Airfields lists "sarah records' brand of indie-pop" among their influences, which of course made me curious. Luckily I wasn't disappointed, when I listened to the guys, because this is a really great indie band. According to their webpage an album will be released next year, which definitely is something to be looking forward to!
The Airfields
City-State (MP3)
Leaps And Bounds (MP3)

Another brilliant indie act is British band The Clientele. Opening track Since K Got Over Me from the 2005 album Strange Geometry is nothing but fabulous, so I simply had to order the album. In October The Airfields opened for The Clientele at Lee's palace in Toronto. Must have been great!?

The Clientele
Since K Got Over Me (MP3)
St Paul's Beneath A Sinking Sky (MP3)

NY band My Teenage Stride (not really a band - "just" a singer/songwriter called Jedediah Smith) plays nice and cheerful pop music, which helps making the spirit rise when it's cold and snowing outside.


My Teenage Stride
You Only Want To Dance To The Happy Mondays (MP3)
Reversal Of A Red Bird (MP3)

Great Danish blog (not too many of those) DoCopenhagen has a post today about the Canadian band Immaculate Machine. Good stuff!!



Immaculate Machine
Broken Ship (MP3)
Phone No. (MP3)

Completely off topic.

But I had to post it :-)

I really should be working, because I'm rather busy. But isn't music much more important than work? Sadly music doesn't pay the bills!



I stumbled upon Danish “six piece” Mavis on my web crusade yesterday.
Like many other bands these guys sure have listened to their Jeff Buckley and Genesis albums more than once, but the band still manages to find its own and very interesting sound. The music is intense, complex and experimental, exactly as you would expect it to be, and Mavis is yet another one of the many bands out there that should have been signed to a record contract a long, long time ago!
Mavis (Webpage)
The Albatross (MP3)
Emotional Vampire (MP3)

I read somewhere that the albums Will and 7x7x7 by The Sugarplastic should be really great. As always I'm having all kinds of problems defining the music (some kind of pop/rock/indie/alternative...I don't know), but the samples found at Tallboy Records don't sound all that bad! So go give the band a listen!
The Sugarplastic (Webpage)
Here Comes Mr. Right (MP3)
The Runaround (MP3)

Close your eyes and listen to David & The Citizens and there is a good chance that you can be fooled to believe that summer has arrived 6 months before time. Cheerful indie pop.
David & The Citizens (Webpage)
Song Against Life (MP3)
Graycoated Morning (MP3)

Swedish band Slagsmålsklubben (The Fight Club) describe themselves as "6 men with analogue synths". That should give you plenty of ideas of what to expect! The music is probably more interesting than actually good. Stream or download 4 songs here.

Got lost on the web again.......



Danish band Causa Sui (band page) releases their self titled debut album today. The band doesn't really play my type of music, but if you still dream of Hendrix being alive, you seriously should try listening to those guys.

A long time ago I was asked to listen to the album Cicada by 13 Ghosts. I never managed to post any comments, though the album is not bad at all.
The Search Party (MP3)
Robert J (MP3)

Download surprise solo track I Killed The Zeitgeist by Nicky Wire at Torr. Not very good really!

Chris of Music Of The Moment recommends Ninotchka and UK Musicsearch ranks them as the top upcoming and unsigned band of 2005. Saint Etienne and Goldfrapp are the first bands to jump to mind, when listening to Ninotchka. Definitely worth checking out!
Ninotchka (Webpage)
The New Drug (MP3)
More MP3's can be found here.

It's snowing outside - 3 days to late :-(

Mad Staring Eyes is another band recommended by UK Musicsearch. Walking In The Streets (MP3) is a song that should appeal to everyone loving Franz Ferdinand.

Panic! At The Disco is the top signed artist at purevolume. Probably because of the catchy The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage which can be found here.

In a predictable world I would hate a band like All-American Rejects. But I don't and Dance Inside (MP3) is a great track!

Too weird not to mention. Fotomoto an Ukranian elektronic alternative pop band singing in French. Le Coquillage (MP3) is actually much better than you'd expect/fear!

And a couple of Swedish songs - First Cut Classic by Comanche (MP3) and Sunset Blvd by Gatans Barn (MP3)

The final song of today - Blue Skies (MP3) by Blackpool Lights! Again; it's probably a little too "American" to some!

If you have any money left from the Christmas shopping, I strongly recommend that you buy You've Always Known When Best To Say Goodbye by The Arrogants. It's a brilliant indie album containing an impressive 23 tracks. The album (plus a DVD) can be yours for $7.50 from Twee Kitten, which easily makes it the bargain of the year!
The members of the band, must be the nicest and generous ones, because they write "....you have our full permission to burn a copy for a friend. love money less and people more." plus offer several songs as free downloads from their webpage.

The Arrogants
The Incurables (MP3)
Lovesick (MP3)

MERRY CHRISTMAS! :-)

Winther-John - Northern Star (WMA)
It's a bit "cheesy", but at least it's a Christmas song!

Two bands you simply must check out before Christmas (so you’re in a bit of a hurry!)!

I mentioned Danish band The Cupids in my post yesterday, but I believe they deserve a bit more attention than a one-liner. The band describe their music as ”Happy pop at first, but a closer listen reveals a much darker side not unlike some of the big British acts from the 80's.” and since I immediately thought of The Smiths, this description cannot be completely wrong.
The melodies are immediate and very catchy and it will only be a matter of (short) time, before these guys are signed to a record contract (if this isn’t the case already!).

The Cupids
Tonight (MP3)
Hand In Hand (MP3)
My Blurry Day (MP3)

British Band Vib Gyor is quite popular at Myspace (nearly 4,800 friends), which really isn’t surprising once you’ve listened to their music! Following in the footsteps of the likes of Jeff Buckley, Coldplay and Kashmir (some even mention Sigur Ros and Pink Floyd), their music certainly appeals to lots of people. So far they have released a couple of EP’s, but I wouldn’t be surprised if an album is released next year! Good stuff!

Vib Gyor
Band profile at Leeds Music Scene
How Long Have I Lost (MP3)
Insomnia (MP3)

Been surfing the web.

This is what I found:


The Mugs - Daisy Cutter
A real "foot tapper".

Blind Pilot - Devil On Stilts
From Denmark. Not bad really.

Pleasant - Welcome Come In
Doesn't the lead singer sound like the guy from China Crisis?

The Cupids - Tonight
Another Danish band. They have definitely been listening to The Smiths. Great one!

Made Of Buildings - The Previews At The Movies
Once you start searching you realize that there are quite a few Danish bands out there!

Gravy - Meltdown
Self-titled debut album released this year was fairly well received in Denmark.

Brian Fennell - Secret Smiles
A little more quiet than the stuff I normally post.

And the last one of the day...

Warwick Avenue - Beautiful
Another nice one from a Danish band!

I guess there is always room for one more........ :-)

Schaeffer - Stay
Probably a little to "American" to some!

It took me a few listens to get used to the voice of lead singer Marisha Chinsky and the presence of the glockenspiel on the album.
But once I did get used to it and allowed myself to focus on the music, I realized that I had a really great album on my hands. Not once when listening to the 10 songs of the album, do I feel tempted to skip a track to move forward.
The Consultants plays a very typical and recognizable Indiepop which still (somehow) manage to blend in a little shoegaze, synth-pop (+ a whole lot more) and occasionally make you think of New Order.
Working From Home is an amazing debut album screaming for your attention. Track it down (shouldn't really be that difficult) and buy it – not tomorrow - NOW!

The Consultants

Like 44 million other people I now have a Myspace profile. You should get one too :-)

You can hardly call this ”news” at all, because Danes My Friend George released the album Born in the U.S.A. (yes – it’s actually called that!) back in January this year.
Despite this, the band is still “news” to me, so I thought it was OK to mention them after all! The 3 songs that you can download from the site of their record label Morningside Records might be short and of a pretty indefinable genre (or rather - I cannot think of a fitting one), but also quite catchy and definitely not without charm.

My Friend George
Marmalade Likes Me (MP3)

Yesterday when browsing through the webpage of Record Company Dead Frog Records, I found a couple of nice songs by German guitar-pop/rock band Phonodrive.

A quick visit at the band’s webpage revealed that both albums released by the band so far are available as free downloads (the debut One at 56 kbps only though), which was a bit too tempting to resist. Apparently the second album Music is only available from the webpage, which could explain the free download?

So this morning I’ve been busy listening to the band’s efforts and overall the songs are of such great variety that you get an impression that the band don’t want to be stuck and instead is looking intensively for inspiration from a wide range of other bands and musical genres.

When all's said and done everything seems to blend nicely and though not every song makes you go wild this band is by far too great to be unknown!

Phonodrive
Don’t Forget Me (MP3)
Up And Away (MP3)
Think About (MP3) Added to my Current Favorites

If you have a few minutes to spare I suggest you visit the media section of Canadian Indie label Boompa Records. Most of the stuff found there is definitely worth a listen. No point in linking to any of the songs - Just check them out yourself (but make sure that you listen to The Salteens)!

The order I placed at Twee Kitten a long time ago has finally been delivered. Therefore the following 3 albums have been added to my CD-Collection:


The Arrogants - You've Always Known When Best To Say Goodbye
Don't Die Before Your Day (MP3)

The Consultants - Work From Home
Snow Fell (It's Night) (MP3)

My Favorite - The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
Burning Hearts (MP3)

I thinks it's kind of noteworthy that all these 3 bands have female lead singers! If you browse my CD-Collection you'll see that it is quite unusual.

Hopefully comments on each album will be posted later today/this week!

In 2005 so far I've bought (or received as gifts) 108 CD's (99 albums and 9 singles/ep's). See the complete list.

Just to prove that I haven't completely abandoned the traditional sounding American Rock-Pop bands. Listen to nice guitar driven pop tune Right Girl by American Royal. Sounds a bit like Counting Crows and Matchbox 20.

American Royal
Right Girl (MP3)

This morning I found an e-mail in my inbox from a member of the band Venice Is Sinking. Since I’m always eager to hear new music, I of course visited their (absolutely amazing) website and downloaded a few tracks by the band.
And Venice Is Sinking is yet another great and virtually unknown band. This 5-piece origins from Athens, Georgia and plays a kind of indie pop with violins (sounds obscure, but it’s really cool).
Well it’s December and money is a rare thing these days, but I’m seriously thinking of buying myself an early Christmas present and order a T-shirt and the Split EP by the band.
A debut album called Sorry About The Flowers will be released in March next year.

Daniel - Thanks for the picture! :-)

Venice Is Sinking
Download.com
Myspace
Pulaski Heights (MP3)
Undecided (MP3)

I think I’ve mentioned this a few times before, but one of the real cool things about having a blog is that you every once in a while get contacted by people, who asks you to listen to their music or to the music by one of the artists they are promoting.
The other day I received a mail from the boys from sudd.org, which included the link for the new single called Stay (MP3) by Fujasaki featuring Björn Kleinhenz on vocal.
I’m not all that unfamiliar with Björn Kleinhenz (neither should you be), since he is the lead singer of Memoplay. Fujasaki on the other hand is more unknown territory; though I’ve previously heard a few tracks by the band that I didn’t enjoy (boring instrumental Electronica).
And the single is, as you could expect, an electronic kind of thing, but combined with the foot tapping beat, the rather catchy melody and the (almost) fragile voice of Björn, it turns out to be a real positive experience.
Björn Kleinhenz seems to be a rather productive guy and he frequently collaborates with other artists. However my wish for Christmas will be that he and Adam Svanell put more focus on the Memoplay project, because I'd really love to hear more from those guys!

Sudd.org
Björn Kleinhenz
Memoplay
Stay (MP3)

I only have time for a short post this morning. If you have a few minutes to waste, I suggest you add energetic punkpop tune Say Something by Komakino to your playlist and give it a try.

Komakino (Webpage + Myspace)
Say Something (MP3)

Two of the songs I mentioned yesterday Appley by The Julius Airwave and Ten Thousand Lines by Electric President have been added to my Current Favorites list.

Another song that probably will end up on the list is Only Art (remix) by Bot. A MP3 file of this nice little electronic track can be found via thepirateship.org, which also is the home of the brilliant The Ballet and The Mean Corner.

Everything was supervised by my youngest daughter (not really, but I couldn't resist posting a picture of her :-))!

I’m really busy at work, so I don’t have time to write a longer post. But I have no problem finding enough time to strongly recommend that you check out the energetic (and very, very good) Appley by Florida based band The Julius Airwave.

The Julius Airwave (Webpage + Myspace)
Appley (MP3)

Another band that seems to be quite popular among bloggers these days is US band (project) Electric President. However I didn’t bother exploring them further until I saw the guys being mentioned in the recent edition of Soundvenue.
The band plays a real nice kind of electronic indie pop (maybe not all that different from the music of Memoplay) and two really great tracks from the forthcoming album can be downloaded from the webpage of band member Ben Cooper.
The self-titled debut album will be released in January next year and I’ve already added to my list of albums I’m looking forward to.

Electric President (Webpage)
Ten Thousand Lines (MP3)
Good Morning, Hypocrite (MP3)
+
Memoplay - Words Are Small (MP3)

Danes Ruined By Martin have added a new (and excellent) song called Burn The Sun to the MP3-player in their media section.

Swedish singer Pelle Carlberg seems to be the current favorite of several music blog writers, so I thought the only right thing would be to check him out.
Luckily his debut solo album is released on the Labrador label, which always seems more than prepared to offer free downloads of a few songs by their artists.
In this case things are no different and two songs from the album Everything. Now! are available (+1 more at the artist's webpage).
I especially recommend that you listen to the very catchy and wonderful Riverbank!

Pelle Carlberg (Webpage) added to my Current Favorites list
Riverbank (MP3)
Oh, No! It's Happening Again (MP3)
Go to Hell, Miss Rydell (MP3)

It's Monday morning and time to take a look at Tjeklisten. It doesn't look too bad this week and I decided to vote for these songs:

1. Mads Langer – Breaking News (listen)
2. Alpine – Mondays Look The Same (video)
3. Kent – Dom Som Försvann
4. Kashmir – The Cynic
5. Green Day – Jesus Of Surburbia

The album Alligator by The National has been added to my CD-Collection. The album is absolutely brilliant, but I've already written more about that in a previous post.

Yesterday when checking out the recent posts in the amazing It’s A Trap blog, I found a link to Finnish band Ultrasport.
First single The Boy That Never Lied from the band's debut album Nothing Can Go Wrong can be downloaded for free from their webpage, so I thought I might as well waste a few seconds and give it a try.
But as it turned out it wasn't a waste of time at all, because the single is a really nice indie pop tune. Not at all the type of song I’d normally expect to be released by a Finnish band, but that's probably just my ignorance?

Ultrasport (Webpage)
The Boy That Never Lied (MP3)

The content of this post has more or less (probably more than less) been stolen from German Indie-Pop-Blog Coast Is Clear.
Tuesday Peter wrote about the American band The Ballet and because of his very positive description, I quickly decided to download the 6 songs by the band which can be found at thepirateship.org.
And there is every reason to be positive. The music is wonderful and catchy Twee-pop and if you enjoy the music of The Magnetic Fields, Belle & Sebastian and of course The Hidden Cameras there really shouldn't be any reasons why you won't like The Ballet as well.
I have added the fantastic In My Head to my Current Favorites list, but I won’t (or shouldn’t) recommend just one of the songs, because each one of them is a little gem!
Two of the members of The Ballet used to be in another band called The Mean Corner, which I also suggest you spend a few minutes listening to!

The Ballet (Webpage)
The Mean Corner (Webpage)

It is December and it is time for me to start creating my Christmas wishlist. No matter how difficult it might be, I will try NOT to be unreasonable (yeah right!) and I will try to keep it music related.
Here we go:
My hope is that the following items will be wrapped up in nice glittering gift paper and waiting for me underneath the Christmas tree!

1. The debut album by iLiKETRAiNS
2. The debut album by Fans Of Kate
3. The debut album by Ruined By Martin
4. The third album by JJ72 + concert tickets
5. Doves concert tickets
6. The 3 albums I ordered a long time ago from Twee Kitten (The Arrogants, The Consultants and My Favorite) - they have been shipped now!
7. Keira Knightley

I said I would try to be reasonable and to keep it music related. I did a good job - didn't I? ;-)

Hopefully there is an outside chance that 6 of my wishes will come true some day?!?!

The list will remain "dynamic", thus allowing me to continuously adding my wishes!