Chris (my Swiss connection) recently went on a two day music powershopping excursion to London and Saturday I learned that among his numerous purchases were a couple of CD’s (listed below) for me as well, when I found a nice package in my mailbox.
So thank you Chris for this early Christmas present!

The River Detectives – King Of The Ghost Train Ride
I originally learned about this band in the late 90's through an American friend. Back then I (and probably everyone else) thought the band was long gone, because they hadn't released anything since 1992. But as things turned out we (luckily) were wrong and in September this year a third album was released. 13 years may have gone, but the band still sound as great (if not better) as they did back then.
The album only runs 33 minutes, but the great melodies, the jangling guitars and beautiful harmonies quickly make you reach for the repeat button.

Webpage
Some Kind Of Love (MP3)

Lano Places - Everyone Likes To be Lonely
There are quite a few bands out there (what an understatement) living in complete obscurity, even though they should be heading for fame and fortune. Norwegian band Lano Places is one those bands writing music far too great to be widely ignored. Listen to a couple of their songs and I'm certain that you will agree!



Morning Runner – Be All You Want Me To Be (single)
Great second single from British band Morning Runner. According to this article from Q Magazine the debut album is expected to be released in January next year. Could be a great one, because the band definitely has the potential! You can watch they video there as well!

I just came across this nice sounding indie band called The Consultants. Somehow I always seem to be several months behind, because their debut album Work From Home was released June 21. But since the band is very new to me, I thought they were worth mentioning anyway and if the rest of the album is as good as the two songs I've downloaded from their webpage, it really should be worth checking out!


Snow Fell (It's Night) (MP3)
Hollow-Bodied Evening (MP3)

Fruit Bats

I’ve suggested a few times before that you really don't have to buy any new music these days, because you can always (and without much effort) find something interesting somewhere on the Internet.
In an attempt to test if this theory is correct, I did a search this morning and quickly came across the (to me) unknown Chicago based band Fruit Bats.
They play nice and melodic guitar pop/rock and the following 4 songs are available for free download:

Spelled In Bones (Released 2005)
Silent Life (MP3)
Lives Of Crime (MP3 - click listen and choose download)

Mouthfuls (Released 2003)
A Bit Of Wind (MP3)
Slipping through the Sensors (MP3)

The following two songs mentioned in previous posts have been added to my list of Current Favorites:

Stellastarr* - Sweet Troubled Soul
Every Move A Picture - On The Edge of Something Beautiful (at 12am) (stream)

Another Monday and another Tjeklisten (apparently they are re-designing the webpage, thus killing the link to the recent chart) to be depressed about - or so I thought! This week I had surprisingly few problems finding 5 songs to vote for:

1. Kent - Dom Som Försvann (Wow - it made the list!)
2. Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body (Great song and former current favorite!)
3. Larsen & Furious Jane - Art Director (Doubt it will make the list)
4. Audio Bullys - I'm In Love (Another former current favorite)
5. Tue West - Vent På Mine Sange (One of the few good songs from Meldingen Kommer)

Despite my recent "crush" on Push The Button I refuse voting for it!

Friday musings (continued):

- Home alone with the oldest kid, who is watching Toon Disney (not anymore.... she's sleeping), so time to have a Stout (Porter) from Fur Bryghus and listen to some music.

- What would be more appropriate than open with a guilty pleasure confession? I really, really like Push The Button by Sugarbabes (Yeah - it's true!!!). I'm suspecting that I only like it because Heidi Range looks absolutely gorgeous in the video. Cannot be true that I actually like the song on its own premises - can it?

- What the heck. If it's confession time, so be it. I also like Number 1 by Goldfrapp!

- Listen to the wonderful JCB Song by Nizlopi at Myspace. Will be added to my Current Favorites in a minute! Chris - I'm almost prepared to bet you a "nisse" that you'll like this one ;-) Stream a few other songs at the band's webpage.

- Is the single If Only The Moon Were Up by Field Music any good? Watch the video and judge it yourself!

- Several bloggers seem to be very busy posting their "albums of the year" lists. A quickly look at the calendar tells me that a little more than a month is left of 2005, which should provide me plenty of time to listen to some of the year's releases I've missed so far. Won't post mine until the beginning of next year, though I must admit that I have begun thinking of what albums I should include on my list!

- Download cool tracks Wrecking Ball (Remix) and Alive With Pleasure by interesting/upcoming band Viva Voce. The remix of Wrecking Ball isn't really any good, so watch the video instead to hear the original version of the song! I've added Wrecking Ball to my Current Favorites list.

- Another new and quite interesting band with a kind of an electronic "twist" is Every Move A Picture. Stream the EP Signs Of Life from their webpage.

Friday musings:

- I read somewhere yesterday that if you want to fully understand/enjoy the album by Antony And The Johnsons you must read the lyrics. I haven’t done that, so maybe it is a bit premature to write off the album?

- If you think the Danish album chart is a joke, just wait until Christmas. Then it will be an absolutely disaster when the parents have been buying music for their little kiddies!

- In the news yesterday they reported that young kids should exercise more (thus preventing them from getting fat). Then they showed a clip from a kindergarten where the kids were jumping/dancing around to Bigmouth Strikes Again by The Smiths. Never too early to teach the kids about great music!!

- The past few days I’ve tried to listen to the radio in the car instead of CD’s. To call this torture doesn’t fully describe the pain I’ve been going through. The music played by the radio stations is just horrible and seeking for another station doesn’t help, because they all play the same stuff!

- I've just ordered the albums Illinois by Sufjan Stevens and Heat by Colder.

- You're Living All Over Me by Dinosaur Jr. is quite "noisy". But that doesn't prevent it from actually being rather OK!

- My jazz loving boss has all of sudden fallen in love with Transparent & Glasslike by Carpark North!??! There could be a potential breakthrough brewing here and I'm thinking very hard of what other songs he might like! Got it :-) Sent him a couple of songs by The Jesus And Mary Chain (Some Candy Talking + Just Like Honey) and he claims that he likes them! He has asked if he can borrow Psychocandy and Darklands! Maybe he is not that hopeless after all!

- It's now official! According to WMP I've listened to Take You On A Cruise by Interpol 100 times! The song runs for 4 minutes and 54 seconds, which is the same as 294 seconds. So I've spent 29,400 seconds listening to the song, which is the same as 490 minutes or 8 hours and 10 minutes!

In the December edition of Danish Lifestyle Magazine Euroman they list the following albums as the cream of 2005:

Danish
1. Mew - And The Glass Handed Kites
2. Kashmir - No Balance Balace
3. Junior Senior - Hey Hey My My Yo Yo
4. Bikstok Røgsystem - Over Stok Og Sten
5. Spleen United - Godspeed Into The Mainstream

I could easily find two albums to replace Junior Senior and Bikstok Røgsystem! The 3 other albums definitely belong on the list!

International
1. Antony And The Johnsons - I'm A Bird Now
2. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning/Digital Ash In A Digital Urn
3. M.I.A. - Arular
4. Rufus Wainwright - Want Two
5. Madonna - Confessions On A Dancefloor

I have absolutely no problems with Bright Eyes making the list (could make my year end list as well?). I will borrow M.I.A. and Rufus Wainwright from the library to check them out. I'm still puzzled about the success of Antony And The Johnsons. I have decided not to buy the Madonna album. Maybe I am wrong?

A member of each of the Danish bands was allowed to pick his favorites. Quite noteworthy in my eyes is that both Junior Senior and Kashmir picked their own album as the best Danish one of the year! No fake modesty indeed! Here are a couple of their other picks:

Wrong Numbers Are Never Busy by I Am Bones (Spleen United)
I Am Bones (Webpage)
Talk To The Hands (MP3)
Building Hospitals (MP3)

Skeleton by Figurines (Kashmir + Junior Senior)
Figurines (Webpage)
Rivalry (MP3)
The Wonder (MP3)

Heat by Colder (Kashmir)
Stream a few of the songs here. All new to me, but this sounds pretty good!

Knives and Daggers by Kitty Wu (Kashmir)
See this post at the Coast Is Clear blog.

Most played song this week on Danish National Radio (P3) is Sweet Troubled Soul by Stellastarr*. Sounds a little too much like Franz Ferdinand, but nonetheless it's really great!

Stream the video at the band's webpage or at myspace.

Two new songs added to my Current Favorites list:

The High Violets - Invitation (MP3)
This is an old song (new album due in January 2006) found at Reverb Records. Peter must be credited as the one who informed me of the existence of this great band! !

Ambulance Ltd. - Stay Where You Are
Enter your e-mail and you can download the song for free from their webpage!

Detroit Red Wings is my favorite ice hockey team! Danish band Green Concorde has recorded a song called Detroit. If New York Rangers was my favorite team I probably wouldn't even bother mentioning the song ;-) However the track Electric Eyes by the band is rather ok!

Green Concorde (Webpage)
Detroit (MP3)
Electric Eyes (MP3)

If you like Computer Love by Kraftwerk and/or Talk by Coldplay, I suggest you check out this post by Torr!

Check out this news update at the Forest Giants' webpage. It must be the few items Peter and I bought that they are talking about ;-) According to Last.fm I'm their no. 1 fan!

The end of the year is still a little more than a month away, but unless something unexpected happens, you can easily bet your money on that Illinois by Sufjan Stevens will top lots of year end lists as the best album of 2005 (Currently ranked as the best by both RateYourMusic and Acclaimed Music).
Needless to say I’ve wanted to listen to the album for quite some time (just to be able to judge it myself) and last week I finally was able to borrow it from the library.
I’ve previously tried to listen to his last two albums Greetings From Michigan and Seven Swans without being overly convinced about the magic of Sufjan, but during this – my first listening session of Illinois – something seems to be happening/changing.
The songs are quiet (well, almost all of them), melodic, beautiful, full of atmosphere and have no problems keeping my attention.
Will it top my year end list? Most likely not (too early to tell)! But definitely worth buying!

Download MP3's of Casimir Pulaski Days and The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts at betterPropganada.

Two new songs added to my Current Favorites list:

Kathleen Edwards - In State (MP3)
Found via Torr. Visit her webpage for more free songs.

Helen Stellar - io (This Time Around) (Listen)
Found via Music Of The Moment.

And a third one:

Catchy rock song Goodbye Now by Danish band Anubia. The music and vocals definitely sound like something you've heard several times before, but a pretty good song nonetheless. Produced by Benjamin Hammerum and Henrik Søgaard of Twoface. The song can be downloaded for free from Mymusic.dk (if you are a registered user)!

I have deliberately been ignoring Tjeklisten for a few weeks, but since Dom Som Försvann by Kent is one of the candidates for next weeks list I simply had to vote. Finding 4 other songs was indeed quite a task, but in the end I decided to vote for the following ones:

1. Kent – Dom Som Försvann
2. Hard-Fi – Hard To Beat
3. The Raveonettes – Ode To L.A.
4. Outlandish – Look Into My Eyes
5. Mew – The Zookeeper’s Boy

I'm wearing my brand new iLiKETRAiNS t-shirt today! The shop is temporarily out of stock, so I do consider myself lucky ;-)

Remember to watch the video for one of the best songs of the year - the brilliant A Rook House For Bobby!

Have a brilliant weekend!!!!

Yesterday I posted a list of songs I had downloaded the day before. Among those artists particularly one band caught my attention.
Swedish duo Memoplay is a rather new constellation (the members do have experience from several other bands) performing music which could be described as a bit experimental yet catchy pop music which has been through the electronic blender. According to the information I’ve been able to find one member writes and records the songs on guitar (+ vocals) and then sends them to the other guy, who adds various sounds and mixes them beyond recognition. The songs travel back and forth this way until the end result is satisfactory.
So far no official releases are available, but thankfully/luckily the band's complete production of 4 songs can be downloaded for free from their somewhat incomplete webpage. However promise is that more songs, tour dates (try to include Helsingborg) and information will be added. You better keep that promise guys, because I’m really looking forward to your next output!

Webpage - Download section

Do you you really have to buy any new music these days, because doesn't the web supply you with plenty of free (and sometimes even great) music? Thought I should add that more than half of the songs appearing in my current favorites list have been downloaded from the web - legally and for free!

To stress my point, I've created a short list of some of the songs I downloaded during a couple of hours websurfing yesterday (admittedly some songs are a lot better than others, but I was certainly well entertained while exploring and listening!):

Webpage link + MP3 link
The Guggenheim Grotto - And A Tear Isn't Such A Bad Thing x
I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona x
Battle - Demons x
Amandine - Halo
Tiger Lou - The Loyal
My Mellow Venue - Frail Eyes
Efterklang - Monopolist
Memoplay - Words Are Small x
The Mopeds - Refused Demoland
Firefox AK - Wonder Boy x (via sudd. mp3 focus)

Plus a handful of nice ones by Hope Chest via Coast Is Clear!

The x indicates that the song was added to my current favorites list!

Check out the webpages of the bands for more songs (plenty to find there)!

Finally (I should add) the answer to my opening question is that you (obviously) must support the artists through buying their music. Only this way can it be secured that this steady flow of great (or at least interesting) music will continue!

I have plenty of music to catch up with, so today I'm going to listen to some of the albums I (for one reason or the other) haven't bothered listening to since I ripped them to my computer.

First one out is Frances The Mute by The Mars Volta. I hate being so busy at work that I constantly have to pause the music, because it pretty much ruins the listening pleasure of it. However I'm not really sure if I'm into the music of The Mars Volta - interruptions or not! The music is a strange mix of many genres (Punk, Metal, Jazz (!), Prog-Rock etc.) and one moment they sound like Yes and the next like Red Hot Chili Peppers, which turns listening to the album into an almost schizophrenic (or at least very uneven) experience. At RateYourMusic the album ranks as the 9th best of 2005, which somehow makes me believe that it must have a lot more potential than I'm able to hear. More listens required I suppose?

Second album of the day is I Am A Bird Now by Antony And The Johnsons. Another album widely considered to be among the best of 2005 (18th at RateYourMusic, 4th at Acclaimed Music + winning the Mercury Music Prize for best album). The quiet emotional music makes it the complete opposite to The Mars Volta, but again I really don't know what to think. Maybe it's not suited to be played on the computer? Maybe it's better when you sit down alone one evening and listen to is intensively? Maybe it all makes sense once you read the lyrics? Right now I don't know!
Download You Are My Sister (MP3)

Third (and final) album of the day is yet another highly appraised one. Rejoicing In The Hands by Devendra Banhart was released in 2004 and this folk album definitely is a close relative to the works of Iron & Wine, though not as catchy and sounding less lo-fi. Still (in my humble opinion) this is by far the best (without actually being that good) and most immediate of the 3 albums I've listened to so far today.


Overall I'm pretty disappointed, because I (probably) expected at least one of the albums to make an instant impact on me. Didn't happen this time, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for more luck the next time I explore unfamiliar territory!

Another pretty good song featured on the Soundvenue sampler I received last week was Tourist With A Typewriter (title track from their recent album) by Danish band Larsen & Furious Jane. I remember Anders of Help The Aged mentioning the band, but so far (to be brutally honest) their music have been totally unknown to me.
With an intention to change this, I did a little research and learned that their 2004 album I’m Glad He’s Dead seems to be widely regarded as a great album and decided that this would probably be a very good place to start my quest.
And as always my local library was a reliable source, when I want to explore unknown music and I had no problem finding the album there.
Apparently reviewers seemed had all kinds of problems defining their music. Some mentioned the borderland between indie-pop and alternative country, while others described them as country-pop, Americana, folk, melodic rock or simply plain pop.
However they didn’t seem to have any problems when it came to accolade the album and it received a string of positive reviews.
I’m now on my second listen and greatness normally take longer to flourish, but the album definitely contains a string of nice songs combined with an immediate charm that makes you look forward to become more familiar with it!

I'm Glad He's Dead tracks:
Untitled (MP3)
I Give Up (Mp3)

Official Webpage
(check out the download section for more songs)

1 new album has been added to my CD-collection:

Puressence: Planet Helpless

I thought the album was so great that I had to buy my own copy (beacuse I want a copy in the car). I am somewhat puzzled why this great band/album didn't catch my attention a long, long time ago! Cannot think of any weak moments on this one!

Maybe this is what it feels like winning in the lottery? Last night my daughter and I went to the library and after spending quite some time in the children’s section, I had a couple of minutes to pick up a few CD’s before closing time.

Browsing quickly through the rather large collection at the library, I stumbled upon two albums by Puressence and decided to borrow them, because I remembered the band being mentioned in a positive fashion somewhere!

My luck I guess, because the two albums Planet Helpless and Only Forever are simply brilliant. Superb songwriting and as one reviewer pointed out; a band sounding like this simply had to come from Manchester and fans of The Stone Roses, The Charlatans or maybe even Joy Division shouldn't find it difficult to like this band!

Cannot find any free songs anywhere, but it's possible to stream a few songs at the band's webpage.

Check out today's post on the Puressence inspired band The Tides at Coast Is Clear.

A Forest Giants "goodie bag" arrived in the mail yesterday containing the following items:

UFO Movies (DVD)
UFO Stories (EP)
Closure (EP)
In Sequence (Album)

Comments will follow when I've listened to the stuff. A real mixed bag of songs. Some are very good and some are (well) not so good. Standout tracks are Postcards and Closure.

In the meantime I recommend that you download and listen to Beards (via Mundane Sounds). Link is no longer working!

Knowledge about this band was obtained by visiting the always inspirational Coast Is Clear blog!

I received the September edition of Soundvenue yesterday (I've just started subscribing, thus explaining the delay), which included a 16 track sampler CD.

So the CD entered the CD player in the car this morning and I never got any further than the first track.

The song catching all of my attention was War On Sound by Swedish band Moonbabies and it’s the most charming and wonderful (indie-pop inspired) song with a chorus that you just want to listen to over and over again! Check them out!

War On Sound (MP3 - Myspace)
The band's webpage
The band's page at Soundvenue

If you have a few minutes to spare I suggest you stream the video for the song. Filmed in Copenhagen, but approx 1 minute into the video you can see a sign directing the traffic to my hometown. So if you ever feel like visiting me - just follow that sign ;-)

Upcoming Essex band Anotherstory lists Mew, Coldplay, Radiohead and Jeff Buckley among their influences. However the band has pretty much managed to find their own sound and has recorded a couple of very good guitar-driven songs, which can be downloaded for free from their webpage.

According to the news section an album should be released sometime in the beginning of next year.

Transaction Void Insufficient Funds (MP3)
Plans (MP3)

Stream the brilliant debut single Breaking News by Danish singer/songwriter Mads Langer.

I've just bought (and downloaded) a copy via Payload!

Artist's Webpage

Probably wouldn’t have thought of this, if Torr hadn’t mentioned it. The single Coles Corner by Richard Hawley didn’t make the UK Top 75 singles chart last week.

Since this is one of the very best songs released all year I'm really feeling a burning temptation to start ripping the British music buyers (normally that's a privilege I save entirely for the Danes)!

A new (and brilliant) song has been added to my Current Favorites list. It's a slow paced, dark, intense, intelligent and beautiful piece called A Rook House For Bobby by interesting British band iLiKETRAiNS.

For some reason only 500 copies of this 7" vinyl were released! I guess this means that those of us, who want to buy this song and the rest of their music (downloading from iTunes won't do!) will have to wait impatiently for a major label release?

I'm still puzzled. The voice of the lead singer reminds me of someone. Just cannot remember who! Chris - Nick Cave is actually a very good suggestion!

Watch the video
The Band's Webpage (more videos and songs can be found here)

The Danish album chart has been updated. Intensive Care enters at no. 1 selling more than 40,000 copies. Not exactly a shocker, because whether I approve or not Robbie Williams is indeed quite popular in Denmark!

No Balance Palace drops two spots and is now the 4th best selling album after 3 weeks on the chart, while And The Glass Handed Kites spends a 6th weekend inside the top 10 (no. 8). Both albums have sold more than 20,000 copies. Especially the success of Mew is a real pleasant surprise!
Last week's no. 1 Playing The Angel is no. 3 this week. The 20,000 sold copies mark should be just around the corner!

The sales of X&Y gained some momentum last week (lots of TV commercials and media attention because of the concert didn't hurt) and the album currently resides in the 15th spot. Total sales exceed 40,000 copies.

Legendary Danish rock band Gasolin’ are still big time sellers. The Black Box 9 CD-compilation has sold more than 120,000 copies (this actually means that 2.21% of all people living in Denmark own a copy of this album - I'm not one of them!!). Well done by a band that split up 28 years ago!

As usual the rest of the chart can easily be ignored without offending anyone!



Information for the curious - The official number of inhabitants in Denmark was 5,415,978 at the end of June this year.

Work is taking its toll these days, so there really isn’t that much time for posting anything.

Busy or not the music keeps playing and quite a few songs (listed below) are pushing really hard to make my Current Favorites list!

Okkervil River - Black
Battle - Demons
x Architecture In Helsinki – Do The Whirlwind
Monster Movie - 4th And Pine
My Morning Jacket - Off The Record
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch

Coast Is Clear "inputs/downloads":

x Lillystones - Dance With Me
x Forest Giants - Beards (the best of the lot)
Voxtrot - The Start Of Something
x Baumer - How The West 1/Take What's Mine

My plan is to listen to these songs (and quite a few others) several times today to decide if any of them qualify!

x = Added to the Current Favorites list

This and that:

The Coldplay concert Sunday was pretty good, but not great (or simply fantastic) as some seem to think. However it was nice to hear the band perform the songs somewhat rougher and less polished than on the albums!! But if these guys want to make it big, the shows must be longer and more improvised!

The Hjärta & Smärta EP by Kent arrived in my mailbox yesterday, even though the official release date is tomorrow. The songs improved quite a lot when I listened to them in the car this morning compared to my impression, when I first heard them on the computer!
My blog is getting quite a few hits these days, because people are searching for the lyrics for the songs. If you haven't ordered the EP or are going to buy it tomorrow - do so! The lyrics are all there!

I wanted to vote, but I seriously couldn't find 5 songs worth voting for in the recent edition of Tjeklisten!!

November doesn’t look really interesting, when talking about new releases or am I ignoring something/someone important? Madonna maybe? Not really! Have decided not to buy it!

New CD added to my CD-Collection:
Dinosaur Jr.: You're Living All Over Me