I found US music label Souvenir Records because I was searching for information on the forthcoming album by Danes Tiger Baby. Their second album called Noise Around Me will be released in Denmark on April 24, but hopefully the band will post a few "appetizers" very soon.
Apparently Souvenir Records has only released albums by 4 different artists so far, but 3 of them definitely sound like they are worth a closer look.

Huckster - Drives Me Crazy [MP3]
Sounds a bit "cheesy" at first, but somehow this song is completely irresistible.

Kalimoto - Everything Goes [MP3]
Their music is described as a mix of "everything". Really not that complex, but still very good!

Tiger Baby - Shy [MP3]
I mentioned this one a long time ago, because it was and still is availble from the band's webpage. Catchy and dancable.

"Hits In The Car" Compilation January - February 2006...

A few years back I created/burned music CD's almost every week, but I rarely do it anymore. Admittedly my CD writer is crap, but the music files on the computer and the official CD's I purchase can easily keep me entertained, so I don't feel like adding further to that mix. But this Sunday I thought it was time to create a CD containing (some of) the best songs I've mentioned in my blog the past two months.
19 songs made the cut, but after listening to the CD a few times, I'm not really sure if I picked the best ones. And quite a few bands had more than one song to choose from, but I decided that only one song per artist was allowed. Songs by a few bands like Celestial and Budapest would have been on the CD if the links for the songs hadn't been dead. It's always easy to complain or have second thoughts, but in the end I think the result was acceptable (or maybe even a little more than that). And I'm still amazed that it's possible to create a music CD like this for free (or for the price of an empty CD).
All of the songs were (more or less) properly introduced when I posted them, so no point in adding any further comments to the songs or explaining why I picked them.
No more nonsense. Here's the track list:

1. The Fridaynight Club - Aeroplanes [MP3]
2. Division Day - Colorguard [MP3]
3. Head Like A Kite - Noisy At The Circus [MP3]
4. Barfly - Don't You Move [MP3]
5. EPO-555 - Harry Mämbourg [MP3]
6. Showroom - Fighting Words [MP3]
7. Indigo - Something New [MP3]
8. The Monday Photo - Hide [MP3]
9. Frances 7 - Splitting In Two [MP3]
10. Fathom 5 - Nothing Lasts [MP3]
11. Starring Me - Carousel [MP3]
12. Anamia - Butterfly In Paris (Remix) [MP3]
13. The Mighty High Times - My Love 4 You Won't Die [MP3]
14. Second Language - In A Little While [MP3]
15. Pale Sunday - The White Tambourine [MP3]
16. The Ropes - Kill Her Off [MP3]
17. Pete White - Go [MP3]
18. El Video - A Day Off [MP3]
19. Mavis - Point Of No Concern [MP3]

Hopefully the number of great songs will continue coming my way. If so I'm aiming at posting another "compilation" at the end of April.

Postal Blue...

2 months ago I'm certain I would have sworn that I would never listen to a Brazilian band. But last month I heard Pale Sunday (great band!) and today I came across Postal Blue. Not highly original (Postal Blue does sound a LOT like a mix of Belle & Sebastian and The Lucksmiths), but again (for the second time today) it doesn't really matter what (or who) a band sounds like, as long as the band writes great music. And this band writes wonderful and catchy indie pop.

Webpage
Myspace
Weather Sensitive [MP3]
I Know Where Your Dreams Go [MP3]
Puzzle [MP3]
Being You [MP3]

1. It is always nice receiving mails!
2. It is really cool receiving mails from people recommending music!
3. It is absolutely fantastic when the music recommended turns out to be listenable!!

Two (more than) listenable songs I've been recommended today are:

I've mentioned Santa Dog before and this nice track is from their upcoming EP (to be released March 22nd) - Santa Dog - Rosa [MP3]

From the album Woke Up Early The Day I Died released on Future Appletree Records tomorrow - Track A Tiger - Glad To Be Shattered [MP3]

I don't like Mondays (more than ever). I'm really, really busy at work today, but (as always) not too busy to refrain from posting......

According to the band itself, The Transmission sounds like New Order, Joy Division and Depeche Mode. Indeed those influences are pretty obvious, but personally I think the band sounds a lot more like my old favorites Cause & Effect. But does it really matter?

Myspace
Close Your Eyes [MP3]
Losing The Will [MP3]
Stop Me From Falling [MP3]

From a music point of view it has been a really interesting week and I've listened to lots of good music. I've added songs by Anamia, El Video, Epo-555, Fathom 5, Head Like A Kite, Showroom and Stones Cry Out to my list of Current Favorites. Quite af few other songs were very close to making the cut.

Searching and searching on a Friday evening - what did I find?

Not much really......somehow I seem to be on a folk rock trail tonight and it hasn't been a pleasant journey. I've worked my way back (sort of) and here is the little I've found....

For All I Care - Blueprint [MP3]
Sounds a bit like Evanescence. Good or bad? Judge it yourself.

Animal Parade - Made Of Iron [MP3]
German singer/songwriter. A small hint of Bright Eyes here.

Budget Of The Shopping Anarchist - Room For Thought [MP3]
Great band name. Bad recording, but I think the song has some potential.

Crimes Of Paris - Akward Arms [MP3]
Another bad recording (they admit that :-) ) and another one with some potential.

Words, Words, words, words….and a little music

Yesterday I ordered the new album There Is A Beat In All Machines by Veto, which will be released in Denmark on Monday. I’ve seen three reviews of the album so far (Euroman + Soundvenue + Gaffa) and they hand out 5 stars twice and 4 stars once. I also ordered albums by We Are Scientists and Campsite. Next month will bring us album releases by Epo-555, Mads Langer and The Radio Dept., so after a slow start of the year there is now plenty of good music to be looking forward to.

I’m not very good at updating my CD-collection these days, but I’ve created this list at RateYourMusic of all the new additions to my collection in 2006.

I’ve owed Andreas of Celestial 2 CD’s for what seems like forever. Yesterday I finally finished those CD’s and I will ship them tomorrow. It feels really nice getting rid of a very guilty conscience.

I seriously cannot recall the last time I used the filesharing program installed at my computer at home. Why bother searching for illegal music files, when there is so much great, free and legal music available out there? And as you can see from the opening lines of this post I still buy plenty of music, so I really don’t feel like I’m robbing anyone! Btw. Finding the great (or at least good) music isn't always easy. I think I listen to 8-10 other songs for each song I post in my blog. Dirty job; I know ;-)

Chris my Swiss "connection" is going to London this weekend and I cannot say anything except than I’ve jealous, jealous, jealous. London is probably my favorite city in the world and going there for some music shopping, for a few pints in a bar and maybe a concert would definitely be ace. Oh well the kids will grow up some day and then I’ll rise and shine :-)

I now have 320+ “friends” at Myspace and although the whole thing must be considered very superficial, it does provide a constant stream of information on some of my favorite bands, thus making the life easier for a music blogger.

Hopefully I’ll update my Current Favorites list during the weekend. Expect to see songs by EPO-555, El Video, Fathom 5, Showroom, Head Like A Kite and Anamia entering the list.

Classic rock band The Thieves has "befriended" me at Myspace. My Old Mind [MP3] is just great.

4 new songs by Budapest are available at Myspace. Miracles [MP3] is the best one of the four.

I haven't posted any tributes to Swedish music this week, but just to prove that I haven't completely turned my back to Sweden here is Please Wait [MP3] by Consequences.

and the final one of the day:

Swede (Sweden again) Karl Frank does his very best to sound like The Radio Dept.! I prefer the originals but Red Lights [MP3] is a pretty nice one...

Starring Me...

Starring Me, a 3 piece band from Florida, released their second album Perfect In The Night in 2005. The entire album is available as a free download from the band's webpage and the songs vary quite a lot, although the description of the album given by the band leaves you with an impression that it was meant to be a kind of romantic concept album. The band happily mixes Dreampop, Indie, Emo and once in a while you get the feeling that they have been listening to quite a few shoegaze bands as well. The production isn't flawless and not every song is top notch, but still it was quite a pleasure working my way through the songs. As always when I find good stuff like this, I'm puzzled why such a band hasn't been able to reach a much wider audience.

Webpage
Myspace
Losing My Balance [MP3]
Carousel [MP3]
Yellow Purse [MP3]

Music galore:

El Video - Bad Apple Girl
El Video - Last Chance To Advance
El Video - What I'm Not
Two weeks ago I described their music as electronic indie punk. Now I think I'll have to add noise rock as well. But theses new songs are just as energetic, irresistible and catchy as the previous ones! Watch out for these guys!

EPO-555 - Harry Mämbourg
New song from the forthcoming album and the band still sounds very unique! 3 more weeks and the album is here!

Mazarin - Another One Goes By
One of the very good tracks on the Soundvenue sampler I received yesterday!

Barfly - Breathing Our Fire
This band is constantly posting new songs. And quite good ones!

SuperJuice - What You See Is What You Get
Energetic stuff! I really like those drums.

The 4th Parallel - Wheels
Scottish electro powerpop......

Hope Chest - Killjoy + Three
"Stolen" from Coast Is Clear blog. So true. Fans of Sarah Records should really check this band out!

New (and very good) MP3 Habibi by Firefox AK can be found here.

Stones Cry Out - Exit Utopia
Last song of the day comes from Sweden. Exit Utopia echoes bands like Sigur Ros and Mew and is quiet and beautiful.

Salem...

I think my first reaction when I listened to the music of Danish band Salem was something like "what on earth is this?", because it didn't really sound like anything I'd normally listen to. Then I took a further look at the band's description of the music and suddenly everything made more sense. According to that, the band writes the music with a never filmed Spaghetti Western in mind and it's the ambition of the band to be featured on the soundtrack of Tarantino movie, which I believe is a very plausible explanation for the sound the band has adopted/created. Lots of bands have ridiculous ambitions, but for once I think that a band has a (more than) fair chance of fulfilling its dream. Because not only are the songs very good (a couple of listens are required, but they really grow on you), but they also create exactly the right atmosphere and illusions in your mind! Two major Danish newspapers listed the album From The Riverbank among the 10 best Danish albums of 2005, so I guess I'll have to give these guys a closer look!

Salem - I Love The Avenue
Salem - Spiders In Salem
Salem - From A Jack To A King
Salem - The Anatomy Of Pain

Carpark North - Transparent and Glasslike

This epic track from the band's self titled 2003 debut was a giant hit in Denmark and is now available as free download at the band's Myspace Profile. The boys do some pretty untypical Danish promotion of the song by entitling it "one of the best guitar-theme driven songs ever!" (normally we Danes are quite modest ;-) ). Statements like this can (and should) always be discussed, but it doesn't change that this song is more immediate and catchy (even my jazz-loving boss likes it) than probably anything you've heard before! Remember to stream the rest of the songs, because they are equally great!

Tuesday Tunes:

Head Like A Kite - Noisy In The Circus
Found this band while browsing through Myspace. Quite a coincidence, because the album Random Portraits Of The Home Movie is released today! Stream more songs at Myspace. Great song btw.

Tugboat - Apples
Tugboat - Between Scores
Tugboat - Reynard St
All three songs taken from the album Two Schools Of Thought released in October last year. Indie dream-pop is probably how you could describe the music of this Aussie band.

My old "friends" Sensuous now have a Myspace profile. Go there and stream a few songs!

Freakanature - This Time Will Pass
Freakanature - Once Upon A Time
My recent favorite Pete White teams up with Steve Austin and the result is a couple of really nice acoustic folk rock songs.

Forest Giants - Beards (session version)
Forest Giants - Hurtful
Another favorite band which recently has created a Myspace profile.

It seems like Finland is catching some of the Swedish "indie flu", because recently quite a few Finnish bands have showed up playing nice indie pop. Le Futur Pompiste is no exception and you can easily be led to believe that this band is Swedish.


Le Futur Pompiste - Myspace
Le Futur Pompiste - A Way To Exist
Le Futur Pompiste - Pleasant Solutions
Le Futur Pompiste - The Air That Surrounds Us

I won't have much time to post anything today, but I just "had" to recommend this one:

Showroom - Fighting Words

Sounds like a mix of quite a few other bands (U2, The Stone Roses, Editors and other 80's bands) and this song is really, really great!

More songs:
Showroom - The Residence Of Ben
Showroom - Samaritans Never Prosper
Showroom - Lonely Crowd

The quiet, but very beautiful Truest Thing by The Oxygen Ponies has been added to my Current Favorites list.

Chris recommends Always Alone by Vib Gyor. Great one :-)

Grand - I cannot think of better word to describe the music of Danish newcomers Anamia. The band's music is a quite unique (and very catchy) mix of alternative, indie and traditional rock and once again it's pretty hard to understand that music this great can be yours for free! Do yourself a favor; switch off the TV tonight and listen to these guys instead! I've ordered a copy of their Demo EP (and so should you!) and I will post more when I've received it!

Anamia - Webpage
Anamia - Myspace
Anamia - Butterfly In Paris
Anamia - Butterfly In Paris (Remix)
Anamia - Temptation Puzzle
Anamia - Towards The Wind

Talking To The Girls is a Dutch indie rock band. Cannot say that I know that many bands from The Netherlands, but now I know at least one. And the one I know is not bad at all!
Talking To The Girls - Try Again
Talking To The Girls - Backstabber
Talking To The Girls - Dream

Some thoughts heading into the weekend:

• What is so great about The Knife? Everyone seems to be totally excited about this band, but to me (a few songs aside) this is nothing but electronic noise. Not everything coming from Sweden is great you know!
• I've never really been a fan of Belle & Sebastian and the new album doesn't really turn me into one. The songs are "nice", but as Peter and I discussed; as a band you'd probably prefer that your songs were called great or at least good!
• I've worked my way through 2 of the 4 CD's in the Story So Far... compilation by Pete White and until now it has been a truly amazing experience. This is not your average guy with a guitar and if he is playing anywhere near you (probably somewhere in Greater London), you should take advantage of your insane luck and spend an evening listening to this guy! Listen to Go + Hold Your Hand.
• There is still no doubt that Aeroplanes by The Fridaynight Club is the best song of 2006 so far (I've listened to it more than 80 times). But who are they? The myspace profile was created January 20 which also was the time of the last login. I'm puzzled!
• I have 7,177 music files on my computer at work! Or 490 hours and 4 minutes worth of music. It would take me more than 61 working days listening to all of them, so maybe it's time to delete some of them?
• Found a link in my mail this morning for a song called The Leading Guy by singer/songwriter Micah P. Hinson. Took a few listens getting into it, but this song is not bad at all!

The Swedish Invasion (Post III):

Fathom 5 - Nothing Lasts
Fathom 5 - Conflict Station
Fathom 5 - Bless
Fathom 5 - Then The Sun Hit

Indie or shoegazing. It doesn't matter. The Swedes can do it all. If you're into My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive etc. there might be a fair chance that you'll like Fathom 5.

My insignificant tribute to Swedish music will continue next week!

Songs by The Cheshire Smile, Neon Machine, The Ropes, The State Of Samuel and Tower Of Foil have been added to my list of Current Favorites!

The Swedish Invasion (Post II):

thehelpmeplease - A Little Love
thehelpmeplease - Hear The Bells Ring
thehelpmeplease - Buzzing Like Bumblebees On Speed
thehelpmeplease - Louise Dyer
thehelpmeplease - 1992

Jonas Johnsson calls his one-man band thehelpmeplease the best lo-fi act in Sweden. If you know any better ones, do not hesitate to recommend them, because the music of thehelpmeplease is pretty good!

I know a lot of people find it difficult to take the friend thing seriously at Myspace. But I have to admit that I consider it to be a great feature and I always think it's cool when a band sends me a friend request. Friend should probably be written "friend" to be more accurate, because surely this is nothing but a marketing tool. But hey - I'm a fan of music and I'm always interested in hearing new music. And so far at least half of the requests I've received have been from bands/artists that turned out to be quite good. New York band The Ropes falls into this category, because the 3 alternative pop type of songs available from the band's webpage are definitely worth a listen or two!

The Ropes - Kill Her Off This one is really great!
The Ropes - I Stand For Nothing
The Ropes - Not Technically Alone

The Swedish Invasion (Post I):

The State Of Samuel - Square Roots
The State Of Samuel - I Still Love You
Tower Of Foil - The Comedy Of Summer Rain
Tower Of Foil - Silent Stream Of Snow

Really nice indie pop songs from these two Swedish bands and simply perfect when the weather is typical Scandinavian gray as it is today! More songs can be found here and here!

LA band The Clean Prophets sounds like something you've heard before, but it's pretty hard defining exactly what. Some indie, some britpop, some classic rock, some glam and some psychedelic pop. I've seen people mention bands like Interpol and Oasis while others immediately think of The Jesus And Mary Chain to Bloc Party and none of those comparisons are not quite right. But as always defining the influences doesn't really matter as long as the songs are of a certain quality. And in the case of The Clean Prophets the songs certainly are! Apparently a debut album has been recorded, but that is more or less all the info I can find!

The Clean Prophets - Webpage
The Clean Prophets - Myspace
The Clean Prophets - Crime
The Clean Prophets - Praise Is Poison
The Clean Prophets - Man Transparent
The Clean Prophets - Tambourine Crown
The Clean Prophets - Prophets

This is fantastic news! US electronica pop duo Cause & Effect is recording a new album, which will be the band's first full length album since 1997. Expected release date some time this summer. If you don't know this band already I suggest you visit their Myspace profile and (at least) listen to brilliant track It's Over Now.

Monday Music...

The Cheshire Smile - Elevator Music
Wouldn't it be great if stuff like this was actually played in elevators?

Sailboat - Children
Electric playfullness (can you say that?)!

My Darling YOU! - Prince John Silver & Gold
My Darling YOU! - Taxidriver
My Darling YOU! - I'm Sitting Here
My Darling YOU! - please don't talk to me I fall in love so easily
My Darling YOU! - Everything, allright?! (first step is the hardest)
Tongue in cheek indie pop from yet another Swedish band. I suppose the picture says it all, though I have to admit that the songs are quite catchy! Combined these 5 songs last 8 minutes and 28 seconds!

Santa Dog - Chemical
Santa Dog - Delicate
Mentioned by other bloggers before me, but definitely good enough to be mentioned again. Sounds like.....doesn't matter. Listen and decide for yourself!

The Sweethearts - Blue Skies
The Sweethearts - Rainy Skies
Two nice ones made available for free today by Dogbox Records.

Neon Machine...

The following description is "stolen" from the Neon Machine's webpage (It's Sunday morning and I only slept 3 hours last night, so please forgive me for being lazy):

"Copenhagen-based Neon Machine plays an enthusiastic brand of indie power pop, characterized by powerful guitars, analogue synthesizer soundscapes and a relentless rhythm section. The quartet draws its inspiration from the new romantics of the 80es, the noise rock of the 90es and the current Scandinavian indie-popscene."

Neon Machine - Myspace
Neon Machine - Webpage
Neon Machine - Heaven Is A Lot Worse This one is really great!
Neon Machine - Suzie (Where Are You)
Neon Machine - Inside/Outside Another pretty good one!

The Coast Is Clear blog has recently turned into quite a Goodie Bag. The past few days I've downloaded songs by Morrissey, The Sounds and Baskervilles. And there are still quite a few songs left I need to check out!

Popular Danish blog DoCopenhagen recommends The Arrogants. A few months late, but it's nice to see a "huge" blog giving this brilliant band the attention they deserve.

Go here if you are interested in downloading Rector Street by Levy. And here if you want to download A Place In Displacement by South. Both songs are quite good!

Manchester band Keith seem to be rather popular at Myspace. Listen to Replica and it's pretty obvious that this band is from Manchester. Not sure if I like the song though!

It's really fun checking the mailbox these days! Yesterday I received a DVD and a 4 CD compilation from UK singer/songwriter Pete White (I sent him albums by Radiohead and Ryan Adams instead) and this morning albums by Belle & Sebastian (The Life Pursuit) and The Knife (Deep Cuts) arrived from CDON.com. Finally German band Phonodrive have sent me a copy of their second album Music.

NYC (one-man) band The Oxygen Ponies are currently finishing the debut album (title? - not sure), which is described as "a breakup record you can dance 2"! Quite intriguing description and since 3 songs are available from the band's webpage as a promotional preview, it isn't difficult testing if it is true. Well I didn't feel like dancing at all, because the music is laid-back, acoustic and mellow and when listening I couldn't help thinking of Elliott Smith, Jeff Buckley and every now and then even Bob Dylan. This is not the music that will cheer you up and I could easily imagine myself sitting on the floor with a broken heart listening to this (so the breakup part isn't completely untrue). Hopefully that won't happen (my heart being broken that is), but that doesn't mean that I will turn my back to this truly interesting band.

The Oxygen Ponies - Myspace
The Oxygen Ponies - Devotion
The Oxygen Ponies - Brooklyn Bridge
The Oxygen Ponies - Truest Thing

Bouncing back and forth:

This morning I realized that I always whistle Dom Andra by Kent when heading for the coffeemat. If you don't know the song (you really should), you can listen to it here.

I heard Best Day by Carpark North on the radio yesterday (listen) and it really should have been on my list of the 15 best songs of 2005! Another song I forgot on my list was In My Head by The Ballet (MP3)!

My ol' compadre Chris is really busy promoting UK band Morning Runner (Myspace) and rightfully so. The band will release their debut on 6 March and if the album is of the same quality as the two songs circulating (Work + Punching Walls), we are definitely in for a treat.

I've been told that Ruined By Martin (Myspace) are recording 2 new songs and the songs should be available a couple of weeks from now. Meanwhile enjoy CC delight.

My conscience is as dark as the darkest night! I've owed Andreas of Celestial (Myspace) 2 CD's for ages, but hopefully I'll be able to send them very, very soon! Check out Nothing Happens Twice.

The new album by The Radio Dept. will be called Language and the official release date is now 12 April. Really looking forward to that one! Listen to old track Why Won't You Talk About It?

I've added songs by 1234, The Chase, The Colorfield, El Video, Mavis and Budapest to my Current Favorites list.

Grassy Knoll And The Magic Bullit from Canada has one of the quirkiest band names I've ever seen. I'm slightly disappointed that I couldn't find a song by them called JFK! Stuck On You will have to do then.....

I just noticed that Peter (I guess it was him) played The Walk by The Monday Photo at the Listening In event last night! So far I've been of the opinion that Hide was the best song by the boys, but The Walk is damn fine too! And so is Allies (No Tomorrow) and Without A Sound and.....oh well I assume you get my point!

The Monday Photo - Myspace
The Monday Photo - The Walk
The Monday Photo - Hide
The Monday Photo - Allies (No Tomorrow)
The Monday Photo - Without A Sound

Not much information is available on the Danish band 1234. Apparently it's a one man project by a guy called Rune, but I'm not sure. What I DO know is that Saddest is a brilliant indie pop song!

1234 - Myspace
1234 - Saddest

Is it possible to describe music as electronic indie punk? Not quite sure, but somehow I think this is a very fitting description of the music by Danish band El Video. The band is based in Copenhagen and has been making music since 2001. According to their webpage a single (Galactic Gigolo) will be released very soon, which hopefully will be just as catchy, energetic and irresistible as some of the other songs available! Check them out!

El Video - Webpage
El Video - Myspace
El Video - A Day Off Will be added to my Current Favorites list!
El Video - Changing Coordinates

UK band Budapest has made 4 Demos available for download from the band's Myspace profile. 2 of them are really good (listed below), while the other two are - well - not so good. Unfortunately this always seems to be the case with this band. The debut contained some fantastic songs, but also quite a few ones that were easily forgotten!

Budapest - Webpage
Budapest - Lost (new demo)
Budapest - Nothing's Coming Soon (new demo)
Budapest - Below The Radar (older demo)
Budapest - 1979 (Smashing Pumpkins cover)

Monday Music:

Mavis - Point Of No Concern
New song (made available for download today) by this very promising Danish band. I still think that I like some of the older songs a bit better, but this is still a very good rock song! Though shorter and more "rockier" than I expected! In all honesty it took a few listens getting used to the "new"? sound. But at the end of the day I think it's a really great song!

Citrus - Into My Head
A really nice piano ballad!

Venice Is Sinking - Pulaski Heights
It's been quite some time since the last time I mentioned this brilliant song!

50ftmonster - Black Dog (WMA)
Two members of Catherine Wheel are in this band.

The Colorfield - 7States Of Bliss
Never heard of these guys, but they seem to mighty popular at Myspace. As always I cannot think of how to describe the music, but trust me - this one is really good!

Uncle Black - A Pocketful Of Holes
Quite nice indie pop song.

The Angel Hurricane - Hey Sunday
The best song I've found this afternoon. So I haven't been all that successful I guess?

And the final song of the day....

The Chase - High Flyer
Using the band's own description; a punchy pop song!

Layabout plays a pretty nice and laid back combination of pop and jazz, which works really well on a quiet Sunday morning! Recommended to me by the mysterious Paul Staley!?

Layabout - Webpage
Layabout - Dressed In Gray
Layabout - Barbara

Songs by Clone Radio, Indigo, The Mighty High Times, Vib Gyor, Washhouse and Pete White have been added to my list of current favorites!

Believable/Northern Border by Mighty Six Ninety belong on the list as well.

One more post before the weekend :-)

I was sitting listening to Goo Goo Dolls when I came across a band called Clone Radio. Never heard of those guys, but quite a coincidence, because they do sound a bit like GGD. Looking at their musical influences they probably wish I had mentioned Nirvana or The Stone Roses instead.

Nevermind (!) the influences - the two songs listed below are sure worth a listen!

Clone Radio - Web Site
Clone Radio - Chances Are
Clone Radio - The Night Before The Morning After

Chris is having quite an influence on the music I'm listening to today!

First he mentioned the iLiKETRAiNS forum, so I decided to register. The members there share quite a few songs by the band, so it didn't last long before I was busy downloading. I like this band a lot and you really should check them out if you haven't done so already!

iLiKETRAiNS - THE ACCiDENT

Then he sent me a few songs I didn't know by Vib Gyor. I've mentioned this band before, but a good deed cannot be repeated to often! This is great stuff and Vib Gyor is definitely another band worth a closer look!

Vib Gyor - Fallen (Demo)

On 13 March US band Mighty Six Ninety will release the single Believable in the UK (through Kids Records) on iTunes and as a limited 7” white vinyl.
The song is an utterly charming up-tempo pop song, with a haunting melody that most likely will be stuck in your head for quite some time once you’ve laid your ears on it.
The band lists The Smiths, Depeche Mode and Talk Talk among the influences and it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to add a string of 80’s bands to that list.
The song is backed by the equally memorable Northern Border which easily could have been released as a single on its own.
No information on when or if an album is going to be released, but this could very well be a band to watch out for in 2006.

The songs can be streamed at Myspace where it’s also possible to download another song by the band.

Mighty Six Ninety – Myspace
Mighty Six Ninety – Leave This World

Imagine walking into your kitchen and there you pick up the biggest blender ever produced. Into that gigantic blender you put the good (and bad) ingredients of The La’s, The Stone Roses, The Magic Numbers, The Coral and maybe even Oasis and then let it spin/rotate (?what exactly does a blender do?) for a few minutes. You might have to add a little twist of the 60’s to get it just right, but then there’s an outstanding chance that you’ll get something sounding a lot like The Mighty High Times. Oh well – I guess what I’m really trying to say is that if you like to listen to attractive/catchy indie pop with jangly guitars this band might be something for you to check out!

The Mighty High Times – Myspace
The Mighty High Times – My Love 4 You Won’t Die
The Mighty High Times – Why Bother

The debut single You Are A Knife by Danish band VETO is now available as a free download from the band's Myspace profile. I originally bought the single 5 months ago, but I guess this free giveaway is a promotion stunt prior to the release of the debut album There Is A Beat In All Machines later this month? As a blogger this is definitely not meant as a complaint, because it's always great to be able to link to free, legal AND brilliant songs!
You Are A Knife is an interesting uptempo mix of alternative and electronica with a highly appealing result, which has helped the band building a rather large fan base in Denmark. It will be highly interesting indeed to learn if the rest of the album is anywhere as good as this song!

VETO - You Are A Knife