Danish Mixtape

Yesterday I created a mixtape (compilation CD that is), containing some of the best songs I've posted in 2006 by Danish artists. (I've probably forgotten quite a few, so please don't flame me!) All of them have been featured in this blog at least once, so I won't add anything further, except that you should grab the songs, because all of them are great, free and legal!!!

+ Volvoe - Travelling
+ The Holiday Show - Snookerstar
+ Port Largo - Breakdown Into Fiction
+ The Lukewarm - BlackRoom
+ Kind Of Girl - Poetry Boy
+ Bahnhof - Tanktop Girl
+ The Floor Is Made Of Lava - Do Your Sister
+ Flying Virgins - Evil Fender
+ Windermere - Trailer Park
+ Dúné - Go Go Valentina
+ Anamia - Butterfly In Paris
+ Green Concorde - This Time (Remix by tWAMi)
+ Madrigal - Entitled To
+ 1234 - Saddest
+ Hazey Jane - Bad Wine
+ The Ondt And The Gracehopper - When We Dead Awaken
+ tWAMi - My Spanish Romance

Sunday evening

Damn! A fine weekend is almost over and it's time to go to bed. Cannot say that I'm looking forward going to work tomorrow :-( And knowing that I'll have a busy day at work doesn't exactly make it look more tempting and I'd rather spend a nice day at home with the family enjoying the fine weather. However it looks as if rain is on the way, so maybe work isn't such a terrible option after all?

Well this blog is supposed to be about music, so here's another track from the fine album Let's Away from Danish indie band Lampshade.
+ Joy

Volcano?

The other day I received a "friend" request at Myspace from Danish band The Floor Is Made Of Lava (fantastic name). Since I've never heard of them, I did a quick search trying to find a little info. Apparently this is a brand new Copenhagen based male trio (I believe it's a trio, though I'm not completely certain), which has already caught the attention of lots of people. Expectations seem to be growing rapidly, which is no surprise once you've listened to the two tracks below. As always it's difficult to label the music, but a description like irresistible and danceable postpunk rock which will make you dance like the floor is made of lava, should at least give you some idea what we're dealing with. Oh - and Troels of Veto (yes - it's him again) is in some way involved in this as well! Keep your eyes and ears open; cross you fingers and let's hope that the boys can match the two first outputs!!
+ Told Her I'm From Compton
+ Do Your Sister

Listening to a few new albums......

Starring Me - Starring Me
The 2003 debut album from the US shoegaze/dream-pop trio Starring Me. I cannot say that I expected all that much of this album, because it was more or less "added" when I bought the other album by the band. But so far it's been impossible to let go of it and several songs have made me reach for the repeat button. Beautiful melodies and wonderful female vocals make this a really fine dream-pop album. What a surprise!
+ Find A Diamond

Starring Me - Perfect In The Night
The 2005 follow-up from the band pretty much follows in the footsteps of the debut as the band reamains true to the shoegaze/dream-pop genre. The songs may be a bit noisier than and not quite as immediate as the ones on the debut, but this is still another very fine effort from this vastly underrated band. The entire album can be downloaded for free at the band's webpage.
+ Stay
+ Comet

Purplespace - Broken Bells
Purplespace is a side project created by John Hashtak of Starring Me and I've previously described the music as a bit more electronic than we're used to hear from Starring Me. Listening to the album a few times doesn't make me change that description, but unfortunately I experienced the album as a kind of "bumpy ride". It does indeed contain several good songs, but also quite a few that are easily forgotten. Hopefully a few more listens will change this!
+ The Journal

The Oxygen Ponies - The Oxygen Ponies
The highly anticipated debut album from the NY singer/songwriter Paul Megna (a.k.a. The Oxygen Ponies) is pretty much everything I hoped/expected it would be. The songs are all mellow and utterly beautiful, and are probably enjoyed the best in a quiet moment with the eyes closed.

Go Go

Upcoming and much hyped Danish band Dúné are in the studio recording their debut album (no title yet and the expected date of release is March next year!), which will be produced by Troels Abrahamsen of Veto. It's not all that difficult to hear that the two bands are musically related, thus making this a very obvious collaboration. The band has 7 members and (if the info is correct) all of them are still teenagers. According to the band itself they are "inspired from the sixties rock n roll, the seventies punk, the eighties pop and the nineties indierock and have created their own unique blend: indielectrock!" It will be very interesting to see if the band can match the hype, but the potential is definitely present!
+ Go Go Valentina
+ Robot Beat

Track of the week at Terry Hall's Myspace profile is this classic.......
+ Our Lips Are Sealed

Puzzles

Two songs from the Puzzles Like You album by Mojave 3 are available as free downloads from the band's Myspace profile. I'm not all that high on the first single of the album, Breaking The Ice, but the title track is short, sweet and very catchy, so the album will definitely be added to my shopping bag the next time I order a few CD's. When will (other) bands learn that making a few songs available for free is the best way to promote their music?
+ Puzzles Like You
+ Breaking The Ice

Californian singer Todd Stadtman sent me a mail the other day asking me to listen to a track from his 2005 album Only I Can Save You, called I'm Good. In various reviews the track has been singled out as the best or worst of the album, so he thought it would interesting to make it available for a wider audience to judge.
I've listened to the song a few times now, and to be quite frank I really don't know what to think of it. The melody is pretty catchy, but the vocals are really annoying and reminds me (and this is in no way meant to be positive) too much of The Smurfs.
Instead I recommend that you listen to another track from the album, called I Don't Know Why She's Here. It's a very nice appealing pop song, which more than once makes me think of Erasure.
+ I'm Good
+ I Don't Know Why She's Here

Thanks to "anonymous" (I think I know who you are!) for informing me that another damn fine song by Swedes Du Pacque has been uploaded to the band's Myspace profile. Always fun listening to this band and trying to spot their influences!
+ Love In Every Bar

No updates today!

I'm far too busy at work today, so no time for writing anything :-(

Hopefully I'll have more time tomorrow!

Yada Yada Yada etc.

There is only one Danish rider in the tour this year, but he certainly made his presence known yesterday.
+ Anita Ward - Ring My Bell

Hits In The Car has been added to the list of blogs at Music Bloggers United. Thanks!

It's already been done by several other bloggers, but I also have to post the new single by The Legends, because it's absolutely brilliant!
+ Lucky Star

Quite a lot of focus on "supergroup" Golden Smog these days. Below the so-so title track of the album Another Fine Day, which was released the 18th this month. Hopefully the rest of the album is better than this one?
+ Another Fine Day

The weather continues being absolutely incredible (I cannot recall a summer better than this). I know it's stupid and extremely unfair to all the people starting their holidays now, but I'm actually beginning to hope that it will start raining.
+ Tower Of Foil - Comedy Of Summer Rain

I've spent a little time this afternoon searching for new music, but I haven't been able to find anything of even the slightest interest. So no more will be added to this post today and because of the funeral, I very much doubt that I'll post anything tomorrow......

New stuff........

Last.fm doesn't seem to be working right now (at least it's not updating), but today I'm listening to these interesting new purchases:

Traening - All My Time Is Spent On Nights With You (2005 EP)
Very good. I was positively surprised to be able to find this one at my local CD "pusher". Too bad the band decided to split up!

Traening - Better Than This (2003 album)
+ Between Your Lips
+ Over And Out

Lampshade - Let's Away (2006 album)
+ Disse Fugle
+ New Legs

Funeral

My wife's uncle died the other day, so we're attending his funeral on Friday. I cannot say that I knew him all that well, but funerals are never fun - are they?
+ Band Of Horses - Funeral
+ The Knight In Plaster - At Your Funeral
+ Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Funeral Face

Busy

Damn busy today, so I only have time for a very short post.

Heaven's Lost by Swedish female singer Cam is a simple/minimalistic, but very catchy electronic pop song with nice breathy vocals. I think it's an oldie (mid 90's), but I'm not really sure, because the info available is quite limited.
+ Heaven's Lost

Rodolfo recommends (again)

This time Peruvian reader Rodolfo hasn't written a post, but instead he has sent me a nice long list of artists that he thinks I should check out. And why shouldn't I give them a listen, because so far I've liked most of the stuff he has recommended?

Rick Witter used to be the singer in Shed Seven (I have to admit that I never really liked them) and his new band is called Rick Witter and The Dukes. The music is pretty good, though it is rather straightforward indie rock.
+ The Other Way Around
+ Sky Falls Down

London band The Free French lists Scritti Politti among their influences and I definitely get sweet memories of that (very fine) 80's band when I listen to Ghost Writer. Nice one!
+ Ghost Writer

I've already mentioned Manchester band kni9hts a few times before, but since this is such a great (fantastic according to Rodolfo) band I sure don't mind mentioning them again. This is music for the fans of Doves, Puressence etc.
+ Coastal
+ Jolan District

I guess most people are already familiar with She Wants Revenge? A so- so mix of Tear Your Apart is available at Myspace.
+ Tear Your Apart (Hotel Persona Remix)

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's has the weirdest name, but nothing weird about the music. Talking In Code is a wonderful song with a nice acoustic feel. I've streamed a few other songs by the band and I definitely should get my hands on the album.
+ Talking In Code

A few other (some of them very interesting) bands were on his list, but since none of them offer any free downloads, they won't be mentioned here!!

The sun is shining!

This is the view from our apartment. When the weather is great like this, it's really pointless spending your time blogging. So don't expect any posts today :-)

Forgot writing a title - now it's got one, though it's not really a title.....

This is the view from my desk at work (I know the photo is really bad, but this is really the best my phone can do). Please notice the Anamia poster right there in the middle. I told my wife that we should find a real nice spot for it in the living room, but for some reason she never got back to me on that one....! Now it's hanging in my office instead and hopefully it will inspire a few of my colleagues to check out the band!
+ ... but wasn't it so back then

One of my few regular readers (José Antonio from Spain) is doing his best to convince me that Nightmare Of You is a terrific band. Now that I've (finally) listened to the band I have to admit that these guys aren't bad at all.
+ My Name Is Trouble

I took a stroll around Myspace this morning searching for new Danish bands and as usual it didn't take long before I found something that caught my attention. Placenta is a quartet based in Jutland and the band describes their music as powerpop with lots of vocal harmonies. A few classic artists are listed as the band's main influences (e.g. The Moody Blues, The Smiths, Depeche Mode) and the music does indeed sound like it has been heavily inspired by some of those bands. So this is not highly original, but definitely not a rip off either. Just charming and catchy!
+ Brittle Eyes
+ I Never Denied My Weaknesses

Peter over at Coast Is Clear ranks the album Reprint by Hungarians Amber Smith as his favorite one of 2006. I haven't bought a copy of the album even though every song I've heard from the album is very good. Time for that to change I guess?
+ Hello Sun
+ Holograms (Stonecastle remix)

The Danish Album Chart is a surprisingly interesting read this week. Muse enters the chart at no. 5. Raconteurs move up 45 spots and Broken Boy Soldiers is now at no. 16. Pink Floyd The Wall is the 19th best selling album and the debut albums by VETO and Spleen United re-enter the Top 40. Several other bands make remarkable re-appearances in the Top 40, but I assume this has something to do with them performing at the Roskilde Festival?

Over a cup of coffee!

It's Thursday! I love Thursdays......I know I've mentioned it before, but I cannot help it. I just love them!

I played a few Pink Floyd songs for my youngest daughter (she's 9 months old now) last night. She really seemed to be enjoying the songs or maybe she simply thought it was hilarious watching daddy making his David Gilmour impersonation?

tWAMi posted a comment yesterday stating that City Of Delusion is the best track of the new Muse album. Hmmm - is this your new "Spanish Romance"? ;-)
+ My Spanish Romance
+ Check his webpage for more (lots more) instrumental goodies.
+ City Of Delusion

Danish band Turbulenze plays quite catchy rock music. Never heard of this band before, but apparently Someday has received some airplay on national radio.
+ Someday

There are still lots of bands sending me "friend" requests at Myspace and (as usual/ unfortunately) most of the bands aren't really that good. But today I checked out an older request from UK/French artist RobinFoster and the excellent track The Beach. When stuff like this comes your way it suddenly makes listening to all the bad music worth while.
+ The Beach

It's probably not a new track at all, but I just found this nice one by Francis 7 which is completely new to me. As always I recommend that you listen to the fantastic Splitting In Two as well!
+ She Doesn't Know Why
+ Splitting In Two

Peter over at Schallgrenzen is high on Irish rockers Suddyn. I'm not blown away, but it's not bad either!
+ Throwing Shapes

Peter (Coast Is Clear) wrote a post on LA duo The Submarines the other day. Definitely a band you should check out!

Chris posted the new song by The New York Fund yesterday. I was considering doing the same, but I'm not all that excited about it. However I do love young ambitious bands, so I'll post it nonetheless.
+ The Guns Of Camden

I'm constantly waiting for Michael Rasmussen (the only Dane in the race) to attack on today's stage in Tour De France, but nothing seems to be happening. Boooooring!

Traening & more

In my post on Anamia yesterday, I mentioned Traening as one of the inspirational sources for the band's songwriter. When he mentioned the band I couldn't remember ever hearing of them, but when I scanned my computer I realized that a long time ago I had downloaded 4 songs, by this now dissolved Danish band. For whatever reason I hadn't bothered listening to the songs, but now I (finally) have and this is truly great stuff. This is probably very typical me that I don't discover a band until it no longer exists or someone tell me that I definitely need to check them out.
One of the members of Traening is now in the more well-known EPO-555 and musically the bands are related, as they both play a kind of alternative electro noise pop. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you like EPO-555 there is a good chance that you'll like Traening as well!
+ Swim
+ Only You
Both songs are from the 2003 album Better Than This.

After listening to it 20 times (at least) yesterday there is no longer any doubt in my mind. Map Of The Problematique by Muse is the best song of 2006 so far!

I emailed Mymusic yesterday suggesting that (some of) the pages should be translated into English, because foreigners have no clue how to register (thus being allowed to download the songs). Today I received a reply saying that they are thinking of it. Stop thinking! Just do it!

There has been lots of complaints about the new The Stills album in the blogosphere and today Danish magazine Gaffa gave the album 1 out of 6 stars.

Meeting Anamia

One of the (many) highlights of my recent holiday was that I got the opportunity to meet the boys from Danish alternative/indie rock band Anamia. Regular readers of my blog should know that I've been enjoying the music of the band for quite some time now, so when I learned that the band would be recording in their Easter dé la créme studio, only a few hours drive away from where we were staying, I (modest as I am) immediately invited myself to pay them a visit.

The four guys turned out to be surprisingly humble and friendly lads (stay that way once you get famous!!) and I spent a couple of interesting hours in their company, getting to know them, drinking a few beers, discussing music in general (influences, concerts, reviews etc.), talking about the future of the band (gigs, promotion etc.) and (most importantly) I got the chance to listen to the rough versions of the recently recorded songs.

The plan (if my memory doesn't fool me) is to put the 5 new songs and the 6 tracks of the first EP He Never Left The Room (in remixed/-mastered versions?) on a full-length "compilation" Album that will have a lenghty and quite spectacular title, which I very much doubt that I'm entitled to reveal at this point! So far the band hasn't been all the active when it comes to promoting itself, but once the new and more professional looking CD has been produced/printed this should (and really ought to) change and the band will start approaching radio stations, magazines etc. as well as trying to sell the CD through a few selected record stores.

The new recordings sort of indicate a change in the musical direction of the band as all of the songs were shorter, more "noisy" and not as instantly catchy as the songs of the first EP (the band's songwriter Michael revealed that among bands he has been inspired by Sonic Youth and Traening). That said the new songs still sounded damn great and once keyboardist/bassist Mogens (aka tWAMi) has added his magic touch to the recordings, I'm certain that we'll have another bunch of brilliant Anamia songs on our hands.

Unfortunately it will last a few months (at the very minimum) before the new songs are ready (I was told that they will be available as free downloads), so in the waiting period I strongly urge you to check out the older songs, if you haven't done so already!



+ Butterfly In Paris (the catchy one of the EP)
+ Temptation Puzzle (my favorite track of the EP)
+ More songs

Back at work!

Here I am; back at work. Cannot say that I missed it much and even though my desk is pretty empty right now, I know it will change soon enough. It's time to make the half year reports which certainly will keep me busy for the next few weeks. Dammit.......should have taken those piano lessons as a kid, because then I'm certain that I would have been a rock star now!
Oh well - at least the weather isn't all that great anymore.......

I've slowly started to work my way through some of the new music coming my way. With the release of the iLiKETRAiNS debut album Progress Reform, one of my Christmas wishes from last year has finally come true. I listened to it twice yesterday (and once today) and it's exactly as dark and depressive as you would expect it to be...........it's simply wonderful, although I wish it contained more than just 7 songs!

Another CD I found in my mailbox when returning was Winter by Cord. It's definitely among the best songs of the year. Stream it here.

Among the many, many friend requests and messages I've received at Myspace the past two weeks, one in particular has caught my attention. It's from Florida based band Purplespace, which is a side project by the members of Starring Me. The shoegaze/dream-pop inspiration is still present, but the sound is a bit more electronic compared to Starring Me. As I hope (or rather expected) this is great stuff and hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on the self-released album (to be released on July 17).
+ Rosemary Gold
+ Brokenhearted And Free (not sure if this is the correct title)
+ Losing My Balance (by Starring Me)

The one-man project we used to know as The Knight In Plaster is now a band called The Felt Tips. No new songs are available, but the band is busy recording and rehearsing, so hopefully new material will be available soon!
+ Treat Me Gently (An old favorite by "The Plaster")

Rodolfo recommends

First post after the holiday is not by me, but instead it's a "guest appearance" by Rodolfo (thanks a lot :-))

This is my first post in a blog, thanks to Stytzer that gave me the chance of doing it in his great one.
I want to start with sharing a great Irish band called Hybrasil, they are going to release a new single When I am yawning on July 27th. I didn't hear it yet, but all songs they have are pretty cool therefore this one should be great. Check their new stuff My Gallina and San Francisco at their Myspace. Those should be included on their new album coming out soon.

A great new finding comes from Scotland. They are called The View. Their first release should be with producer Owen Morris (Oasis, Ash, etc). Check them out at Myspace.

The new song by Motion Pictures called Downtown is very good. Listen to it at the band's Myspace profile. This song could easily be made by Larrikin Love :-)

For those who are into post-punk check some great new bands like Modernage, Blacklist, World Wide Spies, Sound Movement, Our Fading Smiles. There are some compilations to download for free here.

Any comments to Rodolfo_atlanta_30@hotmail.com I am located in Peru (South America)

I'm Back.....

Holiday is over and I'm back home again.

I'm returning to the busy season at work, but I'm an (blue-eyed) optimist and hope that I'll be able to post regularly.

As I expected (or feared you could say) there is lots of new music to check out, and with the limited time on hand it will probably take me forever working my way through all of it!

Holiday - Update

I'm the only one awake in the house now (3 adults and 4 kids are asleep), meaning that I won't have to share the beers with anyone :-)

The weather is incredible (untypically Danish it's very warm) and the food is fantastic (lots of fish, shrimps etc.).

So I'm having a great time and I'm not really missing blogging at all!

Hopefully I'll have a few interesting pics to post when I return.......