The name is.....Wendy

Once again J.A. pulls an ace from up his sleeve and sends me a mail recommending a band that (almost) leaves me with my jaw dropped on the floor. This time he introduces me (and the rest of you) to Swedish band Wendy; a 6 piece that for some odd reasons still seems to be living in obscurity (22 "friends" at Myspace). This is pure pop music, or with the words of J.A.; "big pop music", so ridiculous catchy and energetic that you really should prepare yourself for it to crawl into the back of your head and stay there for quite some time. The two tracks below are from the 3 track Angst EP released in 2005 and according to the band's webpage a new EP called Angst Zwei Drei will be out soon.
+ First Against The Wall
+ Killer Whale

Very short (now a bit longer) post......

A new track has been added to my list of Current Favorites. Strictly Ballroom is a quite nice rocking tune from new Danish band Dead Smiling Pirates. There is definitely some Green Day/The Offspring inspiration here, and the song has been very positively rated over at GarageBand.com. The self-financed debut album is produced by Flemming Rasmussen (anyone remember him?) and the expected date of release is January 1 (???).
+ Strictly Ballroom

New blog; Powerpopulist has been added to the links. Go pay it a visit!

Saturday we bought the MGP 2006 CD for our daughter. The music is horrible, but seeing her dancing and happily singing along, pretty much compensates for it!

J.A. recommends US indie/electronica act Letting Up Despite Great Faults. The band's list of influences is "endless", but to me the band sounds like a real pleasant mix of The Notwist and The Radio Dept. The 3 tracks below are from the 7 track EP Movement, which was released in August this year.
+ I Hear You Drowning But I'm Tied
+ Maybe I'll Hide With You
+ If You're Here Today

She Wants Revenge has remixed Cut Chemist's What's the Altitude.
+ What's The Altitude (She Wants Revenge Remix) (Myspace quality or rather lack of it)

Tower of Attorneys...

I've probably mentioned this several times before, but I cannot help thinking that it is extremely cool when you're contacted by bands/artists. Obviously I'm not thinking of those "please-listen-to-our-music" mails that are sent out in bunches or the superficial friends requests at Myspace, but instead it's the type of mails I received yesterday I'm having in mind. Two bands previously featured in the blog; Tower Of Foil and The Attorneys sent me some info on their recent recordings and in both cases a few mails were sent back and forth with additional info and finally a permission to "exclusively" upload one or two of the new song(s).

Tower Of Foil is (currently) a quartet from Sweden playing a laid-back and really beautiful kind of indie pop, which does find some inspiration in the music of Prefab Sprout (in his own words front man Daniel really likes this classic UK band!). This is the type of music, which should be enjoyed laying on the couch with the eyes closed and a glass of red wine in the hand. 5 new songs have been recorded and according to plans the band's 10th (!) EP Highland Lullabies will be released on November 10.

N.Y. rock trio The Attorneys are currently recording (what I believe) is their debut album, which is going to be called Stereocracy. No info to be found on any release date, but accordingly the recordings are well under way! Madison is an older (at least I've heard it before) powerpop kind of song (this is probably a new mix/recording/?) and Open Up is a really cool and quite catchy track, which is unexpectedly funky/groovy/? and almost danceable.
Stay tuned as I'm pretty certain that we'll hear much more from these two bands in the future!

Tower Of Foil
+ Highland Lullabies

The Attorneys
+ Open Up
+ Madison

Airplanes made of paper or feathers?

My daughter is doing just fine again, so here I am, back a work today. Unfortunately I don't have that much time on my hands today (work didn't do itself yesterday), so I'm taking the easy way out and posting a couple of tracks found in the mailbox this morning. They come from a Seattle one-man project called Riding Paper Airplanes and the music is described as a combination of: "the subtle electronic nuances of The Postal Service and The Notwist with the bombastic anthem-pop of U2 and Ride." Not exactly a modest/humble description, though Homecoming Weekend In A Small Town is a pretty good one. But you can always judge that yourself!!
+ Feathers
+ Homecoming Weekend In A Small Town

Tune of the day.....

My youngest daughter wasn't feeling all that well this morning (she had a small fever), so I decided (or rather was forced) to skip work and stay at home with her instead. Now I have just returned from a lengthy walk (with a quick stop for a cup of coffee), while she was sleeping in the perambulator (yeah - it's called that!) and during my walk I was constantly humming/singing I Love The Avenue by Salem. Not exactly because the streets of my hometown could be mistaken for avenues, but simply because it's such a wonderful, majestic, grandiose and utterly gorgeous song which is simply perfect to have "running" in the back of your head, when you're walking with the wind straight in the face. And since it is Spil Dansk Dag in Denmark today, I think it's appropriate to suggest that you check out the band's recent release called Nord1, which contains 12 tracks all sung in Danish (the album is wonderful, but probably requires some knowledge on Danish/Scandinavian music traditions? I mean - how many of you are familiar with Kai Normann Andersen, Evert Taube or Svante?).
+ I Love The Avenue

I wanna be like a Labrador......

The 4 track EP I wanna be like Johnny C by Swedish quartet Loveninjas is out today and as usual Labrador (once again proving that it's the best and most innovative label around) has made the title track of an EP release available as a free download. The 3 other tracks of the EP will not appear on the debut album The Secret of the Loveninjas, which will be released next month, so plenty of (or at least 3) good reasons to buy the EP! Finally I owe to mention that the track is just great!
+ I wanna be like Johnny C

Hit of the day/week

Once again it's a track brought to my attention by J.A. who this time recommends the Junior Boys remix of The Loving Sounds Of Static by Brooklyn band Mobius Band. I'm normally no big time fan of remixes, but this slower paced and more electronic remix is significantly better than the original version. The remix has already been mentioned in several other blogs, but this wonderful catchy and really haunting version definitely deserves to be mentioned in this one as well!!
+ The Loving Sounds Of Static (Junior Boys RMX)
+ The Loving Sounds Of Static (Original version - Myspace quality)

Evening Cleaning...

I've removed links to a few blogs that are no longer being updated. Seems like a lot of MP3 bloggers are throwing in the towel these days. Wonder why?

My Current Favorites list has been updated!

Spanish band Metropol is sweeping through bloggerland! Chris has already mentioned this in a post earlier today.

Molotov over at A Plague Of Angels has a fine post on Moi Caprice. It's great to see that the band replied to his pleas and sent him two songs in a decent quality (and apparently gave him permission to post them as well). One of them is the new single Drama Queen, which you should grab NOW!

Cleaning out the mailbox......

Dave Martin of folk-pop duo That's Him! That's the Guy! has sent me a mail asking me to check out his band. The second half of the duo is Joe Scott of (the band) Canada, which I mentioned (in a positive way) a while back. Two tracks are available as downloads, and Love Again is a nice up-tempo acoustic track, while These Days is a slower and more electronic one (with a banjo!). I'd probably enjoy both tracks even more, if they were performed live down at the pub.......
+ Love Again
+ These Days

Another quite interesting mail, but of a completely different genre, comes from Australian (but London based) musician/mixer/etc. The Scar. I mentioned the energetic and somewhat Garbage inspired Kill Her Off by The Ropes in this blog at the beginning of the year, but now The Scar has finished a pretty cool mix of this already very cool track. Originally I thought the song would be nothing but a smash hit, but it seems like I was wrong? Actually I've just learned that the first pressing of the EP (1,000 copies) has been sold out and that the second pressing is in the making. Not exactly a smash, but the band seems to be doing quite well!!
+ Kill Her Off
+ Killer (The Lemmy Remix feat. Miss Odd Kidd)

2 Videos........

Röyksopp - What Else Is There

Carpark North - Human

Both videos were directed by Martin De Thurah.

Post production (graphics, visual effects etc.) on both videos were done by a small Danish company called Duckling.

Why have I posted these two videos? As I wrote earlier today - the reason why isn't really that spectacular, but last night I went to a meeting (with several friends), where one of the owners of Duckling told us a bit about how they created the two videos (and told us lots more about the rest of the stuff they do). He showed us the videos in their "cinema" and they looked so great that I thought I'd recommend them to the few ones left, who has yet to watch them!

To Sweden and back.....

I spent the past weekend in Sweden (Småland to be exact) and although I very much doubt that I could live there, it sure is a very nice and beautiful country, with lakes, trees, wildlife and the most wonderful scenery. And obviously one shouldn't forget that our neighbor to the east is the home of Kent; the best band in the world. So below I've posted a few tracks as a tribute to Sweden's finest, but unfortunately they are all in the poor Myspace quality. If you're interested in exploring this fabulous band further and listen to songs of a decent quality, I suggest you go here, here, here, here or here.
+ Den döda vinkeln
+ Kärleken Väntar
+ Kräm (så nära får ingen gå)
+ 747 (English version)

Wasted Time in the Metropol?

Probably no point in repeating that the songs you can download from Myspace these days are of a really poor quality. Unfortunately a lot of bands continue to use this service, instead of hosting the files themselves, even though the disadvantages are multiple. Not only are the quality awfully low (96 Kbps), but the tags are not working meaning that the band names and song titles aren't listed properly in the various MP3 aggregators (thus missing out on some free publicity). However I have to admit that so far I haven't found anything better than Myspace, when it comes to exploring new bands. And I really like that all pages are (more or less) the same, meaning that you don't have to click through various welcome pages and intros before finally reaching the songs! So I guess the ideal solution would be to stream the songs at Myspace and then have the opportunity to download the songs from the band's webpages? Hopefully more and more bands will realize that this is (close to) the perfect set-up.

Today's music comes from 3 bands found at Myspace (2/3 of them thanks to J.A.), so as always be prepared to see some funny looking titles when you try to download the songs.

Spanish britpop inspired band Metropol has written some really nice and quite catchy tunes, which definitely would be a lot better if the band decided to change the lead singer (not meaning to be rude - just don't think the voice match the otherwise fine quality of the songs). The music is heavily inspired by bigger acts like Embrace, Coldplay, Snow Patrol etc.
+ My Own Gravity
+ 515 AM

Wasted Time by Starcrossed Lovers from the UK is a terrific indie pop tune, sounding like B&S teaming up with The Divine Comedy. Unfortunately the rest of their songs sound quite boring and uninspired.
+ Wasted Time

The Flamingoes from somewhere in the UK are currently working on their second album, eleven years after their debut. Good Feeling is a really fine indie pop/rock track, but just like Starcrossed Lovers I'm not overly impressed by the other songs.
+ Good Feeling

"Re-sounding the Rain"

Copenhagen 5-piece Cinnober has just released a new EP called Re-Sound and all 3 tracks of it are available as free downloads from the band's webpage (now wake up people - this is exactly the right way to promote your music, if you want it to be heard!). Those of you who are already familiar with the band won't be disappointed, because the songs are just as jazz inspired, pleasant-sounding and beautiful as always, although the brilliant title track flirt heavily with a more rocking sound. The rest of you, who have never heard of Cinnober, should hurry up and get to know this really fine Danish band! Finally I owe to mention that the photo was taken by Morten Melhede!
+ Re-Sound
+ Fate Is Out (To Get Me)

Oscillating Brushhead is a one-man musical (and part time) project by German DJ Cord, but unlike other DJ's he's (thankfully) not experimenting with Electronica, Dance etc. Instead Cord seems to have "healthy" love for the Shoegaze genre and for several years he has been writing songs influenced by MBV, Slowdive etc. The other day he (I've been told) played one of his new demo recordings called Rain at the Listening In in Kiel and it did receive quite a positive response. The track was mailed to me the following day, and I instantly liked it. So I asked for (and got) permission to post this quite amazing shoegaze track from O.B. and for you listening pleasure I've added the long time favorite My Favourite Dream as well. Hopefully someday this will turn into being much more than just a part time project, because there sure is a lot of unreleased potential here!
+ Rain
+ My Favourite Dream

Spencer in Munich?

Danish shoegaze/indie-rock 5-piece Munich has finished recording the debut album and 3 songs from the album can be downloaded from the band's Myspace profile (meaning that they are in the typical poor Myspace quality). The songs are not as shoegaze inspired as I expected them to be, but instead the band sounds like it has found a source of inspiration in fellow Danish rock band Kashmir! I cannot find the release date for the album anywhere, but since the songs are really great, I'm definitely looking forward to hearing the rest of it - whenever it will released!
+ Eyes Of Glass
+ Sea Ports

Spencer Tricker is a songwriter from N.Y., who (in his own words) writes and records music "in a desperate bid to avoid getting a real job". I have to admit that I like his honesty. No bullshit about saving the world, and who cannot relate to his ambition about avoiding getting a job? On the first of the two tracks below, Altar Boy Blue, he sounds very lo-fi almost in an Iron & Wine kind of way, but on the second track, Oblivion, things suddenly get a lot more "plugged" towards the end of the song. I cannot decide which part or "musical direction" I like the most, but facts remain that Spencer has a great voice and a knack for writing beautiful songs! I guess only time will tell, if those skills are enough to "save" him from taking a 9 to 5 job once his days as a student are over, but hopefully we'll hear a lot more from this very talented singer/songwriter!
+ Altar Boy Blue
+ Oblivion

There are songs everywhere....

I have a truckload of songs I really should spend a little time listening to today, because the stream of new music never seems to dry out and my mailbox is breathing for air. So I've downloaded files and deleted mails in bunches this morning as well as checking out a few recommendations in other blogs. Once I've listened to the songs, I'll post a few comments on the stuff I think is worth your time!

Peter sent me a mail last night stating that I'd be eternally sorry if I didn't check out N.Y. band Dirty On Purpose. Now that's a strong statement, but I'm sure glad he "forced" me to listen to this great band! Peter has 4 songs here.

Several people (including Peter) have recommended the new track by Vega 4 called Bullets. This one is pretty much a no-brainer, because it's a terrific and very catchy pop/rock track.
+ Bullets (zip file)

Swedish duo Vision System sounds like a mix of early Depeche Mode, Cause & Effect, De/Vision and Danes Portland, so you know what to expect. All There Is is taken from the 2004 album Monochrome.
+ All There Is

And Evacuation by N.Y. duo The Somnambulants pretty much follow in the same footpath; sounding very electronic and reminding me a bit of The Hourly Radio, She Wants Revenge etc. Both artists were recommended to me by the ever present J.A.
+ Evacuation (Remix)

There are still plenty of music left, but work is calling and I really should focus a bit on it today...........

68 divided by 2 is 34.........!!!!!

68! According to Last.Fm that's the number of times I listened to Drama Queen by Moi Caprice last week (unfortunately the song is no longer available as a free download).

Here's a story for you (with some or at least a little connection to the information above)....
A guy called Jackie Sthlm mailed me a song last week called 34 (!) by the (to me) completely unknown Swedish pop/rock quartet CJ Palmer. I replied telling him that I liked it, but since the song wasn't available as a free download I couldn't and wouldn't mention it in the blog. Two hours later I received another mail; this time from CJ himself (apparently the band is named after him) in which he writes that he owns the rights to the song (record label and publishing company) and more importantly that I was more than welcome to post the song in the blog! So now that this major "obstacle" is out of the way; here it is; the dynamic, cheerful, danceable, catchy and very enjoyable 34 by CJ Palmer, which I believe will be the perfect soundtrack when driving your car on a hot summer's day! The song is yet unreleased, but could very well end up being the next single from the band! CJ Palmer is (as previously mentioned) a quartet from Stockholm formed in 2004 with the ambition of recording the best pop/rock album made in recent years. No release date of the album has yet been set, but it will be called Everything That Shines and accordingly it is now completed (including mastering, sleeve etc.)!
+ 34

"Big" news in the Danish media last week was that The Last Resort by dj/mixer/producer/electronica artist etc. Trentemøller was reviewed by Pitchfork! Out of curiosity I bought a copy of the album this weekend and quite surprisingly I'm enjoying it, because this isn't really the type of music I'd normally listen to! Aurgasm has uploaded two tracks for evaluation purposes......(!?) All you people who delete the files after evaluating the songs - please stand up!

Peter has sent me two albums (including the debut) by German shoegaze/dream-pop band Malory in return for the new Nephew album I sent him last week. Needless to say I'm very much looking forward to listen to the albums by, what Peter calls, "the best German band around"!
+ Take Me Down (Remix)
+ Sleeper

My list of Current Favorites has been updated and 6 new songs were added!

Cohesion....

From Manchester hails indie pop/rock quartet Cohesion who released (being unsigned; launched is probably more accurate) their second EP called Shadows In The Shade in August this year. The three tracks off the EP are now generously offered by the band as free downloads from their webpage and all of them are very nice up-tempo tunes with jangling guitars influenced by the likes of The La's, Byrds etc. So once again I'm sitting here listening and wondering about the injustice of the world, because a fine band like this shouldn't really be unsigned!!
+ Behind Closed Doors
+ Can't Ignore
+ Everyone's Got Someone

Friday Round-Up....

Have you downloaded the new songs by Moi Caprice? I seriously doubt that you'll hear a better and more gorgeous song than Drama Queen this year, so I definitely think you should do it!

J.A. compares Danish quartet Harmony Boys to Moi Caprice. Vocally there are some parallels, but musically the "boys" have lots of work left.
+ Sunshine Lover

Promising Swedish band Du Pacque has uploaded a new track to Myspace. War is probably the band's weakest effort so far, without being even remotely bad. The band is working on a website, so hopefully we'll soon be able to download the songs in a decent quality!
+ War

New track by Cassettes Won't Listen found in the mailbox this morning.
+ Gigga

The duo Nemo from Brooklyn released their debut album Signs Of Life back in 2004, but I wasn't aware of their existence until earlier this week, when J.A. (who else) mentioned the duo in a mail. Musically they are probably located somewhere in the indie pop genre or perhaps their music is better described as Roxy Music meeting The Moody Blues and The Cure for a beer? The title track (stream it here) is just ace, but the two tracks below are really great ones as well.
+ Metropolitan
+ Northern Light

Last track featured today (directly from the mailbox) is Wilderness by UK band/artist collective Sunny Day Sets Fire. Described as art pop, which probably is a description I could have used when describing the music Nemo? Oh well - nice, sweet and catchy!
+ Wilderness

New songs by Moi Caprice

Two new (very, very good) tracks from the forthcoming album The Art Of Kissing Properly by Moi Caprice have been uploaded to Myspace. Currently both of them can be downloaded for free, but grab them quickly, because I could imagine that they won’t be available for long!
+ The Art Of Kissing Properly
+ Drama Queen

Short on words...

Download the new single We Made The Team by The Radio Dept. here.

Irish band The Handles should have been huge - not dead!!
+ Addictive

Adam from Canada (?) recommends Swedish alternative rock band The End Will Be Kicks. Download more songs here and here.
+ If you see them tell them I love them

Win a trip to heaven?

Chris has been riding on a train!

One from the mailbox. The new single by Norwegian Lo-Fi Post-Rock band Low Frequency In Stereo.
+ Big City Lights

Peter (Schallgrenzen) reviews the new Anamia CD!

DAYS.....

J.A. sent me a mail yesterday in which he compared Swedish indie act Days to The Stone Roses. As I (still) am quite a fan of that legendary Mancunian band, I quickly rushed to the DAYS's Myspace page to check them out. Information found there is very limited and since the band doesn't have a webpage, I cannot give any historic background on the band. But a quick google search reveals that one of the band members remixed a track by The Wannadies a few years back, which probably isn't that much information anyway. A (blurry) picture indicates that the band released an EP called Downhill earlier this year (really would like to get that verified) and all four tracks of the EP are available as free downloads (unfortunately in Myspace "quality" only). The four tracks are nothing but utterly beautiful indie pop songs just begging to be listened to, and indeed DAYS sounds just like The Stone Roses mixing it up with The Clientele on a wonderful summer's day. Anyone in for a game of croquet?
+ Simple Thing
+ Downhill
+ Echo Of Last Summer
+ Never Came To Last

Green Pea?

I'm not quite used to being mentioned by American music bloggers, so needless to say I'm really happy about this post.

Minor Flaw

I mentioned Danish trio Minor Flaw in my post yesterday, because the band was selected demo band of October by Danish magazine Gaffa. Yesterday evening I visited the band's Myspace profile and saw that the rest of the first EP Nothing To Lose can be downloaded there for free. After I've been listening to all 4 songs of the EP a few times it's (still) easy to hear that the main inspirational source is Green Day, but the band has definitely been listening to bands like Sum 41, Good Charlotte, Blink 182 etc. as well. Some might ask if the the world really needs another one of those bands, but in this case I sure believe it does, because this band writes songs that are catchy, fresh and very, very energetic.
+ Sick And Tired (of you all)
+ Tough Shit

Rodolfo Recommends (part two)...

As promised yesterday - here's part two of the recent recommendations from Rodolfo. I'll add some comments once I've listened to the songs!

+ Camera - Hurt (acoustic)
Nice acoustic version of the band's first single. Grows for every listen.

+ Yeti - In like with you
Wonderful catchy indie pop song from this London 5-piece. The kind of tune that could have been written by The La's 16 years ago.

+ The Headlines - Fight games
Indie pop band from the UK. The band lists XTC among the influences and vocally there are some similarities, but the song itself is rather forgettable.

+ Late guest (at the party) - We were young
A quite atypical "Rodolfo pick", as this is a electro funk inspired track. The jury is still out on this one!

+ Little Ze - Tin pigs
I'm not really sure if I like this alternative rock track, but Sheffield act Little Ze. Quite noisy, but without the little something that will make you return.

+ Run Hide Survive - See this through (demo)
Another Sheffield band and another electro act. Danceable and not bad at all!

News.............

The second part of Rodolfo Recommends will be posted tomorrow.

Download Devolve's remix of The Radio Dept.'s album track I Wanted You To Feel The Same.
+ I Wanted You to Feel the Same (Marble House Edit)

Peter over at Coast Is Clear is high on really great US new wave band The Prids.

Peter over at Schallgrenzen has "discovered" Anamia.
+ But wasn't it so back then

J.A. mailed The Kids Label last week asking for the release date of The Mighty Six Ninety album. Hopes are that it will be released early next year and according to the label the album is amazing (would have been quite a surprise if they had written anything else, but I do expect it to be just that)!

Trio Minor Flaw is Gaffa's Demo band of October and Falling Apart is really cool and very "Green Day'ish".
+ Falling Apart

Rodolfo Recommends...

Rodolfo has once again been busy scanning Myspace and has mailed a long list of (at least to me) unknown artists and songs he suggests I share in the blog. As always his efforts are much appreciated (makes life as a blogger a lot easier) and I will post the songs one by one during the day, when I have found the time to give them a closer listen.

+ The Young Offenders Institute - Strange (Demo)
A 5 piece from Manchester listing Stone Roses and Puressence among the influences. Hopefully the rest of the songs are as good as this one!

+ New Adventures - Speak Up
The singer's voice is a bit annoying (his voice sounds like it's going to crack), but the music (indie rock with the usual 80's synth inspiration) is really good.

+ Lakes - Indian Lover
This is the opening track from the band's 5 track Photographs EP released in September. Great track from this US band sounding a bit like Counting Crows and Goo Goo Dolls.

+ Lucky Star - Eyes To The Left (demo)
Energetic indie pop/rock band from (you guessed it) Manchester. So far this is my least favorite track.

+ The Sugar Report - Dear Friends And Enemies
I guess this band is a bit inspired by the dark sound of fellow New Yorkers Interpol? Not bad really!

+ The Jakpot - Turning Point
Correctly spelled (there is no c in the band name). The song only runs for 2 seconds before you know for sure that this band is from the UK, because the sound is very typical British. Try listening to it and you'll instantly know what I mean!

I will continue this post tomorrow.......

Music Is My Girlfriend!

I'm been aware of the existence of Swedish label Music Is My Girlfriend for quite some time (primarily because Celestial is signed to the label), but I've never really listened to any of the many downloads they offer for free. But the other day J.A. advised me to give a few of the bands/songs a listen and I'm glad I did, because this is probably as close to indie pop heaven you'll ever get. And when the guys behind the label state that they have no intention of making any money (nor do they want loosing any), they definitely have secured themselves a big spot in my music heart. The concept of the label is not to focus on just one subgenre of pop music, but they do seem to have (more than) a weak spot when it comes to indie/twee pop. And once you start downloading it just seems ever so natural that one great song follows the other. So be prepared to spend quite some time there downloading! Below 3 very good (but not necessarily the best) tracks that I've downloaded so far!
+ Peace In Our Time - Everyone or Anyone
+ Starflower - Dance Til Morning Light
+ Annemarie - Apple (Suicide On Your Stereo Set)

What's rotating?

I don't have much time for posting anything right now, so instead I've updated my list of Current Favorites and added seven new songs to the list. All of them are (obviously) highly recommendable, but I have to single out Leonard Cohen's Few by Andrew Boland, because it's rapidly becoming one of my favorite songs of the year!

New single by [Ingenting]...

Download the new single by [Ingenting] called Punkdrömmar. Once again Labrador proves what marketing is all about and gives away a new single for free! I'm sure this will only help boosting the sales of the band's second album Mycket väsen för ingenting, which will be out on October 18!!
The first single of the album Släpp In Solen was a wonderful pop song, but despite its energy and 70's (pop/punk) inspiration, the new one is quite a disappointment.
+ Punkdrömmar
+ Släpp In Solen

The shadow of Andrew....

The Submarine Song by Irish band Shadowplay is still among my favorite songs of the year (and it really should be one of your favorites as well!). For some reason I completely missed that the band split up three months ago, but yesterday I learned that lead singer Andrew Boland has recorded a few tracks of his own. His first two solo recordings (still just demos) are mellow and laid back, and the songs really fit the label "music for the lonely" given by Andrew himself! In his own words he's not even close signing to a label, which I find very hard to understand. The chorus ("I need you") in Leonard Cohen's Few (originally I thought this might be a cover version, but instead the title is a reference to the Cohen song The Guests) is achingly beautiful and the vocals definitely bring back memories of Scott Walker, though several people seem to be hearing a lot of Morrissey in it. As always I believe that you should judge that yourself!
+ The Submarine Song
+ Leonard Cohen's Few (new file - 160 Kbps!)

Nude Panda's?

Yesterday I asked what I could do to increase the number of visitors to the blog. Learning from the comments I guess that the only step forward is introducing a new type of posts called something like "nude musician of the day/week/month/?". Would be swell - wouldn't it? ;-) Very much doubt that it'll be implemented, so sorry to disappoint you guys! But thanks for the feedback and looking forward to seeing those pictures in your blogs someday :-)

Instead I hope that music will continue to be the cornerstone of this blog and as long as one or two readers find something useful here every once in a while, I really should be more than happy. Especially if this means that I don't have to post any nude pictures of Meat Loaf!

Two new recordings by fine Philly shoegazers Panda Riot are available from the band's webpage. The first one is called White Elephants and is a brand new demo track. The second one is a live medley version of the songs Suspense Kiss/Art School Girls Of Doom recorded a couple of weeks ago. If I had my own record label, signing the Panda's to a contract would be top priority!
+ White Elephants
+ Suspense Kiss/Art School Girls Of Doom (Live on WPRB 103.3 FM)

What seems like ages ago (it was waaaay back in February) I mentioned interesting Australian shoegaze/psychedelic quartet Tugboat. Two tracks from the band's forthcoming EP Rushes have been uploaded to Myspace for us to download and (hopefully) enjoy! Especially the epic (and quite psychedelic inspired) New Colour is utterly brilliant.
+ New Colour
+ Round Again (remix)

Nothing but music - the endless post?

In this post I'll re-post some of the songs I've mentioned before in the blog or simply some of the stuff I've found that I find interesting, but have no time to write about. None of the songs are hosted by Myspace, which has pretty much turned into a disaster!

IT WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED IF YOU'D CHECK OUT THE REST OF THIS BLOG, ONCE YOU'VE DOWNLOADED THE SONGS YOU WANT.....

+ Aberdeen City - God Is Going To Get Sick Of Me
+ Against Me! - Don't Lose Touch
+ The Airfields - Leaps And Bounds
+ Airiel - Kiss Me Slowly
+ The Alpine - Trigger (A.T.O.C. remix)
+ Anamia - Butterfly In Paris
+ Anotherstory - Plans
+ The April Skies - Rise & Rise Again
+ Arab Strap - Where We've Left Our Love
+ The Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
+ The Arrogants - Don't Die Before Your Day
+ Ash - Meltdown
+ Asobi Seksu - I'm Happy But You Don't Like Me
+ Asobi Seksu - Strawberries (Cassettes Won't Listen remix)
+ Asobi Seksu - Walk On The Moon
+ Avocadoclub - Too Much Space To Walk Away
+ Bahnhof - Tanktop Girl
+ The Ballet - In My Head
+ Band Of Horses - The Great Salt Lake
+ Band Of Horses - Funeral
+ Baumer - How The West 1
+ Beirut - Postcards From Italy
+ Billie the Vision & The Dancers - Summercat
+ The Bishops - The Only Place I Can Look Is Down
+ Bloc Party - Banquet
+ Boat - Sore Toes and Elbows
+ Bobby Baby - In Ten Years From Now
+ The Boy Least Likely To - Be Gentle With Me
+ Bright Channel - Airborne
+ Budapest - 1979 (The Smashing Pumpkins cover)
+ Built To Spill - Alarmed
+ Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm ready to be heartbroken
+ Canada - Record Function
+ Pelle Carlberg - Riverbank
+ Cars & Trains - Broken Streetlamp Serenade
+ Cartridge - Tree Crowns
+ Celestial - Nothing Happens Twice
+ Cinnober - Fast Machine
+ Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Is This Love?
+ The Clientele - Since K Got Over Me
+ The Constantines - Soon Enough
+ The Consultants - Hollow-Bodied Evening
+ The Dears - Lost In The Plot
+ Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body
+ Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights
+ Decoration - Intercom
+ Delaware - Loss
+ Demons Are Real - Planet Of Dreams
+ Dirty on Purpose - Mind Blindness
+ Division Day - Colorguard
+ Thomas Dybdahl - A Lovestory
+ Early Day Miners - All Harm
+ Editors - Munich
+ Kathleen Edwards - In State
+ El Video - A Day Off
+ Elefant - Lolita
+ Elf Power - Never Believe
+ Elika - Acting For You
+ The End of The World - Last Cast
+ EPO-555 - Hyperschlieb
+ The Essex Green - Our Lady In Havana
+ Fathom 5 - Nothing Lasts
+ The Feeling - Sewn
+ The Fields - Song For The Fields
+ The Fields - Brittlesticks
+ Figurines - Rivalry
+ Figurines - The Wonder
+ The First Miles - The Best One Around
+ Foretaste - Secret (OMD Cover)
+ Foxglove - Something Wrong
+ Stephen Fretwell - New York
+ Fruit Bats - A Bit Of Wind
+ Gentle Touch - Smedby
+ José Gonzales - Crosses
+ Gran Ronde - Retrace
+ Grandaddy - Elevate Myself
+ The Go-Betweens - Here Comes A City
+ Gravy - Meltdown
+ Green Concorde - This Time (tWAMi Remix)
+ The Guggenheim Grotto - And A Tear Isn't Such A Bad Thing
+ Guided By Voices - My Kind Of Soldier
+ Guillemots - Who Left The Lights Off Baby
+ Halph - Calm
+ Hard-Fi - Hard To Beat
+ Richard Hawley - Coles Corner
+ Hazey Jane - Bad Wine
+ Head Like A Kite - Noisy In The Circus
+ Hej - With or Without You
+ Helen Stellar - You Glow From Within
+ Sarah Hepburn - Hey OK
+ The High Dials - The Holy Ground
+ The High Violets - Invitation
+ The Holiday Show - Snookerstar
+ IAMX - President
+ I Am Bones - Building Hospitals
+ I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - Your Worst Is The Best
+ Immaculate Machine - Phone Number
+ Infomatik - Inside A Moment
+ [ingenting] - Släpp In Solen
+ Irene - Little Things (That Tear Us Apart)
+ The Juliana Theory - Believe In Me
+ Kaiser Chiefs - Oh My God
+ Kicker - Blue
+ Kind of girl - Poetry Boy
+ Kind of girl - Slave To Your Charms
+ Kind of girl - You Can't Save Me
+ Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
+ Lampshade - New Legs
+ Larsen & Furious Jane - Tourist With A Typewriter
+ Late Night Venture - Pay The Moon
+ Le Sport - Business Girls
+ Leisure Alaska - Transistors In My Mind
+ Jens Lekman - Black Cab
+ Like Honey - Airport
+ The Lodger - Many Thanks For Your Honest Opinion
+ Loveninjas - I Wanna Be Like Johnny C
+ Low - Monkey
+ Low Frequency In Stereo - Big City Lights
+ The Lucksmiths - Smokers In Love
+ The Legends - He Knows The Sun
+ The Legends - Play It For Today
+ Made Of Buildings - The Previews At The Movies
+ The Magic Numbers - Forever Lost
+ Marching Band - Letters
+ The Mary Onettes - lost
+ Mavis - Point Of No Concern
+ Mazarin - Another One Goes By
+ Micah P. Hinson - The Leading Guy
+ Mighty Six Ninety - Keeping You In Mind (Keeping It Electro Mix)
+ Mighty Six Ninety – Leave This World
+ Modest Mouse - Interstate 8
+ Mogwai - Christmas Song
+ Moi Caprice - Artboy Meets Artgirl
+ The Monday Photo - Fall
+ Monster Movie - Driving Through The Red Lights
+ Murder Mystery - Who Doesn't Wanna Give Me Love?
+ My Favorite - Burning Hearts
+ My Latest Novel - Hope Edition
+ The National - All The Wine
+ Nemo - Northern Light
+ Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland 1945
+ New London Fire - Different
+ The New Pornographers - The Laws Have Changed
+ of Montreal - Disconnect The Dots
+ Of Montreal – Rapture Rapes the Muses
+ Okkervil River - Black
+ Okkervil River - No Key No Plans
+ 120 Days - Get Away
+ Oppenheimer - Breakfast In NYC
+ Otter Petter - Winter Days
+ Page France - Junkyard
+ Paloalto - Catalan
+ Panda Riot - She Dares All Things
+ Paperplane - Grow Young
+ Port Largo - Breakdown Into Fiction
+ The Positions - Back To Me
+ Postal Blue - Weather Sensitive
+ The Radio Dept. - The Worst Taste In Music
+ Regina - Minua ollaan vastassa
+ Revolver - Since Yesterday (Strawberry Switchblade cover)
+ The River Detectives - Some Kind Of Love
+ The Ropes - Kill Her Off
+ The Rosebuds - Leaves Do Fall
+ Ruined By Martin - Burn The Sun
+ Salem - I Love The Avenue
+ Sambassadeur - Kate
+ Sambassadeur - Between The Lines
+ Santa Dog - Chemical
+ Saturna - Springboard
+ Seafood - Western Battle
+ The Secret Machines - Nowhere Again
+ She Wants Revenge - Tear You Apart
+ The Shins - Phantom Limb
+ The Silent League - Breathe
+ Snowden - Anti-Anti
+ Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Oregon Girl
+ The Sounds - Painted by Numbers
+ Spoon - I Turn My Camera On
+ Starring Me - Carousel
+ Sterlin - Atmosphere (Joy Division cover)
+ The Stills - Still In Love Song
+ The Stills - In The Beginning
+ Stones Cry Out - Exit Utopia
+ Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Funeral Face
+ Superheroes - What's Going On
+ Swimm TV is TV - Crush
+ Swimmer One - Largs Hum
+ Tales Of Jenny - Noone Appreciates the Sky
+ Teenage Fanclub - Fallen Leaves
+ Tegan and Sara - Walking With a Ghost
+ TempEau - Mädchen aus Greifswald
+ Tiger Baby - Chinese Fairytale
+ Tillmanns - Run
+ Tower Of Foil - The Comedy Of Summer Rain
+ Track A Tiger - Glad To Be Scattered
+ The Turn-Ons - Strange As Snow
+ Two Gallants - Nothing To You
+ Ultrasport - The Boy That Never Lied
+ Under Byen - Af Samme Stof Som Stof
+ The Upsidedown - Wake Up Drive Thru
+ John Vanderslice - They Won't Let Me Run
+ Vapnet - Thoméegränd
+ Veto - You Are A Knife
+ Vib Gyor - Church Bell
+ Viola - Lovelights
+ Viva Voce - When Planets Collide
+ Voxtrot - The Start Of Something
+ Dan Wallace - Fell
+ The Walls - Black and Blue
+ We Are Scientists - It's A Hit
+ We Are Scientists - Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt
+ The Weakerthans - The Last Last One
+ Windermere - Trailer Park
+ Patrick Wolf - The Libertine
+ The Wrens - This Boy Is Exhausted
+ Xiu Xiu - Boy Soprano
+ YSN - One Look It's Love

All files have been found somewhere in cyberspace, so they will be available until the artists, record companies, fans etc. decide to remove them. But please leave a comment if some of the links are dead!

Comments, mails, thoughts etc...

Rodolfo has once again mailed a long list of recommendations and hopefully I'll be able to work my way through it during the week. As always it's much appreciated. For the fans of Rodolfo I've posted a couple of tracks by one of his recent recommendations below. White Light Parade is from Leeds, UK and the music is indie rock (with a bit of punk influence).
+ Wait For The Weekend
+ Here It Comes

I think Peter won our little Hybrasil "discussion". It doesn't really matter as long as great music is being brought to the attention of the world. Last night I received a message from the band that the label didn't like them sharing the music. That's quite a shame, because A Million Moments is brilliant pop tune.

Apparently Santa Dog appreciate that I've mentioned them in the blog (actually it was J.A., who suggested the band), so they have offered to send me a copy of their latest EP. Wish more bands were like this!
+ Rosa

I've received a few comments on my Robbie post, but so far noone has been prepared standing up for him!

According to eXTReMe Tracking this blog averaged 258 unique visitors per day in September. It would be great if I could increase this number. Any suggestions how to do that?

Never Go To Sleep....

Unreleased track Never Go To Sleep by Mighty Six Ninety can be downloaded for free at Myspace. The track didn't make the album, so the band was so kind to post it for all of us to download! I cannot find any information on a release date for the album (I don't think it has already been released), but I'm certainly going to buy it, because if this terrific pop song cannot make the cut.....the album can't be anything but fabulous!
+ Never Go To Sleep