I'm growing a beard...

And boy do I look stupid! Even the lady, who takes care of the flowers in the office, couldn't keep her mouth shut!

A Swedish double...

The new album The Great Investigation by Indie pop band Ronderlin is on constant repeat on the car stereo these days. I really, really want the album to be great, because several tracks from it are just ace (in case you don't know them already, just check out the two I've posted below). But why is it that bands that clearly are at their best when writing up-tempo pop tunes, suddenly have to go all quiet, boring and emotional? Unfortunately Ronderlin belongs to this category, so a few really uninteresting filler tracks mean that I have to settle for "pretty good album" rating instead.
+ Aside
+ Wake Up

Peter is really high on the new album Our Ill Wills by Swedish alternative rock/pop band Shout Out Louds. I'm currently listening my way through the album (and will do so a few more times today), but so far it does sound really good. And boy don't they sound a lot like The Cure on the first single (posted below) and on quite a few other tracks as well? Or could this really be the new band/part-time project of Robert Smith (just kidding)?
+ Tonight I Have To Leave It

Myspace updates...

Here are some of the comments and news I have received over at Myspace the past week:

Song To The Siren will release their 3rd EP called A Machine Like Me tomorrow.
+ These Days

Bahnhof has shot a video for the first single Speed from the debut album Reverse. The band has also been so kind to send me a copy of the album, and so far I'm really enjoying it!



Mushi wants a little help picking his next single. Go there and leave your vote.

Excellent Florida band The Monday Photo promises to have some new songs ready very soon.
+ Fall

And so does equally great UK band Kni9hts.
+ Coastal

Port Largo has recorded a fine new version of Breakdown In Fiction produced by Carsten Heller (Nephew, Spleen United etc.). I'm unsuccessfully pushing for a free download, but will keep you posted if anything happens.

Oliver with a Tiger...

If you happen to be in Copenhagen tonight, drop by Nørrehus Bodega at 9 o'clock, where Oliver North Boy Choir will be celebrating the release of their second single Shell For The Mourning. They will be serving free sangria and you're more than welcome to bring your own CD's if you feel like DJ'ing. The single will be released on Sunday (but no one parties on Sundays - do they?) and as the previous one it will only be available as a download. So obviously I cannot post the track (as the basic idea is that we should all buy it), but instead I've been given permission to post this cover (or is it a remix?) of the track done by none other than Klaus & Kinski. This version is actually quite different from the original, but still highly entertaining and rather catchy.
+ Shell For The Mourning

From a bulletin posted by Tiger Baby:
"The Swedish fashion company H&M have decided that 'Sweetheart' is the perfect song to accompany the presentation of the company's summer trends alongside illustrations by the very talented fashion illustrator Liselotte Watkins. To have a look, go to http://www.hm.com and pick INSPIRATION, SummerTrends and then SYDNEY." Hopefully this will help the band get the attention it deserves! Oh - and doesn't Kylie look fantastic/sweet/stunning/gorgeous/etc. in those pictures?
+ Sweetheart

This and that (International edition)...

In my search last week for OMD covers, I stumbled upon US duo Vitesse. The duo definitely has found some inspiration in the music of OMD (and many other as well), so recording a cover of 2nd Thought (from the OMD album Organisation) probably was a quite logic thing to do. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a version of this track, though I'd obviously love to hear it. In general this seems to be a band thriving in anonymity, as information is very sparse. So all I really know is that this was a duo that recorded 4 albums in the years 1999-2002, and that I've liked everything that I've heard by the band so far.
+ Small Gift
+ A Statue on Easter Island

Some time ago I wanted to post the new track Still No Signs by Charlie Don't Surf, but no matter what I did, I just couldn't make the file work/play. Yesterday I tried again and this time I experienced no problems at all. So here it is the (not so) new track by the Danish pop surfers and once again the boys have recorded a wonderfully charming pop tune.
+ Still No Signs

At first I only listened to UK duo/trio (?) The Painted Word, because one of their songs was named after band itself. But (to my great delight) that one turned out to be a great indie pop track (with some psychedelic influences), and the rest of their stuff isn't bad either. And the band seems to be really outgoing and friendly as well, which doesn't hurt either!
+ The Painted Word
+ Green Sea Blue

Taken directly from the Speaker Bite Me webpage:
"From today, May 23rd, and a week ahead, we will upload a remix every day for your listening pleasure. We start out with two tracks..."
+ Teach Me Tiger (SuperTroels remix)
+ Bongo Bizarre (Junior Senior remix)

This and that (Swedish edition)...

Download the opening/title track Welcome To Our Town from the new EP by Sweden's Cheshire Cat. This is energetic and very catchy indierock inspired by bands like Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy, The Cure etc. So you could say that this is not highly original, but nonetheless it's still really, really great! To be honest I'm not quite sure whether this is new or not. The info received from the label - Stiftelsen - wasn't very specific to say the least. But according to the webpage the EP was released May 10, so I guess this makes it a NEW release? Perhaps re-release is the correct term? The Celestial album I mention further down is new, but features several older, but re-recorded tracks (including the title track). Does that make Dream On a new, old or re-recorded track? Any suggestions?
+ Welcome To Our Town

Swedish label Songs I wish I had written modestly describes the new Moto Boy single Blue Motorbike as "the summer hit of 2007". With its interesting vocals and wonderful haunting tune I'm certainly not the one objecting to that statement.
+ Blue Motorbike

I've finally bought the Celestial debut album Dream On (released a month ago on Skipping Stones Records). This gorgeous album sounds like the perfect lovechild of Brighter and The Jesus And Mary Chain, and certainly is a prime candidate for my "best albums of the year" list.
+ Dream On

Just found these two tracks by Gothenburg based one-man project TRIP. Despite being unsigned, it seems like a trio of EP's is going to be released at some point, but so far no words on any date of release. The music is tagged as indie / psychedelic / shoegaze by the band itself and it is indeed a quite interesting mix of many genres. So instead of trying to describe it (which quickly could turn into mission impossible), I just recommend that you check it out yourself.
+ Drive
+ Ecstasies

Mono

It's no hidden secret that I (over the past few years) have grown some (or rather a lot of) interest in unsigned Danish indie/alternative pop/rock bands. Therefore it's always with great expectations that I read Gaffa's monthly feature "Demo of the month", because more than once it's has introduced me to some excellent upcoming bands (e.g. Ruined By Martin, Demons Are Real, Us With Millions). This month (May) my expectations was once again fulfilled as the brilliant Copenhagen indie rock band Mono was picked "Demo of the month". Summarizing the review, the music was described as "grandiose indie rock...loaded with guitars and synths...great energy...fine songwriting...high quality...". I fully agree with every word in the review, as this is exactly the kind of intense, noisy (and still very melodic) indie rock that I just never seem to get tired of.
+ Our Dawn
+ Back Home
+ All Shades Of You

More Last.fm stuff...

+ Warm Morning - Silver Rain
Title track of the Italian duo's EP just released on Shelflife.

+ Savoy - Foreign Film
Excellent Norwegian/American band featuring Paul of A-Ha (thanks to J.A.).

+ Tiger Baby - Girlfriend
Download the entire 2006 album Noise Around Me for free here.

Another OMD Cover...

Some of you might recall that I posted Klaus & Kinski's cover of the OMD track Souvenir 3 weeks ago and today I came across another OMD cover. This time it's If You Leave covered by (now dissolved) Swedish (not US) indie pop band Free Loan Investments and once again I'm really not sure what to think. OMD used to be one of my favorite bands, so I've probably listened to this track a thousand times and never before thought of it as a twee pop song!
+ If You Leave

And below a few other OMD covers previously posted in the blog (please feel free to drop me a line if you know of any other OMD covers)
+ Klaus & Kinski - Souvenir
+ Foretaste - Secret
+ More Than Milk has a cover of Enola Gay by The Faint.
+ Ladies and Gentleman... has Nada Surf's cover of If You Leave (thanx Chris!).

Be persistent and it will pay off. Just found this superb cover of Souvenir by US indie pop quartet Brittle Stars. Actually the band's own stuff is pretty good as well and you can find several tracks for free here.
+ Souvenir

And that cover is taken from the 2001 album; Pretending To See The Future: A Tribute To OMD, which included a total of 18 artists covering OMD songs.
+ Mahogany - Bunker Soldiers
+ Acid House Kings - Almost

And continuous searching can do wonders. E L E C T R O N I C A L L Y Y O U R S offers a few very interesting remixes of songs by artists like OMD, Depeche Mode etc.

Last.fm - Stuff

For a change I'm having a very quiet day at work, so I'm currently exploring Last.fm hoping that I'll find some interesting or unknown stuff. There's lots and lots to choose from, though unfortunately most of it is garbage. But every now and then I stumble upon something worth posting.....

+ Anything Box - Clean
Seems like this is a track recorded way back in 2001? Old or not, it's a really cool and utterly catchy new wave/synthpop track!

+ Hungry Lucy - Fearful
US duo tagged as darkwave/gothic. Fearful probably doesn't fit that label completely as it is more of an up-tempo electronic pop tune. Originally recommended to me by FALK.

+ The Cakes - Quarantine
UK band tagged as a post-punk/punk-rock band. Sounds more like a new wave band inspired by New Order to me!

+ Brooklyn UK - Paris Hilton
Not any good really. Actually it's pretty bad. But I'm doubting that Miss Hilton will think of this as a tribute :)

+ The Blind King - Indie Pop Song
Indie/folk rock 8-piece from Boston. How can you not love a song with a title like this?

Mushi +++

My current favorite album is the recent release by Danish one-man project Mushi (in real life known as Rasmus Fynbo). The album (released March 19) is called Unfairytales and has received some pretty good reviews in the Danish media (you can read a few here if you understand Danish). The music varies quite a lot throughout the 12 tracks on the album, and sounds like he's done his best to mix as many musical genres as possible. Whether you want Balkan rhythms, western themes, cabaret, country or the straight forward pop/rock song begging for airplay; it's all there and it never gets boring. However the real strength of the album is that he never gets carried away (and turns the album into an experimental playground), but instead remembers that the great and catchy tune must always be present. I bought the album because I enjoyed his 2004 release Unbelonging (download it for free here) and hoped that the new album would be equally good. But it wasn't. It was even better!
+ Pieces of Nothing (posted with permission from the artist)
+ Stream 5 more tracks

The Joe Coffee Project from Stockholm sounds like a Swedish version of The Raveonettes (this is meant to be a compliment). The band has released 1 (or maybe 2) EP's, but neither the band's homepage nor the Myspace profile have been updated since October last year. So perhaps the band is no more, which would be quite a shame!
+ Things That We Never Received
+ The Winter Song

If you have a couple of minutes I recommend that you check out (stream) the new fine single Hey Girl by Figurines at the band's Myspace profile. Or download it here.

Danish rock band No end has been forced to change the adress of their Myspace profile, because the old one was "drowned" by spammers. One of the (many?) annoyances of Myspace I guess?
+ Beautiful Soul

Two quick ones...

I'm very very busy today, so I have no time to write anything. But here are two really great ones and hopefully I'll be able to add a few comments later:

+ Warm Morning - Behind The Curtain
+ Michael - Today Will Be The Same

And if you have a couple of minutes I hope that you'll vote for 2:26 by Green Concorde and help the band make Tjeklisten (vote here).
+ 2:26

The Quiet Department...

Two Danish bands performing quiet/laid-back and acoustic inspired songs have befriended be over at Myspace. From the beautiful island of Bornholm comes the new band Majorian and in Copenhagen we find the more experience duo Astonishment. The later will release their second album called The Rest Is Silence in June, while Majorian still hasn't been signed to a label. In the quiet and thoughtful moments, when the rain is pouring down outside; put on your headphones and these gorgeous songs will make you close your eyes and help you drift away to somewhere warm and wonderful!
+ Astonishment - That Man & Can't Hold On
+ Majorian - Let's Grow & Don't Forget Yourself

CJ Palmer +++

Found the debut album Everything That Shines by Swedish quartet CJ Palmer in the mailbox yesterday. The album was released last week on the band's own label - Silver Road Records - so the boys are currently doing all the work themselves. Think a powerpop version of Savage Garden or maybe Roxette, and you should have some idea of where the band is located musically. Some might claim that there isn't anything new under the sun, and they might have a point here. But the songs are melodic, radio friendly and very, very catchy, and it will be a very (negative) surprise if this album doesn't find a large audience, as the music (in my opinion) should please the ears of lots and lots of people!
+ 34

Peter is really high on German indie pop band Tornister and calls them "the new indie pop hope from Oldenburg". And if you check the band's influences you can see that they are inspired by the best of the best, so no wonder that Tornister sounds absolutely brilliant!
+ Big Fake
+ Pale Blue Paper

FALK recommends Canadian singer Allison Crowe. And there's lots of stuff to explore over at Last.fm where it's possible to download several of her songs and albums. Half of them (my guess/estimate) have been written by the lady herself, while the rest are either covers or renditions of traditionals, folk/Christmas songs etc. Her voice is absolutely beautiful making most of the tracks quite a pleasure listening to.
+ A Murder Of One (Counting Crows cover)
+ Hallelujah (We all know this one!)

Made of Buildings...

Last month Danish quartet Made of Buildings released their debut album called The World Has Been Stolen by Cynics. I haven't bought it (yet), but after listening to the two tracks below (free downloads over at Last.fm) I definitely think I should. Musically I think I'll go for a description like The Notwist going post-rock...no matter how weird that may sound!
+ As We Make a Break For Dawn
+ The Quarentine

This and That...

Well, what do you know! The William Blakes has uploaded a new track to the band's Myspace profile. That's the 7th new song in less than 2 months! The vocal becomes a little wild/crazy towards end, but I still cannot help loving this band. The five members call themselves Einz, Zwei, Drei, Boris and Fünf, which yet again leaves me wondering who are hiding behind those names!
+ Violent God (link taken down)

Torr has the new single Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors by Editors.

Download the album track Life Is Beautiful by UK alternative/indie rock/pop band Vega4 from the band's Myspace profile. Highly underrated band!

Liga has two new tracks by Nordstrøm and Lily Electric.

Chris is really high on the track Take me to the Ballroom by Moonbabies posted over at It's A Trap. And it is indeed a terrific song!

Learned about Swedish indie pop trio Tea for three!!! over at Indie MP3. Sounds interesting and really promising!
+ Nincompoops

Shorties...

Friendly Danish indie/electro pop band The Holiday Show has uploaded 3 nice (and free) summer tracks to Myspace. As always this is cool and catchy stuff, but I'm still waiting for the boys to release an album. I've posted 2 tracks below and you can grab the third one here.
+ Traveling minds
+ City Girlfriend

Swedish alternative/indie rock band The End Will Be Kicks has posted a brand new (and very good) track from their forthcoming EP.
+ Ass of a friend

Great US Shoegaze/Dream Pop band Panda Riot has posted a couple of demos over at Myspace.
+ Color me in
+ New demo (Feb 29th)

In the mailbox this morning I found this one by Fields taken from the band's debut album Everything Last Winter.
+ If You Fail, We All Fail