Spanish indie...

On the threshold of the weekend, the ever reliable J.A. sends an email recommending a bunch of new songs from two excellent Spanish indie pop bands. Both bands are singing in Spanish (don't be scared - ok!), but whereas Band a Part has taken the Belle & Sebastian/Camera Obscura approach writing short and sweet songs featuring brass, flute, vibraphone etc., Sundae from Sevilla has decided to walk down the path where various electronic elements are added to the genre (without abandoning it at all). But as always, I find it a lot more important (and so should you really) that the bands write stunningly beautiful songs that simply cannot be recommended enough.
Sundae:
+ Mil Canciones
+ Hacia Atras
+ El Cine
Band a Part:
+ Menorca
+ Souvenir de l'Avenir
+ Sputnik Mon Amour

Shorties...

A new track by One Weekly Gun is up.
+ There's a Glow

The new Karin Ström track Silent Night is everywhere. Here, here, here, here, here and here.
+ Silent Night

The Storm drops to no. 3 in the Danish album chart, but continues doing surprisingly well (who really cares about great reviews?)



Fine Danish blog emodreng & indiepige is back posting after taking most of February off.

Pop Tarts Suck Toasted has been added to the blogroll.

Forgot to mention yesterday that a brand new track by Northern Portrait is streaming at the band's Myspace profile. It's called The Operation Worked But The Patient Died and in their own words it's their most dramatic to date. Needless to say it's utterly brilliant.

Northern Portrait - EP release...

I was almost tempted to use the term "breaking news" in the headline, as it's finally possible to preorder one of the most anticipated EP's of the year. According to the Matinée Recordingss webpage, the debut EP The Fallen Aristocracy by Danish indie pop sensation Northern Portrait will be out in March, so hopefully YOUR order (!) will be ready for shipment very soon. And while you're ordering - why not pick up the new Sunrise EP by The Electric Pop Group as well? Stream songs from both EP's at the Matinée Recordings Myspace profile.
+ Crazy

Swedish shorties..

A few songs from the inbox.

Minneapolis-based quartet Love In October isn't really Swedish, but two of the band members are Swedish natives, so I believe it's OK to consider the band being at least half-Swedish. The album Pontus, The Devil and Me, was out last month and judging from the two promo tracks below, it could very well be an indie/alternative rock album worth checking out.
+ Circa 1969
+ I Dream Of Marie Antoinette

Jimahl's nearly 8 minutes long remix of Jesus, walk with me by Club 8 is simply superb. Close your eyes, chill-out and make the world stop. 8 minutes later I bet you'll be rejuvenated.
+ Jesus, walk with me (Remix by Jimahl)

The fine Moto Boy single Young Love (released on Songs I wish I has written) has been remixed by Chris Price, whose album Post Pop Parade I embarrassingly forgot to write about last year, despite all my promises and good intentions. As a small consolation I've re-posted the haunting and somewhat New Order inspired And She Was.
+ Young Love (Chris Price remix)
+ Young love
+ And She Was

Kent in Copenhagen...

Peter wrote a comment the other day that he was looking forward to reading my report on the Kent concert. As always I refrain from doing a review as other people are much better at doing this. So as usual I’ll stick to posting a few of my thoughts instead.

The concert was a lot better than the one in December thanks to a vastly improved setlist and the band no longer sticking to the “new” 80’s inspired sound from Tillbaka Till Samtiden.

The band’s “playfulness” somewhat surprised me. Hearing Dom Andra and Om Du Var Här in (what you could be tempted to call) disco arrangements was actually quite refreshing. And so was hearing “rock” versions of some of the new tracks like Berlin and Ingenting. And the thundering performance of Romeo Återvänder Ensam was just marvelous.

Following a rather weak start the sound improved throughout the set and was near to perfect towards the end. KB Hallen has a reputation of being a so-so venue, but I found no reason to complain about the sound Saturday evening. And as one of my companions pointed out afterwards; Joakim Berg had a great night and his singing was just excellent.

As always I can think of at least another 10 tracks I wish they had played. Not necessarily instead of the other songs, but had the concert been one hour longer (with the setlist of my dreams), it would have been an almost perfect evening!

Finally I strongly recommend that you ready Peter’s fine review of the concert – if you understand German that is!

Finally, finally - a video - not a live one, but a good one!

The William Blakes - now on video...

See if you can spot a few of the quite impressive number of well known Danish artists appearing in the video (or you could decide to be a lazy bastard and get all the answers by reading this post). This is the video for the rather brilliant Secrets of the State, which is the first single lifted from Wayne Coyne; the debut album by The William Blakes. The album will be out on April 7 and I'm already queuing. In the past weeks the band has gone from being a quintet, to a trio, to now a quartet, and since I've always dreamt of being a rock star, I could perhaps sneak in and bring the band back to quintet status without anyone noticing? Hand clapping will probably be my preferred instrument!

Kent...

Tonight I'm (once again) going to see Kent live...

"Du är min hjälte för du vågar vara rak
Du är min hjälte för du är precis så svag som jag
och hjälp mig jag behöver dig igen igen igen"

Windy Friday...

My first thought was to call this post Stormy Friday (the weather report explains why), but apparently this also happens to be the name of some adult actress/dancer/performer/whatever, so I thought changing the title was the better solution, as I really don’t want this blog to be associated with that kind of stuff. It could be tempting though, as I believe those pages have multiple times more visitors than a humble music blog like mine.

Ruined by Martin has finally released a new track and once again it’s a dark, melodic and (most importantly) absolutely brilliant electronic pop tune. The boys are currently rehearsing and will hopefully announce some live dates very soon. New material has been written, but with their usual speed of work in mind, we probably won’t hear anything new until late 2009 (OK - I'm just kidding guys).
+ Defy the Odds

This week's song by One Weekly Gun.
+ Through Me

Does such a word as "neonlagkage" exist? According to Google it doesn't, but I just read it right here. And what a fantastic word it is!

The Storm "storms" into the Danish album chart at no. 2. After listening to the album a few times, it really isn't as bad as some reviewers would want us to believe. Far more interesting is the news that the Yoav debut album Charmed And Strange debuts at no. 33!
+ Club Thing (Ghislain Poirier Remix)

Tower of Foil sent out the great news yesterday that they are currently recording new songs. Download the entire back catalogue (well almost) right here.
+ Faster Than Your Eye

Angmoh - a new and really fine Danish music blog written in English - has been added to the blogroll.

Download the OF ALL THE THINGS WE'VE MADE - A Cyberspace Tribute To OMD right here. Thanks to J.A. for the info!!

Peter has already posted this, but I too should inform you that the lovely indietronica, shoegaze act The Papertiger Sound has a new brilliant EP out called Lost Tapes EP. And of course it's free to download, but you can make a small donation if you like.
+ cold fingers, smiling

Champagne and pop music...

From a Dane currently residing in London comes these two pop jewels published under the name Champagne Riot. The man behind the project calling himself C. (for now I’ll have to stick to this description, as I don’t know his real name - yet!) contacted me last week and kindly asked me to give his songs a listen. So I did and as I’m a sucker for pure and catchy pop music, his songs immediately appealed to me. Currently he’s talking to a few labels and I wouldn’t be too surprised if Champagne Riot is signed to one of them very soon, as there will always be a market for charming and attractive music like this. But for now we’ll have to be content with these demo versions of his songs that he after a few convincing words (I hope) made available as free downloads.
+ Scandinavian Warfare
+ Heroes Of Our Time

Guess who...

In an interview in the recent edition of Soundvenue it's finally revealed who's hiding behind the aliases Eins, Zwei and (perhaps using "und" would be more correct from a grammatical point of view?) Fünf in the Danish band The William Blakes. Sorry no, but I'm not going to tell you who they are and instead I suggest you buy the magazine yourself! The eagerly awaited debut album Wayne Coyne will be out soon on new label Speed Of Sound.
+ Violent God

Knoxville - New Songs...

A little more than a year ago, I wrote this piece on Danish indie/alternative rock band Knoxville, predicting that we would hear a lot more from these guys in the future. And for once I was right, as the band sent me a message the other day informing me that a couple of new tracks were available for download. In the previous post I used this quote originally posted by the band to describe their music; “Somewhere between the frolicsome tunes of Franz Ferdinand, the cocky coolness of Interpol and the raw rock songs from the Foo Fighters you'll find the band Knoxville.”, and it still works pretty well as an accurate description of the new tracks. And unless my ears completely fool me there is even a small reference to Interpol to be heard in one of the tracks? Shame on me for not mentioning in the original post that these two new tracks certainly fulfills all my expectations (they were quite high)
+ The King is Dead (Sacramentum Poenitentia)
+ Alcatraz

Monday shorties...

This week’s track over at One Weekly Gun ironically “celebrates” that the Hollywood writers are back at work again. I might be mistaken, but don’t the opening seconds of the track sound like a small homage to Indiana Jones??
+ Horray for Hollywood

Peter recommends BREUMM.

The new excellent single by Mono Taxi called We Wanna Get Some Real Fun will be out on Ciao Ketchup Recordings on April 7. Very accurately described as "their punchiest yet!".
+ We Wanna Get Some Real Fun

Following this performance on the Danish Radio program De Sorte Spejdere last month, Yoav's concert in Denmark quickly sold out (at least so I've been told):


+ Club Thing
+ Club Thing (RAC Remix)

A budget and a mixtape...

As most of you probably know by now, I started my new job two weeks ago. And actually there’s plenty of work that needs to be done, as my chair has be vacant for nearly a year. My first bigger task is getting the budget for 2008 finished, which really should have been completed months ago, as you normally would have it ready by the start of a new year. So I’ve been around for 10 working days (plus a few hours this morning) and now I’m trying to predict the outcome of the year. Don't know if any of you are financial wizzes, but you certainly don’t need to be to understand that my chances of creating an accurate or even slightly trustworthy budget are rather small. So please let me know if any of you have a crystal ball (or somthing similar) to spare!!!!

The South By Southwest 2008 webpage has been updated with an alphabetic list of the showcasing artists including bios, links and mp3’s by some of the artists. If I was going I'd most likely make it top priority to attend the shows of these artists:
+ Canada - Beige Stationwagon
+ Paddy Casey - Fear
+ Delorean - As Time Breaks Off
+ The Hourly Radio - Crime Does Pay
+ Jens Lekman - The Opposite Of Hallelujah
+ Minipop - Like I Do

Shorties...

My copy of Downhill, you know that debut EP by Days that everyone has impatiently been waiting for, has finally arrived. The cover art is simply beautiful and to finally being able to play those amazing songs on the stereo is nothing but a sheer pleasure. You can order the EP at Shelflife right here and why shouldn't you want to buy the EP that will dominate everyone's year end lists? Now we are just waiting for the boys to announce their grand world tour (or at least a few concert dates!)!
+ Never Came To Last
+ Simple Thing

Links to 10 different blogs featuring a remix of Loop A Loop are now up at The Crimea's official webpage. Was originally told that 16 blogs would participate, but now it looks more like 10 is the number. In case you missed it yesterday, I'll post The Brute Chorus Remix one more time.
+ Loop A Loop (The Brute Chorus Remix)

The abovementioned Loop A Loop remix project by The Crimea do remind me quite a lot of the equally ambitious All Is Indeed Swell Enough for a Remix project by DAMPFBAHN! last year, where the track All Is Swell was remixed by 9 different artists/dj's etc. With the only exception really being that the Danish duo didn't get various music blogs involved.
+ All Is Swell - Fidel Astro RMX
+ All Is Swell In The Grinding Light - A Kid Hereafter

5 tracks by Death Valley Sleepers are free to download from Last.fm. No further introduction should be needed, as I've featured this excellent Danish one-man project a few times before.
+ In The Valley
+ White Noise

The Crimea - Loop A Loop (The Brute Chorus Remix)

In what I believe should be considered a rather unique publicity stunt, UK indie/alternative rock quartet The Crimea are now releasing the single Loop A Loop taken from the album Secrets Of The Witching Hour, which was released in March last year as a free digital download. So the single being available for free obviously isn't what is so unique about it, but instead that 16 new AND free remixes of the track, have one by one been distributed to 16 different MP3 blogs, with each blog having the exclusive right to post one particular remix.

I’ve been asked to host the remix created by The Brute Chorus, which has a real cozy and laid back/lazy feeling to it that made me feel all relaxed and comfortable last night, when it was streaming from the headphones, while the rest of the house was sleeping.

All blogs featuring one of the remixes will soon be listed at the band’s official webpage.
+ Loop A Loop (The Brute Chorus Remix)

BREUMM - Silhuetter...

Cool song, cool video and the hopefully equally cool debut album will be out March 31st. Read more.

Monday...

It’s just a typical Monday today. I’m tired and cannot get the brain going. Not because of hangovers or anything related to drinking or partying. Just stayed up late and had problems falling asleep last night.

The lack of speakers on my work computer certainly influenced last week’s Last.fm figures. A total of 89 plays must be the lowest number since my holiday in September.

This September R.E.M. will be playing at Parken in Copenhagen. Not that I really care, but expect the tickets to be sold out in 15 minutes.

You really should download This Moment by Under Electric Light over at Coast is Clear.

Jonas lists the artists (from A to Z) that every child should be brought up listening to.

Mitt Romney is the topic of this week's track from One Weekly Gun.
+ Mitt Romney

You've got mail...

As mentioned earlier today - I really have to do something about that mailbox. So tonight I'll be doing just that and cleaning out the mailbox!

Peter recommends the brilliant new EP After The Blue by Under Electric Light.

Download the new single 1987 by Robert Svensson (Mixtapes & Cellmates) via Nomethod Records (as well as a remix of the track). The single features Adam Olenius of Shout out louds on guest vocals and is surprisingly poppish compared to what you could have expected.
+ 1987

Oppenheimer will release their second album in June, but right now the band's label Bar/None Records is giving away the non-album track Straight out of Comp'in'. Wonder why it didn't make the album!
+ Straight out of Comp'in'

The other day I received a copy of the forthcoming debut album by The Epochs, but have yet to listen to it. Opposite Sides tells me it might be a good idea!
+ Opposite Sides

Hmmm - a mail asking me to promote the new Richard Hawley single Valentine! I've already posted the video, but in case you missed it the first time...



Stream the gorgeous title track The Fallen Aristocracy of the forthcoming Northern Portrait EP at Matinée Recordings Myspace page. One more band added to the Vesterbro Festival wish list!!

The Mail Department...

I need to do something about my mailbox. I seriously do. +700 mails are residing there and it certainly doesn't look as if I'll be able to work my way through them any time soon. The mails can be divided into several promo mails, some blog comments, more promo mails, a few Facebook messages, another bunch of promo mails, numerous music recommendations received from Chris, Peter, Rodolfo and J.A. as well as (you've already guessed it) a few more promo mails.

If you happen to be a regular visitor, you probably know by now that I'm a fan of the Canadian blog Chromewaves and yesterday I found the great news there that The Radio Dept. will be releasing their third album in May. I guess I was one of the few living souls who actually thought that Pet Grief was better than Lesser Matters, so it will be quiet interesting to hear in which direction the band has decided to move this time. The info was published in the band's Myspace blog on February 6, which made me go through my list of blog supscriptions or more exactly those lacking.
+ Why Won't You Talk About It?
+ The Worst Taste In Music

Gaffa isn't exactly impressed by The Storm.

On February 18 the Velour album Undress Your Alibis will finally be released in Denmark. The timing isn't perfect as this is an album filled with the sound of summer. But the boys have been looking forward to this moment for more than two years, so I guess they cannot allow themselves to be too picky about the date.
+ If You Really Want Me

Danish electronic rock act VETO will release their second album (to be called Crushing Digits) on May 5.
+ You Are a Knife

Friday shorties...

My post from yesterday is still valid. Not much has changed, but your comments and suggestions were much appreciated. The "coffee in the computer" trick is still pending though ;-)

The (by some) highly anticipated debut album Where The Storm Meets The Ground by the ever-so pretentious The Storm will be released on Monday. The first couple of reviews indicate that the projected storm has turned into a somewhat short-lived breeze or more sardonically a "storm in a tea cup". Neither Soundvenue (2 out of 6 stars) nor Ekstra Bladet (3 out of 6) were able to hide their disappointment. It's still my plan to buy the album, so I can listen to it and judge it myself.

The "Richard Hawley til Danmark" Facebook group now has a staggering 48 members. However more supporters are still needed, so please join and support this noble cause!

Finally a new "Støj på Frekvensen" post is up. It's a remix edition, so check it out!

It's Friday and time for another Flashback Friday. Check back for the music files later today.

The lovely Danish indie pop band Passtime Poets has uploaded a few songs to Last.fm. This band is just brilliant, so please do give them a decent listen!
+ 69 ML
+ Venice is Dead

My hands are tied…

My new job is quite nice. It really is. You know! Nice colleagues, great view from the office, the job is challenging without being too stressful etc. Not much to complain about really. Well except for one thing - my computer! It might have some historic value, as I’m certain Churchill used it when he was writing his speeches during the Second World War. But as a workstation in the year 2008, it is completely, totally, utterly and absolutely useless. If I tell you that there is plenty of time for nearly two cups of coffee, before the thing has even started in the morning, you probably get the picture what I’m dealing with.
Now that’s one thing and obviously I’m not very thrilled when unsaved spreadsheets etc. decide to crash at the most inconvenient moment. But from a blogger point of view this so-called computer makes life even worse. It has no speakers and a version of explorer that is so slow and without any applications, which means that it is impossible to watch videos, listen to music etc. And I’m not quite sure that it’s a good idea (just yet) to start installing various programs including Firefox and bringing my own speakers. So if you’re unhappy with the lack of updates, I can assure it’s nothing compared to my ever-growing frustrations.

So there’s definitely a problem that needs to be addressed and I believe these are my options:
1) Quit the new job and get the old one back. I recall that I had plenty of time for blogging there. But there was a reason why I decided to leave, so this one doesn’t sound very appealing to me.
2) Quit the job and start being a full-time blogger. Unlike the above this sounds very appealing. But exactly how will I be able to pay my bills? Just no one click those adds!
3) Be patient and once I’m in-expendable (and in my vanity I believe, I will be just that very soon), I will start whining and get myself a new computer (with speakers etc.).
4) Any suggestions?

Danish shorties...

The One Weekly Gun project continues.
+ We've Got Ours

The Raveonettes clones Death Valley Sleepers has uploaded a new demo track. Now here's a band that I'd really love to see playing at Vesterbro Festival.
+ Death Valley

epo-555 band member Hans Emil remixes the track Centipede under his alias Evil Death Machine.
+ Centipede (Evil Death Machine Remix)

Mew has started working on a new album according to Gaffa.

Finally...

The debut EP Downhill by Swedish indie pop sensations Days has (finally) been released by Shelflife! It's been a long (perhaps even too long) wait, but it has been very well worth it, as the 7 track EP certainly fulfills all my expectations.
+ Simple Thing

Shorties...

Lovely indie act st famous that I mentioned back in October has been signed to Norwegian label Reel Noise.
+ Lazy Opera
+ Tired and Emotional

February Song by Biker Boy is now available as a free download and will remain so for the first week of February. So for now the project "one year, twelve songs" carries on!

Kristian over at Frekvens interviews Yoav!

UK alternative/folk ("folktronica") artist Eugene Francis jnr will have his debut album The Golden Beatle out on April 28. First single Poor Me is an excellent track that fits that "folktronica" label rather well! Note to self - check out the rest of the album!
+ Poor Me

Vesterbro Festival 2008...

The date for the 2008 edition of Vesterbro Festival has been revealed and it looks as if the event will last 3 days this year (June 5-7) compared to 2 days the previous years. June 5 is Constitution Day in Denmark, so using that day for the purpose of a festival seems like an excellent idea to me. Hopefully they won’t increase the number of bands to the line-up compared to last year, but instead allow the bands more time on stage and make the schedule less tight. I wasn’t impressed by the sound last year, so room for more and better sound checks should certainly be top priority as well. Since this is a festival for up and coming bands, lots of them don’t get offered that many live jobs, so it’s quite a shame if the sound doesn’t do their music justice. Or even worse, leave the audience with an impression of witnessing a bunch of amateurs on stage.

But as always it will quite exciting to see the final program and of course there are a few bands that I’d really love to see added to the line-up. One band that I guess we’re definitely going to see is the excellent britpop inspired Didium & the Black Bonnie Picture. The band was chosen as Gaffa’s demo band of February and has recently been recommended by this quite knowledgeable musician and blogger!
+ The Twisted Way of Blues
+ Tell Me Tell Me
+ No Drive Crushed Revisited

It's a Tiger remix, baby...!

Tiger Baby has remixed Like Knives by The Fashion. Compared the remix (MP3) to the original version (video). As a Tiger Baby fan I think the remix has a little more "edge".
+ Like Knives (Tiger Baby Remix)

New office...

Today I've started my new job and as you can see; the surroundings are really fascinating. If you ever happen to be in town, just walk down this corridor, turn left and walk up the stairs to the second floor and there's a decent chance that you'll find me there. If you call or mail first, I'll make sure that the coffee is ready...

Thanks to Chris for letting me use this photo (actually I haven't asked for permission, so I pretty much hope he doesn't mind!).