Shorties...

There will be no updates the next couple of days. Going to Jutland tonight to see Interpol live at Train tomorrow night!

Doesn’t seem like that Entakt video from yesterday is working...or is it?

You can stream a whopping 2 minutes of the new Carpark North single at myspace. Don’t know if they are afraid of people recording and sharing it, but seems pointless to me only making a part of it available.

Hits In The Car favorite Andrew Boland has published a lovely new track named Aili.
+ Aili

The Ropes are giving away the title from the duo’s forthcoming album What They Do For Fun. Was surprised how immediately catchy it is.
+ What They Do For Fun

News from Entakt...

More info + lyrics!

Some indie pop...

The recent album I Used To Wander The Streets by Sweden's Billie the vision and the dancers is now free to download from either the band’s webpage or from Last.fm. This could hardly be timed any better, as this is exactly the irresistible kind of stuff that will convince the sun that it's about time to start shining again. Fittingly the band’s label is called Love Will Pay the Bills, which clearly reveals that the band doesn’t expect this method of release to generate much revenue. They do however accept donations, and this lovely indie pop album is certainly worth a few bucks.
+ Someday, Somehow

I still do receive tons of Myspace friend requests from bands, but rarely find the time to check any of them out these day. But for some unknown reason I decided to give Belgian indie pop quartet Star Club West a listen, and I'm glad I did. The band writes some quite catchy tunes and there are several freebies to grab over at Last.fm, including the band’s two first full-lengthers.
+ We Are Open
+ Karma

On the radio this morning...

Whatever happened to The Lightning Seeds?



Every morning when eating breakfast the radio is on, and from time to time it does happen that some really fine stuff is aired, thus helping to make the start of the day a good one. The “On the radio this morning” posts are an attempt to make your start a good one as well!

Dorias Baracca – Danish shoegaze...

Not that many Danish bands are flirting with the shoegaze genre, so happy I was when earlier today I came across Funen based quartet Dorias Baracca. Supposedly the average age of the band members is somewhere in between 16 and 17, so the boys have certainly been paying good attention in their music history classes (or when daddy played his records), as they find inspiration in classic acts like Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Ride and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Formed in 2007 and in their own words the music can be described as “Shoegaze- rock- dreampop- noise- indie- collage sound with screech-, reverb-, atmosphere- and echo-guitars. Crashing and boiling cymbals, floating bass and melodic vocals.” And this is pretty much what it sounds like, when played on the useless speakers of my work computer, though they aren't able to hide that we're dealing with some real talented youngsters here. Especially the grandiose and more than 12 minutes long Not Within Living Memory deserves further listens on some proper equipment.
+ The Only Touch
+ Not Within Living Memory

The Crimea aiming at 100,000 downloads...

The free to download album Secrets of the Witching Hours by The Crimea has reached an impressive total of 86,587 downloads and obviously the band is now focusing on reaching the 100,000 mark. As soon as this number has been reached, the band promises, “to upload a new and exciting version of the album, with extra songs and some very interesting voice overs in between”, which does sound rather intriguing. So be a sport and help the boys reaching their target and at the same time helping the rest of us getting our hands on this “new and exciting version”!
+ Light Brigade

On the radio this morning...

The epic It's My Life by Talk Talk



And don't tell me that this useless cover version by No Doubt is even remotely close to the original!



Every morning when eating breakfast the radio is on, and from time to time it does happen that some really fine stuff is aired, thus helping to make the start of the day a good one. The “On the radio this morning” posts are an attempt to make your start a good one as well!

Kings of Dark Disco…

Danish trio Kings of Dark Disco was recommended to me during this year’s Vesterbro Festival and I did indeed spend 5 minutes listening to the band, but at the time I found them to be nothing but a waste of time. However one thing is a live performance, so as the open-minded and adventurous person I am, I decided to give their 2007 promo/demo a listen, to see if I somehow had ignored the band’s qualities completely at the concert. So I listened and then what? Well – the band isn’t exactly the biggest revelation or reinventing anything, but their music is a fast paced and catchy mix of house, disco, electro pop, you name it, which should be able to kick start any party. And I’m not reluctant to admit that I most likely would have found the concert a bit more interesting had I known the music beforehand or maybe been a tiny bit more drunk than I actually was at the time.
+ Dark Disco
+ Death Discotheque

Acceptable in the 80's...?

One cannot help wondering if this fascination/appreciation of the eighties has gone a little too far, when a band records a cover version of a Shakin’ Stevens track? However the music/sound of Swedish duo Cloetta Paris has an almost tongue-in-check novelty to it, so perhaps (hopefully) their cover version isn't meant to be taken too seriously? If you happen to be so fortunate to no longer being able to recall the original by Michael Baratt Shakin' Stevens, look no further than Youtube to find the video. But newcomers must be warned. Not everything in the eighties was great and certainly not every artist of the decade is worthy of a revival!
+ Cry Just A Little Bit (cover by Cloetta Paris)

New kid on the block (blogroll)...

The guys behind Danish blog emodreng & indiepige have decided to put it to rest and instead the enterprising lads have launched a brand new blog - sohott.net. Several writers have been invited to join the show, so expect more updates, more music, more news, more gossip and well, just about more of everything. Should be interesting!

Back up in gear...

Things don’t get busy very often around here, but when they do, it’s serious business. Hopefully things are back to normal now, so blogging can once again be top priority!

Thanks a lot to Steven of Letters Have No Arms for creating the new banner!!

The Eardrums’ Summer’s Here Compilation Vol. 1 & 2 have been posted. Impressive stuff!

And Labrador has posted their Summer Sampler 2008 containing 30 tracks. Some of the tracks have not been available as free download before. Just like last year, this seems to be more than their server can handle (it's incredibly slow).
+ [ingenting] – Släpp In Solen

Chris is either busy or simply doing his best turtle impersonation?

Seems like Doves are busy recording their fourth album. Lost Souls was great, The Last Broadcast phenomenal but Some Cities was quite a disappointment. So I'm anxiously crossing my fingers and hoping for a return to form.

The new EP What You Get For Being Naive by Swedish duo Indurain is out now on Plastilina Records!. This is the kind of catchy and charming indie pop that some of us have grown to love!
+ The Moment
+ The Light

One Weekly Gun is taking a break.

Bluevox+++

Trying to kill a couple of hours at work today, I was sniffing around Myspace, and suddenly I came across the Argentinean multi-person indie pop band Bluevox. And you probably know how it is? Any band claiming to sound like Belle & Sebastian simply needs to be checked out. So I did what I had to do, and soon found myself listening to some absolutely lovely chamber pop. The band lists itself as unsigned, although it does seem like the band has been signed by the label Where Did You Find Him? However this US based label has yet to release anything, but if the website is to be trusted the first release will be a limited edition CD-R by said Bluevox. No information has been posted for a while, so it will be interesting to see when (if?) it will be released! Time will tell?
+ There's Something
+ It's All Over Now

Another band set to release an EP on the aforementioned label is UK duo The Painted Word. The excellent self-titled track posted below could probably be described as a psychedelic inspired electronic pop song?
+ The Painted Word

The new single Up To Your Neck by Diefenbach is now streamable at Myspace. Sounds unmistakably like Diefenbach, which probably isn't a bad thing. The follow-up to the 2005 album Set and Drift will be released around October 1.

4 tracks from the new Dan Wallace album Reattachment are free to download at Myspace. Impossible to label, but certainly requires some work getting into.
+ Go Ahead

Earlier today Coast is Clear posted the track The Great Escape by Norwegians Cold Mailman (what a horrible name). But a great tune which has just been added to my current favorites list.

It's a...

Yesterday afternoon I had the great pleasure of meeting up with Avi of It’s a Trap for a beer and a chat, as he paid Copenhagen a short visit. A great blogger and a very friendly bloke! Read more about his visit to Copenhagen.

Angmoh has posted information on the Munich debut album. And a few mp3’s as well.

moi Caprice will release their fourth album this autumn (no title yet) and in November/December the band will be touring Denmark to support the release (source). December 12 the band will be playing in Helsingør, so I guess this means that I’ll have to skip one of the Christmas parties (plenty of those in December anyway).
+ For Once in Your Life Try Fight for Something You Believe In

A new track by Death Valley Sleepers has been published and as always this is great stuff. Really should get signed, so we can get a decent release.
+ The Golden Mud

This week’s track by One Weekly Gun is a homage to John Linell. That makes it 23 songs this year.
+ Dear John

Someone mentioned UK duo The River Detectives in a mail yesterday, thus reminding me of one of the most underrated bands in the world. Saturday Night Sunday Morning has to be among the 10 best songs ever written (probably a couple of 100 songs on that list!), so please do check out the video (unfortunately the first few seconds are missing).

Monday...

It’s Monday and I’m tired. Plain and simple and I’m absolutely certain you know exactly what Mondays like these are like!

A Classic Ecucation has just released their debut 5 track 12” vinyl EP. Logically it's named First EP and it features everything recorded by the band so far. It's a 300 copies limited edition and it can be ordered from the band’s webpage. Of course you’ll get a free MP3 download link as well. Did I mention that the EP is good? Well I did now!
+ Victories At Night

The new single Song For by Earlimart was added to the current favorites this weekend. A lovely little pop gem that one!
+ Song for

A new Støj på Frekvensen post has been published.

Everyone else is doing it and now the turn has come to Kent. The Punks Jump Up Remix of the new single Vy Från Ett Luftslott is free to download from the band's webpage.

Every Streetcar...

Some of you may (or may not) recall that I picked Michael Møller’s solo debut album Every Streetcar's Got a Name, An Album About Sex and Desire as my favorite album of last year? The past few days I’ve renewed the friendship and once again I’m in complete awe. Rarely have I listened to an album so beautiful, so honest, so heartfelt and so remarkably close to being flawless. It didn't exactly take the world by storm, when it was released, but I'm not quite sure if the world knows exactly what it's missing? I honestly doubt that this post will open the eyes of the world, but I stubbornly insist at giving it another try.
+ Tennessee
+ All The Girls I Lost In The Fires

Have you downloaded the RAC remix compilation from Stereogum? I'm ashamed to admit that I haven’t, but I most certainly will tonight!

The entire 8 track Demo C by The Antique Toys is now free to download from Last.fm if you like. It's good stuff!
+ Am I Alone?

I'm not very good at watching movies anymore. Inspired by my post two days ago, I tried to watch The Italian Job the other night, but only managed to stay focused for about 10 minutes. I will probably try again tonight, and that opening sequence is still beautiful (and quite dramatic).

Eardrums is making a summer compilation.

Chris is "left to his own devices" today.

Sometimes music doesn't have to be that complicated. I was cleaning out my mailbox when I came across this lo-fi gem by Thos Henley. Described as "folk-psych-pop music on Eastern european instruments".
+ Summer of the Thames

The Mirror Lounge...

The Mirror Lounge is not a new band, but for the time being it’s a highly inactive one. Instead the two band members Stefan and Michael are busy focusing on their recent project Northern Portrait. But despite this connection; don’t expect lots of jangling guitars or any of those short sweet pop tunes that Northern Portrait writes in bunches from the hands of The Mirror Lounge. Instead this is as grandiose, majestic pop music as you’ll ever hear. But rest assure. The songs are still incredibly catchy, sounding like Scott Walker and Richard Hawley having the best of times teaming up with Chris Isaak. One album called Les Elegantiers was recorded and released digitally in 2006, but it seems like it’s no longer available (the links are dead). I’m told that a limited edition of the album might end up being printed someday, but there are no official plans yet! But luckily 4 songs are free to download from the band’s webpage, and I urge you to quickly grab all of them, as this is highly recommendable stuff!
+ So Suddenly
+ Don't Hunt Me Down
+ Drifting into a Secret Area (simply gorgeous)
+ Returns

Catching up...

It never fails to amaze me how quickly my mailbox gets cluttered. I turn my back to it for a day or two and it's pretty darn close to exploding. Even if I was a full-time blogger I would never have the slightest chance of listening to all the (probably) great music mailed to me. And it's rather painful knowing that I'm missing out on some great stuff every day!

So what is more natural when you have 100's of mails to go through, than to always check out the ones from your favorites first, and among the "can't miss" mails are those from André of the The Remix Artist Collective (RAC). This time he's giving away his superb remix of Pull Shapes by The Pipettes as well as breaking the news that the collective's first remix album will be free to grab from Stereogum on Wednesday June 11 (that's today!).
+ The Pipettes - Pull Shapes (RAC mix)

I asked the question a few weeks back and we now have the answer! The debut album by The Holiday Show will be released some time this fall on Slow Shark Records. It's been more than two years since I featured this Copenhagen quartet for the first time, so this has been in the making for quite a while!
+ Snookerstar

There's a new track by Play People up at Myspace and Goes Out has to be one of the catchiest pop tunes we're going to hear this year. Not free to download, but make sure that you give it a listen nonetheless. Cloudberry Records are listed among their top friends, so perhaps we'll see an EP release very soon (know what? I'm starting a rumor here!)?

Innersounds has posted the lovely On Days Like These by Quincy Jones/Matt Monro. Anyone who has ever watched the original version of The Italian Job will probably recall this song as well as the opening scene.

Guess no one deserves this recognition more than Avi?

A new track by One Weekly Gun is up and this week it's small ode to how wonderful (sort of) life is.
+ Life is Great

Seems like the British press is falling in love with Kind of girl. Artrocker gives the band's live concert at The Spice of Life in London a rating of 4 (which apparently is very good) and calls the performance "potent and genuinely moving". Toxic Pete ends the review of the forthcoming album Lonely In A Modern Way with the words "...is hard to find faults with...". Well done!

Flashing of Knives (formerly known as Sinai) will release their debut album In Shark Territory on Monday June 30. The release party will take place on Saturday at Undervand in Copenhagen and the doors will open at 9 PM (no entrance and cheap drinks). Hope to get a chance to listen to the rest of the album, as the first single (posted below) is a fine dance inspired rock tune.
+ Pedro El Negro

Now this could be very, very interesting!

Vesterbro Festival 2008...

This year’s Vesterbro Festival is over and now it’s time to recapture what happened during the 3 intense days of sex, drugs and rock 'n’ roll sun, music, talking and drinking. Plenty of stuff to write, so it might take a couple of days before this post will be finished, so check back every now and then for updates. As usual I didn't bring my camera, so no pictures I'm afraid (thanks a lot to Fiepige for the permission to use this photo of Ginger Ninja).

Thursday
Probably couldn't have started the festival in a better way, than "suffering" through an amazing performance by Cody. "Suffering" as the heat, which was a result of the small venue, the many people, the spotlights and the dark curtains attracting the sun, was almost unbearable. But in spite of the sauna-like conditions, it was a truly wonderful concert by a very talented band and somehow country/folk rock sounds a lot better when the weather is great and the beers are cold. Looks as if the band will not remain one of Denmark's better-kept secrets, as both The National and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy have asked the band to be the supporting act, when they visit Denmark during the summer.

Following the concert I had the fortune to (finally) bump into Ivan of Oliver North Boy Choir, and he kindly introduced me to a few friends including fellow ONBC and EPO-555 band member Mikkel. So the rest of the afternoon we had a few beers, discussed some music, where I among things tried to convince ONBC to play live (no luck), told them that they should start releasing physical albums (no luck), asked for some EPO-555 gossip including the release date of a third album (no luck), and wanted to know the story behind some EPO-555 song titles (finally I had some luck, but I won’t even try putting those explanations in writing).

Back to the music and next in line was a nice little concert by E Bird, though they did look somewhat uncomfortable (shy perhaps?) on stage. And vocally, a little less Bright Eyes inspiration wouldn't hurt.

Following a charming show by country rockers Southern Gothic Tales (with a few Cody band members on stage), there was a huge gap in the program with no interesting acts on for a few hours (though I was told that Monkey Cup Dress should be pretty good), but the weather was still fine and the beers were still cold, so a break from the music wasn't the biggest of problems.

For my part, the last concert of the evening (I once again must confess that my age is catching up with me) was by blog "darlings" BREUMM and they delivered a pretty fine performance in the (now) dark evening. Though I remain a bit puzzled why they opted not to play Ingen Verdens Ting, which I continue to rank among my favorite songs of the year.

Friday
Started the day by watching Mellemblond performing a few songs on one of the smaller venues, but the sound wasn't really good and my friend had to ask me if they were singing in Danish or English. Quite a shame, as the band was recommended to me as a pretty good live act.

So we quickly decided to move on and instead had the pleasure of watching Little Jimmy Reeves play a terrific set inside the atmospheric Øksnehallen. This is not the most complex stuff you'll ever hear, but fronted by Kashmir drummer Asger Techau, the band plays rather straightforward rock music, with the occasional inspiration from his other and better-known band.

Following the concert Asger was selling the band's EP Bring Out The Dogs (buy it here if you like) and my friend and I each bought a copy. He looked surprisingly flattered, when we told him that we had enjoyed the concert and my friend also got the inside story behind the band's name.

A little sun and a beer later, Twins Twins entered the stage, but unfortunately the band failed to impress me. The songwriting is great (no question there), but I guess it is the lack of variation that made the concert rather tedious after a while. But we still stayed and watched the entire set.

Plans were that we were going to see Halph next, but before the band entered the stage, I got a phone call from Northern Portrait front man Stefan, who just happened to be in the neighborhood and he asked if we had time for a small chat and a beer or two.
So for the next hour I had the privilege of speaking to one of Denmark's finest songwriters and among several things I finally got information on some of his previous works, news on concerts, the story behind the single cover, the record deal with Matinée Recordings etc. Some of this will (perhaps) be posted at a later and more appropriate (?) time.

A few minutes to 9 Stefan had to rush away, as he was going to play an acoustic live set (cover songs) at a nearby bar. But before leaving he suggested that we should drop by on our way to Tivoli Gardens (to see Kashmir), as we would be passing right by it. So we did and though he vowed not to do it, he treated us with a small gem, as he played acoustic versions of the two Northern Portrait songs Crazy and What Happens Next. According to Stefan it was the first time that the later was played live, so you can say that we witnessed a world premiere.

Off to Tivoli Gardens, where the plans of attending the Kashmir concert were quickly put to rest, as the length of the queues made us realize that we would be more than lucky to get in before the encore.

Slightly disappointed we went back to the Festival where we strolled around for a while trying to find some interesting bands to give a listen, but with very little luck. So instead we finished the evening at the bar, where Stefan played the third Northern Portrait song of the evening; I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me as well as a smashing version of There She Goes (The La's). Probably the highlight of the weekend, which in fact had very little to do with the Festival!

Saturday
It really wasn't my plan to see Evil Death Machine, but my train was delayed and when I arrived, my friend was sitting in the sun enjoying the band, so we stuck around; and I'm glad we did. Somehow I've always believed that his was an electronica project by EPO-555 member Hans Emil Hansen, which until now has kept me away from listening. But instead I (to my big surprise) found out that the music is a pleasant blend of alternative/indie/electronic pop/rock, so perhaps it's time to give in and give it a decent listen?

Waiting for No and The Maybes to start we spent 10 minutes listening to Danish electronica queen Tilde. But as I've stated a few times before, this is not my favorite genre, so when the sound of the synths suddenly disappeared...we did the same!

The start of No and The Maybes wasn't really anything to write home about, but 10 minutes into the show things somehow got adjusted and from that moment on it became very clear why this indie pop band has recently been signed by A:Larm Music, as the band played a string of catchy pop tunes and gave a charming performance.

Didium and The Black Bonnie Picture has been much hyped the past few months, so my expectations were really high. Normally the hype would mean that a large crowd would be showing up, but strangely it was one of the smallest of the entire festival! Whether this had anything to do with it I don't know, but the show turned out to be quite a disappointment. But as I do like the band's music a lot (their demo's are really great), I'll use the sound at the venue as the explanation for my disappointment and instead I'll be looking forward to the next concert (whenever I get the chance to see them again).

Luckily the last show I got to see at this year's Festival was a real treat. Ginger Ninja delivered one of the most energetic and dynamic concerts I've seen for some time and the four lads really made the most of this opportunity, and proved that they are a great and highly entertaining live act as well as more than capable of writing catchy pop tunes.

Thus ended this year's Festival and as you've probably understood by now, I had a pretty good time. So I've already started looking forward to next year's edition, but as a final remark I hope that they'll return to the original concept, so we'll see fewer of those established mainstream names that no one really (be honest now) cares about!

+ Cody - Just For You
+ Oliver North Boy Choir - Enola Gay
+ EPO-555 - Hyperschlieb
+ E Bird - Everyone Here Is Without A Past
+ BREUMM - Silhuetter (Zvook Mescalin Remix)
+ Little Jimmy Reeves - Romance on Drugs
+ Twins Twins - San Sebastian
+ Northern Portrait - Crazy
+ Evil Death Machine - Sugar In The Baby's Face
+ No and The Maybes - Mouth
+ Didium & The Black Bonnie Picture - The Twisted Way of Blues
+ Ginger Ninja - Stuck In A Rough Stream

Midweek...

Yesterday was bad in many ways, but it always amazes me how a good night’s sleep can do magic.

Check my new post over at Frekvens.dk. With Vesterbro Festival starting tomorrow the topic is given.

In a Myspace bulletin Idlewild announces that the band will be its own supporting act on a few selected dates of their upcoming UK tour. For the first half hour they'll be playing and acoustic set, and after a break the “real” concert will start. Perhaps this is something other bands should consider?

A new track by A Kid Hereafter is exclusively available from Myspace. It’s called I Don’t Trust Tom and the Tom in question should be known by every (?) Myspace user.

21 and counting; New track posted by One Weekly Gun.
+ Corporate Entertainment Throttle

Vesterbro Festival...

As promised the program for this year's Vesterbro Festival was published yesterday (May 1 - this is a re-post) and to be honest I'm somewhat underwhelmed right now. Perhaps I haven't been following the Danish music scene as closely as previous years, but my first impression is that last year's line-up was a lot more interesting. Especially I find it disappointing that fairly established and incredible boring names like Rasmus Nøhr, Magtens Korridorer and Tue West will be playing. But as always there are quite a few bands that I'm looking forward to seeing and the next five weeks will be spent checking out some of the unfamiliar ones, which I expect will reveal that the line-up is packed with interesting names after all, despite my initial disappointment.
Below the list of bands I plan/hope to see:

Thursday:
16:45 Cody - Comfort and Rage
19:15 Kiss Kiss Kiss - Recorded Smiles
19:15 E Bird - Empty Avenues
Really a shame that these two bands are playing at the exact same time.
19:45 Southern Gothic Tales
21:00 Stupid White Men
22:00 Mads Langer
23:00 BREUMM - Silhuetter (remix)
00:15 Are We Brothers?

Friday:
17:00 Mellemblond
17:30 Little Jimmy Reeves - Romance on drugs (found via)
18:30 Twins Twins - Fiona
19:30 Halph - Calm
23:15 January Jaunt - YourLifeYourHealthYourMoney
There's a good chance that I'll leave around 10 o'clock to go see Kashmir at Tivoli Gardens.

Saturday:
18:30 No and The Maybes - Mouth
19:30 Didium & the Black Bonnie Picture - No Drive Crushed Revisited
20:45 Ginger Ninja - OnePlusOneIsThree
21:15 Song to the Siren - These Days
23:00 Striving Vines - Too Much Wine
00:00 The Alpine - Youniverse

This and that...

Thus ends the feuilleton. In May the sun shone for a total of 347 hours and became the sunniest month in Denmark since 1920. And if the weather forecast is to be trusted, the sun will continue to shine for the rest of the week and hopefully make this year’s Vesterbro Festival a much “dryer” experience than last year.

The second Northern Portrait EP Napoleon Sweetheart will be released in July. Opening track will be a re-edited and mastered version of I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me, which can now be streamed at Myspace.

June Song by Biker Boy has been published at Myspace and it's business as usual, so the track is free to download during the first week of the month.

Indonesian indie pop quartet Sunny Summer Day has just released a six track EP named Me, Myself & The Empty Soul on Letterbox Records. Promo track So Much Fun is yet another one of those enjoyable catchy pop songs that this band seems to be throwing our way in bunches.
+ So Much Fun

Songs I Wish I Had Written gives away another free single from the Moto Boy album. And a lovely new baby it is!
+ What it was like to be with you

Currently giving the Walter Meego album Voyager a good listen. Mix dance and disco in the big synth-driven pop blender and you'll probably end up with sweet pop music like this. Infectious to say the least and this is defintitely another candidate for the soundtrack of the summer.
+ Forever