Busy day...

I really don’t have time to write anything today, but right now I’m completely fed up with work. So screw that!!

Andrew Boland, who must own one of the best voices in music, has abandoned his solo project for a while, and is now fronting a brand new Manchester constellation named Carnations. Musically you won’t find much of the heartfelt crooning we’ve been used to hearing from Mr. Boland, as Carnations has chosen to walk the indie/alternative rock path. The songs I’ve listened to so far bodes really well, though the band still seems to be in a kind of experimenting phase and has yet to decide exactly what they want to sound like. It's hardly a surprise to anyone that the somewhat The Smiths inspired Three Reasons is my favorite, but no matter what, this is one band I’m definitely going to follow with great interest.
+ Pressures of Love
+ Marie
+ Three Reasons

The 4 Danish youngsters in The Imaginary Orchestra of Mr. Kite have decided to part ways. Young bands splitting up happens a little too often for my liking, but motivation is everything. So when the hearts are no longer in the project, it’s the right decision to move on. And then it doesn’t really matter what us listeners think!
+ Black Cat

I’m quite surprised how much I’m enjoying the Junior album by Röyksopp. I obviously knew what type of music I would be getting, but never thought it would make such an impact.

This post has recently attracted a lot of visitors from Facebook. Not that I mind at all, but I just cannot figure out why and how?

The sun is shining...

...so had to post these two. Sorry about the short post, but just couldn't resist. In case you don't know them already (and you seriously should) they are by Sweden's [ingenting] and are oozing of summer.
+ Släpp In Solen (let the sun in)
+ Här Kommer Solen (here comes the sun)

Climbing up that hill...

Back from a fantastic but extremely exhausting trip to Tallinn. I know I have a habit of forgetting things, but I seriously cannot recall being so completely worn out before. Ever! So today is one long uphill climb.

As an almost symbolic response to how I’m feeling today, The William Blakes and Spleen United teamed up at the recent Backstage show and performed an alternative (and by that I certainly don’t mean bad) version of Running Up That Hill. As a small treat a MP3 of the recording is now downloadable from the Speed Of Sound webpage.
+ Running Up That Hill (MP3)
+ Running Up That Hill (Video)

News of the day! The Pains of Being Pure at Heart will be playing at Lille Vega in Copenhagen on August 2. But the even better news of the day is that the supporting acts are Champagne Riot AND Northern Portrait! This is news I’ve been waiting impatiently for, for a long, long time and tickets were bought in an instant.
+ The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything With You
+ Northern Portrait - I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
+ Champagne Riot - Scandinavian Warfare

The Twitter profile of Labrador Records is quite informative. Sign up, follow and you’ll soon be able to read a really interesting rumor about The Radio Dept.

Off to Tallinn (almost)...

Only a week and half has gone since I returned from the trip to Warsaw and it’s already time to board the next flight. So tomorrow I’ll be heading for the Estonian capital Tallinn, where I am going to spend 4 days with 7 of my very thirsty friends. Surprisingly (to some I suspect) plans do include other things beside drinking and among things I’m especially looking forward to visiting the Danish King’s Garden, where in 1219 our national flag was handed to the Danes by none other than God (at least according to the legend). This will be my first visit, so I don’t know all that much about the city, but the picture could make one believe that this both a beautiful and quite historical place?

Danish blog Frekvens seems rejuvenated as posts have started floating in a steady stream. Guess it’s about time that I start contributing as well and produce one of those “støj-på-frekvensen” posts?

In late October last year I fell completely in love with the self-titled debut EP by San Francisco 8-piece Photons, so obviously I was happy to receive the great news that time has now come for a follow-up. So next month the band will release their brand new 4-tracks EP named Glory, and the greatest news probably is that there isn’t that much new to tell at all, as the tracks on Glory are just as beautiful, catchy and easy to love, as those on the debut EP. Bring it on!
+ Where Were You Last Night

Blog favorites A Classic Education are just about to release the limited edition (300 copies) 7” single Best Regards/Rest on UK label Bailiwick Records. It will be out April 27 and the release will include download codes for the two tracks. Both tracks can be streamed at the label’s Myspace page (I’m no permitted to upload anything) and need I really state the obvious that this is excellent stuff?

Danish blog l’amour existe has posted a few photos from the Northern Portrait/The Electric Pop Group concert in Hamburg this past weekend. Those snapshots combined with a very positive review mailed to me by Peter (who was there as well – you lucky bastard), makes me really, really sad that I couldn’t go and more than ever makes me want to go to London next month!

Finally; here’s the new video for the track Snookerstar by The Holiday Show.

Some of this and some of that...

Know I sort of promised to do a little blogging Saturday evening, but my head simply wasn’t in it. So I decided to watch an episode of Midsomer Murders instead. Call it my guilty pleasure if you like, but I’m a sucker for British whodunnits. Whether it be Morse, Lewis, Miss Marple, Taggart, Barnaby or Peter Boyd doesn’t really matter. As long as the scripts and plots are fairly well-written/-constructed and they get the bad guys in the end, I’m pretty much content.

Need to get this off my chest. I doesn’t matter how much I listen to it, but, no matter what the press says, Kingdom of Rust simply isn’t a very good album. Cannot say how sad I am to write this, but no point in pretending anything but. Hopefully it will help once I get the physical copy and am able to listen to it on the stereo. But the 10 times I’ve listened to it through the speakers on the computer it simply hasn’t impressive me at all.

The debut album You’re In The Painting You Saw by Lily Electric, which was released to rave reviews in Denmark last year, has finally been released internationally by the band’s label Pony Rec. A reminder to self; I need to listen to it again. Epic Love Travels Far is a great pick as promo track off the album.
+ Love Travels Far

I asked this at Twitter the other day, but thought I’d do it here as well. Should one feel sorry for the Pirate Bay dudes? With my recent rage against IFPI in mind, one could suspect that they would have my support and deepest sympathy. But in my opinion those are the bad guys (watch your back boys; Miss Marple is on your trail) and very much deserve to be caught and punished, as they are causing lethal damage to the music industry.

"Live blogging"...

No, no. This is not a case of déjà vu though it probably feels like you’ve seen this before. But the scenario tonight is pretty much the same as it’s been a few times recently. The wife’s out, the kids are sleeping, there’s a beer in the fridge and lots of music (and some music related stuff) that needs to be checked out. Oh and some stuff that has very little to do with music as well. Since I quite enjoyed the last few times I did this “live” blogging thing, I didn’t take much to convince myself to do it again. The disclaimer is the usual; grammar and spelling are secondary or you could say; tonight it’s quantity over quality. The compulsory picture will be up in a few minutes, though I do refuse wearing a Viking helmet, as suggested by this fellow blogger.

Now that IS one red hoodie.

Why the f*ck isn't Boxstr.com working? Since I'm actually paying for their services, this sucks. Will have to use Fileden.com instead I suppose?

Come Monday Night by God Help The Girl, the new project of Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian, is already quite popular at Hypem. And since it's an indie pop tune of the purest and most lovely kind, it really is impossible (and in a way absolutely pointless) to pretend I'm surprised.
+ Come Monday Night

Are Mew teasing their fans (that includes me) or have they actually just revealed the title of their forthcoming album?

Quoting a promo mail from Nomethod Records; "Also we are giving away a brand new prev unreleased track from Robert Svensson called "I was summer, you were". A perfect song for dizzy summernights. Listen to it, blog it, twitter it, spread it! Enjoy!". Your wish is my...so here it is. Now hopefully IFPI won't mind me posting this (can you sense the sarcasm?)? It really is quite lovely btw.
+ I was summer, you were

Thirsty, thirsty. Time for that beer! Aaaaah - cheers!

Did anyone notice? I didn't swear (or used any other foul language for that matter) when I mentioned IFPI. I didn't. I really didn't!

@Liana who asked about Moto Boy songs the other day. 4 tracks are free to download from the Songs I Wish I Had Written (the band's label) website. Haven't listened to this stuff for quite some time, so thanks for reminding me!
+ What it was like to be with you

Fed up reading about bands that are going to play at Start! Festival? Then read no further or you'll probably be tempted to use those foul words I refrained from using a few minutes ago. Queens Garden sings in Danish, lists bands such as Mew and Kent among their top Myspace "friends" and do indeed write songs that are somewhat influenced by those. And that's definitely not a bad thing. Especially when the songs are this good!
+ Carolina
+ Et Glimt
+ Illusion

Twitter update. I currently have 154 followers, though I know for (an almost proven) fact that quite a few will stop following me, once they realize that I'm not returning the favor.

OK I agree that Susan Boyle must be the "feel good" story of the year. But why is it that the world has to go completely bananas when things like this happens? Suddenly she's the talk of the town, exactly the way Paul Potts was some years ago. Of course it's funny to watch the reaction of those three jerks (sorry judges or whatever they are called), but not THAT funny or interesting. And TV programs like that are still the worst!

Watch The William Blakes performing a really decent version of Secrets of the State live at Backstage.



That will be all for tonight. There's a good chance (risk if you like) that I'll be back right here behind the screen tomorrow night!

The Green Lives...

The Start! Festival watch continues and next band in line doing their best to impress me is indie pop quintet The Green Lives. Actually the band isn’t completely unknown to me, as I did briefly mention the band’s Climbers & Ramblers EP in September last year. Soon after, I somehow forgot all about the band, but fortunately the band’s inclusion in this year’s line-up reminded me of their existence. 6 tracks are free to download at Bandbase (which once again proves to be a reliable and invaluable helper) and I’m seriously looking forward to hearing these catchy guitar-pop tunes and those lovely vocal-harmonies being performed live, on what hopefully will turn out to be a wonderful summers evening in June.
+ Green Lives
+ Treetops and Rooftops
+ The Years

IFPI revisited and more...

Is this nemesis? Just hours after writing that IFPI/Blogger hadn’t removed my re-post of the Doves remix, I received a notification that another post had been taken down. I assume you’re now awaiting a post of rage and anger, but apparently my previous post didn’t help, so why bother? And since the post in question is from February and not something removed from the “front page”, it is somehow easier to live with, though I still find it difficult to accept that they did it without contacting me first. However it does puzzle me somewhat that the post taken down is one of those “emptying the mailbox” ones, where I post various promo tracks found in the mailbox. But perhaps I should have read the mails more carefully, though I doubt very much that any of them said that I wasn’t allowed to post the track or only posting it for a limit period of time. I know I keep the songs up for quite a long time (maybe too long), but since I’m in the third or fourth wave of bloggers receiving the promo mails, the songs have most likely been posted by several other (and much bigger) blogs. So the songs are already out there, and the 5-10 extra downloads caused by me not removing the download links cannot really be what’s ruining the industry. Can it? But I’ll soldier on, though some guidelines would be much appreciated.

I’ll definitely be standing right in front of the stage when Danish quartet C’est tout Martine are playing at Start! Festival. Completely unknown to me a couple of days ago, but the band’s naive yet absolutely lovely indie pop tunes (sung in Danish) have charmed me away. This year’s line-up just keeps looking better and better and still plenty of new bands left to be checked out.
+ Faa Et Liv
+ Vender Tilbage

Superb Danish folk rocker Cody is now in New York and for the next week he and the band will be playing a number of gigs. Simply too great to miss!
+ There Is A Light (Live)

A new 7 track CD by Florida shoegazers Starring Me will (hopefully) be out in May.
+ Parallels are Endless

To Warsaw and back...

Back again from an Easter trip to Warsaw with the family, where we did very little besides eating, sleeping, playing with the kids, drinking beers and playing Mario Kart. So obviously we had one heck of a time, though it didn’t leave much room for any decent music listening. But always fun watching friends discuss whether or not the Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack is crap and getting overly nostalgic together by listening to some radio station entirely committed to 80’s music. Anyway here I am, back in the saddle again for the next 8 days, until it’s time to board the next plane.

Plan to do some “live” blogging Friday and Sunday evening, as the wife will be out both nights. And the mailbox looks as if it could explode any second, so there’s plenty of stuff to go/listen through.

If anyone’s interested; there’s been no reaction from IFPI/Blogger on my “open letter” post and both post and track are still very much there. Cannot say I anticipated any reply, but in a way I did expect the post to be deleted.

New song by Ruined by Martin is streaming at Myspace and the band remains true to its somewhat Depeche Mode influenced sound.

As I wrote last week I wasn’t too excited about the Start! Festival line-up. So trying to be as open-minded and optimistic as possible, I have now started listening to a string of the unknown bands, and so far one artist especially has made a really great impression. Young Dane Jeremy Sparrow (his artistic alias) plays catchy indie-rock and the 4 demos available have received plenty of airplay in the office today. His is currently recording his debut EP, with assistance, among others, from Ebbe Frej (EPO-555) and Tobias Winberg (Death Valley Sleepers), and plans are that it will be out on the recently established label Ha Ha Records some time this summer.
+ Twin Flowers
+ Outrunning Paper Tigers
+ Suburb
+ Yes-Men

Ruined by Martin and more...

The Ruined by Martin concert Friday evening was a mixed experience. It sure was great finally meeting the guys and equally great to at first hand be there to witness that the band has moved to the next level and is now a live band. Unfortunately the venue didn’t offer the band the best conditions as they had to take care of the sound themselves. So on a few occasions the sound was deficient, but taking into consideration that this was their debut and they had to do it in DIY fashion, they certainly did a fine job. And no doubt the band has learned a lot from this experience and I feel pretty certain that they’ll be doing even better the next time they hit the stage.
+ Untouchable

Unfortunately the next time won’t be at this year’s Start! Festival, as they weren't included in the official program, which was published Friday evening. Just like previous years I’m somewhat skeptical about the line-up, as there aren’t that many artists included I know that well. So the next couple of months will be spent getting introduced to a string of new and hopefully interesting acts.

Before the Loney, Dear concert Sunday evening I met Ivan (ex-Oliver North Boy Choir) for a few beers and got a brief update on the various projects involving the former ONBC members. There’s not much to be revealed right now, but in a few months time expect a few songs to surface.

Rounding out the post is some absolutely cracking news. Come May the debut album Criminal Art Lovers by Northern Portrait will hopefully be out on Matinée Recordings. Around the same time look out for the second album from The Electric Pop Group. To be named Seconds and (of course) this is a Matinée Recordings release as well.
+ The Electric Pop Group – I Could See The Lights
+ Northern Portrait - Crazy

Loney Dear at Lille Vega...

I’m not going to write that much about the concert, as no words I can think of will ever do it justice. That Emil Svanängen (a.k.a. Loney Dear) is a gifted songwriter has been beyond any discussion from the moment I was introduced to him 3 months ago, but that he’s such a fantastic singer and charismatic performer as well (I will remember those goosebumps during The Meter Marks OK for a long, long time), was something I had to wait until this Sunday evening to learn. That combined with having the great fortune of bumping into the maestro himself following the concert, just to learn that he’s an extremely friendly and utterly humble person, made this a truly memorable evening.
+ Airport Surroundings
+ I Am John

Dear IFPI (and Blogger)...

Dear IFPI (and Blogger). Thank you so much for your mail of yesterday, notifying me that you’ve taken down one of my posts. In a way I do respect the work you’re doing. I mean, you’re supposed to be the good guys. Aren’t you? And there are indeed plenty of bad guys out there doing their best trying to kill the music industry and stealing the bread out of the mouth of the musicians. So chasing those guys are just fine by me. And since this is my first notification and I do know other bloggers, who have received several, I probably should have no problems with this. But you see. There are a few things I don't understand and I honestly believe that asking blogger to remove my post was a stupid and ignorant thing to do. First of all I have no copy of the post, so it’s gone. Just like that. And since English isn’t my first language it did take a considerable time to write. It might not have looked like it did. But it did! Instead you could have asked me to remove the song within, let’s say 24 hours perhaps? At least that would have saved my writings and made you guys look more human and a little less like those pricks you so suspiciously look like right now. Had you bothered to read my right column (-> the arrow is there to help you, if your mothers didn’t teach you the difference between left and right. And I do have my doubts, because she clearly didn’t bring you up learning to think before e-mailing) you would have seen that I don’t post anything, unless I have a permission or the song is free and legal available somewhere else. So basically my policy, when it comes to posting MP3’s, is that I don’t post anything unless I’m pretty certain that it will be OK posting it. I know “pretty certain” isn’t worth anything from a legal point of view, but trust me. Do I have even the slightest of doubts; I’m not going to post it. So what make you look like pricks, no matter how clever you think you are, is that the song that caused my post to be taken down, was the Still Going Remix of Kingdom of Rust by Doves, which the band itself is giving away for free. Yes for FREE. So before moving on, I suggest you remove whatever is stuck up you’re asses, because it’s evidently keeping in what should be out, thus building up pressure and preventing your brains from functioning. Once you’ve done that, I suggest you once again read the word free. Then taste it, smell it, inhale it, absorb it and (at least try to) understand it. If this doesn’t help and you remain dumb-fucked, nit-picking morons, I suggest you actually check the band’s webpage and then explain to me exactly WHY and HOW I’m violating anything, by sharing what’s already being shared by those who have the rights to what is being shared? Unless of course you think that they aren’t really serious with the whole sharing thing and don’t want anyone to have it after all! But somehow I very much doubt that this is the case. Personally I believe that (in this case at least) the band wants as many people as possible to get the chance to listen to, what they think, is a great remix.
So just because I’m a stubborn and ill-bred human being with a childish attitude despite my 40 years of age (you see – my mother didn’t do such a fantastic job either), I’ve posted the song once again. And I’m not going to make the same mistake twice, so I have a copy of this post and swear that I will re-post it again and again (with the song) no matter how many times you remove it, until you’ve explained to me (in a personal and not some stupid standardized email) what exactly I'm doing wrong. Thank you!
+ Kingdom of Rust (Still going remix)

Looking ahead...

This Monday I mentioned that the past weekend had been quiet and uneventful. Looking ahead I can see that the forthcoming weekend will be anything but. Friday evening I’m planning to attend the Ruined by Martin debut concert at Lades in Copenhagen. Saturday I’m going to a birthday party and Sunday evening I’ll once again be heading for Copenhagen, to finally see the much hyped (but deservedly so) Loney, Dear at Vega. Tickets are still available and with Marching Band being the supporting act this has developed into a “not to be missed” evening for any true fan of Swedish indie pop.
+ Ruined by Martin - Self Assured
+ Loney, Dear – Airport Surroundings
+ Marching Band – Travel In Time

Indie MP3 is back! And it’s not an April’s fool joke! At least so we’re told.

French music blog Absolut Noise, which dedicates its scribbles solely to Swedish music, has posted the track I väntan på Sten by Lerkruka. Especially worth mentioning as the track is a cover of The Pixies classic Here Comes Your Man; but sung in Swedish.

The track At the Mall by Sweden’s Emerald Park “was featured on "Pop on Paper" by Uwe Jähnichen (Radio Blau, Leipzig) and on the Darkhorse podcast show”. Whatever that means exactly? But the band seems happy about it and has thus decided to make the track free to download.
+ At the Mall

I’m currently working pretty hard to get into new Danish psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll quartet Le Cul. The Here’s Our Friend Charlie EP is free to download from Bandbase.dk. Not quite sure how exactly to describe this and The Rock and Roll Report compares the band to a string of other artists, though their comparison to “the youthful elements of Franz Ferdinand” seems fairly reasonable. The do sound like they are having a lot of fun, but I probably need a few more listens before I’m able to join the fun.
+ Back on my Doorstep