Various...

I’m still pissed about that cancellation. I know grumping and whining in a blog isn’t comme il faut, but I just can’t help myself! Instead Mushi will be playing at another venue in Helsingoer, so perhaps I should try that one instead?
+ The Nightcrawler

Remember Danish shoegazers Dorias Baracca that I featured last year? 3 new tracks and 1 (what I believe must be a) re-recording is now streaming at Myspace. Plans (or hopes maybe?) are that all 4 tracks will be included on a future EP release. This is noisy, dreamy and still very good!
+ The Only Touch

One of my favorite bands covers another one of my favorites. No idea what I mean? Read this and you’ll (hopefully) understand!

The new single David by The Radio Dept. is absolutely fabulous and thankfully it's business as usual as Labrador is offering it as a free download.
+ David

Watch Green Concorde live at Rockpalast.

Those Northern Portrait live videos just keep on coming.

Disappointed...

Not even sure that ”disappointed“ sums up exactly how I’m feeling right now. I was really looking forward to the concert Saturday evening at our local venue Toldkammeret (Entakt, The Holiday Show and Didium & The Black Bonnie Picture), but I’ve just learned that it has been cancelled. Would have been nice for a change not having to go to Copenhagen to see a few interesting bands, but the cancellation has probably everything to do with a lack of tickets sold (though this hasn't been verified). I cannot say that I’m surprised, as the shittiest bands sell the most tickets in this city.
+ Entakt – Kunsten At Slippe Taget
+ Didium & the Black Bonnie Picture - No Drive (Crushed Revisited)
+ The Holiday Show – Always Something Missing

From the top of my head...

For the next two hours (10 a.m. CET - 12 a.m. CET) I'll be chit chatting with myself and post whatever interesting I stumble upon. If I stumble upon anything interesting that is!

Last week (May 12) Matinée Recordings promised to post previews from the forthcoming album by Northern Portrait and The Electric Pop Group within the next seven days. Not that I'm going to act like an impatient brat or anything, but guys; that was 10 days ago! Will you people please, please post something - NOW!

I have 764 unread mails in my mailbox. Even if this was a full time job, I'd never be able to read them all!

Anyone remember Max Vernon and his I Kissed a Girl cover? Whether or not you do remember, he is now giving away his new track Your Girlfriend for free.
+ Your Girlfriend

It’s been a while, since the last time I posted anything recommended by Rodolfo. But yesterday he sent a mail including the track Moving by Finnish band Delay Trees, which promptly made Peter response “very, very, VERY good”. So I simply had to give that track a listen and obviously Peter’s comment was spot on! Said track is not a free download, but luckily the equally excellent track About Brothers is. Both tracks are from the 7 track Self Construction EP, which was released last month (can be ordered directly from the band’s webpage).
+ About Brothers

Now here’s a real gem from the inbox. The infectious and energetic F.R.A.N.C.E. by London five piece them:youth. The band’s debut single Bows and Arrows will be out on Another Music = Another Kitchen Records on 25 May, so this is simply meant to be an appetizer. And such a brilliant starter it is that it has left me speculating how insanely fabulous the debut single has to be, since F.R.A.N.C.E. didn’t make the cut!
+ F.R.A.N.C.E.

Coffee break...

The official Ruined by Martin webpage has been revamped and it looks as if the band is currently firing on all cylinders and is working hard with recordings, trying to book live dates etc. 6 tracks have been uploaded and are free to grab for anyone interested. Among the tracks you'll find the band’s most recent recording Ex-believer.
+ Ex-believer

Thank you Jonas for reminding me that Among Relatives is a "must see" at Start! Festival.

I have a staggering 2,725 myspace "friends" and yet I have difficulties finding more than a handful of bulletin posts of even remote interest? A bit of cleaning up among those so-called friends is what I need to do!

I have yet to order the new Over and Over album by The Legends, but these two short and noisy (but still incredibly melodic) sample tracks certainly makes it very tempting.
+ Seconds Away
+ Always The Same

I just received an email promoting the Australian release of Crushing Digits (that’s the second album from VETO in case you don’t know). Don't know why, but I'm not all that sure that anyone checked my location before adding me to that mailing list? But what the heck! Hey you Australians! Buy the album. It’s good. Actually it’s better than that. It’s great!
+ You Are a Knife (from the There's A Beat In All Machines debut)

FIN!

Northern Portrait live (part II)...

3 more videos from last week's concert at Gramophone, London. Shot by Mat Durrance from The Candy Twins and once again thanks to J.A. for the heads up!

Småt brændbart...

At the risk of losing whatever credibility I may have left, I’m still not afraid to shout out in public that (this is my opinion of course) 21st Century Breakdown is brilliant, though not quite as fantastic as American Idiot. At least not yet.

Entakt frontman Jonas tested the “live blogging” (or whatever it’s supposed to be called) concept last night. And it ended up being a quite interesting read!

Start! Festival announced yesterday that 10 new names have been added to the line-up. I can see that Outlandish is one of them, but who are the other 9?

Perhaps the quintet Nomotion is one of them? At least I cannot recall seeing their name in the line-up before, so I’ve been giving them a few listens to see, if they should be added to my “must-see” list. The band’s britpop inspired songs are really likeable, but at the same time sound like something we’ve heard lots of times before. So for now I remain undecided.
+ Terminal Probation

Chromewaves (Frank; that lucky bastard) had the privilege of being at two The Radio Dept. live shows the past weekend.

Sweden's Kamera has mailed me their recent single Dead Man Walking. It's taken from the band's new (and second) album Blank Expressions, which is released today. And if it wasn't because of my snotty nose, I'd probably go to Helsingborg tonight to see them live at The Tivoli, as I'm really enjoying the band's 80's inspired new-wave/pop.
+ Dead Man Walking

Snotty nose...

I’ve received a little feed back on my previous blog post, and whether we call it live blogging or not; a few people seem to like reading those kinds of posts. And I quite enjoy writing them too, though they do require that you have a few undisturbed hours available.

This piece of Pitchfork news on the upcoming Mew album is probably old news by now. Sounds creative and innovative, but hopefully the boys saved some creativity for writing music as well? Should be interesting. Very interesting! But I'm also somewhat nervous that the album will be utter crap.

Wrote Saturday that I didn't know how to buy the Winding Stairs album Everything. I've since been informed that it should be available from record stores (if you live in Scandinavia) as well as digitally.
+ Shadow Stripes

Oliver North Boy Choir are no more, but the band's music lives on. So when watching the news Sunday evening, it was fun (and extremely cool) to hear a few seconds of Holy Wars being played during a documentary on cod farming in Norway!



Always worth mentioning a new release by fine label Shelflife, though I'll never be a fan of that CD/7" combo. Tactical POP! for Coffee Cadets by Socialist Leisure Party will be out tomorrow, and it will be a 300 copies only limited release.
+ Head in the Hay

Blogging...

Well someone corrected me a while back, so I’m not going to name this post ”live blogging”. Though in my small world “live blogging” is what I’m going to do for the next couple of hours. Once again the wife is out and the kids are (almost) sleeping. And once again there are lots of new stuff to listen to and things to write about. So between 9 pm CET and 11. pm CET I’ll be right here behind the screen and if you leave a comment, send a mail or twitter me, there might even be an outside chance (or perhaps even better than that) of getting a reply. As always when it comes to these kind of posts; quantity is far more important than quality, though I do promise that I will run the occasional spelling/grammar check to exclude the worst errors. Maybe I should stick to tradition and have a beer as well?

The past week I’ve been giving the forthcoming debut album Everything by Swedish duo Winding Stairs a number of listens. Especially the album opener Shadow Stripes has left quite an impression. I mean; when you wake up in the middle of the night and without really knowing it start humming the song, they must be doing something right? According to the band’s myspace the album was released yesterday, but not sure how you buy it.
+ Shadow Stripes

Time for a beer! Didn't take long getting thirsty! Once again it's a Dunkel Bock from our local brewery, and it has to be one of the best beers in the world! Obviously I'm biased, but I've spent a rather small fortune on imported beers the past ten years, so I know a great beer, when I see one. Oh - make that "taste one".

That The Lucksmiths are breaking up is old news already. But despite the splitting up thing, they’ll continue their ongoing tour, which will bring the band to Debaser in Malmø on June 27. Since Malmø is less than an hour and a half away by train from where I live, I really should go and bade them a last farewell. Shouldn’t I?
+ Up With The Sun

No way that I’m watching the Eurovision Song Contest tonight. The Danish entry was co-written by Ronan Keating. Nuff’ said!

Strange...Just checked the Debaser calendar, and it doesn't seem like there will be any concert there June 27. However both the band's myspace and webpage list the concert, so I guess we'll have to wait and see what will happen?

Still absorbing the news of The Lucksmiths breaking up the release of the second album Our Temperance Movement by Cats on Fire couldn’t have been timed much better! So far I’ve only listened to these two sampler tracks, but in a way it’s very tempting to start proclaiming “the king is dead; long live the king”.
+ Horoscope
+ Letters From a Voyage to Sweden

Currently uploading a few files, which gives me the chance getting this off my chest. Boxstr.com really, really pisses me off big time! The message “Boxstr.com is currently being updated and will be back online soon” has been up for the past 36 hours, which isn’t exactly the kind of service I expected to be paying for!

Hopefully you have already checked the Northern Portrait videos I posted earlier today! I’ve always suspected that this band would be an excellent live act, and today my assumption was verified by Indie MP3.

I’m really enjoying the new and very soon to be released Four Winds album by Lightning Seeds. But I just cannot understand why he (they) decided to release it as a Lightning Seeds album instead of a follow-up to the Ian Broudie solo album Tales Told. Four Winds is in every aspect far more related to Tales Told than anything ever released by Lightning Seeds. Suspect that it has something to do with the fact that selling an album under the Lightning Seeds alias is a whole lot easier than as Ian Broudie solo. But why didn’t they include Three Lions as a bonus track then? Four Winds is still a fine album no matter the name of the artist!

2nd album Modest Sensation by Sweden's Forest & Crispian will be out on Slow Shark Records on Monday (May 18). If you happen to be in Copenhagen the release party will take place at Jolene's on Wednesday (May 20), and if you show up at 6 pm there will be free beers. The band will hit the stage at 9 pm and I'd definitely be there if family obligations weren't holding me back. Opening track Benzair (assume it's named after this lady) sounds really, really promising!
+ Benazir

New fine track Collecteur Solaire by Swedish synthpop duo Ostrich is streaming at Myspace. No other news, so I assume that Press Hold will still be the first official release by the band!

Not quite 11 pm CET yet. But that'll be all for tonight!

Northern Portrait live...

From the concert Thursday evening at Gramophone, London. Thanks to J.A. for the heads up!

Your Face In The Skies...

My ongoing fascination for Danish one-man project Death Valley Sleepers should be well documented by now, as the band has been featured countless times in this blog already. So receiving news and updates from the band is always welcomed, especially since this normally means that a new track has been recorded and published. Therefore (no surprise) I got rather excited the other day, when brand new recording Your Face In The Skies popped up in my mailbox. Ever since its arrival I’ve been listening to the track over and over, thus torturing colleagues and family, as well as being inspired to once again give the older songs a thorough listen (every track ever published is still up for grabs right here). I know I wrote exactly the same two months ago, when I posted the track Seaside, but this simply has to be one of the best (if not the best) efforts by the band to date. Musically Death Valley Sleepers doesn’t take any giant leaps, as the band sound unmistakably like itself and does very little to distance itself from previous recordings (the description “The music still bridges from The Velvet Underground via JAMC to The Raveonettes” is as valid as ever). That said, I (as always) see no point in fixing what’s not broken, and as long as the flow of great songs by the band continues, things are just fine by me.
+ Your Face In The Skies

Back to normal...?

This May is probably the worst ever from a blogging point of view, but I'm quite optimistic that this is soon about to change! Obviously “real life” has been somewhat responsible for the lack of updates, but quite frankly I haven’t been all that motivated recently and have found blogposts incredibly difficult to write. This has been somewhat baffling, as there has been plenty (and quite interesting stuff) to write about. However I’m of the impression that the light at the end of the tunnel is shining brighter again, which hopefully will mean that posting will resume at a more normal pace anytime soon. But I will not promise anything, though I do plan to post something this afternoon, as well as I expect to spend a couple of hours Saturday evening on that notorious reading-downloading-listening-listening again-deleting (often)-getting excited (unfortunately not that often)-routine, which normally would lead to some kind of blogpost. Later!

Was I lying...

...when I wrote last week that this blog is still very much alive? No, not really! Just far too many things going on right now (family, work, friends), so the blog is playing second-fiddle at the moment. As always this means that the mailbox is about to explode, so right now I’m doing that usual reading-downloading-listening-listening again-deleting (often)-getting excited (unfortunately not that often)-routine.

Among the stuff found which definitely is worth mentioning is that indie-mp3 will launch its own record label, which (no surprise really) will be called indie-mp3 Records. First release to see the light of day will be the 3 tracks Openness and Honesty EP by Leeds six-piece The Seven Inches, and if everything works out according to plans it should be out June 1. I suck at reviews, but the title track is a highly energetic, catchy, guitar-driven indie pop tune ending out in glorious fashion with trumpets galore. The final track on the EP, To Boldly Go, is shared with permission, and although it doesn’t quite reaches the wonderful heights of the title track, it works really well as an appetizer and should be enough to convince you that this is a must buy!
+ To Boldly Go

Beep...beep...beep...

Although one could be tempted to think otherwise this blog is still very much alive. As mentioned several times before, one of the most inferior things life has to offer (work) sometimes heavily interferes with the more superior things (family, music and blogging) and forces me to make priorities much against my will. And since work pays the bills and blogging certainly doesn’t, I happily confess to be prostituting myself and choosing the inferior over the superior. Not permanently though. Never! But the past few days this has been the case!

As always the mails and news keep coming, so right now I’m reading, listening and working my way through piles and piles...stay tuned!

Chris mailed the other day and informed that The Lightning Seeds will soon be releasing a new album. Four Winds will be out May 18, and it's the band’s first album since the release of Tilt in November 1999. No question that Ian Broudie was one of my musical heroes of the 1990’s, so I’m looking forward to the release with a mix of both excitement and nervousness.

I always seem to be weeks behind everyone else, and when it comes to the new Camera Obscura album things are no different, as it arrived in my mailbox just a few days ago. Why it took me so long to order, I cannot tell, but exactly as I expected My Maudlin Career is a simply wonderful piece of work containing an amazing string of infectious indie-pop tunes. The band will be touring throughout the summer, but for whatever reason a Danish show has yet to be announced.
+ My Maudlin Career

As soon as I’ve finished listening to My Maudlin Career (one more time), I’m going to give the new album Sisters by Stars in Coma a good listen. Released a couple of days ago on Music Is My Girlfriend and the album can be streamed in its entirety at Last.fm.
+ Underneath A Fallen Leaf

Friday music...

Time is still sparse and one hour from now you’ll see me running out of the door, as I’ll have to be somewhere else...far, far away from any computers. But since it means that I’m going to be eating an excellent lunch, that's just fine by me. This also means that today the music will have to do its own talking, as I’m just going to post a bunch of the many fine tunes recently found in the mailbox and various other places. And trust me when I say that it’s a fine bunch varying from dance over instrumental via indie rock to world. I’m “experimenting” with box.net as an alternative file host, so bare with me, if things aren’t working properly and I’ll do my best sorting things out, whenever I get back online.
+ Great Northern - Houses
+ Rikers - 10000 Miles
+ Better Than Ezra - Absolutely Still
+ Ozric Tentacles - Mooncalf
+ Evan Voytas - Getting Higher
+ Hermas Zopoula - Courons Courez
+ One eskimO - Givin' up (Don Diablo Remix)
+ New Ruins - Symptoms