Merry Christmas...

This will probably be the last post before Christmas, so time has come to wish regulars, occasional readers and anyone else, who happens to pop by, a Merry Christmas!

I don’t think I’ve watched one full episode of this year’s Christmas Calendar Pagten, but nonetheless I’m looking forward to it every day just to be able to hear the fantastic title track Uden Hinanden.

Danish music site BandBase.dk has published a list of the 25 most popular artists of the past decade and obviously it’s thrilling to see favorites Entakt finishing second overall. Then in the same breathe they published a post stating that the band is (sort of) splitting up and then (sort of) reassembling the pieces. What this means exactly I don’t know (and apparently the band doesn’t either), so your guess is as good as mine!
+ Vinterbrud

Matinée Recordings just mailed that they are shipping my order today! Hey mr. postman! Hurry up!

US indie pop act (one-man project) Fireflies offers his new Covers EP as a free download. I've mentioned times and times before that I'm no fan of cover versions, but the 7 recordings included on this EP are simply brilliant.
+ Walk On The Moon (Asobi Seksu cover)
+ Walk On The Moon (Asobi Seksu original)

Ah-ah-ah-choo...

Catching a cold and am sneezing every 30 second; or at least it feels like every half minute. I’m fully aware that right now I’m paying the price for my behavior Saturday evening (and night for that matter), where I was running around outside in the cold drinking and partying like an 18 year old, and completely ignoring that I am in fact a middle-aged man, who should always go to bed before 10 pm, never leave the house when it’s freezing and refrain from drinking anything stronger than mineral water. Luckily I have my own office, so my colleagues don’t have to watch me suffer through my misery. And I felt even worse yesterday, where I was eerily close to dying! I swear I was! Oh man! Will I ever learn? Probably not!

Not being the cleverest of people (the above should provide you with all the proof you need) and incredibly naive as well, I started searching for news on that Clinging to a Scheme album. But there was no unexpected Christmas present for us, as Labrador still lists March next year as the (expected?) time of its release. But please! No more postponing!
+ David

According to Tower of Foil frontman Daniel Björck the band has mailed their debut album to the label. That’s all the information available, but still sufficient to be classified as great news!
+ Faster Than Your Eye

No quite sure if this is official yet, but I’ve been told that Moto Boy will release his sophomore album in Denmark on March 1 next year on Slow Shark Records (and probably in Sweden as well on Song I Wish I Had Written). However it is official that he will be supporting moi Caprice on the band’s Danish tour in February.
+ Blue Motorbike

Continuing the Swedish theme the new single by Karin Ström is free to download from the artist’s webpage.
+ Hon som älskade dig

Danes Tetris = Therapy have announced that they have finished the recordings of an album worth of music and are now working on how to get the record released. Quite eager to get my hands on this one!
+ Big Tasty

Cleaning out the mailbox...

The project "getting to know some new artists" started Wednesday will continue today. Words will be few, but hopefully the music will speak for itself (I'll try not to post anything too bad). Crossing my fingers and hoping that one (or maybe even two) new favorites will be discovered!

+ The Shape of the Earth - Alone In This
+ The Shape of the Earth - Separate Lives
Folk rock trio (though they claim to be an indie rock band) from Southern California. Excellent no matter the label attached!

+ Barzin - Look What Love Has Turned Us Into
Until this moment I wasn't familiar with the term slowcore, but apparently this is the best way to describe the music of Barzin?

+ Oranger - Brother Brother
Nice one from Eenie Meenie Records 10 Year Anniversary compilation.

+ Mark Mallman and The Varsity New Years 2009 Crew - Friday I'm In Love (The Cure cover)
Still no fan of cover versions, but since I do like The Cure (and Friday's) I guess why not post this one?

...more in the pipeline...but I'm afraid you'll have to wait until Monday for further updates...

Drought...

Drought might not be the best word to use today, as snow is, if not pouring then at least, falling in large enough quantities to make roads and pavements both slippery and slushy. However from a blogging point of view, it certainly is more than fair to use the term, as the flow of interesting news seems to have dried up completely. And this despite getting 50+ promo mails and reading lots and lots of tweets and Myspace updates every day, but apparently my favorite bands and labels have decided that 2009 is over and instead sit back and wait for 2010 to kick off? So today I’ve come to the only obvious conclusion (still it took me hours to come up with) that it's time to be proactive rather than reactive and give some of the new artists introduced to me everyday a listen and that way (hopefully) find a couple of new favorite ones?

Sometimes a little whining is all it takes and just moments after posting the above, I had one of those experiences, I wish would occur every day, as I was swept off my feet completely by this track (randomly picked from the inbox). The Bailing is a gorgeously beautiful (electro-indie-rock-somewhat-shoegazy) song, which immediately took me on a dreamy trip well above the clouds, where I’ve been floating around ever since! Back on earth Inu is a trio from the US west cost consisting of experienced and rather diverse musicians (check out their rather comprehensive CV’s), who have just recently finished recording a debut EP named Monster (“available for download at the price of your choice”). A debut album, videos, live shows etc. will follow in 2010.
+ The Bailing

More from the promo pile;

Every time this happens I cannot help thinking of it as a joke, because why is it that when an album is released in Denmark (by a Danish artist) it's virtually impossible getting a single promo track to post? But as soon as the album is about to be released abroad (in the US especially) the promo mails start arriving. The most recent example is the US release of the Oh No Ono album Eggs that will be out January 26 next year on Friendly Fire Recordings.
+ Helplessly Young

Swedish label Nomethod is giving away the new singles by Mixtapes & Cellmates and Aerial. Excellent stuff as always!!
+ Mixtapes & Cellmates - Soft Eyes
+ Aerial - Velvet Light Trap

All I want for...

Finally it’s December; the month of Christmas. And finally the day has arrived where it’s completely ok to start posting Christmas songs and (more importantly) share my wishlist for Christmas. And kicking off with the later, I do think my wishes are once again very modest and reasonable, as the list has been trimmed down to include just one thing; Keira Knightley! Who, when I think of it, has been the only “thing” on my yearly wishlist for the past many years! But despite my humble wish, I have a nagging feeling than I’m in for yet another disappointment. Oh well, you can’t get everything you wish for, I suppose?

So let’s stick to the Christmas tunes instead, and regarding the posting of those, it will be business as usual. Meaning that this will be the one and only Christmas post, which I intend to update (and bump to the top of the page) whenever there are some great Christmas tunes (old or new) to share. This hopefully means that other blogposts published during December will be without any Christmas content whatsoever! I do like Christmas, but too much of anything is never a good thing!

+ Liam and Me - Winter Paradise (I Miss You This Christmas)
The main reason for why I’ve been impatiently waiting for December to begin. I love this song and it’s a huge guilty pleasure, which always makes me feel terribly stupid, when I’m listening to it during the summer. But now, for the next 24 days, I can listen to it as much as I like (and that’s exactly what I intend to do), without feeling the slightest bit of guilt!

+ One Weekly Gun – One Xmas Song
Sadly the “gun” has been rather quiet this year, but last year did end with a serious “bang”, when this glorious track oozing of Christmas was published.

+ Tiger Baby – This Christmas
This chilly electro pop tune is another seasonal favorite despite being a somewhat depressing reminder that Christmas isn’t necessarily such a wonderful time for everyone.

+ Remington Super 60 - Here Comes Christmas
If the previous track made you loose the Christmas spirit, this indie pop gem should immediately get you back on track!

+ Irene - Christmas on the Beach
As I wrote last year; "Just imagine celebrating Christmas on the beach. This is probably what it would sound like!"

+ TIAC - It's Christmas But Not For You
Another beauty and another one to remind us all that Christmas can be a rough time for lots of people.

+ Champagne Riot - Xmas Safari
According to the duo they have tried to add a twist of Bach as well as some easy-listening Burt Bacharach to the typical Champagne Riot sound on this year's Christmas single. Die they succeed? Surprised by the number of not so cheerful Christmas tunes included in this mix!

+ Champagne Riot - December Slopes
Last year's Christmas track by Champagne Riot, which was recorded back when the duo was a one-man project. Originally included on the Cloudberry Records release Last Train To Christmas.

A bag of warm chestnuts...

Wednesday I had to attend a meeting in Copenhagen and though I’m happy to no longer be working in our Capital city, I did enjoy the 1 hour train ride. Moments where I can sit quietly doing absolutely nothing without having a bad conscience are rare, so naturally I embraced this opportunity with enthusiasm. Decided to spend most of the time on the train listening to the much talked-about debut album by The xx and although previous listens have revealed that it is a fine release, it wasn’t until this point I understood how truly great it really is. Inspired by this revelation I immediately decided to buy tickets for the band’s concert at Vega, Copenhagen on January 15, which lead to a rather huge (and positive) surprise, when I saw that it had been moved from the small stage to the larger one (thus tripling the capacity), and with only a few tickets left! So while I was sleeping the hype apparently reached Denmark as well? But tickets have now been secured and I do expect that this will be the perfect way to kick off 2010.
+ Basic Space

When The William Blakes frontman Kristian Leth announced earlier this year that he was teaming up with Danish singer Morten Remar, I approached the news with some skepticism, as I haven’t been all that interested in the doings of mr. Remar’s since he released the Som De Andre Gør single in 1987 as part of the duo Back To Back. Yesterday a video for the constellation’s first single Lige nu og her was uploaded, and despite the single being released as far back as June (available via iTunes), yesterday was the first time I actually bothered checking the song out. To be honest, I cannot stress how glad I am I did! This is straightforward pop music and I see no point in pretending anything but, which probably means that it's something you’ll get tired of after some time! But at the same time I’ve been struggling to recall the last time (if ever) I heard a song that I was able to hum following the first listen (meaning that it’s catchy beyond belief) and then (after the second run) beg my wife to give a listen. And now I’m asking (begging if you like) the rest of you to listen to it as well! For the curious, a debut album should be out on Speed of Sound some time next year.


Speaking of Speed of Sound. Seems like the self-titled debut album by Sleep Party People will be out on said label on January 25. That's really great news!
+ I'm Not Human At All

Paul Rijnders of Anything Box shares a reproduced version of his old track Wonderful at Soundcloud. Good stuff!
+ Wonderful

Blah blah blah...

Wife's out, kids are sleeping, but no beer tonight as it is Tuesday evening. Mailbox is jammed and there are plenty of blogs to check out. Hopefully something interesting will pop up?

Ivan has written a rather entertaining post on his trip to All Tomorrow's Parties. My short term memory is a joke, as I had completely forgotten our talk about favorite Mew songs. But I do believe we came to the conclusion that Mica is by far their best?

Indie MP3 reviews Criminal Art Lovers. "...we surely need another Smiths to send us blazing into the next decade..."!!

Don't know how many times I've written about that jammed mailbox of mine. But it's true and sometimes means that I forget something I should have posted a long time ago! This includes this Live Foel Session version of Victoria by the Andrew Boland fronted Carnations. Tracks from The Union EP can be streamed at Myspace, but information on a possible release is sparse.
+ Victoria (Live Foel Session)

NY duo The Ropes will release their 3-track Love is a Chain Store EP on December 15 using the well-known "pay what you want" model. This is great stuff. Don't know what else to say!
+ Love is a Chain Store

Mail promoting Kylie Minogue...delete...

Soundpool (sort of) mixes disco and shoegaze on their forthcoming 7" single But It's So.
+ But It's So

London...

Back from London and here's a real quick summary. London was lovely (as always), but crowded beyond belief. The weather was surprisingly fine. It did rain of course, but mostly during night time, and we did in fact see the sun a few times during our 48 hours visit. The 2 days were pretty much spent like this; Flight, Lunch & Pints, Musical, Late Dinner, Sleep, Art, Lunch, Shopping, Dinner, Pints, Sleep, Sightseeing, Lunch, Return flight. Had burgers 3 times and I swear that I'm not going to eat another for the rest of the year. Funny coincidence of the trip was that the always friendly Ivan (of ONBC and The Boombox Hearts) was sitting in the row behind me on the plane to London on his way to All Tomorrow's Parties.
+ Oliver North Boy Choir - Baby Cool (Good Luck Casper remix)
+ The Boombox Hearts - Extras, when you're ready, please

London calling...

@ DMCA/BLOGGER etc. - before removing the post or changing the status. PLEASE let me know exactly what I'm violating!!!!!!!!!!!!! All songs have been found in promo mails, but just to make you guys happy, I've removed all download links!!!!!!

Off to London tomorrow for what will be my eight visit to one of my favorite cities (in a span of 17 years!). Off to 48 hours of shopping (likely) and pub crawling (not very likely).

The spreading of the word on the forthcoming album by Shout Out Louds has begun, and so far I’ve received no less than 3 promo mails informing the world that Work will be out February 23 (or 24 - information varies) next year. Should you happen to be the only living soul in the universe, who has yet to listen to the first track off the album; well, look no further!
+ Walls

I've ordered 6 copies of the forthcoming album by Northern Portrait! You?

Another track spreading real fast is this new one by Danes The Kissaway Trail. SDP (as it's called) is grand, epic, beautiful, you name it and the perfect appetizer for the album Sleep Mountain, which will be out in April next year (though this article says March 1 in Denmark - lucky us if this happens to be true!).
+ SDP

Should I ever decide to make a “best of songs posted” list, Fee Da Da Dee by The Guggenheim Grotto will definitely be included. Remember falling completely in love with the song in late 2008, but somehow I forgot all about it and it probably would have stayed that way, hadn’t I found it in my search for Christmas tunes posted in the blog last year. It does feel quite odd writing this, because you don’t hear pop songs this infectious very often.
+ Fee Da Da Dee