The Nana Song...

I mentioned Brooklyn duo Jonka a couple of weeks ago and called their music "indie pop tunes in electro-pop surroundings". When I wrote that I especially had the glorious The Nana Song in mind, which has "indie pop" written all over it, with its instant charm, catchiness and lovely boy/girl vocals. The duo has now finished a (rather colorful, somewhat psychedelic inspired and really wonderful) video for the track and (even better) has been so kind to give me permission to post the song. Thanks in bunches! If you need to hear more, the debute album Slow and Steady Wins the Race is available at iTunes.
+ The Nana Song

Friday night blogging...

Another one of those posts that should look vastly familiar to regulars. Wife’s out with the girls sipping Strawberry Daiquiris and the kids are watching TV (and before long they’ll be sleeping), so time to read mails, check a few blogs, scan twitter, hear some music and maybe even have a beer. Plus post a few bits and pieces of course!

Easter is soon upon us, so blog post entries will be irregular for the next couple of weeks. Btw. This has to be one of the best songs with “Easter” in the title.

Glenn, who used to be in the now split up Velour, has formed a new band named The New Investors. Describing their music as “chamber, disco-pop”, and though the first batch of demos don’t quite have that immediate charm that used to be the Velour trademark, they nonetheless bode really well for the future.
+ The New Investors – I’ve Been Seduced
+ Velour – If You Really Want Me

The new single This is the Day by Sweden’s The Fine Arts Showcase is a pretty nice up-tempo pop rock piece, but pales compared to the 2006 single Chemical Girl.
+ This Is The Day

Note to self...Time to pre-order Clinging to a Scheme!
+ Heaven's on fire

zzzzz...not much happening really...

I quite like this one. I’m far too tired to care about descriptions now, but folk rock is probably the best one. Whatever! Just check it out!
+ Chris Pureka - Wrecking Ball

I so fucking miss JJ72! So many, many, many reasons why!

I've just updated the Ruined by Martin vs. tung_nem post.

zzz...

Yesterday went by exactly as predicted, as I spent the entire day trying to recover from the lack of sleep. Find it difficult not being somewhat bitchy about it, as I think it’s pretty close to impertinent to let people pay for the tickets and then let the main act enter the stage at 11.15 p.m. I know I’m getting older, but I cannot help considering this as a message to people like me, who have to go to work the next day or even worse have children that must be at school at 8 a.m., that we are not really welcome. Whether this was a decision made by the venue or the band I don’t know, but a rather irritating one it was. And for the first time ever, I was forced to leave a concert before it finished (at 0.30 a.m. – and my friend and I weren’t the first ones to leave), as I could hardly keep my eyes open any longer plus knowing that we had the pleasure of a 45 minute drive ahead of us. The concert you ask? Nice, very nice, but as you probably have figured out, I didn’t really enjoy it!

Had a beer and a (much longer than expected) chat with the always friendly Jonas (of Entakt) before the concert, and got the latest updates on the band. Things are brewing, but precisely when we’ll hear something new from the band is still far too early to tell.
+ Kunsten at Slippe Taget
+ Orkestret med det blotlagte skelet

You bet this will soon be all over the blogosphere in an instant (it already is), but since I (like just about every other music loving human in the universe) am looking forward to High Violet, I have no other option than to jump on the bandwagon and post the first appetizer from the album.
+ Bloodbuzz Ohio
Now that I’ve listened to it a few times, I do think it’s absolutely glorious, but don’t parts of it sound like this one?

Was it completely wrong of me expecting a band named Dazzle Ships to be at least somewhat inspired by OMD? Guess so, because they really are not!
+ Least Resistance

Speaking of old favorites OMD. I probably knew that the band was still around, but certainly not that the original line-up is back together. And I definitely did not know that they plan to release an album this year (to be named The History of Modern). A demo version of the very Enola Gay’ish Sister Mary Says is free to download (you do have to register and all that) from the official webpage. Oh, those memories!

Get Well Soon...

Seeing Get Well Soon tonight at Loppen in Copenhagen, which is something I've been looking forward to for quite some time! I’m still not completely won over by Vexations, but since both the debut album Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon and the EP Songs Against The Glaciation were nothing but fantastic, my expectations remain pretty high. Especially when having Jonas' review of the band's concert at Roskilde last year in fresh memory. Loppen is quite a nice venue, but music there never begins until 10 p.m., meaning that I’ll be home and in bed around 1 a.m. (and thus will be getting approx 5 hours of sleep). So I guess this will be one tired blogger tomorrow! Tickets are still available and cost an affordable DKK 80.
+ 5 Steps / 7 Swords
+ If This Hat Is Missing I Have Gone Hunting

Music Monday (from the mailbox)...

As predicted last week!

+ Cha-Cha – The Fellowship
The label humbly asks that I direct people to their webpage rather than upload the song myself. Since this is one seriously infectious pop song, I gladly comply. Watch the video for the song at the bottom of the page. Bet they had great fun while shooting it!

+ Great Lake Swimmers - Gonna Make It Through This Year
"If you decide to share the file: please link the Bad Panda Records website, share the CC license type (BY-NC-SA 3.0) and do not rehost the file. REALLY! :)". Normally I'd just delete a mail like this, as it's simply too much trouble. But since the song is so darn good, I once again gladly obey.

+ Alcoholic Faith Mission - My Eyes To See
Every review I've seen of the band's new (and third) album Let This Be The Last Night We Care has been very positive. I've had a copy of the album in my inbox since February 12, so it's about time to check it out I guess!

More to come...(I hope)...there's really no end to the bad stuff. Not quite sure if the "mailbox cleaning" posts is such a great idea after all!

A bored sparrow...

The Jeremy Sparrow debut EP This Summer Was Just Such A Bore is now available from iTunes. The music is labeled by the artist himself as “post-indie”, as a (much needed?) reaction to the overuse of the indie-term. And he’s probably quite right, as, had I not had this information, I would undoubtedly have taken the safe bet and called it "indie-rock". So I guess refraining from calling it anything now is the wisest move? Or should I risk an eye and try something like lo-fi, garage rock with a small twist of western inspiration? But in my world the real important thing is the quality of the songwriting and as long as the production doesn't ruin the songs, they can label the music whatever they want to. And since all four tracks are quite catchy pieces and the production real interesting (try comparing it to the demos below), the scene is set for a great debut.
+ Outrunning Paper Tigers (demo version)
+ Suburbs (demo version)

Came across the debut album Slow and Steady Wins the Race from Brooklyn duo Jonka earlier this week, while I was cleaning the mailbox, and it's been on heavy rotation ever since. Like to think of this as indie (here we go again) pop tunes in electro-pop surroundings. More about this band in the very near future!
+ Better

J.A. recommends the incredible, gorgeous, amazing, beautiful etc. The Sight of Love by The Camerawalls (featuring Sarah Gaugler).
+ The Sight of Love

Californians The Shape of the Earth has mailed this really lovely new track. Another band found thanks to a "mail cleaning".
+ Romantics

Bits and pieces...

Don’t know if anyone has noticed, but I’ve started to use the download links from the promo mails rather than uploading songs myself. Not that I’ve had any recent problems with IFPI, but for whatever reason I’ve suddenly become too much of a chicken to risk anything.

Death Valley Sleepers has a lovely and rather melancholic new track named Along The Canals streaming at Myspace. Because of the band’s growing popularity (thanks to that car commercial) the days of the freebies are over. At least for now.

Congrats to Albin from Sweden, who’s the lucky winner of the Ceremony - A New Order Tribute CD. Will try to ship the CD this weekend!

I’ve downloaded the 6 track Making Up A Changing Mind EP by Pretty Lights for free from the official webpage and though I still think this is seriously annoying (downtempo, jazz influenced instrumental hip-hop really isn’t my thing), I’m nonetheless drawn to it.
+ I Can See It In Your Face

Dad Rocks! is a solo project by Mimas frontman Snævar Njáll Albertsson and the forthcoming Digital Age EP will be the first ever release on new label Kanel Records. This is laid back, lo-fi, stripped down and really quite beautiful. The exact opposite of Pretty Lights, you could say.
+ Aroused By Hair

The 7” single Den Lille Havfrue by A Smile and A Ribbon will be out May 20 on Cloudberry Records. In case anyone’s wondering, the song title is Danish for The Little Mermaid.
+ Den Lille Havfrue

Check this fine video for This Vision’s Wherever I Run.

Music Tuesday (from the mailbox)...

This looks familiar you say? Damn right you are! But you see! Everyone’s heading for Austin these days, so I bet only a handful of people will notice if I cut corners and post yet another “from the mailbox” post. And deleting 200+ emails yesterday really felt great, and I bet the feeling will be pretty much the same should I get rid of another bunch today. So here we go again!

+ Chinese Christmas Cards - Welcome To Life
+ Bear In Heaven - Lovesick Teenagers
+ The Betwitched Hands on the Top of Our Heads - Hard To Cry
+ Eytan - Do It For Me
+ Seabear - Lion Face Boy

Checking, reading, downloading, deleting, scratching my head, rolling eyes, convincing myself this is not a joke etc.....Crossing my fingers hoping for a better success rate than yesterday! But as we say in Danish..."der er sgu langt mellem snapsene!"...

Music Monday (from the mailbox)...

It’s Monday and I’m simply too tired (as always) to write anything today. But not too tired to check a few mails (some of them dating back as far as last October), so here’s another one of those “look what I have found in the inbox today” posts! Am suspecting that this could very well turn into a regular Monday feature? Time will show!

+ Elizabeth & the Catapult - Race You
+ Pacific Theater - Lions
+ Bright Light Bright Light - A New World To Say
+ Popular Damage - Exclusive
+ Blasfemea - Maria

Checking and checking...some seriously horrible stuff among today's downloads...I know I've asked this question a number of times before, but who is paying for this, as it going to take more than a miracle for some of the artists to sell one single copy of their release? The PR people aren't doing this for free - are they?

Francois & the Panda...

Stumbled upon a promo mail from Peruvian/Argentinean/French (now in London residing) singer-/songwriter Francois Peglau the other day, in which he claimed that “You will not a find a more independent project than this”. Taking into consideration some of the artists I’ve previously featured around here that’s quite a bold statement, as I sometimes feel a need of inventing a word that describes music that’s more underground than “underground”. But I always find the DIY approach to music appealing, though his true selling point was his apparent liking of Northern Portrait, which sort of erased any excuses I had for not giving the promo track One Minute to Midnight Dream (so sad) a closer look. Mr. Peglau himself calls his music “"socio dramatic Peruvian pop" which is a sort of lo-fi pop with socialist taints”, and though I haven’t checked the lyrics for any political contents, the lo-fi (and pop) label definitely fits this recording perfectly. The trained ear (not mine) will probably hear inspirations ranging from everywhere between the 60’ies to Twee pop, but as always the real important thing (to me) is the quality of the songwriting, as I’m hopeless at describing music, much less discussing the production. So basically it comes down to; do I like the song or not? Well, it’s infectiously catchy, instantly charming and it even has violins in it; so yes - of course I like it.
+ One Minute to Midnight Dream (so sad)

Panda Riot has mailed me a copy of the band’s forthcoming EP Far & Near, which will be out on May 10 (read more). With the drum machine beats, the distorted guitars and the angel-like female vocals the six fine tracks sound like Panda Riot squared (with the short and ambient instrumental Parallax View being the one exemption). So Far & Near won’t really take you anywhere new, but for any fan of pure shoegaze/dream pop it won’t be a disappoint either.
+ Motown Glass

Ruined by Martin vs tung_nem...

As was promised last week here’s a post containing every song ever recorded by Ruined by Martin as well as the four new songs by the “offspring” tung_nem. In an attempt to give you the best possible impression of the musical transformation the band has gone through, I’ve tried to list the songs chronologically. Plus mentioned the number of people involved in the project at the time of the various recordings, with lead singer Martin Arnholt being the only recurring band member. But as you can see some information and songs are missing, so I guess I need to ask the band to supervise the list.

Ruined by Martin (?-2009):
+ Gin Fizz (duo - 2005)
+ Skyscraper (duo - 2005)
+ C&C Delight (duo - 2005)
+ Fight Song (duo - 2005)
+ Burn The Sun (trio - December 2005)
+ Perfect Sense (May 2006)
+ Dear Reo (trio - September 2006)
+ Somewhere (December 2006)
+ In Search Of (?? 2006)
+ Witness of Sci Fi (?? 2006)
+ Start (?? 2006)
+ Kaiser Star (September 2007)
+ Defy The Odds (February 2008)
+ Seven Years (April 2008)
+ Untouchable (October 2008)
+ Self Assured (quartet - January 2009)
+ Ex-Believer (quartet - May 2009)
+ Sub Intelligence (quartet - September 2009)
+ Scissor Paper Rock (quartet - September 2009)

tung_nem (trio - 2010-?):
+ Leap of Faith
+ New Perfection
+ Self Assured
+ You Might Make It

Bits and...bits...

Mails, mails, mails. It’s the same old story. And with SXSW just around the corner it’s perhaps worse than ever (takes some imagination I know, but it's true). Lots of people wanting to meet and say hi in Austin, but sadly no mail so far has included a plane ticket etc. So as much as I’d love to go, it just ain’t gonna happen!!

Grab new track The Bigger Picture by The Floor Is Made Of Lava in exchange for your email address. The move towards a more "classic rock sound" continues and I quite like it!

Don't forget to enter the "Ceremony" contest!

Whence this sudden interest? Recording cover versions of The Raveonettes songs seems to be the new black! Two popped up last week and here's another one. Does this imply that the Danish duo is about to become mega?
+ Suckers - Boys Who Rape (The Raveonettes Cover)

Danish label music for dreams has mailed this track from the Giana Factory debut EP Bloody Game to post and share. Some remixes in the mail as well, but quite typical me ignoring those (unlike a few other bloggers). Is this a sign of an album being in the making? Let's hope so!
+ Trippin'

No rules without exceptions. One of the (many) SXSW related mail included this fairly decent Caribou remix of Oh No Ono's Eleanor Speaks.
+ Eleanor Speaks (Caribou remix)

It's now possible to order the self-titled No Blood In Bones EP. Vinyl and download.
+ Safe Way Out

Bloggers = lemmings?

CONTEST – win Ceremony...A New Order tribute...

Ceremony - A New Order Tribute to benefit the Salford Foundation Trust's Tony Wilson Awards was released last month on February 20 (on what would have been Mr. Wilson’s 60th birthday) as a digital download and today the double CD version containing 32 tracks is available. The double CD costs the affordable amount of $19.95, is packed with interesting cover versions of New Order classics and proceeds will benefit talented young people, so I definitely think you should head straight to the New Order tribute page and pick up your copy. If winning the CD sounds more appealing and 24 Hour Service Station has been so kind to ship me a copy of the CD to give away. Interested? Then mail me, write Ceremony in the subject line plus your name and address in the mail body. And do this no later than Tuesday, March 16. To prevent accusations of cheating I promise that I’ll blindfold myself before picking the winner!
+ Kites With Light – Dream Attack

While I was cleaning out the mailbox...

...lots of other things happened!

I finally bought myself a ticket for the Get Well Soon concert at Loppen on March 23.
+ If This Hat Is Missing I Have Gone Hunting

The new album by The National was announced. To be released May 11 and will be named High Violet. Frank says it's awesome! I’m almost prepared to wager next month’s salary that no song on the new album will be as fantastic as Fake Empire. If there is, then it will definitely be worth the price!
+ Fake Empire

Band of Horses quickly sold out their concert at Vega on April 18. And, as I expected, announced that they are about to release a new album. Infinite Arms will be out on May 17 (or 18 depending on your location), but sadly not on Sub Pop.
+ The Great Salt Lake

New song Andalucía by Doves was played on radio for the first time.

I received a promo mail with a copy of Plastic Beach. Stylo is a nice one, but the rest is definitely not my “cup of tea”.

The band formerly known as Ruined by Martin okayed a “in retrospect” post. So hopefully a post will be up next week containing every track ever recorded by the band.
+ Kaiser Star

Jeremy Sparrow mailed me a copy of his debut EP This Summer Was Just Such A Bore. I’m looking forward to giving it some thorough listens.
+ Outrunning Paper Tigers (demo version)

Received the rest of the Call Signs EP, I requested yesterday! At times the lead singer of Wires in the Walls really sounds like Angie Aparo, and that combined with some great songwriting makes this a truly fabulous EP!
+ Twin Jet Engines

Two decent cover versions of The Raveonettes' Heart of Stone landed in my inbox.
+ Dum Dum Girls - Heart of Stone
+ Amazing Baby - Heart of Stone

The cleaning continues...

Another batch of songs found in the mailbox. Still 1,917 mails left in the inbox.

+ Air Waves - Sweetness
Real energetic indie pop (though the promo mail calls it "a medley of folk, rock, pop, and country" - did they mail out the wrong promo track?). And catchy too!

+ Wakey!Wakey! - Twenty Two
Contains whistling! I like that...and the song itself is pretty good too!

+ Andrew Watt and The Glory Glory - One Day at a Time
"Just" another melodic pop song. Never can get too many of those; can we?

+ Wires in the Walls - Twin Jet Engines
Instantly likeable indie pop with singer-songwriter/country influences. Two listens and I had to mail and ask for the rest of the tracks from the forthcoming Call Signs EP.

+ Tobias Fröberg - When We Go To War
Nice new single from the Swedish workaholic.

+ Pretty Lights - I Can See It In Your Face
Just like the 4fod track yesterday this is not something I'd normal enjoy or even think of posting. Call it electro jazz or instrumental hip-hop for all I care. It's annoying and simply irresistible.

Mailbox cleaning...

Another post and another day dedicated to reducing the size of the inbox. Began the day having 2,105 mails in the inbox of which 140 have now been deleted and another 28 moved to a folder ingeniously named “pending”. “Pending” meaning that the promo tracks have been downloaded and the mails filed so information can easily be found. But that you had probably already figured out yourself! This is a small sample I know, but a quick calculation indicates that out 6 mails only one will catch my interest, which unfortunately is pretty much as I expected. I do realize that this is my favorite whining topic, but for every gem you find, you have to work your way through lots and lots of junk! But enough about that! Instead let’s take a look at the few songs that in the end survived the long trip from the inbox via the pending folder (and the ensuing scrutiny) to the blog!

+ World Atlas – The Winter Stories
Of course I like this track and it's perfectly titled for cold days like these. But if I didn’t know better, I could have sworn that this was Belle & Sebastian!

+ Kisses – Bermuda
Really cool disco inspired track by the L.A. duo. First single from their forthcoming The Heart of the Nightlife album, which has been in the making for quite some time (if the band’s Myspace blog is to be trusted)!

+ Summer Cats – TV Guide
And we get right back on the indie pop track with this; the new single by Summer Cats. Upbeat, just a little bit noisy, catchy (as this stuff always is) and completely dominated by that insisting organ.

+ 4fod – Streetsinglen
Don’t think that I’ll ever be a fan of hip hop, as the music is to monotonous and boring for my taste. But this Street Single (which I’ve learned today, is a track especially produced to help promoting their forthcoming album without actually being included on it) by Danish trio 4fod is a real pleasant surprise. Or should I say a monster surprise, as I quite like it? Yo!

Planning to continue the cleaning tomorrow!

On the radio this morning...

Knew I had heard it somewhere before and then I remembered that it was the current favorite song of a blogger friend.