Anyone remember...

Perhaps you've noticed the new video by Tempomatador I posted earlier today? Tempomatador frontman Mikkel Max used to sing in EPO-555 as well, which has to be one of the most underrated Danish bands ever. But to get to the point...here's an old video by EPO-555, which, though very different musically, just like the Tempomatador one, is slightly weird and highly fascinating! And 8 years on Le Beat's On Fire is still one heck of a song!

Down in the dark...

Check the debut video from Tempomatador in which the band performs the song Sværmeri in "the kingdom of death". Slightly weird and highly fascinating at the same time.



+ Sværmeri

Friday night...

Went to Copenhagen Friday evening and left wife and kids (plus car) at my mother-in-law's (this piece of info gets sort of relevant later). First stop (after the required shawarma) was meeting Tempomatador underneath Copenhagen soil in the band’s rehearsal room (an old either cold war or Second World War bunker). The band was rehearsing for an upcoming semi-acoustic concert and I believe I caught the second half of the set; and it sounded pretty good (though I was later told that he sound in the bunker is far from perfect; fuck that – what do I know and no matter what you say, I enjoyed it…). Following a short break the band had apparently had enough of the acoustic softness and tuned things up (the only time that night I needed my earplugs). But before kicking off the band tried to encourage me to grab an instrument (any instrument) and join the party, so for the first time in 30 years I honestly cursed that in my youthful ignorance I decided to skip piano lessons and bet on a soccer career instead (which needless to say led absolutely nowhere). Sadly meaning no special guest star appearance by yours truly on bongo drums or triangle, though I did relentless tap my feet during the whole thing. Sitting there I realized it was the first time ever I witnessed a band rehearsing, so quite funny hearing their comments, though a few internal jokes probably went over my head (what’s the problem with them Rolling Stones drums?).

Next stop Stengade and during the walk with Mr. Boombox to the venue, my wife suddenly called telling me that she had forgotten her own car keys, so they had to spend the night at her mom’s…and it would be much appreciated if I could come and pick them up in the morning at around 8.30 (am and sadly not pm). So with the prospect of only a few hours’ sleep, it unfortunately meant that I had to reduce the beer consumption as hangovers and little sleep is probably the worst combination imaginable.

First band on stage at Stengade was recently founded duo The Golden Ratio (one half being Jonas of old blog favorites, but now sadly split-up Entakt). The band’s laid back folk pop sounded absolutely wonderful, as one would expect after watching the two live videos I’ve previously posted; though perhaps not the perfect choice to get a party started (assuming that my assumption is correct that people going out on a Friday night wants to party)? Talked briefly to Jonas afterwards and he agreed that the band needs a few more “rock tracks”, which they are in fact working on. But people (myself included) seemed to be enjoying themselves, so everything was just swell.

Second band on stage was the much hyped From Sarah. When posting the video for Demons I wrote that it reminded me quite a lot of Kashmir. Now that I’ve seen the band live I’m going to say exactly the same again. No that it should matter, because the trio is a brilliant live band (at least I thought so) and the quality of the songs was surprisingly high. But in some ways it was just frustrating that I couldn’t listen to the music on its own premises without constantly thinking of another band! The hype is understandable though!

Here ends the story…unless you should be interested in hearing about a tired train ride home, far too few hours of sleep and getting up early Saturday morning to catch another train…and I guess you’re not!

Vender mig og glemmer dig by tempomatador (several songs are free to download from the band's blog)

Cover Me by The Boombox Hearts

This is No Season for Swimming by The Golden Ratio (DK/SE)

Demons by From Sarah

Blah x 3...

What a shitty one today is. My throat is sore and I’m more tired than ever, so will most likely miss the Michael Møller concert at Louisiana tonight. Bummer!

Went to a birthday Tuesday evening and spent parts of the evening chatting with a 50 year old attorney. By that I obviously don't mean that there is anything wrong in being either 50 years old or an attorney. But at some point we (of course) ended up talking about music and must admit I was pretty surprised (and rather impressed) when he suddenly declared his love for "this band named Beirut", which he clearly thought I had never heard of. Didn’t see that one coming, but perhaps this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship?
+ Postcards From Italy

Tempomatador shares a new track named Sværmeri, which, to be correct, is a new (and vastly improved) recording of demo track Ny Puls that I posted back in March.
+ Sværmeri

Sweden’s bakers at dawn shares his fine cover of Fleetwood Mac's Storm.

Tempomatador...

Tempomatador (if you have no clue who they are; check this post) shares a couple of new demos. Indeed they have a quite demoish sound (and the lyrics are said to be pure nonsense), but nonetheless they are really nice.

Ny puls demo by tempomatador
  Vender mig og glemmer dig by tempomatador

This and that...

So I ended up not going to the Warpaint concert last night after all. I’m dead tired today, so going would probably have killed me. And staying at home watching the Champions League game between FC København and FC Barcelona wasn’t the worst imaginable alternative. Check Frank's review of the Warpaint debut album The Fool.

Pitchfork shares the lead track of the forthcoming single by Acid House Kings. Are We Lovers or Are We Friends? is the first new release by the band since ages. Out on Labrador on December 7 and right now I’m just waiting for the mandatory promo mail and the free download!
+ This and That

Update: Here we go...
+ Are We Lovers or Are We Friends?

Tempomatador shares the pre-mix of new track Det har jeg lært (så det er sandt). Actually the song is not quite new, as it's an updated (and even better) version of De sidste glade dage af Romerriget, which was originally recorded under the alias Mikkel Max og Drømmenes Bodega. The band seems to be gaining momentum and will be playing at Rust on Saturday and at Huset on November 17.
+ Det har jeg lært (så det er sandt)

Childish Delight is Eumig & Chinon's contribution to this month's edition of mixtoverdener.dk. One for the dance floor I'd say!
+ Childish Delight

Catching up - part III...

Didn't quite keep my promise from Wednesday, but there was no time for writing catching up posts yesterday. One day late, but here we go…

First of all thank you Chris for the heads up on Champagne Riot’s forthcoming release plans. So I did get the Matinée part right, but the EP won’t be called Moonstruck as I predicted (which really wasn't something I predicted, but rather something I assumed as the band itself called it just that). Instead it’ll be named Confessions of a Poker Pro and “will be a compilation of our best recordings from fall 2009 through to summer 2010”. Plans are that the EP will be released before Christmas and (my) hopes are that this one will be included (the tracklist has yet to be revealed).
+ Ingrid Bergman

Tempomatador (the sister band of The Boombox Hearts) has been rather busy lately recording songs and having their first official band photo taken. Pre-mix versions of two songs are free to download and Tidsfordriv (which means something like pastime in Danish) especially is really, really great! Assuming (here we go again) that all the hard work is supposed to lead to some kind of release…eventually?
+ Tidsfordriv

This is really how things should always work. I mentioned The Wonderland Washouts in a post 2 weeks ago and even though it was brief, it was enough to catch the interest of Peter. He decided to feature the band in his blog, which then made the band share links to both our blogs on their Facebook page!

Today Like Glass by the abovementioned The Wonderland Washouts is BandBase track of the day and on November 12 the band will play a concert at Hillerød Ny Teater, which I just realized is located in the same building where I worked from 1995 to 2001! Sometimes it really is a small world!
+ Like Glass

Sister Mary Says is the second single lifted from the OMD comeback album History of Modern. Sounding like vintage OMD and a fairly close relative to Enola Gay. The demo version of the track is still free to download from the official webpage.

Paper Planes Festival (part deux)...

As promised a few words to follow-up the video I posted yesterday. Catching Paper Planes is a (fairly) new Danish booking and management agency (committed to promote, counsel and manage the talented musicians of Denmark and the world), and tomorrow night a small festival named Paper Planes Festival 2010 will take place at Huset in Copenhagen. Unfortunately I won’t be able to show my support by attending, though I so much wish I could, as the line-up (consisting of 6 bands) looks really interesting. Obviously I’d love to see old favorites Entakt (again), as this will be the first time in quite a while that the band is back on stage (as a band) performing live. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they include a few new tracks in the set. So yes; for that reason alone I’d love to be there. But even more intriguing (if possible) would be the opportunity to witness the debut concert of new act Tempomatador. Who, you might ask? If I say that they (not so long ago) was called Mikkel Max og Drømmenes Bodega, you’ll probably still ask who? But if I add that frontman Mikkel Max used to be in EPO-555 and Oliver North Boy Choir (along with bassist Ivan) as well playing the bass in The Boombox Hearts, those names might ring a familiar bell? Anyway; they play lovely, catchy, yet somewhat melancholic and Danish languaged pop music, with a self-declared ambition to be the best band in the world…some day. The Festival kicks off tomorrow at around 7 p.m. and the tickets cost a reasonable DKK 100.
+ Tempomatador – Glas og Støj (so highly recommended)
+ Entakt – Kunsten at Slippe Taget