Home on the range...

With just under 200 views, this new video from the pretty awesome Tetris = Therapy could certainly use a stream or two...so check it out...please!

Blast off...

New video from blog favorites Tetris=Therapy. Not sure if I'm quite getting what the video all about (if it has any point that is), but the track Blast Off, which will be the opening track of the band's forthcoming EP The Temperance, is just brilliant. What I wrote a few years back (just checked - that was as far back as in March 2007, so a little more than a few years), when I first came across the band "The music is an unpredictable blend of just about everything" still seems to be a pretty valid description of the band's musical universe. It's not quite pop, not quite rock, not quite post-rock, not quite etc. It's simply just a whole lot of everything! So much looking forward to give the rest of the EP a listen! Unfortunately I won't be able to attend, but release party tonight at Huset in Copenhagen.



+ Blast Off

Temperance...

From what I often refer to as ”the department of good news” comes word that young Danish trio Tetris=Therapy will release a new EP entitled The Temperance EP on April 23. Track list, art work, stories behind the songs etc. have all been revealed, but since no track has been made available for streaming (at least not yet), I (or anyone else for the matter) haven’t got the faintest idea if the EP will be anywhere as terrific as the debut album Acquaintances. Or even in the same genre! Who knows? Perhaps they’ve come to the conclusion that hip-hop or disco is the fast track to prominence? Time will tell of course, but if the Jesper Lundager remix of Seasick, which has been labeled an advance bonus track from the EP, is any indication, I really don’t think we should expect or fear any major changes or experiments...
+ Seasick (Jesper Lundager Remix)
+ Seasick (album version)

Sharing...

Not going all political on you; just think this promotion video for Danish Red Cross youth is worth sharing.

First of all the background music used in the video is A Lack of Concentration by sadly ignored, highly underrated, yet absolutely cool and fabulous Tetris = Therapy. A track included on the band's self-released debut album Acquaintances, which I humbly urge you to check out (it's ace).

Second and more importantly; the message of the video is a relevant as ever (yeah, yeah, I do realize that the intended audience for the video is probably 20-25 years younger than me, but in a few years' time my oldest daughter will be facing these kinds of issues). Read more, learn more, donate your weekly allowance, buy a t-shirt etc. at ungonline.dk.



+ A Lack of Concentration

Tetris=Therapy and the viral challenge...

Kasper of fabulous, but sadly overlooked, Danish band Tetris=Therapy has written an interesting (rather funny and somewhat sarcastic) piece on how the band failed “going viral” (trying to stomach the fact that the video for Seasick has been viewed a measly 1,830 times on youtube). All leading to a statement that they best way to promote just about anything virally on the interweb these days is to include pictures of adorable kittens. A hard lesson has clearly been learned, so with no further ado; this is the new promotional video for the CD release of the band’s debut album Acquaintances.
P.S. Who's Justin Bieber?????





+ Seasick
+ Same Sullen Summer Sound
+ A Lack of Concentration

Seasick...

This is the first official music video from Danish trio Tetris=Therapy. The track can be found on the band's (rather brilliant) debut album Acquaintances.


+ Seasick

Catching up...

As mentioned yesterday; the world has been really busy while I was away, but today I’ve been equally busy (and still am) trying my best to check updates, mails und so weiter.

I swear. Someday I’m going to find out what is so fabulous about of Montreal. Unfortunately new track Coquet Coquette doesn’t quite provide the answer either! But someday!
+ Coquet Coquette

Swedish one man project bakers at dawn is working on a new album (or more precisely a “record”, so perhaps it’ll just be an EP?) and first track published bodes really well for the album/record/whatever.
+ authority

Sky Sports predicts that Northern Portrait will end up on the cover of NME some fine day! Since Sky Sports isn't really about music at all the true purpose of the feature was to ask Stefan of the band to share his World Cup memories! Could be interesting to hear if this year's World Cup has given Stefan any "new favourite moments" (pun intended).
+ New Favourite Moment

Great new demo track The Occasional Ego-Boost by Jeremy Sparrow can now be streamed at Myspace. Recorded by Tobias a.k.a. mr. Death Valley Sleepers.

If Facebook is to be trusted the new Loney Dear album (which will be the 6th album release by mr. Svanängen) will be out on February 15 (next year I suppose, though the update doesn't say this excatly).
+ Airport Surroundings

Watch Tetris=Therapy perform an acoustic version of the track Seasick (the original version can be found on the debut album Acquaintances.
+ Seasick

If only...

…I wasn’t such a lazy sod, I’d probably be writing something about:

Young Danish duo Forgotten Fields of Fire and their charming pop tunes.
+ Live By Heart

The excellent debut album (download only) Acquaintances by Tetris = Therapy.
+ A Lack of Concentration

The amazing 180 song Peace compilation published by Buffetlibre in support of Amnesty International.
+ Cartridge – Black Roads

The new interesting and free to download Between Two Waves Volume A compilation released by Eardrums Pop.

How Clinging To A Scheme is getting better and better for every listen and how much I'm looking forward to (finally) seeing The Radio Dept. performing live.
+ Heaven's On Fire

How I quite like the new Band of Horses album, but still not completely won over by High Violet.

The William Blakes releasing a new album in September called The Way Of The Warrior, which will be the band’s third album release in the span of just 2½ years.
+ Violent God

Plus ???

Various...

Blogger has been busy deleting music blogs and the debate rages on. Cannot say I’m a huge fan of these actions, but there are indeed some blogs that deserve all the shit they are (and hopefully will be) getting!

Tetris = Therapy has finished recording their debut album Acquaintances and two preview tracks are free to download. The band is still working on the artwork and more importantly on how to release the album. Be it digitally or on CD, I’m definitely in for a copy!
+ Seasick
+ A Lack of Concentration

This is old news already, but since Sunday the excellent For Tomorrow album by Emerald Park has been available as a free download via bandcamp as well as from webpage of the band’s new label 23 Seconds. Labeled "2010 edition" as two extra tracks has been added compared to the original 2008 release.
+ For Tomorrow

While we’re talking about free downloads, don’t forget to grab the Winter EP by Norway’s Remington Super 60. Sweet and lovely, though shorter than anything I can recall ever hearing before, as the 5 tracks last for whopping 8 minutes and 39 seconds.
+ Old Man

In case you didn't notice, this track by Iiris Viljanen was added to the Copenhagen Popfest post yesterday.
+ Bloodline Together

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

Various...

It's time to remove a few names from the "to-do-list".

I've been listening to I Am John, I don't know how many times today. Don't know exactly why either, but for some reason it has caught my attention (once again) and is now stuck in my head (and refuses to leave).
+ I Am John

New single Halleluja! by [ingenting] must be as close to pop perfection as you'll ever get! From the forthcoming album Tomhet, idel Tomhet, which is now available for preordering.
+ Halleluja!

Talented Danish youngsters Tetris = Therapy has announced that they'll start re-recording their old material as well as record a few new songs. 6 older tracks are free to download from BandBase.dk.
+ Big Tasty

Champagne Riot is no longer a one-man project and should now be labeled a band (or trio to be nitpicking correct). Will be interesting to see if the full line-up will be on stage on Sunday.

Lovely UK indie pop band The Cavalcade has three new tracks streaming at Myspace. The 3 tracks are included on the band's second EP the Edition 59 EP, which will be released August 5. If you haven't guessed already, only 59 copies of the EP will be printed.

Live blogging...

Don’t think I’ve ever done anything quite like this before. But time to try something new I guess? The wife has gone to the cinema and the kiddos are sleeping, so for the next two hours I’ll try the fine art of live blogging. There'll be no specific agenda, but I do plan to spend some time listening to some of the stuff from the mailbox. And there will probably be lots of my usual babbling (nonsense if you like) stuff as well. I normally run my posts through several spell checks before posting, but there will be none of this tonight. So let’s see if anything interesting comes out of this?

Boy - do I need a shave and a haircut? A good thing that the picture is blurred.

Speaking of the mailbox. I currently have 161 mails (81 unread) in the inbox. Make that 155 mails and 78 unread ones. Things aren't exactly progressing as I hoped they would. Quite a leap - now standing at 110 and 48.

Do you Twitter? Why it has become so popular is beyond me, but everyone else seems to be doing it so…and I currently have a "whopping" 89 followers!

Fragile Me, Fragile You by Helena Arlock is a really cool and groovy track. But doesn't she sound a LOT like Nina Persson?
+ Fragile Me Fragile You

That was the first track the mailbox had to offer tonight. Always hoping that something mind-bobbling will pop up. Let's see...what's next?

@Merz. Thanks for the comment yesterday. You’ve been truly missed and it’s impossible to express how cool it is that you’re back!

Now here's a real infectious piece of electronic pop delivered by US duo UltraChorus and definitely one for my current favorites list (check the right column, if you don't know what I'm talking about). It has probably been posted by several other bloggers already, since the promo mail arrived two days ago.
+ Words Kept Talking

My favorite blog Chromewaves lists 6 acts to watch if you’re so lucky to be attending SXSW. And that, I promise, will be the first and last time mention of that particular festival in this post.

Kasper of Tetris = Therapy (and The Yellowing Leaves I featured in the blog yesterday) has just left me a message at Myspace promising that we'll hear something new from T = T this year.
+ The End of the Season

Equally interesting is a comment from UK duo st famous promising that they’ll release “something” this year. The duo is a highly interesting combo of Andrew Montgomery (ex-Geneva) and Keris Howard (Harper Lee and Brighter), so this is certainly something I’ll be impatiently looking out for.
+ Tired & Emotional

Still checking mails...time to get something to drink...

I've just received a mail featuring a track with the incredible title I Try To Despise The Ugly People (But The Beautiful Ones Keep Turning Me Down). It's the new single by Swedish multi-person band Napoleon and it will be out on Ruffa Lane Records on April 27. It's quite a pop charmer, but I'm not sure whether or not it will be OK posting for download. So for now streaming will have to do.

I hate when you have to enter you e-mail to get a free promo MP3. More and more common these day.

It's all uphill right now as WMP refuses to cooperate.

Death Valley Sleepers has published a new track Seaside at Myspace. Unfortunately it's not free to download and since the band remains unsigned, I have no idea if/when it will be possible getting your hands on this brilliant track. The outro is especially great.

That will be all for tonight. Maybe (no promises) I'll try this again some other time?

This and that...

Not sure how many mails I’ve received the past month regarding SXSW, but it has to be close to 500. Not the most interesting stuff to read through, when you’re not going and have very little interest in who’s playing where and when. The music part of the festival starts tomorrow, so hopefully this insane flow of mails is about to stop. Probably too much to ask, as I suspect that a stream of thank you/follow up/great meeting y’all etc. mails will begin once the festival is over?

I’ve previously mentioned that Ruined by Martin will be playing live for the first time ever at Lades in Copenhagen on April 3. The band will be supporting (or supported by) surf rock/punk trio El Ray, and the combination of these two rather different acts should make it quite an interesting evening.
+ El Ray - Jack The Samurai
+ El Ray - Casbah

If you haven’t done so already, I strongly urge you to visit Chromewaves to download the new single Whoa Billy by Lucky Soul. It’s simply too gorgeous to miss.

Tetris = Therapy has to be one of the most talented young Danish bands I’ve ever covered in the blog, but recently the duo has been awfully quiet. Apparently for a reason, as one half of the duo is busy travelling around Europe. So while on his own, Kasper, who makes up the second half of the duo, has launched a solo project named The Yellowing Leaves, and 5 new (and really interesting) recordings are free to download at BandBase.
+ Tetris = Therapy - Big Tasty
+ The Yellowing Leaves - Dreamt I Had Arrived (E45)
+ The Yellowing Leaves - In Memory of the Sun

Mars Needs Guitars is back!

Another year has started…

And hopefully an exciting one it will be. I have to “waste” one final month in my old job, before I can start the new one. Time will tell how this will affect the future of the blog, but obviously I’ll do my best to keep on updating it and finding new interesting stuff to post.

Despite having the impression that most of the world has been away on holiday the past couple of weeks, a few interesting things have still managed to catch my attention. This is the first batch and if everything works out as planned (no guarantee really), the next one should be posted tomorrow.

Ages ago (last year to be a little more exact) I wrote this about Danish duo Tetris = Therapy; “The music is an unpredictable blend of just about everything from noisy shoegaze guitars over grandiose post-rock to electronica, indiepop and heavy electronic beats”. Apparently the boys liked or agree with this description, because back then they asked if they could borrow it for their press material. Just before Christmas the duo published two brand new (and excellent) tracks and it didn't take many listens to realize that this description is still spot on.
+ It's A Secret to Everyone (But Me)
+ The End of the Season

Blog favorites The Holiday Show are busy in the studio recording songs for their debut album. As an appetizer the band is sharing the new version of I Love The Light. It certainly would be great if the band's debut would see a release in 2008.
+ I Love The Light

Ex-Budapest front man John Garrison is giving away this seasonal Nick Drake inspired track.
+ Here Goes Another Year

Music is oxygen...

As mentioned in his blog yesterday, Jonas and I have recently been sending messages back and forth recommending various stuff and discussing music in general. One of the major conclusions (or mutual understandings if you like) has been that music IS oxygen, which I cannot help think would be the perfect tagline/phrase to headline the blog. So unless you've noticed it already the description at the top of the blog has changed!

I originally went to the concert in Helsingborg last night, because I couldn't resist the opportunity to see indie pop band DAYS playing live and I definitely wasn't disappointed. The four boys delivered a fine performance, though it certainly was on the short side (6 songs in 20 minutes). But then again - they only needed 3 minutes on stage to prove that they must be one of the most talented bands to come along in recent years. After the concert I had the pleasure of talking briefly to Fabian and ? (unfortunately I didn't get his name) from the band and news is that a 7 track EP will be out on Shelflife very soon.

Concerning Shout Out Louds (the second band playing yesterday) I have the following three things to say:
1. If you have already bought a ticket for a show, make sure that you go, because you'll be in for a treat.
2. If you haven't bought one - buy one (see the tour dates here)!
3. If there ever was any doubt in my mind, it has been erased now. Tonight I Have To Leave It is a killer track!

Lovely Aussie indiepop band The Lucksmiths will release a "double CD 45-song compilation of their non-album recordings of the past decade" called Spring a Leak on Matinée Recordings this week. Listen to the two samples below and then order it (or the other way round if you like)!
+ Once Again
+ Rushes Of Pure Spring

It was my impression that the mature sound of Danish youngsters Tetris = Therapy caught a few people by surprise when I wrote about the duo earlier this year. Now the boys have informed me that they'll soon start recording some new tracks and as an appetizer an older track from the previous EP is (after some persuasion) available as a free download. A band worth keeping an eye on and I'll keep you posted whenever there's something new to tell.
+ ...Bright

Tetris = Therapy

This morning I've repeatedly been listening to these 3 tracks by Danish duo Tetris = Therapy. Honestly I think the band name is downright stupid, but luckily the two (17 years old) dudes have saved most of their creativity for the music instead. The music is an unpredictable blend of just about everything from noisy shoegaze guitars over grandiose post-rock to electronica and heavy electronic beats, and at times it's almost a bit too overwhelming. So listening can be quite a challenge, but I really like the charming playfulness of the music and if the ideas get a bit more structured (or perhaps less ambitious), this could easily end up being nothing but fantastic.
+ Big Tasty
+ Foofaraw
+ We made the seas incarnadine