Pure at heart...

One quick search at Hypem reveals that The Pains of Being Pure at Heart has already been featured by just about every other indie pop loving blogger. So feel free to move on, as the next few lines will contain absolutely nothing that hasn’t been said or written numerous times before. But since this is my blog, where else would be a more appropriate place to share my 5 cents on the smashing debut album by the NY quartet, than this? I have vowed to never use that “album of the year” description again, but the rest of the year’s releases will have a rough time trying to make a bigger impression on me than this one. Not often does it happen that I listen to a debut, where I have nothing negative to say. Where there isn’t something that I would have changed, had I been in charge. Or at least one track I would have canned. But there’s nothing here. Nothing really! There’s simply not a bad track or even a weak moment on the album. Of course you could always have wished for a more diverse album, as each track more or less follows the same formula of mixing a perfect pop song with noisy guitars and pulsing drums. And if you’re a pedant you could of course argue that there are enough bands out there claiming to be inspired by MBV and JAMC. However I see no point in fixing something that’s not broken (and, luckily, neither does the band) or reinventing something that’s not in need of being reinvented. Listening to the album without question proves that The Pains of Being Pure at Heart has a charming (and winning) formula on their hands, and if the band decides to stick to that one, then it’s just fine by me.
+ Come Saturday
+ Everything with You

Northern Portrait keeps adding new dates to their gig list. But we are still waiting for the band to announce their first Danish concert. Not that I’m impatient or anything. I just want news on this NOW!
+ I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me

As mentioned a few weeks ago, Swedish duo Ostrich has indeed been signed to a label. The band posted the great news yesterday and the debut EP Press Hold will be out in September on the Cynical Minds label.
+ Icecold Kisses

Folk-Rock band The Village Idiot is probably the best my hometown has to offer, when it comes to music. Tomorrow night Kenni (The Village Idiot himself) and his band will be playing at our local venue Toldkammeret, to celebrate the release of the new album Prima Materia, but unfortunately I won’t be able to go, as I’ll once again have to look after kids. Ridiculously I have yet to see the band in concert and that’s definitely something that needs to change very soon. A zip-file containing 13 selected tracks from various releases is currently free to download from the band’s homepage, which will offer you an excellent introduction to the band and its music.
+ Alcoholic deathride (Ponamero Sundown cover)
+ Secrecy

Drowning...

The fact that I prefer the physical CD’s to digital downloads has been discussed multiple times before in this blog, so no point in bring that one back to life. But I’ve got to admit that the digital downloads have at least these two advantages. Storing all you CD’s can be quite a challenge and to me it represents an ever-growing problem. Furthermore the digital downloads don’t pile up on your desk reminding you about all the music you really ought to listen to. What’s stored on your computer is somehow easier to ignore. So what's brewing?

Yesterday I wanted to buy the new moi Caprice CD We Had Faces Then, but it hadn’t arrived at the CD store, so I went home empty handed (completely untrue – I just bought a couple of other CD’s instead). Instead a digital version of the album, somehow fell into my lap today, so I did get a chance to listen to it today after all. But I am going to buy the physical thing anyway, even though it will only add to the aforementioned problems/challenges – junkies are addicted you know! And despite that I think the album is a disappointment. At least through the first 3 listens it is. This is unmistakably moi Caprice with the lovely vocals and the dreamy sound, but the songwriting is simply not of the same quality as on previous albums. Stream 9 out of 11 tracks at Myspace and tell me I’m wrong?

The sophomore album Crystal Heights by Celestial is probably the next album I’ll give a thorough listen. One listen is simply not enough to make a proper judgment, though the first impression was pretty good.
+ Crystal Heights

The Celestial album was mailed to me by frontman Andreas, and he included the 3” single by My Lily of the Valley released on Cloudberry Records. Much appreciated, but at the same time it helped the pile of CD’s grow just a tiny bit higher.
+ Precious Moments

I picked up the Grateful album by Carpark North yesterday, though I’m not quite sure why I did that exactly, as I’m caring less and less about the band for every release. I’m probably stuck with some kind of nostalgic/ancient memory of the Carstereo demo (released in 2000), which I still believe is the best selling demo ever in Denmark.

I also bought two demo CD’s by “local hero” The Village Idiot. Both demos were picked as Gaffa’s “demo of the month” (getting 6 out of 6 stars) and I’m convinced they are absolutely fantastic. Just need to listen to them first. On a side note I found it highly encouraging that it was possible to buy those demos at a “real” CD store.

My biggest and darkest guilty conscience these days is the missing write-up on the debut album by Choir of Young Believers. It’s bloody, fantastic, marvelous and please, please buy a copy. Not sure if I’ll be forgiven or get any relief that way, but it’s sure worth the gamble!
+ Next Summer

The Village Idiot - Demo of the Month!...

Gaffa's demo CD of the month (January) is by acoustic/folk/country influenced one-man project The Village Idiot. Especially two things caught my attention when I read the review (read it here in Danish). For the first time ever a demo received 6 out of 6 stars, which for obvious reasons made me curious and wanting to check it out. But equally remarkable (in my opinion) is that Kenni (the man behind it all) and I share the same hometown. And since I'm having a hard time recalling any other interesting artists or bands from "around here", it was quite a (pleasant) surprise to learn that this month's top pick was a "local hero". The songs I've listened to so far do indeed find some inspiration in legendary artists like Nick Drake, Lou Reed and Johnny Cash, though he's definitely not a "copy-cat" (have to quote Gaffa on this). But far more important is that the songs sound really, really great, so it's quite easy to hear why Gaffa was impressed! Wouldn't it be sweat if he was playing live somewhere "downtown" in the near future??
+ Let Her Go
+ Couch Fishing