Hope and destruction...

Check out this seriously cool looking black and white video of The William Blakes rehearsing new song/single Hope and Destruction...

"okayyyy...take et...MF'ers"...




 

2 quick ones...

Was planning to write a longer post today (for once I actually felt I had something relevant to say), but work quickly killed those plans. So instead here are two brand new tracks to keep you entertained...

The first one is the brand new single from The William Blakes called Hope and Destruction. Still like their earlier and more "unpolished" works better! Though it's not bad by any means...


The second one if by new Danish act Windsurfing. Actually it's a re-recording of another track recorded by another Danish act (don't think it was ever released). Pretty curious to hear if anyone recognizes it?

 

Shorts...

I’m still not feeling all that well, so words will be few today.

Knut of Eardrums is dealing with health problems. Please go wish him well.

Holiday is coming up and leaving for Cairo on Sunday.

Delay Trees has been signed to Friendly Fire Recordings. A self-titled debut album will be out on May 10.
+ Cassette 2012
+ About Brothers

4,695 mails are this very moment jamming my inbox.

The recent releases of these 5 artists are currently on my radar and I sincerely hope that I’ll be able to write more about them at some later point (if not – I’m really, really sorry!).
+ Starring Me – 1987
+ Stærosaurus – Darwinisme
+ Southern Gothic Tales - Fuck me up with words and wine
+ Code Pie – North Side City View
+ The Oxygen Ponies – Hope & Pray

The William Blakes will be warming up for Arcade Fire when they visit Ballerup Super Arena on August 27.
+ Music Wants To Be Free (Breathe)

New track by Cassettes Won't Listen and new album named KEVINSPACEY due in June.
+ Echoes

+++xyz+++

Today I'll...

...you guessed it! Drink loads of coffee and try to get some work done! Yada yada yada – time to come up with something new dude!

...stream the (entire) new The William Blakes album Music Wants To Be Free from Soundcloud. Expect it to sound nothing like the previous three albums by the band.
Wasted Years by The William Blakes

…listen (already have) to new track Hollywood by The Oxygen Ponies a number of times. A real grower!
 Hollywood by The Oxygen Ponies

...impatiently be waiting for the new Entakt video for Størrelse 43 (size 43) to be published.

...spend some time scratching my head while trying to figure out why people are so high on the new albums by Radiohead and Bright Eyes. Both albums have their moments (I have no problems admitting that), but most of the time I felt like I was wasting my time.

...listen to the forthcoming self-titled Oh Land album.
We Turn It Up by Oh Land

...???...

Breathe and forget...

The Raveonettes are back and will release new album (their fifth) Raven in the Grave on April 5. When I heard first promo track off the album, the gorgeous Forget That you’re Young, I immediately thought “man, this is so vintage Sharin and Sune”. Then when I received the first promo mail (of probably a dozen), I learned that I was all wrong because “…the familiar bombastic beats and squalls of guitar-noise take a backseat…”. Damn! I never get these things right; do I?
+ Forget That You're Young

So maybe I’ve pigeonholed The Raveonettes, but I doubt I’ll ever make the same mistake with fellow Danish band The William Blakes. Give new single The Light (Plane to Spain) below a listen and then compare it to the title track of forthcoming album Music Wants To Be Free (Breathe), and you’ll probably agree they don’t sound anything alike. But the band has always made a virtue out of doing exactly what they please, which seems to ring true more than ever!
+ Music Wants To Be Free (Breathe)

The Light (Plane To Spain) by TheWilliamBlakes

Fragile...

Fragile, a new track by The Blueflowers, can be streamed from the band’s Facebook page. Taken from their forthcoming album In Line With The Broken-Hearted. Still 5 days left to make up your mind, whether or not you want to help fund the album.

The William Blakes is this month’s guest contributor at mixtoverdener.dk, using samples from Danish composer Anders Brødsgaard to create their own version (or rather own unique work) called Music Wants To Be Free (Breathe). The track will be included on the band’s fourth album due sometime later this year (I suppose)…
+ Music Wants To Be Free (Breathe)

Physical copies of The Moonstruck EP by Champagne Riot have finally arrived at the Matinée Recordings HQ and are ready to be shipped (once you have placed your order of course!)…The entire EP can be streamed from the Champagne Riot website.
+ Moonstruck

xxx---xxx

Shorts...

Via The Line Of Best Fit/Something In Construction comes this first preview track (the correct title is Blues and not Loney Blues) from the forthcoming Loney Dear album Hall Music.
Loney Dear - Loney Blues by SICrecords

The William Blakes announced yesterday that the band's new album (and fourth since the debut in 2008) will be out soon. An (almost) unprecedented pace of work and you'll have to be amazed if the album is of the same quality as the first three!
+ Violent God

Spleen United are busy recording their third album (follow the progress on Facebook), but have nonetheless found the time to remix Kenton Slash Demon's Sun.
Sun (Spleen United remix) by Spleen United

Reality Bites from the upcoming two-track single by Emerald Park is absolutely ace!
Emerald Park - Reality Bites by afmusic

Shorties...

It’s man vs. technology today, as my computer is anything but cooperative.

Boxstr.net is down for the third day in a row! So you won’t have much luck if you try to download any of the files I’ve uploaded to this rather useless service. Need to find a better filehost.

Coast Is Clear turned 5 years old yesterday. Happy anniversary!

Way of the Warrior by The William Blakes is out today to somewhat mixed reviews (ranging from 3 to 5 stars).

The short, electronic and catchy Solid Copper Huntress by Fops popped up in my mailbox last week and will soon be added to my list of current favorites.
+ Solid Copper Huntress

Five track EP Boats by [the] caseworker is out on Indiecater Records on September 20. Hopefully the rest of the EP is a great as the title track!
+ Boats

Shorties...

Tilskuere (Danish for spectators) has a real nice post on Sarah Records/Television inspired Danish quartet Balloon Magic. Good to learn that the youngsters are heading for the studio to record some new songs.
+ Fell

Death Valley Sleepers has announced that they’ll begin the recordings of their debut album. Filed under “great news”.
+ Sweet End

Finnish indie popsters Delay Trees will release their self-titled debut album on September 29.
+ About Brothers
+ Cassette 2012

New track Pocahontas by The William Blakes is now streaming at Myspace. The band’s third album The Way Of The Warrior is out September 13.

Entakt frontman Jonas Villumsen has published a second track from his ongoing solo-project. Lovely stuff...as always!

Pete and The Pirates shares 4 demo tracks in exchange for your email address.

The Drums covers Arcade Fire. Interesting though the sound quality is rather poor.
+ We Used To Wait

Otur shares this remix of Compute’s Rushing, Slowing Down.
+ Rushing, slowing down (Otur Remix)

When will I ever learn...?

Yesterday was pure torture, as I was tired beyond belief. Had far too much to drink and went to bed far too late Saturday evening, so yesterday my age once again showed its ugly face. The partying and drinking wasn’t a direct result of Denmark’s trashing of Cameroun at the World Cup (would like to think of it as “trashing”, though a “fortunate win” is the somewhat more accurate way to describe it), but simply because I spent a real fun evening with great company. And we all know how nights like those can evolve, and Saturday night it certainly did! But today I’m in a much better shape, so time to re-group and get back to blogging.

The new Spleen United single Sunset to Sunset can now be streamed at Myspace. I've always been a fan of Spleen United and therefore really hate to write this, but I do think that the new song is one of the band's weakest efforts to date.

Another new track streaming at Myspace is Caves and Light by The William Blakes. It’s the first track published from the band’s forthcoming (and third) album The Way of the Warrior, which will be out on September 13. Perhaps sounding a bit more “polished” than previous stuff released by the band, but more importantly the band certainly hasn't forgotten how to craft a great pop song!

The jury is still out on the new (and free to download) track Here Sometimes by Blonde Redhead. It’s not bad at all, but not really standing out either in the way I hoped it would (perhaps even equaling or beating 23, which is downright fantastic).
+ 23

Found this track by Elk City in the mailbox last week and it’s been on frequent rotation ever since. From the album House of Tongues which was released by Friendly Fire Recordings on June 1.
+ Nine O’clock in France

Another really nice one from the mailbox is the dark and haunting You Can’t Be Alone by All Saints Day. Not yet taken from any release, but simply mailed out to help promoting the duo’s forthcoming 7” release It’ll Come Around. Personally I like "Alone" a lot better than the track they’ve picked as the lead track on the single!
+ You Can’t Be Alone

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...

Wasn’t able to keep my promise and post something yesterday, as we had a server breakdown at work. Therefore I couldn’t access any files and since all my music files are stored there, I was handcuffed. But since I couldn’t access any work files either, the situation was bearable.

I’m currently giving the song of Irish indie rock 5 piece Elspeth some good listens. Lots of potential and the influences ranging from Jeff Buckley over Radiohead to Manic Street Preachers really shines through. Definitely have to keep an eye out for this band. 6 songs are free to download at Soundcloud.
+ Old Age

In late December The William Blakes frontman Kristian Leth wrote at his Facebook profile that he was going to celebrate New Year’s in Sweden as well as record a new The William Blakes album while being there. Unable to find any official information on this, but knowing the band’s rapid work pace, a new release is probably no more than a few months away? Admittedly this belongs to the category “rumors”, but since it “came directly from the horse’s mouth” there has to be some truth to it?
+ Violent God
+ Like a Dream

Have you streamed the 4 new tracks by Sambassadeur? Pretty good ones, but compared to the band’s own standards they are somewhat underwhelming. First single Days of the forthcoming album European is certainly the best of the bunch.
+ Days

Check the track Loved-Up by Korallreven posted by the Shelfllife blog. Besides being a real fine track, I do think it’s quite interesting that the project includes one (or two?) member(s) of The Radio Dept.

Soldier on...

Spent yesterday on the couch at home, as I wasn’t feeling well at all. Countless times did I start writing a blog post, but my heart and head (especially) wasn’t in it at all. Instead I spent parts of the day listening to the new Richard Hawley album, lying on said coach with my eyes closed and the music streaming from the headphones. And what a truly luxurious thing to be able to do, and definitely something I wish I could do more often (family does take its toll you know), as the experience of listening to music this way is vastly superior to the way I normally get my daily dose of music; streaming from the computer at work. So needless to say I embraced this opportunity with gratitude and as Truelove’s Gutter had just arrived in the mailbox, the timing could hardly be any better. Can't say I'm feeling 100% today, but at least good enough to "soldier on" (!).

As always words seem to fail me completely, when needing to express how wonderful an album is. And Truelove’s Gutter really is nothing but just that. So I suggest you turn to Chromewaves’ excellent write up instead, and I seriously doubt I could come up with a more accurate conclusion than “It’s a thing of beauty”.

The William Blakes, one of the most talented and interesting new Danish bands to emerge in recent years, has signed a distribution deal with Canadian indie label Last Gang Records. Unable to find the news on the label’s webpage (check the Danish press release instead), but the band’s excellent debut album Wayne Coyne will (accordingly) see a North American release in November.
+ Violent God

Nomethod Records are offering the new single from Mixtapes & Cellmates as a free download. The press release claims that the band is heading in a new musical direction, and Soon somewhat verifies this. Still plenty of noisy guitars, but the programmed drums are gone and so is the shoegaze inspired sound. Taken from the forthcoming album Rox, which will be out October 28.
+ Soon

A couple of new demo tracks by Yoav are now streaming at Myspace. Or sign up for the mailing list and get an mp3 of newbie Yellow Brite Smile for free.

Water and more...

The heat has been almost unbearable in Denmark the past few days, and I cannot recall that I’ve been drinking this much water ever before. Hopefully the happy people attending this year’s Roskilde Festival are following my example and drink lots of water and not just beers. Beers are good and pretty fucking close to being the most essential fluid on the planet. Except on warm days like these where it’s dethroned by water on the top of that list of essentials. The last time I attended a festival (this one back in 1995) I had the greatest Thursday drinking (lots and lots of) beers in the sun, but paid the price and spent the entire Friday in the tent totally hung-over and dehydrated, which meant I was too exhausted to stay up to see Bon Jovi! Hang on! 14 years later I suddenly realize that this wasn’t the biggest sacrifice after all...

Stick around for more ramblings, tunes, news, mailbox findings etc...

Did you remember to download the Rikers EP I mentioned earlier today? It's awesome!

The William Blakes has announced that the band will be playing a couple of live dates at this year's Pop Montreal Festival. This has to be one of the most interesting new constellations (in this case prefer this term rather than "bands") coming out of Denmark the past few years and hopefully they'll be well received by the Canadians. I’m rather confident that the band's music, which I've previously described as something like "Arcade Fire meets Talking Heads", will appeal to the North Americans. Plans are that the trip should include one or more Toronto dates as well. So if I have any Canadian readers; go see them!
+ Violent God
+ Running Up That Hill (Kath Bush cover with Spleen United)

Paul Rijnders of Anything Box shares his remix of the track The Breakaway, which happens to be a song recorded by his own solo project Goodbye July.
+ The Breakaway (Kult Litre Remix)

I've just started to read a few promo mails and listen to some songs. There's plenty to choose from!

Here's something quite interesting. Liverpoolian trio Bagheera has sent out their promo mail to a large number of music blogs (remember to always use bcc), thus securing that it will be considered spam by most mail hosts. I always take a quick look at the spam mails before deleting, and somehow this caught my eyes. The band itself believes that their music will appeal to fans of Grizzly Bear and Yeasayer, but since (shame on me) I'm not all that familiar with either band, I cannot really say whether that's true or not. But the band's 4 track EP Hollow Home is really interesting and quite challenging, and definitely something I need to take further look at, sometime soon!
+ Old Machine

Have forgotten to mention that Boxstr.com seems to (finally) be working fine again! Getting a little value for my hard earned money!

The single Back Out On the Streets (Savages) by Americans The Armed Forces does sound somewhat like The Cars, so despite being infectiously catchy, it can hardly be labeled as highly original. But the band's album release strategy is definitely quite unlike something I've seen before!
+ Back Out On the Streets (Savages)

I've just downloaded the Liechtenstein debut album Survival Strategies In A Modern World and have found out that it's not even 23 minutes long? Blink and you'll miss it, but wouldn't be surprised if it's f*cking fabulous! Listening and yup! This is good stuff!
+ Roses in the Park

Climbing up that hill...

Back from a fantastic but extremely exhausting trip to Tallinn. I know I have a habit of forgetting things, but I seriously cannot recall being so completely worn out before. Ever! So today is one long uphill climb.

As an almost symbolic response to how I’m feeling today, The William Blakes and Spleen United teamed up at the recent Backstage show and performed an alternative (and by that I certainly don’t mean bad) version of Running Up That Hill. As a small treat a MP3 of the recording is now downloadable from the Speed Of Sound webpage.
+ Running Up That Hill (MP3)
+ Running Up That Hill (Video)

News of the day! The Pains of Being Pure at Heart will be playing at Lille Vega in Copenhagen on August 2. But the even better news of the day is that the supporting acts are Champagne Riot AND Northern Portrait! This is news I’ve been waiting impatiently for, for a long, long time and tickets were bought in an instant.
+ The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything With You
+ Northern Portrait - I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
+ Champagne Riot - Scandinavian Warfare

The Twitter profile of Labrador Records is quite informative. Sign up, follow and you’ll soon be able to read a really interesting rumor about The Radio Dept.

"Live blogging"...

No, no. This is not a case of déjà vu though it probably feels like you’ve seen this before. But the scenario tonight is pretty much the same as it’s been a few times recently. The wife’s out, the kids are sleeping, there’s a beer in the fridge and lots of music (and some music related stuff) that needs to be checked out. Oh and some stuff that has very little to do with music as well. Since I quite enjoyed the last few times I did this “live” blogging thing, I didn’t take much to convince myself to do it again. The disclaimer is the usual; grammar and spelling are secondary or you could say; tonight it’s quantity over quality. The compulsory picture will be up in a few minutes, though I do refuse wearing a Viking helmet, as suggested by this fellow blogger.

Now that IS one red hoodie.

Why the f*ck isn't Boxstr.com working? Since I'm actually paying for their services, this sucks. Will have to use Fileden.com instead I suppose?

Come Monday Night by God Help The Girl, the new project of Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian, is already quite popular at Hypem. And since it's an indie pop tune of the purest and most lovely kind, it really is impossible (and in a way absolutely pointless) to pretend I'm surprised.
+ Come Monday Night

Are Mew teasing their fans (that includes me) or have they actually just revealed the title of their forthcoming album?

Quoting a promo mail from Nomethod Records; "Also we are giving away a brand new prev unreleased track from Robert Svensson called "I was summer, you were". A perfect song for dizzy summernights. Listen to it, blog it, twitter it, spread it! Enjoy!". Your wish is my...so here it is. Now hopefully IFPI won't mind me posting this (can you sense the sarcasm?)? It really is quite lovely btw.
+ I was summer, you were

Thirsty, thirsty. Time for that beer! Aaaaah - cheers!

Did anyone notice? I didn't swear (or used any other foul language for that matter) when I mentioned IFPI. I didn't. I really didn't!

@Liana who asked about Moto Boy songs the other day. 4 tracks are free to download from the Songs I Wish I Had Written (the band's label) website. Haven't listened to this stuff for quite some time, so thanks for reminding me!
+ What it was like to be with you

Fed up reading about bands that are going to play at Start! Festival? Then read no further or you'll probably be tempted to use those foul words I refrained from using a few minutes ago. Queens Garden sings in Danish, lists bands such as Mew and Kent among their top Myspace "friends" and do indeed write songs that are somewhat influenced by those. And that's definitely not a bad thing. Especially when the songs are this good!
+ Carolina
+ Et Glimt
+ Illusion

Twitter update. I currently have 154 followers, though I know for (an almost proven) fact that quite a few will stop following me, once they realize that I'm not returning the favor.

OK I agree that Susan Boyle must be the "feel good" story of the year. But why is it that the world has to go completely bananas when things like this happens? Suddenly she's the talk of the town, exactly the way Paul Potts was some years ago. Of course it's funny to watch the reaction of those three jerks (sorry judges or whatever they are called), but not THAT funny or interesting. And TV programs like that are still the worst!

Watch The William Blakes performing a really decent version of Secrets of the State live at Backstage.



That will be all for tonight. There's a good chance (risk if you like) that I'll be back right here behind the screen tomorrow night!

Dear Unknown Friend...

Spent, I don’t know how many, hours yesterday trying to come up with something clever to write about the sophomore album Dear Unknown Friend from The William Blakes, and came up with exactly nothing. Some wise ass might feel tempted to ask, why this suddenly stops me from posting anything, but trust me when I tell you that the writings yesterday were the worst ever (EVER!). But it’s time to move on, and my summed up thoughts are that this is a surprisingly brilliant album. Surprised because the debut was released less than 11 months ago, which makes you wonder if the band’s fountain of creativity will ever run dry? Focus is still on writing catchy pop songs and they remain really damn good at just that. But at the same time the band is not afraid of constantly exploring new options, which sort of verifies the “playfulness” you sense underneath it all. Probably perfectly illustrated by the last two tracks on the album, which, with dreamy and lengthy instrumental parts, are more experimental (or different at least) than anything on the debut. Perhaps partially influenced by Bo Rande (of Blue Foundation) being added as the fourth band member? One can only guess, and hopefully the third album (which we all expect will be due around this time next year) will be an equally interesting combination of the proven and unproven.
+ Like a Dream (promo track suggested by the band)

Didn’t pay much attention to last year's debut album Bright White Light by Danish solo artist Jong Pang, but the promo track Liar Liar from his forthcoming album Love is definitely worth a listening. It’s pounding, insisting, haunting and so very irresistible.
+ Liar Liar

A Classic Education has recorded a lovely English version of Toi; a track originally sung by French singer Gilbert Bécaud and featured in the 1965 Italian movie lo la conoscevo bene. I’m a sucker for black and white movies, so please do check out the clip below of the original scene. Truly wonderful and genuine, and so absolutely different from the overblown Hollywood garbage we see these days. The new version by A Classic Education superbly catches the charm and atmosphere of the original and the small details at the very end is pure genius (another reason to watch the clip, if you're interested in knowing what I’m talking about).
+ Toi (Gilbert Bécaud cover)

Shorties (busy edition)...

Reality is once again showing its ugly face, as both work and life in general are demanding a lot from me. So those thoughts on The William Blakes album I promised to post today will have to wait.
+ Violent God (promo track off the debut)

The self-titled Polly Scattergood debut is out in the UK today, but I have yet to receive my promo copy. Hopefully it’s worth the wait?
+ Nitrogen Pink

Danish youngsters The Imaginary Orchestra of Mr. Kite are giving away two brand new demo tracks. And the second one is indeed named after the band itself.
+ Higher Society
+ The Imaginary Orchestra of Mr. Kite

Shorties...

Tonight a friend and I will be going to our nation’s lovely capital to see White Lies (supported by Wintersleep) at a sold out Lille Vega. Am really curious to hear/see/experience if the band can meet the hype!
+ Death

I mentioned the new Ostrich track Press Hold in a post the other day. I’ve been mailing back and forth with the duo asking if the track will be downloadable (for free of course) at some point. But apparently the band has been signed by some (still unrevealed) label, and the plan is to use Press Hold as the first single. So no freebie I’m afraid.

This is great news for the North Americans fans, but hopefully the next bunch of concert announcements from Doves will include a rendezvous with the Danish fans.

supertroels shares his thoughts on the new The William Blakes album Dear Unknown Friend. Will soon post my thoughts as well including a promo track

Did the bravest of things the other day, as I deleted all mails from my inbox. With SXSW coming up in two weeks time, promo mails are entering my inbox at a frenetic pace.

About bloody time I know, but today I finally ordered The Pains of Being Pure At Heart album.
+ Come Saturday

The Respectables have mailed me another straightforward rocker (caught it before deleting those mails).
+ Charged By The Minute

The William Blakes - Wayne Coyne...

It’s been 386 eventful days for The William Blakes since I first featured the band in these columns. Lots of demos were recorded and published, the band was signed to Speed of Sound (turned out to be quite a cheater, as this happens to be the band’s own label), their identities were revealed and finally Monday this week, the debut album Wayne Coyne was released. The album has been very positively received by the critics and according to those cited at the band’s myspace profile (all of them in Danish), the verdict is an average of 4.6 stars out of 6.
When you (as I have) have been following the band rather closely for more than a year, it's obviously difficult not being a bit impatient about hearing the debut. The demos were interesting and more than anything showed that the band possesses great songwriting skills. But at the same time they sounded a bit “incomplete”, which could make you somewhat “worried” if the songs would reach their full potential, when recorded for the album.
But there was nothing to fear really, as the 7 (that’s the number if I’m not mistaken) previously published demo songs that have found their way onto the album (in completely new versions) sound absolutely brilliant.
So I fully agree with the reviewers that this is an awe-inspiring debut album, and I feel pretty comfortable predicting that it will end up on a substantial number of year end lists (including mine).
+ Violent God