Mails, mails, mails...

Have plenty of mails in my inbox. 5,886 mails to be exact. Going to spend the next couple of hours trying to reduce that number. I could of course take the easy road and to delete them in bunches, but tonight I will try to see/hear/listen if any of them have anything interesting to offer. So hang around, come back later, press F5 etc. Perhaps something will pop up along the way...?

Kids On A Crime Spree has an album out on Slumberland Records. Sweet Tooth is a short and really cool 60/70's influenced sounding thing!
  Kids On A Crime Spree - Sweet Tooth by Slumberland Records

As always - far too many mails promoting remixes, tours, videos, mixtapes etc. Haven't bumped into any mails promoting hip-hop and rap...yet! Need a better spam filter...

Here's a really nice track by New York trio Field Theory. Hate bandcamp embedding! Instead you'll have to go to SoundCloud (embedding of this track isn't possible) to check out Head and the Open Rhyme. UPDATE: The band just saw this post and immediately mailed the song as well as okaying that I make it available for download. Terrific service guys!!!
+ Head and the Open Rhyme

"Hook-driven and powerful indie rock" is what the promo mail promises and that's certainly what you get from The Trophy Fire!
+ The Last American Phone Booth

Finding some quality stuff tonight (surprise, surprise), so deleting is slow...

Lion's Mouth by Young Rebel Set is quite a drama. Great video; even better song. Can't help thinking of Johnny Cash...
Lion's Mouth by youngrebelsetscloud

Taking a short break...have to put the kids to bed...and need more beer!

Started out fantastic, but the last 8-10 songs haven't been any good at all...some songs are jokes, though probably not intended as such...

Yay! New stuff from Letting Up Despite Great Faults!
Letting Up Despite Great Faults - Teenage Tide by lettingup

Some bands are still using Myspace?

This will the last song today...a very poppish tune by Saskatchewan.
Dreamboat by Saskatchewan

Still 5,785 mails left...

Home again...

Back from an interesting but rather contrast-filled trip to Cairo. Will resume blogging as soon as possible (the mailbox is jammed once again), but right now I need to focus on getting some work done.

From the top of my head...

No agenda tonight. Nothing.

I began the year writing that I would try to improve the quality of the blog. Looking at the stuff posted this month, there’s only one correct conclusion; mission incomplete. Still 11 months left of the year to improve things, so better times ahead…I hope...!

Earlier this month I kicked off my own small mission that I will indeed listen to the “1001 albums you must hear before you die”. So far I’ve listened to 5, so 996 albums left. At the current pace (two albums a week) it will take approx 10 years to work my way through the list, but I’m in no hurry and really looking forward to the (hopefully) many interesting listening experiences. Perhaps not looking that much forward to Baby One More Time, but swear I won’t be stopped by a threat of 42 minutes of pure torture. Will keep you updated on how things are progressing…

Remember to support Danmarks Indsamling tonight!

Bright Eyes gives away a second track Haile Selassie from the forthcoming album The People's Key. Don't forget to grab Shell Games (the first track) as well, while you're there!

Monster, second single from Dearling Physique's album Deadeye Dealer, is not quite as appealing as first single Discipline Your Hands, but that probably would have been a little too much to ask for!
+ Monster
+ Discipline Your Hands

New track No Miracles by Sweden's This Year's Model is an infectiously catchy pop song. Plain and simple! From the band's forthcoming album We Walk Like Ghosts.
+ No Miracles

Good stuff in the mailbox tonight...for a change!

Just found this ace new track by Danish indie-folk sextet Alcoholic Faith Mission.
Alcoholic Faith Mission - Running With Insanity by Paper Garden Records

Check out this rather innovative project called Tw1tterband...

++++

Danmarks Indsamling...

I know I'm repeating myself, but it's a good cause, so please support it (click the picture to learn more)! A "real" post will hopefully pop up later today/tonight!

Danmarks Indsamling...

Not going political. Just think this is worth supporting (click the picture)!

Some Velvet Coast Compilation...

My favorite German blog Coast Is Clear has teamed up with Some Velvet Morning and put together the Some Velvet Coast Compilation. 31 free tracks for you to check out on (what I assume is) a lazy Sunday in December.

From the mailbox...

Words will be few today (as I will have to keep a close eye on The Tour as well), but I promise there will be some fine tunes to download!

+ Secret Circuits – This Town
Superb indie rock track taken from the Leeds quartet’s debut EP.

+ Goodnight Electric - Teenage Love and Broken Heart
Rodolfo recommends this incredibly catchy and very 80’ies inspired new wave/electro pop tune.

+ Tears Run Rings – Forgotten
J.A., another long time contributor, recommends this brand new single by Tears Run Rings.

+ South Ambulance - Simple Obligation Of A Man
The Swedish 5-piece has a new EP out on Indicater Records.

Exchange your email for excellent new track Bad Bad World by Guster. I just did!

Today's picture was found here and used without any permission whatsoever...

On air...

"Look at me I’m"…sitting right here by the computer. Yes. I deliberately changed (removed) the colors, so prevent anyone from seeing how grey my beard is! Plans tonight include listening to some music, reading some mails, watch some music videos and of course check the score in the England vs. Algeria game.

Have read so much about the video for Say No To Love (the new single by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart in case you didn't know) that I have to watch it myself...just like the song itself the video is really lovely, and repeating myself is rather tempting as I'm once again wondering if the band can do anything wrong?
+ Say No To Love

A deluxe edition of Propaganda’s epic debut album A Secret Wish will be out on August 2 (according to the promo mail, though various online shops list the time of release as mid-July) including "the original album plus all of the cassette/vinyl-only mixes on Disc One, complete with guest appearances from David Sylvian, Steve Howe (Yes) and Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17). Disc Two adds a wealth of bonus material including the complete, unexpurgated 20-minute cassette mix of Duel, Trevor Horn's previously unreleased Thousand Eyes... remix of Dr. Mabuse, a works-in-progress version of The Chase and ten-minute 12" mixes of Frozen Faces and p:Machinery". This is really awesome news, as this was one of the albums of my teenage years and I simply cannot wait to get my hands on the double CD box.

As always I'm living in a world of my own, so I was completely unaware of that new single Sunset to Sunset by Spleen United is out on Monday (iTunes).

Not much happening really..........

Shorties...

Things are awfully quiet around here these days. I wish things could be different, but unfortunately that’s how it is right now!

Going to Hamburg tomorrow with 6 of my real thirsty friends. A few train stops aside, this will be my first visit to the German metropol. Have been told that it's a real cool city?

This energetic and immediately catchy track by Rob Cowen and The Dissidents has had a permanent spot on my playlists the past week.
+ Heartache

Check out the solo project Devious Delight by Northern Portrait guitarist Jesper Bonde. It will be quite interesting to follow, if this evolves into something more serious or simply is the first indication of him (co-) writing future Northern Portrait songs.

Please vote for the excellent Cause & Effect remix (entry no. 65) in the remix contest for Andy Bell's upcoming single Say What You Want!.

Following a string of EP releases Tower of Foil has finally released a debut album. Named Driving North and available at CD Baby. The album can be streamed at Last.fm. or download the four promo tracks for free.
+ Shaping The Sky

Two brand new tracks by cool Swedish duo Ostrich can now be streamed at Myspace.

Mailbox cleaning (once again)...

One of the consequences of suddenly becoming all serious this week and write about that The Radio Dept concert and, what you could perhaps call, Oliver North Boy Choir gossip is that the mailbox has had perfect conditions for growing out of control. So now it’s high time to once again bring out the brooms and start sweeping.

+ Under Byen - Alt Er Tabt
The new album Alt Er Tabt by Under Byen has now been released in the US, so the PR machine is rolling. Still trying to make up my mind whether or not I actually like this band!

+ Plushgun - Mixtapes (Buffetlibre Remix)
The original version is part of the Buffetlibre Peace project.

+ Francois Peglau - God & the unconscious want me dead!
+ Francois Peglau - Everybody loves me
The Peruvian/Argentinean/French (now in London residing) socio dramatic pop singer-/songwriter is back with a couple of nice new songs.

"Old" favorites OMD will be touring Europe in November. Pretty sad to see that no Danish date is included especially since the original (or "classic") line-up is back together, because when I saw the band way back in 1993 it basically consisted of just Andy McCluskey.

Blah blah blah...

Wife's out, kids are sleeping, but no beer tonight as it is Tuesday evening. Mailbox is jammed and there are plenty of blogs to check out. Hopefully something interesting will pop up?

Ivan has written a rather entertaining post on his trip to All Tomorrow's Parties. My short term memory is a joke, as I had completely forgotten our talk about favorite Mew songs. But I do believe we came to the conclusion that Mica is by far their best?

Indie MP3 reviews Criminal Art Lovers. "...we surely need another Smiths to send us blazing into the next decade..."!!

Don't know how many times I've written about that jammed mailbox of mine. But it's true and sometimes means that I forget something I should have posted a long time ago! This includes this Live Foel Session version of Victoria by the Andrew Boland fronted Carnations. Tracks from The Union EP can be streamed at Myspace, but information on a possible release is sparse.
+ Victoria (Live Foel Session)

NY duo The Ropes will release their 3-track Love is a Chain Store EP on December 15 using the well-known "pay what you want" model. This is great stuff. Don't know what else to say!
+ Love is a Chain Store

Mail promoting Kylie Minogue...delete...

Soundpool (sort of) mixes disco and shoegaze on their forthcoming 7" single But It's So.
+ But It's So

A secret beer...

This one sounds familiar. Wife’s out, the kids are sleeping, the mailbox is bursting (or just about to) and I’ve found a beer in the fridge. And no; the post title certainly isn’t meant to be a joke, as all information on the beer label (enlarge the photo and perhaps you'll be able to see that yourself) has been printed using the Braille system. The beer has therefore been given the name "blindeøl", so calling it a “secret beer” can't be completely wrong? But as funny and interesting this might be, I'm afraid that it also means that my only option is to learn the system, if I want to know exactly what it is I’m drinking. Lazy as I am, I’m probably not going to bother, so I'll just drink and (hopefully) enjoy it. Definitely worth mentioning is that for every sold beer the brewery will donate 2 DKK to Dansk Blindesamfund....

SuperTroels, who hasn’t been using that alias for quite some time and instead preferred his real name Troels Abrahamsen, offers “a near final version” of new track Swaat as a free download. The final version will be included on his forthcoming album BLCK.
+ Swaat

Speaking of Troels, I was wondering if there was any news on VETO? Last year’s album Crushing Digits was monster, so any sign of a follow-up being in the making would be classified as "great news". But there was no information to be found or at least I couldn't find it. Instead this oldie, which always is worth sharing…
+ You Are A Knife

Did you download your copy of the Bodebrixen album? If you need to be convinced why you should even bother, I strongly recommend you check out this lovely pop gem. Unless of course you're not at all prepared to be charmed off your feet!
+ Shone

Here's a real nice one from the inbox. It has already been featured by a number of blogs, so I'm taking the easy path here and letting the music speak for itself!
+ Loch Lomond - Wax and Wire

I don’t know how many times I’ve written this before, but I’ll never be a fan of remixes. More often than not the only thing a remix does is ruining the original track and I’ve never fully understood the purpose of this! The few remixes adding something to the original or at least being “listenable alternatives” are few and far between, but whenever I stumble upon one of those, I guess it’s somehow my “duty” to post it. And this recent remix of the Phoenix track Fences by Son Green definitely falls under the “listenable” category!
+ Fences (Son Green Remix)

Various...

I've promised myself that I will not start whining or complaining about small insignificant things in today's post. Though I do suspect that blogging will be less interesting that way, as words just seem to come more easily to you, when you're pissed off. Luckily my computer is a reliable ally and does it's best to prevent me from keeping my promise, as it is unusual slow today. I mean it normally operates at a pace which wouldn't even impress a snail, but somehow it has found a way to be even slower today. This actually impresses me quite a lot, as something this slow would normally accept its destiny and simply roll over and die! But from time to time it does show signs of life and allow me to type a few words, so maybe (or maybe not) I'll be able to add to this...

J.A. just mailed a reminder that the new Bodebrixen album is free to download from the band's webpage. Thank you and shame on me for forgetting! The bitrate is a measly 128, but should be plenty to convince you whether or not the album is worth buying! So far it has been downloading for half an hour, so things really are slow around here today!
+ Keychain

And whenever things get back to normal, I'm definitely going to download the rest of the Hold It Close album by Canadian electro pop artist Digits. Just to find out if the rest can possibly be as fine as these two promo tracks!
+ Monster
+ Nonstop

Saturday evening...

This has a somewhat familiar ring to it I guess? Wife’s out, the kids are sleeping and I’ve just found a cold beer in the fridge. So time to hear some music, read plenty of mails and check a few blogs.

Just found a mail from Song, by Toad Records telling about the release of the Meursault EP Nothing Broke. Released in April, so hardly news anymore, but since this is my blog, who’s there to stop me from mentioning anything that’s new to me? The acoustic EP is said to be “a little on the morose side”, but we all like being a little miserable from time to time. Don’t we? No matter what; promo (and title) track Nothing Broke is an absolute beauty!
+ Nothing Broke

Chris doesn’t seem to think all that highly of Britney Spears and I find it real difficult to blame him. But why does he hate tigers so much that he wants them to meet her (I doubt very much that they'd even bother having her for dinner)?

Note to self. Need to listen more to Brooklyn band The Library! If you want to beat me to it, the band's 7 track debut album The Life and Times of Rosa Lee is a free download.
+ TomKat
+ The Life and Times of Rosa Lee

Chromewaves has once again cost me a few quid. This time I was somehow convinced that the only proper decision would be to order the debut album xx by UK quartet The xx.
+ Basic Space

Hmmm. Most of the music I've downloaded today has been not just good, but real quality stuff. That's quite nice for a change. But great songs often get extensive listens, which then detracts your attention from potential thing to feature in a post. (Probably my backward way of saying that today's post is a lot shorter than I hoped it would be, thanks to the fine things I've come across.)

New Aerial single All Refrain is the next in line of great things tonight. It's catchy, haunting and a little bit noisy, which to me is a close to perfect combination. From the band's third album Put it this way in headlines that will be out on Nomethod Records some time this fall.
+ All Refrain

That was it I'm afraid. Have a great Sunday!

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?