As if anyone cares...

I'm back from a great trip to the beautiful country of mountains, lakes, cows AND snow. Our hotel was perfect; child friendly and with a fabulous view of the mountains. And any hotel giving the guests free access to computer and internet is my kind of hotel! Highlights included meeting Chris again (he's still the nicest guy), a boat trip on the Vierwalstättersee, a visit to Luzern, taking Europe's longest Gondelbahn to Männlichen, enjoying the view from Jungfraujoch (Top of Europe), visiting the cities Thun and Bern, buying a new pair of hiking shoes in Grindelwald, trying the The Pfingstegg toboggan run and hearing the noise at Trümmelbach Waterfalls.

Off to Switzerland...

Tomorrow the 3 girls and I will pack the bags and head off to Switzerland for a week's holiday. Our (few) plans for the 7 days include breathing some fresh mountain air, eating (a lot of) chocolate, drinking beers, doing a bit of yodeling and (if my wife allows me to) buying a pair of lederhosen! Oh well - yodeling and lederhosen are longshots, but a much anticipated rendezvous with Chris on Sunday has been planned for some time now, and needless to say I'm very much looking forward to seeing him again (it's been almost 4 years since our last encounter)! Hopefully you all know by now that Chris (who is Swiss) is the author of the lovely blog Music Of The Moment and the recently published Music From Denmark? Especially his great knowledge on Danish music and fine list of Danish artists in the latter blog has made it painfully clear, that I don't even know a handful of Swiss bands. Shame on me or is it because there aren't any (or that many) good bands from the country of beautiful mountains and lakes? Hopefully it's my fault entirely, because recently I found this really fine one by Swiss duo Division Kent in my mailbox. So hopefully a little search will reveal that there are several other interesting Swiss bands worth checking out. Will add that to my "to-do list" upon my return...
+ She's Going Places

Snake and Jet’s Amazing Bullit Band...

The other day when I received a mail from the Danish label Crunchy Frog, I couldn't help thinking that it was the first time ever that I had been contacted by one of the established Danish labels asking me to post a track by one of their bands. Actually the label has contacted a few other Danish blogs as well, so hopefully this indicates that better and more interesting (perhaps even "cooperative") times are ahead?
The track in question is the recent (debut?) single X-Ray by duo Snake and Jet’s Amazing Bullit Band taken from the band's debut album X-Ray Spirit, which will be released on Monday. I've had the opportunity to listen to most of the album and have to admit that this is really fascinating stuff, though it's quite difficult to label (in the press material the close to perfect description "a merger of genres" is used). If you spend a few minutes listening to X-Ray you'll hear a song that at the same time is danceable, noisy, haunting and melodic with lots of pounding drums, distorted guitars and the never unfashionable 60's inspired hammond organ. I guess that a description like this only makes it all more intriguing, so why no stop reading and instead do yourself a favour and check it out? It's actually pretty damn cool! The track has been well-received by the radio listeners and entered the independent (and listener-voted) chart Det Elektriske Barometer at no. 2 last week. On a sidenote I thinks its' quite funny/peculiar that one of the band members (Thomas) used to be in El Video that I mentioned the other day.
+ X-Ray

Below the video created by Mary&Mary.

Ingenting on a Thursday...

2 days ago I couldn't think of anything to post. A day off yesterday certainly took care of that problem, so today there's a little more to tell!

First of all and most importantly; The video for the Kent single Ingenting is here and a weird one it is. The band does seem to have some kind of passion for animals?


The Williams Blakes is heading for Sweden (Hultsfred to be more specific) where the band will record their debut album. Seems like the album will be called Wayne Coyne, but it's obviously far too early to tell when it's going to be released and if it's actually going to be called just that. Whenever it's ready it will be released on new Danish label Speed Of Sound.
+ The Reality (link taken down)

The DAMPFBAHN! track All Is Swell is currently being remixed to pieces by various friends, DJs and other music freaks in general. I'm not sure how many different versions will be the final result of this project, but "rumours" tell that there will be some really weird, funny and interesting ones among them! I believe that the intention is that all the mixes will all be released/compiled on the same CD at some point (please correct me if I'm wrong!). The first appetizer - a mix done by Portuguese DJ Vitor Silveira - is now available to download for free. Another mix can be streamed here.
+ All Is Swell (All Is Indeed Swell Enough For A Remix)

I've just received the message that a promo of the Hot Springs album Volcano should arrive in my mailbox any day soon. If the rest of the album sounds like this first sample track, it could very well be a quite interesting rock thing!
+ Headrush

Division Day has recorded an excellent cover version of my favorite Depeche Mode track Enjoy The Silence. It's pretty impossible screwing this track up (not saying that the band is even close to doing that), and I really like this almost acoustic approach. Once a week the band's label Eenie Meenie Records is sending out remixes and cover songs, so hopefully more interesting stuff is on the way?
+ Enjoy The Silence

If you're tired of me constantly promoting the tracks Poetry Boy and Slave To Your Charms, it's now possible to stream a brand new one by Kind of girl over at the band's EPK.

Via fine Danish blog emodreng & indiepige comes word on the new Oliver North Boy Choir video for Baby Cool. Gotta love this band!

Posting for the sake of posting...

Have absolutely nothing to say, so instead here's a couple of songs for you...

+ Pay TV - Fashion Report
From the mailbox. The title track from the new EP by this Swedish all female electro/glam/pop/disco trio. Not groundbreaking, but pretty nice and absolutely harmless.

+ El Video - A Day Off
I'm taking a day off from work tomorrow, so I thought this was the perfect track to post! And a great one it is by this Danish alternative rock band.

Music From Denmark...

Read more about the great new initiative by Chris!

Monday Cleaning...

This morning I'm emptying the mailbox and listening my way through some of the MP3's that recently have been sent my way. Below I've posted some of the listenable ones (including a few words from the press material):

+ Pratique - Death For Blushing Rogue
"Formed this year, they set to creating the most melodic bass lines this side of disco, punchy, mathematical beats, and brilliant brit-pop inspired guitar work." Energetic. Very energetic!

+ Sick of Sarah - Bittersweet
"...an all-female band with catchy hooks, unique lyrics, and thoughtful, well-crafted music." Catchy hooks.....

+ Plushgun - Just Impolite
"...mix of indie rock sound with high-voltage electronic backbeats." I really like this one!

+ Nathan Holscher - Hard, High and Blue
"Working in the medium of acoustic Folk, yet transcending it within his smoky songwriting, Holscher paints vivid pictures within his songs, which are emotionally direct in their storytelling but spectral and airy in their sonic construction." Nice americana/rock folk track by US singer/songwriter.

+ Steve Goldberg And The Arch Enemies - Summer's Ending
"...is possibly the most elaborate, orchestrated indie-pop effort Pittsburgh has ever produced." Lovely pop tune.

Kent - Ingenting...

It's not a video, really...

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

Tonight's the night...

Yep - tonight I'm going to see Shout Out Louds & DAYS at The Tivoli in Helsingborg. Despite being a hundred years old, it will be the first time ever that I attend a concert in Sweden. It could be/should be/will be freakin' awesome!
+ Shout Out Louds - Tonight I Have To Leave It
+ Days - Downhill

Yesterday I finally got my hands on the 4 year old demo CD/album Forsidestof til Eftertanke by ENTAKT. It took some begging, some waiting, some foul language and in the end some threats that I was going to send my domestic troops of young rascals into action, before something actually started to happen. But now I have my own copy and since every regular reader of this blog knows that I really love this band, I am obviously delighted to be able to add this small jewel to my music collection. And because I'm totally biased I won't even bother trying to explain how great the CD is!
+ Livets sang går i stå mol (wonderful track)

NY singer/songwriter Spencer Tricker is currently working on a small side project (seems like a lot of those projects are floating around these days) called The Kid Syndicate. He has mailed me two tracks that he describes like this: "One is sort of a cartoon noise-fest about nightclub people and the other one is more like ghosts in a haunted house singing about war." Think I prefer his more laid back solo tracks, though the new ones could be sleepers as they are not without a certain charm!
+ The War
+ Little Red Anorak
+ Altar Blue Boy (solo track)
+ Oblivion (solo track)

Danish weblog Frekvens has picked up the pace and posts news several times a day. And it has been redesigned as well!

It's not secret that I'd like my blog to become widely popular and I've touched this subject a few times before (cannot recall when really). So today I visited a few of the really, really popular music blogs to see what's happening there and maybe even find a few interesting topics I could "borrow" to post in this blog (and even more importantly try to understand WHY they are so popular). Now that I've finished my "tour" I've come to the conclusion that I have these two options:
1. I can change my strategy and start to post news, gossip and maybe even a few songs by useless artists like Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Posh (just gossip), Paris Hilton (even more gossip), RW and JT, as well as every single artist and celebrity showing up at the MTV Video Music Awards.
2. Do absolutely nothing and continue blogging in obscurity!

Which option do you want me to pick?