Aching and tired...

Today is not a good day. Despite visiting (and getting treatment) the chiropractor 4 times the past 8 days, my back is still in a lot of pain. It is of course getting better, but at a frustratingly slow pace and I’m seriously afraid that it will take quite a while before I’m back to “normal”. And being out with the boys Saturday night and having far too much to drink and far too little sleep, hasn’t done me any good either.

Oh well. After all this blog is supposed to be about music, so I suggest we switch our focus to that topic instead. Doubt that anyone will mind?

Sweden’s Bedroom Eyes released their debut album The Long Wait Champion last week. As expected the album is full of nice pop songs, but since 7 of the tracks were included on the first two EP’s, there’s not all that much new to discover here.
+ Motorcycle Daydream

Speaking of lovely pop music; The Comeback EP by Germans Brideshead will be out on Shelflife Records on September 14.
+ The World Stopped Turning

The 13 minute and 22 seconds long The First of Many Dreams about Monsters is a new and free to download track by Oxford band Spring Offensive. The concept is definitely interesting, but not really sure if it will ever win me over.

I was both pleased and surprised to hear this one on national radio yesterday afternoon.

This and That plus some That and This...

Been really busy at work the past couple of days, as I needed to prepare various materials for, what turned-out to be, a lengthy meeting yesterday. I’ve said it before and certainly don’t mind repeating it; I hate (H A T E) when the inferior things in life (work) start interfering with the important stuff (music and blogging). But work pays the bills, so I guess one has to give it top priority every now and then.

This is old news already, but I still believe it is worth mentioning that Green Day will finally follow-up American Idiot, as 21st Century Breakdown will be out in May. American Idiot was really nothing less than absolutely fantastic, but nonetheless I’ve decided to tone down my expectations to a very minimum, as those “risk of getting hugely disappointed” signs are out!
+ American Idiot (via Better Propaganda in case some nitpicker will argue that I'm not allowed to post it)

Jonas Jonsson, a.k.a. the man behind superb Swedish one-man project Bedroom Eyes, is currently spending lots of time in Norway recording a debut album. Apparently the location of the studio Ocean Sound Recordings is very scenic, so hopefully this will influence both the songwriting and the production. No words on when the album will be out or who’s expected to release it, though one could suspect that he plans to do it himself. The two previously released 4-track EP’s Valentine Vacancy and Embrace In Stereo are still free to download from the official webpage.
+ Motorcycle Daydream (Embrace In Stereo)
+ Norwegian Pop (Valentine Vacancy)

Still working on getting into the newly released Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. album by Faunts. I'll refrain from saying that I'm disappointed, as I'm not sure what my expectations really were. Though I probably didn't anticipate this to be something requiring time and work?
+ Feel.Love.Thinking.Of (Mexicans with Guns Remix)

Play People’s 7” vinyl single featuring the immensely catchy Goes Out will finally be out on Cloudberry Records on February 28. The band sorts of celebrate this by adding the brand new and equally catchy track Feel Good to their Myspace player. Streaming only I’m afraid.
+ Goes Out

More tonight... I hope!

Bedroom Eyes - New releases

Today is quite a day for Swedish one-man band Bedroom Eyes. The three track single Hand-In-Hand Grenade is released on the American indie label Cloudberry Records (100 hand-numbered CD-r copies are made) and a new four track EP (including two tracks of the aforementioned single) called Valentine Vacancy is available as a free download from the band's webpage. I strongly recommend that you give it a listen (and you really should listen to the excellent Embrace In Stereo EP as well), as this is charming, catchy and gorgeous Swedish indie pop at its very best! You know - violins, trumpets, handclaps, jangling guitars and some melody lines that will refuse to leave your head.
+ Hand-In-Hand Grenade
+ (Here's One for You) Underdog

J.A. Recommends!

This is getting more and more "insane". The flow of recommendations from J.A. just keeps growing, and I'm continuously baffled by the great quality of the songs and artists. I have no idea how he's able to keep finding new stuff, but he's sure damn good at it! Unfortunately it's virtually impossible to give each band a decent description/introduction (after all this is not a full-time job!), so instead I've decided to post the complete list of artists (plus a few songs) from J.A.'s recent mail and add a few of my thoughts during the day.

+ Odgens - Face The Time
Already posted by Peter and labeled "the German answer to Oasis".

+ Bedroom Eyes - Blueprint for Departure + The Skywriter
"Just" another Swedish indie pop band. We all should know by now what that means! Irresistible and catchy pop songs! Both tracks are from the 2006 EP Embrace In Stereo.

+ Violet Elegy - Fashionistas
Laid-back and catchy electronic pop song, by this Swedish 5-piece.

+ MICHAEL - Heard You Say
How do you describe music like this? Euro-disco/indie/electronic/pop/dance? No clue, but it's really good!!

+ Prego - I Know
UK band sounding a bit like Interpol flirting with shoegaze.

+ Surrounded - Safe Tomorrow Sun + On Top Of The World (remix)
Two really nice (and unreleased) tracks by this Swedish band that has been compared to Mercury Rev and Grandaddy. 3 other unreleased tracks can be found here, and once you've listen to them, it's really difficult to understand that no label is prepared to sign them (read more)!

+ Ikons - Do It Right
Swedish band sounding like a noisy version of The Raveonettes.

+ Bellaparker - The Things We Say
Really great track by this Texas indie rock band that lists the usual suspects (Blur, The Smiths, New Order, Pixies etc.) among its influences.

+ Tinker - Revealed
Finnish band inspired by Mew, Kashmir etc., and well worth a listen!!!

+ This Vision - Young Hearts
Synths and a drum machines are the basic ingredients, when this fine Swedish trio creates music.