Shorts...

Admittedly things are not running as smoothly around here (and by that, I do mean the blog) as one could wish, but work, travelling, family and life in general is taking its toll. So be it and really nothing I can (or want to) change.

Still room for music and here a few quick recommendations.

First single Leave Your Body Behind You from Richard Hawley’s recent album Standing At The Sky’s Edge has been made free to download. Grab it, love it and then go buy the album. Sometimes life can be real simple!


Courtesy of Soliti Records the entire All Blackshirts To Me album by Cats On Fire can now be streamed from SoundCloud (for one week only). First listen pretty much blew me away…wonder what a few more listens will do!


The Boombox Hearts will release a new single called 100 (The Latest Flame) on (approx.) 22 June. I’ve had the privilege to give it a few advance listens and in a few words the song is not so sad (as one would expect), really catchy and totally awesome!

Lovebugs shares this lovely acoustic version of the track Truth Is.

A few empty waves...

Go to SoundCloud (or grab it below) and download a new track from the forthcoming Cats on Fire album All Black Shirts To Me. It's brilliant (the song)...of course it is!
+ A Few Empty Waves

My sense of pride...

Exactly what one wants to find in the inbox on a cold December morning...check out this brand new track from Finland's Cats on fire. Gorgeously catchy guitar pop with Morrissey-inspired vocals...yummy! New album is expected out in the spring of 2012 through Soliti.
+ My Sense of Pride (via SoundCloud)

Cats On Fire : My Sense Of Pride by Soliti

Shorties...

Not good at all with words these days.

Jens Lekman will be playing at Lille Vega on August 9. A ticket has (of course) been secured.
+ The Opposite of Hallelujah

And White Lies will be playing at the same venue on June 3, but tickets sold out in no time earlier today. Saw them last year and thought they were pretty good, but think I will await a sophomore release, before considering seeing them again.
+ Death

New 20 track compilation Dealing in Antiques from Cats on Fire will be out on Matinée Recordings some time later this month. Promo track is this intriguing cover version of Your Woman.
+ Your Woman (White Town cover)

Super lovely UK indie pop duo The Cavalcade is planning to release their debut album Many Moons this summer. Several songs can be streamed at Myspace.
+ Meet You In The Rain

The Matinée Grand Prix...

The Northern Portrait debut wasn’t the only album included in that parcel I received from Matinée Recordings on New Year’s Eve, and though I make sure to get my daily dose of Criminal Art Lovers it’s high time to listen to the rest of the contents. First “pit stop” is the compilation The Matinée Grand Prix, which contains 11 brand new recordings by some of the label’s finest. Normally I shy away from these kind of releases, as the quality of the entries often vary at little too much for my liking (bands seem to be "saving" their best efforts for their own releases). But be it the new track by Northern Portrait (which of course is downright wonderful) or the last song (ever?) recorded by The Lucksmiths, there really doesn’t seem to be one weak moments on this one. The Strawberry Whiplash contribution is exactly as noisy as expected, The Electric Pop Group shows that the “pop” is there for a reason, Clay Hips does indeed deliver their best Pet Shop Boys impression and on it goes! So basically what I’m saying is that “Grand Prix” is an absolutely amazing collection of indie pop tunes and darn close to being the perfect gateway to the genre as well as the Matinée roster.
+ Simpático - Australian Idle
+ Cats on Fire - The Hague

Blogging...

Well someone corrected me a while back, so I’m not going to name this post ”live blogging”. Though in my small world “live blogging” is what I’m going to do for the next couple of hours. Once again the wife is out and the kids are (almost) sleeping. And once again there are lots of new stuff to listen to and things to write about. So between 9 pm CET and 11. pm CET I’ll be right here behind the screen and if you leave a comment, send a mail or twitter me, there might even be an outside chance (or perhaps even better than that) of getting a reply. As always when it comes to these kind of posts; quantity is far more important than quality, though I do promise that I will run the occasional spelling/grammar check to exclude the worst errors. Maybe I should stick to tradition and have a beer as well?

The past week I’ve been giving the forthcoming debut album Everything by Swedish duo Winding Stairs a number of listens. Especially the album opener Shadow Stripes has left quite an impression. I mean; when you wake up in the middle of the night and without really knowing it start humming the song, they must be doing something right? According to the band’s myspace the album was released yesterday, but not sure how you buy it.
+ Shadow Stripes

Time for a beer! Didn't take long getting thirsty! Once again it's a Dunkel Bock from our local brewery, and it has to be one of the best beers in the world! Obviously I'm biased, but I've spent a rather small fortune on imported beers the past ten years, so I know a great beer, when I see one. Oh - make that "taste one".

That The Lucksmiths are breaking up is old news already. But despite the splitting up thing, they’ll continue their ongoing tour, which will bring the band to Debaser in Malmø on June 27. Since Malmø is less than an hour and a half away by train from where I live, I really should go and bade them a last farewell. Shouldn’t I?
+ Up With The Sun

No way that I’m watching the Eurovision Song Contest tonight. The Danish entry was co-written by Ronan Keating. Nuff’ said!

Strange...Just checked the Debaser calendar, and it doesn't seem like there will be any concert there June 27. However both the band's myspace and webpage list the concert, so I guess we'll have to wait and see what will happen?

Still absorbing the news of The Lucksmiths breaking up the release of the second album Our Temperance Movement by Cats on Fire couldn’t have been timed much better! So far I’ve only listened to these two sampler tracks, but in a way it’s very tempting to start proclaiming “the king is dead; long live the king”.
+ Horoscope
+ Letters From a Voyage to Sweden

Currently uploading a few files, which gives me the chance getting this off my chest. Boxstr.com really, really pisses me off big time! The message “Boxstr.com is currently being updated and will be back online soon” has been up for the past 36 hours, which isn’t exactly the kind of service I expected to be paying for!

Hopefully you have already checked the Northern Portrait videos I posted earlier today! I’ve always suspected that this band would be an excellent live act, and today my assumption was verified by Indie MP3.

I’m really enjoying the new and very soon to be released Four Winds album by Lightning Seeds. But I just cannot understand why he (they) decided to release it as a Lightning Seeds album instead of a follow-up to the Ian Broudie solo album Tales Told. Four Winds is in every aspect far more related to Tales Told than anything ever released by Lightning Seeds. Suspect that it has something to do with the fact that selling an album under the Lightning Seeds alias is a whole lot easier than as Ian Broudie solo. But why didn’t they include Three Lions as a bonus track then? Four Winds is still a fine album no matter the name of the artist!

2nd album Modest Sensation by Sweden's Forest & Crispian will be out on Slow Shark Records on Monday (May 18). If you happen to be in Copenhagen the release party will take place at Jolene's on Wednesday (May 20), and if you show up at 6 pm there will be free beers. The band will hit the stage at 9 pm and I'd definitely be there if family obligations weren't holding me back. Opening track Benzair (assume it's named after this lady) sounds really, really promising!
+ Benazir

New fine track Collecteur Solaire by Swedish synthpop duo Ostrich is streaming at Myspace. No other news, so I assume that Press Hold will still be the first official release by the band!

Not quite 11 pm CET yet. But that'll be all for tonight!