Catching up (sort of), whining, etc. etc. etc...

The important stuff first. Perhaps not important to you, but to me it sure is. And since this is my blog, I make the rules around here. My back is feeling better. Not fantastic. Not great. Not even good. Just better. But better is definitely a whole lot easier to cope with than the mother-f!"#¤%g pain, I experienced only a few days ago.

My unintentional break unfortunately paused my "clean out the mailbox" project, so I'm back at square one with plenty of stuff to delete go through. I don't count the numbers of mails I receive, but it sure exceeds the number of hits to the blog. Amazing thought really!

One band I've been monitoring real close for exactly a year now is UK quartet HUSH! and two weeks ago the band finally doubled the numbers of published tracks...from one to two! New track Cruel is not a world beater like the stunning debut track There's Something In The Stars Tonight, but still a wonderful melodic and catchy pop piece with a fair share of 80's sound added to the mix. The band is currently shooting a video for a forthcoming single (called Blush), so hopefully we won't have to go through another 12 months of wait, before we'll hear new songs!


Rather brilliant Danish singer-songwriter Stærosaurus has a new track out called Under Stranden (translates into "under the beach"), which, being mostly electronic, really doesn't sound that singer-songwriter-like at all. But the track is thoughtful, laid-back, dreamy and pretty, so somehow I do think that it does fit that category pretty well...after all...though who cares anyway? What matters is, whether or not the track is any good. And it most certainly is!


Anyone remember EPO-555? I hope you do! If not, you've either forgotten about or managed to completely miss out on arguably the most interesting Danish indie band of the mid-zeroes. The band split-up following the release of their second album Mafia (or was it later?) and since then the band members have been involved in various other projects (Helsinki Poetry, Oliver North Boy Choir, The Boombox Hearts und so weiter). But recently there has been increased activity on the band's Facebook page and answering the question (not asked by me though) "should one start hoping for news/new stuff", the band replied "don't expect too much, but a little news and some great news as well". Again; not stirring up rumors, just passing on observations...


Still a few things left to write and share, but real life is once again catching up with me, so I better start turning my attention to work. Rounding out today's post with the hilarious tennis themed video for the new Yuck single Middle Sea, which I've previously (in them old, but not so memorable "writing-in-Danish" days) described as simply excellent (and without any doubt, it remains absolutely glorious)...

Anyone remember...

Perhaps you've noticed the new video by Tempomatador I posted earlier today? Tempomatador frontman Mikkel Max used to sing in EPO-555 as well, which has to be one of the most underrated Danish bands ever. But to get to the point...here's an old video by EPO-555, which, though very different musically, just like the Tempomatador one, is slightly weird and highly fascinating! And 8 years on Le Beat's On Fire is still one heck of a song!

x...

I’m sharper than ever! Brought The xx debut album with me to work this morning, so I could give it a few listens. Just forgot to check whether the CD was in the sleeve or still in the CD player. You’ve probably guessed it. The sleeve is here, the CD is at home, which means that there will be no The xx listening for me today.

Still a little bit depressed that I’m going to miss the Crunchy Frog 15 year anniversary party on Saturday. Missing the EPO-555 farewell concert obviously hurts (and probably will for some time), but missing the debut concert of Lars and The Hands of Light feels pretty bad as well.
+ EPO-555 - Hyperschlieb
+ Lars and The Hands of Light - Me Me Me

I’ve had the great fortune today to listen to the forthcoming single Sea of Regrets by I Like Trains and it’s an absolute monster of beauty running for nearly 6 minutes. The single will be released October 12 and is the first single from the band’s second album, which should be out some time early next year. Daily Motion has a (rather poorly sounding) live video of the song.

The Ski Bunny Remix of the forthcoming them:youth single Halo is on constant rotation this afternoon. Just like the previous track F.R.A.N.C.E., which I posted some months ago, the remix of Halo is simply infectious and a much welcomed infusion of energy. The single will be out September 28 on Dirty Boots Records.
+ Halo (Ski Bunny Remix)
+ Halo (video)
+ F.R.A.N.C.E.

Keychain...

Not feeling all that well today so should be interesting to see what today’s post turns out to be like.

Have streamed the four lastbandalive tracks over at BandBase.dk over and over since mentioning the band in yesterday’s post. Still no news on the EP though. Recall seeing lastbandalive at this year’s Start! Festival and how I thought they sounded like “the best band in the world” through the first three or four songs. Unfortunately that impression didn’t last and I don’t think I even stayed and watched the performance till the end. The band will be playing at the Start! Festival after party at PH Caféen in Copenhagen on August 29 and I would be there if I wasn’t going to Lolland for a few days with some of my most childish friends.

Another concert I won’t attend after all is the Crunchy Frog 15 year anniversary party, as I had forgotten that we are going to a birthday party. Unless magic occurs and EPO-555 decides to reform at some later stage, this sadly means no EPO-555 concert for me in this life.

Rikke (Blaa Vinyl) sent a message yesterday appraising La La Naïve and suggesting that I should check out another Danish duo, Bodebrixen, as the two acts are somewhat connected (helping each other out when playing live etc.). I’m aware that I should have checked out the music of Bodebrixen ages ago (there has been some hype), but I’m afraid I opted not to. But luckily Mr. Bode and Mr. Brixen have finally been introduced to me and 10 seconds into the first track I realized that this is something that I’m going to enjoy immensely. Naive indie pop tunes oozing of Swedish influences always seem to be a winning formula and in this case it’s no different as I’m literally blown away. A self-titled album was released last year, but is currently being rerecorded, remixed and will be rereleased (lots of re’s) in October. Sign me up for a copy!
+ Keychain

Rounding out today’s post; Jonas has compiled an extensive list of all (?) references in Entakt lyrics. You definitely need to understand Danish to fully appreciate this “master list”, but not necessarily to enjoy the band’s fine songs.
+ Kunsten af Slippe Taget
+ Orkestret Med Det Blotlagte Skelet

Farewell...?

I’ve been told before that I’m pretty good at stirring up rumors, but this is no such attempt. But when I came across this poster (check the picture) for the Crunchy Frog 15 year anniversary party, I couldn’t help asking if this spells the end of EPO-555? “Afskedskoncert” translates to “farewell concert”, so it’s hardly a rushed conclusion, is it? Obviously the EPO-555 fan in me hopes that this is not the case and that the band will continue to make music; perhaps in a similar fashion as (now disbanded) label mates Oliver North Boy Choir, who never played live and only released music digitally. Anyway I’m seriously thinking of attending this event, as this (apparently) will be my final chance to ever catch EPO-555 live. But as always I need to check my calendar first for any domestic duties!
+ Hyperschlieb

Otherwise great Danish magazine Gaffa reviews and completely rips the Plushgun debut Pins & Panzer to pieces. So to find out where I went wrong (as I recall quite liking it), I’ve been giving the album a few listens today and I happily admits that neither does the album bring anything new to the table nor is Plushgun the second coming of anyone or anything. But I still find the catchy tunes and the album as a whole quite enjoyable, and would have no problem rating it 3 (perhaps even 4) stars out of 6. So what exactly pisses the reviewer off so much that he ends up giving it one lonely star out of the 6 available is rather impossible to tell (the album just seems to annoy him big time)! But perhaps it’s not such a fantastic idea to write a review before you’ve had your morning coffee?
+ Just Impolite

Vesterbro Festival 2008...

This year’s Vesterbro Festival is over and now it’s time to recapture what happened during the 3 intense days of sex, drugs and rock 'n’ roll sun, music, talking and drinking. Plenty of stuff to write, so it might take a couple of days before this post will be finished, so check back every now and then for updates. As usual I didn't bring my camera, so no pictures I'm afraid (thanks a lot to Fiepige for the permission to use this photo of Ginger Ninja).

Thursday
Probably couldn't have started the festival in a better way, than "suffering" through an amazing performance by Cody. "Suffering" as the heat, which was a result of the small venue, the many people, the spotlights and the dark curtains attracting the sun, was almost unbearable. But in spite of the sauna-like conditions, it was a truly wonderful concert by a very talented band and somehow country/folk rock sounds a lot better when the weather is great and the beers are cold. Looks as if the band will not remain one of Denmark's better-kept secrets, as both The National and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy have asked the band to be the supporting act, when they visit Denmark during the summer.

Following the concert I had the fortune to (finally) bump into Ivan of Oliver North Boy Choir, and he kindly introduced me to a few friends including fellow ONBC and EPO-555 band member Mikkel. So the rest of the afternoon we had a few beers, discussed some music, where I among things tried to convince ONBC to play live (no luck), told them that they should start releasing physical albums (no luck), asked for some EPO-555 gossip including the release date of a third album (no luck), and wanted to know the story behind some EPO-555 song titles (finally I had some luck, but I won’t even try putting those explanations in writing).

Back to the music and next in line was a nice little concert by E Bird, though they did look somewhat uncomfortable (shy perhaps?) on stage. And vocally, a little less Bright Eyes inspiration wouldn't hurt.

Following a charming show by country rockers Southern Gothic Tales (with a few Cody band members on stage), there was a huge gap in the program with no interesting acts on for a few hours (though I was told that Monkey Cup Dress should be pretty good), but the weather was still fine and the beers were still cold, so a break from the music wasn't the biggest of problems.

For my part, the last concert of the evening (I once again must confess that my age is catching up with me) was by blog "darlings" BREUMM and they delivered a pretty fine performance in the (now) dark evening. Though I remain a bit puzzled why they opted not to play Ingen Verdens Ting, which I continue to rank among my favorite songs of the year.

Friday
Started the day by watching Mellemblond performing a few songs on one of the smaller venues, but the sound wasn't really good and my friend had to ask me if they were singing in Danish or English. Quite a shame, as the band was recommended to me as a pretty good live act.

So we quickly decided to move on and instead had the pleasure of watching Little Jimmy Reeves play a terrific set inside the atmospheric Øksnehallen. This is not the most complex stuff you'll ever hear, but fronted by Kashmir drummer Asger Techau, the band plays rather straightforward rock music, with the occasional inspiration from his other and better-known band.

Following the concert Asger was selling the band's EP Bring Out The Dogs (buy it here if you like) and my friend and I each bought a copy. He looked surprisingly flattered, when we told him that we had enjoyed the concert and my friend also got the inside story behind the band's name.

A little sun and a beer later, Twins Twins entered the stage, but unfortunately the band failed to impress me. The songwriting is great (no question there), but I guess it is the lack of variation that made the concert rather tedious after a while. But we still stayed and watched the entire set.

Plans were that we were going to see Halph next, but before the band entered the stage, I got a phone call from Northern Portrait front man Stefan, who just happened to be in the neighborhood and he asked if we had time for a small chat and a beer or two.
So for the next hour I had the privilege of speaking to one of Denmark's finest songwriters and among several things I finally got information on some of his previous works, news on concerts, the story behind the single cover, the record deal with Matinée Recordings etc. Some of this will (perhaps) be posted at a later and more appropriate (?) time.

A few minutes to 9 Stefan had to rush away, as he was going to play an acoustic live set (cover songs) at a nearby bar. But before leaving he suggested that we should drop by on our way to Tivoli Gardens (to see Kashmir), as we would be passing right by it. So we did and though he vowed not to do it, he treated us with a small gem, as he played acoustic versions of the two Northern Portrait songs Crazy and What Happens Next. According to Stefan it was the first time that the later was played live, so you can say that we witnessed a world premiere.

Off to Tivoli Gardens, where the plans of attending the Kashmir concert were quickly put to rest, as the length of the queues made us realize that we would be more than lucky to get in before the encore.

Slightly disappointed we went back to the Festival where we strolled around for a while trying to find some interesting bands to give a listen, but with very little luck. So instead we finished the evening at the bar, where Stefan played the third Northern Portrait song of the evening; I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me as well as a smashing version of There She Goes (The La's). Probably the highlight of the weekend, which in fact had very little to do with the Festival!

Saturday
It really wasn't my plan to see Evil Death Machine, but my train was delayed and when I arrived, my friend was sitting in the sun enjoying the band, so we stuck around; and I'm glad we did. Somehow I've always believed that his was an electronica project by EPO-555 member Hans Emil Hansen, which until now has kept me away from listening. But instead I (to my big surprise) found out that the music is a pleasant blend of alternative/indie/electronic pop/rock, so perhaps it's time to give in and give it a decent listen?

Waiting for No and The Maybes to start we spent 10 minutes listening to Danish electronica queen Tilde. But as I've stated a few times before, this is not my favorite genre, so when the sound of the synths suddenly disappeared...we did the same!

The start of No and The Maybes wasn't really anything to write home about, but 10 minutes into the show things somehow got adjusted and from that moment on it became very clear why this indie pop band has recently been signed by A:Larm Music, as the band played a string of catchy pop tunes and gave a charming performance.

Didium and The Black Bonnie Picture has been much hyped the past few months, so my expectations were really high. Normally the hype would mean that a large crowd would be showing up, but strangely it was one of the smallest of the entire festival! Whether this had anything to do with it I don't know, but the show turned out to be quite a disappointment. But as I do like the band's music a lot (their demo's are really great), I'll use the sound at the venue as the explanation for my disappointment and instead I'll be looking forward to the next concert (whenever I get the chance to see them again).

Luckily the last show I got to see at this year's Festival was a real treat. Ginger Ninja delivered one of the most energetic and dynamic concerts I've seen for some time and the four lads really made the most of this opportunity, and proved that they are a great and highly entertaining live act as well as more than capable of writing catchy pop tunes.

Thus ended this year's Festival and as you've probably understood by now, I had a pretty good time. So I've already started looking forward to next year's edition, but as a final remark I hope that they'll return to the original concept, so we'll see fewer of those established mainstream names that no one really (be honest now) cares about!

+ Cody - Just For You
+ Oliver North Boy Choir - Enola Gay
+ EPO-555 - Hyperschlieb
+ E Bird - Everyone Here Is Without A Past
+ BREUMM - Silhuetter (Zvook Mescalin Remix)
+ Little Jimmy Reeves - Romance on Drugs
+ Twins Twins - San Sebastian
+ Northern Portrait - Crazy
+ Evil Death Machine - Sugar In The Baby's Face
+ No and The Maybes - Mouth
+ Didium & The Black Bonnie Picture - The Twisted Way of Blues
+ Ginger Ninja - Stuck In A Rough Stream

Danish shorties...

The One Weekly Gun project continues.
+ We've Got Ours

The Raveonettes clones Death Valley Sleepers has uploaded a new demo track. Now here's a band that I'd really love to see playing at Vesterbro Festival.
+ Death Valley

epo-555 band member Hans Emil remixes the track Centipede under his alias Evil Death Machine.
+ Centipede (Evil Death Machine Remix)

Mew has started working on a new album according to Gaffa.

This and That....

Another one of those posts, where I try to erase as many names as possible from my ever growing "to-do/pending/artists and stuff I have to write about"-list.

Tinkerbell from the not-so-often updated blog Pastries, Peppers and Canals has set-up/started/founded/established (what the heck is the right word here?) The Pastry Club in London. The first concert will take place on February 19 where Danish acts Jong Pang + EPO-555 will be playing live. Don't miss this great event if you happen to be in London on that date.
+ Jong Pang - A House in Heartbeats
+ EPO-555 - Centipede

As much as I'd love to be there, I unfortunately have no chance of attending, but instead I'm hoping that I'll be able to navigate to Lades on next Saturday, where Us With Millions and Waking Life will be playing. Drop me a line if you're planning to go and perhaps you could buy me a beer (though more likely it will be vice versa).
+ Us With Millions - Rosebud
+ Waking Life - The Truth and Me

Thursday, January 31 Yoav will be playing at Lille Vega in Copenhagen. I'm pretty confident that this guy will be huge in a not so distant future, so it might be a good idea marking the calendar.
+ Club Thing

In the car this morning when I was driving to work, I heard Slave To Your Charms by Kind of girl on the radio. Regular readers know that I've been blogging about this band a lot (and I was probably the first blogger to ever feature the band), so I cannot help being just a little bit excited every time the band gets some airplay.
+ Slave To Your Charms

Peter Schallgrenzen has already mentioned this, but it's certainly worth repeating that Danish 5-piece Late Night Venture has uploaded 3 (not 4 as previously mentioned) new tracks from their forthcoming album to Myspace (freebies of course!). The self-titled album was among my favorites of 2006 and my first impression of the new songs is very positive, though they do indicate that we shouldn't expect any major musical changes.
+ Drift in a Slipstream (from the debut album)
+ Love Respect Call

Wonder why...

I’ve often asked myself why I hardly ever receive any mails from local Danish labels trying to promote new Danish releases. All regulars to this blog know about my passion for Danish artists, so I’d be more than happy to post (more or less) anything, if anyone asked! A few times I’ve tried to approach the labels (or artists) myself asking for permission to post a track, but often with little luck. So obviously I’m a bit puzzled (and some might even say frustrated) when I start receiving mails (including free songs to post) from labels promoting releases by Danish artists.
Two recent examples are Lust Lust Lust by The Raveonettes (out in the US on Feb 19, next year) and Mafia by EPO-555 (released in the US in May, this year). Two really fine and highly recommendable albums and obviously I'll do the little I can to help promoting them. But without whining too much, wouldn't I have loved getting those promo mails when the albums were released in Denmark?
+ The Raveonettes - Aly, Walk With Me
+ EPO-555 - Maid in China

Armstrong - Where are you?

Now that former Tour De France winner Bjarne Riis has admitted to the use of EPO, I cannot help wondering where multiple-time winners Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong are hiding. Obviously I don’t know if either was doped during their dominant reign as kings of the most prestigious bike race in the world, but I cannot help being suspicious. Or let me put it like this. What are the odds of you winning 5 or 7 times in a row in any sports, when several of your opponents are cheating? Would you be able to win in poker if everyone else were using marked cards? Could any soccer/football team win The Champions League even once, if the other teams constantly bribed the referees? You get my point – right?

I know this is the exact opposite of the way things normal work in our civilized world, but I seriously suggest that these two guys step forward and somehow prove to all doubters (and I cannot be on my own here) that they were “clean” back in the days, when they were so victorious. And they should do it very soon for their own good as things will only get worse. So far we’ve only seen riders from Denmark and Germany confess, and heard nothing from the Italian, French, Spanish, Dutch and American riders. Eventually some of them will feel the pressure of the truth and admit to some kind of doping abuse. And for every confession cycling fans will become more and more skeptical making it even more difficult for the two legends to step forward. If they cannot prove that everything was fair play (and I very much doubt they can), I strongly urge them to tell the truth, no matter how unpleasant it might be. But why should they? They are ranked among the biggest and best athletes ever and why risk ruining that? But that leaves me with my final question. Who wants to be remembered as the king among cheaters? And the number of cheaters is growing every day...

+ EPO-555 - Le Beat's On Fire & Hyperschlieb