Me Me Me...

Here’s a track found in a mail some time ago, which I instantly liked so much that I had to ask for permission to share it. I received that permission within hours, but for whatever odd reason I have never gotten around to actually posting it. Then Saturday I sort of got a “in your face” reminder, as the song was aired on national radio, so I made a vow that it would be included in my next post, before the song becomes old news. The song in question is the first single Me Me Me from Danish quartet Lars and The Hands of Light, and it’s a quite laid back, acoustic dominated track with a real catching chorus. Name of frontman Lars Vognstrup probably should have rung a bell (shame on me for my ignorance I guess), but he happens to be an ex-Wolfkin and Money Your Love band member, so he’s hardly a newcomer to the business. The band is the most recent band signed by Crunchy Frog and a debut album is in the making with an expected release date some time this fall.
+ Me Me Me (download link removed)

The reviews of the new Jong Pang album Love, which was released yesterday, are somewhat lukewarm, but since The William Blakes frontman Kristian Leth insists that this is the best album of the year, it has now been ordered, as I obviously don't want to risk missing out on something great.
+ Liar Liar

Chromewaves is the grand cru among music blogs and although the much hyped and talked about duo The Big Pink had been featured on just about every music blog imaginable, it wasn’t until I read this “introduction” that I actually thought it worthwhile checking them out. Truly great stuff and yet another album added to the shopping list.
+ Dominos

The Sky Drops debut album Bourgeois Beat is out today (available from the band's website) and first promo track Swimming With Fishes simply merges the best of indie pop and shoegaze. Without question something that needs to be checked out further.
+ Swimming With Fishes

Dear Unknown Friend...

Spent, I don’t know how many, hours yesterday trying to come up with something clever to write about the sophomore album Dear Unknown Friend from The William Blakes, and came up with exactly nothing. Some wise ass might feel tempted to ask, why this suddenly stops me from posting anything, but trust me when I tell you that the writings yesterday were the worst ever (EVER!). But it’s time to move on, and my summed up thoughts are that this is a surprisingly brilliant album. Surprised because the debut was released less than 11 months ago, which makes you wonder if the band’s fountain of creativity will ever run dry? Focus is still on writing catchy pop songs and they remain really damn good at just that. But at the same time the band is not afraid of constantly exploring new options, which sort of verifies the “playfulness” you sense underneath it all. Probably perfectly illustrated by the last two tracks on the album, which, with dreamy and lengthy instrumental parts, are more experimental (or different at least) than anything on the debut. Perhaps partially influenced by Bo Rande (of Blue Foundation) being added as the fourth band member? One can only guess, and hopefully the third album (which we all expect will be due around this time next year) will be an equally interesting combination of the proven and unproven.
+ Like a Dream (promo track suggested by the band)

Didn’t pay much attention to last year's debut album Bright White Light by Danish solo artist Jong Pang, but the promo track Liar Liar from his forthcoming album Love is definitely worth a listening. It’s pounding, insisting, haunting and so very irresistible.
+ Liar Liar

A Classic Education has recorded a lovely English version of Toi; a track originally sung by French singer Gilbert Bécaud and featured in the 1965 Italian movie lo la conoscevo bene. I’m a sucker for black and white movies, so please do check out the clip below of the original scene. Truly wonderful and genuine, and so absolutely different from the overblown Hollywood garbage we see these days. The new version by A Classic Education superbly catches the charm and atmosphere of the original and the small details at the very end is pure genius (another reason to watch the clip, if you're interested in knowing what I’m talking about).
+ Toi (Gilbert Bécaud cover)

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