At the beginning of the learning curve...

Wonder if I’ll ever learn. Spending Saturday night drinking and dancing, and not going to bed until 3 AM takes it toll on an old man like me. Problem is that once I have completely recovered; only the fond memories and the funny picture (I do look goofy I know) will remain. Long forgotten are the hangovers and the way I felt the following Monday morning when going to work. So I guess I can answer the question myself; NO; I will never learn. And a fun time we had Saturday night going to a birthday party. The jukebox was really crappy. It took ages in-between songs, you never knew if the songs you had ordered would ever be played and the selection of CD’s was downright horrible. But somehow the dancefloor was packed all night, so something tells me that it wasn’t that bad after all? Or maybe people aren’t that picky about music, when partying? I even spent an interesting half hour discussing music with some poor soul, who didn’t knew what was coming, when I asked him about music he’s playing (he’s a musician). Hopefully he didn’t feel that much under siege, and I actually thought it was quite an interesting talk, where among topics we discussed the local venue, the future of the music business, promotion, concerts vs. CD sales and of course my favorite "is music tangible or intangible?". But there’ll be no parties for the next few weeks, which should give me plenty of time to recover!

More than once have I labeled Mancunian quartet Kni9hts "the best unsigned band in the world". Now the band is no more! Instead say hello to The Number, which is the new name for the exact same constellation. I’ve always thought that Kni9hts was a pretty cool and (more importantly) rather unique band name, which made google searches etc. much easier. The Number definitely will generate a slightly different “number” of google matches. Haven’t seen any explanations for this sudden change of name, so your guess is as good as any. The back catalogue, which consists of 16 terrific demo tracks, is still free to download from (what once was) the official webpage.
+ Coastal
+ Jolan District
+ Golden Triangle

Probably had nothing to do with my whining, but it seems like that the Ruined by Martin debut concert won’t happen on April 25 after all. A new date has been mentioned, but I’ll refrain from posting anything until it has been verified. But at least chances are better that I’ll be able to make it on that new date.
+ Burn The Sun

As soon as I had mentioned that Tower of Foil was recording a full length album, the band announced that it has been signed by Series Two Records. The debut album is scheduled for release sometime during 2009.
+ Faster Than You Eye

One Weekly Gun has published his second song of 2009.
+ This Mean Tweeter

Feeling better...

though not as great as I hoped I would. But still fine enough to continue the catching up I began last week.

I have a really soft spot for Swedish quartet (one-man project?) Tower of Foil and new freebie single Everlasting is yet another quiet and lovely piano dominated piece. And if you don’t know this already, the entire back catalogue (well almost) is free to download from the band's webpage as well!
+ Everlasting

UK quartet Kni9hts is (in my humble opinion of course) one of the best unsigned bands in the world and new track Abyss does nothing to change my opinion. This is another band giving away the back catalogue for free and one band that should have been signed ages ago!
+ Abyss

Those music playing Playmobil figures calling themselves Play People have recorded a new track and like the ones before it's a infectious little pop tune. And after all it does seem like that there were some truth to those Cloudberry Records rumors I started a while back.
+ Square One

Ola of Moonbabies has produced the excellent new track Istanbul by Emerald Park and at times one can be lead to believe that it's a new track by Moonbabies rather than an Emerald Park track. But does it really matter when it's this great? Free to download as it's featured on the afmusic Various Artists - 25 sampler.
+ Istanbul

4 songs...

I've mentioned Manchester quartet Kni9hts several times before in the blog and I'll continue doing so as I honestly believe that this must be the best unsigned band in the world today. Despite all my worries the band itself seems very confident that they will be signed any day soon and why shouldn't they be that? All of the 12 demo tracks (that's already an album worth of songs) I've heard so far are just excellent and sounds like something Doves would have been proud of recording! Below what I believe is a new demo track.
+ Day of the Dove

Indonesian quartet Sunny Summer Day must be the nicest band on the planet. The band members are always friendly and always appreciating the interest and blog mentioning. Add to this the charming indie pop the band creates, and you cannot help simply loving this band!
+ Blue Light Pollution

Finally the mere result of a few hours spent the other day listening to songs found in the mailbox. Lots and lots of garbage and the only decent ones were the two tracks posted below. Both of them rock along nicely, so they are definitely worth a listen, though I'm still baffled by the low quality of the rest of the stuff.
+ Dog Day - Oh Dead Life
+ The Forms - Knowledge in Hand

KNI9HTS - 3 new demos...

KNI9HTS is one of those bands that constantly manage to fly well below the radar, despite writing excellent songs. I've been following this UK indie rock quartet for some time now and I believe this must be (at least) the third batch of demos from the band. Back then (April last year) when I listened to the band for the first time (what I believe/guess must have been "batch 1"), I was certain that the band would be signed any day, but for whatever reason the band remains parked in the waiting line. And unfortunately I somehow question that the new songs will do anything to change this! Oh no - not because the new songs aren't any good. They are just as great as the previous stuff, but if those songs couldn't get them signed, then why and how would the new ones? The band still lists several bands/artists as the main influences (from Simon & Garfunkel to Nirvana), but on these 3 tracks I do hear a lot of Doves (which happens to be one of my favorite bands), with some additional inspiration from bands like Puressence, R.E.M. and U2.
+ Golden Triangle

+ Death Of Me
+ The Number

Myspace updates...

Here are some of the comments and news I have received over at Myspace the past week:

Song To The Siren will release their 3rd EP called A Machine Like Me tomorrow.
+ These Days

Bahnhof has shot a video for the first single Speed from the debut album Reverse. The band has also been so kind to send me a copy of the album, and so far I'm really enjoying it!



Mushi wants a little help picking his next single. Go there and leave your vote.

Excellent Florida band The Monday Photo promises to have some new songs ready very soon.
+ Fall

And so does equally great UK band Kni9hts.
+ Coastal

Port Largo has recorded a fine new version of Breakdown In Fiction produced by Carsten Heller (Nephew, Spleen United etc.). I'm unsuccessfully pushing for a free download, but will keep you posted if anything happens.

kni9hts

Brilliant (but for unknown reasons, still unsigned) band kni9hts has uploaded 4 new tunes to the band's Myspace profile. This Manchester quartet is quickly emerging as one of my favorite new bands of the year and if you're a regular visitor to this blog, you're probably already familiar with the band, as I've featured it several times before. With these 4 new tracks the band has once again showed their talent for writing amazingly fine songs (these are little gems). Musically the band is located somewhere in the indie/alternative pop genre, getting inspiration from well-known bands like Doves, Puressence etc. Isn't it time to change that unsigned status?
+ Robots
+ Bogota
+ Racer Racer