Shorties...

Entakt has announced tour dates in support of the new album. I plan to turn up at Forbrændingen November 7. See you there? Supporting act will be Wolf Lies Down (never heard of them).

The fine Zen Sucker album by Danes Larsen & Furious Jane was released in the US two days ago (October 7). Read my thoughts on the album.
+ A Deathbed Conversation

One Weekly Gun continues to publish new songs (30 new babies so far this year). The most recent one deals with the state of the American economy.
+ Take Me To The Meeting On Time

It's taken at least 5 listens for me to realize that there are in fact a few really fine tracks on the new moi Caprice album. Hopefully this means that the album is a grower.

Scanned through a few promo mails earlier today and noticed the use of the word “infectious” in one of them. And since it’s one of my favorite words, I thought why not give the song a listen. Same Damn Song is by LA duo More Amor and it's, if not infectious then at least, a pretty catchy electronic pop thing.
+ Same Damn Song

Typewriting...

I’ve always wondered why I find it so difficult to resume blogging, whenever I’ve been away from the blog for more than 48 hours. Wouldn’t it instead be more logic if one were highly motivated and jammed with ideas just waiting to be put on paper? Cannot say which scenario makes the most sense, but yesterday I found myself staring haplessly at the keyboard unable to type anything even remotely worth posting in the blog. Instead I wrote a short post for Bandbase (previously known as Mymusic.dk), but I’m not sure when/if it will be published (update: it's been published). Not exactly Pulitzer Prize material. Finally, just to build the illusion that this is a kind of thematic post, I thought posting a track containing the word typewriter would be appropriate.
+ Larsen & Furious Jane – Tourist With A Typewriter

And then – in a (long) blink of an eye, this post will turn into another one of those shorties ones!

Ivan of Oliver North Boy Choir writes that the band will travel to Malmø today to record their next single with Bakers at Dawn. I know I'm a blue-eyed optimist, but I do expect it to be nothing short of fantastic. Meanwhile enjoy this cover of the older Oliver North Boy Choir track Something New by none other than said Bakers at Dawn.
+ Something New

Sophomore album Holiday by Alaska In Winter will be out November 18 and first promo track Berlin suggests quite a musical turnaround. Those Balkan influences can still be heard, but the track is heavily inspired by its title (at least so we're told), so it's far more electronic than anything found on the debut. Good or bad?
+ Berlin

Sweden's Those Dancing Days shares their live cover of Britney Spears' Toxic. It is far more enjoyable than the original (which was about as terrible as music can possibly get).
+ Toxic (Live Britney Spears Cover)

Was just browsing the Labrador webpage when I came across this piece of bad news: "The Radio Dept. album is not finished. Well, this isn't really news, but we get a lot of questions. So... we really don't have a release date for The Radio Dept. album. Sorry! We will however set a release date as soon as they've finished the recordings. And don't worry friends, it's well worth the wait!". Hope so!
+ Freddie and the Trojan horse

Speaking of Labrador. The new single Seconds Away by The Legends is now free to download (via).
+ Seconds Away

I've just pre-ordered the forthcoming Crystal Heights album by Celestial. Have you? October will be busy as hell!
+ Crystal Heights

Zen Sucker...

Occasionally whining does pay off. Some friendly bloke read my frustrations concerning the decision of not releasing the recent Larsen & Furious Jane album Zen Sucker on CD, and he has been so kind mailing me the songs as a small consolation. My expectations were, judging from the 3 promo tracks (posted below), that it most likely would be an album requiring quite some work getting into. And in that regard the album is not a disappointment, as it’s certainly not a “packed with easy listening pop songs to please the commercial radio stations" kind of album. Instead it’s grand, beautiful, dark, complex and very reluctant to fit into any kind of genre, as even shoegaze fans will find something to cheer about on this album. Me? I will continue to listen as something deep inside me is convinced that this could very well be one of the true gems of the year.
Update: the links should be working now...
+ Dancing Bear
+ Fine
+ Widowers

Somewhere in Europe...

First single – Europa – of the forthcoming ENTAKT album is now streamable from the band’s Myspace page. Took me a little while getting into, but the lyrics are brilliant (as always and I feel so sorry for all of you, who don't understand Danish) and the song itself grows for every listen.

Did you remember to visit Music of the Moment yesterday and wish Chris happy 40th birthday?

New track Tonight I’m Cutting by One Weekly Gun was written with fabulous sprinter Usain Bolt in mind.
+ Tonight I’m Cutting

I’m still frustrated about that Larsen & Furious Jane album, but as a small consolation a third track of the album is now free to download at Myspace.
+ Dancing Bear

Kevin from mp3hugger has released a second indiecater compilation. €4.50 for 10 excellent tracks by some uniquely talented artists must be one of the best deals you’ll ever find.
+ Venice is Sinking – Pulaski Heights

Can you sense the frustration...?

Call me naïve. Call me stupid. Call me hopelessly stuck in a distant past. Call me whatever you like. But there I was yesterday, down at the local CD pusher wanting to spend my weekly allowance on the new (2 months old) album Zen Sucker by Larsen & Furious Jane – just to be informed that the album is only available on vinyl and as a digital download (had I been paying attention to some of these very fine and highly informative Frekvens posts, I could have saved myself from the embarrassment). Get lost! My turntable is now living its own quite life in the attic, as my wife has once and for all expelled the vinyls from the living room and I still refuse to buy any releases as digital downloads (and back we go to that good old “is music tangible or intangible?” discussion). So what the *explicit swearing* do I do now?
+ Fine (which things in my humble opinion certainly aren’t!)

UK playmobil faced popsters Play People have uploaded a new track Don’t Come Back to Myspace, and once again it’s streaming only. So I’ll continue adding fuel to the fire and claim that I have a sneaking suspicion that the band will soon release an EP on Cloudberry Records. This piece of information, which could be classified as a homemade rumor, hasn’t been verified, but exactly when did that stop the tabloid press from printing anything?

Yesterday I received a mail from Swedish electropop duo Psychic Stunts and once I had listened to the band’s fine new EP 101 Pick Up Lines (free download), my thoughts started to wander. Why is it that every Swedish indie pop band seems to be coming from Gothenburg, whereas every band with a more electronic approach origins from or is based in Stockholm? This is not meant to be a scientific analysis of the musical landscape of Sweden, but I’m simply trying to figure out, if there’s any truth to this (and there probably isn't)!!

Gothenburg (indie pop)
+ The Electric Pop Group - I Could See The Lights
+ Days - Downhill
+ Tellus About The Moon - Wwwm
+ The Lost Homeboys - Don't Say You Don't Know

Stockholm (electro/synth-pop)
+ Psychic Stunts - Speaker's Block
+ Ostrich - Icecold Kisses
+ Le Sport - Tell no one about tonight
+ Kuryakin - Take My Hand

Monday mix...

One Weekly Gun has broken one of his own rules and has written a song about himself. Happy to learn that this excellent project is reaching an ever-growing audience!
+ Weekend Man

Steve Goldberg and the Arch Enemies are giving away a new demo track over at Myspace.
+ Things I Used To Know

Has The Stone Roses reformed? Unfortunately no, but you certainly could get that impression when you listen to the Tour de Force EP by The Ruling Class. Rarely has an inspiration been more obvious than in this case. Another fine release by Shelflife Records!
+ Umbrella Folds

Zen Sucker by Larsen & Furious Jane is out today and the reviewers love it (1, 2, 3).
+ Widowers

The perfect waste of time…

The Eiffel Tower, Euro Disney, The Louvre Museum etc. etc. Back again after spending 4½ eventful days in Paris playing tourists with the girls.

Today’s subject line doesn’t refer to the trip, but is the translated title of the new BREUMM album Det Perfekte Spild Af Tid. Been spending most of the day listening to it, and the fine lyrics combined with the catchy melodies simply make the album one of this year’s “must have’s”. Buy it via the band’s Myspace page.

One Weekly Gun has been busy as two new tracks have been posted.
+ Drive Your Wagon
+ We Will Happily Sedate You

Listen to two new tracks by Larsen & Furious Jane at Frekvens.dk.

Another pretty good song featured on the Soundvenue sampler I received last week was Tourist With A Typewriter (title track from their recent album) by Danish band Larsen & Furious Jane. I remember Anders of Help The Aged mentioning the band, but so far (to be brutally honest) their music have been totally unknown to me.
With an intention to change this, I did a little research and learned that their 2004 album I’m Glad He’s Dead seems to be widely regarded as a great album and decided that this would probably be a very good place to start my quest.
And as always my local library was a reliable source, when I want to explore unknown music and I had no problem finding the album there.
Apparently reviewers seemed had all kinds of problems defining their music. Some mentioned the borderland between indie-pop and alternative country, while others described them as country-pop, Americana, folk, melodic rock or simply plain pop.
However they didn’t seem to have any problems when it came to accolade the album and it received a string of positive reviews.
I’m now on my second listen and greatness normally take longer to flourish, but the album definitely contains a string of nice songs combined with an immediate charm that makes you look forward to become more familiar with it!

I'm Glad He's Dead tracks:
Untitled (MP3)
I Give Up (Mp3)

Official Webpage
(check out the download section for more songs)