Bits and pieces...

First a brief update on two of the bands mentioned in my recent “whatever happened to” post.

I did mention that Us With Millions split up, but has since learned that the main reason was the band members lacked the motivation to carry on with the project, when no label was prepared to release their debut album. I’ve (sort of) suggested that they should try to release it themselves on (e.g.) bandcamp, but I doubt if that’s ever going to happen, as I expect the project to be buried and forgotten. The band has mailed me their last recording or, in their own words, “swan song”, which has that very typical Us With Millions sound!
+ Phoenix

Yesterday I received a mail from The Holiday Show bringing the sad (but again, not so unexpected) news that they have split up as well. Apparently musical differences was the reason for the break-up, but all four band members are still involved in music, so we're probably going to hear more from the guys in various disguises at some later point!
+ Snookerstar

Check out this fine Twin Shadow remix of Oh Land's White Nights. Seems like the release of her US debut has been rescheduled and will be out March 15 instead!
White Nights - Twin Shadow Remix by Oh Land

Why hasn't Bright Eyes included Denmark on his upcoming tour? Doubt he'll have any problems selling out a venue here! Btw. Did you remember to download great new track Shell Games?

Since I've started whining; The Paings of Being Pure at Heart isn't coming to Denmark either. I've always said that this band can do nothing wrong, but not coming to Denmark is a major blunder (at least if you ask me)...
+ Higher Than The Stars

Whatever happened to...

Not a highly original post this one, but for whatever nostalgic reason I spent some time last night checking out bands I've at some point featured on this blog. And on quite a few occasions I ended up asking myself: "what happened?", "why haven't we heard anything from these guys for ages?", "why weren't they huge?" etc. etc. Lots of questions to be answered, so I put on my Sherlock Holmes cap, found a magnifying glass, worded "the game's afoot" and started to search for information, updates or (heck) even signs of life from a few of the band...

The Holiday Show
They released their debut album in October 2008 and seemed poised for bigger things. But as soon as We Are Popular was released they more or less stopped promoting the album and concerts have since then been few and far between. Searches don't give any explanation to the lack of activity though a couple of band members seem to be busy doing other things (writing songs for other projects and promoting music). So I guess the project has been put to rest...for now (I hope).
+ Always Something Missing

Us With Millions
In April 2009 the band wrote that a track had been playlisted by P3 and an album was forthcoming. Since then; not a word. Can't find updates anywhere, so I took a shortcut and mailed the drummer asking for updates, news, gossip...anything. Received a long reply this morning and the sad (but not so unexpected) news is that the band has split up. If by no others, they'll at least be missed by me!
+ Rosebud

Leisure Alaska
The band is/was responsible for one of the best music videos ever by a Danish band and released their debut album The Deja In My Vu in 2006. On a few occasions since then the band has written about their forthcoming album and in mid 2008 the track Present Yet Unseen was shared. In October 2009 the band posted a Talking To Teapots cover and that's the last thing I can find from the band. One band member is involved in this project and another band member is on Twitter. Perhaps he knows something (mail has been sent)?
+ Present Yet Unseen

Days
These guys should have been the kings of indie pop by now, as their 2008 debut EP Downhill was nothing but spectacular and made some of us believe that the band was ready to take on the world. Boy, were we ever wrong, as (a few live dates aside) the band has shown very few signs of being alive since then. I've heard some rumors (cannot recall exactly when and where I heard them) that the band was recording new material, but I've never seen it verified. Have asked a band member for news a couple of times, but the replies have been kind of vague, so not sure what to expect (if anything). It's a shame. It really is!
+ Downhill

Wanted to check out a few other bands, but my laptop was so slow that I decided to stop the project before things came to a violent end...

Blogging...

My first intention was to name this post Live blogging (here we go again), but since some of the stuff I’m going to post was written earlier today, I thought this could be considered foul play. So instead I opted to go with the more neutral, rather anonymous, yet relatively accurate headline Blogging. But that doesn’t change that I’ll be sitting here for the next couple of hours reading, writing, searching, posting, listening and (most likely) deleting. You should be familiar with the disclaimer regarding grammar and spelling by now, and of course a picture will be uploaded in a few minutes!

Still terribly need a shave - don't I?

My Twitter experiment continues and I now have 123 followers. I’m becoming less and less skeptical, as I’m regularly stumbling upon something interesting.

Don’t believe I can think of band with a more devoted fanbase than Depeche Mode. That’s cool, as loyalty is a good thing. But at the same time I cannot think of band with a more biased fanbase than said band, stubbornly refusing to notice any flaws. Wrong, the new single (video), is the most recent example of this narrow-mindedness. Not original in any way, which is admittedly is absolutely irrelevant as long as the melody is just a little bit catchy. But the chorus, which I believe must be when Dave Gahan groans "Wrong" through his nose, resembles something that could have been recorded in a pig farm, and luckily is forgotten as soon as the song is over. Except that groan of course which certainly will cause lots of nightmares! And still I see people referring to this, as a "classic sounding" Depeche Mode track? You must be joking or are you telling me that this is what you’ve been fans of for 20+ years? To make sure that I know what that classic sound is exactly, I did listen to the epic Violator earlier today, and nothing (absolutely nothing) on that album is even close to being this bad. Nitpickers might object and will start uttering that you cannot make this comparison as Violator belongs in a completely different time and era. Fine! Point taken. But then don’t give me that “classic sounding” bullshit. And no matter what you say; Wrong still sucks!

I’ll never be a fan of remixes. Tracks with endless beats and little diversity doing their best to destroy the original melody line have rarely appealed to me. But the Kissy Sell Out remix of Give It Up taken from the forthcoming album Red (out in Denmark June 8) by Datarock is rather catchy and would even make me start glancing at the dancefloor.
+ Give It Up (Kissy Sell Out Remix)

The Blueflowers are giving away a Watercolor Ghost Town album track over a Last.fm. At $11 this fine album has to be the bargain of the year.
+ I Wasn't Her

Chromewaves voices his discontent with the lack of information regarding the Clinging to a Scheme album, which, if everything works out as planned, will be the third full-length release by The Radio Dept. A release sometime this fall (I assume he means THIS fall) is his best guess.
+ The Worst Taste In Music

This episode of my favorite TV series Waking The Dead has just started. I've seen it once before, but since TV doesn't get much better than this; I'm seriously tempted to watch it for a second time. I recall the episode as no being "very nice", but then again none of the episodes really are. The dark sides of the human race can rarely be considered "very nice".

Last Wednesday I wrote how much I was looking forward to a release from st famous. A few days later it was announced that Keris Howard is no longer part of the project. Learn more.
+ Lazy Opera

Danish alternative/indie rock band Us With Millions has a new track We Are Sinking up and streaming at Myspace. That Band of Horses comparison is more valid than ever!

Watercolors...

Re-post - Promo track added! The Blueflowers debut album Watercolor Ghost Town was released this Saturday (buy), and even though I received my copy a while back, I hadn’t really listened to it. But today I pulled my act together and showed more initiative than almost ever before, when I ripped the album onto my computer at work, so I can give more thorough listens. Don’t expect this sudden energy level to sustain, but nice for at change to actually getting something done and feeling that things are progressing. As some of you probably know already, The Blueflowers is a fairly new constellation featuring Kate and Tony of now split up Detroit shoegazers Ether Aura. And when you listen to the album it makes perfect sense that the duo decided that a change was needed, at they are heading in a new musical direction. The songwriting skills remain intact, so nothing to fear on this front, but the dreamy shoegazing sounds have been put to rest for now, and alt-country/americana influences seem to be the new black. I know I really shouldn’t complain about this switch, as my first impression of Watercolor Ghost Town is that we’re dealing with an excellent album, but I know parts of me will forever hope that Ether Aura (or as a minimum, their sound in whatever band constellation possible) will return some day. No promo MP3’s are (yet?) available, but I will soon start lobbying for permission to post a sample of the album.
+ Watercolor Ghost Town

Danish blog Emodreng & Indiepige was back up and running earlier today following a lengthy hiatus, but all I get right now is an error message? Update: It's back again!

Danish trio Us With Millions has announced that they will be playing at Rust in Copenhagen on March 19 and I can only recommend that you go and see them! The band has finished recording their debut album and is currently working on the business side of things (release, distribution etc.). A “take a look inside the studio” video has been posted at Bandbase.dk.

The website of excellent UK duo The Papertiger Sound has been beautifully redesigned. Words on new music would be welcomed, but on this topic the band is awfully quiet. So check out some of the glorious older stuff instead, which the band generously is giving away for free.
+ Magnetic North
+ Coast is Clear

One Weekly Gun continues producing new songs. And last year’s song about Heath Ledger has for obvious reasons been reposted.
+ Heath Ledger
+ People on Drugs can say the Craziest Things

Us With Millions...

Probably no regular reader missed my promotion of the Us With Millions concert which took place this Saturday evening, so a kind of follow-up post would be appropriate I guess? The picture is really bad I know, but trust me - this IS Us With Millions!

The sound just wasn’t good. Far too often I have to write this following a concert and I just cannot help feeling that people must get the impression that I’m a grumpy old man putting on the same old record. But as my otherwise musical ignorant friend sarcastically uttered after a few minutes – “I love the vocals – I cannot understand a word he is singing”. The sound did get adjusted and got a little bit better during the gig, but sadly it never reached a level that did their music justice. Drums and bass are a huge part of their music (the drumming was excellent), but were far too dominant on stage in my opinion, which left the guitarist with an almost impossible mission (I was later told that the band normally gets live assistance from a second guitarist, who for some reason wasn't on hand this evening - this might explain some?). I assume most of the people showing up at Lades were there to see Waking Life, giving Us With Millions a chance to promote their music to some new music fans. But when I looked around most people were just sitting at tables drinking beers and small talking, instead of being captured by the music of Us With Millions. Quite a pity and a golden opportunity wasted.

Afterwards I spoke a few words with Bo (the lead singer) and had a longer conversation with Jeppe (the drummer), and both of them turned out to be likeable fellows. Despite the usual struggles with record labels (they claim to be interested, but…) the band seemed to be optimistic about the future and plans to record new songs for what might end up as a self-released album.

Unfortunately (though I didn’t really mind) my companion had been pouring drinks down my throat most of the evening, which meant that I at this point was turning into the talkative version of myself. So the aforementioned conversation was probably more of a monologue, but hopefully they didn’t think I was too much of an ass!

Since this probably will be the last post on one of this blog’s favorite bands for a while, I’ve decided to upload all available tracks by Us With Millions as a small "service".
+ Do You Blush?
+ Now That's Common
+ Rosebud
+ The Golden Coast (new version)
+ The Golden Coast (old version)
+ Shepherds Hour
+ Sailor Song
+ The Tactician

Even more shorties...

Check out my recent Støj På Frekvensen post.

A digital copy of Downhill, the DAYS debut EP, somehow fell into my lap the other day. As expected it contains 7 wonderful indie pop tunes, but also leaves me wondering what Shelflife are up to. According to their webpage the EP has been "coming soon" for several months. Peter has more info and one of the tracks.

In a cyclone of stones has turned into a very reliable source and for the second time this week I am passing on one of the recommendations found there. This time it's the damn fine new demo Nunca estás a la altura by Spanish indie-pop band Klaus&Kinski.
+ Nunca estás a la altura

Since I posted it, Kunsten At Slippe Taget by ENTAKT has been downloaded/streamed 878 times. Four digits are within reach, so please give it a listen!
+ Kunsten At Slippe Taget

Just in case you have foolishly ignored my previous pleas. Remember Us With Millions at Lades tomorrow!
+ Shepherds Hour

J.A. suggest that we all should listen to a few tracks from the forthcoming debut album The Fashionistas by Swedish electro-/synth-pop band Violet Elegy. Catchy stuff indeed!
+ The Fashionistas
+ Cold Hands

Us With Millions on Saturday...

It's no longer a "maybe" and barring any unexpected happenings, I'm going to be at Lades on Saturday evening watching/hearing Us With Millions. This will be my second Us With Millions live experience (the first time was this summer at Vesterbro Festival) and since the first concert the band has published three fine new tracks, so hopefully it will be an enjoyable evening with some excellent indierock! The band has recorded a new version of The Golden Coast which the boys (very timely) uploaded as a free download earlier today.
+ The Golden Coast

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

Mixed Monday...

The trip to Prague was short, nice but very hard, so this is one tired blogger. Therefore words will be rationed today!!

The job interview went very well and they called me Friday (just before going to the airport) and offered me the job, so I expect to sign the contract tomorrow. I'll soon post more about this and the expected consequences for the blog.

Manic Street Preachers are giving away their Christmas single Ghost of Christmas (though it's named Christmas Ghost when you download it). Download it for free right here.
+ Ghost of Christmas

The lovely people in Oliver North Boy Choir are giving away four previously unreleased tracks. This backwards version of Baby Cool is a bit odd, but also surprisingly catchy.
+ Baby Cool

Us With Millions (another favorite band) has recorded yet another brilliant track and is once again giving it away for free. Consider this a small Christmas gift from the three lads!
+ Now, That's Common

Speaking of Christmas. Below links for two very nice seasonal songs from the inbox. Look forward to a lengthy compilation post of Christmas tunes very soon.
+ Robbers On High Street - Seasons Greetings
+ The Swimmers - The Christmas Sound

Do you blush?...

As promised earlier this week; here's another recently recorded track by Danish trio Us With Millions. I'll stop comparing the band to that ONE particular band, as this new song clearly proves that these guys are fully capable and ready to make a name of their own. The quiet opening part aside, Do You Blush? follows nicely in the footstep of the band's previous works, which probably is the best recommendation I can give! Finally; big thank you to the boys for letting me post this as an exclusive download.
+ Do You Blush?

In the mailbox (those promotion mails never stop) I've found this excellent one by Seattle indie rock/pop 5-piece Siberian. When I listen to those drums, the guitars and the production in general I cannot help thinking of Editors (which isn't necessarily a bad thing!).
+ Belgian Beer and Catholic Girls

The other day Søren over at Frekvens.dk listed the new Maritime album Heresy and the Hotel Choir as the album he listens to the most these days. Since this US quartet was completely unknown to me I was quite thrilled to find (yet another one of those) promo mail in the mailbox this morning, giving me the opportunity to listen to the album. After two listens I especially agree with the quote in the mail that says "If you can't find something you enjoy on Heresy-well, you're probably not listening hard enough.", because there certainly is plenty to like about this fine album.
+ For Science Fiction
+ Guns of Navarone

Chopping wood...

The past 3 days the girls and I visited some friends' at their derelict farm in Sweden, where I (when I wasn't drinking beer) spent several hours every day chopping wood. That certainly was great and much needed exercise for arms, shoulders and back, but it also (once again) made it painfully clear that my shape was a whole lot better in the old days, before I became a dad.

Speaking of Sweden, I found the new Kent album Tillbaka Till Samtiden in my mailbox last night. It definitely sounded much better in the car this morning than it did on the computer last week.

Thanks to whoever was responsible for sending me Life Of A Ghost by Blue Foundation. I've been thinking of buying this fine and somewhat Mew inspired album for quite some time now, so getting it this way was a pleasant surprise (I owe you one - whoever you are!).

Pastries, Peppers and Canals is up and running again. Hopefully for good this time!

You DID check out my first post over at Frekvens.dk. Didn't you?

The fantastic new track Rosebud by Danish indie rock trio Us With Millions is now available as a free download. Compared to Band of Horses, but in my opinion this track is better than any track of Cease To Begin. The band has sent me another new track that will be an exclusive download from the blog later this week.
+ Rosebud

Check out new instrumental track by Hits In The Car favorites Panda Riot.
+ Northern Automatic Music

Catching up...

As much as I like to think I'm the centre of the Universe, the World seems to have no problems whatsoever continuing its 24 hour schedule when I'm on holiday, which makes it painfully clear that it actually manages pretty well - even without my presence. So because of the world's lack of cooperation it just never fails that I find myself drowning in mails, messages and CD's whenever I return from being away from home (and the computer) for more than 72 hours. So once again this is one of those catching up posts!

Messages indicate that we'll soon be listening to new songs by The William Blakes and Us With Millions.

Ruined by Martin has launched the new website and gives away the new brilliant track Kaiser Star for free!
+ Kaiser Star

J.A. now has a Myspace profile. Hurry up and make him your friend!

emodreng & indiepige interviews Oliver North Boy Choir and posts the band's remix of the DAMPFBAHN! track All Is Swell. The remix is absolutely superb and I've asked (and been granted) permission to post the track myself. The vocals have been re-recorded (must be Camilla singing) and the track has that wonderful trademark ONBC sound. Speaking of DAMPBAHN! remixes - below another really cool version of the same track done by Body Lotion and the Bloody Hands. The title of the track has been changed to All Is Hell and contains new (and quite morbid) lyrics about a baby killed by a rattlesnake!
+ All Is Swell - (Oliver North Boy Choir lummertmix)
+ All Is Hell - (Body Lotion and the Bloody Hands)

Assasin has posted two new instrumental tracks. Still this doesn't sound like Phonovectra at all and dreamy post-rock is probably a good way to describe the new ones (never been good at this)?
+ Pause Between Friends
+ White Light

I believe every blogger knows this: You receive a mail from someone saying that you've posted his music some time ago and he'll be happy if you'd care to mention his new album, and your first reaction is; WHO? So you check back and realize that you've actually mention this guy before (in my case it was September last year). Then you check your computer and find that you haven't deleted the song you posted back then. Finally you listen to it and you're very surprised that this is a really great one (in my case it's an electro pop song that at times sounds a bit like New Order). In my case (for the third time) I don't know why I've forgotten about Chris Price, but now I'm certainly looking forward to hearing his debut album - Post Pop Parade.
+ And She Was

Myspace trip...

I've just returned from a very short Myspace trip and here are a couple of "souvenirs" I picked up during my "stay" there.

+ Us With Millions - The Golden Coast
I mentioned this band last week and this nice one has just been uploaded by the band.

+ Powderdust - Wait For You [Federspiel Remix]
+ The Floor Is Made Of Lava - Do Your Sister (James Braun Does Ya Mama Too Remix)
Two tracks from the department of remixes. I really have no idea if they are old or new, but they are both good enough to enjoy (again?)!

+ Ronderlin - Way To Be
A new track from the forthcoming album (release date May 7) that will be called The Great Investigation. The 4 tracks I've heard so far from the album are simply brilliant, so expectations are rapidly growing!

+ Inhaler - Tranquilized
It's probably the zillionth, billionth time I post this track. But it's still a fantastic pop song and since it's now available in a decent quality, it's certainly well-worth a re-post.

Songs...

Today has been awful at work. And it didn't exactly get any better by having quite a few songs that I'd love to post. Here are the songs and hopefully I'll find a little time tonight to write a few comments....

+ Spencer Tricker - Hey Jessica
More songs like this and chances are pretty good that he never has to get a real job one day (check his webpage for explanation).

+ Professor Pez - Indiepopkids
+ Professor Pez - Imperial Airways
Was checking out a friend's profile over at Last.fm and noticed that he had been listening to this Norwegian indie pop band. And how can you not love a song called Indiepopkids?

+ Fine China - Are You On Drugs?
+ Fine China - I Can't Fall Asleep
Previously recommended by Peter and Chris. Originally recommended to all of us by J.A. Good stuff and a shame they decided to split up!!

+ Us With Millions - The Tactician
+ Us With Millions - Sailor Song
+ Us With Millions - Shepherds Hour
Picked by Danish music magazine Gaffa as demo band of the month (March). Described as indie-rock with some country influence, and compared to Band Of Horses.

+ Les Mercredis - Sowas von egal
Pretty cool tune by this German electro pop trio.