Kent - Ingenting...

It's not a video, really...

Music is oxygen...

As mentioned in his blog yesterday, Jonas and I have recently been sending messages back and forth recommending various stuff and discussing music in general. One of the major conclusions (or mutual understandings if you like) has been that music IS oxygen, which I cannot help think would be the perfect tagline/phrase to headline the blog. So unless you've noticed it already the description at the top of the blog has changed!

I originally went to the concert in Helsingborg last night, because I couldn't resist the opportunity to see indie pop band DAYS playing live and I definitely wasn't disappointed. The four boys delivered a fine performance, though it certainly was on the short side (6 songs in 20 minutes). But then again - they only needed 3 minutes on stage to prove that they must be one of the most talented bands to come along in recent years. After the concert I had the pleasure of talking briefly to Fabian and ? (unfortunately I didn't get his name) from the band and news is that a 7 track EP will be out on Shelflife very soon.

Concerning Shout Out Louds (the second band playing yesterday) I have the following three things to say:
1. If you have already bought a ticket for a show, make sure that you go, because you'll be in for a treat.
2. If you haven't bought one - buy one (see the tour dates here)!
3. If there ever was any doubt in my mind, it has been erased now. Tonight I Have To Leave It is a killer track!

Lovely Aussie indiepop band The Lucksmiths will release a "double CD 45-song compilation of their non-album recordings of the past decade" called Spring a Leak on Matinée Recordings this week. Listen to the two samples below and then order it (or the other way round if you like)!
+ Once Again
+ Rushes Of Pure Spring

It was my impression that the mature sound of Danish youngsters Tetris = Therapy caught a few people by surprise when I wrote about the duo earlier this year. Now the boys have informed me that they'll soon start recording some new tracks and as an appetizer an older track from the previous EP is (after some persuasion) available as a free download. A band worth keeping an eye on and I'll keep you posted whenever there's something new to tell.
+ ...Bright

Tonight's the night...

Yep - tonight I'm going to see Shout Out Louds & DAYS at The Tivoli in Helsingborg. Despite being a hundred years old, it will be the first time ever that I attend a concert in Sweden. It could be/should be/will be freakin' awesome!
+ Shout Out Louds - Tonight I Have To Leave It
+ Days - Downhill

Yesterday I finally got my hands on the 4 year old demo CD/album Forsidestof til Eftertanke by ENTAKT. It took some begging, some waiting, some foul language and in the end some threats that I was going to send my domestic troops of young rascals into action, before something actually started to happen. But now I have my own copy and since every regular reader of this blog knows that I really love this band, I am obviously delighted to be able to add this small jewel to my music collection. And because I'm totally biased I won't even bother trying to explain how great the CD is!
+ Livets sang går i stå mol (wonderful track)

NY singer/songwriter Spencer Tricker is currently working on a small side project (seems like a lot of those projects are floating around these days) called The Kid Syndicate. He has mailed me two tracks that he describes like this: "One is sort of a cartoon noise-fest about nightclub people and the other one is more like ghosts in a haunted house singing about war." Think I prefer his more laid back solo tracks, though the new ones could be sleepers as they are not without a certain charm!
+ The War
+ Little Red Anorak
+ Altar Blue Boy (solo track)
+ Oblivion (solo track)

Danish weblog Frekvens has picked up the pace and posts news several times a day. And it has been redesigned as well!

It's not secret that I'd like my blog to become widely popular and I've touched this subject a few times before (cannot recall when really). So today I visited a few of the really, really popular music blogs to see what's happening there and maybe even find a few interesting topics I could "borrow" to post in this blog (and even more importantly try to understand WHY they are so popular). Now that I've finished my "tour" I've come to the conclusion that I have these two options:
1. I can change my strategy and start to post news, gossip and maybe even a few songs by useless artists like Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Posh (just gossip), Paris Hilton (even more gossip), RW and JT, as well as every single artist and celebrity showing up at the MTV Video Music Awards.
2. Do absolutely nothing and continue blogging in obscurity!

Which option do you want me to pick?

Assasinated by Martin...

Phonovectra guitarist Allan is currently spending some time working on his side project called Assasin. The two instrumental tracks published so far are described as "some kind of post-rock", so if you expect another band with the rock sound of Phonovectra you'll be disappointed. According to Allan more tracks are in the making (they aren't necessarily going to sound like the first ones) and the two tracks recorded so far could very well end up being re-worked at some point as well (despite being considered finished works).
+ Black Pavement
+ Runway Satan

Yesterday I (finally) received some news from Danish electro/powerpop trio Ruined by Martin. New stuff has been in the making "for ages", but now two new tracks can be streamed at Myspace. Actually Somewhere is an updated version of an older track, which now is even better than before. Second and brand new track Kaiser Star is one of those typical Ruined by Martin songs, as it's immediately catchy and begging for repeated plays.

Some dude is mowing the lawn outside my office window. Once again I have the perfect excuse for not getting any work done...

J.A. recommends excellent US quartet Black Kids. I risk it all and call this 80' inspired electronic dance pop/rock with a very small twist of punk influence (and perhaps some 70's disco). Despite this "broad" description it is probably not even close to being accurate. Deservedly the band has already received plenty of bloggerlove. Great stuff! All tracks from the EP Wizard of Ahhhs.
+ I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You
+ I've Underestimated My Charm (Again)

Soft Amateurs...

Soft City is the new/the most recent "project" of Kicker songwriter Phil Sutton. Helped out by a few well-reputed colleagues like Laura Bridge (ex-Harper Lee) and Gareth "Jona" Jones (Wintergreen) he has recorded a 3 track demo EP called The Soft City. As one could expect this is nice indie pop with those jangly guitars and you can grab all three tracks for free over at IndiePages. Now relocated to NY and looking for new bandmates!
+ The Soft City

The debut album Hongu Kongu by Scottish 6 piece Amateurs is released today on Letterbox Records. The two tracks on the free download-only single that was released in January were nice indie pop tunes with lovely male/female vocals, so the album could very well be something I should check out!
+ Things You Only Know When You Don't Drive
+ Cool By Me

The friendly boys from Danish alternative rock trio Heartbreak Disco has a new EP out. The band will now start promoting their music and the up-tempo and quite catchy title track Tomorrow certainly will/should help the band gaining some attention.
+ Tomorrow

According to the band itself, the new track The Commonfield by Emerald Park "might need a few more minutes in the oven". Judge for yourself, but I think it's absolutely gorgeous as it is and really see no point in changing anything. It takes just a few seconds of listening before you realize that it must have been produced by Ola from Moonbabies. New (and superb) mixes of the older tracks Open and Lights of Sunday are available at Myspace as well.
+ The Commonfield

Photo from far away...

Florida indie/alternative trio The Monday Photo is currently recording ("lots of") new stuff and the band has posted a video to give us all some impression of what is happening. I have no idea what the track is called, but it certainly sounds promising! Download the band's entire (?) back catalogue here.


The other day I had to send a complaint to Danish duo BREUM, because the boys had uploaded a new track to Myspace without informing me. How exactly am I supposed to help spreading the words without knowing what's going on? Luckily I was able to dig up the news myself, so here it is - the new track called Langt Væk ("Far Away").
+ Langt Væk

Going steady in the 1900s...

This morning when driving to work I suddenly realized that the summer is (almost) over. The leafs have started to switch colors and soon yellow and red will be the new blacks. In some ways my mind is torn, because as much as I love the sun (we didn't see it that often this summer though) and the long summer nights (most of them were depressingly wet this year), I'm also a kind of nocturnal animal that seems to prosper the darker it gets. I've spent many days in my life yawning and waiting for it to end (so I finally could get some sleep), but as soon as nighttime fell all signs of sleepiness suddenly disappeared. So while most people are preparing themselves for their annual depression, I cannot help being a little bit excited.

Several tracks by terrific, wonderful, kind, talented (you probably understand by now that I really like this band) UK indie pop band The Steadies are now available as free downloads over at Last.fm. This is beautiful folk inspired indie pop songs with violins, flutes and stuff.
+ The Hopefuls
+ Two Times Champion

Chicago based band The 1900s is already big in the bloggerworld, but up till now completely unknown to me, as I always seem to shy away from bands being "over-hyped". But the other day I received a promotion mail containing a few songs, so I thought why not give them a listen? I did just that and so far I really like what I've heard. On the band's Myspace profile Fleetwood Mac and The Velvet Underground are listed as influences, and if you imagine an updated mix of the sound of those two classic acts, you're not that far away from the psychedelic pop sound of The 1900s. The band's debut album Cold & Kind will be released October 2 on Parasol Records.
+ When I Say Go
+ Two Ways

Still 3 more weeks to go before the new I Am Bones album The Greater Good will be released, but the band does its best to sweeten the waiting time, by giving away another album track for free.
+ Zeitgeist

Moon! What moon?...

Gothenburg keeps producing fine new bands and once again the city proves that it must be the indie pop Capital of the world. 5-piece Tellus About The Moon is the next one in the line of promising and absolutely gorgeous sounding Gothenburg bands and the first track available called Hate is nothing but a true indie pop gem. And in case you haven't guessed this already, this is just another one of J.A.'s many great finds.
+ Hate

Another young (average age of the 3 band members is around 16 and a half) and promising Swedish band - Tea For Three!!! - will release their debut single on the incomparable Cloudberry Records on September 15. Untypical the band is not from Gothenburg, but Stockholm shows that fine new bands can flourish there as well.
+ Nincompoops
+ Thngamajig

A Plague Of Angels has posted a few tracks by Richard Hawley. His new album Lady's Bridge is sweet - just sweet!
+ Coles Corner

Peculiar...

One of my colleagues was roaming around in Flickr and came across this photo. That guy on the left in light blue with the baby carriage looks oddly familiar!

Get behind the velvet curtain...

This must be a textbook example of how to write a promotion e-mail. The other day I received a mail from someone called Joe (I'm not making this up), who wrote that I might like new singer/songwriter Yoav. At first it looked like just another one of those 40-50 promotion mails I receive every day, but further down in his mail he adds "Hope you enjoyed your trip to London. There are still some record shops on Berwick St, just not as many as before!". And just like that I love this guy, as he's obviously been reading this post. So immediately my thoughts went something like "since he's been reading what I've been writing, I should at least give his recommendation a few spins".
And lucky me I did and a few moments later I found myself listening to a really cool and highly talented new artist. The music is almost impossible to label, though in his press material he suggests the description "Beck meets Buckley meets Bjork". But the more I listen to his songs (5 of them so far) the more I feel that something like "Justin Timberlake goes Jeff Buckley" would be an even better way to describe this. Not a word (please) on how much I hate Justin T, but especially the haunting, groovy, slow moving and completely irresistible Club Thing makes me think that this is one track he would be prepared to kill for to get his hands on, as this is so much better than anything he's ever recorded! The other 4 tracks are equally intriguing and Yoav's debut album Beautiful Lie will be released on October 22. I'm already queuing. CORRECTION! Beautiful Lie is the first single, while the debut album is called Charmed & Strange and will be released in January.
+ Club Thing