The Oxygen Ponies / Cinnober

It's a quiet Friday evening (all three girls are sleeping) and I'm listening to the wonderful and emotional Umbrellas In The Rain [mp3] by The Oxygen Ponies. Based on what I've heard until now, I'm suspecting that the album will be a beauty (listen to Truest Thing [mp3] and I hope you agree)! The album is produced by Don Piper, who has his own band a don piper situation. Listen to Roll Away [mp3] and I think it becomes quite obvious, why he was asked to produce!

I received a friend request from Danish band Cinnober earlier today. I quickly accepted the requested after I had listened to Fast Machine [mp3]. The second song available by the band called Dew Drops [mp3] is pretty nice too.

Hype / Playlist

Every music blogger seems to be going crazy over Tapes 'N Tapes these days. I've been a bit puzzled over this, because the music didn't appeal to me at all when I listened to it last year! Yesterday I gave the band another try, but it didn't change that I'm still puzzled.
Another band getting a lot of exposure is Band Of Horses and I was more or less expecting that this would be another over-hyped band. But lo and behold. The Funeral [mp3] is a wonderful epic song and definitely among the best ones I've heard so far this year. So I immediately bought into the hype and ordered the album. And once I got started I also ordered the new albums by Morrissey (receiving 5 out of 6 stars by Gaffa), The Flaming Lips (5 out of 6 stars by Gaffa and by Soundvenue) and The Radio Dept.

............................................from the playlist:

Snowfight In The City Centre - No Light Left [mp3] Another noteworthy band name!
Self Stereo - That's Enough [mp3] Spanish alternative.
Grow - Not A Love Song [mp3] The vox could easily be a bit better, but I think the music is quite good.
Hotels - Atlantic [mp3] A mix of Joy Division and something indescribable. Forgot to mention that I found this band via Loveless Music Group.

Numbers & Figures / Malory / Ireland

Today is my 100th day at Myspace and so far I have 504 "friends". That's more than 5 new additions per day. Maaaan I'd be popular if this was real life!

According to my Last.fm account I've listened to nearly 26,000 songs since 9th February last year. That's almost 63 songs per day or 5-6 albums. I've been listening to a LOT of music I guess?

According to Sitemeter this blog average 77 visits per day (long term) or 153 (short term). Obviously I wouldn't mind more hits, but my original ambition was 24 hits per day (1 per hour), so I guess I have no reason not to be satisfied?

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Last year Peter introduced me to German shoegaze/dream-pop band Malory and I quite enjoyed the few songs I heard back then. Today I learned that 3 of the songs of the 2005 album The Third Face are available as free downloads at Myspace, which has led me to give this band another listen. Maybe it's time for me to seriously considering buying the album, because everything I've heard so far from this band is very, very good!
Take Me Down (Remix) [mp3]
Silence Flows Through Noise [mp3]
Sleeper [mp3]

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One day it is France. The next day it's Sweden. Earlier today it was Germany. Wonder what it will be tomorrow? Right now it's Ireland and here's a quartet (not a trio anymore) of really nice alternative/indie pop/rock bands from The Emerald Isle.

The Handles
Addictive [mp3] This one blew me away. Cannot believe that this band has split up!
Youth [mp3]

The Walls
Black And Blue [mp3] Very, very, very etc. catchy.
Something's Wrong [mp3]

Lotus Lullaby
Frequency [mp3] Adding a little electronica to the mix.
When It Feels So Good [mp3]
Push [mp3]

Hybrasil
God Bless The Devil [mp3] Another really catchy one.....

Loveless Music Group

I had a pretty cool time last night listening to a string of unfamiliar artists and songs. In my search for new music I asked Andy (yep - him again) for a little guidance and he recommended The Daysleepers and in general the bands featured on the webpage Loveless Music Group.

What did I listen to? Here are some of the better ones I found thanks to LMG:

The Daysleepers - Mesmerize [mp3] shoegaze/dream-pop
The Spectacle Experiment - One More Day [mp3] psychedelic rock?
Panda Riot - Plateau [mp3] indie/shoegaze

And finally another really great shoegaze/dream-pop band
Airiel - Kiss Me Slowly + Firefly [mp3]

A few weeks back I hardly knew any French artists (Air and??), but the last couple of days have certainly changed that. Following my "flirt" with French electro pop I stumbled upon indie band Kim Novak yesterday. Cannot say that I'm all that excited about their choice of band name (not very creative - is it?), but since the music is absolutely brilliant, it is somehow easier accepting the name. Seems to be quite popular these days changing band names, so maybe Kim Novak will be next in line? :-)
Soul A While [mp3]
In The Mirror [mp3]
Female Friends [mp3]
If [mp3]

I really enjoyed reading this article Arctic Monkeys get cold shoulder in the States.

I bought Skeleton by Figurines in May last year. Back then it received lots of fine reviews, but most people probably thought that it would be yet another pretty good, but sadly overlooked album by a very talented Danish band. 10 months later things have changed quite a lot and earlier this month the album was released in Canada & USA. All major music blogs seem to have fallen in love with the band, because a quick search revealed that blogs like Each Note Secure, You Ain't No Picasso, My Old Kentucky Blog, Said The Gramophone, *Sixeyes, Motel de Moka, Fluxblog and 3hive have given the band some exposure. Hopefully all the attention means that the album will sell pretty well, though I'm somewhat afraid it won't.

In The Blender

My list of Current Favorites has been updated and songs by Aaron Vail, Powderdust, The Rain Band, Elika, Martin Bernt, Midlake, Celluloide and Cocoon were added. A very mixed bag of songs!

Merz seems to be obsessed with (or at least a huge fan of) shoegaze and one of his recent recommendations is US band Bright Channel. Doesn't hurt to admit that this band is pretty good!
Airborne [mp3]
Disillusionist [mp3]

Thanks to Andy (former member of the great Autumn Thieves) I've learned about another totally amazing shoegaze inspired NY band called Soundpool. The music is described by the band as "sweet girlie vox saturated guitar sounds lush synth arrangements and a danceable driving rhythm section", which probably couldn't be more accurate.
Eurostar [mp3]
On High [mp3]
Walking On Air [mp3] great one
Millions&Billions&Trillions [mp3]

It's A Trap mentioned it yesterday and the band itself posted a bulletin at Myspace saying that it is no longer called Second Language, but should be known as Marching Band in the future. New song Letters [mp3] certainly proves that this Swedish duo still knows how to write catchy indie pop; New name or not!

Listen to/download great new song You & Me [mp3] by Vega4. Very catchy and a good bet is that this will show up on my Current Favorites list very soon!

Continuing my post on interesting French electro pop I kicked off the other day.....

Foretaste:
Secret (OMD Cover) [mp3]
Killing Disco Machine [mp3]

Dekad:
Dare [mp3]
Just A Dream [mp3]

The above bands plus Celluloide are released on French label BOREDOMproduct.

Ashdowne

Didn't really search for any new music, but somehow I still came across these two very nice guitar driven tracks by UK band Ashdowne.
Myspace
Floodgates [mp3]
Buried Away [mp3]

New Stuff

Somehow it is absolutely ridiculous that I buy so much music and spend so little time listening to it. So the next few days I will put the search for new music on a hold and instead focusing on listening to some of the many new albums I've bought the past month. Along the way I'll try to add a few comments.

Martin Bernt - Juxtapose
I mentioned this Danish guy in one of my posts last week and Saturday morning my ordered copy of the album arrived in the mail. Apparently he only sells the album at concerts, but I sent him an email and got him to send me a copy. The price was a very reasonable DKK 80 (EUR 10.7) and the album is definitely worth the cost, because this is a real fine debut from a very talented artist. The influences (Bowie + PJ Harvey) are still very obvious, though I'll have to add Oasis, Lou Reed and REM to the ones I listed the other day. If ordering the album is too much of an effort, you can download the entire album for free at Martin Bernt Music Online. And why shouldn't you, because it IS very good!

David Gilmour - On An Island
The album is polished, well-produced and features lots of guitars, and it would probably have worked very fine as another eagerly awaited Pink Floyd album. I've only listened to it once so far and I seriously don't know what to think. Maybe it's my recent obsession for unsigned indie bands that have drawn my musical interest in another direct? I don't know, but it is a fact that I felt rather indifferent on our first encounter. Filed under "more listens required".

Powderdust - Minding The Gap
This is another Danish band/artist I mentioned in a post last week. I found the album at my local CD shop this Saturday, so I thought I'd give it a shot. So far the album has been a surprisingly positive experience (it's actually quite good), because electronic triphop isn't something I'd normally dig. 4 songs from the album can be downloaded at Myspace.
Leaving A Space [mp3]
Declare Your Love [mp3]

Mads Langer - Attention Please
Reviewers haven't been nice to this album and after a few listens it is not all that difficult to understand why. It starts out very nicely with a couple of quite catchy songs (which proves that he has plenty of talent), but halfway through the album you start getting really bored having all kind of difficulties preventing yourself from changing the CD. The album was produced by Søren Balsner of Carpark North, but only on a few and rare occasions do this shine through. This is third Danish album I'm listening to today and probably (and sadly) the one that will sell the best, because the commercial radio stations will find plenty of harmless stuff on this album, thus not "jeopardizing" their playlists.

French Music

Lots of thanks to Steph for recommending French band Celluloide to me. The music is cool, catchy, danceable and very 80's inspired electro pop. 3 of the songs available as free download are from the 2004 album Words Once Said, while the final track Wounds Of Love is from the 2002 album Naive Heart. All of the songs are really great and highly recommendable!
A 6 track EP called Bodypop was released earlier this month, which probably is something to check out! A couple of the new tracks can be streamed at Myspace.
Show Me The Way [mp3]
Wounds Of Love [mp3]
Synchronise [mp3]
This Aching Kiss [mp3]

Dekad is another French electronic pop band, and once again this is a band I've found at Myspace. Influenced by other bands like De/Vision, Joy Division and Nine Inch Nails, Dekad are A little darker/tougher than Celluloide, but equally good.

Peacefull [mp3]
Emergency (blind mix) [mp3]

Music

Levy - Rotten Love [mp3]
Every normal music loving person in the world (should) know this one by now. If you don't, this is your chance.

Cause and Effect - Into The Light (remix) [mp3]
Remix of an older song. Not one of their best ones. Still impatiently waiting for the new album!

Midlake - Roscoe [mp3]
Never heard of these guys before (probably a huge blunder), but this song is absolutely fantastic. From the forthcoming album The Trials of Van Occupanther (to be released in June).

My Enemy - My Time Coming [mp3]
Nice Swedish electro indie pop.

Words galore

NY based Danish singer/songwriter Martin Bernt released his debut album Juxtapose in February this year. Influenced by a string of well-known artists like David Bowie, PJ Harvey, The Smiths a.o., Martin Bernt creates a "musical universe wrapped in acoustics, noisy guitars and spherical keyboards". The songs I've heard so far are simply great and yet again I'm surprised and puzzled how a talented and very interesting artist like this can be virtually unknown!
Myspace
You Know They Trick You [mp3]
When We Came To The Party [mp3]
Check Your Head [mp3]
City Crawlers [mp3]

Nizlopi are releasing a new (and fairly nice) single called Girls on 3rd April. Watch the video or listen to a very bad live version [mp3] of the song.

Music blogs Mars Needs Guitars and clever titles are so last summer have been so kind to link back to me, so please do me a favor and pay them a visit.

I now have 467 "friends" at Myspace. Very superficial indeed, but the constant flow of bulletin entries is very useful!

A while back I mentioned the debut single Grow Young [mp3] by Swedish indie pop band Paperplane. Now two new (unmastered) songs Take You Out [mp3] and the very catchy Dreammaker [mp3] are available at Myspace. Both songs are from the forthcoming album How To Get To The Sky.

It's almost getting tiresome. Not a day without a great tip from Peter. Today it's the very fine Stone [mp3] by Danish electronic duo Sepiamusic.

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