A shitload of randomness...

Always way behind, but I'm used to it, so it no longer pisses me off. Or least I've become fairly pretty good at pretending that it doesn't. But for whatever reason, I've just recently discovered I Break Horses. They haven't exactly been the world's best kept secret, so how I missed out...I don't know. And I really don't care or see no point in figuring out why. Rambling on when all I'm trying to say is that Chiaroscuro is absolutely brilliant.


A friend of mine is trying to convince me that I should join him and some of our old compadres at this year's Roskilde Festival. Are you kidding me? I'm 45 years old and my body feels far more comfortable surrounded by five-star luxury than in a tent, with mud up to my knees and getting no sleep for a week. And the lineup so far doesn't exactly make anyone drool; does it? Add a few names and then perhaps I'd reconsider. But I won't give you any, because then you might actually book one (*cough* *Richard* *cough* *Hawley* *cough* *cough* *Doves*) or two of them, and thus forcing me to join the lads!

The release of new single Summer In Your Eyes by Danish one man project Kites and Komets might seem a bit oddly timed with a title like that. Especially when looking out the window and everything here is cold, white and windy. But listen to the lyrics and it all makes (a little) more sense. Musically it's a gorgeously catchy pop tune with (no surprise really) a wonderful summerly feel to it! No SoundCloud link, so you'll have to find it on iTunes etc. or use the Spotify link below (if the goddamn thing is working?).

Excellent Danish singer-songwriter Stærosaurus uploaded a fine new track yesterday from his forthcoming debut album Store Hoved (translates into Big Head in case you were wondering). Called Loopet (the loop) and I'll leave it to you guessing why it's called exactly that...


New Chorus Grant track, the achingly beautiful O Everyone, went straight in at number one on radio chart Barometerlisten. Vote, vote and vote again to please help the track stay at the top spot.

The Valleys & The Mountains...

New video for the new single by Danish "supergroup" The Mountains. Two pretty amazing singles released so far, so obviously I do expect the debut album The Mountains, The Valleys, The Lakes (out March 10) to be nothing short of a masterpiece (ok - a little less will do). With the debut single being named The Mountains, am I the only one expecting the band's next (and third) single to be called The Lakes?


And the video for The Mountains...

The Sun Days...

Starting a cold Monday morning with a new and gorgeously warm single from Sweden's The Sun Days. Five years ago I would probably have written something in the line of that "you only need to listen for three seconds before realizing that this band has to be from Sweden" (okay, okay wise guys - I know they start the song counting in Swedish, but that's not what I'm talking about...). Guess things haven't changed all that much, because Don't Need To Be Them has that absolutely wonderful, very typical and (apparently) enduring Swedish indie pop sound to it.


If you haven't (I hadn't) - do check out the band's debut single You Can't Make Me Make Up My Mind; it's an equally lovely slice of pop!

Blush...

New demo track by promising UK quartet HUSH!. Not quite able to match their fabulous debut track There's Something In The Stars Tonight (and somehow I doubt they ever will), but Blush still manages to hold its own nicely and once again (the vocals especially) the band sounds somewhat New Order inspired (not that I mind at all!).

A Novel Resort...

This is about as fresh as it gets. Northern Portrait drummer M recently started working on a solo project and yesterday the very first recording was published under the moniker A Novel Resort (no website/Facebook yet). When the message arrived, I was busy watching some show on Netflix, but Everything We Ever Hoped For quickly put an end to that. And Everything We Ever Hoped For certainly is just that; everything we could ever hope for! A grand, melancholic, beautiful and epic pop ballad, which (musically more than vocally) of course made me think of blog favorite Richard Hawley, which again is probably the biggest accolade I can give any other artist. If any of you remember enjoying The Mirror Lounge (M & Northern Portrait companion Stefan Larsen’s former band), this new track will (for the second time) be everything (and much more) you could ever hope for. And finally to clear out a couple of things:
No – this doesn’t mean an end to M's involvement in Northern Portrait.
Yes – an album is on its way.
No – he doesn’t know when, where and how it will be released.
Yes – he’s written and recorded everything himself, so it is indeed a solo project.
Of course – I will keep you updated whenever there is news to share.


And if you’ve never heard of The Mirror Lounge mentioned above, I can only feel sorry for you. This will provide you with another and maybe final chance, so don’t miss out on it once again – ok?

O Everyone...

Start the day by checking out new single O Everyone from Chorus Grant. A quite introverted, anything but exuberant and, I guess, very typical singer-/songwriter piece, but at the same time very, very beautiful. New album out on Tambourhinoceros soon (January or February depending on the source)...

Cold Monday morning...

Someone somewhere must have a sick sense of humor. Up to the start of 2014 the winter in Denmark was probably among the warmest ever, but just around the exact moment earlier this month, when I was finally allowed to resume my running career, King Winter decided it was time to wake up from his slumber and return to action. Not only making it cold, but extremely windy (fucking hate wind – runners generally do) as well. Thank you so very, very much for trying your utmost to tear down whatever little motivation I’m able to build up, but please do go on if you like; you won’t stop me!

This glorious track by NY shoegaze duo The Blessed Isles popped up on SoundCloud not so many hours ago. Taken from the band’s forthcoming LP, which will be out later this year and if the rest of tracks are able to even remotely match Chase Away the Sun (truly not a very good title for a song on a day like today) it most certainly will be a real treat for any fan of the classic, epic, dream-pop sound.


Alphabeat, not exactly among the most featured bands around here, has decided to take a break to let the band members focus on various other musical projects. Recently lead singer Stine Bramsen lent her voice to Carpark North (which resulted in the surprisingly strong 32 – stream below) and today her debut solo single Prototypical hits the streets (hmmm – that’s a completely outdated expression – should probably be hits the airwaves and streams near you instead). Already picked up by Danish radio (it’s this week’s Uundgåelige (inevitable) on P3) and the live session version of the track was praised by a number of foreign bloggers last week. Actually I did hear the song on radio this morning and to be quite honest it didn't leave much of an impression! But then the video hit my mailbox earlier today and I decided to give it a few more spins. And I really should be to "experienced" to be surprised of what happened, because like it's often the case with a great song, it required a small effort before I fully started appreciating it. The song does no mark a radical career change or anything, because just like Alphabeat this is still pop music (though the track has a slight gospel feel). But it's less summer and bubblegum, has a far more mature expression without forgetting that most important thing is that a great pop song has to be catchy; and it sure is!


A preview of the song (apparently meaning that it's not the complete version)...

Black Light...

Haunting and chillingly cool new (it's from early December, so I guess it can still be called new) track (and video) by French (but Philadelphia based) electronic artist Sébastien Schuller. Light years from the stuff I normally post around here, but this one has really been getting under my skin (if you can actually use that expression in a positive way?)



Sebastien Schuller - Black Light from sebastien schuller on Vimeo.

Eternal death...

News->debut song from the most recent artist signed to Sweden's finest; Labrador Records. Eternal Death consists of...who knows, but please do start guessing!? Wouldn't be surprised though, if it's a kind of gimmick, where it at some later point will revealed that it's a constellation of artists involved in other Labrador related bands!?...but debut single Head is a really fine and catchy electronic pop single, which verifies that it's not a coincidence (whoever turns out to be hiding behind the alias) that this artist has been added to the Labrador roster.

Insanely busy days...

Work sucks pretty bad these days, but who really wants to read about that? Will keep the whining to myself and instead share this trio of songs found via my SoundCloud stream...

Spanish indie pop trio When Nalda Became Punk (what an awesome name) will have an EP out on Shelflife on March 4.


New track Stockholm by The New Division is electronic pop music at its very, very best!


The new single by Dum Dum Girls is probably all over the web already (haven't bother to check it out). No wonder if it is...it's instantly catchy and damn right brilliant!