Lists...

I was somehow convinced/manipulated by Anders to compile a list of my 25 favorite albums of the past (or what will soon be the past) decade and submit it for a soon-to-be-published Frekvens Top 50. Having spent several hours on this project today, I now clearly recall why I hate making those lists. Be it a best of the year, decade, whatever, list, I still hate it. They are just so definitive and once you’ve published them, there’s always the risk that they’ll be used forever to question your taste, judgment and lack of knowledge. Especially the later, as I willingly admit that time has forced me to ignore far too many releases that I at least should have given a few listens. In my research I checked out some of my year end lists (I refuse to post links, so you’ll have to find them yourself) and was rather confounded by some of the picks. Actually by quite a few to be honest. Albums I rated so highly back then have been collecting dust ever since. Others barely sneaking into my top 10 (or 20) turned out to be real growers and in hindsight should have been ranked much higher. So being afraid of publicly contradicting myself, I more than once thought about canceling the whole thing, but decided to take the “lists are useless, but fun to make” approach instead and that way talked myself into finalizing and sending a list. What? You want to see the list? Forget it! No way, I’m going to publish it! Didn't you read the above? But I’ll reveal this much; The Last Broadcast by Doves was my top pick, while And The Glass Handed Kites by Mew was my clear-cut choice for the best album by a Danish artist.

Zzz...

I’m unbelievable tired today. Had a night (which was more like an evening) out with the boys Saturday, and even though I wasn’t terribly drunk, went to bed before 2 am, slept rather well, had a fairly quiet Sunday and another good nights sleep, I’m still absolutely worn out today. But as I’ve said times and times before; “I’m definitely not 35 anymore”. There’s a photo on Facebook taken some time during our small get-together, though I’m not sure if anyone’s actually allowed to see it? If so, I’m the dude on the right, who (more than ever) needs a haircut!

Superb Danish quartet Ginger Ninja are releasing a second single from their forthcoming debut album today. The single is called Bone Will Break Metal and is a surprisingly synth dominated track; still bloody excellent though!

Speaking of Danish excellence. 5 “new” tracks by moi Caprice are now streaming at Myspace. “New” as three of the tracks are alternative versions of previously recorded songs, and as always I’m not quite sure if that’s such a splendid idea. I certainly need to listen to those a few more times, and yet I doubt that they’ll ever be rated higher than the original versions. But the two brand new tracks The Sorrow of War and Tell That Girl (especially the later) are absolutely brilliant and proves that the band still knows how to write those catching pop tunes that to some extent were missing on the previous album We Had Faces Then. The 5 tracks are included on the singles compilation All We Feat Is Love (including a bonus disc called The Past Is a Foreign Country), which will be out two weeks from now on November 23.

Thought that Sweden's Kamera had split up (and they probably have), but nonetheless I've just found their recent single Friday Night in the mailbox...
+ Friday Night

It’s all red...

Wanted to write a blogpost yesterday, but spent the entire day listening to Röd (that’s the new album by Kent, in case you’ve somehow managed to miss that) and never got around writing anything. I’ve said a number of times before that I’m no fan of Kent experimenting (I’m still hoping it’s just an experiment) with an electronic sound, as I prefer thinking of them as a rock band rather than a synth pop ditto. But, as the band (understandably) doesn’t care about my thoughts, feelings, whatever on this topic and as indicated by first single Tönterna, they stuck to the formula used when they recorded Tillbaka Till Samtiden and ended up exploring the electronic world even further on the new album. Consequently my expectations where pretty modest, when I downloaded the album (from the official webpage of course and not some illegal copy), as a kind of precaution to prevent major disappointment. However I could have saved myself from all that, because this album would have no problems meeting any expectations I might have had, as songwriting and production melts beautifully together to create a rather overwhelming whole. And this despite I have yet to listen to it at home in quiet surroundings while checking out the lyrics, which makes me confident that the album will continue to grow on me. So perhaps time has come for me to finally accept that Kent is a rock band turned electro, though I seriously doubt that the journey is going to end here? Synth pop, disco, rock or whatever path they’ll choose to follow, something definitely has to go terribly wrong before they’ll be dethroned as best band on the planet.

Oh well – other bands do exist!

The albums by Danish Daycare and Digits are on my ever growing pending list. They have left good first impressions and I really ought to give both some serious listens!
+ Danish Daycare – A Story of Hurt
+ Digits - Monster

New single Days by Sambassadeur is spreading real fast in the blogosphere. No wonder really, as this, exactly as expected, is a short, sweet, uptempo and infectiously catchy pop tune. A yet untitled (?) album will be out in January...on Labrador of course!
+ Days

Danish band Mushi has announced that a new album will be released in late spring next year. A much more welcomed piece of news than the “Mushi has come to an end” announcement published six months ago!

Snacks...

Will one loose one’s street cred (if one has any) if one says that ones likes the new Snow Patrol single? Risking an eye and putting in writing that I think Just Say Yes is a terrific pop song. Watch the video if you need to be convinced that I haven’t lost it completely.

This has to be one of the best promo mails ever. Texas quartet Fate Lions has mailed this download link for their album Good Enough For You and adds "Please feel free to treat it however you like. Perhaps you know someone that might enjoy it or know someone that would hate it but whom you'd enjoy annoying, either way please feel free to share, etc. We play wannabe smarty pants fist pumping roller rink bubble gum downer pop.". Not a word about how fabulous they think they are. A short, intriguing and (just a little bit) funny message is really all it takes!
+ Seen It All

Swedish indie popsters Tellus About The Moon will be holding a release party for their album Australia tomorrow at the nightclub Svanen in Gothenburg. Clever as I am, I obviously understand that this means that the album will be released and thus available for purchase. How come then that I cannot find any info on how to buy it or even who is releasing it (though I do suspect that the band is releasing it themselves).

Interesting remix project mixtoverdener.dk (mix two worlds) has reached its final chapter and rounding out the experiment are these two recently published remixes by Carpark North and Nikolaj Nørlund. Samples were taken from cello concerto no. 2 by Dmitri Shostakovich.
+ Carpark North - The One
+ Nikolaj Nørlund - No Love Lost

Music, music, music...

Tonight’s agenda is pretty simple. Read some mails. Download some music and listen to it. Post whatever is worth our (that’s you and me) time. No words. Just music!

Some seriously bad stuff so far...

+ PJ Bond - You, Too

Not at all loyal to my own formula. Peter just mailed a link for this video of Kent performing new track Svarta Linjer. New album Röd will be out November 6.



Back on track...

+ Pants Yell! - Cold Hands
+ Ravens & Chimes - Hearts of Palm

Things are improving dramatically now! Nice!

+ White Rabbits - Percussion Gun
+ ArpLine - Fold Up Like a Piece of Paper

Must have deleted a hundred emails (at least) by now! And that will probably be all for tonight!

Oh well - that was one big lie. Here's one final one...

+ Lullwater - One More Time

A secret beer...

This one sounds familiar. Wife’s out, the kids are sleeping, the mailbox is bursting (or just about to) and I’ve found a beer in the fridge. And no; the post title certainly isn’t meant to be a joke, as all information on the beer label (enlarge the photo and perhaps you'll be able to see that yourself) has been printed using the Braille system. The beer has therefore been given the name "blindeøl", so calling it a “secret beer” can't be completely wrong? But as funny and interesting this might be, I'm afraid that it also means that my only option is to learn the system, if I want to know exactly what it is I’m drinking. Lazy as I am, I’m probably not going to bother, so I'll just drink and (hopefully) enjoy it. Definitely worth mentioning is that for every sold beer the brewery will donate 2 DKK to Dansk Blindesamfund....

SuperTroels, who hasn’t been using that alias for quite some time and instead preferred his real name Troels Abrahamsen, offers “a near final version” of new track Swaat as a free download. The final version will be included on his forthcoming album BLCK.
+ Swaat

Speaking of Troels, I was wondering if there was any news on VETO? Last year’s album Crushing Digits was monster, so any sign of a follow-up being in the making would be classified as "great news". But there was no information to be found or at least I couldn't find it. Instead this oldie, which always is worth sharing…
+ You Are A Knife

Did you download your copy of the Bodebrixen album? If you need to be convinced why you should even bother, I strongly recommend you check out this lovely pop gem. Unless of course you're not at all prepared to be charmed off your feet!
+ Shone

Here's a real nice one from the inbox. It has already been featured by a number of blogs, so I'm taking the easy path here and letting the music speak for itself!
+ Loch Lomond - Wax and Wire

I don’t know how many times I’ve written this before, but I’ll never be a fan of remixes. More often than not the only thing a remix does is ruining the original track and I’ve never fully understood the purpose of this! The few remixes adding something to the original or at least being “listenable alternatives” are few and far between, but whenever I stumble upon one of those, I guess it’s somehow my “duty” to post it. And this recent remix of the Phoenix track Fences by Son Green definitely falls under the “listenable” category!
+ Fences (Son Green Remix)

Various...

I've promised myself that I will not start whining or complaining about small insignificant things in today's post. Though I do suspect that blogging will be less interesting that way, as words just seem to come more easily to you, when you're pissed off. Luckily my computer is a reliable ally and does it's best to prevent me from keeping my promise, as it is unusual slow today. I mean it normally operates at a pace which wouldn't even impress a snail, but somehow it has found a way to be even slower today. This actually impresses me quite a lot, as something this slow would normally accept its destiny and simply roll over and die! But from time to time it does show signs of life and allow me to type a few words, so maybe (or maybe not) I'll be able to add to this...

J.A. just mailed a reminder that the new Bodebrixen album is free to download from the band's webpage. Thank you and shame on me for forgetting! The bitrate is a measly 128, but should be plenty to convince you whether or not the album is worth buying! So far it has been downloading for half an hour, so things really are slow around here today!
+ Keychain

And whenever things get back to normal, I'm definitely going to download the rest of the Hold It Close album by Canadian electro pop artist Digits. Just to find out if the rest can possibly be as fine as these two promo tracks!
+ Monster
+ Nonstop