Oh so quiet...

Not any good at blogging these days, so if you're interested in knowing what I'm up to, I suggest you follow me on Twitter instead. Recommended two tracks their earlier today, so thought I'd shared them here as well...

Via Rodolfo comes this superb female-fronted guitar pop track by UK act Blessa.


Regulars are already familiar with Bubblegum Lemonade, but in case you haven't checked it out already, don't miss out on ace new track This Is The New Normal (opening track from new album Some Like It Pop).

A Sunday Matinée...on a Wednesday...

Just a shout out for the upcoming Matinée Recordings compilation A Sunday Matinée, which will be out next month to celebrate the label's 15 years of existence. 15 (new, unreleased, rare etc.) tracks by 15 of the label's very finest artists, including brand new and much anticipated ones from long time blog favorites Northern Portrait and The Electric Pop Group. 5 of the tracks are up for streaming (and teasing) on SoundCloud and they sure promise that should you decide to buy the album (and why not?) you will be in for one massive indie pop fix.

1-2-3...

Ved jo kun alt for godt, at jeg spiller den samme plade igen og igen, men min ryg er i ubehagelig grad ved at tage livet af mig. Samtidig er panikken så småt ved at få frit løb, for fredag kører bilen sydpå og lige nu magter jeg 5 minutter i siddende stilling før smerterne tager magten. Så trods en sygelig angst for nåle er utænkeligt midler taget i brug, så akupunktur blev forsøgt her i morges (i kyndige hænder så klart). Endvidere er min ryg plasteret til med Jin Si Gao Hydrogel klister stads, som køler dejligt, men også hyler mig ind i en hørm af mentol, som vækker associationer om en alkoholiker, der forsøger at kamuflere spiritusdunsten? Om det virker er for tidligt at vurdere, men så længe der er håb...

Har nævnt en-mands projektet Junica utallige gange før og nu har den New Zealandske popsmed skrevet nummeret Cherry World med undertitlen (written for Katy Perry or Pink to sing), samt via et tweet rakt hånden ud mod førstnævnte af de to popsild. Man kan jo så kun håbe, at der kommer et tilfredsstillende udbytte ud af besværet for nummeret har da så bestemt hit potentiale. Og bør hverken forskrække radiolyttere, teenagere eller andre med angst for musikalske forandringer! Døm selv...


De superfine skottere Bubblegum Lemonade har en ny superfin (hvad ellers?) single på trapperne og den udkommer selvfølgelig på Matinée Recordings (ingen over og ingen ved siden af). Og vanen tro i disse tider udkommer Have You Seen Faith? som god gammeldaws 7 tommer single, hvor der kun trykkes 500 eksemplarer. Håndnummererede selvfølgelig og på pink tyggegummi vinyl, hvad dælen der så måtte menes med det? Men altså sådan en rigtig samler ting for nørder og andet godt folk. Nummeret er ikke så overraskende en pragtfuld omgang guitar pop med melankolsk undertone. Skønt!


Svært heldigt...stod (kan jo ikke sidde i øjeblikke) og små sov lidt, da jeg var færdig med at lytte til Bubblegum Lemonade, hvorefter SoundCloud fortsatte ufortrødent til den her lille pop perle fra Champs. Kan vel bedst beskrives som noget, der meget vel kunne udgives på førnævnte Matinée Recordings...og det er nok det bedste kvalitetsstempel, som kan tildeles...tror jeg!

Faith...

New demo track by Bubblegum Lemonade. See this as a sign of things (an album) to come...me (obviously) likes a lot...

Have You Seen Faith? DEMO by Bubblegum Lemonade

Various bits...

Champagne Riot writes that the track Moonstruck has been added to the P3 playlist. And indeed it’s true. In the same post they add that they (like the rest of us) have given up on Myspace!
Moonstruck

Anyone heard of (or perhaps remember) Kind of girl; a band I used to hype? If you haven’t, now is a good time to say hello as every track released by the band is free to download at last.fm. Come to think of it; the band has been awfully quiet for a long time.
+ Poetry Boy

More than once I’ve asked myself if The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is capable of doing anything wrong. Now that I’ve finally (as probably the last living soul on the planet) given new single Heart In Your Heartbreak a listen the question still rings true.
Heart In Your Heartbreak

The sophomore release (which conveniently will be titled just that) by Bubbegum Lemonade will be out on Matinée Recordings on Monday (November 29). Two intriguing promo tracks are available to sweeten the wait.
+ Caroline's Radio
+ You Only Leave Twice

If you scroll down you’ll see that I’ve (once again) added Google ads to the right column. I believe the deal is that I’m not allowed to encourage anyone to click the ads, so I won’t...

Check back for part II tomorrow.

Shorties...

I know these shorties and video posts suck, but it’s really the best I can come up with these days. Call it lack of inspiration call it whatever you like. Sorry! But that’s how things are right now!!

Canadian quartet (!) Jon and Roy share a track from their forthcoming album Homes.
+ Boon ‘Elm

Don’t forget to download the first EardrumsPop single. It’s by Tiny Fireflies, it’s free and it’s just brilliant!

As stated last week (and numerous times before); no one does it better than Labrador. 7” single Closer Now by Club 8 will be out on November 23 (according to the promo mail and not December as written on the Labrador site) and of course the label offers the lead track as a free download!
+ Closer Now

Socio Peruvian pop musician Francois Peglau has put out his album The Imminent Failure of Francois Peglau via BandCamp and shares this track as an appetizer!
+ You know we won’t make it (if you come around)

Here’s a really nice but rather odd-titled freebie by Bubblegum Lemonade.
I Read In Heat She's Wearing Meat by Bubblegum Lemonade

Ginger, stars, pains and bubblegum...

Ginger Ninja will be in town on October 1 playing at Toldkammeret. This is great news of course, as this is one terrific live band, but they've picked a rather bad date, as my wife will be going out that evening. Thus making the honorable job of looking after the kiddos all mine. Guess this means that I’ll have to spend some hard earned cash on a babysitter, as I really don’t want to miss the opportunity to see the boys performing live again.
+ OnePlusOneIsThree

Chromewaves posted new track Fixed by Stars last week and my initial reaction when giving it a listen was disappointment. The problem is that I cannot help comparing every new song by the band to Elevator Love Letter, which really isn’t fair as most songs (not just ones by the band, but songs in general) pale in comparison. And Fixed is actually a pretty good song in its own right and should be judged as such.
+ Fixed

New 7” single Say No To Love by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is out today on Slumberland Records. This is yet another amazing release by the New Yorkers, which has sort of left me wondering if the band is actually capable of doing anything wrong?
+ Say No To Love

Sounding equally fuzzy and almost as great is the new single Caroline’s Radio by Bubblegum Lemonade, which is out now on Matinée Recordings as a 7” single.
+ Caroline’s Radio

The bubblegum dept....

The official webpage of The Radio Dept. has (almost) been relaunched. Plenty of free downloads there that I really ought to check out. I just need to find the time. Find it I definitely will, because I simply worship this Swedish trio. Unfortunately no encouraging news regarding the band’s third album Clinging To A Scheme can be found and early 2009 (which actually isn’t that far away) is still the projected time for its release. Here's hoping that 'early' means January instead of May!
+ Freddie and the Trojan Horse

The debut album Doubleplusgood by Bubblegum Lemonade is out now on Matinée Recordings. Judging from these two gorgeous promo tracks this is a must buy album for any lover of jangling guitar pop.
+ I’ll Never Be Yours
+ Penny Fountain

Will be home babysitting the kids tonight, so more stuff should pop up later (as if anyone really gives a…)

Matinée Recordings - New releases...

Two new and eagerly awaited releases from Matinée Recordings are finally available to order from the label's website. I actually ordered both of them a few days ago and since we're talking about the new EP's by Danish jangling guitar pop trio Northern Portrait (Napoleon Sweetheart) and Scottish C86 inspired pop band Bubblegum Lemonade (Susan's In The Sky) you're probably not at all surprised, why I wasted very little time before placing my orders. Will post a few thoughts, once I've received the EP's.

+ Northern Portrait - I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
+ Bubblegum Lemonade - Susan's In The Sky

Listening...

It’s time to work my way through some of the many new CD’s recently found in the mailbox.

This is the complete list of today’s “menu"…comments to be added during the day.

Midnight Movies – Nights EP
2 of the 6 tracks are the band's versions of Night in White Satin, which I would have no problems living without (especially the one sung in French). However the remaining 4 tracks (2 new ones + 2 remixes) are simply excellent alternative rock tunes (with some shoegazing influences) and easily makes the EP worth the investment.
+ Should Have Known

Soundpool – dichotomies + dreamland
+ Do What You Love

Elika – trying got us nowhere
The debut album by Brooklyn duo Elika might only contain 7 tracks, but it pretty much has everything one should expect from a debuting shoegaze band. Musically the band doesn't distance itself from the rest of the pack as the duo combine the typical electronic soundscape with pretty female vocals and noisy guitars. But since everything is woven together by some real well written tunes, the album certainly indicates that this isn't the last thing we'll hear from Elika.

I've done a bit of shopping at Matinée Recordings and if you're into lovely indie pop, I can only recommend that you pick up these 3 extraordinary fine EP's. They'll cost you 5 buck each, and with the current USD rate everyone outside the US should pick up a copy today!
Bubblegum Lemonade – Ten Years Younger EP
+ Ten Years Younger

Strawberry Whiplash – Who’s In Your Dreams EP
+ Who's In Your Dreams

the electric pop group – sunrise ep
+ I Could See The Lights

Saturday night’s alright for blogging…

The girls are sleeping and the wife is at some girl’s party, so the computer is all mine, mine, mine….!

I did some extensive music shopping today and spent my weekly pocket money on 5 CD’s. One of them was the debut solo album Every Streetcar’s Got A Name by Michael Møller (the voice of moi Caprice). As the reviews have been very positive, my expectations were pretty high and luckily I wasn’t disappointed as the 16 songs are heartfelt and stunningly beautiful. But also a bit (actually a lot) more minimalistic than you'd expect, so it's certainly not an attempt to continue the sound of moi Caprice in his own name. I’ve asked for permission to post a track of the album, though I’m not all that optimistic that I’ll get it.

Yesterday Exitfare posted two demo tracks by Concerto for Constantine; the new band of Mark Greaney of JJ72. Really hate to say that I'm not impressed as perhaps every JJ72 song was better than any of these. It's as if he's trying to change direction and want his new music to be a bit "tougher"?

Some of you might have noticed that I’ve abandoned my no ads principles and added some Google ads at the bottom of the right column. So far I’ve earned a strikingly US$ 1.55, so no reason to change the household budget just yet! Obviously chances of someone clicking the ads would be better if I posted them at the top of the page, but after all I don’t want this to look like just another blog that only exists for the ads. But on the other hand I wouldn't mind earning a little money. What a dilemma....not really!

Far too many words already, so here's a recent recommendation by J.A.. Clive from Sweden plays straight forward, rather uncomplicated, but very catchy electronic pop music. And there's really nothing wrong with that - is there?
+ Emotions

Indie MP3 writes a few thoughts on The Matinée Hitparade. After I've listened to this one by Bubblegum Lemonade I really should order that album, which is released to celebrate that the label turns 10 years old.
+ Tyler

Yesterday Absolut Noise did something quite unusual. The excellent French blog normally dedicated to Swedish music posted a track by a Danish artist. Click right here if you want to know who that lucky artist was.

The extremely cool and very Interpol inspired track Fade Away by French alternative rock band Joy Disaster was added to my current favorites yesterday. Originally recommended by J.A. (yep - him again) and posted by Peter ages ago!
+ Fade Away

In case you're curious the other 4 CD's I bought today were:
Iron And Wine - The Shephard's Dog
+ Boy With a Coin

The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
+ Dead Sound

I Am Bones - The Greater Good
+ The Main Thing Is To Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing

I Got You On Tape - 2

Bubblegum Lemonade

Friday evening I wondered why Bubblegum Lemonade had never been featured in any music blogs. By judging from the comments I guess my conclusion was a bit hasty and incorrect. Sorry about that and I promise to do my homework better in the future. So to make amends I've listed some of the blogs below that at some point have featured this excellent Scottish band.
- Powerpopaholic
- Mira el Péndulo
- Indie MP3
- Think Small

And Merz mentioned the band in his post yesterday!

Finally I've posted four tracks by the band found over at Myspace (all of them in a decent quality).
+ The Tomorrow People
+ Unsafe at any Speed
+ Just Like You
+ Tyler

Best of...Friday evening edition

Just watched Trading Places on TV. I know it's 24 years old, but I still rank it as one of the funniest movies ever made. I'm not the movie buff I once used to be, so I won't start any Eddie Murphy rant (because I haven't watched any of his movies the past 10 years).

While watching I had a Best Extra Stout from Coopers Brewery (Australia). Must be one of the best beers you'll ever taste!

OK - no more best of this and that bullshit. Probably should stick to what I normally do and post some music instead.

Sherwood from California has a new album (A Different Light) coming up and gives away a track from it called Song In My Head for free. It's one of those typical and instantly catchy American pop/rock tunes that we all hate to admit actually liking.
+ Song In My Head

Over at Last.fm I've sent a request to become a member of a group called Department of Free Sounds (apparently it has to be accepted by someone). Thanks to the recommendations found there, I'm currently busy downloading and listening to some quite interesting stuff. A few samples (though they have probably already been featured in other blogs)....
+ Sleepy Township - Monument
+ Eux Autres - Ecoutez Bien!
+ Bubblegum Lemonade - My Dreams of You

A quick search over at The Hype Machine reveals that no blog has ever featured Bubblegum Lemonade. Why is beyond me, because this band (mixing noise pop and jangling guitars with a lot of 60's inspiration) should give fans of bands like The Field Mice and The Jesus and Mary Chain plenty to cheer for