Falk recommends...

This is a list of songs and artists recently recommended to me by Falk over at Last.fm. Obviously some are better/more interesting than others, but all of them are worth a listen. As always his recommendations are much appreciated!

* Cheshire Cats
+ Welcome To Our Town
+ Souls
Swedish new wave/gothic inspired band. Been featured before in the blog.

* Arctic
+ Launching Pad
+ Some One Turning
Nice (partly) acoustic songs by Canadian singer/songwriter.

* All:My:Faults
+ Mirrors
+ Forget Me...
Recommended to me numerous times, this German darkwave/industrial band must be among Falk's favorite artists?

* Children of the CPU
+ Slay Your Dragons
+ I Spy
Canadian electro-pop duo. The entire Back To BASIC album (which actually is surprisingly good) is available as a free download.

This and That....

This is old news, but remember to download the new (and excellent single) Hey, Girl by Figurines. The expectations for the album When The Deer Wore Blue (out later this month in DK) are sky high!
+ Hey, Girl

The more I listen the more I like Our Love To Admire!

If I ever meet Soko "I swear I'll kill her". What started out as a sweet little novelty thing is now all over the airways and for every listen that French accent annoys me more and more!

I've been listening to a lot of radio the past two weeks and it was great to hear P3 play songs by Kind of girl, Turboweekend and The Floor Is Made Of Lava (songs here).

FALK recommends this great new track by German new wave/gothic band Curious.
+ Resurrection

And J.A. recommends this catchy one by US electronic/powerpop trio Iris. Taken from the band's 2005 album called Wrath.
+ Appetite

Finally a nice one from the mailbox. The Lion by NY one man project Goodbye The Band reminds me (in a very positive way) of of Montreal.
+ The Lion

Don't run to the...

The sun is shining and this has the potential to become an absolutely wonderful day. But I have plenty of work waiting for me, so unfortunately there's no chance that I'll be working on my suntan today. However life isn't completely miserable, as I have plenty of nice music on my harddrive and some it will (hopefully) be posted during the day, when I find a couple of free minutes.

First out is Don't Run To The Suburbs by the German trio The Dance Inc., and if the band name has created some expectations of a pulsing, energetic and danceable track, you certainly won't be disappointed. Especially the 70's inspired disco remix by Erobique will (after you've put on your white suite) make you head directly for the dancefloor, where you will start doing your best John Travolta impersonation.
+ Don't Run To The Suburbs
+ Don't Run To The Suburbs (Erobique Remix)

Another track that I've been listening to quite a lot the past couple of day is Severine by US duo Ego Likeness. Recommended to me (and you) by FALK, who once again has unearthed a very good darkwave/gothic artist. I'd really like to explore Ego Likeness further, but unfortunately the links at Last.fm don't seem to be working.
+ Severine

J. Forte released his solo debut album Secret Pop last year and states that he wants to promote it one last time before moving on. So he has sent me (and probably a few others) a mail hoping that his music would sound great in a car. Well I haven't listened to it in the car, but I'm certain it would. These are lo-fi indie pop songs with charming melodies sounding pretty much like they had been recorded somewhere in Sweden. Do I need to say more? Download two more tracks from his webpage.
+ Lines To Follow
+ Come Back Now Baby (Your Data's Good)

Montt Mardie...

I just took a close look at Falk's Last.fm page and saw that he's been listening a lot to 1969 by Swedish singer Montt Mardie today. Curious as I am, I had to give it a listen and I'm glad that I did, as it turned out to be one of those very catchy and charming pop songs. According to his webpage he "enjoys movies from the fifties, music from the sixties and comicbooks from the seventies" and you certainly find lots of 60's inspiration in this track (and in his other stuff as well). And trumpets are always welcome and highly enjoyable in up-tempo and happy pop songs. The track is taken from the double album Clocks/Pretender (which seems to be some kind of compilation) that was released on Hybris earlier this week.
+ 1969
+ New York (another album track)

Recommendations...

Fadeaway recommends two shoegaze inspired bands; The Ambience and The Evening Sounds. This is (as I expected) great stuff and as always it's weird (AND highly disappointing) that two bands like these aren't signed by even the smallest label! Merz mentioned The Ambience a few weeks ago, which pretty much guarantees the quality of this UK five-piece! Not much info can be found on the other band - The Evening Sounds - except that it's a trio from Oxford, UK, listing some really interesting bands among the influences.
The Ambience:
+ Sea of Mediocrity
+ Sorry State
The Evening Sounds:
+ A New Suggestion
+ Not About You

FALK recommends US electronic quartet Atomica. The sound (with elements of trip-hop, downtown etc.) and the female vocalist (Lauren Cheatham) constantly make me think of Portishead and Massive Attack (which certainly isn't a bad thing). No surprise as the label (Positron! Records) has listed these two bands among the similar artists.
+ Delorian
+ Larsen

Falk recommends....auto-auto

auto-auto is yet another interesting Swedish band from Gothenburg, but these guys don't belong to the extensive group of indie-pop bands coming from that city. Instead the duo plays synth-pop inspired by Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk etc. as well as finding some inspiration in the more "heavy" industrial electronic names like Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb. The entire 2005 Totem EP (and a remixed version as well) are available for free from the band's webpage (where you can find lots of other stuff as well). Thanks to Falk for sending the recommendation!
+ Transdimensional
+ I Am the sun
+ Iam the sun remix by Infinite beat

James Hurst - Spread The News...

Thanks to FALK for suggesting that I should download the 4 track EP Spread The News by UK singer/songwriter James Hurst. The EP was released to the internet a little more than a year ago, so you can say that not all good news travel fast. The songs were written, recorded, performed etc. by the man himself in his living room. These songs could easily have come out as the typical singer/songwriter/acoustic stuff, but James Hurst adds nice pounding drums to the productions as well as plenty of electric guitars (at least to three of the tracks), which helps making this really interesting stuff.
+ Ok
+ Spread The News
+ Happy Lonely
+ Forget Your Face

Songs...

I'm really, really busy at work these days, so I have very little time to update the blog. But here are few quick ones!!!

Swedish band Dew has been so kind to send me a couple of their tracks in a better quality than the ones I posted the other day. Now there are no longer any excuses for not checking them out!
+ Still Looking
+ All That I'm Leaving Behind

Rodolfo has asked for (and been given) permission, to post the catchy and danceable (new) single by Scarlet BLONDE.
+ Electric

Falk recommends the really cool track Impurity by UK Gothic rock act The Faces of Sarah.
+ Impurity

Sorry about this rather incomplete post, but it's the best I can do right now......

Stupid Monday....

It's Monday - It's snowing - I'm busy - I'm Tired - The coffee is cold - I cannot upload any files - I'm not broke, but I still cannot stop whining........

You get my point - don't you?

I wanted to upload a new track by cool Danish trio Oliver North Boy Choir, sent to me by the band, but I cannot make FileDen work. The track is also available at Myspace, but in the usual bad quality, so I asked the band to send me the track in a better quality and I received it within minutes. But the poorer version will have to do for now, until I figure out how to upload files again. The track is (apparently) "just" going to be a b-side, but like everything else I've heard from this band it's very good. Perhaps this track shows the band trying to distance itself a bit more from the sound of EPO-555, though the band manage to do it without loosing the charm and the catchy melody.
+ Cobra
And if you didn't download them the first time around, here are two older ones:
+ Something New
+ Albertino

Chris has been so kind to upload the file for me, so here is the track in a better quality.
+ Cobra

And a couple of nice Last.fm recommendations from FALK:
+ Seagull Strange - Sulla's Return
+ Roenik - Leave That Something (mentioned a few times by Chris as well)

Rodolfo is a busy man these days, but nonetheless he has found the time to recommend this rather nice one by UK powerpop band Blackflower.
+ Won't Feel a Thing

I've just received the album Lanzafame by Tap Tap that I ordered last week. It's absolutely brilliant and sounds like Arcade Fire meeting Neutral Milk Hotel. No horns or violins though.....but (quoting Rough Trade) it's packed with noisy guitars and crashy drums!
+ Here Cometh
+ Way To Go, Boy

I just found these two really nice ones by Liverpudlians Clinic in the mailbox. The band's fourth album called Visitations is released tomorrow.
+ Harvest Within You
+ Jigsaw Man

Shakin' The Tree....

In his fine post on the Labrador label the other day, Chris forgot to post this beautiful one by Laurel Music.
+ Dreams and Lies

And I found another nice one by the same band over at Last.fm.
+ Sacred Heart

Another fine one from the Labrador back-catalogue" overlooked" by Chris is Everything That's You by Airliner. It should be obvious to everyone by now that I'm a big fan of Labrador, but their webpage could easily be a bit (or rather a lot) more informative. The track is from the album The Last Days of August that I believe must be at least 3 years old (catalogue no. is LAB030 and they have just reached no. 100), but I'm not certain. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter, when the song is as wonderful as this one.
+ Everything That's You

Entakt entered the Danish album chart at no. 28. Nice to know that I wasn't the only one who bought Træerne Vokser Ind i Himlen.

The Bishops from the UK has mailed another new track.
+Higher Now

My German is really bad these days (my last exam in German was in 1987), so to me the band name (Clickclickdecker) and the song title (Wer hat mir auf die Schuhe gekotzt) pretty much sound like jokes. The music is some kind of electronica/pop, and this track is surprisingly catchy.
+ Wer hat mir auf die Schuhe gekotzt

FALK recommends French female electronica artist Grace Valhalla. Really nice stuff and I especially enjoyed this one, even though the title could shy some men away from listening!
+ Ungrateful Men