Grumpy...

Fuck this has become predictably boring! Once again I’m a grumpy old man and feel the need of complaining about something! Perhaps my age has finally caught up with me and begun to show its ugly face? Because, believing that the world has united in a collective attempt to piss me off is simply too paranoiac, so it has to have something to do with my age! I suppose! I hope! Anyhow; this morning I learned that my file host boxstr.com had transformed itself into OpenDrive, but of course not before deleting all my previously uploaded files. I did read somewhere that true reason is that boxstr.com has been hacked, but I can find no verification of this anywhere. And no matter the reason, this meant that I had to spend quite some time re-uploading a string of songs to prevent people from bumping into far too many broken links. Well at least on the front-page. And tomorrow I wouldn't be surprised if things are back to normal, thus making today’s work a complete waste of time...fuck modern technology and bring back the glorious days of vinyl and cassettes...told you I was grumpy!

Guess it’s time to put focus back on music and leave all my whining behind!

Danish youngsters Avisitor has three new tracks streaming at Myspace. While you're there, why not give the new track Easy Come Sit by the lovely Majorian a listen? And Lastbandalive has a couple of new ones streaming as well! Too much streaming for my liking, but still great to learn that things are brewing!

Chris is excited about the news that Shout Out Louds are in the studio recording their third album! And give me one good reason why he shouldn't be?

Konrad has mailed me his never-released remix of the Track a Tiger track (try repeating that: “Track a Tiger track”) Don’t Make a Weapon. Since I really like this band and the remix certainly isn’t “killing” the song, I have no problems posting it. The original version of the song can be found on the band’s second album We Moved Like Ghosts.
+ Don't Make a Weapon (Konrad remix)

Majorian/Sleep Party People videos...

Neither Sleep Party People nor Majorian should be completely unfamiliar to you, if you’re a semi-regular reader of this blog. But in case you happen to be a newcomer, here’s an ultra short recap. SSP is an electronic solo project of Brian Batz, who’s also one of the driving forces behind Majorian. This weekend Brian mailed me the links for two new videos; one by each band/project, and kindly asked if I'd be interested in posting them...and of course I am!

The first one features Majorian playing a stripped down and really lovely version of the track Island (of their recent EP) prior to a concert. Thus explains why the video bears the additional title “Dressing Rooms Concerts”. Recorded and edited by Martin Thaulow. Shoe polish anyone?



The second one only runs for 1:45 and features the Sleep Party People track In The Morning Sun We Stand. It includes/mixes videos taped in New York and Bornholm, and was recorded and edited by mr. Batz himself.

Shorties...

Didn’t quite keep my promise yesterday, as no more updates were posted. Instead I finally finished an Støj På Frekvensen post. That was the first of its kind for nearly 3 months.

The Majorian EP is now streamable at Myspace. Well-produced, beautiful and atmospheric are among the first words to jump to mind.

Emerald Park is giving away the title track of the For Tomorrow album for free over at Myspace. Or at least so they say. And no - I’m not implying that they are lying or anything, but Myspace continues playing tricks on me, so no songs are downloadable for me, even though the artists say otherwise. But I’ve been given permission to post the track instead, and since it’s arguably the best one off the album, I’m absolutely delighted to be able to share it with you.
+ For Tomorrow

As mentioned last week, Spejderrobot unsuccessfully tried to give away a remix of the Mercury Rev track Butterfly’s Wing. Apparently they grew tired of the “no-service” policy of Myspace and found somewhere else to host the remix.
+ Butterfly's Wing (Spejderrobot remix)

Shorties...

No more Majorian EP's left to give away.

The self-titled download-only debut EP by Tellus About The Moon is out now on Letterbox Records. This is Indie pop at its yummiest.
+ Nomore

The Christmas songs have started floating in, but I refuse to post a single word about Christmas before December 1. Well – I just did. Didn’t I?

If you have plenty of time and want a good read (in Swedish), I recommend the blog 50-listan. Several writers (including Tobias and Frans of Emerald Park) have compiled lists of their 50 favorite albums. The list has been in the making for more than 2½ years, but it’s almost completed now.

This week's track by One Weekly Gun track is dedicated to Nicolaus Copernicus. Inspired by this incident.
+ We love Copernicus

More later...

Majorian EP...

Went to the release party of the new Majorian EP yesterday only to realize that we arrived too late to catch the live part. But I did get the chance to talk briefly to Brian of the band, as well as getting two extra copies of the EP to give away. So if you’re interested in getting a copy of this new Paul Schroeder produced EP with some absolutely lovely artwork created by Tracy Maurice, then shoot me an email. Just write Majorian in the subject line and the first two I receive will get a copy of the EP each.

Always something missing...

When I wrote about the release of the We Are Popular debut album by The Holiday Show, something was indeed missing, as I had no song to accompany my post. Now the band’s label Slow Shark Records has mailed me the album opener Always Something Missing to share with anyone interested, thus helping to make my previous post complete.
+ Always Something Missing

Blog favorites Kind of girl is currently touring the UK and is writing a "tour diary" for the readers of Gaffa (in Danish).

This Sunday afternoon (November 23) Majorian is throwing a party to celebrate the release of the band’s new self-titled EP. The EP contains 3 tracks produced by Paul Schroeder and the artwork has been created by Tracy Maurice. The band promises a free copy of the EP to anyone showing up at the party, which will take place at Restaurant Magstræde 16 (in Copenhagen) at 4PM. None of the new tracks are yet available, but a bunch of older tracks are free to download at BandBase.

Mavis + Majorian...

Supplementing yesterday’s post on Brain Batz’ solo-project Sleep Party People, here are a few older tracks by Mavis and Majorian respectively. More tracks by both acts are free to download at BandBase (no longer seems like you have to be a registered user to be able to download).

* Mavis (BandBase page)
+ Point Of No Concern
+ Emotional Vampire

* Majorian (BandBase page)
+ Truth Telling Peekholes
+ Don’t Forget Yourself

Back from the cold...

I'm back from 5 days in what turned out to be winter cold and not at all spring-like Warsaw and as always the world has been busy turning while I was away, so let's take a quick look at some of the stuff that has happened...

Hits In The Car favorite Andrew Boland has a new song up called The City Lights.
+ The City Lights

Late Night Venture front man Søren Hartvig has written an excellent piece on shoegaze. It's pretty obvious where the inspiration came from if you listen to this track from the band's forthcoming album.
+ Skylights

The Zvook Mescalin remix of the BREUMM track Silhuetter is now available as a free download. 3 more weeks and the album will finally be released.
+ Silhuetter (Remix)

And while you're busy downloading. Why not grap the Truth Telling Peekholes EP by Majorian from the band's Myspace page?
+ Truth Telling Peekholes

12 weeks and counting...One Weekly Gun has recorded a new track.
+ Prenuptial Agreement

The brilliant AirSpiel track I mentioned last week is now free to download.
+ Seventh Heaven

Truth telling Mapmaker...

Fine Danish 5-piece Majorian has just finished recording an EP that is going to be called Truth Telling Peekholes. The title track is available as a "teaser" and it's an absolute cracker. This beautiful melody starts out quietly for the first minute and a half, giving you the impression that this will be a mellow and acoustic sounding track, but then it picks up the pace with the drums and an almost Keane/Coldplay inspired piano. Dominating the track (and getting all your attention) is the wonderful voice of lead singer Maria, which at times sounds like it's another instrument added to the mix. Oh well - I suck at these descriptions. Just check it out - it's absolutely gorgeous! It really is!
+ Truth Telling Peekholes

The 4 Danish youngsters in The Imaginary Orchestra of Mr. Kite are currently busy recording and new track The Mapmakers Dream is the first result of the band's hard work. This time it sounds a little less like Jeff Buckley (the inspiration is still there) and instead more like they are trying to create an experimental mix of two of the band's other inspirational sources; Muse and Radiohead. Still sounds great and very promising!
+ The Mapmakers Dream

Sometimes I just accept Myspace friend requests without really knowing anything about the band/artist (always hope to check them out at some later stage). So when I accepted the request by Topboy-500 I didn't know that this was another project involving Thomas of Volvoe. In his own words the songs by this alias will be the ones that turn out to be too fucked up or too different, but still cool in their own odd way. This one (a very laid-back electronic track with vocoder vocals) is certainly not too fucked up, perhaps too different to become a Volvoe track, but definitely very cool!
+ I am Snow

The Quiet Department...

Two Danish bands performing quiet/laid-back and acoustic inspired songs have befriended be over at Myspace. From the beautiful island of Bornholm comes the new band Majorian and in Copenhagen we find the more experience duo Astonishment. The later will release their second album called The Rest Is Silence in June, while Majorian still hasn't been signed to a label. In the quiet and thoughtful moments, when the rain is pouring down outside; put on your headphones and these gorgeous songs will make you close your eyes and help you drift away to somewhere warm and wonderful!
+ Astonishment - That Man & Can't Hold On
+ Majorian - Let's Grow & Don't Forget Yourself