Smelling salts...

On his new album L'esprit de l'escalier 99-13, Danish artist Juncker has recorded a Danish cover version (called Lugtesalt no5) of Northern Portrait's A Quiet Night in Copenhagen. Interesting, different and surprisingly decent, but in the end it never really manages to evoke and copy the magic of the original. But one can only hope that this re-recording/cover by a slightly more established and mainstream artist, could help shedding a little more light on Northern Portrait or at least on the band's fine songwriting skills?

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?

Happy nice day...

For more than 6 years (since July 30, 2007 to be exact) Northern Portrait has occupied the softest spot in my music heart. Without overdramatizing things, I guess you can say that I’ve had a rather huge, permanent and probably at times very unhealthy crush on the band, ever since being blown away by the jangling pop sound of Crazy. Quite a feat one could say, as the total number of songs recorded (or come to our knowledge by being released) by the band amounts to 25. From a fan point of view a somewhat measly production over the band’s lifespan and since the release of the glorious debut album nearly 4 years ago, only 7 new songs have been put out (8 if you include the Some People cover, which to be pedantic was originally recorded way back in 2008). So in all fairness you can say that us fans have been given every opportunity to turn our backs on the band and fall in love with someone perhaps not as attractive, but far more reliable. Of course I can only speak on my own behalf, but I’ve done my very best to stay faithful and not let anyone else come anywhere near that soft spot. Of course I’ve been listening to lots and lots of great music by other fine artists, while waiting for news (any news will always do) from Northern Portrait. But at the same time, I’ve been nurturing my heart and made sure that The Fallen Aristocracy, Napoleon Sweetheart and Criminal Art Lovers were always within hand’s reach. So again and again I’ve been singing along about quiet nights in Copenhagen spent in empty hotels, while creating new favourite moments by letting the Münchausen in me drink Lambrusco with Stirling Moss; only to see life return to normal as my headaches begin and then spend my time waiting for a chance to commit hara-kiri with a teaspoon. Then earlier this year I felt even better, when the happy nice day arrived and we all got greetings from Paris Copenhagen, with the release of Pretty Decent Swimmers; which once again saw the band aim for guitar pop heaven. Fast forward to November and the release of the A Sunday Matinée, where, with no offence to all the other very talented contributing artists, the standout track by a mile was the band's effort The Young and Hopefuls; yet again proving that whenever Stefan Larsen decides to dust off his guitar no one really comes close to writing pop songs like he does. Now it’s December and whether it was Mr. Larsen himself or Mr. Tassos of Matinée Recordings, who came up with the idea that this year’s Christmas present to every indie pop fan inhabiting the planet should be a compilation of every non-album track recorded by Northern Portrait, I obviously can't tell. But what a grand idea it was and following the arrival of Ta! in my mailbox yesterday (along with The Matinée 45 Holiday Ornament, which my wife definitely wasn’t too impressed with) I am spending today listening and perhaps more than ever being overwhelmed by the magic pop universe created by the band. Now I can only second the hopes of A Layer of Chips that the compilation title Ta! by no means indicate a farewell and that a sophomore album will (as promised) in fact be released next year. So fast forward to 2014…

Three quick ones...

Ta!; the previously mentioned Northern Portrait compilation album is out today. Been told that my copy will ship today, so hopefully it'll arrive before Christmas? Included on the album is the band's (how I wish it was) Christmas evergreen Leave The Trees Alone...


I Am Noxious has posted a couple of snippets of new tracks on Facebook. Great that new stuff is in the making, but it's virtually impossible to get any idea of what the new tracks will sound like! Meanwhile (the new songs should be ready early next year) check out this almost "legendary" cover of I Gotta Feeling...


My favorite Swiss artist (Lovebugs frontman) Adrian Sieber, has a new nice track out called Hurts So Good (no - not a John Cougar cover).

Shorties...

Things are still very quiet around here. As I've mentioned before; I'm using Twitter more and more these days. Getting in touch there might prove to be a better idea than emailing me!?

Vote for Rosenthal to help them make Barometerlisten (a Danish radio chart - know they'll appreciate your help).


Just ordered my second CD of the year. And of course it's the new Northern Portrait release called Ta! A can't miss compilation covering every track released by the band that wasn't included on the 2010 debut Criminal Art Lovers.


New and really nice dance pop release by NY act Lilly Wolf. But for whatever odd reason it's not possible to embed it. Instead it's available for free right here:
+ Nightmare

Interesting new Danish constellation The Mountains will play their debut concert on February 21 at King Christian IV's Brewhouse. The combination of band and venue is simply too interesting to be missed, so see you there...?

The young and hopefuls...

The brand new and eagerly awaited Northern Portrait track The Young and Hopefuls from the oft-mentioned A Sunday Matinée compilation is now available for streaming and once again I have to give in to the temptation, and write what I've written so many times before. No band writes, records and (obviously) releases better jangling guitar pop tunes than these lads and as cliché'ish it may sound, I remain amazed me how this band continues to be so stunningly brilliant.

Kort fortalt...

Den gode Jonas Villumsen fortsætter sin stilfærdige march mod toppen af barometerlisten. Han ligger nu nr. 3, så hvad dælen nøler i efter...stem, stem, stem da for pokker!


Det nye Helsinki Poetry album Transport er fedt. SUPER fedt. Gider ikke forklare hvorfor...så'n er det bare...nemlig! Tjek i øvrigt lige "køkken" udgaven af Saigon...


Far er ikke længere sur. Nu nøjes han bare med at være irriteret...og synes fortsat at de ansvarlige er nogle skvadderhoveder. De gør sig vel ikke de største forhåbninger om at fange "the real bad guys" på den måde?

Den trofaste bidragsyder J.A. er superbegejstret for det danske enmandsprojekt Flag White. Der arbejdes på nyt materiale og projektets nye SoundCloud side byder på adskillige interessante smagsprøver. Tænker uundgåeligt på OMD (omkring A&M + Dazzle Ships tiden) når jeg lytter til den smukt drømmende Uden Intet & Væren.


Hvad siger du til at opleve The Holiday Crowd og Northern Portrait live på samme aften? Desværre skal man lige et smut forbi Milano for at få den fornøjelse. Men det er vel ok (og helt naturligt), at være bare en lille smule misundelig?
+ The Holiday Crowd - Never Speak Of It Again
+ Northern Portrait - Crazy

Vil nok have overvejet at stikke ham keglen ved siden af en femmer for at holde sin kæft (medmindre det er keglen selv, som filmer), imens Acid House Kings spillede deres udgave af There Is A Light...nu må vi jo så nøjes med at forestille os, hvor fabelagtig det kunne have været!

Sådan nogenlunde svømmere...

Det har taget lang tid...alt for lang tid...men endelig, endelig er det muligt at bestille den nye Northern Portrait EP Pretty Decent Swimmers via Matinée Recordings' hjemmeside. Modtog et lille (men yderst effektivt) promo link i sidste uge og jeg har siden haft det store privilegium at igen og igen at kunne lade mig forføre af EP'ens forventelige 4 brillante popsange. Fortæller jo næsten alt, at sangenes vanvittige høje kvalitet ikke kommer det mindste bag på een, men efter snart 5½ år venter jeg altså stadig på at høre bandet første dårlige nummer. Derfor alligevel voldsomt imponerende at kilden tilsyneladende nægter at tørre ud. Måske vil en kritiker (pedant) eller to savne lidt fornyelse, men når man nu som den største selvfølgelighed skriver verdens vel nok bedste guitar popsange, hvor stort er behovet så for at ændre noget som helst? Læser mere om de enkelte numre på Matinée siden og stream hele gøgemøget på SoundCloud...

I give you two seconds...

Enhver som har været bare sådan nogenlunde regelmæssig besøgende på bloggen gennem de seneste 5 år burde efterhånden kende til min begejstring for Northern Portrait! En begejstring så stor, at ingen nyhed er for lille og ingen video af for ringe kvalitet. Den seneste af sidstnævnte slags er en noget sløret optagelse (men med glimrende lydkvalitet) fra Big Pink Cake Alldayer Christmas Party hvor Stefan i selskab med ? (her har jeg sgu nok brug for lidt hjælp - Tom Whatshisname fra?) fremfører denne super charmerende version af I Give You Two Second To Entertain Me...stor tak til J.A. for linket...




 

Happy nice day...

Den har godt nok været længe undervejs, men nu er den her endelig...den nye sang fra Northern Portrait! Happy Nice Day (som er lead track fra 10" track vinylen Pretty Decent Swimmers, der udkommer på Matinée Recordings d. 8. januar næste år) er selvfølgelig (og som forventet) et helt igennem vidunderligt guitarpop nummer...skulle være kraftigt inspireret af The Wannadies (og det kan vel egentlig godt høre, når man nu HAR fået vinket med vognstangen) og er en hyldest til at rejse og møde nye og gamle venner rundt om i verden. Bandet er så småt begyndt at annoncere koncerter igen (senest Madrid Popfest), så nu mangler vi bare lige en koncert eller to i Danmark...(Stefan - please please for pokker!)...

Breaking news...

Indrømmer blankt at der nok mest er tale om ”brydende” nyheder for de få, end for de mange. Men det medførte ikke desto mindre en strøm af glædesudbrud fra undertegnede, da Matinée Recordings i går på Facebook (det er jo der, den slags sker) skrev at der er en ny single med Northern Portrait på trapperne. Intet om sangtitler, antal numre (forhåbentlig fire, medmindre der er tale om en 7 tommer), men udgivelsesdatoen bliver den 8. januar næste år (med alle de sædvanlige forbehold, når det gælder mindre pladeselskaber) og der bliver åbnet for ”pre-ordering” i løbet af december. Som bekendt har min utålmodighed været til at føle på og der er faktisk også tale om det første nye materiale fra bandet siden det suveræne julenummer Leave the Trees Alone fra The Matinée Holiday Soirée, som udkom i december 2010. Der er stadig mere end en måned til jul, men stryg gerne højtiden for min skyld, for årets største ønske er hermed gået i opfyldelse!




 

Mere løst og fast...

"Løst og fast" er en god titel når man ikke har noget på hjerte, men bare så rigtig gerne vil skrive et blogindlæg. Så er der frit valg på alle hylder og man kan vrøvle derudaf uden nogen form for agenda eller dybere mening...så'n da!

Vågnede i morges med en sang på hjernen. Var (godt og vel) hele kataloget igennem før jeg nåede frem til, at det var Indigo af Frida Sundemo, som jeg skrev om i går. Med tanke på, at jeg max. streamede den 4-5 gange alt i alt, bekræfter det vel kun, at den er yderst iørefaldende?

Mikkel er givetvis med på legen. Andre frivillige som er med på at lægge et massivt gruppepres på Northern Portrait, så vi snart kan få en stribe nye sange at skråle med på?

I går var det 20 år siden Sean Rowley fra Cause & Effect døde! Hvem vil de fleste nok spørge om? En slags Depeche Mode "light" med bedre sange, vil jeg nok være mit bedste svar. Bandet eksisterer stadig, selvom man efterfølgende aldrig helt har nået debutalbummets højder...som da forresten kan streames på Spotify (fagre nye verden)...

Mit traditionelle juleindlæg (hvis noget man har gjort to gange (en - to) ellers kan kaldes en tradition) plejer at bestå af videoen til The Power of Love med Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Nu er den her coverversion af nummeret så dukket op i mailboxen...hvad synes vi så lige om den?

 

Lidt løst og fast...

Det er bedre at skrive på dansk. Meget bedre! Indholdet er forventeligt nok ikke forbedret en tøddel, men det her fungerer bare bedre (nemlig så!)!

Min mailbox er fortsat spændt til bristepunktet. Bliver interessant om sprogskiftet medfører en reduktion i antallet af indgående post. Håber det nok lidt!

Gisp, ryste osv. Apropos mails. Den første mail med den første julesang er allerede landet. Hader generelt julen og alt hvad den står for (tjek lige den svada her), men intet er som bekendt så skidt…og julesange (samt gløgg, æbleskiver, juleøl og -frokoster) er jo unægtelig traditioner, som det er svært ikke at holde af.

Er omsider hoppet med på Spotify vognen; hvilket vel sådan cirka er omtrent en mindre evighed siden alle andre gjorde det? Virker dumt for der er da unægtelig tale om kærlighed ved første blik!

Har blandt andet lyttet til en (perle-)række af Northern Portrait numre og fået abstinenser af allerværste slags. Hvorfor, HVORFOR, (og så med FED) HVORFOR skal vi vente så utilgiveligt længe på nyt materiale?


Imødeser det nye Junica album The Celebration med seriøs spænding. Der er en lille teaser video her og albummet kan forudbestilles på iTunes. Det fatter jeg så ikke lige det store af; hvorfor forudbestille et album som skal downloades? Ikke desto mindre skriver Nik Brinkman nogle helt fantastisk iørefaldende popsange, hvilket man ved selvsyn (eller hedder det selvhør?) kan konstatere ved at lytte til Junica debut ep’en eller albummet Infinity (som kan downloades kvit og frit) af duoen Psychic Powers, hvor Mr. Brinkman udgjorde den ene halvdel.


Skulle man kede sig lidt i aften, kan man jo altid slå et smut forbi Stengade og se Death Valley Sleepers. Dette kan kun anbefales. Bandet har for resten en ny video på trapperne, men den vender vi tilbage til når den dukker op (og napper én af ældre dato i stedet).

 

This and that...

Still busy...and lazy...

This sucks in a major sucking way. The utterly brilliant The Holiday Crowd will be at Stengade on September 7 and since months I have other and completely non-cancellable plans for that evening. If ever, now is the time to us the f-word!
+ Never Speak Of It Again

Check the line-up for this year's Indie Pop Days Berlin and let your heart be filled with envy...unless of course you're one of the lucky bastards who are going!
+ Azure Blue - Little Confusions

In a promo mail Victories At Sea promises that "there will be something new for your eyes and ears very soon". Future Gold was (and remain) one heck of a track, but can't live on that track forever, so new material is eagerly awaited!


On his Facebook page, Northern Portrait frontman Stefan confirms that the rumours about a new EP are in fact more than just rumours. Another rumour, started by Stefan himself, suggests that it will be released in September, though of course it doesn't say what year...!
+ Crazy

Unplugged Moss portrait...

Watch one of my favorite bands Northern Portrait perform an acoustic version of Stirling Moss somewhere "in the deep center of Rome"...great concept, though the sound suffered a bit from the guys standing with their backs to each other...



Stirling Moss by Northern Portrait

Mails and such...

Think I’ve been quite disciplined recently and done my best deleting mails from the inbox. Still the number has now reached and rapidly surpassed 10,000! Ten-thousand (or 10,103 to be exact)! Suck on that for a moment. If I spent one minute on each, it would take me a little more than 168 hours or exactly a week checking them all. So if you’re still awaiting a reply; forget about it and move on…

As always one of the big challenges, when your mailbox is cluttered like this, is to spot the important ones from the “spam”. Experience does help though, as there are some “safe bets”. Like for instance news from Shelflife Records that (almost) always equals good news. And in this case it certainly is, as the label has just released (co-released with New Romantic) the Over the Bluffs EP by The Holiday Crowd containing 7 ace guitar pop songs.
+ Never Speak Of It Again

Not all too happy to write this, but I do think that the new single by The Mary Onettes is a slight disappointment. But as it says in the promo mail: “Gone are the echoing reverbs, the 80's guitars and the big, splashing drums...”. That might explain some, though hopefully I just need to listen to it some more?
+ Love's Taking Strange Ways

Should have but haven’t mentioned that Jonathan Johansson will be playing at Koncertkirken in Copenhagen on February 10. Have (of course) bought a ticket, but have yet to find out if I’ll actually be able to go, as both kids are going to parties that evening…
Jonathan Johansson - Blommorna by HYBRIS

The annual Matinée fanclub poll is always a good reader. Even though it’s a Christmas song, Leave The Trees Alone by Northern Portrait won the category “song of the year”. Of course it did!
Leave the Trees Alone by Northern Portrait

On February 2 Fraction Discs will release the sophomore album from Liechtenstein. Promo package has been downloaded and looking forward to giving the album a listen!
+ Ambitions

Today you could perhaps...

Stream this rough mix of new track Different City by Architecture. Cannot wait to hear the final mix.
different city (rough mix) by architecture!

Stream/download new track Modern Mess by Digits.
Modern Mess by digits

Watch a few videos of Northern Portrait performing a couple of songs unplugged on their recent excursion to Italy.

Order the perfect new Strawberry Whiplash 7" single Stop, Look and Listen.
+ Stop, Look and Listen

Stream the Ever The Optimist EP by The Kick Inside if you (like me) cannot get enough of jangling guitar pop.
A Matter of Convenience by The Kick Inside

Do a little Christmas shopping at Labrador, who are selling all CD releases for €9 each (including freight).
+ The Radio Dept. - The Worst Taste In Music

...or just do something completely different!

Checking mails...day II...

Kind of depressing. Deleted numerous (which I believe is a nicer term than "shitload of") mails yesterday only to find 52 new ones when logging in this morning...a vicious circle if there ever was one...but here we go again...
+ Sea Weeds - Fall Boi
+ Dempsey - Late Night

not quite from the mailbox, but Matinée Recordings shares the title track from the forthcoming Strawberry Whiplash 7" Stop, Look and Listen.
+ Stop, Look and Listen

The label also shares the thrilling news that a new Northern Portrait release seems to be in the works as well as they are going to release the Azure Blue debut album in December...
+ Azure Blue - The Catcher In The Rye
+ Northern Portrait - Criminal Art Lovers

Back on track, so here's one more from the mailbox...
+ Silver Swans - He Doesn't Know Why (Fleet Fox cover)

...time to take a break...more later (perhaps)...

SoundCloud...

Every once in a while I spend a little time roaming around SoundCloud with the naïve hope that I will have the great fortune to stumble upon something even remotely interesting. After a slow start I’ve begun to like SoundCloud more and more, as it’s probably the closest we’ll ever (?) come to anything resembling what Myspace used to be; offering some of the same services (especially deep linking and songs tagged by genre), as well as giving you a small chance to unearth something no other blog has discovered. Unfortunately, as often was the case with Myspace, most of the music I find via SoundCloud, when trying my luck, is of such poor quality that it's really not worth anyone’s time. But nonetheless I spent some time yesterday digging deep into the vaults of SoundCloud and this is what little I found...

The Always Unprofessional has close to 10,000 followers and has posted 147 tracks, so this is hardly one of those unknown gems I’m always dreaming of finding. But despite being fairly popular, I don’t think I had ever heard of the band (or rather one-man project) before and since the track Starlet is a cool noisy lo-fi kind of indie pop thing well worth sharing, it - voilà - ends up here.

Starlet by The Always Unprofessional

Before yesterday I didn't know that every single track ever released by Northern Portrait can be streamed at SoundCloud. Now you know as well (unless of course you knew this already and then shame on you for not informing me!).

Sporting a Scar by Northern Portrait

I'm really not sure what I should think of this cover recorded by Canadian Laurent Aglat. Rather alternative but in a way not without charm...anyone old enough to remember the original?

Died in your arms by Laurent Aglat

Holiday’s coming up...parte secunda...

Tomorrow it’s hello Italy!

And just like that…boxstr is suddenly working again. Obviously no explanation has been given for why the site was down for so long. Not that I really expected it.

Back when David of UK/Swedish trio Tender Objects was in a band called Candy Twins, he (or they - not quite sure what is the most correct) recorded the tribute The Next Big Thing to Northern Portrait. Up to recently it hasn't been possible to download the track, but it has finally been made available. And thank you, as I'd be hard pressed to think of something more gorgeous than one jangling pop group paying tribute to another! Tender Objects has other interesting stuff going on and a debut single is currently being mixed, and should hopefully be out some time later this year.

+ The Next Big Thing

Hopefully I'm not the only one thinking that it's been ages since we heard anything (ANYTHING) from the abovementioned Northern Portrait? Wish I had news to share, but sadly I don't...

+ Life Returns To Normal

My calendar for August is one big chaos, but hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in the The Pains of Being Pure at Heart concert at Amager Bio on August 19. Especially since it was announced yesterday that Flag White will be the supporting act.

+ Higher Than the Stars

When announcing the supporting job yesterday, Flag White also posted this new demo for streaming as well as revealing that he is working on a full length album.

Asunder by bjoernalexander

See you in a couple of weeks!