Kill for Love

CHROMATICS! Well, honestly I'm blown away by the new album. You get "classic" Chromatics, the droning one/two chord structure with as little happening as possible (and I fricking love the way they switch the vocals from center to right/left!). But what you're also getting now is a pop hymn like "Back from the Grave". Because that one is a hit, if there ever was one. Or "Candy" that just breaks your heart. Or "At Your Door" that makes me wanna dance slowly with some girl. Or "The River", which is sheer beauty and sadness. Weak points? Well, I could've gone without the vocoder songs "These Streets Will Never Look The Same" and "Running from the Sun", but apart from that, not really. So, album of the year? Dunno. You know how it is, but right now, I'm thinking that it's the best album since "You & Me" by The Walkmen. And that's pretty darn good!

Stream it here. Or better yet, just buy it!

Rosenkrantz & Gyldenstjerne

Gotta love a band that uses names from the ancient Danish nobility (and a well-known Shakespeare play). If you're into subtle, yet very catchy folk, you'll love the music too:

In A Better World (3)

This is the new regular blog feature. Once a week there'll be a little something about a song that really ought to have been a hit. Well, in a better World, that is. This week it's:

MALCOLM MIDDLETON: "BIRDWATCHER"

Yes, today's a special edition. It's Mikkel's birthday next week, so we're celebrating with a song that we both think should've been a hit. It's got the beat, the fake handclaps, the sad acoustic guitar and lovely lyrics.

Speaking of the lyrics, Mikkel misheard the word "ambition" (thought it was "cushion"), and we later used that in Oliver North Boy Choir for a song called "Cobra". How's that for trivia :-)? Anyway, the playlist's here ("Cobra" can be found on Spotify too, it's one of my ONBC favourites, though very much nothing like a hit).

And what the hell, a birthday's only once a year, so here's something extra. A song that was a hit, but it's a song that we both really like too (and combine Middleton with this one, and you've got the perfect mix for a 10 minute drive, I promise you):

Youth Knows No Pain

The Youth's been doing a take-away show. Here's a Lykke Li cover:



And two more songs on their channel (and I'm rather looking forward to the debut album!!!).

In A Better World

This is the new regular blog feature. Once a week there'll be a little something about a song that really ought to have been a hit. Well, in a better World, that is. This week it's:

YO LA TENGO: "MAGNET"

This is the best cover ever made. It's good for dancing. It's pretty much perfect for taking a ride somewhere. Or a walk. And when you're sad or lonely, it does the trick too. So if you've got approx. 4 minutes to spare, do Spotify it, you won't regret it!

And ehm... how to put this politely? There really isn't any need for you to check the original :-).

Bone and Bloody

Straight outta Orlando, here's Day Joy for you. The tags say dream pop, folk, indie and low-fi, and that's pretty much to the point. I'd like to add slacker and atmospheric to the list. Well, that and the fact that the songs are rather wonderful!:



Found via Friends With Both Arms.

In A Better World

This is the new regular blog feature. Once a week there'll be a little something about a song that really ought to have been a hit. Well, in a better World, that is. This week it's:

ROYAL CITY: "BAD LUCK".

Back in 2004 (and earlier, for that matter) I often went to concerts, where I practically didn't know anything about the band. Nowadays, it'll take you 15 seconds to find the first 20 songs via Youtube, Facebook, Spotify etc., but back then it was kinda harder. So I read this thing on Svingninger, and thought "Herman Dune? Royal City? But well, the description says something about Smog and Neil Young, so I'm gonna go there". And wow! The audience was minimal, but I loved both bands instantly, and it's still on my top 10 of best concerts! So I did what I almost never do at concerts; I bought a cd. It's called "Alone at the Microphone" and it includes this little masterpiece called "Bad Luck". A couple of months later I for some reason (that reason being that I was drunk :-)) gave the cd to a friend of mine, so I've almost only listened to it, when I've been visiting him in Haderslev. But sometimes Youtube is your friend, and in this case it really is. So listen to the vocals, the piano, the banjo, the cool guitar and the DRUMS! And then love it!:



It's also here in a different version on this Spotify-playlist that I'm gonna update weekly too.

Rounding up the cattle...

Busy. But been listening to bands that I wanna write about. So. Here's a quickie:

That Ghost (Rosalind EP and it's good!) / PLUS: I really, really like the new bob hund ("Låter som miljarder", it's on Spotify, if you feel like it) / On Spotify you might also wanna check out folky dudes, Leland Sundries, and their new EP "The Foundry" / And if you're into Finnish pop, try Burning Hearts (there's a stream of the new album via The Fader) / AND: Sore Eros, pretty much the entire discography is up on Bandcamp (and that's some weird stuff that you DON'T wanna go without!).

C.P.H.L.

So. We wanted to make this lo-fi spacepop intro to the album. So this is it, it's called "C.P.H.L." and it's more or less distilled sadness and hate:



And the album is coming along nicely, hopefully we'll have a single ready in May and the album in October or November.