More new Arcade Fire.

Yay!

New Black Mountain.

So, now there's something worth telling about again - Canadian stoner/acid rockers Black Mountain release a new album in September! And already now, you can fetch a brand new tune, Old Fangs, for the price of your email address.

Go fetch!

Yay!

Dirty Projectors live.

Alright, I know this is sort of old, but this performance of Cannibal Resource by Dirty Projectors is the best.



Also here.

Mixtape: Best of '10 - so far.

Oy!

Not that much posting these days because I've been busy making a mixtape for you guys. I just thought it would be a brilliant idea. One must say that '10 has been absolutely acceptable so far and there's still a lot more to come. Here's the 15 best tunes of the year so far in my opinion. Scroll down for download!:

The Besnard Lakes - Albatross
This fantastic shoegaze epic would start of every mixtape brilliantly with its cool dynamics and beautiful melody. It took some time to grow on me, actually, but that guitar intro is the best.

Las Robertas - Ballroom
I had absolutely no clue who these 4 girls from Costa Rica were before this popped up in my mailbox. But now I know - and I now happen to love their young, fresh, trashy garage pop. Ballroom represents their album, Cry Out Loud, brilliantly - it's simple, noisy and very catchy!

Happy Birthday - Perverted Girl
Sub Pop signed minimalist lo-fi garage rockers Happy Birthday would have been pure crap if it wasn't for the fantastic and catchy pop songs they write. What they have now is a lovely mess in which you'll always find that fantastic melody despite of bad vocals and lousy instrumentation. Not easy listening, but absolutely fantastic listening.

Spoon - Got Nuffin'
Spoons new album, Transference, is really good. So is Got Nuffin' - a very dynamic tune, simple melody but really well-thought instrumentation and dynamics all way through.

Liars - Scissor
The latest offering from Liars, Sisterworld, was indeed quite a mouthful. VERY inaccessible, demanding and experimental listening that forces the listener to be a 100% into this. To be honest, I think this might be a bit too uneasy listening because the good melody only shines through on occasion. One of these occasions is Scissor - trashy and demanding but also immediately satisfying artrock music.

Caribou - Found Out
Okay, I admit - the change from Liars' trashy rock to Caribou's dance music isn't very smooth. But you'll forgive me when you hear this - a very nice melody combined with a simple dance rhythm and a minimalistic, repetitive guitar line that works fantastically. Shake that ass, white boy!

LCD Soundsystem - You Wanted A Hit
Just keep dancing while you're at it - Caribou isn't a mile away from LCD Soundsystem musically. The last LCD Soundsystem album (sadly), This Is Happening, is really good. On this mixtape you'll find You Wanted A Hit which is a 9-minute hypnotic garage dance tune. It sounds like quite a something but it's easier to listen to than you'd think.

OK Go - I Want You So Bad I Can't Breathe
The sexiest tune of '10 this far? Yes, indeed. It's one of the first times that "funky" actually works on me instead of scaring me. But this melody is incredible and makes the walls drip from...... Horny.

Serena-Maneesh - Blow Yr Brains In The Morning Rain
To move on from the minimalist-lo-fi-horny-dance-sexy part of the mixtape towards the more rocking part of it I've decided to use what's probably one of my top 3 favorite tracks of '10. Blow Yr Brains In The Morning Rain is a BLAST of acid-bad-trip-stoned-shoegaze-noisepop. Sexy? Yes, indeed, but in a completely different way than OK Go. In my opinion, this is the highlight on Abyss In B Minor.

The Van Jets - Matador
Matador doesn't say that much about the latest Van Jets album, Cat Fit Fury, which is mostly a very nice pop record with some guitars on it. Matador is trashy, noisy and absolutely amazing.

The Mad Trist - Silver Lines
Pay The Piper by The Mad Trist is one of my absolute favorite albums of '10. Stoned pop music quite inspired by bands as Queens Of The Stone Age but with that Benelux touch of synths and something that can't be defined. Silver Lines is rocking a bit harder than most of the tunes on Pay The Piper, but it's great nonetheless and it's probably what I've listened to the most this year.

Melissa Auf Der Maur - Isis Speaks
I never thought I'd like a concept album about vikings this much but (thank God) it's a lot better than it sounds. Out Of Our Minds is probably the album I remember the best because it's a bit bizarre with the viking theme and the lyrics but the songs here are very well-written.

Black Box Revelation - Part Of Me
A heavily distorted bass, heartfelt vocals and some trashy attitude - there is your dose of melodic garage trashy rock music. Definately something for itself.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Shadow's Keeper
This comes as no surprise, I guess, but I honestly find Beat The Devil's Tatoo one of the best albums this year. Shadow's Keeper is represents the record brilliantly - psychedelic, a bit pop, a bit noise and shit loads of cool.

Arcade Fire - Month Of May
The two new tunes released by Arcade Fire pumps up my expectations SOOOOOOOOO badly for their new record, The Suburbs. I. Can't. Wait. On the b-side, Month Of May, they've apparently gone rock (?!) but they do it brilliantly.

BONUS: We Are Scientists - Rules Don't Stop
This thing works so brilliantly as a pop tune. Catchy as hell, cool guitars, and not demanding at all. How can this be one of the best of '10? Because is the best the first 20 times you hear it.

BONUS BONUS!!: How To Destroy Angels - The Space In Between
The new EP from Trent Reznor's How To Destroy Angels just popped into my mailbox this morning. (Yes, that widget thingy worked). The opening tune is amazing. Here it is.

As all mixtapes, this mixtape can be downloaded right here:

Download - Megaupload.

Cheers!

Pre-order How To Destroy Angels.

Just pre-order it, I think it's free. If I've got it right.

New Arcade Fire (one whole tune this time).

Embedding gone right this time! Very little video since it's not really important. The tune is amazing. I'm having so high hopes for their new album now.

New Nine Inch Nails.

Today is a good day - Trent Reznor has put out a new tune! That's kind of lovely since Trent Reznor is one of the most interesting people on the music scene because he's always absolutely awesome. This time it's some kind of soundtrack. It's a very ambient tune!

Here's an mp3 of Theme For Tetsuo: The Bullet Man.

Cheers!

New Free Kurt Vile.

Oy!

A lot of posting goes on at the moment. Now it's the new EP by Kurt Vile who is a rocking singer/songwriter. His label, Matador, is giving it away for free for the next 24 hours or so, so be quick and grab this one!

Download here.

New Klaxons.

Oy!

A new Klaxons tune can be streamed via YouTube now. It's 3 years since we last heard from them, so it's kind of nice to see them back. Enjoy!



I still don't know to fit YouTube videos in to this layout. Embedding gone wrong. :(

Cheers!

New We Are Scientists.

Indie rockers We Are Scientists have a new album out very soon. It's called Barbara. BUT! There's a single already and it's an amazingly good pop tune. It's called Rules Don't Stop. Here it is:

Here's an mp3 of it.

Preview New Arcade Fire.

More Tokyo Police Club.

The brand new Tokyo Police Club album, Champ, is on its way. The first single, Breakneck Speed, was really good and now they're sharing a little sampler of Champ - 5 tunes off the new album, including Breakneck Speed. And, it's a widget which means I can resist the temptation of using it. Enjoy!

Roskilde.

Someone told me to make a post about what I'm going to see at Roskilde. Well, I found out that you could make your own version of the Roskilde poster where you got to choose headliners yourself from the bands that are playing Roskilde. I thought: Brilliant idea. And then I used a picture of a unicorn:

Also, a few words about these bands:

Them Crooked Vultures: One of the best supergroups I could imagine. Their first album was great, they have a second on the way - hoping they'll play some new stuff from that one! Serena-Maneesh: Well, I think I've told you enough about this Norwegian noise pop/rock band that sounds like My Bloody Valentine if they attacked their songs a bit harder and did acid. The National: I can't wait to see this guys live. I think it's going to be amazing!
Wooden Shjips: Not one of the biggest bands on Roskilde, but definately one of the most exciting ones! Psyched out 60's psych noise rock that gets you into some sort of trance.
LCD Soundsystem: The ultimate party. James Murphy is kind of a genius - their new (and last!) album is really cool!
Kasabian: First time they ever come to Denmark. I think they're a great band and I'm looking forwards to seeing them live. Either, it's going to be kind of crappy or kind of awesome. Hoping for the best!
Gorillaz: Seeing Gorillaz live isn't a chance you get very often so I'm stoked about this booking. I have no clue what they'll pull of live but I'm truly excited!
Dirty Projectors: After watching their performance of Cannibal Resource on Letterman, I'm convinced that this is a great live band. Probably the best indie booking of the year by Roskilde. Prince: A true original, a musical genius and a very under-estimated guitarist. He's a legend! Muse: Always a pleasure to experience live, I believe. Last time I saw them was in 2008 and that was really good.
Titus Andronicus: Punk rock energy, shit loads of booze and fantastic songs. Not much more to say!
The Kissaway Trail: These Danes are a great live band. The music reminds me a bit of Arcade Fire.
Ghost Society: Danish shoegazers that I can't wait to see live.
CV Jørgensen: A Danish legend that must be experienced .
John Olav Nielsen & Gjengen: This dude is believed to become the Norwegian answer to Bruce Springsteen. This has potential!
Teddybears: Swedish guys that mix rock, pop, hiphop and stuff. Hoping for a party!
Robyn: Probably the best and most interesting Nordic pop act of the moment.
Kandy Kolored Tangerine: Danish garage rockers inspired by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Sonic Youth, among others. Their songs are cool!
Pavement: Legendary American slacker rockers are back and they're headlining the festival. I've never really listened to them but everyone says it's going to be amazing so I guess I'll just check it out since I'm there anyway.
Wild Beasts: These guys are kind of cool and their very theatrical indie rock might work really well live, I think.
Health: This is mostly just because they're hyped as hell and I want to see what all the fuzz is about.
Efterklang: Another Danish band, their latest album is very fine. I'd really like to see these guys play it live and see how they'll do.
Biffy Clyro: First time I saw these guys was then they opened for Queens Of The Stone Age and they did an honorable job. Their latest album is sort of sloppy in my opinion but the one before that, Saturday Superhouse, is really great.
Beach House: Another hyped indie booking, they should be shoegazing sometimes and I'm a sucker for shoegaze so now, it's time to check them out!
Kashmir: Danish band playing beautiful rock tunes. They deliver the goods brilliantly when they play live.

I have no more to say. Enjoy your Roskilde Festival, I'm sure I will.

Cheers!

Dum Dum Girls.

So! Walking down the same path I walked down some days ago with Las Robertas - girls playing noisy garage pop. Apparently, it's the new thing - Vivian Girls, Girls, Dum Dum Girls....... Something with girls and garage pop. Dum Dum Girls are generous and have put up two tunes from a 7" single they released on Record Store Day. Check it out if you liked the last post, if you like noisy garage pop or if you want to be really indie hipster.

Las Robertas.

Oy!

Finally something worth blogging about! Las Robertas are 3 girls from Costa Rica playing the noise-garage-pop thing that's quite reminiscent of The Raveonettes. Their new album, Crying Out Loud, can be downloaded for free through their website, and it's pretty damn cool!

Listen and download right here.

Cheers!

Classics: 00's indie/garage.

The '00 indie/garage movement was both brilliant and bad. Brilliant because of some masterpieces and the fact that rock music was played more frequently in the radio, for example. Bad because of the massive load of crappy rock bands that had 3 chords and some skinny jeans and thought that now was the time to take over the world - simply, it was very easy to be productive but the quality filter almost disappeared. Nevertheless, as before mentioned, it brought some really, really, really brilliant albums with it. Here's some of the essential must-haves from the 00's indie/garage movement:

The White Stripes - White Blood Cells

Quite simply probably the best garage rock album I've ever heard and the artistical highlight in Jack White's career. Childish energy, monstrous guitar sounds and fantastic melodies go hand in hand here. Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground is simply THE tune of the garage rock movement.




Arcade Fire - Funeral

In my opinion, Funeral is THE must have of the 00's indie rock movement. INCREDIBLE melodies mixes with sincerely clever instrumentation and more feelings than I've heard on many other albums. Each single number is so strong on itself it's almost unbelievable. It's honestly one of my favorite albums.



Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

Even though Bloc Party aren't as lo-fi and simple as most of the other indie bands they are considered a part of the indie rock movement, probably because of their ridiculous energy and twangy guitars. Electronic bleeps drop by and say hello sometimes as Bloc Party deliver sophisticated and clever melodies. Helicopter still remains an absolute killer single today.



The Black Keys - Magic Potion

Magic Potion was the perfect middle-of-the-road-album for The Black Keys between their early really lo-fi bluesy albums and their newer, more melodic ones. Here, feeding lo-fi guitars mix with cool melodies and more soul than on any other garage rock album, highly because of Dan Auerbach's amazing voice.




Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards

Robbers & Cowards makes crappy and brilliant mix in such a special way - just take the two first tunes as examples: We Used To Vacation is such a fantastic melody but lousy instrumentation and the worst guitar solo I've heard makes it so twisted and brilliant. Hang Me Up To Dry is another amazing melody that contains an incredibly bad piano solo that anyone could have played. SO much nerve on this album you won't believe it.


Jakobinarina - The First Crusade

A fantastic and valuable pearl on the very bottom of the indie ocean. SO overlooked, but so fantastic. These Icelandic guys sound unlike anything else I've heard. A very, VERY powerful record but still with nerve and vulnerability just underneath the soaring noisy guitars and badly pronounced English lyrics. Seriously an album you must hear and probably haven't.



Alright, I realise that there are shit loads of cool indie and this is just the very surface of it all. I might have to make a part 2 of this with Interpol, Deerhunter, The Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kings Of Leon and.......... Yeah, I think you get the point.

New The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.

Something indicates that Brooklyn dreampop/noisepop/indiepop band The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart will have a new album out soon - a brand new single has just landed. It's called Say No To Love, and it's quite reminiscent of what they have done earlier which is not a bad thing.

Stream Say No To Love right here.

Cheers!

How To Destroy Angels.

Oy!

I've been a bit busy the last couple of days and not a lot of interesting things have happened music-wise, but now there's something - How To Destroy Angels. It's Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and his wife and if the first tune from them is characteristic of them, I'd say they've almost gone 90's trip hop a la Portishead.

Go listen at Pitchfork.

Cheers!

ZAZA.

Just went to a Black Rebel Motorcycle Club concert yesterday, an amazing experience of hard-hitting noisy, bluesy and shit cool rock 'n roll. Since I've told you enough about BRMC for like, a lifetime, I'd like to mention the opening act ZAZA. Psychedelic, drony soundscapes with added electronics and boy-girl vocals make for a quite nice athmosphere. They only have an EP out, it's called Cameo and it's good. Since the internet isn't floating with lots of free mp3's from upcoming bands, I couldn't really find anything with these guys except from this Soundcloud thingy of Always On which gives you a fairly good impression of what these guys are doing.



Cheers!

Film School.

The last couple of days I've been drenching myself in glorious noise from Maribel, Underground Railroad and especially Film School which I rediscovered a couple of days ago. I bought their latest one, Hideout, from 2007 and listened to it a couple of times and figured out that it was quite good and then I completely forgot it. Just took it up about a week ago and decided to listen to it again and now is has revealed itself as a brilliant blend of raw shoegaze, psychedelic noisy stuff and indie. These guys should get so much more attention than they do. Here's some fantastic tunes off Hideout:

Dear Me.
This is the glorious opening tune - tends towards the more melancholic noise rock.
Compare.
Compare might have the best melody on Hideout - this one is kind of classic shoegaze but with an indie feel.
Sick Hipster Nursed By Suicide Girl.
Brilliant song title, I like the drony noise that comes from the guitars.

Film School are currently working on new material, by the way.

Enjoy!

New Interpol.

Oy!

So, Interpol is sligtly beginning to come alive again and their first sign of life is the brand new song Lights. Here including an awesome widget, which I like. If you didn't know, I like widgets.

The New Pornographers.

Here's the new single from Canadian indie supergroup The New Pornographers. It's rocking!

Listen!

Cheers!

Portugal The Man.

A friend of mine just showed me this. This is good stuff! Groovin' in a weird way, brilliant melody. I'm checking these guys out!

The Dead Weather.

The new album by garage rock supergroup The Dead Weather is called Sea Of Cowards, and it's out in about two weeks. Their first album, Horehound, was a mix of absolutely brillianty awesome rock 'n roll tunes and crappy tunes that indicated that Horehound has been made in too much of a hurry. And now when there's been released two singles from Sea Of Cowards, I'm afraid they might do it again. The first single, Die By The Drop, is fantastic and the second, Gasoline, is not very good. But it's no time to judge it yet, and instead I'll bring you the cool first single, Die By The Drop.

Download/listen/something.
(eventually, you can right-click and Save As... and it's on your computer. The internet is smart nowadays, you know.)

Cheers!

Retribution Gospel Choir.

Today's treat is called Retribution Gospel Choir. Consisting of Alan Sparhawk and Steve Garrington, formerly of the band Low, and 2 other talented guys, legendary Seattle label Sub Pop has fallen in love with their hyper-melodic rock that reminds me a lot of The Gutter Twins, Afghan Whigs and The Twilight Singers. Their latest album, 2, came out earlier this year and it's good. If you like the tune below, don't hesitate with buying the whole album, you won't regret it.



(Original is downloadable as mp4-file)

More new The Black Keys.

Oy!

Talked about The Black Keys some days ago, and here I go again since I found the opener of their upcoming album, Brothers. This one is called Everlasting Light and it's more of a pop song than a lot of other things made by these guys but it's perfectly awesome and Dan Auerbach once again shows that his voice is one of the best around. I don't think that you can find this one anywhere else, actually.

Check it out right here.

Cheers!

New Blur

Well, you've probably already heard about it, but Blur has put out a new single, and they have decided to give it away for free. It's quite fine, actually.

Download it here.
(Only available for........ erm..... Some time.)

The Black Keys.

Ohio garage blues/soul rockers The Black Keys are going to release their brand new album, Brothers, in a month exactly. The only thing that's out right now is Tighten Up, the lead single of the album. Contrary to Attack & Release from 2008, Dangermouse has only produced one tune which happens to be Tighten Up. It's a bit more rootsy and soul-ish than much of their other stuff. Still, it's a good listen and Dan Auerbach's voice is amazing and is one of the best male voices around in contemporary rock music.

Listen to Tighten Up.

Cheers!

Teddybears.

Oy!

Just stumbled upon this fantastic tune made by Swedish post-punk/hiphop/soul band Teddybears, formerly known as Teddybears SHTML. This one is featuring Iggy Pop, and it's an amazing pop rock tune with electronic elements even though I don't dig that as often. Well, there's not so much more to say, just take a listen and let this one speak for itself:

Listen.

Cheers!

Stream the new LCD Soundsystem.

Here's a stream of the brand new and long-awaited 3rd album from LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening. Well, it's pretty damn good but that's no surprise, I guess.

Stream.

Cheers!

More new The National.

Oy!

The National have given another tune away for free. Here's Afraid Of Everyone:

Listen.

Cheers!

Shout Wellington Air Force.

Oy!

Shout Wellington Air Force are a talened Danish indie rock band, think the likes of Pavement and Mountain Goats and you're on the right track. They've just released their debut album, Clean Sunset, which is definately worth a listen. The whole thing can be streamed in its entirety right here:



Cheers!

Kill Rock Stars Sampler.

Oy!

Indie label Kill Rock Stars have put out a sampler called Best Sampler Ever. And it's free! Here, you'll find Gossip, Elliott Smith, Deerhof, Xiu Xiu, Decemberists and Horse Feathers among loads of others. I'm not that much into samplers so I'm not the one to judge whether if it's the best sampler ever or not, but it sure is one good samler. Enjoy!

Download Best Sampler Ever.
Oh, and you'll find the tracklist and cover and all right here.

Cheers!

Happy Birthday.

Oy!

Now you're like "Who's birthday is it?!" and I'm like "duuuuh". Happy Birthday are a new band, who just recently got signed on the legendary Seattle label, Sub Pop (Band Of Horses, No Age, The Gutter Twins and Nirvana and Soundgarden in the grunge days, you know). Their debut album was released in March and it's an experience like few other. The case is - the REALLY trashy garage pop of Happy Birthday is so bad it's good. The voice is annoying, the recording is bad, the whole thing is kind of untight and the melodies aren't really that brilliant. Or at least, that's what you think after your first listen of this.

The thing is, that after a day or so, this shit STICKS TO YOUR BRAIN like few things I've heard before. This album is just so hugely charming in all its imperfectness that it makes you happy. Highly recommended for patient lovers of catchy music that doesn't reveal itself the first time(s) you listen to it. Here's everything I could find from these guys:

Happy Birthday - Girls FM
(This shit is GREAT. One of my favorite tunes off the album. That's some pretty good bad songwriting.)
Happy Birthday - Subliminal Message
Happy Birthday - 2 Shy
(This is just of Hypem since I'm imcompetent and lazy and can't find anything better. I just want you to hear this one since it's awesome and probably the best pop song here.)

Cheers!

Oh, by the way, I would have posted a photo of these guys but I couldn't find one where they looked smart.

Out Of Our Minds.

Soooo - I told you that I would make a little feature on this one earlier this week. And now I do!

Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bass play whom you might know from the mid 90's where she filled in the slot as bass player for Hole, Courtney Love's band, you know. Hole disbanded, she joined Smashing Pumpkins for a while, she released her self-titled solo debut in 2004 and it's very good. On Auf Der Maur, Melissa and LOADS of famous friends played rock influenced by metal and stoner but still with a glimpse in the eye. Melissa herself called it "heavy romantic rock" which sound kind of stupid but is actually kind of true.

Her brand new album, Out Of Our Minds, is a concept album about vikings. I know that sounds....... uhhhhhhmmm rubbish, but luckily, there's more rock here than there's viking. Where AdM was kinda sexy and a bit happy most of the time, OOOM is darker, more mystic, a bit more gothic maybe and a bit more experimental. The vibe here might be kind of viking.

But, as always, what REALLY matters is the songs, and MadM's songwriting has definately improved. I don't know if it's the six years it took her or if it's because she has improved as an artist, but simply, every song here has a brilliant melody. That means there are no incredible standouts like I'll Be Everything You Want and Followed The Waves on her first album, but this one works WAY better as a whole album and quality is more consistent here. Best listened to as an album, I'll go a bit more specific here.

The album starts of with The Hunt, a 3-minute instrumental that makes for a fine setting for the rest of the album.
First "real" tune is lead single Out Of Our Minds which works better as a single than the other tunes here, but still won't get that much air. The tune itself is fine, shifting rythms blend with a good chorus and make for a solid tune.
Next up is the brilliant Isis Speaks, one of the strongest songs on the album. A dark vibe, a cryptic 7/8 chorus and 3 minute jam is very brave put place as third number on an album, but it works here because you're in the athmosphere from the start.
Other great tunes include Follow The Map with a Queens Of The Stone Age-esque riff, a fine chorus and a text that's inspired by vikings which makes a bit silly, Meet Me On The Darkside which turns up with another great chorus and album closer Mother's Box.

Now, enough text - here's something to listen to:

Listen to the album in its entirety on Grooveshark.

Cheers!

Melissa Auf Der Maur.

Hey there.

Back from my vacation! During this, I filled up my iPod with LOADS of new (and old) stuff, and the only thing I really listened to was the new one from Melissa Auf Der Maur. I'll tell you about that one very soon but let's warm up a bit.

Melissa Auf Der Maur is Canadian, she plays the bass, she plays rock music, she's red-haired and she has done some modelling for Calvin Klein. In the mid-90's, she jumped in and took the place of bass player in Courtney Love's band, Hole. After Hole split up, she joined The Smashing Pumpkins for a while. But in 2004, her first solo album, Auf Der Maur, saw the light. Collaborators were, among others, Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri, James Iha, John Stanier, Chris Goss, Eric Erlandson and Jeordie White. And guess what? It's great. Enough talk, here's something to listen to:


Just wanted to show you the video to show you that she's sexy as hell. The sound quality is horrible. But here is an mp3 of it in very decent quality.

On another tune, Josh Homme joined her for the songwriting which resulted in a tune of glorious acid pop with plenty of guitars. Listen to I'll Be Anything You Want right here.

Well, that's at least 2 tunes of glory, I think you'll hear more about this fine young lady on the blog later this week.

Broken Social Scene.

I know I shouldn't be able to post since I'm on vacation, but guess what I found a couple of days ago. A widget! Yeah, I like widgets.

Classics: 90's noise.

Oy!

Can't think of anything really clever to post, but I am going on a short 4-day vacation tomorrow so I really want to post something really clever! The best thing I can come up with is posting some covers of albums that are must-haves. As in "you REALLY need to own these". My theme today is "90's noise", because I've been digging LOADS of 90's music for the last couple of weeks, and you'll find some seriously brilliant albums here. Enjoy! (Oh, and one of them is an April's fool. Guess which one. It's quite obvious. Because it's not from the 90's. And because it's rubbish.)
















Albums listed:

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space

Ride - Nowhere

Nickelback - For All The Right Reasons (hint hint)

Swervedriver - Mezcal Head

Sonic Youth - Goo

18th Dye - Tribute To A Bus

In a way, I REALLY hope you own all these albums and this post is totally irrelevant to you. But in a way, I hope you don't, 'cause then you really have something to be looking forwards to listening to.

Cheers!

New Tokyo Police Club.

Tokyo Police Club will release their second album, Champ, soon. But already now, they've decided to give a tune away for free. That means I should have found this really awesome widget (widgets are awesome and html is GREAT fun, folks!) that allowed you to enter your E-mail and then have the mp3 of Breakneck Speed for free. Well, I couldn't find the widget which is a great shame, but I found this instead and now you don't have to give away your E-mail to strangers, which is kind of nice when you think about it.

Listen to Breakneck Speed.
(Tip: Right click and Save As... and you'll download it. Totally smart.)

Cheers!

The Black Box Revelation.

I've already mentioned The Black Box Revelation in that famous post about Belgium - as I did with The Van Jets, I mentioned that these guys had a new one out soon, and now it's out. It's called Silver Threats and, well, they still play young, fun garage rock as they're supposed to, but this time there's something more to it. Their first album, Set Your Head On Fire, was badass, LOADS of fun and most of all really, really charming. The charm is not dominating Silver Threats as much as on Set Your Head On Fire, but Silver Threats shows better production and, I think, better musicianship. The songwriting is still good, but this time the focus is more on the songwriting which has led to more melodic tunes. A great example of that is the amazing Part Of Me which kicks in with a VERY distorted bass, an agressive drum rhythm and very sensitive vocals not hitting all the notes. It's brilliant. Have a listen yourself:

More The National.

Oy.

The National are absolutely fantastic, and I can't wait for their new album, High Violet, to come out. First album teaser was Terrible Love, which they played on a talk show, and I liked it. The first official single is called Bloodbuzz Ohio and you can download for free, or you can give them your e-mail and have it in better quality and with artwork. Pretty good deal, in my humble opinion.

Download Bloodbuzz Ohio.

Cheers!

New LCD Soundsystem.

Yo.

LCD Soundsystem release a new album this May, I think, and now you can hear the brand new single, Drunk Girls. You don't have to be extremely clever to figure out that this has the potential of being a HUGE single of the summer. Enjoy!

Free Phoenix live album.

Bonjour.

French indie pop rockers Phoenix have been to Australia to do a concert where they played their latest album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, in its entirety. And because they are nice Frenchmen, they've decided to make it a live album and share it with, well....... Everyone.

Download the Phoenix live album.

Au revoir.

New Stone Temple Pilots.

Awesome rock legends Stone Temple Pilots will be having a new one out soon, and now it's possible to hear the first single, Between The Lines. I don't really know about this one since I enjoy them the most when they just choose to rock out with their cocks out, but as a mainstream radio tune, it's absolutely fine. Anyway, check out and form your own opinion, mine doesn't really matter anyway! Cheers!

Stream the new MGMT.

Last week, the new album by MGMT was leaked onto the internet. Because of that, MGMT have now made Congratulations available for streaming on their website. Check it out right here:

Stream Congatulations.

The Van Jets.

In the huge post about the Belgian music scene, I mentioned glam garage rockers The Van Jets and said thay they had a new album coming out. Well, now it's out! I've heard it about 5 times and although that isn't a lot of listens I think it's safe to say that it's awesome. It's dirty and fun and there are some seriously good tunes here. My favorite is what you'd call an album track as it would have no chance at all as a single. But it's absolutely amazingly brilliant and it's highly recommended. The tune is called Matador and it's REALLY melodic, it has devastating guitars, great dynamics and shouts and noise make for a feeling of desperation. I don't think Matador is representing my general impression of the album musically other than it's awesome, but this one can easily be compared with the sound of some other dudes from Belgium called The Hickey Underworld. If you like garage rock combined with melodies with a touch of pop, go buy this album, it's called Cat Fit Fury. Here's Matador, make sure you hear this one, you won't regret it for one single second:



Cheers!

Bradford Cox remixes Liars.

Oy!

So, the new Liars album, Sisterworld, came out not long time ago, and it's, well, wierd. In a good way. It's a very demanding listen and it's definately hard to fall in love with - it needs time to grow on you, and then it opens up slowly. Another interesting about Sisterworld is the remix cd that comes with the deluxe edition. Here, you'll find Sisterworld remixed in its entirety by folks like Melvins, Tunde Adebimpe (TV On The Radio), Devendra Banhart, Thom Yorke, a dude from Blonde Redhead and (ta-dah!) Bradford Cox of Atlas Sound and Deerhunter. Here's what it sounds like when he puts his hands on Here Comes All The People. Enjoy!





Oh, and here's the original:


Cheers!

Streams.

Over at NPR, a lot of new albums are streaming right now, including The White Stripes, The Archie Bronson Outfit, Broken Bells and the brand new She & Him-album. Some of them are worth a listen, especially The White Stripes, their live album is fairly brilliant.

Go!

Ryan Adams goes metal.

The best way to follow up the amazing stream of the brand new Serena-Maneesh album must be a new Ryan Adams song where he (apparently) goes "metal". The song is called Electrosnake. And as he mentions on his website: "P.S. Not a single B. C. Rich was hurt in the making of this record". This is kind of funny.

Stream the new Serena-Maneesh.

March 22nd, Norwegian shoegazers Serena-Maneesh put out a new album called No. 2: Abyss In B Minor. But already now it can be streamed! I can tell you one thing - it's pretty damn brilliant, but it surely takes a couple of listens to realise it.



Oh, and if you want an mp3:

Reprobate!

Cheers!

The National.

The National finally put out a new album, High Violet, in May and here's a very solid live performance of Terrible Love off their new album. And it's good!

Neon Indian ft. a dude from Grizzly Bear.

That keyboard dude Neon Indian has released a new tune where Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor has dropped by to say "hello". Stream and download here:

New MGMT.

MGMT will soon release a new album called Congratulations. But you can already download the first single, Flash Delirium, for free.

Download Flash Delirium.

Cheers!

Beat The Devil's Tattoo.

I promise this will be the last BRMC post in quite some time. But today is the day! Finally, Beat The Devil's Tattoo has landed, and the first couple of listenings indicates that it's a very solid effort. The title tune does not only have the job of being the title tune, it's also the album opener and the lead single. And, well, it's good, but it's not absolutely brilliant, and in my opinion, it doesn't rank among the strongest tunes here. Songs that do are the amazing garage-popper Bad Blood, the old but catchy Evol and psych-rocker Shadow's Keeper. Most of the time, BRMC rock out with their cocks out (even though female drummer Leah Shapiro has joined the band and does a very fine job), but the acoustic direction they took on Howl is still present on The Toll and Sweet Feeling.

Bad Blood:


Sweet Feeling:


Evol:


Cheers!

Plastic Beach.

Gorillaz release their new album, Plastic Beach, tomorrow and if you have way too much time on your hands, you can go an an adventure on Plastic Beach and play the new Plastic Beach game!

Play. You know you want to.

Efterklang.

Efterklang are a Danish band who are truly on their way op. Here's a recording from a session they've made for their record label, the legendary 4AD. They play some tunes off their new album, but here's I Was Playing Drums, one of the better tunes off their new album, Magic Chairs.

New Hole.

Courtney Love and friends finally release something. It's a single, it's called Skinny Little Bitch and it's not that bad, actually. You can download it for free today!!

Download it right here for the charge of your email today. Be quick!

Music for Action: Best of Bonnaroo.

Some artists feel VERY bad about climate change and feel obliged to release things for free just to show how mad they are. That's cool with me. This one is a live compilation from this year's Bonnaroo Festival and you'll hear artists as Wilco, Pearl Jam, Death Cab For Cutie, Decemberists, My Morning Jacket and Dave Matthews Band.

Write a letter to someone and show that you are VERY mad and that you REALLY like free music.

Cheers!

New The Floor Is Made Of Lava.

Oy!

The Floor Is Made Of Lava are Danish indie rockers, here's a song off their brand new album that you can check out (and download) for free:



Enjoy!

Frightened Rabbit.

In my March post (which I made in February which makes perfect sense), I mentioned March 2 as the day of the release of the brand new album from Scottish indie rockers Frightened Rabbit. And that's today, you guys! Here's their video to the first single, Nothing Like You, a very catchy indie rock tune:



Cheers!

The Kissaway Trail.

The Kissaway Trail are a Danish band playing poprock influenced and inspired by acts as The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev. They have a new one coming out, it's called Sleep Mountain, the first single is called SDP and it's brilliant.

Download SDP right here.

Cheers!

March.

March is going to be awesome. Here's why:

March starts of in a VERY cool way. March 2 is the day when following bands plan to release their new albums:

Rogue Wave - Permalight
Zach Rogue and friends sometimes deliver some great tunes. I wonder if they'll do it this time, too.

These New Puritans - Hidden
These British art rockers have already released this at home to magnificent reviews. Well, I won't skip an art rock album with magnificent reviews!

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
If you're into cozy folk music (like Fleet Foxes), you probably already know these guys and you should be very unpatient about this one.

Oh, and Peter Gabriel releases Scratch My Back where he covers Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Talking Heads, The Magnetic Fields and Bon Iver among others. I don't know if it's going to be any good, but well, it's going to be......... Interesting!

Then you wait for a week.

And all of a sudden, it's March 9 which is the most awesome day of March, like, ever!

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Beat The Devil's Tattoo
You probably already know how excited I am about the new BRMC album. If not - I'm absolutely stoked. Can't wait!

Frightened Rabbit - Winter Of Mixed Drinks
Scottish indie rockers Frightened Rabbit return with their third album. First single, Nothing Like You, is promising!

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
It's been quite some time since we last heard from Gorillaz. But let's face it: Their debut album was AWESOME, Demon Days was awesome and this one is probably going to be awesome, too. Because Damon Albarn is awesome.

Liars - Sisterworld
I've looked forwards to this one. It's going to be interesting to see if Sisterworld is going to be as good as their last album. The first single, Scissors, indicates a "yes"!

New Young Pony Club - The Optimist
New wave indie rockers New Young Pony Club follow up on their 2007 debut, Fantastic Playroom, which was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Let's see if they can do as well with their sophomore album!

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
Trashy indie rockers Titus Andronicus also put a new one out. This might be quite fine, in a fragile and sort of ugly way.

March 16:

The White Stripes - Under Great White Northern Lights
The White Stripes release their live album/documentary. I've already posted one very promising clip and I can't wait to see and hear this one!

The Whigs - In The Dark
These American rockers are currently touring with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, they're on Letterman April 1. Their sound reminds me of BRMC, too.

March 23:

Jónsi - Go
Jónsi from Sigur Ros releases his solo album. And it's in English! First single has already been posted here. Let's see how much it reminds of Sigur Ros.

Goldfrapp - Head First
Goldfrapp is awesome. Nothing else needs to be said. She's brilliant!

She & Him - Volume Two
M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel return with more acoustic, folky tunes. This one is going to be just fine, M. Ward always has some good tunes with him.

March 30:

Francis Black - NonStopErotik
Frank Black from The Pixies puts his solo album out. I don't know what to expect here and that's why I'm kind of stoked about listening to this one!

New Deftones.

Deftones have a new one coming out, and they're giving away their new first single for free! Classic Deftones, check it out.

Listen to it right here.
(For a limited time only, I think. I don't know how limited).

Cheers!

The Freudian Slip.

The Freudian Slip are 2 Danish guys playing the rock 'n roll thing. What seperates them from all the other brilliant guitar-drums-garage-rock bands is that this is some pompous shit. I mean, this sounds like a million guitars and the world's strongest drummer. This is garage rock on a much bigger scale with reverb, light Chris Cornell-esque vocals and some brilliant melodic riffs and choruses. Their shiny, brand new album is called Positive/Negative, it came out February 22, and it's really, really cool.

Why Can't I Follow Through?



Selfish People


Cheers!

Freeroll 1.

Oy.

Sometimes we don't only write about cool bands on this blog. Sometimes, there's even free tunes that you can go get! Of course, everybody likes free tunes, so here are two more I found:

Canadian indie band Broken Social Scene have a new album coming out, an album that I'm very excited about getting to hear. Until then, you can get their new single on their website for the charge of your e-mail:

Right here.

Also, Italian indie hipsters A Classic Education have decided to share something with us for free. Here's a digital version of a relatively new 7" featuring two numbers. Scroll down the website and click on the very small link there is. These guys are so indie that they try to cheat you!

Go fetch.

Cheers.

The Dandy Warhols.

Yesterday was Brian Jonestown Massacre-day so I thought it would be fair if today was The Dandy Warhols-day. The problem is that they don't have anything new out and their latest effort have been sort of dull despite from a few good tunes. But in 2000, The Dandy Warhols released Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia, and that is one damn fine album. Most of it is good, stoned psych pop and when they turn op the distortion knob it becomes brilliant. And right here, you have some of the stronger tunes from Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia:

Bohemian Like You
You might know this one from some commercials. I think that it was Vodafone who used this one in a big campaign once. Nevermind, solid pop tune that shows their great sense of writing pop music.

Horse Pills
Horse Pills belongs with the stoned, distortion-heavy songs on the album. It's a bit silly, but the main riff is hard-hitting in some weird slacker way.

Nietzsche
My favorite tune from the album. Very repetitive and it's fantastic when played LOUD. Good shit!

The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

February 23 is the day of the release of the brand new Brian Jonestown Massacre-album, Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? Brian Jonestown Massacre play psych-pop with loads of inspiration from the 60's and have gone through quite a lot of lineup changes - more than 60 people have been in this band since the 90's, including Sune Wagner from The Raveonettes and Peter Hayes from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Only consistent member is front guy Anton Newcombe who you might know from the amazing dockumentary DiG!, where Newcombe seems like quite a douche. Nonetheless, I personally find BJM's later offerings better than I find the newer things from The Dandy Warhols. Nevermind!

The fighting:



And the music:

Spoon.

I never really mentioned how much I like the new album from Spoon. What makes Transference a brilliant album is the nerve and the solid, solid songwriting that dominates this release. An impressive effort. Here's one of the stronger songs of the album:

Got Nuffin.

Enjoy!

Live on your computer.

Hey there!

Live music is an incredible experience and although it's nowhere near the same, watching live performances on your computer can actually be very satisfying and enjoyable. Here are two examples of brilliant websites:

From The Basement.
From The Basement is created by Nigel Godrich who is best known for his work with Radiohead. These performances have no host and no audience - it's just about the band and nothing else. Acts here include Autolux, Beck, Cold War Kids, Sonic Youth, Queens Of The Stone Age, The White Stripes, Radiohead and Fleet Foxes.

La Blogotheque.
As the name suggests, La Blogotheque is French - it's more indie orientated and not as perfect as the From The Basement-sessions. Among loads of others, here you'll find Grizzly Bear, I'm From Barcelona, Guillemots, The National, Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Of Montreal, Dirty Projectors, Liars, Beirut, St. Vincent, Caribou, Vampire Weekend, Animal Collective, Handsome Furs, Bon Iver, (drunk?) dEUS, Sebastian Tellier, Efterklang, Sigur Ros, Phoenix, Múm......... Okay, a lot.

The Soft Pack.

Yo.

Alright - today, it's time for some lo-fi indie. The Soft Pack are an American band that has also played together as The Muslims. Their sound reminds me of The Strokes era Is This It?, just more lo-fi and (if possible) even simpler melodies.

Answer To Yourself.

Extinction.

Cheers!

Old album you should totally check out: The Dears - Gang Of Losers.

Canadian indie rockers The Dears released Gang Of Losers in 2006. It charted pretty low, peaking at number 52 in Canada and at number 77 in the UK. The reviews were relatively brilliant, though, it just didn't get the attention it deserved. Because the truth is that Gang Of Losers is a blasts as far as what comes to melancholic, melodic, grandiose indie rock. The melodies here are good and occasionally almost incredible - the opening 5 tunes is one of the strongest opening fives I've heard on an indie rock album. Murray Lightburns fantastic voice carries you through the whole thing as intelligent, dynamic guitar parts and swirly arrangements make for a multi-layered experience. Highly recommended. Oh, tunes:

Hate Then Love.
(mp3)
Death Or Life Or We Want You.
(mp3)
Ticket To Immortality.
(via YouTube)

Cheers!

New BRMC single.

Hey!

Well, better late than never - here's the relatively new single from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It's the title tune of their brand new Beat The Devil's Tatoo-album. It's sort of a mix between the vibe of Howl and the garage rock of Take Them On, On Your Own. Promising!

Listen to Beat The Devil's Tatoo right here.

Cheers.

No Age.

Today's treat is 4 brand new tune from the punk/noise band No Age. They're working on a brand new album that's going to be released this year. Here, you'll find some tunes from the so-called Daytrotter Sessions. Good stuff! Oh, and if you don't know who they are:



And here are the 4 Daytrotter Sessions tunes:

Welcome To Daytrotter
N.G.F.S
Hard Trash
Depletion

Enjoy!

The White Stripes.

Amazing video of the opening tune of a live The White Stripes performance. Brilliant.




|

Kasper Bjørke.

Hey there.

Danish electronic music guy Kasper Bjørke releases his brand new album very soon. But you can already stream it right now right here on this Danish website. The site is in Danish but the player is very easy to understand. It even starts playing without you having to press anything!

Cheers.

Essential earcandy: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

The brand new album from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Beat The Devil's Tatoo, is out March 8. That means it's not one ONE SECOND too early to make this post with one purpose and one purpose only: Doubtless appreciation of BRMC. Because, let's face it - dammit, this is one absolutely brilliant rock 'n roll band. With a perfect blend of noise, psych, attitude, brilliant riffs, catchy hooks and some traditional western/country inspiration, these guys have made shit loads of fantastic music.


B.R.M.C was the debut album of, uhm, BRMC and was released in 2001 - they were hyped, indeed, being a part of the garage rock revival that saw the light in the early 00's together with, among others, The Strokes that released the famous Is This It? in 2001. B.R.M.C is a no bullshit garage rock release filled with loads of energy, reverb, swampy guitars, loads of attitude and a load of really good songs. Highlights include the opener Love Burns, the AMAZING single Whatever Happened To My Rock 'N Roll, the psychedelic Rifles, and the simple but cool Spread Your Love.



In 2oo3, the sophomore album Take Them On, On Your Own was released. Reviews were mixed, but personally, I absolutely adore this album and I think it's one of their finest efforts. The sound is better, more dynamic and with more distortion on, well, everything. The songwriting here is extremely solid - heavy, dark bass lines and melodic and occasionally incredibly catchy choruses makes this album an absolute pleasure to listen to. Stop, In Like The Rose, Ha Ha High Babe, Generation, Shade Of Blue, Rise Or Fall and Heart+Soul are all amazing tunes and they're among my favorite BRMC songs.


Howl saw the light in 2005. This time, the songs were hugely inspired by Americana. Blues, country and gospel have all influenced this album - it's pretty different from the style of their first two albums. But it's not bad at all - actually, it's also brilliant! Acoustix guitars are often present here, at the result is a very organic and traditional sounding blues rock album. Ain't No Easy Way, Howl and especially Shuffle Your Feet are great tunes. I must say that in enjoy them more when they choose to rock like few other bands are capable of, but this is a very charming release, it sound perfectly good, and BRMC write fantastis tunes.


Finally, we made it to Baby 81 which is good since this album is absolutely amazing. The songwriting here is AMAZING. All songs are so incredibly well-arranged, well-written and well-played. They've grown as artists here, covering a wide spectrum of genres here - Not What You Wanted is essentially just pop, All You Do Is Talk is an athmospheric ballad, Cold Wind is a dirty acid rocker, but you'll still find the slower, psychedelic rock tunes like Berlin and Took Out A Loan and quicker, more energetic tunes as Need Some Air and Weapon Of Choice. If you're into any kind of rock, you need to check this out. Highly recommended listening!


I don't know what BRMC had smoked when they decided to put The Effects of 333 out in 2008. This one is to be avoided since it's essentially just boring. Instrumental, ambient soundscapes that are more "sounds" than they are "songs". Quite forgettable and definately not worth spending your money on unless you are the biggest fan in the world. I love these guys but this one is not worthy of the BRMC tag. Sad. Go buy everything else first!






Cheers!