Quiet might well be the new loud.

It is, in any case, the title of the now almost nine year old debut album by Norwegians Kings of Convenience, a duo, which has been one of my biggest musical discoveries of the past half year. Quiet Is The New Loud, which quite handily fits the easy-listening bossa nova-indie-pop of Kings of Convenience, is also one of the quintet of new albums I bought a few weeks ago, all of which, besides Trespassers, I have yet to really comment on. Quiet Is The New Loud, for one, has definitely been a pleasurable addition to my collection. It does not really rebel or apply goosebumps or anything, but it is an inordinarily soyeux collection of very nice songs, such as 'Little Kids' here.

The suave Norwegians have however been appreciably trumped by one of their nexts-of-kin. We've heard enough now of how Justin Vernon, known to the world as Bon Iver, sat in his ramshackle little cabin, which probably had neither power nor heating, except for the fact that he did manage to record almost an entire album in it, thru the frozen solid Wisconsin winter. But here's the thing: It's all legit indie gossip and romanticism, because For Emma, Forever Ago is an astonishingly beautiful and incomparably heartfelt piece of music of unrivaled brilliance. Especially so, when you give it a chance in a pair of good headphones. It's not just the fact that whoever that whopping cunt Emma were, she really received a proper broadside, but in a beautiful way, rather than the emo-punk way in which break-up albums are often fashioned. It is as much the enjoyment of all the little layers of voices, noises and frets that makes you feel almost as though you are there, throwing firewood on Vernon's fireplace and serving him chai latte, which a fellow like him must certainly prefer. Take a listen to this live take of 'Skinny Love'. Damn.

In the other alley, more festive, less whiney, I came across Delphic when they warmed up for now semi-defunct faves Bloc Party a year ago, and I got a hold of their debut release Acolyte. After a few weeks, I still think this could very well be one of the major debut releases of the year. It's not a Mercury-winner or anything, but in a year that will be very dominated by releases by bands we already know (The Strokes, anyone), I think Acolyte will definitely be on a few end-of-year lists. I like how Delphic have grasped the indie-dance genre in a much more mature and much less silly way than the likes of Hadouken!, Does It Offend You, Yeah? (I mean, just the names...) and Klaxons, among others. I really like the title track (beware: instrumental!) and also 'Clarion Call'.

Finally (or...), Ginger Ninja, the young Danish electro-rockers, have of course released their debut, Wicked Map, which admittedly didn't warm to me initially. It has however grown slightly on me, and while I still miss some of their live energy, it is what can be described as a decent effort. I also finally had a run through Julian Casablancas' Phrazes For The Young. Not so impressive, back to the drawing board (or the guys...) Jules.

And just on the quick quick, I had go at Lungs by Florence + The Machine this morning. Pretty impressive, although I didn't expect otherwise. Might be a gig to see at Roskilde. I also went through Efterklang's new album the other day. A bit iffy, I've never quite accustomed myself to their records, but they're an amazing live act when they roll out the full monty.

Always trust the Germans...

... To come up with something completely insane. This time around, it's Schlachthofbronx from Bavaria, who are coming to Roskilde this summer. If it fits into my schedule, I'd really like to see them. Try and have a listen to 'Too High'. It's hilarious, and really bordering stupid, but at the same time, I find it somewhat catchy. Quickly on the Roskilde-grapevine, I must declare my indifference to the acts that have been announced this week, but I know it fills voids for many a Roskilde-enthusiast, and if it sells tickets, I'm happy.

VETO frontman Troels Abrahamsen has been beavering away this winter on yet another solo-album, which is gonna be his last before starting to work on another VETO album. The new album is titled BLCK, and it's out in March. The first single is 'Not Moving', and I must say it slightly disappoints me. BLCK was supposed to be way more towards the hard house that Abrahamsen exhibited on his unreleased Mockin' Bird record from a few years back, but it seems that BLCK is very much on the same tangent as WHT, his previous album, was.

In the same direction, Danish-Swedish electro-songstress RebekkaMaria is out with her second full-length March 1st. It's called Sister Sortie, and is available on her Soundvenue-profile. I've only heard the first few songs as of yet, but it seems fairly promising. I am a big fan of her first record, Queen of France, and it might just be that she has matured even more on the new record.

Good ole dance-punk'ers Late of the Pier are out with new stuff as well, a track called 'Best in the Class'. It's quite recognizably them, I think, with an 8-bit twang. Notice the granny in the video - pure awesomeness!

I was supposed to go see young Danish singer-songwriter Mads Langer tonight, but yet another snowstorm has got me stuck in Shit's Creek. Alas. I really have to get out of here soon.

A Bloc Partribute: Beginners guide.

As many of you may know, I am a big fan of British indie outfit Bloc Party, who are, at the moment, on a hiatus. Both Russell and Kele, guitarist and lead vocalist respectively, are working on their own projects at the time, and while they are both interesting musicians, I am most interested in, what drummer Matt Tong ends up doing, as he is by far the most outstanding instrumentalist of the four.

Anyway, I've decided to throw together sort of a beginners guide to Bloc Party. A collection of six tunes that will act as a proper introduction to, or summary of this band.

Start of full throttle on 'Helicopter', which is a perfect example of the frantic, riff-laden style of debut album Silent Alarm. Originally from the Little Thoughts EP, it eventually made it to Silent Alarm as second on the tracklist, and a perfect sequel to anthemic opener 'Like Eating Glass'.

Also from Silent Alarm, I've chosen 'This Modern Love', which is a really pretty little tune, that has really grown on me this past year or so. Revolving very much around its lyrical theme and universe, this song really brings forth Bloc Party's eminence in ballads, even though characterizing this track as a ballad would perhaps be a bit off. There are also some very fine acoustic versions of this one around.

Moving on, second full-lengther A Weekend In The City opens with Bloc Party's hands down strongest track, 'Song For Clay (Disappear Here)'. I've never grown tired of that riff, and the overall drive and vigor of this song really never dies. I think it's probably one of my favourite tunes all in all, although that's always a risky statement.

'Kreuzberg' is in the entirely other end of the spectrum, which serves to illustrate the many facets of A Weekend In The City, that makes it such a magnificent album. It is really a less-is-more kind of song, and its simplicity becomes its strength. I love to listen to this tune at night, when I'm walking somewhere, or on the train or something, or coming back home from a night out.

I was really in doubt about which track to add as the sixth, but I eventually settled on 'Sunday', also from A Weekend In The City, which might be a wee bit corny, but at the same time is just a wonderful piece of music. It carries very distinct traces of producer Jacknife Lee, but I just can't resist the lyrical theme in this one. It is such an honest expression of affection as it is perceived on those all too well known Sunday mornings.

Finally, it would be unfair to not include Bloc Party's third album, Intimacy, which, although to me definitely the weakest album of the three, does include some very good tracks, some of them very zippy. The eventual standout from this album however is epic closer 'Ion Square', which builds in a wonderful way, and expresses a certain longing sadness and feelings of love and ultimately resignation. Some might construe Kele Okereke's lyrics as being somewhat pocket poetic, but I think he really shines through as a lyricist and a vocalist on a song like Ion Square. An extraordinary tune.

A few electro picks (and a bit of garage too).

Alright, this is gonna be a quick, less-is-more runthrough of some more new stuff I've run into. By the way, I went to see 2ManyDJs the other day with a couple of my fave allies. It was pretty impressive. Although the vibe wasn't as frantic as at Roskilde (being as it was a Thursday night, probably), and the Belgian kings of cool made use of some slighty predictable climax-situations, it was still good.

First off, I've mentioned this one before, it's 'Odessa' by Canadian indie-house project Caribou. I just love the faint grittyness of this track, a proper indie club hit.

I've known this Gramophonedzie mix for about a year now, but actually this is the first time I've found the full original mix - Kjeld Tolstrup used to play a shorter version on UngaBunga. It's just awesome, combining vintage vocals with a catchy house beat.

This is Darwin Deez with 'Constellations'. I know it reminds me very much of something, but I'm not sure what it is, but something old. It does resemble stuff like The Spinto Band slightly too.

The next two are not as much catchy as they are merely interesting. I am scared out of my wits of what dubstep supergroup Magnetic Man might be capable of live. It's Skream. And Benga. AND Artwork. All three together. Brrr. Are you shivering? The other is Joy Orbison, which is kind of an amalgamation of dubstep and something more Ibiza'ey. I think we're gonna hear a lot more of this kind of stuff, as dubstep wiggles towards some sort of mainstream acceptance (eventhough dubstep becoming mainstream is a bit of a catch-22). Check out 'Wet Look'.

Finishing off a mainly electronically themed post, I've got young Frankie and The Heartstrings for you. They resemble Tokyo Police Club very much, have a listen to 'Hunger' - nothing like a wee bit of garage-revival.

The one good thing...

... about major humanitarian disasters is the fact that it inspires bands to do charity stuff. Such as Radiohead, who played a Haiti-benefit gig at the Jane Fonda the other day, and has put it up for grabs online! Check it out here! It includes the seldom heard live 'A Wolf At The Door', which is a real treat, alongside a beautiful version of 'All I Need', and, ta-daa, a new song. Now, I haven't been exceedingly positive on the stuff we've heard from Radiohead post In Rainbows, such as 'These Are My Twisted Words', and the Harry Patch-one. And not this new new one either. Let's hope their unimpressiveness is the exact reason they're not on the forthcoming Radiohead-album, which is due late this year, and which will be released only in bundles dropped by parachute randomly across the globe (kidding).

It's Wednesday, which means new names for Roskilde. Today's release includes a Danish and two Norwegian acts, none of which really excite me, although Efterklang did play a really massive gig in 2008. Hopefully this time around they've grown to a slot where they can be undisturbed by the bass-happy hip-hop posse that does swing by Orange now and then. In the Roskilde-department, recently announced Icelandic act FM Belfast got alright reviews of their debut record How To Make Friends (Danish review only at the time, sorry.)

English We Have Band are rotating their single 'Honey Trap' off their quasi-eponymous debut record WHB these days. It reminds me of a crossbreed between Goose, Friendly Fires and (perhaps not so favorable) New Young Pony Club. Speaking of clubs, Two Door Cinema Club still rock my world with 'I Can Talk'. Their debut, Tourist History, is out soon, and I might, just might, get a hold of it. Finally, I also got tipped onto Peter Broderick, who actually used to play with the above mentioned Danish outfit Efterklang, and who is a very talented musician. Try 'Not At Home'.

That's about it for now. There'll be a number of posts these next few days on some of the records I bought recently, some more on new stuff and on Bloc Party.

Trespassers: To throw off the Zitilites-harness.

Boy, have I dreaded, but at the same time much anticipated, commenting on the new Kashmir album, Trespassers. How do you subjectively review a band, that has in many ways been your musical year zero? And how do you compare a week-old record with staples in your record collections - albums you know inside out?

It isn't easy to throw off the Zitilites-harness, neither for me nor for Kashmir. Whilst running through Trespassers for the first time, you can't help comparing it to the fervor of 'Melpomene', the imperativeness of 'Surfing The Warm Industry', the quirky aesthetics of 'Ruby Over Diamonds' or the sheer beauty of 'Petite Machine'. Kashmir will never again create an album like Zitilites, neither like The Good Life, their ballad-laden breakthrough effort.

But let's fast forward a bit - eleven years on from The Good Life, six from Zitilites, five from slightly clinical No Balance Palace, through a decade and a bit, and into Kashmir anno 2010 - the Trespassers-era. We are now dealing with a band getting up there in years. It sure has been a long time since Kasper Eistrup's blond fuzz of the 'Graceland' video, or the eccentric, humouristic punk-funk of the first two records. We are dealing with a band, whose last record, while having gotten a favourable reception, these last few years has somehow slid behind its two predecessors in prominence. No Balance Palace was never as sincere, never as heartfelt as Zitilites or The Good Life, and although some of the tracks, such as opener 'Kalifornia' and the closing title track, were obvious winners, No Balance Palace seems to be covered in a duvet-like varnish that fades it in comparison to its predecessors.

For Trespassers, Kasper Eistrup, the band's main songwriter, has at times isolated himself completely (Bon Iver, anyone?), and returned to the band with material to work on, or to be thrashed. This seems to suit the band, as one always got the impression that the No Balance Palace sessions were somewhat concentrated in the studio, with Tony Visconti very audibly pulling the strings.

Opener 'Mouthful of Wasps', while already having become a bit tiresome through its heavy rotation on P3, is a very accessible and delightful song, with a skillfully written chorus that passes through feelings of despair, darkness, determination and, ultimately, hope. Throughout the album, but very clearly on Wasps, we witness how keyboardist Henrik Lindstrand has become much more central in the songwriting process, in comparison to the very guitar heavy No Balance Palace. He seems to have switched his focus from pads and background noises to leads and piano, which suits the band's sound very well.

'Intruder' is somewhat ordinary, albeit lyrically well-written, but the next few songs really hit home. 'Mantaray' and 'Still Boy', divided by curious interlude 'Pallas Athena', are among the strongest tracks on this album. They are a bit similar in build and form, and this is where Trespassers really takes off from No Balance Palace, as these tracks are much more naked and much more intensive than No Balance Palace ever was. It leads ones thoughts back to the The Good Life-era, to tunes like 'Miss You' and 'Kiss Me Goodbye'. This part of the record integrates Lindstrands pianoes and leads with a somewhat youthful guitar-sound in a formidable way.

Next comes the album's weakest bit. It's funny how so many records have a mediocre middle part. 'Bewildered In The City' is, after the first few listens at least, a indifferent piece of music, luckily carrying the albums clear-cut most beautiful lyrics. A bit weepy at times, yes, but very strongly and skillfully written.

I'm a mole rushing blind through your nooks and veins.
Curling up drunk in your vacant carpool lanes.

That is quite poetic. Too bad the music accompanying it is so ordinary. 'Pursuit of Misery' is a decent track, but it seems somehow misplaced in between the ballads that dominate the latter half of Trespassers. I absolutely love the guitar that kicks in at about 1:01 though, what a twang! And I like the drum-piano pattern in the final part too. It is however a track that never quite takes off, and it's somewhat schizophrenically neither beautiful nor powerful. Same goes for 'Time Has Deserted Us', which in my opinion is the weakest track on the record.

By now, during my first listen, I was growing quite negative in opinion on this record, but then comes 'Danger Bear'. What a stunning and exquisite little piece this is! I especially love the second verse, where a delicately beautiful string section enters and accompanies a wonderful piece of lyric in a lovely way:

Your heart is for beating.
Not the fiends that stand in your way.

So debonaire.

'The Indian (That Dwells Inside This Chest)' is a fitting and strong closer to an album, whose biggest weakness is perhaps the fact, that none of the tracks really take off. Some of them contain beautiful lyrics, whilst others employ to different degrees the masterfulness of Henrik Lindstrand's pianoes and beautifully orchestrated string-sections, and the close-knitness of Kashmirs guitar and rhythm section. But none of the tracks contain the whole package. There's no 'Melpomene' or 'Gorgeous' or 'Petite Machine' or 'Lampshade' on this album, yet it does stand out as being very well composed, most of it anyhow. Time will tell if it has the longevity of Zitilites and The Good Life, but I do definitely think Kashmir with Trespassers have come a long way from the anonymity and coldness of No Balance Palace. Trespassers is a delightful album, regardless of where it ends up in the hierarchy in a few years.

The Kings-of-Leonification of contemporary rock.

I sincerely hate when bands leave their unique formula and sound, in order to pursue the easy and proven way to success.

One of the most successful rock bands of the past few years have been Kings of Leon. I do not intend to discuss them and their music, as I do not particularly fancy them, neither do I despise them. They have however been extraordinarily good at what they do. They've brought back an old-fashioned twang to a scene that has become increasingly indie-schmindie. Everyone seems to want to be up the arse of skinny-jeaned youths (such as myself) with accessible, electronically flirting indie-electro hybrids of different sorts.

The last years time, I've seen a few bands trying to copy Kings of Leon's succesful formula. One of them have been The Temper Trap, who by the way were announced for Roskilde Festival today. Props on that. Roskilde have the last few years been a bit weak in booking bands "just in" from undergrounddom. Where the hell were La Roux last year? The amiable Aussies in The Temper Trap aren't Kings of Leon, but they managed to barely squeeze into the little vault of oxygen that is still breathable for bands like this post the Followill brothers' rise to superstardom. I'm looking forward to seeing them this summer. Everyone probably knows 'Sweet Disposition', but 'Fader' here is another good one.

The misery really hit home when I head The Floor Is Made Of Lava's new single, 'All Outta Love' from their forthcoming sophomore release (find it on their myspace). Come on! Anyone who can't hear the clear and clumsy Kings of Leon inspiration here must be deaf, and it's really a shame. The Lava (for short...) were one of the most interesting up-and-coming outfits on the Danish stage two-three years ago, with their festive, riff-based indie (although one could argue that they then just went along the lines of one of the newly risen major bands back then, Arctic Monkeys), which they have almost completely thrashed on the new single. Let's hope this here single is one-of-a-kind on this record, or The Floor Is Made of Lava will lose their relevance. Fast.

I actually intended this as just a quick sort of start pedal for blogging post my aaliyah to Denmark. Quite a few bands were released for Roskilde these past weeks, and I have yet to check all of them out. Jack Johnson is the obvious crowdpleaser headline, and he is a delightful addition, although my attendance at his show is far from set in stone. He will be a surefire winner friday afternoon on Orange though. I just checked out FM Belfast of Iceland, who were announced alongside The Temper Trap and young danish electro-duo Electrojuice today. At first listen they seem a potentialful outfit that just might fit into my schedule, or might not. They're somewhere along the lines of New Young Pony Club, albeit with miles better vocals (can it be worse than NYPC?). Check out 'Par Avion' here.

I'd also like to just point out Caribou's (formerly Manitoba) new single, 'Odessa', which sounds really, really promising.

Oh, and, why no mention of the one and only Trespassers? I haven't got it yet. I know that's miserable, but Denmark is snowed over and mail is delayed. Much more on Trespassers, and a few other new albums such as Delphic's magnificent Acolyte next time around.