Lo-Fi-Fnk on fire.

Lo-Fi-Fnk did this chill remix of The Radio Dept.'s 'Heaven's On Fire' - go check it out! It's seldom bad when interesting artists remix good songs by other interesting artists...


I forgot to mention a few new cool tunes that are hitting the airwaves these days, such as the young Danish outfit 4 Guys From The Future, off the these days omnipresent Tambourhinoceros label. Check out 'Life Is Up To You'. Also Sufjan Stevens is making a serious case to make me buy his new record, The Age of Adz, lately by 'Too Much', which is a really catchy track, although it seems to remind me of an old Elton John tune I remember my parents used to like? I like the electronic direction in which he's going though.


I just got my paycheck, and even though the minuscule size of it means I'm still fucked and going nowhere, I just bought tickets for Klaxons and Foals' shows in Copenhagen this winter. I've also spent some time today signing up for apartments and such in Copenhagen - I'm looking forward to not having to traverse the country all the time to hear the music I like. Surfing The Void, by the way is strangely growing on me, and Foals have just made 'Wear & Tear', a b-side off 'Miami', available for download - check it out!


Now, I think I'm gonna spend a little more of my non-existant money on a few new records! Shit...

Sacrificing euphony for experimentalism.

I don't know what happened in the time between when I first heard Shout Wellington Air Force's debut album, Clean Sunset in spring, and was very thrilled with it, and now. I bought the album last week, and I must admit it really disappoints me. It's kinda like Dirty Projectors, but not quite as eccentric. Still too eccentric to be a pleasant listen in the long run. There's a fine line between being eccentric in a systematized way, such as Battles, for example, and losing structure. Clean Sunset loses structure. A few, very few, of the tunes are pretty good, such as 'Cherry Glands' (sorry, can't find it anywhere) and 'Astrid', but very often, the album becomes a cacophonous mess, topped by toe-cringing vocals. I'm gonna see them together with Sleep Party People tomorrow, that's gonna be interesting though.


One could make the case, that if the late 00's was dominated by indie folk, the early '10s could be the era of lo-fi or shoegaze. A few remarkable albums have hit the shelves this past week, each with a very high Pitchfork-score to accompany them. One is How To Dress Well's ethereal debut, Love Remains, and the other is Deerhunter's Halcyon Digest. The latter got a whopping 9.2 review, and might very well be in my next batch of records.


An album that will definitely be in my next batch of records is Treefight For Sunlight's debut album, A Collection of Vibrations for Your Skull. It's available for streaming through this week at Soundvenue. It sounds pretty promising, but it's gonna be very interesting to see, how it fares after the tenth or twentieth listen. In any case, at first glance, it's a very impressive debut!

Petite Machine.

Among all the exciting new music that is thrust at me every week from various sources, it can sometimes be hard to find time to enjoy one's old classics. It's really necessary to go into the cellar and check up on some of your old wines now and then though, and the same goes for music.

This past week and a bit, it has been Kashmir's 'Petite Machine'. There's such an intenseness to the heartbeat-like drum pattern and the chillingly imperative guitar intro, Kasper Eistrup's exigent lyrics, frantically trying to convince this girl, woman, that she's the only one who can "fix this petite machine", i.e. make him feel alright and at peace. She struggles to be convinced, and Eistrup's anguish eventually leaves him short of words, and in stead, the song explodes into one of my favorite guitar soli, that writhes and wails and cuts like a dagger that is slowly and painfully, but also resolutely torn from the heart.

'Petite Machine', together with 'Ramparts', is a curious letting go of control on Zitilites, an otherwise very subdued record. I love to listen to 'Petite Machine' while walking alone in the streets at night, with that gut-wrenching guitar solo piercing through the silence and darkness of the night like a projector illuminating what goes on deep in the corners and alleyways, illuminating intimate feelings of desperation and pain.

One of the most beautiful renderings of this song is found on the The Aftermath dvd - mmmmh!

The strangest revival.

Oi! I figured it was finally time for a major visual revamp of The Idioteque - out with the old, in with the new, as they say. Anyway, I hope you all find the new look real tasty!


I've had the strangest revival the past week or so. It's Interpol. I heard their new (eponymous) album once, streamed somewhere, and categorically decided not to buy it, as little more than 'Lights' and 'Barricade' really fascinated me. "Alright, post-punk-revival's dead for good", I thought. But then I put on Interpol's former album, Our Love To Admire, and thought: "This is a bloody good album, why haven't I heard this since maybe two years ago?". And thus, this past week has been Interpol-revival week. It all started with 'Rest My Chemistry', which is a beautiful ballad about being drunk or stoned or whatever, and seeing something, someone who's, in the magic of the moment, unbelievably youthfully gorgeous; as Banks fragilely croons:

So young, so sweet,

so surprised. 

You look so young,

like a daisy in my lazy eye.

Pretty sweet. Then there's of course 'The Heinrich Maneuver', a highlight since day one, when one of my ex-girlfriends presented Interpol to a then unimpressed me. There's a nice air of aggressiveness to this one. But there are also songs on ...Admire, like 'The Scale', or the impressive closing pair of 'Wrecking Ball' and 'The Lighthouse', that haven't really appealed to me before, but do so impressively this time around.


And then I though of how deservedly critically acclaimed Antics was, and how Turn On The Bright Lights, which I haven't ever even heard, was near the very top of many a decade-in-music list, and I thought: "Maybe I'd better buy the new one anyway...".

New-rave unrenewed - Klaxons reactualized?

Boy was the new-rave craze a strange ordeal huh? Looking back at what many people expected - feared perhaps - would be the next big thing, and the benchmark for the latter part of the 00's, when it arose around 2006 and '07, it seems strange that it vanished almost quicklier than it came, and almost all the bands slightly connected with the moniker disavowed it completely. It was a thorough craze though. I remember when Klaxons came to Roskilde in 2007, and everyone were dressed so neon that one could have thought people had shredded Björk's wardrobe from the evening before into pieces and divided it between them. Face paint was passed around, and people went amok.


So what happened then? Well, people grew older and more melancholic, and started to listen to Band of Horses, and when the absolute poster boys of new-rave, Klaxons, with their psychotically-acclaimed debut Myths of the Near Future, disappeared into LSD oblivion, their scrawny supporting cast of the likes of Hadouken!, Shitdisco, Late of the Pier and such could not raise the bar, and as such, Myths... became the singular epic record of the genre.


So, Klaxons disappeared for years, and when they finally came a-knocking on Polydor Records' door, they were sent back home with a firm "thanks, but no thanks", and fewer and fewer people started to expect that Klaxons would ever reappear. But here they are now, with their new album, Surfing The Void.


Now, how exactly do you handle a legacy and a tumultuous album-birth like that? Apparently, you dress your record in one of the weirdest-as-fuck covers seen in a long, long time. Musically, Klaxons surprisingly allied themselves with metal producer Ross Robertson. An interesting choice for a band, which has perhaps always been indie. I mean, back in 2007, when Iron & Wine were still strange, Bon Iver was still unheard of, glitzy vintage-style trainers weren't at the forefront of every a store and only lumberjacks looked like lumberjacks, Klaxons and glowsticks and genuine vintage trainers were indie. So Ross Robertson? Picture sweety-cutesy James Righton with a sweaty, unhygienic metal buff? Not really. And that's pretty much the signature change on Surfing The Void. Sadly, the often very finesse'y guitar riffs and Righton's dominant synths of Myths... have been replaced by more guitar noise on Surfing... Opener 'Echoes' is very much of a bridge-builder between the two albums though - so much, that it must be either from very early in the songwriting process, or, more likely, a result of Polydor's slamming the door on the band first time around. It is an extremely pleasing track, but it is the albums high.


It's not that the rest of the album is that bad. It has been slowly moving through the past week, from the 'disappointment'-pile into the 'slow developer'-pile, and on some tracks, like the totally mental 'Flashover', the excessive guitar noise does actually work pretty well. Title track 'Surfing The Void' and 'Venusia' are other highs on the album, but it never quite lives up to the promise of 'Echoes', to be honest. A lot really has to do with the lyrical universe, which is really irrelevant to most earthlings, as it takes on almost Matt Bellamy-ish degrees of space fascination.


I don't know what made Myths of the Near Future so legendary, but Klaxons in my opinion don't quite match their early success on Surfing The Void. It's been a difficult task though, and even though Surfing is a bit too noisy, unfocused and uninteresting, it is an honorable sophomore album in any case! New-rave it isn't, but Klaxons have proven able to reactualize themselves on one of the most difficult number twos in a long, long time. 

Beach Fossils, Wild Nothing and new albums.

Oi!

Just a quick word on this new band I discovered this week. They're called Beach Fossils, and they're from Brooklyn, NY. They released their debut album this year, and are now out with the EP Face It/Distance. Check out both tracks in the Forkcast. I especially dig 'Face It'. Might have to get a hold of their album.

Another new cool track in the same sorta direction is Wild Nothing's 'Golden Haze'. A nice wee piece of indie-dream pop, if you ask me.

I got a few new albums this week too, how exciting! One is Shout Wellington Air Force's debut full-length, the highly acclaimed Clean Sunset, which I have heard a few times now, and it's artsy in an introvert, but pretty interesting way. It might take a few listens to get a hold of, but the incentive is their concert with Sleep Party People in a few weeks here in my city.

Now though, I'm gonna throw on my earphones and surf the void!

Jens and Jónsi.

Alright, it's not like this is becoming a wednesday-ly feature or anything, but I just really have trouble finding the time to blog much these days. There'll probably be quite a few posts within the coming week or so though.

There are always albums that I quickly regret not having included on my yearly list, and that's truly the case of Jónsi's debut solo album, Go. As with his previous work with Sigur Rós, this is really slow-moving stuff - it's not the kind of album you're immediately crazy about, but over a few months, it's turned out to be just a masterpiece. There's such a presence of growth, vivacity and luxuriance in this. Take the intense opening pair of 'Go Do' and 'Animal Arithmetic', both very existential, lively pieces, that give way to 'Tornado' and 'Boy Lilikoi', a painful couple of gut-wrenchingly beautiful ballads. Or a track like 'Kolniður', which is a masterpiece of obscure gloominess. Go is an incredibly comprehensive and virilely life-affirming record.

Another Nordic bloke that I've listened quite a lot to as of late is Jens Lekman. His revelation has come pretty slowly, but is now pretty full-fledged. I know how everyone always rave about his best album being Night Falls Over Kortedala, his latest full-lengther, but my initial exposure has been to the inaptly titled Oh You're So Silent Jens, which is, in fact (I just found out), a compilation of three EPs Lekman released during 2004. What really carries Lekman through even the corniest of his arrangements are his lyrical wit; the way he intelligently describes very well known situations. I've often raved about 'Sky Phenomenon', where the sunset to Lekman looks "like someone spilled a beer all over the atmosphere.", and how he can't join the migratory birds on their trek south, apparently because he can't dance the funky chicken. But how about the clavichord-heavy 'Black Cab', where Lekman even risks getting killed by "psycho killer-cabbies" just to get home from a party. Haven't we all been in that situation? Or how about 'Someone To Share My Life With'? Normally, only really black and really gangsta rappers have got the cred to sing about blowjobs and fake orgasms, but Lekman breaks the rules - he "doesn't want a girl, who thinks she has to fake", nor wants "a girl to go down on her knees." He just wants someone to share his life with - how tender.

But there are also high musical proficiencies, often vocal, in spite of Lekman's very poor English and very poor voice, such as the clever acapella-bass of 'Pocketful of Money' and the heartbeat-chorus of 'A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill', and 'Julie', which is a beautiful little love song (in which Lekman manages to squeeze in "lots of ketchup and mayonnaise" anyway.) Another high is when 'I Saw Her In The Anti-War Demonstration', where Lekman proclaims that "now there's nothing left but love enough to feed a family, but I just want to feed Emily with lukewarm English beer and vegan pancakes". Emily, ofcourse, is a punk Lekman met in this demonstration. It just couldn't be any other way, could it? The best lyrical quote of Oh You're So Silent Jens really deserves to stand alone, it's from 'Pocketful of Money':

I could say that you were pretty -

that would make me a liar.

But you turn my legs to spaghetti,

and set my heart on fire.

Who has never thought that?

New albums on their way, some not on their way, and what else's going on.

Oi! First of all, big congrats to The xx, who won the Mercury Prize today. Awesome, especially after last year's shock-winner, Speech Debelle. Great stuff!


Other than that, I must admit it has been a bit quite as of late. I'm very busy these days, and I have a tough time keeping up with what's going on. I did however order two new albums the other day. One is of course Klaxons newest, Surfing The Void, which I highly anticipate. It's not like I listen to their debut very often, but it is a class album, and it's gonna be very interesting to hear, in which direction the nu-ravers have moved in the post-nu-rave world of the '10s. The other is Clean Sunset by Shout Wellington Air Force, a young Danish art-indie outfit. It was released in spring, and streamed it once off Soundvenue's website. It was pretty good, and they're playing in my town in a few weeks, so I figured I'd give it a more profound shot.


Speaking of streaming new albums, I had a listen to the new ones of both Interpol and Röyksopp, none of which impressed me enough to add them to the batch of new records. The new Interpol album, which is by the way eponymous, a strange thing for a fourth release, if you ask me, might make some inroads, but it's just a really long time since I've really listened much to Interpol. As goes for Senior, Röyksopp's new release, it is slightly less heavy than I had expected it to be. I know Röyksopp haven't ever been really heavy duty, but when they release an album that they specifically deem heavier and darker than its predecessor, Junior, I did expect a bit more aggressiveness.


Other than that, I'm still digging Arcade Fire's new album, The Suburbs. They made a really interesting montage-kinda-thing for 'We Used To Wait' - check it out!


Oh, and finally, Radiohead released a new live DVD with fan footage from their gig(s?) in Prague, which is absolutely blasting! Check out 'The Gloaming' which is really nice, and '2+2=5' too!

How Arcade Fire and Bloc Party are really counterpoints.

Indie has become a very broad term in recent years. A good example is Arcade Fire and Bloc Party, both of which would usually be referred to as indie, but two very different bands and fan factions nonetheless. The typical Arcade Fire aficionado would probably dismiss Bloc Party as being superficial, and Kele Okereke as a soulless singer, whilst the generic Bloc Party buff would probably be too impatient for Win Butlers wailing. They, in a way, represent the very different waves of indie that have blurted out of North America and the UK respectively. The UK is dub, electro and wonky influences of London, and Manchester garage, whereas North America is Brooklyn psych and Seattle folk.


This slightly vague introduction owes to the fact, that both camps have released new albums recently, the latter however in form of lead singer Kele's solo effort. back to that later.


I am not a tremendous fan of Arcade Fire. Or, perhaps more well put, I'm no big listener. I do admire their talent, and both their two first albums are genuine masterpieces - it's just sort of on a periphery to me. I've been through their latest album, The Suburbs, quite a few times now, and let's be frank: There are some extraordinary songs on it. Take the fast-paced, no-bullshit 'Month of May', the enigmatic 'Ready To Start', the beautifully moving 'We Used To Wait' and of course the album's definite highlight, 'Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)'. The lyrical theme of growing up in suburbia is really interesting too, though it seems to slide a bit in some of the songs, but mostly it's very present, especially on some of the above mentioned tracks. I think what ultimately keeps this album from really igniting me is its length. A full 60 minutes is really too much, unless you compose really slow-moving music (The Knife's Tomorrow, In A Year, for example, isn't too hampered by its length of an hour and a half). You kinda lose focus midway through, and although the album does pick up towards the end, there are moments of boredom scattered throughout. All in all, it is a pretty majestic record.


Kele, on the other hand, has really truly placed himself in between two chairs. I absolutely didn't expect much of his solo debut, being as I have never seen him as the interesting and creative force in Bloc Party - I do think both drummer Matt Tong and guitarist Russell Lissack deserve much more of the honor in creating what made Bloc Party so vivid. But Kele misses the target in an other way than I had thought. I was expecting an absolute departure from indie, and a creative (and perhaps brilliant) mess of electronic influences from incomparably vibrant London underground, that lives everywhere around Kele, but, it seems, not truly in him. Some wonky, some dubstep, some UK funky, some dance-punk - some of the same vigorous energy that seemed to seep through every tiny crack of Bloc Party's third album, Intimacy, on tracks like 'Ares', 'Mercury' and 'Zephyrus'. Alright, there is a tee-wee bit of dubstep-influences scattered here and there, but overall, The Boxer, as the album is titled, is a schizophrenic mess. It seems as though Kele hasn't quite taken the leap from being an indie rocker - some of the tracks, such as 'Everything You Wanted' and 'Unholy Thoughts' just sound too much like leftover Bloc Party. That is perhaps a strange thing to criticize from the viewpoint of a huge Bloc Party devotee like myself, but the knish is, it just doesn't work without Tong and Lissack's magic instrumentalisation. Same goes for Kele's lyrics (and voice, for that matter), that have been often criticized by Bloc Party haters. I find they fit very well into Bloc Party's musical universe, but not at all on an album that, at least partly, tries to be aggressive and underground-like. Kele needs to either take the leap full-fledgedly, or return to the gang.