Han är inte precis den längsta mannen på jorden...

The Tallest Man On Earth.

The above-mentioned quote is from a review of a gig by The Tallest Man On Earth in Malmö sometime this fall. So, I don't know how tall Kristian Matsson, the man behind the towering alias, actually is, but I really don't think it matters much. I got his 2010 album The Wild Hunt last week, and I must say it has hit home instantly! I have never been a big Bob Dylan listener, and I'm no big fan of guys who sound like they swallow a dozen ashtrays each morning, but Matsson somehow manages to retain his credibility and sensitiveness, a trait so important when you do the whole guy-and-a-guitar thing.


The Wild Hunt is simply jam-packed with little guitar gems, such as 'Burden of Tomorrow' or 'You're Going Back' or 'Love Is All', but Matsson really hits home on the final tune, 'Kids On The Run', where he substitutes the guitar for an old, out of tune piano, which sounds just magical. And the best thing is; he's coming to Roskilde! I'm looking forward to listening to this being surrounded by warm and happy people!


Another new album I got is, quite curiously perhaps, M83's critically acclaimed Saturdays = Youth from 2008. What's with that now? Well, every once in a while I like to go a few years back and check out some of the stuff that was high on some of the end-of-year lists, and M83 placed a whopping eighth on Pitchfork's in '08. I've always somehow been drawn by the title, and I decided to jump on it on the spur of the moment. I haven't been disappointed. It's a curious mix of atmospheric stuff (think Enya, first and last time she'll ever get mentioned here), more straightforward 80s pop in the mold of Pet Shop Boys and shoegazing a'la The Cocteau Twins. There are layers and layers of synthesizers, grandiose drumming and angelic (sometimes a bit too corny) vocals.


OK, it does become a bit tedious in the long run (it lasts an hour), but the upper half of it is marvelous. I guess this is the kind of music you either love or hate massively, and I think you have to be sort of prepared and in the right mood for it, but tunes like the obvious 'Kim & Jessie', the intense ("All her soft parts call to me, she could be mine", anyone?) 'Skin Of The Night' and the epic 'Couleurs', all in the top half of the record, are very strong. But it is extremely eighties, and I'm curious to see how its longevity will prove to be. I don't think it will ever hit me as much as it did at first listen, which was an absolute trip!


A lot of other stuff on my board now, with leaks of both James Blake's and Thulebasen's new albums, exciting!

Trentemøller shines again.

Trentemøller has done so many remixes, that he's bound to win some, lose some. But often he really shines massively, such as on his new remixes of a few of Danish outfit Chimes & Bells' tunes, that are right here. I am especially crazy about 'The Mole', which has such an evil, heavy bass-line. It's very, very dark, and very, very beautiful.


I mentioned them a while ago, but I feel I have to do so again, because I just got reminded just how Hooray For Earth's debut album is one of the releases I anticipate the most this spring. It's out in May, and how can you not look forward to it after listening to 'A Place We Like'?


I really urge you to check out my post from last night, as I personally think it's one of the most interesting ones I've ever written.


Tonight, I'm gonna see Lucy Love at Studenterhuset, which'll be rad! Take care and enjoy your Saturday!

Another thing I realized...

Foals.

I've been listening to a lot of new albums these past weeks, and some of them have been really thrilling. However, I've realized one peculiar thing - it came to me when I listened to I Got You On Tape's Spinning For The Cause a morning last week. I realized, that I compared it, as I had compared Caribou's Swim and even Agnes Obel's Philharmonics the days before, to an album pretty distant from them all in style, and that album was Total Life Forever. I realized, that Total Life Forever has entered the very exclusive circles of albums, which I almost automatically compare new tunes to. It has become a benchmark, a signature work of art, in the league of For Emma, Forever Ago, Silent Shout, A Weekend In The City and quite a few others. I then instantaneously understood, that I had done Foals a gross injustice by snubbing them of the title of 2010's most interesting album in favor of The Suburbs (which I haven't heard from end to another since December 31st, although I must admit it's long overdue to be spun through my new speakers...)


That's why I now confess: Total Life Forever should have been at #1. And I'm gonna try to serve up the injustice by doing a brief track-by-track walkthrough of this extremely intriguing album.


In its essence, Total Life Forever is nearly everything I ask for in an album, at least musically. It's so intense and warm, it heaves, it pulsates and breathes just like a sleeping animal, the blood in your veins or the girl in your arms. Exactly the latter is maybe the most fitting description, as I've found Total Life Forever to have a build-up and storyline very reminiscent of a night of candlelight, soft caresses and intense coitus.


Take 'Blue Blood'; the precarious, gentle opening guitar glitches enacting the careful mere lip-touching of foreplay, giving way to the most rivetingly catchy bass-line this side of fusion jazz. This track has grown on me massively since I first heard its mindful, tiptoeing swagger.


'Miami', at first glance a superficial piece of painstakingly minutely produced pop, is exactly what Total Life Forever needs to free itself from the quasi-nervous harness that envelops its first few minutes. Drummer Jack Bevan, as so often before and after, really shines through on this one, playing meritoriously insistent.


On the title track, 'Total Life Forever', Foals reach exactly the emotional climax that one associates with such a title, even if everything mightn't be as it seems. Everything goes according to plan, and the curious thing about this entire album is that, in the story it describes, everything does go according to plan. Even if it twists and turns and wanders musically, there's always this scent of blissful happiness and rejoicing.


'Black Gold' is a slow, meandering tune - the last on the album to really come through for me, it did so only last week (every reviewer's repeating of this album being a grower turned out to be well and wholly true; I bought it in June). In the storyline of the candlelight lovers' night, things are almost getting down to the nitty-gritty now. We're heedfully undressing each other, a process often as slow and as laggard as 'Black Gold' on the first thirty listens, but also as passionate and enticing as it seems now.


'Spanish Sahara' is coitus in its initial stages. The slow, tender and sensitive embrace, the instinctively harmonious appropriateness of hip and crotch movements synchronizing, the slow and steady moisturizing and the discreet groans. This piece of music is so engulfing, and it could be construed as foreplay, intercourse, orgasm and pillow talk all by itself, if it wasn't located just merely half way through this album. "Forget the horror here, it's future rust and it's future dust", one of the albums signature lyrical passages, invitingly suggesting to leave all the worries behind for "the fury in your bed".


Rhythmic 'This Orient' brings us further along the lines of coition reaching its liltingly steady building phase. We explore sounds, rhythms and moods as we explore positions and means of further arousal to lyrics about feelings. 'Fugue' might only be an interlude, but an absolutely essential one, as it lays the entire foundation for the back end of Total Life Forever, where the album really excels in every way possible.


Such as on 'After Glow'. To continue our coital paraphrase, this is orgasm, no less. Painstakingly slowly building, it eventually explodes in total, rapturous ecstasy - everything tops simultaneously. Hearts beat and we're drenched in sweat, furiously yelping and moaning.


As 'Alabaster' initiates, its bass throbbing steadily and heavily like a heart after a massive outlet of energy, we're still only finding our feet, speechlessly embracing, heavily breathing, and only gradually regaining our balance and consciousness, uncomprehendingly shaking our heads. By '2 Trees' our heads might have found the pillow. We'll be looking each other in the eyes with deep, mutual, unrivaled intensity. We light a cigarette, we talk about the world, our jobs or our childhood, and we slowly regain our breath and composure - "Don't let go, just breathe slow', Phillippakis explains over blissful, sparkling synthesizer licks and patient guitar patterns. And as 'What Remains' rings out, we're already falling asleep on the pillow, satisfied, smiling, embracing, all in epic harmony.


Total Life Forever is what Bloc Party wanted to do with Intimacy, it's what Justin Vernon wanted to do with Emma, if she hadn't bailed, and it's what The Knife would have done if they weren't Scandinavian and obscure. It's what Håkan Hellström craves but can't explain, and it's what The xx did but won't explain.

Total life forever will never be enough, no.

Three epic tunes for you!

Nightlands.

Oi folks! I just wanted to share a few tunes I've been digging amidst my The National craze. I guess the common denominator for them would be, that they're all pretty epic in a way.


'All The Way' by Nightlands is a stunning, dreamy piece of hazy, noisy electropop. Nightlands is this dude from Philly, and this tune is off his debut record Forget The Mantra. I haven't checked more of it out yet, but if it's as uplifting and catchy as this, it's bound to be good! He's signed to Secretly Canadian, which is a proof of quality too.


Wire is this old art-rock outfit that I've never heard of before, but I stumbled upon 'Apart' from their new release Red Barked Tree the other day, and it's a nice piece of dreamy indie with both garage and synth tinges. It's really chill!


Speaking of The National, Matt Berninger teamed up with The Forms for 'Fire To The Ground', which sounds like it was taken right off Cherry Tree. I just can't emphasize enough just how expressive Berninger's voice is, and even on this simple tune where he's sort of high in register, he carries everything on his shoulders.


I got a few new albums today. I'll tell you about them later, but one is from a Roskilde-bound artist, and the other is a benchmark British album of the 00's...

Winning for the cause?

Agnes Obel.

OK, so that's a shit title, I know it. Anyway, the point is that while I was rather lukewarm on I Got You On Tape's album Spinning For The Cause last week, I've got to admit it's growing on me. I am a sucker for expressive baritones, and Jacob Bellens' is one of the better I've heard. It's still hard for me to single out tunes except obviously the title track, which is the reason I bought the record in the first place. If I had to point out one, it'd perhaps be the closer 'Wedding Song', which is one of the more aggressive tunes.


But if Spinning For The Cause is conquering ground, Caribou's Swim has already set up camp and is starting to build fortresses! It just so bloody impactful, it's teeming with interesting timbres and beats - I'm crazy about it in its entirety!


Right now, I'm listening to Agnes Obel's Philharmonics, which sounds a little better, but still way too much of it screams elevator music to me. It's sort of sedative, but not the way Bon Iver is sedative or Kings of Convenience are sedative. The harmonics are way to trivial and normal to really curl you around their fingertips. It seems to be the sort of album you put on when you've got a friend over you haven't seen for a long time, so you've got lots to talk about, so you don't really want the music interrupting you. Nothing wrong with that though, but I could easily mention the first five-six albums I'd rather put on in a situation like that. 


I guess I just fundamentally have trouble relating emotionally and lyrically to female vocalists (and for quite music, that's quite important to be able to do, for me at least). I guess it's because they don't sound like me, which is stupid, but it might have some sort of psychosomatic truth to it, in lieu of the baritone reference farther up this post. Philharmonics isn't strong enough to make you whimper, it's not intimate enough to lead to sex, and it's not ingenious enough to forcedly steal your attention. It is beautiful and there are interesting tracks like 'Beast' and 'Avenue' and the opening few two-three songs, but I can't help thinking that Treefight For Sunlight (whom I've been listening to a lot the past week by the way) were snubbed for the P3 talent prize a few weeks ago.


Iron & Wine is one of my many unconquered territories of folk, and he's releasing a new album soon, called Kiss Each Other Clean. I heard the better part of it the other day right here, and it sounds pretty interesting. Definitely worth another few listens anyhow! He's playing in Århus in a few weeks, but I reckon I'll skip it. I'm broke as, and my job situation is a quasi mess, and today I left almost a thou at the dentist for repairing my plastic tooth...

Half awake in a fake empire.

The National.

I'm very much of a lyrics guy, but that really comes to the fore quite rarely on this blog. I guess my relationship with certain lyrics is something I prefer to keep to myself - maybe because there are often deep emotional connections in it, stuff that I really prefer not sharing with anyone. But every once in a while, a tune just sums up and hits a certain set of emotions and a period so spot on that it's almost frightening. That's how I've got it with The National's 'Fake Empire' right now.


I think this is fundamentally a song about being carefree, a youthful natural high that is really just a thin varnish hiding realities, postponing decisions and turns of page which you know are approaching, but you're unwilling to jump to any conclusions on them just yet. You know their imminence, but you're trying to reject them, or perhaps just plainly ignoring them. You're just riding the feeling of being in the fake empire for as long as it lasts.

Stay out super late tonight,

picking apples, making pies.

Put a little something in our lemonade,

and take it with us,

we're half awake

in a fake empire.

Tiptoe through our shiny city

with our diamond slippers on.

Do our gay ballet on ice,

bluebirds on our shoulders,

we're half awake

in a fake empire.

Turn the light out,

say goodnight,

no thinking for a little while.

Let's not try to figure out 

everything at once.

It's hard to keep track of you

falling through the sky,

we're half awake

in a fake empire.

VETO's back - and catching up on Hot Chip.

VETO.

Ok, so VETO's officially back in business after a few years of not-bad-but-not-brilliant solo stuff by Troels Abrahamsen. I'm absolutely dead scared about this album. VETO is undoubtedly one of the bands I've been following the closest, ever since their absolute infancy, but I fear they're gonna have a tough time topping the two brilliant albums they've already released. And if that's the case, it's gonna be quite tough to cope with. Anyway, they've released the lead single now for the still untitled album, which is due in a month's time. The single is called 'This Is Not', and it was played at P3 Guld this Friday. If you want to hear the studio recording, it's over at Soundvenue on their High 5. My initial opinion is, that it's neither as bad nor as good as I could have feared/expected. It's gonna be an intriguing release for sure...


As I mentioned the other day, I've been catching a bit up on my old friends Hot Chip, and their newest album, One Life Stand. It kinda drowned in other album releases when it came out about a year ago, but now finally I've got a hold of it, and it's actually a pleasant surprise. It's got a bit of the same catchiness as the band's signature album, The Warning, but in a very different way. It's much more grand, and has got more of an eighties synthesizer glitch to it than the more dry and edgy The Warning, but it's really nice. I mentioned 'Take It In' next week, and another track worth checking out would be 'We Have Love'.


Today, a work companion of mine refreshed my memory on Weather Report's magnificent tune 'Birdland' - I haven't heard this for years and years, but it's such an extraordinary piece of jazz-fusion.


I got a few new albums today that I'm quite excited about! It's Swim, by Caribou, Philharmonics, by Agnes Obel and, on the spur of the moment, Spinning For The Cause, by I Got You On Tape. Truly albums that tickle very different taste buds - more on those when I get my ears on them properly!

This isn't exactly Friday night stuff...

Peter Broderick.

But to hell with it, I just wanted to up you a bit on one of the artists I've been discovering the past few weeks. It's Peter Broderick, who seems like such a delightful man. I've got bits of his Home album (why bits, I truly don't know...), and it absolutely, well... hits home. Check out 'And It's Alright', 'Below It' and 'Maps'. Makes angels fart, don't you think?


But hey, it is Friday, so enough of the moody acoustic stuff! I never did get around to buy Hot Chip's One Life Stand album last winter, but the other day, I borrowed it from a special friend of mine. It hasn't quite sunk in yet, but there's not much to be devoured on a tune like 'Take It In', which is bloody catchy! I love the harmonics in the synth riff!


Don't forget that tonight it's P3 Guld-time, and VETO are playing new material! In the spirit of live stuff, lemme show you a few live takes I've been digging quite a lot lately. One is The National's 'Terrible Love', (disregard the punchdrunk intro), which has got loads more energy an zest than the album version, and the other is the ridiculously groovy 'Mondegreen' by Yeasayer. Both are quite canny takes on their album counterparts, if you ask me!


Tomorrow I'm heading to Copenhagen, and I just borrowed Sebastian's greatest hits-compilation (I normally hate those...) from my mom, and shoved it onto my ipod, oh what a joy!!!

Making a winter Sunday a summer Sunday.

Young Galaxy.

Ok, so my new records are still not underway, as Play.com are wanking with my credit card for some reason. Why doesn't the local record store just have the same selection and the same cheap prices? That'd be rad.


I had wine with my buddy Peter yesterday, who's madly more in touch with up-and-coming music right now than I am, and he presented me for a lot of new things, such as Young Galaxy. 'Cover Your Tracks' has The Knife's 'Heartbeats' written all over it, but that doesn't make it less interesting, although steelpans are somewhat misplaced in the Scandinavian winter. But a bloody catchy tune! Their debut album appears to be out next month.


Every now and then, it's interesting to pull an old tune out of the stash, such as Superheroes' 'What's Going On?' It was huge to me for a month or two back in high school, and it's still such a perfect little pop song. I could only find this scrawny live version on YouTube, but the studio version is available over at Grooveshark!


Aight, but back to winter, and you should all check out 'Feather', by White Ring. The same way Young Galaxy are in lieu of Deep Cuts, these guys must have listened a bit to Silent Shout. Very dark and moody stuff!


But Sunday, lads, after all is Sunday, and no Sunday without 'Sunday', Bloc Party's iconic track off A Weekend In The City, which I've been reviving a bit the last few days, especially on my piano. It's such a pretty track, and not far off how I'm feeling these days either, which doesn't hurt. It definitely doesn't get worse by being stripped down such as in the acoustic clip above, just lovely.

The obvious kids of dubstep and The xx.

James Blake.

To the uninitiated, London must really seem a gloomy place. Just look at the two most interesting things that have come out of the British capital the past few years: Dubstep, the shady, shy genre of silent young DJs and wobbling bass. And The xx, a shy, minimalist posse with a godlike debut album. The likes of Rusko and Magnetic Man have mainstreamed dubstep, but as happened to other murky, underground genres such as trip-hop, drum'n'bass and grime, dubstep on the Top 40 is like a mole in the winter sun - it isn't really comfortable there. Some things are just supposed to stay underground. Not to stay unknown, but to retain the novelty of it. Although it didn't massively happen to any of the other mentioned genres, I do however think there'll be a time and place for some sort of post-dubstep sound and movement.


Now couple that with xx, the arguably most important album released in the UK the past two years, now reaching maturity and becoming an inspiration and icon, and you've got some sort of a meddle between post-dubstep and a nu-minimalism sorta thing. Enter James Blake who's gonna be the shit this year! He's hitting airwaves massively with his cover of Feist's 'Limit To Your Love' (viddy by Martin de Thurah, by the way), a daring whip at mainstream indie-pop for a guy that is the product of the deep underground.


I just listened to his two EPs, Klavierwerke and CMYK, and didn't really know what to make of it. I guess it's the sound of an indisputably talented young man still finding his feet somewhere between the many influences of late '00s Britain. It sure has a shitload of potential though, and I think he might be one of the big things of 2011.


Another feller in the same alley is Jamie Woon, whom I haven't checked out much, but it sounds really promising. Go check 'Gravity', for ex. He's a bit closer to some of the more contemporary indie-pop and shoegaze we've heard in later years, but has still got a curious edge.


I hope UK indie could get some sort of a revival through this minimalist wave. After all, I'm a bit of a Brit-aficionado, and I sure would like something opposing the omnipresent lo-fi craze!

Into '11 with Fuck Buttons.

Fuck Buttons.

Oi folks, and welcome back! In case you haven't noticed, we're now in a new year full of new awesome music! I can't really sum up what I look forward to in the coming year, 'cause a lot of my fave bands aren't really doing anything. I'm anticipating it to be a year of unknowns, and a year with lots of room for new discoveries, which is always sweet! A few big domestic acts like VETO and Spleen United are coming with new stuff, but internationally, everyone seem to be raving about new albums from The Streets and The Strokes. I'm kinda indifferent regarding both, as the albums I dig from both artists are near or past their 10th birthday, but hey. The big unknown is whether Radiohead will do something. I hope so.


Anyway, in spite of December running over in end of year lists, I did manage to buy a few new albums I wanted to tell you about. None of them have been really making waves though. I got Fuck Buttons' sophomore album, Tarot Sport, which, along with their debut, the brilliantly titled Street Horrrsing, placed very highly on Pitchfork's end-of-year list the year it came (2009). It's definitely not music for children, and it's quite unpleasant to listen to the entire album, but I love these very experimental, skew-whiff artists (Battles, anyone) once in a while, and some of it is amazing. Check out 'Surf Solar', it's such a trip (but do so in your earphones, otherwise it can be plain painful)! It's also by far the most accessible of the tracks, but the world would be a poorer place without albums and artists like this.


I also got The National's old album Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers, which is from before their big breakthrough with Alligator. I don't know, but I guessed I expected it to be down my alley, considering how much I dig the Cherry Tree EP, which is between the two aforementioned albums, but it's nothing special really. Haven't listened much to it though, but I guess there was ultimately a reason why they broke through with Alligator rather than with its predecessor.


Ordered a new batch of records today too, I'll tell you about them when they're here!