Three instant winners!

Oftentimes, it takes a few weeks and a dozen listens or so for an album to really sink in. Especially the really good ones tend to be real growers. Whether or not that is a sign that the albums I've bought recently aren't gonna be worth much in the long run I don't know, but the fact is that I've swung and hit the nail pretty accurately on its head with at least three of my four last purchases.


More than anything, Elbow's new album, Build A Rocket Boys!, keeps on impressing me. I've never been big into Elbow, but this album is just so well built. It starts off with the long, patient and mercilessly building tracks 'The Birds' and 'Lippy Kids', revs up with lead single 'Neat Little Rows', then kicks back again with the beautiful 'Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl'. Then there's the crooked 'High Ideals', and finally, the album finishes off on a high and cheerful note with 'Open Arms' and 'Dear Friends'. A very pleasurable album indeed!


Then there's Roskilde-bound (what's going on with the line-up this year by the way? Bloody sucks...) The Tallest Man On Earth's debut album, Shallow Grave, from 2008. Now, I had expected The Tallest Man to be somewhat of a "more of the same"-artist, in the essence that his albums were sort of interchangeable and pretty similar, sort of in the mold of Kings of Convenience. Of course, there are similarities, obvious as they are with such sparse instrumentation and such a characteristic voice, but there's definitely a difference in mood between Shallow Grave and his later album, The Wild Hunt from 2010. Shallow Grave seems much more melancholic and sad. There seems to be more minor and diminished chords, whereas The Wild Hunt has got at more prospective feel to it. My faves off Shallow Grave right now are 'The Gardener' and the obvious 'Where Do My Bluebird Fly' (sic).


So, from working-class indie-rock from Manchester and indie-folk with the wide expanses of Sweden as a key obstetric, we end up at an artist that's arguably among the spearheads of the omnipresent lo-fi movement, Wild Nothing's Jack Tatum, and his highly acclaimed album from last year, Gemini. Now, I'm not exactly diving deep into the plethora of lo-fi outfits that are just smart kids with stripped down recording techniques. Honestly, many of these bands nauseate me, I guess it's my synthesizer heritage and Continental love for production. But Wild Nothing straddles the border perfectly, to my liking anyhow - I guess it might be because this is in fact one guy in a studio, not just a bunch of blokes with guitars and lots of weed. Gemini in its entirety is just an incredibly uplifting record, which fuses lo-fi, psychedelic and more straightforward dream pop into a hazy sound of spring, of flowers in blossom, of skaters taking to the streets and of the first beer in the sun. Highlights include opener 'Live In Dreams', 'O, Lilac', 'Confirmation' and 'Our Composition Book'.

Behold! The jungle drums of St. Albans!

Friendly Fires.

Friendly Fires are back in business! They've announced their sophomore album, Pala, to hit the shelves May 16th, and the lead single, 'Live Those Days Tonight' is out now! I don't know if I dig it particularly - it's a bit too Eurovision, but it's exciting nonetheless. I was a big fan of the St. Albans outfit's eponymous debut, and hopefully #2 will live up to my expectations!


While we're waiting for Arctic Monkeys' fourth album, Suck It And See, Alex Turner has done a wee EP for the soundtrack of indie flick Submarine. It's quite pleasant, especially 'It's Hard To Get Around The Wind'. It's turner the same intimate and tender alley as on tunes such as 'Cornerstone' and 'Only Ones Who Know', two of my favourite 'Monkeys tunes.


It always makes me proud when Danish acts are mentioned on the Forkcast, which is one of the true benchmark acknowledgements in indie, and these past weeks, two acts have showed up there, both of them quite surprisingly. First, it was young punk outfit Iceage, whom I don't care particularly about, and last week, it was Taragana Pyjarama with 'Ocean', a really blissful piece of electronica - and I love the artwork with the gorgeous pregnant girl too. He's not at all unlike successful Swedish outfit jj, and he's gonna be interesting to follow through the year.


I'm not all that down with Yuck, but front man Daniel Blumberg's solo project, Oupa, is a whole other story! Check out 'Forget', which is a really soft and pretty little ballad.


Finally, Baths did a cover for A.V.'s Undercover-series, and it's of nothing less than "#1 track of 2007"-heralded 'All My Friends', by LCD Soundsystem. It's a really beautiful cover of a song hard to really fuck up.


What a load of amazing tunes! I really feel after a few weeks of quasi-hiatus, that a lot of new music is coming my way again. I got some of my new records today too, I'll tell you all about them when I've spun them for a week! Tomorrow I'm off to another wild weekend, this time in Copenhagen. Yay!

Straight and impact A's.

Animal Collective.

If one was really bored one day, it could be interesting to do some research into whether or not the alphabetical position of an artist affects the amount of times the artist is listened to. I mean, you naturally browse through the middle letters more often than you do A or Z. The point of all this is that all has been a bit quiet recently, I'm still waiting for my new records, and that has given me an opportunity to dig into the outer reaches of my library. Interestingly enough, a few artists beginning with the letter A have emerged for me through the past few weeks.


I have always been a bit of an Animal Collective skeptic, even when Pitchfork put their newest album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, atop their top 50 list of 2010. I have to admit, my initial troubles digesting Merriweather Post Pavilion's ornate psychedelia has led me to never sniff out any of the band's, sorry, the collective's, much acclaimed earlier stuff, nor did I check out much of Avey Tare's solo album Down There, which was big talk last fall.


In fact, listening to Merriweather Post Pavilion has often felt like a dreadfully tedious ordeal. Until, one day, it wasn't. Alongside obvious staples and long-lasting favorites 'My Girls' and the closing 'Brother Sport', suddenly the other tracks crept out of their acid-flooded hideout to reveal their true beauty. A tune like 'Taste', or the vulgar but powerfully insistent 'Summertime Clothes'. Or even the opener, 'In The Flowers', which I had almost forgot existed, but which is so vivid and almost as epic as it's successor track. And 'Bluish', which is just pure beauty. I guess this is just further proof that there is often more to an album that what initially meets the ear, and a year and a half down the road, Merriweather Post Pavilion finally leaps out of the 'bust'-category on my CD-shelf! So, when was Panda Bear's solo album due again?


The other impact A is for Agnes Obel, whose debut album, Philharmonics, I initially bashed when it came out this winter. It turns out, as with many other things, time will serve justice. I don't want to identify any particular key tracks, because this album is all about the sedateness and tranquility it inflicts on its listener. Especially her well-timed instrumental interludes work really well, and I realized while listening to this on the train home on Sunday, that this is really a stately album.


It's all about the last laugh, I guess...

Junior Boys are back in town!

It's All True.

It's Tuesday again, and I've got a batch of new interesting tunes for you lot. They aren't exactly headline news, as most of them have been floating around the blogosphere over the weekend, but I figured I'd bundle them all up. 


A few of my favorite artists have been movin' around the block, including smooth Canadian electro-satisfiers Junior Boys. They're due with a new album, titled It's All True, this year, and the first taste of it is here, the track 'ep'. I really like it! It's very recognizably Junior Boys, which isn't a bad thing; their album So This Is Goodbye is one of my favorite electronic albums.


I don't know what it is about Battles that really intrigues me. Although I don't listen to it very often, I hold their debut album, Mirrored, high in regard. I guess I've got a thing for unique and original artists, think The Streets for example. I mean, no one really is quite like Battles. Anyway, since Mirrored, they've become a trio, as Tyondai Braxton, perhaps the closest the group came to a front man, has left the project. I'm a bit skeptical as to how this will pan out, and I'm not sure whether or not I like the new track they just released, 'Ice Cream', which is going to be on their sophomore album, Gloss Drop. It features none less than chileno star Matias Aguayo, but honestly, it sounds like the outfit has lost a bit of its signature insanity. It'll be interesting to follow nonetheless, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were bound for Roskilde this summer.


From something slightly inaccessible to something very straightforward, my mate David is big into all this power pop stuff like The Spinto Band and Miniature Tigers and such, and he introduced me to Generationals. It's quite cheerful, try and check out 'Ten-Twenty-Ten'.


The National did a tune for the soundtrack to indie movie Win Win, which is called 'Think You Can Wait'. When it comes to The National, I guess I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but it's very good. It's got a much less textured sound than what dominates High Violet - it's more like the Cherry Tree/Alligator-era stuff.


Finally, I guess I have to touch the subject that The Strokes have made their new album, Angles, their first in five years, available for full streaming on their website. It's pretty good, but I have to admit I'm hardly an able judge. I've never really had my Strokes period like many others, but there are some catchy tunes on it. Not sure whether or not I'll buy it - if they come to Roskilde I might have to.

A week of Texas folk and skillful indie-pop.

Kiss Each Other Clean.

This has been a quiet week on The Idioteque, which can be construed as being a good thing, as it means I'm busy doing other stuff (work = money). This weekend I've been pretty good at spending money though, but that's what happens when you have fun I guess. My mate Johan came home from China this week, so we've been spending a lot of the weekend together, catching up - it's been a good way for myself to catch up on what has been going on the past year. Nothing helps you reminisce like telling stories and sharing thoughts.

The big album of the week, actually of the past few weeks, for me has been Texas folkster Iron & Wine's Kiss Each Other Clean. Although a bit slow off the grid, the middle part of this album with tunes such as 'Tree By The River', 'Monkeys Uptown' and 'Rabbit Will Run' is really strong, as is of course the epic closing track 'Your Fake Name Is Good Enough For Me'. I'm not too big on religious lyrics, but on Kiss Each Other Clean it doesn't matter much - it's a really thorough and exciting album.

I and the lot went to see our old high school mateys Treefight For Sunlight at Studenterhuset yesterday, and expectedly the guys were once again very impressive. Although the first few songs were desecrated by a bit of sound troubles, the general impression was very good, and the sizable audience seemed very delighted. Personally, I especially found the heavier and more psychedelic tunes 'Time Stretcher' and 'They Never Did Know' to work very well live, with the drummer Mathias' raw and edgy basso being a welcome compliment to the falsettos that envelop and caress much of the bands music - nevertheless beautifully, especially on the impressive and magnificent cover of Kate Bush's 'Wuthering Heights'. A few of the more delicate tunes, such as 'You and the New World' and 'Facing The Sun', both of which are favorites of mine on the album, were perhaps not as rollicking as they are on the record, but all in all a good concert by a very skillful young band.


I ordered a batch of new records today, or rather, a new record and a pair of slightly older ones. I'll tell you about them when they land in my mailbox!

Guys, what IS this shit?

Arctic Monkeys.

Okay, I don't want to sound like a reverse Liam Gallagher or anything, but what the fuck is the new Arctic Monkeys single, 'Brick By Brick' all about? I've rarely heard a more pathetic piece of pseudo-garage gibberish - I really, really hope it's supposed to be a joke, or at least that the new album isn't gonna sound like this! I am one of the defenders of the turn the Monkeys took with Humbug, but this? It sounds like local garage caricatures Thee Attacks, and that isn't a compliment.


I've never been big into I'm From Barcelona, but a good bunch of my mates saw them at Roskilde a few years ago, and they've been talking about it ever since. They've got a new single out now from their forthcoming album, it's called 'Get In Line' and it is actually kinda sweet!


Minnesota outfit Low, who became a part of indie history with Things We Lost In The Fire almost a decade ago, are out with a new album, C'mon, the opening track of which is 'Try To Sleep'. It's a bit of a weepy sort of tune, but I guess that's all right once in a while? I find it decent anyhow.


I've mentioned The Naked and Famous before, and now that the NME have given them somewhat of a nod, I do think they're starting to position themselves and could become big in the UK over the summer. This is 'The Sun', which isn't as catchy as the track I posted a month ago, but clearly shows that this band has more than one dimension, which sure is something you often miss from upcoming outfits. Dare I even say that their male/female harmonies slightly echo the revered two exes?


I've spent a bit of the day listening to some of Elbow's stuff, including their recently released LP, Build A Rocket Boys!, as they are coming to Northside Festival alongside The Streets and Crystal Castles, among others. I think I might have to invest in one or two of their records. I'm also checking out Rainbow Arabia's debut album Boys & Diamonds, right now, but it's getting on my nerves a bit.


Oh, and how about Oh Land? She was on Letterman, and just now I saw her on the front page of NME's website (a bit down, but still...) - am I actually eventually gonna have to invest in her?

VETO - flashes of mastery in a sea of grey.

Ok, so I've been through VETO's new album, Everything Is Amplified, a handful of times now. I've been twisting and turning it, and holding it against the light, to try and find the raison d'être it must have. I've tried to shed the expectations, and to forget all about the band's two each in their own way very impressive first albums. The beautifully undulating, poetic and pioneering There's A Beat In All Machines and the aggressive, remorseful and potently electronic Crushing Digits.


But it's hard. It's hard to forget the many times one has heard Troels Abrahamsen scream out his lungs with earnest and personal lyrics. Hard to forget the bombardment of razor sharp drumming and synthesizers. It's true what they say, that VETO have become more melodic on this new album. That the songwriting has been more spontaneous - the band have stated so themselves.


Troels Abrahamsen writing melody is a bit like having the best striker in the world on your footy team, and have him play left back. It might be a bit of an exaggeration, but honestly, for all the talent he has as both a vocalist and as a producer, he really comes across as a mediocre songwriter. We've been dragged through a full three of his solo albums, including the one released under the I Know That You Know pseudonym, and now he has full-fledgedly applied his boring melodics upon his band mates in VETO.


The first three tracks on Everything Is Amplified are very good. When it came out as the lead single, I hoped it wouldn't be, but 'This Is Not' is one of the strongest tracks on the album, as is 'Am I Awake Or Should I Wake Up', which for a change contains an interesting melody and chord pattern. 'Take It Outside', which I initially bashed this Monday after my first spin of it, has grown on me, and I can also live with 'Slowres', which is sort of in the mold of older VETO tunes such as 'Cannibal' and 'YouYou'.


But the rest? Honestly, this album is one of the biggest falls from grace I have seen in a long time. The three middle tracks, 'Already Ready', 'If Else' and 'Fell Into Place', are just three pieces of endlessly boring and irrelevant music. Especially a tune like 'Fell Into Place' almost makes me angry. Here, you've got a tune with some pretty interesting lyrics, which are completely killed and buried by the most dull shit melody I've heard this side of Katy Perry. I mean, the progression and the harmonics are so obvious and predictable if you've heard just a bit of Abrahamsen's solo work. The two last tracks, although a bit less mediocre than the tedious middle threesome, are still really nothing, nothing to write home about - once again, neat, but much too boring.


I understand bands grow older and change and all that, and as I stated in my post this Monday, it would seem pretty hard to extend the sound of Crushing Digits to make another record out of it, but this is not a question of evolving or not - it's a question of knowing your strengths and weaknesses. VETO has turned in a melodic direction, which is a pretty familiar and predictable turn for a band that has shaken off its youthful agitation and energy. The only problem is that the fella in charge of writing melody is not particularly good at it. With that in mind, it becomes quite a risky path to choose, and on Everything Is Amplified, it really backfires, as this is really a boring album. For a band that has so many other strengths, and that has already released two brilliant albums, I'm sorry, but this is just too anodyne and middle-of-the-road to really move anything.

Tuesday tunes go electronic and folksy!

Oi folks! It's spring! I did have a bit of a challenge in making my kids at work believe it, but I convincingly drew some green and yellow blobs in the month-box on the blackboard, making it resemble March. I'm not gonna be all lets-rave-to-happy-spring-music just yet though - we need the weather to be game for that, but I'm looking forward to it. There's nothing like the first day where you can go out with your headphones on, with no heavy coat or scarf or hat.


This guy is Hymns From Nineveh (OMFG, naming is really becoming a bitch, huh?), and he's Danish. I've seen his name around, and I decided to check out his new single, 'Sister Sorrowsong', which I really like! It's a bit on the corny side (especially the title, what's going on?), but it works! His debut album came out last week, and he sounds like a guy fit to ride the The Rumour Said Fire-craze around the country, although this fellow might actually have some quality music to go with the hype!


Some might think he resembles Sufjan Stevens a bit, which isn't at all untrue. Speaking of Sufjan, he's hitting Copenhagen May 1st for the first time in years, and I just bought my ticket. I'm gonna absolutely impoverish myself buying tickets for concerts this spring, but I guess I don't mind. Some of my favorite tunes on Sufjan's impressive newest album, The Age of Adz, are 'I Walked' and 'Futile Devices'. I guess the tender and sensitive lyrics appeal to me, being somewhat of a soft man myself. I do think it's creeping up to the time where I'm gonna have to digest some of Sufjan's impressive backlist, notably Seven Swans and Illinois.


Dan Snaith has been everywhere the past year under his alias Caribou. Now, he's just released a new tune under the name Daphni, and it's called 'Ye Ye'. It's really catchy, and pretty recognizable (so why mess around with names??)


Another guy who's here, there and everywhere is Chilean producer Nicolas Jaar. This time around, he's remixed When Saints Go Machine's 'Fail Forever', which is also the title track on the band's international debut EP. Domestically, they're revving up for their second full-length, Konkylie (again, what's with the bloody names and titles?), which might very well turn out interesting! Go dig the remix anyhow, it's really sweet!

Is there still a beat in all machines?

VETO.

When Carpark North broke the wall in 2001 amidst wailing, melancholic orchestras like Kashmir, Mew and Saybia, little did we know they prepared the ground for almost a decades worth of Danish electronic rock - one of the most significant waves in Danish music of the '00s. A wave spearheaded by VETO and Spleen United in the middle of the decade, and followed up by the likes of Dúné and Turboweekend amongst others.


A lot of water has run under the bridge since then, and the indie-electro-rock scene is rapidly deteriorating. Bands are leaving towards the darker reaches of club music, bands such as Turboweekend and (we must presume) Spleen United, while the remaining crossroads between contemporary indie and electronica has been taken over by a surge of, mostly, strong-voiced, melancholic women such as Oh Land and RebekkaMaria. In that perspective, the mid-decade wave of potent electro rock was perhaps a sign of the times - the economy was good, people had jobs and could afford to be partying with no worries.


VETO, as I mentioned, was one of the figureheads of the movement, emerging with the obvious statement of There's A Beat In All Machines, their debut album, in 2006, which I regard as one of the clear-cut best Danish albums of the decade. 2008's fist-in-the-face potent Crushing Digits saw them mark their territory even more clearly and took them on a tour de force through the country, but since then, we've been overloaded with front figure Troels Abrahamsen's neat, but slightly cold and boring solo work. Abrahamsen is a divine singer and a talented musician, but without his band mates, he lacks the distinctive spark, that made VETO's two first albums so special and so relevant.


So, is there still beat in all machines? I don't know. It remains to be seen, with VETO's third LP, Everything Is Amplified, out today. I've heard it once, so the jury is still very much out. But there is definitely a change of pace, which has been sort of expected. I mean, Crushing Digits was very good, but not a formula on which you can build much more. VETO have been forced to move in some direction, and I guess we all expected, feared, perhaps, that this would be in the direction of Abrahamsen's solo projects. We were right, and some of the later tunes, which seem to have more of a kinship with Crushing Digits, stick out awkwardly. As I said above, I don't want to rule out anything yet, but after the first listen, I'm left with an impression of Abrahamsen's often uninteresting melodies over sporadic bursts of the other band members adding their spice - a bit of aggressive drumming and a bit of wailing synth here and there.


I'll be back on this one in a few days, but for now, I'm not impressed.

The National: Fabulous and beautiful!

The National.
by Steffen Jørgensen,
(c) Photo-jint.dk

Sometimes I really feel blessed that I have been to such an abundance of memorable concerts. It sounds corny and all, but just this month, I've been blown away twice by eminent musical mastery and beauty. Yesterday it was The National, whom I saw at Roskilde last summer. It isn't always an advantage to have seen a band more than once. Whether you like it or not, you inevitably start comparing aspects of the different shows, and often your first live experience with a band has a special significance which makes it more memorable.

This time though, I think The National upped their game slightly, which is quite a compliment, their Roskilde-show being one of the highlights of my summer at the Animal Showgrounds. This band is so superior in balancing between melancholy and aggression, and that's really apparent live. Matt Berninger wasn't as much on fire as he was at Roskilde, which is kind of self-explanatory - eighteen thousand people are a bit more than four, but the band's quieter pieces really hit home this time around. Personal highlights for me were 'Daughters of the Soho Riots' and 'About Today'. I was unsure if they would play either of the two, so hearing them was obviously a nice surprise, as they are two of my absolute favorites.

Otherwise, regarding the set, I personally think it's a bit too heavily loaded with tunes from the newest album, High Violet, which isn't my favorite, but I must admit that many of the songs from exactly this album, such as 'England' for example, really do work very well live, and when the band plays a full 20-song set, it doesn't matter that much. I could have wished for 'Green Gloves' or 'The Geese of Beverly Road', but other than that, the set was pretty good, and as mentioned above, the inclusion of '... Soho Riots' and 'About Today' made it for me, other than inevitables such as 'Slow Show', 'Fake Empire' and 'Terrible Love' of course.

As so often is the case, there is a bit of a lack of nerve to normal, another-stop-on-the-tour concerts, compared to festivals, and it took the band a while to really get going. Not to make this a total High Violet-bashing, but part of the explanation for the slow start could be, that 6 of the first 9 songs were from that album. The band's strength lies in its impressive catalogue of songs. We got three songs from Alligator, which indisputably were all highlights, and so was, as before mentioned, 'About Today' from Cherry Tree. Seen in that light, some of the High Violet-tunes do come across as slightly more boring. It was very gutsy however to finish off with a totally unplugged, sing-along version of 'Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks'. It was as if the room suddenly became half as big, as everyone were singing or humming pensively along. In general, the crowd was amazing. Some might complain that people were too quiet and absent. Honestly, I don't think of it as such. I don't come to hear people yelling and clapping out of sync. I come to hear some of the most talented musicians and songwriters I know, and I was very happy that the vast majority of the crowd felt the same, as opposed to Roskilde, where people tore a tune like 'Fake Empire' completely apart by clapping on top of it. There seemed to be a nice, tacit agreement to just enjoy the music, and only clap and sing appropriately at highlights - which is the way a concert with a quality band should be, in all honesty.

A memorable and beautiful concert, through and through.

The National day!

Today I'm going to see The National in Århus with a few of my buddies. It's gonna be grand. The National has been my absolute band of choice the past year, so even though I saw them at Roskilde, I'm in for one more ride. This time hopefully the set will be a bit longer than it was at Roskilde, where it was very heavily tilted towards the newest album High Violet. I haven't checked out any setlists prior to the concert as I often do, as I'd like to be surprised!

I figured the best way really to lead up to this for me very anticipated concert would be to simply make a list of my favorite tunes of these Ohio-turned-Brooklyn indie melancholics. I love lists, and I hate limiting myself, so instead of 10, it became 15. I'll try to be brief though, and if you're relatively new to the band, please do take an hour out of your plans to go through this list of pure beauty!

#15: 'Afraid of Everyone' (High Violet)
A tune I've come to like only recently, it's a nice tune about anxiety and desperation. It's in the classic mold of Berninger when he becomes political, and the music goes spotlessly with it. A pivotal tune on High Violet.

#14: 'Val Jester' (Alligator)
One of the lesser-exposed tunes off Alligator, and one of its quieter ones. I love how the guitar pattern and the violin work together. Lyrics are very simple and sincere, and this tune is the same kind of less-is-more ballad as is so abundant on Cherry Tree.

#13: 'Karen' (Alligator)

'Karen' is just a lovely tune. I love the monologue-style lyrics about debauchery and childish misbehaving. There's a begging for forgiveness or understanding or indulgence to this. A wayward soul on his knees.

#12: 'Mr. November' (Alligator)
This is one of the more iconic The National tunes, and there's a lovely hopefulness and high-spiritedness to it, even being as aggressive as it is. One of the band's true rock-out moments, and also a marvel live.

#11: 'Wasp Nest' (Cherry Tree)
Cherry Tree really is a little gem of an EP, and this is such a beautiful little tune. It's so intimate it almost gives you goose bumps. The lyrics are astounding - it's a song about almost giving in to something or someone that you know is gonna eventually be a wasp nest, something you'd perhaps rather not have done, someone who perhaps brought so much trouble or pain that you wonder if she or it was really worth it i the first place, but is so tantalizing and irresistible nonetheless.

#10: 'Green Gloves' (Boxer)
We're into the top 10 then, and here's the first tune from what's generally construed as The National's signature album, Boxer. 'Green Gloves' honestly doesn't exist without 'Slow Show', which comes after it on the album, or vice versa. The two guitars are marvelous together here, and this is the kind of song that never really evolves or explodes, but just slowly and steadily works through its theme of alienation (which I think it shares with 'Slow Show' by the way).

#9: 'Bloodbuzz Ohio' (High Violet)

OK, so I know this is basically a list of ballads, ballads and more ballads, but here's 'Bloodbuzz Ohio', a true Bryan Devendorf-driven masterpiece. The drums, the piano and the horns create such an amazing drive to this tune.

#8: 'The Geese of Beverly Road' (Alligator)
So, '... Beverly Road', with its fairly-tale, Farthing Woods-reminiscent intro, is another slightly overlooked track on Alligator. This is another of the (many) tunes where Bryan Devendorf's drumming is really extraordinary. It's pretty simple here, but contributes to the blissful high that this song seems to revel in. I get pictures on my mind of running around and away young, drunk and frolicsome with someone beautiful, being carelessly rapturous.


#7: 'Ada' (Boxer)
This is yet another song where the piano and horn ensemble lift the band to new highs. I love the way the piano carries the bridge from around 2:27, and how the horns rise slowly and voluminously at 3:01. This is a beautiful song with a lyrical theme of frustration and disappointment.

#6: 'Terrible Love' (High Violet)
So, this is as high as High Violet goes on this list. This is Matt Berninger at the top of his lungs, where he is often the most powerful, and it's such a strong and emotional tune, filled with unease and grief, with determination. I actually think this song really comes into its own in the rawer live version.

#5: 'All Dolled-Up In Straps' (Cherry Tree)
This is easily one of The National's darkest tunes, but it's so simple and beautiful, and I absolutely love the chord change from verse to chorus - it's simple and just astonishing!

#4: 'Daughters of the Soho Riots' (Alligator)
All right, I'm gonna say this about this and the next three tunes and the ones before, but this is such an extraordinary tune! This, on a list of many songs that could be used or construed as break-up songs, is probably more genuinely so than any of the others, but this is of such an elegant pedigree that it really just works. There are so many marvelous lyrical passages here (it would take too much to list them, read the lyrics sheet!) that all revolve around the theme of unfaithfulness, inevitability, realization and reconciliation.

#3: 'About Today' (Cherry Tree)
This is such a simple song, which never really moves much backwards or forwards in the way of intensity, but exudes a vivid feeling of sadness, urgency and fear of losing something worth trying to keep. Once again, along with the lyrics, the drums really do the trick on this one, echoing a heart beating heavily. The live version of this one is perhaps even more beautiful.

#2: 'Fake Empire' (Boxer)
Guess once, which two songs occupy the top spots on this list? Yeah I know, it's kind of predictable, but there's just an air of utter brilliance around 'Fake Empire'. The wailing build-up to the intoxicating piano pattern beneath some of Matt Berninger's most iconic and most beautifully sung lyrics. Actually, this is quite a short and simple tune - only slightly above three minutes in length, and just three chords. But it needn't do more, it's enough with just those three little verses and the minuscule chorus and then it just rides away into the horizon echoing the lyrics about escaping reality, inevitability and structure and forgetting the imminence of tough decisions and conclusions.

#1: 'Slow Show' (Boxer)
So here sits 'Slow Show', the first The National song I really got into, and still atop my list. How? Well, how about lyrics that just gives you goose bumps, and beautiful instrumentation to go with it? The final part really gives it away, it's so honest and sincere it still blows my mind. Together with 'Green Gloves', it deals with being disconnected and alienated from something you really know you should keep close. It's so melancholic and poignant. The "slow, dumb show" is trying to win over your lover/friend/whatever from doubt in all kinds of nervous, indirect ways, whereas in the last part of the song, the slow show drowns in the honest, truest of truths. There are both great acoustic and live versions of this, too!

Colin Greenwood, you are the savior!

Radiohead.

So The King of Limbs has been alive for a week now, and I've been through it a good handful of times. Each time, I must admit, I've been liking it a bit more. Although, and this might be a bold statement but, this will never be my favorite Radiohead-album (I have none), it definitely adds its own little dimension to the Oxford fivesome's iconic musical universe.


The recurring thing on this album is just how innovative and inspiring a bassist Colin Greenwood is. It's pretty obvious on tunes like 'Bloom' and 'Lotus Flower', but how about 'Morning Mr. Magpie', where Greenwood parkinsonianly vibrates throughout the tune? In fact, this track is an entire piece of tremendous helter skelter. It has your feet asynchronously tip-tapping throughout. And 'Feral'? Jesus Christ, what exactly lifts this tune? It's hard to define. The King of Limbs is hard to define - it's made hard to define, of course, it's purposely introvert and nervous. It's like walking around in a mental asylum, frankly. The first part of it anyhow.


I am enormously intrigued by what actually goes on in Thom Yorke's mind. Like, what does he dream about for example? It's a bit scary actually, how this album's lyrics paints some scarily bizarre and anxious pictures for your eyes - especially on the panicky 'Morning Mr. Magpie', where Yorke sounds like an old, crazy man, wailing at a magpie outside his door. The music does it's own bit too though, obviously. In general, it's a hard album to love, but an inevitable album to be caught by. I love how the instruments are often askew, and how the band plays with harmonics - even tritonus once or twice. The rhythm section is very apparent, and makes the entire album a pretty bare-to-the-bone affair.


There's a pretty obvious split between 'Feral' and 'Lotus Flower', with the front four tunes on the album having a close kinship with the experimental electronic and IDM scene - think a less minimalist and more instruments-oriented version of Autechre, and you aren't far off. From 'Lotus Flower' and on, there is a bit of a tendency towards indietronica, soul and even dubstep. There is more Jonny Greenwood in this part; it's more band music. But all throughout, it's Colin who ties it all together. Like the main bass riff on 'Lotus Flower', which, pitch it up an octave or two, could easily be an annoying synth riff in some landfill indie-electro band. Masterful.


I think my ultimate complaint about this album is the lack of instant classics to tie it together. Not even instant classics, but just songs that have some sort of long-term significance. I know it's a bit of a demand, but Radiohead has managed at least a few legendary tunes on every record they've made. I mean, 'Codex' is pretty, but it's not 'Pyramid Song'. 'Lotus Flower' might be the exception though; it's really a track that's growing on me. But if you forget all about Radiohead's impressive track record, this album is still an impressive and, dare I say, considering this band could release an album of complete nonsensicalness, and people would still be all over it, bold effort. It's a much more confined and concentrated piece than In Rainbows was - there are no bursts of energy like 'Bodysnatchers' or obvious melancholy like 'All I Need'. In stead, it's an absence of grand gestures that becomes an insisting presence of Thom Yorke's wicked, crooked psyche, and this way, it becomes Radiohead's most restricted an sonically most uniform record - but masterfully executed nonetheless.

Lock the locks and leave.

Alright, so, before everything bowls over in Radiohead-rage, becoming The National on the weekend, then begetting the new VETO album on Monday, let's not forget The Streets actually released a new - his last - album a few weeks ago! I sorta owe a bit of a run through on this, or at least a point out of the tunes I'm fond of.


Thing is, I quite like it, Computers & Blues. I mean, it's not A Grand Don't Come For Free by any means, but its kinship with the 2002 concept classic is pretty apparent, and I guess Im sort of having my The Streets-period right now. A The Streets period anyhow.


I quite like how his imminent retirement, at least under this alias, as I guess we all know Mike Skinner isn't gonna pack bags at Sainsbury's anytime soon, shines through in a few of the tunes, notably 'Without A Blink' and closer 'Lock The Locks'. The latter is pretty obvious, but the former also deals with the entire ordeal in a nice way, discarding the sentimentality for a new found wildness, and a determination to "go down town without thinking and shout over a drink", echoing the same sort of dilemma as 'When You Wasn't Famous' did on The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living.


It's kinda hard not liking 'We Can Never Be Friends', which has the same heart-in-throat touch as the epic 'Dry Your Eyes' off the aforementioned A Grand Don't Come For Free. It's straightforwardness, in passages such as "the future lies in you seeing new guys", which is perhaps the one thing one just doesn't want to picture an ex-girlfriend or -lover doing, is pretty impressive, and once again Mike Skinner proves that he's one of the very few who can pull off such almost embarrassingly direct lyrics without making anyone's toes curl.


And really, there are so many awesome lyrical parts on this album. Such as on 'Roof Of Your Car', where Skinner is ruminating on "electrical implants for the brain that simulate raving sensations", wondering what it might be like if one could "get fucked without hanging his health up. Would this be illegal? Would the Daily Mail rail on it?" And is it evil to have to escape daily life? Pretty big questions indeed. Or the pretty amazing quote: "I'm pretty good at puzzles, but puzzled by people" ('Puzzled By People'), which interacts with Bon Iver (purposedly?) lyrically ("so the story goes"). And then there are tunes like 'Soldiers' (where Skinner might, just might, be referencing to his legendary performance at Roskilde 2008 ("eighty thousand people in a state of rowdy fever, there will never be a sequel to this evening") and 'Outside Inside' which are just epic.


Yeah, you see, there's much to like on this album really. Go fetch fellas, it's a pretty decent case of closing down the office!

The King of Limbs.

The King of Limbs.

So, it's here, The King of Limbs, Radiohead's eighth full-length effort, a day early, because the band felt they could just as well. All right then, we'll all change our plans guys - I had originally planned on doing an introductory, expectations-kind-of post tonight, but I guess not. But just to introduce briefly; this is very exciting. Since In Rainbows came three years and a bit ago, I've been through the compulsory Radiohead-period almost every music enthusiast goes through at some point in time. My knowledge of and relationship with Radiohead was all but non-existent prior to In Rainbows, so since then, I've been through OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac and Hail To The Thief at varying points in time and to various degrees.


But the new one's here now, and what's it all about? Well, it's very electronic. As much as Radiohead is a band, whose "sound" is hard to define, this album is unmistakably Radiohead. There are hints and elements of each of its four closest predecessors, from Kid A to In Rainbows. I think the one it perhaps reminisces the most might be Hail To The Thief. The first few tracks, 'Bloom' and 'Morning Mr. Magpie', remind me a lot of some of the more electronic Hail To The Thief-tunes such as 'Backdrifts' and 'The Gloaming', with the uneasy, pulsating electronics and skittering, buzzing drums.


With 'Little By Little', there's a bit of a change in sound, as actual guitars enter, but with 'Feral', we're back to what seems to be the general sound of this record: A mumbling Thom Yorke over electronic drums, ambient noises and dominating bass-lines. There are scattered guitars, on the above-mentioned 'Little By Little' and on the folksy 'Give Up The Ghost', and in general, the back half of the album is a bit more band music and a bit less programming music than the first part, even if it is still very mellow.


I don't know what I think of this yet. It's got the same conceptuality as each of Radiohead's three masterpiece albums, OK Computer, Kid A and Amnesiac, all of which have some sort of pervasive spirit an atmosphere. Hail To The Thief, although containing its fair share of the bright spots you would expect from any band anyone has ever dared label as the "best band on Earth", was a bit too long and schizoid, and while In Rainbows is a collection of almost exclusively brilliant tunes, and in many ways much brighter than Radiohead have ever been, there isn't much of a common denominator. There's a long way from '15 Step' to 'House of Cards' and 'Nude' to 'Bodysnatchers' and 'Jigsaw Falling Into Place'.


So, it seems Radiohead have once again managed to confine themselves to some sort of sonic box, that doesn't limit them, but rather strengthens the creative output and the overall impression. Or does it? I don't know. The thing with an album like Kid A is that for all the navel-gazing, it has pure excellence written all over it because it's not navel-gazing, but rather some sort of actively chosen absence. Same goes for Amnesiac.


It doesn't seem that The King of Limbs has got quite the same quality. Not yet, anyhow. It might end up truly excelling in it's less-is-more'ness after a dozen of listens, but honestly, after having been through it twice, I'm slightly left with the feeling of: "OK, we waited three years, and we get this?" - I mean, for all they could have done, it seems The King of Limbs just never really rises to the occasion. 'Codex' is very nice, it's a nice ballad in the mold of 'All I Need' or 'Videotape', but all in all, this is a very introvert record. Thom Yorke is mumbling more than ever here, and all in all, this record is a bit like the weirdo dude someone brought to the party. You never know, he might be the wittiest and most interesting of the bunch, but he sits in the corner with his arms crossed and his gaze wandering planlessly round the room in a paranoid, sociopathic way. He might win you over, but he's not exactly inviting at first glance.


I reserve every right to change my mind completely. Maybe I'm just not in the right mindset for Radiohead right now. I'm in a period of baritones singing intelligible lyrics and music with a lot of passion and emotion and feelings all over it, which is pretty far from Radiohead. I'd say right now I'm satisfied, but not impressed. I need to get this into my headphones, and I need to get a grasp on the lyrics. I hope this album will grow on me though. Of all the albums in the world, it really could.

Awesome electronic Wednesday vibes!!

Jamie xx and Gil Scott-Heron.

Oi oi oi! I've got a few really mind-boggling tunes for you lot to check out! First of all, I'm gonna go for broke and declare, that one of the albums I'm looking forward to the most this spring is Young Galaxy's new, Dan Lissvik-produced, release, Shapeshifting. Just check out 'We Have Everything'. Isn't it just epic?


I mentioned Jamie xx yesterday - he's here, there and everywhere, remixing and DJ'ing, and most prominently, he's taken Gil Scott-Heron's much acclaimed album of yesteryear and reshuffled. I'm crazy crazy crazy about 'NY Is Killing Me'!!


Rainbow Arabia is this orientally influenced California duo. They've got a few EPs on their track record, and I found 'Without You' the other day, which I think you should check out. Think The Knife meets Gang Gang Dance meets vintage-sounding vocals. It's pretty sweet!


So, that's a few tunes to get your midweek spinning. I'm not really doing much these days. I'm a bit bored actually. A good thing to do when you're bored is to check out some vids of interesting bands. In case you hadn't noticed, Treefight For Sunlight are on an absolute roll right now abroad, which is really exciting to follow! Back in the fall, they did an unplugged set at a Copenhagen church - there's a snip of that to be seen here. It's really nice, and it features a few of the lesser-exposed tunes on their trippy album, which I have been digging a lot lately!

BIG elephants boogie-woogie.

Radiohead.

A few big names have made waves the past few days. It's been hard to avoid noticing the reactions to Arcade Fire winning the Grammy yesterday. Honestly, I could care only a little less, but it's nice to see proper music get some recognition in the mainstream. I'm sure the Montreal outfit shook quite a few God's Country ignorant teens in their musical foundation with their intense performance of 'Month of May' yesterday anyway.


But wait up guys - the BIG elephant moving 'round the hood is Radiohead, whose 8th studio album is out on Saturday! It's called The King of Limbs, and I guess we all expected it to come a-sneakin' some time this year. This is a bit early though, but while In Rainbows is still being referred to universally as "the new one", it does have more than three years on its wheels now. I'm choosing to disregard the fancy-schmanzy newspaper-release. Honestly, if a CD-sleeve doesn't fit on my shelf, I needn't own it physically, so I guess I'll have to live with the digital version. As for the music, it's hard to know what to expect. I'm probably gonna do a post on that later this week.


Northside Festival in Århus is amping up quite a line-up. Besides favorite hate-objects White Lies and Band of Horses, The Streets and now Crystal Castles too have been added the line-up. I'm strongly considering going. I got Computers & Blues today, which is nice. I like 'Without Thinking'.


Roskilde meanwhile are gonna hopefully amp up soon. Honestly, if they get neither Radiohead nor The Strokes, that's a bit fail. They do however have PJ Harvey, whose new album, Let England Shake, has garnered absolutely rave reviews almost everywhere. I've seen two 6/6's in Danish media, and almost a 9.0 grade on Pitchfork. I might have to check it out, even though it's a bit off my branch.


I'm listening to Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx curious new collaboration album, We're New Here. No verdict yet, but check it out!

Quotes on my wall.

The Streets.

What up? I thought I'd tell you about a new project I did a few weeks ago. Kind of lacking some art on my big bare white wall, I bought three wee chalkboards - this way I can chance my decoration according to mood, cool huh!? I'm shit at drawing though, so I immediately opted for quotes. Here's what I've got right now:


1) Was originally:

There are doors that let you in and out, but never open.

Which is from Radiohead's love-it-or-loathe-it 'Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors' off Amnesiac. Originally, I'd have liked to have the entire lyrics, but there wasn't really room. 'Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors' is about life, the universe and everything, described with doors as a metaphor. I find the above line particularly descriptive, and it's sort of a lash against people being too calculated. You know, the people you've known for a long time, or very intimately, but you don't really know them. You wander in and out in their life, but they never really open themselves. Now though, the chalkboard reads:

Allow your mind to become a moving prism, catching light from as many angles as possible!

Courtesy of C.W. Mills via my mate Jacob. I find it kind of interesting, and perhaps I see it as sort of a lesson I still have to learn. The objective enlightening of a subject or topic from many different viewpoints, the empathic trying to understand situations and feelings from other people's perspective.


2) Reads:

Love is an astronaut: It comes back, but it's never the same.

Courtesy of James Murphy/LCD Soundsystem, from the song 'Drunk Girls'. A peculiar quote perhaps, but I like it - I think it describes the fact that you get something out of every romantic encounter you have, be it short or long, deep or superficial. You always learn something, and when love returns, you've got a different perspective of it, which might or might not be to your advantage.


3) Reads:

I came to this world with nothing, and I leave with nothing but love. Everything else is just borrowed.

This is one of my favorite quotes, and I guess it's ultimately an elegant swing at materialism. Why we spend all of our time and money going to Ikea and buying furniture and ingenious things for our kitchens, or indebt ourselves with cars and houses and stuff, when all of that is left behind when we die anyway. The only thing we might carry with us is what's in our hearts - our love, experiences, memories, passion and emotions, which is why that is what we should cherish while we're alive too. It is of course from The Streets' tune 'Everything Is Borrowed'.