Beware of the ball!

Since I'm very busy at the moment and haven't got time to do any longer write-ups, I'm just going to point you in the direction of this extremely cool video by Metronomy (who, as you can see, 'have all the time in the world').

In other news: I caught myself singing along to 'Williams' Blood' by Grace Jones the other day. Now, that's a tune! She might be 60, but she sure knows how to do good pop music.

Feeling the January blues...

January has got to be the most boring and grey month of the year. It's cold and dark outside. I still find myself writing '2008' on school papers because I keep forgetting that we're actually in a new year. The Christmas holidays are over and everyone is adjusting back to their everyday lives. Not much is happening in the world of music - it seems everyone and everything needs to get used to the fact that we are not in the old year anymore. And where's the snow?!

I don't exactly know what's in store for me in 2009 yet, but I've got a few gigs planned already. As I've (kind of) mentioned before I'm going to the enormous Blur gig in Hyde Park on 3th July, which I'm ridiculously excited about. Normally I don't like it when bands reunite since mostly it's pointless and clearly all about the money. But as a britpopper at heart I can't help but find the prospects of a Blur reunion fantastic. Because though I admire Damon Albarn's work and think that he has contiuned to put out both versatile, interesting and great music I've always liked Blur the most. As a band they kept growing, changing their sound on each album and didn't stay britpop a second longer than necessary. I can't wait to see if they act like they did back in the 90s - Alex being all laid back and smoking, Graham fiddling with guitars and foot pedals, Damon jumping around and Dave drumming in the background looking a bit like he could be the rest of the band's father.
Both in NME and the little reunioun-video-thingy from last year they've talked about playing b-sides and rarities combined with some 'high street' stuff like 'Girls & Boys' which, I think, makes it seem even more exciting and unpredictable. I'm feeling hours of timewasting fun trying to come up with the perfect setlist ahead. Ahh.

In April I'm seeing Mercenary, a danish metal band. As you've probably guessed I don't really listen to heavy metal but I've seen Mercenary live before (since my cousin is married to the lead growler-singer) and I wouldn't want to see them again if I thought they were bad. The crowd is usually also pretty entertaining to watch with all the headbanging. And I've got some unfinished business with Mikkel (the growler's name) from the last family get-together, so I'm looking forward to it.


I'm crossing my fingers for Wildbirds & Peacedrums (www.myspace.com/wildbirdsandpeacedrums) in Aarhus in February but it all depends on whether I find someone who wants to attend the gig with me. I also hear that the tickets for the newly announced Beirut gig in Hamburg are selling out fast. I'm not completely hooked on Zach Condon's balkan music but I definitely like it and would really like to go. Those live videos from http://www.blogotheque.net/ and http://www.flyingclubcup.com/ are just far too good! Unfortunately Viborg isn't exactly next to Hamburg on the map and it's quite a long drive.

To sum up, even if I get to go to a gig next month, I still feel like the year hasn't really started yet. January should be a synonym for waiting. I want more gigs and albums and new music! Rrrright now, that is.

Lullaby of Birdland

We're singing this during music lessons at the moment and we all love it. It's so sweet!

Arcade Fire

Though I did like Coldplay back in the day, stadium rock has never really been my cup of tea. As I've said before, I like going to smaller gigs - the biggest concert I've been to was at a venue that held about three-four thousand people (which isn't that many people). As the name suggests, stadium rock is made for huge audiences in big venues. But now I've actually found a stadiumsized band that appeals to me. And yes, I know, it's so 2007, but I've fallen in love with Arcade Fire. I bought 'Neon Bible', their second album, spontaneously back in October last year. It wasn't expensive, I thought 'Keep The Car Running' was a good song, the deluxe edition looked so nice and when I'm in a record shop I sometimes feel like I have to buy something. So I just figured 'what the heck, it's on every best of the year 2007-list, it can't be that bad'. The album didn't really do the trick for me at first listen but I felt like I was going like it at some point, I just hadn't cracked the code yet (which is often the way it is with the best music). Then I got obsessed with Owen Pallet's work and tried to search for stuff where he performed with them... and I was quite taken aback by what I found. I realised that I had been missing out on an awful lot back in 2007 when I was genuinely annoyed that everyone was talking about just how brilliant a band Arcade Fire were.

To most people they probably don't need an introduction, but they're an orchestral rock band who make big music with everyting from guitars and violins to accordions and hurdy gurdies. This makes them both striking to watch and listen to. I was sceptic at first but I've decided that when watching a live performance in a little YouTube window makes you feel knocked out and gives you goosebumps it cannot be a bad thing. Their live performances are filled with passion and an impressive amount of energy. I think they kind of represent one the best things about music - the sheer joy and fun of banging a drum or singing a song - but, of course, on a much much bigger scale. A great example of that would be the video of 'Neighbourhood #2 (Laïka)' at a french festival in 2005. Just watch it and see. That's a fucking drum fight! And the second video, of 'Wake Up' at Glastonbury festival in 2007, is just INCREDIBLE. Captivates perfectly why I need to go to Glasto at least once in my life (because I might not be a fan of huge concerts but I do like festivals).

Final Fantasy

Do you know that feeling when you want to stay up late and search for live videos on YouTube instead of going to bed? I certainly do.

And I've had a lot of it lately, with Final Fantasy. The band, not the game series (obviously). Calling it a band might also not be 100 % correct - Final Fantasy is basically the solo project of Owen Pallett, a violinist and singer from Toronto, Canada. He's one of those people who you realise has, in the background, been participating to tons of good music. He has toured with Arcade Fire, played with Patrick Wolf and Beirut, and done orchestral arrangements for Last Shadow Puppets (that last bit of information making me particularly happy as I've always thought the strings were the best part of that record). But what I like the most is probably what he has done under the Final Fantasy label. As Final Fantasy Owen has released two albums and three EPs - and his third album "Heartland" has been on the way since 2007, so I'm hoping for it to come out this year.

It amazes me how much he can do with just his voice and violin (and occasionally a bit of piano and drumming). Actually I think you could see his voice as an equivalent of his music - on the surface airy and light but underneath something more is hidden. As well as colourful and peculiar lyrics (often with Dungeons & Dragons references, apparently) and song titles (not a lot of bands have songs called things like "He Poos Clouds", "I'm Afraid Of Japan" and "This Lamb Sells Condos"), great cover versions are a speciality. He can make both Mariah Carey and Celine Dion listenable and has taken Bloc Party's "This Modern Love" to a completely different level. Oh, and he's done covers of Joanna Newsom and Björk too (and they aren't bad).

From what I've heard (and seen on YouTube) his live shows are quite a thing to behold. One man, his violin and his loop pedal(s). The latter making it possible for him to sample the different parts of a song in the moment, then loop them and play the other parts over it. And while he does this, there's often the most charming light show in the background, made live with an overhead projector. Definitely something I'd love to see.

Links

Music videos
This Lamb Sells Condos (one of the coolest DIY-like videos I've seen): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1kL568eg1w

This Is The Dream Of Win And Regine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8PZ8-cpWc4

He Poos Clouds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pQl7kye_d8

Covers
This Modern Love (originally by Bloc Party): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFXJKp-NgR8

Fantasy (originally by Mariah Carey): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O_yyEA72HE

Peach Plum Pear (originally by Joanna Newsom): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txou6ctnYBs

Live videos
Song Song Song (featuring more shadow visuals): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO_T3bXiI30

Your Light Is Spent (from a La Blogotheque show): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBf10Zs0vhw

You know, Blur are reuniting this year...

This pretty much made my day. The worst Blur song, which is normally set to a just as bad video, set to another, apparently also official video. But a video that's so much more random and fun! And oh, how I love Alex's silly dancing in the background. I hope he's gonna do some of that in July.

2008 - part 2

There was more to 2008 than just concerts. I've had a bit of a confused year with albums though. I've only bought a few by new, exciting bands - and not all of these albums have been great. Back in January I was quite excited about the The Ting Tings and thought the were a good pop band. But when their album finally arrived it was - to be polite - not very good. It consisted of two-three good singles (that we had already heard a thousand times as they were suddenly played all the time, everywhere) and just boring fillers on a 10-track album. Disappointing. Then I went on to buy mostly older records that I had wanted for some time - I finally got all Björk's albums and some by The Smiths and Joy Division. Oh, and 'Ok Computer' by Radiohead. Buuut - of course there was some good new albums in 2008. I've picked out the few that, for me, have been the best:

Foals - 'Antidotes'

A few days before going to the Foals gig I got my hands on their album. I hadn't exactly planned to buy the album before seeing them live - I kinda thought 'I might get hooked when I see them live' - but I was pretty surprised to actually see their album in a record store near me and just couldn't help but buy it. It sounded really good but not in the way I expected. Instead of just being a record filled with uptempo partyrock anthems it was an album filled with - well, album fillers, but in the best way possible. Edgy, airy and sharp and not like the typical wannabe-Franz Ferdinand-partyrock. What I really like about the album is that the songs that were the band's singles at the time - Mathletics, Hummer, Balloons and Cassius (the two first not even included on the album) - seem to be their only 'radiofriendly' songs. The songs on the album all have a fantastic amount of details and layers (oh, horns!) that make it interesting to listen and explore. I'm especially fond of 'Two Steps, Twice' and 'Like Swimming' - the latter sounds like dancing backwards through the best disco in the world. Definitely an album that's worth a listen.

Late Of Pier - 'Fantasy Black Channel'

I started listening to LOTP mainly because I was interested in their videos. I had seen 'Heartbeat' by luck and thought it was amazing. At first though I thought the music was a bit too weird and hardcore for my liking. But then I watched the 'Heartbeat' video again and then 'Bathroom Gurgle', 'Space And The Woods', 'The Bears Are Coming' and 'Focker'. I started liking the songs for their weirdness and playfulness. The party-electro-rock and falsetto of 'Bathroom Gurgle', the 'Atlantis To Interzone'-esque 'Focker' with both screaming synths and chorus and let's not forget 'The Bears Are Coming', the song that sounds like a spontaneous party in the jungle. And all these songs had the weirdest, craziest, most fantastic videos... and I read somewhere that the band credit Michel Gondry, my favourite music video director, as an influence, which just made me like them even more. Then I heard the album and was blown away.

Vampire Weekend - 'Vampire Weekend'
When I first heard about Vampire Weekend, I think it was back in 2007, I was quite cynical and thought (*adopts Noel Gallagher-voice*) 'some wannabes from America trying to make afropop while wearing colourful cardigans? What's all that about?' and then I didn't bother to check them out. Once again - 2008 really was the year I got into music videos - I actually became interested because of a video of theirs. I just watched 'A-Punk' randomly on YouTube and found it quite charming with the stop-motion and drum-banging. Then after watching the video a few more times I decided that the song wasn't that bad either... and then I went to Aarhus and found myself desperately searching for their album. That is, until I looked in in Badstue Rock, probably one of my favourite things about Aarhus - a little record shop with secondhand cds and newer not-so-mainstream releases. I bought it, went home, listened and was sold. The sweetest sound of summer when it was about to end. A thing about VW that I think is often underestimated is how important the vocals are for their music - Ezra Koenig's got quite a special, interesting voice and uses in a way that lifts the songs up to become more than just normal pop songs. Great, great album.

The Dodos - 'Visiter'

So, as mentioned before, I went to London in the summer of 2008. I went to the big Rough Trade shop in the Brick Lane area and was fantastically happy to see that here they had everything! Or, to be more specific, everything I was looking for. One of the records I couldn't help but buy - even if I had only heard one track from it - was the Dodos' newest album 'Visiter'. I put it on my iPod and listened to it while on the tube. It has a great folky sound and probably some of the best percussion I've heard in a long time. But the main reason why I love this album is probably that it takes me back to the London. Sunshine on Primrose Hill and Clapham Common, shopping in Camden and Covent Garden and walking around in the neighbourhood of the hotel. Oh, the memories.

2008 - part 1

A thing that annoys me a lot about not having ears that work properly at the moment is that I can't really do much with all the 'best of 2008' lists that have been announced lately. I'm concerned that if I try to listen to some of those tracks or albums (that I haven't heard yet, mind) mentioned on said lists I might get the wrong impression because my hearing doesn't do them justice - so I'll have to wait. But maybe a good way to start out in this blog could be a look back on the musical year of 2008 for me. With concerts it's been a lovely year. I, being only 16 years old and living in a not-very-big town in Denmark, rarely have the chance to go to concerts or gigs. I would love to go to a concert two or three times a month if I had my way, only when you live where I do it's nearly impossible to do so. But in 2008 I went to more concerts than ever before during one year, so it seems to be going in the right direction. Back in February, 2008, I had the pleasure of seeing The Kissaway Trail (a danish indiepop band who've been featured in a few british music magazines) in a tiny little venue here in Viborg where I live. My friend and I counted and there were only about 27 people in the room that night. But everyone in this little crowd seemed very glad to be there so of course we had a ball. With lots of "lalalala"s, naturally.

Then in April I went to see Foals in Aarhus and saw a band being sharp and energetic playing live. I bought a t-shirt and have worn it quite a lot since then since Foals are one of the few bands who don't have ugly and tasteless merchandise with band pictures and unnecessary logos everywhere. Most people don't even notice that it's a band t-shirt which makes me like it even more. But yeah, it was a great gig. And as far as I remember the DJ set afterwards was pretty nice as well. In July I went to London (also known as my favourite place on the planet) and to the first day of the Ben & Jerry's festival. I didn't watch a lot of the bands, mostly just fooled around and ate icecream. But I did see Florence & The Machine as I had planned to do. It was actually a bit mindblowing. I already knew the songs and that Florence Welch, the frontwoman, was a bit, well, crazy. Like a young Kate Bush, Flo's an all jumping, kicking, banging-on-drum, singing and dancing machine. Just watching her energy live was wonderful. She's gonna be big in 09, so I'm very happy that I got to see her before she becomes a big popstar. In August I went to a festival called Danmarks Smukkeste Festival ("Denmark's most beautiful festival"). With a taste in music like mine it wasn't the best line-up possible but I did have a good time watching Franz Ferdinand in the pouring rain and later note that, though Kaiser Chiefs might be an entertaining band to see live, their music will never really do anything for me. And I enjoyed watching Turboweekend and Yoav aswell. Even if the line-up rarely suits my taste, I guess Danmarks Smukkeste Festival will always have have a special place in my heart - it has got the greatest atmosphere and really is very beautiful.

In October I went to see The Last Shadow Puppets, the side-project of Alex Turner and Miles Kane, and I must say... I couldn't help but find it a bit weird. It was similar to what I would expect an early Take That or Backstreet Boys gig to be like - screamning fangirls who were oh so excited that they got to see the oh so pretty Alex Turner in person. Luckily both the supporting band Ipso Facto and Turner + Miles + string section + band did a surprisingly good job (from what I could see and hear between the loud screams of 'I LOVE YOU!' and camera phones held up) so it wasn't all bad. All in all the gig reminded my why I'm happy to be mostly into smaller bands... less crazy fangirls.

The last two notable concerts I went to in 2008 were Vampire Weekend in Hamburg and CSS in Copenhagen. The Vampire Weekend gig was very good and I was delighted to find out that their music actually sounds a lot better live. On record it tends to be a bit tame but when played live it definitely comes alive. The CSS gig left me a bit disappointed to be honest. I've never thought they were fantastic - they just made fun and charming music. Alas, they second album just wasn't very funny or charming, just a bit 'oh, we've grown up and become serious'. So in the first place I didn't really attend the gig for the sake for the music but more for the party and fun a CSS gig should be. And it certainly wasn't boring - balloons, speakers hidden behind cardboard robots and beer give-outs all made for much entertainment. The only problem was that the music simply couldn't catch up and I doubt that Lovefoxxx (the band's leadsinger) hit many right notes that night.

Playlists with videos from some of the gigs - recorded by either me or a friend who isn't as fond of being in the frontrow as myself:
Florence And The Machine: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C10803C2D74E7AFF
Vampire Weekend: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D99C07DD105D078A
CSS: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0F7DFFB23153EBCC

Hello!

Well well well. Then it finally came, my music blog. I still don't exactly know if I wanna write it in English or Danish, but now it's at least set up and ready to go. In a way I would like to both write it in Danish and English - I'm quite comfortable with writing in English, it's more international and probably also a very good way for me to become better at writing in English. Also, my dream is to live in London or England somewhere and write about music. But then on the other hand it's easier for me to write in Danish and some of the things I want to say might be easier for me to say in Danish than in English. But for now, I start out in English!
It could probably be considered a bit ironic that I create this blog right now because at the moment I can't really hear properly. I have got this thing with my ears so that I feel like I'm constantly wearing earplugs and everything has to be said or played a bit louder for me to hear it. Being an avid listener of music I feel a bit disabled as if a very important part of me is missing. Well, I guess that's really the reason why I create this blog right now. To satisfy my musical intrest in a way that does not involve my ears that much. But as the blog title suggests I really do need my ears to listen to music with and I cannot wait to get my beloved hearing back.

To wrap up the first entry in my blog with something relevant: here, in this very blog, I'm going to write about music. This fantastic little/big thing that makes love to people's ears. I can't wait to write, muse, mumble, brag, fantasize and talk about and generally just love music right here.

Cheers and happy new years to all.