A Fine Mess
New Leads
Kim Wilde Comes Back Out To Play
Aug 16th
Kim Wilde, one of my (many) childhood idols, is following up her 2006 comeback by releasing the new album Come Out And Play on August 27. First single “Lights Down Low” (with B-side “Snakes and Ladders”) came out a few days ago and is very much in the same vein as on her ’06 album, Never Say Never: cheesy glorious European pop. So yeah, totally a guilty pleasure but whatever. The tracklisting for Come Out And Play is as follows:
1. King Of The World 2. Lights Down Low 3. Real Life 4. Greatest Journey (feat. Glenn Gregory) 5. I Want What I Want 6. Love Conquers All (feat. Nik Kershaw) 7. Hey! You! 8. Suicide 9. This Paranoia 10. Loving You More 11. Get Out 12. My Wish Is Your Command 13. Jessica
~ Feeling B – “Kim Wilde” ~
BEKO Digital Single Label
Jul 22nd
Recently I stumbled upon BEKO Digital Single Label, a French online label that releases a new single every Monday, as well as various compilations now and then, all for free. Their main focus is on shoegaze, pop punk, glam and electronica. Below are some of my favorites and if any of them strikes your fancy I implore you to seek out their website and download to your heart’s content. For info on the artists you can go to BEKO’s MySpace which seems to link to most of them.
~ The Dreams – “Negative Streets” ~
~ Death and Vanilla – “Ghosts In The Machine” ~
~ Greatest Hits – “You’re Just An Uptown Girl” ~
~GOBBLE GOBBEL – “Cat Eggs” ~
~ Eternal Summers – “Pure Affection” ~
~ La Femme – “Télégraphe” ~
Chew Lips – “Slick” (Neo Tokyo Remix)
Jul 11th
Once again I must apologize for the lack of posts. It’s currently very hot here which is making me even more lazy than usual, plus there seems to be a bit of inspiration lacking. Someone who’s not lazy or uninspired though is Ben Watts, also known as remixer Neo Tokyo. Here’s his latest take on a track, “Slick” by Chew Lips. It’s perfect if you want to party it up like you’re on Ibiza (although personally I don’t understand how you’d find the energy. What? I hate summer, OK?).
Well, I Don’t See Why Not If It’s Only 10 Bucks
May 12th
Letters have a new album out! Well, sort of new, it’s an “EP of reworked and new songs from the Letters and Tapestry songbooks. Folky, tape collage-y, pretty, fun and a little creepy.” If that description isn’t enough to tickle your curiosity then have a listen of the mp3 posted below and head over here to buy it for a measly five dollars. Frankly it’s almost worth it for the lovely cover art alone.
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In connection to Letters is the second volume of Well, I Don’t See Why Not, the compilation-series of northwestern US artists put together by Letters-member Joshua James. Artists included are: Twig Palace, Poppet, Cock and Swan, Ariel Birks, Gunmothers Head, Christina Antipa, Christopher Francis, Maxwell Alan, Eleanor Murray, Kendl Winter, DJ Dogwater, Corespondents, If It Ain’t Breakfast Don’t Fix It, Letters, Foxdye, Black Tail Dear, Invisible River, Braided, Marlo Eggplant, Blindfolder, and Jordan O’ Jordan. This too can be yours for only five bucks.
The Goodnight Loving Album, Tour Dates
Apr 30th
Kind of ironic how I can’t sleep and am instead writing about a band called The Goodnight Loving, no? They play charming garage rock, tinted with quite a bit of jangle pop (rather like The Exploding Hearts, who are one the same label, Dirtnap) but also with a hefty dose of country- and folk rock. Their album The Goodnight Loving Supper Club is due July 21st and will be supported by touring upon its release on the following dates:
4/30 – Madison, WI – University Of Wisconsin “Lakeshorepalooza”
5/8 – St Paul, MN – Turf Club w/the God Damn Doo Wop Band, Pleasure Birds
6/10 – Detroit, MI – Lager House w/Useless Eater, Kommie Kilpatrick
6/12 – Ottawa, ON – Going GaGa Fest
6/16 – Cambridge, MA – The Plough & Stars
6/17 – Brooklyn, NY – Silent Barn (PopJew Presents)
6/18 – Brooklyn, NY – Bruar Falls
6/19 – Manhattan, NY – Cake Shop
6/20 – Hoboken, NJ – Maxwell’s w/Reigning Sound
6/26 – Milwaukee, WI – Club Garibaldi – Dusty Medical 5th Anniversary Party w/Thomas Function, France Has The Bomb, Midwest Beat
7/3 – Neenah, WI – Cranky Pat’s
7/8 – Atlanta, GA – 529
7/12 – Durham, NC – House Party
7/17 – Milwaukee, WI – Linneman’s “The Goodnight Loving Supper Club” Record Release Party
7/23 – Boise, ID – Ziesta RockNRoll Party
7/24 – Portland, OR – Slabtown “The Goodnight Loving Supper Club” Record Release Party
7/25 – Seattle, WA – Funhouse
8/1 – Las Cruces, NM – The Train Yard
8/3 – Austin, TX – Beerland
8/7 – Milwaukee, WI – Cream City Music Festival
~ “The Pan” ~
Sarasota – “The Chiller”
Apr 29th
I wasn’t planning on posting anything today as I’m feeling a bit under the weather, but then I stumbled (tumblred?) upon this little pearl on Tumblr. Sarasota is his name and he’s made a song (and video) about having ice cream for brains. Or something to that effect. Either way its weird cheerfulness put my in a better mood so I had to spread the word. Fact is you can download his album Things Alive for free here. Oh, and you gotta love this quote made by one of his friends that’s posted on Sarasota’s tumblr: “I don’t mean to keep telling you that everything you make is creepy.”
Here’s the video for “The Chiller”, starring Sarasota himself and what I think is supposed to be an evil scoop of ice cream:
~ “The Chiller” ~
Sleigh Bells Offer “Treats”
Apr 28th
Hey, remember when I wrote about a little known duo called Sleigh Bells? Well a lot has happened since then. They’ve racked up quite a lot of hype and are now about to put out their debut album, Treats. The cover (above) is slightly puzzling, but I guess the bizarreness of it fits with their “soft vocals against harsh electro-rock” sound. And speaking of treats, the new song “Tell ‘Em” is available for download. I wasn’t too keen on their previous one, “Crown On The Ground” but I really like this one and have high hopes for the album.
~ “Tell ‘Em” ~
Mixylodian, “Make Me”
Apr 27th
Time for a quick update on Montreal band Mixylodian. They’re about to launch a new album, Wild In Church, and are sharing the first single “Make Me” with the world. I’m not really sure how to describe it other than that it has a sort of tropical vibe to it. So a summer song then, albeit perhaps not a completely conventional one (but then my country’s idea of modern summer songs are pretty much always of the euro-techno kind so I might not be the best judge of that). The album cover makes me think of anything but summer though!
~ “Make Me” ~
The Indelicates Are Back!
Apr 13th
British duo The Indelicates are following up their brilliant debut American Demo with sophomore album Songs For Swinging Lovers, out today via Corporate Records. The album is available as a “Pay What You Like” – that is, you pay whatever amount you want, and that includes not paying at all. However, please consider that the duo are on their own now and therefor can’t afford any lavish PR campaigns, so even the smallest amount will boost their spirits, I’m sure. Plus if you help continue to spread the word on their new album that would probably be appreciated too.
More info on the album from the official press release:
Recorded in Berlin by gifted producer Ed East (Chikinki), Songs For Swinging Lovers is a stunning, diverse and intellectually complex record that marries the band’s trademark lyrical precision and songwriting skill with a broad palette of musical styles and influences. The strains of country, Weimar cabaret, holy bible-era manics, belle epoque cafe music, Muder Ballads-era Nick cave, 90s indie and 70s sleaze can all be heard in the arrangements.
A more personal album than its predecessor, Songs For Swinging Lovers veers between the furious (Your Money, Flesh) and the reflective (Savages, Sympathy For The Devil) with detours into the metaphorically historical (We Love You, Tania) and the outright disturbing (Roses).
Buy or download Songs For Swinging Lovers for free here.
~ “Savages” ~
Between Two Waves: New Eardrums Compilation
Apr 13th
Fellow Scandinavian music blog/label Eardrums are serving up yet another free compilation of delicious indie music, this time called Between Two Waves. Here’s some yummy copy-pasta about the project:
Between Two Waves – a free indie compilation of 38 songs on 3 volumes.
We are proud and happy to release Between Two Waves – a non-profit project from music lovers to music lovers. It is the fourth compilation project from EardrumsPop, a small net label closely related to the Eardrums music blog. We release free compilations, often with a special theme.
The main idea behind the Between Two Waves compilation is co-operation & collaboration. Bands and artists were invited and encouraged to find someone to work with and make a new song together for the compilation. The only requirement for the songs was that they had to be ”warm and melodic”. The positive attitude and genuine will to participate of all the people taking part in Between Two Waves has been the engine of the whole project.
Many of the artists who ended up making music together for Between Two Waves, have never met each other. These bands have found the same pitch through liking each others music and working together despite the distance. In miles the distance between Sweden and South-Africa or France and USA might be long, but sharing the same passion for music brings people closer to each other. Several of our projects have plans of continuing their work together, either on recordings or on concerts.
Email, internet and other electronic tools have been important for the long-distance collaborations in Between Two Waves. One of the songs went from computer to computer, musician to musician, via 5 Japanese cities before it was finished!
Also the team of four people behind Between Two Waves found each other as well through music. We all, Knut, Leena, Stefan and Tim, are from different countries with different backgrounds, but found each other and the same bandwidth through the similar music taste, and the Eardrums music blog, run by Knut.
The cover art for Between Two Waves will be made by our favourite illustrators, and at least one of the artworks will be made as collaboration between illustrators. The compilation will also include a booklet with artist biographies, interviews, poems and cartoons.
Between Two Waves is planned to be released on the 12th of April, and can be downloaded for free at eardrumspop.com.
