Funky Nashville now Grand Fiction

Old news that I just learned: Terrible Danish act Funky Nashville have rechristened themselves Grand Fiction. Whether or not their music will likewise improve remains to be seen...

Gaffa reports that Danish country/dance act Funky Nashville is making an extended attempt to break in the US: http://gaffa.dk/nyheder/view.php/news_id=17375
Sounds like someone's got a lot of money to throw away to me. I am not optimistic for them.

Speaking of Moi Caprice, they'll be joining fellow Danes PowerSolo, The Kissaway Trail, Vincent Van Go Go and Funky Nashville as this year's Music Export Denmark emissaries to both Canadian Music Week and SXSW.

Funky Nashville
Hitch a ride
Iceberg Records

At its best, this Danish debut sounds like a slightly campy combination of the Pernice Brothers and Chris Isaak. Alas, the rest (most) of the time it sounds like the soundtrack to an imaginary American roadtrip that's taken a surreal, comedic, and not particularly pleasant wrong turn. They try for funky now and then, try for Nashville other times, but all in all, it's postmodernism gone awry - not all influences are meant to be combined. It's a shame since they've got a fine singer, some good melodic instincts, and some splendid twangy guitar. It might make you laugh, but I don't think that's what they were going for.
- Nancy Baym

In browsing my sidebar I just noticed that Denmark's Funky Nashville is a featured pick at Filter: http://www.filter-mag.com/media/interior.671.html
Apparently the band is getting a US release next week via 215 Music. Who knew? Read my own thoughts on the band right here.

MP3: Funky Nashville - Gone away

Funky Nashville. Funky. Nashville. Two words that should never, ever go together, especially in the context of a Danish band name. There's something so intrinsically wrong about that, even moreso when said band performs some fucked-up, bastardized version of Young Country. It's bad enough when American performers embrace the style, but please don't let Europe try and sell it back to us! For those of you lucky enough to be sheltered from the sounds of the genre, let me explain it to you: it's simply top 40 pop wrapped up in the artifice of country music. That means having a singer with a pronounced Southern twang and a few 'traditional' instruments such as pedal steel and fiddle. It may look like country music at first glance, but as Waylon Jennings famously sang, "Are you sure Hank done it this way?". It the case of Funky Nashville, the music is plenty comptetant, but so astonishingly jaw-droppingly wrong that it's worth sharing with you. In fact, I'd say that it's so bad that it's good. Really! You can tell from their stern looks in the sepia-toned cover art that these dudes ain't messing around either. When they play "California mansion girl" and decide to throw in a little jaw-harp, it's from the heart man. They mean business! Listen to those "Ring of fire" horns on the song I've posted today and ask yourself why? It just ain't right, but they don't let anything stop them from pulling out all the stops. Fer crissakes, I swear it's only a small step removed from Gerardo ("Rico Suave"). I'd say download at your own risk, but fuck it - you need to hear this.

Funky Nashville - Gone away