Twins Twins - Catherine leave
Danish indie act Twins Twins are streaming the new song "Catherine leave" at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/twinstwinsmusic
Country: Denmark
Silver Gleaming Sound Machine
All tomorrow's gardens
self-released
I live in Micronesia, a land of pay-per-KB dial-up internet and no Myspace or Youtube. Imagine, then, I'm running down Silver Gleaming Sound Machine's impressive array of e-accolades, barely able to control my excitement as I wait for "All tomorrow's gardens" to arrive by media mail. SGSM it seems, could be the knighted future of Copenhagen, the heir to the last great Danes of pop (I'll admit it), Alphabeat. A Krautrock bent and 60s psychedelia, in my mind, could prove a darker, more rewarding palette than "This is Alphabeat"'s overtly sugary appeal.
In theory. Imagine when I get the album and it plays more as a spiritual sister to Asteroids Galaxy Tour (one more band and it's officially a movement), a faulty electro-Motown update that I can't even dignify with the term pastiche, as the internet connotation of that word is moving ever so slightly towards "encomium" in our nostalgia-driven society. The sprightly percussion and electro-punk lean of album opener "Hawk" -- maybe the only redeemable song on this mini-album -- can't save SGSM from an overall lack of catchy choruses or cohesive arrangements. Typical of a crop of rising pop outfits in Scandinavia, SGSM tries to look in too many directions at once. Here's a nod to Pink Floyd, here's Le Tigre, and let's steep that all in the tinny pulse of turn-of-the-80s Krautrock! Overly smitten critics use buzzwords like "ELO" and "Kraftwerk", and in the process they forgive them for a dearth of palatable songs.
I don't know. Maybe the iPod commercialistas who find these bands great in 15 second snippets will continue to force feed us downmarket ethereals like SGSM in order to heighten the pop-futuristic appeal of tablet-based products. Maybe it's what we deserve. Whatever the case, I'm not nearly satisfied with Denmark's recent pop output. The country of Roskilde and indie greats The Raveonettes, Efterklang and Under Byen, to me, is of late lagging behind its Northern cousins in the pop arena. Whatever. Maybe we'll get lucky and the new Alphabeat album will become the Danish pop savior of 2010. Hah.
- Nathan Keegan
The Silent Ballet reviews Bjørn Svin
The Silent Ballet reviews Danish electronic artist Bjørn Svin: http://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/3189/Default.aspx
This week's Last.fm chart
Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:
01. Beach House
02. The Radio Dept.
03. Loney, Dear
04. Shout Out Louds
05. jj
06. Moto Boy
07. Håkan Hellström
08. Yeasayer
09. David & the Citizens
10. Efterklang
Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/
New Murder album coming in October
Danish duo Murder have announced that their forthcoming album "Gospel of man", their third overall, will be out in October.
BSTBA back in May
Danish indie label is reinventing themselves as a pop label after a long break: http://www.bsbta.com/
New CDr releases are planned for Paper Sessions and The Original Beekeepers plus more in the future from artists such as The Dear Elaines, Shaw and more.
The Floor is Made of Lava "Howl at the moon" now streaming
Soundvenue is streaming The Floor is Made of Lava's new album "Howl at the moon" in its entirety: http://www.soundvenue.com/artist/thefloorismadeoflava
Read more about it (in Danish) here: http://www.soundvenue.com/features/2010/03/10/stream-the-floor-is-made-of-lavas-nye-album
Under Byen - Kapitel 1 (video)
Gaffa has the premiere of the new Under Byen video "Kapitel 1": http://gaffa.dk/tv/clip/156
The Raveonettes to release b-side collection
The Raveonettes are working on putting together a b-sides/rarities collection for release in the not-so-distant future. Preliminary tracklist here: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=4263957&blogId=531009062
No and the Maybes live in London
Danish act No and the Maybes will be playing a few London shows this month:
03/27 - Proud Galleries
03/30 - Buffalo Bar
03/31 - The Camden Head
Anchorless signs with PonyRec
Anchorless, the new band from ex-Lack members Jakob Nielsen and Jacob Johansen, have been picked up not by as I would assume, but by the similarly-named . Look for their self-titled debut EP in April.
Sirius playlist week #11
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. Laakso - Worst case scenario
02. TALK 1
03. Du Pacque - Walk straight
04. Pascal - Tutti frutti
05. Nirvana 2002 - The awakening of...
06. Lapko - I shot the sheriff
07. TALK 2
08. The Floor is Made of Lava - The bigger picture
09. No Balls - Guilt blocker
10. Obliteration - Styxerian path (into darkness)
11. Next Life - Anti matter
12. TALK 3
13. Ikons - Imperiet
14. The Skull Defekts - Habit
15. Familjen - När planeterna stannat
16. TALK 4
17. Meleeh - Sun and moon
18. Kite - I give you the morning
19. Ef - 401 Lwa
20. TALK 5
Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.
Mailorder is back
I took a few months off to think about the future of my mailorder distro, but I'm back now and ready to do business again: http://www.itsatrap.com/store/
Expect many of the CD titles to be marked down in coming days as I'm still trying to clear out old stock, so if you see something you like, don't be scared by the price. Let's make a deal! Email mailorder@itsatrap.com for all inquiries.
Lis Er Stille - The real children (video)
Lis Er Stille have a video for their new single "The real children": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXcH2jeBElw
Ghost Society in the US
Danish act Ghost Society (feat. members from Blue Foundation, People Press Play, Choirs of Young Believers) will play a new shows in the US this month:
03/21 - Littlefield, Brooklyn, NY
03/23 - Union Pool, Brooklyn, NY
03/24 - LitLounge, Manhatttan, NY
03/25 - Sierra Grille Music, Northampton, MA
03/26 - Castle Rockmoore, Syracuse, NY