Danish act Pinkunoizu, one of the last bands to be released via now-defunct Danish indie label , has signed with UK-based label who will be releasing the band's new EP "Peep" this coming September and eventually a full-length album sometime thereafter. Check out a preview tune from the band's website: http://www.pinkunoizu.com/
Danish indie act Larsen & Furious Jane have confirmed that their new album will be called "Dolly" and will be released via the band's own label now that is defunct. There's no official release date yet, but the lead single "Out of pocket" can be previewed here: http://www.momowave.org/
It appears that will have two final releases before they call it quits. I'm not sure what the 2nd is, but the first will be Ghost Flute & Dice, a solo instrumental project from pianist Mikkel Almholt, a prolific Danish scene veteran. Read more and hear a sample tune: http://morningsiderecords.dk/2011/04/new-band-ghost-flute-dice/
Gaffa reports that ' big 10-year anniversary/closing party at Loppen in Christiania on April 15 will feature Jomi Masasge, Won't Lovers Revolt Now, Shout Wellington Air Force and Pinkunoizu with various label associates DJing: http://gaffa.dk/nyhed/48270
FigurinesAs with "When the deer wore blue", the dreamy echoes of '60s pop continue on through Figurines' self-titled release, coloring the album in nostalgic, sun-bleached tones and textures and casting strange shadows across their music. As fans of the band have come to expect, the swells of the compositions, both with respect to instrumentation and emotion, are layered and intricate, but not inaccessible or pretentious. The bright, clean production is subtly subverted by pop songs that are not reliant on guitar or vocal hooks, and tracks that evoke a summery feel often turn from the sun to explore the shade created by so much light -- "Have you always been someone that you've never been?" This perspective does not feel staged, as if the songs were deliberately crafted to include funhouse mirrors distorting the images reflecting back out of the music -- there is a natural, effortless flow to the compositions, even when a track turns corners that, at first, take the listener by surprise. On "We got away", what opens as a "Pet sounds"-inspired track evolves into something else: a love song that feels distanced from its central premise, and painfully aware of this detachment, as the subtle, clever refrain "I love her like a lover should love her" suggests. There is something this band brings to the table that so many other acts just cannot, an originality that is hard to pin down, but is nonetheless on full display on "Figurines".
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Danish indie label mainstays (Figurines, Oh No Ono, etc.) turns 10 years old in 2011 and will mark the occasion by throwing a celebratory show at Loppen in Copenhagen on April 15 and then shutting down for good. Read more: http://gaffa.dk/nyhed/45096 (in Danish)
Head over to the site to peep Figurines' new video for "Hanging from above": http://morningsiderecords.dk/2010/11/video-figurines-hanging-from-above/
has announced the signing of Copenhagen-based act Pinkunoizu, a band self-described as "an exotic mixture of lo-fi, high-life, modern composition music, ancient folkish songwriting, asian 60's pop and future post-apocalyptic underwater rock." Look for their debut full-length "Free time volume one" to get a digital release on November 8 with a physical edition to follow in March 2011 packaged with "Volume two" included.
Torsten LarsenThe subtitle to "The big payoff" should adequately prepare you for the contents of Torsten Larsen's (of Larsen & Furious Jane) album: "A collection of low-fidelity demos 2005-2008". This three-year period covers the time Larsen & Furious Jane spent on their exceptional album "Zen sucker". Demo recordings are typically the territory of diehards, those who want to hear the evolution of an artist's or a band's songwriting from the early drafts to the finished product, and there is an element of this on "The big payoff" -- the bare bones of tracks like "Tisminton" and "Oh, Perrey Reeves" may well prove only beneficial to serious Larsen & Furious Jane converts -- but there is also a decent amount of material that feels misplaced. Opener "Surrender" is among the strongest of these recordings, and one can't help but feel disappointed that it never found its way onto "Zen sucker". It's difficult to be terribly critical of "The big payoff": at its worst the recording acts a rough prequel to a fantastic album and at its best it feels like a collection of solid b-sides. The fact that is offering "The big payoff" for free doesn't hurt either.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
will release the self-titled debut EP from No Blood in Bones on March 15, both on vinyl and digital. Full tracklist, artwork and samples: http://morningsiderecords.dk/?p=291
Hits in the Car gives the lowdown on up-and-coming Danish duo and recent signees No Blood in Bones: http://stytzer.blogspot.com/2010/01/no-blood-in-bones.html
Danish label has prepared a microsite to give you a preview of their 2010 offerings: http://2010.morningsiderecords.dk
Featured artists include recent signees No Blood In Bones and Marie-Louise Munck along with stable acts Shout Wellington Air Force, Torsten Larsen and Ghost Voo.
Larsen & Furious JaneDespite the laughable name of both the group and their album, Larsen & Furious Jane are by far one of the best bands I've heard this year. An amalgamation of the melancholic immediacy of fellow countrymen Kashmir and the more contemplative vein of Interpol's register -- though this American influence only extends so far, most notably on "A deathbed conversion". A naming of influences also does little with an act like Larsen & Furious Jane; the majority of the record is difficult to place in this way. "Zen sucker" is a wonderfully luxuriant album -- its various components are in no hurry, despite the rather short length of the songs (only two tracks break the 4-minute mark), taking their time to build off the first moments of a composition and creating a extraordinarily functional mass of instrumentation, the timbre of the voice chosen to appropriately settle into this mixture: an almost Ian Curtis/Paul Banks tone adopted on "A deathbed conversion"; a somber, nearly-spoken register taken with "Snakes in the grass"; a contemporary Brit-pop style utilized within "A car that comes with the job"; a very Scandinavian quality (similar to The Radio Dept.'s approach) imbued into "Fine". In the end, "Zen sucker" is a record painted in almost every despondent, sorrowful hue that we've come to expect from Kashmir's contemporaries, but that somehow fits into these early summer days. There is a fragile sense of a hope intertwined in the beauty of Larsen & Furious Jane's music -- sometimes that's all you need.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
I Am BonesMy only true criticism of this album is that it should have followed the delightfully dirty, (dare I say it?) grungy direction that opener "Home is the one corner of hell that didn't catch fire" suggested. There is absolutely no underestimating the depth of my nostalgic descent that occurred as "The greater good" bled alive. I missed that Nirvana shirt that I left carelessly behind at a friend's house in Sweden like I have only ever missed lost loves before... but anyways, sorry about all that. Don't get too caught up in those first few lines, for what follows on I Am Bones' album is quite fantastic, and, to be honest, probably much better than a redefinition of that 'Seattle Sound'. "Leave the city" is yet more evidence that Denmark is home to some of the best indie songsmiths in the world, ones that seamlessly tie the dark to the light, the softly serene to the guttural and distorted, and producing fantastic pieces through this synthesis. Oh, and if you do have a soft spot for Mudhoney, there's more grunginess on "The masterplan", continuing a little into the following track "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing", a song that feels as though it could have been on "Incesticide" or Dinosaur Jr.'s "Bug". The standout, in my opinion, is "Baby, together we can live with ourselves": the most complete amalgamation of the varied influences - grunge, retro-rock, and indie - and individual voice of I Am Bones. "The greater good" functions as a remembrance, a forwarding of these memories, and a strange marker by which to see the progression of the music of my lifetime. While I hope these words inspire you to investigate these Danes and their craft, they do pale service to the music itself. Find a song, any song, and you'll be sold.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
I'm going to start this off by saying that I really did not like this. I've listened to it a few times since then in order to formulate my review and each time I've had a really hard time enjoying any part of it. This sounds as if Oh No Ono has taken the worst songs of the eighties and mixed them together, topped off with one of the worst voices I've heard in a while. The song "Practical money skills for life" makes me think I'm in "Weird Science"; and "Am I right?" is reminiscent of a crack-fueled "Mickey" by Toni Basil. Whilst the hooks are catchy and it would probably go over well as background music at a bar, consciously listening to this album hasn't been pleasant for me.
- Matt Giordano
