Hvorfor vil I komme ikke til musikpladser hvor kan ung mennesker gør også?

Jens Lekman is coming to Portland in November. And guess where he’s playing? Actually I don’t know; it doesn’t make any difference to me. Not because I don’t love Jens Lekman, and wouldn’t love to see him live -- but because it’s in a bar. Of course.

Anyway -- what can you listen to of his? He’s one of the more generous artists I’ve encountered-- he’s actually got a whole batch of tour-only EPs up for download on his website, as well as a few randomly selected other tracks, my favorites of which are You Are the Light and Tammy, a very soft and pretty duet with El Perro del Mar.

It may not be the right season for some of this stuff, though -- I haven’t listened to El Perro del Mar in months, due to the weather -- but on the other hand, Jens Lekman does seem to be rather fond of horns in some of his arrangements, and I guess those are summery, in the brass band in a gazebo in the park kind of way. Actually, when I listen to You Are the Light, I picture people in full drum major costumes, complete with the enormous hats, marching in a parade and moving their trumpets back and forth in the air in a way that probably only cartoon characters are capable of. That, and how absolutely in love I would be with anyone who used their one free phone call after being arrested to request a song on the radio. He does have some nice lyrics… and the contact page of his site is still one of my favorite web pages. Ever. Think you can figure out why?

And for those of you who want the opposite of what that thing suggests because you’re still not old enough to see shows, perhaps this will be a slight consolation: The Modern Age (we have a myspace now!), which is a small Portland all-ages venue which I work/volunteer at, is having four bands this Friday (10 August) -- Typhoon, Eskimo & Sons, the Bustling Townships, and the Red River. Show’s at eight, admission’s three bucks, and one of the members of Typhoon plays the accordion.

If you’re still bored -- or even if you’re not bored, just helpful and nice -- fill out a blog questionnaire. (If the server is down, as it, annoyingly, is right now, try back later.) I wouldn’t be asking this if I didn’t need people to do it. So please. And thanks, those who have.

--DL--
You are the Light (Jens Lekman)
Tammy (Jens Lekman and El Perro del Mar)