The other day, during my regular visit to Labrador... well, actually, I was looking for the new Radio Dept. album -- I'd forgotten it won't be out until next spring. But they have a nice new EP out 5. december -- 5-spårs EP (literally, 5-track EP) the solo debut from Johan Hedberg of Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. According to my database (it's best not to ask) I never really got into Suburban Kids, but this solo stuff is... nice.
My first thought, upon hearing the first track, Grammisgalan (anyone speak Swedish? I can't quite figure it out) was -- Christmas. Now I think of it as a sort of cross between a Christmas song and something by The Tough Alliance. NOT a Christmas song by TTA -- I don't even want to think about what that might be -- but rather a nice mix of the best parts of the two.
You can hear three of the other tracks from the EP on myspace, and the full thing should, I think, be up on last.fm within a week or so, as that kind of seems to be Labrador's thing. You can also tune in to KPSU today around three (Pacific time) as I'll be playing Grammisgalan -- and other excellent stuff, too -- on the show.
--DL--Grammisgalan (Johan Hedberg)
30 November 2007
Hvad betyder dette?
28 November 2007
Taksigelsesfest
Wow. I’ve been at my parents’ house -- and away from my computer -- for a few days, in celebration of Thanksgiving. (One good thing about living in the
Also this Friday, at the Modern Age -- five bands, starting at 7 o’clock: the Online Romance, Doubledutch, Almost Nearly, the Nihilist Croquet Club, and Museum. The
So, now, since this is supposed to be an mp3 blog, here’s what I have. I tend to group music into three categories, according to time of season: music I primarily listen to in the spring and summer, music I primarily listen to in the winter, and that which I listen to all year round.
In addition to the onset of winter, several things over the course of the past week have reminded me of a snowy-weather band I haven’t listened to in quite a while: Doí. They’re Danish, and not as well-known as they ought to be. (Read: their stuff is very hard to find, or at least it was last time I looked.) I listened to them a lot around January -- the last time it snowed in
Anyway, as anyone who’s at all familiar with this blog can probably attest, I have an incredibly difficult time describing music, a trait which is not really a helpful one for somebody who writes about music all the time. So here’s my description of Doí, which I conceived of last night in the bathtub. Listening to Doí encourages me to imagine hiding in a miniature log cabin out in the middle of nowhere, lying curled up on the floor in the dark, surrounded by a nest of pillows and blankets, looking up through a skylight at the stars and snow falling on pine trees.
If that isn’t appealing to you, perhaps you’ll get the wrong impression of Doí. So maybe I should explain what that scenario means to me: it’s the idea of being quite happy, or at least rather content, yet knowing, at the same time, that such a thing is unattainable. “We’ll wake when rivers run dry” is one of the only lines of their songs that I can, at the moment, remember. It’s like that -- waking up, and then -- oh, wait -- it’s too late already. Although that’s not entirely bad. Know what I mean?
If you’re in the mood -- for a bit of lying on the floor in pseudo-depression -- give them a listen. Here is Missing, the song I’ve listened to the most. Or you can hear their entire debut album, Sing the Boy Electric, on last.fm. Nice.
And now -- hearing this -- you ought to understand why I’ve been unproductive…
--DL--Missing (Doí)
17 November 2007
Fredag
Anyone who’s already heard Friday’s show may have noticed it was a bit… odd. To make a long story short, add some stupid actions on my part together with the slight inconvenience of a surprise pre-record going on prior to and during my show and you’ll be met, logically, with a bit of confusion.
I was going to play a bunch of KPSU cds, but as they were rather inaccessible, I wound up playing mostly stuff from silly myspace, as well as several of the mp3s available via Hits in the Car. I’m kind of annoyed because in my haste not to have dead air, I wound up playing a couple of things I would have much rather played in a more organized fashion… So I’m going to pretend that Friday’s wasn’t a real show. I think I was already pretending that as I broadcast it.
Many of the songs played yesterday will probably be played again on shows over the next few weeks. But if you really want to listen to the horrible segues and me shouting (in a voice where it’s really obvious that I have a bad cold) to be heard over the band playing so loudly next door that even they were wearing earplugs, well, it’s right here.
Spillelisten, også:
1. You Don’t Dance – Lupus (DK)
2. Great Expectations – The Ballet
3. Emily Scott – Esiotrot
4. To the East – Electrelane
5. Starlett Johansson – the Teenagers
6. The Gun in God’s Hands – Slowmotion Club (SV)
7. Tynd Is – Spion (DK)
8. Roscoe – Midlake
9. Artboy Meets Artgirl – moi Caprice (DK)
10. Her Voice is Beyond Her Years – Mew (DK)
11. Due to exasperation, encouragement by others present, and the fact that it’s just a great album, I ended the show by playing Neutral Milk Hotel’s album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea all the way through. About the first half of it -- 20 minutes or so -- should be included in the podcast.
Also -- The Modern Age last night was pretty sweet. A bunch of kids that I used to go to school with -- at two different places! -- showed up. (Plus this other kid who I probably creeped out by staring at a lot, because from the side, he looked just like a boy I used to know...) That was neat, too.
And finally -- this is important -- next Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, I will be out of town. DJ Frresh, who does the show before me, will be covering my show. Unless he suddenly gets into Snook (Swedish hip-hop), don’t expect a lot of Scandinavian stuff. I’ll be back on the 30th, though.
--DL--Ashtrays Podcast (11-16-07)
14 November 2007
Jeg har endelig læst det, som jeg skulle have læst to måneder siden
So. Around the end of September, Emodreng & Indiepige posted a little interview with Camilla Florentz from Oliver North Boy Choir. And, now that it is mid-November, I’ve finally finished reading it. It took me 45 minutes. I suppose that’s not terrible -- it did take me a lot less time than I initially thought -- but now I feel utterly ridiculous for not having read the thing maybe, say, six weeks ago. Of course, I do not always have time for translations, even when those are the things I’d most like to do -- there are always so many other things to be done.
However, when one is ill, one has the liberty to put the writing assignments and lecture notes away for a time, and that is what I have done. I’ve learned several new words, as well. (Although I also encountered several that I couldn’t translate at all, and I’m unsure how the name
If you are interested in reading this interview, the information contained still seems quite valid, despite the slight age. You can find it right here. Unfortunately (for non-Danes), as you may have concluded, it’s only in Danish. So, instead, I will kindly translate a couple of highlights. Well, actually only one, talking about the lyrics: “When Ivan writes, it is in all cases only pop songs about hatred, death, and unhappy love, whereas Mikkel’s lyrics are more substantial and deal with unhappy love, death, and hatred.” I think Camilla had a lot of fun, doing this interview.
Other news in ONBC-land:
Songs for the fourth single are now undergoing mastering. The track list: Blizzard, Epidemic Dreams, a Kim Carnes cover, and the remix (not sure which song it will be of) is from Attention Now!, from
11 November 2007
Lange ture - J.L. = ondt
Wednesday night I took a nice long walk. 52 blocks, I think. Not the greatest way to spend the evening, but oh well. That’s that.
Also, something I forgot to mention before -- last Friday’s Modern Age went incredibly well. More than 200 other people thought so, too. Wow. There will be another Modern Age show 16. November, with these bands/solo acts: Bodhi, Please Step Out of the Vehicle, Mattress, and Dragging an Ox Through Water. Please come!
And this more recent Friday: the show went well enough. If you want to hear me having ondt i min hals and mispronouncing band names, download your own copy and listen.
The playlist is here, too:
1. Late Nite – Slumber Party
2. House of the Setting Sun – the Flaming Stars
3. Go Progress Chrome – Grandaddy
4. Maple Leaves (EP version) – Jens Lekman (SV)
5. Pull the Trees Down – Delicia Mini (DK)
6. King Pop – Kaspar Hauser
7. In My Head – The Ballet
8. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel
9. Cold Hearts – Club 8 (SV)
10. In the Park – Free Loan Investments (SV)
11. Hate to Say I Told You So – the Hives (SV)
12. Your Father – the Radio Dept. (SV)
13. Ewan – the Radio Dept. (SV)
14. Baby Captain – Xiu Xiu
15. Hyperschlieb – epo-555 (DK)
Also, please note -- links will be added when one (or, hopefully, both) of the following happens: a) my terrible internet connection works for more than five minutes, or b) I became less flu-like to the degree that I no longer fear it would be severely detrimental to my health to leave my apartment. Sorry.
--DL--07 November 2007
Andre bands
Firstly -- I am quite sure that 'banderne' is not the correct plural of 'band.' (Is band even used to mean band in Danish?) I know that Danish speakers look at this blog, at least from time to time -- as bands is a word I tend to use fairly often, it would be super if one of you would kindly clue me in on how to properly put it into Danish. Thanks...
Now. Perhaps you remember -- a while ago, I wrote a post about The Charade, mentioning that they were one of several bands which had been recommended to me, but which, for stupid reasons, I had never before listened to. Here are the others:
Rumskib: Danish boy + girl (yay!) shoegaze. I’ll admit that I (sadly enough) haven’t heard a whole lot of Rumskib. Nor have I heard a whole lot of A Sunny Day in Glasgow, so maybe I’ve gotten songs that aren’t a good representation -- however, going by what I have heard, Rumskib reminds me a whole, whole lot of A Sunny Day in Glasgow. That’s a good thing. You can listen to four of their songs on myspace. Dreampoppers Tribute, which clocks in at just over seven minutes long, is the best.
Kim Larsen was suggested to me by not just one but two people. Both of them made some sort of allusion to him as being the godfather of Danish rock/pop music. In my experience, the term godfather is usually associated with someone old(er), and lately, I regrettably have not been very into artists who began performing before I was born. However, for someone in his sixties, Kim Larsen is keeping up real well. I don’t know if what I heard was old or new or somewhere in between -- regardless, it’s good, solid, Danish-language (always nice) pop. With guitars and drums and bass -- and a bit of female backing vocals here and there. I rather like it. And I can quite see where a lot of the groups I like today pulled influence from him.
I cannot remember the name of the person who suggested Träd, Gräs och Stenar (whose name, translated from the Swedish, is Trees, Grass and Stones) to me. Thus, I cannot be sure if he actually liked their music or, having just learned that I played a Scandinavian music radio show, was simply and conversationally mentioning the only Swedish band he knew of. My memory is (obviously) a bit hazy, but I think it was the former more than the latter. As for me -- I can’t say I’m in love with this band. They’re good, I think (and they’ve been around for something like forty years; that amount of time can’t be wrong) -- just not in the way that is super appealing to me.
Their website describes them as a minimalist rock group, which is pretty accurate. They have a very strong sound -- and by that I mean very sort of driving guitar and bass… proggy, too. Träd, Gräs och Stenar remind me a lot of another band which I’m fond of, but unfortunately I can’t quite place who (aside from maybe that Hole song Olympia, if Courtney Love were calmer and, er, actually completely replaced by a fuzzy-voiced Swedish male). But they’re worth checking out. You can also download their song Decembernatt from myspace.
Spoon I will not talk about here -- but ga ga ga ga ga is right. Kent I'll talk about later.
I’m quite sure there was another (or even, perhaps two more) bands I was supposed to remember. For the moment, though -- perhaps encouraged by the absolute lousiness of my internet connection -- I have forgotten them. Eventually I’ll remember.
Also. This seems like the appropriate place to mention how secretly pleased I am that this blog is now visible enough that I’ve started to receive those mass emails (purporting to be personal) asking for coverage of so-and-so’s favorite band. I don’t really mind the whole fake-out thing, but I’m incredibly untrusting of all things online, so I’m always going to check up on anything that seems a bit sussy… sorry... However, at this point, if anyone real sends me an email about their band, unless I think they’re really terrible, I’ll probably at least mention them. Anyway.
03 November 2007
Radio besked og spørgsmål
Those of you who listen to the podcasts (or don’t listen at all) might not know this, but the official time for my radio show is Friday afternoons, 3-4. I’ve just been offered a new time -- a better time -- Mondays from 11 to midnight. However, I’m incredibly -- perhaps even notoriously -- bad at making decisions. I haven’t yet decided. PLEASE HELP ME.
This is very long, but I need to explain a few things. First, in addition to the webstream, KPSU broadcasts via two signals. The weaker of the two, which basically broadcasts only to the PSU campus, is 24 hours. The stronger, with a signal whose reach is city-wide, is switched on at 5 o’clock every evening and remains on until two in the morning. Obviously, then, my show in its current slot misses the wider broadcast; were I to move, I would be within the city-wide time frame. I don’t know how many -- if any -- listeners this would pick up, but it’s something to consider. (However, something else to consider is that an increase in listeners would mean I’d both have to do a better job and be more embarrassed on those occasions that I don’t.)
What’s more enticing than the better signal is the position of the show: switching to 11 o’clock Mondays would put me immediately following Sound Judgment, with Arya. (If you live in Portland, and you’re reading an mp3 blog, you’ve probably heard of Arya. If you haven’t, well, you’re really not paying attention.) This is cool enough in itself. Even better, though, this would make a fairly awesome block of time -- or, at least, a far better sonic match than my current one: right now I go on immediately after a hip-hop show. I can’t imagine we have much listener overlap. So this would be better programming -- which is better for not only KPSU and the DJs, but also for listeners.
However. The drawbacks. Three o’clock Friday afternoons is not an incredibly convenient time for me -- but, given the confines of my schedule, it’s a lot more convenient than basically any other time in the week. I like my time slot. It works well for me. Eleven o’clock on Mondays, on the other hand, is somewhat less convenient. To begin with, there’s the lateness factor, and I’ll let you take that where you want. But also -- normally, I work Mondays. The closing shift. Normally, I’m out by, at the latest, 9.45. Normally, I’m home within an hour of getting off work. However, due to the fact that I work in a retail establishment and rely on public transportation to get me to and from a workplace which is ridiculously out of the way, there are always exceptions.
Ideally, DJs are at the station an hour before their shows begin. Obviously (unless I change my work schedule -- more inconvenience) this wouldn’t often happen. If I can consistently be in by 10.30, I’ll be okay -- but I don’t even know if I can manage this. Assuming I decide I can… I’d hate to have things go wrong and be late, or rushed, or upset or any of those other things. Plus, even if I do get in time, if I’ve just had a horrid day at work, no matter what else is going on, that’s going to show. And I don’t want the fact that people were jerks to the cashier to cause me to do a rotten radio show, which is what will happen. I’ll already have one thing to make me want to go home and cry; I won’t need another.
Anyway. I’ll try to sum it up. I would like to shift my show. Other people at KPSU would like me to shift my show. I feel like I should shift my show -- and I’ll feel horrible about it if I don’t. (That’s another thing I do -- carry guilt.) I would benefit from a wider broadcast base and KPSU and I would both benefit from having a more appropriate show there to be segueing in from. However, I like my current time -- I like being at KPSU on Fridays -- and the new time is pretty inconvenient for me. I’m worried that a combination of negative factors will cause me to, in that slot, produce pretty low-quality radio shows, which will be unpleasant and upsetting for both me and anyone who happens to listen. I’ve been doing radio for three and a half years, but it still takes very little to cause me to make enormous mistakes; I tend to snowball.
I feel that if everything went right, this arrangement could work out very nicely -- but if anything went wrong, it could really backfire and things would get bad fast. Please also keep in mind that this is one of the only things I enjoy doing, and if I start dreading it, or even just disliking it, my quality of life takes a sharp downturn.
Anyway, maybe you’ve never even heard the program, or maybe you don’t care either way. However, I already know that -- in one way or another -- I’m going to let somebody else make the decision for me. So you might as well weigh in on the issue. Email or comment. Please. And thanks.
Here also is Friday’s playlist:
1. Strange is the Night – Moneybrother (SV)
2. Where Do You Go To – Peter Sarstedt
3. Split of a Second – Tiger Baby (DK)
4. Kind of Better – Mono Taxi
5. Here – Pavement
6. Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo – Jens Lekman (SV)
7. Lazy Feet 23 – Earlimart
8. How I Broke My Foot and Met Jesus – Pelle Carlberg (SV)
9. Sundown – the Jesus and Mary Chain
10. Death in Her Room – Bertine Zetlitz (NW)
11. All Is Swell (ONBC remix) – DAMPFBAHN! (DK, DK)
12. Earl Grey With Honey – Loveninjas (SV)
13. You Don’t Dance – Lupus (DK)
…My god it’s horrible. I really cannot make decisions. I’m going to cry. Yeah -- I’m pretty miserable now. Every time I think things might be starting to fall into their places, a little bit of reflection and I realize everything's only gotten worse.
--DL--Ashtrays Podcast (11-2-2007)