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.