Farvel

It’s been two years.

Honey, he says, don’t kill that last cigarette…

But it’s time to go.

From time to time, I’m sure I’ll miss this blog, but there’s no real motivation. I don’t do radio any more (nor, in fact, do many of the people I first did radio with). I graduated from college seven months ago, and have been taking Danish since then only because I had nothing better to do; my last class is Monday. Josh has long since given up smoking. Even Oliver North Boy Choir, the first band I wrote about here, decided to call it quits last month.

So… I guess I might as well. I've got things to do. You can keep in touch with me via email (as long as you don’t mind how slow I am in response), or keep an eye on what I’m listening to on last.fm -- although it should be borne in mind that, especially lately, I find myself listening to vinyl (and sometimes streaming audio) far more frequently than mp3s, and even when I do listen to music on the computer, I’m prone to turning off scrobbling for large swaths of time. Take everything there with a grain of salt.

Finally, and most reliably, you can find me also at my other (better?) blog, RQEBIR, where I write about books and short stories and, occasionally, how badly I want to work at Powell’s. I’m very fond of this blog right now. I hope it lasts. And I hope that things get better too.

Thanks everybody for reading.

--DL--
Twilight (the Raveonettes)

Hvad er død må have lov til at dø

Much as it pains me to say this, I fear I will not be able to carry this blog on much longer. I still love and listen to new music, though not with such… excitement, perhaps, as before. Things have changed, and, well, things have changed.

Who knows -- maybe a week from now I’ll change my mind and begin blogging twice a day. There’s always the chance that I’ll continue to pop in here from time to time, and I’ll still read It’s A Trap! daily and other music and mp3 blogs regularly. I’ll try to keep somewhat abreast of music news, and if anyone wants to keep in touch with me via email, keep in mind that I’m not the most reliable or punctual of email correspondents, but I’ll do my best. As for the blog, though -- this has been a long time coming, and I think it’s best not to drag it out any longer. So I’m going to let the blog die now, while there are still a few readers around to mourn its death.

(On the bright side, though, after nearly a year's absence, Emodreng & Indiepige is back! Go read their stuff instead.)


Before I go, a few music tidbits (but no downloads, sorry) to end with:

For those lucky enough to live in or near Denmark, Psyched up Janis, Sune Rose Wagner’s first band (I think? He can’t have had that many before it; it was 20 years ago) is planning a brief reunion tour. They sound, by and large, completely different from the Raveonettes and Sune’s recent solo stuff, but you can also hear hints of the same influence. I like to think of Psyched Up Janis as sort of a grunge band. On the other hand, they covered the Ronettes’ Be My Baby, in a decidedly non-grunge way, so… you never know. Their big song, I Died in My Teens, won me over nearly three years ago, back when I still was one.

El Perro del Mar’s new single, Change of Heart, is still great. Another one undoubtedly worthy of vinyl. Can’t wait for 1 April, when the EP, Love is Not Pop, comes out.

I’ve also been listening to Jonathan Johansson’s fairly new album, En Hand i Himlen. It’s all Swedish. It reminds me of the few songs I know by fellow Swede Nordpolen -- but it’s also a lot more diverse. The entire album (which includes a cover whose name, even in English, you will not recognize, but which you will know as soon as you hear) can be streamed on his website. My favorite track is the fifth one, Aldrig Ensam. Means never alone.

Oliver North Boy Choir released their final songs before calling it quits last week. Once again, I like the B-side (Crash) better than the single (Blackmail). Stream them all -- those two and more -- here.

Efterklang, who I saw in an absolutely insane show at last year’s Roskilde Festival, are playing Portland tomorrow night, supported by Peter Broderick, who is actually from Portland. I’d like to see them, even if just for the contrast, but unfortunately, I am expected at work (and even if I didn’t have to work, I’d have to be on the guest list to go, because impecunious is the word of the day week month year probably decade). Provided the venue doesn’t get as crowded as that stifling Roskilde tent (and it won’t; they’d get shut down for fire code), I can’t think of a more pleasant way to spend Saturday night. Well, yes, I can, but you know what I mean.

Outside of Scandinavia:

Is it just me, or is the new myspace music player really overdone and ugly? God. Let’s kill that, too.

I’ve been listening a lot lately to the new Black Lips album, 20 Million Thousand. (Stream at last.fm.) Very... diverse? I never thought I’d say this, but I guess it might be the rap song that I like best. Actually, no, but it’s very good. Long live whatever this is.


And finally. I will write one more post after this, on 13 March, which would be the blog’s two-year anniversary. Aside from that, this is goodbye.

Japanske grammofonplader

I haven't written anything in a while because I haven't listened to anything new in a while. Actually, to be honest, it started with something new -- Change of Heart, the first single from El Perro del Mar's upcoming EP. (Stream here; buy (soon) here.) It's old-sounding and beautiful, and I know it's only February, but this one could be the song of the year, easy.

It's catchy and addictive, and it made me want to something old and scratchy. I started with the Bee Gees (whose earlier stuff is amazing) and quickly moved on to a Telerad comp album called 24 Original Happening Hits. Judging from the appearance of the cover, the ages of my aunts (from whom many of my weirder records were inherited), and the release dates of the individual songs themselves, I'm guessing it was released in the mid-sixties. The 24th happening hit (the last track on side two) is my new favorite song. It's by a group I'd never heard of (though I know I've listened to the album before; I guess I must have never paid attention to songs I didn't already recognize), the Chantels. The song was their biggest hit. It came out in 1958. It's called Maybe. The lyrics are nearly unintelligible, but the sound and the message are not - and it's sad, so sad. It's fifty years old, and I don't care -- this is how music is supposed to sound. Beautiful song. (Stream (a different version) at last.fm.)

But since I can't listen to the same two-minute song over and over without having to get up to move the needle every two minutes, I decided eventually to try and listen to something else. This brings me to the Japanese bootlegs. Among my vinyl inheritance were a number of strangely packaged imports in plastic sleeves and monochromatic cases, some of which bore the Universal Records logo, many of which do not, and one of which was attributed to Nancy Siatra, and the omission of the N is not my spelling error.

My favorites of this collection actually came as a set. They lived in what was, by the time I got it, a slightly sunken grime-encrusted cardboard box, and were smaller than ordinary albums (the same size, actually, as 78s, though they play at 33 rpm), pressed on translucent red vinyl. Originally there were ten; now there are only five, plus an unplayable sixth, retained for reasons unknown, which melted at some point before my time into a shape roughly similar to a newsboy hat, and which no longer fits in the box. The surviving records are great. I remember sequestering myself in the family room and listening through each one after I first got them. It was the first time I heard the Small Faces (and probably countless others). It was the first time in years that my dad had heard a song he remembered playing for ten cents on a jukebox, a song which I later found someplace weird and bought on 7" (and which somebody has put up with a really bad video on youtube, but which should still be listened to).

Of course it was these albums that, when faced with a desire to listen to something old yet new, that I went for - but I discovered, to my dismay, that they were not here. I must have decided, for a now-unknown reason (possibly related to not wanting to contaminate my apartment with their filthy storage box) to leave them at my parents' house. Now I'm annoyed, upset, and slightly afraid that something might happen to them -- those aren't the kind of things you ever find again.

But anyway. New music. Aside from the aforementioned El Perro del Mar track, Jesper Norda also released an EP, We Have the Guts, last week. It's piano-based as before, and, I think, even better than the previous EP. The title track, six and a half minutes long, is great, but my favorite track is the first one, Let's go to a place infected with truth and resist with all of our hearts. It's gentle and calm for the first three minutes; then there's a sudden crescendo before the last bit, and for a few seconds it's just pounding, intense. This man can play the piano. The entire We Have the Guts EP, which, I must add, flows very well together as one cohesive unit, is also available for download in the Jesper Norda archives.

Next week I will write something else, perhaps on the horrific possibility of not becoming deaf but suffering amusia, which I think would be even worse.

--DL--
Let's go to a place infected with truth and resist with all of our hearts (Jesper Norda)

Den svensk popstjerne

Lykke Li is approximately 20 blocks away from me right now. This makes the third time she’s been to Portland in the past year. I haven’t seen her on any of these occasions, nor did I see her set at the Roskilde Festival this summer (as I probably ought to have done). In fact, I have as of today only ever heard two of her songs, for a grand total of maybe five plays. I never intended to actively avoid her, I was just never interested. And now she’s become one of my “records” -- like not having been to a movie theater in five years, not having driven a car in nearly three, and (this one is entirely without reason) absolutely, point-blank, no exceptions refusing to listen to the Long Blondes, even though all evidence points to a high probability of my liking them.

But that is that. I am always annoyed when small bands I like become wildly popular (the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, anyone?) so I’m probably the last person to start listening to someone simply because she’s the new Swedish sensation and therefore someone I should know about. So no Lykke Li for me. I’d take the snark and swagger of Ida Maria (Norwegian, yes, I know) over her any day. Or, staying Swedish, Robyn. How about that trip to Portland she promised she’d reschedule? Again -- any day.

Endeligt programmet (på engelsk)

There’s no way to break this gently.

The radio show is over. The last hour was last Wednesday evening, January 28. If I’d stuck it out until today (February 4), like I originally planned to do, the last show would have marked the fifth anniversary of my radio debut. I’m sad to have missed it, just like I’m sad to have given up my show, but the station had become too unpleasant a place for me to be. Maybe in time, I’ll make my way back onto the air, but as for now… it doesn’t much look like it.

I also can’t say how frequently I’ll update this blog in the future. Much as I hate to say it, I’m kind of burned out on music right now. I’ve been listening to the same six or eight bands and albums over and over. (If I were scrobbling, my last.fm neighbourhood -- and charts -- would be all messed up by now.) It’s all very good music, but I can’t seem to get myself to care much about it, and I care even less about everything else.

These albums are getting lots of spinning:
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel
All Hail West Texas – the Mountain Goats
Forever Changes – Love
Takk… – Sigur Rós
Chain Gang of Love and Lust Lust Lust – the Raveonettes

There’ve been some digressions, but they generally happen when I’m really not paying attention (as opposed to only sort of not paying attention) and just want some sort of background noise, and they generally tend to be bands and/or albums that sound some degree of similar to one or more of the artists mentioned above.

Anyway, now that I’ve listened to Two-Headed Boy Part 2 at least ten times in a row, I feel ready to… I don’t know. I just wanted to point out that I’ve now listened to Two-Headed Boy Part 2 at least ten times in a row. It's that bad.

Tonight, while the automix plays bad 80s music during the timeslot my show used to occupy, I will be spending the first of many now-free Wednesday evenings in one of my favorite places, Powell’s City of Books, in the company of one of my current favorite authors, Lauren Groff. I know that, due to length, it’s very likely that she won’t, but I hope she reads “Majorette.”

I have a book blog. (I would say “I have a book blog now,” but I’ve actually had it for more than a year.) If I become too negligent with Ashtrays, and you still crave my writing, you can read it here.

Endeligt programmet

I gårs var mit endeligt programmet. Det skal jeg savne, men det var tid for at afgå. Jeg var led og ked af at føle lige en andenklasses borger. Hvis du vil gerne snakke med mig eller ved mere om alle af det, må du godt emaile mig eller skrive en kommente.

Spillelisten fra i gårs:
1. A Whiter Shade of Pale – Procol Harum
2. Where Damage Isn’t Already Done (live) – the Radio Dept. (SV)
3. Hoppípolla – Sigur Rós (IS)
4. Stay Alive – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
5. At Least I’m Honest – Tiger Baby (DK)
6. All You Want – Said the Shark (DK)
7. The Quiz – Hello Saferide (SV)
8. The Twist – Frightened Rabbit
9. Remember – The Raveonettes (DK)
10. Something New – Bakers at Dawn (SV)
11. Teenage Life – Club 8 (SV)
12. Cobra – Oliver North Boy Choir (DK)
13. Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) – Peter Sarstedt

Tusind tak til alle som hjalp at lave min tid med stationen god. I skal jeg savner, og jeg håber jeg skal endnu se I engang i mellem, og håber også, at I alle lave den bedste af det. Og der er ingen af I, som kan læse dansk, så skal jeg stopper nu. Hilsen til alle, og på gensyn.

English forthcoming.

--DL--
Ashtrays Podcast (28. januar 2009)

Den sidste halm

Jeg kommer til at forlade alle med radiostationen.

Ligeglad

Jeg er nu faktisk helt uinteresseret for musik tinge. Jeg skal ikke skrive mere, men... det er ikke so godt.

Spillelisten fra i onsdags:
1. Comforting Sounds - Mew (DK)
2. White Roses for Blue Girls - My Favorite
3. Night Surf - Robotboy (SV)
4. Missing - Doí (DK)
5. We Move in Silence - Club 8 (SV)
6. Avec - Dazzle Ships (DK)
7. Hoppípolla - Sigur Rós (IS)
8. Cut and Run - Electrelane
9. Farrah - Action Biker (SV)
10. Thirteen - Big Star
11. Loneliness is Better When You're Not Alone - Hello Saferide (SV)
12. Little Dance - Jesper Norda (SV)
13. Tonight the Walls are Closing in on You - David & the Citizens (SV)

Og i fredags:
1. Skimret - Nordpolen (SV)
2. Drama Queen - moi Caprice (DK)
3. Stranger on the Fifth Floor - the Flaming Stars
4. 156 - Mew (DK)
5. Summer Babe - Pavement
6. Everyone Else I Know - Slumber Party
7. Love Can Destroy Everything - the Raveonettes (DK)
8. Down the Track - A.K. Hansn (DK)
9. Disappearing Act - the Bear Quartet (SV)
10. Poor Cow - Peter Bjorn and John (SV)
11. På Drift - Kent (SV)
12. In Some Distant Future - the Honeydrips (SV)

--DL--
Ashtrays Podcast (21. januar 2009)
Ashtrays Podcast (23. januar 2009)

Treserne

Her er spillelisten fra i gårses program:

1. Inez - Juni Järvi (SV)
2. Bewitched - Luna
3. The Gun in God's Hand - Slowmotion Club (SV)
4. Crooked Spine - Sambassadeur (SV)
5. I'll Never Be Yours - Bubblegum Lemonade
6. How Did We Forget - El Perro del Mar (SV)
7. Things Are Gonna Get Easier - Low Motion Disco
8. Black Satin - the Raveonettes (DK)
9. Totalled - Wallpaper
10. Eventually It'll Break Your Heart - Moneybrother (SV)
11. Words Enough to Tell You - the Mascots (SV)
12. Never Take the Beauty - Northern Fields (SV)
13. Love Doesn't Last - Broder Daniel (SV)
14. Gone and Passes By - the Chocolate Watch Band
15. Your Mind and We Belong Together - Love

Overalt, havde jeg en god fredag. (Undskyld, Andrew.) Spillelisten havde nogle gammel sange, og nogle sange som synes gamle, synes jeg. Det var lidt svært for mig, at finde dem (fordi det fleste jeg har er meget nye), men det var også meget sjov at spille.

Jeg tror ikke, der er sange man må downloade, men du må have podcastet. Håber, jeg skal have nogle for at downloade næste uge.

--DL--
Ashtrays Podcast (16. januar 2009)

Mærkelige

Spillelisten fra 14. januar:
1. Tell the King - the Libertines
2. I Want You - Mugison (IS)
3. Hip - Marybell Katastrophy (DK)
4. Terrible Angels - CocoRosie
5. At Least I'm Honest - Tiger Baby (DK)
6. You Can't Buy My Life - Tomas Halberstad (SV)
7. Go Progress Chrome - Grandaddy
8. A Space Boy Dream - Belle & Sebastian
9. 1983 (Pelle & Sebastian) - Pelle Carlberg (SV)
10. The Empty Threats of Little Lord - Sunset Rubdown
11. Glowing With You - Anna Maria Espinosa (SV)
12. A Room Without You - Moto Boy (SV)
13. I Sing I Swim - Seabear (IS)
14. What to Pass On/What to Keep - Jomi Massage (DK)

One thing I want to particularly mention is the Moto Boy song, A Room Without You, from the recent For Martha EP. Normally I'm not a fan of Moto Boy; I guess it's the gimmick that got me. The first, instrumental, part of this song has been released, in addition to all the usual ways, as a music box. You know, the little tiny kind that you wind up and that plays tinny little piano notes off a metal spool, the kind I had five or ten of when I was a child. Lately, as I've gone further along my descent back into childhood, I've become enamored with music boxes again. I think this is really cool.

The rest of the song -- which has vocals and less sparse instrumentation -- is very nice, too. All the Moto Boy tracks I've heard have a very distinct sound; this one (once the song proper starts, at least) is no exception. Again, I'll say that that sound is something I don't usually go for, but in this case it worked. A very pleasant surprise. More information on the music box, as well as a video of Moto Boy demonstrating it, and links to purchase the box or download (free) A Room Without You, are here.

--DL--
Ashtrays Podcast (14. januar 2009)

Forkert

Last night I hit a wall, and I just wanted to go home and curl up in a ball and cry. I didn't do that; instead I went home and curled up in a ball and read a whole book, which I wish I hadn't done -- because I wanted to read this book, called The Customer is Always Wrong, during my breaks at work today. Maybe I will take it along and re-read anyway.

Yesterday's show came out well, because I was still happy then. Some really nice segues.

Spillelisten:
1. Doing All the Things that Wouldn't Make Your Parents Proud - the Pains of Being Pure at Heart
2. Yes This Is My Broken Shield - The Deer Tracks (SV)
3. Universe - Heidi Mortenson (DK)
4. Kevätrumpu - Paavoharju (F)
5. The Sweetness of Air France - Taken by Trees (SV, SV)
6. M.A.G.I.C. - The Sound of Arrows (SV)
7. Kids - MGMT
8. Den Støjende Tid - Lampshade (DK)
9. The Twist - Metric
10. Plantage - Under Byen (DK)
11. Dirty Dancing - Frida Hyvönen (SV)
12. Don't Let Him Waste Your Time - Jarvis Cocker

Again, some really good segues. I'm proud.

--DL--
Ashtrays Podcast (9. januar 2009)

Bedst af 2008 -- på radioen

Since I couldn't do it last year, I did it Wednesday.

Clearly I couldn't play all the songs from my favorite albums, or even all my favorite songs, in one hour, so I've tried to pick a combination of those not as easily accessible and those I liked the very most. I wish I could have done more, but a good playlist nonetheless.

Spillelisten fra 7. januar:
1. I'm a Lady (feat. Trouble Andrew) - Santogold
2. How Did We Forget - El Perro del Mar (SV)
3. Two Skylights - Southern Belle
4. In a Jar - Bakers at Dawn (SV)
5. Gi' Mig en Pige - Sune Rose Wagner (DK)
6. June Evenings - Air France (SV)
7. Count Backwards from Ten - the Big Pink
8. Isabella of Castile - Starfucker
9. Lovesong - Oliver North Boy Choir (DK)
10. Middle Class - Hello Saferide (SV)
11. You'd Never Know - Said the Shark (DK)
12. Oh! You Pretty Things - Au Revoir Simone
13. Arrows - Einar Stray (N)
14. The Twist - Frightened Rabbit

In other news, Annika Norlin/Hello Saferide just won a Swedish Grammy for best lyrics. Well-deserved.

--DL--
Ashtrays Podcast (7. januar 2009)

Hjemme

After a few weeks out, I am back home, and will start listening to music again momentarily.

Tomorrow night on the radio will be the best of 2008 show -- a little late, but I already had it planned, and I (obviously) rather like the playlist. Having been gone for so long, I'm sure to make lots of mistakes, but tune in anyway.

Yndlinge albummer af 2008

I wanted to have this up yesterday, but I was getting tired and incoherent. When Sune Rose Wagner’s Altid (see number seven) nearly dropped me off to sleep, I decided to quit. But now I’m awake -- now two days later -- so here are my ten favorite albums this year. The numbers, especially five through ten, don’t really mean that much, though, and are subject to frequent change.

10. No Way Down (EP) – Air France
In my opinion, this is the least outstanding of all the albums on here, though it’s probably also the one that’s gotten (elsewhere) the most good press. It’s a good EP, but right now I think it sounds a little tired, and I’ve never liked it as much as Air France’s previous effort, the On Trade Winds EP (number 6 on my 2007 list). But it has just enough of that same Caribbean tinge, mixed this time with a feeling of adult-longing-child wistfulness, and their samples and sounds are well-chosen and interesting. Sort of like a dream -- no, better is great, and “No excuses” has become my mantra for the year.
(stream two tracks + others)

9. Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust – Sigur Rós
I must admit I was not impressed at first listen; I was particularly let down by Gobbledigook (though the video made it better for me). Light and happy Sigur Rós was not something that particularly interested me, and this is without doubt their lightest and happiest album. A few more listens and it got better. I still prefer the second half of the album (actually, technically, Festival through Straumnes), and I still like their earlier work better, in general, but no matter how peppy it may be, there’s no denying that Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust is a very beautiful album, and very much in the vein of other music by Sigur Rós. You can study to it, you can appreciate nature and snow to it, but in this case you can also, as proven by Gobbledigook, run around in a forest in the summer and scream and swim and just have a really, really okay time.
(mp3 -- Gobbledigook)
(stream three tracks)

8. Little Ones (EP) – Jesper Norda
Maybe my favorite song title of the year comes from this album: Tomorrow You’ll be Forgiven but Tonight You’ll Have Your Teeth Knocked Out. This line just rings true for me. Norda’s composition, throughout the EP, is excellent. It’s sparse, just gradually crescendoing piano, occasional percussion, and, of course, his voice, crisp with very slight reverb, resonant, and surprisingly low -- you don’t really hear many singers in the bass register any more. On Little Dance, for example, Norda's voice sounds kind of soothing, but it also sounds kind of sly. His voice, instrumentation, and subject matter (though I’ll admit I don’t listen to the lyrics all that much, but rather the sound) all fit together really well. It's a great little EP.
(mp3 -- Tomorrow You'll Be Forgiven...)
(download full album)

7. Sune Rose Wagner – Sune Rose Wagner
Sune Rose Wagner, my favorite half of the Raveonettes, released his solo debut just a couple weeks ago. It’s all Danish, but aside from that, it sounds just like what you’d expect -- the sixties influence is strong (he really should have been born earlier), the instruments are stripped down -- nothing overproduced -- and the songs are very reminiscent of the calmer parts of the Raveonettes. (Think The Heavens, from Pretty in Black).
Honestly, speaking of the Raveonettes, I’d have loved to have put their most recent full album, Lust Lust Lust, on here, but even though it wasn’t released in the US until February, it was out in Europe in 2007, and therefore ineligible. That’s probably part of the reason I put Sune’s solo effort on here. However, it sounds just like I hoped, when I first found out, that it would sound, and I do like it a lot. I translated the Danish titles easily enough, but other than that, I don’t really know what he’s saying, and I don’t mind keeping it that way. I’m happy with simply the sound.
(stream four tracks)

6. Silly Killings – Said the Shark
Silly Killings is Said the Shark’s second album, and it’s just as pretty as -- and far more pessimistic than -- their first. The stand-out track is, without question, Shaky Heart. The songs have a very distinct, very sad, sound -- bells or chimes in, I think, at least half of the tracks, maybe more. It’s not just the bells that make that sound, but the combination of those and the instrumentation and Maya Saxall’s unique voice (she lives now in Denmark, but is originally from Canada). Even so, every song is different from the one before; nothing is overused or overdone. The music is so good, and the lyrics are, as well. My favorite, from Miles and Miles, with vocal duty shared with a J Mascis-sounding guest: you just can’t build a picket fence around miles and miles of home -- so good. You have to hear it.
(stream three tracks + others)

5. Starfucker – Starfucker
It’s important for me to clarify a few things. Starfucker got a really bad review on Pitchfork, and I’ll admit I do agree with parts of it. Yes, if you’ve seen Starfucker live, their album is something of a letdown in comparison with the show. But really -- does any album, by any band, ever come close to matching the intensity and excitement of their live show? I really don’t think so. Pretending I have no idea what the band is like live, the album comes out sounding very good. No, it’s not dance-y music with neon and day-glo and Mardi Gras beads; it’s more like studying music (that’s what I did) that also happens to be catchy. But it’s also very lonely, sort of drifting, and Josh Hodges’ sadly effected voice (which I wrote about last year, too, when I put his former band Sexton Blake’s Hungry Heart on the songs list) does it just right.
It's not a perfect album; I like the second half a lot better than the first, and the fourth quarter a lot better than the third. The last song, Isabella of Castile, is particularly beautiful -- I know you have to go, but I want to keep you to myself, like a dream, I can tell, we’ll never be alone -- I just can’t imagine any other voice -- or even band -- doing that.
Pitchfork called this album introspective and detached, like that was a bad thing. I don’t think it is.
(mp3 -- German Love)
(stream full album)

4. Saturdays = Youth – m83
Okay, everyone has heard and loved this album already. So I’m not going to say much about it. It should be clear, of course, that Kim & Jessie is not the only good song on the album. What’s less clear is what my favorite song is or should be -- largely, they all blend together; this is much more a cohesive album than a collection of individual songs. This could be just one big thing.
I like the shoegaze feel and the spaciness and distortion, the swells and waves, and the sort of vagary. But I also like that it sounds kind of like these creepy monastic choral recordings one of my sociology professors used to play -- and that in this context that slight creepiness is a good thing.
(stream full album)

3. Recordings 2008 (EP) – the Big Pink
The word I was searching for was swirling. All Leslie speakers and distorted guitars and echo-y, pleading vocals. If this EP were more than seventeen minutes long, I might die. This is perfect in so many ways, and I really cannot understand why more than 428 people (according to last.fm) have not listened to it. Thank you.
(stream three tracks + others)

2. More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide – Hello Saferide
I went back and forth so many times with this one; it’s been in the number one spot just as long as, if not longer than, it’s been number two. And if I could have two number ones, I would. As it is, I put More Modern Short Stories here because of Sancho Panza and 25 Days, mostly, because I had to pick some reason -- but I’m not going to talk about what I don’t like. This is still a really great album. (I mean, even my dad likes X Telling Me About the Loss of Something Dear, at Age 16.) The music is wonderful -- no handclaps, sadly, but it’s more advanced than Introducing… Hello Saferide, really fleshed out -- and Annika Norlin was nominated, not surprisingly, for a Swedish Grammy for songwriting. There may be a few songs I’m less fond of, but the others more than make up for it, acoustic and electric, and all different degrees of heartbreaking, like my favorite, Middle Class’s wishful, never to be fulfilled promise: And then I’ll be happy, I swear. The album title is fitting, because Hello Saferide really is a wonderful storyteller. Every song brings a wide-eyed gasp.
(mp3 -- Anna)
(stream full album)

1. The Midnight Organ Fight – Frightened Rabbit
As I said before, I had a terrible time deciding between my number one and number two. I was tempted to put Hello Saferide here, because I love her as a person, and I don’t feel that way about Frightened Rabbit, but what I do love is their album, and in the end, this is an album list. The Midnight Organ Fight is unimpeachable and pretty much flawless. There are no bad songs. The lyrics are brilliant and both the music and singer Scott Hutchison’s voice are perfectly suited to them. There’s pain here -- real pain -- and it’s conveyed so well, time and time again. The emotion is honest -- almost too honest to be bearable. The album skates just on the edge between disaster and excellence, and when it falls, it falls on the right side. I really liked Scottish pop for a long time; this is the album that made me love it. I can’t even pick a favorite song.
(stream full album)

--DL--
Gobbledigook (Sigur Rós)
Tomorrow You'll Be Forgiven... (Jesper Norda)
German Love (Starfucker)
Anna (Hello Saferide)

Ingen radio

So. There is currently no snow in the air or on the ground. Thus, I went ahead and walked all the way over to KPSU -- with my computer, which is not exactly a bag of feathers -- only to find that, while I got into the building just fine (my access badge still works) the fire doors to the basement were locked tight. Terrific. Since I know of no other way to access the basement or the sub-basement, where KPSU is located, there will be no show this evening. I’m sorry. I was really looking forward to this one, too.

There will also be no shows for the next two weeks, because I will soon be leaving town -- unless, of course, we finally get the massive snow and ice storm people keep shutting things down in preparation for. Maybe I will do a best of 2008 show on January 2, 2009, when I come back -- if I make it back, and if I manage to get in to the station. In the meantime, expect my 2008 albums list tomorrow or the next day, and, probably, since I will get bored, another post or two at least.

Besked

It's been snowing on and off all morning, but so far doesn't seem to have stuck. At the moment, I'm still planning on going in for the show -- which will be my favorites of 2008 -- tonight, but if the weather takes a turn for the worse, I may change my mind. In case anyone (alarmingly) checks this thing more than once a day, I'll try to keep you posted.

Even though there were several other, far more pressing, things I should have been doing, I spent the morning deleting all my deep links and mp3s no longer offered as free downloads by the artist and/or label. Since I went through the entire archive -- almost two years' worth, and for the first six months or so, I was apparently living in fear of the RIAA, as I refused to host any mp3s myself -- there were quite a few. But I think I got them all. I love cleanliness and order.

Now I will go do something productive -- like actually plan my show.

Yndlinge sange af 2008

First, a few things to keep in mind:

I don’t listen to a lot of new music, and what I do listen to is not very diverse. These are probably not the best of the year; they are my favorites of the year. Also, unlike many other blogs/websites, I will not repeat artists -- otherwise these lists would be even more homogenous.

Even with all the rules I set for myself, I had a terrible time narrowing this list down to ten, and then, once I’d finally managed that (actually, as you can see, I didn’t), I had just as much trouble putting it into order. The numbers -- 1-10 -- really don’t mean a whole lot.

These are my ten favorite songs that didn’t appear on one of my ten favorite albums:

Except I have two honorable mentions:

12. 7-11 (from the album By-The-Numbers) – the Postmarks
7-11 is a cover of a song by the Ramones, but it sounds like the Shangri-Las. That should be recommendation enough. To be honest, I don’t know why I’m so attracted to this. I was never a huge fan of girl groups, and this sounds, from the ooh-ooh-las to the string instrumentation, exactly like a sixties girl group song; everything is spot-on. My inability to pinpoint just what it is that I like is probably the reason this is an honorable mention instead of being on the list proper. But then again, maybe that uncertainty is what makes me like it.
By the way, if I ever hear the original Ramones version of this song, I will probably have some kind of a seizure. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must sound like.
(stream full album)

11. In the New Year (from the album You & Me) – the Walkmen
The first time I heard this song, I had already pretty much decided on my top ten songs -- but this is so good I decided to tack it on at the last minute. Lately especially, I’ve gotten to really like year songs -- and this, lyrically like many of the others I know -- is bittersweet; looking forward, but tinged with unhappy memories. Even with all its competition, In the New Year probably wins best lyrics of 2008 for me; I would love to quote them all. And sonically, it’s fascinating. I don’t know what those instruments are -- maybe just a really awesome organ? -- but wow. The song starts out like an electric Bob Dylan ballad and retains touches of that sound throughout, but it quickly grows into a tortured yet soaring, crashing, almost anthemic thing. It’s almost off balance, but it hits just right.
(stream)

Now, the actual ten:

10. Travel as I Wait (from the album The Anger) – Tomas Halberstad
I can’t quite place what I like about this one, either. It doesn’t sound much like the other songs on my top ten. I think what I like best is the sound. This is just one guy, but the vocals are layered on thick (and the voice and lyrics go together well) and there are so many little hints of different instruments, many of which you rarely hear elsewhere (by which I mean in other music). This strikes me as a very Swedish song, but it’s also very unique.
(mp3 -- also available at tomashalberstad.wordpress.com)

9. Godzilla vs the Island of Manhattan (with You and I Somewhere In Between) (from the album I Worked on the Ships) – ballboy
This is a silly love song that’s serious. It could mean so many things. Every time I listen to it, I think of a new one.
(stream full album)

8. Two Skylights (from the album Hurry Up and Thrill Me) – Southern Belle
I did a fantastic write-up for Hurry Up and Thrill Me, and then realized the entire thing was about Two Skylights. Not only is this my favorite Southern Belle song (unfortunately, it sounds very little like the rest of their album; I’m reminded more of Ross McLeron’s solo work), but it’s also one of the most appropriate songs I’ve heard in a long time. Even the name -- which doesn’t appear anywhere in the lyrics -- is very fitting. I first heard Two Skylights this spring, and it’s a good spring song -- a bit morose, but also hopeful -- or even a summer song -- uncomplicated and, dare I say it, somehow very pure. You can hear their youth.

7. How Did We Forget (from the album From the Valley to the Stars) – El Perro del Mar
This is such an old-sounding song. My grandmother would love it. I love it, too. The first time I heard it, I knew -- this song was made for vinyl. I can imagine it most, in fact, as a scratchy record with a skip in it, the same loop playing over and over. Of course, I’d keep my record in pristine condition, if I had one, but this is one of those songs that would still sound terrific with a bit of dust and a few scratches. To add character, though it has plenty of that already. Yes it’s slow and yes it’s repetitive and yes it’s true it doesn’t really go anywhere, but something about it is -- God -- just gorgeous.
(stream)

6. Arrows (from the EP Favors and Fields) – Einar Stray
This is a really pretty song -- layered, beautifully orchestrated; delicate; soothing. Instrumental for nearly the first two minutes, Arrows has that Icelandic sound -- think Seabear, think Múm -- despite Einar Stray’s being from Norway. I don’t know much about Norwegian music, but if the rest of it sounds anything like this, I’ll be listening a lot more.
And I will refrain from being jealous because this is so good it’s beyond me. Yeah, jealous -- because this guy (not band -- one guy) is eighteen. I’m amazed.
(mp3 -- also available at nrk.no)

5. I’m a Lady (feat Trouble Andrew) (from the album Santogold) – Santogold
I didn’t like Santogold at first, and once I started liking her, I still didn’t like this song for quite a while. It’s different from my usual fare; poppier somehow (though I have no idea what genre this belongs to). And, of course, it’s catchy as hell. I appreciate it, though, especially the changes in pitch and inflection. The production is good, too. Not to sound too technical, though -- I’m a Lady is (in my opinion, at least) a perfectly executed fuck-you. And it’s a versatile one -- it could go so many ways. That kind of thing is hard to come by.

4. Lucky (B-side from the single Neo Violence) – the Tough Alliance
The lyrics (which are not the Tough Alliance’s own; it’s a cover) are not the most brilliant. I don’t really know what this song is about. Listening, I pay more attention to the sound. It’s floaty and ethereal and, as I wrote before, “sounding as if they’re shouted down a long tunnel, the vocals are echo-y, far away, perhaps almost all the way gone… To me, it sounds kinda like a memory.” That’s still what I’m most likely to think of with this song -- a memory, a lost childhood, or maybe just a dream from a childhood I never had. Definite melancholia.
(mp3 via Pitchfork)

3. Lovesong (B-side from the single Weekender) – Oliver North Boy Choir
I wrote about this one before, too – “It’s the right kind of love song -- one for the broken-hearted. I guess nearly all (good) love songs are somewhat broken-hearted, but this one seems even more so. It’s perhaps what happens when you’re still in love, but don’t want to be, kind of; the lie that you need to tell yourself, even though you know it’s not true.” There’s only one thing I’d like to add to that. It’s slow and delicate and lovely enough, instrumentally, but it’s the lyrics that really kill. Once I tried to listen to this ironically and it just didn’t work. It doesn’t want to be, but this song is totally a lie. And that makes it even more painful, and even more real, and an even better song.
(stream)

2. Oh! You Pretty Things (from the album Life Beyond Mars: Bowie Covered) – Au Revoir Simone
Au Revoir Simone made my list last year, with their sophomore album The Bird of Music. They released a remix album this year, but I didn’t like it. What I did -- do -- like is Oh! You Pretty Things, a weird, vastly slowed-down cover from an even weirder tribute album. My favorite part, I think, is the last minute and a quarter or so, which is instrumental and sounds like a lullaby, but I really don’t know what it is about this song that makes me so like it. Perhaps it’s something about the slightly fuzzy organs, the echo, the three-part vocal harmonies… I don’t know. I do know that it’s good, though. And, even as much as I like David Bowie, Au Revoir Simone have got him beat on this one.
(stream)

1. In a Jar (from the album Best of Bakers at Dawn) – Bakers at Dawn
If I were asked to choose a favorite new artist for the year, it would easily be Bakers at Dawn. In a Jar is only one of my favorite of his songs (and its not even one of the ones where he sounds exactly like Elliott Smith!). It’s short and demo-y, very raw. The lyrics aren’t terrific (although, admittedly, the voice pretty much is), and the guitar isn’t all that special. Two other instruments appear briefly, though, and while they’re oftentimes background, almost indistinguishable from the guitar, both lend the song an interesting texture, and all of it fits together perfectly. It sounds good -- really good.
Other songs may be catchy, may appeal to some fleeting sensation or resonate only among a select few, may hit and then fade quickly away. It’s rare that a song comes along that doesn’t do any of those things, but is instead simply and in its own right a good song. In a Jar, I think, does that. This song is gonna last.

--DL--
Travel as I Wait (Tomas Halberstad)
Arrows (Einar Stray)
Lucky (the Tough Alliance)

Bedste ti musik-beslægtede tinge fra 2008

10 Best Music-Related Things of 2008 -- I think that's pretty self-explanatory. No actual songs or albums included here.

10. Attending the Roskilde Festival. I guess it would be pretty lame of me to not put that on here.

9. Discovering some really wonderful stuff on albums/by bands I thought I hated. I’m thinking of two songs in particular: Heartbeats (video) (thanks Rasmus), from the 2006 album Deep Cuts, by the Knife (who I otherwise can’t stand), and The Twist, from Metric’s (still pretty blah) album Grow Up and Blow Away, originally recorded as their unreleased debut in 2001, and officially released for the first time early last year.

8. Becoming friends with Arya Imig. (I needed another one, and if that’s not music-related, I don’t know what is.)

7. Turning 21. (This would be higher on the list if I had actually utilized this even once.)

6. Seeing VEGA. All wood, all original (from, I believe, the 1950s), acoustics that I could tell -- even without a band in it -- would be beautiful. Possibly the most perfect venue in the world.

5. Rock camp kids. I worked briefly with two different groups this summer, doing sound, and as jealous as I am of these thirteen-year-old guitar virtuosos and shy seventeen-year-old singer-songwriters, I’m even more pleased by their talent. No matter how terrible they might sound (usually not so much so), any band whose members are visibly underage gets a plus in my book and a smile on my face.

4. Starting to like garage rock again. To explain this, I should explain my listening history, which is a bit weird. I’ll try to be brief: the first band I remember listening to, when I was VERY young, was the Beatles. The sixties and seventies have always been present. When I was a little older, I listened to mid-nineties sugary alternative pop, which gradually turned into alternative rock of the embarrassing sort by middle school. Midway through high school I convinced myself to like punk rock (PS Josh I never liked the Casualties) and this persisted through my first year of college. In my second year, I began studying Danish and listening to Danish streaming radio, which begat my current love of indie pop and twee.
With each new period, I suppressed the ones before it. Of course, there was always some overlap, both forward and backward -- I’ve liked Sigur Rós since I was about sixteen; I still occasionally listen to the Distillers -- but largely, previous tastes were eradicated. The sounds of the sixties, while still floating, annoyingly, around the peripherals, took the hardest hit. But in the past year or so I’ve been realizing more and more that many of the bands I like most are heavily influenced by music from that era, and I’ve been able to appreciate again the simultaneously jangling and fuzzy sound. Still, it’s only in the past few months that I’ve begun to really enjoy garage rock and psychadelia -- both new and old -- without feelings of derision and guilt, and I’m so glad for it.

3. These emails... Yeah, right. Like I am really going to let strangers read my mail.

2. Being in a position to take these photographs. It’s not actually the pictures that I care so much about -- it’s where I was standing. And what I was hearing.

1. Doing sound for bands whose singers run their vocal mics through guitar pedals. As far as I can recall, this has happened twice -- first with Andy Combs and the Moth (Let’s Ride – mp3) and more recently with Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk (full set – mp3) -- and it sounds awesome. Both the bands and the way the vocals turned out are really different, but wow -- people should do this more often. It’s only rarely that I make my own copy of a live recording, but I did that in both these cases, and I’ve listened to them over and over and over.

Best (favorite) songs and albums will be here soon.

--DL--
Let's Ride (Andy Combs and the Moth)
Live on KPSU (Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk)

Ærefulde omtaler?

While I wait for a couple mp3s to upload, here is yesterday’s playlist:

1. Warm Hands – An Horse
2. Tonite – Jarvis Cocker
3. Tell the King – the Libertines
4. Drama Queen – moi Caprice (DK)
5. Heartbeats – the Knife (SV)
6. The Squirrel and the Pine-Cone – Girls Love Rallie (DK)
7. Seconds Away – the Legends (SV)
8. Mom and Dad – the Bear Quartet (SV)
9. Relay Race – Billie the Vision and the Dancers (SV)
10. The Room, Tarzana – the Radio Dept. (SV)
11. Fish and Shark – Jonas Game (SV)
12. Love No (Delorean Remix) – the Teenagers
13. Soundwaves – Attention Now! (N)
14. Let’s Go Hunting – Blue Horns
15. Oh My God – Ida Maria (N)
16. Dance, Dance, Dance – Lykke Li (SV)

The past two shows (yesterdays and Wednesday’s) I tried to play songs I liked from 2008, but which for one reason or another probably won’t wind up on my forthcoming best-of lists.

The hour following mine (as well as Live Friday, to a lesser extent) also features a bunch of songs/albums which I had not previously heard (Lykke Li’s Dance, Dance, Dance should be included in that list) but that have been popping up on other people’s best-of lists this year -- including my personal favorite of those, the Walkmen’s In the New Year, as well as almost the entirety of No Age’s album Nouns.

--DL--
Ashtrays Podcast (12. december)

Sluttet

Ikke med radio, men med min slutprøver. Og måske også, for en gang, med skole. Jeg er så træt af, alt jeg læser, måtte jeg snart hoste op igen. Hvis skribenter tænker og mener halv af alle tinge vi skriver og siger om dem og deres historier, den hader jeg alle af dem. Det er kun for meget -- og det kan jeg mere...

Men, radioprogrammet fra i onsdags -- det var godt, og bedre fordi jeg havde endnu sluttet min sidst slutprøve. Her er min spilleliste:

1. And Sleep al Mar – Au Revoir Simone
2. La Strada nel Bosco – Jens Lekman (SV)
3. Exit Bag – Andy Love (SV)
4. The Sweetness of Air France – Taken by Trees (SV, SV)
5. English Music (Destroyer) – Cake on Cake (SV)
6. At Some Point – Bakers at Dawn (SV)
7. Junk Bond Trader – Elliott Smith
8. Mind Blindness – Dirty on Purpose
9. Explosions – the Mary Onettes (SV)
10. Black Pearl – Death Valley Sleepers (DK)
11. You Don’t Dance – Lupus (DK)
12. Den Støjende Tid – Lampshade (DK)
13. Going to Where the Tea Trees Are – Peter Von Poehl (SV)
14. Young Turks (Disco Pusher remix) – Au Revoir Simone
15. Stay (Just a Little Bit More) – the Dø (F)

Og næste onsdag (17. november) skal jeg have min “Bedst af 2008.” Jeg har ikke endnu bestemt, om jeg skal spille yndlinge sange eller et sang fra mine yndlinge albumer, eller hvad... men det skal altså være et meget godt program -- det skal jeg nyde, i det mindste.

Jeg elsker “bedst af” lister -- ikke kun mine eget. Men jeg er ikke særlig godt med at lytte til nye musik, da albumerne kommer først ud, og så mangler jeg meget af årets bedste plader -- men den, i december, men denne lister, kan jeg finde ud af, hvad jeg skal prøve for næste året...

Så skal jeg faktist skrive tre lister i år -- en for sange, en for albumer, og også en af den ti tinge som var, synes jeg, bedste musik-beslægtede tinge for mig i året. (Den sidste er kun fordi jeg vil gerne skrive den; den må du ikke gerne læse.) Jeg synes, albumlisten er meste vigtig, så skal jeg sætte den op her sidste, måske næste torsdag, efter radioprogrammet. Andre to lister skal kom før den, måske i morgen og sondag, men jeg ved ikke.

Og også, efter programmet næste onsdag -- 17. december -- skal jeg igen til hos min forældre, så skal der ikke være radioprogrammer igen før januar.

Du må download Jens Lekmans sang La Strada nel Bosco, som jeg kan godt fordi 1) han synger på italiensk, og 2) det kommer fra en EP hedder You Deserve Someone Better than a Bum Like Me. Fantastisk.

English (short version) -- Next Wednesday’s show (that’s 17 december) will be my “best of 2008” list. I haven’t decided whether I’ll play my favorite songs, try to represent my favorite albums, or what, but it will be good. Since it’s a Wednesday, I’ll be talking again in Danish (perhaps a little English, though, but perhaps not), but I will post in the next week or so three “best of” lists -- one for albums, one for songs, and one called “The ten best music-related things of 2008,” which may appear as soon as tomorrow.

--DL--
Ashtrays Podcast (10. december 2008)
La Strada nel Bosco (Jens Lekman)