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.

Bands med beklagelige navner

Yesterday I was going to write a blog, but instead I read a whole book -- cover to cover -- which I haven’t done in a long time. I enjoyed it. Here is the entry I was going to write:

I’ll start with the old. There’s this band from New York, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, who I’ve been listening to on and off for nearly a year. My hopes for having found the ultimate twee band were crushed when I learned, a while ago, that they are not (as their last.fm bio suggests) brothers and sister, but they are nevertheless a very good shoegaze-y twee band. I’ve seen them compared to My Bloody Valentine and Asobi Seksu -- neither of whom can really be called twee -- but all the descriptions seem apt. Another band I myself compare them to is Dirty On Purpose, especially the way they sounded on their second EP, Sleep Late for a Better Tomorrow, featuring vocals from Au Revoir Simone’s Erika Forster. If you like that, you will like this.

Anyway. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the band (what a name, I mean). They have a saddeningly scant discography, and their debut LP, which includes several (okay, four) previously released songs, isn’t set for release until next February. Perhaps it’s because they have such a small catalog that the songs are so good. Many -- including a few of the as-yet-unreleased ones -- can be streamed at last.fm. They all share an immediately recognizable sound -- jangly and shoegaze-y at once; many also feature boy-girl vocals, and there’s just the right amount of mope and mock accents and minor chords.

All the songs have these traits, but I’m talking about one in particular here: Stay Alive. It won’t officially be released until February, with the album, but right now it’s up for grabs on the band’s website (and here). From the opening bars, I knew it would be my favorite Pains of Being Pure at Heart song, and I was right. I still don’t understand a lot of what they’re saying (as happens fairly often with me) so while it’s possible I’m subconsciously imagining lyrics, it’s far more likely that the song, its sound, reminds me of something I’ve long since forgotten. I really don’t know how to describe it any better, except to say that for every person, there are perfect songs. They come along every so often, and what sounds perfect to the one person may be only good, or even mediocre, for another, but for that one… This is one of my perfect songs.

And now the new. Followers of this blog probably already know I’m a pretty big fan of Oliver North Boy Choir, even though I cringe every time I say their name. They’ve just finished their next single (they only do singles), Over/Out. It’ll be released 23. November, but the third and fourth tracks are available for download now. They’re both nice and soft and ONBC-sounding, though the third, Farvel (it means goodbye, farewell, etc.) is their first non-English song, done in both Danish and Swedish. It’s also a collaboration with Marcus of Bakers at Dawn, who I also really like.

Farvel is nice, but I like the bonus track, Tonight, even better -- especially the last two and a half minutes. I think it’s largely the lyrics I’m drawn to, so maybe if I went to the trouble of translating Farvel, I would be more fond of it. One of the lines -- tonight I’ll be on your wall -- really sticks with me, and I don’t know why. This is another of those unhappy love songs the band bio talks about, and they do them so well.

For more such songs, pretty much the entire ONBC catalog can be streamed right now on last.fm. (I’d start with Lovesong, the Weekender B-side.) And, again, the front half of Over/Out will be released Sunday. Looking forward to hearing the rest of it.

--DL--
Stay Alive (the Pains of Being Pure at Heart)
Farvel (Oliver North Boy Choir)
Tonight (Oliver North Boy Choir)

Undskyld

First of all, I must apologize to everyone who has emailed me in the past few months, and whose messages I have not attended to. Secondly, I apologize for not keeping this blog regularly. There are reasons for these things, but they are vague and some are pathetic and others make sense only to me, and to make a long story short, I'll just say things have been a bit of a struggle of late. I'll never be the most prompt or reliable correspondent, but hopefully things will get better...

As to the playlists from last week's shows, due to both the amount of time elapsed since then and the lingering malaise, I'll refer you again to the KPSU archives for Wednesday and Friday. Both shows, I thought, were pretty good, although not without a few technical blunders caused by a new board which I am unfamiliar with and greatly dislike. I'm sure it was very expensive and, in the long run, I'm sure it will probably serve me well, but right now it reminds me of Barbie accessories.

On a radio-related note, denzions of PSU and the surrounding area may look for me in an upcoming issue of the Daily Vanguard, in which my photo may or may not appear; there was a photographer in during my show Friday. I'm very likely slouching, and it was time to do laundry, so I was dressed in -- for me -- rather an unusual way, and I probably look very, very much like a boy. Terrific. But perhaps they'll use a picture of someone else, or just run text.

Anyway, happier notes:

The new Hello Saferide is out; if you haven't heard it yet, do so. Mp3s are available from Klicktrack, CDs from Razzia (or, in the US, It's A Trap!), and vinyl will be out, in limited edition, 10 October from Hot Stuff.

Tomorrow the second half of Eardrums Music's four "CD" fall sampler will be released. The first half came out last Tuesday and is available for download. Check Eardrums tomorrow for part two. Should be good. Lots of Scandinavian music (although, to my estimation, not as much, or at least in as high a percentage, as on the summer sampler). Favorites from the first half included Slumber, by Norwegians Herostratos, and 7-11, a Shangri-Las-sounding Ramones cover performed by Floridians the Postmarks. Everything fits, I suppose, under the "pop" umbrella, but there's something for everybody, from shoegaze to bubblegum to almost hard rock to twee. Just don't let Volume 1's saccharine-sweet opening track scare you away.

Um... what else? I also haven't been reading much about or listening to new music lately. A few weeks ago, Oliver North Boy Choir released a cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain's Teenage Lust. I wish I'd written about this in a timely fashion... If you haven't heard this fine version already, it's available via the JAMC Covers Project. I think they did a very nice job with it -- Teenage Lust was always one of my favorite JAMC songs, and ONBC made it their own while still staying very true to the original. You can hear both bands clearly, which is cool. I often shy away from covers of songs I already like, and I've actually heard some bad covers of Teenage Lust before -- even the Mary Chain's own Desdemoana mix is absolutely awful -- but ONBC did real well. Now they're working on a new EP, Tonight, which will be released sometime in November.

And -- finally -- did I mention the new Hello Saferide album is out? I'm sure I did, but once more can't hurt. I am fully in love.

--DL--
Ashtrays Podcast (24. september 2008)
Ashtrays Podcast (26. september 2008)