I can’t say I’m that into the Danish music scene really. Never liked Mew, and I’ve heard a couple of Danish indie bands, but they’ve usually just struck me as pretty average.
The Devil Probably, however, grabbed my attention. It’s minimalistic pop with a pinch of shoegaze. Catchy indie pop that fades into heavy guitar droning and then gracefully back again. Seriously, it’s great. I want to hear more of this.
If I were to describe their sound, I’d say it’s like Windmill had teamed up with Why? and had Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes sing. Insane, but that’s about what it sounds like.
Sunglasses from Savannah, Georgia will be an exciting contribution to the music scene this year. Interestingly, this collaboration between Samuel Cooper and Brady Keehn started through a film production. Their sound is fresh and a good example of “out of this world” music, but is incredibly difficult to describe. The crossovers and style are not something I have heard much before but are something to appreciate as music should keep expanding and explore new areas.
The brilliant Dave Mahler has made music videos for several norwegian bands, among them The Firefly Effect. His videos are great and he seems to have good taste in music too.
It is not often that instrumental music has a lasting appeal for me. This has something to do with how I see vocals as an integral part of music. I admit though that good instrumentation can cover up for bad vocals more so than the opposite. However I would like to say that the music benefits from having both sides integrated. Unfortunately a lot of instrumental songs I have come across tend to last eons, unable to find a fitting ending, continuing this uninspiring endless journey in one sitting. The melodies don’t seem to have many exciting layers and easily fall into repetition without the aid of a vocal range.
The instrumental composers that I find interesting have been film/video-game related which isn’t something I usually listen to outside the visual/engaging experiences. However, now I have finally found an independent artist that is instrumental, and seems to hit the right notes with me – while keeping the music interesting until the end.
The Tallest Man on Earth, otherwise known as Kristian Matsson, is a fantastic Swedish folk musician. He’s already released a selftitled 5-track EP, a beautiful full-length album by the name Shallow Graves as well as touring with Bon Iver.
To say we’re impressed with Matsson’s debut album is a massive understatement. He made one of the best folk albums I’ve heard to this date.
Suffice to say, we’ve been looking forward to a follow-up for quite some time, and we’ll probably end up fighting a while over who of us should get to review it.
The year goes by fast and we’re already in the middle of February, which means it’s time for By:Larm again. By:Larm is an annual festival and conference in Norway with the purpose of promoting new norwegian bands. I guess it’s quite similar to SXSW. Anyway, I thought I’d give you some tips on who I think is worth seeing.
When doing research for my main assignment in music history January 2009, I noticed that there weren’t really any thorough articles on indie music online. My local library held no books on the subject, and not even the best music encyclopaedias had articles or notes concerning it. I realised that this was due to the novelty that indie really is. Indie as we know it today started about the same time as the new millennium. Actually, it would be fair to call the 2000s the decade of indie, both musically and stylistically.
The lack of previous literature landed me more work but it also provided me with freedom when writing about indie. I could group bands into genres and name them as I pleased. Readers may well disagree with my theories, but I personally think they make sense.
A great year for music has come to an end and, unlike most other people, we’ve managed to wait until the year is actually over to publish our lists of best albums. I mean, what if someone got the crazy idea of releasing an insanely great album a few days before new years eve? Not that it happened, as far as I know, but that’s really not the point.
Ok, so we’re entering a freezing cold season (at least for us Norwegians) and with that I feel there’s kind of a natural urge to put away all that dancy and upbeat summer music and put on some love songs that can keep you warm through the winter. I’ve made you a little spotify playlist to help with the transition.
The Swedish indie pop band Heart-Sick Groans have, with the help of a bunch of students from a Danish drawing academy, made a really cool music video for their song “Three Day Blow,” which will be featured on their upcoming EP Gentlemen, If you aint right, get right.
The video has a very DIY-feel over it and is downright charming, though I must say that the faces of the paper dolls kind of creep me out. Well, take a look yourself. The video is cool and the song is nice and catchy.