I thought spring was finally here, and now it’s snowing again… blargh! Norway in late march is not funny, – one day icy cold, next day the snow is melting and my blood is boiling, and then it snows again. Hate it. And tomorrow’s my birthday! Let’s hope for a “melting day”, then.
Ok, back to business: Here are some friday favourites for you!

PHOTO: THE WHITEST BOY

The Whitest boy alive – inflation
- from their myspace page
This is Orlando Oko, a.k.a. Erlend �ye from Kings of Convenience‘s new project. He has teamed up with Sebastian Maschat on drums and Marcin Oz on bass, and of course he does the guitars and vocals himself. The Whitest boy alive originally started as an electronic side-project back in 2003, but it has more and more developed into a band, – now without any programmed elements. It is so strange to see Mr. �ye without his trademark gigasized glasses…

Baumer- take what’s mine
- from their purevolume page
Baumer – How the west 1
- from myspace
Baumer play a dancable mix between Indie/alternative/electronica, and they do it quite good. Highly melodic songs with great vocals and a good “drive”. The band’s debut album is called “Come on, feel it” was released late last year on astro magnetics.
This is likeable.

You say party, we say die! – love in the new millennium
- from bandsite
I fell for this quite downtempo SONG (at least downtempo in the first part) from this Canadian dance-squad… Most of the other songs I’ve heard from them are in the electropunk style, and they do it very good. This song is a bit different, and I like it a lot. Listen to more from them on their website, – especially the song “the Gap” is good.

Tahiti 80 – T80 vs Bob
- from their myspace page
This french band has delivered some fine albums, and their latest “Fosbury” is in my opinion one of their best. Very “clean” pop, – but not clean as in sterile. This is very refreshing and catchy music, – perfect for a snowy spring-friday in Norway… The song you can get here at Eardrums is a non-album track, – a remix/mashup that the band(?) has done with one song from “Fosbury” and a track by Bob Marley. The reggae-groove adds a totally different dimension to the song…

PHOTO: BUTTERFLY EXPLOSION

Butterfly explosion – the great game
- from sxsw.com
“The Butterfly Explosion blend powerful spiraling guitars with driving rhythms and delicate vocals to form rich soundscapes of beautiful melodies, embracing modern post-rock and indie-pop with the classic reverb laden shoegaze sound of the early 90s.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. More songs on their website.

Anna Ternheim – to be gone
- from inpromo.de
Swedish singer songwriter with a very special voice and a special feeling in her music. She released her album “somebody outside” in Sweden at the end of last year, and will release it abroad now.

PHOTO: MERZ

Merz – dangerous heady love scheme
- from sxsw
From UK… or? From his bio, we can read about his origin: “Merz aka Conrad Lambert has a life as unorthodox as his music. He began his travels at 18, after his schooling in West Yorkshire, and has made friends in 48 countries. His parents live in Mongolia, his grandmother was born in Babylon (Long Island that is). He’s currently settled in Bristol, where, distanced from the industry, he writes his curious music”

OK GO – million ways
- from sxsw
From Chicago. Fun, melodic pop. Great pop, actually.

PHOTO: THE FIELD REGISTER

The field register – ceramic
- from myspace
Interesting music, – for the body and the brain. Like this a lot. Here’s what the band says about themselves: “The Field Register is a rock band from Montreal, via Moncton and Halifax. We play rock music that’s kinda noisy, kinda quiet, kinda tough, and kinda sissy. Our 2nd album “Tire and Caster” will be out in March 2006. The album was recorded by members of the band on tape that weighs heavy. The album will be released on Ships at Night by members of the band, with swanky white letterpress sleeves, so wash your hands! Hopefully we’ll see you at a show in the near future.”

Maritime – parade of punk rock tshirts
-from sxsw
Reminds me a bit of the above mentioned band Tahiti 80, – pure pop. Not french, but from Milwaukee. Did I spell that right???

Junip – black refuge
- from myspace
You probably know that Junip is Jose Gonzales‘ more rock-oriented band, so I will not tell you that.

PHOTO: DIRTY ON PURPOSE (COOL PHOTO, HUH?)

Dirty on Purpose – girls and sunshine
- from sxsw
DoP from Brooklyn, NY, has been one of my favourite bands since I first heard them quite a while ago. You can read my interview with them in the Eardrums interviews section. They have an ep out, and we are waiting for their debutalbum like we’re waiting for christmas! Some of their new songs can be heard on their myspacepage, and they sound like they’re worth waiting for! The debut will be called “Hallelujah sirens” and will be released on north street records.

New London Fire – Different
- from myspace
NLF are from Oakland, New Jersey, and this song is from their “a waveform” EP. I don’t know anything at all about this band, so I’ll leave you with this info and move on…

PHOTO: LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS

Language of flowers – taramascara
- from bandsite
Swedish band, a great song and a fabulous songname! The intro of the song makes me think it’s a Smiths-cover, but it isn’t. Anyone else get this feeling? I’m just waiting for Morrissey’s voice after that guitar-bridge/intro….

Hopewell – synthetic symphony
- from sxsw
From Brooklyn, NY. Very melodic, almost psychedelic music.
I absolutely love the grand ending of this song! Makes me want to fly or something. Got to buy myself some wings asap. Do they sell wings at IKEA?

PHOTO: EPO-555

EPO-555 – hyperschlieb
- from sxsw
From Copenhagen, Denmark. Very interesting music, with a touch of electronica, a touch of shoegaze, a touch of noise, a touch of alternative pop, a touch of poetry… Hyperschlieb is from their new album “Mafia”. People who like the fellow danes, MEW, will probably also like this. EPO is probably a bit more accessible than Mew, but the feeling in their songs are similar. Listen to more of their music/ watch their videos on their website.

Kath� – the ballad of Kath�
- from myspace
- asian girl/boy duo from San Fransisco. This acoustic song is so sweet, sweet, sweet! Love it. The ending line goes “it’s amazing, it’s amazing, it’s amazing being asian with you”. Great stuff!

PHOTO: PALAXY TRACKS

Palaxy tracks – grey snake
from sxsw
One of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard in a long time…. What a voice!!!

Judith Juillerat – slacker
- from labelsite
French songwriter on a german label (shitkatapult), – with semi-electronic music and a folk song harmonies. This song reminds me of Lali Puna with less static songlines. Beautiful!

Phuuuh! I have some more on my list, but I guess we’ll end it here. More on monday, if not earlier. Enjoy the weekend!

Amy Millan, our favourite canadian, the female voice of Stars + member of Broken Social Scene, will be out with her solo album “honey from the tombs” on may 30. The songs on this album has been written over several years, – some even before she joined Stars.
We are counting the days and while we are counting, we will be listening to this preview, “skinny boy”. Great song!

Amy Millan – skinny boy (zip file)

Norwegian electropop-band DATAROCK has released their single “sex me up” in Australia, and this song is available for download on the band’s website. Sounds a bit like an electrofied Talking heads or something. On the same site, vocalist Fredrik Saroea has uploaded some of his older solo tracks, and some of them are really good. On one of them, “I will always remember you” from 2002, you can hear Annie on nice, lush co-vocals.
Listen to this:
Datarock – sex me up (2006)
Fredrik Saroea feat. Annie – I will always remember you
Fredrik Saroea – Ganguro girl (2003)

Hi there, and sorry for my loooong hiatus from the Eardrums blog…
And thanks to everybody who have sent me mail during the months of my non-published status! Why did I go from every day posting to silence for months? It’s a combination of two things; my soundcard suddenly stopped playing early in january, and I haven’t been able to check out new music the way I used to. The other reason is that I have experienced a major blogger’s burn-out….
But, now I’m back. My speakers are playing again, and I want to update Eardrums again, – maybe not every day, but at least a few times a week. I’ll start off with some new mp3′s for you!

Eskimo Foe – the lie (demo)
taken from Eskimo Foe’s myspace page
I don’t know a lot about this project, and there’s not much info around about them either. I know that a key member is Tord �verland Knudsen, – it might even be his solo project. Tord is also a member of the UK/norwegian band The Wombats + our norwegian favourites, SIN + State Kuban, – quite active in other words… I like this song a lot, and I guess you will too. Quality Pop!

My Orchard – a list of things
taken from their bandsite
Not very different from the above track from Eskimo Foe, actually. Super-melodic indiepop with rough edges. My Orchard is a band from Sweden and this song is taken from their new EP Silhouettes.

The Soft Lighties – black skinheads in white pants
- taken from sxsw.com
After 2 years, the band formerly known as “The Incredible Moses Leroy” is back with a new collecton of quirky indie pop sounds “say no! to being cool- say yes! to being happy.” Their strongest outing to date, “say no! to being cool” is being released on bar-none records. (txt from sxsw.com, – great song, a band I’ll be watching!). Website; http://www.thesoftlightes.com/

The Owls – air
- taken from sxsw.com
4 piece pop band with 3 songwriters from Minneapolis. John, Maria, Allison, and Brian have been making music since 2000, and what they do is fabulous. web: http://theowls.net

Islands – rough gem
- from betterpropaganda
That’s just what this is… Islands is a canadian band featuring members of The Unicorns, and they will be out with the album “return to the sea” in april 2006.

Morningwood- the nth degree
- taken from sxsw.com
another good one from sxsw, and this one has been around for a while. Still, it’s a really infectious poptrack, so the cruel part of me want to put this on your mind. You can’t get it out of your head… muahahahaha (evil laughter).

The Young People – collection
taken from bandsite
This is a gem that’s probably not for everyone. Strange and beautiful music with a marvellous voice. Give it a chance!

Tom Brosseau – pretty low
- from Tom’s myspace pages
One of my favourite albums at the moment is the quiet “empty houses are lonely” by the folk/americana singer Tom Brosseau. It’s out on one of my favourite labels, Fat Cat. The music on this album reminds me in some ways of the late Jeff Buckley, and both the songs and the lyrics are strikingly beautiful. The cover is worth buying the album for too, – great artwork. This song, pretty low, is not on the album, and I can not find it on any of his two earlier releases. You can listen to more music from Tom Brosseau at his myspace page (see link above) or at his website.

… And last but not least, one of my other favourite artists this month:
Irving: situation
- from betterpropaganda
Irving: I can’t fall in love
- from insound
Irving: Jen, nothing matters to me
- from labelsite

Irving has a new album out (?) which is called Death In The Garden, Blood On The Flowers. I really love their sound and awesome melodies, especially on the last one “Jen,…”. Reminds me a bit of the elephant6 sound. I’ll get that album asap!
Website: http://www.thebandirving.com/

Ok, that’s it for now. Hope you’ll enjoy the music!

// Knut B. / eardrums