“Sleep at your own speed” is a new album from a new artist on the German Morr Music. The label is German, but the artist, Butcher the Bar a.k.a. Joel Nicholson, is from Manchester, England.

The 22 year old Nicholson first appeared on Morr’s compilation “a number of small things” last year, at least that’s where I heard him first, where he participated with two brilliant tracks, one of them also present on this album.

Butcher the Bar’s debut on Morr features 13 tracks, mostly acoustic songs where Joel Nicholson sings with his soft, melancholic voice. There are some more upbeat songs with distorted guitars, but the feeling stays the same because of Nicholson’s calm, relaxed vocals. Overall, this album seems very though through. Everything fits, everything works well together.

The songs are good, the atmosphere on the album is wonderful, and the only negative thing I can say is that the combination of his vocals and the occational banjo makes me think of Sufjan Stevens just a bit too often. I’m not sure if that is a bad or a good sign?… If you like Sufjan Stevens, or if you like other obvious comparisons like Elliot Smith, Paul Simon and of course Nick Drake, you will probably also like this one. Morr music’s Seabear is also close, so give them a listen too.

In my eyes and ears, Morr Music is more interesting than ever in 2008. Check out their recent releases. All wonderful stuff.

Listen to this track from”Sleep at your own speed”:

Butcher the bar - Leave this town

To me, the Norwegian band Hiawata! has always been one of those you’ve heard so much about, but never really listened to bands. They have been playing all over Norway, but somehow I always missed their shows for no particular reason. I guess I just wasn’t that interested.
But on May the 19th Hiawata! will release a new EP, and I thought it was about time I gave it a go. The new EP is called Blacks on Blondes EP, and the EP has five tracks. Altough Hiawata! describes themselves as indie/pop, I actually would like to describe their music as pure rock (I guess the Indie name is more cred these days?). The second track Good looks actually reminds me of The Hellacopters, but the soft version. The next track, Fightz (ridiculous name by the way) is even softer. I think the idea is make a typical summer tune, and it actually works out really well. Fightz is the best track of the EP, and it is cuter than the other songs.

Over all Hiawata!’s EP Blacks on Blonde is alright. It does not strike me as particularly original or refreshing, but as a classical rock EP it is alright, I guess. I think I will listen to it again, but if it is good enough to stand in front of their next show? I don’t think so. However, if they are playing at a festival this summer, I will stand in the back of the crowd with a beer and hum along, that’s for sure.

If you want to check out Hiawata! Before the release of Blacks on Blondes EP they are celebrating the release on Mono in Oslo May the 13th, with I Was A King as support. You could off course also visit their myspace site.

Sebastian Litmanovich is the main man behind Cineplexx, a very interesting project for lovers of melodic, friendly and warm pop music. Sebastian is from Argentina, but lives and works in Barcelona as a musician and as a graphic artist.

On June 24th, he will release his new album, “Picnic”, on Portia Records. “Picnic” is Sebastian Litmanovich’s fifth overall album and his debut on Portia, and here he is helped by Duglas Stewart (BMX Bandits), Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Jad Fair (Half Japanese) and Federico Aubele (all of them have co-written songs or performs on the tracks on the album). Sebastian’s music has a lot in common with especially Stewart’s and Blake’s music, so they seem to be the perfect collaboration partners for Cineplexx.

If you like Belle and Sebastian, The Radio dept, BMX Bandits, Camera Obscura, Little Name, Jens Lekman, Flaming Lips, Teenage Fanclub or the Beach Boys, you’ll love Cineplexx. It’s a wonderful album, and a perfect companion to the coming days of Spring. The albumtitle is perfect. “Picnic” is the exact image I get in my head when I’m listening to this album. I see myself resting on the grass on a warm spring day, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and Cineplexx is playing somewhere in the background…. Mmmm!

“Picnic” is a wonderful collection of pop songs, with Sebastian’s warm and almost whispered Spanish vocals in front (except on “Tiger Trap” where Duglas Stewart sings). The album is full of pretty melodies, lush strings and harmonies, but far underneath all the niceness, you’ll discover more noisy, fuzzy and strange elements, - sometimes also darker - , which makes the album more interesting in the long run. The title track, where Jad Fair is involved, is almost psychedelic in its playful and dreamy arrangement. Wonderful!
This is one of the album’s really strong sides: The more you listen to it, the more you’ll discover.

Cineplexx - Espiral
(you can listen to more songs from the album on Sebastian’s myspace or on his nice website. The website also includes some free mp3s from his other albums and a free livealbum).

Lots of talk about “favourite labels” lately, but I’ve got more favourite labels than I have favourite bands, I think. WeePop! is one of them, and I think regular readers should know that by now…

The label has several interesting releases out these days. The WeePop! records are like small artworks, - everything is handmade, limited to about 150 and numbered, and the cds are tiny 3-inches with beautiful and cute popmusic.

The latest release is a mini-compilation of springtime music called “Spring forward - a weePOP-UP! compilation”. Of course, the name says everything about the cover: It’s a hand-cut pop-up sleeve! The album features 7 tracks from bands like The Deidres, Zipper, Let’s Whisper, Tafra, the Toothaches, Little My and The Hi-Life companion. The album is released today (April 15) and you can order it from the weepop site.

Little My, a charming and everchanging group of friends who usually play in other bands around Cardiff and Bristol, has released their new ep, “Little My’s sixth” on WeePop! recently. This band play wonderful, friendly and warm twee-ish popmusic, and their new four track ep is definitely something you all should get right now. It’s limited to 160 copies and comes in a drawn paper cover with a nice little felt bear glued on. Very nice, indeed!

Listen to one of the songs on the ep (from the labelsite):

Little My - all but the beeps meep

Jacob Borshard (which we have written about earlier) has made his little tribute to the 80s movie “Coctail” on one of the latest 3-inch releases from WeePOP!. Two great songs, including a cover of The Beach Boys’ “Kokomo”. Wonderful artwork on this one too, made by the artist himself. The cd is packed in a handdrawn  secret map of the island of Kokomo. Be sure to check out Jacob’s own website too, where he has both his albums for free download. I love his latest, “The last Brontosaurus”. Wonderful acoustic pop with funny and interesting lyrics. If I had to go to some deserted island with the music of only one artist in my mp3 player, I think the songs of Jacob Borshard would have been a good choice.

Here’s a song from “The Last Brontosaurus” (from Jacob’s website):

Jacob Borshard - Did you know Rousseau?

(all images are from the weePop! site + from little My’s myspace)

The German high quality label Morr Music has an intensely calming and beautiful album out these days. The album is called “Everybody loves” and it is a collaboration between two really interesting musicians, the German musician and composer Frank Schültge Blumm, a.k.a. F.S. Blumm and the Swedish Ellinor Blixt, probably better known as Bobby Baby, which currently is her stage name. Together they call themselves Bobby And Blumm, and the music they make is the perfect mix between the two.

According to the press release, they sound dreamy, detailed, soft and fragile. I can confirm that. The press release also says that they “add purity and warmth”, “find beauty inside hiss and rustle” and that they “make silent-songs”. I can definitely confirm that too.

Stripped down to just Ellinor’s warm and expressive voice and one or two other instruments, - probably a bass played very melodically or a low-tuned guitar, and I think I can hear a piano/keyboard and some glockenspiel somewhere in the music. The focus is always the melodies and Ellinor’s vocals.

It’s not what I had expected from these two, but when I listen to it, the result is a perfect mix of the “core” of the two artists. Ellinor has been making wonderful tunes like these throughout her whole carreer, but she has often packed them in with organs, casios and lo-fi drum-machines, while Blumm has been working with everything from electronic listening music to more jazz oriented stuff for a long time. His latest release “Summer fling” (also on Morr) points directly towards this new one, - warm, melodic and organic.

I have listened a lot to both “Bobby” and “Blumm” in the past, and it is a pure delight to be able to listen to “Bobby AND Blumm” now. I hope to hear much more from them, and recommend this new album warmly! (It should be available in most decent webshops).

Bobby and Blumm - Not at Home