The UK duo Paisley & Charliehave released a very nice two-track single on Holiday Records, and like everything else on the label, this is also released for free. “Sebastian (Come Home)” is a lovely piano-driven pop-song with nice acoustic guitar-details, a lazy beat-loop and a really good chorus that will stay in your ears after the music has stopped playing.
While Charlie does the main vocals on this one, Paisley sings on the next song, “Marble Halls”. This is not as upbeat as “Sebastian”, and could well have been recorded in the mid/late 60s, with it’s soft French pop/Bacharach-feel. While the first track of the single is immediately catchy, this one took some plays to get into my heart, but now it’s definitely there. It’s a really nice song, and I love the vocals here.
Now, get yourself over to Holiday Records and download this one, and while you’re there, grab a few of the other releases too (The Drums, The Motifs, The Arctic Flow, Girl Alliance +++). Lots of good stuff on their label-site.
Matinée Recordings have a lot of good news for us, including a couple of free mp3s from some of our favourite bands. The label have several new and very interesting releases ready now, including:
+ matcd054: Northern Portrait – Criminal Art Lovers CD
+ matcd053: The Electric Pop Group – Seconds CD
+ matcd050: Various Artists – The Matinée Grand Prix CD
+ matinée 073: Pale Sunday – Shooting Star CDEP
Mmmm… New music from Denmark’s Northern Portrait… I could listen to this all day!
On the Matinée Grand Prix album, you will find mostly new songs from Northern Portrait, Strawberry Whiplash, The Lucksmiths, The Electric Pop Group, Clay Hips, Tender Trap, Simpático, Cats on Fire, Bubblegum Lemonade, Math And Physics Club and The Guild League.
(Sorry, I just had to put a polaroid frame on this cover…)
Readers of Eardrums probably know the music of Elizabeth Morris, but you might not recognize her name. During her career, she has performed under several names, – many of them including the word “Darling”. I first heard her music on the cute, little 3” WeePop!-ep she released as The Darlings in 2007 (with unique photos on the cover for each of the 120 copies), and I have followed her musical paths since. The Darlings became Allo, Darlin’, and that’s where we are today. Earlier this year, Allo, Darlin’ released their wonderful, supercatchy single “Henry Rollins Don’t Dance”, and it received wonderful reviews and airplay far beyond the small radios that usually play the brilliant WeePop-records.
Allo, Darlin’ has a new single out any day now (14/11), – their debut on Fortuna POP!-records, and an album will follow in February 2010. The new single is called The Polaroid song, and it’s another really good and catchy song from Allo, Darlin’. It was inspired by Polaroid’s decision to stop manufacturing the iconic film, and is a beautiful, upbeat popsong with bouncy drums, tambourines, rhythm-guitars and the warm vocals of Elizabeth in front. I bet Allo, Darlin’ can get airplay on the big stations with this one too!
I’ve been asked “what’s your favourite album of 2009″ several times, and I’ve even been asked to make my top albums of the decade list, but I really can’t do it. It’s almost impossible for me to make a list like that, – there is so much good music, and I can’t say that one is better than another.
What I like about year-end lists is that that I sometimes discover albums I haven’t heard, and that’s the kind of list I want to make. Here are my recommended releases of 2009, listed alphabetically, not by “best” or “worst”. I have put some of the releases in bold, and that’s the ones that really makes my heart beat faster, – the ones I hope to carry with me for several years into the future.
I know I should have made links to all the artists, but when you see the number of albums I have mentioned here, I guess you understand why I haven’t…
Most of these albums are available on itunes, 7digital, emusic, amiestreet, spotify, cdbaby, platekompaniet or directly from the artists/labels. If you want to know more about some artists, search for them on google or myspace.
Let’s start with albums from artists beginning with A: (Prepare for an overdose of good releases…)
Once again, the people behind the Spoon Train Audio-label have made a compilation of independent pop from Oslo. The album is called “Oslo2″ and features 16 songs from 16 bands, – most of them are bands we already know, but some are completely new to us. This is the follow up to last years “Oslo!”, and this time they have managed to refine the pop-focus they have on these compilations. Less fuzz, more melody.
Before I start commenting on the music, I must give two thumbs up for the initiative. Compilations like this, where established artists stand next to completely unknown bands, is a great way to get new bands out to the public, and also a way to make the pop-scene stronger. The way they focus on independent pop-music gives us a varied, but consistent album. There are definitely ups and downs here, but it has become an album that you can put on and listen through without feeling the need to skip songs that don’t fit in. They all fit.
My favourites, however, are the songs from these artists:
Cold Mailman starts the show with the stunningly beautiful “Time is of the essence”, a song we also had on our own compilation “Summer’s here!” a year ago. The Oslo2-version is different, with added drums and an updated sound. I was very happy to see in the inlay that the mailman will deliver a new album in 2010. Great news!
Therese Aune is an artist I have heard about, but never heard. Her song “Chameleon” is worth buying the album for on its own. She should have been on those big stages with this! Her vocals are intensely strong and beautiful, full of colour and dynamics, and the piano-arrangements on this song fits the atmosphere perfectly. Definitely one on my top experiences on this album.
Einar Stray is a hidden gem in the Norwegian pop-scene, and even if he seem to do a lot of very interesting things, his name rarely gets into the big papers. On this compilation, he’s represented with “Arrows” from last years “Favors & fields” ep, – a classic song in my ears and one of the better and most interesting songs ever produced in my little country. Stray is like a northern mix between Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Ros, The Books, and Andrew Bird. His debutalbum will be released in 2011.
Go Fandango is one of the new names on this album, and their upbeat “End credits” leaves me wanting to hear more from the band. In all its pop-freshness it also carries some darker elements and some clear references to 80s indie.
Like Spinning‘s acoustic and folky “Crush (And Naivety)” was a song that played along without leaving the biggest marks the first times I listened to the album, but it is definitely a grower and I really LOVE this little song now. Like the before mentioned Einar Stray, Like Spinning’s main woman Kari Jahnsen leaves the melody in front, but adds a lot of interesting elements behind it. Interesting!
Casa Murilo is one of the new Oslo pop bands that I have very high hopes for. Their song “Murilo, I love you” is one of the few I actually skip back to hear again and again. A lovely and super-catchy pop song.
Seppuku Zephyr Dance is another of the unknown names on the compilation, and another good one. Their dreamy, almost shoegazy (but not) song “Carousel” makes me think of the early days 4ad bands like Cocteau Twins or Lush, but also the less noisy sides of other Norwegian bands like Je Suis Animal and Maribel.
Monzano, – Sjur Lyseid from The Little Hands of Asphalt’s main band – give us a very good new song from their upcoming album on this compilation. On the beautiful “Cold Waters”, we can hear Lyseid in a duet with Thea Glenton Raknes, the singer in Norma Sass.
“Oslo2″ should be in the shops from today.
Here’s another favourite from the compilation, My Little Pony’s “The Capital of Norway”:
The Mary Onettes‘ long awaited second album “Islands” will be released on Labrador records on November 4.
On “islands” we hear a band with more confidence, and the band dare to take their songs one step further in either directions. I was very excited about their self-titled debut from 2007 too, but “Islands” is a very different record. The sound is wider, the strings are more in front, the pop-songs are more pop, the sad songs are sadder. If you have heard their debut, the best reference-point to the sound of “Islands” is the song “Henry”, only with much more of everything…
Several of the lyrics touch themes of growing older, looking back, “wishing for life to go backwards forever”, and I’m wondering if this is some kind of album theme for “Islands”?
The album starts with the two ace singles “Dare” and “Puzzles”, continues with the amazing “Once I was pretty” (which matches the first two perfectly), and takes a step down in mood and tempo on the beautiful “A Cry for love”. Other favourites are the touching “The disappearance of my youth”, “Century”, with the typical pounding toms we know from their debut, and the mid-tempo closing track “Bricks”. A perfect way to end an almost perfect pop album.
While my descriptions of their debut always included names of indiebands from the 80s, – Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order, The Cure, JAMC, – “Islands” sound like The Mary Onettes.
I am not going to say much, but I just had to make a post about this today.WILD HONEY’s debut album is now available for free download on his Bandcamp-page, where you can also get his wonderful EP from last year, also this for free. I’ve had the chance to listen to this album for almost a week, and it has become a favourite of my whole family.
Beautiful harmonies, excellent melodies and although my hopes were high after listening to his EP and the “Hal Blaine’s Beat”-single, this is better than I dared to hope for. Love the artwork too!
This morning I’ve played two songs over and over again, both from the indie folk-pop band The Woodlands, who sent them over to me late yesterday evening. These two songs have stolen all my attention, – like nothing else matters right now. Rare…
Their music fills me with a nice, calm feeling, – it leaves a tiny smile on my face and plants seeds for small thoughts in my head. It sounds optimistic and hopeful, but with a flavour of meloancholy. “The music is like the light of innocence that does not seek isolation or hibernation. It dances with gloom, not upon it. It does not intrude, it intervenes”, the press release says, and for once, a press release gives a good definition of a band’s music. Because this is just how The Woodlands’ music is.
The Woodlands are Hannah and Samuel Robertson, wife and husband, from Portland, USA. Her hushed vocals remind me of another favourite of mine, Kathryn Williams, and that’s a good thing.
You can buy their music via cdbaby, both on cd and mp3, or via iTunes or emusic. After listening through the whole album a couple of times now, I can tell you it’s just as good as the two songs I first heard. You can also listen to it on Spotify. Wonderful music!
“Feet to the sky” is the debut-single from UK indie/folk/pop-band Lulu & The Lampshades, and the wonderful cover-art made by Kate Slater is as colourful as the music on this single is. Some of you may remember that we have presented this band earlier here on Eardrums, and I was quite excited when I got my hands on their first single. The single is out today on the new London labelVoga Parochia, a label I have high hopes for.
The girls and the boy in Lulu & The Lampshades seem to be playful people, and it’s also easy to hear in their music. Unexpected tempo-shifts, bottle-percussion (?), glockenspiel, fun arrangement details and lots of handclaps colour their music. Although I love the other musical elements, it’s the warm and soulful vocals of Lulu and Heloise that gets most of my attention. Beautiful! I suspect that all members in the band take part in the backing vocals, and on “Rose Tint” we can also hear some nice male vocals in one part of the song (is this their drummer, Dan?).
Both songs on this single are very good, and they show two sides of the band; – “Feet to the sky” is upbeat with lots of things happening in the background, while “Rose Tint” moves more slowly and manages to say a lot with very few elements. This little two track taster leaves me wanting more, much more, so please Lulu & The Lampshades, can we get an album, – soon?
The 7″ is only available in 200 copies, but there is also a download option, and you can find links to where you can buy it on their myspace page and their label-page.
Here are a couple of live-videos from Bandstand Busking:
The last few days, I’ve been listening a lot to a beautiful and very special album from the Swedish sister-duo Piroth. The album is called “Safe Haven”, and it is released on the sisters’ own label Oma Gusti Records today, the 21. October. Piroth are sisters Nina (vocal, percussion) and Johanna (vocal, guitar), and the two have previously self-recorded, produced and released the ep “Alternative Tour” and their debut album “Prima Ballerina”. Now, it’s time for “Safe Haven”, and they have at least one new fan…
The music is warm and highly melodic, but with a dark and melancholic undertone, in a good way. The closest genre I can put it in must be “folk”, but this is clearly influenced by a lot of different styles, also more noisy genres like punk and alternative rock. Most of it is based on acoustic instruments, and the general feeling is quiet and calm. Sometimes the duo’s sound grows louder and rougher, like on the haunting “When the night is over”, with pounding drums and rough guitars laying the ground for Nina and Johanna’s voices. Other huge favourites are especially the quiet and beautiful “Hurt little birds” and the piano-driven “Smiling Streets, Singing Cars”.
Ah, the voices… this is definitely the most important element of Piroth’s music. Nina and Johanna’s vocals are incredibly beautiful, and the way their voices spins around and play with eachother in amazing harmonies are… well, – ahhhh!
“Safe haven ” is a very, very good album, and it is highly recommended from this writer. You can buy all of Piroth’s releases, including this one, on Klicktrack.
