Woo!

Our friends Oliver North Boy Choir have signed to Crunchy Frog!

Wolfkin-Astra Stube-Hamburg (2nd of Feb)

Here's another one I've been threatening to do for ages... I've made my love of Wolfkin somewhat clear in the past (you'll have to rifle through the archives, but here is a great place to start) I know it's been a while, but hey, you want to hear what I have to say, don't you?

For those of you who don't know Hamburg too well (or at all), the Astra Stube is teh world's smallest venue. Ever. I didn't think that anything could rival the Betsy Trotwood in London, but this provides some serious rivalry. Wolfkin, though, were all the better for it, and the smell of cigarette smoke and beer in a room crammed with 80-odd people who could barely move (are you sure that was legal?!) and were anxious with anticipation.

Wolfkinare one of those bands who invite you into their own private world, and you feel all the better for entering it.

Although their backing singer and manager were both sick (I hope thy're both better now, poor petals) the boys managed to rip through "Brand New Pants" with the kind of relish that's rarely seen outside of hometown gigs. "These are all illusions" seemed to take on a new meaning, while "Brand new pants" had the crowd dancing away (it was nice to hear thst non-dancing is prevalent in places other than the UK, and that dancing is appreciated...of course, I'd never do that in the UK), and people at the back stood on chairs.... the set went FAR too quickly, and, after running out of songs to play, we were treated to an encore of several the songs they'd already played, with teh crowd retreating even further into their world.

Wolfkin, then, my dears. They really have to be seen to be believed. And even then, you might not be able to leave their pop-tinged magical world for a week or so afterwards, and you'll never, ever be the same.

On a pseudo-gossip magaine strand, I can also report that they're lovely, lovely, lovely, and can more than hold their own in the drunken rock clubs of St pauli... but that's another story...

Just as a quick aside, I'd like to thank Jan (and Kruemel) from Queenaboutmusic/Crunchy Frog for their help. I'm sure they know why. Never say I'm not transparent!

New and Old Tiger Tunes

I know.. I know... I've been pretty crap lately, and there's a million and one things I should let you all know about! Unfortunately it's been one of those times when I've been hideously overloaded, and while I know I should have done the Wolfkin review and the Evil Death Machine/ Danish Girls preview I've been harpig on about for ages..well... I just haven't. It's not my fault. I promise. Both of those things will haveto wait, though, with the news that there's some new Tiger Tunes stuff! Ok, so it's not really new, it's more new-old, for we all know that they're all doing other things, but hey...who are we to argue?

New Fast Cats

The Walk

We Are Not Afraid To Say I Love You

Oh...and as I'm in the generous...

(Angry Kids Of The World) Unite

Of course, there's more on the website, so go and have a ruffle around...

Liga Podcast...

Not much time aain, but our good friends at Liga have released another podcast of the finest new shebang...

Here's the listing...

Tobias Hellkvist - Step Aside (Efterklang Cover)
Tomboy - 1.2.3.
Evil Death Machine - Things I Stole
Turboweekend - I'm Into You (James Braun Remix)
2nd Street - Code Red
Agnes Obel - Avenue
P. Jørgensen - Demo

It's interesting, as I've been meaning to cover Evil Death Machine for a long while- it's an interesting side-project from EPO-555's Hans-Emil... Something worth watching... It's worth a look...

Download here

Kirsten Ketsjer The Rock Band...

I know, I know... I'm useless. Talking of the darlings at Liga (as I have in the past few posts...don't worry, the effect will wear off soon, although they do have fabulous taste) Kristian recommended Kirsten Ketsjer The Rock Band.

Part of theYoyooyoy art collective (which has been described to me as "..something strange and rare..." more than once..is it me, or does Denmark have a load of great collectives around at the moment? See posts passim...).

I don't have much time, so I can't really tell you too much, but the tracks are from the album "ffffoo k tsscch" (a fab name, if I ever heard one). If you want ot read any more, visit thir page here.

As ever, though, I'll leave the choice up to you...

Ernie and the sandstorm, old man and the sea

Foot and Foot

However, I'll leave you on one last note from the email:

"..It's really good.I'm digging it. Or something like that..."

Who am I to argue with a guy with such good taste?!

Factory45...

I know I mentioned Factory45 before, but I think it;s time I gave them their own post- I noticed Liga's done something similar too- great obviously minds think alike...


Factory45 are actually a band I happened upon by chance, as I'd gone to Copenhagen the day before the guys when we were going to the big Crunchy thingy in December (which, by the way, was pretty damn fantastic, featuring, as it did, an EPO-555 performance with a heavily pregnant Camilla back in the breech for one night only, an stellar performance from Sterling, and a mind blowing Wolfkin show). I'd arranged to see a friend DJ, got horribly drunk before they arrived, and then made my way to the venue. I hadn't really expected to see anything that even vaguely impressed me (to be honest, I was more interested in drinking myself under the table and thinking of ways to pretend that wasn't heartbroken to about the current love of my life, who was arriving the next day)

Anyway. I digress. Before I go into yet another gossip-column style rant, I'll get back to the Factory45.

It was during Local Disco Star that, actually, I realised these kids (can I call them that? I have no idea whether they're younger than me or anything..) had something going on. I mean, I've been in rooms full of kids bopping (ha! That word is somewhat under-rated, I think, along with nifty).

Nitemare is a 1950s salsa lounge style tune meets 1980s vocalist with a 2000s twist (honestly, as incredulous as it sounds), Supermarkets is a funfair romp about...er...supermarkets (if only my trip to my local Tesco was so grand), while Local Disco Star is a countrified anthem with a catchy indie-style chorus and a tune that will stick in your brain for days. Best of all, though, is the delicious line "..So I roamed the streets and I roamed the bars, dressed as the local disco star trying to find a girl to smoke my big cigar.." Now maybe I'm just dirty minded (and it's often been said, especially in response to Jelly Beans, Jelly Babies and 69 Tragic Love Songs...) but is there some kind of naughtiness behind the innocent facade?

Decide for yourself:

Nitemare

Local Disco Star

Supermarkets

Excuse my chattiness...for some reason, Factory45 are a lot like 1234 and Charlie, Don't Surf... (who, although I haven't yet told me, were the catalyst to make me start writing this)they make me want to scream from the rooftops, and dance and sing until I fall asleep happy...

Factory45, then. If there's any justice, they'll be more than local disco stars...

Myspace

Website

New Oliver North Boy Choir...

Oliver North Boy Choir.

New Demo.

Need I say more...?


Download it from last.fm here:

Cobra

Ok, so Stytzer got there before me (even though we got it at the same time...). Naughty me.

Woo!

We're famous!

Liga have linked to us

It's official.

We're in love with Kristian Leth

No argument.



Oooohh...it's enough to warm a girl's heart!

Phew...there's a whole lot going on down...

A few things before we get back to business (almost) as usual (although the post may be a few fewer, now that I have a grown up job once more...)

Liga (the world's nicest music show) now have a blog. Go visit here , and, if you're anything like me, have fun trying to decode what the hell's going on as your Danish is so appalling. Alternatively, wow yourself with the fact that their music taste is pretty much the same as mine... BTW, if anyone does want to send anything, either email for an address, contactus via Myspace or leave a comment. I apologise to anyone I've missed lately- you have to remind me... I would suggest smoke signals, but somehow that might ot be an option...

One or two quick shouts: Factory45 really are the cutest thing to come into my life since Charlie, Don't Surf (who deserve a huge thank you for all their help and encouragement). I managed to catch them playing the meatmarket that is Lades in December (the same night that I managed to get horribly drunk with a lot of Swedes before going to see Lasse Lyngbo for Diefenbach DJing...if you want to hear that story, though, I think you'd probably better look at my other, more secret blog when I get round to it...), but the nonsense about the template's held me up lately...

One last thing: Ebbe Frej from EPO-555 is officially up there with my favourite people of the moment. No quibbles. Anyone who can put up with my drunken, broken-hearted slurring deserves a medal...

One last big thanks to The Modern Way 3.0 (in Turkish), Music PL.Pt and the ever amazing Hits In The Car... Oh. One last thing- you got something to say? Do you want to contribute? Then come on in, a girl can't live on Snegle alone you know...

On a music front, one thing you can't miss... here is Liga's little gift to us all, featuring lots of people I've meant to cover for ages (without exception) including Decorate, Decorate, Choir Of Young Believers , Heimat Connective, Beta Satan , Breum and the fabulous In Case The Japanese Guy Dies ....

HELP!!

I know, I know... we've been away for a while... It's not my fault. Honestly. The only problem is that Blogger have been messing around, and it;s been causing problems, and then my laptop decided to go to teh DNS server ithe sky...

If anyone has any ideas on how to sort out a wireless DNS server, then I'll love them forever...

A very short one...

Yes, yes, yes...I know...I'm crap. My laptop is about to go oto heaven after only a few months. Damn. A somewhat quick post, as I'm sneaking this in before I run out...

As I haven't posted in a while here's a few to keep you going...

Moi caprice- Daisies
Just because...

Anamia- The Step
(You can also download the entire new album "An extraordinary new fitness product" at www.anamia.dk (under the "numre" area)..if you liek it, go and buy it!)

New Pedestrian's Pets EP- News (Murder. We like them very, very much...

Soryr it's so short, folks...

Help!!

Not often I do this, but some people are so hard to resist, that..well...how could I not. My laptop and internet connection are currently being exterminated by the people at Dell (and I also have a broken heart, but that's another story), so apologies for any inactivity of late...

Danish band Wolfkin are newly featured on a darling little site called Tonspion today...

http://www.tonspion.de/mp3.php?mp3=4061

Please take the time to download the MP3 (just click on...er "Download MP3"..it's well worth it, and you can just stream it if you need to) and thus vote for the band, so they can get into the chart! I know you;re asking whether I've gone out of my mind, but I haven't. Honestly. Wolfkin really are one of teh best bands to have emerged this year, so it's well worth a few minutes of your time to take a sneaky peak at what should/will be coming your way... Don't say I diodn;t warn you!

If you've already listened, do it again... They;re well worth a second...and a third...and a fourth listen...

Oh, and once you;ve done that, don't forget that the amazing EPO-555 are also featured on the site- they're at number 52 atthe moment, and it's worth listening to, if only because 5 minutes could change you life...
Oh, and if you like it, pass this around.... Crunchy love us, so we love them too...
Thanks!
(I'm sure someone will tell me if I've translated this badly....)

Wolfkin wird heute im Tonspion vorgestellt: http://www.tonspion.de/mp3.php?mp3=4061
bitte mal runterladen, damit wir in die Charts kommen und wenn schon dabie gerne auch nochmal Epo 555, die auf platz 52 sind
Gerne auch freunde darauf hinweisen
Danke

Oliver North Boy Choir...

So, after a somewhat extended hiatus in which I got a new job, lost my passport, projectile vomited my way to Hamburg (twice) and felt like running away, here's something new.

After weeks and weeks of promising, I'm finally covering the Oliver North Boy Choir. Consisting of a current member of EPO-555 (Mikkel-MaxHansen), a former member of EPO-555 (the heavily pregnant Camilla Florentz) and the amazingly accommodating Ivan Petersen (who I should thank for providing me with information, support and MP3s to write this piece, and apologise for holding off...)

The band's own description of their story (below) isn;t one that I can really improve upon, so here goes...

Oliver North Boy Choir, the short story. Mikkel and Ivan met in high school where Mikkel tried to make Ivan understand the not very apparent beauty of the French language. As they were young and had lengthy hair the natural outcome was to start a band, which they called Ivanhoe. Mikkel played the guitar and as Ivan couldnt play anything he became the singer. Later on, they both played in Venus and Pierre.They then met Camilla and had a few bloody marys in a bar in Copenhagen. Camilla and Mikkel are now married. Mikkel also plays in epo-555 (and Camilla used to). ONBC is indiepop and melancholy..

Oliver North Boy Choir sound very much like you'd expect them to, given the pedigree- a distinctive Danish pop sound that can't be replicated by anyone anywhere else. Poppier than EPO, but featuring Camilla's distinctively dulcet tones, the songs reference everyone and everything from Eisenhower to Portuguese cigarettes and unhappy love. And ONBC love you too.

In the future, ONBC plan to follow the distinctly rock and roll path of releasing singles, and singles alone...Having heard the first two singles (and the B-sides) I can reassure you that it delivers all that it promises to and more, with tunes that swoop and dive and refuse to leave your brain days after you last listened to them.

I'm afraid I don't have a clue how to up the MP3s (I'll leave that honour to Stytzer in the next few days, and link back if that's OK), but in the meantime, you can hear the demos here

Website

Myspace

There's a lot of Crunchy news today

Just a few quick updates to kick off another flurry of activity... Hopefully I'm back for good, but with the way the new blogger is going, who knows? A lot of the news that seems to be coming my way at the moment seems to be Crunchy Frog related for various reasons, so here's an update...

Firstly, the new Wolfkin vid is available to watch online. It;s well worthj a look...all moody and black and white... Maybe you won't be as terrified as I was when I spent an afternoon watching that and a Powersolo vid...That, however, was mainly because it was during a storm and various power surges meant that things blew up and the power dimmed and fizzled when they were on... (By the way, both Wolfkin and Powersolo have been nominated for P3 awards, so good luck to them..)

Sadly, after an elongated period of inactivity, the fantastic Superheroes have broken up... Word has it that a new band has been formed out of the ashes

After losing Camilla (more on that later), the fantastic EPO-555 have recruited a new keyboardist. You probably all know that, but having heard the reworked version of Grislappan (due out on 7" in January with their track from DMDK- A Danish Tribute to Depeche Mode, and another track that slips my mind..) you really won't be diappointed....

Talking of EPO-555, there's some pretty cool news of a related project coming tomorrow...

In other special announcements, Crunchy Frog are throwing what is going to be an amazing Christmas show at Vega in Copenhagen featuring a cornocopia of the label's best. For one night only (and I think they mean this) the fabulous Sterling, Powersolo, EPO-555 and Wolfkin will be joined by non danish bands Heavy Trash (US) and The Tremolo Beer Gut (DK/S). All of this will be supplemented by the best Crunchy DJs and a few special guests spinning the records all night long... I know I'm going, so maybe I'll manage to catch up with one or two of you there...

And that's just the Crunchy Bands... I'll keep you updated with more of the news later, but, in the meantime...

Death By Kite...

It's like a tight-rope walk, innit?

What?

Life...

I like ignoring most of the bulletins I get. But I couldn't ignore this one.Death By Kite are one of those bands I've had in the back of my mind for a while, but haven't yet covered for whatever reason, but a conversation I had earier today about tight-ropes (don't ask) reminded me that they'd just been signed to Quatermain records, so I'd better cover them before they release anything... The other reason was Ihad a great Myspace bulletin idea to tie in with them...

Death By Kite combine a pop sensibility with alternative harmonies and rock noise. A little bit of everything into the pot using the correct measures means that the broth doesn't boil over, and that the high wire act keeps its balance. Am I talking nonsense? Probably. Death By Kite combine the best of everything into a unique sound that you should go and listen to (rather than reading this)...

Scared of Heights

Hiroshima

More available on Myspace and website

I'm not asking you to sell your soul to the devil today. Nor am I asking you to dance. Instead, I'm asking you to walk the line. Take tight-rope walk between cold war punk, noiserock and indie. You might just like it.

P.S. If you've not yet joined us on Myspace, then go and do so. We produce supper-witty bulletins, dontcha know...

Wolfkin...

I really can't tell you what they sound like... they might steal your soul....

So, kiddos, my original post about Wolfkin was banished into the netherworld of blogger, where it was chewed up and spat out until it resembled a string of nonsense letters in a universe where the letter "q" does not exist and the € symbol is freely used, so I'll have to write it again. Not that I mind, as I like Wolfkin. A lot.

Crunchy Frog's newest signings recently released their debut album in Denmark (I have a feeling that it's out in November in some other territories, although, as ever, you can buy it from Vibrashop), and sound like Tiger Tunes swallowed a bee and decided to become an Americana-Roc-Pop orchestra whilst simultaneously employing two male singers and a dirty drum machine and watching Cinema noir. All whilst accompanied by synths and memories of the '60s guitar pop they heard in the womb, the nights they spent dancing in cemetaries and remembering that, yes, there is room for humour... In short, they're fabulous.

Already voted 'best debut album in 2006' by the Crunchy Frog team of scientists (and who are we to disagree with such a well-mannered achingly hip team?), Wolfkin's "Brand New Pants" (is it just me, or is the Southern British English meaning of that actually pretty pervy when you think about it? Maybe it is just me and my inability to think in either American-English or Northern British English..) will soon become an essential record to cheer up the rainy Autumn afternoons ahead...

A Vacant Heart

Wolfkin, then...Go on. I dare you. Dance with the devil... you might just like it...

Website

Myspace

EDIT 4/10/2006, 12:21pm.. Go and vote for Wolfkin on Liga here if you're in Denmark..

Pato

We might know him as Pato...but his grandmother still calls him Martin...

Back to some kind of reality now, after a brief hiatus due to falling in love, breaking my foot, techniacl problems and all manner of other strangeness... Yesterday's post reminded me of Roskilde, and the fact that I hadn't really said anything about Pato yet... It's not normally my "thing"- I live in somehwhat of an indie bubble, as you may have guessed- but there's something about Pato that makes you want to dance

Formerly a member of the late ska-punk band Furillo, Pato managed to take Roskilde 2006 by storm. On as one of the final acts of the evening, the crowd were dancing, laughing and singing- not something you see too often in the wee small hours in the Pavillion, when the small acts are pitched against some of the behemouths. Normally, there;s a few drunk guys and a guitar, but the Pato (and his band) seemed to be having just as much fun as the crowd, creating an infectious energy that meant, whoever you were, you couldn't help but dance...

I'm not going to even bother with trying to wrote a bio- go check out his bio on Myspace, as its all put far more succinctly and wittily that I could do it... In the meantime, here a link to his website, and a couple of MP3s:

Two Fingah Salute

Blood Bath

Pato, then. Move your feet and dance, cos that's what they're made for...

Bleepy Happy Summer music...

...to mark the end of Summer as the hail stones rain down...

Pato- Bad Situation

Tiger Tunes- Foolio

Popmak- Oh la la

Plok-Snickerpuss

Wolfkin- A Vacant Heart

Tiger Baby- Girlfriend

Enjoy!

Downtime

PPC will be down for a day or two why I try to work out why you guys can't see the most recent posts. It sucks, I know, but I'll be back as soon as I can, and I might even treat you to a mixtape...Keep on keeping on my darlings...Kiss kiss..

Oh dear...

After a week of battling with the blog (and the people who host it) I think we've finally managed to sort out the problem (though we were forced to get rid of a few posts that didn't appear along the way- sorry if that was you, you know who you are, and we still love you, and will write a lovely piece about you on many many blogs...) New posts should start coming from tomorrow (I hope!)Ta all, and thanks for your kind words and patience...