Pastries, Pepper and Canals is a lovely MP3 blog based around the best of Danish music, past, present and future, written from London. We had a club for a while too, but are too overworked to continue it for now...
Unfairly overlooked by pretty much everyone in favour of its larger neighbour Sweden, here's our (free and legal- we don't host any of the MP3s, BTW...) attempt to make amends for the fact that Jantelowen is thriving within the Danish music scene...
Argh. I don't have more than about 2 seconds to write this, as I'm on a business trip.... I'll leave you with the third of Liga's very, very fine podcasts ( click here, or get it from itunes if you're in Dk) and tell you that it featues...
Supertroels - You Are Always Harmony Boys - Highway Child Kirsten Ketsjer - Eat The Cow The Floor Is Made Of Lava - Sucker Love Slaraffenland - Polaroids The Sibling People - Johnny The Villain The Late Parade - My Spies
There's at least 2 on that list I've been meaning to cover fro some time, so watch this space when I'm less indesposed...
On another point, I just bought my flights for Roskilde- it'll be my fourth. If anyone wants a moment, I'll be more than happy to scare them with my festival "look"!
It's been a busy few weeks in which I've not even hadtime to think about writing, never mind actually do it, so today's a bit of a catch up! Apologies that I've not been about it appears that travelling so much for work (and, of course, my near-enough-monthly trips to Hamburg)has taken it's toll. I promise not be so slovenly in future...until next time.
Factory 45-local disco star (live at pumpehuset)
Anyway, our friends from Factory45 have started their own blog here. It's part English/part Danish (depending on who's writing) and is well worth a look... On another Factory45 tip, they're releasing the heavenly Supermarkets as a single sometime in the future. Well worth a listen:
Long-time PPC favourites Charlie, Don't Surf are currently on (the band who Tinkerbell swears have to make it, or she'll give all this up)are currently on tour in Germany and the like- more details here. Shame they had to cancel their Gruner Jaeger date in Hamburg, as Tink has friends (and her paramour...) who live just around the corner. Literally...
Charlie Don't surf- Shake of a weight (live at chokoladefabriken in Aarhus)
Of course, this isn't an excuse for us to tell you to download the new song the put up a while back, is it? Of course not...although it would be terribly rude not to include it...
Still No Signs (update: apparently this doesn't work due to Myspace being silly and seemingly disabling the link to download facility... Download it from their Myspace site here)
I also forgot to tell you that they were selected to take part in the Coca Cola itunes podacsty-type thing some while ago...We don't normally advocate the health-affirming properties of Coca Cola, but in this case, as it'll make you smile (always good) and bop (did I really just say "bop?) in your front room... Details here. Of course, there are still a few copies of their brilliant self-released debut EP available here for the bargain price of 8 euros or DKK50...
More PPC friends- the ever reliable, dreamy popmeisters EPO-555, have also got news. They've released a lovely sounding new EP...Actually, on this occasion, I think the ever adorable boys (and new girl- welcome Tine, who replaces Linda, who replaced Camilla for a short while) put it much better than me with the following charming message:
The truth of the matter is that Mikkel "the Golden Voice" Hansen and Ebbe "The Golden Ear" Frej couldn't keep their dirty fingers from the electronics even though Mafia felt fresh as a virgin and time wasn't ripe to commence a new album. Instead this intermezzo has been made containing less acoustic instrumentation than ever and more electric 4-on-the-floor bass drum and juicy synthetic sounds than ever.
Whatever your local version of itunes is, it should be on there... It's also available via all of the normal outlets as well.
On a related point, the first Oliver North Boy Choir single is available to download now, which makes us very, very excited, as it's available on itunes in the UK, and we don't have to scour the whole of Europe (and, despite what you might believe, we often do that...well...Tink does that and makes everyone listen to it, as noone wants to give us anything. No sireeeeee!)! Despite PPC's protests that it's just not fair that they'll never play live, we're informed that it won't happen...unless the owners of the new Wembley stadium call them, that is... On that note, then, I guess we should say farewell, ciao, hej hej, bye and seeya. It's been fun. Until next time folks...
Ok...a little bit of a thing here.... Just who the hell are you all? I know a lot of you read this...silently, I guess, as you seem a bit scared to talk to us and send comments and emails! What do you want? What do you like? What do you hate? Who else do you read? What could we be doing better? How did you get here? Just what do hyggeligt and gemuetlichkeit really mean? How many packets of Tyrkisk Peber can anyone eat in one go without having to go to the toilet? (These are all important things to ask, dontcha know...)
We want to know about you. We love hearing from you, and we're actually really friendly. Don't believe what you've heard to the contrary. Feel free to send us stuff (email us for the address- we don't feel safe having it on the internet for various reasons)
Oh, and by the way, don't add the email address on the side to the sidebar to your Myspace. Tink was having a bit of a techy retard day when she set up the Myspace account, and had already used teh address on teb sidebar as it's her personal one. Instead, go to http://www.myspace.com/pastriespepperandcanals and add us there. Of courese, you can alwyas try to add Tink's personal one, but she tends to be a fussy fairy and doesn't add anyone. Ever. Unless she's either in love with them or they bribe her. And even then...
Methinks we should set up a Campaign to make Charlie Don't Surf play Roskilde.... Whaddya say?
For those of us outside Scandinavia/ the Eurozone, it appears things might just have got easier... I've just discovered the CD WOW! (choose your specific country) now stocks a lot more than it used to- they stocked a Sterling CD I was looking up! Woo!
To my detriment, I've been a bit rubbish and haven't checked my old e-mail account lately. If I had, I would have found a few lovely email from Rumraket (one of the friendliest labels in the world) and Efterklang. Shame on me.
Swarming- Efterklang
In order to atone my sins (and get rid of my post-curry awakeness...I knowit's not a word, but who cares... I don't have a pedant's corner y'know... ), and due to the fact that I've remembered how great they are (and how much they make me happy in a blissful kinda way) I thought I'd treat you all...
Jojo - live recording from Nalen, Stockholm nov 2005.
I have a confession to make, and I bow to Stytzer and Chris for posting so much good stuff lately...
Firstly, we have The Kissaway Trail. Freshly signed to the wonderous Bella Union (also home to Under Byen in the UK) and as sharp as ever (they used to be called Isles). Well worth seeing live too, if their recent London shows are anything to go by... Here's a track...
Now here's something that I've been meaning to cover for a while (sorry duck, I know I promised a long while back..) and was rudely reminded about by the track that appeared on a podcast a while back... Originally this started off about just Evil Death Machine, but then I realised I should cover Danish Girls (Yay! I love the name!) too...
Evil Death Machine is the...errr... evil genius that is EPO-555's lovely bassist Hans-Emil Hansen's (formerly of indie darlings Traening) solo project. Apparently his mission statement is "to make the best music possible". And he does. The Things I Stole is a night-time spent looking out of the window with the rain beating down and the heating turned high (of course, the lyric "..please break my arms if I reach my goal.." betrays something different altogether), whilst Pieces could almost be a Diefenbach/ EPO-555 collaberation with a simple melody, a preoccupation with lost love, and layered vocal approach.
For some reason I seem to have problems linking to the Myspace MP3s, so go here and take a look for yourself. There's also a few tracks on Last.fm (whih I know you all love a lot, as Myspace's MP3s are getting crappy these days)
Evil Death Machine...I don't think it's evil at all. In fact, it's actually pretty lovely, just like a night spent staring out into the darkness of a snowy night in the woods and knowing that you'll be alright the logfire's burning and you have a warm blanket. Or something.
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!
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?
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...
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...
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 blowingWolfkin 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?
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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
Feel free to send me review copies or provide any links to MP3s etc- I can't guarantee inclusion, but it'd be great to hear what you think, and what you think I should be covering...Just contact Tinkerbell by using this form or emailing sweetshopavengerz at gmail dot com... MP3s are for evaluation purposes only. If you like something, please support the artist and go and buy it! BTW, I don't host any of these MP3s, so when the host decides to kill the link, that's it... I will remove any link if asked to do so by the work's originator..
All rights, and copyright retained. If you want to reproduce anything featured, or have any questions regarding the content of this website, please contact the blog. Thank you.
Just let me know...whether it's by smoke signal, carrier pigeon or a message in a bottle... On second thoughts, a comment, myspace message or email usually might be better...
