Enjoy some selected minimalist acoustic christmas tunes by Erlend Øye (Kings of Convenience, Whitest Boy Alive), E (Eels) and more. I guarantee you peaceful Christmas atmosphere if you fire up this playlist at medium to low volume on your living room stereo. Happy holidays, everyone!
My favorite musicians from Finland, electronica trio Uusi Fantasia, recently finally realeased a long overdue follow-up to their fantastic (and brutally underappreciated) 2004 debut Top Ten. The new album is titled Heimo and came out last month. Just like the debut album it's filled with chillout / jazz inspired electronica, but with a few more radio friendly and poppish tracks this time around. One of my favorite tracks is 'Barefoot Not Naked', a collaboration featuring Kings of Convenience's Eirik Glambæk Bøe. A long time friend of Uusi Fantasia, Bøe adds both his soft vocals and his characteristic acoustic guitar play to the track, which ends up as the best (but also only) Norwegian-Finnish song I've heard to date. The voice of Kings of Convenience's Erlend Øye worked really well with Röyksopp's chillout electronica classic Melody AM (2001), and bandmate Bøe suits the similar-sounding Uusi Fantasia landscape perfectly as well. (Check out Bøe's appearance on Cornelius' 2006 album Sensuous for another example of how well his vocals go with chillout electronica).
15. Young The Giant - Young The Giant //Country: US //Favorite tracks: My Body, Cough Syrup, I Got
Very promising debut album from energetic indie rockers, reminiscent of the debuts of artists such as Franz Ferdinand, The Killers and The Strokes. Read more, or watch the video for my favorite song:
14. Jónsi - Go //Country: Iceland //Favorite tracks: Kolniður, Hengilás, Boy Lilikoi
Sigur Rós' vocalist Jónsi is way too happy these days to make melancholic, dark and dramatic post-rock, it seems. We could already sense this in the band's 2008 album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, which was much more upbeat and cheerful than before, only occasionally diving into Jónsi's trademark melancholy. When he released his debut solo album this year, the recipe was exactly the same: happier and more fast-paced music. Turning solo also allowed him to explore several things that were harder to do under the Sigur Rós moniker, namely a complete overhaul of instruments and soundscape, and singing in English instead of Iceland or 'Hopelandic'. Check out the beautiful unofficial video for Kolniður below. It's basically shamelessly copying the style of Sigur Rós' Heima DVD, but I don't care - slow images of picturesque landscapes is what still works the best together with Jónsi's magical voice.
My favorite Jónsi song of 2010 is however not on this album! Check out the almost painfully beautiful 'Icicle Sleeve', a song that for some unfathomable reason didn't make the album, but has been played live on this year's tour:
Damon Albarn and his many friends jump from genre to genre in this very eclectic album that just about anyone can find something they enjoy on. Hip hop legend, 60s/70s alternative rocker, and Swedish-Japanese indietronica singer - an amazingly diverse mixture of artists joined in on Albarn's project this time around, and contributed with their vocals. If you've ever found yourself at a party with a diverse musical crowd in 2010, you'll know that Plastic Beach has the rare gift of bringing together the indie kids, the electronica purists and the hip hoppers in front of the stereo, singing along to the lyrics in peaceful unison. This album is so full of hit material that it's hard to pick any favorite tracks - from the amazing buildup of electronica track 'Empire Ants', to Lou Reed's incredibly cool and nonchalant rapping on 'Some Kind of Nature', there are too many great moments to choose from. But I do know that this is the video I'll always remember this album for, and also that this is the song that will always come to my mind first when I think about the spectacular Gorillaz show I saw this summer:
12. Röyksopp - Senior //Country: Norway //Favorite tracks: Senior Living, The Alcoholic, The Drug
For their fourth album, the Norwegian electronica duo went back to their roots - instrumental and atmospheric chillout music. After two albums of vocal heavy electro pop, they returned to their debut album's magical and at times even eerie soundscapes. The latter dominated on this year's album, as it's apparently inspired by darkness, drugs and … senior citizens. Read more, or check out the mesmerizing video for 'The Drug':
11. Vampire Weekend - Contra //Country: US //Favorite tracks: Horchata, Holiday, Cousins, White Sky
Ah, the sophomore album - it's never an easy task, and as for indie phenomenas MGMT and Vampire Weekend, we saw two very different approaches this year. While I very much respected MGMT's decision to not just follow the same formula as on their very hyped debut album, with the high risk of disappointing their fans by failing to re-create the debut's magic, I equally respect Vampire Weekend for just giving it a shot - and actually succeeding! The 2007 self-titled debut included lesson after lesson in magical pop song writing, with afropop rhythms that never tried to hide its very obvious strong Paul Simon influences. This year's album includes … exactly the same. And the same number of unforgettable songs. Check out my favorite song now:
Animal Collective just released a (belated) official video for 'Bluish', one of my all-time favorite songs by the band. 'Bluish' is from their highly acclaimed 2009 album Merriweather Post Pavillion, and this very trippy video in my opinion matches the psychedelic sound of the album perfectly.
Norwegian synthpoppers The New Wine (I previously covered them here and here) finally came out with new material in Norway yesterday, the single-track digital release 'Delete, Rewind'. The band will be touring Norway in October and Europe in November. It is unfortunately still unknown when they will start releasing material outside Norway, and also when their fabled debut album - which they reported recording in studio back in May - will finally be out. Good to hear something new from them though, and it makes me hungry for more!
I posted the first small tastes of Röyksopp's fourth album, Seniora month ago, and now the release date is just around the corner: September 13th is the day the acclaimed Norwegian electronica duo's new all-instrumental concept album is officially released. I've had the chance to listen through Senior in its entirety, and I must say it's definitely darker and less accessible than last year's radio-friendly Junior (the best way to experience the new album, the two musicians suggest, is 'in a dark room with an opium pipe in your hand'), but ultimately much better. Check out my favorite track, 'The Alcoholic'.
Another much-anticipated album that comes out next week is False Priest, the tenth studio album by Athens, GA based indiepop eccentrics of Montreal (out September 14th). Two months ago, I wrote about my anticipations for the album after having heard the first leaked track, 'Coquet Coquette'. Back then, I was puzzled by how the album was supposedly going to be very r&b and funk influenced, while 'Coquet Coquette' really sounded like one of their more straightforward indie rock tracks. Now, after having given False Priest ten listens, the answer is clear: 'Coquet Coquette' is really just an exception, and not representative of the album's style at all. In of Montreal's manic-depressive catalogue, False Priest is the manic answer to the depressive Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer: a hyperactively manic, upbeat, funky and flamboyant affair with an ever present pumping bass and high falsetto throughout its 53 minute playtime. Beyoncé's younger sister Solange Knowles as well as close of Montreal friend Janelle Monáe make wonderful vocal contributions to the album and not only make the whole 'indie pop turned r&b' concept work, but actually seem quite sincere too. Check out the track 'Enemy Gene' featuring Monáe, or read my blog entry about her previous collaboration with of Montreal.
Norwegian electronica duo Röyksopp are releasing their fourth studio album, Senior, on September 13. The album is entirely instrumental, a drastic turn from last year's poppy, vocal-driven Junior. Today, they finally gave their fans a taste of several of the album's tracks, in the form of the extremely weird, quirky and hilarious short film "Röyksopp Adventures in Barbieland". The ten-minute video clip features Barbie dolls, clips of new songs, and the two musicians themselves dressed to look like, er, 'senior citizens'.
The new album sounds promising, it seems like Röyksopp are going back to their roots: The 2001 chillout masterpiece Melody AM with its many atmospheric, haunting, instrumental tracks.
Two months ago I wrote about Norwegian electropoppers Casiokids, who since have released their sophomore album Topp Stemning På Lokal Bar. These days I'm hooked to fellow Norwegian Prince Thomas' remix of one track off the album, En Vill Hest. So atmospheric and lush, and I love the way he uses the acoustic guitar samples. Try it for yourself, and have a great and sunny May week!
About a week ago, Norwegian oddball electropop band Casiokids signed with American Polyvinyl. With their highly energetic shows and eccentric, euphoric and highly danceable music, they've been a live favorite in Norway for years, and it's great to hear that they'll reach US audiences too now. Another person besides me who seems happy about these news is Kevin Barnes off of Montreal, who wrote the following Tweet today on the band's official Twitter account:
so happy!1 of r fave bands just signed 2 PV! http://www.myspace.com/casiokids if u get the chance to see them live,do it!they're amazing!
Barnes shares Casiokid's passion for weird and wonderful untraditional "dance" songs with funky synths and obscure samples – and theatrical live shows with crazy animal costumes – so I can see why the of Montreal frontman is a fan. Casiokids have done warm-up shows for of Montreal in a past tour of theirs, but the quartet from Bergen is now crossing the atlantic to play three shows on their own in Texas. Having recently witnessed their intense show at By:Larm, I'll join Barnes and wholeheartedly recommend the Casiokids live experience. Catch them if you happen to live near Austin, their live performances are priceless!
Serena-Maneesh frontman/vocalist/songwriter Emil Nikolaisen has several times personally declared to be one of Norway's biggest My Bloody Valentine fans. He shares Kevin Shield's big love for beautiful, haunting melodies hidden in layer upon layer of intense noise, and the Norwegian band's acclaimed 2005 self-titled debut album was clearly influenced by MBV's 1991 masterpiece Loveless.
Far from being just another one of the endless amount of MBV clones out there, however, Serena-Maneesh stands on its own, with Nikolaisen's impressive songwriting and guitar play impressing everyone from Pitchfork to Oasis, the Dandy Warhols and Nine Inch Nails. Not a small feat for a band from Oslo, Norway! Serena-Maneesh acted as openers for the three aforementioned three bands in 2005-2007 tours of theirs, following their debut album's huge success. It's been somewhat quiet around the band since then, but they are now set to finally release their sophomore album next month.
The band's By:Larm show was an opportunity for the band to showcase to anticipating journalists, fans and music industry representatives exactly what they have been working on for the past five years. Despite this however, and the relatively short time allocated to their show (with an 1.15 AM start ...), Nikolaisen walked on stage exclaiming "I know this is a party for the music industry, but looks like we've got some music fans here too! Good." and proceeded to play several old fan favorites to please the crowd. And judging by this night's performance, Nikolaisen and his bandmates are shoegazers only by genre - the charismatic and energetic frontman never once stared down at his chucks, but instead played with intense passion and rocked the audience like a true rockstar.
The new material that eventually was played sounded promising. Less experimental, less introverted and less Loveless, and more accessible, straightforward pop songs. Coated with just the appropriate amount of noise and guitar solos, these new tracks worked well. You can listen to one of them, called Reprobate, right here – or watch a video of the band performing it live on a Norwegian TV show.
SM2 – Abyss in B Minor is out on March 23 in the U.S., and the day before in Europe. In less than two weeks, the band leaves the cold winter snow of Oslo, Norway for a one-month tour all across North America - check out the tour dates and catch Nikolaisen and friends just as they bless the world with their first record in five years!
This week, I attended the By:Larm festival in Oslo, Norway, which ran from Thursday through Saturday. By:Larm is mainly an event for music industry insiders, being a conference at daytime and a festival with mini-concerts by night. The latter is however open to the general public, and gives music fans like me a unique chance to experience a ton of shows by interesting artists that are on the verge of success, either in their homelands or internationally (to quote By:Larm's website). In the next few days, I'll try to write about some of the great Nordic bands (Norwegian and Icelandic) that I saw!
In my opinion, one of the definite highlights of the festival was Thursday night's performance by the Bergen synthpop quartet The New Wine. I wrote about these guys (more or less) exactly a year ago, and was excited to finally see this promising new band live. In the course of 30 minutes (that's all the time they were allocated), they managed to make the whole crowd dance in unison to their addictive and funky synth- and guitar based dance music. Bridge, from their EP with the same name, was especially memorable.
The band is said to be inspired by Nintendo composer Koji Kondo and fellow Bergen musician Erlend Øye's band The Whitest Boy Alive, and the result is a very catchy and playful blend of lush guitars and geeky retro/chipcore-esque bleeps and bloops. Their music also reminds me a lot of the early days of French indie stars Phoenix, more specifically their very funk and dance influenced debut United. Listen to Phoenix' classic If I Ever Feel Better and see if you agree.
Similarly to The Whitest Boy Alive, the main quest of The New Wine at any concert is to make the crowd have fun and dance, and covering very digital house tunes with analogue instruments is one way of reaching that goal. At their 08-09 tour, The New Wine did an awesome cover version of one my favorite house tracks from recent years, Fred Falke's amazing remix of The Whitest Boy Alive's Golden Cage. Check out this very cool Youtube video, where Mr. Øye (vocalist of the Whitest Boy Alive) himself joined the boys on stage and did the vocals for the cover version of the remix of his own song (I know, confusing).
I expect these young and talented musicians to very soon fill dancefloors around the world in the same way their (ten year older) idols in Phoenix and Whitest Boy Alive are doing now, and I for one will continue to follow The New Wine closely - gentlemen, please release a debut album NOW!
I hope everyone's enjoying the holidays. Here are some tracks I listen to a lot these days, to get into the christmas mood - my alternative/indie rock Christmas playlist!
"Baby Jesus, born to rock." - "Get off your sled and go to bed - don't you ever tire?". Mr. E, of the US alternative rockers Eels, knows how to rock my Christmas!
A track from one of Norwegian Erlend Øye's (of Kings of Convenience and Whitest Boy Alive) acoustic solo shows. He too does a cover of a Christmas song I'm quite tired of, but does a very sweet interpretation of the song. I'm honestly not very fond of WHAM at all, but Øye manages to turn this cheesy 80s hit into something completely different - something beautiful!
Danish indie/prog rockers Mew wrote this gem in the mid-nineties, and it has been released as a Christmas single over and over again between 1997 and 2003 in Denmark and the rest of the world. Here's the 2003 version from their breakthrough album Frengers. A sweet ballad that will ensure Christmas mood!
Song recommendations: Kings of Convenience - Boat Behind Kings of Convenience - Mrs. Cold (listen on Myspace)
Mellow and quiet Norwegian acoustic guitar duo Kings of Convenience became a surprise hit wide beyond Norway's borders with the beautiful debut album Quiet Is The New Loud in 2001. They are often compared to Simon & Garfunkel, but I personally believe their guitar technique exceeds the 60s duo by far, and their frank, melancholic and smart lyrics move me more than S&G's poetry manages to on its very best. The two Norwegians followed up their debut LP with another twelve amazing tracks in the outstanding Riot On An Empty Street in 2004, but since then there has been little news from the duo.
The perfectionists Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambæk Bøe didn't want to release anything together that they weren't a hundred per cent satisfied with, and have over the past five years several times mentioned that they have a bunch of new songs in the making, but not enough truly good material for a third album. While keeping us waiting for new KoC material, Erlend Øye has been working on his other band, Whitest Boy Alive, while Eirik has been been featured as a guest vocalist on albums such as Feist's The Reminder and Cornelius' Sensuous.
The Kings have now apparently finally recorded something they think is good enough for the world, and are set to release their third LP in their 8-year career, titled Declaration Of Dependence, in September this year. The first two singles have already been released, with "Boat Behind" as the Norwegian-market single and "Mrs. Cold" planned as the single for the rest of the world. Both songs are extremely promising, and my expectations for the album are currently sky-high. It's good to have you back, KoC!
There's something special about the music scene of Bergen, Norway. Apart from being famous for its beautiful scenery and its always extraordinary amount of rain, the city of Bergen also manages to again and again raise new and exciting bands that make people want to dance. Most of these artists are gathered in the local label Tellé, a label that unleashed international celebrities like Röyksopp, Annie and Kings of Convenience upon Norway and the world.
2005/2006 saw a lot of great releases from Bergen (and the extended Tellé family), including Whitest Boy Alive (picture above) and Datarock's debut albums.
But since then, things were disappointingly quiet from Bergen for a while. Until now, that is! 2008 saw the release of California-based duo Rubies debut album Explode From The Center on the Tellé label. In includes guests appearances and help from some of my favorite artists - Feist and Kings of Convenience - and I've grown to love the Rubies just as much as I love these long-time favorites of mine.
March 2009 will see the release of the Whitest Boy Alive's second album, which follows up the funky minimalist pop of the debut, but adds a stronger influence of dance/house music (but still using live instruments). This new direction of sound is especially clear on Courage, listen for yourself. Röyksopp will also make a much-anticipated return later this year, and the new single Happy Up Here is sounding very fresh and promising.
Another Tellé release worth watching out for in 2009 is the debut album of the newcomers The New Wine. They sound like a Whitest Boy Alive gone electropop with chipcore Nintendo influences. The latter influence is something they hardly try to hide - the four geeks are spotted wearing Legend of Zelda t-shirts at live shows and credit Zelda and Super Mario soundtrack composer Kōji Kondō as one of their main influences. Check out their early demo "I Had To Tell You", it's funky as hell.
Esoteric Mumblings is a multimedia blog centered in Athens, GA. We'll post songs and videos from artists of interest, both up and coming as well as those that are now long gone.
If you are an artist or label representative and dislike the free publicity of your band, please e-mail us at chrysanthemum.music@gmail.com and we'll have it removed.
