nói albinói

slowblow ~ nói albinói ost (kitchen motors, 2003)



yesterday i saw a movie called "nói albinói", produced in iceland in 2003. it is a great movie about a 17 years old albino boy trapped in a small town and his teenager dreams of leaving. nói doesn't seem to fit and he spends most of the time wandering through the village and skeeping class (despite of being extremely inteligent) and he wants to runaway with the gas station girl to hawaii. the movie has some surreal elements that make the mood of the story even more captivating.
the movie is directed by dagur kári, a very young director and the soundtrack was created by his own music project called 'slowblow' with friend orri jonson.
today i'll post this soundtrack. it is sensitive to the bones... with that feeling (that i love) of recordings in the basement. some moments are a bit jazzy, others extremely childish... the band seems to go in diferent directions from other icelandic's acts, bringing acoustic guitars with gentle percussion. beautiful lo-fi songs from a band that surely needs more attention with a movie director that surely knows how to tell a good story.
'morgun' is wonderful (and so so so simple)...

here's the soundtrack:


01. beginning
02. hillbilly
03. hole
04. another beginning
05. rainbow
06. morgun
07. piece of cake
08. why hawaii
09. maproom
10. love on a couch
11. dinner
12. another hole
13. date
14. komdu litla barnid
15. grave
16. love on the phone
17. groove
18. sjoppa
19. elegy
20. aim for a smile

myspace of the soundtrack
band's myspace


and here's the movie trailer:

echelon

punky's dilemma ~ echelon (junk, 2006)

named after simon and garfunkel song, this trio comes from malmö, sweden and made its first appearance on a labrador's compilation. 'echelon' is their latest release and has five dreamy songs filled with male-female vocal, brit-folkish acoustic with flirtations with 60's pop, lovely orchestrastions and an autumn atmosphere.
the opening track 'shooting stars' sets the record mood: delicate, calm, brilliant melodies and arrangements. if this is the first song you listen, like i did, you'll certainly be impressed.
followed by 'the side effect of violence', an acoustic ballad with beautiful guitars and piano with melancholic lyrics.. "there's a song within the silence, that i wish is you, a side effect of violence that i'd never knew".
'scandinavia' ends the ep beautifully with heavenly orchestrations.
perfect for winter cold days and low temperatures.



01. shooting stars
02. a side effect of violence
03. echelon
04. century of time
05. scandinavia

site
myspace
buy it

homeland

fan modine ~ homeland (grimsey, 2004)

fan modine is the work of gordon zacharias (also member of a number of acts such as the essex green), known as an "elliptical and underrated genius". this second album is a big favourite because it's pop in its purest state.
fan modine walks between early the magnetic fields towards more intimate sounds and meanings. "there's nothing quite like knowing where you belong" he sings in 'throughout your life' and you feel how mature and coherent the album, as a whole, sounds.
the songs are so graceful with cool, breezy orchestrations, uplifting and/or heartbreaking lyrics.
the highlights are 'homeland', a ballad build upon keyboards;
'pageantry' which brings the stephin merrit-esque lyrics 'when pageantry walks throught the door, i keep repeting track number four' with beautiful and an amazing awareness of string melodies;
'waiting in the wings' a melancholic balad with clever (so clever) lyrics 'in my last life i was respected people surrounded me i never felt rejected... so here is this life? i want redemption, i'm simply bored of separation and convention';
and the beautiful and sad 'the back and forth' with pianos and shy (yet perfect) electronic elements and the heavenly layer construction between vocal and backing vocal.




01. newsstand of the sun
02. homeland
03. we are all decades
04. pageantry
05. the back and forth
06. throughout your life
07. waiting in the wings
08. gulls by the sea
09. song of courtship
10. as a dream from above

myspace
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i was lonely 'til i found you

bart & friends ~ i was lonely 'til i found you (library records, 2000)

it's hard to find some information about bart & friends... all i know is that's another project of bart cummings also in the cat's miaow, pencil tin, hydroplane and the shapiros. to make this album he invited andrew from the cat's miaow, mark from the lucksmiths and mia from sleepy township. it features four songs taken from his other projects and three cover-gems (buzzcocks' boredom; magazine's a song from under the floorboards and kate bush's hounds of love).
jangly, heartfelt, calm and oddly conforting. (and extremely short... 10 minutes or so but worthing every second).
the covers are awesome! a song from under the floorboards and boredom deserve some attention.



01. how can you tell me you love me?
02. tokyo
03. boredom (buzzcocks cover)
04. lax
05. rumors
06. hounds of love (kate bush cover)
07. a song from under the floorboards (magazine cover)

buy it

crystal heights

celestial ~ crystal heights (music is my girlfriend/ lavender records, 2008)

second straight post from a band (or the project from andreas hagman to be more precise) hailing from örebro, sweden... that's a coincidence.
celestial's second album comes full of the jangly guitars reminiscent of sarah records but with echoings giving a shoegazy feeling; dreamy, warm vocals from dalin dahlberg and ulrika nymark - also member of douglas heart and laurel music - and sweet keyboard walls.
this album sounds cleaner than 'dream on', the previous full lenght release... the distortions gave place to clearer guitars melodies making dalin's voice the key element of the album.




01. preston park
02. wam against the cold
03. forever whispers secrets to me
04. love always comes to those who waits
05. crystal heights
06. how does it feel
07. lonely boulevard
08. try to understand
09. hope, you know

here's the simple and beautiful video for 'hope, you know'

"Hope, You Know" by Celestial from Music Is My Girlfriend.

site
myspace
buy it

parker lewis

parker lewis ~ parker lewis (mad for it, 2008)

(another) underrated swedish music maker coming from örebro. in his full lenght release, parker lewis delivers what he already did in previous ep's: pop gems!
the album has only 8 tracks but they are damn good. full of classy orchestrations and gentle- fresh jangly guitars that sometimes sounds like 80's twee. the songs have pretty, innocent lyrics with happy beats, some flirtations with samples and synths.
songs for bright and windy summer days.
also check the ep 'written and directed by parker lewis' released under cloudberry records.



01. via emilia
02. 75 days
03. bash the cynicals
04. cezanne
05. the only loving boy in new york
06. trouble
07. heroes
08. piazza pia

site

here's a lovely christmas song by parker lewis called x-mas carol, nyc.

and here's the just released video for the track 'cezanne'

cézanne from Sebastian Rozenberg.

tomorrow is again

the relict ~ tomorrow is again (pehr records, 2005)

if you like the clientele, pipas or the pines you'll probably like the relict. i say this because this is a project with (all?) members from the clientele, lupe from pipas, abigail marvel and indiepop legend pam berry from the pines.
their sound is very much like the clientele's but with the addition of female vocals (duets, sometimes). so there's that calm, melancholic and almost ghostly clientele aesthetic that brings shivers down the spine. delicate melodies creating a weird feeling of uplifting sadness... great music for yellow autumn days.



01. time spent with you
02. i saw your eyes
03. breaks another
04. held in glass
05. childlike
06. along the avenue
07. letters
08. listen
09. in your hands
10. only there
11. southern way
12. darling i know

site
myspace

seconds away

the legends ~ seconds away ep (labrador, 2008)

here's a 3 track ep to keep us busy wondering what johan angergård will bring to us on his next album.
he already gave us an electronic album, a rock album and now it's time for the heavy distortions and tons of noises! but with the great, addictive pop vein from the previous releases we already know.
there's also a remix by pallers whose debut 12''ep is available on labrador!
in johan's words:
”i need noise now, so this new single sounds like someone drilling a whole in your head. in a pleasant way that is. it’s called “seconds away” and is about the wonders of tryptizol. the b-side, “over and over” is actually one of those sad love songs I had promised myself never to write again."



01. seconds away
02. over and over
03. over and over (remix by pallers)

myspace
buy it

summer in minsk

essiar ~ summer in minsk ep (radio khartoum, 1999)

cyrille essiar is a french musician and there's not much information about him... the only thing he left us before vanishing is this wonderful ep.
i'm not exagerating when i say that this is a masterpiece...
essiar most significant trade mark is probably his arrangements resembling toy instruments without being cliché. he surely belongs to the chanson française but he drinks (a lot) from the waters of pop and rock bands like my bloody valentine, the jesus and mary chain, the smiths.
on the 6 songs you'll find dreamy guitars, lazy drums and rare melancholic feelings.
'romance' and 'madrigal' are heavenly!

01. le pied des arbres
02. aller voter
03. un cottage ecossais
04. romance
05. madrigal
06. n'en parlon plus

site*
myspace

*on his website you can find more random songs that he's recorded throughout the years.

citytlights

citytlights ~ demo (independent, 2006)

citylights was a project that lived from 1998 til 2006 in gothenburg and had only one ep released, in 2006.
the band was formed by 5 fellows and 2 of them are nowadays the great balearic-ish boat club (there's even the song 'memories' that was later released in boat club's 'caught the breeze').
the sound of the two acts is very similar: the airy guitars, synths, keyboards... but the sound of citytlights is more rough and dirty.
attention to 'reset' and its strong rock distortions (resembling joy division, maybe?) and the beautiful 'atmosphere'.



01. have you seen the rooftops
02. leaves
03. memories
04. poor as you
05. reset
06. atmosphere
07. citylights

myspace

in the valley

death valley sleepers ~ in the valley (independent, 2007)

one man project hailing from hovedstaden, denmark.
tobias winberg writes produces, sings and plays all instruments.
this is rock that would make the jesus and mary chain proud. great guitar hooks and soft voice for great, clever lyrics.



1. in the valley
2. she's in control
3. white noise
4. sweet end
5. black pearl

a few random songs:



1. girl got lost
2. left me high
3. heartbreaking sound of joy
4. hey messy queen

myspace

don't dance

the monolators ~ don' t dance (monolator music/ninja star, 2008)

not much to say about this album besides the obvious: dance like there's no tomorrow!!!
once husband and wife from los angeles are now a four piece band making catchy indierock with heavy bass, addicted riffs blending rock from the 50's and punk from the 70's.
great moments with the insanely catchy 'i must be dreaming', the ironic 'don't dance' (tell me if you are able to actually not dance) and my favorite 'i heard her calling from another room' with a fucking-good chorus!




1. i must be dreaming
2. oh no, everything has changed
3. don't dance
4. hearts going steady
5. i keep knocking
6. ca 3a 569
7. i heard her calling from another room
8. dutchess
9. this is goodbye
10. don't dance (reprise)

site
myspace
buy it

mermaids

slow runner ~ mermaids (independent, 2008)

hailing from charleston, south carolina, this duo created a lovely third album! melodies with personality and delicate emotions with never ending addition of new organic sounds. the vibe of the album reaches a wide range of feelings... mostly you'll feel like you're in love.
there's guitars, piano, drums... but there's also mandolin, wurlitzer, toy piano, french horn, banjo and some programming. all of them wisely used, no.. better: emotionally used to bring to us a very authoral album.
as darren robins wrote:
"is mermaids a contender for best cd of 2008? don’t be silly. this is a cd for people who (rightfully) put little stock in such questions, and will find themselves drawn to the songs on this album for years to come."
one of the best songs i've heard this year belongs to this album: 'the stakes are raised'. check also the heartbreaking 'i'm gonna hate you when you go' (remember to have tissues near you).
pay attention to the beautiful album artwork!




1. mermaids
2. horse armor
3. the stakes are raised
4. trying to put your heart back together
5. love and doubt
6. she wants to wrap her legs around the world
7. make you love me
8. i'm gonna hate you when you go
9. snow tires

site
myspace
buy it

well well, mr. whale

suave as hell ~ well well, mr. whale (happy garlic, 2008)

suave as hell comes from mexico and it's a good example of the great indie scene of the country. the songs are full of lazy melodies, 70's-ish psychedelic keyboards and 60's pop a la beach boys... the music is very visual and juan pablo whispers-sings in english with a beautiful accent.
goes very well with sunny days and hot temperatures...
you'll have great moments with the cute 'polar bear' and the instrumental 'the day before halloween in 1938'.




1. emily and the mutants
2. polar bear
3. an affair
4. controlling the sun
5. susan's holiday
6. the day before halloween in 1938
7. the six year old international writing star


myspace

try fly blue sky

the heart strings ~ try fly blue sky (grandpa stan, 2008)

the heart strings is another greeeat discovery and debut of this year... mixing guitars with charming, enchanting pop elements. some instrumentations could've been easily used in the movie 'labyritnh' from 1986 if sofia coppola had directed it... please, don't get me wrong: the songs are very up to date but there's a sense of fantasy in the whole album . even in the band, i should say. if you go to their website (which is very interesting), you'll see that they tell the story of the band in a rhymed poem...

"...
he'd once met a guy in the womb of his mother
a fantastic drummer, and also his brother
so ask him to call on his rhythmical flare
and conjure some beats from his bass drum and snare...."

and that fantasy is wisely mixed with the best the 60's had to offer in terms of catchy-pop-folksy-songs. the album makes you think of green open spaces, blue skies, summer, warm breeze and when you were a kid... pay attention to the lovely naive 'nina and her very long hair' (which chorus will probably be stuck in your mind for some time), 'the new golden days' and 'her new disaster'.



1. kids
2. cannonball stan
3. he wanted to fly and he flew
4. pedalo
5. jose fernandez
6. mariana
7. the new golden days
8. nina and her very long hair
9. her new disaster
10. cosmos
11. general sherman
12. 1942

site
myspace
buy it

songwriters of the north

the honest johns ~ songwriters of the north (comet discs, 2008)

the honest johns are from newcastle(uk) and this is the second album they release in 20 years (!!!). well, actually they had an album to be released around 1994-95 but that just became reality when firestation records asked them to put together their demos and ep's in one album called 'meteor 1986/90' that was released in 2005.
songwriters of the north is an extremely mature album. even taking 20 years or so to come out, it doesn't sound dated (at all). and besides the melodic, melancholic mood that permeates most of the album, there are times when they show more energy than a lot of acts that could be their sons (or young brothers?).
highlights to the lovely 'songwriters of the north', 'she knows the name of trees', 'big sunrise' and the awesome 'karaoke'.




1. forget her
2. freight train
3. stalker song
4. she knows the names of trees
5. songwriters of the north
6. listen
7. big sunrise
8. city streets
9. bingo
10. karaoke
11. wonder working star
12. dark love

site
myspace
buy it

the silence of love

headless heroes ~ the silence of love (names records, 2008)

some time ago, covers were linked with mainstream artists as a subterfuge for poor/weak ideas. but i think this album comes to prove that this idea might not work nowadays...
a bunch of musicians from new york got together to record an album with covers for lost-in-time and recent songs...
the songs chosen aren't obvious, coming from the obscurity of discographys from i am kloot, juicy lucy, linda perhacs but also from some classics like jesus and mary chain's 'just like honey' and daniel johnston's 'true love will find you in the end'.
the songs are extremely well produced and someone could think that they aren't covers at all (even loving 'just like honey' it took me some time to realise that it was, in fact, the song). but i'll tell you, it's really great to hear a good cover of a song you like and also hear a cover of a song you don't know but it's pretty damn good, that makes you look for the original piece... that's what i felt listening to this (almost) chamber pop-ish album.
the highlights are from songs that i didn't knew: 'true love will find you in the end' by daniel johnston that opens the album (brilliantly) with lazy guitars and 'see my love' by the gentle soul that closes the album. some reviews say that the band create their own versions (which is a positive thing) but as a whole, they're too similar. i don't feel this way... they're not as inventive as nouvelle vague maybe, but i don't think that's a problem.
a great listening with beautiful orchestrations, a strong and bold female voice that creates an atmospheric mood as if you were inside a cafe with low lights, smokey air and a stage, and you can hear the band playing but you can't see it clearly.




1. true love will find you in the end
2. just one time
3. here before
4. just like honey
5. to you
6. blues run the game
7. hey, who really cares?
8. nobody's baby now
9. the north wind blew south
10. see my love

site
myspace
buy it

unknown colors

... sad day for puppets ~ unknown colors (haha fonogram, 2008)

sad day for puppets is a band from sweden and in 2008 they released an ep (just like a ghost ep) an a full album, their debut. soon after releasing the ep they teamed up with dan treacy from television personalities to record the album. both, the ep and the album are impregnated with the best dreampop can offer: wall of sound (with guitar and keyboards/synths), sweet reverb drums, distortions, cymbals, melodic harmonies and the mellow, calm, melancholic and whispery voice of anna eklund reminding some of the best mazzy star's moments.
music to sit back, maybe on a porch by the lake, maybe with headphones in the sunset and just enjoy the places where it may take you...




1. little light
2. blue skies
3. marble gods
4. mother's tears
5. cherry blossom
6. lay your burden on me
7. when the morning comes
8. last night
9. shiny teeth and sharpened claws
10. romans
11. all the songs
12. my twin star
13. whitering petals and dust

myspace
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tú hoguera está ardiendo

i won't make a fuss because this is the first real post of the chaotisch und charmant... i'm just gonna do it...
...

...klaus & kinski ~ tú hoguera está ardiendo (jabalina musica, 2008)

what really surprises me about this debut album from murcia (spain) band is that it's extremely bold and daring without being pretentious. from the first to the forth track they go from lovely, calm indiepop to shoegaze to electronicpop (which is ironic when the song's called 'rocanrolear', something like rocknrolling) and when the fourth song starts you may think "what the fuck...?" because you certainly will ask yourself what this band is about when you hear a bolero driven song.
the album goes on, track after track, surprising you. showing the wide range of influences and references with no fear of being labeled as insecure and/or naive. and even when it sounds naive in tracks like 'flash-back al revés' and 'en la cama', marina's voice feels like honey dripping to your ears.
the lyrics don't have a specific subject and it's quite hard to say "ok, this song talks about this and that song is about that". it's more like creating a feeling using clever, simple and sensitive sentences. of course there's love, suicide, cute naivety, excitement for rides in trucks at albacete highway...
this extremely mature debut is one of my favorite 60 minutes of the year.

1. el cristo del perdón
2. nunca estás a altura
3. roanrolear
4. mengele y el amor
5. flash-back al revés
6. autovía de albacete
7. muerte en plasencia
8. crucifixión, la solución
9. ronnie o'sullivan
10. teléfono de la esperanza
11. la mano de santa tereza de jesús
12. en la cama
13. lo que no cura mata
14. sintigo o sin ti

myspace
jabalina
buy

inauguration.

hello!
when someone spend too much time listening to music the urge of making music may take you by surprise... 'but if i don't know how to play any instruments, what should i do?' you may ask... well, you learn to play something or you don't learn and still play something or you just deal with the fact that you are not a musician.
till this day i'm dealing with the frustration of not being a musician but i still hope that, someday, i'll learn to play guitar or piano or percussion or synths or ukelele... (i've even downloaded via torrent some video lessons teaching the basics for guitar and bass).
after a long time with this blog created, i decided to really start using it. here you'll find music mostly. but there'll be also works from video art to internet art; new media and multimedia relations.
hope you'll like it. and feel free to pay a visit every now and then and contact me.