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
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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)

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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