Hidden Track on Blur's album Think Tank

I have been a fan of Blur since 1996 when I first saw them perform "Charmless Man" on Conan O'Brien. You can check out that performance here:

                       

Even though Oasis were my favorite band at the time, it didn't stop me from loving Blur as well. :o) Well, today (2016) I decided to re-listen to the Think Tank album. I have to admit, it is the one Blur album I am least familiar with, but I never noticed the song "Me, White Noise" before which is apparently a hidden track with guest vocals by Phil Daniels. If you know Blur, you might remember that Phil Daniels also spoke/sang on the song "Parklife."

It turns out to be a really cool track. I can't say much more except that you should check it out and hopefully I will be better at being more active on this music blog in the future. Happy Listening!

          

De Underjordiske - New Danish Band

There is a new Danish band called De Underjordiske (The Underground), and I am really liking their song 'Vi kommer nu' (we're coming now).

This song has been getting a lot of airplay on my favorite radio station here in Denmark called P6 Beat. If you don't live in Denmark or have never listened to this station you should and you can online for free. Basically it plays rock, indie, electronic, ambient, heavy metal (on Sundays), synthpop, britpop, alternative rock from new Danish bands, to older bands I love from around the world, and I am surprised to hear obscure tracks on this station from bands I haven't listened to in years that I never thought would be played on a radio station. It is really great, and a good way to discover new music. There are no commercials on this station, but there is a DJ and the Danish news pops in every hour. If you want to check out P6 Beat you can here. Also, you can see the playlist of what is being played on their website so you can download or buy whatever you like.

So back to De Underjordiske. What first caught my attention about their song (embedded above) is that it reminds me so much of the band from England called Cast. I have no idea if this band is in some way influenced by Cast but I can definitely hear some similarities between the song 'Vi kommer nu' and the Cast song called 'Tell it like it is.' In particular it is one of the guitar riffs that sounds similar, as well as the style of the song, and the singer's voice. It is just really strange to hear what sounds like a Cast song being sung in Danish. :)

Cast are a band from Liverpool, England that released a really great debut album called 'All Change' back in 1995. You can check out the song I mention by them below and see if you hear the similarities that I do. :o)

            

Space Rock

You know how sometimes you click on a video on YouTube, then see something similar and click on that, and before you know it you are in a strange YouTube realm? :) Well that happened to me this weekend, and I became deep in Space Rock. I found some hilarious videos, but at the same time, I'm really digging the music. So I decided to make a Space Rock playlist, some are new discoveries, others are ones I thought of from my own music collection. So I made a mix of old and new, and of what I consider Space Rock to sound like. There are 27 videos in this playlist, and I recommend for you to check them out. :o)

Who knew there was a Space Rock movement in the late 70's/early 80's? Now I know where Daft Punk and Air got their inspiration. Also from the looks of it, I think there MUST have been a big sale on gold jump suits back then. Enjoy! :)


             

Lydmor & Bon Homme

There is a new electronic indie pop group known as Lydmor & Bon Homme that I am really loving. It is a collaboration project by Jenny Rossander (Lydmor) and Thomas Høffding (singer/bassist in WhoMadeWho). Their debut album was just released a little over a week ago and it's called Seven Dreams of Fire. I don't know too much about them, but if you want to check them out below is the music video for a song called Things We Do For Love. To me it looks like the video was filmed at Kødbyen and on top of the old DR building in Copenhagen. It's simple, but interesting. :o) Check it out.

Also if you don't know WhoMadeWho, you should really check them out too. They are a Danish indie synth rock band and they released their first album in 2005. I love how diverse their sound is. It can be rock or dance or electronic and all of that at once! Here is the video for Every Minute Alone.

Danish Music Live

As I mentioned before, there are a lot of great bands from Denmark, both old and new. Some of my favorites have only released a few albums, and others are still making music today. I would say my all time favorite Danish band is Moi Caprice, but sadly they are no longer together. I wouldn't say Moi Caprice are very known in Denmark, but a lot of Danish bands I like aren't. That doesn't mean they aren't good! :o) Moi Caprice have released a lot of albums, and every single song is amazing, to me. I love the melodies, the lyrics, and the singer's voice, so it's no wonder I consider them to be my favorite Danish band. :)

I thought it might be neat to make a playlist of Danish bands I like (including the above mentioned), and I decided it would be more interesting if the playlist featured only live performances. There are 24 bands in this playlist, and I might be adding more later. Hope you enjoy it! :)


          

Suede Performing Live in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2013

I have been a fan of Suede since 1996 and since I am from Texas, I never got the opportunity to see them perform live until 2013. They actually played in Copenhagen, Denmark two nights in a row, and the first night sold out instantly. That gig was at a small venue called Lille Vega, which was supposed to be a very intimate setting, and something special to be a part of today, since Suede usually play much bigger venues. Initially, I did not have a ticket, but I was put on the waiting list, and the day of the gig, I got an e-mail saying that I could purchase two tickets.

So, I finally got to see Suede perform live, and it was amazing. :o) I stood in the front row and tried to record what I could and the footage came out really nice. I recorded 7 songs: Barriers, Animal Nitrate, Metal Mickey, We are the Pigs, Filmstar, Killing of a Flashboy, and Can't Get Enough.

Hearing We are the Pigs, and Killing of a Flashboy really brought me back to my early Suede fan years! It was really surreal. The band put on a great show, and Brett was really close to me. In fact he used the guy next to me to balance himself as he sang into the crowd. It seemed like tough work for the fan, since Brett moved around when he sang, but must have also been a cool experience for that fan. :o)

You can see what I recorded below!

          
         
The next day Suede played at Tivoli, an amusement park in Copenhagen, and it was just a whole different atmosphere. I could barely see, and the sound wasn't good. Some of the people there were also clearly not fans and talked a lot or were just plain rude. So I am so glad I got to see Suede at Lille Vega. If you want to watch what I recorded at Tivoli, the playlist is below. The songs I recorded are Trash, Killing of a Flashboy, Can't Get Enough, Everything Will Flow, Sleeping Pills, and Beautiful Ones.

          

Best Acoustic Sessions

I miss the days when I could turn on the tv and just watch music videos. I used to love watching MTV's 120 minutes when I was in High School and I discovered a lot of bands that way. For instance, I wouldn't know the Swedish band Kent (who are amazing, and one of my favorite bands), if I had never seen the video "If You were Here" debut on 120 minutes in 1998. I am pretty sure they only played it once, and luckily I was watching. This is the video, in case you don't know it.

Nowadays, I often create my own video playlists on You Tube. It's kind of like running my own MTV. :) So today I created an acoustic only music playlist. It starts with Damon Albarn and ends with The Raveonettes. There are 27 videos altogether, and these are some of my favorites! Check it out below if you want. Let me know if you like anything you hear or if you have a favorite acoustic performance that is not on my playlist.