I like Man Like Me a lot. This blog wasn’t born when this song came out but if you haven’t heard of these guys then check them out. It took me to watch an IKEA advert they’re on now for me to remember this song. Never forget songs that get you glad! Choooooon.
At just 15, Birdy’s already had a big impact with her track ‘Skinny Lover’. Now she’s back with a reworking of The xx’s ‘Shelter’ which is just beautiful. Check out here.
No new bands in this post but I just read up on this very cool article about scientists at Emory University predicting future hits through brain responses. I always thought there was a weird geeky way of working out what determines a song to be a hit or not:
The researchers usually could tell from the strength of brain activity alone which songs would later sell at least 20,000 copies, as tabulated by the Nielsen Company. Generally, 1 in 10 recordings turns a profit, but five songs in their neural top 10 sold more than 50,000 copies each. However, three songs that were not among the top 10 eventually became gold records, selling more than 500,000 copies.
Read up on the full article here.
Formed in mid 2010, London based Waylayers make some stunning, atmospheric pop, fusing elements of electronica and indie rock. Check out here.
Tim Schou, aka the lead singer from one of Denmark’s hottest new bands, A Friend In London, stopped by in London to play a short set of tracks for his biggest UK fans at UCLU. We were lucky enough to catch him for ten minutes and ask him a few questions! You can read what Tim said, or watch the video at the end of the post. There’s also pics from the gig on Flickr, and a of video on our Youtube channel right now.
We’ve got Tim from A Friend In London who were this years Danish entry for Eurovision, you guys came in 5th – was that the result you wanted?
Tim – We definitely went for the number one but it didn’t turn out that way but we’re satisfied and it opened up a really big market for us inEurope so it’s all we can ask.
What did you think of Azerbaijan winning?
Tim – I think it’s a good pop melody and the first time I heard it I thought ‘Ok that’s kinda a little like Timbaland production thing- you can almost hear Timbaland singing in the studio’ so I think it was pretty good and that’s the last thing I could hope when I see that ‘ok we stand no chance of winning this’ then it has to be Azerbaijan.
You’re in London today, doing a gig – what’s the reason for coming here?
Tim – The number one reason is for my fans. After Eurovision I experienced a lot of traffic on my Twitter and I just built my Twitter fourteen days before Eurovision and there’s really heavy traffic there and all these fans from all around Europe, and because I was touring in London two years before and I always loved touring in London.
I could see there was a crowd for me in London, and people were writing me on Twitter saying they would love to fly over to hear me in London so I thought ‘Ok lets do it’, so we’re putting on this free show, giving out free tickets for fans, just a way for me to say thank you for supporting and hope you’re in it for the long haul- because I am!
Where’s the rest of the band now?
Tim – Ash, he’s in New York to scout out a few places, and Sebastian and Esben are writing songs for the new album.
Did you ever think you would end up where you are now after Eurovsion, playing gigs all around Europe?
Tim – I have to say yes, because that’s been the whole idea from the start when we said yes to do the Danish Eurovision, and it’s been the goal for us to tour around the world. It’s so nice to see the gigs in Europe.
What made you want to apply for Eurovision in the first place?
Tim – It came out of the blue- like really out of the blue. We were called by a publisher who had this song; ‘New Tomorrow’ and we’ve always been writing all the songs in the band, in the past six years, from the day we started.
And then we got this opportunity to stand up in front of two million people inDenmarkand play this song. But we were like ‘Hey we can’t play a song that’s not our own,’ but we heard the song and we thought it was good and we could see ourselves playing it most importantly. So we told them that if we were doing this then we would need to arrange the song and we would need to do give it a more ‘A Friend In London feeling’ and they said ‘Ok guys – do it!’
Were you well known in Denmark before you applied for Eurovision?
Tim – We were getting a pretty cool buzz, and we’ve been touring inCanada three or four times now and feeling a good buzz over there too. So things were really looking good for us before Eurovision, but then after we did it we just got even more of a buzz.
Would you ever do Eurovision again?
Tim – This is something you can hold me up to in five years, but I think no. Because the thing about A Friend In London is that we’re a live band, and we started out by being the four of us playing. The first concert we did I was I think after one rehearsal, playing all new material playing live on the stage. And that’s where we belong and being out there with the fans. In Eurovision you can’t get contact with the fans because it’s a TV box – a TV bubble. So I guess it’ll be a no.
Denmark normally does quite well – I guess it’s a big deal in Denmark?
Tim – Yes it’s a proud tradition, it’s a great tradition. At the same time which was also why we had all these thoughts about doing it, there’s a lot of clichés that I guess are there too in England?
Lately we have been trying to take it more seriously, but generally in the UK we don’t really see it as a serious thing.
Tim – Exactly and that’s one of the reasons we chose to do it, because we were like ‘Hey no one can tell us where we can play our music, and what is allowed and what’s not allowed.’ And what happened was we really turned the coin. We slapped their asses man, and people were like ‘Whoa what’s up with this British rock sounding indie band who just turn up to this really commercial thing.’
And I think it puts some thoughts into other bands in our genre who think ‘Ok well there’s two million people watching the Danish Eurovision show,’ and its all about doing it for real and being honest with the music and not caring about what people think.
You’re big in Canada and Denmark. Alfitude.com is all about new music, so is there anything happening in Canada or Denmark that’s worth listening to right now?
Tim – I’m really bad with names but I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Danish singer/ songwriter Mads Langer? He just came out with a new album called ‘Behold’. It’s pretty good. And it’s got four tracks that were on the last album- because it’s his first international released album. He’s an amazing singer. If you don’t know him you should check him out!
What’s next for you guys?
Tim – We’re going to finish our Danish tour – but we have a ‘break’ and I say a ‘break’ because were going to record our debut album in Canada actually. So we’re leaving June 26th and coming back July 15th and then hopefully we’ve got some songs.
Is it a world wide release?
Tim – Yes.
And what sound are you going for?
Tim – I like to say it’s all the way from the universe of Justin Bieber to the universe of Radiohead. I’ve always been really fond with these pop melodies and pop to the bone, and really like the mysterious ways of how you can play the different chords in a very British way. So it’s gonna be a good mixture!
Are you looking forward to tonight?
Tim – I really am! I can’t wait to see if people really are flying out from Holland and Sweden like they said they would!
Brookes Brothers self-titled debut album is out now digitally (click to buy from iTunes) and released on CD on Monday. Check out the brand new video for the radio hit single ‘In Your Eyes (feat. Johnny Osbourne)’.
I saw Plan B at London’s Mean Fiddler in July 2006, with Example supporting. The place was packed but at the time neither of these guys were well known- Plan B didn’t release his multi-platinum selling ‘The Defamation of Strickland Banks’ and Example didn’t release ‘Won’t Go Quietly’ til 2010.
At the time, both were promoting their debut records, which sounded completely different to the stuff that made them big in the end, but which I preferred. I know they look like foetuses in these pics – I had a camera which looked amazing but sadly did anything other than take decent pics. But anyway, a couple more pics on my Flickr if you want.
Raw, atmospheric electropop that makes a very big statement. Check out here.
Swedish solo indie rocker Niels Nielson’s most recent solo album, Cmon Vultures: Part 1 includes folk-inspired pop tracks drawing inspiration from the likes of The Radio Dept. and Modest Mouse. The album also features more upbeat, danceable tracks, such as “Tell Me Now” and “Absolutes,” along the lines of Peter Bjorn and John.
Wakey!Wakey! is the chamber pop product of Michael Grubbs’ eclectic musical education- formative years spent listening to an improbable mix of Gershwin, Brahms and Zeppelin were followed by a stint in NY in the company of ‘Anti-Folk’ contemporaries including Regina Spektor and The Moldy Peaches.
The most surreal point in Grubbs’ backstory came when cult U.S. show ‘One Tree Hill‘ synced a series finale to a Wakey!Wakey! track (past contributors to the soundtrack include Iron & Wine, Frightened Rabbit and Bon Iver). So enamoured was the show’s producer that he gave Grubbs a recurring acting part as a bartending musician, in a surreal case of life imitating art/art imitating life…
The band will be headlining London Scala on June 14th (having sold out the Garage last year) which follows on from sets at SXSW earlier this year.
Aside from the sick beat and amazing video, I’m seriously envious of Alex Clare’s beard. Album’s finally out 11th July.
Yea, he really does go by the name of Kaka, yet his music is anything but. Swedish pop that is kinda happy and sad at the same time. It’s a grower for sure and I love it. Check out here.
I’m very excited about this guy. Soul pop done very well indeed. Even though this is obviously mainstream and commercial, there’s a serious sincerity in the music which you rarely come across, and I think that’s what makes Alex Boyd special. Check out here.
“The truth is, a buzzband is a lot like a human. A buzzband has hopes. A buzzband has dreams. A buzzband has desires. A buzzband has insecurities. Every buzzband wants to be the best buzzband that they can be, but tons of other buzzbands are standing in the way. Buzzbands want to be friends with other buzzbands. Buzzbands get in fights with other buzzbands. Buzzbands make up. Buzzbands eat, poop, live and die. Buzzbands experience high highs and low lows.”
– via Hipster Runoff
I mentioned Mr Fogg on here ages ago for an amazing little videohe made in the middle of London. Last year he released his debut album, also entitled ‘Moving Parts’, and is currently working on new material with Icelandic producer Valgeir Sigurdsson (Bjork and Feist), this video marks a stepping stone between his debut and new music set for release later this year.
The video was directed by American History X director, Tony Kaye and was shot at various locations around Los Angeles, including Walt Disney Concert Hall, and consists entirely of several thousand stop-animated still photographs.
Baby Monster are giving away a track each week in lead up to the release of their album on 27th June. Download Mr Success here!
I love Robyn (as you might have guessed if you’re a regular on here). Video’s great, even though I wasn’t a huge fan of the song when I first heard it but watching this makes me change my mind. Gonna dance like her next time I’m rockin’ the discotheque.
I know, a lot of people will look down on this single but for what it’s worth, this is about as edgy as mainstream pop is in the UK right now- and it’s actually a lot of fun. Produced by Diplo and Dimitri Tikovoi. She was always the odd one out from Girls Aloud, and this single is pretty left field compared to what the other girls have done with their solo stuff. And dare I say, I see small hints of Robyn in there too. Check out here.
