2005.10.31
If you want to listen to new, Norwegian and good music you can go to: Independentradio.no. You’ll find bands such as Magnet, Sondre Lerche, Real Ones, Cato Salsa Experience, Hanne Hukkelberg, Ulver, Jaga Jazzist and many, many others.
Via Jaga Jazzist News.
2005.10.31
This week, honors to Jaga Jazzist. Just because they rock and I love them. Their last album, What We Must, is a wonderful ElectroJazzPostRock monument.
More infos :
Jaga Jazzist musicians apparitions and collaborations:
2005.10.30
It’s funny that I never had the opportunity to write about this great free icelandic magazine in English, The Grapevine. When we went to Reykjavík for the Airwaves festival, last year, The Grapevine was our first introduction to the festival: we found it in one of the numerous pubs and bars you’ve got on Laugavegur and I was honestly surprised by the quality of it. And by the fact that it was both free and in english… and weekly.
Since then, I regularly browse their website, where you’ll find witty articles about the Icelandic life/culture… There’s always something worth reading, even though you don’t live in Reykjavík and don’t care about the next concert that will be given at Póstbarinn or about the next exhibition that will be shown at the Gallery Listvinahúsið…
But if ever you felt like going to the Iceland Airwaves Festival (that took place last week) but couldn’t make it eventually, you’ll be interested to know that The Grapevine is publishing a long and detailed review of those 3-day concerts, in pdf format. You’ll find it here.
And that’s probably the place where you’ll find more album reviews than anywhere else on the Internet (I’m talking about icelandic albums, obviously…)
Finally, you could even be interested to read a long article about the kennitala system – Iceland’s personal identification number (see picture) – in the last issue. At least I was interested. So why not you?
2005.10.28
There was some months ago an article about Finnish experimental underground music in The Wire (number 250). Most of the bands that were talked about were from a small record company from Tampere, Fonal Records. This is what they write on Fonal.com:
“ABOUT FONAL
Fonal Records is a Finnish independent record label established by Sami Sänpäkkilä in 1995. There has been around 40 releases so far varying from ambient, experimental, naive pop to semi-acoustic psychedelic folk. We are currently based in Tampere, Finland.”
They used to have some mp3’s on the site, but I couldn’t find them anymore. At least there are some videos and something called Radio Fonal sessions. Check it out if you’re interested in Finnish underground experimental folk music.
Another connection to the experimental folk scene (and Fonal bands) would be an solo artist called Lau Nau (vocalist in Kiila). She released her debut, “Kuutarha”, on Locust Music, and it has got some quite nice reviews in the international press. (Read Pitchforkmedia review.)
And for the Swedish people to know:
“ISLAJA ON SVT2
A thirty minute Islaja special made for MTV’s This Is Our Music series will be broadcast on swedens SVT2 channel on 7th of November at 23.00 swedish time. Please check it out if the channel is available to you!” (from Fonal.com)
Fonal Records
Lau Nau at Locust Music
Mp3’s:
Lau Nau – Kuula
Lau Nau – Puuportti rautaportilta
Lau Nau – Johdattaja-Joleen
2005.10.28
Those of you who’ve already visited my own personal weblog must have seen this picture. I got not explanation of what it actually is. The only thing I know is that, when I visited Sicily, I stumbled across this funny building which must date back to the 19th century: there was a Danish vice-consulat in Taormina, Sicily, which was eventually transformed into an Italian travel agency. And i keep wondering why there was a Danish consulat in this tiny Sicilian village (which is probably, by the way, the most beautiful on this island…). If you happen to have any clue, please leave a comment, it will be greatly appreciated.
Then, a couple of days after Taormina, we went to the Etna and stayed in another small village, Nicolosi. To my surprise, there was a “Danish boutique” in the town, selling funny stuff directly imported from Denmark, apparently. I couldn’t enter this shop, though, it was closed during my stay in Nicolosi, but i’m still wondering who had this funny idea: opening a Danish boutique in the Italian middle of nowhere, dedicated to a scandinavian country…
And then, yesterday, I read this article about a the small town of Tranquebar [Danish: Trankebar], laying on the Coromandel Coast, in the Bay of Bengal, which remains a living museum of more than two centuries of Danish heritage in India… In 1620 Tranquebar was chosen by the Danish East India Company for the foundation of “Dansborg Fort”, which became the most important outpost of Danish trade and culture in India until the colony was eventually sold to the British India Company in 1845. Today, the town is back to life after the tsunami and it proudly remains the most important centre of Danish heritage in India.
2005.10.24
This year, Denmark celebrates the 200th anniversary of probably the most famous fairy tale author: Hans Christian Andersen.
A website has been created for the occasion: HCA2005.
More about Andersen:
2005.10.19
Some of you may remember a post of mine, a couple of months ago, about Dýrðin, a funny icelandic band who plays funny tunes and funny melodies, just for the sake of fun. Well, today, I feel like talking again about those funny unpretentious bands, whose music, which is some kind of so-called “twee”-pop, makes you feel like dancing like soul boys. No serious review, no description of those bands and their recordings, though, just a few links for your own pleasure…
The Strip Squad are “five happy people from Sweden”. They’re young and pretty (see picture) and they will soon release an album on the Songs I Wish I Had Written label. There are a couple of songs to download which are simple and pure P!O!P, and some more on Hello Surprise, especially “If You Don’t take Me Right Away, You Might As Well Fuck Off” (great title, isn’t it?).
As twee, or even more… as amateur, or even more… are The Flame. Again, Hello Surprise, this great encyclopedia about swedish music, has a couple of tunes of The Flame for you to download.
If you’re into this kind of music, why not visit The Springfactory website? “Lina badly wanted to record a song she had written about her having trouble getting out of bed. So she turned to Peter who she knew very well and trusted enough to let him interfere with the making and recording of the song. There and then a band was born.”
Since you’re visiting Helllo Surprise, find the Heikki page: that’s the only information I found about them since I last visited their website, which looks down. If you like the Concretes (I’m sure you do), you’ll like Heikki as well (one day you’ll understand why…)
I don’t remember if I said something about Epo-555 already, but let me take the opportunity: they hail from Denmark, and you’d better listen to a tune like “L’Art Pour la fart” (what the hell does it mean???) if you like energetic pop.
There’s much energy, as well, in Eurosport, or rather the Swedish band which used to be Eurosport. It’s Le Sport now, and it’s “euro-indie-disco-pop”. Well, i’m not sure I’m into this kind of music, but some of you could appreciate, so…
Friday Bridge is pretty different. I guess the Swedish singer wishes she were a French pop-singer in the sixties. I’m not supposed to call this music “twee”, but hey. Just listen!
Last but not least, i love Hemstad, too. Some of the songs I downloaded from their website remind me of those moog-led 60s songs rehabilitated by Belle and Sebastian. “Their sound is a highspeed energic, instrumental dedication to the west coast of Sweden”. Can you believe it?
Ok, that’s all, folks. Let’s dance and have fun, now!
2005.10.19
Founded by sisters Britta and Karin Lund in 1994, LundLund claims to be the top fashion photographers agency in Stockholm, Sweden.
With portfolios like Henrik Halvarsson’s, Andreas Johansson’s, Per Zennström’s and many more, such affirmation is hard to dispute.
2005.10.17
Her last album, Fisherman’s Woman, is out for a while now. And rumors say she’s started working on the next one.
If you don’t know her yet, you might have already hear her music at least once… In a commercial? A movie? Maybe at the end of The Lord of the Rings? To discover more about her, you can go to this website: emiliana.nu (lacking of updates lately) or the official one: emilianatorrini.com.
Feel free to use the comments to let suggestions for next week’s banner.
2005.10.14
We all know how great it is to live in another country, to discover new ways of life, new landscapes, to be overwhelmed by the differences and the similarities. Before the blogs were fashionable, you had to wait for your best friends’ letters sent from the other end of the world, to borrow travel books by anthropologists or novelists at the local library. Now you’ve got the internet, and those great blogs…
Three of them are woth visiting regularly if you’re interested in Iceland. Here you’ll find hints about what’s going on in the political field, what are the habits of Icelandic white collars, what you can watch on TV or listen on the radio (even if you hardly speak the language), where you should do some shopping in Reykjavik, which place you shouldn’t miss when you visit Iceland, what you can expect from an icelandic viking on a saturday night, why you shouldn’t bother if ever you meet Björk in a bar… Those three blogs are well krafted and brillantly written, they can be funny and fascinating at the same time. A must-read for those of you who think that Iceland is a must-see.
Iceland Report
Epodadventures
Iceland Weather Report
There must be other blogs like this, though. Feel free to send a comment and to post a link.
