once more with feeling

Today, I got something new for you: I’m gonna give away some music, for free. Yes, that’s how much I love you. And how much Lazy Acre Records love you. Because they gave me some codes to download their compilaton “Three doors down and doing the charlestone”. Awesome, eh?
The compilation is full with catchy indie and folk tunes, perfect for listening to while enjoying the last days of this summer. My personal highlights include the Oslo based pop orchestra Cold Mailman, my most favorite Norwegian boy Uno Moller, the lovely two-voices composition of Stylusboy’s “Jigsaw” and “Burial” by the Escapists, a song that somehow reminds me of the earlier Kings Of Leon.

But now – enough with the talking. If you want one of the five download codes leave a comment, write me a mail, send me a DM on twitter or a message on facebook or just call me if you have my number. As soon as the codes are all gone – well, then they’re just gone.

Enjoy the music and enjoy the weekend.

The sun is shining, it’s warm outside. Not only does this mean that there are flip-flops and hotpants everywhere, but also that the festival season is starting. This week sees two of the most amazing ones (as far as I’m concernend) – Primavera in Barcelona and Spot in Aarhus. However, due to my very limited budget for stuff like that, I’m gonna stay in Vienna and envy everybody.

But it’s not only the big festivals that count. The smaller ones are very often those that you can enjoy more, those without the time pressure of rushing from stage to stage to see a band, those that seem like a big party with friends. I had one of those festivals last year when I went to Acoustic Lakeside in Carinthia. I also think that the Popfest has a really nice atmosphere, and I hope that the Waves Vienna, which will be held this year for the first time, will be similar.

One festival that seems to be along those lines is the “Huset ved Sjøen-festivalen” in Nesodden in Norway (20 minutes with boat from Oslo). I’ve been told that this means something like “house by the sea-festival”, and the name comes from the fact that it actually takes place at a house by the sea. Not only is it a house – it’s a temple that was built in 1911 (not in it’s original version obviously), and so for the 100-years celebration, a festival has been arranged by Synne Øverland Knudsen (who you might know from Team Me, the band that’s just been on tour with The Wombats) and Einar Stray (I already told you about him here).

The festival takes place on the 11th of June. There will be a festival ferry and an own festival wine (!!!).

Now, here’s the line-up so far:
Drink To Me, electro-pop from Italy

Lemaitre from Norway, who also make electronic music

Jenny Hval, an artist and writer from Norway, whose music is very poetic and melodic

Bendik, also a Norwegian singer/songwriter

Jonas Alaska, only 22 years old, who has been playing at by:Larm already

and finally Solander from Sweden, a folk-pop trio I’ve already seen here in Vienna, and who I can only highly recommend!

Life can be weird. No – life is weird. It makes you constantly run into people you avoid meeting, putting you in the strangest situations. It makes you hurt people you don’t want to hurt. It leaves you completely clueless in moments, when only a clear mind will take you a step further.
That’s why it’s wonderful to take a break from time to time. To let the world turn for a while without you in it.

This is what I did last Saturday evening. The moment I stepped through the iron doors of Badeschiff, it was in a different world. With candy and cute ponies, golden jackets and checkered stockings.
mylittlepony played at the Candy Club, one of Vienna’s queer clubs. mylittlepony don’t have very much to do with the toy ponies you might know from your childhood, except for that both are extremely cute. The five Norwegians play this type of indie-pop that puts a smile on your face during the whole set, that makes you sway during the quieter and shake your hips during the faster songs.
Listening to their music will make you happy, no matter how down you might be. Their charme, combined with egg and banana rattles, sweet harmonies, their twee appearance, poppy tunes… it’s the perfect pony-pop. During their show, Ola and Nina took me on a journey to Oslo, we met MacGyver and sang stories about love.

Sadly, my trip to a motley, happy world had to end (after getting a signed copy of “Making Marks” and a hug). But if I need another break from the world, and in case you need one too: here’s a video of Alice Tragedy before the gig (see if you find the moment when she nearly falls down the stairs), some pictures of the gig (courtesy of The405), and you can get their double single “A Miracle / Stories About Love” here as well as a 5-tracks EP here.

Let’s dive into the pony world, just for some minutes.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH9_vhGBpaw

But if we stop being cynical
and speak with real intent
we could hope for a miracle
right in this moment of our lives
and then get out of here
together you and I.

Yesterday I went dancing. I mean, not on purpose. I went to this gig and afterwards they had this DJ playing all of the indie-pop hits from Arctic Monkeys to Mando Diao and Ezra Furman. However, I danced. And yes, that used to be unusual for me. But I’m starting to like it. Not this hardcore jumping around or the classic ballroom dance, but this moving the feet a bit back and forth, shaking the hip from left to right and back, nodding the head to the beat and having the half stretched-out arms go up and down alternately, maybe even clicking the fingers from time to time.
At the moment, I’m quite exhausted from that last night and a long day and so I’m sitting in my bed, checking my e-mails. And what do I find there? A song that makes me want to get up and dance. Dance and sing along.

It’s the new track from I see horses, a quintet from Oslo. After an eventful last year with an EP release and excessive touring, the band is planning to release their first album this year.
So now: turn the speakers on, and dance with me.

At the moment, 2 jobs and one upcoming and really important exam keep me from posting more regularly. But since apart from a lack of spare time, life is pretty awesome at the moment, so I’ll just stop complaining here.

No matter how little time I have and no matter how little time you have, there’s something worth watching: Einar Stray playing at by:Larm, a festival in Norway. Enjoy!

BYLARM2011 – Gårsdagens konsert – Einar Stray from byLarm on Vimeo.

You fancy Norwegian music? Yes? Perfect. No? You should.
However, I’ve got some new stuff for you, and no matter what your attitude towards music from the North is, you really should check those bands out. You won’t regret it.

The first one is Cold Mailman from Oslo. They are no newcomers, not at all. But on February 14th, they will finally have their deserved debut UK single “Pull yourself together and fall in love with me” out. Not only that it’s a perfect track for Valentine’s Day – additionally, it is a limited edition single in a Valentine’s card. Also, their new record is to be released by the end of February.
In case you don’t want to wait until Valentine’s Day, you can already take a look at the nice and authentic video of “Pull yourself together and fall in love with me”, which shows the band on a roadtrip and on stage.

The second wonderful band I’d like to present you is Twin Pines Mall. You might have already realized that I’m totally into Uno Moller – well, this is his new side project.
The band’s name sounds familiar? Well, then you probably watched “Back to the Future” too often. There, the Twin Pines Mall was the location which Doc chose to show Marty the DeLorean time machine. As far as I know, this is actually a real place – or rather a real mall –  somewhere in California. I could be wrong about that though…
However, back to the music! It’s a kind of post-rock, emo, hardcore style… but, better if you listen to it yourself. Go to their bandcamp page, where they put their “Knitted Glass EP” up for streaming.