Under Byen: Legesag

Listen/Download:
"Legesag"
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Thunderbear: Pas Pa Du Ikke Falder I!

Listen/Download:
"Pas Pa Du Ikke Falder I!"
[Artist Website]

French Disko

Sterolab Original:
"French Disko"
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Raveonettes Cover Version (Live):
"French Disko" (Live)
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The Raveonettes in Session at NPR

World Cafe, May 7, 2008 - The Danish duo The Raveonettes seemed like a bit of a novelty act at first, mixing '50s and '60s rock with harmonies inspired by The Everly Brothers and The Ronettes. But the band is no mere throwback, with an increasingly appealing and timeless rock catalog. In a session with Michaela Majoun on the World Cafe, the band plays songs from it's new album, Lust Lust Lust.

After a critically acclaimed and award-winning debut with 2002's Whip It On, The Raveonettes' profile shrunk a bit with the release of 2003's Chain Gang of Love and 2005's Pretty in Black. But a great new disc, this year's Lust Lust Lust, is quickly making up for lost time: "Aly, Walk with Me" sounds like an instant smash, and the rest of the album follows in its enjoyably fuzzed-out footsteps.

[Link]

In other Raveonettes news, Sharin Foo has a bun in the oven:

Sharin's Good news/Bad news

Good news is I am pregnant and expecting a baby in September. Bad news is I was planning on touring through the summer, but have been strongly advised by my doctor to stay at home for the remainder of the pregnancy for the health of the baby and myself. So no more traveling and playing shows for me this year.

Unfortunately we have had to cancel our show in Krakow this weekend, a show that was really on my personal list of most anticipated experiences. But Sune & I are working on a solution to keep The Raveonettes music out there and play the remainder of the shows we have booked throughout the summer, even without me! Stay tuned.

*** Sharin

Listen/Download:
"You Say You Lie"
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Thoughts OnThe Raveonettes: Lust Lust Lust

When keeping an eye out for bands that are going to make a lasting impact, quantity can be as important as quantity. Take The Strokes and Interpol, for example. Both released lauded debut albums, yet when it came time to collect the b-sides for the singles from those records, there was one new track per band and a unwanted batch of 'exclusive live tracks'. Both bands went on to put out tired second records and awkward third ones.

The Raveonettes, on the other hand, were passed off by many (myself included) as just another gimmicky product of the "New Rock Revolution". Yet they never had trouble writing songs. Maybe that doesn't count for much on a band's first record, but on a band's fourth, it can make all the difference in the world. The band's first two albums, "Whip it On" and "Chain Gang of Love", were absolute gems. Based on a single key each (B flat minor and B flat major respectively), they displayed songwriter Sune Rose Wagner's ability to mix menace and tender beauty. The following record, "Pretty in Black", was admittedly a bit spotty, but it did produce what was probably the best track of 2005, "Love in a Trashcan". While the record was rightfully praised for demonstrating a broadening of the band's musical palette, it was hard not to see it as a mixture of enduring triumphs and spectacular failures.

Predictably, perhaps, after such an experience, "Lust Lust Lust" is the sound of a band going back to basics. Heavily distorted surf guitar and icy-cool two-part harmonies are front and center here, just as they were on those first two records. Second track "Hallucinations" sets the template: threadbare verse with drum machines and bass; noisy, feedback-laden chorus leading into chiming guitar riffs.

Needless to say, The Jesus and Mary Chain cast a long shadow here; this album might have been called "Teenage Lust Lust Lust". Opener "Ally Walk with Me" has the distorted trip-hop beats and Eastern overtones that Primal Scream, the band of original JAMC drummer Bobby Gillespie, has made a career of. It ends on a wave of feedback fit for a My Bloody Valentine record, whose figurehead Kevin Shields played with and produced Primal Scream. The effect of this influence incest could have been disastrous; fortunately for The Raveonettes, they've picked the right group of bands to emulate.

First single "Dead Sound" is vintage Raveonettes as the sparse verses fall away into a lullaby chorus--a fleeting moment of fragility that is shattered by a barage of reverb-drenched distortion. The appropriately named "Blitzed" is a shock of surf-rock energy with britpop trimmings. The disaffected duo sing "Our love is being blitzed" and one has to admire both the line and the off-handed way it is delivered. As the strains of closer "The Beat Dies" bring the album to a melancholy close, one can imagine Audrey Horne spacing out and dancing to the song playing on the jukebox of the Double R. Much like David Lynch and his musical cohort Angelo Badalamenti, The Raveonettes are fixated on a slightly sinister vision of 1950s America. As Lynch can attest, this sort of perverse nostalgia for the dark corners of an idealized age is fertile ground for artists. It's no wonder, then, that The Raveonettes revisit these themes with each new record.

If there's any downside to "Lust Lust Lust", and to the music of The Raveonettes on a whole, it's that there's a certain emotional coldness in the music, an artful distance maintained, that makes it hard to digest more than a couple songs at a time. In other words, this is the perfect music for our shuffle culture, but those looking for their new favorite band might be disappointed. That being said, their songs are probably the ones you'll find yourself drifting back to once this year's Interpol or The Strokes have lost their touch.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Listen to "Dead Sound":

[Download the MP3 Here]
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Buy it:

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Amazon CD

Mew: Wherever (Re-recorded Version)

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[Download the MP3 Here]
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That Great Lust Sound

Those brilliant Danes The Raveonettes have a new album on the way:

Danish duo The Raveonettes have revealed the name of their forthcoming third album exclusively to NME.COM.

Due for release towards the end of the year on an as-yet-unspecified label, the band have settled on 12 tracks and have selected the final title of 'Lust, Lust, Lust', which has been inspired by the lyrical content of many of the songs.

"There are a lot of songs that deal with desire, restlessness and the tough choices you have to make sometimes," explained frontman Sune Rose Wagner, who, along with bandmate Sharin Foo, has just completed mixing duties in New York. "Lust and forbidden desires are definitely the main themes of the record and most of it comes from a personal perspective."

The album was self-recorded, self-produced and the final tracks were culled from a selection of over 100 that Wagner had demoed during the past two years. Of the songs NME.COM was played, standouts included the distinctly surf-influenced number 'Dead Sound' and a bubblegum-pop smash in the making called 'You Want The Candy'.

However the duo have clearly given the new material a much darker edge overall, particularly in the shape of the discordantly melodic band favourite 'Expelled From Love' and 'Aly Walk With Me' which is comprised of a hypnotic hip-hop groove and dynamic quiet/loud guitar shifts.

"We didn't want that flimsy sound we had on the 'Pretty In Black' album (which came out in 2005) anymore," continued Wagner. "It's a grittier, tougher and much more powerful record - one that I think is perfect for doing a massive amount of drugs to in some underground Berlin club!"

Although still unsequenced, confirmed track names for 'Lust, Lust, Lust' are:

'Blitzed'
'You Want The Candy'
'Hallucinations'
'Blush'
'Black Satin'
'Expelled From Love'
'Dead Sound'
'The Beat Dies'
'Honey I Never Had You'
'Ally, Walk With Me'
'Lust'
'With My Eyes Closed'

The band are also due to tour the UK in the autumn.

New Song "Ally, Walk with Me" live (thanks Jake Drake):

Listen to "One Day at a Time" (John Lennon Cover, Unreleased):

[Download the MP3 Here]
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Under Byen: Batteri Gernerator

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[Download the MP3 Here]
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Mew: Web

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[Download the MP3 Here]
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(Thanks Big Boots)

Mew: Panda

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[Download the MP3 Here]
[Band Website]
[Band Myspace]

Under Byen on KEXP

The excellent KEXP Blog does a nice write-up of Under Byen on occasion of their live session for the station:

If you’re a fan of Sigur Ros, Bjork, the experimental side of Radiohead, the meditative hypnosis of Godspeed You Black Emperor! and the moodiness of Portishead you need to see Under Byen. Seattleites have the fortunate opportunity to check out this Danish band open for the Album Leaf Tuesday night at Neumo’s (rounding out this killer bill is Arthur & Yu).

After obsessing the good part of a year over the majestic beauty of their third album (first North America release) Samme Stof Som Stof, I witnessed their splendor firsthand when they performed for KEXP during our March SXSW broadcast. The experimental electronic rock collective exceeded expectations creating deeply emotional soundscapes at times delicate and introspective, at times bombastic and mind numbing.

[Listen to the Session Here]

Listen to "Vinterbørn":

[Download the MP3 Here]
[Band Website]
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Under Byen: Palads

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[Download the MP3 Here]

Mew: That Time on the Ledge

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[Download the MP3 Here]

Studio Video:

The US and Mew: Frengers Forever

The NME Reports:

Mew have announced that their album 'Frengers' will finally be released in the United States on January 23 of next year.

The Danish quartet originally released the predecessor to this year's 'And The Glass Handed Kites' in the UK and Europe in April 2003, but the album had never officially arrived Stateside.

Now Columbia Records will bring 'Frengers' - which the band says is a combination of the words "friends" and "strangers" - for US audiences.

Here's what I said about the album in my 2003 wrap-up (I chose it as album of the year):

This is for those of you who thought intelligent, big-sounding indie rock disappeared when Billy Corgan shaved his head. “Frengers” was tragically overlooked by the NME crowd and just about everyone else, but truly it’s their loss. Each one of the 10 tracks here is bursting with ideas and life affirming gourgeousness, the best example of which is the absolutely brilliant opening track “Am I Wry? No”. Indeed, it was possible to live months with this album and discover some new hidden treasure with each listen. It just goes to show the revolution isn’t going to come from some beer-soaked Australian thugs, but it might just come from Denmark.

[Official Site]

Am I Wry? No (Promo):