The music year 2010 has been a brilliant time for softpop but otherwise left much to be desired.
I had really big plans for the blog this year, but the lack of posts is obvious now that there are only a few hours left until 2011. It is what it is and my lesson is to not promise more than I can hold. I still have the ideas I mentioned one year ago, but this time the plan is to post when the inspiration comes back.
Records
1. Very Truly Yours –Things You Used to Say
2. Allo Darlin - Allo Darlin
3. Katie Goes to Tokyo - My Naked Heart
4. The Soft City - The Soft City
5. Sambassadeur – European
6. The Jezabels – Dark Storm EP
7. The Secret History –The World That Never Was
8. Stars – The Five Ghosts
9. Will Driving West – The Breakout
10. Standard Fare – The Noyelle Beat
Also good: Minipop - Automatic Love EP, Now Now Every Children – Neighbors EP, The New Pornographers – Together, Säkert! – Facit, Seapony - Seapony EP
Songs
1. Katie Goes to Tokyo - Before You Fell in Love With Her
2. Sambassadeur - Stranded
3. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Say No to Love
4. Standard Fare - Love Doesn't Just Stop
5. Allo Darlin - Dreaming
6. Very Truly Yours - Your Funeral
7. Shrag - Rabbit Kids
8. Allo Darlin - My Heart Is a Drummer
9. Trembling Blue Stars - Cold Colours
10. Katie Goes to Tokyo - The Apartment, The Cat and The Dress
11. Minipop - Into the Night
12. Betty and the Werewolves - Paper Thin
13. The Jezabels - Sahara Mahala
14. Forest City Lovers - Minneapolis
15. Wild Nothing - Summer Holiday
Showing posts with label Katie Goes to Tokyo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Katie Goes to Tokyo. Show all posts
Friday, December 31, 2010
Saturday, November 11, 2006
My 2006
Concerts
The Au Revoir Simone show on November 17 will be a nice ending to an absolutely amazing year of concerts. In total, I spent 22 nights at concerts this year. It is pretty much given that I did not attend any real festival this summer. You find my concert stories in the right column labelled as Concerts.
01 Language of Flowers - May 27 at Mejeriet, Lund
02 Hello Saferide - March 11 at Mejeriet, Lund
03 Like Honey - September 3 at Mejeriet, Lund
04 Belle and Sebastian - May 13 at Kulturbolaget, Malmö
05 Camera Obscura - October 7 at Kulturbolaget, Malmö
Songs
01 Laurel Music - Winter Slow
L A U R E L M U S I C.
Pop hearts never die! I have heard the future and it sounds wonderful. Laurel Music is worth waiting for.
02 Sambassadeur - Marie
I was convinced that Marie was the song of the year when I wrote my half year list. Marie was actually more than a song to me. Things have changed since then and Marie thus only gets an honorable second place on this list.
03 Language of Flowers - You're The One
My beloved Language of Flowers do not seem in a hurry with the sequel to Songs About You. They have a lot to live up to. With You're The One Language of Flowers show that they can still deliver spellbinding "girl meets boy"-stories. And I listen to every word.
04 Lucky Soul - Lips Are Unhappy
I heard Lips Are Unhappy in early June and thought it was a good pop song, but it would take another month before I really fell in love. Five months later, I am a little sad that there were no promoters in southern Sweden who wanted to set up a show with Ali Howard's band but you can not have everything you want. SHAKE SHIMMY SHIMMY SHAKE SHIMMY.
05 Katie Goes to Tokyo - Alone
Katie has meant more to me than anyone else this year. She was there when I slides and she was still there when my life collapsed. I try to rebuild it, piece by piece. I no longer know what I want but I know that Katie makes it a little easier to wake up in the morning.
06 Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
07 Hello Saferide - 2006
08 Katie Goes to Tokyo - The Girl Who Ruined Your World
09 Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted
10 Belle and Sebastian - Another Sunny Day
11 Anna Ternheim - Tribute to Linn
12 Mates of State - Beautiful Dreamer
13 The Magic Numbers - Take a Chance
14 Firefox AK - City to City
15 The Charade - My Song to You
16 Vapnet - Färjemansleden
17 Headlights - TV
18 Morrissey - You Have Killed Me
19 The Pipettes- Because It's Not Love (But It's Still a Feeling)
20 Those Transatlantics - Whiskey and Tea
21 Acid House King - Keep Your Love by The Loveninjas
22 The Essex Green - Penny and Jack
23 Like Honey - New York
24 The Positions - Back to Me
25 The Tidy Ups - Lack of Nourishment
Albums
There seem to be unspoken rules which determine that a year list shall contain 25 albums. That are just too many albums for me. It is rather pointless to list more records than you will remember when you look back on the year later. I present a top10 this year. I could have done a top15 instead, but no more records than that.
01 Katie Goes to Tokyo - Katie Goes to Tokyo
02 The Positions - Bliss!
03 Those Transatlantics - Knocked Out
04 Mates of State - Bring It Back
05 The Charade - A Real Life Drama
06 My Latest Novel - Wolves
07 Anna Ternheim - Separation Road
08 The Essex Green - Cannibal Sea
09 Marit Larsen - Under the Surface
10 The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes
Also good: The Besties - Singer, The High Violets - To Where You Are, Math and Physics Club - Math and Physics Club, Ms. John Soda - Notes and the Like, The Weepies - Say I Am You, Firefox AK - Madame Madame, Tilly and the Wall - Bottom of the Barrels.
Not evaluated: The Snow Fairies - Voila!, Friday Bridge, Tralala - Is That The Tralala.
EPs
01 Sambassadeur - Coastal Affairs
02 The Tidy Ups - Dizzy Heights
03 Hello Saferide - Would You Let Me Play This EP Ten Times A Day?
04 Gentle Touch - Gentle Touch
05 The Postal Blue - Road to Happiness
Not evaluated: Lucky Soul.
2007
Next year's best album will most likely be the the sequel to This Night and The Nex. I can not see how any other band would compete with Laurel Music. There is a good chance that all bands on the top3 album list will be sorted under the letter "L". Lucky Soul, Like Honey, and Looker all release debut albums. And although I doubt it there is a possibility that even Language of Flowers are recording a new album. Architecture in Helsinki and Sambassadeur are working on new albums. Shelflife Records returns with new releases.
There is a basis for 2007 to become the best record year of the 2000s.
The Au Revoir Simone show on November 17 will be a nice ending to an absolutely amazing year of concerts. In total, I spent 22 nights at concerts this year. It is pretty much given that I did not attend any real festival this summer. You find my concert stories in the right column labelled as Concerts.
01 Language of Flowers - May 27 at Mejeriet, Lund
02 Hello Saferide - March 11 at Mejeriet, Lund
03 Like Honey - September 3 at Mejeriet, Lund
04 Belle and Sebastian - May 13 at Kulturbolaget, Malmö
05 Camera Obscura - October 7 at Kulturbolaget, Malmö
Songs
01 Laurel Music - Winter Slow
L A U R E L M U S I C.
Pop hearts never die! I have heard the future and it sounds wonderful. Laurel Music is worth waiting for.
02 Sambassadeur - Marie
I was convinced that Marie was the song of the year when I wrote my half year list. Marie was actually more than a song to me. Things have changed since then and Marie thus only gets an honorable second place on this list.
03 Language of Flowers - You're The One
My beloved Language of Flowers do not seem in a hurry with the sequel to Songs About You. They have a lot to live up to. With You're The One Language of Flowers show that they can still deliver spellbinding "girl meets boy"-stories. And I listen to every word.
04 Lucky Soul - Lips Are Unhappy
I heard Lips Are Unhappy in early June and thought it was a good pop song, but it would take another month before I really fell in love. Five months later, I am a little sad that there were no promoters in southern Sweden who wanted to set up a show with Ali Howard's band but you can not have everything you want. SHAKE SHIMMY SHIMMY SHAKE SHIMMY.
05 Katie Goes to Tokyo - Alone
Katie has meant more to me than anyone else this year. She was there when I slides and she was still there when my life collapsed. I try to rebuild it, piece by piece. I no longer know what I want but I know that Katie makes it a little easier to wake up in the morning.
06 Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
07 Hello Saferide - 2006
08 Katie Goes to Tokyo - The Girl Who Ruined Your World
09 Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted
10 Belle and Sebastian - Another Sunny Day
11 Anna Ternheim - Tribute to Linn
12 Mates of State - Beautiful Dreamer
13 The Magic Numbers - Take a Chance
14 Firefox AK - City to City
15 The Charade - My Song to You
16 Vapnet - Färjemansleden
17 Headlights - TV
18 Morrissey - You Have Killed Me
19 The Pipettes- Because It's Not Love (But It's Still a Feeling)
20 Those Transatlantics - Whiskey and Tea
21 Acid House King - Keep Your Love by The Loveninjas
22 The Essex Green - Penny and Jack
23 Like Honey - New York
24 The Positions - Back to Me
25 The Tidy Ups - Lack of Nourishment
Albums
There seem to be unspoken rules which determine that a year list shall contain 25 albums. That are just too many albums for me. It is rather pointless to list more records than you will remember when you look back on the year later. I present a top10 this year. I could have done a top15 instead, but no more records than that.
01 Katie Goes to Tokyo - Katie Goes to Tokyo
02 The Positions - Bliss!
03 Those Transatlantics - Knocked Out
04 Mates of State - Bring It Back
05 The Charade - A Real Life Drama
06 My Latest Novel - Wolves
07 Anna Ternheim - Separation Road
08 The Essex Green - Cannibal Sea
09 Marit Larsen - Under the Surface
10 The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes
Also good: The Besties - Singer, The High Violets - To Where You Are, Math and Physics Club - Math and Physics Club, Ms. John Soda - Notes and the Like, The Weepies - Say I Am You, Firefox AK - Madame Madame, Tilly and the Wall - Bottom of the Barrels.
Not evaluated: The Snow Fairies - Voila!, Friday Bridge, Tralala - Is That The Tralala.
EPs
01 Sambassadeur - Coastal Affairs
02 The Tidy Ups - Dizzy Heights
03 Hello Saferide - Would You Let Me Play This EP Ten Times A Day?
04 Gentle Touch - Gentle Touch
05 The Postal Blue - Road to Happiness
Not evaluated: Lucky Soul.
2007
Next year's best album will most likely be the the sequel to This Night and The Nex. I can not see how any other band would compete with Laurel Music. There is a good chance that all bands on the top3 album list will be sorted under the letter "L". Lucky Soul, Like Honey, and Looker all release debut albums. And although I doubt it there is a possibility that even Language of Flowers are recording a new album. Architecture in Helsinki and Sambassadeur are working on new albums. Shelflife Records returns with new releases.
There is a basis for 2007 to become the best record year of the 2000s.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Myspace will tear us apart
I do not like Myspace. The people at the Swedish independent record label Service probably felt the same way when they described Myspace's deficits in an eloquent post one week ago.
I can understand that artists may appreciate Myspace as an online community which offers them direct contact to some of their fans. But I do not play in a band, I will not play in a band in the future, and I find Myspace just awful.
I looked through the websites of my favourite bands. The Essex Green are perfect to illustrate my point. The Essex Green gave up their website and moved to Myspace instead. Gone is the The Late Great Cassiopia mp3 link. Gone is the option to view the album covers side by side. Sure, The Essex Green have pimped their Myspace page nicely, but it is not enough. There are too many things that I hate with Myspace:
1. I go to Myspace to get some news updates by my favourite bands (most of them refer to their Myspace pages as they no longer update their websites). Myspace greets me with a song that automatically is played in horrible sound quality. The feeling of the song that simultaneously is played in my media player is ruined. I do not want political propaganda in my mailbox. I do not want a program/script (or whatever it is called) to randomly select a song that is forced upon me. I would like to choose to listen myself, when I feel like it. I should not have to mute my media player just because I want to read some news updates on a band page at Myspace.
2. Myspace allows only four songs on each profile. The mp3 links at the band websites have often ceased to exist and it is no longer possible to listen to the songs the way they should sound. I listened to Katie Goes to Tokyo's Unbelievable at her Myspace page. I felt that the song had potential, but it really sounded dull compared to Until She Breaks. Then I heard Unbelievable on Katie's website and fell in love with the song. It may seem like a case of double standards to complain about the automatic playback at Myspace and then praise the same thing on Katie's website. In the latter case, however, the sound quality is as good as on cd and then you just say thank you and take a bow. Moreover, Katie's website allows me to navigate freely without having the music turned on or off suddenly. That is exemplary.
3. Myspace is ugly. The Essex Green have made an effort to get their page nice, but most bands stick to a standard template. Let us compare the website and the Myspace page of one of my absolute favourite bands, The Arrogants. Their website is true pop music love. The Arrogants allow us to download their first two EPs for free, they put up lyrics, and they upload several exclusive recordings plus cover songs by their friends. Their Myspace page on the other hand seems to exist more as a necessary evil. Admittely, I soften considerably when I hear Jana's voice when she says Nobody's Cool take five though.
4. Everything looks the same. I understand the concept, but it also makes everything aesthetically standardised. The Snow Fairies have really tried to make their Myspace page look fine but it still falls short. The Snow Fairies' website on the other hand feels truly special. To welcome the visitor with a big cover of the album Get Married makes a big difference. The Snow Fairies make one thing to separate themselves from everything that look similar on myspace...
5. Influences and sounds like make it all seem like a questionnaire. The Snow Fairies clearly give the best answers. But all the home, browser, search, invite, movies, email, blog, etc at Myspace disturb me.
Now you may wonder why I even care about Myspace if I hate the site that much. Would it not be better to avoid Myspace? Unfortunately, there are too many bands that have stopped caring about their websites while referring us to Myspace instead. I understand it when a band does not bother to update their website, but I become sad when they spend time on Myspace instead. Take a look at the websites of Belle and Sebastian, Language of Flowers, Looker, Lucky Soul, and Stars. They all show that Myspace can never replace a good band website.
I can understand that artists may appreciate Myspace as an online community which offers them direct contact to some of their fans. But I do not play in a band, I will not play in a band in the future, and I find Myspace just awful.
I looked through the websites of my favourite bands. The Essex Green are perfect to illustrate my point. The Essex Green gave up their website and moved to Myspace instead. Gone is the The Late Great Cassiopia mp3 link. Gone is the option to view the album covers side by side. Sure, The Essex Green have pimped their Myspace page nicely, but it is not enough. There are too many things that I hate with Myspace:
1. I go to Myspace to get some news updates by my favourite bands (most of them refer to their Myspace pages as they no longer update their websites). Myspace greets me with a song that automatically is played in horrible sound quality. The feeling of the song that simultaneously is played in my media player is ruined. I do not want political propaganda in my mailbox. I do not want a program/script (or whatever it is called) to randomly select a song that is forced upon me. I would like to choose to listen myself, when I feel like it. I should not have to mute my media player just because I want to read some news updates on a band page at Myspace.
2. Myspace allows only four songs on each profile. The mp3 links at the band websites have often ceased to exist and it is no longer possible to listen to the songs the way they should sound. I listened to Katie Goes to Tokyo's Unbelievable at her Myspace page. I felt that the song had potential, but it really sounded dull compared to Until She Breaks. Then I heard Unbelievable on Katie's website and fell in love with the song. It may seem like a case of double standards to complain about the automatic playback at Myspace and then praise the same thing on Katie's website. In the latter case, however, the sound quality is as good as on cd and then you just say thank you and take a bow. Moreover, Katie's website allows me to navigate freely without having the music turned on or off suddenly. That is exemplary.
3. Myspace is ugly. The Essex Green have made an effort to get their page nice, but most bands stick to a standard template. Let us compare the website and the Myspace page of one of my absolute favourite bands, The Arrogants. Their website is true pop music love. The Arrogants allow us to download their first two EPs for free, they put up lyrics, and they upload several exclusive recordings plus cover songs by their friends. Their Myspace page on the other hand seems to exist more as a necessary evil. Admittely, I soften considerably when I hear Jana's voice when she says Nobody's Cool take five though.
4. Everything looks the same. I understand the concept, but it also makes everything aesthetically standardised. The Snow Fairies have really tried to make their Myspace page look fine but it still falls short. The Snow Fairies' website on the other hand feels truly special. To welcome the visitor with a big cover of the album Get Married makes a big difference. The Snow Fairies make one thing to separate themselves from everything that look similar on myspace...
5. Influences and sounds like make it all seem like a questionnaire. The Snow Fairies clearly give the best answers. But all the home, browser, search, invite, movies, email, blog, etc at Myspace disturb me.
Now you may wonder why I even care about Myspace if I hate the site that much. Would it not be better to avoid Myspace? Unfortunately, there are too many bands that have stopped caring about their websites while referring us to Myspace instead. I understand it when a band does not bother to update their website, but I become sad when they spend time on Myspace instead. Take a look at the websites of Belle and Sebastian, Language of Flowers, Looker, Lucky Soul, and Stars. They all show that Myspace can never replace a good band website.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Review: Katie Goes to Tokyo - Katie Goes to Tokyo
I was also a bit worried when I wrote this review. Sometimes it is hard to put words to feelings. I want everyone to love this album. Katie sings about her life with simple lyrics. I recognized my own life in the opening song Moving from This Town.
this town was never meant to be gentle
see, it wasn't made for people like me
so hold your breath I'm on my way
I'm going now, to my friends in my hometown
back to my friends in my hometown
Alone in a new town in a new life. With a bus ticket to family and friends in my hometown I went aboard, and promised myself not to come back. Then I stood there again on Sunday, at the front door to the future. The train back to school in Lund was overbooked. Perhaps there were more people than me who wondered if there really was no room for us. It was difficult to fall asleep and I did not know what I wanted with my life.
feel so tired I can’t sleep
I have so much to figure out
cause everything is different now
I needed something warm. Katie's album has given me more than that. Each song is special. It is difficult to pick favourite songs. If I had to pick one song, I would choose Until She Breaks. I want to tell you so much, but you should listen and create your own memories.
I think I will find my place in life at last. In the future, it is possible that Katie's debut album will remind me of a time in my life that only created wounds. Katie will still be there. As a friend in life in a world that was far too harsh. It may sound like clichés, but every word is true. I will never forget this album. It was more beautiful than life.
Nine out of Ten
(Originally published on July 25, 2006)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)