Vampire Weekend - Walcott -- Vampire Weekend

Right now we'll be talking about an American indie rock quartet from New York. Vampire weekend is one of the best bands in the genre for the last few years with an excellent debut album, which will be talked about here. As well as a very good follow up album. Next month the third album will be out, and let me tell you I'm looking forward to it! On their official site (link below) you already have two new tracks you can listen to if you didn't already. Or you can just click these youtube links: Diane Young & Step. Both sound a bit strange to me, but I had the same with the Contra album and I ended up loving that one!

Anyways post is about their debut record that came out in early 2008 so lets talk a bit about that one. The self titled record contains hit singles on it like Mansard Roof, A-Punk and Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa and is characterized by fast paced indie pop rock with a lot of world music (sounds) mixed trough them. In general it's one of my favorite albums of the last 5 years, and probably of all time as well. The record doesn't contain a single bad track in my opinion and Ezra Koenig has such lovely and unique sounding vocals which makes the record even more brilliant. 

The song I chose to post is Walcott. It wasn't my favorite song on the record at the start but after seeing them twice live I absolutely love the song and it became my favorite song by Vampire Weekend in general. It's just brilliant how they bring it live combined with the atmosphere of the crowd, or at least at the gigs that I went to it was! The video is an acoustic/live version of both this song and of One as well. It's a video from a take away show they did for Lablogotheque. So enjoy and feel free to look forward with me to the new material!

Official site
last.fm artist page

BEAT!BEAT!BEAT! - Fireworks -- Lightmares (2010)

Up next is the first band from Germany. We came close with Germany Germany like a month ago but that is actually a Canadian project like I said in that post. This time it's about BEAT!BEAT!BEAT!, not sure if the capital letters are necessary as well don't I know if there should be a space behind every exclamation mark. I found a lot of different options on how to spell their name, but this is how I know them, but feel free to correct me in the comments. 

The band is from the region of Cologne, which actually is close to the border with Belgium. So we almost had an extra excellent band in our small country. So close! The band plays Indie Rock and has released an ep, named Stars in 2009. Their debut album, Lightmares, is the album I'll talk about briefly here. It's a very good record in my opinion with catchy tunes on it. It mostly is indie guitar rock, but this is mixed with songs that have a more synthesizer, poppy character really. Vocals are very decent as well and it manages to entertain you for about 40 minutes. Better known songs on the record are Fireworks, We Are Waves and You're a Designer. Where the last of these three is one of the songs that focuses more on the synthesizers while the others are regular indie guitar rockish tracks. After this very decent debut records it's a bit silent around these four lads, and I sincerely hope they are still active! 

The song I chose to post for you guys is Fireworks, which was on the ep as well. Whilst it's not my favorite by the band it is a very close second. My favorite track is One Day In The Woods, but it isn't on the album. I don't know if it came out before or after the album really, I just found out about them in 2012 so I'm a bit fuzzy on the details, haha. But yes, if you like Fireworks feel free to check out the other video as well (click the link), and certainly check out the Lightmares album. It proved difficult to find a working download link, but it's worth it! Enjoy

Official? Facebook

last.fm artist page

Editors - Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors -- An End Has A Start (2007)

Up next is one of my favorite bands of all time, with for me the best album they made so far. I had little to no inspiration today so I let Miri decide what I should post. And lets face it, she did well! Not only is this band one of my top 3 most played bands of all time, as well did she pick the right album from them to talk about. 

The album is a former number one album in England and the second album made by the band after the debut album The Back Room of course. The album is characterized by the indie rock and the post punk revival music the band plays, with the pretty unique and awesome vocals of Tom Smith obviously. Back in the post about Joy Division I said he reminded me of Ian, or the other way around... This still is the case and again I will say that they are basically Joy Division on speed, a description others often gave them over the years. The album contains hit songs like Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors, An End Has A Start and The Racing Rats and it made me absolutely fall in love with them. I bought The Back Room short after its release but didn't give it much plays back in in 2005 and 2006. I did give them a lot of attention in the summer of 2007 though, for the simple reason they were coming to Pukkelpop and I was planning to see them live. In the two weeks before Pukkelpop I played their material an awful lot and I absolutely fell in love with An End Has A Start that came out two months earlier.

The song I chose to post is Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors, because it's after Swing Life Away my favorite track I'd say. The last few days before the festival I had it constantly on repeat and when they finally played it live I just closed my eyes and had goosebumps for the total duration of the song. So it was an easy choice to make I'd say! Because of this I have picked a live version of the song as well. Before I conclude this post with an enjoy, I'd like to say that new material should be coming later this year. It's not officially announced I think but few media mention a fourth album for later this year. Enjoy!

Official site

last.fm artist page

Peace - Wraith -- In Love (2013)

We're going to England once more, Birmingham this time. Peace is a four piece band that creates melodic indie rock and brought out their debut album at the end of March. The album is decent to good after a few listens but does leave you slightly disappointed  For the simple reason they were hyped so much on the internet and compared to bands like Foals and Vampire Weekend. As well did they play on the NME (they gave the album a 9/10 as well...) Awards tour this year. So yeah it's a decent debut record, but it didn't meet the (or my) high expectations. Anyways if you are new to the band and didn't hear about them before you might actually really like this release.

The album is pretty poppy in my opinion, and is full of catchy tunes and lyrics about young love. It contains the previously released singles Follow Baby and Wraith, and the album is basically more of the same. To be honest it sounds pretty much as so many other indie rock releases. Not that this is per se a bad thing, they don't have a revolutionary new sound, but at least they are able to make some good indie pop/rock. If you are, like me, a fan of the genre then it's worth to give the album a few spins and you'll find yourself liking it. But I'm not sure if it will stick, maybe the hype will continue and the band will get a lot of airtime and media attention. But I'm afraid a lot of people might be slightly disappointed and they'll slowly disappear out of the media. Nevertheless the album is pretty good and I'd give it somewhere around a seven on ten, just don't expect to be blown away by it...

The song I'm posting is Wraith, because I know them from this song. It isn't the best on the album but at least it has an official video and it's one of the two songs most of you will already know by them. Enjoy!

Official site
last.fm artist page

Young Statues - Eraser -- Age Isn't Ours (2013)

Young Statues is a New Jersey/Philadelphia based band that I know little to nothing about. What I do know is that they released the Age Isn't Ours 6 track ep last few days, and it doesn't sound bad at all after a few listens. It's an indie rock band with sometimes an emo rockish sounding touch to them if you ask me. The vocals are decent and the music is actually pretty good in my opinion. Nothing extraordinary but a very decent release that is worth to check out. It seems it's the third release by the band after a self titled album in 2011 and an acoustic ep last year, so more to check out if you like what you hear.

The song I'm posting is the first one on the ep, called Eraser. The quality of the video isn't great at all but I actually like it because of this, it adds some sort of charm to it. If you want to properly check the band out you can go watch this video of Spacism, which was featured on their debut album. Enjoy!

Official site
last.fm artist page

BOAT -- Pretend To Be Brave (2013)

Right now I'll be talking about a Seattle based band, that has been active for quite a while. The Pretend To Be Brave is the 5th studio album since 2006 already. I honestly had no clue that there were any albums before the Dress Like Your Idols album from 2011. Above of that I always thought this band was French, don't know where I got these wrong assumptions but at least I read a bit about them before I started writing! 

BOAT is an Indie Rock band and the latest album isn't anything different. It starts off with Sharpshooters and Inside of an Aquarium which seem to be the better known songs by the last.fm community. Both are decent indie rock songs, but don't seem to stand out from so many other bands (like Built to Spill for example). It's an album that is worth to check out though, especially Hating The Criminal and The Big, The Bright are two songs I start to really like after three listens. But you'll have to listen a few times before you can start to really like them I'd say. It's easy to consider them good, but you'll easily forget about them because there isn't anything that makes them different. So I guess the biggest disadvantage this album has, is that it will be easily passed after a first listen because it isn't anything new under the sun. This comes along with a slight advantage though, if you like the genre you'll easily find yourself liking the band at a first listen and it will actually sound familiar in many ways although they are new songs. Anyways to conclude I would say that Pretend To Be Brave is a good Indie Rock album, especially after some extra listens you'll start to like it. I'd consider the band in general to be good as well both music wise and vocals. The Dress Like Your Idols album had the same problem as the Pretend To Be Brave one though. I knew I had it, I knew I liked it but beside the title song I couldn't remember any tune from it. So yes they are good, but nothing new. If you are looking for bands in this genre they are an excellent fit though.  

I don't think the album has any official video's so I'll be posting my favorite song by the band which is the Dress Like Your Idols song which is basically the only song I seemed to remember from the previous album. So I guess they have one song that stands out a bit. I left the song title out of the post's title because of the difference between the album I'm talking about and the album where the songs was taken from. Enjoy!

Official site 

last.fm artist page (second band)

Hey Rosetta! - Young Glass -- Seeds (2011)

Tonight I'll be talking about a Canadian band. The reason for doing so is a Canadian fellow blogger and friend that made a bit of promotion for me a week or so ago. As a way of thanking her I said to give me a band, or few bands and I'd make a post about one of them. After some delay I received an ask in tumblr with a terrible message. I had to pick between Hey Rosetta! and Said The Whale. I was familiar with both bands, but I didn't listen much yet to any of the two, shame on me! Anyways after digging in the Seeds album and the Islands Disappear album I was left between the terrible choice of picking one of the two. 

In the end I decided for Hey Rosetta! and the Seeds album from '11 because of the extra spirit this record had. It's a bit faster than Said The Whale and while being late at night when writing this (I start to write and post on different times) I could use this extra energy the music gave me to keep me awake, haha. Anyways the record contains and the band in general plays indie pop/rock music. Music wise it's sounding very nice, with very catchy songs most of the time. But the vocals! The vocals are just plain awesome, remind me of Dry The River at times, or the other way around whoever you are more acquainted with, put simply: they sound alike to me in some songs. What I said before about the extra bit of energy this record has compared to the Said The Whale record has to be put in this given context. Don't expect a very fast paced record, it's still rather slow, but it has some songs with some extra pit in them like the opener with Seeds and New Sum (Nous Sommes) to name two. As well is the switch from the Downstairs song (which actually only is a build up) to the Welcome song done pretty energetic and they did it very nicely actually. Most of the time the record switches between two types of music. The a bit faster paces indie rock music and the slower indie poppy sounding songs. Personally I'm more fond of the first type of songs, simply because you really enjoy them on a first listen, while the slower ones need a few re-listens to actually start loving them. In general I'd strongly advice to check both bands out, if given the choice like now I'd say Hey Rosetta! but both bands are good. The Seeds Album of Hey Rosetta is the second full album of the band after the earlier released Into Your Lungs album and the Plan Your Escape ep. So If you like what you hear here from this six piece Canadian band there is more from them to check out!

The song was a bit easier to pick, I had again two choices for each band to pick from, and the Young Glass song by Hey Rosetta! was one of the options. At the same time this song already was my personal favorite on the record after a first listen. This stayed the same after a second and third listen so I'm quite confident I picked the right song and this time it was an easy decision, haha. Like always it's also a big plus that the video is an official one, at least I think it is. Enjoy!

Official site

last.fm artist page

Filomena's Tumblr

Foals - My Number -- Holy Fire (2013)

Right now i'll be talking about a band from Oxford, England. Foals are a math/indie rock band that released three albums in the past. The debut album by the band is definitely my favorite. It's characterized by fast paced math rock guitar work and is catchy as fuck. Something the two later albums have less. The Total Life Forever & Holy Fire records are a bit slower, still good but not as good as Antidotes was and they both demand you to re-listen the record a few times before you start to like it. Here I'll be talking about the latest record Holy Fire, simply because it was released last month so it's obviously the most recent one of the three. 

The record starts rather slow and has a rather grown up sound for the band. Like I said you need to listen a few times to the first two tracks to really like them. After the slower intro you have My Number which will be the track I'm posting here, it's more like the debut album (although it's poppy-er than the sound of the debut album) and less like the grown up sound they have now. I mean I get it that bands evolve over time, but if you had an excellent debut album it's always nice to hear songs that remind you of that. It's like the albums now are far more indie/alternative while it previously was far more math rock inspired. And I really appreciated the math rock sound of Antidotes, so it's a real shame in my opinion. After this short moment of nostalgia the album gets slower again with Late Night as the slowest track (until you reach the outro with Moon), but this track has a pretty long and nice build up and gets a bit harder over time. This somehow shows the range of Yannis Philippakis his vocals, something you notice as well in the providence song that is a bit harder and faster than the other material, this song has a very excellent build up too by the way. But not only Yannis stands out as well do the rest of the band and especially the drumming of Jack Bevan in my opinion is outstanding, you have the harder more straight forward drumming, as well do you have pretty complex drumming in some songs. All this is combined with rhythmic guitar work that is catchy as hell at times.

The song is like I said My Number for the nostalgic feeling it gives me. The video is official as well I think so this is a big plus as well. The record in general is good but you need to give it time to grow on you. Enjoy!

Official site

last.fm artist page

The Dykeenies - Clean Up Your Eyes -- Nothing Means Everything (2007)

Up now is a Scottish band I simply adore since the debut album came out. I remember I used to be a demonoid user back then and I basically downloaded everything I didn't know in the indie category. Found some brilliant bands back then! Man I really miss that site, well alternatives enough of course. The band I'm going to talk about is The Dykeenies. The album I'll be talking about is Nothing Means Everything. 

The Dykeenies are a four piece originating from Cumbernauld (seriously where the hell is this place?), Scotland. The band has two studio albums out already Nothing Means Everything from '07 and Canyon of Echoes from '11. The debut record is one of my most played records of all times and I know all the songs by heart. The second one is less good for me, decent enough to put on occasionally but nothing extraordinary, maybe it needs a few more listens though. If you never heard of them I strongly advice you to start with the debut album and in particular the Clean Up Your Eyes, Pick You Up and New Ideas songs. The record in general is characterized by fast paced indie rock with some good vocals with an not too obvious but still oh so awesome Scottish accent, seriously what accent is better than this? 

The song I'm posting for you guys tonight is the Clean Up Your Eyes song. Two reasons, it's my favorite and it has an official video. Hope you guys enjoy!  

Split up last year, so no official or active site/profile anymore. =/
last.fm artist page

Say Hi (To Your Mom) - Laundry -- Discosadness (2002)

Next up is the Seattle based (America) band Say Hi, which previously was named Say Hi To Your Mom, I personally prefer the second band name, but hey who am I. It's an Indie Rock band that has been playing since 2002 and mainly consists of Eric Elbogen who does pretty much everything. When on tour he has a bunch of friends who help him out. But for the records he sings and plays pretty much everything himself. The record I'm talking about here is the first one Discosadness which came out in 2002. After this first release Eric released 6 more albums with Um, Uh Oh being the latest back in 2011. I never found any of his albums in local stores and even downloading used to be an issue so I'm only familiar with 3 of the first 4 albums, and having half of the fourth album. The later three albums I know nothing about but I definitely will try to find them some day soon.

The record is an easy to listen to Indie pop/rock album with very catchy melodies and lyrics. The record contains ten tracks, and all of them really are worth listening too, starting with The Fritz over The Pimp and the Sparrow, Laundry and ending with Blizzard and The Showdown in Goattown. Honestly I adore all of these tracks, I think it's his voice combined with the soft easy listening music that got me completely sold.

Only thing I can say about Say Hi and The debut album Discosadness is go check them out they both are amazing and a personal favorite of mine.

The song I posted here for you guys is Laundry, it's one of the best tracks for me among But She Beat My High Score, Let's Talk About Spaceships, & Hooplas Involving Circus Tricks (which are all three of the Numbers & Mumbles album if you would like to check them). The reason to pick Laundry instead of one of these is because Laundry was the first one I knew of Say Hi (To Your Mom). Soooo... Enjoy!

Official Tumblr

last.fm artist page

Cut City - Such Verve -- Exit Decades (2007)

After my Pixies post yesterday I put my ipod on shuffle again since I had no desire to listen to anything specific. It took about 30 songs until I stumbled upon a Swedish gem I had forgotten about. Cut City is like I said a Swedish four piece band that produces music sounding like a mix of Joy Division, Interpol, Editors... Basically it sounds like a lot of bands that have Joy Division as their main influence. 

So why give them some attention if they sound like so many other bands? well because they were able to make me listen to their debut album a few times in a row. Exit Decades is a very decent, if not to say good, album produced in 2007 already. It contains a lot of good tunes like Damaged, Like Ashes Like Millions and the song I'm putting online Such Verve. So it's definitely worth checking. I will be checking some of the more recent albums myself in the hope to find some more good albums produced by them. 

Like I said the song I'm posting is Such Verve. Reason for this is simple, it was the song I stumbled upon while shuffle-ling my entire library. Good guy Ipod right? Enjoy!

Bandcamp page

last.fm artist page

Alt-J (∆) - Breezeblocks -- An Awesome Wave (2012)

From the one year to the other, from 2011 to 2012. Like I said in the previous post the debut record of Little Comets was one of my favorites of 2011, the debut album of Alt-J is maybe my AOTY (album of the year) 2012, or at least one of my favorites of this year. The album contains lots of good tracks like tessellate, Breezeblocks, Matilda and so on. What makes these tracks so excellent in my opinion is of course the total package of the songs, but what makes Alt-J stand out from the rest this year is the sound of his voice, I really like the vocals a lot. To a lesser extent the use of unusual instruments/sounds make them stand out a bit as well.

If you didn't check this Leeds based band out yet you definitively should, at least on record they sound amazing. I would check them out live and they actually are coming to Belgium, few weeks back I saw the concert appear in the news letter of a local venue. I obviously got really excited and immediately went to the site to buy some tickets only to see the concert was sold out already, they scheduled them in the small venue where only like 100 people fit in and put some crap act in the main room that night, I was and am really pissed off for this. Because on record these guys really sound awesome so I was hoping for an excellent gig as well. Oh well if any of you guys saw them live yet feel free to leave your opinions in the comments. For now enjoy the song it's Breezeblocks, not my favorite which is Matilda, but it's the one I knew first by them and if I'm not mistaken the video is official, which is a big plus as well no?

Official site
last.fm artist page

Little Comets - Adultery -- In Search Of Elusive Little Comets (2011)

Up next  is, for me, one of the better releases from last year. With the "In Search Of Elusive Little Comets" the band, Little Comets, delivered a very catchy and like-able debut record in early 2011. The album features lots of songs with rather fast guitar-work combined with very good vocals and lyrics you just want to sing along too. At the other end the record also contains some calmer material, like the end with "Intelligent Animals" or "Her Black Eyes" which shows a bit of the range that this trio can handle. And if you ask me they can handle it very very well. 

While making this post I read a bit about the new album as well. The record called "Life Is Elsewhere" was released last month, and I honestly can't wait until I'm able to hear it. But this magical moment will be for tomorrow evening, so I have to be a bit more patient, haha. On a serious note I have to say that I really do have great expectations for this one, I'm very excited to hear the new material since the debut was that good... So let's hope they are able to meet these high expectations. Don't let me down Little Comets!

Anyways for this post I chose the song Adultery for two reasons: The obvious one is that I really like the video and the song itself of course. The second reason is the fact that it was the first song I knew by them. Combine both reasons and you have a winner, haha (I always find it difficult to pick just one song of an album). Anyways I hope you guys can live with my choice and are able to enjoy the song.  

Official site

last.fm artist page

Kodaline - All I Want -- The Kodaline ep (2012)

Few weeks back I was browsing the /mu/ board on 4chan when someone started a thread about this song. About how the video coming along with this song was so beautiful. After watching it, and hearing the song for the first time, I could only agree with the poster of the thread. This is one of the best music video's I saw in my life, I really like Swing Life Away by Rise Against (obviously), as well as the video for Give It All by the same band and the video for Memory by Sugarcult to name a few. And of course there are at least 100's of other good video's I saw in my life and probably 1000's more I didn't even see. But this one really left an impression on me, not only is it an excellent music video, almost a short film I would say. The song itself is very good as well. I like the build up of the song in general as well as the vocals, which are pretty high and somewhat fragile, which I'm usually not that big of a fan of but it works for Kodaline.

Anyways besides the song with the excellent video Kodaline seems like a new band with some potential, the rest of the ep isn't as awesome as this song is, but it's OK in general. The fragile voice combined with the excellent build up in All I Want leaves me longing for more so I'm looking forward to the first complete album by this Irish band. It seems they'll bring out another ep out first though, let's hope that one will be as good as this song. Enjoy the video and song!

Official site

last.fm artist page

Good Shoes - Morden -- Think Before You Speak (2007)

Next up is the British band Good Shoes. Apparently they formed in a part of London called Morden, which is the song title of the video I'm posting. Not 100% sure if this little fact is right or not, but it's on the Last FM bio which often seems (and is) legit. When this album first came out I was a huge fan of the catchy and fast songs. The album always succeeded in making me feel happy, and good in general. Now few years later the album is still one of my favorites when I feel a bit down. In general I listen less to the band because the second album was kind off a disappointment. It was good but I expected so much more, and maybe too much of them. I've got it playing now though so maybe the extra plays of the record are able to change my mind. Wouldn't be the first time that I wrote an album off to early...

Now that I'm looking into them a bit more I can't help but notice that they are very inactive. No news about a possible new album, no new gigs, no updates on their site... I just hope they are still together. Even though the second album wasn't that great for me, I still feel the desire to see these lads live one day. All profiles tell "2004 - present" so I still got hope. The fact that they didn't connect on their Myspace for over a year maybe just means that that site really is dead, haha. 

Anyways enjoy the song and hopefully we'll all be able to see them live soon. Like I said the song is Morden for the simple reason that it's my favorite on the album, like usual no?

Official site

last.fm artist page

The Answering Machine - Lightbulbs -- Another City Another Sorry (2009)

Up next (I know I use those two words an awful lot to start a new post) is The Answering Machine. A Manchester based band which I'm very fond of since the debut album in 2009, Another City, Another Sorry. I had that album on repeat for quite some time while studying for my exams back then and the exams actually went quite well. The album is very catchy with easy to sing a long to songs, some very good melodies and of course British accents, how can you not like that. 

The later album I don't know that well to be honest with you, but this first one is still one of my favorite albums of the last few years and maybe in general as well. I loved that album so much that I even went to a concert because they were the support act, not that the main act was bad or something (Tokyo Police Club, which was one of the better live performances I ever saw) but I wouldn't have gone to that gig if it wasn't for The Answering Machine. After the gig I had the chance to talk to them for a few minutes as well, while buying the special Animals EP, or they at least made me believe that, and the album I'm posting about. I also got a free poster that they signed when asked which is hanging to my right while typing this. Like most starting bands they were, and hopefully still are, extremely friendly and cheerful people to the folks who came to support them with buying stuff after the concert. Which makes starting bands ever so lovely. The song is one of my favorites of the album: Lightbulbs. I hope you guys enjoy!

Official site
last.fm artist page   

Florence + the Machine - Dog Days Are Over -- Lungs (2009 | live)

Post number 13 on my blog here, which happens to be the favorite number of one of my two main readers (Koen and Miriam). If you want to visit them you can go check their tumblr's out at: Koen and my girl. So for the first of those two I will be posting this song by Florence and the Machine, where I rarely listen to, to be frankly honest with you all. She is amazing I know that, but I'm afraid the music isn't really my cup of tea. I enjoy to listen to her occasionally but only for a few songs and then I put on something else. 

Anyways since Koen and I have different music tastes most of the time, with rarely any overlaps at all, it seemed the most logical choice to make to post this song. The reason for this is simple: we both think this is an extraordinary live video. The video is from back in 2010 where they played on Glastonbury and she gives the best of her self on the Dog Days Are Over song, she and the crowd are just amazing in my opinion and both seem to love to be there as well.

Florence Welch and the song are very well known to you all I assume and even this video has nearly two million views upon posting this. Everybody of you is aware of the Lungs album as well. So I think there is nothing more to say about the band by me, since I don't listen to often to her and her machine, and she is so well known already by everyone with a decent music taste. But I hope at least some of you people here didn't see this amazing live video yet, or well you could at least re-enjoy the video.

Official site

last.fm artist page

Flashguns - I Don't Not Love You -- I Don't Not Love You (2010 | single)

Next up is a band I listened to a lot the last year or two, I'm not sure when I discovered them. Not that it matters really. I do remember when I quit listening to them, it actually was when I found their first album. The day I found the album (pretty late due to university work) was the day I stopped listening to them to be honest with you. The reason for this is their split they announced right about when I found the album. The one moment I was excited of finally finding the album I've been waiting for so long, the next moment I read they announced they would split up. Never the less the band was excellent and the album probably is as well. I still have to listen to it properly, it's on my winamp player while I'm writing this post though. But really it just makes me sad that I won't ever see them live, but hey it's not the first and it won't be the last band I will have this problem with.

The song is the I Don't Not Love You track and it was released on a single with a radio edit of the song and a second track alongside it. It was not included on the later album, Passions Of A Different kind released in 2011. On the one hand I support this vision, namely: only new work on the album. On the other hand some of the earlier songs were really good and deserved to be on the record. Anyways, the track is still my favorite track by them if it's on the album or not. I really played it over and over again until the day I read the bad news. I hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I did, and maybe one day they'll come back together. Never loose hope!  

Official site
last.fm artist page

The Joy Formidable - Cradle -- A Balloon Called Moaning (2009)

Up next is the band that introduced me to Post Rock, strange you might think considering they aren't anything like a Post Rock band. Well back in 2009 I really enjoyed this record by the Joy Formidable. I put it on an awful lot back then, and the album right underneath this one was the You Who Pretend To Sleep album of Joy Wants Eternity. If I listen to music I hardly search my library I just scroll and put something on so it doesn't stop after my selection is done, it just continues playing music. This was the case back then as well and I found myself listening a few times to the Joy Wants Eternity album, without me realizing at first. It sounded good as well and just seemed like a very long outro of the album I guess. Anyways that's how I got rolled into Post Rock to be honest.

Back to the Joy Formidable then, which is one of my favorite bands with female vocals. I'm not usually into this, but with this Welsh band it's a completely different story, Ritzy Bryan is just an amazing talented woman, not only musically on record but as well how she performs it live, how she is able to entertain the crowd while playing the songs I mean (whilst looking a bit crazy at times though, haha). Combine this excellent vocalist with a good drummer and bassist and you have a trio that is able to create some excellent indie rock. Which they did with this record back in '09, and later on repeated with the Big Roar that contained some new songs. Hopefully they will do the same when the next album comes out early next year. Enjoy Ritzy and the rest of her band!

Official Site

last.fm artist page

Bloc Party - Octopus -- Four (2012)

Next up on my blog is my all time favorite band. Right from the beginning they started I loved Bloc Party, now 8 years or something later I still love them. Every new album was different for me, and every time it was difficult to fall in love with it because of these differences. Whenever an album came out I was hoping for more of the older material and of course I ended up slightly disappointed every  single time after listening to the new material. But you, or at least I, have to give it to Bloc Party. Until now they always make albums that sound different than the previous ones, and yet they all end up being excellent if you give them a few listens.

Their latest album four is still fairly new for me since my lack of time and access to internet the last few months. So I have to admit I'm still finding it difficult to like it as much as the previous three albums (Intimacy / A Weekend In The City / Silent Alarm). Never the less Octopus was the most like-able song from the start and some others are starting to stand out for me. So I'm only a few listens away of putting this album with my all time favorites as well. Yes I have a (very) weak spot for Bloc Party and they'll come along few times more on this blog. I'm sorry, but this band is what started my music addiction and is basically the root of all my blogging the last years, yes blame them!

Anyways on a serious note, the song is Octopus and I really like the video so give it a try if you didn't see or hear it before. Enjoy!

Official site
last.fm artist page