Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few months, you may know that the Aarhus, Denmark-based recording studio Tapetown Studios and Sound of Aarhus have a long-running series in which they invite both touring bands to come into the studio for a live session; but along with that the band during their limited downtime would get a unique taste of Aarhus beyond the touring routine of load-ins, sound checks, shows, tear downs, pack ups and van rides to the next gig. Recently, Tapetown Studios and Sound of Aarhus invited Gothenburg, Sweden-based trio Pale Honey for a session — and the trio, comprised of Tuva Lodmark, Nelly Daltrey, and Anders Lagerfors performed “Heaviest of Storms (Devotion, Part 1)” a shimmering and moody track that reminded me quite a bit of early PJ Harvey.
Tag: Aarhus Denmark
Live Footage: Ulrika Spacek Performs “Mimi Pretend” at Tapetown Studios
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site for bit, you’ve likely come across a handful of posts featuring Ulrika Spacek, and as you may recall the act, which is comprised of long-time friends and collaborators Rhys Edwards and Rhys Williams can trace their origins to a night in Berlin, when the duo conceptualized the project’s sound and aesthetic around their mutual love for Television, Pavement, Sonic Youth and krautrock. When the duo returned to their hometown of Homerton, they began working on their full-length debut, The Album Paranoia, which featured the 120 Minutes-era MTV-like single “She’s A Cult,” and the shoegazer-like “Strawberry Glue.”
While on a tour across the European Union, the members of the band stopped by Aarhus, Denmark-based Tapetown Studios to participate in the Live at Tapetown Series, in which Sound of Aarhus and the recording studio invite touring bands to come in and do a live session; but along with the touring bands during their downtime would get a unique taste of Aarhus beyond the typical touring routines of load-ins, sound checks, tear downs, pack ups and van rides.
Last month, Sound of Aarhus released footage of the JOVM mainstays performing their A Storm in Heaven and A Northern Soul-era The Verve and The Bends-era Radiohead-like single “Everything, All The Time.” The second video from the live session is the shimmering and jangling shoegazer track “Mimi Pretend,” and much like its predecessor from the sessions, the video will further cement their reputation for crafting 90s alt rock/shoegazer songs but with a subtly modern sheen.
Live Footage: Ulrika Spacek at Tapetown Studios Aarhus Denmark
Comprised of long-time friends and collaborators Rhys Edwards and Rhys Williams, the indie rock act Ulrika Spacek can trace their origins to a night in Berlin, when the duo conceptualized the project based around their mutual passions and influences — namely, Television, Pavement, Sonic Youth and krautrock. And as the story goes, upon their return to Homerton, the duo began working on the material that would eventually comprise their full-length debut The Album Paranoia, an album which featured the 120 Minutes-era MTV-like single “She’s A Cult,” and the shoegazer-like Strawberry Glue.”
Now, it’s been some time since I’ve personally written about them; however, the members of the project has been pretty busy writing and recording new material and touring — with their latest single “Everything, All The Time” managing to sound as though it nods at A Storm in Heaven and A Northern Soul-era The Verve and The Bends-era Radiohead, thanks in part to jangling and distorted power chords, a propulsive rhythm section and an anthemic hook. And while among the most 90s alt rock-inspired songs they’ve released to date, the song reveals a subtle yet decidedly contemporary production sheen, along with a blistering urgency.
While on a European Union tour, the members of the band stopped by Aarhus, Denmark-based Tapetown Studios to participate in the Live at Tapetown Series, in which Sound of Aarhus and the recording studio invite touring bands during their downtime to get a taste of the city beyond the routines of load-ins, sound checks, shows, tear downs and van rides — and it’ll include a live session in their studio.
New Video: Denmark’s Shocking White Return with a Noise Rock-Leaning, New Single Paired with 120 Minute MTV-era Visuals
Late last month, I wrote about the Aarhus, Denmark-based indie rock/noise rock trio Shocking White. Currently comprised of founding member Jan Petersen (guitar, vocals), along with Rune Randlev (bass) and Marco Bøgehøj (drums), the Danish trio have released four albums in which they’ve experimented with their sound, writing energetic post punk, nihilistic No Wave and feral garage rock primarily rooted in noise rock. And although the band was initially founded back in 2009, the Danish trio has started to receive attention both across Denmark and elsewhere across Scandinavia as they’ve played at some of the region’s biggest festivals, including Recession Festival, Pop Revo, Mejlgade for Mangfoldighed and Spot Festival. Adding to a growing international presence, the band has toured Denmark with Norwegian space rock act Kal-El and Canadian avant-garde punk act Alpha Strategy, and 2016’s “Tweet Scientists” 7 inch, which Copenhagen-based label Tigermilk Records released. Along with that, the Danish trio will be included on a forthcoming compilation featuring internationally-based alt rock/indie rock bands.
Ghosting, Shocking White’s fourth studio album was released last month and the album continues their ongoing collaboration with producer Rasmus Bredvig, who along with the members of the band recorded the album in 3 days at Aarhus-based Tapetown Studio. Now, as you may recall, I wrote about the album’s first single, “Into The Sun,” a single that managed to sound as though it drew influence from 80s grunge rock — i.e., Pixies, Sonic Youth and Nirvana — as the Danish trio pairs power chords played through reverb and distortion pedals with a rousingly anthemic hook, a propulsive and chugging rhythm section and a playfully pop-leaning sense of melody while thematically focusing on a profound and palpable fear of death that gives the song an underlying sense of menace and unease. The album’s second and latest single “Far From Bloom,” continues in a similar vein; however, the single also manages to be reminiscent of The Jesus and Mary Chain, A Place to Bury Strangers, but with an anthemic hook.
Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the video for “Into The Sun,” the recently released video for the song features footage shot in color-treated film negatives which create an otherworldly, psychedelic feel to the proceedings while being reminiscent of the thousands of videos I’ve watched during 120 Minutes-era MTV.
Captain Casanova, is an Aarhus, Denmark-based indie rock trio, who have developed a reputation across Scandinavia, Northern Europe and Central Europe for a busy touring schedule with some of each region’s up-and-coming bands — and for a sound that clearly draws influence from 90s grunge rock and Brit Pop as you’ll hear on the band’s anthemic, mosh pit friendly, barn burning single “Futures.” Interestingly, along with bands like Love Talk, Pacific Swell and John Alcabean, Captain Casanova have helped to establish a burgeoning Danish indie rock scene that’s seeing international attention across Europe and the UK.
New Video: Introducing the Dark Surfer Punk of Denmark’s Pacific Swell
Comprised of Nicklas Sørensen, Emil Østedgaard, Adam Peleg and Daniel Brodersen, Pacific Swell is a Grenaa, Denmark-based indie rock quartet Pacific Swell convenes somewhat infrequently as its members spend most of their time in Klitmoeller, known as Cold Hawaii — […]
New Video: Introducing the Trippy Visuals and The Jesus and Mary Chain-Inspired Sounds of Aarhus, Denmark’s Love Talk
Currently comprised of Casper Iskov (vocals), Mathias Risager (drums), Jens Hyldahl (bassist) and Andreas Frandsen (guitar), the Aarhus, Denmark-based indie rock quartet Love Talk can trace their origins to when its co-founders Casper Iskov and […]
New Video: The 120 Minutes-Era, Alt Rock Sounds and Visuals of Aarhus, Denmark’s Shocking White
Currently comprised of founding member Jan Petersen (guitars, vocals), along with Rune Randlev (bass) and Marco Bøgehøj (drums), the Aarhus, Denmark-based trio Shocking White have released three studio albums in which they’ve experimented with energetic post-punk, nihilistic No Wave and furious garage rock while the material’s backbone had always been decidedly noise rock. And although the act can trace its origins back to when Petersen founded the band in 2009, the band has started to receive attention across their native Denmark, the rest of Scandinavia and elsewhere over the past couple of years as the trio have played at Recession Festival, Pop Revo, Mejlgade for Mangfoldighed and Spot Festival. Adding to a growing profile, the band has toured across their native Denmark with Norwegian space rock act Kal-El and Canadian avant-garde punk act Alpha Strategy — and their “Tweet Scientists” 7 inch, which was released last may through Copenhagen-based label Tigermilk Records has received airplay on French and Canadian radio, and will be included on a compilation featuring internationally-based alternative rock/indie rock bands.
March 24, 2017 will mark the release of the band’s fourth studio album, Ghosting, an album that continues the band’s continuing collaboration with producer Rasmus Bredvig, who along with the members of the band, recorded the album in a frenzied 3 days at Arhus’ Tapetown Studio. And from Ghosting’s first single and album opening single “Into The Sun,” the band’s sound seems to draw from 90s grunge rock — i.e., Pixies, Sonic Youth and Nirvana — as the Danish trio pairs power chords played through reverb and distortion pedals with a rousingly anthemic hook, a propulsive and chugging rhythm section and a playfully pop-leaning sense of melody while thematically focusing on a profound and palpable fear of death that gives the song an underlying sense of menace and unease.
The recently released video for the song features footage shot in color-treated film negatives which create an otherworldly, psychedelic feel to the proceedings while being reminiscent of the thousands of videos I’ve watched during 120 Minutes-era MTV.
Comprised of Nanna Schannong (lead vocals, guitar), Soffie Viemose (lead vocals, laptop), Kasper Staub (synthesisers), Thomas Lund (bass, Moog) and Steffen Lundtoft (drums, percussion), the up-and-coming Danish experimental pop/synth pop quintet Lowly can trace their origins to when the members of the quintet met while studying at the music academy at Aarhus, Denmark. And despite each member studying completely different subjects, they quick found a common musical ground based around what they’ve describe as a restlessly inventive and gorgeously melodic sound paired around an uncompromising songwriting approach in which their material manages to defy easy categorization.
The Danish quintet’s highly-awaited full-length debut Heba is slated for a February 10, 2017 release through renowned indie label Bella Union Records and building an increasingly buzz for the band and their forthcoming debut, the members of the band recently released the album’s third single “Prepare the Lake,” a lush single that pairs fluttering and shuffling drumming with ethereally shimming synths, swirling and ambient electronics and glistening guitar chords with Schannong’s lilting Dido-like vocals. Interestingly, as the band explains in press notes: “‘Prepare The Lake’ is the oldest of the tracks on the forthcoming album Heba. We’d been playing it for quite some time live before recording it and the form sort of grew out of us during concerts, so perhaps it has more of live feel to it than the other songs on the album.
“The lyrics are inspired by Gertrude Stein’s poetry. She has a very intense way of giving words power because of their surprising or untraditional placement in a sentence. It gives them depth and color and you can almost look at each individual word as a small art installation. It’s not a song that you can say is about a specific subject but it still has something very personal about it. And because the words are so fragmented hopefully, people when they listen can draw their own conclusions to what it means to them.”
“Word,” Heba‘s second single is based around an unusual, prog rock-like song structure in which the song sounds comprised of multiple seemingly unrelated segments held together by a a twisting and turning synth line paired with oddly syncopated drum passages, explosive and buzzing guitar work and Schannong’s lilting soprano in a stormy song that evokes the frustration of not being to say what you needed to say in a relationship, whether from inability or dealing with a blowhard; and the vacillating feelings of self-doubt, hated, uncertainty and longing in a dramatic — and incredibly cinematic track.
As the band’s Kasper Staub adds in press notes “We think of our music and lyrics more like a painting, we think it should all melt together. We’re all interested in developing ourselves as songwriters, and working in new ways, with different ideas.” And as a result, the Danish quintet manages to carefully walk the tightrope between the incredibly challenging and the accessible in a way that may arguably make them among one of the most exciting acts I’ve heard in recent memory.