Tag: Copenhagen Denmark

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Cinematic and Haunting Visuals for Up-and-Coming Danish Pop Artist MATTIS’ “Loverboy”

Although he can trace the origins of his musical career to being the frontman of a local punk rock band, the Copenhagen-born and-based Mattis Jakobsen and his solo recording project MATTIS finds the former punk rocker going through a radical sonic departure; in fact, his debut single “Loverboy,” which Jakobsen has described as “viking soul” consists of a hauntingly spectral but decidedly low-end heavy production featuring tweeter and woofer rocking beats, a sinuous bass line, hand clap-led percussion and a wisp of smoke-like guitar line, and an infectious, club banging hook paired with Jakobsen’s sultry and tenderly aching vocals expressing a desperately yearning longing for something but not quite finding whatever it is that could fill the hole in your heart and soul. And as a result, the song captures a narrator, who is heartsick and and who has hopelessly fallen into an emotional and spiritual abyss that has led to a profound and unnerving loneliness. 

“‘Loverboy’ is a personal story of mine, from around 3 years ago, where I had broken up with my girlfriend at that time, lost my apartment and was at a crossroad musically and in life generally,” Jakobsen explains in press notes. “I lived in basements, studios and friends’ couches. I didn’t feel any purpose. I didn’t feel connected with anyone. I felt alone, kinda like a wolf that is no longer part of the pack.” 

Directed by Emil Kahr, the recently released and gorgeously cinematic video for “Loverboy” was shot over two days last month, with the first day being shot in Copenhagen and the second day shot at the Wade Sea, a Danish landmark. The video opens with the 6’8″ Jakobsen striding purposefully along the beach beneath growing and darkening storm clouds with the wind whipping around him. He’s the only figure you see on the beach, which further emphasizes his loneliness and then the video suddenly cuts to a beautiful woman who while being distinct is vague and just out of reach, which suggests that this woman is a lingering ghost, haunting the video’s lonely protagonist. And while being symbolic, the video viscerally emphasizes the themes and emotions within the song in an accessible and haunting fashion. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Christoffer Hein and Dracut Lugalzagosi, the Copenhagen, Denmark-based duo Mercyfox started collaborating together last year, and the result was a sound that drew from The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream and LCD Soundsystem — although their latest single “Dead White Doves” is a breakneck, rousingly anthemic and noisy track that manages to remind me quite a bit of The Jesus and Mary Chain and Radio 4 with a dance floor stomp; but underneath the surface, the song’s lyrics vacillates between hope and despair, and as the band explains “This is our best attempt at making a sunny as hell track. Even though weird and violent things are going on in the world, we mustn’t forget to party hard and spread loads of love in the sun.”

 
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Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Danish-born Los Angeles-Based Artist Dinner Releases Americana-Inspired Visuals for “Un-American Girl”

Anders Rhedin is a Danish-born, Los Angeles, CA-based producer, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who may be best known for a brief stint collaborating with Danish-born singer/songwriter and guitarist  Jannis Noya Makrigiannis in Copenhagen -based Choir of Young Believers, an act that had multiple chart topping hits in Denmark and was named “Best New Act” in 2009’s Danish Music Awards. Since relocating to Los Angeles several years ago, Rhedin started his own solo recording project Dinner, which received attention with the release of his debut EP collection and his full-length debut Psychic Lovers. 

With his sophomore effort New Work, which is slated for a September 8, 2017 release through renowned indie label Captured Tracks Records, Rhedin had a desire to do things differently.  “I just needed to get back to the approach I used when I was still self-release cassettes back in Copenhagen,” Rhedin explains in press notes. “I spent way too much time on the previous record. I was sitting in front of a computer screen alone for seven months working on it, obsessing over it. This time, I wanted to work very fast in order think less. I wanted to collaborate more. I hoped that other people’s presence would keep my perfectionism in check.” Rhedin enlisted Regal Degal’s and Ducktails’ Josh Da Costa to co-produce New Work, and the album features guest spots from Tonstartssbandht’s Andy White, and unlike the previous album, an array of American-born and-based musicians including Blouse’s Charlie Hilton, Infinite Bisous’ and Connan Mockasin’s Rori McCarthy, The Paranoyds’ Staz Lindes and Sean Nicholas Savage. The recording sessions found Rhedin, Da Costa and company working during the late night, off-hours at a  studio in an industrial section of downtown Los Angeles, with material being recorded on the spot — with little preparation time. “A lot of my favorite music is American. I thought it would be fun to go a little bit less Euro on this one,” Rhedin says in press notes. “I’m pretty Euro by myself, some might say. I wanted to add a different color.” 

In between sessions, Rhedin recoded and overdubbed material in his apartment with a 4 track recorder from the early 80s. We did very little editing, we just tried to record what was there. You’ll hear a lot of first-takes on the record,” Rhedin informs us in press notes. “The best part of the process was driving home early in the morning though the empty streets of LA, listening to the night’s recordings. Because it was such an immediate experience.”

Reportedly, New Work and its first single “Un-American Woman” was inspired a by William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell” and Rhedin’s own personal experiences. “‘Un-American Woman’ is a song I wrote just before I stopped going out, just before I stopped sleeping around with woman,” the Danish-born, Los Angeles-based producer, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist says in press notes. “The song seems to be about disillusionment and a fear of being stuck in a certain lifestyle. But it also also touches upon the potential transformational aspects of ‘bad things.’ Nothing’s black or white, good or bad. There is just life-force moving. A constant movement. ‘The road of excess leads to the place of wisdom’ in the words of Blake.” 

Sonically speaking, New Work’s first single manages to be a mischievously anachronistic and effortless meshing of Joy Division and The Smiths-like post-punk, 60s guitar pop and psych pop with Around the World in a Day-era Prince, as the song manages to possesses a similar moody Romanticism paired with an ability to craft a slick and infectious hook. 

Interestingly, the recently released visuals for the song were shot in and around Las Vegas and manages to evoke the song’s haunting loneliness and swooning Romanticism; but interestingly enough the video features Mac DeMarco’s brother Hank dancing with his ballet troupe, and a sequence featuring a bunch of young people roughhousing in a seedy motel room. It’s decidedly American but from an outsider’s point of view. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Copenhagen, Denmark-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Brian Batz has received both national and international attention with the release of four full-length albums with his solo recording project Sleep Party People, and as you’ll hear on “The Sun Will Open Its Core,” the latest single off his soon-to-be-released new album Lingering, Batz specializes in a breezy psych rock/psych pop that’s reminiscent of Oracular Spectacular-era MGMT and early 80s synth pop and New Wave — in particular, think of The Buggles‘ “Video Killed the Radio Star;” however, underneath the hook laden song’s breeziness is a bilious bitterness, frustration and growing doubt of humanity’s empathy and kindness.  As Batz explains “I got really frustrated and emotionally upset when the whole refugee debate in Denmark was at its highest. I felt extremely indignant in terms of how society dealt with this problem. Normally I don’t go into politics, especially not in my music, but this was kind of inevitable.”

“I don’t get how people can reject human beings, who are fleeing from their destroyed homes and cities. What if it happened to us? Wouldn’t we do the same and ask for help and do whatever we felt necessary? We should be able to help each other even if we don’t agree on religion, politics or what we eat and wear. It puzzles me that some people out there can’t see the reason in helping. I had to write a song about this. Period.” And as a result, the song feels like an urgent plea that we all can — and must — do better, to help anyone in need; that it’s the truly human thing to do.

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

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.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing the 90s Grunge Rock-Inspired Sound of Copenhagen’s John Alcabean

With the release of last year’s Real Time Fiction EP, the Copenhagen, Denmark-based indie rock trio John Alcabean received attention across both Scandinavia and the UK for a sound that draws from the 90s — in particular anthemic Brit Pop and grunge; in fact one website had aligned them with contemporary indie rock acts like Wolf Alice and Drenge among others, despite the fact that the trio hadn’t had a ton of live gigs under their belts.

However, the members of the Copenhagen-based trio are currently in the studio working on their much-anticipated full-length debut and while the album’s first single “Need Comfort” will further cement their growing reputation for anthemic and scuzzy grunge-inspired indie rock, the single manages to be incredibly radio-friendly yet contemporary take on a familiar sound.

Directed and shot by Hans -Jørgen Hersoug, the video for “Need Comfort” is shot in a film noir-like black and white and features a disorientating amount of superimpositions and distortions of the band looking at the viewer with a particularly Scandinavian yet totally familiar brooding seriousness, along with the band’s frontman headbanging while playing his guitar.

Video by William Ruben Helms

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.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Following Young People Hanging Out and Partying in JOVM Mainstay Lust For Youth’s “Tokyo”

Now over the past few years, the Danish electro pop trio have become JOVM mainstays — and you may recall that I wrote about that I wrote about “Better Looking Brother,” and “Sudden Ambition” the first two singles off the their sophomore effort Compassion, which was releaesd earlier this year. And both singles further cemented their reputation for crafting melancholic and aching synth pop that was simultaneously dance floor-friendly. The album’s third single “Tokyo” continues on the same vein of the album’s preceding singles but lyrically the song evokes the sense of confusion, loneliness and disconnectedness and wonder of being on the road, as the song’s narrator describes a life of hotel rooms, hotel room food, a brief chance to wander around a town and get a sense of it, the late night crowds and neon lights, the longing for someone who you either can’t have — or is thousands of miles away, removed from your unusual life on the road.

The recently released video for the song was shot by Tokyo residents, who filmed themselves and their daily lives in their hometown — late nights with Lust For Youth fans, who catch their idols playing at a local club, and then speeding off to the next thing, the next adventure or just goofing off with your crew. And in many ways, the video seems to capture young people almost anywhere.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Lust For Youth’s “Sudden Ambition” Reveals Small Slices of Daily Life in Amager, Copenhagen

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past two years, you’d be pretty familiar with Copenhagen, Denmark-based electro pop trio, Lust For Youth as I’ve written about them a handful of times in that period. The […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past year, you may have stumbled across a post on recent JOVM mainstay, Copenhagen-born, London-based vocalist and electro pop artist Marie Dahlstrøm— and in fact, you might recall that I’ve recently written about her collaborative project with Canadian producer Mwahs — Hans Island. However, Dahlstrom, a three-time Scandinavian Soul Award winner has developed a reputation as an up-and-coming solo artist, who has received attention across both Scandinavia and the European Union for her silky smooth, effortlessly soulful vocals with covers of Phil Collins, Chris Brown and Rihanna, as well as her debut EP, Feelings. 

2016 looks to be a big year for the Danish-born, London-based artist as the follow-up to Feelings is slated to be released later this year. Now you might recall that early last year I wrote about  the EP’s first single “Look the Other Way.” Produced by DK The Punisher, who’s best known for his work with Justin Beiber on Beibers’s “All That Matters, the track had Dahlstrøm teaming up with Brighton, UK-based vocalist Sophie Faith in a song that thematically nodded at Brandy and Monica’s 1998 duet/battle “The Boy Is Mine” as the single has Dahlstrøm and Faith alternating vocal responsibilities on each verse and teaming up on the chorus, as the song’s dueling narrators openly question the state of their romantic relationships with the love interest at the center of the song. Sonically speaking, the song paired Faith’s equally effortless soulful vocals and Dahlstrøm’s cooing with icily cascading and twinkling synths and hip-hop influenced beats.

Produced by Joe Garrett, who has worked on Zayn Malik‘s “Pillowtalk,” the EP’s second single and latest single “Crashing Down” is a gauzy, Quiet Storm-inspired yet contemporary track that paris Dahlstrøm’s silky smooth vocals with swirling electronics, Mary J. Blige What’s the 411? inspired hip-hop soul beats and stuttering percussion. As Dahlstrøm explained in press notes the song “is about the feeling of always searching, instead of being present in the moment. It’s about giving in and realizing that you’re exactly where you need to be.” Truer words have yet to be spoken this year at least, and the fact that the Copenhagen-born, London-based artist’s material is presumably based around lived-in experience sets her apart from countless soulless and prepackaged contemporary pop artists.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Jimmy Jönsson (vocals), Stefan Aronsson (synths and programming) and Per Linnerblad (synths and programming), the Stockholm, Sweden-based electro pop trio Red Cell can trace their origins to when the band’s founding duo of  Jönsson and Aronsson formed the back during the winter of 2002-2003. Deriving their name from a character that appears in the TV series Nikita, the duo recorded their first demo “In Command” a few months after forming, and it was released to praise in the Swedish press for an industrial metal sound.

Stefan Aronsson, who played guitar on their first single was recruited into the band along with another member on synths and as a newly constituted quartet, the band’s sound became much more synth-based. After recording two more demos — “I Am The Way” and “Related Skin,” which received national attention, the band entered the Swedish demo-contest Quest For Fame and won a recording contract. And although the band eventually turned down the recording deal they won, with a growing national profile, the quartet toured around Sweden and started playing regular gigs in Copenhagen, Denmark, which begun to expand their international profile across Scandinavia.

By January 2005, the Swedish electro pop quartet had signed with Torny Gotberg’s Gothenburg, Sweden-based Progress Productions, who released their commercially successful full-length debut effort, Hybrid Society that September. The album peaked at number 7 on the Swedish metal charts and at number 53 on the National charts. A national tour to support Hybrid Society followed, along with the band’s first gigs in Norway.

The band’s last effort Lead or Follow was released in 2008, and as you can imagine across Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia, the news of their forthcoming third, full-length release, slated for release sometime next year has been long-anticipated. Although currently untitled, the album’s first single “Taking Back The Crown” is an anthemic bit of synth pop that sounds indebted to Depeche Mode‘s “People Are People” and “Policy of Truth” as well as The Human League‘s “Don’t You Want Me?” as layers of undulating synths are paired with propulsive drumming, enormous arena-friendly hooks and plaintive vocals.

 

 

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Haunting and Troubling, New Video for Reptile Youth’s “Arab Spring Break Parts 1 and 2”

Reptile Youth – Arab Spring Break (Part I & II) from Reptile Youth on Vimeo. If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past 15-18 months or so, you would have likely come across a couple […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Mikkel B. Jakbosen (vocals and guitar), Morten Hansen (drums and vocals), and Steffan Petersen (guitar and bass). the Copenhagen, Denmark-based trio The Foreign Resort have received international attention for a sound that meshes elements of new wave and post-punk in a way that’s dark and moody and yet possesses an upbeat infectiousness. In fact, “Under Bright Neon Stars” the first single off the Danish trio’s soon-to-be released The American Dream EP is a swooningly Romantic and anthemic song consisting of shimmering guitars, a tight motorik groove similar to New Order‘s “Blue Monday” and “5 8 6,” paired with urgent and plaintive vocals that float over the propulsive mix. If you can’t image a club full of concertgoers shouting along to the song’s hook, there’s something wrong with you.

After listening to the song a number of times, the song seems to evoke the swelling hope and crippling fears of newfound love and in a way that should remind even the most jaded listener of their own foolhardy youth with a wistful smile.

The band is embarking on a fall tour. Check out the out dates below.

Tour Dates
10.22 • recordBar (Kansas City, MO)
10.23 • 3 Kings Tavern (Denver, CO)
10.24 • Lot 1 (Los Angeles, CA)
10.25 • Alex’s Bar (Long Beach, CA)
10.26 • The Merrow (San Diego, CA)
10.27 • Fulton 55 (Fresno, CA)
10.28 • Hemlock Tavern (San Francisco, CA)
10.30 • Kelly’s Olympian (Portland, OR)
10.31 • Substation (Seattle, WA)

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Lust For Youth’s New Single “Better Looking Brother” Channels New Order and Cut Copy

Comprised of Hannes Norvide, Loke Rahbek and Malthe Fischer, the Copenhagen, Denmark-based trio, Lust For Youth can trace their origins to when the act began as the self-described “dark, cold, atonal, lonely, tormented” and “lower than lo-fi” solo recording project of […]

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Copenhagen All-Girl Trio Baby In Vain’s Ass-Kicking, Name-Taking “Muscles”

Comprised of Lola Hammerich (vocals, guitar)  and Andrea Thuesen (vocals,  guitar) and Bendicte Pierleoni (drums), the young, up-and-coming Copenhagen Denmark-based trio Baby In Vain have rapidly built up and international profile as they’ve opened for the likes of Ty […]