Interactive Poll # -45 (or something)

Right, so I will go with C.V. Jørgensen (Carsten Valentin Jørgensen, born 1949). He is one of the most acclaimed rock artists in Denmark, especially due to his lyrics which are sometimes rather harsh, but generally very poetic. His early work has inspiration from westcoast rock, J.J. Cale, and things like that, but he became more minimalistic during the 80's, and on his two most recent albums from 1994 and 2002 he moved towards electronica and jazz. Many of his songs are evergreens in Denmark, but he is guaranteed unknown elsewhere. He has released 11 albums between 1974 and 2002 with different musicians and band constellations.

The first song is "Bellevue" from his breakthrough album Storbyens små oaser (The small oases of the big city, 1977).

Summer Sunday, the nation is taking time off

Some are listening to Arne Myggen

I'm listening to David Bowie

The sun is shining, and the neighbour wife has raised the flag

with Dannebrog on a coffee table

with liqueur and dry cakes

Everything is so simple and so good

Roll her a joint, hand me some pot

Chorus:

The girls at Bellevue

are demonstrating for more equality

somewhat cautious and shy

The sun is always shining at Bellevue

Summer Sunday, the nation is taking time off

On my hi-fi grammo lies Space Oddity

Myggen says thank you and ends his program

What would we have done on this Sunday without him

Everything is so simple and so good

Roll him a joint, hand me some pot

Chorus

Summer Sunday, the nation is lying as dead

I myself was lying down when the family came to visit

Hi hi, by by, is the anything new?

Well the sun is shining, the music is playing

have a listen

Everything is so simple and so good

Roll them a joint, hand me some pot

Song 2 is "Balladen om Mickey Lama" (The ballad of Mickey Lama) from the 1979 album Solgt til stanglakrids (Done for).

I don't really know where

but I've got a feeling you are here somewhere

Well hidden in the setting

you may be listening along

And it is practically impossible not to hear what I say

For the walls in this house are thinner than pergament paper

You exist on roulades

And when for once the sea runs high

You're having canned chops

flushed down with some poison-green plonk

And you're so incredibly unhealthy without knowing it yourself

and totally down and out, but human anyway, after all

Chorus:

You're the loneliest being the world has ever seen

and as monk-like sad as Dalai Lama from Tibet

And you have a more awkward sex life than Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse

And you only contact the opposite sex via Penthouse

Guitar solo (!)

I can hear a Super 8 narrow-gauge film projector ticking

And at any time I expect the dull sound of a loaded gun clicking

They are showing one X-ray movie after another

of a type that could easily create more than just panic in Cannes

Your everyday is a non stop live show

where the same scene is played over and over again

You know your role by heart

plus every cue word specifically to this one

But you have been tackling your talent with meaningless repetition

And for the same reason you're no longer able to be anything for anyone

Chorus

Song 3 is "Sæsonen er slut" (The season is over) from the 1980 album Tidens tern (The check patterns of our time).

Another party, another fest

Another glass has been emptied by you

Another summer is gone

but was once again neglected

Another caress, another kiss

Another dance is over

You're still dizzy

but unredeemed on the inside

Of course. 

Thank you for the low down on this.  It's true that the band has grown and has a lot of versatility, some tracks take longer to get used to than others, but I wanted to show the band's variety through the years.  There are many fans that would probably curse me for picking some of the tracks that I did here, but I think these tracks show how well-rounded they are.  As for the first track "One Big Holiday", this is their oldest studio track out of the 5 that I posted, and it really translates much better in a true live setting.  I've seen them a few times live, and the audience always seems to come away from it like they have just had an amazing experience.

Mike:  My Morning Jacket “One Big Holiday”  Nice, rocking beginning, goes into a guitar lead straightaway.  A bit of an alt/country/rock sound to the band, I’d heard of them, but never had heard them.  I like the raw sound of the band, reminiscent a bit of the Buffalo Springfield to my ear.  I definitely get the feeling they’d be great to see live. “Smokin’ from Shootin’”  This one is moodier, beginning with trainlike sounds, on a pedal steel, perhaps?  A ballad.  In the middle, the guitar lead has almost a psych feel to it.  Comes to a crescendo, then fades out with a sort of siren sound (police?  ambulance?) “Highly Suspicious”  I see why you referenced Prince, lol.  I like these guys, they have a good sense of humour.  This one has more of a funk/soul sound to it, with lots of fuzzy, wonky guitar sounds and a steady beat throughout.  “It Beats 4 U”  Back to a driving beat with drums and some repeating guitar picking.  Another ballad, but it sounds like this one is going along much better than the Smokin’ from Shootin’ combination of two people.  Vocals use a bit of reverb, a bit of wistfulness and also hope in this one.  Concludes with whistling?  Or a theremin sound? Or the pedal steel? Not sure how they did that, but it was cool.  “Movin’ Away”  Another wistful ballad, with piano and drums.  Making changes is always hard.  I enjoyed the versatility of this band, you did a get a great balance in the song order, which is part of this kind of a process, too. 

Logan:  Pram  “Radio Freak in a Storm”  Here is a sort of singsong whispery female vocal, with some nice plinkies and some repetitive organ and screaky violin sounds.  The song is about outer space, and indeed the organ sound, as it fades back and forth makes me think of stars blinking.  Ends with the violin sound, maybe the way a voice sounds way out in space?  “Blue”  This one starts with some horns, drums and almost traffic-horn beeps and bursts.  There are some electronic meanderings, with the vocals way back in the mix, actually the production of this one is very subdued.  This one about someone who seems to be cold and aloof, but the singer is reminding them that they are human, after all.  Goes into a horn lead with washes of horns and organ interspersed.   This gets into a very psychedelic style jam as it ends.  “Serpentine”  This one has a pensive and suspenseful beginning, making an apt setting for the morose lyrics.  Horns and washes are in this one as well, with some clinky percussive noises.   Echo-y horns come in with plinky bits of electric guitar and a repeating plucked guitar phrase.  Walks out eerily with keyboards.  “The Doors of Empty Cupboards”  Here is some theremin (or soundalike) and organ to open the piece, with guitar washes rising up and drums, again, subdued production.  Another fairly psychedelic feel to this, a bit of a feeling of madness, with the house tilting and the nightmare corridors.  Farfisa-like organ and horns jam together a bit, with some electric piano underpinnings.  “Mother of Pearl”  This one is a bit more upbeat, with an almost klezmer feel to the horns (some of them, anyway, as there are really two different types of horns).  There are some staccato strings of some sort, and then the klezmer kicks in again.  It’s almost a feeling of humour in the music, but it belies the subject, perhaps the singer is just amused by the person’s way of being and relating to her.  “Penny Arcade”  A sort of maybe bad trip feeling to this one.  More psych-y washes, this time the vocalist is more up front than on the other selections.  Dream worlds, dream landscapes.   More of the theremin-sort of eerie sounds with big sonic “whomps.”  Very spooky piece.

suitkees:  Kat Onoma  “From Pompei”  Dark and brooding male vocalist, with minimal electric guitar at first (a bit reminiscent of the Dream Syndicate, or Velvet Underground to me).  Stark, simple drumming kicks in and then the song fades. A ballad of good-bye. “Intro” I like a sense of humour in a band.  Good for them to have one with their name.  “Riverrun”  This one has kind of a country feel to it (well, with Billy the Kid as the album title, makes sense).  Definitely captures the spirit of galloping alongside a river in the desert, with the pace and the lyrics.  Nice, raw alt/country guitar leads here, too. There are some interesting little quirks to the song, little punctuation points, sonically.  “Que sera votre vie?” Begins with drums beating, then a (mostly) spoken reading of the lyrics come in.  Searing lead kicks in, this has more of a hard-psych feel to me, they also had some string sounds in this (which I really like, as it adds depth here) and more odd sounds punctuating the piece.  Is he speaking to himself, or someone else?  Having an existential crisis, perhaps, or just examining himself or another.  “Artificial Life”  Begins again with the spare electric guitar and drums that are a signature sound of this band.  I like that they have a sound you can identify as them.  Singer again has more of a speaking rather than singing tone, but this is his style.  This one is more driving than the last, I like what they did with the horn solo in about the middle, added a nice dimension (kind of like what happened for my ear with the strings on the previous piece).  “Old Trouble”  Opening with rhythmic percussion and a 1-2-3 count repeated a few times.  Some swirly sounds, this has a kind of old blues sensibility to it, in a way, in the repeated “coming old trouble, coming,” phrase.  Definitely emphasizes this when they add in sort of a gospel chorus.  Again they’ve thrown in a little curve to their basis by the chorus addition. 

I'll try and post something really soon. 

Here's the title track of Radian's as far as I know first full length album tg11. This album has some of their most radical and uncompromising stuff, going into proper avantgarde territory, although they mostly provide the listener with some rhythm to have something to hold on to. This one is pretty minimalist and a to me pretty successful and actually addictive attempt to make a listener construct music worthwhile to listen to (even meditative) from electronic noises.  

And I'm quite with him on criticizing celebrity culture, he does a good job of it, here.