Blog

In no particular order:
Mogwai - First post-rock band I've seen live, mindblowing!
Kaizers Orchestra x2 - Awesome band, always gets the crowd going
Foals - Great record, great live performance
Oasis - Epic concert
MGMT - Awesome show
Ida Maria x3 - She's always a lot of fun, great performer

Jay-Z - It was great. Possibly the best rapper alive.
Beck - Not too bad, but not great.
Duffy - She was good.
Goldfrapp - First half not so good, but very good when she played the classics
Lupe Fiasco - Cool concert, worth the agonizing wait.
MSTRKRFT - Awesome electro-house.
Shape Of Broad Minds - Great. Loved the fresh sound.
Stars - Loved 'em!
The Raconteurs - One of the best rock concerts I've seen.
Vampire Weekend - A lot of fun
Thom Hell - Good
Band of Horses - Very good concert
The National Bank - Great concert
The Kooks - Meh. Good, but overhyped.
The Mae Shi - Great band. Entertaining show.
Los Campesinos! - Great music. Harmony

In alphabetical order... Not all are included, because I don't care about them.

Animal Alpha (Øyafestivalen, 2005)
Asphyxsis (Checkpoint Charlie and De Røde Sjøhus, 2006)
Avenged Sevenfold (Hove, 2008)
Backyard Babies (Folken, 2009)
Band of Horses (Folken, 2008)
Bare Eagles Band (Folken, 2008)
Bare Egil Band (Folken, 2008)
BIG BOMBASTIC COLLECTIVE (Cementen, 2007)
Black Lips (Hove, 2008)
Black Sabbath (Oslo Stadion, 2005)
Built to Spill (Folken, 2008))
Cat Power (Roskilde, 2008)
Cavalera Conspiracy (Hove, 2008)
Chrome Hoof (Hove, 2008)
deLillos (Bjergstedsparken, 2007)
Dengue Fever (Roskilde, 2008)
The Dillinger Escape Plan (Roskilde, 2008)
Duffy (Hove, 2008)
the dø (Roskilde, 2008)
eriK Salvesen (Folken, 2008)
Fitts for fight (Tou Scene, twice)
Fjorden Baby! (By:Larm, 2009)
Franz Ferdinand (Øyafestivalen, 2005)
Freestyle Picnic (twice, 2008))
Gatas Parlament (Metropolis, 2008)
Grinderman (Roskilde, 2008)
Hayseed Dixie (Folken, 2008)
Hellacopters (Pulpit og Hovefestivalen)
HOH (Nordic Music Week, 2008)
Howlin Rain (Folken, 2008)
Håkan Helström (Folken, 2009)
Ikke Bare Bare Egil Band Band (Folken, 2008)
In Flames (Hove, 2008)
Influence of the Dead Marsipan (many times...)
Ingrid Olava (Nordic Music Week, 2008)
Iron Maiden (Oslo Stadion, 2005)
Jackman (Pulpit, 2005)
Jóse Gonzáles (Roskilde, 2008)
Job for a Cowboy (Hove, 2008)
Johnny Hancocks (everywhere)
Juan Formell y los Van Van (Roskilde, 2008)
Judas Priest (Roskilde, 2008)
Kaada (Nordic Music Week, 2008)
Kaizers Orchestra (many times)
Katzenjammer (Folken, 2008, twice)
Killswitch Engage (Hove, 2008)
The Lovestreets (Checkpoint Charlie, 2008)
Lukestar (Hove, 2008)
Lupe Fiasco (Hove, 2008)
Madrugada (Pulpit, 2005 and twice at Folken, 2008)
Mannepenis (around....)
Mogwai (Roskilde, 2008)
Motorpsycho (Folken and Roskilde, 2008)
Marit Larsen (Folken, 2008)
Mugison (Roskilde, 2008)
The National Bank (Folken, 2008)
Neil Young (Roskilde, 2008)
The New Wine (By:Larm, 2009)
Noxagt (Nordic Music Week, 2008)
Plumbo (Checkpoint Charlie, 2008)
The Raconteurs (Hove, 2008)
Radiohead (Roskilde, 2008)
Roger Waters (Stavanger Stadion, 2006)
Rosa Parks (Grottene, 2008)
Rumble in Rhodos (Roskilde, 2008)
Satyricon (Pulpit, Folken 2008)
Sebastian Waldejer (Tou Scene, 2007, Folken and Nordic Music Week 2008)
The September When (Folken, 2009)
Shining (Nordic Music Week, 2008)
The Shock! (Nordic Music Week, 2008)
Skambankt (Folken, 2009)
Susanna (Nordic Music Week, 2008)
Teitur (Roskilde, 2008)
That Special Monkey Hug (Justisen, 2006?)
Thom Hell (Folken, 2008)
Thomas Dybdahl (Pulpit and Stavanger Sentrum, 2006)
Timbuktu (Pulpit, 2007 and Folken, 2008)
Turbonegro (Pulpit, 2005)
Ungdomskulen (Folken and Hove, 2008)
Under Byen (Nordic Music Week, 2008)
Valentourettes (Folken, 2008)
The Violent Pineapple Syndrome (Metropolis, 2008)
VETO (Nordic Music Week, 2008)
Volbeat (Folken, 2008)
Yessayer (Hove, 2008)

...more to come...

Hove festival
PIRATE LOVE
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Les Savy Fav
Black Kids
Animal Collective
Jay-Z
MGMT
The Kooks
Panic at the Disco
Coheed & Cambria
Dengue Fever
Vampire Weekend
The Wombats
Charlotte & The Co-Stars
Thom Hell
Foals
Band of Horses
Beck
White Denim
Rival Schools
Animal Alpha
Flogging Molly
Bad Religion
Matias Tellez
Familjen
Slagsmålsklubben
Black Mountain
Black Lips
Ungdomskulen
The National Bank
Goldfrapp
Tommy Tokyo & Starving For My Gravy
Ingrid Olava
Jaguar Love
Lupe Fiasco
Duffy
Cavalera Conspiracy
Killswitch Engage
The Raconteurs
Hellacopters
Yeasayer
Kelley Stoltz
Satyricon
Primordial
Howlin' Rain

Huset
Sigrun And The Kitchen Band
Black Debbath
Ralph Myerz & Jack Herren Band
Superfamily
Silver Street
Jaa9 & OnklP

Others
PikkaBird - Mono
Smashing Pumpkins - Spektrum
Jethro Tull - Sentrum Scene

Everyone likes to get stuff without paying for it, and here are 20 excellent tracks you can download from last.fm with a squeaky-clean conscience:

1. Madredeus - Lisboa Rainha Do Mar

Fantastic Portuguese fado group, which has been active for more than twenty years. This song's waltzy rhythm gently rocks you as if you were in a fishing boat just off Lisboa's coast heading back for another glass of vino verde around midnight.

2. Elbow - The Stops

Anxious, tense, ominous, and very, very beautiful. Sad and melancholy voice somewhere reminiscent of Stuart Staples of
Tindersticks or the guy from The National. From the great album Leaders of the Free World, which got incredible reviews a couple of years ago and from which several tracks are available for free at last.fm.

3. Madrugada - Look Away Lucifer

A dark song from the latest, pitch black Madrugada album, which was released just a few months after guitarist Robert Burås' untimely death. This could have been a Nick Cave-song, filled with Satanic allusions and desperation.

4. Field Music - Kingston

Indie pop with inventive boy/girl harmonies, melody with surprising twists and a nice string section. Field Music have made their entire, excellent album Tones Of Town available for free download.

5. Josh Ritter - Best For The Best

A very folksy and stripped down tune with subtle and careful instrumentation. Dylanesque lyrics about a sailor with a heartache.

6. Grandaddy - Campershell Dreams

Grandaddy sounds, as usual, like Beach Boys on valium. Minimalist lyrics about not having to be alone anymore. But what the hell is a campershell? Tried to google it and got very enigmatic results.

7. Datarock - Fa-Fa-Fa

Norwegian electrorock. Very energetic and danceable track which really stands out as Datarock's best on a very variable album (in my humble opinion).

8. The Radio Dept. - Sleeping In

One of many nice Swedish indie pop groups, several tracks available for free download.

9. El Perro del Mar - Sad

Another Swedish indie pop artist. My favourite song of theirs is by far the haunting This Loneliness, but this is the one she's chosen to give away. Sad, but catchy little tune.

10. Dan Lyth - Breathe Easy

Virtually unknown artist (as of today, 859 plays!) who deserves a bigger audience. A song about Dan's ambition to become a superhero. A very calm and ambient track, but the melody builds well, his tender voice is impeccable and the instrumentation carefully caresses a gentle melody. I really like this track, hope to hear more from him.

11. Figurines - The Wonder

More Scandinavian indie, this time from Denmark. This Figurines song is extremely danceable and catchy.


12. Ленинград - Свобода

Russian ska band, one of the greatest successes of the post-Soviet music era (which, I must admit, I don't know very well). This song is full of energy, with husky vocals, all male unison chorus and a catchy instrumental passage which will stick to your brain like glue. Musical (and tuning!) skills leave something to be desired, but plenty of raw energy.

13. Ugress - Spider-Man Theme

Nice electronica rendition of the theme from the Spiderman movies. The kind of music you would hear at a trendy bar with two-syllable name written in futuristic font circa 2000. But ages fairly well.

14. Studio - No Comply

According to Pitchfork, this Swedish (again!) track was the 2007's 55th best. Nice "world music" percussion over club beat, but two chords are not quite enough to maintain my attention for the full 5 1/2 minutes.

15. Magnus Eliassen - Lois Is Happy

Midtempo pop tune - handclaps and all - with a simple, catchy melody that unfortunately loses some of its momentum at the end of each chorus. Has received a lot of airplay on Norwegian radio.

16. Thom Hell - Don´t pretend

Beautiful melody clearly inspired by Thomas Dybdahl, although lyrically perhaps not quite in the same league ("please don't pretend/you'll come again"). But well worth more than one listen.

18. Aberdeen - Florida

All right, if a little lengthy shoegaze-like track from now defunct group.

19. Readymade - The Fake but No Finish

A hypnotic shoegaze-track from an obscure Canadian band with a medium-sized
Pitchfork hype.

19. Bound Stems - Andover

Complex stuff, but quite rewarding.

20. Dag og Sivilarbeiderne - Et slags requiem

I had to include one of my own tracks at the end - not to suggest that I'm in the same league as any of the artists above - but just to make sure you get the message that this entire post was a nasty ploy to boost my own plays and get rich from the royalties. So far I've made close to 50 Cents.

06.02. +++ Minor Majority, Thom Hell +++ Bericht

12.02. +++ Stars, Jade McNelis +++ Bericht

01.03. +++ Nada Surf, Rogue Wave +++ kommentierte Setliste

03.03. +++ Sportfreunde Stiller, IchKannFliegen +++ Bericht und Bilder

13.03. +++ Superpunk, 1000 robota +++ Bericht

22
a-ha
Alanis Morissette
Ane Brun
Animal Alpha X2
Askil Holm
Balkan Beat Box
Bare Egil
BigBang
Billy Talent
Black Debbath
Blonde Redhead
Blondie
Björn Rosenström
Bobby McFerrin
Brian Wright
Briskeby
Bryan Adams
The Cardigans X2
Carpark North
CC Cowboys
Charlotte & The Co-Stars
Cowboy-Per og Lasso-Knut
D.D.E.
Damn Seagulls
De Lillos X2
Dia Psalma
Dinosaur Jr.
DJ Tiësto
Drive-By Truckers
Dropkick Murphys
dum dum boys X4
Dungen
eX-Girl
Gartnerlosjen
Gary Louris
GOCOO
Gogol Bordello
Hans Rotmo
Heroes & Zeros
Hellbillies X2
Hopalong Knut X2
Hurra Torpedo
Hærmætti Tysland Band X2
Joe Purdy
Johndoe
Johnossi
Junipher Greene
Kashmir
Kevin Devine
Kira kira
Knauskoret X4
Lars Winnerbäck
Lee Scratch Perry
Let 3
Madrugada
Mari Boine
Mark Olsson
Marthe Valle
Meshuggah
Midlake
Mira Craig
Moneybrother
Motorpsycho
Muse
The National BankX2
Nullskattesnylterne
of Montreal
Ole Edvard Antonsen
Knutsen og Ludvigsen
Paramore
Postgirobygget
Propaghandi
Raga Rockers
Reidar Roses Orkester
Rufus Wainwright
Samantha Fox
Samvirkelaget X2
Seven doors hotel
Sierra Leone’s Refugee Allstars
Silver
Span X2
Spiritualized
Terje Tysland X2
Thomas Dybdahl
Thom Hell X2
Thulsa Doom
Thåstrøm
Tift Merritt
Timbuktu
Tom McRae X4
The Tuesdays
Turbonegro X2
TV Smith
Vømlingan
Watcha Clan
WE
Woven Hand
X-tra Lars
Åge Aleksandersen X unknown




I think that's all that is worth mentioning. Though some of these wasn't really necessary to bring up I guess...

Bored.

1. List your top 20 overall artists

2. For each, list the 8 most similar artists

3. Delete any repeated artists to get an idea of how eclectic your music listening habits are

Use this script thingie if you're lazy.

A score of 9 represents an extremely unvaried musical taste while a score of 160 represents an extremely varied one.

1: Rockettothesky
2: 120 Days
3: Thomas Dybdahl
4: The Captain & Me
5: The Lionheart Brothers
6: Ingrid Olava
7: Thom Hell
8: Marte Wulff
9: I Was A King
10: Cloud Cult
11: Menomena
12: Sunset Rubdown
13: Tapes 'n Tapes
14: Wolf Parade
15: Okkervil River
16: Andrew Bird
17: Islands
18: of Montreal
19: Jenny Wilson
20: Frida Hyvonen
21: The Embassy
22: Anna Ternheim
23: First Floor Power
24: El Perro del Mar
25: Hello Saferide
26: Le Sport
27: Hakan Hellstrom
28: David Crosby
29: Stephen Stills
30: Graham Nash
31: Crosby, Stills & Nash
32: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
33: The Byrds
34: Neil Young
35: Buffalo Springfield
36: The Band
37: Serena Maneesh
38: Datarock
39: Motorpsycho
40: Band of Horses
41: The Knife
42: BigBang
43: Madrugada
44: Lasse Lindh
45: Timo Raisanen
46: Vapnet
47: Lars Winnerback
48: Broder Daniel
49: Laakso
50: Marit Bergman
51: Tribeca
52: Suede
53: Pulp
54: Manic Street Preachers
55: The Tears
56: Blur
57: The Stone Roses
58: Morrissey
59: The Smiths
60: Supergrass
61: The Cure
62: Radiohead
63: Joy Division
64: David Bowie
65: Pixies
66: Depeche Mode
67: The Smashing Pumpkins
68: New Order
69: Air
70: Massive Attack
71: Beck
72: Bjork
73: Sigur Ros
74: Zero 7
75: Portishead
76: Boards of Canada
77: Placebo
78: Moby
79: Nine Inch Nails
80: Madonna
81: U2
82: Muse
83: Coldplay
84: The Killers
85: Franz Ferdinand
86: Nirvana
87: Red Hot Chili Peppers
88: The Whitest Boy Alive
89: Erlend Øye
90: Kings of Convenience
91: Hot Chip
92: Phoenix
93: Junior Boys
94: Peter Bjorn and John
95: The Radio Dept.
96: Pleasure
97: The Blackbyrds
98: Johnny Hammond
99: Fatback Band
100: Dennis Coffey
101: Joe Thomas
102: Mandrill
103: Michael Longo
104: Sound Experience
105: Adam Green
106: The Moldy Peaches
107: Babyshambles
108: Mando Diao
109: The Libertines
110: Art Brut
111: Tocotronic
112: The Strokes
113: Tomte
114: Melody Club
115: The Ark
116: Kent
117: Bodies Without Organs
118: Bad Cash Quartet
119: Young Love
120: Cobra Starship
121: Shiny Toy Guns
122: Hellogoodbye
123: Boys Like Girls
124: Cartel
125: Gym Class Heroes
126: This Providence
127: The Higher
128: M83
129: Broken Social Scene
130: Mogwai
131: Animal Collective
132: Explosions in the Sky
133: My Bloody Valentine
134: Four Tet
135: Tool
136: A Perfect Circle
137: Marilyn Manson
138: Deftones
139: Queens of the Stone Age
140: Interpol
141: Echo & The Bunnymen
142: The Beatles
143: The Rolling Stones
144: Bob Dylan
145: The Velvet Underground
146: The Clash

That's actually quite a sweet list if I may say so myself.

Seems like a few people on Last.fm have done something similar to this before. I saw letoism's world cup idea and thought I may as well have a go with bands of my own. So here we go. There's a lot to pick from, as I have LOTS of artists I like. 200 exactly, actually!

Round 1: 25 groups of 8 artists. Pick 4 from each group you think should progress to the next round. Voting closes midnight, Friday 1st September.

GROUP 1:
M2M
The Young Playthings
The Calling
John Cena & Tha Trademarc
The 1990s
Lene Marlin
Coldplay
The Little Ones

GROUP 2:
Love Bites
The Stone Roses
The Romance
Garbage
The Sounds
Evanescence
Duels
The On Offs

GROUP 3:
U2
KT Tunstall
Travis
Marit Larsen
The Verve
Keane
Massive Attack
Shakira

GROUP 4:
The Rifles
Badly Drawn Boy
Situationists
Fields
The Hitchcock Rules
Turin Brakes
Michelle Branch
Aly & AJ

GROUP 5:
The Androids
The Vels
Azure Ray
Cord
Sky Larkin
Amanda Bentley
The Blue Nile
The Cinematics

GROUP 6:
Sheryl Crow
The Stands
Linkin Park
Kasabian
The Thrills
The Sunshine Underground
Ambulance LTD
The Departure

GROUP 7:
CSS
The Magic Numbers
Sita
Raconteurs
The Futureheads
The Killers
Santana
Vanilla Ninja

GROUP 8:
Leaves
Gemma Hayes
Sandi Thom
Puddle of Mudd
Chikinki
Vanessa Carlton
Darkside of the Force
Dragonette

GROUP 9:
The View
Jem
Editors
A
Hilary Duff
Sleeper
The Guild
The Hot Puppies

GROUP 10:
Bloc Party
The Havenots
Sinead Quinn
Lucie Silvas
Jet
The Shins
Amy Studt
The Concretes

GROUP 11:
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Zutons
The Rentals
Inspect Her Gadget
Secret Machines
Engineers
Leatherat
The Switches

GROUP 12:
Sleater-Kinney
Clor
Maximo Park
The Subways
Katie Melua
The Rain Poets
Dido
Starsailor

GROUP 13:
Razorlight
The Paradimes
Phoenix
Arctic Monkeys
Placebo
Semisonic
The Rebellion Threat Kills
The Fiery Furnaces

GROUP 14:
Thirteen Senses
Silversun Pickups
Giant Drag
OK Go
Charlotte Hatherley
Elbow
The Veronicas
The Rakes

GROUP 15:
Muse
The Bees
Oasis
The Young Knives
The Indelicates
Midlake
Nelly Furtado
Eminem

GROUP 16:
The Darkness
Meg & Dia
Aurora
Franz Ferdinand
The Like
The Smiths
Tegan and Sara
Now It's Overhead

GROUP 17:
Ocean Colour Scene
The Ordinary Boys
Dirty Pretty Things
Nightmare of You
Limp Bizkit
The Red Sun Band
Neko Case
Metric

GROUP 18:
The Automatic
The White Stripes
Sahara Hotnights
Kim Monroe
Kaiser Chiefs
Speedway
Jimmy Eat World
Weezer

GROUP 19:
Marc Miranda
Silent Film Project
Nickelback
John Mayer
Embrace
The Arcade Fire
Nirvana
Foo Fighters

GROUP 20:
Acrobat
Kelly Clarkson
Feeder
Red Hot Chili Peppers
VHS or Beta
The Helio Sequence
Snow Patrol
Magneta Lane

GROUP 21:
Maroon 5
The Bright Space
The Cribs
The Pipettes
Default
Delta Goodrem
22-20s
Guns 'N' Roses

GROUP 22:
Justincase
Voxtrot
Electrelane
Manic Street Preachers
The Music
Susy Thomas
Mull Historical Society
Sophie Ellis-Bextor

GROUP 23:
Avril Lavigne
Treble Charger
T.A.T.U
Queen
James Dean Bradfield
The Applicators
Nerina Pallot
Siobhan Donaghy

GROUP 24:
Little Birdy
Howling Bells
Christine Evans
Electric Six
Lillix
No Doubt
Thom Hell
R.E.M.

GROUP 25:
Delays
Supergrass
The Tints
Smoosh
The Upper Room
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
We Are Scientists
White Rose Movement

The 100 surviving artists from this round will be split into 20 groups of 5.

In the event of a tie, for 4th in any group, the deciding vote will be cast by myself at this stage of the competition. At later stages, any ties will be put to an indepenant panel.