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Fri 15 Feb – Jens Lekman, Choir of Young Believers

It was great. Let me just quote politiken.dk (http://ibyen.dk/musik/koncert-beat/article472516.ece). It's in danish, so sorry to all who can't read it. Politiken gave the concert 6 out of 6 hearts, which is very good. Lekman sure deserves it for the show he put up on friday eve.


Jens Lekman fortryllede Vega med mesterlig koncert
Svenske Jens Lekman er ikke som de andre. Han er faktisk som ingen anden. Fredag aften smeltede han hjerter med sin barytonstemme og poetiske åre.


Let’s cut the bullshit«. Med dén besked indtog Jens Lekman scenen i Store Vega og kastede sig straks ud i sangen med den usminkede titel ’I’m Leaving You Because I Don’t Love You’.

Men midtvejs gled den første sang over i den næste, ’The Opposite of Hallelujah’, og så begyndte de poetiske paradokser frydefuldt at vibrere under den strygersvungne kammerpop.

En smågenial sangsmed
Det hele var slet ikke så lige til, som den svenske pop-elegantier havde varslet.

Kan man sige det modsatte og stadig sige Hallelujah?

Hvordan hænger den opløftende popmelodi sammen med tekstens elegi?

Og hvorfor væver den klejne Jens Lekman sådan rundt i sin melankoli?

Fordi Jens Lekman ikke bare er en smågenial sangsmed, men også en stor poet.

Melodier af let skønhed
Kombination af de to talenter forenede han fredag aften til en mesterlig koncert, der efterlod én summende af uafrystelige melodier og knitrende af ordgnister.

På album er Jens Lekman en sampler-begejstret crooner, der med store originalitet kombinerer strygersekvenser med break beats og melodier af let skønhed.

Særligt på det aktuelle andet album ’Nights Falls Over Kortedala’ bygges sangene op lag for lag af genrereferencer og rytmer hentet hos Motown eller i Caribien.

Små skælv og forskydninger
Med sig til at gengive sangene havde den glædestrålende Jens Lekman et fire kvinder og en mand stort band, der velspillende pakkede hans baryton ind i blandt andet cello, violin og laptop.

Samplingens klangnuancer blev ikke overført til koncertformatet, men de valgte arrangementer gav hver enkelt sang retfærdighed, og med små skælv eller forskydninger sørgede bandet for, at det aldrig tippede over i den rene easy listening muzak, der bliver flirtet kraftigt med hos Jens Lekman.

Fortællingens dramatiske kurve
Hans sange strukturerer sig ofte efter en fortællings dramatisk kurve, hvor der bliver stoppet op eller tøvet for spændingens skyld.

Og netop det sungne ord er epicentret for dybden af Jens Lekmans enorme talent. Hos ham holder ord og tone hinanden fast på en måde, der får alle andre muligheder til at virke forkert.

Det er sådan, man former evergreens.

Litterært ekko
Og med stort showmanship betonede han i Vega netop den lyriske side af sin musik.

Som under fortællingen om lesbiske Nina i Berlin, der inviterer Jens Lekman på middag for at lade ham være et skjold mod hendes forældre:

»Nina I can be your boyfriend/ so you can stay with your girlfriend«. Opofrelsen blev iscenesat med en pornofunky bund, men havde stadig et litterært ekko.

Virkelighedskrøllet kærlighed
Eller i den omarrangerede sang om virkelighedskrøllet kærlighed, ’Mapple Leaves’.

Her forveksler Jens Lekman kærestens bekymring om »Make-believe« med »Mapple Leaves« og forsætter ud af den gale tangent: »and when she talked about a fall/ I thought she talked about a season/ I never understood at all«.

Helt ude af sync med kærligheden, men flyvende på strygere og tristesse.

Misforståelsens melodi
Den virkeligheds-vildfarne Jens Lekman stykker sit tekstunivers sammen af erindringsstykker og romantiske fortolkninger af verden, som i ’You Are The Light’, der blev åbnet med linjerne:

»Yeah/ I got busted/ So I used my one phone call/ To dedicate/ A song to you on the radio«.

Kærligheden hos Lekman er lige så øm som umulig, og som ingen anden synger han misforståelsens melodi så svimlende smukt, at hverdagens banale bekymringsflager bliver banket af sjælen.

Konturerne af en original
Fra dét øjeblik Jens Lekmans dybe toner for en håndfuld år siden dukkede op på den altid sprudlende musikscene i Göteborg, stod det klart, at han ikke var som de andre børn i skolegården.

Og som han stod der på Vega fredag aften og gav ’Pocketful of Money’ a capella som sin tredje runde af ekstranumre, med sin sideskilning, sin stemmes tilbagelænede varme, det musikalske rumfang, tegnede konturerne sig af en original.

Fortryllende koncert
Klippet og klistret sammen af henførte forestillinger og fortællinger, men alligevel hinsides ethvert spørgsmål om troværdighed. Ikke bare retro eller bundet af tidens toneklang, men helt sin egen.

Musikalsk i slægtskab med Morrissey og Stephen Merritt, men som historiefortæller Mike Skinners skandinavromantiske fætter.

Jens Lekman skar ikke al det unødvendige fra, som han bebudede. Han lod det hele filtre sammen til en fortryllende koncert. Dét var ikke til at misforstå.

Written by Simon Lund for politiken.dk.

My score: 9 out of 10. It was magic.

Hello and welcome to my summation of 2007. Kind of early, yes. I guess I will update it if I hear anything new the next two months. First of all, 2007 has been a great year for music. There has been some surprises, some disappointments - but overall I'm very happy with what I've heard this year.

Album pool: Releases which I've listened to.

Kurr
Strawberry Jam
New Magnetic Wonder
Neon Bible
Places Like This
Cease to Begin
Mirrored
The Mix Up
Some Loud Thunder
God Save The Clientele
Friend Opportunity
Cryptograms
Fluorescent Grey
New Moon
From Here We Go Sublime
The Shepherd's Dog
sound of sliver
Friend and Foe
Boxer
Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
The Stage Names
Person Pitch
In Rainbows
Everybody
Private Cinema
Zeitgeist
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
and Their Refinement of the Decline
Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters
Voxtrot
Icky Thump
Cookies
Wincing the Night Away
Liars
†
Night Falls Over Kortedala
Untrue
Strjon

Picking out 10 albums of 2007 is hard, but I like doing lists. I find it kind of interesting. And I've got nothing better to do right now, so.. let's begin, shall we?



10: The Shins - Wincing The Night Away



A well crafted effort, which places itself as some kind of middle ground between previous records. It's close to a hit parade, yet there's a good flow over the album. Australia sure is a blast. Well done!




09:Menomena - Friend And Foe



I would say this is a very experimental record and many might disagree with me. The flow (and riches) of different instruments and how they cope together is amazing. It's indeed hard to take risks with a pessimist, but you stood through the storm boys!



08: The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible



Following up anything after Funeral wasn't going to be easy. Neon Bible is.. not as good as Funeral but then again, what is? A worthy successor none the less.




07: Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity



Crazy. It's actually a tad more of "rock" than their previous ones. If you're into any of them, then this will be easy as pie.



06: The National - Boxer



I'm upset that I have to put this at number 6. I guess that says 2007 is a good year. If you haven't heard this album yet, do. No human can dislike it. Only cats.




05: LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver



Makes you want to feel like a teenager. But then you remember that you are a real life emotional teenager. Then you think again. To be fair, his previous album had a sparse set of good songs. The many versions of Yeah felt unnecessary. Sound Of Silver on the other hand is so loaded with good tunes it's almost illegal. This year's big surprise.





04: The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters



"Featured" on this journal before, it's very sad to say that they seem drown in other releases this year. It is actually a very good album, and so to say, it deserves a high position on the list.



03: The Clientele - God Save The Clientele



I come undone/lets be lovers. Alasdair MacLean sure looks kind of wonky, but he and his band has made one of the best albums this year.





02: Radiohead - In Rainbows



Might change it to number one again, but seeing that hissing fauna has thrice the play count I just can't deny it anymore.





01:of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?



I feel a bit ashamed liking this album. Hissing Fauna is straight in-your-face glam-electro-pop-alternative-indie-rock-weird. Kevin Barnes wears heavy make up, and costumes figure in the live shows. I love it.




Honorable mention:
Elliott Smith - New Moon



A good collection of unreleased songs, yet I couldn't consider it as a 2007 release.



The disappointments:

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder

Liars - Liars

Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This

Band of Horses - Cease To Begin

Voxtrot - Voxtrot




So there's what I think of 2007. As I mentioned, the list may change until 31. December 2007. Sorry for the horrendous language and grammar at points.


Edit 20/12/07: Switched places with Iron&Wine and Menomena.
Edit 21/12/07: Iron&Wine out, Of Montreal in.
Edit 11/02/08: Several edits made.

Sincerely,
Ole

The soundtrack to the last two weeks are as follows:



Clientele- I Hope I Know You
Radiohead-Subterranean Homesick Alien
The Knife-Heartbeats
The Decemberists-We Both Go Down Together
LCD Soundsystem-Get Innocuous!
Modeselektor-The White Flash
Clientele- Isn't Life Strange?
LCD Soundsystem-Losing My Edge




A bit mixed, yet very good tracks all the same. Guaranteed hits! ;)

Thu 5 Jul – Roskilde Festival

In chronological order:
Scores from 1-10:

1 2 3 4: 3
Arcade Fire: 9
Arctic Monkeys: 4
Mando Diao: 2
Beastie Boys: 7
CSS: 8
Peter Bjorn and John: 2
Booka Shade: 8
The National: 8
The Flaming Lips: 9
Beirut: 6
Tunng: 1
The Twilight Sad: 8


If someone out there want me to specify the scores/reviews, then just ask me in the comments.

Week 26:Under Byen

Magicians
Henriette Sennenvaldt
Thorbjørn Krogshede
Nils Gröndahl
Morten Larsen
Sara Saxild
Anders Stochholm
Stine Sørensen
Morten Svenstrup

Truth
*Danish
*Formed back in 1995
*Three studio LPs:
-Kyst (1999)
-Det Er Mig Der Holder Træerne Sammen (2002)
-Samme Stof Som Stof (2006)

Director
It struck me like sunlight in a thunderstorm when I first was introduced to Under Byen, nearly a year ago. Grown a tad tired of Sigur Rós, it seemed like a natural path to take further on. The amazing orchestra that is Under Byen has shown over three magnificent albums that their universe is a widespread one. Vocals by the beautiful Henriette Sennenvaldt are in danish, and the lyrics uses easy yet powerful imagery. As such, the music works both as easy listening and as a more extensive experience.

Favorites
Palads
Legesag
Vinterbørn

Think of when I become famous. That day, this journal will be blown open for the public. And the public will learn about some of the great artists that I've been so lucky to have been exposed to. So of no better cause (or perhaps saving the world), I can now peacefully launch a somewhat weekly feature on my last.fm site. I've been thinking of what bands one should sort of promote here. I'll just follow no logic and see where it takes me. A big woohoo for that! No questions? Let's carry on then.



Week 25:The Twilight Sad

Magicians
James Graham
Andy MacFarlane
Craig Orzel
Mark Devine

Truth
*Scottish
*Hot and alive with LP debut Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters


Director
Let's just start with saying awesome. Awesome everything. Awesome sound, vocals, melodies, cover art. Singer James Graham's raw vocal takes you completely off guard at first (which I'm sure every review in the world has mentioned). After that, just lock yourself up somewhere and dream along to their debut Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters. Notice the wall of sound from their guitars as they explode in a cross between post rock and shoegaze.

Favorites
That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy
Mapped by What Surrounded Them
Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters

Bands I hopefully can catch a glimpse of this year:


The big ones, naturally, are

The Arcade Fire
The Flaming Lips
The Twilight Sad
The National

Most likely, these would also have me interested:

Beirut
Björk
Beastie Boys
Electrelane
Justice
Grizzly Bear
LCD Soundsystem
Peter Bjorn and John
Loney, Dear
The Thermals
Tunng
Wilco

OR, Perhaps these, if the timing is right.

1 2 3 4
Against Me!
Akron/Family
Arctic Monkeys
Basement Jaxx
Booka Shade
Camera Obscura
Datarock
In Flames
The Killers
Klaxons
Muse
Tenniscoats




So, dear readers of this Journal. What are your hopes for Roskilde Festival 2007?

All amazing tunes:


1:
We Built Another World - 18 plays.
'Hang ghosts from the trees and that's what I saw.'


2:
I'll Believe in Anything - 17 plays.
'We both pull the tricks out of our sleeves, but I'll believe in anything.'


3:
Dance Music - 16 plays.
'So this is what the volume knob's for.'


4:
Ask - 15 plays.
'Writing frightening verse to a buck-toothed girl in Luxemburg.'


5:
The Magic Position - 14 plays.
'Shoot, bang, fire!'


Yay!