"4/4" - a new super program with Kasper Bjørke

   / House, Electronica, Disco, Radio          (Posted in Danish, 2012 January 7th)

Score (max. 5):      ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

I just heard the debut of the new music program from the excellent musicradio channel DR P6: the show "4/4" (Four Fourths) with Kasper Bjørke, Fridays at 19-21.

It was a SUPER cool experience ...

Below is a little about the show and the man, but first one of the many great tracks you heard him play ...

Storm Queen - It goes on

The program has according to P6 these qualities:

In 2012 P6 BEAT will be hosted by none other than Kasper Bjørke. Bjørke presents the cream of electronic music - mixed with classics and twists within Disco, Italo, New Wave, No Wave and Post Punk. With a look back and a look forward, always with a relaxed atmosphere ...

And Kasper Bjørke we know from the duo Filur, one of the country's best house / dance / electronica acts. (One of the groups one really would like to see / have seen! Check their hits on the web.) He is a Danish, internationally known musician / producer / remixer / DJ, and has worked with Trentemøller, Stina Nordenstam, Pernille Rosendahl and many more.

The show is filled with many truly delicious numbers presented and commented by Kasper Bjørke. He says the programs will include: mixed treats from the last 40 years of electronic music, new and old, odd songs and mini themes for record companies and producers that we should "keep an eye on." The first hour was Kasper's own favorite-producers publications from 2011 and the second hour a mix of interesting stuff.

Above: Supermax - Love Machine (a track from a later broadcast)

EDITED: The program 4/4 was broadcasted from January 2012 to December 2013. You can download / listen to 85 "4/4"-shows via podcast and on DR's website (link below).

M U S I C Click:

DR P6 Beat - 4/4, website, listen here:

http://www.dr.dk/p6beat/4-4

Kasper Bjørke's website:

http://www.kasperbjorke.com/

1000LAX - debut album

   / Punk, Sweden          (Released in Danish, 2011 December 19th)

It's just occurred to me that Swedish music has a punk dimension :) I guess they have had one for long, but I haven't heard Swedish punk before.

The Danish / Swedish punk band (who sings in Swedish) 1000LAX ("Thousand Salmons" in English) is an almost entirely new band. They live in Copenhagen, but plays in both countries. They are about to release their debut album (February 2012).

Below: their hit Jag pratar Svenska:

They did an opening act for a Japanese girl punk / pop band (Shonen Knife), they performed at Roskilde Festival and the Distortion Festival ...

Lead singer Jönsson writes:

My mother is Swedish, my father is Danish and I've always been a rebel. 1000LAX is my bloodletting, my confession, my indulgences, it's sex, lax (salmon) and rock'n'roll, it's Jesus against the devil, it's the children against the police. All this along with some of the most promising musicians, and now we release our album February 1st 2012, even on vinyl.

(Below: the song Snabbkaffe)

Other band members according to their website and Facebook page:

Bass: Karlsson

Guitar: Petter Rebelli

Drums: Ronny Maxe 

(But according to "Kulturanstalten" of the City of Copenhagen the musicians are: Martin Ullits Dahl on drums, Gustav Niepoort on guitar and Peter High on bass - the first names must be stage names.) 

M U S I C Click: 

1000LAX website: 

http://www.1000lax.com/

1000LAX on facebook: 

http://da-dk.facebook.com/tusenlax?sk=wall#!/tusenlax?sk=info

1000LAX 'tour diary: 

http://gaffa.dk/artikel/52612

JAZZMUTANT LEMUR - electronica super machine

   / Instruments, Technology          (Posted in Danish, 2011 December 12th)

In 2004 JazzMutant (a company) presented a brilliant multi-touch musical instrument for electronica and DJ'ing. They were pioneers and had to invent the first screen ever that was able to track "an unlimited number of fingers" touching the surface. The device has been a great success, due to both the very high flexibility and the robust hardware.

Below is a taste of one interface and its options

Jazz Mutant, the French company that manufacture Lemurs, has been using good hardware parts, their own graphics processor and with wired interface with the connected machines, so you unlike an iPad won't risk a WiFi-stop, in the middle of a concert. It was the first multi-touch machine for creative use.

Here is Kanye West performing Stronger at the Grammy Award Show 2008, along with Daft Punk, who were sampled into the original number with their Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - here they play on Lemurs, as  seen at 2:59 and onwards.

JazzMutant brilliantly made the user interface flexible and programmable, so you are able to shape and define your buttons and switches, displays and menus - it also features friction in faders and so on. And you can install interfaces uploaded by other users, and work on them. The Lemur also controls synthesizers, mixers, light and video installations. 

Here is another interface, where you see how Lemurs can be used as a sequencer ...

Some renowned electronica artists (and DJs and video artists) have used JazzMutant Lemur's for making music, including:

Björk 

Daft Punk 

Linkin Park 

Deadmau5 

Mode Selector 

Nine Inch Nails.

Below is Björk's Declare Independance (live from Paris)... the Reactable was filmed a lot 

(article on the Reactable: link in MUSICClick) and the Lemur was hardly filmed, it is seen briefly 

0:44.

EDIT: 

The Lemur was relesed in a version 2 (see more in links) and as an app for the iPad and other tablets. There is now good videos showing how to use it, see the links below. Many shows how it interacts with the popular application for music and DJ'ing: Ableton Live. Here is one of the videos showing how to use it and program your own interface.  There are more videos in the series, just do a search on youtube on "Lemur tutorial series" ... below the first video in a series about DJ'ing. 

Lemur V2 can be purchased for $ 1999, -

M U S I C Click:

JazzMutant's homepage:

http://www.jazzmutant.com/lemur_overview.php

Tutorials:

http://www.jazzmutant.com/workshop_tutorialslist.php

Lemur and iPad: 

https://youtu.be/ykgQrjZAgC0

Lemur V2: 

http://www.jazzmutant.com/lemur_v20.php

A DJ setup based on the Lemur: 

https://youtu.be/R1L-74MaL38

Article on the Reactable: 

http://musikkzag.blogspot.dk/2011/11/reactable-et-nyt-musikinstrument.html



DRAKE: Thank Me Later

   / Hip-Hop, RnB, Canada          (Posted in Danish, 2011 December 10th)

Here is Drake. A Canadian Hip-Hop / RnB artist (and actor) who has no self-esteem problems. Understood in the positive way - he usually does not need to be the toughest, most dangerous, smartest, strongest, smartest, best, ugliest or biggest man in town. It's super-cool to hear a stack of texts showing a cool dude, who have not mastered everything and can not kill us or shag anything with breasts :)

Below: the video Over - with aphorisms about life and sudden fame (unfortunately in the nice, censored version) ...

The lyrics on this album concerns troublesome relationships, Drakes parents' divorce, if he'll change negatively due to his speedy career and if "real" hip hop fans think he is a product. As he raps about his life:

While all my closest friends 'out partyin'

I'm just here makin 'the music that they party to.

Thank Me Later is Drake's debut album. It was released in June 2010 and was a much awaited album after he in 2009 released his third mixtape So Far Gone. And released the debut EP of the same name and became a "hot name". He received two Grammy nominations, 1 hit single Best I Ever Had (found on the album on streaming), and the major record companies in competition outdid each other to sign a contract. Universal Motown won - the company that has, among other things Jay-Z and Kayne West! The album reached first place on five of the world's major music charts.

Above: the video Best I Ever Had, that despite the funny story of a women's basketball is about something completely different, a special love affair with a woman. The text is very interesting and full of ambiguities ... see the "translation" of the text on Rap Genious, linked in MUSICClick.

In 2011, Drake released the album Take Care , a good and a little different album. Below: the video Take Care, featuring Rihanna. Again, his lyrics is worth noting, as he raps:

It's my birthday, I get high if I want to

Can't deny that I want you, but I lie if have too

The song is about a relationship, while having rhyme / references to the old hit (first published by Helen Shapiro, but later re-recorded by many other artists) where they sing:

It's My Party and I'll cry if I want to,

cry if I want to, cry if I want to

Drake is just more interesting than the average rapper's lyrics :-)

EDIT: Drake has released three studio albums, the fourth album was scheduled for release in 2015 and named Views From The 6 but instead he released a mixtape called If You're Reading This It's To Late, to be found on iTunes and Spotify. Still it is seen as his fourth album, there are several of the 17 tracks that says something with 6 and on the front of the "cover" the figure 6 is seen below the text.

M U S I C Click:

Rap Genious, Best I Ever Had:

http://genius.com/Drake-best-i-ever-had-lyrics

Drake on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_%28rapper%29

Drakes website:

http://www.drake-online.com/

MAROON 5 - Live, Falconer Salen

   / Concert, Pop-Rock, Neo-Soul, USA          (Posted in Danish, 2011 6th of December)

Main act: Maroon 5 (90 min.)

Opening act: Emily King (30 min.) 

Music (max 5): ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

Venue (max 5): ♪ ♪ ♪

We went to see Maroon 5 in Falconer Salen (Copenhagen) December 2nd 2011. And we never regretted. It was an excellent concert. The band peformed great. The venue on the other hand, was not that good.

First, the main act:

It was Maroon 5 like on their best albums - all of them were swinging, especially the guitarist. They were really enthusiastic. The band was Adam Levine on vocal and also guitar once in a while, and he had brought one guitarist (James Valentine), one bass player, one drummer and two on tangents. 

The concert started with their big new hit Moves like Jagger (instead of saving it for the middle of the concert) and instantly the crowd got in the mood ... The first 30 minutes they delivered hit followed by hit, with no breaks. The crowd was singing and dancing. It was tracks like Harder to Breathe and Sunday Morning (live on video from the concert below).

... and hits like If I Never See Your Face Again and Makes Me Wonder and more funky tunes. The following 10 minutes they played smaller hits and quiet songs. Afterwards the rest of the concert was right up in pace, with songs that suddenly lapsed into Tina Turner's What's love got to do with it, or with guitar / vocal Battle, guitar solos and a metal rock intro on a single track (Wake Up Call, seen below, however, this clip was filmed without the intro). Quite entertaining for a pop band and although the audience was very spread in age, they all partied.

The opening act:
Was a singer / songwriter, Emily King on Guitar, and she was so incredibly boring that people weren't listening but chit-chatted, waiting for her to leave. She had a dude playing the guitar and electronics, he gave a small boost to the boring warm-up. We were, after she went, no hotter than before she came.

And now: the venue:
It was a canceled / postponed concert that should have been played at Vega, that unfortunately was moved to Falconer Salen. Vega has a nice concert venue, as opposed to Falconer Salen (despite Vega sometimes lack in service, they will close one of many queues to the wardrobe due to lack of hangers in one row and people must get back behind a new queue downstairs in the lobby and faintly hear the band you payed to watch, play the first 2½ songs, while the staff from the closed wardrobe disappeares, maybe goes upstairs watching the concert?!) Falconer Salen were in full control of the queues for both wardrobe and bar, but people can't see much - the scene is too low and the shorter people can not see the band. like they can at Vega. And the sound at Falconer Salen was bad ... when paying kr. 400,- it should be near perfect. The only upside is I probably would have no tickets if they were playing at Vega, since our tickets were bought just before they got sold out in this bigger venue.

Conclusion:
An awesome concert with a great band, which despite the venue and opening act delivered a Truly Great evening.



M U S I C Click:

Maroon 5 website:
http://www.maroon5.com/

Maroon 5 channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Maroon5?blend=1&ob=4#g/c/447CE9E513965C65

DANS & LÆR - original Danish birdheads ...

   / Bird Calls, Minimalism, Naïvism, Electronica, Denmark          (Posted in Danish, 2011 December 1st)

EDIT: This article features Danish videos, which will be explaned / translated in this article, English videos will be shown further below. They are different songs than the Danish ones, watch 'em all, they are great :-)

There will always be a new and strange thing you haven't yet seen or heard, by which you can be thrilled and fascinated ... that's the cool thing about being curious. As today when I discovered the Danish band Dans & Lær (Dance & Learn)...

Tranlate video 1: Greenfinch. "Flies around having unnaturally stiff wings" they sing. These scientists discusses theories on why that is: 1. The wings are frozen? 2. It suffers from body odour? 3. It plays ball? 4. The greenfinch suffers from high blood pressure? 5. It is a robot? 6. It is in love? Yes, that was the answer. Other info about greenfinches are heard, tells a bit about the song etc.

Dans & Lær is five nerds (in the positive sense) who loves birds and modern music ... Bjarke Søballe Andersen, who as a child had one of the educational tapes with bird calls and narration, gathered the band. The tape was Havens Fugle (Birds of the Garden)  published by The Danish Ornithological Society in 1968, which featured bird calls and informative speaks of Ole Geertz-Hansen.

Their live performance is, as you can see above: energetic and intense. Their rewrite of Daft Punk's superhit Get Lucky with the refrain "She's up all night to get Gulspurv (Yellowhammer)" is just very funny. Check it in the video above from 3:30 where the audience learns that the yellowhammer count one-to-three-four-five-six-seveeeeen as the "bird translation" part of the song (and especially from 4:40), is a must see. ..! Singing "en, en to tre, tre fire fem, fem seks syv" = one, one two three, three four five, five six seven, is the band and crowd celebrating the Yellowhammer-call :-D

The band sampled the tape with the birds calls, and chopped them into hits with a twist of electronica and acoustic instruments - they are such a treat :) 

Here's the song Skade (Magpie) from the debut CD Havens Fugle ... They sing "Stemmen høres året rundt" = the voice is heard all year round... and "De hørte allike, nu kommer skade" = you heard Jackdaw, here is Magpie.

Dance and Learn is cult - and nerdy - and interesting. They play on many things, including bread and pill glasses :-) 

And now they have made ​​an equally mysterious Advent calendar, a new one each year: Owl Calendar (in Danish Owl Calendar = uglekalender, which rhymes with julekalender = Advent calendar) - follow every day and see what happens - if you are easy to marvel ... (link further down ).

Above was the Greenfinch-song live

The band do it all by themselves: production, recording, cover designs, booking and more. They have made ​​some great albums in Danish - the first ones called Havens Fugle and Flere Fugle (More Birds) and an EP with remixes of Skade (Magpie: - Choice of genres on EP demonstrates consistency and humor, if you understand the danish names and their ambiguity whitch fits the genres chosen in the mixes).

Above another cool live-video, in witch they show some electronica, enthusiasm and the worlds first owl solo, I believe (at 1:35 an forth)

Their newest album is in English, called New Zealand and is based on birds from the other end of the world. When they were about to make a new album, they were aware that (as they write in their press material) they had to exchange the sampled, Danish tape. After several days of searching in old records and some confusion whether to use heart beats, guitar courses or other mysterious things they found the LP A Treasury of New Zealand Birdsong, from 1971. They had to negotiate a little with the surprised rightholders to get permission to sample, but they were allowed and the excellent album New Zealand was a reality. 

Dans & Lær sell their music via their website and can also be heard on Spotify. 

They write February 14th 2015 on Facebook that they have started making a new album. I can't wait.

Edit: Below is videos from their new album New Zealand, first: Kaka

Next bird is Grey Warbler

Final bird is Skylark

M U S I C Click: 



Dance & Learn's Owl Calendar (for listening to content of links, you can turn of the calendar song, by clicking bottom right pause button on the calendar):
http://www.uglekalender.dk/ 

Dance & Learn's website:
http://www.dansoglaer.dk/