MODESELEKTOR: heavy, multifaceted and long-lasting.

   / Electronica, Breakbeat, Experimental Techno, IDM, Germany
                                                                                                 (Released in Danish, 2012 April 3rd)

The many, very telling tags above (IDM = Intelligent Dance Music) could be even more. Modeselektor is a mix of genres - the new disc Monkey Town is also hip-hop, it's Moby (many tracks) and it's Zappa + Mothers (track 9) and more. As the band puts it, commenting on the style of music they play: "Happy metal, hard rap, country-ambient, Russian crunk. We don’t like it if people tag us as being a certain style or school or scene or whatever. We don’t really care about all that."

Below - Modeselektor feat. Miss Platinum: Berlin

The story of Modeselector is that in 1992 they met and performed acid house live at illegal raves in Berlin. They called themselves Fundamental Knowledge, but after four years they changed their name to Modeselektor - a name from an electro-music machine from the firm Roland. In 1999 they began to publish music. And cooperated with various artistic collectives dealing with video and music.

The video: Modeselektor feat. Busdriver: Pretentious Friends (live)

Noticed the sign 99.201.208.134.035 people like this? :-D

Editet:

Modeselektor have released 4 studio albums, 2 compilations and 2 albums under the name Moderat in cooperation with the german electronic musician Apparat.

Above - a fanvideo (combo with a french movie): Modeselektor feat. TTC - 2000007



M U S I C Click:

Video: Modeselektor feat. TTC: Dancing Box
https://youtu.be/e4ZUspBCFWc

Video: Modeselektor: Black Block
https://youtu.be/g0vpWsNqNpE

Video: Modeselektor: Evil Twin
https://youtu.be/3Sp8Vhwts6U

Video: Modeselektor: The Dark Side Of The Sun
https://youtu.be/beP6TpRJP60

Video: Modeselektor: Monkeytown
https://youtu.be/htV1-ZTUzQw

A very interesting fanvideo (combo with Metropolis movie): Modeselektor: Blue Clouds https://youtu.be/3YHBFmMMECg

Modeselektor's website
http://www.modeselektor.com/

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THE JAMES CLEAVER QUINTET

   / Post-Hardcore, UK          (Released in Danish, 2012 March 25th)



... or "Weird-Core" as they call this genre on Facebook ... on MySpace they call themselves an "indie / punk / trash" -Band. The genre is difficult to define, but it's hard, fast and straight forward.

The James Cleaver Quintet is a new band. They have just released their debut album called "That Was Then, This Is Now".

The band is relatively unknown yet and it is pretty hard to find much info about them.

(The video Sink or Swim)

They have last year been involved in a commercial for an energy drink. The video is fantastic, showing the band riding bikes, skateboards etc, while playing a song, as seen below.

The band has already gained attention. Said about The JCQ: "Along with Exit Ten, it seems quite likely that this band has the potential to become future leaders of a generation of British hard rock." (Quote: Ramblings of a rock fan) which is quite cool label to get. And I agree, they may become great.

The band: Jacky Udon - Vocals
Maud E. Licious - Guitar / Vocals / Tenor Sax
J-SPLAFF - Bass
Crabman Scoop - Drums / Cymbals
Dr. Quarkoon Puffoon - Organ / Guitar / Vocals / Samples



Editet: The band changed their name to The JCQ, but is since 2014 no longer active. Totally they released 1 EP and 2 albums. The Facebook and Myspace-sites are dead, and their homepage is removed.



M U S I C Click:

Video Chicken Shit (For the Soul) by The JCQ
http://youtu.be/S0NASwPYwns

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CHARLI XCX: New, fresh and nostalgic

   / Goth-Pop, Dance-Pop, Electro-Pop, UK.          (Released in Danish, 2012 March 8th)

I went surfing on New-York music blogs and found a concert by female London singer: Charli XCX.

She sounds so fresh and different that she must be mentioned here.

The genre is described as Goth-Pop.

Charli XCX's real name is Charlotte Emma Aitchinson and she is just 19 years old. She is inspired by the synth-pop wave of the '80s, eg Talk Talk, Johnny Hates Jazz and The Cure.

(More below the video Nuclear Seasons)

She self-published her song. There is not much more to say about the girl yet, she is pretty undescribed. Learn more via the links at the bottom.

Edited:

Charli XCX has by now released three albums, are doing her own gigs with over 1,000 tickets sold per night and are touring with big names like Coldplay, Ellie Goulding and Kate Perry. Read more about her, see links below these videos, released later than article was first published.

Here a hit called Boom Clap

Below: the video Break The Rules

Finally: Famous (live, London)

M U S I C Click:

The video Superlove
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPWcX-16A9Y

Charli XCX on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charli_XCX

Charli XCX's website
http://charlixcxmusic.com/

LUKAS GRAHAM = New + Danish + Groovy + Funk + Soul

   / Soul, Funk, Denmark.          (Released in Danish, 2012 February 27th)

One of my musical friends (Ravi) has drawn my attention to this new Danish band, called Lukas Graham...

The band consists of:

Lukas Forchhammer - lead singer

Mark "Love Stick" Falgren - drums

Morten "Kirk" Ristorp - keyboards *

"Magnum" - bass

Lukas is of Danish / Irish origin (his father was a folk singer), and was a child actor in the movie Krummerne (he was the kid "Grunk") and also did voice work on cartoons. He grew up in the famous Danish social-experimental, originally hippie-based township of Copenhagen called Christiania.

(More after Ordinary Things, performed in German TV)

Lukas began writing and singing songs and recording demos in New York, and assembled a swinging band. In October 2011 they released their debut single Ordinary Things and it quickly became a big hit on Youtube and radio - it was (by listeners) selected for 2011's best Danish "Powerplay of the Week" on P3 ... and it led to a number of sold-out concerts.

They are now popular and have lots of bookings, and were playing at the P3-Gold awards 2012, at many festivals and more. 

More info below their hit video Drunk In The Morning

Gaffa (the best and biggest Scandinavian music magazine) says Lukas Graham will be big in 2012 - Lukas Graham is among the 12 Danish names for 2012 because "Lukas Graham is an excellent singer and songwriter and has a serious Danish soul music band of international class in 2012". They releaseded their debut album Lukas Graham in february 2012.

(Edited: * Lukas Graham's keyboardplayer is now Kasper Daugaard. The band has won several awards, their 1. album was the top-seller and most streamed on Spotify in Denmark in 2012. It has by now sold 4x platinum in DK. They toured Europe and did release the album in other countries, and it vent #1 on German iTunes. In 2013 they signed at contract with Warner Bros Records. In 2015 they released their second album Lukas Graham (Blue Album), by now selling 2x platinum in DK.)

M U S I C Click:

Lukas Graham on Facebook

http://da-dk.facebook.com/LukasGraham1

SKYLAR GREY: singer-songwriter in a new millenium

   / Dark-Pop, Hardcore-Ballads, USA          (Posted in Danish, 2012 February 15th)

As a consequence of my general curiosity I had to test MTV Push (mentioned in the previous post). It took 4 attempts and I found something very interesting!

Skylar Grey (her real name is Holly Brook Hafermann; the first album is released under the name Holly Brook) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer.

She has worked with Marilyn Manson, Rihanna, Eminem, P Diddy and Dr. Dre. She was nominated for a handful of Grammys 2012 in cooperation with others, but did not win.

More info below ...

She started her career as a child: she performed in a folk duo with her mother, and at age 15 she sneaked into bars to perform / play with jazz musicians in Wisconsin. At age 18 she moved to Los Angeles and made a demo. She was discovered by Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson, who helped her progress.

She changed her artist name to sound more original and less feminine - "it's more masculine. I'm not a very feminine person." she says.

She works with a lot of other artists and has been nominated for her good work.

She has released two albums - the third published 2015.

M U S I C Click:

Skylar Grey video "Invisible":

http://youtu.be/NVVrT_wNw_Y

Skylar Grey's website:

http://www.skylargreymusic.com/

MTV Push Denmark:

http://www.mtv.dk/shows/mtv-push/