Red Light Company

Overcrowded campings made me miss their gig at the Pukkelpop festival, but nevertheless I just know Red Light Company deserve to be mentioned on here.
I got to know them as the support act for Editors in the AB (Brussels), where they effortlessly won the battle of the support acts from Mobius Band (they played a fucking awful set, but Red Light Company would've won anyway).

These five boys - from all over the world (UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Japan) - have only released one EP so far (With Lights Out EP), but that's enough to make us very curious about their music. Led by singer-guitarist Richard Frenneaux (you'd love him just for his name, and then you haven't even heard his passionated voice - think Brandon Flowers or Win Butler) they already got their hands on a great live reputation and much acclaim for their dramatic and very touching songs. I wonder what their first complete album will bring!

Red Light Company - 'With Lights Out'


excellent live version


interview

The Verve

Everyone who is 'old' enough to have experienced the nineties consciously will definitely remember The Verve's glory days. They formed by the end of the eighties and released two (shoegazing style) albums and a couple of ep's - underground successes, but not very known by the masses - before really breaking through. The inducement for that was their third album Urban Hymns, including the hit singles 'Bittersweet Symphony', 'Lucky Man' and 'The Drugs Don't Work'. Two years later, however, they split up.

Singer Richard Ashcroft managed to deal with his drug problem and obtained quite some successes with his solo material (remember the beautiful 'Break The Night With Colour'). Nevertheless, in 2007, The Verve decided to give it another go. 2008 is the year of truth for Richard and his men, the year in which they release not only the new single 'Love Is Noise', but also a complete new album called 'Forth'. Not everyone is as fond of the ongoing voice sample in 'Love Is Noise', but I am a devoted fan of this new song.

The Verve - 'Love Is Noise'



Love is noise, love is pain
Love is these blues that I'm feeling again

live version at Glastonbury


looking back...

The Verve - 'Bittersweet Symphony'


The Verve - The Drugs Don't Work'


Richard Ashcroft - 'Break The Night With Colour'

- back -

...in full force. Keep a close eye on this blog, you won't have to wait another two months.

Lykke Li

If you're into cute Scandinavian girl accents, then it's time to have a listen at Lykke Li. This 22-year-old from Stockholm might remind you a bit of Robyn, but even more of the likes of Feist (the mysterious instrumentation) and Emiliana Torrini (the fragile yet beautiful voice). Her album "Youth Novels" - produced by Björn Yttling (from Peter, Björn and John) and Lasse Martén (known for his work with among others Shout Out Louds and The Perishers)- gets a European release this month.

Lykke Li - "I'm good I'm gone"


Lykke Li - "Dance Dance Dance"


Lykke Li - "A little bit"

The David Watts Battle

Help me figure out: what's the best version of the legendary "David Watts"? The amazing original by The Kinks, or the excellent cover version by The Jam?

The Kinks - "David Watts"


The Jam - "David Watts"


It's killing me to make a choice between Ray Davies and Paul Weller, so you better hurry and do the job for me!

Jon Auer

Most people know Jon Auer as a part of The Posies or even Big Star. What kind of seems to have slipped through, is the fact that Jon has released a gorgeous album of his own in 2006. The most amazing song on "Song from the year of our demise" - at least in my opinion - is "Six Feet Under", a painfully beautiful break-up song. So don't get mad and I won't cry / And don't expect a long goodbye / I'll call you when we're six feet under ground

There's not a video or such for this song, so you'll have to do it with this very nice live performance:

Personal Eurovision 2008 Top 3

It's over already, this year's Eurovision Song Contest. As usual, the show's patient viewers and listeners had to put up with lots of utter crap, but - also as usual - a few songs did manage to convince. My personal top 3 looked like this:

1. Laka - Pokusaj (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
2. Sébastien Tellier - Divine (France)
3. Jelena Tomasevic - Oro (Serbia)

Enjoy the videos for these three great songs, and feel free to share your own Eurosong 2008 favourites!

Laka - "Pokusaj"


Sébastien Tellier - "Divine"


Jelena Tomasevic - "Oro"