Bernhoft – free tix!

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Don’t let that piercing Nordic gaze, Hipster glasses and TinTin haircut fool you into thinking that Jarle Bernhoft‘s music is similar to much of the recent Scandinavian music oeuvre (bird calls, ethereal folk and quirky indie pop etc etc) – there’s nary a bird call or rattling fish net to be heard.

Instead, Bernhoft offers up a surprisingly sophisticated and mature looped-up, soul/pop/hip-hop sound, honed from years spent playing with Span, one of Norway’s biggest rock bands, and later, his 70s soul and funk-drenched first solo album, Ceramik City Chronicles.

Solidarity Breaks, his second solo album, moves further into pop/hip-hop territory, and is supported by a unique and inventive one-man live show – just Bernhoft and two guitars, and, I’m guessing, some tricky looping equipment. Should be downright cool to see.

I’ve got 2×2 FREE tix to see Bernhoft at Papiersaal, ZH, 27.04.12. Just answer this simple question:

What is the name of Bernhoft’s previous band?

Mail me or leave a note in the comments. First in, best dressed :)

Bernhoft + Thea Hjelmeland play @ Papiersaal, ZH, 27.04.12.

Solidarity Breaks is out now on Kikitepe Cassette.

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Silence is louder than words – Dillon

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I first heard Brasilian-born, Berlin-based singer Dominique Dillon de Byington aka Dillon as I was driving home late one night after a gig, and her quiet, otherworldy little girl voice and use of spare beats and brass was immediately intriguing. Her first album, This Silence Kills, released in late 2011 on Ellen Allien‘s BPitch Control label, occupies a space somewhere between Lykke Li, Joanna Newsom, Bat For Lashes and Fever Ray – absorbing and expressive music that bears some serious listening.

See what I mean – watch ‘Tip Tapping’, from This Silence Kills:

Dillon plays @ Mascotte, ZH, Tuesday 27.03.12, with Kaltehand/Natasha Waters as support. Tix here.

This Silence Kills is out now on BPitch Control.

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Class act – Summer Camp + Class Actress

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Summer Camp

Ahh, Summer Camp, how I enjoy your sepia-toned dream pop, your idealised re-imaginings of times gone by, and your nostalgic yearning for the mythical endless summers and teenage romances we wish we’d had ( or wish we’d never had). London duo Elizabeth Sankey and Jeremy Warmsley have taken the theme of suburban teenage nostalgia, added a touch of 60s pop and run with it, to the American suburb of Condale – check out their website and you’ll see what I mean.

Summer Camp, ‘Better Off Without You’:

Former LA drama student Elizabeth Harper, psychoanalyst Mark Richardson  and multi-instrumentalist Scott Rosenthal make up Class Actress, a trip dispensing an 80s-influenced version of (self-described) stalker pop – ‘Depeche Mode meets early Madonna and Five Star as heard on the radio in the leather backseat of a cab’ – sounds promising, eh?

Class Actress, ‘Bienvenue’:

I’ve got 2×2 free tix to the Summer Camp + Class Actress double bill at Papiersaal, ZH this Tuesday – just shoot me an email or leave a comment below with the answer to this question:

What are the names of the female vocalists of each band?

Summer Camp + Class Actress play @ Papiersaal, ZH, Tuesday 27.03.12.

Summer Camp’s first album, Welcome To Condale, is out now on Moshi Moshi/Nation Music.

Rapprocher, the first album from Class Actress, is out now on Carpark Records/Namskeio.

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Video of the day – Placebo, ‘Pure Morning’

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In light of the slew of new gig announcements from the Placebo camp, I thought I’d revisit one of my all-time fave vids – Placebo’s ‘Pure Morning‘, from their 1998 album Without You I’m Nothing:

The first time I saw the video I was transfixed by the stark visuals and imagery, and Mr Molko’s signature androgynous look – this was the post-grunge era, after all, and a dash of glam was entirely unexpected (but oh so welcome). Goodness knows how many hours I spent pondering the exact shade of Mr Molko’s nail polish (surely Urban Decay – after all this was the 90s, perhaps Oil Slick or Bruise, both of which I owned back in the day), and casting lingering looks at his perfectly tousled, wind-swept hair and long toes. I guess that says something about my frame of mind back then (and now: I still love the video).

The song itself used to be a staple of Placebo setlists all through the 90s and early noughties, but I guess they got sick of it, because they dropped it from the last two tours. Maybe, like ‘Nancy Boy‘ (brought out of retirement for the last few live shows), it will be judged ripe for a revival – perhaps on the next album tour.

Placebo’s latest album, Battle For The Sun, is out now on Dreambrother. 

Placebo play at the Sundance London Film & Music Festival, 28.04.12 (sold out, I’m afraid), as well as a select number of gigs in and around Europe this summer. See here for details.

Track of the day: Yeasayer – ‘Madder Red’

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Isn’t it about time those kooky psychedelic Yeasayer boys released something new? ‘Madder Red‘ in 2010 was like, so two years ago:

(That video is kind of…freaky. And disturbing. And a little bit silly.)

How felicitous: the Yeasayer website promises something in March 2012. Well, I’ll be ready and waiting!

Yeasayer’s most recent album, Odd Blood, is out now on Secretly Canadian.

Scarily hip – n*grandjean + Swimming

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Now here’s a great gig  for the weekend – a fab double bill of n*grandjean + Swimming, at the lovely Papiersaal in Zurich this Saturday night.

Beneath his scarily hip Hipster Glasses™, Danish singer-songwriter Nikolaj Grandjean aka n*grandjean serves up a surprisingly delightful mix of acoustic indie pop and Afro-beats with a smattering of ambient electronica on his latest solo album, Fairly Young.

British band Swimming have annoyed the pants off music journalists everywhere since the release of their debut album The Fireflow Trade by refusing to fit neatly into any genre description. Shoegaze, synth-pop, experimental, drone rock, pop and electronica all reared their heads. Suffice to say, Swimming are an inventive and surprising bunch. Their second album, Ecstatics International, is an equally fantastical and intensely melodic experience:

Well, spring has sprung and I’m feeling all generous like, so I’ve got 2×2 FREE tix to give away to the n*grandjean + Swimming gig at Papiersaal, ZH, Saturday 24.03.12. Just answer me this:

What Nordic country does n*grandjean hail from?

Answers here or in the comments, if you please. First in, best dressed!

n*grandjean (DK) + Swimming (UK) play @ Papiersaal, ZH, Saturday 24.03.12.

n*grandjean’s second solo album, Fairly Young, is out now on Slowshark/Nordic Music Society.

Swimming’s second album, Ecstatics International, is out now on Tummy Touch Records.

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