A Song Convention

Brief smiles help

2009-01-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

I suddenly got an itch to write English. I don't have much of value to write about, but I'll just dish out what I've been doing lately.

I've been quite sick for three days straight, the worst day being yesterday. I was aching all over and I didn't want to leave my sanctuary (the corner of the sofa) for anything. But today I'm much better, maybe as much as 80% restored to my usual awesomeness. What's good about being this sick is it's perfect for doing a whole lot of nothing without having too much of a bad conscience for it. Here are some of the things I've done:

I finished the 1st season of True Blood. It was probably one of the weirdest TV-shows I've ever experienced. I sat through every episode thinking "do I really like this?", but I couldn't bring myself to exit an episode when I'd first started watching. I still haven't made my mind up on what I thought about it. My favorite thing was finding out Ryan Kwanten used to be on Home and Away.

I'm currently reading H.P. Lovecraft's OMNIBUS 2: Dagon and Other Macabre Tales, and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World. The Eye of the World is the first book of the Wheel of Time-series. I started reading them when I was in 10th grade or something, but I only got to book number four. I found my old paperback, sitting on a bookshelf at home, very entising, and I said to myself "Alright, book. I accept your challenge. This year I will read and finish the series you are a part of" I think this is the first time ever I'm reading two books at the same time. I'm halfway through OMNIBUS 2, and two chapters into Eye of the World. And I think it's going to go just fine. For my in depth ("lol") analysis of these books, sign up at GoodReads and be my friend. BE MY FRIEND! PLEASE! PLEAAASE!

I've also started to play Assassin's Creed for the XBox 360, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for the Nintendo DS. Technically I've played Ace Attorney before, but I made it up to the last case or something and quit. I don't really get why I hadn't played it till the very end, but it certainly irked me. So now I'm through the first case, and it's just as fun and quirky as I remember it to be. I also see that Play has the sequel up for £13.99. *Drool*. Assassin's Creed isn't as enganging as I hoped it to be. But it's fun enough that I think I'll manage to play it to the end credits.

I think that's a good enough start for 2009. I'll see ya'll later.

THURSDAY: The day of big eyes of wonder, big smiles, and silly dance moves

2008-08-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

I think my expectations for Thursday at Öya were significantly lowered thanks to Wednesday's fail to deliver teh awesome. Which certainly wasn't a bad thing because my expectations for Thursday were sky-high. Lukestar, The National, Okkervil River, Diplo, Sonic Youth, Turbonegro performing Apocalypse Dudes... it looks good, but managed to be so much better. Exceeding things! Pushing boundaries! Good times!

LUKESTAR
These guys got the opening job for this day. I think me and my friends arrived just before they went on. I'm talking seconds here. But we got really awesome spots, with a full view of everything going on onstage. Since the release of their second album, Lake Toba, which came earlier this year, I've wanted to see them live. Just to hear the newfound voice of Truls Heggerö in person. zOMG @ suddenly sounding like that guy in Mew, but not RLY! What a talented bunch of hunks all of them turned out to be. It's too far back to remember the nuances of the show, but Lukestar were having fun with it, smiling and laughing, cracking jokes, and the crowd seemed pretty receptive as well. Basically a recipe for a good start. I bought Lake Toba shortly after.

Next up was a band that I probably wouldn’t have watched if it hadn’t been for my older brother. I knew he was at the festival for a reason! Or perhaps he was there for a raisin? I can never tell with that guy.

GRAND ISLAND
Here’s the four-one-one: They’re lads. They’re Norwegian. One of the lads plays a banjo. They’re Norwegian lads, rocking out on, among other instruments, the ban-flippin’-jo. End of four-one-one. They have two songs that I love, but because of something peculiar, I’ve yet to invest in one of their two albums. FOR SHAME. They did a splendid show (bustin’ rhymes), generally smiling and having a good time on stage. I found myself smiling admiringly without noticing it many a time. My favorite part was their backing choir of pretty lasses. Another favorite part was my brother shouting ”EEEEEE-HAW!” right at the end of a banjo solo. The dude in front of us looking skeptically over his shoulder, after my brother did his shout, was probably a bit of a douche.

Next up was most likely the band I looked forward to the most, albeit I wasn’t so sure as to how their dark, dark songs would hold up outside, where sunshine loomed behind thin clouds, threatening to break through at any given moment; and not in a dark lit bar playing on a stage in the corner under broken spotlights, casting long shadows.

THE NATIONAL
After Grand Island me and my posse, or rather me and the posse that I was a part of, headed straight to the main stage. My wish to stand right in the middle of the stage and to have some meters between me and the front rail was granted. I wanted to have a perfect view of everything that happened on stage and I had it. The National came out from the side of the stage, some of them smiling, and some of them were looking far too gloomy for my liking. As I’ve previously stated: I don’t really get people that are dark and brooding on stage. It turned out I had nothing to worry about. It was pure win from the first note of music. Matt Berninger meant every word that escaped his lips. The guitarists, who I mistook for being gloomy and ungrateful, played with such intensity and concentration, that I was pretty blown away right from the get-go. I’m starting to kick myself for taking so long with writing this up. Much because the strong emotions I felt after watching the concert, is just a far-away memory now, and I can’t really tap into just how good it made me feel to have been at that very show, on that very day. The National also had very funny banter. Both intentional and unintentional. My favorite part of the concert was when I failed at getting my song request played. SO EMBARRASSED!

Another thing that sucks when you’re a stupid procrastinating douche (hiyar!), and don’t write down your summary straight away, is that you forget the fun things that happen in between shows. So much fail I don’t know where to begin.

Next up was another “FUCK! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE ONE FAVORITE CONCERT OUT OF ALL THESE MIND BLOWING PERFORMANCES?!”-kind of show.

OKKERVIL RIVER
The rumor goes as follows: Okkervil River SLAY live. But the thing was that even though I’d heard this from many a person, I just couldn’t picture it in my mind hole. My expectations were high, and I knew in my heart that it was going to be a good show, but somehow the butterflies just wouldn’t hatch in my belly. Will Shef and the gang changed all that from the first song. Will – yeah, we’re on those kind of terms – sang with such clarity that I got a little bout of black envy, I mean why couldn’t I have been born with a voice like that? But envy hardly ever envelopes me, so I managed to shake it and get back to enjoying the shit out of the splendid showmanship happening on stage. Favorite thing: I actually believed ol' Shefster when he announced “Lost Coastlines” as a song they’d never played live before, just because he and the band looked so damn grateful for the reception they got from the audience. I was just surprised we were all alive because Okkervil River really slay live.

SONIC YOUTH
DA YOOF! I’ll admit it; I just wanted to see this concert to be able to say “Yeah, I saw them live. Big deal. Who wants to touch me? You, in the back”. But it was so much fun! They were AWESOME. And so tight. NOISY. Gawd. I was pleasantly surprised that they played a lot of songs that were familiar to me, and I haven’t really dived deep into their back catalogue yet either. But to be honest (TBH!) I don’t think it would’ve made much difference if they only played songs I hadn’t heard before, because the most fun was watching them do their thing on stage. Having fun, dancing, raping their guitars… y’know the usual spiel. When the concert was coming to it’s end, my brother nudged my side and asked if I wanted to go secure good spots for Diplo. I hesitated for a moment, but decided that I really wanted to be up front for the primo dancing that would coincide with Diplo dropping those beats he’s so famous for. Besides, I could always blame my brother for prying me away from DA YOOF! if it turned out Diplo was totally gay. Win-win!

DIPLO
Turns out I owe my brother big time for wanting to head to this in time to get the best dancing spots. BECAUSE IT WAS THE MOST FUN EVER. For srs. I danced nonstop. I used everything out of my movecabulary, searched through all my knowledge of danceistics to make up some sweet steps right then and there, and I did all this with the biggest grin on my face. I got so SWEATY. I didn’t care about anything. I did the robot followed by ‘brushing that dirt of my shoulder’, I’m pretty sure I walked like an Egyptian, I did my illest b-boy stance, I handed out tickets, I pumped the wheel of my bike, I picked apples from a tree and put them in my bag, I milked the cow, I milked the ox, shit was ENDLESS. Until I found myself back at the awkward moves I started out with, finding myself completing a full circle. But then I just smiled and went with it one more time. Diplo is insanely talented. I think I saw him look up from his turntables about two times. Fucking steak sauce.

TRBNGR
I had the choice between Sigur Ros and TRBNGR to end this far too awesome day, and almost everyone hated on the fact that I chose the latter. But it wasn't just any TRBNGR concert, it was the one where they played Apocalypse Dudes from start to finish. Pardon my french while I say 'Fuck yeaaah!' to that. The concert wasn't fantastic by any means. It was like putting on the album only with some banter in between songs, Nick Oliveri singing Back to Dungaree High; and middle-aged Turbojugends all dressed up in their denim gear and sailor hats, singing along to the words they knew, trying not to spill any of the beer from the amazing five-beers-in-one-handy-carrier-device. I also sang along, because it added to the experience. Adding to the experience was so pertinent.

And that ended the best day of the festival. It was... the greatest day.

I'm tired and hungry, and not very satisfied with this text. Critical.

WEDNESDAY: The day of 'Okay'

2008-08-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

I was pretty psyched about the first day. The bands/artists I had planned to see were as follows: Mogwai, Los Campesinos!, José Gonzalez, Kung Fu Girls (the Norwegian lads, not that God awful American band), Iron & Wine, Girl Talk and then cap it off with Grinderman (zOMG NICK CAVES INNA FLESH!11!). Looks pretty damn good on paper, non? I thought so too.

MOGWAI
LoL at underwhelming. I think I could seriously have loved their show, but I wasn't prepared for it. The only song I would've been able to identify was some song from Mr. Beast. So if they'd played it I could've said "Hey, I think this is a song from Mr. Beast! ...not 100% certain, though". I left after two songs. I heard that the super fans ate it up. Plus I didn't really feel the SERIOUS FACE-vibe. It's cool to look cool, but if you don't look like you're enjoying what you play, then you lose this guy pretty fast.

LINK: Live performance of a song from their forthcoming album. I think they ended the concert at Öya with it. Shame I didn't stay for it. Sounds good and loud. And I do love loud.

LOS CAMPESINOS!
Saddest show of the festival D: x10. Big win for starting with "Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats" and doing the count-up in Norwegian, but they looked miserable. Or maybe it was just the singer. I just wanted to go up there, take away his mic, side-hug him backstage and ask him if there was something wrong. I assosciate LC! with big smiles and awkward dancing. The dancing was present, but the smiles weren't there. My superb analysis for why this concert failed: the sound was way too heavy on the bass, and probably bad overall for all I know, and they should've been one one of the smaller stages. I left early to get to Jose Gonzalez in good time. I was a bit bummed because I had such high expectations for this lot. Ah, well. We all have our bad days.

YT: Da girls in da band r hawt.

JOSÉ GONZALEZ
Also one of the people I expected a lot from. He delivered the goods in some ways, but I had a feeling throughout the concert that something was amiss. I love the way José plays guitar. It fascinates me as a guitar player myself. Especially when he plays the darker sounding strings (I said I play the guitar, that doesn't mean I know all the technical mumbo-jumbo) for punctuation in his songs. When he does that, I feel it to my very core, and I can't help but whisper "wow" under my breath. Some people like it when the musicians shuts up and just plays music. I'm not one of those people. I crave banter! Even awkward banter is better than no banter. All José muttered through the entire show was "Hello", and that was midway through the show when his rythm section were setting up. Albeit his "Hello" was followed by a stare that looked INTO THE VERY SOULS OF EVERYONE THERE, it just wasn't enough. I got my first share of goosebumps though, and I do love goosebumps.

YizzleTeeVee: My favourite José Gonzalez song.

KUNG FU GIRLS
Norwegian legends. Reformed for the festival to play one show. They looked old, but when they started to play I gradually forgot all about their sagging skin. They played with heart, and you could see that they were having a blast performing again. And that's all it takes to sway me! It got a little samey towards the end, but still the first show that made me smile for realz.

Link: Not these Kung Fu Girls. Give me a b-b-bag to throw up in, baby! *vomits*

IRON & WINE
Really looked forward to this. I haven't delved much into the back catalogue of the band, but whenever I've put on a CD of theirs I've always felt good, so I thought this concert would be a sure thing for pleasent and awesome times. The band entered the stage looking like the teacher's lounge of some high school, which was endearing. Little did I know that they would take the otherwise beautiful songs and prog them THE FUCK OUT. Sam Beam barely even sang! Now, don't get me wrong. I admire bands who try to do something different live than what they do on record, but turning mesmerizing four minute songs into 13 minutes of guitar-wankery complete with guitar effects that screamed of "NO! NO! NOOOO!" just doesn't equal awesome in this guy's ears. I had big hopes, and they were crushed... like they were dry twigs. To end on a positive note: Whenever Sam Beam actually sang, I had a wonderful time. Too bad he only sang for like ten minutes of the 40+ minutes show.

Linkage: One of the fantastic songs that were ruined.

Man, I'm getting tired... just one more now.

GIRL TALK
Now this is were it started to get fun. Greg came out, unshaven, looking like he was ready for a game of basketball, or possibly tennis. Turns out, he was ready to PUMP SHIT UP! I wasn't completely with the program, but I did a little dance. And I smiled. Greg looked like he was a hobo off the street sent in to praise Mayhem and make some people move what their mother's gave them. It was kind of weird. I'm certain that he could've gotten the crowd to go ballistic if he'd interacted a little more with us. A simple "For this next song... I want ya'll to go fucking crazy... I mean NO ONE can stand still... wait for my word... one... two... three... BREAK!" *drops phat beat* would've sufficed. But it was a pretty sweet way to end the day of 'Okay'.

I did not stay for Grinderman. SHOCKER.

The Best(est) Festival

2008-08-14T02:34:00.000-07:00

OK, gang.

Last week I spent six days in Oslo [oz-roh], the capital of the land in which my mother was born, namely Norway. The reason for my visit was to attend this year's Öya-festival. This was my second visit to Öya, the first one being when I was 17 years young (scroll down a bit if you seriously want to read what I had to say about it). The first time I went with my older brother. He was the only person I knew there, so naturally we went to all the concerts together, not really talking that much with anyone else. But this time was completely different. I, once again, went with my older brother, but I also had a bunch of friends from work, friends of friends, friends from uni, friends I hadn't seen in years, just a lot of awesome people EVERYWHERE. It had a completely different feel. I'm trying to juxtapose the two times I've been at Öya and thinking back makes me feel how much I've grown since then (especially reading my sum-up from way-back-when... cot damn), which is pretty neat. And reading my old blog helped me to get in the state of mind I was in, four years ago. So keep a blog/journal/whatever, people. And be surprised at what you were like at this point in your life when you read it many years from now.

BUT! This is so not why we're here. We're here to discuss a festival, and all the awesome experiences had!

My sum-up of the the first day will come later. At the mo' I'm pretty swamped with other bid-ness.

[Written while listening to Bon Iver's humming]

yes, I would really rush out

Wanna know how I got these scars?

2008-07-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

Fuck.

The Dark Knight delivered more than I thought it would. And because I know at least one person that hasn't seen it yet, I won't spoil anything. I'll just say what everyone are saying: Heath Ledger FTO(scar).

My movie of the year. I'm almost very certain of it.

Now I need some painkillers for my mole, now removed. OMG I MIGHT HAVE MOLE CANCER! Jokes. Kidding. It's probably benign as a baby. I'm just hoping it's not Rosemary's.

"Stop writing this poop and give me some relief from this pain!" Coming, back!

Geddit?

Weird and wonderful

2008-07-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

After watching Entourage my view of the movie biz has been tainted. Or shown the truth, I can't really decide on what I'd like to say about it. I start thinking about all the factors involved in the process of making a film*. I think about how much did the money have to say when that actor chose that movie? How much did his or her image have to do about the choice? These are things that didn't even grace my subconscious before watching Entourage. But now the thoughts are there ALL THE TIME.

Tonight was the night it hit me like a ton of bricks. The film I watched... was Punch-Drunk Love.

I liked it. Angry Adam Sandler can be so fucking awesome. It was quirky. Sweet in a sad and uncomfortable sort of way. But I couldn't stop thinking about money and image through it. Usually Sandler goes for run-of-the-mill comedies that are surefire successes in the box office. This could be called a comedy, but it's a dark one at that. I'm starting to obsess about reasons for him not to do one of his usual jobs and choosing this in stead."Whywhywhy?". It's a silly thing to obsess about, and I'm writing it down here to try to purge myself of it. Because when it comes down to it, it is interesting to know, but it's irrelevant to my enjoyment of this film or any other film. And I enjoyed this film very much. Weird and wonderful. It was directed and written by the same guy that brought you the best film of last year, namely There Will Be Blood. So the final word is: Check it out.

...now that I've thought about it, I think I can just rephrase my initial thoughts to: By showing me a truth, my view of the movie biz has been tainted. Or something to that effect. It's a combo! Combination!

* The process depicted in Entourage, mind.

"You are what you love, not what loves you"

2008-07-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

I just watched Adaptation, the movie written by Charlie Kaufman, directed by Spike Jonze, starring Nicholas Cage in the leading roles as Charlie and Donald Kaufman. I loved it. From the first voice-over to the last. It had lots of beautiful thoughts and images. I found myself smiling without noticing it, over and over again. It isn't all flowers and jokes, though. Some moments you laugh, but then, on second thought, you didn't really find that moment amusing, but heartbreaking in stead. Nicolas Cage has starred in some great movies, don't get me wrong, but he hasn't really stood out as an actor that does anything for me. When I've watched his movies I haven't really empathized with any of his characters. But I really enjoyed how he portrayed Charlie Kaufman in this film. I haven't seen a movie starring Mr. Cage in a long time, but I think my problem with him has been that when I watch him I start thinking "this guy is acting, and I am totally aware of it", in stead of letting the movie envelope me in the story and what the characters are going through. But now I had no trouble with him what so ever. (the other actors were pretty awesome, too)

Movies that make you feel and think FTW!

Now it's sleepy time.

[Written listening to Fancy Claps]

The pride overtakes me.

2008-06-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

Hi there.

I'm starting to get a borderline psycho stalker type fascination for John Darnielle and The Mountain Goats. He inspires me to become a better writer, a better lyricist, a better musician. I'm working on the writing part. It's been a while since I went a day without writing. The crap must out.

I've only written one song so far (actually it's not 100% finished, but it will be soon) that I'd more or less willingly play for someone other than myself. In other words I still need a lot more work on the craft of song writing. But I'm not deluding myself away from the fact that I won't shit gold every time I pick up my guitar and start free-styling. The occasional nugget appears from time to time, but mostly it's feces. Which reminds me, I need to get new guitar strings. I rock... FAR TOO HARD!

Heretic Pride is a very strong contender for album of the year for me. The lyrics make my skin crawl. The music makes my skin crawl. All the details makes me tingly inside. There's always something new to love each time I put this album on. And I can't tell you how glad I am to still have NINE albums, by the far too fantastic Mountain Goats, left to explore and get completely lost in. I get dizzy just by thinking about it. But for now my residence will be their latest offering, it's a bit too cozy to give up just yet.

(I might let Bon Iver visit, though... but only if he promises to not do his "killer Dramatic Chipmunk impersonation"... that shit wasn't even funny the first time)

The sound of fingers clicking

2008-06-20T15:31:00.001-07:00

Best day of post, ever! I got Rocket From the Crypt's swan song, the fantastic movie The Princess Bride, and lastly Johnny Foreigner's debut album.

I had plans to go jogging earlier today, but in stead I stayed home dancing like a muppet to Johnny Foreigner. I love not having to be considerate when it comes to choosing what kind of music I play, and how loud I play it. \o| |o/

Soon I'll finish Chuck Palahniuk's Lullaby, and I'll watch Control, Adaptation and Volvér. Expect my thoughts on all of those when I get 'em done.

I am filled to the brim with joy learning of the sweetness announced for the Öya festival. Rumble in Rhodos and Clipse will be so much fun in two very different ways. I luuuurv it.

We are all beautiful car crashes.

Beware of the local honey trap

2008-06-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

Munich. I liked that movie. To me the cast was varied with believable types of characters. Meaning the characters were different from each other, but they weren't different in a way that was too obvious. It felt very human. I'd love to watch it on a TV that's more up to date than the piece of junk that currently resides in my living room, because I very much liked the way it was filmed, the colors and everything. It made every location beautiful in its own way. I'm really bummed out that I didn't see it when it appeared at a cinema near me. Highlight: Tie between Daniel Craig in really tight jeans, and discovering that Mathieu Kassovitz is Bret from Flight of the Conchord's twin. Shockers!

Stay positive. See ya'll.

Reason for edit: The post stank of unpleasant smells.

Don't do that. Do this in stead.

2008-06-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

I found out something really smart today.

I mean, it's a real eye-opener.

Really.

Write about things right after you finish them.

That way your impressions will be much stronger.

That way you'll get your more feelings into what you write.

True story.

In fact, it's a fact.

---

It might not apply to you, though.

Sorry.

I'm truly sorry.

It breaks me.

Trying something new

2008-06-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

I'm really opening up to the possibility of becoming a lean, mean blogging MACHINE. My Norwegian blag will be reserved for random thoughts, and interesting things that happens in my day. And if nothing interesting happens, I will make things interesting. Interesting interesting interesting.

But here I'll try to keep in touch with culture. Every month I'll write at least fifty words on one piece of music, one movie, just pieces of art in general, in every form. This is a huge challenge for my scattered mind, but now that school's out on Thursday I hope that I can get in the flow of things more easily.

I'll also have a standard English blag. I want to learn new things, so I thought I'd use my English blag to record my journey into various worlds of all sorts of stuff. HTML code for one is something I've always wanted to learn.

That's it for now. I plan to finish the last season of Sopranos this week, so I'll be back with fifty words on that later.

On again. Off Again.

2008-01-03T14:18:00.000-08:00

I'm halfway through watching Radiohead's performance of In/Rainbows in its entirety, and the goosbumps just won't let up. I seriously hope that the one festival I'm going to this year gets them before anybody else does.

Oh, and happy new year!

Be amazed

2007-02-11T13:10:00.000-08:00

If I could've been at any live-show that's ever been, then this would most likely be my choice:

I wanna see the movies of my dreams.

2007-02-09T04:31:00.001-08:00

I'm thinking of a doing a little thing here on The Convention, and that is that I write about what I've spent my 40 downloads from eMusic on. I'll come up with a fancy name for it when I get this month's downloads (I have it set to come the 16th of every month). But I'll start with the album I downloaded with my last 10 downloads from last month:

Built to Spill - The Normal Years

This isn't a proper album, but one of those 'odds and ends'-things. It's got outtakes from BTS' first two albums, plus some songs that were recorded for compilations (for more check out Allmusic). It might not seem to be the perfect way to get introduced to a band, but it's worked just fine with me. At Allmusic it's gotten a 2.5/5 star rating, and that's got me very excited to check out the rest of the band's discography. DISCO!

Because there are some really amazing songs on this album, and some not so good ones, but from what I've read it's going to get a whole lot better. And I do enjoy to start with the 'crap', and then move on to the 'awesome'.

BLABLABLAHEREARESOMESONGS!BLABLABLA

Built to Spill - Car

Built to Spill - Joyride (This song is good fun, as the name hints at)

I'll be back with a better post on Sunday, because as I promised: two posts a week.

Menomena! Du-du-dududu!

2007-01-31T15:05:00.000-08:00

Honestly, I would've thought at least five people would comment with great joy that I'm back in the game and staying there, but as the days have gone by I'm still left with zero. WTF, people? W...T...F!

And don't come here telling me that you didn't do it because of my past attempts at upping my game. You all now that third time's the charm. THIRD TIME'S THE C-H-A-R-M!

I could complain about your lackluster efforts all day, but I'm not here for that, I'm here for the music. So let's push things forward, shall we?

Today I received a package from the seemingly awesome record label barsuk records, and in that package was Menomena's sophomore album Friend and Foe, plus a t-shirt (and they sent me the wrong one! Those bastards). I think I first heard of Menomena at GvB when they had some mp3s up from their first album I am the Fun Blame Monster. At the time I thought they were a joke-band, so I didn't look much into it, but P-fork's rather positive review + the amazing artwork made me go all spontaneous n' shit and order the second album shortly after.

Right now I'm going through it for the first time, and six tracks in I can already tell it's a grower. I just know that the piano-part I'm listening to right now is going to be one of my favorite-moments in music of 2007, I only need to give it a few more listens. There's a lot of details on this record, as stated by P-fork, but it's not a bad thing (see: P-fork again).

I can't compare this to anything in my record-collection, but then again I'm always bad at comparing bands/artists unless there's something really obvious about the sound. But all I know is that I like it very much, and nine tracks in I might even go so far as to say "Ba-ra-ba-ba-baaaaa I'm lovin' it!"*.

I'll link to a full stream of the album at the bottom of the post (highly rec'd because the artwork rolls across the screen as you listen... it's wicked-cool), and I'll leave you with one mp3. Oh, FYI I think this album is much better as a whole, and that one song can't give you the entire picture. Just so you know.

Menomena - Wet and Rusting

P.S: I had a "job-interview" for Norway's biggest recordstore-chain today. It was the first "interview" where I had to write my answers to 50 music-questions, and 25 film-questions. What they do now is that they read through all the answers (I think around 60 people, at least, were at this thing) pick out who they believe to be the best of the pack, and call them in for a second, more personal interview. I'll know this Friday if I make it. I want this job soooo bad! It would end most of my worries, plus I'd get cheap music/films/games. I like.

Wish me some luck, gang.

[Menomena: Myspace, Friend and Foe Full Stream, Website]

*I am so sorry for that.

Didn't this already happen?

2007-01-29T08:59:00.000-08:00

OK, I seriously need to stop starting blog-posts with "I'm back again, folks!"/"Sorry for the absence, guys"/"OMG has it been two months already?!!1!".

So, what brought me back this time? Hard to say... it could be FileDen sending me an e-mail to say "Bitch, you better start paying our site some regular visits, and not just waltz in when you feel like it, or your fine ass is so out of here". Well, they didn't say that in so many words, but the part about my ass was definitely implied. One other thing could be my brother's cool little journal which he has going on @ Last.FM.

In one of his recent entries he wrote about his progress, and more about his reasons for keeping it updated on a regular basis. This made me realize that the times I've tried to get my shit together and write on a regular basis, I've put down goals much higher than my attention span could possibly handle (Link). My brother's 'every other day'-thang could work for me, but I don't trust myself that much after realizing I truly have the attention of WOW, A TWEETY BIRD!

So I think four times a week should be sufficient "Durr, Karsten. But isn't that the same as posting every other day?". Oh, goddamn it. I was making a joke, ok? Jokes aren't funny if you explain them. Sheesh, some people my readers are.

Joking aside: Two times a week is a rational aim for now. Let's just hope, for my sake, that I can kick it up a not-GREAT SCOTT! MY PHONE HAS RINGTONES!

---

That was my brother who called right now. Coincidence? Yeah, I think so.

I suppose you guys want an mp3 as the finishing touch? I have just the thing you need:

Kid Harpoon - Childish Dreaming

One of my favorite guy+guitar fellows around these days. I like this song because I (and probably a majority of the world's population) can relate to the words he sings. He has a release coming out in April. I don't know what it'll be, but I'm sure I'll buy it whatever it is.

[Kid Harpoon: Myspace, Website]

It's business-time.

2006-12-06T16:42:00.000-08:00

Let's pretend that the words that follow the colon were written before yesterday turned into today, or before Wednesday turned into Thursday:

Oh, yeah. Dudes and dudettes. Today it's time to go to a concert. You know how I know? 'Cause it's Wednesday. The conditions are perfect; there's nothing good on tv... The conditions are perfect. I remember that the band The School are playing at Kaos, and I think: Oh, yeah. It's time for business. It's business-time.

So I went stag, and watched the show. The School were pretty awesome, good banter in between the pleas for us to buy their CD (I didn't buy it 'cause I really had to pee, but I wanted to... hmpf). The singer-dude rocked the guitar while belting out rock-tune after rock-tune in a cool fashion. The bass-player tried to woo (what a fantastic word; wooooooo!) a lady up front, and he did so while speaking in the mic to her at the same time the frontman was getting his banter on. It was kinda funneh. Best part of the show was the replacement for their usual lead-guitarist, who couldn't be a part of this tour, which was the awesome Per Borten. His usual job is as the frontman in New Violators. You should check that link 'cause they are bangin'. APOSTROPHE!

The stupid thing about The School is that they don't have any songs up for download, so you'll have to go to MySpizzaz to check 'em out. And another stupid thing is their name, which makes it virtually impossible to find photos of them in Google Image Search. Plus their promo-pics look stupid so I won't use them either. In stead I'll be topical and show a picture of where I go to school (read: university) in stead. YAY! AHHH IT*S A PICTURE OF THE SCHOOL!

But what good is this thread without at least one mp3? I'll tell you what kind of good, NO KIND OF GOOD!

So I'll give you Ida Maria. She's very up and coming, by the end of 2007 she'll be all over the place. And that's a good thing, 'cause she's a cutie. I might've posted this song before, but I don't care 'bout that. It's an upbeat song, and it deals with growing up, the not wanting to grow up-part. And at the start of the song she says "Whiskey, please!", so it's a real winner.

Ida Maria - Queen of the World

Now I need to go to bed, because I've soon been up for 24 hours straight, and I'm writing silly things.

Business-hours... are over, baby.

Rockettothesky

2006-11-19T14:03:00.000-08:00

"Takk for meg, Rockettothesky"

Just got home from a cozy little concert at Circa, and the music was brought to us by a very cute and charming girl, her red guitar and her electric gizmo of sounds. Or Rockettothesky as she likes to call herself. She has a band that she brings with her when she can, but for her little tour up north she went on her lonesome. I think I speak for most of the people who were at the show when I say "Rocket-girl, you don't need a band. For realz, you do just fine on your own". I'd only heard her songs on Myspace before I went to this show, and I didn't quite know what to expect. The songs she has available range from weird but pretty acoustic-numbers to some more experimental songs, and of course the stonker of a pop-song Barry for Billy Mackenzie, sadly not available for download. What differs live from the recordings is her voice, it's much more powerful live and it put me in a trance for most of the songs, that and her off-the-scale cuteness. For the show she switched between just singing with her gizmo making the music, and doing songs acousticly. It gave the show a nice variation. I do hope she will return as she said.

Now for some mp3's. They aren't the most fetchiest songs of hers, but they'll grow on you. One of the songs can best be described as "the saucy track".

Rockettothesky - I Stepped On a Toothbrush
Rockettothesky - A Cute Lovesong, Please

Listen to these songs a couple of times, and then go check out the other tracks available on her Myspace-page.

I wish you a good night.

Future of the Left

2006-11-18T08:36:00.000-08:00

"Violence solved everything"

We truly '<3' style="font-weight: bold;">Mclusky here at this Song Convention, and it's a tragedy that they disbanded without an ounce of the recognition they deserved (from what I gather, most of it came after the split). But the breakup wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The first band to come from the oh-so-handsome corpse of Mclusky was Shooting At Unarmed Men, with bass-player Jon Chapple (and two other chaps) here strapping on his guitar and clearing his throat to sing some not so bad tunes. I didn't really like this new project all that much to begin with, but it grew on me and I began to like it. But was it a good replacement for Mclusky? Not by a long-shot. So I waited and really hoped that Andy Falkous would be back in a band soon. And then Future of the Left emerged. With not only Mr. Falkous, but also ex-Mclusky drummer Jack William Egglestone, and with a band that is two thirds 'ex-Mclusky' you can imagine mine and everybody else's excitement. With them them they have ex-Jarcrew (pretty decent band from what I've heard) singer Kelson Louis Tregurtha Mathias (does this band have the best names or what?) on bass-duty. I've only heard the songs that are, and have been, on their Myspace-page, and it sounds a bit rough, but it shows a lot of promise. It sounds like Mclusky, no surprise there, but the sound is darker in places. To listen for yourselves I give you four songs, three of them are currently on Myspace, one of them was up there, but it's been taken down. As a bonus I'll embed a YouTube video of one of the newer songs being played in Manchester. The sound is bangin' (the bass totally slays me, dudes), but the video isn't on time. It's no biggie though, because it's sorta cool-slow, and it's been filmed in a cool way so it seems like an artsy music video. Kinda. This is my favorite of the songs I've heard so far by the way:

Now to the mp3's. Enjoy 'em. I sure do.

Future of the Left - The Lord Hates a Coward
Future of the Left - Small Bones, Small Bodies
Future of the Left - Real Men Hunt In Packs
Future of the Left - The Fibre Provider (No longer available on Myspace)

I also urge you to take the trip to their Myspace-page to check out the new track they have up (It's my second-favorite of the songs I've heard so far), and to check out their blog run by Falkous. It's an excellent read.

Now where's my Mcluskyism (Click link to go buy one of the most essential collections of songs you'll ever need... EVER!)? I need to fondle it.

I get knocked down, but I get up again.

2006-11-12T07:06:00.000-08:00

Hullo.

So I kinda got a little 'meh' about this whole blogging thing, and I pretty much decided to quit the whole thing like two of my favorite mp3-blogs did not long ago (Clever Titles Are So Last Summer, and Rbally respectively). But things changed a bit today. You see, I was bored and I decided to listen to some music and do something that didn't take too much brainpower. So I fired up some At The Drive-In and Weezer and read from the beginning of my first blog. Only a select few have read this blog, because it was a "Boy, have I got news for you! My day went so-and-so" and it wasn't really all that interesting if you didn't know me in real life. The thing is it seems I had a lot more interest in writing back then (I was 17 when I started that blog, and now I'm 20), and that I didn't actually suck at making readable text. This scared me a little bit, because now I sort of have to struggle to get through a writing-session, using the backspace a little bit too much, having to think through everything a little too much. So I have to do something about that. And seeing as sitting around waiting for inspiration hasn't worked so far, I'll have to try and force it.

Ezarchive seems to be utterly fricked, meaning that I'll have to find a different place to host mp3s.

I'll be back. With music. And hookers.

Later

I thought I had what it would take, to walk right into the hall of fame

2006-09-30T16:19:00.000-07:00

Time to kick this thing into life again.

Clear.

Last week I was supposed to see the band Bonk live, but they cancelled their show. They have one of the best songs ever in 'Sarah'. I just love everything about it. Don't know how to describe in a just fashion, I just know that you need to hear this song.

Bonk - Sarah

Clear.

When I was in Russia I often tried to get on myspace to listen to new bands, but most of the time the players got errors or just simply refused to play anything. However, on occasion the players would work, and one of those times I was on Call:Vega's page. This song that you will download reminds me of ...Trail of Dead on the vocals, with Bloc Party in one of their more 'brutal' guitar-stabbing moments. Sort of.

Call:Vega - Hall of Fame

Clear.

All of us need to hear more of this next band. One of the best instrumental-bands I've heard lately. They remind me a bit of Battles in a way, not musically, but more in the way that it's very easy to listen to and remember. Plus they have the best band name of all time.

Samuel Jackson Five - If You Show Off the Milk, Who's Gonna Buy the Cow?

Clear.

Last band has an album out now. I don't have it myself, but when you download these two songs I give you now, you'll want it just as much as me, I'm sure. They play edgy pop-music which they like to call 'Oslo Beat'. If you need me to namedrop a band they remind me of slightly, then the guitarwork remind of really good Pretty Girls Make Graves from time to time. But mostly they don't sound anything like them.

Accidents Never Happen - BPDFIL

Accidents Never Happen - Outrageous Lie

Time of death 01:47

Desperado: PART TWO!

2006-09-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

Ch-ch-check it.

Last night I decided to check Desperado's Myspace-page to see if the songs on there were available for download. Not only were all the songs hot and ready to be put in my folder aptly named 'ch00ns!', but two new songs from their forthcoming album Thugs were also included on/in the player. I think they must've just been put up or something. Spooky.

The new songs sound great, Broken Heart, Broken Bones especially tickling me in a good way.

Tomorrow's the day when I see them live. I went to the place where the concert will be for the first time today, and I think it will be a strange concert. Let's cross our fingers that I don't forget my camera, and that I'll get a good spot at the show.

Anyway, this band will kick you down, chant the name of your favorite electronica-band (give All Hat, No Cattle a spin and you'll know what I mean), and make you sorry that you won't be seeing them live tomorrow like I will. So, like... in your face.

Desperado - Broken Heart, Broken Bones

Desperado - Fehu

Desperado - All Hat, No Cattle

Now I'm going to listen to fine Norwegian radio.

Desperado

2006-09-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

So I fucked up on the 'three day hump'-thing, but I assume that nobody even read that so it's all good.

Quick post for now:

This thursday I will witness the pretty cool group Desperado live @ Kaos. They have an album coming out soon, and I'm looking forward to hearing the new material. They have one song that kicks some serious ass, which you can see the video to below. I'll see if I can track down an mp3 for ya'll as well. All together now: RÖYKSOPP! RÖYKSOPP!

Cool Stuff.

The three day hump

2006-09-09T05:27:00.000-07:00

I've figured out my problem now. I need to type three days consecutively to get into the flow of this operation. This is just like quiting/starting smoking, beginning a diet of only McDonalds. It's all the same!

To start this thing off I'm going to do a post on one of the bands I've been wanting to blog about since I thought of starting this blog. And that band is Rumble In Rhodos.

My first encounter with this band was through a Norwegian contest called Zoom. It's for unsigned bands who battle it out in the biggest cities in Norway. When the winners are picked in each city the bands go out on a tour together all over Norway, and at the end of that tour one band wins the whole shebang. These guys won in 2004 and since then they've toured a lot, released one EP, and one CD.

What suckers me in with these guys is the dual-guitar attack reminding me a bit of Pretty Girls Make Graves. I saw them live at the Quart-Festival in 2005, and despite the fact that I'd just heard a couple of songs by them and it all sounded a bit samey, I was very impressed.

I wanted to write a text about how awesome this band is, in a more awesome way, but I can't right now. I'm stuck in blah-blah-boring-mode. But just you wait till after the three day hump. Man, it'll be a blast.

SNOGS!

Rumble In Rhodos - The Weight Of This Mistake (EP)
Rumble In Rhodos - Open Nerves (First single from the full-length)
Rumble In Rhodos - Lotus Challenger (Major ass-kicking from the full-length)

Reincarnated in Tromso

2006-08-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

This time we're here to stay.

After arriving here about two weeks ago I started to think that I'd have way to much on my hands to even consider doing a lot of the things I'd set my mind on doing. For instance keeping this blog going. Now that I've settled and have all the books I need for Uni, been to a couple of seminars, gotten new friends, I seem to have almost everything in order.

Another thing I needed to get things sorted was a computer, and I got it in my clutches yesterday. It's black, shiny-new and very sexy. I'm thinking of dubbing it The Black Whale. But most likely I'll dub it something else.

Now to leave you with a couple of tunes by the band Snuten.

Snuten - Please Shoot Me (The Black Whale demands you download at least this track)

Snuten - Rollerboy

Have a nice weekend, good folk.

Karwes goes to uni.

2006-08-13T03:14:00.000-07:00

Today I leave my parents' house to go to university in the absolutely wonderful town of Tromsoe. I go by plane at about 17.18, and I'll arrive in my house around 19.20 I guess.

I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but I stand by my decision in not doing this blog to the max until I get my own computer. I'm not exactly sure when that'll be. There will most likely be a lot of different student-offers on snazzy laptops, so I'm guessing somewhere between 1-2 weeks. The peeps I share my house with probably has some 'pooters that I can use to update this thingy once in a while until I get everything sorted.

I've been listening to so much awesome Norwegian music lately, and I can't wait to share it with ya'll.

TO THE MAX!

(The picture is of an event at the university in Tromsoe. Not 100% sure what's going on there, but it looks awesome.)

If I wasn't so lazy...

2006-08-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updating, gang.

This blog hasn't really gotten into full gear yet, but trust me, it will. I think the only thing holding me back, besides from being lazy, is not having my own computer. But seeing as I've only got a week until I leave home to go to uni, I don't think a computer is far from my clutches. Then I'll really blow this shit up. Get some new template-stuff going. Make this site ours. You catch my drift, I'm sure.

I guess you're all thinking "But, Norwegian-BlogMan, why can't you just update tomorrow? It's saturday, and you've probably got nothing better to do anyway, right?" WRONG! I'm going to a festival tomorrow so NURR-NURR at you guys.

So hold your horsies and I promise you this will be good. I can't have the best, damn blog-title in the universe without the content to boot. It is NOT an option.

I'll probably do some shooting tomorrow. If it's going to be photos or video I do not know, but you'll see soon enough.

Heeeeeey!

TV Eye

2006-07-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

TV Eye: Weeds

(2005-?)

Created by Jenji Kohan

I'm finding it hard to balance. There's always one form of entertainment that grabs more of my attention than any others. I'm sure it's a little like having a rotating lineup of drugs of choice (a fitting simile for this week's entry.)

...and just like that, a song I've never heard before comes out the speakers, the singer lazily intoning the chorus; "pushing drugs". I swear to god. Drugs are everywhere these days, it seems. We're all addicted to something, whether it's religion (a perennial favourite), sports (football/soccer fans just coming down from that one-month-long binge), tv shows on DVD (my own current flavour of the month, see above), or the more or less illegal kind. Like weed.

The reason I want you to part with £17 or $27 (plus shipping) - and possibly a unspecified amount on a DVD setup that plays Region 1 discs - is a tv show called Weeds. The plot: Father of suburban white californian nuclear family dies of a heart attack, leaving soccer mom and two kids in a financial lurch. Soccer mom's solution to the money problems? She starts dealing marijuana in her affluent upper middle class neighbourhood. Cue comedy.

The premise may sound a little far-fetched, but Weeds makes up for it by being one of the best laffers to come out of the US in a long time. The writing's amazing, and the cast, led by the ace Mary Louise Parker (picture above) as soccermom Nancy Botwin, is probably the best comedy ensemble since Arrested Development bowed. An illegal drug as the central theme should give you some clue that the show doesn't shy away from controversy, but the nasty things are done so well you don't feel you're being hit over the head with taboos. Hmm, I feel I have to sell this a little more for y'all, so I'll sign off with one of my favourite quotes from the first season. This is Nancy's stoner accountant after having visited one of the legal pot shops servicing unfortunate Californians prescribed the drug for medical purposes:

"It's a weed wonderland, Nancy. It's like Amsterdam only you don't have to visit the Anne Frank house and pretend to be all sad and shit. "

All together now: Oh no, they di'n't!

Kills self with bold head

2006-07-27T02:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry for no post yesterday. I got ill.

After work yesterday(where I nearly puked), I had to ride my bike all the way to grandma's house to give her some groceries. It isn't a very long trek on bike, but it sure feels like it when you're sporting some serious throat-stuff (why the hell didn't I sign up for med-school? It's flabbergasting, what with my superior knowledge in medical terms and all. I do an awesome "Stat!" as well). So after that I just hurried on home, leaned back in the "tv-chair", and watched 24. It seemed to be a miraculous cure (again: me + med school = something that should've been), because my throat cleared up somewhat, and I was in much better shape.

Aaaany way, just dropped by to say that I'll have something up today or tomorrow, and in the meantime be sure to check the other posts for mp3's because I'm removing all that's been put up so far as soon as I start my writing. I recommend you check out Mclusky - To Hell With Good Intentions, Mary Me Young - Unspoiled, and DJ Shadow - Six Days (Mos Def Remix). As for linking to them, I'm too lazy. You can find them easily enough in the archives. We haven't written that much yet. So go on, you lazy bastards... find them!

Be cool my babies.

"I like you guys already!"

2006-07-25T05:23:00.000-07:00

I got back from the Vika-festival on Sunday, and it was a blast. I have some pictures, and some videos of decent quality, which I will put up here some time before Friday. I will also give a quick rundown on the bands I saw, what I did.. etc. Expect some mp3's thrown up as well.

Marit Larsen was very pretty and petite. She said what I wrote in the title after the applause she received after the first song. I hope everyone gets to experience her live-show.

Turbonegro rocked out, except from the stinkers they played from their newest album. High on the Crime? More like Big Steaming Pile of Turd. So crap. Back to Dungaree High was awesome though.

I'll give you a better post by tomorrow. At least for the first day.

Be cool my babies... OR I KILL YOU WITH MY BOLD HEAD!

This'll be awesome.

I suck

2006-07-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry readers (hahahahahahahhahahah....), I've been real lazy with the whole "updating my blog regularly" and I plan to make a change about that... For the third time.

But I won't be able to do anything about it till over the weekend because I'm going to have a festival, as the boys in Anthrax rap it. Man, that's a good tune. But let's get back to the festival:

It's called Vika, it's about an one hour car-ride to get there, and it has a pretty awesome line-up if I may say so myself. Acts I won't miss no matter what include the following:

Marit Larsen (I get to witness Her Cuteness with her FULL BACKING BAND GLORY, suck on that! ...my dear readers!)

Turbonegro (Whenever I dig a hole in the ground... ERECTION!)

Mew (I hear their live-show is da bomb)

Kaizers Orchestra (Norwegian guys, who I know are great live, because I saw them once when I was 15)

Dum Dum Boys (Norwegian rock legends, should be a good show)

Art Brut (They formed a band, and now I'll get to see them live)

Håkan Hellstrøm (Swedish guy with some mighty catchy tunes. Should be good)

Motörhead (Last concert of the festival and I think my beer-intake will be on it's all-time high at this point... "PLAY ACE OF BASE, YOU BASTARDS!")

If you want to check what else is on you can do so here.

I'll be back with mp3s from the bands on monday, and I hope to get some pictures taken. It'll be... incredible.

And after that I'll do more posts, yaddayaddayadda.... I'm out.

Byyaah!

We <3 Marit

2006-07-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

Shabba-hey.

Firstly I just want to say: man did my last post suck. The music was great, but I sucked at trying to get across how much I enjoy listening to it. I need to step up my game a whole bunch of notches, but hey, that's why I'm here. And secondly, I need to get this blog going with some Norwegian tunes, because that was the major idea around starting this blog. So I thought I'd get off my ass (or should that be "get on my ass"?), and post something on Marit Larsen.

I could share all my thoughts on Under the Surface, Marit's debut album, but it'd only be a dumbed down version of what Matt of Fluxblog (that's right, me and Matt are such good "m8s" that I just call him by an abbreviation of his name... because we're friends... Okay, we're not really friends... but someday,oh someday) wrote at Gorilla Vs. Bear not long ago. So I thought that I'd just repeat the things I agree with from Matt's little bit at GvB, and then write some of my own thoughts, m'kay?

(Marit Larsen, photo taken from Namdalsavisa... she's just too cute)

"Picking a favorite song on Under The Surface is virtually impossible for me, though I could probably single out my least favorite. But even that track is pretty fantastic, all told."

So true. It's all fantastic and wonderful. Didn't think about adding that word, did you? 1-0 pour moi.

"There are sweeping fairy tale ballads, ABBA-ish singalongs"

Took the words right out of my mouth. Or if he took the words right out of my mouth it would've probably been "There are songs that sound as if they were taken out of pretty pink books about talking animals, and others that sound like they could've been written by that gay, swedish group, Ace of Base. Only better... What?".

One thing I love about this album is that most of the songs are poppy and cheerful, and they make you smile while shaking your butt. The lyrics are pretty much all about heartbreak, but the songs are basically all very upbeat. All except the last song, where it seems that Marit has run out of steam, and just has to slow down to sing in the way she really feels. I know I'm writing this pretty "durr durr", but if you buy the album you'll know what I mean. Or you'll just interpret the music your own way. Either way is cool.

One other thing I loved about this album was how much the songs surprised me when I heard them for the first time. So I won't be giving you anything new here, mp3-wise. I just hope that you just hear the singles, like them enough to buy the album, and be grateful that you didn't spoil the album more than that. Here's the title-track for you, and I implore you to buy the album because it's too good to be missed, and, you know, EMI won't sue me.

Marit Larsen - Under the Surface

And I'll leave you with the last words on the album of Fluxblog @ GvB:

"It's just astonishing, and I don't think I'll ever get sick of it."

Me neither, m8. Me neither.

Edit: Sassy.

And now I can sleep easily

2006-07-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

Oh my....

Norwegian television just aired the first two episodes of Grey's Anatomy, and... wow, just wow. I thought my expectations were pretty high, but I wasn't even close in expecting how good it was going to be. I mean, fucking hell Grey's Anatomy, way to humiliate every tv-show written about hospitals ever. They even made a Keane-song work so well in the show that it made me get goosebumps. Let me repeat that, people: a flippin' KEANE song. And Ellen Pompeo is for a fact the cutest girl in the world. F.A.C.T.

And seeing as I'm in a jolly mood, I'll throw a great band your way. So, ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to:

Ever Since The Lake Caught Fire

I found out about this band through a thread on one of the forums I frequent at, and I'm really happy about that. The thread included four mp3's that they had up on their myspace-page before they exchanged them for some new ones. So I decided to give the old tunes a good listen before I went on to the newer stuff (the way I usually like to listen to new bands), and I was hooked right away.

They play indie-rock just the way I like it; with lots of noise. The band seems to get compared to At the Drive-In and Idlewild the most. And I guess I can hear that, because they have the whole dual-guitar thing going for them really well, with one guitarist riffing out while the other does some "jangly" guitar-line on top of that (man, I can't believe I just used the word "jangly"... I promised myself not to). I love a good bassline, and Did You Hear That? delivers not just a good bassline, but a frickin' fantastic one. That same song also features some handclaps that scared the hell out of me when I listened to them on my earphones for the first time, because it sounded like someone stood right behind me. The best part about the songs though, is that I always change my opinion about which is the best. Always a good sign.

While all of the songs were frickin' good I didn't think "I'd like to hear them try to do better than this!", I just knew that when I'd hit up their Myspace-page I'd be blown away five times as much by the new tunes. And I was very right. The songs are far too good, and my only problem with this band is that they don't have any of the new songs up for download. Or any news on a release that I can spend my money on. Those bastards!

Here's three of their 'oldies':

Alex In Danger

Did You Hear That?

Kaihoro

Don't forget to check out their Myspace for three of their new songs which are all killer, and also don't forget to support the music if you like it. I will spread the news on this site as soon as I know something about it, so don't worry about it sliding past you.

These are a few of my favourite things

2006-07-07T14:54:00.000-07:00

part #14:

THE INTERNET

I kinda love the internet. It's not in the top five, as I've had some internet-less periods since the late 90s, and as you might've guessed, I didn't die from the withdrawal. Still, it's up there with the best, I assure you. I must stress that this isn't a slight towards the internet, I fully realise the world-altering effects it's had on the daily to-and-fro of no good Western middle class slackers like myself. But this is a list of things I care about, not some historical review, and there are some things that easily trump the internet on that list.

What makes the internet so ginchy-keen in my world? Well, it helps me be even more of a nerd than I would've been without it. Instead of having to talk about the things I geek out about with the troglodytes that frequent my local comicbook shop, I can follow slightly more eloquent, way less obnoxious discourse about pop culture online. That's really what I spend most of my time online doing; I read and talk about (and buy) comics, movies, TV shows, music, sports and books. Okay, so I order the occasional train ticket and send an email or two; but internet for me is nerd heaven - period. Not for me the reading of online newspapers - they're incredibly popular here in Norway, for some reason I can't fathom, as they're almost uniformly bastions of shoddy design and negligible content. I was going to list some more things I don't do on the net, but I realised that I have no idea what people without unhealthy pop culture habits do when they're online. Maybe they buy drugs or something, I dunno.

Right. For some unfathomable reason (I just woke up) this post has taken on a somewhat more negative tone than I had envisioned, quite unbecoming of an entry in my world famous TAAFOMFT column. So I'll cut this short, leaving you with a list of five websites I enjoy that probably are interesting to someone other than myself. And for those of you brave/bored enough to fight your way through this drivel, there's an mp3 waiting at the end. The usual rules apply; it's here for your pleasure and edification, email me if you are a rights holder and want it removed, please don't sue, thank you very much.

1. The Hype Machine

This is a fantastic tool for those of us a little queasy about using peer-to-peer filesharing services, but still want to download music illegally. The Hype Machine pulls data from a comprehensive list of MP3 blogs, and posts links everytime one of them posts a song. Which, tallied together, amounts to around 200, 300 mp3s a day. It's very slanted towards alternative and indie, as the majority of MP3 bloggers are pansy-waist, pallid nerds. But then again, aren't we all? The majority of bloggers are very passionate about music, so this is a perfect site for gauging what the next big thing is going to be, and for finding the MP3 blogs best suited to your own tastes.

2. TVtattle

We're living in a golden age of TV drama (in the US, mainly) and TV comedy (the UK). There has never been so many excellent series going at one time, and even when one gets tragically and prematurely cancelled (coughArrestedDevelopmentcough), there almost certainly will be a DVD box set to offset the horrible, horrible pain. Even if you're not a complete fanboy/girl for TV, you do have a favourite show - don't lie to me - and chances are, you're going to find news about it on TVtattle, a stellar, and maddingly comprehensive news blog about TV. It's slanted towards the US, but you can still find info on the most popular UK shows.

3. Achewood

I'm not sure if it's wise for me to even attempt explaining what Achewood is all about, so I'm going to keep it plain and simple. It's a webcomic, which means that it's a comic strip published online. Achewood's Google entry says "A cartoon of modern life as lived by a retarded otter, an alcoholic tiger, and two bears." I guess that's as good a description as any, as there is really is no short and easy way of describing the genius of Chris Onstad and his, er... genius. Oh, just go see for your own damn selves.

4. The A.V. Club

You can read more about The Onion here, but aside from the occasional laugh, I'm not that crazy about it. What I am pretty crazy about is The A. V. Club, The Onion's pop culture magazine offshoot. Here you can find bookoo reviews on movies as they open in the US, on music, DVDs, books, and games. But the real meat is in their interviews. The A. V. Club has made it their mission to post weekly "conversations with entertainment's most enduring outsiders", and they are not mucking about. These are insightful, interesting and well-written interviews, spanning the lenght, breadth and depth of pop culture, from Mr. T to Neil Gaiman via Amy Sedaris. To name as few. Go on, you know you want to.

5. Emusic

An entry like this wouldn't be complete without a place for you to spend money, since a lot of my time online is spent making myself penniless. My choice of money pit is online music store Emusic. In a world where you can't buy music files without it being attached to one single type of music player, or saddled down with computer-eating DRM bugs from hell, Emusic is my oasis of choice. This store sells MP3s (a monthly fee of ten dollars gives you 40 tracks), and that's it. They don't have any restrictions on how you use the files, other than the rights disclaimer you find on the back of most copy-protection-free CDs. You're not allowed to copy this music and share it with others, but if you want to break the law, it's your prerogative (as Bobby would say). Emusic might not have any music from major labels, but this really works out for the best, as it gives you the opportunity to discover artists a little off the beaten path. And you'll be amazed to find how much music is not put out by the big corporations.

MP3: DJ Shadow - "Six Days" (Remix feat. Mos Def)

This band is better than your band

2006-07-06T15:11:00.000-07:00

*MP3's are up now, so make sure you get 'em while they're hot. *

Hell yeah!

I finally got my Mcluskyism last week, and I've been listening to it a lot. For those who don't know: It's a three disc-compilation by the band Mclusky from Wales. It includea a-sides, b-sides, c-sides (plus some live-stuff) and it's the better than any compilation ANY band ever could release.

Quick rundown on Mclusky (from the little I've heard/can remember):

They've always been a three-piece, but lost a drummer along the way, so they had to get a new one. They have three albums on their conscience; My Pain And Sadness Is More Sad And Painful Than Yours, Mclusky Do Dallas, and finally The Difference Between Me And You Is That I'm Not On Fire. The first album is said to have a couple of good tunes, but is a bit hit and miss, but the other two are all about the killer. But I don't really care about the first album supposedly having some filler, because Mclusky have hooked me in so hard that I have to have all their releases. It just feels so good to be supporting a band that's heads above everybody else. It's just such a goddamn shame that they split last year in January. It was down to personal differences, so I guess it was inevitable, but let's not look at the sad part of Mclusky's history, let's look at the good part and listen to some mp3's.

Here's the deal: Mcluskyism can be bought with just the a-sides, but I bought the Limited Edition with 3 cds. So now I'll give you one track off each cd, and the thought behind this was to show Mclusky's diversity. They can rock your face off, make you strut while you think you're the coolest person in the world, they can be surprisingly punky, they can make indie-pop-songs that'll surprise you even more... Did I mention that they rock your face off?

A-side

To Hell With Good Intentions. This is the Mclusky-song that inspired the name for this blog, and it was my lovely, contributing brother who suggested it, so I can't take any credit for it. Bastard. I guess that this song is kind of Mclusky in a nutshell. It has the brilliant lyrics (My band is better than your band / we've got more songs than a song convention SING IT!), it's noisy but sounds like it could fit right in on The Pop Factory, and the bass-lines... don't get me started, guys. The main thing you got to know about this song though, is that it's one of the coolest songs ever. Download the song, listen, and just go on and buy Mcluskyism. But now... The B-side!

B-side

Provincial Song. This song was the first b-side track to stick in my head when I first played through the b-sides. One reason is because of the chorus (Rock n' Roll's just a ring on your finger!) which my brother put as the subject in a mail he wrote to me not long ago, and at the time I didn't know it was a Mclusky-referance, so I paid a bit more attention to this song than the others. The other reason it stuck to me is because it's a really good song. This is clearly a-side material (along with a lot of the other b-sides), but I'm going to guess that this song didn't fit the feel of the albums so it was left out. This song shows Mclusky's strength in having basically the same melody/drum beat throughout the entire song without getting boring whatsoever. Next tuuune!

C-side

KKKitchens, What Were You Thinking? This song falls in the same category as the b-side. Having the same drumbeat/bassline throughout the entire song, but it's just the most fun ever! The bounce of the song just makes you tap your foot and put on your cool face, while bopping your head up and down. I think I have a bit of a sneer while listening to this song as well. Safe to say I feel cool as hell listening to this song, and you should too. Next up... Mclusky LIVE! ...at ULU!

Live-track

Falco Vs The Young Canoeist (Live at ULU 26 Nov 2004). This is probably the most unaccesible track I'll put up, and I probably wouldn't have put it up in the first place because, you know... "it's so noisy, how can anyone listen to that crap! blah blah" (you'll find out when you listen to it), but I had to put it up because of the "banter" after the song. It's the best thing ever. I don't want to spoil anything, you'll just have to listen through it all. Even if you don't like the song, you HAVE to listen through it to get to hear the "banter". I think it would be less awesome if you just skip through the song to hear what's said, just so you know. And the next song that starts right after the talking... Incredible. Andy Falkous = the man.

Well that's about it... But wait! There's more! Remember when I wrote that Mclusky could make really good indie-pop as well? Of course you don't! You're just here for the free songs, not to actually READ this mindless drivel. Anyway, I'll throw in a bonus song which is probably their most accesible and I love it to bits. I read somewhere that with songs like these Mclusky could've gotten much bigger if they hadn't shot themselves in the foot at some point during the song. You'll (most likely) get what I mean. But I, of course, don't think they shoot themselves in the foot. I think they put on some sort of really damaging footwear, and kicked the asses of everyone who don't have the guts to try to do something different with their music. So there.

She Will Bring You Only Happiness.

That's it. Hope you enjoy this enough to spend some money on it (I HIGHLY! recommend that you buy Mcluskyism with 3 discs), but if you don't then it's your choice to be the most musically inept person... ever! If you're affiliated with these songs and want them taken down then mail me at "karwes [at] gmail [dot] com" and I will take it down pronto! We here put up songs for fun, and always support the music that's featured here in one way or another. We also urge our downloaders to buy something to support bands/artists/writers if they like it.

Note to self: Get a disclaimer on the site tomorrow.

One last thing: My grandma will return on Monday, so posts will be more frequent after that. I PROMISE!

My love is bigger than your love, SING IT!

Edit: for all you lazy people out there, Mclusky can be bought here(UK), and here(US)

Exciting! Essential! Eeeeenteresting!

2006-06-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

Ex Machina
Brian K. Vaughan / Tony Harris
DC Comics/Wildstorm
2004 - present

A lot of the most classic premises for speculative fiction (you know, stories that couldn't, like, happen in real life) start with two words: "What if". What if aliens invaded the earth? What if the dead rose from their graves, hungry for live flesh? What if we could travel in time? What if something happened, giving an ordinary person supernatural powers? I'm guessing you could come up with a dozen great movies, books and tv shows that spring from each of those "whatifs", without thinking all that hard.

Ex Machina is a twist on the last of the above whatifs, telling the story of a New York civil engineer, Mitchell Hundred, who gets caught in an explosion and finds himself able to control any machinery or technology by... talking to it. Helped by two friends who are in on the secret, Mitchell becomes The Great Machine, the world's first superhero. So far, so standard. But you see, this is a little bit closer to our world than the comic books Mitchell and his friends take their inspiration from, and most of The Great Machine's efforts result in fiasco, endangering the people he's trying to help, and earning as many enemies as he does friends. After a year of small successes and bigger failures, Mitchell decides to give up the hero business, instead trying to parlay his fame/infamy into a campaign as an independent candidate for New York's City Hall. Indeed, that's where the first book opens, with Mitchell Hundred newly sworn in as Mayor of the greatest city in the world.

But that's really just the most straightforward way of looking at Ex Machina's story. The book uses a non-linear chronological structure (a fancy way of saying the story jumps back and forward in time); telling the parallell stories of The Great Machine's superhero days and Mayor Hundred's political struggles, together with glimpses of Mitchell's life before all this happened. When woven together, these threads make the book more than a straight superhero tale, a political comedy/thriller or an ensemble drama. To make with the movie poster quotes, Ex Machina is by turns funny, scary, exciting, inspiring and educational, and sometimes even all those things at once.

Okay, so that's the straight sell, what you'll probably find in every review of the book online and in print. What makes it sing for me? First of all, the (fictional) look at New York politics in the wake of September 11th is incredibly interesting. I'm as big a West Wing fan as anyone, but EM is somewhat more accessible, and a bit less preachy and schmaltzy. Trust me, I'm all about the schmaltz, but I can see how all the melodrama in Aaron Sorkin's show could put off some of the more impatient viewers. I think the great characters of City Hall and Mitchell Hundred's personal life, and the interaction between them, are EM's greatest strengths, but the creepy subplot about the origin of The Great Machine's powers is also fantastic, giving the book an edge of mystery and otherness straight outta Twin Peaks.

EM is surprisingly graphic and violent at times, really living up to its hype as an HBO series in comicbook form. There is also swearing.

Now, I've been rambling for four paragraphs without mentioning the people behind this book, so I'm going to remedy that by throwing some praise at writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Tony Harris. Vaughan is, in my opinion, one of the best writers in mainstream American comics today. His work on EM and his other two hit series, Y: The Last Man and Runaways, is head and shoulders above most of the rabble, managing to tell tales that cater both to newcomers and to more harcore comic fans. Vaughan's dialogue is cracking, and although he isn't overly inventive form-wise, he still writes comicbooks, not films on paper.

Tony Harris is one of the most popular pencillers in US mainstream comics, known mostly for his work on the comic Starman, during the 90s. His style in EM is supposedly pretty heavily photo-referenced, and sometimes that results in an awkward, stodgy pose or two - but he is great at body language and facial expressions, really making the characters act. Harris' action scenes are also top notch, giving the violence a realistic and harsh quality not often seen in superhero comics. Surprisingly, the violence and supernatural elements help with making EM believable, instead of being off-putting and breaking the illusion (as is often the case, both in movies and comics). It sucks you in, makes you sit up straight and pay attention.

To summarise: Ex Machina is the best political superhero drama out there. And it probably would still be, even if the competition... you know, existed.

Your best bet for buying Ex Machina is at your local comics store, but if you don't have one, hit up your local bookseller with the ISBN for the first volumes, or order online:

Volume one

US Edition: 1401206123

UK Edition: 1845760255

Play Amazon UK Amazon US

Volume two

US: 1401206263

UK: 1845761235

Play Amazon UK Amazon US

Volume three

US: 1401209882

UK: 1845762533 (out July 21)

Play Amazon UK Amazon US

And if you're interested in Brian Vaughan or Tony Harris, but didn't find Ex Machina that interesting, here are links for the first volumes of Y: The Last Man and Starman.

This life will be the death of me

2006-06-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

Here's the deal:

Since my grandfather died last year, my grandmother hasn't been too keen to do anything out of her home. Now, my mom managed to persuade her to go see her daughter (my mom's sister) real far away down to the south of Norway. But she has a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge garden, and three cats so someone has to take care of all that. And that someone is me. It's not a lot to do, but I have to ride my bicycle up there after work every, plus I have allergic reactions to the cats, and all that combined makes me friggin' exhausted. The fun part is that they won't be gone for long, just until... THE 10TH OF FRICKIN' JULY! That's flippin' ages away.

So I've decided to not have any certain days to post on for the time being. I'll just post when I feel I have the energy to do so. But have no fear! My brother's friday-posts will still be featured. He sent me a draft for this friday and it's really good. And I also enjoyed his last post very much. It's good to have someone who writes better than you as a co-pilot, because then you're constantly reminded that you have to kick it up a notch yourself. That, or you could hire someone to dispose of said co-pilot... Naaaah.

So the situation is Me = Hiatus, bro = live and kicking (FOR NOW!!! MUAHAHAHHAhaha..ha... ahem).

Biyar!

Frick!

2006-06-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't know if anyone was really waiting on this site, pressing the update-button to see when my post would be in, but I am sorry for not keeping to my schedule. My excuses are that I started my summerjob yesteday (at the local TouristInformation!), when I got home I was frickin' EXHAUSTED, and when I finally was in 'normal mode' we got a visitor. And on top of all that I had to watch the World Cup. So basically I just need to get used to this whole working thing, and you'll see that I'll be more reliable as we go along!

Yesterday should've been "OMG! TOTALLY RAD NORWEGIAN MUZAK DAY!!11", but I guess I'm postponing that until I have everything in order. So today I just thought I'd hit you with a couple of mp3zles to keep you occupied. And then come with a really awesome post tomorrow on some international band that you possibly haven't heard of, but reallyreallyreally should. I think that I'll start writing about them when I get home from work today, so that I have some of the text down before execution day.

Sorry if this post was really terrible. It's 8 o'clock in the morning and I'm tired!!

Wednesday will be good. I guarantee it. (Guarantee is a really weird-looking word)

MP3ZLES!

Ungdomskulen - Surrrrrfs Up!

Stockhaus - It Take's Time (Live)

Ah, crap! I'm late for work!

Brother in a house of fools

2006-06-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

To continue in the great tradition already begun by this blog's proprietor, I'm forgoing my real inaugural post for some random babbling. Hey, if it works for my brother, it works for me!

I've muscled my way onto the staff here at A Song Convention simply to embarrass Karsten on a weekly basis. When I'm not busying myself with the trash talk and awkward stories from his childhood, I'll be writing about books, movies, TV and music (of course). And because you, the reader, deserves so much more than a weekly this-is-what-I-like-column, I've gone beyond the call of duty and added some... gimmicks! In the coming weeks, you can look forward to such wonders as:

Exciting! Essential! Eeenteresting!

Quite coincidentally, three of my favouritest bands/artists of all time start with the letter "E". I really don't need a better excuse for using this space to regale you about my love for Enya, Everclear and The Eagles. Also, this could very well be a joke.

Let's Swing the Dead Cat

For my next trick, I'll be drawing at random from my ever-growing must-buy list of DVDs, CDs, comics, books and games. I'll buy it, and I'll write about it. Want to get in on the game? Click on comments, and give me a number between 1 and 7, a letter between A and Z, and a number between 1 and 100. For example; 3-F-68. You might just be the lucky winner of the chance to see me write interminably about something you're not really interested in!

Grizzled and weathered, over the water

Gig reviews from the city I reside in, Trondheim.

My Lucky Number

When I run out of inane ideas for columns, I'll just write an entry in my fluctuating account of the 56 things I love the most.

That's it.

I'll leave you with a couple of ditties that set a fire under my backside recently. They'll be up for a week or two, and, as always (say what?), these are for fun, not for profit. If you are the artist or rights holder and don't want these tracks to be illegally downloaded and listened to by our quality readers, eager to spend their hard-earned cashmoney on your music - please let us know, and we will remove the files post haste.

1. Dizzee Rascal vs. The Strokes - "Jus' a Reptilian"

2. Mary Me Young - "Unspoiled"

All talk and no pants

2006-06-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

So... about that post I promised.

It's not happening. I guess I have a little too much faith in online-stores delivering on time. I'm not so surprised that the cd I need to make my first post is late (because I ordered that one all the way from America), but the two cds I've ordered from Play has taken the longest time ever! It's never taken this long before. I might take my business to CD-WoW from now on. That's right Play! I'm threatening you! Anyway, I'll do my mp3-post as soon as I get my package from the States in my filthy, little hands.

Oh, and by the way, kids! I've decided on the time-schedule! *yaaaaaay* *clapping!* *woo woo woo!*

Monday - This will be when you receive your hot tips on the Norwegian scene. I'm going to do some brainstorming on something cool to name it, so look out for something INZANY (totally just made that word up) and whacky coming your way next monday!
Wednesday - International tips day! Here I'm also going to have to think of a cool name, so watch out for that too. Both days will include mp3's if you were wondering.
Friday - This will sadly not be "Kill All Humans"-day, but I think we can live with that because my brilliant big brother will have his own little column that day. And this will be a regular feature, folks. I'm not totally sure on what he'll bring to the "team", but I'm hella excited to see what he'll be writing. I'll let him explain the concept himself. And it'll be ready for your reading pleasure this Friday! \o/

In between days, I'll most likely just post as I want. If there's a band I can't wait to let you guys know about, if I've been to a show and have pictures, I'll just post that sort of thing whenever.

Additional news: I've been listening to the Marit Larsen record nonstop this week, and it's so good! I highly recommend you go buy it as soon as it's available to you for a decent price. It will definitely be in my top 5 at the end of the year. Maybe even a top 3! It's aces. More on that record monday!

See ya'll. Hope you'll stick around long enough to let me get my first mp3-post up!

Toodles!

This Song Convention Will Knock You Down!

2006-06-16T17:48:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't been very active in the writing-department (yes, I've divided this blog into departments. That makes me cool, not dorky. Remember that), but that's just because I've yet to sit down and make myself a time-schedule. I'm going to make a promise right now, just as much to you as to myself, to have a schedule finished by wednesday. By then I guess I'll have that album on which I'll make my first real post on. With mp3's and everything. Maybe even a piñata! Ok, even me with my well-known superpowers can't promise a piñata, but I'll see what I can do.

I'm getting more and more excited by this whole thing, I tells you! The one thing I've been thinking about that's making me really happy, is that with this blog I'll be forcing myself to buy more Norwegian music. Last year the only Norwegian album I bought was Maelstrom by JR EWING (who ended their careers not so long ago... shame), and now because of this blog I've already bought three Norwegian records! It's not that I don't want to buy Norwegian music, I just very often pick an american/english/whatever record in stead. Now it seems I'm all about supporting the home scene. And that's a very, very good thing. I already have it clear in my head which two records I'll buy next, and they are both by very talented Norwegian lads.

Whatever your parents tells you about pot being bad for you, or heroin, poppers, knick knacks, belters, "honey corn" (I'm just making stuff up now), they're just trying to keep you away from the real danger: Supporting music. Buying records, band merch, going to shows are like crack to me, and I just keep on spending.

Cons: spending money on limited edition vinyl when you should've used that money to pay your rent.

Pros: hey, at least it doesn't make you look like a hobo. Or if it does, then you can call yourself an indie-hobo. But what I really want to be is an Indietit.

I received my three Norwegian records on Tuesday, and the first record I gave a spin was of course the Marit Larsen one. I didn't give it a close look, because I was too excited to listen to my first bought record of this year (I was in Russia from september 05, to may this year.. it's a short story), I just threw it in my mom's laptop and put on my headphones. I was ready for Windows Media Player to pop up and play the cd, but no, a different ugly, orange player popped up and played the first track on the album. I took another look at the cd-case and then I saw it. A little round sticker with "Copy Controlled" written on it. I hate it when people put that crap on a cd. But that's a different story for another time. I just decided to let it go and listen through the cd. I guess I got a bit mad because of the "CC" thing, because I stopped the cd after the first five tracks. Things like "this is way too glossy. I would like it to sound more rough. Ugh, this is so slick I have to stop listening" entered my mind, even though I'd already heard track 2 (Under the Surface) and track 3 (Don't Save Me) before and really enjoyed them, I just couldn't now. So I put it away, to listen to it some other time.

That other time was today, when I was a good boy and washed the dishes after dinner. And it was so much better this time I can't even begin to describe it. I was just smiling and shaking my butt, while washing the dishes and listening to Marit singing about relationships and boyz (I haven't really gone too deep in her lyrics yet). I even got a major goosebump-moment to one of the songs. And I love it when music gives me goosebumps.

After writing all that *points up* I'm starting to wonder if I'm just scaring of potential readers with these huge blocks of text? But I guess it's just a test of my writing-skills. The test of hookin' y'all in, just by writing like... in a totally awesome way. Dude.

In other news you should totally head on over to Clever Titles and join the Birthday Bash! The blog is one year, and there's a lot of good music to be gotten these days. So run on over and party your various-sized asses off, and I'll see you wednesday. (Man, I'm really doing CTASLS a big favour by sharing this with my massive fan-base, they should be grateful over there)

One more thing: If you aren't already acquainted with J.Jacques Questionable Content you need to head on over there right now and start reading it from the start. I just went through a "I'll just read five more, and then I'll finish the blogpost... Ok, ten more wouldn't hurt... Thirty more and that's ALL! I'm putting my foot down!"-phase. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I made it out to be, but I really had to tear myself from it. ...Wh-what? Why the hell are you still here?! Click that link, hit the archive and start reading! It's a bit hit and miss in the beginning, but it gets better. Oh, it does get better. Thanks to my friend John for putting my nose in it's direction.

Sorry for boring you, I'll have my really kickass mp3-post on Wednesday. I pwomise.

Later, peoples.

I hope my parents don't read this

2006-06-12T04:12:00.000-07:00

Hey peeps.

Been a while since my last update, but have no fear! I have not been lazy... ok, maybe a bit, but what I have done is buy a bunch of cds! I checked my account as a spur of the moment kind of thing, and I noticed that I suddenly had a lot of cash on there! It's my "vacationmoney" from when I worked last summer. I don't wish to bore you with more details.

Anyway, after that I headed right on over to some webshops and then I bought about six cds. Yikes. But I had the good intentions of having some firepower for this blog in the weeks to come, and I think you have some good stuff coming for you if I may say so myself. I bought three Norwegian records, and three international ones. I'll mention one of the Norwegian ones now, and one international cd so that you'll get a couple of surprises in the future posts... SURPRISE!

The first Norwegian cd that you'll get to know about is Under the Surface by Marit Larsen. You know, that girl from the legendary superduo M2M (now broken up *sad smiley*) who doesn't make crappy music, and is much, much more easier on the eyes. I've heard the first two singles and they made me want to get the album ASAP! So I did.

One of the international records I bought was Pretty Girls Make Graves' latest album Elan Vital. I really look forward to this, but I don't think they can top The New Romance (on my top 5 list of best albums... EVAR!) with this one. I'm expecting there to be some real good tunes there though. So yeah. You'll probably notice in the future that I'm PGMG's BIGGEST FAN! OMG!

I've been thinking of writing a F.A.Q-thingy, because those things are like super-helpful. I might not though... Just an idea. I've been thinking a lot about this blog lately, and I'm really looking forward to see if I can get it going somewhere. If not, that's cool. I've pretty much decided that for the time being this site will give me good practice in writing, messing around with websites to make them look better, and to be more committed to doing something, seeing as I'll eventually have a schedule to stick by. Monday - Norwegian Music-Post, Wednesday - International Music-Post, Friday - Kill All Humans. Something like that.

That's it for now, and I look forward to killing you all soon.

Don't know what I'm talking about? Go ask a ninja... seriously go Ask A Ninja. I'm going to submit my own question soon!

Don't say you love, you don't even know me, baaaaaby!

If you were wondering (people do get confused) I'm a dude.

6/6/06

2006-06-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

Happy National Day Of Slayer everyone!

\m/ ! METAL!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, take a gander at this site:

SLAYER!*

I used to have this obsession with Slayer and wanted to buy all their albums. Don't know why I didn't go through with it because I loves me some Angel Of Death metalling out from time to time. Now I'm going through a serious indie-phase, and I'm contemplating buying Broken Social Scene's entire back catalog.

But enough about those stank ass pussies, time to metal!

DUNNDUNNDUNN DEEDUDEEDU DUDEEDU DUDEEDU! CHUGGACHUGG! CHUGGACHUGG! DUNNDUNNDUNNDEEDUDEEDUDEE!**

*I do not approve of killing the neighbour's dog, staging full-scale riots on the other hand...
**That's supposed to be Raining Blood if you didn't get that.

Peace... uh, I mean WAR!

Anyways, good bye, oops I mean 'bad bye'.

Okay, I'll stop with the lame jokes,

Things to come

2006-06-03T16:03:00.000-07:00

As I sit here listening to gay emo I will try to tell you what kind of blog this might be:

When I thought of starting this whole blog-mess my main goal is to be different. I have an advantage there seeing as I'm Norwegian and have hands-on access to a lot of bands/artists that would take a long time to get a break in the international scene, if they catch a break at all. I also have a good eye on the scene in England, and let me tell you, there are some great bands there that are just waiting to be blogged about by some Norwegian with delusions of thinking that people would actually give two cents about what he's writing.

I'm going to sit down and think out a schedule for this blog soon, and when I do that there will be no way stopping me. The only thing that's keeping me from doing my first real post is that a certain cd is temporarily out of stock at play.com. But for those who care, I promise a post at the end of the month, and after that... MORE MORE MORE!

All together now: A LUMP'S STUCK IN MY THROAT!

Stick around.

This is a song convention.

2006-05-31T08:20:00.000-07:00

And I am now opening.

As soon as I get my hands on a certain band's '-ism', I will make my first real post.

Until next time: We're all going straight to hell.

Edit: I've added HaloScan, SpamPoison and Technorati just for shits and giggles. Tomorrow I will bore you with a text about what type of Music-Blog this will be, and when I get my hands on my -ism, that's when the fun will begin.

A Song Convention

Brief smiles help

THURSDAY: The day of big eyes of wonder, big smiles, and silly dance moves

WEDNESDAY: The day of 'Okay'

The Best(est) Festival

Wanna know how I got these scars?

Weird and wonderful

"You are what you love, not what loves you"

The pride overtakes me.

The sound of fingers clicking

Beware of the local honey trap

Don't do that. Do this in stead.

Trying something new

On again. Off Again.

Be amazed

I wanna see the movies of my dreams.

Menomena! Du-du-dududu!

Didn't this already happen?

It's business-time.

Rockettothesky

Future of the Left

I get knocked down, but I get up again.

I thought I had what it would take, to walk right into the hall of fame

Desperado: PART TWO!

Desperado

The three day hump

Reincarnated in Tromso

Karwes goes to uni.

If I wasn't so lazy...

TV Eye

*Kills self with bold head*

"I like you guys already!"

I suck

We <3 Marit

And now I can sleep easily

These are a few of my favourite things

This band is better than your band

Exciting! Essential! Eeeeenteresting!

This life will be the death of me

Frick!

Brother in a house of fools

All talk and no pants

This Song Convention Will Knock You Down!

I hope my parents don't read this

6/6/06

Things to come

This is a song convention.

Kills self with bold head