New music: Justice - Civilization

Darn it, there is not much to say except, "Oh, how I LOVE French electronica". It's so elegant, so cool effects, so tight, so pretty, so well arranged, so just plain great. Justice is back and they have been listening to to their for-fathers. Makes me groove around the room.

Here, enjoy!

Great songs and Great music video: Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten

Some artists have a voice that just brings tears to my eyes because it's just so sincere and seams to come straight from their heart. Natasha Bedingfield is one of those. Even though she might be considered to pop or to commercial for a lot of the people out there, I think she just have that certain special little thing. I love quite a few of her songs and they just hit me on a very personal note somehow. This is the first one who became my favourite and can still brighten up a day when the world just seam to big and scary, I feel tied down to the same boring things and like nothing new is ever going to happen. Listening to this song makes me remember who I am and how I like to live my life. Hope it can give you some hope and brighten up your Sunday too. And what an amazingly cute video!

I am unwritten,
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined
I'm just beginning
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your innovation

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten, yeah

Oh, oh

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries
Are outside the lines, oh yeah yeah
We've been conditioned
To not make mistakes
But I can't live that way oh, oh

Staring at the blank page before you...

Feel the rain on your skin..
Feel the rain on your skin..

Staring at the blank page before you...

Feel the rain on your skin..
Feel the rain on your skin..


The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten

Great musicians: Charlotte Hatherley

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/lornethomson/

(This is an old blog post I wrote back in 2008 in another blog, but Charlotte is still a great gal, though her latest solo work, is not that great. She's just a very cool.)

A few years back I started listening to a lot of Ash, but it was first about a year ago I realized that the lead-guitarists on those tracks was actually a woman: Charlotte Hatherley. Later she has left the band and got a solo career, but I still really love those guitarlicks that she made for the Ash songs. Tonight I also looked at some of her solo stuff and it's really cool to.

Great interview about guitarplaying.

Bastardo is a really funny song and a great cartoon video.
Making of Bastardo

Mostly her solo stuff is not as good as Ash though, but the guitarplaying is genius as always :)

This is Shining light of Ash where I think she does some really really beautiful guitar lines especially on the refrains in the end. (Look how little focus it is on Charlotte though she actually does more than sing and almost all the solo guitar stuff. That would never happen to a boy ;)

On Jules Holland though things are a little better. They always know the song before they film it ;)

This from Glastonbury is not so bad either

Cool interview, a little bit bad sound though :)

New single: Arctic Monkeys - Brick By Brick

Arctic Monkeys have always known how to play real good rock'n'roll and at the same time have that little kick of adventuress to it, and thankfully in their new single "Brick By Brick" they still do. The song starts with another great raw guitar riff and then is soon followed by the genius of the rhythm section of Arctic Monkeys. There are few other that play with such intensity like them. I love that they all ready after the first vers/chorus combination that is quite repetitive, even though it rocks puts in a little, but oh so great guitar solo. After another verse and refrain, it sound like the song is gonna stop, but instead they go into a slower version of the same theme, and oh, what a lovely sexy version of it, before returning to the original riff.
But most curiously of all, who is singing the verses on this thing, either Alex Turner is doing something crazy amazing and new to his voice or they put one of the other members in the "singer-driver-seat". For a while, I even wondered if it was an actual Arctic Monkeys song, but in the choruses Alex is back, I think.

Oh, yes. I love the video. In true style Arctic Monkeys videos are always good. And I am very glad to hear some amazing guitar riff and arrangements when Radiohead has apparently stopped caring about that ;)

Musical Memories: DumDum Boys - SUS

Obs, det var her vi var
Vel, hurra for det
Teddyfor i hue og vrient lynne

Time for another of my musical memories: those songs or albums that just brings you back to a certain time in your life and you can almost feel the air from back then around you.

For me one of this magic moments are connected to the Norwegian band DumDum Boys album SUS. I have it on cd, but I am a lazy one these days and listen to most of my music through Spotify, so I have waited for a long time for that album to be released on Spotify. A lot of people doesn't really like this DumDum album, I think. But I simply love the sound of it. It has great guitar riffs (all through the album), exciting arrangements (Texas/Møkkamann), sounds and effects and cool rhythms (Nå er Nå). DumDum Boys is almost always great when it comes to pure rock'n'roll and great lyrics, but this has something extra. And I also think it's quite amazing that it came out in 1996. It's somehow very adventures for it's time and just before the years when some of my favourite new and adventurous albums from the late 90's came out, but I mean this is Norway..! I just think it's a little treasure. Not to mention the strange fact that it was recorded in Australia.

I haven't listened to the album in several years now, but it's amazing when you find music that you have for some reason loved in your life, and you still remember every line of lyric and they are still great. It brings me back to being 17 in my mother's basement. I can almost smell the sound of the walls. Looking forward to have this as my background music while I work on Monday.

SuS on Spotify
Wikipedia
Home page for DumDum Boys