Popaganda with Belle and Sebastian

Just recently got my ticket in the mail-box for this year´s Popaganda festival in Stockholm. This year will feature legendary Belle and Sebastian (which I of course especially look forward to), Hot Chip, Shout out louds, Jonathan Johansson, The Concretes and many moore. It will be held at the 27th to 28th August, at Eriksdalsbadet, an area normally reserved for swimmers, so there are a few pools just next to the concerts.



/ The Drumming Cat

The best of 2010 so far part 2

bJust thougt a couple of songs would also deserve a place on my best of 2010 so far. So here is part 2 with another Spotify playlist.

Track listing:
1. Tanlines - Real life
2. Beach fossils - Sometimes
3. Washed out - New theory
4. Javelin - Vibrationz
5. The Sound of Arrows - Into the clouds (Fear of tigers remix)
6. Ratatat - Grape juice city
7. CEO - Come with me
8. Gorillaz - On melancholy hill
9. The Golden filter - Solid gold
10. The Art museums - Sculpture gardens
11. Real estate - Younger than yesterday
12. Stornoway - Fuel up

Enjoy!

/The Drumming Cat

There is a light that... goes out?

Sadly, this is the last time. A couple of days in August will be the last chance to go to "Sing-along at Debaser" ("Allsång på Debaser") in Stockholm. Magnus Carlsson, the singer from Weeping Willows, has during the 2000s entertained Stockholm where the crowd sings along as he performs covers of indie classics such as Pulp´s "Common people", Joy Divisions "Love will tear us apart". Especially I will miss his cover of The Smiths "There is a light that never goes out" which always begins and ends the shows. If you are in Stockholm in August, you MUST go there. It is an experience out of the ordinary and you simply have to go if you haven´t been there. TRUST ME.

"First of the gang to die" from the Sing along 2006



/The Drumming Cat

Work out to indie music in Stockholm!

Are you tired of that crappy music they play at the gym? Wouldn´t it be all better if you could work out to Blurs "Girls and Boys", Vampire Weekends "A-Punk" or The Drums "Lets go surfing"? This is a reality in Stockholm! For the third year in a row a couple of enthusiats are arranging indie work out outdoors for the low cost of 30 Swedish kr! Here are the dates if youre passing by Stockholm.

Here is also a Spotify-playlist created by those arranging the work out, which I take the liberty to pass through to you.

/The Athletic Cat

Warm heart of Africa

With the first World cup ever on African soil soon to its end with the final game tonight, I put together a Spotify playlist with only African artists.

Enjoy!

The Very Best featuring Ezra Koenig from Vampire weekend live in New York City.



/ The Drumming Cat

Best of 2010 so far...

Six months has passed, that is half the year of 2010 is completed. These are my favorites from this year (from those I know is available on Spotify).

Track list for you that dont have Spotify:
1. Suburban kids with biblical names - Funeral face
2. Ariel Pink´s haunted graffiti - Bright lit blue skies
3. This is head - 0003
4. School of seven bells - Windstorm
5. The Radio Dept - Heaven´s on fire
6. Caribou - Odessa
7. The Drums - Let´s go surfing
8. Yeasayer - O.N.E.
9. Peter Morén - Esther
10. Beach House - Zebra
11. Hot Chip - One life Stand
12. Matthew Herbert - Dublin
13. LCD Soundsystem - Drunk girls
14. Tracey Thorn - Why does the wind?
15. Vampire Weekend - Diplomat´s son
16. Field music - Lets write a book
17. Seabear - Ill build you a fire
18. Kendal Johansson - Blue moon
19. Anna Von Hausswolff - Track of time

Best covers:
20. Tracey Thorn - Taxi cab
21. Anna Von Hausswolff - Gloomy Sunday

The revenge of the Vuvuzela

Vuvuzela, an instrument not so appreciated in the western world. The instrument have been heard - with its monotone charactaeristic - throughout the entire World cup in South Africa. Now Swedish musician Håkan Lidbo tries to give the instrument a betetr reputation - by making a song based on the instrument. The song can be heard sometimes during this interview with him in Swedish. So if you want to get a glimpse of how it sounds, click on the white speaker found in the black link on the page and the interview will be heard.

This is what Håkan Lidbo himself says about the instrument to Sveriges Radio (my translation):

- I think the sound from the World cup sounds very inspiring, he says. Just imagine how grand it is that so many people are playing music together at once.

- I can imagine there are few africans that get angry at the Vuvuzela. In English and in the western world you say you "play" music. We see music as a composition and a live performance. In most African music traditions music is more seen as a way of spending time together.

- I heard an interview with an African pop star that said he couldn´t stand listening to western classical music. The tones never come back, the melody just changes all the time was his thoughts. His definition of good music was when everyone played the same tones over and over until everyone could handle playing them. That was good music in his mind.

/The Drumming Cat

Northern soul documentary

Found this wonderful documentary about Northern Soul and the Wigan casino in northern England in the late 1960´s. DJ:s re-discovered forgotten beautiful soul melodies from lesser known american artists and started palying them at different clubs. Wigan casino was one of the most famous ones.



Enjoy!

/The Drumming Cat with soul in his soul

Music is the best reward

I congratulated myself for all the hard work I have had put down during the last six months with buying two LP albums a couple of weeks ago, being accepted to both a journalistic education and with two months at a journalistic internship I felt I had the right to enjoy some new music. I walked into a record store in Stockholm (Mosebacke records I think it was called, it looks small, but is really big if you just take a closer look...) which was all new to me, but with a really large collection of LP:s! Really recommend to go there if your´e passing by Stockholm! So i decided to buy Laurie Andersons classic album "Big Science" and The Triffids "Black swan". Both were really good. It was a perfect reward.

Rip it up and start the blog again

Yes, now Im back! After a couple of hectic months with studying, a journalistic internship, work etc. I now have some time off to write on the blog!:)And this time Im back stronger than ever... I have now also started to write on a blog with political (neutral) theme. Please read it and tell me what you think. thecatgoespolitical.blogspot is the address.

Anyhow, I thought it would be good to start with a good book recommendation, something for you to enjoy in your hammock during Summer. This book is called "Rip it up and start again" by Simon Reynolds which I read during spring. Although I didn´t write on the blog, of course I took some time to engage in my biggest interrest.

The book is about the Post Punk era 1978 and 1984. Reynolds guides us through the history of post punk, how it emerged, the reasons to the development of the genre and how this creative era finally stopped in the mid-80s. Reynolds gives us brilliant details and each chapter is divided after record labels and bands. This is truly a brilliant book due to the fact that, as far as I know, no such comprehensive book has ever been written on this neglected but great and meaningful era in music history. Everything from Joy Division to Orange Juice can be found in this wonderful book.



Enjoy!

/The Drumming Cat