The Danes have struggled at times to make their voices heard when you compare them against fellow Scandinavians: the Swedes, Icelanders and Finns. Maybe the buying public is more familiar with music from these countries but the Danes can be rightly proud of their homegrown talent too.
My album of last year was 'Golden Sea', the second release from Our Broken Garden. It was probably released too late for the ridiculously early compiled 'best of' lists that the record shops and music magazines published for 2010 but for atmosphere, lyrics, for the way the album developed I thought it couldn't be bettered. I've recommended track 3 (I seem to have a knack for remembering the track numbers on albums - good memory or Rain Man? You decide), the Fiery and Loud as the very best example of this to all my friends.
It's no surprise that lead singer, Anna Bronsted, is also in Danish folky electronic band, Efterklang who also specialise in moody downtempo songs to rather fat orchestration. This gets the thumbs up from Thomas, my 11 year old and that is rare praise indeed from a very fussy pop music afficianado! This is the first song, 'The Departure' from 'Golden Sea'.
My album of last year was 'Golden Sea', the second release from Our Broken Garden. It was probably released too late for the ridiculously early compiled 'best of' lists that the record shops and music magazines published for 2010 but for atmosphere, lyrics, for the way the album developed I thought it couldn't be bettered. I've recommended track 3 (I seem to have a knack for remembering the track numbers on albums - good memory or Rain Man? You decide), the Fiery and Loud as the very best example of this to all my friends.
It's no surprise that lead singer, Anna Bronsted, is also in Danish folky electronic band, Efterklang who also specialise in moody downtempo songs to rather fat orchestration. This gets the thumbs up from Thomas, my 11 year old and that is rare praise indeed from a very fussy pop music afficianado! This is the first song, 'The Departure' from 'Golden Sea'.
A year or two ago, I came across a quirky hip hop type song by Balstyrko. There's something about them that made me want to investigate further. Formed in 2007, the 3 musicians are well-known on the Danish circuit from previous bands and play a kind of folky trip hop in their native Danish. Just think of Massive Attack or Smith and Mighty in their 'spoken' songs with female backing singers. That's not to say they are downbeat, more offbeat (I mean that in a good way).
I wrote to lead singer, Lasse Bavngaard (better known as Blæs Bukki) asking him if Balstyrko were planning on coming to the UK. Sadly, he told me that, no, they weren't planning on touring anytime, anywhere, in the future. I've tried looking out for any side projects that he's been involved in but my lack of Danish hinders my searches. If any Danes out there can help I'd really appreciate it. After a lot of hunting, I did manage to buy a copy of 'Jagten Paa Noget' and it has pride of place in my ever growing CD collection. This is called 'Flammer og Steaks' and is from that very album:
When Saints Go Machine are another Danish outfit producing some excellent dance music. They release 'Fail Forever EP' this week and it's certainly causing a lot of people to sit up and take notice. The tune sounds similar to EBTG's super smash 'Missing' but heavy use has been made of classical orchestra instruments as well as the familiar keyboard and drum machine. I'd classify this as dream pop but I wouldn't argue the point too much if you described this as mournful, blues-y dance music.
I wonder if these bands being Danish has held them back somewhat. I really hope that they get the mainstream success they deserve and lead the way for a whole generation of great Danish pop. It's worked with the Swedes and Icelanders, after all.
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