Maybe the next best thing!

Jack (Will and Grace) on playing blackjack: "Oh, no, all that "hit me, hit me" gets me excited for all the wrong reasons."

Anyway, here's a Hit Me (more like a Hit Machine?) that gets me excited for all the wrong reasons. The biggest surprise, probably, is that they're not even Scandinavian. They're from Amsterdam!

Hit Me TV - Maybe The Dancefloor

P.S. See if you can find the Blokgolf Remix. It might even help you through your exams, Euro 2008, etc. Here it is!

Starting Point

Yesterday dEUS kicked-off their new tour along small venues across Europe, hawking their upcoming album Vantage Point. Doornroosje in Nijmegen had the honour of being the first of over twenty stages to be taken possession of, which shouldn’t be that much of a problem. My point of reference in this respect was the stunning performance they gave in the Aula Magna, Lisbon, Fall 2005, which is likely to be the most suitable concert location I ever visited.

I soon discovered that wasn’t really fair, for the obvious reason that at this stage the band is still entitled to some degree of imperfection. Plus, during their a two-hour (!) show I’m almost convinced they managed to play every single track of their new album. That’s the spirit!

Some points worth mentioning:

• The Black Box Revelation, opening for dEUS, prooved once again that Belgians know their way around guitars.
• “Slow” sounded a little… slow. Wait, make that feebly.
• Mauro Pawlowski without a beard looks like John Stamos. All bearded he bears a striking resemblance to The Magic Numbers.
• Mauro knows how to use his voice. Still, he should work on his facial expressions.
• For us Dutchmen it is rather embarrassing and sometimes awkward when someone speaks Flemish and you don’t understand what’s being said. So Mauro, if what you meant to say was ‘thank you’, then you’re welcome.
• Mauro Pawlowski is rather intriguing…

dEUS - The Architect (video)
dEUS - Instant Street (track on MySpace)

Go pique yourself

dEUS will release a new album in april. And if that fact alone isn't enough to pique your curiousity how about the guest vocals from Lies Lorquet from Mitzkov, Guy Garvey from Elbow and Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife? Still not piqued enoug? There are not one but two singles. 'The Architect' for Belgium and 'Slow' (featuring Karin Dreijer Andersson) for the UK, Scandinavia and The Netherlands. Need some more Piqueing? How about the video for Slow? If you still need more you can just go...

dEUS - The Architekt (mp3)

dEUS - Slow (featuring Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife) (video)

Xiu Xiu

I have a lot of love for Xiu Xiu. I think I love them as much as I hate trying to describe their music. Xiu Xiu is Jamie Stewart and his cousin Caralee McElroy with percussionist Ches Smith. That was the easy part, now comes the hard part.
The best way to describe their music is perhaps 'experimental indie' but that's not really a description at all. Sometimes it's noise, but some tracks are just sparse percussion with spoken word (or whispered word). Some tracks might be folky and accoustic while others might be full-on electronic guitar and dissonant beats. Vocals can be raw pasionate and often scary screams but could also be disturbingly desperate whispers or a even a misleadingly sweet girl.
Having said all that Xiu Xiu does have a clear and unique sound and feel (dark and disturbing).

Just give them a listen (if you have the heart that is). Their new album is now streaming here but will only be there untill januari 10.


One of their 'easier' songs with a great video: Xiu Xiu - Boy Soprano (video)

New Order cover: Xiu Xiu - Ceremony (mp3)

New single: Xiu Xiu - I Do What I Want, When I Want (mp3)

With a Wit Woo

I remember toothpaste kisses being horribly contrived, but then again that may have had something to do with my very first Bacardi Breezers I had that same night and the fact that it all took place in a tent.

Well. Toothpaste Kisses anno 2008. It's from The Maccabees and they can pull it off.

11 best shows of 2007

Yes puny humans, cheer for us!
I would like to use this 100th post (!) to congratulate ourselves. And to continue the listing. If it wasn't for the surprise act of the year the number one of this list would be the act I posted about first.

I've seen quite a lot of shows in 2007. My goal was to see all the artists that ended up in my top 15. But a good record does not necesarily mean a good show of course, and there were some surprises this year.
The best supporting act of 2007 was Patrick Watson...thrice! First he opened for Loney, Dear which kinda made me lose interest in the main act. Right after that we were treated to him supporting Interpol (again more interesting than the main act) and he had a double-headline gig with The Besnard Lakes.
The Biggest let-down was The Field. As much as I love his album the 'live act' was anything but live. He just stood there behind his laptop and flicked some switches. Boring! Lo-Fi Fnk at Pukkelpop also were a bit...sad and someone needs to tell Justice that a glowing cross is not an act, it's just a glowing cross.

But what were the 10 shows that made me dance, scream, cry or pee (not really!)?

10: Bjork at Cultuurpark Westergasfabriek (july 8)
I was and still am a bit disappointed by her last album. It features some good songs but it's just not that special somehow. The concert was however. She played the crowd like a Japanese flute. She danced like a little elf-troll on speed accompanied by brass-girls, lasers and flags. She ju-jitsu'd to the beat of Hunter and finally destroyed everything with the anthemic 'Declare Independance' (I still hear her shrill voice scream "raise your flag!" sometimes).

9: Pukkelpop in Hasselt (august 16, 17 and 18)
Although Arcade Fire didn't convince at all (because the sound was crap) Spoon (made me want to dance), Architecture in Helsinki (made me want to dance even more!), Sonic Youth (but not the entire set) and Fujiya & Miyagi (funky!) did. Seeing Low and Besnard Lakes again was also very nice but the true winner of Pukkelpop had to be Patrick Wolf. What a show, what a crowd, what a showman! The first beats of Accident and Emergencies were spectacular.

8: Stars in Paradiso (september 29)
Stars revolve around Amy Millan and Toquil Campbell who proved to be even more charming live than on record. The instant-hit 'Take Me To The Riot' got everyone going, the funky 'Genosha Heights' kept everyone moving and the cathartic duet 'Your Ex-lover is Dead' moved eryone even more. And as if that wasn't enough 'In Our Bedroom After The War' topped it all of (best last song on an album ever?).

7: Soulwax in Club 11 (october 21)
Simian Mobile Disco?...pfff! Justice?...bleh. Soulwax really proved they are the coolest of the cool. They invented cool, threw it away, invented a new cool and reinvented that. They played the remixes they did for other acts...live. To have enough good remixes to be able to do that is one thing, to come up with the bloody genius idea is another, but to make it work so incredibly well is....well....Cool.

6: Spinvis in Theater Kikker (september 23)
Spinvis is really Eric de Jong and played by himself in the small and charming theatre Kikker. I didn't really think it was going to be that special without his band but just him, a guitar, piano and lots of electronic tricks proved to be enough. Escpecially since he posseses a unique talent for uncovering big emotions from 'small' urban situations. I'm not ashamed to say that my eyes filled up a bit.

5: St. Vincent in Theater Kikker (december 8)
Annie Clark was so fragile it looked like whe was made of porcelain. But despite her appearance she really knows what she is doing. And what she's doing is nothing less than brilliant. She plays the piano and the guitar like she was born to it, has such a clear and beautiful voice AND writes incredible songs. An entire album full of them in fact. During the concert I was so close that I had to restrian myself from stepping on stage and hugging her. A savant with looks and charms.
St. Vincent - Marry Me (mp3)

4: Of Montreal in Paradiso (december 11)
Ridiculous costumes, psychedelic (and sometimes downright psychotic) visuals and opening your show with a 15-minute song? A recipy for disaster. But Of Montreal got away with it, and how! Their music features lots of rhytmn changes and breaks but my attention never wandered for a second. I dind't really consider myself a fan before, but now I'm converted. A paradoxically great show. You can watch all of it here.
Of Montreal - The Past is a Grotesque Animal (mp3)

3: The Besnard Lakes in Paradiso (may 28)
Nobody wanted to go with me to see The Besnard Lakes in Paradiso. Understandable if you try to describe their music; "well, it's kinda 70's rock, with male falsetto vocals and a shrill female voice, it's really loud and the songs last about 8 minutes...". They played their entire album and created that magical feeling that you sometimes get when everything just comes together... twice! It happened with 'And Tonight' and with 'And You Lied To Me'.
The Besnard Lakes - And You Lied To Me (live video)

Since I was foolish enough to finish this list before seeing my last show of the year:
2.5: Dan Deacon in Melkweg (20 december)
Just imagine a world where a fat bald-ish sweaty American loops Woody Woodpecker, uses raw techno-beats and sings and screams over it in a helium voice. Then imagine it being the coolest thing ever. COngratulations, you're living in that world! A dance-of, holding hands in a circle and a sing-a-long have never been this cool. The anthemic 'Wham City' was the highlight of the night.
Dan Deacon - Wham City (mp3)

2: Low in Paradiso (may 7)
I've had the pleasure of seeing Low twice this year. The first time was in Paradiso and I have to say that I was not at all prepared for that much subdued beauty. They've learned that less IS more. Highlight of the show was 'Take Your Time', a track that brims with tension and when the harmonic release comes it goes from the gut to the heart. The second time at the pukkelpop festival made me want to see them again a few days later in Utrecht. I really should've gone again.
Low - Take Your Time (live video)

1: The Ark in Waterfront (october 1)
A big fan of The Ark took me to see them. They're huge in Sweden but this was their first time in The Netherlands and they played in quite an unknown venue for some mysterious reason. Not that they seemed to notice because they played as if the crowd consisted of 150.000.000 people instead of 150. We had to endure two lame supporting acts but were treated to THE BEST CONCERT OF THE YEAR! A glam-rock show that spits on the Scissor Sisters from such great heights that it isn't even funny anymore. Cried from enjoyment and peed from exitement. I get all barfy even thinking about how great that show was.
The Ark - It Takes a Fool to Remain Sane (video)

Beer's gone. So now what?

Some personal information probably no one will care about: I'm from a small town in the middle east. Of the Netherlands that is. It's where they speak the dialect the name of our blog is taken from.

To add some trivial knowledge certainly no one will ever care about: just a couple of years ago our local pride Grolsch Beer moved its fabric to a nearby region, which left some hardcore locals with a severe identical crisis. This week it became public Grolsch is about to be sold to a South African brewery. [sentimental mode] Serves them right, those bastards who stole our pride away. [/sentimantal mode]

But we don't need Grolsch anyway. We've got Junkie XL. He's from our part of the country and proud of it! To kill the pain of losing a major brewery, he comes up with the perfect solution: Fuck more! I say we act in accordance with his suggestion.

Junkie XL - Fuck More (video)

(I'd link the mp3, but then you'd probably skip this awesome video)

Let's smurf to Joy Division!

In this era of Joy Division hyping (seriously, when is this going to stop? And will this repeat itself on, let’s say, a five year basis, likewise to the five and a half ABBA revivals we’ve had so far?), let me tell you that eighties joy can be divided differently.

The Wombats already pointed out the silliness of dancing to Joy Division and in this respect I have nothing to add. Let’s all keep celebrating the irony of dancing to sorrow and misery. We have all reason to do so since this night a Dutch Pop Idol contestant responded “Who’s that?”, when she was complimented on her apparently well thought-out theatric eighties Kate Bush-dress. So kudos to The Wombats.

Kudos to Late of the Pier, to To My Boy and to Hadouken! for setting a new standard of new rave, after Klaxons had accidentally mistaken it for anything that combines electro, guitars and some high-pitched oowoowoow’s.

And finally, kudos to Nintendo’s NES, which brought us an enormous source of 8 Bit samples that have been used by an increasing number of electro-/synthpop bands. Fans of The Smurfs on NES must now worship Thermostatic from Sweden for recycling its samples and producing the masterpiece Joy Toy (2005). What’s in a name!

The Wombats – Let’s Dance To Joy Division (video)
Late Of The Pier – Broken (mp3)
To My Boy – The Grid (video)
Hadouken! – That Boy That Girl (mp3)
Thermostatic – Reasons (mp3)

8bitpeoples.com (free 8 bit releases)

Batshit briliant

Opening an album with a song that's basically Woody Woodpecker's laugh looped at two different speeds with some xylophone, crappy keyboard sounds and crazyfying beats? That Dan Deacon surely is a bold musician...or just plain batshit crazy.

Helium voiced scream anthems, nintendo happy hardcore and techno drums, yet integrated in great pop songs. His album 'Spiderman of the Rings' is a bit like the not-quite backwards-dancing dwarf from Twin Peaks; it freaks you the hell out but you just can't stop watching/listening.

Not as unlistenable as you might expect: Dan Deacon - Crystal Cat (mp3)

Again not as unlistenable as you might expect: Dan Deacon - Wham City (mp3)

Until the day after tomorrow then?

Ryan Adams' productivity, Tom Waits' sitting-in-a-barr-iness, Sufjan's multi-instrumentalism modesty, Jarvis Cocker's charm and an continous stream of quality. An EP and four albums long (see, I'm not even counting the download only 2-CD b-sides collection) the English troubadour Ed Harcourt has given his fans his own brand of up-beat songs (All Of Your Days Will Be Blessed) and melancholic ballads (This One's For You).

Although he still hasn't had his break-through and probably never will he released a Best Of, ironically titled 'Untill Tomorrow Then'. The best of features favorites like the jazzy title-track 'Untill Tomorrow Then', the near-perfect popsong 'Loneliness' and the melancholic 'Visit From The Dead Dog'. The Best Of doesn't just have two new songs, there's an entire bonus disc with 15 previously unreleased songs! That bonus disc could have very well been an official album, quality-wise. As Always, Ed doesn't disappoint. It's good to be a Harcourt fan, you should try it.


From album 'Here Be Monsters': Ed Harcourt - Beneath The Heart Of Darkness (myspace)

From album 'From Every Sphere': Ed Harcourt - All Of Your Days Will Be Blessed (video)

From album 'Strangers': Ed Harcourt - Loneliness (video)

From album 'The Beautiful Lie': Ed Harcourt - Visit From The Dead Dog (video)

From Best Of 'Untill Tomorrow Then': Ed Harcourt - Untill Tomorrow Then (myspace)

What actually IS free to a good home?

Okay, I think we can all agree that Feist has gotten enough attention (deservedly so by the way) and the same can be said for Stars’ new record. I’ve also recently covered Amy Millan’s solo work, but there is one more female vocalist in Broken Social Scene.

I’m talking about the ever-lovely Emily Haines of course. And although a Metric post is long overdue (their first album has recently been re-released) I wanted to talk about her solo work (well, together with her backing band The Soft Skeleton).

June saw the release of her album 'Knives Don’t Have Your Back' in Europe and the UK and in July the outtakes EP ''What Is Free To A Good Home?' (I don’t know, what is? No seriously, I have no idea) was released. 'Knives Don’t Have Your Back' is a criminally overlooked record full of dark nocturnal piano-driven songs with beautiful lyrics (her father was an admired poet) that cut you like…well…knives. And the incredible part isn’t that the album is quite far removed from the rock-attitude and cleverness she shows in new wave band Metric. The impressive thing is that the 'What Is Free To A Good Home?' EP is EVEN BETTER! Seriously; I listened to it two times a day for at least two weeks and still come back to it frequently. Do yourself a favor and listen to this:


The video for Our Hell is as disturbing as the song: Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton – Our Hell (video)

Take her to the bank, take her to the bar: Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton – The Bank

Also from the EP: Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton – Bottom of the World (mp3) (mypsace)

She Wants Revenge is a dish best served twice

Is it just me or does the new She Wants Revenge (also know as the more joyfull Division or the new New order or the newer New Order if Peter Hook stops being a dick) sound an awful lot like a lazy Placebo with a singer whose testicles have in fact fully descended?

I guess Justin Warfield paid close attention every time he worked with Placebo. If you don't mind the repetition ('She Will Always Be A Broken Girl' is pretty much a new 'These Things') I guess it's a nice album though.

Their latest single: She Wants Revenge - True Romance (myspace)

Video for their best song, directed by Joaquin Phoenix: She Wants Revenge - Tear You Apart (video)

Wax on, wax off, wax on again

Spinvis is this 40-something Dutch ex-mail man (from Nieuwegein) who finds poetry in the mundane (regret, aging, cold hands when you drive to work on your bike on a winter morning, candy getting stuck in your nose). He is arguably one of the most interesting Dutch artists. After two albums he recently released a b-side compilation, and even this one's quite brilliant. On of the most interesting songs on 'Goochelaars en Geesten' (Magicians and Ghosts) is 'Was' (wax) which is a cover of 'Poupée de cire, poupée de son' (Wax doll, sawdust doll) which was composed by Serge Gainsbourg and sung by France Gall.
Now Arcade Fire have covered it on their split 7'' EP (backed with LCD Soundsystem).

Note you Canadian hipsters; Spinvis was first. Nieuwegein is the new Montreal!

1965 Eurovision Song contest’s winning entry: Arcade Fire - Poupée de cire, poupée de son

The beautiful title track: Spinvis – Goochelaars en Geesten (myspace)

Spinvis - Voor Ik Vergeet (video)

The Everlasting Black Desire

---Newsflash!---
Bertrand Cantat is to be released from prison tomorrow (October 16th).
---end---

Seems to me we've got something to look forward to! Some recaps for now:

Noir Désir - Sober Song (mp3)
Noir Désir - À L'Envers, À L'Endroit (video)

Noir Désir - Le Vent Nous Portera:

Bad metaphor/good metaphor

You be the judge:

Of Montreal: Gronlandic Edit
‘Let's fall back to earth and do something pleasant
We fell back to earth like gravity's bitches
(Physics makes us all its bitches)’

Katie Melua: If You Were A Sailboat
‘If you were a house I would live in you all my days’

Cold War Kids: Hang Me Up To Dry
‘Now hang me up to dry
You wrung me out
too too too many times’

Katie Melua: If You Were A Sailboat
‘If you were a river I would swim you’

Toranja: Carta
‘É que hoje acordei e lembrei-me
Que sou mago e feiticeiro
Que a minha bola de cristal é folha de papel
E nela te pinto nua
Nua, numa chama
Minha e tua’
['Today when I woke up I remembered
That I’m a magician and an enchanter
That my crystal ball is a piece of paper
And on it I paint you naked
Naked, in a flame
Yours and mine']

Katie Melua: If You Were A Sailboat
'If you were a piece of wood I’d nail you to the floor'

WorthyNonsense: [Unreleased]
'Katie Melua, if you were a musician I’d burn your house, drain your river and nail the piece of wood in question to your glottis.'

Of Montreal - Gronlandic Edit (mp3)
Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up Tp Dry (mp3)
Toranja - Carta (video)

Certainly NOT the only gay in that village

OhmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodOhmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodOHMYGOD! BEST CONCERT OF THE YEAR ALERT! ohmygodohmygodo-*SLAP*...Thanks. I'm okay now.

Swedish Glam-rock band The Ark played their first concert in The Netherlands. Even though it was in a small venue in Rotterdam for about a hundred people they played as if they were on a giant stage playing for a crowd of thousands. They gave it their all and convinced everybody there that The Ark is THE GREATEST BAND EVE-*SLAP*...Sorry, I went of there again.

From the frantic first notes to the fantastic last one their motto was absolutely no decorum whatsoever glam, bam, thank you ma'am! Frontman Ola made Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears look like a conservative librarian with his impressive voice, stage personality, golden jumpsuit and 'controversial' lyrics. Lyrics about homosexuals' right to have children ('Father of a Son'):

And I may be gay
But I can tell you straight away
That Ill become a better father
than All of you anyway...(so listen!)
One day I will become
The father of a son
Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah!

About sexualization ('Tired of Being an Object'):

Well, don´t project your bore
On the girl on the dance floor
She doesn´t at all find
The men´s looks abusive
She doesn´t want your shield
Maybe she´s the one who´s free
Maybe sometimes getting fucked Can be amusing

And even about bare-backing ('Disease'):

If there is disease in you
I want to have that disease too

I can't remember having that much fun at a show. They deserve to be Swedens biggest act. And to be THE BIGEST BAN-*SLAP*...I'll stop now. Promise.

Their break-through single: The Ark -It Takes a Fool to Remain Sane (video)

Their fabulous 2007 songfestival song video: The Ark - The Worrying Kind (video)

In Amsterdam after the trip

It took me four and a half hours of trains, busses and trams to get to the Stars concert last saturday but as soon as they started 'Take me to the Riot' that exhausting journey was instantly forgotten. I was treated to an exhilirating set of songs from their 2005 break-through masterpiece 'Set Yourself on Fire' (please don't), new favorites (or rather favourites) from 'In Our Bedroom After the War', some old songs and the Smiths cover 'This Charming Man'.
Stars are a romantic indie-pop band from Canada (yes, from the Arts & Crafts label) who specialise in narrative songs about the intricacies of relationships. The songs in which Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan both sing parts from a male and female perspective are their trade-mark. Like on 2005's 'Your Ex-lover is Dead' where two ex-lovers meet again and we hear that their thoughts about each other are way off, or 'One More Night', a cruel tale about sex with an ex. The new album has 'Personal', which is sung as a personal ad ("Wanted single F/ Under 33/ Must enjoy the sun/ Must enjoy the sea") and slowly turns crueler and crueler.

Okay, so maybe they're not so much a romantic band as a band that sings about romances.


From 'Set Yourself on Fire': Stars - Your Ex-lover is Dead (video)

Fantastic set-opener: Stars - Take me to the Riot (myspace)

Moving: Stars - Personal (myspace)

Klicking, ticking, strumming and picking

I don't know what it is about 'folktronica' (ugly term), 'future folk' (less ugly, more stupid) or 'laptop folk' (totally demeaning) but sometimes I really seem to need a fix of it. Ever since David Kitt's 2001 modest masterpiece 'The Big Romance' with it's beats, repeats and multiple electronic layers over romantic folk-ish songs I've been a fan of the genre and got curious with every release labeled with aforementioned ugly, stupid and demeaning terms. The problem is that there aren't that many artists in the genre and even fewer good ones (The Books, Four tet, Múm, The Album Leaf). 2003 saw Postal Service's incredibly succesful debut 'Give up' and some PS-lite's surfaced after that but the more harcore 'folktronica' (let's call PS 'poptronica' and say we didn't) releases are still few and far between. That's why I was thrilled to see a new Tunng album as well as a new Efterklang and a new Caribou release. But with the latter two having dropped most of their overt electronics from their sound that leaves me with just Tunng. Tunng has been making the kind of music that I need for three albums now. Little folksongs riddled with chirps, loops and sometimes surprising beats (like in 'Surprise me 44'). Clicking, ticking, strumming and picking their way through songs about girls, dead cats and spoons (I personally draw the line at girls). Their new album is called 'Good Arrows' and is totally satisfying.

From their debut 'Mother's Daughter and other songs': Tunng - Tale From Black (mp3)

From their sophomore 'Comments of the Inner Chorus', a song about a dead cat (I'm not ashamed to say I've cried): Tunng - Woodcat (mp3)

And their Bloc Party cover: Tunng - the pioneers (myspace)

Here is the video for their new single: Tunng - Bullets (video)

Ssssh! Better than the K-word

I know... I already pronounced this my obsession of this week (and the next one), but I think this video should adorn this music blog's frontpage for at least a couple of days.



It's most likely to be adored by anyone who likes Klaxons, the 80s or both, but does not dare to say so. Late of the Pier is, as we speak, still practically unknown to everyone's neighbours' daughter, so don't worry. Yet.

Pukkelpop: part 3

As WorthyNonse already pointed out; Patrick Wolf kinda ruled Pukkelpop. So I won't go into that again (he's still right though). But allow me to mention some of my other favorites.

First of there was Spoon. The week before I went Britt Daniel and his band had filled my internal jukebox with their new songs and they kept on playing without pause. Without. Pause. The songs from Ga ga ga ga ga (I’m still not sure if it’s a really good or a really bad album name) are such finely crafted pop songs that you start to wonder why they're not played on every radio. But then 'The ghost of you lingers' starts with it's hauntingly repetitive raw piano and screeching effects and you know. They kicked ass on PP although favorites as the forementioned song and 'Japanese cigarette case' were notably absent from the set.

Even funkier were Fujiya & Miyagi (I'll say it one more time: not Japanese, not a duo) who elevated the (to be honest, sometimes a bit boring) album tracks with more...well, swing in their live versions. However, they could’ve done something about their appearance and their show, which were like, totally absent. They looked like three business information architects (add other nonsensical business card buzzwords as you see fit) but rocked like three...uhm...well, they just rocked.

Something completely different was Low. I've seen them a while ago and was moved by their honesty and integrity. Like Fujiya & Miyagi, Mimi and Alan might not be very sexy and there were no dancers or cornea-scorching laser shows but their music was more than enough. Unearthly harmonies and the heaviest drums you've ever heard. If I had to choose the best song as played on PP I'd choose....okay, so I can't choose. It'd be a tie between Patrick Wolf's 'Accidents & Emergencies' and Low's 'Take Your Time'. I’m not afraid to say some tears were cried.

Other favorites were Architecture in Helsinki who were a lot better than the last time I saw them and ruheeeellly know how to build a party (or to overdose on caffeine).
The new version of 'Do the whirlwind' and the new ‘Do the whirlwind’ 'Heart it Races' were the highlights of the party.

Kings of Leon were the band that sounded best on the main stage. Caleb’s voice screeched with a husky passion and they showed us why their music could be called arena-rock (although that does bring up associations with bands like U2 or Coldplay, but that’s not what I mean here).

Spoon didn’t play this one: Spoon – My Little Japanese Cigarette Case (mp3)

Really nice video: Fujiya & Miyagi – Ankle Injuries (video)

Now you can cry too: Low – Take Your Time (mp3)

One of many fantastic remixes: Architecture in Helsinki – Do the Whirlwind (Haima Remix)

The singer’s raw screeching chills me to the bone: Kings of Leon’s – Charmer (myspace)

And as a bonus a remix: Kings of Leon - My Party (Kenna and Chad Hugo Remix)