Idiot Kid Radio

Live for the sounds

2008-08-30T10:08:00.003+02:00

Ever since the EP "Fresh pair of eyes" released in 2007 I've been waiting for another Brooke Waggoner release. The upcoming album named "Heal for the Honey" is coming out in a few days, and I am already hooked on the first song I've gotten my hands on called "live for the sounds". It's a lovely little melody that Brooke her self describes as a song filled with "string stabs, plural words, key changes, and romping drums - all tightly wound into a 2:30 package." I thought you should all have a listen.

Brooke Waggoner - Live for the sounds

You can download her old EP for free at her website; worth a listen.

Hush if you must if you must and addressed
And the power of your silence is the fear in compliance
Hush if you must if you must and addressed
And the power of your silence is the fear you'll come outloud
Loud, loud, oh

I finally get a freelance fee because I'm
Not very adequate
Not very merry
Oh, I try
Not very tempting and
Not very pretty
But I'll get by

My mux tape

2008-04-20T15:37:00.004+02:00

I've been publishing this everywhere, whoring it out to the world big time, but since it's very much music related, I am posting it here as well. Basically I put together a mux-tape of cover songs I sort of recently discovered. Most of them are quite mellow and whatnot, but there are some strange ones, especially the last one; a Japanese band covering the little mermaid song "Part of your world". Just another proof that the Japanese are in fact insane (and awesome). It's really easy to listen to this, just click the songs you want to listen to and it loads and plays in your browser.

Tracklisting
1. Nothing compares to you - Dan Kelly
2. Young Americans - Danny Michel
3. Rainy days and Mondays - Cracker
4. Paint it black - Choro Azul
5. (What's so funny 'bout) peace, love and understanding? - Crosstide
6. Don't stop believing -Jon Regen
7. The only living boy in New York - Shawn Colvin
8. Head over heels - Samamidon
9. 1234 - Jack Peñate
10. Part of your world - SUEMITSU & THE SUEMITH

LISTEN: http://covered.muxtape.com/

Hovefestivalen

2008-04-10T21:17:00.011+02:00

All of us Idiot Kids are going to see these bands this summer (& few more). Najs.
Song: True love will find you in the end
Artist: Beck

Song: Let's dance to Joy Division
Artist: The Wombats

Song: 99 problems
Artist: Jay-Z

Song: Bang bang (My baby shot me down) (Live)
Artist: The Raconteurs

Song: Marry song
Artist: Band of Horses

Song: Sorrow
Artist: Bad Religion

Song: In our bedroom after the war
Artist: Stars

Jackson Browne & the Idiot Kid Virgin.

2008-03-21T12:48:00.003+01:00

V and K have been on me for ages to post something here. I am an Idiot Kid virgin. Finally, I'm granting their wishes. And luckily for them, and you, it's neither about Bon Jovi (although this post will come) or music which fits into the category of Musically Fast Food (easy in, easy out).

Artist: Jackson Browne Album: Solo Acoustic vol.2 Song: In the shape of a heart.

Every time when I'm visiting my hometown where my parents live, the past all comes rushing over me. To make a long story short I could say it’s a little turbulent. Anyway, I have only a few places where I can really breathe. One of these places is the coffee shop called No9. It's both a music shop and a coffee place run by a middle aged, but still very intriguing man, who's called Espen. He is a musician, and he has a lovely voice. Many of his friends, all of them musicians, eat their lunch at No9. Sometimes they stay for hours and hours. Sometimes they pop by just to throw a cup of coffee down their throat. But they have always time to talk about music and love and loss, and play different CDs really, really loud. I can sit for hours and hours pretending to read a paper or writing in my notebook, while all I really do is listening to them.

It's my second day in Arendal and I took mammas car to find myself a place to breathe. As I started to sip my hot coffee Espen put this record on and I loved it from the first tone/word/phrase. Jackson Browne, I really don't know that much about him, and I’m not sure I want to either. All I know is that he makes people breathe.

Birth

2008-02-19T11:26:00.002+01:00

I should have noticed the beauty and not how it hurt,
wet like a cherry in a bloodbath
of birth.

Song: Birth
Artist: The Faint

Her horizon

2008-02-11T06:41:00.000+01:00

I finished reading Tori Amos's autobiography today, Piece by piece (co-written with Ann Powers). Once again, my thanks to Melissa for giving me the book <3 Tori has been an important source of inspiration for me for about ten years now, and I find that I often turn to her when things feel confusing.

Song: Take to the sky (Russia)
Artist: Tori Amos

Vox humana

2008-02-08T10:17:00.000+01:00

Jackie Leven. Everyone should listen to this guy. Honestly. An amazing voice, an incredible storyteller and poet - and an all-round fascinating and inspiring person. He has lived through a lot of things I don't envy him, but I'm inspired by his ability to turn those destructive things in something beautiful - his music. I've had the pleasure of seeing him live and he really does deserve the title of storyteller. People gather around the fire and he tells them stories about life, the universe and everything. Funny stories, heartbreaking stories, stories so crazy you know he couldn't have invented them. So do yourself a favour and check him out if you haven't already. The first three records of his that I fell in love with were Creatures of light and darkness, Forbidden songs of the dying west and Night lilies. I'm gonna post two songs from each of those records:

Song: The sexual loneliness of Jesus Christ
Song: Exit wound
Album: Creatures of light and darkness (2001)

Song: Some ancient misty morning
Song: Men in prison
Album: Forbidden songs of the dying west (1995)

Song: Universal blue
Song: Ireland for losers
Album: Night lilies (1999)

One day I will stand alone in the woods
and my hand will move to the scar
I will press and the trickle of pain
will tell me where you are
And of all the words I have heard
I know your calling is true
Everybody's got this colour in their life
it's called universal blue.
-Jackie Leven

I'm a bad girl, now

2008-02-06T18:20:00.000+01:00

Vivian's been absent, and I've been a bad care-taker for this little music blog. I feel bad about this, but hey, shit happens. Besides, I'm back in business, baby! Well, at least until Friday, because then I'm going to Oslo for ten days. But yes, shit happens.

I realized that we have about a million tags already, so I thought maybe I should make a post about an artist/band already featured, but it'll have to wait. I feel moody today, so you'll be getting a moody song. It's off a rather old (in the terms of blogging about it; it's actually not old in years at all) EP by Junip, the sort of amazing band led by José González, the Argentinean wunderkid from Sweden. It's a Bruce Springsteen cover, but it hits right home for me. I don't care if it's old, I'm still posting it!

So here goes, Swedish Junip with the Bruce Springsteen song "Ghost of Tom Joad".

Enjoy. (And if you do; two more songs are available for download at Junip's website.)

Who killed the lightswitch, dudes?

Aaand we're back!

2008-02-06T11:55:00.000+01:00

Well well well, it's been a while! But I hope to get this place up and running again :) Hopefully Kari will have the time to post a few tracks and I think my friend Eva is also going to start contributing :D

So, I'll kick off the New Era with a song I kind of just discovered. My brother is always lending/giving me records and sometimes I click with it immediately, sometimes never, and sometimes after a long, long while. It's happened about a million times that he's played me something and I've thought "well ok" and not really felt anything about it either way and then days/months/years later have listened to the same song and thought "ooooooooh awesome". So it's probably quite a while since I first heard Wreckless Eric, but I haven't really caught on until recently. Oops. Still, better late than never! Here's a wonderful song that I'm loving today:

Song: Hit and Miss Judy
Artist: Wreckless Eric
Album: Greatest Stiffs (2001 compilation album)

I also want to post a couple of tracks from the album Mary is coming by Norwegian-American band Savoy. The single Velvet was very popular in Norway when it came out and probably the reason why I bought the album; I remember I actually taped that song off the radio before I bought the CD, which makes me feel old even if it was only back in 1996 (I was 11). I think it's one of my oldest CDs that I still love as much as I did back then. Here are a few of my favourite tracks:

Song: Velvet
Song: Underground
Song: Mary is coming
Artist: Savoy
Album: Mary is coming (1996)

Well, hopefully someone will enjoy these tracks, do leave a comment if you do :)

Ciao bella!

2008-01-10T20:43:00.001+01:00

Right, I am moving halfway 'round the planet this weekend so I might not have much time for Idiot Kid during the next couple of weeks, but I trust Kari will post a little and then I'll be back with updates later!

<3

Song: That's when I reach for my revolver
Artist: Graham Coxon
Comment: Mission of Burma cover, live from the Astoria, 25/10/2006.

Fun Fun Fun

2008-01-10T18:21:00.000+01:00

Noah and the Whale - In five years time

Now, look at that coreography, it's enough to make you proud. The song has sort of a Stehpin Merritt / Jens Lekman sort of feel to it, if either one of them decided to multiply and start a band. Or maybe it's the other way around. Jens Lekman used to sound a lot like Stephin Merritt anyway, and he sort of still does. Also, Stephin Merritt's birthday is one day after me, so go him.

Elvis Costello Honky Tonk Demos

2008-01-08T03:17:00.000+01:00

These Elvis Costello demo tracks have been on repeat rather often lately; they are from the 2001 Rhino bonus disc for My aim is true (1977). According to The Elvis Costello Home Page (who I also stole the picture from), they were recorded in Elvis's bedroom and first broadcast by Charlie Gillett on his BBC Radio London programme Honky Tonk.

1. Cheap reward (This is an early version of Lip service which is on 1978's This year's model.)
2. Mystery dance (Has a nice verse about God that was left out in the studio version.)
3. Wave a white flag (I guess this song makes it easier to understand the misogynistic label some people put on Costello! Personally I think that judging a songwriter by his lyrics is a bit like claiming Stephen King is an extraterrestrial serial killer. Or a very scary clown.)
4. Poison moon

I love the simplicity of these recordings and I think his vocals are really beautiful.

o___O ?!?!

2008-01-08T03:08:00.001+01:00

WELL WTF HAPPENED HERE? DID WE ALL FALL OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH?

No. First there were some internet problems. Then there was some (ok, lots of) laziness, then I had other things to do. So, my apologies for the premature and abrupt ending of the Crimmas calendar!

But it's a new year with new opportunities to fail at updating this blog, so fear not!

Here are some tracks:

Song: Staggolee
Artist: Pacific Gas & Electric

Song: Long time woman
Artist: Pam Grier

Crimmas Calendar: December 18th

2007-12-20T21:17:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: Jannowitzbrücke
Artist: Élodie

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Negativland
Arist: Neu!

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: They hung him on a cross
Artist: Nirvana
Comment: 1989 demo.

Crimmas Calendar: December 17th

2007-12-20T20:58:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: When I get to the border
Artist: M. Ward featuring Zooey Deschanel

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Ritual I
Arist: Ain Soph

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: Heart like a wheel
Artist: Kate & Anna McGarrigle

Crimmas Calendar: December 16th

2007-12-20T20:47:00.000+01:00

Catching up ;)

KARI'S SONG:
Song: I know very well how I got my name
Artist: Colin Meloy
Comment: Morrissey cover.

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: DK2
Arist: Raga Rockers

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: River
Artist: Travis
Comment: Joni Mitchell cover.

Yikes!

2007-12-19T22:02:00.000+01:00

My apologies for lagging behind with the Crimmas Calendar; I had a wee bit of internet bother and I've been busy, lazy, away and/or asleep. But at least the internet problem seems to be fixed now. I will catch up with the calendar tomorrow :) Kari has left us behind to celebrate Crimmas in Thailand, but she sent me her songs for the rest of the calendar before she left so I'll keep on uploading those. Yep yep, tomorrow.

Crimmas Calendar: December 15th

2007-12-16T04:15:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: A place in my heart
Artist: Club 8

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Strangers when we meet (Outside version)
Arist: David Bowie

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: Silent night / A Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis
Artist: Tom Waits
Comment: Live from December 1978 :)

Crimmas Calendar: December 14th

2007-12-15T02:03:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: The eclipse song
Artist: Hooverphonic

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Career opportunities (Sandinista version)
Arist: The Clash

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: Flyentology (Cassettes Won't Listen remix)
Artist: El-P featuring Trent Reznor (or T-Rez if you prefer!)

Crimmas Calendar: December 13th

2007-12-14T00:51:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: The city, the airport (CSS remix)
Artist: Loney, Dear

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Semaphore signals
Arist: Wreckless Eric

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: Like pouring salt on a slug
Artist: The Cumshots
Comment: Norwegian "death'n'roll" band fronted by Kristopher Schau, who's the sort of guy that makes me proud to be Norwegian XD This is from their 2006 album Just quit trying - I had kind of a hard time picking out one song because I like the record as a whole, but this one wins because it has the best title! If you're easily offended you hopefully know better than to download anything by a band called The Cumshots, but consider yourself warned anyway. You might also want to stay away if you have no sense of humour o__O. Just 'cause it's Crimmas time, don't forget to rawwwwrr a bit!

Crimmas Calendar: December 12th

2007-12-12T21:35:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: Shut up I am dreaming of places where lovers have wings
Artist: Sunset Rubdown

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Still burning
Arist: Lydia Lynch

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: Sunspot stopwatch
Artist: Mary Lou Lord
Comment: From the Martian Saints EP which I like rather a lot :)

Crimmas Calendar: December 11th

2007-12-12T05:01:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: What can you get a wookie for Christmas (when he already owns a comb?)
Artist: Meco
Comment: Do I need one?

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Hares on the mountain
Arist: Shirley Collins & Davey Graham

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: Autumn
Artist: Malcolm Middleton
Comment: Okay, not quite the right season on this one, but I'm loving it a lot <3 The first few lines are just wonderful!

Crimmas Calendar: December 10th

2007-12-11T00:29:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: Wonders never cease
Artist: Morcheeba

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Chimacum rain
Arist: Linda Perhacs

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: Chocolate Jesus
Artist: Tom Waits
Comment: Two things that have everything to do with Crimmas. What's your Chocolate to Jesus ratio during the holidays? I think mine is around 10:0,5.

Crimmas Calendar: December 9th

2007-12-09T23:43:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: Aeris Theme (Orchestrated)
Artist: Nobuo Uematsu
Comment: I'm nerding it up with one of my favorite themes from one of my favorite games ever; Final Fantasy VII. Aeris dying = ;_; x 999. (Woops, did I spoil the game for you?)

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Jigsaw
Arist: Den Gyldne Middelvei

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: Christmas (Baby please come home)
Artist: Arab Strap
Comment: Figured it was time for me to break out a real Crimmas song!

Crimmas Calendar: December 8th

2007-12-08T21:37:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: The world's greatest
Artist: Bonnie Prince Billy
Comment: R. Kelly cover o__O.

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Willow's song
Arist: Magnet
Comment: From The Wicker Man.

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: Together forever
Artist: Lindisfarne
Comment: This is one of the songs I remember really well from my childhood; Lindisfarne is one of my dad's favourite bands :) This is from their second record, Fog on the Tyne, from 1971.

Crimmas Calendar: December 7th

2007-12-08T01:39:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: Benny
Artist: Sébastien Tellier

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Rot in the core
Arist: Apatheia

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: Waiting for the end of the world
Artist: Elvis Costello
Comment: This is the Pathway Studios demo, recorded late 1976. <3

Crimmas Calendar: December 6th

2007-12-07T05:22:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song #1: Winter wonderland
Song #2: Frosty the snowman
Artist: Cocteau Twins
Comment: Since it was my fault that the Crimmas calendar got posted late (Even if it wasn't just my fault, Vivian, feel free to let me take the blame), I'm sharing two songs. These are from the limited edition CD "Snow" by Cocteau Twins, released in 1993. The CD only had these two tracks, but oh how delightfully strange they are!
Comment to the comment: *cough* yeh, it was aaall Kari's fault u__u.

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: La razón
Arist: Nový Svět

VIVIAN'S SONG
Song: The battle
Artist: Harry Gregson-Williams
Comment: Aah, I watched the trailer for Prince Caspian today and got very excited about seeing that, so here's a track from the soundtrack to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I'm glad Gregson-Williams will do the score for Prince Caspian as well because I loved the music in the first movie.

Crimmas Calendar: December 5th

2007-12-05T22:00:00.000+01:00

moar funny pictures

KARI'S SONG:
Song: Space oddity
Artist: Natalie Merchant

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Walking on thin ice
Arist: Yoko Ono

VIVIAN'S SONG:
Song: Down by your fire
Artist: Catfish Haven

Crimmas Calendar: December 4th

2007-12-04T23:32:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: Yankee bayonet (I will be home then)
Artist: The Decemberists

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: The trees' secret life
Arist: Anders Möckelind

VIVIAN'S SONG:
Song: Tek Jansen Theme Song
Artist: Stephen Colbert
Comment: Obviously Stephen Colbert can take credit for this song despite only saying one sentence in it. I thought today needed a theme song. Tek Jansen FTW! (This is an .ogg file by the way.)

(Dancing Bush is from wikiality.com ^___^)

Crimmas Calendar: December 3rd

2007-12-03T20:39:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: Songs of love
Artist: The Divine Comedy

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Just like Arcadia
Arist: In Gowan Ring
Comment: Psychic TV cover.

VIVIAN'S SONG:
Song: Ain't gonna eat out my heart
Artist: The Puppets
Comment: I was inspired by Kari's song from yesterday :) This is from a cool collection of '60s rock girlbands called Girls in the garage, Vol. 1.

Crimmas Calendar: December 2nd

2007-12-03T00:59:00.000+01:00

KARI'S SONG:
Song: Needle in a haystack
Artist: The Velvelettes
Comment: Kari says this song speaks to her...I say: just go along with it, she's harmless, really :P

VIVIAN'S SONG:
Song: No place to hide
Artist: Ash
Comment: This is from the Cosmic Debris bonus disc for the Intergalactic Sonic 7"s record. Like all my favourite Ash songs it puts a smile on my face :)

I haven't heard from my brother yet as he either has internet problems or maybe is just busy actually doing school stuff. Wha...?! I'll post his track here when I get it.

***EDIT:

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: The flower and the young man
Artist: The Strawbs

Crimmas Calendar: December 1st

2007-12-01T23:39:00.000+01:00

My mum probably wishes that after 22 years on this planet I'd stop demanding an advent calendar, but alas. I got candy today :) See, not a lot of incentive to stop demanding advent calendars. I might be an atheist, but I participate in the Crimmas season with a lot of relish and gusto.

Another tradition that's only a few years old but a tradition none the less is that my brother & I send each other a song every day as a sort of musical advent calendar. I figured that this year I might as well post the tracks here. They won't necessarily be in the spirit of the holiday, I guess it's more just songs we wanna share. Kari will be posting too, at least until she leaves for Thailand!

KARI'S SONG:
Song: Walking in the air
Artist: Aled Jones
Comment: From Raymond Briggs' The Snowman :)

TERJE'S SONG:
Song: Problemer
Arist: DJ Atomic Mr Bus
Comment: The only "song" today that focuses on Jesus. You have to be Norwegian (or at least Scandinavian) to understand this, but even then you might not appreciate it!

VIVIAN'S SONG:
Song: Crazy as a loon
Artist: Bright Eyes
Comment: John Prine cover, live from Toronto, February 27th 2007.

British wrestling is the way forward!

2007-11-30T17:41:00.000+01:00

Okay, I was reading about Let's Wrestle over at The Daily Growl and on their myspace I found this glorious video which totally cheered me up:

I've loved everything I've heard by them so far and look forward to the EP in February!

That's more like it!

2007-11-29T20:47:00.000+01:00

This is one of those moments Idiot Kid Radio was created for :D I stumbled upon something totally awesome. It's another case of "How on earth have I not discovered this band sooner?" for me - I'm really rather bad at discovering new stuff, I think.

This could be it, I-T, it!

ANYWAY, I'm talking about Half Japanese! I'm not gonna on about who they are, you can check Wikipedia or the UK Half Japanese fansite. (Be sure to check out the "Moods of Elvis" wallpaper in their 'Downloads' section!! Brilliant.) You can also download some mp3s from the latter website (they're also available on last.fm) + there are some downloads on the Half Japanese page at alternativetentacles.com.

This is the song that made me stop and listen: This could be the night. It's one of the tracks available at the fansite/last.fm. Gotta love songs with spelling in them. Also hafta love bands whose songs are either "love songs or monster songs"! Innaresting :)

God save the little shops, China cups and virginity

2007-11-29T01:55:00.000+01:00

First off, I realise I should have mentioned in my last post that the Ash gig was really good, I had a wonderful time. <3

(design poorly copied off the side of a tea box)

I made a green mix for a green-themed package and here are my favourite tracks from the mix:

# The Kinks: Village Green Preservation Society
# Julia Haltigan: Green shirt
# Elvis Costello: When green eyes turn blue
# Jackie Leven: Alvis Green

PS: November 28 was Jon Stewart's birthday! Go watch some Daily Show <3

Life, it sucks

2007-11-26T19:26:00.000+01:00

I haven't been very active posting, and I shouldn't even be posting right now (SO MUCH WORK! .. and I have dinner plans), but I just wanted to link to two songs made by a fellow norse (god). His name is Egil Olsen and a while ago he got robbed while on being on tour. They left his guitar, so he could keep singing and playing, but I guess that's a pretty discouraging event for anyone so he deserves some credit. His song "singer / songwriter" is pretty, and you can download all sorts of other things by him here.

Anyway, some songs from his new album (Both direct mp3 downloads from his website):

Singer / Songwriter
Wannabe

Some of his artwork is also quite nice, so here's his video for "Wannabe".

Hello.

2007-11-23T22:30:00.000+01:00

I'm just briefly checking in to say I don't have the time/am not awake enough to do a proper post right now, but I'll conjure something up after the weekend.

However, let me point you over to this page where you can download a recording of an Elvis Costello & The Attractions show on the 1977 Live Stiffs tour. Ahh, 1977-Elvis, my personal favourite :) I warmly recommend the recently released Deluxe Edition of his 1977 debut album My aim is true, possibly my number one favourite record (if it was actually possible to choose one). From the brilliant euphemism of the first line (Now that your picture's in the paper being rhythmically admired) to the amazing closing track Watching the detectives, I can't say there's anything I'd want to change on that album.

Have a good weekend!

The world is full of mysteries

2007-11-16T12:53:00.000+01:00

Now you may ask yourself, am I posting this Ash track because I am excited about the gig tomorrow night or is it simply an excuse to post this frankly quite hot picture of Mark Hamilton?

You may never know.

Song: Shadows
Artist: Ash
Album: Twilight of the Innocents (2007)

Here's my Siberian hymn for you

2007-11-14T18:18:00.000+01:00

I've been reading Tove Jansson's stories about Moominvalley today, and the book Comet in Moominland has my #1 favourite insult ever:

Du er som et mareritt etter en middag på en selvdød gris.

...which translates into something like You're like a nightmare after dining on a self-dead pig.

!!!

Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, no bands out there have used this gem of a phrase, so I will settle for posting a song by the Russian band Mumiy Troll (or Мумий Тролль rather) whose name (though I can't seem to find sources to 100% confirm this) is taken from Tove Jansson's series.

"Ilya formed his first psychedelic punk band named Bunny Pee at the age of 11 in his hometown port of Vladivostok"

I first heard Mumiy Troll when they represented Russia in the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest. Let's just say I don't normally watch ESC for the music...and after probably having watched it annually for over 10 years, Mumiy Troll's performance that year is the only time I've watched a Eurovision song and genuinely wondered "Who are these people?" (and not in a "Jeeesus Christ, who ARE these people?!?!" kind of way). Ilya Lagutenko had been singing for about 30 seconds when the phone rang and I picked it up to hear my best friend say "Are you watching this guy?". We both agreed it was pretty awesome stuff. I just re-watched their performance on YouTube, and while it made a bigger impact on me then than I can really understand now, I guess it may have been the context and the fact that I hadn't heard the song before. I've been listening to it pretty steadily since then. Ilya looks a little mentally unstable in the video, I guess, but compared to most ESC performances, they're pretty conservative. Anyway, the song still sounds as awesome to me as back then, so here it is:

Song: Lady Alpine Blue
Artist: Мумий Тролль

Big bright lights, inequality franchised

2007-11-13T03:28:00.000+01:00

I was really planning to post something else entirely, and then I began writing a post about Motorpsycho, but it seems I am going to need a bit more time to pick out songs for that one, so in the meantime, here's some Trail of Dead and Desaparecidos, just because I feel like it:

...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
Source tags & codes (2002)
# It was there that I saw you
# Heart in the hand of the matter
# Days of being wild

When I turned eighteen an uncle offered me a non-executive seat on the Ford board and I turned him down. [...] I guess I just prefer driving Hondas.
-Aaron Ford (current Trail of Dead drummer)

DESAPARECIDOS
Read music / Speak Spanish (2002)
# Man and wife, the former (Financial planning)
# Man and wife, the latter (Damaged goods)
# $$$$

It's gotta get worse for a day

2007-11-11T13:19:00.001+01:00

Yeah, so I didn't think I would be posting again so soon, but it turns out I was wrong. I guess this post is a tribute to all the fathers out there, because here in Norway-land it's father's day. The songs I am about to share with you all have absolutely nothing to do with fathers or fatherhood though; I could not even think of anything to add to Vivian's father's day mix when she asked me for suggestions last night. I also anticipate that this post might be somewhat kooky and nonsensical, because I haven't slept at all tonight.

"nothing isn't nothing, nothing's something that's important to me. that's right. and everyone's a little nothing, that's ok, that's how it should be."

Song: How it should be (Sha Sha)
Artist: Ben Kweller (Check it out, it's getting stuff from the online)
Album: Sha Sha (2002)
Comment: Ben Kweller used to be some sort of wonder kid, and even if I have no idea whether or not any of the photographs I found of him were taken recently or not; he probably still looks like one. There's something about the lyrics of this song that force my ears into a headlock; it's so silly, but at the same time poignant and brilliant. What can I say? It's nutty and insane, but I've been listening to this song for years now, and I still keep coming back to it.

when i was an astronaut, i bought a fancy charm. i thought you liked it but you called it cheap and at my feet it felt like:

"so sue me, it's up to me if i decide to be what i think is right. and don't bother me when i'm watching planet of the apes on t.v."

For the motherflippin' WIN!

Song: Supersonic Rocket Ship
Artist: The Kinks (Watch out, it's the lamest looking fansite ever)
Album: Everbody's in Show-Biz (1972)
Comment: I have to admit that apart from the obvious hits, I haven't listened a whole lot to The Kinks. When I discovered this song on an "Ultimate Collection" album though, I felt happy and not so much that I had been missing out, but rather that I had good things in store. Because of the theme of this song, I have to dedicate it to Vivian; I hope it makes you as happy as it makes me. But duh, it's a song about rocket ships.

I am a man in a bunny suit, how can you not love me?

Song: Secret life of the union, Part 1
Artist: Ghost Stories
Album: Quixoticism (2006)
Comment: It's like he's playing with sound, and I very much enjoy that.

If it's ever gonna get better; It's gotta get worse for a day (but not today, because we're moving our piano).

Song: Rain
Artist: Bishop Allen
Album: The Broken String (2007)
Comment: How can you not like a song that starts with "Bear clothes, why am I in bear clothes?". Or, at least, I think so; it might be "bare clothes", but that makes absolutely no sense. Finding lyrics for this band was actually quite difficult, and while I can sing at the top of my lungs without them (no problem!), I can't go on record here and try to write the lyrics without even so much as a slight confirmation from the internets. That would just be wrong. Whatever, this song is cheerful and addictive.

Song: Cartman's quest music
Artist: South Park
Comment: This song was featured on a South Park episode a few weeks ago; in the middle of the trilogy "Imaginationland" where the Us government wanted to nuke people's imagination. I posted it here because everyone should listen to it if they for some reason need motivation to KICK MAJOR ASS!

Happy Father's Day, everyone.

Good morning!

2007-11-08T17:15:00.000+01:00

This has been my day so far: at 13:00 I got the mail so I stumbled out of bed and into some clothes I found on the floor. Then I woke up. Said goodbye to my parental unit who are going away for a few days, sat and stared dumbly into the air for a while after they were gone, then I had the good sense to make a cup of tea and some breakfast.

My plan for the day: to write. I am doing NaNoWriMo this November, as usual, but this year I actually intend to reach 50,000 words which would be a first. Unfortunately I am a bit behind on my wordcount already, which is why I hope to get some serious writing done today.

These are some songs that fit this type of morning perfectly:

Ale not included with these tracks

1. Alasdair Roberts - Let me lie and bleed awhile
2. Alasdair Roberts - I have a charm
Comment: These are my two favourite tracks from Alasdair Roberts' newest album, The Amber Gatherers (2007). It took me a little while to get properly into Alasdair / Appendix Out (his band), but now that I have, I find it to be really great autumn/winter music, especially this album.

3. Willie Nelson & Calexico - Señor (Tales of Yankee power)
Comment: Please pardon the inevitable I'm Not There soundtrack mp3. I love Willie Nelson's vocals on this track though, so it can't be helped.

4. The Coral - Dreaming of you
Comment: It must be the background wa-ooo's. This is from The Coral's 2002 self-titled debut.

Lift off!

5. The Replacements - Androgynous
Comment: I'm pretty sure this was the first 'Mats song I heard and I think it must have been on Buddyhead Radio (they've re-designed their site so I'm not sure if that stuff is still up there). It's from the album Let it be (1984), which incidentally is on Aaron North's list of (a few of) his all time favourite records (maybe I should clarify that Aaron is one half of Buddyhead (and has for the past couple of years toured with Nine Inch Nails <3)). Anyway, this is a nice morning tune, I think. (There isn't an official 'Mats website, but try Color Me Impressed.)

Have a good one, wherever & whoever you are.

PS: Thanks for posting, Kari :D Also, another good friend of mine has been given posting access so keep an eye out for her posts too!

Let me introduce you to my friends

2007-11-08T02:04:00.000+01:00

Good evening, rays of sunshine! After a rather intimidating welcome (thanks for setting the bar so high!) I am going to introduce my self with a post that might appear somewhat disappointing. However there's a reason for it; I'm about to embark on a rather nationalistic journey, introducing 3 songs by 3 artists. 2/3 of these originated in my home town, 3/3 are Norwegian.

Song: Lois is happy
Artist: Magnus Eliassen
Album: Second Grace (2005)
Comment: Local homeboy Magnus Eliassen is just about as cute as a button, and has produced an album that while probably would not stand out as much to me if he wasn't my local homeboy, still has a sweet and tender feel to it. Another reason why I chose this song, was Magnus' reaction to the "Piracy Kills Music" campaign roaming the wide land of Norway earlier this year. Over 100 Norwegian artists stood up against piracy, and while a few of them actually took back their support when the campaign started taking shape, Magnus spoke against it from the start. His philosophy when it comes to music, piracy and the music industry in general resembles that of mine, and since he's not a complete hypocrite you can actually download his entire album for free on his website. He seems like a decent guy, this Magnus.

Song: Vi vil ikk e ha mer krig
Artist: Manna
Album: Salma (2006)
Comment: Manna was the first Norwegian band to enter charts in Jamaica quite a few years ago, but I for one am glad they came back to warm our cold Norwegian feet with their Caribbean rhythms. Reggae isn't my really my every-day-earl-grey kind of cup of tea, but when I want to spice things up a little I might put on my favorite song "Slæng dæm" and remember late nights listening to these very talented musicians play. Because if anything, Manna can put on a show, and the experience can turn just about anyone into a believer. They also come across as a group of really good guys, which I think my friend in the photo can vouch for. Also; Listening to reggae sung with my own dialect is an experience that's quite peculiar but surprisingly enjoyable.

Song: Oh My God!
Artist: Ida Maria
Comment: The last song I am posting tonight before you're (finally) rid of me for a while, is the song of the year at the Norwegian website Urørt. The site allows artists and bands to upload their music, fans to write reviews and for discussion to take place. Anyone can make an account (And when I say anyone, I mean anyone, I had a couple of classmates who made an artist page there once; take a look at their page, and if you have some time to kill, listen to "Det bobler inni meg". You will understand what I mean) and I feel it's a tool very valuable to quite a lot of Norwegian artists. Both Manna and Magnus Eliassen have pages there, and especially Magnus used it to get his music out there in the beginning of his career. Ida Maria isn't my favorite artist in the world, but she seems talented, bubbly and I actually like this song.

And with that, I say farewell.

Wha...!!

2007-11-05T00:49:00.000+01:00

Let me introduce my friend Kari. Why? Because she has posting access to Idiot Kid Radio now and will probably post something totally awesome here in the future. AND because I was talking to her on MSN earlier and she asked if Ash are coming to Tromsø soon. I said "I DUNNO!" but then I looked it up and THEY ARE! It took me about 3 seconds to buy a ticket. Then I jumped around saying "Yes yes yes yes YES!! SCOOOORE!!" for about half an hour.

This is how they looked in 1996 and this is how they sounded:

Song: Kung fu
Artist: Ash
Album: 1977 (1996)

That is one of my absolute favourite songs ever.

<3

Jam Jam Jam

2007-11-03T20:46:00.001+01:00

Some CSS remixes for your/my Saturday!
# Tilly and the Wall - The freest man (CSS remix)
# The Wombats - Kill the director (CSS remix)
# The Cribs - Men's needs (CSS remix)

I've met someone that makes me feel seasick
- oh what a skill to have!

Friday 5

2007-11-03T03:49:00.000+01:00

While it's tempting to start the blog with some kind of glorious all-time favourites post, I've made an effort to stick to the idea of it, which is songs that are currently on repeat. All of these tracks are pretty recent discoveries for me.

(Click the song titles to download the tracks from sendspace & the artist names to go to their websites.)

Song: Pass it on
Artist: The Coral
Album: Magic & medicine (2003)
Comment: There is something sort of comforting about this song, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I think it reminds me of my childhood somehow.

Song: The second great depression
Artist: Manic Street Preachers
Album: Send away the tigers (2007)
Comment: This is the sort of song that can't be played loud enough.

Yeah we can lay low tonight
I don't have the will to fight

Song: You and me
Artist: Delays
Album: You see colours (2006)
Comment: Right before this album came out I used an ad for it as the background for some artist trading cards (ATCs) and I've been curious to hear what the record sounds like since then. I finally downloaded a few random tracks and I'm rather fascinated by the vocalist's voice (in a good way).

I'm still in love, why aren't you?
Song: It don't matter to the sun
Artist: Rosie Thomas
Album: If songs could be held (2005)
Comment: On one level this is the kind of song there are thousands of, but I also think there's nothing quite like it and it gives me the shivers.

Song: Flume
Artist: Bon Iver
Album: For Emma, forever ago (2007)

<3 Hope someone will enjoy these songs. Feel free to leave a comment, I'd love to know what you think.
Have a wonderful weekend.

Hello, hello, hello!

2007-11-02T18:47:00.000+01:00

Right, Idiot Kid Radio first started as a friends-only LiveJournal community, not that long ago, but this morning I decided to move it out into the open so it's easier to share it with people.
I'm not big on writing reviews or insightful commentary or whatnot, so there'll be none of that here. I'm happy just posting a track, maybe a nice (more or less relevant) picture and perhaps some totally unhelpful comments about why I like the song.
I plan to make my first proper post later this evening, then we'll see how it goes from there, I guess. Thanks for stopping by :)

FTW!