Helene's home

Great covers: Vazquez Sounds cover of Adele - Rolling in the deep

2012-01-30T13:07:00.005+01:00

Thanks to a very good friend of mine I just discovered this song. I am always a great fan of good cover songs and especially if I like the original song. This little girl just blew me out of the water! I can't believe how much voice control she has and she's so young! And the pronunciation is almost perfect too! Wow, I hope we will see more to this kid! Enjoy!

More info about the fantastic trio!

New album: Dodgy - Stand Upright in a Cool Place

2012-01-22T11:58:00.004+01:00

In the late 90's I was given three Dodgy albums at once. And I was very thankful, they were brilliant then and I still think they are great. It's not often that one likes all the songs of three albums. I hope that's not only because anything you listened to when you were 19 is steeped with memories and intense feelings. I was, as you can imagine, thrilled to find out that Dodgy had gotten back together and even more thrilled now, when I found out there is a new album coming out!
The new single sounds a lot like what they used to sound like, some kind of classic Dodgy sound. It's just catchy, smooth and wonderful. It's a bit like if someone has blended the classic rock bands of America of the 70's like The Eagles and Chicago and Noel Gallagher solo somehow, I think. To me it most of all feel like I have been asleep and someone put on real music again. Very curious about the rest of the album, get ready for the 20th of February! I am sure I will be back with more then.
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Your own personal music tv channel? Yes, please!

2012-01-21T11:25:00.004+01:00

Since MTV these days are more busy with everything in a teenagers life that has nothing to do with music, than actually playing music videos. Since VH1 is not available in a big scale, and maybe you want something really tailored to your taste? Well, I have the answer. Get a last.fm account. let it record what you are listening to. Go to Tim Bormans page. Log in with your last.fm account. And boom, it makes your own music tv channel from videos on YouTube that match the music you have listened to a lot on last.fm. Very easy to get addicted. Before we knew it, one and a half hour had passed... :)

The sound levels change a little of course, so you have to adjust that as you go along, and you sometimes get videos with just a still picture or lyrics, but if you don't want it, you can just skip to the next one. Plus, you get all kinds of delightful live clips!! Enjoy!And thanks, Tim.

Great music videos: Alanis Morisette - Hands Clean

2012-01-12T12:36:00.002+01:00

I have been planing to write a blog post about this video a long time now, and finally I have time. There is not that much to say, the lyrics is brilliant and I love the way the video play up to it and at the same time makes it's own story. And of course the fact that it's on a tv. Somehow there is so much emotion of both sadness and happiness in both this video and this song. It thrills me and brings me to tears of emotion.

Radiohead - There There - Demo and finnished product

2012-01-03T23:03:00.004+01:00

Wow. It must be great to be in a band when someone turns up with this Radiohead – There There (First Demo)

And then you have people like J. Greenwood to help add guitars and other things into this: Radiohead – There, There The doble guitars, ad ons and solos are just mindblowing. And yepp this people have worked together before, you can tell.

Great Live: Phoenix Live. 30 Days Ago

2011-12-13T14:26:00.004+01:00

Great live, indeed.

Sometimes one can be extremely lucky when it comes to buying records. In around 2006 I had this kind of look. I was a avid Phoenix fan all ready and outside a record shop, in the very cheep cd-s section; about 300 copies of a Phoenix live album that I hadn't even heard about. Price: 20 kr (About 2£). Of course I bought it, thinking that it had to be quite good, since it's a good band and after all it only costed 20 kr.
I went home, put it into my CD player and by golly! Firstly, a few of the songs are recorded in Oslo at Rockefeller, secondly it has turned out to be probably my favourite live albums of all time. It is tight, entertaining, and brilliant and you can feel the intensity of the crowd and what an amazing experience and energy the band is sending out. Makes me want to headband next to the stereo. They are playing, and it's beautiful. I saw them live a few years later, and it was exactly as brilliant if not even greater. Class, first-class.

Listen to it on Spotify

Musical Memories: The Shangri-Las

2011-12-02T12:45:00.003+01:00

When I grew up, my parents bought this amazing collection of double LPs of the history of rock'n'roll. We are talking 50 double albums here. It was brilliant to grow up with. I started with listening to a lot of the 60's pop up until I was about 10-12 and then progressed into the more gloomier part of the collection. One of the tracks that really caught my eye was Remember (walking in the sand) by The Shangri Las. And as time has progressed I have grown to love them more and more. They are the backstreet, crazy, raw, ruff and tuff version of The Supremes.

The fantastic changes in rhythm and arrangements and the feel of the thing really does it for me... It's so lovely gloomy, sad, desperate and melancholic, but at the same time the kind of melancholy that you just want to enjoy and soak in. You really feel for the poor gal and her hopeless destiny.

The most famous song is without a doubt The Leader of The Pack, and again there is the classic story about a bad boy, a good girl gone bad and her family. It's never been my favourite, but is a great pop tune.

A few years back I found a even sadder song by them: I Can Never Go Home Anymore, about a teenage girl who leaves her mother for a boy and never can go home. "Life is so lonely, like a child without a toy, and then a miracle and then - a boy". The storytelling of this songs is like any sad classic story we have heard in gypsy songs and similar.

And then the fantastic Past, Present and Future that has none other than a spoof of Beethovens moonlight sonata in the background. That's should say something about drama and gloom!

Guest Blog: Maarten Boos on Colin Stetson

2011-11-24T17:01:00.007+01:00

I have always had an idea that I would like to have guest bloggers on my blog at this point. So here is the first one Maarten Boos talks about Colin Stetson, one of the most exciting musicians I have seen in a long while too. Enjoy!

Music from composition, composition from instrumentation. This simple line of thought tells an essential truth about the solo artist that cannot be ignored. Music takes up actual, volumetric space, wherever it takes place. The fewer people behind it, the greater the amount of skill required to fill it up. A musician who manages to take a single instrument and somehow makes it fill up this void with full, complete composition, possess true musical genius.

I first heard of bass saxophone player Colin Stetson while reading up on Bell Orchestre, a six-piece instrumental band from Montreal, several years ago. It was a particularly memorable phase of the past decade during which I came to realize most of my play lists were near entirely Canadian. Bell Orchestre was, at the time, a purely instrumental side project of Arcade Fire. Colin Stetson has in fact played in both bands. His track record includes a series of impressive collaborations with various artists, including musical dramatist Tom Waits and new wave pioneer David Byrn.

Weapons of choice? Saxophones, ever increasing in size and gravitas, strewn with arrangements of microphones that record everything from the clapping of valves and the beat of his fingers to the multitude of sounds he makes with his throat and mouth. These sounds are lost in any type of conventional recording and can really only be heard live.

Colin scavenges sound, then amplifies and mixes it into arrangements that are beyond anything currently available on recording. The result is complete, full composition, including an identifiable bass line, percussion, melody and more. So much more. Simply put, if you are listening to his music and happen to be unaware of what's going on, you are very unlikely to assume all of these sounds originate from a single bass saxophone, recorded without looping in a single take.

The year of 2008 marked Colin Stetson's first album of a planned trilogy, New History Warfare. It has overseen the maturation of his distinct musical style. New History Warfare, Volume 2: Judges released this earlier year has reaped the fruits of that process. There is a strong sense of interconnectivity and story present in this album. Like the first part of his trilogy, several tracks include sections of speech, this time from performance artist, musician and vocalist Laurie Anderson. While speech may come off as a strange choice for a solo album, it works out beautifully.

New History Warfare literally speaks in volumes and I will definitely
be looking forward hear to the final one.

Maarten on twitter

New music: Little Fish

2011-11-17T16:25:00.008+01:00

Sometimes music really can grab you, and I have always loved music that sounds like it is played by people who play like their life depend upon it. Little Fish is like that. I was touched from the first moment as the song came through on Last.fm. It made me go, what's this? And that doesn't happen to often. I really liked her voice, but at the same time for some reason felt a bit sceptical. But then I found a link to their YouTube page, and OH MY what a front woman Julia Sophie Heslop is. She has fusioned PJ Harvey, Nina Person and Skin into one. This is music that is dead or alive, that make you run around just scream along with the lyrics because http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifof her intensity comes through so strongly. So.. Enjoy! And oh! Who doesn't like a girl that can play guitar well too? Ha?

Official Homepage

Great covers: Bear McCreary - Battlestar Galactica

2011-11-14T17:19:00.002+01:00

And now, just a quick blog post from in between exam writing! My boyfriend found this and it's just brilliant for Battlestar Galactica fans and accordion fans alike :) Enjoy, people! :)

Great covers: Big band covers of Radiohead

2011-11-05T09:34:00.005+01:00

Not surprisingly, I have heard many great covers of Radiohead-songs over the years and posted a few here as well, but this is the first time I have heard a big band do it. And this is just plain and simple very very cool. I love all the details of these songs, so it's very exciting to hear how they have incorporated them into their versions, but at the same time put their own touch to it. I also think that signifies good songs, when they can be translated into all kinds of genres and still sounds fresh and is interesting to listen to. Great stuff and proof of the presence of genius. And how proud one must feel to be celebrated with great covers like these. Enjoy and have a nice weekend. And I am sure more will come in time.

Great music videos: Ok Go - This Too Shall Pass

2011-11-01T11:22:00.001+01:00

I am almost out of words! It's been a long time since I have laughed so much that I cried in the beginning of a music video and then cried because it was beautiful overwhelming beauty at the end of it (around 2.27). I always cry at great marching bands. Enjoy! I hope this will make your day better! It sure did mine. And OK Go, genius people. Always amazing videos.

Great music videos - R.E.M - We All Go Back To Where We Belong

2011-10-30T11:36:00.002+01:00

Sometimes watching a human being can just simply be the most beautiful in life and especially if they are filmed in a great way and to emotional and beautiful music. This really made me feel alive, thankful for the great world and the people in it and filled we with a deep feeling of joy, crying like a bride on her wedding day. Both videos are equally beautiful in different ways. Enjoy! How I will miss you R.E.M.

Bloglovin'

2011-10-19T10:58:00.004+02:00

I thought it might be nice to be a Bloglovin' member. Then I apparently need to post some text in a new post, so here goes. Other than that, I have a cold, but a pleasant one. Sick enough to not work, well enough to sit in front of a computer or a tv, with breaks.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Life: Rules for city living - part I

2011-10-14T14:59:00.003+02:00

It's been a long time since I have written something here that would fall into the "life" category, but for a long time I have been wanting to write some rules and guidelines for city living somewhere. Today I had one of those days where everybody around me behaved insanely, so here is my social comment on it. Basically it's the do-s and don'ts of what to do when you are out and about in the city. The rules are at least valid for Oslo, but I am sure they also apply for other cities. And I am just as sure that there will be a part II one of these days, with more observations.

1) When you are in a grocery store, there are two cashiers and you stand in between two queues, you must expect to be passed on one side by others who have actually chosen which line they want to be in. Let's move this along swiftly, ok?

2) On top of escalators, don't stop one step after getting of it. There are actually other people that are coming behind you and they don't like to bump into you so that you all fall over.

3) On a bus it is never accepted to sit on the outer seat of the two when the bus is full without obvious reason for doing so, like supporting a large object or baby. We are all ready squeezed in there, make room so people can get out of the way and sit down!

4) And good people.. move backwards in the bus and away from the doors. In 1/20 cases you will not be able to get of the bus, but the odds are very low. If you observe someone wanting to get off, but the driver is about to close the doors, feel free to shout to the driver: "Hey, someone is getting off" or similar.

5) Never ever step on a bus, tram or subway if you smell of bad body odour of any kind.

6) Let people get off the bus, tram or subway, before you get on yourself. Just pure logic, people!!

7) If the bus, tram, subway is full, and you are by the door, but not getting off: Get off the bus, tram or subway to make it easier for people to get off. Then get on again. It is common curtsey to let these people be the first ones to get on the bus again.

8)Yes, we know that you have a baby trolley and that's ok. But if the bus is full and there all ready are 2 trolleys on the bus. Don't try to squeeze in a 3rd one. Generally try to avoid rush hour, ok?

9)If the bus is full and there is only a ticket register thing in the front of the bus, ask your fellow passengers to send it forward and stamp/beep it. That should be a very easy little favour job to do for your fellow passenger.

10) For men: We know that you have things between your legs, but we would also like some leg-space/ butt-space on the seat.

11) It's never accepted to listen to loud music on the bus, especially not techno. You know it's loud. Come on. I listen to music on the bus every day and it's plenty loud enough if you have good headphones.

12) It's never ever accepted to talk in a cell phone for more than 3 minutes on a bus and especially loud and screaming and talking about your latest pub crawl or sexual experience. Funny maybe on a good day, but mostly just sad.

13) If you bring a dog, ferret or cat on the bus, make sure it's not stepped on or next to someone who is obviously scared of the animal.

14) Get up for elderly, pregnant or people who have trouble standing. Youth doesn't always equal healthy, so don't force other people to get up. You don't know if they have a bad back or a coming flue. Make sure that the old are old enough to be considered old, or the will be very offended.

15) Your fellow passenger are generally just as nice and tiered and happy and sad as you. Give them a smile and a friendly comment and assume the best rather than the worst, and we will have a good trip.

16) When it comes to escalators in big shopping malls and especially train stations, walk to the left, stand on the right.

17) If you have to fix something in your purse or look for something in your pocket. Step out of the way, so that people can clearly pass you.

18) If you are a big group, make sure people can pass you even though you are walking slowly and babbling, people might be in a hurry.

19) Never ever suddenly stop when people are around you. Other people are walking too, and will run into you.

20) If you smoke, don't smoke on other people. If your don't smoke and don't like it, don't position yourself in the middle of someone else's smoke.

21) Never ever ever spit on a public street. That includes chewing tobacco or snus. Common curtsey.

I think that's it for now. Any comments, please?
(This might include spelling mistakes and grammar trouble, due to fast and excited writing).

New music and new album: The Duke Spirit - Bruiser

2011-09-20T18:05:00.004+02:00

Since I first heard The Duke Spirit, I have been hooked. For me it was such a fresh breath of air to hear someone who still makes good arrangements, have great guitar riffs, and last, but not least, the voice of Liela Moss. She also is one of the greatest front woman I have seen in a long, long time. She in some ways remind me (and others) of Debbie Harris in Blondie. Thought they are very different, she certainly have the same edge and is able to hold you under her spell.
It makes me believe in contemporary music. It's been a long time since I have seen this kind of soul, heart and drive.

On their latest album Bruiser, they have done it again. This is classic great rock'n'roll that makes you want to party and run around the room, but thankfully there are more depth to it as well. Lielas voice is the core of it all, she takes you by the hand and takes you through tough screaming hard core rock tunes, but also more tender moments with an intensity that reminds me of PJ Harvey at times, for instance in the beginning of the song "Sweet Bitter Sweet". The guitar riffs are always edgy and if they had just gone totally through every song, it would have been very boring, though quite powerful. Thankfully The Duke Spirit are also masters of building up to climaxes and arrangements of instruments and when to take one or all away to give the music air and excitement. Brick walls of guitars works extremely well in small portions and I think they know :)

In addition to all of this the intensity is always present. I feel like shaking my head constantly to the beat. I always like artists that play and sing like they would die if they weren't allowed to do it, and I get that feeling from The Duke Spirit. I also tend to love music that I would love to play myself, because it sounds like they are having so darn much fun. This is no exception.

My favourites so far are "Everybody's Under Your Spell", "Villain" and "Surrender". They all have some kind of "perfect hit" sense about them. They are just darn good songs and good . But I am starting to love the others more and more. They are growing on me for every play. I love how "Everybody's Under Your Spell" has an amazing beginning of rhythms. You think you finally got the rhythm, but then it changes, before it plummets into the deep and drags you with it, and reaches a climatic refrain. So sexy, so raw, so cool. "Villain" is just deep haunting and grand.

To fully appreciate The Duke Spirit, you need to see them live though. I can see them live in my head when I listen, and to me that adds an extra dimension to the music. So here are my favourite live clips and other useful links:

Bruiser on Spotify
Home page

Great voices: Kelly Jones

2011-09-19T15:46:00.003+02:00

If you have heard the voice of Kelly Jones of Stereophonics, you will not forget it or confuse it with something else. To me he has the quintessential rock'n'roll vocals. It's hard, raw and rusty, but at the same time it has so much emotion, sexiness, passion and feelings to it. When he reaches the first high note of Rooftop it just gives me the chills. And his version of Sumertime is my favourite version of the classic. At the same time he is one of the few who have managed to continue and push is band through after the 90's. They were after all one of the first brit-pop bands I listened to, even though I didn't get my ears really open for them until 2001 and the great JEEP album :) Strictly speaking I guess they are a little bit post-brit-pop, but to me they are part of the same period. Here are some of my favourites.

My first favourite:

Not as good as the album version, but still great: Spotify
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Summertime:
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

With Tom Jones: Spotify

Other then that, the whole best of album is great stuff.

Photos: Summer in Holland

2011-08-07T11:49:00.005+02:00

I love music, as you should have understood by now, if you have been reading my blog. But I also love to take photos. I tend to take photos of houses much more than of people. I always think that people might not like to get their photo taken. Bikes and houses, they are ok. A few weeks ago we went to Amsterdam and around Holland, by boyfriends home country. There are a few of the photos that I really am happy with from the trip. Do you like them? Do you hate them? All comments welcome.

Great live: Elliott Smith - Needle in the Hay

2011-08-02T12:22:00.003+02:00

This is one of those times when the live version of the song is just brilliant. Even more brilliant than the already brilliant studio version. I already love this song, but the electric version just blows my mind. On top of everything it's great to see Elliott live and also fun things happen during this performance that they really deal with in a professional, but fun manner. It's not always wise to turn around on stage too much. I'll say it again, just brilliant.

New music: Graham Coxon, Bill Ryder-Jones, Paloma Faith - Desire

2011-07-12T12:06:00.005+02:00

Thanks to a great little ad-on thing for Last.fm that plays videos from YouTube, I just found a new song with one of the greatest guitarmen in the world, mr. Graham Coxon. He has lately become very active on both Facebook and Twitter and posts a life changeing song every day. Absolutely worth following! Anywaays..This new song is apparently a commercial for converse and it totally rocks!! (To say it very Americana). It's been a long time since I have thought that about something new, but I guess it's now wonder as things always rock when Graham is playing. The vido in itself is also extremely cool and nice 30's- 40's style :)

But... Excuse my ignorance who are the two others, I had to look it up... Let's see...
You can read more about Paloma Faith here! What an amazing voice!! I need to check out more of what she has done! And Bill Ryder-Jones is apparently from The Coral... Hm, they are ok. But a little bit of another league than Coxon at least. But now! Enjoy! :D

Behind the scenes:

Great music and new music (for some): Valkyrien Allstars

2011-07-02T10:25:00.007+02:00

One of the "national musical instruments" in Norway is Hardingfele (Hardanger fiddle). It has an extremely distinct sound and I think it almost always does something to the listener. It has four strings like a normal fiddle or violin, but also 4 or 5 sympathetic strings, meaning the also make sound, though you don't play directly on them.

When I was a kid, I would hate it. I would literately put my fingers in my ears all the way up until I was far into my twenties. Then something changed. I started connecting it to my Norwegian identity, or maybe I had all along and just not realized. The last years I have realized there is something quintessential Norwegian about it. When ever there is a Hardanger fiddle starting and there are Norwegians around, you see them tap their fingers on the table or move their feet a little or clap. There is something that awakes in us. But more about that later. Let's get to the song.

In 2008 I discovered this amazing band, Valyrien Allstars, who play a kind of Norwegian quite modern folk-rock-pop using often old songs and Hardanger fiddles and other fiddles. It's just an amazing sound. The Norwegian music tv-program on NRK, Lydverket, did a great series with bands playing concerts in strange places. This is a part of the series. Valyrien Allstars is playing live at Valkyrien, a pub on the west side of Oslo. I wonder where they took their name from? Anywaaays.. Such an electric performance!

Homepage - Spotify

Great covers: Paranoid Android by YouTubers

2011-06-28T18:24:00.002+02:00

I think I only can say one thing: Great music inspires! :) I am sure you all have seen it by now? It's been around for a few weeks, and now apparently Radiohead have watched it too as they posted it on their website.
Enjoy!

New music: Radiohead - Staircase

2011-06-21T16:04:00.004+02:00

Nothing can make you happier than when your heroes step back into the role of heroes again. The last 3 hours I have constantly been watching and listening to this video. I am hooked. I am stupefied. I am dumbfounded. I stare. I stare. I listen. I listen. And occasionally I am trying to get some work done. I can't wait to see the rest of the live concert. Something tells me it's going to make me love The King of Limbs as well. Possibly. It's good to see more people than Mr.Yorke.

Great videos: Sivert Høyem - Belorado

2011-06-15T14:39:00.002+02:00

Some music videos capture more then the greatness of the song or the artist itself. Here both the song and the artist are premium, but on top of this the video hos captured some kind of essence of Oslo. It's even filmed on the roof of the place where my band used to practice down town. I am sure that was on purpose. Easy to bring music to that roof. It's the light, the colours, the coldness in the air and the mix between nature and city. It warms my heart and make me proud.

Great Covers: Keane - Under Pressure

2011-06-12T13:26:00.004+02:00

I can not believe I haven't blogged about this before! I was looking for my old blog post about it, but no there were none. Well, here goes. The mark of a great vocalist to me is in many ways that he/she is able to do many different things with his or her voice. I think most people who have heard Tom Chaplin from Keane knows that he can do very impressive stuff with his voice, but to take on David Bowie and Freddy Mercury in one song and do it well! Who can not be impressed?? If you are not, you can try the original and see how well he's doing. I also love to see how he's really working to get it! So many different parts of the song as well. Ok, he gets one note really wrong, but bless him, that's ok :) Enjoy! Oh, and of course the rest of the band is also doing amazingly well, not to mention the extra bloke on guitar there. Recognize him? :)