World of Madness

Holiday

I’m leaving for Finland early tomorrow morning, which means I probably won’t be online much until I get back on the evening of the 26th. It’ll be lovely with a summer holiday away from the bustle of the city, which, while I love the city, can get stressful even when you have nothing to do. Maybe I’ll be able to chill out and not think so much about the future, too. Just live in the moment for a couple of weeks. See ya!

Posted on Sunday, July 11th 2010 · 2 Comments »

pop

You’re never too old for bubble wrap.

Posted on Thursday, July 8th 2010 · 6 Comments »

Am I Home?

This is my glass of red wine,
My jug of water, my favourite line
I am in your couch
Am I home? Read More →

Posted on Thursday, July 1st 2010 · 2 Comments »

Insomnia & Cool MySpaces

It’s almost 7 am and I haven’t slept a wink tonight, so now’s as good a time as any to share some cool MySpaces, I think. Most of these are old classmates and small-ish local acts.

Luna Park only have one song up at the moment, probably due to their recent change in line-up, but that one song is very cool, and we’re lead to believe there will be more soon. They play pretty straight forward rock, with some cool electronic effects, courtesy of Kristoffer Hansen whom you’ll find in some live recordings from last year here on this site.

He is also one half of the duo sgrow (here credited as Kristoffer Lislegaard), the other half being the gorgeous and fantastic Vilde Nupen, who has the most beautiful, expressive voice in the whole world. sgrow is an electronica and vocal duo who play very interesting, creative and original music. Close is quite possibly one of my favourite songs in the world.

Another one of my favourite songs is Fit In by You Wish. This band play what they characterise as “ghost pop”, a rather interesting new “genre”. It can’t really be explained, but must be experienced. They have three fantastic songs up, heavy with guitars, synthesisers and untraditional vocals and rhythm section.

Why Control is a girl punk band. That’s really all you need to know. They’re raw and all over the place, and if you happen to be in Oslo when they’re playing a gig, they’re well worth it.

Deseized are quite a bit bigger than the ones I have linked to thus far. Signed to a major label, but still relatively underground, they play noisy hardcore metal with progressive elements. Prepare for screamy, growly vocals and loads of distorted guitars.

Serenity Trace is another hardcore/metal band, and are also somewhat big, but more underground, and possibly noisier and screamier than Deseized. Not for the faint of heart.

While You Slept is a small indie band with male and female vocals. It’s an interesting and relatively original band, with harmonious rock guitars and a cute (in my opinion) sound.

And now for a couple of non-locals:

I kind of knew a couple of these guys when they were an Oslo band. However, Daddysmilk migrated to Manchester a couple of years back. They have since changed bassists a few times, and are still unsigned, but seem to have built up a pretty steady reputation and a record deal is probably not too far away. They play hard rock.

The final band I wish to share with my readers (all three of you) this morning is the only band on this list I have absolutely no connection to. The line-up of Blue Gillespie includes Gareth David-Lloyd, of Torchwood fame, which is how I came across them. They play angry rock/metal with lyrics that are downright unpleasant, but according to them, this is completely on purpose, and the idea is that listening to this kind of music will appease your angry alter-ego and make you a happier person. I don’t know about that, but it’s certainly fun music!

Posted on Thursday, June 24th 2010 · 3 Comments »

We Are Hope

This morning, a convoy of supply ships headed for Gaza with humanitarian aid, crewed by civilian peace activists, were boarded by Israeli soldiers. 19 people were killed, several more wounded. You already know this. You also know that it happened in international waters, that the Israelis claim that the activists shot first, that the flotilla was towed to an Israeli port and that there’s been little contact with those on board. I’m not sitting here to speculate, not really. I’m just trying to make sense of it… What little sense there is to be made of such senseless violence, anyway. What is the world coming to, and all that. It’s enough to make even me cynical, and if you know me, you know I’m about the biggest optimist who ever walked this Earth… Well, sometimes.

Posted on Tuesday, June 1st 2010 · No Comments »

Various Interesting Stuff

I got my grade for my exam today, and I got a B, which is wonderful. I can’t help but wonder, if my voice had been better and I had dared to rock out a little more, if I wouldn’t have been able to make an A, but meh. It’s still a good grade. So, happy!

I recently joined a new internet community, called MetaFilter. It’s a blogging community, where people share links to interesting things on the web. Anyone can read, but you have to pay a one-time membership fee of $5 to post. This gives you lifetime membership, and is the only time you have to pay anything. This place is full of friendly people and awesome discussions, but more importantly, they have a music section, where members can upload their own songs.

This has brought me into contact with all sorts of interesting people, many of whom seem to be professional musicians, or just amateurs with a really big budget. Either way, I’ve offered to record vocals for one track someone else has written, and been asked to do some vocals for another (just now, actually). I’m completely stoked! This is really brilliant. MetaFilter is awesome! There are also plans of creating a CD to raise money for charity, and I’m considering making a submission.

So, as soon as I’m done with my exams and my cleaning and moving, I’ll get started on all that. I think it’s gonna be lots of fun! With challenges like these, I’ll have all the opportunity in the world to keep singing during the summer, which is always a problem. Yay!

EDIT: Also, I have dyed my hair magenta: