5 Years of NFOP

Come celebrate with us: Urban Spree, May 24, 4pm

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Every Friday at 4pm CET

Since we are pigeons.

05 Dec 2010 — Tonje Thilesen
We swedes can also play soft music, Fredrik Karlsson of the wonderful indie pop/folk quartet Solander whispers, slowly followed up by the intro tunes to one of their most popular songs, Berlin, making the otherwise chattery, beer-drinking audience at Revolver in Oslo finally stop talking for a bit and focus their ears on the music playing. Unfortunately this didn't last very long, and towards the end of the concert Fredrik kindly asked the audience to take a step towards the stage to see if anyone were listening at all. I had originally come with Matias to see my darlings of the Norwegian post-rock band Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson, whom put out one of my favorite albums of early 2010, and was literally caught off guard for not having heard about these lovely swedes already — playing a live set that could make even the toughest guy shatter a tear or two. They released their debut album Since We Are Pigeons a couple of days before my birthday in October last year, filled to the brim with beautiful, Noah And The Whale-like pop tunes, wonderfully accompanied by Fredrik's sweet vocals, cold and bluish as the winter time itself. The song below is dedicated to my favorite guy in Berlin, Henning, for so kindly letting me into the warmth of No Fear Of Pop some months back. Support the band by buying their album here, or download some of their tracks for free via bandcamp. Expect a release date for their follow-up early next year at A Tenderversion Recording. Solander - Berlin Solander - Narcissus Read more → We swedes can also play soft music, Fredrik Karlsson of the wonderful indie pop/folk quartet Solander whispers, slowly followed up by the intro tunes to one of their most popular songs, Berlin, making the otherwise chattery, beer-drinking audience at Revolver in Oslo finally stop talking for a bit and focus their ears on the music playing. Unfortunately this didn't last very long, and towards the end of the concert Fredrik kindly asked the audience to take a step towards the stage to see if anyone were listening at all. I had originally come with Matias to see my darlings of the Norwegian post-rock band Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson, whom put out one of my favorite albums of early 2010, and was literally caught off guard for not having heard about these lovely swedes already — playing a live set that could make even the toughest guy shatter a tear or two. They released their debut album Since We Are Pigeons a couple of days before my birthday in October last year, filled to the brim with beautiful, Noah And The Whale-like pop tunes, wonderfully accompanied by Fredrik's sweet vocals, cold and bluish as the winter time itself. The song below is dedicated to my favorite guy in Berlin, Henning, for so kindly letting me into the warmth of No Fear Of Pop some months back. Support the band by buying their album here, or download some of their tracks for free via bandcamp. Expect a release date for their follow-up early next year at A Tenderversion Recording. Solander - Berlin Solander - Narcissus

Taiwanese film songs.

05 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann
Completely stoked by the lo-fi vibes of Joshua Frank aka Parallel Pyres' minimalistic synth manipulation and day-glo warmth of warped tape sounds. Both Kicking the Coals and Wo Yao Ni de Ai heavily hit psychedelia yet also show an incredible amount of new wave-infusion with Frank's monotone, almost mechanic voice over sparse drum patterns. Regarding the latter song, Frank says he has adapted "a Taiwanese film song of unrequited love into a blown-out, stripped down crooner anthem", and after reading those words I knew there wasn't even any need to actually listen to Parallel Pyres' tunes to be helplessly into them, and my intuition did not fail me: this is amazing stuff. Both tracks are part of Frank's sophomore effort II, available for download here and highly recommended. Parallel Pyres - Kicking the Coals Parallel Pyres - Wo Yao Ni de Ai (I Want Your Love) Read more → Completely stoked by the lo-fi vibes of Joshua Frank aka Parallel Pyres' minimalistic synth manipulation and day-glo warmth of warped tape sounds. Both Kicking the Coals and Wo Yao Ni de Ai heavily hit psychedelia yet also show an incredible amount of new wave-infusion with Frank's monotone, almost mechanic voice over sparse drum patterns. Regarding the latter song, Frank says he has adapted "a Taiwanese film song of unrequited love into a blown-out, stripped down crooner anthem", and after reading those words I knew there wasn't even any need to actually listen to Parallel Pyres' tunes to be helplessly into them, and my intuition did not fail me: this is amazing stuff. Both tracks are part of Frank's sophomore effort II, available for download here and highly recommended. Parallel Pyres - Kicking the Coals Parallel Pyres - Wo Yao Ni de Ai (I Want Your Love)

New Hype Williams: Dior EP.

04 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann
Miss Copeland graciously sent over the latest Hype Williams EP this week with a few mostly short cuts of the duo's latest twisted mind-games captured on audio tape. Dior starts with a four minute mantra about the necessity to catch all Pokemon before Blunt and Copeland deliver one of their finest works to date with the EP's (untitled) second track, a terrific late night jam made up of slowly burning analogue synth lines over a simple drum pattern and gently seducing female vocals - this is almost like that thing back in the days with these slowed-down drum'n'base structures that we used to call, oh yes, trip hop. Anyway, almost all other tracks on the EP end painfully quick and might rather be described as mere sketches than actual songs. Only the closing tune, most probably named Treated Her Badly, again exceeds the two and a half minute mark with another calm and more or less signature Hype Williams production, all screwed and chopped up and awesome. Whether the Dior EP is planned to be released on wax remains to be seen. Download the whole 13 miuntes over here. Hype Williams - Dior #2 Hype Williams - Treated Her Badly Read more → Miss Copeland graciously sent over the latest Hype Williams EP this week with a few mostly short cuts of the duo's latest twisted mind-games captured on audio tape. Dior starts with a four minute mantra about the necessity to catch all Pokemon before Blunt and Copeland deliver one of their finest works to date with the EP's (untitled) second track, a terrific late night jam made up of slowly burning analogue synth lines over a simple drum pattern and gently seducing female vocals - this is almost like that thing back in the days with these slowed-down drum'n'base structures that we used to call, oh yes, trip hop. Anyway, almost all other tracks on the EP end painfully quick and might rather be described as mere sketches than actual songs. Only the closing tune, most probably named Treated Her Badly, again exceeds the two and a half minute mark with another calm and more or less signature Hype Williams production, all screwed and chopped up and awesome. Whether the Dior EP is planned to be released on wax remains to be seen. Download the whole 13 miuntes over here. Hype Williams - Dior #2 Hype Williams - Treated Her Badly

Video: David Kanaga - First Night

04 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann
First Night appears on David Kanaga's latest EP Flower Walk, available via his bandcamp. Read more → First Night appears on David Kanaga's latest EP Flower Walk, available via his bandcamp.

Digital Magic.

03 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann
Some nicely state of the art dancefloor hooks to get you through the first night of the weekend by Florida's Dark Sea Of Awareness, heavy synth monsters that not only get your arse moving but also instantly take you back to the glory days of that blurry thing we used to call "idm". And god finally something you actually wanna dance to. Cop the whole piece of digital magic named, oh yes indeed, Digital Magic over at our most adored friends of fmly rcrds. Dark Sea Of Awareness - Mountain Grime Dark Sea Of Awareness - For Two Read more → Some nicely state of the art dancefloor hooks to get you through the first night of the weekend by Florida's Dark Sea Of Awareness, heavy synth monsters that not only get your arse moving but also instantly take you back to the glory days of that blurry thing we used to call "idm". And god finally something you actually wanna dance to. Cop the whole piece of digital magic named, oh yes indeed, Digital Magic over at our most adored friends of fmly rcrds. Dark Sea Of Awareness - Mountain Grime Dark Sea Of Awareness - For Two

Premiere: I’m Keeping Some of Mine for Me.

03 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann
Our pal Samuel Yager aka Birthdays kindly sent over his latest tune last night. I'm Keeping Some of Mine for Me is a slowly meandering, distinctly lo-fi bedroom jam built on repetitive guitar patterns and heavily manipulated, multi-layered vocal tracks. The tune evokes a warm yet slightly melancholic, wintry feel, like sitting by the fireplace watching the white and frozen landscape outside. After gaining some tempo in the middle part, supported by some beautifully arranged percussion, the song quickly falls back into its original gentle and dreamy tone towards the short finale. The captivating and absolutely marvelous seven minute gem will appear on a forthcoming cassette tape on Triple U Tapes. Make sure you also listen to the other brand new and brilliant Birthdays tune Howolding Girls, premiered yesterday on Altered Zones via Get Off The Coast. Birthdays - I'm Keeping Some of Mine for Me Photograph "Bialystok" by Florian Reischauer. buy this print! 15x15cm | 30x30cm Read more → Our pal Samuel Yager aka Birthdays kindly sent over his latest tune last night. I'm Keeping Some of Mine for Me is a slowly meandering, distinctly lo-fi bedroom jam built on repetitive guitar patterns and heavily manipulated, multi-layered vocal tracks. The tune evokes a warm yet slightly melancholic, wintry feel, like sitting by the fireplace watching the white and frozen landscape outside. After gaining some tempo in the middle part, supported by some beautifully arranged percussion, the song quickly falls back into its original gentle and dreamy tone towards the short finale. The captivating and absolutely marvelous seven minute gem will appear on a forthcoming cassette tape on Triple U Tapes. Make sure you also listen to the other brand new and brilliant Birthdays tune Howolding Girls, premiered yesterday on Altered Zones via Get Off The Coast. Birthdays - I'm Keeping Some of Mine for Me Photograph "Bialystok" by Florian Reischauer. buy this print! 15x15cm | 30x30cm

The Rocky Mountains.

03 Dec 2010 — Tonje Thilesen

When not playing guitar in Teen Daze or making music under his moniker Bank Heist, Matthew Joel hailing from the fraser valley of British Colombia spends his time making beautiful, atmospheric under his self-titled solo project. In his very newest The Rocky Mountains EP (which you can download for free via bandcamp), Joel moves from cold and calming ambient tunes to the wondrous post-rock, sometimes with hints of electronic, giving many the six different tracks on the EP names of valleys, mountains and lakes within the postcard landscapes of the US west coast. However, just as the driest deserts of Death Valley can bloom with wildflowers in all the colors of the rainbow after some rare periods of rain; so can the music of Matthew Joel — leaving you with the everlasting feeling that beauty never is far away.

Matthew Joel - Yellowstone Read more →

When not playing guitar in Teen Daze or making music under his moniker Bank Heist, Matthew Joel hailing from the fraser valley of British Colombia spends his time making beautiful, atmospheric under his self-titled solo project. In his very newest The Rocky Mountains EP (which you can download for free via bandcamp), Joel moves from cold and calming ambient tunes to the wondrous post-rock, sometimes with hints of electronic, giving many the six different tracks on the EP names of valleys, mountains and lakes within the postcard landscapes of the US west coast. However, just as the driest deserts of Death Valley can bloom with wildflowers in all the colors of the rainbow after some rare periods of rain; so can the music of Matthew Joel — leaving you with the everlasting feeling that beauty never is far away.

Matthew Joel - Yellowstone

New Moon Glyph: Food Pyramid II / Living Image.

02 Dec 2010 — Henning Lahmann
Fresh and still burning hot out of the oven, two new cassette releases on Minnesota's Moon Glyph, very amazing productions that both deserve a few lines of introduction. Only a little while after dropping I on Moon Glyph, the Minneapolis psych outfit Food Pyramid is already back with their aptly titled follow-up II, roughly 45 minutes of densely orchestrated soundscapes, instantly captivating noise produced by all kinds of electronic devices that evoke memories of 70s glory day psychedelic music. The tracks are playful with an almost improvised feel yet always remain stringent and never lose traction: Music is math, and this is math in its highest form. Food Pyramid - Cloudscape Equally noisy in its approach but still very different is Camden's Living Image, a considerably dark output of Daughters of the Sun (who will have a Not Not Fun release soon) member Cole Weiland. Over bubbling synth patterns, Living Image is focused on Weiland's heavily distorted (or otherwise manipulated) and haunting vocals, all together producing deliberately harsh noises that result in an astonishing output of sheer musical massiveness, as unforeseen as truly amazing. Camden - Bloodloss Both tapes are already available, order them here. Read more → Fresh and still burning hot out of the oven, two new cassette releases on Minnesota's Moon Glyph, very amazing productions that both deserve a few lines of introduction. Only a little while after dropping I on Moon Glyph, the Minneapolis psych outfit Food Pyramid is already back with their aptly titled follow-up II, roughly 45 minutes of densely orchestrated soundscapes, instantly captivating noise produced by all kinds of electronic devices that evoke memories of 70s glory day psychedelic music. The tracks are playful with an almost improvised feel yet always remain stringent and never lose traction: Music is math, and this is math in its highest form. Food Pyramid - Cloudscape Equally noisy in its approach but still very different is Camden's Living Image, a considerably dark output of Daughters of the Sun (who will have a Not Not Fun release soon) member Cole Weiland. Over bubbling synth patterns, Living Image is focused on Weiland's heavily distorted (or otherwise manipulated) and haunting vocals, all together producing deliberately harsh noises that result in an astonishing output of sheer musical massiveness, as unforeseen as truly amazing. Camden - Bloodloss Both tapes are already available, order them here.
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