Thanks again to Max Franosch, whose taste in music remains impeccable.
Lanterns On The Lake are a group out of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, who bring out the best of modern indie rock with a sound familiar to those of us who are a bit older and remember the heyday of the 1980s and 1990s, when the music was legendary.
For my taste, at least in this song, Imandra Lake sound like a post-rock band getting produced by Phil Spector’s tidal wave of sound. A really impressive new band from Estonia who deserve a large audience.
As if Iceland didn’t have a wealth of great and well-known bands, here’s yet another to add to the collection. Dúkkulísur (Paper Dolls) were/are (?) a new wave band who seem to still be around. This track was from 1984. For a bit more info, read on or look at the video over at Youtube:
From their self-titled 1984 EP.
Grapevine:
Dúkkulísurnar (“The Paper Dolls”) from Egilsstaðir took their cue from Grýlurnar, an all-girl group that appeared in ‘Með allt á hreinu’ alongside Stuðmenn. However, Dúkkulísurnar never sounded like Grýlurnar and leaned more towards The Pretenders in style. In 1982, the first Músíktilraunir was organised, a “battle of the bands”-competition that still remains a springboard for young bands. The first band to win, DRON, faded away quickly, but for Dúkkulísurnar, who won in 1983, everything “happened very fast afterwards,” as guitarist and main songwriter Gréta would later remark. Dúkkulísurnar got signed to Skífan, at the time one of two big “major” labels in Iceland, and in the summer of 1984 the first six-track EP came out. It included ‘Pamela,’ a hit song about a pregnant 15-year old who sings: “This baby was an accident, in my stomach like flares, I wish I were Pamela in Dallas.”
Dúkkulísurnar’s LP came in 1986 (‘Í léttum leik’ (“A Light Game”)—the girls always hated the title) and included the band’s second hit, ‘Svarthvíta hetjan mín’ (“My Black And White Hero”). Being in an all-girl group was nothing to build one’s future on in 1986, so everybody “got serious” and enrolled into higher education. Dúkkulísurnar were laid to rest, but of course, like most other bands, the girls would play together again decades later.
The greatest alternative music band to ever come out of the Tuva region is Russia, Yat-Kha left a legacy of mixing throat music that worked very well in a rock context.
I’m extremely pleased to announce the new release of Croatia’s best experimental bassist, Jurica Jelić! He hails from Knin, and produces a mélange of genres, mixing classical, post-punk, and Slavic paganism as his bass influences.
I’m no connoisseur of hip-hop music, but Jurassic 5, Los Angeles’ finest in my opinion, makes me want to learn more about the interesting parts of the genre.