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Storybox: High

July 31, 2009

From the Netherlands, this is Storybox. Today’s Daily Dose is taken from their recently released album You Can Be Replaced (produced by British producer Roger Bechirian). ‘High’ is a simple, happy pop tune that is guaranteed to make you smile!

Storybox - You Can Be Replaced Artist Bio

“Hello, this is Roger Bechirian and I really like your music. We should work together!”
That’s probably what Helge Slikker, Storybox front man and songwriter, heard when he picked up the phone and found out he was talking to legendary British record producer (Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Tom McCrae and others).

A week later Helge was in London, where, over lunch, they decided that Bechirian would be producing the Storybox album.

Fast-forward to May 2008, when the whole band took off for Chapel Hill Studios in Lincolnshire, England, to start work on You Can Be Replaced. That meant intense, long days focusing on music and nothing else. “The fact that you’re in England and working with an English producer keeps you on your toes. It makes you want to show what you’ve got as a musician,” says Helge.

And they did. The tracks on You Can Be Replaced are hard-hitting and compact, which is where the Becherian influence comes in. “Roger gets right to the heart of a song, both musically and lyrically,” says Helge. “He can really set the tone of a song. We’re always thinking like musicians, and sometimes we might get a little too into it, but he sticks right to the essence and the power of the song.”

The songs are pure pop, but always with a retro sound that is both open and organic. They might look simple at first glance, but there’s always a clever underlying structure. A Storybox song is always straight from the heart. It’s a self-contained, engaging story that draws the listener right into it. “What I like is songs that zoom in on a particular place or person. That’s where the storytelling aspect in our music comes from,” Helge says.

In an age of instant pop music, Storybox simultaneously embraces and challenges the proposition they present with the album’s title, You Can Be Replaced. “Just like everything else, in music it’s all been done before,” says Helge. “But not by us! Storybox is all about the authentic band feeling. We don’t go for a genre; leave that to everybody else. We aren’t out to make it big overnight. What we want to do is make another ten albums.” Which makes You Can Be Replaced, with its eleven irreplaceable tracks, just the latest episode in the continuing Storybox serial.

[IODA Promonet]

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Links

  • myspace.com/mystorybox
  • storybox.nl
  • Purchase album
  • IODA Promonet links:
      You Can Be ReplacedStorybox
      “High” (mp3)
      from “You Can Be Replaced”
      (Studio Lemon)

        Buy at iTunes Music Store

        Popularity: unranked [?]

        Written by Sarah Morrison · Filed Under IR: Daily Dose 

        Gazpacho: Winter is Never

        July 30, 2009

        GazpachoDescribed by one critic as being “classical post ambient nocturnal atmospheric neo-progressive folk world rock,” Norway’s Gazpacho is virtually impossible to contain in any set genre of music, though bands like Sigur Rós, Muse, Talk Talk and Porcupine Tree have been named in reference to them. Their newest work is no exception to this and has haunted speakers since it was recently released in their home country. Now set for release in the United States and Canada on October 13th on the Dismanic label, Gazpacho’s latest, a concept album appropriately entitled Tick Tock has the pendulum-like power to entrance and hypnotize its listeners with its various entities intertwining to yield an eerie and captivating product.

        On December 29th 1935 a plane crashes in the Egyptian desert. The French writer Antoine Saint-Exupéry is the pilot. His planned record flight from Paris to Saigon ends in the vast sand dunes of Sahara. He wanders through the desert for five days, in the end meandering between Fata Morgana and a monotonous reality. His book Wind, Sand and Stars is a classic, and its interpretation by Gazpacho, Tick Tock, is a journey through human emotions, from the unhappy departure, the wandering through the Sahara and the rescue. Euphoria, despair, defiance, fear of dying and humility. The ticking of the clock, the rhythmic foundation symbolizing both the beating of the heart and the eternal monotony of the desert, interrupted only by vibrating air and the endless sky above the desperate wanderer.

        Gazpacho’s first three albums Bravo, When Earth Lets Go, and Firebird were launched entirely on their own merit and awareness spread by word-of-mouth throughout the world. It didn’t take long before they had debuted in the Dutch indie charts at #6, hit #1 three times on MP3.com, won international songwriter competitions, got national radio spins in several countries, and made year-end top 10 lists in various media outlets.

        While on tour in 2004 they were noticed by Intact Records, who were overwhelmed by the audience’s positive reaction to the band. Seeking to capitalize on Gazpacho’s potential, Intact launched Firebird and licensed the back catalogue.

        The band’s next release Night (2007) showed a departure from the short song format of the previous albums, and instead consists of one long 50-minute conceptual piece, divided into five parts. This deviation into a more distinguished sound has progressed even further in their latest release…

        …now crank up the volume, prepare to be submerged in the chilling sound waves of Tick Tock, and try to stay afloat. [themusebox.net]

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        Popularity: unranked [?]

        Written by Charles Stepczyk · Filed Under IR: Daily Dose 

        IR: New York #8

        July 29, 2009

        IR:NY
        Episode number 8 of Insomnia Radio: New York.

        Hosted by Sarah Morrison, bringing you an eclectic mix of music fresh from the 5 boroughs and beyond.

        Recording Date: Friday 28 July 2009

        TRT: 35:57

        Rating: Work Safe

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        Playlist & Links:

        Popularity: unranked [?]

        Written by Sarah Morrison · Filed Under Featured, IR: Main Show, IR: New York, IR: Regional 

        Drunken Boat: New Pop

        July 29, 2009

        Today we bring you Drunken Boat with ‘New Pop’, from their self-titled album released on Funzalo Records.

        Drunken Boat There is little to be found of them on the internet, with locations for the band ranging from Portland, Oregon to NYC to Nashville, Tennessee. But regardless of where they are from, who they are or what they’re up to now, the song speaks for itself in shouted, growling tones.

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        Links

        Popularity: unranked [?]

        Written by Sarah Morrison · Filed Under IR: Daily Dose 

        The Blacks: Sunday Boys

        July 28, 2009

        From their album Tiger Songs

        Tiger Songs

         

         

        The Blacks are a dark and dancy San Francisco/NYC three-piece known for their short, blistering stage shows and laser-beam intensity. With a stripped down instrumentation featuring guitar (Luisa Black), drums (Gavin Black) and wild-eyed tambourine player JDK Blacker, The Blacks serve up a hot, electric, garage noir sound that mixes the rawness of The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Stooges with the vocal elegance of Romeo Void. [IODA]

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        Links

        IODA Links

        Popularity: unranked [?]

        Written by Stuart Morrison · Filed Under IR: Daily Dose 

        IR: Detroit #29

        July 28, 2009

        Insomnia Radio Detroit is back with some great Motor city music and interviews with two great bands too!

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        Music from:

        Penpals With The President (twitter)
        Chaos Reigns
        Hiding In Thailand (twitter)
        Shithouse Yonder
        Broken Day Machine
        Potty Mouth Sissys

        Subscribe here!

        Download MP3

        Don’t forget to check out the IR:Detroit affiliate, The Olin Ezra Show listen for me to be on an upcoming show of theirs!

        Popularity: unranked [?]

        Written by Les Zaldor · Filed Under IR: Detroit, IR: Regional 

        Confusion Is Next: Graffiti

        July 27, 2009

        From their EP The Generation Of This Order, available for free download from Jamendo,and released soon on afmusic

        CIN Established in Monza, Italy, in 2004, CONFUSION IS NEXT is an alternative rock quartet spreading chaos over the netaudio cyberscene with self production and DIY spirit. After the supa-grungy teenage riot fueled 2005 “Spread The Spirit” got published by the spanish netlabel Trastienda in 2007, the band released another lo-fi noisy record called “Lost In Dark Days” in 2008 on Trastienda and Ekleipsi Netlabel, showing the shift from the bleached jeans days to darker atmospheres and complex structures. Their songs got featured in many comps spreaded over the netlabel scene. In 2009, CIN releases “THE GENERATION OF THIS ORDER” in a free version on Trastienda Netlabel and in a deluxe digital version on afmusic: a 70’s psychedelia and modern post rock blend. A 5 songs, 30 minutes long journey thru sonic nights, white venetian masks and dark shadows. [MySpace]

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        Links

        Some Rights Reserved

         

          

        Popularity: unranked [?]

        Written by Stuart Morrison · Filed Under IR: Daily Dose 

        Ciao Transizta: Go On Call the Mayor

        July 26, 2009

        Ciao TransiztaCopenhagen Denmark’s Ciao Transizta blends period American indie with the more traditional surf in a distinctive cocktail of straightforward monotone grooves, characteristic vocals and guitar-riffs fizzling of reverb.

        The songs on the five track EP, ‘Murder by the Lefthanded Harlekin’ are typically victims of a chaotic structure that rarely contains a regular chorus, but with a unique sense of melodic hooklines the quintet nonetheless creates a point of rotation that brings meaning to the madness.

        In their most current news update, Ciao Transizta announced that they will be featured on the soon-to-come compilation-CD “Against Your Records”. It compiles great music from the underground of Copenhagen. ‘Go On Call The Mayor’ and ‘Ventriloquist’ are on the tracklist. Read more on where to find the comp here.

        Ciao Bella…
        Ciao Viva…
        Ciao Transizta!

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        Popularity: unranked [?]

        Written by Charles Stepczyk · Filed Under IR: Daily Dose 

        IR: UK #71 – Triphazard & Gunfire

        July 25, 2009


        Episode number 71 of Insomnia Radio UK.

        Eight songs by UK artists. An interesting mix.

        Recording Date: Saturday 25 July 2009

        TRT: 38:14

        Rating: Work Safe

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        Playlist, MySpace and Other Links

        Other links

        Popularity: unranked [?]

        Written by Stuart Morrison · Filed Under IR: Regional, IR: UK 

        Flight Crash Companion: Her Strangest Memories

        July 25, 2009

        From the album An Untitled Winter

        Flight Crash Companion Bio
        Flight Crash Companion is the anti-band. It is a revolving cast of musicians centered around the efforts of Evan Cooney. Sometimes its down-tempo melancholy lo-fi folk, sometimes it’s loud and aggressive. Occasionally we put together a line-up of all-stars and play a show. This is all we want to do.

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        Links

        Popularity: unranked [?]

        Written by Stuart Morrison · Filed Under IR: Daily Dose 

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