My Current Obsession is Under Byen, “Samme Stof Som Stofâ€
As a regular listener to the afternoon show, you know I’ve been playing lots of Scandinavian and Nordic bands lately. Not sure what’s going on up/over there, but damn, there’s lots of great new music coming out of that part of the world recently, like Sigur Ros, Mugison, and Emiliana Torrini out of Iceland; Love Is All, David & the Citizens, Radio LXMBRG, and Nicolai Dunger from Sweden, Mi and L’au from Finland (and France); Norway’s Serena-Maneesh; and from Denmark, the Figurines and my current obsession Under Byen.
Under Byen create a sound unlike any other band…sure, you’ll notice a little Bjork in the vocal, and a little Sigur Ros in the musical moods and glacial time shifts, but like much of the best music, Under Byen defies classification and comparison. Violin and cello melt into synthesizers colliding with metallic percussion. Bells, chimes, and otherworldly saw take you to new highs only to be grounded by raw feedback and noise. Sweet and comforting, then metallic and brutal. Beautiful and distinctive. Words fail, so enough with them, listen for yourself:
Af samme stof som stof – (MP3)
Den her sang handler om at f̴ det bedste ud af det Р(MP3)
Let me know what you think…
8 Comments
Love, love, love Under Byen! Thanks for playing.
this is just simply, beautiful.
where can i purchase the cd? sonic boom’s webpage didn’t have it, so i went to amazon.com. no luck there either…
last song i heard before i left work today.
copied Under Byen (spelling it Under Ben) down on a post-it.
just tried grabbing some from iTunes- and well, there is an Under Ben- but it certainly isn’t Under Byen. eesh.
another Scandinavian artist/band to check out that my girlfriend got turned onto while over there is Tiger Lou. decent stuff.
thank you for helping me to discover under byen! they are indeed quite wonderful.
there are also quite a few excellent bands that fall into this genre/sound…
-slowpho
-archive
-aria
-blue foundation
-spylab
-moodarama
-smoke city
-baxter
-coldfinger
-suvome
just to name a few!
I love what you have played of Under Byen, but correct me if I’m wrong here, but they haven’t released anything in the US or the UK, making it difficult to purchase. Supposedly, they are one of the most popular bands in Denmark, so what are we to do about this?
For more info on Under Byen try checking out my “fansite” at http://www.larsdideriksen.com/underbyen . It has more stuff than the official site. For shopping try checking these pages: http://www.morningsiderecords.dk/releases.asp and http://www.larsdideriksen.com/underbyen/wheretobuy.htm . If you’re into torrents there are several nice live recordings at Dimeadozen.org (requires sign-up, if no access, just try again later). Take care!
Lars
I just wrote a piece on Under Byen online at MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15641398/
Del
Well, they aren’t one of the most popular Danish bands – far from it. If you can get hold of them, you should listen to their earlier albums – “Kyst” (Coast), and “Det Er Mig Der Holder Træerne Sammen” (It is I who holds/binds the trees together). By the way, Under Byen translates into “Beneath the town”.