It’s been a while. Too long maybe?
Either way, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s simply too much happening musically here in beautiful Bergen to ignore. With that in mind, it’s time to wake this blog from its year long slumber!
Keep you eyes peeled for more posts over the coming days. Back in business as they say.
Seven Mountain Service has been on an inexplicable sabbatical, I can only apologise for our mysterious absence. To make it up to you, I’m going to share with you a band that our good friends over at BeachTapes just introduced me to. Tashaki Miyaki are the duo from Los Angeles who make music that made me want to tell everybody about them. It’s life affirming dream pop if I’ve ever heard it. Sit back and enjoy.
It’s good to be back!
Tashaki Miyaki – Somethin’ Is Better Than Nothin’ from The Sounds Of Sweet Nothing on Vimeo.
Tashaki Miyaki – Best Friend (Official Video) from Juan Iglesias on Vimeo.
Brilliant Bergen based noise-makers The Megaphonic Thrift are back….. and how! The band were good enough to give us a taster of their new self-titled record, with this album track Raising Flags. If the this track is anything to go by, the album promises to be huge. Roll on 3rd of February!
The Megaphonic Thrift – Raising Flags
Saturday night is upon us, what to do…….
Well if I were you, I’d be at Kvarteret where Bergen dance trio Souldrop will be blowing a few minds with their ridiculously good live set. I reckon they may well be joined on stage by some special guests aswell. Sounds like the perfect saturday night to me! It all kicks off at 22:30. See you there.
Souldrop feat. Chris Holm – No Soul
Souldrop feat. Lars Vaular & Store P – Om Igjen
Today is a day to celebrate a legend. On this day 65 years ago, David Robert Jones was born. Without a doubt my favourite artist of all time celebrates his birthday today so let’s rejoice at his amazing contribution to music over the past 40 years. It’s only fair then that I gather some of my favourite tunes from his wonderful career. Whether it’s from his early psych-folk Space Oddity days, or from his Ziggy Stardust glam rock pomp, the soul-funk Thin White Duke era, his truly brilliant and reclusive Berlin trilogy, his take on 80’s pop superstardom or his trip into drum n bass in the 90’s (maybe not the latter). Looking back, it’s amazing to see the work the man has produced, I just can’t imagine what music would sound like today without his legacy. Enough of the flattery, enjoy his music for yourself! Here is the best of David Bowie.
Suffragette City
Drive-In Saturday
Station To Station
Sound And Vision
Always Crashing In The Same Car
Heroes
Ashes To Ashes
Fashion
Let’s Dance
With the singles in place, it’s now time to unleash this years stand-out long players. I love this time of year, not just the excessive amounts of food and drink, but the joyous task of going through the albums released over the past 12 months. Some LPs didn’t need a double check because of their brilliance, others have been rediscovered after months gathering dust on the shelf and then there has also been the tough task of narrowing down the list. Great stuff, so I hope you’re as excited as I am to celebrate the albums of 2011.
Thanks for following us through-out our first year and stay tuned for new and exciting things on the pages of Seven Mountain Service in 2012. Happy New Year!
1.Panda Bear – Tomboy
2.Shabazz Palaces – Black Up
3.The Horrors – Skying
4. Cass McCombs – Wit’s End
5.Drake – Take Care
6.Destroyer – Kaputt
7.Real Estate – Days
8.Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
9.Beyonce – 4
10.Bon Iver – Bon Iver
11.Atlas Sound – Parallax
12.The War On Drugs – Slave Ambient
13.Iceage – New Brigade
14.Frank Ocean – Nostalgia, Ultra
15.Wild Beasts – Smother
16.Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See
17.Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
18.Radiohead – The Kings Of Limbs
19. The Weeknd – House Of Balloons
20.SBTRKT – SBTRKT
2011 was a year we at SmS can look back on very fondly. It’s the year SmS was brought into this world and also a tremendous year for music, both locally here in Bergen and internationally. A year to savour. So as the year of the rabbit comes to a close, it’s probably the orderly thing to do by summing up the best bits. Here’s the year’s best singles, all of which have helped soundtrack SmS’s first year in town. I’ve put them in a rough order, but the most important thing is to check them out if you haven’t heard them.
1.Cass McCombs – County Line
2.Shabazz Palaces – Are You… Can You… Were You?…
3.Panda Bear – Slow Motion
4.Girls – Vomit
5.Bloody Beach – Quembo Que
6.Bon Iver – Holocene
7.Beyonce – Countdown
8.The Horrors – Still Life
9.Atlas Sound – Mona Lisa
10.Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See
11.SBTRKT feat Little Dragon – Wildfire
12.Lana Del Rey – Video Games
13.The War On Drugs – Come To The City
14.Wild Beasts – Bed Of Nails
15.Young Dreams – Young Dreams
16.Real Estate – It’s Real
17.Smith Westerns – All Die Young
18.Frank Ocean – Swim Good
19.Advanced Language – Party On The Moon
20.Real Estate – Green Aisles
21.Jamie xx – Far Nearer
22.Destroyer – Savage Night At The Opera
23. Dirty Beaches – Lord Knows Best
24.Kurt Vile – Jesus Fever
25. Verk – Epidemi
26.Burning God Little – Notes On Being Snowblind
27. Zoo Kid / King Krule – Out Getting Ribs
28.Drake feat. Rick Ross – Lord Knows
29. The Black Lips – Family Tree
30.The Weeknd – The Morning
31. Thee Oh Sees – The Dream
32. Tyler, The Creator – Yonkers
33. James Blake & Bon Iver – Fall Creek Boys Choir
34. M83 feat. Zola Jesus – Intro
35.Baxter Dury – Isabel
36. Roots Manuva – Here We Go Again
37. Slow Club – If We’re Still Alive
38. Panda Bear – You Can Count On Me
39. The Horrors – Moving Further Away
40. Arctic Monkeys – Thats Where You’re Wrong
41. Bombay Bicycle Club – Lights Out, Words Gone
42. John Maus – Hey Moon
43. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Thought Ballune
44. Radiohead – Staircase
45. Washed Out – Amor Fati
46. Ungdomskulen – Elle
47. Sondre Lerche – Domino
48. Tom Waits – Bad As Me
49. The Strokes – Machu Picchu
50. Bleached – Think Of You
If I’ve made a glaring error and not included a tune you think should be in the list, leave me a comment. Always nice with abit of feedback!
Good people, SmS would like to wish you all an amazingly merry Christmas. Enjoy yourselves, be good and listen to Fairytale of New York at least eight times. Undoubtedly the greatest Xmas song there is.
Bergen based label Nabovarsel has been releasing some really exciting music in 2011. They have released tunes from the likes of Put Your Hands Up For Neo Tokyo, Advanced Language and the excellent Machine Birds. It really has been their year. Here’s another gem for the Nabovarsel roster, Burning God Little. BGL’s EP Notes On being Snowblind is out now and I’m hooked on it.
Burning God Little – Notes On Being Snowblind EP
This is the new cut from Bergen’s elegant electro five-piece Advanced Language. I’ve heard this about 9 times already today and it gets better with each listen. Good news then that the band are readying themselves to release their self-produced EP Samples in May 2012. They’re giving Party On The Moon away for free aswell, an early christmas present maybe?!
Advanced Language – Party On The Moon
Seven Mountain Service 