
The situation is like this: It’s close to midnight, and it’s actually pleasant to sit on the balcony in shorts. Summer has come to Norway, the real thing, with 25 degrees plus, even close to 20 during the night. And we’ve been waiting for this for seven or eight months. Sometimes I can’t believe we’re putting ourselves through all that darkness and cold. But by doing so, we can experience this eruption. I guess.
Anja will be doing her exams next week, then she’s free. And also a doctor if all goes well.
Jo is still taking care of the business of wondering what to do, I guess. And I’m doing my bit of 9-5, but I’m also back in the studio working on some new tracks. A bit of everything, really, but I have this little feeling we’re going to do a new album pretty soon. An under-produced kind of thing. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but I have this feeling…
And it might be we’ll do a handful of covers. There are some songs I’d love to do – I’m Going Down by Springsteen, maybe a Jesus and Mary Chain (they’re playing in Oslo in August) song (maybe Cherry Came Too), we have a version of New Order‘s Dream Attack which sounds at least half as good as the original… And maybe something Radiohead‘s done – maybe Karma Police. There are also some outtakes from Personal Stereo which really aren’t quite what we usually do, but still killer tracks by any standards.
Daily treats right now: The Funeral by Band of Horses, I’m Going Down by Bruce, the Dntel album.
The general feeling is that I agree with Jarvis Cocker that pop is dead (The Guardian), but I’m not sure if I’m bothered – since there is so much great music from this and past decades. Check out Sugarcubes‘ Life’s Too Good (sounds more fresh than ten years ago, anyway!), Joy Division‘s Unknown Pleasures, Byrne/Eno‘s My Life In the Bush of Ghosts (hard to believe it was released back in 1981), New Order‘s Movement and Power Corruption & Lies (still think it’s the best of the best, (I just heard Peter Hook is coming to Oslo in the autumn to DJ, just down the road) – also I’ve had almost daily rounds of Nirvana‘s In Utero, which suddenly seems much more polished (in the good way) than before, suddenly it’s like pop music. And it feels good…
Oh, well. Charts are dead, maybe, but pop… not!