Pre-party on Wednesday, courtesy of Club King Kong!

Oh gosh. It's a five-dayer, again!
The brilliant indie night King Kong have decided to put on the official pre-party, on Wednesday!
And as much as I dread how I'll feel after these five days, I don't mind the slightest!
You won't mind either, because it's going to be a proper blast:

Wednesday night is King Kong-night again. This time it's the officiall preparty to the Cosy Den-festival. There will be live soloperformances by Mattias Björkas from Finnish Cats on Fire and Gary Olson from The Ladybug Transistor. In the DJ-booth we will be guested by Mattias Jansson from Cosy Den, Sara Berg from Malmö clubnight Pop Songs and also Jyoti Mishra aka White Town (UK). And as usual it's free of charge.

(!!!)

Event page here!

For those of you not on Facebook: this takes place at Södra Bar (info in English available via link), and the nearest tube stop is Slussen. Open from 5PM to 2AM. Gigs 9-ish or 10-ish.

Dinosaurs Are Still Alive! DJ line-up info! (and some sad news)

DINOSAURS ARE STILL ALIVE




There's this little scene in Stockholm with youngsters making noise of the more unfashionable kind, and Dinosaurs Are Still Alive are certainly at the centre of all this. With songs that all sound like immidiate hit lo-fi punk pop tunes at first listen, Adam Forsberg and his mates have already gained quite a bit of attention thanks to these tunes. They've opened for the Sic Alps at Debaser in Stockholm, and have also been brought to Gothenburg for a gig, and had the song "Growing up going down" featured in BBC 6's Tom Robinson Introducing. I almost wish I hadn't heard Dinosaurs Are Still Alive yet, because if you haven't, you're in for an amazing treat.




About the DJ line-up then!

* Thursday: Karin from Cosy Recordings and Johan from SKWBN will start off the night, for those of you who'd like to sit outdoors for a bit before Colin Clary takes the stage at Landet. They'll play some seven inches together between 6 and 8. And indoors, when it's opened there, Åsa who helped setting up gigs when Cosy Den was based in Gothenburg will play her fave tunes.

* Friday: Padde from the amazing Gothenburg indie night Snap-tight! will do some dj-ing between and after the bands at Gula Villan.

* Saturday: Burnsy & Vincent Tigreat from Dirtyclubber in Paris, France will put icing on the cake, playing a neat selection of what Parisians can usually hear at indie nights there, from what probably are France's finest pop DJs.

* Sunday: I'll get back to you about this.

And the sad news? Well, I suppose I shouldn't complain all that much - last year, no-one at all cancelled. But I got an e-mail from the Sock Puppets yesterday saying they can sadly not come because of stupid bosses at work. We hope to bring them over in the future.

Kindergarten Kisses! (+ Mole Says Hi moved to Saturday)

KINDERGARTEN KISSES



Kindergarten Kisses is Albin Zaar, from the deep woods in the South of Sweden, but now living in the country's midst. Albin is also one of the foundation pillars behind legendary and quite brilliant lo-fi collective Models Inc., who have been around for around a decade now. Kindergarten Kisses is also a lovely live act where the audience is taken aboard on trips in forms of short stories of life and death. As he remarks on the myspage: "most of the noises were made by me in one shape or another, only a few by actual ghosts". The proportions of that during this gig? We'll see.

(Oh, and that ticket info post below is now updated a little, at the bottom.)

***

Mole Says Hi have been moved to Saturday. If this somehow makes you want to change your pre-booking, that's all cool, just get in touch! Speaking of tickets: 22 left for Friday and 11 left for Saturday.

Ticket info

Just one month to go!

Here's the ticket info (and preliminarly schedule) for Cosy Den 2010!

There will be no pre-booking needed for Thursday and Sunday.

However, in order to visit Gula Villan in Haninge on Friday and Saturday, you'll need to send an e-mail to thirdfloorfireescapeview (at) gmail.com.
Please include your name (and if you're bringing someone along, their name/s as well), and let me know which day you'd like to come - both days is of course fine in the same e-mail.
I'll get back to you right away and confirm that there ticket/s is reserved.

The price you'll pay on the door is not 100% set, but it will probably be 80 SEK for Thursday, 100 SEK for Friday, 150 SEK for Saturday and 0 SEK for Sunday. I hope you like the sound of that.

I will keep you posted about the ticket situation, on the event page and on here.

(If you're playing/dj-ing at the festival, the entrance to the other days is voulantary.)

Below is the preliminarly schedule.

All the best and see you soon,

Mattias

***

THURSDAY, Landet
20.00 COLIN CLARY (US)
20.45 THE MARE
21.30 ALLO DARLIN' (UK)
22.15 THE SMITTENS (US)
DJ: Åsa (Cosy Den Bergsjön)

FRIDAY, Gula Villan (Haninge)
18.00 MOUSTACHE OF INSANITY (UK)
18.45 SOCK PUPPETS (DK)
19.30 TBA
20.15 ROADSIDE POPPIES (UK/DK)
21.00 CULKIN
22.00 TIGER TAPE
23.00 HANINGEALLIANSEN
DJ: Padde (Snap-Tight)

SATURDAY, Gula Villan (Haninge)
17.00 TOP SOUND
18.00 DE MONTEVERT
19.00 THE GARLANDS
20.00 STELLA ROCKET
21.00 A SMILE AND A RIBBON
22.00 MOLE SAYS HI
23.00 SODA FOUNTAIN RAG (NO)
DJ: TBA

SUNDAY, Southside's top floor
15.00 NILS FOLKE VALDEMAR SINGS
15.45 KINDERGARTEN KISSES
16.30 BOBBYPINROCKER
17.15 THE BASEBALL FIELD
18.00 LITTLE BIG ADVENTURE
18.45 WHITE TOWN (UK)
DJ: TBA

***

Update 26th of July:

I've decided to lower the ticket prices for Cosy Den 2010. This is because of a slightly better economic situation for me personally right now - I can therefor have a smaller margin in the budget.
Admission for Thursday is now 60 SEK instead of 80 SEK, and on Friday the tickets cost 80 instead of 100.
If you haven't booked tickets for Friday and Saturday yet, it's time to do so - there are just 28 tickets left for Friday and 19 left for Saturday.
Please send an e-mail to thirdfloorfireescapeview (at) gmail.com along with your name and which day/s you'd like to come, and that's it!

Colin Clary!

COLIN CLARY



Whilst not being busy with the Smittens and Let's Whisper, one of the most likeable persons in today's world of indie pop also makes good songs on his own. Colin Clary's tunes are cheerful and feelgood but also witty and puzzling. See, now I've lined up quite a few of the qualities that together make pop songs the way we like our pop songs served. Thus, top notch labels WeePop! and Asaurus have released records by him. This will be Colin's first - and perhaps only - solo gig of the summer half-year. I could hardly think of a better way to open the first night of this year's festival. Yow!, as I'm quite sure Colin would have put it.

Soda Fountain Rag!

SODA FOUNTAIN RAG



I've been in love with Soda Fountain Rag for several years. And I've been wanting to put on their first gig in Sweden for about as long. Having performed in many other European countries, it's certainly about time they come and play for us. Ragnhild Hogstad Jordahl's tunes and lyrics are so spot-on and impossible to resist. When playing live, SFR are also a very nice live trio, who've played much-appreciated gigs in London and Hamburg during the spring. Oh, and I've made a deal with the band that they'll surely have to play a pretty long set now they're finally coming over for an exclusive Swedish date, so Haninge is definitely in for a big treat!

Haningealliansen!

After reading this lovely blog post by the Suburban Kids, I was charmed, and somehow felt I wanted them to be a part of the festival in 2010 as well. But I didn't want too many bands from last year, so I came up with an idea. How about trying to take that whole gang of brilliant Haninge acts and turn them into one big awesome band? They wouldn't have to practice anyway because they know each other so well. The liked the idea - and especially getting the chance to finally perform as the collective that they've been for nearly 15 years, but only shown the outside world through the Lötkärr compilation albums. The name comes from a song by legendary instrumental outfit Chloë, and Haningealliansen are...

Johan Hedberg
Indoor Face
Jap Adaptors
Lilla Gubben
Suburban Kids With Biblical Names
Springfactory

...more or less - we'll see. If we're really lucky they may even be in the mood for a Chloë song or two. I'm not sure what's going to happen during this gig, and they certainly don't know either, but I have a strong feeling it's going to be quite something.

A Smile and a Ribbon & Nils Folke Valdemar Sings!

A SMILE AND A RIBBON



The first thing that comes to mind is that it's really rather odd that A Smile and a Ribbon haven't played at Cosy Den before, as I've liked them quite a bit for quite a while. And the second thing: what hasn't already been said about them? One of the very favourites of all the twee pop bands of today, they are so for a reason. ASAAR just came back from a tour where they played seven gigs in the US - but it was from Montreal that I got the text saying that they would indeed like to come and play for us in Haninge, and that they'd also make sure to play my fave ASAAR tune. The duo is a six-piece live, playing songs about heartbreak that you can - and should - dance to. Always a nice combination, isn't it?




NILS FOLKE VALDEMAR SINGS



Nils Lindblom is from the part of Sweden that most people would call the north but really isn't. The Bollnäs municipality is otherwise mostly famous for its bandy team, but now that Nils has left Gothenburg for the summer to record a new album or two, they may finally face some serious competition. Previously known as Let's Be Honeys, Nils has played at Cosy Den twice before, and also has gigs at festivals like New England Popfest and Kaninkanon behind him. So, you probably know by now that he makes witty and catchy tunes. Luckily, he's agreed to bring his Spanish guitar and play them at a rare 2010 gig to help round off the festival in style.

Mole Says Hi and Bobbypinrocker!

MOLE SAYS HI



Mole Says Hi is Rebecca Digby from the south of Sweden. When we (Cosy Recordings) helped release Tiger Tape's album recently, I immediately had Mole Says Hi in mind to share the stage with them. A blogger who'd seen her play wrote: "Sweet as sugar and slender, she also manages to convey a bizarre feeling that something is completely fucked up". That sort of convinced me. Most of Rebecca's songs are regular (albeit brilliant) pop tunes - yet this was the first time she played at an indie pop night (this probably says something about the narrowmindedness and nervousity of the scene in general, but I'm not going to turn this into a rant about those things). It turned out to be a fantastic gig. Actually, I'll never forget it.




BOBBYPINROCKER



Bobbypinrocker is Ingrid Johansson from the north of Sweden. She's always had music on her mind but it's only in later years we've been presented with songs of her own. Like many others from up there, she ended up in Gothenburg four years ago. On the outskirts of Gothenburg is Kungsbacka, and when Ingrid took a trip there she found a tramp organ in a second hand shop. As you can hear, they became good friends. These are the sort of songs that you'll want to cuddle up in a comfortable chair and listen to, with a good cup of tea - although you might choke on the tea at times, you'll love it.

The Mare and Top Sound!

THE MARE



My love story with The Mare is a long and consistent one. They've sort of always been there, giving us a new bunch of tunes with a touch of mod pop now and then. You may have seen them before, at Emmaboda or perhaps in Turku, Hamburg or London. The latest release, the album "Time to", proves that this band still has a lot to offer us after over five years. There's something about The Mare that's genuinely heartwarming and uplifting - two qualities that this summer will hopefully also have with it. And an evening with them, the Smittens and Allo Darlin' has every chance to be all that - what a first evening of the festival this is looking to be!




TOP SOUND



The fabulous trio Top Sound have made elegant, francophilie tunes and the occasional one letter bossa in this idiot city since 2006, and they've surely always understood that producing such material is a matter of precision. And if you thought your summer was over in June, you couldn't be more wrong - because they will definitely not ruin a good thing such as this festival. I first came in contact with Top Sound when I needed a great act to open for the Would-Be-Goods the first time they played in Sweden, and my friend told me about them. I'm very glad he did. Don't forget to download the free web single on esteemed label/magazine Friendly Noise!

Little Big Adventure and Tiger Tape!

LITTLE BIG ADVENTURE



Little Big Adventure is Magnus Sätterström from Sundsvall in the north of Sweden. (Actually, Sundsvall is almost exactly in the centre of the country, but us ignorant Stockholmers believe it's way up north.) Six years ago, he took all his saved-up money and bought himself a Casio keyboard. Since he wasn't a very skilled synth player, he recorded everything note by note and put it together in the computer. And to hide all technical shortcomings, he added a monotone hum over it all. No-one could hear the gaps between the notes or the hum from the mic, because everything hummed. Luckily, there's more than hum to LBA's music. There's also quite a bit of hate, and quite a bit of beauty!




TIGER TAPE



Cosy Recordings are incredibly proud of its Moofish Catfish releases. Two cdr records that helped bring the band to a whole bunch of Swedish festivals, and a large UK tour. They've recently changed their name to Tiger Tape - no questions asked. The band's debut full-length, "I woke up in Hökarängen", was released in April (by Cosy and new label Lo and Behold) and it's probably the best album I've heard all year. Songs so beautiful that they make one's eyes tear, and so powerful that we get piercing stomach pains each time there's a new heap of material for us to hear and endorse. I'm very excited about seeing them in Haninge as it feels like the perfect place for them to play!

Sock Puppets and Moustache of Insanity! (and a sad announcement)

SOCK PUPPETS (Denmark)



When splendid Gothenburg indie night On Our Honeymoon recently announced that Northern Portrait were going to play there soon, they wrote that it might be the best Danish band ever. I think they're nice and all but I don't agree - the best Danish band ever is of course Scaredycat. And most of that lot are also in this quite new band! So, when an opportunity arose to squeeze them into Roadside Poppies' minibus heading for Haninge, how could I not grab it? Sock Puppets list many of my favourite bands among their influences, but I have to say they remind me of the Pop Tarts (yeah, that's meant as a compliment). Crispy and short and nice tunes!



MOUSTACHE OF INSANITY (England)



Nik and Bill were attending the festival already last summer. Or, actually, our Aussie-born friend Bill was playing with Allo Darlin' at Gula Villan in Haninge. And it's that 80's punk stage that will see Moustache of Insanity take it, this summer! How very fitting, one could say - among Swedish-born singer and songwriter Nik's fave bands we're happy to find the likes of Räserbajs, Style and Rough Bunnies. This act, with their songs about broken biscuits and Amazon wishlists among other things, are certainly no strangers to the indie pop crowd anymore. Last summer they played at Indietracks, and in just a few weeks it's time for a little tour in the US. The gig in Haninge will be their first ever concert in Sweden!



...and, that sad announcement then.
The Just Joans will unfortunately not be able to come to Sweden this summer, due to bosses at their workplaces being surprisingly unreasonable concerning that week.
They were really looking forward to playing for us and I hope/think they can come and do so in a not that distant future.

The ghost of 2009 presents: The Smittens and Allo, Darlin'!

One of the hardest things about doing this festival thing again: the thought that it couldn't possibly be as great again is quite frightening. Also, having over 40 confirmed guests on the Facebook event before I'd even confirmed anything at all was rather scary! And one of the things I'm trying to avoid is having too many of the artists from 2009 playing again. But when The Smittens and Allo, Darlin' really wanted to come back as a tour pack - I simply couldn't say no! Last summer was the first time in Sweden for both bands, and despite perhaps not being all that well-known beforehand, it would be an understatement to say that they blew the Cosy Den crowd away! So, the Thursday is the opening day of the festival, and since it fits best for these bands - I might just turn it into a wonderful "ghost of 2009" night and put those acts into a very different context than the one they were in last year!


THE SMITTENS (USA)



Last year was a busy time for this Burlington, Vermont quintet. Their gig at Lasse i Parken was the final concert of their tour. And what a show it was! We got to know their songs that are both quite though-provoking and very cute, always a great combination if you ask me. Naturally, they certainly need less of an introduction now - but how could I resist the opportunity of having The Smittens back in Stockholm for a club gig, now that they're back doing a larger European tour this summer? One word: YOW!




ALLO DARLIN' (England)



This band, fronted by Aussie-but-now-Londoner Elizabeth Morris, was certainly one of the biggest surprises for the Haninge crowd in 2009 - and it's also definitely the band that I've had the most people asking me about an "encore" this year! It's been no less hectic for this lot - they've recieved quite a bit of airplay in the UK lately, are touring the US in May, and have had The Guardian calling one of their singles "the best indiepop song in years". Despite all this, the peak lately must surely be having had the song below played on 90210!



All this sure requires a new poster, too:



Oh, and speaking of that 2009 ghost, I've made a playlist on Youtube with all video clips I've found from last year's festival. They're in chronological order and can be enjoyed here.

de Montevert and The Baseball Field!

DE MONTEVERT



de Montevert is Ellinor Nilsson, from Evertsberg. (Hence the name - I didn't get that until after around a month. But that's me.) Do you like Fibi Frap and Soda Fountain Rag? Quite likely since you're reading this, I guess. You will obviously like de Montevert as well - although we've already heard signs of Ellinor's songs leaning more and more towards electronica and stylish stuff á la Robyn or something. We almost thought she'd left the more lo-fi-ish sound behind - and then suddenly there are two new and rather simplistic songs up on her myspace. Well, it's always refreshing when talented songwriters fail to see the point in being limited and predictable. Oh, and a brilliant debut release on Arctic Nutter is to be expected quite soon.





THE BASEBALL FIELD



TBF is Joakim Johnsson, 34, from Nyköping just south of Stockholm. Apart from his job at a steel plant, he’s released TBF cassettes, vinyls and cdrs for fifteen years and has a small but devoted fanbase. Having covered songs by the likes of the Microphones, Joy Division and the KLF live, Joakim’s own stuff is pretty hard to describe. Electronic lo-fi I suppose, but the vocals are remarkable at the first listen. The semi-fictional Mary is credited, but it’s a heavily edited and sometimes monotone voice. It took me a while, but it’s worth it - once you’re beyond being puzzled you’ll hear TBF’s sparkling pop songs and soothing sad ones. The lyrics are brilliant, too. Nearly everything is available for download his website and I'd say the Bat EP is a good one to start with.

(I recycled this text from the Cosy Den fanzine #1, it was only sold in 50 copies anyway, and is not available digitally.)

The Garlands and Roadside Poppies join the fun!

THE GARLANDS



While I'm writing this, The Garlands are just a couple of weeks away from their first two gigs ever! At the Cosy Recordings release party for the Snowbirds, then at the fab London Popfest. I don't believe their fantastic debut EP or their split 7" with The Sugarplums have passed anyone by, but just in case: The Garlands make the most apparent twee tunes I've heard in ages. Crisp and sharp. Sour and sweet and salty, all at once, everything we need for our quick fix! Finally, they've gotten around to a becoming a live act. Apart from singer Christin Wolderth, it consists of members from such esteemed acts as Action Biker, Le Futur Pompiste, Ring Snuten!, The Gentle Smiles and Strawberry Fair! Off stage, Roger Gunnarsson (Nixon, Free Loan Investments, Cloetta Paris, The Happy Birthdays) is the other half of the band.




ROADSIDE POPPIES (England/Denmark)



This lot describe themselves as "an indie pop beat combo who, on average, hate mayonnaise". Quite accurate, I'd say. And obviously, you surely can't help but to be at least quite fond of a band who write songs about people who never answer surveys, cycling & crying, and neighbours being on the news. Roadside Poppies are semi-Cambridge, semi-Copenhagen based and you never quite know who's going to show up. Except for Matloob, who is ace. So are the others, and I've decided to trust his judgement. You can listen to their songs here or here. And you should.

...

You'd better take my advice:
Just like you stick a piece of tape
On every chord and microphone
You better stick on yourself
Before they claim you as their own

(Don Lennon)

Venue update

I made a little "survey" concerning last year's venues, and not surprisingly, it turned out that the Gula Villan in Haninge was very popular. Even more so than Lasse i Parken, where we had a very enjoyable evening in 2009. So for 2010, I've now decided to have the Friday some 19 kilometres from Stockholm city, and not just the Saturday. And - if all goes as planned, there will also be some pretty exciting things happening outside of the house itself this time around... more about this later!

I am happy to have Thorells Syndrom involved anyway - the Sunday is looking to be completely ace with their help. And, as you know, Landet is always great. So, preliminarily, here's what it all looks like:

Torsdag: Landet
Fredag: Gula Villan, Haninge*
Lördag: Gula Villan, Haninge*
Söndag: Southside's top floor/Southside's bottom floor*/Southside's outside tables (mini soundsystem?!)*

* to be completely confirmed, but is now preliminarily booked!

Some kind words

Micke from the esteemed Stockholm indie night Klubb King Kong has written a very nice piece looking back at the 2009 festival and forward to the 2010 one. Read it here (in Swedish, but there are also ace photos to view).

Culkin and White Town set to play!

CULKIN



In the fall of 2008, Culkin played their very first gig and they chose to do it at Cosy Den. I'm still very proud of that. The four members hail from Uppsala and Haninge and have previously played in bands like KVLR, Jenniferever and Starmarket. It's therefore quite inevitable that they play what we like to call indie rock - in the best way that I could possibly mean it. Avi from itsatrap.com wrote this a while ago: "Don't let this sound die, people! It's not retro, it's just good." And I cannot stop seconding that. Expect great tunes with thick layers of guitars over them from one of the untrendiest and finest bands in Sweden.




WHITE TOWN (England)



I think it's been a while since I told you the story, so here we go. Large parts of our planet were blown away by Your woman (1997, still holding the record for debut cd single sales in the UK). Some of us bought the album Women in technology, too. But I was fortunate enough to buy the Swedish fanzine En Garde back in 2004. It featured an interview with White Town, and I sent Jyoti Mishra an e-mail. Since then, he has been over no less than five times to play at Cosy Den, and also in places like Halmstad and Turku. White Town has existed for over 20 years now, and although his fan base may not be millions anymore, there's been fantastic songs and albums released for all this time.

First acts confirmed!

THE JUST JOANS (Scotland)



Someone on Last Fm wrote that this bunch are "the twee Arab Strap". It's perhaps not the most accurate thing I've ever read, but it does say something, I guess. This band was my biggest crush in 2009, not just music-wise. I travelled to Nottingham mostly to see them play, and to try to talk them into coming to Sweden. Um, at least it was what made me actually press that "purchase ticket" button. Absolutely remarkable songs about despair, joy, life in Motherwell and... heartache. This will probably be the band's first ever trip outside of the UK, too. (Oh, and if you'd like to set up a gig nearby, just get in touch!)




STELLA ROCKET



I saw this band by chance in November. And I completely missed the whole hype that surrounded the band around 2004 when they released their debut album. Missing out on stuff is good sometimes. And there are definitely good things happening randomly - I fell in love with the band that night, and if someone asked me, I'd describe them as a blend of Scarlet's Well and Heikki or perhaps Rough Bunnies. Stella Rocket are also an incredible live act, incredible enough for me to fall for them from the very first chords of the gig.