Source: theregoesthefear.com

It seems that Scandanavians currently have one of the best music scenes around at the moment, managing to have some of the most diverse, and interesting, acts around at the moment. Denmark’s Alphabeat are set to take over the airwaves in 2008 with their unique brand of camp, over-the-top pop which makes the Scissor Sisters look tame.

Perfectly danceable, lyrically strong, and quintessentially Danish in sound, they have some of the best tunes since the Scissor Sisters with a much more European feel, and a hint of flashbacks from the 90’s too. Their self-titled debut came out last summer in Denmark, and is out this May in the UK, but is one of the most varied collections of music I’ve heard in a while - a really great album.

Fans include the Sun, the NME, and a fair few blogs and online news sites, and they have the same management as Mika - and we all know how big Mika has become, love it or hate it.

They’re currently on tour with Palladium around the UK, and I’ll be going to see them on Monday night in Oxford - expect a full review on Tuesday.

MP3: Alphabeat - Fantastic Six (320kb/s) (iTunes / Amazon)

Source: theregoesthefear.com

“This is a slower song – hope you don’t mind” Palladium’s Peter Pepper says before launching into “White Woman”. The audience certainly didn’t, as it gave a welcome respite from the scintillating pace they’d been playing at for the last twenty minutes.

Opening up with their new single “Happy Hour”, they quickly set out their manifesto: fast, friendly and frantic pop. Racing through 7 songs in 30 minutes, they worked the crowd well and had more arms flailing down the front than The Thrills did half an hour later for the main set of the evening.

Whilst trying to think of a band to compare them to, this Londonista really couldn’t decide, in the end settling on Klaxons fronted by Patrick Wolf playing Delays and Sunshine Underground. They really are an oddball group of people that really shouldn’t be in a band together, but somehow it just works.

There were three songs in the set (their opening two and closing song) which were very promising, easily able to outshine most of the current crop of pop-wannabes; however the middle of the set did seem to largely be filler that started to sound very similar. Their energy may have been unstoppable, but it’s no good if the tunes all sound similar but slightly re-jigged.

Peter Pepper (if that is his real name…) introduced the last, and perhaps best, song of their evening, Hi-5, by giving the record company spiel about buying their new single in a decidedly boring and un-Palladium like way… they might as well got the guys from EMI to do it themselves. This is one band where they should leave the music to do the talking for them.

Whilst at the moment Palladium are only playing small venues supporting bands at the moment, expect in time them to be playing their own palladiums and theatres near you

Palladium support Amy Winehouse at Somerset House tomorrow, then play Lovebox on Sunday and a headline show at the Barfly on Thursday 2nd August.

Source: theregoesthefear.com

Having won the Innocent Unsigned bands talent search last year and the chance to play at their Fruitstock Festival, Londoners Scouting For Girls have had an amazing year. Signing to Epic Records on Valentine’s Day this year, they’re about to release their first EP, the incredibly anthemic “It’s Not About You” which will just grab you by the heart strings and make you think “YES!” and become addicted to them. Or you can just write them off as another bunch of Keane wannabes. You choose, but you know what I think.

Scouting For Girls are the sort of band that are perfect to open the festivals – people lounging around, feeling rough after the previous night, and just wanting some music to take them to “that happy place”. As they say themselves in their biography, they’re “unashamedly nostalgic, mottled with loss, disillusion and a poignant lamentation for innocent past times”.

Many bloggers have been very excited about their current material, with favourable reports emerging about their live shows. Needless to say, for those of you fortunate enough to be going to Glastonbury this weekend (and if so, why aren’t you there already?), they’ll be playing on Friday night at 8pm at the Late N Live Stage.

Reminiscent of both Keane (for their Piano-led pop-rock) and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly (for Sam Duckworth’s brilliant knack of conveying feelings and images of a time and place), Scouting For Girls are sure to gain a devoted following soon.

After the jump, catch their video for “It’s Not About You”. Picture was taken from Scouting For Girls’ MySpace.