So, I have one tiny, insignificant piece of news (if you can even call it news) to get out before we get down to business tonight. It’s not even important, really, but I figure if I make it public, people will be more likely to make sure I actually go through with it. Ready? I have decided to start a record label. (Oh, the irony…) And it’s just me on this one. Kristin has a life and stuff, but I don’t…no friends, no girlfriend, or much of anything cool like that. All I’ve got is time. So, for those of you who actually like the music we talk about here, well, I am going to do what I can to make it at least a bit more easily accessible. And if you’re an artist with some recordings you might be interested in releasing as a limited run EP on CDR, well, we’ll see…
Now, for music:
I have to say, I think Holland may be the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I wasn’t sure about that until this morning. Sure, In A Cabin With, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, and my friend Deborah are pretty amazing, but for some reason, I wasn’t convinced. But today, I had email from Matthijs van der Ven, who heads up a project called Onder Invloed (it’s bloody brilliant, and sometime in January, I will explain why). Anyway, as I was exploring Onder Invloed, I came across The Secret Love Parade. And I fell in love.
They’re two girls (Aino Vehmasto and Janna Coomans). They’re from Amsterdam. So far, so perfect. And they write “postmodern romantic pop” with synths and organs and guitars, blips and beeps and beats, charming melodies, perfectly executed Camera Obscura-ed vocals, and Philip Glass-y arpeggios. And as for the listening experience, I have to agree with the Onder Invloed analysis: “you’ll instantly feel better than you were before. Worries fade away, no more thoughts on all the things you still have to do before the end of the week….It’s the complete combination of the dreamy songs, instruments and voices which will get you careless in less than fifteen minutes”. I really couldn’t have put it any better. I’ve listened through their MySpace four times now, and I am ridiculously giddy.
Check out “My Secret Love Parade”, “Free at Last”, and “Always You”, then the other two tracks, then buy their album. (Don’t fight it. You know you want to. I want to. I also want to be their friend, but I am reasonably convinced that I will never be cool enough.) So maybe my affinity for this band isn’t so secret. But why should it be? I think we could all do with a little Love Parade every now and again.
Here’s a live video from the Amsterdam Songwriters Guild:
And here they are covering Midlake’s “Roscoe” as part of the Onder Invloed project.
The Indie Handbook 
Thanks a lot Eric! And yes, TSLP is amazing.
Great post! I’m a total fan of TSLP since their beginning. Great that you’re willing to help out.
Nice! I’m glad you found out about the secret love parade 🙂 Thanks for spreading the word, on http://www.snowstar.nl (their label’s website) you can find a free compilation which also has a new SLP-song on it. All for free and a lot of more interesting indie-artists from the Netherlands, France, Germany and the UK : snowstar.bandcamp.com
enjoy!
Thanks for the introduction to not only TSLP which is an instant fav, but also for the introduction to In A Cabin With and also Onder Invloed. OMG…now I’ve just discovered Snowstar from Cedric’s comment. I have so many tabs open right now and will have some beautiful music to digest. And I really enjoyed the following vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MVxDvDQ_T0 Well, I’m always excited when a nugget of discovery turns into a whole gold mine!!! Many thanks for the heads up.
I’m glad you are getting some enjoyment out of this. You’re right, that’s another great video. I almost included it in this post, but I thought embedding 3 videos might be a bit excessive, even for me.
If you are enjoying Dutch scene that much, you may want to click on the “Dutch Week” tag, which should bring up about 15 other Dutch bands we really like, several of which offer free downloads.
Cheers!