Tommy Tokyo and Major Parkinson definitely deserves to come back and play the big stage, but it might be a bit soon to invite them back in 2010? I know I wouldn’t mind..

Future of the Left
Some might know them from the Welsh noise-rock band Mclusky that ravaged the British indie scene in the early 2000s with three releases; My Pain and Sadness Is More Sad and Painful Than Yours, Mclusky Do Dallas, and The Difference Between Me and You Is That I’m Not on Fire. The band split up in 2005 due to some interband drama. Welsh electro-punks Jarcrew released two albums in the same period, Breakdance Euphoria Kids, and Jarcrew. They also split up around the same time that Mclusky did. Mclusky bassist Jon Chapple formed the band Shooting at Unarmed Men, while  guitarist/vocals Andrew Falkous and drummer Jack Egglestone formed a new band with the former Jarcrew singer and keyboardist Kelson Mathias and bassist Hywel Evans. After some formative problems that lead to bassist Evans leaving, the remaining trio debuted as Future of the Left in late 2006. Their first singles Fingers Become Thumbs and The Lord Hates a Coward were released in the start of 2007. More followed, A Dead Enemy Always Smells Good and Small Bones Small Bodies were released the same year. Future of the Left’s debut album, Curses, was released in the fall of 2007, and was followed by Travels with Myself and Another and the live album Last Night I Saved Her From Vampires, both released in 2009.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Probably best known for going on tour with The Strokes and the White Stripes, this art punk trio from New York were the subject of massive hype a couple of years ago. They played a garage rock/avant punk hybrid, Then things sort of fizzled out, and we didn’t hear much else from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for a while. In 2003, the long-awaited debut Fever to Tell finally arrived. The follow-up Show Your Bones arrived in 2006, and It’s Blitz! came out earlier this year. In addition to these full-length albums, the group has released several EPs.

Life in a Blender

“If They Might Be Giants got hammered and picked a fight in a bar with Tom Waits, if carnivals didn’t suck, if dancing were permitted on your boss’s desk, if Mark E. Smith were articulate and friendly, if instead of “mosh pits” rebellious teenagers congregated in “swoon pits” at rock concerts, if if if — then a brief glimpse of something akin to the experience of hearing Life in a Blender might be achieved. They are a band that is passionate about finding the absurdity that lurks within the marginalia of mundane everyday existence. And also rocking out. They make me feel like transcendence is constantly achievable.”

—Francis Heaney

Eels
The alternative/experimental rock outfit Eels is often referred to as a band, but most of it’s brilliance is derived from the leader/singer/songwriter/magician “E.” E is the alias of Mark Oliver Everett. The 1971 death of his father hit him hard, and after battling drug and alcohol problems throughout his teens, he dropped out of school and took a job pumping gas. But Everett’s interest in music inspired him to turn to record reviewing, and from there he moved into engineering and production. Settling in California, he adopted the “E” artist name and began pursuing a solo career. Two solo albums were released, but it wasn’t until E hooked up with drummer Jonathan “Butch” Norton and Tommy Walter that a band was formed and some success was accomplished. The name “Eels” was apparently chosen so that the band’s records would be close to E’s solo records in an alphabetical ordering. In 1996 they released Beautiful Freak, followed by Electro-Shock Blues, Daisies of the Galaxy, Souljacker, Shootenanny!, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, the live album Eels with Strings, and finally Hombre Lobo, which was released in 2009.

The Sounds
This swedish “New Wave” rock band was formed in the late 90s, and owes a lot to bands such as Blondie, The Cars, the Epoxies and Missing Persons, inspiration that is evident in their extensive use of synthesizers. Their debut album Living in America gave them some initial success, and the band has reportedly gained a celebrity cult following in the US. The second album Dying to Say This to You followed in 2006, and the third, Crossing the Rubicon, came out earlier this year.

Jarle Berhoft
Bernhoft is best known as the former vocalist in the Norwegian rock outfit Span. But after the solo release of Ceramik City Chronicles from 2008, he’s been described as Norway’s new prince of soul. I’ve seen him perform live earlier this summer, and the description fits nicely. He owned the stage, with charisma, voice and songs strong enough to make everyone attending the concert smile. Jarle and his ensemble of artists certainly deserve a bigger audience, and Bukta 2010 is a perfect venue.

The Veils
Finn Andrews grew up in the world of music, his father being the keyboardist Barry Andrews from XTC and Shriekback. After moving to his mother in New Zealand, he found an interest in the folk scene, and discovered Patti Smith, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits. He returned to England in 2001, and formed the indie/alternative rock band The Veils. A number of problems arose, first with the record label, then within the band itself. In 2004, Andrews declared that the three other members of the group had left, and he recruited some of his old friends from New Zealand who moved to London to join the band. The band has released three studio albums; The Runaway Found, Nux Vomica, and Sun Gangs, but it is probably on the stage that the band really shines. Descriptions such as “it reminds us less of Nick Cave as is often said, and more of people’s accounts of watching Ian Curtis, at once uncomfortable and impossible to look away” and “probably the most moving, unsettling and unexpectedly haunting thing I’ve seen in rock music this year” has left me rather curious.

Fleet Foxes
This five-piece Seattle-based band has harvested rave reviews for their numerous performances here in Europe during the last two festival seasons, and warrants no further introduction. It is high time that they came to Tromsø, where they would really feel at home. They describe their own music as “baroque harmonic pop jams”, and is unlike anything else I have heard. All that is needed is some midnight sun, some beer, and a green patch to lie down and enjoy, because the Fleet Foxes would provide a concert unlike any other.

Peter Doherty
Probably best known as the front man in Babyshambles and The Libertines, as well as his relationship with Kate Moss and problems relating to his rampant drug use. His solo album Grace/Wastelands that was released earlier this year has reached great critical acclaim, and a number of successful gigs after it’s release has renewed my faith in Doherty as a reliable live artist. Either alone or with Babyshambles, Tromsø deserve to experience his music.

I have put together¹ a Spotify playlist with a selection of songs from these artists.

1. painstakingly put together, if I might add