A web agency weblog

So, you read my first review about the swedish band Mando Diao.

Now I have to report that I got their second album, Hurricane Bar, if I would have to express it with one word this would be: fantastic.

I had already guessed these guys had real talent and great potential from their first album, but now, it is confirmed.

Hurricane Bar is not Bring Em In Part 2, it’s evolution baby, it’s the same band, you can tell, but they have a new sound, a great sound, I must say.

This is the kind of bands I love, bands than can transform in time, maintain their soul, but evolve, another band that has mastered this kind of music evolution, lately, is Kashmir, from Denmark, of course I will write about them later, but this time is about the Mando boys.

My favorite song from Hurricane? Well, hard to choose, I really enjoy All My Senses, it’s so powerful, the lyrics, the melody, everything.

Clean Town takes us back to their home town and has great rhythm.

Added Family is a song from another world, so sixties, so original, so great riffs and choruses.

These guys are so good that all songs in the same album feel like songs from different albums.

You can also download Hurricane Bar from iTunes.

If I could make just one wish today, that would be: Mando Diao, keep playing and creating such a beautiful music for a long, long time.

I was just wandering around MSN Search Beta and decided to look for some of my urls. I was glad to see them, together with some of my Overture ads.

Even if I already know what Overture offers, I decided to click on their Advertise with Us link to see if they offered something interesting.

I just got this:

Do you think is fair that Microsoft does this?

They say you have to upgrade to Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator … 4.00!! Are they crazy or what? Where am I going to get Netscape 4.0? And why would I want to do that if I already got Firefox?

I just can guess that Microsoft is so afraid of Firefox, that they don’t want their advertisers using it, even if they pay.

What do you think?

Ok, you are into new and different rock bands? Did you like Kent? Do you like The Beatles? Or maybe the power of The Hives or Hellacopters?

Well, then allow me to introduce you to: Mando Diao. Pure rock, a big dosis of garage with a Beatles don’t know what feeling. You are going back to 1960 and coming back with pure energy.

These four guys band from Borlänge, Sweden, which started playing together at age sixteen, are:

• Gustaf Norén, guitarist, lead singer, and, to me, excellent songwriter
• Björn Dixgård, guitarist and singer
• Carl-Johan “CJ” Fogelklou, bassist, and
• Samuel Giers, drummer

These boys, just in their twenties, have already toured Sweden with great bands such as Hellacopters and Kent, they have conquered Japan and have been put in the Swedish bands with international potential list. Not bad eh?

I’ve got their first album, Bring em In. There is a great mix of songs in there.

With no doubt I can say that Mr. Moon is the one I like the most, it has a genuine sixties taste in it but at the same time is so fresh.

To China with Love is also a good pick, I enjoy the lyrics, they make me think about what these boys tell us about their home town: “it has the highest drug and murder rate of anyplace in Sweden". A clear voice telling us this guy’s story, a perfect bass line and the guitar’s background chords really complete a great song. At the end, you just have to sing the la, la, la chorus, if you are not doing it, you are missing it all boy.

This year has seen their second album come alive. Hurricane Bar, a two year work which I have not been able to put my hands in, yet.

Well my fellow readers, go get a little of Mando Diao from Amazon or iTunes, I promise you will be dancing while sitting in front of your boring PC, I am doing it right now!

For all of you, worried about writing well, I got these links:

Strunk and White, the classic “Elements of Style”, complete online version.

“The Trouble With EM’n EN (and Other Shady Characters)”, A List Apart’s great article about correctly using HTML and those little, and sometimes mysterious, characters. Yes, I know, a little anal retentive at some points but is the correct way to do it.

Enjoy!

Five seconds after post update: I just noticed that WordPress, and I guess most blog applications, does this automagically. Great!