This Summer has been great in music; and the Fall is doing what it can to keep up with two extra-ordinary albums from Danish acts: Carrying Stars from Nikolaj Grandjean (N*Grandjean) and This Is for the White In Your Eyes from Jannis Noya Makrigiannis (Choir of Young Believers).

Both albums are calm, indie pop/rock and very melodic. If you like Munck//Johnson or Autour de Lucie — calm indie in general, try these out, I think you’ll find some new, interesting material.

Check their respective MySpace pages out to get a sample:

• N*Grandjean: Heroes and Saints, Uncuff Me, Love Rocks — all great tracks which are also on the album
• Choir of Young Believers: Hollow Talk and Next Summer are my favourites of the ones available on MySpace — much more on the album

These two albums was recommended by two friends of mine, Marie and Lars, respectively; thanks so much. My prime way of discovering music is through friends, so keep the good stuff coming.

Great September in music so far. And, of course, tomorrow Tina Dickow releases her new album — a triple EP. I can’t wait.

The biggest disappointment of my trip to New York City in the late spring, was that I was unable to find the debut album of Little Jackie, a power duo from Brooklyn. I had heard a single from them, The Whole World Should Revolve Around Me, through Fred Wilson’s blog and I was immediately hooked. But none of the places I went to in the city could help.

Towards the end of the trip, I found out through a comment deeply buried on a website somewhere, that the album was not due out until some time in July. I downloaded it off the iTunes store the minute it was released. (Still not in the Danish store — got it through the US store.)

Little Jackie’s debut album, The Stoop, was worth the wait and a great album. It is very up-beat; think a mix of R&B, pop, and hip-hop — maybe indie rock/pop or indie R&B is a better description. The sound of the band is street/NYC and refreshing with many nuances and peculiarities, such as the use of wood wind instruments. Even though it is probably programmed, it gives it a small jazzy touch. I like it.

My favourite songs are The Stoop, The Whole World Should Revolve Around Me, Liked You Better Before, LOL, and One Love. Two of these are available for listening on the Little Jackie MySpace page along with an additional two songs from the album. If you like this style of music and the previews, I am guessing you will like the album as much as I.

The driving forces behind it are Imani Coppola, who sings and writes the songs as far as I have understood, and Adam Pallin (DJ’ing/programming the music). Imani has a long list of releases behind her, a lot of which she has done herself. Unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to give it a good listen through, but I would be glad to hear if you have had.

In other music from the strange and weird fact file, I am looking forward to the latest album of the Verve which will hit the ground in August. Listen to their single Love is Noise here.

I’m slowly settling down into vacation mode, spending time at the water side with jazz & rock and books. This spring, unfortunately, has been way below average on the books side. So I hope to make up for it during vacation, although I’m sure I’ll get to prioritising at some point.

It’s a mixed bunch of novels, poetry, and business/factual books — and some of them are re-reads. Re-reads go for Atlas Shrugged, The Great Gatsby, The Pyramid Principle, and the Fifth Discipline.

Some of you may notice that there are some key classics in the reading pile as well. Embarrassing, but at least I will get around to them this summer. If anyone thinks I’m making a huge mistake in reading any of the books in the picture — or — have recommendations for great reading in the summer, do let me know.

Soundtrack for this summer is, beyond the jazz age we are now in (Copenhagen and Montreux!), Alphabeat, the Broken Beats, Gnarls Barkley, Hot Chip, John Legend, John Mayer, Neil Young, Portishead, Rasmus Nøhr, and the Stones. I love vacation.

See you on the other side — take it to the max (P.Y.T).