:{IS LOVING…}:
THE ASTEROIDS GALAXY TOUR: major [bmg] //
listen: hypem.com //
album: out of frequency [released 24th february 2012] //
reviews: metacritic.com //
theasteroidsgalaxytour.com //

I first heard about Copenhagen’s THE ASTEROIDS GALAXY TOUR a month ago when, I’ll be honest, I downloaded ‘Major’ purely on the strength of the band’s name. Imagine my unfettered joy, therefore, when the song turned out to be a funky monkey too.

THE ASTEROIDS claim to be “a psychedelic big band of the future” which the blog, Surviving The Golden Age, interpreted as: “basically, it’s ‘Groove is in the Heart’ mixed with Britney Spears.” I concede I have a soft spot for a bit of retro futurism, which is probably the same reason I like their Nordic cousins, Pepe Deluxé.

My friend, Norman, is beaver keen on THE AGT and bought tickets to see them at The Scala on Tuesday. Foolishly, he went to the Isle of Man instead, but his loss was my gain. Singer, Mette Lindberg, channels Barbarella beauty, the band brings a trunk of funk and, on the singles, ‘Around The Bend’, ‘The Golden Age’, ‘Heart Attack’ and the aforementioned ‘Major’, it’s a potent combination. But, it’s the songs in between which struggle to sustain the momentum across a full set and lack the killer punch.
3★

:{THE ASTEROIDS GALAXY TOUR}:
“As their name might imply, THE ASTEROIDS GALAXY TOUR are somehow less of a band than they are a many-legged, ever-evolving, constantly moving party machine. Since beaming into popular consciousness back in 2008 with Fruit—a debut album responsible for producing the unstoppable, globally ubiquitous “Around the Bend” and “The Golden Age” singles—the band have toured the world, proving themselves to be one of the most unorthodox and uniquely original live bands on the planet.

Unlike so many of their Scandinavian contemporaries—bands that often attack pop music with an almost surgical precision—The Asteroids Galaxy Tour’s vision of pop music is a much more kaleidoscopic, free-wheeling affair—a symphonic collision of big pop hooks, soaring horn sections, retro-synth flourishes, and epic beats. Inspired by everything from Blaxploitation soundtracks to Primal Scream to old reruns of Dynasty, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour evolved from a bedroom recording project between friends into a psychedelic big band of the future.

Now, nearly two years since the release of their debut album, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour return with Out of Frequency — an album that represents the next logical step in the musical partnership of founding members Lars Iversen and Mette Lindberg. Working from Iversen’s studio–itself a veritable museum of collected instruments and vintage gear—the two began assembling a collection of songs that would become a kind of imaginary soundtrack to what one might imagine is the world’s most over-the-top spy film.

“We didn’t want to bore people with our private diaries, “ says Iversen, “We wanted to make music with a truly filmic quality—songs that feature characters that aren’t necessarily us. Songs with bad guys, heroes, and lovers.” Taking cues from classic big bands, psychedelic Danish children’s TV shows from the 70s, and old Parliament records, Lindberg and Iversen slowly perfected their own version of pop noir—music that manages the clever trick of sounding somehow classic and futuristic at the same time.”

More music to love:
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