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Carpark North - All Things For All People

Reviewed by Andreas on 24th May 2005

Carpark North are from Denmark, and as a consequence, it took me quite some time to actually get a hold of their album. I finally ended up downloading the thing from some Danish pay-for-downloading site. Obviously this was written in Danish, and although me being Norwegian helped quite a lot, I still had problems. It worked though. In the end.

So why did I bother? More importantly, why should you? You should bother because Carpark North are one of Scandinavia's best kept secrets. All Things For All People is their second album, and it's made it's way to the top of the Danish album charts, with first single "Human" doing the same to the singles chart.

And it was "Human" alone that made me buy this album. The song is 2 minutes 30 seconds long and it is at odds with everything else that's riding high in the rock scenes across Europe. Unlike the typical indie band, there are no bum notes, it's amazingly tightly played. There is no tinny guitar sparkling slightly in the background - the epic sound of a good tube amp cranked to the limit is what you're assaulted with. The chorus of "Yeah! This is human!" is one of the best you'll hear all year. The synths and production show a band that actually care about more than thinking they're living in the 60s and that they're dapper British gentlemen.

"Human" also features a beautiful video of children going berserk in an empty school, dancing around and throwing chocolate milk at each other. If you never wanted to do the same you must have been a dull child.

So is the rest of the album any cop? It is, but my focus quickly falls on "Human", as it is without a doubt the best song on the album. Opener "Berlin" is moody fare, gently sneaking its way into your mind, and "Fireworks" is slightly slower, creating texture upon texture of sound. There are some weaker numbers obviously, especially the six minute+ "The Beasts" is a bit dreary. Still, synths are back, scraggy jeans and old The Jam records are out. Carpark North are definitely doing something that is very much their own, and the epic sounds of guitars and synths and the loveliest of melodies will make you shiver.

"All Things For All People" is constantly growing on me, I pick up on new details constantly. I seriously doubt it's released in Britain or anywhere other than Denmark, so I'll include the link to where you can buy it. I'm quite sure some of you clever people will find some way to get it without paying for it, but here's the link to a legal site anyway:
TDC Musik

If you like pop and rock music, I seriously advice you to take a look.

Rating: 7/10
Website: www.carparknorth.com

pablo from Scotland says:-

Well, you are quite right; the wonderful Carpark North have yet to make it here, but it can only be a matter of time- this and the first record are both superb. We have the equally amazing Mew from Denmark playing in Edinburgh soon, so hopefully the Carpark boys won't be far behind...

22nd August 2005 @ 16:31:18 GMT

alex says:-

yes carprak north are brilliant! and even better live!!! their first cd is also very good, esp transparent and glasslike, and spain is also one of my faves.... danish bands ROCK!! an awesome band is Saybia, I highly reccomend them!!! And Kasmir's song Kalifornia is great!! oh the list goes on!

9th February 2006 @ 18:55:17 GMT