When I put on my cans and listened to the title track of The Asteroids Galaxy Tour’s EP, I immediately thought Apple iPod commercial! They sound just like the kind of obscure Western European dance pop music that Cupertino loves to “discover” then play repeatedly in prime time commercials. Imagine my surprise when I found out the track “Around the Bend” was actually being featured in the new iPod Touch commercials! The band, led by Lars Iversen and Mette Lindberg, has been on a whirlwind adventure, having only previewed their music for friends and hometown (Copenhagen) fans. The music is upbeat and danceable. It’s not as serious as trance or house but still more mature than your typical Top 20 pop song. Soul influences from Marvin and Stevie can be heard on the horns. Mette’s vocals, a combination of slight ruggedness and a distinctive accent are mesmerizing and addictive. I am on my second listen. The digital EP dropped October 28. Look for a full length album in early 2009.

Have your previous lounge experiences been too … well … relaxed? If you’re looking for stimulus from something other than the comfortable furniture and throbbing beats, perhaps you’d be interested in the Polygon Playground. Ths large scale installation that bowed at this year’s SMUKfest music festival in Denmark provides partygoers with more than just a place to lean back and take in the scene. Up to 40 people at a time can explore the dimensions of the interactive island of gradient ramps that leads up to a plateau that sort of resembles Q*Bert. There’s more to this exhibition than just ramps and surfaces. The work is also supported by 360-degree projection mapping and censors that react to the actions of the people inhabiting the space. This unique experience isn’t exclusive to the one piece of furniture concocted for the display, as the hardware and software created can apply to almost any three-dimensional object. Who knows, maybe they’ll use it to replace the disco ball.

After two years of planning, Steven Holl’s vision for the Herning Center of the Arts is finally in motion. Breaking ground last month, the finished project will eventually house the Herning Art Museum, the MidWest ensemble and the Socle du Monde. The result will be one very eco-friendly, beautifully designed building — concrete- and mesh- based, somewhat reminiscent of a fabric tent — measuring over 60,000 square feet, and will feature an auditorium, both permanent and temporary exhibits, a restaurant, office and rehearsal spaces. Curved roofs will allow indirect natural light to illuminate artwork during the day, and both gray water recycling and geothermal HVAC heating systems will be implemented as well as reflecting pools and a green roof topping the structure’s parking lot. Just like the folks at Inhabitat, I’m a huge fan of Holl (some friends of mine got married at the Chapel of St. Ignatius in Seattle a few years back) and I’m really excited to follow the progress and completion of this latest super-innovative project.

Molo, a vibrant line of children’s clothing by Danish designer Louise Frederickson, is (sort of) making me wish there were more kiddies scampering around in my circle of friends. Driven by the principle that kids should be able to express their creativity with their clothing, Molo offers a kaleidoscopic selection of easy-care items that are designed without taking the opinions of parents into consideration. Not that parents don’t love the line — the kid-friendly fabrics and pass-me-down durability do a great job of keeping moms and dads delighted — but Molo’s real focus lies only on what children themselves want to wear, which results in a line of clothing that is partly whimsical, partly realistic, and totally un-boring. My favorite thing about Molo is the free-for-all attitude that they seem to embrace when designing each new season; they know that kids might choose to wear all of their favorite clothes on the same day, and that those favorites aren’t at all likely to match, and they’re wholly supportive of that fact. You can find Molo at children’s specialty boutiques in Denmark, around Europe, and one or two stores in Canada, but your best bet is probably to Google the heck-o out out of them- it looks like few of their stockists have online stores and will ship to the U.S.

Having lived in a town that has one of America’s highest band-per-capita populations, I am no stranger to the aspiring musician friend or colleague. While garages serve as excellent rehearsal space and Apple’s home software can sometimes produce quality-sounding albums, a real band needs a real recording studio. Founded in 2001 by then nineteen-year-old Thomas Troelsen, DeltaLab Studios is a designer recording studio located in downtown Copenhagen, Denmark. Recently renovated and housing both vintage analog and state-of-the-art modern recording and mastering equipment along with floating instruments, DeltaLab has hosted some of Europe and America’s finest bands. Both the Red and White rooms are available with a daily rate and both include an engineer (but unfortunately not their website’s flying reindeer) to assist you in sounding your best.

Generally, we’re not the biggest fans of electronica, but I’ve been digging some of the more indie sounding stuff that’s been coming out of Scandinavia lately. Danish electro band Tetris = Therapy, which consists of duo Rune Thomsen and Kasper Husted, is only five months old and is still unsigned, but that may soon change. I think Carbon Black of lifeiscarbon put it well when s/he said “the duo's music is an unpredictable blend of everything from noisy shoegaze guitars over a grandiose post-rock sound to electronica and heavy electronic beats.” They draw some of their inspiration from bands like My Bloody Valentine, The Postal Service, Sigur Rós, and Explosions in the Sky– but it’s difficult to pin them down with a “this sounds like ______” characterization because their music is pretty varied. Here’s a clip of a live performance of their song “Foofaraw” from a show they played on March 12th at Voxhall in Aarhus, Denmark. Lifeiscarbon also has a couple downloadable songs of theirs here, and from what I see, their tracks on MySpace only have about 1000 listens on their counters so far– maybe we can bump those number up!

Let’s skip over the pond for a second, and give a nod to Danish band Death By Kite, who just released their debut album, Dragen Letter. Their “real” website is pretty new, so there isn’t much content on it yet, but their Myspace page has 4 tracks to stream and some good info. Their sound is, as they describe it, “a tight-rope walk between cold war punk, noiserock and indie”– a little bit Interpol (although more poppy), a lot of Placebo (especially the vocals), and a smidgen of Sonic Youth as well. You can access the video for their song ‘Bahnhof Asta’ here– do I here some NOFX-esque vocals in there? And can anyone help me with the Danish translation of ‘Bahnhof Asta?’ The new album was released on Danish label Quartermain Records, and you can buy it at “your local record dealer,” which to me means that those of us in the U.S. are pretty much s.o.l. when it comes to getting a copy– hopefully they’ll pop on iTunes in the not so distant future.

Via Life Is Carbon

Check out this incredible desk concept by Danish designer Soren Kjaer (serial entrepreneur behind Castit, the online casting agency, and founder of new media agency In2media). He teamed up with Holmris Hansen A/S to create this futuristic desk simply called Milk. The desk includes a hydraulic raise/lower feature, cable drawers and wire exits throughout, an innovative box feature along the left that serves as a place for a small fish tank, pen holder, trash bin and storage box. The desk was made to perfectly match Apple’s brushed aluminum look and accessories. No word on pricing or availability yet but I know I want one!

Denmark-based design brand Stelton has been producing innovative and functionally-designed products for over 40 years. The company was originally created with the purpose of producing stainless steel hollowware for use at the dinner table. Stelton’s big break came when in 1967 when it partnered with Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen to create a line of harmoniously designed tableware dubbed the Cylinda Line, which is now legendary in the design community. Today, Stelton’s newest line is called i:cons, which is targeted at relaxed and style-conscious people on the go who need and appreciate functional products. Items in the i:cons line currently include an ID card holder, cigarette case, luggage tag, business card holder, and money clip. All the items are constructed out of a warm gray colored fiberglass that contrasts nicely with the stainless steel for a modern look. Most of the i:cons line can be found at UnicaHome.com.

The World's oil reserves are running out and the next few decades could see sharp increases in oil prices and growing dependence upon oil-producing nations. Concerned, a group of Danish companies and institutions have just released a visionary concept called H2PIA, (like Utopia) the world's first hydrogen-powered city. H2PIA will be a city based on freedom, clean energy, creativity, and fun where citizens will produce all the energy they need for themselves, sharing and selling the excess to fellow H2Pians and nearby towns. I can't wait to visit H2PIA when it begins construction in 2007 at a site in Denmark still to be determined. There is too much to tell you everything so head over to the website which features a well constructed informative animation I highly recommend watching.