Happy Birthday – 19 Jahre Coast Is Clear | Coast Is Clear

It's hard to believe, but I just realized that exactly 19 years ago today I started my Coast Is Clear blog. It was born out of my growing enthusiasm for Scandinavian music and my desire to present all the great bands to a wider public. It all started with the brilliant song «Special» the Danish band Mew (who have just completed their farewell tour, sniff…):

For me, the song hasn't lost any of its shine, in fact it's even gained more, which could be partly because Mew already had a more complex, more intricate sound back then – the kind I like more and more today.

Nowadays, for example, I would introduce a song like this – AiNA THE END with «Lovesick». A chart hit from Japan (and one of my favorite songs of 2024), written by TK, the singer of the successful Japanese math rock band Ling Tosite Sigure. A song of wonderful quirkiness, with some quirky ideas. So ultimately somehow fitting for Mew (just more danceable and aggressive). As far as I can see, the video unfortunately cannot be embedded in a playable format, so if you are interested you would have to click on the YouTube link:

As far as my blog is concerned, it has gone through various ups and downs – as you know, my motivation has been waning for a while now, and I have found blogging to be a burden at times. Instead of 3-5 posts a week like in 2005, there is now only one at most, and I often have to force myself to do that…

This is also due to the fact that my taste in music has recently shifted away from the indie pop/twee/shoegaze of the early days of CIC towards Japanese music, which hardly anyone in this country is interested in, so that my blog euphoria to still write for the remaining, but somehow constantly shrinking, group of readers has correspondingly declined.

But I'm trying to make it to at least the twentieth year for the blog (the charm of the round number), even if it's just as a platform for my annual review posts. 😉