Sure, Denmark has produced a number of good tennis stars, of the table variety or just the usual, very attractive blonde Scandanavian type. However, when it comes to wildly innovative music… Er, not so much. That’s why I was blown away today when I heard The Crooked Spoke sailing through the speakers on KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic”
(or KCRW.com) in L.A. this morning.

The Crooked Spoke are a mysterious Danish collective that blend smoky jazz, ye olde electronica, John Barry-style film scores, spooky spoken word and whatever else seems to float their frikadeller. I was particularly blown away by the track “The One You Left Behind”: think Massive Attack jamming with Scott Walker and Leonard Cohen, and you get the idea. Great Danes, indeed…

‘The One You Left Behind’

‘Black Tower Hotel Lulu Rouge’