I thought I'd inform you on the Dutch bands that I am personally very fond of, and which you may like too. This list consists of exactly three bands, all indie and all singing in English with varying success at hiding their Dutch accents All three are outstanding live artists.


LPG
Alternative indie pop, with at least 3 bandmembers writing songs and as such much variation on their albums. They have two records released so far: 'I Fear No Foe' (2005) and 'With the earth above me' which was released at the same day as ETR. From the first album the song 'Belly Rollercoaster' is noteworthy as it was used in an international Nokia commercial. These boys also have the record of cheapest music video and largest album cover (look for both on youtube).

www.myspace.com/lpg www.lpgmusic.nl


Alamo Race Track
Alternative indie pop, but very different from LPG. Their first album, 'Birds At Home' is a less easily accessible than their sophomore album 'Black Cat John Brown'. The song that lent the latter album its title was featured in an episode of 'Grey's Anatomy' and opened up the US for the band. They are very popular in France and Germany, but in Holland they seldom play in venues with more than 200 people.

www.myspace.com/alamoracetrack www.alamoracetrack.com


Hit Me TV
Electro indie pop. Released their debut album this year. The singer used to have a British girlfriend and thus hardly has an accent in his English. Their big single was 'Maybe the Dancefloor' but I personally prefer 'A public thing', both of which can be listened to at their myspace.

www.myspace.com/hitmetv www.hitmetv.net


Well, if you're looking for some new bands and have some spare time, I suggest you check them out. They're all very nice people too, the bassist of LPG even came up to me at a gig to ask if I was the Emmi from myspace.

I have CDs from 2 Dutch bands in my collection, one of them, Kane has a fair few albums and imagine you know of rather well and may or may not like! The other is GEM who I saw support Stereophonics at HMH when I was over a few years ago who were pretty good.

Yes, GEM is nice too. Their last single is quite catchy ( Clicky ), and the album it's taken from is quite decent too. I don't have any of their albums though. GEM's the probably biggest band in the indie scene in Holland.

As for Kane... well I don't like Kane to say the least. They're very popular, their singer is all over the magazines at the moment (not music magazines though).

Alamo Race Track are pretty good...I know someone on my flist listens to them.  Damn that Grey's Anatomy for being a blight on television (I can't begin to describe how much I hate that show), but they DO use some great music and give some exposure to lesser known indie bands. 

GEM were pretty small time when they supported Phonics I think, well compared to what my friend tells me and what you have said about them now, we met them after, I have a pic with them and a signed album which is nice I guess haha.