Can you recommend some decent alternative Dutch bands? Being from the UK I don't get to hear much, but I'll give anything a go.
And you should listen to the MSP albums. And ignore the guy that says the stuff after Send Away the Tigers isn't so great. SATT itself isn't that good, but Journal For Plague Lovers and Rewind The Film are fucking great.
Now please hook me up with the Dutch equivalent of the Raveonettes.
Well a Dutch Raveonettes I can't give you, but we do have a good number of great bands. I'll list a few from old to new. I'll name my favourite album for each and a youtube link. But as you know, one song can't really make or break a band so I'd always suggest to check out the albums unless it's not your taste at all of course.
Hallo Venray - The More I Laugh, the Hornier Due Gets! (1991)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2GIZbaRk0E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMFrBolpsLY
Well this band is a bit of everything in the rock genre. Their style differs even on the albums so I had to choose two songs to illustrate that. The top one is very Neil Young esque and the other one is in the spirit of the late great Lou Reed. Very underrated band, even not widely known over here.
Bettie Serveert - Palomine (1992)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKbC8L5WZyc
A Dutch classic in the spirit of bands like Pavement and the rest of that nineties movement.
Daryll-Ann - Weeps (1996)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Y7AzZBFU0
Another typical nineties band with some awesome guitar sounds. Anne Soldaat is seen as one of the best alternative guitar players over here, some of his solo work will also follow. I got lucky as this band is doing a reunion tour this year so I caught them live a few months back. Really good.
Johan - Pergola (2001)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jU9Rfw_Dmw
Very cool pop/rock band with some out of control guitar riffs. They embrace the nineties as well.
Anne Soldaat - In Another Life (2009)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KpnJBKR8ZM
That guitar player from Daryll-Ann I mentioned. Great record with some good solos. Singer Song writer stuff.
Moss - Never Be Scared/Don't Be a Hero (2009)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jU9Rfw_Dmw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX_z0gmz5UE
Pop/rock outfit who went on to experiment by adding some electronic stuff into their music which turned out to be very good. Top song is from their second album without experiment. Second song is from the last album released a month ago.
Tika - In a Cabin With (2011)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoTUgZL0UfU
Now this is not actually a band. There was this project where by they put two or more musicians together in a cabin in Canada where they would make a record together. Tika consists of the singer from Moss and David Pino from another Dutch band. It's a folky project and the voices are perfect.
Alamo Race Track - Unicorn Loves Deer (2011)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdfFc9R0Hr8
I have no way to really describe this band but they make great music. One of their songs was featured on Grey's Anatomy, that's their ten seconds of fame abroad
Jacco Gardner - Cabinet of Curiosities (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW33RUYJpus
This kid was riding the sixties revival train and came with a pretty decent record. Even got some hype abroad and got a decent review from Pitchfork. That's pretty unique for Dutch artists.
Well that pretty much covers my favourite Dutch bands who sing English.
You should listen to them sometime, at least all the way up to Send Away the Tigers and Journal for Plague Lovers (I forgot that came AFTER -- it's really good).
I will some time.