This week's top artists for the It's a trap! Last.fm/Audioscrobbler listening group:
01. Death Cab for Cutie
02. Belle and Sebastian
03. The Strokes
04. The Arcade Fire
05. Kent
06. Sufjan Stevens
07. Jens Lekman
08. Suburban Kids With Biblical Names
09. Bloc Party
10. David Bowie
Top tracks:
01. The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
02. The Strokes - You Only Live Once
03. Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
04. Broken Social Scene - Fire Eye'd Boy
05. Death Cab for Cutie - Soul Meets Body
06. I'm from Barcelona - We're From Barcelona
07. The Strokes - Juicebox
08. Tiger Lou - Nixon
09. Mogwai - Folk Death 95
10. Broken Social Scene - Swimmers
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The video for "We don't celebrate Sundays" from Swedish glamrockers Hardcore Superstar is now online: http://www.hardcoresuperstar.com/downloads/SundaysWeb.mov
Check out some samples from the self-titled debut CDR from The Bent Pen Project, the very first release for the Melodrama label: http://www.melodrama.se/
New mp3 today from Denmark's Menfolk. Let me tell you: this is the shit. Heavy, angular indierock ala Shellac, Jesus Lizard and Cop Shoot Cop. And just like the latter of those three, they've got two bass players for extra bludgeoning power. I can never understand why there aren't more bands like this because I love this stuff. C'mon, why wouldn't you embrace a genre sometimes referred to so lovingly as "pigfuck". This isn't as antagonizing as some of that scene's early practitioners (Big Black, Pussy Galore, etc.), but that sound! I can't get enough. The double low-end attack is the icing on the cake. Give me more!
Menfolk - Nine
I'm kind of cheating with today's mp3 post. My normal modus operandi for Fridays is to post an older track and this song only kinda/sorta qualifies as this particular piece was originally released in 2002 on M-narsitik, but I only just heard it for the first time on the recently released "Catch that totem! (1998-2005)" collection that Alog recently released via Melektronikk. I consider these guys to be my favorite electronic act right now (their latest album of all-new material "Miniatures" made my top 10 for 2005) and this new disc of odds and ends is a fine addition to their discography. This particular is based on the song "Vitamine" by the Swiss group Velma, but Alog didn't have the lyrics at the time and decided to make up their own instead and ended singing the tracklist for the "Duck-Rabbit" album that they were working on at the time. Having never heard the original, I can't really judge how well it compares, but I like it just the same. Note: I hope to be getting copies of this CD in the mailorder by the end of the month, but you can always order it directly from the band or the label.
Today's top 10 comes to us from Swedish music blogger Micke Orgel: [click here]
Tack Micke!
Christian Kjellvander will finally play the UK on March 15 at the Barfly.
Check out an e-card for Norwegian singer/songwriter Robert Post: http://nettwerk.com/ecard/robertpost/
Millencolin will tour South America in March:
03/08 - Victor Jara, Santiago (CHI)
03/09 - Funchal, Sao Paulo (BRA)
03/10 - Claro Hall, Rio De Janerio (BRA)
03/11 - Alvarez Cabral, Vitoria (BRA)
03/12 - Master Hall, Curitiba (BRA)
Madrugada has a newly designed website to mark the release of their new live album "Live at Tralfamadore": http://www.emi.no/madrugada/
New international tourdates for Danish band Kashmir:
02/03 - Postbanhof, Berlin (GER)
02/04 - Haldern Pop Festival Pre-show, Haldern (GER)
02/05 - Batschkapp, Frankfurt (GER)
02/07 - Karlstorbahnhof, Heidelberg (GER)
02/08 - Prime Club, Cologne (GER)
02/12 - Elserzusazthalle, Munich (GER)
02/18 - Gruenspan, Hamburg (GER)
02/21 - Folken, Stavanger (NOR)
02/22 - Logen Teater, Bergen (NOR)
Swedish singer/songwriter Juni Järvi (ex-Juniper aka Mikael Bengtsson) reports that work on his debut album is going well and it should be ready in time for an April album release with the first single dropping in February.
José González is playing two exclusive UK dates in February:
02/01 - Shepherds Bush Empire, London
02/02 - Academy, Manchester