Promise and the Monster is a Stockholm folk-rock act with a surprisingly frigid style. Compared to Swedish sun-seekers such as Jens Lekman or Peter Bjorn and John, the band might as well hail from Antarctica. Its music, driven by the barbed, breathy vocals of Billie Lindahl, shifts between gothic chamber assaults (“Swim,” spooky-girlfriend anthem “Dorothy”) and gentler balladry, like the reverb-aided “Sibylle” and “Cory.” It’s evocative of Marissa Nadler’s shadowy catalog as well as the darker sounds of Warpaint or Chelsea Wolfe, though Lindahl’s multi-tracked harmonies manage to walk an intriguing line between edge and comfort. (The band also shares a label and an intensity of style with Jose Gonzalez.) There’s a similar balance in the album’s production: there’s just enough warming reverb to keep the songs from dying from exposure. Stream it in full on Spotify; buy it via Imperial Recordings’ store.

If you’re not familiar with One Week One Band, founded by my friend Hendrik Jasnoch, it’s grown from a concept — that old music is worth talking about in the flood of Relevant New MP3s — into a sort of weekly blog version of the 33 1/3 books. I’m proud to be writing about the Softies, my favorite band, for the site all week. Here’s what’s up so far:

* The band’s other projects and pre-Softies work
* First recordings and their new aesthetic
* A brief history of my fandom
* It’s Love, the band’s first great album

Here are some answers. My Mercury Music Digital Record Club launched in November. It has, at this moment, 73 paying subscribers. A handful more have tried it and quit, but most people have been extremely complimentary about it. In short, each week those people have gotten a Spotify playlist with two albums (one brand-new, one vintage) and a newsletter with capsule reviews and a round-up of the week’s key news and links. Membership includes a one-time personalized mixtape, where you tell me what you like and I tell you more things you’ll like. (It feels like an extremely silly skill, but — as long as you mostly like guitars! — I’m pretty good at it.) Here’s what a weekly newsletter looks like.

Rawkblog makes enough money, barely, to buy my fiancee dinner once a month. This is actually a blessing: it means I can continue to write here with complete independence and without worrying about hitting pageview counts or appeasing advertisers. However, Rawkblog is now almost seven years old and I’m not a kid in college anymore: I have a two-bedroom apartment and a future wife and a cat. (#Humblebrag? Actual brag?) As Mercury membership grows, I’m going to shift more of my writing and music-sharing energies from here to there. Some of that content will probably find a home here eventually, but my hope is that devoted readers will choose to join the Mercury community and help it evolve into a sustainable platform for supporting music discovery and writing. And, yes, paying my rent. Again, you can find all the details here.

The influence and value of blogs like this one are waning, and frankly, posting remarkable songs to 0 comments every day has stopped feeling fulfilling. I know you have plenty of MP3s in your RSS feed. I decided a long time ago Rawkblog would best serve its audience by being mainly a music blog; I haven’t put the same restrictions on my Twitter and Tumblr pages. The freedom that’s allowed me is fun, but the discussions and responses they’ve encouraged is even better. I get more notes on one Tumblr post than six months’ worth of Rawkblog comments. As a writer, who gets paid sometimes in dollars and often in good vibes, this is basically drugs. Pros/cons: Rawkblog will never post something I don’t feel is relevant and worthwhile for you, the audience. Twitter and Tumblr are just an X-Ray machine into my brain, for better or generally worse. Being a “relevant tastemaker” “on the cutting edge” of “underground culture” (not really, at all) is a lot of work: sometimes I’m hungry and thinking about frozen yogurt and that’s what comes out! You should follow me in these places accordingly.

But: Rawkblog still exists and will continue to exist. I’d like to make some changes. Format-wise, I’m probably not going to write full-on album reviews here anymore. It’s unfair to you and the bands to try to squeeze more out than I’m already writing for my freelance outlets and Mercury. Instead, I’ll be discussing and recommending albums briefly under a new banner, probably “Now Playing” or “On Rotation.” Who knows, maybe I’ll talk more about feelings and less about guitar tones. Tracks, videos, concert photos, bootlegs and mixtape posts will all continue — some of these features need to get picked back up, and will if time ever allows. I’ll be linking out to my other writing more here as well: I assume you’re still interesting in a Rawkblog review that landed in the A.V. Club instead. In terms of posts per week, five feels like a hefty number. I’ll be shooting for three or four a week from now on, with Fridays probably an off day. If you don’t want to bother clicking here every day, you can follow this via RSS. I post most of the links on Twitter. A question for you, since you’re still here: would you like weekly Los Angeles concert picks? Because I’m happy to provide them if they’re actually helping you with your Friday nights.

In the Good News Dept., here’s what’s coming up:

1) a Rawkblog redesign which will better showcase my photos and make this aging template a little more modern and readable. That’s coming in the next couple months, or as soon as my brother web designer wraps up his finals.

2) A SXSW party, Rawkblog’s second. I’m teaming up again with TwentyFourBit and we’ve booked a lot of our favorite recent bands. More details on that when they’re wrapped up.

3) A “Rawkblog is 7″ birthday party in March, hopefully, because this old hunk of HTML deserves it. Bands and venue TBA.

Thanks for reading. (Please don’t stop!) It really does mean a lot. You’re officially invited to come to Austin and drink free beer and eat too many tacos with me.

Hugs,

Dave Rawkblog

“I know a place where rent is free,” Charles Latham sings in “I’m Moving Back to My Parents’ House,” but his post-college malaise isn’t the satirical Portlandia variety. Instead, the ramshackle folk effort takes a sincere approach strengthened by its ’50s pop shoo-bops: “How, how long until things get weird?/Till we’re arguing about my curfew, till I’m stealing beer?” Not very long, pal. It’s an anthem for our times, as well as a tune that’d charm on any subject. Here more Latham on Bandcamp.

Previously: Charles Latham – “Come Clean”

Judging by “Pennies Found,” the Holiday Crowd are St. Morrissey’s latest acolytes. Also judging by “Pennies Found,” the Toronto band’s taking their religious obligations seriously: it’s excellent while sounding thoroughly like the Smiths, a tall order for anyone not named Johnny or Steven. The band’s debut album is out now on Shelflife and New Romantic. (Via Eardrums)

I wrote about Nada Surf’s The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy for the A.V. Club:

Since 2003 comeback record Let Go, Nada Surf’s quietly built one of indie rock’s most consistent discographies. The Stars is a reliably crisp, tuneful addition, all racing snare hits, taut power chords, and Caws’ emotive tenor… New tricks, however, might be off the menu.

And First Aid Kit’s The Lion’s Roar for eMusic:

Stockholm’s a long way from Folsom Prison, a fact that hasn’t escaped First Aid Kit. The Lion’s Roar, the Swedish duo’s sharp, sepia-toned sophomore album, bridges that gap with “Emmylou,” an homage to Ms. Harris that makes the ultimate offer for lovers of Woodstock-era country.

Both fine records. First Aid Kit’s is stronger, if you have to pick. Click through for my full reviews.

Nada Surf – “When I Was Young”: mp3

For my money, the mega-jams on Hospitality’s near-perfect self-titled debut are the gentle “Eighth Avenue” and “Liberal Arts,” two twee tracks that give Fred Thomas a run for his King of Indie-Pop crown. But singles “Friends of Friends” and “Betty Wang” come pretty close, offering singer Amber Papini’s coyly post-Chrissie Hynde melodic acrobatics and the band’s thoughtful, full-bodied arrangements. (“Betty Wang” closes with a downright Nels Cline-y guitar spasm.) Related: would anyone complain if I just posted indie-pop all year? Is there any reason not to?

Hospitality – Friends of Friends by MergeRecords

Hospitality – Betty Wang by MergeRecords

Hospitality is out 1/31 on Merge Records, who love us and want us to be happy.

This is totally just British Jason Mraz BUT I LOVE IT. Stick around for the synth breakdown at the end. One concern: no Robert Pattinson/water/elephants cameo? Hear more from the band on Rdio or your cloud player of choice and look for a proper debut later this year.