The Mary Onettes‘ long awaited second album “Islands” will be released on Labrador records on November 4.

On “islands” we hear a band with more confidence, and the band dare to take their songs one step further in either directions. I was very excited about their self-titled debut from 2007 too, but “Islands” is a very different record. The sound is wider, the strings are more in front, the pop-songs are more pop, the sad songs are sadder. If you have heard their debut, the best reference-point to the sound of “Islands” is the song “Henry”, only with much more of everything…

Several of the lyrics touch themes of growing older, looking back, “wishing for life to go backwards forever”, and I’m wondering if this is some kind of album theme for “Islands”?

The album starts with the two ace singles “Dare” and “Puzzles”, continues with the amazing “Once I was pretty” (which matches the first two perfectly), and takes a step down in mood and tempo on the beautiful “A Cry for love”. Other favourites are the touching “The disappearance of my youth”,  “Century”, with the typical pounding toms we know from their debut, and the mid-tempo closing track “Bricks”. A perfect way to end an almost perfect pop album.

While my descriptions of their debut always included names of indiebands from the 80s, – Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order, The Cure, JAMC, – “Islands” sound like The Mary Onettes.

The Mary Onettes ‘Puzzles’ from Labrador Records on Vimeo.

The Sea Kings are a folk-pop trio from south west England, consisting of James Wills, Jake Alexander and Joe Holtaway. The band have been writing and recording songs together for a year, and they are currently recording their first album. I’ve only heard two songs by the band so far, “Sails and boards” and “Villages”, both really good. I am very much looking forward to hearing more from this band.

The vocals are especially strong, and  all the three members take part in the singing. The vocal arrangements and harmonies are very, very good.

Check out the band’s music on myspace, or here:

The Sea Kings – Villages

Third week in this series, wow, I’m good! During a week, I post a lot of news and finds on my twitter @eardrums and I get a lot of email that never gets published on the blog. I’ll try to post some of it here + give you some recommendations to new releases you should buy. Let’s start with some “VERY SHORTIES” and below this, you will find a lot of free goodies and music recommendations:

- Sweden’s Heart-Sick Groans have made a free Halloween single. Scary stuff!

- Blue Roses posted this on twitter a couple of days ago: “Releasing an E.P. in December…it’s got two new songs on it that I recorded and produced in my “studio” (bedroom).”

- Hypertext’s new album “Astronaut-Kraut” is now finished and mixed. They have added 3 new songs to their myspace, featuring  the amazing Susanne Sundfør , and the rest remains a secret until the album is released early 2010.

- The Norwegian indiepop-band I Was A King and folk-pop’er Tønes have made a sideproject together, called Skjelvekommode. According to Tønes, it sounds like Tønes mixed with I was a king…. Article in Norwegian: http://bit.ly/3oiJol

- Iceland’s Rökkurró started pre-production for their new album this week, and will hopefully release it early 2010.

- Listen to the Swedish label SERVICE’s new signing. FOREST here. Debut album coming this winter. http://bit.ly/47HdWe

- Norwegian noise-pop’ers Simon Says No! has said no for the last time.

- Quit Myspace Day: http://bit.ly/WiX11

- You can download the excellent debut album from Timber Timbre for free until tomorrow, Saturday! http://www.timbertimbre.com

- It’s a trap tells us that Shout Out Louds are almost done with their new record: http://bit.ly/494LDy

- The Lovely Eggs has made a spooky horror short-film for Artrocker TV: http://www.artrocker.tv/

- Midlake announce third album details http://bit.ly/1QraY7

- Wild Honey has finally released his debut album, – yesterday, actually. It’s available to buy on cd/vinyl + you can download the digital version for free on his bandcamp-site. I’ve had it for a few days already and it’s an amazing album, – very, very good. Highly recommended! Get it here: http://wildhoney.bandcamp.com/

- Henrik Öhberg, who you may know as the man who makes beautiful, almost ambient songs in Tvärvägen, is also the man behind Spunk, an  alternative hiphop-project. Now you can download an album, “Spunk Selected Work Vol 1″ for free on his myspace page. If you hate hiphop, you should try to have a listen, because Mr. Öhberg may convince you that hiphop is not always what you think it is. Check out the wonderful track “Vi drar” feat Susanne Cermenius, – beautiful! Download the album from his myspace: http://www.myspace.com/spunkproductions
(Öhberg is also a part of the folk pop band Ironville. Creative guy! )

- Wisdom Tooth has a couple of free releases on CLLCT.com. I believe that “Lake Fort Phantom” EP is fairly new, and it’s also very good. Her album Cathedral park is fantastic, and should be downloaded by everyone. Style: Beautiful lo-fi folk-pop. http://cllct.com/art/wisdomtooth

- Fanfarlo does a lovely version of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “in an aeroplane over the sea”:

- The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, NRK, have been excellent on podcasts the last year, after being able to make an agreement with copyright organizations TONO/IFPI allowing them to use 70% music in their podcasts. Now, the new discussions between NRK and TONO/IFPI have failed, and they are now only allowed to use 50% music. Many of their good music shows will now be radio only, and disappear from the list of NRK’s podcasts. Several independent record labels in Norway have suggested a way to solve the problem: NRK can use 49% of the ifpi-members music and 21% of THEIR music in the podcasts, since these labels are not members of ifpi. The labels Spoon Train Audio, How Is Annie and Boliboompa have written an open letter to NRK (in Norwegian) and if you want to read it in another language, I suggest using Google Translate.

- Holiday Records has released another good and free ep, this time from The Bonfire Kids, “We will do everything”. Very good! They usually release a new one every friday, and according to their plans, today will see the release of  the new comers: CASPER. Get it from here: http://www.holidayrecords.net/

SOME RECOMMENDED RELEASES I HAVE BOUGHT LATELY

Most of these should be available in digital format on either iTunes, 7digital, eMusic, AmieStreet, Klicktrack or from the labels/artists websites.
Scary Mansion – Make me cry
Small Color – In Light
Left With Pictures – Beyond our means
The Sleeping Years – Into Sunlight
Broadcast & The Focus Group investigate witch cults of the radio age
Kid Canaveral – Left and right ep
Lulu & The Lampshades – Feet to sky ep
The Voluntary Butler Scheme – Trading things in (ep)
Little Comets – Adultery (single)
Morrissey – Swords (b side compilation)
Beat The Radar – To the city from the sea
Katsen – It Hertz
The Woodlands – The Woodlands

more shorties next week!
(…and please tell me what you think of this feature, – should it have been done another way?)

I am not going to say much, but I just had to make a post about this today. WILD HONEY’s debut album is now available for free download on his Bandcamp-page, where you can also get his wonderful EP from last year, also this for free. I’ve had the chance to listen to this album for almost a week, and it has become a favourite of my whole family.

Beautiful harmonies, excellent melodies and although my hopes were high after listening to his EP and the “Hal Blaine’s Beat”-single, this is better than I dared to hope for. Love the artwork too!

Listen:

This morning I’ve played two songs over and over again, both from the indie folk-pop band The Woodlands, who sent them over to me late yesterday evening. These two songs have stolen all my attention, – like nothing else matters right now. Rare…

Their music fills me with a nice, calm feeling, – it leaves a tiny smile on my face and plants seeds for small thoughts in my head. It sounds optimistic and hopeful, but with a flavour of meloancholy. “The music is like the light of innocence that does not seek isolation or hibernation. It dances with gloom, not upon it. It does not intrude, it intervenes”, the press release says, and for once, a press release gives a good definition of a band’s music. Because this is just how The Woodlands’ music is.

The Woodlands are Hannah and Samuel Robertson, wife and husband, from Portland, USA. Her hushed vocals remind me of another favourite of mine, Kathryn Williams, and that’s a good thing.

You can buy their music via cdbaby, both on cd and mp3, or via iTunes or emusic. After listening through the whole album a couple of times now, I can tell you it’s just as good as the two songs I first heard. You can also listen to it on Spotify. Wonderful music!

The Woodlands – Can We Stay

“Feet to the sky” is the debut-single from UK indie/folk/pop-band Lulu & The Lampshades, and the wonderful cover-art made by Kate Slater is as colourful as the music on this single is. Some of you may remember that we have presented this band earlier here on Eardrums, and I was quite excited when I got my hands on their first single. The single is out today on the new London label Voga Parochia, a label I have high hopes for.

The girls and the boy in Lulu & The Lampshades seem to be playful people, and it’s also easy to hear in their music. Unexpected tempo-shifts, bottle-percussion (?), glockenspiel,  fun arrangement details and lots of handclaps colour their music. Although I love the other musical elements, it’s the warm and soulful vocals of Lulu and Heloise that gets most of my attention. Beautiful! I suspect that all members in the band take part in the backing vocals, and on “Rose Tint” we can also hear some nice male vocals in one part of the song (is this their drummer, Dan?).

Both songs on this single are very good, and they show two sides of the band; – “Feet to the sky” is upbeat with lots of things happening in the background, while “Rose Tint” moves more slowly and manages to say a lot with very few elements. This little two track taster leaves me wanting more, much more, so please Lulu & The Lampshades, can we get an album, – soon?

The 7″ is only available in 200 copies, but there is also a download option, and you can find links to where you can buy it on their myspace page and  their label-page.

Here are a couple of live-videos from Bandstand Busking:

This is the second time I’m doing this kind of shorties post, and it may show that I’m better than I thought on consistency… During a week, I post a lot of news and finds on my twitter @eardrums and I get a lot of email that never gets published on the blog. I’ll try to post some of it here + give you some recommendations to new releases you should buy. Let’s start with some “VERY SHORTIES” and below this, you will find a lot of free goodies and music recommendations:

- Today, one of my favourite unsigned bands, Spaghetti Anywhere, has put several acoustic versions of their songs up on myspace for free download. Check it out here: http://www.last.fm/music/Spaghetti+Anywhere/……%27-__-%27……
- Hybris records is streaming the upcoming album from Sweden’s Kommun on Soundcloud. Sounds very good! Kommun features members of Sibiria, but this time they sing in English.  http://soundcloud.com/hybris/
- The fine 12k label gives away an incredibly beautiful song from Small Color, “Hikari No Hana”, – but it’s only free until October 31. Get it now! – Rough Trade is releasing an indiepop compilation. Indie-Mp3 gives us the tracklisting, and it looks brilliant!
- Tender Trap released a very good free indiepop-single on Fortuna Pop early this week. Download it from here.
- New free song from The Magic Numbers, “Hurt so good”, available from here in exchange of your email address.
- Bearsuit is recording their new album at the moment, and are posting reports from their studio-sessions on twitter.
- Victoria and Jacob are preparing a new  single for the fine Yoga.Parochia label, who will also soon release the debut single from Lulu and the Lampshades.
- According to their twitter @iwasaking, I Was A King have recorded 3 songs with Gary Olson (The Ladybug Transistor), that will be released on a 7″ in January.
- Myspace is getting more useful for musicians with their new Artist Dashboard, – a handy feature!

EARDRUMS (that’s us) is working hard on the making of our new free, digital compilation at the moment. You can read all about it here: http://www.eardrumspop.com.  It will be a collaboration-project in all parts of the process, and it’s really fun working on it. Contact us if you want to be a part of it, either as an artist or as an illustrator. info @ eardrumspop.com .

“The Norwegian SXSW”, By:Larm, will be held in Oslo in February 2010, and the first list of performing bands have now been published on the by:larm website.  Our favourites are especially The Little Hands of Asphalt, Pica Pica, Julie Stokkendal, Kathinka, I see horses, Denga Denga, Therese Aune, Masselys, CCTV, Pow Pow and The Pink Robots.

Beautiful Star – The songs of Odetta is a new benefit compilation curated by Wears the trousers magazine. It features artists like Linda Draper, Ane Brun, Marissa Nadler, Liz Durrett, Sandy Dillon and many more, and it raises money for The Fawcett Society, working for equality between men and women. It’s released on November 30. http://www.myspace.com/songsofodetta

Spoon Train Audio will release a follow up to their Oslo-compilation, called “Oslo2″ . The album will be released 16th November, and it has a tracklisting that makes me happy! Look:
1. Cold Mailman – Time Is Of Essence
2. Hiawata! – Valley Boys
3. Children And Corpse Playing In The Streets – France
4. The Little Hands Of Asphalt – The Next Time We Meet
5. Einar Stray – Arrows
6. Therese Aune – Chamelon
7. Firetop Mountain – How Can You Dance At A Time Like This
8. Go Fandango – End Credits
9. Norma Sass – Born In The 80’s
10. Monzano – Cold Waters
11. Casa Murilo – Murilo I Love You
12. Like Spinning – Crush (And Naivety)
13. Seppuku Zephyr Dance – Carousel
14. Yoyoyo Acapulco – Facial
15. My Little Pony – Capital Of Norway
16. Nomber 5s – Dancing To The Oslo Beat

BEKO is a small French netlabel who I have completely fallen in love with the recent week. They release new digital singles every Monday, and the 3 they have released now are super-good! The first is from Swedens Death & Vanilla, – soothing dream pop in the veins of Broadcast and Stereolab, the second is from USA’s Jamie Long, – dreamy electronica with very nice vocals, and the third is from Woven Tales, instrumental electronics of the good kind. Highly recommended! Upcoming: nude beach, bilinda butchers, million young, tan dollar, procedure club,moscow olympics….http://www.beko-dsl.com/

Lloyd Cole is an old hero of mine, and I am really impressed with the way he uses the web. His site is built by him and his son, and he interacts with his fans actively, answers questions and is really creative with the possibilities this “new” medium gives him. His new idea is this: http://shop.lloydcole.com/products/my-next-album-limited-edition-2-cd-set . I might be one of those 2500 people he needs to finish the project…

Inch Chua is an artist from Singapore who was featured in the October edition of our Music Alliance Pact. I really liked her MAP-song and searched for her on the internet, where I found out that she has released a free download EP on her website. It’s really good, so you should check it out. Acoustic pop, blended with some electronic elements. http://www.inchchua.com/Main/The_Bedroom.html

Race Horses is a Welsh band I have written about here on Eardrums earlier, and their single “Cake” is one of the best singles I have heard this year. Check out this video from Spin Earth featuring the band:

SOME RECOMMENDED RELEASES I HAVE BOUGHT LATELY
Most of these should be available in digital format on either iTunes, 7digital, eMusic, AmieStreet, Klicktrack or from the labels/artists websites.

Piroth – Safe Haven
Nat Johnson and the figureheads – Roman Radio
Local Natives – Camera Talk (single)
Atlas Sound – Logos
The Drums – Summertime EP
Clare & The Reasons – Arrow
The Candle Thieves – Sunshine ep
Sufjan Stevens – The BQE
Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard – One Fast Move or I’m Gone – Music from Kerouac’s Big Sur
Spiral Stairs – Real Feel
I might be wrong – circle the yes
A Perfect Friend – Timber and modern ways

more shorties next week!
(…and please tell me what you think of this feature, – should it have been done another way?)

The energetic indie band Little Comets hail from Newcastle, UK,  and they will release their first single ‘Adultery’ on 26 October through Columbia Records. The single is self-produced, and mixed by Rich Costey (MGMT/Muse). Here’s the video:

The last few days, I’ve been listening a lot to a beautiful and very special album from the Swedish sister-duo Piroth. The album is called “Safe Haven”, and  it is released on the sisters’ own label Oma Gusti Records today, the 21. October. Piroth are sisters Nina (vocal, percussion) and Johanna (vocal, guitar), and the two have previously self-recorded, produced and released the ep “Alternative Tour” and their debut album “Prima Ballerina”. Now, it’s time for “Safe Haven”, and they have at least one new fan…

The music is warm and highly melodic, but with a dark and melancholic undertone, in a good way. The closest genre I can put it in must be “folk”, but this is clearly influenced by a lot of different styles, also more noisy genres like punk and alternative rock. Most of it is based on acoustic instruments, and the general feeling is quiet and calm. Sometimes the duo’s sound grows louder and rougher, like on the haunting “When the night is over”, with pounding drums and rough guitars laying the ground for Nina and Johanna’s voices.   Other huge favourites are especially the quiet and beautiful “Hurt little birds” and the piano-driven “Smiling Streets, Singing Cars”.

Ah, the voices… this is definitely the most important element of Piroth’s music.  Nina and Johanna’s vocals are incredibly beautiful, and the way their voices spins around and play with eachother in amazing harmonies are… well, – ahhhh!

“Safe haven ” is a very, very good album, and it is highly recommended from this writer. You can buy all of Piroth’s releases, including this one, on Klicktrack.

Here is the video for their track “Fog Dancers”:

After several super-good singles and EPs, the UK indie/folk band Left With Pictures is finally ready to release their debut album “Beyond Our Means” on October 26. I have waited and waited for this to happen…

I often need some time to “get used to” albums from bands I already own a lot of singles from, – there are a lot of expectations, and the songs I’ve already heard need to be put into a new context. It takes time.  “Beyond our means” took some time, but it has grown from good to GREAT, so I am very happy that I was prepared to give it the time it needed. It’s a lovely debut from a lovely band, – a band who is not afraid to combine good melodies and pop-feeling with complex song-structures and interesting elements.

The songs are good, from start to finish, and the unique, warm lead vocals and the harmony-filled backing vocals are good reasons to love this band and to buy the album. The album opens with the irresistibly catchy singles “Every stitch, every line” and “1,2,3…Go!”, – a very strong start of the album. The songs of LWP-songwriter Stuart Barter are sometimes of Beatle-esque quality. Rich and strong melodies, lyrics with stories that make you think, and their arrangements are at the same time very complex and easily accessible.

For me, it’s the non-single tracks that have become my favourites. “Ghost of ‘89″, “The Subjects”, “The flight paths”, the short “Running Round” and especially the amazing “Stuck outside”. Lovely, lovely, lovely!

“Beyond Our Means” is released on Organ Grinder Records on October 26.

Here’s a song they did on Bandstand Busking, “Professional Help”:

…and here’s the song they participated with on our own compilation “A Good Crop”:

MP3: Left With Pictures – Super-8

(None of these two songs are on their debut album)

Tender Trap waiting for a train Photo by Alison Wonderland.

Tender Trap are finally back with a new release! After being on hiatus since their wonderful second album “6 billion people” from 2006, indiepop legends Amelia Fletcher, Rob Pursey and John Stanley (DJ Downfall) have added two members to their line-up and released a new, free single on the fine label Fortuna POP!.

For those of you who are not familiar with these names, Amelia and Rob were once in some of my favourite indiepop-bands, first in Talulah Gosh, then in Heavenly and after that they were joined by John in Marine Research. This time, they have been joined by Elizabeth Morris from ‘Allo Darlin’ (who have released very good singles on her own on WeePop! records) and Katrina Dixon, who has played in a number of indie bands (Police Cat/Sally Skull/Garden City Project).

The new Tender Trap-single features two songs, “Fireworks” and “Grand National”, both very good songs. Ah, it’s so nice to hear Amelia Fletcher’s voice again!

You can download the single, incl. artwork, from http://www.fortunapop.com/tender_trap_free_download.php

Tender Trap will play several shows this Autumn and an album will follow in early 2010.

The first concerts will be:
* Oct 22nd How Does It Feel To Be Loved? @ Jamm, Brixton, London FREE!
* Nov 15th Indiepop Alldayer, Lee Rosy’s Tea Shop, Nottingham

For a dive into the history of Amelia Fletcher & co, check out these Spotify links:
Heavenly | Tender Trap . Dj Downfall and Amelia Fletcher recently did “If I should fall behind” on a Bruce Springsteen cover-project by indiepop-artists. For Talulah Gosh, listen on Myspace.

Tender Trap have also made a video for “Fireworks”. Enjoy!

Let’s meet the neighbors, the Darling New Neighbors! This Texas-trio has just released their second album, “Rocket”, on their own label. The music is a strange combination of rough rock with sharp guitars, folk and indiepop, and sometimes they take a step into the 60-girlgroup territory with sha-la-la’s and shubidu’s.

The press-release kind of takes the words out of my mouth when they write that they hear bits and pieces of stray influence in the Darling New Neighbors: “the soft-hard derby crash of the Pixies, new comers like The Vivian Girls and even indie slack auteurs Beat Happening come and go in fleeting glimpses”. I very much agree, but if you expect to hear something that sounds like The Pixies, Vivian Girls or Beat Happening, DNN is not it, – not at all, – but as the press-man says, you can hear the influence “…come and go in fleeting glimpses”.

Darling New Neighbors are not new at all, and have been around since 2004 when Elizabeth Jackson, a classically trained violinist met “bluegrasser with a heart of rock-and-roll” Amy Moreland. Drummer Karl Lundin, who also sings on a couple of songs, became the band’s third member recently.

After hearing Saint Etienne’s cover of Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”, I was sure that I would never hear a better version of the song. I think I have now:

MP3: Darling New Neighbors – Only Love Can Break Your Heart

MP3: Darling New Neighbors – Stars

I realize that I post a lot of news and finds on my twitter @eardrums that never gets published on the blog. I’ll try to post some of it here and also some of the stuff I get in my mailbox that I never manage to do something about. I’m hopeless with continuity, but I will at least try to do this weekly.

Let’s start with some “VERY SHORTIES” and below this, you will find a lot of free goodies:

- Math and Physics Club is recording their second album, according to their myspace status.
- The Ruby Suns has named their third album “fight softly”. it’s coming out in march of next year.
- Lali Puna is finally in the studio again, working on a new album. While you wait, you can check out Yukihiro Takahashi’s “Page by page”, where Valerie sings on two songs. It’s on iTunes and Spotify.
- I knew it, and here’s the evidence: MY LITTLE PONY (the Norwegian indiepop band) is evil! (video from german TV)
- DNTEL posts a free song for October, a new song from a future album, “Soft Alarm”: http://bit.ly/4gZkRF (click audio) Beautiful!
- R.I.P. The Besties. The band has decided to call it a day. Sad.
- R.I.P. Friendly Noise, the Swedish label (link). Sad.
- R.I.P. Norwegian pop-stars A-ha. Although it’s kind of sad, it was about time to end it now. They would have celebrated 25 years next year…
- Check out the side-project from Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, Can’t, on Stereogum. I really like the song they feature!
- You can now buy Apple Orchard’s brilliant indiepop via Bandcamp (mp3), and the money goes directly to the band. I just did!
- Lightspeed Champion makes a collaboration-symphony with his fans. LC publishes the score, the fans play and record (link)
- Our former Music Alliance Pact participants Casa Murilo has now made their entire EP available for free download on NRK Urört.

Wild Honey will release his debut album on cd/vinyl + for free download next Monday, on October 26. The free version will be released on bandcamp, and we will make a feature on it here on Eardrums when it arrives. You can already now go to bandcamp and download his brilliant EP from last year, – highly recommended! Get it here: http://wildhoney.bandcamp.com/
Here’s a premiere of the first single of the album, “Hal Blaine’s Beat”, released today, and presented here with permission from the band:
Wild Honey – Hal Blaine’s Beat

Holiday Records, who is run by the people behind Horse Shoes/The Drums, release free mp3 singles/eps every friday, and their latest release is really good. It’s the 4 track ep “North End/South End”  from a band called The Young Friends, – catchy, quite rhythmic guitar-based jangle-pop. Very, very good! Get it from here: http://www.holidayrecords.net/

Jeremy Warmsley has joined Kristin Hersh’ Cashmusic project, and released a very good free acoustic ep called “5 Versions”. It includes new versions of several of my fav Warmsley songs, and the tracklisting is “How we became”, “Lose my cool”, “5 verses”, “One of us (Abba)”, and “Dirty Blue jeans”. The mp3 version is free, and can be downloaded from here:  http://jeremywarmsley.cashmusic.org/
The EP is also for sale in a physical format (cd) for 5£ from here: http://jeremywarmsley.bigcartel.com/

Wool Strings, the project of Ryohei Ameda, will make one ep every month the rest of the year, one for October, one in November and one in December. These Eps will be available for free download for one month. The three eps will afterwards be put together into an album, with some changes on the songs and the tracklisting. The first ep is available now, and it’s called “From the morning”. Beautiful, as everything Wool Strings do. You can download the EP from Wool String’s Myspace blog.
Here’s a track from it: MP3 – Wool Strings – The Garden

Trev from Odd Box Records (previously from the indie-mp3 blog) has started a nice little social website for DIY musicians, labels and music-people in general. It’s called DIY Music Resource and although it is small and new now, I hope this may be a good resource for bands and labels to discuss strategies and get help releasing their music.

Speaking of Odd Box records: They have recently released a free single by The Melting Ice Caps, a band I’ve enjoyed a lot for some time. Check it out here: http://oddboxrecords.com/?p=259 . The single includes two tracks, ‘Between Eros and Agape’ and B side ‘Nobody’s Leaving”.

Mayer Hawthorne’s album “Strange Arrangement” is still on high rotation on my stereo, and one of our readers, Antony, wrote to us yesterday to tell us about a video he has made for the song “The Ills”. He says “I have literally been listening to that track almost non-stop for the last six weeks.  So much so, that as no video seemed to exist, I felt compelled to make one for it.  People seem to really like it, including Mayer Hawthorne’s record label Stonesthrow who have put it on their website.  Stonesthrow.com”. We like it too, and here it is:

SOME RECOMMENDED RELEASES I HAVE BOUGHT LATELY

Most of these should be available in digital format on either iTunes, 7digital, eMusic, AmieStreet, Klicktrack or from the labels/artists websites.
Afternoon Naps – Parade
The Very Most – Autumn (buy it from indiecater records) MP3: Autumn Air
Egil Olsen – Nothing like the love I have for you Mp3: Nothing like the love I have for you
Friska Viljor – For new beginnings
Solander – Since We are pigeons
Headlights – Wildlife
Karen O and the kids – Where the wild things are (soundtrack)
The Leisure Society – A product of the ego drain (ep)
Megaphonic Thrift – A thousand years of deconstruction MP3: Acid blues
Mumford & Sons – Sigh no more
Nat Johnson & the figureheads – Wonderful emergency (single)
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Higher than the stars (ep) MP3: Higher than the stars
The Tiny – Gravity & Grace
Younghusband – idiot son (single)

more shorties next week!
(…and please tell me what you think of this feature, – should it have been done another way?)

It’s the 15th, Music Alliance pact day! Here is this months M.A.P., 34 songs by 34 bands from 34 countries presented by 34 music blogs. Music Alliance Pact is a collaboration between 34 blogs from all over the world, and every month, each of us present a new band from our country. All presentations is put together in this huge blogpost, and presented on the same day in all 34 blogs. Massive promotion for the bands!

This month we have been joined by Popop (http://popop.wordpress.com/) from Estonia, while Deaf Indie Elephants (http://www.deafindieelephants.com/) are standing in for our usual Venezuelan blog. Oh, and it’s the one-year anniversary of when MAP started with 12 blogs/countries on October 15, 2008!

Enjoy MAP!

NORWAY: Eardrums
Firefly Effect – Never By Your Side
Oslo quartet Firefly Effect recently released their brilliant debut album, Everything Is Beautiful And You Are The Reason, on Perfect Pop Records/Solerød Records. It is full of charming indie-pop songs with organs, boy/girl harmonies and jangly guitars. They call their style “retro-futuristic sunshine pop” which is a definition of their sound I can agree on. Perfect pop!

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
Lipgloss – Land Of Lords
This band from Buenos Aires released their first EP a couple of months ago and Land Of Lords is our favorite song from it. Lipgloss sound like they’ve been listening to British rock all their life and you sure can feel the influence of bands like The Stone Roses at the end of the song, with the psychedelic guitars and all. If you like it, you can download the entire EP directly from this link.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Cloud Control – Gold Canary
New music from the Blue Mountains! Only it sounds kinda like it originates from somewhere deep in America. Cloud Control always had an earthy, pastoral quality to their music but it sounds all the more temporally appropriate post-Fleet Foxes. Less jangle and more twang. Gold Canary is pulled from their debut album expected early 2010. It has some rootsy backing vocals and yelping, tambourine/handclap percussion, references to family members in the lyrics and then… a synth solo. This song is rad.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
Constantina – Sobe Ladeira
There is something special about Constantina that goes beyond their music. The absence of vocals never leaves you with a feeling of emptiness. It’s just the opposite. The instrumental songs are so deep and strong that lyrics would limit them to what we can express with words.

CANADA: I(Heart)Music
The Balconies – Serious Bedtime
It’s almost mind-boggling how good and how talented The Balconies are. They have two incredible lead singers (in brother and sister Jacquie and Steve Neville), both of whom are also astoundingly good songwriters, and they’re backed by one of the steadiest drummers I’ve ever seen. They’ve barely been around for more than a year but they’re generating a whole lot of buzz (their debut has just been released and it’s already charting nationally). Songs like Serious Bedtime make it easy to see why.

CHILE: Super 45
Tonossepia – Happy Habibi Te Vez Mas Feliz
Tonossepia (Diego Vergara) is one of the most advanced musicians in the Chilean electronic scene. Constantly evolving in his way of creating music, this year he released his fourth album, Happy Habibi, an effort full of organic textures, warm harmonies and rhythmical variations. By mixing, almost to perfection, IDM and hip hop, Tonossepia has a lot of robot style and rap style.

CHINA: Wooozy
Silkfloss – Mon Amour
Mylène Chan (Muxitu) and Quan Du formed Silkfloss at the start of this year in Beijing. They are electronica, they are trip-hop, they are everything that brings you softness and fills you with love. Mylène also collaborates with many local electronic producers as a vocalist.

COLOMBIA: Colombia Urbana
Jiggy Drama – Contra La Pared
Direct from San Andres Island, Heartan Lever – better known in the artistic scene as Jiggy D – comes loaded with cool rhymes and party beats. Jiggy mixes Antillean dancehall with old-school hip hop and Contra La Pared proves that when something is good, it doesn’t have to be forced. The combination of typical Colombian sounds (papayera in this case) makes him the perfect choice to represent the nation in MAP. Jiggy is currently working on his new album, Nerdside.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
Sebastian Lind – Stay
A pop natural and excellent singer, 20-year-old Sebastian Lind excites with an enticing mix of singer-songwriter acoustics and crackling electronica. He has just released his first single Stop These Feet, but here’s Stay – a strong contender when it comes time to select a second.

ENGLAND: The Daily Growl
The Voluntary Butler Scheme – The Eiffel Tower And The BT Tower
This month’s song comes from the English Midlands courtesy of awesome one-man-band Rob Jones aka The Voluntary Butler Scheme. He’s a little scruffy around the edges but he serves up a tasty dish of pure pop. Although probably best experienced live, his debut album At Breakfast, Dinner, Tea (how old-school English is that title?) is full of sprightly tunes, huge hooks and amusing lyrics and is well worth checking out.

ESTONIA: Popop
I’ll Hit Her – Noise In Your Mind
There’s not much info about Estonian electro-poppers I’ll Hit Her and Googling that name will probably get you some quite disturbing results. Listing Aqua, 2 Unlimited and Joy Division as influences on their MySpace page, that’s really as diverse as you can get.

FINLAND: Glue
The Capital Beat – Feel The Reggae
This is not the kind of song you would expect to hear from a Finnish band, but The Capital Beat phenomenally recreate the warm sounds of Jamaica on their first album, A Greater Fire. This eight-piece combo takes Jamaican music to a new latitude and there is only one condition – feel the reggae and do the ska.

FRANCE: ZikNation
Pascal Comelade – Two Maniaco Depressive Beatnicks Squabbling Over A Jane Russell Mozarella’s Stereokini
Pascal Comelade is a really special musician. He mixes common instruments with some toys he found in a flea market. This way of working gives his music a unique tone and makes the listener feel the soul of his work. In some ways, his music reminds us of Yann Tiersen – nice piano, accordion and a lot of percussion. Two Maniaco…, with its happy leading saxophone and ringing xylophone, is a track dedicated to a happy life, which makes it a must-hear before beginning a day at work.

GERMANY: Blogpartei
Rhytm Police – Ghosttrain
Rhytm Police sound like they live in a metropolis as they reduce music to a strong bass line, synth sounds and sometimes quite snatchy vocals. However, they come from the rather rural Augsburg in western Bavaria. The only way to figure this out is by listening to their songs with German lyrics. But the featured song Ghosttrain shows their international attitude.

GREECE: Mouxlaloulouda
Coin – Error 687
Coin draw their influences from the Manchester scene of the 80s and American grunge of the 90s. In their third studio album they shift their best qualities into different, equally dazzling guitar-pop shapes, sounding unclenched, enchanting and energetic. Popstitute is a beautifully balanced album filled with tremendously rich highs, unfailingly tuneful music, jagged guitars, drums and bass, which supply the rhythmic pulse and captivating hooks.

ICELAND: I Love Icelandic Music
FM Belfast – Synthia
FM Belfast was formed in late 2005 by Árni Rúnar Hlöðversson (aka Árni Plúseinn) and Lóa Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttir. For the Iceland Airwaves festival in 2006, the band expanded into a live act with up to eight (or even more) members. The core of the band is now a quartet with Árni Vilhjálmsson (of Motherfuckers In The House) and Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason (of Múm). Synthia is taken from their debut album, How To Make Friends, released on the band’s own World Champion Records label last year.

INDIA: Indiecision
Teddy Boy Kill – Tonic
New Delhi’s Teddy Boy Kill represent the new Indian electronica soundscape – instantly international, slick and unrestrained by the need to reflect any inherent Indian-ness. This unsigned act from the country’s capital released their debut album, The Exit Plan, as a free download. Tonic is one of the highlights of the record – an immediately catchy dancefloor anthem that’s as temperate as it is energetic. Get ready to do something stupid.

INDONESIA: Deathrockstar
The Super Insurgent Group Of Intemperance Talent – Money Making
The Super Insurgent Group Of Intemperance Talent are the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in Indonesia. Their straight-to-the-point songs, killer hooks and good attitude has already seen them play some big venues and sell out concerts, which is very rare in Indonesia.

IRELAND: Nialler9
Trophy Boyfriend – Black Ship
Despite the silly moniker, Gregor Ruigrok aka Trophy Boyfriend still managed to impress us with his first self-titled EP. He’s still at the embyronic stages having not played live or formally released anything in Ireland yet, but judging by the electro-indie of Black Ship, we certainly hope he gets out there soon.

ITALY: Polaroid
Damien* – Confidants
Play this song and fly back in time, to around the first half of the 90s, when Britpop was full of hope and strength. Well, this is just how Damien* are today. This young and promising band from Pesaro, on the Italian east coast, is able to mix a post-punk background with a more pop attitude. The incredibly catchy Confidants is taken from their second album, out this week on Suiteside.

JAPAN: JPOP Lover
Henrytennis – Valencia Raincoats
Another progressive band in the Tokyo music scene, Henrytennis feature instrumental dynamism influenced by post-rock, IDM, jam and progressive rock. Their members come from such outstanding Japanese bands as 4 Bonjour’s Parties, Hula Hooper, Kuruucrew, Oceanlane and Shugo Tokumaru. Their excellent second album R.U.R. is released on November 11.

MEXICO: Red Bull PanameriKa
Radaid – Shine
Shine is the opening track of L’Intent, the most recent record by Radaid. Hailing from Guadalajara, Jalisco, the eight talented musicians produce a peculiar mix of pop and original rhythms. That is why traces of Indian influences echo in Shine, while the vocals are by Sofía Orozco, who not only wrote the English lyrics but also invented the dialect which has nods to the phrasing of Hindu MCs.

NEW ZEALAND: Counting The Beat
O’Lovely – A Different Day
O’Lovely are from Christchurch in New Zealand’s South Island and they have a glistening, ringing guitar sound on this song that reminds me of some great bands from that city’s past such as Bailterspace and Loves Ugly Children. The band has morphed from the more poppy The O’Lovelys with singer and keyboardist Laura Lee remaining at the centre of the band. She’s joined by Perry Mahoney of Bang Bang Eche, whose guitar gives a darker, noisier feel than the earlier band. A Different Day comes from the five-track Lost Luck EP.

PERU: SoTB
Emergency Blanket – Next Passenger
The music of Emergency Blanket is fully charged with life and energy, taking influences from rock classics from the 60s, 70s and 90s to achieve a vintage yet fresh and original sound. Emergency Blanket recently released their debut album, Combi + Nation, which includes songs in Spanish, English and even a combination of both languages. Next Passenger has taken them to the final of The People’s Music Awards and you can vote for the band here.

PORTUGAL: Posso Ouvir Um Disco?
Real Combo Lisbonense – Oh!
Real Combo Lisbonense (Lisbon Real Combo) play music that takes us back to a time when everyone would dress up to dance to the sounds of an orchestra or a small ensemble. RCL is the band you would expect to hear in the casino lounge of an Ian Fleming novel. They remade some Portuguese and international popular classics of 50s and 60s and have become one of the pleasant surprises in the Portuguese indie scene this year. Shall we dance?

ROMANIA: Babylon Noise
Vive La Noiz – Bird Song
Vive la Noiz could be seen as the usual alternative/indie band. Two girls and two boys starting a band in the finest DIY ethic. However, their eclectic influences and pure, melodic sound label them as post-everything because you can find anything there, genre-free. Dark Clouds And Silver Linings is regarded as one of this year’s most interesting EPs.

SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
Meursault – A Small Stretch Of Land
Edinburgh six-piece Meursault’s otherworldly, experimental folk seems almost tailor-made for the music blogging cognoscenti. But as A Small Stretch Of Land shows, Meursault (pronounced “mer-so”) also know when less is more, stripping the song to just acoustic guitar and vocal with crushingly beautiful effect. It’s no surprise Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison described A Small Stretch Of Land as “one of my favourite songs of last year, or indeed any year”. You can buy Meursault’s album, Pissing On Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues, and other releases here.

SINGAPORE: I’m Waking Up To…
Inch Chua – Devotion In Reality
Like the wet leaves after a thunderstorm, Devotions In Reality bring a melancholic hope to past hurts, as the first step after grief into a new light. Inch Chua is more well known in Singapore as the little dynamo of a frontwoman with rock stalwarts Allura. Taking time off to record her solo EP, she brings to the forefront another facet of her versatility, especially on this number that is best described as a cross between Lisa Ekdahl and Stars.

SOUTH AFRICA: Musical Mover & Shaker!
Ameen Harron – Techicoloured Oblivion
Ameen Harron is a force to be reckoned with in the South African music scene. He is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist, and one of the country’s up-and-coming producers, who has worked with a range of the best local musicians, garnering national and international attention. Technicoloured Oblivion shows not only his skills as a producer but as an artist. He has strong ties to hip hop, which is evident as his combination of hip hop, punk and electro creates his own distinctive sound. The song has an almost soulful feel to it and wouldn’t be out of place on the international charts. Ameen Harron is set to take over. Watch out.

SOUTH KOREA: Indieful ROK
Julia Hart – Korean Girl’s Winter
Always delightful guitar-pop act Julia Hart decided it had been too many years since the release of their last album in 2007 and consequently released a digital single with a couple of new songs for people to hear last month. One of them, Korean Girl’s Winter, shows Julia Hart at their loveliest and is a perfect indie-pop piece well suited for repeated play hours on end.

SWEDEN: Swedesplease
Leaving Mornington Crescent – Seventeen
From the sound of Seventeen, Leaving Mornington Crescent have ventured into new territory. Unlike the sunny 60s-inspired indie-pop of April Song from their Cloudberry split CD, Seventeen is a rather heavy, shoegaze number with buzzing and churning guitars and a solid backbeat. Still the vocals retain the cheeriness of April Song with a chorus of “I’m seventeen on the inside, the only difference is…”.

TURKEY: Reset!
Kim Ki O – Serbest Kalp Dusmesi
Kim Ki O’s songs are self-written, self-played and self-sung in the name of self-pleasure and self-impulsion. Kim Ki O, which is the Turkish expression for “who is that anyway?”, is a name chosen for its phonetic beauty. The duo like to play with synthesizers and drum machines but do not to use computers in their music, preferring to create all the action live with enthusiasm and tension. The two members of the gang are former high school buddies who had been out of touch for years. Now they are back, clasped together, making great things.

UNITED STATES: I Guess I’m Floating
That Ghost – The Red Bow
That Ghost is the musical moniker of one crazy kid from the coast of California. Ryan Schmale, a youthful 19-year-old, creates lo-fi pop that evokes the warmth of bedroom recordings. He has a new EP on the way titled Get It And Get Out that IGIF will certainly be writing more about in the near future.

VENEZUELA: Deaf Indie Elephants
Ulises Hadjis – Lunes
The warm voice of Ulises Hadjis and his guitar are suddenly interrupted by a theremin, a trumpet from a gypsy story and a dialogue between Star Trek’s Captain Kirk and Zulu. These are some of the big surprises you’ll find in his debut album, Presente, which without doubt was one of the best debuts of 2008. His original indie-pop contains lyrics as melancholic as Bon Iver’s or Elliott Smith’s and a musical diversity that in its best moments resembles Beirut or Neutral Milk Hotel. On a Sunday morning this album will be your best company.

To download all 34 songs in one file click here