Interview with Johan Angergård from Labrador Records

The prolific Johan Angergård from Acid House Kings, Club 8, The Legends etc bares all in this ten-minute interview. It's quite a rare treat to see and hear about the inner workings of a small but perfectly formed label. Stylishly delivered from Labrador's office in Stockholm, Johan talks about being bored with a music competition that is being shown on Swedish tv (which turns out to be the Eurovision song contest), office life and some of his favourite moments from the label's 13 year history. It is also soundtracked by some of the label's luminaries. All good stuff.

The Sunny Street

Here is a band, based in London and referred to by so many blogs and reviewers as a French pop duo yet comprising of two French people a Greek person and an Englishman. None of this matters. The music is beautiful and honest. Timeless (a word used carefully here) and emotive and occupying a space that is entirely their own without shouting too much about it. A video.

Burning Hearts - Into the Wilderness

With 'Into the Wilderness', Burning Hearts continue their rise to prominence as chroniclers of the harsh, arctic north. 'Into the Wilderness' is an EP that follows their 2009 album 'Aboa Sleeping', a record full of imaginative and flawless melodies, the kind that you can only really half imagine or make out when listening to any other dream-pop band. A combination and perfect balance between a feeling of alienation from the world but at the same time an understanding of it's desperate beauty is what informs this music. Musically they are warm synths, percussive guitars and inviting bass lines. You might feel as though you have heard their music before but your not sure of when or where and each song plays out with such ease that it's gone before you've realised it;s there; like a train running, engines off, silently through a station. As a result they are one of those rare groups that produce music that seems to have sprang from the head of Zeus, fully and perfectly formed.

Available for pre-order now on Shelflife Records and out on June 21st.

Here's the title track with a perfectly complimentary video -

Something Old: The Go-Betweens/ You Can't Say No Forever

This is one of the few songs that completely takes over your faculties as you listen. Visceral, heartbreakingly raw and shatteringly honest; as you listen you momentarily shift and you are left ever-changed past its end. Incredible guitars and a vocal approach perfectly executed.

"You can't say no forever/I've tried"

Something Old: Hurrah!

From Newcastle, Hurrah! were one of the first bands signed to Kitchenware Records. For fans of Close Lobsters, Orange Juice and The Bodines. Which is me.

Something Old: Biff Bang Pow!

Loves Going Out Of Fashion



Biff Bang Pow! were an oddity. Starring Alan McGee, they formed in around 1983 and between then and 1991 released 6 albums and a handful of incredible singles. Love's Going Out Of Fashion, was their third single from 1984. It's carrion call delivery is clearly at the upper limits of it's singer's ability but the strained sadness only serves to haunt your memory of the hook. Clipping, electro-acoustic six strings sounding like Spanish guitars twist in and around the entire song, ill mixed as they are, until it finally gives into a wailing harmonica that it's fought with throughout. "Love's going out of fashion", he sings, almost shouting, and you believe him. You could be in the throes of a deeply passionate romance and, unbelievably, Alan McGee has just made you think twice.
Perhaps this is part of the problem with this bands legacy though, the sticking point that Alan McGee is a fairly unlike-able man and maybe somebody that you wouldn't ask for relationship advice in the first place. He certainly isn't a fashionable influence to name check any more.

That aside, the song that follows is one of the finest pieces of throwaway, half-finished jangle pop that I have ever heard.

Sunny Days

New television, direct from Belle and Sebastian HQ

As the release of the new Belle and Sebastian record 'Write About Love' looms, the promotional monster that is B&S HQ rumbles into action with this new video. Although the presenter (Dougie Anderson) is unbearably badly scripted and the hand picked nature of the audience is all too apparent, the short is pretty gorgeous. Nicely shot, looking like a moving Belle and Sebastian sleeve, it includes some interesting cameos from some of Glasgow's finest, including Bjorn from Wake The President and John from Butcher Boy. Oh, and of course, the new songs are showcased and they sound pretty promising.

Afternoon Naps/The Fall Companion

Chiming guitars, ringing organs, skipping drums and all over just before you've had time to realise just how good it is. Afternoon Naps have done pretty well here.

From last years album 'Parade', 'The Fall Companion' performed live.




http://www.myspace.com/afternoonnapsband

'Parade' is available on HHBTM Records

The Coral / Dream In August

Appropriate listening, entirely blissful and utterly effortless. From their new album (released on July 12th), 'Butterfly House'.

Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - New Video!

Ok, so it wasn't a music video and it begs the question, why did they agree to do that?! American community television strikes again.

Myspace, pains
thier own site, pains

Something Old: "there's nothing to worry for, things will look after themselves". Stereolab - Ping Pong

Since first hearing this song when I was perhaps, fifteen years old, this song has been constantly relevant. Of course, that is the point; that war and peace and boom and bust perpetuate and are inextricably intertwined. What I love about this song is how the less than subtle lyric is set to a piece of beautiful, swinging pop music that you'd be forgiven for being distracted by, and from the meaning of the song. If you care to listen again, and this time listen more closely, you'll hear that everything is not quite right. We have economic stability and we quickly forget how it came about. A new flat-screen television and 'ipad' and we are happy, oblivious. A pop song that bears repetition and close inspection? Sacrebleu!

Jens Lekman's European tour

Self imposed exile in Australia (or so I've been told) has meant that Jens Lekman doesn't really play in Europe too often these days. Now he is. This is good news.

Here's why:



Here is when and where he will be playing:

Aug 13 - Göteborg, Sweden - Way Out West
Aug 11 - Berlin, Germany - Lido
Aug 10 - Hamburg, Germany - Kunst
Aug 9 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
Aug 7 - Stockholm, Sweden - Strand
Aug 5 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands - Paradiso
Aug 4 - Paris, France - Nouveau Casino
Aug 3 - London, UK - Union Chapel
Aug 2 - Manchester, UK - the Deaf Institute
Aug 1 - Dublin, Ireland - Whelans

From: http://www.jenslekman.com/