With a buzz in our ears...

So, I've mentioned a handful of interesting new albums I bought the last few weeks, like Shapeshifting, Angles and Konkylie, but I actually also got a pair of other albums that I haven't been around - I thought I'd introduce you to one of them.

I have mentioned quite a few times now that I've had a Sigur Rós trip as of late. The other day I re-saw Heima, the band's beautiful DVD of their Iceland homecoming tour in 2006. Also, when I was down at the record store picking up Konkylie, I stumbled upon Sigur Rós' latest and, anyhow for the time being, last album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, from 2008. By all means the band's most accessible record, it sort of bridges the gap between the pathos tsunamis of Ágætis Byrjun, () and Takk... and front man Jónsi's debut solo album, the lush and twinkling Go of yesteryear.


You really only have to be borne through la-la and acoustic guitar-driven opener 'Gobbledigook', which with its mere 3 minutes playing time would almost qualify as an interlude on the band's extremely slow-moving and gradual older albums to sense that something's changed. It's like the massive frozenness that holds the larger-than-lifeness of an album such as () firmly in its grasp has been lifted. 


Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust is thaw. It's little daffodils valiantly breaking through the black soil. It's children smiling at the sun, it's carefree youths running around naked (as the cover suggests...). 'Ínni Mér Syngur Vitleysingur' carries on the burden-free high-spiritedness, 'Goðan Daginn' very aptly means "good morning", and is surely a tune to want to be awakened by, and 'Við Spilum Endalaust' is purely triumphant. 


Sigur Rós are still emotionally impactful on the opening cuts of this album, although they seem to have realized they don't need to resemble the sputtering volcanoes and shoulder-rubbing tectonic plates of their homeland. Pathos and grandeur does eventually sneak in through the back door by way of lengthy cuts 'Festival' and 'Ára Bátur', both of which are Sigur Rós at the helm of the forces-of-nature size rapture and snaillike progression. Luckily, the band still operates this dashboard as well, and a tune like 'Fljótavík' reminds me how we the destructive species perhaps didn't deserve Sigur Rós in the first place.

OK, I'll suck it.

I'm pretty buggered by constantly being beaten at the finish line in the run-up to important album releases. Last time it was Radiohead, who decided to release The King of Limbs a day early, just for the sake of it. This time around, it's Arctic Monkeys, who've made their upcoming fourth LP, Suck It And See, available for streaming in its entirety today - a week before its actual release. Now, how are we bloggers supposed to plan for these kinds of things? With The King of Limbs I decided to panic-attack, and completely trashed the preview post I had intended to do. But this time around, no, no way. To stay in the terminology, I have sucked it once, and I urge you guys to suck it too, and you bet there's gonna be a review as soon as I get my hands on the album proper, but for now, let me take you through a ride down memory lane through three very different - and each very excellent - big brothers of Suck It And See. I've picked out my three favorites from each album, just to get our taste buds back on track for Alex T. and his gang.


January 2006
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

How d'you reckon the wine bar bummy on that picture is on the cover of the fastest selling debut album in UK recording history? Well, that's how it went down when benchmark Myspace sensation and street kids of the 21st century Arctic Monkeys finally descended upon record stores after months of unprecedented hype. Whatever... was an impressively cocksure barrage of potent, zip tight and youthfully witty British-as-Marmite indie rock, straight from the hips of kids just barely turned 20.


#2. 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor'
But of course my horse, a list like this could be initiated more properly than by the band's signature hit. Only a mere three minutes long, this up-tempo tale of hip-twisting murky club courtshipping has become a floor-filler from Reading to Rio.


#6. 'Still Take You Home'
Pivotal at #6 on the track list, this is '... Dancefloor''s filthy cousin, iconically tell-tale recounting what happens to chastity, taste and principles once a good bender's on the way - "You're just probably all right, but under these eyes, you look beautiful".


#13. 'A Certain Romance'
The critics' standout track on this album, and the one it's comme il faut to like, even if you don't like Arctic Monkeys, '... Romance' kicks back and reminisces over the exact same post-modern society its creators are so inevitably a part of. There's a slightly different narrative and perspective here, crowned by iconic statement: "There's only music so that there's new ringtones". What a dystopia by a bunch of young lads whose trademark sound is distinctively ringtone-unfit.


April 2007
Favourite Worst Nightmare

Faster, louder, fiercer. That's the way the band developed in the mere 15 months that came and went between their first two releases. Riding the wave of success perhaps, a lot of people initially feared the Monkeys had taken their mouths too full. But despite the apparent kinship between the two, Favourite... eventually grew to play its own part in the discography.


#6. 'Only Ones Who Know'
Curiously slotted between big hit 'Fluorescent Adolescent' and the grandiose 'Do Me A Favour', this takes the band to previously unvisited ground, the slow-moving balladry that has since revealed itself as one of the band's true strengths. Favourite Worst Nightmare is less "I can take on the world"-like and more humble than its predecessor, and nowhere does that come more to the fore than on this brilliant tune.


#7. 'Do Me A Favour'
Perhaps my favourite Arctic Monkeys tune, hands down. Combine some of the most strong and personal lyrics by a superb lyricist with Matt Helders at his most potent, and you get epic like this. Even stronger if you turn up the volume.


#12. '505'
As its predecessor, Favourite Worst Nightmare finishes off on a pensive note, with '505', which for the first time sees the band employ the organ that would become so vital on the next album, making this sort of a bridge-builder. It's more than that though, it's a staggeringly well-built piece of music, gloriously peaking with Turner finally letting all his emotions run wild at 2:29, unleashing suppressed fierceness that has loomed through the album.


August 2009
Humbug

Two more years went, and the band ended up in the Mojave Desert with bona fide desert rat Josh Homme. Darker, slower and vastly more mature, Humbug has divided fans, but ages like a fine wine.


#6. 'Fire And The Thud'
I love how some of Humbug's tunes creep and crawl and slowly enter your system, and none is more worthy of that description than this tune, on which Turner exposes his blank white vulnerable throat to the barking dogs of betrayal and heartbreak: "The day after you stole my heart, everything I touched told me it would be better shared with you."


#7. 'Cornerstone'
If '... Dancefloor' is the obvious first love on Whatever..., 'Cornerstone', although a vastly different beast, is so on Humbug. Etched beautifully in between the fragility of 'Fire And The Thud' and the aggressiveness of 'Dance Little Liar', this is so honest and beautiful it only endures by way of Turner's unsinkable lyrical talent.


#8. 'Dance Little Liar'
So, three in a row on Humbug? Well, this is definitely the album with the highest bar, but perhaps the lowest peak. These three latter half gems are the most instrumental though, and 'Dance Little Liar' is like the perfect final chapter to the story unfolding in the two preceding cuts. On this, Turner tucks his head back into his shell and defends himself with a cluster bomb of musical aggression.


What's next? Well, suck it and see...

How does your conch sound?

Why When Saints Go Machine's international debut - and domestic sophomore - had to be christened with the only Danish-language title of the Copenhagen outfit's recording career is indeed a mystery to me, but Konkylie, or "KON-killy", "Kon-KYE-ly" or whatever Anglophones are gonna pronounce it like (for the record, "konkylie" is Danish for "conch"), is here, and has been so since Monday. Reviewers have been mostly favorable, and it is true, that the four piece has grown remarkably from their debut, Ten Makes A Face, with its dry club beats and hefty synths.


On Konkylie, When Saints Go Machine have spread their wings and taken on a more pathos-filled approach. Actually, you'd be surprised to know an album so ethereal has been created by a band, which has existed in Copenhagen for the entirety of its life. There isn't as much dark alleyways to this, as there are wide-open, windswept plains.


Nikolaj Vonsild's very characteristic voice still anchors the band's sound. Vonsild has been lauded as a second coming of Antony Hegarty, and while his vocals are truly very beautiful, and very instrumental to the band, it is also true that he is at times as unintelligible as Thom Yorke. That's a bit of a shame, and at times he, and his peculiar melodies, really drowns in the seas of swooning synths and, sorry, general mess on Konkylie. He is very alone in doing the vocal work for the band, and it seems the logical solution to the lack of backing vocals has been to let tremulous synths follow closely his very step. I don't think that's a good idea, as it makes him drown even more.


As such, the two tracks that stand out immediately on the album are the intense 'Church And Law', as well as the stunning closer 'Add Ends', with its plucking harps and cellos. What ties these two tracks together is the fact that Vonsild is positioned crystal clearly in the mix - he rises from the sea of synthesizers that otherwise envelop and almost drown his delicate voice, and croons above a tightly cut, no-frills backdrop.


Elsewhere, 'On The Move' is very pretty, while 'Whoever Made You Stand So Still' sounds like a clash between Stravinsky and the soundtrack to Mulan. Pretty interesting, but also pretty awkward when it segues abruptly into 'Terminal One', one of the few tunes that could be a holdover from the debut album. Same goes for lead single 'Kelly', which is very catchy, and these two up-beat tunes add some much needed zest to the album.


But getting to 'Kelly', my gosh! After early highlight 'Church And Law', we are drawn through a full four tracks that range from borderline anonymous to pretty annoying. This is where the aforementioned obscurity and clutter really becomes a problem. There is an abundance of talent and potential in this material, but one could really have wished for it to be cut more sharply. Some of it really drowns in a jumble of high-pitched sounds and coos, and there isn't enough of a backbone - be it a melody or a beat or even a less-is-more sort of minimalism - to keep everything in place. A high-pitched voice doesn't need high-pitched sine synths to go with it - it needs something deeper, and when the band finally tries something deep - on 'Jets' - they manage to create the albums most confusing and irrelevant tune anyway.


I do however concede that this part of the album is probably the hardest to grasp initially, and I might be premature in my skepticism on the album as a whole. I mean, considering how long time it took me to be won over by Ten Makes A Face, which is a million times more accessible than this. I just had expected something more mind-blowing than this, honestly.

Tuesday tunes with lots of news!

Battles.

Hello folks! It sure is bloody hard to keep up these days, where a good handful of interesting outfits have released previously unheard material, live or elsewhere. I'll try and run you through it and tell you what I think!


First of all, Battles are bound for Roskilde this year, and I'm happy to hear they've still got some of that beastliness that made their show in '08 so awesome. They passed through France recently to record a vid for La Blogotheque's famed Take-Away Show series. This new track off the trio's forthcoming release, Gloss Drop, is called 'Wall Street', and I like it much more than the ghastly lead single, 'Ice Cream'. This is as ferocious as Mirrored was - thumbs up!


Another intriguing New York outfit, Yeasayer, premiered a new tune, 'Devil And The Deed', on Conan O'Brien's show. Try checking it out, although I must admit it hasn't really caught me. Same goes for Arcade Fire's two new tunes, 'Speaking In Tongues' and 'Culture War'. Arcade Fire is most emphatically an album-band for me, which makes these sorts of b-side releases hard to really get a hold of. The sound is very akin to The Suburbs, and these tracks could easily originate from the same studio sessions.


Much more interesting is the tune Digitalism released over the weekend, featuring none other than born-again king-of-cool Julian Casablancas of The Strokes. Track is called 'Forrest Gump', and is another fine wee teaser for the German outfit's sophomore album, which is due in a little less than a month.


Finally, just to include some less downtrodden artists, here are a few brand new tunes from - to me - brand new artists. One is Blondes, who emerged on the Forkcast yesterday with 'Pleasure', a long, meandering piece of electronica. Very long, but very catchy. Also, in the entirely opposite ditch, be sure to check out some good old-fashioned indie rock from under-the-radar London outfit Tellison, who sound like Panic! At The Disco without the emoness or White Lies without all the doom and gloom. I guess there's a reason British indie's suffering these days, when this is highlight-worthy, but still do check out 'Say Silence', at least it's pretty honest!

Soothed by Kristian, Justin, Marissa, Robert and Fast Peter.

The Tallest Man On Earth.

I'm in a bit of a nostalgic period right now. Not nostalgic as digging up old gems from the sixties, but I've been listening to a number of artists whom I've carried along for many years now. A lot of Coldplay, a lot of Interpol, a lot of Sigur Rós. I am often dumbfounded by how albums continuously emerge and retire. Such as Spleen United's Neanderthal, which I hadn't heard for months, but suddenly found myself enjoying in the bus going to work this Thursday.


Anyway, yet another wasted Sunday - I wonder if I will ever get anything out of this the week's finale other than reminiscing over the weekend come and gone. Yesterday I really had a blast. I was as drunk, irresponsible, gay and foolish as I haven't been for a long time, to be honest.


But for Sundays, let's lie down, stare at the ceiling and soothe our ears with euphony. That could be Kristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man On Earth, who has become one of my weapons of choice as a hangover soundtrack. Just today I discovered that he has premiered a new tune during the week. It features a full band, and it veers slightly from his usual, and very characteristic, vocal timbre. Matsson is however a divine songwriter, and although this new tune is pretty far from the sound of his albums, it works. He really has a grasp on romance and yearning desire like few others. It's untitled and beautiful!


Justin Vernon and Bon Iver (I guess I'm gonna eventually start to refer to them as a band...) are teasing away for their upcoming sophomore album. The concert in Copenhagen November 5th sold out within the first day - luckily, I got tickets!! This week he dropped 'Perth' on us, which, to the avid fans, is recognizable as being the track we got a 50 second snippet of a month or so ago. This album release is so tantalizingly intriguing, I'm sorry if it's gonna take up a lot of space here this next month or so.


Another few sweet Sunday tracks for today, from artists I haven't been digging as heavily. I've so far avoided Marissa Nadler, but I must admit 'The Sun Always Reminds Me Of You' is pretty fucking astonishing! I guess I'm finally starting to warm to female vocals for real. Dayton, Ohio based indie veteran Robert Pollard has released a track from his forthcoming album, track is called 'In A Circle', and is pretty sweet!


Finally, Spencer Krug, aka Moonface, has released a cut from his new album, which is bound to be a pretty interesting ordeal, as it reportedly only includes 5 tracks, but never the less clocks in at nearly 40 minutes - the track dropped is called 'Fast Peter', and is a bit more up tempo than the other stuff I've shared today. Nevertheless, it's beautiful too - happy Sunday!

These dreamy Swedes, this bearded man and High Green's finest.

jj.

Oi folks! I've been digging melancholic stuff these past days. Yesterday, for example, I revived Sigur Rós' epic 2002 album (), which I haven't heard for ages. I've also got some new tunes in that department.


Swedish outfit jj have been making noise on music blogs quite frequently the past year, and their dreamy sound with elements of electronica, Balearic, drone and r'n'b is quite unique. The past week, they fed us with a pair of new tracks, which are pretty sweet. Take a swing at 'No One Can Touch Us Tonight', which is sort of Caribbean-tinged, and the mellow and beautiful 'Ice'.


Bon Iver, oh, where to start? He just announced his European fall tour, and I'm delighted to see it brings him to Copenhagen in November. That's just bloody awesome. Even more awesome; he's put out a cut from the imminent eponymous album. Track is called 'Calgary', and are you at all surprised it's startlingly beautiful? This is clear-cut my most anticipated release of the year, I can tell you that for sure!


Lads, we're gonna take a wee break from all the melancholia whine, aren't we just? High Green, Sheffield's finest, tyke pride Arctic Monkeys have premiered a few tunes off their new album, Suck It And See, on the mighty Mr. Jools H.'s show last week. Some of it is good, some isn't - check it out!


Okay sweetpeas, back to the melancholic alley with Japanese artist Jesse Ruins, and new cut 'Sofija', which is really sweet - sounds like it could have been a b-side to M83's iconic Saturdays = Youth. I haven't heard of this dude before, so thanks to the awesome Gorilla vs. Bear for that!


Nobody knows who iamamiwhoami is yet, but the mysterious artist/outfit has just put out a new track, '; john', with an amazingly beautiful video to boot! I guess the closest fitting resemblance would be The Knife, although almost all dark and alluring electro has a pinch of The Knife kinship.


Finally (whoa, that was a long post!), everyone's darling James Blake has released a new Martin de Thurah-directed vid for his tune 'Lindesfarne'. I'm not crazy about Blake, but this tune, which is pretty obviously inspired by some of Bon Iver's stuff, is definitely my fave on his debut album, which was released earlier this year.


That was a load of stuff to get the rest of yer week going! I ordered some new (and old) albums yesterday - more on them later on!

Three albums coming Monday!

Friendly Fires.

What up! This Monday, kids, three very interesting albums hit the shelves! I'm not sure I'm gonna buy all three of them, but i thought I'd talk you through them anyway!

First and foremost, Friendly Fires release their sophomore full-length, Pala, on XL Recordings. I was crazy about their eponymous 2008-debut, and many others were too - it was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, and spawned numerous pretty big hits. Pala is the first we've heard from the St. Albans outfit since then, except for midway single 'Kiss of Life', which was a bit mediocre. To be perfectly honest, Pala seems to be the same. It's streamable right here, and really I was not impressed. Actually, I might end up not buying it.

It so happens that the two other releases this Monday are much more interesting. One is Danish band When Saints Go Machine, who are releasing their international debut, Konkylie (yeah, really...). Domestically, this is their second full-length effort. Their debut album, Ten Makes A Face, has really made inroads for me the past few months, and Konkylie might be even better. Some of the stuff we've heard so far, such as 'Add Ends' and 'Church and Law' do sound extremely promising. It seems to be more melancholic than the debut, which suits Nikolaj Vonsild's peculiar voice very well - think a tune like 'Armed' from the debut album, and you got the picture.

A bit in the same alley we've got Canadian outfit Austra, fronted by another charismatic singer, the classically trained Katie Stelmanis. Their debut album is called Feel It Break, and is out on Paper Bag Records on, yeah, you guessed it, Monday! Check out 'Beat and The Pulse' and the enigmatic 'Lose It' - defo one to get a hold of!

So, for sure something new to make time pass for the real big fish to jump the hook in June!

Everybody's singing the same song 10 years...

But now there are some new ones to sing! And if you're singing the above phrase, I bet you're singing along to 'Under Cover Of Darkness' off The Strokes' new album, Angles!


Reviewers have had a hard time getting over the fact that the two middle Strokes-albums haven't been it the way Is This It was it, but The Strokes have made them it now in this game of tag, and they're it because this, Angles, mightn't be exactly it, but it's the shit! Spearheaded by the reggae groove of opener 'Machu Picchu' (sic), and the above-mentioned trippy single, Angles is actually a very enjoyable listen! All right, the new-wave intro to 'Two Kinds of Happiness' might sound like bad The Cure, but once the drums kick in, it's perhaps the most rhythmically enticing indie has been since Bloc Party showed up in 2005.


The first few tracks on Angles might hint at an overly joyful and cheerily chaotic record, but there's time for melancholy, anger and reflection too, such as when Julian Casablancas' signature lazy croon spurts out "I don't wanna argue!' on fourth cut, 'You're So Right', and some of the later tunes on the album, like 'Call Me Back' and closer 'Life Is Simple In The Moonlight', see the quintet rev noticeably down, with Casablancas beautifully pondering that "We talk about ourselves and how to forget the love we never felt."


Compared to Casablancas' hideous 2009 solo effort, Phrazes For The Young, Angles, although containing some of the same 80s-synth references, harks back to The Strokes' own back catalogue, with a tune such as standout track 'Taken For A Fool' that, in a pinch, could have fit on their early aughties steamroll of garage-revival.


I have always stated that I've never quite had my Strokes-period like many others have. Well, just maybe I'm having it now. Is This It was one of the absolutely most influential records of the 00
s. Angles won't have the same impact on the '10s, because these days everyone are still trying to sound like Fleet Foxes or Animal Collective, but with it, The Strokes have finally seriously upped their ante, stepped out of the shadow of their firstborn, and created the second coming of themselves with this infectious record. People have been blaming them for not being able to see the writing on the wall, comparing them to the likes of The White Stripes and LCD Soundsystem, both of whom hung up their cleats this year while the going was good, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and The Strokes revive themselves!

It's everything-time!

Gang Gang Dance.

What up fellers and felleresses! Sweet tunes are jumping on me like fucking wild horses right now (erhm...), and this time around, I've got loads of interesting stuff from a variety of genres!


Disco-revival has come to haunt us this summer, so to get the best of it, you should really go check out new Swedish disco-house outfit Montauk. 'The Gum Thief' is the kind of tune that just keeps on evolving and topping itself off, and is such a party starter!


Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon provides guest vocals for Young Turks artist SBTRKT on 'Wildfire', which is absolutely fantastic! She's got such a lovely and expressive voice, and it soothes the funky tunes and curious harmonics on this tune just marvelously!


It's also finally time to throw in the towel for 'Glass Jar', the ecstatically undulating and vibrating opener of Gang Gang Dance's new album, Eye Contact. It has been perhaps the tune of the week for me, and how can you not be down with what happens at 6:16? As I mentioned the other day, that album was available for streaming online, and I was pretty impressed by it, although not to the same degree as Pitchfork were, giving it an 8.5 rating and a BNM-tag to boot. I might get a hold of it, but in the abundance of interesting releases these next two months, nothing is for certain.


One of those albums due on the shelves only a mere week from now is Friendly Fires' much anticipated sophomore album, Pala. Another tune was released from it the other day. It's called 'Hawaiian Air', and is decidedly closer to the sound of the eponymous debut than first single, 'Live Those Days Tonight'. This will be an intriguing release fo sho.


Finally, lets just rev all down a bit with Brooklyn outfit The Antlers, and 'Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out'. To be honest, I suffer from those dreams now and then, where ones teeth fall out, and it seems I'm not the only one. Several of my mates have experienced them too, and lest we not forget, The Knife dark masterpiece Silent Shout includes the phrase: "In my dreams I lost my teeth again." I wonder what the psychological explanation for this dream is. I guess its something about vitality and irreplaceableness.


Anyway, to a new week, churr!

Canada + Sweden = What's not to like?

If you look at Pitchfork's albums of the year-lists from the past five years, and where the artists hail from, two countries would probably strike you as being overrepresented in comparison to their population, and those countries would be Canada and Sweden. Those two countries are represented 16 and 14 times respectively, together constituting 12% of the albums the world's leading music media have singled out as being defining for the years 2006-2010. Even more impressively, there's a Swedish album in the top 10 in both 2006, 2007 and 2009, with The Knife of course taking home the grand prize at #1 with Silent Shout in 2006, the only non-American #1 in period.


So what happens when you take a sort-of under-the-radar Canadian indie-electronic outfit and set up a Skype connection with a producer in Gothenburg, Sweden? Well, in the case of Young Galaxy and Dan Lissvik, the result is pretty marvelous - thank you Skype!


I have been raving about both 'Cover Your Tracks' and 'We Have Everything' for a few months, but Young Galaxy's new album, Shapeshifting, which I got last week, has - and what a relief! - proven to be much more than that. By way of the Junior Boys-reminiscent opener 'The Angels Are Surely Weeping', the slightly more urgently sounding 'Blown Minded' and the above-mentioned 'We Have Everything', the album comes off to a rocket start. 


While the album does dip a wee bit after that, Catherine McCandless' warm and charismatic vocal work, combined with Lissvik's sophisticated, soothing 80's-inspired production, makes sure Shapeshifting has its listener firmly in its heaving grasp throughout. Another standout track is the funky 'Peripheral Visionaries', which intelligently mixes McCandless' voice with guitarist Stephen Ramsey's elegant croon, not at all unlike The xx. Ramsey impresses throughout the album with neat and appropriate, often reverb-laden, guitar work too. 


One could have feared that an album like this would drown in pathos, but thanks to the dry and tightly cut production, only the two last tracks sporadically lose themselves in over pompousness. As I mentioned earlier, the Junior Boys-references are visible, but influences from the opposite site of the Atlantic are clearly traceable too, such as 'Phantoms', which could sound like The Knife in a soft moment.


I have always believed there is something artistically inspiring in long, bright summer evenings and dark, endless winter nights that occur in both Canada and Sweden, and Shapeshifting is the newest member of this club of high sky euphony.

When the cat's away...

Chad Valley.

... The mice play on the table. That's how a well-known Danish proverb sounds. Apparently, when I'm away from my favorite music sites and blogs for a few days, sweet new tunes emerge aplenty. I'm gonna try and sum up a bit of it.


First of all though, I'm gonna reserve my right to curse violently, as the Sufjan Stevens concert I missed got absolutely spotless reviews across the board. FUCK! SHIT! CRAP! All right, aggressions out now, and luckily, my mate Peter's gonna owe me eternally for being able to buy my ticket.


Anyway, to kick things off, 'Fast Challenges' is a nice sort of Balearic house cut by UK producer Chad Valley. If you dig stuff like Delorean, or Danish rising star Taragana Pyjarama, this should be down your alley.


Staying in the UK, 'Bave's Chords' is a sweet new tune by dubstep innovators Mount Kimbie. It's pretty minimalistic, almost to the point where it gets nonsensical, but it's oddly beautiful.


Niki and The Dove are Swedish, and they are debuting on iconic label Sub Pop this year, with a 12". 'The Fox' starts off sort of sluggishly, but the oh-so-Swedish oohs that engulf the chorus win me over instantly.


Moving east from Sweden is Finland, which is somewhat of a musical afterthought, perhaps because its language is supposedly one of the most difficult in the world to write in. Linguistic barriers or not, Helsinki indie-pop outfit Regina do pretty well with 'Jos Et Sä Soita' - jeez, that could almost have been a Eurovision presentation, huh?


Finally, back in the electronic department, here's Brooklyn artist Laurel Halo with 'Aquifer'. There's a nice pace forward to this, even if it might be somewhat forgettable.


Oh, and one last thought: If you've got a wee hour on your hand tonight (as I do), I'd recommend you to do one of the following:


1) Take a punch at this sweet mixtape from Toro Y Moi (yeah, that's for me trying to forget it actually bloody snowed around here today...)!


2) Take a chance on one of the year's more remarkable Roskilde omissions Gang Gang Dance, whose forthcoming sophomore album, Eye Contact is now available for full streaming!


TTYL this week with some stuff on the albums I got last week - can't wait to tell you lot about it!